As much as Ethan enjoyed reading, he had gotten bored of it far sooner than Sienna did. But that was alright because he had a dinosaur to play with. Ethan had found a worn out fuzzy yellow ball on the floor, tucked into the corner of the couch. So far, not only was Blue great at playing fetch, she'd also play find the ball too. No matter where Ethan hid it, she was always about to find it really fast. Too fast really. That game got old really quick.
Ethan was trying to teach her to sit when the door swung open again. This time, Josh was accompanied by a short, soft woman with long, messy blonde hair. "Hey group, this is my mum, Ruth."
"Hi kids," she bustled over to Sienna and pulled her up from the couch by both arms. "Look at you! Let's get you both upstairs where it's comfortable. Oh and this must be Blue," she turned to the dino-mo-gen. "Isn't she a sweet little thing?"
Sienna shook her hands free, slipping one finger between the pages of her book. "Nice to meet you Ruth," she said politely. They had both been taught good manners in school.
"Hi Ruth," Ethan echoed.
"Now, we've turned all the external lights off, so no-one will be able to see us. Do you think you'll be okay in the dark?"
Ethan laughed at that, rolling his eyes at Sienna,
"We'll be fine," the girl clarified.
"Well, grab what you need then. Will one of you bring Blue?" Her voice sounded light, but the look she cast at the velociraptor was accompanied with a shiver.
"I've got her," Ethan declared. Sienna looked like she was about to argue, but then her eyes swept by Josh and she clamped her mouth shut.
The parade from garage to platform was quite strange with Josh leading the way, Sienna loping slightly behind. Next came Ethan half dragging and half coaxing his theropod, leaving Ruth to turn out the light and close the door behind them.
The platform was exactly what it sounded like - a large rectangle of wood. It had a wooden barrier around the outside though and in each corner a post with pulleys attached at the top. All of them seemed connected to a system in the centre back where Josh situated himself. Once they were all standing on the wood, Josh started hauling on a rope which began to engage the pulleys and raised the platform relatively smoothly.
Ethan was enthralled with the system, looking at each pulley in the corners, looking to see where they joined and where the rope Josh pulled on was connected. Josh, who had built the system was happy enough to answer any of his questions and seemed more than happy to allow the younger boy to pull on the rope.
They reached the top without incident only to discover what Dr. Santos had been telling them about the houses in trees. Ethan hadn't really considered where the platform was going until it arrived at a wood and rope bridge leading to a darkened building that appeared to be wrapped around the trunk of the tree. Josh led the way, stepping confidently out onto the bridge. Sienna was close behind. Ethan was a little slower. He was excited about crossing the bridge, but it was tricky trying to get Blue to the narrow entrance.
Once she was in line, Ethan took his first steps on the bridge to show her what to do. However, Blue's first step onto the unsteady surface caused the whole length of it to ripple and swing. Ethan stumbled, catching the rope barriers on either side to steady himself. The rope shook again, the wooden slats swinging left to right. It was a struggle just to turn around to face the dinosaur. As he reached about 90 degrees where he could make out her shape in the dark, she slashed wildly, her forclaw catching on the rope support. The claw caught, causing the bridge to shudder again. Trapped, Blue flung her forearm about. It popped free, the sudden release sending her stumbling backwards into Ruth who was still behind. The older lady stumbled back, tripping over her feet and landing solidly on her bottom, legs outstretched. Blue then tripped over her legs and stumbled sidewards this time. "No!" Ethan yelled diving for her before she disappeared over the edge of the platform. He fell way short, landing on Ruth's legs, but Blue dexterously caught her footing and her balance, her tail, swinging, then propping and she came to be still.
Moments later Josh, Sienna, Dr. Santos and Audrey all arrived on the platform, Audrey apologising profusely that she hadn't considered Blue crossing the bridge. It took some time, some failures and too many scratches to finally get Blue across the bridge. Partly with Sienna demonstrating foot placement, partly Audrey and Santos on either side of Blue stopping her from flailing about, Josh muttering under his breath about maximum weight on the bridge. But succeed they did, so that finally they reached the first of four tree houses.
