Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me, this is fan fiction, not for profit.
Any references to people, places, businesses etc is entirely fictitious.
3.10-2
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Sarah inhaled sharply. She couldn't believe how stubborn Becker could be. She'd explained her idea, but he wouldn't listen.
She and Becker had waited… and waited. The man stood there pointing that heavy gun at the anomaly. He looked ready for whatever type of creature might come. It wasn't until Lester called that Becker stepped aside. His backup, a man named Hendriks, quickly took up the guard stance while Becker spoke into the phone.
Sarah only heard Becker's side of the conversation.
"No," Becker replied tersely "they were supposed to come back hours ago. Yes sir. Right."
Becker had turned towards the other waiting soldier. "Stephenson," he ordered "get the Hummer… we're going in."
When Becker, Sarah Danny, Connor and Abby had come to the racetrack anomaly following after Helen, they had expected to enter the dangerous future together, in the relative safety of the armored vehicle. But London traffic and another open anomaly played havoc with all Becker's careful preparations.
Sarah and Becker had gone to check out the other anomaly at Danny's direction. Becker had wanted Danny, Connor and Abby to wait for the Hummer before going through, but Danny had said they couldn't wait. The three of them headed to the future armed only with Becker's favorite gun and some survival backpacks containing the new stun grenades. The security team with the Hummer hadn't arrived until well after Sarah and Becker had returned from Johnson's headquarters.
"Sarah," said Becker as he climbed into the Hummer with the other five men from his security detail "lock the anomaly after we go through. In one hour, open it. Wait for five minutes then lock it again if we are not there. Then open it again in another half hour, wait for five minutes then lock it again."
"What if you're not back then?" asked Sarah.
Becker didn't say anything in response to her question. He just pulled the door shut. Hendriks shifted the huge vehicle into drive and it slowly moved forward. Through the tiny slot of a back window, Sarah could see the young technical assistant powering up the LRAD.
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James Lester came to the racetrack anomaly site.
Sarah had called him after Becker and his men hadn't shown up at the one hour mark. When she called Lester again at the next half hour mark, Lester had told her to lock the anomaly and wait.
When Lester arrived, he brought another security detail. The men were dressed in some sort of heavy coveralls that looked as if it were made from the same material as the standard issue anti-stab vests. They had metal helmets too. Sarah thought they looked like something Sir Richard might have worn.
"The helmets don't look like standard security issue," she said.
"No," replied Lester "they're not. I spoke to your friend Jamal at the British museum… he was kind enough to loan us the helmets from their fourteenth century armor collection."
"What?" exclaimed Sarah. She wasn't sure whether to be more surprised at Lester speaking with Jamal or that Jamal had actually loaned out some of the museum's precious historical objects. She tried to cover her surprise with a sarcastic comment. "You didn't get the body armor too?"
"Don't be silly," said Lester with a disdainful sniff "the armor is too bloody heavy and restricts movement."
The man looked at the anomaly and the locking mechanism in front of Sarah. "Open it."
"Becker said…" began Sarah.
"I give the orders around here," snapped Lester. "This remains a search and rescue mission. And one way missions are not part of anyone's job description."
He followed the security team through the anomaly carrying some sort of cylindrical object that looked suspiciously like a bazooka.
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Cutter was waiting for Lester when the ARCs director and his security team returned bringing a wounded Becker and the young technical assistant with them.
"You can lock it now," said Lester tiredly "and get the ambulance here."
"What happened?" asked Cutter anxiously. "Where are Connor and Abby?"
"How did you get here?" asked Lester.
"Sarah called me," responded the professor.
Lester looked at the doctor of archeology. He raised his eyebrows. "Cutter hasn't been back in the office to work for nearly six months," Lester complained "and you call him now?"
"What happened?" repeated Cutter impatiently.
"Helen happened," replied Lester sharply. "Danny, Connor and Abby went after her. They appear to have gone through an anomaly… and the rest of our first rescue team members are dead."
"This anomaly leads to another one?" asked Cutter.
"Yes," replied Lester "Why? Does that mean anything?"
"It might," answered the professor. "Sarah, Connor and I have been working on our anomaly research model at my home office, plotting all known anomalies. There are only two that we haven't been able to fix to the matrix."
"Do I dare ask," said Lester sarcastically "which two?"
"The dodo's anomaly site… the one that led to the anomaly junction," replied Cutter "and this one."
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Danny felt sick. The anomaly had closed and he was stuck in the Pliocene. For a few moments, he sat on his knees. He couldn't think, he couldn't breathe. Then he remembered what he had overheard Helen, in her guise as Eve, tell Christine Johnson.
"Anomalies are rips in time, some you can see, some are invisible to the naked eye," the woman had said "They're everywhere; you just have to know how to find them."
Danny got to his feet. He was determined to find an anomaly. Danny was going to find a way back to the cretaceous and rescue his friends, and then they would find a way home.
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Abby was stiff and cold when she woke up. She remembered Connor telling her to have sweet dreams last night, but the only dream she could remember was a horrible nightmare about being chased by creatures and climbing up a tree. Abby stretched out her arms. One of her hands reached into the air, while the other hand touched something rough. Bark.
She opened her eyes. Oh. That hadn't been a nightmare.
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Connor ached all over. He didn't want to move, but he also didn't want to stay up in that tree any longer either. Climbing down the tree loosened up some of his tight muscles, but he hissed with pain as he set weight on his sore ankle.
"Are you all right?" asked Abby.
"Yeah," he said trying to hide his pain.
"What's wrong?"
"It's just me ankle," replied Connor "I'll need that stick again."
Abby handed him the stick from where they had left it on the ground last night. "You can lean on me again," she said.
Connor grinned. He put his arm across her shoulder. "Let's go look for Danny."
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Becker winced as the medic injected him with some pain killer. The doctor looked at his arm and started muttering.
"Two maulings in one day," exclaimed the doctor "unbelievable."
"Yes," said Lester from his station leaning against the door frame "a wild animal got loose at a government containment facility. I understand Christine Johnson was brought here as well… how is she?"
"She'll live," replied the doctor as she began stitching up Becker's arm. "Her legs were in almost as bad condition as your man's arm and chest. What kind of creature was it?"
"I didn't say," answered Lester staring pointedly at the doctor. The woman looked at Lester, then turned back to her patient.
"We'll stitch the pectoral muscle last," she told Becker, "then wrap your chest and the arm together. I don't want you moving it for at least two weeks."
"No," Becker argued "I've got to get back…"
"Don't be ridiculous," the doctor said. "You're not to do anything to irritate these muscles! Do you want to lose function permanently?"
From the hospital doorway, Lester spoke. "Becker," he said "you're on desk duty until you get medical clearance. We can't afford to lose any more of the team."
"But Connor, Abby, Danny…" protested Becker.
"Don't worry," said Lester "they'll be back. We're going to make sure of it."
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A/N – this concludes Transitions. But the ARC and its stories continue... in one form or another…