30/11/07
Title: Coruscating Light
Author: Squeezynz
Author's note: we now leave our Stephen's and Abby's briefly, to return to the end of Chapter 16, AR1, where the rest of the Scooby gang, AR1Connor, Sir Lester and Claudia(Marsden) together with AR2Nick, have just survived the home office bombing, and are on the trail of AR1Alex Massey and his henchmen, as well as trying to find their missing friends, AR1Abby and AR2Stephen.
(remember that AR1 is the scene at the end of ep.6 of season one. "Where's Claudia?" Technically, the rest of season one is set in yet another alternative reality - AR3 – where AR3Nick originally came from when he entered the anomaly in ep.6. AR3Nick is currently stranded in time, after going in search of AR1 Stephen and AR2Abby, there with his missing wife, Helen Cutter.)
For clarification of all these complicated threads, go to Chapter 19 and read the chapter review. It should be a clear as mud after reading that)
It's not my fault.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
They stood in a room with an enormous screen, nearly the full height of the room. Numerous people worked at computer stations around the room, the LED's reflecting of headsets and glasses. Nick, Connor and Claudia watched as several satellite feeds were displayed on the screen, the single screen becoming many as each view vied for attention with the others. Garish colours and strange visuals appeared on one screen, prompting Connor to break his self imposed silence.
"Infrared..and that one shows the magnetic array...this is just so cool!" Unable to completely contain his excitement, Connor flashed a wide grin at his companions, receiving an indulgent look from the Professor. Muted voices around them and the buzz of the technology made for an awe inspiring spectacle of modern resources, available to anyone with enough money and government backing to call on them. Claudia felt someone tap her shoulder and turned to find Sir Lester had joined them in the viewing gallery, his usually taciturn expression showing a boyish enthusiasm for the display in front of them.
"Impressive, isn't it?" Lester murmured, leaning forward to see Nick and Connor's reactions. "Nice to see where all your tax dollars are being spent."
"Big brother is watching you..." Nick muttered back, as one of the camera's zoomed in like an avenging angel, pinpointing one of the anomaly sites and bringing it into sharp focus. "Where is that?" Nick asked, pointing to the screen.
"It should look familiar, it's where you and Stephen were picked up. Hence the signs of relatively recent activity." Lester informed him, pointing at the screen to illustrate the tyre tracks criss-crossing the muddy area.
"That's where we were found?" Nick studied the area, but it remained anonymous to him. "What about the other sites?"
"Tracking them as we speak." Lester replied, a tech walking over to the government man and handing him a sheet of paper. "They think they've found them."
Connor, Nick and Claudia all turned to stare at Lester, then just as quickly back to the huge screen, searching the multiple displays. One by one the excess screens were shut off, leaving one to take up a good half of the available space. It showed a scene of rolling mountainside, dotted with dense woodlands, the location not immediately identifiable. Lester was frowning down at the sheet, trying to read it in the uncertain light.
"It would appear that you were right, Mister Temple. They are exactly where you said they would be."
"I knew it...but wait...what is that?" Connor's gleeful expression changed to one of surprise. On the big screen the view was narrowing down to a particularly dense area of tree covered hillside, and as they got closer it was apparent that a building was partially camouflaged by the trees. They could see little from the view directly above, other than it was big, and vaguely octagonal in shape.
"We have a contact," announced one of the tech at their work station, an overlay appearing on top of the real time view of the woodland, a bright light flashing somewhere off to the left of the building. "Confirmed...it's an AAT, strength six and holding steady."
"AAT?" Nick hissed at Connor.
"Active Anomaly Target," Connor hissed back. "The strength is the measure of magnetic pulse given off by the event. They can measure the fluctuations and predict if it's weakening. A six means a pretty good anomaly, and no sign of it closing soon."
"What does strength ten mean?" Claudia asked.
Connor didn't answer immediately, and both Nick and Claudia turned to stare at the young student. Connor returned their raised eyebrows with a lop sided smile.
"End of the world?"
"What?" Claudia burst out, only to have Lester sigh heavily at her side.
"What Mister Temple is trying to say is, that anything over an eight constitutes an irreparable tear in the fabric of time and space...a probable, and this is all only speculation, but a likely creation of a permanent portal into the past."
