Captain Stavros Ballas was in a contemplative mood as he sat upon a bench nearby the nothosaurus enclosure in Triassic Trek. It had been at least a week now since the woolly mammoth mission and life at the park was busier than it had ever been. He nodded and began to think – over the last week, he'd taken note of people's reactions. Some were daunted, some were ambivalent, others were excited – he fell into the third group.

He let a wide smile come on his face. To tell the truth, he'd hoped for quite a while that the day would eventually come for the park to be opened to the public. After all, what Novum had achieved with the time portal was nothing short of remarkable – animals lost to time now saved in the present. The fact he'd played.

He looked meaningfully in the direction of the nothosaurus paddock. Now that he had the matter of prehistoric animals on his mind, now would probably be a good time to go take a look at how Nemo was doing. He got up from the bench, walked over to one of the outer walls of the paddock, and leaned upon the railing as he looked into the exhibit's interior. At the moment, the adult nothosaurs were basking peacefully on the land area of the paddock, whereas the eight youngsters, Nemo included, were currently happily splashing around in the water. The eight tanystropheus hydroides were on the small rocky 'island' in the center of the pool. As he watched, Stavros let out a low whistle that he often used whenever he tried to get Nemo's attention. The young nothosaur immediately turned and swam in Stavros's direction upon hearing this whistle and looked eagerly up.

The captain of the Ancient Mariner smiled once more. Even now he still felt quite fond of the young nothosaurus. And this was hardly the first time he'd spent bonding with Nemo either. Chuckling happily, he drew out a small fish and threw it down towards Nemo, who eagerly snapped it up in his jaws. And as Nemo happily chowed down on his free treat, Stavros nodded his head, smiling fondly - a couple more fish and a friendly pat on the head later, Stavros threw his last remaining fish he had on him far out towards the deeper areas of the water, signalling to Nemo that there was no more left. The young nothosaurus swam out into the tank, small splashes being made as he swung his tail side to side and paddled with his clawed scaly feet. The Ancient Mariner captain nodded his head as he saw this happen, for as much as he enjoyed spending time personally with Nemo, he was also glad that he was integrated in a group with his own kind.

"I see you're still enjoying yourself."

Stavros directed his smiling gaze behind him towards where none other than Kira had now appeared. "That I am," he admitted, sounding quite pleased with himself in the process as he nodded his head. "And I take it things are still going well on your end?"

The first mate nodded his head. "Hai," he said. "And the same can be said for the rest of the crew." He turned his head to direct a meaningful glance towards the Mariner, "Though I won't deny that we're all feeling the urge to take the Mariner on another mission."

Stavros nodded his head in understanding. "I know exactly what you mean," he said. He looked in the direction of the Prehistoric Park harbour. "I will admit, it has been a while since kapetanio last had need of our services." He looked to Kira. "No doubt the boys have really worked hard in ensuring the ship has remained in good condition over all this time she's spent waiting for her next opportunity to go out to sea?"

"That they have," said Kira. "Just as much as they've worked hard in their duties as unofficial members of the aquarists keeper division. Though I will say this, we all remain in good spirits."

Stavros chuckled. "I'd ask nothing less of them," he said. He looked to the sky. "After all, I'm staying patient. It's just a matter of time before another giant marine animal gets added to the target list – there were a lot of them ."

"Ah," said Kira, a knowing look coming onto his face. "So you're still excited about last week's news?"

"Indeed I am," Stavros responded, before looking out ontot he horizon, "A true captain jumps at the chance to explore new water. And, when the park opens, there's an ocean of possibilities to come."

"I can certainly see what you mean," Kira admitted., "Even if I'm admittedly more, on the fence, as the people of this land would say when it comes to the park opening to the public."

Stavros shook his head in bemusement. "Always the realist I see."

"Someone has to be on this crew," Kira stated. He looked meaningfully at Stavros. "After all, it is equally possible for the incoming opening day to end with disaster as it is in triumph. And that's before you consider how things could unfold in the time that follows once the park has been successfully opened."

"Too true," said Stavros. "Too true." He nodded his head. "Kapetanio Richardson once said it best, when it's too bright or too dark, you can't see properly either way. It's best to look at it someplace in between."

"Wisdom for the ages," Kira agreed. He then looked at the nothosaurus. "On another note," he stated. "I haven't found my animal partner yet – you seem to have found yours."

Stavros chuckled. "It'll come, it'll come." He looked back to the sun. "After all, there's an ocean of possibilities, if you'll pardon the pun. And, you know what they say; good things do come to those who wait."

. . . . .

