No Time For Dinosaurs

by John Benjamin Sciarra

  “Me also! Very, very much!” added Sonja.

  Priti came sulking back and nuzzled up against Teresa.

  “There’s no dinosaurs anywhere in the valley. Did you notice that? They’re all gone,” observed Teresa as she stroked Priti’s head. “Something scared them even before the earthquake.”

  “That can’t be a good sign. Animals always know when something bad is going to happen.”

  “That doesn’t make me feel any better, Kyle. Maybe the volcano is going to explode and kill us all…like in Pompeii. Maybe we should leave, too.”

  “We can’t leave. We have to stay near this spot. The capsule can’t materialize in another location, unless they move it in the future.”

  “Well, maybe they’ll do that.”

  “They wouldn’t even know why that would be necessary, Teresa. I know this is scary. I’m scared, too. I just don’t have any answers. I just know we have to stay here—even if it means we’re risking our lives.”

  Sonja said without thinking, “That is so brave! We will stay here. I will be brave, also.”

  Teresa felt obligated to agree, although she didn’t feel very brave. Still, she knew Kyle was right. She hated that about him.

  A burst of hot gases and smoke poured out of the volcano and the earth shook violently again. They all fell to the ground in a pile.

  “I do not think I am feeling very brave now,” said Sonja. Now she too had tears in her eyes.

  They all heard a loud whizzing noise in the distance. Kyle looked up half expecting to see a Pterosaur swooping down on him. Instead, he saw a giant flaming ball arching across the sky in their direction.

  He screamed, “Run! Get out of here, now!”

  All of them, including Priti, ran as fast as they could across the hill and hid behind a group of trees. They knew it wouldn’t help, but there was nowhere else to go—nowhere to hide.

  The projectile moved across the sky as if in slow motion leaving a trail of black smoke in its wake. Then it slammed into the valley below and burst into flames as it ignited the brush and trees around it. The ground shook again and knocked them off their feet.

  “Oh no!” said Teresa. “That landed right where we were staying! Oh my, oh my! What are we going to do?” Teresa sat on the ground with her legs curled up under her. Priti nuzzled up against her with her head under Teresa’s legs trying to hide. They were both trembling.

  Before Kyle could answer, the sky darkened—quite suddenly. He looked up. Another object moved slowly across the sky. It glowed and had a long bluish white tail behind it. Unlike the rock they saw land in the valley; it appeared to be far out in space.

  “Uh oh…. Look!”

  “What is that?” asked Teresa in horror. “Another rock?”

  “No. I’m afraid something much worse,” said Kyle gulping.

  ***

  Reluctant to leave the spot where the capsule might return at any minute, the children and their pet dinosaur built another shelter. The frightening comet moved excruciatingly slowly across the gloomy sky. Kyle hoped it was just a passing body and not the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. He knew the girls were thinking that too, but were afraid to say anything.

  Kyle reasoned that, since the earth was young, it was probably just going through some changes. He thought that was why it seemed so unstable to him. The strange storms, however, were a surprise. He didn’t remember reading anything about all the lightning storms.

  “Kyle! Help us get this thing up and stop daydreaming.”

  “I wasn’t daydreaming. I was thinking.”

  “Same thing,” snapped Teresa.

  “About what?” asked Sonja more sympathetically.

  “About how we’re going to get back home. If I don’t come up with an idea…” Kyle already said too much and regretted it. “I mean, I hope Dad is working on coming back for us. If we were able to get here, I’m sure Dad knows how to get here, too. He’ll just get in the capsule and come back. Simple.”

  Sonja thought for a moment and then said, “Then why did they send a camera if they could go back themselves?”

  Kyle hadn’t thought about that. He didn’t like what Sonja was saying.

  “Yeah, Kyle. Maybe they can’t come back. Did you ever stop to think about that?”

  “When I went in, I didn’t have any idea what the capsule was for. It never crossed my mind the thing would actually go anywhere. I thought it was an experiment and they were filming it. Believe me, I wish we could go back before we ever went in, knowing what we know now.”

