Adrian commented as they slid down the hillside. ‘This is obviously an area that is just beginning to be reclaimed from the volcano by the green plant life of the valley below. It’s kinda creepy. There’s nothing but plants around here. No birds or little dinos running around. Not even much in the way of bugs. Careful Seth, you fall in this stuff and its going to cut you up.’
As they near the mass, the ground near the outcrop is a little firmer because of the presence of more moss and lichen clinging to the grains of rock. They approached the edge of a massive boulder and Seth turns on the metal detector. ‘The signal is off the scale! Look, this thing must be a solid mass of iron ore.’
Adrian picks up his utility shovel and starts walking down the smooth surface outcrop that emerges before him from the ground like the prow of a surfacing submarine. ‘Well, come on. Let’s examine the area as much as we can before we begin digging and chipping at the thing. I’d like to be able to make at least an educated guess as to what this thing is made of.’
The dense outcrop gradually rises higher and higher above the low ground around it like a smooth black cliff. Carefully they follow along a sharp corner of the mass, wary of potential threats from unseen enemies. ‘Here’s as good a spot as any if we want to see what the edge of this thing looks like.’ Adrian grabs an overhanging branch and swings around a small tree onto the moss covered lower ground. The black mass is on his left side and on his right side … ‘Holy mackerel Seth, look at this. A tunnel!’
Seth jumps down next to Adrian and grabs the flashlight on his belt. ‘Look at that, it goes both up and down the hill.’ He says as he sticks his head and flashlight into the hole. ‘Hey neat, the inside walls! How smooth they are, like a giant slide.’ Carefully, so as not to cut their hands on the sharp rocks, they swing themselves into the hole in the tunnel roof. Hanging onto some exposed roots, with a broad smile on his face, Seth swings into the blackness and drops three feet to the floor. The ceiling and walls are circular but with a smooth flat floor. They stone is dark gray, almost black in color with fine lines and other smooth grooves running parallel to the sloped surface of the outside ground.
Adrian drops beside Seth and they begin to move uphill. Spiders and some very large scorpions cover the walls. They scurry before the bright hand-held lights. Occasionally there is rough gravel on the floor and a small shaft of sunlight breaks through the ceiling. ‘I wonder what they have for bats around here?’ Seth quipped.
After climbing for a few minutes, Adrian grabs Seth by the arm. ‘This isn’t getting us anywhere, Seth. Look at our direction. We’re heading back uphill toward the Hunter. This isn’t related in any way to the mass we’re looking for. Come on, let’s go back.’
‘Aw Adrian, don’t you want to find out where it goes. What the heck is this thing? It looks like some gigantic worm hole.’
‘I think I know what it is. We saw one of these earlier but there was lava flowing through it. This is one of those lava tubes. See how smooth the inside is?’ Adrian ran his hand over the glass-like surface of the tunnel wall. ‘When the lava flowed down the slope of the volcano, the outside edges solidified from their contact with the cool air outside. The thing is like a straw with lava flowing through it. Gradually the flow stopped and the tube emptied down somewhere below us. Since the inside remained hot, the lava continued to flow and, as it emptied, it left this tube empty and hollow.’
‘Wow, that’s amazing.’ Seth was looking at the ceiling. ‘So the holes in the ceiling are just where the roof fell in. Right?’
‘Yep, that’s it. Now interlock your fingers and help me to get out. This is where we came in.’ Adrian scrambled up through the hole in the roof and turned around for Seth. ‘Ok. You gotta jump a little. Give me your hand.’
‘Ok, back to work. Let’s head down this side. It looks like it ends in a corner up ahead. I want to see if that face is as smooth and hard as this one.’ Adrian carefully walked down along the edge of the small cliff. ‘Funny, I don’t see any plants growing on the face. In fact, the rock is rough but it’s not pitted and cracked like the other boulders around here.’
‘Wait a second.’ Adrian said as he ran his hand over a section of the rock. ‘Seth look at this. I think our mission just changed character here.’
