Series 1 Episode 10
"Not Part of the Act"

It was late on the night of Jenny Lewis and Claudia Brown’s birthday, and they both had a party with the team in…the Home Office!
“Why are we having the party here?”, asked Connor, who didn’t want to be back at work.
“We haven’t the foggiest”, replied Jenny, with a laugh.
DING DING! DING DING! DING DING!
“Oh great. Just what we wanted”, sighed Claudia, rolling her eyes. Jenny did the same.
“I thought you unplugged it?”, queried Abby, asking Connor.
“I wasn’t told! All I was told was to fix it after it went dead.”, answered Connor. Everyone sighed, especially Mia, who didn’t want to remember that. Lester had sacked her after he blamed her for the Detector cutting out. He also sacked Connor, and Sarah and Jenny had walked out. The team got ready, and went out to find the anomaly in the dead of night, and according to the Detector, was in the nearby theatre.
 
At the theatre in town, a late night play was being shown. It was a musical; in fact, it was Joseph & The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. In the middle of the stage, one of the cast was walking across the stage, when suddenly a huge ball of light appeared, with what looked like shards of glass floating around it. The actor didn’t notice it, and walked right through it. All of a sudden, it closed again. The audience all thought it was part of the act, a little twist, but the cast knew something was wrong. The manager of the theatre was watching backstage, and decided to phone the police.
 
Connor went in Mia’s car to the theatre, carrying his Handheld Anomaly Detector. After a few minutes of it beeping, and annoying the couple, it stopped.
“Must have closed”, concluded Connor. He dialled the number of Nick Cutter.
“Professor, the anomaly’s closed”, informed Connor.
“What, already? OK, thanks”, replied Cutter, who hung up.
Mia’s car got to the theatre first, closely followed by about 3 more cars, carrying the rest of the team aswell as soldiers. They were greeted by the sight of police cars.
“Oh great”, sighed Claudia, “That makes things so much easier on my birthday”.
 
“Right sir, could you tell me exactly what happened on stage earlier tonight”, questioned DI Smith.
”Don’t tell them anything”, ordered Claudia, walking in to the room, “Hang on, Carl, what are you doing here?”.
“You know him?”, asked Sarah.
“Yeah, my ex fiancé. He dumped me after thinking I was seeing another man. Now let me tell you Carl, I wasn’t. And anyway, you don’t even remember that today is my birthday. You never remembered”, answered Claudia.
”What are you doing Claudia? You have no authority to be here and order us about”, wrongly though DI Carl Smith.
“I work for the government. Way above the police. We have a warrant to search this place and question anyone. You can leave with all your officers now”, smartly said Claudia.
“It’s closed”, reported Connor from the point where the anomaly was meant to be, “Just like I thought”.
 
“So a member of your cast walked through the anomaly?”, queried Jenny, “And then it closed?”.
“Yes, that’s right”, replied a male, with long shaggy hair (which wasn’t a wig), and wearing rags for his costume. And before you could say “Helen Cutter”, Jenny’s Handheld Detector started beeping.
“Oh no, it’s re-opened”, muttered Jenny, “I’ll have to go now, it’s urgent”.
 
The team assembled at the stage, where the anomaly was.
“Do we think that this is simply a case where someone goes through an anomaly, and no creatures?”, asked Mia.
“I haven’t the faintest idea, but I think some of us need to go through and rescue him”, suggested Cutter.
”Right. I think Cutter, Mia, Connor and I should go through. Abby, Sarah, Jenny and Claudia need to stay here and evacuate everyone”, put forward Danny.
“Perfect. Let’s go”, finalised Cutter. They got their guns, and went through. The era was foggy, and it stank.
“This is the place where me and Sarah ended up when trying to get out of that beachy place”, remembered Mia.
Connor broke the bad news, “This is the Pre-Cambrian era. Oxygen is limited. There’s abut a 95% chance that the actor has survived”.
 
Claudia was dealing with her meddling ex. He was tying to get answers.
”Get out of my hair!”, shouted Claudia, losing her patience.
“And it is lovely hair”, remarked DI Carl Smith.
Jenny came over and slapped him.
“Claudia, I never knew you had a twin”, started a startled Carl.
“I don’t, she’s from a different world, where things were different. She’s like me in every way, except we knew nothing of each other”, said Claudia, confusing Carl. Abby and Sarah giggled.
 
Mia was getting worried. Connor held her hand. But that didn’t stop Mia being scared, as this worm type creature jumped out at them, and squirted black goo at Mia.
“Eurgh, my new dress and my wonderful hair!”, she wined.
“Oh give over”, moaned Danny.
Connor gave the creature a few shots, and they ran for cover. They ended up finding this man in a costume lying on the floor.
”He’s unconscious”, announced Cutter, checking his pulse. They decided to lift him up and take him back through the anomaly, as he looked like the man from the description they got. Danny and Cutter carried the actor, well as Mia and Connor kept guard. A Worm crept up from behind and got Danny’s leg, forcing Cutter to lose his grip on the actor, and all three went crashing to the floor. Mia and Connor quickly helped them up, and Connor stamped on the Worm, crushing it and releasing it’s grip on Danny.
”Right, let’s get out of here!”, decided Danny. The others gave a nod of approval.
 
Sarah was watching the anomaly, looked away for a second, and she saw something go through it. She decided to follow whoever it was, and stepped through the anomaly. She instantly started coughing, due to her having asthma. She took a quick puff of her inhaler, and started walking around, and saw this person up ahead with long hair. Sarah jumped on his back, causing him to crash to the ground.
”What in the name of Cutter are you doing here?”, she sternly asked.
”I came to find my colleague”, the man answered. It was the same man that Jenny question earlier on.
 
Cutter and his part of the team heard Sarah shouting, instantly recognised it, and ran to where the sound came from. There they saw Sarah sitting on top of an actor.
“What are you doing here?”, asked Connor. But there was no time to chat, more Worms were on their way. They all ran, even Matt Jackson, which was the name of the actor. Sarah managed to squeeze that bit of information out of him while having him captured. They stepped through the anomaly, and closed in an instant. Abby, Claudia and Jenny came to greet them, with the unconscious actor, who seemed to be coming round.
 
“So, what did you do with that meddling ex of yours?”, questioned Mia.
Claudia sighed. “I warned him to stay away, and he went”.
“Do you think he’ll be back?”
“I hope not, but I think he will”, shuddered Claudia.
 
DI Carl Smith and Matt Jackson were waiting in a dark cellar. A female figure approached them. It was Helen Cutter.
”You did well, but not well enough. I need to know their plans, where they’re going, and when an anomaly goes off. You need to be there at all hours”, lectured Helen.
“We tried our hardest, but will try harder ma’am”, answered Matt. Helen smirked.