  “If we could get the time capsule back, why couldn’t we do that anyway?” asked Teresa.

  “That would be nice. But don’t you think Dad would have sent the thing back here if he had any control at all?”

  Kyle and Teresa started to go at it, as brother and sister tend to do, when Sonja jumped in as the peacemaker. “There is nothing we can do about it now. I think the most important thing to do is get this lean-to finished and gather up some food. It looks like we might be stuck here for some time.”

  “Yeah. Looks like we’re going to be Adam and Eve,” said Kyle sarcastically.

  “Great. Adam and Eve, and I get stuck with my stupid brother. I guess you two will have to populate the earth.”

  Sonja giggled. Kyle cringed.

  “No way! Nothing personal, Sonja, but I have no intention of staying here. I don’t care if I have to invent and build my own time travel capsule. I’m going back. Besides, we can’t produce our own children.”

  “Why not?” asked Sonja feeling a little rejected.

  “Because, then we wouldn’t exist, would we? How can we come back to the past and produce ourselves in the future? You see my point? Do you see the problem?”

  “I agree with my brother Sonja.”

  Kyle was surprised. “You do? You agree with me?”

  “Well yeah. If you became the father of all mankind, they’d all be butt heads,” said Teresa.

  “Ha. Ha. Very funny. Be serious. What are we going to do? Let’s get this lean-to up and put our heads together.” Kyle looked up at the comet. The girls noticed and they knew.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The girls gathered up berries and roots they had seen odd-looking dinosaurs with heads shaped like a duck eating near a stream, and they all sat down in the lean-to to eat.

  “I am glad there is no meat. I am a vegetarian,” stated Sonja.

  “A vegetarian? Why on earth would a vegetarian, who takes care of animals, not eat meat?”

  “That is vegetarian like in does not eat meat. Not veterinarian like in…”

  Kyle was cracking up. Sonja looked mystified.

  “Okay…you got me,” remarked Teresa. “My brother likes to fool around, Sonja. I’m telling ya, watch out for him. He’s trouble.”

  “These roots taste sweet, like sugar,” said Kyle as he squeezed some of the juice onto the berries. “Dessert. Try it. It makes the berries taste sweet, too. Almost like….strawberries.”

  The storms stopped and the skies cleared except for an occasional passing dark cloud. Kyle gathered up some brambles and branches, cleared the ground and surrounded the area with stones. The girls watched Kyle finding him entertaining. They whispered back and forth, as they giggled.

  “I suppose I’m the entertainment?”

  Ignoring them, he went back to his task. He sat down and, with his tongue stuck between his teeth in determined concentration, Kyle rubbed two sticks back and forth over each other, as he had seen his father do so many times to try and produce a spark to start a fire, but the air was too moist. Even the flaming rock that had burst into flames went out almost immediately. The ground was too wet to sustain fire.

  Giving up, which set the girls to hysterical laughter; Kyle lay down on a pile of leaves as Priti skittered over to him and snuggled in. Kyle was beginning to warm up to Priti. After all, he thought, he was the one that discovered the first living dinosaur! When he got back to the future, he was going to be famous and
make more money than Michael Jordan ever dreamed of making. Maybe he’d have him over for a little one-on-one. Then everyone would want to be his friend. He thought about how he would handle all the fame and fortune.

  Before long, exhaustion overwhelmed the trio and they drifted off to sleep.

  ***

  “Kyle! Wake up!”

  Groggy and foggy, Kyle couldn’t remember where he was. He was just waving to the crowds of people gathered outside his house. Cameras were flashing as he stood in the doorway. His father had finally admitted how proud he was of his son. He should have known it was a dream.

  Teresa appeared agitated; her eyes wide and hair stood straight up with bits of leaves and sticks sticking out.

  “What!”

  “Something’s happening! There are lights all over the sky, but we don’t hear any thunder. Come see. I don’t know what it is?”

