‘All right class, break time is over.’ Brittany calls to the twelve youngsters running and playing across the patio. Come on over here and sit.’
Brittany is a sixteen year old girl with a short boyish cut of sand colored hair. Twin to her brother John and daughter of Sara and Paul Wenford, she eagerly takes on the challenge of helping with the education of the youngsters of the Station personnel. Eight of the students range in age from six to twelve. The remaining four are Hypsilophodonts, local children of the Hypes eagerly attending the formal schooling.
The dinosaurs are about half the size of the human children now but they mature faster than humans and will quickly grow to be almost the same height. Hypes can mimic human speech just as parrots of the future. Unlike parrots, they exhibit an intelligence and independence of thought that may well be on a par with the humans. Their intelligence is however different than the humans. They do not take mathematical concepts well and they prefer to live in harmony with nature. Adapting to changes rather than attempting to modify their environments. It is a trait that will lead their race to extinction in the cataclysmic changes of the time to come.
For now, the cries and shouts of the children contrast sharply with the sudden quiet of the otherwise noisy life on the plateau.
‘Tina, listen. Did you hear that?’ Brittany turns to a young hype helping her with the class. ‘Listen to how quiet everything has become.’
Tina stops to listen, a bright blue shaw on her shoulders flutters lightly in the wind. She lifts her nose and sniffs the odors of the plateau. ‘I don’t hear or smell …’
A screech lifts across the brush strewn plateau. The rumbling sound of an angry dinosaur, a sound that they have heard before and knew only too well. A thought races through her mind, ‘Oh, that was right here on the plateau!’ Around them, the human children continue to play, ignoring the nearness of the call. Brittany notices that the young Hypes are reacting quite differently. They may bolt if she doesn’t do something quickly.
‘Children, be quiet! Quiet! Gabriel that means you too! Now, all of you into the house, quickly!’
‘No Suzanne, just leave it. We’ll come back outside later. Please move.’
Brittany locks the door behind her as they enter, a quick count confirms that all children are safely indoors. Quickly she moves around to the other doors, checking them and the security of their locks. ‘Ok, we’ll continue with our lessons in here. I know you would all like to be outside but we can open the curtains here. It’ll seem almost like we were outside.’
The four young Hypes aren’t ready to go outside at all. They stand in a corner of the room away from the window, ‘Brittany, that was bad call. We don’t want to go outside.’
‘It’s all right Tina. I won’t ask you to go out. We can stay in here until others arrive. In the mean time, let’s continue with our ….’ A thud and scratching at the door startles her. There it is again. Is someone trying to get her attention? What should she do? She walks over to the door, ‘Who is there?’
No answer. Brittany moves over to the side window and carefully pulls the curtains aside. She looks outside, stretching to see as much of the back door as possible. There’s no one there. Did she imagine it?
Then, the scratching moves over to the side door follow by a rapping sound. She moves to the side window. A dark figure stands behind the bushes. Without thinking, she rushes over to the door and turns the latch. ‘Brittany, no!’ Tina cries.
The door flew open, ‘Brittany, thank God! Did you hear that?’ Rachel Zavtek entered the room. Her arms holding two plastic bags. ‘Where’s Gabe, you have him inside here I hope? I have some of our first peaches for your mom. I was almost here when that awful scream filled the air. They have got to be close! Quick, close the doors. Thank God you were home, I don’t know where should run to. Why did you have to build so far out here?’
‘Here, let me help you with that.’ Brittany is feeling better already now that Rachel is here to help.
Rachel lifted one bag onto the table, ‘Mary Li wanted to put all of these in stasis but I said I wanted some for the school. These will be good for all the kids and I know that Tina really likes them.’
‘Yeah, she went crazy over the last bag we had here and ate most of it. I remember too that Tina had the runner’s all night after that.’
‘Well, they have nothing like this here so it’ll take her metabolism a little time to get used to the fruit.’