"And that's a ten?" Nick asked, looking aghast. "Have any of them come close to that?"
"Not as yet, at least not since we started to record the activity. We're hoping, if we find Massey's information, we'll find more to go on. Which is the reason we're all here, and watching this. Ah, there are the special forces getting into position." Lester nodded towards the screen, which had switched to infrared again, showing bright heat points indicating a sizable force of armed men approaching the structure in the woods.
"How did they get there so fast?" Nick gaped at the screen, watching the bright pinpoints of light creeping ever closer to the octagonal building.
"We decided to take Connor's information on board and send special forces ahead of time. If there is anyone, or any technology to be found in regards these anomalies, they'll make sure it is kept secure and under wraps." Lester leant over the low railing and spoke to one of the techs, pointing to the screen as he asked his question. After a brief exchange, Lester leant back and folded his arms over his chest.
"Well?" Nick asked.
"As you can see, the only signs of life are the special forces surrounding the building. It would appear to be deserted."
"Or maybe they left via the anomaly before your men got there," Connor suggested, receiving a glare from Lester for his trouble.
"That would suggest a leak, and that's not possible." Lester snapped.
"I wouldn't have thought anyone could have breached Home Office security and blown up its offices, but it happened. I reckon Connor is probably right. The bird has flown," said Nick, his hands on his hips. On the screen, the bright lights of the special forces could be seen entering the building, the lights becoming muted through the thickness of the walls, but still visible. The pulsing light that pinpointed the anomaly was still there, and they saw several of the soldiers exit the building and approach the anomaly.
A voice sounded over an intercom, crackling and distorted, but mostly clear.
"Alpha team to base. Target abandoned but AAT still open. Building secure and no evidence of sabotage as yet. Looks like they left in a hurry, coffee's still warm."
One of the operators answered. "Base to Alpha Leader, collect any portable data and remove to safe distance, then check the place, watch for explosives."
"Already on it Base. Disarming as we go. R and D would have a field day with what's in here. Will start data download as soon as we sure there are no devices left behind."
"Alright Alpha Leader, you're calling the shots. We'll send the experts down. Base out."
Lester turned to face the other three. "That's your cue. There a car and a plane waiting for you three. I suggest you don't hang about. Everything you need will be provided."
Claudia gaped for a second, then closed her mouth and gave her superior a nod, leading the other two out of the darkened room and out into a brightly lit corridor.
"This could be the breakthrough we needed," said Claudia, hurrying down the corridor to the bank of lifts at the end.
"We have you to thank for this Connor...well done." Nick slapped the younger man on the shoulder, almost sending him sprawling.
"Nothing to it...just have to follow the trail of the technology. Wonder what they were doing in the building?"
"Guess we'll find out soon enough," Nick replied. The ping of the lift forestalled any further conversation, the air of nervous anticipation carrying over until they were bundled aboard a private jet and heading west from London City Airport towards their destination, somewhere east of the Cambrian Mountains. Their flight would take them to the Caernarfon Air Park, then another, local operator would take them the short, thirty minute trip to where the special forces were waiting to take them to the site. The ultimate destination was a small area outside the village of Mallwyd, nestled at the base of the Welsh mountains.
They had plenty of time to read the dossier handed to Claudia when they reached the London airport, Lester's sources once more providing them with everything known to date about the area, the village and Massey. They arrived at Caernarfon and were immediately bundled into a military RN Merlin HM1 and flown towards the imposing bulk of Cambrian highlands. Connor was in his elements, having never flown in a helicopter before, his face light up with a grin that could have powered the national grid. Claudia looked less sanguine, her face pale and mouth set, enduring the noisy ride but not exactly enjoying it. Nick sat and stared out at the Welsh landscape passing below, turning over in his head what they'd learned so far, but also aware that it had brought them precious little closer to finding Stephen or Abby. They could only hope that whatever the building in Mallwyd was hiding would prove useful in the hunt for their missing friends.
They'd received notification that the anomaly was still open, providing a direct portal to wherever Massey or his cohorts had gone. If they were lucky, it could lead them there as well.
A short burst of radio chatter announced their arrival at the site, several figures in black on the ground ready to receive them. They'd flown over the small village itself, but it had passed in a blur
and now they were in the foothills of the Cambrians, bordering a dense tract of forest.
