There was something in the air that remained unspoken when we stood over the creature's body and watched the blood trickle down the cracks between the paving slabs.

It was the second time in as many weeks that Becker had managed to kill a creature right in front of me. And even though it hadn't been his fault either time, it still wasn't good.

He seemed just as torn up about this one as the Kaprosuchus. And that was something else that confused me; Becker was trigger happy, way too into guns, way too into being the action man with the muscles so a year ago I never would have seen him care about a creature this way. I didn't know what could have changed to cause this complete 180 twist. And I hoped it wasn't those butterflies.

I could tell he was watching me, as he stood over the creature with his weapon trained on it –just in case– despite the fact we both knew it was very dead. In turn, I tried not to suggest just how I was feeling like the last time in case it made him feel worse about himself.

It wasn't until he sighed, like he was somewhat exasperated, that I looked up from the body. 'I don't get it,' he said finally. 'You won't take a weapon you designed, that can keep not only yourself safe but all these creatures too.'

I didn't know we were still on this.

Apparently Becker couldn't let it go. And I was suddenly a little less worried about hurting his feelings– not because I didn't care or was in anyway frustrated myself– I just knew I couldn't expect him to understand something like this because he was a soldier.

'Guns are a finite resource,' I returned because I knew he would understand that. I reached round to pull the knife from its pouch into view. 'This wasn't just a way of protecting us when we were back there,' I explained, 'this sharpened Connor's spear so that he could fish and we could eat something other than just roots and bulbs. It cut branches off trees that built our shelter.' I paused to take a steady breath. 'Do you know how many creatures I killed back there this time?' I waited for him to answer, but he just stayed awkwardly silent. I shook my head, 'not a single one.' I wasn't taking any chances with what I already knew about effecting the future. And in consideration, I'd worried about the affect our mere presence there could have had. 'It wasn't worth the risk.'

Becker cocked his head like he was reading between the tone of my words to their true meaning. 'Do you really think you'll get marooned again?' he asked. And he made it sound almost ridiculous that I could believe that even though it had already happened 4 times.

'I really hope not,' I said, 'but every time it's happened before the day has started just like today. Just like every other day... You have to be prepared otherwise it's already too late. Please, think about it– you should always carry something like this with you.'

'Why not both?' he asked.

I had to restrain myself from sighing because it felt like he hadn't listened to a word I'd said, like the grip of his gun had deafened him.

'That works for you,' I nodded, 'but we are not the same, Captain. It isn't a principle. It's just my reality.'

If he was going to respond, mercifully he never got the chance. The sound of my phone ringing cut through the quietness of the empty street. I reached out to pull it from my pocket.

'Anna, hi!' Connor's voice echoed down the phone the second I connected the line. He sounded relieved.

'Hey, Con,' I returned, 'what's going on?'

I heard his mouth click awkwardly. 'Bit of an incident here, but it's all wrapped up. We've been trying to reach you for a minute or two. No one's responding.'

'Oh,' I said in remembrance, 'yeah, sorry, Becker and I took our radios out a few hours back,' I explained, 'we were just getting static.' With my words, I watched Becker reach into his pocket to pull his comm back out and loop it over the top of his ear.

'So you're all okay?' Connor replied.

I exhaled. 'No,' I had to say. 'Creature incursion, two adults from an unknown species. We're two men down. And one creature.'

'Oh…' I heard him respond dutifully. 'Are you…?'

'We're fine,' I said. And I heard him hum gratefully. 'Can you send a couple vehicles? One of the creatures has been tranqed but it's still in the theatre and it'll need taking back through before the anomaly closes. The other's sort of spread across the pavement.'

'Okay, I'll get Matt on that right away. Is the anomaly locked?'

'Yeah, remaining constant so far, no sign of imminent closure. We'll accompany the bodies back.'

'Okay, yeah.' And there was some sort of noise and a voice in the background on the phoneline that I couldn't quite make out. Connor voice was a little muffled for a moment before he came back. 'Yeah, I'll ask... Just the two bodies?'

'Three,' I corrected. 'There's a woman too. We think she must have come through the anomaly.'

'What?'

I didn't know how to respond. 'I'll catch you up when we're back, alright? See you soon.'

'Bye–bye.'

I hung up and pulled my attention from the creature and back to Becker. I held his gaze for a moment, trying to work out if he was going to say anything before anything else could happen.

But despite the expression on his face that could have suggested an almost fully formed sentence was on the tip of his tongue, he didn't bother to speak it aloud.

'One of us should stay,' I said eventually after I was done waiting. 'We'll need to go back to the theatre, make sure the creature is ready for transportation. Take it back through before it wakes up.'

'You stay,' he returned quickly like he thought he had some sort of authority. He had already turned back from the creature and was making his way across the street.

And I hadn't expected him to say that. I'd been intending on returning to the theatre myself and was trying to explain my thought process.

'Becker–'

'If that one's already dead it can't hurt you. Stay here, Anna. Please.'

I didn't see Becker again for the rest of the day.

When the trucks finally arrived I helped to scrape the creature off the pavement and accompanied its body back to the A.R.C.

I was a little run down and a little exhausted by the time I trudged up the staircase towards Ops, and pushed the door open.

The first thing I heard was Philip's voice, and though I couldn't quite hear what he was saying, I could see him standing at the top of the steps. Connor was beside him.

