The jungle and terrain here looked smooth from the top of the valley, but it was actually a bit uneven, and we often had to guide Tom around steep drops, rolling limestone steps, and large jungle trees that blocked our passage. We eventually made it to the river and found that the water was flowing deep in a gorge some thirty feet below us.
“I see a lot of clay down there,” Trel said.
“Yeah,” I replied. “I see it. Looks like high-quality stuff. We could climb down there, but I think that there will be a way in the closer we get to the ocean. Let’s keep following the water.”
I commanded Tom to keep moving on the side of the ravine, but after another five minutes, I heard clucking noises coming from down below, and I leaned back over the side of the trike so I could see what kind of creatures were making the sounds. It was a group of five dinosaurs that looked a bit like raptors. There were five of them, and their feathers were a dull orange color with stripes of yellow and brown like tigers. They kind of danced and sprang around each other beside the carcass of a half-eaten sheep-like mammal, and it almost seemed as if the group was playing with each other. As I studied them, I realized their movements were much more graceful than the green feathered raptors that I’d fought against. It could have been because of the size; since the tiger-striped dinos were more “golden retriever” sized instead of “Great Dane” sized, but it also seemed that their bodies were built more for speed and maneuvering instead of power. Their mouths were a bit wider than the raptor’s, and their bushy feathers reminded me of the chocobos from the Final Fantasy game. They actually reminded me a lot of Jinx, and I pulled up my Eye-Q so I could see what species they were.
Troodon formosus.
I had heard of these dinos before but didn’t know anything other than that they were supposed to be really smart and scientists thought they might have been omnivores. Their teeth looked crazy sharp though, and I guessed a single one of the troodons would tear a man into pieces in just a few moments.
So, I figured that I had to try to tame them.
“Victor, that might not be such a good idea.” Trel had read my mind, and I let out a quick laugh.
“These guys all look like bigger versions of Jinx,” I said as I studied them frolicking on the shore of the river. “Jinx seems happy enough to eat meat or veggies. I think I can tame all these. Well, actually, I kind of feel it in my bones. Know what I mean?”
“They are small though,” Trel said. “We would not be able to ride them, and they would not help us against the larger carnos or allosauruses that have attacked us.”
“Yeah, they might not,” I said, “but they would do well fighting against people around our size. Imagine these guys patrolling the inner wall of our fort? They obviously aren’t as badass as the green raptors, but I don’t know if I could tame one of those.” My thoughts flickered back to the battle with Thackgrun. Having these five troodons with me during that fight would have ended things a lot quicker. Maybe the blue barbarian would have taken one or two of the troodons out with his soulring, but he wouldn’t have been able to defend against all five.
“My expertise is not on the dinosaur taming,” Trel said with a shrug. “I leave it to you. If you feel that we should acquire these five smaller dinos, I will agree.”
“Yeah,” I said as I got off Tom’s back. “A general needs troops of all different sizes. These guys will help us out a bunch. Wait right here.”
“You are going to go down alone? No, I will go with you.”
“Naw, Trel. It’s okay. I’ve got this.”
“Victor, I love you, and I will not stand by while you risk yourself. I believe that you will have no problem taming these five, but what if we are both wrong? I want to stand beside you in battle, and I can use my legs to pull us both up the gully wall quickly if we need to escape.”
“Alright,” I said with a laugh. “You’ve convinced me. Grab your axe and let’s climb down.”
Trel jumped off Tom’s back, and then we moved to the edge of the gorge cliff. It was about twenty feet down, but I saw a few side ledges that I could jump on. It would be a bit of a pain getting back up, but there was plenty of walking room beside the river, and I could just command Tom to follow us from up above until we did find a spot to get back up.
“I’m gonna jump down there,” I said as I pointed to the first ledge.
“Be careful,” Trel warned, but I’d already made my leap and landed down four feet below. I turned to watch Trel make the jump, but she just climbed down on her six spider legs as if she was walking on flat ground.
I made the next leap and glanced over the edge to make sure that I hadn’t disturbed the troodons. They were still playing some fifty feet from where I figured I would eventually land, so I made the next jump, and turned to Trel when she came to stand beside me.
“I’ll make the next jump and then try to tame these guys quickly,” I said.
“Guys? Are they all male?” she asked.
“No, ahhh two are female. My culture just kind of says ‘guys’ all the time when there is a group.”
“Ahh,” Trel said, but she didn’t make her usual eye-rolling type movement.
“Okay,” I said as I took a deep breath and glanced over at the playing tiger-striped dinos. They looked a lot larger up close than I had first thought, and I noticed that their teeth had little saw blades on them. I figured each one must have weighed between fifty or seventy pounds, and I realized that I was about to jump in a cage with five pit-bulls that had shark teeth and claws like mountain lions.
“I got this,” I whispered to myself as I made the last leap and then rolled on the shore of the river.
One of the troodons spotted me out of the corner of its eye. The creature twisted its body around like a ballet dancer and then let out a warning cluck to his buddies. The other four stopped playing, and they all turned to face me as they lowered their heads in a defensive-looking stance.
Then the biggest one let out what sounded like a cross between a hoot and a growl.
