Drew and Jack stared, open-mouthed, as a shoal of gigantic fish swam above them. And gigantic they were; the largest of them was about ninety feet long. Their skin was scaly and sandy-brown, with darker patches assorted all over their bodies. They looked like a cross between a whale shark and a grouper. The creatures sailed through the water above them, taking little to no notice of the tiny specks watching them. Jack snapped out of his awe to briefly turn to Drew and ask, "And what, pray tell, are those?". Drew shrugged, "Well, based on stuff Leon told me and the info-packs, I think they're Leedsicthys; the largest kind of fish to ever exist". Jack was so shocked by what he was witnessing, that it was a few minutes before he noticed something; Drew was missing.
After looking around for several minutes, Jack spotted him doing something unbelievable; he was swimming after the giant fish. Jack called out "Drew! What are you bloody doing?!", as he saw Drew swim past the giant fish, keeping in pace with them. Jack's communicator fizzed into life, as Drew's voice fizzed over the communicator, "How else are we going to find out where they're going? Come on, they're only filter feeders." Jack quickly snapped out of his disbelief, before following Drew and the giants, keeping a safe distance.
After about twenty minutes, they had reached the lead fish and activated the portal directly in the shoal's path; the giant fish, barely regarding the gleaming orb, slowly began to swim towards the portal. The first one went through slowly, bit by bit, with the others following it. The spectacle was amazing to watch; it was as if everything else, even time itself, had stopped in order to celebrate this grand moment. After the last one went in, the portal was shut off. When the last one had gone through, they closed the portal.
As Drew and Jack looked around them, they noticed that another Leedsicthys, moving rather more slowly than the others had been; this was significantly smaller than them, too, with a duller colouration. Its incredibly slow, laboured movements indicated that it was dying; probably moments from death.
As Drew and Jack swam towards the ailing fish, a green, reptilian creature some ten feet long streaked out of the reef. It looked like a large crocodile; however, its feet were flippers and its tail was fluked, like a shark. The heavy, armoured scutes of freshwater crocodiles were gone, in favour of sleek skin. Drew and Jack looked at each other; they knew from the info-packs what this was. It was Metriorhynchus, a marine crocodile. The Metriorhynchus swam towards the ailing Leedsicthys and took a chunk out of its dorsal fin. After swallowing the meat, it briefly surfaced to take a gulp of air, before resuming its orbit around the dying fish.
However, the Metriorynchus wasn't alone. A shark, about six feet long, swam out of the reef and towards the dying fish. It looked like a cross between a mako shark and a Mexican hornshark; it was, unmistakably, Hybodus, a small shark of the Jurassic oceans. The Hybodus swam up to the Leedsicthys and began tearing a chunk out of its side.
Over the next twenty minutes, more Hybodus and Metriorynchus joined the two at the carcass; there was enough meat on the giant fish to keep every scavenger fed for weeks. It was there that Drew and Jack saw an opportunity. They swam incredibly close to the giant fish; the scavengers' reverie was interrupted when they realised that someone was trying to take their meat. They dived towards the two humans, before Jack activated the portal and the scavengers all dived through, moving as if a single entity.
After this had happened, Drew turned to look at the dying fish; during all the drama with the scavengers, the fish had died. Drew looked at the deceased leviathan and shrugged, "It's dead; there wasn't really anything we could have done for it anyway." Jack stared, at the deceased fish, his mouth gaping. "So…", he said, "What do we do now, fearless leader?" In response, Drew said, "We head back to the boat and put a beacon by the corpse. It's probably not going to be moving any time soon and I have a hunch that it might attract something quite a bit bigger…"
Meanwhile, back at the park, Leon was putting the first stages of his plan together. He was focusing on the three subadult male allosaurs, who had been named Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion (after the dragons from Game of Thrones); they would be more responsive to training than the three adults. Then he'd made a remote-controlled, dinosaur-shaped lure; one of the security team, with an interesting sense of humour, had painted the lure bright purple. As Leon explained, "This lure is an approximate simulation of a dinosaur, which the allosaurs will chase and then corner. Their natural instincts should take care of that; I'm going to get them to wait until my command, before they attack it". Nikolai rolled his eyes and said, "Put this plan into action, Gilbertson, and then I will see if it is viable."
