It was the third day of driving back from Florida. Stegron stoically endured the hardships of travel so far, rarely complaining about his crammed legs, stiff tail or aching back due to the lack of movement in this rather uncomfortable position. Though he enjoyed the warmer climate down South, the saurian had to admit he was fairly certain to decline the next offer to ride this far in the future.
In prehistoric world large size was a matter of survival. The math was simple: small creatures can't eat you and anything smaller is at your mercy if you can catch it. Of course Stegron was only part dinosaur, a hybrid, not even nearly as large as his ancient brethren got, but even that much was seemingly scratching the borders of what was acceptable by humans. The dinosaurian Doctor commonly found himself in frustratingly narrow areas, usually also surrounded by lots of small and easily breakable stuff everywhere that humans liked to cram their places with; needlessly miniscule devices he struggled to even hold properly in his claws, let alone operate; and endless crowds of stinking, dirty mammals schooling everywhere like fish or insects to the point where entire boroughs would be reeking with their toxic scents.
The lack of movement was making him uneasy again. Stegron took a deep breath, trying to calm down, but it helped little to subdue his irritation. The saurian wanted out of the metal coffin, get his lungs full of cold, fresh air and feel the solid ground again under his feet. The slight breeze from the window did little to calm him down.
The journey was tiresome for Connors too, but in his mind it was totally worth it. Earlier on this very road he was both afraid and looking forward to making peace with his more feral side. However, he was also very much anticipating spending some time with his friend away from work, almost like in the good old days before any of 'that' happened. Now he was looking forward to meeting his family again and couldn't wait to see their happy faces when he would proudly proclaim that they had nothing to fear ever again. He would ruffle little Billy's hair, rub his muzzle against Martha's warm cheeks and hug the two of them with all the love they deserved.
[+]
Stegron sleepily half-opened a bright green eye as he tried to carefully stretch the aching feet in a desperate attempt to improve his blood circulation at least somewhat, only to find his toes hopelessly jammed against the rug and knees bumping into the glove box, again. He could bear this torture no longer. Just as he was about to ask Connors about the next stop, something behind the window caught his attention. There were fences up ahead closing off a part of the road and a significant commotion of people in white and brown-green military uniforms. Stegron curiously examined them, also noticing some people in the crowd with civilian robes who held cameras and microphones, trying to get closer to the gates in the middle of the road despite the protests of soldiers. On the other side there were some military vehicles and ambulances in what appeared to be a mobile camp Apparently this caught Curt's interest too as he dropped the speed.
The sky in the direction of the closed road was marked with unnatural dark grayness with hints of black and red reflecting in the clouds, somewhat reminding of volcanic activity, but with considerably less smog. May be a forest fire? Connors stopped the car at the side of the road with a worried look. His concern was understandable since the incident was only a few hours' drive away from his home. He waited for a human to pass by before opening the window just enough so he could talk without being seen.
"I beg your pardon" Connors addressed the passing woman. "I live nearby. Could you tell me what happened here?"
"It was a terrorist attack!" The woman exclaimed. "Someone bombed the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station almost a week ago. The explosion leveled the nearby town! Crazy! Most people managed to evacuate in time, but those closer to the plant were harder to reach. I heard there are still some townsfolk left, but the military can't rescue them. The terrorist is apparently still on the plant and demands crazy ransom from the Governor. He threatens another, even bigger explosion by the end of the day if the Governor does not comply or if the military does anything suspicious. He already shot a helicopter the day before. Apparently he can track vehicles or something, so we can't even go in by air. The only option would be to send a small rescue team on foot, but it is impossible without the protective gear, and the supplier, Stark Industries, has only agreed to provide the suits for another astronomical cost which even the government cannot afford! Just how rotten can you get when there are real people dying out there! What a monster that Stark is!"
"You don't sssay" Stegron mumbled under his breath.
"This iss horrible! Sso there are sstill people out there and nobody can do anything?!" Connors turned to his orange friend. "We sshould help, Vinccent!"
