chapter 3- The secrets that lie within

Alex smoothly drove up towards the next set of perimeter gates and the house, after hours of car journeys and plane rides the cargo of the future was at the doorstep of the unknown. They slowly pulled up towards the main gateway, surrounded by towering conifers that screened the truth from the outside world like a gateway to a different world. And that if you were to pass through you would discover things you never thought possible. A group of well-armed individuals were approaching the gate, one man swiped a key card along with a system at the gateway and the heavy-duty gates started to drag open making a screeching noise as they did so make few of the men behind the gate tense their faces in an attempt to block out the racket. "security pass please Sir?" a man spoke clearly as the gates had finally opened and were stood by the trucks open window. Alex handed over his pass for the second time and the security guard smiled as if he knew what his name meant and said, "glad to know the fossil arrived safely Dr Thorne the names Alistair Chadwick, looks like I will be seeing you around a lot more Dr Alex Thorne, go on through". Then the individuals let the truck past through the gate, which in the distance stood the old looking large building that could be seen in a tear in the pines. As they drove down the expansive driveway high alloy bars could be seen perfectly following the road up and construction areas could also be seen, and Alex and his team could help but have a curiosity about what they were up to within this compound or whatever what they were preparing for within this large facility but all they could assume that it was something to do with their fragile piece of cargo that lay within the back of their truck safely...

The team was at the main building within scientists and tools could be seen within the dark oaked houses grand windows, but all this extended their curiosity of what was happening here. They got out the truck that was covered with silt and dirt from their drive here to the point where the paintwork was scarcely visible, and next strolled up the fortified security Officer that had a group of people carefully hauling a load of specimen gradually out and put onto the back of a small golf cart looking vehicle that had a metal framework surrounding its inner frame and the cargo was then driven off into the back of the compound as if it was never to be seen again by the increasingly curious Team. Then a man dressed in an immaculate white lab coat over a grey suit marched over to them from out of the facility and cleared his throat to gain their attention, "If you'd follow me Mr Thorne please?" He said this and started to walk back and into the building and Alex couldn't help but stop his urge of curiosity to follow him so off he followed, leaving the team behind him while another lab technician walked up to them guiding them elsewhere. This only made Alex's curiosity grow as to why they would only want him since he was only the leader and there was a whole team that helped him to unearth this fragment of bone from its depths.

"The names Dr Morgan by the way in case you were wondering, and you will be helping us with the fossil if you accept our conditions that is"he continued. After reaching the doors of the compound Alex responded with "and what makes you think I am qualified to help you, Dr Morgan, I'm only a cryptozoologist? He enthused. Its not about your qualifications Dr Thorne, but rather about what you know and what's in that brain of yours." the Doctor smirked as he said this and they carried on through the main solid heavy doors that were hauled open automatically which seeming as an old building surprised Alex as he thought there wouldn't be such technology within the facility, as it slides fully open, revealing an enormous room that mimicked the outside of the building with its antique look yet it was filled with men and women either lab coats or a blue full-body overall on, all darting around doing tasks. Microscopes were feathered everywhere across the room and various pipets and Petrie dishes laid out, also many mechanisms Alex assumed to be concentrating various fluids. Cages also lay around the room all empty but looked as if they were being primed for something Alex shook his head at all the questions he had in his head and was being led through a second sliding door which seemed to be leading through a corridor which yet again displayed an old grand mansion atmosphere about it."This way Mr Thorne we have been waiting for your arrival I'm sure you have many questions but that will have to wait for a while "Dr Morgan stated which pulled Alex out of his curious trans.

As he led Alex down through the passageway that seemed to lead to a big ballroom looking room he saw a small glimpses into one more labs through half glassed doors that lay within the corridor the doors has glass windows that Alex could see were much thicker than average windows which opened more questions in his mind but also caused a disturbance at what might be keeping in this lab and Alex was also intrigued by why the building was completely old looking throughout yet supposed to be a highly secured and updated lab facility and to why such a big building would be within the middle of know where. Alex was then directed through and into the large ballroom which hidden inside was an immense room with fossils displayed along the walls in large framed boxes as if in a museum and sets of draws underneath containing smaller specimens of God knows what Alex thought. At the end of the room as they both reached it at a brisk pace, was a set of two staircases curved around one another going opposite ways which were leading up to a second-floor but amid both staircases was another door with the words 'Dr Beckett's Head Office' written in bold golden metal font, which Alex thought to himself and perceived that if they were in bold it must be someone important to this facility and of high authority. He noticed that whatever this place must be hiding or be about to get him involved in that it must be something for the future and its generations as the entire place seemed futuristic and professional and that whoever or whatever was behind that door would be able to tell him the answers to his many surfacing questions about the suspicious facility.

