Chapter Nine

Emily gripped my arm tightly. A few dozen small furry bird-like dinosaurs leapt through the treetops above me, as we moved through the forest.

We stopped short quite suddenly, upon seeing the source of the noises that had scared us.

It was a Deinonychus. Six feet long and five feet tall, a deadly creature, baring a strong resemblance to a certain Jurassic Park movie monster.

The Deinonychus was a dark orange, with darker stripes down it's back and a bright blue and red markings on it's snout. It was also quite trapped. Stuck unter a gigantic fallen tree.

"Velociraptor, right?" Emily asked me.

"Close," I said. "Deinonychus. Which was the inspiration for the Jurassic Park V-Raptors. Real velociraptors don't really look like that."

"What do they look like?" Emily asked.

"They're the small furry things in the trees."

"THOSE are raptors?" she asked. "I thought that they were like Dino-Monkeys or something. I'm gonna leave the dinosaur guess to you from now on, okay."

My mind was focused on the stuck dinosaur.

"Deinonychus was a pack hunter," I said. "Like wolves, or blue sharks. But this guy looks like he's been trapped a while. I think his pack abandoned him…"

As if to contradict me, another Deinonychus, with drabber colors, and no markings on it's snout came bounding out of the forest. I grabbed Emily and ducked behind a tree…We watched as the second Deinonychus fed a small lizard (or something) into the snout of the first.

"Okay," I said. "Not ALL of his pack abandoned him. This female must of stayed behind."

"How do you know it's a girl?" Emily asked.

"I don't," I said. "I'm guessing, Modern birds have brightly colored males, and the trapped Deinonychus is brighter. So I'm guessing he's the male. He must have been trapped, the others left him behind, and this female stayed behind."

"Why'd they leave him?" Emily asked.

"Gotta think of the pack," I said. "They couldn't free him, so they had to leave him. No sense in the whole pack starving."

As soon as the male had consumed all of the lizard, the female darted off again.

"Why did she stay then?" Emily asked.

"At a guess," I said. "I'd say Deinonychus mate for life. She wouldn't abandon her mate."

"Aw," she said. "They're like the dinosaur versions of us. I wouldn't abandon you either. Which is why I'm stuck here on Jurassic Planet with you."

"I have an idea," I said. "These two provide a unique opportunity to pick up some useful morphs."

"Oh!" Emily exclaimed.

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I put my plan into action as soon as we saw the female return with a small bird and fed it to her mate. As soon as she left a bolted towards the dinosaur. The trapped male looked up at me and panicked. It started snarling and snapping at me.

No doubt, not recognizing me, it assumed I was an opportunistic predator moving in to what seemed like an easy meal. And in a way, I was. But it wasn't his meat I was after. It was his DNA.

Carefully avoiding his snapping jaws, I placed my hand firmly on it's back, and focused my mind. The trapped dinosaur became calm as he entered the stupor of the acquisition trance.

I heard a "kkkykkk," sound as suddenly the female charged out of the underbrush towards me. If she got me with one of those sickle-like claws on it's feet, I was toast.

But we had laid our trap well, the female was so focused on me, that she didn't see Emily behind a nearby tree. Emily stepped out as the dinosaur began to move towards me, and slammed her hands on the creature's back. The female found herself locked in the same acquisition trance as her male counterpart.

With the dinosaurs safely subdued, I moved into phase two of my plan. Wedging myself into the same hole as the Deinonychus, I broke contact with the dinosaur, and began focusing on the T. rex whose DNA was inside me.

As my body began to grow, I started getting wedged in tighter, and tighter…And then, the log lifted up. Suddenly realizing he was free, the Deinonychus bolted.

Emily released the female. And both dinosaurs looked at us in confusion, before deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, and bolted.

I demorphed and joined Emily.

"Let's do this thing." Em said.

We both focused out minds on the new dinosaurs within our blood.

