by Laura Martin
“How can you stand it?” Todd asked, pacing our small room like a caged animal. “Being underwater. It’s horrible. My skin is crawling, the air has no smell, and I feel like my head is going to explode.” He looked to Shawn and me for backup, but Shawn just shrugged apologetically.
“I feel at home for the first time in days,” he admitted. “This is like North Compound, but bigger and better because of all the windows.”
“I don’t get how anyone lives like this. It’s awful,” Todd said. Then he looked over at Chaz. “No offence.”
“None taken.” Chaz shrugged. Just then a long-necked plesiosaur, what Chaz had called an elasmosaurus, emerged from the darkness, yellow lamp-like eyes glowing, and I jumped instinctively away from the window.
“That is so creepy,” Todd breathed.
“You can say that again,” Shawn said as we watched the creature disappear back into the murk of the lake.
“Do you realise,” Todd said a moment later, breaking the silence, “that your dad might have just saved the entire world by getting that plug into Boz’s hands?”
“It hasn’t really sunk in,” I admitted. “I’m not sure how to wrap my brain around the Noah’s plan, let alone that my dad was the one who somehow stumbled upon it.” Even though my dad had hinted at the world being at stake in the letter he’d hidden inside his compass, I guess a part of me hadn’t really thought he was being literal. Kennedy and his marines coming after me made a lot more sense now.
“What’s scary,” Shawn said, interrupting my thoughts, “is that I can totally understand why the Noah thinks wiping the planet clean of dinosaurs is going to solve everything.” Todd and Chaz shot him identical disbelieving looks, and Shawn held up his hands defensively. “Let me finish,” he said. “I understand because if I hadn’t seen and experienced the topside world, hadn’t heard Ivan and Boz explain things, I probably would have thought his plan was great.”
“It’s not great,” Todd muttered.
Shawn rolled his eyes. “I know that now. I guess we’re just lucky Sky’s dad found out about all this.”
I smiled wryly. “So you really think he’s a hero?”
“I’d say he qualifies,” Chaz said.
“The thing is,” I confessed, “I’m a little disappointed.” But even as I said it, I knew disappointed wasn’t the right word. It didn’t encompass the dark emptiness I felt inside, the sense of loss that I wasn’t sure I’d ever shake.
“Because you’re stuck in an underwater lab, and they won’t give you the passcodes to get out?” Todd asked.
“Because the world as we know it might be ending in the not-so-distant future?” Shawn added.
“No.” I sighed. “Because part of me still believed that my dad might be here.”
“But, Sky,” Todd said hesitantly, shooting a worried look at Shawn. “You heard that General Kennedy guy; he said your dad was dead.”
I thought back to that moment in the woods where Kennedy had explained without remorse that he had murdered my father within hours of his escape, and shivered.
“I know what he said. But I’m still not sure if I believe it.” I saw the look of pity on their faces and flapped a hand at them. “Don’t look at me like that. I haven’t lost my mind. I just, I don’t know, I feel like I’d know in my gut if he was gone.”
“Well, my gut says waiting around down here for some council to vote on a plan is suicide,” Todd grumbled.
“Just be patient,” I said. “My dad sent me here because he thought Boz could fix this. Now we just have to trust that he can.”
“If you say so,” Shawn muttered.
“I do,” I said, wishing I felt as confident as I sounded.
Chaz jumped to her feet, her green eyes twinkling. “What you need is something to take your mind off everything, and I know just the thing.”
“What?” Todd asked dubiously.
“Well,” Chaz drawled suggestively, “since it’s kind of your fault I got put back on poop patrol, I thought you might want to help out.”
“You thought wrong.” Todd frowned.
Chaz snorted and headed out of the door, motioning for us to follow. Shawn and Todd shot me pleading looks, but I shoved them towards the door. “It is our fault. We should help,” I said.
“You have to be joking,” Shawn groaned.
