MJF's Stories

It was Christmas Eve, and the team were decorating the ARC with decorations. Mia Turner and Connor Temple were putting up the Christmas Tree, and Jenny Lewis and Claudia Brown were decorating the Detector. James Lester was not in the Christmas spirit, and was moaning to himself in his office. Cutter kept calling him Scrooge! Harry was texting Helen about what was happening. They were going to launch their plan soon.
DING DING! DING DING! DING DING!
The ear-piercing sound of the Anomaly Detector rang, and the team stopped what they were doing and ran to the Detector. Mia arrived first, but didn’t touch anything so she didn’t break it again. Connor came over and found out where the anomaly was.
”It’s in the nearest Asda”, Connor told the team. They all rushed out to the cars. Mia, Connor, Abby, Jenny and Lloyd went in Abby’s car, and Cutter, Danny, Harry, Sarah and Claudia went in the main car. Captain Mitchell went with some soldiers in a separate car.

When the team got to Asda, people were still there like an anomaly had never appeared. Normally, the anomaly location would be deserted.
”Clearly, a creature hasn’t come through”, summed-up Connor.
”Or hasn’t been sighted yet”, corrected Abby.
”Let’s find this anomaly and guard it, then we can look for any creatures”, Sarah told the team. Everyone agreed with this idea. They went inside and Jenny asked to see the manager.
“Hi, we’re from the government. We’ll need to look around the back of the store, just a routine check-up”, lied Jenny. The manager went with them and unlocked the gate. The team walked through. As soon as they turned a corner, they saw the anomaly in all its glory.
“It looks more beautiful every time I see it”, Claudia told Lloyd.
“Tell me about it”, Lloyd said back to Claudia.
All of a sudden, a shape started to form in the anomaly. It was humanoid, quite fat looking. It rushed through and startled the team. Connor hid behind Mia.
“It’s…it’s…it’s Santa Claus!”, identified a befuzzled Danny.
“Ho ho ho, Merry Christma…”, Santa stopped. He realised he was somewhere different, “Where am I?”.
“Long story”, sighed Cutter. Santa took off his hat and beard.
”Cutter, he looks like you!”, pointed out Harry, laughing. Cutter frowned at her, and Harry stopped.
“What’s that?”, asked ‘Santa’, pointing at the anomaly.
“Never mind that, who are you and what year did you come from?”, asked Jenny.
“I’m Peter Wilson from the year 2002. I was stuck for work so ended up going for job as Santa Claus at the shopping centre”, Peter told them.
“Anyway Peter, you need to go back, the anomaly’s closing”, Danny commanded.
“Bye then, thanks”, waved Peter and he walked back through just as the anomaly closed.

The team went back to the ARC and had a Christmas party, much to Lester’s disapproval. Everyone gave out presents, even Lester got one from everyone! Jenny and Lloyd were spending the night together, and Abby, Connor and Mia planned to stay up until midnight and open all of the presents straight away. Sarah planned to have an early night ready for the long day ahead when everyone else came round. Danny was going to see his cousins, and Harry was going to secretly see Helen before watching some TV. Cutter had no family left apart from Helen, and she wasn’t going to see him, so had planned to just sit back and enjoy the comforts, until Claudia invited him round to hers for the night.

VOICEOVER MAN: This is the ITV Evening News at 6:30.
NEWSREADER 1: A government facility was bombed earlier today, with no explanation as to why.
NEWSREADER 2: Some people were left inside. Their names were revealed earlier on today as Nick Cutter, Danny Quinn, Connor Temple, Mia Turner, Claudia Brown, Jenny Lewis, Abby Maitland, Lloyd Daniels, Sarah Page, Sir James Lester, Harriet Stafford and Captain R. Mitchell.
N1: The government facility was also named as the ARC.
N2: Lloyd Daniels was a contestant on The X Factor, and according to his old mentor Cheryl Cole, had joined this facility just before he got voted out. We had a chat with Cheryl about the ARC.

