Part 3
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Thunder rumbled through the swamp like the roar of an enraged demon as clouds loomed over the swamp like harbingers of destruction. Drew, Alice and Adrian were, almost instantaneously, surrounded by panicked animals. It was as if every living thing for miles around was on edge and fleeing from the danger; a swarm of Meganeura descended from the canopy to the lower, wetter parts of the swamp, where they could escape a possible forest fire. The giant spiders, not having the advantage of flight, were beginning to circle each other in fear; some of them were paralysed in terror. Drew knew they had to act quickly; he grabbed the portal and switched it at the nearest spider burrow. The spiders nearest to the glowing orb, transfixed, began to scurry towards it. After a couple of minutes, all of the giant spiders in the immediate vicinity had entered the portal, into the present.
Drew turned his gaze to the lake; now came the hard part. However, it seemed that he'd gotten lucky; the dragonflies had chosen to shelter by the watering hole that the giant amphibians were lurking. Drew and his team walked towards the lake.
The Proterogyrinus were far more animated than before, leaping from the water attempting to catch the unexpected bounty above them. However, the Meganeura were ready for them; quite often, a giant dragonfly narrowly missed an amphibian's snapping jaws due to quick reflexes. The team looked at each other; they knew they had to act fast. Drew switched on the portal and the dragonflies, almost hypnotised by the glowing orb, began to swarm towards it, moving as if they were a single entity. The amphibians let out surprised bellows and began to advance towards it; they would not be cheated of their prey so easily. When the last of the giants had gone through, Drew, Alice and Adrian realised the storm had moved forward to the point where it was right above them. Drew quickly leapt through the portal, with Alice and Adrian following. Drew pressed the button and shut off the portal just as a lightning bolt hit the ground.
At the park, things had gradually calmed down. The keepers were moving the animals around. The Arthropleura's new home had already been constructed and the keepers transported it there. The other animals were kept in the quarantine bays until their new homes were finished. The exceptions were the Meganeura, who were flying all over the building. It was decided that they would leave them alone for the time being and let them exercise a bit before shepherding them into the Carboniferous building. Right now, all the focus was on the unexpected giant spider.
Drew looked at the spiders through the glass window of the holding pen they had been kept in. Confusedly scuttling around their new environment, the spiders were each making webs in burrows they had found in the exhibit.
The research division had confirmed it; these spiders were a totally new species, unseen in the fossil record before. Khatin had been both flabbergasted and pleasantly surprised; this was a whole new type of creature right in front of him. They'd been able to, by observation, narrow the spiders down to the Mesothelae suborder; however, these were a totally new genus. Drew was observing the quarantined animals, who had all been kept separately since spiders were prone to cannibalism, and was observing their behaviour. He was making mental notes of how he had observed them behave in the wild; they'd ambushed their prey and made webs to detect them. After a while, he'd finally decided on a name for them. He grabbed the nearest sticky note and wrote the name on it. He placed it on the glass for the world to see. The note declared the spider's new name; Mesothelus kansasensis.
After this, Drew headed to his quarters to turn in for the night. However, outside the Carboniferous house, he was met by Collete. The haughty security guard looked uncharacteristically entertained; in fact, it was all she could do to keep herself from laughing. She began, uncharacteristically animated, "Uh, boss? About Jack and Leon's team-building exercise… there's good news and bad news. The good news is they succeeded. The bad news is, well, maybe you should see this for yourself..." she trailed off, reached into her pocket and grabbed her phone. A video of Jack and Leon, on the feeding platform began to play; it had obviously been sped up. Jack and Leon were standing on the feeding platform, throwing in meat to keep the territorial fish distracted. Shortly after the last piece of meat was thrown in, Jack was turning to look at the meat barrel, which was empty, causing them both to look at each other in terror. Even though the footage was silent, Drew could still see that Jack and Leon were freaking out; this was understandable, given their precarious position on the platform and their proximity to the Dunkleosteus. Suddenly, a Dunkleosteus swam incredibly close to the feeding platform, ramming it and causing them both to slip over. They quickly righted themselves and ran in down the ladder, stopping by the tank wall to catch their breath. The video stopped and the smirking Collete looked at Drew. Drew however had a confused expression, "OK, so what happened after that?" Collete smiled, "They threw in so much meat in the tank, the fish saw that there was enough food to go round and made a truce." Drew had one last thing to ask, "OK, why is it sped up?"
Collete looked at him knowingly and smirked, "We had someone in control do it, 'cause we thought it would be funnier." She, still smiling, walked out. Drew sighed and rolled his eyes. Maybe Jack and Leon weren't the only ones who needed to have their behaviour checked.
The next morning, the bug house was starting to stir into life. The newly named Mesothelus were currently being fed by Drew. The Proterogyrinus had begun to set up territories in their new home. The Arthlopluera was peacefully browsing in its new home. And the Meganura where enjoying their freedom, flying all over the building. The majority of the ground level areas, including the pond, had been covered by metal nets, so that the Meganura wouldn't either eat or be eaten by the other residents . They had their own "exhibit" separated from the others, which would serve as a resting and drinking place for them.
Drew, meanwhile, was currently dangling a dead mouse over one of the spider holes, trying to get the arachnid's attention. He kept constantly touching the webs until finally said spider popped out, grabbed the mouse, impaled it with its fangs and dragged it back into the burrow. Drew observed the spiders for a bit and was able to identify them by the different patterns on their exoskeletons. The one he had just fed, was the one that fell on top of him and introduced him to their species. He was trying to think of a name for the creature; a few names had been batted around, but there was nothing concrete, yet. His introspection was interrupted by Alice and Adrian coming up to him. They had been followed by one of the Petrolacosaurus, who had proven to be much more approachable and friendly than his more nervous kin.
"Um, Drew?" Alice asked. "Are you ready to go?" Drew looked at Alice and nodded. "Yeah, let me just grab my supplies. We might be out there longer, as we have two targets to save." The two targets were a female Arthropleura and some more Meganeura; the vets had found that all the ones so far were females. They reached the portal site, the portal was turned on again and the team headed back to the Carboniferous.
To be continued
