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Hunter’s Moon
Never underestimate life
Book II of Cretaceous Station
A New Approach to Adventure & Horror based on Science Fact.
Terrence E. Zavecz
65 Schlossburg St.
Alburtis PA 18011
[email protected]
[email protected]
+1 (610) 462 0706
GraviDynamics Corporation
“The serenity of the opaled ocean sweeps over me. As I had hoped, it channels my
thoughts away from challenge of the path ahead. For just a short while, push aside the
quest, elusive goals and pressures of the daily tasks and try to look back and recall
why.”
Mark Francis Nolen
“Ah but it’s during the night that my ancestors were busy, especially on evenings such
as this. Those rare nights blessed by the full Hunter’s Moon that would light the fields,
casting long dark shadows revealing even the slightest movement”
Corey James Zavtek
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and
dialogues are products of the author’s imagination and are
not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual
persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
The references and chapter discussions in this book are real
and are, to the best of the author’s knowledge, true and accurate.
Copyright © 2012 by Terrence E. Zavecz
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright conventions.
Hunter’s Moon
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Mark Francis Nolen – Chief Executive Officer, Director of the Board
Dr. Matthew Zoeller – Chief Scientist, Partner
The following material is considered confidential and proprietary.
Use is restricted to the needs of GraviDynamics Corporation and its officers.
Cretaceous Station Personnel consisting of 320 men, women and children as of March 27, 2232.
All material in this report has been verified for permanent records. References have been correlated to
the summary of each section and their sources validated #322117-23.
Primary contributors and those mentioned in this report are as follows:
Members of the Board of Directors on Site
Robert Taylor, spouse Julia and two daughters.
Deborah Clinow
Doctor Suzan Esque
Justin Rather
Engineers & Scientists
Janet Anderson – Geo-Physicist
Anton Dotschkal – Civil Engineer
Martin Feldman – Physicist
Mary Li – Chef, Nutritionist
David Pope – Naturalist
Sara Wenford – Paleontologist
Paul Wenford – Physicist
Children:
John Wenford – Son of Sara & Paul,
Current patent holder, Hive-Bot Technology
Brittany Wenford – Hypsilophodont Specialist
Michael Yatscho – Opticial Design Engineer
Corey Zavtek – Mechanical Engineer
Rachel Zavek - Spouse
Children: Gabriel Zavecz
Crew of Argos
Adrian Lee – Pilot
Seth Sassaman – Hunter Pilot
Molly Pasteur - Communications
Crew of Essex
Maynard Dillard – Captain, commanding
Susan Shieve – Communications
BlackWave Security & Engineering
Daniel Drake, Colonel Commanding
Toshi Yakamura - Pilot
Alex Grissom – Sergeant, Engineering Specialist
Bob Brody – Demolitions, Specialist
Tom Bracken – Electronics, Specialist
Sotak Luti – Engineering Specialist
Cindy Decker – Hive-Tab Systems Engineer
Eric Beadler – Technician
Brian Folsome – Engineering Specialist
Ed Saren – Weapons Specialist
Jane buckheit – Statistician
Dieter Chintz – Mechanical Engineering
Wei Young – systems Analyst
Wei Young – systems Analyst
Daughter – Jenn Young
Hypsilophodont Familiars
Tina, Molly, Fran, Buddy, Dozi, Fozzy
Hunter’s Moon
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Prolog: Sea Home
“Nature hath framed strange fellows in her time.”
William Shakespeare
"… but it was the mark of a brave man to face things that are, and seem, terrible
for a man, because it is noble to do so and disgraceful not to do so."
Aristotle
‘Why do I have to go to school anyway?’ Gabriel Zavtek thought to himself as he ran out along the cliff
edge high above the ocean. ‘It’s boring. There’s so much more to see and learn out here!’
Gabe scurried down beside a large fern and picked up a stone. The cobalt waters lazily beat the rocks a
hundred feet below adding soft background music to the songs of the birds feeding in the surf. He took
quick aim at the nearest and threw the stone. It landed far short of its mark but Gabe didn’t really mind.
A stone flew past his head and Gabe turned around, startled. ‘Fozzy, you scared me! I didn’t hear you!’
‘Hi, Gabe!’ A soft, almost girlish voice replied.
‘You’re lucky! You don’t have to sit and learn all day.’ Gabriel whimpered toward his friend. ‘Hey,
let’s go over to the sandy side and see if there’s anything on the beach.’
The soft musty smell of the palms and ginkgo trees rode on a salty breeze gently lifting from the waters
below as they pushed down the path. They ran inland first and then northward to the other side of the
narrow neck of the land bridge that connected to the peninsula. Gabe’s home was out on that peninsula. He
knew he should not be out on the mainland like this, but he’d come here a hundred times before.
Large ferns covered sections of the trail, sometimes towering over their heads. They had passed this
way many times before in play, tripping and bumping each other. They pulled sticks from the undergrowth
as they ran and flung them at the small lizards and ground-birds that scattered in front of them. Laughing
and enjoying the warmth of the early morning. Fozzy whistled a low melody as they strolled. Gabe always
wished he could whistle like that.
As they passed over a rise in the trail, they could hear the surf softly rolling on the coarse sand beach
ahead. Quietly and with great care, they moved to the edge of the cliff. ‘Yes! There must be a hundred of
them laying down there. Shhh! Just do as I do.’
Far below a group of grey backed bathers scampered across the beach and in the shallow waves. Adults
lay nearby watching, soaking in the warmth of the morning sunlight. Occasionally a head would lift high on
its long neck and bellow to the young ones, warning them back from the surf. Some rested with their white
bellies turned toward the blue sky. Others adults lazily reached over to scratch at flies and sand fleas.
The youngsters in the group moved clumsily along the beach. Four legs, shaped more like flippers than
feet, pushed through the damp sand leaving a long trail of footprints with a central line carved by their
heavy tail. Long necks, topped with a small tooth-filled heads, swung and twined in mock battle between
two of the young males. They bellowed and cried as their parents kept watch over the nearby surf.
Prolog: Sea Home
‘We’re lucky.’ Gabe said to Fozzy. ‘They don’t usually stay around this long after the sun is up. See
that big one up there. He’s the papa, my dad says he can swim so fast that he can jump completely out of the
water.’
The sky is almost as blue as the ocean with hardly a cloud in sight. A thin haze forms off in the distance
where the tropical clear water meets the sky. The boys watched until they became bored with the antics on
the beach below.
Gabe turned to Fozzy, ‘Let’s go sneak up on the Trikes. Come on, they’re just down this trail.’
They skipped through open brush lands filled with ferns and low palm trees. The ground was soft with a
cushion of dead leaves and peat moss below their feet. The trail weaved in and around small islands of brush
covered in rough leaves and tall ferns. Down to a field they walked, listening to the singing in the trees,
swatting at the bugs and lunging at the small ones that scattered before them with their warbled cries and
long feathery tails. Ahead there is a small stream and a clearing.
‘Shh! They’re always in here.’ He whispered to Fozzy who was nibbling on a small twig from one of
the bushes.
Carefully, they walk up to the clearing and peak around the bush. Nothing is there.
Gabe stood up, ‘Oh darn. They’re always here! Come on, let’s go over along the stream. We’ll catch
some frogs.’
They ran over to the edge of the shallow stream. A few, sparse blades of low grass evaded the shade of
the ferns to cover the wet banks. ‘There’s a leopard frog! Get him!’
Fozzy jumped into the water and grabbed the frog. Then he looked at Gabe and plopped the frog into
his mouth.
‘Aw, why do you do that all the time Fozzy?’ Gabe grumbled as Fozzy chewed and swallowed the
crunchy critter whole.
Then they hear a soft rustle in the bushes back down the trail. Gabe freezes at the unexpected noise and
watches as Fozzy quietly edges over to the bank of the stream.
‘Gabe, come now!’ Fozzy says in a wheezing whisper as he tries to pull Gabe away.
‘No, wait a second Fozzy.’ Gabe whispers back.
‘I go, you come too!’ Fozzy says as he pulls on Gabe’s shirt with greater force but Gabe doesn’t move a
muscle. Fozzy gave up. Quickly he turned, his head plumage drawn down tightly to form a sparkling golden
brown ridge down the back of his spine. “Gabe come now!” He desperately whispered and then quietly
lowered down onto his hands and feet, and scurried silently down the trail toward home.
Gabe froze and stared to where they heard the sounds. She emerged from the low shrubs less than fifty
feet down the trail. She stood up straight, about seven feet long from tail-tip to nose with a fine coat of small
black feathers that open into beautiful a plumage spread at the tip of her tail. She stands taller than Gabe by
at least two feet. A ring of yellow feathers run thickly around her neck to frame a head crested with a
beautiful, almost gaudy yellow plume. As he watches, she warbles a low tune. She turns her head and
stretches as she sings and the warble climbs up the scales in a melody very familiar to Gabe. With her cry,
Gabe can clearly see her thin-boned jaws lined with rows of inch long sharp teeth in the front and flat ones
in the back. As he watches she reaches up with a three fingered hand and grabs a branch. She pulls it down
and bites off some of the coarse leaves.
Hunter’s Moon
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Prolog: Sea Home
Then her eyes flicker down the path and she turns her gaze directly at Gabe standing there. She slowly
cocks her head from side to side. She doesn’t move but watches him with bright yellow eyes for a few
moments. Gabe can see her moment of decision as their eyes hold the lock and she slowly begins to walk
over toward him.
Gabe remembers! The memories rush back and he remembers all! This is the one! A smile fills his face
and once again he wishes he could whistle like Fozzy as he tries to mimic the calls taught to him so long
ago.
The raptor picks up speed and runs down at him as Gabe raises to his full height. He charges forward,
arms fully extended, almost knocking her over as they meet.
‘You’re back! I missed you so much.’ Gabe shouts as she wiggles in his arms. She never was fully
comfortable with the hug but she still whistles a low greeting call to him as her short arms join in this
strange embrace. She tussles his strange hair and nuzzles his neck in fond greeting. The tender memories
return, unfolding in droves to both.
‘Come on, we have to go and find Aunt Sara!’ he said as he turns to lead her back to the peninsula.
They walk back down along the main trail together. This is her first time back onto the peninsula since the
humans came. She is both excited and very nervous.
Gabe’s Mom and Aunt Sara emerged from the main gate with pistols on their hips and rifles held before
them. Gabe could feel the tension rise within his friend. ‘Fozzy must have told on me.’ he says to her. ‘Well,
I don’t care because you’re back again and I missed you so much.’
His mother Rachel and Sara stop when they see them coming down the trail. A look of anger and
frustration fills Rachel’s face. Sara smiles and raises her head to bear her throat in a whistled greeting that
she had learned from her work with them. Slowly she raises her hand and the dinosaur grabs it gently as she
had done so long ago.
Sara can now hear the familiar songs of the family rising off in the distance. It is a sweet, musical
answering warble of greeting from afar to her call. The Troondons have returned to the peninsula and to
their remembered friends the scientists and explorers of Cretaceous Station.
Hunter’s Moon
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Chapter 1: Cretaceous Station
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of
all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer
pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed."
Albert Einstein
The serenity of the opaled ocean sweeps over me. As I had hoped, it channels my thoughts away from
challenge of the path ahead. For just a short while, push aside the quest, elusive goals and pressures of the
daily tasks and try to look back and recall why. Milestone after milestone has fallen before this expedition.
Unbidden discoveries vie with anticipated objectives in importance, all driving us to this radical decision.
You win one battle and another always appears to challenge your advancement. Simplicity understood
yields complexity. Then too, it is strange how technology can sometimes seem so uncomplicated compared
with trying to control human perceptions. Perceptions that I must bend and shape, for now I again need their
support. I need to win their help. How much should we disclose to draw them here? What best be left
shrouded?
So much had changed. Was it truly only a few months? Our original goal is finally assured; it’s just a
matter of time and hard work. I used to question my very sanity for undertaking this broad gamble. No
more! No longer a matter of “if” or “how” but rather “what is the best and quickest way?” Perchance, “How
Far?”
A great fearful leap into the unknown followed by a few initial tests had immediately drawn credence
into our theory. A few more measurements, perhaps a small redesign or two and we will have truly practical
interstellar flight capable of realistic colonization goals. Yet, who would have thought this key to our
species future to be tied so strongly to our distant past?
In spite of our success, a deep fear lurks in the dark shadows of my mind. Do I reveal it to them or hide
it? My concern about the fragility of our hold here amplifies my inner turmoil and questions my every
decision. I can’t seem to push Matt’s earlier words from my mind, “There are only eighty-seven scientists in
the expedition. One small accident and the knowledge is lost. Accidents happen all too often around here,
too many unknowns, too many hurt or killed. We are too isolated from our home, our earth. We came to
softly glean the needed knowledge from the cosmos but instead found its keys lying amid a path of perils
wickedly taunting humankind to follow intrusively and participate deeply in what is, we now realize, an
alien ecology.”
Will they see the irony and risk if I don’t reveal it? How do I convince them to commit to the vast
changes in our plans and embrace the perils of this new path, this ironic leap into an even greater unknown?
With success in sight, our original mission near satisfied, I now ask them to risk all and take on this greater
challenge.
He lifted his eyes to the clear, far horizon. Mark Nolen, founder of GraviDynamics Corporation, gazed
out over the morning glow of a softly undulating, turquoise blue ocean. A cooling ocean breeze drifted over
from the cliffs below him. The faint smell of salt-air rose from the waves as they rolled in to break lazily
against the rocks. The air is salty but filled with the sweet aroma of the flowers that look like wild roses and
seemed to thrive on this high plateau.
Hunter’s Moon
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Life fills the skies around him. White sea birds rise from the cliffs and mix with small but equally
graceful flying reptiles. They take wing, cartwheel about the cliffs and then over the food giving waters.
Each with the grace of a nymph, they rise in groups to swirl and then dive into the ocean, filling the air with
the cries of their early morning feeding.
His eyes scan out to a clear horizon nearly devoid of clouds. Life fills the ocean as it fills the sky. Pods
of long necked, grey backed creatures swim in the distance. Tight circles of rough water betray the presence
of schools of small creatures feeding near the surface, attracting the attention of the hungry birds and flying
reptiles.
After seven months here, Mark found his sight greatly improved over these long distances even without
the Hive Tab enhancements. The ship’s doctor, Ian Graeme, insisted that it was because of the higher
oxygen content of the atmosphere. The human body just seems to function better in a 26% oxygen
environment, a benign level about 5% higher than earth-normal.
Mark turns from the virtual, real-time landscape, provided by his office here on board the Argos, to
tussle and dry his hair with the towel draped over his shoulders. The daily workouts were critical and he
preferred to practice his ritual in the high, ninety degree temperatures normally found outside at the Station.
He also preferred to work out in the 1.2G gravity well provided by the gym. They could adjust the gravity in
the workout room here on the ship and next week there would be a larger area in the Station’s new gym.
Gravity outside at Cretaceous Station was only 0.8 G, that is, 0.8 the normal earth gravity that the humans
were accustomed to in their own timeframe. Human muscles and bone frames are denser than most of the
Cretaceous Era creatures because of the human’s higher gravity evolution. Ian constantly stresses how
important it is to keep muscle tone.
Mark dressed lightly as one does in a balmy tropical environment. Unconsciously his eyes turned as a
giant mosasaur leapt from the far ocean into the air. Unbidden thoughts race through his mind, ‘It’s uncanny
how they can be so graceful and still look so strange.’ Then he realizes just how much his thought patterns
had changed with this expedition. He thought of the animal as a mosasaur now rather than the textbook
description he had first learned, ‘The mosasaur was a massive reptile with a tooth-filled, crocodile like head
that can swallow a man whole. It pushed through the ocean using four huge flippers and a long tail that
ended in a splayed end rather like that of a large shark. The creature appears as a cross between a crocodile,
a four-flippered dolphin and a shark.’
A small applet next to the reptile appeared, seeming to float in the air. It reported the animal to be 28
feet in length as it gracefully slid back under the waves. A second unconscious thought comes forward, ‘Ah,
a small one time. Wonder if its parents are nearby.’
Reluctantly his thoughts turned back to the hated task that he could delay no longer. It has to be more
than a dry report on mission status to the GraviDynamics board. This report contains a new plan
incorporating radical changes in overall scope. In spite of his call for drastic change, he had chosen not to
return with the Argos and a skeleton crew. Instead, they would simply send an automated probe with the
data, the message and a hope that the board did not rebel. Unfortunately, direct communications across the
cosmic string and back to their headquarters on Jupiter’s sixth moon Europa were not possible. Not even
their Gravitonic Communications System, that used the faster than light speed communications of quantum
gravity, could transverse the strange physics induced by the rapidly spinning cosmic string.
Seven month ago the Argos had entered the Red Spot of Jupiter, using it to travel back in time almost
66 million years to a point a thousand years before the great extinction event that killed off more than 50%
of the species on the Earth and almost all of the dinosaurs. GraviDynamics probes had discovered that the
Hunter’s Moon
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strangely stable Red Spot on Jupiter was actually a rapidly spinning cosmic string, folded and anchored in a
small black hole at the center of the object they had thought was a planet. The cosmic string spins so rapidly
that its intense gravity warps both time and space. The theory was not new, for the behavior of the spinning
string was in fact theorized as an artifact called a Tippler Cylinder. However, the Red Spot was the first
such observed phenomenon since the theory was proposed over a hundred years ago. The first probe
GraviDynamics had sent into the anomaly revealed that travelling along the string carried the voyager back
in time. Strangely enough, forward movement for them terminated in their own era located at the apparent
end of the string.
Going downtime, the string has kinks along its length that form the only exit portals. They discovered
that each of the kinks formed a nodal port into a timeframe corresponding to each of the past extinction
events that have occurred periodically throughout the long history of the earth. While the traveler could not
move forward in time, it was possible to force an exit point slightly before or after each of the actual
extinction events. For Mark and his research team here in the Cretaceous, the great extinction would still be
a safe thousand years in the future. However, this strange joining between cosmic string and a black hole
provides their only path forward in time to their home.
At this point in the construction of Cretaceous Station, the Argos sits comfortably docked on a pad
located near the center of the settlement. This was to have been a five-year research project and many of the
ship’s systems are still needed by the 320 scientists, support personnel, soldiers and children who now live
and work here.
The automated probe that they are now sending forward to their original timeframe will report on their
progress. More importantly, it will inform the board of directors of the company of the drastic change in
plan and the expansion in project scope that Mark has decided are to take place.
Mark’s thoughts wrestled with the organization of the data. Beginning the message was always hard.
How much should I tell them? How much should I assume they already know considering the major
changes we will be making in our plans? Mark’s mind dredged through memories of their first arrival. The
momentous discoveries that now seemed to originate so long ago. So much had occurred to change their
visions of the universe in these short seven months.
Their original mission was relatively simple. It encompassed a clearly defined set of measurements to
deny or confirm their theoretical models for their Gravitonics Interstellar Drive. The simplicity of the task
belied just how critical the measurements were for both GraviDynamics Corporation and the entire human
race. Mankind had finally broken the bonds of Earth and established stations on the Moon, Mars and the
inner moons of Jupiter. They built Europa Station, now the development headquarters of GraviDynamics, to
mine the frozen and liquid waters of that small moon of Jupiter. The water provided critical oxygen and fuel
to other mining operations in the asteroid belt. It was profitable and these profits spurred their stardrive
research.
The basic research of Levy, Sanders and Hsu of nearly a century ago in gravitational interactions
revolutionized physics with their postulation of Quantum Gravitonics. Mark Nolen and Doctor Matthew
Zoeller transformed this theory into a practical communications network that used gravity itself to provide
almost instantaneous communications between any points in the Solar System. Gravitonic theory had
revealed that gravity is not the weak mass-centric phenomenon of classic Einsteinian Physics, but rather a
powerful energy source inherent in the sub-particles of the humble electron; just as atomic energy is
inherent in the subatomic particles of an atom.
Hunter’s Moon
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Normally shielded electrons reveal only a small fraction of their energy but, when subjected to the
proper electromagnetic excitation, they expose subelectron particles that emit and react to gravitonic waves.
Waves that travel at hundreds of times the speed of light. The gravitonic wave theory embraced waveparticle duality concepts of quantum physics with physical particles that could fly across galaxies and
through the mass of stars and planets as though they were vapor. GraviDynamics Corporation’s first success
came in the form of wave modulating transmitters and receivers for faster than light-speed communications.
The company’s early success in communications products soon led to the realization that sub-electron
particle reactions were the true sources of gravity. With their ability to modulate the electron-particle shield
soon came the ability to control the local force of gravity exerted on the larger atoms of the object. Rather
than an “antigravity” field, they marketed gravity control equipment. The development of short range
gravity control fields then led corporate research to the Gravitonic Drive, mankind’s first stardrive.
Mankind’s first interstellar adventure, in the form of an expedition to Alpha Centauri, was already
underway.
However, their Gravitonic Drives were strangely limited to speeds just under light-speed. Theory said
that they should be capable of much higher velocities. As a result, that first stellar expedition would require
four years travel time to reach to this nearest star system when the trip should only require days.
This expedition’s trip downtime, and the recent discoveries made so close to this extinction event,
convinced Mark and his research group that meaningful colonization of other earth-like planets is critical to
the survival of the human race. Life in one solar system is too fragile, too easily wiped clean from the
violent universe.
The benefits weren’t all altruistic. Control of interstellar trade will be a very profitable position for any
company early into and perhaps dominating the market. A major problem remained in that the nearest stellar
systems containing potentially earth-similar planets are over a hundred light years away. Unless they could
correct their drive models, colonization at the speed of light would still be too costly and take too much
time.
Research led by Mark and Matt concluded that something was wrong in their model of quantum
gravitonics. The solution had to reside in their formulation of the drive models. Most likely, they theorized,
some of the universal constants of these equations, derived originally from old quantum mechanics theory,
were in fact slowly changing variables. The problem remained; which variables continued to masquerade as
constants? Then, even if we can identify them, how can we characterize their behavior in the model where
they change so slowly?
The strange Red Spot of Jupiter presented a unique opportunity. The lure of controlling interstellar
travel and trade provided the financial incentive for the company to risk travel back in time to measure the
constants of the universe and perhaps correct their drive equations. It was a gamble but success would bring
travel times to stars, with earth-like planets, from hundreds of years to transits of only a few short months or
years.
The first slow expedition to Alpha Centauri was already underway when the Argos left Europa. Argos
however, is a starship with a mission that would not take it to another star. Its mission is less exotic, more
humble than interstellar discovery. They used the time gravitonics warping mechanism provided by the
cosmic string to simply go back to a time long past. A time when the universe was younger and they could
again measure the earlier constants of the universe. Hopefully to discover their errors in the theory and
change the models to unleash the true potential of the Gravitonic Drive.
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This is the mission of the research team, soldiers and families of the Argos. To travel where no man has
gone before into the distant past of the Cretaceous Era and, in turn, unlock the secrets of future interstellar
travel.
Using the Hive-Tab link sitting on the mastoid bone behind his ear, Mark opened a mental document in
a portion of his mind now linked to the resources of the ship’s hive-computer. These files formed the
document packet that will be carried back to Europa Headquarters. In precise mathematical detail, it
described the very significant changes they had discovered so far. Here is a file created by Doctor Matthew
Zoeller, his chief engineer, for transmission with the probe.
Let’s see, ah yes, the summary. The first few months here had shown that their mission was justified.
At least two of the so called universal constants were in fact variables. They would be able to update their
Gravitonics Theory but they still needed to characterize the variable’s response patterns before they could
properly include them in a functional drive model. The team is now beginning experiments to obtain a fine
analysis that will eventually incorporate these variables into a working model for the engines. Matt Zoeller’s
file laid out the experimental plan for the tests to be performed and the facilities needed to perform the
measurements. Easy success is in sight.
The expedition constructed a secure research base that they named Cretaceous Station. A second site,
up in the mountain chain to the north at a valley named Blackbird, provides the limited raw materials
needed to fabricate their test beds. Blackbird Valley has also become a popular vacation spot where the
station personnel can briefly refresh themselves with a cooler, beautiful valley of waterfalls and high
mountain peaks.
The unexpected major discovery of the mission did not directly involve the interstellar drive. It
presented itself to the researchers in data brought back from their telescopes orbiting this young world.
Mark opened another file and a portion of the ocean scene before him transformed into a slowly rotating,
four armed pinwheel of stars that was our galaxy, the Milky Way. One point glowed in the display to
highlight the location of the Earth in their original timeframe. The Earth of mankind’s time is located in the
rather sparsely populated, back-edge of the Orion Arm of the Milky Way. In this timeframe the solar
system, so well known to mankind, is now on a path that would take it, in the next several million years,
into the star-sparse area between the arms bringing warmth and climate uniformity across the globe.
After the expedition arrived here at the end of the Cretaceous Era, their orbiting telescopes discovered
that the solar system is currently entering an entirely different section of the Milky Way galaxy, the
Sagittarius Arm. Their observations show that at this point in the orbit, the dinosaurs have been evolving
under ideal, stable climatic conditions for more than a hundred million years. A second star-point flashed on
the white-hot edge of the Sagittarius Arm. The solar system, of the dinosaur’s era, is heading directly into a
tightly packed traffic jam of star systems that form the leading edge of this galactic arm. At this entry point,
the solar system has already entered a densely populated section of space that exhibits strong concentrations
of cosmic radiation and debris.
The crossing of the solar system into this violent region presents a physical wavefront in space that
already has begun to change the climate of the earth. The uniform warmth and clear skies are changing to
cooler temperatures with more clouds. As the interactions continue in the next thousand years, the high
cosmic ray intensity of this galactic arm will excite the earth’s troposphere to thicken the cloud cover and
eventually end the uniformly warm environment enjoyed by the dinosaurs for the past millennium.
This tightly packed region of the stellar arm is rampant with star building activity. Nova reactions have
strewn thick concentrations of debris into the areas between the stars. Mark and his team know that in the
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next thousand years the climatic change will be accelerated by a major cometary impact with the Earth
throwing residue high into the atmosphere and compounding the cloud cover cooling initiated by cosmic
radiation. This collision will be the famous K-T extinction event, ending a hundred million years of
uniformly mild temperatures and the reign of the dinosaur and bringing on a strong cycle of ice ages.
For the expedition, the K-T event is a thousand years in the future. More to the immediate interest of
the humans, the location of the Solar System relative to the other stars of the Milky Way has changed
significantly. The Cretaceous Era existed in a completely different stellar neighborhood. Key to Mark’s
decision, several Earth-like planetary systems, that were formerly hundreds of light years away, are now a
scant few light-years distant. Two systems, potentially very friendly for human habitation, are even closer
than the nearest star Alpha Centauri had been in the human’s original timeframe.
Mark and Matt are presenting the board with the realization that a colonization spaceport located in the
Cretaceous Era will shorten transit times to those friendly stars that have the best potential to be successful
earth colonies. From this ancient point in time, some very habitable planets were now within easy reach of
colonists. But first, the colonists would have to travel back in time sixty-five or so million years prior to
beginning their journey to the stars.
The report continued to detail the technical successes of the research and vividly portrayed the beauty
of the resort-like nature of the world around them that would be the home of the spaceport. It sang the
benefits of the low gravity, high oxygen content of the planet. The warm, clear skies and tropical lands filled
with familiar palms and flowering trees. The unexpected variety and beauty of the life once thought to be
simple-minded reptilian beasts. Most of all, it concludes with the modest claim that the venture would set
GraviDynamics up as the most lucrative company in the human universe.
The K-T extinction is still a thousand years off into the future. There will be more than enough time for
man’s first expansion to the stars. Human colonies spreading throughout the galaxy would guarantee the
continuation of the human race. GraviDynamics would bring more people and supplies back in time. They
would expand humanity’s foothold here, changing a small research outpost into a major interstellar
spaceport.
The Milky Way graphic faded and his walldisplay returned to the beautiful but ancient world around
him. His gaze turned toward the mainland, his walldisplay filtering out the human noises of the growing
settlement around his office. The Station is located on a high plateau that sticks out into the shallow sea now
covering an area that will someday be most of the central United States. The plateau’s hundred foot high
cliffs face white sand beaches to the north and east. South of them, the cliffs meet the calm ocean in rocky
surf that marks the mouth of a large river. A thin neck of land, now secured with a fortified gate, separates
them from the mainland.
Mark turns his gaze landward toward the high mountains in the west when his view is interrupted as a
leg and hand, holding a hive compactor, pushes through the picture before him. The hand quickly grows into
a tall but somewhat stocky man with light, almost blond hair surrounding a sun tanned and smiling face.
‘Hi Mark. Hope you don’t mind. Your office wasn’t set for privacy and I wanted to dump the
compressed reports that Matt and I put together into the probe. We need your stamp of approval for this data
and then Seth can take it up and start it on its journey back home.’
‘You didn’t interrupt me Paul. I was just reviewing the material. I believe we told them enough to get
them going. We should have a build-up schedule back from the home office in two weeks.’
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Paul Wenford is one of the four people who really understand the new drive models. He was a lucky
bonus that came along with his wife Sara, their paleontologist turned naturalist. Having a quick mind and
education in physics, Paul and Matt Zoeller had hit it off early. They worked well together. The project had
benefited from their collaboration. Mark watched Paul as he laid out the signature file for his approval.
Mark’s thoughts wondered about the influence of luck, fortunes and fate every time he considered the
Wenford family, ‘Actually I felt bad about enforcing that contract clause on Sara. What other choice did I
have?’
It was a last minute decision. Their naturalist, Doctor David Pope, decided he would need help with the
local wildlife. Good thing Dave insisted on bringing Sara and her knowledge of the animals because these
dinosaurs were a lot more than any of them expected. They were faster and more agile than anyone had ever
anticipated. They were graceful and beautifully covered, to varying degrees, with feathers. Most of all they
were surprisingly intelligent.
Marks thoughts continued as Paul set up the files. ‘Surprisingly everyone in her family has become a
major contributor. Paul’s original interest in robotics seemed to carry over into a familial natural inclination
in his teenage son John. John’s Hive-Bot programs, using nanobot swarms to create a single robotic entity,
could form a profit center of their own for the company when they returned. That is if we decide to market
them. Hmmm, there might be some advantage to keeping them a trade secret.’
‘John’s twin teenage sister Brittany follows her mother’s interests. She’s taken to the local wildlife with
a research quality that goes far beyond her years. Her studies on the interactions of the Hypsilophodont
colony here, or “Hypes” as they are called by the residents, would be enough to earn her degree. Brittany
was the first to discover their level of reasoning. Oral mimicry on their part soon gave way to full
independent thought and speech for some of the Hypes. Where is that in the report? Ok, she included some
of her work in the report, let’s see ….’
‘The Hypes have become guides, friends and companions. They seem to fill a niche that is something
more than the close relationship formed between canine and man. Hypes are highly intelligent omnivores
yet they are not man-like. They have an intelligence that is different in fundamental ways. They possess a
high intellect less prone to using tools, although they do use them in crude ways. Rather than modify their
environment to their needs, they would try to adapt to it. Perhaps that is why their race will not survive the
drastic changes of the coming extinction event.’
‘The Troondons occupy the headlands of the plateau as a family group or tribe. They also exhibit
intelligence but, since they are Theropods, they are hunters. Our fossil record studies predicted the high
intelligence of the Troondons. We only underestimated it. They hunt in coordinated parties and form a
matriarchal society dominated by the oldest female. Their ancestors will evolve into birds and many of their
current habits portend this evolution. Troondons haven’t exhibited the strong vocal language talents enjoyed
by the Hypes.’
Mark stopped and looked up. ‘Paul, take the rest of the Brittany’s report after the Troondon out of the
transmittal package. There’s no need to detail the intelligence and hunting tactics of the T-Rex and other
theropods. We need to keep the board focused and I don’t want to scare them off the project. This will also
be better for Brittany when she does publish her work. We don’t want people speculating and taking credit
for her groundwork.’
‘Ok, that’s enough for now. Let her rip when you’re done.’ Mark said as he handed the compactor back
to Paul.
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The expedition brought three Hunter Recon vehicles along. These were the smallest GraviDynamics
drive-capable vehicles that the company produced. Seth Sassaman, one of their three pilots, would take the
probe back to Jupiter orbit and release it. Then they needed to wait for the return schedule but in the mean
time, there was more than enough work to occupy their minds.
Mark got up and followed Paul down and outside of the Argos into the warm sunlight. ‘While we are
waiting, we can begin pouring the test bed for the neutron interferometer. Gee, I wonder if there’s any of
that duck-billed dinosaur meat left from last night’s dinner?’
Paul smiled and looked at him. ‘I’ll join you as soon as I drop this off. Seth is waiting at the pad. By the
way, that’s Hadrosaurid meat. If you go and tell Mary Li you want a duck-bill sandwich you just might get
something you don’t expect. In any case, I guess we need to come up with shorter names for these guys.
Save me some white meat and some filling.’
‘OK, come on Paul, I’ll walk with you part of the way. I need to go and see how the test bed
construction is going along. We’ll then meet at the Station cafeteria in a half hour.’
Mark and Paul walked from his office and down a well-lit hallway to the central lift of the Argos. They
took the lift to the bottom of the extended base of the saucer shaped starship. The passenger exit’s air-lock
system was disengaged because the entire ship was currently using the planet’s atmosphere, although Matt
had told him that the air still actively filtered for biologic and other potential contaminants.
The yellow Sun shone brightly from a point just above the eastern horizon across a blue cloudless sky.
Most of the time skies were cloudless and the winds soft and gentle. The air carried a tropical warmth with
the smell of clean, fresh sea salt rising from this shallow inland sea. They were located in an area that would
someday be southwest Texas. The low waves of the shallow sea, that extended from the Gulf of Mexico and
up through Canada, rolled in lazily toward the peninsula.
Mark walked down a sand and pebble strewn pathway. This was the commercial center of the station
and it contained the common meeting area as well as storage buildings, workshops, labs and offices of the
station. The structures were made of fused silicon and their designs blended with the surrounding plateau.
The whole station looked more like a park than an industrial research site.
They dredged the raw silicon for the buildings from the abundant supply of sand in the surrounding
ocean. Modern building techniques created smooth and flowing designs that blend effortlessly into the local
environment. The next area of structures outward held a group of pads, one of which held the currently
docked Argos. This area also housed the dormitories preferred by many of the unmarried support personnel
for the base as well as most of the Blackwave security people.
A growing number of family homes were on the edge of the plateau. These one and two story structures
blended into the surrounding environment and enjoyed the vistas provided by the ocean on three sides of the
plateau.
Mark noticed Anton Dotschkal up ahead directing the excavation for the interferometer bed. Anton is a
civil engineer. He specializes in the exacting construction that projects like the complex ice-station on
Europa and now the interferometer required. Anton had aligned and setup the pit for the gravimetric
accelerators to a precision that, up to a few years ago, was practiced only by toolmakers or nanomolecular
engineers.
The toroidal accelerator that Anton is working on will push the neutron transports along the warped
acceleration path while imploding the carriers with high gravity pulses. This implosion will distort the
neutron particle shells allowing them to function in the interferometer. The results will provide the details
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for a major step forward in our drive model development by yielding an insight into very subtle gravitic
wave changes in this part of the universe.
Mark walked over to the edge of the pit and noticed that Anton was a very agitated, red-faced engineer.
Mark has to raise his voice to shout over the noise created by the bulldozer at the bottom even though Anton
is right in front of him. ‘What’s the problem Anton. You look like you’re ready to jump down there and dig
the thing out with your hands.’
‘Jeez, what are you trying to do? You scared the peanuts out of me. Don’t sneak up on a guy like that.’
Anton shouted back then waved his arm down towards the pit. ‘Oh, that idiot down there didn’t remember
the Hype tunnel complex. He broke through and almost tipped the dozer over. Now our test bed is going to
balance at almost three mills out of alignment unless I SilFuse the entire eastern edge to shape monolayer by
monolayer.’
The Blackwave construction engineer, Alex Grissom, couldn’t hear the conversation from his position
down on the tractor but he picked it up on his Hive Tab. ‘Anton, I don’t think this is part of the Hype Tunnel
complex. It’s another void in the plateau. We’ll need to float the whole area with a SilFuse concrete bed
anyway.’
Alex is a broad shouldered combat engineer who is part of the Blackwave Security group. He’d been a
critical participant in setting up the Station and Mark couldn’t believe he would be so careless as to overcut
into a known tunnel location. ‘Anton, why don’t you take a break and join me for a quick bite? I want to talk
with you about expansion possibilities for the station. I’m sure Alex and his team can handle this cut.’
‘We’re never going to meet schedule if we keep hitting these unexpected obstacles. This plateau is
honeycombed with natural and Hype dug tunnels.’ Anton complained as he called up a Gantt Chart for the
project from his Hive-Tab link and directed it over toward Mark. ‘See this, we’re already in the red zone for
the enhanced security gate. We lost two days as soon as you went in for an automated defense-in-depth
security design as opposed to that simple block gate. That block gate should have been enough for the five
years we’re going to be here.’
Mark hesitated a bit and then looked into Anton’s eyes, ‘Well, that’s one of the things I need to talk
with you about. We’re not going to be here five years. Looks like it might be a bit longer.’
Mark valued every chance to get out of his office, walk among the workers and refresh his thoughts.
Walking along the shores of this ancient ocean is always a pleasure and he often detours his path to walk by
the high cliffs. Directing Anton away from the site he motioned ahead, ‘Let Alex take care of it. I sure he’ll
do just fine. Come on, I know it takes a little longer going this way but I like to watch the wildlife. This path
takes us over the cliff edge where we first encountered the Hypes. You’ll see the spot, it’s just over this
rise.’
‘Anton, you’ve seen the stellar plot briefings that Matt put online? Good. Well, what you haven’t seen
is their correlation to the our potential interstellar colony sites. Here, I’ve linked the document to your HiveTab. The point is we are closer to more human friendly stars in this universe than in our own. We can use
this to greatly simplify and reduce the cost of interstellar colonization.’
‘We will be expanding operations at the Station to include a colonization hub. If you’re interested, our
financial justification is in this section of the business plan. I want to set up a full starport with the intent that
we will be launching colonists from this base rather than somewhere in our own timeframe. However, I
want to keep our research station relatively isolated on this small plateau.’
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‘Until we find a few friendly planets and setup our initial colony sites, we will need to provide cash
flow to fund our work. I know researchers like Sara would like to come here but their work won’t draw the
deep pocket funding we need. However, there are others who would pay very well for a chance to visit here.
We’ll need to set up something quite unique and attractive for a more lucrative market. So we’ve come to
the decision that this site will provide not only a staging point in our colonization business but potentially a
very profitable site for an adventure resort.’
Anton stopped in his tracks and looked at Mark, ‘Resort? Are you out of your mind? What are you
going to do when your tourists get eaten? You know we had problems here in spite of the fact that this place
is like a fortress.’
‘Oh yes, you’re going to say we have had our share of problems but we’ve compensated for that. After
all, we didn’t expect a pack of thirty-foot Albertosaurus meat eaters pushing their attack in a coordinated
game drive across our peninsula. How can we …’
‘Whoa Anton! Hold it a minute. We all know that an attack cannot happen after our changes in the
perimeter defenses. We aren’t in their normal food chain anyway. The Albertosaurus were hunting the
Hypes. They don’t even recognize our scent so they didn’t specifically target us. We just happened to get in
the way last time.’
‘Here’s my plan. I want to set up a fortified extension along the cliff edge at the mouth of the river over
there on the other side of the ravine. It will be far enough from the research station to isolate our work here
and still be close enough to allow easy support. See that cliff section over there to the southwest? That’s the
point. There’s even a pure freshwater stream that we can divert for our use into a system of lakes and water
supply for fountains.’
‘I’m going to let you plan and lay out the specifics for this but I suggest we start by clearing out a large
section of the plateau. One very important thing, you have to design it so that it doesn’t look like a fortified
base. Plan to include a defensive barrier that can be hidden or disguised to the point that it isn’t a major
feature for the colonists and tourists. We’ll also need a paved road between this side and the new spaceport
so we don’t have to fly everything over there. This means something like a suspension bridge across the
chasm somewhere over in that area. Look, you’re a real creative guy and I know you’d like to make
something on the order of a “Frank Lloyd Wright” architecture. This is your chance! Make something safe,
easy to maintain and eye-popping in it’s beauty. Most of all, make it fit right into the Cretaceous star-port
theme, whatever that may be.
‘You’ll leave the details to me? Well, ok. This might be fun.’
‘Look Mark, I’ll need to have some basic stats first. You know, traffic volume and what kind of traffic,
how much for supplies storage, where do we get the supplies. Also, how about a rough time frame?’
‘OK Anton. I’ll have a thumbnail specification linked to you tonight. Think first of safety and then we
can upgrade into the resort and travel center. I want everything built to company standards and use as much
of the local raw materials as you can. I’ll also assign two of our three bulldozers to you.’
I’ll expect to review a first set of plans for the expansion in three days. They don’t have to be complete
but let’s make sure we are going in the same direction.
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References
1. Spartak Poliakov, Oleg Poliakov, “Gravitonics is Electronics of the XXI Century”, New Energy
technologies, Issue #4, July – August 2002.
http://www.intalek.com/Index/Projects/Research/Poliakov.PDF
2. Richard F. Gauthier, “FTL Quantum Models of the Photon and the Electron”, STAIF Conference
2007
3. F.J.Tipler, “Rotating cylinders and the possibility of global causality violation”, Physical Review D,
vol 9, issue 8 pp. 2203-2206 (1974) (cosmic string time travel)
4. Cretaceous atmospherics and climate: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/845563/posts
5. “Blue skies, red-hot temps in Cretaceous”, GeoTimes Earth, Energy and Environmental News, April
2008 http://www.agiweb.org/geotimes/apr08/article.html?id=WebExtra041008.html
6. J. Wendler, “External forcing of the geomagnetic field? Implications for the cosmic ray flux—
climate variability”, Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 66 (2004) 1195 – 1203
(Climate change and magnetic pole reversals as influenced by the position of the solar system in the
galactic arm.) http://tornado.sfsu.edu/geosciences/classes/gm700/PDF_Files/DaveGgeomag.pdf
7. N.J. Shaviv, “Cosmic ray diffusion from the galactic spiral arms, iron meteorites, and a possible
climatic connection”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 89 (2002) 051102.
8. N. Shaviv, “The spiral structure of the Milky Way, cosmic rays, and ice age epochs on Earth”, New
Astron. 8 (2003) 39–77. http://www.phys.huji.ac.il/~shaviv/articles/long-ice.pdf
9. I. M. Pepperberg , “Studies to determine the Intelligence of African Grey parrots”, Proceedings of
The International Aviculturists Society, January 11 - 15, 1995
Up to sixty five or so million years ago the Sun was traveling between two arms of the galaxy. There
was little in the way of debris and star-making going on in this region so the levels of cosmic radiation were
also lower. As a result, the Earth enjoyed warm, relatively uniform temperatures even up to the polar areas.
The Late Cretaceous period is a time of global warmth with equatorial temperatures similar to the Earth
with which we are familiar. Tropical vegetation extended all the way to 50 degrees north and south of the
equator. That would be right up into lower Canada or southern Germany in today’s world.
The Dinosaurs
The Theropod suborder of the dinosaur family is the only branch that survived the K-T extinction. A
small portion of this suborder live today as birds. Anyone who believes that birds have low intelligence or
speak only through mimicry should read some of the papers of Doctor Pepperberg.
The other suborders of the family are lost to us. However if you want to see some scientific papers on
dinosaur intelligence that seem to cross the line into science fiction look up the papers of Doctor Dale
Russell's "Dinosauroid" or search for anything on Troondons.
The Extinctions
There have been many recent publications linking the path of the solar system in the Milky Way with
changes in climate, higher levels of cosmic rays and random interstellar debris. Passage into the leading
edges of each coincide highly with extinctions as do major changes in climate and even the rate of flipping
of the magnetic poles of the earth.
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Shaviv has an excellent paper in the references discussing the rotation of the solar system around the
center of the Milky Way. There have been several challenges to it but so far it seems to have survived the
scrutiny of his peers. It’s interesting to see the high level of correlation between the suns passage from an
empty space into a new galactic arm.
The solar system of the Cretaceous Era did pass into the Sagittarius arm just before the extinction event.
The effects of the high cosmic radiation levels were compounded by the major collision that killed so many
species and started a long cycle of ice ages.
The Local Star Group
The stars rotate around the Center of the Milky Way at slightly different speeds and paths. As they do
so, they wander relative to each other, moving both above and below the galactic plain. I have found a
number of papers citing our solar system’s passage into each arm for the past several billion years.
However, I have never seen any attempted study of the relative location of our sun to its neighbors. The
basis of our story that rests upon the Sun being closer to earth-friendly planet environments is therefore
simply speculation.
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Chapter 2: Transformation
"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the
one most responsive to change"
Charles Darwin
Anton Dotschkal loved building things. Not little things and not simple things. He builds big, complex
things like buildings, bridges, parks with waterfalls and of course, an ice-station on Europa. He feels true
joy when creating something intricate and functional, of sculpting something useful from the raw chaos of
nature. Most of all he felt that anything created had to be useful since there was no real beauty in creating
something that was simply graceful or gaudy.
Before him stood a project that is unique in that he had almost no constraints imposed by man on how
or what he could do to create his spaceport. Oh, of course there were corporate safety standards to meet but
he agreed with their strict rules and would have followed them anyway. To Anton, they were a starting point
for his own strict standards and methods that carried designs way beyond the conventions allowed in civil
code.
Anton needed to visualize his creation before turning to sketch and computer. The pieces had to fit
together like the individual sections of an orchestra. Functionality intertwined with grace and healthy doses
of practicality and inspiration. A cup of strong black coffee in his hand, he walked across the cafeteria of the
Argos. The cafeteria is almost empty. Only two other engineers sit at the opposite end discussing their work
and the gossip of the day. They won’t be bothered by his work.
Most of the people now eat lunch in the tropical outdoor cafeteria on the Station grounds. They seem to
prefer the real breeze and open structure of
the new building. Very few of the
expedition members work inside the Argos
since they finished the outside labs last
month. This provided an opportunity to use
the Argos systems with little interruption.
Setting his cup down, he walks over to
the walldisplay and signs into the design
interface of the Argos using his Hive-Tab.
A section of the room shimmers into a three
dimensional image of the west side of the
peninsula looking in toward the high blue
tipped mountains in the distance. There is
even a low salt breeze playing across the
scene. Reaching up with his fist, Anton
opens and closes his hand and pulls the display to his right. The scene before him shifts and his viewpoint is
now from a location over the ocean and south of the Cretaceous Station peninsula.
The calm blue ocean before him is filled with the counter-current ripples of a large river flowing into it
from the mainland. The rapid flow of this river carries millions of gallons of fresh water out into the ocean
through a trench dug over a million years ago before the seas around them rose over 300 feet to form this
Hunter’s Moon
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vast inland ocean. The salty northern edge of the underwater chasm transforms into a coral reef rising up to
within a few feet of the ocean’s surface.
Inland, the river is nestled in the center of a broad valley that it carved from the surrounding plateau.
Shallow banks at the edge of the river gradually rise on either side until they meet the piles of sand, stone
and debris at the foot of the mainland plateau’s cliffs. The cliffs themselves are no more than a hundred to
two hundred feet high.
Clear turquoise waters below his feet allow him to view creatures moving along the sea bottom directly
below him. Some are clearly seen even though they are more than fifty feet below the surface. The water
would be even clearer but the river dumps highland silt as it flows into the ocean. Deep in thought, his hand
reaches out to pick up his coffee cup.
‘Playing superman again Anton?’ A deep mellow voice rises from a thin man standing directly behind
him. This is Colonel Daniel Drake, head of Blackwave Security. His slim frame supports a wiry but
muscular body accustomed to years of heavy work and Special Forces training. The Blackwave people
provide security for the Station. Most of the personnel are ex-Special Forces with combat experience.
Almost all have advanced degrees to fit their specialist studies. Anton and Dan have been close friends for
several years. They share the same passion for perfection as well as professionalism and competency in
almost anything they tackle.
‘Morning Dan. No, I’m not here for role-playing. I came here for a final visualization of the project for
the spaceport expansion.’ Anton lifts his opened fist out before him toward the river’s mouth and grasps at
the air. As he pulls his fist back and then down slightly, the scene zooms in to provide a closer view of the
two sides of the river.
‘Could you stay a minute? I could use your help with a few ideas and I’m going to need your approval
anyway. Here on the edge of the plateau to the south of the river is where Mark wants to put the starport and
resort. I was initially considering a relatively simple fortified compound with a curved wall on the landward
side. The curved wall would have had bastions every 500 feet that would allow flanking fire if we are ever
attacked again. Since we can SilFuse the walls from the surrounding sands, this layout would have been
inexpensive and could protect against the type of coordinated attack we had during our first month when
that hunting pack of Albertosaurus hit us. Our only concern would then be monitoring the gates and the
roadway from here to the starport. For increased security, I even considered a tunnel for that part of it. This
is an ideal, simple layout for a spaceport where all we have to consider is ship support facilities, temporary
storage, supplies and short term guest quarters.’
‘Mark’s requirement to build a resort complicates the plan considerably. The views of the ocean and
river from the cliff tops would be nice of course, but this layout does little for the pleasure-minded resort
visitor. There’s just something too medieval about the whole thing, too confining. The layout also didn’t
make use of the local terrain and points of interest. These things are important if you want to have a good
resort.’
‘Given the fact that travel here will involve significant financial expenditures and people will have to
travel over sixty five million years to get here, I think we should give them something for their money that
they will remember.’
Dan chuckled, ‘Well, yeah. I guess I never thought of it that way. But don’t you think just the initial trip
to Jupiter and then down into its Red Spot would make the journey worthwhile?’
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‘Ok Dan, all joking aside, the journey does make the trip worthwhile. However, we need to make the
destination a true memory spot. It may take us a while to get cash flow from a colonization market but we
can immediately get income if we bill the place as an exotic resort. Sort of pays up front for the engineering
and we can avoid the Vulture Capitalist money lenders.’
‘Consider what we have. We have a high-topped peninsula full of our Hypsilophodonts or “Hypes” that
would love to meet new people. They are friendly, the chicks are cuddly and they are not overbearing. You
can also talk to them and we plan to use some of them as guides. That’s it for the peninsula unless you want
to set them up with telescopes for bird watching. Oh, and of course we could consider some offshore fishing
but I’m a bit concerned about the mosasaurs and some of the less frequent Plesiosaurs encounters. I wonder
if a bubble net barrier would work here?’
‘Anyway, let’s not get sidetracked.’ Anton, deep in his creative thought mode, half mumbled while Dan
chuckled silently. ‘Now look at the mainland and try to see it as one of our guests would. To the north is
that high plain that gradually rises to the even higher mountains to our far west. It’s filled with fern and
palm scrubs down here and, as you move up to the foothills, pines and even some deciduous trees. Flowers
are abundant with some grass at the stream edges and swamps. Combine that view with the exhilaration they
will feel when they step into our low gravity and high oxygen level, clean atmosphere and we have a real
winner here. Hmmm, might even be able to sell it as a health spa …’ Dan could see Anton expanding his
notes.
‘However, most people aren’t here to smell the flowers. They want to see the dinosaurs. We know the
Troondon are in this area for most of the year until migration time. They aren’t real friendly but their
spectacular coat of black feathers with the long-flowing yellow plume that extends down the back to the tail
will be on a lot of our advertisements.’
‘You know, these are not your father’s concept of dinosaurs! Most people see dinosaurs as …. Well
kind of like visualizing a parrot without it’s feathers. It’s amazing how many people still think of dinosaurs
as some scaly-skinned shuffling reptile instead of a giant, rather graceful bird-like creature. These guys
should really shake up people’s original beliefs, after all they are really closer to birds than reptiles. They
are smart too, and we want to get that across to our visitors.’
‘Of course, after the Troondon leave on what we know is their semi-annual short migration, then the
packs of Albertosaurus move in and they are big, beautiful and very scary. Personally I’m glad they are only
here for a short time before they migrate out again.’
‘Me too!’ Dan mumbled quietly.
‘Then up here in the same area just across from our peninsula, we have the stream and field where the
three-horned triceratops herds stay. They are always there and that will be one of the favorites for tourists.
They don’t have very much plumage but boy does it make them look different from what we thought they
would look like. I promise you they will be a big hit.’
‘South of them, the river valley is a thing of beauty on its own. The sandy cliffs with the stream’s
waterfalls from the plateau down to the river valley are gorgeous and people will want an overlook to watch
the mosasaurs in the river and hadrosaurid herds on the river’s edge. Luckily, that family of T-Rex’s hasn’t
been driven off so a visitor never knows when they are going to be able to witness a T-Rex hunt. There’s no
question about it, we need a lookout of some sort extending over the river valley.’
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Dan cut in shortly, ‘… and put it up at a safe height and distance. Don’t forget our recordings, a T-Rex
can jump thirty or forty feet into the air in this low gravity. I will never underestimate them again after that
experience last month.’
Anton simply continued on with his review, ‘Up here on the south plateau, below the river valley, we
have the soft ground with the Sauropod swamps that border on the dense and quite spectacular sequoia
forest right there. Look at the height of those trees. We’ve never seen anything like it because the trees of
our time in old California and Washington are limited in height to about 300 feet by lightning strikes. We
haven’t seen anything more than mist here since we arrived. So no lightning and almost no rain, just
morning humidity. The lower gravity of this era also contributes to really big and spectacular trees.’
‘Then too, we have our local Sauropods. Anyone would love to see a herd of sixty-foot long, long
necked Paluxysaurus ambling around to chew the soft and sweet top leaves from those young leafy trees
along the stream. Closest thing our customers will get to our fabled Brontosaurus! I saw one crunching on a
willow by the stream last month and what he did to that tree was pretty spectacular!’
‘So here’s the general plan. Our guests will want a chance to get out into nature. Oh, they will still want
the thrill and feeling of danger but they want to do it safely. They want to see, smell and get close to all of
the exhibits. Some dinosaurs, like the Hype chicks, they would like to hold. Rather like a petting zoo but
with the high intelligence of some of these animals we have to be careful of everyone’s interests and wellbeing.’
‘I’m going to open up a lot of the southern plateau for our resort. Rather than a fixed wall, I’m planning
to clear out the really thick brush in the entire area right up to and behind those swamps in the southwest
where those big Sauropods live. Way out here will start our first line of defense. It will consist of a string of
sensors and linked AutoSentinel fire platforms. This will be an automated defense system rather like we
setup at our original entrance. We’ll program the AutoSentinels to allow the existing Sauropods to come and
go at their leisure. Same for any of the other known forms of wildlife we think we can allow in the area. If
anything unwanted comes in, man-size on up, then the AutoSentinels will fire smoke and flash-bangs to
warn off any new life. The response level will escalate if they don’t shy away and the last step would be to
use kill shots. Human personnel will of course back up the Artificial Intelligence of the station monitors. I
assume we will be bringing in additional personnel for that.’
‘Unlike our original setup here, we have enough time and information to program and set the defense
up properly. The defensive screen will extend in about three hundred feet deep and be almost invisible from
the resort area of the Station. Inside this outer circle will be our “Wildlife” area for guided tours for some of
the more adventurous tourists. We’ll have enough room in this area for guide-controlled camping and hiking
in the wild. It will yield a safe resort with just a hint of the danger for the more adventurous.’
‘For the less adventurous travelers, those who still want to safely see the wildlife, we plan to construct a
tree-house resort based in this batch of sequoia trees that extend out over the south edge of the swamp where
the Sauropod pool is. I plan to make this a rather luxurious habitat based loosely on the style of the old treetop hotels in Africa. It will include observation lounges and ground level photographic hides from which
guests can observe the local wildlife that come to the nearby waterholes or are down in the river basin.
Lodging can be in the main tree-lodge or guests can choose individual octagonal suites located along the
edge of the grove and connected by secure elevated walkways through the tree-tops. The top of the hotel
will house a low-gravity treetops excursion for up-close canopy cover views right down to the edge of the
river’s cliffs.
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Dan lifts his arm and points to the area above the cliffs near the open mouth of the river, ‘I assume this
will be the starport and arrival area. How do you intend to defend it? Are you using this ridgeline?’
‘Yep, the inner defense ring will be a thirty foot high berm with a travel tram and monitored running
paths along the top. It will extend along this long border from ocean cliffs on the east to the river cliffs on
the North. The steep outer face will provide sensors like in the outer buffer zone as well as gun stations and
AutoSentinel coverage. We will use gated tunnels for egress.’
‘I’ve decided to put two lakes in the center of the starport area. We have enough humidity and waterflow here so making and maintaining these lakes shouldn’t be a problem. We’ll use them to showcase some
of the exotic bird and fresh-water life and they’ll also act as reservoirs for the main station and hotel.’
‘Figuring out how we would be travelling from here at the research station to the resort was a problem.
I scrapped the idea of a tunnel from here to the resort, too expensive. We won’t have a lot of traffic along
the roadway since most of the visitors will stay in the resort. To keep costs under control, I’m going to clear
a path and simply SilFuse a roadway on top of and fused into the natural sandstone bed. We’ll get a natural,
strong road surface by clearing the path and building the top up with sand and crushed sandstone and then
fusing it into a matrix with the base stone of the cliff. The surface will be quite hard since the sand will
solidify as glass in a limestone matrix with some carbon fiber elements strewn through the mix. We’ll use
the same tools that we used for our building construction here on the original peninsula.’
‘Finally, we’ll need a bridge across the river’s mouth. That’s a pretty wide expanse to cross if you have
to consider both aesthetics and cost. In fact it’s too wide for a suspension bridge and we don’t want to spoil
the view with pillars. That’s where our Gravitonics Drive comes in.’
Dan shifted his stance and looked at Anton. He’d been closely watching Anton’s sketches that overlaid
the panorama in front of him and said, ‘Whoa, now you are getting expensive. We can’t afford to float every
transport across the chasm.’
A smile formed on Anton’s face, ‘No, that’s not what I was thinking of. We’ll need a weak Gravitonic
field on the plateau anyway since everyone will want Hive-Tab resource links. These visitors will all be
people who are accustomed to the group communications, instant resource access and visualizations like the
one we are using right now. In addition, the spaceport will need the fields for floating load and unload of the
ships. We can’t use the antigravity sleds without a field you know. We’ll have to have a drive installed. Oh,
I’m not talking about a big ship’s drive but rather a simple one for Hive Field and gravity control. One of
the spare Hunter Recon drives should be enough or maybe they can bring something even smaller back from
Europa.’
‘We’ll extend the field over the entire area using a gold-wire net that we can embed in the sandy areas
of the plateau using the SilFusers. We can make it fine enough that even if some of the wires-paths crack
there will be enough redundancy in the net to keep the field strong and uniform. Luckily gold is a very good
conductor and we’ve got a lot of it right under the main plateau thanks to Alex and Tom’s discovery.’
‘So, for the river crossing I’m planning a self-supporting structure with three span sections. First we’ll
build a fiber and steel reinforced support structure of SilFused sand on each side of the river that will extend
from the base of the cliff up to an equal height above the top of the plateau. These will anchor the end spans.
From there the bridge will extend out from each side about a third of the way across the river using a
cantilever support back to the base. Since the sections of the bridge will be supported only on the cliff-ends,
there will be no obstruction of the view. The center span will be supported with interlocking, single crystal
quartz, carbon fiber reinforced bundles that we can grow from the raw sand. Since they will be under tensile
compression they will be very rigid and more than strong enough for the short length required.’
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‘The ends of the bridge extending down the cliff-face will do double duty by housing elevators to
viewing platforms and, down at the river level, a moving underwater walkway across the mouth of the river.
The walkway will be housed in a clear quartz tube, again in compression for strength. We’ll of course refine
and grow the quartz from our abundant supply of beach sand. Over here on the north side of the river mouth,
the tube will bend to extend out into the shallow ocean along the edge of the coral shoulder. That’s where
the undersea hotel and restaurant will be built. I imagine the views of the ammonites, long necked
plesiosaurus and other sea creatures along the coral will be spectacular. David Pope tells me the coral and
sea-life mixture goes way beyond anything we’ve ever thought was here. I guess we’ll lose a lot of diversity
and beauty when that meteor hits in about a thousand years.’
‘We’ll have restricted access from there to the research station above for supply and service through
simple tunnels up through the cliffs and into the Hype tunnels. Might even open some of them up for tours if
I can talk Sara into it.’
‘So, what do you think? Any other ideas?’
Dan sat down for a few seconds then turned to Anton, ‘Wow, you don’t think small Anton. Ok, we can
implement the automated outer defense system along these lines using the same principles that we employed
in the upstream end of Blackbird valley. It’s a classic defense-in-depth design that increases the violence of
its response as the intruder penetrates deeper. We know that works very well up at Blackbird.’
‘I’m a little concerned about the tree huts only because of the potential for people falling and the
possible incursion of a few of the four-legged snakes we see on this side of the plateau. Have you seen any
of them? Some of those guys are like giant Boas in our time but they still have legs. A few sensors in the
surrounding trees around here and across to here might be enough to take care of them. We’ll have to run
some tests and keep our eyes open.’
‘The cliff-sides shouldn’t be a problem for security. We’ll implement the same sensor security net we
have here. I’ll have to bring a few more personnel over though since I can’t envision all these open areas
without regular patrols although we can leave a lot of that to the automated flying drones. There’s still an
awful lot about this place that we don’t know so we play it safe.’
‘Have you thought about something to attract the dragonflies in the creek? I saw one last week and it’s
wingspan must have been five foot across. Combine their size with the fantastic colors and you’ll have an
attraction for sure.’
Anton enthusiastically saved the suggestion, ‘Great idea. Maybe we’ll want to run a small creek
between the two lakes with a waterfall to draw them. We can cut a couple of swirl pools in the limestone
slope to make a water-park attraction. I was also toying with some boat trips up the river to watch the TRex.’
Dan stopped drinking, ‘Oh no. Hold off on that for a while Anton. We’re taking enough risk with this
station. I couldn’t guarantee anyone’s safety if they travel in that area. No matter how you look at it, T-Rex
still rules the area.’
Anton shut down the display view, ‘We’ll talk about that later. Great and thanks for your help. I’ve
already outlined the major parts of this plan in my supplies and personnel request and sent it on in the probe
that Seth’s flying out right now. I’d like to use some of your engineers and the dozers to begin work on the
roadway and the bridge in three days. We should be able to start on the southern plateau in another week.
By that time we will have heard from the board of directors.’
‘Ok Anton. Just how involved do you think the Hypes will be in this resort?’
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‘Well, Sara and Brittany are pushing their involvement all the way. They want to see them in
everything from breakfast shows to using the more articulate ones as guides.’
Dan looked a little concerned, ‘I guess I’d like to hold off on that for a while. Even after seven months
we don’t really know them. Some of the things they do make them seem so human-like. Other times, well I
just don’t know.’
‘Yep, I’m glad you agree with me. We’ll have to talk to Sara and ask her to take it easy at the start.
Thanks for the suggestions.’
* * * * *
Fifteen-year-old Brittany Wenford walked along the darkened pathway that followed the eastern
ocean’s cliff edge. Her eyes were accustomed to the low evening light and cool air that arrived just before
the first brightening of the false dawn. Far below her path, the ocean softly crested and glowed as it broke
against the rocks. Bioluminescent auras of pastel colors still rose from the dense sea plankton to glow along
each wave’s crest in soft rainbows of blue and yellow.
Further out toward the horizon, the dark sea slowly rose and fell in long waves that extended to the
mist-filled horizon. Rising and slowly falling in a hypnotic rhythm like the slumber breathing of some huge
creature. Her thoughts wandered as she walked the familiar trail, ‘The stars, oh will I ever grow tired of their
display? Doctor Zoeller says they really are brighter and there are more of them visible than in our own
time. Hummph! You don’t need his measurements to tell you there are so many more stars. The pinpoints of
fire that define our Milky Way are magnificent. The air is so clear you can see the reflection of the Milky
Way on the ocean surface extending out toward the point where the sun will rise.’
Sara Wenford, Brittany’s mother, walked softly next to her. ‘There’s the spot we want to be. Hush now.
They’ll be coming out soon.’
As they settled down on the coarse sand soil next to the sea ferns and brush palms, the first distant rays
of a younger sun lit the faint mist of the horizon to gently spread red streamers across a gossamer curtain of
light. High, thin clouds near the horizon change to a soft pink network of filaments across the sky as the first
of the dinosaurs emerge from their tunnels below the humans. The air soon fills with a low murmuring,
almost a whistling like some forgotten tune that lays familiar on the memory but cannot be fully
remembered. The melody grows in volume as more and more Hypsilophodonts emerge from their evening
tunnels or from over the high paths of the plateau to gather and lift their heads to greet the sun of the new
day.
The melody rises and changes, complex but still sweetly clear. The Hypes flow along the cliff edge to
form into groups. Each group sings a unique melody sounding like a cantata rising softly in some long
forgotten tongue. Sara and Brittany listen, recording the morning song on their Hive-Tabs. Sara whispers
lightly to Brittany, almost to herself, ‘Their song is so much more complex than the birds in our time.
Listen, each group sings independently but their melodies rise and blend into a single concerto. Remember
how the songs used to be mostly whistles and chirps. I’m a bit concerned by it. This voice-like tone has
entered their singing only since we’ve arrived. They are learning and expanding their culture from our own
music.’
The song rises in volume as the hot edge of the star rises above the eastern horizon. The air around
them saturates with sweet melody carried by individual refrains to octaves beyond human hearing but
strangely still felt by the human audience. Then slowly, the early salutation fades and the Hypes break off,
Hunter’s Moon
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each to his or her own tasks. The twitter and cries of the waking sea birds and their neighbors, the small
pterosaurs who nest along the cliffs, slowly rises to displace the morning song’s greeting of the new day.
* * * * *
Sara still thought of herself as a field paleontologist but for the last six months she is, more precisely, a
naturalist. Sand-colored hair frames a darkly tanned face and muscular body. More often described as
handsome rather than beautiful, her athletic build enhances her beauty just as her eyes betray an obvious
high level of intelligence. She’s still mad at her daughter Brittany.
‘Look Mom, I wasn’t watching Gabriel yesterday and I have no idea how he and Fozzy managed to get
outside on the mainland. It’s not my fault.’
‘You were scheduled to guide the students on a cliff tour yesterday. Just where were you then? I should
have let you explain to his parents why he and Fozzy were out there on the mainland by themselves.’
‘I traded with Tina. Tina wanted to try to take the class on the field trip. She’s got a really neat
perspective on how the birds co-exist with the pterosaurs on the cliff sides. You should talk …’
‘You let Tina there with all those children by herself?’
‘John called and wanted me to see the new Hive-bot cloak improvements …’
‘No, you do not go off at the beck and call of your brother and leave your responsibility.’
‘I’m sorry.’ A melodious voice, the same tone and pitch as Sara’s, pushes into the conversation. ‘I told
Gabe stay with us. He run off when I wasn’t watching.’
Sara looked over at Tina as she walked over to them. These Hypes couldn’t conceive of a youngster not
following their commands. Tina is one of the most articulate dinosaurs, a model of what her race can
achieve if they choose. Tina stands just under five feet tall and has a broad, almost smiling face. Soft,
pheasant-like feathers cover her body and lead down to a striped down-covered tail that is as long as her
body. Her muzzle is shaped somewhat like a beak but only partially feather covered.
Unlike a beak, her mouth contained rows of teeth. Not the sharp, cutting incisors of a predator but a mix
of sharp and flattened teeth, more like those of a human.
The Hypsilophodon aren’t Theropods. Their species, already near eighty million years old, will not
survive the coming extinction to evolve into birds. They are quite different in behavior from the theropods
and are omnivores. They eat vegetables and occasionally some meat. Besides their vocal ability, they have
articulated hands with five fingers with an opposable thumb and occasionally use them to wield simple
tools.
‘You are mad at me. Fozzy’s parents mad at me. I’m sorry.’ Tina continued.
Sara didn’t let up, ‘Suppose the Albertosaurs were still out there. They both would be dead now.’
‘But they weren’t out there Mom. Anyway, Gabe recognized her or he would have run back with
Fozzy.’
Seven-year-old Gabriel Zavtek is a bit of a challenge. His mother Rachel liked to refer to him as having
a high energy level. In the first few weeks after their arrival at the Station, Gabriel developed a close
relation with many of the younger Hypes. Unknown to the elders, they were soon taking him through the
tunnels and off the peninsula to play in the fields of the plateau.
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One day Gabriel ran across a group of young Troondons playing. Troondons are theropod meat-eaters.
Luckily for Gabe, they also have a high level of intelligence and accepted him into their group. As with
many children who just meet, Gabe and the youngsters grew tired and went home to meet the parents. It
took a three-day expedition to recover him when the Troondons walked off with him on their annual
migration. The Troondons had actually saved Gabe’s life since, with their migration, the family’s place in
the plateau hunting grounds was replaced by a much less forgiving herd of Albertosaurus.
‘We need to really keep an eye on Gabriel. Don’t let him out of your sight in the future. Tina, I don’t
want you handling a group of human children on your own for a while. You apparently have as much to
learn about humans as we do about your people.’
‘I was talking with David Pope yesterday. We are going to begin the work on expanding the Station this
week and he’s concerned about how the Troondon will react to our digging up their lands.’
‘Well Mom,’ Brittany commented, ‘they let us go when we settled onto the peninsula here.’
‘Yes, they have adapted in more ways than one. Don’t forget that we also cut out a part of their food
supply since our presence here protects the Hypes from them. I just don’t know how far they will let us push
them.’
‘OK, I’ll let it drop now. Come with me, I want to show you how to run a Fourier Analysis on the song
patterns we recorded this morning. We’ll compare them with the recordings after our first arrival. Then we
need to plan a trip up to Blackbird Valley and see how the hypes up there sing. I want to see just how
strongly our arrival has influenced their development here.’
References
1. Stanley, Steven M. Earth System History. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company, 1999. ISBN 07167-2882-6 p. 280
2. Clausen, Jens (2009). "Man, machine and in between". Nature 457: 1080.
3. Xu, Xing; Mark A. Norell, Xuewen Kuang, Xiaolin Wang, Qi Zhao and Chengkai Jia (2004-10-07).
"Basal tyrannosauroids from China and evidence for protofeathers in tyrannosauroids". Nature 431
(7009): 680–684.
During the last million years of the Cretaceous Era, the major continents were in the present day shapes
but the oceans rose three hundred feet higher than today’s levels. Shallow ocean waters covered most of
Europe and the central United States up until the end of the era.
The concept of a SilFuse construction method is plausible but requires more energy than is available in
a modern construction site. This method used here would be to collect sand or limestone and raise it’s
temperature to it’s melting point. If the mix goes too far, then common glass will result. However, with the
proper mix of carbon and other impurities a silicon matrix under compressive tension could be formed into
any shape structure. The resulting materials are very hard and durable as well as highly insulative against
both heat and cold. Left alone to the elements, they would return to their natural state after a few hundred
years not through reflow but through natural abrasion from the elements.
The Hive-Tab concept links the human mind directly with a network of computers using an interface
tab that sits on the mastoid bone behind the ear. It provides communications with others on the network as
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well as all of the network and communications power of the computers. This is a non-invasive interface
currently in its infancy stages for speech and sight improvements. See reference #2.
Dinosaur intelligence is a hotly debated item with many researchers now leaning toward recognition
that they were highly intelligent. Feathered dinosaurs are a current hot topic with some researchers even
attempting to derive color from the feather’s structure. Our reference here discusses recent findings of
feathers found on Tyrannosaurus skin samples.
Only one family of dinosaurs survived the extinction. The Theropods, mostly meat eaters such as the
Tyrannosaurus, went on to become the birds of today.
Hunter’s Moon
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Chapter 3: Development
"And, you know, the thing about a shark… he’s got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll’s
eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn’t seem to be living… until he bites ya, and those black
eyes roll over white and then… ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin"
Quint’s monolog, Jaws by Peter Benchley
A lazy, warm breeze drifts across a field of dark green ferns. Dense growth, low scrub palms and some
leafy bushes erect a barrier along the edges of the fern grotto broken only by a few isolated pine trees. The
full canopy of palm and pine needles block the harsh sunlight from the cool dampness of the fern meadow,
complimenting the tallness of the trees. A narrow and moving sweetness in the breeze flows from a clump
of trees with small flowers on the edge of the glade. It draws bees to the sweet nectar along with others too
small to be noticed by the casual observer.
Below the flowering trees is a pathway. It is a path deeply worn over the ages into the grass and soil. It
has been here for a very long time. The trail’s bottom is worn bare to fallen leaves, trampled grass and bare
ground while the sides show the cracked casings of nuts and a few scattered and strangely rounded, brightly
colored feathers.
Singing fills the air. A mix of intricate whistles that climb up and down the octaves, almost seeming to
wrap around the low warbles that extend and then trail off into a song of their own. These are the normal
sights and sounds of the glade. Sights and sounds now rudely interrupted as a boisterous laugh interrupts the
quiet solitude of a cloistered sanctuary.
‘Move it over here. Watch out for those birds!’ Alex Grissom used his Hive-Tab to carry his message
over the crushing noise of the bulldozer to scream at Tom Bracken,. They were close enough to the Station
so the Hive-Tab communications link still worked. Another mile and they would have to resort to oldfashioned radio contacts.
Alex had worked on all types of major construction projects in his years as a combat engineer for
Blackwave. Their work always drew spectators when they were near populated areas, so he was used to
others watching him. Sometimes the spectators got in the way but they always had a respect for the heavy
equipment. That didn’t happen here.
For some reason, the unnatural noise of the bulldozers seemed to draw the locals to the site. ‘Wouldn’t
be so bad if they were humans. Dinosaurs are just plain dumb.’ Alex grumbled to himself as he trotted over
to the front of the bulldozer where three slender bird-like creatures were rooting through the upturned
bushes right in front of the blade. Yelling at them didn’t do any good so you had to push them out of the
way.
Three raptors with long slender jaws filled with small, pointed teeth and slender bodies scratched
excitedly in front of the bulldozer. Golden brown feathers like those of a pheasant cover bodies almost as
tall as a man and one has a red plume that runs down his back onto the broad tail. Alex walks over while
removing the Pulsar Rifle from his shoulder and pokes at the nearest dinosaur, ‘Come on stupid! Do you
want to get crushed? Where’s your sense of self …’
The four-foot high dinosaur turns with a jump as Alex pokes and throws itself at him. Jaws flash out to
close on Alex’s jacket arm. The jacket instantly hardens at the area of contact.
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Blackwave Security and Construction forces all wear active body armor when not inside the safe
confines of Cretaceous Station. The lightweight, body vapor cooled cloth is environment responsive and
covers them from neck to foot. It is capable of hardening locally to stop an ultrasonic bullet or something as
light as a mosquito bite. Yet somehow, the mosquitoes seem to find exposed neck and tender wrist areas of
skin.
Alex calmly reaches over, grabs the attacker by the back of the head and gives a good twist. The jaws
release his arm, ‘Look, you weigh almost nothing at all, you little twerp and you have only those thin little
teeth. Where’s your sense of self preservation?’ Alex held the dinosaur out with his left hand but was
careful to block the sharp-toed, kicking feet with his rifle. ‘All this screeching and wailing and your two
buddies are just ignoring your problems. Fine buddies you got.’ Alex pushes over with his foot at the other
two raptors scrambling around the uplifted brush.
‘Those are Ricardoestesia, Alex.’ Dieter Chintz, another Blackwave specialist, called over while trying
to hold back his laughter. ‘Remember when they jumped Jon and Todd back at Blackbird Valley? They are
supposed to be fish eaters but seem to be pretty dumb even for a dinosaur.’
‘Yeah, I remember ‘em. I didn’t like them too much then either. Here! Get back you idiot!’ Alex threw
the flailing raptor down the trail and walked over to push the other two off with his foot.
‘If they just weren’t so stupid.’ Alex grumbles to no one in particular. ‘They get in the way and Tom
here doesn’t have the heart to simply plow them over and don’t remind me about those two guys! I know
you shouldn’t say bad things about the dearly departed but life has been a lot easier since those guys haven’t
been around.’
‘Well Alex, if nothing else, it’s a reminder that you could be having bigger problems than these little
guys. I must admit that I don’t miss those two either. They may have bought the farm but it was their fault
that the Albertosaurus were able to overrun the station. I wonder what they were doing outside the perimeter
anyway. They were supposed to be on sentry duty and not out here getting themselves eaten like that.’
‘How about the Troondons? Have they been bothering you?’ Dieter asked.
‘No, I see them looking on from the brush occasionally but they haven’t objected to our being here. I
think the hadrosaurid meat that Sara’s been putting out has helped but most of all I think the fruit she puts
with it has been the big hit. They tolerate us.’
‘Yep, I know.’ Dieter replied. ‘The fruit is a special treat for them and some of that was from our first
crop of accelerated growth saplings. Fruits haven’t yet evolved into the sweet delicacy in this time frame.
That would probably take another couple of million years to get beyond the pulpy seeds we see here. Our
giving the fruit to the Troondons is like manna from the gods. In any case, it seems to satisfy them. At least
they aren’t trying to push us out of their territory. I wouldn’t like to tangle with a couple of those guys. They
aren’t much bigger than us but they are a lot stronger than these little guys.’
‘Yeah, a lot smarter too. Let’s walk over to the pillars up ahead. Tom, you’ll be ok for a while. Right?’
‘Ok, yep I’ll just keep on trucking here.’
Alex and Dieter follow a narrow path cut through the brush in a straight line that appears out of place in
this tropical growth. A mix of dry, granular sandstone and limestone crunches beneath their boots as they
walk through the warm air of the morning.
‘At least the mosquitoes aren’t too bad here as long as that breeze continues. In any case we’ve got
some work ahead of us. We’ll need to cart over loads of sand from the beach until we can span the river.’
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Alex commented to Dieter as they walked. Then a soft yodel sounded and a five foot tall dinosaur with a
broad, almost smiling face and a striped, down-covered tail came running over. The dinosaur has a soft
glistening bronze down covering her body that reminded him of Korean Pheasant feathers.
‘Oh, Hi Molly.’ Alex raised his hand to scratch the Hype under the chin.
‘Hi Alex!’ A melodious voice replied.
‘Oh, so I’m honored with a greeting today.’ Alex smiled at the dinosaur. ‘I think she’s starting to like
me Dieter. She never used to try and talk to me before Buddy and I started hanging around together.’
Dieter smiled as he looked out over to the edge of the river’s cliffs. ‘She’s not much of a talker is she?
Not like Tina or Fozzy. But then she’s a lot older than those guys you know, rather set in her ways. How’s
Buddy doing? Get much talk-time out of him?’
‘Rarely a word or two. Doesn’t matter though, I owe that big old bird my life.’
‘Yeah, everyone saw your Hive Tab recordings of that run out to rescue Gabriel. Let’s get on with this
bridge. Why can’t we move the sand crane over to river’s edge here? The whole area’s tidal so anything we
dredge will be replaced by the time the starport opens and won’t ruin the view.’
Alex shook his head, ‘No, I’m concerned about contaminants. We’d be cleaning the SilFuse converters
all the time. The river washes down too much dirt in this area. No, we’ll just have to truck it over until we
get the bridge span completed. In the mean time, we’ll fly the second bulldozer over to the other plateau and
begin work on the roadway over there. The route from the bridge to the sea cliffs is shorter over there so
we’ll switch operations as soon as possible.’
‘We now need to notch an eight foot wide section out of the pillar here and build a small platform for
the SilFuse mold. Then we can begin to grow the cantilever section out on this side of the bridge. Anton
says we need a three-degree slope on the section and I want to embed the shrink-tungsten rods while we are
forming the section. We’ll field-shrink the rods every twenty feet to put the span in compression. I’d
normally wait for about three times that distance but Anton wants this section stiff and strong enough so that
we won’t have to use external supports.’
‘How about the honeycomb sections. You’re still planning on using them for the cross span, right?’
‘Yes, they’ll add rigidity to the bridge and also lighten the span. The plans call for the installation of an
active frequency damper every two hundred yards. This will counter traffic and wind vibration. We don’t
want the span vibrating like a tuning fork with our first rainstorm’s breeze down the canyon. We don’t have
to worry about expansion and contraction at night from cooling since the whole bridge is mostly silicon
under a compressive load. Extremely low coefficient of thermal expansion in silicon you know.’
* * * * *
‘The earth beneath my feet moves. Not the soft, familiar long rumble but a sharp, rapid movement.
Rather like the heart of a trapped animal. Quick, rapid thumping and then, a pause. A moment of weakness
and fear.’
‘Along with it there is a strange new scent in the air. It lingers and then is gone. Strangely familiar yet
so very different from any other. There, no wait it’s gone. Again, I can just follow it until … the sound and
the scent are one! Strange sound it is. Not like a call or cry. Not like the sameness of a shallow brook over
rocks … but sharp and changing. It’s so loud but the scent tells me it’s far away over in this direction.
Maybe, just maybe there’s new food there.’
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‘What’s that? Another, strange scent now fills its edges? Ah, the big water that tastes bad. They are
that far away? Who would dare be so obvious? Even the foolish young ones do not travel so noisily.’
Two dark green bodies skate through the rough undergrowth of the forest. Their forms glide from
shadow to shadow. Their bodies blending, forming and fading into the shades of the forest and field as they
rapidly move, following the strange scent. Flitting first here and then there to avoid the eye-catching edges
of a swift straight movement. Like a raptor’s shadow silently passing over the land at sunset, touching all
without sound or scent to mark their hushed passage.
The new sounds focus each hunter’s mind and they move as one. Their rapid passage ignoring even the
tender long-necked nestlings instinctively sobbing at their sensed presence. These would have been a
welcome and easy meal on any other day but not today. Not with that sound calling out so plaintively.
