Fic, Silk and Steel, Part 45, AU, 18
Sep. 30th, 2009 05:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fredbassettTitle : Silk and Steel, Part 45
Authors : fredbassett & munchkinofdoom
Fandom : Primeval
Characters : Nick, Connor, Tanya Lacey, Annie Morris, Ryan, Thomson
Rating : 18
Disclaimer : Not ours, no money made, don’t sue
Spoilers : None
Summary : Connor starts on the task of finding out what has happened.
A/N : Captain Thomson appears by kind permission ofdeinonychus_1 and Tanya Lacey by kind permission of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
reggietate .
Warning : Slave!fic.
Nick Cutter paced restlessly across the floor of the atrium, pausing every few strides to look up at the huge screens of the Anomaly Detection Device, more than half-expecting them to have suddenly gone dark and dead, instead of flickering with a myriad of lights as they usually did.
He’d followed Lester’s orders and had turned in his report on the day’s incident in record time. He just hoped it would give the bureaucrat enough ammunition to ensure his survival as director of the anomaly project. The man had his flaws, but it was definitely a case of better the devil you know. At least the man now seemed to believe his story, although what good that was likely to do him, Nick couldn’t say.
Two soldiers were now stationed by the control consoles of the ADD, alert and hard-eyed, hands resting on the rifles cradled across their chests. A second look told him they were Ryan’s men, and he felt a small pang of guilt that he didn’t know the men’s names. It had been the same in his world. Apart from Ryan, the soldiers had been largely anonymous, even though several of them had died to save the lives of Nick and his team. He hadn’t known their names in his world, either, apart from Ryan. And in his world, Ryan had died, and Nick had buried him with his own hands under a harsh Permian sun. The remembered pain of Ryan’s death hit him low in the guts. The captain might be alive now, but he wore a collar, and bore the scars from numerous punishments. In the world Nick had left behind, no-one had worn a collar and no-one had been flogged for their mistakes. He just wished he knew whether he had any prospect of ever seeing that world again.
The sound of footsteps in the corridor drew his attention. Connor, white and hollow-eyed, flanked by Ryan and the female soldier, walked hesitantly into the operation centre of the ARC. Abby hovered protectively behind them, like a small, worried bird. The young man who – in another time and another place – had been his student, walked slowly and carefully, wearing a loose white shirt, without one of his trademark waistcoats, over a pair of baggy cargo trousers.
He shot Nick a brief grin, which didn’t reach his eyes, then bent carefully over the control panel of the ADD. A hiss of pain escaped his lips, and Abby took a step forward, concern showing clearly on her face.
Connor shook his head, muttering, “I’m fine, honest.”
In truth, he looked anything but fine, but Nick kept his distance. It was obvious from the hunted look in Connor’s eyes, his careful movements and the occasional hiss of pain that he’d suffered at the hands of Captain Thomson and his thugs. As no blood was seeping through the thin material of the loose white shirt, Nick presumed that something less damaging than a whip had been used, but he still preferred not to dwell too closely on what had gone on in the Punishment Room while he had been doing his best to get the day’s events onto paper.
He just hoped that what he’d written would prove to be enough. He knew that his team still viewed him with some suspicion, but he’d worked hard to gain their confidence, and he had hopes that his efforts were meeting wit some success. Even Stephen now appeared more relaxed in his presence, for which Nick was grateful. He’d missed the easy camaraderie he’d always shared with his lab assistant, and even though their relationship was still a pale shadow of what he remembered from his own world, it was better than nothing. A key factor in the changes in their team dynamic had been the arrival of Annie Morris and her acceptance, without argument, of his claims. Claims which had previously been greeted with the sort of embarrassment normally reserved for the presence of the mentally infirm. And whether he ever managed to find his way back into his own world or not, Nick would always be grateful to the Physics Professor for helping to re-establish some semblance of normality between him and the other members of his team.
