Terra Nova - Before the Future (3)

by George Tater

Sequel to After the Occupation and Into the Eye of the Storm. "Before the future can be retaken, the past must be released." Almost two years after the occupation, Terra Nova is at war once again. But with a seemingly unstoppable enemy on their doorstep and their leaders missing in action, will the colony manage to survive this battle? Conclusion to the Occupation trilogy.

46. Chapter 45 - We Are Terra Nova

Chapter 45

We Are Terra Nova

It appeared that Kensinge's right-hand man had been accepted into the folds of the Cretaceous army – almost literally. Knocked away from each other by the glistening wall that appeared between them, Aiva and Esteban scrambled in opposite directions, the two second-in-commands instantly forgetting about one another in light of their new priority – get out of range as quickly as possible.

This was no easy feat.

The squid was monstrous.

Even the Timekeeper was knocked sideways without effort, sent bobbing like a little toy boat as the mass of tentacles splayed in all directions, peeling out over both edges of the waterway like the sections of a giant, red mandarin.

Simon stared in astonishment and fascination from his place of safety above as several men were swept off their feet by the undulating limbs. Unable to dodge the unexpected attack, Erika and Harlon were caught in the thick coils and went down at the same time. The creature seized the opportunity and immediately latched hold of its prey, dragging both parties closer to the water's edge as the slippery arms gradually retracted.

Producing an excellent imitation of a wild animal herself, Erika shrieked and thrashed about, kicking and scratching savagely at anything within her reach. In a marvellous stroke of luck, she found her palm slam down painfully on something cold and hard.

A pistol. In all the confusion, someone must have dropped it.

With a feral cry of triumph, she sat up, firing multiple shots at the first rubbery body part she laid eyes on. It worked. The grip faltered, allowing her to wriggle out, delivering a last brutal kick to the limb as the creature retreated indignantly. Kneeling beside the watercourse, Erika watched, panting shakily as the red tip plopped back into the brown depths, her hand still clutched tightly around the gun.

Harlon hadn't been so lucky.

He was still sliding toward the water's edge, growing precariously close to disaster as the noose secured around his stomach. Erika's actions had caused a brief loosening, but before the injured man had managed to free himself, the creature had seemed to remember it had multiple victims in its possession. The grip on Harlon's body had been rapidly regained, and now the Sixer could do little but scream in terror as he tried to grab a hold of something, anything that might stave off his execution for a few moments. Nothing was within reach.

Just as he was about to give up and allow himself to be forcibly baptised for the second time that day, one of his flailing arms hit something hard. He looked up sharply to see Lucas' upside-down face set in concentration, and realised the physicist wasn't planning on releasing him any time soon. Whether Lucas' stubbornness was borne out of a desire to save him, or whether he had simply decided to pick a fight with the squid out of principle, Harlon didn't know. But he didn't care. All that mattered was that Lucas had his arm and was pulling for all he was worth. Someone was trying to rescue him from the monster. There was a sliver of hope, and as the physicist cemented his feet and yelled his defiance at the creature, Harlon turned to the slice of sausage over his shoulder and bit down as hard as he could.

If the squid had truly had its damp heart set on Harlon, they would both have gone under, but luckily for the two Terra Novans, the monster had suddenly decided to return to its previous prize. With a weird sucking noise like that of being freed from quicksand, Harlon was released. Both he and Lucas fell backward abruptly, exchanging a relieved nod as the crimson limb flicked its way back into the water.

Nearby, Mira ducked out of the path of a stray bullet and turned swiftly to the girl beside her.

"Skye. Take the kids and get behind those crates, as far from here as you can. Don't come out until I tell you."

"Okay."

Zoe was the easiest to find. As Skye raised her eyes to search for the girl, she found a dark head already waiting at her elbow. Zoe met her gaze and nodded to the right. This time, the task of locating the party in question was rather more difficult, but finally, Skye's vision snagged on the shape she was looking for. Zayne was crouched close to where they was standing, half concealed in the shadows of a pillar. He appeared to have someone in his sights, balancing the rifle carefully as he traced an enemy's movements across the room. He glanced up when Skye put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey. You're with me now. Where's your cousin?"

"Here." Lucy murmured, appearing behind her, faded red hat sitting low over her eyes. Skye cast a wary look around, then nodded again.

"Good. Come on."

"But-"

"Now, Zayne." The older girl ordered. With a reluctant sigh, the boy relented, abandoning his target to follow the others into the hiding spot that Skye had chosen on a whim only a few seconds earlier.

It was for the children's own good that they were spared from witnessing what was to come next. Across the wide room, Erika was still recovering from her near escape. Truth be told, she needn't have bothered. A giant squid has a long reach and an even longer memory, and unfortunately for the former Guildmaster, she had dealt the vengeful creature quite an insult. As she backed away from the rim, a red tentacle launched itself purposefully out of the water, pausing to waver in the air as it loomed high above her.

For a moment, it seemed as though it would pet her head with the quivering tip, and her mouth dropped open in horror as water droplets showered off the glistening limb and trickled down onto her cheeks. Somehow, it had known exactly where she was all along. It was toying with her, waiting for its chance at revenge, relishing in its victory, laughing at her before the strike that both of them knew was coming, and yet she could do nothing about.

Erika felt a new surge of anger. It was patronising her. Belittled by a squid. If Simon was watching, he would be laughing at her predicament for sure by now. She hoped he was enjoying himself.

Strangely enough, at that moment, her focus happened to drift sideways slightly, and through the rain of glittering drops, she caught a brief glimpse of the man himself. Simon's white face was hovering somewhere above. He was still at the railing. Erika's heart lurched, then sank with a sour sensation as time itself grated to a halt.

In that moment, something within her died.

He wasn't laughing.

It was with a blank sense of confusion that she felt the creature's arm shoot down and capture her, snaking around her upper body and gluing one arm to her side as it lifted her high into the air. The pistol shots were no deterrent this time. Erika fired until the gun was empty, but the monster didn't even flinch.

With a cry of frustration, she threw the useless object away, reaching desperately instead for the nearest possible ally, the only person that could save her.

Simon.

She was being swept through the air at a dizzy altitude, but by another sheer stroke of fortune, she managed to fling an arm out and grab hold of the railing. It was slippery with moisture, probably doused by the splashing of the beast below. Her grip wouldn't hold long. A massive, bright pupil floated on the surface of the water beneath her, set into an even larger head. It was watching everything, waiting.

"Simon!" She shrieked, lifting her eyes to plead with the man she had despised for as long as she could remember. He was almost within reach. "Help! Help me!"

Simon hesitated for just a moment, his own gaze scanning thoughtfully over the chaos erupting in the room below him. Erika was about to scream at him again when he suddenly jumped forward, his fingers capturing her arm. Her muscles quivered with relief. Then an icy glaze crept over her, encrusting the former gratitude in a shell of dread. The look on his face was far from friendly.

"Let me ask you one thing." He murmured, his nose mere inches from hers. "If our places were swapped, what would you do?"

She searched his eyes for the answer.
Her mouth opened, but no words came out.
Why?!
She lied as easily as she breathed. The talent had saved her life multiple times. Why now, then, did it fail her? Why couldn't she tell him what he needed to hear?!

"I .. I'd pull you up, of course!" She stammered, causing a small smile to creep onto his face.

"Really?"

Her eyes widened as his expression hardened. It didn't matter what she said. He knew the truth. He wasn't going to save her.

Simon leaned back, looking almost disappointed.

"That's what I thought."

"No! No, wait- Simon!"

With a snap, his hands retracted. He shook his head in a mixture of cynicism and disgust, turning a deaf ear to her pitiful protests as her fingers slipped from the bar.

"Goodbye, Erika."

"No! No!"

But there was nothing more she could do, nowhere she could turn to for help, no one who would risk their lives to save her. She had lived as a predator, viewing the world as a buffet of weaker targets, victims to be crushed in order to increase her power. For a portion of time, she had succeeded. She had been, at least in her own eyes, indomitable. She had hunted both the large and the small in equal measure, and with increasing success. But somewhere along the way, she herself had become the prey, and she hadn't noticed. In the process of climbing the ladder of the victors, she had forgotten the jungle's grim warning:

Beware overconfidence.

The greatest antidote to survival is arrogance.

After all, the higher one rises, the more precarious the position.

Beware those who are stepped on in your quest for power.

For the betrayed invariably become enemies.

And there is always a bigger predator.

A crown may be seized at any time, by anyone, but only true rulers will keep it.

At the end of the day, a campaign is in vain if the outcome is not for good.

There was only one observer as Erika's life ended. Only one soul that saw her off as she departed from the world. No screens, no crowds, no fans or critics or enraged mobs to bear witness to her final performance. For better or for worse, only Simon was there to wave her goodbye as she disappeared beneath the water.

He leaned on the railing, rolling a small slice of metal around in his fingers. After a moment or two, he tossed his coin into the swell after her, watching with lowered eyes as it shared Erika's fate, vanishing into the murky abyss with a plip, and leaving no trace by which to be remembered.

"Rest in peace."

Then, as though nothing had happened, he turned sharply, jogging to the nearest window and banging on it in annoyance.

"Hey! I told you to shut that fracture!"

"We tried, sir! Someone's stopping us! They've locked us out!"

