Living in the Loop: Life #61 – the dreaded Lycaenops and others
Disclaimer: see previous chapters.
5-1
The young woman was in trouble. Lycaenops, a smaller, more versatile relative of the great Gorgonops, was chasing after her.
Just as the therapsid's powerful jaws were about to snap shut on her, several tasers struck, halting it in a mid-leap and making it fall.
Breathing in relief, the university student turned towards her rescuers. "Thank you-"
"Don't mention it," Ange Finch said.
5-2
The Spinosaurus stood between the time anomaly and Connor and Abby like some prehistoric dragon, its sail casting a jagged shadow in the sun.
"Connor, what are we going to do?" Abby whispered. "Maybe we can distract it?"
"Yes, and I actually got a plan," Connor whispered back.
This particular plan consisted of the two impromptu time travellers going back to the raptor nest and using a long stick to swipe back their stolen blanket. The raptor, naturally indignant, screeched – and this screech was answered by more raptors, a pack easily dozen animals strong, possibly even more...and they all stared at Connor and Abby with a rather unfriendly look in their eyes.
"Connor," Abby hissed.
"Run!"
And Connor and Abby ran – right back towards the Spinosaurus, which roared in anger. Connor and Abby, however, no longer cared about the solitary giant – they just put on speed and ran past him, leaving the colossal meat-eater gaping.
Then the raptors arrived – possibly all of the neighbourhood's raptors. Spinosaurus was not the brightest dinosaur in the Cretaceous, but even it could see that currently the numbers weren't in its favor, so it turned around and fled...
5-3
Dylan walked through Project Magnet's corridors, Ange and Lt. Leeds next to her. Evan was currently at the therapist's, and Toby had to go back to the medical room once more – her initial recovery from Brontoscorpio's venom was not as complete as it was thought. Natalie was with her...so Dylan was on her own, since she and Ange were not exactly friends at this point, and Lt. Leeds... who knew?
"So how many time anomalies does Project Magnet control?" she finally asked the aforementioned lieutenant, when their mutual silence became just too uncomfortable.
"Just two," the man replied, quietly.
"Two?"
"Yes. One leads to the later Jurassic, maybe 155 MYA..."
"That's the one with the airplane, right?"
"No. That one, we, uh," Lt. Leeds hesitated.
"Was blown up, along with the time anomaly," Ange finished flatly.
"Blown-up? How?"
"With electromagnetism," Ange continued in the same flat tone of voice. "Or electromagnets. Take your pick. This is Project Magnet, you know?"
"..." Dylan thought this over. "Okay. So where is that time anomaly located?"
"It's on that bridge over the waterfall, remember?" Angelika shook her head. "That's when we actually met Natalie in person, and they got almost eaten by a bear."
"Oh. That place," Dylan grimaced – she did not have any fond memories for it. "So it leads to the late Jurassic?"
"Yes," Leeds nodded. "You know – Stegosaurus, Apatosaurus, Allosaurus – those animals."
"Are they dangerous? Besides the obvious, I suppose," Dylan reluctantly asked.
"We've already lost several men – but not to them. To smaller carnivores. Ceratosaurs, I suppose," Leeds grimaced.
There was another uncomfortable pause. "What about the second one?" Ange asked faintly. After the loss of Mac they were not really interesting in hearing about people eaten by dinosaurs.
"Oh, that one leads to the Carboniferous, a much more earlier time period," Leeds said with a grimace. "It is much more secure, but-"
"But?"
"It's mostly plant samples there – a lot of them," the lieutenant said with a grimace. "Wildlife is represented mostly by prehistoric amphibians and insects-"
"Yes, I and Mac had seen a giant dragonfly," Dylan grimaced.
"Yes, exactly, anyways – this is the world's – or history's – supply of coal ever, so it is managed mostly by people from Ottawa and Victoria, and we've been practically sidelined there – unlike the Jurassic..."
"Where you are getting eaten."
"No. Well, yes, but there is something else. Want to see it?"
Both women nodded.
5-4
Ever since most of his team went to hunt Helen Cutter throughout time and possibly space, and Sarah Page had died while trying to rescue them from it, Becker thought that he'd seen it all, including Matt Anderson's almighty ego. However, when Abby and Connor burst from a time anomaly running as fast as they probably could and hid behind a car before catching their breath, he realized that he was wrong.
"Guys?" he looked over the car as they huddled behind the vehicle. "What have you done this time?"
It was when the Spinosaurus arrived, charging and smashing through the impromptu car barricade as it was made out of cardboard boxes – it didn't slow the dinosaur at all as it continued to run, vanishing in the streets of London.
Luckily, no one appeared to be seriously hurt, though Becker found himself next to Connor and Abby, glowering at them in a far less understanding way.
