Primeval Challenge Drabbles

Introductions

James Lester was stiff and formal.

The team were mad. Maitland was mad and intense and sharp, like light shining through crystal. Connor was mad and geeky. Cutter was mad and Scottish.

They didn't return in good order. It was a chaotic tumble.

Becker realised his HR paperwork was still incomplete.

He found an angel who took it from him, checked it over, explained the mysteries, corrected the mistakes, assured him she would handle it from here and then smiled the most beautiful smile.

"Who are you?" he blurted out.

"Silly of me. I should have introduced myself. I'm Lorraine."

Claudia Who?

Claudia struggled back across the dry terrain. Every few steps the tears blurred her vision but the hot dry wind evaporated them from her face.

In her mind's eye the terrible visions played over and over as first Ryan and then Nick fell to the savagery of the beast.

She stumbled through the anomaly and stopped short.

"Nick!" she cried and, temporarily abandoning all rational thought, threw herself into his arms. "Oh my God! I thought you were dead!"

He pushed her back gently and frowned. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Claudia! It's me, Claudia."

"I'm sorry, but Claudia who?"

Secret Santa

"Ho! Ho! Ho!"

"I'm not fooled Cutter. I have paperwork. Get out of my office."

"Have a little Christmas spirit. Ho? Ho? Ho?"

"Jenny, remove Professor Cutter from my office and put him back in the Christmas party."

"Ho, ho, ho." Cutter clearly waggled his eyebrows at Jenny as he went out. She smiled and rolled her eyes at him.

"What have you done to him?"

Jenny smiled smugly. "The secret santa delivered an excellent Ardbeg to the free bar. Sure I can't tempt you sir?"

"Bah! Humbug!"

"Very good sir."

"Just out of curiosity, how old is the Ardbeg?"

Mistletoe and Wine

"The cross was made out of mistletoe. That's why the plant withered and became parasitic." Claudia's arms overflowed with green and white mistletoe. Ivy trailed around her hair and her dress was white.

"That's not true in so many ways," commented Nick.

"It's true in all the ways that matter."

"Why do we kiss under it?"

"It fruits in winter. Work it out, Nick."

Nick actually blushed. "And this feast of Queen Mab's tonight? Where wine will flow like a river?"

Claudia kissed him ever so gently and her eyes danced. "Well Yamin had to come from somewhere didn't she?"

Unwrapping the Presents

``Fingerless mittens! Thanks Jenny.'' Connor ignored the sound of stifled giggling behind him.

``I'm glad you like them Connor. I wanted to get something you'd use.''

``How many pairs of mittens is that?'' asked Abby once she was gone.

``Only three, Lester and Danny bought me scarves. Stop laughing, they're all very thoughtful!''

``Here's mine.'' Abby pushed a small package across the table.

Connor opened it cautiously. ``It's a ring? with a heart?''

``It's a promise ring. Look it up on wikipedia.''

``I know what a promise ring is,'' Connor said quietly as he put it on. ``Best present ever.''

The End of an Era

Helen was beginning to regret her instinct to explore. The Permian landscape fascinated her and the other gateways to other times fascinated her more. But she was lost and could not get home. Nick would be missing her.

Then she saw the Dimetrodon skeleton, by the dried up shore of a prehistoric sea. The air was short of oxygen, making it hard to breathe. Something inside of her strained and broke. She did not regret her urge to explore. She did not really regret Nick. She was filled with the passion of discovery.

It was the end of an era.

Trains, Planes and Automobiles

Train: Taylor watched the guards loading up their luggage.

"Where are we going?"

"Scotland," said Claudia. "There's an alert in Glencoe."

"Flying would be quicker."

"Not in this weather."

"I should do something about that."

Plane: "It'll be fine, Connor!" Taylor pulled the goggles down over her face. "Honestly, the theory is sound. I've flown before."

Automobile: "Just keep cranking the handle."

"This is worse than that airplane of yours!" complained Connor.

"It's a lot more practical! You can drive it to your honeymoon location."

"Who told you I was getting married?"

"Abby's just randomly wearing that ring, is she?"

Ice Age

As the glaciers advanced we hit upon the idea of siphoning in heat from other eras. We built on temporal theory dating back to the early 21st century.

We didn't realise the irony in the name `Anomaly Project'. Someone with access to classified files must have put two-and-two together and then suggested it as joke.

There wasn't much laughter as the dinosaurs thundered across the continents, but at least modern armaments meant they were controllable.

But no one expected the anomalies to reach forward. The anomalies shouldn't have reached forward.

No one was laughing at all as the predators arrived.

Nick Cutter Lies Alone

Nick Cutter lies alone. The slammed doors and raised voices are past. She won't be back tonight.

Nick Cutter lies alone, lacking the strength to finish the Missing Persons form.

Nick Cutter lies alone. The faint memory of a kiss lingers on his lips, the sharp image of a fiancé etched into his mind's eye.

Nick Cutter lies alone. Memories of shared tents soured by recrimination, distrust and finally death churn through his thoughts.

One stayed close. He did not die alone.

The last of the mourners have gone. The head stone stands, simple and cold. Nick Cutter lies alone.

Winner Takes All

Evolution is incredibly simple for something so incredibly complex. Sooner or later something will out-compete you and that's it. Winner takes all.

Helen knew this. Helen had thought she understood this. It was the armour around her heart. She viewed people dispassionately, just another species muddling along until the evolutionary dice rolled against it.

The sight of a ravaged world with predators feasting in the ruins hit her like a vicious kick. This could not be allowed to happen. She could out-think and out-compete these creatures, single-handedly if need be.

