Chapter 7

It had taken time for Danny to get used to the tall forms that fussed over him night and day. He had worked out, he thought, that they were future humans. Either that or he was the only person to fall through two - no, four! - holes in time and then get abducted by aliens!

Maybe that was where all those alien abduction stories came from? Maybe they weren't aliens, just future humans, making use of the anomalies to study the history and evolution of their species. Granted, they weren't exactly like the typical Speilberg/X-Files noseless, big-eyed, grey-skinned alien, but they were close!

Their skin wasn't grey for starters: it was much more like a slightly tanned version of Danny's own. The noses were still there, albeit smaller and straighter. And they did wear clothes, unlike your average Hollywood alien. The eyes were big though. Not black, not entirely, but definitely larger than any eyes Danny had ever seen. They were almond shaped and slightly slanted most of the time, although Danny sometimes spotted different shapes and angles. Any differences he did spot, though, were almost always in those individuals who seemed subservient. Some things never change, he thought.

After what seemed to be two days, although with no windows in view it was difficult to tell, Danny felt the straps binding his limbs and head being released. Opening eyes now used to the bright white glare above him, Danny looked up to see an individual he could only describe as male. The man's eyes were the customary shape, size and angle, so Danny presumed he was somebody of importance, perhaps the person in charge of his current predicament.

Looking over his shoulder, the man spoke. The words were unfamiliar to Danny and the person being spoken to was out of his eye line, but their content became apparent when another form appeared at his other side and, together with the first man, began to lift him into a sitting position. Once he got the idea, Danny pushed himself up and moved back to lean against the head of the bed. From this new position, he could see much more of the room he was in. It was a single room with white walls, ceiling and floor. There was the outline of a door off to his left, but no sign of a handle for it.

With a wave of his hand, the future-man dismissed his aide, who returned to a position by the door Danny had just spotted. Danny looked up at the man by his bedside.

"I don't expect you can understand me," he began, folding his arms, "or I you, but any chance of an explanation here?"

"As it happens, I can understand you," the man answered, his voice low in pitch and soft in volume. "Ancient languages, especially those which gave rise to our own, are a hobby of mine."

XXXX

"All I'm saying is that he gives me the creeps," hissed Sarah as she refilled nutrient bank in the automatic watering system for the plant lab.

"Just because he took one look at the recordings of that thing and said 'oh, that's just an early form of opabinia' does not make him evil, Sarah," Becker sighed wearily, his back to the closed door of the environmentally controlled lab.

"Cutter would never have dismissed a creature like that so easily!"

"There wasn't much he could do about it bar give us a time-zone: we'd already had to send it back!"

"Connor would have been as high as a kite to see one!"

"Nobody has ever seen anything so old before, ever," said Sarah, fastening the lid on the nutrient bank and turning to face Becker. "The guy has spent most of his life studying this stuff from books, theories and fossils. Now he's just taken a job where we get to tell him we have a live one on camera and the certainty of more out of time creatures thanks to massive rips in time that he's allegedly never heard of before. You'd expect a bit more excitement from him!"

"He worked with Cutter. They were friends. How do you now Cutter never mentioned this stuff to him? Asked his advice on occasion?"

"Then why hasn't he mentioned it to us?"

"He's not supposed to know: Cutter signed the official secrets act!"

"I'm just saying it's a little weird!"

"No, you're just finding fault with everyone Lester brings in here because, no matter how qualified they are, they'll never quite match up to Danny," Becker replied firmly, walking towards her. "That's the problem, Sarah. I know you had feelings for him, but Danny is gone and there's nothing we can do here to bring him back except wait and pray! The sooner you accept that, the sooner we can move on and start doing our job properly again!"

Sarah pushed past him without answering and stormed out of the room, pausing only to attempt to slam the door, then pick up her jacket and bag from her desk.

XXXX

Connor picked at the flaking fish in front of him. Catching it had taken some time, but he'd managed it. After a few hours by the pool he had finally speared his first fish. After that, the next two were relatively easy. He'd collected some large leaves that reminded him of banana leaves. Somewhere in the back of his mind he could remember somebody on a documentary or cookery program or something using banana leaves to eat off of and wrap food in to cook it. He'd gone for the first one, since it would have been difficult to dig an oven pit in a cave, and had opted for spitting his cleaned and gutted catch over the fire instead. He'd split the other two fish and hung them higher over the fire to dry and smoke. Refrigeration wasn't due to be discovered for another sixty five or so million years.

