Dinosaur World 8

by Jacobs, Logan

  Adrenaline coursed through me as the Hadron Collider hummed below us, and we were one step closer to stopping the war. I suddenly had all the energy in the world, and it felt like I had just taken six shots of espresso.

  “Okay,” I said as I wiped my brow. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  “I never want to eat eggs again,” Becka said as we started to jog back around the hillside.

  As we made our way around the base of the hill, I could see multiple dinosaurs move beyond the line of trees. None of them seemed to be directly coming toward us, though, and it looked like we had managed to kill the two qianzhousauruses unnoticed.

  “So, it’s working now?” Kat hissed. “We really did it?”

  “Sounds that way.” I grinned. “I guess we better get ready to board an alien craft.”

  “Holy shit!” Hae-won quietly squealed.

  We ran toward the group of CERN workers, and Leo stood with his sharp gun poised and ready as the three scientists pressed themselves up against the trees. Then I gestured for them to follow us, and we started to head back to the base.

  Multiple roars and dino cries rang out over the landscape as we ran, but we managed to navigate back to the dome without any more run-ins. I turned back and let the scientists run ahead to get to the door first, and I slowed down as we reached the cover of the two spaceships.

  “Everyone okay?” I asked quietly as we headed into the dome, and the girls nodded.

  “I’m super gross and sweaty,” Becka moaned as I shut the door behind me. “I think pregnancy has given me extra sweat glands or something.”

  “Delightful,” Kat snorted as we stood in the round lobby.

  “That was horrifying,” Mateo said and turned to me. “You guys have done that all before?”

  “Please,” Becka laughed. “Two dinos is nothing. We’ve taken down entire herds before we even had these awesome, alien weapons.”

  “How did you know what to do?” the engineer asked.

  “Jason always figures it out.” Hae-won shrugged. “He has a talent for dino hunting.”

  “More than a talent,” Kat added. “It’s like he was born to do it, and it helps that we make a pretty great team.”

  “We are family,” Adhara said with a stoic nod. “We protect each other.”

  “Not to interrupt the compliments,” I said hurriedly. “But how do we see if the Hadron Collider is working now? It sounded like it was, right?”

  “It did.” Arnie nodded. “There’s something comforting about that sound, I always think.”

  “There was nothing comforting about that trip,” Hilda spat. “We almost died.”

  “Uh, no,” Becka said. “Weeee almost died fighting dinos. You stood under a tree while Leo protected you.”

  “This is accurate,” Leo agreed with no inflection in his tone.

  “Let’s get going,” I said hastily before the redheaded scientist could make any more comments. “Where do we go to see if it’s working?”

  “The entrance is in building 33,” Mateo said warily. “I’m not sure if we should--”

  “We have to,” I interrupted. “Don’t worry, you guys don’t have to come. You can just tell us where it is.”

  “I’ll accompany you,” Arnie said and stood a little taller. “It’s a short distance, just to the gray building on the other side of the roundabout. Now that we’ve seen you lot in action, it doesn’t seem quite so perilous to make the journey. We’ll give these two a chance to rest. Maybe a cup of tea will make it alright, Hilda.”

  The red-haired scientist sniffed and turned on her heels to make her way back up the ramp. Mateo sighed, and then he turned to follow his colleague.

  “Be careful,” he called over his shoulder. “There might still be dinosaurs inside that place.”

  “We can handle it,” I replied. “Thanks.”

  “Don’t mind Hilda,” Arnie whispered. “She was like that even before the dinosaurs came.”

  Hae-won giggled, and she laced her fingers into mine.

  “Are you two married?” Arnie asked. “What a lovely couple.”

  “I’m married to him, too,” Becka said and quickly stepped closer to my side. “Both of us locked this ass down. And these two aren’t married to him. Well, not yet. But they are going to do it soon.”

  Kat’s pretty face flushed as Becka gestured to her, but she didn’t make any snarky remarks or protest. Adhara didn’t say anything, either, but she flashed me a smile that hinted I might have another bride not too far in the future.

