The Untameable King
His tiredness immediately slipped away. His legs burned like they were on fire as he ran with all his energy to the Permian Plains. He soon saw the arching sign of the area slowly appearing through the darkness. It was home to five species: the Inostrancevia and Scutosaurus from Late Permian Russia, the Estemmenosuchus from mid-Permian Russia and finally the Prionosuchus and Brazilichthys from mid-Permian Brazil. His footsteps rang loudly on the path causing the Scutosaurus to give low cries like a car starting in anger of being woken up. Then he heard it. A scream that pierced the night sky. It came from deep within the Permian Plains where the lakes were. He hoped to god that the scream was due to an Estemmenosuchus. They looked ferocious and if they attacked you with their head crest it could hurt but they were otherwise safe. He passed the Estemmenosuchus Lake only to see the strange inhabitants lounging on the shore with no human in sight…
It could only mean one thing. They were in the Prionosuchus River. He quickly ran past the Brazilichthys pond seeing one of the green dart from the surface. The scream came again but much clearer. His heart was pounding violently in his chest. Looking up he saw a girl in her late teens in a bikini clinging to a tree branch for dear life as a boy about the same age almost pure white with fear sitting on a rock. There was a hiss like a crocodile which went right through him. Desperately he tried to think how they even got in; the exhibit was surrounded by a Plexiglas wall two meters high and thick water reeds grew around the wall. There was a series of large rocks attached to the Plexiglas to give the giant amphibians more privacy so they probably climbed over the rocks.
"Someone help please!" the girl shouted. He saw the boy slip on the rock and a trickle of red seep down the surface. Suddenly the water erupted in white froth.
"I'm coming!" he yelled. He had to think of a plan. There were four Prionosuchus in the river each around 4.5 meters long. Fast swimmers but primarily ate fish so the attack on the kids was likely territorial. He could think of many plans but all of them needed another person.
"Nani ga okotte iru?" a deep voice asked. He turned around to see Katashi Hamada who was a member of the Animal Security Force. This was probably the first time he had met him. "You're Jordan Matthews? What is happening?"
"Two kids climbed over the rocks into the river for god only knows why. The girl is hiding in that tree and the boy has cut himself on the rock. I think the Prions are attacking over territorial reasons."
"What are we to do? I have no tranquilizers or electric Tasers," Hamada explained.
"I'll distract the Prions and you get the kids."
They ran round to the keeper entrance of the exhibit. He quickly ran into the keeper hut and searched frantically in the hut. Hopefully there would still be food in the hut or otherwise he would have to use his self as bait. Yes! He grabbed a bucket full of stinking fish and ran up to meet Hamada who was sliding open the gate. There was a small walkway around the wall of the exhibit which he nimbly ran across. In the darkness he could see the pointed black outline of a Prionosuchus circling the rock that the teenager was on. Thank goodness Prions were territorial; his plan may not have worked if there was more than one in the area. There was an area of shallow water which he waded in feeling the warmth of the water lap against his ankles. He took out a fish and dipped it in the water, tearing out a chunk so fish blood filled the water.
"Come here for the love of god, come here."
He saw the black shadow stop circling the rock and dart towards where he was. Quickly he jumped onto a fallen log so the jaws of the temnospondyl could not snap at him. The water erupted and the pointed, thin snout snapped and hissed ferociously. It looked like a gharial except instead of the hard rigid scales there were hard pebbly skin. In the dark he could clearly see the lime green skin with orange spots. It snapped its long jaws and hissed angrily. He heard a splash indicating that one of the teens had jumped in.
"Don't go anywhere!" he yelled at the amphibian. He threw some fish into the water which quickly vanished thanks to the jaws of the Prionosuchus. He heard another splash. Please let there be enough fish to get both kids out.
"Jordan I've got them!" Hamada yelled.
With his heart beating ten to the dozen he threw the last fish to the amphibian and jumped from the log onto the walkway. Outside the exhibit he saw the two teens shivering as Hamada fetched a towel to cover them form the keeper's hut. Luckily the boy had sustained no new injuries; his trip on the rock had opened an old injury.
"What the hell were you playing at?" he asked angrily "Do you think it's funny to swim in rivers full of dangerous animals? If you want I can let you swim with a mosasaur!"
