Insula Dragonului
Drew was in a contemplative mood as he sat at his desk waiting for his teammates for that day's mission to arrive. Thankfully, they wouldn't be here for another few minutes, so he had some time to himself.
It had been roughly six months since the park had opened – and… things had changed – in many ways. However, the change he'd noticed most… was the paperwork – oh so much more paperwork. It just seemed to accumulate – when he thought he'd done a stack, two more suddenly appeared. He felt more removed from the staff and the animals than he'd ever been – he couldn't just go out in the park anymore, help with the animals… because his administrative duties got in the way.
What didn't really help matters was that everyone treated Matthew Pike like he was the one in charge – or Jenny if he wasn't available. Even his old crew, his compadres, those who had joined him on this journey subtly deferred to Matthew now, not Drew. It felt like a boardroom coup… whatever one of those was – and it was one everyone had just accepted. Some seemed to prefer it.
The only source of reprieve he had was the missions – going back in time, rescuing animals, escaping prehistoric apex predators armed with nothing but his wits… that was what he lived for. The missions were what kept him going… at least on missions, Matthew Pike wasn't there. At least he could pretend that nothing had changed…
"Drew?"
His thoughts were interrupted by a voice, and he turned his head back towards the door to his office in time to see Jack Denham and Adrian Sky standing right there. Leon chuckled nervously. "Nice to see you're paying attention," he then stated before he and Adrian looked around, as if expecting to see other people in the room. Turning to Drew, Adrian asked, "Is it just us today? What are we going after?" Drew sighed, "Something Adrian, that you've probably wanted us to go after for quite a while…" He pressed a button and a picture of a creature that looked rather like the Quetzalcoatlus, only with a stockier build.
Looking at the picture, Adrian said, "Hatzegopteryx – was waiting for the day we went after this." Jack turned to Adrian, with a smirk, "Why am I not surprised? You can tick another one off your wishlist – let's hope the Santana's next up, eh?" Adrian rolled his eyes (but not without a fond smile), as Drew nodded, "Yup – and it's not just Hategopteryx. There's a shitload of weird dwarf dinosaurs that lived alongside it that Theodore thinks would be pretty good" As if noticing this, Drew shrugged and said, "Anyway, let's get to the portal – we don't have all the time in the world, do we?" He chuckled at the joke. Adrian rolled his eyes. "Whatever," he said. "Let's get going."
. . . . .
Kaisumi giggled as she threw the toy with the fish stuffed in into Petrie's playpen, allowing the little Pteranodon to peck through the holes to get the food out. It was an enrichment effort – to provide mental stimulation for the Pteranodon. For the first week after they'd found him, clinging to the corpse of his dead mother for dear life, Petrie had stayed in the veterinary offices – until he was deemed healthy enough to go in the nursery.
And Petrie had grown in his month in the vet office nursery – his wingspan was now about three-and-a-half feet, about the same as that of a hawk. From the other pteranodontians at the park, Khatin had estimated his age when they'd found him at between one and three months – based on his current size (and the other pteranodontians at the park), he'd estimated that it would take about two years for him to reach something close to adult size.
His behaviour had changed too – he'd become far more playful and curious once he'd gotten more adjusted to the nursery. And Kaisumi came down, whenever she could – sometimes accompanied by Jack or Yolanda, but mostly alone – to feed him or to play with him. To keep him company.
As she watched the baby Pteranodon play. Randomly, Kaisumi looked at her watch – and realised that she was supposed to be heading off to the portal site. Kaisumi got up to leave, to which Petrie pecked at her shoes and attempted to pull at her trouser leg. Giggling, she gently pushed him off, saying "Sorry, Petrie – I gotta run." As she got to go out of the door", she turned to the playpen where the baby Pteranodon was, and said, "I'll see you when I get back!"
She did not notice the dejected look in Petrie's eyes.
. . . . .
Leaving the vet offices, Kaisumi headed to the portal site, where she was met by Drew, Jack and Adrian. Drew walked up to her and said, an audible, semi-affectionate huff in his voice, "You've been ages", to which she chuckled and rolled her eyes. Smiling, Jack said, "You know what we're going after today? Are you ready?", to which Kaisumi nodded enthusiastically, "I was born ready!"
Chuckling, Drew gave the signal and a nearby employee entered the time period and location and the portal whirred into life. Grinning in anticipation, Drew put the remote in his pocket and, after securing it, turned to his team, who all nodded, and turned to the portal and pointed his finger at it. "Onward D-Bags!" And at that, they headed through the portal and into the past.
In a flash of light, the portal opened up in a woodland clearing, and Drew and his companions stepped out. And as Jack, Drew, and Kaisumi scanned the clearing, Jack shook his head in bemusement. "How is it damn near every Mesozoic forest clearing we visit looks almost exactly the same?" "Does it?" said a confused Adrian, "I can notice quite a few major differences between this and others – the species of plants, the vocalisations…". Kaisumi chuckled, "Easy, Adrian – we're not all super-trackers". Drew, grinning like a maniac, said, "However, there's one constant – we've got to keep our wits about us… after all, we might be feet away from the apex predator."
A sudden squawking caught the team's attention, and they turned their heads in time to see a herd of housecat-sized ornithopods browsing on some of the ferns in the clearing. Like most others of their kind, they had short beak-like mouths on horse-like heads, with feathery down that was coloured greyish and off-white stripes on their back, grading to tan on their bellies, with blue stripes on their thighs. Suddenly, one of the little dinosaurs looked in the team's direction and let out a small squawk of alarm, causing the rest of the herd to direct their attention towards the team as well.
At this sight, Jack let a small smile come on his face, "Transylvanosaurus. A small rhabdodont. Not the apex predator by a long shot but… it's a good start." The transylvanosaurus all looked at each other, warbling in confusion. Drew chuckled, "I suppose it's never bad to start small. Get a food trail ready guys. These guys are definitely going to the park."
And within a few minutes, the rescue team had successfully laid a trail of vegetation from the park's kitchens, which the rhabdodonts eagerly began to eat, only pausing very briefly when the team summoned the portal before ultimately heading through to the park as their curiosity ultimately won out. Nodding his head, Drew closed the portal once the last of the transylvanosaurus had gone through, "Well, that was easy – who knows? This could be our easiest mission yet" Jack and Kaisumi chuckled, as Adrian rolled his eyes, "Someone always says that… and then things get complicated."
As if to prove his point, the air was suddenly split by a cacophony of snarls, hisses and bellows. Drew looked to Adrian, a grin on his face, "Looks like you were right… what do you say we follow that sound?" Adrian rolled his eyes and wore a fond smile as Jack chuckled, "What do you think, fearless leader?"
This decision made, the team departed the clearing and made their way through the thick forest. Eventually, they reached the base of a small hill; just in time to catch sight of a pair of abelisaurs, who looked vaguely like the majungasaurus back at the park, each about ten feet long, running in circles around and snapping their teeth at a panicked looking ankylosaur. The ankylosaur was almost entirely green, with dark greenish brown armour plating all over its back while the remainder of its body was a light chartreuse. And while it had multiple spikes and ridges along its back, neck, and tail, what was especially attention grabbing were a pair of thick bony white curved spikes jutting out of its shoulders. The abelisaurs, meanwhile, were covered primarily in tawny gold scales, with red scutes on their bodies.
