Nodal Convergence (Cretaceous Station Book 1)

by Terrence Zavecz

  * * * *

  ‘See, look over there Matt, by that scrub palm and boulder.’ Dieter Chintz whispered to Doctor Mathew Zoeller as he handed him the binoculars. ‘Watch their actions for a minute. I’ve seen this group hunting out here almost every night. Tonight they just sit there and bob up-and-down with the music.’

  ‘I’ve seen the Hypes doing almost the same thing. They seem to be strongly attracted to the rhythms and lights of the music. Not too surprising I guess. They have a well-developed series of songs on their own. We’ve just added something to it.’ Matt replied. ‘I haven’t seen any reported entry attempts since that first night. Do you think they’ve given up?’

  ‘Looks like it.’ Dieter replied. ‘They come down the heavy game trail each night by the cliff edge. When they get to our peninsula, they detour inland. The fossil record always suggested that Troondons were pretty intelligent and I guess we were right. They work in communities and hunt in coordinated packs. I’ve only seen them pick up smaller animals so we don’t know if they hunt the larger game.’

  Matt thought for a few seconds. ‘Well, we need to know more about our neighbors. When you consider the short time we had to make a decision, we seem to have picked our spot on the plateau properly. Nothing has bothered us for these first few days in spite of all the evening noise we hear inland. Let’s try a little experiment.’

  Matt pulled back from the berm edge and activated his Hive Tab. ‘Mary, how are we doing on that Hadrosaurid meat. Are we going to have leftovers?’

  ‘We’ve got more prepared food than we need for the next few days of leftovers. I thought you said this was only half a bird.’ Mary replied.

  ‘Yes, it was the half of the dinosaur that David’s crew could quickly recover. How about the raw meat? Do we have any left over and did you freeze it?’

  ‘We’ve got a hundred pounds or so in the chiller. I didn’t freeze any yet. I hope you aren’t looking for frozen turkey.’ Mary shot back.

  ‘Please bring out about forty pounds of raw meat and let it warm. I also want some of the baked dinosaur without any of the sauces. Ambient temperature if you can. I’ll send Alex over for it in a few minutes. Thank you.’

  Twenty minutes later Alex, Tom and Molly arrived with a small sled of meat.

  ‘Look over here Alex. Dieter and I’ve been watching these guys for the last half hour. This is the first night that they’ve stopped their hunt to just stand and watch our camp.’

  ‘They seem to be a lot like the Hypes. They’re a lot more aggressive of course but otherwise they have the same response patterns. I’d like to see if we can interact with them. Here’s what I want you to do ….’

  * * * *

  Quietly crawling through the scrub brush with a heavy pack on your back requires experience and practice. They had done this before but that was a few years ago. They were out of practice. You don’t get many jungle patrols on Europa.

  The last few yards were critical. One careful step at a time. Watch for small twigs that break under your foot. Briars that catch your pants. Look for the quiet moss or rock step. Ignore that damn bug crawling across your neck. There, we’re finally less than twenty feet from them and they still don’t know we are here.

  The three specialists stood down-wind and behind the hunting party. They approached in the shadows, just a stone’s throw from the group. The music from the luau echoed in the night and captured the Troondons full attention. Quietly Alex and Molly stood and drew their weapons. Tom stayed back in the shadows watching the trail behind them. Alex raised his head and softly whistled a tune.

  One Troondon turned his head and saw them. He screeched and jumped causing the others to look around them until they saw the two specialists. Two of the dinosaurs were so shocked they actually tripped over each other. Taken fully by surprise they bunched together defensively and hissed at the humans.

  ‘The specialists just stood there for a minute and then Alex slowly bent down and opened the packs on the ground. The Troondon watched, clearly surprised by the inaction of their attackers.

  ‘Ok guys, eat up.’ Alex softly whispered and they slowly backed away into the bush.

  When they were a safe distance back toward camp they made sure the Troondons could see their exit back to the Station.

