Jurassic Earth Trilogy Box Set

by Logan T Stark

  Back in Time

  A sh gritted his teeth as he was pressed into the cushioning of his seat. His chest tightened and the skin on his face felt like it was being dragged backwards. The airframe was rattling so violently his teeth ached. Soon there was heat, like he was standing next to a raging bonfire, intense and painful. He tried to shield his face but couldn’t lift his arms. They were pinned to his sides. Suddenly, he felt a squeeze. He couldn’t breathe. There was both sickness and suffocation. He exploded with an exhalation that squealed from his lungs. The Brazilian girl in the seat across the gangway next to him sat gasping. She blinked at Ash and wiped spit from her lower lip. A wet globule floated from her fingers, weightless.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your pilot, Jay Bauman,” a voice announced. “Welcome to Jurassic Earth, one hundred and forty-eight million years before your births. The temperature at the Jura base is a balmy thirty-eight degrees Celsius and wind shear is nominal. Our descent vector is happy days and we’ll be touching down within twenty minutes.”

  Ash sucked down air to stop himself vomiting. He screamed and gripped his seat as the walls and ceiling began to disintegrate. Something must’ve damaged the ship. They must have hit something…

  “We’re breaking up…” Harper cried. “I knew this was a mistake, this is it…”

  “Gott in himmel, nein!” Babs screamed.

  “Don’t worry, campers,” the pilot said, chuckling. “This is a thrill ride after all. The outer skin of this starjet is lined with active nodes that transmit the exterior view to screens wrapped throughout the interior. Watch out below!”

  Ash shrieked as the floor disappeared and the Earth came into view. There were green forests, yellow and orange deserts, blue oceans and green seas, strange lakes surrounded by vivid yellow and red patches, all wrapped up in wispy clouds. Here and there he saw smoke pouring from the tops of what must have been active volcanoes. His feet were skating above the atmosphere of an alien world in which he couldn’t identify a single landmass or continent. An incredible sensation, electric and wonderful, spread outwards from his stomach.

  “A little different to home, no?” The pilot said. “This is Pangea, the land of the dinosaurs. The planet’s tectonic plates haven’t yet created the continents you’re familiar with. That won’t happen for over a hundred million years. This world is no game. Carnivore or herbivore, there are animals down there that will eat you whole, crush you for invading their territory, drag you into the ocean or whisk you away from above. Here, we aren’t the dominant predators. We are food, weak as mice. Listen to your guides and don’t step outside the designated boundaries. You can have the best time of your life or the last time of your life. A few simple rules and listening to your guides will make the difference between the two. Make no mistake, this is not the world you know. Look up!”

  “Woah…” Ash heard himself gasp.

  “Is that the moon?” Someone breathed.

  “How’s it so big?” The Brazilian girl said.

  Ash could make out details on the lunar surface he never realized existed. There were mountains, valleys and huge craters. Even craters within craters. He lifted his hand towards the bright, chalky surface, feeling he might touch it.

  “That gets me every time,” the pilot said. “The moon is much closer to the Earth than in the modern day. This affects the spin of the planet, which is faster, at twenty three hours per rotation. We think the faster rotation is what enabled the creatures of Jurassic Earth to grow so massive, because the centrifugal forces are greater, which counteracts gravity and creates less stress on joints. You’ve all been spun around before. The faster you go, the more likely you are to fly outwards. It’s basically that, just a lot less severe.”

  “With those bouncing legs, Marty, you might be able to fly,” Babs said, laughing.

  “You think I can’t do that already?” Marty said. “Under this suit I’m wearing my cape… no, wait. You promised to keep it secret from the world…”

  Laughter filled the cabin.

  “And no,” the pilot continued, “it doesn’t mean you’ll be lifting boulders or leaping mountains in a single bound. You might find you can jump a few centimetres higher, that’s it. The biggest effect is on the tides and the tectonic plates, but I’ll let your guides, Reece Hunter and Rebecca Beaton explain about that. Our destination, the Jura base, is on an island in the Thethys ocean near the equator. It’s an area that will eventually end up somewhere between modern day Europe and North Africa. On that note, pucker up people, we are going in. Prepare to dive.”

