“This one is for engine start,” she explained. “The other is to fly when you have chosen speed.”
We saw Leo’s ship slow down just ahead of us, and he eventually hovered over one spot.
I glanced down to see we were over a city, and then I realized what I was actually looking at. The sprawl of large shapes which I had thought were buildings at first glance, were in fact moving.
My mouth fell open as I looked down at the green landscape.
It was absolutely crawling with dinosaurs.
It looked like the ground itself was moving, and it reminded me of finding an anthill as a kid. Except I couldn’t just stand on the dinosaurs to squish them, and they wanted to eat me a lot more than the ants had.
“Shit,” I muttered, and Becka gasped as her hands flew to her mouth.
We took a moment to stare in horror at the scene below, and a chill swept over me as I tried to take in the sheer number of them.
“What the fuck?” Kat breathed. The curly-haired corporal absentmindedly gripped her gun, and her hazel eyes were wide as they darted side to side.
“There are so many,” Hae-won said. “This is not possible to get through.”
“Please tell me that’s not where the Hadron Collider is,” I groaned, and Adhara’s silence was all the response I needed.
“Fuck,” Becka whimpered.
Then we hovered in silence as we stared down at the dino-infested landscape. Even if we could land safely, it would be impossible to get out of the ship without being noticed, and we’d never faced off with a herd this massive before.
Down below us, I could see a roundabout, with a large dome-shaped building to the right. The structure looked like it was made from dark wood, and it had to be about 90 feet tall. It didn’t seem to have been knocked into by any dinos so far, so that was good news if this was where our entrance to the Hadron Collider was.
Opposite the dome, there was a building complex which had gray walls and tall windows. It seemed that the windows had all been boarded up.
Even from up high, I could see there were dark bloodstains on the walls, and if we needed to go into that one, I had a feeling we wouldn’t be met with many live scientists.
“Which one do you think is the entrance?” Kat asked.
“Maybe the cool dome one?” Hae-won suggested. “It might be a visitor centre of some kind. They probably do the tours from there.”
“Great,” Becka said meekly. “There’s only about three hundred dinos around it. No problem.”
The blonde had her hands on top of her head, and she bit her lip as she eyed the scene below.
“We can do this,” I said with a strict nod, but I was trying to convince myself as much as anyone else. “We just need to get close enough to the building and wait for the right moment to make our move. Same as any other trip we’ve been on.”
“I have never seen so many ommati in one place,” Adhara said warily.
“Do you think there are people in there?” Hae-won asked. “Maybe that’s why there are so many dinos.”
“Maybe,” I agreed.
“Or maybe it’s because Adhara’s people were like ‘dino army, kill weapon!’” Becka snorted.
“Can we use the thermal scanner to check on the area?” I asked Adhara.
“Yes.” Adhara nodded, and she hit a button on a small screen on the control panel.
The screen immediately lit up with hundreds of orange shapes, and she slowly started to move toward the gray building. It was easier to see the types of dinos on the thermal imager, and I wasn’t shocked to see there was a huge mix of different species.
I recognized some of the shapes, and it looked like there was a full herd of triceratops mixed in with some kind of raptors. There were plenty that I couldn’t pinpoint from their silhouettes alone, though, and I hoped I would never have to get close enough to identify them all.
“I’ll get us closer to the building for thermal read,” Adhara decided. “Too many ommati in the way.”
“Where are we even going to land?” Becka asked. “We’ll squish a bunch of dinos.”
“Good,” Kat said. “Maybe that will clear a pathway for us.”
“They will move,” Adhara said. “The ommati can still see ship, even though they cannot touch.”
We started to descend toward the dino-infested ground and closer to the building, and as we got lower, I could hear the many roars and cries from the giant herd. It was unnerving to listen to so many at the same time, and I wondered if there would be anything left of the Hadron Collider workers.
“This feels like the opposite of what we should be doing,” Kat said as she watched the thermal scanner warily. “There’s no way we’ll get inside that base without being seen.”
“Head a little more to the right,” I said as I leaned over the control panel. “There’s slightly less of them on that side of the building.”
A few dinosaurs looked up at the ship, but they didn’t seem particularly interested in it. I figured they knew it as an alien craft from their homeworld and wouldn’t think it’d have a bunch of humans on board.
Adhara guided the craft skillfully, and soon we were low enough to see the base properly.
It was a two-story structure and had dark gray walls with several boarded-up windows. It looked like planks of wood had been fitted behind all the glass, and there were bloodstains all over the place. The slanted roof had several missing tiles, and there were some bent satellite antennas that poked up into the sky.
As Adhara moved to the right of the building, we passed over the roof, and I watched the thermal scanner more closely.
If there were still staff members inside, then maybe they would be able to help us. I didn’t know the first thing about accelerating protons, and I had a feeling we would need someone to answer our questions.
Hae-won gripped my arm tightly as we flew over the roof, but no human-shaped readings came onto the screen.
“Fuck,” Kat muttered as Adhara reached the end of the building. “There’s nobody in there.”
“Let’s try the dome-shaped one,” I said. “Even if there’s nobody in there, we’ll figure it out.”