He stayed where he was, in the middle of the atrium, watching Connor’s fingers fly with growing confidence over the control panel. Connor reached behind him, grabbed a chair and sat down, scooting closer to the Detector, but Nick was all too aware of the hiss of pain that escaped his lips as he accidentally leaned back against the seat. What sort of fucking world was this?
A hand on his sleeve drew him out of his reverie and Annie Morris murmured, “The boy’s tougher than he looks. The young grow up quickly in this world, dear.”
“He’s exhausted and at the end of his tether,” countered Nick, equally quietly, giving no sign that he had picked up on the woman’s quiet emphasis on the words this world. “What happened, Annie? I saw you and the soldier working on the machine earlier. What had Connor missed?”
“It was hardly his fault, dear. Someone had cut two wires at the back. The wires that lead to the alarm signal, and the display had been altered to show a false reading. I fully expect to find that the surveillance systems had also been tampered with.”
“Does Lester know this?”
“Not yet. Ryan will have the dubious privilege of breaking that news to him as soon as we hear what – if anything – Connor can pick up from the security footage.”
“I notice Ryan has his men guarding the stable door now the horse has bolted.”
Annie sighed. “I don’t think any of us could have expected what happened, dear. No point in crying over spilt milk.” She looked around her at the barely finished reconstruction work in the ARC’s centre of operations. One set of offices was lacking glass panels, and the ceiling panels still bore the scars of the predators' claws. “This wasn’t quite what I expected when I accepted James’ offer of a job. It makes the back-biting world of academia seem rather tame by comparison.”
“At least you had a choice about whether you ended up here or not,” remarked Nick, failing to keep the bitterness out of his voice.
A well-manicured hand rested for a moment on his arm. “Don’t give up hope, dear. I know I haven’t.” And with that remark, Annie Morris moved up to join Connor at the ADD, sharing a brief, but warm smile with the green-eyed soldier standing watchfully to one side.
Nick resumed his pacing. Tuning out the low drone of conversation coming from the group collected around the machine and its displays, he followed the circular wall of the atrium, his mind half on his steps as he idly surveyed his surroundings. His gaze travelled the upward curve of the ramp leading to the first floor offices, and Cutter's blood froze.
Standing at ease, his hands grasping the thin guard-rail, Captain Thomson's dark gaze bore down on Connor's head. The soldier's stare sent an atavistic shiver down Cutter's spine, heightening his already considerable fear for his student's safety.
Then Cutter felt another's gaze on him, and turned his attention back to the ADD, where Annie Morris watched him speculatively.
"Professor Cutter," she called, waving him over, "you might want to have a look at this."
Trying not to hurry too conspicuously to her side, Cutter slid in beside Annie and peered closely at the surrounding screens in enquiry.
"You looked like you needed rescuing, dear," whispered Annie.
Cutter sighed in agreement. "He's like a bloody vulture, perched up there. I half think I'd rather he was a predator."
"No, you wouldn't." Annie patted Cutter's arm in sympathy. “And I’ve seen enough of those things to last a lifetime.”
Cutter gave her a small smile in response, then asked, "Any luck with the surveillance?"
Annie shook her head just as Connor sat up straight in his chair, wincing as his back impacted with the support.
"Connor?" asked Cutter.
"Found it," Connor replied. "Well, the start of it, anyway." Pointing to the time display at the bottom right of the screen, he continued, "See there? The time stamp just jumped from 4:25am back to 4:03am."
"Is the new footage from the same day, dear?" asked Annie.
Connor nodded, his concentration focussed on the quickly changing time display as he fast-forwarded the surveillance footage. "Aha. And here's where the real time stamp starts again, at 4:40am."
Annie stared at the screen for a moment, then nodded. "Fifteen minutes to sabotage the Anomaly Detection Device. Our saboteur was keeping it simple, it would seem."
"How would someone set up the loop in the footage, sabotage the ADD, and then get back to a computer somewhere else to fix the surveillance tape – all in fifteen minutes?"