  Which made me briefly wonder what the protocol was for marrying a girl who lived off-planet…

  “Oh,” Arnie said with a raised eyebrow. “Well, now, aren’t you a lucky young man.”

  “The luckiest.” I grinned.

  “Anyway!” Kat cleared her throat, and her sculpted cheeks were still pink. “Let’s get over to that entrance.”

  “Quite right,” Arnie agreed as we crowded back around the doorway. “So, these weapons… alien, I presume?”

  “Oh, yeah,” I laughed. “Humans are a long way off from creating something this amazing. Do you know how to use a gun?”

  “Oh, no,” Arnie laughed. “I’m afraid not. I do think I could maybe stab something if it came to it, though. Although, as you saw by my previous injury, I’m not the fastest man.”

  “Here,” Becka said as she took a fire sword from her belt. “Why don’t you take this? It’s a sword.”

  Arnie held the dark green hilt and examined it closely.

  “You hit the button for the blade,” I explained. “Try it.”

  The older man cautiously held the weapon at arm’s length and then hit the button in the center of the hilt. There was a faint buzz as the glowing blade came to life, and Arnie’s eyes widened before he howled with laughter.

  “Extraordinary,” he muttered. “Gosh. Thank you, young lady.”

  “It’s Becka,” the blonde laughed. “And you are super welcome. Adhara and Leo are very generous with their weapons.”

  Adhara smiled, and Leo looked at Becka with only a raised eyebrow.

  “It cuts through anything,” I said. “If you chop at a dino’s head with that, you’ve automatically won.”

  The man gripped the hilt with both hands, and his beard made him look like Santa Claus had just entered the apocalypse.

  “Okay,” I said as I slowly opened the door of the dome. “We just head straight for the building, will it be open?”

  “I have keys if it’s not,” Arnie said. “But I do believe the doorway was left unlocked when we all left. I suppose we just ran as fast as we could.”

  “Makes sense.” I nodded. “That means we might run into something inside. Everyone, keep your wits about you and stick behind me, okay?”

  The team nodded, and I opened the door a little wider to let in the roars and unpleasant smells which drifted over CERN.

  The run to building 33 looked like it should take less than a minute, but I knew we would need to slow down a little for Arnie.

  I stepped back from the door when a shadow flew over the ships, and I waited until the flap of leathery wings had disappeared before I opened it again.

  “Looks clear,” I said quietly. “Let’s go.”

  I stepped out into the daylight with my sharp gun held against my chest, and the rest of the group followed behind me. Then we hurried out of the shelter of the dome and started to jog past the glistening forcefields of the ships.

  I could hear heavy footsteps nearby, and the dull sound of far-off cries. We crouched as we ran, and I glanced back to see the girls and Leo had formed a circle around Arnie. About fifty yards to the left, there was a sleeping ankylosaurus, and we sped up slightly as its loud snores echoed around the landscape.

  Building 33’s entrance was straight ahead, and it looked like the glass door was indeed open. Or rather, it had been smashed to pieces, and shards of glass were scattered everywhere.

  There were dark bloodstains smeared on t
he steps, and a man’s brown, leather shoe lay on the ground nearby. I tried not to look too closely at the shoe and raced up the stairs into building 33.

  Then I carefully stepped through the broken doorway, and into the reception area. None of the windows were boarded up, so there was plenty of natural light to navigate with, although that did mean we were easier to spot by hungry dinosaurs outside.

  The reception desk looked untouched by any chaos and still had an office chair tucked behind it, along with neatly organized pens and stationary. The sight of something so normal next to the bloodstained floor was slightly jarring.

  I made sure everyone was inside, and then Arnie pointed down the right side hall. I nodded and carefully started to walk down the corridor. The floor was made of dark linoleum, and there were photographs of the Hadron Collider framed all over the walls. I kept an eye on the windows as we walked, and then I slowed down as the corridor came to a fork.

  Carefully, I peered down each side, and both were quiet and still.

