Jack emerged from the water, gasping for breath. Wiping his lips clean of the salt, he remembered what diving into the ocean without a mask felt like; he'd done that for a dare from a particularly malicious cousin as a child. He cursed himself inwardly; why did he have to do that, when he could have just distracted them somehow and slipped away. He looked around, both to see if the scorpions had followed him into the water (he didn't know the exact species of his attackers, but he did know that they could be semi-aquatic) and to see if he'd gone too far. He saw the scorpions, just a few feet away; having chased off the interloper, they continued their patrol of the shoreline, ignoring him as they walked away. He breathed out in relief, he hadn't ended up too far from the location he'd left. As he looked on, another bonus became apparent; his dive bag was sitting where he'd left it, completely intact. After waiting in the shallows for a minute, he crawled back onto land. He saw that Drew had headed to the area and was looking at him with a frown on his face, "Dare I ask as to why you were goofing off in the water? I asked you to scout ahead whilst I contacted the park to make a place for the Cooksonia and I find you in the sea. What possessed you to do that?"
Jack gave him a glare and said, "I was not goofing off, by any definition of the word. What I was doing was escaping from five very, very pissed off giant scorpions." Drew gave him a weird look, "Jack, seriously, what happened? Please elaborate on 'pissed off giant scorpions'".
Jack rolled his eyes and clarified, "Yeah, I suppose that isn't a good place to start. The scorpions were on the beach, scavenging a carcass. They weren't going to eat me, but I think they were definitely trying to kill me. They had huge stingers; the size of light bulbs, at least. I didn't know whether their venom would be deadly or not, but I didn't want to find out the hard way." Jack's mention of the stinger's size peaked Drew's interest, "What did they look like?"
Jack put two fingers on his chin, recalling the description of his assailants, "They looked pretty much exactly like modern scorpions. However, they were a lot larger; about the same size as a Golden Retriever." Drew thought for a moment before it hit him, "I've got it! You must have encountered some Brontoscorpio; that's a pretty common sea scorpion at this time. They're about that size, and can also come out of the water onto land; possibly to scavenge carcasses that get washed up on the coastline. Where did you see them?"
Jack pointed to the area, a short distance away, where the scorpions had stalked him to, "By the cliff side, not too far from here. Why? Are they important in the environment somehow? Aside from being amongst the first creatures to take the first steps onto land, that is."
Drew turned to him and smiled, "They are the main predators of Cephalaspis. If we find them we should have an easier time finding our target species; they'd go where the Cephalaspis are." Jack rolled his eyes and grinned, "Well, let's get suited up and find them then. And, who knows, we might get two species for the price of one."
Back at the park, Mia, Yolanda and Leon were currently clad in wetsuits ready to dive into the Megalograptus tank. Mia and Yolanda had little fear of the creatures lurking beneath the water and were preparing for the dive with a detached efficiency; they'd done this before and had little to be afraid of. However, Leon was quaking in his boots at the prospect of encountering the erstwhile creatures that had dog piled him in the Ordovician again. Mia turned to him and said, in a calm voice, "OK, the first thing you've got to do is remember that if the scorpions swarm you, it's not because they want to eat you. You're too large a meal for them". Yolanda nodded, and said in response, "Yeah, all they want the bait you're holding. I read the mission report and the Megalograptus swarmed you because they wanted to get to the fish in the bait barrel", pointing to the fish Leon had.
"Yeah, but what if they decide a bit of turf with their surf?", an alarmed Leon said, as he was pacing around the edge of the tank, like a criminal awaiting punishment. He sat onto a nearby chair and sighed, "This was a stupid, stupid idea. I mean, how likely is it that I'll have to work with scorpions again?" After a few minutes, he exhaled, got up and reluctantly made his way to the edge of the tank; if it had to be done, it had best be done now. Screwing his eyes shut, he dived into the water. Mia yelled some words of what could be taken as encouragement, "Don't worry, the sooner you get in, the better you feel". Yolanda thanked her friend for her help and dove in after him.
Leon freaked out the instant he opened his eyes and realized his situation. There were Megalograptus everywhere he could possibly look and they were all watching him, as if waiting expectantly for his next move. He had a flashback to being used as a living ladder by some of these very creatures in the camp in the Ordovician, rooting him to the spot. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Yolanda looking at him with a smile. He smiled back; at least this time, he wasn't alone.
