Chapter 2: Devils of the Deep.
Khatin von Schorzberg looked at the Anomalocaris tank, watching the giant arthropods swim gracefully through the water. He began to think; the creatures looked bizarre by human standards, but were perfectly adapted for the roles of apex predators in the Cambrian seas. However, life at the top isn't as great as it sounds; besides the fact that prey almost never cooperates, rivals for the position were a frequent problem.
He noticed that one of the Anomalocaris swam slower than the others and had massive scars on its exoskeleton. He hadn't been on the mission, but he'd read the report; this was the Anomalocaris that had been injured in a three-way territorial brawl. Yolanda had given the injured arthropod the affectionate nickname of Squishy. Attempting to divide the tank into three sections for each individual was designed to prevent any further territorial battles from occurring. However, as the unfortunate Squishy had found out, old habits die hard.
Khatin walked over to the top of the Anomalocaris tank and dropped a net full of assorted fish guts into the tank. Squishy turned to see the food land in the water and began to move for it, like a dog after a tennis ball and began to feed like he hadn't eaten in days. However, he didn't have time to enjoy his meal for long. Another Anomalocaris, with the speed of a battering ram, smashed into Squishy's torso and knocked him off balance. Whilst Squishy was disoriented, the Anomalocaris eagerly grabbed the meat and swam off. Squishy regained his balance just in time to see the plunderer escape. His only reaction was to pathetically flail his appendages at his retreating rival. At full strength, Squishy might have taken him on, but, over the past week, he'd learnt his place on the pecking order the hard way; he'd become the tank's resident whipping boy.
(Intro theme)
Khatin watched the event happen and sighed; this had been going on for the past week, ever since Squishy had been introduced into the tank. He heard some footsteps and turned round to see Linda walking towards him with a clipboard. This problem had been reported by one of Khatin's assistants, who had been researching the Anomalocaris and seen this happen. Khatin had contacted Linda for help; she'd been shown CCTV footage of one of the events and had observed and made notes about Squishy's condition. He gave her a concerned look and asked, "How's he looking?", while she got out the notes she'd made.
Linda exhaled and looked at Khatin, "For the most part, the same as he was yesterday. His condition's improved slightly from when he was brought back, but unless the other two leave him alone, he won't be able to eat and regain his full strength; if he doesn't, his wounds might get the better of him. From what I've seen, he wants to fight back but can't; he's weakened and the other two are taking advantage of it."
As Linda said this, both Khatin and Linda turned to look at the unfortunate Squishy, who was now weakly swimming away, limping off to some secluded place to heal his wounds. They both gave a look of pained sympathy, which ended when Khatin said, "Poor guy. Should we talk to Kyle about separating the tanks?" Linda shook her head, "No, nothing too big has happened yet. I say we wait; right now, there's not much we can do. However, I'll inform Drew of the situation; maybe he'll have some ideas", she paused to take some notes before looking up again. "Speaking of which, do you know where Drew and Leon are? I haven't seen them since yesterday."
Khatin shook his head, "Last I saw, they were talking to Kyle and some staff members about something. I think they're in the southern part of the aquarium." Linda nodded to him and walked off. Sighing, Khatin turned back to the tank and grabbed another piece of meat for the net. Maybe it'd work this time; maybe, whilst the others were busy, Squishy might be able to get something to eat.
Linda walked through the aquarium, passing the trilobite and Haikouichthys tanks as she did so, until she found the southern end of the aquarium. What she saw amazed her; workmen were constructing a gigantic tank. The tank was much bigger than anything in the park so far; it could have contained an entire school of great whites. She looked to the left and saw Drew and Leon conversing about something between themselves.
She calmly walked up to them and asked, "Excuse me, but what's all the construction about?" Leon turned to her and answered with, "It's for the new arrivals." Linda gave them both a confused look, "I thought all the animals from the mission had exhibits already?"
"We're talking about our next batch of animals." Drew answered. "Today, me and Leon are going to 450 million years ago, to where New York is today, to rescue Earth's first truly giant creature; the orthocone Cameroceras." Linda looked between them with a barely concealed look of surprise, "You're going on another mission already? It's barely been a week since the last one."