She would win. They would not have any of it.

I've Got a Theory

"I've got a theory," writes Connor.

"Actually I've got lots of theories. I don't like one theory. I like all the other theories. The one's that don't work. They are better theories than the one that does work. Obviously they're not scientifically better but they're unscientifically better, if you see what I mean.

"There is a trial and error pattern. Anomalies cluster ever closer to some event until a desired change is achieved. Then someone or something moves on to a new experiment."

"I've got a theory that the anomalies are deliberate."

Things change.

Connor writes. "I have no theories."

Romance

"Stairs are blocked!" shouted Sarah.

She leaned over the balcony and stared into the ornate hallway below. The Deinonychus were all on the stairway and the landing below them. "Hallway's clear."

"More behind us!" gasped Jenny.

Sarah risked a glance down the corridor. "Damn!"

"Chandelier!" said Jenny.

Sarah glanced at the heavy rope. "You have to be kidding me."

"I wish I was. Any better ideas?"

"No."

As they swung down to the marble floor Sarah felt Jenny's lips brush against her own. She stared at Jenny in surprise.

Jenny blushed. "Sorry! Caught up in the romance of the moment."

There is no I in Team

Maturity suited Connor. Geekiness had become a gentle eccentricity. Manic enthusiasm had become an eagle-eyed curiosity and a refusal to be defeated by events. Social ineptness had combined with intelligence into a careful watchfulness for the feelings of other people.

"I am accepting this Nobel prize on behalf of the most amazing team of people a man could hope to work with. Some of them lost their lives trying to understand and contain the anomalies..."

In the audience Helen could only seeth to herself. I discovered the anomalies. I mapped them. I developed the first theories. I was there first.

Victory

Helen was always victorious.

She had set out to show her theories were correct, and they had been proved right.

On the way she had been arrested without charge, injured and villified. She had been misunderstood. Her words had been twisted and her motives derided.

Still...

She had her own goals and intended to pursue them.

She followed a predator to the future.

She had learned how to manipulate the time lines. She had decided on the action to take. She had successfully infiltrated the ARC. She had removed Nick from the equation.

Victory, as Connor might have said, sucked.

I've got Chills... They're Multiplying

Lester had said it would be "good for morale", which Nick assumed meant "if I have to go to the staff party, so do you."

Even so, and considerably against his better judgement, he let Connor and Abby cajole him onto the floor for WMCA, and again for the Time Warp.

The excellent beer was probably to blame.

He lost track of which cheesy number from his youth was blaring out.

He turned, staggered, caught hold of the nearest person and sang "You're the one that I want," to a surprised looking Jenny.

Suddenly he realised that he meant it.

Rock

Every summer, throughout her childhood, Abby and her family had spent a week at the seaside with her grandparents. They would build sandcastles, explore rockpools and eat bright pink rock.

"Your granddad has the countryside running right through him," her Nan used to say. "Bit like this stick of rock."

Indeed her grandfather always had the air of a farmer about him. He had depths, but they weren't really hidden ones.

Connor was like that. What you saw was what you got, without guile or polish. He had `Connor' written all the way through him, like a stick of rock.

Bedtime Stories

"Tell me a story."

Connor's no good at telling stories, not really. He breaks off to fill in back-story he's forgotten to mention. He tends to digress into observations about science. He wants to explain and excuse the bits that don't quite make sense.

However, Abby has asked.

He resists the temptation to reveal the excitement of Highlander or the intricacies of Iain M. Banks. He searches in his mind for a simple tale.

Abby falls asleep in his arms, under the bright stars of the Cretaceous, as his voice murmurs the story of two babes, lost in a wood.

Trapped

I was going to change the world...

...but not until after university, not until I'd saved a bit...

Then...

Mortgage, boyfriend, people waiting for the engagement to be announced; lots of people who would be hurt and let down.

Then...

I was surrounded by people who were difficult. God! were they difficult. People who constantly hurt each other and let each other down, but they were brave and shining and determined.

I don't want to let them down. But they've shown me I have to sieze my own dream, find my own way to change the world and fly free.

Thunder and Lightening

The wild storm was raging but Mother Cutter did not care. She had the knife. She had the skull. She climbed to the top of Silbury Hill, and hadn't it taken some effort to get that built, fit for purpose, four thousand years earlier.

She knelt atop the hill and plunged the knife into the skull. Lightening struck.

Bolts of paradox curled around her, racing down the hill and out onto the plain. Anomalies danced in the thunder, powering the network, connecting to the labyrinth.

Mother Cutter stood at the heart of the storm and saw that it was good.

Short, Sharp, Click

Jennifer Lewis walks away. Her heels click, click, click on the floor. They sound irritated.

The team are intimidated by the stark suit and the red lips. Even James Lester, accustomed to forceful personalities, is uncertain. How do you tell someone so sharp and brittle about the dinosaurs? He fears the hard exterior will break into a bitter laugh and she'll resign. Cutter's already convinced her, in less than a sentence, that he's either a lunatic or making fun of her.

Lester leaves her to work it out and never apologises that in doing so he nearly got her killed.

Dinosaurs

Connor was counting his blessings because everything ached, the router was bust and Abby was watching keep fit.

Steady job. Out of deference to his grandpa who thought it important. Grandpa was also awesome with lego and didn't mind buying TV tie-in novelisations as presents.

Co-workers. Abby was the best person to work with ever. And when you also worked with Cutter that was saying something. Abby was probably a blessing in her own right, number three.

Best thing about the job was the great people, especially Abby.

That and the dinosaurs, but he was saving them for blessing five...

