Dawn stared. Soft, gray fuzz covered the wings and bodies of the pterosaurs.
“I thought only mammals had hair,” Gus said.
Harry shrugged. “They’ve probably evolved a light down that’s sort of hairlike. Their bodies need insulation to prevent heat loss when flying in the cool atmosphere. Also, it might act like sunscreen. One of the reasons bats can’t fly in the daytime is their wing membranes have no protection from UV rays. They’d burn up and die.”
The swarm passed over the Rover, and the sky opened up once more. Kris started the engine and drove toward a herd of Triceratops by the river.
Dawn decided to use her binoculars to study them. The brown, leathery-skinned creatures were feeding, their huge, tri-horned heads moving slowly back and forth over the flowering bushes. The adults had big rills sweeping back from their foreheads. Covered with keratin, the rills of the males were brightly colored in swirls of orange and fiery red, the females less showy, brown with a hint of red. Many of the bigger males had scars on their rills and hides, probably the result of battles with their horns for sexual dominance.
Harry pointed out how their horns stuck straight out from their brows as an indication of maturity, while the smaller juveniles’ horns curved into the air. Additionally, there were several youngsters near their mothers, probably only a year or two old, and the little guys didn’t have any horns yet, just nubs on their foreheads. Their rounded heads and big eyes reminded Dawn of baby birds. Survival of the cutest, she thought, remembering how all baby animals shared these traits, fostering parental protection.
She also noticed something interesting on several of the adults; wrinkles and lines within their rills appeared to change colors, getting an even brighter red as the Rover approached. She asked Harry about it.
“Yeah, I see it. It’s probably happening where their blood vessels come near the surface, undoubtedly a reaction to the noise the Rover is making,” he speculated. “They must view as really weird, eh? I wonder what colors they exhibit when a T-rex shows up.”
“Don’t wanna know,” Dawn said.
“Ditto,” added Gus.
Before Dawn could comment further, she spied something huge and white beyond the herd. Upon closer inspection, she realized it was a colossal ribcage, bleached by the sun. She nudged Harry with her elbow and directed him to look at the bones.
“Probably died several months ago,” he said. Along with the ribs, there were dozens of vertebrae scattered over the fern-covered ground. “Possibly the remains of a sauropod, like Apatosaurus,” he explained. “You might know it by the old name, Brontosaurus.”
Dawn nodded, unable to remove her gaze from the remains. With a sinking feeling, she found herself wondering about the future. She lowered her binoculars and closed her eyes. Would she and her fellow astronauts somehow find their way back home, or would they share a similar fate with this beast? If the worst were to happen, would their skeletons lie exposed on the fern prairie, or would they end up in the gut of some huge meat-eater like T-rex?
She stirred and glanced around. They were almost upon the herd of Triceratops. A few of the animals stared at them and displayed their red rills, but most didn’t seem to care. Looking something like rhinos, their thick forelimbs were positioned in a sprawling stance, as if they dared the Rover to try for a closer approach. With five blunt digits on the front foot and four in the back, they left elephantine tracks in the soil.
Kris stopped the vehicle around thirty meters from the nearest beast. Dawn noticed the animals were mostly clustered by the river. In the distance, a large, tree-covered island stood in the middle of the water. More ceratopsians foraged there. Hundreds, maybe thousands.
“Now what do we do?” Gus asked as he watched the milling herd through squinty eyes. Dozens of small, white pterosaurs darted among the big beasts. Apparently welcomed, the little flying reptiles would land on the backs of the animals and peck at parasites.
“Hey, I’ve got an idea.” On impulse, Harry hopped out of the Rover. Before anyone could stop him, he trotted off toward the herd.
“You watch. He’ll start a stampede.” Gus leaned over the side of the Rover and spit on the ground. “Just in case they charge, we should keep the Rover between us and them.”
“He’s just excited, Gus,” Kris said, sounding cross. “Remember that fossils are Harry’s life. He’s seeing real, living dinosaurs. Give him a break.”
Here we go again, Dawn thought, recalling the tension before the landing on Mars. “Hey, guys, cut it out.”