Jack watched intently, his eyes narrowed as he carefully observed the dinosaurs. "Hmm," he hummed to himself. "The ankylosaur could only be struthiosaurus. But those abelisaurs...they look like miniature versions of pictures I've seen of Arcovenator." Kaisumi shrugged, "There are fragmentary remains – mostly just teeth – of what some people have theorised was a dwarf abelisaur. It'd make sense if it were related to Arcovenator – everything on Hateg Island was pretty much just the Ibero-Armorican island in miniature…"
With a 'roar', one of the abelisaurs jumped forward and snapped its teeth at the struthiosaurus, which managed to dodge and bellow before swinging its tail at its attacker, which dodged the blow, leaving the struthiosaurus temporarily off balance...at which point the other abelisaur rammed its head against the ankylosaur's side, causing it to topple over. Once the struthisaurus fell to the ground, the nearest abelisaur bit down on the soft underside of its neck, as the ankylosaur's cries became weaker and weaker. Jack winced, directing an apologetic look towards Drew as the abelisaurs began to feast. "So much for two species in one go." Drew shrugged, "It's fine. I'm sure we'll find more struthiosaurus later."
A sudden booming squawk caused both the rescue team and the abelisaurs to look towards the opposite side of the hill just in time for a gigantic azhdarchid pterosaur to appear. The pterosaur resembled the quetzalcoatlus northropi back at the park, but more heavily built and covered in brownish gold pycnofibers, with its head and neck being bare dusty grey skinned. Its head was also massive, with a large, blade shaped electric blue keratinous crest, grading to grey at the base. None of them even needed to ask what this was. It was their target - hatzegopteryx.
In that moment, the pterosaur finally came to a stop inches away from the abelisaurs and their kill, quietly looming over the theropods. The abelisaurs made ineffectual threat displays in an attempt to drive the Hatzegopteryx away… however, the pterosaur stared, unblinking at them, before letting out a loud, booming squawk, spreading its wings to full length. This intimidation display caused both abelisaurs to hiss bitterly in defeat, clearly realizing they stood no chance against the larger predator. As they stalked off, the azhdarchid threw back its head and cawed in triumph.
At this turn of events, Drew gritted his teeth, his eyes narrowed as he took notice of the second missed opportunity in as many minutes. Damn, he thought to himself, before sighing, Ah well, no use crying over spilled milk.
Once its rivals had been driven off, the hatzegopteryx got back on all fours, picked up the struthiosaurus carcass in its beak, and vaulted into the sky, carrying the carcass away. Chuckling nervously, Jack and Kaisumi looked awkwardly at Drew. "Heh, heh, sorry we couldn't get a rescue off the bat, fearless leader," said Jack. Drew shrugged, "It's fine. Things just escalated – and we'd have to get more anyways… I think those abelisaurs were two males." He let his trademark grin return to his face, "Besides. I've always loved a good challenge." Adrian chuckled in amusement, "That you have bud." Kaisumi giggled, "Well in that case…", before she clasped her hands together, "Gentlemen, how shall we proceed?"
Drew thought to himself, carefully considering his options before eventually pointing in the direction that the abelisaurs had gone. "We go after the abelisaurs," he stated. "The Hatzegopteryx could have flown anywhere, but the abelisaurs are gonna leave a trail – either way, we'll find stuff."
. . . . .
Stephanie Tanner wasn't entirely sure what to think as she sat on a bench inside the La Brea Grand Vista aviary. As she observed the birds milling about, she began to think about her two-and-a-half months at the park, with one particular conclusion – Theodore had it right when he had said that life there was never boring.
But, whilst she appreciated the challenges, she was aware it came with drawbacks. Now, a lot of the animals could be quite a handful to work with – partly due to, as Adrian stated, the fact that pretty much all of them had never been maintained before. Whilst this was fascinating in some ways… it was a bitch in others.
However, that was secondary to the big problem she had – interacting with the general public, something that an introvert like herself found stressful at the best of times. It didn't help that she didn't really like interacting with her fellow staff members unless necessary.
She sighed once more, brushing her golden blonde hair over her shoulder as she looked around the aviary, the thought of the other staff on her mind. In all fairness, she wouldn't necessarily say she hated any of them – she just preferred to avoid people she didn't know and trust. When people were hanging out in the staff bar off-shift, she preferred to find somewhere quiet and read one of her books. She respected her direct superior and the other higher ups, could work well with them and her colleagues… but the social type, she was not. It was the way she was wired.
As she had this thought, she then remembered one exception to this, as her blue eyes narrowed into an icy glare; Jackson Nishimura from the herp team. About a week or so after the Megalania mission, Jackson had, for some inexplicable reason, begun to take a strong interest in her – more specifically, he'd seemingly tried to make friends with her by trying to get her to laugh at his jokes... well, that's what he probably thought they were. She rolled her eyes. 'Honestly,' she thought to herself, "What part of 'leave me alone' does he not understand?"
Sighing once more, she thought back to her life from before Prehistoric Park, and in fact before she'd even been hired to work at Novum. As difficult and stressful as her life at Prehistoric Park had turned out to be, there was no denying in her mind that it was an improvement – it had been rough as far back as when she'd been a young child in Sydney, Australia. Her parents had always had an, ahem, strained relationship – and both of them, in their own way, seemed to make it feel like it was her fault. Her mother, in all fairness, had always tried her best – but, while their relationship had improved in recent years, it was still rather distant. And her father? She shuddered. The less said about him, the better.
She shook her head, reminiscing about the primary reasons why she'd first accepted the offer to work at the park, and why she'd been working at the Taronga Zoo prior to being hired to work at Novum; her longstanding love and fascination for birds. Ever since childhood, she'd been interested in birds – a psychoanalyst would argue that it was a subconscious desire to escape a broken home, but in reality... sitting outside and watching the birds fly by was relaxing. And her success there had led to her being recommended to Novum (who worked with Taronga on several conservation initiatives), who were looking for new staff on a "secret project" in Florida which would offer "new horizons". She'd been amazed to find out the park was full of de-extinct prehistoric animals. She supposed that she had to take the rough with the smooth – warts and all.
At that moment, the sound of a commotion from the aviary caused her to look in the direction of the aviary that contained all the smaller birds of prey to notice a female neophrontops, with a distinctive burn on the left side of her face, flapping her wings threateningly at a nearby Hayabusa, who ignored the vulture. At this, Stephanie sighed and rolled her eyes – squabbling was pretty common, especially among the smaller birds, who'd feed on what the larger species had left behind. This female in particular, named Mystique, was a bird she'd noticed getting into quite a few squabbles over the carcass – sometimes even attempting to challenge the larger species for a spot.
Suddenly, her mind began to wander to… certain other memories, causing her to recoil with an audible gasp – the neophrontops recoiled in surprise at the sound, allowing Hayabusa to take a chunk of meat and leave. Hissing with gritted teeth, she clasped her hands against the sides of her head, curling her fingers into her hair as she tried desperately to suppress the memory slithering out into her head. "Don't think of that," she hissed under her breath. "Don't think of that. Anything but that." The memories circled at her subconscious… but returned to the depths for now.
Snarling, she got up from the bench and stormed off to exit the La Brea Aviary Complex and see if there was anywhere else she was needed. "I've been on break long enough," she grumbled under her breath. "About bloody time I get back to work. Anything to distract me."
. . . . .
Back in the Cretaceous, about fifteen minutes after they'd departed from the hill, the rescue team had not found the abelisaurs. However, when they walked into a clearing, they found something else – two groups of theropods browsing on the leaves in the forest.
The first was a group of oviraptorids that vaguely resembled the Insciviosaurus back at the park, only about the size of the citipati back at the park, with black-and-white feathers (and black, feathery crests on the males) and slightly longer "buck teeth". The other group of creatures, however, was nothing short of bizarre – it looked vaguely like an enlarged version of the Rahonavis back at the park, only almost as tall as Adrian, with leaf-shaped teeth and greenish-brown feathers… and was feeding on plants. A flock of small alvarezsaurids with dark brown feathers were flitting round the browsing animals, snapping up leaves and insects knocked to the forest floor.