Claudia Brown

Late one night, long after the children had flown the nest. Jenny woke up alone and thirsty.

She was unsurprised to see that the light was on in Nick's study as she padded downstairs. He was inside, pouring over diagrams and equations, endlessly working because he couldn't sleep.

"Still trying to find a pattern in the anomalies?" she asked.

"Aye! I thought I had an idea about the time-line changes but it doesn't work."

"If you did figure it out, would you bring back Claudia?"

She saw him hesitate before he said "no", and in that instant her heart broke.

Cake

Every morning Claudia ate breakfast at Henry's. She had coffee and a croissant and she looked at the cake; a moist and rich chocolate cake, encased in thick icing.

A slice only cost 50p. Resisting temptation was a part of Claudia's morning routine. Maybe, some day, she'd succumb; on her fortieth birthday, perhaps, or when she finally got Cutter out of her hair - some event worthy of the capitulation.

One morning, as she ate her croissant and sipped her coffee, a voice said, "May I sit here?"

She looked up to see Helen, a slice of cake in each hand.

Surrender

"Retreating from the field of battle? Not like you," said Lyle.

Maybe not, but Ryan felt like an old soldier in this war. He'd fought his last campaign when Jeff walked out. He was done with relationships.

"What's that about a battle?" With impeccable timing, Hart appeared in the doorway.

"Ryan's hiding behind his defences. I recommend a full frontal assault." Lyle grinned, slapped Hart's chest and then wandered off.

Hart raised his eyebrows. "Fancy a pint?"

As an opening salvo it was simple, but effective. Ryan sighed inwardly, picked up his jacket and braced himself for one last campaign.

Food, Glorious Food

All was dry and arid, parched and lifeless. The children mewled with hunger. The mother could provide little. They were running out of time.

They watched the elusive shadow watching them. It smelled strange and exotic, but mostly it smelled of meat. It wasn't of this place any more than they were. They controlled their hunger, and watched until it vanished, suddenly, through the same bright light that had first led them to this place.

They broke through, into cool sunlight, light rain and a cornucopia of beasts. The family was saved. Food, glorious food, surrounded them in great abundance.

Girl on Beach

Connor surveyed the deserted beach, harpoon gun over one shoulder.

"Tranqs, backed up by M4s would be easier," said Abby cautiously.

"You heard the eye-witness; one minute the girl was standing on the beach, then she was gone, nothing but a camera left. We know what's there."

"I don't want to have to rescue you, again."

Connor flashed her a devil-may-care smile. "We know this way works. It'll be fine."

He vaulted over the railings at the edge of the promenade.

Abby winced at the yelp of pain. Twenty years dead, and Connor was still trying to emulate Stephen Hart.

The Permian

This was where it had started and this was where it would end. Timeline after timeline would fold back on itself. Claudia wondered where that would leave her. Was she real or only a ghost?

Dry earth blew around her feet. Ferns grew among the rocks and tall pines waved in the distance. Nothing was artificial save for an abandoned camera, next to dusty bones.

Her cheeks were wet with tears.

The body and camera were not the only things out of time. Mishapen, domed, sightless heads stared at her. Claudia stared back.

She turned and ran for the anomaly.

Shadows

"You cast a long shadow, you know," Jenny remarked.

Claudia laughed gently. "Oh come now, Jennifer Lewis. You're not going to let yourself be scared of shadows are you?"

Jenny laughed too. "Not scared exactly, a little intimidated, perhaps."

"You say that only Helen is left who remembers me. What do you even care what she thinks?"

Jenny shook her head. "You're right. I don't."

"So go, with my blessing." Claudia kissed Jenny and then gave her a little shove, sending her stumbling towards the anomaly.

Jenny looked back once and then stepped through, to emerge blinking into the light.

Lies

Captain Ryan gave his life in Afghanistan, serving his country, fighting to protect the way of life and ideals that we all hold dear.

Mercifully, his death was swift and painless. He was protecting a civilian group, attacked in a roadside ambush. Captain Ryn received a bullet through the head. It is doubtful he even realised what was happening.

A full investigation has been conducted into the circumstances. It is the army's belief that all those involved, both military and civilian, acted with the utmost professionalism and integrity. No blame can be assigned.

Dulce et decorum est pro Patria mori.

Bones (3 Drabbles)

The bones stuck out of the dry sand, long picked clean by wind and predators. They formed a ridge on top of the dune; an arched colonade which a traveller walked through, giant ribs curving over their heads and pointing up towards the sky. The skull lay some way distant, tumbled down the sandy slope to lie, facing backwards looking at the great architectural remains of its once vast body. The hollow eyes gazed back, blank and empty, while the sands of time blew and drifted, and ground the vast edifice into tiny grains which were dispersed on the wind.

Helen

Helen found it first and paused to marvel at a sight never seen by human eyes. The first time she passed she gazed upon it with a paleontologist's eye. She measured and theorized and ran her hands over the smooth bone. She sighed when she turned her back and moved on her way.

The next time her eyes and thoughts were elsewhere. Living animals were her concern. Survival was her priority. Ambition and desire for intangibles such as freedom and recognition drove her. These were just bones in the sand and had nothing to offer. She did not look back.

Nick

Wandering through time, Nick stumbled upon them. He had a goal and had no time but his eyes darted from side to side as he walked between the ribs.

He returned. Sometimes he brought others. Then the measuring was done, and the skull once more laid bare. Curiosity was in Nick's blood and the skeleton told him all it could. Once done, he moved on to new challenges and asked new questions.

Yet, paleontology was in Nick's bones. Time and again he walked this way and in each passage he looked upon the dead with the eyes of a child.

