Last Train to Pangea: Death by Dinosaur

by Robert Turnbull

  A week later when some of them drove out with one of the caravans that headed back toward Boulder, people that had provided them with provisions waved and wished them a safe trip. Just before they left, one guard had shouted that a track had been planned to come all the way to Blackwood and that he looked forward to seeing their great city…peace at last; Proff would be so delighted.

  As Blackwood vanished into the distance Wes looked over at the rest and chuckled.

  “Our city? Hell, other than Kurt and his men and a hand full of people, we haven’t been able to settle down since arriving. Funny to think of Boulder or any place as ‘ours’.”

  Sarge nodded and shouted back “If certain little girls didn’t run away from home…”

  Cassy smiled sweetly, looked over to Sarge and blew him a kiss…and then flipped him off. With a spur of her horse she galloped ahead with Sarge shouting behind her that he was going to ‘tan her hide’ when he caught her and everyone laughing at their antics.

  Towards evening and what had turned out to be a beautiful day, the riders saw a wagon train full of supplies coming from Boulder and rode toward it.

  As it turned out, the ‘pigeons’ had been busy. Wes and Sarge had been informed that Blackwood was sending eight wagons to Boulder with goods they lacked as a sign of peace and trust; it appeared that Boulder was returning the favor.

  They really smelled the wagon train before they saw it, the Dillos scent filled the gentle breezes as did their occasional grunts and bellows. They had pulled away from the caravan and knew that by horse they would arrive in Boulder the next day, the wagons from Boulder had taken two days to get this far the way they were laden down. However as they met the caravan, they decided to settle in for the evening as the caravan would be safer. Close to sundown more cries and grunts could be heard and the wagons from Blackwood joined them…and they were led by Kurt and his men…a second caravan had now arrived.

  As they settled in for the night Kurt laughed as he joined Wes and his people.

  “Good thing I stayed behind. Everyone was in such a hurry to show how things have changed between us, it dawned on them no one had been to Boulder since that one failed attack a decade ago…it was the only one that made it within Boulder’s view and no one could remember where we were.” he roared with one of his hearty laughs “The wagon train originated in one of the towns to the south of Blackwood and they sent a rider ahead to ask us not to leave until they got there, you all had already left. My men and I rode out the south gate and met them…” he slapped Wes on the back “Good thing we decided to push on past the usual rendezvous point, we found you.”

  Missy curled her nose and pinched it “If we can stand the smell of all these ‘stinkers’…good God!”

  Kurt nodded “I used to complain about the oil and petrol smell of my fighter.” he smiled “Now I don’t smell the Dillos anymore. Blackwood started raising them after one of our friendly periods as we showed them how. They’ve raised fine herds, they have…and just as smelly as ours!” he laughed again.

  Snake grinned as he motioned to all of Sarge’s men “And we’ve taught them how to make ‘stinker powder bombs’ to burn or shoot at the dinos that come too close to the walls.”

  Boots nodded “Yeah, but that oily shit they have on their spikes in front of their walls seems to work just as good. Funny how people figure out ways to survive.”

  Luke nodded “Yup! And I showed them how to make stinker rockets they can launch in the directions of the dinos. The burning exhaust and the explosion has the powder in it…” he looked at the others and a few of his new Blackwood friends.

  “Seems they had quite an arsenal of casings, catapult bombs, and the like in case Boulder invaded.”

  Carlos nodded sheepishly “Just goes to show how misinformed a people can get when separated by distance.”

  “Agreed!” Wes muttered “And now that Blackwood is being welcomed into the fold of civilizations in this area, and with rail transportation they can trade with the Indians as well. Hopefully by now the rails have gone to all the villages, and the loop to the ships is complete. Now all we have to do is get tracks to those south of us on the other side of the southern prairie…”

  Carlos, who was in his early twenties and one of the better educated Blackwood riders, nodded “Maybe someday from those areas, back to our city was well. They are so far away we can only trade with them maybe every five years or so. We lose too many riders and wagons.”

