The Novum smugglers' base was a hive of activity. Two brawny men were forcing a Coelophysis into a small cage, whilst animal parts such as Triceratops horns, Smilodon pelts, therizinosaur claws, Megatherium fur pelts and Hyneria fins, were being loaded into crates, ready for transport. It had been a week since the order had come – everything had to be ready to be shipped off this rock in two weeks. It was halfway to the deadline and the crew were working around the clock to make sure this was done.
Frank should have been supervising this. However, he was in his office, arguing with Duncan Kent over the communicator. Duncan's voice hissed, "I am telling you this is overkill! I have spent almost two years in my infiltration, gathering information for when the time was right – what you're proposing risks blowing my cover!" Frank rolled his eyes, "Well, I don't honestly trust you to do your part of the job properly – think of the black-ops squad as insurance, in case things go sideways…" Duncan snarled, "All I need is extraction – I don't need to be escorted…"
Suddenly, Percival von Grimm's voice hissed through the main communicator, "Stop arguing, you two!". Duncan seethed over the communicator, "Did he tell you what he wants? He wants you to send a black-ops team to help me retrieve the portal. A black-ops team." Frank glowered, "Well, boss, given that it's been almost two years now and we still haven't got the portal, I figured we'd need to pull out all the stops for one last play at it." Over the communicator, Percival sighed, "Frank, the portal was always our primary objective – Duncan was sent here to obtain it. However, getting this batch off that island is your primary objective – I want every asset you have on the mainland in a week. And retrieving the portal must be done with as stealthily as possible – as I reiterated to you after that breakout, Frank, one wrong move and you risk exposing us all." Frank glowered, "Yes, Mr. Grimm." Percival sighed, "Frank; how many times? It's von Grimm."
Meanwhile, at Prehistoric Earth, the team were coming off their latest mission to China, during the Pleistocene to bring back the giant ape Gigantopithecus. As the animals brought back were being transported to their new enclosures, Jack turned to Drew, beaming, "A success as usual, fearless leader! We now have a troop of Gigantopithecus, amongst other things, at the park!" Drew smiled, "Yeah, we've been on a roll lately; and we've only got one more mission till opening." Leon paused, "Have you ever really thought about opening day?" Drew gave him a look, "The opening day we spent two-and-a-half years of our lives trying to reach? Of course I have. However, there's one mission left; that takes priority."
One week later
Drew Luczyniski sat in his office, waiting for his team to arrive. Thankfully, they wouldn't be here for another few minutes, so he had some time to himself; some time to think about his current situation privately, before they arrived. The Gigantopithecus mission, one week ago, had gotten many people talking – the park opening to the public, that had once seemed so long ago, was now a few short weeks away.
He hadn't thought about the prospect of opening in a while; there were other, more important things to focus on, he reasoned. His mind was occupied on the mental trauma and nightmares he had suffered the aftermath of being trapped in the Cretaceous; the thought of what opening day might bring had barely occurred to him at all. However, thinking about it now, opening day suddenly became less intimidating than it was for some people – when you had spent the better part of the last year battling violent nightmares about dying in a mass extinction event, opening day nerves were butterflies in the tummy. And, who knew what this mission would bring?
His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. He turned to see Leon Gilbertson, Jack and Alice Denham walk in. Leon looked around, as if expecting to see other people in the room. Turning to Drew, Alice asked, "Is it just us today? What are we going after?"
"We're going back to Pleistocene Europe, after a creature you should all be familiar with", Drew smiled and pulled out a picture of a large, elephant-like creature, covered with brown hair; it was immediately recognisable to Leon, Jack and Alice, who looked at it with surprise. Drew smiled at them before continuing, "The woolly mammoth; the most famous extinct mammal of all."
"Inspired by Leon's sterling solo mission on the Smilodon trip", to which Leon grinned, "we will be doing this on two fronts. Leon and I will go back to Ireland, 30,000 years ago; where the North Sea is today but was then grassland. Meanwhile, Jack and Alice will go back to Poland, 10,000 years ago; this is where some of the last mammoths lived." He then proceeded to hand Jack and Alice a small journal and a remote. "As you know, you use the journal to identify any animals you see and, of course, you have a portal remote. Be careful and remember; no species left behind."
