Chapter 9

Connor stared blearily at the desolate scene in front of him. He was functioning on autopilot. Peta had taken charge now. From the moment Connor had hung up the phone, she had known something was wrong. It was probably the dead feeling inside of him showing through in his face. He always had been rubbish at hiding his feelings, at least from anyone that was looking for them.

He had repeated Lester's mostly one sided conversation to Peta and the others in the room without moving his eyes off the blank patch of the wall opposite. He had focussed on that wall, willing it to keep him together while he repeated the order to evacuate through their pet anomaly. The wall had fulfilled its new role faithfully all the way through the terrifying revelation, right up until it reached the part that terrified Connor the most. Right up until Peta asked him about Abby.

It was then that the he crumbled. The mere mention of her name had made him feel like someone had punched him in the gut. He had doubled up, folding himself into his chair with his head in his hands, feeling the tears slide silently down his cheeks as silence descended around him. It was then, right then, that Peta had taken over.

Radiation suits were found. Six of them. Lots were cast for who got them and who had to make do with the six standard biohazard suits. Everything edible was packed. Blankets, clothes, first aid equipment, firearms: anything potentially useful was found and packed up in as much lead, foil or even just paper that the group could find. Some went into backpacks, most went onto a pair of hand carts that had been used to move gear around the relatively new building. The rover was hastily fitted with solar panels and packed away, only to be used if necessary. The anomaly was closed and reopened a number of times in the hope that it would revert back to the nothosaurus beach of the wilder, but less radioactive, Triassic.

The anomaly had remained stubbornly bleak.

Now they were walking across that same black, charred landscape that had shocked them all so recently, walking away from yet another, greater shock. Connor could hear Peta's voice in his earpiece, but he didn't register anything in her conversation. His mind was stuck on one question, and one question only.

How could he save Abby?

XXXX

"How long, Cai?" Helen asked as she watched the stumbling party of twelve making their way haphazardly across the view on her monitor.

"At maximum speed, the transport should take no more than ten minutes to reach the anomaly site, my lady," Cai replied. "Professor Temple and his team are walking towards us at an estimated speed of four kilometres per hour, and the transport left approximately one minute ago. That means it should take approximately seven point three six minutes for the transport to reach them if they continue on their current trajectory."

"Good," Helen nodded, her eyes remaining fixed on the screen. "But remember Cai: Connor Temple is not a professor yet, just a young man trying to find a way to save the woman he loves. Always refer to him as Mr Temple, unless he tells you otherwise."

"Yes, my lady."

Helen turned to the man on her other side, the slightly younger version of her ex-husband, stolen from another universe. She cast her eyes over the similarities and differences. His hair was longer than her husband's, but it was still that sandy colour that had always made he think of summer days. His eyes were the same blue too, but with fewer lines around their edges. They shared the same genius, the same passion, for seeing a wealth of information in the tiniest of details. As long as the details belonged to anything other than a human of course. That had always been his weakness: when it came to people, her Nick Cutter had never been able to see what was going on right under his nose. This one didn't seem to either.

"There are two people I would like to take you to, Nick," said Helen smoothly.

"Anyone I know?" Nick asked casually, following Helen to the door.

"Not from your world, no," Helen frowned. "At least I don't think so. It's always difficult to be sure in these areas. They will know you though. That I am sure of."

XXXX

Becker sat with his back to the cave, whittling a point onto the end of a piece of driftwood gathered from the shore of the river. There were good points and bad points about the position of their cave. One of the good points was that it had a nearby source of fresh water which doubled up as a moat to keep out smaller carnivores. One of the bad points was that to a large carnivore, their moat would be little more than a puddle to splash through. There was also the possibility that all sorts of creatures might come down to the river to drink.