  “You don’t use Dillos?” Wes asked.

  “Yes…wagons…but the saber tooth cats, the giant bears, and a breed of raptor that do not seem to smell very well are very deadly. They run through the Dillos and have no fear of man, we did not have them in Mexico…or so my parents told me.”

  Sarge nodded “Guess there are a lot of things we don’t know. But now we can exchange info about areas…and dinos…and whatever else is lurking out there.”

  Carlos nodded as he smiled at Cassy quietly sipping her coffee.

  “Like the banshees.”

  Everyone in their little group looked at one another as Missy sputtered “Banshees?”

  “Si, banshees, they are creatures of the night. No one that has seen them lived.” He looked at Wes “If you take your people there to the south, you have to have wagons that are solid in body and stay in them at night. My father told me that they could hear the banshees screaming and clawing at the heavy wooden planks, but our black wood is strong.” he smiled “However no one wants to go back. My father told me before he died three years ago, that the leaders wait until the memories die down before they can send anyone back…and amigos, memories die slow. Then we would send wagons south, but tried to stay west of the banshees, but then feared of running into one of your patrols…and the flying airplanes my father said he saw from a distance. But my father feared the banshees more than the people of Boulder and their weapons.”

  “They sound nasty.” Cassy muttered from behind her cup “But my Sharps can split one in half.”

  Wes slowly shook his head as he and Missy looked at one another. Cassy was fearless, but still young. She had survived so well and so long that they feared that had given her a false sense of bravado…and that worried both of them.

  Wes looked back to the young Latino “What else can you tell us about the south?”

  Carlos smiled “Not much more…” a strange look crossed his face “of course your people had been told that the dinosaurs that aren’t native to this time cannot breed?”

  That got puzzled looks from everyone and Carlos noticed. He continued with a grin that this twenty-something young man had information that the older, well-traveled, Kurt did not.

  “Si, my mother and father taught me Spanish and we spoke it at home so I would know some of our heritage. As I mentioned my father was on one of the wagon trains. One of the ‘Pilliers’… I’m sorry…people that live south of those that live in the town south of you. They speak only Spanish and some French. One heard my father speaking Spanish and started a conversation with him. After many drinks and swapping stories, he said their people that study the dinosaurs told him they have found no eggs from any of the species of dinosaur that wasn’t native of this time period.”

  Kurt nodded “Now that you mentioned it…” he frowned that he or anyone else hadn’t put two and two together “Of course, Proff said he figured that we’re in the early Jurassic period, and now that you’ve mentioned it, the only eggs and nests that we’ve seen on the trail are those of Jurassic creatures… I’ll be damned.”

  “What about people?” Cassy muttered.

  Carlos smiled “People seem to breed just fine Miss. However what my people call ‘out of period’ dinosaurs, do not.”

  Wes shrugged “Ok let me be the first to mention it.” he looked around the campfire “People and dinos just aren’t gonna live together peacefully…at least the predators. This is good news, sort of for us.” He looked sadly at those sitting around the campfire.

  “This
means we can expand easier and hopefully grow…restore our technology. I mean if the aliens gave us a second chance, we need to get it going.” Wes sighed deeply.

  “Look guys, generations of the future will have to go through the continents breaking apart, at least two ice ages that I can think of…”

  Missy sighed and leaned her head on her love’s shoulder.

  “And one or two mass extinction events.”

  Wes smiled and put his arm around her “Yup…maybe.”

  That got looks from all, as Boots carried that thought a bit further.

  “Hopefully by then we’ll be advanced enough to go out into space and stop whatever meteors hit us…or whatever it was.”

  One of Carlos’s pals looked puzzled “We were told back when our two cities spoke, that our timeline had changed.”

  Wes nodded “It did…but only those of us that were sent here. Remember in a few years Earth won’t exist in our old timeline. Just because we came here, does not change the Earth’s timeline. In about two hundred million years, Earth will still get sucked into a black hole. It is up to us to remember, to teach the next generations what will happen if we fail to heed our second chance.”