INTERVIEWER VOICEOVER: Cheryl Cole mentored Lloyd Daniels on The X Factor, but when he got voted out, she saw him into his new job, at the ARC. Here’s what she says about it.
INTERVIEWER: So, Cheryl, what was the ARC like?
CHERYL: It was pretty big! But I can’t say much more.
INTERVIEWER: What can you say about the team?
CHERYL: They were all pretty brave. The girls seemed to like Lloyd! Especially Jenny. He told last week when we spoke on the phone that he’d been asked out by Jenny.
INTERVIEWER: Did you try and get down there to get him out?
CHERYL: I got there, but was told to stay away. I tried to get past, but couldn’t. I ended up going back home.
INTERVIEWER: Thanks Cheryl.

N1: Thanks for that. We have just heard that many more of these bombs have been placed around the UK, but we have been told not to fear, as they can only be set off by a control, which was presumably destroyed in the explosion.
N2: The ARC has exploded before, but Helen Cutter, who was never found, set off the bomb. Police presume she is to blame this time as well.
N1: Now we have a quick chat with Claudia Brown’s sister, Katie Smith, who’s in the studio with us. Hi Katie. Have you heard from Claudia?
KATIE: Sadly, no. Well, you wouldn’t when you’re trapped in a building that’s on fire.
N2: What was Claudia like when you last saw her?
KATIE: She was efficient, but more casual since the last time I saw her. She was brave, and would never give up.
N1: Sadly, that’s all we’ve got time for. Thanks Katie.

N2: Thanks for watching, good night!

Guest Stars:

Cheryl Cole and Robert Lowe.

Connor Temple and Mia Turner were cuddling up on the sofa. It was Christmas Eve and they were celebrating their first Christmas together. They recently got married, and despite Mia now being Mia Temple, she preferred to use her maiden name for work. 

“Morning!”, Abby smiled as she came down the stairs.

“Morning”, Connor and Mia replied. Connor was almost jumping up and down. He loved Christmas, and was like a big kid.

Beep beep! Beep beep! 

Connor, Mia and Abby’s phones went off.

“It’s Cutter”, Abby announced.

“Why now?!”, Connor moaned. Why did he have to work on Christmas Eve? He still had to get presents for everyone! 

“Tell Cutter I can’t make it. I’ve got some business to do”, Connor said to Mia.“He’s gone to buy Christmas presents, hasn’t he?”, Abby said after Connor left. Mia nodded and laughed. Her and Abby now got on very well. Connor was also pleased not to be in the middle of constant arguments between the two of them.

Nick Cutter was in the nearby woods. He, along with Danny and Captain Mitchell, had found the anomaly. Sarah, Lloyd, Claudia, Jenny and Harry soon arrived. Abby and Mia were last to arrive. While they were walking, they’d been giggling away. 

“Are you two feeling OK?”, joked Harry. 

“Harhar, very funny”, Mia replied.

The team were waiting around the anomaly for about 15 minutes. Nothing much happened. They were about to leave and let the soldiers guard the anomaly but something started appearing. Mitchell and the other soldiers primed their guns. The team stopped and turned around, but getting ready to run. A woman with short brown hair stepped through, with a bag. 

“Helen?!”, the team all said in unison. They weren’t happy with who came through the anomaly. Recently, Helen had wiped Cutter, Jenny and Danny from existence. In a nutshell, they weren’t best pleased. 

“Don’t worry, I’m here trying to do something good”, Helen broke the shocking news. 

“WHAT?!”, the team said in unison again. It was something they never thought they would hear her say. Ever. But then Helen started to get pixelated. It wasn’t Helen after all. 

“Jack?!”, Abby was shocked. Why was her brother there? 

“Sorry guys, I picked this up when I came to the ARC last week. I wanted to play a bit of a prank on you. I also took an Anomaly Opener to get through an anomaly”, Jack explained. 

You could’ve been killed”, Abby moaned.

”Let’s just be glad he’s back safe now”, Cutter calmed Abby down. 

“What’s in the bag?”, Lloyd asked. 

“Presents for you guys, of course!”, Jack told them. Everyone’s faces livened up.

They all went back to the ARC and were joined by Connor. When Mia and Abby saw him, they gave him funny looks. 

“What?!”, he asked them in a high pitched voice. They both raised their eyebrows. Connor laughed.

”I knew it!”, Mia sussed him. 

“Just count yourself lucky you’ve got presents!”, Connor laughed. 

Everyone else sat down and they exchanged presents. Even Lester got the team presents and got some in return! They decorated the ARC. 

