The ARC TV special
Disclaimer: None of the characters (save for reporters) are mine, but belong to Impossible Pictures.
Note: This is a sequel to my "Responsa" fic, so unless you read that first, this won't make much sense.
-1-
"Hello, everybody! My name is Cole Loren, and I'm here with the ITV-crew to interview members of the Anomaly Research Center, the government agency that had sponsored the amazing new book – 'The world of the giants', which brings to live such familiar creatures as Apatosaurus and Allosaurus in a new light! Our main contact at the Center, of course, is Ms. Jenny Lewis, the Center's head of PR! Ms. Lewis-"
"Hello, Cole", a youngish, somewhat heavyset, but still very good-looking brunette smiled at the camera. "It's a pleasure to have you and your crew with us today. Please, follow me – we'll take you to what you want to see."
"Good," Cole grins excitedly, and discreetly elbows his camera man, who accidentally tried to zoom in his camera on Jenny's Lewis big butt. "We can't wait to see what our people got to respond to France's latest scientific break-through-"
"You're aware," Jenny says coolly, "that the French would never have been able to achieve their 'break-through', if it wasn't for us? Due to some classified circumstances they were able to tap into what we've been working with for months now, and thus, should there be any race or competition, they'll most likely lose? Not that there will be any, of course, because it's been a lot of decades, if not centuries, since the last time our countries had been at active political odds, but still..."
"Of course, of course, Ms. Lewis" Cole says with an easy-going grin, "but you have to admit, that the French specimens are very impressive."
"From what we know at the ARC," Jenny Lewis half turns around and stares at Cole with a bit of mockery in her eyes, "the French have acquired several giant weasels, midget pigs, lizards with odd frills, and various samples of grassy plants, sedimentary rocks and highly concentrated salt. Is that correct?"
"Why yes it is," Cole agrees, still in his easy-going mode. "You seem to be well-informed about the French going-ons. In their public conference, they spoke that they're busy establishing a base there, complete with several aircraft and all-terrain vehicles-"
"Considering that they may have ended up on a rocky island in a metaphorical sea of salt flats where the concentration has passed the line of 'deadly' several thousand years before, I want to wish them good luck and lots more equipment than whatever they have now," Jenny is still unshaken. "Now, I admit that we haven't had as much as success as the French – relatively speaking, of course – in exploring the future, but we like to think that we have a better grip on the past than they, as a compensation prize, you know?"
"Well, why don't we hold our judgement until we saw what you got-" Cole's voice trails away and his eyes widen somewhat as they emerge from the corridor into a small circus-like arena complete with a bigger corridor opening on the other end. "Hmm, nice place, very Roman-like. You're not going to throw us to the lions, are you?"
"Oh, we haven't gotten any lions – yet," Jenny smirks slightly while firmly re-directing the TV's camera from her face towards the bigger corridor. "But speaking of Rome-"
-2-
Out of the bigger corridor on the other side, a mammoth – not a woolly, a Columbian mammoth – emerges. It got two leashes in its' trunk with a terror bird on the end of each leash. A pair of ARC employees is riding on the mammoth as well. They're Abby Maitland and Connor Temple, a young couple and obviously in a relationship, as they help each other get down from the mammoth.
"Hey, everybody!" Connor waves cheerfully at the camera. "We're Connor and Abby, and we're responsible for palaeontology and biology sections of the ARC. Anyways, here are three of the ARC's specimens, so to say – a Columbian mammoth and two terror birds. We, ah, aren't exactly sure about them per se – there were roughly fourteen genera and eighteen species of them, but are reasonably sure that they are-"
"Connor, you're bubbling – sorry about that," Abby shushes her colleague and turns fully to face the camera. "So, uh, you have questions about them?"
Cole has been briefly stunned into speechlessness, but has bravely recovered:
"Wow. Simply wow. This isn't an elephant, is it? Although, if it is a mammoth or a mastodon, I – and our audience, of course – would have expected it to be more, well, woolly."
"You're thinking of his cousin," Connor shrugs, after glancing furtively at his girlfriend. "This branch of the mammoth family was more like modern elephants, so no, well, wool. Sorry if you haven't expected our guy not to be woolly-" he gets elbowed by Abby again.
"No, no, this is very impressive," Cole has recovered from the shock and looks over the mammoth and the terror birds again. "Did it take you long to train it to hold-"
"Uh, it's definitely a he, especially if you look from behind," Abby says, sounding perhaps a bit insulted, "and no, it didn't take long for him to learn this – he's as smart as any modern elephant, maybe even smarter." She pauses. "Especially if you compare him to the terror birds – they do not quite have the brain power of the Tower's ravens, you know?"
