The first thing Drew felt when he arrived was the sensation of his body being surrounded by cold water. He landed with a loud splash, scaring some small animals on the ocean floor, his teammates soon followed creating equally large splashes. Eventually their bodies got accustomed to the frigid water and that, on top of the insulation, kept them slightly warm.
"Ok, let's test the communicators in the suits. Can you all hear me?" Drew asked to his team. After getting OK signals from his team, he began to explain his plan, "Right, guys, we only have a few hours' worth of air, so this mission will have to be done quick. I already saw some small creatures on the sea floor, so I say we look for those first."
"Why are we looking for those small creatures exactly?" Jack asked.
Drew looked at him before responding, "Because they're extinct species and it's our duty to save them. Before I set off, I gave myself a motto; "no species left behind". Even if they aren't endangered at the time doesn't give us any reason to leave them behind." The team nodded in understanding, before he continued, "Good. Thankfully the creatures here aren't too big, so we won't have to worry about Nikolai killing us for any unexpected dangers. But in the future, Novum are planning on getting us communicators so we can warn the park about animals that aren't planned."
The team then began to swim down to the sea floor in search for the mysterious creatures of the Cambrian. It didn't take long for them to find what they were looking for. The first thing they noted as they headed to the sea floor was that it was carpeted with large creatures that looked like a cross between a horseshoe crab and a woodlouse; there must have been thousands.
"Our first prehistoric animals! And it's none other than the famous trilobites!", Drew exclaimed with happiness. Grabbing a sonar device, Drew pressed a button which sent a wave that began to herd the trilobites nearest to them into a single area. He then grabbed the remote and opened the portal. He pressed the sonar one more time and ushered the animals through the portal and into the park.
"Wait, is that what I think it is?" Jack asked. Further up ahead a very strange looking creature was swimming low over the reef. It looked like an enormous shrimp, but without any legs. It was covered in grey armour (like a crab), with white stripes surrounded by pale overlapping lobes, a pair of compound eyes on stalks, a fan-shaped tail made of the same lobes, what seemed to be lamella on the top of each lobe, and a pair of curved appendages resembling pineapple rings with barbs sticking out of them. The creature swam much like a cuttlefish with the lobes moving in a Mexican wave.
"That is Anomalocaris. The world's first apex predator" Leon replied.
The Anomalocaris sailed through the reef, casting a look of calculated indifference upon the humans swimming around it. Suddenly, with the speed of a striking cobra, it swooped in near to Alice and grabbed a trilobite scuttling on the sandy floor, hooking its barbs into its exoskeleton. However, instead of tearing into it with the mouth, it instead started flexing the trilobite with its appendages. After a time of this, the trilobite snapped in half and the Anomalocaris began to feast on the trilobite's innards.
Jack swam over to check on his sister, who was startled after the speed of the attack. "You OK, sis?". Alice smiled at him and said, "Yeah I'm fine, just startled. I wasn't expecting it to attack that fast. It was like a shark attack." Leon snorted and said, "Anomalocaris isn't the world's first super predator for nothing. Its eyes gave it an advantage; it could see prey from an incredible distance".
The Anomalocaris continued to feast on its catch when something seemed to gain its attention. The team turned and saw another Anomalocaris approaching. The incumbent Anomalocaris dropped its meal and began to advance towards the intruder. Everyone swam back from the two monsters, who were now circling each other territorially. This stand-off continued for a minute or so, before one charged towards the other; a full-on fight had begun. The first Anomalocaris dodged its charging attacker and tried to grab it, before it was shaken off by its rival. Suddenly, a third Anomalocaris joined the fray and head butted one of the others. The three battlers circled each other menacingly, before charging at each other. It was more like a dogfight than a brawl, as the three creatures clashed against each other. The team watched the battle in confusion.
"Why are they fighting? It's not over the trilobite; they've ignored it this whole time", Alice said, perplexed. Jack turned to his sister and said, "Yeah, you're right, I don't think the trilobite has anything to do with it. Perhaps the resident animal expert could explain?" Leon stated, his tone increasingly shocked, "Jack's right; this is a territorial battle. And it's not going to go well; apex predators can inflict serious injury on each other". Adrian said, in a worried tone, "These creatures may be tough, but rigid armour can split if it's bent too far. That's what they're trying to do, that's why they're trying to grab each other". Drew finished his sentence for him "And if we don't stop the fight, who knows what they're going to do to each other ?!"
Thinking quickly, Drew grabbed the remote and pressed the button. As the portal whirred open, it managed to gain one of the Anomalocaris' attention, allowing one to get the drop on its rival. Hooking into it with its barbs, the attacker flexed its rival's exoskeleton, until a sickening crack emanated from its victim and a stream of black fluid spilled out of its body.