They have always hunted as one. Reactions honed to a quiet certitude of action without the need for
signal or cry. Side by side, their passage carries them through open fields and along forest edge. Their goal
is just ahead and here the scent trail blossoms in detail, richness and even greater strangeness. There is prey
ahead; known, even familiar smells. All are familiar but mixed with a hot, thick musk-like smell that also
fills the air. The thickness of it radiates from the heart of the noise and vibration. Now, as they draw nearer,
other harsh and very unusual smells mix with that incessant noise.
The scent trail carries them through the dense forest undergrowth into open brush lands and then on to a
rough cliffside. Following the dark shadow of a tall palm, he silently steps to the cliff edge and peers out.
Sharp eyes spot movement far below. The cooler air currents rising along the wall below tell him they are a
common herd of the large grass eaters. This prey is much too large and aggressive for the brothers but a
sharp edge of fear mixes with their scent and that is cause for alarm. He can see as well as feel their
nervousness in spite of the distance. Where is the threat?
Soft and short, the nearby warble carries over to grab his attention. Even with his sharp eyes, he can
barely see his brother in the shadows so near. A flick and rustle of neck feathers and a tuft over his brother’s
right eye redirects his attention. There is the reason for their fear. Far below, a telltale fern, moving against
the breeze, shakes slightly. There, betrayed in the tall shadows, a massive shape rests silently unseen and
downwind of the herd. Unseen but still somehow sensed as a threat. Massive, powerful legs, coiled in
readiness in the thick growth. Crouching silently, he is as large as the dense growth of trees and vines
around him. Two small arms grasp the foliage before him. Powerful jaws, fully as long as his arms, rest
slightly open in silent anticipation. The big ones, feared by all, are in their morning hunt.
He fears the presence of the big hunters, at least enough to interrupt his pursuit of the strange noises and
smells. His eyes scan the edges of the herd for always they hunt with more than one. Where are they and the
danger they bring? There, another smaller one. Then another is over beyond the herd, frozen and silent it
waits lying in the tall reeds. As he watches, two young hunters scream from the bushes and charge into the
corner of the herd. Feeding on the tree tops, the already nervous herd animals drop to all four legs and
explode in flight away from the threat.
Three tender juveniles break away from the heard and run directly down the path between two of the
larger hunters. As if by signal, the hiding beasts lunge out from each side. One directs a sharp kick to the
soft underbelly of the nearest fleeing youngster causing it to stumble into the jaws of the other. The nearer
hunter bends in with incredible speed, reaching down to grab the skull of the stumbling animal and, with a
sharp flick that lifts the entire animal into the air, snaps the thick neck of the hapless animal. The massive
body of the young female arches through the air, spinning across the meadow. The youngster is dead before
she hits the ground. A tender snack that will keep the massive hunters occupied safely far below.
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Moving as if one beast, the brothers pull back from their high overlook. Threat forgotten, the scents and
trail ahead command their total attention, pulling them deeper into the high brush palmettos and coarse
horsetail grass. Along the rock-strewn high cliff top and over an easy stream ready to begin its cascade
down into the valley of the river far below. He stops to raise his head and listen, unmoving as his brother
passes ahead. He feels his brother stop, lift his head and watch. A moment’s confirmation and he springs
ahead, moving warily to the next set of trees across the open ground to once again assume the watchers
stance. Closer they travel toward the sounds and scents drawing them to the new feeding ground.
A movement ahead on the ridgeline across the valley fulfills the hunter’s quest for the source of the
symphony of scent and sound. There are several small fleet-footed ones running strangely around a larger
one that seems to be the source of the noise. Strange but they don’t seem to fear the larger one as it pushes
ground, rocks and even trees before it. Perhaps, one of the smaller tailless ones standing quietly before it
might be easy prey. Ah yes, these are the source of one of the new scents, the thick musty smell.
Together he and his brother move down across the valley with even greater caution, the thrill and
excitement of a new hunt already coursing through their bodies.
* * * * *
‘I don’t give a shit if that’s the thermal ramp they taught you to run at the academy.’ Anton yelled at the
broad shouldered Blackwave Security engineer before him. ‘This is not some bridge in deep Nigeria we are
building. We can’t afford to rush the mix just to have it come crashing down in ten years.’
Sotak Luti is no beginner at large scale construction projects. He is a West Point graduate and specialist
in Civil Engineering. Fifteen successful years with Blackwave Security and as many years before that have
left him very confident in his abilities. A round eastern European face framed in dense black hair, inherited
genes of a Mongol Invasion into their bloodline of a thousand years ago, turns toward Anton. Muscles tense
across his broad shoulders but his voice is calm. ‘Look Al, unless you want to sit here for twelve hours
while the thing cycles, this is how its done. Now get outta here and let me do my job!’
Anton strode up to the panel and put his broad hand over Sotak’s raised fist about to set the control.
Grabbing his hand, Anton pulled it away while bracing himself for the reaction he knew would come. Sotak
simply turned to stare into Anton’s eyes, ‘Why?’
Calmly Anton released the hand, ‘Look Sotak, this is not a normal bridge and we can afford the cycle
time. Listen and learn. The high partial pressure of oxygen in the air and our carbon- tungsten whisker fiber
mix here are all different. I ran this through the simulator. This is my project and I’m responsible for the
schedule so let’s just do it my way.’
‘Ah, OK Al. Sorry about that but if you want it mixed like this then I don’t want to be responsible when
Dan hears about the slowdown.’
‘Yeah, I understand and I’m sorry about stopping you like that. Tell you what, you go back with Dieter
and Alex and see if they need any help. If not then go back and get our next sand shipment started. I’ll sign
into the SilFuser log and the ramp cycle responsibility will be mine if any questions come up. No hard
feeling huh?’
‘Yeah Anton, no hard feelings.’
Anton turned to reprogram the SilFuser, muttering quietly all the while. ‘These guys learn one way to
do something and that’s the way it’s always done. Well, at least he wasn’t pig-headed about it. At least some
guys are smart enough to listen to reason.’
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Paul Wenford, the engineering physicist for the team simply rolled his eyes and shook his head. Paul is
a six foot, somewhat stocky man with light, almost blond hair surrounding a sun tanned and smiling face.
The broad shouldered physique of a collegiate wrestler. ‘Well, give me a little warning Anton the next time
you decide on the direct confrontation with someone like Sotak. I’m just here as an observer you know,
nothing in my contract about combat.’
‘You ain’t even here on contract Paul. Your only here because of that pretty thing you call a wife, Sara.
She’s the one that has the contract and lucky for us too. All kidding aside, we’re pretty lucky to have you
here too.’
The robotic dumpster behind him came to life as Anton logged onto it with his Hive-Tab. Monitoring
the cycle ramp controls before him, a Hive-Tab shared portion of Anton’s mind knew the dumpster had
floated over and was ready to spill into the SilFuser. Slowly he began sifting the sand into the breach.
‘We won’t lose much time anyway with the Hive-Tab robotics. Just a little adjustment here and the rest
should be automatic. Then we want to cart it over to the force molds on the cliff.’
Anton stepped down from the control platform and walked across the cleared plateau. His work harness
supported a Python pistol securely against his chest and a rifle is harness-slung across his back. ‘Mark’s
orders but this thing can get in the way.’ He cursed as the barrel bumped against the railing. ‘Guess it makes
sense since I’m outside security here but this thing is really a pain in the ass.’
The MA2 Python pistol and MR43 shoulder-fired weapon are both manufactured and marketed by
GraviDynamics. The MR43 is still called a rifle by the security personnel even though the barrel is not
rifled. Both can selectively fire solid or hollow core slugs that form within a half a centimeter of the barrel
exit, rapidly spinning and moving at over seven times the speed of sound.
There isn’t much to the pistol on the outside. No clips, slide, ejector or gas vents. It is loaded by
pressing a guard button to release the ammunition case from the handle. The metallic bar that neatly fits into
the casing and then pushes up firmly into the pistol’s frame is the ammunition and can be substituted for just
about any other crystalline or metallic element or in an emergency something as common as beach sand.
When loaded, a section of the frame clears to reveal a gas-gage type indicator. The pistol has two safety
switches that the shooter’s hand depresses when ready to fire. One is on the back of the handle and the other
is located on the trigger itself. There is no need for chambering a round or cocking the pistol. It’s ready to
go as long as it has ammunition.
Each pistol is keyed to the shooter’s hand so only they can fire it without re-keying. Re-Keying is quick
and simple. Grasp the pistol and then reach over with the other hand and, with your thumb and finger, grab
and squeeze the two red pads on the frame just below the rear site. The grip is intentionally unnatural but it
can be performed quickly when the shooter needs to re-key someone else’s weapon.
The pistol has no recoil or explosive kick since the slug is not accelerated by reaction. You could also
set the size of the round; a “three” setting in is about a 50-caliber slug while the control setting can be tuned
up to a very powerful ten.
The Python is a spin-off technology from the Gravitonic Drive. It doesn’t create a field big enough to
move whole objects at once like the drives do. The field is too small and the controls too simple-minded.
Like the drive, it generates an intense fluctuating magnetic field to create a small gravitonic source. The shot
of a Python releases a train of flash-field pulses to shave electrons from the bar and accelerate them for a
split second by the emission of a gravitational radiation pulse. Molecular monolayer-by-monolayer the flash
accelerated electrons rip their parent molecules from the atomic matrix and carry them as a charged
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molecular plasma along the spiraling field lines. The molecules exit the barrel of the gun as a rapidly
spinning plasma stream. They immediately solidify as a slug, properly shaped for hypersonic flight and spin
stabilized by the magnetic field. There are no wasteful explosive gases and the pulse is highly efficient. All
of the gravitonic-released energy goes into forming and accelerating the slug for that tiny fraction of a
second. The only sound you’re supposed to hear is the slug passing through the air.
Reaching down into the sand softly flowing into the SilFuser, Anton felt it’s warmth and wetness.
‘Yeah, that should be about right for the fuser.’ As he swung over to check the output his Python again
scraped the units projector screen. ‘This damned things going to scratch the controller. There, now you stay
within reach. We’re making too much noise around here anyway. Nothings going to bother us and you’ll
watch my back, right Paul?’
Anton set down the rifle and turned to Paul, ‘This fringe area is still covered by the Gravitonics Field.
We finished the extension to the Station generator two days ago. This means we’ll be able to use the field
lines to float over the soft SilFuse output without pipes or sleuths. A very clean and contamination free
process. Of course the Field will only cover us up to the edge of the ravine. Work on the other side will have
to be done the old fashion way with pipes until that new generator comes back from Earth.’
‘Come on, let’s walk the edge of the safety field, don’t try to get past this faint red screen. Actually,
even if you tried you shouldn’t be able to but it’s still better to be safe. OK, here it comes, that slightly
yellow tube coming down the waist-level delivery port is the first of the viscous liquid silicon output. That
color is a good indication we have the proper mix.’ Anton’s HiveTab reads in the color-temperature of the
delivery to confirm proper and uniform heating. ‘Yeah, looks ok. We lose the field over by the cliff edge so
I want to be over there when the first batch drops. Come on let’s….’
Paul’s rifle is already in his hands as he turns towards the nearby bushes that Anton is staring at so
intently, ‘What’s up Anton. Did you see something?’
‘No.’ Anton says slowly as he withdraws his pistol. ‘Didn’t see or hear anything but I thought
something was about to come out from those bushes down there. Just a movement in the shadows.
Somehow it didn’t feel too friendly.’
‘Well, I don’t see anything. Maybe you should go back for your rifle and I’ll keep an eye on the edge of
the jungle.’
‘Yeah, I’ll stay in sight all the while, watch my back. Last thing I want is some crazy young troondoon
coming at me.’
‘Come on, let’s get on with it Anton. Now you’re even getting me spooked and I didn’t see or hear
anything.’
Anton walked over for his rifle. Paul noticed that he was careful to keep the SilFuse unit between him
and the edge of the jungle where he saw the movement. ‘Paul, there’s something out there. I can feel it so
let’s move over and put our backs to the ravine while we look at the rest of the pour. I promised Matt I’d
have this base pillar up by the end of next week and if we’re going to let every little shadow slow us down
we’ll never finish on time. We’ll be ok if we simply keep on our toes.’
* * * **
His brother pulled back slowly with his back feathers rippling in warning. They had come to this site by
accident, a first contact along their path. This wasn’t the source of the vibration and noise but the musty
scent is strong here.
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He had also seen it. The prey not only didn’t look right, they didn’t react properly. They somehow
sensed his brother’s presence much too soon and moved strangely in response. Best to pull back and
continue on our original quest. We can come back later when they aren’t so vigilant.
His brother brushed him in passing. An admonishment to pay attention. His turn to move, he did not
return the touch as he passed his silently watching brother for he knew the fault was his. The prey use a
strong and broad trail here. The herd must be large. Stay away from the trail but near enough to watch.
Trails carry danger and unexpected surprises. Far enough, now freeze and watch for threats.
Silent and easy as the low, early morning mist moving down the hillside, his brother passes through the
brush beside him. His turn now. The vibrations here move the very ground beneath his feet. The forest about
him is silenced by the noise. There is no fear of discovery here. No fear of traps for unwary prey.
Their prey is here. He stops and a small flick of the tip of his tail calls his brother forward. Ah, they are
the fish-eaters. Why do they not fear the big digger?
Careful, there is another of the strange ones behind the digger. Now!
Fast as the strike of a giant cobra, they reach out at the same time. Jaws clamp over two of the stunned
dinosaurs pulling them back into the brush. Holding until they lie without movement. He looks up to see his
brother has just pulled in the third fish-eater. Time to move back and eat.
* * * * *
Tom handed the canteen back to Alex and turned to complete his pass on the road. ‘Hey Alex, are those
three bozos back there with you? They aren’t up front here and I don’t want to hear the squealing if I run
‘em over.’
‘What? No, they aren’t here or behind you. Well don’t that take the cake. They never lit off like that
before. Sure wish I knew what drew them off like that, I’ve never been able to get rid of them for more than
a few minutes.’
Tom called to Alex over his Hive-Tab again, ‘Our push through this sand and limestone soil is easy
here. We should make good time from here on out.’
The day seems hotter here, in from the cooling breezes of the ocean. Alex and Tom push on, sweating
under their light body armor even with their heat regulators. Humidity seems to limit their effectiveness.
After twenty minutes a call comes over their communicators.
‘Hey you guys, coming up the trail. Don’t get trigger happy.’ A contact, instantly identified as Sotak,
sings across their Hive-Tabs.
‘Just what the hell did you guys do to those three dinosaurs? You didn’t have to make such a mess, and
right by the trail too.’
‘What are you talking about Sotak? Jeez, you actually look upset.’ Tom replied.
‘Don’t know nothing about it, huh? There are three, at least I think it’s three since it’s a little hard to
tell. Wait, let me start over. I’m walking back from the ravine about a hundred yards from here. I was
passing that high-grassy area between the rock-bed and here, when I heard what sounded like a thousand
bugs singing in the grass. Naturally curious, I walked over and here’s this flattened out area just covered
with every six to hundred legged crawly thing you can think of and more.’
‘It’s easy to see what attracted them, the whole area is splattered with blood, feathers and pieces of
meat and gut. Well, dumb as it sounds, my first thought was that somewhere under that swarming mass of
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shiny blue and black moving mass of bugs were you guys. So, I went to shoo them off. Well, let me tell you
this ain’t Kansas, Dorothy. I’ve seen plenty of kill sites back home but the guys that clean it up here are in a
totally different league. Some of those centipedes are eight to twelve inches and Sara says they sting you
know! Well, they finally scattered but they weren’t happy about it and I’ve got a few chucks out of my skin
to prove it.’
‘Anyway, I’m happy to say you guys weren’t under there, only some smaller dinosaur bones with
skinny beaks. The whole area is covered with brown feathers and that red comb. I swear some chunks of
skin and feathers where hanging from the low tree limbs. Looks like they ran into a blender and didn’t put
the top on it.’
‘Oddly enough, there wasn’t all that much blood. I would of expected large black-pool from stains the
way those guys were dismantled. So, that’s my bug story. Pretty obvious now who it was. What I want to
know is, I know those guys were pests, but why did you have to be so messy? That’s really not very
professional and a waste of time on your part.’
Alex climbed down from the dozer, ‘Well, we did kinda wonder where they had gotten to. They were
there scrambling around in front of us as usual and I turned to talk with Tom. When I turned my head back,
all was strangely quiet and they were gone. I guess we can’t be sure it’s the same three guys but that sure
would be a coincidence.’
Sotak walked over toward the edge of the undergrowth, ‘I walked by that area not four hours ago and
that kill-site wasn’t there. The whole thing looked fresh to me but I guess Mr. Pope would be the expert on
that. Hmm, I don’t see any exit trails or other marks around here. How the heck did they drag them here
without a blood trail? Maybe we need to put our guard up a little.’
‘Back to business. As I was saying, Mr. Dotschkal decided he didn’t like the way I was setting up the
SilFuser back there. He and Doctor Paul are working it. I came back to see if you guys needed any help.’
‘Yeah, in light of this incident it might be a good idea if you stay. We have the road bed plotted with
the GPS on the dozer but Tom still has to walk the path ahead to look for any unexpected drops, soft areas
or actually anything that would interfere with the dozer pushing through.’
‘Yeah, like hornet nests.’ Tom interjected.
‘Oh cut it out, it wasn’t that bad Tom. Maybe the two of you could work together on this and cover
each other’s backs? I expect I’ll be pretty safe up here from anything short of a T-Rex or Albertosaurus and
we know they aren’t in season right now.’
Sotak hefted his Pulsar forward, ‘OK Mr. Bracken, lead the way.’
* * * * *
The cooling breeze rustles through short strands of hair. Graceful floating filaments capture the rays of
the young sun; dancing refugees from the controlled casualness of the pulled and tied, sand-colored bundle
behind her head. She tries to focus on the chart before her but the grey-granite floor edged with its vineflowered stone railing frames her thoughts and draws her eyes. She knows it to be a barrier edging a two
hundred foot drop to rocks washed by lazy rolling, breaking waves. Their continuous, hypnotic lapping
motion adds a soft melodic element to the sounds in the room. Birdsong fills the air with other, not so
random strains that have recently been the primary focus of her studies and now capture her attention.
The chorus-shared complexity of this new song seems to key on the rhythmic regularity of the waves
below. Residing softly in the background as an almost hypnotic melody; rising, then falling and changing
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slightly with the coming and passing of individuals. Individuals who walk by, seemingly not even noticing
their participation in the communal symphony much as a man will whistle a quiet tune as his hands mold a
piece of wood into a graceful figurine.
Her inner sense tells her there is a key hidden in these strange songs never before heard by humankind.
A key to open an untraveled path, perhaps leading to an understanding of the alien complexity of the newly
discovered friends. Perhaps, with understanding, it will eventually provide a common bond and justification
for saving the species from its passing into extinction. An extinction that will soon remove the wealth and
beauty of this culture based not in technology and manipulation of their environment but an intelligence of
adaptation to their environment and the family group. How could they hope ….
‘Doctor Wenford,’ the calm voice of the expedition’s lead engineer Matt Zoeller cuts through her calm
reverie, ‘I realize you would rather be out working with your studies much as I would, but we are both
critical members of this expedition at a very grave point in time. This is something we all must understand
very clearly and resolve in the next few weeks. Unfortunately the politics of an undertaking such as this can
kill a venture much more quickly, and offer less chance of survival than a technical failure.’
‘We all have projects and research schedules to meet in this expedition. Unfortunately, if the next few
days do not go well then we may never have the chance to complete them. This would of course end all of
our studies as well as any hoped for publications and most of all, all chances of project bonuses.’
‘So please try and put your technical studies aside for a while and concentrate on this meeting.’
Mark Nolen, CEO of GraviDynamics Corporation, reached across the massive simulated-wood meeting
table to lightly touch Matt’s arm with a smile on his face. ‘The view from your office meeting room can be a
bit distracting Matt. We could turn off the virtual environment of course but even I like to be able to see and
feel the world outside. Perhaps we have enough of the key personnel here to get started.’
‘For those of you who haven’t had time to read the project status report, and for those who never read
them, let me review the key elements for you. This report is the primary reason for this face-to-face meeting
since I realize that too many are otherwise wrapped up in daily studies.’
‘The courier probe has returned from our corporate offices on Europa. After convening a meeting of the
board of directors on Tycho Luna Base, they have tentatively approved most of the additional funding and
supplies requested. By the way, they did find our time capsule at Luna Base, way to go Adrian and Seth.
You did a good job both hiding it and picking a stable spot.’ Claps and laughter pass around the room.
‘The probe returned with a Gravitonic Field Generator for the plateau station and Anton has already
begun the installation. Now here is the catch.’
‘Oddly enough, we had no problems with funding approval based on the Gravitonic Drive operational
models update. They can all see that it’s just a matter of time before we have interstellar capability and have
begun some extrapolation on their own based on our findings. They also unanimously approved the
establishment of a resort site. Apparently, some of the members had been pushing for this behind the scenes
and there may be some outside interests in it. I found this quite surprising since, by itself, it doesn’t fit our
financial models in the business plan detailing minimum profit margins for any new venture. I think we’ll
learn more in the next two weeks.’
‘The catch is they have not approved our proposal for an interstellar port.’
‘Two of the board members apparently had intentions of starting their own colonization and trading
bases. The scenario of moving people to nearby stars in this era would not necessarily influence their initial
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efforts with these ventures. Systems colonized from this time frame will be significantly far enough away
that it may be hundreds of years before contact is reestablished with Earth.’
‘However, these board members fear the immediacy of success that our colonization venture, started
here, may experience. They fear that if our sales and marketing can return with stories and demonstrate
early successes, their companies will lose paying colonists and they stand a chance of losing their
investment. After all we are talking days to weeks of travel from our timeframe while the nearest habitable
stars back home are long months or even years away.’
‘Now wait! Don’t try to talk to me about the ethics of a sitting board member of the corporation starting
a competitive venture. We’ll have to take care of this later. Suffice it to say that these two directors are
powerful enough that they were able to pass, by a slim margin, a compromise vote. The compromise is that
we will be host to a board of directors meeting right here on Cretaceous Station.’
Cries of disbelief and denial filled the meeting room. Colonel Daniel Drake, the head of the
Blackwarter security and construction battalion, spoke up, ‘Is this a wise move Mark? You know how
unpredictable this place is, particularly this early in our settlement. Why, we’ve been very lucky to have
only lost two of our security personnel in the whole time we’ve been here. We have no idea what this world
or its inhabitants may do next to surprise us. How can I guarantee the security of thirty board members
without major disruptions in our work schedules.’
‘Well, you won’t have to Mark. We will be playing host to only eight, two of whom will be the
dissenters.’ The remaining members have agreed to go along with the findings of this commission. My vote,
of course, will be the tie breaker if needed.’
‘Now we have about three days to prepare ourselves for their arrival. We will be conducting a preinspection of the offices and labs prior to their arrival. I’m very concerned with neatness and the safety
measures installed within each lab.’
‘I’m primarily thinking of you Marty.’ A wave of good-natured laughter sweeps the room. Doctor
Martin Feldman is a physicist specializing in heavy particle interactions. Marty has a brilliant and quick
mind that has a tendency to wander into interesting side experiments. The base technology for the Pulsar
weapons arose miraculously from a drawing on the back of one of his napkins at lunch one day. Similarly,
the concept and application of the displaywall virtual environments also arose, albeit from a more complex
set of completely unauthorized experiments in his lab. However, he is known for maintaining a series of
messy labs, often containing as many as a dozen or so ongoing, in progress and all too often dangerously
powered up experiments.
Marty views these labs as his domain. He knows where everything is and he develops by inspiration
often without taking time to include cumbersome and restrictive safety mechanisms. Visitors recognize that
those who pass his threshold do so at their own risk both for physical damage if they are not careful, and for
intellectual assault if they cannot keep up mentally with the rapid explanation of the physics behind Marty’s
experiment of the hour.
A rare snicker on his face, Marty retorts, ‘Look, they don’t need to interrupt me. My work is not on the
front line of what makes this drive tick. Can’t you simply keep them out of my offices?’
‘I will try my best to redirect them Marty but your name and honors have been brought up at too many
board meetings. I know several of them have asked repeatedly to meet you. They may see this as an
opportunity.’
Hunter’s Moon
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‘Well, I can clean out a portion of the dark-matter lab. If they come in, I want to restrict them to this
area. I don’t have time for this nonsense. Don’t worry though, I’ll be nice to them. Just don’t ask me out to
lunch.’
‘It’s a deal Marty. To all of us, we need a lab cleanup. Anyone throwing anything should simply put it
out in the hallway. We’ll have maintenance go through and pick up the things on Wednesday. Oh, and no
junk picking like the last time. I don’t want this to be a redistribution of old equipment around the labs. If
it’s out in the hall, it’s junk. Leave it there for the pickup, you cannot adapt it to another project.’
Mike Yatscho, a graviton wave optics designer, raised a question from across the far end of the room.
‘Just what are they looking for by visiting here? Surely they can see our progress from the data we sent.
Also, what can we do to convince them that we need a spaceport here?’
‘Well Mike, the official explanation is that they want to evaluate the safety of the venture. There are
certain connotations to our extinction event exit node. Even though it’s a thousand years away the danger
sounds awfully close if you are looking at a sixty five million plus year trip. There’s also the common view
of dinosaurs running around with nothing better to do than eat everything, and every human colonist in
sight.’
‘In actuality I believe they want a closer look at our geosynchronous satellite telescope data. They know
very well that we didn’t present all the information to them. I expect we’ll open our findings after they get
here and they will confirm the results. This will immediately make enemies of two of the board members
but it’s my intention to insure that the other members vote on our very profitable and lucrative side. We’ll
have to be very careful on security here Dan. I mean internal security. I don’t want any of our sensitive data
and findings going back without my personal approval.’
‘If all goes well I’ll introduce a measure that will remove these two guys from our board. That’s a battle
best left for quieter times. OK. Any questions?’
Dan posed an immediate question, ‘What about Blackbird? Will they want to see the facility there? It’s
rather primitive in the way of personal luxuries.’
‘No, I believe we don’t have to worry about that for now. There will be more than enough interesting
topics for them to discover here at the Station during their visit. Ok, guess that’s it, let’s get back to work.’
* * * * *
A lead weight arches out over the ocean, the thin silistyrene line it trails is near invisible in the long
golden rays of the setting sun. It strikes the sea, lifting bands of water into the air.
‘I want to catch a mosasaur Daddy! Can I hold the rod? Please!’
A tall, dark tanned man with close-cropped hair and the smooth, hard musculature of a body used to
many different forms of heavy work turns to move a rock closer to the edge of the trail. Grabbing a “Y”
shaped stick, he forces it into the ground before him and braces a few stones around it. He then sets the pole
in his hand down to rest on the stand. ‘Settle down Gabe and be careful of the edge there. We don’t know
what we’re going to catch but Mommy said she would like a good fish dinner.’
Corey Zavtek is a machinist toolmaker with the expedition. Like Anton, he likes building things. Unlike
the architect, he can draw as much enjoyment from making a simple wooden box as he can from fixing a
proton accelerator. This is one of the first free evenings he’s had to enjoy with his son since they arrived
here.
‘Can I hold the pole Daddy?’
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‘Why don’t you sit here and we’ll hang on to it together. You know, my Daddy used to take me fishing
like this all the time. He always used to say “keep one hand on the pole all the time…” I think we’ll need to
hold on with two hands around here.’
‘Watch over here Gabe, by that spot where all of the wood is floating on the surface. See them hitting
the surface, those are real fish. I found this spot last week. There’s a drop-off there that is the edge of the
river channel as it flows out to sea.’
Long rays of soft-red light soon flow across the sky. Below the fishermen a single ray from the setting
sun refracts through water droplets thrown into the air by the surf into a sparkling aurora of faint colors that
settle into the sea like a silk scarf blown in the wind. Another day is closing and the young star before them
will soon pass behind the high headlands across the mouth of the river throwing shadows over this low sea
edge.
Long shadows play across the cliffside above them. They slowly pass in unison, mimicking the setting
of the sun except for one single dark shape. A cautious shape approaching from the mainland trail. The dark
shadow moves silently with the grace and balance of long practiced control. A partially covered, feathered
muzzle filled with teeth emerges from behind the trails turn slightly above them. Brown eyes, reflecting an
alien intelligence scan the trail ahead and behind. Vigilant and wary he travels. A body, almost four feet tall,
covered in bronze colored feathers that reflect the rays of the setting sun like oil droplets on a pool of water.
He emerges quietly from around the edge, his tail lightly flicking out over the trail’s edge in anticipation as
he spots Gabe and Corey.
Feathers bristling, quivering in anticipation he launches himself towards them with a cry, ‘Gabe! Gabe
you are here. What are you doing? Want to go and see longnecks I see them coming up on sandy side!’
‘Shhhh, quiet Fozzy you’ll scare the fish.’ Gabe shouts back.
‘Darn it Fozzy, give a guy a little warning.’ Corey grumbles as he slips his pistol back into his belt
holster. ‘Come on over here and maybe you’ll learn something.’
The puzzled Hypsilophodon skips over beside them. His tail doesn’t allow him to easily turn on the
narrow cliff trail but he manages to squat beside Gabe and Corey all the while looking closely at the rod in
their hands.
Corey notices his difficulties, ‘Sorry Fozz, you seem to have a problem sitting out here. I guess it would
have been easier if we went over to your fishing ledge but I wanted to try out here at the edge of the
channel. Look, this is a fishing pole and if you …’
Suddenly the pole jerks down real hard but only once. Gabe’s hands try to pull up but Corey’s grip
holds fast. The Hype pulls back, eye’s wide open in surprise.
‘Shh, shh. That was only a nibble, we have a fish on the other end Fozzy, now watch. This is a reel and
we wind the string, this stuff, back up to bring the fish up toward us. You following this?’
‘That string goes way out into the channel and it has some food, we call it bait, and a …’
Corey suddenly jerks back hard in response to another tug on the pole. ‘Let me do it Daddy! Let me do
it!’ Gabe is trying to grab it at the same time. Corey closes the bail on the real and spins the handle once or
twice to take up the slack. Then he bends down and hands the bending, jiggling pole over to Gabe all the
while watching protectively as he hovers over the young boy. ‘Here, but you really have to hang on to it!
We can’t afford to go back for more of these you know.’
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Fozzy’s mouth opens slightly as he watches Gabe stand and begin tugging against the pulling pole.
Gabe begins to laugh, ‘It’s a big one Daddy! Look at the pole! Whoa!’
‘Not too hard. Slow down when he pulls the string out like that. That’s it, now pull back and reel in.’
As their catch approaches the shore, Corey reaches down to help Gabe guide the fish through the rocks.
‘Bring him up over those last rocks. Good, don’t let it go loose or he’ll get off the hook.’
Fozzy is hopping up and down, easily as excited as Gabe, ‘I can see, him big, big fish.’
The fish flies into the air the last few feet to land on the trail and Fozzy jumps and grabs him. ‘Oh, these
good eating! So big! Not like little ones we catch at the ledge.’
‘Watch yourself, he’s got spines in those fins that can poke you and a hook in his mouth. Ouch, some
pretty good teeth too. Here, let me get in there with the pliers. Grab him under the gills and hold him still.
OK, into the stasis bag.’
‘OK Fozzy, think you can do as well. Wait, I have to bait the hook, or do you want to do it Gabe?’
‘Gabe runs over to their carrier and pulls out the can of white grubs they were using. ‘I can do it! Watch
how Fozzy.’
Corey turns over to Fozzy, ‘Now step back. No, you have to let me have the pole. I’ll give it back to
you in a minute. Now watch how I throw it out and I’ll let you try the next one.’
The pole tip whips through the air and the weighted bait goes flying out into the calm ocean. A splash
and another fish jumps up to meet the bait before it can hit the water.
‘Got him! This is great fishing here! Looks like the same type as the one we just caught. OK, reel a
little more in and come over here Fozzy. Now, grab the pole like Gabe did.’
Five nimble fingers with an opposable thumb grasp the rod. His other hand moves immediately to the
handle on the reel. Roughly, with short hard jerks he spins the reel.
‘Fozzy, don’t push front and back with the handle and stand still will you! Make your hand go around
in circles, like this. Here, just follow my movement. That’s it, now you are getting the hang of it.’
‘No, stop reeling when he pulls out like that. Wow, look at that jump! You have a great one Fozzy!
Isn’t this fun? Fozzy? Fozzy?’
‘He’s OK Dad. He’s just concentrating. He did that when we were making slingshots last week. He’ll
get the hang of it. You watch. He’s real smart.’
‘OK, bring it up on shore. Get it Gabe. OK, just a little wiggle like this and …. OK, this is your first one
so you put it into the bag Fozzy. You’ll have to stay for supper! Rachel has a great pan-fried recipe for
these.’
‘Well, Gabe I guess it’s your turn. Want to try and throw it out. Should be easy here, there’s no trees to
hang up on.’
Eventually the red sun seems to grow in size as it slowly sets below the highlands across the waters
before them. Night fliers are coming out, dancing their erratic flight across the sky as they chase bugs and
other reptiles smaller than themselves. There are no clouds to fire the evening sky but the beauty of the
glowing shadows and reflections on the ocean present their dusk show as three fishermen pack up and
prepare to head home.
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‘Ok, let’s go. Fozzy, did you hear me. What’s wrong with him now Gabe?’
‘Nothing wrong with me. Just worried. I hear a strange noise on the trail there and it doesn’t smell
good.’
‘Well, what is it?’ Corey says as he lifts his pistol and moves forward.’
‘No, no don’t go that way. Better we go home. I don’t know what it is but it not good. We go now.
Right now please!’
‘Cheez Fozzy, your giving me the creeps. OK, you two lead the way and I’ll make sure nothing
follows.’
A few more yards down the trail, they approach the entrance to the hype caverns and Corey suddenly
turns, ‘Yeah, now I did hear that. A warning grenade from the AutoSentinels at the trail’s end. Nothing
more, it must have scared it away. Come on let’s go you guys, call it a night. Let’s go have some supper.’
References
1. Galton, P. M, 1974, The ornithischian dinosaur Hypsilophodon from the Wealden of the Isle of
Wight. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Geology, v. 25, p. 1-52.
2. Scientific American (September 12, 2007), An Interview with Alex, the African Grey Parrot.
sciam.com. Retrieved on September 12, 2007.
3. Paul, Gregory S. (2008). "The extreme lifestyles and habits of the gigantic tyrannosaurid
superpredators of the Late Cretaceous of North America and Asia". In Carpenter, Kenneth; and
Larson, Peter E. (editors). Tyrannosaurus rex, the Tyrant King (Life of the Past). Bloomington:
Indiana University Press. p. 316. ISBN 0-253-35087-5. (Dinosaur feathers)
4. http://www.amnh.org/science/papers/feathered_tyrannosaur.php
The Hypsilophodont, or Hype as we call it in our story, was a herding animal that lived in burrows. There is
ample evidence they cared for their young. They had five fingered hands with opposable thumbs, although
you can see a lot of debate on this in our first reference. Any discussion of intelligence here is purely
hypothetical.
This genus of dinosaur stuck around and evolved from the middle Jurassic period until the extinction. That’s
over a hundred million years of evolution in a body that some paleontologists seem to feel is too small and
unarmored to survive. Nature must have been doing something with them in order for them to survive a
hundred times longer than HomoSapiens has been on the planet.
As for their true intelligence, I would direct you to our second reference study on the calculating, thinking
and verbal capabilities of Alex, an African grey parrot. Parrots are theropods, and not ornithopods like our
Hypsilophodont but some similarities continue between the two families.
This grey parrot has a relatively small brain even in relation to his body size. Yet he can think and speak
quite clearly as well as basic math problems. Perhaps our assumption of dinosaur intelligence is vastly
underrated just as our belief in their ability to have well developed feathers is now changing very rapidly.
Even the T-Rex is now known to be at least partially feathered, reference 3 and, from the American
Museum of Natural History web site (reference 4):
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“This new finding suggests that other tyrannosaurs, such as Albertosaurus sarcophagus,
Daspletosaurus torosus, and even the most fierce Tyrannosaurus rex, were covered with fluffy
protofeathers at some stage in their lives.”
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Chapter 4: Dark Shadows
“There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast."
Charles Dickens
A small, frozen world of ice and rock wanders in from the dark empty depths, drawn into the deep
gravity well of a medium sized yellow star. Rock-hard ice crystals, warmed by the radiation, begin to
sublimate; transitioning from frozen solid directly into water vapor. Just small amounts of the starward
surface at first, then gradually more and larger sections soften. Soon a few of the embedded rocks stream off
into the vacuum carried away on the very solar wind that warmed and released them. The naked radiation of
the star bathes the molecules of the vapor knocking electrons off, ionizing particles. Energized electrons of
the ions gradually lose energy and they fall to a lower energy state in their atomic orbits and release a fleetfooted photon into the cosmos that will travel on for eons. Like the windswept hair of a Valkyrie, the
ionized gas of the rock trails off hundreds of miles fleeing the star, swept violently along by the cosmic
wind. The tail grows longer and brighter as it nears the star, marking the passage and slow destruction of the
small world as the vapor flees the winds of the sun.
Anton Dotschkal, Corey Zavtek and Alex Grissom watched from the high ridge overlooking a field and
the river valley below. ‘Well I guess you’re right Corey, you can see the damn thing in the daytime now.’
Anton turns as he pulls the binoculars down from his eyes.
‘Look how you can see colors in the tail even in the daytime.’ Corey is excited. ‘It’s beautiful, I’ve
never seen anything like this before even when we were back on Europa.’
Anton hands Alex the binoculars and reaches up to grab a wide-brimmed, soft hat from his head. He
pulls it off to reveal a head, slightly balding, and wipes his forehead with his arm. ‘What the hell are you so
excited about. I think it’s damn scary. This is the third comet we’ve seen since we came here. This is also
the brightest and, according to Mark, it will get even brighter as it passes by us just outside the orbit of the
moon. That’s much too close for my tastes.’
‘Aw, what are you griping about?’ Alex chimes in support of Corey. ‘You know nothing catastrophic is
going to happen for at least a thousand years. We’re plenty safe.’
‘No, we are not plenty safe. You’re talking about events that we know only through fossil records that
are over sixty five million years old. This planet may suffer a thousand strikes between now and the big one
and our fossil record wouldn’t see it. Oh, but we will see it all right and even get to feel it if it happens to hit
nearby. Hitting right down anywhere near here or, God only knows, right on top of us. No, I don’t like it a
bit.’
‘Consider what they’ve been telling us, this solar system is just passing into the Sagittarius Arm of the
galaxy. Mark and Paul say there’s a logjam of cosmic radiation and debris all bunched up at the edge of this
arm. It’s all right here where we are passing through. We’re obviously sweeping up a whole lot of junk from
all over the area as we sail through the edge of the arm. Any one of these comets or even an asteroid would
mean the end of us if it hits close.’
‘Aw, stop worrying Anton. Won’t do any good anyway.’ Alex turns back to the Hunter to fire up the
cargo robot. ‘We can’t do anything about it. Won’t do you any good at all if your time is up. If it isn’t up,
then you are going to be ok no matter what happens. Enjoy the show and let’s get this Gravitonic Field
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Drive out and begin the installation. I want to have Hive-Tab communications and field-lift support for our
sleds over here if we’re going to begin the heavy work.’
‘That sounds like defeatism to me Alex. There’s always something you can do about it.’
‘Oh come on! I’m not saying you shouldn’t fight back or avoid the obvious disaster. It’s just that there
are situations where you can’t do anything about it. So, until something happens, stop worrying.’
Anton stands up and arches his back, rubbing it with his free hand as he walks over to a crate and
unlatches the lid. ‘Yeah, right. Let’s get back to work. You and Corey bring the main drive boxes out and
have them taken over there to pad four. I’m going to setup the jumpstart accelerator so we can fire this thing
up as soon as possible. Once we get it up and going, I want you to finish the building shell around it. I know
we don’t expect any rain but I don’t want to take any chances on some dino-rat or its equivalent coming
over and chewing into something sensitive.’
Corey commented as he positioned the robotic loader, ‘What’s a jumpstart accelerator Anton? I never
heard you guys talking about one before.’
‘The jumpstart starts the vibrating magnetic field using a short range but very intense teaser field. We
have to dynamically tune it to get the big generator to respond to the teaser field. Once the big one catches,
we can shut the jumpstart down. We probably won’t need it again after that because these drives aren’t
meant to be turned off. We can even repair them while they are running; well at least for most repairs. We
don’t need the jumpstarts all that often, basically at first startup. That, by the way, is why you haven’t heard
about the unit until now. We’ll be drawing all of our electrical power from the generator after it starts as
well as having all of the gravitonic benefits and Hive-Tab resources. Unfortunately this one doesn’t have a
long-range communications module in it. Would have been nice to have a backup.’
Three large vacuum sealed crates, each about five hundred pounds earth standard gravity, were lifted
from the Hunter. They were using one of the light-weight field robotics, this one operating on four legs for
stability because of the weight and bulk of the load. The robots are smart enough to act with a minimum
amount of direction and remove each crate from the Hunter without damage, even with the relatively small
doors. These crates however are both critical and delicate so Corey keeps a direct Hive-Tab link with the
robotic rather than letting it run full autonomous. With the hard link, he can feel, see and hear everything the
robot is doing from the prospective of the robot even without an operational gravitonic field.
Alex moves from crate to crate as it’s placed on the pad and opens a small box in the corner,
‘Diagnostics say everything is functional Anton. Should we start assembly? I’ll have to setup some
temporary lighting for about three hours.’
‘I’ve got more to do over here too Alex. Oh, all right I get the hint. You’re right though, it’s getting
dark fast. I don’t want to leave these alone over here all night so I’m going to stay over here. Why don’t you
two go back and I’ll sleep here in one of the emergency huts off the Hunter.’
‘Oh no, I’m not leaving your here alone.’ Alex returns. ‘Standing orders from the Boss. No less than
two guys when outside the perimeter and that’s at all times.’
Corey breaks his link with the robotic and turns around, ‘OK, I’ll call in and tell them we’re staying out
here tonight. I’d like the opportunity to get off base one night and Rachel can handle Gabe. Ah, is there
anything on board to eat?’
Alex smiles and walks back to the Hunter, ‘Heck yeah! This here’s a Hunter Recon Vehicle. We have a
full galley with a lot of stasis trays packed at all times. If you want to really rough it we could start a
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campfire. We’ve got some SPAM or, since you are real lucky guys, I’ve still got some of the fish we caught
in Blackbird Valley last month and even a small tray of Hadrosaurid steak. Heck, we’ve even got a good
stock of lager in there.’
‘Great, let’s rough it.’ Corey replied. “How about it Anton.”
Anton sets down the utility spanner, ‘Yeah, I’m in too. Let’s make a night of it. I’ll grab a couple of the
AutoSentinels and fill out the perimeter security net. Look, why don’t we gather some wood for our
cookout? I’ll pick some up on my way back in. Maybe I can find something a little more substantial than
these little sticks. Let’s get moving, I don’t want to have to be out walking in the dark and the Sun’s going
down pretty fast. I can already see some lights over at the Station.’
‘Hey Corey, why don’t you grab a couple AutoSentinels and set them up on the south side. I’ll walk
over to the river’s rim on the North. I don’t think we’ll see anything coming up over the cliffs but I’ll put in
a couple anyway.
‘Dave warned us to stay clear of the swampy area around the lake down there.’ Alex calls over to
Anton and Corey. ‘Ouch, that’s the third one I’ve killed. I’m getting out the mosquito zapper if we’re going
to be sitting around here in the dark without a breeze from the ocean. These guys sure haven’t changed over
the years. Don’t you little blood suckers know there are much bigger targets just down the swamp a bit?
Leave us little guys alone.’
Corey’s walk into the brush is a new and welcome experience. His work seldom allows him to leave the
Station complex so this whole evening is almost like a vacation. The setting sun runs long cool shadows
across a land strangely bordered with a mix of large coniferous pine trees and low palms. He can hear the
waves of the ocean over the next ridge and the soft peat covering the ground feels like a plush rug beneath
his boots. Unlike the crisp, almost sharp air of the Station, warm scents drift and change with every shift in
the wind. The scents are sweet, almost like boxwood or sage grass in bloom but not quite the same.
‘There’s plenty of wood here. I wonder if I can find some decent size pieces of whatever’s giving off
that great aroma. It might be nice for the fire; sorta like mesquite. Maybe next time I’ll bring Gabe along,
he’d love this.’ Corey muses to himself. ‘Ah smoke. They must have started the cook fire already.’
‘Wait just a second, what’s this? I don’t recognize these tracks but something sure was back here. Well
I’ll be darned, they were watching us. There too, they hid in this brush and looks like they were here for a
while, judging by all the tracks. Not too large, maybe only about four feet high with an eighteen inch span
between their feet. Well, I guess as long as they keep to this curiosity level and don’t ratchet up to the “I
want a taste” level we’ll be ok.’
‘Well now look at this, flowers. A whole green leafy bush full of them. Kinda makes you homesick.
Wonder if we can take some back to the plateau. I’d like to put some around the house.’ He mutters as he
makes a GPS entry in his personal log.
A voice drifts over the brush, ‘Corey are you OK? It’s getting pretty dark, you’d better head back in
right now.’
‘I’m OK Anton. I’m on my way back now.’
Corey walks back along the edge of the ridge. The ocean in the distance on his right has darkened from
an aqua to a deep blue and meets the black-velvet skies at a clear horizon. Birds and Pteranodon are settling
into their cliff-nests for the evening just as the night-riders appear. ‘Strange how these evening flying
dinosaurs seem to have just appeared in the last few weeks.’
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His eyes scan the trail ahead and to the sides as he walks through the low rough brush. Arms filled with
wood for the fire, Corey’s thoughts drift across the nearby sea to the cliffs over on the other side of the
river’s mouth, ‘According to Sara and Dieter these flying dinosaurs aren’t in the fossil record and they do
seem to be dinosaurs, unlike the reptilian Pteranodon. Well, they are relatively small with wingspans of only
about two feet maximum. They also tend to stay over the water and in flight. You would have thought a
skeleton or two would have preserved over the years. Maybe they haven’t been around long enough to leave
fossils.’
Gradually his ears become aware of a low rumble, or not actually a rumble. More like a sound that glass
balls would make if they were placed into a slowly turning inverted bell. The warbling of the bell increases,
in volume and pitch. Some of the strains are long and low, others are short and sharp. Corey stops to listen.
He’s heard this song before from the mainland but never so clear and never so close. Sara said these are the
cries of the long-necked Paluxysaurus down by the swamps.
Walking forward again, his thoughts stay with the songs and calls filling the forest behind him, ‘The
short cries seem to cycle like a call and answer sequence. First one cries off to his left, then another answers
from off in the distance to his right. Almost like communications rather than simple bird talk. They change
in pitch and length. Then there’s … what’s that?’
‘Ah, from the plateau. The evening song of the Hypes is rising to sing the sun to bed once again. Shoot,
I gotta get a move on, it’ll be pitch black by the time they finish. Boy, they sure sound different from over
here, just as beautiful though.’
Anton rises to meet Corey and grabs some of the wood from him as he enters the clearing, ‘Jeez I was
just about to send out our marine friend here to get you Corey. Pushin’ it a bit aren’t you. Getting just a little
too dark to be out there by yourself.’
‘We haven’t seen anything bigger than a bunny rabbit here. You guys are too jumpy. Well, I guess
that’s not quite true. I ran across some tracks to the south of something almost man-sized. Oddly enough, it
looks like they were watching us. Anyway, I guess there are larger animals here.’
‘No matter what you may see during the daytime, we are on the mainland and there’s every possibility
of our being in someone’s hunting grounds. Well at least you got a pretty good stack of wood I see.’
‘Yeah, I wanted to try some of this stuff. It has an aromatic smell to it. I thought we might use it sorta
like mesquite on some of the Hadrosaurid steaks. Let’s get going, I’m starving. I’m going over to get a
drink.’
Alex begins breaking up some of the wood pieces and soon a bright fire is going. ‘Here, we’ve used this
as a grill before. Help me to set a few rocks up to support it.’
Anton held his arm, ‘Easy, you have to wait for a good set of coals before we put the steaks on anyway.
Just wait a bit and don’t put the mesquite or whatever it is onto the fire until we put the meat on. You’ll lose
all of the aromatic smoke. Let’s put these pieces in this bucket and let them soak a while so they get good
and wet. We’ll get better smoke from them.’
‘Hmm, these sticks do smell good but I’ve never encountered them before. Don’t taste too bad either.’
‘Corey, I think these are going to cook real nice. You may have hit onto something here. We’ll have to
take some back …. Whoa, what are you doing. You leave that shirt on!
‘Just wanted to put something a little more comfortable on Alex.’
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‘No sir! You do not take that off nor do you remove your pants if you’re going to sleep out here tonight.
That’s your armor and it stays on while you are out here. Those orders come straight from Dan and even
though you don’t report to him you know Mark will support him. The only place you can sleep without that
armor is back in the Hunter with all the doors sealed.’
The evening passed as they traded stories of past assignments and adventures. Soon the warm coals
heated the water-soaked wood and filled the air with a pungent aroma. The smoking hot grill quickly cooked
the steaks and they decided to take some of the aromatic wood back with them tomorrow for future cook
fires.
Three of the AutoSentinels fired off as they were cleaning up from their meal. Alex reached for his
Pulsar. ‘They backed off after the warning. No identification.’ Corey said as he scanned the monitors.
Then two more fired off from the side. They stopped and three on the other side went off. Alex put his
helmet on and scanned the brush, ‘The damned things sound like they’re testing our perimeter.’
Corey looked up from the monitors, ‘They’re about the same size as the ones that made the tracks I saw
earlier. They move too fast, can’t get a good reading on their body mass so I can’t tell how large they are.
Oh shit! One of the AutoSentinels just dropped out of the net. Do you think …’
‘Easy Corey,’ Alex cautioned. ‘That’s not too common but it’s nothing to get excited about just yet.
May have just been an equipment failure.’
‘See that? Nothing else and the perimeter hits seem to have stopped. Let’s douse the fire and just watch
for a while. I don’t expect them to be firing at us but I still don’t like being back-lighted.’
Evening song fills the air both near and far. As they worked, a faint rustle over by the cliff edge faded
without any alarms. Then they sat and talked for an hour watching the dark night shadows work they way
across the field as the bright full moon ran across the star-dense sky.
Corey poked at the comforting fire. The jungle around them echoes with the calls and song of the night
life. His thoughts are lifted by the beauty of the evening and long forgotten memories, ‘You know, my Great
Grandpop Alex Zavtec used to tell me stories about the hunter’s moon. That’s what this is you know, a
hunter’s evening.
You see, our family comes from a small tribe called the Wends that once lived in the Carpathian
Mountains of Eastern Europe. It was a hard and wild life. Just like this, in the evenings they would sit and
listen to the wolves as the packs sang to the night sky. The packs filled the woods every night with their
howls, winter or summer. Sometimes, particularly during the winter, the packs would be heard right outside
the door to their house. My grandmother hated them but my grandpop would scold her and tell her to be
quiet.’
‘He would not talk bad about the wolves for our families had been mountain hunters for generations.
Now, some hunting is best done in the daytime, other types of game can best be found at night. My
ancestors never hunted the wolves though. You see, there was a level of mutual respect. Oh, an occasional
goat might go missing but that was overlooked for the wolves provided a more valuable service.’
‘Ah but it’s during the night that my ancestors were busy, especially on evenings such as this. Those
rare nights blessed by the full Hunter’s Moon that would light the fields, casting long dark shadows
revealing even the slightest movement.’
‘Hunting at night is always a challenge. Your eyes play tricks on you, dark shapes mingle, crawl and
merge with the faint shadows cast by starlight. A moonlit night is a little better. The hunter’s eyes grow
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accustomed to the low light provided by the stars and a partial moon. However, the best hunts were during
the bright evenings of the full moon, the “Hunter’s Moon”.’
‘On nights like this, the hunters would stalk the barren or wooded slopes of the mountains, moving
silently from cover to cover along the game trails. The wolves followed them, driving the game from the
surrounding countryside back toward and into range of the hunter’s arrows, slings or spears. Nobody knows
how or when this practice started for it just was that way for generations. As was their custom, the hunters
always gutted and cleaned their kill on the spot. The packs stayed back a respectful distance during the
cleaning. Even the youngest, most brazen ones learned to hold back. You see the hunters always left a
portion of the kill for the pack. Even in the lean late winter months of starvation, the strong bond formed
over the generations between them and the packs enforced the sharing of the kill. Woe to the man or woman
who broke the bond.’
‘Grandpop told me many family stories, other less pleasant stories. Some going all the way back to the
defense of their homeland from the invasion of the Turks in the 16th century. The Turks invaded the poor
mountain villages of the Wends. They spread terror and bloodshed in their passing across the area, all
without provocation. Whole villages died, or perhaps that’s too kind a word for you see the invaders left
men, women and even small children behind all of them tortured, burned and mutilated. The path of the
army was easy to follow for in its wake it left the villagers, hundreds of Wends at a time nailed to the trees
in agony or death or worse still impaled on stakes. It is a very slow and agonizing death. The Turks were
bringing the blessings of Islam to tribes who had themselves been Christian for less than a hundred years.’
‘Resistance started small. Bands of Wends fiercely fought to hold off the larger invasion forces using
night raids, sheer will power, self-sacrifice and their own brand of terror. Any attempt of a direct
confrontation with the invaders was shattered, but that does not mean the Wends were helpless.
Our people grew up in the steep wild slopes of these mountains. Their ancestors hunted there for
generations and only recently began farming the high valleys. They still understood the forests and the night
trails. A bright moon like this allowed the hunters to move easily and quietly through the night woodland
and steep slopes of the Caucasus. As it always was, the wolves followed them and hunted around them but
in this time the game was human.’
‘As the hunters approached the invader’s camps they would look down from the high slopes and see the
guards sitting by their protecting campfires. Those lowland Turks fearfully watched the darkness enveloping
them from the warm safety of their massive watch-fires. They particularly feared the wolves that appeared
to slink across the landscape as dark shadows seen only briefly by the sentry’s fire-dimmed eyes.’
‘The packs distracted the sentinels, allowing the small band of defenders to move silently through the
rock and brush and just as silently remove the guards. In the early hours just before the false light of
morning, they would creep in, out of the shadows and without a sound to slit the sleepy guard’s throats and
bellies before moving onward into the camp.’
‘The hunters knew they could not kill all of the invaders, there were too many in the camps. They did
the next best thing. They brought their own form of terror back to the butchers. After the guards were
removed the hunters broke up into even smaller bands that would silently penetrate as far into the camp as
possible. They passed through the camp as dark angels of death, killing those in one tent and passing by the
next.’
‘As they went along, they would artfully slit the sleeping invader’s throats and cut their tendons behind
the knees so they could not call or even crawl for help. The hunters were careful not to bring a fast death by
severing the neck arteries. They left for the invaders a slow and very messy passing brought on by eventual
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suffocation and shock. Many foul invaders drowned in their own blood with their companions helplessly
watching by their side. Fear filled the hearts of the crippled victims, silently pumping blood and terror
throughout one tent while leaving the next undisturbed with its occupants peacefully asleep. Methodically
the hunters moved onward to the next tent.’
‘They struck fast and then left. As the hunters worked through the camps, the wolves that followed
them turned their attentions to ripping into the downed sentries. The packs then silently followed the hunt,
spreading the seeds of even more terror in their dark path through the heart of the enemy encampment. Soon
the enemy would be full astir and, from up in the forest, the retreating Wends would hear dismay fill the
black hearts of the invaders.’
‘As the first rays of sun touched them, the near panicked soldiers below would come across the silent
bloodied tents, slit throats and bodies. They cried out in dread of the wolves still working the camp and the
havoc that was descended upon them. Many died so silently with their necks or gut chewed out by the
wolves that viciously followed the initial attack of the hunters. The questions would always arise; “How
could wolves kill sentries and move so silently? Why were they slain while our tent was passed by? Look
here, these aren’t bites. How could wolves slit throats and tendons with knives? But it was wolves we’ve
seen amongst us! Or are they truly wolves?”’
‘Eventually my ancestors did stop and then ultimately drive the invaders out by using these tactics of
the night. The tribe got to be very good at it. Grandpop often wondered if these hunts were the basis for the
vampire stories of eastern Europe. The killing and gore was obviously started by humans but the aftermath
of terror in the camp they gained from the wolves.’
‘For those who knew the tribe there is an additional minor bit of coincidence between the legend and
the stories. You see the majority of the Wend tribe’s males have fewer teeth than most Europeans. The two
teeth on either side of their eyeteeth never come in. This makes the fangs stand out a little more when we
smile.’ Corey turns and smiles in the bright moonlight, two sharp teeth, for the most part unnoticed before,
glisten white in the pale moonlight.
‘Jeez Corey, that’s the last thing I needed tonight.’ Alex turned and stood up to brush the dirt from his
pants. ‘I think it’s been quiet enough out there. The defenses seem to be doing their job and I’m tired. Let’s
call it quits with the ending of this happy story and go to bed. Man, what a classic campout. Great food, a
beautiful fire, an evening beyond description and even ghost stories. Good night! By the way, do you tell
these stories to your kid and expect him to sleep at night?’
* * * * *
Corey woke up. He always was a light sleeper. This time though, he wasn’t sure just why he woke;
maybe just a bit uncomfortable in the sleeping bag. Then why did he feel like he shouldn’t move a muscle?
Just listen. Don’t even open your eyes or change your breathing. Just listen. He could almost feel the room
around him at times like this. Somehow though, this time it is different.
There are no unexpected sounds. Nothing out of the ordinary. Anton and Alex are breathing regularly,
peacefully. You can almost feel the rhythm of their breath and the faint soft movement of the cloth of their
sleeping bags as their lungs fill and exhale the evening’s cool air. Anton snores faintly now, he must have
turned onto his side. Strange, uncorrelated thoughts fly through Corey’s mind, ‘It’s amazing what a few
more percentage points of oxygen in the air can do to improve your senses.’
Outside a low and cooling breeze blows through the pines to the south. It’s weird how, if you listen
closely like this, you can hear the difference between the pine’s needles and the palm as they rustle in the
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wind. Even the surf sounds of the ocean carry, pushing against the shore and the rush of the river in the
valley to the north. He couldn’t hear these in the daytime or at least he never noticed. ‘Hmm, this is nice, a
whole new world that you can’t experience in the day.’
Corey’s leg is stiff but he’s hesitant to stretch. Something still isn’t right. Yes, that’s it! It’s not what I
hear, it’s what I don’t hear. I can hear the distant singing and low warble in the swamp. Normal sounds of
night. Bugs and small creatures call, twitter and click all around. Now that I notice, their volume is almost
deafening; except for those that should be very near. Most of all, there’s no evening song from anything
nearby.
‘Yes, that’s it! The sweetly singing birdcalls that were pushed almost to the background by those of the
dinosaurs. I listened as I fell off to sleep last night to that sweet chorus. They aren’t there! Maybe it’s simply
late evening. Perhaps they quiet down as the …’
‘What’s that smell? A sharp odor coming in through the tent, tickling my sinus. Yes, something like
ammonia but not as strong.’ With that thought, Corey opens his eyes slowly. Just a barely noticed slit,
enough to see the shadows on the tent. Long dark fingers extend across the tent wall. Branch shadows from
the brush projected by the moon onto the sides and top. A Hunter’s bright moon, now full and high in its
path across the sky. Nothing more. ‘That’s the last time I tell family stories before bedtime. Back to sleep or
you’re going to be tired tomorrow.’
‘Perhaps if I …’ A scraping sound behind him. Along the edge of the hut’s wall behind him. He stops,
frozen at the level and suddenness of the noise. His eyes are wide open. The others still sleep. ‘How could
they not have heard that!’ His senses scream. ‘What is trying to get in behind me?’ The very thought is like
a knife point held between his shoulder blades. ‘Should I turn? I need to turn and look! What will happen if
the seal on the hut is broken?’
His hand slides out silently to the utility belt hanging from the pole by his head. He fumbles for the
catch. Something warm grips his hand. Holds it there and gently squeezes. ‘Alex, yes it has to be Alex. He
must have sensed it too.’
Corey freezes and the tension in his hand slowly releases. Now he can feel Alex moving, a dark shape
at the edges of his vision. Slowly rising then the shadow stops, frozen in mid-stance as a second scraping
sound erupts from the other side of the hut that is followed by a faint tearing sound from the one behind
Corey’s back. His eyes turn but he’s afraid to move his head even though the ripping is but a few inches
from his back. A hand silently covers his mouth and his eyes snap up to see Alex’s dark shade standing next
to him with the dull black, deadly blade of his Ka-Bar fighting knife extending out from his hand.
Alex raises his hand and curls his fingers, calling Corey up and away from the edge of his tent. Corey
silently presses the tab and the sleeping bag unseals and falls to the floor with a faint rustle that seems to
scream for attention. Quietly he slips out of the bag, rolling across the mat on the floor with only the faintest
swish of falling material to mark his exit from the sleeping bag. Alex steps forward. There’s a small cut in
the edge of the hut, nothing more and of course no shadows on this side.
A quiet scraping on the other side, behind Alex followed by a low snuffing sound. Then another sound
on the other side of the tent. There are at least two of them! A low dark shadow flows across the side of the
tent, unrecognizable in the distortion of its passage. Silently they turn. Anton is sitting up and has his pistol
up and ready. Slowly Anton reaches into his backpack and pulls something out. Alex looks, it’s a flashbang. A small grenade designed to startle and scare. Alex shakes his head, “No!”
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More scratching and sniffing as the shadows circle the outside of the hut. What are they? How did they
get past the AutoSentinels? A low keening sound begins just on the other side of the wall. A plaintive
wailing and the faint sharp odor rises stronger penetrating to the very back of their sinus. A dark spot slams
into the low panel of the hut and pushes. Reinforced memory fibers of the tough synthetic push and reform
back into shape, actively resisting the intrusion. Four sharp claws punch through the material. The hut
shakes as the intruder pushes vainly against the resisting and self repairing memory fiber of the active
polymer crystals.
Claws suddenly retract and the shadow pushes down and glides off the side. Scraping sounds carry into
the hut from outside. Then nothing. The three engineers stand silently in the center of the hut with only the
distant sounds of the night around them. For a time, familiar shadows slowly move across the side of the
hut. The smell has even passed.
Corey slowly reaches over to his belt and pulls his pistol. He walks to the door of the hut and reaches
out. Alex grabs his hand and silently shakes his head. Alex moves his hand up to his ear and points at it and
then he points outside, ‘Listening! They are watching! A trap!’
Corey nods his silent understanding. They seem to stand there silently forever and then gradually the
sounds of the nearby night-singers return. Alex reaches over and puts on his soft armor utility suit. He
motions for Anton and Corey to also dress. Then, ever so slowly, he opens the now pliant door of the hut.
Their night-sensitive eyes scan the pale-lit meadow around the camp.
Alex turns and motions for Corey to look right, Anton to the left. They exit the door, ready and aware
of every movement perceived and imagined. All is quiet except for the singing and calls of the peaceful
night song. Alex walks over to the perimeter console, examines the display for a while and then whispers
back, ‘No movement in the area so I… Shit, four of the AutoSentinels are down.’
Anton stands erect and rubs his lower back but his eyes continue to scan the meadow around him.
Without turning he whispers ‘Well don’t that take the cake? I never heard of four of them failing at the same
time. Murphy seems to be working overtime.’
‘Murphy who?’ Corey asks then stops, ‘Oh, you mean Murphy’s Law, “Anything that can go wrong
will go wrong!” Ok, but the probability of four going out must be astronomical!’
Alex’s whisper raises a little higher, ‘Nope, wasn’t Murphy this time. Remember, we lost that outer
sensor last night. The other three failure’s form a path right through our perimeter defense net. This was a
planned incursion.’
‘Whoa, let’s not get carried away here. Do you realize what your last statement would imply? Anyway,
why didn’t the AI detect the systematic failures and alert us?’ Anton asked as he carefully walked over to
Alex.
‘I didn’t activate it last night. This really isn’t a combat situation and we are running on stored energy
until the Gravitic Field generator is running. Animals just don’t have the technology or even the concept of
electronic surveillance so I thought we wouldn’t need it.’
Voices returning to near normal, Corey walks over to the side of the hut. ‘It seems our local singers are
a better warning system. What the hell could be so scary that they all hunker down into silence when our
visitors appeared?’
‘Jeez, all that scratching and nothing to show for it but a few ruts in the ground and a hole in the side of
the hut where the claw went through.’
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‘I’m not surprised about the lack of scratches since the hut is somewhat self healing. I’m kind of
amazed that they managed to make a hole at all and even more so that it’s still there. No, look, two holes in
it.’ Alex replied. ‘Be careful where you walk over there, maybe we’ll be able to see their tracks tomorrow.
I’m not about to set up any lights out here right now. There, I’ve started the AI interface, good evening
Senti. Nice to talk with you again. We’ve had a problem with four of the sensors knocked out at one time.
This was a hostile intrusion. Assume local hostiles with exotic intrusion capability.’
‘Ok, that’s about as tight as I can make it without a full AutoSentinel defense hookup like we have
around the Station. Be careful, we don’t know for certain that they left. I hope the charge lasts until the
sunlight returns.’
Anton turned toward Alex, ‘We don’t have any visuals on them either. I just reviewed the sequencing
from last night and it shows only the four sentinels going down. No other trips and no record of movement
in the camp. More importantly, it doesn’t show them leaving camp.’
‘You’re so sure there was more than one?’
‘Yeah, I distinctly saw at least two separate shadows on the wall of the hut. The seemed to work in
unison. Notice how one stayed on one side while the other scratched the other side. They had a trap set for
anyone escaping out the back.’
‘What the heck was the keening noise,’ Corey asked as he examined the hole in the hut’s side. ‘Jeez, he
knew right where I was but couldn’t get to me. I think they were communicating.’
Anton’s head jerked, ‘Oh, now we’re really getting carried away… oh shit. I keep forgetting where we
are. Yeah, the Hypes communicate real well and the Troondon, well we still haven’t figured out how they
do all they do but it’s definitely communication and coordination.’
Alex emerged from the tent with a small clip in his hand. He plugged it into the AI console. ‘I’m
reconfiguring the field around that incursion path. This means a program override for the area and, more
importantly, it also means the sensors around the path edge will run a little hotter to cover the dead ones.
Our only problem with this is how long the stored energy tank will last. We’ll have a warning signal before
it drops to dangerous levels so no need to worry until then. After that it’s Mark 4 Eyeball surveillance in
shifts for all of us.’
‘On second thought, hand me my combat helmet. Here Corey, we’re going to begin two-hour shifts
right now and you have the first. Come here, sit with your back next to these rocks so you can scan the
whole camp. I’ll leave the radio on, call first if you see something. After two hours, come in and get Anton.
Anton, I’ll take the third shift.’
Corey put the helmet on and activated the optical. The area lit up clearly across the meadow. ‘OK, I get
it, you’re setting yourself up for dawn watch. Well, thanks, I appreciate it Alex.’
‘Yep, you got it kid. Stay alert it’s only for two hours.’
Corey stood back against the rocks. Pistol in his harness and rifle loosely brace-strapped across his
chest. The sounds of the night returned. The level seemed almost deafening as he scanned the perimeter
outputs and watched the edges of the clearing. He wondered if the helmet was amplifying the noises.
After an hour or more the sensor alert indicated travel down the incursion path. Warning shots from the
hot lasers went off, hitting the intruder and playing the ground around it. They pulled back.
A few minutes later, they began playing another edge of the perimeter. They seemed to appear inside
the outer edges even with the AI running. Corey could hear the low keening sound after each attempt.
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After a while, Anton called across Corey’s helmet. ‘Coming out, don’t get trigger happy. It’s time for
you to get some shuteye.’
‘Over here Anton. I moved so that I could see better. They’ve been trying to get in off and on all night.
First through the weak point and then they eventually tested the entire perimeter. I even had a few hits over
by the river cliffs. Guess they gave up, it’s been quiet for the last forty minutes or so.’
‘Right, glad to hear they gave up. I’ll settle in here.’
The time passed easily for Anton. Watching the evening landscape through the sensors brought a whole
new dimension to his plans. There were tricks that the dull shadows seemed to play as they flowed across
the ground. The beauty of the sounds and lighting would make a fantastic meditation chapel or just
background display for some theatre.
He accessed the AutoSentinels and programmed in a series of wavefront recordings for the evening. As
he stood, eyes slowly scanning the meadow, the helmet AI recorded all of the visible illumination in the
meadows in the form of ray tracings. The range of the recordings went outside the eyeball’s visible
wavelength spectrum into the near infrared and ultraviolet. He could frequency shift and compress them to
make the whole spectrum visible if the effect was worth it. Most importantly, the ray packets will provide
full capability of scene recreation from almost any point in the sensor grid and in three dimensions. What a
bonus this sensor deployment turned out to be. He’d be able to use the memorized wavefronts for years to
recreate full 3D audio and visual landscapes of the raw, primitive meadow.
Alex’s call seemed to come in no-time at all. The dew was thickening on the leaves and the very air
seemed soaked with cool moisture as Alex emerged from the hut. ‘The evening was quiet with no alarms.
I’m wide awake so if you want to head back to bed go ahead.’
‘No, thanks anyway Anton. I’ve been awake for about an hour. I’m looking forward to the sunrise. Sky
should be lighting up fairly soon.’
A chirping sound from the AI lifted into their helmets. ‘Sensor failure!’ Alex announced.
‘Sensors A23 and A24 have not responded to their status call.’ The AI informed them. ‘No response on
the base net level responder. Assume the sensors are dead or at least inoperative. Sensor B23 erratic
response.’
Alex pulled his rifle from the harness coupling, ‘What the hell, they’re going for another full
penetration. AI, flood the area. I want to see what’s out there.’
The AutoSentinels flood illuminated the meadow. A slim black dinosaur stood in the full illumination
of a targeting laser for a split second, seemingly startled. Before Alex could call the fire code he
disappeared.
‘How could he just disappear like that? The whole area’s filled with sensors!’
Then the AI chirped a staccato warning and the grid dimmed and went out.
‘Oh now we’re in for it. The power just went south on us.’ Anton called.
‘Quick, don’t even try to pull the reserve, we’ve got to get back to the hut.’ Alex shouted. ‘Stay close.
At least we know they ain’t thirty foot T-Rex’s.’
‘I’m not getting trapped inside that hut again.’ Anton called as they crossed the meadow.
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‘Did you see how fast that thing moved? We’ll put the hut to our back and we’ll have to hold out until
sunrise. Gotta get Corey up anyway.’
Just then an angry scream lifted from the campsite. They emerged from the low brush to see the tent
door open with Corey sprawled across the ground.
‘It just came in and grabbed my leg. I twisted and head-butted the thing. Thank God for these armored
pants, they stiffened up right away or you’d be calling me gimpy now!’
‘Where is it?’ Anton asked.
‘I don’t know. I must have surprised it and then it heard you coming and it was gone.’
‘Quick, get the camplight. That’ll last for an hour or so. No, not right by us. Place yours at the edge of
the brush over there and I’ll put mine around this corner of the hut.’
Corey raced around the hut and ran right into the dinosaur. It’s reflexes were amazingly fast as it
silently leaped through the air and struck out towards the light in his hand. Corey’s arm went up in reaction
striking the attacker in mid-flight. It felt like he was swatting a tree limb. The dinosaur landed on top of him,
a red fury ran across his vision as he was thrown to the ground. Anger flared and Corey wrenched his arms
around the beast and spun onto it’s back just as another blow landed behind his head. The helmet saved him.
Corey held onto the neck of the beast as he felt other arms reach around his shoulders and teeth
grinding down into the back of his helmet. He pulled back on his chokehold and could feel the other’s jaws
skitter down the hard surface toward his neck. The teeth scarped across the rim of his helmet and the now
stiffened collar of his body vest. Sharp points slipped past the defense, piercing his flesh, ripping across it as
the jaws slid in their growling fury. The blood scent drove the dinosaur into a frenzy. Corey reached up and
grabbed the jaws, releasing the body below him.
Anton, seeing the lamp flying from Corey’s hand, emerged from around the corner. He drove his
massive fist into the head of the attacker just behind it’s eye. The head of the beast flew back, losing its
balance. A black shadow rose from below and took one frantic bite onto Corey’s lower shoulder. The armor
hardened and the assailant was able to pull free, knocking Anton down to his knees as both vanished into the
shadows.
Anton was screaming. His pistol now in his hand, he fired wildly into the brush before Alex stopped
him. ‘They’re gone. Take it easy. They’re gone and you might hit some of our equipment.’
Anton immediately dropped down by Corey, ‘How are you doing kid? Did he get you?’
‘I’m ok guys. I guarantee you I’m a believer in wearing the armor out here from now on. Damn it, he
was able to get through on a weak point.’ Corey’s low voice growled as he pulled his bloodied hand from
his neck.
Alex recovered Corey’s lamp and set it up behind the tent. ‘Well I guess there are only two of them,
whatever they are. Cheez but they are tough. Not at all like those fish-eaters. I’d think they could even take
on a troondon.’
‘Come on, get into the hut. We need to treat that scratch and make sure you don’t have any other
wounds. Anton, you watch outside here. I don’t think we’ll have any more problems since the sun’s coming
up but stay close anyway.’
‘What the hell were they? Do you think they were troondons?’ Anton asked.
‘No, too small, but boy they are fast and strong.’
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‘Well, they could be young ones.’ Anton replied. ‘I’m not ruling out the troondons yet. Could also have
been Hypes. They are about the right size and they seem smart enough.’
‘Smart? Yeah, I guess you could say that. They also worked together as a team. We would have had
Corey’s bird if the other hadn’t of come to his aid.’
Anton growled from just outside the hut, ‘There’s more to it than that. They planned this incursion.
They defeated our AutoSentinel grid and then waited until the right time to strike. They used the twilight
just before dawn when our awareness should have been at its lowest and it is hardest to see. They also
would have had us from behind if Corey hadn’t of ran into them.’
‘Well, luckily there were only two of them.’ Alex called from inside the hut. ‘Here, hold this.’
‘Ouch, what are you doing Alex? Since when do you give injections?’
‘Oh, stop griping. I’ve done this many times before. You won’t even need stitches but I don’t like
puncture wounds. Luckily there’s no sign of any cloth or dirt in it. I’ll just put a few butterfly sutures across
the scratch.’
Anton’s voice rose from outside, ‘There’s the morning song, right on time. It’s like nothing happened,
just another day. Guess we need to clean up here a bit and then get back to work.’
Alex exited the hut, his eyes scanning the fields around them, ‘Ok Anton but I have to go over and call
Dan. Last night was not business as usual. We need to alert the Station and the other’s working outside.
They have to know about this new threat.’
‘Well, we don’t know that it’s going to bother them over by the Station. We’ve got a wide river valley
separating us and we may have just moved into the territory of these guys. I’m still not convinced it wasn’t
the troondon that attacked us.’
The stars fled before the brightness of the blue sky as the full moon lingered to watch over them from
the western horizon. Soon, the power of the hunter’s moon faded with the rising melody of bird and
dinosaur morning song as it lifted to greet the arrival of the sun.
Three humans, aliens to the beauty surrounding them, slowly began to clean up their camp and perform
their own morning ritual. Common tasks carried out with just a little more vigilance than the day before.
Down on the edge of the swamp, two sets of dark eyes watch them from the distant shadows. They are
tired, sore and hungry. They too learned something last night. Maybe here there is more to be feared than
the big ones. On the other paw, these are more their size and therefore they may be managed with a little
more careful planning. Most of all, he cannot forget the smell and all too brief, teasing taste of the hot blood.
It leaves a craving in his gut unlike any other he has ever tasted. Perhaps they will be worth the effort.
Perhaps they can be taken and they always liked a challenge.
* * * * *
A long, deep oboe-like call cascaded across the valley and reflected off the steep walls of the cliffs less
than a quarter mile away. It isn’t the smooth oboe crescendo of a reed instrument but a more complex strain
like air columns vibrating in a pipe organ. The tones climbed and then lowered down the octaves until those
listening could not hear the song any longer but its presence demanded their attention as a throbbing, low
pain in their mastoid lobes.
A reply sounded from far up the valley. A complimentary call heard more in the lower octaves and
strangely carried through the solid matrix of sedimentary rocks at the river’s edge. Its plaintive call gliding
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through their surroundings much as the ghostly refrains of whale song travel back and forth between lonely
leviathans across the depths of the ocean. Be they lovers, mates or strangers, their calls riposte back and
forth in the singsong random refrains of an unknown language.
A lone figure stands on a slowly drifting boat in the center of the river listening intently to the calls. His
head covered with a wide-brimmed soft hat. An article faded and wrinkled from years of use in the sun and
rain of an older planet. It sits atop broad shoulders and brown muscular arms that lightly hold the heavy
caliber pulsar rifle. He unconsciously stands tall and erect. Alert to the sonic recordings being made by his
Hive Tab and keenly aware of the danger that could be waiting unseen in the brush-filled shore less than
forty yards away.
‘Another twenty minutes of this and I’m gonna need an aspirin.’ Doctor David Pope groans for the
benefit of Sara Wenford sitting on the seat beside him. David is a naturalist and, by temperament, a
conservationist who sees no contradiction in the fact that he is also a well known big game trapper and
hunter.
‘I don’t like being so close to the shore. You saw those T-Rex jumping. Forty yards would be no
problem at all if he didn’t mind getting wet.’
‘Oh, cut your griping David.’ Sara returned with a smile. ‘This is unusual. This is the first time we’ve
actually seen a lone Hadrosaurid calling. They never do it when they are in the herd. Just what is he doing
out here anyway so far from the safety of the herd?’
‘Can’t we stop calling them Hadrosaurids? How about something more friendly like “duckbills”.’
‘Call them what you wish David but we always speculated on the function of the large, boney
resonance chamber they hold atop their heads. Now we know what sounds it can make but why do they do it
and why only when they are alone? Stay just a few more moments while I record this exchange. Besides,
it’s your fault I’m here and you promised to help me with my research.’
‘I don’t regret my decision Sara. Your insight into these dinosaurs has been invaluable but can’t we
work on something less painful. Don’t these calls hurt your ears?’
‘No, it doesn’t bother me that much. Look, we’ll collect another set of both calls and then move on
downstream, unless of course you want to add him to our bag.’
‘You want me to simply shoot him so Mary Li can cook him up for the dinner? He’s not hurt or even
maimed. No, thank you. I think we have enough meat and should be heading back. Besides, I’m not anxious
to butcher another half ton of meat and cart it back into the stasis bags.’
‘I believe we have enough red meat for the party. I’m not looking forward to those board members
coming here but it does provide a good excuse for another party.’
‘Ah David, once again the big white hunter restores my faith in his credentials as a naturalist.’ Dieter
Chintz commented from the other end of the boat.
A very accomplished mechanical engineer, Dieter came to Blackwater from the SolTrans corporation
operations in the asteroid belt. He had spent the last two years of his life in a spacesuit or space station with
no access to natural sunshine. That had been then but now he was in a tropical wonderland. To call the place
exotic would have been an understatement.
Dieter loved dinosaurs as a boy and had often thought of paleontology as a career before the reality of
job availability hit him. The lucrative job on the asteroid belt had taken him as far from his hobby as he
could envision. The vacuum of space and distance had not dulled his love of the subject.
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That was until he met Matt Zoeller and signed on to this expedition. Since then Dieter felt that he had
gone to heaven. The contract had brought him everything he ever wanted, excitement, adventure and a
chance to discover and see sights that no man has ever seen.
‘Come on Dave,’ Dieter continued. ‘Let’s head back. We can check the traps on the way back and pick
up some seafood. I’ve never had crabs as good as the ones we’ve been catching.’
Suddenly the forty-five foot Jensen Boat lifted more than a foot into the air knocking David down to
his seat. The waters beside the boat churned and a grey backed animal, almost as large as the boat, broke the
surface and swam toward shore without lifting its head.
‘A mosasaurs!’ Sara nervously laughed. ‘They come in from the ocean. He was probably investigating
us, making sure we weren’t intruding on his territory. Guess he classified us as a log, lucky for us.’
‘You really believe they are related to snakes, Sara?’ Dieter asked. ‘They look more like a wide dolphin
with crocodile jaws than a snake.’
‘Yeah, has to do with similarities in their bone and jaw structures. I think we need to get going.’
Dieter started the quiet jet engine and the craft began moving downstream. The river valley opened
even wider as they approached the mouth. Soon they passed over rough waters where the sea waves met
those incoming freshwater, David noticed a glint of light from the south side of the cliff tops. ‘Looks like
someone is watching us from up there. Gotta be Anton or Alex with binoculars at the new site. Oops, hang
on now, a little more chop and then we smooth out.’
‘Take it a little more to the northeast Dieter. That’s it, I can see the trap buoy.’
‘Ok, cut it and let us drift in. Got it!’ David called from the front.
David swung out a metal arm over the edge of the boat. Then he reached over the edge, grabbed the
cable and hooked it over the pulley and began to bring in the rope. Even in twenty feet of water he could see
the cage lifting from the bottom. Several shapes on top scurried off the edges of the cage as it lifted. Soon a
four foot wire cage, emerged from the waves. David pulled the rope until the cage was just out of the water
and then secured it. Three snake-like creatures rushed through the mesh grating and out into the ocean with
the flow of water.
