Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me. This is fan fiction, not for profit.
Any references to people, places, businesses etc is entirely fictitious.
A/N Part of the Claudia story verse (AU) Transitions, Transitions Too, Continuum, Trimming the Tree
5.3-1 AU Anomaly in an Art Gallery
…"what's happening to us"…
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The waiting room receptionist finally called Connor's name.
"Dr. MacAllister will see you now," she said in a cheery tone.
Abby started to get up with Connor, but he looked at her and shook his head.
"If you don't mind Abby," said Connor "I'd like to do this on my own."
In the examining room, the physician's assistant took Connor's temperature and then handed him a gown.
"Take off your clothes," ordered the woman. "I'll get the blood pressure reading when you've got all those shirts off."
When the physician's assistant returned, she frowned at Connor's bruised left arm and then moved to his right side to fasten the blood pressure cuff. She jotted down the numbers on Connor's record.
"Doctor will be in to see you in a few minutes," the woman said as she closed the door behind her.
It was more than a few minutes later when the doctor finally arrived.
"Well Connor," greeted the gruff old Dr. MacAllister, "What have you done to yourself this time?"
Connor regarded the bearded old man who had splinted ankles, stitched cuts and performed his annual physical for the past several years.
"I didn't do anything to myself," Connor replied "A car hit me… doctor at the hospital said to have a ten day follow up with my regular doctor… didn't they tell you anything about that?"
Dr. MacAllister looked from his patient's battered body to the slim file folder in front of him.
"Why don't you tell me about it in your own words," the doctor dissembled.
"Not much to tell," said Connor.
"What do you remember?"
Connor sighed. He blinked his eyes and looked away for a moment, before answering the doctor.
"Someone stole my laptop," answered Connor. "I chased after her… the next thing I remember… everything hurt… I think I was in a car… a woman was talking about a hospital… another woman said no… we can't take him there."
"What?" exclaimed the Doctor. "Why?"
"Dunno," replied Connor. "She talked like she knew my name… it meant something to her. The next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital."
Connor stopped speaking for a moment. He gave a small smile.
"Abby was there."
Dr. MacAllister stepped closer. He held the stethoscope up.
"Why don't we just examine you now?" he asked.
The doctor moved the thin fabric of the gown to one side and pressed the cold stethoscope on Connor's chest.
"Breathe in," directed the doctor. He moved the stethoscope lower. Connor winced as it pressed against tender flesh. "What did they tell you about your surgery?"
"They removed my spleen," answered Connor.
"And are you still on medication?"
"Loads," replied Connor. "But I can't remember the names of the medicines…"
Connor paused for a moment, took a deep breath and continued.
"I can't remember much of anything really, my mind is just a jumble, and I have nightmares about boots," Connor blurted out. "My brain's not working right."
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Abby looked up from her magazine as the doctor spoke sharply to the receptionist.
"Geraldine," asked the doctor "do I have all of Mr. Temple's records in this folder?"
The woman looked up from the nail file she was brushing across her finger tips.
"All the files were up to date before the holidays," Geraldine replied. She pointed at an inbox full of papers. "I haven't got to the new stuff yet."
Dr. MacAllister glowered.
"Would you kindly check for any new records pertaining to Mr. Temple?"
"Sure," responded the receptionist cheerfully.
Dr. MacAllister stared at her. She blinked.
"Oh," she added "do you mean now?"
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Abby met Jess in the ARCs break room later that afternoon.
"Missed you at lunch," greeted Jess. She started to refill her coffee cup.
"It was late by the time we got out of the doctor's office," replied Abby. "Connor and I had lunch at home."
"Hope everything went well," said Jess lightly as she reached for the creamer. She didn't want to pry.
"I think so," confided Abby. "The doctor arranged for a physical therapist to come by our home twice a week. For now anyway, at least until Connor can get up and around on his own."
"Oh good," smiled Jess.
Abby took a sip of her tea as she regarded her friend. She didn't tell Jess what she had done when Connor was settled in the mini after his appointment.
"Connor," said Abby, "I left my magazine in the waiting room… wait here, I'll be right back."
In the waiting room, she asked the receptionist if she could talk to Connor's doctor. The woman wasn't going to help her, but the doctor heard their conversation.
"You're Mr. Temple's partner," said Dr. MacAllister "right? Step this way."
In the doctor's office, the gruff old man didn't answer Abby's questions. Instead he asked some of his own.
"Have you noticed any changes in Connor's behavior," asked the doctor, "since this happened?"
"Connor's not himself," said Abby. "He sleeps a lot and isn't interested in… things he's normally interested in."
