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fredbassettTitle : Within These Walls, Chapter 18 of 30
Author : fredbassett
Fandom : Primeval
Rating : 18
Characters : Lester, Ryan, Nick, Stephen, Connor, Danny, Abby, Finn
Disclaimer : Not mine (except the OCs), no money made, don’t sue.
Word Count : 59,000 words in 30 chapters of approx. 1,500 – 2,500 words each
Spoilers : None
Summary : Ending up in Dartmoor prison for refusing to recant their belief in evolution is only the start of the problems facing Nick, Stephen and Connor. And Sir James Lester soon ends up with other problems on his hands than just an over-crowded prison population.
A/N : For acknowledgments etc please see Part 1.
“So, I gather you have finally seen the light, Professor,” Lester remarked. “Or a light, at least. But I’m afraid that won’t earn you time off for good behaviour, even if you do recant your heresy.”
They were lined up in front of the large mahogany desk like naughty school kids hauled in front of the head teacher, all wearing their identical orange jumpsuits. In comparison, the governor was immaculately dressed in a dark-grey, pinstriped suit, a yellow and white spotted silk tie held in place with a gold clip. As he leaned forward to move a file on his desk, Nick caught a glimpse of bright red braces. He fought hard to stop a grin quirking his lips. Someone had presumably told Lester that wearing bright ties and braces was a good way of making a fashion statement.
“I’m glad you find something amusing,” Lester snapped. “Cutter, since you and your side-kicks arrived here there has been nothing but trouble. And now you’re wasting my time with tales of mysterious lights on the moors.”
“We didn’t come to you of our own accord,” Nick said truculently.
“No, you didn’t, did you?” Lester stood up abruptly, and walked over to the window of his office. The rain was falling again and the mist was back, so there wasn’t much of a view. “It was fortunate that Captain Ryan overheard your…” he hesitated, choosing his words with care, “…little discussion.” The governor turned around and leaned back on the windowsill, his hands gripping the dark wood. He was tense and not doing a very good job of hiding it. “What did these lights look like?”
Nick shrugged. “They were bright. Too bright for torches at that distance, and too large.” He glanced at Danny for corroboration and received a nod in return.
“I saw ‘em first the night before last, guv’nor,” Danny said. “Two, a distance apart, hard to tell how far. I’ve never seen lights there before, but they came again last night.” He paused, frowning, and then continued, “At first I thought it was idiots out on the moor, looking for god knows what, but there was no sign of them moving, so that buggered that theory. They looked like…” Danny trailed off, his craggy face betraying his discomfort.
“Spit it out, Quinn, I haven’t got all day,” Lester drawled.
“They looked like fallen stars,” Danny said quietly, a defiant edge in his voice.
“How very poetic.” Lester’s words were loaded with a liberal dose of his usual sarcasm, but despite that Nick could see interest quickening in the man’s eyes.
“You’ve seen something similar yourself, haven’t you?” he demanded before he could bite the words back. “You think these lights are connected with what’s happening on the moor.” It was a statement not a question, and he could tell from the way Lester’s shoulders tensed that his words had hit home.
Lester met his gaze unflinchingly. “Yes, Cutter, I have seen something similar, and then something the size of a horse, and a damn sight more vicious, put a bloody great big dent in the back of the car I was in at the time.”
“What did it look like?”
“The mist was down, it wasn’t easy to see anything…”
Nick felt a surge of triumph. He didn’t know what the hell had happened, but whatever it was had been enough to rattle the normally composed, sardonic governor of one of the toughest prisons in the country. “You saw the bloody Andrewsarchus, didn’t you?”
“I saw something that fitted the description of the beast that was responsible for the attack at the quarry,” Lester shot back. “I do not for one moment accept your wild theories, Cutter, but this is something that clearly needs more investigation.” He turned to Ryan. “Take all four of them out on the moor, Captain. I want you to pin point where those lights were and check the ground.” The phone on Lester’s desk rang and he picked it up, as though the call was expected. “Ask her to wait in reception. Captain Ryan will be down shortly. He’ll brief her.” He returned the phone to its cradle. “Ms Maitland will accompany you. Jenny Lewis has talked to her employers at the zoo. If it becomes necessary to hold a press conference and lay the blame on an escaped wild animal kept illegally, then that’s what we will have to do.”
