A sudden blast of water washed by David’s back just as the boat lurched ahead. He turned in fright, his rifle automatically coming to bear on the new threat. It was Anton with the bilge hose. He was washing down the deck with one hand, cleaning the blood and pieces of meat and now feathers from it while trying to guide the boat with his other hand.
‘Here, I think you can stop firing. Give me a hand with this damn hose!’
Ed grabbed the hose and braced his legs. The packets around them had been covered in gore but it washed off easily. ‘…and that’s why we take the time to follow procedure to dry pack and secure everything in the boat even if we are in a hurry Anton.’
‘Yeah, yeah, yeah! Don’t rub it in, you were right. Ok, let’s get this show back on the road we’re burning daylight and I don’t know how far up Alex and the others are going to come out.’ Anton turned, once again concentrating on his driving.
Anton closely watched the waters upriver when suddenly a sinister black shape lifted from the cloudy depths to their side. It rose under them pushing the boat with the massive upthrust of its passage. Anton gunned the engine just as he saw the massive black scales on it’s back. It broke surface behind the boat, lifting the back portion of the Jensen a foot out of the water as it passed down stream ignoring the small boat.
The waters of the river gurgled softly under the boat as it settled and they continued to push up stream. The skies behind them are filled with the big reptiles swooping and diving into the waters like the seagull feeding frenzy David had once seen in the pacific. The area is covered with a thrashing and churning of the river’s waters that goes beyond anything the big reptiles could produce. ‘Guess that must be the crocodiles getting their fill.’ David said as he turned toward Anton. ‘Keep moving. I don’t want to stop anywhere near here.’
‘Well, I don’t look forward to having to go back through that on our return.’
‘It’ll be ok Anton. I’ve been up this river almost half a dozen times and that’s the first problem we’ve encountered. We must have just been passing by at the wrong moment.’
‘Well, it was almost our last problem, one time too many can be just that you know.’
‘Ok, so how far up river are we going? I think you have time enough to tell us now.’
‘We last heard from the boys early this morning, before daybreak. They came over the communications net rather than the Hive-Tab network so they must have been way out on the mainland. Satellite convergence confirms that they were way out over the plains area almost up to that stream that you, Alex and Brittany followed a couple of months back when looking for the Zavtek boy.’
‘Ah, yeah Gabriel. Kid is quite a character.’
‘Well, they never got that far. We did a close scan from the satellite. We could track their thermals down to about ten feet underground. Seems like they found a cave, some kind of tributary of the stream they were following. They just went deeper and deeper until we couldn’t see their trail. They must have been in hot pursuit of the raptors or they wouldn’t have risked going underground like that.’
‘I ran an in-depth fault and contour analysis of the area. The terrain suggests that they most likely headed right for the river valley here. Makes sense since most of the streams around drain into this valley. So we need to head up river a few miles and then wait. I have Adrian back at the Station listening for any contacts they might make and if needs be he promised to bring a Hunter over for backup no matter what Dan says.’
‘I expect we’re gonna see them come running out on the heels of these two black ghosts. When Alex and the others do come out into this valley they’re gonna be in a world of trouble.’
‘They’re armed Anton. They should be able to handle the raptors.’ Ed said.
‘You haven’t seen this valley before Ed. This is like New York City for raptors. There’s more raptors per square yard here than I’d like to think about. Gives me nightmares since every single one of them is looking for someone smaller than they are to eat. Oh, and don’t forget, they hunt in packs. A man is considered to be way down on the food chain around here.’
‘Men aren’t even in the food chain Anton.’ David quipped.
‘Yeah? Tell that to Eric and the girl and Jon Buckwheat. No, they like the taste of human flesh. Heck, look over there on the shore, it’s like watching a vid!’
The river runs wide through this portion of the long meandering valley. Close to fifty yards away from them, the shoreline rises onto a flat, almost level ground. Further in, the ground continues to rise gradually on either side of the river until it reaches the piles of loose stone and boulders at the foot of the cliffs a few thousand feet from the river’s edge.