"How do you kids feel about sleeping here for the night?" Ruth asked as they watched Blue be maneuvered those last steps. "The real bedrooms are over there." She nodded her head towards a tree house across another bridge in the dark.
"I think this will be fine," Ethan nodded. He was too tired to consider trying to get Blue across another bridge tonight.
"I'll go get some sheets and blankets. You'll be nice and cosy inside. Why don't you go in. Get yourselves nice and comfy."
The kids eyed the windows of the building. There were thin slithers of light shining through gaps of the curtains, but that was all they could see. Sienna shrugged and headed towards the doorway, Ethan a step behind. Seemingly happy with this, Ruth disappeared across a bridge into the dark.
Stepping inside, both kids were impressed. It really was a tree house! In the centre of the room was the tree trunk. There was an island bench about a metre from it, long enough to need to be arced. And a meter from that was the living room set - couch, recliners even hammock chairs hanging from branches that disappeared up into the ceiling. The windowed wall was another metre beyond the furthest chair and circular all the way around. They didn't get the chance to explore what looked like the kitchen on the trunk-side of the bench or see anything on the other side of the trunk before Dr. Santos, Audrey and Blue came in.
Blue circled and sniffed both kids as if they were the ones who had been in danger, but quickly settled into her haunches by the door.
"You did promise us a tree house," Ethan grinned at Dr. Santos. "This is excellent!" He stepped over to the window to peep out. Being completely black outside he let the curtain fall back again and returned his attention to the room. "That lady said she was getting us some beds."
"I think you'll find sleeping in here, even on the floor will be a lot more comfortable than your last couple of nights," Santos said with a smile. "But we have some things to discuss before you go to sleep if you're up to it."
"Sure," Sienna stepped forward. "We got plenty of sleep on the transport."
Ethan sighed. He would have liked some sleep - he hadn't slept anywhere near as much as Sienna had today. Between the boat and the transport he was surprised she'd stayed awake long enough to walk from the final terminal. But he followed Dr. Santos' gesture towards the lounge setting.
He dove for the hammock chair, turning to look proudly at whomever he had beaten to it, only to discover that no-one else had tried. Their loss. He settled back down into it, pulling his feet up under him. Sienna took the other one in a calm manner. She was trying to act adult. Ethan rolled his eyes at her, then lowering one leg again, used it to swing himself. Moving faster than he had expected, he found himself face to face for a half moment with Audrey before the downswing pulled him back away. Fortunately, Audrey didn't seem to mind. She gave him a grin before lowering herself on to the recliner, perching on the edge as if she were ready to leap off in a second.
"So, what do we need to discuss?" Sienna asked once the adults were both comfortably seated.
"Your choices," Dr. Santos replied. Unlike Audrey, they leaned back into the couch, one leg propped up so the ankle rested on the knee of the other. "We have several options, but I'm afraid-"
"We want to go to school!" Sienna burst in just before Ethan had managed to say the same. "With other kids though. Not like in the compound."
This had been a central point to many of their planning discussions. They really wanted to meet other kids and make friends. Having each other had been great, but the idea of making friends with other kids like in the beforetime clips was tantalizing.
"Okay," Santos leaned forward, resting their elbows on their legs, right hand raised up to their chin. "Let's talk about what that might look like. We spoke earlier about how the other kids will look different to you. They will have never met children with dinosaur genetics before. You could be up front with them, and show them your legs," they indicated to Sienna, "and your eyes." This time to Ethan. "As much as it pains me to say this, this may scare the children and children can be cruel." Ethan looked at Sienna and noticed the dismay on her face matched his own feelings. "The alternative would be to hide. Baggy pants, big shoes, long hair. You would constantly be afraid they would discover the truth and they may still tease you for your disguises." Ethan pulled his leg back up and hugged it to himself. They had never really considered it might be hard for them in a school. They only really imagined how much fun they would have. "Maybe when Josh returns he can help you decide. He would have more of an idea of what the kids would be like."
