Hello. I've not forgotten you, but I've just done English coursework, so as you can probably guess, the last thing I wanted to do when I had a break from typing an essay is to sit down and do some more typing. Apologies extend to anyone and everyone who has messaged/reviewed in past couple of weeks; I didn't mean to ignore you!
Anyway, the next chapter is here now. A lot of decisions and business in this chapter and lots of Becker =-) Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval. Or any time.
Matt glanced around hurriedly, but could see no reason for this comment. He gingerly touched the sides of the area they were being contained in, in case the blow to his head was playing tricks with his eyes, but felt no shifting at all in them. All was still.
Looking back over to Becker, Matt studied the Captain carefully, this time taking note of all the abnormalities of his behaviour and demeanour as a whole. Becker just stared back as if his leader was an idiot for concentrating on him when they were in so much peril. Silence reigned between the pair for a minute.
Suddenly, Becker's phone rang, making both men jumped in surprise. Pulling out, Becker went to answer it, but Matt held out his hand.
"I think I should handle whoever this is, while you calm down a little."
I am calm," insisted Becker. A bead of moisture rolled off his face and dripped onto his matt black uniform which he wore at all times.
"Becker, you are a state. Just check your reflection in the steel around and you'll see I'm right. Please. Hand me the phone. I don't want gabbled messages from you worrying them," pleaded Matt, ruthlessly using one of Becker's weaknesses against him; yeah, he may not care if it's just him affected, but he'll protect others, mentally as well as physically at all times.
The phone exchanged hands and Becker immediately toppled backwards, and stared at his reflection. He rubbed the liquid from his face with his top and slowed his breathing down. Not now, please not now.
"Hello? Connor?" answered Matt.
"Oh thank goodness you're alive!" replied Abby. "Is Becker with you? Is he Ok? Where are you? Do you know what caused the explosion? Are you out yet? Are you Ok?"
"Yes. Not really. In a vent about halfway to the menagerie from Lester's office. No. No. I think so. Anything else?" Matt hurried through the questions as fast as he could, hoping they could settle down into a conversation soon to establish what was going on.
"What was the first question I asked you?" came the embarrassed voice. Matt sighed.
"Look, Abby. Listen carefully. That explosion was almost certainly internal and came from close to where we are. If you didn't cause the explosion and we didn't cause it, it's likely the dinosaur did meaning..." There was a pause as Matt let the conclusion sink in. "That's not a definite, mind, but it's an assumption I'm willing to take. So now, we need to get to the ADD and lift the lockdown. How damaged is the ARC where you are?"
"We just felt it, but I don't think it's done any structural damage. It sounds easy enough. Easier than our task before."
"You'll have to take the long route around, via the plant labs. I've no idea how stable the building is over here. We're trapped..."
"You're trapped? You said you're alright, though?" interrupted Abby.
Matt closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on his head-ache, to see how bad it really was. The thumping was subsiding a little and Abby's voice wasn't painful, but it still hurt terribly. He glanced across at Becker. The usually unflappable man was pressed into the corner and seemed oblivious to everything around him.
"I'm fine. Fine enough. It's Becker I'm worried about. It's like he's lost his mind."
"You're fine enough?" questioned Abby. Matt sighed in frustration about the woman's abilities to pick up on the minor issue, rather than addressing the greater one. Becker was getting paler.
"Abby! I need to get Becker to medical attention and soon! He hit his head earlier. I think it's caught up!" cried Matt, feeling useless in his present predicament. He ran his hand through his hair.
"No, it's not," stated Becker suddenly. Matt looked up sharply and frowned as Becker stared back at him, while ignoring Abby's response. "I wish it was."
"What's that supposed to mean?" But Becker just retreated back into himself and Matt breathed out gently, a wave of nausea flooding him momentarily, and he grabbed at the side of the box they were trapped in as it seems to sway. The sensation only lasted a few seconds, but it brought home the fact that, as much as Matt might try to put on a brave face, neither of them were actually up to doing anything.
"Abby, please," whispered Matt, not paying any attention of whether he was interrupting Abby or not. "Get to the ADD. Lift the lockdown. We can't get out; that's a fact. So, you'll have to get help." He closed the phone, hanging up, before he could pulled himself over to look after the dazed Captain.
Abby heard the tone and snapped the phone shut in annoyance. The situation was bad, otherwise Matt would have been straighter with her. The idiot! As if she wouldn't realise and worry over them anyway.
She turned to Connor, who was watching her apprehensively, not knowing if Abby was going to happy or angry from the conversation.
"We need to get to the ADD," she ordered. "Leave that stuff. We probably don't need it now and it will only slow us up." Connor obeyed, without question, knowing Abby's judgement was sound enough to do so.
The ceiling with the vent was as high as it had been in the corridor, but this time they had an array of chair to stand on and, more importantly, no Rex, so the pair was soon up. Connor turned to go back up the way they came, the shortest way to the ARC, but Abby tugged his sleeve, shaking her head.