---

Kensinge cackled as she swiped left and right, her fingers working at dizzying speeds. Beside her, Malcolm bit his nails nervously, casting a glance outside every two seconds to make sure no new assailants had entered the camp. Terra Novan forces had invaded a short time ago, but by that stage, Base Zero had been largely deserted, save the scorpions. Those enemy troops that remained had been restrained, and were currently being guarded by Richardson and a Sixer woman named Knight. The rest were probably involved in the massive operation closer to the colony itself. But one never could be too careful. He peered over the physicist's shoulder again.

"How is it looking?"

"About the same as it was five seconds ago." She muttered. "I can block their advances, but I can't stop them completely. If they discover the loophole we're using, we're finished. Those guys better get out of there quickly."

She gritted her teeth, chancing a glance up at Malcolm.

"If there's one thing Simon is, he's adaptable."

---

Erika's last hurrah had arrived .. too late, as it happened.

They had secured Stevens' men up top and burst onto the scene only to discover, to their confusion and dismay, that their boss was nowhere to be found. She had overextended her reach, and as a result, the hidden aces hadn't been able to find the end of her sleeves in time to save her. Now, unable to determine from which vicinity their next orders were coming, they merely added to the disarray, shooting first in one direction, then the other, growing more and more bewildered as they found their compatriots suffering the same lack of purpose.

Above them, Simon watched with mounting frustration as his incompetent technical officers failed to block Kensinge at every turn. Finally, he growled under his breath and pushed himself away from the window.

"Forget it, I'll pull the plug myself."

The 'plug' was a large, round power braid almost as thick as Simon's own waist. He made his way quickly down the steps, taking great care not to lose his footing on the wet metal. The squid seemed to have had enough of the incessant noise and had disappeared for now, but Erika's men – or had they now become his own men? – were still engaged in a firefight with the Terra Novans across the ship lanes that divided the room. One sole man had been left guarding the boat. More importantly, no one appeared to be barring the way between him and his target. He made his way unobtrusively along the wall, as far from the water's edge as possible. Just before he reached the power plug, however, he heard a voice behind him.

"Simon! Don't touch it."

He turned slowly to see Jim approaching, a pistol already levelled at his face. Simon raised an eyebrow at the barrel.

"Oh, you have a gun. Of course you do."

"Step away. Now."

"Alright." The new Guildmaster stepped away obligingly, eyeing Jim with curiosity. "What next? It seems you're calling the shots."

As Jim remained silent, he continued.

"After all, I'm not going to fight you. Physical battles aren't really my thing."

"Don't tempt me. You deserve whatever you get for what you've put my daughter through."

"You can't punish me for kidnapping Zoe." Simon laughed a little. "That was all Kensinge, I barely knew a thing about it until after the decision had been made. You could hold the war against me, but one person alone can't bring down a colony, and anyway, I'm unarmed."

He raised his hands, casting a glance at his empty palms as if he felt the need just to check. Satisfied, his searching gaze returned to Jim.

"You're the hero, correct? You can't shoot me in cold blood. What kind of an example would that make you? So you see, when it comes down to it, you really have no quarrel with me personally at all. So what are you going to do?"

As Jim seemed to be contemplating this, Simon pressed his advantage.

"Let's think for a minute. You can't have me arrested – I have friends in much higher places than you could dream of, plus you'd have a far greater likelihood of ending up back in prison yourself."

"After what you did to Zoe-"

"Yes .. ?"

"You should die."

"You're right." The Administrator agreed, his voice almost conversational. "And who better to finish the job than the vengeful father himself?"

Jim's expression darkened.

His fingers tightened around the gun.

"The whole world would be better off if you were dead."

"You're stalling." Simon murmured. "What are you waiting for?"

"If I don't kill you, you might escape. You might go on to do a lot worse."

"That's perfectly true." Simon assented, head tilted slightly as he waited. He looked like a curious bird expecting some crumbs. "Then why put off the inevitable? I might be unarmed and you might be the embodiment of goodness, but this is war. The rules can be bent – even broken – when certain things are on the line, yes?"

Jim's mouth pressed into a thin line.

Simon's eyes flashed as he goaded the sheriff.

"So go ahead. Do it."

"Don't tempt me."

"Do it!"

"No!"

Both men turned in surprise as a dark braid darted between them. Lucy slid to a stop in front of Simon, glaring daggers at Jim, her arms extended as though she could somehow conjure up a force field with which to block the oncoming bullet. Behind her, the villain blinked in surprise, then cast an amused smile in Jim's direction. The Commander glanced to the side as a distressed Skye tore up, shaking her head at him.

"I'm sorry." She panted, redirecting her pistol at Simon. "She got away from me."

"It's alright." Jim's eyes returned to the younger girl, a warning in his gaze. "Lucy, you're not thinking clearly. You don't need to defend him. He's the

enemy."

"How many months have you spent with us?" Lucy's eyes flashed. "And you still don't know the first thing about what it's like to live here, or you wouldn't say that."

"Lucy-"

"Nothing is black and white. He gave us a purpose when our lives might as well have been thrown away. She didn't want us, we were good for nothing! He changed everything. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have even met you, did you think of that?!"

"Two wrongs don't make a right."

"Says the guy who can afford to have morals now. Weren't you just about to kill him?"

Jim paused, his voice quieter.

"I wouldn't have killed him."

"Really?" A shadow fell over Lucy's eyes as she scoffed. "Don't kid yourself. I saw your face. It's not the first time I've seen that look."

Behind a stack of crates nearby, a boy clutched his rifle more tightly to his chest, listening. When his cousin had darted out into the battlefield, his first instinct had been to go after her. It was only the pressure of Skye's hand shoving him back down that had caused him to hesitate. Now he was caught in a choke-hold of indecision, torn between loyalty to Lucy and a new sense of responsibility he felt for the small figure at his side. Though she sat unmoving, curled up in a ball with her knees hugged firmly to herself, her left shoulder remained against his. He could feel her pulse pounding wildly through it, trying to drown out his own racing heartbeat with every uneven thump. She was as terrified as he was. But his cousin ..

He knew Lucy's rebellious streak better than anyone. He was the only person she would listen to. She had stayed by his side for years, protecting him, convincing him to laugh when he'd given up hope of ever smiling again. She needed him now. Didn't he owe her at least that much?

When he turned to the girl beside him, he found Zoe already watching him.

"I have to-"

"I know."

"I can't leave you .." Zayne murmured, trying again. "But I have to talk to her."

Zoe nodded.

"I know. I'll come with you."

"It's dangerous."

Zoe continued as though she hadn't heard him.

"On one condition."

"What?"

"I get the gun."

He eyed the girl doubtfully.

"Are you sure you can handle it?"

"Pretty sure. Go talk some sense into your cousin. I'll watch your back."

Zayne released a breath.

"Alrighty then."

"Just go!" Lucy was yelling. "Go back to your precious Zoe. Forget about us,

we're going home."

"Lucy. Stop it."

The new voice sounded so unexpectedly stern that she barely recognised it. Lucy's startled gaze swung sideways as her cousin appeared. Zoe was close behind him, the rifle in her hands.

"Lucy .." Zayne began more gently. "We don't have a home anymore."

By now, all four had turned to stare at the boy, though Jim's eyes flashed as they hitched on his daughter. Lucy, for her part, was still glaring furiously at her cousin.

"I don't mean the one that was burned. I'm not crazy, I mean-"

"I know what you mean." He responded quietly. Lucy tried again.

"We don't need them. We can go home and-"

"We don't have a home!" Zayne snapped, his dark eyes glittering angrily. "Can't you see that? Simon is our enemy! He's Aunt Erika's enemy!"

"So are we!" Lucy cried, tears filling her eyes. The platform lurched again, and she stumbled, but managed to stay on her feet.

Zayne moved on from her, raising his eyes to Simon instead.

"You said if we helped you, we could go wherever we liked, right? Do whatever we wanted?"

The Administrator's mouth twitched, as though he already knew where the boy's mind was heading.

"That's right."

Zayne threw his arms out to the sides, desperately entreating his cousin.

"Luce, we can go to Terra Nova. We can start a new life! See things we've never seen! We can leave this place completely!"

Lucy stared at him, half patronising and half confused.

"What .. What are you talking about? They'll throw you straight in prison for

helping their enemies!"

"It'll be worth it!"

"Are you mad?!" Lucy snapped scornfully, still not appearing to fully comprehend the situation. "We can have our own dome here. We can live alone! We can have whatever we want, live however we like. He can give that to us!"

"But .. it's not Terra Nova." Zayne finished softly. "I'm not leaving without you."

"Well, actually you're right there. You're not leaving without her. Because you're not leaving .. at all." Simon put in, cocking his head as five sets of eyes return to him. "How can you be so naive? They're not going back. They're never going home. We're blocking their exit as we speak."

There was another notable event taking place as they spoke. The giant squid's fury was growing. Somewhere beneath them, it had taken to thrashing about the supporting framework of the facility. Instead of pulling pieces off randomly, it was now pushing.

The architecture creaked and shuddered as the internal canal widened. Simon reached out, pulling Lucy back a few steps as an ugly crack appeared in front of her, putting more distance between her and Jim. As the edge tipped, water sloshed over the side, causing the place where she had just been standing to gleam slipperily.

"Careful." Simon murmured vaguely. He stared at the expanding channel, a note of alarm flickering into his eyes. "It's trying to rip us apart."

