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[i][u]Progress Diary of Subject "Oddclaw" - Week 136[/u][/i]

[i]23-07-2031[/i]

[i]Written by Oddclaw[/i]

[i]hello. my name is oddclaw. i was call 3-claw but that was a mistake. we count numbers, and when we reach number 3 I was confused and jane explain even and odd numbers to me. so I am oddclaw son of oddscar.[/i]

[i]i live with the humen for 2 years. i like to speak english but not write it, but jane tell me it was good for me to learn. jane is my friend she is very nice and talk to me every day along with kevin. kevin is my friend he has stone legs so i know when he is coming. kevin teaches me about kemikals and he is going to teach me about reeakshuns. jeremy is my friend he like to show me moovees and mewzik. he call me dab i call him jeremy.[/i]

[i]brightman do not like me because i point a gun at his face 1 year ago. i do not like him because he call me savage and think I am stupid. i call him sour kangaroo and he do not like when i call him that but Jane tell me i have to respect him and be nice because he is the humen leader. but he is not my friend. kevin, jane and jeremy are my friends.[/i]

[i]i like to read books. miss kerkorian was frightened of me because she thought i would hurt her books but jane tell her that i like to read so we are now friends and she gives me books for me to read. i have read 16 books. the humen teach me to use fire and shoot it. they call their fire guns and they have a lot of different guns. brightman does not like me when i learn to fire guns but jane tell him that every one who lives in the base must learn how to protect themselves. it is the law jane tell him i do not know what the law is.[/i]

[i]i also like cooking. the humen in the kitchen do not like me because i spilt jam on the floor 1 year ago. but they like me now because i learn how to cut vegetables and meat but i have to wear clean clothes in the kitchen. the humen say it is unhaijeenik to be naked near food but my family are always naked and we all ate food. humen make tasty food it is sweet and they have a lot of different food i do not eat before. i like jam. it is tasty. goodbye.[/i]

Oddclaw put down his pen, rubbing his head after feeling warm from focusing on the paper full of lines and circles all connecting to each other. His handwriting was sloppy and loose like a three-year old's but Jane told him that it was good and that was good enough for him as he sat up from his belly on the floor and put his pen in the drawer. The room he was now in was much more furbished than the cell he had been in when he first arrived, having all the basic amenities of a bed, shower, toilet and set of drawers. It more resembled a medical room, one of several that had been used to house patients for psychiatric care, with crisp white and green lines amidst a very spartan environment. But he much preferred it to the barren room from before as he put on a pair of shorts, clipped on his ID card, and took his diary book with him.

Placed in the scientific quarters known also as the third zone, the raptor was given a place among the scientists as something of an honorary junior assistant as guards greeted him, scientists waved at him and doors opened in front of him. His first visit was at Jane's office, a place she was rather glad to be back in now that Oddclaw had his own place.

"Hello Jane."

"OH, hello Oddclaw, finished writing already?"

"Yes. Here it is."

She sat on the other side of a desk with a computer and a stack of papers beside her, transferring documents with the telltale clack of the keys as he placed down his diary to let her read. Flowers decorated the left side of the pale yellow wall with a chaise longue couch in the back that many a troubled mind had laid itself on beneath a charming set of paintings. She read through the whole three pages worth of his writing of today, learning to parse his run-on sentences as she smirked at his faults.

"Hmhmhmhm, still having problems with tense?"

"Tennnss?"

"Yes, remember I told you about past, present and future tense? Had, have, will have? Died, dies, will die?"

"Oh. I forgot, I-i am sorry."

"It's okay! I can still read it just as long as I understand what you're writing it's fine. Did you sleep well?"

"Yes...you sleep well?"

"I did thank you. What are you going to do today?"

"I go to the jim, then Kevin teach me about ree-ak-shuns, and miss Ker-korr-ree-an has a book for me."

"Oh wonderful, I hope you enjoy it then! ...you um...haha, you're uh repeating a lot of the things you already wrote about in your last entry, about us as friends?"

"Oh."

"Yes you have already written down about us, so you do not need to write it down again."

"I...you told me to write down what I know and learned. You are my friends."

"Haha, awwww well that's very sweet of you but the point of a diary is you have to add NEW things. Now you have added some new things that is good, but you have to add new things for EACH and every entry. Alright?"

"Yes, okay."

"One more thing, you do not have to start and end every diary entry with hello and goodbye."

"No?"

"Not when you are writing, only when you are speaking."

"...why?"

She wanted to explain the differences, but found herself failing to somehow explain without any good reason.

"......you know what, never mind what I said, you have a good day. Goodbye Oddclaw!"

"Goodbye Jane."

He smiled gladly and walked off to the gymnasium as he almost always did every day. He relished the exercise and found that all of his troubles and fears would melt away when his body became exhausted and his muscles burned, a feeling he long missed from his days in the wild. It was perhaps the greatest gift to him since getting his own room and some small freedoms as he constantly tested himself, from kickflipping acrobatics off the walls to pumping iron on the weights which while was new to him gave him stronger muscles in his arms which he felt always had been rather small compared to the rest of him.

The fitness instructors never had to worry about him, seeing his enthusiasm for self-improvement become such a welcome sight to the place that there was almost nothing he could not learn to do physically. The first few months since his establishment as Jane's "assistant" were the most arduous, finding the concept of lifting weights to be unusual requiring him to be supervised. But the other regimes were simply what he had always done out in the wilds. The handlebars and swing ropes, the balancing poles and vault horses, training his agility more and more with each day and keeping his mind active which Jane also appreciated since he became less rowdy and fitful.

The raptor almost never spoke to the other workers other than saying hello and goodbye, mainly because he was always too excited to get to running, jumping, backflipping, swinging, spinning and rolling through the course.

Once he was done with his daily fitness, he washed himself off in his own shower back at his room. The humans were much more frightened of him when they were naked, and the constant antagonism of their fearful senses would make him more upset in turn as he washed himself clean. Thickening muscles beneath brown scaled skin, a fuller chest and strapping trunk-sized legs with his ever-loose 8 inch cock swinging back and forth. He was too tired to jerk himself off, realising he had to clean himself off quickly to see Kevin at the labs for their little science experiment as he swished the water droplets from his tail, cleaned the sweat fully off his body with a thick towel and put on a new pair of shorts.

The scientist greeted him with open arms after handing him a white coat and a pair of goggles to protect his body. Dozens of scents he briefly recognised and yet never smelt in his life came from every direction, bubbling away or seething within glass beakers and complex mazes all built from a sturdy glass.

"Okay now, take this."

