Fire and Water

by Simon Guerrier

  She scrambled to her feet, but before she could run, the enormous long-legged crocodile had lumbered around to block her way out of the office. It stood there, shaking its long-jawed head as it began to recover its senses.

  Slowly she edged around behind Lester’s desk, keeping her eyes on it, wary of any sudden movement. As she stepped up close to the anomaly, the creature rocked back on its haunches, preparing to pounce again.

  As it leapt, Sarah threw herself into the anomaly. She felt claws and teeth strike through her, felt them ripping her apart — she was certain of it. And then she was rolling across a metal grate in some other place.

  She had not been torn in two; she’d passed through the anomaly.

  Behind her, something crackled with electricity, and the creature let out a startled, angry roar. Sarah looked up to discover that it had followed her through and was struggling to break free of an electric snare that tightened around its thick armour-plated neck. Two black-uniformed soldiers wielding rifles stood looking down at her, while a third adjusted the controls of the snare.

  A moment later the creature settled down, bowing its head in submission.

  “Sir,” one of the soldiers said into his earpiece. “We’ve got Dr Page.” He listened for a moment, then motioned to his colleagues, saying, “We put her with the others.”

  Oh God, Sarah thought, panic constricting her throat. They’ve got others, too — others, plural. They must have taken Samuels, but who else could they mean?

  And then even more terrible questions occurred to her. Had someone deliberately opened an anomaly right inside Lester’s office? If so, how? And where was she now? Sarah’s mind was reeling.

  The soldier with the snare directed the creature into a corner, and the other two came towards Sarah, brandishing their guns. For the second time in twenty-four hours she was captured and powerless. She bit her lip, and dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands. Tears welled up at the corners of her eyes, then trickled down her cheeks.

  “Please,” she said feebly. “Please don’t hurt me!”

  The soldiers looked at each other. One grinned cruelly back at her.

  “Shut up and come on,” he said as he reached forward to force her to her feet.

  Sarah stood miserably, tears dribbling from her chin. The soldier held her arm, but let her go when she tried to wipe her face on her sleeve. He glanced back at his colleague, about to make a joke, and his colleague lowered his gun as he leaned in to hear it.

  She knew she must look a pitiable mess.

  That was the idea.

  She grabbed the soldier who had helped her up, pulled him back towards her. As he stumbled, she thrust down on his shoulders, lifting herself into the air. She swung round like a gymnast towards the other soldier, who raised his rifle to shield his face. Which meant he exposed what she’d been aiming for anyway — she planted both feet hard in his groin.

  He fell back with a satisfying grunt.

  They were handcuffed, then marched through the gap in the fence.

  Well, we made it through, Danny mused darkly.

  He stumbled once, unbalanced by the handcuffs and the searing brightness of the searchlights. A soldier growled at him to keep moving, he had taken a handful more steps before he realised — the soldier had spoken with an English accent.

  He knew the mine was a British concern. He knew that it mattered to the government as it offered a potential solution to the energy crisis, and that he and Lester had been sent out here to make sure nothing got in its way — not even the nuisance of an anomaly or two. So they were all meant to be on the same side, weren’t they?

  Except that it seemed as if they had been royally set up. Someone high up in the government really didn’t like them. And that someone had access to carnivorous dinosaurs and soldiers, and was prepared to use them. Against Danny and Lester — and probably anyone else who got in their way.

  Like Sophie.

  So who? There was Lester’s old friend Christine Johnson, who promised to be trouble. Would she — or anyone else — dare to sabotage the vital work the ARC was doing? Could you be so ambitious you’d risk unleashing the catastrophe they held back on a daily basis? It didn’t make sense.

  But Danny also knew just how valuable the ARC and its work could be, and he was discovering how much fighting and internal politicking that could create. As Lester had said, show some success and everyone will want a piece of it.

