Disclaimer: I don't own and I am barrowing for my story: Terra Nova characters, Nanosaur the Mac Game.
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They Called Me Terrible Claw
Something zipped through the jungle. It was moving so fast that one could barely make out what the creature was. It was small, standing chest high to Commander Taylor. It didn't slow down, just kept running in a straight line. The trail it ran on had overgrowth, but underneath, one would see a highly worn out path. The creature ran past a soldier, not pausing for a minute, but chattered pleasantly, startling the soldier who swung around pointing his gun at the disrupted leaves that shook from the creature passing by.
Overhead, three Compysogopteryxes chattered, squawked and grunted at each other. They stopped and looked down at the small dinosaur on the ground that was running by. Two of the Compysogopteryxes continued their squabbling, while the other pursued after the small dinosaur, which one could now see was a colorful Deinonychus in full plumage. The Winged Compy flew down and began scratching and pecking at the dinosaur which promptly swiped at the pesky pterosaur, effectively swatting the animal away, even still it never broke its stride.
Now the small dinosaur passed by two Carnotauruses that were grunting at each other. They too stopped and watched the small Deinonychus run passed. One Carno coed with curiosity at the Deinonychus as it disappeared into the undergrowth again. The other Carno simply cocked its head with curiosity.
The thing was, this same Deinonychus had been making the exact same trip now for almost six weeks. No one knew what it was doing, where it was going or who it was for that matter. It never took notice in its surroundings, never stopped, never slowed and never looked to the right or to the left. The winged compy continued to follow the Deinonychus. The Carnos went their separate ways, forgetting why they had been arguing in the first place.
The Deinonychus kept running. Never slowed down for a second, it continued its quick pace until suddenly it burst out of the jungle, startling Mark Reynolds into dropping his gun and stumbling back, falling off a rock into the stream that was only a couple feet down. The Deinonychus finally stopped, walked back to the rock and looked down at him. Mark looked up at the raptor that looked at him with a blank stare. Cocked its head to one side, as though to say "huh" and then gave him a quick loud roar before continuing on its way, but not before Reynolds recognized a familiar mark on its hip.
…^…^…
"You're certain it was her," Nathaniel said.
"Absolutely, no mistaking the logo on her hip, the spinosaur with the N, B, T, I; exactly like Captain Taylor's industry logo," Reynolds said.
"Nethania had that mark "nanoed" onto her hips shortly after returning with Sienna," Alicia said.
"I talked with the other soldiers, Captain Taylor's been making the same exact trip everyday at the exact same time for the past six weeks. She's like clockwork. Dunham's even used her passing by to let him know when to get lunch," Reynolds reported.
"What could that kid be up to now," Nathaniel said.
"Does anyone ever see her go back the way she came?" Alicia asked.
"Nope, just when she comes by at noon," Reynolds said.
…^…^…
Finally the Deinonychus arrived at its destination. The Winged Compy landed on a tree and watched. What happened next was interesting. The small raptor stood staring at a pile of rocks or at least what looked like a pile of rocks. Its toe claw tapped on the ground. It was impatient.
What was she waiting for? Then the raptor stepped off into the undergrowth and returned with what looked like a large glass cake dome lid that had wire attached to it. She placed them over the pile of rocks and then went back to where she had disappeared. A bright powerful light shown inside the glass dome and then faded, but now the rocks glowed slightly. The raptor returned, took the lid off and returned it to where it was hidden. By the time it returned again, the glowing had stopped again.
Now the raptor gathered the small rocks up into a fanny pack pouch on its waist, zipped the pouch up and then took another well worn path. The winged compy tried to keep up with the Deinonychus, but this time it disappeared into the thick undergrowth and was never seen again. The winged compy shook its head and flew off to Terra Nova.
…^…^…
"What could she be doing?" Hookclaw asked Ute.
"Believe me, I am as baffled as you are by her behavior," Ute said.
"Petrie, take Cyrano with you and show him where that equipment is," Ute ordered the Compysogopteryx.
"Yes Lieutenant," Petrie said with a bow and flew off.
Petrie led Cyrano, one of the Troodons out to the equipment.
"Its gone," Petrie said. He was surprised, but after thinking about it, he wasn't anymore.
…^…^…
Ute walked into the laboratory back at HQ. Nethania had some strange dark liquid in a test tube. He walked over to her, looked at the tube and then at her.
"What have you been up to Captain?" Ute asked.
Nethania's eyes got wide. She didn't look at him, just focused on the liquid.
"You've been seen, every day for the past six weeks, running from Zander's Abandoned Compound, through the jungle to some unknown destination to the west of Terra Nova," Ute said.
"Hm," Nethania grunted, still not taking her attention off of the liquid.
"You've raised attention of the human colony. Especially after you surprised that Reynolds fellow," Ute said.
Still Nethania did pay attention to him.
"Hello," Ute said.
Nethania picked up her patented injection gun and added something to the liquid and then capped the tube. She flipped a switch and a machine spun the liquid. Ute stepped back and watched her silently. She was in that "don't bother me, I'm doing science" mode. She let the tube of dark liquid spin for several minutes before turning off the machine. She sucked some of the liquid up into a syringe and injected it into a scanner. It scanned it, on the monitor it read, perfect sequence. She then picked up the tube and screwed it into another machine. The liquid drained into an injection gun vial which she loaded into the gun. She swabbed her arm, but just before she injected herself with the liquid, she noticed Ute, almost jumping out of her skin.
"How long have you been standing there?" Nethania asked.
"For quite awhile," Ute said.
"Did you say something?" Nethania asked.
"Yeah, I said quite a bit. But you know how you get when you get focused in on one of your experiments. You zone everything else around you out. So what exactly are you working on and what where you doing in the jungle just west of Terra Nova?" Ute asked.
"How much do you know?" Nethania said.
Ute told her everything that Petrie had reported to him.
"You sent a Winged Compy to spy on me," Nethania said.
"After six weeks of bizarre activity from you, what was I supposed to do, shrug my shoulders and accept that you are just a crazy captain with nothing to do except run a planet wide kingdom that spans several time periods that is full of Nanosaurs and Nanomals," Ute said.
"Those rocks I was dealing with, were specially made geodes that creates the primordial ooze, the basic substance that creates all life. The machine that I was using was a pressure chamber that forced nanotech through the outer shell of the geodes, nanoizing the ooze inside. The nanotech had to be added at a specific time each day for six weeks. Hence my repetitive trip every day for the past six weeks. I just now added the final ingredient to the ooze, fresh female Spinosaurus DNA that I fetched from a live one," Nethania said.
"You're trying to fix the rampaging problem," Ute said.
"Yes. I'm sorry for having not filled you in on my project Ute, the process of creating the right primordial ooze to create the transformational ability takes time and patience and a great deal of dedication. Those rocks had to be kept in the right condition for the ooze to form properly," Nethania said.
"Captain, why. Why this sudden obsession with the Spinosaurus? You've been hooked on that for several months now. Why?" Ute asked.
Nethania pulled something out of her shirt. It was a fossil claw of a Deinonychus.
"Once they called me the Terrible Claw. I was a marine to be reckoned with. I got the job done, I got it done quickly and accurately. Sometimes I was unorthodox. I got my name, not because I was a talented marine, but because of the claw I wore around my neck," Nethania said.
"What does that have to do with the Spinosaurus?" Ute said.
"As a Spinosaurus I will be a force to be reckoned with, none will dare challenge me. But I need to know I can change into it and not destroy innocent lives," Nethania said.
Ute didn't say another word. Nethania pressed the nozzle of the gun to her arm and pulled the trigger, injecting the liquid into her arm.