Tom shouted, ‘Watch your backs. I see smoke from the other brush island where that blackbird jumped the feather-head dinosaur.’
As they watched, three Nano-T’s emerged from the bushes that Tom had pointed out. Dieter sidestepped a forth as he came running across the clearing and knocked it to the ground as it flew by. Dieter twisted and shoved his rifle muzzle into another, pulled the trigger and then back chopped the stock into the Nano-T that was just getting up. Tom calmly dropped the three Nan-Ts that were coming at him at a slow, cautious trot. ‘Looks like they were trying to set me up.’ He shouted to Dieter.
Molly had two more Blackbirds in front of her. They were down and trembling on the ground in their last spasms of life. ‘Nice work Molly.’ Mark said as he walked over. That looks like we cleaned out the nest.
‘They weren’t the only things in this hole.’ Molly mentioned as she kept an eye on the one twitching blackbird. ‘Just before they emerged I saw three other dinosaurs come running out like the devil was after them. They looked something like our Hypes back at the station. Their coloring was different and their muzzles were flatter. I wonder what they were all doing down there?’
As Mark turned, four more NanoTs were running up the path toward them. Dan and Dieter took them down with clear, well placed semiautomatic rounds. Tom shouted that two more were coming up from the creek.
‘Pull back away from this smoke.’ Mark called out.
They cautiously backed away and up toward the higher ground at the edge of the cliff. As they watched, they saw more and more of the NanoTs emerging from the surrounding brush. Soon there were ten of them rushing excitedly through the undergrowth. Some stopped to bite the dead blackbirds on the ground and three others got into a squabble as they collided over the remains. They ripped at anything within range of their jaws.
‘Looks like they instinctively go into a feeding frenzy whenever there’s a brush fire.’ David mentioned as he and Toshi walked over toward them along the valley’s edge.
‘Well, they just made our lives a little easier. We can get rid of them by simply starting a smoky fire and waiting for them to come to us.’ Dan commented.
Dieter passed on a thought that was going through his head. ‘It makes sense seeing the Hypes run out. We know they are tunnel diggers. The funny thing is the nanotyrannus just aren’t built for it. They have the wrong tooth and foot structure if I remember correctly. I must admit it’s really strange to see them sharing the tunnels.’
Molly was developing a fondness for some of the Hypes back at the station. ‘I don’t think we should be just smoking the tunnels. There were a lot of other things in there including something that looks like our Hypes. They shouldn’t be a bother so there’s no need to hurt them.’
Mark though about it for a little. ‘I don’t think it’ll be that much more difficult. Maybe we can use some of the ropes and netting to catch these guys and then we’ll fly them out of the valley. We won’t disturb the Hype nests except for that section where we’ll be digging.’
‘Seth just called in.’ Dan said as he scanned the brush for more of the NanoTs. ‘He’s on his way and should be here in less than an hour. Should we break for dinner?’
Dieter and Tom walked over to the nearest blackbird. Dieter pulled out his survival knife while Tom pulled on a hind leg. Dieter made a nice, clean cut around the hip removing the leg at the joint. Tom swung the leg over his shoulder and they walked back to the camp site.
‘I’m anxious to see if this is as good as the hadrosaurid we had at the party.’ Tom grinned at Dieter.
* * * *
‘Oh wow, that’s really cool. Go out of the tunnel. Keep going. Keep going. Good girl. Hold it. Is Fran still there?’ John Wenford called over his Hive Tab.
‘Yes, Fran here. Him here too.’ Tina called back to John.
‘Who is that?’ John replied. ‘Can you bring him back with you?’
‘Coming.’ Tina replied. John could see Tina return to the tunnel. It opened into a larger room as they crawled around a large stone. John was thinking that this wasn’t the way they came in.
