by Saxon Andrew
Everyone thought about the implications and Jenak said, “That tells us something else.”
Andy nodded, “There are other caves of humans out there and they will not greet us with open arms.”
Jenak nodded, “Do you think this is deliberate?”
Andy looked around the room and said, “Whoever is doing this wants the strongest to survive and build a civilization. When I said we are the only humans alive, I was wrong.”
Harvey shrugged, “Well, let’s hope they don’t mind being put on a reservation.”
Andy and Joshua were shocked at the statement and then Andy started laughing. Harvey watched him for a moment and then joined in. Linnae looked at Andy, “What’s so funny?”
Joshua was smiling and he said, “I guess you had to be there.” Then he laughed with the others.
• • •
Andy met with Harvey in the weapons room and looked at the quiver one of the Japanese women had fashioned for him. “Why do we have to carry these swords?”
“You’ve seen what they can do?” Harvey nodded. “What if you’re caught out away from a tree and surrounded by Raptors?”
Harvey thought for a moment and reluctantly nodded, “I can see they would be useful but a good scout doesn’t carry a lot of weight.”
“Have you picked up one of the cutters?” Harvey bent down and lifted a cutter off the floor. Harvey’s face showed his surprise. Andy smiled, “It weighs less than one of our arrows.”
Harvey looked at the quiver and saw it was covered by the new camomaterial and that the sleeve for the sword was located to the left side of the quiver. “It won’t get in the way of drawing an arrow.”
“No, it won’t. I’m having all our quivers changed to include a cutter.”
Harvey looked at the cutter, “How do you turn it on?”
“When you pull it out and bring it in front of you, pull the top hand guard toward you with your index finger and release it.”
Harvey pointed the cutter away from them and pulled the top guard slightly. A bright blue blade shot out and then, after a moment, went out. “What happened?”
“It needs to be charged out in the sun. It will hold a charge for most of a night but this one hasn’t been used for a while.”
Harvey nodded, “How long are you going to set the blade length?”
Andy shrugged, “Changing the length takes some time, so I’m setting mine to maximum. I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.”
Harvey nodded and made the adjustment. They started walking out of the cave and walked out into the clearing. “Andy, what if we find other humans?”
“Scout it out and see what we need to do. I trust your judgment, Hotah.”
“Andy, you might as well call me Harvey; everyone else does now.”
Andy smiled, “Hotah, you are the strength that we need.”
Harvey stared at Andy and stuck out his hand. Andy gripped his forearm and they shook. Harvey smiled, “I’m glad things turned out like they did. I see the Outsiders are starting archery training.”
“They are and Linnae tells me the women are incredible in their natural skills at using a bow.”
“What about the women who lost their husbands?”
Andy looked around and said, “It appears that some of the men have gone to them and attempted to comfort them. Linnae says that now most of them have a gleam in their eyes. They’re committed to protecting their new friends.” Andy paused and said, “I don’t expect to run into other humans for a while.”
“Why do you think that?”
“I guess it’s like breeding fighting birds. The ones that placed us here don’t want to waste their investments. They won’t let us fight while we’re learning to survive. They’ll wait until we’re full grown and have learned how to handle ourselves. Every new group here is extremely fragile and they could eliminate both of them if they fight too soon. They’ll place the caves far apart and distance will keep them apart until they grow large enough to start expanding into new territories. We have more than we can handle just surviving the wildlife here.”
“That might be true but you need to consider that the caves can’t just be placed anywhere. They’ll need to be close to water and a natural defense against the carnivores.”
Andy thought for a moment and slowly nodded, “You’re right. Keep your eyes open.”
Harvey nodded. What’s next on the agenda?”
“We clear out the forest between the cave and the river. Maxus also has a notion to build a wall to keep the carnivores away from the cliff.”
“That sounds like work.”
“It is; but the Romans were some of the greatest builders in world history. I think they enjoy it.”
“I trust you won’t mind us being absent during the construction.”
“Not at all, I’m going out with you.”
“Oh?”
“I need to see what’s around us and especially what’s over that cliff.”
“Why?”
“Those Pteranodons are coming from somewhere.”
Harvey turned and looked at the top of the cliff and saw several of the huge flying reptiles gliding high overhead. He shrugged and said, “We’ll look for a good place to go up.”
“That would be good.”
“What do you think about the archer we lost yesterday?”
Andy shook his head, “He stumbled up on an Allosaurus. I don’t know which of them were more frightened but the Allosaurus attacked out of fear. The forest is so thick that accidents like that are going to happen.”
“We’ve lost six now.”
Andy nodded, “Linnae tells me that twenty of the women are pregnant.”
“WHAT?”
“Half of them were already pregnant before they arrived here. We’re going to start growing and taking care of the children is going to be an issue.”
Harvey nodded, “Maxus’ wall makes more sense now.”
“What about attacks from above? A small child will be an inviting target to a Pteranodon.”
Harvey stared at Andy, “If there are nests, we can remove them; however, those creatures fly over a large territory. They will still be a danger.”