"Okay."

"And pour it into that."

"Yes."

Following his instructions, he carefully poured a bottle of sour dark brown liquid into a bowl of white granules before it suddenly rose with fizzing frenzy, surprising the raptor as he backed off with fright.

"A-AAH!"

"Hhhhahahahaha, simple huh?"

"It...i-i-it go fizzy, why it do that?"

"THAT is a reaction. Sometimes, certain chemicals react to each other like putting two people in a room. Some of them get along really well and create a NEW chemical. Some of them do other things like fizz or even explode."

"Ecks-spload?"

"Like something going BANG, like a gun."

"OH, fire!"

"Yes exactly! Fire is an explosion, a reaction on its own!"

"Is water a ree-ak-shun?"

"No, water exists as two elements of hydrogen and oxygen."

"h-hiiii-droh...jen...you are very clever Kevin."

"Hahaha gracias."

"Are all humen clever like you?" asked Oddclaw.

"Ohhh I wish," replied Kevin, "not everybody wants to be a scientist."

"Are your family...sai-en-tists?"

"No, no just a regular family down in Michoacan."

"Is that far away?"

"From this base, yes, more than you think. Actually that's true for everyone here so-"

"Where do humen live?"

"They can live anywhere...we never told you where we came from did we?"

"No."

"Ask Andrea, she can explain it a lot more than I can."

"But...she frightened me."

"Huh?"

"She smell bad."

"PFFFT!"

The scientist had to struggle not to laugh at such blinding honesty.

"Ffffhehehehehahaha, ohhhh that's not nice to say about her!"

"But she smell! She, the room, all smell bad!"

"Why, what's it smell like?!"

"F-fire...but...like...not fire, I-i-i...u-u-um...cold. Cold. Dark. Fire."

"Cold dark fire? ...huh, well do not worry, she is very smart, shit she's even smarter than me."

"Huh? Why?"

"Her job is a lot more important than mine, you should ask her, she's nice."

"Okay Kevin. Why did you become a...sai-en-tist?"

"Me? ...well uh...I just wanted to help people, like make stuff that would heal them. I still do that here but most of the time I am recycling materials here."

"Ree-sai-kul?"

"It's when you re-use something. If I break this glass, I recycle it to make a new glass so I do not waste any of it."

"Can you reesaikul anything?"

"Most things. The water we use is recycled to be fresh again. The bullet shells from our guns we recycle to make new bullets and anything we break like glass or metal we also recycle."

"Why?"

"Because we cannot make this stuff in your world, we do not have the things needed, at least not yet, to make NEW things. My job mostly is making sure we recycle everything possible so we will never run out of important things."

"Ahhh. Okay, that is good, you are a good human."

"Hahahaha...hokay you want to see me do more science?"

"Yes! I like sai-ens, it is good!"

"Did you know sex is science too?"

"What...is sex?"

"...oh shit."

He smirked bashfully knowing he just walked himself into this awkward talk.

"Do you...um...sex is what you use your cock for."

"......OH! To um...in...put cock in female!"

"YES, yes that!"

"A-and in male too! I-in innnn the butt!"

"HHHHAHAHAHAHA, y-yes yes you understand that now?"

"Yes, secks is good. Secks is to make...children! And to, feel, good with male and female friends!"

"Riiiight exactly! Phew, man that talk was a lot easier than I thought, okay then time to science hard!"

"YES! SAI-ENS!"

Kevin gladly taught him more of the simplest understandings of chemistry, trying to explain the rudimentary concepts of how the world was formed at a molecular level. It was rather stultifying, but Kevin made sure not to teach him too much and overwhelm him with science until his lesson was over. Afterwards he headed to the library situated in the residential zone, which was perhaps one of his favourite places in the human base. Shelves lined the walls full of books with gentle lighting, green carpets and teal walls that strangely relaxed him along with the smell of paper and ink. He was fascinated by the concept of fiction, something that had never really occurred in his tribe before as something to educate and entertain others with. Closest he had to such was hearing his sisters lie about their exploits or missing prey they supposedly found, but to him and his tribe no one had ever woven a story that was false just for the sake of elaborating a concept.

The woman who tended the place had a pale watery tan to her skin along with shallow wrinkled cheeks that gave her face a rather ghoulish portrait. But the moment she saw her latest visitor she beamed into a ray of sunshine from her ruby lips.

"OH, helloooooo mister velociraptor!"

"Hello miss Ker-korr-ree-an. How are you?"

"I am very fine thank you dear! Now I have a special book for you because I think it's time you went up a level."

She handed him a rather surreal book showing two young girls dancing around a sand-coloured beast with luxurious mane sweeping down his neck.

"The lie-on the witch...and the wahrrd-robe."

"This is quite a wonderful classic and I do hope you enjoy it, but remember you only have it for two weeks and then you must return it."

"Tuuuuuuuuu weeks, yes, okay thank you. I like the book you gave me very much, the other one."

"Hmhmhm I know, you told me when you brought it back. Actually who was your favourite? Who, that is."

"I...I-i-i like...I liked the pig-let."

"Ohhh, why?"

"He...he is small, but...he is kind. Like mother tell me."

"Really? Well you are hardly small, why you're much bigger than me!"

"But...in my family, I am small."

His wide smile gleamed in the light of the library with pure glistening fangs of predatory strength. But Kerkorian had lived long enough to have seen many smiles that were cruel or kind, and she knew that Oddclaw was most certainly the latter.

"Hmhmhmhm, well I do hope you have fun and enjoy your little journey."

"Yes, thank you, goodbye miss Ker-korr-ree-an!"

"Goodbye Oddclaw!"

The raptor returned straight back to his room and sat down onto the floor with careful claws upon the book, eagerly reading to himself with slow and practiced pace as he began his adventures into the world of Narnia. It would be his most advanced book yet, and he started pondering after a good six pages in that he could write about it in his diary once Jane had it returned to him.

[i][u]Progress Diary of Subject "Oddclaw" - Week 148[/u][/i]

[i]27-10-2031[/i]

[i]Written by Oddclaw[/i]

[i]hello. my name is oddclaw. i have been reading the lion the witch and the wardrobe by cs lewis. it is about four humen children who go to narnia. i want to ask the chef in the kitchen what turkish delight is it is one of the humen childrens favourite food and it must be tasty. i am going to shoot with guns today because i have to learn to shoot better. i go to see andrea today because jane tell me i should be her friend and kevin tell me that she can tell me about the humen home. andrea is scary she smell like danger and i get frightened even though i know she is nice. she is smart and jane tell me that she is the one trying to get everyone to leave back home. i hope andrea help me leave too. i am frightened about my family i want to see my home but i know all the humen here also want their family too. i like the humen because they feel the same i do. we all want to leave back home. we all need a wardrobe. i am sad without my family but they are sad without me. i do lots of things so i am not sad like cooking and reading and shooting and talking with my friends. goodbye.[/i]

"Alright now, keep doing that."