Seth swung around the edge and slid down to Adrian. The face of the rock in front of Adrian is pitted and scratched like the rest of the mass. ‘Look here.’ Adrian brushes his fingers to remove loose ash from the face. ‘See, a groove is clearly cut into the side.’
The groove is cut into the face, it travels up from ground level about four feet and then sharply turns to travel down to the right. It then travels toward the ground for about three feet and then turns sharply to the right to finally disappear back into the surrounding ground. ‘It looks as though a stopper or seal was cut into the rock face.’
‘Yeah, the wear on this section is about the same as the rest of the rock. Looks like the same material as the surrounding rock. Here, take a shovel.’ Adrian hands one of the utility shovels to Seth and begins to dig at the soft gravel at the bottom of the cut. The ground pushes away easily enough. ‘This is really odd. See how the tree roots grew up to the edge of the rock face? They stop there didn’t penetrate into any of the cracks. Roots get into anything with time.’
Slowly they pushed the loose volcanic ground from the lower section of the rock face.
‘Oh, now you have got to be kidding.’ Seth says as he brushes some of the dirt from the edge of the cut. Next to the edge of the main channel, about three inches away was another small rectangular cut, clearly visible and about the size of his hand. Seth runs his fingers around it to try to clean out the thin cut line. Adrian reaches over and gives it a solid push with three fingers of his hand. A clunk rings from inside the rock face but nothing visible happens.
‘Well, it kinda looked like a wall switch to me.’ Adrian quipped.
‘Yeah, but nothing happened.’
‘What do you mean? Didn’t you hear that clunk?
‘Nothing happened! Come on, let’s dig the rest of this out. It’s getting creepy.’ Seth begins pushing more gravel away, clearly excited about unknown discoveries soon to come.
The bottom of the cut is easily exposed. It extends down to within two feet of the bottom of the rock. At least it looks like the bottom of the rock face. Seth pushes on the newly exposed area. Nothing. He next tries to stick his shovel into the cut and lever the section out. Nothing happens.
‘Ok, then let’s try this again.’ Adrian climbs up the gravel and pushes on the small cut area. The clunk sounds again and the rock within the larger cut area disappears as though it had never been there. Startled, Adrian and Seth jump back to roll down the slope a short ways and begin to laugh. ‘Oh shit. My heart.’ Adrian says and he then he hears a faint echo from the blackness within the now open cavern.’
* * * * *
The shrill whistle lifted through the palms and echoed off a long line of willow trees. It climbed in pitch and then abruptly cut off. A long shape, startled by the call, rose into the air from the stream below the trees on four sets of thin wings. Its wingspan, easily equal to that of a man’s height, carries the body on an erratic flight through the cycads. Light reflects off gossamer wings to frame an iridescent lime-green body in the brilliance of glittering shades of red, blue and green. The creature flies into the willows and sets hesitantly, delicately on a low branch framed in the breeze-blown blades of a plant new to this world. A somewhat rare plant that would someday spread to fill the plains and be called grass.
Another scale of tones now warbles out beneath the low palms and an answer returns in the honeyed octaves of notes played on frequencies high above that capable of the any human listener. The tones are not meant for human ears, for none existed nor should they have existed for millions of years.
Again, she calls to turn the family up the trails along the stream. Chicks, born in the hunting grounds of the lowlands are not safe. This was t
he time of travel. Soon, the time of growing will follow in the cool safety of the tall forests. Until then the danger is great.
She looks again to her young ones and calls them in. They run to her. All except the strange one. In annoyance, she calls in the lower tones of anger. He turns and comes to her. He is so much harder to care for but he fills the lost place in her heart.
She clearly remembers the loss of her hatchling. It had hurt. It still hurts. Her love for the others keeps her busy and that somehow helps. She taught them to hunt, fed them, protected them and she loves them. Her mate is still close by. Earlier, after she laid their eggs, he sat on the nest while she hunted and built up her strength from the long time of fasting. Now began the dangerous time of travel.
They all sleep with her now. They are peaceful in their sleep and growing stronger day by day. Then her eyes turn to the new little one. How do you watch and care for this new one? He is different. Harder to watch. He never glides but can run like the wind. He never sings the beautiful high calls and seems ignorant of the base. Maybe because he is different, she loves him.
