Earth – New Beginning
Dragonlots aka Dana Bell
Chapter 17 – Future Awaits
Sheba growled, her short tail twitching. Laura paused knowing the Sabre cat sensed danger or at the very least something not quite right. Cautiously she peered through the thick undergrowth, gasping at what she saw.
Sitting in the middle of the lake, the Brachiosaurus peacefully munching tree leaves completely ignoring it, sat glittering spires reaching toward the blue sky. The city floated on the clear water, the flying reptiles avoiding the tempting heights they were always fond of.
"Now where did you come from?" Laura muttered.
The cat hissed.
"I agree." She glanced around for a tall tree to sit in and observe. "You can hunt, Sheba."
Instead of leaving Sheba followed her to a large tree and hunched down in the shade behind the large gnarled roots. Laura climbed up using the vines and settled in a hollow so she could watch the herds. Several females hovered at the far side and she assumed the nest sat there.
Nothing small scampered around the adults legs, so the eggs probably hadn't hatched yet. If Laura could gather a few babies, and not risk getting stomped on by the adults, she might be able to begin her long planned domestication program.
Whether Commander Taylor could see or not, since they were cut off from 2149, there would be no further replacement parts and rovers would eventually break down and not be repairable. They'd need a new form of transportation and it was here job to make sure they had one.
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"Your reports are amazingly detailed," Dr. Malcom Wallace complimented Dr. Quest.
"Thank you," he replied looking around the other man's office. Books sat on the shelf and many reports sat in stacks on the floor. "I knew you'd need complete information."
"I'm amazed you got even further than our previous exploration parties." He laid the first report on his desk. "Plus suggested sites for planting colonies."
"Terra Nova will need to expand."
"Great foresight," the Science chief murmured, his eyes scanning the next file.
Dr. Quest smiled. "How long have our visitors been here?"
"Huh?" Malcolm looked up. "The first group contacted us a few weeks ago. Dr. Jackson has done a great job on learning their language and that translator they have has proven to be very useful."
The mention of Dr. Jackson caused Benton to blink in surprise. He'd worked with a brilliant linguist, Dr. Daniel Jackson, on some sort of classified project he'd never been cleared to know about. The new discovered languages had been intriguing and he'd longed to find out where they'd been found. Perhaps Terra Nova's language expert was the man's descendant.
Maddy Shannon stuck her head in door. Today she wore shorts and simple top. "Uh, Dr. Sheppard says she's getting signals from that city she told you about." The girl's eyes briefly rested on Dr. Quest.
"I'll her I'll be right there." He reluctantly put the file aside and rose. "If you don't mind, Dr. Quest, we'll continue later."
"Mind if come along," he responded, curious about this mysterious city.
Dr. Wallace rubbed his jaw. "Your observations might tell us more that we know or at least give us a fresh set of eyes."
Maddy rolled hers and scampered away.
Benton laughed and followed the other man. This new colony was filled with mystery and wonder. He couldn't wait to see what they discovered next.
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Barnabas pulled his body closer to the rock, trying to stay in its shadow. He pulled his coat over his body to protect him the sun's deadly rays. Heat waves danced over the sand and heat from the large boulder penetrated even his cold body.
The Badlands were mostly desert and deserted. Some more hardly reptiles lived there and had yet to be discovered and studied. Granted he wasn't the expert like his cousin Laura.
His eyes dropped closed and he fell into the sleep of the undead, his thoughts focused on finding Lucas Taylor and ending him. When the other vampire was dead, Barnabas would walk out into the sun and perish.
The time had come to end Angelique's curse on him and the entire Collins family. Their new life deserved to be free from the mistakes of the past.
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Damp warmth penetrated Laura's clothes and she shrugged out of cloak. She liked to sleep wrapped in it, but not when the temperatures rose.
Her eyes darted to the lake. Not much had changed. The eggs hadn't hatched and she hadn't seen any movement from the city.
Sheba napped below and had shown no interest in hunting like she normally did. Maybe her meals of the invasive dinosaurs had filled her up or else the cat's earlier unease kept her close to Laura.
Her mind drifted back to Terra Nova or more specifically focused on Dr. Benton Quest. She'd been attracted to him from the beginning, yet had kept her distance because he and his family had wanted to go explore their new world and hadn't known when they'd return.
With their return, her heart strongly urged her to consider a possible future with the scientist. He had wanted her to travel with them and had been disappointed, although he tried not to show it, when she'd opted to stay in Terra Nova. She'd never told him how hard it had been not to join him and his family.
Or maybe she'd hesitated because of the long standing curse on the Collins family. Many had lost their spouses and had been forced to live along and without love. A trend spanning back generations according to the family history she'd been reading since Barnabas had left.
She hoped for his sake he found and ended Lucas Taylor. The Commander's son had brought nothing but pain and misery to the colony starting when he'd disappeared. Then he'd managed to get the terminus to go both ways and finally brought the Phoenix group and the money hungry men who had tried to destroy Terra Nova.
When they'd left suddenly in the middle of night, she, like everyone else, had been relieved. Laura had been OTG at the time and had joined Taylor and his soldiers, along with the Shannons who had been rescued. Later her oldest cousin had joined them with his daughter Sienna.
What troubled her is why the Phoenix group and the sixers had left to begin with and traveled to the Badlands. Very little lived out there.
Except, they had found the carved prow of an old wooden sailing vessel in one of the cargo containers they'd planned to take back to 2149. She'd been there when Taylor, Jim Shannon and his wife, plus a couple of soldiers had opened. It had proved what the physicists had thought all along. Opening the fracture had caused leakage dragging creatures from other time periods into places where they didn't belong. The anomalies from the early twenty first century had proven them correct. It had also caused the unexpected arrival of the Quest family and she suspected the space fleet in orbit around the planet had suffered the same fate.
Her attention returned to the city. "Now we have you to worry about," she accused the artful city. "Where do you fall into all this?"
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The Adama Journals
The people of Terra Nova are working to build a better tomorrow. From what we have learned their future world was dying the environment stripped away and the oxygen so depleted it will not sustain human life much longer.
Their colony is a hope to set the path straight and not repeat the mistakes made by generations yet to be born. A long term goal to which they will never see the result.
My pressing concern is how will we the survivors of the lost twelve worlds fit into their model and will our different beliefs and customs be welcomed?
I believe the Lords of Kobol led us here. My duty has been fulfilled as I have brought them to Earth. Perhaps not the one I had hoped for to help us fight back against the Cylons who appear not to have followed us into the distant past. Instead a brighter tomorrow for all of us.
My prayers are that the Quorum sees the unique chance offered us and embraces helping to colonize this untamed and vast planet. For we had finally reached Earth.