If at first you don't Succeed

Airborne

Telperion Ryan flew over the great plain rejoicing in the feel of the wind. Below him a large herd of Arcosaurs ambled along. He dived down, swooping between their necks and then darting in among the vast plodding legs, enjoying the skill of navigating among the obstacles as the wind urged him on. Then he climbed once more up into the clouds.

"One of these days a predator will stampede them and then you'll only be so much pillow stuffing," remarked Miranda disapprovingly.

Ryan laughed. "I'm better than that!" and even if he wasn't, some things were worth the risk.

Disappointment

The flat was strangely impersonal. In one cupboard there was a tangle of rock-climbing gear. A bookshelf groaned under the weight of textbooks and a handful of dog-eared thrillers.

The Spice Girls mug was an oddity, but the kitchen cupboards mostly contained IKEA starter kit.

There was nothing in the flat to tell her anything about Stephen that she couldn't read on his one-page CV.

Jenny, boxing up everything for Oxfam, save for the textbooks which she'd send to the university, felt oddly disappointed. She had wanted the flat to reveal the man she had never really known in life.

Head over Heels

Dara meant compassion and wisdom. The name was bestowed upon her both to reflect who she was and prescribe who she should be. Claudia worked to remain compassionate, kind, wise and insightful. That meant she worked to remain dignified and aloof. She watched Stephen and Ryan dash off to fight dragons or hippogriffs or whatever came through the anomalies and she smiled upon them when they returned.

But when Cutter dragged himself through the mists that separated the worlds, half-eaten apple in hand, she felt like a teenager. She laughed and she smiled and she danced and it was good.

Fight

Ryan was mildly surprised when Professor Nicholas Cutter suddenly roughened up and took a swing at him. It had been a long day and too much had happened. Ryan needed a beer and some time to think, not a round of fisticuffs and some kind of leadership battle with a civilian. Ryan hoped the blow he landed in return would decisively put an end to matters.

To be honest, Ryan had rather hoped pistol whipping the man would firmly put an end to anything.

It was just his bad luck that it turned out to be the start of something.

Flowers in the Night

Oba and Zarina climbed onto the rooftop to watch the show. They owned a tiny cube on top of a Nairobi high-rise. Oba filled the roof with potted plants. The night scents of jasmine and bougainvillea floated in the air.

"They say there will be another water cut soon," said Zarina sadly. Too much of their ration went on the flowers.

"It will all change tonight," whispered Oba. "The project will solve all the shortages."

They lay side by side on the roof top and above them, one after another, the great lights opened in the sky like golden flowers.

The Road to Hell

Helen's last memory was of a raptor coming out of nowhere. Stupid way to die.

She stood on a narrow road that stretched out in two directions. One way spiralled up a vast mountain. Even from this distance she could hear obsequious groans and the chant of smug and pious prayers.

In the other direction the road was covered in sharp rocks. It plunged down into a dark fissure in the ground, ash blew towards her on the wind.

Helen turned her back on the mountain. She had a feeling she would accomplish more if she headed into the pit.

Revolution

Spring

Connor brought home half a dozen daffodils `for the flat'. Rex ate them. Connor didn't ask for anything she wasn't prepared to give. This was good.

Summer

It had been blisteringly hot; dust in her hair and sand in her mouth. Caroline provided a welcome breathing space to get her thoughts in order.

Autumn

Connor didn't follow up on the kiss. He didn't call. Why had she done it? Mates to lovers never worked.

Winter

They sheltered in a cave. Connor put his arm round her. Should she push for more?

Spring

"It's about time I told you something?"

Obsessions

Nick had become fascinated by the patterns. If he stared at the model long enough and in the right way, links and connections would form like a stream of light crossing the space. Thinking in four dimensions, seeing the way things linked together, was the most incredible experience.

"You can't hide in your work for ever, you know." Lester said kindly one evening.

"What do you mean?" Nick shot back agressively.

"You are going to have to face Stephen's death sooner or later."

Nick ignored him until he went away. Lester was wrong. He wasn't in denial. He was obsessed.

You want me to put what where?

The Uintatherium was large and, while not obviously vicious, had the look of a creature who would not worry about who was in her way or under her feet. Connor reminded himself she was a herbivore. Then again that just meant a lack of really sharp teeth but gave no guarantee of a friendly demeanour.

Connor eyed her very warily. "I'm not sure about this."

Abby stood next to the beast with her hands on her hips and smirked.

"Well Connor, you did say `Are you sure she's pregnant' and I can only think of one way to check for certain."

Death by Chocolate

Jenny sank into her bath as she enjoyed the feuilltine's contrast of praline and crispy flakes. Her aching muscles relaxed under the combined assault of warm water and the choclatier's skill.

"I take it I'm surplus to requirements," said a slightly woebegone voice.

Becker stood in the doorway, stark naked, everything was standing to attention.

Jenny picked up another chocolate and bit into it slowly. The hazelnut gianduja centre melted together with the sharp and bitter dark chocolate that enrobed it. A small mewling sound escaped her throat and she closed her eyes.

Dejected and defeated, Becker left the room.

Bad Romance

"Miss Maitland, I'd like to see you in my office."

The first time there was confusion and then disbelieving horror, as he locked the door. Moments later she was pressed to the desk, one hand clamped over her mouth and her knickers tangled around her ankles.

She knew what she could and should do. She'd taken the self-defence classes. But every time he spread her legs and took his pleasure, he dismissed her with the same simple threat. "Mention this and you are off the team."

She blamed Stephen and then Connor. If it weren't for them she could leave.

