Hello again! So, I've managed to get back a little quicker, mainly because when I write cliff-hangers, I don't like leaving them dangling too long. So, without further ado, Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. You may have noticed...

The screw started to twist around more freely as it finally gave way to Connor's coaxing. The young scientist added a few more turns using the end of his key, before reaching up and loosening the rest of it with his fingers. Abby stood by his side, making sure the grill wasn't hanging on the single screw.

Rex was gently tied up in Connor's jacket, chirping in protest at his imprisonment and fidgeting around in a way that meant Connor knew he needed to go shopping afterwards, particularly of the weather was meant to go down cold again as the forecast said. No matter how cold and in spite of their stay in the Cretaceous, Connor had always managed to avoid the stuff that comes out of the creatures they met and he was determined not to start now. It had been the only way to get Abby to help, though, through the use of the argument 'imagine how much more scared he'd be if this thing came crashing down'.

As it was, Abby was only just tall enough to reach the grill with her fingertips and that was only because they'd managed to get a bucket by break down the door into a storage cupboard which didn't have a security barrier; no-one had ever insisted that the mops and brooms had to be guarded against perpetrators. Still, it was enough for Connor not to worry about it crashing down on his head.

What did come 'crashing down on his head' was the screw as it pinged out of his fingers, just as it came out. It bounced off his forehead into an obscure corner, but neither paid any attention. Instead, Abby pushed the grill upwards so it wouldn't fall until Connor got his firmer grip onto it and lowered it gently to the ground.

"Right. So, now all we have to do is get up there," stated Abby. She breathed out as she pondered the problem and Connor moved his arms to try to induce the blood flow back into them. "Ok," she said, eventually. "You go up, I'll pass up Rex, then… you think you can lift me up?"

"How much do you weigh?" grinned Connor, cheekily. Abby took that as a yes and went to gather up rex.

"At least, it's not as high as the ones in the foyers. I wonder how Matt and Becker are getting on," mused Connor, as he positioned the bin to allow himself the best possible chance of getting up unaided.

"Well, you can phone them once we get to the menagerie. There's no point in wasting your battery; knowing you, there's not a lot left by this time of the day."

Connor placed both hands in the vent and started to rhythmically bounce until he felt he had enough momentum to pull himself up. In one heave, he shifted his entire body upwards and leaned forward, attempting to move his centre of mass beyond the edge. Abby guided his foot to one corner, allowing him an extra boost of force which allowed him to clamber up fully. Abby ducked as his other foot swung around unexpectedly before Connor turned.

"Connor!"

"I don't have eyes in the back of my head, you know." Abby just rolled her eyes and shifted the bucket across.

Standing up in it, and with Connor leaning over, she was able to carefully hand over the C-, still wrapped in his bundle like a baby. Connor, equally gently, grabbed him firmly and placed him at the edge, where Rex comically peeped over.

"You can't leave him there!" exclaimed Abby. "He'll get knocked or or wriggle over the edge!" Connor sighed patiently and gently picked up the reptile to move it out of sight. A couple of seconds, he let out a cry of shock and pain.

"WHAT IS IT? WHAT'S HAPPENED?" Connor peered down at her, a teeth gritted in annoyance.

"He bit me," he groused.

"Serves you right for all the comments you have been making about him. I think Burton's influence on you is showing."

"Or maybe, I've had a very long day and am now stuck in a ventilation shaft, in a lockdown with a dinosaur wandering about," grumbled Connor quietly. He lay down flat and reached down as far as he could. "Come on. We've got to go."

Abby breathed out sharply as she assessed the situation, before deciding that it was best to keep it simple. She placed her foot firmly on the up-turned bucket and used the power from her back leg to hoist herself upwards. Catching hold of Connor's arm, she was able to pull herself up, knocking the bucket over as her other raised foot left the surface. For a moment, she floundered in the air, before Connor heaved her upwards and tugged her forward.

Once up, she was able to catch her breath for a minute as she and Connor took a moment to reflect. She looked down the dim passageway and could vaguely make out a shape of a turning ahead.

"We need to go left, I think," she whispered. "Do you think we should phone Matt and Becker?"

"Nah, we'll just slow them down. Let's face it, if anyone's Ok, it's likely to be them. We best get moving."

Matt grunted with strain as he lowered himself to the ground. The last bit, he had to jump and he couldn't help feeling regret that the effort of getting up would have to be repeated, but Becker had not responded to his concerned cries and, more worryingly, he still wasn't breathing. There was no way he could assess any injuries from the ceiling, Becker's angle obscuring his face.

He knelt down and noted that the Captain was, as suspected, out cold. Matt checked around and muttered a curse that there was medical kit within this section of the ARC. Generally, there was one within fifty places wherever you were here, but this being the admin section, there had been a general agreement that the worst thing that could happen here was a paper cut.