He learns the new things so fast. He commands the others. He touches everything but most of all her heart when he sleeps so close. So close. So warm and so full of the other indescribable feelings. Feelings of closeness, of a need that she never before felt so deeply. Different. Strange. … Nice.
His eyes open! They are active, piercing, always moving. His face, it moves so much! He shows teeth again but not for threat or fear. Up he explodes into a new day. He does not rise to look around and find food as the other chicks. He runs where there is nothing to run to. He is small but so heavy, so hard. He touches and grabs everything. Some things he holds he drops. Others that he picks up seem to fly through the air as though they were fleeing from him. Then, she must shield him from the anger of those they flee to as they cry out in pain. Slowly, he learns some of the base calls but insists on repeating the strange tonal refrain, “Gabe, Gabe”.
For some strange reason she feels tired. More tired than during other travel times. Maybe it’s because of the strange one.
* * * * *
‘I told you we shouldn’t go walking by the landing pad.’ Jonas griped as he moved two of the crates so they could sit down away from the others. ‘Now where are we going?’
Todd sat down rubbing his shoulder. It was still very sore from the blackbird attack. ‘Well you’re the guy who said he had to have a sandwich. Shit, I should be over at the doc’s, lying in bed.’
‘You heard what Alex said. You go over to the infirmary and he’ll be all over both of us! Shhh, he’s coming over.’
‘Rifle-up you two. We’re landing in a minute and you guys are on perimeter. Jonas, you do not come back to this Hunter without Todd. Do you understand?’
‘Yes Sir.’ Jon replied but he wasn’t happy about it.
‘Same goes for you Todd. I’ll make it clear so you can’t weasel-word it. Don’t come back without Jonas!’
‘Yes Sir.’
‘All right. We’re here. Go. I want to see nothing but assholes and elbows! Go! Go! Go!’
* * * * *
The thick canopy of the forest softens the hard rays of the sun. Soft ground, covered with years of pine needles, cushion and silence every step. The smell of pine permeates the forest, filling scent glands heightened in sensitivity by the high oxygen content of the air. There is a comfortable level of humidity in the air.
Massive trees climb straight up into the sky. Their bark is red, articulated and smooth. Many of the behemoths are more than three thousand years old. Someday their ancestors will be called sequoias but none will survive here in this area.
Travellers cross the soft floor of the grove following clear paths that have been used for hundreds of years. They are alien. They should not be here but the forest doesn’t care. Three others lead them who have been here before.
One member of the group bends down to examine the ground.
‘These are definitely theropod tracks.’ Sara said. ‘Not too large as far as some go. Maybe only about 30 or 35 feet long.’
‘Yeah,’ David Pope says as he uses a small stick to poke aside some of the pine needles, ‘but its pretty heavy. Look at the depth of the print. It’s also fresh. I’d say these were made in the last half hour. I thought theropods had three toes? What’s this?’
‘Oh, I didn’t see that.’ Sara replied. ‘It’s not very clear. Are you sure that’s a forth toe because the foot structure is definitely theropod.’
‘That’s a forth toe.’ Dave said looking again at the track.
‘Tina and Buddy, you don’t seem nervous?’ Sara called.
‘It is ok.’ Tina says. ‘Stay out of way.’
‘Well, I think we should watch. I do only see one set of tracks.’ Sara said as David pushed ahead of her on the trail.
They cross over small rolling hills under a cathedral of red giants. The land is on a slope that gradually takes them higher and higher up the mountainside. They had passed many fallen trees on their way into the woods. Some of the fallen trunks were so thick they had to detour around the whole length of the massive tree. As they come over a rise, David raises his fist into the air and sinks down on one knee. Alex frog-walks up to him and carefully looks over the crest of the hill. ‘Holy mackerel! I shouldn’t of eaten those mushrooms. What the heck is that?’ he whispers to David and motions for Sara.
Sara’s eyes open wide as she looks down into the lower forest floor. A small confer pine lies rotting on the floor of the forest. Next to it is a large dinosaur intently ripping the wood apart with its fore claws.