Drew gave a lopsided, knowing smirk and said, "Exactly. Theodore says that we can start the next mission as soon as we can." Leon gave a smile in response and said, "And all the new equipment, like the air mixes and the communicators, came in at the docks last night, so we're prepared. Might as well test it all out".
Linda nodded at all this information, before raising her finger, "One question. Why aren't the others coming?" Drew smiled at her and answered with, "This mission won't need too many people; I'm only bringing Leon, since I kind of owe it to him after what happened with him and Squishy. And we're better equipped now; if we need backup, we can simply open the portal, use the communicator and drop a message saying we need help."
Linda breathed out, "That's good enough for me. Actually, I wanted to speak to you about something... Khatin informed me that it seems that Squishy is already dealing with competition from his tankmates; they're stealing his food and he's barely eaten in a week. Any suggestions on what I should tell Kyle?" At hearing this, Drew put his hand on his chin and looked thoughtfully at her, "Personally, I'd advise Kyle to separate Squishy from the others when they're being fed; that way he won't have to worry about the others stealing his food and he can eat in peace." Linda nodded in response to this and began to walk off. After she left, Drew turned to Leon and said. "You ready for this?" Leon nodded in response, "Always. Goes with the territory."
The two left the aquarium and headed to where the portal was. An employee entered the time period and location and the portal flared to life at the push of a button. Drew put the portal remote in his pocket and, after making sure the remote was secured , he and Leon headed through the portal.
After the blinding light from the portal dimmed down, the first thing that hit them was a sudden feeling of light-headedness and a sudden, skull-splitting headache. Drew and Leon quickly reached for their air mixtures and took a breath. After a short period, the light-headedness began to subside and the headaches gradually ebbed away. After that brief frantic period, they looked up at the Ordovician world. And what a world it was.
In the Cambrian, they hadn't had time to look at the land; due to the fact that Novum were still working on the air mixtures, they couldn't have surfaced. So seeing the Ordovician Earth was still a massive shock. The land looked more like a picture taken from Mars than anything on Earth. The land was featureless; it was a barren wasteland of roasting rock, with no signs of life. It was uncannily quiet; as if a nuclear bomb had gone off and wiped out all life on Earth.
After looking around this desolate world, Leon turned to Drew and said "OK, so where should we head first?" Drew, still a little woozy, said "I say we head for the shallow waters first. There might be some animals there we could bring back and we could use whatever carcasses we find there as bait."
Soon the two adventurers were ankle-deep in the shallow waters of the ocean. That at least was the same 450 million years on; the shallows were sandy and murky, the perfect place for animals to hide. After a little bit of walking, Leon felt something swim against his foot. Sticking his hand in the water, he searched blindly for a few seconds before grabbing a small, squirming creature. He quickly lifted it out of the water to take a better look. The creature was a fish that was only about 7 inches in length. There was a vague similarity in appearance between it and the Haikouichthys back at the park; like the Haikouichthys, it was jawless and finless, but there the similarities ended. The most notable difference was in its front end, which was disproportionately large in comparison to the rest of its body, giving the animal a top-heavy appearance. The fish's entire body was covered in small bony plates, lacking the Haikouichthys' slime capsule. It was coloured a mottled green and sandy brown, making it perfectly camouflaged with its environment.
Drew walked over and identified the creature, "Astraspis, a bottom-feeding jawless fish. I don't know about you, but I'd love to have a few of these at the park." After sending a message to the park to prepare for small fish on the communicator, Drew and Leon walked around for a bit, grabbing any Astraspis they could find; a task that proved easier said than done. Soon after collecting a few more they turned on the portal and placed the fish they had caught near it. The sudden presence of the bright light attracted more Astraspis, and the shoal began funnelling through the portal. After a reasonable amount had swum through, Drew and Leon turned the portal off and began looking for bait for the orthocone.
However, small fish weren't the only ones lurking in the shallows. As Drew and Leon watched the fish swim into the portal, something larger began to creep up the sand, till it reached the area where the aggregation had been. If it had been capable of human emotion, it would have felt something similar to dismay; what a disappointment it was to find no prey here. It had never seen this large creature before. But it was hungry and, with most of the fish gone, what was in front of it would have to do. With the speed of a stinging scorpion, the predator struck.