“Maxus says he’ll come up with a way to make the play area safe. He says his child is not going to be forced to stay in a cave.” Harvey’s eyes went up and Andy nodded, “Julia is one of those expecting.”
Linnae stuck her head out of the entrance and yelled, “Andy, I need you to come and take a look at something.” Andy nodded and Harvey followed him in; he was curious about what Linnae wanted. He wasn’t the only one. Maxus and Tokawa joined Andy as he followed Linnae toward the food room. Linnae met Andy and started talking as they walked toward the food room, “Blossom was removing some of the food boxes to distribute and found a different shaped box in the food room.”
“What was in it?”
“Silent whistles.”
Andy glared at Linnae, “What?”
“It’s a box full of whistles; but when you blow them, they make no noise.”
“Show me.” They entered the room and Andy saw Blossom standing next to a box of whistles; they couldn’t have been anything else. He picked one up and blew on it; nothing happened.
Linnae said, “I guess we should just dispose of them.” Andy watched Harvey and Maxus pick up a whistle and blow them with no results. Why would the Time Takers make a whistle that didn’t work? A whistle no one could hear made no sense. Suddenly, he had a thought.
“Follow me outside and bring a whistle with you. Make sure you’re armed.” The others stared at Andy and then followed him out of the cave. They exited the cave and Andy moved fifty yards closer to the forest. He put the whistle to his lips and blew it hard. Immediately they heard loud roars erupt out of the forest.
Linnae stared at Andy and then she blew the whistle. The roars were immediate. Linnae smiled, “The dinosaurs hear it!” Andy nodded. “What purpose does it serve?”
&nb
sp; Andy listened to the roars and said, “What do the carnivores do when we move toward them?”
Maxus said, “Usually, they run.”
“And, if they don’t see us coming and we don’t see them either?”
Maxus’ eyes grew wide and he nodded, “We have to teach them to fear this whistle.”
“From now on, when anyone goes out they will take a whistle with them. It won’t take the dinosaurs long to associate the sound with us.”
Harvey smiled, “This will make it easier to teach them.”
Togawa said, “How is that?”
“We can go out in our camosuits and blow the whistle and kill one of them. Soon, they will learn that when they hear that whistle, it’s time to flee.”
Togawa smiled, “Very good, Harvey.”
Andy nodded, “We’re going to need these when we cross the river. The local carnivores don’t know us over there.”
Harvey looked at them and said, “We’ve found another dangerous creature on that side of the river.”
Andy looked quickly at Harvey, “Describe it.”
“They run in packs and they are incredibly fast; much faster than that large thing you call a Raptor. It’s much smaller than the Raptor; it’s about ten to twelve feet long and only weighs about a hundred and ninety to two hundred pounds.”
“Does it have small feathers on its head.”
“It does; do you know this creature?”
“It’s what that movie actually used but they erroneously called it a Velociraptor.”
Maxus said, “I’ve been meaning to ask you what a movie is?” Linnae, Togawa, and Harvey nodded. Andy shook his head, “I keep forgetting that no one has ever seen one. A movie is when images are put on a flat surface and used to tell a story. They move just like things do in real life. The name of that new carnivore is Deinonychus. We’ll call it Nikus.”
Linnae looked at Andy, “How do you know so much about these creatures?”
“When I was five years old, my grandfather took me to a large building where some of their skeletons were assembled. I was immediately fascinated and studied them for the rest of my life. I went to that movie more than ten times.” Andy looked at Harvey, “I really don’t think these new carnivores will learn to fear us.”
“Why not?”
“They’re dumber than a hard rock. I suspect they will have to be eradicated from the area.”
“They stay away from the giant Allosaurus.”
“Even a rock would know to do that.”
“There’s got to be some way to scare them away.”
Andy shrugged, “Give it a go and see if you can make them fear the whistle.”
Harvey nodded and started to leave but stopped, “Why do we need to go to the other side of the river?”
“That’s where the fertile land is; we have to grow crops over there.”
Everyone stared at Andy. Harvey said, “It’s going to be impossible to defend them from the large plant eaters.” Andy shrugged. Harvey smiled, “Oh well, we need to go look before we do anything else.” Andy nodded.
• • •
Andy saw Maxus cutting trees down to build the walls around the clearing and he walked down to the forest to watch what was going on. He arrived and after thirty minutes heard a roar about a hundred yards away. He pulled his bow off his shoulder and moved into the forest. He moved carefully and saw ferns being moved ten yards in front of him. He notched an arrow and blew on his whistle. A Utah Raptor stuck its head up and saw Andy. It screamed, ducked low, and ran away at high speed. Andy kept the arrow on the cable and walked slowly forward. He arrived at the place the Raptor had been and saw a nest of dinosaur eggs that had been destroyed by the Raptor. The eggs were large; larger than an ostrich’s egg. He shook his head and was once again marveled at the danger of this place. He started to turn away and saw some movement in the nest. He moved closer and saw that one of the eggs was under the top layer. The Raptor had missed it. He stared at the egg and it suddenly cracked. Andy looked around and kept the bow in his left hand with the arrow on the cable as he leaned down and pushed the shattered eggs off the moving egg. The crack widened and a small head stuck out of the shell. Andy sat down and watched the baby dinosaur enter the world. It finally managed to crawl out of the egg and Andy wondered what kind of dinosaur it was. It was a herbivore; it didn’t possess the teeth of a carnivore, but it appeared to be bipedal. Its front legs were shorter than the muscular back legs and it had a stiff tail to help it balance. The small creature looked at Andy and yipped. It was about the size of an iguana and Andy heard Raptor roars close by. He shook his head and picked up the small lizard and carried it out of the forest. The baby began rubbing its head against Andy’s hand and closed its eyes. Maxus saw him, “Hey, what is that?”