"Okay."

"Keep breaking up the meat, give it a little stir now an' again, just keep at it."

"Yes."

Oddclaw stood in front of a large pot full of thick red slabs of meat, which he was now breaking up into smaller and smaller pieces with a wooden spatula. The chef smelt of a dozen creatures as well as plants, along with the slightly acidic twist of firey ingredients that gave him a rather distinct odour to the raptor. The heat and the searing sizzle of oils from within the pot made him both curious and antsy, having never heard such a sound in his life but when accompanied by the hot wavering scents he could not help but salivate. He had a different coat this time, one that hugged his body more tightly than the lab coat Kevin had given him, again to ensure that there was no contamination. Constant stabbing motions went round the pot as he eviscerated the raw meat until it turned into brown miniature granules when the chef looked over.

"Alright stop, that's good! Now, take this cup of water."

"Yes?"

"And pour it all in."

"Okay."

The raptor poured all the water in as the chef turned the heat down on the stovetop before crumbling a small brown cube into the mix. It smelled deliciously thick and meaty as Oddclaw licked his lips.

"Congratulations you just made some prehistoric mince."

"I did?"

"Yeah that's what we call this. Normally we make it outta beef but yanno, dino meat's as good as any so this'll feed all the science lab fer two days at least."

"Mmmmmm! Can I eat too?"

"Oh yeah sure, when it's ready alright?"

"Yes, thank you. Sheff?"

"Yeah Odd?"

"What is Turrr-kish deh-lite?"

"Hah...where'd you hear that?"

"In a book!"

"Ohhhh...well uhhh I don't actually know-"

"It's a kinda candy," said the pastry chef, "made with starch, powdered sugar and uhhhhh...lemon usually but they also use rosewater too, it's kinda sour but sweet."

"Do you have it?" asked the raptor.

"Nah, and I don't got the ingredients to make it buuuut...COULD try to substitute it."

"Can you make it?"

"I can try! I mean, might as well I'm getting kinda bored with my usual sets so sure."

"Good!"

Half the time Oddclaw could not even remember the faces of the kitchen staff since most of them were either staring down into thick stews or had their backs turned to him. Plus the mingling scents gave a constant distraction as he moved to one side out of everyone's way politely once he was done with his mince before the sous-chef handed him his pot of jam.

"Here you are champ."

"OH, thank you!"

"Yer welcome...soooo uh jeez two-and-a-half years huh?"

"Yes, long years."

"I admit, when you first came here I thought this was not gonna work, like seriously a dinosaur with all of us is just weird and a safety hazard in like every way possible...and I still kinda think that but yanno, yer trying."

"I try. I want to try."

"Well how about you try somewhere else since yer done mincing, we got a full day ahead of us so you just get on with the rest of your day."

"Oh, yes, um, thank you."

He made himself scarce as the workplace went in full swing with their duties, carrying his pot of jam and gently scooping it with his claws as he tried to approach Andrea's room. The smell continued to threaten him, causing him to back up slowly and drink his jam in neat gulps with the pot to his lips. Steeling his nerves, the raptor fought against his primal urges and took one step forward, feeling like he was pushing against a wind tunnel until he reached the door itself two minutes later. It would not open for him since he did not have security access, but he did knock as something Jane had taught him.

"Are you lost?"

The voice of Brightman came from his right as he turned to see the stern straight-laced general, still wearing his military suit.

"I...no, I want to speak to Andrea."

"And why is that?"

"......Jane tell me to make friends with her."

"Ohhh...hm...we have your gun training today, did you forget?"

"No. I go to guns after Andrea."

"You can speak to her later, for now let's get this over with. Come with me."

Following the chief to the firearms training ground, Oddclaw could smell his dislike easily which in turn made him dislike Brightman even more despite knowing they had to tolerate each other's existence. The training room was in the second zone, split into two areas which had a firing range of long halls with wooden targets at the end, and an open battlefield with various boxes that acted as cover. Brightman along with some of his assistants stood in a windowed observation deck above the room whilst Oddclaw was given training from the on-site instructor.

The firing range was first, learning to focus with a handgun, point it down towards the human-shaped target and fire. His first few times were terrifying, the shuddering recoil of just a handgun made him flinch and shiver but the instructor was surprisingly patient. She was an Asian female with short brown hair that radiated an eternal sense of calm cool neutrality that soothed the raptor immensely.

"Calm down. Stop being afraid of your weapon."

"B-b-but...but f-fire-"

"YOU are the one holding it. You are the one who has its power, it's not going to turn against you unless you let it. You hold that gun, hold it firm, aim it and pull the trigger. Just like you did before, but stand firm, make it KNOW you are its master."

"I...am its mass-stur."

"YOU point the gun, you hold it. You make it shoot its fire."

"I...shoot its...fire."

"Now...aim at the target. Pull."

[b][i]BANG.[/i][/b]

It had taken Oddclaw three months to not flinch from wielding a gun in this state. But soon he was ready to start with tactical combat in the mock-up arena where other soldiers would be aiming for him. For the sake of the exercise Oddclaw was told that they "removed the fire" out of their guns so no one could actually be killed, but every combatant including him had to wear a special vest that would indicate when they had been hit by what they called "lasers" mounted to the guns. They fired blanks but were still lethal at point-blank range they told him so regardless caution was made. This would be the first time the raptor would be tested on an open range which covered the size of a modest gymnasium.

"Alright little lizard," said Brightman from above, "we got seven guards down there huntin' for ya, all of 'em the same guns as you an' if they shoot you, then you're dead."

"HUH?!"

"Not ACTUALLY dead," said the drill instructor beside Brightman, "but you lose if they shoot you."

"Oh. It is um...play?"

"Yes, it's play, but you better pay attention."

"Yes, I un-dehr-stand."

"Alright then, ready? Activating combat mode!"

The buzzer sounded to let non-essential staff clear the room as Oddclaw hid behind one cover zone sensing where the other four humans would be. His sense of smell was his most powerful tool as he sniffed out the first one nearby, hiding underneath a bridge. The vest felt weird on his body, constantly moving to remain unsettled on his body as he tried his best to ignore it. The first human heard him coming close and went around the bridge to try and sneak behind him. The creaking of leather boots was too easy for him to hear, and it wasn't until he was almost immediately behind him that Oddclaw turned and fired straight for his prey.