Hospital

"Thanks for picking me up." Stephen sounded morose.

"It was worth it for the gossip in reception. I gather Allison made quite an exit."

Stephen grimaced at Nick. "Go on, say I told you so."

"I don't recall offering any specific advice on appropriate sexual behaviour while hospitalised."

"I didn't know Allison would be coming back so soon... or that the nurse would mention it."

"Aye well, at least it wasn't Abigail Maitland. I was a little worried."

Stephen found something to stare at outside the car. He made a mental note not to mix women and hospitalisation in future.

Happily Ever After

Ryan sat on the branch of the great tree and Claudia snuggled up next to him. They looked down on Connor and Abby seated, together, below them.

"At least we're still alive and we have each other," said Connor, shivvering in the cold. "Not like..."

"I know. Stephen, Ryan, Nick, so many losses, even that Claudia. None of them will ever get to be happy now."

Claudia giggled, free and girlish and Ryan laughed with her, pulling her close and rubbing his face in her hair.

Guardian spirits, in the dark nights of the Cretaceous, they watched over their charges.

The Road Not Taken

They called it the Language of Time. Connor's writing spiralled out, tracing paths he might take through the future.

Sarah's hand squeezed his shoulder. "Bad luck," she whispered.

There were lots of paths. Some led to peace and quiet, waking up each morning with the same head resting in his arms, even if the world outside went to pot.

But Sarah knew the road he would take. The hurried kiss and the promise to return. Beyond that he couldn't see. He wasn't fluent enough in the language. He just hoped that road would eventually wind its way back to Lester.

Persistence

I weave and a grand design emerges. People meet and part, threads intertwining. People die, their motif abandoned, half complete. Sometimes they change beyond recognition, like birds turning into fish in a tesselated print.

Through the whole tapestry shoots a bright silver thread. It is confident, self-assured, and single-minded in its vision and purpose. It is the thread from which the whole work started and it is the thread with which it will end.

I watch it bring other patterns into the mix, abandoning them when it chooses.

I am Fate, but my weaving dances to the tune Helen plays.

Goodbye

She had been right. Her deductions might have been off. But her deductions had been correct insofar as they were the best interpretation of the facts available and those facts had demanded action.

So, she had been right. If she told herself that then she could carry on.

The grave was simple and plain. Tasteful. She detected the hand of James Lester.

She was damned if she was going to cry. She was damned if she was going to say sorry.

"Goodbye Nick," she said firmly. Then she walked away because it was the only worthwhile thing she could do.

Haunted

Ghosts thronged the ARC tonight. Winter's icy grip had yet to freeze imagination into stillness. When James Lester looked out of his high window and watched the lights below, he could feel spirits at his back. The soldiers were a comfort and a protection. They continued to do their duty. Nick and Stephen urged him on, persistent, bickering and restless. Their deaths were testament to mistakes; their ghosts driven by sharp thoughts and abstract ideals. Claudia's presence was faint. She was a whisper in the depths of the night. A warning that the stakes were higher than he could understand.

Reservations

James Lester had a reserved parking space. When he went out, Lorraine managed the reservations for him. In meetings his seat was always reserved. He had a reserved manner. He surrounded himself with little boxes designed to keep people away and marked with the letters `reserved'. He told himself he liked it that way. Things might not be simple but at least they were neat, orderly and well contained.

It surprised him therefore how much happier he was, once one Connor Temple had trailed chaos through his neat, orderly, well contained little flat and his neat, orderly, well contained life.

Special Forces

Lyle was the free spirit who never quite grew-up; always ready with a laugh and joke.

Finn was a good lad; though not the brightest card in the pack.

Kermit was the family man. His life revolved around Kara and the baby.

Ditzy was driven and competent, doing his sensible best for his friends.

Blade was the loner, a bit psychotic maybe, but he was a mate, so what could you do?

An ordinary bunch of blokes out for a night on the town. Ryan looked around his men as they laughed and joked and knew each one was special.

For the Children

One morning, Abigail Maitland walked into Lester's office and resigned.

That evening Connor moped and argued around her flat.

"I found something better," she said.

Six months later he managed to catch up with her in the fens. She was knee-deep in mud and seemed to be surrounded by a horde of placard waving swamp people.

"Lunch?" he suggested hopefully.

He took Dame Abigail Maitland to Claridges for her fiftieth birthday.

Halfway through the stuffed mushrooms, a little girl asked for an autograph for `saving all those birds.'

"Why did you leave?" pressed Connor. "Why did you turn to campagining?"

Someone to Lean On

Lester told himself, went he sent them away to hide, that he was simply protecting an investment. When Becker turned on Christine, Lester told himself it was simply a shrewd manuever.

Lester watched the team. He saw Connor shoe Sarah away and send her home the day her grandmother died. He saw Danny help a laughing but limping Abby up the steps after a dangerous call. He noticed the way Sarah gave Danny a little thumbs up before he saw Lester to report.

It didn't really matter what Lester told himself, he knew why the team worked together so well.

Anniversary

On the first anniversary of Helen's disappearance Nick went into work as usual, ignoring the surprised glance and tentative question of his inherited PhD student.

On the fifth anniversary, Stephen turned up on his doorstop with a bottle of Caol Isla and a determined look on his face. "Nicholas Cutter, you are going to damn well mourn, even if I have to let you drink me under the table to do it."

Nick didn't even realise the eighth anniversary had passed until the Connor Temple thrust a newspaper headline under his nose and the walls came crashing down around him.

Frozen

Steel looked dispassionately at the time break. Contained now, frozen into the stillness that only absolute zero could bring.

