‘Leg of Blackbird. Toms’s over there carving the leg right now. How about a cup of coffee? Grab a plate from the table.’
Janet was a bit puzzled so Dan continued, ‘Oh I’m not kidding. Alex thought the Nanotyrannus that attacked us looked like big blackbirds. Well, the name stuck and that’s what we’re calling them. We also named the valley “Blackbird” after them. We thought we’d see if the Blackbirds cooked up as good as the hadrosaurids did. One leg should be enough. Personally, I thought the tail might taste better.’
‘By the way, I know you are interested in the T-Rexes so I’ll show you the two dead ones after supper. We didn’t cover up the carcasses yet and they are a bit chewed up. Been too busy to bury them. Thanks Tom. A little more gravy please. It’s a bit of a high protein dinner but there’s some reconstituted potatoes right here. We also have a couple of MP’s if you’d rather rough it.’
‘Oh, you mean “Meal Packs” for MP right?’ Janet replied. How many years have they been calling these things MP’s. No, I think I’ll try this first, we can save the stasis packed food for the real emergencies. Whoa, what a face! Something wrong with the blackbird Dan? ’
Dan spit out his mouthful of meat. ‘Well, there ain’t much that I haven’t eaten but I think I’m gonna pass on this. Try some. It looks good but the taste is real gamey and also kinda muddy. Yech! I’ve gotta get something to drink.’
‘Bring me an MP when you come back Dan. I think I’ll pass on it too.’ Janet called after him and took another sip of her coffee. As she set down her cup, she stared over at Seth. He was quietly sitting on a rock with a plate full of blackbird and potatoes on his lap. As she watched, he stuffed another forkful of the meat into his mouth, happily chewing as he watched the waterfalls at the valley’s edge.’ I guess some people can eat just about anything.’ She thought as she took another sip of coffee.
Most of the team preferred the MPs. Janet noticed they complained about most everything except for the food. However, the consensus was that this would be the last blackbird dinner.
Early on Dan had stayed with the food ration. He wiped off the last bits of gravy and meat from his plate with a piece of cornbread and plopped it into his mouth. ‘You know, David? Based on what we’ve seen, maybe you ought to take the smoke canisters out of your flash-bang perimeter sentinels.’
David set his cup down. ‘I’ve been thinking about that. I guess there’s two possibilities. One, we take them out. The noise and flashes should be enough to scare most of the intruders off although I’m not sure what reaction something big is going to have. They may just ignore it. There’s more around here than just hadrosaurids and T-Rexes you know. We have no idea how they will respond.’
‘The other option is to leave the grenades in but have them go off only if the flash-bangs don’t work. You saw how the blackbirds reacted. They stayed in the smoke area. Let them do some of the work for us by attacking any intruder. My only fear is that a growing chain-reaction would lead us into something like we had during the first burn.’
‘I don’t think it’ll go that far.’ Dan replied. ‘Let’s try configuring the sentinel response that way and see what happens. ’
Janet walked over and sat next to Dan. ‘You may have already reduced most of the threat. What we don’t know is the extent of these tunnels and how many blackbirds are in them. You saw other animals coming out of them, right? Well, these blackbirds just aren’t built for tunnel digging so who is actually digging the tunnels? My guess is it was the Hypes but who knows. We need more information.’
‘Well, I’ll go and take a look.’ Alex said.
‘How? You can’t see much and if we pour smoke down there we can’t even be sure the whole tunnels evacuated. I guess we could dig them out with the dozer.’ Mark replied.
Alex fiddled with his fork and then looked into Marks eyes. ‘Look. It’s no big deal. I’ll take a flashlight and my pistol and scurry down one of them. I used to climb into caves all the time at home. These guys are bigger than we are. If they can fit into the holes I think I’m small and wiry enough to also do it.’
Dan thought about this for a minute and said, ‘Well, I don’t like it but I don’t have a better idea. OK, let’s try it over where the herd was. That’s where we will be digging first anyway. Go over to the supplies and draw whatever you think you’ll need. In the mean time, we’ll head back over to the tunnel complex and pick out a good entrance. See you there.’