Heavy rainfall in this climate is not a common occurrence and there’s no such thing as a spring snowmelt. The river height ebbs and flows seasonally but violent downpours are infrequent. The river valley formed over the ages, cutting into the young Rocky Mountains as they grew beneath it. The valley is broad and the river meanders on a path that changes slowly with the years.
The delta formed by the river as it enters the sea is broad but the river’s channel is abrupt and deep. The small boat travels up a broad, strong flowing river with wide planes strewn with clumps of gingkos, seed ferns, and cycads. The ancient palms of ages gone by that here tend to cluster in tight islands of high vegetation surrounded by low carpets of club moss and ferns that can reach as high as a man. Small streams fall from the towering cliffs at the edges of the valley leaving long trails lined with carpets of moss and swampy horsetails.
‘All of the palms and low vegetation that we see around here are the ancient remnants of the past ages. They are coarse and not easily digested.’ David points over to the near shoreline. ‘Look over there, the shore is teaming with wildlife living off the river. Even inshore there’s a lot of animals most of which blend into the foliage. It’s down here that we first encountered the hadrosaurids, or duck-billed dinosaur herds that we have used as a staple for our meat supply. They feed like bison on the grass and the only drawback is that most of the herds are hunted regularly by T-rex families.’
‘You’ll see that, as we move up river, we’ll encounter more and more of the deciduous trees that we are so familiar with in our time. We’ll find trees like willow, elm, grape vines, laurel, birch, oak, and maple along with some really pretty flowering plants. We’ll also see large populations of herbivores in this area. They seem to prefer the soft flowering plants for their diet quite naturally. Not much in the way of fruit trees yet, that’s why the Hypes like it when we give them some of ours, manna from the gods you know.’
‘Unfortunately, this densely populated area supports a large predator population that follows the herds. The variety and abundance of animal life makes the African Serengeti of our time look lame. By your calculations Anton, this is where we’re heading and that is not a good area for Alex and the boys to be chasing around in.’
‘Here, take the control.’ Anton said to Ed as moved to the middle of the boat and opened a sealed package. He reached in and pulled out a small box. ‘I’ve had this for a long time. It’s a net amp.’ He set the gadget into the console in the front of the boat.
‘I’ve used it on jobs where we have to operate pretty far out from the modern conveniences of communications. Alex and the boys have similar needs, they’re even out of range for our normal high density communicators. With this we will be able to amplify any communications packets they are using on the helmet bands and if we’re really close, we should be able to tap into their Hive-Tab net.’
‘Ok, I can see you grinning already. Yes it’s pretty archaic and bulky but it works. Unfortunately, it’s a bit directional so you have to keep trimming the phase antenna to scan over an area. That can work to our advantage by using it as a pointer to help us find them.’
‘Sounds like a plan to me!’ Ed commented through an all-knowing grin.
‘Ok, here’s how to work it. Oh, don’t look so surprised. Yes you
have to turn the controls with your hands and no it doesn’t directly interface with your Hive Tab. Get over here Ed.’
* * * * *
Doctor Matt Zoeller turned to look out over the coral blue and white waters. The sea is particularly quiet today. A soft salt wind blows up the cliffs to gently push a few of the strands of his white hair. A deep blue sky meets the sea near the horizon where his eyes rest upon a rough patch on the surface of the ocean.
To some people the scene would be idyllic. A day treasured for its serenity, warmth and beauty. Matt hated everything about it.
‘This is absolutely ridiculous.’ Dark thoughts flowed in Matt’s mind like tendrils of black smolder smoke. ‘It just isn’t logical. I know every reason in the world why I have to be here doing this right now. They are good reasons too. I should be able to overcome these feelings of frustration but the time lost! The waste of time babysitting these people while I could be working in my lab on something worthwhile! Most of all, being outside here on the plateau when …’
‘Doctor Zoeller, uh it’s Matt isn’t it?’ A pretty, young Asian girl interrupted his dark thoughts. ‘I hope you’ll let me call you Matt. I wanted to thank you for allowing us out on the Station again. You’re so lucky to be able to come out here every day!’