His distracted gaze jumped to the top of the stairs then as the control room door burst open. Several minutes earlier, Lucas and Esteban had finally managed to get back onto the ship. Between them, they had successfully hauled the box containing the orb all the way upstairs, despite the shifting surfaces beneath their feet. Now Simon watched with narrowing gaze as they left his line of sight, charging into the control room above the canal and causing the technicians to nearly jump out of their chairs with fright.

"Move." Lucas commanded, barely giving the man closest to him a chance to slide back before he dumped his end of the chest onto the desk. As he opened it with nimble fingers, Esteban threatened Simon's employees with his pistol.

"I know you recognise me." He muttered calmly. "In which case, you should have no questions in your minds over whether or not I'll shoot."

Lucas smiled to himself as the technicians hastily exited the room, then he looked up swiftly at the other man.

"Done. Gather everyone up and get to the Timekeeper. We'll set it off then."

Kensinge's second-in-command nodded, leading the way back down the stairs, clearing them two at a time.

"Retreat!" Lucas yelled, cupping his mouth with his hands. "Retreat!"

"Zayne!" Jim snapped, his gaze whipping back to the boy's. "Get my daughter to the ship. Now. Skye, go with them."

Zayne's fists clenched at his sides, but he didn't move.

"No. I'm not leaving her-"

"That was not a request." Jim ordered, his voice rising. He met Zayne's eyes with an expression the boy hadn't experienced before .. and one he knew better than to argue with. The Commander of Terra Nova was furious.

".. alright." His gaze flicked to his cousin. "Lucy, come with us. Please. I'll be waiting for you."

The plea sounded futile even to his own ears, and it certainly didn't appear to have had any effect on his cousin, who stared at him in disgust, but as Skye jogged past, gesturing for them to follow, he forced himself to turn back to Zoe, giving her a little nudge.

"Come on then."

When she resisted, he reached out and grasped the rifle, trying to pull it from her grip.

"Let. Go." He gritted, glaring into the little girl's stubborn face. "You think I want to leave them here either?"

"I am not deserting my dad." She announced, sounding strangely like her father – a fact which caused his insides to contract uncomfortably. "Get out of the way."

"What are you waiting for?!" Skye yelled, drowning out her own words a moment a later as her sonic targeted an approaching attacker.

"Zayne .." Jim's warning voice arose once more. "Get moving."

"Just a sec!" The boy shouted back over his shoulder, desperately trying to reclaim his weapon. Zoe was surprisingly strong. From the other side of the widening shaft, Simon and Lucy watched the struggle, one with dull irritation and the other with distinct enjoyment.

A moment later, Zayne managed to take possession of the rifle, but at the same time, the platform beneath them bucked like a wild animal. The boy lost his balance and stumbled backward. His cousin, still watching from below, snapped out of her haze of temper and charged forward in horror.

"Zayne!"

"Easy." Simon threw out an arm to block her. "The chasm's too wide. You wouldn't make it."

Zayne's rescuer, however, had arisen from another corner. Zoe grabbed the boy's bony wrist with both hands and pulled him back toward safety with all her strength. The weight of the rifle wrenched itself from his fingers, sliding back down the slope away from him as he fell forward. Zoe hauled him to his feet, her shoes skidding a little on the gravelly concrete as they met Skye at the bottom of the new ramp.

"Don't worry." The older girl advised when Zayne threw a tortured glance back. "He knows what he's doing."

She paused, her eyes darting upwards as another rumble brought more dust down from overhead.

"I just hope he does it quick."

---

Drones buzzed their way through the air above, trying to navigate the atmospheric terrain despite the incessant swooping attacks that plagued them. The knife-beaked pterosaurs swarmed the robotic birds with dogged persistence, furious at having their territory invaded.

Below, three draconic assassins raced toward a grey and black Rover, tails held high, streaming out behind them like flags as they led their own attack. The Nykoraptors leaped one after another, hooking their talons into the side of the vehicle as it tipped, trapping the terrified occupants inside. The Rover teetered on its right set of wheels for a moment before losing its balance completely and tumbling sideways, directly into a nearby fracture. Entangled as they were, the Nykos went with it.

The time field that had begun in the forest around the Probe hadn't stopped expanding since. It had now crept so far afield that a smattering of fractures had swirled into existence out in the open plains. If one's vision wasn't limited by the element of time, they could have glimpsed the other half of the mirror – that of downtown Chicago, which was already being saturated with a new wave of dinosaurs and soldiers that found themselves transported to a completely foreign environment within the blink of an eye. The effect was echoed by the residents of the future, as a strange collection of vehicles and people – homeless wanderers and police squadrons alike – disappeared from the city streets and stumbled onto the battlefield of the past. The result was a monumental melting pot of confusion and chaos which probably benefited neither adversary, the likes of which only multiplied as the intensity of the fight reached fever pitch.

---

Lucas grasped the rope hanging from the side of the ship.

By the time he had vaulted over the railing, the ceiling had begun to cave in. A few moments ago, Harlon had ordered Stevens to get out while he could. Taking his remaining men, the head of security had saluted them farewell and disappeared down the freight tunnel. Lucas felt for the trigger mechanism in his pocket, noting with relief that it was still there. He cast another glance up at the roof. They were running out of time. If they didn't make a run for it soon, they would be crushed beneath the collapsing debris. He stared around, mentally counting heads. Bucket, Zoe, Mira, Esteban, Dad, Dad's dog, Harlon, the boy kid ..

The ship lurched from the activity of the writhing tentacles in the water beneath it. The giant squid was almost mad with rage. Venturing to the edge of the ship, Zoe peered through railing, staring at the thrashing creature with a sombre expression.

"It's dying."

On her left, Esteban paused his incessant scan of the area to glance down at her grimly.

"Nothing survives here for very long."

---

Jim's eyes flicked down to the rifle that had slid to a stop at his feet, then returned to the face of the terrified girl on the other side of the river.

"Lucy! We're running out of time. You have to jump, now!"

Lucy stared back at him wildly, clutching one of the support beams that held up the walkway above them. It was the only way to avoid being shaken from her footing. The cement slab beneath her felt like it was being put through a meat grinder.

"Are you crazy?!"

Behind her, Simon's gaze darted nervously to the nearby service door. His entire sense of balance currently relied entirely on the same pillar. If he was going to survive this, he was running short on time. He should go now. Leave the girl. Why was he hesitating?

"Take this! Lucy, take it!" Jim clutched up the rifle, holding it out to her over the surging water. "Grab onto the other end! I'll pull you in!"

Still she remained frozen to the post. Simon's synthetic grip felt heavy on her shoulder.

"Kid, we have to get out of here!"

He felt his hand fall away, watching in surprise as she inched forward, ignoring him. She released the beam as she did so, her eyes locked with Jim's. The Commander nodded reassuringly.

"That's right. Atta girl. Just a little farther."

On wobbly legs, she staggered to the edge and reached out. She tried once, swaying dangerously as she missed her target. She pulled back, steadied herself with determination and tried again. This time, Jim let out a cry of encouragement as she managed to hold onto the end of the gun.

"Yes! Good girl!"

Sometimes timing is perfect. Sometimes it's perfectly horrid.

At that moment, there came a gut-wrenching screech from above. Simon leapt sideways as the pillar he was grasping began to tilt. It felt like the wall itself was collapsing inward. All three faces looked up in alarm as a shadow fell over them. With a deafening squeal, the metal walkway plummeted, nosediving into the water below, and concealing the two on the opposite bank from Jim's sight.

"No!"

The rifle disappeared, snatched out of his hand as he plunged backward onto the cement. He hit the ground so hard that his vision clouded. His chest burned. His head spun. But, forcing his lungs to wrench in a few horrified breaths, he scrambled dizzily to his feet, scanning the other platform desperately for any sign of the girl.

"Lucy, where are you?! Lucy?!"

The walkway that had divided them had sunk beneath the waves.

Across the expanding canal, a faded red cap sat abandoned on the cracked

concrete.

But Lucy was gone.

---

Elisabeth slammed her fist into the tree that formed part of the wall of her field hospital. No matter what happened, more casualties just kept coming in. They were losing. She took a deep breath, raising her arms to press her hands firmly over her forehead, as though the gesture could help consolidate her panicked thoughts. Everyone was giving everything they had. They were pulling out all the stops, using all the resources they could possibly find in order to strengthen their attack. There was nothing left.

She nearly jumped when she found her head nurse beside her.

"Elisabeth? Are you okay?"

"It's no good." She murmured to the other woman, shaking her head in frustration as she dropped her hands to her hips. "No matter what we do, we're never going to be able to match the power and precision of their technology."

Ogawa's dark eyes searched hers fearfully.

"So what do we do now?"

Elisabeth paused for a moment, then placed her fingers over her mouth, shaking her head again as she met her colleague's frightened gaze.

"I don't know."

---

Clumsily navigating the catapulting platforms, Jim ran toward the ship. The docks were breaking up like crackers in a bathtub. When he neared, the foothold he had anticipated suddenly vanished from beneath him. He jumped awkwardly off his back foot, hurling himself toward the side of the ship.

"Jim!" Taylor yelled, throwing out an arm and seizing the other man's jacket as Jim's fingers grasped the railing. "Grab on!"

Several hands rushed to his aid. Within a few moments, Jim found himself safely inside the ship. Alone. After waiting expectantly for a second or two, Zayne turned on him with wild eyes.

"Where's Lucy?!"

The exhausted man leaned on his knees, gasping for breath as he shook his head. Zayne stepped backward, glancing from left to right as though he expected to see his cousin appearing out of the ground somewhere.

