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Consistency of Fear Stephen stared at Lester, his expression showing a mixture of pain, anger and betrayal. Ryan on the other hand, was going for angry. Loudly and obviously angry. “What the fuck do you mean, Stephen has to stay at the ARC?” “Health and Safety have made their decision. His inability to speak is believed to be a liability in the field. They consider him a danger to himself and others,” Lester replied, keeping his expression stony just to prove that he was impervious to raised voices. “Bollocks.” Ryan switched to sneering. “You know damned well that he’s no liability.” Lester sighed, pinching his nose. Ryan was correct, but his timing was appalling. “Give me a couple of days. I’ll see what I can do.” He simply wanted them to go away. It would be difficult to officially argue with the HSE ruling since the last time Stephen had been in the field he’d been shot, and as a direct result of his muteness he’d been unable to call for help. Lester might enjoy a good scrap as much as the next civil servant, but the thought of fighting for a potential lost cause didn’t excite him right now; he had much better uses for his energy currently lining up for battle. The Home Office was nipping at his heels about the lack of progress on understanding the anomalies, and was as a result dropping some very broad hints about budgets and belt-tightening that were forcing Lester to use up a few of his carefully hoarded contingency plans. On the other hand, from a compassionate point of view, this was also not the best time to tell Stephen, who was already wounded and feeling left out, that he really would be better off remaining behind during even the tamest of outings. Well, that was a fight for a later time. Looking up, Lester was mildly surprised to see that Ryan and Stephen were both still standing in front of his desk. Eyebrow raised, he added, “That would be your cue to go away,” and was then very surprised to see Ryan sit down, instead. On the positive side, the captain didn’t look as if he was considering committing mayhem any more. On the negative side, he looked worried, and Stephen was watching him as if he was expecting to be kicked. Lester braced himself. This was not going to be pleasant. Accepting temporary defeat, he sighed and placed his pen at a perfect 45 degree angle across the form he had just signed, and waved Stephen to the other chair. “Sit.” When Stephen obeyed with alacrity and a slightly less worried expression, it actually eased Lester’s conscience a trifle. And that random thought made him wince internally. A conscience wasn’t the most useful object for a ‘government hatchet man’ to possess. He rubbed his forehead to drive out that thought and stared at Ryan. “Well?” The captain’s quick glance over at his lover didn’t help Lester’s burgeoning headache. And Ryan’s next words added a new layer of pain. “You got the report from Ditzy and Connor?” “About the ‘other’? Of course I did,” Lester replied with a shudder. “As if we needed more than one of you.” He watched Ryan’s lips tighten with an inner smile. Nice to know he could still irritate the good captain. However, he really did have a lot of work to do, so he needed to speed this up a little. He folded his hands on his desk, and cocked his head at the two men. “And, so?” Ryan and Stephen shared a palpably uneasy glance. Stephen’s muteness made a private conversation between the two of them impossible, as they both knew that Lester had made a point of learning signing well enough to keep up with even their most rapid exchanges. And with Stephen’s right arm out of commission due to the rather nasty bullet hole in his shoulder, he was even limited on the amount and speed of the signing he could do. The current situation suddenly reminded Lester forcibly of when the silent clone was first brought to the ARC; another sympathy-fostering memory he could do without right now. “If I’m going to have to coax every word out of you, we’re going to be here all night.” Lester gave both of them his most autocratic stare. “So, will you please simply spit it out so I can get back to work?” Stephen nodded at Ryan, who frowned for a second before turning back to Lester. “With that other ‘me’ out there, I’d rather Stephen stayed close to the team at all times. And by ‘team’ I mean me.” Ryan leaned back in his chair. Lester wasn’t sure whether to bring his eyebrows together into a frown, or let them rise as close as they could to his hairline. He compromised, with one raised, and one pulled in. “And exactly what good will that do?” he asked, allowing annoyance to creep into his tone, just enough to sting. Ryan’s face went blank, and Stephen bit his lip, gaze flipping back and forth between Lester and Ryan. “Uh,” Ryan managed. Lester fought back a grin at catching Ryan wrong-footed. “Explain the reasoning behind that request, if you can, Captain.” Glaring at him, Ryan ground out, “If there’s another ‘me’ targeting Stephen, then I need to keep him with me. If