“Hi guys!”, came a Geordie accent from behind them. It was Cheryl Cole, Lloyd’s X Factor mentor. She had brought them presents aswell

For Christmas Day, the team had plans for themselves. Abby, Connor and Mia had Jack, Caroline Steel and Duncan around. Claudia, Jenny and Cheryl were invited around to Lloyd’s house. Danny, Harry and Sarah went to see their relatives. Cutter was at home, until Claudia called in on her way home from Lloyd’s. They spent the evening together, watching Christmas TV. Christmas at the ARC is never boring. Shame every other day isn’t as fun and easy as this…

The Detector went off in the ARC. 

“Where is it, then?” asked Lester impatiently.

The screens zoomed out to show the world, then zoomed back in at America. It was in Washington DC!

“Well, it’ll be Friday by the time you get there, so I’ll get some plane tickets for Friday’s team.” he said.

Soon they were on American soil. They pulled out their handheld Detectors and followed the interference. They walked round a corner.

“The anomaly should be in the next building.” Connor assured. But the building wasn’t just any old office block.

“Wow, it’s the White House!” said Sarah.

“Yeah, and that’s where the anomaly is! We’ve got to find a way inside or who knows what could happen!” replied Cutter. At this, they headed off inside.

Mia went to persuade the security guard.

“Look, we’ve got passes from the British Government.” she said.

“I’m sorry ma’am, but no-one gets in without an appointment. Even if you’re ‘dinosaur hunters’ or whatever.” 

Suddenly, they heard a scream, and a screech came from within the corridor. 

“People are in danger, we’ve got to help them!” she told the guard, and he reluctantly let them in.

The team had no time to admire the decor as they ran down the corridor to where the anomaly was. A woman had locked the door to the room the creature was in. It started smashing against the door, and it burst through!

“Oh no - Raptors” Connor cried, as about 4 raptors came out. Cutter had a gun, and shot one, but the others scattered into different hallways.

“Split up!” Cutter ordered, following one with the head security guard, who was called Captain Tyler. Connor and Mia followed the second Raptor and Sarah and Jenny went after the third. They reached the end of the corridor, and looked around. It was nowhere to be seen. Then they noticed that the door to the President’s office was open, and heard a yell!

Jenny rushed in and shot the Raptor, killing it. A familiar man got down off his desk.

“Jenny Lewis and Sarah Page, right?” said the President. The women were shocked.

“You know our names?” they said.

“Yeah, your Prime Minister told me all about the ARC. Those were dinosaurs, weren’t they?” Obama replied. 

“Yes. We need to get you to safety.” Jenny told him, and he followed them. Meanwhile, Cutter and Captain Tyler were searching for another Raptor. On their way they bumped into Connor and Mia. 

“Both Raptors must have gone the same way!” Cutter realised. They knew it was only a matter of time until the Raptors caused more damage. So the race was on. The four ran down the corridor, and heard a screeching noise from within a room.

They flung the door open to discover the two Raptors, feasting on the body of an intern. Before Cutter and Captain Tyler could draw their guns, one Raptor jumped on Captain Tyler. Digging in its sharp claws, the Raptors tore him apart. 

“Oh my god, that’s horrible!” said Mia, disgusted.

“That’s nature.” replied Cutter. “Quick, while they are distracted!”

Cutter and Connor both drew their guns, but they seemed to be taken out of their hands, flying away into the anomaly which was in a room behind them. They were now unarmed as the Raptors finished their meal and edged towards them. Mia kicked one round the head, and it was knocked out!

“Nice work Mia!” Connor smiled, but the other Raptor was still there, ready to pounce. 

Meanwhile, Jenny, Sarah and Obama were running out of the White House. They got onto the lawn, but no-one was there.

“They must still be inside!” said Jenny, dropping her gun and running inside with Sarah. The President noticed the gun, and ran after them to give it back to them. Jenny and Sarah saw Connor, Mia and Cutter trapped against the wall by a Raptor. Jenny noticed she didn’t have a gun – until Obama ran up and gave it to her. She shot the two Raptors, saving the team.