“No, Dawn,” Kris said hotly. “This is between Gus and me. Stay out of it.”
Dawn saw the startled look in Gus’s eyes, but he held his tongue, so she decided to do the same. She couldn’t figure out why Kris had so vehemently come to Harry’s defense, but it wasn’t worth an argument.
In uncomfortable silence, they watched Harry’s progress toward the Triceratops herd. Much to their surprise, the animals didn’t seem to mind his presence, like they had the Rover. Kris reminded them there was a parallel in the modern world; in the Galapagos Islands, there were no natural predators. As a result, the animals had no fear of being hunted and they ignored everyone, even the tourists.
“Since these animals have never seen a human before,” Kris said, “they don’t recognize us as a threat. We probably shouldn’t chance it all that much, but I’d guess few if any of the herbivores will find us all that interesting. I bet we can walk among them with no problem, just like Harry’s doing now. That’s why it was so easy for pirates and sailors in the old days to kill wildlife in the Galapagos.” She gave the commander, a Navy man, a pointed look. “The sailors were ruthless, you know. They killed birds, tortoises, seals – whatever struck their macho fancy.”
Gus’s mouth tightened in irritation.
“Even on the HMS Beagle,” Kris went on, “Darwin and the crew took tortoises for use as food on the long voyage home––”
“Darwin?” Gus cut in. “So a scientist could be macho and ruthless, too?”
Kris stared at the faint smile on Gus’s lips. “Touché, Commander.”
“Uh huh.” He turned away and watched as Harry picked his way through part of the herd.
The paleontologist eagerly waved to the group. Kris drove the Rover forward to meet him.
Gun at the ready, Gus looked around. “Just be prepared,” he cautioned.
“Relax, will you?” Harry sounded positively ebullient as he bounded to the vehicle. “They’re in herd formation. It’d be tough for predators to attack them now, so they’re acting mellow.”
“Yeah?” Gus asked, his gaze trained on a nearby beast.
As Dawn got out of the Rover, she followed Gus’s lead and kept the vehicle between herself and the herd. Harry pointed to the smaller, birdlike dinosaurs, which pecked at the ground, while darting back and forth beneath the huge limbs of the ceratopsians.
“I’ll have to make a guess on this,” Harry said, “but I think the little guys are called Saurornitholestes. I’m not really sure, though. You see, we never found many of their fossil bones, so I don’t actually know what they look like. Whatever they are, I assume they’re hunting for something small, such as insects or mammals.”
“Mammals?” Gus asked.
“Surprised by that, eh?” Harry smiled. “Mammals have been around for about as long as the dinosaurs, with our direct ancestors, the primates, developing all the way back in the Jurassic, perhaps 185 million years before our era. Most mammals found in this neck of the woods are nocturnal and rat-sized, but some probably foraged by day.”
“They’re our ancestors?” Gus asked.
“The primates are,” Harry explained. “They’ll evolve into monkeys and primitive apes, and they’ll eventually give rise to us and the modern great apes.”
“Whatever you say, only remember that we’d better be real careful,” Gus said, sounding slightly sardonic. “We wouldn’t want to kill off any of our forefathers. Step on one and – poof! – we m
ight disappear.”
Dawn exchanged a startled look with Kris. Gus was right, of course. If anyone inadvertently killed a mammal, he might alter the gene pool.
But then, she realized there was a flip side to the situation. If someone happened to kill a dinosaur that ate primitive mammals, that would probably change things, too, for the balance of nature would be different. What if some little creature – which was supposed to be killed by the dead predatory dinosaur – reproduced, thereby giving rise to a new line? In that case, evolution might take another course.
Dawn shook her head, aghast at the possibilities. Would the future be in jeopardy because of their presence here? If somehow the crew did change things, what would they encounter if and when they got back to their own time?
Then, near a patch of horsetails, a small, furry head popped up and looked around. Dawn used her binoculars to watch it.
The mammal sniffed the air, then sat back and cleaned its face with its tiny paws. It started to squeak and chatter. Dawn wondered if it could be an ancestor. Actually, it did sound something like Harry.