  Ash’s stomach lurched and he gripped his armrests as the starjet tilted and dropped into Earth’s atmosphere. Flames engulfed the craft. To his amazement, he felt no heat. He marvelled at the flickering white flames, inches from his face. Harper whooped and hollered as they plunged through the clouds, the outer hull steaming.

  “Best flight EVER!” Harper cried. “This is nuts!”

  The Brazilian girl, across the gangway from Ash, looked petrified. Her eyes were wild and white and her long brown hair stood on end as they plummeted.

  “Ten points for whoever spots the first dinosaur,” Marty, the boy with the prosthetic legs called.

  Through thinning clouds, Ash caught his first glimpse of their destination, a large island nestled in the middle of a vast ocean. It was surrounded by smaller, satellite islands, their shallow turquoise waters full of reefs. A wide beach skirted the main island, which was blanketed in a lush forest. It looked like the Bahamas, or some other tropical destination Ash had only dreamed of visiting. Patches of mist were dotted across the tropical landmass.

  “Ich sehe eine,” Babs called. “By the lake! Schau mal. There look.”

  Ash searched below until he spotted the lake, surrounded by grassy prairielands.

  “No way…” he said, blinking in astonishment. “That’s insane.”

  And, there they were, actual, real live dinosaurs. He could see more and more all the time. A herd of diplodocus were tearing leaves from trees and drinking from the lake, their long tails swaying gently behind them. Smaller creatures hopped and frolicked at the water’s edge, as though they were playing. A huge curved fin rose from the waters before disappearing. For a few brief moments, Ash could see the outline of something vast before the deep blue swallowed it up. There were birds too, with multi-colored feathers, like parrots, swooping and gliding above the water. Some of them were even brave enough to perch on the backs of the larger dinosaurs, where they pecked at their hides. It reminded Ash of little fish that cleaned manta rays and sharks on coral reefs.

  Everyone groaned as the starjet banked and moved away from the lake. Ash tried to look behind him, but was buckled in too tightly to swivel.

  “Take us back!” Harper called. “No way, no fair!”

  “Yeah,” Marty seconded. “I hardly got to see anything. Take us back. Come on, man, please…”

  But they continued onwards, above treetops that zipped underneath as a never ending treadmill of greenery, too fast to take in any detail, so fast it began to make Ash feel queasy. He swallowed and looked up. As he lifted his head he spotted a raised plateau in the distance. It looked like an island rising from a forest sea, made of reddish rock. The topside appeared perfectly flat. Ash thought he glimpsed a dirt road snaking through the trees. The harder he looked, the more he was sure he could see manmade structures, but it was hard to make out any detail.

  The starjet slowed and came to a hover beside a waterfall that cascaded from the plateau. Reptilian and feathered birds were nested in orange shrubs that sprouted from the cliff face. In many of the nests, little beaks snapped as parent birds fed the hungry chicklets. The skies were alive with activity. It looked exactly like a scene from a David Attenborough documentary, where nesting seabirds fought for survival on windswept cliff faces.

  Ash was sure some of the larger reptilian birds, with their leathery green wings and elongated heads, were pterodactyls. They looked the right size, about th
e size of a seagull. When he was younger he’d been fascinated by dinosaurs, sharks and ghosts. Basically, everything and anything that could eat you or was scary as hell. He’d read loads on the internet and remembered enough to identify a pterodactyl, which he also remembered was a meat eater.

  Did that mean they were dangerous? Since no one had ever met one it must have been impossible to say for sure. He remembered feeding sausage to seagulls on a school trip to Swanage, which meant they were also meat eaters. He’d certainly never heard of seagulls attacking and eating groups of tourists or school children. The more he thought about it, most birds ate worms and that was meat. Perhaps Pterodactyls were just as harmless. He hoped so, especially if they were gonna be camping right around the corner from a gazillion of them.

  The starjet rose and strafed sideways across the plateau. It slowed above a clearing in which their camp unfolded. It was far larger than anything Ash had expected. At the furthest end was a giant hangar. Only one of its doors was open, but Ash thought he could see a much larger, stouter version of the starjet inside. Nestled beside the large hangar were a few smaller ones and a couple of buildings made of white struts and square orange panels. A control tower rose above the camp. Behind the windows atop the tower, an asian man stood waving. Ash waved in return before realising the man obviously couldn’t see him.