I’m out in the field and he’s here, then the other ‘me’ could come in and harm him without anyone knowing it isn’t ‘me’.” “I see,” Lester replied. “So, you believe our security measures are deficient, then?” He sat back and waited gleefully for the fireworks. Ryan, however, disappointed him. “Yes, I do,” Ryan stated seriously and calmly. “We don’t, and can’t, have a policy covering clones of our personnel. Especially the field teams. We come and go at such odd hours that it would be impossible to tell if the person arriving is legitimate or not.” That brought Lester up short. Ryan did actually have a point. “Hmm. So, aside from keeping Stephen glued to your side, what do you suggest, from a broader security standpoint, would be a successful way to handle this type of situation?” Ryan shrugged. “A security question when we enter? I don’t know, honestly. We can work something out, but it will take time. Time which we don’t have right now. Stephen is in danger, and short of putting him in solitary confinement, I can’t see a way to keep him safe without ‘gluing him to my side’ as you call it.” “We could keep him here, glued to Dr. Marshall’s side,” Lester said, knowing he was throwing the cat among the pigeons with that suggestion. Both Stephen and Ryan thoroughly disapproved of Dr. Marshall, who hadn’t treated Stephen with any particular sensitivity when he was first brought in. Ryan snorted. “And how does that help? He’d have no way of telling it’s the real me if I come to pick Stephen up. Face it, sir, Stephen needs to stay with me.” Pursing his lips, Lester tapped a syncopated beat on his desk with the first two fingers of his left hand as a memory struck him. “Very well. Take the afternoon off. Stay together. I have an idea.” When they again didn’t move, Lester used the same hand to point at the door. “Shoo. I refuse to give you free lessons in the fine art of manipulation. Out.” He didn’t even watch them as they headed for the door this time. He had notes to make, a plan to finalise, and an HSE investigator he’d met a few years ago to track down. If he couldn’t find the man, he was simply going to have to hit the Myth Busters Challenge Panel with reams of paperwork detailing the ARC’s implementation of all Disability Discrimination regulations; and that, although quite possibly satisfying, would take much too long. He was going to have to set aside a lot of other items on his agenda for today, but Ryan had convinced him that Stephen’s status was more important. Although it would take a herd of wild horses (or perhaps a rampaging flock of Phorusrhacos) to make him admit it to anyone other than himself. xXx When Stephen and Ryan walked into Lester’s office the next morning, they were greeted not only by the sight of a rather smug-looking Lester, but also by a complete stranger. Stephen gave him the once-over: medium height, medium build, brown hair slightly thinning, brown eyes, pleasantly blank expression, typical civil-servant suit. All in all, eminently forgettable unless one looked closely into those eyes and saw the active intelligence there. “Ah, good morning.” Lester’s greeting was so ostentatiously cheerful that Stephen automatically glanced over his shoulder to make sure the door hadn’t locked on them. A cheerful Lester was something that usually boded ill for whoever he had in his sights. “And how are you this morning?” Lester continued. Stephen’s eyes narrowed a little as he watched Lester’s left eyelid, hidden from the other man sitting beside his desk, twitch, just a tiny bit. He felt Ryan beside him stiffen for fraction of a second before the captain relaxed again and replied, “Very well, thank you, sir.” Taking his cue from Ryan’s response, Stephen signed, I am well. My shoulder is a bit better today. “Excellent,” Lester replied. “Please, sit. This is Charles Hemingway. He’s a Health and Safety investigator. We filed an expedited complaint about your grounding, Stephen, and he’s here to check the situation and either confirm or override the ruling.” Lester came perilously close to grinning. “And he understands the basics of signing, so he will be capable of judging how well others respond to you.” Stephen grinned happily at Hemingway. Glad to hear it. Just let me know if you need me to slow down.
Hemingway raised his eyebrows. “I do, actually. Just a bit.” He turned to Lester. “Is everyone here up to that standard?” Lester’s shrug was a perfect illustration of the word ‘nonchalance’. “He’s actually signing fairly slowly right now. But to answer your question, yes, everyone is up to that standard. The basic classes we gave when Stephen joined interested enough people that they spent time practising on each other.” At Stephen’s grin, he added, with a return quirk of his lips, “It was quite refreshing. We had probably the quietest office in the country for a few weeks.” Hemingway started to laugh, but sat up quickly with a shocked look on his face when the Anomaly Detection Device started blaring its warning. By the time Connor silenced it, Ryan