  Kyle jumped up and shook off his dream. Rubbing his eyes, he looked up and was shocked to see the sky filled with colorful lights that moved like walls of ribbons. Blues and greens, orange and reds with streaks of purple.

  “It’s the Northern Lights! What are they doing here?” He remembered reading about them and seeing pictures in books. “Usually you see this in the northern sky over places like Maine and New Hampshire and the north pole. In the south they appear over Antarctica and they’re called the Southern Lights.”

  Sonja was impressed and wondered why Kyle’s father could possibly think his son wasn’t smart.

  The entire sky moved with the ribbons of light so brilliant and colorful, all displays of the phenomenon were paled by comparison. No one on earth had ever seen anything like it before or ever would again.

  “What does it mean?” asked Sonja.

  Kyle thought for a minute. “It has to be the comet.”

  “It’s the one, isn’t it?” asked Teresa looking defeated. “That’s the comet that destroyed all the dinosaurs. We’re all going to die here with the dinosaurs. We’re going to be extinct.”

  “I don’t know. I mean, the earth was hit by comets long before the big one. It might just be one of those. It doesn’t have to be the killer comet.”

  “If it is, that means that Priti is going to die, too,” said Teresa sadly, as she stroked the little creature’s head.

  “Let’s not jump to any conclusions, okay? We’ll just take it as it comes.” Kyle cringed when he said that. “Now I sound like Dad. Can it get any worse?”

  The earth rumbled under their feet and the volcano began to eject magma again. As it did, the sky changed before their very eyes. The light show disappeared as suddenly as it had begun. In its place, dark clouds formed as they watched. The sky became electrically charged and bolts of blue lightning streaked in every direction. The sound of thunder was so loud they could barely talk to each other.

  Kyle remarked, “Well, I had to ask…We need to get out of here!”

  Before they could take a single step, the earth shook them into the air and they landed with a thump. As they watched, the entire horizon filled with a brilliant flash of light. The volcano responded by spewing out flames of orange and yellow lava. Kyle knew now what he dreaded all along. He was frightened more than any other time in his life. The girls screamed as they tried to get to their feet.

  An idea popped into Kyle’s mind that seemed absurd, but he knew if they didn’t do something, they were about to become as extinct as the dinosaurs.

  He yelled as loudly as he could, “Come on! Follow me!”

  Teresa yelled back, “I can’t get up!”

  “You have to or you’re going to die!”

  Teresa’s eyes got wide. Kyle reached down, grabbed her by the arm, and yanked her up. The he reached over and grabbed Sonja and they tried to run.

  “Where are we going?” yelled Teresa.

  “To the time capsule!”

  Teresa thought he had lost his mind.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The comet streaked toward the earth faster than a rocket. Waves of dark clouds tumbled outward as blue streaks of lightning crackled and pealed across the horizon. With blinding speed, the icy projectile bigger than the Rock of Gibraltar smashed into the ocean displacing billions of gallons of water and marine life. The impact sent enormous waves of water rushing away at supersonic speed. Trillions of pounds of dust and smoke belched into the air and immediately darkened the sky. The destructive force spread out in a shock wave of wind and heat more powerful than anything felt on the earth since before it came into existence.

  The impact vaporized everything on contact within a radius of two hundred miles. It left a crater the size of several U.S. states; the strike was located near the Yucatan Peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico. The comet, being composed of primarily ice, disintegrated on impact. In several short months, every living creature on the face of the earth would die and leave a mystery for future inhabitants to debate. Kyle and the girls, however, now knew the truth. Would anyone believe them—if they survived?

  ***

  The spot where the capsule had been and where the distortion field still shimmered and fluctuated with the electrical storm. Kyle saw it. He fell on his face and tried to get up, but the earth shook and moved under his feet like the waves of the ocean. Teresa and Sonja were panicking unsure what was happening. Teresa called out, “Priti! Priti! Where are you?” Priti, however, was nowhere in sight.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Kyle saw a strange glow on the horizon. Powerful, brilliant reddish-orange clouds were tumbling toward them like froth from the ocean after a wave struck the sands of the shore. Through the fear he felt, his mind searched frantically for an answer. Something catastrophic headed at them, of that he was sure. In his mind’s eye, he pictured what would happen if a comet hit the earth. He saw a wall of fire and wind moving outward killing everything in its path.