A confused Drew said, "What are those?" Taking a closer look, Kaisumi said, "The alvarezsaurids are brandycneme, almost certainly, some kind of basal oviraptorid, certainly – although pretty late-surviving – and a… flightless jeholothornid? Like balaur… but this is much too big." Drew said, a smirk on his face, "They're weird and we have the perfect opportunity – get the bait ready." And, using a trail of foliage, they were able to lure the animals through the portal, into the present.
Once the last had gone through, Drew shut the portal off and turned to his team, grinning, "We are on a roll – three weird theropods in one go!" At his friend's enthusiasm, Adrian rolled his eyes and said, "May I suggest an idea as to what we do next?", to which Drew shrugged. Sighing, Adrian said, "I'd say we look through this clearing for smaller stuff – lizards, mammals, enantiornithines – get all that out of the way…" Jack and Kaisumi nodded in agreement, as a mildly put out Drew said, "Fine."
And, so the team searched the clearing, eventually finding four species of rodent-like multituberculate, all identical save for size and a domed forehead on one of them, which Kaisumi was able to identify as barbatodon, hainina, kogiaononon and litovoi, three species of lizard, identified as barbatteius, becklesius and bicuspidon, a group of dark-scaled small terrestrial crocodiles, which Jack identified as atoposaurus and some brownish-coloured madstoiid snakes about three feet long that Jack was able to identify as nidophis. However, the most notable creatures they found in the forest were an assortment of enantornithines – several small insect or seed-eaters, distinguished by their sizes, the shapes of their beaks and their feather colourations, a large, dark-feathered creature that vaguely resembled the falcatakely back at the park, and a couple of large, predatory forms that bore resemblance to the avisaurus back at the park, one darker-feathered and noticeably smaller than the other. Using various baits, the birds were all lured through the portal.
Once they'd gotten the animals they needed, Drew turned to his team, chuckling "Onward, D-bags!"
. . . . .
A tall, slender, athletic Indian woman nodded her head and blew a black hair out of her eye, a smile on her face at the sight of the new arrivals. This was Asha Sengupta, the new Curator of Flying Vertebrates at Prehistoric Park.
Mentally, she recapped the events that had led her here. Her father, a jeweller by trade, had a claim to fame in that he had been among India's few licensed falconers – born out of a desire to help the birds that he'd always had a fondness for, particularly birds of prey. This advocacy meant that he had ended up introduced to Theodore Richardson – who had recruited him as a consultant for Novum's conservation efforts.
Unfortunately, he was a workaholic – more dedicated to his vocation than his family, which had led to a strained relationship with her and her mother. However, he'd taught her the trade and had her follow in his footsteps – and when he'd ultimately retired (but still continued rescuing and training birds), she'd ended up taking his place as a consultant. She'd been all over the world in the name of Novum's conservation aims.
This had gotten her interviewed by Theodore, Percival and Bryce Bennett – who wanted her to be the curator of "flying vertebrates" (a statement she'd thought was weirdly phrased at the time) at a facility in Southern Florida. In the meeting, she'd been told the Deputy Keeper who she'd be working with was called Adrian Sky. She vaguely recalled the name – they'd briefly met in Kazakhstan, and talked over their shared passion for falconry. There, Adrian had talked about obtaining a bearded vulture chick whose parents had been shot and that he'd offhandedly talked about training. Imagine her surprise when she found he'd succeeded – being able to tame such a powerful and strong-willed bird at a young age was, she had to concede, the mark of a true prodigy.
And, naturally, she'd been amazed to find out that the park was actually a collection of de-extinct prehistoric animals. The unusual assortment of animals that she would be working with had made her even more excited – from giant teratorns and phorusrhacids to Cretaceous birds with toothy beaks… and of course, pterosaurs big and small, which were an entirely new frontier.
She and Adrian got on well for the most part – Adrian respected Asha's greater expertise and experience and Asha respected Adrian's deep-held familiarity with the animals he worked with, a familiarity that had been maintained through experience. He knew them, he understood them.
She was with the holding pens team today partly to familiarise herself with the routine – and partly because the target was one of the largest flying animals that had ever existed.
Anyway, focus.
Most of the early arrivals were just small mammals and reptiles – however, there were a couple of dinosaurs, including a new oviraptorid and a large jeholothornid (she thought), both species that were now being ecstatically observed by Khatin. However, among them were a few species of small birds, which Khatin had identified as enantiornithines – a branch of Cretaceous birds, almost indistinguishable from modern ones, if not for a toothy beak and clawed wings.
. . . . .
Meanwhile, in the park's nursery, an orphaned baby pteranodon flapped and fluttered unsettledly in his playpen.
Petrie began to scratch the floor nervously, his mind was dominated by a single thought - why had she been gone this long? She was never gone this long! He didn't know the feeling that was washing over him, but he knew he'd felt it before – when there was no-one nearby and when the creature he saw as being like his mother had been gone for long. And she had never been gone this long before – where was she?! Sometimes, other people that vaguely looked like her, but sounded and smelled different – but those people weren't coming regularly today. Why was that?!
Climbing to the top of his playpen, he scanned the room nervously. Every movement, every noise and every shadow was either a possible danger or her coming back – and he couldn't quite distinguish which. He briefly noticed the other creature – a small, quadrupedal creature with a stubby crest – who was now napping in its own nursery pen, but he ignored it. As he scanned the room further, he noticed the door open…. the door that she had gone out of earlier – the door she always went out of. Perhaps she was beyond the door – perhaps if he went out of the door he could go and find her.
As he prepared to launch, two instincts clashed in his body – an instinct to stay where he had been left clashing with an instinct that stated that it was wrong to be alone and to find those he associated with safety and reassurance. Ultimately, the instinct for company won out – vaulting with his wings, flew a short distance and walked out of the door.
. . . . .
Drew and his companions continued their travels through the Hateg Island woods, keeping their eyes and ears open. So far, they hadn't found anything in the fifteen minutes that had passed since their encounter with the oviraptorids, but they remained confident. Kaisumi looked to Jack, "The waiting's normal, right?" Jack nodded, "Yup", to which Adrian nodded in agreement, "Animals don't like to be seen – you often need a keen eye." Drew chuckled, "Well, good thing, we all have keen eyes – some of us more than others." He nodded his head, as he moved to step over a large log, "And don't worry Kaisumi. I'm sure it won't be too long..."
Suddenly the "log" moved, causing Drew to take a step back – the log was, in fact, a madstoiid snake some fifteen feet long, coloured similarly to a Burmese python. At the sight, the rescue team reflexively all took a step back, eyes wide with shock. "Holy…" Adrian managed to say, as he noticed three more in the clearing - whilst they were paying the team little attention, they knew to be careful. "No sudden movements," Jack said, quietly, as the rest of the group followed his advice, with even Drew realizing now wasn't quite the time to pull off any reckless stunts. Observing the snakes, Drew looked to Jack, "Any sign of these in the fossil record?" Jack shook his head, "Not to my knowledge, no…" Drew smirked triumphantly, "Outstanding."
"So how do we get them through the portal?" Kaisumi asked. Drew chuckled, "Watch and learn." And as it turned out, the plan Drew had in mind was quite simple. First Adrian would bang at the ground with a thick fallen tree branch to attract the snake's attention, enabling Jack to restrain it long enough for Drew to get in position with the portal so that the released snake would go slithering right through. And with this coordinated effort, the boys were able to successfully get the snakes through the portal. They then looked to Kaisumi, who nodded her head in approval, "Not bad." Jack chuckled, "Glad you think so." He then looked to Drew, failing to notice the small blush that came on Kaisumi's face, "Keep going?" Drew chuckled, "You betcha."