"No .." He turned his back on Jim swiftly. "Lucy!"

"Zayne-"

"No! Don't say it! Lucy?!"

When the boy made to jump out of the ship, Esteban grabbed him, restraining him tightly. Zayne struggled against the strong arms, his screams increasing in intensity.

"No!"

"Lucas!" Jim shouted over his shoulder. "What are you waiting for?! We have to get out of here! Do it!"

---

"Malcolm! It's closing. I can't control it!"

With panicked movements, Kensinge tapped and swiped at the display. She was doing everything short of pressing her nose up against the screen and whispering sweet beeps into its electronic ears. Nothing was making an ounce of difference!

Beside her, the head researcher fidgeted anxiously, snatching fleeting glances at his companion's worried expression. She was as white as a sheet. If she passed out now ..

He felt himself growing woozy from the mere prospect.

Kensinge banged on the desk, startling him out of his hypochondriacal reverie.

"What am I supposed to do now?!" She practically yelled, her hair standing on end as she turned on her companion. "It's shut me out! It's not responding anymore!"

Malcolm felt himself attempting to match her shade of colourlessness.

"What do you mean? What does that mean?!"

"It means what I just said!"

She glared up impatiently at his pale face.

"It's not working!"

---

"It's not working!"

Lucas mashed the button with increasingly frantic movements, but received no response. The device in his hand was completely dead.

"Lucas?" Jim had taken over the burden of keeping Zayne on board. Now he glanced over at the physicist impatiently, still struggling to maintain his hold over the angry bundle of teenager in his possession.

"No time like the present!"

"It's dead!" Lucas shouted back sharply. He flung the useless device across the planks, watching it smash into the ship's side with a growl of contempt. "We'll have to set it off manually!"

"Hurry." Esteban murmured from the wheel, casting a look of disconcertion at the shifting ceiling. "This place looks like it could come down at any moment."

"Oh, you think?!"

Lucas was already making for the railing. He raised his leg in preparation to vault over the side only to hesitate a moment later. Suddenly the task ahead of him felt all but impossible. He looked down to find his knee captured by a firm hand.

"I'll come with you."

He raised his gaze to his father's face. The old man stared back at him placidly.

"You might need the firepower if things get sticky."

"No, Dad. Stay here." He shoved the restraining weight off his leg and allowed himself to swing down to the trembling concrete below, pausing only long enough to call up a final sentence.

"I'll be right back!"

"Lucas!" Skye charged after him too late. As if by reflex, Taylor swiftly turned and blocked her path, pushing her away resolutely.

"Don't. I'll go."

By the time he reached the heaving platform below – concrete really shouldn't behave in such a flexible manner – Lucas was already tackling the swaying staircase, hurriedly rising upward through the hazardous rain of debris that intermittently obscured his entire figure from view. The fearsome sight made the older man's heart catch in his throat. It seemed unthinkable that Lucas could survive the ascent, but he made it to the second story regardless and promptly vanished from view. Somehow this sudden disappearance was even worse.

Taylor bolted toward the staircase, navigating the ever-changing slalom of obstacles with surprising grace, mirroring his son's breakneck pace up the rattling steps as the layers of twisting metal screamed beneath his feet. The Kaprosuchus bounded up behind him, nearly colliding with his heels as he reached the final stair and paused abruptly, gasping for breath. A few seconds later, he darted into the control room to see his son hunched over the orb box.

Lucas jumped a little and shot a look over his shoulder, his face clouding in irritation as he recognised the form of his only surviving parent.

"Dad, I told you to stay back! Why can't you just listen to me for once in your life?! And what is that piranha on legs doing in here?"

Taylor ignored the jab at his Kaprosuchus-shaped shadow, jumping forward instead to stand at his son's side.

"What can I do?"

"Grab that handle." Lucas ordered, nodding once as his father's hands moved into position. "Alright. Now when I say go, you-"

"Lucas!"

The next thing Lucas felt was a force hitting him squarely in the chest. Then the world roared and went black. He stumbled backward, falling against the knobbly control desk with enough commitment that he temporarily forgot how to breathe. When his lungs began to function normally again, all he could find to inhale were clouds upon clouds of thick dust. As he choked and squinted his way through the next few seconds, the room gradually swam back into view. It was nearly unrecognisable.

"Dad?" Lucas wheezed, barely able to understand his own words. He executed a giant cough and tried again, his voice a little stronger. "Dad?!"

"I'm here." Taylor grunted, muttering something that sounded like, "Get off my foot, you giant lizard." Then he appeared, peering through the fragmented metal that had sheared the room in half. "I'm alright."

Lucas sighed with relief, causing the airborne dirt in front of his face to dance in happy circles.

"The orb?"

"It's alright too. You?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Lucas squinted upward, assessing the situation via the single blade of watery light leaking in through the ceiling. "Just give me a minute, I'm gonna try and move this-"

He was cut off once again as the room shuddered violently, forcing him to drop to one knee in an attempt to regain his balance as the floor tilted beneath his feet.

"No time!" Taylor interrupted. An unidentifiable silt chose that moment to sift down from the roof and garnish his formerly silver hair. "Get to the ship! I'll prime this thing."

"Nope. Not a chance."

Lucas picked himself up and charged to the barricade, attempting to move it aside. Instead, he almost succeeded in bringing the rest of the roof down with it.

"Stop it!" Taylor snarled. "Are you trying to kill us both?!"

The fear in his voice sounded an awful lot like anger. Something in his tone caused Lucas to step backward out of habit.

"Now here's what we're gonna do." Taylor continued, more reasonably. "You are going to get your sorry excuse for a backside down those stairs and onto that ship while I set off this alien device."

"You can't."

"I can and I will."

"No!" Lucas shouted, his mouth transforming into a snarl that nearly equalled that of his father's. "You don't always get to be the hero, alright?! Let me do it for once!"

"No. You finally have a chance to live. I want you to live."

"But-"

"You can trust me."

Lucas shook his head. His mouth was suddenly feeling the effects of the dust he had swallowed. His words seemed to stick awkwardly on his tongue.

"No. I'll do it. I know it better-"

"Forgive me if I'm mistaken, son, but it doesn't take a degree in rocket science to press two bars together," his father retorted sarcastically. "This place won't burst into flames instantaneously. The second I release it, I'll find a way through and head for the door. Okay?"

Lucas snorted, casting an eye over his old man's makeshift prison. A few years ago, he would have dreamed of a scenario like this. Strange, how quickly things could change. He resisted a bizarre urge to laugh.

"Don't be an idiot. How are you gonna get out?"

"I'll shoot my way out if I have to. But I'm not risking bringing this place down with you in the way, so leave me to my business."

"I'm not-"

"Besides." Taylor cocked his head, smiling a little. "I've always been prepared to put my life on the line to protect this colony. That hasn't changed. Everything I did was for their good .. or so I thought."

As Lucas remained quiet, the sound of shots rang out faintly from below, filling the silence. His father continued, studying the boy with a bright-eyed gaze.

"I've realised something, you know. The best way I can protect them now is to make sure you get back in one piece. Terra Nova's best chance for the future relies on your ability to strengthen its defences. The attacks will never stop coming. They need to be prepared. You once made it your ambition in life to destroy everything I built. Now prove to me you want to protect it. In that way, I'll have done more for them than I could ever have done alone."

Lucas scoffed weakly.

"Always has to be about you, doesn't it?"

There was no malice in the question, however, and his father grinned.

"Course it does. After all, if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even be on this planet in the first place, so I wouldn't get too cocky if I were you."

This resulted in another snort from his son's direction. Taylor eyed him, his face growing more solemn as the volume rose outside. The fighting was making its way up the stairs. Within moments, the command room would be overrun.

"Look, son. I know I can't go back and do things differently .. but if I could start over, I'd give up the whole colony to have another chance with you. I wanted you to know that."

Judging by the look on his face, Lucas might as well have been slapped. His eyes widened, then pooled with tears as his forehead knotted in distress. He stepped toward the barrier that held his father captive, but he was waved away impatiently by Taylor's hand.

"Dad-"

"No time. Go. Go!"

Lucas obeyed. Turning his back on the imprisoned man, he bolted from the room, nearly trampling the soldiers approaching the doorway. They stepped out of his way in rapid succession, watching with startled gazes as the physicist stumbled on the staircase, looking as though he would lose his balance and fall head over heels to the bottom. Lucas managed to catch himself at the last moment, casting a final glance over his shoulder at the enemies he had left behind. The men seemed to have little interest in pursuing him, however, refocusing their efforts instead on retaking the control room.

They were still trying to close the Portal, the physicist realised dully, as he fled toward the waiting ship. He could only spare them a passing thought before his mind was completely consumed with surviving his current predicament. All around him, concrete was breaking apart like an army of miniature ice floes. In between the rising and falling slabs, walls of water speared toward the ceiling, shooting far above his head. The liquid catapulted back down with a splintering crash, only to fire upward again a moment later, as though it was trying to cut short its usual precipitation cycle and rejoin the sky in its current state. The knife-edged pressure of the water was causing the former floor to shatter at an accelerated rate.