“A cover up?” Nick snorted with disgust. “You people don’t change, do you? Do lies become easier the more you tell? Do you expect me to believe for one minute that you really believe the world is only six thousand years old? That the dinosaurs died out because they missed the boat when the ark sailed without them?”
Lester’s eyes narrowed and Nick knew that he’d pushed the point too far.
“We are not here to discuss my beliefs, Cutter, and you would do well to remember why you’re here. Give some thought to the fact that you might well be staying here for the rest of your natural life. Your release depends on your willingness to recant the views that brought you here in the first place, Professor, remember that, as well.”
As ever, Lester contrived to pour a world of scorn into Nick’s former professional title, but try as he might, the governor couldn’t quite manage to replicate the icy manner with which he had first greeted them just over a week ago. Lester’s world view had taken a battering, that much was obvious.
Lester waved his hand imperiously at the door. “I’ll await your report, Captain.”
Ryan nodded and without a word, preceded them from the room. “I want to see the view from your cell window,” he said. “We need to pin-point where we’re looking for on a map.”
That didn’t prove difficult. The captain seemed mildly surprised that the three of them were all in agreement about the location of the lights on one of the tors to the north-west of the prison. He marked the position on a map and then led them down through the prison, under the watchful eyes of their fellow inmates, to a small reception area. Two soldiers were waiting for them. Stephen gave a guarded smile and a slight nod to one of the men, which was returned with a wider, more relaxed smile.
The second soldier was leaning against the peeling paint of the wall, picking his nails with the point of a wicked-looking knife. He nodded at a pile of black jackets on a red plastic chair. “That lot was the best we could come up with, boss.”
“It’ll be better than nothing,” Ryan said. He gestured to the clothing. “Find something that fits. The weather is closing in again, and it’s going to get nasty out there.”
“Makes a change from things getting nasty in here,” Danny remarked cheerfully.
* * * * *
Three black Range Rovers crowded the small parking area, looming large over a bright yellow Mini Cooper, in much the same way as the black uniformed soldiers loomed over its owner. If the animal expert was in any way intimidated by being surrounded by military guards and convicted criminals, she gave no sign of it. Nick was impressed by her air of calm competence.
As the soldiers milled around, looking at maps, Abby commented to Ryan, “The hairs you took off Lester’s car were a match for the others. I presume he told you that?”
From the look of mild irritation on Ryan’s face it seemed the governor hadn’t favoured him with that piece of information, but nor did the soldier look surprised, either.
“Do you know what the animal is?”
“No,” Abby admitted. “We’re waiting for the results of some more tests.” She opened the boot of her car, brought out a long metal box, unlocked it and lifted out a thick-barrelled rifle almost as tall as she was. The stare she gave Ryan was implacable. “We don’t kill the creature unless we have to.”
Ryan was clearly a man who knew when not to get into an argument. He stared at Nick and the others and said quietly, “Try to escape and my men have orders to shoot to kill. Do you understand?”
“Wouldn’t think of it, mate,” Danny said. A rumble of thunder sounded and he rubbed his stomach. “Sorry about that, I think the beans at breakfast were off.”
“Spare us the jokes, Quinn.” Ryan shoved the map in front of Danny’s nose. “Are you sure that’s where you saw the lights?”
Danny shrugged. “As sure as I can be.”
“Then let’s get on with it.”
There was no path across that section of the moor, and Nick soon found it difficult to match the pace Ryan set over the rough ground. Danny’s long legs carried him easily over the tussocked grass and despite his recent injuries even Stephen was matching the captain step for step. In contrast, Connor was already starting to trail behind and Nick knew he was breathing more heavily than he should have been. He thought it was perhaps time he started to join Danny and Stephen in their exercise routines. They were making steady progress across the moor towards the distant tor, but around them, the mist was starting to thicken and Nick could already feel the chill seeping through the borrowed jacket and his feet, in ill-fitting borrowed boots, were already damp.