"Pity," said Lead, his deep voice booming. "She's a pretty little thing."

Steel hadn't thought of the break as a she and didn't propose starting now. It had one arm upraised, its mouth open, a look of surprise and indignation on its face.

"I never had much patience with humans," Steel said.

He threw one, single, hard punch and watched the frozen figure shatter into pieces. The break was destroyed. His job done.

"So much for Claudia Brown." Sapphire sounded mournful.

I thought you were Dead

It all started, Helen now knew, at an MoD research facility run by a mysterious Miss Smith. With the technology at her disposal, it was trivial to break in. She moved swiftly and silently, until she stood in Miss Smith's darkened office.

She placed a compact pistol at the back of the woman's head but paused, recognising the face that looked back at her from a mirror hung on the opposite wall.

"Christine Johnson! I thought you were dead!" she couldn't help saying.

"Oh please Helen, such a cliche! Besides I could say the same of you, twice in fact."

Time Fall

Frozen.

She is an errant cul-de-sac in time. Those that would keep the highways clear froze her and shattered her and, as far as they were concerned, that was the end of the matter.

But there is more to Claudia Brown than a footnote among the might-have-beens of history.

Each fragment of herself becomes a gateway. As she falls, she twists through the curves of time and arrives. Arrives at last and gives her blessing.

"Go with joy."

Silently she falls as white flakes around Nicholas Cutter and Jennifer Lewis who hold hands and gaze, laughing, into the night sky.

Honey, I'm Home

"Honey, I'm home!"

Three simple words spoken in a tone of sarcasm intended more to annoy than to please. After six months of silence and uncertainty, they lifted Lester's heart.

A bag dropped, thumping heavily against a wall. Boots stamped and then clattered as their owner tossed them onto the laminated flooring.

Lester was in the hallway immediately.

"Eager!" grinned Lyle. He looked tired.

"Just protecting the paintwork." Lester pulled him close.

"Bloody paintwork," muttered Lyle, his head dropping to Lester's shoulder. "I don't know why I put up with you."

"The feeling's mutual." Lester smiled and held Lyle tight.

Flesh and Blood

The CMU archeology department had boasted an expert on facial reconstruction. Nick had written the discipline off as showmanship with a touch of the charlatan about it. Even so he had, once or twice, watched in fascination as the man layered clay muscle and skin on top of a skull until a dead face emerged to stare sorrowfully into his eyes.

It was with similar fascination, laced with horror that he watched the process in reverse, as the future predators peeled away Stephen's skin, and then muscles, layer by layer until the floor was strewn with flesh, blood and bone.

Stargazing

"Can we find Orion?"

"Wha?"

"It's a constellation. It was in my magazine."

"Oh Aye! Weel! Did the fancy magazine say how to find yon?"

"No, but you can find it Dad!"

"I find your faith in ma abilities touching. I ken that there's the North star."

"I'm going to be an astronomer when I grow up. The magazine says how to do it."

"I thought you were going to be a dinosaur hunter?"

"That was ages ago. I was little and didn't know dinosaurs are extinct."

"Ach well, Nicholas. I dinna doubt you'll be whatever you want to be."

Naked

The fingers that drifted across the skin on his chest were worn. Toughened from clinging to rock, scrapping, and holding guns in harsh sun and blowing sand. Lester could feel each touch, followed by soft lips and the ghosting of breath.

Jon looked up. A lop-sided grin betrayed an imminent sarcastic remark.

Lester was amazed. The afternoon sun fell across Jon's features. Gold flamed in his brown hair. Contrasts of light and shadow revealed the muscles that held him poised above Lester.

"I love you," Lester whispered and Jon's quip died unuttered.

James Lester lay revealed; naked body and soul.

James Lester

He had been here too long. He was letting the facade slip. That frightened him. The subtle, beguiling, intoxicating sense that maybe people liked him, that maybe, just maybe, people appreciated him for what he had done was terribly, terribly dangerous.

If upfront, straightforward, people like Abby could tell he cared just a little then the dangerous sharks could tell that he cared a great deal. He had traded gentle glances and kind words for the security of good, hard-working people.

He must leave, but not yet. A crisis loomed. He told himself, again and again, he would leave afterwards.

Phobia

"Hurrah! You show the Hoi Polloi!" Roger brayed with laughter.

Jenny felt humiliated, stricken and trembling.

"Are you OK?" The man she had decked was from the band. "He said just to tap you on the shoulder."

Jenny stammered and apologised and explained. Michael, he was called Michael, found her somewhere to sit where nothing could creep up on her. When she decided she had to leave. He asked no questions, but found a taxi.

Jenny took one of the band's flyers with her. She had a suspicion, even in her confused state, that she might have found a keeper.

Cakes and Ale

The Inn at the World's Edge clung desperately to a sheer cliff face and the ocean pounded rocks far below. Helen wasn't sure where or when it was, but she welcomed the sight every time she tumbled out of an anomaly and found it before her.

"Who's the new boy?" she asked Gaius, the barman.

"Name of Patrick Quinn. You interested?"

Helen liked what she saw. There was potential there. Then he looked up at her with a predator's gaze.

She shivvered and turned back to Gaius. "No, he'll be dead weight."

He shrugged. "Just cake and ale tonight then?"

Anomaly

Such a gentle word that tripped off the tongue without harsh gutterals, or sharp consonants.

Helen rolled it around in her mouth. She'd met travellers from a dozen eras and they all used different terms: portal; gateway; faery lights; a dozen names that spoke of adventure and mystery and possibility. But Nick's chosen name was `anomaly': something out of place.