Why did people have to listen to common sense?

At a bit of a loss as to what to do, Matt reverted to an age old technique which normally worked, He started to pat the cheeks of his friend and called his name softly. After a couple fo mintues of this, Matt was about to give up when something reached his ears.

Matt studied the Captain's face, a tiny frown line creasing the space between his eyebrows. He patted his friend's cheek once more and this time he was certain; Becker had groaned.

Sure enough, his eyelids fluttered open and Becker's hand raised itself to his face and pressed against his face, a quirk he always done when in extreme pain. He blinked a couple of times, then groaned again.

"You alright, mate?" asked Matt gently. Becker blinked a couple more times and loked up at the leader, squinting despite the lack of bright light. He surveyed the hole above him and his general surroundings and slowly recollected the exact circumstances of his predicament.

"I've just fallen about seven foot onto a solid metal box. Yep, I'm doing well," he whispered. Matt smiled in relief that Becker had seemed to regain his wits. However, he still wished to be on the safe side and held out three fingers. He was about to ask the conventional question, when he noticed Becker was glaring at him with a 'really?' look. "Three," the Captain said, as if he was speaking to an idiot.

He pulled himself to his feet, then swayed slightly as the blood went rushing down from his head. Matt caught him, but he brushed off further support and focussed upon the hole above.

"Before you say anything, you are going first," ordered Matt, and Becker could tell he wasn't being given the choice. Given the situation at hand, he decided not to create a scene (although, frankly, who was watching?) and simply comply with the instruction.

The lift was performed to perfection, a near mirror image of what Matt had done less than ten minutes earlier, the only difficulty being the cut on Becker's wrist suddenly screaming as he hauled himself onto the level platform; the skin, having formed a thin seal over the slit, now gaped open once more.

Instead of grimacing, Becker used the pain to concentrate on rather than looked around the tiny space he had climbed into. After a couple of seconds, Matt called up to his partner and Becker remembered that he still had to pull him up.

He lay down flat and lowered his good arm, which happened by chance to be his stronger. Matt shooked his head.

"Oh no. You lay your across that edge and then don't touch it. I want to get up in one go." Complying, with a sigh, Becker removed his black bomber jacket and dutifully laid it over the piercing edge, then resumed his previous position. Matt by this time had clambered up to the position that Becker had take five minutes before.

He didn't wait, as Becker was expecting, to catch hold of the hand which was just out of his reach. Instead, he leapt into the air, grabbing hold like a gymnast, and using his other failing hand to grab for the edge which hadn't been covered in the material. Sure enough, Matt caught it and was able to pull himself up with the momentum from the jump. As Becker hoisted him through the gap, Matt laughed, causing Becker to look at him sharply.

"Come on. A little adrenaline pumping," he laughed breathlessly. Becker shook his head and Matt frowned again, the smile dying on his lips. "You're sweating." Becker wiped his hand over his forehead and then stared at the wetness that had gathered there. The moment lasted only a second, but it was still long enough for Matt to be worried slightly for about the fifth time that day.

"It's just the heat. It's so hot in here," Becker commented lightly. Matt looked up and down the shaft. The lockdown had cut out the heating and there was a draft blowing through from somewhere, cooling against the icy metal that surrounded them. It was anything but warm, especially if Becker was sweating.

"Becker mate. Put your jacket back on," Matt suggested.

"How does that with being hot?" asked Becker quizzically.

"It won't, but... there's no need to leave it behind and it will be a nuisance to carry it. We might not pass back this way and the ARC is cooling down so in an hour you'll need it," Matt argued abck, trying to make it sound like he was forming a logical statement rather than nagging his oh-so capable friend.

Becker picked up on the undertone, but, again followed the order, pulling his jacket on. Matt smile comfortingly and set off in the direction they both knew was the menagerie.

Halfway down the first stretch, before they came to a junction, Becker, behind, stopped and shivered, but then put the horrible dark thoughts to the back of his mind. Now wasn't the time to be stupid.

The dinosaur blinked, inadvertently imitating Becker from earlier, and tried to haul itself to its feet. It was feeling woozy and the pungent smell of... the closest it had ever smelt to this was down at a swamp it had once come across, when it was still new at foraging.

Weaving around a little, it headed for the opposite wall, but found this was more solid than the one it had broken. The shock of this caused it to recoil and collide with a desk.

The chain reaction was something from a film. The desk moved a tall chair, which fell backwards.

Connor had a feeling that today was unlucky because of the lockdown, but that was just accidental really. What was really unlucky was the chair hitting the light switch, not hard enough to light the room, but just hard enough to cause a spark...

Ok, so another sort of cliff-hanger. What can I say, I like them. ;-)

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