Guest Star:

Jade Ellis

Saturday December 1st 2012 AM

Dear Diary, Today Is the first day of Christmas. I’m so excited to be seeing Rachel and her two children. I think we’re going to set up the Christmas tree and Decorations with Mum and Dad. It’ll be great to have some time to myself, as the ARC has been my number one priority for many months now. We’re so close to finding the reasons behind the Anomalies. From what we’ve found we can’t seem to predict any Anomalies over the coming week, but we are still in prototype stages. I’ve yet to tell Rachel and the rest of my family about what I do, they still think I am researching into artefacts from the museum. Well, I have been, but not to do with the museum. I just hope they never get in danger because of so.

Sarah lifted her pen from her chocolate brown leather diary and read through her morning entry. She has written in this diary since her first day working at the ARC, keeping account of all the encounters with pre-historic life and future creatures. If this book slipped out of her hands, then the whole Arc cover could be blown, that’s why there is a gold buckle opened with a key only Sarah has. She placed it in the bottom drawer of her bedside cabinet, under all the paperwork in there. 

A black Volvo XC90, the standard car issued by the ARC for its entire staff, was resting on the driveway to Sarah’s house. It did the job- drove fast and looked slick. Sarah left her house wearing a dark tan duffel coat and dark blue washed jeans. She climbed in to her car and tucked the end of her coat in before heading off to her parents’ house. 

A gentle tap could be heard in the Arc against the keys to the Detector. The hands were Connor’s. 

“If I just…” He said to himself, programming the Anomaly Detector to hack into a buildings security and seal the room with the Anomaly in. This way, whatever comes through, stays in one place. Now all he had to do was wait for an Anomaly, to see if it worked. “Guess I just have to sit around and wait.” He walked over to pour a coffee from his metal flask. It slipped from his hands, the collision with the floor echoed throughout the ARC. Connor looked over his shoulders to save the embarrassment. He picked the flask up and sat back down on the chair. He put his legs up on the desk and relaxed. 

“BOO” 

Connor jumped up his seat and spilled his coffee down his front. Abby stared at him with a smirk. 

“I’ve told you not to do that Abby!” He groaned. 

“Come on, help me and Mia put up the decorations. Relax for once Connor” 

“I’m nearly done, I’ve just got to…”

“Wait? How long will you be waiting for Connor? Sarah and Nick haven’t predicted an anomaly for the next month. You’ll be waiting a long time” She interrupted. Like a naughty schoolboy he bowed his head and followed Abby.

“They could be wrong, you know?” 

“And the chances of Sarah and Nick, the super geniuses, getting something wrong are?” 

Sarah pulled up outside he parents house and could see her sister was already there with her children. She knocked on the door, Rachel answered.

“Sarah!” She cheered with glee before flinging her arms around her and giving her a big hug. “I miss not seeing you as much. You do far to much work” 

“Yes, well, I’ve got to pay my way somehow. Can we go inside?” 

“Yeah sure. I like the car” She murmured as they entered.

A fresh scent of cinnamon hung around Sarah’s nose, while the lights all sparkled. An old CD played that filled Sarah’s ears. She could taste gingerbread in the air before walking over, leaning in and stroking the branch on the tree, the small leaves rubbed against her hand and several fell into her palm. Christmas euphoria. 

“Sit down Sarah!” A voice snapped at her. 

“Mum” Sarah yelled with great joy. She ran over and gave her a hug and kiss, which was returned.

“Baby, I’ve missed you” Her mum chirped, “You’re doing far too much work!”

“I’m committed mum, can you blame me?” Sarah replied. Her mum stared at her and laughed with the impression that she’ll never change. Two voices came from the kitchen area from around the corner of the living room. 

“Auntie Sarah!” Both exclaimed with glee. It was Sarah’s niece and nephew, Emily and Ben. They were both toddlers with bundles of energy running around Sarah’s legs, pulling on her jeans. She knelt down to their level and clenched her arms around both of them. A ring came from her pocket. She stood up and walked to the corner of the room to check her phone. 

“I’ve got to go!” She whispered loudly so that everyone heard. She grabbed her coat and ran out of the house and jumped into her car before driving off without saying goodbye. 

“Sarah” Rachel sighed “Couldn’t you just stay with us for 5 more minutes?”

“Don’t worry about it Hun, why don’t you make a cup of tea and then we can put the topper on the tree?”