Matt ran through an old memory trick and brought her name up, ‘Julia, spouse of senior board member Robert Taylor. Not necessarily a friend since, according to Mark, he’s trying to run a coup and force Mark out of the CEO position. Why in the world did he bring his whole family along anyway?’
‘Julia, we have met before about two years ago at the Tycho Center Christmas party. Yes, feel free to call me Matt. Here, of all places the honorifics are not needed.’
‘I’m glad to see your family enjoying the visit but remember, after lunch we’re heading back into the Argos for some business meetings.’
‘I realize the timing of our visit is not the most opportune but will we be able to get a tour of the dinosaurs? We’ve been here two days and most of the time we spent indoors. Isn’t there something we can do other than meet the Hypes?
Matt let out a small sigh, ‘I’m sorry, I know how much you’d like a nice formal excursion but we can’t do that right now. We plan to have a tour flight set up for you tomorrow. We’ll have to take you out four at a time because there isn’t that much room in a Hunter cockpit. Today’s schedule keeps us indoors.’
‘How about a boat tour rather than flying around in a crowded Hunter?’
‘Julia please! That would not be safe. Didn’t you see the size of some of these animals when Seth brought you down from the Essex?’
Janet Anderson happened to be passing by the group as she headed over to the cafeteria. ‘Hello Mrs. Taylor, I’m Janet Anderson. I’m a geophysicist for GraviDynamics. I hope you don’t mind but I overheard a part of your conversation with Matt. Have you noticed some of the local animal life? There’s really quite a lot to be seen if you know where to look.’
‘I was headed over to the cafeteria for some lunch but I’d be happy to give you a quick tour and then we could stop for a bite to eat. I’d even offer to take you into some of the Hype caverns…. No, before you say it there’s a lot more to be seen down there than Hypes. We have a few overlooks that are closer to the ocean.’
‘Ah, I notice you’re wearing an Ammonite necklace.’ Janet looked close at the fossil necklace around Julie’s neck. The pendant was round and spiral shaped with a bright, opal-like iridescence that glistened in greens, blue and red. ‘You do know that that animal is extinct in our timeframe but the ocean’s are full of them around here.’
‘No, I didn’t know that. Could we see some of them?
‘Come on, get your girls and anyone else who would like to come and follow me.’ Janet walked off with the group. As she left she looked back at Matt Zoeller and gave him a quiet smile. Matt silently mouthed the words, ‘Thank you!’
Janet’s been around GraviDynamics for a long time. She holds a doctorate in Geo-Physics from Bucknell and is a co-author of the string theory model used to explain the red spot on Jupiter. She also has a strong background in the Cretaceous.
‘We’re going to move down into the larger warrens of the Hypsilophodont or Hypes as we call them for short. The Hypes are the first major species we encountered here at Cretaceous Station. They aren’t theropods, in fact they are not even in the family. Their race will be wiped out in the upcoming extinction event that is thankfully a safe thousand years in the future. Hypes are quite different in behavior from other theropods like the T-rex and troondons, the major group of dinosaurs we have directly outside of the gates.’
‘Unlike theropods, the Hypes are omnivores. They eat vegetables and occasionally some meat. Oddly enough, unlike almost all the other dinosaurs they have articulated hands with five fingers and are quite capable of manipulating tools and other complex tasks. They however are not naturally inclined to use tools.’
‘Most of the warrens were formed naturally by rainwater action through the sandstone base. The Hypes have expanded portions and connected shafts but they wouldn’t conceive of hollowing out a whole new group of caves even though they are quite capable of it.’
‘Please be careful of the trail here and stay back from the edge of the cliffs. The ground is soft and likely to break away under your feet if you aren’t careful. That’s a nasty two hundred foot drop to the mixed sand and boulders at the edge of the sea below.’