Andy slowly shook his head and said, “I’m not sure.”
“You need to put it back where you found it.”
“If I do, it will be killed.”
“If you don’t, it will grow up and kill you.”
“No, this one doesn’t eat meat; it’s a plant eater.”
“Are you sure about that? It looks like one of those Raptors.”
“I’m sure; its mouth is shaped to eat plants. I really don’t remember ever seeing a dinosaur like this one. I don’t know what it is.”
“What are you going to do with it?”
“I’ll feed it for a while and release it back into the forest.”
“I don’t know about this?”
“I can’t just let it die.” Maxus shrugged and went back to the construction. Andy took the baby over to the river’s edge and pulled some soft plants out of the water and offered some of it to the baby. It took some bites and after a moment attacked the plants until it fell instantly asleep. Andy held it and heard a small groaning noise, almost like a purr. The baby lay on its back in his hands and looked content. Andy picked up a wood bucket and pulled some more plants out of the water’s edge and took the baby back to the cave. The community had its first baby.
Chapter Eight
Andy and Harvey stood on top of the cliff and looked at the bright beam coming out of the cliff directly above the cave. It looked like a searchlight shining out into the sky and they saw another beam shining in the distance to the north and another the same distance to the south. Andy heard a loud noise behind him and turned to see the other Indians pull up a large circle-shaped piece of wood. It had been cut into a thin circle from the trunk of one of the giant trees. Andy turned to Harvey, “Let’s see if it works.” The Indians carried the wooden circle to the hole in the cliff where the light was emanating and dropped it over it. Andy looked down at the clearing far below and saw Linnae looking at him. He waved his arms and he saw Linnae put her hands to her mouth and yell something. He continued to watch her and she looked like she was listening. In a few moments she looked back up at him and held both hands over her head and shook them. Andy released the breath he had been holding, “It appears the lights in the cave still work.”
Harvey was on his knees beside the wooden circle with his hands on it. He looked up and said, “It’s not getting warm and the light is blocked.”
Andy nodded, “Pin it down.”
An Indian came forward and adjusted his cutter to a small beam and cut a small hole into the rock next to the circle. Andy took out a titanium arrow and hammered it into the hole. He then took the hatchet and hammered the shaft of the arrow until it bent over the top of the circle. Two more arrows were hammered in and bent over the circle and Andy tried to move it. It wouldn’t budge.
Andy looked out to the east and saw an ocean extending to the horizon. He remembered that North America was bisected by the sea during the early Cretaceous Age and this gave added proof to when they were living. He looked off to the west and saw the volcano was part of a line of mountains. So far, no Pteranodon nests had been seen. In all likelihood, they were further down the cliff wall.
He looked back down at the clearing far below and saw
Anna running circles around Linnae. He shook his head; the dinosaur was growing and he smiled as Linnae bent down and Anna fell to her back and exposed her belly to Linnae. Linnae rubbed her stomach and the dinosaur’s tail banged against the dirt. He tried to release Anna three times but she kept coming back and roared her sorrow at being locked out of the cave. He finally relented and allowed her to stay.
He looked off in the distance and knew there were other caves in the cliff. He didn’t know if they were occupied but they weren’t ready to go and find out.
“Do you think they know about us?”
“I don’t know, Harvey. It’s taken us this long to get around to coming up here and we had a smooth start. I just don’t know.” Andy looked at Harvey and saw something, “What’s bothering you?”
“What makes you think something’s bothering me?”
“You’re not telling me something.”
Harvey stared at Andy and said, “When we came up here a week ago and saw these lights, I stayed up here overnight.”
“And?”
“They are much easier to see at night.” Harvey pointed toward the light to the south, “There was another light beyond that one. It went out before morning and it hasn’t returned.”
“That means one of two things.”
Harvey nodded, “They covered the light or there is no one alive in that cave.” Andy nodded. “It could also be that someone killed everyone in that cave.”
Andy stared at the distant light, “What’s your opinion?”
“We found the climbing ropes in the second food room. I have to believe that we are an exception as to how many of us survived initially. The second food room opened after the first one was emptied. I think the odds favor that whoever was in that cave was killed in an attack that took place at night.”
Andy stared at Harvey and said, “That would mean they would need cutters that would allow them to get through the stone wheel.”
“If you think about it, the destruction of a continent would have given the Time Takers an abundant supply of Outsiders to move here.”
“Harvey, you show wisdom in making that determination.”
“I actually didn’t make it.”