Ten minutes later, outfitted with a pitchfork and a wheelbarrow, I was no longer feeling quite so helpful. We were standing in front of a huge stall door, the thick glass heavily enforced with steel bands. Glancing over at Shawn and Todd, I saw that they were each wearing a pair of blue overalls that matched the ones Chaz had loaned me. They did not look happy. Chaz, oblivious to our misgivings, was chattering away about the fertiliser and fuel the lab created from the dinosaur poop as she tapped in the code on the stall door. I stood waiting for the giant door to swing open, but instead with a small click, a human-sized door popped open in front of Chaz. She disappeared inside.
We obediently followed her.
“This is Stanley,” Chaz said, as she rubbed the long narrow head of a strange-looking brown-and-yellow dinosaur two feet taller than her. Stanley cocked his head to the side as he inspected us with wide unblinking brown eyes. He reminded me of the pictures I’d seen of old-world ostriches, with his long neck and legs. I was so preoccupied with looking at Stanley that I jumped when I felt something run swiftly across my foot. Glancing down, I found myself staring into the large, luminous eyes of ten tiny dinosaurs, each of them an exact replica of Stanley, only with muddy green skin instead of Stanley’s brown and yellow.
“What are they?” I asked.
“Gallimimus,” Chaz said, “a type of ornithomimid.”
“You call them all such crazy names,” Todd said. “We just call these guys Runners. They’re really fast.” He bent down to inspect one of the baby dinosaurs. They chattered and swarmed around him, poking their dexterous little front hands into his pockets.
“Do they bite?” Shawn asked cautiously as he took a step back.
“They might nibble at a finger if you offered it,” Chaz said. “They don’t have teeth, though, so you should be fine. But they are used to getting treats from the handlers, so they can get a little pushy.”
“I can see that.” Todd laughed as one carefully inspected his ear.
“OK, Big Stan,” Chaz said, offering the dinosaur a handful of small red berries. “We need to get to work. Can you keep your kids under control?” Stanley munched happily on his treat, and then let out a low whistle through his nose, trotting off to the far side of the pen. Immediately, the little dinosaurs stopped inspecting us and scampered after their father. All except one who was too busy untying Shawn’s shoelaces.
“I think you’d better go, buddy,” Shawn said, gently untangling his laces from the creature’s front paws. Stanley let out a more urgent-sounding whistle, and the little guy snapped his head up and raced guiltily away.
“Think he just got grounded?” Shawn asked as we watched Stanley cuff the miscreant gently as he joined the group.
“Why, Shawn Reilly,” I said. “I think you like that little guy. And there I was thinking you wanted to kill all the dinosaurs.”
“Whatever,” Shawn grunted.
“Let’s get to it,” Chaz said, sinking her shovel into a large steaming pile and chucking it into her wheelbarrow. “I’d like to finish this before dinner, and I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
“I’m not sure I’ll ever be hungry again,” Shawn said as he gingerly poked at the pile in front of him. Two hours later, we were drenched in sweat, and we’d met an ouranosaurus named Cher, two muttaburrasaurs named Bonnie and Clyde, and developed blisters all over our hands.
“You really believe in all this, don’t you,” I asked Chaz as we washed up that night before dinner.
“In all what?” she asked as she ran a hand through her spiky black hair.
“In humans and dinosaurs living together. One big happy family and all that
.”
She glanced at me, her trademark smile in place. “Cohabitation? Of course. The lab’s whole philosophy is if you can’t beat them, join them. Although it’s worded a lot better than that. The dinosaurs are here to stay, so why not make the best of the situation?”
We ended up getting more practice at making the best of a situation than I would have liked. Over the next two days we were allowed into a grand total of one meeting, more out of politeness than confidence that we would be very helpful. Every passing minute made Todd twitchier and more impatient. He was driving everyone crazy, pacing and trying out different combinations on the lab elevators, hoping to stumble across the code that would take him up and out to freedom. I empathised with his frustration, but if he kept it up, he wouldn’t have to wait for the Noah to kill him – I would do it just to get some peace. Luckily for Todd, Chaz kept us too busy and too exhausted for me to do much more than collapse into bed every night.