Her mind runs; trying to correlate bones, measurements and theory with her view of the large feathered dinosaur with a head much like a tyrannosaurus, who is attacking the rotting tree. A field of orange feathers lay across it’s back. They contrast against a blue belly and a long feathered tail that billows at the end. That however is where the similarity to a tyrannasaurus ends.
The dinosaur has a large pot belly and arms that must be eight or more feet long and can easily reach the ground. It yodels like a owl singing under a waterfall as it swings the arms to scythe into the log with claws that are easily three feet long.
‘That thing would be comical if it wasn’t so damn huge.’ David whispers to Sara on the open channel.
‘That’s a Therizinosaur. I’m sure of it! I never thought we’d see one. We don’t even have good specimens of them at home. Look at his feathers!’ Sara was busy taking fine structure images for her Hype Tab.
‘Why is it attacking that log, Mom?’ Brittany was up at their side watching by this time. ‘Wow, look at it’s belly bob up and down!’
‘The animal is probably digging termites. These are in the theropod family but they have a strong vegetable diet. You need a big belly like that to digest the coarse leaves and plants.’ Sara explained.
‘I hate to rain on your parade,’ Alex called over, ‘but we have a little boy to track and not too much daylight left. We gotta get a move on.’
‘You’re right.’ David acknowledged. ‘Come on, it’s too easy being tourist around here.’
They skirted around the dinosaur, taking as many photos as they could. It ignored them for the most part and concentrated on ripping the tree to shreds. At one point David commented, ‘I’m impressed. The Hypes follow a trail that even I have a hard time seeing at times.’
‘Tank kew.’ Buddy replies.
‘I just can’t get used to them replying over the Hive Tabs,’ David said to Sara. ‘and now even he’s getting into it. First words I’ve heard from him. Ok, look it’s clearing ahead.’
The trail moves through the forest and opens into a flat glade of oak and high brush. The ground becomes softer as they move along. ‘Why do we have to go through here? Can’t we just cut across, along that ridge.’ Brittany asked.
‘Follow the Hypes.’ David replies.
‘It’s buggy in here and some of these mosquitoes are prehistoric! Ouch, I
hate it! I’m almost up to my knees in this muck.’
David starts a reply and then ‘Look at that, a Brontosaurus!’
‘Yes,’ Sara replies. ‘We finally get to see a sauropod. There’s no such thing as a Brontosaurus. Oh, what’s the use?’
‘The Hypes are leading us right towards it. Do we want to do this Tina?’
‘Follow trail Sara.’
‘It’s up to it’s haunches in this muck. We’ll pass right by it.’ Sara replies.
‘Look, here’s why they led us this way. The grass is parted and the bushes are flattened in its train. Come on.’ Brittany cries over the channel as she moves out into the open path.’
‘Wait Brittany!’ Her mother cries out just as Brittany screams and sinks from sight under the grass. ‘Quick, David grab her.’
‘Hold on for just a second.’ David replies as Brittany’s head bobs up out of the flattened brush. She’s soaking wet and covered with mud, moss and slime.
‘Help, it’s pulling on my legs. I can’t get my feet up onto the ground.’ Brittany cries.
‘Dave, grab my hand and form a chain with Sara.’ Alex calls and slowly climbs out to grab Brittany’s hand. ‘There, hang on now pull!’ Slowly, like a mud soaked turtle they pull her back onto the soggy ground.
‘Oh, thank you Alex!’ Sara exclaims and turns to Brittany. ‘You just fell into a killing pit. That paluxysaurus over there, that thing Mr. Pope called a Brontasaurus, made this path as it fed. It’s heavy weight crushed the soft swamp ground and then the swamp water moved back into it’s footprint when it moved on.’
‘You mean I fell into a footprint?’
‘Well, yes. Don’t feel too foolish about it. We find a lot of smaller dinosaur bones like this. First one falls in and drowns. Then a predator moves up to feed and it drowns, pulled down by the mud. Before you know it, we have a whole stack of dead dinosaurs just waiting for some future scientist to dig them up.’
Nodal Convergence (Cretaceous Station Book 1) Page 26