Following the source of the distressed Moeritherium's bellows, the Mariner rounded a bend in the channel. What they saw pained them. A Moeritherium was standing on a bit of sand that it could barely turn round in; and the tide was coming in further and further. Drew said, confused, "How did he get over there?" Leon shrugged and said, "He must have waddled out on the sandbar at low tide and got cut off when the tide came in." Alice nodded, "He can't swim away, not in open water; it'd take all his effort to not be swept away".
However, the team could see that was the least of the Moeritherium's troubles. A pair of nostrils rose from the water, leading to a tell-tale spout. This was the Basilosaurus they had been following; that's why it was headed here. The Basilosaurus was circling, slowly, but persistently; waiting for the moment the tide came in further, so it could strike. The Moeritherium stamped the ground and bellowed in distress; if the tide came in, it would stand no chance against the giant whale.
Watching this, Drew looked at his team and said, "I have an idea. Leon, you and I will use the recordings to draw the Basilosaurus away, whilst Alice wil go on to the sandbar and gets the Moeritherium through the portal." He turned to Alice, "Once that's done, contact us and we'll come back and get you." Leon and Alice nodded. Drew clapped his hands together, "Right, let's get started!"
Sailing towards the sandbar, the Mariner lowered the gangplank and Alice scurried down from it, onto the sandbar. The Mariner then headed off towards the Basilosaurus, as if challenging it. The giant marine predator turned its attention from the Moeritherium to the Mariner, following it as it left the area.
Once the Mariner and the Basilosaurus were out of sight, Alice approached the distressed Moeritherium, hands held out in front of her and said, reassuringly as possible. "Don't you worry, big fella. I'm going to get you out of this." She briefly noted that the waves were getting closer and closer; when she had got onto the sandbar, the water had been up to her toes. Now, it was up to her ankles. Time was running out; it was now or never.
Grabbing the portal remote, Alice pressed the button and the portal whirred into life. The Moeritherium stood, pondering for a moment what to do. Suddenly, he ran forward, charging through the portal; the benefits of escaping his current plight vastly outweighed any dangers caused by approaching this big swirling thing. Alice lifted her communicator and said, "Drew, Leon; it's done."
Meanwhile, Drew, Leon and the Mariner were running the Basilosaurus a merry chase; every time the giant marine predator came close, they would move forward again. It was all about keeping its prey drive focused on them; keeping it away from the sandbar and away from Alice and the Moeritherium. Suddenly, Drew and Leon's communicators rang and Alice's voice echoed through it, "Drew, Leon, it's done. The tide is rising; if you don't get back and get me now, I'll probably be on the sandbar when it submerges."
Drew and Leon looked at each other, and said, almost in unison, "We need to go back and get her". Turning around, However, this gave the Basilosaurus the opportunity it needed; lunging forward, it snapped at the speaker, missing it by millimetres. The great marine predator hissed in irritation and swam off into the swamp; this hadn't been worth the hassle.
The Mariner sailed back to the sandbar and retrieved Alice, now knee-deep in seawater. After climbing the gangplank, onto the boat, she said, "Wow! That was fun. Where to next?"
Drew was about to speak when suddenly, Alice and Leon ran to the side of the boat. Following his team, Drew saw several smaller whales swimming past the boat. From the boat, it was hard to make out details, but the largest of them was only about fifteen feet long. They were mostly dark grey in colouration and were less serpentine than the Basilosaurus, with a shape more like that of a modern whale or dolphin. Leon knew what they were immediately, "Dorudon; they're a smaller kind of whale. Unlike Basilosaurus, they're social animals, spending most of their time in groups for… mutual protection." Alice shrugged, "I can guess what they'd need to be protected from. Wonder where they're headed." Drew grinned, "That's what we're going to find out."
Back at the park, it was feeding time for the park's Tyrannosaurus. Three cow carcasses had been thrown into the enclosure. Whilst Zira, Claudandus, Terry and Gigas all ate at one, Sue ate on her own; she still wasn't on good enough terms with the main tyrannosaur family enough to eat with them. She was still an outsider; if she attempted to feed on their cow carcass, she would be chased off. However, that was the least of her problems as Sharptooth came, loping out of the undergrowth, towards her, snarling.
Sharptooth hissed at the younger female T-rex; he wanted Sue's meal. And, back in the Cretaceous, he'd been very adept at stealing other predators' kills; when a fifty-five foot, nine-ton tyrannosaur wanted something, he generally got it. At Sharptooth looming over her intimidatingly, the smaller tyrannosaur cowered, before taking a few steps back; this meal wasn't worth getting attacked over. Hissing, Sharptooth advanced towards the carcass, intending to take it…
Suddenly, a low growl stopped him in his footsteps. Zira had noticed what had been going on.
Backing down, Sharptooth grabbed the nearest intact cow carcass and dragged it off into the undergrowth; he would eat on his own. Despite what it had appeared to be, this had not been a display of cowardice; rather, Zira's defeat of Sharptooth had cemented her as the alpha of Prehistoric Earth's Tyrannosaurus. When the alpha told you to back off, you did. Zira gave Sue a look and walked back to her family; Sue was one step closer to being accepted.