Stephen was ahead of him, walking at Ryan’s side, his eyes constantly scanning the ground for any tracks. Abby Maitland kept pace with them, showing no visible signs of effort, the tranquilliser rifle slung across her back. They stopped every now and again to consult one of the soldiers, apparently deferring to his knowledge of the terrain. The soldier with the short black hair, permanent stubble and more knives than a kitchen drawer stayed at Nick’s side, watching both him and Connor. Nick’s breath was coming in sharp gasps as he struggled to keep pace with the others and he knew Connor has having the same problems. He was glad when Ryan suddenly called another halt.
He could hear a muttered conversation between the captain, Stephen and the soldier he’d heard referred to as Finn, the one who knew the area.
“…going fucking crazy…” Finn said a note of incredulity in his voice. “Never seen that happen before round here. There’s nothing in the rock to upset a bloody compass.”
“Well something’s causing it to throw a wobbly,” Stephen said. “Have we got another one?”
“The one on my watch is doing the same thing,” Ryan said. “Finn, can we still make it to the tor?”
The young soldier grinned. “Course we can, boss. I used to play up here as a kid, remember? I can get us there and back, no problem.”
Before they could move off again, a low bellow rumbled through the mist. Everyone’s head went up at the sound and Nick could clearly see the look of puzzlement on Finn’s face.
“What the hell was that?” Ryan demanded.
Finn cocked his head on one side and listened. A moment later the bellow came again, but Nick had no idea of the direction. The mist tricked both eyes and ears. The noise was unlike anything Nick had ever heard before and he felt a prickle of unease run down his spine. At his side, he was conscious of the dark-haired soldier holding the assault rifle in readiness, barrel pointing to the ground.
A third bellow sounded even closer to them.
“Hold your fire,” Ryan said. “If that turns out to be a pony we’re going to look fucking stupid if we slot it...”
“It’s not a pony,” Abby said, cutting off the captain’s words. “Not making a noise like that. But don’t shoot until we know what we’re dealing with. I don’t think it’s a carnivore...”
The fourth bellow made Nick jump, and at his side, Connor looked like he’d rather be anywhere than out on a wind-swept, mist-shrouded moorland surrounded by armed men. Nick couldn’t say he blamed him, but despite the eerie noise, Nick’s interest as a zoologist had been well and truly piqued. He’d spent time in various parts of the world studying live animals of every sort, as well as digging for the bones of those long dead, and the nearest sounds he’d heard to these had been the groans of the Galápagos tortoises as they lumbered around the islands calling to prospective mates.
A flurry of wind across the moor parted the mist for a moment, enough for Nick to see a huge, lumbering shape coming towards them down the hillside. It was large, bigger than a rhino but smaller than an elephant, maybe two and a half metres long and around two metres tall, with a beaked nose, similar to that of a hawksbill turtle, and bony spikes on its head. Short legs held up a massive, rounded body. Whatever it was certainly wasn’t built for speed, but Nick instinctively knew that it could probably travel quite fast if something spooked it.
Nick stepped up to Ryan’s side, his mind whirling with possibilities.
“Is it real?” Abby asked, keeping her voice low.
“Some kind of experiment, maybe,” Nick said, following her lead. “Hybrid, throwback? I don’t know.”
“Is it dangerous?” Ryan demanded, his rifle held to his shoulder as he stared at the creature.
“It’s a reptile,” Nick told him, as he started to process what his eyes were seeing. “Five or six tonnes at least. Large supratemporal bosses. Huge oesteoderms on its back. It must be some kind of anapsid.”
“A tortoise?” Abby’s voice was laden with incredulity.
Ryan took a step to the side, making sure he stayed between the creature and the civilians, but a load roar greeted the movement. “I don’t want a bloody zoology lesson, I want to know whether I need to shoot it!”
“Stay in his field of vision,” Abby said sharply. “You’re making him nervous.”
