Leon had launched the glider and, after using its propeller for a short distance, was now soaring through the air, scanning the ground for giant sauropods. He wasn't that high up; objects below weren't all but invisible specks, but it was high enough he felt isolated from the world. He smiled at that thought. The solitude was helpful. The solitude got him thinking.
He, Drew and Adrian went back a long time; they 'd first met in 8th grade biology, over 10 years ago. They'd formed a little trio since then; Leon smiled at the memory. He hadn't had much friends for a long time, so their companionship had really helped. However, Drew had always been the golden boy, the knight in shining armour; Drew had been on the debating team, had straight A's and was a popular student. Even after they'd graduated, success after success had come to Drew; well, he was now co-ordinating the Prehistoric Earth project. Leon, on the other hand, had always been the sidekick; the follower, the hanger-on. Now, Leon cared about Drew deeply… but it wasn't hard to be a little jealous. It left him feeling slightly inadequate; like he was playing second fiddle.
When Jack had called him a hanger-on all the way back in the Devonian mission, he'd got angry; not in the way one was angry when one was called a baseless insult, but when one was angry about being told a truth about themselves they were resentful of. Especially by someone he didn't like; he'd found Jack way too extroverted for his tastes. Leon chortled at the memory; he used to hate Jack. Now, he kind of liked him.
Leon sighed. Fact was, when Leon had been hired, many thought he was a walking textbook and not up to the task required. The Megalograptus and Anomalocaris incidents had only strengthened everyone's conviction; on a mission, someone had to be there keep Leon out of trouble.
On the Devonian mission, Drew had asked him to stay on the boat with Jack to keep him out of trouble. Alice had gone on the dive instead of him on the Triassic Switzerland mission in order to keep him on the Mariner and out of trouble. Drew had chosen Leon to accompany him on both the Jurassic mission and this one to keep him out of trouble.
Anyway. Eyes on the prize. He looked down to see a herd of ornithopod dinosaurs, probably Macogryphosaurus, roaming on the ground. He lifted his walkie-talkie and said, "Guys…"
Meanwhile, Jack, Alice and Adrian were continuing their chase of the Ornithocheirus when they reached land. According to the map, this was where the southeastern states of North America would be today. The sea they were flying past was what would one day become Florida.
They looked out of the window to see a herd of large dinosaurs was walking along the coastline. Each was about twenty feet long, with a horse-like head tipped with a beak, small forelimbs and large, muscular hind limbs. Their bodies were striped brown and white, with a white underside. Accompanying them were a pair of slightly smaller armoured dinosaurs, about sixteen feet long. Their most notable features were the huge, thick spikes that covered their bodies; even the tail had blade-like plates jutting sideways on it. Their armour was sandy brown and white with a tan underbelly and brown stripes on the legs.
Adrian looked through the info-packs and found out what they were, "Iguanadon and Polacanthus. Very common herbivores here, apparently. Do you think we should stop and see if we can get them through the portal?" Jack shook his head, "Priority A is 'keep tabs on the Ornithocheirus'; we can't really afford to have any detours. Besides, the sun's going down soon; it'll be difficult finding anything in the dark. Make a note; as soon as we have time we're going back." The plane cut through the air, as raindrops landed on the cockpit window.
Meanwhile, Drew and Cynthia's Jeep was trundling through the Argentine scrub, in search of giant sauropods… unfortunately, they'd been rather elusive. Suddenly, a loud, honking bellow echoed through the landscape. Cynthia stopped the jeep and they looked at each other; did sauropods make a honking sound? None of the ones at the park did; however, Argentinosaurus might have been different. Drew and Cynthia turned to the direction of the sound and saw, not an Argentinosaurus, but a herd of ornithopods rushing towards them. Each was about twenty feet and was running on its hind legs. Their bodies were a greyish-green colour with brown and black markings patterned across the side and back and black markings on the arms and legs. Two powerful hind legs and a large, powerful tail balanced the rather small arms, the long neck and a comparatively small head. Each had wattles running down the throat.
Drew and Cynthia looked at each other; these weren't Argentinosaurus, but this wasn't an opportunity they were going to pass up. Quickly, they began to set up the portal in the direction towards which the herd were stampeding. Then, Drew pressed the button on the remote and the entire herd charged through the portal, into the present.
Shortly after, the glider landed near the Jeep and Leon got out. Leon said, "By the way, there's a herd of Macogryphosaurus heading directly towards… oh, never mind. Did you guys find any argens?" Drew shook his head, "No. Did you see any Argentinosaurus from the glider?" Leon sighed, "Didn't find anything. So, what's the plan?" Drew sighed and said, "We head back to the lake and set up camp for the evening."