  He looked again at the strange phenomena happening near the distortion field and realized the answer—the only answer to their predicament—lie in that field. If he were wrong, it wouldn’t matter anyway.

  Kyle sprang to his feet. He pushed himself up as hard as he could and stumbled over to the girls. “Get up! Come on! We have to go! Please!”

  They couldn’t hear him. The sound of the thunder and the roar of the approaching wall of flames were deafening. Kyle grabbed Teresa and pulled her to her feet. Then he grabbed Sonja and shoved them forward. Confused, the girls yielded to Kyle’s purposeful direction.

  Half running and half falling down, Kyle pushed them forward violently. To stop meant certain death. Right or wrong, they were going to die anyway—unless he was right. The distortion field was the only thing that could save them.

  Teresa looked at Kyle with tears in her eyes and mouthed the word, Priti. He shook his head and shoved her again. Turning his head briefly, Kyle saw the wall of fire heading for them at blinding speed. He was terrified. If they didn’t make it to the distortion field, they were doomed; they would die along with the dinosaurs. He hoped his instinct was right.

  As they came within a few feet of the shimmering green distortion field, an enormous creature darted out from behind a large tree and ran straight at them. T-Rex! Kyle wasn’t sure if it was the same one, but at the moment, he didn’t much care.

  He pushed the girls beyond the bounds of human endurance. They dodged the great monster fearing the worst, but the T-Rex ran right past them. Apparently, Kyle thought, it had more pressing things on its feeble little mind at the moment.

  When they reached the distortion field, Kyle turned and saw that the wall of flames was upon them. He felt the power of the intense heat as he shoved Teresa and Sonja into the middle of the field and jumped in with them. Pulling the girls to the ground in the middle, they hugged each other with all their might. The wall slammed into the distortion field with the force of a nuclear explosion.

  ***

  Thirty-some years had passed since the children left. Dr. Donavan finally gave up all hope of ever seeing his children again. He was retiring t
oday. The building was up for sale. It had been a long lonely life. His wife passed away ten years earlier, partly due to the grief of losing the children. She was never the same after they disappeared in the device invented by her husband.

  It was a long time since Dr. Donovan heard from his colleague and close friend, Dr. Bashan. He doubted his life had been much better.

  He stood at the door to the vault one last time. A tear fell from his eye and splattered on the ground. Then another and another. He couldn’t help himself. For reasons he couldn’t understand, he was compelled to take one last look inside the vault. He wanted to look at the shoestring—the thread that gave him hope that, one day, his children would return—just one more time.

  He placed his hand against the reader and the door clicked open. Slowly, the old door moved with squeaks and groans. He was surprised it still worked. His legs felt like a ton of lead, each step an effort. Slowly, painstakingly, he walked over to the distortion field and kneeled down. Shock and puzzlement crossed his face. The shoestring was gone.

  For the longest time, he just stared. How? Where? What could have happened to the shoestring?

  Dejected, he stood up and scratched his head. He was truly puzzled. Then he heard it. A sound he hadn’t heard in over thirty years and one he thought he would never hear again. The sound of a hundred violins in perfect harmony filled the air in ever-increasing volume.

  ***

  Kyle was sure he was going to die and braced himself for the pain. He closed his eyes and held his breath as the thundering sound of the roaring wall of fire approached the field. Louder and louder, the sound and the wall reached the same speed and the concussion from the sound barrier hit the field simultaneously. Then—all was silent.

  At first, Kyle thought he was dead. Well, if this is death, it isn’t so bad. I don’t feel any pain. Then he saw the reason for the sudden silence. They were inside the time capsule.