To Nick’s surprise, the captain accepted Abby’s order without question. It was clear the woman knew what she was talking about when it came to animal behaviour, even when none of them had the faintest idea what sort of animal it was.
“It’s a dinosaur,” Connor said, his voice sounding like a child at Christmas who had just discovered that Father Christmas really does exist. “It’s a real dinosaur!”
Ryan shot Connor an incredulous glance, but Nick could see the soldier’s grip tighten on his rifle.
The creature opened its mouth and let out another groaning bellow.
“It’s a herbivore!” Abby said sharply. “Pure veggie. Look, there’s grass on its tongue. Don’t shoot it!”
Nick stepped up to her side, doing as she’d said and remaining within its field of vision. The enormous beast shuffled back a few paces, head lowered and swinging from side to side. Ryan gestured to the others to move together, so it could see them all at once. The soldiers flanked them, eyes hard and wary.
“It might be a veggie, but anything that size can still be dangerous, no matter what it eats,” Stephen said. “Someone’s been doing experiments and it’s got loose.” He shot Ryan a hard look. “There’s an MOD range near here, maybe they’ve been doing something they don’t want anyone to know about.”
“You’ve been listening to rumours, Hart,” Ryan said, not taking his eye off the creature for a moment. “If this was anything to do with the MOD, their lot would be all over the bloody moor looking for it, and they’re not.”
As Ryan spoke, the mist cleared for a moment as the wind swept one low cloud past them, leaving limited visibility on their part of the moor. Up by the towering grey crags of High Tor, shining like a beacon, was one of the lights that they had seen from the window of their cell. Danny Quinn had been right, it did look like a fallen star. Shattered fragments of light hung in the air, twisting and turning. He watched, entranced as the light appeared to expand for a moment, and then an enormous head, the twin to the one staring suspiciously at them out of small eyes surrounded by wrinkled folds of skin, poked through the light and let out a bellow of its own.
The creature in front of them turned and answered the cry, and as they stood and stared, it moved away without giving them a backward glance, lumbering towards the light without any hesitation. The other head withdrew and moments later, the creature followed, stepping into, but not out of, the coruscating light.
At a signal from Ryan, the soldiers promptly fanned out, moving quickly towards the light. A few moment later, Finn called out, “Clear, boss! There’s no sign of either of the fuckers and no prints on the ground on this side, either.”
There was no mistaking the incredulity on Ryan’s face. He stared at Abby and Stephen and said, “I want both of you to check the ground over there as well. But don’t get too close to that… thing.” The look he turned on Nick was as cold as the enveloping mist as he added, “I want some answers, Professor. And I want them now.”
Author : fredbassett
Fandom : Primeval
Rating : 18
Characters : Lester, Ryan, Nick, Stephen, Connor, Danny, Abby, Finn
Disclaimer : Not mine (except the OCs), no money made, don’t sue.
Word Count : 59,000 words in 30 chapters of approx. 1,500 – 2,500 words each
Spoilers : None
Summary : Ending up in Dartmoor prison for refusing to recant their belief in evolution is only the start of the problems facing Nick, Stephen and Connor. And Sir James Lester soon ends up with other problems on his hands than just an over-crowded prison population.
A/N : For acknowledgments etc please see Part 1.
“So, I gather you have finally seen the light, Professor,” Lester remarked. “Or a light, at least. But I’m afraid that won’t earn you time off for good behaviour, even if you do recant your heresy.”
They were lined up in front of the large mahogany desk like naughty school kids hauled in front of the head teacher, all wearing their identical orange jumpsuits. In comparison, the governor was immaculately dressed in a dark-grey, pinstriped suit, a yellow and white spotted silk tie held in place with a gold clip. As he leaned forward to move a file on his desk, Nick caught a glimpse of bright red braces. He fought hard to stop a grin quirking his lips. Someone had presumably told Lester that wearing bright ties and braces was a good way of making a fashion statement.
“I’m glad you find something amusing,” Lester snapped. “Cutter, since you and your side-kicks arrived here there has been nothing but trouble. And now you’re wasting my time with tales of mysterious lights on the moors.”