And so the group continued down the path they'd been taking prior to encountering the snakes, eventually reaching another oddly silent clearing. The team looked around, eyebrows raised in curiosity at how empty the clearing seemed to be. Kaisumi shrugged, "I suppose we can just keep moving. I'm sure there's still animals we can find further into the woods." Jack looked to Drew, who thought carefully to himself. In all fairness, Kaisumi had raised a valid point - but at the same time, he just had this odd feeling that there was some reason to be concerned...
"Found something."
In a flash, Drew, Jack, and Kaisumi looked to Adrian, who looked oddly unnerved. "Where?" Drew asked. "What'd you find?" Kaisumi asked. Adrian stayed silent as Drew, Jack and Kaisumi, following his gaze, all stepped back reflexively, eyes widened at a rather gruesome sight – the bloodied corpse of a dog-sized rhabdodont dangling from a tree branch that it had been impaled against. "Bloody hell," Jack muttered before looking in disbelief at Kaisumi. "Do you know of anything like this in the fossil record?" Kaisumi gulped, "I'd absolutely remember reading about something like this." Looking closer, Adrian said, "It looks like what shrikes do…"
The sudden sound of rustling in the bushes caused the four humans to look nervously at each other. "Something tells me it might be wise to hide," said Drew. "No need to tell us twice, fearless leader," Jack agreed. And at that, the team hid behind a tree, and watched as a pair of azhdarchid pterosaurs entered the clearing. With their short necks, stocky builds and large heads, the new pterosaurs vaguely resembled the hatzegopteryx – only half the size. They had jet black pycnofibers on their bodies and red pycnofibres on their necks and heads, diagonally slanted, vaguely helmet-shaped crests, and dusty greyish white underbellies, giving them a strikingly vampiric appearance. Before long, the pterosaurs came to a stop to the impaled rhabdodont carcass, with the taller of the two pterosaurs reaching up, grabbing the carcass in its beak, and pulling it loose; at which point both pterosaurs started contentedly feasting upon it. Drew winced, mentally thanking his lucky stars that he was standing some distance away. "Any idea what these are?", he muttered under his breath to his companions. Kaisumi was quick to respond, "They look like Albadraco."
"Well, I say we'd best let you and Khatin find that out the safe way," Drew muttered before looking to Adrian. "Use a portal grenade Adrian." Adrian nodded, "As you wish." And so, making sure to make no sudden noise, Adrian drew out a portal grenade, primed it as required, and rolled it into position near the two feasting pterosaurs, who both had just enough time to direct a confused glance at the device before vanishing to the park alongside their meal in a flash of light.
Drew nodded his head in approval. "Good job Adrian," he then said before looking to Jack and Kaisumi, still looking slightly rattled. "Let's get a move on," he said. "The sooner we get away from this clearing, the better."
. . . . .
Petrie was equal parts curious and nervous as he hopped from tree to tree, taking short flights, sometimes pausing to look around at the world he had found himself in. Assaulted by a barrage of unfamiliar sights, smells and sounds, the outside world was very strange, very big and very, very scary.
Some creatures, in the limited understanding of the world he had developed since he had hatched, were vaguely familiar – some probably benign, such as the large green lizard he'd met eating leaves in the trees… but others were dangerous. Once he'd seen a glimpse of a strange, feathered creature on the ground – like the slashers that had raided his kind's nesting colonies… only there was something odd about this one. However, he dared not land – this was a predator.
However, many, many others were strange and unfamiliar – large furry things, some with sharp claws and teeth, some with strange horns and teeth and some titanic ones with strange noses, other, much smaller, furry things that twitched and chittered and creatures that looked like huge lizards with massive fins on their backs. He didn't know what they were or what they were like – it was best to keep away from them.
Perhaps soon, he would find the creature that he saw as being like his mother – the creature he associated with safety and reassurance. This would make his sojourn into the big, scary world worthwhile. He had seen creatures like her – but none with her appearance and smell. Where was she?
A low cawing sound interrupted his thoughts. He turned to see a black-feathered bird, slightly smaller than himself, perched on a branch and giving him a confused look, before it flew away. Petrie looked at the bird confusedly - where was the bird going? Perhaps the bird was flying towards food. That would be good – he was hungry. So, he followed the bird, flying from branch to branch, before he reached a sunken formation of rock. Pausing to take a breath, he launched off the rock, attempting to fly to a large tree… but miscalculated and landed in a heap on the ground.
He barely had time to get his bearings when a foot slammed down in front of him. Looking up, he noticed a huge, brown-feathered, beaked creature looming over him menacingly, with hunger in its eyes. Perhaps this hadn't been such a good idea after all.
. . . . .
Back at Hateg Island, Drew and his companions only had to travel for about fifteen minutes before coming across something else to attract their attention; a large local swamp. At least three species of turtle and a small float of crocodiles, consisting of two different species, basked on the shore, whilst two groups of small, wading black-and-white feathered enantiornithines, one slightly larger than the other walked around them, searching for food. A grinning Jack said, "The crocs are alldoaposuchus and acynodon and the turtles are kallokibotidon, dortoka… and I have no idea what the third one is." Chuckling, Drew said, "Five for the price of one… Jack, you're with me."
As Drew and Jack prepared bait for the turtles and crocs, Kaisumi turned to Adrian and said, "This is a bit of an odd question, but…" Confused, Adrian said, "What?", to which Kaisumi sighed, "What would you say if I told you…" Suddenly, a low, barking caw interrupted her – all creatures present turned as a small group of azhdarchids entered the swamp. Each was about four or so feet tall and looked like a small version of the quetzalcoatlus back at the park, covered in greyish white pycnofibres, grading to tannish on the head and neck. Smirking, Drew said, "Eurazhdarcho – how 'bout we make it seven for the price of one?", to which Jack said, "Go for it."
Using a trail of dead rats, Drew and Jack managed to lure the eurazhdarcho, enantiornithines, crocodiles and turtles to their position, before throwing a portal grenade when they'd gotten close enough, sending the whole assortment back to the park. Turning to his team, a grin on his face, Drew said, "Now… where to next?", to which Adrian said, "Perhaps we should get some more smaller stuff – Hateg had a few unique amphibians." Searching through the swamp, they managed to find two species of frog and a group of small lizard-like salamanders, which Jack identified as hatzegobrachtus, paraltonia and albanerpeton – which were promptly lured through the portal using insects as bait. Once all the amphibians had been sent through, Drew turned to Adrian and said, "How 'bout we look for bigger fish?", to which Adrian sighed and said, "Sure." As the team turned to leave the clearing, Adrian turned to Kaisumi and asked, "What did you want to ask me?". Briefly looking at Jack, Kaisumi sighed and said, "Nothing, nothing – nothing important, anyway,"
. . . . .
Asha nodded in approval, an amused grin on her face as she observed the eurazhdarcho, plus the sizable group of turtles, crocodilians, and amphibians, that were currently gathered in the main portal site. "I'll certainly give Drew this much," she stated. "At least this batch looks as if it will be slightly easier to handle." One of the guards snorted, "After the albadraco, that'd be a blessing."
At this, the rest of the holding pens team couldn't help but nervously chuckle at the memory of the albadraco – the chunky azhdarchids had proved to be quite… cantankerous. The fact that, according to Kaisumi, they had the charming habit of impaling their kills on branches like shrikes didn't help. Asha chuckled, shaking her head in amusement, "At least the albadraco aren't that big," she said before looking back at the new arrivals in the main portal site. "But regardless, let's get to work everyone…. before Drew sends in something bigger."