  Missy nodded “By then we have to be off the Earth.” she smiled confidently “But look at what you’ve done in the short time humans have existed here. We now have two hundred million years to prove that we can get along, long enough at least to exit this planet and find a new home among the stars.”

  Sarge in his usual surly tone sputtered “Yeah, good fuckin’ luck with that people. If we don’t kill each other, we have two hundred million years to pollute this planet.”

  Wes nodded sadly “And that my friends is exactly why we have to teach and preach each and every generation. Everything from where we came from…and where we have to go.”

  Missy smiled and chuckled softly “This time around we don’t need to learn from our past, but learn from our future…” she smiled “and remember our past.”

  Sarge grinned “Enough with the damned time talk; that shit makes my head hurt.” A puzzled look crossed his face.

  “Hey…if the out of period dinos can’t breed, why have humans?”

  “Hell if I know Sarge,” Wes replied with a shrug “guess it’s all in the evolution, genes, and the like. Proff said humans live much longer because of the port to here, but can’t explain that either, just guess.”

  Kurt nodded “Which is to our advantage according to the professor. It means longer lives, the more we can teach, construct, and pass on. Children age slower than normal, but don’t really slow down until they hit puberty…like our Cassy there.”

  Cassy sighed and loudly proclaimed “And that part sucks!” which brought a round of laughter to the much too serious round of conversation. She rose and poured another cup of coffee as she headed toward one of the wagons to sleep in. She glanced back and smiled…

  “And with that talk of banshees…I’m sleeping in the wagon tonight…” she pointed to the turret and the large 20mm, and the guard standing on the wooden platform that rotated with the cannon.

  “…and sleeping right under that…” she patted her rifle “and hanging on to this.”

  Chapter 35.

  Things went well for the next few years and the communities around Boulder flourished. Rails were laid, improved steam powered trains build and Red was in seventh heaven running his railroad, and the fleet of trains they carried. Even tracks to the south had been laid and new friendships formed. This part of Pangea was becoming as normal as things could get.

  Much to Cassy’s chagrin, she barely aged. After brief fling with Carlos, she pretty much stayed with Wes and Missy, happily playing daughter to her loving parents, parents he was robbed of by the portal.

  Wes and Missy had wed the following year of the first trip to Blackwood. They had a brief time of happiness when Missy carried their first child…and lost her at childbirth…and nearly Missy as well. Another year passed and Missy recovered and once again they planned to try again once the doctor gave them the green light. After that things got better and the crushed Cassy bounded back after losing the sister she hoped for; she so much wanted to play big sister to the baby when and if Wes and Missy tried again.

  Everyday Wes would go off to run the military and Sarge his city guard that Wes once led. Now their general retired and Wes commanded all the military. Sarge who had been put in second in command, now had full control of the city guard and the people of Boulder had never felt safer with men of military experience in control.

  Luke developed better explosives and ‘stinker’ powder, and with Boots and Snake, arms were built that could handle the deadly beasts that still attacked.

  The dinosaur herds thinned a bit, but their lives had been slightly prolonged just as the professor had stated. Carlos had been right, only the Pangaean dinosaurs had offspring and the amounts of dinosaurs dwindled to safer numbers.

  The one hopeful thing in all the great happenings, was the fact that working together, technology was slowly being recreated. It was primitive in form, from what it was in Wes’s day, but still a great improvement from nothing. Wind turbines were lacking in huge output, but was an improvement from what had existed. Even crude solar panels were created…it was a start.

  It was late one afternoon when Wes got a message from Red and was told to get to the old rail yards as soon as he could. Needing a break from the daily grind, Wes hurried down to see Red standing in front of one of the original boxcars that they had arrived with that fateful day.

  “Wassup old pal?” Wes asked.

  Red pointed to the old boxcar sitting off its wheels and on the ground next to the track.

  “Forgot that thing was even here. I remember we took it off the wheels so they could be used and never replaced the broken frame.” he chuckled “Remember how we struggled with that old steam crane to lift it so we wouldn’t drop it.”