“Easy fella,” I said as I forced myself to take a deep breath. I heard Trel move to stand next to me, but I didn’t turn to look at her. Instead, I stared down the one that I figured was the leader and cleared my throat.
“They look angry,” Trel whispered, but I ignored her.
“Hey, all,” I began as the pack took a hesitant step toward us. “My name is Victor. This is Trel. How are you all doing today?”
The big one let out another growl, but he also blinked his brown eyes at me and then cocked his head to the side slightly.
“We are on our way to the ocean to get some sand. Then we are going to try to find some clay. We were also thinking about visiting the lava rocks up north. Do you five want to come with us? I can promise you nightly pets, plenty of food, and a bunch of adventuring. You are a good-looking group of troodons, and I think we’ll get along famously.”
The biggest one tilted his head to the other side and then brought his head up a bit so that he could look at me from a higher position. I didn’t say anything for a few seconds, but then I remembered taming Tom, Katie, and Nicole.
I hadn’t asked. I’d told them they were going to obey me.
“You five are coming with me,” I said with more confidence. “Come over here, and I’ll give you all some pets and name you.”
My words made the five rust colored dinos blink, but then the leader let out a happy hoot and skipped over to me. I felt my muscles tense for half a moment when he stepped forward, but I quickly relaxed when he pushed the top of his head into my chest. My Eye-Q flashed to let me know that I had tamed the five troodons, and a breath of air left my lungs.
“Good boy!” I said as I scratched the feathers on the top of his head. He made a happy cooing sound, kind of like a dove, and then the other four troodons ran over so that I could pet them. It suddenly felt as if I was back home at the dog kennel, and I let out a laugh as I tried to give each of them a good scratch. One of the females got pushed
out of the ring by the others, and she let out a dismayed squawk before she noticed Trel. Half a moment later, the troodon was nuzzling under my lover’s arms and letting out grateful hoots as Trel scratched her.
“Ha!” Trel laughed from her belly. “I like these creatures. I’m glad I told you to tame them. This one, in particular, is very sweet.”
“Yeah,” I said as one of them started to lick my hand. “I’m surprised at how affectionate they are.”
“What are you going to name them?” Trel asked.
“Hmmm,” I considered as I looked at the group. I’d named Jinx kind of after his species name, but my other dinos I named after actors and singers. I kind of wanted to keep the same naming convention, but I couldn’t really think of a singing group that had two women and three men.
Then I remembered another group of characters who were designed with three “men” and two women.
“The big one is named Scoob,” I said as I scratched him behind the ears. “This guy is Shag, this one is Fred, the female with the thicker bunch of feathers on her head is going to be Daphne, and the one with the stripes on her face that is snuggling with you will be Velma.”
“Velma,” Trel repeated as she scratched the affectionate troodon. “I like that name.”
“She’s the smart one,” I chuckled.
“She is?” Trel asked seriously as she glanced down at Velma. “How can you tell?”
“I’m kind of joking,” I laughed and then let out a surprised gasp when Scoob tried to jump on me like the cartoon dog actually would have.
“The others will be happy to meet Scoob, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, and Velma,” Trel said as she petted Velma on the head.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “So, let’s continue with our mission. We’ll walk out on foot and I’ll have Tom follow us from up above.”
I mentally commanded the troodons to give us some space, and they fell back around us obediently. I scratched each of them under the chin quickly, and then I commanded them to escort Trel and I as we walked west next to the river.
After ten minutes of walking, the sides of the gorge had begun to drop in height. I could easily see Tom walking the path above us, and I could also see that the jungle up above was becoming less dense.
Then we started to hear the ocean, and the gorge transitioned into just the sides of the river. I could smell the salt in the air, but figured we had another mile or two before we made it to the ocean.
While we walked, Trel and I were on the lookout for clay. Almost as soon as we joined back up with Tom, we found a great spot of reddish colored material near a tide pool. We both agreed that it had a great consistency, and we loaded up all of our baskets with what I guessed was four-hundred pounds of the stuff.
“I will be able to make all of our water filters with this,” Trel said when we finished stacking the last filled basket on Tom’s back. “We’ll also be able to craft some sort of showering system, toilet and many more pots, but I will need another load to make a bathtub.”
“Makes sense,” I said. “We also passed that clay in our valley on the opposite side of the river. We might be able to dig down into it.”
“Perhaps,” Trel said as she rubbed the clay between her long fingers. “I am not an expert with this material, but this feels like a high-quality component. We should bring samples from both locations to Galmine so that she can tell us which is going to be better to use.”
“We’ll do that next time we are out,” I said as I looked up at the sun. “It’s almost close to midday, so I want to get the sand you need, look at the lava field, and then get back.”
“Agreed,” Trel said, and we both climbed on Tom’s back while I ordered the five troodons to take their protective positions around us.
We continued on our journey, toward the ocean, and the rocky path of the river soon relaxed into sand. Trel glanced down while we rode, but she nodded her head when I asked if she wanted to stop.
