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fredbassettTitle : A Very Public Problem, Part 2
Author : fredbassett
Fandom : Primeval
Characters : Stephen/Ryan, Lester/Lyle, Claudia, Abby, Connor, Ditzy
Rating : 18 (Parts 1 and 4), 15 (Parts 2 and 3)
Disclaimer : Not mine, no money made, don’t sue
Spoilers : Very minor for S1, Episode 3.
Summary : Just because there’s nothing obvious doesn’t mean there isn’t a problem.
Ryan pulled the Range Rover up next to a van bearing an Environment Agency logo.
A harassed looking Water Company employee wearing the universal uniform of blue overalls and a baseball cap asked, “Are you from the Ministry?” and without waiting for a reply jerked his head in the direction of a neat gravel path. “The rest of them are over there on the jetty.”
Stephen nodded his thanks and muttered to Ryan, “I’ve always fancied myself as a Man from the Ministry.”
Ryan grinned, “Don’t give up the day job, darling. Suits aren’t your thing. Anyway, she meant the Min of Ag & Fish, not anything glamorous.”
“They call it DEFRA now,” pouted Stephen.
“Still doesn’t make it glamorous. And don’t pout, or I’ll have to slap your arse.”
“Promises, promises …..”
“Shut up and smile sweetly at the nice ladies and try to lose the just fucked look, Hart.”
Stephen smiled lazily and ran a hand through his spiky black hair, which did nothing whatsoever to make him look more respectable.
Abby gave him a smile that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a Nile crocodile. “Glad you could make it, boys. Did you bring the gear?”
Stephen nodded and gestured back towards the vehicles. “It’s all in there. So why us?”
“This is the third pollution incident this month,” said Claudia, lying with practised ease. “Sir James now considers terrorism to be highly likely, which of course makes it our concern.” She turned to a serious looking woman with wavy dark hair and smiled pleasantly. “We’ll take things from here, Mrs Merrifield, if you don’t mind. If you could speed up the test results on the water, we’d be very grateful.”
The woman nodded and walked off quickly, heading back to the small breeze block building at one end of the reservoir which appeared to contain various types of monitoring equipment.
Stephen raised one eyebrow. “Since when have we been called out to a pollution incident?”
“Since GCHQ picked up on an email which mentioned sparkly lights in the water and sent an alert to Lester’s office,” said Claudia, calmly.
A second eyebrow joined the first, and Stephen whistled through his teeth. “The Government bugs its own departments?”
Claudia sighed. “Monitoring emails is perfectly normal activity. You’d be surprised how careless people can be in that sort of communication. But more to the point, their systems are now set to trigger an alert at just about every possible description of an anomaly that you can imagine. Sifting out the ones that look genuine is fast becoming a full time job.”
“So what about the other incidents?”
“There haven’t been any,” said Abby. “Come on, it looks like Connor’s found something.”
A few hundred metres around the lakeside, Connor was waving his hat in excitement, startling one of the sheep grazing peacefully in a field which separated the reservoir from the road.
Ryan stared around him with a frown, convinced that he’d soon be ordering a road closure or two. The area was far too public for his liking, but at least someone had already ordered it cleared of fishermen, and that had been done with some haste, judging by the number of green umbrellas and keep-nets lying abandoned along the water’s edge.
“It’s down there, I can see it!” called Connor, dancing from one leg to another with enthusiasm.
“Any sign that anything has come through?” demanded Ryan, wishing that he was equipped with something bigger than just the Glock he was carrying in a shoulder-holster under his jacket.
“Nope, just a load of dead fish.” The student waved a hand expansively at the countless number of corpses, small and large, floating of the surface of the water.
“Do you recognise them?”
“Can’t say we’ve been introduced,” said Connor, airily, then in response to a hard stare from Ryan he added, “they look like the sort of thing I’d expect to see in an English river, if that’s what you mean.”
Ryan stared down into the water. The anomaly was maybe four metres down and looked to be just in front of one of the main sluice gates which controlled the water levels in the lake. “I take it all outlets have been closed?”
Claudia nodded. “That was the first thing they did when the fishermen reported seeing dead fish start to appear. This place supplies water to south Bristol, so they weren’t taking any chances.”
“Oh shit,” breathed Connor, suddenly going still and dropping down onto one knee at the water’s edge.
“What?” demanded Ryan, one hand heading for his gun in a smooth, practiced movement.
“The water’s rising …..”
“There’s a level marker over there,” commented Abby, reaching for her phone and starting to dial. “Mrs Merrifield? What’s the normal water level in here? Do you have a record of what it was before the pollution?” She fell silent, still staring over at the depth indicator. “OK, thanks. Yes, please, let me know as soon as the results come through.” She glanced down into the water and nodded. “It’s up by at least a metre in the last two hours.”