A little later, Alex and Dieter crossed over the river and could see Mark, David, Dan, Janet and Tom standing near an isolated hole. Alex had put on a single-piece coverall with high top boots and knee guards. He took his campaign helmet off and replaced it with a smaller helmet that would give him greater freedom of movement. The helmet also had a Diode Headlamp. He had a smaller GraviDynamics mini-Python pistol in a shoulder harness and a marine combat knife strapped to his utility web. Dieter walked over to the edge of the hole and dropped a three hundred foot coil of polymer rope.
‘Let’s get this over with.’ Alex said as Dieter clipped the rope to the back of his utility web. ‘I should be able to handle most anything in there with this.’
Janet looked at the small pistol, ‘Is that pistol really going to be big enough?’
‘Yeah,’ Alex replied. ‘It still throws a big slug and I’ve got it set for hollow point action. These have a lower firing rate than the standard issue Python but it should be good enough. It’s small enough that I won’t get hung up in the close quarters down there. Should fire fast enough too. I can’t see them coming at me more than one at a time. So let’s go. Wait a second Dieter. I almost forgot the flashlight. Always good to have a backup. Thanks.’
Alex crawled down head-first into a hole that was scarcely large enough for his shoulders to pass. The ground around him is packed earth mixed with coarse sand. The edges of the tunnel are smooth with occasional roots protruding to catch on his harness. Still, the going is easy because of the downhill slope of the tunnel. Not more than fifteen feet ahead he can see the passage turning. ‘I hope there’s a room big enough for me to turn around or it’s going to be a hell of a job getting back.’ He said aloud even though they could only hear his muffled voice.
A light breeze brings strange animal smells past him. A musky, damp smell but sharper than most animal odors with which he is familiar. The smell grows stronger as he nears the bend. Cautiously, Alex inches forward, clipping the small light under the barrel of his pistol. He peaks around the corner and notices that the tunnel begins to level out and widen slightly. There were no dinosaurs in sight but a slight movement catches his eye and he notices a pack of six or more scorpions sitting at the mouth of a small hole near the floor just around the bend. They blend with the sand and are barely visible even in the light of his helmet.
Twisting around, he pries a small rock from the tunnel side with his knife. He reaches out with the rock and crushes the outermost scorpion chasing the rest of them back down into their hole. ‘Man but I hate those things.’ Alex mumbles as he jams the rock into the hole as far as he could wedge it and pulls himself over it and further down the narrow shaft.
The tunnel runs on for twenty feet or so. ‘This had better go some place a little wider or I’m gonna have a lot of fun backing all the way out.’ He thinks to himself just as the passage turns and opens into a dark chamber. Alex carefully approaches the opening but can see nothing inside. As he reaches the mouth of the chamber, he extends the pistol with its light out into the room. Swift and silent as a night raptor, a dark shape flashes from the side of the chamber. White teeth flash in the light for a split second then Alex feels the pressure on his forearm as the teeth sink into his instantly hardening body armor. Alex grunts as the jaws yank him forward toward the chamber and his weapon is knocked from his hand. Reflex pulls his arm back as Alex locks his knees into the ground and rocks on the edges of the tunnel. He doesn’t even feel the pain in his knees as he stretches out with his left hand for the pistol just out of his
reach. Alex’s fingers close around the weapon and raise it up barely a hands breadth from the black, feather covered head of the assailant. He fires the small Python point blank into his attacker.
Even with the smaller bore and quiet discharge, the confines of the tunnel reverberate from the impact of the hypervelocity slug as it tears into the soft throat of the beast just missing his arm. The discharge severs the raptor’s spine as the round mushrooms and then exits the back of the skull to fly across the chamber and embed itself with blood and tissue into the far wall of the chamber. The beast thrashes wildly in reaction to the shot , clamping even harder down on the reaction-hardened armor of his arm. Alex can feel his arm dislocate and then pop back into it’s socket as one claw of the raptor brushes Alex’s gun hand, drawing blood and curses from him. Then, with a painful snap, the jaws release and Alex instinctively withdraws back into the protection of the tunnel. The muzzle flash leaves him partially blinded as he pulls back to let the afterimages fade from his eyes. ‘Gotta remember to blink next time I fire.’ Alex chides himself. ‘Shit, hope he didn’t have a roommate in there.’
