"Exactly." Matt confirmed.
Connor was tempted to make a joke about the married couple finishing each other's sentences but another wave of pain made him gasp instead.
"That sounds like one hell of a headache!" Abby acknowledged.
Connor nodded forgetting that she couldn't see him and instantly regretted it. If anything he felt hungover, but far worse than usual (and for Connor that was saying something).
"H-how will I get Abby into Prospero and past Phillip without him noticing?" Connor breathed. "He told me especially not to tell Abby about my work!"
"Well you succeeded didn't you!" Abby snapped.
She knew it was unfair for her to be angry over something her boyfriend didn't tell her when he didn't even remember doing it. All the same...
"I'm sure you'll think of something." Jess reassured rather ineffectively.
"Yeah right. I haven't had a proper night's sleep, I've done drugs, now I'm receiving splitting headaches and you want me to come up with a plan?"
There was silence all round as Becker and Connor walked on.
"Do you have a better idea?" said Becker.
In front of them shone the silver anomaly. Connor never tired of these amazing gateways but today was the exception. Tonight he'd try and go to bed early, if work allowed it. Connor rubbed his eyes, then jumped backwards as another Troodon lumbered towards him. That was when Abby and Matt arrived, crashing the van into the creature. It dropped to the ground, stunned by the blow. Connor took a few minutes to take everything in before running over to the van.
"Abby!" he called.
"What?" she asked.
"Oh thank god!"
Abby stepped out of the van and was followed by a slightly dazed looking Matt.
"Is everyone okay?" Becker asked.
"A few bumps and bruises but the air bag did its job." replied Matt as Connor hugged his girlfriend.
"You sure you're fine?"
"Connor stop fussing!" Abby scolded.
"You two take my car. I parked it –" Matt paused. Where had he parked his car again? Oh yes, by the other anomaly. Feeling a bit stupid he backtracked. "-oh. Jess can you send someone down here to pick these two up?"
"Sure, I'll do it myself." Jess chirped, glad to be of use as she grabbed her car keys.
For some strange reason that he could not define Becker found that he didn't like this idea one bit.
It didn't take Jess long to arrive in her convertible. She was glad to be included in the fieldwork if only as transportation. Plus it meant that she got to see Becker. As Connor and Abby stepped in she tried to look at anything but him. Theoretically she knew she should still be angry with Becker yet she'd already broken the rule of not looking at him. Fortunately Connor broke her out of her reverie.
"To Prospero-usness!" he exclaimed.
Abby smiled and Jess put her foot down.
Back at the anomaly site Becker realised the source of his annoyance. He didn't like to put innocent civilians in danger. In this case Jess. She wasn't any old civilian – not to him anyways.
"Let's get these creatures back through the anomaly." said Matt.
Becker shunted his feelings to one side, he had a job to do.
It was oddly quiet in the car. For a while Connor had chatted animatedly abuot how to get into Prospero before wearing himself out and dozing off. His head was on Abby's shoulder as softly snored. He seemed uncomfortable in his sleep, a mixture of a wince and grimace permanently stretched across his face. They drove on in silence listening to Matt and Becker's situation through the comms. It sounded like they were doing reasonably well, they'd shunted the various Troodons back through the anomaly without incident and now Matt was retrieving the anomaly locking device. Having been in the van's boot it was very nearly crushed by the Troodon and looked slightly worse for wear. Matt nervously noted a few wires hanging out from the device as he gingerly picked it up. As he emerged from the van even Becker eyed the gadget cautiously. It was not in good shape. Matt set the locking device down.
"Right. How do I lock the anomaly?"
"Open the lid." Jess instructed.
"It's already open." Matt and Becker chorused.
Abby smirked.
"Oh. Okay then – "
"Press the largest button down, hard." Abby finished.
Matt struck the button. The machine's loose wires sparked and fizzled but nothing happened to the anomaly. The pair exchanged glances.
"Abby wake Connor up, we need his help."
Abby obliged, giving her boyfriend a powerful shove. Connor spluttered awake.
"HELEN!" he yelled. His eyes were wide with panic and he thrashed not realising where he was. "I never meant to help you, Phillip's your uni chum why don't you ask him?"
Abby grabbed Connor's waving arm. This seemed to jerk him from his nightmare. He went silent.
"Connor?" Abby whispered. "How much of what you just said was true?"
He opened his mouth.
"Connor the locking device isn't working." Matt cut in. "Any suggestions?"
Connor answered instantly, grateful for the interruption.
"Is there anything out of place on it?"
"Well there's several loose wires that keep on sparking –" Becker began.
"What colour are the wires?" asked Connor.
"Green." said Matt.
"Ah! That should be simple enough to fix, just replace them."
"With what?" questioned Matt dubiously.
"I usually keep spare technical equipment in the back of the van but – "
"I didn't know you were that organised Connor." Jess commented.
" – the Troodon will have probably destroyed it."
"So what do we do?"
"You need a conductor. Anything metal should do the trick."
Abby watched Connor as he related the instructions. He was in his element but he still hadn't responded to her question. There was a pause whilst Matt and Becker rebuilt the wiring of the locking device.
"Connor."
"Yes?" he said, facing her.
"Answer my question. Was that true?"
Connor remembered Helen's remote. He knew it was his fault and it made sense for the Philip part to be true.
"Yes." He replied removing the comm. He didn't want everyone to hear this argument. "Abby let me explain, I was going to tell you – "
"When!" Abby shouted.
"I tried to back at the flat but you were out the door before I could say anything!"
"Put your earpiece on, I want everyone to hear this!" Abby screeched.
"Look I'm not proud of it but I wasn't in my right state of mind – how was I supposed to know any better?"
"Tell me the TRUTH!"