My skin turned a mottled orange, with streaks of blue and red on my nose..Which began to elongate, stretching into the Deinonychus snout.

My fingers melted together, forming three fingered clawed hands. My toes began to do the same. My big toenail suddenly merged with my toe bones to form a thick curved scythe, not unlike an Andalite tail. It was retractable, like a cat's claw.

My spine shot out and formed into a stiff, board-like tail. My teeth in my mouth sharpened into sharp, minature shark-like teeth.

My senses came online. Sharper vision, and smell. Hearing was a little better, but not much.

Suddenly, my instincts hit me hard…There were now three other Deinonychus circling me. Two females and a male.

I hissed, snarling and circling the others. Attempting to gain the advantage over the strangers. I nipped near the male, who was exactly my height. He snarled back, but lowered his head in submission. One of the females lowered her head to the other female. We had asserted dominance.

I turned towards the dominant female, and began hissing and snapping. She snapped right back…I lowered my head in submission.

Right as my human mind asserted control.

(Dang it!) I said. (When did the real Deinonychus return?)

(I dunno,) Emily said. (It must have been while we were morphing. They must have been curious. BT dubs, I 'm totally dominant over you.)

(So what else is new?) I asked, hissing irritably at the real Deinonychus.

(You must be in heaven, right now,) Emily commented.

(What?) I responded.

(Well,) she said. (Dinosaurs and morphing. Your two favorite things. This must be awesome, for you.)

(It is,) I said sheepishly, as I tested out my new body. (I can't believe you remembered I like dinosaurs.)

(You don't just like 'em,) She said. (You love 'em. Have you forgotten how we met?)

I groaned in thought-speech.

(Yes,) I said. (But I was sorta hoping that you didn't.)

(We were seven,) she said. (Church picnic. You were pretending to be a dinosaur. You attacked me, and I backhanded you, and gave you a bloody nose. Not something I'd forget.)

(Yeeeeaah,) I said. (But you can see why I was hoping you wouldn't.)

(What do we do about these two,) Emily hissed, snapping that the two real Deinonychus who were standing with us.

(Uh…I don't know,) I said. (They're submissive to us…For now anyway. I guess we could…Oh wait, I know!)

I turned in the direction of the Cloning Building that I had visited earlier.

(Follow me,) I said. I bolted. In a heartbeat, Emily was on my tail. We moved through the underbrush with incredible speed, and navigated the forest like we'd lived there all our lives. The Deinonychus seemed to have an innate sense of direction, and since I was locked onto the cloning building, I knew exactly where I was headed. The real Deinonychus didn't seem to be following us either, which was a good thing.

About a half-hour later we arrived.

(What is this place?) Emily asked.

(I think,) I said. (I think it's where all the dinosaurs came from.)

We began to demorph, rapidly reassuming our human shapes. I walked over to the door panel I had discovered. I pressed it.

(Authorized DNA pattern detected,) It said.

"Whoa," Emily said. The door slid shut.

"Let me try," she said, pressing the button as I had.

(Authorized DNA pattern detected,) it said again.

"It must allow human DNA," I commented. But why? I thought to myself.

Emily stepped inside, and followed her, the door closed behind us.

(Unscanned Naltron Cell Storage detected,) The computer stated again as we entered. (DNA sample scanning commencing. Complete. Biodiversity update.)

I noticed that the tubes from earlier that had contained my morphs were gone. But as we stepped inside, eleven new tubes had just risen out of the ground.

I walked over to them, Emily joining me. Two of the tubes contained Deinonychus fetuses. One contained a horse, another a cat, a small fish, a small parrot, a hawk, a platypus, a glowworm, a wolf, and a Chasmosaurus.

"It clones our morphs," I commented. "I'm guessing here, but I think that the DNA patterns that initiated this place, were brought here in similar storage capsules to the ones in our blood. The ones that the morphing technology keeps supercooled for use in morphing."

"So…" Emily said, frowning.