  He looked over at Lester, who had his head bowed as he walked, his eyes glimmering with intelligence as he puzzled out their options. He was struck by the fight in the man; smart, canny and ruthless. You crossed him at your peril.

  They weren’t beaten yet. Not by a long shot.

  The group passed through a side building full of guns and army equipment, and then through a sliding door that led into the main warehouse of the mine. After the glare of the spotlights outside, Danny took a moment to let his eyes get used to the relative gloom.

  The room was completely empty. No machinery, no mining equipment, no shaft down into the depths of the earth. So where the hell were they getting the oil from?

  His thought was answered by an explosion of orange-pink light, right in the centre of the room. Ted and the soldiers looked away, but Danny and Lester both stared directly at the anomaly.

  A controlled anomaly.

  “You can call them up whenever you want them,” Lester said.

  “Maybe we can,” said one of the soldiers, shoving him forward.

  “What is this thing?” Ted asked Danny, and he sounded frightened.

  “Don’t worry,” Danny said. “It’s just a doorway. Local delicacy where we come from. It’s gonna be okay.” He hoped he sounded confident.

  Ted nodded, but didn’t look convinced. The soldiers shoved them with their guns, herding them towards the twinkling portal. Lester stepped through first, his body fracturing amongst the shards of light, Ted swore under his breath, looked at Danny for reassurance, then stepped after Lester. Danny went through last.

  They emerged into another building, this one a vast cathedral to industry. But for the handcuffs, Danny would have clamped his hands over his ears to protect them from the noise. Machines as big as houses clanked and growled, churning out black smoke and the stench of oil. Smoke and sparks filled the working area, scratching at their eyes, burning their throats, making them cough.

  Danny doubled over, struggling to get his breath back, and only when he looked up again did he see the enormous square hole that was plunging down into the depths of the earth.

  The soldiers led them off the workplace floor and into one of the side rooms. The group stepped through a door. Then while two of the soldiers remained, rifles at the ready, the third thug disappeared through a second door.

  “So they are drilling for oil,” Lester said, as the door behind them closed and they could hear again. Despite all they’d been through in the past couple of days, Danny realised he had never before seen Lester truly shocked.

  “But in another time,” Danny observed. “We must be in the prehistoric past now — which means they’re exploiting the anomalies somehow.”

  Lester regained his composure.

  “I suppose it makes sense to use them if we can.”

  “What?” Danny spluttered. “You think this is going to end well? They’ll eat up the world before we’ve even evolved here. Remember what Cutter said — he knew the score. They’ll cancel out the human race.”

  Lester shrugged. “Solves a lot of problems that way.” He smiled at the man who stood in front of him. “Doesn’t it, soldier?”

  The man didn’t flinch, just kept his eyes on them. Lester turned to Danny and rolled his eyes. But he rolled them in the direction of the door.

  Yeah, it was getting time they made their excuses.

  Danny coughed violently, bending over double and hacking up some phlegm. He hardly needed to act — his throat still burned raw from being out in the mine. One of the soldiers nudged him wi
th the butt of his rifle, urging him to stand up. Danny moaned a little, swayed unsteadily on his feet.

  Then he stood up and kicked the man across the room.

  Lester got behind him as he fell, and tripped him so he impacted with the wall. Danny turned to see Ted headbutt the other soldier and knock him unconscious.

  Lester crouched down with his back to the soldier who’d hit the wall, using his still-handcuffed wrists to feel his way through the man’s pockets. He pulled on a chain, revealed a set of keys, then nimbly worked his way through them to select the right one. Once he’d got it, he stood up and came over to Danny. It took a bit of fumbling before their wrists met and Lester found where to place the key, but the handcuffs soon clicked open.

  “You’ve done this before,” Ted said as Danny quickly released Lester and then him.

  “Once or twice,” Lester responded, coolly. “Hostage training is part of my management package. Along with a private dentist and a rather handy chauffeur.”