  Watching through his light enhanced binoculars Matt saw the uncertainty in the Troondons. After a few minutes, one broke from the circle and carefully walked over to the three packs left on the ground. The Troondon examined the meat briefly. It took a little more time looking at the cooked Hadrosaurid. Obviously something was not as expected with this meat.

  Then the Troondon surprised Matthew by calling over the rest of the group and three of them grabbed the backpacks rather than the meat. As two of the dinosaurs stood and looked back at the human–filled plateau the others went off into the brush with the three meat-filled backpacks in their hands.

  The nightly Troondon patrols did not return the next two nights. Then they resumed with a small difference. Each night as they passed, one would stop at the perimeter of the AutoSentinel and sing a brief song. A large palm leaf had been placed on the ground. Each night they added a trinket to the pile on the palm leaf. Sometimes it was a claw, large tooth or horn. Sometimes it was a shell or shiny stone.

  ‘Well, what have we now?’ Matt Zoeller thought to himself one morning as he examined the growing pile. ‘Do we have neighbors, tribute bearers or worshipers? Hmmm, speaking of neighbors, I wonder where all those additional Hypsilophodonts came from?’

  References

  Farmer, C.G. and Sanders, K. (2010) Unidirectional Airflow in the Lungs of Alligators. Science, 327, 338-340 (Link of basal archosaurs of the Triassic and their nondinosaur descendants (phytosaurs, aetosaurs, rauisuchians, crocodylomorphs, and pterosaurs) as well as in dinosaurs for high metabolic behavior.)

  Gould, S. J. Wonderful Life W.W. Norton, 1990.

  3. Imogen Poole , “The evolution of plant physiology: from whole plants to ecosystems”, Linnean Society of London. Palaeobotany Specialist Group, Academic Press, 2004

  4. Xu, Xing; Mark A. Norell, Xuewen Kuang, Xiaolin Wang, Qi Zhao and Chengkai Jia (2004-10-07). "Basal tyrannosauroids from China and evidence for protofeathers in tyrannosauroids". Nature 431 (7009): 680–684.

  We have no way of knowing the intelligence level of extinct animals. To think that because they are extinct they must not have been able to adapt and were therefore dumb is a fallacy. Dinosaurs like the Troondons existed and developed on this planet for over two hundred million years. Compare that with the paltry four million year hominid timeline and the four hundred thousand year history of Homosapiens.

  What causes intelligence? Why does it suddenly flare into existence and how many types of intelligence do we have on the earth? To believe, as our researchers have done, that intelligence is a function of brain size is a risky and foolish conjecture.

  We have learned so much from the fossil record. Enough, at least, to know that we know very little about these animals we call dinosaurs. Each year the scope of new finds expands our knowledge. Many of them, if not all, were warm blooded and cared for their brood after hatching. Another example, recent discoveries suggest that many of these animals had feathers rather than bare reptilian skin. Even the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex sported a feathered hide like today’s Turkey Vulcher. Even Tyrannasaurus Rex appears to have hunted in groups rather than as a lone, slowly lumbering individual.

  Hypsilophodont fossils suggest that the adult animal grew to be about 6 feet long and 150 pounds as estimated by skeletal size and current gravity standards. The Hypsilophodon was most likely a fast-moving dinosaur that moved primarily on its two long back legs. Each foot had four toes. Two rows of bony studs may have run down its back to form a ridge. It had short arms with five-fingered hands. Each finger was tipped with a sharp claw.

  Scientists have good evidence for Hypes living in herds since many skeletons have been found together at various nesting sites. Scientists believe
Hypsilophodon parents cared for their young, since fossilized eggs have been found in carefully arranged patterns, suggesting that the Hypsilophodon was a loving, caring animal.

  The landscape that Hypsilophodon lived in was covered by fern and horsetails, which may have been its main source of food. As a grazing animal its would have nipped off the soft parts of plants with its tough, horny beak, passing them to the sides of its mouth where food was held in its cheek pouches. It was there that the sharp high-ridged teeth, after which it is named, crushed and ground up the food into soft pulp. In short, this dinosaur was most likely omnivorous and a high candidate for intelligence higher than that of an alligator.