“Yeah,” Becka nodded furiously. “There must be people in the other one. All those scientist people can’t have left. Right?”
“Right,” I agreed, and Adhara started to drift the craft across to the dark brown dome.
She had to hover slightly higher to move over the curved roof, and as she scanned the first half of the structure, the screen remained black.
I put a hand on Becka’s shoulder, and Hae-won’s grip on my arm tightened.
“Look,” I said as something finally came into the shot, and it looked like two people were sitting inside.
“They’re moving,” Kat gasped as we stared at the orange silhouettes. “That’s something.”
“Oh, my god,” Becka shrieked. “There’s people inside. People that can make sure it’s all working and stuff!”
“We don’t know who they are,” I said. “Remember, it might not even be people who work here.”
“That’s true.” Becka nodded reluctantly. “It could just be people who took shelter here, but it doesn’t look like there’s much else around.”
“I guess we land at the dome, then,” Kat said, and Adhara nodded as she sent a message to Leo over the radio.
The roars of the surrounding dinosaurs were constant, and although a few of them glanced our way, they didn’t seem to have much interest in either of the silver crafts. I was endlessly grateful for the forcefield, but I wasn’t looking forward to stepping out of its protective cover.
Adhara gently lowered the ship down onto the ground right in front of the dome, and I could see Leo land a few feet away. The ship stopped softly as if it was weightless, and the spare seats we had used started to retract into the floor.
Heavy footsteps shuddered all around us, and it felt like we were sitting ducks in a whole playground of dinosaurs.
&nbs
p; “This doesn’t feel good,” Hae-won said as we watched shadows move on the wooden wall of the dome building.
Then the spacecraft suddenly shook, and I grabbed hold of the control panel to steady myself. I reached out to hold Hae-won’s waist as she stumbled, and I held my new wife as another thud rocked the craft.
“What the fuck?” Becka hissed, and a shadow in front of the ship told me that there was something huge behind us.
Most likely right near the craft’s door, by my estimate.
“Adhara,” I said carefully as I watched the shadow. “Are you absolutely sure they can’t tell we’re in here?”
“Yes,” the alien replied, but she frowned at the shadow as we stayed as still as statues. “Forcefield protect.”
I couldn’t tell exactly what the dino was, but the shape looked like it was about fifteen feet tall and stood on its hind legs like a t-rex.
It had stopped directly behind us, and the way its head pointed at the sky made me think it was sniffing for something. My palms started to sweat as I clung to Hae-won, and I saw Adhara’s hands hover over the red buttons.
Then the dinosaur roared, and the sound was deafening, even inside the ship.
Becka pressed her hands over her ears, and I shook my head as my eardrums felt like they were about to pop.
A similar sounding roar replied far off in the distance, and the huge shadow suddenly turned. Thunderous footsteps started to walk away from us, and it seemed that whatever the fuck the dino had been, it found a better offer elsewhere.
We stayed silent and still for a moment until we were sure it was gone.
“Do you think it could smell us?” Kat asked.
“No, forcefield shields the smell,” Adhara insisted, but that same frown was on her pretty face like she wasn’t so sure about this all of a sudden.
“Well, it looked like it had the scent of something,” I said as I watched the shadow disappear from sight. “Let’s hope the stench of all these dinos covers up any traces of humans.”
“There are people in the building,” Hae-won said. “Surely, if it could smell that good, it would have gone for them.”
“It’s kind of a weird shape,” Becka said as she peered out at the dome. “Maybe it’s difficult to get inside?”
The outer layer of the dome was made up of wooden planks, and it looked like there was a gap before another metal structure began inside.
“I have no doubt dinos could smash through that,” Kat said. “But it looked like those people were pretty deep inside, maybe their smell isn’t close enough to the entrance?”
“Must be it,” I muttered as I leaned on the control panel. “Does this mean we actually have some good luck?”
“That doesn’t sound like us,” Becka snorted. “Who bets we go inside, and the people are actually just raptors in human costumes.”
“No,” Adhara said seriously. “Ommati do not wear clothes.”
“Once we save the world, I’m giving you sarcasm lessons,” Becka said and shook her. “You gorgeous alien.”
“Okay.” Adhara knitted her eyebrows together as she flicked a switch.
“Well,” Kat said. “I don’t hear any dinosaurs that are super close.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I think the area around the dome is fine. Like we saw, they haven’t tried to go inside.”
It felt like we were all just making excuses to convince ourselves it was safe to go outside. We all knew what had to be done, but it all seemed much more impossible now we had actually landed to find hundreds of dinosaurs as our welcoming party.
I looked out at the wooden walls of the building and spotted a doorway just past Leo’s ship. It looked like the front entrance of the center, and there was an area right next to it that had clearly been under construction before the world turned to shit.
Scaffolding poles laid on the ground, and a sheet fitted over part of the wall. The sheet flapped around in the wind, and I could just make out a small area of missing wood which hadn’t been fixed.
“There’s an entrance point,” I said. “Of course, the door will almost certainly be locked, but I reckon Hae-won could get through that gap in the wall.”
“She can’t go jumping through little holes in the wall,” Becka protested. “She’s got a baby on board.”
