In a secluded part of Prehistoric Earth, Cynthia Night lifted a communicator to her ear and said, "Boss, it's me". She went quiet as the person on the other line said something, to which she replied, "Status update; nobody's found me out yet. There haven't been any major incidents since the breakout, so they're probably lying low at the moment. Are you any closer…" The person she was talking to said something and she nodded, before saying, "Thought so; if it's a Novum board member, they're covering their tracks very well. Well, good luck on your end; I'll see if I can get any progress on mine." She sighed, "Anyway, I've got to go; there's a mission today and I think the whole team is required."
Cynthia walked through the park, before she got to Drew's office. Opening the door, she entered to see Drew Luczynski, Leon Gilbertson, Adrian Sky and Jack and Alice Denham, all sitting in the office. Leon was calmly flipping through the journal, Jack was looking at the ceiling and tapping his feet impatiently, Alice was looking at her watch and Adrian was looking out of the window. Suddenly, they all noticed her. "Where were you?", a puzzled Leon asked. Cynthia shrugged and said, "I was talking to someone, s'all. Anyway, what are we going after?"
Drew looked at her suspiciously and cleared his throat, ""We're going to the Late Eocene, 36 million years ago " Drew explained, flicking through pages of the file, "the time when mammals got big". He briefly paused and continued, "For this mission, we are splitting the team; Alice and Leon are coming with me", he gestured to them, "to Egypt, to go after Basilosaurus. We're taking the Ancient Mariner to do this. Whereas you three", he gestured to Cynthia, Jack and Adrian, "are going to Pakistan, in the same period to go after Andrewsarchus". He then proceeded to hand them a small journal and a remote. "As you know, you use the journal to identify any animals you see and, of course, you have a portal remote. Be careful and remember; no species left behind."
And, so, they headed to the portal site. Cynthia, Jack and Adrian headed to their portal. An employee entered the time period and location and the portal whirred into life. Jack and Adrian looked at each other and smiled, before all three headed through the portal, into the past.
They emerged from the portal onto a long sandy beach; in the distance, they could see extensive dune systems and, out to sea, they could notice shallow corals. This was the same for hundreds and hundreds of miles. Behind the dunes, they could see a low-growing tropical habitat, mostly open plains of palms and yucca. Jack turned to his teammates, "Right, where do we start?" As he said this, Cynthia bent down to look at something on the ground, muttering, "I know where to go." As she stood up, she said, "I've found tracks. Large predator, headed west" As Jack and Adrian looked, they realised that she was right; there were footprints. They looked like a dog's, only much larger; the only difference being that the four toes ended in hoof-like imprints, rather than claws.
Meanwhile, Drew, Leon and Alice were heading to the Ancient Mariner; when they arrived, they were surprised to find Will and Yolanda there. Drew smiled and said, "Have you come here to see us off?" Will walked up to them and said, "I came to wish you good luck on the mission", looking directly at Alice. After a brief pause, he hastily added, "All of you", as if to clarify that he did not mean anybody specific. Whilst Drew ignored the statement, Leon and Yolanda looked rather curious; there was something he wasn't saying. And it had something to do with Alice. Yolanda turned to them, particularly focusing on Leon, and said, "Promise me you'll be careful. All of you." Leon smiled and said, "We will." Yolanda then turned to Will and asked, "Oh, Will, I might need your help with something today." An employee entered the time period and location and the portal whirred into life. Drew, Leon and Alice boarded the Ancient Mariner and the boat headed towards the portal, before sailing through.
The Mariner had emerged from the portal. The team looked out at the sight that greeted them; they'd landed near the coast. The coastline for miles and miles was fringed by vast coral barriers; the Mariner sailed towards a deep-water channel that led through a gap in the coral, kept open by the choking silt of a large estuary beyond. As they sailed in, they noticed the bloated carcass of some large animal, floating upside down in the grey-blue water. It was a dead animal; of what kind they did not know. As they watched, several small fins cut the water; sharks had found the carcass. Leon knew what they were immediately, "They're Physogaleus; a kind of small shark in the Eocene; they're only about six feet long." Drew looked at his teammates and smiled, "I have an idea."
That idea was to throw down the winch and hook it into the carcass, before pulling it back. As the dead animal moved closer to the boat, the sharks followed. When they had gotten close enough, Drew released the carcass and activated the portal, sending it through, with the sharks following.
As they moved deeper into the estuary, they realised that it was a huge bay, with numerous deep channels. Bordering it were dense mangrove swamps, with mile after mile of ancient forest stretching behind them. They could notice pawpaw, ylang ylang, cashew, obeche and fan palm as amongst the variety of trees that grew here and the many freshwater channels were lined with cat's tail and choked in floating fern. Alice looked at Drew and asked, "What's the plan?" Drew sighed, "We park the Mariner somewhere and see if we can track some animals by foot."
Mooring the Mariner into a bay, the team disembarked from the Mariner and began wading through the swamps. Many of the trees were bearing fruit and were rich in oils and resin, meaning that the air was full of pungent fragrances and the howls of monkey troops moving through the trees.
After about half an hour of walking, they found their first sign of animals; a series of large tracks in the sand. The feet were splayed into the ground, like those of a camel; however, they were much larger, sinking into the soil, and had five toes. The track was also quite widely-spaced; this thing was not walking with one foot in front of the other, like most mammals, but with both legs on one side of their body moving and then the other, like a camel.
As they followed the tracks further, they saw a rather large pile of dung lying near the trail. Bending down to smell it, Drew said, "It smells rather sweet; the animal we are looking for is a herbivore. Probably eats fruit and leaves." Alice shrugged, "Given how dangerous big herbivores can be, that's not much consolation." Drew shrugged, "Yes." They continued following the tracks.
After about twenty minutes of following the tracks, they heard low, honking bellows from a nearby clearing. Quietly moving through the mangroves, they entered the clearing to see a herd of eight large creatures browsing, using their long, prehensile upper lips to lasso any fruits or leaves within reach. They were strange looking creatures, resembling a cross between a rhino and a hippo; however, their most distinctive features were their bizarre-looking, paired horns. Leon knew what they were immediately, "Arsinioitherium; they're some of the largest mammals of the time. That must have been what the carcass was. They look like rhinos, they live like hippos, but, really, they're closer to the elephants."
As they looked at the herd, they noticed that one of the adults was significantly larger than the others; they presumed that this was the herd's dominant male. The horns had different shapes according to the animals' genders; on the large male, they were long and flared out to the side, whilst in the females, they were dainty and upright. Drew, Alice and Leon looked at each other; how were they going to get this lot through the portal?
Suddenly, Drew got up and began advancing forward, towards the giant creatures, and began blaring the air horn at them. All the animals noticed the sound and the large male cocked his head to the side to regard this new creature and he bellowed loudly in reply. As Drew got closer, still blaring the horn, the male pawed the ground like a bull and charged towards Drew. As the male charged, Alice activated the portal remote, causing the portal to whirr into life; Drew dived out of the way, just in time for the male to go through the portal. The rest of the herd followed him. Drew turned to his teammates and smiled, "Ole". Alice turned to Drew and Leon and said, "Alright, what next?"