"Yes ma'am," the holding pens team said in unison, before getting to work. Asha nodded her head and smiled, very pleased that things were still on track. At the same time, she also found herself thinking about a keeper who worked under her who wasn't at the holding pens; more specifically, Stephanie Tanner. Ever since they'd started working at the park together, she'd often found herself feeling highly concerned for the younger keeper's wellbeing - especially in light of the details Theodore had given her on Stephanie's past. Asha sighed, 'Whatever she's up to right now… I do hope she's alright.'
. . . . .
Stephanie was now in a somewhat better mood as she poured alfalfa pellets into the pinatono flock's feeding troughs in the paddock the ratites shared with the granastrapotherium, phoberomys, and hapalops. Whilst she was there, she'd also filled the mammals' feeding troughs as well – the mammal division could focus on the animals of the pampas section of La Pampa Plains, whilst the bird and reptile teams shared responsibility for the animals of the Miocene Amazon building.
And at any rate, the peace and quiet was helpful – it was nice to clear her thoughts. "So far so good," she muttered under her breath as she finished filling up the pinatono feeding troughs, a small smile forming on her face. "So long as nothing happens, today could yet be salvaged..."
"Hiya Steph!"
Stephanie gritted her teeth. "Goddamn it,' she thought to herself. 'Why did I open my big mouth?' She turned her head to look behind her, a withering glower on her face, "Greetings. Nishimura." Jackson chuckled, seemingly oblivious, "Good to see you too." Stephanie rolled her eyes, "What are you even doing here?" Jackson gestured towards the paddocks that contained the crocodiles and turtles. "Feeding the crocs and turtles," he replied. "The snakes don't need to be fed for another week – they're making those pigs last…" He grinned, "Anyway, since I'm on a break, I figured we could have a nice little chat."
Stephanie mentally groaned. 'Why must my luck always be so shitty?' She thought bitterly to herself. All she'd wanted was a nice quiet day to herself…. and the universe seemed to be conspiring to make that not happen. 'Just one day,' she thought to herself. 'One day without having to deal with this doofus. Is that too much to ask for?!' She sighed, trying to be diplomatic, "Sorry… I don't really have time to chat – I've still got stuff to do here." Jackson shrugged, "No big deal. What better way to test your skills than to see how well you can multitask?" Stephanie rolled her eyes and tried to ignore him – perhaps he'd get the hint. "I'll give you a wager," Jackson then stated, perhaps reconsidering, "I tell you five jokes. If I get you to laugh, we spend evening down time at whatever part you choose. If not, I'll leave you alone for the rest of the day."
At this, Stephanie raised her eyebrow. "Well that sounds appealing," she muttered. She nodded her head and turned to face him, "I'll take that wager and triple it. You fail to get me to laugh, you leave me alone for three days." Jackson silently whistled, clearly having not expected this. But he nodded; no backing out now. "Very well then," he stated before clasping his hands together. "Why don't you ever see penguins in the United Kingdom?" Stephanie raised her eyebrow. "It's too hot there?" She snarkily responded. "Because they're afraid of Wales," Jackson responded, a cheeky grin on his face. Stephanie groaned. 'This is gonna be a long day,' she thought to herself.
"Alright. Here's a good one!" Jackson stated. "Why did the ostrich bring a backpack to the savanna?" Stephanie glowered at him, "Do I really want to know?" Jackson chuckled, seemingly ignoring her glare, "To carry its 'neck'-essities!" Stephanie sighed, "Guess that answers that question."
"Ooh, here's another one!" Jackson stated excitedly. "How did the pteranodon feel after falling from the sky?" Stephanie rolled her eyes in dismissal, folding her arms across her chest as she turned her head away from Jackson to try to ignore him. "Ptero-sore!" Jackson crowed, slapping his knee afterward with another chuckle, completely undeterred by how Stephanie was glowering. "Just get it over with," Stephanie grumbled.
"Hmm, real tough room here," Jackson muttered, sounding almost amused. "Ok then, penultimate joke. What's a pelican's favourite place to visit?"
"Anywhere he could get some peace and quiet?" Stephanie muttered dismissively. At this, Jackson's eyes narrowed in visible annoyance, to which Stephanie sighed, "You might as well quit while you're ahead - after all, it's not like you're gonna ever get me to laugh." Jackson's eyes narrowed further, "Well certainly not with an attitude like that." Stephanie rolled her eyes, "Here was I thinking you've humiliated yourself enough today." She turned the rest of her body around to face him, arms still folded across her chest. "Seriously. What part of 'leave me alone' can you not understand?! You're always like this – you're always trying to talk to people who seem a little morose and trying to break up other people's disputes. You don't realise how insane that drives people who might just want a bit of time to think about things?!"
At this, Jackson's eyes narrowed ominously. Clearly, Stephanie had struck a major nerve – he raised his finger as if to prove a point, already readying himself to respond...
"EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! THIS IS DUBOIS! OVER!"
This sudden scream from Colette blaring out from their walkie-talkies caught both Stephanie and Jackson off guard. And for a brief few seconds, they stood completely still, too stunned to properly react.
"I REPEAT! EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! THIS IS DUBOIS! OVER!"
In a flash, Jackson drew out his walkie-talkie and responded. "Nishimura," he said. "I've got Tanner with me in the Miocene rainforest Building. What's the issue? Over?" Stephanie raised her eyebrow, but for now stayed quiet. "Glad to know you're nearby," Collete's voice said, briefly returning to a eerily calm tone, before shouting, "Anyway… get your asses to the kelenken paddock right now! There's been an incident in there, and time is of the essence! Over!"
At this, Jackson nodded, "Roger that, over", before cutting the transmission and turning to Stephanie, a noticeably determined look on his face. "Let's get a move on", to which Stephanie nodded, earlier annoyance gone in the face of the bigger issue. "No need to tell me twice."
. . . . .
The sun was already starting to set on Hateg Island by the time Drew and his team managed to reach the coast, as the sea seemed to glisten from the sunset. As they observed, they realised the zalmoxes herd had arrived a short time ahead of them… and they weren't alone.
A group of small hadrosaurs, roughly fifteen feet long and with tannish brown scales, were milling about on the beach, licking bones, logs, rocks and seaweed, a behaviour the zalmoxes were also performing. Drew chuckled and said, "Telmatosaurus – basal hadrosaurs and the last of a dying breed. No idea why they're licking everything though…" Looking closer, Kaisumi said, "I think they're licking salt, like some ungulates do. I think this is why the zalmoxes were headed here too…"
The team smiled and watched as the two ornithopod herds milled about… before, suddenly, a zalmoxes sniffed the air and let out a high-pitched cry of alarm. The herbivores went on alert as a dark shadow suddenly flew over the beach. The zalmoxes moved closer to the telmatosaurus, as everything went quiet…. when, suddenly, a hatzegopteryx dived out of the sky, landed on the beach and charged towards the herbivores, who fled…. however, in the dimming light, they could see that one – a zalmoxes, maybe, or perhaps a juvenile telmatosaurus – had been left behind in the commotion. The hatzegopteryx delivered a blow to its beak, killing it instantaneously.
After raising its head, the hatzegopteryx stood still, almost in triumph, a dead zalmoxes hanging from its beak. They noticed several important differences between this and the one they'd encountered in the clearing – this one had a much shorter crest and, from what they could estimate, was slightly shorter overall. "A female?", Jack said, under his breath, as Drew shrugged. The female hatzegopteryx scanned the air, before stalking off into the forest, her prize in her beak.