‘Yeah, mom told me all about it. The Lower Cretaceous saw the first few appearances of fruit trees. Most of the sweet, pulpy succulent fruits we enjoy and take for granted have yet to develop. No wonder the Hypes and Troondon love them so much. Must be like getting manna from the gods.’
‘Well, don’t let them eat the pits. There’s traces of arsenic in them and it could accumulate in their systems. If they eat too much it could actually hurt them.’
Tina was standing looking out the back window. ‘Brittany, something out here.’
‘Who is with you Rachel?’
‘No one. I didn’t see anyone else nearby either.’ They walked over to the large picture window by Tina.
They could see the clear ocean extending out beyond the patio. Chairs, two tables and benches filled the space along with some small flowering plants her mother had brought back from the mainland. ‘I don’t see anything Tina.’
‘No look over here, not way out by ocean. Here!’ and she pointed to the edge of the limestone not more than fifteen feet away from them. There, …’
Rachel stared and then she saw a set of leaves move lightly in the gust of a soft breeze. Her eye caught something unusual, ‘Strange! Those didn’t move at all.’ Then she looked closer. There it was. If you looked closely, you could see it. The head turned and yellow eyes looked deep into her eyes.
Rachel remembered, as a very young girl, looking into the eyes of an alligator. They had stared directly into hers as she gazed from a few feet away, safely resting on the fenced walkway above the creature. The eyes of that animal were cold, lifeless and she knew unremorseful of any actions it might take should she take even a single step off the boardwalk.
This is different. They didn’t move or blink but you can feel the life inside them. There is something different about them. Perhaps the depth of their color or the shading of the small pupils made the difference. There is so much there, so much … malevolence!
The barest movement, less than a blink of an eye and the creature was upon her. A dark demon, arms spread wide as it swooped across the patio. Casting itself into the air, turning to raise two black claw-covered talons high into air. Mouth open, white teeth glisten, pushing the sharp killing raptor claws ever upward.
Rachel could feel the massive blow of the vicious attack, she fell back and flew across the chair even though not even the slightest breeze touched her. A loud, mighty thump rang against the pure quartz silicate glass and the black demon lay thrashing on the ground. A massive, white powder imprint covered the window like some etched caricature of a bird in flight on glass.
Brittany screamed and the children wailed as, out of nowhere, a second figure slid across the glass. It almost lost its balance as it skidded across the large window. A large viscous streak of body fluids marking its unexpected path across the unseen surface. Stumbling across its fallen brother lying stunned on the patio below it.
The figure righted itself and stood rigid. A pair of yellow eyes open and it stiffens slightly and then rises onto all four feet. Shaking it’s head, it sits down for a second and then rises again to a standing position. The head turns around to focus on its companion and then returns its gaze back into the room, back directly at Brittany now standing in front of it, separated only by the thin piece of glass. No barrier to the sensed hate and aggravation now present in the eyes locked on hers.
The attackers stand in frustration. Their feathers shift and bristle as they stare at the humans. Slowly, it raises a five-fingered hand, extending it outward toward the girl stan
ding so close, frozen in fright, to stop as it touches the glass. Confused, it pushes harder and then extends its nose down, bumping into the thin sheet.
Rachel has gotten back up to her feet and she moves over to Brittany with the black dinosaur standing so close. ‘Go away! Go away!’ she screams, pulling Brittany back behind her in the room.
Brittany pushes Rachel off and moves toward the front. Separated by only the thin sheet of glass, she extends her hand over to the clawed fingers of the raptor. It almost pulls back and then some thought seems to catch and they hear it scream in rage.
The black raptors begin running their hands along the glass, feeling for an edge. Looking for something to grab, to dig into. The Silfused mold seamlessly meets the glass.
They run to the side of the house. No longer visible but the girls can hear them scratching the siding. Moving, sliding until they encounter the door.
A few scrapes along the door and it flies open. They rip it from its hinges with a ripping, rending sound of plastic on stone and Rachel can see it fly out over the yard. Flung far by their fury it crashes and settles against the table used this morning for breakfast.