The Wenfords had just moved into their new home on the Station. They had been approved to build a single-family dwelling and their Dad, Paul Wenford, had been lucky enough to get a site near the southern edge of the plateau. They have a real, outside limestone patio that is surrounded by low, blooming flowers. The patio looks out over the ocean and the river’s mouth. Like all the structures at Cretaceous Station, the home is made of SilFused sand, blended into a single level, four-bedroom home with smooth, and many times rounded exterior lines. There are no sharp edges and the room curves naturally to shade the sides of the home. The color and design of the structure blends so naturally into its surroundings that it’s difficult to notice from the surrounding plateau even if you stand only a hundred yards away. Rather than a walldisplay, the Wenfords selected a large, single pane window of clear quartz also drawn from the SilFuse process. The massive portal frames the broad living room view of the patio and ocean.
Brittany Wenford is carrying one of her smaller boxes of books from the Argos to her new bedroom. A small Hype chick is running before her as she walks down the path of packed sand and limestone. Brittany lets out a laugh as the chick raises out a cry, imitating one of the pterosaurs. As she watches, the chick suddenly leaps onto a nearby bush missing a small reptile as it flies back up into the air.
‘You’ll never catch them Doxie. You are much too slow. Here, get this.’ Brittany grabs a ball from the box and bounces it down the path. The chick jumps into the air and trips over a rock chasing the ball. As Brittany’s eyes follow the ball, she notices her brother John standing out on the back patio. He seems to be waving his arms in a strange dance as he looks out over the ocean.
‘That’s odd.’ Brittany mumbles to herself. ‘John never liked to dance before. What’s going on now?’ Ignoring the front door, Brittany and Doxie walk around the back of the house. They cross through bushes covered with vines of orchids and wild grapes and onto the patio. Brittany walks up behind her brother and is amazed to see him wearing a set of metallic, skintight goggles.
‘Hi Britt! You have got to see this. Now hang on, I’m going to send a group of Hive- Bots over to you. I’m going to give you a goggle set like mine.’
A cloud-like swarm of Hive-Bots rises out of his workbox on the table and fly over to land onto Brittany’s shoulder. They flow over her shoulders and wrap around her head forming a multi-colored reflective band over her eyes and linking with her Hive-Tab. ‘What’s going on? Where am I? Oh, this is beautiful! It looks like a smooth limestone cave. Oh, hi Fran, Tina. Where did they get the scarves John?’
‘Those aren’t scarves. They are Hive-Bot communicators. Tina, come back here using the outside trail. Be sure to bring your new friend.’
‘Friend not new.’ Tina calls back.
‘Oh my gosh! I heard her imitating before but never answering questions. She just answered your question!’
‘Where have you been Britt? Tina and I’ve been working on this for two days. She’s talking more and more now but her vocabulary is still very limited. I just got the idea of calling someone by a name across to her yesterday. You can get really close to someone when you wear one of these so she’s learning fast.’
‘This is fantastic John. I can see and hear them walking and still see the area around me. How did you do this?’
‘Aw Sis, this is easier than the show I put on at Thanksgiving. In fact, I used a lot of the sound applets from that show in this program. These Hypes are amazing. Look how easy they move through those little tunnels and into the caverns under the plateau.’
‘What caverns? The only one I know about is the grotto down by the sand crane. That didn’t go anywhere but out into the ocean.’ Brittany replied.
‘Wrong again Britt. The whole plateau is honeycombed. Many of the Hype tunnels move from these holes and out into the caverns. There’s whole trails leading across the cliff
s where they collect bird eggs and some even move over into the mainland.’
‘And just when were you going to let everyone else know about this little brother? Why are you keeping it to yourself?’
‘Keeping what to myself? I’m working on this link-up with the Hypes. Don’t you see, we can use them to explore and help us outside the plateau. The Hypes know this world and they know how to survive in it. We are just learning. Who cares about a bunch of caves. Here comes Tina and her friends.’
‘John, that‘s a male Hype and he looks awfully nervous. Are you sure about this?’
‘What? We haven’t seen any male Hypes before? Come on.’
‘Well, we saw them singing at the Thanksgiving dinner but there was so much going on. They seemed to disappear after that and Sara was saying they probably aren’t as sociable as the females. Doxi, you look nervous. What’s the matter? Come here girl.’