“We didn’t come to you of our own accord,” Nick said truculently.
“No, you didn’t, did you?” Lester stood up abruptly, and walked over to the window of his office. The rain was falling again and the mist was back, so there wasn’t much of a view. “It was fortunate that Captain Ryan overheard your…” he hesitated, choosing his words with care, “…little discussion.” The governor turned around and leaned back on the windowsill, his hands gripping the dark wood. He was tense and not doing a very good job of hiding it. “What did these lights look like?”
Nick shrugged. “They were bright. Too bright for torches at that distance, and too large.” He glanced at Danny for corroboration and received a nod in return.
“I saw ‘em first the night before last, guv’nor,” Danny said. “Two, a distance apart, hard to tell how far. I’ve never seen lights there before, but they came again last night.” He paused, frowning, and then continued, “At first I thought it was idiots out on the moor, looking for god knows what, but there was no sign of them moving, so that buggered that theory. They looked like…” Danny trailed off, his craggy face betraying his discomfort.
“Spit it out, Quinn, I haven’t got all day,” Lester drawled.
“They looked like fallen stars,” Danny said quietly, a defiant edge in his voice.
“How very poetic.” Lester’s words were loaded with a liberal dose of his usual sarcasm, but despite that Nick could see interest quickening in the man’s eyes.
“You’ve seen something similar yourself, haven’t you?” he demanded before he could bite the words back. “You think these lights are connected with what’s happening on the moor.” It was a statement not a question, and he could tell from the way Lester’s shoulders tensed that his words had hit home.
Lester met his gaze unflinchingly. “Yes, Cutter, I have seen something similar, and then something the size of a horse, and a damn sight more vicious, put a bloody great big dent in the back of the car I was in at the time.”
“What did it look like?”
“The mist was down, it wasn’t easy to see anything…”
Nick felt a surge of triumph. He didn’t know what the hell had happened, but whatever it was had been enough to rattle the normally composed, sardonic governor of one of the toughest prisons in the country. “You saw the bloody Andrewsarchus, didn’t you?”
“I saw something that fitted the description of the beast that was responsible for the attack at the quarry,” Lester shot back. “I do not for one moment accept your wild theories, Cutter, but this is something that clearly needs more investigation.” He turned to Ryan. “Take all four of them out on the moor, Captain. I want you to pin point where those lights were and check the ground.” The phone on Lester’s desk rang and he picked it up, as though the call was expected. “Ask her to wait in reception. Captain Ryan will be down shortly. He’ll brief her.” He returned the phone to its cradle. “Ms Maitland will accompany you. Jenny Lewis has talked to her employers at the zoo. If it becomes necessary to hold a press conference and lay the blame on an escaped wild animal kept illegally, then that’s what we will have to do.”
“A cover up?” Nick snorted with disgust. “You people don’t change, do you? Do lies become easier the more you tell? Do you expect me to believe for one minute that you really believe the world is only six thousand years old? That the dinosaurs died out because they missed the boat when the ark sailed without them?”
Lester’s eyes narrowed and Nick knew that he’d pushed the point too far.
“We are not here to discuss my beliefs, Cutter, and you would do well to remember why you’re here. Give some thought to the fact that you might well be staying here for the rest of your natural life. Your release depends on your willingness to recant the views that brought you here in the first place, Professor, remember that, as well.”
As ever, Lester contrived to pour a world of scorn into Nick’s former professional title, but try as he might, the governor couldn’t quite manage to replicate the icy manner with which he had first greeted them just over a week ago. Lester’s world view had taken a battering, that much was obvious.
Lester waved his hand imperiously at the door. “I’ll await your report, Captain.”
Ryan nodded and without a word, preceded them from the room. “I want to see the view from your cell window,” he said. “We need to pin-point where we’re looking for on a map.”
That didn’t prove difficult. The captain seemed mildly surprised that the three of them were all in agreement about the location of the lights on one of the tors to the north-west of the prison. He marked the position on a map and then led them down through the prison, under the watchful eyes of their fellow inmates, to a small reception area. Two soldiers were waiting for them. Stephen gave a guarded smile and a slight nod to one of the men, which was returned with a wider, more relaxed smile.