“You do realize soldiers, officers, and a whole slew of professional athletes train just as hard throughout their pregnancies, right?” Kat snorted. “We’re talking boxers, runners, gymnasts, dancers, fucking black belts--”
“She is not any of those things,” the blonde Brit scoffed. “She’s our sexy little ninja, and she will be protected, damnit.”
“I can do it.” Hae-won shrugged, and Becka threw up her arms in defeat. “I don’t have a belly yet, I can fit, and Kat’s right. Women do crazy shit with babies in their bellies, and we fight dinos, Becka. Woman up.”
The Korean beauty flicked her ebony hair, and I had no doubt she still had a good few months of ninja-like badassery in her. The sassy look she sent Becka proved she’d make damn sure of it, too, and the blonde Brit smirked a bit like she kind of liked the idea.
“Yeah, alright, but just… don’t land on your stomach, yeah?” Becka said. “Balance and cat-like reflexes from here on out.”
“Deal.” Hae-won shook hands with the Brit, and I couldn’t help chuckling at the adorable pair.
Adhara got to her feet and made her way over to the weapons room as the radio started to crackle. Leo’s voice came through, and Adhara had a brief conversation in her deep hums and growls as she opened the weapon room’s door.
“We will need many weapons,” the alien woman said. “We will take blasters as well as sharp guns.”
“Good idea.” I nodded as I strode over to join her, and she passed me one of the cylindrical weapons and then offered out a sword.
“Just in case it is useful,” Adhara suggested, and I smirked as I took the dark green hilt.
I clipped the fire sword to my belt, moved my sharp gun to my front, and kept the blaster strap slung over my shoulder.
The girls quickly grabbed their share of weapons, too, and we soon looked ready to take down a whole city full of dinos.
Which was basically what we were up against.
God damnit.
“So, what’s the plan?” Kat asked as she carefully attached a sword to her hip. “We just make a break for the doorway?”
“We need to be fast,” I said. “Even if we get Hae-won through that gap, that leaves us exposed for a few minutes until she can open the door.”
“Leo’s ship is closest to door,” Adhara said. “If too many ommati come, we go inside there.”
“Can you ask him to leave the forcefield off?” I asked. “If we have to make a run for it, we can’t waste time having you guys going inside to turn it off.”
Adhara nodded and walked over to the receiver of her radio. As she spoke with the other alien, I tried to lean over the control panel to get a better view of our path to the doorway. It looked clear, and the way the sun was shining would cast shadows of any waiting dinos on the wall.
“Okay,” I said. “When we get out, we run straight over to the cover of the wall. If the door doesn’t open, we don’t draw any attention by breaking in. Hae-won gets inside and opens the door for us.”
“Easy,” Becka said, and something close by made a horrific howling sound.
“Ready?” I asked, and the girls nodded. Then I led the way out of the control room and down toward the exit, hit the button to open the door, and gestured for the girls to stay quiet behind me.
Without the haze of the forcefield, I could feel cool air and a gentle wind. I couldn’t see much other than Leo’s ship from where we had landed, and I made sure to check the sky for any potential threats. When I was certain that I couldn’t hear any footsteps or wings close by, I quickly stepped outside onto the gray concrete.
I did a quick sweep of my surroundings and saw that we were in a parking lot that was surrounded by f
lat green land and fields. There were a few trees here and there that blocked us from view, but I could already see the shapes of mixed dinos as they moved around in the nearby fields.
The air absolutely stank of dino shit and decayed bodies, and I didn’t want to think about how many of them could be human.
I waved at the girls to follow, and Hae-won leapt out behind me. As the girls exited the craft, I started to lead them past Leo’s ship and over to the cover of the building.
Leo came out of his craft and joined us, and I noted he had also grabbed multiple weapons from his armory. He nodded silently at me and fell into line as we moved right into the cover of the wooden wall.
The door was only a few yards away, and I could see a security camera right above it. I wondered if it still worked, or if it was one of the many things that the dinosaurs had destroyed, but then all of my focus derailed.
The sound of an entire stampede of footsteps shook the ground, and my whole body went cold as I raised my sharp gun at the noise.
We skidded to a halt against the wall as something enormous raced around the opposite side of the dome-shaped building, and it dove in front of the path to the doorway to barricade the entrance.
It looked similar to a triceratops and had two thick, bent horns protruding from its skull. There was a crescent-shaped frill over its head, and a shorter horn right at its nose that looked like it could knock you dead in seconds. The dinosaur was a deep-blue color, and its eyes were a murky green as it stared us down.
Even though I knew it had to be an herbivore, that didn’t mean shit these days. This hulking bastard would run us down either way, but now we were in a bad situation. If I fired immediately, the dinosaur’s death would draw the attention of every beast in the area, and we were still closer to the ships than we were to the door of the building.
I took the smallest step back.
“Back to the ship,” I said as slowly and gently as I could, and my eyes stayed locked with the dinosaur.
If the girls got back on board, then all I had to do was get a good shot of the fucker’s head and book it before any others realized their herd was under attack. Then we could wait them out until we had another opening to try and enter the building.
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