Then they turn to the inner door. A strong portal designed for security. She can hear them scratch and scrape. Their frantic slashing growing in an intensity that is soon joined by their frustrated deep rolling growls. Talons scrape across the door, screeching in protest as they slide across it without harm. The deep growls of the black ghost change into angry screams.
Then a piece at the edge cracks open with a sharp rending sound. The attackers immediately turn their attention to the one small piece that has succumbed to their onslaught. Soon the tear begins to expand into a hole that opens into the interior.
Rachel screams in anger and fright while Brittany begins crying. She runs into the kitchen, looking for a weapon.
The hole opens and a dark brown nose pokes into it. Now they can smell the fresh live scent and it pushes them on. An acrid smell begins to enter into the house. At first it lays low on the air entering by the floor. Soon it permeates the whole room. The Hypes sit in the corner, huddled and mewing in freight. The humans stand next to them. Two of the girls are holding the young Hypes, trying to comfort them.
Rachel reaches down for a cloth to place over her nose when Gabriel flies past her. ‘No!’ she instinctively yells, reaching for the child. He easily scampers by her and leans down to the hole just as the muzzle of the beast pushes through. Gabriel reaches out, a canister in his hand and sprays it directly into the jaws of the beast.
Outside a blood-curtling screech fills the air and they can see the black ghosts pull back. One pawing at its mouth and the other pawing at it in confusion. Suddenly they stop and both heads turn toward the east. Then they are gone, their deadly path into the brush marked only by the shaking of the bush from their passing.
‘Gabriel, what did you do?’ Rachel grabs him and holds him. She doesn’t know whether to cry or yell at him.
Brittany stands to the side, laughing, barely able to stand erect. ‘The spray from the medicine storage. He used the first-aid anesthetic spray that we use for their cuts and bruises. That bird won’t be able to taste anything for a month! I know, I got some in my mouth accidentally one time. It also tastes really weird!’
Just then three of the security men came up the path to the door. They looked at the wreckage strewn across the patio. Rachel ran forward with a screech and opened the door.
‘What happened?’ he asked.
* * * * *
A portion of his mind scrolls over a map of the area near the infirmary. It shows a quickly growing line of men assembling across the top of the ridge. New points blink into existence across the three-dimensional topographic plot marking the addition of more drivers for the hunt. Humans blessed with photographic memories have commented that this image is similar to the detailed visions they retain but it retains one major difference. This image is not a fixed memory. Even fine details change in real-time using the Hive-Tab augmentation.
He lowered the magnification on the image to observe the larger area of the plateau. His display is set to highlight any movement sensed by the AutoSentinels or the satellite located far overhead. New detections automatically update with identification and information that he perceives as simple knowledge rather than labels or notes. So far, all of the detections can be identified and the two bad guys are not on the map.
These images play across one section of Alex’s consciousness as he jogs down the trail. His eyes simultaneously search for threats along the path leading through the high brush between the two ridges before him. A small, about the size of a man, bronze colored dinosaur briefly glides across the pathway before him and then flies off through the dense undergrowth to his side to circle and return. The dinosaur’s nose swings to the ground one moment searching, then it’s head flies up the next to examine the area before them with keen, sharp eyes. As they run, the dinosaur frequently looks back to confirm that Alex is still near him or to signal a change in the travel path.
Alex and Tom jogged toward the mainland gates of Cretaceous Station. They follow a trail and pace set by the Hype called Buddy who never seems to be far from Alex’s side. Even smaller, brightly color dinosaurs whistle and scream as they flee before the team in a very un-birdlike gliding run. Alex isn’t concerned with stealth at this point. They need to setup an ambush at the thin neck of ground that attaches the plateau of Cretaceous Station to the mainland. Others will be setting up along the three narrow cliff trails that follow from the Hype tunnel exits below the crest.