was already out of the office and halfway down the ramp. Stephen hesitated in the doorway, and signed to Hemingway, Would you like to join us? Hemingway nodded to him. “I would indeed.” Turning to Lester, he asked, “James?” Lester shook his head and waved him out with Stephen. “Go ahead, Charles. I’m sure you’re simply bursting with curiosity. Oh, and Stephen, unlike our prior pest, he does have top security clearance. You have no need to censor anything you or anyone else say or do. Take him with you.” Relieved, Stephen headed out, gesturing for a grinning Hemingway to follow him. When they arrived at the ADD, Stephen split his attention between Connor’s rapid-fire rattling of information and Hemingway’s interest at both the words and what was happening on the screens as Connor narrowed down the location to a city block. When Connor brought the local CCTV feed into the mix and showed that the area was a closed construction site, Stephen had to bite his lip to hide his amusement at the HSE man’s shock. “Should take us about 20 minutes to get there,” Connor said. “Based on current traffic.” He grinned at Ryan, blinked in surprise at Hemingway, and stood up, ready to go. “Right,” Ryan nodded. “So far, so good. This is Mr. Hemingway, HSE. He’ll be coming along today. Pack up, head out.” As the others took off for the garage, he looked at Stephen and Hemingway. “You’ll ride with us, sir. Stephen, tranqs ready?” Stephen nodded and gestured for Hemingway to precede him. xXx Ryan was as silent as he normally was on road trips, so Stephen spent the time bringing Hemingway up to speed on their procedures and what they were possibly going to run into. The man was fascinated, both by Stephen’s information and his fluency at signing. Stephen had to grin whenever Ryan jumped into the conversation to answer one of Hemingway’s questions; the man from the HSE would blink rapidly three times whenever he transitioned from reading signs to hearing words. The trip passed quickly, and once they arrived and pulled into the driveway that wound behind the half-erected building, Ryan suggested that Hemingway stay with the vehicles and watch from there. When the HSE man started to object, Stephen touched his arm and pointed across the torn-up car park. The anomaly shone in the sunlight, twinkling shards circling lazily around the cloudy centre, and Hemingway’s eyes widened and he leaned back onto the front fender of Ryan’s truck with his mouth agape. Stephen signed, Stay here, and Hemingway nodded absently, still staring. Stephen grinned. He still remembered his own first sighting of an anomaly. Instant fascination seemed to be the only possible response to the time-rips. After a quick check, Stephen whistled for attention. The ground is too broken up, he signed. I need to know what I’m looking for. He turned to Ryan and raised his eyebrows. The captain grimaced, but nodded. “Cutter, Connor, quick, and I mean quick, look through. Finn, Kermit, back them up.” Connor practically bounced with excitement, but Cutter gave Ryan a serious look before glancing quickly at Hemingway. “Right, lad. Let the nice Special Forces gentlemen lead the way.” Stephen traded a discreetly pleased look with Ryan. Even Cutter was doing his level best to make sure that H&S couldn’t find anything to write them up about. The four men strode through the anomaly, and Stephen watched Hemingway’s eyes grow completely round as they disappeared. Stephen barely had time to switch his attention back to the glimmering circle before the men were back again, and Connor was setting up his computer to start analysing readings from the sensors he’d dropped on the other side. “Conifers, very primitive ginkgo,” Cutter said, showing a slight case of nerves. “We’re talking Cretaceous, Stephen.” Stephen gave a silent snarl. I can tell you that nothing big has come through. Connor, show me track examples of smaller predators? Leaning forward as Connor opened a new window on his laptop and keyed for the relevant spoor, Stephen scrolled quickly through the examples they had of the creatures he might find. Okay, he signed. Got it. Finn, with me? Looking to Ryan for permission, Stephen then grinned at the suddenly nervous Finn. Like I said, nothing big. The soldier grunted. “Yeah, and last time it was nothing big, it was those sodding Troodons! Not sure they weren’t worse.” Stephen shrugged. Haven’t seen an entire flock’s worth of tracks. The most we’ll have is a few scouts, I think. His hands went still as he headed in a large circle around the anomaly, concentrating on the ground in front of him, with Finn checking a few metres farther out. Neither one had a problem with putting their full concentration into searching for tracks and allowing Kermit and Fiver to watch their backs, leaving the rest of the team at the anomaly to make sure nothing came through. Stephen glanced up occasionally to see Ditzy talking to Hemingway, gesturing as if he was pointing out possible danger points to the civil servant. They made it to the far side of