Caught in the Cretaceous

Chapter 13: Security is Key

When the crew splits up, Val follows her father. They cautiously make their way through the corridors. With his recent accident fresh in his mind, Alex moves a little more hesitantly than usual. Val doesn't seem to notice, or if she does she doesn't comment on it. 

Alex cautiously leads them into a room along the corridor. Shuffling and other noises make it evident there is another presence in the room. Without him even realizing it, Alex's mind goes blank though he continues to move and react on instinct. Val follows him, trusting her father completely. 

They slowly approach the source of the noise and find not one but two of the animals near a corner of the room. The animals grow anxious when they notice the two people. Alex and Val work together to try to herd them away from the corner. This has the opposite effect. the two creatures shuffle closer together and closer to the corner. 

Val seems to catch on to their growing skittish behavior before her father. Realizing they are essentially cornering a pair of scared wild animals, she backs off a little. Her father continues. 

Val's eyes widen as she sees what is about to happen. One of the animals snaps at her father, making an aggravated noise. Alex jumps back slightly in surprise. The larger of the two animals takes this opportunity to make a run for it. 

It brushes past Alex in a blue and whips Val with its tail as it passes her. Val gets thrown into the nearby wall with the force of the blow. She clutches her chest, the wind knocked out of her. She looks up just in time to see the second animals dash after the first. The room pants, catching her breath. Alex rushes over to his daughter, fear and guilt filling his chest. 

"Are you alight?" 

Val nods without even really knowing the answer herself. Alex helps her up carefully. She swallows the groan as pain spreads where she was hit with the tail. She doesn't want to worry him any more than he already it. 

Alex rushes from the room and closes the door  behind them. More and more animals are funneled into the main  corridor as the rooms are cleared and the doors are closed. 

They meet up with Artemis and Will near the very front of the ship. The four of them work together to move all the animals out towards the exit Val slides over to the panel that controls the door. She gets to work silently, doing her best to make it work. After a few moments of focused and hurried work, she managed to get it working. 

Val nods to her father, who takes the silent direction. He and the other two make sure to push them beyond the threshold. Val doesn't wait for them to tell her to close the door. She ties the broken wires together and pushes a button. The heavy door slides shut with a loud scraping and thunk. 

With the immediate threat out of the way, Val slides down the wall, the others visibly relax and some even let out a sigh of relief. After a few minutes Artemis turns on the intercom. 

We're all clear up here. What about you?" 

There is a beat of silence before they get a reply. We're good here too." 

Alex nods once to himself. "Let's meet back in the main room." 

"Copy that. We're on our way," Apollo's voice carries over to them through the intercom. 

One by one each of the four crew members start for the common room, though Val stays on the ground. When it is just Val and Artemis left in the corridor, the pilot looks down at her daughter. Sensing her mother's gaze, Val looks up to keep her eyes. 

"You did good," Artemis praises. She holds out a hand to help the young girl up. "Let's go." 

Val takes a deep breath before taking the offered hand. She groans and wraps her free arm around her ribs when she is pulled to her feet. Her mother looks at her concerned, but Val brushes off her concern and starts a determined march for the common room.