"AWW DAMMIT!"

Human number one was down, his vest lighting up to indicate his "death" as he walked off the set. The gunshot he knew would be a flag on his location as he ran quickly for cover behind a much flatter box he had to lie his body straight out against. Two humans came running towards his location as the raptor gently peeked from his flat-out position to watch where they moved. One went to behind the bridge structure, whilst the other went to the boxy pillar across the way to cover the area. He took no chances facing either of them when they were so near as the moment they had their backs turned towards the west he crawled his way past to the other end of the bridge.

On the other side of battlefield however was a mockup of a crumbling building where the other four humans were spread out across, two of which were on high vantage points with good cover making it a chore to even reach them. The raptor looked towards the two closest to him, seeing the furthest one walk around the pillar in a small loop as he waited until the soldier was out of shot before making his move.

[b][i]BANG.[/i][/b]

"AAAAAAGH I'M HIT, I NEED BACKUP!"

The man under the bridge was down as his partner would come running, keeping his sights aimed towards the opposite end of the structure. On the bridge itself would be suicide, far too open and easy to be shot at by almost half-a-dozen guns. Which was precisely why he did not even think that Oddclaw was laying himself flat as a stone against the barest cover the bridge itself had to offer. He covered the entire base of the structure, finding not a trace of the saurian as he made his way back to the pillar thinking he had fled to there in wait. Oddclaw peeked out until the guards at the building had their eyes away before he swung himself over and down to below the bridge. The third guard was surprised to see him suddenly appear across the way as he fired.

"GAAAH!"

"That...make three."

Oddclaw smiled with some pride as the guard walked off with his vest trilling of red signals before he decided to take on the building itself. Seven without three was four, that he knew, and he watched their routes for a good two minutes to make sure he had their patterns down. The half-crumbled building had three people, but a smaller hut to the right had only one which he decided would be his next target. The problem however was the open field without cover anywhere between. He made his move when one of the sentries heard a strange clattering noise and noticed something on the west part of the field.

"Sir there's something on the ground!"

"What is it?"

"I...can't tell without a scope, looks like someone dropped something."

"Private go check it out, we'll keep watch."

The private on the ground walked carefully towards the pillar's direction. A lone handgun had been discarded on the open field simply tossed with such carelessness.

"It's a gun!"

"What?!"

"Someone just dropped a gun!"

"Was it that raptor?!"

"Why would he DROP it?!"

"Did anyone see him on the field?!"

"There's literally no cover, he CAN'T have gone out here without any of us spotting him!"

They were right. But Oddclaw had snuck round the pillar and bridge to the eastern side of the field, running as stealthy as he could to the hut and slipping through a window whilst they were all focusing on his weapon. The guard in the hut never stood a chance, grappled from behind as the raptor sneered viciously into his ear:

"[i]Be. Kwy-et, or you are dead.[/i]"

The human could feel the hot breaths wash across his ear along with the teeth that almost bit at his neck to further entice him into submission, the raptor taking his gun and pushing him away back to the wall ready to "execute" him.

[b][i]BANG.[/i][/b]

"SHOTS FIRED, CHECK THE EAST!"

"ROBERTS YOU THERE?!"

"HE FUCKIN' SHOT ME, HE THREATENED TO KILL ME!"

"WHAT!?"

The private on the ground went for the doorway, keeping her gun up and ready to see the "wounded" soldier discarded in the corner.

"Where is he?!"

"H-he got out the window!"

"HUH?!"

[b][i]BANG.[/i][/b]

"A-AAAAGH SHIT!"

"HE'S HERE, TAKE HIM DOWN!"

Two people remained after one of the sentries had been shot unexpectedly, the other rooftop guardian now checking each and every window before moving back into a corner to make sure she wouldn't be surprise-attacked, whilst the private kept started running a full circle round the hut as fast as possible.

"CLEAR, NO SIGN OF HIM!"

"Where the fuck is he?!"

"......sarge. Sarge, s-sarge ABOVE YOU!"

"WHA?!"

A shadow swept across the roof above the sergeant. She turned and fired but too late did she see the raptor's shadow leap over her position and twisted in midair with a beautiful somersault, firing down at her in three ruthless shots. Two of them missed. One hit its mark.

"GOD, F-FUCKIT SHIT!"

"SARGE!"

"TAKE HIM DOWN, AVENGE ME PRIVATE!"

Oddclaw turned and readily fired at the private who dodged into the doorway as the two engaged in a brief firefight. He leapt onto the roof of the hut as private ran swiftly out towards the crumbling building to not become trapped. She heard him certainly, coming off the roof as she focused her senses as best she could before turning the corner and firing twice to make sure she caught him. He was on the roof again. He slowly came down behind her.

"[i]NOT THIS TIME![/i]"

She turned fast to check he wasn't too close just as Oddclaw kept her distance. Both of them fired. Someone's vest screamed.

"[i]COMBAT IS OVER![/i]" screeched the voice of the drill instructor. "PLEASE CLEAR THE ROOM AND RETURN TO YOUR STATIONS!"

Slowly the two remaining shooters got up on their feet. The private smiled clumsily at the sight of Oddclaw who grinned back despite his flashing vest as all of them walked off the field.

"That was a...pretty good job there!"

"You are good," said the raptor, "I almost...catch you."

"Hmhmhmyeah, that was pretty fun!"

"FUN!?" shouted the guy from the hut. "HE THREATENED TO KILL ME!"

"Oh give it up Roberts if he wanted to kill you he woulda done it already!"

"WHAT, NO, HE TOOK MY GUN FROM ME, THAT'S AGAINST THE RULES!"

"Well you tell the General!"

"I will cuz YOU are not playing fair you fucking lizard."

"Fayre?" asked Oddclaw.

"Yeah, playing fair, following the RULES!"

"Roolz...were I do not get shot. I lost because she shot me, that was the roolz."

"He's right yanno," said Private, "you lost just take it easy."

"Next time we do this," snarled Roberts, "I am NOT gonna let you fuck with me."

During all of this, Brightman and the drill instructor were grading Oddclaw's performance with mutual looks at each other.

"Well?" he asked.

"His agility's certainly impressive...that gun drop ploy was really good, he managed to think outside the box."

"Heh, much as I hate to say it, he's a little TOO smart for his own good."

"Hah, you can say that about a lot of people. Like private Shaughnessey who survived to the end."

"She's a lot more wily than she looks. We'll have to test this bastard more Shimura."