  I glanced at Arnie, and he gestured to the left.

  “The staff door,” he whispered. “Second door on the left.”

  I nodded again and made sure to check the back of the group to make sure nothing was silently following us. Leo was at the rear, and his determined scowl reassured me that the group was in safe hands.

  We took the left, and when I reached the staff door, I grabbed the silver handle and pushed.

  Then a small, yellow raptor flew at me as the door swung open, and I shot it in the head before I had time to think.

  The bullet pierced the skin right between the raptor’s orange eyes and burrowed deep through the skull. There was a small eruption of blood from the back of the dinosaur’s head a split second later, and then it toppled forward with an unpleasant squelch at my feet.

  The raptor was only about four feet long, and its tail looked like it had some kind of feathery texture at the end.

  “A balaur,” Arnie said as he peered down at the body. “Small, but I imagine those talons could do some damage.”

  The claws did seem weirdly thick for the small frame of the dino, and I peered into the dim room to scope out if it had any herd buddies.

  I reached over to the light switch, and the room was illuminated with a gentle buzz. Once we made sure everyone was inside, Leo kicked the dead dinosaur out unceremoniously before he shut the door.

  We were inside a room with rows of computers and desks, along with piles of boxes stacked up in the corner. There was a musty smell, like someone had left a damp towel laying around or something. The carpet was navy with coffee stains, and the walls were painted off-white.

  Arnie sat down at one of the computers and carefully pressed the button on the sword to retract the blade before he laid it down on the desk.

  “Right,” he muttered as he started up the computer. “Let’s have a look.”

  “Is this where you control the Hadron Collider?” Hae-won asked as she strolled around the room and examined the computers.

  “No, no,” Arnie replied. “This will just give me a little update on how it’s getting on with the reset. It should all be finished up by now.”

  I stood near the door to keep an ear out for any more dinosaurs, and we gave Arnie a moment to get the computer started up.

  The old man hummed to himself as the screen flashed to life, and he opened a program which displayed multiple complicated graphs.

  “Do you think there are more ommati?” Adhara asked as she stood next to me.

  “Probably.” I nodded. “Raptors usually move in packs, and they’ve got their own little palace here, now that all the people have moved on.”

  “Interesting fact…” Arnie swiveled his chair around to look at me. “A pack of raptors is in fact called a ‘kettle,’ much like a flock of birds of prey would be.”

  “How British,” Kat chuckled. “I’ll never say ‘put the kettle on’ again.”

  “Yes, I agree,” the scientist chortled and turned back to his computer.

  “What’s the door beside us?” Becka asked as she peered into one of the boxes. “Is that a staff room or something?”

  “The one we walked past?” Arnie asked. “Oh, that’s the kitchen supplies. Rather unfortunate that I don’t have a key for that one. The catering staff were the only ones with access, and I’m sorry to say they aren’t around anymore.”

  I looked over at the old man as he clicked on something, and the girls all grinned at me.

  “Sooo, it’s full of food?” Kat asked. “Like, long-life stuff?”

  “I imagine so.” Arnie nodded. “If I was a younger man, perhaps I could have broken down the door.”

  “What about being an older man with an alien sword?” Becka smirked.

  The scientist spun his head around to look at the blonde, and his face broke into a grin.

  “This will cut through it?” he asked.

  “Sure will,” Becka replied with a nod.

  Arnie looked at her silently for a moment as he stroked his beard and then chuckled as he looked back at the screen.

  “It really is a miracle that you all came here,” he sighed. “How on Earth did I get so lucky?”

  “So,” I laughed. “How is that Hadron Collider looking?”

  “Hmm,” Arnie said, and his face dropped into a scowl. “It looks like everything is doing what it’s meant to…”

  He hesitated and drummed his fingers on the desk as he zoomed in on something that looked like a pipe on the screen.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Is it not going to work?”

  Becka pulled on a strand of hair as she leaned over to look at the screen, and we all stayed silent while Arnie muttered to himself and moved around the graphs.

