EFBT:Yeah, I did feel kinda sorry for Dunham there, but Mira's too badass to just go easy on him, she's very much 'the gloves are never on' kind of a girl after all haha ;p Taylor and Hera are getting there first but they stumble on something which is not really what they (and especially Mr. Nutcase Lucas) were hoping (needing) to find. Meanwhile Malcolm's quite possibly having the worst day of his life… Whoopsy.. ;) Anyways, thanks for your elaborate review, seriously those always make my day!

Disclaimer: I do not own Terra Nova or any of its characters, this is solely a non-profit fan activity.

CHAPTER 21

The First

STUMBLING on a passageway that only took them deeper underground instead of leading to their freedom had not exactly been the plan, though she couldn't help rallying a bit from the eminent hopelessness of their situation by the breathtaking sight that had met her eyes the moment they had set foot in that darkened chamber. With its low ceiling and uneven carved walls it was reminiscent of some animal's burrow and it was immediately clear to her it had been dug out crudely with tools hardly up to the task. And all of it done for the apparent purpose of storing belongings too valuable or important to have the extreme conditions above ground ruin them.

They had cautiously made their way through the cave like room, silently exploring every nook and cranny by shining their weapon's pale light on it. Scattered throughout the cool and drafty place they had found a rust-riddled anchor, some torn sheets that could have been sails, a ship's wheel with broken spokes and a delicate looking compass the needle of which kept nervously twitching towards the north.

Commander Taylor seemed less in awe and definitely not as impressed to the same degree as she was upon being surrounded by all of what had once been cherished and tangible memories of former lives that, whoever had been stranded here in the Badlands, had been cruelly ripped away from. He lit some of the torches on the wall with his ignitor so they could switch of the energy consuming lights on both their weapons then settled on going for one more round of inspection in the hope of finding something useful, gesturing for her to do the same.

Hera perfectly understood his annoyance at not having gotten any closer to escaping. A similar restlessness springing from that same frustration was starting to quench her initial enthusiasm at finding more proof of a human presence in the Badlands and by extension of the existence of the fracture long outliving their scientists' estimated time of origin.

On the verge of heading in the opposite direction Hera could hear the Commander softly swear through gritted teeth which made her glance back at him over her shoulder. He was leaning with one hand against the wall, no doubt in an attempt to temporarily take the weight of his ankle that was clearly still bothering him. Before she had formulated her concern in words, however, he had already pushed himself off of the wall, stubbornly relinquishing its support and continuing his search.

For a moment Hera hesitated, groping around in her head for possible ways she could alleviate the pain he was obviously in but she didn't dare offer another shot of morphine seeing she'd epically failed with that the last time. She briefly watched him pry a chest open with his knife in a bored sort of way to rummage through its content of richly embellished golden coins, though she could tell his mind was far away from the treasure in his hands.

Deciding it was best to follow his example, for now at least, she started in the opposite direction, almost instantly coming to a halt when she could hear the unmistakable ruffling and crinkling sound of paper underfoot. Slinging her weapon on her back Hera crouched down, picking up the tattered book lying at her feet. An impressive layer of dust had gathered on the creased cover and parchment was sticking out at odd angles now its binding seemed every bit ready to give up on its effort to hold it together and fall apart.

Interest and curiosity instantly piqued, Hera sat cross-legged on the floor, opening the book as she placed it in her lap. Momentarily forgetting all else around her she poured over half-finished plans for the settlement above ground and rudimentary maps of Terra Nova not extending much further than the Badlands and covering only a small part of the jungle it bordered.

Turning to the next page Hera held her breath when it was covered in a variety of sketches of the time fracture; some depicting it as a gate between worlds from which no one seemingly could escape whereas others had been attempts at a more scientific representation of the miraculous phenomenon. Quickly turning the page in anticipation of finding similar drawings she gasped as she realized she had opened the book to a long list of dutiful entries that chronicled the lives of those first settlers in this new world.

"What is it?" Commander Taylor's low rumbling voice suddenly broke in her thoughts. He crouched down next to her to look over her shoulder at the book in her lap.

"I think it's an account of the people that came here before us. They must have been part of the crew aboard that ship of which we got the prow." Hera reported, her eyes remaining glued to the pages before her. Basking as it was in an orange glow that the torches cast on it, she squinted her eyes to better decipher the entries dating back to the early seventeenth century. She looked up at Commander Taylor for permission to delve deeper into this and to her relief he motioned for her to continue. Turning back to the book in her hands Hera scanned the pages in the dim flickering light of the flames around them, reading parts of it out loud now and then to better reconstruct the story of those first colonists.

From what she could make out it seemed the ship had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. It had been at the mercy of a stormy sea when the fracture had opened right before them, taking only part of it with it and transporting it instantly to the Badlands. Trapped in a world so different from their own it seemed most of the crew that had survived the treacherous voyage had believed it to be a curse dooming them to die instead of a miracle saving them to live.

Despite the hardships they faced most did manage to survive several decades in which they must have built the settlement that had now been reduced to mere ruins. Eventually, though, the entries became more and more bleak, listing diseases and lack of food that took many lives. Combined with no chances of a younger generation to appear each of the colonists had perished, simply losing the race against their own mortality.

"Bet they regretted thinking that bringing women on board was bad luck." Commander Taylor remarked with a grim grin though she could see he hadn't been untouched by the tangible account of how those first colonists much like themselves had bravely tried to survive and ultimately failed to succeed.

Hera closed the book with a dull thud, not sure what to say now it felt they had witnessed an incredibly sad story that could have been their own.

"I always assumed we were the first.." The Commander straightened, eyes wandering thoughtfully through the chamber, "But I guess we never really were-"

A sudden clanking side invaded the burrow like structure, traveling through the walls and bouncing off it in weak distorted echoes which made him pause and instinctively reach for his weapon. Hera strained her ears, a second later she could discern the sound of far-off and indistinct voices; and they were growing louder. Someone was coming…

Commander Taylor held out a hand to her and pulled her to her feet, inclining his head meaningfully at her to indicate he wanted her to follow at a safe distance. Next instant he eased forward, weapon raised.

"Who's there?!" His inquiring shout rebounded of the walls, mingling with the shadow of his words as he kept repeating them, all the while moving forward until they reached a shadowy corner with a door neither of them had noticed before as it eerily blended with the rough earthen walls around it.

Hera could feel her heart hammering wildly in her chest now something uncomfortably close to fear rushed through her body. She increased the grip on her weapon but almost dropped it regardless when the door before them shuddered violently before it inevitably burst open.

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