Leon and Nikolai stood over the allosaur enclosure, looking at the three young males. Leon yelled "Open the gate!" Leon, using a remote control, moved the lure into the enclosure at high speed. The allosaurs dived after the lure, following it. Eventually, Leon turned the lure into a wall, allowing the allosaurs to corner their "prey". The young male Drogon took a few steps, jaws open, towards it when, suddenly…. A piercing whistle-blast echoed through the air. The allosaurs stopped in their tracks and turned to look at him. Leon threw them each a piece of meat; it was imperative that they be rewarded for, instead of immediately attacking a lure, to stop whenever he blew his whistle. It was a start. It was better than nothing.
Meanwhile, on the Jurassic islands, Alice and Adrian were watching the Rhamphorynchus flock, trying to work out how to bring them all back… That question was answered for them, when the Eustreptospondylus they had encountered earlier burst out into the clearing and began trying to grab the pterosaurs. The beachfront turned to chaos, with pterosaurs flying in all directions. Quickly, the Eustreptospondylus was joined in snapping up pterosaurs by two more of its kind.
Alice and Adrian looked at each other; this was the perfect opportunity. They activated the portal and the Rhamphorynchus, moving as if a single entity, dived through, into the present. The Eustreptospondylus let out surprised hisses and began to advance towards the portal; they would not be cheated of their prey so easily. When the last of the dinosaurs had gone through, Alice deactivated the portal. Suddenly, Adrian's radio whirred into life and Jack's voice echoed through the radio, "We're back! We'll be pulling into shore soon; head there. We're going to meet up and decide what the game plan is."
An hour later, and the Mariner was in the middle of the bay and the rest of the mission team were now in the crew room, having a meeting about how to proceed. Drew addressed everyone, "Jack and I found a dying Leedsicthys near to here; it died shortly after we found it. We've logged the co-ordinates at which the carcass was last seen; we have to know where it is. Big corpses attract big predators; we've been awarded an opportunity we're not going to miss." Alice looked curiously and said "So… we're forgetting about the Opthalmosaurus pups at this moment in time?" Drew waved his hand and said, "Sort of; we're going to go back to them after we've caught some Liopleurodon. They're the priority at the moment. We've got a beacon on the Leedsicthys carcass". Jack gave Drew a puzzled stare, "You're saying we go after forty-foot marine predators totally unprepared?!" Drew shook his head, "No. Remember the smaller Liopleurodon swimming around we caught on the radar? We've found them in a lagoon; they're about Cryptoclidus-sized, meaning they're a bit more manageable for us to start with". The Mariner headed to the right spot; the plan had begun.
Once they'd reached the lagoon, Drew explained the plan, "According to the info-packs, it's thought that Liopleurodon had a great sense of smell. We've brought smell suits with us; they're wetsuits modified to secrete chemicals that marine predators find objectionable. If one gets too close, the chemical can be pumped through the pipes and, hopefully, deter the predators; we're just going to see which one works. We've brought two chemicals with us; one is a chemical similar to decomposing shark meat, whilst the other is putrescene."
Jack gave Drew a curious gaze, "You're not expecting us to be the guinea pigs for this, are you?" Cynthia turned to Jack with a smirk, "Well, it'd shut you up for once", to which Jack gave her a glare. Drew shook his head, "Nope. We have a crash test dummy to serve as, well, the dummy for this."
And so, the plan began. They put the smell suit on the dummy, weighted it down to the lagoon floor and put squid in the suit to attract the Liopleurodon. The first time, the suit was filled with a chemical deterrent that kept sharks away; it had absolutely no effect. One of the young Liopleurodon had grabbed it, almost pulling the dummy's head off. The team looked at each other; if they had used that chemical, they would have been decapitated. The second time, they tried putrescene; after one of the young Liopleurodon approached the suit, mouth open, it was repelled by the foul-smelling chemical.
Drew dived down to retrieve the suit, and bring back the two young Liopleurodon. As he approached them, he got to appreciate them in closer detail. Each was about twenty feet long. They were as inquisitive as the Cryptoclidus had been before, but were not as playful. They were circling Drew, but keeping their distance; they were curious at this new creature and whatever threat it might pose. When the time came to use the portal, Drew turned it on. They briefly stared, transfixed at this strange, shining orb, before heading through the portal into the park.