Before Drew could speak, they were suddenly interrupted by a cacophony of hisses and squawks – following it, they saw a dead mosasaur, some twelve feet long, with an open wound in its side. It was clearly several days dead and was beginning to bloat. The stench of rotting meat, drying in the sun, filled the air, as flies buzzed around it.
And the flies were not alone – two groups of scavengers were surrounding the carcass, eagerly ripping off semi-rotting meat. A small flock of birds that looked like the icthyornis at the park, only slightly smaller and a small flock of black-and-white pycnofibred azhdarchids that looked rather like the hatzegopteryx and albadraco, but only much smaller, with wingspans at about ten feet.
At the scene, Kaisumi turned to Drew in confusion, saying "How are we going to get all this lot through the portal?" Chuckling, Drew said, "Oh, Ms. Ishiara… we're going to do this the old-fashioned way." Jack and Adrian rolled their eyes at this, with the latter sighing, as a look of realisation came onto Kaisumi's face at what Drew meant – chuckling, she said, "This should be fun."
After Drew had contacted the park, he ran towards the carcass, making sure to avoid rousing the wrath of the squabbling creatures and carefully hooked the winch into the tail fluke of the dead animal; the winch was attached to a park jeep on the other side. Drew ran back to the portal and gave the thumbs-up signal and the winch began pulling the mosasaur carcass away. The scavengers took notice of this and began to move towards it, hissing and squawking, all united in a desire to not lose their meal. Within minutes, the mosasaur carcass was yanked through the portal by the jeep dragging it. The scavengers, moving too fast to stop and eager to avoid losing their meal at the same time, dove through the portal after the carcass and into the present.
Once the last had gone through, Jack turned to Drew and asked, "What do we do now?", to which Drew said, "We get to tracking the hatzegopteryx – given her size, it shouldn't take long…"
. . . . .
Two hours later
"We've lost track of her, haven't we?"
Drew sighed at Kaisumi's question… principally because the answer was "Yes".
The team had been carefully following the trail – or what they had surmised was the trail – of the female hatzegopteryx… however, the trail had run cold. Sighing, Adrian turned to Drew and said, "She was definitely in this clearing… however, I don't know where she went after that." Every tracker knew that sometimes you could lose a trail – even the best trackers sometimes fell at the whims of poor luck.
There was something else, however…
In this clearing, there was the stink of death.
As Adrian, acting on a hunch, grabbed his torch and shone it, he came upon the broken body of a chickadee-coloured dinosaur, some six feet long, that looked vaguely like a stockier version of the dromaeosaurs back at the park, lying in the centre. "What killed it?", Jack said, quietly, as the team looked at each other, unnerved. Even scarier, it had been left uneaten where it lay – as if its killers had been making some sort of statement
Adrian sighed, "Allow me – I'll be able to tell what might have happened", and he approached the body. As he inspected it, his first thought of a vague resemblance to the dromaeosaurs was quickly quashed, as more differences became apparent – rather than one sickle claw on each foot, it had two and it had two fingers on its hand instead of three. A quick inspection inside its mouth revealed leaf-like teeth more like the troodonts than anything else. Its legs were shorter and stockier and its feet more adapted to perching than killing.
After much inspection, he could work out the cause of death – either the animal's neck had been broken or its windpipe had been crushed. His eye suddenly noticed something in the leaf litter – a small, serrated tooth, presumably dislodged by the predator. Picking it up and observing it, he noticed the tooth was bulbous and backwards-curved, with a serrated margin – suddenly, he realised what had happened. Turning to his teammates, he said, "Abelisaurs killed it, probably. I'll send it back to Khatin – do a proper post-mortem, but…"
It turned out Jack knew what the animal was, "A Balaur – a very, very basal kind of bird. Looked like a dromaeosaur or a troodont, but wasn't – it just looked that way 'cos it was flightless. It was sort of a generalist – ate plants and small animals." Scanning the clearing, Drew said, "We really need to find a place to set up camp – we don't want to be blundering out here at night…"
After the dead balaur had been sent back to the park, the team stuck together, constantly scanning. Any rustle in the bushes was a possible danger and any odd shadow was the predator that they never knew had been stalking them.
As they entered a second clearing, a low squawk suddenly caused the team to jump out of their skins. "What was that?", Jack hissed, as the team all moved closer to each other, preparing to face the predator they were sure was standing before them.
Seeing what appeared to be a small hill in the clearing, Adrian tentatively lifted his torch… and was surprised when it alighted on a living balaur sitting on top of the mound. The balaur hissed angrily at the light. It was slightly larger than the dead one in the clearing and the feathers round its throat were brighter – a male, perhaps?
Once the balaur had realised these new creatures were not a threat, he relaxed – enabling the team to investigate rather more closely. The mound – almost certainly a nest – was a pile of sticks, branches and leaves some six feet high and twice that in width. There was a small opening on the side, covered by a swathe of branches made up of several whole saplings.
Gnawed bones surrounded the nest mound – passing the torch to Jack, Adrian picked up the nearest bone, a humerus about two feet long. Adrian couldn't tell which animal this bone had belonged to – but it was large, comparatively speaking. Had the balaur killed it? That seemed unlikely – perhaps it had been scavenged.
The lull was suddenly broken when the balaur let out his low call again. The team looked at each other in confusion, as Jack hissed "I thought he'd realised we weren't a threat…" Drew shook his head, "Might not be us… he's pissed off at something else, maybe… but what?" However, the team turned to the direction of the call to see two pairs of glowing eyes – a closer look revealed two bipedal shapes that looked awfully familiar…
Abelisaurs.
"Oh crap."
. . . . .
Jackson and Stephanie, moving as fast as their legs could carry them, left the Miocene Amazon building and managed to sprint to the Kelenken paddock, where a visibly nervous Colette was positioned at one of the viewing areas. Panting, Stephanie said, "What's the emergency?", to which Collete grimaced and pointed into the paddock.
What Jackson and Stephanie saw shocked them. At the large tree in the centre of the kelenken paddock, Petrie sat on a branch, clinging to dear life, as the kelenken circled and snapped below him. Stephanie snapped out of her open-mouthed shock to turn to Collete and ask, "How did this happen?!"
Sighing, Collete said, "Somehow, he escaped from the nursery. He's been flitting around the park for hours – I've been assigned to find him… and, somehow, he must have flown in here and made it to the branch in time." A round of squawks from the kelenken made Collete sigh, "Luckily for him. However, I don't know how much longer his luck is going to hold out."
Jackson and Stephanie looked out – what were they going to do? Petrie's flight capacity was meant for flapping short distances or hopping in-between certain points, such as rocks – his days as a long-winged soarer were yet to come. If he tried to fly the distance between the branch and the wall, one of the kelenken would almost certainly snatch him out of the sky. They could sit and wait for the kelenken to lose interest and then go in and retrieve him… but that carried too much risk. They needed to do something now.
Collete and Stephanie turned to look at Jackson, who was staring intently at the scene. Grinning, he said, "I have an idea…" Collete and Stephanie looked at each other.
. . . . .
"Well, get on with it! We don't have all goddamn night!"
The abelisaurs simply hissed in reply at Drew's proclamation. "Okay, I think that pissed them off," Drew hissed as he blasted his airhorn at the hungry abelisaurs, who snarled and snapped irritatedly. Kaisumi gritted her teeth, less than confident as she repeatedly turned her flashlight on and off in the abelisaurs' eyes. "Easy for you to say."
They'd been aiding the male balaur in defending the nest all night – the abelisaurs had been very… persistent. Now, in the dim light of sunrise,
One of the abelisaurs, seemingly believing Kaisumi to be the 'weak link' amongst the defenders, snapped its head forward and snarled right in her face to try to intimidate her into backing down. Jack, however, was right next to Kaisumi and quick to let off a burst of noise from his airhorn right back in the abelisaur's face, much to the dwarf theropod's annoyance. Kaisumi nodded in appreciation, "Thanks Jack." Jack nodded back, "Any time."
