Dental Terror
The sun began to rise over the peaks. The loud cawing of a Utahraptor broke the serene silence of the night. Nethania rolled out of the hammock and stretched. She got up and went to get something to eat from her meat locker. She pulled out a raw steak. She bit into it and began chewing, stopping when one of her molars began aching.
"Oh," Nethania groaned. She put her hand to her cheek. She resumed eating but switched to the other side.
Nethania got dressed for the day and went out to seize it.
…^…^…
Meanwhile the morning found the Shannons getting ready to start their own day. Elizabeth was drinking coffee, Zoe was eating breakfast, Maddy was fixing breakfast, Josh was chilling on the couch, Jim was preparing to go meet with Taylor about Nethania's plans to bring pilgrims through.
"Taylor wants to talk to me about Nethania…Captain Taylor's plans to reopen the portal and bringing people back through," Jim said.
"I don't understand why she would want to bring people through. What if those people come back and try to destroy this place?" Elizabeth said.
"That's why he wants to talk about it. Nethania…Captain Taylor is a great person, but even she is prone to make mistakes," Jim said.
"Well it worries me to no end," Elizabeth said.
"Alright, I'm off to class," Maddy said and headed out.
"Oh dear, is that the time," Elizabeth said looking at the clock. She was answered by the hourly crowing from the time keeper raptor.
"Well I'm off to work," Elizabeth said and hurried out the door.
"Josh, take Zoe to school on your way to work," Jim said.
"Alright," Josh said. Jim followed Elizabeth out.
Josh got up and went to get something to eat. He noticed Zoe fiddling with something in her mouth.
"Something stuck in your teeth Zoe?" Josh asked.
"Look," Zoe said opening her mouth and wiggling a tooth.
"A loose tooth," Josh said.
"It's been like that for a while now. It won't come out," Zoe said.
"It better come out soon, or mom and dad'll take you to the dentist and he'll rip it out," Josh said. He didn't mean to sound scary, but he frightened Zoe.
"Come on Zo," Josh said.
…^…^…
"We need to put safety measures in place should my daughter bumble things up," Nathaniel said.
"The Nanosaurs may not be enough to stop another invasion," Alicia said.
"We can run our own background checks on people, just to make sure Nethania didn't miss anything," Jim said.
Nathaniel, Alicia, Jim and Guzman were meeting together about security details about the reopening of the portal.
"Nethania is tight about being in charge of everything. Its unlikely that she'll share that stuff with us," Guzman said.
"I've tried talking to her about it. Guz is right. Nethania is very controlling," Nathaniel said.
"Why is she like that?" Jim asked.
"She doesn't trust anyone involved with the colony, including myself. I think she feels that if she isn't in absolute control of everything then she's not in control at all," Nathaniel said.
"Power hungry monster," Guzman muttered.
"No, she's just being protective," Nathaniel said.
…^…^…
Boylan hung glasses up on the shelf above the bar. Josh was eating dates that some pterosaur had brought in to the market. He popped one into his mouth and chomped down, biting down on a pit and broke a back tooth.
"Ow," Josh moaned. He spat the pit and broken off piece.
"Oh, that's bad," Boylan said.
"Ow," Josh groaned.
"Better go see a dentist about that," Boylan said.
"What'll they do," Josh asked.
"Nothing real serious, probably just drill it out a bit, fill it and then put a cap on it," Boylan said.
"Drill it?" Josh questioned.
"Yep," Boylan said like it was no big deal.
…^…^…
Nethania walked into a room in the hangar. A Dryosaurus was sitting at a desk with a communicator headset on his head. She looked up at Nethania and smiled.
"Hello captain," the Dryosaurus greeted.
"Any openings to get me in to check a bad tooth," Nethania asked.
The Dryosaurus checked on the plex in front of her and smiled, she nodded vigorously.
"We won't be able to get you in until tomorrow afternoon," the Dryosaurus said.
"Book me," Nethania said.
…^…^…
Zoe and Josh hid their tooth problems from their parents, fearful of what will happen at the dentist. They managed to keep it hidden until next morning.
"So I've got some fresh fruit from the market yesterday. Zoe, would you like an apple for breakfast," Elizabeth asked.
"Yes," Zoe said with excitement but when her tongue hit her loose tooth, she changed her mind.
"Actually, I change my mind, no thank you," Zoe said covering her mouth with her hand and walking away. Jim and Elizabeth exchange a glance.
"And I also purchased some more dates from that Pterosaur," Elizabeth said.
Josh yelped at this announcement.
"Alright, what's going on? Josh I've seen you pig out on those dates and I've never known Zoe to pass on an apple," Elizabeth said sternly.
Josh went first.
"I broke a tooth the other day on a date pit," Josh said.
"Why didn't you say something?" Elizabeth asked a bit amused by this.
"Boylan said that they'll drill the tooth out," Josh said.
"And Zoe, what's your problem," Jim asked.
Zoe shyly opened her mouth and pointed out her loose tooth.
"I have a loose tooth that won't come out," Zoe said.
"And what's your excuse," Elizabeth asked.
"Josh said they'd rip it out," Zoe said.
"Jim I will get them appointments, can you ensure that they go," Elizabeth said.
"Of course. Josh, meet up with me outside the Command Center at the appointed time please," Jim said.
Later that day, Jim took Zoe with him to work. Josh took time off work and went to help him wrangle Zoe.
"Hey Shannon, you know this isn't day care right," Nathaniel said in jest.