Once Drew had returned to the Mariner, and the young Liopleurodon had been brought back, the crew regrouped and headed back to the carcass. By the time they had reached it, the sun had set. Jack gave Drew a curious look, "So, basically, we just keep a stakeout on the carcass?" He sighed, "Anyone wanna play some poker?" Alice sighed, "I'm game" and Adrian nodded, "Me too." They looked at Drew, who shook his head and said, "I'm just going to keep checking the radar. Go have fun."
After several hours, Drew was still staring at the radar, to see if the radar he installed was picking up anything. Unfortunately it had nothing, except for the occasional small blip. Outside, the wind had begun to whip up; a storm was coming. Drew sighed; according to what Leon had told him, and the info-packs, the Late Jurassic was prone to tropical storms. If this one got any worse, they'd have to pull the boat into a cove and weather it out.
Drew suddenly turned to see Cynthia walking up to him; everyone else had gone to bed. She sighed, "Anything?". Drew shook his head, "Nope." Suddenly, the radar beeped into life and the two adventurers looked at the screen; two large shapes had been picked up surrounding the corpse. The indistinct shapes of two Liopleurodon, each about forty feet long surrounded the dead fish. They looked at each other; if they wanted to bring back Liopleurodon, this was their best chance.
After suiting up and diving into the water, they looked at the world around them; the seas seemed to change at night. It was something Drew had noticed in the Ordovician; the ocean seemed to transform into an alien world at night, where everything was rendered invisible in the inky gloom. The Leedsicthys' corpse floated silently, a beacon to the many predators of the ocean; Liopleurodon included. Drew and Cynthia kept their guards up, not wanting to be attacked by something by accident. Suddenly, they noticed something moving in the gloom. Something huge. Drew shined his headtorch to see a Liopleurodon swim into the light.
Whilst it was smaller than the giant they'd encountered in the shallows, it was still incredibly large; with a head almost six feet long, it was a colossal forty feet from nose to tail. The gigantic pilosaur swam over their heads to feed on the carcass of the giant fish, tearing off massive chunks of flesh with lateral shakes of its head. Suddenly, Drew and Cynthia turned round to see a second Liopleurodon, about the same size, approach the carcass and began to feed. The incumbent ignored the new arrival and resumed feeding on the Leedsichtys carcass. With such a large carcass, normal territorial boundaries were suspended; and the lure of the immediately available meat outweighed attacking these two small creatures.
Meanwhile, on the Mariner… "Guys, there's something coming! Hello? Can ANYONE hear me?!", Jack screamed into the communicator, as Alice and Adrian stood around, looking nervous. The situation was urgent; they needed to warn Drew and Cynthia that a third Liopleurodon, presumably the incredibly large one they had previously encountered, had been detected on the radar, heading directly towards them. However, the storm was blocking their communications. The three looked at each other, worried ; hopefully, they'd get the message.
Back in the water, the Liopleurodon were still occupied with the carcass. Drew and Cynthia swam incredibly close to the cadaver of the giant fish; big mistake. Suddenly, the two Liopleurodon turned to regard the tiny creatures. Out of curiosity, they approached these newcomers to their meal; as the Liopleurodon got closer and closer, Drew told Cynthia, "I have a plan for this, I just need you to hold them off somehow…" Suddenly, Cynthia pulled a cord on her suit and a red fluid floated into the water; from the Liopleurodon's recoiling at the liquid, Drew guessed that it had been the putrescene they put in the suit.
As the two Liopleurodon retreated, Drew activated the portal directly into their swimming path; the two giant pilosaurs, barely even regarding the gleaming orb, swam through the portal. Suddenly, Jack's voice rang into the communicator, "Drew?! Drew! There's another Liopleurodon coming; I think it's the big one we saw before!" Drew smiled and said, "Perfect! I was hoping he'd show up"; now they could have three Liopleurodon for the price of one. Jack's voice rang back, the urgency clear in his voice, "Fearless leader, I vote you get to the surface now; the storm's getting worse. We don't want you dying." Drew paused and muttered, "Fine", into the communicator and he and Cynthia swam to the surface for pick-up. As they headed to the surface, Drew looked down to see a large, dark shape swimming towards the dead Leedsicthys.
After Drew and Cynthia returned to the boat, they sailed the Mariner into a nearby, shallow cove and anchored it firmly; there, it could sit out the storm without being destroyed. The four adventurers sat in the crew rooms and hunkered down for the night, as the storm raged around them.