Suddenly, one of the birdlike dinosaurs leapt into the underbrush and grabbed the mammal in its mouth. With a gulp, it was gone, and Dawn felt sick. Had she somehow distracted the little mammal? Was she the cause of its death? What would happen now? Had her actions changed anything?
“Oh, no,” she whispered to herself. “What have I done?”
***
Later, Gus sat with Dawn in the Rover. Harry and Kris had gone off with the herd.
“Nothing’s changed,” Gus reassured her. “We’re still here. Just because one animal bit the dust, you didn’t throw a crimp in evolution, as least as far as we’re concerned.”
Dawn nodded. “I guess you’re right.”
“Sure I am.” Gus looked in the direction of the lander. “So, what do you suppose they’re doing right now?”
Dawn’s eyes followed the path of his stare. She could barely see the rocky outcropping where the Valiant stood. “Tasha and Lex? Probably sterilizing things in the infirmary.”
“I doubt that. It’s the first time the two docs have been completely alone for months.”
Dawn looked at Gus.
He shook his head. “Yeah, I know. We have much more pressing problems and here I am thinkin’ about...” With a self-deprecatory smile, he leaned back and looked at the sky. “Well, maybe someday, Dawn Stroganoff.”
His train of thought definitely intrigued her. “Yes, maybe someday.”
“Hey, are you comin’ on to me?”
“Would you like that, fly-boy?”
He laughed heartily. “What do you think? I liked kissing you.”
“I liked you kissing me, too.” With a grin, Dawn looked away and caught sight of Harry and Kris.
“Guess what?” Harry shouted, waving his binoculars. “We found nests!” With Kris in tow, he ran toward the Rover. “Come on. They’re beginning to lay eggs on the island.”
“Damn it all.” Gus swung his leg out of the vehicle, stood up, and held out his hand to Dawn. “Dinosaur reproduction isn’t exactly what I had in mind.”
She greeted his exasperated expression with a laugh, then followed him to the shore.
***
It had been an exhausting, yet rewarding, day. If they ever got back to their own time, they already had enough recorded observations to keep whole legions of scientists busy for decades.
“Harry, aren’t you going to eat something?” Dawn asked as she placed a steaming bowl of replicated beef stew on the table.
Immersed in his thoughts, he was at the com, studying some footage of the Triceratops herd. Tomorrow, he planned to cross to the island and observe the nesting sites.
Tasha frowned. “Harry, did you hear Dawn?”
With a preoccupied look, he glanced up.
“Eat, Harry.” Tasha started toward the table. “Lex wishes to speak with you after supper.” She shot a look at her husband as he placed a basket of dinner rolls in the center of the table. “He has ideas about dinosaurs. Good ideas.”
“Ideas?” Harry asked as he made a move to get up, but then his gaze drifted back to the com-screen.
“Samples,” Lex said. “I told Tasha we should take samples. Tissue for genetic studies. Paleo DNA.”
Harry looked back at him alertly. “Then you’ve been reading my mind. I want to take it a step further, though. I’ve been thinking about bringing home a few living animals.”
Uh oh, Dawn thought as Gus took a seat next to her. Unceremoniously, he dug into the stew, heaping a great pile onto his plate. After grabbing a roll and slapping it with some butter, he took a ferocious bite, then added through a full mouth, “The lander isn’t equipped to be a zoo.”
“But we do have facilities,” Tasha countered. She referred to the various cages and other equipment that had been used for biological experiments in the early part of the Mars mission. “We can keep animals. They must be small, though.”
“Like the mammals?” Dawn asked, thinking of the little creature that had died.
“Yes,” Harry said. “And perhaps some dinosaurs, too.”
“Don’t know about that,” Gus groused.
“Why not?” Harry came over to the table and dropped onto his chair. “Sure, I want archaic mammals, but I also want dinosaurs. The smaller ones should be easy to capture. Think of the consequences if we brought back some living, breathing dinosaurs.”
“DNA’s not enough?” Dawn asked.
“No,” Harry said. “Not for me.”
Gus frowned. “I figure we’ll have major quarantine problems if we bring any animals back. You really want to put up with that? We might have to spend the rest of our lives on the Moon.”