  Chapter 6: Shit Happens

  “Shit Happens!”

  Eurytus, Lokhagos (captain) of Sparta

  Company of 300 at Thermopylae on

  hearing of the Persian flank maneuver.

  The cool shade covered her and shielded her eyes from the small bugs that buzzed around her head. She consciously reduced her rate of breathing using shallow breaths. High ferns and the needled limbs of the tree broke the sharp outline of her body from anyone passing through the clearing before her. A small pain in her side irritated and attempted to distract her. She consciously resisted the urge to scratch it just as she ignored the pain that had been growing in her jaw.

  The scent was stronger now. She could hear the approach of the hunters. They moved cautiously, carefully watchful. A small movement through the trees caught her eye. She must stay even more still. Resist the urge to flicker her feathers to drive away the annoying gnats. Do not blink. Do not breathe. Watch. Wait.

  The hunter emerged. The strength of the hunter’s muscles became apparent as he tensely held himself against any rapid movement. Now, she knew, the hunter had seen the herd down below.

  A second hunter appeared to the far side of the clearing pushing through the trees with the inexperience of youth. The plumage around his neck stood out, he was excited and could smell the quarry ahead. Soon he also would spot the herd crossing the marsh. Their caution would drop as they setup the kill. The young one would come this way to cross through the grass and drive the herd back to this older hunter. That would be her time.

  The older hunter sniffed the air and looked back to the youngster. No sound escaped their throats. A simple gesture and then the older hunter carefully settled into the grass at the edge of the clearing. The trap was being set and the youngster started the encirclement.

  He moved rapidly. He was young and small, only about two-thirds the size of the older hunter.

  She didn’t utter a sound although the tension in her legs screamed with pain. As the youngster passed, she exploded from her shelter with a leap. She landed on his back and expertly grabbed his head from the back. She could feel her teeth scrape across the lower skull and sink into the neck until the spine stopped them. A perfect attack. The youngster screamed in anger and pain as her teeth clamped down harder. She grabbed him across the shoulders and dug her hind claws deep into his flesh.

  This attack had been used many times over the years and she was good at it. The youngster flailed in her arms and kicked but the tremendous strength of his deadly legs was useless with her grip set firmly on his back. Her mass pulled him off balance and she bit down harder and shook her jaws.

  The pain in her jaw screamed through her body and prevented her from closing her jaws with the full force that would have ended the struggle quickly. This was no help to the youngster. She had learned to twist the head hard to the side while using the strength of her tail and forearms to wrench the victim’s body hard to its other side.

  A loud crunch sounded as his spine cracked and the youngster fell to the ground with very little spilled blood. She stood up and looked to the other older hunter. That hunter also lay still on the ground, its throat ripped open with blood spurting high into the air. The intestines of the hunter’s belly lay coiled across the ground and around the legs of her son. Her daughter’s eyes glowed yellow with excitement and the copper metallic taste of blood. Her daughter was the first to raise her massive head and yodel victory to the crystal blue sky. She joined the victory cry along with her son. This was a great victory and there would be no need to hunt the herd today for food was at hand.

  They stripped the best parts of the flesh from the two dead Tyrannosaurus. The son claimed the right to the large hunter’s liver and stomach. She took the tender parts of the youngster leaving the tougher flesh to her daughter. She almost forgot the pain in her jaw as she ate the sweet meats.

  Then they went out into the sun and rested in the grass. The herd calmly fed nearby sensing there would be no need to fear this day. This had been a good day. The family had fed well. Food stock in the area would be more plentiful with less competition. After all, a Tyrannasaurus pride should know its territory and not encroach on the hunting grounds of another.

  * * * * *

  ‘My God, we could have walked into that.’ Mark Nolen commented quietly to no one in particular. The level of violence displayed by these massive beasts was mind staggering. He shifted his position to a better vantage point but was careful to remain hidden and to keep his voice low.

  ‘We can read the books and see the bones but the size of a living, breathing Tyrannosaur can’t be felt until you see one in action. Those two largest ones must have been over fifty feet in length and they move like lightning. Do they always flare their neck feathers like that David?’

