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
5.6-1 Convergence
…"they're everywhere"…
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In the ARC, Lester and Colonel Harper joined Jess at her workstation. The two men stared over her shoulder at the display screens.
"It appears that our little secret is out," said Lester. He peered over Jess's shoulder at the video feed. "We have a pterosaur roosting on Big Ben."
A voice spoke from behind him.
"Oh that's not just any old pterosaur," corrected Cutter. "That's Quetzalcoatlus… cretaceous era… one of the largest flying animals the world has ever seen."
Lester turned and stared at the Scot. He stood with Claudia just beyond the Colonel.
"What are you two doing here?" huffed Lester. "I expressly sent you…"
Claudia crossed her arms and glared at Lester.
"On a fool's errand," she said. "Seriously? Recheck the basement where Connor was found? Becker wouldn't have missed anything in that place."
Lester huffed again and started to say something, but the Colonel spoke first.
"Don't you people understand anything about strategy?" the military man asked. "You never keep all your key personnel together… in times of danger."
The standoff between Cutter and Claudia against the combined bureaucratic stubbornness of Lester and the Colonel might have gone on for longer, except for the plaintive question of a nervous voice.
"In horror movies people always get killed when they're separated from the team," said Duncan. "Why aren't we sticking together?"
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On the motorway to New Forest, Matt and Emily listened worriedly to the voices on the comm. In the back seat of the SUV, April twisted her head to the left and then to the right… trying to see past the security officers seated beside her.
"Jess, I'm already on the M3… nearly to Camberley," called Matt. "Should we come back to London?"
Jess looked from one view screen to another. Lester leaned in to the speaker.
"No," ordered Lester. "Find out where Aurora is from and what's in that bunker."
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On another motorway, Stephen slammed on the brakes. The SUV he was driving came to a shuddering halt mere inches from the snarling gorgonopsid. He shifted into reverse and floored the accelerator. The soldier beside him raised his weapon and leaned out the side window.
"Jess, I'm just past Heathrow… there's an anomaly on the motorway" called Stephen. "We might need another route to the power plant."
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At the racetrack, Sarah, Private Sharma and the new recruit watched the glowing ball of light pulsing in front of them.
"Is it supposed to do that?" asked Private Sharma.
Sarah tossed her long dark hair over her shoulders and sat down between the two anomaly locking devices. Sarah tried to look more confident than she felt. She pointed to the machine on the right.
"This is the standard anomaly locking device," said Sarah. Then pointing to the other, she added "This one is the reverse engineered device. If that anomaly opens, one of these machines will lock it."
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On the quiet tree lined street, Danny stopped the SUV right in the middle of the road. He stared at the sight before him. It wasn't until Abby climbed out of the vehicle and started running towards the anomaly, that Danny moved too. His long legs caught up to the petite blonde before she reached the shimmering edge.
"No Abby," said Danny.
"Let go of me!" cried Abby. "Connor's in there!"
"And my baby brother," reminded Danny. "When we go in… we go together… but first… we get back up."
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"This isn't a horror movie," replied Lester. "Think of it more as… I'm not putting all my eggs in one basket."
Duncan looked even more confused.
"I keep my eggs in the refrigerator."
Jess was scrambling from one monitor to another, typing in commands, speaking crisply to the voices on the comm device demanding her assistance.
Danny's voice crackled over Jess's comm. device. If possible, her eyes grew even wider in alarm.
"An anomaly surrounding Abby and Connor's home!" Jess exclaimed. "Yes, I'll send backup."
The cell phone on her workstation started a familiar ring tone. Jess grabbed it.
"Hil," said Jess "anomalies are opening…"
"Everywhere," finished Becker. "I'm on my way to the ARC… be there as quick as I can, but my comm. device is fried."
Becker looked ruefully at the black sword lying on the kitchen counter next to his comm. device. He remembered Connor saying the sword couldn't be around computers, but he didn't realize the magnetite forged into the sword would also play havoc with his comm. device.