"I don't think they did, Professor," Connor replied. "At that time of the morning, it's more likely that they slipped in here when the duty tech went to the loo, or for a coffee, cut a few wires, and then removed their activities from the CCTV footage."
"But how did they know that today was the day to disable the ADD?" asked Abby, still hovering protectively around her friend.
"That, dear," remarked Annie, "is a very good question."
"Well at least that gives me something to work on," commented Ryan, with evident satisfaction. "The security logs will show who was in the ARC at that time of the morning. Lacey, make sure that Connor finishes up here soon as possible and escort him back to the infirmary. He needs some rest, before he drops."
“Hey!” muttered Connor. “Don’t I get a say in this?”
“When you can work without yawning for more than five minutes, yes. Until then, no. Lacey?”
"Yes, sir."
Heavy footsteps sounded on the hollow metal of the ramp, and Nick looked up to see Captain Thomson approaching. Beside him, Connor gasped, and Nick laid his hand on the lad's shoulder in silent support, though he wondered what the hell he would do if the bastard tried anything else. He'd already proven himself bloody useless when Connor had most needed him.
As Thomson drew level with the small group, Ryan's men came to attention, but before the other captain could speak, the crackle of the public address system broke into the sudden silence.
“Captain Ryan report to Sir James’ private rooms, now.” And, in the style of waiting rooms the world over, the message was repeated, just for good measure.
"It would appear your services are required elsewhere, Captain," Thomson said smoothly, placing a heavy emphasis on the word services. "I can take over investigation into this incident. I am sure Ms Wickes will be more than happy to provide me with the sign-in logs for this morning."
Ryan nodded, his expression as bland as ever, and with a nod to both Nick and Annie, he left the atrium.
Thomson smiled wolfishly. “Do carry on, Mr Temple, and don’t forget to let me know if you discover anything else of interest.”
Connor swallowed heavily and nodded, unable to hide the fear in his eyes, and once again, Nick silently cursed a world gone mad.
Authors : fredbassett & munchkinofdoom
Fandom : Primeval
Characters : Nick, Connor, Tanya Lacey, Annie Morris, Ryan, Thomson
Rating : 18
Disclaimer : Not ours, no money made, don’t sue
Spoilers : None
Summary : Connor starts on the task of finding out what has happened.
A/N : Captain Thomson appears by kind permission of
deinonychus_1 and Tanya Lacey by kind permission of reggietate .Warning : Slave!fic.
Nick Cutter paced restlessly across the floor of the atrium, pausing every few strides to look up at the huge screens of the Anomaly Detection Device, more than half-expecting them to have suddenly gone dark and dead, instead of flickering with a myriad of lights as they usually did.
He’d followed Lester’s orders and had turned in his report on the day’s incident in record time. He just hoped it would give the bureaucrat enough ammunition to ensure his survival as director of the anomaly project. The man had his flaws, but it was definitely a case of better the devil you know. At least the man now seemed to believe his story, although what good that was likely to do him, Nick couldn’t say.
Two soldiers were now stationed by the control consoles of the ADD, alert and hard-eyed, hands resting on the rifles cradled across their chests. A second look told him they were Ryan’s men, and he felt a small pang of guilt that he didn’t know the men’s names. It had been the same in his world. Apart from Ryan, the soldiers had been largely anonymous, even though several of them had died to save the lives of Nick and his team. He hadn’t known their names in his world, either, apart from Ryan. And in his world, Ryan had died, and Nick had buried him with his own hands under a harsh Permian sun. The remembered pain of Ryan’s death hit him low in the guts. The captain might be alive now, but he wore a collar, and bore the scars from numerous punishments. In the world Nick had left behind, no-one had worn a collar and no-one had been flogged for their mistakes. He just wished he knew whether he had any prospect of ever seeing that world again.