  ‘Well this is only the second attack that I’ve seen Mark but yes, both times they did it. They seem to display those feathers around the neck and down the ridge of the back. It must be a part of the attack display. Just like a dog does with his ridge fur when he is scared or attacking something.’ David Pope commented. “Look, you’ve got to keep your head down and move slowly. I think their eyesight is as good as their sense of smell. Think of them as having a vulture’s sense of smell with eagle eyes. By the way, that actually was a lot less violent than the attack on the hadrosaurids that we saw last week.’

  David pulled down from the edge and rubbed his eyes. ‘These damn bugs, why can’t they go and get stuck in a chunk of amber or something.’

  Mark continued to watch the three T-Rexes devour their two victims. There was a measured casualness to it, like a pride of lions feeding on a recent kill. He commented without moving his eyes from his binoculars. ‘I think I have to agree with what you were saying before we left. It’s a good thing we didn’t bring the dogs along. It would have been like condemning them to death. Do you think we could ever train them to deal with the likes of these guys? I think they might actually be faster than our dogs.’

  David wiped the back of his neck with his handkerchief. ‘Well the good news is that Sara says they are the biggest guys on the block around here and for this time period. I’d say we just saw a territorial squabble. They were fighting over hunting rights. That means that we probably won’t have to worry about any other fifty foot killers on steroids jumping out at us for a while. Of course, there might still be packs of smaller, six to twenty foot predators to watch for. You know, the little guys coming for the carrion.’

  ‘Our immediate problem is that we have to get that herd of hadrosaurids out of the valley to set up operations. The ore deposit is down there right smack below the herd and the terrain in the ravine over that low hill promises we will find a copper vein, at least according to the aerial surveillance measurements.’

  ‘Well, those big guys will be a lot slower now with their bellies so full. We might be able to surprise them when they take a snooze. Being the big-guy on the block they won’t be on high alert for someone sneaking up on them.’

  ‘So you think they are just going to lie down and go to sleep now?’ Mark chided his friend.

  ‘Well, look at this Dave. They are actually cleaning themselves. I’ve never seen a bird doing that. Oh, I’ve seen birds dip in water and douse their feathers but never use their tongues to clean themselves and each other.’

/>   ‘Yeah.’ David replied, ‘Pretty nimble aren’t they?’

  ‘OK, tell the guys to keep it down and we’ll take a twenty minute break.’ Mark said as he watched the three hunters below. ‘Let them get into a good alpha-pattern sleep and then we’ll give them a surprise. Ask Dan to come up here and tell me how to take these three guys out.’

  Dan scrambled up the hill, moving on all fours as he neared the crest. He was scratching the side of his buttocks as he settled down next to Mark.

  ‘What’s wrong with you?’ Mark said.

  Dan was opening his pants and digging at something down his leg. ‘Damn it. Dieter sat down next to me and kicked something that looked like an old tree stump. The damn thing broke apart and red ants swarmed out onto both of us. There! Gotcha you little SOB! I guessed I missed that little guy, the little suckers really bite and it burns.’

  ‘Formic acid.’ Mark answered without much sympathy. ‘We have a problem here. This is that patch of land that we need to clear. Unfortunately, look over there. Those three T-Rexes have laid claim to the place first. Careful, Dave says they have great eyesight.’

  ‘Well, what do you want to do? Do we kill them or drive them away?’ Dan asked.

  ‘Killing isn’t my first choice.’ Mark grumbled. ‘However I’m not sure we can drive them away safely. For one thing, if they are territorial they would simply come back. For another thing, I don’t know how we could drive them out.’

  ‘Well, we could try a burn.’ Dan suggested. ‘There isn’t a strong wind but I’d be a little nervous about the high oxygen content. I know, oxygen itself doesn’t burn but it sure helps things burn faster. We don’t have to worry about grass-fire because there’s only the moss and low shrubs down there. If it goes up into the trees and down to those sequoias we saw downwind, then it may smolder into the peat moss and burn pretty bright on the dead, standing wood. There is pretty much tinder around us.’