"We've discovered more than one nest of fossilized eggs with both shell shards and unhatched eggs. Whether this means a portion of the eggs were somehow unfertilized or some other mishap occurred to the eggs prior to hatching is almost impossible to determine from the fossil record."
Dr. Alan Grant
Ancient Bones, Ancient Tales
The next morning found Alan yet again with a raptor curled around him, but this time Alex seemed more than ready for an early rising. He uncoiled himself from around Alan before Alan had even completely woken up.
Alan stretched, surprised when the movement didn't cause him nearly as much pain as it had the previous morning. He looked at his wounds in something like awe. They still looked bad, but they were definitely much improved from the previous day. The swelling and the redness had both gone down, and the wounds felt less hot to touch. It appeared that the couple of hours he spent in the mud bath had done some good after all.
Then again, Alan had rinsed off most of the mud in a waterfall they had passed on the way back, and perhaps that's merely the reason he felt better. It had been a long time since he'd had a proper shower.
Alan looked up to find Alex pacing restlessly back and forth in front of the nest.
"Hey, what's the matter, big guy? You're acting like an expectant father outside the maternity ward." Alan heard a sharp crack from the direction of the nest and sighed, resting his head in his hands briefly. "I guess that's 'cause you are an expectant father outside the maternity ward." He looked heavenward in supplication. "I should have known today had started off too well."
Still a little leery about being around the baby raptors in such a volatile situation, Alan started to rise from his mat. As protective as the raptors were around the eggs, he'd hate to see firsthand just how protective they were with their newborn hatchlings. "I hope you don't mind if I leave you and the kids alone to enjoy this special time together."
Alan had barely made it to his feet when Alex was right there, growling a series of tones that evidently meant 'down,' since it was accompanied by a rather forceful downward pressure by the raptor's nose on Alan's shoulder.
Sighing again, Alan sat.
The big head lowered down to his level and Alex warbled very distinctly, 'Stay here.'
"Somehow I just knew that was what you were going to say."
Alex was still staring at him, so Alan wearily made the 'assent' tones.
Seemingly mollified, Alex turned his attention back to the nest and the hatching velociraptors.
Alan watched with him, quickly fascinated despite his trepidation. He knew from the fossil record that the baby raptors had shorter snouts and bigger eyes than the adults, which was generally indicative of young that were nurtured for some time by their parents rather than being instantly dangerous. For that matter, he had actually held a baby raptor before he knew just what breed of dinosaur it actually was, but it seemed somehow different out here in the 'wild' in the company of an adult raptor and his rather formidable pack.
He didn't know much at all about anthropology, but he figured he was way too close to this particular culture to be studying it in anything like an objective manner.
Well, it wasn't like this whole expedition had been his idea. It sort of came down to 'an invitation you can't refuse' when he thought about it. Kidnapped by a velociraptor, and damned if he still didn't know why.
The first of the eggs rocked frantically as its occupant tried to peck its way out of the shell. Alex lowered his head expectantly to the egg, nudging it slightly, and despite himself Alan leaned in closer as well. The young one seemed to be making good progress, but Alan held his breath nonetheless as the small head finally appeared through the cracks in the shell.
Alex keened a welcoming warble, nudging the small head.
The baby seemed to have run out of steam, so Alan slowly moved one hand toward the egg, ready to pull back if Alex objected. When Alex merely warbled an impatient 'assent,' Alan reached for the baby and pulled apart the rest of the shell. The youngster fell over into Alan's hand, and he instinctively cradled it to his chest with his good hand. He dumped the tins of food from his shirt and used it to wipe the worst of the fluids from the hatchling's nostrils and its smooth hide.
Alan looked up quickly at Alex, ready to release the baby raptor if Alex looked upset.
Not only was he not upset, but the big male seemed perfectly content to leave Alan with the first baby as he reached over to check on the other egg.
The other egg rocked, but not as violently as the first egg had. Alex made another keening noise, encouraging the young one, and the egg rocked again, a little harder this time. The egg cracked, but it was not accompanied by the emerging snout of a young raptor.
Getting a little worried at the amount of time it was taking, Alan set the first baby down, still wrapped in his shirt. Leaning toward the egg, he nudged Alex's hovering nose out of the way and tapped gently on the egg where it had cracked, hoping to stimulate the youngster to try again. There was another weak tapping from inside but no furthering of the cracks on the outside of the egg.
Alex keened again, a worried sound this time.
"Yeah, I know. It doesn't look very good to me either." Alan tapped harder on the surprisingly tough outer shell of the egg, wishing he had something he could use to help break it open. He was afraid to strike the egg too hard for fear of injuring the baby.
The light improved as the big raptor moved away, and Alan took the opportunity to examine the shell carefully. There still wasn't any spot that the hatchling could break through. Alan started tapping again, trying to enlarge a crack with his fingernail, and he nearly jumped when Alex returned, dropping a small, pointed stone by Alan's side.