At least the chores gave me a chance to talk to Chaz. She knew more about dinosaurs than any of the books I’d used to research in the library. Every night I spent hours filling my journal with new sketches and bits of information. As often as I filled a new page, I had to go back to a page I’d written in the compound to fix it, adding in the correct information about what a particular creature ate, their size, what made them dangerous or not dangerous, et cetera. I also made several attempts to sketch out the Lincoln Lab, but the space was just too massive to fit on one page.
I thought I’d feel like an outsider at the lab, but everyone accepted us as though we’d been there for years instead of days. And while I still preferred the freedom I’d experienced at the Oaks, I could see why people liked it down here. The Lincoln Lab had a sense of community to it that had been absent back at North. Every one of the seventy or so residents had carved out a life underwater that they clearly enjoyed. It was refreshing.
I’d just finished scooping out my last pen and was headed back to my room on our third day in the lab when Boz and Schwartz came around the corner. Schwartz’s face was blotchy and red, and even though I couldn’t see what he was saying to Boz, it was obvious that he wasn’t pleased. Upon seeing me, Schwartz abruptly stopped talking, shouldered past me, and stormed down the tunnel without a backwards glance.
“Forgive him.” Boz sighed. “Dr Schwartz has his heart in the right place, but sadly he relates better to dinosaurs than to people.”
“Why do you put up with him?” I asked, then winced, realising how rude that sounded.
“Because he’s a genetics genius.” Boz shrugged apologetically. “Without him we wouldn’t have such fabulous plesiosaurs to guard the lab. But he never really wanted to be down here, and I’m afraid we have differing opinions on how to handle the information found in your dad’s message.”
“What do you mean he didn’t want to be down here?” I asked. “I thought you said he was part of the original Colombe?”
Boz nodded. “He was. But he never wanted to flee East Compound. He did so under duress, and life underwater has soured him a bit, I’m afraid.” He watched Schwartz disappear around a corner, his brow furrowed in thought. I shifted uncomfortably, not sure what to say. Remembering me, he gave himself a shake and smiled. “I do have good news, though,” Boz said. “We have one last council meeting this evening, and after that we should finally be able to tell you the plan we’ve developed.”
“What meeting?” Todd asked, walking up with Shawn and Chaz. “Where? Can we come?” He was covered head to toe in dinosaur poop and smelled terrible. Boz chuckled and shook his head.
“Patience. We’ll brief you on everything tomorrow. Have a good evening.” With that he turned and walked away.
I wrinkled my nose in distaste. “Do I even want to know why you’re covered in poop?” I asked.
Todd looked down at himself and then grinned sheepishly. “Stanley and the kids were a bit overexcited today.”
“He’s being modest.” Shawn grinned. “He fell headfirst into the biggest pile of …”
“She gets the picture,” Chaz said, cutting him off. “The point is that he needs a shower before dinner.”
“We aren’t going to dinner,” Todd said, looking down the hall in the direction Boz had gone. “We are going to find out what they say in that council meeting.”
“But you heard Boz. We aren’t allowed,” Chaz protested. “We’ll get in big trouble.”
“And what? They make us shovel more dinosaur poop? Big deal,” Todd said, waving a hand dismissively. “You guys can go and eat if you want, but I’m finding out what this big plan is we’ve been waiting so patiently for.”
“I wouldn’t say you’ve been exactly patient,” Shawn muttered.
“Whatever,” Todd said. “Are you all with me?”
I nodded. “Let’s go.”
“What are they saying?” I asked Todd an hour later. He pulled his ear off the ceiling vent long enough to scowl down at me.
“I can only catch every fourth word or so. Everything is too muffled.”
“Then can you get off my shoulders?” Shawn grunted. “You aren’t nearly as light as you look.” Todd sighed reluctantly and jumped to the floor.
It had taken some convincing, but we eventually talked Chaz into helping us break into the conference room located directly underneath the room where the meeting was being held. Schwartz had never deactivated her authorisation code to enter this part of the building, and we made it through the deserted section of the lab with ease.
Chaz frowned at us, shifting nervously from foot to foot. Breaking the rules obviously didn’t agree with her. “This is dumb,” she said. “I vote we head back and shower. Todd, no offence, but you smell horrendous.”