Dr Morgan Pushed open the heavy oak door to reveal an office, this room contained dark wood furniture like in an old antique Victorian house and had walls full of books both old and new and looked to be in a state of organised mess which was much different to the rest of the facility, at the focus of the room was a grand dark wooden desk that had placed upon it a fairly newly updated computer and an electron microscope with slides and also pipets and Petri dishes containing various fluids all scattered about the table. The room was mostly the organised mess apart from the obvious frustration of the owner of the room where scraps of paper have been furiously scrunched up and thrown at the bin at the further side of the room, but across the furthest back wall of the room, lay a complete glass wall towering the entire perimeter of the wall corner to corner that revealed the outside world and exposed what was behind the facility as a mass of woodland and grassland going back as far as the eye could see with what Alex thought appeared to be more buildings but also stood high boundaries of fences now and then just feathered across the landscape with furthermore towering redwood conifers and Wollemi pines amongst wildlife such as giant hare's foot ferns and cycad and brightly coloured king protea flowers.

Alex's attention was then drawn away from the mysteries of this place and drawn towards the sound of rustling and rummaging which sounded to be coming from underneath the desk in front of him, he slowly edged towards the noise but got so far and stopped, and turned around to Dr Morgan who just only reassured Alex with a nod to carry on and the wave of his hand, So he turned back around and carried on walking toward the noises but as he got closer he saw a flash of movement and got startled and jumped back "so sorry didn't mean to scare you there" a woman's voice said, as he regained his balance he saw the source of the voice before him, an average height woman with light brown hair and hazel eyes stood before him curiously. He stood there looking back at her while she looked back "Hiya, you must be Alex Thorne I presume, nice to meet ya, a great fan of your work by the way "she suddenly announced while grabbing Alex's hand and shaking it while he was still a bit shocked from the whole situation, "I'm sure you have a lot of questions to ask but I'm going to do the answering before you do the questioning if that's okay, well actually you don't have a choice" she rambled on then looked at him to make sure she could proceed, Alex nodded and told her to go ahead. "Okay so, first of all, I'm Doctor Maisie Beckett the one hiring you hello that's me by the way" she answered as she waved her hand at him "you've done an excellent job so far no superb job at that of getting the piece of bone for my work but there are a few more things I may need of you and your team and that is to help me getting this operation up and running for the long run as a palaeontologist I'm sure you've always wanted to meet the bones you've been working with, in person and get to study them but there's a lot of steps we need to go through before that can take place ya see", she paused to get her to breathe as she started to continue to ramble on about the work ahead which was leaving Alex with many multiple feelings as of right now but also giving him more questions to ask "I've been working with a huge team of amazing people to create the impossible and to in short, make the past live again! and I need you and my team to work together to ensure that this all goes exactly to plan, we can't afford any slip-ups, especially now I've or well we've all got this far through it" "So are you with me?" she stated as she came to conclude her master plan of ideas and exaggeration. Alex stared bewildered for a second, thinking about everything she just said and decided it was questioning time "what exactly are we recreating so to speak?" he pondered she scrunched her face up a bit in thought and came out with "well... Whatever is in that lovely specimen of a fossil you've dug up out of the Ground for me Doc" she replied, Alex processed that and realised in shock" wait, you don't know what animal you are going make pop up out of an egg and live again??" he asked shocked she scrunched up her face again "well...yeah basically" "that's insane "Alex claimed" you won't know what outcomes we occur from that it's like sauntering into a cave knowing that there are immense hazards and jeopardies but disregarding them" Alex rambled as he was processing everything "well Dr Thorne, we have the resources available for every possible outcome, we have been working on this for quite some time now after all" Alex couldn't believe what he was hearing, they were going to recreate an unknown species from this skeleton and simply expect for the best knowing that it could go wrong and just accept these risks! This was going to be one hell of a project but Alex knew deep down what he was going to reply "I accept your offer, Dr Beckett, if you and your team are going to go into the unknown then I would rather be here to help clean up the mess if it does go wrong" she beamed at him and nodded "thank you, Dr Thorne, your team combined with mine will be all worth the time and effort once we get our results, I cant wait to get this up and running, the work shall start now!" she revealed and jumped and slid over the top of the desk to next to Alex and started to walk out of the room and towards the door and when at the door turned around to Alex and responded "well come on, we've got the unknown to create!" and with that Alex's curiosity yet again grew as he smirked, shook his head and trudged towards and out the door with her...Into the unknown.