Rachel sighed lightly before walking off into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and stared at various fruit and vegetables, along with a selection of Dairy and Meat products. 

“I’ll have to go get some milk. Can you watch the kids for a bit mum?” She called out. 

“Of course! We’ll have a whale of a time, wont we kids?” Both of them nodded in agreement. 

Rachel left promptly and sped off down the road.

“Sarah, do you read? The abandoned warehouse down the bottom of the High Street” Jess reported to her on her phone which was on loudspeaker “Nick and Danny are on their way with the others. We can’t get hold of Abby or Connor though,” Sarah acknowledged with a simple ‘OK’ before hanging up and turning a sharp corner. Within a few minutes she was at the bottom of the High Street as it was the closest end to where she initially was. She pulled over to the side of the road; the other cars were already there. Mia was waiting outside. 

“Mia, where are they? Have they gone in yet?” Sarah asked sharply with a feel of urgency. 

“Yeah, they’ve gone inside. They said to wait inside until they’ve secured the Anomaly and checked for a possible incursion.” Mia replied with sweetness in her voice.

“I don’t understand how there can be an anomaly. There’s nothing due until at least January next year” Sarah panicked.

“Calm down Sarah, I’m sure there’s a logical explanation behind this.” Mia tried to steady Sarah who was getting stressed about walking out on her family; Mia continued, “There’s got to be”

Rachel was cruising along the road in her flashy car, even if the weather wasn’t suited to showing off. She headed for the top end of the high street where a metro supermarket was. It took her longer than Sarah as she wasn’t speeding down the roads. When she entered the lower end of the high street she saw Sarah’s car. Rachel pulled over slightly further up as there was no space. A row of the same car was parked- one of which was Sarah’s. Rachel could see people outside the warehouse so walked down hoping to find Sarah. She ducked behind several of the cars, not wanting to be seen. Rachel watched as the two people entered the abandoned warehouse. She ran out across the road and went to enter after them. 

“Sarah? Are you there?”

Mia and Sarah followed a red dot on their Anomaly Detectors after they were given the all-clear 5 minutes beforehand. A cold wind brushed over their shoulders. The silent screaming of the generators and the distorted echoes of the rest of the team from the Arc were all that could be heard. 

“This is quite spooky” Mia worried “Luckily there aren’t any dangers, we just need to get to the anomaly and scan it”

“Yeah…if only things were that simple Mia” Sarah muttered under her breath. 

CLANK

“What was that?” Sarah exclaimed, “Is someone there?” 

A dark silhouette came out from behind the shadows.

“Sarah? What’re you doing here?” The voice called.

“Rachel?” Sarah stammered, “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question” Rachel replied with a cheek.

“You need to get out of here!” Sarah rushed. 

Another noise was heard from a further distance. Rachel asked the same a Sarah “What was that?” 

Several, rhythmic, footstep got closer. Not the footsteps of a human though. There were the familiar sounding footsteps of a Raptor. 

“Quietly, RUN” Sarah called out. 

The three girls bolted away down past some of the large generators. Mia was ahead with Sarah following and Rachel at the back

“Come on!” Mia called. 

They struck a dead end of a tall cargo block. Mia immediately started climbing up and heading for a large gap higher up where no boxes blocked the way through. 

“Up here!” She shouted while acknowledging the tower. Sarah started climbing after Mia.

“Rachel, come on,” said Sarah with panic and urgency. 

“I can’t…its…heights” Rachel said with disbelief.

“Ignore the heights Rachel, you need to get up here!” Mia yelled down, “And fast”

The loud tracks of the Raptor were behind them. It stared up at Mia who was near the top of the structure before lowing its eyes to Sarah who was midway up. It then centred it eyes on Rachel. It leapt. Sarah screamed. 

“RAAAAACHEEEEEEL!”

Devastated. That was one of the many feelings rushing through Sarah Page’s head at that moment in time. She’d just  seen her sister Rachel devoured by a hungry Raptor. Her mind was like a motorway with all the thoughts. What will happen to her kids? How do I tell mum? Do I tell her about the anomalies? Could she still be alive? But ultimately, all she wanted to do was break down in tears. However, right now, she had more important things to do - prevent any more deaths. It was her job, after all. There was one major problem though - how does she escape? She was with Mia on top of a large cargo block, with the Raptor staring right at them below.