Lucas was almost within reach of the ship when his next landing abruptly sank beneath the grimy potluck of sea water, leaving his weight hovering in midair halfway down the road to oblivion. In another second or two, he would tilt forward a little too far and go plunging into the soup himself, sucked beneath the ship in an anticlimactic end to his 27 years of existence. So much for his father's noble sacrifice. The idea was almost humorous, and once again, he experienced a hysterical surge of laughter. They would go out together – the son in water and the father in flames, antithetical even in death. For the space of a heartbeat, he found himself balancing on an isolated shard of cement in the centre of the widening river, framed by a giant, glassy eye as it passed in a slow arc behind him. Then a commanding voice penetrated his cloud of existential gloom.

"Lucas, jump!"

The more reasonable side of his consciousness argued the idea immediately. He couldn't jump. It was impossible. He didn't have the means by which he could launch himself in any direction but down. Nevertheless, the order was delivered in a manner that left no room for question.

Lucas jumped.

An eternity later, his arms were encased by a series of iron grips. He found himself slammed against a wall of damp wooden slats and experienced a numb aching in his forehead, but his captors seemed to care little for his discomfort as they half-dragged him over the railing. Finally placed upon a solid surface, Lucas' trembling legs refused to hold him up any longer. He swayed, then collapsed to the deck. The ship rocked comfortingly beneath him. Someone was still holding onto him, but he couldn't figure out who. A moment later, a pair of unbelievably battered boots stepped in front of his vision.

"Where's Taylor?"

Lucas forced himself to raise his head, finding Jim's fearful expression peering down at him. For some reason, it seemed a long way off.

"Got trapped. He told us to go. He's .." Lucas' voice squeaked hoarsely as he ran a hand through his hair. "He's going to finish it himself."

Jim hesitated a moment, but then his face hardened and he nodded, turning his eyes to the control room. Lucas watched as the other man's hand rose to form the salute, quietly, calmly, accepting of the situation, as though he had understood from the start that this was to be the outcome.

"Godspeed, Commander."

---

Up in the control room, Taylor looked out his tiny fragment of window, raising a hand to wave as the valiant ship below began the final lap of its journey. He had little time to reflect before his solitude was rudely interrupted. As two hostile figures burst into the room, Taylor turned to them with a smile.

"Welcome, gentlemen."

One of the men ignored him entirely, turning aside instead to the computer system. The other approached Taylor's prison, gun pointed at his face. The former commander seemed unworried. He leaned his forehead against the slab of chilled metal, clucking his tongue in a light rebuke directed at the younger man.

"Shooting at an explosive device. Not very smart. Where did they teach you guys?"

He cast another sideways glance downward, just in time to see the stern of the boat disappear, received by the welcoming arms of the glowing whirlpool below. He released a brief sigh of relief and then arched a brow at the reptile near his leg.

"What are you doing here anyway? I told you to stay with the others."

The Kaprosuchus' glittering eyes simply stared back at him, looking unbothered by the reprimand. The old man grinned a little and patted its head fondly.

"Ah, I guess it's appropriate you're here at the end. We're both relics, you and me. Out of our natural habitats, far from home .. and out of time."

The man on the other side of the barrier snapped in annoyance.

"Who are you babbling to?"

Taylor ignored him, placing a hand instead on the tongs, then pausing to take one last long look at the beast beside him. It was strange, really, he mused. Reptiles were supposed to be cold, heartless creatures. Nature's killing machines, unable to feel emotion, or to express kindness .. and yet this one had fought and played with him, hunted and protected him, eaten and slept by his side. It had been more loyal than most people, even to death. Truth be told, it had been far more than he deserved. In a rare moment of nostalgia, he stroked the smooth bumps along the animal's neck.

"Well, old boy. Guess this is it."

The corner of his mouth curled up sadly as he met the Kaprosuchus' unblinking gaze.

"I'm proud to have known you."

With that, he turned sharply, hesitating just long enough to cast a wicked grin at the disconcerted enemy soldier before setting the orb free.

---

Back in Terra Novan waters, the Timekeeper sailed cheerfully away from the Portal Terminus. 'Safety', however, is a relative term, and they weren't out of the woods yet. Amidst the pool of swirling blue they had just escaped, a white light flashed – first once, then again, brighter this time. Looking back, Jim witnessed the second burst, and his heart lurched as a chill of foreboding went through him. He wasn't quite certain as to the reason, but he had long learned to heed such instincts, and turned to Mira hurriedly.

"Get down!"

It was well that they did. No sooner had everyone ducked for cover behind the side of the ship than a strange crash rang out – an odd sort of distant echo, intermingled with the sounds of screams that made their insides quiver with horror. The deck beneath them jolted violently. Unable to resist the call of his own curiosity, Lucas grasped the railing, pulling himself up just in time to witness the birth of a large wave, which soared out from the fracture, comprised of half brown water and half blue as the future sludge mixed with the clean liquid of the bay. Behind it, the Portal appeared to be rippling like a flag in the wind.

"Lucas, get down!"

Someone seized his shirt, trying to yank him back down to safety, but to no avail. Lucas gripped the railing like his life depended on it. Giving up, Jim followed his mesmerised gaze as the tidal wave swept them faster and faster away toward the shore. The repurposed drone engines that had been powering the vessel abruptly ground to a halt, but it didn't matter.

The Timekeeper had been given wings.

---

The ground shuddered with the impact of six gargantuan feet.

Drawn by the call of a long, silver whistle, the Carnotaurs galloped into the heart of the forest. With their bullish heads down, infuriated by the noise, they flattened everything in their path. Soldiers scattered in all directions, regardless of allegiance. The trees shook as the living battering rams shouldered their way through the jungle, causing chaos for the small team of Phoenix that had been attempting to infiltrate the treehouse colony from the rear side.

Up in the canopy, Boylan caught Vaughn as the boy lost his footing, dropping to his knees near the edge. Almost directly below him, Parker pressed himself into a gap between the trunks, narrowly avoiding a nasty set of horns that swung sideways as their owner tried to gouge out his viscera on the way past. Within a minute or two, the thundering brutes had made their way deeper into the jungle in search of some other victim to bully.

No one was sad to see them go.

---

A section of dark grey Terminus crumbled like wet pastry into the ocean they had left behind as the tsunami smashed into the coastline ahead of them, sending up a wall of spray that temporarily concealed the control shack from view. This finally appeared to be the end of the fracture's protests. The roar soon died down, fading into the sound of the rushing water beneath them as it propelled them over the blue depths of the bay.

Lucas was still clutching the rail, staring back the way they had come, almost as though he wished to return to the future.

"The release didn't work." He muttered to himself, his eyes fixed absently on the broken Terminus. "It didn't work."

Jim and Mira exchanged a glance. Given the amount of energy that had erupted from the fracture, the floating facility must have gone up instantly. And if it went up instantly ..

Zayne had slumped down lifelessly beside the injured Harlon, who was doing his best not to bleed out on the boat deck. As Skye stepped closer to Lucas, Jim placed a hand on her shoulder, wrapping the other arm around Zoe, who had jumped up as soon as the heaving stilled, and was now clinging to him, her head pressed to his stomach. Jim sighed unsteadily and stroked his daughter's hair, unsure which of them he was actually comforting.

"He did good."

Then came the second explosion.

Despite the fact that the Portal was half ruined, it still appeared to be fighting the grim reaper. Inside the severed frame, the swirling glow now began to bubble, snapping and popping like a vertical pot of boiling fluorescence. For a moment no one could breathe. The entire world seemed to shift, the air itself shuddering against their skin and ears as a horrendous searing noise was heard from the vicinity of the Terminus. Then, with a low, rumbling gasp, like a giant dragon sucking the very atmosphere into its mouth in preparation to incinerate it, the Portal disappeared, hidden behind a massive cloud of reddish-brown dust that erupted forth in every direction like a circular sandstorm. While the attention of those on the deck was captured by the disturbance behind them, Mira's voice suddenly broke across the scene.

"Brace for impact!"

Esteban did his best to keep the ship upright, but it was no use. Captured by the power of the swirling waves, they crashed sideways into the shoreline as the Timekeeper was thrown onto the beach. With a deep groan, the ship capsized into the sand.

What happened next would change the course of the battle. As the wooden form of the Timekeeper sank to the ground, the satellite dish in the centre of Base Zero began to glow. Gradually, the rings that surrounded it lit up one by one, gleaming with blue fire as the electric parasite left the ship's engines and headed straight for the communications tower. The dish hummed feverishly for a few seconds. Then it clunked to a stop. The brightness vanished. The rings faded into darkness.

But something odd had happened when the ravenous worm met the dish. If you'll remember, a similar piece of equipment had been located in Somalia about 20 years earlier. Far too advanced for its day, the dish had been seized by the Guild and repurposed to suit their needs at the time. Strangely enough, when Kensinge had needed a strong source of both electricity and communications, it had been pulled out of storage and had ended up here, in the backwater wilderness of Base Zero.

Now, exposed to the parasite, something inside of it reawakened. Powered by the same technology, the two became linked. The satellite dish was silent for only a moment more. Then the beacon erupted out from it, shooting a thick ray of blinding light up into the sky before spraying out like a fountain, bathing the entire settlement in a shower of blue.

The range of the dish stretched far and wide. Before Base Zero had returned to its usual colour, the electric parasite had reached the time field.

More importantly, it had found the Probe.

---

Elisabeth squinted, her eyes flashing from the wave of brilliant blue light that had engulfed the entire jungle, sweeping through like an ethereal tsunami before it evaporated, allowing the foliage to fade slowly back to its normal shade of green. She blinked hard, shaking her head to try and regain her vision.

"What was that?!"