"Where Matt and Becker are is no longer stable. We need to skirt around the long way."
Connor sighed. "This day's getting easier and easier then," he quipped. He twisted around and started to scramble back the other way, crossing over Abby as he did. He shuffled forwards a few paces before he checked over his shoulder for his girlfriend. She was staring fondly back at him, before giggling at his puzzled look.
"Come on, we need to get going," she said eventually and passed Connor as he tried to sort out what had just happened.
Lester passed Jess into the care of a medic before turning back to the ruins of the ARC. 'Please,' he prayed silently. 'Please, don't let us be pulling out corpses.'
He then saw the one sight he didn't want to see. A large, black car was pulling up to the line of police that were quickly gathering in the area; the explosion would have been heard for miles. After a few words exchanged through the open window, the men parted, allowing the car access to the chaos. It didn't come much further though, instead parking up before it ran the risk of flattening the injured.
Lester automatically went to straighten his jacket, then recalled he'd given it to Jess; he hoped he got it back as it was his best suit, but then again, it was probably ruined beyond any repair respectable for an international conference. The door to the car opened and Philip glided out, buttoning up his own suit jacket as he went. Oh, the subliminal battles of power that the eccentric scientists all failed to understand!
A limping soldier suddenly collided with Lester, turning him. Lester acted quickly, preoccupying himself with helping the man to buy himself some time to create some excuse to the man who provided the funding. Unfortunately for him, the ambulance service was dealing with the emergency situation far too well for any journalist to make complaint over and the soldier was taken out of Lester's hands before any thoughts could begin.
Any hope that his current state would mask him was lost as Phillip made eye contact with him, just for a split second.
Lester fought the urge to dust off his shirt so he could at least claim he was quite busy. Which he was. The fact he didn't know what he was busy doing was just a slight set-back. And Phillip would understand had to come before communicating with him. Wouldn't he?
"James, I believe you have my number?" Perhaps not. Lester didn't respond immediately, which Philip took as a sign he could continue. "I don't expect every toilet paper order to be run by me, but this...?"
"Well, I wished to assess the situation before wasting your time. You know how Jess can be very reactionary. Didn't want to drag you down here just for what could have been a door being jammed."
Phillip nodded in agreement a couple of times, looking around at the general chaos which surrounded the two men. Lester knew better than to think he'd gotten away with this.
"I think this is more than a door jamming. Besides, it was obviously more important than that function you were at. I thought the Home Secretary was going to be there, along with a couple of other people who aren't readily available. You know, if you had called me, you could've stayed. Goodness knows, I haven't had a very busy night."
Lester opened his mouth to reply when suddenly a shout went up by the buildings.
"Best see what that's about," said Lester, who went to push past. Burton grabbed his arm with a grimace.
"I will speak to you tomorrow." He glanced at the building. "In whatever office you have left." Releasing the civil servant, Phillip surveyed everything one last time, before returning to his car, which he got into and started tapping out plans on his PDA.
Lester watched for a second, before remembering that he was, at the moment, in charge of all field operations as well.
"Matt, get off. I'm not..." Becker's breathing quickened slightly again.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." soothed Matt, rubbing the Captain's back. "The ceiling seemed to... slip again?"
"It's getting lower."
It's not. I've checked; it's secure. We are safe. Possibly the only place in a five mile radius that is." Becker breathing steadied once more, but Matt didn't hold out hope of it lasting; exactly the same thing had happened five times in the last ten minutes. "Now, will you please allow me to check for concussion properly?"
"I don't have concussion," insisted Becker, like a sulky teenager. Matt poked at a small lump that was forming on Becker's forehead, causing the Captain to hiss in mild pain. "Ok. Concussion is not causing the walls to close and ceiling to lurch and the floor to rise and..."
"Becker! Stop it!" Matt waited for him to calm again, gripping him tightly as he did. After about a minute, he continued. "Why are you so sure it's not concussion? It's like you knew something was wrong before we went in here."
"I did. It's fine..."
"It's not fine!" shouted Matt, losing his temper briefly. The loud noise echoed around the metal pipe and Becker seemed to shudder with it. "You need to tell me what's wrong, because, like it or not, I'm stuck here with you, so you will tell me what's happening."
"I'm 26." Matt felt like he could've cried in exasperation at the stupid response; instead, he disguised it as a jagged sigh. "No, don't sigh. It's relevant." Matt bit his tongue to hold back his reply. "I'm 26, a Captain and not in bad shape and yet... and yet I'm not in the Army."
"And that's relevant to you not wanting to be an enclosed... oh." Becker rubbed his hand hard across his face as he didn't meet Matt's gaze. Matt leaned back and looked around at the small space they were in. "You're claustrophobic."
Becker admits a weakness *gasp* Hope this was worth the wait.
Please please review.