Out of place like an unwifely wife who didn't do the `plus one' thing, who didn't bother trying to entertain your friends, and who didn't put her career second. And people wondered why she'd felt like marriage was suffocating her.

Diligence

Connor is fascinated by the way Ryan cleans his gun. He takes it apart on a table in the armoury. His motions are business-like, but Connor can tell that he's being careful and concentrating from the way a small wrinkle furrows up between his eyebrows. Once every part is laid out, Ryan examines and then cleans each one in turn. His eyes are sharp and focused. Then he reassembles the gun and returns it to the secure locker.

Finally he gives a little stretch, a roll back of the shoulders, turns, and smiles a radiant smile at the waiting Connor.

Romance

Connor and Abby tumbled out of the oppressive coniferous woodland into bright sunlight. They stood at the top of a steep slope that fell in terraces down to a bright ribbon of water. A meadow of flowers crowded the bank in waves of blues, reds and purples.

Connor's eyes lit up in wonder. "Of course, the Cretaceous is when flowers really took off!"

The late afternoon sun cast a golden glow over his features. Abby stepped closer. His expression of wonder deepened as his arms went automatically around her and it was impossible to say who had started the kiss.

Stephen Hart

Helen schooled her emotions into dispassionate study. Even when feverish, Stephen was handsome. Those long eyelashes gave him a gentle, girlish look, while his lean frame and taut muscles spoke of steel beneath the fluff. It would be a shame if he were to die.

Rescuing him was out of the question though. She had no time nor patience for entanglements and explanations. In the grand scheme of things he was already dead, or not yet born.

Anyway, Nick was, no doubt, frantically searching for him. In fact, if Stephen were to survive, then maybe he could make himself useful.

Pollen

"What's that lovely smell?" asked Claudia, breathing deep.

"Pollen?" hazarded Nick, staring at the anomaly.

Claudia placed a hand on his arm. She couldn't resist stroking upwards, caressing the skin and muscles.

Then suddenly there were hot lips on her own, and a breathless need. Hands scrabbled at the buttons on her blouse. She was aware of his closeness, his smell, his chest pressed against her own and then the blessed relief as he buried himself inside her.

Afterwards, Nick sat up, his hair dishevelled, surprised and upright. A slight smile quirked the corner of his mouth. "Aye, definitely pollen."

Memories

The English countryside of the early 21st century was, all things considered, a good place to die. Gideon sat in the sunshine, untroubled by immediate fears and worries. He could smell flowers and hear birds sing.

When he closed his eyes, however, he saw pale yellow skies. He was assailed by the smell of sweaty human bodies, fearfully cramped too close together. He heard the cries of hunting beasts and insects. For all he fully intended those memories to be of no time nor place, he felt deep pangs of nostalgia and home-sickness that the peaceful garden could not sooth.

Want. Take. Have

Want. Take. Have. It was a simple mantra but, in the twisting corridors of Whitehall, an extremely powerful one, provided you were clear enough about what you wanted, subtle about how you took it, and wary once you had it.

James Lester gazed down upon his domain in the newly built ARC building and a quiet concern entered his thoughts. He'd wanted control of the government response to the anomalies, and he'd fought off several people and departments in order to take that control. But now he had it, he was clearly going to have to do something with it.

Bobble Hats and Corsets

Duncan looked uncertainly at Phillip, a shy sideways glance that set Burton's heart beating fast and eagerly in his chest.

"I really never saw anything in Jenny," Duncan murmured.

"I know you didn't," soothed Burton, stroking Duncan's bobble hat gently. "She manipulated you and then cast you aside like you were worthless. But you're not. To me you are everything."

Burton could barely restrain himself. Duncan looked so perfect. But he held back, allowing Duncan to make the first move.

And, finally, Duncan placed his beautiful hands on the lacings of Burton's corset and began to pull at the strings.

Moonlight and Forgotten

Here, high up in the mountains, the air was cool and fresh. Abby stood on the balcony of their chalet. Moonlight picked out her features, in silver and deep blue, against the silver and deep blue of the snow and pine trees beyond.

She breathed deeply, her eyes closed. "It's so strange," she whispered. "It was horrible and hard and frightening but I'd forgotten it could also be like this."

Connor nodded. The trees were a newer species and he could smell oil and grime on the air, but this was as close as they'd get to their virgin landscape.

Surprise

"This is not at all what I expected from the afterlife," said Sarah.

"What did you expect?" asked Claudia.

"Not listening to Nick, Stephen and Ryan having a threesome."

They both gazed upwards. The noise left little to the imagination.

"I'm going to spend the afterlife being frustrated and horny."

"You know," said Claudia softly, after a pause, "sometimes a girl's just gotta do what a girl's gotta do."

The open top of her blouse revealed the curve of a perfect breast.

"My thought exactly," Sarah found herself saying, a little breathlessly.

Clearly sanctuary had even more surprises on offer.

Camping

Danny tossed uncomfortably in Helen's salvaged bed roll. "Bloody rocks!" he murmured and hoped there would be an anomaly home soon.

"Blood snow!" he muttered. He had no idea when he was. Hopefully it was winter and not an ice age.

"Bloody insects!" It was a swamp full of big trees. He'd never paid much attention to Connor's lectures but the phrase Carboniferous hovered in his mind.

"Bloody heat!"

"Bloody wet socks and bloody giant psychotic birds forcing me to run through a stream."

"Bloody politicians!" he couldn't help muttering behind Burton's back.

"Bloody family!" and he headed after Patrick.

