‘Well I’m glad you pulled me out. I’d hate to have surprised some future graduate student. Might ruin his career or something! But, I’m yukky! What do I do now.’ Brittany was sobbing at this point.
‘We keep walking.’ David replied. ‘We can’t afford to stop.’
‘But, I feel terrible!’ Brittany almost cried and then thought to herself. ‘I’ve got this awful taste in my mouth and I STINK! The caked mud is drying around my armpits and other places I wouldn’t want to talk about in front of Alex. Oh, I’ll be damned if I say anything and give them the satisfaction!’
The trail soon took them out into the dry brush lands. Over a low hill and into a sunny valley with a small stream running down it’s center. Farther down the valley, the stream will eventually pass on toward the cliffs to fall into the deep valley below and enter the river in the distance. David turns to Sara, ‘Those are willow trees lining that brook. Lord love a duck! Look at the grass. I thought you told me no grass Sara!’
‘I did David. I guess I should have said there wasn’t much grass. There are some papers that theorize grass first appears near the end of this period but we see very little of it in the fossil record.’
‘It’s no longer a theory. You know, you’re really going to blow a lot of theories when you return to publish the results of this expedition.’
Sara looked at David, ‘I think we will need to co-author the papers.’
They move down the slope and begin crossing a low ridgeline. Suddenly, a blood-covered head pops up out of the brush and high grass not more than two dozen feet in front of them. Cold eyes over a tooth filled mouth that could swallow them in one bite look directly into those of a group frozen in fear. It opens its mouth and a bone cringing screech emerges.
At the cry, a second Tyrannosaurus Rex stands up to it’s full height. It screeches out its anger and charges the group.
‘Run, back up the hill and scatter.’ David says as he braces with his rifle at the ready. The tyrannosaurus bounds four steps toward them and then stomps the ground. It then bellows out a second threat and slowly turns back. The first head is nowhere to be seen.
David slowly pulls back up the hill. ‘We walked in on lunch apparently. I don’t ever want to do that again. My pants must be as brown as you are Brittany. They just wanted to warn us off. We’re too small to bother with.’
‘Vvvery ffffunnny.’ Brittany stammers.
‘You can’t be cold!’
‘She’s scared and shaken by all this David.’ Sara replies. ‘Can’t we take a short break? I think I need a few minutes too.’
‘Ok, but not here. Come on.’ They move off with the Hypes following the trail to, hopefully, once again pick up the scent further down the path.
As they walk, Sara watches down the valley where she can see a group of small mammals attacking an ostrich-like gallimimus. A part of her brain searches to classify them, probably as Repenomamus. ‘Meat-eating mammels, about three feet in length. Never thought about mammels eating dinosaurs. God, I would have been excited about this a week ago. Now my brain is too numb to care. Too tired to tell the others.’ She quietly mumbles to herself.
‘Oh, that too. Repenomamus, small mammal, three feet in size. My how my perspective has changed.’
* * * * *
‘Sweet Jesus!’ Seth turns slowly to gaze up into the black opening on the side of the rock face. ‘The thing is hollow, and it has a door? An automated door!’
‘All right, move in slowly. Let’s see what we dug up here.’ Adrian grabs his flashlight and begins to climb up toward the doorway. ‘I don’t think we’ll be needing the metal detector. Just leave it outside here.’
‘Hello! Anybody home?’ Seth calls into the open door.
‘And just who do you expect to answer?’
‘Well, I don’t know. The thing still works doesn’t it? Somebody must be taking care of it.’ Seth replies.
Adrian climbs into the doorway. ‘Cheez, the least they could have done was make a level floor.’
‘I think the ground must have tilted the whole thing.’ Seth replies. ‘Aw, what the heck is that smell?’
The alarm begins beeping on the respirator that Adrian is carrying. ‘Oh, oh. Guess we need to put these things on.’
‘Does yours give a gas analysis?’ Seth asks as he looks over the display sent to his Hive Tab.
‘Yeah. There’s pretty high levels of carbon monoxide and sulpher. By the way Seth, what’s H2O4?’
‘How the heck am I supposed to know?’ Seth replies. ‘What am I a chemist or something?’