the anomaly, and Stephen was just about to start thinking that they were going to be lucky this time, when his attention was caught by a small stone that wasn’t where it should be, having been knocked askew from its resting place. Finn stopped when Stephen did, and Stephen moved slightly forward, turning his back on the anomaly and examining the ground from a different angle. Dropping to one knee, he sighted along the dusty pathway. We have three creatures heading into the building, he signed. We need Connor. Thirty seconds later, Connor was there, this time with his tablet out and ready; Stephen wondered idly how many computers Connor actually carried with him and where he hid them when he wasn’t using them. The young man took a quick photo of the tracks that Stephen pointed out, and set his new ID program searching. When the bell rang, he grimaced at Stephen and showed him the screen. Bugger, Stephen signed, and Connor actually grinned for a second. Stephen patted his shoulder and whistled once. Everyone, including Hemingway, who was still being guarded by Ditzy, joined them. “Saurornithoides,” Connor started, and bit his lip when Cutter let out a particularly Scottish curse. Stephen stood back to let them discuss the situation. “And that means?” Ryan asked, looking at Stephen instead of Cutter. Bad news, Stephen signed, turning again to Cutter. “Yeah, bad news,” Cutter agreed. “Troodontid maniraptoran, Mongolian cousin to the North American Troodon.” He’d barely got the words out when Finn let out a few lurid curses of his own. Stephen grinned and signed, You mentioned them first, and Finn growled. Cutter shared a slightly bewildered look between the two of them, then shrugged and continued, “They’re small, very fast, very smart, very dangerous.” Stephen signed firmly, No tranqs, then. Cutter’s shoulders drooped. “No tranqs,” he agreed heavily. “Kill shots only.” Hearing another vehicle pulling up, Stephen stiffened and turned to Ryan. “Lyle and Dane,” the captain replied. “Stephen, finish checking for more tracks. Ditzy, back up Stephen. Cutter, Abby, keep an eye out around the sides of the building. Connor, keep track of the anomaly readings and gather as much info as you can. Hemingway, back to the truck. Blade, guard Hemingway. Send Lyle and Dane here. We’re going to have to clear the building.” Staring at the boarded-up windows on the front of the building, he added, “Finn, quick check to make sure there are no other exits.” As everyone else scattered in obedience, Stephen turned his gaze back to the ground. Now he had to make sure there were no more creatures. Suddenly nervous, he was glad they were in the open, because he had to be throwing off pheromones like a fire hose right now. These Saurornithoides were extremely dangerous, and he was the one tasked with making sure that they found all that came through. As Stephen made his way around the anomaly, he was just starting to be relieved that he hadn’t found any signs of further creature incursions when two things happened simultaneously. He saw what looked to be the tracks of one more creature, and movement in the left corner of his eye made him look up and around quickly, trying to pin down what he’d seen. The scientific team had their backs to the anomaly and the vehicles, Connor tapping on his laptop keyboard and Cutter and Abby staring at the corners of the building. Ditzy was behind Stephen. Blade and Hemingway were standing in front of the last vehicle in the line. Hemingway was gazing at the anomaly, looking almost hypnotised, and Blade was staring intently off to Stephen’s right, shoulders tense; both of them were completely still. Suddenly, another flash of brownish-grey behind the vehicle at the other end of the line made Stephen gasp, as the pointed muzzle of a Saurornithoides rose slowly above the bonnet. Eyes wide, he whistled three times quickly, and pointed frantically at the creature. Ditzy spun, tensed and raised his weapon to aim at the Saurornithoides stalking the men at the vehicles, but before he even managed to sight in Blade had whipped around and sent two quick bursts of fire into the head and body of the creature. As it collapsed, Stephen folded over in relief and braced his hands on his knees, breathing deeply to slow his heartbeat. That could have turned out very, very badly for all of them. It was still dreadful enough, since Hemingway was now standing, white as a sheet and staring at a dead dinosaur not even ten metres from him. He was pressed against the side of the Hilux by Blade, whose head was swivelling from side to side like a hyperactive owl, eyes flickering as he tried to look all directions at once. Stephen gathered himself, completed the last few metres of his circuit, whistled once to Blade and then signed, Stand down. No more creatures. The knife-man took a deep breath and relaxed a fraction, still watchful but no longer looking hyper-alert. Hemingway melted against the side of the truck, and Stephen heard him say to Blade, “You people do this every day?” and