"I'm game for it. Never got to train a raptor before."

"I'm only doing this because he's an employee of our base TECHNICALLY and I have to give him basic training."

"I knooow I knooow...right, well, lunch then?"

"Lead the way."

Evening soon came as Oddclaw had his dinner with Jane in her room, eating up some meat with a peppery texture given to it that made him ravenous for more. The two always ate together as a means of social convention but whilst she ate with a fork and knife he used his hands. Jane did not argue with this, seeing that manners were not going to matter so much in this world as she began:

"So, I heard that you had a rather fun time shooting with guns."

"Yes-SCRMPHhh......I lost."

"Ohhhh I'm sorry."

"It is fine, I am not dead-AUMF...mmmglk...Sh-sha...shawwwwnessyyyy catch me before I catch her."

"Hahaha, well you will get them next time. General was quite impressed, he said that you were um..."

"Smarter than I looked?"

"Yes, you heard him huh?"

"He think he can be kwy-et, but he is loud. Loud kangaroo."

"Pfffft...hhhahaha, oho god you still call him that?"

"It make you laugh."

The raptor smiled widely with his brimming teeth now flecked with chunks of meat, which was a sight that no longer scared the human therapist.

"How are you enjoying your new book?"

"OH, it is very good! The White Witch is bad, I do not like her."

"She is very awful yes. How far have you read?"

"Um...the children are going to meet Aslan, he is the lion. But Edmund is with the White Witch, because he is a...tray-turr."

"Yes."

"What is a tray-turr?"

"A traitor is someone who...does things that harm their own people."

"Why?"

"Because they're selfish. Sometimes they have a good reason, sometimes they want to protect someone else, but sometimes they are just bad people."

"My...my brother is a tray-turr."

"What? Why?" asked Jane.

"Because he try to kill me. He push me into the water. I fall, into dark...and I am here."

Dead silence. She clasped a hand over her mouth in shock as she leaned over to give a pitying rub on his shoulder.

"I'm...oh god Oddclaw that's just terrible I'm so sorry."

"Yes."

"Are you alright?"

"I am fine. Jane?"

"Yes?"

"Where are children?"

"...children?"

"Yes. I see no...children here. In this mountun."

"Oh. Ohhh well you see, we're not allowed to have children in the base."

"Not...ah-loud?"

"We have to limit our resources, everything here is vital to keep and recycle, and we cannot spend that on...having children which mean more mouths to feed."

"But...b-but you...no children? Do you still...secks?"

"Wh-where did you hear that word?!"

"Kevin tell me."

"Oh, god of course he did..."

She sighed with a regretful tone of embarrassment as she steadied herself to reply.

"Yes...we do still have sex, it's USUALLY not allowed but in the conditions we are in, we cannot really limit ourselves too much, just so long as everyone can still do their job. We have regular screening tests so we cannot have children."

"How? Does sex not...make children?"

"There are ways to have sex without having children."

"If...two female have sex or two male have yes, but what if male AND female have sex?"

Oddclaw cocked his head with confoundment as he tried to parse this sentence. He was sure he misheard something but after a good minute of unravelling his comprehension of the human language, he was certain she was speaking nonsense as he explained.

"Male and female sex...they have children, it not...you cannot NOT have children."

"Well we have our ways, that's not for you to worry about."

"No. I cannot sex with humen."

"Well I mean, no...not that you aren't handsome, you're a very sweet raptor but-"

"Cannot have children with humen. Too dif-ferrent."

"Yes, exactly......possibly."

A dark thought creeped on her face from the most pure of intellectual curiosity before she shook it free. She pondered if he was able to crossbreed, or if perhaps he was one himself like the raptor equivalent of a mule. She decided it was not something worth pursuing and quickly added:

"Oh, I forgot to mention I also invited Andrea to come eat with us."

"Hmm?!"

"Is that alright?"

"......yes."

"...you're upset."

"I...I-i-i am sorry, she frightened me."

"I know, but you have to make friends with her, honestly I don't know why you're so frightened of her."

"Probably the gate."

Standing against the doorway was the dark-skinned female that he recognised from before, draped in a white lab coat with curling black hair past her ears. She smelt faintly like the odour from the room which while was unnoticeable for any of the humans made Oddclaw surprisingly timid. Cold dark fire burned into his nostrils overwhelming the plate of food she had in one hand.

"So, looks like you're feeding the dog."

"He's not a dog," cried Jane, "he can hear you!"

"So can a dog, heh. Glad you finally got him pants, you've been cooped up in this room too long you forgot what a dick looked like."

"I'M cooped up-wha-you-ohohoho that is RICH coming from you, that gate is practically your husband!"

"Hm...better stimulating conversation than my last husband. Anyways hi, I'm Andrea I don't think we really talked before um...Oddclaw, was it?"

"Yes. H-hello."

The raptor looked away, refusing to meet her gaze which annoyed the woman.

"What the hell is he not looking at me for?"

"Oddclaw," chastised Jane, "that's very rude, please look at her when you say hello."

"Sh-she...she frightened me. Smell, frightened me."

"Frighten you?"

Carefully walking closer, the scientist tried to look Oddclaw in the eye but he turned away with a fearful shudder, almost cowering which made her smirk as she sat down with them.

"Hah...wow, must be an animal thing."

"You think so?" replied Jane.

"Animals with stronger musk are more dominant, more powerful, so the weaker ones submit to them. I think that's what he's doing, he must be mistaking the T.E particles for that."

"Really? How do you know?"

"I watched every single thing that David Attenborough's made, I can tell you how many birds live in Australia, I can tell you about monkey funerals, I can tell you anything about at least sixty-percent of the world's basic animals."

"Really? ...and you chose to do quantum physics?"

"It's more fun, we already understand enough about our world Jane."

"No we don't, we haven't even mapped ninety-five percent of the ocean."

"I said that we understand ENOUGH, not everything, there's a difference."

She started to eat her food, a thick steak with some vegetables and a meaty liquid poured onto it. But when she turned her head to look at Oddclaw he simply looked down with submissive posture, his tail drooping with a stooped back.

"Nice to see somebody respects me in this lab, heheh...so, why'd you invite me here again?"

"Oddclaw wanted to know about us," explained Addison, "about what we're doing here and how we ended up as such."

"Hmmm you think he's ready to understand that?"

"He's managed to read through some of the Chronicles of Narnia so I think he can understand it."

"I never read that book, too Christian for me...lucky I been waiting for this uhhh let's see."

Taking a few objects around the room, Andrea set up a few post-it notes for a demonstration in front of the raptor.