Sara scrambled to the front, eager to look through the contents of the cage. The cage is over half filled
with thick and thin shelled crabs as well as an ammonite and a few trilobites that somehow got in. Dieter
reached in and with both hands grabbed the small ammonite; pretty as they were they did not cook well. The
six-inch trilobites were not a favorite of the explorers so they would also be released. On the other hand the
crabs and these aggressive bivalve clams were excellent eating. The thin-shelled crabs reminded Sara of the
Chesapeake blue-crabs of her childhood but they are considerably larger than any she recalled from back
home. The heavy thick-shelled ones are a lot more work but they are very meaty, more like a Dungeness
crab on steroids.
Dieter came forward with two sets of ArmorAll gloves. These gloves are made of the same soft and
pliant material used in the stress-hardening body armor and had a large flap that extended up the forearm.
‘Here, we can get them out easier with these gloves. Even with the gloves, be careful. You don’t know
what else is in there….watch it, don’t let any of them get out into the boat!’
Sara opened the stasis box and held it for them. ‘These are always a hit with the folks. I asked the
Hypes to bring in some fish for the dinner. They promised at least fifty of the fluke and those trout-like fish
that cook up so well. I’ll ask Mary Li to make a chowder to go along with the main dish.’
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‘That’s great Sara!’ Dieter panted as he pulled out two crabs. ‘Let’s get this over with. Even with these
gloves, I don’t like handling these guys. They are too fast.’
‘Well, three more traps and we can head back.’ David commented. ‘Watch out, here comes those pesky
pterosaurs again. Shoo! Dieter, stop feeding them they’re worse than sea gulls.’
An hour later they sealed the last stasis box and turned the boat out toward the eastern sea. Two miles
further down the channel they crossed out of the fresh water current and turned north to pass around the
outer edges of the peninsula that held Cretaceous Station. A sandy shoreline by the cliffs on the north side
provided dockage for the Jensen Boat as well as access to the top of the plateau using a sand crane.
‘Ok, hang on. The waves aren’t all that high but I want to get in close enough to reach the boat with the
cable and bucket from the crane. Push off those rocks Dieter if we get too close.’ David called over the low
sounds of the surf.
The boat slid into the sand and Dieter jumped off into the surf with his pistol already in his hand. The
long-necked Plesiosaurs usually ran at their approach but there were occasions when the hundred foot long
animals had shown considerable aggression in the past. Dieter ran over to the bucket and unlatched it. He
then took the remote control and released the cable. Swinging it over his shoulder, he pulled it over to the
gunnels of the boat and latched it into a loop on the bow.
David and Sara jumped off and the crane dragged the boat up onto the sand. All three then struggled to
lift the bags of meat and seafood from the boat and onto the sand where they could lift them with the crane.
‘I’ll go up top and guide the stacking. I’ll call in for a floater when I get up into the Hive Field and we
can take these over to the kitchen.’ Sara announced as she started over to the base of the small trail that
wound up the cliffside.
As she approached the cliffside Sara stopped. ‘Dave, Dieter! Come over here. There’s a terrible odor
coming from the grotto.’
Sara ran over to the entrance of the small cave entrance near the base of the trail. She looked in hoping
to see back to where the smaller tunnel opens into a large cavern that has a shallow underwater entrance to
the sea. Dieter and David dropped what they were doing and climbed the shallow slope over to the cave
entrance and looked in. The smell of blood and rancid flesh filled the entrance.
‘I can’t see a thing.’ Sara said.
‘Wait here but get out your pistol and be ready. We have a flashlight in the boat utility box. I’ll be back
in a second.’ Dieter said as he ran back down the hill.
David pulled Sara back a little further from the entrance. ‘Something must be dead in there and it’s
recent or the locals would have cleaned it up. Whatever killed it might still be in there so just stand to the
side a little here and wait for Dieter.’
Dieter returned and carefully moved to the other side of the cave. He had his battle helmet on and pistol
at the ready. He could see a pile of something in the light about fifteen feet ahead where the tunnel turned.
‘Scan both sides and the ceiling before you go in there Dieter.’
‘Yeah yeah, nothing to be seen. I’m going in.’
The crystals in the sandstone and quartz glistened with the reflected light of his flashlight as he entered.
‘Ok, nothing in here. Come in and back me up. I’m going into the grotto room.’
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‘Sara, you can come in but stay at the entrance. Watch our backside. I don’t want any surprises.’ David
carefully walked into the cave and over to Dieter. ‘OK, go ahead. I’ll keep my head in the doorway behind
you and watch.’
Dieter walked into the room and ran his light over the walls. The walls were filled with quartz and other
small rocks fixed in a white sand matrix. Not much room to hide in here. ‘Nothing so far, I’m heading into
the grotto.’
Around the turn, he could see dim tracings of refracted sunlight as it entered the grotto from the
submerged entrance. The rays spread over the walls of the cavern lighting it in glimmering streaks of green
and white bands as the water slowly moved in the sea currents. The cavern walls are hard rock. Pieces are
strewn around the floor and Dieter has to step carefully while watching the shadows. Several small animals
fled into the water as he entered.
Dieter walked around the edge of the cavern, careful to examine every nook. ‘Nothing in here. It could
have exited through the water entrance.’
‘Yep, watch your back as you come out.’ David called back. ‘Ok, let’s see what’s dead.’
The floor is soaked in fly-covered blood and gore in the corner of the cavern. Clumps of meat with
broken, gnawed bones protruding from them seem to move in the dim light. Maggots! The pile is covered
with maggots, beetles and many other small scavengers many of which David, with all his years of
experience in the field, could not identify.
Dieter ran outside and grabbed a small branch from a bush on the edge of the cliff. Brushing a clear
area, he digs into the pile and pulls out a head with a broad, flat muzzle.
‘Hypes! Oh my God they are Hypes!’ Sara cries. ‘Who would do such a thing? Why kill and mangle
them like this?’
‘They were partially eaten.’ David said as he toed a leg from the pile. ‘Look at the cuts and marks on
the bone. Here, the leg was broken and cracked so that they could get at the marrow. Doesn’t really look
like they finished their meal though.’
‘I don’t see any tracks but then the floor is too hard. Nothing outside either.’ Dieter commented.
‘We need to look back up the trail for tracks.’ David commented. ‘The Hypes must have come from up
on the plateau unless the Troondon brought them here from the mainland. That really doesn’t make sense
though. I just don’t understand why they would bring them here.’
‘How do you think the Hypes are going to react to this?’
‘I really don’t know.’ Sara replied. ‘They don’t seem overly concerned about their young ones after
they get to a certain size. They do watch the very young very carefully though. We’ve seen them take their
dead after an attack but we were not allowed to follow. Most of all, we don’t know anything about what
their reaction will be to death in a situation like this.’
David stood up and thought for a few moments. ‘OK, you climb to the plateau. We’ve got to finish
unloading the food. Dieter, you stay here and help me guide the bags up to the top as I fasten them on the
crane. Sara, call into Dan on a secure channel and let him know what happened. If he agrees, then go over
and get Molly, Tina or whomever you think is best and bring them back down. We need to decide what to
do with this mess. More importantly, we also need to find out if someone breeched the security at the top of
our plateau.’
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Sara’s Hive Tab came alive as she emerged from the cliff trail. Contacts and communications tags,
provided by the Gravitonic Field covering Cretaceous Station, flooded into her system. Messages, notes
from others and waiting requests filled the mental queue provided by the small implant located behind her
right ear.
She ignored them all and called the head of security, Daniel Drake. ‘Hey Dan, we have a bit of a
problem down here. No, everyone is ok but could you hurry over to the sand crane on the North Face of the
plateau? David thinks you need to bring some support and perhaps an AutoSentinel with a repeater.’
‘Ok Sara, I’ll be right there but what level of support do you need?’
‘No immediate threat. Please bring two men and a floater to help carry the supplies back to the kitchen
and no, that’s not why I called. David also thinks you should bring two more team members with rifles. That
should do it for now.’
‘Be there in 20.’
Sara began hoisting the stasis bags of supplies up the cliff. She uploaded three bags by the time Dan
and his men arrived with the floater.
‘I have an AutoSentinel and repeater coming from storage. Why were you so cryptic in the call? Did
you guys catch something alive on this trip?’
‘Hi, could two of you please take over here. We need to bring up the rest of the supplies. The rest of
you follow me down I’ll tell you on the way.’
‘There was nothing exceptional on this trip until we got back to the plateau.’ Sara commented to Dan as
she climbed down the trail. ‘We may have a problem here though. When we beached we found several dead
Hypes in the grotto. David says they’ve been partially eaten. It’s pretty ugly.’
David and Dieter approached as they reached the bottom of the cliff. The two Blackwave specialists
exchanged places without comment and continued unloading the supplies. Dieter greeted them as he passed,
‘Keep vigilant guys. Something killed and put these Hypes in the cave and it doesn’t look like they finished
their work. Looks rather like butchery for the sake of violence rather than food hunting.’
Dan and David went into the cave when all of a sudden there was a commotion at the top of the cliff.
Dan called up to the guards using his helmet because the Hive Tab field did not extend down to the cliff
bottom. ‘What’s going on Tom?’
‘Three Hypes just appeared out of nowhere and want to come down. They’re getting pretty upset.’
‘Oh, I wasn’t ready for this. How the hell did they get wind of it anyhow? Alright, let them down.’
‘What happened here Dave?’
‘Well, I don’t know. It’s not like any kill site I’ve ever seen and I haven’t been able to find any tracks.
We have several dead Hypes in there. They’ve been mauled but only partially eaten. There’s a lot of blood
around the cave as though they were still alive in there when the worst violence began. If they would have
been drug in dead we wouldn’t have so much blood across the floor. The level of violence just doesn’t make
sense. It’s almost like a cat playing with a mouse for the pure pleasure of it.’
‘Do you think any of our team did it?’
‘They would have had to have been pretty sick. I haven’t had a chance to examine the remains closely
but everything I’ve seen looks like bite marks, claw slashes and pure fury. No indication of weapons fire or
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knife marks. Also, the meat near the bones shows some indication of canine cuts. I’d say two or three inch
tooth structures. No, I think one of the locals did it. Some dinosaur or reptile perhaps.’
‘Buddy, I didn’t see you come down. Go ahead in. Hang on Dan I want to be in there when they go in.’
David said as he walked over toward the cave with the three Hypes.
Dan turned to Dieter and Sara, ‘I recognize Buddy but who are the other two?’
‘I don’t know.’ Sara returned. ‘Unfortunately this means we aren’t going to be able to communicate
well with them. Buddy only speaks a few words and the other two most likely can’t talk at all. I wish Tina
or Molly had come along.’
Dan called back up to Tom Bracken, ‘Call Brittany and ask her to bring some Hypes that can talk to
us.’
‘They’re already here sir.’
‘How the hell … Oh, I bet they picked up our transmissions using those Hive-Bot scarves that your son
made for them. I thought we were being cryptic enough in our conversation. These guys seem to continually
surprise us.’
Sara’s son, John Wenford, is researching hive intelligence in the form of microscopic Hive-Bots. Selfconstructing nanotechnology artifacts, a single Hive-Bot is relatively unintelligent and weak. However,
when combined with several million other microscopic robots, the mentality of the whole entity quickly
approaches artificial intelligence quotients. Their functioning is like the cells in the human body but, unlike
human cells, they do not need the intimate contact or rigid programming since they are all individually
programmable. Scarves made from the robots and worn on the necks of the Hypes allow them to
communicate across the Hive-Tab network through a short range link directly into the minds of the
dinosaurs.
Tina ran into the cave without stopping to greet Sara and the others. She emerged a few moments later,
quite visibly shaken. ‘What you do here? Why?’
‘We didn’t do this Tina.’ Dan replied immediately. ‘This is how they found the bodies. I was rather
hoping you could tell me what may have happened.’
‘I don’t know. Never kill like this. Strange smell all through cave.’
‘That’s the smell of death Tina.’ Dave replied.
‘No, more than that. Strange sharp smell. Something very wrong.’
‘Do you think the Troondons did it?’
‘No, never like this. They kill, sometimes very bad but not like this. Troondon take, we never see again.
Why someone do this?’
‘Can you tell how they brought the Hypes to the cave?’
‘Smell follows outside and up trail. I first smell just down from top of trail.’
Dan cut in. ‘Now wait a minute. We have security fields up on top. We would have recorded anything
unusual and the system would have notified us.’
‘They come trail. How get there we not know.’
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‘If Tina’s right, then we have a hole in our security net. I think they must have entered from down on
the shoreline.’
Dieter spoke up, ‘Doesn’t make sense sir. Why drag them all the way over to the cave here? We know
there are no other Hype colonies on the mainland, at least not nearby.’
David returned from the cave. ‘They’re pretty shaken. They don’t like things changing very much and
this is entirely alien to their way of life. I guess we’re pretty lucky they’ve accepted us. We must have really
upset their home-life.’
Sara turned to Dave, ‘Yeah, I guess things have been pretty stable around here for a long time until we
came. They don’t even have seasonal changes in the weather. Our arrival must be rather traumatic for them.
An incident like this doesn’t help matters either.’
As they talked, one of the Hypes emerged from the cave and ran up the trail. David watched, ‘They
were not real happy with my poking around in there. I expect they would like to take care of the remains.’
‘Ah Brittany, don’t go in there. You don’t want to see that. Say, is there anyone missing from the
community up there? Any of the Hypes we know?’
‘No Doctor Pope. At least no one that I know of and I was down in their caverns with them. All seemed
normal until we heard your call. Then Tina seemed to get very upset and we ran over here.’
‘Dan, I’d like to go up top and see if I can find anything. Maybe there’s something we’re missing.’
‘OK Dave, keep in touch. We’ll install the AutoSentinel down here so we can watch the bottom of the
cliff. Last thing we want is some of our team members ending up like this. Most of all I want to find out
how they evaded our security net.’
‘Lots of questions at this point. We need to get some answers. I’m going to look over by the rocks
while you skirt around the water’s edge. I don’t have to tell you to be careful over there do I?’ Dan said as
he walked off and began searching the base of the cliffs.’
‘Mom, unless you need me I’m going to go back to the plateau and see if I can find out who is missing.’
Brittany began collecting her things. ‘I hope this doesn’t put too much of a crimp on our work with the
Hypes.’
‘Not by yourself young lady.’ Dan called over to her. ‘We’re going back to the original orders until we
find out how they breached security. Stay armed at all times and no travelling without a companion. That
means a human companion Brittany.’
* * * * *
Corey sat on the edge of the Hunter’s portal and watched Anton update his progress report. They’ve
gone about as far as they could with just the three of them working on this side of the river. He could hear
Alex up in the cockpit talking with the Colonel.
‘No sir. I didn’t put a priority flag on my report. We were able to handle the situation and I saw nothing
that exceptional in the incident. I simply thought that since we are on this new section of the mainland we
ran into something new. Happens all the time around here you know.’
‘Yes sir, it is unusual that the perimeter security was breached but we didn’t have the full AI network
up. No sir, we were able to handle the situation without any other incidents. No sir, nothing abnormal since
the other night and we are on schedule for the construction.’
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‘No sir. We need to take the bridge pillar on the North Side up to construction level 340.3 before we
can begin the bridge phase over here. Bob and Sotak have been working that end and I understand they are a
little ahead of schedule.’
‘Yes and we are about ready to head back over and help them complete their side. Then we’ll need to
bring over more manpower and robotics for our next phase over here on the south side.’
‘Yes sir. I’ll tell them. See you tonight.’
Alex turned to Anton and Corey, ‘Well, for the record we’re on heightened security now. Quite
coincidentally, we had five Hypes killed and butchered in the grotto cave last night. Dan’s linking in our
incident report with the killing because they also had an unexplained security breach and the tracks they
found on the cliff-top were similar to the images we sent over.’
‘So, we wrap it up and then head over to the other side as per the original plan. We’ll need to beef up
our perimeter though and keep at least an AI presence to monitor the security. So, let’s get going.’
* * * * *
‘OK, we’re into the final batch. Looks pretty good if I do say so myself.’ Sotak Luti turned to Bob
Brody who was examining grain structure of the last pour segment. He slowly paced the silicon-rich
concrete based arm that extended over a hundred yards out over the valley floor. They are scanning the
structure sonically for cracks or uneven curing of the newly poured bridge support arm.
Bob had to shout back over to Sotak, ‘Yeah, nice and uniform all the way through. Nice working with
this sand base. Most of the stuff is pure silica but there’s enough coral mixed in with it that the matrix
reflow doesn’t tend toward a pure crystal output. The resulting mix is full of enough imperfections that it
makes the end product a less brittle than we usually get. Stuff should last a thousand years!’
‘That’s about the right time frame.’ Sotak quipped. ‘After that we don’t want to be in the area. I wonder
how hard this area will be hit when the comet finally strikes.’
Sotak picked up the sonic leads and they retracted back into the tool. ‘You finish up, I want to go back
to the tractor and put this away. I also want to see how the pour melded with the rocks on the face of the
cliff. If all went as well as this pouring we should be able to start on the other side tomorrow.’
‘The cliff strata seems to be holding the strain nicely.’ Janet Andersen added across their Hive Tab link.
Janet is a GeoPhysicist from Bucknell who first came to GraviDynamics to work on the Europa base site.
She was a major contributor to the string model for the original Jupiter Red Spot theory that resulted in their
being able to travel back in time to this location.
‘Hey, did you guys notice that? Most of the small dinosaurs left the area when you started that deep
probe analysis of the bridge. It’s rather scary-quiet around here now. I’m going to note it in our day report.
Maybe the sonic pulses of the probe are driving them off. We might have a fenceless barrier here if we do it
properly.’
‘Would you come over here Janet.’ Sotak called from the tractor over near the edge of the clearing. ‘I
just heard the strangest alert from our AutoSentinel. We shouldn’t …’
Janet turned to see why Sotak stopped. What met her eyes stunned her into immobility. Things like this
just don’t happen! Sotak was down on the ground and being pulled toward the brush by a dark-brown
dinosaur. The beast seemed to be only slightly larger than him and a part of her mind wondered how the
normally light-boned dinosaur was able to manhandle the large man so easily. The raptor had it’s mouth
over his helmet partially covering his face and it shook as it pulled him along. She could barely hear his
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muffled cries although he was only a few yards away. She could see him twisting and turning, trying to grab
his attacker.
Janet screamed for Bob and bolted toward Sotak, her hands fumbling to bring up the unfamiliar rifle
strapped to her back. She finally pulled it around when something hit her from the side. Two hard feet hit
her simultaneously in the small of her back throwing her into the side of the tractor treads and onto the
ground. The rifle flipped out of her hands, the retaining strap tangling around her elbow.
The attacker grabbed her leg, the instant hardening of her body-armor was the only thing that prevented
her leg from breaking. The raptor shook her like a doll and panic filled Janet’s heart as she tried to twist
around.
Janet didn’t even hear the shot but she saw it crease by her head and through the rough outer feathers
and skin on the shoulder of the dinosaur. It immediately dropped her leg, throwing her against the Silcrete
foundation and rolling across the clearing. The beast let out a high warble filled with pain and rage. The air
was suddenly saturated with the sharp smell of ammonia and the beast ran off.
‘Are you ok Janet?’ Bob shouted as he ran over to her still trying to scan the brush into which the raptor
fled.
Janet untangled herself from her rifle strap and climbed back up to her feet, ‘I’m fine. They pulled
Sotak into the brush. Be careful in there! Bob, wait!’
Bob flies into the brush. He can hear them pulling the body through the trail ahead of him. He can hear
Sotak’s muffled but angry shouts that seem to be getting further and further away. Suddenly the scrub-bush
in front of him erupts and a black, angry bird flies out, knocking him down to the ground.
Janet pulled through the bushes in time to see the dinosaur on top of Bob and she fired. The bullet
seemed to pass through the black bird-like creature. It screeched and hissed at her and fled when she didn’t
stop her rush.
‘Bob, are you …’
‘Yeah, yeah I’m ok. Thanks but get outta my way. Come on!’
They ran down through the rough brush and into a marshy field. Then the trail disappeared. Bob and
Janet looked around frantically for any sign of the attackers.
‘They must have left a trail, come on let’s backtrack and …’
‘Bob, Janet, Sotak!’ The call lifted into their Hive Tabs. ‘Where the hell are you guys. You’re supposed
to be over here working.’
‘Anton, quick! Follow our marker. We’re over here in the brush to the northwest. We were attacked and
they dragged Sotak off. Hurry!’
Dan’s voice lifted into the net, ‘I’ll be right over with a reaction team.’
‘Hurry and bring David. We lost the trail and I don’t know how long Sotak can hold out!’
‘Try and find the trail but don’t mark it up too bad or even David won’t be able to track them.’
‘Oh, Sotak! Where are you?’ Janet moaned as she searched the brush.
* * * * *
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Sotak Luti was wrenched from behind and landed on the ground. The foot that kicked him in the back
would have broken his spine if he had not been wearing his armor. There was still enough force in the blow
to knock the air out of him.
Darkness enclosed him as the jaws enveloped his helmet and a sharp, overpowering smell penetrated
into his sinus. Then the beast began to shake him.
He tried to grab onto the jaws. He could hear Janet screaming but he couldn’t grab onto the jaws around
his head. The violence of the shaking was tremendous. It was all he could do to keep his neck from
breaking. Worst of all, he couldn’t breathe right.
Sotak felt his body being drug across the ground. Every time he pulled, the beast shook him again.
Twice it tried to stomp onto his chest and it knocked the breath out of him. The armor protected him but he
couldn’t breathe right and the smell. That God-awful smell was overpowering. He could feel himself
slipping away, losing control of his limbs.
Everything seemed a dream. The violent shaking had dropped. At last it was peaceful, if only the smell
wasn’t here.
He lay there for a few moments and then he felt his blouse lifting. Janet must have found him.
An incoherent cry left his throat as his numbed brain registered the almost fire-like pain of his skin
ripping. It felt as though someone was running coarse sandpaper across chest and stomach. Rubbing and
scraping his chest raw with a thousand tiny cuts. Even now he knew his cries were little more than a
wimper. If only the pain would stop. Every whimpered breath brought in that awful suffocating smell. If
only he could …
* * * * *
‘This is what I was afraid of.’ David Pope mumbled as he walked around the area where Sotak was last
seen. ‘There’s been so much running around here that all hope of finding faint trail is gone. Do you see
anything Buddy?’
‘Hey Buddy, let’s walk in a ways.’ Alex called over to the four foot tall Hype. The Hypsopholidont
looked over toward Alex with his broad tooth-filled face and soft pheasant-colored feathers and shook. The
broad orange comb running down the back of his head flipped as he moved into the brush to help track the
victim.
They scurried around the perimeter a bit until David first spotted the trail. ‘Well thank goodness. I was
beginning to feel a little less than competent when working with Buddy here. I finally got to find something
first. Let’s go!’
They moved on into the brush. A bent twig or displaced clump of moss was often the only sign of the
passing. Other times Buddy pushed ahead based solely on the scent trail of blood spoor.
The trail led out near the rim of the river valley and then down through a broad glade filled with
horsetail ferns. Here the trail clearly passed through the broken path of five-foot tall ferns. They follow it
faster now, relying on their numbers for protection. They are aware that an attacker could erupt from the
dense cover at any point.
Flies fill the air and small biting insects swarmed around them as sweat dripped from the brows of the
humans. They jogg, faster and faster in their effort to arrive and save Sotak, feet sinking into the soft moist
carpet of moss and peat. Then Buddy stops. A loud buzzing sound fills the air ahead of them.
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Carefully and silently David, Alex and Corey move ahead toward the sunlight filled clearing ahead. The
clearing is one of crushed and trampled ferns and in the center…
Corey turned to vomit, the contents of his stomach retching uncontrollable into the field. Ahead of them
is a flat area covered in blood. A mangled body lies in the center of the ferns, at least they think it’s a body.
David walks up to the remains, his fists clenched tightly on the stock of the rifle. ‘Well, unfortunately I
think we found him.’
‘My God, what did they do to him? In all my years in the field I’ve never seen anything like this.’ Alex
voice trembled across the clearing.
David reached into the back pocket of his jacket and began unfolding a large black bag. ‘Unfortunately
I have seen it before. Once before. It was a cat. A killer cat that we were hunting through the villages. When
it wasn’t hungry it would hunt for the pure pleasure of the kill. Those were the worst kills. Sometimes it did
this to the victims.’
‘Most people don’t realize it but a cat has a very rough tongue. It’s very much like the skin of a shark.
If they lick you it’s like sandpaper rubbing against your thigh.’
Corey, finally under self control again, is bleary eyed in rage, ‘Where did all the blood come from. This
place is an unbelievable mess?’
‘It came from Sotak.’ David replied. ‘You don’t get all this from a knife or gunshot and this isn’t even
all of it. They licked off every bit of exposed skin that they could. They even managed to pull his shirt and
pants armor up when it relaxed. Remember it only stays hard under trauma. Then they lapped up his blood.’
‘Somehow they managed to keep him alive during this. His heart continued to pump out blood as each
lap dug deeper into the flesh. Drinking until the flow finally stopped.’
‘My guess is we missed them by only a few minutes. They’re still around here.’
‘We need to return him to the station and organize a hunt. It’s obvious they’ve developed a taste for
human blood.’
References
1. Rose, Peter J. (2007). "A new titanosauriform sauropod (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from the Early Cretaceous of
central Texas and its phylogenetic relationships" (web pages). Palaeontologia Electronica 10 (2).
http://palaeo-electronica.org/2007_2/00063/.
2. Upchurch, Paul; Barrett, Paul M., and Dodson, Peter. (2004). "Sauropoda". In Weishampel, David B.;
Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka. (eds.). The Dinosauria (2nd ed.). Berkeley: University of California
Press. pp. 259–322. ISBN 0-520-24209-2.
3. Oceans of Kansas: A Natural History of the WesternInterior Sea. By Michael 1. Everhart. Bloomington:
Indiana, University Press, 2005
4. Lackner, Klaus S., and Wendt, Christopher H., "Self-reproducing machine systems for global scale
projects," Document LA-UR-93-2886, 4th International Conference and Exposition on Engineering,
Construction and Operations in Space/Conference and Exposition/Demonstrations on Robotic for
Challenging Environments, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 26 February - 3 March 1994
5. Patterson, J.H., The Man-Eaters of Tsavo, 1986, New York: St. Martin’s Press, ISBN 0312510101,
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The Paluxysaurus , references 1 & 2, was first found in the town of Paluxy, Texas near the Paluxy River. It
is known from the remains of at least four individuals found in a bonebed. It was a four footed, very large
sauropod that could reach lengths of sixty feet or more with a neck and head of thirty feet. The skeletal
remails show that it stood about twelve feet high at the shoulders and the nostrils were turned up on top of
the snout, instead of out like Brachiosaurus.
The freshwater and inland sea that covered central United States was about three hundred feet higher than
the present ocean level. The sea and land in this time frame supported a broad and very diverse mix of the
historic life forms seen over the past hundred million years along with many plants and animals that would
seem familiar to today’s traveler.
Scientists have found fourteen species of fish and many types of shark. Waters abounded with both salt and
freshwater clams, snails, bivalves, and mollusks; and brackish-water oysters. Sea waters contained an
amazing variety of ammonites, extinct relatives of the chambered nautilus, as well as plesiosaurs (reptiles),
mosasaurs (a finned and flippered relative of snakes), and giant marine turtles.
Some have commented that the gory and unhappy ending of Mr. Sotak Luti seems unbelievable. The
incident however is one of many such occurances that have actually occurred with cats in India and Africa.
A good source for further reading can be found in reference #5.
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Chapter 5: Carnage
“Given the same amount of intelligence,
timidity will do a thousand times more damage than audacity”
Karl von Clausewitz on tactics
The long rays of a hot young sun beat down from a clear sky entirely devoid of haze. Cool sea breezes
blow across the plateau to provide some relief to a small group standing in the shaded, narrow neck of land
separating the research station from the wilderness of the mainland. The obvious presence of handheld
weapons throughout the group of humans is not unusual. Even the presence of a small number of
Hypsilophodonts among them has become normal. The strangeness of the gathering lies in the fact that
groups typically do not assemble at this location. Particularly since the gathering lies outside the safety of
the gates to the Cretaceous Station research facility.
Two men stand toe-to-toe at the center of the group; one of them, Anton Dotschkal, has a glow about
him. A red suffusion that emanates up the back of his sweat-streaked neck and then travels behind and over
the ears to flush brightly across his cheeks. A vivid display of reaction that pales in comparison to the fires
burning brightly in his eyes.
‘Are you out of your ever loving, desk bound reactionless mind?’ Anton clearly enunciates in a low,
deadly tone, spitting directly into the Matt Zoeller’s face. ‘You want to hunker down here behind your
passive automated defenses! There is no way you can simply ignore what is happening until after the board
members leave! Just what do you intend to do when we suddenly lose some more of our Hypes or even
worse, another expedition member? How do we handle the board members then?’
To his credit, Matt Zoeller weathered the verbal onslaught quite well. He remained cool and calm
before the heated torrent. ‘Mister Dotschkal, I’m sure Daniel can handle the situation. We simply have to
pull back our resources onto the plateau and ignore the threat of these animals. They will grow tired of the
area and simply leave when there is no food supply. I realize this will delay our construction plans for the
rest of the Station but we can make up for it later.’
‘You underestimate them Matt! These are not simple-minded animals who will run away and allow you
to go about your ivory tower research for some obtuse galactic set of principles. They are a physical reality
of the here and now! If you want to continue your work then you either have to leave the area and move
elsewhere or directly address the problem. You cannot ignore them and, since we can’t simply pack up and
leave, we have to remove the problem and we need to do it quickly. Right now! If we don’t act now then we
will lose more people and I’m talking about human lives here.’
‘No Anton, I don’t think so. This is too much of a distraction. If we ignore it then it will resolve itself.’
‘No, no, no! At this point we’ve been attacked three times. I’ve lost a very valuable man who also
happened to be a good friend. Look, you need to consider two very important facts. First one is that they
have already penetrated our so-called tight defenses here on the plateau. Even the Hypes didn’t realize their
six family members were dead until we discovered the bodies. Don’t forget, these poor Hypes were hunted
and dragged from right out of their tunnels. That’s half an unprotected step away from our sites on the
plateau.’
‘Second, these guys have developed a taste for human blood. Have you talked with our big game hunter
about this? Then you need to do it! David will tell you that when that happens they lose interest in other
food sources. That means the threat isn’t going to go away. That means that we will be losing more people
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from right out of our own Station very soon particularly since they know how to get past our security. We
need to do something and we need to do it right now while we have a lead on them.’
Mark Nolen and Dan Drake walked out from the gates as they listened to the exchange and stood next
to the parties, waiting for the right moment. ‘Hi Anton. Sorry to interrupt but just what are your intentions.’
‘Ah Mark, Dan! Glad to see you. We need to move now while we have a warm trail. We’re heading
over to the tractor site and we’re going to hunt down these bastards that killed Sotak. All of us have had
hunting and military experience on one level or another and if we approach in a group we should be able to
drive them into a kill zone. Matt apparently objects to it. He thinks we should wait them out but we all
disagree.’
‘Ah yes, I heard that part of it. By the way, where is David? I asked him to be here.’
As if on cue, a dark figure emerged from the jungle trail. Rifle held before him, sweating and breathing
heavily from the obvious exertion of a hard run through the jungle.
‘What the Hell are you doing running through the wild area by yourself?’ Dan called out to the winded
naturalist.
David pulled up beside the group, his breathing already near normal. ‘Hi Dan, one minute and I’ll
explain. I figured the discussions would be going this way. Good, glad to see you all here, you just saved me
a lot of time and trouble.’
‘Mr. Nolen, I would like to see if we can resolve this problem. We’re pretty sure there are only two of
them so far but, who knows, if we let them continue to hunt then they may call in others of their kind. They
obviously like our hunting grounds.’
‘I want to set up an old-fashioned game drive. I’ll need four more shooters to setup a kill-zone. If I
could I would ask Anton, you Dan, Alex and Corey to join me.’
‘We’ll set up a group of drivers to beat the bush, need about twelve to fifteen or so. They’ll start at the
kill site and follow the scent trail. There will be safety in their numbers and they can drive the two dinosaurs
ahead of them into an area of our choosing.’
‘Great idea!’ Anton cut in, ‘In the mean time, we’ll circle around to the narrow end of the ridge line and
set up our shooters. That’s a natural choke point and we can bracket them in both high and low.’
‘No, I don’t have enough people and if we use our technicians as drivers you are going to get someone
killed.’ Dan replied immediately. ‘This isn’t a gamelands deer drive you know. These brushlands are deadly
and anyway, who other than you can follow the trails quickly enough. The dinosaurs will simply out
distance your drive. They’ll simply skirt around the edges of your group. Worse yet, people will get lost or
bump into lord knows what. Then how many dead will we have?’
‘Well, I guess we could ask Buddy and some of the other Hypes to man the drive.’ Mark interjected.
‘They have an interest and a stake in this too. They’ve also been good trackers in the past.’
Dan simply shook his head. ‘We don’t have the time to organize the Hypes. Furthermore, they aren’t
hunters. No good, they won’t be able to …’
David had taken a step or two back from the group as they argued and turned to face the dense brush
around them. He lifts his hands and whistles out a complex call. The brushland around the group erupts in a
continuous stream of warbles, rattling screeches, hisses and whistles. The calls came from all around the
humans. Random calls soon coalesce into a low thrumming beat that billows up and down the scales with
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shrieking interjections of blood curdling screeches. Branches begin to rustle and the brush-line around the
humans erupts with black feathered dinosaurs that appear out of nowhere. They stand around eight foot tall,
many with a yellow crest that runs magnificently down each one’s back to flair out in a multicolored broad
tail that whips savagely behind them as they bob up and down in place before the small group of humans.
Their head feathers bristle in a fierce display to end in a yellow neck ring as the Hypes cower back into a
tight grouping behind the humans.
‘As I thought might be the case, the troondon also have an interest in helping us. Apparently, they too
have been attacked but I haven’t been able to find out just how badly.’ David pushes on in a voice carrying
across the calls of the dinosaurs surrounding them on three sides.
‘I ran into two of the troondon watching us on our way back from Sotak. They seemed anxious to talk
and, it took a lot of sand sketching but we’ve been able to lay out a drive path. One thing though, I don’t
want to use the ridgeline as a kill zone. I want to push them down toward the ocean and across the roadway.
Before any of you ask, we think we know the area the bad guys are in. We can push them this way, down
toward the plateau. They won’t feel like they are being cornered because we’ll leave the flank open. They’ll
actually have to cross the open area we cleared for our road to escape. This sets up a good, clear kill zone
for our shooters and I’m sure the bad guys won’t even see it as a threat.’
‘How … how in the world did you talk with them?’ Sara shouted above the calls. ‘We’ve only been
able to pick up their most basic greetings?’
‘Oh, a lot of hand-waving, scratching in the dirt and stomping around. Apparently we both had the
same goal and concept in mind so it wasn’t all that hard.’
‘No, no, no.’ Sara Wenford shook her head. ‘They could not be that far along. They actually thought of
a drive plan this complex and using our resources? This also involves a trap that would only work with
weapons that can kill from a distance. They aren’t used to that.’
‘Look Sara, they hunt like this all the time and they’ve seen what we are capable of. We even saw the
Albertosaurus driving the Hypes through our camp using tactics and communications almost as complex.
Have you forgotten that already? I don’t have time for this. We need to move now if it’s ok with you Dan?’
‘Not up to me, what do you think Mark?’
‘Ok, things keep getting stranger and stranger but let’s go for it. Dan, I want you to send up two
Hunters to oversee the whole drive. You may even have a chance to end it early from up there if you can get
a clean bead on the guys.’
David shook his head, ‘I’m not happy with that. They will be very close to the Troondon. I don’t want
to see any of our drivers getting hurt.’
Seth Sassaman called in over the Hive Tab net, ‘We’re ready Mr. Nolen. We figured you might need
our help so Toshi and I did all the preflights. Don’t worry Mr. Pope. We’ll hold off and be very careful if we
do happen to take a shot.’
‘Ok, if you think you can do it then I trust you guys.’ David answered as he turned to look at the
troondon around them. ‘Let’s all take care and I want my shooters over here now. We’ll be travelling with
two of the troondon, the rest will go off ahead of us. The two troondon that stay with us will report back to
the drivers the exact position of our kill zone. Let’s head out.’
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Mark gave a last call to the group, ‘Good hunting guys. The rest of you head back into the Station. I
want to lock down the plateau during this operation. We have no idea just what they might scare up and if
anything heads this way I don’t want anyone outside.’
* * * * *
They ran southwest for eighteen minutes at an easy jog, back to the kill site along the road and the side
trail and then onward. The troondon spread out in the brush around them, silent in their travel but alert and
vigilant. David could hear the soft push of air from one of the Hunters as it passed quietly over the group. At
the kill site, flies, gnats and other insects fill the area drawing small birds, dinosaurs and other minute
predators to the feast. Faint but persistent buzzing forms the background of a meadow already echoing with
the calls and song of the daytime wildlife.
The troondon stop to form a circle around the area where Sotak died, watching for threats while four
obviously older males joined the group of humans at the still bloody, insect covered area of trampled
horsetails. Delicate three fingered hands with opposable thumbs lightly touched the grass, sometimes
sniffing the spoor and the air. Several times they touched pieces of grass to their tongues, extending them
several inches from their long, tooth filled snouts.
Dan pulled the security team in around him. ‘This is our starting point. We’ll stay until they move up
the trail and then we’ll fade back to the roadway section that’s just down from where we entered the brush.
When we get there, I’ll place each of us into position. Remember, be aware of the location of those around
you. I don’t want anyone shooting and hitting a troondon much less one of your buddies. Most of all, no
unnecessary movement or noises. That includes talking. I guarantee you these bad guys have unbelievable
good hearing so keep quiet.’
‘I’d like to make a suggestion sir.’ Alex spoke up. ‘If you and David would agree, I’d like to travel with
the troondon. We will need to know their progress and exactly where they are located. I’ll be able to update
you and also guide them using our helmet communicators.’
‘Actually that’s a good idea but I should do it.’ David commented.
Dan answered immediately, ‘No, let Alex do it. He’ll be able to keep up better than you and he knows
the short calls of our security net.’
‘Hey Dave, they look like they’re ready to move forward.’ Anton spoke up just as several short clicks
arose from deep within the throat of the older troondon. ‘You’d better go over and see what they want.’
David jogged over to the group. ‘Ok!’
He shook his head and gave out a short warble sound. He then reached around and pushed Alex
forward.
Three of the troondon backed away, their neck feathers bristling slightly at the quick movement. Alex
pushed into the brush past them. They looked at each other and then the older troondon took off, running
into the high horsetail ferns of the meadow, quickly passing in front of Alex.
Dan turned and, with a wave of his arm, motioned the humans back into the brush. They pushed across
and into the narrow palm grove moving swiftly but as quietly as possible. Small dinosaurs and lizards ran
before them, some turned to scold them as they passed. Others flew or glided through the dense growth to
escape the swift passage of the humans. The humans trusted only to chance that a deadly threat would not
rise before them and ruin their plans.
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Soon the humans mounted a ridge and followed the easier passage just below the top of the ridgeline.
They avoided the dense scrub at the bottom of the small valley that would have slowed as well as increased
the noise of their passage. They also avoided the easily travelled ridge top that would have silhouetted them
against the open sky, allowing them to be easily spotted from afar.
Just before reaching a section of the brushlands that lead into the dense swamps, they crossed into a
small, open clearing. The hard road lay a scant thirty yards ahead. The level of the roadway rises slightly
above the soft surrounding brush with an open ditch on both sides for drainage. Trees, brush and scrub were
cut forty yards out on both sides of the causeway during construction and left to lie in a loose, jumbled mat.
Travel through the new cut slowed their passage significantly. The fallen brush and trees, left to lie there
during the initial clearing, pulled at their trousers and trapped the unwary footstep.
‘OK, let’s settle into the first drainage ditch.’ Dan called in a loud whisper. ‘When I place you in here
get down and keep still. Pull over a few of these bushes for silhouette cover. We don’t want to spook them
before we hit ‘em.’
‘Now look, here is your field of fire. Stick to it and don’t let your eyes wander. Stay still and no talking.
You want to do something? Then listen to the drivers as they get closer. You should be able to hear the bad
guys coming ahead of them. No itchy trigger fingers. I don’t want to see anyone hurt by friendly fire,
understand? That includes troondon! Remember, Alex is going to be in there somewhere.’
* * * * *
The troondon moved quickly through the brush. Now they made no pretense of keeping quiet. Calls
filled the air; low bellowed whoops that warbled, piercing through the undergrowth. They pulled trees and
swatted bushes with their tails. Occasionally a single call would pierce the jungle and their track shifted into
another direction.
‘Sounds rather like a strangled turkey.’ Alex thought but he didn’t even try to shout on his own. Their
pace was so rapid he had to meter his breath and energy with care. Then he saw one of the hunters running
on all four feet. The hunter’s nose was down to the ground when it suddenly stopped and circled back. Alex
also stopped to see what would happen. The dinosaur turned and ran in a small circle, than stopped again. It
raised its head and called the strange warble. Alex could hear the drivers of the group turning, circling
around to a new direction.
They ran across a stream where eight of the small, birdlike Ricardoestesia flew out to half-glide across
a pasture in panicked flight. They began squawking and yelling as they had when Alex tried kicking them
by the bulldozer only a few days ago. ‘Damn things are annoying. I really don’t like them!’ Alex thought.
A furry animal ran right into him, it stood almost as high as his waist. Alex pushed down with the butt
of his rifle, his hand slipped and he grabbed a handful of downy feathers as it passed by. ‘Hell, I thought that
was a mammal. Guess he just wants to get out of the way.’
The dinosaurs slowed and began squawking, screeching. Alex knew exactly what was happening; the
quarry was nearby. He sided over to put his back against a nearby tree and began to yell. His rifle at the
ready before him. All of his senses alive to the smells, sounds and details of the palm-like scrubs around
them.
A black shadow erupted from the brush to his left. It landed on a troondon, swinging it to the ground as
it descended. A second troondon dove in and tried to grab it by the neck. Even as fast as the troondon were,
the attacker seemed to move like liquid lightning. It swung off the fallen dinosaur and easily evaded the
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jaws just as a second black figure sprang from the brush alongside of Alex. The figure passed right over
Alex’s shoulder, brushing him.
Alex swung his rifle up by reflex. The blow knocked the black figure off balance and wrenched Alex’s
shoulder badly. The fallen troondon rose from the ground and lifted into the air. It kicked out at the black
runner, narrowly missing as it rolled up and seemed to vanish into the low brush.
He didn’t dare fire for fear of hitting one of the drivers. Alex took off into the brush, desperately
pursuing the fleeing animals while at the same time trying to be careful of them rising so unexpectedly from
the smallest cover. Two of the troondon ran buy him. They hissed and rattled in their rage like a meat
grinder with a handful of ball bearings thrown in it.
Alex let out a deep throated yell to add to the drive. Brushing by a copse of trees, he passed down into a
rift between two ridgelines and then cut back up to the top. When he emerged he had lost track of where he
was. He could hear the drivers moving ahead and to his left. He ran down along the ridgeline for a while
and then out into a swampy meadow. He cut across a small stream, watching the overgrown grass along the
edges for fear that the prey might be hiding there.
Nothing. The drive seemed to be running quieter. Had they lost contact? Alex stopped for a second and
listened. He could faintly hear them pushing, but they ran silently now. What is going on?
A series of five sharp calls rise from over on his left side. Alex freezes. Sweat begins to roll down from
his helmet across his forehead. He dare not even wipe the burning water from his eye. Something is
happening, he can feel it.
Suddenly he yelled, ‘Here they are!’ He screamed and shouted at the top of his lungs. They were behind
the drive and moving in the wrong direction. Alex fired three shots and the black devils both stopped to look
at him. For the first time, they could be clearly seen in the low brush of the swamp. They weren’t black,
their feathers were a deep, copper colored brown. Tufts of dark feathers ran down their back from the line of
their eyes. They had the three-toed foot of a Theropod. They were beautiful and deadly as sin!
He could see the intelligence and hate that filled their green eyes. They didn’t attack but turned to run
on. Alex fired directly at them. Each time they managed to twist and duck just as he squeezed the trigger.
But they turned! Back in the right direction.
He heard the snort behind him. He jumped and twisted in midair. Rifle ready with long trained
reactions, searching for a target. Alex held his fire as three troondon lit out right by him, pursuing the two
black killers, driving them onward and back into the center of the drive-line.
They were on the run, pushing ahead. Dire thoughts suddenly filled his mind. Suppose the driveline
caught up with the two devils? How could the trap unfold if the devils were mixed with the driving troondon
as they ran into the roadway trap? There would be no clear line of fire.
* * * * *
Corey settled down into the stone covered, loose ground of the ditch. He pushes some of the clumps of
dirt up in front of him, carefully placing them to make the clump look like it was pushed there by the
bulldozer several days ago. He then took loose shoots of horsetail and groundcover and lightly laid it around
the area. He was careful to lay some of the shoots over the tip of his rifle, breaking its hard outline.
They wanted the dinosaurs to come in over the rough ground. The fleeing dinosaurs would slow as they
crossed the densely packed underbrush pushed along the roadside just as the humans were when they first
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arrived. That would be the time. That would finally end the threat and they could get back to building the
Station.
Anton was on his right, about sixty feet away. David had already set up a camouflaged blind on his left.
They waited with the sounds of the forest around them and an occasional breeze that flitted over from
the open fields to their left, nothing to carry their scent across the killing field. There is no shade. Chirps,
growls and low razzing hisses filled the air around them. Small animals scurried through the brush, pushing
branches as they passed.
Sweat rolled down Corey’s neck. It tickled as the small stream of droplets sped off and down his spine.
His battle-shirt allowed it to evaporate in the low breeze but there is too little breeze in the cut to be much of
a help. He would not move to scratch it. He would not even brush the flies that crawled across his face or
the small familiar ants on his hands. They waited.
The fallen brush in front of him moved slightly. It raised slightly into the air and then dropped down to
sit still as death for a few minutes. Corey watched as a small lizard moved from limb to limb in the low
cover before him. It moved to a stick near his right hand, he wondered if it would jump onto his arm.
Suddenly, a long, thin bright green shape darted from the bundle of sticks. It grabbed the lizard by the head
and immediately wrapped itself around the struggling victim.
In spite of himself, Corey’s arm pulled back. ‘It’s a snake.’ He thought, ‘A small one. Only about
eighteen inches. Holy shit, it has tiny legs!’
Mesmerized by the drama unfolding in front of him, he lay there watching the snake devour the lizard.
‘Wow, it also has small teeth. Weird!’
A movement catches his eye. Just a shadow across the field and the snake is all but forgotten, Corey
freezes, moving only his eyes. Even his eyelids are slightly closed to avoid detection by anyone coming this
way. His mind forgets all the bites and annoyances. ‘What is coming? Did they drive something big?
Suppose it’s a T-Rex? No way I’m gonna outrun a damn …’
A loud, grinding call erupts from the brush across the clearing and to his right. More movement, headed
right for them. Thoughts raced through his mind, ‘Wait, wait. Move the rifle’s barrel over just a bit. Slowly
draw a bead, don’t let them see the movement. Wait for them to come into range. Yeah, they’re nervous.
You can see it in their movement. They don’t want to cross the open area. Shit but they are really smart.’
Whistles fill the brush from off in the forest. ‘The drivers! They have to do something now. Ready.
There! You need a clear head shot! A little too soon. Wait!’
Moving low to the ground a dark-brown dinosaur emerges from the brush. He gracefully, silently
moves across the rough-cut killing ground. Three-toed feet lift and settle without the clumsy foot-catching
step of the earlier humans. The deadly figure is about half way across when a second killer emerges slightly
to Corey’s left side. ‘Wait, let them get deep into the kill zone.’
‘Best to keep your eye on the closest one. Watch for any recognition and …’ The dinosaur suddenly
ruffles it feathers. Right before his eyes, it seems to disappear. ‘No, no I can still see him. He just changed
his outline and color scheme by shading those thin feathers to match the open field around …’
The killer nearest him suddenly lifts its head and leaps into the air. Three shots fire through the space in
which the black killer stood just a fraction of a second before. A rush of air and it lands on the ground next
to Anton. Corey charges from his hide just as Anton fires. The killer strikes with his foot but misses the
prone man.
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Anton swings his gun around, knocking the foot into the air. The killer falls and lands on Anton, both
struggle for balance and a grip. Corey dives through the air. His mind sees the action ahead of him with a
keen awareness of every sound. They seem to be moving so slowly. There, grab its neck. Can’t shoot.
‘Anton! Jam the rifle into its mouth!’ Corey flips onto its back and he can see Anton’s hands gripping the
throat of the beast just inches from his own nose. No time to grab the knife, Corey straddles its back and
wraps his arms around its throat, locking the jaws of the black beast, preventing them from closing around
Anton.
Anton’s face flushes red with strain, his fingers a bloodless white as he digs them into the feathers and
flesh. The thick tips of his fingers rip into the muscle, searching for a nerve’s pressure point just behind the
jawbone. The black creature and Corey are lifted into the air by the brute force of Anton’s rage-filled
strangle hold.
Corey’s senses suddenly scream. The stench he last smelled at the hut by the construction site is here
again. It’s so strong, he can hardly breathe. Corey’s head is spinning.
Suddenly it feels like a tree-trunk fell and hit him on the side. Holding and pulling with every ounce of
his strength on the beast’s neck, Corey twists and looks to the side. A second, black-feathered head pushes
in and grabs his arm. The body armor hardens, fixing his arm in an embrace around the black dinosaur
below him.
The head pulls on his arm and dark-brown feathers fly into the air, ripped from the neck of the dinosaur.
Corey twists around, his Ka-Bar knife suddenly in his free hand but the attacker is gone.
Shots fire around him. They are shooting into the brush behind them. Anton!
Corey falls to his knees and twists over, a cold fear fills his veins. Anton is lying on the ground, eyes
closed. Then suddenly his eyes open, ‘I’m getting too old for this shit!’
‘Hold your fire! Friendlies coming in! Hold your fire!’ the call sounds across their helmet
communicators.
Dan stands up and walks over to Corey, ‘How’s Anton!’
‘Anton’s quite all right thank you sir! God damn it! Who the hell did they spot? Who gave us away?’
Anton sits up slowly. ‘Oh shit but that hurt. By the way, thanks Corey. It was getting a bit dicey there. Here,
give me a hand my back is killing me. How do you get this god awful smell out of your head?’
Corey helped Anton stand up and looked up at Dan for the first time, ‘Did you see that. They were
under fire but the second one stopped to help his buddy. He freed his buddy and then they didn’t even
hesitate and try for a kill.’
‘Yeah, and I saw them leap too! First time I ever got that close to anything that big that could also glide
so quickly. We didn’t expect that at all.’
The Troondon didn’t stop to see how the humans were. They pursued the beasts into the brush. ‘Won’t
do them any good. Those two will get into that thick brush and they’ll never get caught.’
Corey looked at his arm, ‘Well, it looks like we wounded them. I assume this blood is from one of them
and it’s not yours Anton.’
‘That’s not necessarily a good thing.’ David said as he stared off into the brush. Now we have a
wounded animal on our hands. I was hoping that we could at least scare them off if we didn’t kill them.
Now they’ll stay around to heal and they’ll have to eat. We need to be careful.’
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‘OK, but no more game drives. You can’t corner something that fast and agile.’ Dan said as he went
back to pick up the rest of his field kit. ‘…. I won’t underestimate their speed or their intelligence again. By
the way, don’t contaminate that blood sample. I want a full genetic workup run on it.’
* * * * *
David Pope set down his mug of coffee and stared into the black depths of the cup. ‘Well, I guess we’re
a little lower on the god-scale for the troondon. They did their part and we blew it.’
The meeting room was closed and somber. Grey walls surrounded the group; they were in no mood for
the distracting vistas just outside of the main Argos meeting room.
‘I told you not to do this.’ Matt countered. ‘Luckily no one was hurt.’
Anton growled under his breath as he shifted again in his seat. You can see the pain in his face as he
arches and stretches, markedly quiet as he rubs his lower back.
Matt continues, ‘You shouldn’t feel so bad, maybe some good will come out of this. From all that you
described they are intelligent. They’ve seen the threat we can pose and most likely are no longer in the area.
How about we try it my way now and just stay in the Station area for the next few days.’
Dan looked at Mark and then Corey and David. He could tell that there was no agreement there. Alex
on the other hand is entirely noncommittal. Yeah, he’ll go along with any decision.
Mark took another sip from his coffee. ‘No comments Dan? Gonna sit this one out?’
‘It’s your call Mark. I know the board members are up there in orbit and will be here tomorrow. I don’t
agree with just sitting back but right now I’m too pissed off to know if it’s logic or my emotions
speaking…. and I think that’s true for a lot of us around this table.’ Dan looked over toward the others
around the table.
Marks eyes lose focus for a second as he commands his Hive Tab to activate the walldisplay, ‘Ok then,
let’s look at what we have learned and apply some cold and hard logic to our decision process.’ A short
segment of the first raptor as he entered into the kill zone flashed across the screen, the image halting briefly
at a few of the points in his movement.
‘Did you see the way he entered the ambush? They were already on the run but they stopped before
entering the clearing. Watch this, we’ve enhanced their images here in the shadows. See that? Their head
movements changed pattern. They’ve gone from threat scanning to a sequence of movements that indicate
there were looking for something.’
‘Pretty obvious, they suspected a trap even before entering a clearing. Some movement, smell or
instinct warned him at this point. He may have even seen the small movement of the trigger pull. This
should put aside any thoughts you may have of someone queering the ambush. It didn’t happen, we
underestimated them.’
‘These are the Hunter images taken after they ran off. Toshi and Seth were able to track them across the
edge of the swamp and over an open field. See how they stay on the dense edges of the clearing. Now watch
this, movement sensors and infra-red do quite nicely until we get to this point.’
‘Here’s where the troondon begin to close in. All of a sudden our infra-red heat signature is gone. How
did they do that Matt? David? Think that’s strange, here we lost their movement signatures. They simply
disappeared like a ghost into the darkness of the swamps.’
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‘Gentlemen, I believe we have a most formidable adversary here and we have been grossly
underestimating them. We’ve underestimated both their physical prowess as well as their intelligence. We
have a few more items to show you.’
‘We’ve modeled their path of travel. They’ve maintained a clear vector toward the coastal swamp ever
since the drive began. The bad news is that puts them in easy striking position for a visit of us here on the
plateau. They may have changed this at the last minute but unfortunately, we lost track of them. We’ll have
to assume they are not leaving the area.’
‘You’ve all reported the smell that seems to rise when these animals are agitated. Samples from the
helmet sensors as well as the blood sample on Corey’s shirtsleeve suggest that the smell is a defensive
mechanism that is also used to subdue their prey. I won’t bore you with the chemical compound but what
we have here is unique to any animal this size.’
‘The chemical can be delivered by a bite or through the olfactory glands. That is, you can smell it. You
would need a lot of the compound to produce a reaction from contact with your skin. I don’t think you have
to worry about getting a few drops of blood on your skin.’
‘Apparently, this is, in large part, what was responsible for Mister Luti’s gruesome death. The chemical
induces a drugged and partial paralysis if it enters the blood stream in sufficient strength. This allowed the
dinosaurs to keep Sotak’s heart pumping; holding him unable to move as they drained his blood.’
‘We haven’t been able to identify them from the images we managed to capture. Sara’s actually quite
puzzled by the images she’s seen so far. There’s no question about their pelvic structure though, they are
dinosaurs. That’s about the total sum of what we know of them.’
Alex spoke up for the first time, ‘I think you hit it right on the head Mister Nolen. They move swift and
can appear or disappear with an uncanny ease. Just like a black ghost.’
‘Oh, now let’s not start that. Spirits are bad enough in the camp. Ah… no pun intended.’
‘Dan, is everyone back safely behind the security perimeter of the Station now?’
‘Yes sir. We’ve bottled the whole plateau up tight with extra sensors and even human guards.’
‘All right, let’s think on it and meet in the morning, say around five AM.’
A deep blanket of stars filled the night as they left the Argos to travel back to their rooms. Anton moved
over to Alex as they walked the pebble-strewn pathway.
‘You should watch where you’re walking Alex instead of stargazing. Are you looking for the orbiter?’
‘Hi Anton. No, I was thinking about the beauty of this place and wondering if I’m making the right
choice. I’ve been thinking about asking for permanent assignment here. I’d like to retire in a couple of
years…. Yes I know you are going to tell me it’s too early. I’d still like to retire and move up around
Blackbird Valley.’
‘These Black Ghosts put a whole new perspective on those plans though. This is just the latest surprise
that we’ve come across. New surprises just seem to pop up, one right after another around here. Maybe
moving off on my own is not a good idea.’
Anton walked a few steps, ‘I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself. They may seem really bad
right now but that’s only because we don’t know enough about them. They’ve got to have a weakness we
can take advantage of. Look at it this way, with any luck that will be the last we see of them. Give it a few
days.’
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‘No, I think I’ve already made up my mind. We need to hunt them down. If they left, then that’s just
fine too. However, we can’t afford to wait for them to make the next move. So as far as I’m concerned, the
only question now is how do we do it?’
The group walked back along the cliff trail, dropping Corey and David off to the safety of their homes.
Then the remainder of the group returned to the dormitories used by those who preferred the community
atmosphere.
Two sets of eyes silently watched them enter the buildings. They waited and watched the lights,
listening to the sounds of the community for a little while. Then two shadows moved silently back down the
path toward the sea cliffs. Carefully moving from shadow to shadow.
* * * * *
‘Gee, thanks Eric but you don’t have to escort me home. It’s still light out and I’m only going to the
dorms.’ Cindy Decker pushed Eric away but she was actually quite pleased he asked. The lab had been
working really late these last few days and it would be nice to have someone to walk home with. Someone
she didn’t have to talk shop to.
Eric Beadler’s been with Blackwave Security for a year and a quarter now. It had been his first time off
planet, first time at Jupiter and now he’s back at Earth again. He liked to kid the others, ‘Is that progress or
is that progress?’
Eric isn’t particularly interested in Cindy but it was better than his usual chores at network tuning for
the Hive Tab interface with the security net. A good chance to get some easy exercise without someone
calling you every minute. Yeah, there were a lot worse assignments than walking a girl back to her room.
The skies around are filled with low flying birds and some other down-covered, skinny things that Dan
keeps calling reptiles. The cry and song that they raise is almost deafening at sunset. He turned over to
Cindy, ‘Ok, here’s the ridge line path. Quite a view from up here, heh?’
‘Yeah, it’s pretty but I’ve seen it every evening for the last six months. Come on, I want to get home
before the Hypes start coming out for evening song.’
‘Yeah, I understand. I kinda agree with you. Why all the fuss here on base? I can see it if we’re
outside.’ Eric mumbles but a strange thought passes through the back of his mind, ‘She has the worst
perfume on. Let’s get this over with.’
‘There’s a really strange odor out here tonight.’ Cindy commented as if on cue. ‘Have you ever seen
any skunks around?’
‘No can’t …’
‘Eric, I just saw something over there ahead of us.’
‘Come on Cindy. It’s nothing but some Hype late for choir practice.’
‘No, I don’t want to go up that way. Come on, this way.’ She hurries down a side path.
‘I think it’s following us Eric.’
‘Now your’re startin’ to spook me. I can’t see a thing.’ Eric says as he pulls his pistol. ‘You’d better get
your pistol out too.’
Eric hears a small whimper as she unholsters her Python. ‘Oh, come on now. It’s probably nothing at
all.’
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‘Ok, now I hear something too. Come on let’s move a little faster. I’ll keep one eye on the trail behind
us. You watch where we’re going. We’re almost at the dorm anyway.’
‘It’s so thick through here can barely see the trail ahead.’
Cindy pushes down the side trail, travelling a little harder than normal. She’d been this way many times
before. Through the bushes ahead and then over that little gully. ‘Ow!’ Cindy cried as she brushed by the
low palm scrub.
Eric was up to her in a second. ‘What’s the matter?’
Cindy was holding her arm. She pulled her hand away and it had some blood on it.
‘I must have scraped my arm on that bush. Oh man that hurts!’
‘Palmettos have sharp leaves. On second thought, just what did you brush against. That isn’t a scratch,
it’s more like a brush burn. Come on, let’s get moving, that sun’s going down too fast.’
Eric didn’t even want to look for the bush she bumped into. He could feel something. ‘Humph, more
likely I’m just spooking myself. Just a little further and I’ll go in with her.’
They push on a little further, then into the low field. The dorm is just over the big group of bushes.
‘Eric, I just heard something again. Behind us!’
‘We’re almost there.’
‘Maybe we should have stayed on the ridge trail.’
‘Cindy, cut it out. I can see … Ow!’ Eric collapsed to the ground. ‘God damn it, my leg!’ He cried as he
spun around and grabbed below his knee. His hands are covered in blood. ‘I think I was knifed below the
armor! I can’t use my leg!’
Cindy’s first reaction is to bend down and stop the bleeding. The entire back of his ankle is ripped open.
Eric roughly pushes her away, ‘No, damn it. Run, get out of here and bring help! I told you I was attacked.’
One look into his eyes and Cindy’s heart skipped a beat. She could feel the blood drain from her face as
she turned to run. Blindly she runs off in the general direction of the safety of the dormitory.
Every bush and stick seems to scratch her. Every clump of grass, pulls at her feet but she can see the
lights of the building clearly now. Suddenly a pain shoots up her leg and she tumbles to the ground.
Her leg burns. The skin is ripped down her calf. She looks around frantically! Nothing! A loud whimper
leaves her throat but fear drives her to rise and run. Then a cry rises from the brush behind her. ‘Eric? No,
that sounded like an animal in pain. So close! What is happening.’
Suddenly her other arm is ripped open and she’s twisted to the ground again. He mind races with the
pain, ‘What is going on, I can’t see anything …’ She lands on a clump of palm scrub, the wind knocked out
of her. Then the sky darkens and she can see white teeth before her face. She reaches out to push it away,
the mouth opens and a tongue flips out. It wraps around her arm and then flicks back and she screams in
pain. Blood is flowing down her arm.
The face comes down to her again. Cindy thrashes and suddenly her neck is burning and wet. She can
hardly breathe. The stinging stench is suffocating her and it’s getting darker. Her thoughts flitter in fear, ‘so
close! So .. close! So….. clo..’.
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A red haze of pain covers her eyes. Every inch of her body ripples with waves of fire! Someone is
screaming! Eric? Does it really… matter. Waves of pain wash over her and… she can’t breathe. ‘Stop.. it!
Please someone …’
* * * * *
This evening is different. The sun never sets behind the red-rimmed peaks in the west. Dark,
threatening billows of vapor begin to fill the distant skyline, backlit by the bright flashes. The black clouds
grow, covering the plains, moving east toward the shallow sea bringing an early darkness.
Streaks of lighting ripple among the threatening grey towers of moisture, moving from back-lit cloud
top to cloud top. None strike toward the ground. The sea echo’s the clap of thunder. Faint balls of greenbright luminescence race across the palmetto swamps and the Hypes sing as the humans have never heard
before.
Then large drops of rain fall, thrusting dry dust into the air. Harder and harder, the rain descends in ever
stronger waves. People move into their shelters and the Hypes are no longer to be heard.
Six men trample out through the rough scrub fields. They walk through the lightning streaked landscape
with impunity or disdain. Water streams across their scalps to flow in torrents down their face and back.
Still they push on, calling to each other.
‘The cries came from this area.’
‘What would they have been doing so far off the trail? The general order was for all to be back inside
…’
‘There’s a lot of trampled brush here sir. Here, I found a pistol.’
‘Query it, see who it belongs to!’
‘Eric Beadler sir. Something happened, the bushes are broken over this way.’
‘Well that’s one of them. Get back here and stay with the group!’
‘Scraps of cloth over here. Wow what a mess. There’s … bring a light.’
David bent down to examine the mass of raw meat on the ground. Water poured across his eyes.
‘Everyone! Form a perimeter. This is a body and it’s still warm and breathing. We must have chased them
off.’
‘Oh no. Not right here on the Station.’ Dan bent down to examine the mass closely. ‘Where do you
even touch it to help?’
‘We need to call in, get a medical team out here right now. Tell Doctor Graeme he is not to come. Got
that! I am not risking losing him on top of all this mess.’
‘I’ve already called it in. We’re tightening the security net also.’
‘We need to get her into a zero gravity, high oxygen field. Where are they?’
‘Her? Ok then that’s Ms. Decker. Where the hell is Eric?’
‘There’s marks in the ground over here sir. Looks like something beging drug across the trail.’
Dan wiped the rain from his face as he walked over toward Tom, ‘Well, the rain hides most everything
but it’s good for leaving mud trails.’
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Three more men were running over with flood lamps. A medical team had a float unit setup. Pitiful,
weak screams fill the field as they lift her lightly into the transport’s field.
‘Ok, we have enough men here now, you three come with me.’ Dan didn’t even stop to see if his orders
were being followed. He shot down the trail.
Dan can clearly see the drag marks on the trail. They are fresh. Suddenly they stopped. Quickly he
examines the surrounding area. There, that’s what he’s looking for. It must have picked up the body, it’s got
to be Eric. There, deep prints in the mud. Running down the trail. ‘That must be when they came on site and
found, what’s her name? Oh yeah, Cindy.’
‘Where’d it go?’ Dan stopped so fast the others almost ran past him.
‘Over here Dan.’ Tom calls, ‘You must have run right over it. There’s a hole in the side bank. Tracks
lead right in.’
‘Dig in Tom. We’ve got a chance and he’s on the run.’
Tom stoops down and shines the light into the hole. Alex is right behind him. Without hesitation, Tom
dives into the dark tunnel. Scrambling around a bend and collapses as something hits him.
Alex doesn’t skip a beat. He punches in with the tip of his Pulsar and feels it sink into the soft side of
the black creature.
Before he can pull the trigger, lightning quick reactions flip the creature around in the tight tunnel
confines. White teeth seem to fill the blackness of the tunnel before Alex. Then they are gone.
Alex dives forward followed by Tom. He lunges ahead, chasing after the creature when his foot catches
on Tom’s harness. Alex’s helmet grinds against the side of the tunnel and bounces off the floor. Dazed, he
lies there for a few moments.
‘Will you get your damn knee out of my face.’ Tom thrashes around and climbs over Alex. He gains his
feet and takes off in the dark down the tunnel. He can hear the scraping of Alex’s steps as he moves down
the tight tunnel behind him.
Tom pushes on, his helmet enhancing the dim confines of the tunnel. Footprints and a trail of spots that
must be blood fluoresce in the infrared sensitive wavelengths. ‘Alex, watch out there are two sets of prints
for the bad guys. They’re dragging him again. Hurry up, I’m going to ….’
Alex charges right into Tom’s back end as he stops abruptly in the tunnel. They crashed into the walls
and a pile of freshly fallen dirt right in the middle of the path. Alex pulls back and Tom backs up and into a
low crouching position. ‘Damn things pulled the roots and caused a cave-in. I can get over it. Quick, get
outa my way.’
‘Tom! Tom! Stop. They’re gone. We missed them. You’re wasting time, they got away.’
‘Can you turn around? Back up and come over here, it’s a little wider. We need to head back and report
what happened. Watch the trail as you go out. We’ll need a sample of the blood on the trail if we want to
confirm that it was Erik.’
‘Shit Alex, that’s Erik! I wouldn’t leave you behind!’
‘Yes you would in this case. You know these tunnels. There’s a thousand intersections ahead as they
get into the Hype warrens. They’ll be long gone if we both move ahead. Better to meet them up ahead.’
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They moved back to the entrance. Dan was gone but David was there with three others. ‘We lost the
trail Dave. They caved-in the tunnel as they ran. Hey, hey you. Oh Fred, sorry didn’t recognize. Do you
have a sterile specimen box? Great, here. Please have that analyzed, we need to know if it’s Eric’s.’
‘No need. On second thought, do the analyses anyway for chemical trace elements.’ David broke in. ‘It
just came across my Hive Tab. The Hypes found Eric down in their passages. The attacker is gone. He got
away and Eric is dead.’
‘There were two bad guys here David. We saw two sets of tracks in there.’ Tom puffed out as he fell
back to sit in the rain-soaked grass. ‘God, I forgot what rain feels like. I’m tired!’
* * * * *
A low, yellow halo of light emanates from the small desk lamp. It is an anachronism residing in the
midst of the high technology of the office surrounding it. Mark rarely uses it, except as a conversation piece,
but on this very early morning, the dreary rays seemed to match his mood.
‘We can’t stop them from landing Mark. It’ll be daylight soon and the shuttle will bring the board
members down. It’s too late to stop them and I don’t think you want to. You’ll have to be up to the
challenge.’
‘Since when have I not been up to the challenge Matt?’
‘Well if you meet them looking like you do then you’re going to do more damage than good. Look at
you, you’re even snapping at me. Take a nap and then a shower. You’ve got almost four hours before the
board members touchdown. We’ll keep things running but you need to be up for this meeting.’
‘I can’t sleep. I’ve lost two, maybe three people in the last two days. How am I going to smooth this
over? I can’t get that poor girl out of my mind. What could I have done to prevent it?’
‘You couldn’t have done anything. Look at this logically. We’ve never encountered anything like this
before. How could you have anticipated them being on the plateau, right inside our own security?’
‘I’m not going to sleep, not right away anyhow. I want to take a shower now but first I need your help.’
‘I want all of the meetings moved inside of the Argos. No more leaving the ship’s doors wide open
either. I want full gene ID automated scans before anyone comes inside.’
‘I know that Dan’s already started on it. I want you to check up on him anyway … but stay out of his
hair. Just stop by and watch occasionally. You can give me your impressions later but if you see anything
that really bothers you, then come right over. I don’t care if you have to wake me up, although I don’t intend
to sleep if I can help it.’
‘Check on David and Alex’s whereabouts. If they are available then I want them to brainstorm just how
we can get these two SOB’s. I want ideas on it this morning at the latest.’
‘Look, we can’t hide this from the board. Don’t even try. Answer all questions openly. At the same
time, I want you to have Dan place a few people on the Essex. I don’t want any messages going out from
them. Complete isolation on this until we resolve the situation. If the Captain gives them a hard time, then
have him call me.’
‘Thank you Matthew. You know I always appreciate your support. Now go. I need a little time on my
own.’
* * * * *
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A small patch, thinner than a piece of paper and the diameter of a piece of chalk, rested on the skin just
above his mastoid behind his right ear. Monomer tendrils entered through the pores of his skin far enough to
penetrate through the subcutaneous without disturbance. From there they took in small samples of power
from every synapses firing within a two-centimeter area. The device is not greedy, it absorbs just enough
energy from the host to run the organic circuitry.
Twenty-four hours a day, this little patch monitors body functions and brain-nerve synchronizations. It
also accepts external data from gravitonic emissions or even direct touch contact with custom outputs or
other nearby hosts. The internal clock synchronizes to the stable shifts of what were once called dark-matter
frequency slides. Leading edge technology for storage, processing, rendering and transmission of
information as well as other, more mundane functions. The patch is not an isolated computer, it’s a human
augmentation called a Hive Tab.
The Hive Tab sends in a very high frequency pulse directed just below the cortical centers of his brain.
Just a low-level stimulation, not even something he would remember. Seth Sassaman rolls over and
immediately stands up. He is fully awake, no drowsy stretching. He would not expect less since that’s the
preference setting he put in for wake-up calls.
Tall, thin and with the hard, smooth evenly developed musculature of an ex-marine, Seth stood and
walked out onto his balcony. Deep blue eyes set in a frame of lightly sanded, short cropped hair looked out
over the clear horizons of a seascape washed clean by the rains of the evening before. A moonless night
then, now the stars are so plentiful their radiant light illuminates details from far out in the ocean and even
the nearby fused silicon of the dark landing pads below. The faintest hint of yellow on the distant edge of
the horizon begins to rise in promise of another beautiful day in paradise.
Then the memories of yesterday crowd back in. An angry determination floods into him, ‘Well, maybe
we have to make a few adjustments first. Then we can get back to paradise.’
‘Focus on the job.’ A phrase, etched by Staff Sergeant Cheek way back in his early days at Parris
Island, echoed around the edges of his anger.
A flash-shower and shave and then down to the Hunter Recon bay. Breakfast could wait until he was on
board. A pop-up flitted across his thoughts; Sara Wenford was also en route. ‘Good! No late-starts from the
civvies.’
He quick walked down the stairs and out onto the tarmac. Sara was just coming up the side. ‘Mornin’
Doctor Wenford. Let me help you with the bag. So, glad to see you, ah… walking out here by yourself?’
Sara looked up at the wide, friendly smile that seemed perpetually fixed on Seth’s face but she instantly
knew the reason for the question. ‘No Captain Sassaman, I could see you getting ready so I didn’t bother
Paul. I knew I’d meet you. Hive Tabs are a wonderful thing you know. Now, I been property chided, I think
we can go back to the less formal salutation. “Sara” will do, thank you.’
“I started the Hunter warm-up sequence so she should be ready for us to leave immediately. Hope you
like scrambled eggs. I can’t eat a whole one by myself so I went ahead and ordered for both of us.’
‘Well you scared me for a second there. I thought you were going to suggest the stasis eggs from
storage. Nope, duckbill egg is just fine with me.’
Seth walked along for a few steps, a puzzled look on his face. Then he said, ‘Duckbill?’
‘Oh, sorry. Guess I’ve already slipped into the slang of it. David complained during our entire hunting
trip about talking about the Hadrosaurids. He didn’t like their name and insisted that we use an old term I
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hadn’t heard for years. Remember their beaks? Just like ducks, even the way they feed. So we all started
calling them Duckbills.’
‘Oh, ok. Guess I’m ok with that, kinda like it in fact. Anyway, we need to be up there by oh-nine
hundred local time. I’ve had the non-standard refreshments you asked for put on board. Are you ready for
the tour?’
‘No, I’m not. Oh, I don’t mind giving them a tour, it’s the other questions that I’m not looking forward
to. Let’s get this over with so we can turn them over to Mark as soon as possible.’
‘Oh-ho! I just got a nudge. Toshi and Molly were ordered to come with us. They’ll be about five
minutes late and they’ll be staying up on board the Essex for a bit.’
‘All right, let’s get started on breakfast. We’re going on a tour! Thank goodness, the weather seems to
be back to normal, sunshine and clear blue skies. That storm yesterday moved north and then dissipated.
You’ve been flying a lot more than I have, any suggestions for the tour?’
‘Yeah, how about we swing over the pole and then down the coastline here? No use wasting time over
the Alps unless you need to delay. With this route we’ll get the contrast between the warm polar area and
the activity up around Yellowstone.’
‘Ok, Seth. That’s a good mix. We’ll see a lot of game and also give them a feel for the geographic and
climate changes.’
‘Here we are and look at that. She’s all set and warmed up, ready to go. Even our eggs are ready. Have
a seat, I’ll serve.’
‘Ah Seth, before we get going. Why the sudden change? Do you know why Toshi and Molly are
coming?’
‘Nope, not officially.’ Seth commented between mouthfuls of egg and a tuber Mary Li found that now
substitutes for potatoes. ‘Think about it though, they’ll be staying on board the Essex, a pilot and
communications specialist. It’s my guess that Dan wants to control the situation. No unauthorized messages
or communications back to the home office.’
‘Hey guys, come on board. Want to have a bite before we leave? We have four more minutes in the
window.’
A tall, slim blond girl entered the mess area briefly sporting a smile as welcoming and natural as Seth’s.
She grabbed a tumbler of reconstituted lemonade and sat down next to Sara. Molly moved on the bench to
make space for a dark-haired, slimly built young man who dialed in a plate of eggs as large as the one Seth
ordered. ‘Well, at least some good news. Doctor Graeme says Cindy has a real good chance of making it.’
Sara twisted in her seat when she heard the auto-chef cycling again. ‘Hey, hi Fran! I didn’t know you
were coming along.’
A rather small hype turned a broad smiling face over toward Sara. Elegant bronze feathers fluttered
down her sides in greeting along with a small flick of her striped and down covered tail. She had a metal
chain with an active ID tag on her neck and a green shawl around her shoulders that seemed to move and
ripple even when she was still. Fran turned with a small plate of eggs in her hands and a spoon.
‘Helo Sara.’ Fran squatted at the end of the table, human benches are uncomfortable. ‘Yes, I very
excited. Seth! Hi! You get any more peaches for me?’
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‘Shh, now you know we’ve been told to cut back on that. We only have so many of the original fruits
left and the new trees are just coming in. I’ll talk with you about it later.’ He said with a wink of his eye.
Toshi properly chewed and swallowed his first forkful before turning to Seth, ‘What’s the chance of me
having the pilot’s seat on the way up? You’ll be having all the fun coming back.’
‘All right Toshi. Do you think you’ll be stuck up there for the entire time they are here?’
‘I don’t know. Guess we have to see how things go. It would only be two weeks anyway.’
Seth finished off the last of his orange juice and stood. ‘OK, gotta get going. Wolf it down if you want
the Captain’s chair. Let’s go.’
‘mmmf! Jeez, give a guy a chance!’ Toshi stuffed some egg into a piece of bread, dumped the rest of
his half-finished plate into the recycler, and hurried forward.
Sara smiled and turned to Fran, ‘Well, you ought to be quite an attraction on board the Essex. Has
Molly explained to you where you are going to be?’
‘Yes, we talk.’ Fran explained after quickly swallowing a mouthful. She was just learning to use a
spoon but seemed to handle it nicely. ‘I do not really understand though it sounds like fin.’
‘That’s pronounced “fun”.’ Molly said. ‘Fran and I have been doing a lot of work together for the last
two weeks. She’s been quite a help and, with the Hive-Bot shawl that Sara’s kid developed, she’s been able
to even help with the communications work.’
‘Dan thought it would be a good idea for ship’s morale to bring her along. It’s also a face-saving excuse
that Captain Dillard can use for our being on board.’ Molly snickered with a slight wiggle of her nose. ‘Fran
can use the time to get to know the on-board crew members while the others get a chance to rotate down for
some sightseeing.’
‘Are they still planning dirtside rotations after what happened last night?’ Sara asked.
‘Yes. There’s only six board members and their families, eleven in all. We can’t restrict them to the
ship. The rest are all ship’s personnel. Dan would like to get as many as possible on the ground and kill two
birds with one stone. He wants to beef up the on-Station security and minimize the crew level in orbit. This
gives us greater control over the actions of the Essex.’
Fran turned toward Molly, ‘When we leave?’
Molly smiled, ‘We already left Fran. I explained about the reactionless drive to you, remember? Finish
your plate and then you can go up the ladder to the cockpit.’
The small dinosaur finished her plate quickly and began to climb the ladder to the cabin.
‘Hold up on that Fran.’ Sara said. ‘I’ll go with you since this is your first time. She’s never flown in a
Hunter before, right Molly? I think it might be quite a shock if she simply walked out into the cabin.’
Molly set down her cup. ‘No, she knows what to expect. She’s been talking with Molly. Ah, you know,
Molly-the-Hype. Oh, I wish they would have given her any other name. It gets confusing. Anyway, Molly
told her about our trip back with Gabe.’
‘Well, the cockpit can still be a little unnerving. Someone should go with her the first time. This is only
a forty-five minute trip. However, I do think that if you want her to get a good feel for what’s happening
you need to get up front now before we get too high.’ Sara said.
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Molly and Fran climbed up to the door of the cockpit. Molly held the handle, ‘Now, it’s gonna look like
your way up in the air. Sorta like standing on the edge of a cliff but higher. Don’t be afraid, the Hunter’s
hull is actually all around you, we just move the images inside so it looks like nothing is there. Here, hold
my hand.’
Molly opened the door, Seth and Toshi appeared to be sitting in chairs that floated in mid-air. Two
more chairs floated behind them. They already were so high that mighty trees looked like a child’s plaything
and Fran could see the coastline travelling north for many miles.
Molly took a step out into the sky and seemed to float before them. Gently she pulled Fran’s hand. The
Hype simply stood there, eyes wide. ‘Come on Fran, I told you what to expect.’
Fran trustingly took a step forward and felt the flooring. Molly guided her hand over to the arm of the
chair. ‘Here, this chair’s been modified to fit you. Slide in!
Fran looked at Molly and gingerly slid into the chair. ‘Now try and relax. See, we’re still climbing.
We’re already up over twelve thousand feet. Oh, wait. I guess that means nothing to you.’
‘Show her the plateau.’ Seth pointed behind them. ‘She needs a familiar frame of reference.’
The sky was already darkening as they rose upward towards the orbit of the Essex. ‘There, see that little
dimple down there? Wait, I’ll put a circle around it.’ A circle magically appeared, floating in the air above a
small finger of land with a river by it that stuck out into the ocean. ‘That’s our plateau, your home.’
Fran watched for a few moments then without turning her head she asked, ‘Where did it go?’
‘We’re climbing very high into the sky. The plateau’s too small to see now. Look over here, you can
begin to see the curvature of the earth. Remember the rain and clouds last night. There, out over the ocean
are more clouds.’
‘Is it raining there?’
‘Maybe and maybe not. You don’t always get rain when you get clouds Fran.’
‘I don’t like the rain. Ohhh, stars. How can it be nighttime already?’
The sky around them was turning a deep velvety blue color that would soon transform to soft coal
black. More and more points of light appeared and a full moon slowly rose over the edge of the planet
below them.’
‘We’re almost there. No, it’s not nighttime, the stars are always there Fran. You don’t see them because
of the bright sunlight scattering in the air. There’s very little air up here so you can see the stars in the
daytime.’
Fran seemed to be catching on fast as the Hunter pulled alongside of the Essex. ‘So, Argos is like
Essssexx. It can fly too? You come from up here?’
