Disclaimer: Primeval and all its characters belong to someone else.

Dating Calculator

Chapter Two- The Players

"OK, everyone." Connor said. "This is it! I've programmed all the data from the sheets into the calculator. Are you all ready for the results?"

"Er…I'm not sure." Becker said, having been railroaded into joining in- Connor had seen him talking to his favourite gun in the armoury, and had recorded him on his mobile. He then threatened to let everyone hear the recording unless Becker completed a questionnaire and took part. Normally Becker would have forced Connor to give him his phone and delete the recording- he knew this would have been easy to do, but he secretly thought the game could be fun. He hadn't had a date in ages, and Sarah seemed nice. This way, he could save face by pretending he was forced into it.

"No backing out now, mate!" Connor stated, waggling his phone back and forth at Becker. "OK, now remember, all couples must go on a date by the end of the week. Then you all need to fill in the green sheet I gave you. I'll process the data by next Sunday and we'll meet here after work on the Monday for the results. Clear?"

Everyone nodded. Lester sighed impatiently. How he'd been talked into this was a mystery to him. He was a married man! But he thought this might be a good way to get to know his staff better on an informal basis. He didn't often mix with them outside work- only the odd drink now and again at the pub they all liked to frequent after a particularly harrowing day. He was beginning to regret his decision now, looking around at the mishmash of people. The team looked at each other, and Abby smiled at Lorraine Wickes and Christine Johnson who had just joined them.

"Ah yes!" Connor said. "I asked Lorraine and Christine…er Ms Johnson" he amended after a haughty look from the latter. "if they'd join us as we had more men than women. Had to even up the numbers!"

Christine Johnson wondered what on earth she was doing there. These people were so beneath her! But she did like the look of Lester- in fact she was very drawn to him. She knew he was married, but so what! She knew what she wanted, and she'd always managed to get it no matter what. She'd play along for a while until she got bored. She loved the chase, but once her prey was caught she got bored very quickly!

"Wait!" Matt interrupted. "There's still uneven numbers- Connor; me; Cutter; Lester; Danny; Stephen and Becker- that makes seven. There's only six women- Jenny; Lorraine; Sarah; Abby; Emily and Christine."

"Oh, yeah- sorry I forgot to tell you- I asked one of the science techies to play. I'm training her to operate the ADD- she's brilliant. She's new here and I thought she'd enjoy meeting some friends. She should be here any minute now… she just had to finish running a computer programme."

No sooner had the words been spoken, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see a petite brunette in a very bright orange outfit smiling perkily at him.

"All done!" she announced.

"Great! Everyone, this is Jessica Parker."

"Please call me Jess." she said as Connor introduced her to everyone. Becker was instantly interested in this new addition. He'd never seen anyone wearing such outrageous shoes in his life!

"Here goes!" Connor cried and pressed the sequence of buttons on the dating calculator with a flourish….

To Be Continued…