Blade’s chuckle in return. “Yeah, fun!” As Hemingway gave Blade the standard-issue ‘you are completely barking mad’ look, there was a rapid, multiple-weapon burst of fire from inside the building, followed by a second burst, then a third, and finally a single shot. The soldiers, after first tensing and staring toward the building, relaxed again. Stephen stopped beside Hemingway and signed, You okay? The HSE man looked at him steadily. “Thank you,” he said. “You saved my life.” Turning to Blade, he added, “And you. I’ve never seen anyone move so fast in my life.” Blade grinned at Stephen then turned to Hemingway. “We’re a good team,” he said seriously, before walking over to greet the returning soldiers and scientists. Hemingway blinked after him then looked at Stephen, face blank. Stephen shrugged happily, and signed, He’s a man of few words, before patting Hemingway on the shoulder and opening the Hilux door to return his own weapon to the secure toolkit. After Ryan detailed Kermit, Finn and Fiver to watch the anomaly until it closed, the team headed back to the ARC. The ride was mostly silent. Stephen drove, glancing over occasionally as Ryan made his usual post-anomaly notes. Hemingway seemed to be off in some dreamworld, his eyes unfocussed and his head relaxed back against the headrest. xXx Eyes fixed on the window of Lester’s office, where he could see Hemingway and Lester having quite an animated discussion, Stephen leaned one hip against the ADD desk, arms crossed. He felt Ryan move up beside him and grasp his shoulder. “It’ll be okay,” Ryan said quietly. “He seems reasonable.” Stephen shrugged, not taking his eyes off of the two men. “Stephen.” Ryan turned Stephen to face him. “We worked well out there today.” Trying to keep watch on the meeting that might mean his future, Stephen twisted in Ryan’s hold, until the other man shook him gently. “Stop it, blue-eyes,” Ryan said, more forcefully than he had before, and Stephen finally gave up and looked at him. He knew he was shaking visibly, and thanked every fate there was that both Connor and Abby were sitting on the other side of the ADD, talking quietly. Closing his eyes against the threatened tears, he leaned his head on Ryan’s shoulder, just for a moment. He’d barely got control of himself again when he heard Lester call his name. Looking up, he saw the civil servant gesturing for him to come to his office. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Stephen ran up the ramp and into Lester’s office at such a clip that he barely got stopped before ploughing into Lester’s desk. A slight quirk of his lips was the only reaction Lester showed as he gestured for Stephen to look at Hemingway. Hemingway looked back at Stephen, a surprisingly pleasant expression on his placid face. “I’ll make this quick, Stephen. After watching the teamwork of the group today, and your contribution, and the manner in which you all communicate, I find that you are not at all a liability in the field, but rather an asset. In fact, I can’t actually decide why you were grounded in the first place. Your group has worked out a positively exemplary adjustment to disability process.” As Stephen closed his eyes in relief and almost folded into the chair behind him, Hemingway continued, “The paperwork will be completed by tomorrow afternoon, and I’m granting you verbal permission right now to perform any and all of your regular duties. Congratulations.” He held out his hand and Stephen shook it with relief, then turned to Lester in query. “Yes, of course,” the civil servant responded acerbically. “You’re back on full duty as of now.” Stephen grinned. Thank you. Both of you. Hemingway laughed. “And, James, if you ever need my assistance in the future, please call me. This has been a fascinating day.” With a nod to Stephen, he turned and walked out the door and down the ramp. Stephen turned to Lester and mouthed, “Thank you.” Lester raised an eyebrow and drawled, “My dear boy, Finn isn’t nearly the tracker you are, and I’d hate to have to deal with a sulking Captain Ryan deprived of your backup.” With a significant glance at the door, he pulled a file from his desk and opened it. Taking that as the dismissal it was, Stephen grinned and headed down the ramp to give Ryan the no-doubt already well-disseminated news. Halfway down, he slowed as he saw Blade pulling Ryan off to the side to speak to him. Ryan went pale as his lips tightened and his eyes sought out Stephen. What? Stephen signed as he came up to them. What’s happened? At Ryan’s nod, Blade repeated his news. “I didn’t see the creature back there because I was watching someone else,” he said. “The other Ryan. He was there, Stephen. He was watching you. And he looked like he hated the sight of you.” Glancing back and forth between the two of them, he said, “We’d better keep a good eye out.” Stephen turned to Ryan, eyes wide. He’s still out there? Ryan nodded soberly, “It’s not over, Stephen. We’re going to have to find him and deal with him.” Stephen swallowed hard. End