  As they descended, Ash looked towards the other end of the camp and saw what must have been the main building. A glass atrium led to two wings, also built from white struts and orange panels, which must have been some kind of industrial Lego as it seemed to be used all across the base. He wondered about the layout inside. Where would they sleep and what would they eat? Would they be served dinosaur? He hoped not, but couldn’t see any signs of crops being grown.

  “Hope they brought food from home,” he muttered to himself.

  The screens on the interior of the starjet shut off, plunging them into darkness. A sudden jolt told Ash they’d touched down.

  “I claim this planet in the name of me,” Marty said. “That’s it, no take backs. I own it. Sorry guys. I’ll try and be a good king, until you bore me obviously. Then it’s… well… you know.”

  “I’m pretty sure someone already claimed it,” Harper answered.

  “Until I see a flag it’s mine,” Marty replied with a chuckle. “I already claimed it. You heard me say it. You’re all witnesses.”

  “I did hear him say it,” Babs said.

  “That’s just stupid,” Harper snapped. “You can’t just claim it.”

  Ash could feel his hands shaking and his heart pounding as Harper continued to completely miss Babs and Marty’s sarcasm. He couldn’t believe what he’d seen on the flight in. Was it real? After all, they’d only seen it on screens. It could still all be a hoax, some kind of CGI mock up. Had they even left Earth? He’d seen a Channel 4 program once where they pretended to send a group of people into space and they’d all believed it.

  The ramp at the rear of the craft hissed and light streamed into the cabin. Ash tried to find the release latch on his seatbelt, but couldn’t find it. He heard footsteps behind him. The air breezing into the craft smelt faintly of rotten eggs.

  “Come on, lemme up!” Marty called. “I wanna see my planet.”

  “It’s not yours!” Harper growled.

  “Yeah,” Babs added, “lass uns frei. We wanna explore.”

  “That smell…” the Brazilian girl said meekly. “I’m… huh… oohhh… definitely gonna be sick. I don’t wanna have to swallow it again. Please let me up.”

  “First, a few rules,” an authoritative male voice said. “Bear with me, Marissa. Just hang in there.”

  “Please hurry,” Marissa said, closing her eyes and swallowing loudly. “Oh, no,” she moaned.

  Everyone’s chairs swivelled so that they were facing the rear of the craft. Ash squinted at a rugged, muscular looking man in Khaki trousers and a black shirt. A holstered gun was strapped to his belt. It was hard to make out detail in the features of his stubbly face with the bright light silhouetting him from behind. A woman stood next to him, pointing a camera at the group. The wind outside gusted and the palm trees rustled as a wave of hot humid air buffeted the cabin.

  “I’m Reece and this is Minea,” the man said, holding a hand towards the camera woman. “She’ll be filming your adventure, so be good. You don’t wanna look silly in the final edit. Let me get the downer stuff out the way immediately. It’s my job to keep you all alive. I know you’ve already been told this, but on Jurassic Earth you can have the best time of your life or the last time of your life. That’s our motto. Grisly and to the point. Trust me, this place can be brutally dangerous. Much like a safari in Africa, you don’t get out of the jeep when there’s lions about. The difference is here the lions are fifty times bigger with mouths that can swallow you whole. This gun,” he said, tapping his sidearm, “it’s basically useless beyond making a loud bang.”

  “I don’t like it,” Marissa said, starting to sob. “No one told me it would be like this.”

  “Dammit, Reece. Are you scaring people again?” A brunette woman said, hustling up the ramp and into the starjet. Ash could only see her outline, but still, it made his heart skip a beat. She looked gorgeous. “It’s okay, honey, he’s just laying it thick so you get the message, you won’t ever be in real danger,” the woman said, pressing a button on Marissa’s headrest which released her seatbelt. She helped Marissa up and walked her towards the exit. “You really need to work on your welcome speech, Reece. It’s not all grrr man stuff and chest beating. You can do finesse. You are allowed to do that, you know?”

  “Hey,” Reece said, sounding wounded. “You know I only do it ‘cause I care. I’m just so full of love is all.”

  “You’re such a caveman,” the woman said, smiling at him and shaking her head.