Meanwhile, Jack, Alice and Adrian were in trouble. As the day had worn on, grey and white clouds had built up in the sky; these were storm clouds. Then the rain had begun, first as a simple drizzle. The plane had simply flown on, with Jack, Alice and Adrian deciding to land as soon as the Ornithocheirus did. Unfortunately, they were regretting that decision, as they were now trapped in a huge tropical storm
The small Cessna was struggling to stay airborne in gale-force winds and a downpour so heavy that immediate visibility was reduced to near zero. "So, what's the plan?", Alice said, indignantly, as another gale-force wind buffeted the Cessna, "If we stay like this for a bit longer, we're going to crash! We can't fly in these conditions!" Jack turned to her and said, "Don't worry. I'll do an emergency landing." Adrian gave him an incredulous look, "How do you know how to do an emergency landing?" Jack looked sheepish, "Read the manual."
With that out of the way, Jack turned to the controls; first thing to do was maintain best glide speed; that was about 70 knots. After making sure the plane was on that speed, he needed to find a place to land. Scanning the ground was difficult in the rainstorm, but eventually, he found the perfect place; an overhang on the cliff big enough for the plane and sheltered from wind and waves, a perfect landing spot. Now all he needed to do…
Jack turned to his passengers, "Thirty-second warning, guys…. Hold on to your butts." Alice curiously stated, "What do you-", before the plane was suddenly veered into the wind; Jack had pulled the throttle as far as he could (yellow on the airspeed indicator), gaining the airspeed necessary for a quick spiral down to the ground. As they approached the overhang and the rocks below, he suddenly, pulled the yoke to the right, causing the aircraft to veer towards the biggest possible entrance, whilst adjusting the pitch so they were veering horizontally. Eventually, Jack decreased the speed and quietly slipped into the overhang, gracefully landing the plane in the overhang.
Adrian and Alice got out, laughing hysterically, as Jack hopped out the cockpit, with a little smirk on his face. Alice walked up to her brother and gave him a gentle punch on the shoulder, "Don't you bloody do that again without telling us?!" Suddenly, they and Adrian burst out laughing, before they were suddenly quietened by a bovine-sounding grunt. They turned to see the entire herd of Appalachian Iguanadon and Polacanthus standing in the cave come in to sit out the storm.
Jack smiled at this image and turned to his team. "Whole herd just standing there? Perfect opportunity. The Ornithocheirus isn't going anywhere; we have time", he whispered. Adrian said, equally as quiet, "You've got a plan?" Jack smirked deviously, "You bet your life I do."
A large bag of cycad leaves that they'd brought along as bait for any herbivorous dinosaurs they might encounter on the way was emptied on the trail leading to where the portal would be active. The herbivorous dinosaurs followed the trail and, when they'd got close enough, Alice activated the portal. The whole herd walked through the portal, moving as if a unified entity into the present. When the last one had gone through, Alice shut off the portal. "Right", she said, "So what do we do now?" Jack sighed and said, "We sit out the storm until it clears up. Anyone wanna play some poker?" Alice sighed, "I'm game" and Adrian nodded, "Me too."
It was a bad storm and continued to pound the shallow sea for the rest of the night. The next day, Jack. Alice and Adrian got the plane ready and flew out again. As they did, they noticed their target, the Ornithocheirus, launch himself from a nearby cliff and fly past, eventually gliding alongside them. As he did, they noticed something different about him, "Look at his bill", Alice said, "It's changed colour." And she was right; the rims of his two beak crests were stained with dark red. Adrian turned to her and said, "It's probably a change for the mating season; some male birds today do something similar. Now we know pterosaurs did it, too."
Back in South America, they had returned to the lake and set up camp; the next morning, Drew had gone out on a solo trek to see if anything had changed over night. Suddenly ,he heard a loud, honking bellow; a Macogryphosaurus. He followed the source of the noises into a forest clearing; there, he found the source of the noises.
It was a Macogryphosaurus, with horrific injuries on its side and leg; it was like something had tried to tear a chunk out of it. Drew's mind shuddered at the predator powerful enough to do something like that.
Suddenly, he squinted to see a large, dark shape move stealthily through the trees. It was moving so fast, it was practically a blur. He could tell that it was some sort of large bipedal dinosaur, but the trees broke up its outline and no other features were discernible. The injured dinosaur bellowed its loud, honking call at the retreating predator. Drew looked at the animal, with a pang of sympathy; he knew one thing, from the horrific wounds on its side.
It was going to die if it stayed here.
Drew quickly activated the portal and coaxed the injured ornithopod through it. Using the communicator, he sent a message to the veterinary department about an injured ornithopod. Once he had done that, he decided to follow the direction where the predator had been headed.
After a few minutes, he blundered into another clearing; and immediately regretted it. In the clearing was a Macogryphosaurus, dead. It was dead at the feet of an enormous theropod dinosaur; so big it made the allosaurs look tiny. The creature raised its head and turned to look at the human.
Drew gulped; perhaps this hadn't been a good idea after all…
