People & Places
Sep. 24th, 2018 07:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
isamazedTitle: People & Places
Author: isamazed
Word count: 3,580
Characters: Cutter, Connor/Abby, Jenny, Becker/Jess
Rating: K+ probably?
Spoilers: complete series
Disclaimer: I own nothing…
A/N: Find links to information about the original sites at the end of the fic. Thanks to cordeliadelayne who wrote a fic for Sense of Place month and inspired me to think about what I could write for the theme. I wanted to bring them to Germany, but I also wanted it to make sense for them to be there. I hope I succeeded. You decide! 😊
A/N2: This has not been beta’ed. All mistakes belong to me 😉 I hope there aren’t too many.
The team met at the airport to head off to Germany. Soon after the convergence when the anomalies had become public knowledge, Cutter and Connor had received an invitation to the next Senckenberg Conference in Frankfurt. Since the invitation had arrived, Cutter had been walking around proud like a peacock. The conference was titled “When past meets present – what the anomalies teach us about prehistory”, and he would not only deliver the key note - no, he would also be on the panel discussion with only a few other leading scientists. It was a late compensation for the fact that they hadn’t hired him for the summer digging in the Messel Pit when he had applied as a young and idealistic evolutionary zoologist.
Connor, on the other hand, had been vibrating with excitement ever since. He was also invited to join the panel to share insights on how his inventions had helped with their ARC studies. He would also deliver a speech to highlight some instances where they had found that research did not match the behaviour or look of the real creatures. The Senckenberg Association was one of the leading research institutes for biodiversity and natural history, and he had spent months working through their publications when he’d put together his dinosaur database. And they had not only invited them to join the conference, they would also have a private viewing of the Messel pit – something Connor had been dreaming about since his childhood days but never had been able to afford. For Connor, it was a dream come true.
Lester had decided that Abby, Becker, Jenny and Jess would join them. A team off-site sounded like a good idea after what they had gone through together, and this trip would also entail some learnings about prehistory that might come in handy considering that anomalies kept popping up. Abby was very pleased. It would enable her to see the fossils of a huge number of animals and gain a better understanding about how they had lived and how modern species had developed. She still was a zoologist at heart, and this was a wonderful chance. Jenny and Becker focused on the practicalities of the trip: Jenny would gain valuable information that might help her with the PR side of things and would manage media relations at the conference. Becker would learn more about some beasts and their defence tactics, and he hoped to develop a better understanding of how to contain them. Jess was excited to spend more time with the others and to connect the theories from Connor’s research and database with real history. Everybody was radiating excitement and positive energy when it was time to leave.
***
So, here they were, boarding the plane and flying to Frankfurt. The flight was quick and calm and soon they arrived at Frankfurt International Airport. Connor had prepared a detailed travel itinerary and was now taking the lead. And Frankfurt Airport was actually the first place to see a dinosaur! The others were surprised because who would have thought there was a dinosaur at one of the biggest European airports? After collecting their luggage, they wandered to The Squaire. It was a fairly new building, made of glass, steel and concrete. In the basement it housed a train station, and above ground level the building accommodated two hotels, some shops, a branch of Lufthansa and the European headquarters of a leading professional services firm. It was huge. And in the middle of the lobby, there was a giant herbivore dinosaur.
“It’s the first time that a skeleton of Lioaningotitan is on display outside of China! Isn’t it amazing?” Connor rattled off all details he had found during his research. “It’s twelve metres long and 6 metres high. It was a gift for the Senckenberg Association’s 200th birthday from the Chinese. They put it in here because they are currently remodelling their museum. Isn’t it beautiful? Look at those long neck bones, and see here, …” He led the others around the huge skeleton, highlighted specifics about the species and what bones helped to gain an understanding about how the animal had lived. Cutter stood back and watched them walking around the skeleton. A smiled twitched on his lips. It was a pleasure to see how his former student had developed, the confidence he possessed nowadays and how his excitement combined with his lively description of the animal infected the others with his fascination for the creatures.