Becker winced as his knife jammed in the wood and took off a larger splinter than he had wanted. He wasn't concentrating. His thoughts were all over the place. He lowered the knife and the makeshift spear and let out a long sigh. They had taken the news better than he'd expected, although the mood was still very shocked back in the camp. He had told them once they had lit the fire. Everyone was sitting down. Everyone was still. They all listened in silence as he broke the news to them. The news that they could never go home. The news that everyone they knew and loved was going to die, or possibly already had. That was the point that had stuck in his memory the most. The silence that followed that statement, broken sharply by the wail of grief from John. The boy had cried loudly for a long time after that and that was what Becker couldn't take. That was why he had got up and left the relative warmth and safety of the cave to sit in the early evening chill of a darkening Jurassic sky.

"Didn't you say something about taking me out for dinner," said Kate's voice suddenly.

Becker jumped. He hadn't heard her approach. Yet another sign that he wasn't doing his job properly. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly as Kate sat down beside him, handing him a mug as she settled herself on the rocky banking.

"It's tea," Kate explained, watching Becker examine the contents of the mug. "No milk, no sugar and weak, but at least it's tea."

"I didn't put tea in the emergency ration packs," Becker muttered, sounding somewhat dazed.

"It was in Elizabeth's pack. Apparently she always carries a small bag of tea bags and a flask of freshly boiled water. There was about twenty or so bags. We made one do for all of us."

"Ten cups of tea from one tea bag? I'm not sure whether to be impressed or worried!"

"It's not too bad. And it was nine cups, not ten. John's asleep."

Becker nodded and took a sip of his tea, focussing on the river below them. The light was fading fast now and the first glimmer of stars were reflecting back at him in the rippling water.

Kate watched Becker's profile in silence. She wasn't sure of what to say. She wasn't even sure if she was welcome any more. She certainly wasn't sure what was going on in Becker's head right now. She knew he was friends with Lester. She could tell that he was taking the death of his friend badly, who wouldn't. The problem was that whatever grief, anger or frustration he was feeling right now, he was keeping to himself, and that wasn't healthy. He seemed so distant, so out of reach, that she was beginning to wonder what deeper changes had occurred within this man that she knew so very little about.

"Come back inside," Kate whispered. "It's getting cold out here."

"Somebody has to keep watch," Becker replied without looking at her.

"But not you," Kate shook her head. "You're tired. You haven't eaten."

"We're all tired," Becker sighed. "I'm their leader. I've just dumped the bombshell of a lifetime on them. I can't expect them to stand guard like nothing's happened."

"Well, tough, because you don't have much choice!" Kate's voice rose in volume slightly and Becker looked round. "Everyone's had that bombshell dropped on them," she continued. "You just as much as anyone else here! Plus, if you are our leader now, then you need to be alert and thinking straight or you're going to end up getting us in an even worse mess!"

Becker let out a short, involuntary laugh.

"Because things can get so much worse!"

"Actually, yes, they could," Kate retorted. "We're alive. We're all fit and healthy. We have some food. We have a good water supply. We have a reasonably safe shelter. We have a fire burning to keep us warm. Take away any of those and you're making things worse. Especially if you take away either of the first two!"

Becker shook his head, laughing quietly.

"You know," he said, handing the empty mug back to Kate. "You really do have a gift for seeing things in a completely bizarre way."

"It's not bizarre, it's the truth," Kate shrugged, taking the mug and standing up. "Now are you coming back inside?"

"Is John really asleep?" Becker asked, looking up at Kate in the starlight.

"He is," Kate nodded, black curls bouncing against the inky sky. "I think the crying after the long trek and all the excitement this morning just exhausted him completely. Elizabeth is looking after him. He seems to have taken a shine to her."

"Who's looking after Elizabeth?" Becker asked, getting to his feet and picking up the knife and spear.

"She seems okay," Kate shrugged. "She said she was on her own anyway: no family, only a few distant friends she hardly ever sees. Apparently she'd always wanted to be a part of one of her own stories and this seems to be close enough."

"And the men?"

"Hard to tell. They've all gone into their own little huddle."

"And you?"

Kate swallowed and glanced at her feet. He had stepped closer to her now and she could feel the warmth radiating from his body. She forced herself to concentrate on the question.

"I'll survive," she said. "I always do."