The second soldier was leaning against the peeling paint of the wall, picking his nails with the point of a wicked-looking knife. He nodded at a pile of black jackets on a red plastic chair. “That lot was the best we could come up with, boss.”
“It’ll be better than nothing,” Ryan said. He gestured to the clothing. “Find something that fits. The weather is closing in again, and it’s going to get nasty out there.”
“Makes a change from things getting nasty in here,” Danny remarked cheerfully.
* * * * *
Three black Range Rovers crowded the small parking area, looming large over a bright yellow Mini Cooper, in much the same way as the black uniformed soldiers loomed over its owner. If the animal expert was in any way intimidated by being surrounded by military guards and convicted criminals, she gave no sign of it. Nick was impressed by her air of calm competence.
As the soldiers milled around, looking at maps, Abby commented to Ryan, “The hairs you took off Lester’s car were a match for the others. I presume he told you that?”
From the look of mild irritation on Ryan’s face it seemed the governor hadn’t favoured him with that piece of information, but nor did the soldier look surprised, either.
“Do you know what the animal is?”
“No,” Abby admitted. “We’re waiting for the results of some more tests.” She opened the boot of her car, brought out a long metal box, unlocked it and lifted out a thick-barrelled rifle almost as tall as she was. The stare she gave Ryan was implacable. “We don’t kill the creature unless we have to.”
Ryan was clearly a man who knew when not to get into an argument. He stared at Nick and the others and said quietly, “Try to escape and my men have orders to shoot to kill. Do you understand?”
“Wouldn’t think of it, mate,” Danny said. A rumble of thunder sounded and he rubbed his stomach. “Sorry about that, I think the beans at breakfast were off.”
“Spare us the jokes, Quinn.” Ryan shoved the map in front of Danny’s nose. “Are you sure that’s where you saw the lights?”
Danny shrugged. “As sure as I can be.”
“Then let’s get on with it.”
There was no path across that section of the moor, and Nick soon found it difficult to match the pace Ryan set over the rough ground. Danny’s long legs carried him easily over the tussocked grass and despite his recent injuries even Stephen was matching the captain step for step. In contrast, Connor was already starting to trail behind and Nick knew he was breathing more heavily than he should have been. He thought it was perhaps time he started to join Danny and Stephen in their exercise routines. They were making steady progress across the moor towards the distant tor, but around them, the mist was starting to thicken and Nick could already feel the chill seeping through the borrowed jacket and his feet, in ill-fitting borrowed boots, were already damp.
Stephen was ahead of him, walking at Ryan’s side, his eyes constantly scanning the ground for any tracks. Abby Maitland kept pace with them, showing no visible signs of effort, the tranquilliser rifle slung across her back. They stopped every now and again to consult one of the soldiers, apparently deferring to his knowledge of the terrain. The soldier with the short black hair, permanent stubble and more knives than a kitchen drawer stayed at Nick’s side, watching both him and Connor. Nick’s breath was coming in sharp gasps as he struggled to keep pace with the others and he knew Connor has having the same problems. He was glad when Ryan suddenly called another halt.
He could hear a muttered conversation between the captain, Stephen and the soldier he’d heard referred to as Finn, the one who knew the area.
“…going fucking crazy…” Finn said a note of incredulity in his voice. “Never seen that happen before round here. There’s nothing in the rock to upset a bloody compass.”
“Well something’s causing it to throw a wobbly,” Stephen said. “Have we got another one?”
“The one on my watch is doing the same thing,” Ryan said. “Finn, can we still make it to the tor?”
The young soldier grinned. “Course we can, boss. I used to play up here as a kid, remember? I can get us there and back, no problem.”
Before they could move off again, a low bellow rumbled through the mist. Everyone’s head went up at the sound and Nick could clearly see the look of puzzlement on Finn’s face.
“What the hell was that?” Ryan demanded.