He can faintly hear muffled yelling behind him. ‘I’m OK!’ He screamed as loudly as he could. They must have heard him since the yelling stops. Obviously the Hive Tabs don’t work through all this soil.
Alex grits his teeth and rubs his shoulder for a little while, feeling the dull, deep pain set in as his adrenalin level drops. He then picks up the pistol and pulls himself forward again, “Can’t let it stiffen up or I’m in real trouble”. The body of the dead animal is wedged in the entrance of the chamber where it died in its thrashing death throes. Pistol ready in his left hand, Alex pushes on the dead creature with his free hand, ignoring the deep, dull pain in his shoulder. It doesn’t budge. He has just enough room to painfully roll on his back and brace his legs against the walls to try and push the carcass free of the tunnel. ‘Well, you sometimes gotta take chances, here goes nothing.’ He says as he holsters his pistol and digs his hands under the still-warm and blood-slippery feathers of the body. He pushes again and the body edges back and sideways. He quickly grabs the pistol and tries to shine it into the chamber. ‘Can’t see a damn thing.’ Alex pulls back, repositions his legs, and pushes as hard as he could on the side of the body that had moved. It’s feathers are wet and sticky from the blood that also covers him now. The body moves again. Alex stops and listens. He can neither see nor hear anything else. Finally with one last heave he moves the beast enough that he could crawl through and into the chamber.
‘Ahh, it feels good to stand up again.’ He says as he stretches his legs gently rubbing his shoulder. Looking around he notices a mat of leaves and needles covering the chamber floor. The room is about twelve feet in radius and looks like packed sand and rock. Five large spiders are sitting on the ceiling. Silently watching him. The bones of several small animals are strewn in a pile near the wall. There are clumps of dead moss interwoven with sticks all across the floor. A flattened area is piled up at the edge of the chamber with six eggs neatly arranged, snuggled into the moss bedding. The room is hot and smells strangely of animal, a deep sharp ammonia laced smell. The air is close and breathing difficult. He looks around carefully and there are three other exits. Two have a welcome, fresh breeze coming from them and the other has no air movement at all. ‘Well, those are probably easy ways out but where does this other passage lead?’ He mumbles to himself and for his Hive-Tab record as he stoops to pass into the tunnel.
The going in this passage is a little easier. He can walk with a low crawl but it soon begins to hurt his neck and even more so, his shoulder. ‘I guess the human neck just isn’t made for walking like this.’
Foot-long scorpions, spiders and some large, nasty looking black and red beetles fill the walls, flitting out of sight when his light sets upon them. Up ahead, some very small but unidentifiable animals scurry ahead of his light. He can’t be sure but the gentle slope feels like it is dropping down deeper into the ground. The tunnel opens into a second, larger chamber. The ceiling is very low in here. He carefully approaches the chamber. Shuffling sounds come from the chamber ahead. Alex pulls his pistol out and waddles in a frog-hop to the end of the tunnel. Taking a slow, deep breath, he shines the light into the opening. Nothing.
Slowly he swings his head around the edge, exposing himself. His eye catches a movement. Two shapes hover in the dim shadows across the room. Alex hears a low hissing sound, almost a growl. Alex pulls back, ready for the charge. Nothing. No screams and no charge. He edges a little closer, into the room and notices that the shapes are still there. ‘Well, what the heck.’ He says to himself and enters the chamber. As he crosses the chamber, the light reveals those hidden in the shadows. They aren’t blackbirds.
Partially blinded by the light, one stands and eyes him protectively. Their eyes squinting from the brightness of his gun-light. Between them is a second nest. This one is different in layout from the first and has only four eggs neatly centered in it. Alex stands up to stretch in the tunnel and the two dinosaurs back away hissing in response, once again hovering protectively in the shadows. Fresh leaves cover the floor and the air is clear. ‘Nice place you have here.’ Alex says as he examines the chamber.