  They picked up the fallen rifles and hurried to the second door. Danny eased the handle down slowly, not making any noise. He looked to Lester, who nodded, so he pushed it open a crack and squinted through into the corridor that lay beyond.

  He turned back and grinned at the others.

  “Told you it would be okay,” he said to Ted. He pushed the door wide, and they hurried through, then rushed down the corridor, grabbing lab coats from a rail at the end.

  “We won’t fool anyone,” Lester grumbled as he pulled the white coat on over the top of his muddy, bloodied shirt.

  “Not if they’re paying attention,” Danny said. “But it might just help if we don’t give them time to think about it.”

  They opened the door at the end of the corridor and stared out across a paved courtyard. Though they had left the darkness of night, here they stood under a blue sky and brilliant sunshine. A forklift truck moved huge barrels of oil around the tarmac, but there was no chain-link fence around this mine. Beyond the pavement they looked out onto a vast horizon of undulating hills.

  “Where the hell are we?” Ted asked, stupified.

  “Somewhere in the prehistoric past,” Danny murmured. “See those trees? They were in a briefing I went to. Can’t remember what they are, but they were definitely on one of the slides.”

  “Brilliant,” Lester muttered. “That narrows it down to a few hundred million years.”

  “Well, if you can do better...”

  “I will, when I get my hands on whoever’s in charge. Come on. We need some answers.” At that he stepped out into the sunshine with Danny and Ted following close behind him, brandishing their rifles. The forklift driver didn’t notice them. Danny thought he was speaking to someone, then realised he had headphones on and was singing along to his music.

  They made their way around the side of the huge complex, eyes peeled for anyone — or anything — that might present a threat. It took a moment to navigate the low walls of sandbags that seemed to mark out space on the concrete floor, but not in any way that made obvious sense.

  While the mine didn’t have an electrified fence running round it, they noted that it did have heavy artillery. What might have been anti-tank guns stood at various strategic positions, and Lester pointed out mortars and rocket launchers as they passed.

  “But this stuff can’t be for keeping dinosaurs at bay,” Danny said.

  “It’s like they’re expecting a war,” Lester observed.

  “Yeah, but only at this end of the mine. Look, there aren’t any other guns about. Why just defend this corner?”

  “The sandbags,” Ted said. “You think they keep the oil separate from the guns?”

  They looked and realised he was right. The sandbags would effectively stop any leakages from reaching around this far. Oil would be channelled away around the building, well clear of the guns. With the bare concrete in between the bags now dazzling in the sun, it looked like a dried-out river.

  And then, without warning, something charged at them.

  Danny fired before he’d even taken it in. A bullet spanged off the armoured scales of a Postosuchus as it bore down on him. Lester dived, grabbing Danny and knocking him out of the way. Lying on his back on the floor, Danny fired again, smacking the creature in the soft flesh where its leg met the underside of its belly. The creature let out a shriek, claws skittering round on the concrete floor as it sought to come at him again. In the blur of movement, he thought he saw some kind of dark collar around its neck, almost like a domestic cat.

  Ted knelt on one knee and fired two shots in succession at the dinosaur’s soft underside. The bullets slammed hard into the creature, dark blood spitting out of the single deep wound. The Postosuchus tottered forward, not quite in control of its legs. Ted fired again, but the creature lowered its head and the bullet spanged off its armoured jaws.

  When it regained its balance, it had a renewed hunger in its eyes.

  It lunged forward again. Danny and Ted both fired shot after shot, but the creature wouldn’t be stopped. It opened its massive jaws wide and Danny watched in horror as it snapped up Ted in a single bite. He didn’t even have the opportunity to cry out.

  The Postosuchus chewed greedily as it turned to face Danny and Lester. Danny fired again and again, anger coursing through him, but the creature stood its ground. And then a brilliant light blazed round its neck. The beast whimpered and lay down on the ground.

  Soldiers ran forward, all but one pointing guns at Danny and Lester. The last soldier handled some kind of remote control that seemed to subdue the creature. Danny put his rifle down on the ground and let them come over to cuff him.