"Great minds think alike, eh, Alex?" He smiled briefly at the anxious raptor, then picked up the proffered stone and used it to tap lightly on the shell. He stopped every few seconds to listen for sounds from within, then tapped harder when he could hear or feel no further motion. Alex keened again.
"I know, big guy. I'm trying." With one final tap, he was finally able to widen a crack far enough to get his finger inside and peel back part of the shell. He held his breath, hoping that the little one hadn't been damaged by its travels in Billy's pack and the fight with the allosaurus. He suppressed a twinge of guilt, remembering how he had almost dropped the eggs into the river. At that time, he was only thinking of their own skins -- funny to realize how vastly things had changed.
Alan anxiously peeled back another section of the tough shell, and he finally heard a soft cry from inside. Moving faster now, he removed more of the shell until he was able to see the young raptor inside. It lifted its tiny head wearily, and Alan had to nudge aside Alex's questing nose so he could lift the baby from its erstwhile prison.
Moving it down to where the other youngster lay, Alan used one sleeve of his shirt to wipe down the baby raptor, hoping the rubdown would stimulate its breathing and other autonomic systems.
He was rewarded at last with a small cry, and Alan smiled, holding it up to where Alex could blow softly onto its small form. It was a lot smaller than the first baby, but its next cry was slightly stronger and Alan was hopeful the tiny raptor would survive after all.
Alex evidently thought so, as he threw his snout into the air and let out a joyful-sounding warble.
The light from the entrance was subsequently dimmed by a slew of curious raptor heads peering inside at the new arrivals.
Wrapping both babies in his shirt to keep them warm, Alan found himself resting his back against the wall with two contented, somnolent baby velociraptors in his arms. There was a steady stream of visitors as the pack was introduced to the newest members by the obviously preening Alex.
Resigned to babysitting duty, Alan was surprised when quite a few of the adults gave Alan the gentle head nudge he had come to associate with the raptors' greeting behavior after they'd gently sniffed the young raptors. He was even more amazed when he was granted that particular privilege by the previously distrustful Matron.
Alan smiled to himself and shook his head. Isn't it wonderful how motherhood brings out the best manners in almost everyone?
* * * * *
Alan was rapidly losing track of the days, but he figured about a week had passed since the babies had been born. There was no sign yet that the rest of the eggs were ready to hatch, so Alan assumed that the alpha male and female mated first in the pack, probably to assure that their offspring were bigger and more capable of surviving than the rest of the youngsters.
And said youngsters grew fast on the diet of partially digested meat that Alex regurgitated for them.
For all other things, however, they seemed to look to Alan for their care. It appeared that the young raptors had bonded with Alan somehow, because they were never far from his side. Alan had to quickly master more of the rudiments of 'raptor' just to keep the young hellions in line, and he had quickly garnered quite a vocabulary. He considered it no more than 'pidgin raptor', however, because he didn't have the necessary vocal equipment to manage all of the complex sounds the raptors were capable of.
Alex seemed almost amused at Alan's efforts to get the youngsters to behave, but the big raptor was never far away, seeming to realize that Alan still had difficulty getting around. While better, Alan's wounds had not even come close to healing, and although he could go short distances without his staff now, he still limped atrociously when he did so.
Alan had to admit that the baby raptors could be a heck of a lot of fun sometimes. The first raptor born was a male as far as Alan could tell, judging by the tiniest of bumps on his neck that would undoubtedly turn into the male neck spikes. He took after his father in that he was fearless, impetuous and downright arrogant at times. Alan had dutifully dubbed him 'Rex' as a consequence. He was quite the handful, but he would generally obey Alan, especially after a particularly hard nip from Alex when the young raptor was a little too slow in obeying Alan's 'come here' command.
The second raptor, the smaller one, was a female. While meeker than her older brother, she could still be quite the little tyrant when she was aggravated enough. Alan named her 'Cleo,' and she very quickly became his favorite of the two youngsters. For her part, she positively adored Alan and refused to sleep unless she could curl up against his chest at night.
Far from being jealous, Alex seemed downright pleased with the situation as far as Alan could tell.
The young raptors soon had the run of the entire clearing, and the adults learned very quickly to look where they put their feet in case there was a baby raptor underfoot. Alan had finally gotten over his incipient panic when this happened, as he learned that the adults were very solicitous with the young ones and that it was merely one of the ways that the youngsters bonded with the remainder of the pack.
They still kept Alan very active trying to keep up with them, and he was always happy when Alex took them on 'hunting trips' against one of the other raptors in the clearing. It was usually Bob who ended up being the 'prey,' merely because he seemed to enjoy the attention so much. The gash on his side from the Harpy had still not healed so he spent quite a bit of time in the clearing . . . and he was evidently bored with the forced inactivity.
