He accessed the AutoSentinels and programmed in a series of wavefront recordings for the evening. As he stood, eyes slowly scanning the meadow, the helmet AI recorded all of the visible illumination in the meadows in the form of ray tracings. The range of the recordings went outside the eyeball’s visible wavelength spectrum into the near infrared and ultraviolet. He could frequency shift and compress them to make the whole spectrum visible if the effect was worth it. Most importantly, the ray packets will provide full capability of scene recreation from almost any point in the sensor grid and in three dimensions. What a bonus this sensor deployment turned out to be. He’d be able to use the memorized wavefronts for years to recreate full 3D audio and visual landscapes of the raw, primitive meadow.
Alex’s call seemed to come in no-time at all. The dew was thickening on the leaves and the very air seemed soaked with cool moisture as Alex emerged from the hut. ‘The evening was quiet with no alarms. I’m wide awake so if you want to head back to bed go ahead.’
‘No, thanks anyway Anton. I’ve been awake for about an hour. I’m looking forward to the sunrise. Sky should be lighting up fairly soon.’
A chirping sound from the AI lifted into their helmets. ‘Sensor failure!’ Alex announced.
‘Sensors A23 and A24 have not responded to their status call.’ The AI informed them. ‘No response on the base net level responder. Assume the sensors are dead or at least inoperative. Sensor B23 erratic response.’
Alex pulled his rifle from the harness coupling, ‘What the hell, they’re going for another full penetration. AI, flood the area. I want to see what’s out there.’
The AutoSentinels flood illuminated the meadow. A slim black dinosaur stood in the full illumination of a targeting laser for a split second, seemingly startled. Before Alex could call the fire code he disappeared.
‘How could he just disappear like that? The whole area’s filled with sensors!’
Then the AI chirped a staccato warning and the grid dimmed and went out.
‘Oh now we’re in for it. The power just went south on us.’ Anton called.
‘Quick, don’t even try to pull the reserve, we’ve got to get back to the hut.’ Alex shouted. ‘Stay close. At least we know they ain’t thirty foot T-Rex’s.’
‘I’m not getting trapped inside that hut again.’ Anton called as they crossed the meadow.
‘Did you see how fast that thing moved? We’ll put the hut to our back and we’ll have to hold out until sunrise. Gotta get Corey up anyway.’
Just then an angry scream lifted from the campsite. They emerged from the low brush to see the tent door open with Corey sprawled across the ground.
‘It just came in and grabbed my leg. I twisted and head-butted the thing. Thank God for these armored pants, they stiffened up right away or you’d be calling me gimpy now!’
‘Where is it?’ Anton asked.
‘I don’t know. I must have surprised it and then it heard you coming and it was gone.’
‘Quick, get the camplight. That’ll last for an hour or so. No, not right by us. Place yours at the edge of the brush over there and I’ll put mine around this corner of the hut.’
Corey raced around the hut and ran right into the dinosaur. It’s reflexes were amazingly fast as it silently leaped through the air and struck out towards the light in his hand. Corey’s arm went up in reaction striking the attacker in mid-flight. It felt like he was swatting a tree limb. The dinosaur landed on top of him, a red fury ran across his vision as he was thrown to the ground. Anger flared and Corey wrenched his arms around the beast and spun onto it’s back just as another blow landed behind his head. The helmet saved him.
Corey held onto the neck of the beast as he felt other arms reach around his shoulders and teeth grinding down into the back of his helmet. He pulled back on his chokehold and could feel the other’s jaws skitter down the hard surface toward his neck. The teeth scarped across the rim of his helmet and the now stiffened collar of his body vest. Sharp points slipped past the defense, piercing his flesh, ripping across it as the jaws slid in their growling fury. The blood scent drove the dinosaur into a frenzy. Corey reached up and grabbed the jaws, releasing the body below him.
Anton, seeing the lamp flying from Corey’s hand, emerged from around the corner. He drove his massive fist into the head of the attacker just behind it’s eye. The head of the beast flew back, losing its balance. A black shadow rose from below and took one frantic bite onto Corey’s lower shoulder. The armor hardened and the assailant was able to pull free, knocking Anton down to his knees as both vanished into the shadows.