‘No Fran. We actually come from down there. This is going to get complicated. Can we take it up later?
But yes, the Argos also flies like the Essex. Surely you remember us landing?’
‘No, I didn’t see Argos land. We hide in tunnels.’
The Hunter swung around to an open port just below the Argos. Toshi shut the system down and the
small ship grappled and then was pulled up into the hanger.
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They waited a minute while the outer skin of the Hunter stored the accumulated heat and warmed the
other side of it’s hull to matched that of the interior of the Essex. Seth opened the door.
A small delegation that included Captain Maynard Dillard stood outside the portal. Seth stepped out on
the ramp and guided Molly and Sara down onto the edge.
‘Permission to come aboard.’ Seth saluted informally, greeting the Captain and his men.
‘Permission granted, welcome aboard Captain Sassaman.’ Captain Dillard replied. Military protocol
was very loosely applied on company ships and Seth was allowed to retain his rank. ‘I’m glad to see you
here. Captain Yakamura, how have you been? It’s been a very long time.’
‘Good morning Maynard. Yeah it’s been a while but it’s good to see you again. I think you are in for
quite a treat while you’re here. Ah, let me introduce the others.’
Just then Fran stepped out and joined them on the ramp. She was looking all around, bobbing up and
down excitedly on her feet. Molly had warned her not to step off the ramp until asked to do so.
Quiet cries of exclamation rose from the small contingent on the deck. Molly spotted Susan Shieve in
the group. She could tell that Susan was on the Hive Net of the ship. They must be on shipboard imaging. It
was nice of Captain Dillard to minimize the size of the greeting party.
‘Oh, ah. Sorry, I was a bit taken aback and I’m forgetting my manners. Please, please come aboard.’
Maynard mentioned. ‘It’s good to see you again Seth and Toshi and all of you but please, introduce your
passengers.’
‘Thank you Maynard.’ Seth commented as he directed the others down the slight rise of the ramp. You
have already met Molly Pasteur, our communications specialist, I believe. This is Doctor Sara Wenford, our
Paleontologist and one of our newest employees.’
‘Doctor Wenford, I’ve read and heard so much about you.’
‘Please Captain, we are much less formal at Cretaceous Station and I’ve grown used to being addressed
as “Sara”. There are too many formal titles around the station if we maintained the custom.’
‘And let me introduce our companion and host, Fran.’
Fran walked over to the Captain and, mimicking a reaction she had learned from her friends, she
extended her hand.
Maynard and the group around him backed up slightly in surprised reaction. ‘Ah, I’m sorry but what is
it doing?’
Fran turned back to Molly. ‘Did I do wrong thing? Should not shake?’
A big smile rose on Maynard’s face as he recovered his composure. ‘I’m sorry … ah, did you say your
name was Fran?’
‘Yes, they call to me and me alone as Fran.’
Sara broke in briefly, ‘They are just getting the concept of individual names. Seems they don’t use
them.’
‘Then how…? No, please let me start yet again. Fran, I apologize. You did the proper thing. Please let
me shake your hand. It is an honor and a privilege to welcome you aboard.’
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‘Thank you Kaptin. Nice to meet you.’ Then she looked over to Molly, ‘You tell me ‘bout “honor and a
prevledge” later?’
Molly smiled agreement as the Captain stood with his eyes wide in amazement.
‘I never dreamed. You told us they stayed with you but …’
Sara spoke up, saving him embarrassment, ‘Captain, our species is barely a million and a half years old.
Fran’s people have been evolving for over a hundred times as long. They are quite intelligent and continue
to surprise us every day, as I’m sure we do to them. They are different from us in many of their thought
patterns but we still seem to have much in common. You have to remember though, we are the aliens here.’
‘I guess it’s not all that strange at all.’ Maynard commented. ‘Consider how many birds can mimic
human language and even communicate verbally at home. This is the same family tree after all!’
‘Not exactly Captain.’ Sara commented. ‘We have the descendants of the Theropods. These are
Ornithopoda and I’d like to stop this trend in the conversation right now since we haven’t had a chance to
discuss the implications with our hosts.’
‘Oh, yes. Well, good enough. You have some passengers to transport. Please come in now ladies and
gentlemen.’
Adrian used the distraction and noise of the entry of the group of passengers to whisper over to Molly,
‘What implications?’
‘They don’t survive the extinction, dummy! Shhh! She has good ears.’
‘I hope all of you enjoyed our trip out here and, if you were able to attend the briefings, you should be
well informed on the progress we’ve made here at Cretaceous Station. We’ll be here for twenty days and
I’m pleased to tell you that you will not have to go through any customs inquisition.’
There was a mixed level of nervous laughter in the group. More than a few seemed intrigued by Fran.
‘I’d like to introduce the one person that you’ve seen so often in the introductory materials, Doctor Sara
Wenford. Sara?’
‘Thank you Captain. You’ve seen the introductions but for those of you who don’t know him, our flight
Captain will be Seth Sassaman. I believe the Hunter Recon ship has loaded all of your bags.’
‘Doctor Wenford!’ A young man in his teens spoke up. ‘Will we be able to meet and talk with Fran on
the way down?’
‘No, I’m sorry. Fran will be staying here on board for a few days to meet some of the crew. There are
many others that you can meet down at the Station.’ Sara looked over at Fran and she could see the
disappointment in her stance. ‘However, I believe we can take a few minutes for a brief meeting before we
leave. I’d like to limit your questions and discussion because we have a rather tight schedule and you don’t
want to cut short the grand tour planned for our flight down.’
‘You’ve all been briefed on the schedule. Those of you who brought swimsuits, I suggest you leave
them on board the Essex. It’s warm on the station but we do not have swimming facilities yet. We’ll have
more time for discussion after we board and there will also be some refreshments.’
* * * * *
Cindy floated six inches over the granite tabletop. The field around her distorted her image to resemble
something rather like a body swallowed by some great jellyfish. Cindy’s hair was gone but she finally
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looked relaxed. Doctor Ian Grahame sat in the corner of the room and reviewed the Hive-Tab data coming
from the thin disk still resident behind the remnants of her lacerated right ear. Ian’s hand touched a set of
readings and pulled them from the diagnostics over to the controls on his right. The analgesic dosage
increased slightly in the air supply and in the medicinal vapors swirling around Cindy’s body. He then set
the monitor to notify him if any of her key indices changed.
‘How’s she doing Doctor? I mean, is she gonna make it?’ Tom Bracken asked as he entered. ‘She looks
kinda strange, you know blurry. What’s going on?’
Ian glanced over for just a second, ‘Tom! I was just ready to yell at cha ‘til I saw t’was ye. Alex and
Mark ha’ been in here twice already and I thought they were coming in fer another round. I just dinna have
time to be playing wee games with their feelings o’guilt.’
‘T’answer your question,’ Ian stood and walked over to Cindy’s bench. ‘Yes, I think the lass t‘will be
ok both physically and maybe even mentally. I believe that, other than the effects of a near fatal loss of
blood and the lacerations, the gas or whatever agent entered her blood minimized the mental trauma the
poor lass was subjected to. Most of it will seem like a bad dream, a wee bit of a nightmare to her.’
‘Ye did the right thing, calling it in so soon. They stabilized her and got her here quickly. I was able to
remove all the hair and cloth before it dried to the wounds. Thank the rain and the quick thinking of the
medics. I haven’t had to use this often but the field capsule around her is medicinal and she’s a-floatin’ to
allow all parts of her body to be bathed in the medicinal vapors without pressure and muss on the wounds.’
‘See that funnel-shaped wee blurring around her nose and mouth? That’s the air column, otherwise she
would suffocate in the medicinal gas around the rest of her. I expect her to heal rather quickly without any
significant residual scars. The bonnie field’s even keeping her wounds moist so that scabbing and infection
don’t enter the picture. This all uses the same technology as our Gravitonic Engine. Float every molecule of
her body so there are no contact points, no pressure and nigh the bedsore. Then set her in a gravity bubble
and evacuate everything except the purest oxygen for healing and some other specially selected chemicals to
cleanse the wounds.’
‘Laddie, ye did a bonnie job and I don’t wanna push you out but you have to leave too. Now Shoo!
Thanks for your quick actions. I’m sure Cindy is going to be grateful. Now, I’ve got work to do. Beat it.’
* * * * *
Colonel Daniel Drake lowered the small pair of binoculars and set them on the table next to his pistol.
A cool glass of water and ice, flavored lightly with a local fruit they discovered on the peninsula, sweated
invitingly onto a flat piece of hygroscopic local sandstone under it. The patio’s location near the narrow
entrance to Cretaceous Station provided a commanding view of the ocean, mainland and river valley
extending from below the mouth of the river, over and above the gated entrance to the north. From this
vantage, he could see shoreline, river, forest and some swampy areas to the west. The beauty of the high
plateau contrasted with the blue-silver mountains that formed the backdrop of the western horizon.
‘You picked a beautiful location for your quarters Paul. I’m tempted to move out of the dorms and set
up next to you.’
‘Well, I’ve got just the spot for you. We’ll take a walk over to it later if you want.’ Paul replied. ‘Now,
you wanted to talk about the attacks yesterday. I’m not a security specialist, why me?’
‘You hit the right word.’ Dan replied. ‘Security!’
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‘We have a problem. A big problem in that those black ghosts are able to evade our automated security
systems. I understand their natural camouflage capability for normal eyesight but even our helmet sensors
lose track of them or can only see them for brief glimpses.’
‘You’ve also had a chance to review the Hive-Tab recordings from Alex’s night attack on the other side
of the river as well as those of Sotak and Cindy. What do you think?’
‘I think I didn’t enjoy it at all. I wouldn’t have looked at that data at all if you wouldn’t have requested
it. You deal with this kind of stuff all the time, don’t you?’
‘No, not as often as you apparently think. I’m not a homicide agent. On the other hand, you’re a down
to earth guy with a high level of technical knowledge. How is it we don’t see them.’
‘Guess that makes sense. Security on the plateau huh? We rely heavily on the detection and
programmed reactions of the AutoSentinels for our protection. They are easy to transport and quick to
deploy. The more you have mapped into a network, the easier for their AI to control and react properly to
any threat.’
‘The recordings show some very interesting items. First of all these “black ghosts” as you just called
them, naturally prefer to stay in the shadow. You can see how this inclination takes them from shadow to
shadow in the images captured by the Hunter.’
‘They also move in tandem. One freezes in his new position, watching while the other moves and they
are constantly communicating while they do so.’
‘Huh?’
‘You can see it when they emerged onto the roadway in the failed ambush. Here, look at this sequence.’
Paul linked a playback sequence over to Dan and started it. ‘Watch the back and tail feathers. See that
flourish, just a light flutter but the answer sequence on his buddy is …. right there. We can see variations of
this same sequence three times on the short segment. It’s like an “Ok, it’s clear. You go.” communication.’
‘Too bad we don’t have more observations because this next segment is really interesting. This is from
Corey Zavtek and Anton Dotschkal’s record of the ambush. Look at that fade out. Yeah, even Corey
commented that the dinosaur seemed to stand there in the middle of the cut area and then fade away. Oh, we
can still see him but he’s harder to identify now. That’s natural, active camouflage ranging in the visible
wavelengths.’
‘I was trying to determine how he could have done this. Apparently, it’s a combination of their skin
undergoing pigment changes along with a change in the bias of the polarized light reflected from the feather
vanes on their thick down covering. They kind of bend their feathers to change their appearance and blend
into the background colors.’
Dan’s mouth hung open for a second, ‘Rather like a chameleon. How are they doing this? I’ve never
heard of such capability before. There’s nothing in existence that can do such a thing.’
‘Oh, I suspect that our bird population either lost the ability over time or perhaps those who had it were
wiped out in the extinction. Hang on a minute though, it gets better.’
‘The AutoSentinels work across the visible spectrum and infrared. They rely heavily on three things;
movement detection, sensing in the infrared for body heat signatures and sound. Sara’s been examining
many of the predator eye structures since we’ve been here. All of the major predators we’ve examined have
quite good eyesight right up into the longer, infrared wavelengths. This is a natural evolution for a predator
since they need to track the thermal signatures of their prey in the thick foliage and at night.’
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‘Do you realize that at one time we thought the dinosaurs were all cold blooded? Well, let’s not get
sidetracked.’
‘If we look at the record from that night at Dotschkal’s camp, we can see them testing the security
perimeter. As this went on, the sensors we traced show weaker and weaker detection signals. This most
likely means that they weren’t looking for breaks in the physical placement of the AutoSentinel barrier but
rather they were learning how to adapt to the response of the AutoSentinel. That is, they were learning how
to camouflage themselves from the sensors.’
‘Eventually they simply got to the point that they could go in silently and move about undetected by our
AutoSentinels. With this possibility in mind, I went back and looked again at the active matrix data from the
whole evening. The conclusion I’ve drawn is that they can tune their reflected image to the point that they
actually absorb the infrared strobe signals of the AutoSentinel. This is like the old radar absorbing structures
and paints used on military craft of the last century. The strobe sends out a signal and the return pulse is an
even weaker signal than the surrounding background. It’s rather like there was a hole in the field sucking up
the strobe signal.’
‘Why, that’s amazing!’ Dan responded. ‘I’ve never heard of such evolutionary capability.’
‘It’s like my wife Sara always says. Our species has only been around a short time compared to this
phylum. They’ve had a hundred times longer than we have for development to a series of relatively stable
threats. Remember that our environment has undergone many more drastic changes during our evolution
than theirs, for instance the frequent cycle of intense ice ages.’
‘They’ve had stable warm weather throughout their history. Clear skies for over a hundred million
years. They’ve adapted all right, but only to threats produced by other predators. One major development
for them would be to be able to camouflage themselves against an attacker or prey who could see infrared
body heat as well as the spectrum of light that our eyes consider to be visible. Once again, evolution at its
best.’
‘I wrote all of this up and posted it you know. You were on the highlighted distribution.’
Dan is staring out over the mainland by this time. ‘Are you kidding? No, I didn’t see it. I don’t follow
the publications coming out of the research group. Most of them are way beyond anything I even care to
understand. You should have directly called me on this.’
‘We have a real problem here Paul. This isn’t random chance. These guys have developed a taste for
human blood. At this point, they are hunting us. They aren’t going to stop unless we can catch or kill them. I
don’t have the resources to guard every inch of the Station. What can you do to improve the AutoSentinel
barrier toolset?’
Paul thought for a while and took a sip of his drink. ‘For the short-term, we can’t do a redesign of the
hardware. The ideal, simplest solution of course is a software or setup fix. After all a return signal that is
lower than the background is almost as good as a signal spike. The problem is, it’s going to be harder to
detect a real threat because you must first determine the true background noise level. False detections are
expensive and could render the whole system useless. People simply wouldn’t believe the alarms after a few
false ones. I can start algorithm development but I don’t have much data to work with.’
‘We will still need a better solution than looking for black holes in the background noise. Marty
Feldman is the best researcher we have for thinking up out of the box solutions. I’ll ask Matt for some of his
time.’
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Dan looked directly at Paul, a steel gaze fixed him for a few seconds. ‘Unfortunately you will most
likely be getting more data. I hope to God I’m wrong.’
‘In the mean time I’ll put more guards on the perimeter. Just pray that these guys don’t decide to invite
the rest of their family. We’re having enough trouble with the two of them.’
Dan stood up and finished his glass of water. He looked out to the horizon, ‘This is not a good time for
a gaggle of visiting board members to be running around the Station.’
* * * * *
Soft, warm brown grain and textures of simulated walnut angled across the room to meet a satin
backdrop filled with pinpoints of light sparkling in the colors of the rainbow. The bow-lit curvature of the
sea-blue earth far below the office fills the panels behind a man sitting in a rather plain chair apparently
made of Brazilian teak. He stands as his guest enters the cabin and gestures toward another chair situated
across from him. An old fashioned Japanese pot of tea steams on a small table between them.
‘Please make yourself comfortable Seth and thank you for coming so quickly.’ Maynard leaned forward
as Seth sat in the chair. He flipped a rather archaic switch on the edge of the tabletop. ‘I realize we only
have a few minutes but I need to talk with you confidentially. I’ve shielded our conversation here. Even
your Hive-Tab is nonfunctional for those operations involving this conversation. If you feel uncomfortable
with this then please feel free to leave right now.’
Seth leaned forward and grabbed the pot, helping himself to a cup of tea. ‘Come on Maynard. We’ve
known each other too long for that kind of theatrics. How can I help you?’
‘I’ll cut right to the chase. We have a problem and you need to warn Mark.’
‘We already know about the reason for this visit. As I recall, two board members, Robert Taylor and
Deboah Esque, have conflicting interests involved with starting an independent colonization company using
the data we gather here. Deborah Clinow is pushing for a recreational facility here and Justin … well I don’t
know what he wants if anything other than a vacation.’
‘Well, it seems to go quite a bit deeper than that Seth. I’ve had some of the crew come up to me during
the trip. They have reported multiple times that Taylor and Esque have been acting strangely. Word snippets
like “push out” and “force vote” were overheard but never seem to appear on their recordings or logs. I
really didn’t think too much of it until I had a brief visit from Ms Clinow shortly before our arrival here.’
‘At first I thought she was simply going to push her resort plans again but that wasn’t the topic at all. It
seems you are wrong about Taylor and Esque. They don’t have a conflict of interest. They have been
lobbying the board and major stockholders, using Mark’s absence as an opportunity to call two special
meetings. They are pushing the idea to the board that the company will grow faster if they remove Mark
from his role as CEO and Chairman.’
‘Mark is the largest shareholder, but if they can get enough shares voting on their side then, with his
absence, they can retire Mark and take over control of the company. This is a major takeover attempt and
they are here looking for a good excuse. You need to warn Mark about this as soon as possible when you get
back.’
Seth sat and looked out at the starscape display around the office for a moment. A rare moment passed
as Seth’s smile dropped, ‘Where does Justin Rather sit on this fence?’
‘I don’t know Seth. He hasn’t given us a hint. You can’t place him in your confidence.’
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‘All right. I’ve really got to run Maynard. Hopefully we’ll have a chance to sit and talk later, I’d like to
show you around a bit.’
‘Good enough.’ Maynard flicked the switch again signaling the end of their secure conversation. ‘Take
care. I hear you’ve had some rather unpleasant visitors of late.’
Seth stopped for a second on his way out. ‘Ah, yes. Apparently it’s all coming as a surprise but we’ll
handle it. Thank you.’
* * * * *
Sara smiled, after all it was only a short ride down to the Station. Even with the detour for a little sightseeing, surely she could put up with anything for such a short time period. After all, the question was not
that stupid. ‘I’m sorry Ms. Esque, but the Hunter is a reconnaissance and work vessel. While we were able
to rig up these two wallscreens for your tour, we cannot provide the full immersion viewpoint like in the
cockpit. It’s also obvious that we can’t fit everyone up front.’
‘Oh that’s quite all right Sara. It’s just that the scenery is so beautiful and the wildlife you were so kind
to show us so fantastic that it’s a shame we can’t fully immerse ourselves in the experience. I guess I should
watch what I’m saying here or I might find myself a convert over to the resort proposal. You’d like that
wouldn’t you Deborah?’
‘Naturally Suzan, but we haven’t seen the area around Cretaceous Station yet and I believe that may be
it up ahead.’
Sara turned to look at the horizon image behind her, ‘Yes, that is the station coming up. I see you have
been reviewing the background material. Spotting the Station at this distance and from this low of an angle
is not a small accomplishment.’
‘Seth! Could you please give us a quick swing around the plateau and then up the river valley. I’d like
to give our guests a quick view of the spaceport and resort area as well as the land beyond.’
‘I’m sure we’ll see some of the duckbill dinosaur herd in the valley. There’s quite a few of them. If we
are lucky we may even spot a T-Rex or a Triceratops. The Triceratops are on the dryer top of the plateau so
we’ll probably spot them on the return.’
‘Ok, one last pass and then into port.’ Sara thought to herself. ‘I wonder what Mr. Rather thinks about
all this. Except for a friendly greeting, not a word out of him for the whole trip.’
‘All right ladies, gentlemen and children. We are now along an area that will someday be southwest
Texas. The river you see ahead ….’
* * * * *
‘Well, you may see it as a distraction but for me it’s a major security issue.’ Dan commented to Matt
Zoeller as they walked across the open landing pad. ‘Actually, it does complicate things quite a bit because I
don’t have the manpower to fully secure the area and now we also know we can’t trust our AutoSentinel
security.’
‘We placed additional sensors along the expected Hype tunnel entrances. I’ve also set a ring of sensors
around the living and docking area of the plateau to support the guards I’ve stationed at the high point over
there and those two entrances that we already know about.’ Dan nodded in the direction of a higher hillside
on the otherwise flat plateau.
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Chapter 5: Carnage
‘Ok, I just got an update. They’re here but Seth’s doing a fly-by and they’ll be landing in another fifteen
minutes. Sara wants to run a quick jaunt up the river valley before bringing our guests in.’
Matthew had other concerns, ‘I do wish we didn’t have to have the Hypes here. After all, the board
members are here to see the research we are working on and not the local wildlife. Can we really trust these
dinosaurs? We don’t know them all that well.’
‘Oh come on Matt. How can you think that our guests would want to travel all this way and not see
dinosaurs? No, that’s the real reason they’re here, otherwise they would have been happy simply viewing
the research journals we sent back. Hold on a moment …’
Dan’s eyes seem to lose focus momentarily as he scans the internal messaging. ‘We just had a sensor
trip but it looks like it was a false alarm. I have two men going to look at it right now.’
‘Ok, keep me informed.’ Matt turned to walk back to his offices. ‘I want to go over my presentation one
more time before the meeting. Will you be joining us for lunch?’
‘Yes, I was told to be there. We are eating on the Argos so I don’t really expect any problems.’
‘Brody! Bracken! Come on over and walk Doctor Zoeller back to his office.’
‘Oh Dan. Do you really think this is necessary? After all I’m not walking out in the brushlands and the
ship is just over there.’
‘Come on Matt. Let me do my job. Everyone is escorted until we can properly resolve this problem.’
An observer can see the Hunter Recon long before they hear it but even seeing it can be difficult. The
vehicle is near soundless except for a slight rush of air. The ship’s engine is not really a drive since the craft
doesn’t push through the atmosphere creating bow waves and sonic booms like the aircraft of yesteryear.
Similar to the larger starships, the Gravitonic Drive of the Hunter accelerates every molecule within the ship
to move it forward along the universal lines of gravity. This includes the molecules of the pilot, passengers
and cargo; they never feel acceleration, stops or turns. This is often called a reactionless drive.
A small portion of the drive field extends before the ship as it travels to accelerate particles out of its
path. This is a critical feature for a vessel travelling in the near vacuum of space at speeds close to that of
light. Even small particles, widely spaced in the vacuum can cause major damage when you are travelling at
this velocity.
Atmospheric travel uses this same drive feature. The drive field accelerates air, gas or even liquid
molecules out of the path of the Hunter. As soon as they are out of the way, they are quickly released to
travel in whatever path they choose. Most of the materials collapse into the small vacuum formed behind the
vehicle that forms a small toroidal funnel as they remix. This remix is the only source of sound made by the
ship as it travels in an atmosphere. The ship itself travels in the clean vacuum created a scant few
millimeters in front of it by the drive field.
The vessel could have flown into the Station at three times the speed of sound to stop and magically
appear on the landing pad, but the approach is a matter of style and courtesy. Slowing to a few feet per
second as they approached the pad, Seth gently settled the Hunter onto the pad without the ill effects of
prop-wash or engine blast. The ship’s skin temperature normalized for a few seconds to the air around them
and then the exit door opened and a ramp extruded from the area below the port of the ship.
Mark is already at the edge of the pad as Dan approaches.
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Chapter 5: Carnage
‘Ok, welcome to Cretaceous Station but don’t get up out of your seats just yet. Great to see you again
and for those family members who may not have met me, my name is Mark Nolen.’
‘I don’t know if you noticed it, but as the Hunter brought you down we adjusted the atmosphere to our
local levels. There is a slightly higher level of oxygen in the air here. You should experience a very nice
difference as you stay here. You’ll be able to see better and generally feel a little better because of it. I
guarantee, you will not have any ill effects from the oxygen.’
‘Those of you who have read the background material won’t be surprised by the fact that there is a
dramatic difference in the gravity here. Knowing and actually experiencing the effect can be two very
different things.’ Mark smiled and turned to look at Dan. A low chorus of laughter echoed across the hold of
the craft as they recalled the images of Dan’s first excursion on the planet that are now so popular across the
uptime Hive-Net.
‘Unfortunately your flight down was too short for you to become acclimated to the lower gravity of this
timeframe and we don’t want to chance falling with someone perhaps getting hurt. We’ll help you onto the
ground starting with this front row. This will give you a few minutes to acclimate yourselves. Please do not
try to move quickly until you feel comfortable with the lower gravity. I apologize for the inconvenience but
we do not have bus service here on the station.’
A second subdued round of laughter passed through the group.
‘I’m sure you all met Fran before you left the Essex. We’ve asked a few of her clan members to greet
you. Please mind your manners, remember we are their guests. Also, do not expect all of the Hypes to be as
vocal and articulate as Fran. Fran is rather exceptional in that she has picked up our language much faster
than many of the others.’
‘Ok, lets try moving out starting with this row. Please slide or shuffle your feet along until you get the
hang of it. Hold onto things until you become accustomed to walking. It’s rather like learning how to ice
skate.’
The travelers are greeted by the warm, sea-scent filled air of the Station. Birds and small flying reptiles
fill the sky with their antics as they dive and swoop chasing the small insects around them. The blue sea is
visible even from the center of the plateau.
The children are the first to notice the Hypes around them. The adults stand as high as a short human
and have a broad, almost smiling face Their muzzle is shaped somewhat like a flattened beak and is partially
feather covered. Unlike the beak of a bird, the mouth contains some very healthy teeth.
The females sport a down coat that is soft bronze in color, much like that of a Korean pheasant, with a
short-crested stripe that runs down their tail that is as long as her body. There’s nothing that could be
described as flight-feathers anywhere on their body.
The Hypes are not theropods. They are quite different in behavior and are, in fact, omnivores. They eat
vegetables and occasionally some meat. Oddly enough, unlike almost all the other dinosaurs they have
articulated hands with five fingers.
A number of small chicks are mixed in with the females. They range in size from that of a small goose
to near adult and can be clearly identified by the soft brown down covering most of their bodies.
Only two males are present, clearly identified by their broad face with soft pheasant-colored feathers
and a bright orange comb brush running down their back to flare out near the tips of their tail.
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Chapter 5: Carnage
All of the Hypes wear a small chain with what looks like an identification tag around their necks. The
tags are automated responders for the AutoSentinel security system. Several of the female Hypes are
wearing a thinly covered cloak around their upper shoulders. This is an active garment formed of NanoHive
robotics that has been developed here on the Station to allow them to interface directly with the Hive-Tab
interfaces of the researchers.
Dan moved over to the edge of the clearing to apprehend a lady with two children walking down the
path toward the ocean. ‘Madame, I have to ask you to please stay with the group.’
‘Oh, Mister Drake. Surely you remember me, I’m Julia Taylor. Roberts wife. These are our two girls. I
won’t be a bother, we just wanted to see the ocean for a few minutes. We won’t be gone for long.’
‘Yes, I remember you Mrs. Taylor, it’s good to see you again but it is important that you do not go off
on your own right now.’
‘Oh, we’ll have plenty of time to see those dinosaurs. I however am a collector of jewelry and some of
the most beautiful pieces I have are made of fossilized ammonite. They are extinct you know and I’ve
always wanted to see a live one. So when I read your project report….’
‘Mrs. Taylor, I’m sorry to interrupt but please walk back with me. Mr. Nolen will be talking to you
shortly and I have very strict instructions to keep everyone together. It’s a security issue.’
‘Oh don’t worry about me. We’ve been camping before and we’ve even been on safari in the deepest,
darkest parts of Africa. I know all about wild beasts.’
‘Please Mrs. Taylor, I must insist. This is not anything like the Africa that you experienced. We have
had some security issues of late that you need to hear. Please, this way.’
‘Oh, ok. I guess we’ll have plenty of time to see the ammonites and the ocean later.’
‘Mrs. Taylor, I will personally have an ammonite brought up for you and we may even find a shell or
two for you to return home with if you come with me now.’
Dan can see Mark watching him as they walk back to the group. ‘Good, he’s finally getting the idea.
You can’t err too far on the side of safety.’
As Dan and Julia arrive back at the group, Mark walks over to one of the Hypes and picks up a small
chick from her arms. This focuses the groups attention on him. ‘Once again, welcome to Cretaceous Station.
We have a dinner planned for all of you tonight so that you can relax after your long journey. I believe you
will like the entertainment. We’ll be starting the meetings tomorrow morning and a spouses program has
been set up for the rest of you. Schedules are being posted to your Hive Tabs right now, and yes we do have
full Hive-Tab resources on the Station so please feel free to use them.’
‘First of all, I need to stress a few very important things concerning safety on the plateau. You, of
course, are all very welcome here and I’m glad to once again see you one and all. Those of you in the
meeting tomorrow will see that our research has been going very well. I believe you are going to be not only
pleased but also surprised by a few of the things we have discovered.’
‘However, the timing of your arrival here is a cause of concern. Not because of any inconvenience but
rather out of concern for your safety. We have had a problem arise within the last few days that appears to
be something new. We are still learning about the problem and, to be frank with you, we do not yet have a
solution.’
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Chapter 5: Carnage
‘In the last six months since we arrived here, we lost only two men. The fault was partly theirs and not
due to any laxness in our security or methods. For the most part, our security has been successful and we are
fortunate to have good relations with the locals.’
‘This has all changed in the last four days. We have had attacks on our work details. Subversion of our
security systems and we have lost two more people with a third technician in the hospital recovering from
some very serious wounds. In addition to our losses, several members of our host’s clan have been killed as
have those of our neighbors the Troondon. The culprits appear to be two dinosaurs, the species of which are
unknown according to Sara Wenford our Paleontologist.’
‘We are making progress on the improvements to our automated security systems but if you look
around the clearing you will see armed sentries. The sentries are there because we do not have a complete
solution to the detection and deterrence of these antagonists. Because of this we cannot allow you to have
full freedom of movement around the plateau. Activities and meetings will be held indoors at least until we
feel we can properly insure your safety.’
‘Naturally, any who feel they would prefer to return to the Essex will be provided transportation. I
know you like to be well informed on matters Suzan so just in case you are wondering … yes all of you can
have full access to the encounter records, both Hive-Tab and written. I would like to warn you though, some
of the scenes are not for the faint of heart.’
‘Ok, let’s head over to the Argos and we’ll get started. Meetings will be completed by 15:30 hours so
you’ll have plenty of time to meet the researchers and learn out our work here.’
References
2. Rajendra D. Badgaiyan, “Conscious Awareness and the Brain Processing”, Elements 3(3):8-12,
2005
3. Sebastián Apesteguía & Hussam Zaher, “A Cretaceous terrestrial snake with robust hindlimbs and a
sacrum”, Nature 440, 1037-1040 (20 April 2006) | doi:10.1038/nature04413; Received 22 August
2005; Accepted 9 November 2005
5. Landis, G.P., and Snee, L.W., 1991, 40Ar/39Ar Systematics and argon diffusion in Amber;
implications for ancient earth atmospheres: in Kump, L.R., Kasting, J.F., Robinson, J.M.,
Atmospheric oxygen variation through geologic time. Global and Planetary Change. v. 5, p.63-67.
Gas pockets encapsulated in Amber have confirmed the higher oxygen content of the late Cretaceous
Era. This cannot explain the monstrous increase in animal size that occurred during this age. Consider that
even the human body seems to operate better with the slightly higher oxygen levels. With the higher oxygen
of the Cretaceious we would heal faster, think faster, see better and with greater clarity. Burn victims as well
as those suffering from Nitrogen Narcosis are quickly put into a high oxygen, barometric chamber to aid
healing.
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Chapter 5: Carnage
So, why did dinosaurs get so large? As we’ve seen in the quote at the start of this chapter, simple fluid
mechanics tells us that the blood vessels and heart would not have been able to handle the higher pressures
needed for such large creatures. Long-necked creatures such as the Brachiosaurus present additional
problems. Their necks are not built strongly enough to support a head in the upright position or even a
position parallel to the earth under the stress of our current pull of gravity. Simple logic says that if you have
a long neck, you didn’t develop it to feed over a pond or into the bushes. A long neck is made to either reach
the ground or to be able to extend up to the highest, most tender leaves of the trees.
The concept of a change in the gravitational pull of the earth is not only NOT proven but it’s usually
scoffed at in the community. Keep one thing in mind, there’s no proper mechanism for gravitational change
in the physics of today or in Einstein’s General Relativity. In fact the force is not well handled at all in the
theorems.
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Chapter 6: Blood Lines
“When the thorn bush turns white that’s when I’ll come home
I am going out to see what I can sow”
“Full Moon” Lyrics by The Black Ghosts
‘I told you that you had to be careful of what you touched around here.’ Marty Feldman reached down
to help Brian up from the floor. ‘Here, give me your hand, I’ll help you up. You’re OK, just hold your
breath for a moment. Good, now breathe easily.’
‘It’s a good thing you didn’t hit anything flying across the room like that. You might have hurt yourself
even worse…. No, now watch it! You’re going to end up breaking something important! Here, sit!’
Brian’s shoulder ached after the 25,000 volt wave jolted through it. Lucky for him the pulse that
jumped across at him was all voltage with very little current. Paul had warned him not to touch anything but
he had only passed near the probe point when it flashed. ‘This guy has got to be crazy.’ Brian thought to
himself. Even his jaws ached a bit.
‘I’m sorry Doctor Feldman. Ah, shouldn’t you have a safety cage or some signs around that probe?’
‘Look Brian, we have a problem and very little time to find a solution. I don’t get many visitors to this
lab and I like it that way. If you can’t be careful then leave and tell Paul to send someone else.’
‘You are Brian Folsome, right? Paul told me you were quick and competent. I could use your help but
I’m not going to pander to your clumsy whims. It would take me hours to install those silly interlocks and
cages. Do you want to help or not?’
For the first time in years, Brian Folsome felt rather incompetent. Marty had an almost god-like
reputation for brilliant problem solving as well as eccentric behavior. Spending some time to work with him,
to learn his methods and perhaps be able to say he knew him is just too great an opportunity to pass up.
He’d have to be more careful.
‘I’ll be more careful Doctor Feldman. Its just …’
‘Well then let’s get to work and stop with this “Doctor” stuff, Marty will do. Come over here.’ Marty
turned and rolled out a broad sheet of paper. Like some alien document, the paper is filled with symbols that
Brian’s never seen before. Lines scurry across the sheet linking symbol to symbol. Actually, having grown
up with a Hive Tab, Brian had never seen a drawing on paper before. He wanted to ask Marty why he
bothered to print it out but ..
‘Oh, don’t we look wide eyed with surprise? Haven’t you ever seen a hand-drawn schematic? You
should try it some time, the physical linkage of the drawing to your mind lets you really feel the design. You
can’t do that with those virtual schematics you guys use.’ Marty pushed aside some small stands and
components on the optical bench that floated in the center of his lab to make room for the paper. A single
light shown down from a thin pole up near the ceiling onto the drawing. ‘No, no no. Don’t touch that one or
you’ll ruin a month’s worth of data gathering. Come over here and keep your hands by your side until you
learn how to move in here.’
‘The symbols I use in these schematics are my own design. The drawings you use may be typical for
your engineering but they are too restrictive in their performance scope and don’t really allow for cognitive
feedback and capacitive noise coupling in the circuits, among other things. I’ll explain how you use them
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this one time. It’s a simple concept so listen and I won’t have to waste more time later. You’ll need to be
able to read this if you’re going to program the cellular assembly fabricator for me. Oh, and one tip, until
you get to know your way around here, if you pick up anything use only one hand … just in case. You don’t
want any voltage travelling from arm to arm across your chest or we’ll be rushing you over to the infirmary.
Better safe than sorry you know.’
Brian emerged from the darkened lab a half hour later with, of all things, a roll of paper schematics
under his arm. His shoulder still hurt from the rapid jolt the muscles experienced as they contracted from the
high voltage shock. His mind felt confused and a little panicky. He was beginning to understand some of the
power of designing using Marty’s schematics but the scope and interplay of their interactions were so
complex! Marty had skipped through the explanations like a schoolboy hopping from rock-to-rock across a
stream. You either kept up with him or you were lost. Brian resolved that he was not going to go back and
ask for an explanation a second time. He’d figure this out!
A cup of coffee waited for him in his lab from this morning. It was cold and thick. He’d have to lay the
drawing on the coffee table or perhaps he could go to the cafeteria. Yeah, no one would be there this time of
day and he could spread everything out on the tables there and get a good cup of coffee at the same time.
He unconsciously brushed his shirt aside to rub the sore shoulder. ‘Ow, what a bruise! That wasn’t there
before. Shit, maybe I’ll stop at the medical center on the way and have this removed. I can also see how
Cindy’s doing.’
Brian liked working here, he liked the ocean and the sun. Loose stones crunched under his shoes as he
walked outside toward the cafeteria and infirmary. Through the loose brush along the trail he could see
across the cleared quadrangle where Mark and Dan are greeting the board members and their visiting
families. Every day has been sunny with almost no clouds. There are so many new experiences. For
example, for the first time in his life Brian discovered how difficult it was walking with rolled drawings in
the stiff breezes coming from the open seas beyond the edge of the plateau.
Brian was fumbling with the papers when he heard a strange noise from the door as he approached the
infirmary. Then he remembered, the security systems were on high because of the attacks. ‘Must have been
some small animal walking too close to the door.’ He looked around. Nothing. Well, he’d talk with Ian
about it. Maintenance might have to be called in for the repair, he didn’t have time to get involved with
security system tuning.
A small beam scans his body as he approaches the door. It was a small, quick scan that Brian would
normally not even notice if the problem hadn’t occurred just a second ago. ‘Seems ok.’ He commented as
the door opened to his touch and he stepped through the threshold. He was about to call to Ian when a
sudden blow from behind threw him into the doorjamb. His head struck the jamb and he slumped to the
ground.
Dazed by the blow, Brian felt hard hands pulling him into the building. He tried to thank them for the
help but could only mumble. ‘Cheez, take it easy will you? You don’t have to be so rough.’ He grumbles
through haze filled eyes and a piercing headache. ‘What?’ They are saying something to him but he can’t
understand. Then he felt hot fingers grab and squeeze his throat, covering his eyes and nose! ‘No, … can’t
breathe!’
Brian thrashes. Soon the panicked reaction turns into convulsions and consciousness fades. A sheaf of
papers, now free in the breeze, fly across the stone and sand of the cleared area to bump and bounce across
the field. Unrolled, separated and torn, the schematics tumble outward on the edge of the cooling afternoon
breeze to be torn, shredded and captured by the surrounding low brush.
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* * * * *
The walls inside of the infirmary illuminate the interior with a bright, uniform natural white light. It
floods the room from all directions making it impossible to generate an obscuring shadow. A critical
characteristic for a room designed to handle injuries and trauma. Alien to the directional characteristics of
natural sunlight, the illumination falls on the intruders, making them feel uneasy as they pull the body in and
consciously close the door. The intruders stand unmoving for a few moments, attempting to adapt their
natural camouflage to the room without success. They feel exposed as never before. It’s an unfamiliar and
very uncomfortable feeling that is tolerated only because of the urgent pull of the sensed presence in the
next room.
Habit dies hard as one of the intruders watches silently, a sentry for the other’s cautious movement
toward the easily opened doorway of the next room. He pushes the door open and, with a silent flexing of
the feathers around the back of his neck, he signals. A silent and simple sign, it marks the all-clear and urges
his brother onward toward the welcome darkness of the interior. The dark figure enters the room and stops.
Fear suddenly grips them both as the interior floods with a brilliance of the day. For the second time, they
freeze in startled reaction, trying to adapt to the unnatural environment.
The scent is here! It urges them to ignore their fears and move into the room. It’s an old scent and
difficult to follow but they now know that their prey never left this room. How could it simply end in this
room?
* * * * *
A blessed coolness sweeps across her body, soothing her semiconscious thoughts. Her body floats in a
safe, comforting space free of the damaging pull of gravity, bathed in the healing vapors. There is no sense
of presence except the comforting touch of a breeze totally enveloping her, pushing back the pain to a small,
dull reminder of its former horrible self. She feels weak, unwilling to move, still threatened by the sharply
remembered agony brought on by the smallest movement.
Two senses have filled her sleep-numbed soul for what has seemed like an eternity; that of the blessed
cooling breeze and its constant comforting sound. She exists here, without pain and that is enough for now.
Cindy’s random nightmares gradually coalesced over the hours yielding toward healing and sanity. Her
thoughts slowly are becoming more and more coherent as she recovers. Progressively her abused eyes have
begun to see light again; like the sudden brightness now glowing softly though her closed eyelids. If she had
not been awake then she would have never seen this warm and strangely welcome change. Perhaps she can
take the chance to open them? No, the sharp fear and the all too fresh memories of intense pain encourage
her to slowly slide back into the healing arms of slumber.
Another change enters into her universe. A faint shadow dims the comforting light around her! Actions
race ahead of conscious thought, spurred by the fears deeply etched in her mind causing her eyes to fly open
in response. Her eyes attempt to focus on a curious blurred image, shimmering before and towering above
her like that of a swimmer opening her eyes underwater to view a friend standing on the edge of the pool.
Suddenly, unwanted recognition and memories flood back into Cindy’s consciousness. The confusion,
revulsion, overpowering smells and pain of that horrid evening come rushing back with the memory of the
despair brought on by recognition of the fear-laden figure once again hovering over her.
Feelings of solitude and safety metamorphose into new revulsion and overpowering panic. Cindy’s fear
drives her into flight but her body will not respond, cannot overcome the field entombing her. Surges of
claustrophobic darkness wash into her dream-like consciousness, pounding like the ocean’s waves rising on
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a sudden tide. Her consciousness soars on the crest of despair and fear and then, her heart pounding in her
chest, the unthinkable happens.
Her body panics into a burning desire for flight but she is frozen, immobile, incapable of even the
solace of an escape-delivering physical response. Entombed and powerless, Cindy’s unmoving eyes stare
before her and helplessly watch. Hideously blurred teeth emerge from above and the abject, claw-tipped
arms slowly rise above her face as the horrid memories scream silently in anticipation. Her mind shrieks the
hate she feels for her own heart. A pounding muscle of life that refuses to quit, refuses to bring her the
comfort and safety of death. Thoughts and memories burst incoherently, flying through her mind,
hammering with an almost physical force into her very core. Cindy’s envisioned agonies climb, pounding
upward in a swirling tornado of panic. Rising to meet and focus on the tips of the pain-giving claws as they
descend along a well-remembered path. A macabre dance she knows will soon lead to new waves of pain
and agony. Despair fills her very soul and she cannot even hear herself scream.
* * * * *
His brother stands as sentry as he approaches the strangely scentless object swirling in the center of the
room. The old scent of his prey surrounds it but the thing is without odor. It is a destination without an
ending and he is confused because their victim should be here.
The strange blur of this thing sings the sound of the wind without its touch. Fear envelops him but
curiosity draws him toward this strange, alien and very unnatural object floating strangely before him, filled
with lifeless movement.
Stealth resides naturally in his movement as he cautiously approaches the object. Like the cascading
waters of a rock-strewn stream, it moves and flows without flight or change, ignoring his presence. Slowly
he approaches and his eyes focus in disbelief. The prey is here! Their senses did not deceive them!
How strangely the prey moves like a fish sitting under the waters of a stream. There, moving and yet
motionless. Perhaps, perhaps like from a stream the prey can yet be taken back.
Slowly he extends his arm, hoping to snare the prey as he would a fish. His fingers suddenly tingle and
burn. He pulls his arm back in surprise. This is not a stream! It is the strange emptiness of the wind! A wind
oddly felt only within the strange distortion before him. A barrier that holds nothing out yet holds all within.
Yet, there is no real pain, just a tingling. The object doesn’t respond, it doesn’t even hide, it just is and
his prey lies there before him alive, waiting. See? It moves! Its eyes are open! Again he extends his arms,
watching his hands blur and swirl as they sink deeper into the object. A test is needed!
The prey lies in frozen stillness but he can see the succulent fear of a cornered animal in its eyes. He
extends his claw and carefully, gently runs it down from breast to groin along the soft underbelly of the
prey. The excited beating of his heart soars in sweet response, rising in concordance with the despair and
panic swelling so silently in those eyes.
Everything feels warm and natural until the hot blood flows. The blood emerges from the wound and
suddenly whips away on the small winds of the object. Eyes grown wide in amazement, he again pulls his
claws lightly down the unmoving body. No sound emerges, no soft mewing or cries of pain. No movement
in response as the image fades into a swirling red mist before him carried on and contained within the
strange winds of the object.
He pulls his arm out. The room fills with the acrid scent of his prey but the longed-for, salty-liquid red
ambrosia is not on his claw. Instead, his arm is coated with the dried, flaked powder of the long dead. This
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is not as it should be! It had flowed freely, he had seen it doing within the barrier, but then it also was taken
by the strange winds? How can this be?
He looks to his brother who is now sensing this clear prey scent, and then returns his attention. The
object is once again clear of the red haze, the barrier swirls faintly with the last blood traces and he is
amazed to see that the cut down its belly has closed. The expected liquid flow of hot blood is not there! The
liquid exists inside only briefly and is then quickly washed away by the strange winds.
Frustration pushes back his curiosity and assails caution. He thrusts his arms in again, scraping the soft
body, claws instinctually sinking into the skin to hold it still. Ah, it knows! He can see the knowledge in the
sweet despair of its eyes! The solution is clear in his mind as he extends his tongue with its rough, rasping
surface to scrape and tear a thousand small cuts across the skin and release the cherished fluids.
Excited about the prospects of again tasting the hot addictive liquid, he greedily flicks his tongue out to
dart across in a blood-searing arch. Surprise throws him back as the stringent chemicals within the field burn
into his tongue. A sharp, bitter infusion cascades into his being to sink down into and enflame his gut. He
roars in anger and surprise as his confused brother runs to his side.
The raptor gutting claws of his feet rapple in reaction against the hard, unnaturally smooth floor and he
strikes out at the prey just as a figure enters the door.
* * * * *
Doctor Ian Graeme stopped in the middle of a sentence as he was talking with Paul Wenford. A look of
shock came to his face and he shouted, ‘My God, it’s Cindy. She’s going into tachycardia!’ He took off,
running across the field from where they were watching the board members depart for the Argos.
‘She should be sedated and past the most critical stages. Now I have a report from the unit that her heart
is beating like a wee trapped fawn and she’s in extreme duress!’ He yelled as they ran back to the infirmary.
Alex and Tom came up the trail from the other side just as they approached the door.
Alex shouted over to them, ‘Doctor Graeme we just had an entry alert into your infirmary from Brian
Folsome. We were already over when this med-alert was raised!’
They threw open the door, tripping over the body sprawled on the floor. Alex raced through and into
the back room followed by Ian who pushed by him with a scream, ‘My God, just what do ye think yer doin’
ye heathen animal!’
The dark devil’s foot swung down, encountering the field. It penetrated the field and the raptor’s killing
claw cut deeply into the supple figure in the center. The massive claw sunk deeply into the soft flesh and
there it stuck. The dinosaur screamed in fury, small arms thrashing while frantically flailing at the floor with
its other leg. Each unbalanced jolt of the black ghost cutting deeper, rending flesh and core of its victim. A
four-inch long talon held firm, trapped within the field-enclosed flesh of the victim. One great screeching
call filled the room, confusing the second dinosaur. Then, as Alex and Tom leaped in, a last frantic thrust is
followed by release and the dinosaur falls free to the floor.
Pure reaction drives the second black ghost’s charge against the two humans. It strikes only to bounce
from the armored, high-gravity dense bodies of the humans. The strike is enough to off balance the humans
and they stagger back. Rising instantly, the dark figures take advantage of the unbalances humans and flee
through the door knocking Ian to the ground. They are gone in an instant.
Paul Wenford looked around in shock. They had passed within a hair’s width of him without touching.
Ian lay on the floor, holding his side. Tom and Alex sprang from the floor to run in pursuit of the attackers.
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‘Come on Tom,’ Alex calls across their local net, ‘Buddy says they are headed toward the housing
complex. We gotta turn them.’
Slowly Ian rises, holding his side and his breath. He looks quickly to the other end of the room and then
limps outside. Paul looks across the room to see what has driven the doctor out so quickly. A six foot, tubeshaped object swirls where Cindy once floated in the air. It is dark red, almost black in color with bright red
streaks churning about its surface. The floor beneath the cocoon is scattered with deep brown, long dry
flakes and tenuous-black strings of matter.
Paul can hear Ian moving in the next room. He runs out to see if he can help. Ian sits stooped before
him on the floor, hovering over Brian’s body. Brian moans as the doctor passes his hand gently across his
scalp. Ian’s eyes are defocused as he calmly hovers over the engineer, viewing a Hive Tab display of
measured internal cranial structure and brain activity carried to him from the field of the ring-sensor on his
hand.
‘Ah laddie, glad to see ya comin’ around.’ Ian softly speaks in the strong brogue that rises even higher
in times of stress. ‘Ye’ll be sore of head for a bit but ‘tis nothing ta fear. Sure as we have a fix fer it.’
‘Doctor Graeme! What about Cindy? Hurry!’ Paul shouts in disbelief at the strangely calm, immobile
Ian.
Ian raises his head slowly, a small tear in his eye threatening to overflow across his cheek, ‘Naw, I fear
‘tis nothin’ we can do fer ta bonnie lass. ‘Cept of course a wee prayer fer her soul.’
* * * * *
‘God damn distractions! Now we gotta go running around after these bozos. Why couldn’t they mind
their own business. I catch them I’m gonna ring their necks.’ Anton Dotschkal grumbled to himself as he
put on a battle helmet and shouldered his rifle. ‘At least my back doesn’t hurt quite as much. Probably all
the running and jumping and climbing … I’m gonna kill them!’
Anton hurried out of the door just as Dan Drake and David Pope came jogging up the path. ‘See, told
you I’d be ready. Let’s move.’
Dan didn’t even pause, ‘I want to hurry over toward the Argos. Tom reported that they were headed this
way. I fear Mark and the board members are right in their path. Let’s move.’
They followed the main, stone-lined path across the open quadrangle and then cut through some bushes
by a small blue, very deep pond. Tension filled the air. Most of the staff are staying indoors. Even the small
Hype chicks that normally played across the plateau weren’t around. A number of the Station’s techs had
volunteered to stay in the warren tunnels, guarding the entrances to the larger halls. The normal music,
singing and melodious constant whistles of Cretaceous Station are all gone.
Rising to the crest of the small ridge that surrounds the pond, the team can see the Argos on its pad
across the low brushland. ‘There are our visitors. I want to form in behind them to set up a perimeter, let’s
go.’
They jog across the high brush-sided trail when David silently calls across the net, ‘A track! Dan, swing
over this way. This looks like their trail. Hurry, they’re just ahead of us.’
A call from Alex sings in over their local net, ‘Dan, I just got an eyeball on them. Watch it! They are
just ahead of you. They’re headed toward the Argos. I’m right behind you.’
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David took off at a run with Anton close behind him. The tracks fled down the main trail. Unlike their
previous movement, all pretense of stealth is gone as the black ghosts flee from the encounter at the
infirmary. David swings around a curve to briefly see a dark shape passing around a corner. They are
between him and the Argos with every chance in the world that a wild shot could strike the fleeing board
members. He takes a chance and fires a single shot at the fleeing raptor. The dinosaur hears the
hypervelocity crack of the slug pass by and hesitates in his flight the barest fraction of a second, but it’s
enough.
David charges right into the dinosaur, knocking it to the ground from behind with the full force of his
body. The dinosaur, nearly as big as David, grunts with the impact and sings a sharp warble that sounds like
marbles rolling in an empty can.
David swings his rifle around with his free hand, missing the dinosaur as it twists. His rifle flies to the
side but he manages to lock onto the raptor with his now free hand. His fingers blindly grab flesh and
feathers and he pulls, their tips raking across the chest of the beast. As they roll to the ground, he sees the
other black dinosaur flying at him.
The other black ghost, just up the path, had turned when it heard the call and now is charging back.
Jaws wide open; it leaps through the air with dagger-like five inch claws on its feet extended before it.
David twists to avoid the claws just as Anton’s leg strikes the side of his helmet, lights flash across his eyes
but he holds on for dear life.
Combatants struggling down about his feet, Anton doesn’t even feel the blow to his knee as he braces
his legs to block the charging black ghost. His hands rise outward toward it, reaching for a grip on the end
of the feather-coated legs, trying to avoid the razor-like claws. His right hand misses and swings up into its
mouth but the other grabs, slips and deflects the leg, slipping to dig deep into its groin. Anton’s massive
frame trembles with the impact of the charging animal. He bends his knees, shifting in response to the
sudden load. His fingers dig into jaw and the tough hide inside the struggling leg. He shoulders the sudden
weight and turns with a twist to pull and flip the charging raptor. The massive black figure rolls over them,
stunned by the impact and fury of the hard, dense muscles gripping it like a vise. Reactions clamp down on
the soft flesh of Anton’s arm in it’s mouth, dragging him along.
Anton and the black ghost tumble across the two struggling figures below them to land in the bushes.
Dan has just come up on the melee, frantically looking for a grip as the four figures roll and tumble before
him. Without thinking, he see’s Anton’s arm and reaches into the jaws of the beast. He yanks, teeth cutting
into his fingers and the jaws separate just enough to allow Anton’s hand to pull free.
Instead of backing off, Anton lowers his jaw, repositions his arm and legs and digs deeper into the gut
of the beast below him. One of the raptor’s legs swing up between them and a sharp claw rakes down across
Anton’s belly. Active armor instantly hardens in response across his chest, saving his life and trapping the
claw between them. The raptor screams and, with a massive push with his leg, the black ghost lifts both
Anton and Dan up, throwing them to the side. The black fury twists free, rolling in the opposite direction.
David is down at the bottom of the pounding, tangled web of thrashing bodies. Dazed, he holds on for
dear life, smothered by the very weight of the struggle on top of him and frantically trying to catch a breath
of fresh air. The entire area is awash with a strong acrid smell. His head begins to spin as he braces his back
against the ground and pushes. Vision begins to fade as the fumes fill his head.
The dinosaur stands and turns back in to snap at Dan’s leg. It’s teeth miss the skin but grab onto the still
rock-hard cloth of his armor. The second black ghost suddenly flips into the air with the force of Dan’s
frantic push, knocking both of them down. They jump to their feet, the two black ghosts are suddenly free.
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In unison they scream, the sound rising like a steam whistle into a head thumping blast and spring off into
the brush at a speed no human could hope to follow.
Dan rolls to his feet, brings his rifle up but the raptors have once again vanished. The tracks lead off
across the top of the plateau, away from the Argos.
David struggles to rise from the fume laden ground, breathing in deep gasps of cleaner air. Anton drops
to one knee and removes his helmet. His hair is matted with sweat as he rubs his fingers through the wet,
thinning hair at the top of his head.
Dan looks over at him, small words escape from lungs frantically trying to force oxygen into his
bloodstream, ‘You ok Anton?’
A low grumble is his only answer, ‘My back hurts … and my knee hurts.’
* * * * *
‘Ladies and Gentlemen, please board the Argos right now! I’ll address all of your questions after we get
inside.’ Mark pushed the visitors over toward the pad holding the main ship of the research station. Three
other security officers arrive as he speaks, rifles at the ready and wearing full body active-armor. They turn
their backs to the guests, forming a perimeter with others as they arrive.
Never having seen a full ArmorAll suit, some of the guests turn and stare at the men, ‘Please ladies.
Don’t stop! We need to board immediately.’
‘What’s that awful noise?’ One of them shouts.
‘That is a dinosaur. The predator type and he is close. Please quickly move into the Argos!’
Safely inside the Argos, Mark guides the guests into the Star Lounge followed by an out-of-breath Dan
and Doctor Matt Zoeller. The walls of the lounge display the Station around it making the area appear as
though the guests were seated on an open balcony. Most of the perimeter guard has already dispersed but
armed men in active-armor are forming a line on a hill to the south.
Justin Rather stood by the walldisplay, looking out over the grounds, ‘How could this happen? Why
don’t you simply surround and capture them?’
‘Oh my, God save us!’ Mrs. Taylor exclaimed. The information was just beginning to come across the
non-employee Hive-Tab network. Since there isn’t a formal news network on the Station, all of the
information and automated self-reporting of the network is open to the participants.
Mark pushed to the front of the group. ‘Please sit down and let me explain what is happening. Francis,
could you bring some coffee and juice out for us. Also, bring everyone some water.’
‘Ok, how do I begin? Your timing could not be worse but I will hold nothing back. I have also
instructed all of my people to answer any questions honestly and fully.’
Suzan Esque immediately stood up, ‘Honestly and fully! A lot of good that does us! We can’t even
communicate back with the home office. I tried to send a message probe back this morning and they told me
all communications are blocked! This is an outrage!’
‘We are far from home Suzan and message probes are too expensive for casual communications even
for board members. You’ll be able to send messages when the rest of us do. Let me get back to the
immediate topic.’
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‘This series of attacks are unprecedented and, as fate would have it, they started coincidentally with
your arrival. To answer your question Justin, we can’t track them. The line-up you see on the hill is
beginning a drive that will either eliminate the threat or at least drive them from the plateau.’
‘One problem with the Hive-Tabs is that there is so much information on the network that sometimes
you need to be pointed to the right information. If you look at Anton Dotschkal’s reports from three days
ago you’ll see our first extended contact. Apparently, these particular dinosaurs are extremely adaptive, and
yes, they are dinosaurs and not “big birds” ladies.’
‘Paul Wenford has been studying them rather closely and he has noticed a measured ability to not only
camouflage themselves from our visual sensors but even those devices using the higher frequency
bandwidths of the AutoSentinels. We have been able to determine that they actively tuned their stealth
capability to evade the AutoSentinel systems and attack Anton’s encampment.’
‘Doctor Graeme has confirmed that they tracked Doctor Cindy Decker, who was injured last night, into
the infirmary and killed her while she was unconscious and undergoing medical treatment for an earlier
attack. This tells us a lot about the intelligence and habits of these dinosaurs.’
Deborah Clinow spoke up, ‘How can we hope to establish a starport or more importantly a resort here if
we can’t even protect ourselves?’
‘We are making progress on this Deborah. This is the first time we’ve encountered such a creature in
our six months on station. There can’t be very many of them in the area since we’ve seen only two so far.
Please keep in mind that by coming here without invitation you have placed yourselves in a very risky
position. This is not a research park in some civilized industrial zone. You are in a wilderness, a very wild
environment the likes of which we cannot experience on our home world. We experience surprises on a
daily basis here. Thankfully most have not been as serious as the problems these two visitors have given us.’
‘When we solve this immediate problem. When the resort is finally completed. Then there will be
sufficient security at the resort to allow us to bring in colonists and tourists. Until then I welcome you to the
frontiers of science. As you see, true research goes way beyond the safe, protected halls of the university.’
* * * * *
They feel very uncomfortable. This is not the proper way to hunt. The prey should not be tracking you
and attacking without fear. The prey should not even know that you are around. It’s time to leave.
They had always felt pride in their hunting. A feeling of power and accomplishment that made the
chase and the kill taste ever so much better. Now, for the first time, they experience a new feeling, revenge.
They will return.
Carefully they move across the camp. Stopping to drink at a small blue pond, they hear sounds above
them. Now is not the time for hunting, there is too much tension in the area. Do not use the trail, danger
stalks the trail. They swing over toward the sound of the ocean, an area where the trees and brush are thicker
providing cover and the ocean will protect them on one side. Carefully and silently moving westward along
the edge of the plateau toward the safety of the mainland.
Suddenly, ahead of them the strange sounds made by this new prey fill the air. Curiosity overcomes
their anxious flight and they swing over. A mixed group stands peacefully in the sun, unworried and oh so
tempting. This is worthy of examination.
* * * * *
Hunter’s Moon
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Brittany Wenford gazed out over the ocean from the foot of her patio. She never grows tired of the
view. For one thing, it’s always changing. Today the rich, vibrant blues of the sky and sea are met with the
contrasting bright colors of animals all around them. Some are common and beautiful like the long-necked
plesiosaurs playing across the top of the water. Numerous water-birds and the small lizard-like pterosaurs
dive for the fish and small animals that flee before these rapid, graceful reptiles. One of her favorite visitors
comes by a little less often, gliding gracefully overhead, exhibiting beautiful forty foot wide and colorful
wingspans as they glide high above the plateau, passing inland to follow the long course of the river. Her
mother called them pteranodon.
A low wall surrounds the sandstone surface of the patio on which she stands. Their home sits on a
mound overlooking the vast, wild panorama of sea, river, sky and the plains and mountains of the west. An
excellent view for a beautiful SilFuse constructed home. The structure is made of enriched and matrixed
silicon drawn from the surrounding sands of the beach. It is designed to blend into the surroundings so well
that it can barely be seen from fifty yards away.
‘All right class, break time is over.’ Brittany calls to the twelve youngsters running and playing across
the patio. Come on over here and sit.’
Brittany is a sixteen year old girl with a short boyish cut of sand colored hair. Twin to her brother John
and daughter of Sara and Paul Wenford, she eagerly takes on the challenge of helping with the education of
the youngsters of the Station personnel. Eight of the students range in age from six to twelve. The remaining
four are Hypsilophodonts, local children of the Hypes eagerly attending the formal schooling.
The dinosaurs are about half the size of the human children now but they mature faster than humans
and will quickly grow to be almost the same height. Hypes can mimic human speech just as parrots of the
future. Unlike parrots, they exhibit an intelligence and independence of thought that may well be on a par
with the humans. Their intelligence is however different than the humans. They do not take mathematical
concepts well and they prefer to live in harmony with nature. Adapting to changes rather than attempting to
modify their environments. It is a trait that will lead their race to extinction in the cataclysmic changes of the
time to come.
For now, the cries and shouts of the children contrast sharply with the sudden quiet of the otherwise
noisy life on the plateau.
‘Tina, listen. Did you hear that?’ Brittany turns to a young hype helping her with the class. ‘Listen to
how quiet everything has become.’
Tina stops to listen, a bright blue shaw on her shoulders flutters lightly in the wind. She lifts her nose
and sniffs the odors of the plateau. ‘I don’t hear or smell …’
A screech lifts across the brush strewn plateau. The rumbling sound of an angry dinosaur, a sound that
they have heard before and knew only too well. A thought races through her mind, ‘Oh, that was right here
on the plateau!’ Around them, the human children continue to play, ignoring the nearness of the call.
Brittany notices that the young Hypes are reacting quite differently. They may bolt if she doesn’t do
something quickly.
‘Children, be quiet! Quiet! Gabriel that means you too! Now, all of you into the house, quickly!’
‘No Suzanne, just leave it. We’ll come back outside later. Please move.’
Brittany locks the door behind her as they enter, a quick count confirms that all children are safely
indoors. Quickly she moves around to the other doors, checking them and the security of their locks. ‘Ok,
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we’ll continue with our lessons in here. I know you would all like to be outside but we can open the curtains
here. It’ll seem almost like we were outside.’
The four young Hypes aren’t ready to go outside at all. They stand in a corner of the room away from
the window, ‘Brittany, that was bad call. We don’t want to go outside.’
‘It’s all right Tina. I won’t ask you to go out. We can stay in here until others arrive. In the mean time,
let’s continue with our ….’ A thud and scratching at the door startles her. There it is again. Is someone
trying to get her attention? What should she do? She walks over to the door, ‘Who is there?’
No answer. Brittany moves over to the side window and carefully pulls the curtains aside. She looks
outside, stretching to see as much of the back door as possible. There’s no one there. Did she imagine it?
Then, the scratching moves over to the side door follow by a rapping sound. She moves to the side
window. A dark figure stands behind the bushes. Without thinking, she rushes over to the door and turns the
latch. ‘Brittany, no!’ Tina cries.
The door flew open, ‘Brittany, thank God! Did you hear that?’ Rachel Zavtek entered the room. Her
arms holding two plastic bags. ‘Where’s Gabe, you have him inside here I hope? I have some of our first
peaches for your mom. I was almost here when that awful scream filled the air. They have got to be close!
Quick, close the doors. Thank God you were home, I don’t know where should run to. Why did you have to
build so far out here?’
‘Here, let me help you with that.’ Brittany is feeling better already now that Rachel is here to help.
Rachel lifted one bag onto the table, ‘Mary Li wanted to put all of these in stasis but I said I wanted
some for the school. These will be good for all the kids and I know that Tina really likes them.’
‘Yeah, she went crazy over the last bag we had here and ate most of it. I remember too that Tina had the
runner’s all night after that.’
‘Well, they have nothing like this here so it’ll take her metabolism a little time to get used to the fruit.’
‘Yeah, mom told me all about it. The Lower Cretaceous saw the first few appearances of fruit trees.
Most of the sweet, pulpy succulent fruits we enjoy and take for granted have yet to develop. No wonder the
Hypes and Troondon love them so much. Must be like getting manna from the gods.’
‘Well, don’t let them eat the pits. There’s traces of arsenic in them and it could accumulate in their
systems. If they eat too much it could actually hurt them.’
Tina was standing looking out the back window. ‘Brittany, something out here.’
‘Who is with you Rachel?’
‘No one. I didn’t see anyone else nearby either.’ They walked over to the large picture window by Tina.
They could see the clear ocean extending out beyond the patio. Chairs, two tables and benches filled the
space along with some small flowering plants her mother had brought back from the mainland. ‘I don’t see
anything Tina.’
‘No look over here, not way out by ocean. Here!’ and she pointed to the edge of the limestone not more
than fifteen feet away from them. There, …’
Rachel stared and then she saw a set of leaves move lightly in the gust of a soft breeze. Her eye caught
something unusual, ‘Strange! Those didn’t move at all.’ Then she looked closer. There it was. If you looked
closely, you could see it. The head turned and yellow eyes looked deep into her eyes.
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Rachel remembered, as a very young girl, looking into the eyes of an alligator. They had stared directly
into hers as she gazed from a few feet away, safely resting on the fenced walkway above the creature. The
eyes of that animal were cold, lifeless and she knew unremorseful of any actions it might take should she
take even a single step off the boardwalk.
This is different. They didn’t move or blink but you can feel the life inside them. There is something
different about them. Perhaps the depth of their color or the shading of the small pupils made the difference.
There is so much there, so much … malevolence!
The barest movement, less than a blink of an eye and the creature was upon her. A dark demon, arms
spread wide as it swooped across the patio. Casting itself into the air, turning to raise two black clawcovered talons high into air. Mouth open, white teeth glisten, pushing the sharp killing raptor claws ever
upward.
Rachel could feel the massive blow of the vicious attack, she fell back and flew across the chair even
though not even the slightest breeze touched her. A loud, mighty thump rang against the pure quartz silicate
glass and the black demon lay thrashing on the ground. A massive, white powder imprint covered the
window like some etched caricature of a bird in flight on glass.
Brittany screamed and the children wailed as, out of nowhere, a second figure slid across the glass. It
almost lost its balance as it skidded across the large window. A large viscous streak of body fluids marking
its unexpected path across the unseen surface. Stumbling across its fallen brother lying stunned on the patio
below it.
The figure righted itself and stood rigid. A pair of yellow eyes open and it stiffens slightly and then
rises onto all four feet. Shaking it’s head, it sits down for a second and then rises again to a standing
position. The head turns around to focus on its companion and then returns its gaze back into the room, back
directly at Brittany now standing in front of it, separated only by the thin piece of glass. No barrier to the
sensed hate and aggravation now present in the eyes locked on hers.
The attackers stand in frustration. Their feathers shift and bristle as they stare at the humans. Slowly, it
raises a five-fingered hand, extending it outward toward the girl standing so close, frozen in fright, to stop as
it touches the glass. Confused, it pushes harder and then extends its nose down, bumping into the thin sheet.
Rachel has gotten back up to her feet and she moves over to Brittany with the black dinosaur standing
so close. ‘Go away! Go away!’ she screams, pulling Brittany back behind her in the room.
Brittany pushes Rachel off and moves toward the front. Separated by only the thin sheet of glass, she
extends her hand over to the clawed fingers of the raptor. It almost pulls back and then some thought seems
to catch and they hear it scream in rage.
The black raptors begin running their hands along the glass, feeling for an edge. Looking for something
to grab, to dig into. The Silfused mold seamlessly meets the glass.
They run to the side of the house. No longer visible but the girls can hear them scratching the siding.
Moving, sliding until they encounter the door.
A few scrapes along the door and it flies open. They rip it from its hinges with a ripping, rending sound
of plastic on stone and Rachel can see it fly out over the yard. Flung far by their fury it crashes and settles
against the table used this morning for breakfast.
Then they turn to the inner door. A strong portal designed for security. She can hear them scratch and
scrape. Their frantic slashing growing in an intensity that is soon joined by their frustrated deep rolling
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growls. Talons scrape across the door, screeching in protest as they slide across it without harm. The deep
growls of the black ghost change into angry screams.
Then a piece at the edge cracks open with a sharp rending sound. The attackers immediately turn their
attention to the one small piece that has succumbed to their onslaught. Soon the tear begins to expand into a
hole that opens into the interior.
Rachel screams in anger and fright while Brittany begins crying. She runs into the kitchen, looking for a
weapon.
The hole opens and a dark brown nose pokes into it. Now they can smell the fresh live scent and it
pushes them on. An acrid smell begins to enter into the house. At first it lays low on the air entering by the
floor. Soon it permeates the whole room. The Hypes sit in the corner, huddled and mewing in freight. The
humans stand next to them. Two of the girls are holding the young Hypes, trying to comfort them.
Rachel reaches down for a cloth to place over her nose when Gabriel flies past her. ‘No!’ she
instinctively yells, reaching for the child. He easily scampers by her and leans down to the hole just as the
muzzle of the beast pushes through. Gabriel reaches out, a canister in his hand and sprays it directly into the
jaws of the beast.
Outside a blood-curtling screech fills the air and they can see the black ghosts pull back. One pawing at
its mouth and the other pawing at it in confusion. Suddenly they stop and both heads turn toward the east.
Then they are gone, their deadly path into the brush marked only by the shaking of the bush from their
passing.
‘Gabriel, what did you do?’ Rachel grabs him and holds him. She doesn’t know whether to cry or yell
at him.
Brittany stands to the side, laughing, barely able to stand erect. ‘The spray from the medicine storage.
He used the first-aid anesthetic spray that we use for their cuts and bruises. That bird won’t be able to taste
anything for a month! I know, I got some in my mouth accidentally one time. It also tastes really weird!’
Just then three of the security men came up the path to the door. They looked at the wreckage strewn
across the patio. Rachel ran forward with a screech and opened the door.
‘What happened?’ he asked.
* * * * *
A portion of his mind scrolls over a map of the area near the infirmary. It shows a quickly growing line
of men assembling across the top of the ridge. New points blink into existence across the three-dimensional
topographic plot marking the addition of more drivers for the hunt. Humans blessed with photographic
memories have commented that this image is similar to the detailed visions they retain but it retains one
major difference. This image is not a fixed memory. Even fine details change in real-time using the HiveTab augmentation.
He lowered the magnification on the image to observe the larger area of the plateau. His display is set
to highlight any movement sensed by the AutoSentinels or the satellite located far overhead. New detections
automatically update with identification and information that he perceives as simple knowledge rather than
labels or notes. So far, all of the detections can be identified and the two bad guys are not on the map.
These images play across one section of Alex’s consciousness as he jogs down the trail. His eyes
simultaneously search for threats along the path leading through the high brush between the two ridges
before him. A small, about the size of a man, bronze colored dinosaur briefly glides across the pathway
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before him and then flies off through the dense undergrowth to his side to circle and return. The dinosaur’s
nose swings to the ground one moment searching, then it’s head flies up the next to examine the area before
them with keen, sharp eyes. As they run, the dinosaur frequently looks back to confirm that Alex is still near
him or to signal a change in the travel path.
Alex and Tom jogged toward the mainland gates of Cretaceous Station. They follow a trail and pace set
by the Hype called Buddy who never seems to be far from Alex’s side. Even smaller, brightly color
dinosaurs whistle and scream as they flee before the team in a very un-birdlike gliding run. Alex isn’t
concerned with stealth at this point. They need to setup an ambush at the thin neck of ground that attaches
the plateau of Cretaceous Station to the mainland. Others will be setting up along the three narrow cliff trails
that follow from the Hype tunnel exits below the crest.
The perimeter security fence and gates lay just ahead. ‘Swing over this way!’ Alex calls to Tom and
Buddy and they turn to run along the edge of the fence. The linked fencing is an active element in the
security system. It records and evaluates any disturbance, even the brush of a falling leaf. Intelligent
monomers evaluate the sensed incursions and have the ability to notify the central system on the Hive-Tab
network if the threat level is high enough.
The fencing extends down the sides of the cliff for a short distance on each side. Installation grew the
base of the sections of fence, up here on top of the plateau, to a depth of more than three feet underground to
discourage attempts to undermine it.
‘Waste of time Alex. Let’s head over to the gates and get set up.’
‘You need to stop putting all your trust in the automated systems. We will check this entire fence and
then go to the set up point. Hurry!’
‘We won’t have enough time. There just no way … oh shit!’
They could see a small mound of bare dirt along the cleared path ahead. Plants sprouted with amazing
speed here so the hole dug next to the mound must have been recent.
‘Dan, we found their entry point.’ Alex called in over the net. ‘They dug under the fencing.’
‘I see it now. Can you set up an ambush on the other side?’
Alex called back, ‘The hole looks large enough for us to pass through. We’ll set up outside of the
cleared area but keep a physical view of the entry. These fellows still aren’t showing up on the sensors and I
want to be able to keep an eyeball on it.’
‘Maybe we should examine the rest of the fence?’ Tom asked as Alex turned to crawl head-first down
into the hole.
‘No, no time now. Besides, we can’t watch both areas. Come on.’
Tom turned to push head-first into the hole behind Alex. Buddy is already on the other side, running
through the brush in search of any clues or spore. It’s tight going and the ground around them is soft. Bits of
rock and dirt fall from the sides of the tunnel. There’s always fear of a cave-in when the ground is soft like
this! The tunnel extends only fifteen feet on the other side of the fence and he can see light ahead as they
cross under the fence.
Alex finally pushes up the last slope of the tunnel as a melodious, almost metallic warble sound reaches
his ear. His thoughts carry across to Tom on their Hive Tab, ‘That’s a warning from Buddy.’
‘Yeah, my Hive Tab picked it up. He’s scared, saw something.’
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Suddenly a silent call comes across their Hive Tab conversation, ‘Cheez, you fellows just scared the
baloney out of me.’ Corey calls quietly as he rises from behind the brush cover.
Corey can hear the anger in Alex’s transmission, ‘What the hell are you doing out here Corey? Techs
are supposed to be inside the secure zones.’
‘I’m involved in this. Have been from the day they tangled with me on the other side of the river.’
‘So you are out here by yourself, that’s real smart. Where’d you get the ArmorAll ?’
‘David Pope issued it to me when we were working on the other side. Look, I could see you guys
coming this way. I knew I wouldn’t be alone, I just went ahead through the gates and waited.’
‘So you could see our blips and yet we startled you?’
Corey squinted with one eye to look at Alex with obvious annoyance, ‘Oh cut it out, I didn’t know
about the tunnel and I spotted you first anyhow. I’d of been ok.’
‘All right, well I guess we’re glad to have you. Buddy’s going back through and wiping out our scent.
Hopefully, they’ll think some Hypes ran out through their tunnel and it won’t spook them. Let’s set up in a
semicircle here with the mouth of the tunnel at its center. You go over there Tom. Corey, you take the right
side. I’ll set up here in the center.’
Alex continued as they walked into the brush, ‘Tom laid a Brodsky mine in the tunnel, it’s directional
but should still do the job in the enclosed space. I’ll have it detonate if we start firing. We’ll at least seal up
their immediate escape route and maybe even catch one of them in the tunnel as a bonus.’
Buddy emerged from the tunnel entrance. Similar to a mammal, the Hypes have scent glands located
down at the base of their tail. Corey could see him rapidly squatting and rubbing his tail along scattered
areas of the tunnel. He could barely keep from laughing, ‘Glad you didn’t ask me to do that Alex. I’d have
thrown out my back wiggling like that.’
‘Cheez Corey, that’s an image I didn’t need flitting through my brain. Now cut the chatter and let’s get
set up. You should know the drill by now.’
Corey moved off the path into the brush, he took his steps carefully in these rough areas. The ground
covering is just too thick to move quickly. The air is filled with insects and they buzz around him as he
disturbs them in his passage.
‘It’s times like this that I’m glad to be fully covered, helmet to boots. Hotter than I’d like but better than
getting all bit up. What the …?’ Corey reaches down onto his leg and lifts his pants. ‘Yech, another tick! I
really hate you guys. At least you didn’t get a chance to sink in.’
Suddenly a massive log before him rises into the air. Corey stops in surprise and takes a step to the side.
The long thin log transforms into a body with two glaring eyes that rise to just above the level of his waist.
It screams a high screech like a bearing going bad followed by three loud whelps and then turns to run off
into the brush. As it turns, a long thin tail flicks out knocking Corey back into a scrub palm.
‘Corey, are you ok?’ Tom calls on the net.
‘I will always, I will always wear my hot, sweating, all covering armor out in the brush Tom. Aside
from almost having a heart attack, yes, I’m ok. Just scared up a small dino, but he was more interested in
leaving than trying to have lunch. His tail did give me quite a whack.’
‘Cut the chatter. Pay attention to the job.’ Alex calls.
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‘They can’t hear us on the Hive-Tab Alex.’
‘You lose focus on the job and you could be dead real soon. Now settle or leave.’
* * * * *
Shadows slowly lengthen across the clearing signaling the sun’s approach to the end of its daily trek.
Golden highlights illuminate the distant mountain peaks of the west casting a soft irradiance of gold and red
pastels across the landscape. The alien voice of humans carries faintly across the flattened plain of the
peninsula mixing strangely with the birdlike song normally filling the air at this time each day. Their sharp
commands dulled by the expanse of the open sea behind them and the soft crash of the surf at the foot of the
cliffs below.
A Hunter Recon vehicle hovers silently just over the mainland. Its sensors track enhanced images of the
push across the plateau, broadcasting the images and information across the Hive-Tab net. Bright lights
flicker and flash inside the tight brushwork of the plateau. Sporadic, tight-white beams sear into the
darkened, deep blue sky and then swing down into the brush. Occasional small explosions fill the air like
Chinese firecrackers flung in a long line across the face of the plateau, their flaring brilliance randomly
erupting from any growth pockets too dense for the drivers to pass through.
Small animals flee before the push, flying erratically into the air, their screams and whistles blending
into the cacophony of sounds. Others escape across the field, skipping before the line of humans with the
strange gliding gate characteristic of their species. They cry a tortured warbled song as they flee from the
disturbance, a rhapsody that falls and lifts to octaves beyond the range of human hearing. Some calls mimic
the yells of the drivers, attempting to add confusion and discordance to those disturbing their evening.
Others simply scream defiance or terror.
‘Brian, Bob! Push forward a little harder.’ Seth Sassaman calls across the net from his high vantage
point in the Hunter. ‘See if you can pull in the ends of the line and form a cup. We need to force them into
the main gate area. You’ll need to watch the middle area ahead of you. The center is coming up on that
dense thicket and swampy area. The line is bound to slow down going through there. Don’t break the line!’
Sudden shouts rise from the south end of the plateau. A man is down. Seth quickly reviews the data
gathered by the victim’s Hive Tab, it flew out of the bushes just in front. ‘Shit! He’s hurt!’ Seth calls in the
second line of pushers, ‘Susan, pull ahead and check on Richard. Ed take his place in the front.’
Hive Tab transmissions from the pushers show dark, man-sized figures running ahead of the group.
They swing in toward the center of the plateau.
‘Keep your line in order, drive them don’t chase them! Let the little ones get back through the line.’
Seth calls.
Seth’s wall display bends the photon avalanche gathered from the area where the runners are spotted. It
refracts and extrapolates the real-time wavefronts to provide a magnified, broad-spectrum image of the area.
He spots the movement and keys it into the system. Identification routines gather multiple images of the
runners. A leg here, a portion of the head there with the blurring removed. A fraction of a second and a full
clear video of the beast is rendered clearly before him.
‘False alarm guys! That’s not one of our bad guys. There’s a half dozen of the “Talos” troondon
relatives ahead of you. They are not the two we are looking for but they can be nasty.
Seth returns to the data coming from the injured man and calls an update over to Dan. ‘Great! He’s
back on line. Looks like a scratch across his forehead and the back of his hand where the armor doesn’t
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cover. Should be looked at but I’m not going to pull him off the line for that. All five ambush teams are in
place and ready now. Things should start getting a little more interesting as they bunch up at the fence line.’
‘Watch out on the south side, that’s where we last spotted them. Everyone, pick up the pace!’
Shots fired! A black, ghostly figure that seemed to fade in and out of existence suddenly appeared in
front of the line. It viciously jumps, grabbing the nearest hunter, picking him up and shaking him savagely.
The man screams, a foul curse rising from his lips but the raptor could not reach the head or jaws of his
victim. The helpless man is flung back and forth like a rag doll and then lay quiet. The black ghost runs off
into the dense brush, carrying the dead-weight of the human. Two drivers on the line simply stare at the
brute as he runs by with the security man in its jaws. They are shaken, surprised by the absolute, sudden
savage apparition of the dinosaur.