An hour later, Cutter politely suggested to leave and catch a taxi. They still needed to travel to Darmstadt, a small city close to Frankfurt and even closer to the Messel pit where they were expected on the next day. Connor was disappointed not to have more time to study the bones at The Squaire, but the others agreed quickly. Everyone was hungry and it was getting late. After dropping their bags in their hotel, they took a walk around the city centre and chose a traditional German restaurant for dinner. With the help of the waitress, they settled for traditional Hessian dishes: Handkäs mit Musik for starters (Harz cheese with onions, vinegar and oil served with dark bread, butter and caraway seeds), and Schnitzel with fried potatoes and green sauce (a yoghurt-based sauce with seven different herbs). This was washed down with Ebbelwoi (Hessian apple wine) traditionally served in a Bembel, and a Mispelchen after dinner (calvados with a complete small medlar in it). Cutter and Connor indulged in a discussion about the species whose remains they expected to see on the next day. It had been a relaxed day, and the others were happy to listen to their friendly bantering and throw in a question now and then. After dinner, they returned to the hotel to grab a good night’s sleep.
***
They were picked up by a taxi at 9 am. When they got out of the van, they passed by the visitor centre and the theme gardens, to take a quick look over the area from the viewing platform. The Messel pit looked most unspectacular. They were standing on an observation deck and looked down into a mostly brownish-grey valley. It was surrounded by trees, but the pit itself clearly showed the signs that there had once been a coal mine. A few dirt tracks and paths crossed the area, and they saw a guided group hiking in the pit. They would get a tour to the digging sites later, too, but now they were to meet the director of the institute in the centre. So they made their way back to the modern building made of concrete.
The director was a middle-aged, rather inconspicuous woman. However, she was surrounded by an aura of kindness and competence, and she was clearly pleased to welcome the most popular scientists in her chosen area of expertise. For weeks she had been looking forward to talking with the team about the species they had encountered, and to discuss theories about some of the incomplete fossils they had found in the pit. After a tour through the exhibition, she showed them some of the findings that were not on display. The whole team was overwhelmed by the sheer mass of fossils and the variety of species that had been found here.
The team of the Messel Pit had arranged for a lunch buffet that enabled the ARC team to meet the people working in the visitor centre and the research department. They had seen so many fossils, and Cutter and Abby were drawing an image in their minds of how the area must have looked like during the Eocene. The climate had been tropical back then, and so the flora and fauna had been very different compared to modern days. There had been a lake in the valley which was where most of the fossils were found. There had also been a rich wildlife with a variety of early primates, crocodiles, frogs, salamanders and turtles (of which some had died while mating), literally thousands of fish and insects, countless numbers of mammals, many bats and also birds, both flying and flawless species, and many of them predatory.
Abby was most excited about the amphibians and soon was in the middle of a discussion about the different species with one of the local research team. Cutter seemed obsessed with Ida, the only Darwinius masillae fossil ever found and which was in a state that made every scientist want to shed tears of joy – you could even see the fur. Becker was talking to one of the local scientists about the carnivorous birds. They had found gastornis in Messel, the nasty terrorbirds the team had already come across a couple of times. Becker decided this was his best opportunity to learn more about how they could possibly handle the beasts. Jess and Jenny were enchanted by the mammals and were in awe at the images of Buxolestes, an otter-like species, and the pygmy horses. In the teams’ minds, the area must have been a prehistoric paradise buzzing with undisturbed wildlife and evolution fulfilling the development from dinosaurs to modern species.
Connor evaluated theories with one of the scientists about what had happened here, given the fossils painted an almost complete picture of life in the Eocene in Germany. There must have been one sudden event that had caught all the species by surprise and killed them within seconds. After all, there were not only the remains of fish and other creatures that had lived in the water. On the ground of the prehistoric lake, they had also identified the fossils of all the mammals, insects and even birds, proving that whatever had shaken the area in the Eocene had affected everything in- and outside of the lake. Cutter and Connor almost wished that an anomaly would open so that they could travel back in time to study the animals whose remains they had seen and touched today.
In the afternoon, they did a small tour around the pit and visited the digging sites. The local scientists shared some of their latest findings, and the team were allowed to do a little digging themselves. There still were thousands of fossils buried in the grounds. There was such a mass of them, that visitors were welcome to take with them what they had found (after a brief check that they had not unexpectedly discovered an unknown species). In the evening, the team left the site with a collection of very special souvenirs.
***
The next morning, after the rush hour in the metropolitan area had subsided, they travelled back to Frankfurt. They had half a day to visit the Senckenberg Museum, and in the evening, they would attend a get-together with the other conference attendees. Cutter’s and Connor’s stage time was scheduled for the day after when the actual conference would take place.