"Okay...so, you've never seen humans before, not in all your life."

"No."

"Do you know why?"

"......you are far away."

"Close. ...do you remember when you were born?"

"No. I...ree-member my family, my brothers and...sisters when we were small."

"Okay, that's good. Now, that's in the past, that has already happened, you've all gotten big."

"Yes."

The physicist wrote down PAST on a note and placed it on a small plastic box.

"That was in the past, what we call things that have happened already. The past is before, that was before you came here, before we came here. Your mother was born before you were, obviously."

"Yes. She...she came from far away, the plains."

"Right, that's the past. Now we...live in the present."

Another post-it note on a vase.

"The present is what we call HERE, as in right now, you and me talking. The point you exist, the point where you are."

"P-rrrezzzent. Here."

"Yes. And lastly, what is tomorrow, what lies far beyond, like...after you die, after I die, after all of us die, that's what we call the Future."

"Beyond. Yes, fyoo-tcher."

"Good. Now..."

She brought out a teeny plastic dinosaur putting it beside the PRESENT before slowly moving it to the PAST.

"Imagine this is you, here, in the present. What if you could...go...back to the past, to when you were born?"

"......back?"

"Yes. Now, you can't do that."

"No."

"Why not?"

".........you can not go back. Day is forward, then night, then day."

"Right, exactly, you can only move forwards, the night and day because you grow up, your family does. But what if I told you...that..."

Dixon pulled up the last model she had which was of a tiny human she put on a photograph with the FUTURE post-it on it.

"We did not come from the present?"

"Whuh-...h-huh?!"

"We are from the future. Us, this base, all of us come from the future. We went back, back before we were born back before any of us humans were born, we went back and back and back until finally...we end up here."

She put the human next to the raptor in the PAST.

"The cold dark fire you keep talking about, that's what makes this happen. That gate in my lab creates a portal that lets us go back to this time, to long before we exist. Back to your present. Your present...is the humans' past."

Oddclaw was struggling to comprehend clearly. His mind was starting to reel with these ideas offered before him, slowly moving his gaze back and forth as Andrea repeated the concept to him with her human model changing between the FUTURE and the PAST until he finally understood. A difficult concept but something he was slowly getting when he asked:

"But, why?"

"...because something happened. Our home, the humans' world, there's great danger. Lots of terrible stuff, and the only way that we can figure out how to stop it is by coming back to your time, to this place. Our past, is your present."

"Your...your home is...dayn-jer?"

"Yes. And until we find out what's caused it, we cannot leave this place."

"...what about my home?"

"What you mean?"

"M-my family, are dayn-jer too?"

"I don't know if your family are safe Oddclaw, but I promise you that we would never let any harm come to them."

Jane gave a strange look to Andrea for saying this too soon. Their eyes roved towards the plate she had been eating from during lunch which Oddclaw could smell but not realise the implication. He then asked one thing.

"Could...I go back?"

"Hmmm?"

"Could I...go...back to past?"

"Technically yes, with our technology."

"I want...to meet my father."

"Father?" asked Andrea. "Why?"

"He...h-he is gone. I would like to meet him."

The two women looked at each other with a solemn sympathy. The scientist Dixon however braced herself to tell the worst truth.

"I'm...sorry Oddclaw but I can't take you back."

"Why? You said you-"

"Yes but I...we...have no idea how to control it, plus it is a VERY delicate machine and we-"

"You said I could go back."

"I said TECHNICALLY-"

"YOU SAID, I COULD GO BACK! YOU LIE! YOU LIE TO ME!"

"Oddclaw do not-"

"[i]YOU, TRAY-TURR! YOU TRAY-TURR, I HATE YOU![/i]"

"ODDCLAW WAIT!"

Fury embraced him as he tossed over the table and stomped out of the room straight back to his own before throwing himself onto his bed. The sound of a sobbing screech could be heard echoing throughout the halls as Jane and Andrea sucked their teeth through the uncomfortable atmosphere.

"I'm sorry," said Addison first, "I am SO sorry I did not think he-"

"Did he just call me a fucking traitor?"

"He just learnt that word in his Narnia book, you know what he's like when-"

"No. Tell him that is NOT a word he uses for me, if he ever fucking calls me that again I am going to break all of his teeth."

"A-alright jesus bloody hell, I just wanted you both to talk about things and help you explain-"

"Well he understood well enough, and now he's mad cuz he can't go back in time and see his daddy, now I gotta-"

"Wouldn't you be upset too, if you were told that this gate had the power to take you back to your father and someone wouldn't let you?"

"Yes, I would, I know why he's upset but if he ever calls me that word again-"

"I know I'm sorry! ...I'll go talk with him, once he cools down a little."

"Good. I'll see you later."

Dixon walked out of the room with a rather stiff pace, fuming silently as Jane was left with an overturned table and three plates of crumbs scattered on her floor. She was only thankful that Oddclaw didn't hurt anyone physically, but now she had to contend his grievances. She could hear his frantic screaming and pounding fists against the walls as she rubbed her head with exasperation. People knew to leave Oddclaw alone like this, that if he needed help truly, he had an emergency call button that went to Jane and Jeremy. He soon fell asleep from his frustration, exhausting himself from his rage of coming so close and yet so infinitely far away from his family and curled up in his bed. His anger soon dripped into his dreams like blood.

[i]The twisting world appeared again as the spiral path unravelled before him. Light flickered across intermittent points, blinking in a strange sequence he could just barely comprehend.[/i]

[b][i]TRAITOR[/i][/b]

[i]There lied a door, after walking the length of the spiral, sending the darkness into a constant rotation around him as if he were inside an enormous cube. The door was cold to the touch, despite a sweet scent of candy that came from beyond as he pulled it open. Cold. Pure frozen cold enveloped him.[/i]

[b][i]WITCH[/i][/b]

[i]He pushed into the searing white wind, a torrid icy rain that shattered across the peeling dead forest now in front of him. Everything smelt of rotting flesh, the roots decaying and the leaves wilting with the scene of a massacre. The sun was dying. It bled into the water, turning the lake red as the sky now was in its burning dusk that reflected upon the husks of many creatures. Dozens of them littering the shores and all the way to the forest, he recognised them as his kind in charred remnants and blackened carcasses amongst crushed eggs and desecrated nests but then he smelt it. His family.[/i]

[b][i]BROTHER[/i][/b]