"Curt. Sssorry, but I don't want anything to do with mammalsss" Stegron snorted, turning away, a hint of deep sadness in his eyes. "They will not appreccciate me for what I am. For them, I am a monssster, a nuisssanccce whom they want out of sssight, dead or chained and thrown into a cage for the ressst of my life at the firssst opportunity, like they have done already"
"Come on, don't be so grumpy" Curt tried to encourage his friend. "You know there are good and honesst people out there who have familiess and who jusst want to live in peace like everyone elsse. Not everyone iss hateful towardss reptiless; ssurely you know that by now! Take Martha for example. Sshe iss sso kind and caring, sso undersstanding! I feel bad ssometimess to give her all the trouble jusst becausse I am… like thiss. But sshe undersstandss and doessn't pussh me. I can be frusstratingly ssluggissh in the morningss, but sshe letss me move at my own pace and I am grateful for all her patience" he paused. "Vincent, we cannot jusst abandon them if there iss ssomething we can do! If Billy wass there, would you jusst leave him? "
"Don't be ridiculousss. He isss not there"
"Perhapss not. But ssomeone'ss Billy iss"
"Jusst let me do the talking" Connors regarded his scaly friend with some concern as he was well aware of the latter's unwillingness to subdivide the Mammalia class any further in conversations. It was not the case that he didn't trust Stegron to do a better job if he just put his effort into it, but he didn't trust him enough for such an important task just yet.
"And put the pantss on"
Stegron indistinctly growled, rolling his eyes before reaching out for the custom-made black lycra shorts Connors brought with him for the trip. They might look a bit strange on the first glance as they didn't have the rear to allow for a thick reptilian tail and instead were supported with a series of belts around the legs and the waist. The saurian paused with the shorts in his claws, casting the last pleading glance back at Curt who remained surprisingly decisive and unmoved.
"Can't be helped then" Stegron gave in reluctantly. He still failed to see the need to cover himself, but seeing Curt suddenly so determined made him more willing to go along just this one time. To his surprise the material was very light and elastic, somewhat like rubber, but not as uncomfortable as he expected against his scales. Yet still distracting.
Both travelers made their way to the gates through the crowd as soldiers, medics and reporters turned and gradually gave way to them in fear. Colonel Brown, who was in charge of the operation, was timely alarmed about the appearance of suspicious visitors seeking a meeting with him and went ahead to resolve the situation personally.
The two patiently awaited him on the other side of the barriers. One appeared to be a scientist of sorts at first glance, sporting a baggy lab coat, purple trousers, a sweater and shoes, which gave him a surprisingly and disturbingly human-like appearance despite the clearly reptilian tail and snout. The other was an even larger and intimidatingly muscular orange reptilian creature with a sharp beak, bright green eyes and two sets of distinct brown boney plates running along its wide back and to the tip of a two and half meter long tail. No doubt some kind of mutants. Colonel Brown was already about to turn around and order someone else to escort them, but the green lizard-like creature waved immediately upon seeing him, drawing his attention in an exaggerated manner he couldn't pretend not to have noticed, as if that was needed.
"Colonel" The lizard-man bowed lightly before the soldier had a chance to turn him down. "Pleasse hear me out. My name iss Dr. Curtiss Connorss and thiss iss my colleague Dr. Vincent Sstegron" he motioned towards the orange creature behind him. "We are here ass memberss of the National Sscience Foundation to take part in thiss mission on behalf of the sscience department. We would humbly requesst your permission to enter the dessignated area."
The soldier looked taken aback in equal parts by the messengers and message itself. Even though Connors tried his best to sound as friendly as possible, there was still an audible lisp to his pronunciation, not to mention two rows of sharp white teeth. Brown heard about real weirdoes working in NSF these days, but surely they didn't just hire an alligator to do their job?!
"Make them leave. Only authorized personnel is allowed"
"But we are authorized" Connors insisted, flashing his new lab badge, so kindly provided by his superiors at the research facility. Being a member of NSF granted him crucial privileges in accessing research material around the world, which added to the importance of passing the probation period to renew his membership. He still had the old badge too, but that was mostly out of nostalgia. Hardly anybody would recognize him by his old photo anyway. He still liked to look at it from time to time just to remind himself of what he was like and what he had lost, but it was of no practical use.
The Colonel looked at the document scrupulously, suspiciously comparing the photo with the person in front of him until he gave up trying to look like he could tell one lizard from another. Something about the introduction rang a bell though.
"The name sounds familiar" the soldier finally admitted a little softer.
"I do believe we met before, Colonel. Curtiss Connorss iss the name. Third Infantry Division?" The Lizard pried.