The sound of footsteps in the corridor drew his attention. Connor, white and hollow-eyed, flanked by Ryan and the female soldier, walked hesitantly into the operation centre of the ARC. Abby hovered protectively behind them, like a small, worried bird. The young man who – in another time and another place – had been his student, walked slowly and carefully, wearing a loose white shirt, without one of his trademark waistcoats, over a pair of baggy cargo trousers.
He shot Nick a brief grin, which didn’t reach his eyes, then bent carefully over the control panel of the ADD. A hiss of pain escaped his lips, and Abby took a step forward, concern showing clearly on her face.
Connor shook his head, muttering, “I’m fine, honest.”
In truth, he looked anything but fine, but Nick kept his distance. It was obvious from the hunted look in Connor’s eyes, his careful movements and the occasional hiss of pain that he’d suffered at the hands of Captain Thomson and his thugs. As no blood was seeping through the thin material of the loose white shirt, Nick presumed that something less damaging than a whip had been used, but he still preferred not to dwell too closely on what had gone on in the Punishment Room while he had been doing his best to get the day’s events onto paper.
He just hoped that what he’d written would prove to be enough. He knew that his team still viewed him with some suspicion, but he’d worked hard to gain their confidence, and he had hopes that his efforts were meeting wit some success. Even Stephen now appeared more relaxed in his presence, for which Nick was grateful. He’d missed the easy camaraderie he’d always shared with his lab assistant, and even though their relationship was still a pale shadow of what he remembered from his own world, it was better than nothing. A key factor in the changes in their team dynamic had been the arrival of Annie Morris and her acceptance, without argument, of his claims. Claims which had previously been greeted with the sort of embarrassment normally reserved for the presence of the mentally infirm. And whether he ever managed to find his way back into his own world or not, Nick would always be grateful to the Physics Professor for helping to re-establish some semblance of normality between him and the other members of his team.
He stayed where he was, in the middle of the atrium, watching Connor’s fingers fly with growing confidence over the control panel. Connor reached behind him, grabbed a chair and sat down, scooting closer to the Detector, but Nick was all too aware of the hiss of pain that escaped his lips as he accidentally leaned back against the seat. What sort of fucking world was this?
A hand on his sleeve drew him out of his reverie and Annie Morris murmured, “The boy’s tougher than he looks. The young grow up quickly in this world, dear.”
“He’s exhausted and at the end of his tether,” countered Nick, equally quietly, giving no sign that he had picked up on the woman’s quiet emphasis on the words this world. “What happened, Annie? I saw you and the soldier working on the machine earlier. What had Connor missed?”
“It was hardly his fault, dear. Someone had cut two wires at the back. The wires that lead to the alarm signal, and the display had been altered to show a false reading. I fully expect to find that the surveillance systems had also been tampered with.”
“Does Lester know this?”
“Not yet. Ryan will have the dubious privilege of breaking that news to him as soon as we hear what – if anything – Connor can pick up from the security footage.”
“I notice Ryan has his men guarding the stable door now the horse has bolted.”
Annie sighed. “I don’t think any of us could have expected what happened, dear. No point in crying over spilt milk.” She looked around her at the barely finished reconstruction work in the ARC’s centre of operations. One set of offices was lacking glass panels, and the ceiling panels still bore the scars of the predators' claws. “This wasn’t quite what I expected when I accepted James’ offer of a job. It makes the back-biting world of academia seem rather tame by comparison.”
“At least you had a choice about whether you ended up here or not,” remarked Nick, failing to keep the bitterness out of his voice.
A well-manicured hand rested for a moment on his arm. “Don’t give up hope, dear. I know I haven’t.” And with that remark, Annie Morris moved up to join Connor at the ADD, sharing a brief, but warm smile with the green-eyed soldier standing watchfully to one side.