BANG!

Nick Cutter had shot the Raptor stone dead. Normally he doesn’t kill creatures or even consider it, but he had seen what had happened to Rachel, but it was too late for him to act. He helped the girls down from the block and Sarah knelt down to Rachel’s body.

“She’s gone”, Sarah cried. All she could see in her head was her niece and nephew. How could she tell them her mum was dead? It was a scary thought for her.

“Sarah, I’m so sorry”, Mia rested her hand on Sarah’s shoulder.

“It’s OK, you couldn’t have done anything more”, Sarah smiled, trying to hide her feelings, “Right, are we gonna sort this anomaly or what?”

“Cutter, report! Danny, report! Anyone?”, Jess shouted with frustration into the communications system.

“Is everything OK?”, James Lester asked, wandering over from his office.

“I can’t get through to any of the team, the comms are working fine but they just aren’t responding, something might have happened”, Jess explained.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve gone for a coffee having already sorted the anomaly. Why bother coming to work when you spent half the time drinking hot beverages? Typical freelancers”, Lester ranted. Jess just stared at him blankly before returning to her work.

Connor was setting up the locking mechanism to prevent any more Raptors coming through. The last thing they wanted was for another incursion. When the mechanism was activated, however, the anomaly just separated into two and then locked.

“Woah…”, Connor was shocked.

“What’s happened?”, Cutter asked.

“I don’t know, it just separated into two”

“Right, so they could be to two different places. We need to check the rest of this place for any other creatures, and pronto”

Sarah went with Abby, Connor and Mia to investigate round the back, leaving Cutter, Danny, Harry and Lloyd to search the front. Claudia and Jenny were both back at the ARC as they had paperwork to do. Sarah heard a crash behind her, to find another Raptor. Fear was in her eyes, and her heart was pounding. She was more terrified of them now than she ever was before. She stared it in the eye.

“Connor”, Sarah gently whispered, to try and get Connor to come over with a tranquilliser.

“Why are you whispe-“, Connor strolled over and got cut off by the fact that he was now being faced by a Raptor.

“Shoot it”, Sarah ordered.

“I left my gun in the car”, Connor admitted. Sarah let out a huge sigh.

“On the count of three, we run”, Sarah decided, “3…2…1!” She and Connor ran for their lives, in the direction of Abby and Mia, to make sure they were safe.

“Where’s the fire, guys?”, Mia joked as the two ran to her and Abby.

“It’s more like a Raptor than a fire”, Connor explained, just as the creature reared its feathered body from around the corner. Abby wasted no time in shooting a tranquilliser bullet right at its neck. It let out a loud wail and thudded to the ground.

The place was double checked by the soldiers from the ARC, and the tranquillised Raptor was sent back through the anomaly. The team were allowed to go back to their homes, but Sarah was feeling quite reluctant to return. She had to break the news of her sister’s death - the hardest task she knew she’d ever have to do. She drove back in silence - no Christmas song could lift her mood, no matter how much she loved the festive season. When she parked up, she had a think about how to break the news. Does she wait for the right time? Or does she say it straight away? Do the kids find out at the same time or does she tell them later?

“Sarah, are you coming in?”, her mum opened the door and shouted to her. Sarah switched off the engine and stepped out of the car. She ran up to the door and into her mother’s arms.

”My my, what’s up with you?”, her mum asked, as Sarah cried on her shoulder.

“It’s Rachel. She’s gone, mum, she’s dead”, Sarah wept uncontrollably.

“What? Don’t be silly, she only went to get some milk”

“She followed me to my work, it’s incredibly dangerous, she got herself killed, I couldn’t stop it, I did all I could”

Her mum was in total shock. She tried to comfort Sarah but she knew that she couldn’t keep strong for much longer.

“Promise me this, sweetheart”, her mum looked Sarah in the eye, her hands on her cheeks, “Don’t tell the kids yet. It’s the last thing they will want on their Christmas”.

After Rachel’s funeral, Sarah fought for custody over the children, instead of their father who had left Rachel years before. The court decided that Sarah was the best person for the job, so Emily and Ben went to live with her full time. 

“It’s what Rachel would have wanted”, she told her mum when explaining that she was going for custody.