“We all smell horrendous,” I agreed, then shot Todd an apologetic look. “But if this was a contest, you’d win by a landslide.”
Todd frowned stubbornly but then sighed. “Fine,” he grumbled, “but only because I can’t hear a thing.” We headed back towards the dorms.
“Cheer up,” I told Todd. “We will find out everything tomorrow.”
“That’s too far away,” Todd groaned. “I hate it down here.”
“I’m going to choose to not be offended by that.” Chaz frowned.
Todd didn’t say anything, but his face was so downcast and depressed that I felt a pang of sympathy for him.
“What if we just happened to swing by the upstairs conference room where the meeting is?” I suggested. Shawn was already shaking his head in resignation. He’d known me long enough to know exactly where I was going with this. “Don’t look at me like that, Shawn Reilly,” I said. “You want to know the plan as much as the rest of us. Besides, Boz never said we couldn’t see him after the meeting. If we just happen to run into him, he might fill us in on the plan.”
“Really?” Todd asked, perking up.
“I don’t know,” Chaz said, biting her lip nervously.
“Why not?” I coaxed. “It doesn’t hurt to try.”
Shawn groaned. “I’ve heard those words before. Usually preceding something that earned us an extra week of work detail back at North.” I elbowed him in the ribs with a grin.
Five minutes later we were walking down an empty glass hallway towards the conference room where the future of the topside world was being decided. I realised that I barely noticed the plesiosaurs gliding about over and around us anymore. They were just a part of this strange underwater life.
“How long do conferences like this usually take?” Todd asked.
“I have no idea.” Chaz shrugged. “I don’t think there has ever been a conference quite like this one before. The entire wing is shut down.”
“Good point,” Todd agreed grudgingly.
We rounded a corner and almost ran headfirst into Boz himself. He yelped, and the box he was carrying flew into the air. Boz made a frantic attempt to catch it, but it slipped through his fingers and hit the hard glass floor with a sharp crack that reverberated up and down the tunnel. Th
e box popped open, scattering dozens of black port plugs the size of my thumbnail across the floor.
“Sorry!” Chaz cried as she dropped to the ground to pick up the plugs.
“What are you kids doing here?” Boz asked, obviously annoyed. I cringed. He’d been nothing but kind to us since our arrival at the lab, and now we’d made him mad. Seeing my reaction, his face softened, and he waved a hand dismissively. “It’s all right.” He sighed. “Please help me get these picked up, and whatever you do, don’t step on one.”
“Why?” Shawn asked, crouching to inspect one of the tiny plugs.
“Because those little bits of technology might be what save the world,” he said, gingerly plucking the plug from Shawn’s fingers.
“So these are part of the plan?” I asked excitedly as I scooped up a handful and put them back in Boz’s box.
“They are,” he whispered conspiratorially. “We were just briefing the council members on them. Our top scientists have been working night and day to develop these ever since we saw your father’s message, Sky. In fact, it was your father’s message that inspired them.”
“These are your plan?” Todd asked before I had a chance to ask what Boz had meant. Todd looked decidedly unimpressed as he held a plug up to the light, turning it this way and that. “They look like a Leather Wing’s poop.”
“Leather Wing?” Boz repeated in confusion.
I smiled, remembering the huge pterosaurs back at the Oaks that were used for eggs. Not technically dinosaurs, these enormous flying reptiles had leathery wings, long toothy beaks, and smelled terrible. “He means a rhamphorhynchus,” I explained to Boz.
Boz burst out laughing, doubling over as tears of mirth rolled down his round cheeks. “Yes,” he finally choked a moment later as he fought to get himself under control. “The things that look like rhamphorhynchus poop might just save the topside world, the entire dinosaur population, and millions of species of plants and animals.”
“What do they do?” Shawn asked.
Boz sobered again, wiping at his eyes. “It would be incredibly complicated to explain, and I’m not at liberty to discuss it just yet. Besides, I’m needed back at the council meeting. We need at least another hour or two to hash out the details,” Boz said, glancing back over his shoulder towards the closed conference room door barely visible at the end of the long glass hallway. “I was just on my way to lock these back up for safekeeping.”