Finn cocked his head on one side and listened. A moment later the bellow came again, but Nick had no idea of the direction. The mist tricked both eyes and ears. The noise was unlike anything Nick had ever heard before and he felt a prickle of unease run down his spine. At his side, he was conscious of the dark-haired soldier holding the assault rifle in readiness, barrel pointing to the ground.
A third bellow sounded even closer to them.
“Hold your fire,” Ryan said. “If that turns out to be a pony we’re going to look fucking stupid if we slot it...”
“It’s not a pony,” Abby said, cutting off the captain’s words. “Not making a noise like that. But don’t shoot until we know what we’re dealing with. I don’t think it’s a carnivore...”
The fourth bellow made Nick jump, and at his side, Connor looked like he’d rather be anywhere than out on a wind-swept, mist-shrouded moorland surrounded by armed men. Nick couldn’t say he blamed him, but despite the eerie noise, Nick’s interest as a zoologist had been well and truly piqued. He’d spent time in various parts of the world studying live animals of every sort, as well as digging for the bones of those long dead, and the nearest sounds he’d heard to these had been the groans of the Galápagos tortoises as they lumbered around the islands calling to prospective mates.
A flurry of wind across the moor parted the mist for a moment, enough for Nick to see a huge, lumbering shape coming towards them down the hillside. It was large, bigger than a rhino but smaller than an elephant, maybe two and a half metres long and around two metres tall, with a beaked nose, similar to that of a hawksbill turtle, and bony spikes on its head. Short legs held up a massive, rounded body. Whatever it was certainly wasn’t built for speed, but Nick instinctively knew that it could probably travel quite fast if something spooked it.
Nick stepped up to Ryan’s side, his mind whirling with possibilities.
“Is it real?” Abby asked, keeping her voice low.
“Some kind of experiment, maybe,” Nick said, following her lead. “Hybrid, throwback? I don’t know.”
“Is it dangerous?” Ryan demanded, his rifle held to his shoulder as he stared at the creature.
“It’s a reptile,” Nick told him, as he started to process what his eyes were seeing. “Five or six tonnes at least. Large supratemporal bosses. Huge oesteoderms on its back. It must be some kind of anapsid.”
“A tortoise?” Abby’s voice was laden with incredulity.
Ryan took a step to the side, making sure he stayed between the creature and the civilians, but a load roar greeted the movement. “I don’t want a bloody zoology lesson, I want to know whether I need to shoot it!”
“Stay in his field of vision,” Abby said sharply. “You’re making him nervous.”
To Nick’s surprise, the captain accepted Abby’s order without question. It was clear the woman knew what she was talking about when it came to animal behaviour, even when none of them had the faintest idea what sort of animal it was.
“It’s a dinosaur,” Connor said, his voice sounding like a child at Christmas who had just discovered that Father Christmas really does exist. “It’s a real dinosaur!”
Ryan shot Connor an incredulous glance, but Nick could see the soldier’s grip tighten on his rifle.
The creature opened its mouth and let out another groaning bellow.
“It’s a herbivore!” Abby said sharply. “Pure veggie. Look, there’s grass on its tongue. Don’t shoot it!”
Nick stepped up to her side, doing as she’d said and remaining within its field of vision. The enormous beast shuffled back a few paces, head lowered and swinging from side to side. Ryan gestured to the others to move together, so it could see them all at once. The soldiers flanked them, eyes hard and wary.
“It might be a veggie, but anything that size can still be dangerous, no matter what it eats,” Stephen said. “Someone’s been doing experiments and it’s got loose.” He shot Ryan a hard look. “There’s an MOD range near here, maybe they’ve been doing something they don’t want anyone to know about.”
“You’ve been listening to rumours, Hart,” Ryan said, not taking his eye off the creature for a moment. “If this was anything to do with the MOD, their lot would be all over the bloody moor looking for it, and they’re not.”