First up was the Poland team. When they arrived at the portal site, Jack and Alice were respectively surprised to find Will and Raksha, the latter of whom was wearing a dog-coat and on a leash, and Collete standing there. Approaching Alice greeted him, "Hi, Will!", to which Will looked at the floor, bashfully, and waved in reply. Raksha, for her part, excitedly greeted her surrogate mother. Smiling, Alice said, playfully, "Ready for your first mission?". Jack looked confused, first at Will and then at Alice, "Wait, they're coming with us?" Collete rolled her eyes, "Yes; Darrow had to clear it with the captain and Kyle – to his credit, he made a very convincing case…" Will piped in, "Pleistocene fauna is a speciality area for me – I wouldn't miss this opportunity for the world. And Raksha can help us track certain animals" Alice smiled at him and winked, "Of course, you wouldn't. And Raksha's going to be pretty good help." Jack and Collete looked at each other – were Will and Alice seeing this?
An employee entered the first time period and location and the portal flared to life at the push of a button. Jack put the portal remote in his pocket and, after making sure the remote was secured, he turned to Alice, Will, who both gave him a thumbs up and Raksha, who barked in affirmative. He smiled at them and nodded, and they entered through the portal.
After this, the Ireland team headed to the portal site. At the portal site, an employee entered the second time period and location and the portal flared to life at the push of a button. Shortly after, the portal opened. Drew put the portal remote in his pocket and secured it. He turned to Leon, who smiled at him. Drew smiled in return and they went through the gleaming portal.
After the blinding light from the portal dimmed down, the first thing that hit the two adventurers was the cold; having been so used to hot prehistoric climates, the cold was almost oppressive. They looked around and saw a snowy plain. Powdery snow blanketed brown grass and dwarf birch trees, their leaves shed, dotted the landscape almost skeletally. A chilly wind moved through the snowy plains. Leon muttered "It must be at the beginning of winter – that snow's only going to get worse."
The only animals present were a herd of mammoths. There were five adult females, a young adolescent male and one small, yearling calf. Drew smirked, "This is probably our easiest one yet; not many missions start with finding the target right in front of you. Let's send 'em back through the portal."
As they approached the herd, however, the matriarch noticed them, trumpeted angrily and began to advance menacingly towards them. Memories of the Deinotherium attempting to squash them flat in Pliocene Africa filled Drew and Leon's heads and they stepped back. The matriarch snorted in triumph – these interlopers would not go anywhere near her herd.
Leon turned to look at Drew, "Well, what do we do now? She's probably had bad encounters with Cro-Magnons." Before Drew could speak, the matriarch lifted her trunk and let out a loud, trumpeting bellow, before leading her herd away from the plains. Drew said, "We follow them; that looks like a migration to me. Who knows; at some point they might trust us enough to let us bring them back?" The two humans trudged through the snow, following the migrating mammoths.
Meanwhile, the Poland team were hit with similar cold – Jack and Alice had been so used to hot prehistoric eras that the windchill somehow felt even colder. After they'd gotten used to the cold, they looked around to see an open pine forest; the ground was covered in snow, as were the branches of the pines. Raksha, who had never seen snow before, was sniffing the air and pawing the ground curiously. It looked, for all in the world, like a picture in a Christmas card. Jack smiled, "How about we have a snowball fight when all this is over? It'll be just like old times!" Alice and Will both rolled their eyes at this statement, before laughing.
Their laughter was suddenly interrupted by a growl from Raksha; she'd smelt something. All three humans went rigid and turned to see an animal walk into the pine clearing. It looked like a large hind fallow deer – only the size of a moose hind. Unlike a fallow deer, its fur was a solid, light greyish brown colour, like a reindeer. A small fawn accompanied it.
Jack, Will and Alice went rigid – they knew what this was. Megaloceros – the famous Irish elk; one of the largest deer species in history. And, given how protective smaller deer could be of their fawns….
The mother sniffed the air as she noticed the humans and Raksha; Alice bent down and quietened the growling bear-dog. Suddenly, and much to Alice and Will's surprise, Jack began walking towards the large deer, slowly and deliberately. As Jack walked closer, the mother flattened her ears, pawed the ground again and snorted. Eventually, the hind had decided that Jack had gotten too close and, lowered her head and began to slowly walk towards him, before suddenly throwing her head back and charging at him. When she had gotten close enough, Jack activated the portal and the deer, not changing her course, charged through. The fawn, as if confused, followed its mother through the glowing orb.
Jack turned to Will, Alice and Raksha, "I call that one the Drew-Bullfight Manoeuvre. And, with that out of the way, let's get searching for mammoths…" Suddenly, a loud, pained bellow echoed through the air, causing all three humans and the bear-dog to go rigid. After the call had ceased, Jack spoke, "After we find out what made that."