The Senckenberg Museum was located in one of the most expensive areas in Frankfurt with a lot of historic buildings, banks and embassies close by. It was only a few hundred metres from the fair area, where the Frankfurt book fair would start soon, and the stand builders were already working on the booths. The Senckenberg Association owned a huge historic city mansion that had been transformed into a museum, storage and research facilities. They were currently extending the building so that they could put more of their thousands of artefacts on display. The museum was also neighbouring one of the most important streets in the city, with three to four lanes in each direction and a huge grass strip separating them.
Connor squeaked in delight when he saw the life-size statues of a T-Rex and a Diplodocus in front of the museum. This was so cool! He made Becker take dozens of pictures of Abby and him in front of the statues, and only stopped begging for more when Cutter threatened that they wouldn’t have time to look at the exhibition properly if they spent more time in front of the actual museum.
They met the leaders of the Senckenberg Association who would give them a tour around the exhibition at the cashier desk. They were accompanied by a small team of journalists and Jenny had her hands full trying to make them stick to professional questions and not to poke when there would be wedding bells and babies for Connor and Abby, and annoying an increasingly pissed-off looking Becker about the nature of his relationship with Jess. Cutter chuckled quietly and enjoyed the view from the stone staircase down into the huge exhibition room with a variety of dinosaur skeletons. Among others, he saw the bones of a Stegosaurus, Iguanodon, Edmontosaurus, a mammoth (he was sure Lester would have flinched at that), and the skull of a triceratops. There were not also the T-Rex and Diplodocus statues outside the museum, they also had complete skeletons inside. There even was a Pterodactyl hanging from the ceiling. It was heaven for any palaeontologist!
Cutter and Connor enjoyed a discussion with the Senckenberg scientists while the others wandered off to explore other parts of the museum. They found an Egyptian department, complete with mummies and sarcophagus, an exhibition about the evolution of plants, and one on geological history including a volcano simulation. Time flew by and soon it was time for the team to check-in into their hotel and get ready for the evening reception.
***
They clearly were the VIPs at the conference. Cutter’s key note was met with frantic standing ovations. Becker huffed, he knew Cutter would be intolerable for the foreseeable future. As if the man’s ego wasn’t big enough already. Connor was in full geek mode during his speech, and apart from Cutter none of the team understood a single word. However, the conference was designed for geeks and the moderator had to cut the endless stream of questions when they had already run 30 minutes behind their schedule. The team had barely time to go to the restrooms during breaks because they were constantly begged for interviews by the media or grilled about their experiences by scientists. The panel discussion, which was the long-expected highlight of the conference, was very lively
Becker was amused to see that Cutter unleashed his Scottish temper at the other panellists who apparently did not stand back an inch. Maybe this was a shared trait among palaeontologists and Connor was the exception to the rule? Jess stood close to Becker and seemed happy to watch the spectacle and type down some notes on her laptop. You could never be sure when those would come in handy. Abby was grinning madly. It was obvious that she was damn proud of her boyfriend. Jenny agreed. Connor had been a poster boy of a scientist and the media loved him. There was not a hint that anyone blamed him for convergence. Lester would love the publicity. Good press would help him to obtain bigger budgets.
It was when the applause faded after the panel discussion that a loud roar echoed into the room from outside. Becker groaned. It sounded so familiar that it could only mean one thing: anomaly! All team members thought the same and they looked at each other. Becker nodded and grabbed his bag. Lester had muttered quiet curses when Becker had confronted him with the paperwork he required in order to take his kit with him, but Becker was glad now that he had insisted to take some equipment with them.
Jess was already starting all the anomaly software she had secretly installed on her laptop, and Jenny instructed the security staff to lock up the building and keep the scientists inside. Some of them were already running outside and Becker cursed. He raced after them, Cutter, Abby and Connor hard on his heels.
“T-Rex!”, Connor shouted but this was the one dinosaur no one needed to be an expert to identify.
“Get those bloody idiots out of the way!” Becker yelled and threw comm pieces towards Cutter, Connor and Abby while he put on his own. “Jess, get us some police or military down here!”
“On their way,” she replied calmly.
Abby herded a handful of evolutionary zoologists back into the building who obviously shared a death wish. The T-Rex was attacking the statue of the Diplodocus. The tail had been ripped off and was lying on the ground, shattered to pieces. The theropod was now attacking the long neck of the statue.