It was a short trip on the back of a quad bike among the trees before they arrived at the site. The anomaly was clearly visible, twinkling innocently among the dark trunks of pine and scrubby ash. Several of the smaller trees had been cleared to provide a space in front of the portal to the fourth dimension. Nick and the others were not given a chance to investigate, bundled as they were by the special forces into the green painted octagon. Inside was brightly lit with artificial light, the construct having no windows to the outside, only doors. Claudia hung back to speak to the leader of the special ops, while Connor and Nick advanced on the bank of computers in the middle of the room. Several of the armed forces were already accessing the hard-drives, downloading what they could, while others boxed up paperwork ready to be taken back to the Home Office.
Nick found himself sitting at one of the consoles and flicking on the screen. At once the image of a corporate logo appeared, looking a little like the emblem for recycling, but with a rendering of a velociraptor at the center. He clicked on the image and a page of clickable options appeared.
Connor was a couple of computers down and tapping furiously on the keyboard, his attention all on the screen. Nick glanced over and decided to investigate what Connor was doing. Massey had certainly thrown a great deal of money into this project, if the quality of the technology was anything to go by. It was a surprise that he, Massey, had chosen to abandon it all without even deleting the information left behind. Choosing to ignore the enigma that was Alex Massey, Nick stood behind Connor and watched the young student work. One of the special ops announced he was done, extracting a mini disk from the hard drive and slipping it into a jewel case. Connor didn't raise his head, his concentration all on the pages and information scrolling across his screen.
"Connor?" Nick asked softly.
"They are years ahead of us in every way. It's incredible, how this man, this Rhino Corp has managed to keep this under wraps until now, it boggles the mind. Look here, a complete breakdown of the specs to build a gate detector, another file about the tracking technology...this is a gold mine. I can't believe they left all this here for us to find...either they were really caught on the back foot, or they left this here deliberately."
"Why would they do that?" Claudia asked, having come up behind both men and watched the younger man work his magic.
"Maybe there's someone in the organisation that doesn't like what Massey is doing?" Nick suggested, glancing over at Claudia.
"The section leader said they did find several devices that could have wiped this building off the face of the map, but none of them had been primed or timers set, which is odd."
"Well, if there is someone on the inside...they certainly left us a wealth of information. With this," Connor pointed at the screen, "we could actually create a device to tell us where the anomaly is leading, time wise, and if anything is on the other side...cool!"
"What does it look like?" Claudia asked, peering at the screen. Connor brought up an image and she asked him to print it out. "I'll see if anyone has come across these in their search. It's too much to hope for, but it's worth a chance. Otherwise we'll have to get our guys onto making one, as soon as possible." She left to collect the printout and take it to the OIC.
Nick remained with Connor, the young man totally absorbed in his quest to winkle out all he could from the computer system. After twenty minutes, Nick leant forward again.
"Anything yet to indicate what might have happened to Stephen and Abby?"
"I'm looking...give me time. There's been several references to other sites. It appears that there are several off-world, to use a word, sites and it's possible they've been taken to one of those. Plus I've seen several references to lists of personnel at these sites. See...here and here," Connor pointed to them on the screen. "You see this list...there's an S Hart, but no designation, only a site number. And again, here..and here. All S Hart...one lists the person as invaluable, another as expendable."
"How many in all?" Nick asked, frowning.
"Eighteen so far. Some with a date, some without, others with reference to, what I can only suppose are hunting trips, with numbers in the party and trophies taken. It makes for pretty hairy reading. Some of these groups come back with less members than they start out with. There seems to be a very high rate of attrition among those taking part, including regular personnel."
"Shit." Nick swore, noting the animals listed on the trophy printouts, several names familiar, others new to him, all of them obviously primeval in origin and not part of the current catalogue of Earth species alive today.
Connor glanced up at Cutter, his fingers unmoving on the keyboard. "What are you thinking?"
"I'm thinking that this bastard, Massey, has been harvesting people he can use. Taking them from different times to use for his own reasons. Goodness knows what lure he uses to convince them to become members of his organisation, but it must be good to have coerced Stephen into the ranks."