"No," replied Jess. "You're closer to Abby and Connor's home… go there."
"What?"
"An anomaly has engulfed the entire home," answered Jess "with Connor and Patrick in it!"
She set the cell phone down and turned to the pudgy man beside her.
"Duncan," Jess said "would you give me a hand please."
Claudia stepped forward.
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Claudia asked.
"Get on the phone and start calling all the off duty teams and anyone else you can think of," ordered Jess. "We need all the help we can get."
Cutter gazed at Lester. The Professor ignored Colonel Harper entirely.
"Connor is one of the key personnel in the ARC too," reminded Cutter. "I'm going to Connor and Abby's place."
"Of course Connor is important!" called Lester as Cutter's figure retreated down the corridor. "Go on now…"
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Matt glanced in the rear view mirror. The small blonde sitting in the middle of the back seat was fidgeting.
"April," asked Matt "where exactly in New Forest is this place of Aurora's?"
"It's before you enter the forest," corrected April. "When you get to the roundabout, don't go straight… take Romsey Road towards High Wood Copse."
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"Seriously?" asked Stephen in disbelief. Beside him the soldier groaned.
"Another?" asked the soldier. "That thing is huge!"
In the seat behind the two men, the other soldiers started reaching for their weapons.
"I don't know if we have enough ammunition for that thing," said the private nervously. "What is it?"
"It's a T-Rex," said Stephen. He pressed the comm. device. "Jess… we took care of the Permian anomaly and the gorgonopsid, but now we see a T-Rex. How many anomalies are open around here?"
"They're opening everywhere," said Jess. "And as soon as one shuts… another opens."
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At the racetrack warehouse, Sarah and the others watched the anomaly pulse.
"Have you locked the doors?" asked Sarah.
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Connor woke up with his face in gravel and dirt. He groaned as he spit the dirt and dust from his mouth.
"About time you woke up," hissed Aurora.
She sat on the rocks beside him. Her long bony arms wrapped around her knees. The open rucksack beside her had a black and chrome device protruding from the bag. Further, in the dark depths of the bag, a pair of close set eyes glowed.
"Who are you?" asked Connor. "What do you want with me?"
"My name is not important."
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Abby elbowed Danny in the ribs. She ran.
"Abby!" called Danny as he gasped for air. He shook his head, and started after her.
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In the ARC, Jess was directing staff to where they were most urgently needed. Duncan was on a computer commandeering equipment and Claudia was on the phone calling for reinforcements.
"Oh no," gasped Jess.
"What is it?" asked Lester in concern.
"There is an anomaly open in the menagerie," replied Jess "near the smilodon cage."
"I'll go check it out," said Lester.
As he turned to leave, the director almost bumped into Colonel Harper. The man was still staring at the image displayed on Jess's topmost monitor screen, Quetzalcoatlus atop Big Ben.
"How much do you suppose that thing weighs?" asked the Colonel.
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Matt and Emily followed April on the muddy path through the shadows of the trees. The security officers brought up the rear. When the little group came to a shadowed recess underneath an outcrop of rocks, April pointed down.
"We have to go single file down there," said April "but be careful… the steps are slippery."
Matt gaped at the vats and tubes lining the tables of this underground lab.
"What on earth was Aurora making?" Matt asked. "Biological weapons?"
April started to answer, but a small anomaly flickered open at the end of the corridor. It was April's chance. She sprinted down the corridor and dove through the anomaly. Matt started to run after her, but Emily grabbed his arm.
"Wait!" exclaimed his wife. "The gateway is flickering."
A moment later and April's anomaly was gone.
"What are we going to do with this?" asked the security officer.
"Personally," replied Matt "I think we should burn it all."
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Stephen ordered the security team out of the SUV.
"I'm going to ram it," he declared. "Then… you shoot it with everything you've got."