Anton was screaming. His pistol now in his hand, he fired wildly into the brush before Alex stopped him. ‘They’re gone. Take it easy. They’re gone and you might hit some of our equipment.’
Anton immediately dropped down by Corey, ‘How are you doing kid? Did he get you?’
‘I’m ok guys. I guarantee you I’m a believer in wearing the armor out here from now on. Damn it, he was able to get through on a weak point.’ Corey’s low voice growled as he pulled his bloodied hand from his neck.
Alex recovered Corey’s lamp and set it up behind the tent. ‘Well I guess there are only two of them, whatever they are. Cheez but they are tough. Not at all like those fish-eaters. I’d think they could even take on a troondon.’
‘Come on, get into the hut. We need to treat that scratch and make sure you don’t have any other wounds. Anton, you watch outside here. I don’t think we’ll have any more problems since the sun’s coming up but stay close anyway.’
‘What the hell were they? Do you think they were troondons?’ Anton asked.
‘No, too small, but boy they are fast and strong.’
‘Well, they could be young ones.’ Anton replied. ‘I’m not ruling out the troondons yet. Could also have been Hypes. They are about the right size and they seem smart enough.’
‘Smart? Yeah, I guess you could say that. They also worked together as a team. We would have had Corey’s bird if the other hadn’t of come to his aid.’
Anton growled from just outside the hut, ‘There’s more to it than that. They planned this incursion. They defeated our AutoSentinel grid and then waited until the right time to strike. They used the twilight just before dawn when our awareness should have been at its lowest and it is hardest to see. They also would have had us from behind if Corey hadn’t of ran into them.’
‘Well, luckily there were only two of them.’ Alex called from inside the hut. ‘Here, hold this.’
‘Ouch, what are you doing Alex? Since when do you give injections?’
‘Oh, stop griping. I’ve done this many times before. You won’t even need stitches but I don’t like puncture wounds. Luckily there’s no sign of any cloth or dirt in it. I’ll just put a few butterfly sutures across the scratch.’
Anton’s voice rose from outside, ‘There’s the morning song, right on time. It’s like nothing happened, just another day. Guess we need to clean up here a bit and then get back to work.’
Alex exited the hut, his eyes scanning the fields around them, ‘Ok Anton but I have to go over and call Dan. Last night was not business as usual. We need to alert the Station and the other’s working outside. They have to know about this new threat.’
‘Well, we don’t know that it’s going to bother them over by the Station. We’ve got a wide river valley separating us and we may have just moved into the territory of these guys. I’m still not convinced it wasn’t the troondon that attacked us.’
The stars fled before the brightness of the blue sky as the full moon lingered to watch over them from the western horizon. Soon, the power of the hunter’s moon faded with the rising melody of bird and dinosaur morning song as it lifted to greet the arrival of the sun.
Three humans, aliens to the beauty surrounding them, slowly began to clean up their camp and perform their own morning ritual. Common tasks carried out with just a little more vigilance than the day before.
Down
on the edge of the swamp, two sets of dark eyes watch them from the distant shadows. They are tired, sore and hungry. They too learned something last night. Maybe here there is more to be feared than the big ones. On the other paw, these are more their size and therefore they may be managed with a little more careful planning. Most of all, he cannot forget the smell and all too brief, teasing taste of the hot blood. It leaves a craving in his gut unlike any other he has ever tasted. Perhaps they will be worth the effort. Perhaps they can be taken and they always liked a challenge.
* * * * *
A long, deep oboe-like call cascaded across the valley and reflected off the steep walls of the cliffs less than a quarter mile away. It isn’t the smooth oboe crescendo of a reed instrument but a more complex strain like air columns vibrating in a pipe organ. The tones climbed and then lowered down the octaves until those listening could not hear the song any longer but its presence demanded their attention as a throbbing, low pain in their mastoid lobes.