Nick resumed his pacing. Tuning out the low drone of conversation coming from the group collected around the machine and its displays, he followed the circular wall of the atrium, his mind half on his steps as he idly surveyed his surroundings. His gaze travelled the upward curve of the ramp leading to the first floor offices, and Cutter's blood froze.
Standing at ease, his hands grasping the thin guard-rail, Captain Thomson's dark gaze bore down on Connor's head. The soldier's stare sent an atavistic shiver down Cutter's spine, heightening his already considerable fear for his student's safety.
Then Cutter felt another's gaze on him, and turned his attention back to the ADD, where Annie Morris watched him speculatively.
"Professor Cutter," she called, waving him over, "you might want to have a look at this."
Trying not to hurry too conspicuously to her side, Cutter slid in beside Annie and peered closely at the surrounding screens in enquiry.
"You looked like you needed rescuing, dear," whispered Annie.
Cutter sighed in agreement. "He's like a bloody vulture, perched up there. I half think I'd rather he was a predator."
"No, you wouldn't." Annie patted Cutter's arm in sympathy. “And I’ve seen enough of those things to last a lifetime.”
Cutter gave her a small smile in response, then asked, "Any luck with the surveillance?"
Annie shook her head just as Connor sat up straight in his chair, wincing as his back impacted with the support.
"Connor?" asked Cutter.
"Found it," Connor replied. "Well, the start of it, anyway." Pointing to the time display at the bottom right of the screen, he continued, "See there? The time stamp just jumped from 4:25am back to 4:03am."
"Is the new footage from the same day, dear?" asked Annie.
Connor nodded, his concentration focussed on the quickly changing time display as he fast-forwarded the surveillance footage. "Aha. And here's where the real time stamp starts again, at 4:40am."
Annie stared at the screen for a moment, then nodded. "Fifteen minutes to sabotage the Anomaly Detection Device. Our saboteur was keeping it simple, it would seem."
"How would someone set up the loop in the footage, sabotage the ADD, and then get back to a computer somewhere else to fix the surveillance tape – all in fifteen minutes?"
"I don't think they did, Professor," Connor replied. "At that time of the morning, it's more likely that they slipped in here when the duty tech went to the loo, or for a coffee, cut a few wires, and then removed their activities from the CCTV footage."
"But how did they know that today was the day to disable the ADD?" asked Abby, still hovering protectively around her friend.
"That, dear," remarked Annie, "is a very good question."
"Well at least that gives me something to work on," commented Ryan, with evident satisfaction. "The security logs will show who was in the ARC at that time of the morning. Lacey, make sure that Connor finishes up here soon as possible and escort him back to the infirmary. He needs some rest, before he drops."
“Hey!” muttered Connor. “Don’t I get a say in this?”
“When you can work without yawning for more than five minutes, yes. Until then, no. Lacey?”
"Yes, sir."
Heavy footsteps sounded on the hollow metal of the ramp, and Nick looked up to see Captain Thomson approaching. Beside him, Connor gasped, and Nick laid his hand on the lad's shoulder in silent support, though he wondered what the hell he would do if the bastard tried anything else. He'd already proven himself bloody useless when Connor had most needed him.
As Thomson drew level with the small group, Ryan's men came to attention, but before the other captain could speak, the crackle of the public address system broke into the sudden silence.
“Captain Ryan report to Sir James’ private rooms, now.” And, in the style of waiting rooms the world over, the message was repeated, just for good measure.
"It would appear your services are required elsewhere, Captain," Thomson said smoothly, placing a heavy emphasis on the word services. "I can take over investigation into this incident. I am sure Ms Wickes will be more than happy to provide me with the sign-in logs for this morning."
Ryan nodded, his expression as bland as ever, and with a nod to both Nick and Annie, he left the atrium.
Thomson smiled wolfishly. “Do carry on, Mr Temple, and don’t forget to let me know if you discover anything else of interest.”
Connor swallowed heavily and nodded, unable to hide the fear in his eyes, and once again, Nick silently cursed a world gone mad.