"Do you really think ramming a T-Rex is going to work?" asked the sergeant.
"Dunno," replied Stephen, "but Connor knocked a G-Rex off its feet with a baggage cart… so it's worth a try."
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Sarah pushed the button on the locking device two seconds after the anomaly opened, but one huge insect flew through before the anomaly closed. Private Sharma shot the disgusting huge bug. It splattered across the concrete floor in a gooey mess.
"Was it waiting by the anomaly?" asked Private Sharma.
"Hope not," replied Sarah. They watched the anomaly as it continued to pulse.
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The pale, bony faced woman frowned as she reached for the device in her rucksack. Connor pushed himself up off the rocks into an upright position.
"You made this anomaly opening device," the angry woman accused. "People get lost in time… the world changed… horribly… you had no right!"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" replied Connor. "I haven't made an anomaly opening device."
The brown haired scientist held up his hands in a gesture of surrender.
"I made an anomaly detector, an anomaly locking device, a remote control anomaly reconnaissance device," continued Connor "a dating calculator and worked with Jess to finish the anomaly map… we combined that with a version of the dating calc…"
"Shut up!" exclaimed the woman. She threw the device at him. "Those are your initials… right… C A T?!"
Connor picked up the slender device. He turned it over in his hands and inspected it.
"I've never seen this thing before in my life," answered Connor. "I didn't make it."
Gravel crunched as a petite blonde ran towards Connor and the long limbed bony woman facing him.
"Get away from him!" shouted Abby.
The kick Abby launched at the woman's shoulder would have knocked most people sideways. But the woman's fast response had her bony hand gripped around Abby's ankle instead.
"Sit down," ordered the woman.
Then she pulled Abby's ankle. Abby landed with a thump on her bum next to Connor. The woman pulled another smaller device from the rucksack.
"You might not have made that anomaly opening device… yet," snarled the woman, "but you had this prototype design on your laptop. What does it do?"
She rose to stand and held the gadget up in front of the pair.
"That's not what you're thinking… some of the stuff on my laptop was personal," said Connor nervously, "It's a work in progress… I wouldn't turn it on if I were you."
"Really?" asked the woman.
Her angular features turned up in an odd grimace. She pressed the device. A light shot out, centering on the ground before Abby and Connor. The light expanded to a circular image about three feet in diameter. The hologram showed a familiar little blue and white robotic image.
"Abby," the hologram image spoke, "you're my only hope. Please marry me."
Gravel crunched behind the woman as Danny approached. He grabbed the woman with his long arms, trying to restrain her. She dropped the device, and it flickered to a close. The rucksack emitted a low snarl. A thing… of teeth and claws… launched itself at Danny.
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Today, it took over an hour for Cutter to drive from the ARC to Connor and Abby's home. The streets were crowded with creatures… and combatants. To defend their homeland, the brave people of London had taken to the streets… armed with whatever they could find. They fought the invasions from time.
The dead kaprosuchus Cutter found at the entrance to the car park was the first sign of the battle. Another mile away, the professor passed a combined group of London residents and Roman legionnaires fighting a pack of hyenadons. The garbage trucks corralling a stegasaurus in the middle of the street three miles further on caused Cutter to back up and try a different route. Cutter finally left the SUV where the street met the edge of the park. He started walking the last two blocks towards Abby and Connor's home. Cutter met Becker at the intersection of the next street.
"Good day for a walk," greeted the Scot.
"Traffic is murder," replied Becker "and the tube is worse."
The professor looked at the soldier. Becker had a pistol strapped to his waist along with a belt of hand grenades. Two of the grenades were missing. He had a standard issue L22A2 slung over one shoulder and was carrying a black sword. They soon reached the SUV Danny and Abby had abandoned. The shining red, gold and orange anomaly glistened in the air before them.
"It looks like Danny and Abby didn't wait for us," said Becker.
"They never do," replied Cutter. "Let's go find them… and bring them all home."
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