[i]High upon the rocks where his leader made his home, he saw another raptor. He knew by his scent before even seeing the markings of his dark red body that it was Sunscreech. But it was not until he climbed up on top that he realised he was not alone, not essentially at least. The rest of his family joined him, as crippled corpses twisting into a personal throne for his half-sibling. The faces of his sisters made the armrests staring mournfully towards him, he could see his mother draped across the back of the seat and Barkclaw laid at his feet like a rotting log festering with insects. He watched his older brother offering something sweet, something wondrous in his hand like purple dust that smelt delicious, smelled like jam but somehow sour and glistening like crushed jewels.[/i]

[b][i]PAST[/i][/b]

[i]Oddclaw lunged for his brother, grabbed him by the throat and strangled him on his throne, feeling the flesh of his family grind against his thighs as he screeched in monstrous rage. Sunscreech could not even fight back, surprised by the assault as he gazed into the piercing eyes of velvet green with slitted primal pupils.[/i]

[b][i]PRESENT[/i][/b]

[i]His clawed thimbs pushed into the feral larynx, crackling the smallest bones as he heard the foetid whisper of his life escape his throat. He tore the skin to open like a velvet curtain and ripped his neck asunder to bleed beautifully down upon his chest like a crimson waterfall shining in the twilight. Oddclaw ached with a grieving emptiness, his fury now gone in but an instant to leave him almost impotent of any emotion as he tossed Sunscreech to the earth below him. The stars shone down upon him, few but brilliant.[/i]

[b][i]FUTURE[/i][/b]

[i]One star shone brighter than any other. So bright that it fell, closer to him. He could smell the fire coming. He felt someone beside him.[/i]

[b][i]FIRE[/i][/b]

[i]But there was no one left. Whiteness had taken everything, leaving him in a blinding eternal abyss as his home faded in a shining blip of existence. He was gone. His world was gone. He would only wake up from his silent hell when he felt his own tears drip down onto his bed.[/i]

Whenever Oddclaw needed to vent his fears and frustrations, he always went to the gymnasium. Whenever he was happy he would also always be at the gymnasium. Jane stood waiting for him at the entrance to the fitness hall the very next day after his outburst. His body said everything as he kept a constant sneer on his face whilst slamming his arms outwards in lifting weights, or pumping his feet much more powerfully than before when making his hike around the obstacle room as if determined to chase something. After he finished with a rather frustrated raw heaving body and shorts soaked in sweat, the raptor made his way down to where Addison waited.

"Feeling more relaxed now?"

"...yes?"

"You don't sound so sure."

"I...I am sorry. I feel...bad."

"But?"

"......I am upset. I know I was bad, but I am upset at Andrea."

"Hmmm. You should apologise to her, if you knew you were bad."

"Yes."

"Go shower yourself clean and we can go see her together."

"Okay."

After his personal shower and a new pair of shorts, Oddclaw went into the Third Energy lab for the very first time since his incarceration. He now composed himself to not become so afeart of the smell that radiated from the gate as he gazed around the large room. Rows upon rows of thick steel desks with terminals welded inside to reveal a line of monitors showing complex calculations. Cables stemmed from every corner of the room slithering up towards the terrible gateway that had caused them to arrive as such. It stood at least 27 feet tall like a huge sleepless eye made of metal that one could walk through, as there stood Andrea in front of it with a few assistants as she talked with them.

"How is the Kirk-Roentgen?"

"Sitting at three-hundred so we're good."

"T.E. particles charged?"

"Eighty-seven percent."

"Right...right just, regular drill, that's it. I mean, what's one more failure to start, just chalk it up on the wall."

"Don't talk like that."

The scientist turned to see Jane on hearing her with a rather humbled Oddclaw beside her as Andrea replied:

"Just accepting the possibility, that's what quantum physics is all about-"

"No, it's about fighting the odds surely."

"Aheh, I'm sorry which sports movie did you take that from?"

"You know what I mean. You're the only people who understand this bloody thing it's no good if you start thinking we will never get home."

"I knooow you're right I'm sorry. And uh...why's he here?"

"Oddclaw?"

He looked down towards Jane, his meekness making him look shorter than usual as he wringed his fingers.

"I...I-i am sorry Andrea. I was upset and said a bad thing, I am very sorry."

She smiled at his apology and walked forwards offering her hand to shake. It was the first time he realised that she was the same height as Jane.

"Took a lot faster to apologise than most people I knew. So alright. I forgive you but do not ever call me that word again."

"I will not. Thank you."

He gladly shook it in return as she went back to her project.

"You came at a good time honestly, if your idea of a good time is watching reality tear itself open."

"Reeah-lih-tee?"

"N-never mind, this is the thing that basically is responsible for us here."

"Ah. The Preh-zent."

"No, no it's...this sent us FROM the future, back into the past, which is YOUR present."

"......ohhhhhh, the Fyoo-cha."

"Right exactly. Now uh, you know that smell you don't like? Well you're gonna smell a LOT more of that but don't worry it's fine, nothing bad happens. In fact almost nothing happens usually other than the odd spark of hope we might have before it's snuffed out but that's nothing new."

"Angiiiie," whimpered Jane.

"Don't call me Angie please."

"Well only if you stop being so futilistic."

"Hmph, fine. Now, you two should step back while I get through these last checks."

They waited patiently in a separate isolated room behind a strong particle-resistant glass as they watched Andrea work. Most of it involved her walking round to each monitor cautiously correcting fractions, discussing volumes with her fellow scientists and waiting for the particle beam to charge. Said particle beam was actually a set of four coiled dischargers embedded into each wall pre-programmed to shoot for the gate. After a long laborious 20 minutes they were soon ready to start as they all walked into the isolation room with Jane and Oddclaw where Dixon made a record on her dictaphone. There was a panel in front of them that remotely accessed the startup procedures as the door closed on them tight.

"October twenty-eighth, twenty-thirty-one A.D. Earth standard. Experiment five-hundred-and-seventy-nine. Particle diffraction offset is at seventy-four percent, Kirk-Roentgen frequency at three-hundred terahertz precisely, T.E. stability resonance lowered to forty-three. Initiating now."

A deep trembling hum seized the room with a spine-tingling reverence that shuddered through all of their nervous systems. Infrasound frequencies began to subtly inflict all of them with a seemingly natural sense of warped fear and dread as a cold seething sweat ran down their spines. Oddclaw was starting to panic as Jane held his hand firmly to soothe him, but it helped little to ease the growing panic of his heart.

"Gate is now receptive, activating particle beam."