A reply sounded from far up the valley. A complimentary call heard more in the lower octaves and strangely carried through the solid matrix of sedimentary rocks at the river’s edge. Its plaintive call gliding through their surroundings much as the ghostly refrains of whale song travel back and forth between lonely leviathans across the depths of the ocean. Be they lovers, mates or strangers, their calls riposte back and forth in the singsong random refrains of an unknown language.
A lone figure stands on a slowly drifting boat in the center of the river listening intently to the calls. His head covered with a wide-brimmed soft hat. An article faded and wrinkled from years of use in the sun and rain of an older planet. It sits atop broad shoulders and brown muscular arms that lightly hold the heavy caliber pulsar rifle. He unconsciously stands tall and erect. Alert to the sonic recordings being made by his Hive Tab and keenly aware of the danger that could be waiting unseen in the brush-filled shore less than forty yards away.
‘Another twenty minutes of this and I’m gonna need an aspirin.’ Doctor David Pope groans for the benefit of Sara Wenford sitting on the seat beside him. David is a naturalist and, by temperament, a conservationist who sees no contradiction in the fact that he is also a well known big game trapper and hunter.
‘I don’t like being so close to the shore. You saw those T-Rex jumping. Forty yards would be no problem at all if he didn’t mind getting wet.’
‘Oh, cut your griping David.’ Sara returned with a smile. ‘This is unusual. This is the first time we’ve actually seen a lone Hadrosaurid calling. They never do it when they are in the herd. Just what is he doing out here anyway so far from the safety of the herd?’
‘Can’t we stop calling them Hadrosaurids? How about something more friendly like “duckbills”.’
‘Call them what you wish David but we always speculated on the function of the large, boney resonance chamber they hold atop their heads. Now we know what sounds it can make but why do they do it and why only when they are alone? Stay just a few more moments while I record this exchange. Besides, it’s your fault I’m here and you promised to help me with my research.’
‘I don’t regret my decision Sara. Your insight into these dinosaurs has been invaluable but can’t we work on something less painful. Don’t these calls hurt your ears?’
‘No, it doesn’t bother me that much. Look, we’ll collect another set of both calls and then move on downstream, unless of course you want to add him to our bag.’
‘You want me to simply shoot him so Mary Li can cook him up for the dinner? He’s not hurt or even maimed. No, thank you. I think we have enough meat and should be heading back. Besides, I’m not anxious to butcher another half ton of meat and cart it back into the stasis bags.’
‘I believe we have enough red meat for the party. I’m not looking forward to those board members coming here but it does provide a good excuse for another party.’
‘Ah David, once again the big white hunter restores my faith in his credentials as a naturalist.’ Dieter Chintz commented from the other end of the boat.
A very accomplished mechanical engineer, Dieter came to Blackwater from the SolTrans corporation operations in the asteroid belt. He had spent the last two years of his life in a spacesuit or space station with no access to natural sunshine. That had been then but now he was in a tropical wonderland. To call the place exotic would have been an understatement.
Dieter loved dinosaurs as a boy and had often thought of paleontology as a career before the reality of job availability hit him. The lucrative job on the asteroid belt had taken him as far from his hobby as he could envision. The vacuum of space and distance had not dulled his love of the subject.
That was until he met Matt Zoeller and signed on to this expedition. Since then Dieter felt that he had gone to heaven. The contract had brought him everything he ever wanted, excitement, adventure and a chance to discover and see sights that no man has ever seen.
‘Come on Dave,’ Dieter continued. ‘Let’s head back. We can check the traps on the way back and pick up some seafood. I’ve never had crabs as good as the ones we’ve been catching.’
Suddenly the forty-five foot Jensen Boat lifted more than a foot into the air knocking David down to his seat. The waters beside the boat churned and a grey backed animal, almost as large as the boat, broke the surface and swam toward shore without lifting its head.
‘A mosasaurs!’ Sara nervously laughed. ‘They come in from the ocean. He was probably investigating us, making sure we weren’t intruding on his territory. Guess he classified us as a log, lucky for us.’