Kindness

Katerina Dobrowski was twelve, cheerful and brave. She had enough english for Patrick to work with. He tried be her big brother in their scary world.

Then she fell and broke her leg. The wound went bad. She screamed with the pain for days and raged in feverish russian. Patrick whispered useless comfort. When she started coughing up blood in great hacking spasms that shook her body he could stand it no longer. It was simple to place his hand over her mouth and nose and hold it there until the pain was gone.

He never mentioned her to anyone.

Dialogue

"Good beer they serve here."

"It's OK."

"You know of a better place nearby?"

"No."

...

"Jess seems like a nice girl. Very efficient."

"If you say so."

...

"Now it's your turn to say something."

"Sorry?"

"Your turn to say something. It's called a dialogue. It's what people do in pubs. Or so I am reliably informed."

"Nice weather we've been having."

"Do I have to do this the hard way?"

"Shooting me with an EMD is the easy way?"

"You'd never have believed me otherwise."

"What's the hard way?"

"To stop you sulking? I imagine I'll have to kiss you."

The ARC

Nick Cutter had once mentioned the Anomaly Research Group. It had been, Abby gathered, a small room at the home office in which the mysterious Claudia Brown spent her hours.

The Anomaly Research Centre Abby had known, was a large glass and steel structure standing tall, proud and unafraid, full of light and confidence. This new ARC cowered underground and felt full of secrets and mistrust.

Once she drove past the old ARC and found nothing but a building site. In the dead of night, curled up against Connor, together and yet alone, she wondered if it had ever existed.

Joy

It had been a long, slow descent into darkness. It had started with a moment of surprised and unadulterated joy. Who cared what Helen thought? or that Lester stood by disapproving. For that one brief moment, Nick thought only of Claudia and her lips on his and the promise of a future.

Then there was a long trek through death and disorientation. He had floundered in a morass of confusion and betrayal, more death and the reality of Helen's descent into darkness.

Connor, ever faithful, was close at hand. Nick closed his eyes and allowed himself the memory of joy.

Macbeth hath Murdered Sleep

HELEN

The doom of man beats ever in my brain
Shattered cars, fell beasts, the swarms that fill the skies.
I thought I knew, I thought I was, I thought.
No matter. All is undone. Dead, he is
And at my hand. I'll sleep no more. I'll be
No more. Yet all the people will sleep sound
Oh! Mother Earth, this stain from thee I cleanse.
No more will smoke thy skies with darkness fill.
No more will man thy natural wealth remove.
No child will weep. No child will laugh. No Stephen.
No Nick...

Exit, pursued by a raptor

Loyalty

Matt had developed a morning ritual. He'd stare at himself in the mirror and think of his father. Then he'd deliberately think of the people he worked with: Jess, Connor, Abby, Becker, even Lester. Mentally he ticked each one off and reminded himself that his loyalty was not to them.

He didn't even think about Emily.

It was far harder to be loyal to an abstract, to the dim hope of a better future, than it was to be loyal to real, breathing, individual human beings. Matt closed his eyes and told himself it was far harder, but far better.

Rescue

The sound of gunfire was echoing down the corridor. Abby struggled with the heavy helmet of her disguise. It was made for one of Burton's guards and they were wall big burly men and it kept slipping down over her eyes. She checked the list of cells, realised where she was, and shot out the lock.

The door swung open. Connor lifted his head from a make-shift bunk and blinked blearily at her.

"Wha?" he began.

She couldn't help it and pulled off her helmet so he could see who it was. "I'm Luke Skywalker. I'm here to rescue you."

Confession

"For serious," asked Lyle. "Why do you stick with the ARC? It can't be doing your previously stellar career any good."

"Would you believe me if I said I felt a sense of loyalty?"

Lyle took a thoughtful swig of his pint. "No."

"I stick around for shit and giggles?"

"I might consider that."

"The anomalies are the single biggest, most influential event since the atomic bomb. My stellar career may be suffering a short-term set back. History will see things differently."

"Now that has the ring of truth."

"Besides, even Temple has a certain endearing quality."

Lyle just laughed.

Once More Unto the Breach

His final, rousing speech had failed. The soldiers had abandoned the breach.

The entire disastrous campaign had lurched to a muddy and disease-ridden halt. They had been here a month. Again and again the attackers were repelled from the accursed town's walls and the strange light that hung in the gap. The tired soldiers struggled back to the King full of tales of dragons and monsters.

And then the light failed. When the Governor appeared to parley, Harry thought to himself that if he couldn't inspire his troops with words, maybe he could use them to terrify his enemies instead.

Matt Anderson

Emily inhabited the 21st century like a new and uncomfortable outfit. Matt observed the way her nose wrinkled at the ever-present smell of disinfectant and the way her hand lingered uncertainly on strange highly manufactured surfaces.

The century didn't fit either of them and it fascinated him the ways they were the same and the ways they were different.

Emily walked with the same confidence that the natives had; confidence that the world was, fundamentally a safe place.

Sometimes he loved her for the ways they were the same and sometimes he hated her for the ways they were different.

Cold Blood

Someone had to be to blame for her ridiculous predicament and that someone was going to suffer.

Her tail twitched angrily. It was probably Nick. He'd turned her into a reptile out of petty spite, as if that could quench the fiery passion in her blood.

"Good boy!"

The lad would be next 'Good boy' indeed.

Then her eyes narrowed as a familiar figure appeared. What was Abigail Maitland doing here?

"I see you like dinosaurs."

"Yeah! They're awesome."

Helen snorted in irritation, it came out as a chitter, which drew their attention.

"His name's Rex."

Oh for fuck's sake!