Mia Nelson had a lot on her mind as she sat upon the staff platform attached to the pterygotus tank. It had only been a week now since the woolly mammoth mission and already she felt as if she'd gone through quite a whirlwind of activity after the news had officially been declared that the park would be allowed to start preparing for opening to the public. Whistling silently, she shook her head side to side, her long dark hair brushing against the surface of the platform as she did so. She had to admit, she was still having trouble fully processing the news; it all felt so daunting when she really thought about it. For about a year and a half now it had been the status quo for the park staff, plus maybe the occasional visitor from Novum, to be the only humans present at the park. Similarly, it had been an unspoken aspect of their lives for the park itself to be kept secret to the point that Novum had bribed a lot of people into keeping quiet – the Sarasota City Government most notably.

However, that summer, all the secrecy would be cast aside – the park would be opened to the public, and the entire world would know of its existence. Quite frankly, even with a week having passed since the initial news, it still felt like a lot to take in.

Something large moved nearby out the corner of her eye, and she directed her gaze towards one of the female pterygotus – this female, named Hedetet, was one she'd ended up working with quite often in the two months since the Kuanti Formation mission. Surprisingly, Mia had come to form a strong bond with the mighty Silurian eurypterid. As Hedetet floated around peacefully at the water's surface nearby the staff platform, she lifted her right front claw partially out of the water and snapped the pincers together twice. Mia chuckled, for she knew Hedetet well enough to recognize this gesture as a polite asking for a snack – it was near feeding time, after all." Chuckling, she said, "You know me too well, girl," as she reached into her nearby bucket of chum and drew out a small serving and threw it into the water, and the large eurypterid began to move towards the food with her offspring joining her. Mia nodded some more, still smiling as she watched the small family of pterygotus happily chowing down on their food. "There may be a lot of changes on the horizon," she thought to herself. "But at least I'll still have you lot to keep me company through it all."

"I see you're doing well."

Mia looked in the direction of the door to the staff tunnels in time to see Laura Allen, currently dressed in a wetsuit, come onto the pterygotus tank's staff platform to join her. Chuckling, the British blonde aquarist sat down in a lotus position on the platform's end opposite the one Mia was positioned upon, a giddy smile on her face. "Nice to see you're still having fun with your mates, the sea scorpions."

Mia chuckled, nodding her head in agreement. "What can I say? It feels very comforting to be in their presence." She looked back towards the still feasting pterygotus family. "I mean, with all the changes currently going on and set to come about in the months to come, it always feels nice to have a tiny bit of familiarity remaining."

Laura chuckled, shaking her head side to side. "I take it you're still feeling rather nervous about the upcoming opening day?"

Mia silently whistled. "You bet I am," she admitted. She nodded her head. "A week since the news and it's still so...daunting you know? Suddenly having thousands of people in this park… it's going to be a change."

Laura nodded her head. "Certainly doesn't sound fun when you put it that way." She looked towards the Kuanti Formation wing's exit, smiling. "Granted, I personally can't wait for opening day to come," she then said. "It's been hard to keep this secret. Especially to my family – I always used to tell my nephews everything." "I'll bet," Mia said, a wry smirk on her face, "I'll admit, it'll all be fine in the end, but it's really just the enormity of it all that's really getting to me right now."

"I hear you, sister," said Laura. "It's a pretty big development to process, the park opening to the public." She looked meaningfully at Mia. "Hell, even I briefly felt a bit overwhelmed earlier this week. Especially with the workload – however, it'll all be worth it in the end. God, I can't wait to tell my nephews the truth – that their Aunt Laura is working with some of the biggest marine predators that ever existed."

Mia chuckled again. "I'm sure you can't wait." A movement from Hedetet caught her attention from out the corner of her eye and she looked back to Hedetet in time to see the mother pterygotus and her offspring, having finished their meal, calmly descending back down to the bottom of the tank just in time to leave the water's surface clear for the other three adult pterygotus, which were now leisurely swimming upward towards the staff platform themselves, noticing their tankmates were being fed.

Laura soon caught sight of this as well, and she quickly placed her hand on the chum bucket. "Well then," she said. "Anyway, I guess we'd best get back to work. Especially considering we've still got some tanks to clean back in the Gogo Reef wing – the onychodus are calling…"

Mia nodded her head. "You can say that again," she agreed. "There may be an entire ocean of possibilities ahead; but for now, I think we can take comfort in the familiar."

Again, I AM BACK!

Yeah, the reason why there was a massive delay was because I had a thesis to do, which I submitted about a month ago. That was basically, and understandably, taking up most of my time for the past few months - and, once that was done, I had a backlog of stuff that I'd put on hold whilst focusing on working on my thesis, so I had to do that.