“Temperature?” asked Stephen, remembering what had happened in the lake which had provided a temporary home for the mosasaur.
Connor stretched out his hand, only to have it slapped aside by Ryan.
“Look, don’t touch!” hissed the soldier. “We don’t know what killed the fish yet.”
Abby hit last number re-dial on her phone. “Can you give us a temperature reading, please?” A moment later she said, “Thanks, that’s helpful,” and cut the connection. “Several degrees higher normal.”
Everyone turned to look at Connor. The student spread his hands helplessly. “Not much to go on, but my guess is maybe we’ve got sea water coming through, which is probably what’s killing the fish.”
“We’ve got the diving kit with us,” said Stephen. “I can take a look.”
“No sign of creature incursion,” said Ryan, “so no need to take any risks. I’ve already lost one diver and that was one too many.”
Stephen opened his mouth to argue, but found himself forestalled by Claudia.
“Good point, Captain Ryan. I can see nothing in this situation to merit taking a closer look. The results of the water tests should be available shortly. For now I can see no justification for doing anything more than keeping a close eye on what’s happening down there. Have you called for back-up?”
“Ditzy and three of the lads are on their way over from the Forest, ma’am.”
Abby’s phone rang. “Mrs Merrifield? OK, thanks ………..” Abby listened carefully, then asked, “Nothing else?” Before breaking the connection she added, “We’ll get back to you, but for now, no, we say nothing to the Press. Ms Brown will deal with them in due course. Please give the Chief Constable our thanks for his offer. Sir James will no doubt be in contact with him as soon he becomes available. Yes, let us know if the tests turn up anything else.”
“Raised salinity,” predicted Connor, staring down at the dead bodies of numerous fish.
Abby nodded, blue eyes serious. “Yes, but the technicians who ran the tests seem surprised that so many fish have died so quickly.”
“We don’t know how long it’s been coming through,” remarked Claudia. She opened her mouth to continue, then her own phone rang. “Lieutenant Owen? Yes, where are you?” She fell silent. Moments later, a deep frown settled on her normally smiling face. “Yes, go straight there, please. I’ll speak to the Chief Constable and have him clear the beach.”
All eyes swivelled to Claudia.
“Captain Ryan, would you be so kind as to arrange for another team to provide cover here? We appear to have a rather public problem on our hands ……”
“It’s just closed!” interrupted Connor, waving his hand towards the water.
Immediate relief did something to soften the tension on Claudia’s face, but not much. “I’m going to request police back-up for here,” she said, in a voice that brooked no argument. “It’ll give the Chief Constable something to do.”
“You mentioned clearing a beach, ma’am?” said Ryan, calmly.
“Yes, Captain. Connor, get your bucket and spade. We’re going to Weston-super-Mare. Abby, tell Mrs Merrifield and the gentleman from Bristol Water that I want this place sealed. No-one goes near the water. We’re not taking any chances.” With that, Claudia turned on her heel, and headed back to the car.
The men trailed after her, all wearing somewhat bemused expressions.
There were ways in which Claudia Brown resembled Sir James Lester more closely than she realised. Her tendency to work on a need to know basis was one of them.
Abby grinned and followed them, hitting the redial button on her phone as she walked.
Author : fredbassett
Fandom : Primeval
Characters : Stephen/Ryan, Lester/Lyle, Claudia, Abby, Connor, Ditzy
Rating : 18 (Parts 1 and 4), 15 (Parts 2 and 3)
Disclaimer : Not mine, no money made, don’t sue
Spoilers : Very minor for S1, Episode 3.
Summary : Just because there’s nothing obvious doesn’t mean there isn’t a problem.
Ryan pulled the Range Rover up next to a van bearing an Environment Agency logo.
A harassed looking Water Company employee wearing the universal uniform of blue overalls and a baseball cap asked, “Are you from the Ministry?” and without waiting for a reply jerked his head in the direction of a neat gravel path. “The rest of them are over there on the jetty.”
Stephen nodded his thanks and muttered to Ryan, “I’ve always fancied myself as a Man from the Ministry.”
Ryan grinned, “Don’t give up the day job, darling. Suits aren’t your thing. Anyway, she meant the Min of Ag & Fish, not anything glamorous.”
“They call it DEFRA now,” pouted Stephen.
“Still doesn’t make it glamorous. And don’t pout, or I’ll have to slap your arse.”
“Promises, promises …..”
“Shut up and smile sweetly at the nice ladies and try to lose the just fucked look, Hart.”
Stephen smiled lazily and ran a hand through his spiky black hair, which did nothing whatsoever to make him look more respectable.
Abby gave him a smile that wouldn’t have looked out of place on a Nile crocodile. “Glad you could make it, boys. Did you bring the gear?”
Stephen nodded and gestured back towards the vehicles. “It’s all in there. So why us?”