“It will soon realise that the statue does not taste well! We need to find the anomaly!” Connor stated the obvious. Cutter had apparently come to the same conclusion and was taking the opportunity to run in the opposite direction of the T-Rex. That nearly gave Becker a heart attack. He was sure if he wouldn’t be ripped apart by some beast, he would die of shock one day because Cutter performed another idiotic stunt! Bloody fool.
The T-Rex saw Cutter moving and took two steps back, watching the spot where the professor had just disappeared in the adjourning street.
“We need to contain it! Shit, how can we keep it from running towards the fair?” Connor was frantically searching for an idea in his brain.
“Jess, we need some trucks to block the streets. They should be tall enough to stop the T-Rex,” Abby helped.
“Oh God, I could kiss you!” Connor replied relieved.
“Save that for later, Conn. There’s a more pressing job to do,” Abby answered with a smile in her voice.
“Jess, the trucks?” That was Becker again. Where were the fucking police?
“90 seconds until the police arrive. You should hear the siren now, Becker. Trucks are requested, but it will take them some time to navigate through the city,” Jess was a total pro as always. “Cutter, the ADD pinned down the anomaly approx. 100 metres in front of you. Can you confirm?”
“I can see it. Get the bloody thing over here!” Cutter’s voice was urgent.
The sirens of the police came closer, and the T-Rex did not enjoy the sound. It shook its head and seemed to spot the statue of its conspecific only then. It released an impressive roar and thundered across the empty street. Thank God, the drivers on the busy road had been smart enough to stop at a safe distance when they had seen the huge dinosaur on the rampage. The police cars arrived, and they tried to build a circle around the beast, the only open spot being the entry into the side road with the anomaly. The T-Rex now attempted to fight what it considered a rival in its new hunting grounds. It head-butted the statue with full-force. One of the tiny arms hit the ground, and the living edition of the animal seemed to feel encouraged by that. A few hits later, the statue started to sway.
They needed to get the beast back to its own time now. It wouldn’t take long before it realised that the tiny humans were much better prey than the inedible statues. Becker saw no other choice and jumped in front of the tree behind which he had taken cover.
“Becker!” the voices of Abby and Connor shrilled in his ears.
“Hey beastie, hungry, are you? Look here, don’t I look yummy?” Becker waived at the dinosaur and slowly but steadily move backwards in the direction of the street with the anomaly. He could only hope he would be fast enough.
The dinosaur seemed to agree with Becker and took a thundering step towards the soldier. And another. And another. Becker decided this was his cue to start running. He raced into the side street as quickly as he could, and when he was sure that the theropod was following him, he jumped between two parked cars and rolled under one of them. He hoped Cutter had done the sensible thing and was hiding somewhere, too. At least, he had not seen the professor standing in the middle of the street.
The T-Rex was running along the street, not having noted that its meal had hidden. It went through the anomaly which promptly closed behind it. For once they’d been lucky.
“Becker? Becker, please say something! Are you okay?” Jess screamed in fear. He heard her running footsteps through the comms.
“I’m alright. Everything’s okay. Call off the trucks. They missed the show.” Becker was slowly rolling out from under the car and on the street and got to his feet. Cutter was climbing over the fence of a tiny front garden, and Abby and Connor were dashing around the corner of the street and towards them. Jess followed only seconds later. She flung her arms around Becker and seemed determined to never let go again.
He hugged her back and murmured into her ear, “It’s okay. I’m fine.” He placed a soft kiss on her head.
“You’re a complete idiot!” she replied with a trembling voice and grabbed him even tighter.
“Could someone please tell me what’s going on? The media is going haywire in here. I need to tell them something and let them out if it’s safe. They’ll sue us for restricting freedom of press otherwise,” Jenny’s voice sounded through their comm pieces.
“Let them out then. The T-Rex has gone back home,” Cutter replied while picking some leaves out of his hair. “Well, I think that was a quite a final for the conference, wasn’t it?”
A/N: Here you can find some impressions of the featured locations:
The SQUAIRE
Dinosaur skeleton at the SQUAIRE
Handkäs mit Musik & Bembel, Schnitzel with green sauce, Mispelchen
The Messel pit: Video 1, Video 2
Senckenberg: museum website, video, statue 1 (T-Rex), statue 2 (Diplodocus)
Photo of fair area: main entrance to fair area and Messeturm
no subject
Date: 2018-10-13 08:37 am (UTC)And good job the T Rex had some statues to distract it! Brilliant.
Fantastic sense of place. Great team fic!
no subject
Date: 2018-10-13 09:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-10-13 10:14 am (UTC)