Strangely Tangential

Pushing a button on his vortex manipulator, the white gold cascading light of the Rift opened up in front of him and he stepped through. The Rift closed behind him.

The carefully prepared smug grin he’d had planned immediately fell into a grimace. The sight on the other side was not at all what he’d been expecting.

“Oh hell!” John ground out, following it up with a sharp intake of breath.

He’d been expecting to step out into the Hub, probably into the barrel of a hastily – and amusingly, to him at least – drawn gun. Instead he walked out into a devastated wasteland. There was nothing but a black pit of a twisted metal and rubble. The stars in the night sky above sparkled like jewels belying the horrible scene before him.

If this was all that was left of the Hub where were its inhabitants? Where was Jack? If he’d been caught up in what looked to have a been a terrible explosion – he knew the aftermath of an explosion well enough, he’d caused quite few himself – surely not surely even Jack could have survived this.

Above him he could see traces of the police tape that was surrounding the edge of the crater but there were no other people in sight. When had this happened? If no one was down here searching for bodies then surely it must have been a while ago.

John keyed questions into his wrist strap but it just beeped at him uselessly.

“Huh?” He frowned and tried again. He got the same response again. He shook it and held it up to his ear. “It must be this place.” He said to no one. “It must be giving off some energy that’s interfering.”

John started scrambling across the wreckage; partly trying to get out of the crater so he could use his strap again, partly keeping an eye out for bodies and partly looking for good stuff he could swipe.

As he neared the edge a black shape dove out of the sky and flew down into the crater. It only narrowly missed him but caused him to lose his footing and slide back down again to land heavily on his arse.

Recovering his senses he focused on the creature. It was angular and awkward limbed, especially as it trotted across the wreckage pecking here and there as if looking for something.

“What are you?” John muttered enthralled.

The creature seemed to find what it was looking for and John stealthily moved closer to try and see what it was.

Happy with what it had found the creature picked it up in its beak and preened, extending its wings. As the moonlight revealed the creature’s full silhouette John realised what it was.

“A pterodactyl!” He exclaimed, unfortunately loud enough for the creature to hear him. It immediately backed away, dropping the object it had discovered.

“No, no.” John said soothingly, holding up his hands. “Don’t be alarmed.” He spoke softly, as if to a child and the creature stopped several feet away.

John reached down to pick up the object and the pterodactyl bristled visibly.

“I’m just looking at it.” John told it. The pterodactyl eyed him beadily.

John looked down at the object. It was an anonymous looking bottle that was filled with a dark substance but it was marked “Myfanwy’s ‘BBQ’ sauce” in neat handwriting. John looked up at the creature with a frown. Surely not.

“Myfanwy?” He asked tentatively. The dinosaur squawked in acknowledgment and John laughed. “Only this lot would have a pterodactyl for a pet!” He frowned again. “I guess no one’s been here to feed you. I wonder what you eat with your sauce?” He toyed with the bottle.

The pterodactyl suddenly took a couple of paces towards him with a menacing squawk and it was John’s turn to back away.

“Now hold up!” He said firmly. “I definitely am not your dinner!” The creature kept coming. “Now look I’m sure we can work this out!” He guffawed at himself. “I’m trying to reason with a dinosaur!”

His backwards walk turned into a stumble and he found himself on his arse yet again but this time he was backed up against the remnants of a metal object, possibly a door. John reached for his guns, not really wanting to shoot the creature but afraid he might have no choice.

The pterodactyl suddenly rushed at him, and then past him through a dark hole in the ground.

John sat there, stunned, processing what had just happened. Finally he laughed nervously releasing the tension, shook himself off and turned to the hole the creature had gone through. The object he’d been backed up against WAS a door that had been blown off its once sturdy hinges. Beyond the opening was a long dark corridor, its entire length riddled with debris. At the far end was a flickering red light. The pterodactyl was no where in sight.

Partly curious about what had happened here, and still partly because they probably had some stuff down that they wouldn’t now miss, John started off down the tunnel.

Moonlight found its way down the first half of the corridor but then everything went dark. John clambered past the debris and continued onwards towards the flashing light.

He finally emerged into a red flashing glow and a room filled with yet more rubble, broken light fittings, turned over equipment, broken crockery. His mind back tracked. Crockery? He looked properly around the room and its purpose became clear. He was in a kitchen.

“Well that’s an anticlimax.” He stated. “Indiana Jones never comes out of the ominous tunnel into a kitchen!”

At a squawk he turned around to see Myfanwy cautiously approaching a large metal device sitting in its own crater. It was the source of the red flashing light. White electrical sparks fizzed and popped around it. Looking up warily John could see the large hole the object had fallen through to come to rest in this place.

“Now that’s more interesting.” He stated, as Myfanwy moved closer. “Now creature, that’s probably not…”

He didn’t get to finish. The pterodactyl gave the object a peck and the room exploded in white light.

When he opened his eyes again John could see nothing for a moment. At some point he’d fallen to his knees, so he stood back up straight. Blinking; he started to focus but before he could a wind rushed past and around him. A now all too familiar squawk alerted him to what the wind was. The first sight his sore eyes saw was the pterodactyl sweeping about for another turn around him.

“What did you do that for?” He asked her sternly. As she whirled about him he gradually began to take in that something had changed.

He wasn’t in a half exploded buried kitchen in Cardiff Bay anymore.

The river beside him stretched out for miles, meandering down a long valley. The forest beyond the clearing he was in was thick and dense. Apart from Myfanwy’s wings, occasional squawks from her and the gently sound of the river bubbling past, there was silence.

“Oh great.” He sighed and turned to his wrist strap. It was dead. “No, no, no, no! This does not happen!”

Myfanwy settled on a rock and stared at him.

“This is your fault.” John stated peevishly.

She just carried on looking at him. He caved and smiled softly at her.

“I’m sorry. You’ve had a rough day, haven’t you?” John went over and sat down on the rock near her. “I’ve been in worse situations than this.” He said to her. “I’ll think of something.”

John turned away and put his head in his hands. Myfanwy hopped closer and put her head on his shoulder. John’s eyebrows rose sky high, but then he smiled gently.

“You know, you’re beautiful and it’s no reflection on you, but I think I might have to draw the line at pterodactyls.”

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