"Leon, try and attract it," Drew said. "It's injured so it won't be able to compete properly."
"I'll try!" The injured Anomalocaris had suddenly turned one hundred and eighty degrees to face Leon. As it come closer and closer, lobes dancing elegantly in the water, Leon started to back through to the open portal. Just as the Anomalocaris was on him, the portal whirled open sending it through. The other two, noticing the disappearance of their rival, pursued it through the portal, into the present.
At the park, Kyle and Nikolai had finished herding the last of the arthropods into the holding tank, until their tank in the aquarium could be finished. Suddenly, the portal flared to life and Leon swam out. They walked up to him Suddenly, a bleeding Anomalocaris careened through the holding tank, like an eighteen-wheeler in a skid. Pursuing it were two others. As Leon hauled himself out of the water, the bleeding Anomalocaris hooked its barbs into his leg and tried to pull him into the water. However, Leon managed to fight it off. Nikolai just shook his head and began barking orders.
Back in the Cambrian the remaining crew looked at Drew in confusion. Drew smiled sheepishly through his mask, "Well, it was a plan, wasn't it?" Their attention suddenly turned to the trilobite the Anomolocaris had dropped, which had fallen down to Drew's level. Suddenly, a swarm of small fish, numbering over a hundred, appeared from behind a rock and surrounded the trilobite remains around Drew. Whilst they were very small to see and were moving very close together, the team were able to notice that they were brownish in colour with skin that was partially translucent and covered in a layer of slime. Adrian, Jack and Alice appeared to be almost euphoric as they watched the fish shoal around them. Drew turned his head around the swarm circling him for the meat and smiled, "Here they are. Haikouichthys, the first vertebrate; our earliest known ancestor." Adrian looked at Drew, perplexed and said, "How are we going to bring them back? It'll be impossible to grab them and I doubt herding them will be possible". Drew gave his team a wry smile, and said "So we'll have to come up with a different plan, then. They were attracted by the trilobite; try moving it near the portal." He pressed the remote, opened the portal and grabbed the first half of the dead trilobite, with his teammates grabbing the other. The Haikouichthys swam through the portal after the trilobite, following the trail like a bloodhound on a trail.
Once on the other side, Drew swam into a holding tank with his team. Once they all were in the gate to the tank closed and they climbed out of the tank to the bridge on top, where Leon, Nikolai and Kyle were waiting for them. They were all soaked through.
"I've got to say Drew, those things are smaller than I was expecting.", Kyle said with a smile on his face. "But I do hope you can explain the giant shrimp that tried to eat Leon. We got drenched trying to move them." Nikolai muttered sardonically, "Before you left, you said they weren't dangerous. Maybe you would have changed your mind after an hour spent moving one of the damn things." Drew responded with scratching the back of his head, "Oh, you know about that…"
After a few hours, the new arrivals were all settled in their new homes. The trilobites had a tank that wasn't very tall but made up for it with length. The tank was made with a glass top so guests could walk on top of it and see the trilobites. Linda and Yolanda had treated the injured Anomalocaris, and the three creatures had a larger tank that was covered with rocks and coral. Unlike in their old homes, each Anomalocaris had their own portion of the tank to ferociously guard to ensure there were fewer clashes over territory. The school of Haikouichthys were currently being fed, on assorted fish guts thrown in their tank.
"Well, I can see you've started well." a voice asked him. He turned round to see Theodore standing behind him. was busy rubbing his arms clearly not expecting the cold of the exhibit. He looked intently at an Anomalocaris swim through the water picking up assorted fish guts with its barbs, "I have to say, you really have proven yourself today; you've succeeded beyond my wildest dreams". Drew's eyes widened, "You didn't tell me you were visiting."
He gave a mischievous grin in reply, "I wanted to keep it a surprise; I like to keep everyone on their toes." He sat down on the bench next to him, "So, how was it?" Drew smiled and said "Epic; you should have seen it, everything was so unique! We're all just looking forward to the next mission."
"That's the spirit.", Theodore grinned, "and, don't you worry, it'll come sooner rather than later. Maybe you should be prepared for something a bit bigger."
Next time Drew and his team are after Earth's first giant
(A squid like creature rises from the abyss)
And get their hands full with scavengers
(Scorpions begin to swarm around Leon)
And, back at the park, everyone learns the hard way that old habits die hard
(Two of the Anomalocaris charge towards each other)
All next time of Prehistoric Earth: Devils of the Deep!
Animals rescued:
Redlichia chinensis: 26 (13 males, 13 females)
Anomalocaris saron: 3 (2 males, 1 female)
Haikouichthys ercaicunensis: 115 (78 males, 37 females)