Seth screams at them. ‘Center of the line, move forward rapidly. Remember there are two of them!’
They push ahead twenty, thirty yards and then they found him. The body lay still on the ground. It had
been flung viciously across a log and bush like a rag doll. Richard, still smarting from his beating calls up to
Seth as he walks by, ‘Hey, I just heard him groan.’
‘Keep in line Rich!’ Seth returned. ‘Let the second line handle it.’
‘He’s alive but unconscious Seth.’ Susan returned. ‘Oh shoot, I think his shoulder is dislocated. Can’t
tell from the scanner.’
‘Don’t touch him. There’s a med team moving in. The ArmorAll should have protected him from most
of the damage but it can’t do anything when you’re shaken like that. He could have neck and head injuries.
Stay and watch him. Guess he was too heavy to carry very far.’
‘I can hear them ahead of us. They’re pushing out toward the south cliff edge again.’
‘Pull up! Pull the ends of the line up! Careful, watch where you step. Don’t let them get around you!’
They pushed on for another five minutes without seeing the dinosaurs. Darkness is fast descending.
‘Bright eyed and bushy tailed now! We’ve got a lot of animals running in front of you guys, be on your
toes. Watch your buddies!’
Firing erupted briefly from the southern-most ambush position. ‘Weapons fire. South end of line!’
‘Amber-1. Sighted target but they knew we were here. Target pulled south.’
‘Target sighted. Gone before we could react.’
‘What do you mean gone Francis?’ Dan called into the line report. ‘Report properly.’
‘They disappeared, sir. We spotted their push through the brush. They took off away from Amber-1’s
position and went over the edge of the cliff.’
‘Look below on the cliff trail Francis. Amber-c1, be aware target may be on cliff trail.’
‘Rodger.’
‘They are gone sir.’ Francis called back. ‘They didn’t land on the cliff trail. They dropped into the
ocean.’
‘You mean they fell into the ocean.’
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‘Well, they sort of glided in sir. They are gone. I last saw them swimming to the mainland by the mouth
of the river.’
‘Seth, can you confirm that report by the sensors.’
‘Aye sir. They lit out and I lost them in the surf by the shore. No sign of their getting out of the water,
maybe the fish got ‘em.’
‘Well now we don’t know if they survived or not. That’s a fine kettle of fish. All right, let’s call in the
pushers and the ambush squads. All but Amber 2 and 3 that is, have them set up for the night on this side of
the fence, bracketing the entrance.’
References
2005
5. Ryan C. McKellar, Brian D. E. Chatterton, Alexander P. Wolfe, Philip J. Currie, “A Diverse
Assemblage of Late Cretaceous Dinosaur and Bird Feathers from Canadian Amber.” Science, Vol.
333 Issue 6049, September 16, 2011.
6. Mark A. Norell , “Fossilized Feathers.” Science, Vol. 333 Issue 6049, September 16, 2011.
7. "Stray Japan parrot talks way home". BBC News. 2008-05-22. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asiapacific/7414846.stm. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
8. Pepperberg, Irene (2002): The Alex Studies: cognitive and communicative abilities of grey parrots.
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts & London. ISBN 0-674-00806-5
Cloudless blue skies and low rainfall appears to have been a strong characteristic of the earth for the
hundred million years of passage through the Cretaceous era. There’s strong evidence that the solar system
traveled between arms of the galaxy. This resulted in very low levels of cosmic radiation. Cosmic radiation
levels are known to have a strong influence on cloud formation and air turbulence. This is part of the reason
for the uniformity in global temperature for the period.
Sixty five or so million years ago the earth enjoyed relatively uniform temperatures even up to the polar
areas. The world had been slowly cooling for the last 100 million years. The Late Cretaceous period is a
time of global warmth with equatorial temperatures similar to the Earth with which we are familiar. Tropical
vegetation extended all the way to 50 degrees north and south of the equator. That would be right up into
lower Canada or southern Germany in today’s world.
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Chapter 7: Conflict
Chapter 7: Conflict
“Courage isn't having the strength to go on it is going on when you don't have strength”
Napoleon Bonaparte
Something is crawling across his neck. It tickles and yet pinches its way across his bare skin. One small
part of his brain considers it an almost blessed distraction, a break from the boredom. What is it? Maybe it’s
nothing but a drop of sweat brought on by the hot air under these bushes.
Wait just a little … no. It’s not sweat, that small pinch gave it away. Small but nonetheless a distraction
that he can’t afford. What actions can he take? He can’t move! Any movement will give away their position
and all their efforts and strain would be for nothing. Perhaps, if it just moves a little more he can crush it
against the back of his helmet before it really sinks its teeth in. Yes, that’s it, move just a little more and a
simple tightening of his neck …
Corey Zavtek waited for the right moment and then flexed his shoulder and head ever so slightly. He
then returned to his silent vigil in the pit. Another part of his mind dwelled for a few seconds on the fact that
he missed not having Buddy here. Alex sent the Hype back to the plateau when they were told to set up the
ambush here, outside of the security fencing. Guess the Hypes don’t do well on the long, boring and
motionless waits that went with an ambush assignment.
Dan called back the other ambush teams that had set up inside the fence two hours ago but his squad
had received no instructions. They heard the noise in the brush ahead of them just before the recall and Tom
spotted one of the black ghosts approach the tunnel entrance. He had sniffed the ground and then taken off
toward the cliffs. He knew the dinos hadn’t spotted Amber-1 over on the other side, something else at the
tunnel entrance spooked them.
They waited silently since then. The cries of the thin, primitive jungle surround them. The air around
them cooled with the slow passing of the sun but Corey sweated in the high humidity of the cooler air. The
ArmorAll shielded and shunted almost all of his body heat through the outlet below his left foot as part of
the enhanced infrared suppression. Sweat from his face, neck and hands rolled down into his shirt. It sure
seemed that brief exposure of his body fluids was enough to attract every single biting insect in the woods to
the salt-filled liquid.
Soft padding on the floor of the jungle alerted him. He slowly, ever so slightly turned his head to the
right. Corey could see nothing.
The low sound of a rustle of grass briefly carried below the night cries of the jungle. It was enough to
quicken his pulse but nothing followed the sound. Something was out there, moving cautiously, slowly
through the dense undergrowth. If it was them, then why had they circled back toward the tunnel? It didn’t
make sense.
It could be a troondon hunting party. No, they didn’t hunt with stealth. Maybe something just bedded
down for the night.
He saw it or rather he saw its faint shadow move as cast in the pale light of the gibbous moon. It stood
over the clearing’s edge for a second, enough time to have the shadow flit across the open entrance of the
tunnel. Any sounds now coming from its stealthy passage are drowned out by the cries of the jungle around
him.
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Chapter 7: Conflict
There, another brief indication. A small change that would have been too subtle for anyone who had not
been bored enough by the long wait to examine every detail of the woods around him. The dead, decaying
log, about thirty feet away, swarmed with luminescent beetles feeding on the soft pulp. He had watched
using the naturally highly sensitive indirect sensors at the edge of his eyes. Staring strangely at a point to the
side, his brain focused on the bugs for a long time, mesmerized by their winding dance across and into its
surface. It had been a challenge, almost hypnotic in nature.
That image is now partly blocked, obscured as … Wait, it just moved, no more than a twitch. Nothing
registered on the enhancers of his helmet but his eyes could see it.
‘Alex, I can see a piece of one of the target’s legs.’ Corey hadn’t moved a muscle and his call went
silently out across the team’s Hive-Tab net. ‘Request permission to fire.’
‘Take the shot …’ Alex began.
The image disappeared from his view before Alex could finish. A quiet rustle in the brush behind Alex
is followed by the brief, quickly fading sound of soft padding.
‘Shit, they moved out. Quick, let’s head out, I want to track them down.’
‘How the hell are you going to track them. I couldn’t even see them.’ Tom called over silently as he
emerged onto the trail.
‘Here, I’ve got tracks over here where Corey spotted them. Move easy, we don’t want to spook them.
They’ve gotta settle down sometime and for now they think they are safe.’
‘Keep moving Alex, right behind you.’ Corey called over.
‘I’ve got tail-end-charlie.’ Tom called
The ambush turned from hours of waiting in silence to hot tracking. They know the black ghosts are
ahead of them but they don’t know exactly where. They couldn’t see them but they could follow. A piece of
moss pushed out of place, visible only in the enhanced images of their helmet. A folded leaf or shallow print
in the dry dust. The trail subtly covered with the faint but unmistakable skunk-like, ammonia-tinged odor
calling to their senses.
They pushed across the forest, suddenly dense bushes formed indicating the edges of a clearing. Fear of
walking into a sudden trap sat in the back of their minds as they pushed ahead on the track. The three
hunters moved silently in the slow chase. Emerging into the dimly moon-lit grassland felt like they had
crossed into a star-studded ballroom. Even the brilliance of the nearly full-moon did little to diminish the
broad grandeur of the star studded firmament of this timeframe.
All around them the sun-fern and primitive grass lay in clumps raised on knee high mounds of growth.
They had to move their legs around each solid clump of grass as they crossed the chest-high field of sharp
palmetto and primitive grass. Alex began to worry, the ground on the bottom of the clumps was getting
moist and they would have a hard time moving quietly if the trail didn’t soon turn dryer.
The sounds around them changed subtly from those of the forest into the low buzzing and calling of
thousands of insects. It is a sound oddly familiar to the hunters, a voice of the evening heard unchanged
even in their home timeframe. Suddenly the background aural curtain is pushed aside by the deep threshing
flow of air from some huge leather bellows.
‘Oh shit, watch your step these crazy bastards are moving right through the triceratops herd.’ Alex
silently called on the net. They moved ahead, the air around them sounding like the deep pull of massive
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Chapter 7: Conflict
leather bellows. Sky-obscuring dark mounds of flesh rise up around them. Their dim, creased bodies
flickering strangely shaped feathers as they slumbered unaware of the humans passing. Three members of
the herd are awake and vigilant up ahead, slowly munching on grass and regularly lifting their heads to
monitor the pampas surrounding the herd for threats.
The black ghosts had selected an entry to the herd’s slumber area midway between the sentinels. The
sentinels would have ignored such small creatures passing through their midst anyway. The humans moved
with the careful, slow pace of their quarry. The humans are more intent on following than catching the black
ghosts at this point.
A sudden movement off to their left and a mountain of flesh rose not more than fifteen feet away from
them. It snuffled and stood to shake its body. A head with a massive beak swung around toward the humans
and began chomping at the thinly feathered skin around its rib cage with a hard-beaked nose. Then satisfied,
it stomped noisily on the earth as it swung in a circle and fell to the ground.
The humans, frozen in their, positions waited silently. Three and then eight eternal minutes passed
before they could hear the slow and peaceful rush of air coursing through the lungs of the once again
slumbering creature. Alex moved forward, followed silently by the rest of the party.
Alex could hear movement in the grass before him. They are strange, sporadic movements unlike the
careful padding of their quarry. He lifted his right foot to place it down along the edge of a grassy clump and
the mount erupts. Wing-like appendages fly out, the creature screams as it runs off across the grassland.
Screaming staccato calls mixed with meat-grinder like growls fill the air as it zigs and then zags across the
field to just as abruptly settle again in silence several hundred feet away.
Alex’s heart pounds, should they run? His body says run but his mind holds it immobile. Slowly the
night sounds return. The commotion hadn’t disturbed the sentries much less the sleeping mountains of flesh
all around them.
Corey can’t see his feet as he walks in the waist high grass. Step-by-step he first lifts his foot and then
carefully carries it forward. Trying to silently follow in Alex’s exact footsteps, he moves his foot forward
feeling for the edges of the next high clump of grass. What lives in the dark, damp areas below these grassy
clumps? Thoughts of spiders and strange snakes with even stranger legs lay in the back of his mind. Are any
of them poisonous? How big can they be? What happens if we trip over one of them?
Faint webs along the sides of their path catch the moonlight to glisten and sparkle in imitation of the
starry fields above them. His mind knows they are spider webs catching the heavy dew of the evening. Alex,
stalking silently ahead of him, must be pushing through them constantly.
Alex suddenly stops and motions them forward.
‘It’s a stream, watch it, it comes up on you fast.’ Corey could not even see the water until he stood on
its edge. The rift in the grass before them is only five feet wide. The dark waters rapidly pass carrying bits
of grass, sticks and white foam that seems to glow in the moonlight. The speed of the debris passing before
them and the silence of their passage suggest that the calm water channel is deep.
‘I can’t see any tracks or trail on the other side. They must have turned down stream since the water
isn’t muddy, oh there, look. You can see prints in the soft bottom. Here, give me some support.’ Alex steps
down into the stream. The water rises up above his knees and then his foot sinks another six inches into the
soft loam lying on the bed of the stream. ‘Oh shit, I hope they aren’t still in the stream. They’ll see the mud
we stir up for sure. Well, can’t be helped. Come on.’
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Corey rests his hand on Alex’s shoulder and steps down into the dark swirling waters. The mud pulls
against his boot and the frigid groundwater chills his legs. Oddly enough, the thing that bothers him the
most is he can no longer see the field, their heads are so low they are now below the tufts of the grass and
palm scrub around them.
Alex begins to move downstream slowly as Corey provides support for Tom as he climbs down into the
waters. He finds it hard moving his feet. The mud pulls at each step and there are clumps of grass in the
mud. The sweet herbal smell of the field now mixes with a rotting fragrance rising from the disturbed mud
below. They move in a tunnel of water and grass with only the stars above them; blind to anything in the
surrounding fields. The stream twists sharply as it meanders across the open grassland. Slippery, moss
covered rocks cover a portion of the stream here making it difficult to cross without falling. Unconsciously,
Corey’s hand reaches out to grab an overhanging branch but he stops before touching it. That would be a
sure giveaway.
Something heavy plops into the water just under the branch. His mind wonders if they have snapping
turtles in the Cretaceous or maybe it’s even something worse!
Alex moves to the edge of the stream and motions them over. ‘They went out here. See the edge of the
bank?’
‘No, I don’t think so!’ Tom has walked downstream a bit and calls over the net. ‘Look over here,
there’s another path on the shoulder of the stream and this big rock is on edge. No, they went out and then
returned.’
‘A ruse? Well, we knew they are smart. Come on, good spotting.’
They follow the stream, slipping on the rocks and trying to move quietly. It’s difficult tracking passage
in a waterway. Bottom debris and mud from your passage will hide any of the subtle tracks below the
surface. Waters rush by their legs making what sounds like an ungodly amount of noise as it trickles by.
Bend after bend they pass and then Alex stops and stares into the waters for a few moments. Corey and Tom
freeze in place as he walks back and forth and then stops to slowly shuffle over toward a bend in the
streambed with a large rotting palm log lying across it.
The log stretches from the dark waters into the pale moonlight of the bank. Grass and branches form
around it, trapping piles of moonlit white foam that swirls along the face of the log, passing from tiny
whirlpool to whirlpool. The other end of the log rests on top of a small prominence of the dry land. Alex
extends his hand and freezes at the sound of a large body pushing through the brush above him.
As they stand silently in the rushing waters, a dark form emerges through the thick brush at the stream’s
edge, towering above their heads. Its foot on the bank not more than three feet away from Alex’s head. A
loud snort fills the air around them and the shadowed mass crashes down into the water beside Alex. A
beaked mouth opens and a thick red tongue lashes in and out for a minute and then pulls back. Three horns
swing around narrowly missing the man as it lowers its head again into the stream for a second sip of the
cooling water. Then water splashes across the stream and the head is gone. A rustle of weeds up on the
shore marks the dinosaurs retreat back into the brush.
Corey moved over to Alex. The man is standing there unmoving even though the threat is gone.
‘Cheeze Corey, I thought for sure he was going to cross the stream right over me. Let me tell you, I
don’t think all that brown stuff floating downstream is mud! Hang on for a second, I gotta get my mind set
again. Gotta focus on the mission.’
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Chapter 7: Conflict
Corey looks back, Tom is standing in the center of the stream. His hand is over his mouth and he’s
shaking convulsively. Corey calls over the net, ‘You ok?’
Tom looks up at Corey and waves, ‘Yeah fine, oh shit! Trying not to laugh out loud. Aw, that hurts!’
Alex stands upright, pulling on the grassy edge and trying to look over the tops of the grass. ‘I think
he’s gone.’ Then without turning his head, ‘You remember this Tom, payback is coming.’
Corey’s startled by Alex’s low words but then he can see the smile on his face. ‘Ok, not a problem.’
Alex calls them in with a hand motion toward the log. The stream flows under and behind the log,
sinking down under a dark overhang in the bank before curving out back into the streambed. ‘I lost their
trail and was trying to pick it back up when our big friend decided to take a drink. When I ducked down to
hide, I saw these tracks. They went back in there.’
Corey looked closely. The waters washed around the log and under the embankment, swirling in a
backwash that he could just see in the low light. Most of the stream continued on its path but a small
tributary leads out under the bank. The faint sound of water falling against rocks comes from inside the dark
hole.
‘It’s black in there. How are we gonna follow them without lights?’
‘We’ll have to use the helmet amplifiers but I think we’ll chance the infrared. Your helmet
enhancements will let us see inside even with no external lighting but we don’t know what we are walking
into. We’ve still got two problems then. First of all, we know they can see infrared. The only question is, if
we tune the lamps into the deep infrared, will they still see it? I’m guessing not. Second, look at the Hive
Tab net metrics. We’re already losing the signal out here. We go in there and we’re back to hand signals and
the short range communicators.’
‘You don’t wanna quit do you?’ Tom asked.
‘No, just want to let you guys know the situation. Let’s go.’
Corey moves to the log and positions his rifle over it, scanning into the narrow watery entrance to the
tunnel.
Alex places a small cover over the tip of his rifle and bends low into the water to crawl under the log.
He shuffles into the deep, watery hole cut out of the bank by the swirling creek. Moving in a low frog-crawl
through the waters, they rise up to his chin, his helmet just clearing the log above. Now on the other side,
Alex stands and faces in to cover the tunnel, ‘Ok Corey, you’re next. Watch as you pass under the log.
There’s a couple of sticks in there, you don’t want to get tangled in them with this swift current.’
Corey stoops and slides into the water hole, slowly the cold waters rising over his chest restrict his
muscles and take his breath away. It’s very dark as he pushes under with one hand feeling in front of him.
He pushes at the dirty clumps of foam in the water before his face when something snags on his shirt. He
feels his alarm rising, but then recalls Alex’s words; it’s nothing but a stick. He pushes ahead a few feet and
the muddy bottom changes into fine gravel softly crunching beneath he boots. Teeth chattering, he stands
slowly and removes the cover from his rifle bore.
Corey looks around him and notices a hand signal from Alex. In response, he slides over to the edge of
the tree, watching back downstream as Tom dips under the waters.
Tom emerges and Corey can see him give a sly wink to Alex. Alex then motions them forward into the
hard darkness embracing them. As the fast moving current pushes into the undercut stream bank, they have
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just enough room to stoop. A portion of the waters ahead travel under the bank, cutting a clear hole large
enough for them to squeeze through if they crawl on hands and knees. Corey’s boots and hand sinks into the
soft gravel, straining as he pushes into the hole and trying to hold the tip of his rifle up. A few feet and the
passage opens so that he can frog-walk through an entrance that is covered in a wet, slippery clay.
Onward they push deeper into the down slope of the small underground stream. His boots slip in the
wet clay as he tries to brace himself on the fine sandy loam of the walls. Roots tangle from the walls and
roof of the cavern. Deeper in, some very strange roots curl through the roof with knurled bulbs of softer
tissue forming along their length. The root systems stop as they continue downward following the soft
trickle of the stream. The trickle is soon replaced by the louder sound of rushing of water over stones. The
tunnel continues down at an uncomfortable slope and then slowly opens. The three men crawl ahead,
slipping occasionally on the loose stones, still not able to stand easily. Leg muscles cramp in their effort to
push down deeper into the earth without slipping or making noise.
They find that they can finally stand at the bottom even if it’s only a stooped position. They travel
several hundred feet through the narrow tunnel when it suddenly begins to open into a wider room with a
high ceiling. Alex motions, ‘Split up and examine the walls for exits. Keep alert, they may be in here!’
They split up to cover the walls. The small cavern is about fifteen feet wide and forty feet long. Alex
indicates that he can’t see the ceiling but some loose stones at the tunnel entrance have been pushed to the
side by the recent tread of a foot. The wet clay at the stream entrance behind them poured out in a fan across
the floor of the room with the only exit being the one taken by the narrow water at the other end. Soft
sandstone has replaced the clay in the walls. The small streambed covers only a portion of the cavern floor
as it winds down deeper into the darkness.
The going is easy for a few hundred feet and then the ceiling drops. They are crawling on their hands
and knees again, following the stream that grows larger and faster as they go. Deeper they plunge into the
darkness, barely able to see the sides of the walls in their electronically enhanced vision. Then they hear the
sound of fast moving water. The sound grows stronger and the cave opens into a thin, tall chamber sloped
and formed between a massive rounded boulder and the soft sandstone walls of the cavern.
The team continues to push ahead, bending to swing around and beneath the boulder. They are barely
able to squeeze between the massive rock and the wall. More and more boulders appear around them with
the stream flowing tortuously beneath the field of stacked rocks. Alex motions, ‘Pull back! We have to
detour slightly and then try to swing back.’ The stream noisily pushes ahead through a route much too small
to follow.
‘There’s even more groundwater joining the stream in here. The flow wasn’t this strong back there. Ok,
we’re still on track, there’s a footprint in the soft sand and, look here, someone brushed against the wall.’
Alex whispers as they take a short break.
‘That’s going to be quite a challenge going back up.’ Tom comments.
‘Yeah, maybe we’ll get lucky and find another way out. I can’t figure out what’s going on here. These
boulders are all pushed and piled as though some glacier rounded and stacked them. I thought the ice ages
have yet to come around here.’
Corey commented, ‘Not quite true. Except for our last several million years, most of the earth’s
timeline has been warm with very few glaciations. However, it did have a rather short lived ice age at the
end of the Jurassic period and a few other times I recall but that would be about a hundred million years ago.
These may be part of an ancient glacial moraine.’
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‘Ok, but right now we gotta keep pushing. I hope these things are all settled in place. I’d hate to think of
what would happen to us if they shifted.’ Alex raises his rifle and twists slightly to swing around the
boulder. It’s difficult to see anything more than a few feet ahead. The boulders are stacked around them as
though they were at the bottom of a box of huge marbles. At he passed around one of the boulders Corey
thought he could see a few stars peaking through between the rocks perched high above his head. Boulder to
boulder they crawl, pushing forward but always trying to follow the stream.
They slide around one last boulder and Alex quickly turns his hand into an upturned fist. Corey and
Tom freeze in mid-step at the sudden signal. Up ahead, through a narrow slit between two massive boulders
Alex can now clearly see the stars in the sky above. From here within the darkness of the cave, the
brightness of the night sky almost hurts his night sensitive eyes. The stream flows out from between their
feet to wind around one last massive rock ahead of them and onto a flat rock surface. Lit by the moon, the
waters form a bright silvery ribbon flowing across the stone and then disappear into velvet black
nothingness beyond.
Alex stands frozen in his crouched position, feet spread broadly straddling the narrow stream. He listens
for a few minutes. No sounds are there except for the trickle of water over the stones. Nothing moves
outside on the rock except the flowing white ribbon of water cascading across the stones.
He signals for them to stay in place and moves forward on muscles once again beginning to cramp.
Every sorely strained muscle in Alex’s body begins crying out for movement and release as he crawls
slowly forward. Approaching the edge of the opening will be difficult. Hundreds of very large boulders are
stacked into this pile forming the “cave”. There is no single clear opening, just a long narrow tunnel formed
by two twenty foot or so wide boulders. The cleavage before him forms a narrow but tall and tilted path
with no cover leading out into the open.
Alex slides down as quietly as he can to lay on the edge of the stream. He then begins to pull himself
under the rounded slope at the base of the boulder, slowing approaching the opening. He stops after each
forward movement to listen and watch ahead. Pushing forward, avoiding even the smallest disturbance in
the stream that would send a wash of mud and stones outside alerting the black ghosts. That is, if they are
still there.
Slowly he moves out, consciously displacing small sticks, webs and insects before him until he can see
down across the rock escarpment. It appears to be a flat rock surface running along the foot of a sheer cliff
of fallen boulders. No. Further up he can see solid rock cliffs. The stream behind them must travel down a
narrow crevasse that, in past times, was filled in with these massive boulders.
Looking in the other direction is a bit more surprising. The rock surface is strewn with bones and
decaying carcasses. Beyond the narrow rock shelf before him is a valley full with trees, many of them
deciduous or leaf-bearing. It’s difficult to tell in the moonlight but they seem to be at least a dozen feet
higher than the nearest tall trees.
They are here! One is actually sitting on the rock and picking at a bloodied carcass before him. The
other is standing with his back to the stream. They are about forty feet away, too close for comfort.
Alex pushes back slowly into the rock cavern. His helmet transmitted the scene to the others. Corey
begins crawling ahead but Tom stops him, shaking his head “no!”. Tom grabs his blouse, pulling Corey
back into the slightly wider tunnel section, and silently crawls around Corey. Corey watches as Tom moves
to the other side of the stream and begins a slow, silent pull out onto the rock shelf.
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Tom edges out onto the opposite side of the stream from Alex and looks around, slowly raising his rifle.
Alex raises his hand and motions with his fingers, one, two …
One black ghost suddenly lifts its head and calls an alarm. With amazing agility they climb up the
boulders over them before Alex and Tom can exit their narrow tunnel. Tom and Alex move out to the
smooth rock ledge, searching up the cliff for the dinosaurs. Suddenly, one appears above them and jumps
down at Tom. Tom swings to the side just as Corey exits the tunnel. The dinosaur lands on Tom only to be
blindsided by Corey. They sprawl off and the black ghost is up and running down along the ledge and
around the corner shielded by the cliff.
‘Where’s the other one?’ Tom’s call echo’s through the darkness. Alex replies over the helmet
communicator, ‘He’s gone. I don’t see him anywhere.’
Alex sets off across the ledge and around the rock face in pursuit and suddenly stops. Corey and Tom
are right behind him and almost collide into his back. Two massive eyes, large as saucer plates and glowing
yellow in the moonlight seem to float before them in the darkened sky. Then the head suddenly takes shape
and swings away from the black dinosaur standing silently before it. The small black raptor immediately
sprints off and up the cliffside trail.
The massive head snaps forward without warning. Eight-inch long teeth silently flash from an open
mouth as the jaws twist awkwardly to grasp an object on the high trail but snap only the empty air. Alex’s
trained reflexes instantly reacted and he drops to the ground, rolling inward toward the cliff face. The snap
was aimed at Alex giving Tom a chance to use the lighter gravity of this world to sprint up the sloped face
of the cliff a few feet. Corey pulled back to the open rock shelf.
Tom sets his footing and the rifle snaps up to his shoulder as he twists back, a sharp edge of the rock
digging into his knee. The crack of a hypervelocity slug fills their ears and the massive six-foot long head
violently snaps around. Tom fires a second shot as the animal drops below the ledge.
Alex backpedals on all fours a few feet and then runs back to the open rock shelf. He immediately
drops, turns and crawls over bringing his rifle up to look back over the rocky edge.
Tom moved his hand over to the slug control on the rifle. It was still set at a small slug level of “three”.
A few choice words that would have embarrassed his mother pass through his mind as he dials the control
up to a massive “eight” setting. Then he waits.
Corey has been going over the leavings on the narrow rock ledge. ‘These all seem to be dinosaurs and
other small animals that I can’t identify in the low light. Thank God I haven’t found anything that might
look human.’
Alex stood up by the edge of the shelf, ‘I think we’re ok here. The valley floor comes up a little closer
to the trail around the corner where we met those big teeth. ‘There’s no way he could hope to reach us from
down there. I don’t see him or any others below us. Tom must have scared him off.’
Tom shuffled down the cliff and dropped to the ground next to Corey. He immediately looked back up
the hillside, ‘I don’t know what happened to the second dino, he scooted up the cliff face and disappeared.
What, by the way, makes you think I missed him?’
‘Well I don’t see him back there.’ Alex returned.
Tom walked back over to the narrow path, ‘Look at this. Blood. He’s not here but I knew I hit him. I
could see the slug impact right in the upper jaw. It swung him back.’
‘Well, where is he?’
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‘Aw, I only had the rifle set on a “3”. We weren’t after brontosaurus you know! Those black guys are
small like a human.’
‘Great, so now we have a T-Rex or something else running around with a wounded jaw.’
‘Don’t know if that was a T-Rex, Alex.’ Corey returned. ‘Could have been any one of a number of
cranky tooth-filled dinos that we’ve seen. So what do we do now? Do we go after that thing you wounded or
head back.’
‘Focus guys! We are here to hunt two killer so-called black ghosts. We don’t deviate from this.’ Alex
cut in. ‘We stay on their trail until we get them or lose them. Let’s spread out over this cliff face and see if
we can find them.’
‘Where the heck are we anyway?’ Corey asked. ‘We were headed south on that stream. You don’t think
this is the river valley do you?’
‘Yep. We’re right on the cliff-face overlooking the valley. Here’s the link to our Global Positioning
System. At least we can use that again.’ Tom answered.
Alex stood and brushed some of the small pebbles and sand from his blouse and then off of his pants.
‘All right let’s get a move on and pick up their trail again. I hope they decide to head back to the top of the
plateau. I’ve been down that river valley on the boat a couple of times now and I don’t look forward to
having to cross it on foot. The place is packed with life down there and all of it wants to eat you.’
‘No matter which way we go, as soon as we find their trail I’ll call back to the Station and we’ll bring
out some blocking squads and drive these guys into an ambush. In the mean time, keep on your toes. These
guys are slimy crafty and we don’t know where they’ll try and hit us. They seem to like to use the local
threats also, like walking through the middle of the triceratops herd. Who knows what they might lead us
into.’
‘I’ll head up the cliff face on that little trail the first ghost took. You and Corey move out on the trail
where you shot that big toothy guy. Watch out, he’s bound to be really pissed if you did hit him.’
As Corey stands, he bends down to check his leg fitting and notices a strange glow on the rocks at his
feet and looks up. A velvet black sheet fills the sky above, studded and virtually twinkling with multicolored
pinpoints of flickering fire. The massive, bright moon is near setting in the west allowing the radiance of the
heavens to shine above them with even greater billiance. A path of radiant sparkling fury cuts across the
center of the brilliance marking the bright ecliptic of the galaxy and the densely packed Sagittarius arm that
the earth is entering.
He turns his head to see the source of the warm glow at his feet. The black brilliance from above fades
a bit in the east. Carried across the unusually clear morning air, the first dim warm pastels of a coming new
day backlight a thin line on the edge of the dark horizon.
‘Stop daydreaming Corey,’ Tom calls as he starts down the path. ‘You’re wasting time!’
Tom set a brisk pace on the narrow trail with Corey close behind. The trail weaves in and out following
the cliff edge. Occasional cuts in the hillside carry small streams of water from springs above them falling
down to the valley floor. The footing is hard on the loose stone path making it impossible to pass quietly.
‘Watch it!’ Tom motioned back to Corey. ‘The valley floor is rising again.’
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Thoughts of the thirty-foot high raptor that they fired upon went through his mind. Now, as the trail
tracks down closer to the raptor-filled floor of the valley, every shadow thrown by the slowly rising sun
seems to hold a dark monster ready to reach up for a breakfast snack.
Tom’s arm suddenly goes up into a fist and Corey instinctively crouches down into a firing position.
Yes, he can hear it now. Something is on the trail ahead, a trail that bends out of sight and into a darkened
slit in the hillside.
Tom rises slowly and motions Corey to follow. Corey’s ears strain ahead but his eyes continue to scan
the dark tree-covered valley just at their feet. His thoughts briefly turn back toward the weird snakes they
had seen on other expeditions out of the Station. A shiver crawls up his spine as he recalls the snakes with
small, almost useless legs that liked to hunt so silently through the dense tree canopy. Some large enough to
sun themselves by stretching from tree to tree as they wait for a careless dinosaur to pass by.
His ears perk up again as he hears a sliding sound. Something is coming this way, he can hear it
pushing against the sandy walls of the cliff. Tom calls him forward with a small hand signal. Every step on
the trail crunching and grinding like a man walking over a path strewn with the white-dry bones of the dead.
Tom moves ahead in a crouch and then Corey watches as he stands erect, all tension gone from his body.
The darkness ahead resolves, yielding to a sky-lit visage emerging from the dark crevasse. Corey’s
mind suddenly recognizes a smile on a face both familiar and welcome. ‘Fancy meeting you two guys here.’
Alex whispers.
Alex slides down to a crouch and motions them in closer, ‘The dino I was tracking moved up the cliff
face and across a trail just a little higher up the side. He then came down this dry cut and, look right over
here, he met up with his other black buddy. We’re back on track. I don’t know how much longer they’re
going to keep this up though. They must know we’re still following them. I’m not underestimating them
after all this. We need to watch out for a possible ambush so maintain your spacing and keep alert. Tom,
you take tail-end-charlie again.’
They follow the trail trying to watch ahead but all the while listening to the dense palm and high fern
forest at their feet as it slowly wakens. As it has for a billion years, life awakens with the coming of the new
day.
Golden rays of sunlight suddenly sprint across the night-shadowed valley like the sudden thrusts of a
thousand tiny searchlights. Shadows, projecting the distorted profile of the tree-covered cliffs far to the east,
run across the tops of the palm forest stretching below the hurried movement of the three lone figures. Three
humans pushing along a narrow trail across an ancient cliff face. Below them, the jungle wakens with the
song of the early morning.
Night hunters flee the brilliant orb’s arrival to seek repose and the peace of slumber. Day-life wakens to
the new challenges of daily survival. Thousands of birds and many more small bird-like dinosaurs flit low
across the tree canopy and sing to the first high rays of the morning. They jump from limb to limb, their
cries echoing across the valley to bounce off the cliff walls stretching far on either side of the long stream of
water at its center. Soon the dawn even reaches those earth bound denizens of the valley floor and they
waken with a greeting to the arrival of another day of sweet life.
The chaotic melodies of the morning bird song so familiar to human ears are here. They fill the air with
their sweet short melodies and staccato calls. There is another strange element here in the song of the
sunrise that is alien to the world of the three humans. It is a strange, choral song shared by thousands of
voices. The melody of whistles intermingled with wistful long strains of song rises and falls across the
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narrow stinted octaves of the human ears to extend to regions felt but unheard by the three hunters.
Thousands of unique melodies ascend and combine to emerge in a unified cantata. The flowing complexity
and clarity of the strains inundate the hurried travelers from the future, enveloping them in the choral
majesty of life from ancient races doomed to extinction.
‘Cheez, how is a guy supposed to listen for threats with that racket going on?’ Corey Zavtek thought to
himself as he jogged along the narrow cliff trail. The trail is not much wider than a foot or so. Two people
would have a difficult time passing on the thin passage. His boot covered feet push ahead on this soft
packed trail of dirt and loose rock that narrows down in many a place to less than a foot wide. One slip on a
weakened siding and he would be visiting those deadly singers thirty feet below. The sharp rock face below
them gradually transforms into a softer sandstone above the trail with a slope almost low enough for them to
climb had they been foolish enough to trust the soft stone face.
Alex, Tom and Corey had been traveling this path for less than half an hour. They found no sign of the
dino that Tom wounded earlier. The forest below gradually opens into a low-brush covered swampy field
with a shallow open stream running through the center of it. Small four legged sauropods stand in the soft
morning light munching on the low shoots of young grass so recently evolved on this young world. Their
long necks covered with a soft white down that diffuses up to a black-tufted head than somehow manages to
sing a low tune as they chew. Others raise their heads high in the air to stand on their hind legs and reach the
tender high branches of some of the new species of deciduous trees growing near the edges of the swamp,
preferring the soft green growth to that of the coarse ancient conifers and gingkoes.
Corey’s beginning to breathe a little heavily from the constant jog along a hard path. The treacherous
trail has risen and fallen along the way but he notices that they are slowly moving closer and closer to the
valley floor. Corey’s thoughts drift to his surroundings as he tries to push the needs of his body to the back
of his mind. Old training returns and he moves to refocus on his surroundings to maintain vigilance and a
series of observations to keep his mind sharp. A portion of his conscious mind opens the running log in his
Hive Tab, now running in local mode, to allow it to record the images and sounds around him. ‘It’s a
peaceful, almost idyllic scene. These massive creatures move with a strange but graceful elegance. Ah, look
by the far edge where the stream meets the forest. There are other small dinos that look like miniature
raptors running among the herd. Are they stealing eggs?’
Three of the small, two legged raptors jump upon the low tail of the massive sauropod and ran up
through the thin covering of feathers on its back. Another one even begins climbing up its neck. ‘That big
boy didn’t even flinch. Look at that, it actually lowered its head so the little one could run up the long neck.
Hell, I’ve seen this before. They’re delousing the thing. Digging down through the feathers to remove ticks,
fleas and other vermin that cover its body. Sara, you are going to love these images when I can get back and
dump then into the Hive Tab net.’
The trail leaves the face of the cliff near the edge of the open swamp area. Alex motions for them to
take a short break. ‘The ground is solid here,’ Alex comments silently across their communicators. ‘… but I
can still see we’re on their trail. This is where it’s gonna get really sticky so I want you to be right up on
your toes and alert. Remember, you can be standing here with a T-rex, big as a house, right next to you and
you won’t see him if you aren’t fully vigilant. You saw the photos, they are ambush hunters.’
‘You all saw the images of when we hunted out here for food. We only concentrated on the herds of
duck-bills and the T-Rex who hunted them during those trips. We didn’t have to worry about all these little
ones when we were relatively safe on the river. Keep in mind that most of these predators, even the little
ones, hunt in packs and it doesn’t have to be a T-Rex to kill you. Ok, let’s move out.’
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Alex takes the lead moving through the rough, low brush and massive ferns. The jungle off either side
of the trail is thick. Ahead the trail turns over a low ridge and swings back toward the open swamp. For as
thick as the foliage is here in the jungle, the edges of the swamp’s open expanse are even denser with every
plant straining to capture the light. The humans can barely see the light from the early morning sun as it
struggles to glisten through the dense ferns at the edge of the swamp.
A cry of alarm rings through their skulls! An almost human wail of despair fills the air and then trails
off into a series of hard clicks and a low penetrating growl. Alex freezes in reaction, his rifle at the ready.
The scream is so loud it seems to come from all around them.
A massive head with a mane of threat-lifted black feathers swoops down through the tops of the trees
and halts a mere fifteen feet away to stare at Alex. Two baleful blue eyes as large as his upper body stare
directly at the frozen figure of the human. The head moves to the side almost like a snake, swinging through
the thin branches above Alex, focusing directly on his frozen figure.
Alex attempts to control his breathing, stay motionless, unsure of his next action, ‘ArmorAll or not,
that thing could stomp me and not even feel it. Cheez, so much for David’s “they only see movement …”.
That thing knows exactly where I am, he apparently doesn’t know what I am. He just doesn’t know if I’m a
threat, lunch or something to ignore. He probably …”
Alex’s helmet suddenly shuts down its auditory sensors to avoid physical damage to his ears. The top of
the nose on the massive head just above him is vibrating wildly. A bone shaking growl travels through the
frame of his body, ringing like a rust covered chain pulled across the edge of a plate. Then, in spite of his
helmets protection, his ears are almost deafened with a sound like massive fingernails scraping across a
blackboard.
The quick onslaught of sound is followed a series of short whoops and strong clicks that almost knock
him from his feet. Then the head lifts and swings back up into the air. The tiny creature is forgotten as the
massive beast opens its mouth to take in a branch of green leaves.
All three humans stand frozen. Time passes, their thoughts stunned in reaction for a few seconds. Then
Corey stands and moved forward behind Alex and places a hand on his shoulder, ‘Guess we passed the test.
We aren’t a threat, we aren’t even worthy of his notice anymore. Say, are you ok? That thing blasted out its
call right next to your head.’
‘Shit, I don’t know. Even with the helmet dampers, my ears are ringing. Not only that my body feels
like I was hit by a prize fighter. You’re right though, let’s pull back, I gotta sit for a spell.’
The humans turn and carefully pull back into the surrounding jungle. They pull off the trail and Alex
settles down on an old log while Corey and Tom stand watch.
A few moments and Tom drops back to move over to Alex. ‘You know, we didn’t even see him.
Suppose that had been something really bad like a Utahraptor or …’
Alex turned on him, ‘Then we would have been dead. Ok? I know where we are but if those guys can
travel through here then we can too. We just have to start moving like they do.’
‘Ok, so you want to start moving in stealth relay. It’s gonna be a lot slower going.’
‘Well, we’re learning from them. What’s that famous quote? “Know your enemy and keep them
close.”’
* * * * *
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Mark Nolen looked into her eyes and a portion of his mind wondered how a face could be so serious
and yet give you the feeling that she was smiling at you. Analytical by its very nature, a portion of his mind
assigned the answer to the small movements of her head and the animation of her rendition. An interesting
set of observations he would have to revisit in the future. Now, however, they needed to address the
worsening situation at hand.
‘It hasn’t been a problem so far and Captain Dillard has been very supportive. We’ve had several
attempts by Mrs. Taylor to send messages back to headquarters but there seems to be nothing in them other
than personal messages.’ Molly Pasteur turned to walk over to the wall of the observation lounge as she
shifted through the message file presented by her Hive-Tab. Blue eyes turned to the side with the lightest
flick of her head to focus once again on Mark.
‘Ms. Esque has sent one missive so far and I have no idea what it contains since she has it encrypted in
her personal code. I could break through it but I won’t do that without a direct order from you. In the mean
time I’ve explained to both of them that the direct communications lines don’t work across the portal and we
will hold all of their transmissions until the next packet probe is sent back.’
‘Thank you Molly and remember under no conditions is anything to go out without my personal
approval and security authorization. As a matter of fact, if we get to that point I’d like to personally review
everything before we send it off. Ok, how are things going on board the Essex? The message sent back with
Seth has me a bit concerned, can you get a feel for the position of the crew and how much do they know?’
‘Most of the employees below management levels don’t know what’s going on. They are disappointed
that we have held off the dirtside leaves and that by itself is raising some questions. As you instructed, I’ve
told them the truth about the problems down there and that seems to have satisfied them. Situation updates,
no matter how bad the news, are important. Managers all seem to be behind us. I believe that if trouble
comes from the board then its going to come from outside the direct employees. That means they have
supporters back uptime and we can’t know just how extensive their base is.’
‘Ok, good work Molly. You didn’t mention her so I assume Fran is doing well and adapting to her
strange new world?’
‘Yeah, she’s pretty adaptable when it involves meeting new people and ideas but we’re going to have a
problem when she gets back. We need to very seriously think about how we are going to deal with it later
on. The crew’s been spending a lot of time with her and the topic of the coming extinction arose. It took her
a while to grasp the concept and the consequences for her breed. She still doesn’t fully understand that the
extinction is a thousand years in the future so I need to sit down with her and talk it out. I guess we should
do that before she returns to tell the others.’
Mark stared off into the starry abyss for a moment looking across the blue-green globe of the earth
floating there with hardly a cloud in the sky. ‘I guess that’s the least of our problems for now. If we manage
to succeed and establish a full starport then we may be able to prevent their extinction. Our relations with
the Hypes have been growing quite close. I believe we might even end up colonizing other worlds with their
help. They have a much closer affinity for working within the constraints of their environment. This is a
natural talent that we are weak in and a close partnership could improve our chances of success in the new
colonies.’
He hesitated a few moments and then decided to bring it out, ‘Then again, it’s also possible that their
race could travel back uptime to our timeframe. So it would not be extinction for them but rather a simple
period of absence.’
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Molly turned and released a broadside smile over toward Mark that almost broke his concentration, ‘Of
course, this brings to mind other factors. We’ve only been here a little less than half a year. Our interactions
have been mostly with the troondons and the Hypsilophodont and both have brought big surprises. Every
one of these species has been evolving for a much longer period than ours. Granted, they haven’t been
challenged by the environmental upheavals that our ancestors have had to contend with. Have you
considered how many other species we may encounter with similar surprises? How many of these so-called
dinosaurs have evolved self-awareness over the eons but leave no mark on the planet because of their innate
desire to live within their environment rather than change it. Our development as a species may be quite
unique in both its speed and our desire to modify the world conform to our standards.’
Mark set down a cup that he was drinking from and smiled back at Molly, ‘I see you’ve been talking
with Sara. Yes, I’ve considered this because she pointed it out to me too. The upcoming extinction may
have been more of a disaster for sentient evolution than we ever dreamed. There may be many intelligent
species here, all of them operating in a manner very alien to our normal thought process. Our species
developed under stress of both competitive evolution as well as millions of years of abrupt climate change.
Changes that would never have provided sufficient time for evolutionary adaptation so as a result we
learned to modify our own local environment. We developed fire and tool making to survive.’
‘Sara pointed out that the predators of this era, the theropoda like our big troondon, are the only dino
species to survive the extinction and evolve into our modern birds. This line of speculation lead to a
conclusion that the survival and evolution of birds is tied to the fact that they have already evolved the
survival-critical base characteristics of working together and problem solving through their hunting and
tracking development. They, as a species, have a little more edge on adapting to the rapid environmental
changes that will be coming than our Hypes do. They aren’t any more intelligent than the Hypes, just
different in their application of the sentience. Ok, well that’s enough blue skying.’
‘All right Mark, at least we’re on the same page here. On another slightly different topic, how is Alex?
Have you heard from them?’
‘Haven’t heard a thing since they went out of the Hive-Tab net. Their last contact told us they were
moving into a tunnel complex and we would lose contact. Even if they emerge into the open the chances are
they’ll still be outside the net. We’ll need to wait until they can reestablish contact, I have a Hunter Recon
ready and waiting for them. We’ll find them.’
Molly looked back up at Mark, ‘Oh, thats right. It’s the middle of the night for you. I forgot.’
‘Yup, I’ve been up all night so I’m going to sign off the net and see if I can get an hour or two of
shuteye before our guests wake up. Keep up the good work and don’t hesitate to wake or call me if you
think it necessary.’
Molly responded with a natural “Good night Mark” as the image alongside of her faded. She didn’t
even see it go as she stared out at the blue globe down below her. Her thoughts focused on Alex, wondering
and praying for his safety.
* * * * *
Two men worked feverishly down on the sandy beach below the cliffs of the plateau. Anton was still
pissed having missed the raptors three times now and it showed in every move he made loading the boat.
David Pope picked up a backpack and a jerry can and carefully took a wide birth around his friend as he
headed for the Jenkins boat. Anton was grabbing two hundred pound boxes and lobbing them over into the
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boat like they weighed only thirty pounds. David knew that he didn’t want to get in Anton’s way when he
was in one of these moods.
David placed his items into the boat and then turned back up the sandy dune toward the cliff where a
third pallet of equipment and supplies hovered in the air before him. Ed Saren was up on top lowering the
pallet down to the beach from the plateau using the sand-crane. It sure would have been easier to use the
zero-grav pallet transports but they can’t function off the top of the plateau since the Gravitonic field
doesn’t extend this far down. He noticed that this pallet isn’t quite full so that must be the last of the
supplies. Ed would be jogging down the steep trail any minute.
Dave liked Ed and he knew that Anton also like to work with him. Ed Saren joined Blackwave Security
almost eight years ago as a Civil Engineer. Dave knew he was also a weapons specialist and could rework
and even modify almost all of the heavier armament here at Cretaceous Station. Ed had been one of the first
Blackwave members to arrive at Europa Station who was not strongly involved with station security. Ed had
spent many hours engineering the complex construction of the mining and research station under the
horrendous environmental conditions of the frozen moon of Jupiter. He is a good man at your back when in
a tight situation and he’s also a very competent engineer.
David turned when he heard a muffled bang from the boat. A low curse and a few choice words floated
above the sound of the waves on the coarse sand. As he looked up he saw a large circular object about eight
inches thick and close to three feet wide flying across the waves and up onto the beach. ‘Take it easy Anton.
That’s an ammonite! I know people who would pay big money for one of those things back home.’
‘Well then the damn thing should stay out of my way. Come on! Let’s get going! What’s holding Ed
up?’
‘I’m right here Anton. Now calm down, you know acting like this isn’t good for your blood pressure.
This is the last pallet. Grab these bags and we’ll head out.’
‘Did you bring the scoped rifles Ed? I haven’t seen them yet and I told you I wanted them!’
‘Anton, calm down. These are scoped. Where have you been anyway? We don’t use hard optics
anymore, all you need is the targeting application for your battle helmet. You’ll get full zoom capability and
perfect alignment at up to five thousand feet with slug weights up to six.’
‘Hummph, sounds like you gotta have your helmet on to use ‘em. Well, we won’t need anything as
heavy as a six-slug. I think a good old 32 caliber will do just fine for these bastards so adjust them to the
three setting. Come on, what are you waiting for. Grab the boat and lift it into the surf.’
‘Wait a sec, Anton.’ David reached into the Jensen boat and ran his finger across the controls. A flick of
his wrist and the entire boat began to vibrate.’
‘Ok, now lift and push. The mass of the boat and its cargo shifted and then smoothly floated into the
waves. Tiny sprays of water flew out from the edges where the vibrations threw them in all directions. The
vibrations cut off as they climbed into the boat and started the engine to pull them through the low surf.’
‘Well, that’s a nice feature. Really simplified pushing this thing into the water.’ Anton seemed to be
calming down.
‘Yeah, I’ve been grateful for it many times. These things aren’t cheap but when you’ve got a heavy
loaded boat like this it’s nice to have. The vibrations cut down the static friction, almost making the boat
float on the sand. As you saw, it’s easy then to …’
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‘Yeah, yeah I can see how it works. I said it was a good idea! Come on, those boys are waiting for us
and I’ve got a score to settle with those two so-called black ghosts. Don’t know why Dan couldn’t let us
have one of the Hunter Recons.’ Anton grumbled as he turned and pulled the control to back them out into
the shallow sea that surrounded Cretaceous Station.
The sea is shallow and sandy-bottomed on this side of the plateau. The boat pushed out into the clear
blue waters with little more than a low humming sound. Small birds and multi-colored reptiles flew in their
wake, diving into the sea behind them for the thousands of small creatures churned up by the jet drive of the
boat. They cawed and screeched, fighting for the tender bits of fish temporarily confused by the blast of the
jet.
Anton opened the drive and they sailed across the calm ocean surface. David watched the seabed drop
as they passed the headlands of the plateau. It is hard to recognize the types of fish and reptiles below when
they moved so quickly across the surface but he can easily see them pass under on the bottom that is now
over sixty feet deep in this section.
The seabed gradually began to rise as they neared the coral shelf that marked the edge of the rapidly
flowing river water’s entrance where it had dug a deep channel over the eons. Anton turned landward,
heading for the broad delta that formed the mouth of the river.
‘The ocean and river interaction here is amazing. We can see so much sea life in the clear ocean by the
cliffs. Then when you cross into this stream, it gets cloudy from all the silt washed into the ocean by the
river and the variety of animal life we find there makes the clear ocean look like a barren desert.’ David
commented to Ed who was sitting beside him, also watching down into the depths. ‘I’ll bet we can still see a
good forty or fifty feet down here.’
Suddenly the boat pushed ahead even faster. ‘You guys get ready. I just picked up something on our tail
and its coming this way.’ Anton called back. ‘It’s gaining on us!’
The small wavelets of the open sea diminished in size as the boat pushed upward into the current of the
river. They flew across the water, moving toward the hoped-for safety of the shallow river.
‘It’s still gaining on us.’ Anton called back.
‘I can see a wave crest. Good grief, that thing is travelling this fast under water!’, David called as he
pulled up his Python Rifle and set the caliber dial to a hefty six and the fire control to three burst automatic.
Anton jinxed the boat to one side but the wave crest still followed. He turned the boat sharply; it
skidded across the waves, turning in a sharp curve that sent a long wave far out across the surface. A broad
flat fluke like that of a whale but upright like a shark’s broke the surface sending a spray of water hundreds
of feet into the air. The grey predator easily moved to track their turn all the while slowly gaining on them.
David is holding on for dear life. ‘I can’t take him out like this. The hypersonic slugs will simply
ricochet off the top of the water at this angle.’
A grey and black mottled head suddenly broke the surface of the water thirty feet behind them and the
monster’s speed seemed to double. The grey jaws are at least ten or twelve feet long and filled with whitehard teeth! ‘The beast must be at least sixty feet long! It’s a Mosasaur but not for long.’ David called as he
lifted to draw a bead on the head.
The Mosasaur suddenly launched from the water and David’s shot went wild as he flinched. The sky
seemed to fill with a long grey body, wide flippers and a white underbelly.
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A rapid burst of fire erupted from behind David. The head of the giant reptile imploded like a mellon
hit with a rock; half of it disappearing in a cloud of red haze. The body flipped and landed partially on the
back edge of the Jensen boat, spinning it and flipping the aft section into the air.
The boat landed sideways on the broad surface of the river, skipping across the surface. Anton cut the
power and a huge wave flew over them, soaking the interior. For a few seconds, the craft rocked like a cork
in a crowded bathtub until the jet thrust restarted and stabilized them with the forward push.
David picked himself up from the low deck covered with salty seawater, blood and slime. He raised his
head to view the horror around them, ‘My god, there’s blood and guts over the whole area. Thank God you
were on the ball Ed, nice shooting.’
Ed is just raising his slime-covered head and sees Anton slumped over the controls. ‘Anton! Are you ok
buddy?’
Anton turns his head and waves his arm as he looked over, ‘Yeah, give me a few seconds. I thought we
were going to flip over for sure, I gotta calm down a bit. That would have been the end.’
‘Oh man, what did you do to your eye?’ Ed crawled over to Anton. ‘Here, let me see that.’
‘Aw, cut it out!’ Anton shouted, ‘I’m ok, just need to rest a few seconds. I must have bumped it and
…’
David shouted across the boat, ‘We have to leave here now, right now! Look out over the water.’
The Jensen boat was slowly drifting backwards out to sea in the rivers current as it pushed over the
waves filled with blood and long strings of torn flesh. Body parts floated in the waters around them and as
they watched, the surface of the ocean began to boil with the thrashing of small and not so small feeders.
‘There’s going to be a feeding frenzy here. Get that motor up and get us out of here now!’ David
shouted.
Ed looked seaward in awe at the level of carnage, ‘He must have slipped off the boat and directly into
the path of the jets when we flipped out of the water. The jets blew most of the sixty-foot body apart. Oh
Cheez, look at what’s coming!’
David looked over toward the ocean and could see a black mass moving under the waves. The surface
thrashed violently with thousands of smaller fish breaking the surface before it on a path leading directly
towards them.
‘It’s forming into a feeding frenzy. They smell the blood! Look, Megladons!’ David called and pointed
toward the southern side of the channel. The waters seemed to be filled with black mounds moving just
under the surface and tall dorsal fins that rose eight feet out into the air as they shot in toward the three men
in the boat.
The engine suddenly came to life. David slipped and was again thrown into the slime and gore at the
bottom. He pulled himself up and could see Anton holding onto the controls for dear life.
The boat flew across the waves but seemed to crawl into the safety of the river as it left the floating
slick of carnage on the ocean behind it. David called out, ‘Ok, I think you can settle down to a reasonable
speed Anton.’
‘Just a little further in. I remember there’s a drop-off up ahead and I want to get beyond it into the
shallower waters. There, see it?’
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‘All right, that’s enough excitement for…’
A shadow drifted across their bow and then a large, leathery shape covered in sparse feathers hovered
over the bow of the rapidly moving boat. It screamed at the humans, grabbed a piece of mosasaur and flew
off.
David shouted, ‘The pterosaurs are being drawn to the fresh blood. Ed, get …’
Three massive reptiles suddenly appeared out of nowhere, their six foot wings beating the air, buffeting
the humans. One beak struck down at Ed knocking him to the side. Ed managed to hold onto his rifle and
lifted it. A hypersonic crack ripped the air as he fired a bust. One of the massive fliers exploded less than
then eight feet above their heads.
‘You gotta tune down the slug size Ed!’ David called as he shouldered his rifle and fired. The calls of
the pterosaurs echoed off the canyon walls on either side of them. David suddenly felt the racing boat settle
into the water but he couldn’t stop his firing to look. The air above them is filled with brightly colored
pterosaurs, the massive twelve foot wingspans of the newcomers racing in from the cliffs less than a
thousand feet away. David fired and fired burst after burst and the waters behind them began to fill with
dead and dying pterosaurs. The carnage didn’t seem to even faze the others coming at them.
A sudden blast of water washed by David’s back just as the boat lurched ahead. He turned in fright, his
rifle automatically coming to bear on the new threat. It was Anton with the bilge hose. He was washing
down the deck with one hand, cleaning the blood and pieces of meat and now feathers from it while trying
to guide the boat with his other hand.
‘Here, I think you can stop firing. Give me a hand with this damn hose!’
Ed grabbed the hose and braced his legs. The packets around them had been covered in gore but it
washed off easily. ‘…and that’s why we take the time to follow procedure to dry pack and secure everything
in the boat even if we are in a hurry Anton.’
‘Yeah, yeah, yeah! Don’t rub it in, you were right. Ok, let’s get this show back on the road we’re
burning daylight and I don’t know how far up Alex and the others are going to come out.’ Anton turned,
once again concentrating on his driving.
Anton closely watched the waters upriver when suddenly a sinister black shape lifted from the cloudy
depths to their side. It rose under them pushing the boat with the massive upthrust of its passage. Anton
gunned the engine just as he saw the massive black scales on it’s back. It broke surface behind the boat,
lifting the back portion of the Jensen a foot out of the water as it passed down stream ignoring the small
boat.
The waters of the river gurgled softly under the boat as it settled and they continued to push up stream.
The skies behind them are filled with the big reptiles swooping and diving into the waters like the seagull
feeding frenzy David had once seen in the pacific. The area is covered with a thrashing and churning of the
river’s waters that goes beyond anything the big reptiles could produce. ‘Guess that must be the crocodiles
getting their fill.’ David said as he turned toward Anton. ‘Keep moving. I don’t want to stop anywhere near
here.’
‘Well, I don’t look forward to having to go back through that on our return.’
‘It’ll be ok Anton. I’ve been up this river almost half a dozen times and that’s the first problem we’ve
encountered. We must have just been passing by at the wrong moment.’
‘Well, it was almost our last problem, one time too many can be just that you know.’
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‘Ok, so how far up river are we going? I think you have time enough to tell us now.’
‘We last heard from the boys early this morning, before daybreak. They came over the communications
net rather than the Hive-Tab network so they must have been way out on the mainland. Satellite
convergence confirms that they were way out over the plains area almost up to that stream that you, Alex
and Brittany followed a couple of months back when looking for the Zavtek boy.’
‘Ah, yeah Gabriel. Kid is quite a character.’
‘Well, they never got that far. We did a close scan from the satellite. We could track their thermals
down to about ten feet underground. Seems like they found a cave, some kind of tributary of the stream they
were following. They just went deeper and deeper until we couldn’t see their trail. They must have been in
hot pursuit of the raptors or they wouldn’t have risked going underground like that.’
‘I ran an in-depth fault and contour analysis of the area. The terrain suggests that they most likely
headed right for the river valley here. Makes sense since most of the streams around drain into this valley.
So we need to head up river a few miles and then wait. I have Adrian back at the Station listening for any
contacts they might make and if needs be he promised to bring a Hunter over for backup no matter what
Dan says.’
‘I expect we’re gonna see them come running out on the heels of these two black ghosts. When Alex
and the others do come out into this valley they’re gonna be in a world of trouble.’
‘They’re armed Anton. They should be able to handle the raptors.’ Ed said.
‘You haven’t seen this valley before Ed. This is like New York City for raptors. There’s more raptors
per square yard here than I’d like to think about. Gives me nightmares since every single one of them is
looking for someone smaller than they are to eat. Oh, and don’t forget, they hunt in packs. A man is
considered to be way down on the food chain around here.’
‘Men aren’t even in the food chain Anton.’ David quipped.
‘Yeah? Tell that to Eric and the girl and Jon Buckwheat. No, they like the taste of human flesh. Heck,
look over there on the shore, it’s like watching a vid!’
The river runs wide through this portion of the long meandering valley. Close to fifty yards away from
them, the shoreline rises onto a flat, almost level ground. Further in, the ground continues to rise gradually
on either side of the river until it reaches the piles of loose stone and boulders at the foot of the cliffs a few
thousand feet from the river’s edge.
Heavy rainfall in this climate is not a common occurrence and there’s no such thing as a spring
snowmelt. The river height ebbs and flows seasonally but violent downpours are infrequent. The river valley
formed over the ages, cutting into the young Rocky Mountains as they grew beneath it. The valley is broad
and the river meanders on a path that changes slowly with the years.
The delta formed by the river as it enters the sea is broad but the river’s channel is abrupt and deep. The
small boat travels up a broad, strong flowing river with wide planes strewn with clumps of gingkos, seed
ferns, and cycads. The ancient palms of ages gone by that here tend to cluster in tight islands of high
vegetation surrounded by low carpets of club moss and ferns that can reach as high as a man. Small streams
fall from the towering cliffs at the edges of the valley leaving long trails lined with carpets of moss and
swampy horsetails.
‘All of the palms and low vegetation that we see around here are the ancient remnants of the past ages.
They are coarse and not easily digested.’ David points over to the near shoreline. ‘Look over there, the shore
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is teaming with wildlife living off the river. Even inshore there’s a lot of animals most of which blend into
the foliage. It’s down here that we first encountered the hadrosaurids, or duck-billed dinosaur herds that we
have used as a staple for our meat supply. They feed like bison on the grass and the only drawback is that
most of the herds are hunted regularly by T-rex families.’
‘You’ll see that, as we move up river, we’ll encounter more and more of the deciduous trees that we are
so familiar with in our time. We’ll find trees like willow, elm, grape vines, laurel, birch, oak, and maple
along with some really pretty flowering plants. We’ll also see large populations of herbivores in this area.
They seem to prefer the soft flowering plants for their diet quite naturally. Not much in the way of fruit trees
yet, that’s why the Hypes like it when we give them some of ours, manna from the gods you know.’
‘Unfortunately, this densely populated area supports a large predator population that follows the herds.
The variety and abundance of animal life makes the African Serengeti of our time look lame. By your
calculations Anton, this is where we’re heading and that is not a good area for Alex and the boys to be
chasing around in.’
‘Here, take the control.’ Anton said to Ed as moved to the middle of the boat and opened a sealed
package. He reached in and pulled out a small box. ‘I’ve had this for a long time. It’s a net amp.’ He set the
gadget into the console in the front of the boat.
‘I’ve used it on jobs where we have to operate pretty far out from the modern conveniences of
communications. Alex and the boys have similar needs, they’re even out of range for our normal high
density communicators. With this we will be able to amplify any communications packets they are using on
the helmet bands and if we’re really close, we should be able to tap into their Hive-Tab net.’
‘Ok, I can see you grinning already. Yes it’s pretty archaic and bulky but it works. Unfortunately, it’s a
bit directional so you have to keep trimming the phase antenna to scan over an area. That can work to our
advantage by using it as a pointer to help us find them.’
‘Sounds like a plan to me!’ Ed commented through an all-knowing grin.
‘Ok, here’s how to work it. Oh, don’t look so surprised. Yes you have to turn the controls with your
hands and no it doesn’t directly interface with your Hive Tab. Get over here Ed.’
* * * * *
Doctor Matt Zoeller turned to look out over the coral blue and white waters. The sea is particularly
quiet today. A soft salt wind blows up the cliffs to gently push a few of the strands of his white hair. A deep
blue sky meets the sea near the horizon where his eyes rest upon a rough patch on the surface of the ocean.
To some people the scene would be idyllic. A day treasured for its serenity, warmth and beauty. Matt
hated everything about it.
‘This is absolutely ridiculous.’ Dark thoughts flowed in Matt’s mind like tendrils of black smolder
smoke. ‘It just isn’t logical. I know every reason in the world why I have to be here doing this right now.
They are good reasons too. I should be able to overcome these feelings of frustration but the time lost! The
waste of time babysitting these people while I could be working in my lab on something worthwhile! Most
of all, being outside here on the plateau when …’
‘Doctor Zoeller, uh it’s Matt isn’t it?’ A pretty, young Asian girl interrupted his dark thoughts. ‘I hope
you’ll let me call you Matt. I wanted to thank you for allowing us out on the Station again. You’re so lucky
to be able to come out here every day!’
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Matt ran through an old memory trick and brought her name up, ‘Julia, spouse of senior board member
Robert Taylor. Not necessarily a friend since, according to Mark, he’s trying to run a coup and force Mark
out of the CEO position. Why in the world did he bring his whole family along anyway?’
‘Julia, we have met before about two years ago at the Tycho Center Christmas party. Yes, feel free to
call me Matt. Here, of all places the honorifics are not needed.’
‘I’m glad to see your family enjoying the visit but remember, after lunch we’re heading back into the
Argos for some business meetings.’
‘I realize the timing of our visit is not the most opportune but will we be able to get a tour of the
dinosaurs? We’ve been here two days and most of the time we spent indoors. Isn’t there something we can
do other than meet the Hypes?
Matt let out a small sigh, ‘I’m sorry, I know how much you’d like a nice formal excursion but we can’t
do that right now. We plan to have a tour flight set up for you tomorrow. We’ll have to take you out four at
a time because there isn’t that much room in a Hunter cockpit. Today’s schedule keeps us indoors.’
‘How about a boat tour rather than flying around in a crowded Hunter?’
‘Julia please! That would not be safe. Didn’t you see the size of some of these animals when Seth
brought you down from the Essex?’
Janet Anderson happened to be passing by the group as she headed over to the cafeteria. ‘Hello Mrs.
Taylor, I’m Janet Anderson. I’m a geophysicist for GraviDynamics. I hope you don’t mind but I overheard a
part of your conversation with Matt. Have you noticed some of the local animal life? There’s really quite a
lot to be seen if you know where to look.’
‘I was headed over to the cafeteria for some lunch but I’d be happy to give you a quick tour and then
we could stop for a bite to eat. I’d even offer to take you into some of the Hype caverns…. No, before you
say it there’s a lot more to be seen down there than Hypes. We have a few overlooks that are closer to the
ocean.’
‘Ah, I notice you’re wearing an Ammonite necklace.’ Janet looked close at the fossil necklace around
Julie’s neck. The pendant was round and spiral shaped with a bright, opal-like iridescence that glistened in
greens, blue and red. ‘You do know that that animal is extinct in our timeframe but the ocean’s are full of
them around here.’
‘No, I didn’t know that. Could we see some of them?
‘Come on, get your girls and anyone else who would like to come and follow me.’ Janet walked off
with the group. As she left she looked back at Matt Zoeller and gave him a quiet smile. Matt silently
mouthed the words, ‘Thank you!’
Janet’s been around GraviDynamics for a long time. She holds a doctorate in Geo-Physics from
Bucknell and is a co-author of the string theory model used to explain the red spot on Jupiter. She also has a
strong background in the Cretaceous.
‘We’re going to move down into the larger warrens of the Hypsilophodont or Hypes as we call them for
short. The Hypes are the first major species we encountered here at Cretaceous Station. They aren’t
theropods, in fact they are not even in the family. Their race will be wiped out in the upcoming extinction
event that is thankfully a safe thousand years in the future. Hypes are quite different in behavior from other
theropods like the T-rex and troondons, the major group of dinosaurs we have directly outside of the gates.’
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‘Unlike theropods, the Hypes are omnivores. They eat vegetables and occasionally some meat. Oddly
enough, unlike almost all the other dinosaurs they have articulated hands with five fingers and are quite
capable of manipulating tools and other complex tasks. They however are not naturally inclined to use
tools.’
‘Most of the warrens were formed naturally by rainwater action through the sandstone base. The Hypes
have expanded portions and connected shafts but they wouldn’t conceive of hollowing out a whole new
group of caves even though they are quite capable of it.’
‘Please be careful of the trail here and stay back from the edge of the cliffs. The ground is soft and
likely to break away under your feet if you aren’t careful. That’s a nasty two hundred foot drop to the mixed
sand and boulders at the edge of the sea below.’
‘We’ve know a lot about Hypes from the fossil record. There has been a lot of speculation in the older
literature about their intelligence as well as their family formed tendancies. For one thing, they care for their
youngsters and have a strong parental sense of protectiveness for them.’
‘Until we arrived, we never realized just how intelligent they were. There’s nothing in the fossil record
that shows the fact that they are self-aware but, as you have seen, they indeed are not only smart and quick
to learn but they are also self aware and quite capable of original thought. Almost all of the fossil based
estimates of dinosaur intelligence were based on measurements of brain volume called an encephalization
quotient which is a measure of relative brain size. It’s defined as the ratio between actual brain mass and
predicted brain mass for an animal of a given size. The concept is a very rough estimate and really falls
apart in many instances.’
‘For example, there was the base groundwork of Dr. Irene Pepperberg's research with captive African
greys, most notably with a bird named Alex. This small African Grey Parrot has scientifically demonstrated
that the species possesses the ability to associate simple human words with meanings, and to intelligently
apply the abstract concepts of shape, colour, number, zero-sense, etc. According to Pepperberg they perform
many cognitive tasks at the level of dolphins, chimpanzees, and even a human toddler.’
‘Ah girls, please don’t pick up the young chicks unless they come up to you.’
‘What we’ve found with these Hypes, oh please watch your step here, is that they can grasp our
language very quickly and incorporate it into their own conscious and quite independent thoughts. Ok, this
is the main entrance to the warren. You won’t need flashlights through these tunnels since we’ve installed
glow-lamps down to the main chamber. From there we’ll travel out to the cliffs where the Hypes can
actually get close enough to the water to catch fish. At this point we’ll get a very close-up and personal look
at the ocean and it’s abundant life forms.
‘Is this going to be part of the resort?’ Deborah Clinow asked. Janet turned and noticed that she had a
beautiful white tufted Hype chick in her arms.
‘No Ms. Clinow. The resort we are planning will be on the other side of the river. It’s going to be quite
extensive and comfortable. We’ll have Hypes working over there with us both as examples of the local life
and also as tour guides and even educators.’
Suzan Esque commented, ‘I notice your expansion work has completely stopped. Not going very well I
take it or is this the expected rate of construction?’
‘Ms. Esque, this is first and foremost a research station. We have a specific goal in mind and that is to
refine our understanding of the Gravitonic Models for the star drive. Construction at the Station is halted
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because of the unique situation that we and you are presently engaged in. A serious threat to the Station has
arisen and until we resolve it there will be no more work performed outside of the security area.’
‘Humph, doesn’t seem like a very secure area. We can’t even walk around without an armed escort. I
can’t see that this will sit well with the rest of the board members.’
‘Well if there’s anything I can help you with Ms. Esque or if you have any positive suggestions please
let me know. In the mean time I believe you’re going to find this interesting. Please come along.’
* * * * *
‘How the hell does he see the trail?’ Corey quietly asked himself as he stood under a strange plant that
looked somewhat like a fern and a low palm bush. ‘A noise! Ok, it’s just Tom passing by, it’ll be my turn in
a few seconds. Hold, hold! There’s his signal.’
Corey took one last, very careful scan of the jungle around them and then stepped out from under the
bush. He lifted his foot carefully, plotting the next point to set it down. Walk between the dry sticks and
loose stones. Place your foot down heel to toe, walking on the outside of the instep. Alex had laid down the
directions quite clearly and strongly. Frustratingly time consuming and slow.
Alex indicated a rough direction through the underbrush. ‘What the hell is he doing? I can see their trail
over there but we have to go through this dense brush. Ok, settle down, look for concealment. Freeze!’
He held his position for a minute. The jungle around them is full of animal sounds. The rustle of small
feet through the low ferns. He suddenly heard a larger, heavy movement over the small ridge. That has gotta
be a big something or other. That bug stomping around on my neck is killing me. When I move next I’m
gonna squash the darn thing.’
‘Ok, signal Alex to … what’s that?’ As he turned his eyes, four small animals walked through the
underbrush from over the ridge. Their heads sported a brown crest that flowed down the light tan mottled
markings on their bodies to end in a broad tail, broadly feathered in white and brown. They pecked around
the leaves on the ground. Corey noticed that one of them always had its head up, watching the
surroundings.’
Frozen in place, Corey watched them move by with fascination. They walked like the grouse he
remembered from home. They sang and whistled as they fed on the brush, scratching through the matt of
dead leaves on the ground.
Suddenly a dark shape moved from on the ridge behind them. It called a warbling, almost sweet whistle
that ended with four sharp clicks when it spotted the feeding dinosaurs. He could see the smaller ones were
nervous, they didn’t run right off. The dark shape moved from side-to-side, trolling and pushing them
without charging in to try and catch them.
Corey focused on the new intruder. It’s the right size and maybe shape! Yep moves like they do, let it
get a little closer and I’ll bring the rifle around. The attacker gave off another four clicks and then moved
directly at the four small dinosaurs feeding in front of Corey. They fled off in the other direction. He saw
them disappear into the bush.
A screech erupted and the brush suddenly shook. Then three of the dinos ran out into the small clearing
clearly followed by a second attacker. He could clearly see now that these are not the Black Ghosts but they
had driven the small dinos directly into a trap. Corey held his fire as it erupted less than twenty feet before
him. The bigger dinosaur lunged and caught one of the fleeing dinos, it let out a screech like chalk grinding
down a blackboard and then was abruptly quiet.
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The hunter picked itself off the ground with the dead dino in its mouth. It looked back into the brush it
had just come from. A third large hunter, brightly covered in red and green plumage with a red crest
emerged with a second small dinosaur in its mouth and was joined by the original raptor who had pushed
the small ones into the trap.
The hunters joined, one held a small brown dino in his mouth and the other now held its victim in its
right paw. They turned and walked off into the woods, passing less than six feet from Corey who is still
frozen in silence. Corey crouched in his cover, unmoving while one of the little brown bugs chewed a hole
in his neck. Two minutes and nothing more happened so he flicked his hand back.
He felt rather than saw Alex move along side of him. Alex came forward into his vision and gave him a
warm smile and a wink as he passed by. ‘Ok, guess I passed that test.’ Corey thought as he watched Alex
move silently up and into the brush ahead of them. He watched Alex as the soldier moved by him and then
silently moved a hand to his neck to remove and crush a small bug.
They moved further and further along the flat shoreline of the river. The start-and-stop movement has
grown to be not only frustratingly slow but painful as tense muscles constantly switch from frozen stillness
to a brief moment of controlled movement. Corey is fascinated by the hunting technique. It’s nothing like he
ever experienced.
He noticed early on that Alex didn’t exactly trail and track their quarry. Alex directed them up and
through the brush, keeping off the trails and then crossing back over the path of the two dinosaurs. They
moved ahead in relay, moving from covered brush to rock shadow with the sharp cries of the jungle always
around them.
Alex cut back in toward the worn trail and stopped for a few minutes. He didn’t motion them on but
continued slowly moving about the clearing, looking all around. Then he raised his hand to motion them to
freeze into their places. Then another signal, take cover!
They shifted position instantly. Corey moved silently into a thick patch of high ferns clustered near the
bottom of a palm. He looked back around him, the others were no long visible. Then the waiting began. He
froze in place watching the world of strange animals move about them. The minutes passed as hours and
Corey took to watching small, brightly colored animals glide above them from tree to tree as they passed
before his range of vision. They seem to constantly sing and whistle in low, almost soothing tones as they
gracefully rode the airwaves between branches.
‘Just what are they finding to eat up there?’ he asked himself quietly. Then he noticed they preferred to
land on the limbs of a palm-like plant. It had clusters of seeds or fruit of some type near the top. They
scraped the outer skin of the fruit and the juices bled down…
A faint push, the sway and swish of a limb in the brush ahead interrupted his study. It was a quiet
movement, the faintest brush of a limb. He stared at the forest before him, watching a slim dark green shape
that his eyes couldn’t quite resolve push through the underbrush. It stopped.
‘Are my eyes playing tricks on me? No, if I watch very carefully I can see movement. It’s not the
regular breathing of a pair of lungs pushing air in and out of the body. A ripple, yeah that’s it. A rippling
down along its length. What the heck is …’
It moved, or more descriptively flowed through the low brush. A cover so dense he couldn’t see the
entire beast.
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The sudden, soft noise of something setting almost silently into the ground rose behind him. His heart
leaped and seemed to skip a beat but his body stood still, frozen in the shadows. He couldn’t see it but he
could hear the slow movement behind him grow closer and closer.
A darkly mottled green wall of feathers suddenly entered his side vision. He didn’t dare even move his
eyes. He could see the details of each strand, each extended vein of the feathers as they glistened in a deep,
metallic green on a shaft that is a least a foot long. It is so close he could smell the dusty, almost musk-like
fragrance of the down. The body extended as a green wall in his side vision, a small arm with long feathered
strands is just visible above his head.
The green apparition sat there unmoving and silent except for the low ripple feathers as it forced air
through the air sacs in its boney frame. He could almost feel the warmth emanating from its body, the silent
tension of its stance.
His gaze identified a massive leg across the small clear area in front of him. It moved to set forward on
its toes, ready to suddenly push some unseen, massive body forward like a runner setting his feet before the
sprint. He realized they were sitting now in the center of an ambush. It wasn’t set for them but how is it they
did not see the small party of human hunters?
Corey’s nose began to tickle him. Unmoving, he held back the urge to purge it with a sneeze. The dust
from the nearby wall of feathers and muscle tingled deeply up in his sinuses! ‘Oh God, I’m allergic to it!’
A small trail of liquid abruptly ran down from his nose. He didn’t dare move, he fought every nerve and
reaction in his body. He ignored the pounding of the heart in his chest that urged every fiber of him to flee
or even more urgent, to sneeze.
He consciously worked to calm his body. His heart slowed, unconsciously mimicking the regular
rhythm of the warm wall of muscle rippling next to him. They waited together. His thoughts concentrated
on the leg across the way. Irrationally he tried to see some outline in his brain, striving to prevent the image
from slipping away, from fading unseen into the undergrowth before his eyes. He sits motionless, his senses
awash with the warm, regular movement and scent of the breathing beast so close by his side. Pushing back
the screaming thoughts in his brain, ‘My God, they’ve set up an ambush all around us. If we move we are
dead! Who is it set up for? What will happen when the ambush is released?’
The realization ripped into his mind, ‘It’s set up for the Black Ghosts! That’s why Alex stopped and
moved around the trail like he did. He jockeyed us into position to wait for them and these guys have the
same idea!’
He then saw the feathered arm move out of the corner of his eye. Slowly it rose and a fingered claw
extended. It slowly dug into its feathers, pushing and then pulling back into the rest position. His
imagination could see a small cloud of dust spread through the air. Alex almost laughed with the absurd
hysteria of the situation, ‘He had an itch and I’m suffering for it!’
‘Where are Tom and Alex? Are they even here anymore? These raptors haven’t seen them or we
wouldn’t be frozen here like this. How long are we going to wait?’
The bushes across the clearing suddenly erupted with movement. A large figure ran across the clearing.
Corey felt the wall of muscle next to him tense and it shifted its foot down, bringing the wall of feathers
even closer.
The figure ran and then glided across the trail and out of sight. Nothing else in the area moved.
‘Guess I’m not the only nervous one here. Cheez, how long was he there, hiding in the bushes?’
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It shifted its foot again and Corey felt a massive weight move onto his own foot. His boot hardened
instantly but the big raptor didn’t seem to notice. He stifled an almost giddy laugh that rose up deep from
inside him. Every nerve in his body fought to stay motionless. ‘Cheeze, another half foot and he would have
broken my leg or worse. What can go wrong next?’
‘If I swing around I can plug this guy point blank. Can’t be sure it’ll kill him though, the Python’s set
only on a three. We were hunting Ghosts not something the size of a Hunter Recon!’
‘Shit, just how many are there. I can see two but …’
A wild screech and scream filled the jungle before him. The bushes and even the trees in front shook
with the commotion. He caught a glimpse of a black figure running ahead, moving in their direction. A
portion of his mind noticed that the green wall of muscle next to him started shivering, shaking in
anticipation.
The black ghost ran to the edge of their clearing and then abruptly turned and launched itself into the
air. A massive blue head appeared above the bushes and the airborne ghost shot forward through the air to
meet it. The Ghost couldn’t help but strike its attacker who also missed its bite. The small dinosaur glanced
off the side of the jaws as they clamped down on empty air. It shortly lost control and flew into the trunk of
a nearby tree, losing its well aimed dive for the throat of the monster.
The ghost fell to the ground and a massive foot raised to kick out at it. Corey unconsciously lifted his
rifle just as the massive wall of muscle next to him shifted and lurched forward. Two monstrous green
bodies appeared from the bushes and descended, leaping onto the point where the Black Ghost was falling.
The Ghost twisted in mid-air and kicked off the side of a palm trunk, swinging around and out of harm’s
way. A second black figure passed through his field of vision. Corey lifted his rifle to aim at the fleeing
Black Ghost and a four-foot long green head swung toward his movement.
Corey froze as he saw its gaze shift directly at him. He stood unmoving in the bush, hopefully still
hidden. The massive green head suddenly flipped back as four monstrous green and brown figures took off
down the train after their escaped quarry. It joined them and their cries of anger filled the area with sharp
screeches mixed with an undulating growl that carried through the undergrowth like a bushel of ball
bearings rolling around the bottom of a barrel.
He suddenly realized that his back ached as did his shoulders and legs. He was beginning to get a
headache. ‘Am I alone? Where are…’
A figure moved out into the center of the clearing, ‘Ok, we missed them. Let’s move out of here and
take a break where it’s a little safer.’
