As Drew awoke, he noticed something interesting; the noises of the swamp had stopped. As he yawned, stretched and got up, he smelled the air, noticing something was wrong; the usual smell of rotting plants had been replaces by.. smoke. He put on his glasses and his eyes widened in horror as he witnessed the terror outside; the forest for miles around was a blazing inferno. He yelled to wake his team, "Guys, get up. There's a fire!" Adrian and Alice immediately ran out of their tents, their expressions ones of dumbstruck horror. Adrian only had time to say, "A fire?!"
Drew nodded, "Lightning must have struck somewhere last night, and now the fire's closing in!" He gestured to the horizon, where the flames were moving through the forest, closer to the tents. He turned to Alice and Adrian, "Grab the captures and get everything packed up and through the portal now!" "Wait, where are you going?" Alice asked, her eyes widening in concern
Drew fixed his hat and replied without looking back, "I need to save an Arthlopluera. If I don't, the big guy at the park has no future. I refuse to return empty handed." As he said that, he dashed into the swamp. As he left, Alice gave Adrian a concerned look, asking. "Do you really think he won't return if he fails?"
Adrian's current attention was on a Meganeura that he'd caught flying away from the towering inferno when she asked the question, before turning to respond to her, "Yeah. He's going to stay even if it kills him." Alice's eyes widened in shock and she gazed open-mouthed at Adrian, who just shrugged and said, "We can't stop him, so we'll just have to pray that luck is on our side."
Drew was running as fast as he can through the burning swamp. He looked everywhere, in order to detect an Arthropleura hidden under foliage. His discovery, however, came entirely by accident. As he blundered into a clearing, what initially appeared to be a large brown log suddenly reared up and looked him in the eye. He'd found another Arthropleura. There was a subtle difference between it and the one at the park; it had to be female. A flying cinder brought him back to reality; he realised just how close to the inferno he was.
The giant began to crawl away, but Drew, not wishing to sentence it to its death, jumped onto its back and tried to hold it down, whilst trying to open the portal. The centipede bucked and shook like a bull in a rodeo ring, trying to get free, as the fire got closer. She managed to get Drew off her back but he maintained his grip and managed to physically lift the front part of the struggling Arthropleura, raising her up, whilst dodging her snapping jaws. As the fire got closer, the smoke thickened and visibility soon went to zero. Drew used his free arm to grab the portal remote and quickly press the on button. Soon a bright vortex appeared, engulfing both man and arthropod. When it disappeared, they were gone entirely, back to the present.
The insect house was soon a busy place. Meganeura were flying everywhere, as keepers kept trying to move the new arrivals. Jack and Leon were supervising the move. Both were smiling, rather smugly; they'd shown everyone they could work together and this move could be carried out without a hitch. However, that was soon about to change. A keeper briefly moved to pick up the carrier containing one of the Pulmnscorpius when, suddenly, the stinger lashed out, inches from his face.
The keeper was so terrified he immediately backed up, accidentally breaking the glass of the mesothelae exhibit, causing one of the largest spiders to come out, chittering at him in displeasure. The keeper backed away from the two arachnids, only to find himself met by the male Arthropleura. The keeper was trapped; he couldn't escape without angering one of the giants. The keeper closed his eyes and waited for one of them to attack.
Soon he felt another presence in front of him and saw Nikolai in a battle stance with the large arthropods. He kept his eyes on all three, waiting for them to continue to advance, as if daring them to try and harm this keeper. This seemed to distract them long enough for Drew and Alice to sneak up from behind and pick up the spider and scorpion and return them to their enclosures. To divert the Arthropleura, Adrian placed a trail of vegetation for it. Once the bugs were taken care of, Nikolai turned to the keeper, who was still trembling on the ground. The keeper thanked Nikolai vociferously, before the veteran shook his head and responded with "Think nothing of it."
Jack and Leon watched the spectacle with open-mouthed looks of surprise; they certainly hadn't expected this. Jack, gobsmacked, muttered "At least it wasn't our fault".
Later that night, Nikolai was sitting in the dome when he heard someone approaching. He turned around and saw Jack walking towards him. Jack smiled and said "Hi", before sitting down next to Nikolai. He calmly asked, "What you doin'?"
Nikolai's response was a very simple, "Watching."
Jack nodded, "Oh. Like watching the bugs?"
Nikolai nodded, "I do, after a tough day it's very, what's the word... relaxing." Jack slumped back. "Yeah, relaxing is the word for it. You can just sit, wind down, and watch the bugs buzz past."
After a small pause, Nikolai gave off a small smile. "I used to catch insects, you know."
"Really?"
Nikolai gave a wistful look, "Yes. When I was a child I would go into the garden and look for insects, worms, spiders, you name it. When I found them, I'd put them in a jar, an empty jar, watch them a bit and set them free. And, when I set them free, I'd make sure I put them right where I found them, down to the exact spot. I did that all the time."