Carefully pushing buttons on the console caused each of the four dischargers to suddenly fire a monstrous screech, piercing a hot glow from their nozzles as they shot invisible rays into the gate itself. The humming turned greater, their teeth now warm and their blood almost vibrating with a startling skin-crawling comprehension just on the outer fringe of their minds. The horrid shriek of the particle beams became an insufferable cacophony, even from within the shielded room as something started to grow within the gate. A light of some sort, as if a star were being born into existence that Oddclaw found horrifying yet strangely tantalising.

"Particle diffraction holding. Keeping it...stable, hold on for another four minutes."

But four minutes would be too much for Oddclaw as he started to shiver with a horrid fright, his face blanching as his hand became fidgety against Jane's fingers with the rising call of the third energy experiment.

"H-h-hhhhhh...hhhhhh-"

"Oddclaw please, it...it's alright."

"N-n-noise, noise is...noise h-hurts."

"Just, please, relax, we all hear it too."

"N-n-n-noise, noise is...A-AAAH!"

"Be quiet," warned Andrea, "this is what I have to deal with, THIS is what I have to do so we can get home."

"H-h-h-haaaaa...haaaaaaaah...AAAAAGH LEAVE! I WANT TO LEAVE!"

"Jane!"

Dr. Addison tried to hold onto him, wrapping her arms around him in an effort to calm him.

"It's alright, it's alright I'm here, I'm here Oddclaw-"

"N-NOISE, IS...[i]A-AAAAAAARGH![/i]"

"ODDCLAW STOP!"

"[i]MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOOOOP![/i]"

Frantically shrieking in his primal tongue he freed himself from the human's grip and hammered on the door with fists and claws scraping harmless streaks, much to Andrea's appal.

"BE, QUIET THIS IS VERY DELICATE!"

"[i]MAKE IT STOP, MAKE IT STOP [b]PLEASE[/b] IT HUUUURTS![/i]"

"FUCK DEAL WITH HIM ALREADY JANE!"

"I-I-I DON'T KNOW WHAT-"

"YOU BROUGHT HIM HERE HE'S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!"

"ODDCLAW THAT'S ENOUGH! JUST...S-STOP, ODDCLAW!"

"[i]LET ME OUT! LET ME OUUUUUT! GET AWAY FROM MEEEE![/i]"

Screeching with full fangs out towards the first human that would approach him, they stumbled back with fright as the energy in the room intensified. Thickening violent streams of diffusion started to just rip the tiniest fracture in space as Jane stomped towards him.

"ODDCLAW, THAT'S ENOUGH! YOU ARE NOT HELPING, NOW BE QUIET AND JUST WAIT!"

"[i]DON'T TOUCH ME![/i]"

"I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH-[i]A-AAAAGH![/i]"

"NO, [i]NOOOO DON'T![/i]"

Without warning he slashed Jane across the face, causing her to fall back in shock and hit herself against the panel. The calculations changed with a frenzied current as there came the most piercing high-pitched whine as the windows began to vibrate.

"Wh-wh...what?!"

"IT'S, IT'S OVERLOADING!"

"[i]WHAT DID YOU DO!?[/i]"

"[i]L-LET ME OUT! [b]LET ME OUUUUT![/b][/i]"

Screams poured from the room with overwhelming panic as the particle beams burst a new stream of energy with pure latent fury, one that could actually be seen to all the creatures witnessing such an event as their fear begat a stifling clench in their hearts. They felt this would be the end, that their lives would mean nothing except for the small remnants of ash that would be left upon the walls and scattered across the winds of this blown-out husk of a laboratory that this room would be in about 4-8 seconds. The gate trembled with a light that only saints and demons would ever have seen, and in that moment Andrea for once begged forgiveness from a God above. She begged silently for ever tampering with His domain and soon that feeling had passed. When the gate opened and they heard a voice beyond a shimmering darkness that wrapped itself in the purest light. A strange guttural voice with thick phlegm in its throat.

[i]"REGABAH!"[/i]

"WHA-WHO, WHO SAID THAT?!"

[i]"Ha vant mokhayr?!"[/i]

[i]"Jana vakhayr eazizere. Quadha katait dhallutrucs Baldwi-"[/i]

[i]"Jana huna haqqusszhte lerrijarsszh, sszhiidha jent dhahlaisszh, voulaa neledae verriaka-"[/i]

"I-is that...what IS that?!" asked Jane.

"Th-this cannot be...this...i-i-it."

[i]"Voulayk devran vousul levalaa totma pousil tromkhidae, shaqere."[/i]

[i]"Hey...havez-val sszharnendu quelkhsszhaan maintalan?"[/i]

The portal closed taking with it the monstrous voices. The door opened next to Oddclaw as he scurried out of the room with a taste for freedom as he collapsed onto his knees. His heart had stopped racing, along with every human that was walking out behind him stuttering to ask their questions.

"Wh-what was...th-th-that was a-"

"It, it can't, it can't be."

"But you SAW it Johnston, you HEARD it, there were THINGS!"

"Tha-that might be just, just hallucinations, auditory ramblings when the frequency went too high!"

"Alright, what did you hear?"

"I...um, it...well I heard what I thought was Arabic but it sounded weird and-"

"Sort of French-y?"

"Y-y-yeah!"

"I heard it too."

"So did I. Is this one of those mass hallucinations?"

"No that is bullshit, that should not happen."

"But it did."

Andrea walked out last, struggling to comprehend.

"It really happened. We've done it. We opened the gate, even if for a small moment."

"Wh-wh-what? D-doctor, are you sure-"

"We. Just opened, the [i]fucking door[/i] after five years of being stranded in this godforsaken place and you are asking me if I am [b][i]sure of it?[/i][/b]"

The scent of utmost dominance came fuming from the head physicist as Oddclaw soon regained his composure and realised what he had done. He raced over towards Jane who flinched from him at first, nursing her cheek with a bloodied cloth.

"I...I-i-i-i am s-sorry."

"...please."

"I-i, Jane, I um...I-i...did not want, to hurt you, I-"

"It's fine. I'm going to get this checked, just you go back to your room."

"But...but I-"

"Please. I don't want to be angry at you."

"But you are. I can smell it."

She said nothing more and walked off feeling betrayed more than anything as the raptor slumped against the wall with upset. He hugged himself to his knees and started sobbing, quietly as Andrea checked back over to the panel that Jane had hit herself on during the session.

"She...she hit herself where the...thing...was, so what did she change......hhhh. Ohhh jesus, F-farrell! FARRELL WRITE THIS DOWN, WE NEED THIS!"

The scientists came bustling around the console like it was a priceless find as Oddclaw slowly walked himself back to his room alone and distraught. He would not realise the implication of this, of what glimpse they had seen beyond the portal but he would understand one day. Just not today.