Tom pushed out from a stand of six foot high ferns behind on Corey’s left, ‘I thought for sure he sat on
your Corey! Come on, I gotta take a piss and I don’t wanna be around if those guys backtrack. So Corey,
just how close were you to that fellow? Did he keep you nice and warm?’ Tom walked off without waiting
for an answer, a big cheese eating grin on his face.
‘God, I’m beginning to get tired.’ Corey thought as he pushed off into the forest.
* * * * *
The Jensen Boat lifted in the air, rolled to the side and then settled with a splash. Anton turned back
into the current and the bow of the boat vibrated and shook like they were passing over a submerged log.
The bow of the boat starts to spin around and Anton guns the engine. The craft flew forward as Ed Saren
looked back into their wake.
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‘I don’t see a damn thing Anton.’ He called over the rush of the wind.
‘Well unless you want to lose it I’d suggest you pull your head back into the boat.’
‘But, what did we hit? There’s nothing in the water!’
‘We didn’t hit anything, it hit us.’
David turned from scanning the shoreline. He looked as if nothing had happened, ‘That was a warning
Ed. We passed through someone’s territory and it wanted us to move along. Just a little nudge.’
‘But what was it?’
‘I don’t know. I didn’t get a glimpse of it. Might have been a crocodile, there’s lot of them around and
some are quite a bit larger than this boat. Hippo’s have been known to do this back in our timeframe but
they won’t be along for a number of years to come. Guess it was just something that exists in the same
ecological niche for this period protecting his area.’
‘Forget it and look at this. The shoreline is a lot more interesting. Look at how much it’s changed from
…’
A sound like someone dropping a rope into the water went off right next to the boat. David immediately
turned, his reactions lifting the Python Rifle up to this shoulder. ‘Ed, pull back now! Right now!’
A swirl in the water and something that looks like a black and copper colored tree-limb flew through
the air and into the boat. Ed slapped at it in blind reaction. A mouth sparkling with white teeth opened as it
flew toward his head. Its jaws are wide enough to swallow his head and Ed’s hand flew up in reaction
pushing the bottom jaw up and away. David fires two single shots, the second shot took the six-inch thick
body and cut it in two. A diamond shaped head spun around landing in the boat at Ed’s feet as the other half
falls back into the river. Ed jumped back, almost landing in the water. He stares for a moment and then
begins to reach down.
‘No! Don’t do that! Keep your hands back. It can still bite you even if it’s dead!’ David shouted,
pushing Ed back so violently he tripped over one of the secured packages and fell to the floor. Ed rolled
away from the rapid frantic movements of the snake across the base of the boat.
David thrust the stock of his rifle down and pinned the head. Then he put his boot on it. The body flips,
swinging around like a loose, high pressure water hose. The body gradually settled down and David reached
down and threw it overboard.
‘Good thing the shot cauterized the wound or we would have had an even bigger mess here. That’s the
last thing I expected to encounter here. It’s like we were back in the swamps of home but the players are a
bit larger here.’
Ed lifted himself and sat down. He was white and obviously shaken, ‘That was a snake! Did you see the
size of it. It jumped into the boat! How did you know?’
‘Mostly reaction.’ David said as he wiped the floor of the boat, his rifle held carefully to the side. ‘The
sound of it dropping into the water is what actually keyed me off. We used to run into water moccasins all
the time when I was a kid. Nasty and aggressive things, they used to jump right out of the water and into our
boat as we were fishing.’
‘But the size of it! Its thicker than my arm.’
‘Yeah, and most of it fell back into the stream after my shot split it. Look behind us!’
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Ed turned. The waters behind the boat are filled with a churning and thrashing like the feeding frenzy
they had just passed through at the mouth of the river.
‘I never realized just how vicious this place was. This is my first time off base.’
David turned to him with a smile, ‘I’d say this trip has been a little more eventful than the other three
times I was here. Mostly you don’t want to be around anything wounded and bleeding. Yourself included.’
Ed starts shaking a little, staring at the bottom of the boat. David frowned and looked forward. Anton
was concentrating on driving. He turns his gaze back to the shoreline while a thought passes through his
mind, ‘Change the subject.’
‘As I was saying, the landscape has changed dramatically. Look at how the open fields of palm and
palmetto have transformed into dense woodland of green, leafy trees. We must be getting near the area
where the three boys are going to emerge.’
Anton turned his head but kept an eye forward on the river as he drove. ‘Yeah, this is the general area.
Why don’t you start broadcasting and see if we can make … what the hell was that. Look, over there!’
A loud screech sounding like a cat caught in the bottom of a barrel with an amplification system carried
through the air. The call rumbled with the hard metallic sounds of ball bearings rolling inside a metal pan.
From their viewpoint at the river’s center, they could see the sides of the valley as they rose slightly to meet
the far walls of the cliffs. The tops of a few trees shook and they could see leaves fly into the air. The air
filled with more cries as birds and reptiles erupted from the area in fright.
‘Sounds like a catfight!’ Anton commented.
Ed crawled over to the radio. He griped all the way, ‘Yeah, thirty foot cats! It’s just one thing after
another around here. A guy can’t even enjoy a simple day on the river.’
Anton growled, ‘I hope those boys aren’t anywhere near that ruckus!’
Ed called back, ‘I picked up their carrier as soon as I turned the radio on. We did it.’
‘You gotta turn the antenna and watch the signal strength. Grab it with your hand and turn it damnit!
You guys are too used to letting your tools do all the thinking.’
‘Patience Anton, he’ll get it.’ David said quietly as he watched the far shore.
‘Their carrier signal is there but I can’t seem to contact them. Hey, this works pretty slick. Oh no, guess
I should have expected it, their signal comes right from where that ruckus went on.’
‘Well, I didn’t hear any shots.’ David commented. ‘I think we ought to head inland Anton.’
Anton turns the boat and they begin to head for a part of the shoreline that is not so densely covered
with brush.
‘Are you guys serious? We’re going on land?’
David moved to the back of the boat and began unpacking one of the cargo bags. ‘Can’t do the job from
on the boat Ed.’
He pulls out extra clips for the Pythons and a small metal box. A second bag unloads a short tube and
tripod.
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As they approach the shore a half dozen small dinos emerge from the brush. They watch, apparently
fascinated by the boat coming directly at them. Two of them suddenly bristle, raise a crest of white feathers,
and sing a warbled cry.
‘That sounds almost like he is asking us who we are.’ David commented.
‘Well they better move, that’s right where we’re going to beach this thing.’ Anton grumbled.
The small dinos pulled back but didn’t run as they beached the boat. David and Ed jump out from the
side as Anton flipped on the landing vibrator to help them pull it up.
‘That certainly got their attention.’ David nodded toward the now fleeing small dinosaurs who were
screaming at the top of their lungs. ‘They certainly don’t like the Jensen’s vibrator.’
The men unpacked a series of AutoSentinels and laid them out on the shoreline around the boat.
‘There’s nothing we can do about the back half still in the water. Ah wait, I’ll put one up on the aft section.’
David walked back onto the shore, ‘There, that should discourage any visitors. Before I turn on the
sentinels, you guys all have your call identity signals on, right?’
Ed lifted his head, ‘I got contact with Alex. They are a half mile inland just west of that disturbance.
They hunkered down for a bit. Seems they got quite a scare but everyone is ok including our two Black
Ghosts.’
‘They said the dinos are heading right toward the river. That means the ghosts must be between us and
them.’
‘Good, we can lay an ambush with them between us. Tell them to get up off their butts and find out just
where these guys are tracking. There’s still a lot of ground to cover, they could come out anywhere along
here. Are we close enough for helmet communicators yet?’
‘We are well within signal range but for some reason the signals keep cutting in and out.’
‘Nothing we can do about it. Come on, let’s finish and push out. Keep your eyes peeled. We aren’t the
only ones around you know.’
‘One more happy thought David. Alex says the bad guys were being chased by a pack of perhaps as
many as six big, green dinosaurs.’
‘Shit, just to make things interesting. How big?’
‘Big as a Hunter Recon and fast! He says they also tend to blend in well with the background.’
‘Ok, well these are certainly interesting times. Let’s secure the area until we return, are the sentinels
on? Let’s push out.’
* * * * *
Alex stood and arched his back. ‘Ok, no rest for the weary. Up and at ‘em boys.’
Tom extended a hand down to Corey, ‘Come on son, we can’t slow down now. Getting ready for the
climax and we don’t want to miss the party.’
Corey rose, his back hurt. His foot also hurt where the thing had stepped on it. He limped just a little as
they moved out.
‘Aren’t you glad you came?’ Tom quipped.
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Corey turned and then gave Tom the biggest feral grin he could. Without a word, he turned back
following Alex back down the trail.
Alex took the team just to the south of the ambush site. He lifted his fist and they slid off to positions of
cover while he scurried around the area ahead.
A small, short air-filled whistle caught Tom’s attention. Alex was back already. He gave Corey a nudge
and they moved off.
Alex is really pushing it. No more of the cautious “move and watch” routine. Corey could see why, the
tracks of the big dinos are widely spaced and deep. They are in hot pursuit and Alex must figure that
everything else is gonna move out of the way. ‘Good, maybe they’ll do the job for us and we can go back
with the boat.’
They tracked the dinosaurs down through a low rain gully, which was thankfully dry, for about a
quarter mile. It followed the general slope of the valley floor toward the river. The gully entered a tree-filled
clearing.
A clear trumpet call echoed through the valley followed by the low rattle of a warning. The call is close,
just up ahead. ‘Hadrosaurids, I’ve been here long enough to recognize that call. They carry for miles!’
Corey thought, then he recalled their passage through the triceratops herd. ‘I bet they are going to pass right
through the herd.’
They pushed hard for a short distance and then he saw the first ones. Sure enough, they are going right
through a herd of the duck-bills and the herd looks upset. The dinos are strangely silent but Corey can see a
pocket of about a dozen in his limited vision over the edges of the ditch. One group of duck-bills formed
into a defensive circle with several small ones in the center. ‘Holy Crap, they’re looking just ahead of us!
The raptors must be just around this next corner or so.’
They pass around a small bend and then he can see two green tails flicking in the air ahead. They
appear and then are gone, replaced by three others and the quick bobbing of a head further down the gully.
‘Holy Crap, we’re heading right up their ….’
A massive, dark orange head lifted out of the brush alongside the trail fifty feet ahead. Bright white
teeth flash and the head is gone, replaced by a spray of black blood that lifted high into the air covering the
trees and grass around it. The humans are close enough to smell the blood and stink of the wound and hear
the cracking of the neck bones.
Four dark orange bodies lifted out of the brush along the edges further down the gully, their dark red
and orange tint clearly identifying them as T-rex. All stealth gone from their movements, the predators
charged through the trees of the forest, pushing them over as though they were nothing more than stalks in a
cornfield. A cry rises from the gully and three of the green dinosaurs jump in to meet the attackers. The air
is mixed with the smell of blood and feces mixed with screams and deep growling sounds that penetrate,
rattling the very bones of the humans.
Alex pulled them off to the side, ‘I half anticipated this. Almost every duck-bill herd I’ve run across has
a family of T-rexs staking claim to the herd. Actually, I thought they’d get hit further down the trail. Come
on, if we sit here we’re gonna lose the Ghosts, this is just what they wanted to happen.’
Alex poked his head up above the edge of the ditch, looked around for a second and then jump up onto
the high ground. Tom immediately followed.
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‘We gotta be outa our minds.’ Corey thought as he hopped up to the top of the ditch. ‘Even if we don’t
meet up with one of these cat-fight goons then one of those hadrosaurids, who are already agitated, could do
us in easily enough. Oh shit, not that way Alex…’
Alex turned in, right toward the worst of the fighting. Not worried about any noise they might make, he
pushed from bush to bush, staying as much as possible in the cover. The trees around them seemed to shake
with the fury of the nearby fight and their ears rang in spite of the protection of their battle helmets. Alex
pushed through a set of bushes and then suddenly backpedaled, knocking Tom off balance and to the
ground. He didn’t say a word but shifted his path around the bush.
Corey watched as he passed by the bush, two T-Rex’s are up and attacking one of the smaller green
dinosaurs. A second green raptor is running around the three, snapping at their heels and looking for a
chance to get a good bite in. Corey’s passage across the clear area took only a second but as he watched one
of the T-rexs kicked out with a massive foot while holding onto the throat of the fallen green raptor. The
sharp claws of the powerful leg struck the green raptor on the side. His side split open and white bones of
the rib cage are pulled out and broken. The blow flings the smaller raptor into the air but Corey doesn’t stay
around long enough to see where it landed.
Alex scurries further into the bushes and then pushes back in toward the trail. He pushes into another
clearing and within feet of a pod of fifteen or so hadrosaurids bunched into a defensive circle. ‘Wow, I
never thought I’d see that.’ Corey watches as they pass close to the group of duck-billed dinosaurs. ‘They
stand shoulder to shoulder in the circle with young ones in the center, circle the wagons huh? Man, I wish
they’d stop the painful low whistles and horn-like calls, can’t wait to get outta… shit, get back in the group
you son of a gun. I’m not gonna bother you.’ Corey slapped one of the beasts with the barrel of his rifle as it
lunged out after him. The flattened jaws of the animal hardly moved from the blow but it flinched and
pulled back into the circle. ‘Come on Tom, push ahead we’re too close to these guys.’
The noise and fighting fades into the background as they pull back into the forest. ‘Got it! We’re back
on their trail. Those sons of guns set us all up. Come on.’ Alex called back, all pretense of stealth now gone.
They are running now and Corey’s foot hurts even more. They pushed on, expecting to see one of the
black demons any second. Corey watches ahead as they run, ‘Remember to look behind you.’ He chides
himself. ‘Never realized the feeling of this position at the back of the group since Tom always took it. God
but my backside feels exposed. Don’t stumble, makes too much …’
A silent blackness suddenly filled the sky above him, Corey lifted his foot to brace for the impact but
his feet are swept out from under him. Corey falls hard on his side and a hard black body lands on top of
him. He lifts his rifle up to push it away but it skids out and a broad jaw filled with teeth reaches in toward
his throat. He can feel claws ripping at his side, trying to get under his armpit to the soft, unguarded area of
his instantly hardened ArmorAll.
Time seems to slow as he clamps his arm down in reaction, losing the balance of his rifle against the
throat of his attacker. His universe fills with a pungent, awful ammonia like-scent leaving him gasping for
air. Anger flies through him and the world around him turns red with the tinges of his fury. With a vicious
thrust of his arms he pushes and at the same time tries to kick at the attacker holding his legs. He just can’t
get a grip. A sudden blow hits him taking the air from his lungs and the black demon on top of him falls to
the side. It scrambles off delivering one last viscious kick to Corey’s side. The blow knocks him to the side
and he’s rolled over again as the body below him pushes.
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A second blow fills the air, snapping his head back with the onrush of its passage and then he settles to
the ground. Something grabs him from behind, he twists and swings the butt of his rifle. A hand suddenly
grips the stock and holds him back. Then he realizes his eyes are closed and he opens them to see Alex.
‘Alex? What happened?’ His body collapses in relief.
‘You’re ok! You’re ok! Settle down now, relax. They’re gone, that’s it, ease up. Easy, ok Tom, I think
he’s ok.’
‘Wha… what happened?’ Corey stammered. ‘Oh, shit! Did we get them? Ah, am I ok?’
‘Easy now. Come on, we gotta move. I want to put some distance between us and this place.’ They
propped him up. ‘You gonna be able to keep up…. Watch it!’
A rock flew out from the brush at them. Alex and Tom both turned and a Black Ghost suddenly flew
out behind them. It passed so quickly across the small clearing in front of the three that Alex barely caught a
brief glimpse of the creature. Tom is down on the ground! ‘Tom, Tom are you ok?’
‘Yeah, shit let’s move.’ He growled as he turned on his side and fired three shots into the bush where
the charging Black Ghost had passed, ‘If I hadn’t of had this armor on I’d be dead. We gotta push ahead.
Gotta move, into the brush!’
They ran down through the forest, all thoughts of the trail forgotten. Corey could hear branches and
twigs crashing in the woods behind and around them. The dinos knew they had them on the run but the
humans managed to pull ahead ever so slightly. ‘Quick!’ Alex shouted as he turned around some boulders.
The sounds of the pursuit passed by. ‘Here, back this way. Towards the ambush site.’
A low singing scream comes through the jungle ahead of them and then the sounds of their pursuit
return. ‘Next gully, ambush setup!’ Alex called.
Corey ran with Tom pushing him from behind. He saw Alex suddenly turn ahead on the trail and
followed. They fell into a wet bog, and scurried behind some of the low brush at its center.
The two Black Ghosts appear from the brush right behind them. ‘Now!’ Alex raises and fires full
automatic. Tom’s rifle is firing and Corey is just bringing his up but their attackers are gone.
‘Shit but they are fast!’ Alex grumbles and turns, scanning the edge of the clearing behind him.
‘Didn’t even see them leave. How did we miss? They just disappeared!’ Tom griped.
‘Just watch the edge. Listen!’
‘They’re waiting! I can feel it. They’re still there.’
‘Hang on, calm down and think.’
Corey rubbed his head and eyes, ‘I still can’t see straight. What the heck happened back there?’
‘You’ll come around. Both of them jumped you and tried to do you in real quick.’
‘You’re telling me? I’ve got news for you guys, they seem to know just where the weak spots in the
armor is. They went right for them, it was everything I could do to fend them off.’
‘Well you were doing pretty good until they gassed you.’ Tom commented as he scanned around them.
‘Yeah, but something hit me like a baseball bat. I just couldn’t see what.’
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Alex spoke up, ‘That’s my fault. I couldn’t fire for fear of hitting you and I couldn’t reach you in time
so I tried to graze the one on top. What you felt was the concussion of the hypersonic slug as it passed by.
Seems like it worked so say “thank you”.’
‘Ok, thank you for getting them off but you almost snapped my neck. Cheeze, I can’t get that damn
smell out of my nose, it’s making me sick to my stomach and my ears hurt.’
‘The chemicals probably on your clothes. It’ll pass. Keep watching and stay downwind.’
‘Yep, I’m feeling a little better already but I’m gonna be sore tomorrow. Wanna push them now? I’m
ready for it.’
‘Yeah, time to try it again. Thank God they don’t have weapons or our ass would be grass.’ Tom started
getting up.
‘Didn’t you see that rock fly by when they hit you? They may be learning from our encounter. Keep on
your toes.’ Alex pushed up to one knee. ‘Ok, we’ve gotta get the advantage back. Here’s what we …’
A rock the size of a softball flew into the bush missing Alex’s head by less than a yard. Then another
sailed into the brush.
‘They’re trying to flush us out! Let’s go along with it. I’ll sprint across the swamp and stop at the edge.
I’m gonna fire into those bushes over there and leave my back open. You guys get set and wait for it. One of
them has gotta come around and hit me from behind. You just make sure you get him before he hits me I
don’t want to rely on body armor for protection.’
‘Why that the goddamn craziest thing I ever ….no, no.’
‘Tom, that’s an order. Just do it and no lip. Now get ready.’
‘Ok, here I go.’ Alex ran at a low, crawl, sprinting across the bog at half the speed he could normally
expect while dodging to avoid any more thrown rocks. Mud and sticks pull at every step as he high-stepped
and slipped over to his firing point. He goes down on one knee at the edge of the solid ground breathing so
heavily that he can barely steady his rifle. ‘Single shots into the trees. Spread them out.’
Corey sees a shadow slip through the trees behind Alex. He doesn’t wait to identify it but draws a quick
bead on the target. His finger tightens on the trigger and he can suddenly see yellow eyes in a black head
snap up and look directly at him. His finger tightens the last fraction of an inch and he can already see the
demon dropping to the side. The rifle seems to fire on its own surprising him and he can see the air distort
from the passage of the hypersonic round as it flies across the narrow open swamp. His mind instantly
knows that he missed!
The Black Ghost dives down and, in a perfect graceful swoop, hits Alex in the small of his back with
the razor sharp talons of its foreclaws while passing behind him. Alex flies into the brush, directly into the
arms of the second raptor.
Tom is already half way across the moss-covered marsh. The wet peat of the bog rises up to his knees
with every step as he watches the Black Ghosts grab Alex and start dragging him off. He screams as he
approaches and it startles one of the raptors. Just enough time for Tom to fall forward, one hand grabbing
Alex’s leg. Tom pulls from his off-balanced position, hanging on for dear life.
A black body falls on top of him. Tom hangs onto Alex’s leg like a bulldog with a bone. The raptor
seems to slide to the side and Tom can see a hand around it’s stomach. ‘It isn’t attacking! That’s Alex!’
A black tail sails across his face, stunning Tom into releasing his grip.
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Corey has just arrived and he swings around to get an advantage. He swings up his rifle directing the
muzzle into the thrashing Black Ghost not more than three feet away when a green mountain seems to rise
up along side of him. Instinctively he drops to the side, twisting the rifle. He fires at a head savagely
thrusting down to gulp Tom up with a single savage snap of a mouth full of teeth, each one the size of his
forearm. The hypersonic slug’s passage in the close space of the thicket buffets all of them with the impact
of the air blast as it rips up through the open mouth of the giant green-feathered raptor. The two-ton beast
falls, just missing the twisted mass of bodies at the edge of the clearing. A sudden scramble and strange mix
of savage, feral screams mixes with the growling hiss of the Black Ghosts.
Corey spots two more of the giant raptors coming at them through the undergrowth. One slips on the
soft peat bog as it plants its foot tripping the animal following right behind it. Corey reaches down and
yanks Alex up and onto his feet. The Black Ghosts are just managing to pull themselves out from under the
bloody remains of the shredded head of the green raptor shot by Corey. Alex turns and grabs his gun. He
starts back toward the Black Ghosts but Tom pulls him back.
‘No Alex, the whole pack is here.’ Tom cries, pulling the off-balance Alex through underbrush. ‘They
must have gotten by the T-rex’s but for all we know those guys are right behind them. Move it and let them
go they’ll probably get caught up in the whole thing anyway. Come on, we need to disappear.’
They ran off into the brush. It doesn’t matter where they are going, they simply need to clear out of the
area. A few thousand feet into the brush and Tom pulls over to the side. A set of fallen palms near the edge
of a few large rocks forms a natural cover. He darts under and then motions Alex and Corey inside.
‘I couldn’t hear anything following us.’
Corey’s watching down through the open woodland they just crossed. ‘I can’t hear anything either.
Maybe we can take a breather here.’
Alex is up and watching. ‘We were so damn close! I had that son of a gun if I only could have knifed
him. Another few seconds and …’
‘I’m not sure who had who back there Alex. I told you your stunt wasn’t a good one.’
‘What the hell to do you mean? It almost worked and would have worked if we hadn’t of been jumped
by those big goddamn birds! We should have blown them all to kingdom come.’
‘I agree with Alex. We should have stood our ground and fired.’ Corey commented dryly.
Tom sat there shaking his head, ‘You guys didn’t see what I saw. The jungle was filling with bodies.
Everyone was heading in for the catfight and the noise that we were making was attracting them like a
dinner bell. We would not have survived the free-for-all.’
‘Think back, didn’t you hear all of the noise back there after we left? The whole place sounded like a
giant rooster fight taking place right in the center of the catfight! Those Black Ghosts have got to have
bought the farm.’
Alex sat back against a tree trunk. A small red and blue feathered dino quietly slithered out the side of
the brush as he leaned back. Alex barely looked at the animal, ‘Well we don’t go back until we find out for
sure. So we wait here a while and then head back to the site. Lord knows it’s gonna take a while for us to
trace back along that wild path we came here on.’
Tom suddenly looked up, ‘Hey, I just got notification of a tracer on our signal. Someone’s monitoring
us and that must mean they are fairly close.’
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‘Well, who is it and what do they say?’
‘No, the signal wasn’t strong enough for a message. Just came and then went. Look, maybe they have a
Hunter Recon out here circling the area.’
Alex thought for a few moments, ‘No, I don’t think so. There’s either a Hunter sitting on top of the
cliffs overlooking the valley or maybe someone was crazy enough to come upriver.’
‘I don’t particularly want to head back toward the cliffs at this point. We need to …’
‘Shhh!’ Tom motioned for Corey to be quiet and pointed out into the jungle from the direction they had
just crossed.
Tom pulled them in close, ‘Someone is coming right up the path we just followed. There is someone
tracking us.’
‘Can’t be, our suits cut down on the scent trail by their very design.’ Alex started. ‘Oh shit, I just got a
glimpse of one of them, it’s our two bad boys. They are like cats. They must have nine lives to be alive, still
in the game and going strong.’
‘We have the advantage on them now. Let them close in and we’ll keep a bead and let them have it
when they are so close we can’t miss. I don’t care how fast …’
‘Look, they are having a hard time of it. Listen, they are way over to the side. Somehow they are
picking up our weak trail but it’s hard and slow going. Here’s what we do.’
‘I bet we have a rescue party down on the river waiting for us, that’s where your signal contact came
from Tom. We’ll let these guys pass by us and then move out. If we can end it there we will. If we miss then
I want to continue to drive them toward the river. We’ll use the other team as a backup and trap them
between us.’
‘We know exactly where they are now so move out quietly. Check your rifle settings and when we get
close to the river don’t be too trigger happy. More than likely there’s someone out in the middle on a boat
and these slugs travel far. I don’t want anyone hurt.’
Corey flipped his rifle and checked the slug bar, ‘How do we know they aren’t ashore, coming over to
us? They did get a good solid reading on us for a second.’
‘Come on Corey, they aren’t that crazy. No, they’ll wait on the river where they have a good field of
view and relative safety. Now, let’s move out.’
Alex stood and refastened his vest. ‘Shit, would you look at this.’
Corey and Tom looked up with surprise. Alex had his vest off and he ran his finger up along the back.
‘Look at the vest. There’s an actual scratch in it and I didn’t even feel it.’
Tom stepped over, moving his finger along the vest, ‘Yeah it must have been moving really fast if it
managed to scratch it before it fully hardened. That things designed to harden fast enough to stop a bullet.
Yet, if you look at this. See here’s another smaller scratch and there’s something that bothers me about them
even more than the speed.’
‘Remember when then jumped Corey? He said they were going for the weak points in the armor around
his arm and neck. Look here, these two hits are heading directly for the gap in your armor at the neck. These
guys have figured it out and are striking for our weak points.’
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Alex shifted his vest tight across his shoulders. ‘Keeps getting better and better doesn’t it. We know
these guys are smart but how the heck did they figure out that we had armor on and on top of that discover
its weak points in such a short period of time. All right, it can’t be helped. Lets get moving. Spread out but
keep in sight.’
Alex scuffled past Corey and stuck his head out into the clearing. He waited a few moments. He really
didn’t expect to see anything since they had been watching the whole time they were in the thicket but you
learned to move carefully.
Corey is the last to leave the cover and Alex motions him over to the left flank. ‘Oh great! They are
putting me on the end of the line. Guess that’s good, means they trust me a little more now. Oh the small
blessings of life!’
Passing through the woods would have been pleasant under other circumstances. They walked into a
field of small flowers. A small and colorful clearing formed by the toppling of a large tree. A few minutes of
bright sunshine each day is apparently enough to fill the area with these bushes and grow the flowers. The
smell of each bud is strange and sweet and the pedals are simply formed around the stem, none of the
complexity of an orchid or rose. Corey’s fascination grows as he sees some very tiny reptile-like flyers
landing on the flowers. ‘They must be gathering the nectar. Look at them all and their colors rival the bright
hues of the flowers. Guess this is the Cretaceous version of a hummingbird.’
Something sharply cracks against Corey’s helmet, breaking his fascination with the flowers. He jumps
and looks around. Then Corey spots Tom staring at him. As he watches, Tom lifts two figures to his eyes
and then moves them to point out into surrounding jungle.
A warm glow of embarrassment fills Corey’s face as he shakes his head and lifts his arm. ‘Yeah, pay
attention and don’t lose focus. Guess I got distracted.’
They move across a sloped section of the land with a small stream trickling across it. The land lifts on
the other side of the streambed. Alex is following a straight line toward the river to their south.
Halfway up the slope Tom lifts his hand to signal a stop and crouch. He turns back to the direction they
just came from. Then Corey also hears the sounds that must have alerted Tom, something is moving through
the forest. It’s behind them but how far back?
Tom motions them onward. They cross the top of the small hillock and Tom signals another halt in an
area narrowly open to the sky. Corey turns to look back. No sounds but he can see some movement through
the trees behind them. It’s on the other side of the small valley with the stream. ‘No, correction! They are on
the other side, there must be at least four of them and they are pretty big.’
Alex immediately pulled the team off to the west of their trek. He must be trying to get out of the path
of whatever is coming up behind them. They are jogging slowly, moving just below the open ridge crest to
avoid putting their silhouettes against the bright blue sky. Off to the south they can see brief glimpses of the
river’s waters through the trees for the first time. After less than a quarter of a mile, Alex pulls up and
motions for them to gather round.
Alex squats, his back set against a tree for cover. Corey can see him sub-vocalizing into their
communicators but he’s not on their team’s channel. After a brief conversation, Alex turns to them and
quietly whispers, ‘Well how about that? I just got in touch with our friends by the river. It’s Dotschkal, Ed
Saren and Pope. Corey, you win the bet though; they are on shore and headed this way.’
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Tom looked a little upset, ‘Wow, did you tell them about the sandwich we are in? Black ghosts in front
and who knows what coming up behind!’
‘That’s not exactly right Tom. I know those guys behind us are the big green dinos we scuffled with
before. Apparently they just don’t know when to quit. It’s a good thing we spotted them first and moved
over this way. What we gotta do is let them pass and then get behind …’
Corey slowly stands up and moves to the side. The movement halts Alex in mid-sentence. Corey’s gaze
is down in the valley behind them. ‘It didn’t work. They shifted direction just like we did and are behind us
again.’
‘This way!’ Alex whispers and they moved down into the valley away from their pursuers.
High palms mix in the forest around them with beech, fig trees, and a few magnolia in full bloom. The
floor of the jungle is filled with ferns that are gradually becoming larger and denser in their growth as they
approach the river. Then a barrier of green brush and small palmetto forms between the trees ahead of them
and a few brief glimpses of sunlight break through the dense woodland cover.
‘There must be open fields beyond this break wall. The only thing keeping us ahead of these jolly-green
dinos is the dense forest. If we head out into the open then we are asking for trouble.’ Alex whispered as he
jogged through the woodland.
Tom pulled over toward Alex, ‘Why don’t we go to ground in the dense growth along the edge?’
‘No, not good enough.’ Corey broke in, ‘We’d have them coming out of these bushes right on top of us
and no cover for us to run to if we must. Look we’ve seen grassland like this before. It can’t be a completely
open field, there has got to be islands of brush scattered around it. Let’s move out and into one of the
islands. That’ll give us a clear field of fire if they have our scent and head directly at us. With any luck
they’ll pass right by.’
‘Corey, now you are starting to think like a soldier. That’s a good tactical setup.’ Alex said. ‘Come on.’
The brush was very thick at the edge of the field but they found a game trail leading through the worst
of the thicket. They emerged into the bright sunshine. The field extended for several acres to the south
towards the river in a chest high growth of coarse grass. Dense woodland followed along the eastern edge
and, as they expected, there were multiple islands of high growth containing bushes and trees.
‘Field? Shoot, we could take cover right in this grassland.’ Tom commented.
Alex immediately started across the grass taking care to stay on the game trail. They jogged out to the
nearest island of brush. Alex halted and whispered, ‘Ok, stay close now and follow me no matter where I
go. We aren’t gonna stay here.’
‘Well, you better hurry. Those guys are gonna be on our tails any second.’
‘We have to take the chance Tom.’
Alex took off into the center pushing the brush ahead of him. He crossed a slight rise and then followed
the nearest game trail back out into the field. They were headed to the east now.
‘I can see movement at the edge of the field Alex.’ Corey whispered.
They pulled into a low crouch and moved over to the second island. Alex turned and motioned them
over to him after they were up off the soft ground of the grassland, ‘It’s too easy to follow a trail in the
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grass. Hopefully we threw them off our trail by sprinting over to this island. Setup at the edge and no one
fires before I do. Remember, these guys are big so set your rifle slug accordingly.’
Corey watches as three large green theropods emerged from the treeline. Standing at least twenty feet
high, they crossed into the grassland and stopped. Two drop their heads low to the ground while the other
watches around the area. They are clearly looking at the trail just crossed by the humans as well as smelling
around. The largest raptor raises his head and calls. Two more groups enter the field.
‘Cheeze, we aren’t prepared for eight of these things. We’ll never drop them all if they charge us.’
Corey frantically looked around the immediate area. No place to hide. ‘Look at that, they’re moving directly
toward the island we first visited.’
The large raptors entered the open sunlight. Their feathers gleam a bright Saint Patrick’s green that
morphed into a light coffee brown over their breasts with spots of deep bronze. They moved their twenty
foot bodies with a smooth grace unnatural to any bird that Corey had ever seen. They seemed to flow
between the trees and into the open grassland, smoothly gliding through the thicket. They stopped in a line
at the edge of the grassland, next to the three raptors already standing. Corey is sure they are looking
directly at the thick brush hiding him.
A complex series of calls and whistles arises and two raptors on each side pull out into the field.
Moving cautiously through the grass, they pass over and circle the edges of the field. ‘I don’t believe it.
They must know we are hiding in here. They’ve got sentries all around us now! Me and my big ideas.’
Tom watched as Corey’s agitation grew, ‘Easy Corey. They’re smart but we ain’t done for yet. Things
always look worse than they are.’
The main body began to move in toward the islands. One of the sentries moved directly toward their
island. ‘He’s gonna flush us for sure if he doesn’t go around the island.’ Corey thought as he shifted his
position to get a better firing solution.
The monstrous raptor seemed to rattle and growl as it walked. Its tooth-filled head would bob down
into the grass and then pull back up to look around. It moved closer to their position. No more than a few
feet away, the raptor towered above the trees on their hideout. Thoughts raced through his mind, ‘Cheeze,
they are huge! This is one of the smaller ones too! I can’t imagine standing right next to that one’s foot like I
did earlier, I had no idea they were so big.’
‘When they heck is Alex gonna pop him? Next thing he’s gonna squish… oh crap! He’s turning this
way.’
The raptor approached the edge of the island. It is so close that Corey can see the intelligence in it’s
eyes and the ripple of muscle under the sparse feather covering. He watches it move as it examines each
rock and tree around it. It suddenly steps up into the bushes on the edge of the hard ground not more than
six feet from where Corey lay. The raptor stopped and sniffed around the area. It is large enough that the
head manages to pass by the spot where he lay hidden. Corey can smell the musty order of the animal mixed
with the fragrant grasses around him and his nose began to fill and tickle. He stopped breathing, held his
breath for all he was worth. He could not even move to put his hand over his mouth.
The beast suddenly stands erect and takes another step onto the dry island of hard stones supporting
their hiding place. A cry rises from across the field behind Corey, screeching like chalk on a blackboard.
The raptor snaps its head up and leaps across a third of the island.
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The raptors raced over toward the first island where two of the big dinosaurs were standing. Suddenly
one of the raptors standing in the grass falls to the ground. It thrashes and the group jumps over toward it.
Corey watches, amazed at the speed and agility of the attackers.
Alex rose next to him and raised his rifle. He swung the rifle down across the grasslands. ‘No, they
aren’t over there!’ Corey thought as he brought his rifle up just as Alex fired three rapid shots. ‘What the
hell are you shooting at Alex!’
‘The Black Ghosts just took off. They must have hit that green one standing over there and then took
off. Watch it!’ Alex swung his rifle right over Corey. Two of the big raptors were running toward them.
Three sharp calls suddenly filled the air and the two stopped and looked back. The team of giant birds turn
and take off running across the field.
‘They aren’t after us! They are tracking those Black Ghosts just like we are. Come on!’
‘Well at least they are heading south. They should run right into Dotschkal and Pope. You better tell
them they are coming.’
‘No good. I already tried and can’t raise them. Come on.’
The three men run openly across the field but the eight raptors charge ahead of them and are quickly
lost to sight.
Corey slogged through the high grass, one thought dwelling in his mind, ‘I don’t want to try to outrun
one those things… and I don’t want one hunting me. They are too persistent.’
* * * * *
‘This shallow ocean extends across the center of the North American land mass. Please be careful of the
edge there Miss Taylor. You aren’t as used to the footing as these Hypes are. Where was I? Oh yes.’ Doctor
Janet Anderson looked over the small group of humans standing on the sharp ledge of a large cave opening
just above the ocean.
‘Average sea levels across the world, in this timeframe, are about three hundred feet higher than in our
world. We see a relatively uniform climate across the globe with almost no permanent snow anywhere on
the globe. This uniform warmth is brought about by the low levels of cosmic radiation that the solar systems
has been experiencing for the last hundred million as it passed though the relatively open areas between
arms of the galaxy. Cosmic radiation, you know the stuff formed by black holes, stellar nova etcetera, is a
major source of cloud formation and therefore air turbulence. Without this turbulence and the cooling effect
of significant cloud cover, the climate has had a chance to be very uniform and warm.’
‘So here we see a shallow tropical sea extending across all of central North America all the way up
through the area that will someday be Canada. The diversity and density of sea life here is fantastic, much
richer than we ever anticipated. The ocean is filled with many familiar life forms such as clams, crabs,
octopus, shark as well as vast areas of beautiful coral reefs. Over fifty percent of the current and most
populous species found here will not survive to our time. These include the beautiful ammonites that we can
see right over there as well as trilobites and most of the larger sea predators. Many of the small fish we see
right below will eventually evolve to fill in the empty niche’s left behind by those species going extinct.’
‘We are in an area that will become southwest Texas. The abundance of wildlife on land will be
traceable in our time through the fossils found in the area although we are discovering many, many more
creatures never before seen in the record.’
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‘The caverns we just came through are mostly natural fissures in the limestone beds that predate the
Cretaceous period. I showed the minor modifications that the Hypsophalidont made in the cave structure.
It’s worth while noting that the species tends not to strongly modify their surroundings.’
‘Life here in the cave system has been advantageous for the hypes. The peninsula provides a natural
protective barrier from most of the mainland threats. That, by the way, is a major reason why we chose this
site. The caves are extensive and natural openings like this to the sea allow them to catch sea life in relative
safety.’
‘How do they catch the fish Doctor Anderson?’ Julia Taylor’s daughter asked.
‘Those two over there are fishing. One dives down into the water while the other is a lookout. They’ll
come up with anything from shellfish to live animals such as squid, octopus and smaller mosasaurs.
Mosasaurs are those toothy porpoise-looking animals that are lying on the side over here.’
‘Some of the younger Hypes have begun to use fishing poles. This is a trick they learned from us and
it’s another indication that their way of thinking is undergoing a rather interesting revolution. In the hundred
million year history of their race it never occurred to them that you could use equipment like this to go
fishing.’
Robert Taylor is obviously disturbed by this statement, ‘Aren’t you concerned about how this may
influence the historic timeline? Suppose it changes our own species or history?’
‘Oh, I see what you mean Mister Taylor. You are referring to a phenomenon that many have called the
“Butterfly Effect”. The temporal sequence doesn’t work that way. If you step on a butterfly today, here in
the Cretaceous, then it will not, for example, rob some animal of a future meal and result in some critical
animal’s lifeline dropping from our time. The timeline is not a rigid as a game of billiards, if it were this
fragile there would be virtually trillions of trillions of parallel universes to cover all possible occurrences.’
‘The law of Quantum Gravitonics that provides a basis for our company suggests that the flow of time
is more like the waters of a stream. If you place a pebble or even a rock in the stream, you will cause some
local disturbances. Even with a large disturbance, the stream continues in its flow down its original and
inevitable path to our present timeframe just a little over sixty five million years from now.’
‘Oh, you could conceivably create a large enough disturbance to actually block or redirect the
timestream. For all practical purposes, no one has actually calculated the size that such a disturbance would
have to be since it would have to be inconceivably huge.’
‘Hmm, I see. Are we going to be able to tour the outside labs here on the Station?’
Julia spoke up before Janette could answer, ‘Oh Bob, of course they’ll let us see them. This is much
more interesting for both me and the girls so please have a little patience. Julia, will these tunnels be part of
the starport and resort tours? They are fascinating travels and we love the Hypes, I guess you call them.’
‘No Mrs. Taylor. You are receiving this tour as a special part of your visit here. We had to ask and
receive clearance from the Hypes to let you into the caverns. This is their home and they value their culture
and their privacy. Travelers and tourists coming here will have a lot of interaction with the Hypes since they
will work with our people in the resort and even act as tour guides but we won’t be turning their home into a
tourist attraction.’
‘Now I would like to take you along the cliffs to the south side of the plateau. We’ll be travelling
through tunnels and along a rather narrow trail so please be careful. I assure you the view is quite
spectacular and you’ll see the drastic change in sea life to the south as we travel this path that is so near the
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water’s surface. After that we’ll return and have a nice lunch that Mary Li has prepared. I do believe you’ll
find it interesting since all of the food-stuffs are plants indigenous to the time period. Ah yes, we also have
standard supplies for those less adventuresome.’
‘After lunch we can split into two parties. You can have some free time if you wish. We only ask that
you stay within the center compound area. If you get a call on your Hive Tab please follow instructions and
get to the nearest secure habitat. I need to remind you that we still have not removed the problem of those
two intruders of yesterday.’
‘Those who would like to continue the tour can accompany me to the science labs. If you are interested
in seeing the progress of our experiments and meeting the people conducting the research then meet me over
at my table when you are ready.’
‘If there are no questions then please follow me.’
A little later, Susan Esque walked over to the lunch counter where Robert Taylor had just picked up a
sandwich, ‘So you think that scrumptious sandwich is turkey do you Robert?’
‘Actually Susan I had one last night and it’s pretty good, tastes like turkey.’
‘Oh? Not chicken?’
‘What? Oh, I see what you mean. No, in this case it tastes like turkey but I know it’s Hadrosaur. Have
you had a chance to talk with Justin Rather about our little venture?’
‘Yeah and the news is not good. The detailed disposition of shares in GraviDynamics is, as you know, a
tightly held secret that Mark has chosen to keep from even us board members. I lightly broached the idea
about buying majority ownership with Justin since he seems to be the one closest to generation of our 10k
annual report to the shareholders. Justin said I was wasting my time.’
‘Apparently the majority of voting shares are held between Mark and Matt Zoeller. There is no way we
can buy up a majority unless one of them sells or dies so that the bonds go through probate. That would give
us a chance to grab control since they own only fifty-one percent of the stock.’
‘Have you checked on who would be inheriting their stock? I don’t see how you could find out.’
‘You are right. We can’t find out but we could tie up the distribution in the courts. We could then force
an issue vote in the company and by the bylaws they would have to vote using only free and clear stock.
Apparently that leaves us free to issue additional stock and with his estate tied up in probate we could swing
a majority purchase.’
‘Suzan, are you suggesting that we orchestrate an accident?’ Robert asked as he looked around.
‘You’ve seen yourself. This is a very wild venture. People have died already. We may get lucky or we
may simply have to be on our toes looking for the opportunity.’
‘What’s wrong with being number two? The passage through the portals is free and open to anyone
with spaceflight technology.’
‘We’d be limited because GraviDynamics holds the patents for the Gravitonics Drive. We would
always be second place even if we survived and they didn’t refuse to sell to us. No, second place would take
us years to overtake them. Don’t wimp out on me now Robert. We are this close and there are no laws here,
no forensics system to track us down. Accidents happen we have simply have to help one along.’
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‘I assume you are targeting Mark then. Matt hardly ever leaves his office and lab. In addition, most of
his work is theoretical so we can’t even push for a lab accident.’
‘Look, keep your eyes and ears open. We do have help here if we need it. I’ll tell you more about it
later.’
* * * * *
Charcoal dark down flutters lightly in the warm breeze, a brief movement that betrays the existence and
presence of the predator. Her muscles are set tense against her lightly boned frame ready to react in a
second. She begins breathing rapidly, pumping air through body and bones. This is nature’s unique
turbocharged design to pump oxygen into her bloodstream in preparation for an explosive response.
preparing her body for a brief second of violent release that will catapult the lithe mass of muscle nearly into
flight. Switchblade-like claws are held back, ready to be flung forward, gutting their prey with lightning
swiftness as a mouth full of teeth quiver lightly and deadly claws prepare to penetrate for the rapid end to
the hapless victim’s struggles.
She can smell the prey as they approach. Feel their movement through the high grass and sense the
sharp edges of their fear. Their passage is quiet but the heat of their bodies grows with each step felt through
the movement of the very ground beneath her feet.
Only a few more steps! Just one more and … now! She explodes from the grass. Flinging herself at the
leader with a cry designed to inject frozen fear in her prey. Her arms, legs and gleaming teeth swing
forward. Talons rise to the attack, reaching ahead to grab, rip and tear into the soft flesh of her target.
The suddenness of the attack, the fearsomeness of the cry startles him into a second of immobility. His
eyes open wide as he turns in surprise. Reaction sends his arm back and then flings it forward. It strikes the
charging blue ball of blind fury throwing the creature off into the bushes with a startled cry of pain and
shared surprise.
‘Goddamn blue stupid parrots. Don’t they realize we’re almost twice their size and five times their
mass?’ Anton Dotschkal cursed quietly as he resumed his trek. He didn’t even watch as the dinosaur got up
and fled off into the brush screaming at him in defiance. ‘Just when you’re trying to move quietly these
idiots come screaming out at you.’
David pulled up behind him as they pushed through the jungle, ‘They are dinosaurs Anton, not parrots.
They’ve never interacted with humans before so give ‘em a break.’
‘Stupid parrots with teeth and claws as far as I’m concerned. Dinosaurs are supposed to be big and
scary. “Give ‘em a break” my backside.’
Anton could hear a soft chuckle from Ed Saren moving behind David. It didn’t help his humor at all.
The path through the chest-high brush was easily enough travelled. The problem is that you can’t see
anything at all that might be hiding in the grass. ‘Push it Anton! We’ve got to get up to that wooded ridge
before those Black Ghosts arrive. Hopefully they were able to shake those big guys chasing them.’
‘This is a fine kettle of fish. We don’t even know where they are, when they’ll be here and who’s all
coming to the party. They could slip by us in this high grass with no problem.’
‘I think we’ll see them in the grass. They are being chased and they don’t expect us to be waiting for
them. Damned if I know why we can’t communicate with Alex though.’
‘Ok, let’s climb up on this rocky high ground. Hey, look at that, a big tortoise.’
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‘Focus Anton, they’ve been around for a long time.’ David chides as he pulls up onto the rocky ground.
‘We need to set up here. We’ll place ourselves on the northern side of this mound and wait. They should be
along in fifteen to twenty minutes at the most.’
Ed walked over toward the western tip of the rocky rise, ‘Cheeze, this whole area is like living in a
terrarium. Every place you put your foot there’s something crawling, flying, scuttling or running by.’
‘Well, I like it when they run by you and not at you. At least we haven’t run into anything really nasty.’
David whispered over, ‘Cut the jabbering. They’ve got real good hearing as well as sight and smell.’
Anton suddenly goes quiet, crouches down and hisses two short bursts through his teeth. When David
and Ed look over he points into the brushland down in the shallow depression before them. On the other side
of the field, about as far up as they can see, animals are fleeing from a clump of grass and trees like water
flying from a rock thrown into a stream. One of the trees is shaking like a bobber with a fish on it.
‘Company’s coming. Let’s settle in.’ He whispers as he moves over into a protected position.
* * * * *
‘Well, it helped to have a few of these, “feathers” you called them? They are quite amazing if you look
at the fine structure of their construction. Ah, be careful there Mark. Yes, that’s it, move over this way.’
Mark was surprised that Marty Feldman had the presence of mind to even warn him as he walked
across the darkened laboratory. ‘Minefields Dan, follow my steps.’
‘Minefield? Oh, yes I see. You don’t have to warn me, Marty’s reputation precedes him. This is the first
time I’ve been in your lab Marty so I do appreciate the warning.’
Marty flowed easily across the semi-darkened laboratory. Unconsciously weaving in and out of metallic
arms, wires and some other indefinable creations hanging from the ceiling and extending out from the bench
tops. The lab hummed and wined with the power escaping from a dozen experiments. A subtle smell, a little
sour and a little sweet in nature, hung in the air. ‘That’s enough of the wisecracks. This is a working
research laboratory not some room in the Franklin Institute where school children can romp free and play
with the toys. Now look and pay attention, this is serious. This instrument is a confocal microscope. We can
see real time colors and 3D images using it rather than the old fashioned electron microscope like that one
over there.’
They moved over toward a corner of the lab that was set up with a pair of GraviDynamics display
plates. Marty flipped on the power and an image of one of the Black Ghost’s plumes appeared between the
two plates.
‘Why isn’t this directly tied into our Hive Tab network Marty? That would be easier for us to view and
we could save the images.’ Mark commented as he bent down closer to the small image floating before him.
‘You wouldn’t give me approval to bring one along because of space limitations. So I had to build this
microscope from spare parts after we got here. It’s good enough for my use, no need to get fancy and waste
time.’
Mark heard Dan quietly laughing behind him. He turned and looked at Dan with a frown.
Dan stepped forward, ‘Marty, let’s get to the point. What …’
‘Don’t put your hand down on that optical bench Dan! You’ll knock the optical train out of alignment.
You guys are like bulls in a china shop! Come here.’ He dialed the image of the feather up to the point that a
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small segment grew to fill the entire display. A complex image of fine lines, radiant with colors, shimmers
before them with thousands of small ridges running parallel to each other. Marty tilted the field slightly and
rings of color began to form across the field, they seem to float in the space above the feather.
‘We would not have been able to see this with an SEM, that’s a scanning electron microscope for you
Dan. That’s because the wavelength of the electron beam is too small and too monochromatic, we would
only see the fine structure on the ridges.’
‘This confocal microscope uses visible light to look at areas that are actually smaller than the
wavelength of the light used by the microscope by using scanned slit imaging. Quite a neat trick if you think
about it but the basic technology has been around for over two hundred years. Ok, enough background.
Let’s get back to our discussion.’
‘These aren’t like the feathers that any of us are used to looking at. Their structure is different, some
parts are simpler and others are more complex than those of a modern bird. Additionally, the Black Ghost
feathers are considerably more complex than those I looked at from the Hadrosaurids and the pigmy
Tyrannosaurs from up in Blackbird Valley.’
‘You mean the things we call “Blackbirds” right?’ Dan asked.
‘Right. I’m not going to waste our time by performing a comparative analysis. Just examine this image.
These thick veins are the barbs of the feathers. Between them are flat placements called barbules that are
basic to forming the flat flight-surface in the wing structure of our modern birds.’
‘Now that’s where the similarity ends. These barbules are nothing at all like the ones found in modern
bird feathers. They are much more sharply defined and merge with the barbs through a series of extremely
fine sinew within the barb. Stresses presented across the sinew cause the structure of the barbules to either
bunch together or flatten. What’s amazing is just how uniformly they move. The barbules bunch to form the
fine pattern of parallel lines you see here. The very pattern we are looking at is formed by sinew that I’ve
stressed by inducing a small excitation field into the feather.’
Mark bent in a little closer to the patterns floating before him, ‘This is absolutely fantastic Marty. The
placement of these ridges is so precise it looks manufactured.’
The image suddenly disappeared. Mark jumped back in surprise and looked at Marty. Marty is staring
at Dan in the grey low light of the laboratory but he addressed Mark, ‘If you are going to bring people into
my laboratory then please select those who can handle themselves responsibly. Daniel, didn’t I tell you not
to lean on that optical bench!’
Marty managed to push around Mark and gently moved Dan away from the bench. He reached over and
a thin blue beam flickered over across the flat surface. Marty lightly turned a knob on one of the instrument
mounts on the table. There was a snap in the air and the sharp smell of ozone lightly filled the room. The
image of the feather flickered into life and then disappeared. Marty touched another component and a
second crackle filled the air. The image of the feather returned, floating serenely in the air before them.
‘Now please be careful Daniel or feel free to exit. You didn’t break anything but if you touch the wrong
thing you could be very sore for a long time.’
‘Where was I?’ He commented as he pushed back to the display. ‘An object doesn’t have to be
manufactured to generate extremely precise and straight parallel lines. Nature does it quite often resulting in
some rather unique cases of wavefront interference. No, the fascinating part of these feathers here lies in
what and how they are used.’
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‘Here, move away from the microscope image and observe the actual feather. I’m going to add normal
illumination across the feather. Watch and observe.’
The feather’s color changed from the dull bronze color and illuminated into tones of a greenish gold.
‘The beautiful color you see here is generated by the interference phased reflection of the white light
from this lamp off of the small parallel lines formed by the microscope barbules of the feather. This is a
very common effect in physics called a diffraction grating. The principle is a common application used in
everything from spectroscopes to bandwidth filtering. Now, watch what happens when I change the stress
on the barb structures by adding a field charge to the feather section.’
Dan looked over at Marty, ‘Ok, it changed color. Is that a big deal?’
‘Are you kidding Dan?’ Mark looked at him is disbelief. ‘These guys can flip between color states
simply by introducing a stimulus into the nerve centers of the feather?’
‘No, that’s close Mark but not exactly right.’ Marty said and he turned on a second set of knobs on his
field driver. The color on the feather changed from one edge to the other. Moving from a light blue to a dark
amber in a continuous transition. ‘And if you think that’s great then watch!’
Another adjustment and a series of stripes like those of a miniature zebra formed across the feather.
‘Finally, for the climax of the demonstration, watch this.’ Mark and Dan watched and suddenly the feather
vanished. Only the light grey texture of the mounting pedestal with its series of edged vacuum groves
remained.
‘Shit, we lost it! Nobody move.’ Dan called out.
Marty chuckled and shut down the field driver. The feather reappeared on the microscope stage. ‘It
never moved Dan. I simply tuned it to emulate the background behind it. If you would have looked a little
closer while it was in this state you could have still seen the feather. However, for a casual glance it all but
disappears.’
Mark stood there with his mouth open and his thoughts obviously travelling very far afield. Marty
looked directly at him and a rare smile lit his face. ‘Mark? Oh Mark? I was going to try and write your name
across the feather instead but that turned out to be a little complicated and I ran out of time. I think you are
beginning to realize the implications of this so I won’t elaborate any further but I think its rather odd. Do
you realize that this implies these beasts have no natural color pattern of their own. Every species in nature
is defined by its shape and color. This characteristic alone is beyond the natural scope and design of any
species we know of.’
Mark turns back to Dan ignoring Marty’s speculation, ‘That’s how they do it! Amazing! Do you realize
what this means? This, this is natural camouflage? Recall Anton’s report from over on the starport the
evening they were attacked. These two dinosaurs consistently charged and re-entered the area protected by
our AutoSentinel security screen. They eventually were able to penetrate it. They were learning and, even
more significant, this implies that they can sense the broad spectrum infrared and near ultraviolet radiation
used by the sensors. They must have a very broad bandwidth of light perception that they can see or
somehow sense. We of course know nothing about their sensors at this point.’
‘Then there’s the data processing that must naturally occur within their brain and neural networks. It
can’t be a conscious function so it must be distributed process across the whole organic network of the
beast. This is an extremely sophisticated and complex organism. I guess it sort of redefines our thoughts
toward evolution when we think of “dinosaurs” as a word once synonymous with archaic or a failed
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evolutionary line. They are in fact highly developed organisms that a freak cataclysm will remove from the
earth’s timeline.’
Marty retuned the microscope to make the feather disappear and turned to Mark and Dan, ‘Well they
have had well over a hundred million years to perfect the design. Even longer, if you consider that this
species started in the Triassic period. We haven’t been working one tenth that long on our solution to the
problem of species survival.’
‘Let’s refocus on what is important here.’ Marty lifted the lighting in the lab. ‘The natural camouflage
of these theropods gives them a tremendous advantage. Oddly enough, it extends way beyond our ability to
see them with our eyes. This capability means that most of our automated sensors are now ineffective
against these attackers. We can’t simply …’
‘Theropods? Has Sara identified the species?’
‘No Sara didn’t identify them. We have no idea, as far as Sara knows, just where they might be in the
fossil record. I’m simply going by the characteristics. That isn’t important right now. What is important is
we need to break their camouflage. Come over here.’
‘This is a little photon generator that I just modified.’
‘Looks like a flashlight to me.’ Dan mumbled.
‘Yes, it’s a flashlight Dan but it’s also a little more than that because I can tune the individual emission
lines of its output spectrum. It’s set for white light now. Look at the feather. Still can’t see it, right?’ Marty
reached over to the bench top where a large box with dials sat. He spun a dial.
‘Where the hell did you get that antique?’ Mark stared at the box.
‘I have to generate a series of complex beat frequencies using multiple wavelengths. The modern
systems are too restrictive and not tuned as finely as these old units when you want an analog output.
Everything nowadays is set for digital applications. Here, I got it. Now watch the feather.’
Marty spun the dial and as they watched, the portion of the feather lit by the flashlight in his hand
reappeared. ‘There! That’s what we needed. The beam looks like a normal mix of white-light to our eyeballs
but within the spectrum of the light there is a scanner that’s cycling at a high rate. I had to play around with
it for a while until I found the right window but there it is. We can now see right through their camouflage.’
‘Whoa! Marty slow down a little. You mean you found a portion of the spectrum that they can’t
emulate?’
‘No, nothing like that at all. Their camouflage adapts to the ambient illumination around them. They
disappear because they have a biologic computer that is aware of the background colors around their body.
Remember their eye placement. They have binocular vision and quite uniquely also have a full one hundred
twenty degree vision for each eyeball. This optical layout means they can almost see behind them while still
viewing objects in front of them. It must really be one hell of a biologic computer to constantly calculate the
signals needed to camouflage themselves while they are running or even simply moving. This means they
have to constantly be highly aware of all of their surrounding down to details of shading. They do a much
better job when moving slow or sitting still of course since there’s less data to process.’
Marty scanned the beam over a portion of the feather hidden beneath the natural active camouflage of
it’s patterning. Suddenly the portion of the feather under the illumination was fully visible. As soon as the
beam of light left the area, the feather once again became invisible.
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‘The light from this flashlight has a component that scans up and down the visible spectrum. The scans
are very rapid and their path across the wavelength spectrum changes in a random fashion. Actually it’s not
truly random since that would complicate the scan algorithm and add unnecessary computation time. I was
able to add a sufficiently long random sequence that they’ll never detect the repetition cycle. Saves a lot of
time.’
‘There, you can see the portion under our flashlight. As far as I’ve been able to analyze the response so
far, the structure simply can’t react quickly enough to the changing frequency. So the trick is to essentially
overload the emulation and our dino is suddenly visible.’
‘Great, we have a solution that we can apply now to the AutoSentinels but how about for our security
personnel.’
‘I’ll be able to set up some handheld torches and a unit that we can clip on the rifles or simply carry in
your pocket. I just need a day or two to grow the control circuits. Our solution is simple and those are the
best solutions. We don’t have to gather and analyze patterns, we only need to confuse their analysis.’
‘Good work Marty, get right on it. We have to do this immediately even if they manage to hunt down
the two Black Ghosts. If these two have this natural ability then there’s always the chance that others of
their kind might be in the area or might pay us a future visit. We need to upgrade our defenses.’ Mark turned
and carefully began walking across the small laboratory to the door.
‘It may be more than that Mark. Consider how unexpected their characteristics have been. Hell, even if
you look at the Hypsilophodont that we work with every day you can see the trend. Our research has
underestimated the capabilities of almost every species we’ve encountered. Consider also that with the
broad diversity of life around here, there are obviously a lot more species around than we know of from our
records. I’m rather looking forward to the next set of surprises.’
‘Can you assign a few people to begin assembling these units after I complete the design. I’d like to
have Brian Folsom come back if he feels up to it.’
‘I’ll ask him Marty. I’m sure he’ll be more than glad to work with you again. I think he believed you
wouldn’t want to work with him after he lost your last designs.’
‘What? Don’t be ridiculous. It wasn’t his fault that those two guys jumped him. Also, does he think I’d
give him the only copy of a design? No, anyway I don’t believe that would have been as good a solution and
certainly not a simple as this one so please ask him back.’
‘Dan, would you like some help getting over to the door? I suggest you don’t go over that way.’
* * * * *
A bright glint of sunlight reflects from the flowing waters to rip through a group of trees far across the
glade before them. A dozen bright green bodies gracefully fan out across the clearing calling to one another
in their strange warble-like tones. They push through the open grassland, their frenzied passage flinging
large palm branches across the brush as they rip through the low foliage. Massive bodies crash into high
trees, knocking them aside with disdain in the violence of the swift passage of their final thrust. The highpitched cries and screams of a few minutes ago are gone as the pack of dinosaurs cross the valley, finally
closing in on their quarry. The pack spreads out into a semicircle, pushing their prey ahead of them toward
the barrier formed by the edge of the distant river.
Tom Bracken crawls up behind Alex who is watching their progress from on top of a large outcrop of
pure white quartz, ‘Still no contact with Dotschkal. So we have no idea where they are down there.’
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‘Well I hope they aren’t at the focus of that drive. If they are then they are going to get hit first by a
couple of very frantic smaller dinosaurs and then all of those big guys are gonna come crashing down on
their heads.’
‘Signal over to Corey. I want to follow up right behind them. Quickly!’
Tom slid back down the slope of the outcrop while Alex lowered himself down across the sharp vertical
surface of its face. Two or three handholds down, Alex turned and began jogging off into the thick ground
cover of fern, coarse grass and scrub palm.
The ground beneath his feet is soft and a fragrant odor fills the air. Insects, small four legged lizards and
tiny two legged dinosaurs stir from their cover before him. His helmet signals the approach of Tom and
Corey from his right side, they are slightly behind him but something seems wrong. His helmet surveillance
shows no clear indication of their location and their indicators keep fading away and blinking in and out.
Alex stopped for a second to set down on one knee and take off his helmet.
‘What’s the matter, you having problems too?’ Corey asked as he approached. Then Corey’s eyes went
wide as Alex pulled the ka-bar from his leg sheath and pried open an access panel.
‘Cheez no Alex! Not out here, that’s a sealed circuit!’ Corey jumped to stop him just a little too late.
The panel flipped up and three shiny, brown, hard-shelled insects skirted out from the biocircuitry chamber.
‘There’s our problem. Dino-cockroaches are in the circuits!’ Alex held the mangled circuitry up for
Corey’s inspection. ‘Look at this shit! They had a little feast going on in there! They are eating it faster than
it can repair itself.’
‘How the hell did they get in there?’ Corey started to set down and inspect the helmet but Alex pushed
him off.
‘No time for that now. Come on, we gotta get over to Anton and the others. They are gonna be in a
world of trouble in just a few minutes.’ Alex motioned them on as he slipped the cover into a pouch on his
harness.
Alex, Corey and Tom spread out into a tight line, spacing themselves less than fifteen feet apart as they
run across the field. The scrubland ahead of them slopes down into a shallow valley with one of the many
small streams moving through it from the distant cliffs towards the river. They can hear the crashing and
called warbles of the pack ahead of them as the songs cascade across the front set up by the hunters.
‘Holy Mackeral!’ Corey calls out, ‘watch where you are running. I almost collided with a pile of brown
dung almost as big as me and spread out across the field!’
‘Shhh!’ Alex motioned as they ran.
The constant parade of wildlife that has always been with them is gone. All of the game seems to have
been pushed ahead by the advancing towers of muscle hunting their quarry. They are close enough to the
front of the chase that the humans can hear the brush crashing, the occasional snap of jaws and frenzied
screams as the hunters snap at anything within their path. All around the humans, bodies litter the field,
many still convulsing in their death throes.
Alex signals a halt at the shallow stream and runs down along the bank. He quickly returns and signals
them onward. ‘Yeah, I’d of guessed they would have followed the stream, would have been wrong.’ Corey
thought to himself as he jogged. ‘Looks like they went for the high ground.’
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The ground rises ahead of them in a long slope to a rocky ridgeline hiding what has to be the banks of
the river on the other side. The jog up the slope provides a clear view of the valley behind them. A clear
view of the areas they just crossed now filling with carrion eaters moving in on those recently killed and
maimed by the drive. Cries and snarls begin to fill the air behind them while just ahead of them the
predators push forward always on the trail of the two Black Ghosts.
Less than four hundred yards ahead, three humans stand behind the bare rocky ridge at the top of the
hillside watching a wave of wildlife roll up the shallow slope of the field before them.
‘Shit, there’s things running all over the valley!’ David grumbled as he lifted his rifle. ‘Yell out if you
spot our targets.’
‘Will you shut the hell up! You’ll spook them.’ Anton hissed over at him. ‘Cheeze, there’s one at ten
o’clock and he just turned this way.’
‘Where’d they go?’ Ed Saren whispered. ‘I don’t see anything …’
A sudden wave of Cretaceous wildlife swept over the humans. Small game, almost all of it less than
five feet in height, flowed around the crest of rocks that hide the humans like lemmings pushing into the sea.
Anton suddenly shifted his position and fired into the brush.
Ed Saren looked over but couldn’t see anything, then it hit him. The blow came from his left side
catching him unaware, driving the rifle from his hands. His head snapped to the side and he could feel a
claw dig into his armor. It slid up his chest, skittering across the hardened surface and sunk into the soft skin
at the top of his shoulder. Pain shot up his neck and down into his left arm as the claw dug into the nerve
bundles and sinew at the base of his neck just missing his jugular.
Ed swung his arms around in reaction and he could feel and hear a pop in his left shoulder blade. He
grabbed the leg of the beast and twisted just as a head full of sharp white teeth closed over his helmet. Ed
screamed in pain and anger and a part of his mind could hear shots in the distance and the crunching of teeth
as they skitted over the hard surface of his battle helmet. His head is pushed back and twisted by the swift
jaws as the claw digs deeper into his shoulder.
A crunch and snap rings through Ed’s skull with a ferocity equaled by the sharp shaft of pain. For a few
moments, he can see blue sky and a canopy of green across the valley framed by sharp white teeth set in
black jaws. The serenity of the vision conflicts with the panic filling his body. Then the light fades into
darkness and an ending of the pain.
‘Anton, watch your side!’ David shouted as he fired two shots at the black figure magically appearing
among them. Anton doesn’t even turn. He focuses his entire concentration on the shadow he’s been
following down by that red bush. Anton takes in a deep breath of air, releases half of it and slowly squeezes
the trigger.
David’s two shots cracked through the air. The wavefront of their hypervelocity passage buffeted the
dinosaur on top of Ed but missing their mark. David jumped on the Black Ghost as it sat on top of Ed. He
swung his rifle around the broad head, grabbed the barrel and pulled. His body carried him around, twisting
the dinosaur off its victim and throwing them down the hill toward the onrushing line of green fury.
David grabbed his rifle and tried to get up. He can see Anton running down across the hillside. The
Black Ghost in front of him gets up and turns to run from the melee. David snaps a shot in its direction and
then climbs back to check on Ed. Ed Saren is lying still. A pool of blood flowing from his shoulder and the
edge of his mouth. His eyes staring at the blue sky above.
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‘Oh shit, not Ed too!’ David cried and then he turned toward Anton. He can see Anton down on one
knee with his rifle raised to his shoulder. Then the wave of giant green dinosaurs crashes upon them. Anton
squeezes the trigger just as two of the thirty foot tall monsters careen in front of the smaller black dinosaur.
The shots drop one of the giants, his body collapsing like he was hit by a bag of cement. The other screams
in pain and fury, his arms moving toward his rump where the second shot grazed providing enough time for
the second Black Ghost to slink off down towards the river.
The green dinosaurs ignore the humans and take off after the Black Ghosts. Anton stands and begins
jogging after them.
‘Anton, this way.’ A voice raises from slightly down the ridgeline.
‘Alex, quick they ran towards the river.’ Anton returns.
David calls out, all pretense of silence gone from their minds, ‘Ed Saren just bought it.’
‘Stay with …’
A sudden call echoes across the field. Three of the green hunters stop in their tracks as a massive
orange head with a bright red ring of feathers around it emerges from over the ridge. Then a second head
appears and a low, head thumping warble fills the air.
Three of the green dinosaurs lower their heads and take off down toward the river. Three more orange
heads suddenly rise above the crest of the ridge like an apparition, revealing a beast with a soft orange color
that fades down to a darker brown and green toward their massive belly. Long tails topped with red and
orange plumes swung around to balance them as they crested the ridgeline, heading directly toward the
humans.
Corey ran up from the brush and found himself running next to a massive grey foot. Corey’s turns his
head in amazement. He’s barely high enough to reach the knee of the big theropod. The vision burns itself
into his mind as he stares up at the burn orange breast with its mottle of brown spots rising before his eyes.
Each spot each as big as his hand and spread across the wall of the orange-brown, feathered belly of the
monster. The foot crashes down on the rocky surface barely three feet away from Corey. The ground shakes
for a second and then it is gone.
Corey instinctively flings himself to the side just as a massive tail swings over his head, barely nicking
the top of his helmet. Then the monster is gone, chasing down toward the river with three others. The pack
of fearsome green hunters has become the hunted.
Corey suddenly twists and lifts his head as a second mountain of burnt orange crashes over him. As he
rises, a smaller head turns and strikes forward. Black jaws full of white, deadly teeth descend toward his
head. Corey falls to the ground and rolls. He can feel the hot, moist air of its breath push by him and hear
the terrible snap of its jaws as they close on the air where his head was. Then the head is gone and he can
see four of them following the trail of those who fled before them.
A hysterical giggle erupts from Corey’s throat as a thought passes across his mind, ‘Well at least the big
ones ignore you. It’s the little ones you gotta watch out for!’
‘Corey, give me a hand with Ed.’ David calls, ‘We have to pull him out of here. There’s gonna be a
hundred carrion eaters here in a minute.’
Corey pushed David aside and reaches down to pick up Ed. He lifts and two hands grab the body from
him. Corey turns to see Tom Bracken lifting Ed onto his shoulders and into a fireman’s carry. Tom’s eyes
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are filled with tears and his jaw trembles a bit as he shakes his head and begins to jog down to the river’s
edge.
Anton is half way down the ridgeline with Alex pushing barely twenty feet behind him. David, Corey
and Tom, with Ed’s body on his shoulders, follow down the slope. Alex and Anton are already in the brush
and gone from their view. ‘Which way is the boat?’ Tom puffed through clenched teeth as he fast-walked
down the hill.
‘Down this way. We need to put him in a stasis bag and push the boat out onto the river.’ David shouted
as they waded into the brush that thickens as they approached the edges of the swiftly flowing river.
As they reach the river’s edge, they climb aboard and Corey and Tom struggle to slide Ed’s body into
the stasis bag. David fires up the vibration launcher for the Jensen Boat and twists in sudden alarm as the
brush next to him splits aside. Anton emerges from the bushes and runs over to the edge of the boat.
Alex is following close behind him, ‘I couldn’t follow an elephant in the mess left behind by those big
chickens! Let’s push off and see …’
Three orange head scream their fury just on the other side of the brush. Then a body suddenly towers
above the brush and pushes their way.
‘Push it out! Push it out! Alex screams as he turns and fires a full spray on automatic. The attacking
dinosaur drops not more than ten feet from them with a half-dozen, full-load slugs passing into his body. A
second and third of the beasts scream from behind the brush and one suddenly appears, charging directly at
them from out from the brush.
Anton fires blindly into the bushes as Alex jumps over the gunnels and into the boat. The craft floats
free into the rapid waters of the river.
‘Quick, get ready, they will charge!’ David called. ‘We have to get out to the middle!’
Six burnt-orange dinosaurs appear at the edge of the river and calls of rage ring out from further into the
brush. They stop at the water’s edge.
‘They stopped! They can swim! I’ve seen T-Rex swim before. What’s holding them back?’ David
called.
Corey looked down river. A black shape is pushing a mound of water ahead of it like a surfacing
submarine. A sinister, smooth black wave moving directly toward the Jensen boat.
A splash filled the air around them drawing their attention back toward the mainland, or at least as
much of the shoreline as they could see. The sky before them is filled with the dark-gold orange and eightfeet of tooth filled jaws that are swinging down toward them.
The jaws arch down toward Tom and Anton standing in the bow of the Jensen Boat as it swings out into
the rapidly deepening river. Tom can smell it’s breath and feel the heat of it as it opens unbelievably wide in
preparation to the steel-trap snap that he’s seen so many times since coming back to this land.
Toms hands move in slow motion as he lifts the Pulsar Rifle up to his shoulder. An alarm rings in his
memory and his hand moves blindly to the control on the rifle. He spins the slug-size up without moving his
eyes from the descending jaws and then fires as the deadly maw lowers itself into the point where they will
snap shut upon both him and Anton.
A foot long jet of sun-hot plasma erupts from the barrel of his rifle. The charged stream of molecules
spin from the barrel of the weapon at hypersonic velocity and cool into molten and then a deadly solid
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projectile within a foot of the barrel. The massive blast of displaced air cracks through the air and the slug
blows its way into the cavernous roof of the monsters mouth.
The impact of the blast does little to slow the steel hard charge of the jaws but the mass of white hot
lead penetrates and then mushrooms within its skull blasting feathers, skin, bones and body fluids into vapor
and ripping chucks of the monster out across the shoreline.
The jaws fly down, missing Anton but a small tooth rips across Tom’s arm. His armor hardens instantly
as the four inch ivory sword thrusts across it, pulling his shoulder out of its socket and ripping the tendons
holding it to his clavicle.
The boat lifts into the air as a black green reptilian body flies from beneath it. Like a freight train
breaking from the water’s surface, it lifts into the air and jaws snap shut on the golden-orange but headless
body before it can even fall to the water.
The jaws of the massive mosasaur clamp shut and pull the dead Tyrannosaurus into the river, gashing a
four foot long hole into the side of the Jensen Boat as it clamps down with savage fury. The boat dips and
then spins out into the center of the river. Water begins to rush into it and Tom lies stunned across the floor.
References
2005
6. Ryan C. McKellar, Brian D. E. Chatterton, Alexander P. Wolfe, Philip J. Currie, “A Diverse
Assemblage of Late Cretaceous Dinosaur and Bird Feathers from Canadian Amber.” Science, Vol.
333 Issue 6049, September 16, 2011.
7. Mark A. Norell , “Fossilized Feathers.” Science, Vol. 333 Issue 6049, September 16, 2011.
8. Lindsay E. Zanno, David J. Varricchio, Patrick M. O'Connor, Alan L. Titus, Michael J. Knell. “A
New Troodontid Theropod, Talos sampsoni gen. et sp. nov., from the Upper Cretaceous Western
Interior Basin of North America” PLoS ONE, 2011; 6 (9): e24487
DOI:0.1371/journal.pone.0024487
9. Gibbard, P.L., S. Boreham, K.M. Cohen and A. Moscariello, 2007, Global chronostratigraphical
correlation table for the last 2.7 million years v. 2007b., jpg version 844 KB. Subcommission on
Quaternary Stratigraphy, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England
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10. Hambrey, M.J., and W.B. Harland, eds., 1981. Earth's pre-Pleistocene glacial record. Cambridge
University Press, 1004 + xv pp. (book downloadable as series of PDF files)
11. J. Wendler, “External forcing of the geomagnetic field? Implications for the cosmic ray flux—
climate variability”, Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics 66 (2004) 1195 – 1203
(Climate change and magnetic pole reversals as influenced by the position of the solar system in the
galactic arm.) http://tornado.sfsu.edu/geosciences/classes/gm700/PDF_Files/DaveGgeomag.pdf
12. Everhart, M. J. “Plesiosaurs as the food of mosasaurs; new data on the stomach contents of a
Tylosaurus proriger (Squamata; Mosasauridae) from the Niobrara Formation of western Kansas. The
Mosasaur” 2004, 7:41-46.
13. Lawrence M. Witmer et al., "Nostril Position in Dinosaurs and other Vertebrates and its Significance
for Nasal Function." Science 293, 850 (2001)
14. Alan Graham, “Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic History of North American Vegetation”, Oxford
University Press, ISBN 0-19-511342-X (1999) (vegetation and climate)
15. "Stray Japan parrot talks way home". BBC News. 2008-05-22. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asiapacific/7414846.stm. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
16. Pepperberg, Irene (2002): The Alex Studies: cognitive and communicative abilities of grey parrots.
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts & London. ISBN 0-674-00806-5
17. Li, Chun; Xiao-Chun Wu, Olivier Rieppel, Li-Ting Wang & Li-Jun Zhao (2008-11-27). "An
ancestral turtle from the Late Triassic of southwestern China". Nature 456 (7221): 497–501.
doi:10.1038/nature07533. PMID 19037315 (Turtle and Tortoise in Triassic and Cretaceous)
Gas pockets encapsulated in Amber have confirmed the higher oxygen content of the era. This cannot
explain the monstrous growth that occurred during this age. In fact, even the human body seems to operate
better with the slightly higher oxygen levels. With the higher oxygen of the Cretaceious we would heal
faster, think faster, see better and with greater clarity. Burn victims as well as those suffering from Nitrogen
Narcosis are quickly put into a high oxygen, barometric chamber to aid healing.
So, why did dinosaurs get so large? As we’ve seen in the quote at the start of this chapter, simple fluid
mechanics tells us that the blood vessels and heart would not have been able to handle the higher pressures
needed for such large creatures. Long-necked creatures such as the Brachiosaurus present additional
problems. Their necks are not built strongly enough to support a head in the upright position or even a
position parallel to the earth under the stress of our current pull of gravity. Simple logic also says that if you
have a long neck, you didn’t develop it to feed over a pond or into the bushes. A long neck is made to either
reach the ground or to be able to extend up to the highest, most tender leaves of the trees.
Sauropods are one of the most well known dinosaurs families, the most famous being the Brontosaurus,
a mistake in bone assembly that never truly existed. The family continues to present a lot of other
unanswered questions besides their size and how they supported such massive and long necks. The feathers
described in this story have not been verified by forensic evidence. That is not yet. This does seem to be the
trend however with even Tyrannosaurus remains showing fossil evidence.
Consider also the placement of nostrils on the Sauropods. There’s a great scene in Jurassic Park
showing a massive head lifted into the air with nostrils placed at the top of the forehead. They may indeed
have been located in this position but there has been a lot of past speculation that the family may have been
trunked, rather like an elephant. Recent papers however have pleaded the case that the markings on the head
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bones do not suggest trunk but may have been for a cartlidge resonance chamber that followed down the top
of the head. This story follows this suggestion providing an almost whale-like ability of the beast to project
sounds.
Troodontids are a predominantly small-bodied group of feathered theropod dinosaurs notable for their
close evolutionary relationship with Avialae. Despite a diverse Asian representation with remarkable growth
in recent years, the North American record of the clade remains poor, with only one controversial species—
Troodon formosus—presently known from substantial skeletal remains.
Ancient Ice Ages
Glaciation has been a rare event in Earth's history but there is evidence of widespread icecover during
the late Paleozoic Era and during late Precambrian. Before the current ice age, which began 2 to 3 million
years ago, Earth's climate was typically mild and uniform for long periods of time.
There have been five known ice ages in the Earth's history. The Earth is currently in an interglacial
period of the Quaternary Ice Age, with the last glacial period of the Quaternary having ended approximately
10,000 years ago, a time when the first pyramids of Egypt were being built.
Boulder Filled Crevasse
For those interested, anyone can visit and even crawl along a stream at the bottom of a crevasse filled
with boulders similar to the one in this chapter. Visit Pinnacles National Monument in California.
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Chapter 8: Terror
“Darkness of the heart
from unexpected paths flies in.
The questions start
and the doubts begin,
flickering in the corner of your eye,
whispering a dark and wicked lie.”
“Dark Wings of Night” by redqueenself
Soft white radiance smothers the plateau. A deathly pale suffusion of long black shadows that stretch
and climb across a bleak landscape echoing with the alien calls of an evening jungle. Hunters move through
the brush and broad leaf cover, deadly silent in their step. They pass with a lethal efficiency, using skills
sharply honed and perfected through the long evolution of their species. Pinnacles of evolution’s natural
experiment conducted over the passage of centuries of millennium. Silent, deadly predators passing as
shadows through the darkened jungle yet strangely willing to occasionally lift their heads to scream their
passage to the cold pinpoints of sparkling brilliance above that fill the velvet black skies of the evening.
Their passage unchallenged carries them over the trails of their ancestors along grounds unhindered by
fence or artifact. They travel through a wild preserve teaming with life unfettered. They have free access to
all of their hunting grounds save one. One recently orphaned exception, a tiny peninsula jutting out into the
glowing waters of a wine dark sea.
Strange obstructions lie before this fragile finger of land to block the passage of hunters claiming
ancestral rights to these grounds. Blockades physical and ever vigilant by their very design. That is, until
this star studded evening.
The two dark forms dance across the star-lit landscape in a ritual of the hunters craft. Their near passage
to natural predator and victim undetected as they move in perfect choreography across the ancient pathways.
Tonight’s movements, directed with the malice of forethought, focus on the very strongest point of the alien
barricade.
Silent and unseen except for the brief distortion of a perceived background, they move across the
landscape and up to the very gates without challenge. Crossing with the smooth flowing grace of a mild
breeze, they pass along the alien barrier and over to the steep vertical walls of the cliffs that lead down to the
bone crushing surf and rocks below. Effortlessly they scurry down the steep walls and around the barriers.
Then the shadows cross back to pass unchallenged into the unguarded interior of the game-fertile grounds.
* * * * *
‘The sea was something like this the very first time I saw it. That was the night that Alex and I pulled
perimeter guard duty together for the first time. It was our very first evening here at Cretaceous Station. I
guess it was an evening of “firsts”. The Argos hadn’t even landed.’ Molly Pasteur sat on a rock at the edge
of Brittany Wenford’s patio. The cool air of the evening blew across the loose blond strands in her hair.