‘The new Hype also looks nervous, Britt, but I think he’s upset because we are here. Hmm, maybe the males don’t get along with the chicks. I’ve never seen the little ones following big males around in the cave.’
Brittany stopped and looked at John with a worried look on her face. ‘How many are down there?’
‘Oh, I don’t know. Who knows, maybe thirty or more. What does it matter? Here fellow.’ John said as he reached over to the patio table. ‘Have one of our peaches. I don’t know how much longer we are going to have these so enjoy it.’
The Hype came over, reached out with his hand and gingerly took the peach from John. He seemed to enjoy it as much as the females always did. ‘Dieter was telling me that fruits haven’t developed, oh wait. I gotta save that stone so you can’t just drop them on the ground. Dan wants us to save all the seeds so we can try planting some trees of our own. You would have thought they would have brought some along.’
‘Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, fruit trees haven’t developed here to the point that you can get any decent pulp from them. The locals are just thin, wrinkled pulp that thinly covers the seed. I guess there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to plant some apples, peaches and other fruits. I mean, there’s plenty of bees around to pollinate and the soil is great.’
‘So, you look happy enough now fellow. Wow, where did you get that scar? Look Britt, there’s a good sized one here below his left arm. I’m gonna call you “Buddy”.’
Buddy let out a low trill rather like someone juggling marbles in the bottom of a steel pot.
Just then, Tina saw Sara walking down the trail toward the house. ‘Hi Sara, see friend!’ She called and Fran chimed in with a ‘Heelow Saara!’ as Sara waved to the group.
‘Hello! How are you guys?’, Sara called back as she climbed the steps to her patio.
‘I am well with John.’ Tina brought out rather quickly.
Sara stared open eyed at Tina and then turned to Brittany. ‘That’s what I wanted to talk to you about Brittany. How long has Tina been talking like this and who is this?’
‘Oh, Brittany doesn’t know anything.’ John cut in. ‘Tina and I have been working together and she started with full sentences early on. I’m developing this communicator for them using the Hive-Bots. Oh, and this is a new friend that Tina brought up from the cave. We’re going to call him “Buddy”.’
‘Whoa. Hold it.’ Sara put her hands up in front of her. ‘All this isn’t supposed to happen so quickly. Slow down and start from the beginning.
So John reviewed his work with Tina and Fran once again for Sara.
‘… and the caverns are linked by waterways below the plateau. Some are open and flowing while others are dry. Many of the tunnels lead out onto the cliffs where the Hypes apparently hunt for bird and pterosaur eggs, mostly at night. Yesterday I saw some Hypes down by the rocks reaching into the ocean with sticks but they don’t do that very often and I have no idea what they were trying to do. Other trails cut out over to the mainland but I called Tina back before she went over there. I’m not sure of the control range…’
‘Hold on John. You did all this in two days? What do you mean you called them back?’ Sara broke in.
‘Did all what? Look, I’m trying to link full feedback with the Hive-Bots. It took me most of yesterday just to get Tina to follow directions when she’s down there in the caverns. Too many distractions for her. I was trying it on Fran today when first Britt and then you came up and interrupted me. There’s a lot of bugs in this yet. I can’t really hear what they are thinking so every communication has to be verbal. Good thing Tina catches on so quickly.’
‘John, this is terrific. I was just talking with Doctor Zoeller and he wanted me to learn more about the Hypes. I walk down here and you’ve accomplished much of what I initially needed to do. Do you think you’ll really be able to link directly to their minds?’
‘Oh yeah, there’s a real good possibility of it.’ John replied. ‘I can get weak rhythms from them now and I just started that phase of the programming. Look, if you wanted that capability why didn’t you just have them fitted to a Hive Tab?’
‘Because Hive Tabs don’t work with animals.’ Sara said with exasperation. ‘There’s an intimate link to the human DNA and the Hive Tab. It uses portions of the brain that we wouldn’t ordinarily access for the temporary data storage and external resource as well as the visual memory links.’
