Sightseeing

"Well, that could have gone worse," Ray commented from the command room, having witnessed the altercation with the deinochyus. Ann mopped the perspiration from her face; it wasn't supposed to be another one of those trips.

"That was too close."

Ray noticed her concern, "They're survivors, Ann. You know that."

"I know. I just can't stand sitting by here watching helplessly."

"Maybe you should have sat this one out."

Ann shook her head, "No. I couldn't trust anyone else at the controls."

Meanwhile, in 75 Million B.C., evening had come and in the safety of their basecamp, the men were fixing a supper of franks and beans over an open flame. Tony, not letting the events of the day distress him, strummed on an old guitar and the men broke out with the old campfire songs.

"How do you think that lizard would cook?" a senior programmer joked.

"You leave that lizard alone, Davis." General Kirk answered, smiling. "It's got a place waiting for it in the archives."

"That's a shame, I was hoping to have its head in my rec room," Jim quipped, "It'd make one humdinger of a conversation piece."

They laughed at the thought. Despite the prize addition it would make to any museum, the secrecy of the project couldn't be so blatantly compromised.

Off to the side, Doug heard a rustling noise and looked up from his plate of beans, "It looks like we have visitors… and they're carrying their tails!" Every head turned to an extended family group of massive duck-billed lambeosaurus, which were casually walking by the camp enroute to the creek. Each of the adults was over forty feet long, and they all bore oddly shaped crests upon their heads. The expedition rose and ran to the fence for a closer look. Noticing all this attention, one of the lambeosaurs lazily turned and looked at the humans curiously, and let out a deep gurgled noise in their direction, but expressed no mutual interest in them, and kept moving.

"Only shoot with your cameras," General Kirk told them.

Jerry flipped through the reference book; the pictured lambeosaur was standing erect, whereas the ones before them walked hunched forward with their tails straight out. Jerry read aloud, "Lambe... Lambeosaurus. Discovered by Barnum Brown in Alberta, Canada; skeletons also recovered in Montana, and as far south as Mexico…" He stopped, finding he was talking exclusively to himself.

"Permission to step outside?" asked Charlie Whitebird, their resident expert on the history of the plains Indians.

"Be careful," General Kirk conceded, "and keep your distance."

The men followed the lumbering giants to the creek, keeping back a safe distance. The lambeosaurs reached the water and dipped their mouths in, taking in their share. Everyone remained silent; on the other side of the creek, silhouetted by the setting sun they could make out the outline of an armored ankylosaur wandering off, slowly swinging its clubbed tail in either direction.

"This is what it's all about," Doug said of the scene. Tony nodded in agreement.

"I'll bet the kids would love this, huh Charlie?" Jim chuckled.

The Sioux scholar smiled, "They would for a fact."

They stayed outside the fence for over half an hour, until after the dinosaurs had left and the sun was too low for safety. Straggling back in, the expedition called it a night.

Coffee, bacon, and eggs were the order of the morning, and a hearty meal was had in preparation for the new day while the men made idle chatter.

"What do you think we'll see today?"

"I'm hoping for triceratops."

"A brontosaur, that's what I want."

The time had come for the helicopter to serve its purpose; the men boarded the Chinook and spread out, taking their seats along the sides, Jim and Doug strapped into the pilot and copilot's seats respectively and prepared for takeoff. The twin rotors hummed to life, and the behemoth transport slowly rose from the ground. There was a slight jerking on liftoff and Doug questioned Jim's ability.

"Just where did you learn to fly one of these?"

"I used to deliver supplies in the service… it's been a few years."

Rising more steadily over the trees, the landscape unfolded. The creek stretched out as far as the eye could see, the tree-covered forest below hiding its inhabitants, and the rolling mountainous terrain on the horizon. The passengers twisted around in their seats to see out the windows to their backs. The vehicle rose to several hundred feet off the ground and cruised forward at a casual rate.

"Anything on your side?" Jerry yelled across to Tony.

"No, nothing yet," Tony yelled back.

Jerry squinted, holding his hand over his eyes as a shield from the morning sun. No one had seen anything new that morning, and the "what's next" mentality was setting in. After several minutes, his vigilance was rewarded.

"There they are! Brontosaurs! Two of them!"

All eyes turned to the portside; two enormous brontosauri were feeding from a section of trees below. The helicopter turned and made a wide circle around the scene.

"Doug! Jim!" General Kirk talked to them through a headset radio, "Hold her steady and drop the loading ramp, we're going to see if we can get some film."

In speedy compliance, the ramp lowered and General Kirk himself took a 16mm handheld movie camera and filmed the giant behemoths feeding from the rear of the hovering chopper, leaning out to a considerable degree with one hand grasping an overhead strap and Jiggs taking hold of his belt for good measure.

Watching from the command room, Ann managed to crack a smile, "He's having the time of his life."

Ray nodded, "Nearly twenty years away from the field… this is what he needed."

Ann yawned, making the best attempt to muffle it, and excused herself.

"Ann," Ray coaxed, "It's all right, take a breather."

Ann agreeably rose from their workstation, "Thanks, this time I'm not going to argue with you."