‘I loved the ocean then as I do yet. How can it be so still? It’s like a mirror with a thousand, thousand
stars twinkling back the images of the bright milky way for as far as you can see until sky and sea meet at
the far horizon. I remember, at first we thought this fantastic star display was the clean air of the Cretaceous.
Never dreamed that we would be in an entirely different part of the galaxy.’ She sighed lightly, ‘I guess the
beauty of this bright field of stars is deceptive.’
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Brittany Wenford didn’t even turn her head, her gaze entrapped by the beauty of the evening’s star
studded sea, ‘Yeah, the sky really is a lot brighter than it ever could be at home but then there are a lot more
stars right nearby. This crowded arm of the universe, with its sparkling beauty, is partially to blame for the
extinction.’ Then Brittany stopped and turned toward Molly, ‘Say, that’s the night you met your first Hype
isn’t it? It was, ah, Fran! Yes she stayed out with you for your whole watch didn’t she?’
‘Yeah and we’ve been rather close ever since. There’s a real kinship between our two species even
perhaps stronger than the relationship between man and dog. If you close your eyes, it’s more like a close
human friendship.’
‘I wish I could have adventures like you girls.’ A third voice belonging to Jenn Young rose from the
dark, whining as she threw a rock out into the star filled universe before them. Jenn is the oldest child of
Wei and Barbara Young. Wei and Barbara are surface physics engineers from Renssalaer Polytech who
were on the original Gravitonics program with Mark Nolen.
Molly smiled even though Jenn couldn’t see it. ‘At fourteen years old you’ve been able to travel
through the solar system and then into the great Red Spot of Jupiter. Now you are taking private schooling
on a plateau in the cretaceous period of the planet. Every day of your stay here, I see you watching and even
playing with dinosaurs around the plateau. Just where would you like your adventures to begin Jenn?’
‘Oh come on Molly. You know what I mean. I’ve never been outside of the plateau gates. Brittany’s
only two years older than me and look at all she’s been able to do? You both got a chance to see all those
dinosaurs out on the mainland. You get to go places and do something significant!’
‘That wasn’t an adventure Jenn. I was scared stiff most of the time we were out there looking for Gabe.’
‘Oh, don’t get me wrong. I think I know what you mean Jenn but don’t you think that most of the time
this is nothing more than, oh I don’t know, “The grass is greener on the other side of the fence” sort of
thing? Look….’
‘Cool Molly, A pleasaurus. They’re really hard to spot especially at night.’ Brittany, whose mother is
the Palentologist for the expedition, identified the dark shape of the creature even though it was far out in
the waters.
‘Well, I was hoping to see the Jensen boat with Alex in it returning to the Station.’ Molly said as she
stretched her arms and then added a little yawn at the end.
Brittany turned to her, ‘He’s ok Molly, I just know he must be ok. We knew they were having
transmitter problems. They must have had to stay the evening. I know I wouldn’t want to be travelling on
that river at night. We’ll probably see them coming in tomorrow. In any case Dan told me we would be
sending a Hunter Recon out for them tomorrow whether they called in or not.’
‘Let’s go in, Brittany. I want to thank your Mom and Dad for dinner and the pleasant evening. Then I
think that Jenn and I will have to head back to our homes.’
They took one last long look at the beauty of the ocean and the evening and then turned to go back to
the house. The smell of the soft salty air mixed with the aromatic, almost sandlewood-like essence of the
ancient forests around the Station.
‘Oh I love that smell, don’t you!’ Molly commented. ‘When we get back I’m going to travel back to
Earth and enjoy my bonus. I’ll buy a place by the ocean and see if I can try and recapture everything the
way it is right now.’
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‘Well then, why go back … what’s that? There’s a strange smell in the air. Oh yech! It’s getting
stronger. It’s really gross!’
‘I thought I saw something up there on the patio. Shhh! No, don’t even ask it. It’s not your Dad or
Mom. Quick girls, head over this way. Maybe it didn’t see us.’
Molly ran across the lower half of the cleared lawn below the patio with the two young girls next to her.
All three of them are wearing Python Pistols and they each drew their pistols as they ran, moving as quietly
as they could. The personal firearm is a basic requirement of anyone over the age of twelve while on the
Cretaceous Station. They wear the weapons for self-defense and know how to handle them safely and
accurately through the daily classes provided by security.
‘What are they? Are you sure it just wasn’t Dad?’
‘No, it wasn’t your father, he doesn’t move like that. Also, did you smell that odor? Quick, let’s circle
around the front of the building.’
‘Brittany, what’s going on?’ Paul Wenford called across the Hive Tab net to his daughter. His
comforting voice arising from the networks automated alarms sent out by her distress.
‘Oh Dad, be careful. There’s something out here and we can’t get back into the house. I’m going to try
and head over toward …’
‘Wait for me, I’ll be right out! Where are you?’
‘Dad, we’re outside the front of the house now but don’t come out! There’s something out here, it’s
between us and the front door and it’s really hard to see. You’ll be heading right into it and we don’t even
know if there’s more than one.’
‘How big is it, what does it look like?’
‘Dad don’t come out. We haven’t been able to get a look at it yet but remember that smell that Eric and
Cindy had on them? The same smell is out here now.’
‘Brittany stay right there! Your mom and I are coming here out now. Watch for us.’
‘No, you don’t even have armor on. If they attack you, it’ll only take one surprise swipe and you are
gone. We’re headed over toward Molly’s. We’re half way there already.’
‘We’re out here too now. Just watch where you are firing in the darkness. Remember your training and
make sure it isn’t one of us or some other friendly.’
‘I can hear them behind us.’ Jenn whimpered. ‘They are gaining on us.’
‘Jenn, you move ahead of me.’ Molly shifted position by slowing down just a little. ‘I saw something
following. I was hoping it would be Britt’s parents.’
‘Come on, my building is right up there. Quick run! Run for all your lives.’
A cry lifts through the night sky. It’s the sound of a woman screaming, but eerily different with a tone
that is somehow melodic. The wail forms a chilling background to the beating of their hearts. Brittany runs
up to the door and, sensing her Hive Tab identification, it opens before her. Jenn reaches for the door and
swings it open a little further. Her foot lifts to cross the threshold and suddenly something digs deep into her
shoulder.
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A black mass descends on her, flipping her back out into the stony soil of the pathway and away from
the safety of the dormitory. She lands hard on the ground and, through the sheet of pain engulfing her
shoulder, she see’s Molly lying in the bushes with something standing over her. It hovers over her with its
arms around her waist in a strange embrace. Despite the pain in her shoulder, a chill rushes down Jenn’s
spine as its tongue flicks out to wrap around Molly’s neck and then savagely pulls back in a flash of blood
and a cry of pain.
Another cry comes from the doorway. So much is happening in this, her stunned, pain-filled universe!
From the corner of her eye, Jenn can see Brittany trying to come outside. Something is holding the door
closed. Then the pain resurges within her shoulder and her sinuses burn with a head wrenching odor. She
cannot breathe and her body trembles as panic sets in. Her arms flail wildly as she grasps and thrusts to hold
her sanity. Trying to grab and pull back on anything as she feels her body bumping across the sharp stone
path. The sounds of the evening grows softer and then she floats on the sea of despair, slowly slipping away
to nothing.
Brittany screams with a fury unknown as she shoves the door as hard as she can. She can’t budge it!
Then she sees her father Paul coming up the path. Her mother is running right behind him. She has to warn
them! Her father fires his Python and a bright flash of raw, deadly plasma fills the evening. Her father
suddenly bends down.
Brittany gives one last push and the door flies opens. She runs out and over to where Molly is lying on
the ground beside her father. ‘Dad, did you get it? Where’s Jenn?’
Sara Wenford runs by Brittany, barely hesitating but without saying a word. She tracks over to the
house and sees a small pool of blood. ‘Oh Paul, I think it took Jenn!’
Paul bends down and picks up Molly. Her head droops to the side and fear grips Brittany’s heart.
‘Quick, help me with the door and let’s get into the building.’
‘Don’t move her, she may be …’
The tone of the wailing changes to a furtive, sobbing sound. It floats across the darkness enveloping the
bushes covering the plateau. Strangely calling, sobbing cries rise and seem to come from every direction.
‘…no, go, go and get her inside.’
‘Here, set her down on the lounge. She’s alive, oh what did it do to her neck and face. I can’t stop the
bleeding!’
‘Wha…. What did it do to her?’ Brittany sobs, ‘I was just talking to her and then I looked back and saw
her lying on the ground with something standing over her! Dad, No! Don’t go out! You can’t go …’
‘Now settle down. You’ve gotta help your mother with Molly. Jenn is still out there, we can’t just leave
her.’ Paul Wenford unholstered his pistol and stepped out the door. ‘Watch if anyone comes in. Remember
what happened to Cindy, they can sneak in …’
‘Oh God, do you think it’s those dinosaurs again! I thought they were being hunted far away on the
mainland.’ Sara whimpered.
‘I don’t know but all of the indications point to them being back here. That is, they or something like
them are back. I don’t even want to think about what may have happened to those in the hunting parties. We
haven’t been able to contact them.’
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‘I’m going out after Jenn. You stay here with the girls. Try and get in touch with Ian as soon as you can,
I can’t seem to find him on my Hive Tab.’
* * * * *
They remember this place with its strange life force. They also recall that they were unpleasantly driven
from this den with its strange, tempting odors of lost prey that could be touched but not tasted. That prey
was one of their first full tastes of this new hot blood here on the hunting grounds. It had a blood that burned
as it coursed through their bodies with unbelievable energy. Addicting and unbelievably fulfilling. To have
it taken from them and then to be found again here, inside this den in the strange tunnels, provided an
excitement and challenge rarely found. Then, they were driven away at the last minute, a disappointment
soon to be rectified.
Perhaps there is more food inside but this time there is no easy way in. It doesn’t matter. There’s more
of the hot bloods here, the plateau teems with food and the thrill of a challenge. Most of all, such a small
barrier doesn’t matter because they aren’t here for food this time. There is a need to control. A need to
dominate and beat them down to acceptance. Repayment for the arrogance of prey resisting.
The old scent trail leads inside. Their prey is not here any longer, the all powerful, easily followed scent
is gone. There are others inside, they just can’t get at them. Return! We will return later but for now, the
night is young and already exciting and successful. If only the pulsing of its life force would have lasted a
little longer.
Night shadows move along the trails of the high, water-guarded plateau. Here the worn trails of the
prey’s daylight travel seem to scream with the hot blood scent. It drives them on like an opiate, an opiate to
enhance the senses and electrify the body. It has a strange addiction never before felt that binds their racing
minds and nerves to this new prey just as it drives their desire to subdue and dominate. They of course
couldn’t know just what this desire is but their prey have a name for it and have used it for a million years.
The hot-bloods call the methods “domestication”.
The scent-trail is hottest down here with the many traces of their comings and goings. It glows with the
scent and, at its end, it is lit with the lights that they now know warn their prey of intruders. These hard
lights took them so long to learn how to manipulate and mimic. Now they can move easily among the
warnings. Even these new ones are now easy to learn and deceive.
This place it not like the others, it is not of the sand and soil. The base scent is as different as the hotbloods. Watch and listen to them move within it and learn! They stop and talk with it before the cave
tunnels open to them. There are so many within! It speaks with everyone who enters and each seems to
reply differently. Strange, the replies are similar but each is different. Ah, there is the difference! It is in
their very nature, their hot-blood.
Silently they move to the now hidden tunnel entrance. The lights are stronger here and harder to mimic.
Their bodies tingle with the unpleasant sensation of trying to follow the rapidly changing patterns. The call
comes to them so strongly that they almost forget their crafted response. First one is queried and then his
brother!
The tunnel suddenly opens before them, lit with the rays of … of daytime? How strange to see the
lights so oddly shifted from the true radiance of the day’s light.
No matter, they are here and their evening’s task lies before them. They freely, almost effortlessly enter
the hot tunnels of their prey.
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* * * * *
‘First you frighten our families with these ridiculous calls and warnings across the Hive Tab net and
now you have us bottled up inside again! Inside, outside, go here go there!’
‘What is the meaning of this Colonel Drake?’ Suzan Esque stood in the lounge of the Argos along with
the other board members. ‘We’ve been herded around like cattle, taken on guarded tours of inane interest
and pacified with luncheons and all the while Mark Nolen refuses to meet and discuss our plans for this
venture. If we are going to continue to provide funding for this … this…, circus I guess you would call it,
then we have to be informed of your true plans and whatever progress you’ve made.’
‘Mrs Esque, I’m sorry about this. I realize just how frustrating it must be for all of you. Unfortunately
your surprise visit not only leaves us unprepared but …’
‘Why would you need to prepare if you are not hiding something?’
‘We have nothing to hide but our situation here is unusual.’
‘Of course it’s unusual …’
‘Mrs Esque, please let me finish! Pardon my saying so but your timing is very poor.’ Dan felt a guilty
flush of satisfaction at the surprised look on Suzan’s face. She obviously is not used to being talked to like
this but what the heck, damn the torpedoes!
‘If you had only come a few weeks or a month before this we would not be in this situation. We could
have …’
‘We came in response to your returned report!’
‘It was a report and not an invitation. Still you would have been welcome under any other
circumstances …’
‘What circumstances?’
‘We are under attack! We have had people killed and our security breached. This is …’
‘Oh come on! These animals can’t really be a threat as long as we maintain our security systems. We’ve
been able to travel all over, just look at Africa and the parks of India. The danger is just an illusion. My
God! We have the benefit of millions of years of evolution for our intelligence to grow beyond the level of
these dumb brutes. You are hiding something and I want to talk with Mark Nolen right now!’
Colonel Daniel Drake stopped just for a moment as he tried to control his words. This is nothing more
than the politics of industry and business. ‘Please have a little patience and stay inside for the night. Look,
we can bring the families into the cafeteria and set up a full interactive theatre but we need to insure your
safety.’
‘Colonel Drake, there is nothing that you could bring to the theatre we would be interested in. All of
your entertainment is six months out of date!’
‘We could run through the explorative files that were taken from our members Hive Tab recordings.
They don’t have the full interactive capability of a theatre but I’m sure you would find them exciting.’
‘Please just have Mark come down and join us. We’ll wait here for half an hour. I don’t understand why
you don’t simply let us have direct call privilege on his Hive Tab. It would make everything so much
simpler.’
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‘Mrs …. Ok, I’ll go and talk with Mark and see if he will break away.’ Dan noticed that some of the
coffee and refreshments were being distributed to the small group. He rather expected that this is a good
time to retreat.
* * * * *
They moved through the long tunnels. Movement is easy because the walls are so smooth and plain, so
easy to blend into. Prey fills the tunnels but they leave them pass by unmolested. They remain hidden,
learning the ways and movement of their prey. Observing, learning … some tunnels magically open as their
prey approaches. The hot bloods pass through and the tunnels close again? How do they know where they
are?
Ah, yes! The markings on the wall were also at the other entrances. They show the prey where to move
and then entry is so simple. A simple light and response and the tunnel opens. So easy to mimic and enter!
Strange, there is only a single, plain chamber in here? It has no long tunnels or maze of passages. No,
what is this? Small entrances exist at the sides and the strong scent of a hot blood is in there. It rests
unaware and removes the day light. An opportunity without fear of discovery!
* * * * *
‘Statisticians are never fully appreciated around here.’ Doctor Jane Buckheit once again felt the
frustration of living at a time where behavioral control models for science overshadow the simplistic
approach of statistics. ‘People still use statistics! It’s the basis of all of our probability theory and mass
capture estimations. Where does Marty Feldman get off saying my profession is as useful as studying
ancient Greek and Latin?’
‘Next time I’ll tell him! There are times when you don’t have the ability to perform a full study or gain
an understanding of a situation. You can only approximate the results. It’s better than nothing and not
everyone is capable of adapting ancillary models to these situations.’
She initiated a search of her personal library, ‘Where’s that recording! I need to sleep and relax before
tomorrow. Here we go! I’ll use the setting I did last night. Not too deep of a sleep, just enough to really
relax. What did he say I was? Oh yeah, “Useless as …”’
Jane is soon carried on the soothing tones of the ambiance control to the longed-for comforting arms of
sleep. Peace and serenity enter as she lay unaware of the dark shadows slowly drawing near. The warm soft
security of the music in her darkened consciousness carries away her frustrations and lends a smile to her
pouting lips. A rhythmic play of tones combined with subliminal directives play across her soul to guide her
alpha rhythms down soft paths of peaceful, restful composure.
The rhapsody of memories gently sweeps her along through sunny days and warm sandy shores. Soft
waves caressed her body cleansing away the tensions and recently sharp experience of conflict. Her mind
yielded to her soul and cold logic fled, gladly yielding to the caress of softly perfected memories.
Waves of joy and warmth sweep across and gently caress her body. Rhythms of pleasure lift her,
carrying her ever deeper along currents of contentment like a swimmer gently riding the flow of a midocean current. Slowly at first, the current grows and begins to excite her emotions. It deepens her dreams
and lifts her along and then up into strangely rising torrents of hot passion.
The beat of her heart charges along swiftly flowing streams of emotion and soon is pounding hot blood,
ablaze with burning desires through her body. A spark of reason creeps up from the depths of her slumber to
incense the warm sacristy of her sleep. Slumber dulled senses fight back with a desire to recede and yield to
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the warm torrents of her universe. Her senses feel the rhythmic push, pull and pressure of the currents
surrounding her… and a small portion recognizes the far off, sharp spark of pain hidden deep within.
The sharp point of the spark flashes, suddenly revealing itself as something malevolent. She focused on
it and it ominously emerged from the joy-hidden depths to grow in intensity and rancor. The spark grows to
blossom as bright flames scraping across the sensitive nerves of her body. Her heart leaps and pounds within
her chest driven by the adrenalin rush charging through her body independent of her conscious mind.
A shaft of fire streaks across her senses and the pain follows it screaming through her dream-filled
mind. Eyes fly open in fear to scan the darkened room around her. Her body jerks up in instinctual flight
only to be slammed down by the dark passage and throbbing of a thousand tiny cuts. Jane’s head spins and
her eyes cannot focus. Her lungs gasp and a burning reek fills her nose, cutting across the very sensors of
her eyes and enveloping her head in a smothering grip as it robs the air from her lungs.
Vague faces of nightmare float across her vision opening red maws filled with long white fangs. Jaws
open and release flickering shafts of pain that shoot out to wrap themselves across her skin and then flick
back with searing agony. A nightmarish spray of liquid fills the air and some far off part of her
consciousness recognizes it as blood, her blood.
Jane’s raw throat opens in a silent scream and her body convulses as it futilely attempts to move her
leaden arms and arch her pain wracked back. Burning vapors run down her throat and fill her with the
sickening, searing smell of the damned. Her senses intensify with each stroke as the skin rips from her body
exposing air-raw nerves and rupturing million of tiny blood vessels, their life giving fluids flow outward.
The nightmare seems to pound on forever as wave after throbbing wave of pain washes over her raw
nerve endings followed by the brief, few dull aching moments of suffocation. Then the cycle of nightmares
return with the sharp pain that comes with each cutting thrust to open new levels of searing, ripping agony
with every blow.
The rabid pounding of her heart is an anchor of sanity for her panic crazed mind. It is a beacon of
existence in a universe slowly gone mad. Then her last safe harbor transforms beyond its life-giving
pulsation to one of sharp ripping agony. The pain thrusts from her chest and through her being with every
life giving contraction. Beat by beat it’s intensity rises, climbing to challenge the searing levels of agony
already coursing inward from across her body. A deathly cold suffuses through her soul, pushing away the
last vestiges of her sanity and awareness.
A tiny spark within recognizes the passage. Regret, fear and thankfulness emerge briefly only to be
snuffed out of existence. Her soul passes onward, gladly leaving the painful realm of its existence.
The two dark shadows sense the passage of their prey. Their heads yet spin with the opiate of their
deed. Their bodies shake and tremble in the sustained ecstasy of the fire-laced liquid and the futile panic of
the now deathly still hot-blood.
First one and then the other turns to leave the albumin spattered room. The sharp cleanliness of the
outer room provides a place to pause and remember the treasured meal. Slowly they clean themselves,
removing all traces of the concealment-defeating blood from their soaked, feathered bodies. Even now, the
remnants of their gorging feast envelop them in a warm glow of satisfaction. The glow subsides and
consciousness carries them back to the day’s reality and an awareness of their goals and hunger.
Light-soaking, black shapes transform and fade away as they turn toward the door. Softly the door
closes and once again, peace and serenity enter to fill a darkened bedroom but the stench of blood, terror
and death linger.
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* * * * *
There is a difference between cold maneuvering for corporate takeover and blind hostility. Depending
upon the players, the difference can be very slim. Suzan Esque felt it foolish to allow emotions to enter the
picture. When emotions enter the process then the results can very quickly transform to a loss of profit or
even the destruction of the business opportunity.
Suzan vowed many years ago to walk away from any deal where emotions began to rule the
negotiations. There are always other deals and opportunities, other ventures safer and easier to pursue.
‘So then why am I letting this get under my skin?’ Suzan said aloud as she walked down the ship’s
passageway to her stateroom. She had decided to request a room on board the Argos rather than stay in one
of the larger and more comfortable suites built outside. For one thing it let her stay nearer Matthew Zoeller’s
labs.
Matt is a scientist first and a businessman third or fourth but he does know what is happening around
the station. Suzan quickly learned, when she first joined the board, that Matthew liked to talk about his work
and, because she is on the board of directors, he always discussed even the most sensitive topics openly with
her. Mark Nolen would never open up quite as widely to her penetrating questions.
She stopped at an intersection and looked up at the corner. A map of the local corridors opened in her
Hive Tab showing her the turns to take if she wanted to go to her rooms.
‘Whew, what’s going on? Maybe I’d better stop by Doctor Graeme’s later. That wall seemed to blur for
a second.’ Suzan turned and started walking again. ‘Funny, I didn’t feel dizzy. Everything seems Ok now
but I still feel uneasy. This is the weirdest! I wonder if the trip didn’t leave some strange response in my
system sort of like time-zone shifts do.’
‘Now this is really strange, I’m beginning to hear things. It’s more than the normal hum and air
circulation systems of the ship. Rather like a chirping or ….’ Suzan stopped and quickly swung around.
There is nothing there. ‘Rather like something softly treading behind me in the corridor. I don’t hear the
chirping anymore. I need to get back to my rooms.’
She hurried down the corridors using a rapid pace that is something less than a run. There, her room is
just ahead. As she approached the door softly opened and she rushed in. An almost subconscious impulse
directed her Hive Tab to command it to shut immediately.
‘Ok, what I need to do is contact Robert, Deborah and Justin and see if I can convince them to meet
with me. The very fact that Nolen is avoiding us may be enough to convene a short staff meeting of the
board. I’ll see if …’
Suzan turned in surprise when she heard the almost silent door open. ‘Now I am getting jumpy. There’s
no one there. I’m starting to imagine things … or did I.’
Suzan commanded her Hive Tab to query the portal response circuitry for her rooms. ‘Yes there is my
entry and … what the heck is that? It says I entered a second time but the mass readings are all wrong.’
‘I don’t see anything here. I’m going to call …’ A strange smell enters her nostrils. Almost sweet, in a
fruity or perhaps ammonia-like manner. ‘That’s odd, I never thought of ammonia as being sweet before. Oh
my God, it’s now almost making me sick to my stomach. I must be coming down with some new alien
disease. They never mentioned …’
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Her head begins to spin. She leans over onto her work desk to hold it in her hands but the movement is
too confining. She can’t get enough clean air, ‘God, the smell! My head! It burns and I can’t see … I gotta
get outside and ..’
Her feet suddenly slip out from her as she goes to stand. She falls hard to the floor, cutting her forehead.
Then entire room is spinning now as she reaches up to place her hand on her forehead. Someone gently
pushes her hand back down, ‘Oh thank God. Help me out of …’
A warm pad softly, almost lovingly caresses the cut. The caress becomes a blow that feels like a pad of
sandpaper gouging across her forehead. Suzan twists and tries to scream but she can’t even hear herself as
her head is flipped back and the soft pad returns to her forehead.
Suzan’s eyes open in surprise to see two black dinosaurs leaning over her. She manages to lift her arm
in defense. One’s mouth opens and a long tongue flicks out and wraps around her forearm. It pulls back and
fire and ice flow down her arm. Clarity suddenly enters her eyes and the horror inside her rises. She can see
blood flowing down her arm and a wide ring of her skin lacerated and ripped from her forearm. Gently the
tongue flicks out again following the blood trail flowing across her elbow. Suzan’s arm erupts in pain as it
flicks back violently and more blood flies across her blouse.
A wave of nausea flows across her mind. Her eyes vaguely register a fearsome black head as it bends
over her. A paw scrapes across her chest, cutting into the thin skin and ripping her clothing with a violence
that jerks and lifts her momentarily. Then the mouth opens to reveal rows of yellow-white teeth and the long
red tongue flicks out and across her neck and shoulder.
A soft chirping and singing fills the room lifting as a melodic counterpoint to the low moans and
smothered cries of pain and despair. Blood and fluids flow freely across the floor and walls forming small
pools that grow in volume and migrate slowly toward the closed door.
* * * * *
Paul Wenford’s feet crunched noisily as he tried moved across the open field. This was not his strength,
he’s a physicist and not a soldier but even a trained soldier would have had a hard time moving silently
across the sand and stone gravel of the field. Their path is obvious. Even in the low light his Hive-Tab
enhanced vision can pick up the blood trail.
He found the body in a small depression less than a hundred yards from Molly’s apartments. The scene
is a study in horror. Bits of flesh hung from the nearby brush. Pieces of her are scattered across the coarse
grass, many pieces are missing. Blood and entrails are flung from one small palmetto to the next, slowly
dripping in the freshness of their deposition and the haste of their passage.
Flies, gnats and other strange bugs are already gathering. There is obviously very little that he can do
for Jenn.
Running now out of the high brush, Paul calls across the security channel.
‘Colonel Drake here. I’m on my way, where’s the best place for us to meet? What the …? Your heading
directly for me. I’ll meet you outside of the Argos!’
‘Dan, no be careful. They aren’t passing buy, the trail is leading directly toward the ship.’
‘I’ll be ready when I come out! Don’t worry.’
‘No, they went inside. I can see the heat trail of the remaining blood spoor on the ground and it passes
right toward the ship’s ramp.’
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Paul runs up to the ramp and the system queries his Hive Tab. The door opens immediately and he
passes inside. Dan is down the corridor with three others heading right for Paul.’
‘Dan, they are inside!’ Paul says as they pull up to him.
‘Can’t be. We haven’t had any alarms or calls. Every door inside and out is coded for entry.’
‘I can’t follow a trail like David Pope but the trail they left to this doorstep could be followed by a
drunken cocker spaniel. They are inside here someplace.’
‘Come on, let’s head up to the command and control center. We’ll do a pull down on all the recent
passage readings. They must have left a heat trail or other indication.’
‘Ok, but watch out. They just injured Molly Pasteur and killed Jenn Young.’
‘Oh shit, not Jenny. Do Wei and Barbara … What?’
‘Look here.’ Paul whispers and points to a small trickle of brownish fluid emerging from beneath the
nearest door.
‘Oh man this keeps getting better and better.’ Dan whispers as he bends down, ‘That looks like blood.
We’re really in it deep now. This is Suzan Esque’s room.’ Dan lifts his hand up to the manual override
switch.
* * * * *
These tunnels are different here. The light changes so quickly and the air seems to almost buzz in its
intensity. This area is exciting! Can’t help but feel the energy. Ah, another hidden tunnel! It glows with
force.
The queries don’t work! It doesn’t open easy like the others. There is no response to the call!
Their curiosity grows into a rampant desire to enter the mysterious tunnel. They look and smell the
entire area. Nothing responds.
One black ghost lifts a hand to begin touching the lettering and edges of the doorway. There are strange
rough spots, odd little bumps.
They jump back as the door flies open. A room filled with the new lights lies before them. It is lit with
the dark light of the stars. Savage lights blink and twinkle inside and waves of energy fly across the room.
They stop and watch in their amazement.
A few spots on the doorframe begin to blink and instinctively they jump into the room. The door shuts
suddenly behind them.
The room is so vast, so different and yet there are few open spaces. Hot and cold things scatter across
the space like the leaves of the forest floor. There is no clear passage and all is in movement.
One of the Black Ghosts passes forward, moving his nose close to the light in query. A sudden burst of
energy leaps out and he is flung through the air and across the floor. His shoulder aches and his nose bleeds
as he gets up. He feels the need to move carefully. Strange round roots cross the space but there is no soil
anywhere.
The other Ghost turns to pass watchfully around the source of the deadly light and into the center of the
space. He drawn by the alien beauty around him like a moth drawn to the burning heart of a flame.
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There is another here! His blood suddenly runs cold. Suddenly another stands nose-to-nose before him.
His neck feathers rise to stand out in fury as he sees the other also raise the challenge. Muscles of steel bend
down, ready to thrust his body into the attack and the other responds just as quickly. He screams and leaps
for its throat, ready to repel the body jarring blow that he knows will come.
His body flies through the air and passes into nothing. Painfully he lands on an object that screams and
sputters. Droplets of red fire streak across his shoulder flinging black feathers into the air. He lands hard,
dazed, confused and hurting on the mass of hard black roots crossing beneath his aching body.
There is a noise in the back. The sweet scent is there! One of the prey, a hot-blood is coming. Pain and
confusion flee from their conscious thoughts. They barely contain their excitement as his glow emerges
from another small chamber across from them. The prey sees them and does not flee, it is raising its arm…
A blinding flash fills their universe. Lights charge across their bodies leaving a strange, savagely
painful tingling. The feelings quickly turn into searing pain as they flicker and run across the sensitive
bodies of the Black Ghosts. Their minds cloud in confusion and fear. Sanity flees from the burning within
their skin and is driven by the streaks of light that flash too rapidly to understand or even clearly see.
One dark figure staggers back, his body shivering into convulsions as it tries to absorb the painful
lights. He trips and falls into the wall. The portal opens, beckoning them to a world familiar. They flee
outside to the coolness of the outer tunnel with a warble laced with screams that echo through the closed
spaces of the tunnels. The furnace fury of the room screams behind them as they try to calm their minds and
blindly flee to the cool safety of the darkened tunnels.
* * * * *
‘Research log entry, CS082318, 15:30 hours. Twelve hours, thirty minutes after removal from the host,
the BG feathers remain active and responsive. A very interesting reaction follows on the BG feathers that
appears to deteriorate their ability to adapt even more rapidly than random frequency hopping across the
spectrum of the illumination.’
‘The neural adaptive model described in entry CS082315 was expanded to compensate for the tensor
response collapse when processing illumination below 280 nanometers wavelength. A simple Hamiltonian
expansion was temporarily injected to the i-line region of the model because an exact physical
characterization of the response has not yet been developed. The previously problematic predicted bunching
response of the barbules to the excitation illumination now follows to better than four sigma.’
‘The improved model allowed us to introduce greater complexity of the excitation phase and
polarization stimulus. Models were applied using a Fourier transform to a frequency space sampling plan
described in CS082317.’
‘Physical test results have confirmed the model’s prediction. A rather simple but rapidly rotating
circular polarization of the excitation illumination degrades the ability of the barbules to respond and adapt.
This will greatly simplify adaptation of the technology. We’ve also been able to go beyond our original
goals for detection and tracking. Frequency stepping of the excitation was able to carry the response to the
point that significant physical damage to the barbules resulted. Damage ensues when scanning three distinct
regions of excitation. See the response chart CS4218tab which follows.’
‘This simple drive design lends itself well to miniaturization and may well eventually be employed as a
defensive mechanism in addition to our original quest for automated detection and tracking.’
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‘The next phase of the development will confirm this conjecture through the use of a laboratory mockup …’
‘End and save!’
‘What the heck! Who is here now?’ Marty Feldman turned away from the workbench. A set of several
thousand microscopic Hive-Bots continued the neural conversion of the frequency transponder as he turned
to look across the back room of his lab.
‘That sounds like music in there! What the heck is going on? No one should be in there!’ Marty thought
as he grabbed the half-finished lamp. ‘Maybe it’s another of the board members. Well I can at least show
them this.’
A sudden flash and screech erupts from the doorway. ‘Shit, why do they insist on walking into my lab.
If they broke something …’
Marty enters the doorway and to his surprise there is nothing there but his lab is a mess. Then
something flashes into existence not more than six feet away from him and a pain filled squeal fills the lab.
Marty jumps back in surprise and another shape appears lying on the floor by the microscope. Then he
realizes that he has the flash lamp in his hand and directs it to scan across the room.
The laboratory fills with sudden screams of pain and panic. A bright yellow-turned-blue beast on the
floor scrambles to rise only to fall again against the optical bench. A second dull-red apparition is clawing at
the far wall. The door flies open and an ear-splitting squeal sounds through the hallway as they fly out of the
room.
Marty stands there for a minute looking at the flash lamp in his hand and a smile comes to his face.
‘Well that sure saves a lot of experimental setup. Test successful, but how the heck did they get in here?’
‘Dan are you available?’ He calls across the Hive Tab net as he turns back toward his desk.
‘Not now Marty, we’ve got problems and …’
‘Yeah, and I bet I know what they are. I just saw two Black Ghosts in my lab. They caused a lot of
damage and then headed back out into the corridor. If you stop by I’ll give you something that will help.’
‘You confirmed it’s them? Did you actually see them?’
‘Yes and you need to react now. People should not be wandering the corridors. You’ve got to get down
to my section here if you want to catch them. I’d do it but I can’t leave this modification process in here.
You know you still can’t rely on these Hive-Bots to work independently or they’ll ruin over twenty hours of
work.’
‘Gotcha! I’ll put out an alarm. Can’t you follow them and find out where they are headed?’
Marty Feldman didn’t hear the call across the Hive Tab network, it was just another distraction easily
ignored. He was already at his lab bench, fully absorbed in the experiment with at least three new ideas
floating before him as a result of their encounter.
* * * * *
‘Well now this is exciting. It’s just like being at a Vid but the extra feeling of uncertainty is wonderful.’
Deborah Clinow favored the thought of having a resort as well as a spaceport here at Cretaceous Station.
‘Of course we can’t have it too exciting if they are planning this for the resort. Don’t want the people going
away in a panic.’
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‘I just noticed something Justin, that announcement they made, they didn’t say how to secure your
room. Powering down the door should be sufficient don’t you think? There’s no way a dinosaur is going to
be able to figure out a manual locking mechanism.’
Justin Rather gave Deborah a questioning look as they walked across the corridor. Deborah had talked
him into coming along on this trip. Well, actually it didn’t take much persuasion and he needed a vacation
anyway. Why not take a little relaxing time off when he could also receive board compensation? At least it
sounded good at the time. Truth is they hadn’t had much time for vacation-type activity. Not even a decent
bar! ‘I’d like to stay with you until this clears up. I believe it’s safer if we stay together and we probably
shouldn’t leave the ship to go back to our rooms. Let’s return to the lounge rather than chance the corridors.
Like you said, they haven’t said how to secure your room properly and in the lounge we’d at least be in a
group.’
‘Oh Justin! They are only dinosaurs! How much trouble do you think they are really going to give our
security personnel? Still, I think this is all rather exciting, don’t you?’
‘Let’s get a move on. We shouldn’t take any chances. Look Debbie, do it for my sake, OK? I insist.
Come on, let’s take the central elevator back down.’
‘All right. At least they have a decent communications center there. So, what are your thoughts on the
Station so far. Do you now see the possibilities as I do?’
‘Look Debbie, I’m not going to go along with a takeover …’
‘No silly. That’s not what I’m talking about. You don’t upset the cart if it’s moving along smoothly.
There’s no way I’m going to go along with Suzan and Robert just so they can stuff more of the take into
their own pockets.’
‘I’m more interested in the long view here. This place is a double whammy! We can begin moving
people here using their exotic resort vacations to pay for the spaceport construction and marketing. Then we
gradually begin moving in settlers. We’ve got a thousand years before we should abandon this world and
who wouldn’t just jump at the chance for a simpler, cleaner life style.’
‘Look Justin, there is gold in these hills and I don’t mean the stuff they found beneath this plateau.
That’s minor compared to the potential for growth and profit in this timeframe. Imagine how it will
influence our investments at home? It’s like having a second track for all of our investments!’
‘Ok, here’s the elevator. Ladies first!’
‘That’s just one of the things I love about you Justin. You still follow the most beautiful of our ancient
customs. Thank you.’
‘As to your earlier question, yes, I do believe the resort concept will fly. I also believe we need it if we
want to guarantee positive cash flow for the early days of the project. Ah, the lounge is this way Debbie.’
‘Upp, you’re right. I get turned around in these corridors. So, you already ran a cash-flow simulation?’
‘Yeah, I had the models already set up and I tuned it during the trip here. Not much to do on these
corporate trips you know. I wonder how Mark manages to continue to manage his holdings with such a long
absence? Heck we can’t even Hive-Mail anyone!’
‘The net results are very good if we can secure the site and insure a medium of vacationer safety.
Consider this, for the first time we have a deep-space destination that will be attractive to whole families of
travelers. Why, the home-space transport industry market should quadruple in size in the first three years!’
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‘I anticipated that Justin. I’ve already redirected some of my investments into the industry.’
‘Good, I hope you used discretion in your purchases. These stocks have been nonperforming but solid
for years now. No one expects them to suddenly jump in value and if they see you buying up large blocks
you’re going to ruin it for all of us.’
‘Oh Justin, stop worrying! You know me better than that. Look, let’s hold off on this conversation and
I’ll show you …’
‘Wait a second! What’s that? It sounded like someone is having a problem in the side corridor.’
‘What? Well don’t investigate it! Let’s get into the lounge.’
‘Wait a second Deb. We should see, someone might need our help. Come on, you said you like the
excitement and …’
A scraping noise rose from the darkened hallway. Justin moved over to the wall and ran his hand over
the service panel. The ship queried his Hive Tab and illuminated the narrow corridor.
The corridor ended about twenty feet down. Three closed doors filled the plain walls. The scraping
sound came from the door nearest the dead end. Deborah stayed at the intersection, clearly worried as Justin
walked quietly down to the door.
‘The door appears to be unlocked Debbie.’ He said in a loud whisper, ‘I’m gonna open it. Get ready to
run if anything happens.’
‘Justin … No!’
Justin commanded the transponder to open and the door suddenly disappeared. Lights came on inside of
a near empty room that looked like a laboratory storage area. Justin carefully looked inside, ‘Nothing,
there’s nothing inside.’
‘What made the noise then?’
‘I don’t know.’ He said as he turned to walk back to the main corridor. ‘The room is empty, not even
anything inside.’
The lights went off as he left the room and the door started to close but stopped and opened back up.
Justin didn’t notice the slight blurring of the air that filled the doorway as he walked back toward Debbie. ‘It
must have been something in the ventilation system. Come on, let’s get over to the lounge. I could use a cup
of coffee.’
* * * * *
The sunlit waters of a cobalt blue ocean extend out to the horizon. A nearby dark patch of water marks
a place where seaweed has clustered. Upon it, a thousand brightly-colored bodies jostle in the green and
brown weeds as they float on the lazily rolling waves of the ocean. A salt breeze carries the cries and song
of the small flying dinosaurs that sit and run across the raft of seaweed.
Janet Anderson walked over, highlighted the area around the noisy patch of ocean, and opened her hand
to magnify the image, ‘These aren’t Pterosaurs nor are they birds but they are dinosaurs. We haven’t been
able to identify the species and they may actually be something new, well at least to our known fossil
record.’
Janet is a Geophysicist but she is also an expert on Cretaceous landmasses. A large part of her free time
has evolved into paleontology as an assistant to the over-burdened Sara Wenford. Janet turns to face the two
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young Taylor girls who seem to be enjoying their vacation immensely. They rush over to the image and
zoom in the area around one of the blue and gold dinosaurs that has just emerged from a long underwater
dive. ‘I want that sequence for my school project files. They are so cute!’ The youngest girl chitters.
The older daughter snuggles up to her father, ‘Daddy, can I take a Hype home? I would really like to
have one and I could use it for my school report every year. We could talk about its world and her life in it
and how she adapts to our home.’
Robert Taylor smiled at his daughters, ‘Images are one thing but we do not have any right to take
possession of a Hypsilophodont. You can’t treat them like some pet animal. I’m sure you are old enough to
understand, we still aren’t sure about how they will be classified. Taking “pets”, as you call them, could end
up with all kinds of problems rising from animal activists to accusations of slavery.’
A door to the upper balcony of the lounge opened and their eyes turned upward. Mark Nolen and Matt
Zoeller entered and began walking down the central staircase to the main floor of the lounge, ‘Robert, we
need to discuss a few very important items that have unfortunately risen.’
Mark abruptly turns around as three Blackwave security personnel enter the room just behind him and
Matt, ‘Please, everyone is to stay in the lounge area. We have a problem on board. Apparently two of the
dinosaurs have gained entry to the Argos. These are very dangerous animals so for your own safety do not
leave the room or walk off on your own.’
Robert turned to Mark, ‘What about Suzan? She left to go back to her stateroom a while ago. Can you
send someone for her?’
‘We’ve found Suzan. Well, I might as well tell you, she is dead. We believe these dinosaurs entered her
room and killed her. As of now, they are roaming somewhere on the ship so until we can either drive them
out or eliminate them, you must stay together here. There is safety in numbers.’
A groan of anguish and fear passed through those in the lounge. ‘She was just here with us a little while
ago! What about Deborah and Justin. They just left here right after Suzan. Can we send someone out for
them!’
‘We have people trying to contact them. They must be in a part of the Argos where we cannot link to
their Hive Tabs. There are several sections near the center of the ship that are network dead zones because
of the drive research going on.’
The doors unexpectedly open on the lower level. The lighting under the balcony walkway is subdued
but the forms of several humans are clearly visible. Two Blackwave guards walk in along with the two
missing board members, a half dozen other crewmembers and three researchers.
‘Debbie and Justin! We were just expressing our concerns about you. Thank God you made it back
here. Good job Mr. Stanford. One less worry, now how many more do we need to bring in?’
‘There’s four more. Three are on their way in and the only problem is Doctor Feldman. He says he’s
busy and can handle the situation himself.’
‘Hmm, well we can’t spare the personnel to go after him. We’ll have to let him go for now. When will
you begin the sweep.’
‘We still have to bring over twelve more of our people if we want to do it properly. There are a lot of
corridors in here and I don’t want anyone working alone. We’ll station personnel at the major exits as we
clear the level. Most of the people are …’
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The entry to the lower level opened again for a moment and then closed.
‘What the heck was that?’ Robert asked. ‘I can’t see anyone. These entries don’t just open and close.
This is a starship, there are intelligent overrides!’
Mark called, ‘Everyone over here. Security, watch the shadows for any …’
Portions of the far wall in the dim lighting briefly shimmer and dance. Like looking at a landscape
across a campfire, the walls, pillars and archway move ever so lightly for a brief second. The flickering
distortion glides across the back wall, briefly forms a dull shadow and then is gone.’
‘Pull back, this way toward the kitchens.’
Two of the guards move up toward the far wall. ‘Shh, listen! It’s over …’
A black shadow appears for the briefest moment and slashes across the torso of the nearest guard. He
falls back, his body armor is hardened and marked by a wicked slash. The second guard draws his pistol.
‘No, Jim wait!’ Mark Nolen cries. ‘You have no idea where that slug is going to ricochet to, these walls
are hardened!’
The guard draws back and pulls a Kay-Bar fighting knife from his leg. A low warbling, almost whining
sound fills the air of the lounge and two yellow eyes suddenly float into existence by the wall display, then
they are gone.
‘Quick, move over here, we need to move into the kitchen. Come on girls …’
A sudden shrill whistle and the guard falls to the ground. A dark black figure is visible leaning over
him. They can all hear the now visible, white teeth skitter across his helmet. Jim leaps at the two wrestling
on the floor. He is swatted from the air by a second figure that then leaps on top of him.
Mark Nolen sprints across the room. ‘Matt, keep them moving back into the kitchen.’
Mark passes by a table and grabs a small glass container. He pulls the lid off and swings it at the figure
nearest him. A mass of dark blue jelly flies out and spreads across the shadow coving a small portion of
what now looks like a shoulder and neck. The shadow turns toward Mark and then Jim, still lying on the
floor reaches, reaches up to grab and twist the exposed arm with its deadly claws. Caught off balance, they
roll across the floor and into the other two combatants.
Mark grabs a chair and swings it at the nearest Black Ghost. The dinosaur turns and twists causing the
blow to glance off without real harm.
‘Cheez Mister Nolen’, Jim screams up at him from the floor. ‘Get the hell out of here. You don’t even
have armor on.
A snap fills the air followed by an angry scream that ends in a gurgle. Mark turns and sees the first
guard on his back. The Black Ghost managed to grab the guard behind his neck and below the helmet. Jim
screams and then yells, ‘Mark get them the hell out of here. I can’t hold them back by myself.’
‘I’ll be right back Jim!’ Mark yells as he sprints back across the lounge. Matt has them inside the
kitchen and Robert and Deborah are helping him pull a table over to block the doors. ‘Block and latch those
doors, quickly. We can’t rely on the auto-locks, we have to physically block this doorway. That’s it, set the
bolt. Now push. Hurry, do the same for the other one!’
Deborah is crying as she shoves the table over to the doorway. Janet is near hysteria. ‘Mark, what about
Jim?’ she asks as he crosses the brightly lit kitchen.
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Mark lifts his head too look out the small window but he can’t see Jim. The other guard is lying very
still on the floor, there is surprising little blood in the area. A noise rises from the stairway to his left.
Jim is running up the steps, he manages to swing around a column on the top platform. As Mark
watches, he flips around it to kick back at something barely seen behind him. A squeal rises and Jim darts
off toward the lounge entrance and plows through the door. The door slams behind him.
‘Jim made it! Come on, they will be coming this way. Get this door closed.’
They push the table in front of the door and jam it into the frame.
A deathly silence fills the room. Mark listens but all he can hear is some whimpering behind him and
the air circulating through the ventilation. The young girls are behind him, sobbing in the arms of their
mother.
‘Look for knives, cleavers anything you can hit with.’ He whispers loudly and with that the two girls
begin to cry openly. ‘Shh, listen!’
A scraping and then the door suddenly shakes and rattles. The handle turns slightly. ‘Shit, I didn’t think
they could do that!’ Robert blurts out.
‘Shh, we have young girls here. Watch your language.’ Matt comments as he leans over to grab the
handle. It twists from his hand and the door slides opens slightly. Robert slams his fist on the door and the
barrier slips back into its frame.
‘I think that must have startled it. Isn’t there a manual lock on this latch?’
‘Here, flip this.’ Mark says through clenched teeth as he tries to hold the knob from twisting and still
keep the door closed.
Robert stands up, ‘They aren’t doing anything. Maybe they’ve given up!’
‘I’ve got people on their way. Should be here in few minutes.’ Mark comments.
The room is quiet except for the sobbing of the two young girls. ‘Matt, did you check the two back
doors?’
‘They’re secure and I blocked them as best I could.’
‘Ok people, just sit tight for a few …’
A low sobbing like a lost soul crying over the fog-filled moors rose from the dark shadows of the other
room behind the doors. A chill runs through him and Mark can feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand
up. A faint chemical odor, like smelling salts enters the room.
‘He’s alive out there!’ Janet whimpers and moves towards the door.
‘No, that’s not the guard. I’ve heard this before.’ Mark stopped as the wailing becomes louder. Then the
lights begin to flicker and dim.
‘How can that happen?’ Robert comments in the semidarkness of the room. ‘Did they get into the main
control center?’
The girls are openly sobbing now. Violent scratching begins at the door. Mark motions the others back
from the doorway, ‘They aren’t attacking the door. They are hitting the door frame where the electronics are
located. They are going to short-open the doors!’
‘But how, we have it mechanically clamped!’ Robert whispered.
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Matt Zoeller turned to him, ‘The doors will fly apart when they break the proper circuit. It’s a fire
control and safety access built into the doors. Doesn’t matter how tightly we fix them, they’ll fly apart.’
‘How could they know about such circuitry?’
‘I don’t know if they do understand it but they are attacking the right section of the door for just that
feature! Coincidence? They seem to be able to sense the control sequences. Of course maybe it’s something
less than that but I’m not willing to underestimate their intelligence again.’ Mark replied. ‘Now, we need to
move back from the doorway. Move to the other end of the kitchen.’
The ammonia-like stench grows in the room and the sobbing transforms into the menace of a low
growling warble. Their eyes have grown accustomed to the low light levels.
‘Get ready. Here’s some water, try and wash some of these fumes out of your eyes. Matt, when they
come in you stand behind us and get any that may get past Bob and me. We’ll try and ambush the two of
them.’
The scratching at the door is now a sharp ripping sound. Harsh growls of anticipation pass through the
thin metal. Any moment and they will be through and into the kitchen.
Robert picks up a heavy vibro-knife used for carving meat and holds it before him. ‘I wish this would
have happened anywhere but here. At least we would have had our Armor-all on. I feel naked as a …’
The door flies open with a crash as it slides back into the metal walls of the ship. The fumes are even
stronger and in front of them stand both Black Ghosts. Unlike their original attack, they can be seen much
more easily in the doorway but even now their features are indistinct, blurred. They stand still, their heads
slowly turning and their bodies backlit by the walldisplay on the far side of the room.
One steps forward and screams out a loud, low warble. His yellow eyes glow in the now dim lights of
the room as he stares at the people huddled in front of him.
‘Quick, push over these benches!’ Mark shouts and the attention of the cold, lifeless eyes shifts toward
him. It opens its mouth slightly but no sound can be heard except a low buzzing and clicking in their ears.
‘Throw anything!’ He shouts just as the creature hopes and stumbles across a fallen bench in front of
him.
The second Black Ghost runs around the blocking table and snaps at Matt and the cringing people by
him. ‘That’s it! They aren’t used to things flying at them like this. Throw anything!’ mark cries as a pot flies
past his head. ‘Fall back, make him come directly at us. No Robert, don’t throw those poles. Hold them and
use them! Like this! Poke don’t swing them. You have to jab him … watch it! You girls get behind me.’
The young girls are screaming hysterically. Their fear spurs the attackers on.
‘Robert, can you get at the back door and open it?’
‘No! We’re too close to the door. I can’t move the things in front of it away… watch out Mark!’
Mark ducks just as the dinosaur swings a sharp claw-tipped hand at his head. The blow strikes him,
glancing off the side of his face. A wave a nausea washes over him as he pulls back, slightly stunned for a
moment.
A Black Ghost quickly leaps on him knocking the breath from his body. He lifts a claw-tipped foot, it’s
single black claw is raised high, ready to thrust down and into Mark like a broad curved dagger.
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Mark looks up and tries to gasp but the breath gone from his lungs. Then he sees a bright light cut
through the dimness of the room and his sense of time seems to slow. In spite of his situation, he can’t take
his eyes from the beam swinging across the ceiling. It flickers white, no yellow with tinges of … no that’s
purple. His eyes cannot focus on the beam but they are fully taken and held by the almost three
dimensionality of the brightly flashing, almost physical shaft. He watches as it flicks from the ceiling, down
onto the back of the Black Ghost standing on him. The animal’s reaction is totally unexpected. Deep brown,
almost black feathers become translucent for the briefest instant. Then they stand out explosively and their
shadings ripple and swirl in a myriad of colors. First a deep, almost black gold that flashes red with tinges of
yellow. The ripples of color charge through the patch of illumination without stop and the feathers
physically shiver in the stimulus of the light.
The beast turns and flips as though bitten by a snake. Somewhere in the deep depths of his
consciousness something tells him he can finally breath again. Cool, life-giving air flows into his lungs but
his eyes are held by the light and a high pitched squeal that gradually fills the room.
The sound pounds on their ears as though a high speed freight train suddenly passed into the room and
locked it’s brakes. The light flicks across the open space and lands on the second Black Ghost.
The animal suddenly leaps into the air and springboards into the wall. It’s skin is aglow with ripples of
fire and dark black death that rage across the illumination on its body. The screaming doubles, ringing
through the ears of the stunned humans in room as the shaft of light swings from victim to victim.
A pass flies across Marks face and his reactions pull back in terror. He feels nothing. No pain, no
retching loss of reality and not even the expected searing heat of the bright shaft of light that continues to so
brutally savage the two dinosaurs. The spell broken, his eyes fly across the room to the origin of the beam
and view Doctor Marty Feldman standing calmly with an intense looks of interest on his face as he observes
the suffering of the Black Ghosts.
Mark turns his head to the side and his eyes fly back to the Black Ghost squealing in pain. The shaft
leaves the animal and he forces his gaze to stay on the animal. It fades, disappears before his eyes. A faint,
shimmering pool of air stands in its place. Mark would never have been able to see this subtle distortion if
he had not been looking directly at the beast when it disappeared. As he watches, the apparition turns,
charging toward the exit door and the safety of the darkness beyond.
The bright, strobe-like light shifts across the room, suddenly capturing the fleeing Black Ghost as it
once again flashes back into the spectral magic of its suffering. Caught in mid-stride, it flies back and a
scream lifts in the close confines of the kitchen. The scream throbs through the ears of the humans as they
watch it wither on the floor, a few drops of blood dripping from its nose.
The light brutally swings back and forth between the first Black Ghost and the second. Each time it
touches them they scream and fly around in a strange crazy dance like rag dolls shaken by a terrier. Then
one manages to rise and momentarily evade the savage bath of illumination. It runs out the door, followed
by the second Black Ghost and the room is left to the humans. They stand dumbstruck, stunned into silence.
Their ears still ringing painfully from the cacophony of sounds and screams.
Marty follows hot on their trail, ‘Come on! We can still catch them.’
Mark struggles to stand, ‘Marty stop! Do not go through that door!’
‘We can still catch …’
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‘You can still get killed very quickly. That’s a perfect ambush setup. Now get back here!’ Mark
wobbles over toward the figure in the other room. ‘Marty? Marty! Boy am I glad to see you! You came just
in the nick of time but if you go through that door you will die. Do not underestimate them.’
‘Say, what the heck is that thing? You didn’t show it to me in the lab.’
‘Jim ran into me in the hallway, I was on my way over anyway. We rushed ahead to get here as quickly
as possible. I just finished this thing and it’s not too reliable yet but as you can see it does work. I believe I
need to …’
‘What the hell are you talking about? You were fantastic! Your timing could have been a little earlier
though.’
The lower doors fly open and Daniel Drake charges through the doors with three others close behind.
‘Oh God! Thank God you are ok. They charged by us like a bat out of hell. I thought for sure I would find a
room full of corpses!’
‘Well thanks to Marty, we are ok. We need to …’
‘No!’ Marty interrupted, ‘You need to come back with me. I have three others of these in my lab and
it’s on the way. Quickly!’
Marty quick walked toward the lower door. Dan looked at Mark, the unvoiced question in his face.
‘Quickly Dan, you need what he has.’
‘I don’t see anything but a big flashlight.’
Mark turned to him as they passed into the hallway, ‘That flashlight is exactly what you need. I believe
we finally have a deterrent for these guys that is both defensive and offensive. Quickly, maybe we can catch
them before they leave.’
‘Fat chance, we can’t even see them until it’s too late.’
‘I think those days are over Daniel. Quickly now!’
* * * * *
David Pope swung the Jensen Boat toward the open sea and then around the headlands and headed
toward the sandy beach on the northern shore of the peninsula. The boat handles a little sluggish but that
was because the large gash in its side still has not fully healed.
The boat is made of mock Nickel-Titanium synthetic with two memory states. That means it has two
low-energy states for its shape. When in its storage-state, the boat is a simple, easy to transport and quite
compact cube. When activated, the cube transforms into a jet-boat hull and a smaller cube on top is the
engine and control package. Right now, the boat has nearly completed the process of reforming itself to its
original state thereby healing the large tear in its side.
The boat used a wave to float up onto the sand where Anton and Alex pulled it safely up the beach.
Corey swings the sand crane around and connects onto the pallet with Ed Saren’s body and a very upset
Tom Bracken.
‘I tell you guys I can walk up. It’s only my shoulder and I don’t want to return to the Station like this.’
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‘Shut up Thomas.’ Anton grumbled. ‘We can’t fool around. We have to let them know we’re ok and
that those Black Ghosts are probably working their way back here. I don’t want to have to manhandle you
half way up the cliff because you aren’t as strong as you think you are.’
‘You are wrong on one thing Anton.’ Corey breaks in. ‘I called ahead to ask Doctor Graeme to meet us
up top. The Ghosts have already hit the Station and we’ve got a few others who have been killed including
the Wei and Barbara’s daughter.’
‘Oh no, not little Jenn.’ David stopped working on the pallet and stared out over the calming seas.
‘Well they are gone now. Looks like Marty Feldman came through again. He has a way of breaking
their camouflage cover. Unfortunately we also lost one of the board members and I don’t know just how
Mark is going to handle this.’
‘The whole thing has really been quite a disaster.’ Anton grumbled. ‘Come on, let’s head up top, I need
a cup of coffee and about twenty hours sleep.’
* * * * *
‘Now don’t you worry your bonnie face lassie. We’ll have this bright smiling visage back to itself in
little time atall.’ Doctor Ian Graeme applied the spray across Molly Pasteur’s raw neck and face. ‘Now just
watch, you’ll have nary a mark on yer warm smilin’ face in nigh a week.’
Molly winced and then visibly relaxed as the local sedative began to take effect. ‘The pain is
unbelievable. It’s like having a thousand paper cuts across my shoulder, neck and back.’
‘Aye, ‘twas exactly what ‘tis. A thousand cuts that have ruptured the superficial veins and would
continue to bleed without treatment. Their saliva must lay in an anticoagulant to enhance the bleeding. If he
had been given a chance to cover more of your body you would have bled to death but it would have taken a
while.’
A weak but teasing smile flashed across Molly’s face, ‘Doctor Graeme, I’m always amazed that your
brogue accent can come and go like that.’
‘Aye lass, depends upon my fell mood and inclination!’
‘Well it was good enough to take my mind off the pain I was feeling. Thank you so ….’
Molly turned her head and her eyes widened as she heard the soft warbling that carried through the
walls of the office. It slid up and down the scales, dropping into a menacing growl-like rumble.
‘They are back! They are looking for me Doctor Graeme! I can hear them at the door and… and
something is over by the window too!’
‘Molly! Molly, look at me! Easy now, we’re safe in here. I’ve had the door access disabled. You have
to manually open it if anyone wants entry. The inside now has a hard, physical bolt on it that I set after you
came in. I’m not taking any more chances after having had three attacks here at the clinic. I’ve called the …’
A frantic scratching started below the window. Molly pushes Ian off and rises from the table to run over
to the hard crystal wall section. A black shadow is scratching down below the sill of the portal. As she looks
a pair of eyes suddenly appear, eerily floating in the shadows before her. Cold, yellow and merciless like the
eyes of death, they stare into hers without blinking, looking deep into her soul. Molly is held motionless in
the sure knowledge of their hostility. She can sense the intelligence and vengeful yearning burning coldly
inside of this beast before her.
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They stare at each other for an eternity, barely inches apart and separated only by the clear quartz optic
of the SilFuse formed window. The animal suddenly explodes into motion and she can clearly see the dark
maul of death as it opens its mouth and screams in frustration at her image so close before it yet so clearly
out of its reach. It attacks the window, scratching frantically with four-inch long claws and lashing out with
a sensitive tongue in search of any edge or crack that might provide a means of forced entry.
The warbled growl transforms into a bone-piercing howl of anger as a soft force pulls her gently back
from the window. She slowly regains recognition of the room around her and can faintly hear a soothing,
protective voice calling to her from far away. Her world spins with the sounds of hard nails scratching
across the doorway down the hall while a red-mouthed demon claws frantically at the thin pane of the
window before her and her head throbs and rings with the howling thirst of their cries for her blood. Thin
threads of blackness skim across the edges of her vision and she can feel herself slipping away.
A sharp odor suddenly rips Molly back to awareness. ‘Oh no you don’t Molly. Come on, wake up! I
can’t have you passing out now. We have to move back into …’
The quartz of the window sizzles with a bone-chilling ripping sound. Pieces shatter and fly across the
office, small deadly slivers skittering across the floor, flying into their hair and over their clothes. Blood
curdling screams fill their world and pound into their ringing ears as they turn their heads. A black feathered
fury has pushed through the window and hangs across its sill by the scant hold of a jammed shoulder. Saliva
drips from its mouth as it lashes out toward them in its frenzied struggle to enter.
Ian grabs Molly around the shoulders and pushes her into the hallway. The door at the front of the
building slams and pounds with the fury of some unseen tempest as he pushes her into the operations room
at the rear of the building.
‘Move, into here! No, don’t just stand there, head over there toward the back of the room.’ Ian shouts as
he closes the door behind him and shoves a long rod into the door’s handle to secure the entry.
Molly head is swimming and a sharp, cutting faint odor begins to fill the room. It burns into her head
dredging out foul memories frantically pushed to the deep, dark recesses of her mind. Black recollections of
torment and smothered panic. Fears of pain filled utter despair. The room begins to swim but a small pinch
on her arm brings her around to focus on Doctor Graeme.
‘No you don’t lassie. That’ll help you to stay with us a few more moments. You need to head back into
the chamber back there. Do you think you can walk now? Go, I need to do something over here. Quickly!’
A crashing, ripping sound enters the room from down the hallway. A blood curdling scream like the
fury of Homer’s sirens passes through the walls as though they are made of paper. The door before him
suddenly vibrates with bold fierce blows. Claws skid across the plastisteel of its panels, screeching across its
hardened, smooth finish. They settle into the edges, cutting and clawing along the faint line separating the
door from the support of its surrounding walls. The screams transform into a hard, low grunting and mewing
call that pulses through the door with the deadly scrape of each claw.
Ian turns to a steel cabinet and rips open a drawer. He grabs a tube and flicks the top from it. The door
vibrates and pulses before him with the onslaught of fury behind it as he pushes a paste from the tube
around its edging. The paste grows and swells to fill the entry. Hardening within seconds of its contact with
the air. The sounds from outside lower just a little.
‘That’ll keep the gas out for as long as the door can stand up to their onslaught. Here, get inside the
chamber. Take this, here’s the … oh never mind. Just get in, push further back into the chamber. It’s going
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to be a bit close but hopefully they’ll get here first. Ok, now stand behind me. Close your eyes if you have
to. Shh, it’ll be ok.’
The door splits away from its frame. Edges of the framework fly across the small room and an arm
pushes through the opening. It screams in frustration and a massive blow to the door rips it back a little
more. A head and shoulders squeeze through the opening, scraping the sharp edges. Heedless of its own
blood running down the inside of the door, the creature screams in fury and pushes harder.
‘Aye, come on beastie. I’ve got a wee surprise for …’
The head pulls back and the room is suddenly empty.
A stomach ripping stench fills the room but the shattered and bent doorway stands unmolested. Slowly
Ian steps out of the chamber. He carefully pushes away the carts and debris, to look through the broken
doorframe.
His heart flies into panic as a dark head appears from the dim shadows of the hall behind. Reaction
swings his arm back, ready to throw whatever forgotten thing is in his hand and he stops …
‘Are you ok in there. Ian, it’s me!’ Mark Nolen shouts at him. ‘Hold on, everything is ok. It’s going to
take a few minutes to get in to you but they are gone. You can relax.’
The head disappears and Ian can hear muffled voices from outside in the hallway. They don’t seem to
make much sense, his head is swimming and he can’t focus on …
‘Ian! Ian over here. It’s an oxygen canister. Take it and breath!’
Clarity suddenly snaps back into his world. ‘Mark, I need another for Molly! Hurry! Oh? Yes I see it.
Thanks.’
Molly’s eyes are glazed as he slips the mask over her face. Her breathing is shallow so he sets the mask
to a slow forced stream of almost pure oxygen. Her arms suddenly fly up and he can see the recognition and
terror in her eyes.
‘It’s ok lassie! We made it, we just have to be a little patient for a few more moments. Aye, that’s it.
Come here, I’ll hold you for a little. We’re ok now.’
The now welcome sound of a plastisteel cutter filled the room. It’s sharp, steel-cutting wine strangely
sounds almost comforting.
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Chapter 9: Death
“Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?”
1986 movie, “The Quest”
‘You may be able to pull the wool over the eyes of Colonel Drake, my friend Thomas, but you can’t
fool me. Go ahead and tell me you didn’t go and dislocate your shoulder to get this light duty. Now don’t go
making a big deal out of every little bit of work. This just isn’t all that complex!’ Anton Dotschkal growled
as he dropped his tools and walked over to Tom Bracken. Anton was glad to be out and doing something
positive again but his kidding could sometimes take on a rough edge.
‘It’s not my shoulder you big lummox! I’m concerned about alignment and synchronization of the unit
with the existing sensor array.’ Tom closed the AutoSentinel access panel located just below the sensor
tower. ‘This unit controls all three of the tripod based, heavy Pulsar Rifles. You can’t just go and jimmy a
new circuit bulb into the system and expect it to conform to firing protocols!’
‘Marty went over this with us. The new circuit bulb is adaptive. It will automatically update the
Identification and Classification section on the processor. He could not have made installation simpler.’
‘We still have to go in here and tap into the brain stem functions to do it. I don’t like fooling with these.
It’s not like this is a simple Sentinel for detection and identification. This thing can really make your day go
bad if it decides to start firing out of control.’
‘Look, I’ll do this one for you. You only need to cut into the subcutaneous layer on the main processor
fiber. The exact location isn’t all that exacting, just get it within a micron or so of the sinigal synapses of the
cerebral cortex. The Hive-Bot installation team will wake up and do the rest when you place it on the cut
and activate the bulb. Watch, I’ll activate it. Now, just hold it there for a second more. It gets a little warm
so don’t let that surprise you. Ah, see the color change?’
‘Oh, cut it out Tom! You aren’t at Advanced Systems Boot Camp again. This is a field modification.
It’s a little drastic but Marty knows what he is doing.’
‘How the hell could he have put this together so fast? I’ve seen modification teams work months for
smaller changes than this to these weapons.’
‘You’re working with Marty Feldman! A guy that even I have to hold in high regards. Ok, look at that,
all systems checks out and ... See, now here’s what I’m talking about! Look at the strength and speed of the
Interpolative Identification Feedback cycle. I’ll bet he added a few upgrades there as well to the package.’
‘Now, get over here and I’ll stand by while you install this unit. Oh, I’m sorry Tom.’ Anton pulled his
hand back from Tom’s shoulder. ‘I forgot about your shoulder. Are you sure you’re gonna be ok? Maybe
another session at Ian’s dispensary.’
‘No you don’t. That place still stinks and there’s no way I’m gonna let that crazy Scotsman diddle
around with my shoulder now. He’s still wobbly from his encounter with the Black Ghosts.’
‘Yeah, I noticed it too. We need to get these up and running. The Sun’s getting pretty low and the last
thing I want is those guys returning tonight.’ Anton shouldered his upgrade pack, slung his Phaser Rifle and
then walked over to pick up Tom’s pack. Tom immediately reached down and winced in pain from the
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movement. ‘Well aren’t we the jumpy one. I know you well enough Tom to not even go for your rifle. You
go ahead and carry it, I’ll just help with the pack. Let’s head up to station 4.’
‘Cheez Anton. You aren’t as bad as they all say you are.’
Anton stopped for a second. Then he continued up the pathway. ‘Yeah, yeah I am.’ He mumbled
quietly.
* * * * *
The GraviDynamics drive bay is located in the very center of the Argos. The bridge and Command
Information Center, or CIC, are located in a ring surrounding the drive bay. Normally very quiet during
flight, the drive’s hum is even lower now with only the minimal amount of noise coming from the easy
breeze of the environment controller. The Argos hasn’t moved since being docked here four and a half
months ago so the only systems being used are for basic power and for maintaining the Hive-Tab network
and gravitonic field.
The CIC is the heart of the security network for the Station. Virtual displays fill the room, highlighting
areas of activity or simply sections of the perimeter that exhibit a calculated high potential for activity based
on the behavior of small animal life in the area surrounding the sensors.
‘To answer your earlier question, notice how the stars either seem to burn brightly or simply twinkle in
the skies at the points where we can see through the tree canopy.’ Colonel Daniel Drake directed Corey
Zavtek over toward the sentinel monitor displaying an area near the southern edge of the plateau. ‘That’s an
enhancement first suggested by Mark almost two years ago to designate earth-like star systems verses those
that would not be very friendly toward human life.’
‘At the time we never thought we’d be bringing the Argos back in time to our own planet. Don’t forget,
this is a starship and not a port based colony vessel. He intended the little gimmick to be a subtle reminder
of the true focus of our company, which is the colonization of other earth-like stellar systems. The display
caused quite a stir on the bridge when we emerged from the portal into this timeframe. There were so many
bright, solid stars visible that we were sure the display malfunctioned. We never gave it a second thought
and didn’t even try to correct it because it was a low priority item. As it turns out the display was right.
There are many more life friendly systems nearby in this era.’
‘The oddity of this new display is that the stars are in a sky that looks like a mid-day illuminated
landscape. The whole scene reminds me of walking on the lunar surface but with trees and animals all
around. The scene is an artifact of the expanded spectrum illumination produced by Marty’s strobe-flash.
We’re flooding the areas with light that’s goes way into the infrared, a bit beyond one micron wavelength,
and deep into the ultraviolet, uh down to around 365 nanometers or so I think he told me. The display then
compresses the bandwidth to the range visible to our eyes. So the broader bandwidth along with low level
enhancement makes the whole area look bright as day. I think it’s a neat little trick folding in the outer
wavelengths so that the colors of things we’re familiar with still look natural. You know trees are green and
yellow flowers are yellow.’
Corey didn’t seem to be as impressed as Dan thought he would be, ‘Ok, I get that. Then the spectrum is
compressed and shifted down nonlinearly to where we can see the whole range on our display. That’s neat
considering the illumination isn’t a flood light. The strobes are constantly changing the illumination packets
up and down the spectrum in a random shift. Look here! You can see some strange color strobe effects at
some of these edges where the light is scattered and shifted away from our …’
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A small alarm chimed as a dinosaur emerged from dense brush, ‘Look at that! It’s blurring and the
colors are washing across it in bands rather like a rainbow on this display. That’s one of the Black Ghosts!
It’s trying to adapt to the illumination. Wow look at it squirm! It really doesn’t like the lighting. Cheez, look
at it, the effect must be painful .. it’s gone.’
‘I was just set to fire on it.’ Dan commented. I wonder if Marty couldn’t have set this so that they can’t
feel the illumination. Everytime we get one in our sensor field they can feel the lighting and they leave. This
is great for a defensive perimeter but not so good if we are trying to get rid of these bad guys.’
‘Well, if they keep probing the perimeter like this then it’s just a matter of time before the system learns
enough about their signature to fire automatically. On the other hand they may just learn how to fool it
before we get their full signature. Hey, that must be the other Black Ghost. We have two distinct signatures
now, one by the cliff edge and another near the tunnel they first used. That confirms it, they are probing for
weak points.’
‘No, I think they are trying to learn how to adapt to the lighting. See, there’s another probe of our
defenses. Their response pattern is changing every time they return.’
Dan looked a little upset, ‘Yeah, I was looking at the algorithm development for targeting. Their
responses are changing enough from probe to probe that the automatic identification algorithm can’t
converge to a good solution. We need to change our method of modeling their responses to the Sentinels
and that’s going to be a big job. Looks like we have a standoff for now. They can’t get in and we can’t fire
quickly enough to kill them.’
‘I guess we have an arms race of sorts. We can’t kill them and they can’t get in. I hope that they’ll get
tired of the game and leave before we have to go through the entire development cycle. Maybe we can get
back to normal.’
‘You mean near-normal don’t you Corey. Even if they stop, this means we’ll have to arm everyone with
hand held strobes whenever we leave the perimeter. We’ll need to do it day or night since they are almost
impossible to see in the day time as well. Marty’s been calling them flashprobes and they are a bit clumsy to
handle but we should have a helmet installable version in a day or so.’
‘I guess I was hoping they would simply leave the area. Well, let’s see what the morning brings. You
managed to set up the second line of sensors didn’t you? We need to know if they do manage to get by the
outer fence.’
‘Yep, as of twenty two hundred hours last night everything was set up and secure. So you can walk
back to your place and enjoy the evening without fear. Take one of the flashprobes with you.’
‘I think it’s going to be a long time before I can walk peacefully like that Dan. Thank you and have a
nice evening.’
* * * * *
Corey left the Argos carrying one of the rifles and one of the five flashprobes that Marty had
assembled. As he walks outside, his eye catches a glimpse of small movements in the shadows formed by
the pale light of the moon rising just above the horizon. The hair on the back of his neck rises with an
intense chill flowing down his spine. He tries to swing his rifle from his shoulder and pull out the flashprobe
at the same time. The flashprobe flies out of his hand as he swings the rifle up.
‘Yo, hold on Corey, or should we call you “thumble-thumbs”?’ a voice lifted from behind him. ‘You
ain’t even facing in the proper direction.’
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‘Tom? Oh cheez, you gave me quite a scare.’
‘Well I hope it wasn’t us you thought you saw.’ The low deep voice of Dan Drake came from the
shadows to his side. ‘Are you sure you’re ok now? Can we come out without being shot?’
‘Come on Dan, cut it out.’ Corey replied. ‘You’re right. I’m jumpy as hell and I don’t think it’s going to
be getting any better in the day light tomorrow. What are you guys doing out here? You’re a little up in rank
to be standing guard duty Daniel.’
‘Mark asked us to walk you home. Good thing too! Looks like your nerves are a little on edge. Come
on, we’ll keep you company. Swing by the dormitory this way I want to stop in and see how Molly is doing.
Doc said she was ok but her eyes didn’t look right to me.’
‘Ok, thanks. Yeah, it doesn’t help being as tired as I am. I’m drained from that trek with Alex and ….’
A low warble lifts from the high brush surrounding them. It feels like a low thumping in the air that
pounds the inner ear with only the lowest levels of perceived noise. Corey stops and again reaches for his
flashprobe just as the deep warble changes to a long, low sobbing. The cries rend into his heart with
memories of their long chase overland. The soft crying of a girl’s voice lifts into the air between sobs.
‘It’s them!’ Corey whispers to Dan and Tom. ‘They’re doing it again and they are getting better at it.’
‘Of all the things to mimic! Why in the world would they mimic the calls of their victims as they lay
bleeding in pain and agony?’ Tom said as he pulled over beside Corey.
‘Shh, lay low right where you are and just listen!’ Dan called over the silent network. The constant
warbling can now be felt as well as heard as it slides up and down the scales. Tearful, pitiful sobbing and
pleading fills the air and then stops. Then the warble sounds again. More sorrowful pleading follows its call
from a slightly different direction.
‘They are trying to flush their prey.’ Corey’s mind analyzes the sounds. ‘They listen to the pained cries
of those they catch and then use them to inject fear into the hearts of those they hunt. How did they …’
The soft crunch of the coarse sandy soil carries through the evening’s air. He never would have heard
the soft sounds if they were not listening and motionless.
‘Wait Corey, don’t use your flashprobe yet.’ The soft call of Dan’s voice echoed across the silent HiveTab link in Corey’s brain. ‘Wait until you are sure they are close enough.’
It seems to take forever for the source of the cries to approach. The cries are never clear enough to
determine exactly where they are. The soft crunching of their footsteps however slowly grow louder.
The sounds stop. The soft, breeze filled air around them holds nothing more than the night-cries of the
jungle and the soft washing of the surf far off in the distance. Corey’s suddenly aware that he is holding his
breath. ‘No, leave it out slowly, quietly! Shit, my heart is pounding so hard they must be able to hear it. Was
that something behind me?’
Slow-footed time passes as Corey’s mind races on; wondering and doubting each barely imagined
movement of the night. His straining eyes notice a flicker in the star field across the clearing before him.
‘Did I actually see it? There, by the building. Yes, something…. there they are, both are over by the door.’
‘Gone! Where did they … the windows right in front of where Dan is.’
‘I’m gonna flash the building right in front of you Dan.’ Corey warns the security chief across the Hive
Tab. There is no reply.
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‘Did he hear me? Should I push in? Maybe Dan and Tom are both dead?’
Corey hesitates a moment. He can only see one of them now. His thumb lightly presses on the control
of the strobe. Where is the second Ghost?
A scream fills the air and less than a dozen feet before him stands the black demon responsible for all of
his fears. He hesitates! He cannot fire, the slugs would penetrate into the building. He rises and reaches
down to pull his combat knife from his belt.
A sudden blow strikes him from the side. Knife and flashprobe fly spinning from his hand as he rolls
hard to the ground. Crouched above him, a scant foot or so away is the beast that hit him. It rises and turns.
Even in the dark, he can see the hatred in its yellow eyes. If he reaches for the knife beside him it will be
upon his back, if he charges in it …
A black shadow fills the sky before him. Red jaws close over his helmet and a sledgehammer blow flies
into his gut knocking the air from him as his battle armor instantly hardens. He falls to the ground, his head
skidding hard across the sharp gravel.
Corey twists to meet the next blow but it’s gone. Tom is standing over him, lifting his head.
‘Kinda froze up there Corey didn’t you? Come on, shake it off you’re ok.’
Corey looks up, his vision is blurred, his head spinning and his chest hurts. There’s someone shining a
strange light… ‘It’s Dan, ok I can see it now.’ The thoughts race on while his hands slowly move to his
waist. His pistol’s still there.
Strong hands lift him to his feet. ‘Come on, stand on your own now!’ Tom’s talking in a normal voice.
‘We’ve got guys on their tail. Dan managed to get a call out and two of the patrols took over for us.’
‘Tom, look over here.’ Dan calls over to them from the building. ‘Look at this. They were trying to get
into the window. They left gouges here even in the hard silicon of the window sill. There’s dozens of people
on the grounds tonight. Why ignore them and work at trying to dig into the building.’
Corey wants to take his helmet off and just hold his head. He knows he’ll get yelled at if he does. It
hurts but he lifts his voice, ‘They didn’t want the others. They are after the prey they lost. Those are the
windows to Molly’s apartment. Don’t you see the pattern? Just like Cindy Decker, they had her and then
they lost her. Then they returned. They were coming to reclaim what they lost.’
‘They’ve left the peninsula.’ Tom called over. ‘Looks like they hightailed it out right away. We’ve got
brief readings from three of the perimeter Sentinels to confirm it.’
Dan picked up Corey’s rifle and handed it over to him, ‘A word of advice. Don’t hesitate. Trust your
reactions and do the first thing that comes to your mind. You could have had at least one of them.’
‘Yeah, I know but the risk …’
‘Could have gotten you killed. You were saved this time by your armor and Tom’s fast reflexes. He
may not be there next time.’
‘I’m not a soldier. I shouldn’t be doing this stuff.’
‘Oh, don’t go there. You’ve been a tremendous asset and the times aren’t normal. Now more than ever
we have to kill these two. We know they’ve got a taste for human blood. It’s an addiction that drives them
to keep coming back. They’re also smart and they learn quickly. Now tonight we learned they have a strong
memory and they aren’t going to stop coming back until they get Molly or we get them.’
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* * * * *
Cold fear rests in his soul and courses through the veins of his body. It distracts and cautions every
move he makes. Thoughts of failure and death cloud every decision. Their very existence threatening deadly
hesitation at a critical moment.
For his entire life, he wished he could be like others. His own thoughts were savagely critical of his
actions and once again the dirge ran through his brain like a song you couldn’t stop singing, ‘Oh, to be able
to occasionally act on impulse without fear of the consequences.’ His mind would not let him do this. The
very analytic nature of his being forces him to evaluate and weigh the potential consequences of every step
he takes.
He knows that therein lay the danger and the problem. The analytical moment of hesitation that
transforms survival into defeat. His mind continually analyzes and conjures the anticipation and
visualization of consequences for every potential course of action. The fear of an unforeseen reaction would
at times rack his body to the very core and drive his desire to shrink back, leave the deadlier tasks like these
to others. However, fear or not, to hold back is not his way.
Despite the fear, his soul drives him onward. This is his responsibility, his task! How can you live with
the knowledge that you let others take your risk? Push back the fear and turn it into anger. Learn to nourish
anger deep enough that in the direst of times, the red haze descends and the rage rises from some unknown
depth within. It’s these rare and unplanned instances when his whole being lashes out without hesitation and
strikes with an irresistible and deadly focus unabated until the threat is gone and the torments of careful
consideration return. A gift of survival from his forefathers or a curse? It didn’t really matter since he could
not control it or even consciously bring on the rage. It just came or it didn’t.
His mind racing, planning, evaluating every potential course of action, Corey appears strangely calm as
he moves out into the feral lands beyond the false safety of the walls of Cretaceous Station. He would not let
the fears bind him. They sharpen his senses and oddly enough heighten the glories of the smells, sounds and
vision of the deadly green jungle surrounding him.
The dark, broad figure of Anton Dotschkal follows close behind. Anton’s spirit stands as a bastion of
solid and deadly purpose. He is a builder and a visionary to his very core. The incidents of the last days have
challenged his right to continue. They had attacked him personally and horribly injured or killed others
close to him. All of his intellect and resolute cunning now turns to the carefully planned removal of these
threats that hold him back from those things he truly wants to do. His approach to a solution of the problem
is calculated, methodical and always deadly efficient in its simplicity.
Between them walks a graceful, tall and slim figure. Even from a distance, it appears foreign to the
battle armor, helmet and weaponry covering the smooth curves and flowing motion. A few strands of bright,
yellow hair escape the protective confines of the battle helmet to flutter in the soft breezes surrounding
them. Intense blue eyes continually scan the jungle around her. Gone are the bright smile and quick laugh.