As Ryan spoke, the mist cleared for a moment as the wind swept one low cloud past them, leaving limited visibility on their part of the moor. Up by the towering grey crags of High Tor, shining like a beacon, was one of the lights that they had seen from the window of their cell. Danny Quinn had been right, it did look like a fallen star. Shattered fragments of light hung in the air, twisting and turning. He watched, entranced as the light appeared to expand for a moment, and then an enormous head, the twin to the one staring suspiciously at them out of small eyes surrounded by wrinkled folds of skin, poked through the light and let out a bellow of its own.
The creature in front of them turned and answered the cry, and as they stood and stared, it moved away without giving them a backward glance, lumbering towards the light without any hesitation. The other head withdrew and moments later, the creature followed, stepping into, but not out of, the coruscating light.
At a signal from Ryan, the soldiers promptly fanned out, moving quickly towards the light. A few moment later, Finn called out, “Clear, boss! There’s no sign of either of the fuckers and no prints on the ground on this side, either.”
There was no mistaking the incredulity on Ryan’s face. He stared at Abby and Stephen and said, “I want both of you to check the ground over there as well. But don’t get too close to that… thing.” The look he turned on Nick was as cold as the enveloping mist as he added, “I want some answers, Professor. And I want them now.”
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Date: 2014-05-10 10:14 am (UTC)It's good to see them investigating the lights/creatures.
And Lester's red braces get a mention!
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Date: 2014-05-10 05:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-10 11:47 am (UTC)I love how in character they all are (including Lester's red braces *g*).
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Date: 2014-05-10 05:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-10 12:21 pm (UTC)Great ep - can't wait to see what happens next. (I know - I've been saying that every ep, but it's *true*!)
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Date: 2014-05-10 05:02 pm (UTC)Glad you're enjoying it, sweetie!
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Date: 2014-05-10 04:59 pm (UTC)And Lester's red braces are mentioned.
*does pitiful kit-kat eyes* Is it time for the next part yet? ;)
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Date: 2014-05-10 05:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-10 05:40 pm (UTC)Aaaand the next installment is off to a stellar start.
Nick caught a glimpse of bright red braces
Nice - Lester is the same in every universe!
“They looked like fallen stars,” Danny said quietly, a defiant edge in his voice.
Lovely description.
That the dinosaurs died out because they missed the boat when the ark sailed without them?”
Lester’s eyes narrowed and Nick knew that he’d pushed the point too far.
“We are not here to discuss my beliefs, Cutter, and you would do well to remember why you’re here.
*sighs* Nick, Nick, Nick - Mouth. Shut. Remember???
The second soldier was leaning against the peeling paint of the wall, picking his nails with the point of a wicked-looking knife.
Yay! Enter Blade, well armed...
Three black Range Rovers crowded the small parking area, looming large over a bright yellow Mini Cooper, in much the same way as the black uniformed soldiers loomed over its owner.
Love cool-competent-Abby.
Ryan was clearly a man who knew when not to get into an argument.
LOL - Abby 1, Soldier 0
*giggle* for Cutter deciding he needs more exercise!
The soldier with the short black hair, permanent stubble and more knives than a kitchen drawer stayed at Nick’s side
Mmmmmmmm. Hot man with knives will take the chill off the moors...
“Well something’s causing it to throw a wobbly,” Stephen said
*g* Love that phrase!
Oooh, the Scutasaurus! Brilliant tie-in with the original episode.
The look he turned on Nick was as cold as the enveloping mist as he added, “I want some answers, Professor. And I want them now.”
*snorfle* Sorry, Ryan, some answers aren't THAT easy to come by!
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Date: 2014-05-10 06:12 pm (UTC)Thank you :) They're a delight to read.
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Date: 2014-05-10 07:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-11 09:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-12 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-12 08:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-13 09:50 pm (UTC)More lovely Lester/Cutter fencing. Those ties and braces. :)
Nice links to the first eps. It's always good to see Abby in her role as animal behaviour expert.
"It's a dinosaur." Oh Connor! (I'm sure that Nick and Stephen secretly felt exactly the same way.)
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Date: 2014-05-13 09:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-14 07:09 pm (UTC)Love Danny trying to describe the anomalies, and Abby unperturbed by the big black-clad boys :D
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Date: 2014-05-19 09:03 pm (UTC)