‘Well, I’m not trying to do anything that sophisticated.’ John said while fiddling with the Hive-Bot interface again. ‘I just noticed that sometimes I can see Tina and Fran thinking about doing something before they actually do it. But that’s very unreliable. Hey, do you think Buddy would let me put one on him?’
A small swarm of Hive-Bots came out of John’s toolbox and flew over to his arm. John went over to buddy and extended his arm. The swarm formed into a ball and slowly floated out toward Buddy. As they approached, Buddy looked at John and then at the ball and backed away with a low warble and a hiss in his throat.
‘OK, well I guess we don’t know each other well enough yet.’ John said as he called the ball back to his arm. The swarm flowed up his arm and settled onto his shoulders like a glistening mantle of glitter.
‘Have you been recording your work here?’ Sara asked John.
‘Of course. I always keep track of the changes made to every subroutine. Sometimes I throw away capabilities that I find I need in the future. This way I don’t have to code them up again from scratch.’
‘No. I mean your work with the Hypes and the network of tunnels and trails.’ Sara said with a little of frustration.
‘That is not what I’m working on. I saved a few of the images. Here I’ll put copies into my public folder so you can get at them. They’ll look neat on my room’s walldisplay by why worry about the caves?’
‘Oh but you’ve got a wonderful tool here for my work.’ Sara was getting excited. ‘Help me to work with this. We’ll have to begin mapping out the Hypsilophodont family relations and see just what they are capable of as a species. You’ve already answered the question about where they came from on the night of our thanksgiving dinner. Now we need to get a count of how many are in the family, no I guess it’s a colony here. We also need to map out these trails and tunnels here. Boy, Dan’s going to have a fit when he finds out what this does to his security here at Cretaceous Station.’
Brittany watched Sara with amusement. ‘It’s funny.’ She thought. ‘Mom can be so excited and yet she doesn’t even seem to notice that Doxie jumped up into her arms and is now soundly asleep while Mom scratches her behind the ears. I told Mom they were cuddly.’
* * * * *
‘About three hours of daylight left. OK, there’s the herd downstream, I can see them just before the sequoias. I don’t see the T-Rexes but they’ve gotta be here somewhere. See, right there at 9 o’clock, that’s where Alex and the guys blew the rocks to narrow the gap at the stream exit. They then plowed those trees over the stream to keep the herd and T-Rexes from coming back in.’ Seth directed the Hunter back up the valley moving
at a nice easy pace only a few thousand feet above the valley floor. He brought the Hunter back level with the floor. The view was beautiful as always and he turned to see how his passenger was enjoying the flight. He thought to himself, ‘She looks like a kid driving into a candy store. I like taking flights like this.’
Janet Anderson, a Geo-Physicist by training but also a dinosaur enthusiast, did feel like a kid in a new candy store. ‘This is gorgeous. You picked a beautiful valley. See how the valley floor is so flat and narrow? Those are alluvial deposits from the river flowing down the center over eons of time. Most of the matrix looks granitic but there should be a lot of other loose minerals in the deposits along the floor.’
‘Dr. Anderson, we don’t call anything that small a river back home. That’s just a creek.’ Seth commented.
‘Well, whatever you want to call it, the river’s been here a long time and it moved a lot of material from those high peaks upstream. These granite formations look relatively young. They most likely are the result of volcanic activity during the Jurassic period.’
‘The formations are right for bismuth sulfide especially if there’s a lot of silver and galena here. I see some broad quartz veins so we’ll probably find most of what we need here in this little valley. Gosh, the waterfalls are beautiful. I wonder what it’ll look like in a few million years. Oh, is that the camp?’
‘Yeah, looks like everyone is back in camp again. We should be just in time for supper. Let’s set her down and see if we can get something to eat before we have to begin unloading.’ It had been a busy and a long day. As usual, Seth was hungry.
Alex and Dan met them at the landing. ‘Welcome back to Blackbird Valley. Did you bring Janet along?’
Janet stepped out of the door just as Dan finished. ‘Hi Dan, Alex. Seth tells me we stopped in for dinner. What’s cooking?’
Nodal Convergence (Cretaceous Station Book 1) Page 21