"It was your fault!" the girl yelled punching the boy on his arm "We were supposed to be going on the River Tour with the rest of our class but this dick convinced me to go swimming with him! 'Romantic' you said. 'Nice pool for decoration that no one would see us'!"
"Why would a decorative pool have a railing?" Jordan asked the boy angrily before turning on the girl "You're just as bad. You could easily have said no. You could easily have questioned why a 'pool for decoration' had so much protection!"
As he was berating the teens Hamada was talking through his head set. When the kids sat down on a bench giving Jordan dark looks Hamada went up to him.
"I've told Control," he told him in his deep voice "They were with the trip from Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. Going on the night River Tour and no one noticed that they had gone missing until Irritator River."
In a few minutes the stern looking teacher marched through the dark looking eerily like a saber toothed tiger. What followed was a flurry of threats ranging from expulsion to losing all privileges until they graduated.
"I have had to leave your classmates with Dr Wilson!" she chastised "They had to stop the boat tour and I had to go through a long nosed carnivorous dinosaur exhibit!"
As he wondered whether she was referring to the Irritator, Suchomimus or the Baryonyx she marched the two students into the night. The sleep had started to hit him hard and his bed called out for him which he gladly acquiesced to.
The Next Month
The transport HGV rumbled slowly across the path. Low lying branches created a horrid scraping noise across the window screen as they passed underneath. Winston was driving and happily whistling as he drove. In the back there was a deep growl which caused Winston to smile. He pulled out some blueberries from his pocket and forced them through the thin meshing which caused the growling to be replaced by jaws smacking against each other.
"You're spoiling him," Jordan laughed.
"Well he's worth it."
As they rounded the corner they saw huge yellow monoliths of cranes, diggers and cement mixers all bearing the logo of Timack Construction. Large holes were being dug up in the earth which were duly filled with cement.
"Any idea what they're doing there?" Jordan asked.
"No idea. That used to be where Cronus and Jane lived. What the hell are they doing?"
They would have to wait for their question to be answered. They arrived at the vets with Head Vet Suzanne waving outside. Unlike the images that he had seen of the time portal holding pens the vet holding pens (built following the arrival of the Alamosaurus) were often decked out to make the animals more relaxed in their living area. Two doors opened allowing them to park the latter end of the HGV directly into the holding pen. As they remotely opened the HGV trailer doors they heard the growl of a bear. The cave bear that they had been transporting limped into the holding pen. He was a young bear and had fallen off a log in his enclosure spraining his front paw.
"Jordan someone's waiting for you inside," Suzanne told him with a sly smile. It must be Maria. Winston patted him on his shoulder as he stepped out of the HGV. As he entered the vets he saw a small fenced off area where a model of a Caudipteryx was feeding brightly squawking chicks. It wasn't Maria though who was waiting for him, it was Nigel.
"Hi there Jordan!" he said jovially "How are you doing?"
"Fine. You wanted to see me?"
"Yeah. Our Head of Operations Claire Dearing and Chiyo have noticed that following the…passing of John and the Prionosuchus incident public opinion of Prehistoric Park has dropped. Don't worry all the animal rights and environmentalist groups are still on side but specifically parents have started to turn against us. Saying that creatures like Tyrannosaurs, raptors and terror birds are a threat…"
He bit his tongue to stop his reply. It could easily be argued that the parents were correct.
"We normally would open a new attraction but…we don't have any new attractions. The only ones we had were the animals in Permian Plains but we had them for months before we even announced them to the public."
In his copy of Animal Guide the residents of Permian Plains had in big red letters: Not yet available for public viewing.
"We've decided to go on a new mission to rescue a new animal. Ms Dearing has chosen the animal and her choice has ticked off Chiyo. We made a list of animals that we thought would be suitable like Acrocanthosaurus, Placerias etc. but she ignored them. I'm getting ahead of myself. How you handled the Prionosuchus and others in the past like the Pteranodon wallet incident I thought you would be perfect to help us rescue this animal."
He couldn't believe it. His heart was pounding insanely fast. He was going to go back in time! He was going to see an extinct animal in its natural habitat! Maybe he would even see a dinosaur in its natural habitat!
"I would love to," he said excitedly.