“This is the third pollution incident this month,” said Claudia, lying with practised ease. “Sir James now considers terrorism to be highly likely, which of course makes it our concern.” She turned to a serious looking woman with wavy dark hair and smiled pleasantly. “We’ll take things from here, Mrs Merrifield, if you don’t mind. If you could speed up the test results on the water, we’d be very grateful.”
The woman nodded and walked off quickly, heading back to the small breeze block building at one end of the reservoir which appeared to contain various types of monitoring equipment.
Stephen raised one eyebrow. “Since when have we been called out to a pollution incident?”
“Since GCHQ picked up on an email which mentioned sparkly lights in the water and sent an alert to Lester’s office,” said Claudia, calmly.
A second eyebrow joined the first, and Stephen whistled through his teeth. “The Government bugs its own departments?”
Claudia sighed. “Monitoring emails is perfectly normal activity. You’d be surprised how careless people can be in that sort of communication. But more to the point, their systems are now set to trigger an alert at just about every possible description of an anomaly that you can imagine. Sifting out the ones that look genuine is fast becoming a full time job.”
“So what about the other incidents?”
“There haven’t been any,” said Abby. “Come on, it looks like Connor’s found something.”
A few hundred metres around the lakeside, Connor was waving his hat in excitement, startling one of the sheep grazing peacefully in a field which separated the reservoir from the road.
Ryan stared around him with a frown, convinced that he’d soon be ordering a road closure or two. The area was far too public for his liking, but at least someone had already ordered it cleared of fishermen, and that had been done with some haste, judging by the number of green umbrellas and keep-nets lying abandoned along the water’s edge.
“It’s down there, I can see it!” called Connor, dancing from one leg to another with enthusiasm.
“Any sign that anything has come through?” demanded Ryan, wishing that he was equipped with something bigger than just the Glock he was carrying in a shoulder-holster under his jacket.
“Nope, just a load of dead fish.” The student waved a hand expansively at the countless number of corpses, small and large, floating of the surface of the water.
“Do you recognise them?”
“Can’t say we’ve been introduced,” said Connor, airily, then in response to a hard stare from Ryan he added, “they look like the sort of thing I’d expect to see in an English river, if that’s what you mean.”
Ryan stared down into the water. The anomaly was maybe four metres down and looked to be just in front of one of the main sluice gates which controlled the water levels in the lake. “I take it all outlets have been closed?”
Claudia nodded. “That was the first thing they did when the fishermen reported seeing dead fish start to appear. This place supplies water to south Bristol, so they weren’t taking any chances.”
“Oh shit,” breathed Connor, suddenly going still and dropping down onto one knee at the water’s edge.
“What?” demanded Ryan, one hand heading for his gun in a smooth, practiced movement.
“The water’s rising …..”
“There’s a level marker over there,” commented Abby, reaching for her phone and starting to dial. “Mrs Merrifield? What’s the normal water level in here? Do you have a record of what it was before the pollution?” She fell silent, still staring over at the depth indicator. “OK, thanks. Yes, please, let me know as soon as the results come through.” She glanced down into the water and nodded. “It’s up by at least a metre in the last two hours.”
“Temperature?” asked Stephen, remembering what had happened in the lake which had provided a temporary home for the mosasaur.
Connor stretched out his hand, only to have it slapped aside by Ryan.
“Look, don’t touch!” hissed the soldier. “We don’t know what killed the fish yet.”
Abby hit last number re-dial on her phone. “Can you give us a temperature reading, please?” A moment later she said, “Thanks, that’s helpful,” and cut the connection. “Several degrees higher normal.”
Everyone turned to look at Connor. The student spread his hands helplessly. “Not much to go on, but my guess is maybe we’ve got sea water coming through, which is probably what’s killing the fish.”
“We’ve got the diving kit with us,” said Stephen. “I can take a look.”
“No sign of creature incursion,” said Ryan, “so no need to take any risks. I’ve already lost one diver and that was one too many.”
Stephen opened his mouth to argue, but found himself forestalled by Claudia.
“Good point, Captain Ryan. I can see nothing in this situation to merit taking a closer look. The results of the water tests should be available shortly. For now I can see no justification for doing anything more than keeping a close eye on what’s happening down there. Have you called for back-up?”
“Ditzy and three of the lads are on their way over from the Forest, ma’am.”
Abby’s phone rang. “Mrs Merrifield? OK, thanks ………..” Abby listened carefully, then asked, “Nothing else?” Before breaking the connection she added, “We’ll get back to you, but for now, no, we say nothing to the Press. Ms Brown will deal with them in due course. Please give the Chief Constable our thanks for his offer. Sir James will no doubt be in contact with him as soon he becomes available. Yes, let us know if the tests turn up anything else.”