"You good?" Boylan questioned, narrowing his own eyes as he attempted to see through the haze. "Thought we were goners for a second there."

Elisabeth raised the walkie-talkie to her mouth.

"Josh, can you hear me? .. Josh .. ?"

She turned to Boylan with a frown.

"Whatever it was, I think it took out the power with it. Radio's dead."

"Didn't sound like an EMP .." Boylan mused, rubbing his chin. "Maybe they found a way to bathe us in instant radiation .."

He paused, meeting Elisabeth's aghast gaze as the heavy whine of an engine arose directly above them. It increased in volume until it was almost deafening, but then it suddenly stopped altogether. The forest grew strangely silent. He frowned, looking up only to see a dark shape growing horribly large through the smattering of the canopy. A strange colour entered his face. Then he bolted forward and grabbed Elisabeth, screaming around at anyone who was near enough to listen.

"EVERYBODY HOLD ONTO-"

The crash came before he finished, a deafening bang that shook the forest to its core. The plane had crashed straight into a massive tree, which groaned under the weight of the impact, then slowly leaned over and collapsed, bringing the aircraft down with it, and causing another horrendous boom as they landed together on the forest floor. Boylan stood shakily to his feet and looked around, backlit by the huge fireball that erupted behind him.

"Everyone alright?!"

Elisabeth held her head, casting a long-suffering look at him beneath her hand.

"Remind me to have a word to Reilly. They should have enough sense not to take them down so close to here."

"I don't think they did." Boylan muttered, pointing upward. Both of their eyes followed the direction of his finger, slowly rising to the canopy as another massive shadow came into view. A moment later, the barkeeper's voice rang out again.

"INCOMING!"

---

Kensinge shot out of the doorless shack and tore toward the ocean, leaving Malcolm to battle his way torturously through the sand behind her.

Were they alive? Had they succeeded? How many had returned?

She had to get to the ship.

She had to get to the ship.

The shoreline seemed miles away. What she wouldn't have given for the ability of flight!

Finally, she reached them. Less than thirty seconds had passed since she had witnessed the crash, but they had been the longest moments of her life. Esteban, who had picked himself up from the ground where he'd fallen, had then moved to help Zayne extract Harlon from the wreck. As the pounding of Kensinge's footsteps grew louder, however, he turned back. She was almost upon them now, coughing and waving the sandy dust away as the scrabbling of her feet only served to stir up more of the gritty substance. Still she showed no signs of slowing. Almost delirious with excitement, she forgot to pull the breaks at all until the final second, and by then, it was too late. She stumbled, then lost her footing and slid on the sand. She would have ploughed right into the horizontal deck itself if her second-in-command hadn't reached out and caught her at the last minute. Her eyes widened in shock for a moment as his arms tightened around her, but then she happened to spy Harlon over his shoulder and they narrowed swiftly.

"What is-" She patted Esteban's arm impatiently. "Yes, yes, alright, alright."

As he retreated, she folded her own arms, peering at the former Sixer in such a supercilious manner that her captain had to resist a smile. She pursed her lips severely.

"Well, what have we here?"

The exhausted man didn't get a chance to answer. Her attention was diverted instead by Jim's sudden appearance on her right. For a moment, he looked as though he was being pinched in half by the ship, and she almost fainted dead away on the sand in sympathy, but then her heart leapt into her throat as she glimpsed what he had crawled beneath the broken railing to retrieve.

Zoe.

She watched with wide eyes, her mouth opened slightly in amazement as Jim helped the girl up and handed her off to Mira to be dusted down. He then extracted his own body, managing finally to pull himself free of the soggy rope that had entangled him. He looked over his shoulder as Skye and Lucas appeared out of the mist, coughing a little.

"Everyone alright?"

The answers he received weren't exactly cohesive, but they were enough to abate his worry for now. He turned his attention onto Kensinge, who stood staring back at him with a defiant smile, arms still folded tightly across her middle. Eyeing her warily, he put forward the question they were all afraid to ask.

"What about the colony?"

His former enemy shrugged.

"Ain't over till it's over."

"That's not an answer."

Kensinge cocked her head, locking gazes with him for a moment. Then her stubborn expression faded as a cryptic smile took its place.

"They're holding their own."

By the time Malcolm had finally drawn to a halt, he had found himself almost blacking out from the exertion of the stampede. He leaned shakily on his knees, trying to catch his breath. His lungs were imploding, his legs were on fire, his eyesight was filled with rusty red sponges. Very likely, he was not long for this world.

Then, through the murky haze of his delirium, he caught sight of a familiar face.

"Lucas!"

The next second, he had forgotten his exhaustion completely. Instead, he leapt into the air, falling upon his apprentice and vigorously rubbing his head until the poor physicist's hair stood quite on end.

"Ah, you made it! I can't believe it!"

Then he switched targets, throwing his arms elatedly around Jim.

"Jim! You old idiot, I thought you'd gone and got yourself killed!"

"Malcolm .." Jim laughed, clapping the other man's back before he held him at bay, studying him with a frown. "Malcolm, you look like you haven't slept since I left."

"Well how could I, when I was worried about you?!"

Upon hearing this, Jim raised an eyebrow, exchanging a glance with the woman beside him.

"That's .. mildly terrifying."

"Mira!" Malcolm had apparently already forgotten his long-lost comrade. Jim sighed a little, turning a bemused look on Zoe as the Sixer chieftess attempted to fend off the head researcher's enthusiastic welcomes.

"This place is still just as nutty as when we left it."

His daughter grinned up at him.

"I like it that way."

Jim smiled, tightening his arm around her slim shoulders.

"You know what, pumpkin? So do I."

---

"Hahaa, this is more like it!"

Curran flung his newest weapon left and right as he thundered through the field of statues, the pinto mare beneath him eating up the ground in its long strides. He raised his wrist to his mouth, blowing on the whistle built into his cuff, looking every bit the jungle-dweller in his scrappy cargo pants and faded vest. A braided band around his forehead completed the look, the loose strands of leather streaming out behind him as the wind caught them up. The sword in his hand was as deadly as it was unusual. It had been crafted out of a claw he'd managed to salvage a while back, taken from the carcass of what had appeared to be an ancient Therizinosaur, though the animals themselves stayed far away from the fighting. They disliked noise, and despite the Terra Novans best attempts, the stubborn dinosaurs had refused any and all invitations, persuasions, or coercions to join the battle. Apparently nothing would entice them to follow orders, and since even the young ones tended to be very gifted in the art of defence, no one seemed particularly inspired to try very hard. It was easier to stay out of reach of a mouth full of teeth than it was to avoid the range of a collection of long, dagger-point scythes. The creatures were fiercely territorial and dangerous, but unlike the Carnotaurs, they were too intelligent to be drawn into the battle unawares, deceived into submission by way of antagonising their tempers. It was for the same reason that the slashers hadn't been attempted. Swift, lethal, and terrifyingly cunning, Acceraptors were the kings of the untameable.

A harsh clang sounded as Curran found his target, swiping the mechanical body with his sword as he pounded past. The blow wasn't nearly enough to afflict any real damage, but that was hardly the point of the exercise. Curran was merely the primer. Behind him, an Ankylosaur galloped, causing the ground to shudder beneath her feet. He glanced over his shoulder as Roberta finished the job, swinging her giant tail around to slam into her target. The blow fell exactly where the trainer's baton had struck just a moment earlier, only this time, the immobile robotic suit became airborne, flying a metre or two backward and crashing lifelessly into the grass. Curran howled with triumph and pumped the air with his sword hand, swinging around again to set his sights immediately on his next victim.

The tide was turning. Now that the technology had been taken out of the equation – seemingly for the foreseeable future – the playing field had been drastically levelled. The open plains had become a free-for-all melee. The mech suits were dead, the aircraft had plummeted, spot fires littered the fields, patches of the jungle would be smouldering for days. The pterosaurs that had previously been battling the drones in the sky were now gleefully diving upon the fallen ones on the ground, congratulating themselves on having won the argument.

Filled with jubilant energy at the chance they had been given, the soldiers of the combined Terra Novan army were now fighting like madmen. Horses and dinosaurs alike clashed out in the open, churning up the grass as their riders gave everything they had to the battle. Terrified by the crazed new light which had dawned in the eyes of their opponents, the spirits of the Phoenix soldiers had wilted. One by one, they were falling at the hands of the Cretaceous, overwhelmed by the roaring wrath of the past.

While this was taking place out on the plains, however, Parker himself had put his own plan into motion. Along with the small group of men who had managed to avoid being scattered to the wind by the raging Carnotaurs, he had made for the freight elevator.

---

"Josh!"

Shortly after he was hailed, the young doctor's head appeared over the edge of the platform, followed in close succession by another, though the second was distinctly darker and more feathered. Below him, Silas stood gazing up, sandwiched on either side by an Ovosaur. Roland and Loretta slowly bent their necks back as well, crowing cheerfully as they spied Inky above. Josh leaned his elbows on the railing.

"Irving." He called down. "How's it coming?"

"They don't know what hit 'em!" Silas grinned in delight. "Whoever took out the power is getting a wagon-load of kisses when I find them!"

A laugh sounded from Josh.

"In that case, glad it wasn't me. Go on, battle's not done yet. Get back out there and finish the job!"

"Yes-sir!" Silas turned away for a moment, but then his gaze snapped back to the canopy in alarm. "Josh!"