"Good. Well you should know what we're rescuing…the Indominus Rex."
Two Weeks Later
It was early in the morning. The moon was still out as he walked down the garden path to Chiyo's bungalow. Having early mornings for much of his employment at Prehistoric Park this no longer fazed him remotely. Bright amber light coming from behind the curtains thankfully indicated that Chiyo was awake. He knocked on the door to hear a yell calling him in. Chiyo was sat hunched over wearing combat trousers, a loose fitting shirt, a frayed combat jacket and black walking boots. An ominous claw mark could be seen on her jacket, likely from something now residing in the park. She was watching a Godzilla movie, something quite fitting seen as the I Rex was the largest known carnivorous dinosaur.
"Ready?" she asked.
"You bet!" He couldn't wait. He felt like a child on Christmas Eve. He practically skipped towards the monorail which earned a rare smile from Chiyo. As the monorail thundered over the sea between Pena and Nublar he started to feel that he eerily resembled a child with him looking outside in excitement. Soon the hissing of the monorail doors greeted them and he ran out. The portal area was bathed in blinding quartz lights. The area was sandy and he had a strange suspicion that a three toed foot could be seen among the yellow sand.
Chiyo seemed a bit anxious with her right hand clenched in a fist on her heart whispering something under her breath. He had to smile when she told him that to psych herself up before each mission she would copy something called Attack on Titan. A sound of crunching sand echoed around them and Nigel Marven arrived with someone called Ben. So all four of them was going back in time; probably for the best with a small group allowing them to sneak in and out without drawing attention to themselves.
"Okay guys," Nigel said eagerly "We are going back 69 million years to an island off the coast of Brazil for the Indominus Rex. We're only bringing back an I rex or two; most likely we will see new species of extinct life and we can't bring them back. To look after animals properly we need to know a bit about them so we can't do that with a new species. Our research has found there to be a large earthquake which caused a landslide wiping out all large life here a week after we plan to go. Be careful as well. The Indominus Rex is smart, has a good sense of smell, can grip you with its hands and can camouflage itself. Well here we go!"
Swirling mist appeared before them which became more solid. It was the time portal. It formed a circular shape and it was like looking through a blurred mirror. He could see something beyond the portal but could not tell distinct shapes. They walked slowly towards the portal. It seemed to take a long time to get there. Eventually they got so close to the portal that he could make out vague shapes of ferns and trees. As he passed through the portal it felt cold. Like he had just dipped his head in a bucket of ice. The coldness immediately gave way to warmth…
He was 69 million years ago in the past! It was amazing. He stood in ferns and horsetails which went up to his knees, emerald dragonflies twice the size of your palm buzzed loudly and bright cream orchids grew on the thick trunks of trees. He could even feel the higher oxygen content in the air; something he was well acquainted with working in the dinosaur enclosures. He looked into the sky to see the sun burning down; the same sun that he knew but oh so alien.
"This is amazing."
"Right guys," Nigel announced "We believe that the Indominus Rex would hunt by lying camouflaged on the edge of forests. Using its superb sense of smell it would pick out sick or injured dinosaurs before striking. Luckily we have this!"
He pulled out something like a camera from his backpack. It was a thermal imaging camera. It was a brilliant idea; by the time of the Cretaceous dinosaurs had evolved to be warm blooded so the camera could easily pick one out. Nigel put the camera to his eyes but shook his head.
"Nothing?" Chiyo asked.
"Not a dickie bird. Well we just have to go for our normal tactic. Find a lake or river."
It was a good plan. All animals had to eventually go for a drink. Herbivores often congregated to bodies of water so there would be ample feeding ground for an Indominus Rex. Nigel ushered them towards the forest in order to find the water source. The shade of the trees offered blessed relief from the Cretaceous sun. All around he could hear the chirrup of insects and even the squawk of an indeterminate pterosaur. He felt on edge though. He felt like something was watching him. Nigel continuously placed the thermal camera to his eyes but nothing bar a few marsupials turned up.