Sienna lowered her head, then raised it, her big, dark eyes staring at Dr. Santos. "Okay."
"What about dINo-Gen?" Ethan asked. They would have to wait for Josh to answer the first problem, so he wanted to move onto the next.
"I will return tomorrow morning. I plan to tell them I thought I had found your tracks but was mistaken. I found no real evidence that you had left the building at all. Audrey's name is well regarded. When I explain I had her with me, they should trust that." They glanced across at Audrey who shrugged slightly, her eyes narrowed in thought. "With luck they will believe something happened to you. They will take many days to know for certain, if they ever do."
"Because security is in a mess right now," Audrey cut in. "They won't know anything about anything for ages."
"Yes, a big mess."
At that moment, Ruth entered, followed by Josh, both their arms full of blankets. It wouldn't get too cold here, it never did, but blankets would be soft to sleep on.
"Oh, you don't have anything to drink!" she exclaimed on entry. "Josh, get them something while I set up the beds." She disappeared around the far side of the tree. They could hear her bustling about.
"What do you all want?"
"Just water thanks," Sienna voice was barely above a whisper. Then she turned to Santos: "should we help her with the beds?" The doctors were always able to answer any questions they had about people they saw in clips. This seemed like a protocol.
"How about I do that so you can stay and ask Josh your questions." Audrey arched to her feet and disappeared after her sister.
"What questions do you have?" Josh asked after receiving everyone's drink orders and handing them out.
"What are kids like?" Sienna asked just as Ethan blurted:
"Are we freaks?"
Josh laughed kindly. "You know, they're both really big questions." He took a sip of his own glass of water. "I've definitely never seen anyone as unique as you two. But I can also see you're a lot like me, so hopefully you're not too freaky." Ethan laughed at this, Sienna focused on wiping the drips of water that she'd managed to spill on herself. "You know when I was your age, we had a boy come into our grade whose brain worked differently to the kids already in the class. The teacher explained why and what that meant for the kid and gave us a chance to ask a whole bunch of questions, so later, when the boy joined us, we knew all about it. We were a little awkward at first, wondering what we could or couldn't say, but it didn't take long for us to start talking about regular kid stuff and soon we didn't even notice his brain worked in a different way - well, sometimes we did - sometimes he did something we thought was strange until we remembered why and we accepted it. I think if you talk to kids they're pretty wise."
"I hadn't thought of looking at it that way," Dr. Santos spoke up, eyes shining. "I didn't always have great experiences in school, but the good ones were when I was able to communicate honestly. It might take some effort to organise, but if you're keen we'll give it a shot."
"Yes! Please!" both kids cried.
"Okay then. That's decided. Tomorrow, I will have to leave early to go back to dINo-Gen. I imagine Audrey will need to return to her job too. Will you be alright here until we return tomorrow night?"
"We get to hang out in the tree houses? Awesome!"
"And Josh tells me he has plenty of books if you get bored. You'll need to remember if you're outside, the neighbours won't understand about you yet, so be discrete."
They both nodded.
"The beds are ready," Ruth announced stepping back into view. "And I think I know just the teacher who can help us out with this."
"Perfect and perfect," Dr. Santos rose to their feet. "I will have to leave early tomorrow to get to work on time, so I'm going to turn in. Don't stay up too late kids."
"Josh, show Dr. Santos where to find their bed." The two of them left giving the kids a chance to explore the other side of the tree trunk. There wasn't a lot there. A book case, and a bed that looked like it was once a sofa. There was also a pile of blankets on the floor in a nest.
"Come here, Blue!" Sienna called. A moment later their pet came into view. "Look, it's a bed just for you." Blue sniffed at it, then settled down next to it, completely disinterested in the comfort or warmth it might provide. "Oh well," Sienna said with a shrug.
"There's a bathroom in the next hut with toothbrushes and clothes to sleep in." Ruth gave more directions about where to find adults in the night and being careful on the bridges before she and Audrey left them to settle themselves down for the night.
Even once they were in bed though, neither kid slept. They were both far too excited with discussing tree houses and schools and living happily ever after.