‘Why, H20 is for drinking!’ Adrian chuckled as Seth hits him on the shoulder.
‘Adrian, get serious. Come on. I want to see what’s inside.’
The exterior exposed sections of the rock are pitted and gray. They blend into the surroundings as though they were a part of the natural landscape. The interior is smooth, finely finished but with signs of wear from long usage.
Adrian tries to scrape a section of the wall with his knife. ‘These walls look like they are made of natural rock. Wow, it’s dense. It must be compacted with a mix of some ferrous materials and stabilized to form walls. Look, there’s another door.’
‘What kind of material did you say?’
‘Ferrous, you know. Iron bearing.’
‘Well, this little room is empty. It’s pretty neat though. The floors have sharp corners where the walls meets them but look at the ceiling. It’s rounded into a vault, like a cathedral. It’s almost impossible to tell where wall stops and ceiling starts. Let’s move in.’ Adrian walks over to the second portal. He runs his flashlight around it. ‘No palm pads on this one. I must be missing something.’ He runs his hands around the edges. Without the ash that covers everything outside, the grooves are nice and clean.
‘Try pushing the door itself.’
Adrian raises his hand and on contact the outer door closes and the inner door opens into the room. ‘Shit, are you sure we should go in there. Suppose we can’t get out.’
‘Come on Adrian. Why would they do that? Next thing you’re going to be telling me we are walking into a dino-sized mousetrap.’
‘Who is “they”? We have no idea where this thing came from. Someone obviously made it. Aliens or intelligent dinosaurs! Who knows?’
As they walk into the room, the door shuts behind them and the walls begin to glow. One section fails to illuminate. The floor is clean and the ceiling is again vaulted but, unlike the smaller room, it now presents a blue sky with a few clouds.
Seth looks over and sees Adrian talking for his Hive Tab recorder. ‘The room activated when we entered just as the two doors acted in unison. There must be active sensors present. These images use the standard room lighting. Apparently, some of the lighting failed to work since we don’t have uniform illumination.’
Adrian begins recording a narrative to go along with the log recording in his HiveTab, ‘The floor looks heavily worn but not damaged. The tilt in this room is the same as we experienced in the vestibule. The entire structure must be lifted.’
‘There are no furnishings, just an open room with two doors and a smooth, vaulted ceiling that displays what appears to be a daytime sky. It does not show the ash and haze we see outside so it must not be a real-time display. There are too many clouds in it anyway for it to be a real-time displaywall.’
‘The second room is also clean but it is fully illuminated. We noticed that the lighting went on before we entered. There are no additional doors here. Wear on the floor is apparent and it looks like there are several sections that may have had something covering them at one time for they are unmarked.’
‘Adrian, stop fooling around and get over here.’ Seth called from the other room.
Inside, Seth’s new room is double the size of the other empty room. There, on the wall hang the heads of five different dinosaurs. They look fierce. ‘Any of these look familiar to you Seth?’
‘No man. I’ve never seen anything like ‘
em. Not in the briefing and not in any of my books.’
The wall next to the heads is covered with teeth that are arranged in a geometric pattern. The third wall has a built in cabinet. Empty now but retaining a series of pegs across the back.
‘These heads don’t look like they are real skin or else they were preserved by some method I’ve never seen.’ Adrian comments.
‘There’s a drawer in this cabinet but I can’t get it open all the way. I can see something in it.’ Seth extends his hand down into the drawer. ‘Feels like a doll. Holy shit! It’s a Hype and it’s got some kind of coat on it.’
‘Let me see that.’
‘Look, another doll. What the heck is this? Some kind of science fiction action figure? Look at the head, it’s got eyes that are a little too close together and no nose.’ Seth turns the doll over in his hands.
‘Yeah, its also got a uniform with a belt and some type of tools or weapons. Look at the markings. See, some type of written language. Sanskrit?’ Adrian says.
‘One more. Here, this is a little more natural. An obvious human being.’
Adrian looks at it. ‘Yeah, and it has the same uniform as the other.’
‘Uniform? Oh yeah, look at that! I don’t see any more rooms. Let’s make a final pass and record as much of this place as possible. We’ll tell Dan about this and get moving back on our mission.’