Meanwhile, in the Eocene section, Will and Yolanda stood, with the three orphaned baby Leptictidium in pet carriers. They had been brought back on the last mission; and their mother had died in a carbon dioxide cloud. They had spent the past two weeks in the vet station, being treated for carbon dioxide poisioning.
Will and Yolanda had brought them here to do something very simple; get the three orphans adopted by one of the other females. They'd identified a suitable candidate from the females in the exhibit, a large female called Leppy, distinguished by a large, white patch on her back; now, all they had to do was get her to accept them. They'd worked out her typical roaming patterns and were standing along her hunting trail; they'd left crickets out to get her to linger.
Following the crickets, Leppy hopped into the clearing; that was their cue. Will and Yolanda put the pet carriers down and opened them; the three juveniles walked, unsteadily into the enclosure. Leppy looked, confused, at these three newcomers; they were her kind, but were they her kin? Moving closer, Leppy sniffed the three babies; they smelt like her. This was something Will and Yolanda had done based on similar circumstances in rodents; they rolled the offspring in the prospective adopted mother's urine. This, for an animal as dependent on smell as a Leptictidium, reduced the likelihood of rejection.
After a few minutes, Leppy turned and hopped down the trail. The three youngsters stood, rooted to the spot, as if uncertain as to what to do next. Leppy stood still, turned to the three youngsters and cocked her head, as if indicating them to follow her. The youngsters were still apprehensive; however, after a minute or so, they walked down the trail, towards their new mother. All four turned to regard the humans, before hopping down the trail together. Will and Yolanda looked at each other and shared a high-five. The plan had worked on the first attempt; three orphaned little mammals had a new mother.
As they walked away, Will turned to Yolanda and asked, "If you felt something about someone and didn't know if they felt it back; how would you explain it to them?" Yolanda cocked her head and said, "What, like Alice, you mean?" Will took a step back and asked, incredulously, "How did you guess?" Yolanda shrugged, "Well, from how you acted around her at the portal site; I knew there was something going on. It'd have been rude to have asked." Will nodded, "So… how do I tell her how I really feel?" Yolanda shrugged, "You just tell her, I guess; those who hesitate are lost." Will nodded, awkwardly, and muttered, "Best of luck with that. Best of luck with that."
Meanwhile, in Eocene Pakistan, the team had left the beach and were trekking inland. As they walked along, they noticed the drastic difference between this and the early Eocene; compared to the verdant forests of the early Eocene, this open scrub of palms and yucca might as well have been a desert. Poor soil in the area, a consequence of a relatively low annual rainfall had created this environment; it was this increase in open environments had allowed the mammals that lived there to get big; even to start approaching the size of some of the dinosaurs.
The team rounded a corner, into a tall yucca grove. There, a herd of large creatures were standing in the shade, sitting out the heat of the sun and gently chewing over the last of their morning's browsing. They were strange looking creatures, resembling gigantic rhinos however, their most distinctive features were large, heart-shaped nose horns, which were larger and more prominent in the males than the females. Necklaces of saliva hung from their broad muzzles and their tough hides were caked in mud. They were huge; the largest male was, at about ten feet high at the shoulder, roughly the size of an elephant. Looking at the herd, Jack stated, "I think these are brontotheres; they're the largest mammals of the time. They look like rhinos, but they're only distant relatives; ironically, their closest relatives are, in fact, horses."
As they looked, they noticed that one of the females was standing alone among the scrub and cacti, a little apart from the herd. At her feet lay the reason – a stillborn calf. The mother stood over it, occasionally dipping her head and nudging it, as if expecting it to get up; even though it wasn't. The team couldn't help but feel a little sad – it was almost tragic, really.
Suddenly, the female became agitated, bellowing and stamping her feet. The reason soon became apparent; stalking through the shrubs came an Andrewsarchus. This was slightly smaller than the one they had encountered on the beach – this was possibly a female.
As the Andrewsarchus trotted towards the mother brontothere, she raised her hackles, snapped and growled; an intimidation display. However, the female brontothere wasn't going to be so easily intimidated; as soon as the predator got too close, she charged, snorting and bucking her head. The Andrewsarchus loped to one side, putting a knot of yucca between her and the enraged brontothere. The mother brontothere returned to her stillborn infant and, more urgently, pushed at the corpse, attempting to hook it with her horn. Suddenly, she turned and bellowed at the scrub, as a second Andrewsarchus loped out of the bushes and snarled at the large mammal.
For what felt like an eternity, the two Andrewsarchus kept probing the mother brontothere's resolve. The team watched as, gradually, she seemed to lose interest in defending her dead calf; each time she chased one of the Andrewsarchus back, she returned to the body a little slower. Eventually, she did not return to the corpse, instead returning to her herd. The Andrewsarchus snarled and growled at the retreating herbivore. However, two other members of the herd came charging out and began stamping and bellowing at the two predators, who hissed and snapped in reply. Cynthia looked, confused, "How are we going to get them through the portal. Jack smiled, "Unless I've missed something, the Andrewsarchus are distracted. This is a perfect opportunity."
