Drew Luczyniski sat in his office, waiting for his team to arrive. Thankfully, they wouldn't be here for another few minutes, so he had some time to himself; some time to think about his current situation privately, before they arrived and he put on a brave face again. Now, the past month had gone surprisingly well; he was beginning to feel like himself again. Like how he'd felt before he'd been stranded in the Cretaceous.
He hadn't thought about that incident in a while; better that he never dwelled on it, he reasoned. As much as he'd pretended to hide it, being marooned in the middle of the K-T event had weighed on him greatly. In the aftermath of the event, Drew had started having violent nightmares about the incident, in most of which he died; some nights, he had barely slept at all. His six-month leave from missions, whilst ostensibly due to his broken arm, was mostly due to the PTSD he'd suffered from that harrowing ordeal. True, he'd survived; but he might have not done. He could have died if it weren't for his team; that wasn't something that left you easily.
Fortunately, Nikolai, who had experience with that sort of thing, had given him advice on how to cope with the nightmares; and, by following his advice, Drew had found that, over the months, the nightmares had been more and more bearable. They had been far less graphic or severe than they had been before. However, whilst they had decreased in severity, they were still there; he'd had quite a lot of sleepless nights. However, in the month following the Basilosaurus mission, he'd slept better than he'd done in ages.
Drew smirked at the memory; the Basilosaurus mission had been just what he needed. Going back in time, rescuing animals, escaping some prehistoric apex predator armed with nothing but his wits... he was starting to feel like his old self again. He felt re-energised; like his spark was back. He hadn't felt like that in a long time. And, who knew what this mission would bring?
His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. He turned to see Leon Gilbertson and Alice Denham walk in. Leon looked around, as if expecting to see other people in the room. Turning to Drew, Alice asked, "Is it just us today? What are we going after?" Drew smiled, "We are going after a very big target today; in both the figurative and literal sense.", before showing his team a picture of an enormous mammal; it looked like a cross between a giraffe, a rhino and an elephant.
Leon knew what it was immediately, "Paraceratherium, a distant cousin of the rhino and the largest land mammal that ever lived. A large male could reach up to fifteen feet at the shoulder and weigh up to 15 tonnes; bigger than most dinosaurs." Drew winked and said, "Right as usual, Leon! To find this giant, we're going back 25 million years to Mongolia in the Oligocene period. But, what are we all standing around for? Let's get started!" Alice looked at Drew curiously and said, "You sound... better. Like yourself again." Drew smiled, "Yeah, I do. Anyways..." And so they headed off to the portal site.
At the portal site, an employee entered the time period and location and the portal flared to life at the push of a button. Drew put the portal remote in his pocket and, after making sure the remote was secured , he turned to Leon and Alice, who nodded at him. He nodded in turn, and they entered through the portal.
After the blinding light from the portal dimmed down, the first thing that hit the three adventurers was the heat; other eras had been hot, but this was almost oppressive. They looked around and saw what had, evidently, once been a scrubland; however, it was hard to believe that these plains had supported any sort of life. All of the trees had dropped their leaves and, almost skeletally, dotted the landscape. All of the green herbs were gone and a stiff breeze painted the air with a fine dust, painting the scrub brown. The sky was cloudless and the ground superheated by the glare of a pitiless sun.
Leon chuckled and quietly said, "50 million years and Mongolia's not changed a bit." Alice looked around, and wondered "So where should we start?". "Look for a watering hole. Watering holes are like candy stores to animals in a drought", Leon replied. "OK, where's the nearest waterhole?", Drew asked, annoyed. Alice rolled her eyes and said, "Cool it, guys; arguing isn't going to solve anything."
Suddenly, a low, trumpeting bellow, like an elephant, echoed through the landscape, quietening all three of the humans. The team turned to see a large animal walking towards them. As it got closer, they could see it in greater detail. It was gigantic, standing about nine feet tall at the shoulder, with four long, columnar legs supporting a powerfully-built body. Its skin was thick, grey, folded and almost hairless, like that of an elephant or a rhino. A large horse-like head, with small, oval-shaped, orange eyes, stood at the end of a long, muscular neck, with a short, tapir-like trunk drooping over the mouth. It was a magnificent-looking animal; combining the lumbering strength and power of an elephant, with the grace and majesty of a giraffe. The creature briefly turned to look at them as it walked past, before ignoring them and walking off into the desert.
After the giant had left, Alice turned to Leon, "I'm guessing this is a Paraceratherium." Leon nodded, "Yeah. A male by the looks of it; and a young one too. He's probably looking for water." Drew smiled, "Which means, if we follow him, we'll find a watering hole. Let's get tracking." And so, they headed off into the desert, following the giant mammal's footprints.