  “That’s Becca,” Reece said, thumbing over his shoulder. “She’s mainly here to make my life a misery. She’ll also be your primary expedition guide and…”

  “You mean only a woman’s taking us out there, just one of you?” Harper blurted.

  “That’s no woman, son,” Reece said, looking over his shoulder at Becca. “She’s the scariest, toughest piece of gristle on this planet. Even I don’t mess with her. Now, I think I’ve scared you enough. From now on, just listen to our instructions and you’ll have a great time. Disobey and you’ll be confined to basecamp for the rest of your stay. The rules exist to keep you safe. No one wants an accident. So, Ladies and Gentlemen, congratulations on becoming the first civilians to visit Jurassic Earth.”

  Ash’s seat harness popped open and whirred as it spooled into his seat. He slowly pushed himself up as Marty dashed past him, his bladed legs clicking the floor.

  “We did it!” Marty cried. “We’re time travellers…”

  Minea trained her camera on Marty, then followed him outside.

  “I can jump higher,” Marty yelled. “Definitely. I’m sure. My planet’s awesome!”

  “It’s not your planet!” Harper yelled after him.

  Minea circled Marty as he celebrated. Usually, the bulky IMAX 3D camera, with its two lenses would have usually been a handful for one person to carry, but she’d scaled it down and developed a rigid jacket from which two articulated, shock absorbing prongs stretched. The prongs and jacket distributed the camera’s weight across her entire torso, making it reasonably light and easy to manoeuvre. She could even tuck it to her chest if necessary.

  She moved past Marty and focussed on the group of awestruck kids gathering around Reece at the top of the loading ramp. Harper was scowling at Marty, dancing on his prosthetic legs. Minea panned down to Becca, who was consoling Marissa. The Brazilian girl smiled, wiped an eye and nodded.

  “This is too perfect,” Minea said, chuckling to herself. “They’re a bunch of drama queens. Look out Hollywood, I’m gonna tear you a new one.”

  Furry Friends and Ferocious Foes

  A sh strapped the twenty-three hour digital
watch Reece had handed him to his wrist and pressed the button on its side. Four LED lights built into the corners of the timepiece illuminated. He clicked the button again and the lights shut off.

  “No points for style then,” Harper said, grimacing at his watch. “Looks like something a poor person would wear. Also, why d’you guys get to wear the cool jungle outfits and we get these embarrassing cream monstrosities? They look like leather gimp suits from the eighties. We’re being filmed wearing this crap. You know that, right?”

  “Do you hear the things that come out of your face?” Marissa said, rounding on Harper. “You can’t say every ugly thought your mind thinks. Poor people, seriously? You don’t have a clue. You got some money so you think you’re better than…”

  “We’re wearing suits too,” Becca said, diffusing the pair. She rolled up a sleeve. “Look, Harper, we’re all wearing survival suits. No one leaves base without one. Reece is wearing one too, it’s not some kid thing. Tell you what, tomorrow you can wear whatever you want over the top. We don’t have time to unload and change today. Your bags are still on the starjet. As for the watches, they’re called Lanterns. Mohammed, up there in the control tower,” she said pointing to the man who’d waved at Ash as they’d landed, “where Reece spends most of his time, can track them anywhere on the island, so they always know where we are. They’ll keep us safe. The reason they’re only twenty-three hour is because the days are shorter here. The moon is significantly closer than at home in our time. There’s a lot of technical orbital mechanics that even I don’t fully understan…”

  “Oh, oh, oh,” Babs said, hopping up and down, holding her hand up, “I can explain it, why it makes the Earth spin faster.”

  “Please don’t,” Harper said. “I came here because I won a competition. It’s supposed to be fun, a reward, not some space lecture. We just wanna see dinosaurs eat stuff.”

  “You can tell me later,” Becca said, patting Bab’s shoulder. “I’m interested.” Marissa rolled her eyes and shook her head at Harper. “Anyway,” Becca continued, “the moon’s close proximity has an exciting effect. You’ll see what I mean at seven thirty tonight. We’ve set an alarm on your watches. The same thing happens again at three o’clock tomorrow afternoon, then six in the evening the following day and so on. The time it happens changes every day. Your watches are alarmed for every occurrence. It’ll blow your minds, promise.”