Jess Parker was sat in her chair at the anomaly detector. As always, it took pride of place in the centre of the main room at the ARC, or the Anomaly Research Centre in full. Jess wore her favourite outfit, a bright red dress with matching high heels and had her wavy brown hair down to just past her shoulders. She jumped up out of her vibrant swivelling chair to give some paperwork to Sir James Lester, so she strutted down the middle of the room, passing Harriet Stafford and Abby Maitland talking; Connor Temple and Mia Turner, the married couple of the team, flirting with each other; and Danny Quinn, the joint team leader. She gave a beaming grin to each and every one of these people whom she saw on a daily basis and considered her closest friends.

Jess daintily knocked on the door of Lester’s office, and Claudia Brown opened it. Lester groaned and moaned about more paperwork but Jess remained cheerful, as she does every minute of every day. The paperwork concerned Helen Cutter, the estranged wife of the other team leader Nick Cutter, who Jess idolised. She constantly plotted against the team, so despite having to deal with these anomalies, they also had to deal with a batty wife. Looking out for any tricks of hers was part of the daily routine of the team and that didn’t look to change in the future.

After she had left the paper on Lester’s desk, she winked at him and Claudia and bounced out of the room. Next task: deliver a cup of tea to Jenny Lewis. She did this every day in order to go and gossip with Jenny, her best friend. She was greeted by Lloyd Daniels when she arrived at her office. The two had rekindled their relationship, despite an age gap of around ten years. Jess stayed for a while, talking with Jenny and Lloyd about all sorts of things, from EastEnders to Helen Cutter to what they were planning to eat for tea that night. Sarah Page entered the room after ten minutes and joined in the conversation. Sarah was an archaeologist and had just become effectively a mother to her niece and nephew after her sister had died from a dinosaur attack.

Unfortunately for her, Jess had a lot more to do, so she decided to leave the other three to it and make her way to Cutter’s office where she also had to drop the paperwork about Helen. Cutter was extremely knowledgeable - previously a lecturer at a university before the anomalies had come about, he was always able to figure out a solution to any problem the team found themselves in. This worked in contrast to his co-leader Danny Quinn, who worked under the “shoot first, ask questions later” motto. Cutter greeted Jess as she bounded into the room, before they had a short discussion about Cutter’s latest discovery. He was developing Sarah and Connor’s theory about anomalies planting background radiation on anyone or anything that travels through one, explaining exactly why they always appeared in the same place.

Jess then skipped back to her desk and sat down, before being joined by Connor, Abby and Mia. These three had been through a lot over the past few years - Abby was initially jealous of Mia but they’ve developed a very strong friendship through what they have in common, which happens to be their love of Connor. All three of them were always very fond of Jess and how quirky she was. They recalled the moment that they first met Mia - scrambling around a town whilst dinosaurs roamed about. She saved them all right from day one. Connor and Mia kissed while Jess grinned on.

Suddenly, Jess had an incoming call picked up by the detector. It was from the other ARC, situated in Lincoln. Katie Smith, who was Claudia and Jenny’s sister, rang up to announce her good news - she was now engaged to her long-term partner Harry Simpson. She’d been through a lot with regards to marriage, struggling with a divorce initially. She was also there with Alex Johnston, a young adult with long blonde hair. Alex was a very close friend of Katie’s, and she often confided in him when she wasn’t having the best day. He was dating fellow team member Georgia Stevens also. Jess and the others passed on their congratulations, and one-by-one, each member of the team came up to the detector to speak to Katie.

Jenny and Lloyd ran in to pass on their congratulations before running out to get home. Her “sister” (long story) Claudia stopped her paper work to express her happiness for her sister also, as did Lester in a rare bout of happiness from him. Harriet and Sarah expressed their delight, whilst Danny told Harry to “get in there”, leading to Jess stamping on his foot. Abby, Connor and Mia were next, before walking off together to go out for a meal. Jess and Cutter were then the only people left in the ARC as it approached closing time. Jess ended the call to Katie, and she picked up her pink coat from the cloakroom before walking out with Cutter, turning off the lights in the ARC. But as they were leaving, an image flashed on the screen, of a woman with short dark hair, wearing khaki combats. She grinned as the image flashed off...

THE END.