"Maybe he didn't go willingly?" Connor suggested. "I mean, they had to beat up our guy and carry him off...not exactly a soft option."
"You may be right. If Massey is targeting Stephen, it's possible they had to use something other than money to persuade him."
"And that's why they took Abby as well?"
"Probably." Nick scratched at his face. "Ack...who knows what's going on. Do you best Connor, I'll go see about rustling up some provision. I could murder a good scotch."
"Beer for me, if your offering," Connor called after him, turning back to the screen, his brows forming a formidable frown as he typed furiously.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
It was getting dark before the special ops team turned up the small cache of gizmo's hidden behind a panel in one of the rooms. It was becoming clear, that someone inside Massey's or Rhino Corps team was leaving clues, helping Cutter and his people follow the bread crumbs. No one knew enough to speculate who, although Nick was forming a suspicion but chose to keep his views to himself.
The anomaly had remained open for hours now, the area around it now illuminated with several flood lights and detectors to alert the team if the magnetic field started to fade. Supplied with beer and coffee, Connor remained glued to the computer console, ignoring suggestions he take a break, only his bladder making him move, and that infrequently.
The special forces had been reinforced and relieved, the area now as secure as humanly possible, around the hidden research station. It was puzzling Nick as to why nothing had attempted to come through the time portal, as had happened before. They were using one of the new found detectors, but nothing was appearing on the scanner. It was purported to be able to scan some distance beyond the anomaly on the other side of the rip, giving amble warning if a creature approached. So far, nothing had. It worried him.
He left Connor and went out to the area around the anomaly, noting that a small team of techs were putting the last touches to a remote robot they were going to use to send through to test if radio signals could be passed through the portal, along with information about the situation there. It obviated the use of people as guinea pigs, but also slowed the whole process down, the equipment needing to be calibrated and checked before each use. Nick stood to the side and watched, Claudia joining him after a few minutes.
"Home office directive, I'm afraid," said Claudia, as if reading Nick's mind. "They don't want to lose anyone unnecessarily."
"Well that's a comfort," Nick muttered, feeling a wave of impatience sweep over him. It had been hours since they'd arrived, and still nothing had been done to set out after the previous occupants.
"How much longer?"
Claudia heard the impatience in his voice. "I'm sorry Nick...I know you want to go after them and find Stephen and Abby, but you can't just go blundering about...they could be anywhere."
"Or they could be just on the other side of that anomaly. Even the Home Office must realise we've been given this opportunity, handed to us on a plate. It would have been too easy for them to wipe all the information off the computer system and torch this place, leave nothing behind. Instead we have more than we could have possibly hoped for...the holy grail of anomaly research, all tied up with a bow and served with a side helping of 'come get me'. What more does Lester want? A signed invitation?"
Nick had become more animated as he spoke, his hands expressing some of his frustration. Claudia placed a hand on his arm, feeling the tense muscles flex beneath her fingers.
"I know how you feel Nick, truly I do, but we have to be patient. This could all be a trap, and you're too important to risk. You haven't spoken to Connor recently...?"
"About an hour ago...why?"
"Stephen isn't the only one that's mentioned in those personnel lists."
Nick stared at her for a heartbeat, then blinked slowly. "Ah...I did wonder."
"You two are so obviously best as a team, it's little wonder they took you both. Although it appears to be Stephen more often than you."
"I think you can thank my wife for that discrepancy"
"Your wife? Helen Cutter?"
"The same. I'm starting to think she had a hand in this as well."
"How so?"
"Nothing I can point to, just a feeling."
Claudia looked at him askance, but didn't question his hunch. It was something Lester had mentioned when she'd reported back to him. It seemed that Nick had been thinking the same thing.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Nick, Connor and Claudia stood and watched the robot trundle towards the still gyrating anomaly and disappear through. Every tech in the place was now standing around a hastily erected computer station, monitoring the video feed signal and electronic feedback from their various sensors placed about the robot. The forest around them was preternaturally quiet, the lights glaringly bright and making the night seem even darker.
"We're getting a signal," the technician announced, drawing all eyes to him. "We have visual as well."
Nick muscled his way through the crowd of bodies and caught a glimpse of what the robot was seeing.
"The Nexus!"
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
tbc...