Josh swung around, but the Ovosaur beside him was quicker. Inky lunged, leaping onto the intruder and taking him to the floor. Pinned beneath the weight of the dinosaur, the black-garmented man seemed to flinch momentarily, then stilled. Throughout the struggle, no sound had come from him whatsoever. Was he dead? Surely not. Inky wasn't the type to go for the throat.

Josh leaped sideways, clutching up a bow that had been abandoned nearby. By the time he had clumsily nocked an arrow, the two below him had begun to stir again. Inky's movements, however, seemed strange and awkward. Forgetting the weapon in his hands, Josh watched in horror as the Ovosaur tilted, then slumped to one side onto the wooden boards, revealing the man that had been hidden beneath. His face was an unfamiliar blur, but Josh's heart leapt into his mouth as the enemy rose. Extending from his grip was the blade of a bloodied knife.

Josh knew better than to take his eyes off the danger. He told himself to lift the bow, to defend himself, but instead, he felt his unsteady gaze swim to the left, latching onto the black lump like a magnet. Already, a puddle of crimson was beginning to dampen Inky's quivering feathers.

The shade of blood seemed to dye Josh's vision as he stared at it, colouring everything in sight. As he turned back to the charging enemy soldier, the man appeared to be diving towards him in slow motion through a pool of shimmering red. He raised the bow, the arrow pointing directly at his attacker like a finger of accusation.

You did this.

The projectile hadn't even left Josh's grasp before the man paused his assault, his body jerking a second time as another arrow embedded itself into his back. At such a close range, not even the thick black armour of his vest could protect him entirely. Shaken out of his dreamlike state, Josh watched in shock as the man dropped to the ground, revealing two figures standing behind him. Reilly lowered her bow, looking grim. But then she turned her attention to the girl beside her. Leah was staring at the attacker with wide eyes, but the acting commander's approving nod rapidly transformed her face into a watery smile.

"Nice shooting, kid."

"Thanks."

She shoved her weapon into Reilly's arms then, running past the fallen enemy with barely a glance.

"Josh!"

The young doctor had collapsed to his knees beside the Ovosaur on the ground. Leah pulled up beside him, hovering over them worriedly.

"Is .. Is he .. alright?"

"No." He looked up quickly, his expression solidifying into one of determination. "But he's going to be. Here, pass me that first aid kit."

Leah immediately complied, and they got to work. The beloved Ovosaur would live. But at what cost? So focused on Inky were they that no one noticed the dark shadow melting away towards the command room.

---

The treetop command centre was deserted. The massive table had sustained injuries, and was now decorated with blood stains and deep scratches. Here and there, a supply chest had been overturned, apparently due to some sort of scuffle. Had someone gotten here before him?

He tapped the radio box, twisting some of the dials and pumping the buttons to no avail. Dead. Just like every other piece of technology in the vicinity. Whatever mysterious force had struck the powered devices, evidently it hadn't been confined to the Phoenix. What now then? He had hoped the bombers would take care of the hard part when they arrived, but naturally, they had failed. Perhaps he had been here long enough to anticipate the outcomes of such things. Perhaps the future resources were just predictably that bad. But either way, this blessed jungle really did seem to be fighting on behalf of itself.

Never matter. As always, he had a backup plan.

Step one was getting into the tree fortress undetected. Step two was locating vital personnel and eliminating them. Step three had been to take out their communications, but someone already appeared to have done that for him. Since apparently no one was where they were supposed to be, he would skip step four and go straight to step five.

He turned silently, only to find a sizeable man standing in the doorway behind him. When he had gotten there was anyone's guess. Even more bewildering was the fact that his own chip-set was supposed to warn him when anyone came within range of the proximity sensor. He briefly considered charging the man, but something stopped him. For the first time, a smear of worry streaked across the back of his mind. A doubt. What if he couldn't overpower him?

Nonsense. He was stronger than these jungle-dwellers would ever be. And yet ..

Parker flexed his muscles, noting with alarm that the usual electric tingle that accompanied the movement was gone. He frowned, glancing down at his clenched fist. Why so weak? Was he sick?

A horrible thought crept into his mind. The shockwave. Could it have taken out his implant? They said it was impossible. His chip was military grade, designed to survive even an electromagnetic pulse on the battlefield. This jungle was getting to him, that was all. He had to take this guy out before he gave him away.

Boylan seemed to be expecting the attack and spun his machete in anticipation.

"Uh, uh, uh .. not so fast there, mate."

Parker hesitated again. Then, smiling a little, he backed away. This room had two entrances, after all. He would simply wait and allow this man to sound the alarm, drawing all the others out of hiding. He took another step towards the exit, only to find the tip of a spear ready to greet him. As he looked over his shoulder at the young woman holding it, Maddy raised the point slightly, shooting him a warning look.

"There's nowhere to run. Give up."

Parker snorted softly.

"My men have this entire place surrounded."

This confident statement didn't seem to bother his captors in the least. A quiver of unease went through him as Boylan glanced at Maddy with affected sympathy.

"You want to tell him or shall I?"

The girl across the room said nothing, but the barkeeper appeared to have gotten his answer, because he shrugged a little, turning back to Parker.

"I'm afraid the rest of your men have fallen prey to our early warning system."

A weaselly grin overtook his features then. The leader of the Phoenix watched as he gestured to a long head throwing a curious upside-down look through the open window. The pterosaur's large eyes blinked solemnly.

"The game's up." Boylan smiled in satisfaction. "Take a gander in any direction and you'll see your men falling victim to the Cretaceous. You're losing on every front. But nice try. You'll forgive us, of course, if we don't invite you back."

Parker gritted his teeth and returned his gaze to Boylan, slowly raising his right arm.

"Do you know what this is?"

The Australian squinted at the stick in the other man's grip, then stared back at him nonchalantly.

"Bit of an odd time for a smoke, but who am I to-"

"This is a grenade bar." Parker interrupted. "And lucky for you, it doesn't require electricity to work. It just requires .. this."

He released the handle and flung it at Boylan, diving backward right into Maddy. The barkeeper was left to demonstrate his cat-like reflexes in an attempt to get out of the way while the explosion took the other two to the ground.

Parker recovered from the knock faster than Maddy did, and as the winded girl's wits returned, she found him above her, kicking savagely while the spear slipped from her hand. Desperately, she redoubled her efforts to keep it, struggling as his movements threatened to rip her arms out of their sockets.

Beside her head, she could feel the sense of nothingness, and knew instinctively that this was where the rim of the platform fell away. She had been lucky the explosion hadn't thrown them both over. Beyond the smoke, Boylan's recognisable figure was stumbling to its feet. He would come to her rescue. All she had to do was hold on. But it was no use! Her opponent was too strong.

Just as she despaired of holding onto the spear, the pulling stopped. She recoiled as Parker's body collapsed beside her, then rolled. With a vague sense of shock, she watched it disappear, then heard a dull thud as it reached its final destination, hitting the jungle floor below.

She wrenched her attention away to find a brown hand in front of her nose. Above her, Tasha stood, a shovel over her shoulder, a grim expression on her face.

Maddy accepted the assistance, gasping as the other girl helped her up.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Tasha twirled the shovel lightly. "I was always good with one of these."

"Huh, you don't say?"

---

The water sloshed at the sides of the lolling speedboat. The white and blue craft had fled away from the laboratory with as much speed as the throttle could demand of it, but then it had suddenly lost power, sliding to a slow wander across the tops of the cloudy waves. Now here they sat, pulling on the oars that were kept onboard as a last resort.

The mist had already begun to close around them when the eruption occurred. Simon stared in horror as his base of operations lit up like the dawn. Squinting, he raised his prosthetic arm to block some of the blinding light as a rippling blue bulb expanded around the entire structure, swallowing it in a sphere of mesmerising electricity. As the brilliance faded, the blue transformed into orange, and the licking flames that were breaking out all over the ruined framework became obscured by mushrooms of dull fog that rolled in hungrily, as though they were intent on suffocating the fire.

Seated beside him, Lucy watched the same scene play out in silence.

Destruction had no right to be that pretty. Her parents were gone. Her home was gone. Her aunt was gone. Even her cousin was gone.

The world had never truly made sense to her. Now she had begun to wonder if it was designed to contradict itself. Why was a person given something only for it to be taken away again? What was she supposed to do now?

Simon turned to her, eyeing the set face seriously.

"You're a brave kid." He murmured. "We'll take you home. That dome might not look like much at the moment, but it can be replaced. I'll make sure of it. It's all yours now."

"I'm not going back there." Lucy responded darkly. "I'll never go back there."

"Then you'll come back with me." Simon gazed out at the nothingness that surrounded the little watercraft. "You can help me rebuild the Guild. Wait till you lay eyes on the real base. What you've seen here is only scratching the surface."

When she didn't offer any attempt at a response, he let the subject drop, but a moment later, the man rowing opposite him put down his oar, nodding to the object laying across the girl's lap.

"Why don't you give me the weapon now, sweetheart?"

Lucy's grip immediately tightened around the rifle, and she hugged it to herself, glaring icily at the man who had dared to open his mouth. Not taking the hint, he reached out to take it by force. Simon, who had a sneaking suspicion that the girl would rather shoot his hired gun than give up the rifle, was half tempted to wait and see what happened, but reluctantly, he reached out, holding his arm casually in front of Lucy.

"Why don't we let the girl keep it?" He suggested, his voice dangerously light.

