Genevieve Castillo, known to her friends as Eve, was flying in a plane with her best friend Lucy. Lucy had just gotten her pilot licence and had her father's permission to fly his light plane out. They had both graduated from college and were now taking some much needed time off before looking for jobs. Eve reveled in the freedom of flying like a bird through the sky. She shouted with glee, and Lucy responded with a grin. They were flying high, and both girls had a plan. They both lived in Mexico City, and they wanted to see Costa Rica. Well, one specific part of Costa Rica. Once they got there, they'd touch down at an airport, refill, then fly off to see a very secret island off the Costa Rican coast. Although the islands were off limits, the girls were sure that it wasn't patrolled that closely. This was the Costa Rican government you were talking about, after all. A few hours later, they were pumped as they winged their way over the ocean, not taking a direct flight there, just to throw off anyone who might be following. After a while, Eve started searching with her binoculars. Was that a pinprick of green? She pointed in that direction and Lucy steered the craft there. Soon enough, it was apparent Eve was right. There were islands there, but were they the right ones? As they neared the lush emerald island, their radio came to life. "Su aeronave ha ingresado a un espacio aéreo restringido. Por favor, irse de inmediato. Your aircraft has entered a restricted airspace. Please leave immediately."
Lucy hurried turned it off. She shouted to Eve, "We'll just whip around the islands once or twice. Keep your camera handy!" Eve nodded and dug it out of her backpack. Lucy expertly guided the plane low to the tree cover and Eve took up station at the window, peering down into the leafy canopy. "You're going to have to find a clearing!" She yelled over the noise of the airplane. Lucy pointed ahead, "There's one! Get ready!" They flew over a yellow green field of grass. Suddenly animals were visible. Eve gaped at some long necked dinosaurs, then saw a family of frilled dinosaurs, horns spiking out of their foreheads. She quickly snapped shot after shot, hoping at least one came out. The clearing passed all too quickly, but Lucy grinned and gave Eve a thumbs up. She lifted the aircraft higher in preparation for circling. Eve pointed at a foreboding cloud, "Should we be worried about that?" Lucy shrugged, "I'll get us out of here before the storm breaks."
Unfortunately for Lucy, she underestimated the power of the wind shears. She struggled to maintain control as the plane nearly went completely sideways. Eve dropped the camera and hung on for dear life. The storm came up far faster than they had ever seen a storm in Mexico, and they had seen some doozies. Lucy fought with the plane as it was battered by rain suddenly and lightning flashed. BANG! The plane was hit, not once, but several times. Eve knew that the plane would protect them from the lightning, but she also knew it wouldn't help trying to control the thing. Just as it seemed that Lucy had things together again, the biggest wind shear of all threw the plane into a spiral. Both girls screamed as Lucy lost complete control. The trees were coming up awfully fast. "Hang on!" Lucy yelled at Eve.
CRASH!
Eve woke up slowly. Why did she feel like she had been run over by a truck? She opened her eyes. Or yet, fallen out of the sky...Even sat up carefully and wiggled all her fingers and toes. Everything seemed intact somehow. But she was sure she was going to have the mother of all of bruises all over her body. Wait...where was Lucy? Panicking, she jumped up, only to realize she was in fact tangled in vines. Now she saw that a large and very leafy tree had somehow broken her fall from the plane, which was in pieces all over the place. She needed to find Lucy, right now. Carefully extricating herself out of her leafy prison, she stepped around a smoking piece of plane. She searched for sometime before finally finding the body of Lucy. Eve gasped as she saw a short rod from the plane impaled through Lucy's body, mercifully killing her instantly. No...her friend couldn't be dead! Eve ran over and shook Lucy in a vain hope of waking her. Seeing that there was nothing to be done, Eve hid her face in her hands and cried. Finally, she was all cried out. She must bury the body of her friend. The ground was soft enough, so she took a piece of broken board to use as a shovel and started digging.