He heard the sound of running water to the east. Nigel waved them into the direction of the sound. They entered a small clearing where a brook babbled straight through the forest cheerfully. Numerous green reeds sprung from the edge of the bright blue water. Nigel got closer to the brook and he heard mud squelch under his boots. There was suddenly a clicking noise. A few more clicking noises joined the first. A small flock of ornithopods at least four meters long hopped up to the strange creatures by the brook. They had bald yellow heads and a grey body which had blue bristles running from the nape of the neck to the tail.
"Come here," Chiyo said softly holding out her hand. The largest made a chirruping noise like chi-chi-chi before hopping eagerly around her.
"These small ornithopods may have evolved from Gasparinisaura from the mainland," Nigel laughed trying to pet the nearest ornithopod who nimble bounced away from his hand.
Jordan tried to pet a female one but she was too quick for him. He wondered whether these small dinosaurs would ever be discovered by science. It would be nice to see them in the park; although they could easily exhibit traits changing how to care from them. Extinct animals already known to science always exhibited unexpected traits never mind ones unknown to science.
"I would love to take these back to the park," Nigel laughed "You guys need to wait until somebody discovers your bones in the…"
The brook exploded as if someone had thrown an explosive into the water. The ornithopods started honking in terror and hopping about frantically. Two pale white shapes slowly came into view; their camouflage almost perfect except that their outline could still be seen. They were larger than a Tyrannosaurus, even larger than a Giganotosaurus, with an almost skeletal rounded skull full of curved formidable teeth. Large black osteoderms ran down the neck and along the stomach of the theropod. He could see that the dinosaur had more feathers than previously thought with light blue feathers covering the crown of the head and along the arms. The nearest one gave a roar as loud as a nuclear explosion which made Jordan's knees buckle. He ran towards Nigel and Chiyo who were looking at awe at the dinosaurs.
"It's an Indominus!" Nigel cried.
An Indominus grabbed a nearby ornithopod who had struggled to escape with the rest of the flock. It was a horrific sight to watch. The ornithopod continuously gave a shriek which caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up on end. The Indominus started smashing the ornithopod against the earth like a smith banging against an anvil with the shrieks of the ornithopod becoming increasingly cracked with each bang. Soon all that remained of the ornithopod was a bloodied lifeless pulp.
"Fuck," Jordan said heaving slightly. He had never seen such a bloody killing tactic. The two Indominus ripped apart the ornithopod and swallowed the dead dinosaur whole.
"Amazing," Nigel said in awe "Two males. The larger females may hunt sauropods instead; Paul Serano found evidence of Saltasaurus living on the island."
"Nigel," Chiyo said frantically "They've spotted us."
He could feel the hairs standing on his neck again. Sweat dripped down from his brow and ran down the bridge of his nose. The two dinosaurs stared at them intently fixing them with their beady green eyes. The larger one gave a low pitched chattering sound. Its voice then got higher in pitch and turned into a strange yapping sound.
"It's communicating," Chiyo said.
"With us or…?" Jordan started.
Before he could finish his sentence the two dinosaurs charged at them. Bellowing like a thunderstorm the two Indominus ran at them with their colossus jaws opened revealing rows of painfully sharp teeth. Nigel pulled something quickly from his pocket and suddenly a time portal shimmered from the end of the object. The smaller Indominus immediately vanished through the portal but the second one stopped in his tracks. He arched his back and roared but curiously looked around the portal. He made a strange growling noise from the back of his throat.
"What is happening….oh my god!" Chiyo cried.
Behind them was a vague shape similar to that of the male Indominus except that it was much bigger. The top half was a pale green, the same colour of the tree tops, while the bottom half was a ghostly white. The green half seemed to dissolve and become white like the rest of the dinosaur. An explosion erupted from the jaws of the Indominus.
"It's a female," Nigel gulped still holding out the time portal in his hand "She ordered the two males to attack us! They take orders."
The female roared at the smaller male. He made a sound similar to a whine of a dog. He turned his rounded face to them and bellowed before looking back at the female. She gave an even larger roar causing the male to seemingly shrink in fear. The male looked at the portal and ran through.
"He was so scared of the female that he ran through!" Jordan gasped "Wait…"
The female seemed very angry. She charged at the group. He saw Nigel, Chiyo and Ben jump out of the way but he was too late. The foot of the female sprayed gravel into his face causing him to fly back. A searing pain burned the back of his head. Briefly he could see a myriad of stars flashing before his eyes.