‘We’ve know a lot about Hypes from the fossil record. There has been a lot of speculation in the older literature about their intelligence as well as their family formed tendancies. For one thing, they care for their youngsters and have a strong parental sense of protectiveness for them.’
‘Until we arrived, we never realized just how intelligent they were. There’s nothing in the fossil record that shows the fact that they are self-aware but, as you have seen, they indeed are not only smart and quick to learn but they are also self aware and quite capable of original thought. Almost all of the fossil based estimates of dinosaur intelligence were based on measurements of brain volume called an encephalization quotient which is a measure of relative brain size. It’s defined as the ratio between actual brain mass and predicted brain mass for an animal of a given size. The concept is a very rough estimate and really falls apart in many instances.’
‘For example, there was the base groundwork of Dr. Irene Pepperberg's research with captive African greys, most notably with a bird named Alex. This small African Grey Parrot has scientifically demonstrated that the species possesses the ability to associate simple human words with meanings, and to intelligently apply the abstract concepts of shape, colour, number, zero-sense, etc. According to Pepperberg they perform many cognitive tasks at the level of dolphins, chimpanzees, and even a human toddler.’
‘Ah girls, please don’t pick up the young chicks unless they come up to you.’
‘What we’ve found with these Hypes, oh please watch your step here, is that they can grasp our language very quickly and incorporate it into their own conscious and quite independent thoughts. Ok, this is the main entrance to the warren. You won’t need flashlights through these tunnels since we’ve installed glow-lamps down to the main chamber. From there we’ll travel out to the cliffs where the Hypes can actually get close enough to the water to catch fish. At this point we’ll get a very close-up and personal look at the ocean and it’s abundant life forms.
‘Is this going to be part of the resort?’ Deborah Clinow asked. Janet turned and noticed that she had a beautiful white tufted Hype chick in her arms.
‘No Ms. Clinow. The resort we are planning will be on the other side of the river. It’s going to be quite extensive and comfortable. We’ll have Hypes working over there with us both as examples of the local life and also as tour guides and even educators.’
Suzan Esque commented, ‘I notice your expansion work has completely stopped. Not going very well I take it or is this the expected rate of co
nstruction?’
‘Ms. Esque, this is first and foremost a research station. We have a specific goal in mind and that is to refine our understanding of the Gravitonic Models for the star drive. Construction at the Station is halted because of the unique situation that we and you are presently engaged in. A serious threat to the Station has arisen and until we resolve it there will be no more work performed outside of the security area.’
‘Humph, doesn’t seem like a very secure area. We can’t even walk around without an armed escort. I can’t see that this will sit well with the rest of the board members.’
‘Well if there’s anything I can help you with Ms. Esque or if you have any positive suggestions please let me know. In the mean time I believe you’re going to find this interesting. Please come along.’
* * * * *
‘How the hell does he see the trail?’ Corey quietly asked himself as he stood under a strange plant that looked somewhat like a fern and a low palm bush. ‘A noise! Ok, it’s just Tom passing by, it’ll be my turn in a few seconds. Hold, hold! There’s his signal.’
Corey took one last, very careful scan of the jungle around them and then stepped out from under the bush. He lifted his foot carefully, plotting the next point to set it down. Walk between the dry sticks and loose stones. Place your foot down heel to toe, walking on the outside of the instep. Alex had laid down the directions quite clearly and strongly. Frustratingly time consuming and slow.
Alex indicated a rough direction through the underbrush. ‘What the hell is he doing? I can see their trail over there but we have to go through this dense brush. Ok, settle down, look for concealment. Freeze!’
He held his position for a minute. The jungle around them is full of animal sounds. The rustle of small feet through the low ferns. He suddenly heard a larger, heavy movement over the small ridge. That has gotta be a big something or other. That bug stomping around on my neck is killing me. When I move next I’m gonna squash the darn thing.’
Hunter's Moon (Cretaceous Station Book 2) Page 26