"Don't panic… you'll lose air." She told him, the last part added hastily. Once she was aware Leon had calmed down, she said, "Now follow my lead, we'll start with Grumpy. Mia and I found, for better or for worse, he's the most human-accustomed out of all of them" Leon gave a gulp as they swam towards the cave that Grumpy spent most of his time in. Thoughts were flooding in Leon's head, alongside his flashbacks; Grumpy hadn't been saddled with his moniker for nothing. Despite his fairly small size, Grumpy was probably the most aggressive animal they had at the park at the moment. When they reached his little grotto, Leon watched as Yolanda grabbed her bait, put it on the end of the hook, dangled it outside of the have and waited for a response. She didn't have to wait long; Grumpy's brownish-yellow form partially emerged from the tunnel entrance, impaled the fish on his long barbs and withdrew back into his cave. Leon was rigid; he didn't want to approach the cave where he knew Grumpy lurked. He could feel Grumpy's eyes staring back at him, as if saying "Do ya feel lucky, punk? Do ya?"
He was brought back to reality by Mia's voice ringing over the communicator, "They can sense fear, you know. If you show it, they will take advantage of you; you need to not be afraid of them". In response to this, Leon nodded and Yolanda urged him forward, passing him the other half of the fish. Leon swam to the entrance of the cave with the rod in his hand, shaking with nervousness as he got closer to the cave, with a sense of fearful trepidation as to what would happen. He dangled the rod, waiting for the arthropod to take the offering. Soon, without warning, Grumpy lunged fully out of the cave and hooked his barbs into the fish, impaling it. He looked at the humans in front of him, hissed at them and swam back into his grotto to eat his meal alone. It took thirty seconds for Leon to realise what had been happening; his heart had been racing and he had been almost quaking with terror as Grumpy had grabbed the food, yet he had stood his ground. Even the other Megalograptus had been watching the spectacle, as if almost impressed by the fact that this human who'd fled before didn't this time. Leon, both shocked and elated at what had just happened and what he had just accomplished, turned to Yolanda, who was wearing a smile on her face, "Well, that's Step 1 complete; and they say that the first step's the hardest."
Back in the Silurian, Drew and Jack had donned their diving gear and were currently swimming through the Silurian sea in a search for either of their two target species. The sea was beautiful; it somehow appeared brighter and more vibrant than the Cambrian or Ordovician seas. It appeared more like a present-day reef, with sea urchins, corals and shells recognisable. Suddenly, they briefly paused as an enormous creature emerged in front of them. As it moved into full view, they could identify it; it was a surprisingly, and refreshingly, familiar face. The creature in front of them was a gigantic Cameroceras, sailing past them, taking little to no notice of the tiny creatures watching it.
"Wow. I wasn't expecting that to turn up; I thought they'd gone extinct in the Ordovician!" Jack said, both awed and shocked at the sudden appearance of a representative of the species that, previously, had nearly dragged him to an early death.
Drew nodded, overawed, "Yes. Cameroceras was a very successful species; it lasted until the Devonian. And we could use an extra one at the park, so I say that we rescue this one." As he said this, Drew grabbed the remote, aimed it in the giant's approximate direction and turned on the portal. The colossal cephalopod went through slowly, segment by segment. As he observed this, Jack was awestruck; he hadn't seen the Cameroceras at the park being brought back, so this was a new experience for him. After the last segment disappeared through, the portal was shut off. "Shouldn't we have told Kyle and Nikolai about the unexpected arrival first?" Jack asked nervously, "I'd imagine they wouldn't appreciate anything… unexpected."
Drew shook his head and said, "No. I mean we already have some at the park, so they'll know how to move it." Jack grinned mischievously and said, "So you wanted to keep it a surprise, fearless leader?" Drew gave a matching grin and nodded; Kyle would have the shock of his life.
Continuing their search, Drew and Jack swam closer to the ocean floor and saw the oddest-looking fish that either of them had ever seen grazing at the bottom. There was a vague similarity in appearance between it and the Astraspis back at the park; like the Astraspis, it was jawless, but there the similarities ended. The most notable difference was in its head, which was more prominent than the Astraspis and was far more distinct in relation to the rest of its body. The head was disproportionately large in comparison to the rest of its body and heavily armoured, giving the fish a top-heavy look. The body appeared to be much smaller than the enormous head. Another distinction between it and the Astraspis was that it had fins; two small ones on its belly, near the head, and another on its back, near the base of its tail. The fish's entire body was a greenish yellow, making it perfectly camouflaged with its environment.
Jack pointed at the fish and said to Drew, "Is that what we're looking for?" Drew nodded, "Yes, it's Cephalaspis!", as he and Jack swam closer to the fish to catch it. The fish, oblivious to them, was still grazing; as a bonus, it was gradually moving closer towards them. Suddenly, the fish turned around and froze, staring intently at an area of the seabed. The fish stopped grazing and, swishing its tail rapidly from side to side, quickly swam away. Compared to the sedate manner it had been swimming in before, this sudden burst of speed was unusual. Confused, Drew and Jack began to swim after it. However, they soon learned the very reason it had escaped. As they touched the ocean floor, the sand suddenly seemed to erupt as if, by their very touching it, they had incurred the wrath of some monstrous entity.