"Really? Well jolly good for us, for our Tower, the Tower's ravens and the ravens' keepers!" Cole says slowly. "But anyways, they do not need big brains to be stars, now do they? In fact, that is not required for almost anyone, not just terror birds – but anyways. They may be smaller than the mammoth, but are still present impressive, what with beaks, and talons-" one of the terror birds flaps its' wings, revealing the spiky windclaws "-and do they actually have claws? I guess the dinosaurs really are alive, just wearing chicken suits, he-he."
"Sir," Connor looks like he wants to go into a rant, but restrains himself. "The birds are specialized descendants of one very particular group of meat-eating dinosaurs – the raptors. If you were to see, say, these two next to a different dinosaur – not a raptor – there would be no more similarities than between me and, say, a kangaroo, see?"
"A different dinosaur? Oh, sounds exciting," Cole smiles. "Are we going to see one, them?"
"Eventually," Jenny cuts in, "but first, our Cainozoic friends have something to show you!"
Abby claps her hands and climbs back onto the mammoth. Then, the mammoth begins to walk around the arena in a full circle, still leading the terror birds, before disappearing back from the corridor from which they have initially come.
"Well," Cole says after seeing the mammoth's real end. "That clearly was a he. Does anyone else feel jealous?"
"Well," Connor says, wincing, "why don't we go on? I think we were talking about a dinosaur?"
-3-
The ITV team, flanked by Jenny and Connor now walk down yet another corridor and come to an enclosure with a genuine dinosaur, not a terror bird or some sort of a similar creature. Helen Cutter nee Hunter, a woman of about Jenny's age and the author/illustrator of a new prehistoric picture book is currently standing close to the enclosure, keeping an eye on both the dinosaur and the approaching people.
"And this is Helen, of whom I believe you are already aware," Jenny says grandly, even as Helen sends a mild glare in her direction. "As part of her agreement with the ARC, she's here to assist us with all matters prehistoric, you know?"
"Really?"
"Yup, and I'm making plenty of sketches too," Helen adds wryly, "but anyways, Connor Temple here has some words to tell you about the Center's resident dinosaur."
"Oh, do tell," the camera briefly turns to face Connor fully, who blushes from embarrassment, but manages to turn the camera back in the direction of the enclosure.
"Right," he says, his voice somewhat shaky but sure, "this is Dragon, he's a dracorex dinosaur."
"A what dinosaur?"
"He's a member of a rather obscure branch of plant-eating dinosaurs, the bone-headed pachycephalosaurs," Helen interjects smoothly. "A very respectable dinosaur family to be sure, but not a one that's been heard about, are we right?"
"Yeah, true, but why do you call them bone-headed-" Cole begins, then his cameraman shows him a zoomed-in look of Dragon's head. "Well, that's interesting. The bugger's head is shaped like an anvil!"
"Yeah, but it acts like a hammer!" Connor interjects quickly, and then freezes again when the camera begins to swing back towards him. "I mean, the fellow's name may be dragon, but he acts more like a mountain sheep!"
"Really? How so?"
"If he is annoyed or scared," Helen speaks once more, "he lowers his head and charges you flat-on. Since he weighs considerably more than you or me or, say, a terror bird, a head slam from him would not be something from which you'd be able to recover by yourself!"
"Really? How do you know how much they weight?" Cole asks her, curious.
"Oh, we did it as a part of a scientific process," Connor says quickly. "We'll probably give you the footage afterwards."
"Oh, indeed?" Cole appears to be genuinely excited. "Hah, the French never had done something as halfway exciting as we have!"
"That's true," Abby agrees from behind him and his crew. "But first, here are the final stars of our show!"
-4-
The camera whirls around and zooms onto Abby, standing, apparently, alone.
"Down, please," Jenny firmly pushes the camera downwards, where it zooms upon the happy family of Sid, Nancy and their pups. "These are some of the ARC's cuter mascots, the diictodon."
"They are quite cute, almost like little rodents," Cole says, genuinely curious once again, "but are they dinosaurs?"
"No, they're mammal-like reptiles, cousins to our own ancestors," Connor speaks up, "and they existed during the Permian, long before such dinosaurs as Dragon over there walked there.
"Hah," Cole says thoughtfully even as the camera's view switches several time between the diictodon family and the dinosaur. "An interesting revelation. Most people tend to ignore the time that was before the dinosaurs, when trilobites ruled the earth – Mr. Temple, is something wrong?"
"Oh no, no," Abby hurriedly says. "Anyways, we have some footage of the whole diictodon family at supper, so why don't you take a look?"
"Oh sure, sure," Cole says, intrigued. "Lead on!"
As the ITV crew leaves, Connor mouths to Helen "trilobites?" Helen just shrugs.
To be continued...