Drew Luczynski was sitting in his office, waiting. Standing or sitting near him were Leon Gilbertson, Adrian Sky, accompanied by his Rhamphorynchus companion Keehar, and Jack and Alice Denham, all of whom were bored. Leon was calmly flipping through the journal, Jack was looking at the celling (for no discernible reason) and tapping his feet impatiently, Alice was looking at her watch, Adrian was looking out of the window and Keehar was boredly snapping at the air. Suddenly, a voice sarcastically noted, "Well, I'm glad to see you intended to go without me". Everyone in the room turned to see Cynthia walking towards them, a smug expression on her face. "Where were you?", a puzzled Jack asked, "You were supposed to be here five minutes ago". In response, she rolled her eyes and replied, "I needed to talk to someone; that's why I was late. Sue me. Anyway, what are we going after?"

Drew looked at her suspiciously and cleared his throat, ""Today, we're going after a dinosaur that you all should know about; in fact, it's the most famous dinosaur of all time," Drew explained, flicking through pages of the file. "None other than Tyrannosaurus rex." He paused, as if to let the conclusion sink in, "The best fossils of Tyrannosaurus have been found in a place in Montana called Hell Creek, which happens to be one of the richest fossil sites in the world and has fossils found from it right up to the K-T boundary." He briefly paused and continued, " Now, here's the catch; the portal will be shut down whilst we're there. The reason why is that I have a hunch that its little Antarctica incident was due to the fact we use it too often; it quite literally burnt out from overuse." Jack chuckled and said, "Happens to the best of us, eh, fearless leader?" sending the room into peals of laughter. When everyone had regained coherence, Drew stated, "Now, we're headed to about three days before the meteorite hits; that should give us enough time to get as many dinosaurs as we can and leave. Hopefully, we'll get out of there before the meteorite even breaks the atmosphere." Jack nervously said, "And… what if we don't?". In response, Drew simply shrugged and said, "We improvise." The team all looked at each other nervously, as they didn't really hope to think about that possibility, and headed off to the portal site.

At the portal site, the team stared at the group of people shuffling over various jeeps, motorcycles, portable biodegradable tents and even the glider. At the front of it all were three large containment trucks. Both due to the scale of the mission and the fact that the portal would be temporarily shut down, it had been decided that more people would be brought along, as well as containment trucks and temporary fencing for some of the larger animals that they would find.

An employee standing near the portal entered the co-ordinates in and waited for a cue from Drew. Drew nodded, and the portal whirred into life. Upon the announcement, the team got ready to head back. Jack and Leon got in one containment truck, with Leon driving and Jack riding shotgun, whilst Alice and Adrian got in another, with Alice driving, Adrian riding shotgun and Keehar perching on Adrian's lap. Finally, Drew and Cynthia got into the lead containment truck. Other staff members were getting on motorcycles, in jeeps and into trailers and getting the engines revved up. The vehicles quickly drove through before those who hadn't had a chance to climb into the machines moved onwards. And with that, the team were off; ready to save the last vestiges of a dying era.

After the blinding light from the portal dimmed down, the first thing that hit the adventurers was the heat; other eras had been hot, but this was almost oppressive. They looked around and saw a vast, desolate expanse that had, evidently, once been a forest of cycads and conifer trees; however, pretty much all of the trees were dead, denuded by the lack of water. The sky was cloudless and the ground superheated by the glare of a pitiless sun. Everybody stared, wordless, at the landscape before them; it was the first landscape they could classify as being utterly desolate. The landscape was largely featureless, with the exception of the occasional large rock. It was uncannily quiet; the silence, in fact, was almost oppressive and there was no sign of Tyrannosaurus… in fact, no sign of any animals of any kind. The place was utterly lifeless. Everyone could hear Jack mutter over the CB radio, "Christ, it looks like a bomb site. So, fearless leader, where should we start?".

Drew sighed, "Thankfully, the co-ordinates Theodore gave us were a bit more precise than normal; we've apparently landed near what is the only green spot for miles. Given what the rest of the landscape looks like, that place is going to be a hotspot to the animals in the area; prey and predators both." Jack asked, annoyed, "OK, how far is it exactly?". Leon said, "This landscape's pretty featureless; there aren't really any distinctive landmarks. Hypothetically, we could end up getting lost in this desert." Drew realised Leon was right; in hindsight, he should have asked Theodore for closer co-ordinates.

Drew's train of thought was suddenly cut off by a squawk. Everyone looked up to see a flock of pterosaurs flying above their heads; the first animals they had seen since they had arrived. Each had long, pointed wings and a wingspan of about eight feet. They had long, slender, slightly upturned beaks, with a tall crest, like a single antler, which raised about above its head. Everyone knew what they were immediately; they were Nyctosaurus, like the ones back at the park. Drew smiled and said, "We follow them; because, most likely, they're headed for that green spot Theodore was talking about." The convoy rolled out, following the pterosaurs. The search had begun.