We crested a final dune and then came to the beach. The sound of the water was soothing, and Trel slid off Tom’s back so that she could dip her high arched feet into the water. I took off my own socks and boots before I followed her into the tide. We didn’t go in very far, just until the incoming wave covered our ankles, but the view of the pristine water was unbelievably soothing, and I wrapped my arms around Trel’s shoulders as she leaned into me.
“Still think this is a spaceship?” she asked after we had watched the waves for a few minutes and felt the cool water massage our feet.
“Fuck, I don’t know,” I sighed. “This feels too real.”
“I want to walk in a bit more,” she said as she stepped out of my arms and moved deeper into the ocean.
“Careful,” I said. “We don’t know what kind of crazy shit is waiting in the water.”
“Just this far.” She smiled at me, but then she gasped when a small wave slapped her thighs and sprayed water up the front of her chest. It caused her boyshorts and bra to become see-through, and I let my eyes enjoy the beautiful sight of her.
“Hmmm,” Trel moaned as she licked her lips. I thought she was just trying to turn me on, but then she reached down into the water and scooped up some of the ocean into her mouth. “Salt. Ugh. I need this.”
“Oh yeah,” I said as I cupped my hands, and brought some water to my mouth. It tasted as I expected, but my body almost instantly shot some sort of signal of approval to my nervous system and I gulped down another three mouthfuls as pleasure filled my chest.
“We should fill one of our jugs and bring it back,” I said. “If we each just take a mouthful a day, it will probably help.”
“Yeah,” she said after she took another drink. “We’ll need to find a source closer to our camp, but I think the jug is a good idea.”
I moved back to Tom and grabbed one of our water jugs. The ocean water and half day journey had made me thirsty, so I drank a quarter of the jug before handing it to Trel. Then we poured out the remaining river water and filled it with the ocean water.
“Did you see any sand that would work?” I asked as soon as I had filled up the jug.
“Yes,” she said as she gestured back to the dry sand. “This will all work, but I’d like to move up toward the old lava flow and see if I can find finer sediment. If we don’t find any, then I can just take this and we can head back.”
“Great,” I said. “Let’s get moving.”
“A few more minutes?” she asked as she smiled at me. I nodded, and then I wrapped my arms around her wet shoulders as we stared into the endless blue.
“My world is mostly ocean,” I said as the sound of the waves lulled me into relaxation.
“So is mine,” she said.
“Hmmm. I wonder if everyone else’s is, also.”
“You keep looking for similarities,” Trel said.
“There has to be some reason why they have brought us all here. I think you might have been right when you hypothesised that we were the best of our species.”
“Could be.” She shrugged. “Could be that they are just… how do you say it? Assholes?”
“Yeah,” I laughed. “They are probably just assholes.”
“Yes,” she snorted. “Fuck those guys?”
“Yeah,” I laughed again. “Fuck those guys. You are picking up my slang well. Ready to go?”
“Sure,” Trel sighed, and then she held my hand as we walked with the waves to the shore.
Our troop of dinosaurs was patiently waiting for us, and the troodons let out a happy hoot once we started moving again. The places where the water met the sand were flat and level, but the beach began to turn into mild dunes the farther north we traveled. Thoughts of another tribe were keeping me paranoid, and I decided that we needed to combine our quick travel near the water with the occasional scouting trips where we rode Tom close to the top of the nearest dune so we could see around. The process made our tip north toward the lava flow a bit slower, but I didn’t want to get ambushed, especially when we would be back up again
st the ocean.
Our little scouting trips to the top of the dunes didn’t reveal anything to us except for a tropical paradise. The land past the dunes looked pristine, and untouched by civilization. I spotted several groups of stegos, a few groups of trikes, and even a pair of brontos farther north of the lava field, but I didn’t see any sort of predator. Even the pterodactyls floated lazily in the air above us, and an incredible sense of peace began to fill my stomach.
“Damn,” I said. “Maybe we can move over here. We would be by the ocean for easy fishing, and most of these palm trees have coconuts on them.”
“It might be too much work to move everything two valleys over,” Trel said as she twisted her mouth. “Especially since I have just finished designing such a splendid home for us all.”
“But think about how much fun you would have designing and building a new camp.” I laughed as I spoke, and her full lips twisted into a smile.
“We would have to go far for fresh water again,” Trel said, “but I will go wherever you wish me to go, Victor. As long as I am with you and our brood.”
“I’m kind of joking,” I said. “We just worked our asses off for a month to build our camp. The ocean is nice, but I like where we are.”
From our seat high on Tom’s back, we were able to see a good distance ahead, and the trail of black that Trel had guessed came from lava flow soon came into view. I made one last check on the top of a dune to confirm there still weren’t any predators around, and then our group finally made it to the landmark.
Trel had been right, the area was burned out and obsidian crusted. The heat from the lava flow had turned the sand into glass, but underneath the glossy parts were patches of dark sand.
“Ohhh, Victor,” Trel gasped. “That sand looks perfect. Do you see how fine of a grain it is? It is far superior to the sand on the beach here.”
“Yeah, it looks great,” I said as I jumped off Tom and squatted down to look at the sand. I still didn’t have my shoes on, and the various bits of twisted rock and obsidian looked like they might be sharp.
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