An hour later, Lucy was buried. Eve was drained of tears and just felt exhausted. She knew she must find shelter. A distant roar drew her attention. Yes, shelter, away from animals, even if they were friendly. Eve had never even told Lucy her biggest secret. Now she wished she had, but it was too late. Eve had a special gift. She could communicate with animals. If she listened hard enough, she knew what they said, and she was able to respond back to them. Eve had no idea if this would even work with dinosaurs but she didn't feel like finding out right away. At the moment, she needed time alone by herself, to get herself together. Eve found her backpack and gratefully started gathering supplies that she might need. They hadn't packed much, because they had been supposed to be back before nightfall in Mexico City. But Lucy always packed a first aid kit plus extra bottles of water, just in case. Eve found those and put them in her backpack. She heard a chirrup close by and decided to move quickly. Eve looked back the plane and Lucy's grave one last time before disappearing into the jungle.
She hiked a way into the trees, not caring what direction she was going in. She knew she was on Isla Nublar, but where exactly on the damned island she was, she didn't know. Or care. As long as she found shelter, that was all that mattered. Eventually Eve arrived at an area with lots of rocks among the jungle fronds. It looked promising so Eve looked more closely. Sure enough, there was a small cave hidden among the rocks. Eve crawled through the narrow opening, hoping it was bigger on the inside than the outside. In fact, it was quite spacious, perfect for hiding. She reached outside and pulled her pack inside her new home. Quark, chirrup? Eve glanced up. There was a little shadow at the opening of her cave. Oh, did I take someone's home? The little dinosaur hopped inside, cautiously. Eve tried to remember what this one would be, but then she remembered it was a Compsognathus. Deciding that was too much of a mouthful, she knew the small creature as a compy. The little thing quarked at her again. Hello? It was saying. Eve smiled. So her gift did work with dinosaurs! That would be a big help. Hello? The compy said again. Eve answered, Hello there. Did I take your home? The compy cocked his slender head, trying to decide whether she was friend or enemy. Finally the little one sent out a friendly vibe, No. Just hungry. Eve giggled, Well, I am not food. You're welcome to stay as long as you don't try to eat me. The compy jumped inside and sniffed her all over. Deciding she was right, the large strange creature wasn't dangerous, but there was no food here, the compy quarked again, and left. Eve smiled at the encounter, but feeling exhaustion overtake her, she slept.
She woke early the next morning, groggy and confused. Sitting up too quickly, she bumped her head and yelped. Eve rubbed her head, then realized she was sitting in a cave. The events of the previous day came crashing down on her again, and she cried quietly for Lucy again. She wished her parents were there, but then soon stopped. It was no point feeling sorry for oneself. The next order of business was to find food and explore the island. Since she could obviously talk to the dinosaurs, she had to find someplace safe where they accepted her. Eve logically thought the plant-eaters would be safe, because the meat-eaters, well, ate meat. And she didn't want to end up dinner. She had no idea what they'd think of her, even if she could talk to them.
Eve shook the dirt of herself and set out. The sun had already risen, so she headed into the forest. She stopped after a while to listen. She could hear something, but it was still faint. She carefully pinpointed the direction of the sound and went cautiously there. Now it was quite a clear howling sound. What on earth was that? At last, a small clearing opened up, and she saw a group of dinosaurs. Stegosaurus! She was amazed at the large creatures that were somehow so graceful. Their sails moved gently as they moved and they howled to each other. Since Eve could understand their language, she understood that it was to check that the herd was all together, and passing along information. She went down to see if they might like her. She clambered down the slight drop to get to the Stegosaurus herd. A large emerald male saw her and howled threateningly. This is my herd! Do not approach! Eve called to the male, I am no threat. I am friendly. He rose up slightly and stomped his front feet, just like a skunk in warning, Two-legger! Danger! She tried again, No, I'm not dangerous. I want to be friends with you. She saw the rest of the herd looking at her nervously and gathering the calves into the centre of the herd as they moved along. The male approached and swung his spiked tail at her. Obviously this was getting nowhere. She took the hint and moved on.
She wandered down to a lake she could see in the distance. She knew bodies of water were perfect for animal gatherings, so she thought she'd try her luck there. As she passed through the waving grass, she heard the thunder of feet. Eve stopped to look around, and saw a group of ostrich-like dinosaurs running. They were beautiful to see. They made cute little sounds to each other, and Eve knew they were running just for the sheer joy of it. She tried to make contact with them, but they were too busy running. Eve thought it was just as well. These dinosaurs were too quick for her to follow anyway. She stopped to dig around in her backpack...she'd put in a dinosaur book for the flight. Aha, here it was, that kind was called Gallimimus.