"So when we stepped inside," I said. "The computer thinks we're bringing in new DNA patterns to be cloned for the terraformation of this planet."

"Why did it only clone my morphs though?" She asked.

"Well it did clone my other morphs earlier," I said. "Maybe it only clones them once? It did my Deinonychus."

"We morphed the same platypus," Emily said. "The DNA should be the same."

"Maybe it doesn't actually pay attention to the DNA in the capsules when it scans," I said. "Maybe it just scans, and like…Leaves a marker or something telling it not scan it again, I don't know, I'm only guessing here."

"Where are the morphs that it cloned from you earlier?" Emily asked.

"I don't know," I said.

"How do we get to the other two domes?" She asked. "There are three domes linked together. But I don't see a door, or a door panel to get into the next dome."

I shrugged.

"Maybe the doors to the other domes are on the outside?" I asked.

We stepped back outside.

"Wait," I said. I stepped back inside.

"Nothing," I called. "It's not cloning my morphs."

"Guess your theory is right," Emily said, stepping back inside. "That looks like a storage locker," she said pointing to the boxes on the far end.

We walked over to the boxes and began to open them and look inside. I found a bucket, some thing that looked like twine, and something that looked vaguely like a Yeerk dracon beam.

I fired it at the ground. A red blast shot out, and scorched the ground where it hit. Emily smacked me in the back of the head.

"Don't go shooting alien space guns in the cloning building," she scowled.

"Sorry, Em," I said sheepishly. The second box contained what appeared to be a large squishy mattress.

"Queen sized," Emily said as we pulled it out.

"Soft," I said. It felt sort of malleable. Like water bed.

"This thing must be centuries old," she commented. "At least. What is it made of?"

"This whole place was clearly built to last," I responded.

"Which is more than we can say for whoever built it," she said.

"Yeah," I said. "Still, we have shelter now. We can wait out the two weeks for the Snoopy to crash here.

"Really the life of luxury, aren't we?" Emily said. "I don't suppose there's a bathroom?"

As soon as she said that, a doorway appeared in the wall, and what looked very much like a toilet seat appeared within the small room.

"I think that the room heard you," I said.

"Great," Emily said. "Now open a door into the next dome!"

Nothing happened.

"I'll go outside while you go," I said. I glanced into the bathroom.

"There's a sink," I said. "But no toilet paper…We're gonna be roughing it."

I stepped outside and noticed a small, brown pig-sized creature snuffling around in the bushes. It looked like a small triceratops with no horns whatsoever. I watched it dig in the ground, pulling out small tubers and roots with its beak, and snacking on them.

A moment later Emily stepped out of the dome.

"Protoceratops," I commented. I began to morph into a Deinonychus. "Better known as dinner."

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I'll leave the messy details of killing and carving up the dinosaur to your imagination. The Dienonychus claws were pretty efficient about it though, and the protoceratops was nice and fat.

While I butchered the dinosaur, Emily gathered some firewood. We used the dracon beam to light a fire outside the dome, and cooked the hunks of protoceratops meat over the fire. Not knowing what sorts of diseases a dinosaur might carry, we cooked it thoroughly.

It tasted a lot like a mix of pork and fish. It was pretty good. Needed spices, but I am a Cajun at heart. Everything needs spices.

About halfway into the meal, the real Deinonychuses emerged from the woods, much to our surprise. Our backs were to the door to the dome, and it would be easy to slip inside, but the dinosaurs were rather cautious…Almost inquisitive.

"I wonder," I said.

"What?" Emily said, trying not to make any sudden movements, but slowly inching towards the door.

"Dogs and humans became friends," I said. "Because as efficient pack hunters, dogs were smart enough to realize that humans had advantages that they didn't and vice versa. Deinonychus is an intelligent pack hunter too. They know we helped the male. They saw us morph…And they submitted to our dominance…"

"You're not actually thinking…," Emily said.