"The sleeping is probably due to some of the pain medications he was on," replied the doctor. "It would probably account for the dizziness and headaches too."
Abby gaped at the man's words. What else had Connor not told her? The doctor looked at the chart in front of him. His gray and white mustache moved up and down as he harrumphed about the words he read.
"Once the meds get out of his system he should start to improve," said Doctor MacAllister. "However, I'm going to ask you to watch him."
"Watch him for what?"
"Connor has indicated that he is experiencing symptoms of memory loss, confusion and nightmares," explained the doctor. "I'll need you to watch him for signs of worsening symptoms... or depression… mood swings… any mental issues at all really."
Abby's blue eyes filled with tears. Her chin wobbled for a moment, then she clenched her jaw in determination. She nodded.
Abby smiled at Jess.
"Our lives seem to be all at sixes and sevens," replied Abby. "I just don't know what's happening to us."
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Lester stood outside of Cutter's open lab door. The director had a funny expression on his face and was twisting something small in the fingers of his hand. Cutter pressed another metal rod into place. It snapped on with a satisfying click. The professor stepped back and regarded his three dimensional map of the anomalies. He knew Connor and Jess had a computerized representation in the database. It might be old school, but Nick liked the tangible model better.
"Are you coming in?" asked Cutter. "Or just going to stand out there in the hall?"
Lester stepped through the open doorway, and pulled the door shut behind him. Cutter raised his eyebrows.
"We have some additional information regarding the bones in Lucy's den," began Lester.
"The forensic report is back already?" asked Cutter in surprise.
"No, of course not… that will take weeks," replied Lester. "But the bones may not be our missing night shift coordinator after all.
"What makes you say that?"
"The forensic team found one more item," replied Lester "when they were sorting through the bone fragments."
He held up a small gold ring. Cutter took it from Lester grasp, held it up to the light and tilted it. Inside the shining band, engraved on one side was HC & NC, on the other side was one word… forever.
"No, no," protested the Professor. "I buried Helen in the Miocene."
"And according to Danny," reminded Lester "there is a Helen buried in the Pliocene too."
"But you don't understand," continued Cutter, "Helen couldn't be wearing this ring… she took it off years ago, threw it at me in one of our stupid… stupid… arguments."
"Well maybe another Helen threw the ring at Burton," said Lester quietly. "Right now… all we know for sure is human bones were found with Burton's ID and Helen's ring."
"The forensic team can count the ribs," growled Cutter "to tell the gender… and if they can't, I can."
"The bones have been in Lucy's den for several months," reminded Lester. "When the forensic team reassembles the pieces… they'll tell us what they can."
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Lester and Cutter continued talking as they walked to Lester's office. Matt was waiting for them. The team leader held the device they'd found at the race track in his hands.
"We need to talk about this," said Matt.
Lester rubbed his hand across his forehead and sat down tiredly in his chair.
"I didn't get a close look at that yesterday," said Cutter. He held out his hand, and Matt passed the device to the Professor.
"This device wasn't made by our Connor," continued Matt.
"Are you sure?" asked Lester.
"Yes, it has his logo on it," answered Matt, "but the technology is all wrong. I don't think it was made anywhere in our time."
Cutter was turning the gadget over in his hands, inspecting it carefully. And he remembered... Helen's place in the Miocene where devices... some marked with a similar triangular logo and the initials CT, some marked with CAT, and some with a feline image... all existed.
"If Connor's theory of multiple universes is correct," said the Professor in his rolling brogue, "this could be made by another Connor Temple in some other time... some other place..."
"Oh, just what we need, another Connor Temple," sighed Lester. "How very reassuring."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Two women broke into a disused power station. They raised the rolling door and drove the stolen SUV inside. Once the vehicle was safely out of sight, there was no chance of anyone finding the SUV. The women started unpacking gear. The portable gasoline powered generator was the last item taken from the hardware store.
"It seems funny," said April with a smirk "setting up a generator in a power station."
"And how else would we get electricity here?" asked Aurora sharply. "This power station was decommissioned years ago."
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An anomaly alert sounded in the ARC.
"Another?" asked Lester as he made his way out of his office to Jess's workstation. "So soon?"
"It hasn't even been twenty-four hours since the anomaly opened yesterday," said Matt as he followed Lester.
"Yesterday's anomaly might have been manually opened," reminded Cutter.
Becker and Abby joined the group at the anomaly detection device. From various hallways, Claudia, Emily and Sarah could be seen heading towards Jess's workstation.
"Coordinates indicate an art gallery," said Jess. "According to the gallery management, the building should be closed and no one inside. They're set up for a presentation… but it doesn't open until tomorrow night."
"Let's go."
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