  Wes laughed “Yeah we were so afraid what might be in it…say…did we ever…”

  Red pointed to the corroded old lock on the still locked boxcar door.

  “Christ, things were so hectic back then I forgot all about it…until today when I happened to have my crew move that old engine we arrived on, had them pull it back here for major repairs. I walked around the crane…and there she was.”

  Wes grinned from ear to ear “Got some bolt cutters?”

  Sarge walked up and snorted “Well, what the fuck is it this time? Christ it sounded like…” he looked at Wes holding the bolt cutters Red had at the ready…and then at the lock on the boxcar.

  “Holy crap, is that the boxcar that we never got around to opening?”

  Red chuckled “Awww, our old, gruff, and swearing Sarge.” he laughed “Thought ya might get a kick out of what’s in it too.”

  Sarge frowned “I love ya too ya redheaded steam pusher.”

  Wes paused and looked at Sarge “You know Sarge, I’ve known you since Afghanistan, and years here together, maybe we should start calling you by your real name.”

  Sarge watched Wes hold the bolt cutters about the lock’s shank and knew he wasn’t going to cut the lock until he told them.

  “So, yer not gonna cut the fuckin’ lock until I tell, right?” both men nodded and Sarge let out a loud frustrated sigh.

  “Marion Countess…my real name is Marion Countess.”

  Wes looked at Red trying to keep a straight face, and then to the lock. He started pressing on the bolt cutters to cut the lock.

  “Ok Sarge…Sarge it is.”

  Red chuckled barely containing his mirth “Could have been worse Sarge.” Sarge watched Red as he tried to think of another name…

  “Ok, maybe not…Sarge it is.”

  “Fuck you both!” Sarge half grinned as he helped Wes compress the bolt cutters.

  With a loud snap the lock fell to the ground and Red tossed the handle of the steel bars that held the door closed, and slid it open. It took the men a few seconds for their eyes to adjust to
the blackness inside and Wes wished it wasn’t so overcast.

  As a few drops of a long needed rain began to fall, he climbed in.

  “All under black tarps of some kind…well wrapped.” he muttered as he carefully lifted one, slowly Wes sank to his knees. Inside the boxcar sitting to the front, was a four wheel drive Jeep.

  “Hollleee shit! This thing’s a classic.”

  Sarge grinned “Think the guys here can tear it apart and make copies like they did with the Quads?”

  Red laughed “Well seeing as there are about a hundred Quads driving around Boulder now and half that much back in Blackwood, I’d guess, yeah!” he laughed again “Bet they’ll come in either black, or black.” He winked as he knew so far that had been the only color they had been able to make that would stick to metal.

  “And will be slower as we don’t have aluminum, or composites, or…”

  Sarge snorted “Yeah, we get the point.” he nodded to the tarp on the rear of the boxcar as Wes lifted and peeked under.

  “Dibs on this one!” Wes shouted as he ripped off the tarp to reveal a shiny, brand new Blazer.

  “I wonder why the brothers never claimed this?” he froze as he looked inside and held up a tag he pulled off one of the many boxes stacked around the two vehicles.

  “PROPERTY OF THE HOUSTON SPACE MUSEUM!” There was an unlocked latch on one side of a tall box and he swung it aside. Inside was a series of what looked to be oversized filing cabinets.

  Red and Sarge climbed in as the rain cut loose and pulled the sliding boxcar door mostly closed. Red lit the lantern he figured they might need…and looked at the roof.

  “Good thing this was a newer boxcar, with a roof that don’t leak…all this could have been junk by now instead of covered in dust. What’s in the cabinets Wes?”

  Wes looked up from squinting at the old documents and in the flickering light of the lamp broke out in a grin from ear to ear.

  “Old space stuff, diagrams, blueprints, manuals from old air to air rockets, to the Saturn rockets, various satellites, and other stuff…even some of the old space capsules we took to the moon.”