"In group hunting dynamics," I commented. "The alphas get the lion's share of the kill. First pick of all meat. The betas get what's left over. They're eyeing the leftover protoceratops…But they haven't made a move. I think that they think of themselves as part of our pack. And we're the alphas. I think they're waiting…To see if we're done."

Emily started to stand up, but I grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. The dinosaurs snarled slightly.

"Don't make me do that again," I said. "You're supposed to be dominant over me. They might have construed that as overstepping my bounds."

"Jason," She whispered urgently. "They're dinosaurs!"

"Intelligent dinosaurs," I corrected. "Eat your dinner."

I pealed a hunk of raw protoceratops meat off of the kill, stuck it on my stick, and then stuck it in the fire, cooking it. The dinosaurs watched with interest, but made no moves, though the female licked her lips. I'd seen that look on Erica's dogs. They were hungry.

But I was a man with a theory…I had to see it play out.

"Em," I said. "Calm down. If they smell your fear, then it could cause trouble. We're in no danger. If they move, we can be inside before they can get to us, see how they're keeping their distance? Plus my T. rex and your Chasmosaur morphs can take them down in a heartbeat. Just…Trust me, okay?"

Emily took my hand. "Okay, Jason…I trust you."

I pulled my now-cooked meat from the fire and began casually eating it. Emily quietly finished off her kabob. I decided that I was full as well. I stood up, and the Deinonychus suddenly looked alert.

With both hands, I hefted up the remaining carcass of the protoceratops. This was the risky part…If I had been misreading the signs…I walked around the fire, and tossed the remains of the kill to the dinosaurs.

They pounced upon it, gobbling up the bits of meat that we had left behind, as well as the internal organs that we had opted not to eat.

Emily took my hand and quietly dragged me back to the doors. The Deinonychus noted our departure, but made no moves to stop us, they just hungrily gobbled up the remains of our dinner.

We slipped inside the clone dome, closing the door behind us.

"Oh my God," Emily said. "You were RIGHT. They totally think we're their pack now!"

"I know," I said grinning. "This is SO cool. You have no idea."

"I was so scared," she said. "I thought we were done for…Jason…That was amazing."

"Let's wash our hands," I said. "We've been handling raw dinosaur meat…Who knows what kind of pathogens we've come in contact with?"

"Right," she said. We were still giggling and giddy as we washed our hands in the sink.

I fully intended to let Emily sleep on the squishy mattress thing, and be a gentleman by curling up in a corner or something. However she immediately pointed out that was absolutely stupid.

"Jason, that's sweet," she said. "And so typically you…But this is a survival situation. We don't know how cold it's going to get in here tonight…Even if there is central air…It could be long since busted. We're BOTH going to get onto this mattress and share our body heat, so that we both don't freeze to death tonight, okay?"

"Yes ma'am," I said. "You are the alpha Deinonychus. I was a fool to challenge you."

"Stop that," she said.

"I'm gonna put out the fire," I said scooping up the bucket and filling it with water.

I opened the door and stepped outside. Our 'pet' Deinonychus were still happily tearing away at the remains of our dinner. I poured the water over the fire, it hissed and went out.

Then I glanced up.

"Emily," I called. She joined me and we looked up into the sky.

The nearby nebula took up half the sky, filling it with brilliant oranges, reds, and blues. The two moons were both full and hung in the sky like giant silver orbs. I could see dozens of stars on the half of the sky not dominated by the nebula.

"Why didn't we see that during the day?" she asked.

"Same reason we don't see the stars, I guess," I said. "The sunlight overpowers it."

"It's gorgeous," she murmured.

"I wonder which star is earth," I said looking up at the half with stars.

"Menderash or Erica could tell us," Emily said sadly.

"They're fine," I said. "We're all morphers here, so we're all more than equipped to deal. We just gotta hook up when the Snoopy crashes. And we'll look for them every day until then."

"Yeah." She said.

She took my hand in hers again, and we quietly watched the stars for a few more minutes before going back inside to sleep.