He'd gathered more firewood while he was out, and some roots, berries and nuts. There was no way of telling what was safe to eat without actually eating it, but he'd avoided things that looked like stuff he knew was poisonous. He would have to have a look round the tunnel system later, with a bit more light of course. There were definitely things living deeper in, but they were avoiding the heat and light from the fire, not to mention him. He'd spotted a few weird looking insects: mostly early cave crickets and suchlike, but a few that looked freakishly like the much larger Silurian scorpions Steven and Cutter had encountered so long ago. There was definitely something else though. Something with feet. Proper feet, not skittery insect feet. He'd spotted a damp footprint, when he got back with his precious supplies, just drying in the warmth of the low fire. Whatever it was hadn't come back since he'd been there, and it hadn't tried to eat anything as far as he could make out. That was good. That meant it had probably just risked passing the fire, and Abby, to get to the water.

He picked at the fish, hoping Abby would wake up, demanding food, before he finished it. It was silly, he knew. There was more fish there, smoking, and he needed to keep his strength up. It would be just like the thing, though, for him to finish his meal and set out in search of a new one just before she came round.

XXXX

"We can't stay here, Lena: we need to move."

"What makes you think they've found us?"

"Just trust me, okay! It's not safe here any more!"

A susurration of controversy permeated the darkened silence. In the faint greenish light of the overhanging bioglobes, people crowded into the small space like bats in a crevice. Their dark suits and amorphous hooded ponchos made it impossible to tell one shape from another, but two in the centre stood out. The first, and taller, form because she stood on a raised platform, her hood thrown back and her long, plaited hair curling round her head. The second, shorter, form because he stood looking up to the woman, his hood also back and the bioluminescent glow reflecting in his tawny hair and pale skin.

The woman climbed down from her plinth. She was still taller than the man, but only just. The crowd turned to watch as she led him off to one side.

"You can't just rush in here shouting orders, Kiran," said Lena quietly. "Even if they can't understand you, they can hear the urgency in your voice and that's scaring them! We can't do anything organised if you incite a panic!"

"There's been a development, Lena, things are happening in the high city," Kiran kept his voice low, even though Lena was the only person present who would, or should, be able to understand him. "I don't know what, but there are rumours that the kalif himself has been seen in the healing rooms. The imperial guard have been searching the city from the top down. They will get here eventually and, when they do, we cannot be found together!"

XXXX

She still hadn't woken up. Connor leant back against the wall of the cavern, his head in his hands. Could he risk leaving her? What if she woke up and he wasn't there? What if he wandered off down a side tunnel and couldn't find his way back to her? It could be a proper labyrinth in there!

Labyrinth.

Now that had been a great film! Bit weird at times, with the Jareth thing and all that, but still good.

There was another reason that word went ping.

What was it?

Oh yes: THE labyrinth. The Greek one. How to get out of it (and avoid being killed by whatever monster was hiding in the middle of it). Wool. A ball of wool.

Connor rummaged in the ever decreasing resources remaining from Becker's pack. Of course there wasn't any. Why would a soldier pack a ball of wool? To catch up on his knitting when things got boring? As if they ever got boring!

Dropping his head into his hands again, Connor froze. Of course, how could he be so dense. He had a ball of wool. Two in fact: one on each hand.

Digging a paper clip he'd been considering as a fishhook out of his pocket, he found the knot of wool that finished off the knitted glove and began unpicking. Once the knot was out, the rest began to unravel easily. Soon he had enough to tie one end to something. All he needed was something to tie it too. He could tie it to Abby, then she'd know he was at the other end of it, but if he tied it too tightly it might hurt her, or if he tied it to her wrist, then pegged down the bit around the fire with stones, she might move her wrist and break it.

He needed something solid to tie it to, that he wouldn't hurt, that could move around a bit and be attached to Abby. He frowned in thought, then looked down. The ring that always hung around his neck sat there quietly staring at him. It was strong. It wouldn't break. Abby would know he'd left it and he'd be back for it: he never went anywhere without it, except maybe the shower. It could hang around her neck as easily as it did his without being disturbed by any small movements she might make in her sleep.

He tied three knots through and around the ring before lifting Abby's head and placing it around her neck. There were plenty of extra stones in the cavern - he'd been collecting flattish ones to build stuff with - to pin the wool down a safe distance from the fire. With the paper clip and his penknife in his pocket, and a long branch from the fire acting as a torch, Connor set off into the darkness.