‘You really believe they are related to snakes, Sara?’ Dieter asked. ‘They look more like a wide dolphin with crocodile jaws than a snake.’
‘Yeah, has to do with similarities in their bone and jaw structures. I think we need to get going.’
Dieter started the quiet jet engine and the craft began moving downstream. The river valley opened even wider as they approached the mouth. Soon they passed over rough waters where the sea waves met those incoming freshwater, David noticed a glint of light from the south side of the cliff tops. ‘Looks like someone is watching us from up there. Gotta be Anton or Alex with binoculars at the new site. Oops, hang on now, a little more chop and then we smooth out.’
‘Take it a little more to the northeast Dieter. That’s it, I can see the trap buoy.’
‘Ok, cut it and let us drift in. Got it!’ David called from the front.
David swung out a metal arm over the edge of the boat. Then he reached over the edge, grabbed the cable and hooked it over the pulley and began to bring in the rope. Even in twenty feet of water he could see the cage lifting from the bottom. Several shapes on top scurried off the edges of the cage as it lifted. Soon a four foot wire cage, emerged from the waves. David pulled the rope until the cage was just out of the water and then secured it. Three snake-like creatures rushed through the mesh grating and out into the ocean with the flow of water.
Sara scrambled to the front, eager to look through the contents of the cage. The cage is over half filled with thick and thin shelled crabs as well as an ammonite and a few trilobites that somehow got in. Dieter reached in and with both hands grabbed the small ammonite; pretty as they were they did not cook well. The six-inch trilobites were not a favorite of the explorers so they would also be released. On the other hand the crabs and these aggressive bivalve clams were excellent eating. The thin-shelled crabs reminded Sara of the Chesapeake blue-crabs of her childhood but they are considerably larger than any she recalled from back home. The heavy thick-shelled ones are a lot more work but they are very meaty, more like a Dungeness crab on steroids.
Dieter came forward with two sets of ArmorAll gloves. These gloves are made of the same soft and pliant material used in the stress-hardening body armor and had a large flap that extended up the forearm.
‘Here, we can get them out easier with these gloves. Even with the gloves, be careful. You don’t know what else is in there….watch it, don’t l
et any of them get out into the boat!’
Sara opened the stasis box and held it for them. ‘These are always a hit with the folks. I asked the Hypes to bring in some fish for the dinner. They promised at least fifty of the fluke and those trout-like fish that cook up so well. I’ll ask Mary Li to make a chowder to go along with the main dish.’
‘That’s great Sara!’ Dieter panted as he pulled out two crabs. ‘Let’s get this over with. Even with these gloves, I don’t like handling these guys. They are too fast.’
‘Well, three more traps and we can head back.’ David commented. ‘Watch out, here comes those pesky pterosaurs again. Shoo! Dieter, stop feeding them they’re worse than sea gulls.’
An hour later they sealed the last stasis box and turned the boat out toward the eastern sea. Two miles further down the channel they crossed out of the fresh water current and turned north to pass around the outer edges of the peninsula that held Cretaceous Station. A sandy shoreline by the cliffs on the north side provided dockage for the Jensen Boat as well as access to the top of the plateau using a sand crane.
‘Ok, hang on. The waves aren’t all that high but I want to get in close enough to reach the boat with the cable and bucket from the crane. Push off those rocks Dieter if we get too close.’ David called over the low sounds of the surf.
The boat slid into the sand and Dieter jumped off into the surf with his pistol already in his hand. The long-necked Plesiosaurs usually ran at their approach but there were occasions when the hundred foot long animals had shown considerable aggression in the past. Dieter ran over to the bucket and unlatched it. He then took the remote control and released the cable. Swinging it over his shoulder, he pulled it over to the gunnels of the boat and latched it into a loop on the bow.
David and Sara jumped off and the crane dragged the boat up onto the sand. All three then struggled to lift the bags of meat and seafood from the boat and onto the sand where they could lift them with the crane.
Hunter's Moon (Cretaceous Station Book 2) Page 11