Eve kept walking toward the water when she heard more moaning sounds. Now what is that? She looked and saw movement in the trees. Quickly she ducked down into the grass in case it was a predator hiding. Although a second later she knew that was stupid because a predator would be quiet instead of making all that noise. In a minute she saw large shapes move out of the trees. The animals walking out reminded her of Triceratops, but not quite. True, they did have frills, but instead of two brow spikes and one small one like Trikes, these dinosaurs had large spikes that framed the frills and one huge nose spike. Eve scrunched up her head in thought. Sty something, isn't it? Yes, I remember! Styracosaurus! Eve felt pleased with herself. She could talk to these guys. Cautiously, remembering the male Stegosaurus, she approached the herd. The largest Styracosaurus looked at her but kept walking. Obviously they were thirsty. She followed them, the cows looking at her, but saying nothing. They went to the water, and drank deeply. The young ones Eve giggled at. They were too small to drink water, so they tried to push each other around, their tiny nubs of spikes barely doing anything. She quietly hung near the herd, waiting for them to finish drinking. Obviously this was the priority now.
When the large dinosaurs finally finished, they spread out to graze. This was a good sign. They weren't taking Eve as a threat. She came closer, and sent out a thought to a nearby cow Styracosaurus, Hello, how is the grass? The cow jerked her head up and looked around. Eve kept talking, It's me, over here. Can you hear me? The cow finally located her and answered, Yes. Go away. Eve tried again, I need help. I'd like to join you. The cow was about to answer when the big male, hearing the conversation, came over. He didn't look happy. He snorted and looked at Eve. A two-legger! Go away! Eve wondered what was with all this "two-legger" stuff. She answered, I'm not dangerous. Please let me stay. The male shook his head and Eve had a sudden thought of how big those horns were. The male again said, No two-leggers in my herd. He turned and lumbered away, his cows and calves following him. No one said another word to Eve.
This is getting ridiculous, she thought. Fine, I'll try somewhere else. She went around the lake and kept walking, also keeping an eye out for a suitable spot to spend the night if she didn't get into a herd. Eve looked up. Was that thunder? It didn't sound quite right. She walked around the stand of trees that obscured her view. Oh, now that made sense. She gasped in awe at the Brachiosaurus herd there. They towered up into the treetops, and when they moved their feet made a thundering noise. She went closer. She sent a thought up to them, Hello up there! The closest dinosaur flicked his head around and looked at her closest neighbour. Obviously, she could hear Eve, but did Brachiosauruses look down often? They were like giraffes, she thought, so they really should. The Brach walked to another tree, and Eve tried again with no success. She watched as two young males...still immensely huge...broke away from the herd. They started smacking each other with their necks, much as giraffes do. They bumped each other and ran a little ways. Eve had to run out of there...she was going to get trampled! She managed to get to safety in the trees and caught her breath. Note to self: Brachiosauruses don't look down too much. Now what? She had really hoped to join a herd of dinosaurs. She could keep trying but the chances were plummeting down.
Huff? Eve spun at the noise. She felt eyes watching her. Another little noise off to the right. What was it? Eve instinctively knew to be very still. She could see a long nose poking out of the bushes. The animal walked forward...on two legs. With a barely concealed gasp, Eve recognized this is as a raptor. She threw a thought to it, Please don't eat me!
The raptor cocked her head, and Eve saw another poke its head out too. The raptor's mate. They circled her curiously, until the female growled, You speak our language? You are not a long-snout. Eve sighed with relief and answered, No I am not. But I do need help. The male leaned in and gave her a big sniff. He looked at his mate, This is a female. The female raptor made a low friendly noise in its throat, You are lost? Eve smiled, In a way. In the back of her head, she remembered that the scientists had said that Velociraptor was one of the most intelligent dinosaurs. She would agree with them. This was the first dinosaur she had talked to that could actually make complete sentences. Now if they didn't kill her, that would be another thing. The two raptors circled again, trying to decide what to do. The female finally stopped, You are like a chick. Too young to fend for itself. She reached forward and affectionately rubbed her head on Eve's shoulder. The male also bumped himself on her, and she understood that she was accepted. The two raptors turned and started to walk away, and Eve knew she should follow. They would go to the nest-site and meet the rest of the raptors. She couldn't wait. A new adventure was starting!