The Reapers crashed in to the walls of the dome, screeching wildly as they slashed with their tails and spiked wings, quickly hacking away at the glass-like surface with a feral rage.
"What the hell are those things?" Ortel yelled from the other side of the glass, watching as the temporal beasts smashed in to the dome, recoiling slightly before attempting again and again and again.
"How should I know?" Jaran snapped. "Something to do with whatever they are researching no doubt. For the greater good of mankind!" He scoffed. "I fail to see how these things can help mankind!"
"Sir!" Ortel said nervously, "The dome. It's starting to give way."
"Nonsense." Jaran dismissed. "Nothing can get through."
"Tell them that!" Ortel cried, pointing up at the slight imperfection that had appeared on the curved surface above them. The reaper in question roared triumphantly, looking down at its prey with, Ortel thought, a look of glee on its' twisted beastial face.
Jaran looked up too, his heart sinking as he saw the crack Ortel was referring too. Impervious, he had been told when he started work here all those years ago. Nothing can get in, apart from through the air-locks. His job was to keep an eye on the staff, and anything that may happen to fall through time and end up in the facility. And that is what he had done. For over twenty years, he had dealt with staff who had decided some of the equipment in the labs would be worth a good deal of credits on the black market, retrieved and quarantined useless artefacts from history that had slipped in to the facility, but he had never dealt with anything like this before. And now, for the first time, looking up at the enraged beasts attempting to crash their way through the dome, Jaran was scared.
But not for himself. He looked to his side, to where Ortel was standing. The young man showed so much promise. He had done ever since he had been assigned to security. Jaran admired that, it would have been so easy to have just given up, given the circumstances. Ortel had volunteered to work at the facility with the hope of becoming a researcher, a scientist. But after taking the aptitude test, he had been assigned the role of junior security officer. It must have been a blow, Jaran knew that. Yet Ortel had never mentioned it since, he just threw himself in to the job at hand, concentrating on doing the best he could. And now it appeared it was going to end like this.
"Sir!" Ortel said loudly, snapping the older man from his thoughts. He looked up again, at the ever growing crack above them. Jaran knew what was coming next, so there was only one option.
"Run!"
**
"They've breached the hull!" Corl screamed as she climbed to her feet, glancing to a read out on a near by monitor.
"I could have told you that!" The Doctor gasped, brushing down his suit. "All intact. Moira?" He looked around. "You ok?"
"Never better." She replied drolly, rolling her eyes. "Why don't you stop fussing over me and get the shields online?"
The Doctor paused, his face very serious. Did she even realise that she was doing it now?
"Right then!" He turned quickly towards the console that Corl and Haim were standing at. "I'm assuming you've got some shields?"
"Yes." Haim replied, shaking. "But,"
"Yes, I know." The Doctor said impatiently. "The Reapers will be inside. And that's not good. I know that better than anyone else. But if we can get the shields up, then at least we stand some chance of keeping some air in here! Then we can worry about not being killed by the Reapers!"
"I'd forgotten about that." Haim replied sheepishly, blushing a little as Cowl placed a comforting hand on his arm. The Doctor smiled a little, he always liked a little bit of romance. No, concentrate! His own voice shouted in his head. He turned to Haim as he placed his thick-rimmed glasses on his face.
"Something's keeping the air in already. How long do I have until whatever it is goes offline?" Haim stroked his chin thoughtfully, looking from side to side.
"The emergency low level filters have been damaged but will hold for around one minute." Moira said to the Doctor with a sigh. "But they were not designed for a breach on this scale. You will have to amplify the range..."
"By bypassing the matrix feed relays and channelling the power straight in to the emitters!" The Doctor finished her sentence, bursting with energy. "Brilliant!" He replied, quickly grabbing the Sonic Screwdriver from his pocket, whirling around the various computer terminals, tapping keys and zapping various pieces of equipment.
"I need more time!" He shouted to Haim and Corl, still standing at the main terminal. Haim had a handheld communication device held to his ear as he relayed instructions to the various groups of people scattered across the facility. "Get them as far away from the edge of the dome as possible!"
"You can do it though, can't you Doctor?" Corl asked, tears slowly dripping down her face. "You can save them?"
"I'll try!" He replied, frantically rushing from monitor to monitor, placing the Sonic Screwdriver in his mouth as he typed at two keyboards simultaneously.
"He will save them." Moira said calmly, placing an arm around Corls' shoulder, the first sign of any emotion, other than annoyance, that the Doctor had seen her express. "The shield will activate before anyone runs out of air."
"Glad you have faith in me!" The Doctor said quickly, pointing the screwdriver at yet another set of controls. "But I'm not so su-" He stopped suddenly, as a dozen lines of text scrolled on to the screen in front of him, and the large image of the dome schematic was surrounded by a blue circle. "Yes!" He screamed, a huge grin on his face. "Got it!"
**
Ortel ran down the corridors, the screeching behind him almost drowned out by his own heavy breathing and footsteps on the grated floor. He looked back for a split second, just long enough to make sure Jaran was still behind him. The creature was closing in on them now, ripping the corridor apart as it came, its' wings slicing through the walls like a knife through butter. Sparks flew from the walls as it broke through cables and electronic equipment, but the creature was apparently un-phased.
It was marvellous, in a certain way, Ortel thought. If he ever got the chance, he'd have loved to study it, work out what it was, why it was here. His life may have been in security now, but his passion for science never really died. Even on his daily patrols with Jaran, Ortel would take note of all of the equipment that could be found in the labs, all of the stray objects that had slipped though the rift. It was the one thing that kept him going. Well, that and Jaran.
Their relationship was an uneasy one at first. Jaran seemed to resent Ortels' enthusiasm, but he always put it down to jealousy. Over time, however, the pair had developed a mutual respect for one another. Jaran appreciated Ortels' drive to try his best, whilst the older mans' dedication to his job, his life, was commendable in Ortels' eyes. Although they had become close, Ortel had never dreamed that they would be running for their lives together.
Suddenly, there was a loud crash from in front of Ortel as part of the corridor gave way, ripped apart by another Reaper. It roared triumphantly, stretching its' wings wide as Ortel skidded to a halt. Jaran was right behind him, almost charging straight in to him.
"Well Sir," The young man, swallowed hard, "it's been a pleasure working with you."
"You're a liar Ortel." Jaran smiled, as the pair stood back to back, the Reapers closing in from both sides. They had slowed down now, purposely playing with their prey. "I find it hard to believe you ever enjoyed me barking orders at you."
"Well," Ortel replied cheekily, "I guess you're right. No more orders from now on though!"
"If that's what you think young man," Jaran said, his tone back to being gruff and serious. "I have one more order for you."
With no warning, he grabbed hold of Ortel, using the weight of his own body to throw them both in to a roll towards the nearest Reaper. Before he could work out what was going on, Ortel found himself having rolled beneath the large spiked wing on the beast so that both he and Jaran were behind it.
"Now run!" Jaran roared at Ortel as the Reaper quickly swooped around to face them again, the second one flying forwards to join it. Ortel remained frozen on the spot.
"No, not without you."
"I'll catch you up." Jaran barked, "Now Officer Ortel. Run!"
Jaran looked up at the approaching beast, its red eyes staring in to his own. This was it, this was what he had worked for. He was security, and he was protecting people. He stood tall, not faltering as he heard Ortels' footsteps echo behind him.
On the order, Ortel had turned away from Jaran and the Reapers, charging down the corridor as quickly as he could, knowing he couldn't look back. He didn't need too. He knew what was happening.
Officer Jaran's desperate screams of agony told him all he needed to know.