  Hae-won looked at me with wide blue eyes, and I gave her a reassuring smile, even though I could feel a knot forming in my stomach.

  Every second that Arnie was silent felt like an hour, and even Leo’s face had a flicker of sadness as we watched the scientist.

  “There’s something not quite right,” Arnie finally muttered, and he turned his chair to look at me.

  “What is it?” I asked quickly. “Can you fix it?”

  “It seems to be resetting,” he said. “The problem is, it seems to be going much slower than it normally would. There’s been a slight change in temperature recently, and sometimes the colder months give the pipes a little shock. It may just be needing a slightly longer reset than normal. From what I can tell, there is nothing which would prevent it from working entirely. I say we give it another hour or so, and if it hasn’t started up by then, then we can try resetting once more.”

  Kat’s shoulders dropped, and Becka put both her hands on her head.

  I didn’t know what to say. We couldn’t keep waiting around, but at the same time, there was nothing else to do.

  Fuck.

  “Okay,” I said as calmly as I could. “How about we go to Leo’s ship and check the map? Maybe we can get a clearer idea of how much time we have?”

  “Perhaps,” the male alien replied with pursed lips. “I said before I cannot say for definite in human times.”

  “But,” Adhara added, “we will be able to see if they are nearing this solar plane.”

  “That would mean we’re too late!” Becka groaned.

  “But we may see them in another solar plane, first,” Adhara added. “This would mean we have some human hours, I believe.”

  Leo looked at her as if he wanted to argue, but he had clearly learned enough human traits to realize Becka was close to picking up every computer in the room and hurling them into the walls.

  “I know,” I said as I walked over to the beautiful blonde. “How about we grab some of that food next door on our way. We haven’t had breakfast yet, and we have two pregnant ladies who need to be fed.”

  Becka nodded as her brown eyes welled up with tears, and I laced an arm around her slim waist.

  “Yes.” Arnie nodded as he picked his sword hilt back
up. “I’ll have a chat with Mateo when we get back to the dome, maybe he will have some insight.”

  I gave Becka a squeeze and then headed for the door to make our way back out into the hall. Carefully, I pulled the handle and stepped out of the musty room and over the dead raptor.

  “We should get rid of that,” I said as I glanced down at the body. “Before its packmates find it and attack the computer room.”

  “On it,” Kat said as she aimed her sharp gun at the body, and she pulled the evaporating lever on the bronze weapon.

  Then I gestured for the rest of the group to gather outside the kitchen supply door as the smell of fried dino started to drift through the air.

  “Okay,” I said quietly and glanced down either side of the corridor. “Arnie, how about you have a go with that sword. You might need to use it one day.”

  The old man nodded enthusiastically and hit the button on the hilt to bring the black blade to life.

  “Oh, my,” he laughed with boyish joy. “Makes me feel a bit like a Sith Lord.”

  “Try slicing down through the lock,” I instructed, and Arnie carefully raised the sword up high before he brought the blade down to the small gap between the door and the wall.

  The sword made a dull hiss as the searing hot blade made contact with metal and wood, and there was suddenly a charred hole where the lock used to be.

  “Marvelous!” Arnie whispered, and Hae-won grabbed the door to swing it open.

  The room was dark, and when Hae-won pulled at the string on the ceiling, the lightbulb only flickered on and off.

  It was enough to illuminate shelves stacked with tinned food, pasta, and various packets of chips.

  “Nice.” I grinned. “Let’s bring some supplies back to the dome.”

  “I’m starving,” Becka said. “When was the last time we ate?”

  “I can’t remember,” Hae-won groaned. “There’s plenty of chips and protein bars here, make sure we pack them all up, and we can fuel up soon.”

  I looked at my two pregnant wives and grabbed a nearby box of cereal bars. I tore off the lid and threw one to Becka and Hae-won.

  “You’re both eating for two,” I said. “Keep your energy up, okay?”

  The girls nodded and tore open the snacks to wolf them down.