"Well, Zoe and Josh both have dentist appointments. They're a little worried about going," Jim said.
"What's the problem?" Nethania asked. She was discussing the reopening of the portal.
"Zoe's afraid they'll rip her loose tooth out, Josh is scared of getting his drilled out," Jim said.
"Why don't you guys come with me? I want to show you something," Nethania said.
She took them down to the hangar and into the Nanosaurian Dentist office. She took them back and discovered a Pyroraptor that was inspecting a Nanosaurian Ankylosaurus mouth.
"What's it doing?" Zoe asked.
"This is Percy Pyroraptor, our dentist. Carnivorous saurians are prone to cavities, broken teeth and gingivitis due to the diet of meat that we eat. Our carnivorous Nanosaurs have to visit the Nanosaurian Dentist every three months to get our teeth checked, cleaned and fixed," Nethania said.
"Ah Captain Taylor, you're next after Arthur Acrocanthosaurus," the Percy said.
Zoe and Josh looked at her with shock.
"Yes, even I need to visit the dentist. Due to my own diet of meat, I too get cavities. I have an appointment today to get a sore tooth looked at," Nethania said.
The Ankylosaurus waddled out and Percy moved onto Arthur who lay down and opened his huge mouth. Percy literally climbed into Arthur's mouth and began checking teeth over.
"Ah ha, here's the problem," Percy said.
"What's wrong with Arthur," Nethania asked.
"He's got a rotted out tooth," Percy said.
Percy withdrew from Arthur's mouth and hooked a cable noose around his top jaw.
"What's that for?" Zoe asked.
"To prevent him from chomping down on me when I pull his bad tooth," Percy said. Percy grabbed a pair of pliers and went back into Arthur's mouth.
"Now, here we go," Percy said. He gripped Arthur's tooth and began wiggling back and forth before giving it a good tug, pulling the tooth out.
"ARG," Arthur growled.
"Does it hurt," Zoe asked.
Percy took the noose off.
"It does for a moment, but the pain soon subsides," Arthur said.
"Well if that's all Arthur, I need to check the Captain's teeth next," Percy said.
"Thank you so very much, my mouth feels much better," Arthur said.
"Okay Captain and tell me which tooth is bothering you," Percy said, leading her to the dentist chair.
"It's my right far back molar," Nethania said as she took a seat and Percy looked inside her mouth.
"Oh yes, it's rotted out, just like Arthur's. Now with Nanosaurs like Arthur and myself, I can pull the tooth out and a new one will grow in eventually, but Nethania's human teeth are a different story," Percy said.
"What do you do for human teeth?" Josh asked.
"I'll put the tooth to sleep, so that I can work on it without inflicting serious pain," Percy said. He squeezed a topical jelly out onto a cue tip and the pressed it against Nethania's back gums.
"What's that?" Zoe asked.
"It's a topical jelly so as to numb the gum line a bit," Percy explained. He pulled the cue tip out and then picked up a syringe.
"What's that for?" Zoe asked, nervous about needles.
Percy pricked Nethania's gums with it.
"This is the anesthetic that will put the gums to sleep. It's just a tiny prick in the gums and it works super fast," Percy said.
Percy put the syringe down and began working her lip against the gums, trying to move the anesthetic around.
"Alrighty now, let's drill out that tooth," Percy said.
Percy began drilling the tooth. Josh had been one of the lucky ones and never had a cavity before. The drill was comfortingly small. Percy drilled it, cleaned it, filled it formed it and then blacklighted it to speed the drying process.
"Done," Percy said after cleaning it up a bit.
"Thank you," Nethania said, her numbed mouth made it difficult to talk.
"That's it," Zoe said.
"Nothing to it," Nethania said.
"Well, I guess we better go to the dentist now," Josh said.
"What are you guys going in for?" Percy asked.
"I broke a tooth off after biting a date pit," Josh said.
"I have a loose tooth," Zoe said.
"A loose tooth," Percy said.
"Why don't you hop up and let Percy look," Nethania said.
Zoe climbed into the chair and opened her mouth. She pointed to it with her tongue.
"Oh my goodness look at that. A loose human canine tooth," Percy said. He took a piece of gauze and checked its looseness. He withdrew his hand and smiled widely.
"Is the dentist going to have to rip my tooth out?" Zoe asked.
"I don't think he'll have to rip out this tooth," Percy said showing her the tooth that he now held in his claw.
"MY TOOTH," Zoe said excitedly.
"Thing practically fell right out into my claw," Percy said. He placed it in a small Ziploc baggy and gave it to her.
"Thank you Percy," Zoe said hugging the Pyroraptor.
"Oh you're welcome. I wish your brother to have as big of a success as you do," Percy said patting her on the head.
…^…^…
Nethania sat out in her hammock chair. The sun had set. Jim came walking over.
"Thanks for helping those two ease their fear of the dentist. Zoe can't wait to go again. Josh had an easy time at the dentist too. His tooth is fixed and all better," Jim said.
"Glad I could be of help. I remember being that age and being terrified of the dentist. I was lucky to have a good dentist that was great with kids. Percy is the dentist here, back at headquarters its Gilbert Gallimimus, Pachy Pachycephalosaurus, and Elsa Eoraptor," Nethania said.
"Who do you see back at HQ?" Jim asked.
"Whoever can see me usually," Nethania said.
"Well, thanks again," Jim said.
"Always glad to help," Nethania said.