So Bob made a great show of being the unaware prey as Alex taught the young ones how to separate, surround and stalk their victim. Bob did an impressive imitation of a bleating hadrosaur when the two young raptors finally 'attacked' him from the underbrush, falling dramatically over on his side at the combined weight of about 10 pounds of baby raptors. It usually ended up as a free-for-all, which Alan was quite happy not to participate in, because even the baby raptors' claws were incredibly sharp. They had learned, with a little help from Alex, that Alan was 'off-limits' for these wrestling matches.
If something startled the baby raptors, however, they would always dart behind Alan, although the young male tended to stick his head around Alan's leg and bleat his defiance from his presumed position of safety.
Alan turned at the warning squeal as the young female charged across the clearing and leapt toward his chest. Laughing, Alan caught her as she chirruped happily and turned in his arms.
"You do realize that very soon you won't be able to do that without knocking me to the ground, don't you?"
The youngster chirruped again and rubbed the side of her snout against Alan's cheek.
Oh yes, Alan could probably write a book on 'How to be a Raptor Mother,' and he was starting to have a really nasty suspicion on why Alex had 'kidnapped' him in the first place. The other young females in the pack seemed to be already paired off, and it looked like the Harpy had been the only unattached female remaining. Alan already knew Alex's thoughts on that one even before she had been banished by her attack on Alan and Bob.
Alex evidently had needed a 'mother' for his youngsters, and he seemed to have gone recruiting way outside the usual parameters to find one, perhaps because he knew Alan had risked his own life to save one of Alex's eggs.
Well, Alan wasn't going to complain too much since it had evidently saved his life. It would have helped immensely, however, if he'd done some prior babysitting. At least now he could tell Ellie that he had experience in watching kids when she needed a night out with her husband.
Come to think of it, Ellie probably wouldn't appreciate having her kids compared to baby velociraptors.
Alan winced. There was a damned good reason they'd broken off their relationship.
Billy wiped the unending sweat from his forehead and tried to focus his sleep-deprived eyes. He wasn't sure how long he'd managed to wander around this sorry excuse for an island, but he was going to run out of food if he didn't find the raptor pack soon. Oh, he knew he could forage for food and now that the terrain was finally starting to look familiar, he could also return to the InGen compound for supplies.
But that would take time -- time he couldn't afford to waste. He had a mission to accomplish after all. And then it wouldn't matter if he ran out of food or not.
Alan knew it was only a matter of time, and sure enough, they did it. Alex had left on one of his food-finding missions for Alan, and a great deal of the remainder of the pack was out on their own errands, presumably hunting.
Rex, the baby male raptor, had become more and more intrigued by the world outside the clearing, and he finally decided that he was big enough to explore without one of his 'parents' along. Alan gave the 'come here' command as he saw him trying to slither away, but the young male bleated an unconcerned 'dissent' as he disappeared completely into the undergrowth.
The little female looked back at Alan briefly, but she was too accustomed to following her older brother around. Alan didn't doubt that with her degree of intelligence, she was curious herself to see what resided in the outside world.
Alan breathed a soft "damn it" under his breath as he hobbled off with his lucky staff after the wayward children, and he gave the sentry raptor a weary nod as he approached. By this time, all the raptors were used to Alan having to make brief forays into the undergrowth to retrieve the young ones. The sentry actually gave Alan a commiserating head nudge this time, and Alan muttered a 'thank you' in raptor as he absentmindedly patted the warm flank in passing.
Alan was going to have a long talk with Alex about the kids' increasingly independent behavior when the big raptor returned.
Stopping outside the grove of trees, Alan tried to get his bearings. Up to now, the children had always found something exciting enough just outside the clearing that they hadn't actually wandered far.
It appeared that this time he wasn't that lucky, since the kids were nowhere in sight. Alan pondered briefly whether he should just call for help from the other raptors, but he knew Rex and Cleo wouldn't get off as easy if they had to be retrieved by one of the other adults. The raptors had extremely strict rules against endangering other members of the pack with foolhardy behavior.
As Alan started off through the jungle after a familiar youthful squeal, he didn't stop to wonder if he wasn't perhaps embarking in foolhardy behavior of his own.
Billy quickened his pace as he finally passed the clearing where the fight between the allosaurus and the velociraptor pack had occurred. By now, most of the giant predator had been consumed by the extremely efficient scavengers, but the smell was still strong enough that it was sure to attract a wide array of things that Billy didn't want to bother with right now.
He was finally back on the right track, and Billy knew it wouldn't take him long to find the raptor pack. If all else failed, he'd just start yelling into the forest again and bring them to him.
He was saving that option for last, however, since he was just as likely to attract the spinosaurus as the raptors. He knew he was most likely going to die on this island anyway, but he didn't want to get eaten until he'd had a chance to avenge Alan's death.
tbc