The perimeter security fence and gates lay just ahead. ‘Swing over this way!’ Alex calls to Tom and Buddy and they turn to run along the edge of the fence. The linked fencing is an active element in the security system. It records and evaluates any disturbance, even the brush of a falling leaf. Intelligent monomers evaluate the sensed incursions and have the ability to notify the central system on the Hive-Tab network if the threat level is high enough.
The fencing extends down the sides of the cliff for a short distance on each side. Installation grew the base of the sections of fence, up here on top of the plateau, to a depth of more than three feet underground to discourage attempts to undermine it.
‘Waste of time Alex. Let’s head over to the gates and get set up.’
‘You need to stop putting all your trust in the automated systems. We will check this entire fence and then go to the set up point. Hurry!’
‘We won’t have enough time. There just no way … oh shit!’
They could see a small mound of bare dirt along the cleared path ahead. Plants sprouted with amazing speed here so the hole dug next to the mound must have been recent.
‘Dan, we found their entry point.’ Alex called in over the net. ‘They dug under the fencing.’
‘I see it now. Can you set up an ambush on the other side?’
Alex called back, ‘The hole looks large enough for us to pass through. We’ll set up outside of the cleared area but keep a physical view of the entry. These fellows still aren’t showing up on the sensors and I want to be able to keep an eyeball on it.’
‘Maybe we should examine the rest of the fence?’ Tom asked as Alex turned to crawl head-first down into the hole.
‘No, no time now. Besides, we can’t watch both areas. Come on.’
Tom turned to push head-first into the hole behind Alex. Buddy is already on the other side, running through the brush in search of any clues or spore. It’s tight going and the ground around them is soft. Bits of rock and dirt fall from the sides of the tunnel. There’s always fear of a cave-in when the ground is soft like this! The tunnel extends only fifteen feet on the other side of the fence and he can see light ahead as they cross under the fence.
Alex finally pushes up the last slope of the tunnel as a melodious, almost metallic warble sound reaches his ear. His thoughts carry across to Tom on their Hive Tab, ‘That’s a warning from Buddy.’
‘Yeah, my
Hive Tab picked it up. He’s scared, saw something.’
Suddenly a silent call comes across their Hive Tab conversation, ‘Cheez, you fellows just scared the baloney out of me.’ Corey calls quietly as he rises from behind the brush cover.
Corey can hear the anger in Alex’s transmission, ‘What the hell are you doing out here Corey? Techs are supposed to be inside the secure zones.’
‘I’m involved in this. Have been from the day they tangled with me on the other side of the river.’
‘So you are out here by yourself, that’s real smart. Where’d you get the ArmorAll ?’
‘David Pope issued it to me when we were working on the other side. Look, I could see you guys coming this way. I knew I wouldn’t be alone, I just went ahead through the gates and waited.’
‘So you could see our blips and yet we startled you?’
Corey squinted with one eye to look at Alex with obvious annoyance, ‘Oh cut it out, I didn’t know about the tunnel and I spotted you first anyhow. I’d of been ok.’
‘All right, well I guess we’re glad to have you. Buddy’s going back through and wiping out our scent. Hopefully, they’ll think some Hypes ran out through their tunnel and it won’t spook them. Let’s set up in a semicircle here with the mouth of the tunnel at its center. You go over there Tom. Corey, you take the right side. I’ll set up here in the center.’
Alex continued as they walked into the brush, ‘Tom laid a Brodsky mine in the tunnel, it’s directional but should still do the job in the enclosed space. I’ll have it detonate if we start firing. We’ll at least seal up their immediate escape route and maybe even catch one of them in the tunnel as a bonus.’
Buddy emerged from the tunnel entrance. Similar to a mammal, the Hypes have scent glands located down at the base of their tail. Corey could see him rapidly squatting and rubbing his tail along scattered areas of the tunnel. He could barely keep from laughing, ‘Glad you didn’t ask me to do that Alex. I’d have thrown out my back wiggling like that.’
Hunter's Moon (Cretaceous Station Book 2) Page 21