There is another chamber opening to the side. Alex keeps one eye on the two dinosaurs as he shines his light inside. Three more nesting pairs are hovering in the shadows along the edges. They are just sitting there, silently watching. Staring at him and not moving a muscle. There are two more exits on his side of the room. He shuffles over slowly. One has a faint breeze of fresh air rising from it. ‘I guess I’ve had enough of this! Sorry to have bothered you.’ Alex says and he crawls back through the tunnel he had entered.
He travels carefully, a little nervous at having the dinosaurs still alive behind his back. He just couldn’t bring himself to shoot them and they didn’t seem aggressive. Back in the blackbird’s chamber, the dead dinosaur has been mauled by something. “Looks like someone had lunch while I was gone.” Alex comments. He turns and selects one of the exits that presented him with a refreshingly cool breeze. Alex stops and thinks for a few moments.
‘Well, here goes nothing!’ He says as he bends down to crawl on his stomach again, passing into the small, tight passage. There is a tight bend to the left. He manages to pull himself around it and halts. A black head, motionless in the shadows is looking at directly at him. Alex doesn’t fire but sits a few moments and watches. The dinosaur stares, unblinking back at him.
‘Ok, we’ll try the other way out.’ Alex says as he slowly edges back to the chamber, watching the bend in the tunnel behind him. Nothing seems to be following him but a strange warble carries down the tunnel.
‘This is getting creepy, time to leave.’ He thinks as he moves to the next open tunnel. This tunnel is also tight. He pushes ahead and is soon sweating as he crawls through it. The floor is softer here, muddy in places. He can feel it rising. His feet slip on the sloping mud of the floor. He pushes ahead and can see a faint glimmer of light ahead.
Then he hears it. Soft but rapid scratching on the walls behind him. The sound of a sliding, heavy body pushing its way through the tunnel behind him. The tunnel is too tight. He can’t twist around to face the threat behind him.
Alex pushes hard to climb up the steep slope of the tunnel. Exhausted, he stops for a few seconds and tries to roll on his back. Bracing his feet against the walls, and with an effort because of the tightness of the passage, he pulles his pistol. The gun-light passes back across his stomach and between his feet to illuminate blackness of the tunnel behind him. He can see nothing but he can still hear something approaching. ‘What would it feel like if I have to fire like this?’ He wonders. “That hot slug’s going to pass close over some mighty sensitive and vital parts of me.”
He rests, staring down into the blackness for a few seconds more. “No scratching sounds but is that deep breathing I hear?” Rested, he then turns to crawl as quickly as he can again. Alex pushes
around another tight upward bend and there is the light. The last few feet are the hardest. He can hear the other coming through the tunnel, it sounds very close. It’s too tight to roll even if he wanted to fire so close to his feet. His mind viciously clamps down on the rising fear, a chill running up his spine. Alex pushes harder. The last few feet of the hole rises almost vertically. Frantically he scrambles up into the light of day. Fresh air! Room to stretch his cramped muscles! Frantically he turns, squinting in the bright light.
His eyes are watering from the bright light and the strain but he could see the brush around him. “God but this air smells great!”
His exit hole is well concealed and he stands up to stretch, to finally walk upright in the sun, to look for the others of his team. He feels funny. As he looks down, he sees that he is covered from head to toe with dirt, mud, blood, mucus and black feathers. ‘Cheez, no wonder I scared those guys nesting down there.’ He mumbles.
Alex is suddenly spun around and yanked off his feet. The taunt line pulls him back though the low brush and toward the hole like a rag doll. The tie-line! He had forgotten about it.
The line pulls, and jerks harder with every attempt he makes to grab a root or gain a foothold. Then it lets loose for a second and he tries to gain his feet. The line jerks and pulls him off his feet again. Frantically grabbing at anything as he slides across the gravel, Alex grabs for his knife and twists to cut the line just as the strands are yanked from his grip. The pull twists him around like a rag doll, helplessly dragging him toward the hole again. He twists and reaches out behind his back, swinging blindly for the line and trying to hold onto his knife. Alex swings and the blade saws at the line as it draws him back to the open blackness of the tunnel opening. He braces his foot against the rocks at the mouth of the tunnel, the other is painfully twisted under him. One last frantic slice and the line parts. Alex watches the line pull back to disappear into the dark tunnel.
Nodal Convergence (Cretaceous Station Book 1) Page 22