The twitch of his eyebrow was almost imperceptible, but it contained a warning that every soul on the small boat instantly understood. It would be rather unwise to ignore his advice. As the other man subsided, Simon cast a thoughtful look down at the girl who had fallen into his charge. She had stopped listening again, content to sit and cradle the rifle in her arms like it was made of glass. He tapped the muzzle with a smoke-stained finger.

"After all .." He murmured. "I'd say she's earned it, wouldn't you?"

---

Malcolm cast a sober glance over his shoulder at the horizontal ship, clicking his tongue miserably.

"After all the work you did getting her seaworthy. Seems almost cruel just to leave her there."

Esteban followed his gaze, patting the researcher's back in sympathy.

"She did her job. She got us home safely. She completed her mission."

Behind them, Lucas was staring at the ground as he walked, strangely silent. Skye squeezed his hand and murmured softly.

"They both did."

Up in front, Kensinge gazed around at her former home, now largely deserted except for the scattered flashes of green and brown, as the eyes of hidden soldiers followed their progress through the camp. She whistled under her breath.

"Never thought I'd live to see the day this place became Terra Novan soil."

"See, I knew you'd turn out to be one of the good guys in the end." A confident voice proclaimed from her right. Kensinge looked down at the girl skeptically for a moment, then reached out to ruffle her hair, ignoring the piercing gaze coming from Zoe's other side.

"Guess I should've listened to you when I had the chance. Hey .." She hesitated, biting her lip. "I'm sorry for the way things played out. I never meant to just up and desert you like that."

She frowned.

"And that's not even counting the fact that I put you there in the first place."

"I knew it wasn't personal."

Zoe eyed her for a few seconds, studying her until Kensinge looked away uncomfortably.

"He told me, you know. That there were other groups that wanted me for a bargaining chip, to bribe their way into Terra Nova. He said his boss – the guy he killed – had taken your plan and given it to his own people. His team were already on their way in. He said if you .. and you, I guess .."

She paused, throwing a look back at Harlon's drained face. The Sixer was still leaning heavily on Zayne, his jaw clenched with pain as he dragged his feet along.

"If you guys hadn't gotten there first, he said no one would've survived that day. Mira and Sienna would've been killed without a second thought. And they had their own plans for how to handle me .."

She trailed off as Jim stiffened beside her. Kensinge glanced at him quickly, then turned back to Zoe.

"Simon's not usually the most open person in the world. I'm surprised he shared all that with you."

"Oh." The two adults watched with interest as the girl flushed a little, her own eyes darting away. "I was pretty mad after you left. I said some pretty horrible things about you. It seemed to upset him, so he told me."

She looked back up at Kensinge, unaware of her father's reluctant grin.

"He also told me that you said he couldn't sell me. You made him promise to keep my location a secret, no matter what." She kicked a damp clod of sand. "He wasn't good, but I don't think he was ever completely evil either. He kept his word, even after you stabbed him in the back."

"I didn't stab him in the back!" Kensinge protested, but she was drowned out by Jim's sharp voice.

"Is that true?" He demanded, staring pointedly at the woman opposite his daughter. "You tried to protect her?"

"To the best of my ability." The blonde scientist responded, a little heatedly. "She might've just been a piece in a game of war, but that didn't mean I wanted to see her hurt."

Jim turned away, a flicker of anger still battling against his more charitable side. Then his eyes dropped as Zoe slipped her hand into his, smiling up at him.

"Dad. It's alright. I wasn't hurt badly, not really." She turned her gaze on Kensinge. "And I didn't go crazy, thanks to you two. I know it could've been a lot worse."

This statement appeared to have thrown the blonde physicist off-balance. She stared down at Zoe blankly, looking like a deer that had been caught in the headlights of someone's truck. For a moment, she seemed as though she was about to bolt, but then she relaxed, patting the girl's dark head with a small sigh.

"You are one strange kid, you know that?"

Zoe snorted.

"I'll take that as a compliment, shall I?"

Behind her, Esteban glanced down at the boy beside him. Zayne's eyes were fixed firmly ahead. Though he seemed to be struggling under the weight of the injured Sixer, he clenched his jaw and said nothing. Esteban's low voice broke into his distant mind.

"Sister?"

"Cousin." Zayne muttered back. Kensinge's second-in-command nodded his understanding.

"I'm sorry."

Zayne remained silent. From his other side, Harlon's arm tightened around the boy's shoulders, eyeing Esteban warily. He had done his best to keep his distance from both of the former Base Zero residents from the moment they had crash-landed on the beach. Without asking for permission, however, Esteban reached across, gripping Harlon and taking a large portion of the Sixer's weight. Harlon grunted in pain, but had no choice except to allow him to help.

Though they had begun their walk alone, the settlement didn't remain abandoned for long. Within minutes of leaving the beach, everyone in the vicinity had heard of the explosion and had come to investigate. The good news spread through the quiet camp like wildfire. Evidently Base Zero had sprouted its own offshoot of the colony grapevine. Shortly thereafter, as they continued to make their way through the Terra Novan-occupied camp, they found themselves surrounded by delighted faces. Jim was soon forced to stop entirely as a familiar Sixer stepped up, blocking his path. His eyes twinkled as the other man stared gravely back at him.

"Shannon."

"Carter."

The Sixer folded his arms and shook his head, his mouth twitching dryly.

"Figures you'd come back when all the work was done."

"I knew you had it under control." Jim grinned, casting another glance around. Judging by the look of it, the base had taken quite a beating not long before their arrival. Most of the already-flimsy shacks were in disarray. The cliff-face where the mine entrance had once been was now nothing more than an impressive pile of rubble. The prodigal commander made a funny noise in his throat.

"I see you've just about destroyed the place."

"Don't look at me. That was Reilly's idea."

"Oh?" Jim raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Well, good for Reilly."

Carter's gaze left him then, dropping instead to Zoe.

"Hey, kid."

"Hey."

"Ready to go home yet?"

Zoe looked up at the Sixer who had helped hold the colony together in her father's absence, her face lighting up with a happy grin.

"Thought you'd never ask."

---

Unbeknownst to anyone, the Terra Novan resistance had one more surprise in store for the future. As Simon's floating lab had caved in on itself, it had opened the floodgates to the city. The explosion had reversed the tide, forcing magnitudes of water plunging back into the tunnels leading directly below Chicago's streets. The rushing torrent swept along the hollowed out tubes under the city like it was being sucked up through a web of giant straws, creating a field of whirling brown pools on the surface as the ocean fled its usual resting place. Water stampeded through the underground channels of Chicago, overwhelming everything in its path until it had no place left to go. Then it kept going. The sheer build-up of pressure caused the liquid missiles to burst right through the concrete dividers that sealed certain areas shut. There was nowhere below ground level that was safe from the raging floods.

Truth be told, there was nowhere left that was safe at all. The murky beast was so furious that it wasn't satisfied with containing its roaring havoc to the concrete anthill that lay beneath Chicago's feet. Within minutes of the original eruption, the ocean began to bubble up into the streets themselves, creating small tsunamis in the water districts, and inundating the few buildings that had thus far escaped ruin.

Surely this was it. Disaster after disaster had befallen the great city, but there was one more token of wrath that had yet to reach the citizens on the mainland, for the entire ocean had become one magnificent conduit. Carried forth on the backs of the torrential cavalry, the emancipated parasite travelled freely through the water, electrifying every atom of liquid it happened to touch. Shortly thereafter, it reached the mainland, and the whole of Chicago went dark.

Once a thriving metropolis, the capitalist centre of science, industry, and technology was now a ghost town. The animated city fell quiet and still. Now the only sounds to be heard were the infrequent roars and cawing of dinosaurs on the streets. Even the sky had fallen silent, as though the atmosphere itself was observing a moment of reverent sorrow in the calamity's wake. People shut themselves away, sheltering in their houses, terrified. Those without homes did their best to make themselves invisible by whatever means they could. No one knew how long it would take to get the grid back up and running, but for now, this was their new reality.

The Cretaceous had come to the future. The scale had been levelled. Both worlds were now about as alike as they ever could be. Inhabited by living fossils, plunged into a sort of medieval darkness, the great city of Chicago had been humbled. In the end, Terra Nova's weaknesses had become its greatest strengths. New enemies would arise, of course – dictators always find a way to rebuild their empires – but for now, the evil had been vanquished. The war was over.

Peace had been restored to the past – well, in its own way.

Now all that remained was to actually believe it.

---

"It's official, Ma'am." Silas announced. "The reports have been collected from every front. All known hostiles are being restrained as we speak. The future commander is in custody. Base Zero is locked down, and we have our medical teams scanning the battlefields for survivors."

He waited, hands clenched eagerly behind his back. Reilly stood unmoving for a time as the silence stretched on. Then, finally, she looked up to meet the soldier's eyes, her own shining with a joy she couldn't have expressed in words.

Instead, she simply murmured the question he was waiting for.

"Well, Corporal. Do you want to do the honours, or shall I?"

The swell of excitement on his face was all the answer that was necessary. She released a short laugh, then gestured with a hand.

"Go on then. The stage is yours."

"Yes, Ma'am."

He darted to the edge of the platform so fast that for a moment, she experienced a thrill of fear that he would plummet right over the railing. He stopped, however, clinging to the rope barrier with shaky hands as he leaned over, yelling down to anyone who would listen. The shout echoed around the forest, catching like wildfire as it leapt from clearing to clearing, sending each heart burning with the flame.

"It's Terra Nova's victory! It's all finished! We won!"