"Connors?!" A shadow of recognition and surprise crossed the man's stern face. "You mean that very Connors?! Oh my God! What happened to you, Doc?! You look… greener than I remember"
"My friendss tend to tell me that. It was a side effect of one experiment" Connors smiled despite the hurtful words. He knew Colonel was not to blame for this reaction. "Too long a sstory. I can fill you in ssome other time, but for now we really are in a hurry, aren't we? I've heard there are sstill people out there who have not been evacuated?"
"Yeah… About fifty-sixty men or so. They were in the part of the city right next to the station. The fields there are still burning and the temperature near the reactor is too high. We can't get there without the protective gear. Furthermore there was a disruption with food supplies and we are out of food and even water. The locals are helping us however they can, but I don't think we can stay another day like this. Even if my soldiers come back, there is nothing to treat them with. Sorry, buddy, but I am not sending my men on a one-way trip"
"Sso, basically, you need ssomeone who could ssurvive in posst-explosion heat, quite possibly with no food or water, and to treat the wounded, pluss ssomeone who would be knowledgeable enough to sshut down a power plant given the chance? Colonel. I have to admit the last bit is not entirely in my sscope of interesstss, but I am more than confident that between the two of usss, we are about the besst ssuited for thiss mission. Any life we can ssave is worth ssaving"
"Don't be crazy, Connors! I fell for your poetic speeches once and that almost got you killed! Well, it got you armless if I remember correctly" he glanced at the reptile's both healthy arms with some uncertainty. "I'll repeat: I am not sending my men on a one-way trip. You haven't been there. It's 122 ° F (50 ° C). You'll get boiled alive. Nothing can survive there without the gear"
"I wass prepared for worsse" Curt retorted confidently. "I have to admit it'ss obvioussly higher than my preferred range thesse dayss, but fairly tolerable. Collonel, I do believe we have an advantage here you do not have. Not only am I a medic that can help thosse in need, but reptiless do not wasste energy like humanss and are very ressilient. Thiss sshould be no problem! Pleasse, let uss help! If there are people ssuffering out there, I cannot jusst sstand by and do nothing!"
The Colonel finally gave in, letting them pass. Connors was always such a goody two-shoes with his heroic declarations that it was almost adorable, Stegron thought. Truth be told, that was one of the things he always secretly admired about his colleague. That was how he used to believe humans should have been: proud, selfless and working together for the greater good. He admitted he was mistaken. But Connors never gave up; he was still true to himself, unable to leave those in need and always rushing first to help. Ironically, that was what turned his life into this mess in the first place. He saved countless lives at the expense of his own. However, who knows, if that faithful night he happened to pass by Vincent's lab, another little human's life might have been saved.
It still wasn't too late. Stegron knew from his studies that behind his prehistoric entourage and deep in his mesothermic heart there still were parts of his human DNA, responsible for his human-like proportions and intelligence. The few tests he ran on himself out of curiosity showed very little correlation with his past medical records, but numbers did not matter. He of all people should know better than trust simple numbers. No matter how improbable the chances, how low the probability, when something was fated to happen, it would happen, even against all the odds, against all numbers. He was the prime example of that. Any logically deducing person would say that the series of events that happened to him on that fateful night were extremely unlikely. It was more probable that all oxygen in the air would coincidentally move to one hemisphere as a result of the random movement of molecules, and the other hemisphere would suffocate. Possible, but extremely unlikely. Yet, here he was. There could only be one explanation. This was what he was meant to be, and it would have happened one way or another. It was a Twist of Fate. He just knew it.
And he welcomed it. Choosing anything over his dull, miserable and regretful past human existence was better. Even though he was a geneticist by education, paleontology has always been his favourite hobby and he dreamed about his own pet dinosaur since he was little. He was always fascinated by these majestic creatures and dreamed to bring them back. Yet, he could never imagine he himself would become one. Nothing happens without a reason. Was it his destiny? For some reason, scientists turned a blind eye on this, but Stegron was never afraid to question exactly what he observed. Mammals were just too simple minded to see the bigger picture. Some would call it a misfortune, a terrible accident, but in Stegron's eyes the event that changed him was more of a blessing than a curse, the one in a million chance to let him shed his past failures and start the life from a new page as a better being.