The twinkle of her eyes and warm smile that defined the external characteristics of Molly Pasteur had
not returned since her last encounter with the Black Ghosts. Unconscious and near death from asphyxiation,
her mind continually replays the freshly remembered horrors. Molly had struggled from the mind deadening
horrors back to sanity with a will, a purpose and now a plan.
The wanton cruelty of their attacks ripped the magic of this land from her. They took the beauty of the
world, the exotic camaraderie of its inhabitants and turned them into something ugly, terror filled and deadly
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personal. Where others would have given up, Molly’s anger had grown and flamed within her, transforming
her. A deep inner-self, that none had ever seen, emerged that day to pursue a plan with deadly purpose.
Her transformation came upon her with sudden, stunning clarity. Molly’s sudden recognition of the true
purpose behind the actions of the Black Ghosts ignited it into existence. These demons were here now and
would not stop their attacks. They craved the hot, complex blood of the humans more than they desired
food, perhaps more than life itself.
The beliefs of this small party run contrary to that of the majority of the board members and the Chief
Scientist Matt Zoeller. Unlike the directors of the Station, they believe the solution lies in removing the
threat rather than building better defenses. Doctor Marty Feldman fortunately supported their proposed
solution.
A simple modification of the reporting functions for the Hive Net by Marty allowed their departure to
go unnoticed for the next eighteen hours. More than enough time to exit the security perimeter of
Cretaceous Station and set up their trap.
Molly’s innermost fears gave birth to the plan. Late yesterday Molly and Corey sat alone in a dark
corner of the Station’s cafeteria. They found that they each shared a common desire as they discussed the
problems of the last few days.
Molly’s hands cradled and drew comfort from the warmth of the black cup of coffee. She finally looked
up across the table and into his eyes after listening to Corey’s frustrations, ‘Here’s what I think Mister
Zavtek. These so-called Black Ghosts have always managed to elude and escape our traps. Their knowledge
of the world they live in has always given these black demons the edge. They use its landscape and even the
other predators within it as natural weapons to trap their prey or elude those attacking them. Such
capabilities show just how smart they are. Like us, they must have the ability to plan and envision
consequences. I believe the problem is obvious, we need to place them in a situation where they cannot or at
least choose not to use these natural advantages.’
‘Think back to your encounter with the Black Ghosts yesterday. The three of you were able to approach
them. You were not particularly quiet or careful, yet you walked within easy striking distance.’
Corey listened attentively, ‘Yeah. I thought about that and I think we were able to do it only because
they were busy trying to break into your apartment.’
‘You’re right. They were focused on breaking in. In fact, they were deeply focused and the reason is
they were after me. They have my blood-taste in their system, it’s now centered on me and it drives them on
like an opiate. I also know that, just like with Cindy, they aren’t going to stop coming after me.’
‘At this point I figure I’ve got two chances of surviving the next few days. One is to go back up to the
Essex and return to our own Earth. The other is to fight for what we’ve worked for here.’
‘I’ve come to realize that I like it here very much. I’m not all that excited about going back to our
modern and crowded world anymore. I know there are others who feel the same way. Alex is one of them.’
‘We need to set up another trap and we need to do it on our terms under conditions where they don’t
have their natural advantage. The solution is obvious; we set up a trap using me as the bait. They …’
‘Whoa, now hold on! We haven’t been able to elude or contain these guys one single time Molly. No, I
won’t have any part of it. It’s the same thing as signing your death warrant. Look how close you came last
time and you had full body armor on!’
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‘That’s just the point Corey. Every time you tried to track or trap them they had full use of their natural
abilities. If I go out there, they will act like they did last night. They’ll be drunk with the blood smell.
They’ll think only of getting at me. This is our one chance. Unless someone survives another attack you
won’t ever be able to create a situation that will put them at such a disadvantage. Now, who would you like
to be the victim of that next attack? Rachel? How about Gabriel?’
Corey stood and walked over to crystal clear wall section of the cafeteria housing the quartz window. A
few small dinosaurs tussled in the sand outside chasing butterflies an smaller lizards. He stared at them for a
while, unconsciously admiring their colors and grace but not really seeing their antics. ‘Boy, you know how
to hit low and personal. I hate to say it but you are right. I can’t do this alone though. I’ll need help, perhaps
Alex or Tom.’
‘Look Corey I’m risking my career with this because as far as I’m concerned my neck is on the line. I
either get them or they will eventually get me. They are not going to give up.’
‘Having said that, we can’t ask Alex or Tom to risk their careers on this. Mark may well fire them for
even suggesting it. If he doesn’t do it then Dan will have them going back on the Essex. No, we have to do it
on our own.’
Corey turned from the window, a smile growing on his face. ‘I know just the guy. He’s just as pissed as
we are. We need to go over and get Anton right away. He’ll go along with it. Come on.’
Molly picked up Corey’s cup and followed him out the door. Throwing the cups into the recycle
container, she reseated the rifle on her shoulder and picked up her pace to walk beside Corey. ‘Are you sure
about this? He scares me sometimes.’
‘Oh, he’s a little gruff but he’s ok. He just doesn’t like to be interrupted when he’s building something
and right now these Black Ghosts have all but stopped all work on the starport. Come on, we need to hustle.
I saw him moving toward the Argos earlier and I’m sure he isn’t going in there to chat with Mark.’
After a brief discussion, Anton’s enthusiastic approach was even more direct and simple than Corey’s
plan. Less than twenty minutes later the three of them were loaded with spare ammunition bars and a few of
the flash bang stun grenades from security.
Now, safely outside the security perimeter, they pass down the empty road that was so busy only a few
days ago. The party moves at a brisk pace along the easy surface of the fused roadway. They ignore the
grandeur of the ocean so full of life and color. The small party moves with a purpose through a strange and
beautiful world teaming with wildlife and the bounty of a million years of mild evolution. The beauty of the
raw jungle passes around them ignored as they swing back into the dense scrub growth toward a low
clearing filled with the recently evolved grassy plants of this era.
They pushed on into the high brush on the other side. The now worn trail leads them out near the rim of
the river valley and then down through a broad glade filled with horsetail ferns. Here the trail clearly passed
through the broken path of five-foot tall ferns. Carefully and silently, Anton, Molly and Corey move ahead
once more toward the next sunlight filled clearing ahead. Here again, recently crushed and trampled ferns
fill the area around them.
The packed down area of high ferns mixed with the newer strains of coarse grass ahead of them still
hold the memory of the recent terror. The flies are gone as are the other hundreds of scavenger insects that
were here a few days ago. Dried blood covers most of the area marking a patch of land where a being, born
millions of years in the future, died slowly and painfully.
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Anton stops for a moment. Memories of the day that they found Sotak Luti lying here come flooding
out of his nightmares into the daytime of his life. This is the spot where the demons discovered their blood
lust. Here was the Black Ghost’s first grisly encounter with the addictive qualities of the serum that flowed
through the veins of these new comers to this ancient world. Here they first displayed their ghastly ability to
shred the skin of their victims while keeping them alive and terror stricken to enhance the pulsing flow of
the adrenaline-filled fluids of the body. Their victims endured never-ending pain-filled minutes that
stretched into hours. They lay there gagging, gasping for air but conscious and paralyzed until the flow of
fluid ends and their heart finally fails bringing peace and an end to their torment.
‘This is the spot we want to start from.’ Anton sets his rifle down and pulls off his knapsack. Setting it
down on the ground, he opens the rain-flap at the top and draws out a black box. Inside are three containers
with blood plasma synthesized by Doctor Graeme from a sample taken from Molly. Then he removes a tube
and presses the top to open it. ‘Ok, here, coat your hands with this liquid. It’ll provide a barrier in case your
skin contacts germs or anything else that might be infectious.’
Molly stares at him, ‘Are you implying that I have a social disease?’
‘Of course not Molly, don’t be so damned touchy. You really aren’t yourself lately are you. This is
standard procedure for blood serum. We also need to follow it in case there’s anything unknown in the grass
here. Who knows what may have entered the area since Sotak died here.’
‘Great, I’m going to be sitting out here as bait and we are worried about a potential disease.’
‘Molly, you asked for my help. Just do it.’
‘How are we gonna do this Anton?’ Corey asks as he picks up one of the bottles and removes the cap.
He next grabbed a slim, spray adaptor and pulled it over the top of the bottle.
‘I ran over this area pretty well when we were looking for Sotak. Buddy led us right down that trail but
as we passed, I noticed a few smaller trails up by the rim of the cliff.’ Anton stands up straight and arches
his back. Corey can see the pain in his eyes as he rubs the small of his back with his two hands. ‘The two
other trails lead along the cliff edge for about a quarter mile. Then they drop down into the river valley on a
narrow trail that looks like it’s had a lot of very recent hard use.’
‘The thing that caught my attention is an outcrop of bare rock that lies just before the sharply dropping
part of the path down the cliff. I suspect that this is the path traveled by these guys. It’s also how they
managed to get back here so fast while we were stuck upriver fighting off those big theropods.’
‘That rocky projection is our trap site. We’ll begin a scent trail of Molly’s blood right here. Don’t
overdo it when you spray it out. Just a light mist every couple of yards or so. We’ll cover a strip from here
and then on the other side of the projection all the way over to the trail’s passage down into the valley.
Might even be a good idea to go down the cliff face for a hundred feet or so. Then we go back and …’
‘This isn’t what I was thinking of Anton!’ Molly cut in. ‘I volunteered for this but I want to have a
chance of getting out of it alive. I was rather thinking of something like sitting up in a tree while these guys
are running around down below me. I’m not gonna be sitting out on a barren, rocky tabletop exposed to the
world with my back against the blue sky and nowhere to run!’
Corey turns his head up to look at her, ‘Did you ever think that sitting up in a tree might not be the best
idea either? Deadly as they might be, there’s a lot more around here than these two little guys. Some of the
other locals might also follow the blood trail and they are about as high as any tree you could be climbing
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into. You’d be sitting up there, nowhere to fly to and just at the right height for easy picking. They wouldn’t
even have to bend over for a snack.’
‘He’s right.’ Anton fitted his knapsack and twisted over to pick up his rifle. ‘You also have to consider
that I’ve seen these two demons in action. They can climb quite nicely. Overall, they are really quite fast
and deadly for their size. Come on, let’s get moving. We can talk while we walk.’
Molly stared at Anton for a second and then bent down to pick up her pack. ‘You know …’
‘Now Molly, let me finish and you might feel a little better about this. The ledge is the right place for
this trap. Its most important feature is that we can strobe it with Marty’s flashprobes without lighting up the
entire jungle. If we catch them out in the open, we can put them down. Now shhh… shut up and listen. Keep
working while you walk, we need to establish the scent trail.’
‘I know your concern. The rocky face has a set of large cracks, or small fissures if you will, filled with
boulders along the edge that leads into a set of even wider fissures. If things begin to get a little tight, you
can squiggle down into the fissure and there will be only one way in and out. Your rifle or even your pistol
should be enough protection from anything that comes your way be it Black Ghost or T-Rex.’
‘Over this way Corey, did you miss …’
Corey turned and motioned for silence. Anton and Molly froze, crouching slightly with their rifles
ready. Corey moved ahead slowly, his thoughts rushing through his brain. ‘If this is a tree trunk then they
are really gonna laugh at… Oh crap! It moved, I saw it flinch.’
He pushed across the trail through a small wall of ferns and there it stood. A sound like wind rushing
through a bellows filled the air but he could not see exactly where it came from because of the high fern and
dense scrub palm brush overhead. ‘The damn thing’s standing right over the trail. Do we push …’
A massive head, as big as Corey, with a short, elephant like nose pushed through the ferns just above
his head. The nose snaked up and grabbed some branches filled with leaves and shoved them into the
enormous mouth. Bits of leaves, sticks and saliva dropped as it chewed. They fell down on Corey as he
stood there, fascinated and frozen in place. He watched as it chewed the branches a few feet above his head.
He was so close he could see and hear it swallow.
The nose lowered again and suddenly stopped. It seemed to quiver for a second and then flipped over
toward Corey’s head. Gently, almost lovingly, it skitted across his shoulders leaving a thin trail of slime
covered pieces of leaf and branch. Then it lifted away and moved onward to another set of ferns.
Throughout the entire experience, the tree-like leg in front of him never moved except to shift slightly in its
placement on the ground.
Molly pulled up next to Corey. Her face looked white and drawn. Yet a familiar smile on her face told
him that she would be her old self again soon. Molly passed him, leaving out a small giggle as she walked
into the shade under its belly. Corey followed her down past the leg and out of the dense jungle’s edge, into
the bright sunshine, onward toward the cliff’s edge.
‘So much for sitting up in a tree Molly! Good thing that was a leaf eater, right? You know, a mature TRex can get almost that high.’
Molly turned to Corey but her eyes focused behind him, ‘Anton, are you crazy! Get your hands off that
leg. Suppose it goes and scratches at …’
A monstrous head broke through the thin canopy of the fern forest above Anton’s head. The leathery
nose pushed down at him and a two-foot wide eyeball framed in small golden bronze, very coarse feathers
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looked directly into his eyes. Nonchalantly, the nose flicked around, hitting Anton and lifting him into the
air. He landed on his back, eight feet down the path toward Molly and Corey.
They stood in shock for a moment. The head was gone and Anton wasn’t moving. Then he lifted his
arm into the air to hold up the bottle with the blood serum in it. His body began to shake. At first concerned,
they ran over to him. He turned over, a pained smile on his face. It obviously hurt to laugh but he couldn’t
help it.
‘Aw shit that hurt. Just wait a second you two comedians, it knocked the breath out of me.’ Anton
gasped and laughed at the same time. ‘I thought I was a gonner!’ He said while gasping in air. ‘Ok, don’t
say a word or I’ll start to laugh again and never catch my breath. Aw shit, my chest really hurts!’
Corey walked over and took the bottle from his hand. ‘Well at least you didn’t lose this. Do I need to
tell you how silly you look? What the hell were you thinking!’
‘Ok, don’t rub it in. The thing just stood there without moving. I know it was dumb but I wanted to see
if it could feel me doing that.’
‘Ah, yeah. Well now we know.’
‘Ok, this way.’ Anton got up and rubbed his chest. Pushing his way back down the pathway, he grabbed
the bottle away from Corey as he passed and saw him holding in a snicker. ‘Aw, cut it out!’
They emerged from the thick bush wall that marks the edge of the jungle. Ahead of them stretches a
long, broad valley with a river running through its center. The cliffs are bare of most larger trees near the
upper edges. The reddish soil here is a mix of slate and sandstone. Up ahead, a broad shelf of granite juts out
from beneath the sandstone to provide a steel grey frame to the beauty of the landscape before them.
A blue, cloudless sky stretches before them across the valley. Light grey cliffs on the far side support a
jade green canopy of trees and palmetto shrub on the far side. One section directly opposite them is covered
with a carpet of massive vines that flow over the edge and half way down the cliff face capturing the mist
from a nearby waterfall. The spectral colors of two rainbows play across its face as the mists swirl in the
light breeze generated by the cooler falling waters.
The floor of the valley makes the ancient forests of the high planes look barren. Patches of dense
palmetto growth are interspersed with open green pastures of grass and surrounded by deciduous trees such
as oak, beech, fig, magnolia, and sassafras. The grass is a delicate, green newcomer to this planet where,
until the last million years, the continents had only known coarse pine and gingkos, seed ferns, cycads,
ferns, club mosses, and horsetails. Down in the river valley, these modern grasses have already pushed out
most of the older forms of plant life. Their leaves are soft and succulent and they are the favored foodstuffs
for the herds of herbivorous dinosaurs seen below.
Hundreds of hadrosaurids mill around on the valley floor feasting on the lush green growth. They
bellow, play and form into large herds intermixed with other plant eating dinosaurs. Small theropods, or
meat eaters, hunt and play between the larger duck billed dinosaurs. They chase each other and run after the
even smaller dinosaurs that feed off the insects and parasites sitting on the backs and in the dung of the
larger animals.
The blue sparkling, wide river flows down the center of the valley. Here it is deep enough that the flow
is smooth and without rapids. Further off to the west, Corey can easily see the bright white sand beach
where the river first broadens to flow into the sea covering most of the land mass that will someday be
western Texas.
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‘Wow, what a spot for a cabin!’ Corey says as he gazes out over the valley. ‘The view is fabulous and
look at all the birds!’
‘Those aren’t birds.’ Anton comments, ‘They’re pterosaurs. Personally I don’t see the difference but
you don’t want to call them birds in front of Sara Wenford unless you’re looking for a half hour lecture.’
‘Let’s get a move on. We’re almost at the overlook. I want to have enough time to set up properly
before nightfall.’
‘Movement along the cliff top is easy. The path is smooth and clear of brush for most of the way and
they weave in and out of the treeline as they push on using a well worn trail. Anton gently reaches out to
push away a curtain of sharp thorns and behind it is open blue sky and slightly below them a hard grey rock
outcropping marking the edge of the overlook. From this vantage they can finally see the massive rock
edifice as it juts out into the valley, a bare granite finger, relatively flat on top and about a quarter of a mile
wide. It extends out into the valley roughly three times its width marking a point where the river far below
forms a hair-pin turn in its meandering path.
Anton can feel his shoes crunch as they pass over the loose gravel covering the rocky core. The heat of
the sun is even greater as they leave the cooling canopy of the forest’s edge. The path ahead forms a clear
trail where small rocks and the finer dirt cover have been worn away by the passage of many feet over the
hard rock bed.
‘Put the scent out a little stronger here. We want to make them very anxious to come out on the cliff
top. I want to head over this way, a little off the side of the path up by that boulder.’
The fissures, that Anton talked about, are now clearly visible in the rock at the edge of the cliff as they
cross out onto the bare stone precipice. Ahead of their path, several threatening cracks start back about
twenty to thirty feet from the edge of the rock’s precipice. Corey walks up to the very edge of the nearest
without the slightest hesitation, ‘Hey, I can see right through it to the valley floor below. There’s a couple of
rocks stuck in the crack up here but if you turn your head you can see right down to the tree tops below. You
want me to climb down that?’
‘Yeah but not you Corey, this is your spot Molly. Come over here, the crack is wide enough for you and
if you hop onto that rock that’s lodged in there, then it gets even wider below so that you can shimmy
further down inside. There is no way they are gonna reach you from up here when you’re down there.’
‘You have got to be kidding.’ Molly comments as she looks over the edge. ‘You said there would be
some cracks with boulders stuck in them but you didn’t say anything about being able to see right through to
the valley floor below them! If I step on that thing how do I know we’re not both going to go flying down to
the valley floor.’
‘Oh come on. You know those rocks been there for millions of years. Why would it give way now.
Besides, I’ve been down there. It’s not as bad as it looks from up here. There’s even a bit of an overhang
that you can duck under down there. I tell you it’s pretty easy and not as scary as it looks.’
‘Well, if it held you I guess then I should be ok.’ Molly quipped with a slight twinkle in her eye. ‘Are
you sure you went all the way down there?’
‘I, ah, well I went down to the rock and onto the ledge. I didn’t go out further down the side trail but
you won’t have to anyway.’ Anton quipped as he turned to set down his backpack.
Anton opened the pack and pulled out a sack. He loosened the string on it and looked inside. ‘Well, I
was a little concerned but I didn’t really expect them to be damaged from such a little bump.’
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‘Little bump? Oh, you mean when you got nosed by that dino!’
‘… and flew into the bushes about three meters!’ Molly added.
‘Ah, yeah. Nosed! Never heard it put like that before, wise guys.’
‘Well I never saw someone thrown into the air by a big nose like that either Anton. Ok, I quit. Down to
business, just what are these little things?’
‘These are the AutoSentinels that Marty constructed, he calls them StrobeSentinels.’ Anton flipped one
into the air and caught it. ‘According to Marty, they are encased in a positively pressured covering like a
tennis ball. Unlike our normal ‘sentinels that are on legs, these are made to lie directly on the ground.’
‘We have a basic problem with the Black Ghosts in that they can sense the long wavelengths of the
detectors. They evaded our detectors by simply learning and then providing the proper identification
response. That allowed them to easily pass through the perimeter defenses.’
‘When Marty put up the second wall, they immediately reacted to the signals because… well, the
radiation scans changed so rapidly that it actually hurt them as they tried to follow the adaptation. When
they finally managed to get through, we learned something else about them from their success. They are
extremely resourceful and in spite of the pain, they were interested enough to repeatedly and painfully test
the circuit barrier until they found a way in. We’re still not really sure how they did that.’
‘So, Marty, being the clever guy he is, put these little things together. We scatter them on the ground in
a rough perimeter. Their sensitivity range is about thirty feet in all directions. I’d like to have had more of
them but we have enough that we spread them across the neck of this outcrop and a ways along the edges.
This little transmitter activates and communicates with them and they are all interlinked to process data as a
hive.’
‘They’ll sit on the ground without emitting any radiation and without making a sound. Each one
contains a small accelerometer inside that senses for ground vibration. When we first turn it on it measures
the ambient noise and vibration levels for a minute. Then it self-calibrates using a Fourier Model to identify
the frequencies in the area surrounding them. This self-calibrates the unit for the location allowing it to
identify the normal background levels and detect intrusions even in a noisy area.’
‘Now, when something approaches the perimeter it will introduce a new set of pressure waves in the air
and in the vibrations that travel through the ground. Oh, by pressure waves I mean noises Molly. They’ll
stand out like a sore thumb against the normal background ambient and the StrobeSentinel will react.’
Molly wrinkled her nose and looked into Anton’s eyes, ‘Ok Anton, you got back at me but I know that
noises are just variations in pressure in the air.’
‘Yeah. Well the Strobe first puts out a 0.4 millisecond pulse of radiation that scans the entire spectrum.
This is much faster than the Black Ghosts can react but it’s enough time to take in a sample. Hopefully they
won’t even notice the pulse. We have bio-identification algorithms on the chip inside each ball that can
identify the intruder. If it is one of our Ghosts then the sentinel will test a second time. They are entirely
passive after detection and identification so from that point onward they just listen silently until the subject
leaves their area. We have them set to report as soon as they see any movement and they will alarm on our
helmet radios using an ultra high frequency burst transmission if the detection is something we should worry
about. So unlike most of the sentinels, they won’t actively try to prevent intrusion and they will remain
stealthed.’
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‘I get it Anton.’ Corey said as he examined one of the spheres. ‘It emits too short a burst for the Black
Ghosts to react to and nullify and perhaps too short to even notice, but we will know they are here.’
‘That is the point of it. You and I will set up along the edges up here and over there. We’ll know when
they come onto the peninsula and if they are onto the blood trail then they should head right for Molly.’
Anton stands up and points out across the bare rocky plateau toward the jungle wall beyond. ‘This is the
killing field from here to over there by that set of boulders. You will set up over there and I’ll cross to that
set of boulders over on the opposite edge. We’ll have them in a good field of overlapping fire without
having to worry about hitting each other. Now look, we want to wait until they are well within the free fire
zone. We should be able to get both of them if we can catch them in the open with their backs to the cliff.’
‘Molly, you don’t want to head down into the crevasse until we see them coming. They need to be able
to see and smell you. Just make sure you keep your head down when they do come so we have a clear fire
area. Any questions?’
‘Ok, you each have a sack like this in your backpack. Let’s run them out along the edges. I want a
checkered placement zone at least thirty feet off the point and into the brush. We should have enough left
after that to put a thin ring around the edges of the point…’
‘You mean along the tops of the cliffs?’ Corey interrupted. ‘Do you really think they would come up
the face here? It’s sheer rock.’
‘I’m taking no chances with this. We’ve been surprised too many times. I want a sensor ring around the
entire area even if it is a little thin along the cliff.’
* * * * *
Deborah Clinow looked out over the blue sea. She took a deep breath and turned to Matthew Zoeller
who had walked out from behind his desk to stand beside her. Deborah picked up her hot cup of coffee. Her
hands shook as she took a sip and set it down again on the small table. Turning back to the virtual world of
his office’s walldisplay, she could see a flock of pterosaurs low winging across the waves in the distance,
hear their cries and smell the fresh salt on the breeze. She felt a little safer here in Matt’s office. Here she
was protected from the harsh reality of the world she saw before her but could still experience the beauty
and the thrill of it. At least the thrill was still there.
As a member of the board of GraviDynamics she wanted to be able to provide the same thrill and
appreciation of the beauty of this world to all of their customers. Provide them with a controlled
environment where they could feel the excitement but safely experience the wonders of this world. Safely!
‘It wasn’t supposed to be like this Matt! There’s an evolutionary niche to be filled in every ecology but
still, they are animals, or at least I thought they would be! They aren’t supposed to be this smart or cruel.
Intelligence is supposed to bring compassion and understanding!’
‘Oh Matt, how I underestimated them. I thought we could set up a resort here. You know, like the game
preserves in Africa. A place where people could experience and learn about these wonderful creatures. I
should have realized just how different and dangerous they would be. They aren’t like us at all. They are
alien in every sense of the word, in every thought sequence.’
‘I never imagined just how dangerous they could be. After all, they have no real technology beyond
what they are born with. What would have happened without the extinction event? Would we have even
developed as a race? After all, one branch of the theropods managed to survive the physical calamity that is
coming in less than a thousand years. The birds survived and look how they pushed out everything else
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trying to fly! They survived the calamity. They managed to exist where our ancestors took over every other
section of the ecology only because the dinosaurs were wiped clean from every section we moved into. All
except that one group of theropods that lived on. How strange that they managed to hold on and continue to
dominate the air. They pushed out all of our ancestor’s efforts. Oh we have bats and flying squirrels and a
few other measly mammals in some very minor niches but how do they compare with the all encompassing
dominance of birds?’
‘And here we come into this world. They are at a peak of a hundred million years of evolution and we
thought we could control them. Shit, our ancestors have only been around for one million years and we
thought we were something special. Here we sit and cower, we can’t even keep them out of our main ship
much less our settlement.’
Matt decided he better cut in. He could see the direction of this and didn’t like it. Where the heck is
Mark when you need him? He’s the one who should be handling these people. ‘Easy now Deborah. This is
the way of any expedition or for that matter any research project. You have setbacks and need to keep
going, persevere! We simply need to overcome these obstacles.’
‘Obstacles! People are dying! How can we stay here if we can’t keep our people safe?’
‘We can overcome the obstacles. I was not in favor of setting up anything permanent here much less a
resort like you are talking about but the situation has changed. I think we can still overcome the problems.’
‘Deborah, progress on this scale demands sacrifice. Just continue to give us your support and the time
to do it and we’ll adapt. We will succeed.’
‘Oh Matt, I wish I could believe that. I’ve seen nothing but death and failure since arriving here and ....’
‘Oh hold on now Deborah. I must admit that your timing could have been better but we’ve been highly
successful in our basic research. Why, with what we’ve learned…’
‘No, it isn’t safe and I want to go back up to the Essex where it’s safe.’
‘Mark and Dan are holding the Hunter Recon transports here. They are our lifeline in case something
very drastic happens. Taking you back up to the ship would not only be expensive but could jeopardize the
safety of the rest of the employees if an emergency occurred.
‘I want to talk with Mark.’
‘No Ms Clinow. Not now. Not until we’ve properly established a set of solutions to the problem. After
all, you came here uninvited. Under most circumstances it would have been just fine but now we have a
problem and your personal concerns must take second priority to the mission. Now please! Won’t you
return to the group or at least to your stateroom? I only ask that you do not leave the Argos.’
‘Well I hope these new alarms work better than what we had for poor Suzan.’
‘Just stay with the group and you’ll be safe. I apologize for the condition of the lounge but most of the
damage has been cleaned up. I have one of our security guards waiting outside to escort you over to the
lounge or to your room if you so desire.’
Matthew watched as Deborah walked back out into the corridor. A low warbling call entered his office
and he turned to look back out over the ocean. He couldn’t see anything and the sound was gone but his
heart really wasn’t into finding its source. He turned back to his work, one last stray thought ran through his
mind, ‘Maybe there’s something to her statement. Their adaptation rate is amazing. Thank God we’ve only
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encountered two of them so far. Mark’s right though, we can’t take the chance that one of them would be on
the transport back up to the Essex. We need to maintain the quarantine.’
* * * * *
A bright flash of colors raced across the brush. Intense strikes of blue, red and green raced in and out of
the thick undergrowth before them. They warbled with a low, hollow almost echo-like sound. Corey thought
it was rather like a tin can with marbles rolling around inside. It was a truly weird set of marbles though the
way the song slid up and down the scales.
‘Strange,’ he thought as he picked up another ‘sentinel and rolled it into the brush toward the nearest
dinosaur. ‘Even these little velociraptors can call beyond our range of hearing. That little guy with the bright
blue crest and red feathers around his eyes seems to be the most aggressive. Go away and mind your own
business.’ Corey grumbled lowly as he tossed another ‘sentinel at its head.
The brightly colored velociraptor let out a shrill, barking call that climbed up the octaves beyond
anything that Corey could hear. It spread out its arms and a ring of feathers stood out from its head. Then it
turned and ran back into the brush with four other brightly colored friends.
Behind him, Corey could hear Anton suddenly raise his voice, ‘Molly don’t come over this way! The
woods around here are filled with your blood scent by now. I don’t want you over near the dense brush. You
work your way around the cliff edge and stay away from any good cover.’
‘Anton you’re a worry-wart!’ Molly quipped back but she moved back out onto the rocky outcrop.
Less than a half of an hour and the sensors were scattered across the edges of the cliff top. Anton called
up a display on his Hive Tab. A portion of his mind examined an aerial map of the plateau with the location
of every sensor on it. ‘A little more to your left Corey. Yeah that’s it. Throw three or more if you have them
to the north-northeast. Ok, good. Just scatter any you have left and head back in here we want to get our
placements set.’
Anton concentrated on the display as he walked across the rock-strewn pathway. Small bushes,
struggling for life in the poor soil occasionally brushed his boots and leggings. ‘Ok, 87% of the ‘sentinels
are already calibrated and all have linked into the hive-net successfully. Looks like we’re about ready …’
An alarm pulse coursed through each of their Hive Tabs. The sentinels instantly identified a Troondon
approaching along the trail they had originally taken on their way to the outcrop. ‘Watch it, there’s at least
four more back in there. Don’t move, just stand your ground.’ Anton called. ‘Most likely they’re from the
same family outside of the Station.’
A large head emerged from the dense brush at the edge of the bare rocky hilltop. It had a coat of black,
almost dark-bronze colored feathers that caught the bright sunlight and seemed to crawl with rainbow
colors. A bright yellow plume crested the head, swinging back and forth with rapid, sharp movements as its
yellow eyes, filled with a cold intelligence, looked across the open area.
A low call echoed out through the brush and throbbed through the heads of the three human intruders
on the plateau. It was so low in frequency that they could not even hear it but they could feel its throbbing.
The dinosaur standing before them turned its head back toward the brush. It is fully grown, standing slightly
taller than the humans as it sung a short series of clearly heard staccato barks that sounded to Corey very
much like the start of a piece written by Mozart.
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A group of seven hunters emerged from the brush. They deliberately approached the humans who stood
there in the open with their backs to the open sky. Their eyes never left the three humans as they walked
cautiously across the open rock path.
Molly subvocalized into her transmitter using her Hive Tab interface, ‘What are we going to do Anton?
These aren’t our playful little Hypes. They’re troondon!’
‘Just stand your ground. They are probably just investigating. Aw shit! They’re following the blood
scent right over to you Molly. Don’t move, stand your ground. Corey let’s start over real easy-like.’
Corey walked down the path. He stepped out purposefully, blocking the clear path of three of the
visitors. They looked at him but did not show any aggression as they started to pass. Corey took another step
out. Then he turned his back to them and walked over toward Molly.
The troondon closest to Molly moved in slowly. It’s nose worked and wrinkled in a very unbird-like
fashion. It moved very much like a dog trying to capture a scent as it worked gently, cautiously around
Molly. Finally, the nose settled a few scant inches from her neck, moving constantly but never actually
touching her. Then it went down to the blood-spray bottle in her hand and returned to her neck.
Corey stood behind the troondon. Two other predators moved up beside him, their mouths open slightly
and frontal canines clearly visible in the bright light of the sun. ‘Looks like you have him stumped Molly.
Between your neck wound and the bottle, he can’t figure out what we are doing.’
‘Well these clowns are kinda putting a damper on our show here. Question is, how are we going to get
them out of here. The Black Ghosts will never come with them clomping around the rocks.’ Anton
grumbled softly into his communicator.
‘Ok, let’s approach this directly.’ Anton moved over next to Molly, brushing a troondon as he passed.
The dinosaur hissed and hopped into the air twisting to face him directly. Anton froze and just looked at the
troondon. He could see it relax slightly so he turned back to the troondon in front of Molly who also had
turned to stare directly at him.
Anton spoke clearly and softly, ‘I know you can’t understand me but we don’t want or need your help
here.’ Slowly he again began working his way over toward Molly. ‘Just take it easy, thanks for coming but
you guys have gotta leave.’
Without taking his eyes off of the troondon he raised his voice, ‘Corey you work your way over here
too. Be easy when you do it and no sudden movements. We need to stand shoulder to shoulder.’
The troondon backed away as Corey approached. ‘Ok, now lift your rifle and hold it crosswise in front
of you like a barrier. Don’t point the muzzle at them!’
‘I get it Anton.’ Corey raised his rifle and began to whistle a low tune. He then began to push forward.
That’s it Corey! Come on Molly, you too. Let’s form a line and slowly begin pushing them back.
Maybe they will get the hint and …’
The troondon that Anton had bumped lowered it’s head and bristled as Corey approached. It began a
low hissing sound.
Suddenly the dinosaur along side of Molly turned and barked three sharp commands. The hissing
troondon stopped short and looked at the other dinosaur. Then it stepped back a few feet and turned to travel
back down the path. Two others followed it and then the others also turned and left.
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The troondon by Molly whistled a low, warbling melody that seemed to center around the blond girl
standing there with her rifle held high. She looked him in the eye but did not show her teeth in a smile for
fear that it could be interpreted as a threat stance. Then she spoke, ‘Oh, you are really quick to pick things
up aren’t you. Thank you!’ and she pushed forward slightly.
The troondon turned and left the plateau. It quickly disappeared into the brush leaving the three humans
alone on the rocky promontory. ‘Well don’t ever call them stupid or slow!’ Anton commented as they
disappeared beyond the sensor limits. ‘Ok, now let’s get set up before we get another surprise.’
Anton and Corey settled into the rocks on opposite ends of the clearing. Slowly the day crept onward
towards its end with only small animals and lizards running across the open rock. The sun pushed its way
down the river valley toward the mountains in the west and a broad, pale moon rose in the darkened sky to
the east. Corey turned his eyes away from watching the two green and yellow dinosaurs chasing lizards
around the rocks and looked up at the moon rising just above the cliffs to the east. ‘You’re supposed to be
bigger now because you are nearer to the earth but I can’t tell the difference. Except for the lack of a few
obviously large craters that should be there, you look the same to me.’
‘Shh, Corey that was a little loud.’ Anton’s voice came quietly into Corey’s ear. ‘Molly, it might be a
good idea if you made a little noise and showed some movement. After all you are the bait.’
Molly stood up and began humming a tune as she walked around the cliff edge. This was the first time
in months that she had nothing immediate to do. She began to relax as she watched the peacefulness of the
world around her and in the valley below. ‘Up until the last few days, this was like living in a park! It’s
beautiful here and there is so much life! It’s strange how far away our old world seems, how alien. Only a
few months here and it already feels like home.’
Molly stood and watched a mosasaur gracefully push upriver as it fed on anything in its path. Strangely,
it reminded her of dolphins she had seen when she was a young girl. Two smaller ones follow close behind,
playing in the ripples of the river, skirting around its rocks and the clumps of floating logs.
A silent signal from the StrobeSentinels caught her attention. Something tripped the northeast perimeter
setting off two silent alarm detections. A few moments passed and then Anton’s voice came over their
communicators, ‘May have been nothing. It was too brief an encounter anyways. The algorithms could not
even identify the source of the signal.’
‘Oh great!’ Corey commented, ‘Are we gonna have false detections all day. Maybe I can …’
He was interrupted by a second, brief alarm to the North. ‘Again, no confirmation. Two times and in
separate areas is one too many for a glitch. Get ready!’
The intrusions eventually stopped without a single identification. Anton sat on the warm rocks trying to
think about what he may have done wrong during the setup of the ‘sentinels. Were they working properly or
not? The sun continued to crawl slowly down toward the western mountains. ‘There’s another one. Well,
finally! I got an ID on that one, it’s only a small ricardoestesia.’
‘Yeah, those annoying things follow us all the time squawking and screeching whenever we’re digging
or removing brush. I remember them.’ Corey grumbled. He was getting quite bored and a little cranky from
the waiting.
‘Hey look at that, we have three, no four more. The system identifies them all as small predators and
there were also two more that are those pterosaurs. The ones that seem to like climbing in the trees more
than flying.’
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‘Yeah, but look. They’re all moving in the same direction. Something’s driving them!’
‘Hey Anton, we have something coming from the northeast path. No ID on it yet but I can see the brush
and trees shaking. Much too big to be our bad guys!’
‘Shit! Get down under cover you guys. I just got an ID on them, they’re Albertosaurs. Same type as the
ones that rampaged over the Station the other month!’ Anton called over the communicator as he nestled
down into the clump of boulders.
They could feel their approach through the vibrations in the hard rock. The bushes began to shake less
than fifty yards from Corey’s left side and a low warble carried across the rocky prominence. Multiple low
chirps, almost barking sounds from further back in the brush, immediately answered it. Then a head
emerged from out of the tops of the trees. Bright blue eyes in a black, densely feathered head with a red
comb on top pushed through the green leaf cover. It stood and stared out over the barren rock shelf as if
looking for something.
A second black and gold mountain of feathers over muscle pushed through the thick undergrowth
further down the tree line. It stopped and screeched a trilling cry that flowed down into a low warble as it
pushed through and into the clear rock area. Finally out into the open, the giant predator stretched its head
up a full twenty feet and gave out a second bellow that rampaged through the skulls of the humans. As if in
reply, three other predators emerged from the dense brush, out onto the rocky shelf.
‘These are clearly juveniles. Most likely they are scouts moving ahead of a larger pack of the hunters
just like when they overran the Station.’ Anton’s calm voice called over the communicators.
‘Well they can’t fit too many of them out here. My God, look at their size.’ Molly commented from her
secure position down in the crevasse.
‘Yeah, but how long will they stay? They seem to be looking for something! Oh shit! They’re sniffing
the air right around where we sprayed the blood. Cheez Molly, it’s going to lead them right over toward
you!’
Corey popped his head up to get a better look at the edge of the clearing, ‘The sensors say that there’s at
least three smaller ones in the brushline. If they’re small enough they may be able to get down into the
crevasse that you’re hiding in Molly. Keep alert! I’ll call over if they head your way.’
‘I think I can shimmy over near the edge of the cliff and still keep out of their reach Corey.’ Anton
grunted shifted his position over towards the edge of the cliff. ‘Maybe I can pick them off as they approach
her position.’
‘Yeah Anton, maybe. That’s going to ruin all we set up for the trap though.’
‘Well, I’ll hold off as much as possible. Maybe … what the hell are they chasing in there!’ Anton
called.
‘I don’t know but they are really raising a ruckus back in there! Sure looks like they’re chasing
something. Aw shit! Here they come right toward us! Watch it Anton. They’re running the edges of the cliff
like they’re looking for something. They’re going to get to you first.’
‘…. Mmph, well … mmph … I hope they give me enough time to get over to that next set of boulders.
Hold on, gotta catch my breath. Wouldn’t you know I’m hung out here between secure positions for all the
world to see. Oh shoot, I can see two of them coming up along the cliff’s sensors. Think I can beat them
over to those boulders ahead.’
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Molly’s hushed voice carried across their Hive Tabs, ‘There’s two of them not four feet away from me.
They can’t get at me but they obviously got my scent and are trying to scramble down toward me. I’m
pulling back, further down towards the outside edge. I may lose contact because of the rock between us.’
‘I can’t move an inch. There’s three smaller ones that have me hemmed in here.’ Corey called. ‘I’m
gonna sit tight unless you call for help Molly. Look, on second thought, we can always do this again
later….’
‘No we can’t Corey, we won’t be able to use this position again if you go and start shooting. They’ll
never come out here after us. They’ve got a great sense of smell!’
‘Yeah, I’m ok so far. They can’t get all the way down. I’m going to just stay right here until they get
tired of it.’ Molly called but Corey could hear the fear in her voice.
Small pebbles and sand are flying around Molly as she clings to the edge of the thin ledge down in the
crevasse. She can almost reach across to the other rocky face from this position. Maybe if she could swing
her foot across she can catch on those rocks sticking out.
She reaches out with her hand and a chill runs down her spine as she looks down. The rocky crevasse
she’s in is an overhang and she can see the far off boulders and tops of the trees almost directly below her.
‘Maybe I’ll wait here just a little longer.’
Her eye suddenly catches a movement above her. One of the smaller raptors has managed to swing
down into the crevasse. ‘Guess I don’t wait.’ Molly steels herself and swings her foot out over the open
crevasse. Her fingers scrape across the rough rock and catch. If she can push with both hands on either side
of the crevasse then just lift her foot.
Molly lifts her head to look out over the valley as she pulls in a frantic large breath of air. The sun is
setting over the far western edge of the valley and thin, sharp rays of gold trace from it across a blood red
landscape. Long shadows begin to creep into crevasse but she can still see a good foothold over there.
It takes every ounce of her courage to lift her foot from the safety of the ledge that held her. A little
push off and then she frantically grabs for a hold on the loose rocks. Her hand slips and scrambles over the
sharp rocks. Finally it catches and she swings her foot onto the small ledge. ‘Yes, I can see you quite
clearly!’ She quietly says as she looks over toward the small raptor pushing its way down the crevasse. Her
hand moves back to bring her Python pistol out. ‘Heck, no room to grip it properly with my right hand.
Should I try a left handed shot?’
Molly lifts the pistol and her eyes meet those of the small Albertosaurus. It’s only a foot or so taller
than her and must be very young…. and very crazy. The dinosaur has a poor grip in the tight rocky face but
it continues pushing directly down toward her. Molly can see that blood is in it’s eyes as it struggles toward
her. ‘Oh, you’re only a baby! I really hate to …’
Blood red light from the setting sun crawls across the face of rock above her, framing the young
dinosaur and its struggles as Molly begins to squeeze the trigger. Then she stops and her heart begins to
flutter in suddenly remembered fears.
Molly sinuses rebel at the sharp smell unexpectedly assaulting them, dredging forth deep, dark
memories of pain and fear. The smell now permeates the crevasse! Could this be from the young
Albertosaur before her? No, she can see it stop. It’s nostrils quiver and it twists its head, also trying to
understand the smell.
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A sudden fear crawls coldly across the back of her neck. Ignoring the threat before her, Molly struggles
to turn and look back out into the valley behind her.
The two toed, black foot of a theropod is down on the narrow rocky shelf below her peeping out from
behind the sharp corner of the rock where the ledge, that she is on, passes out to the edge of the crevasse.
Apparently, it must wrap around to the outside of the cliff! She can see a larger killing-claw slowly tapping
between the two toes of the predator. ‘Oh you’re just waiting for me to be pushed down there aren’t you!
Luckily you have big feet!’
No longer any need for quiet Hive-Tab calls, Molly calls out using the more powerful signal of her
communicator, ‘They’re here guys and I’m in one hell of a pickle! I’ve got one of those Albertawhachamacallits coming down the crack directly toward me and I can smell and see one of the Black Ghosts
down on a ledge at the cliff-side end of my crevasse. He’s on the same ledge that I’m on and I’m monkeyin-the-middle!’
‘Hold them off with your pistol Molly!’ Corey called back in reply. She suddenly heard the highpitched snap of hypervelocity slugs ripping across the bare rock above her. ‘I’m coming.’
Molly turned her pistol back and aimed it at the dinosaur coming down directly at her. ‘Sorry baby but
you’re the clearest shot and nearest to me!’ Molly aims for the center of it’s chest as it pushes toward her.
She squeezed the trigger. A burst of ionized metal vapor leaps from the short barrel of her Python pistol at
more than five times the speed of sound. The charged molecules passed from ionized gas into a molten and
then a formed hollow solid, spinning slug in the first five centimeters of its deadly flight from the barrel. A
second slug followed immediately behind it and the hypervelocity displacement of the air in its path cracked
through the close confines of the rock like the blow of a lightning bolt.
The slug raced across the eight feet separating them, striking the chest cavity of the dinosaur. Bone and
tissue immediately deformed the hollow shell of the slug. The red-hot metal ricocheted and shattered as it
struck the spine of the hapless victim, exiting through a hole that blew out half of its right side rib cage.
Blood, bone, guts and vaporized tissue sprayed out across the narrow crevasse and over Molly. Her ears
rang from the violent passage of the slugs and their impact in spite of the active sound deadening provided
by her helmet.
Molly reached across the rock and struggled to turn around toward the threat she knew was behind her.
She twisted and immediately felt a hard blow land across her wrist. Her body armor hardened instantly and
saved her wrist from the crushing blow of the black demon’s kick. Molly’s pistol flew from her hand and
bounced noisily down the cliff and into the open air below.
Molly screams and turns back to clamber up and over the mutilated body behind her. Frantically she
scrambles away, pushing up toward the safety of the cliff top. Something hot and rough wraps around her
neck. She can feel the pain from a frighteningly familiar, sandpaper-like grip as it digs into her neck.
Frantically, with panic in her heart, she lunges forward. A frantic, desperate leap and she grabs onto a claw
of the now dead but still shaking beast and her mindless reaction pulls her up over it toward the safety of the
cliff top. Intense pain rips across her bare neck and shoulder as she pulls away from the coils around her
neck, ripping her skin and surface muscles, stifling her scream!
Something grips her shoulder and twists her up and around. Instinctively her good hand grabs at her
attacker. Her eyes swing around to see a black head with wild, blazing yellow eyes glaring. She falls to the
rough rocky surface as the stumbling monster rises above her. Setting it’s foot, it swings down, going
directly for her face. Blood red jaws open as the creature lunges down at her. She stares helplessly, stunned
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by the violence. Everything seems to be moving slowly as the approaching jaws open wider and the sky
behind them erupts. A thunderous blow slams her flat onto the hard rock surface, filling her world with
searing hot liquid and a vision of gold-flecked black feathers.
Molly’s ears rang and her vision blurred. Somehow, she could still see the red sun setting. Suddenly an
image of a black demon rises up before her. The red sky fills with it as the apparition leaps across her
vision. Her world centers on the sight of massive teeth that flash down at her face. It savagely twists
impossibly in mid-leap to be replaced by the image of a bright blue eye, partially turned up into a black and
gold skull. Something swings across, striking her cheekbone. It disappears, replaced by the blood red sky
and the air is filled with a deathly high scream. Somehow, Molly turns her head. Above her, the black
demon’s feet kick spasmodically, striking loose rocks from the cliff face. It swings out, painfully striking
Molly, rolling her back onto the hot, wet body of the dead Albertosaur.
Molly pushes up, she sees the black demon’s head swing around, screaming and biting at the massive
jaws clamped around its body. The small black raptor is brutally ripped up and out of the crevasse. Molly
collapses onto the feathered mass below her, unable to move any further. She feels the screams and head
throbbing warbles filling the rock walls around her, the waves of each cry pounding into her body. Three
sharp cracks fill the crevasse and the air around her saturates with the mixed smells of ammonia and the
now familiar stench of blood and death. A flow of hot red vapor erupts, saturating the air of the crevasse and
the fading light of the setting sun is gone from her vision.
* * * * *
His fingertips are raw, bleeding from the strain and frantic grasping of sharp rocks in his rush across the
narrow ledge on the face of the cliff. That slip back there had started the problem. Ever since then his sore,
bloody finger tips seemed to slide dangerously across every surface he tries to grab onto. Thankfully, the
ledge begins to widen below him. Anton frantically picks up speed, scrambling toward the exposed point of
broken rocks up ahead and the safety of their shelter.
‘Where are they now? Corey? Molly?’ Anton calls across his Hive-Tab. No response! The rocks
between them are too dense for the short range of the Hive-Tab communications. Anton shuffles the last few
feet and onto a secure ledge. ‘Ok, let’s have a look!’
Anton pulls himself slowly up to peek over the top ledge. The dinos that were coming toward him are
gone! ‘What the hell is going on?’ He calls again using his Hive-Tab. A warble fills the air, climbing up and
down the scales and ending with the familiar series of short barks. ‘Ok, the dinos must have spotted them.
That’s a rally call if ever I heard one.’
He climbs back up onto the bare rock plateau, swinging his Python rifle around in front of him. It’s
getting harder to see as the sun sets. Shadows grow and seem to move all across the rocky plateau. A
screech fills the air as Anton pushes ahead to the top of the solid rock crest hiding his view of the others.
The now familiar snap and shockwave of multiple hypervelocity rounds buffet across the plateau,
filling the air before him. ‘Oh shoot! That came from over by Corey. They’re both into it now, where should
I head first?’
As Anton pushes to the crest of the rock, he can see two Albertosaurs drop. One falls to the ground as if
hit with a hammer blow. The other leaps into the air, twisting and clawing, a stream and mist of blood flies
into the air around it. Strangely, his mind fills with the thought, ‘Is it really that red or is it from the rays of
the setting sun?’
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Without further thought, he begins sprinting to the second group of Albertosaurs grumbling to himself.
‘You seem to be doing Ok on your own Corey but Molly doesn’t look too well off!’
As Anton runs, he spots three other dinosaurs push down the trail parallel to him. They are all headed to
the same point. Molly! Another, smaller snap fills the air and a scream rises from the area ahead of him
where Molly is hiding. He watches as an impossibly large dinosaur hops across the crack in the cliff-top. It
spins and bends down, reaching into the crevasse!
‘Molly!’ His heart leaps into his throat as he raises his Python to his shoulder. He can see the monster
swing down and grab something. His hands shake as he tries to steady his bead on the distant beast!
Training takes over and suddenly calm hands squeeze the trigger evenly as the weapon rises. Something is
squirming and twisting in its jaws! His Python fires and before the sharp snap of its passage through the air
begins to fade, Anton rips off three more shots.
The massive black and gold beast explodes with the impact of the Python’s slugs traveling at over four
times the speed of sound. Three nearby Albertosaurs fall back from the violence of the exploding beast.
Through the flash and blood-mist of the carnage, he can see something falling to the ground. It falls to the
cliff’s edge, wounded and unable to get up. He aims at it, his finger slowly tightening on the trigger. His
world focuses on this one, lone black creature as it tries to get up. Even in its wounded state, he can see its
camouflage adapting to the world around it, fading from his sight as it tries to rise and his finger tightens on
the trigger.
A blow to his head and shoulders knocks him down. Anton rolls painfully across the sharp rocks of the
field and then quickly scrambles back over to grab his rifle. Looking up, he sees the remains of an adult
Albertosaurus falling his way. He rolls over as its head lands on top of his legs. It’s jaws, snapping in
mindless reaction of its death throes, are just inches away from his own head. Frantically he pulls to the side
and frees his leg, the monster tries to turn its head but most of the steel-like muscles of its neck are gone.
‘Anton, are you ok over there? Be there in a few seconds.’ The call rises in the back of his mind, from
the Hive Tab that now seems to be working.
‘Corey! Thank God! Get to Molly, there’s …’
‘Hang on, you’ve got two others …’ three sharp cracks fill the air around him. Their hypersonic blast
buffets him, knocking him to the ground again with the impact of their near passage. The rocks themselves
seem to be ringing around him as he staggers back up onto his feet. Two more of the black and gold
monsters are a mere few feet away from him.
‘um, augh …’ Anton sputters as he tries to get his feet under him again, ‘Cheez Corey thanks where
…’
Three more cracks fill the air but their sound is not as painful. Corey calls again, ‘Did you see Molly?
Wait a second, there’s two more over there where she was and …’ Two more sharp cracks fill the air. Their
violent passage lights up the rocky cliff top in the bright white flash of superheated air. The rays of the
setting sun are almost gone and it’s getting hard to see the targets in the fading light.
Anton struggles to rise. Sharp needles of pain run through his back and legs as he hobbles at a run
across the rocky ground. There’s more movement down at the crack in the rock that hid Molly. Fear of
hitting the girl keeps him from firing blindly into the dark moving figures.
‘Come on, this way Anton. I think I got one of them after the big raptor dropped him!’
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Anton ran over to the edge of the rocky crevasse, his eyes scanned the area from down in its dark
shadows and up toward the dark figure of Corey huddled on the other edge of the crevasse. The engineer is
down on one knee, looking into the black shadows. He swings down as Anton notices movement on the
other side of the split in the rock.
Lifting his Python, Anton jumps across the few remaining feet of hard rock. A screech and a hiss fill the
air around him as it sees him coming. The air suddenly saturates with the all too familiar stringent ammonialike order as Anton squeezes the trigger. His Python doesn’t even kick as the hypersonic slug rips through
the air ending the struggles of the mortally wounded Black Ghost.
‘Anton, help me over here.’ Corey calls from down in the crack. ‘She seems to be ok but unconscious.
Her vitals look good on her armor readout. More damage from shock and some blood loss. Here, grab her
but watch her neck and shoulder they’re chewed to ribbons again.’
‘Ok, set her down over here.’
‘There’s still another one around here and I don’t know what happened to the rest of those Alberto….’
A wailing cry rends the air, echoing through their skulls with its volume and sharp retort.
‘Where the hell … there, I think it’s coming from a point near the edge of the cliffs. You stay with
Molly!’ Corey shouts as he clambers out of the rocky crack.
‘Cheez Corey, not in this darkness!’ Anton screams at the figure fading across the darkness covering
the top of the plateau.
Anton holds Molly’s head as he rechecks the readouts from her battle armor. Furtively he glances
across the plateau; the rocks have taken on a ghostly pale white glow in the light of the gibbous moon now
high in the evening sky. In the pale light of the bare rocky plateau he can just make out the shadowy
apparition of Corey running across the plateau.
‘I can’t see anything over here Anton! No wait, I think there’s a ledge going across the face of the cliff
below me over here. Yes, it goes over towards the crevasse where Molly was. They must have come up
from below us just as the Albertosaurs …’
‘Corey get back here now! Its hard enough seeing them in the daytime. You’re not going to find him in
this dark. He can jump you or me at any time as long as we are alone. We need to pull back and cover our
backsides! He’s out there, he knows his buddy is dead. That’s what that wail was! He’ll be out for blood
now and we need to get ready.’
‘Ok Anton, I’m coming. I just…’
‘Just come on over here and be quick about it. We need to pick up Molly and move over into the
‘sentinel covered area so we can have a chance of knowing if he’s coming. Watch your step there, you’re
right at the edge!’
The evening calls of the valley below them begin to rise as they talk. Screeches, warbles and song soon
fill the valley with the early evening rhapsody of the night foragers.
‘The Albertosaurs seem to be gone but we won’t be able to hear even those big guys coming with this
racket starting up. Look, you can see their passage report if you take the time to check out your Hive Tab
link to our StrobeSentinel network. You’re wrong though. They didn’t get here just as the Albertosaurs did.’
‘Ah, come on Anton. Here, if you’re done putting on that salve I’ll carry Molly you watch my …’
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‘Don’t “Ah, come on” me! They didn’t just coincidentally get here; these two black demons brought
them here!’
‘Remember our early “false” readings on the sentinels. That must have been them! They sensed the
probes even though the pulses were impossibly short. Then our two tricky friends managed to slip away and
return with this pack of monsters hot on their tail. These big guys were not after us, they were chasing the
Black Ghosts. Those demons had a great plan but it backfired on their smart asses!’
‘You have got to be kidding Anton! Do you really …’
‘Shhh, there’s something following us right now. I just saw something come over the cliff edge. Well,
actually, I didn’t see it but it blocked out the star field behind it. Come on, we’ve got to move quickly.’
Corey pushes ahead with Molly slung over his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. ‘She’s still bleeding
pretty badly Anton. I can feel the blood creeping down my neck and onto my back!’
‘That’s from the anticoagulants in their saliva. Remember, they wanted her to bleed while they fed on
her blood. She’ll be ok if we can get her back to the forest edge. I remember seeing a nice protected spot
when we put out the security screen. We can clean up her wounds there.’
Anton pulled off to the side while Corey pushed across the rocky plateau with his burden. Every loose
pebble his foot stepped on twisted his ankle under Molly’s weight, threatening to throw them down to the
hard solid rock below his feet.
Corey gradually noticed that the evening song of the forest around them was gone. The far off calls of
the valley floor are still there but he could hear nothing from nearby. ‘At least I can now hear Anton
shuffling through the brush. What the heck is going on though? Where did everyone go?’
The hard white-granite rock of the plateau seems to glow under the pale white light of the moon. Long
shadows play across every branch and rock sending warnings of lurking dangers following their flight.
Small islands of brush and low trees amid the hard rock begin to form as he pushes onward. They provide a
thankful promise of the near approach of the jungle’s edge as well as the malevolent threat of dangers
hidden in their midst.
A low wailing rises to fill the air around him. Like the pleading of a lost soul, it lifts in the song of
agony to then fall into the silence of dismay. Again it rises, filling the air around him without yielding any
hint of direction or source. The sobbing then lowers to an impossible thrumming than pounds unheard
through his skull. The sound waves beat and pound through his head like the painful impact of a rubber
mallet on his helmet. His thoughts are confused and he finds it hard to see the world around him with even
the former clarity of the open rock’s pale moonlight.
Then the silent waves rise again, lifting into the low moaning of the damned, the wail and sob of lost
souls. ‘So, you’re back with revenge in your heart you black demon! Where are you? Let’s end it here and
I’ll help you join your brother on his way to hell!’
A shuffle of limbs and the scuffing of stone-on-stone sends streaks of cold fear up Corey’s back. He
turns without stopping, his right hand fumbling with the cover of his pistol holster. ‘Can’t stop now! There,
I saw that!’ He pushes off to the side, changing his path so that he can keep an eye on the area behind him.
Its there in the bushes! Shifting the dead weight on his shoulders to the side, he raises the pistol. ‘Wait!
Where’s Anton?’
The apparition disappears behind a small island of brush. Corey’s senses are afire; every step seems to
uncover new threats and the wailing call of the damned echoes over the hard rock around him. The wails
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rise into the long soft howl of the night hunters. ‘Ah, now you’re into my territory. Sing your heart out to the
moon. Feel your cries ride the pale beams of the night’s mistress, climbing the stair of its rays up to these
alien stars.’
Soft memories of stories long forgotten flow into his mind as he pushes on under his burden. A low
rumble rises in his throat. He feels the urge to call as he often did when alone in his youth. A youth spent
travelling the trail of old under the rays of the pale hunter’s moon, as did his ancestors. He can feel his
strength grow as the cool air blows across his skin. The power of the night race pushes him onward filling
his soul with the bliss of freedom and the sweet thrill of the chase. The joy of it wells up inside him and
bursts forth into the night.
‘God Almighty what the heck are your doing Corey. You scared the peanuts out of me! I never, ever
heard anyone howl like that! Just shut the hell up and get down over here!’
‘Anton, where the heck did you go! Oh, thank goodness, I’ve about reached the end of my rope.’
‘Well it didn’t sound like it. Set her down over here. Our friend stopped at the edge of the trees when he
felt the first pulses of the ‘sentinels. We should be ok for a little while.’
‘Cheeze, where did you learn to howl like that? I thought those stories of your ancestors that you were
spinning were all made up. I mean, I almost wet my pants when you started in. I guess you heard that black
demon too. Heck, I wonder what he thought of it.’
‘Ah, I’m bushed and I don’t know what you are talking about Anton. I could hear that Black Ghost
right on my tail. I think I could have plugged him but I didn’t know where you were.’
‘Well I’m glad you held off. Here’s some salve although her blood does seem to be starting to
coagulate. She’ll be ok. The question is, what do we do now?’
‘I think we just sit tight and wait. This is a good spot, we’re protected by these rocks and …’
‘No Corey, it ends here tonight if I have to go out there and strangle that SOB with my bare hands.
There’s no ending it any other way now that we killed his companion.’
‘What, are you sure we got him?’
‘Yeah, I went over while you were bringing Molly back up and put a slug into him point blank. He was
down on the edge of the cliff where he fell after you winged him. Looked like he wouldn’t of gotten too far
anyway. He was pretty chewed up by that Albertosaurus. Good shooting, by the way. I’ve never seen you
move so quickly or with such deadly accuracy. You sure you don’t want to be working for Blackwave
instead of spending your time tinkering in the lab?’
‘I may not be working for anyone after we get back and have to stand there in front of Mark. This trip
wasn’t exactly sanctioned you recall.’
‘Oh stop your fretting. What’s he gonna do about it ….’
‘Shhh! The ‘sentinel alarm. Something small, just man-sized but he’s coming this way.’
Except for the brilliance of the stars peaking through the canopy above them, they couldn’t see anything
under the shade of the trees. Even the light enhancement of their battle helmets fought against the dark
shadows. Out of necessity and because of the rapid flight, they now sat within the rocks without the
prepared advantage of a cleared perimeter and established kill zones.
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The jungle around them remains strangely quiet. All around them sits an eerie absence of the normal
calls and song of the evening life. The silence continues to inundate them with imagined warnings of nearby
danger. It is a menacing silence that allows the soft snap of a twig to carry through the trees like the crack of
a rifle. An electric chill runs down Corey’s spine at the sound but his self control manages to move his body
slowly to meet the threat. A rustle in the leaves and the rapid, furtive stepping flows with the small cries of
vengeance unsatisfied. A sudden burst of leaves and branches pushed aside without fear of detection and the
scrub palms off near the edge of their perimeter shake with the intruder’s dark passage.
‘What the hell is it Anton? Shouldn’t we have a StrobeSentinel ID?’ Corey’s thoughts flew silently
across his Hive Tab contact.
‘There must be a gap in the field there. Never mind, just focus on it.’
The dark figure ran off silently. Then, another scramble through the brush rose ahead of them. ‘Watch
it, he’s coming back!’
‘What is he doing? That’s no way …’
A dark figure suddenly appeared in the low brush. It ran low, passing from cover to cover. Never
directly at them, it wove from side-to-side. A burst of speed and it hopped over a scrub palmetto crashing
through the undergrowth with a total disregard for noise. It suddenly stopped and turned back toward them,
weaving in and out of the brush. A sharp cry bordering on a scream and it leapt through the air.
Two snaps filled the air, flashing the leaves and grass around them with the violence of a yellow strobe
of pure plasma energy. The figure was thrown across and into a tree.
‘Wait a second Anton! Look at it, it’s one of those damned Ricardoestesia!’
‘Move! Grab Molly and I’ll cover you! We have to move to the other side. Hurry!’
Corey shoulders his rifle and picked up the still unconscious girl with one arm. Molly moaned in pain.
Corey ignored her protests and shifted position over behind Anton.
Anton’s call carried silently across Corey’s Hive Tab, ‘It knows where we are now. See what it did, it
drove that poor thing directly into us and we were dumb enough to show it exactly where we were hiding.
Watch out, we won’t know what will be coming …’
The sobbing wail echoed through the leaves. It seems to surround them in its cry, searching and
beseeching them to come to its aid. Then a small stringent smell assaults their nostrils. It grows slowly,
saturating the still air of the jungle as the moans echo and rend their hearts with pity and somehow, a primal
fear.
The moans turn into a low thrumming. Their heads throb with the blast of each barely heard call. Molly
begins to moan and whimper at their feet. Anton turns to look at her and suddenly feels it on his leg.
The pull is sudden and savage. Anton’s rifle slides along a branch and flies from his grip. The savage
hold on his leg pulls it from under him. His head glances off a rock, slamming into the ground. A massive
weight stomps down on his chest and his world fills with a yellow flash that rips savagely through his head.
Hands reach down and pull him roughly back to the shelter of the rock. His leg armor is still stiff from
the attack and a splitting headache begins to form in the back of his skull. Suddenly he feels his rifle thrust
back into his hands.
The night air fills with a screech of frustration and anger. Anton struggles up to a crouch position when
something slams into him with a feral cry, ‘You damn lizard I’m gonna wring your …’
Hunter’s Moon
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Chapter 9: Death
Anton turns; the enhanced view of his helmet shows Corey’s head struggling above him. His eyes are
filled with anger and his face red in the wrath of a berserker. Anton pushes him up and reaches out. He can
feel steel hard muscles covered with a slick film of feathers. A foot strikes forward, glancing off his helmet.
It misses Corey and twists Anton around.
Anton is surprised to find his combat knife in his hand. He strikes out, feeling the hard resistance of
skin break before its point. His hand wrenches from the jolt as it deflects from bone and sinks deeper into
the victim. A sense of satisfaction fills him as his ears ring from the cries and screams around him. He
suddenly realizes that the screams are his and it pushes him on. Anton pushes the blade deeper into the body
and twists his wrist in the killing thrust that mangles internal organs sensitive to life. Gathering his leg under
him, he pushes on the bodies on top of him and swings his other hand onto the handle of the blade. With a
two-handed thrust he pulls the blade along the bone, cutting through the sensitive muscle and tissue. Blood
and body fluids burst from the open wound and a scream fills his world.
They twist and fall into the brush. Something hard lands on the small of his back as they roll across and
into the sharp branches of a stump. He can feel the savage thrusts and jerks of its death throes beneath him
and his hands clamp tighter on the handle of his blade. It won’t move, embedded deep in the bone so he
twists and with a snap it breaks free. Anton yanks the knife and the body twists out from beneath him.
Anton struggles to rise. His legs brace themselves under him as he searches the shadows for the best
place to attack. The mass before him jerks and then shivers and swings over. Then he sees Corey. His legs
are wrapped around its back and his arms locked in a death grip under its jaws. The arm of the beast is
twisted between its side and Corey. As he watches, Corey grunts and twists his arm deeper into its throat
and the spine of the Black Ghost snaps, the sound ringing through the air like the crack of a bullet. A violent
jerk, then another spasm and then peace.
Anton falls back against a tree, his chest heaving. His head is throbbing with pain and the muscles of
his arms are beginning to knot up with the sudden release of tension. Slowly he slides to the ground. The
black demon shakes again but he notices the spasms are from Corey bearing down on the body with even
greater savagery.
Slowly he begins to laugh. It’s a weak laugh from a body too tired to move, ‘Corey! Ease off boy. You
got him, ease off. It’s over.’
Corey slowly relaxes as Anton’s words sink in. He releases his grip and his hand flashes back to his
belt. A pale, deadly glint of moonlight reflects from the black anodized blade of his Ka-Bar combat knife as
it flicks out and forward. Savagely Corey’s hand rips back across the raptor’s neck, severing tissue and
arteries but the pulsing thrust of blood from a beating heart is not there. The engineer collapses, falling
across the dead beast.
The throbbing in Anton’s head slowly begins to recede. He stands, his shaking hand moving
unconsciously to the familiar pain in the small of his back as he watches Corey lift his head.
Corey rolls off the beast and looks over toward Molly. Blood is slowly dripping from his wrist that was
trapped in the mouth of the beast. Anton notices it wasn’t from a bite but rather a skin-rip from the sudden
hardening of the ArmorAll shirt. Then Corey turns over toward Anton. ‘Molly seems ok but I’m too tired to
crawl over. Anyway, she’s lying there just as we left her.’
He looks back up into the dark jungle around them and then he turns back to Anton, ‘It’s over. Now
maybe we can get back to normal. I don’t want to do this anymore.’
Hunter’s Moon
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Chapter 9: Death
REFERENCE:
18. O'Connor PM, Claessens LPAM (2005) Basic avian pulmonary design and flow-through ventilation
in non-avian theropod dinosaurs. Nature 436:253-256. (Dinosaur lungs and breathing)
(Oxygen Content)
20. Lehman, T.M. & Coulson, A.B. 2002. A juvenile specimen of the sauropod Alamosaurus
sanjuanensis from the Upper Cretaceous of Big Bend National Park, Texas. Journal of
Palaeontology. 76(1): 156-172
21. Coombs, W. P. 1975. Sauropod habits and habitats. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology,
Palaeoecology 17, 1-33. (trunked sauropod initial paper)
22. Witmer, L. M. 2001. Nostril position in dinosaurs and other vertebrates and its significance for nasal
function. Science 293, 850-853.
23. Xing Xua1, Xiaoting Zhengb and Hailu Youc, A new feather type in a nonavian theropod and the
early evolution of feathers , PNAS January 20, 2009 vol. 106 no. 3 832-834 (Sauropod feathers)
24. W. L. Makous, "Fourier models and the loci of adaptation," J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 14, 2323-2345
(1997)
25. Norell, Mark A.; Makovicky, Peter J. (1999). "Important features of the dromaeosaurid skeleton II:
information from newly collected specimens of Velociraptor mongoliensis". American Museum
Novitates 3282: 1–45. http://hdl.handle.net/2246/3025
Dinosaur Lungs
The bones of the dinosaur are perforated and hollow. The hollows contain air-filled membranes that are
connected to the lungs and trachea. In almost all dinosaurs, there is a set of anterior air sacs, and another set
of posterior sacs, with the lungs located between them. This makes their bones, like those of a bird, much
less dense and considerably lighter than those of a human.
Just like in modern birds, instead of inflating their lungs directly, dinosaurs inflated the air sacs first,
and then the sacs are compressed like a bellows to drive air through the lungs. There is a complex,
continuous cycle of respiration but it pays off in efficiency. One set of sacs inflates by inhalation, then the
air is expelled from the sacs through the lungs and to the other set where it is then expelled to the trachea or
throat. It actually takes two breaths to move an intake of air through the complex of sacs and lungs.
This means the blood fills with oxygen with every inhale or exhale. The design is very much like a
supercharger on an engine but now applied to the blood flow allowing dinosaurs to move like birds with
extreme rapidity and to achieve their massive size. The higher oxygen content of the atmosphere of the
timeframe, close to 10% greater than present, also helped them grow to massive proportions.
Alamosaurus
Alamosaurus is a genus of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period from an
area that is now North America. It was a large quadrupedal herbivore. Isolated vertebrae and limb bones
indicate that it reached sizes comparable to Argentinosaurus and Puertasaurus, which would make it the
Hunter’s Moon
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Chapter 9: Death
largest dinosaur known from North America. Alamosaurus, like other sauropods, had a long neck and a long
tail, extrapolations anticipate the creature could reach over 15 meters (50 feet) in length.
Skeletal elements of Alamosaurus are among the most common Late Cretaceous dinosaur fossils found
in the United States Southwest and are now used to define the fauna of that time and place. In the south of
Late Cretaceous North America, the transition from the Edmontonian to the Lancian is even more dramatic
than it was in the north. Thomas M. Lehman describes it as "the abrupt reemergence of a fauna with a
superficially 'Jurassic' aspect." These faunas are dominated by Alamosaurus and feature abundant
Quetzalcoatlus a large flying pterosaurus, in Texas that reached wingspans of greater than fifty feet.
Sauropod Trunks
The trunked sauropod movement started around 1975 with Walter Coombs's paper. Fossil record
evidence has never been found but why else would a land-based sauropod have nostrils on the top of its
head? Many parallels and the concept itself originate from a comparison of dinosaur skulls and morphology
to those of elephants. Many of the artist’s conceptions look very odd but then so would an elephant if we
only knew their bodies from concepts drawn from their skeletons. Sauropod trunks, unlike feathers, are one
of the most hotly contested concepts in the field right now. Finding fossils of this delicate, soft appendage is
also difficult because they decay rapidly.
Velociraptors
The Velociraptor was a mid-sized dromaeosaurid, with adults measuring around eight feet long and
standing only about as high as your thigh.[3] The skull was uniquely up-curved, concave on the upper
surface and convex on the lower. The jaws were lined with many widely spaced teeth, each more strongly
serrated on the back edge than the front, rather like that of a shark.
There is ample evidence for their being feathered but they were not the large, reptile-like animals
shown in Jurassic Park. The Jurassic park animals are actually more closely modeled to the highly
intelligent Troondon of our story… if they had feathers that is.
Hunter’s Moon
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Epilog: Pale Beauty
Epilog: Pale Beauty
“The stars are the jewels of the night,
and perchance surpass anything which day has to show.”
Henry David Thoreau
Yes, he could see it now. A single bright point of starlight poked like a diamond through the dark blue
sky in the east. The faint outline of the nearby satellite is clearer now. Its surface presents a hard image full
of white rings with sharp, black contrasts and no shading or color. Somehow, the orb’s beauty lies in what it
gives rather than what it is. This is what lends the magnificence to its creation.
The cliffs here on the south already bath in the dark folds of the coming night. A roar from the nearby
water falling to the valley far below play a constant dirge for the dying day, resonating up and down with
the playful ministrations of the breeze. Long shafts of light dance their last among the swirling mists. They
glisten sharply from dew-covered leaves on the vines lining the fall of the waters. The rays push through the
mist, weaker in the evening glow but still able to amaze the eye with their mathematically perfect swirl of
rainbow structures that play chaotically through the fine aerosol of the spray.
Bands of deep red emerge softly in the sky marking the final passage of the yellow orb that keeps and
warmed the long day. Their glory emerges, growing in depth and strength with the slow passing of the
source.
I know the moment is upon us as we stand here. The magnificence around us demands our soul’s
awareness with such strength that even my young son turns his attention. ‘Over there Gabriel! Keep your
eyes up the valley, along the river far below where the sun is going down. Now watch!’
My voice rises in strength unconsciously as the words escape. Without thought, I push to insure he can
hear my words over the rising song rising from the jungle around us. Small hands grip my shoulders with a
blessed promise of future strength. The beauty of it startles even his young attentions when it finally comes.
Its splendor comes with the soft violence of a moment’s silence. A golden flash of light, contained
much as a wave crashing upon the shore, shears across the far peaks of the valley. A few moments fire each
rocky pinnacle with yellow tones of grandeur contrasting the deep velvet blue of the skies beyond.
The resonant passage marks the end of the color’s playful leaping across the mists. For a brief moment,
only the comforting power of the falling waters are heard. Then the moment of silence passes with the
renewed call from the evening inhabitants of the valley to the setting sun of the day. Their evening song lifts
first from the now darkened floor of the valley. A thousand voices raise toward the rising patron of the
evening on the opposite end of the river’s path. There she rises in her magnificence, her harsh face now
yielding a soft light to bathe the earth below in the pale evening beauty of her rays.
‘Look at the moon Gabe. When I was a boy, her light would blot out the stars behind her. Look at her
now! The stars around her are so bright that we can clearly see their colors right next to the disk. We used to
call her the hunter’s moon because those who hunt under its light could see so clearly. Oh, but we never had
a field of stars to guide us like these.’
‘I grew up with stories of the moon and its life giving light. It marked the goal and dream of our race’s
forefathers. I am happy to have been a part of finally achieving a small portion of that dream. You are
different though. Your dream centers on those thousands of bright lights that fill the sky so far beyond her.
We’ve finally broken the ties that bind us to that setting sun and you will take us there to these new worlds.
Hunter’s Moon
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Epilog: Pale Beauty
This place is unique to your destiny. Those stars, so close to us now, are your generation’s fortune and you
are already a part of it.’
A night beetle flew by, instantly it grabbed the attention of the young boy. As he squirmed from my
arms, my eyes caught the outline of her in the nearby shadows. I started up with a chill that ran across my
back. I saw her draw back in fearful reaction just as the recognition came to me.
‘Ms. Clinow, I’m sorry but you startled me.’
‘No, that’s ok Corey. I shouldn’t have been eavesdropping but I must admit that I couldn’t help it.
Doctor Wenford asked me to meet her here on the veranda at sunset. I’m happy to say that she is late
because I couldn’t have had a better guide to the evening. Your description of the sunset was just fantastic.
I’m also very impressed with your prophetic words of destiny to your son. I’ve saved the whole record and I
hope you won’t object to my using it. Every company needs an inspirational mission statement that clearly
defines its nature and goals. It’s time to change ours and I don’t believe we could come up with better words
than yours.’
‘I’ve heard so much about you that, I must admit, I’m a little frightened of you. I see now the stories are
true but I never dreamt you had the heart of a philosopher.’
‘Please don’t turn away! I’m complementing you Mr. Zavtek! Look, this is my first evening out from
the Station. Tell me about this song. It’s different than the evening song of the Hypes at the Station,
beautiful and somehow even more complex. Do they do this all night?’
‘No Ms. Clinow, they’ll be stopping soon and then the work of the evening will start in earnest. The
deep complexity is there in their chorus because there are so many unique species around us. They interact
in what Alex likes to call a cantata.’
‘Corey, I’m told that we are to drop the formalities here at the station. Please call me Debbie. Now, who
is this Alex? You don’t mean that massive, strapping Blackwave soldier Alex Grissom do you? He scares
me too!’
‘Ah Debbie, that soldier holds a doctorate in engineering and he is a combat specialist. If you want to
see and hear about the beauty of this world then you need to talk with him. I’ll give you a hint, get him
talking about Blackbird Valley.’
‘Anyway, I sat up with Alex one night out here last month and he told me about the song of the
dinosaur. Many of them may follow the same genus as modern birds but it’s as though our surviving birds
are simply one piece of the whole complex mechanism. Their mechanism is gone in our time, only they
survive and yet we have always honored their beauty. The structure in our timeframe is no longer whole.
Their song is piecemeal and uncoordinated.’
‘The dinosaurs of this period represent the peak of a hundred million years of evolution. They interact
socially during the song calling out the passing of the day. Then the song of the evening follows. You can
feel it in your heart as the refrain passes from species to species. They interact, compliment and live in a
world universally friendly to their needs.’
‘The whole thing makes the coming cataclysm so much more tragic. So much will be lost.’
‘Pheww, Corey! I listen to you and I see the heart of a tragic poet of old.’
‘Oh listen, you are right. The song is passing, yielding to a constant calling.’
Hunter’s Moon
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Epilog: Pale Beauty
Deborah walked over to the opposite shoulder of the cliff edge. A low wall marked the safe limits of
travel for the visitor and she reached down to it, ‘Show me how this works. You stand up here and haven’t
even activated this walldisplay. Aren’t you excited about seeing what goes on in the valley …’
‘Debbie, forget the display and watch below us. Look down at the pool of water at the foot of the falls.
Here, use these binoculars. See them? They come to feed, drink the water and bathe even at night. It’s much
safer down there than by the river.’
‘Oh my, their colors! Even in the dim moonlight! I never thought they would be so beautiful. I’m still
nervous about those other ones though. The demons or, what did you call them, “Black Ghosts”?’
‘Well, they are gone. If more come then they’ll be blocked and removed.’
‘… but I thought they were able to see the detectors you were using? What’s to stop more of them from
coming here?’
‘We’ll be ok. Any new visitors won’t be familiar with our sensor system. They won’t fear it since they
didn’t have the chance to learn from our earlier, more primitive systems. We’ll pick them up and remove
them from the area before they become a problem. Your guests at the resort will be safe here Ms. Clinow.’
‘It is elegant isn’t it. I mean, Anton really outdid himself as construction went along.’
‘Yeah, most of Marks people seem to be like that. They move from inspiration to inspiration in much
the same way we pass from thought to thought. That’s one of the reasons why I like working here so much.
Come on out over here.’
‘Now watch, Anton and I finally have the Gravitonic field operating stably so you can use the sky walk.
Step out over the edge, that’s it hold my hand if you are nervous.’
Debbie passed out over to the edge of the cliffs lining the river valley. The veranda they stood upon sat
high in a group of massive trees overlooking the waterfalls below. Each treehouse provides the luxury of a
fine resort accommodation with views of the swamp to the south and the river valley to their north. A glow
marks the edges of the field and, in spite of years of familiarity with the technology, there is still something
frightening about walking out on what appears to be nothing but thin air over a primitive valley.
‘Come on Debbie, pretend you are at the mall doing a day of shopping.’
‘No that’s safe. Here we have waterfalls, dinosaurs and lord knows what might be flying in the air out
there.’
Corey looked in her eyes and took her hand. ‘Don’t you want to be the first visitor to experience this?
How could you go back to Earth and not be able to describe this ultimate experience?’
‘Oh, lead me out but I’m closing my eyes until we …’
‘You are already out, look about you!’
Debbie stopped. The ground felt solid below her feet but what did he say? Already out? Here eyes
opened. A million points of light filled the sky around her. The dense band of light across it’s center looks
almost solid there are so many bright stars. Then her head turns to the moon lighting the world around her.
The dense trees of the jungle glow under the soft moon. Up here, at her eye level, thousands of birds
and dinosaurs flit from limb to limb searching for their evening meal and playing noisily in the canopy of
leaves and needles.
Hunter’s Moon
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Epilog: Pale Beauty
Her heart leaps inside as her eyes look down. Hundreds of feet below her feet the stream flows from the
foot of the falls over toward the silvery band of the river in the distance. The open fields seem to crawl with
life so dense it puts the herds of the daylight to shame.
Then her heart flies into her throat. Next to her stands a dinosaur. It looks over toward her and their
eyes meet. It has a broad, almost smiling face with a striped, down covered tail that glistens with the soft
copper color of bronze in the rays of the moon. Yes, she’s seen these running around the Station before. It’s
a Hype!
A five fingered hand with an opposable thumb reaches out to her, ‘Goodnight Miss Clinow.’ A clear
voice comes to her through the evening’s air. It has almost no accent and the animal’s jaws hardly move as
it speaks. ‘My name is Molly and Doctor Wenford asked me to guide you until she arrives. She apologizes
for being late. Ah, it is customary to shake hands on greeting isn’t it? You look a bit shocked.’
Hunter’s Moon
- 230 -

Load file - Terrence Zavecz

Transcription

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