A few minutes later, after contacting the park and setting up the portal, Jack calmly walked up to the dead calf and hooked the end of the winch into its leg. The winch was attached to a park Jeep on the other side of the portal, driven by Adrian. As soon as Jack gave the thumbs-up signal, Adrian activated the winch, which began pulling the dead calf away. The two Andrewsarchus, taking notice of this, began to move towards the carcass, snarling. Jack yelled over the walkie-talkie, "Adrian! Hit the pedal, now!" Adrian whirred the jeep into life and began to drive forward, moving the dead calf with it. The Andrewsarchus both tore after the meat. Cynthia rolled her eyes as the dead calf, with the Andrewsarchus in hot pursuit, tore through the portal, into the present.
After a few minutes, Adrian returned through the portal; Jack turned to Cynthia and smiled, "Told'ja it'd work." She glowered at him and said, "You got lucky, nothing more". Jack shrugged, "You can't get lucky twice; it worked in the Jurassic. Now… how do we get these brontotheres through the portal?" Cynthia smirked, "I'll show you."
Suddenly, Cynthia got up and began advancing forward, towards the brontotheres, and began blaring the air horn at them. All the animals noticed the sound and the female from earlier cocked her head to the side to regard this new creature and bellowed loudly in reply. As Cynthia got closer, still blaring the horn, the animal pawed the ground like a bull and charged towards Cynthia. As the animal charged, Jack activated the portal remote, causing the portal to whirr into life; Cynthia dived out of the way, just in time for the brontothere to go through the portal. The rest of the herd followed her, curious as to where their herdmate had gone. Cynthia turned to her teammates and smiled, "See? This is how you do it." Jack sighed, "So it's back to the park for us, then?" Cynthia and Adrian nodded. The three adventurers headed through the portal, back to the park.
Meanwhile, in Egypt, the team had been following the Dorudon for several hours; the speaker had been put back on the boat. The Basilosaurus could wait – finding out where the Dorudon were going was more of a priority. They had followed the Dorudon out of the mangroves and into the open sea, along the coral that lined the coast.
Throughout the journey they had noticed that the clouds were getting thicker and the wind was getting faster. Leon looked at the sky and said, "Looks like a tropical storm's on its way." Drew nodded, "Which means we have to get this done fast." However, they had reached a dead end; the Dorudon had swam through the coral to a large, shallow bay on the other side.
Leon sighed, "Damn it. The Mariner can't get through these corals; we want go any further, we're going to swim there ourselves." Drew turned to Alice and said, "Alice, you go down with me. Leon, stay on the Mariner and radio us in case anything turns up." Alice nodded, turned on her heel and headed to get her diving suit.
A few minutes later, Alice and Drew dove into the water. Like they had done before, they took a cattle prod with them, in case the Dorudon got to close to comfort. They navigated the coral slowly; they could have seriously injured themselves if they weren't cautious. Eventually, they entered the bay. What they saw amazed them.
At least thirty Dorudon, from large adults to tiny calves, were swimming in this oasis. They could get a look at the Dorudon in better detail. The adults were dark grey in colouration, fading to white on the underbelly, whilst the calves were much lighter coloured. They were far less serpentine than the Basilosaurus, looking more like a modern whale or dolphin; however, they lacked a dolphin's prominent melon. Two, tiny, useless-looking hind flippers jutted out at the base of the tail. Drew and Alice smiled; they were actually rather cute.
Suddenly, the nearest adult Dorudon began to convulse a couple of times, before paddling lowly to the surface and hanging motionless as a small cloud of red exited its body, followed by a tiny grey tail. Its body suddenly convulsed again, releasing a plume of blood and a small Dorudon. The baby swam, quickly, to the surface, encouraged by its mother, to take its first breath
Drew and Alice realised what this was; it was a birthing ground. A nursery where Dorudon pods could come and raise their young. Which meant it was time to get this lot through the portal. Approaching the Dorudon, Drew and Alice found that they had a modern dolphin's manic curiosity. They were swimming close, but keeping their distance, some even allowing themselves to be petted, curious at these new creatures.
Suddenly, Leon's voice came up from the communicator, "Guys, the storm's getting pretty intense. Get this over with as quickly as you can." Drew answered, "We're in a bay; we're sheltered and we have enough air to last us a couple of hours. Moor up along the coast and we'll contact you when we're done." Leon sighed, "The storm's not the worst part…" Suddenly, a long, low, mournful-sounding call echoed through the water. The Dorudon went rigid and arranged themselves in a defensive circle; Drew and Alice looked at each other; they would have recognised that call anywhere.
Turning around, Drew and Alice saw several Basilosaurus, ranging from a thirty-foot adolescent to fifty- and sixty-foot adults, waiting patiently by the coral that barred the bay; they recognised one of them as the one they saw in the swamp. Drew's eyes widened, "That's why they're here; the Dorudon birthing ground. They've come all this way to feed on the baby Dorudon. Like the Mariner, they couldn't navigate the coral; however, when the sea rises in the storm, they'll be able to get in". Alice breathed out, "It'll be a massacre."