The two abelisaurs hissed and snapped, as Adrian swiftly let out a burst of noise from his airhorn in reply. "Don't give up now everyone," he then stated. "We can still handle this." However, the abelisaurs weren't stupid - already they were observing the area, taking note of how they could split up. One could go to the side of the nest and draw the defenders' attention, whilst the other struck - one second was all that mattered. And sure enough, when one of the abelisaurs veered to the right and Kaisumi and Adrian moved to head it off, the other abelisaur lunged towards the gap with an anticipatory hiss, as Drew and Jack tensed, readying for an attack…
When, suddenly, the balaur threw back his head and let out a loud, almost disproportionately deep call – Adrian couldn't help but notice the call was a rough approximation of the hatzegopteryx's own booming squawks. As the call echoed through the forest, the team looked at each other as the abelisaurs went rigid… before a booming squawk in reply caused human and theropod alike to look up as an enormous female hatzegopteryx descended, landing in between the nest and the abelisaurs. The abelisaurs snarled at the giant pterosaur, who remained completely still, before thrusting her head forward, looming over the abelisaurs menacingly, and let out her booming call right in their faces.
The two abelisaurs went rigid in fear at the face of this greater predator, before stalking off into the bush, their bravado vanished. Drew looked at the scene, with a neutral expression. Admittedly, he was slightly bummed that he'd once again missed out on the chance to rescue the abelisaurs - but at least now there was one less obstacle, and he could still salvage a rescue…
The big question was… how? The Hatzegopterys, as if noticing them, began to slowly advance towards them – the team looked at each other nervously. If she attacked the nest, there was little they could do to stop her. The balaur, strangely calm in the face of this giant predator, boldly strode towards the hatzegopteryx… and let out a warble of greeting, to which the female hatzegopteryx rumbled in reply.
The team looked at each other in confusion – the sight of the balaur unexpectedly rubbing his head up against the underside of the hatzegopteryx's 'chin' only provided further befuddlement. 'What the fuck?' Drew silently mouthed as he watched. However, Adrian observed the, surprisingly, touching scene, noting how the pterosaur had positioned herself when she'd landed to confront the abelisaurs… and came to a realisation.
"The nest," he whispered to his companions. "I think it belongs to the hatzegopteryx. That's why she placed herself between the nest and the abelisaurs – she was protecting them." Jack nodded and muttered, "The balaur must have been tending to it while she was away - like a dikkop bird and a Nile crocodile." Kaisumi had just nodded and was about to respond when a sudden rustling of the nest mound drew their attention, and the team noticed that the balaur and mother hatzegopteryx were standing almost expectantly at the nest, as the mother hatzegopteryx gently opened the hole at the side...which were now slowly cracking and breaking open as the hatzegopteryx and balaur hatchlings inside started working to break their way out!
"Wow," Kaisumi said reverently as she watched the baby hatzegopteryx and balaur hatching out of their eggshells. "We've just found a symbiotic mutualism." Jack chuckled, "I can envision the treatise already – how long should the title be?" Kaisumi rolled her eyes in mock annoyance, "Oh shut up." The hatzegopteryx and balaur looked on like proud parents, as the mother pterosaur dragged a partially eaten zalmoxes carcass into view and began to tear off pieces to feed the hatchlings. Jack raised his eyebrow and looked to Drew. "That zalmoxes carcass," he stated. "Think this is the female we saw at the beach?" Drew shrugged, "Yeah." Adrian nodded and looked to Drew while gesturing towards the hatchlings, "This could complicate things." Drew chuckled, "Come now. When have I have ever turned down a good challenge...without good reason?" He then looked to Jack and Kaisumi, "Let's get out some meat and fruit from the bait bags. See if their stomachs are the key to convincing them through the portal."
And so, acting as patiently as they could to avoid startling the mother hatzegopteryx, the rescue team got to work in laying a trail of meat and fruit, with the two adults cautiously following the hatchlings. And, whilst the family paused whilst the portal came into view, it wasn't long before the natural curiosity of the hatchlings overrode their fear and they went eagerly through the portal, with their respective parents following them.
Once the… rather unconventional family had gone through, Drew closed the portal. Nodding his head, he looked up towards the night sky. "Hmm, it's definitely looking pretty late in the night right now," he stated before looking to his teammates. "We'd best set up camp," he stated. "I think we can get a couple hours before dawn."
. . . . .
Fortunately, the rest of the night passed without incident and the team managed to catch an hour or two – after a quick energy drink and fuelled mostly by adrenaline, they quickly headed back into the woods to resume their search for more animals to rescue.
Very soon, they found them. Walking into a large clearing, they saw a small group of struthisaurus browsing on plants, accompanied by the telmatosaurus from before and a small herd of sauropods. The sauropods were small – only about twenty feet long – and a greenish grey in colour, grading to an off-white on their underbellies with small armoured scutes on their backs.
Looking closer, Drew said, "The struthisaurus and telmatosaurus I recognise, and I guess the sauropods are paludititan." Jack stared at the herd in confusion, "How are we going to get this lot through the portal?" Drew was about to speak when a telmatosaurus suddenly sniffed the air and bellowed in alarm. The herd went on edge, with even the sauropods nervous – looking up, the team noticed two huge shapes flying towards them…
Seconds later, two hatzegopteryx – one male, one female – landed and began to stalk towards the mixed herd – who stamped and bellowed in an attempt to drive the giant azhdarchids off, who hissed in reply. This stand-off lasted for a few minutes, before the hatzegopteryx – realising there were no unguarded juveniles and losing the element of surprise – stalked off. Once the herd had calmed down, the team used vegetation to lead them through the portal.
Once the herbivores had been sent through the portal, Drew looked to his team, "Right, what we are going to do is see if we can track down those hatzegopteryx – given it's daytime, it should be a bit easier than it was before. However… Adrian, could you and Jack go on ahead and scout for signs? If you've found anything, drop me and Kaisumi a line…" Kaisumi turned to Drew apologetically, and said, "Can I go with Jack and Adrian, please?" Rolling his eyes, Drew said, "Fine", as a grinning Kaisumi accompanied the two.
If he was being honest, a few minutes to himself (positioned behind a tree, where he could see as much of the clearing as he could) was what he needed. After all the paperwork he'd been doing, the mission – helping defend a hatzegopteryx nest from raiders, seeing the largest flying animal ever – had revitalised him. Part of him thought, if missions were what he was made for, why bother with the paperwork when he wasn't suited for it? He'd accepted it as an unpleasant consequence of the job, but perhaps…
Suddenly, a voice crackled in through his communicator, drawing him back to reality, "Um, fearless leader… we've found something." Finally, Drew thought, as he reached to grab it, "Have you found the hatzegopteryx?" Chuckling, Jack said, "Not the hatzegopteryx, but we have found something… you are not gonna believe, fearless leader." Grinning, Drew said, "I'm on my way."
. . . . .
"I hope you both know what you're doing," Colette muttered.
Stephanie gritted her teeth, still not quite believing that she'd actually agreed to what Jackson had planned. "You and me both." Jackson chuckled, as he held the controls of a Novum drone that flew silently over the terror birds' heads, "Oh ye's of little faith… I got this." Eventually, a red sensor on the control, indicated that the drone had landed.