“Raised salinity,” predicted Connor, staring down at the dead bodies of numerous fish.
Abby nodded, blue eyes serious. “Yes, but the technicians who ran the tests seem surprised that so many fish have died so quickly.”
“We don’t know how long it’s been coming through,” remarked Claudia. She opened her mouth to continue, then her own phone rang. “Lieutenant Owen? Yes, where are you?” She fell silent. Moments later, a deep frown settled on her normally smiling face. “Yes, go straight there, please. I’ll speak to the Chief Constable and have him clear the beach.”
All eyes swivelled to Claudia.
“Captain Ryan, would you be so kind as to arrange for another team to provide cover here? We appear to have a rather public problem on our hands ……”
“It’s just closed!” interrupted Connor, waving his hand towards the water.
Immediate relief did something to soften the tension on Claudia’s face, but not much. “I’m going to request police back-up for here,” she said, in a voice that brooked no argument. “It’ll give the Chief Constable something to do.”
“You mentioned clearing a beach, ma’am?” said Ryan, calmly.
“Yes, Captain. Connor, get your bucket and spade. We’re going to Weston-super-Mare. Abby, tell Mrs Merrifield and the gentleman from Bristol Water that I want this place sealed. No-one goes near the water. We’re not taking any chances.” With that, Claudia turned on her heel, and headed back to the car.
The men trailed after her, all wearing somewhat bemused expressions.
There were ways in which Claudia Brown resembled Sir James Lester more closely than she realised. Her tendency to work on a need to know basis was one of them.
Abby grinned and followed them, hitting the redial button on her phone as she walked.
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Date: 2008-09-21 01:16 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2008-09-21 01:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 01:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 01:56 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2008-09-21 01:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 01:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 02:03 pm (UTC)“Can’t say we’ve been introduced,” said Connor, airily, then in response to a hard stare from Ryan he added
Oh, Connor! And him wanting to test the temperature with his hand!
They all go risk-happy with Nick isn't there! Loony lot. Thank goodness for a sensible Ryan and Claudia.
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Date: 2008-09-21 02:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 02:21 pm (UTC)This is fab. And it's no good Stephen trying to lose his just-fucked look. That's his default setting!
Love the team-work and everyone having suicidal tendencies apart from Ryan and Abby!
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Date: 2008-09-21 02:23 pm (UTC)*happy sigh*
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Date: 2008-09-21 03:05 pm (UTC)But yey for the team working together, Claudia being all in-charge, and Connor and Abby doing the science stuff. Can't wait to find out what's happening on the beach. And why the fish are dead.
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Date: 2008-09-21 03:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 03:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 03:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 04:02 pm (UTC)On that note though, it's actually a bit odd hearing them all 'Sir James-ing' it about Lester after so long of reading the soldiers chatting about 'the Witch-King', or, of course Cutter and co. just calling him 'Lester' and last but by no means least Lyle with his various pet-names...
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Date: 2008-09-21 04:05 pm (UTC)Creative pet naming is really quite fun, though!
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Date: 2008-09-21 04:34 pm (UTC)“Look, don’t touch!” hissed the soldier. “We don’t know what killed the fish yet.”
That's our Connor - still completely lacking in the common sense! *g*
And I loved Claudia in this, taking charge and being all sensible!
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Date: 2008-09-21 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 04:40 pm (UTC)The Ryan/Stephen banter on the walk in was yummy, LOL!
And the bugging of GCHQ, hee!
Looking forward to more!
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Date: 2008-09-21 04:44 pm (UTC)Says *oooh shiny* just to see what happens ............
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Date: 2008-09-21 05:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 04:47 pm (UTC)Waiting for the next part...
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Date: 2008-09-21 05:32 pm (UTC)Next part tomorrow.
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Date: 2008-09-21 06:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 06:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 10:34 pm (UTC)Lol at Connor startling the sheep *g*
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Date: 2008-09-22 10:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-21 11:24 pm (UTC)I waited *patiently* (okay fine, not that patiently) for this yesterday - I think I checked back like... a dozen times... naughty fred making me wait... but it was I suppose, worth the wait...oh okay I more than suppose... now just don't make me wait too long again, I love your plottiness almost as much as I love your porniess and that's a lot!
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Date: 2008-09-22 10:23 am (UTC)Sorry, I'll try and post earlier today!
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Date: 2009-05-17 11:54 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-05-15 06:58 pm (UTC)Intriguing, this!
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Date: 2010-05-16 08:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-07 05:30 am (UTC)>There were ways in which Claudia Brown resembled Sir James Lester more closely than she realised. Her tendency to work on a need to know basis was one of them.
!best line!
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Date: 2010-11-07 10:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-02 03:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-02 03:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-05 08:26 pm (UTC)And in charge!Claudia ftw!
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Date: 2012-09-06 12:07 pm (UTC)