However, not everything went as he had hoped. Now Stegron was stuck between the two worlds, so to speak – neither fully a dinosaur, nor a human. The others of his kind that he'd seen in Savage Land on one of his expeditions were little more than savage beasts, driven, seemingly, only by their basic instincts. He spent some time with them, but it only deepened his disappointment. Stegron could hardly call these creatures his brothers and sisters with an open heart. Soon he realized they were not what he longed for. But what was it then? Did he want someone more… human? Stegron thought everything has changed after he became different and that he could start his life anew, but the truth was that he still felt out of place, unable to connect with anyone – neither humans, nor dinosaurs. What saddened him was the understanding that there wasn't another living being quite like him in the entire world. Connors was the closest to him in that sense and that was another reason he treasured their friendship so highly.
[+]
Stegron snapped back to awareness, realizing the two of them had already walked some distance away from the camp and the only scents in the air were still only those of dust, dried up grass and sand. The road was quickly getting worse, eventually the concrete fusing into a ground road. Stegron led the way and Curt followed right behind, the long spiky tail waving rhythmically in front of the lizard Doctor from side to side as the two of them disappeared into a raising sandstorm. It was starting to get noticeably hotter as they approached the darker skies. The sand was flying all around, getting in Connors' shoes, sleeves and even under the collar.
In a way, the sandstorm was a bit of a blessing for Connors. His lizard body could not generate any heat by itself and was the same temperature as the air around him, drawing energy from the Sun. Usually, being in warmer weather conditions was only benefiting him, because that gave him more energy to work with, but even he had his limits. Because he could neither warm up, nor cool down without external factors, he'd have to find shadows to avoid overheating, which the sandstorm mercifully provided, albeit at a cost of visibility.
Unlike lizards, dinosaurs were not truly cold-blooded, as was the common misconception, or, rather, not as cold-blooded. They were mesatherms. Like most other reptiles, they also did not have a constant body temperature, but their metabolism was faster and they managed to stay in a more or less stable range with a variety of helping anatomical factors. Of course Stegron's sheer size made the fluctuations less dramatic, but the back plates also played a critical role in increasing the surface area that needed to cool down or warm up. As such he could preserve or disperse some heat through them by regulating the blood flow, making him cooler or warmer as he needed.
When the sandstorm subsided, the two reptiles found themselves on the outskirts of a small abandoned town. The grey houses stood empty and silent, with shattered walls and toppled roofs. There was rubble everywhere the eye could see and the air was thick and poisonously nauseous. Connors flinched and covered the snout, his scales visibly going darker by the second - a sure sign of negative emotions in lizards.
"Is he afraid?" Stegron deduced. He could not blame his friend. They both knew what was coming by now. The town reeked with the stench of death and decay. There hardly could be anyone left to save. It was almost certain that all those who could not evacuate in time were already dead.
The reptiles looked inside a desolated building with an old car lying upside down in the hallway. Stegron didn't want to question how that even happened. There was a thick stench of oil and something else as they got nearer. Curt called out for survivors, but Stegron didn't even bother. He knew for certain what had happened even before they saw a limp hand coming from under the roof. Connors covered his snout again and rushed outside. Stegron paused for just a moment longer before following him.
He stopped behind his friend, who tried to catch his breath on the other side of the street. The Lizard's scales became even darker in colour. He was visibly shaken. Stegron remained more impartial, but their own safety was now a clear cause for concern. One thing was clear – they had to move faster. If the humans were not killed in an explosion, they met their end days later from radiation. The sooner they would be done with it the better. Just as Stegron was finally about to call his friend, Connors suddenly turned with a surprisingly determined look in his eyes.
"We have to sstop him" he said. "And if the heat doessn't kill uss, radiation will. We need to hurry"
Stegron nodded, unsure what else to add. This pretty much summed up the plan now that the rescue part was crossed out. They marched in silence across the town. Occasionally Connors would call out, offering help and stay still for a few seconds, listening for answers, but it was all in vain.
Soon, the two of them saw the walls of the power plant, but not as soon as either would like. The ominous building towered over the little houses, throwing a shadow over the rabble. Stegron looked up, then to the side, catching a scent he found somewhat strange. He looked, puzzled, at Connors.
"Do you sssmell it?"
The other reptile shook his head. The saurian's sense of smell was not as acute as the Lizard's, certainly not to the level of being able to decompose the chemical composition of molecules in the air, but good enough to track down prey. Did Curt really miss this odour or did he just judge it as nothing of interest? By the looks of it, however, he really didn't notice. Perhaps the dinosaur was just luckier with the wind. Stegron wasn't sure if it was worth wasting their time to investigate, but he felt lured by the mystery.
"You go ahead. I'll check thisss quickly and join you"
Connors nodded, taking off to the building in the distance.