‘Wait a second, there’s a piece of paper or something down in this drawer.’ Seth pulled a thin sheet out. It was black and red with gold scroll around the edges. ‘Looks like plastic and it unfolds. Oh man, neat!’ The plastic unfolded and the page flickers until a shorthand type of English type appears across the surface. ‘This looks like I can almost read it. I think this word …. Oh wow again. It scrolled when I moved my finger across it. It’s an interactive computer screen.’
‘No Seth. I recognize the format of the text in some of these lines. Those are six factor coordinates like we use on the Argos. Look here. The name sections have status indicators that are blinking and this one is “Alpha Canis Majoris” that’s Sirius, a star that is eight light-years from here. See, that’s a planet designator. You’ve got a flight schedule here and it’s in some weird type of English that I’ve never seen before. How can that make sense?’
‘How can any of this make sense? I’ve never seen anything like this illumination system or even the construction of this building. If it is a building.’
‘Well, we came back in time. This era has been stable for over a hundred million years. This building is old. The material is hard and wear resistant but it’s covered with marks of hard use. Maybe someone was using this a long time ago but they also come from our future.’
‘This is getting too weird.’ Seth said putting the dolls back into the drawer. ‘Let’s get back to the Hunter. We’ll let Matt Zoeller figure this one out. I’m keeping this paper though.’
‘Hey, I just noticed something. The air is clear in here. We don’t need these respirators.’ Adrian ran through a quick check on his respirator interface.
‘Keep it handy. We still have to go through that front room. Let’s look around a bit more and then get outa here.’
They moved out of the building. The exit door has a push-plate on it just like the one they used to get inside. Adrian closes the door and they pick up the metal detector to head back to the Hunter. Seth climbs up the rock. He turns around to extend a hand to Adrian.
‘Seth, what the hell …?’ Adrian cries.
Seth throws the metal detector past Adrian’s head and it bounces off an orange-feathered face full of teeth not more than three feet behind Adrian. Seth draws his pistol and puts two shots into the head but four more of the dinosaurs appear out of the bushes. He feels Adrian scramble up by his feet and then hears three shots behind him. It’s Adrian firing at five other dinosaurs. ‘They must be eight feet high. Here they come. Quick! This way.’
Adrian grabbed Seth by the jacket. ‘No, we can’t outrun them like that. Stand and fight.’
Seth and Adrian stand back to back. The cliff offers only momentary cover as more appear. ‘This cliff isn’t doing anything for us except to put us up at a convenient bite-height! I’m gonna run out of Ammo like this. Get Ready. I’ll call and you’ll have to cover for me as I reload.’
‘Shit I’m out too. Quick, this way.’ Seth grabs a dry stick from the ground and shoves it into belly of one dino confusing its leap from the bushes. ‘Come on.’
They drop down and Seth slaps the door. It opens as Adrian fires his final two shots. The dinosaur jerks as the bullets rip into its chest and head. The attacker collapses, landing on Seth, knocking him against the door. ‘Shit it won’t open with me on it.’ Seth pushes back on the dinosaur, two claws fly up in reflex and across his back. He hits the open control again and the door flies open. Another dying dinosaur slams into him knocking Seth through the doorway with Adrian scrambling across the two dead ones to enter. ‘The door won’t close!’
‘Reload!’ Adrian shouts. At least they have the scant protection of the doorframe. Adrian fires point blank at two who are trying to crowd through the door. They fall back. Suddenly, Seth screams as he flies across the room, past Adrian and into the dead dinosaur that is stuck in the door. His momentum lifts and manages to wedge the body outside. Then he pulls back just as Adrian fires past him. His fist slams into the control and the door shuts closed with the sound of a mallet hitting stone.
‘Quick, hit the inner door. I lost my respirator!’
Lights appear and they again move into the empty room. The door closes. ‘We’re safe!’ Adrian shouts.
Seth turns around. Obviously in pain from the cuts across his back. He grimaces at Adrian, ‘We’re trapped!’