"That's not it," Connor replied in a weak voice to the yet unasked question.
Before Becker could ask what 'it' was, then, the raptors came – and clearly, they were 'it'.
5-5
When the Cross Photonics team arrived, they found the university campus to be in a panic as everyone ran everywhere, but mostly – away from the campus.
"So, does anyone see a T-Rex nearby or anything like it?" Evan said weakly, seeing how it was next to impossible to sort anything in this chaos.
Evan Cross. You thought you could escape me?
There was a pause as the foursome from CP turned around.
"So that's what an Albertosaurus looks like," Toby whispered.
"Yes," Evan whispered back, "just without the eyes glowing this weird blue color..."
You cannot escape me this time!
"You and what army?" Evan snapped, no longer caring about the absurdity of what was going on.
This one.
And indeed a small army of armed men began to emerge from behind the dinosaur.
"Mac?" Dylan whispered to the Englishman. "You have any idea?"
"Well, they're Chinese. Judging by the largely leather armor, Dao swords and primitive firearms... not Middle Ages, more like the Renaissance or hereabout, by European standards... Scatter!"
The CP team scattered just as their enemies opened fire.
5-6
Samantha pulled out her extendable baton of a club and took a stance. The Lycaenops took a good look at her and leapt. It slammed Samantha into the elevator... that chose to open right that minute and both the therapsid and Samantha tumbled head over heels into it.
Fortunately, Samantha was able to recover first and pulled herself fully out of the elevator's space, just as it closed shut. Then, as the elevator began to shudder from the Lycaenops' struggles on the inside, she closed her eyes and muttered:
"I need a raise. Also – Mac."
5-7
The room largely resembled an aviary and smelled like it too – a lot. Still, it was not an aviary all the same.
"What is this place? I mean, rather, what are those creatures?" Angelika Finch said in a nasal voice as she pinched her nose to keep the stench out.
"Pterosaurs. Scientists say that they are Dimorphodon and Rhamphorhynchus, though in plural their names are different."
"Dylan..." Ange was almost pleading. "In lay person terms, you have any ideas?"
"Angelika, relax," Dylan almost smiled – the smell was getting to her too, though, so she relented. "Basically, these are like the Pteranodon we fought in the park...only more basic and much smaller..."
"And also much more social, we think – we know, we can see," Leeds added as he and the women continued to observe the pterosaurs that fluttered back and forth through the room. The rhamphorhynchuses were more bird-like, at least from the front, the size of an average sea gull and with long, vane-like tails. They were almost more active and preferred to fly through the airspace.
The dimorphodons were more bat- or even lizard-like, with large, obtuse, briefcase-like heads. They preferred to hang around the surrogate trees and hiss when other pterosaurs got too close. Their tails too were long, but also relatively straight, more like those of lizards or even rats.
"They are very fascinating," Dylan said quietly.
"Yes, I thought that you were going to say that," Ange quietly agreed. "Let's go and check on Toby, shall we?"
Reluctantly, Dylan complied.
5-8
"So, that's the dreaded Lycaenops," Samantha muttered to Ange and Toby. "Got to admit, when it killed me the first time, it seemed tougher."
"Yes, well, back then you – we were on a more even footing," Toby shook her head. "Don't forget, pound for pound, this is the initial ultimate predator, or almost the ultimate predator. Some of its cousins, like the Gorgonops itself, had been even bigger and tougher – make that a lot bigger and tougher..."
"How do you know...?" Samantha trailed away as she looked in the direction that others were looking at. Sure enough, there was the male Lycaenops, halfway in a tree, hissing and growling...
...at the much bigger therapsid that was emerging through a time anomaly.
"Crap."
5-9
"Mac? Mac! Come in, Mac! You've got to take a bath and remove this shirt right now!" Dylan yelled through her walkie-talkie. What she was hearing back was not reassuring.
"Aargh! Aargh! It is f*cking me alive!" came the desperate cry for help.
"We're on it," Dylan assured the Englishman and looked at Evan. "What? This is clearly a masculine problem; he needs your help first and foremost."
"I agree," Toby spoke up nervously as her head bobbed up and down. "Evan, Mac needs! I mean, needs you!"
Evan glared.
5-10
"Daphne. Shaggy." James Lester glowered. "You've been back in the Present for about half an hour and have already unleashed a plague of dinosaurs on London. What can you say for yourselves?"
"It's all Matt Anderson's fault?" Abby said weakly, expecting Lester's reaction. She failed to expect this, though.
"Ah," Lester beamed. "Good enough for me. Now go and fill-in your paperwork, before I fire you for good! And when I say 'fire', I mean from a cannon – preferably one that's mega-sized, like the one in Moscow Kremlin..."
Connor and Abby took the hint and got out while the going was good.
End