  “Oh dear, oh dear,” a voice said, and they turned to see that it belonged to a man with cropped hair and beard, who appeared from behind the soldiers. His muscles bulged inside an immaculate suit. “How very unpleasant. Another death to add to your woeful record. Isn’t that right, James?”

  Lester regarded the newcomer with cool contempt.

  “Friend of yours?” Danny asked.

  “Oh yes,” the man said. “We go back a long way, James and I. Name’s Tom. Tom Samuels.”

  Lester sighed wearily. “We were at the same school, but we were never exactly friends. You were always so...” he looked up at the sky as he searched for the right word, “keen.”

  Danny turned back to the suited man, to see his eyes burning with barely contained anger. The soldiers were looking back at him, too, not quite hiding smiles.

  Oh, thought Danny, this is going to be good.

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  It looked as though there was a ranking system governing the way the enormous Sauroposeidons queued to squeeze themselves into the railway tunnel. Connor stood on the grassy verge in the rain, watching. He would have expected the smallest to be shoved out of the way by the bigger ones, but one of the largest creatures had taken the back of the line and seemed to be organising the others.

  Behind the huge dinosaurs a number of army vehicles filled the valley. Soldiers leant out of windows or poked through the sunroofs to watch the incredible spectacle. These men had probably all seen combat before, even with other dinosaur species, but the Sauroposeidons were probably the largest that even Connor had dealt with. They moved with such careful grace, such consideration for each other, he could easily forget the cold and the rain falling on him just watching them.

  Then at last the herd were all through and the traffic-warden dinosaur squeezed itself in after them.

  That was when Connor and Becker dared to slip down the slope behind it, lugging the locking mechanism and its tripod between them. Connor stood in the tunnel entrance, watching the creature’s tail slip into the darkness.

  The tunnel stank of sweaty, wet dinosaur and the tang of the catnip they had been pursuing. The military man shone his torch and they could just make out the tail tip of the last Sauroposeidon some way up ahead. Slowly, keeping their distance, they followed on behind. They had to lock the anomaly once the creatures were all
through, to ensure they didn’t come back.

  “Nothing to this one,” Becker said cheerily as they reached the glinting shards of light that indicated the anomaly.

  “Don’t jinx it!” Connor insisted as he worked on setting up the locking mechanism. “We haven’t got Abby back yet.”

  “You know, you may want to give her some space,” Becker told him.

  Connor looked up at him. “What?”

  “I said she probably needs some space.”

  “Hey, me and Abby, we’re just mates, that’s all. And we work together. And we used to share a flat. Anything else makes things all complicated.”

  Becker nodded, an infuriating smile on his face. He didn’t seem to want to leave it alone.

  “Actually, I meant you need to leave some space around the anomaly so Abby doesn’t run you over. She is in a car.”

  “Oh, yeah. Good point.” Connor stepped back so that he was leaning against the chipped, ancient brick wall of the tunnel as he calibrated the locking mechanism.

  “So you and Abby...” Becker began.

  “What about me and Abby?”

  “There’s nothing going on there?”

  Connor sighed. “No, there’s nothing going on there.”

  “But you’d like there to be?...”

  “There’s nothing going on between us,” Connor repeated, his tone exasperated.

  “Right, so you wouldn’t mind if I asked her out?”

  “What?” Connor gaped in horror.

  “Well, if there’s nothing going on between you two, maybe I could ask her out.”

  “No!” Connor snapped. “It would never work. You and her aren’t suited!”

  Becker shrugged. “Why not? I’ve got great prospects. I’m good looking, talented, experienced. And I’m an officer, too... You know what they say about girls and the uniform.”

  Connor stared at him, appalled.

  “Abby’s not like that,” he said quietly. “She doesn’t want a soldier boy. She wants... Well, she’d probably rather have... I don’t know,” he shrugged defeated. “Maybe you should ask her out.”