Jack smiled, "Yeah. I did that, when I was a kid. I suppose that's a little boy thing - looking for weird-looking stuff that all the grown-ups think is disgusting." There was a brief pause as a Meganura buzzed past them, "They're beautiful, aren't they?"
Nikolai nodded, "Da. They are beautiful. What's your secret, Denham?"
Jack gave him a curious look, "What do you mean?"
Nikolai's response amazed him, "Everybody likes you. EVERYBODY. But me? I'm not a popular guy. Uh-uh. Not popular at all. Oh, nobody likes me. I don't know why. I'm alright, when you get to know me. I'm alright."
The emotion in the response surprised Jack; he'd never seen Nikolai talk about this before. In an attempt to defuse the situation, he said, "Hey, I know for a fact a lot of people think you're great." The clearly unconvinced Nikolai raised an eyebrow, "Really?" Jack smiled, "Yeah. They think you're just a little too... work-focused sometimes. You're a little married to the job. But that's okay! It's fine to be dedicated. There's nothin' wrong with that."
In response to this, Nikolai rolled his eyes, "That's because I WORRY! All the time. Every day, I worry about keeping everyone safe. You, Drew, Kyle... Everyone. And, besides, I have other interests." Jack raised his eyebrow and said, curiously, "Like what?" The response he got surprised him, "Like music!"
"What kind?"
"Every kind! Music is the only thing in the world that...", Nikolai then stopped himself. There was a brief, awkward pause; neither of them had suspected this was how their night was going to go.
Jack turned to Nikolai and smiled, "Y'know, I don't care what people say about you. I think you're an alright guy" He then turned to check his watch, "God, is that the time? Sorry, I'd love to stay and chat but I gotta get to the Devonian House. There's a couple of lovebirds right now probably wondering where their dinner is. See you tomorrow." Jack then moved to leave the building, as he left, Nikolai gave a soft smile and said, "Thank you."
As Jack left the building, he briefly stood outside and said, more to himself than anyone else, "Anyways, you're wrong. People don't like me, they just laugh at my jokes. There's a difference. A big difference".
The next day, Jack, Collete and Leon were currently supervising the cleanup effort from yesterday's debacle. Nikolai had meant this as both a team-building exercise and to ensure what had happened would never happen again. One Petrolacosaurus, who the keeping staff had dubbed Lubbock, had been following them the whole time. He'd even briefly climbed his way up Collete's body and started riding on her head. They'd put him down after that, but had largely let him follow them around; he wasn't doing any harm, they reasoned. They then heard footsteps and saw Drew walking up the stairs, with a smile on his face. He said proudly, "Well, I finally got names for the three bugs from yesterday."
In response, all three rolled their eyes and Collete said, somewhat sarcastically, "What could they possibly be?" Drew smiled, "For the Arthlopluera, Incursio. For the scorpion, Murasame", he paused briefly, before showing a Mesothelaeus in his hands, "And for her, Pumpkin."
All three stared at him in dumbstruck silence. Collete said, "Pumpkin?" and then burst out laughing. Jack and Leon both reacted in sudden surprise; they didn't think she could laugh, period. She said, in between chuckles, "That's the most ridiculous name ever!", pointing at the spider. The newly named Pumpkin didn't take kindly to this and jumped towards Leon, Jack and Collete, who all recoiled in horror from it, with Lubbock tearing off down the hall. It climbed up Collete's leg and latched itself to her, remaining steadfastly on as she tried to get it off. She managed to dislodge it, only for it to climb up Jack's back and latch itself onto the one place it couldn't reach. Leon turned to look at it, only for it to jump on his face. Drew observed the chaos, and snarkily noted, "Note to self; don't ever insult Pumpkin."
Meanwhile, Collete, Jack and Leon had managed to dislodge the spider and escape the insect house, in both fear and humiliation. Sitting on a bench outside, Jack turned to Leon and said. "At least this time, we have company."
Next time, the team goes after larger reptiles.
(A herd of herbivorous reptiles is shown in a holding pen)
Including carnivorous celebrities.
(A sail walking across the camera.)
While Lubbock and his new friends go on an adventure.
(A jeep falling towards the ocean in slow motion)
All next time on Prehistoric Earth: The New Rulers!
Animals rescued
Arthropleura moyseyi: 2 (1 male 1 female)
Mesothelus kansensis: 8 (6 males 2 females)
Meganeura moyni: 29 (14 males 15 females)
Proterogyrinus scheelei: 7 (4 males 3 females)
Petrolacosaurus kansensis: 6 (3 males 3 females)
Pulmonoscorpius kirktonensis: 8 (5 males 3 females)
Crassigyrinus scoticus: 8 (4 males 4 females)
