Chapter 4: Life in Transition
Adrian and Alice were in one of the park Jeeps, heading to where the mission target was supposed to live. Prior to today, all of the animals rescued at Prehistoric Earth had been housed in the Aquarium; however, that would soon come to an end. Drew hadn't told them what the target species was; they had assumed it was some sort of amphibian since, according to the info-packs, amphibians had started to come onto land at this time. However, once they reached the location, they were in for a shock. They saw construction crews all over the place, constructing an incredibly large tank. The tank was much bigger than most other structures in the park so far; it waa big enough to contain an entire school of great whites. In the distance, they could see Kyle, barking orders at the workmen, like a drill sergeant.
"Make sure that the viewing area glass is as strong as it can get! This beast is a dangerous one!" Adrian turned and looked, open-mouthed, at the sign that told them of their location, tapping Alice's shoulder, so they both could get a look at it. The sign had a picture of a mosasaur on it and had "Hell's Oceans" emblazoned on it. They looked at each other and gulped nervously.
(Intro theme)
At his office Drew currently was discussing the mission plans with Jack, who was eagerly standing at attention, and Leon, who was currently writing down what Drew was saying. "-Precaution is of the upmost importance. We've never dealt with something this dangerous before!", he turned to Jack and whispered conspiratorially, "Leon probably won't survive." Leon's eyes widened, as the end of his pencil broke off and he looked at Drew nervously. Drew smiled at him, "I'm kidding, Leon", before muttering "hopefully", under his breath as Jack looked superciliously at him. The trio were about to head out when Adrian and Alice arrived in the room. "Ah, I was just about to look for you two."
"Drew… this is kind of our first mission alone so we were wondering if maybe we could go another time. I'd hate to be near whatever you created a an exhibit called Hell's Oceans for." Adrian said awkwardly, as Alice nodded in agreement. The trio looked at the three for a bit before laughing. Alice and Adrian stared at them in confusion before Leon calmed down, "Dude, you're not coming with us to Ohio, you're going to Pennsylvania, which is much less dangerous than Ohio during the Devonian."
Drew began to take over, "You guys are heading back to 360 million years ago. Your target species is Hynerpeton, one of the world's first amphibians. We figured you'd prefer that over going with us and saving a Dunkleosteus, a large carnivorous armoured fish." He then proceeded to hand them a small journal and a remote. "Use the journal to identify any animals you see and the remote is used to open the time portal; Theodore sent another remote over last night. We can manage two simultaneous missions now. Anyway, I would love to stay and chat with you two but we have to prepare the Ancient Mariner. Be careful and remember; no species left behind." Drew then patted them on the shoulders and left, with Leon following him. Jack stayed a few minutes, to give his sister a good luck nudge in the ribs, before he joined Drew and Leon at the holding tanks, where the Ancient Mariner was waiting for them. Alice and Adrian waited several minutes, before coming down with enough supplies to last them a week.
Drew, Jack and Leon looked upon the Ancient Mariner, with a sense of awe. She was, formerly, a whale watching boat, until her captain and crew were tempted by Theodore's offer to travel around the world, (with a regular paycheque). The first portal opened and the Mariner went through. Shortly after, the portal was moved to the freshwater holding tanks and was opened using the second remote. Alice and Adrian looked at each other and went through.
When they reached their destination, the first thing they noticed was the air. Unlike the Cambrian, the air was actually breathable; the air mixes were no longer required. The next thing they noticed was the large amount of trees; the land was covered in large forests, with tall trees stretching as far as the eye could see. In the air, they could hear the buzzing of insects and, on the forest floor, they could see millipede-like creatures crawling through the leaf litter. The Earth was starting to look more recognizable; compared to the previous landscapes, this looked very much like a present day forest.
They snapped out of their awe at this beautiful scene, for a few minutes. Adrian turned to Alice and said, "OK, Drew said Hynerpeton was an amphibian. That means, whilst it can go onto land, it has to stay near the water. I say we go to the nearest large body of water and look there." They looked through the trees to find a large waterfall, cascading down to a wide river. Alice breathed out "I'm guessing we look there."
At Ohio, the yacht emerged from the portal and landed with a small splash. Drew decided to check with the crew, to make sure everything was in order, leaving Jack and Leon alone on the deck. Jack turned to Leon and said, in a snarky tone, "OK, so should I use a worm or a piece of meat? 'Cos I don't know if it likes worms or not." Leon looked at Jack with a deadpan expression, "Jack, Dunkleosteus weights five tons."
Jack smiled, subtly, and rolled his eyes, "Really? Well, we're going to need a bigger fishing pole. In fact…" he waggled his eyebrows at Leon, as he pulled a larger fishing pole out, "we're gonna need a bigger boat". Leon rolled his eyes and stared at him, open-mouthed, "Were you seriously going to try and catch it with a fishing pole? Did anything Drew said to you make any sense?!" Jack grinned at him in response, "Well, the image would be funny. I'm joking, Leon, I'm joking; I said it 'cos it was funny. Are jokes not funny in your world?" As he said this, he calmly cast his rod over the ship and sat down waiting for something to respond to the bait. Leon looked at him like he'd gone crazy, "Did you not just hear what I said?!"
Jack gave him a flabbergasted look, "Uh, Leon, need I repeat; I was joking. I'm actually using this for something else; Drew said we should put a line out for some smaller creatures", he replied, "He mustn't have told you that. That or you weren't listening.", he said in a smartass tone, with a smug grin on his face. Leon growled a bit and stalked off. Drew had been watching the event. He was starting to wonder the wisdom of putting Jack and Leon on the same team. He hoped that Adrian and Alice were having better luck.
In Pennsylvania , Adrian and Alice had just arrived at the waterfall. The area was noticeable by its quietness; there was a suspicious and surprising absence of giant amphibians. Adrian looked around sheepishly, "Uh, Alice, I think I might have miscalculated. There aren't any there." Alice gave him a look, "They might have heard us coming and are hiding underwater. Give me one of the goggles, I'll investigate."
Alice strapped on one of the goggles and put her head in the water. The water was surprisingly murky; visibility was poor. However, one thing was clear; she could find no amphibians, large or small. She then noticed a large entity swimming towards them. From what she could see of it, it was a fish, and it was big. Alice quickly re-emerged from the water just in time to dodge the monstrous aquatic predator which breached on to land, with the speed of an ambushing alligator.
Adrian and Alice ran further up the shore bank to see what they had encountered. It was a gigantic fish; from head to tail, it must have been the size of a great white shark. It was predominantly grey in colour with several darker stripes running down its back and patches of red on its fins. The fish gave out a bellow of disappointment and rage as its prey escaped. The two explorers stopped to catch their breaths; they thought that they were safe. The large fish gave them a cold look; it would not be cheated of its prey so easily. Using its gigantic front fins to push itself forward, it began to haul itself onto land and continue the hunt.