“I have to agree with Gus,” Dawn said. “Besides, remember my concerns about interfering with the gene pool? What if we upset the balance of nature and change the future?”
“Can’t worry about that now,” Harry replied. “Look, I’ve thought this through, and we’ll just have to take our chances.” He gave Dawn an understanding look. “Everything we do has the potential to change things. Let’s face it, we’d have to stay inside the lander and never leave in order to keep things the same.”
“I’ve been doing some reading on this,” Kris said as she took her place at the table. “With time travel, there will always be paradoxes to contend with, like disturbing the past and creating an alternative future. Think of the Back to the Future series; Marty McFly really screwed things up with that sports almanac. Another theory says if you did change things in the past, then it’s possible you could be instantly knocked into a parallel universe. If that’s what happens, it won't matter what we do here.”
“Enough theorizing,” Lex said. “I think we should take a vote on this.”
“Good idea.” Gus turned to Harry. “You wouldn’t object to that, would you?”
“Nah,” Harry said, smiling as though he already knew the outcome.
“If you recall,” Kris added, “I’ve discussed this before. I told you I believed the message on the monolith was about us. We were always meant to be here.”
“To take specimens?” Dawn asked. “But why?”
“I have no idea, but how can we not take samples?” Kris looked into Dawn’s eyes. “We’re scientists and we seek the truth. It’s what we do.”
Dawn frowned. “It could also be a big mistake. Perhaps, we should try to find out what the Keeper wants first.”
Gus shook his head. “We’ll probably never know what he wants, unless he decides to confide in you.” His voice was soft as he looked into Dawn’s eyes, but there was a change, an undeniable authority in his tone as he added, “Enough discussion. Let’s vote, and put an end to the confusion once and for all.” He looked around. “Raise your hands if you want––”
“What about Jean-Michel?” Dawn glanced at the blank com-screen. Even without consulting the time, she knew the Frenchman would be orbiting on the far side of the planet for at least a
nother ten minutes.
“If need be, Jean-Michel can act as a tiebreaker,” Gus said. “Otherwise, let’s get on with it. How many of you approve of the plan for taking specimens?”
Four hands shot up: Harry, Kris, Tasha, and Lex.
“Ah, that takes care of that,” Kris said.
“Hold on a moment, will you?” Gus looked at Dawn. “And against?”
Taking her cue, she raised her hand in defiance.
“And I’m against it, also,” Gus said flatly. “But it’s four to two, so Kris’s right – that’s that. No more arguing. We’re going to take specimens.”
“Excellent,” Harry said. “If no one has any objections, Lex, Tasha, and I will be in charge of the care of the animals. Only small creatures will be collected,” he added, “along with some insects and plants.”
I hope you know what you’re doing, Dawn thought uneasily. She put her fork to her mouth and tasted the stew for the first time. “No predators,” she said, finding it hard to swallow a piece of the replicated beef. Her gaze fixed on her plate. “Nothing that eats meat.”
“Aw, come on, just small ones,” Harry countered. “They’ll cause no harm. Think of them as flightless birds.”
With an unsettling feeling, Dawn pushed away from the table and walked to the window. She stared at the teeming plain, the Triceratops herd at least one hundred thousand strong. Why are we here? she wondered. What did the Keeper mean when he said the evolution of sentience wasn’t a fluke? Was Kris right? Were we always meant to travel back in time? Does the Keeper want us to take samples of other life-forms, to mess things up – or doesn’t it matter?
She shivered, feeling as if someone else was present, watching her, and then glanced back at her crewmates. Everyone ate in silence, quiet now and lost in their thoughts. But she couldn’t shake her paranoia.
Was the Keeper here somehow, observing her at this very moment? And what about everything else? Dawn gazed at the distant plain. Were the animals out there like a bunch of laboratory rats trapped in cages? How would it affect things now that humans had been thrown into the mix? Perhaps the Earth was the Keeper’s personal zoo. Maybe his dismissal of the Zoo Hypothesis was a bold-faced lie. Was he accustomed to playing with things on a global scale? Was that what was going on here?
Dragon Dawn (Dinosaurian Time Travel) Page 17