"Jordan!" Chiyo yelled.
He sat up groggily. From where he was sitting he could see Ben, Nigel and Chiyo staring at him in fear. By Nigel's foot was the broken remains of his time portal (a good thing that they had more than one). He felt a hot gust of wind against the back of his neck. Gingerly he turned around to see the pale snout of the Indominus Rex. He felt something grab him and he was lifted up into the air. Pale green eyes looked straight into his soul. It was observing him. Looking at what he was doing like a child who had picked up a spider. He tried to control his breathing, stop himself from panicking, in a vain attempt to avoid the dinosaur tearing him in half as easily as someone opening a packet of sweets. He saw something red in the dinosaur's eye. Then he felt himself flying through the air before landing in cold water. Thank god it was deeper than he thought it was or otherwise he probably would not have survived. His head went under and he emerged with water stinging his eyes. Through the water he could see a red flare slowly descending.
The Indominus was roaring angrily at the flare allowing Ben to aim his rifle. Chiyo handed him some darts containing a cocktail of PCP and M99; something commonly used by the park to tranquilize the large carnivores. Ben fired but the dart harmlessly flicked off of the thick hide of the Indominus. Somehow the dinosaur felt it and turned around to roar at them. Ben fired again and the dart impaled the Indominus straight into her gum. The Indominus started thrashing around angrily; her tail swept against a nearby tree and snapped it in two like a toothpick. She gave a feeble cry and collapsed with a thud. Dripping wet he waded from the water to look at the pale body slowly rising up and down with her breath.
"Fancied a swim?" Nigel asked beaming.
"You know. I was a bit sweaty chasing dinosaurs so I went for a dip," he laughed. Everyone started laughing although that was more for relief than humour. Chiyo pulled out the second teardrop portal from her bag and passed it to Ben who went through. Chiyo also pulled out a red towel and draped it over his shoulders.
"Take your shirt off otherwise you'll get hypothermia," she said quietly but with a slight smile on her face "Dry yourself but keep the towel on you. Ben's getting Dr Paulson to look at your head."
Nigel was right next to the Indominus and placed his head on her stomach. He smiled brightly as his head rhythmically rose and fell with each breath. Jordan could not pass up this opportunity. He had never stroked a large theropod for obvious reasons so why not take the opportunity to stroke the largest one known? Her scales were warm to the touch. She had small bristles in between her strong scales which created a strange sensation under his hands. Chiyo was happily looking at her long curved black claws.
The portal opened behind them and a large truck came through with a series of mechanisms on the back used to transport the colossus dinosaur. Bob and Dr Paulson came through gasping at the size of the tranquilized dinosaur. Dr Paulson was looking at the back of his head while Bob was maneuvering tassels over the dinosaur who was slowly lifted onto the back of the truck.
"Jordan you amaze me," the doctor said chuckling "Encounter an Irish Elk and you get concussion for close to a week. Encounter the largest carnivore to walk the earth and you only have a slight graze."
Bob was walking around eagerly rubbing his hands and shouting orders to people. "Be careful she'll be the only female Indominus Rex. She's just beautiful Nigel. Jordan I have a feeling that you'll be getting a raise!"
Smiling he walked with Chiyo through the time portal. As soon as he emerged into the dusty holding pens something almost bowled him over. The wavy hair and smell of berries indicated that Maria was happy to see him.
"Why are you wet? Fancy a swim?" she asked half laughing half hysterical.
People were shouting about the roads being closed off so the female Indominus could quickly be transported to her enclosure without avoiding excitable guests. Chiyo started to climb a metal stairway up onto a walkway over the holding pens themselves so he and Maria followed her. Looking down on a pen the two males were tearing apart some bloody pulp. Simon Masrani was looking at them intently next to Nigel. He was gripping the banister of the walkway tightly so hard that his knuckles had turned white. Was he scared?
"I didn't know that they were white," he said quietly.
"Oh yes Simon," Nigel said almost too cheerfully. Was he fearful as well? "Easier to camouflage. We found out that they can even hide from thermal imagery by changing pigmentation in their skin. Perfectly disguising themselves in the mediums of light. Do you think the kids will be scared?"
"Nigel I will be honest. They will give the parents nightmares…"