* * * * *
A birch beer colored stream passes through a low meadow. Swirls of white foam form on fallen branches and in the pools of its rapids. Its path is lined with fine grass and willow trees; long limbs waving gently in the warm tropical breeze. The shore teems with small aquatic life. Some habitants are as small as a tadpole. Others would carry the imagination of a human onlooker, had there been one, into a storied realm of giant, golden dragonflies, strange palms and alien sounds.
The stream is thirty feet wide and, for the most part, only two feet deep. The color and foam imparted by low levels of tannic acid introduced upstream as it passed through ancient peat moss bogs. A massive tree has fallen across the water, just before a life-filled pool.
‘A stream! A beautiful, clean stream of water! Oh please Uncle David, stop for a minute. Let me wash this stuff off. It’s making me sore in places that I shouldn’t have to mention.’ Brittany pleaded.
‘Oh, so now it’s “Uncle David” huh? What an obvious attempt to bribe me young lady.’ He said as he walked downstream a short distance. ‘Ok, Britt and Sara come down here and use this pool. Sara you are on guard duty, Alex and I will stay upstream. Let’s take a break.’
Brittany ran into the deep pool formed by a corner of the stream as it brushed into the side of a cliff. ‘Brittany your clothes!’ Sara called.
‘I gotta wash them too Mom. Oh, this is so cold but it feels so good!’
‘Mom did you see that. It’s beautiful!’ Brittany shouted at the passing of a dragonfly. Its four-foot gossamer golden wings delicately beat the warm air as it glides across the surface of the stream. ‘Look at its body colors they sparkle fiery red and blue. It’s magnificent!’ The dragonfly touches down on the top of the stream next to her. A few flutters of its wings and it flies off downstream, annoyed at the noisy nymph in the water.
Ten minutes pass in a heartbeat and Alex walks back to shout over the high grass, ‘OK, heads up. We gotta get this show back on the road.’
‘Come!’ Tina calls over to Dave.
‘All right! They got the trail back. Let’s move.’ David calls to the group. ‘Come on Brittany, you’ll dry off as we move.’
‘Oh ok, I needed that. Thank you it felt so good!’
�
��Mark, good to hear from you again.’ David subvocalizes into his Hive Tab. ‘We are nearing the group of dinosaurs and the boy. All seems well and he’s still alive. We can still see tracks.’
‘Finally! We’ve been trying to contact you for the last hour. Dave, we moved a whole support team in closer to your position. We have a Hunter and supplies if you need us. There, you should see it on the tactical map. Stay ….’
‘Mark, Mark!’ Dave calls and turns toward Alex, ‘Well, we had contact and lost them. At least we have some backup. Their position is on tactical. Keep moving.’
The trail follows the stream for another mile and then turns inland again. A light forest of beech and oak is ahead on the rising slopes of the mountain. As they enter the woods, the Hypes slow down. They appear nervous and move very cautiously.
Tina stops and settles in a sitting position while Buddy moves ahead, slowly. Buddy crouches behind some bushes and freezes all movement.
‘Think we ought to move up Dave?’ Alex whispers on the link.
‘Wait one.’
Alex clicks his tongue quietly one time in acknowledgement.
Buddy looks back at them. Tina turns to Dave, ‘Go.’
‘Ok Alex. Easy now, let’s move up.’
They quietly move up to the bushes. Up ahead, David can see a group of fifteen or more troondons and even more chicks. They have settled in the far end of the clearing.
‘Looks like feeding time in the barnyard. They haven’t seen us yet Sir.’
‘Sit tight, let’s watch. We can’t just barge in.’ Dave replies.
The troondons do seem to be settling in. They are digging nests into soft areas of the ground and lining them with sweet grass and sticks. Small chicks follow close on the heels of some of the darker colored females. Like chickens in a barnyard, they scratched, pulled at branches and chased smaller bugs.
Other smaller dinosaurs running through the group provide a constant distraction. Chicks take off after them only to be called back with a few sharp whistles from an adult. Older chicks are running in packs of four to six, weaving in and out of the nesting area. Some carried sticks or whole branches, using their teeth and hands with equal dexterity. Adding their effort to the nest building.
Nodal Convergence (Cretaceous Station Book 1) Page 27