I stopped, not so interested in engaging in a conversation with him at this moment but neither trying to hide my presence there.

I waited for one of them to notice me.

'–I'm glad you're back on the team.' I watched Philip reach over and pat Connor almost condescendingly on the arm. Connor managed a half smile in return. 'Just keep that lizard away from me, will you?'

Rex? I could feel my brow furrowing. Philip threw his jacket over his shoulder and turned on his heel towards the lifts behind me. And my position was made.

'Anna!' Connor said.

'You okay?' I returned. I made no effort to change my expression because I wasn't afraid of letting him know I was somewhat suspicious of Philip.

Connor cleared his throat. 'Yeah,' Connor replied unconvincingly, 'yeah, we're all back up and running again here. Crisis over.'

'That's good,' I nodded back at him. Philip and I crossed on the landing but neither of us acknowledged the other. 'Good job, Con. Thank god you were here.' I walked past him, down the steps, then stopped in front of my desk. Someone had put a load of files on it. I quickly started sorting through them.

'Thanks,' Connor responded with an appreciate smirk, before his gaze flitted quickly back to Philip. 'Philip? Wasn't there something you wanted to tell me?'

Out the corner of my eye, I saw Philip pause, turning back towards Connor with the sort of frown that told me his confusion was completely feigned.

'About New Dawn?'

My interest was immediately sparked, my gaze snapped up and I stared straight across the room at the empty wall behind Beckers desk. I'd heard that somewhere before. Hadn't I?

I didn't want Philip to have any idea that I was aware of that so I kept shifting through the papers and didn't turn my head so it looked like I wasn't listening.

'Oh, another time.'

And I saw Phillip walk towards the lift doors from my peripherals. He pushed the button, and after only a few seconds, the lift dinged, the doors opened, and as Philip stepped in, Danny came out.

'Ace,' he called. He came striding quickly across the room towards the steps, 'you're back!'

'Hey,' I replied as I glanced briefly over at him, 'you made it in then?'

'Only just,' he returned as he cantered down the stairs and stopped in front of my desk, 'I was barely in the building before the lockdown came into place, got stuck in the lift.'

'Oh my god,' I noted in response– not that it seemed like such a big deal for him– and shuddered.

'Ah, it's okay,' he replied dismissively, 'thankfully the lift had made it up to this floor before everything shut down. Connor got me out, eventually.'

'Yes,' I echoed playfully, 'I heard he saved the A.R.C.' And I grinned as Connor glanced at me. He came down the steps and stopped beside Danny.

'I nearly killed Philip,' he stated dejectedly, and in a tone that meant he expected a certain sort of response from me.

'Oh,' I replied. 'Shame. What made you change your mind?'

Connor's eyes rolled. 'Not like that,' he complained. 'He got stuck in the lab. I managed to hack our old system, get the lockdown lifted before he could suffocate.'

'You remembered the password?'

'Eventually,' he replied.

'Well. Don't panic.'

'That's the first helpful or intelligent thing anybody's said to me all day.'

'Wow,' Danny quipped back, edging offence, 'okay.' And his expression hardened again when Connor and I shared a look, and both let out a snort of laughter.

'No, his password…' I replied, '"Don't panic" it's Douglas Addams. Hitchhikers Guide. We always thought that in cases where we might forget a password like that, if we're in a high–pressure situation of some sort then someone would tell us not to panic eventually.'

'Oh, okay,' Danny nodded back, 'that's clever, Ace.' Then, leaning forward to prop his elbow on the edge of the desk, he sighed. 'You should have woken me this morning.'

'You know we don't like to wake you up when you're still snoring.'

Danny's eyes rolled. 'I don't snore.'

'How would you know?'

He sighed. 'Well in that case, Ace, you probably don't know that you're a mutterer.'

I paused for a moment, biting down on the inside of my cheek before I managed a smile. 'Actually I've heard that once or twice.'

Danny raised an eyebrow. 'Right…' and he sucked through his teeth. '… I don't really snore, do I?'

'Yes,' Connor said, without missing a beat.

'Loudly,' I added.

'Like a chainsaw.'

Danny sighed again. His gaze dropped for a moment, giving me and Connor a second to share another amused and somewhat evil look. 'Right,' he said again, 'I'm guessing you have reports to do…'

'Fuck reports right now,' I replied, 'I have an autopsy and a creature I'm gonna have to attempt to identify on the fossil records before I accompany its body to the crematorium. Don't wait for me; you'll be here forever. It's gonna take all night.'

Danny frowned. 'We could help, you know.'

'What?' I returned with an identical expression. 'You want to cut up a dead woman?'

He tutted, 'no,' he returned, 'but I mean, we can help you search the fossil records,' he said with a shrug.

Connor nodded in agreement. 'Even if we don't know when it came from, we'll work out some way to narrow it down.'

'You can go do your slicing,' Danny said, 'and if you have to be the one to sign off on the barbeque we can all go to the crem together and pick up a Chinese or something on the way home.'

I blinked slowly back at the both of them. 'Really? You'd do that?'

Danny's eyes rolled again, 'course, Ace.' And Connor nodded along. 'Isn't that what we do?'

'Come on,' Connor agreed, 'let me grab my laptop and we'll meet you in the medical lab.'

I smiled weakly back at them in appreciation. 'Thanks guys.'

Danny flapped a hand back at me. 'Yeah yeah.'