Chapter 6
Liam was amazed that he woke up the following day. The Spino hadn't appeared the entire night, and stepping out his door he found his view of the ocean unhindered by any large teeth. So… is it too early to hope? He thought, gingerly peering out the door in his wall.
Nothing but the usual parasaurs and Trikes. He waited until midday before walking out of his wooden fort, and still there was no sign of the spino anywhere. The heavy breathing from the cliffs had ceased, and Liam finally let himself relax. He's gone… back to his river. Back in the way of the building… he realized with annoyance, his mind returning once again to his goal. He speared a couple Dodo birds up the beach, turning to head back to the house…..
A massive grey head peered out of the trees, barely ten yards away. The Spino's head was slightly tilted to the left, his good right eye looking Liam over cautiously. He didn't move an inch as the enormous dinosaur slowly stepped out onto the beach, it's movements more curious than threatening. It stopped just two yards away… sniffing him carefully. On a whim, Liam very slowly raised his arm, dropping the pile of Dodo meat in front of the creature.
The spino sniffed it carefully, then gingerly licked it up. The pile was barely two mouthfuls for it, but it let out what Liam could only describe as a purr. That's when his implant began to flash, and he raised it cautiously to get a familiar pop-up in his face:
Congratulations on your new tame!
It didn't register at first. He looked over the dinosaur carefully with barely concealed terror, waiting for any sort of aggressive move. But the Spino just stood calmly, lowering its head to his level and waiting for his next move. Liam tentatively reached out a hand… and the Spino pressed its nose against it. The skin of the behemoth was surprisingly smooth, though extremely tough. More importantly… it wasn't removing his arm.
"There's no way….. I'm not this lucky…" he whispered. Remembering how Duck seemed to understand him once tamed, he croaked out a nervous command. "L...Lie down."
The Spino let out a light huff and settled down, lightly wincing from it's remaining wounds. A smile slowly bloomed across Liam's face. "Alright, I'm convinced. Apparently I CAN be lucky! Welcome to the Survivors club…. and I suspect you aren't going to be so easy to lose!"
He gestured to the nearby herbivores. "Are you able to hunt yet? Or do you need some more care first?"
The spino glanced at the dinos, then at the water. He stepped into the water with surprising silence, and with a sudden strike he thrust his head into the water. He came up with a huge fish in his jaws, glancing back at Liam with his good eye as he ate his prize.
"Ok then…I guess you're fine! Eat whatever you need, I haven't learned to fish quite yet anyway-" he started to say, until the Spino grabbed another fish. He dropped it at Liam's feet, nudging it towards him with a soft purr. He picked it up with shock. "Oh….thank you?" He managed to say, his fears of the future falling away bit by bit. He glanced up at his new friend with a wide smile.
"I think you and I are going to be just fine." he said with a grin. He headed for his house with the Spino following like a dog, every footstep causing the ground to tremble. Once at the door in his wall, he turned to his new acquaintance. "Waterfront property. Hopefully that meets with your approval?"
The Spino looked over the wooden spikes and huffed, turning and heading into the water to do some more fishing. Liam watched him swim for a minute, still blown away by this turn of events. He carried the fish inside and pulled it into his implant, pulling out a bit of clean meat to cook. At long last… things might actually start going my way…
No sooner had he thought this, than there was a colossal electronic roar. It sounded like a thousand Oil Tankers blowing their horns at once, and was immediately followed by a blue ripple of light flashing through the sky. Out in the water the Spino looked up in surprise, and Liam's implant vibrated painfully in his arm. He pulled it up in shock, relieved to see the inventory was untouched.
Then he looked at the engrams screen… and froze. It was completely blank, without a single blueprint or future blueprints remaining to use. He closed it and opened it a few times, but the result was the same. No...no, no, no….
Just when he finally seemed set, when things had just turned in his favor…..
His greatest tool for creating things was now gone.