Turning to Collete and Stephanie, Jackson said, "Now, I'm going to play a call of an injured animal and release a smell of rotting flesh. Hopefully, the terror birds will go after what they perceive as a bigger meal and leave Petrie alone long enough for Collete to get him out." Rolling her eyes, Stephanie said, "You told us this when we were getting everything… why are you recapping it to us now?" Jackson smirked, "I'm an incurable show-off…", as Collete facepalmed and Jackson reached to press the button.
Suddenly, a pained bellow echoed through the air, causing the terror birds to go rigid in attention – quickly followed, seconds later, by the stench of blood. Smelling the air, the kelenken turned in the calls' direction and stalked off towards the playback, paying Petrie no further attention.
Once the last one had gone, Jackson turned to Collete, smiling, "They should realise there isn't a dying animal nearby soon – so, if you want to run in and get Petrie, now would be the time." Collete nodded, a small smile forming on her face, as she went to enter the kelenken paddock. Noticing Stephanie staring at him, Jackson grinned, "Impressed?"
. . . . .
Drew's first thought was that, when Jack had told him he wouldn't believe what they'd found, it had been an understatement – he watched as a dwarf abelisaur snapped hungrily at five dog-sized theropods with downy brown feathers… which were among the oddest creatures Drew had ever seen. Their heads were short, blunt-snouted and with a downturned lower jaw, with a few sharp teeth and two feathery tufts that looked like horns. They each had a pair of small, yet strong looking, leathery wings and their tails were short, with long, flat tail feathers, with taloned feet. Whilst the rational side of their minds identified the creatures as some late surviving scansoriopterygid, they couldn't help but wonder...
"Are those...," Kaisumi managed to say before turning her head towards Jack, stunned disbelief still on her face, "Dragons?". Jack shrugged. "We have bunyips, krakens, sea serpents and we've met yetis and yowies – so… somehow I was hoping for this." Adrian whistled, "Technically, they'd be wyverns, not dragons but… yeah."
Drew nodded, an excited grin on his face, as he clapped his hands together, They may not be breathing fire, but they certainly look the part – and, besides, I think Khatin, Bernie and Ogden would freak at seeing this." He looked to his teammates, "Get a portal grenade ready - but wait until I give you the command." He looked back towards the confrontation, "I want to see how this unfolds."
Kaisumi, Jack, and Adrian looked at each other, uncertain how to respond, but all three just shrugged. "You're the boss," said Adrian, sighing, "Just try to time the signal so that we can get the portal summoned before anyone gets killed." Kaisumi shuddered, clearly unnerved. Nevertheless, she and the boys kept a close eye on the tableau currently unfolding, in the process taking note of another curious detail regarding the 'dragons'; some had feathery tufts that were slightly longer than the others.
A roar from the abelisaur drew the party's attention to it in time to see it take a menacing step forward towards the dragons, which caused four of the dragons fearfully step back, warbling in terror. The fifth one, however, stood tall, undeterred, as it reared up to full height, spread its wings and hissed, causing the abelisaur to stop in its tracks and look, almost bemused, at it. Adrian nodded his head. "He's trying a bluff," he stated. "Trying to make himself look bigger than he actually is." Jack raised his eyebrow, "How do you know it's a he?" Adrian glared, "I'm making an educated guess."
Sadly, the threat display hadn't worked, as the abelisaur shook its head, snapped its teeth and stepped forward, drool-laden jaws widened as it prepared to strike, to which the juvenile dragon threw back its head and neck and let out an ear-piercing shriek. "GAH!" Drew yelled as he and his companions all slapped their hands over their ears, gritting their teeth in discomfort from the loud noise. The abelisaur took two steps back in confusion… before moving to lunge forward.
"This isn't looking good, Drew," Jack said as the juvenile defiantly hissed at the advancing predator. "Agreed," Drew stated before looking to Jack and Adrian. "You two get your airhorns ready; see if you can distract the abelisaur long enough, whilst we get a portal grenade ready…" He was suddenly interrupted by a loud screech, which split the air.
Eyes widened in shock, the rescue team looked in the direction the noise had come from, before the clearing went quiet – the abelisaur only had time for a confused grunt before a flying creature, roughly as big as it was, slammed into it, causing it to fall to the floor. Righting itself, the abelisaur snarled as the larger creature stand between it and the juveniles, hissing defiantly. Now, the team could get a better look at it – it was about as tall as a human, its horn tufts and tail feathers were longer, and its fur was a dark coal black instead of blonde. The adult spread its wings as the juveniles moved behind it. Jack looked intently, "I get it now," he said before gesturing towards the adult. "If those five are youngsters.,, that must be momma." Kaisumi nodded, "What the juvenile did… it must have been a call for help." Adrian raised his eyebrow, "Why is its fur a different colour from her offspring?" Drew shrugged, "Animals change colour as they grow – perhaps they all start out blonde and the females get darker."
The abelisaur and mother dragon both roared at each other, with the mother doing the same threat display her son had done… before the abelisaur charged, ramming its head against the mother dragon's chest, knocking her off balance, before she snapped her teeth on the tip of the abelisaur's snout. The abelisaur hissed in outrage, stumbling aside the instant its nose was finally released only to then lunge for the mother dragon's thigh, which she managed to dodge, swinging her tail against the abelisaur's head in retaliation. The abelisaur snarled in outrage, as the mother dragon launched herself in the air once more, hovering in the sky just out of reach… until the abelisaur grabbed her ankle and bit down. Struggling free, she went to land… when the abelisaur finally made its move, lunging up and snapping its jaws tight upon her left wing.
The mother dragon squawked in pain as the abelisaur's vicious teeth sank down on to her left wing, and bones audibly cracked. Twisting round, she lunged for the abelisaur's neck and bit down, causing the abelisaur to screech in outrage. After a few minutes, the abelisaur struggled free, glared hatefully at the mother dragon and stalked off, to which the exhausted theropod hissed and then hobbled towards her offspring, who gathered around her, cheeping in concern. The wing hung limply at her side – almost certainly broken.
The sound of flapping wings caused human and dragon alike to look up in time to see another adult dragon, this one with blonde fur and curved tufts, descending into the clearing with a juvenile zalmoxes carcass in its jaws. Without a fuss, the male dragon landed on the ground and dropped the carcass, which the five youngsters immediately swarmed to take a bite out of as he walked over towards his apparent mate, a concerned rumbling coming from his jaws. Kaisumi looked to Drew, a firm look on her face. "We need to save the entire family," she stated. "That broken wing will be a death sentence – the father's going to be stuck doing the job of two."
Drew nodded in agreement, "Let's see if we can use bait." And so, after drawing out a slab of beef from one of the bait bags, Drew began slowly making his way towards the dragons, hoping that the meat would allow him to curry favour with the beasts. Unfortunately, he hadn't gotten very far before the father dragon suddenly snapped his head in Drew's direction and spread his wings in a threat gesture. Cursing under his breath, Drew hurriedly lunged back into the undergrowth where his teammates were waiting, dropping the beef in the process. Noticing the offer, the male dragged the meat to the female. Drew sighed and shook his head, "That settles it," he stated. "Portal grenade it is."
A thrown portal grenade later, and the entire family of prehistoric dragons had been sent to the park. "Bet that will be quite a sight for the holding pens," Jack muttered in amusement. Kaisumi giggled, "You can say that again." Drew nodded in agreement, "And we've still got more to find." He turned to his team, grinning, "Let's get a move on."
. . . . .
Asha and the rest of the keepers and guards at the holding pens couldn't help but gape, wide eyed in disbelief at the sight of what had just now arrived through the portal. A small family of bipedal theropod dinosaurs that looked… like dragons. It shouldn't have been there, but it was.
Turning to Khatin and Bernie (who'd rushed over from Triassic Trek when he'd heard), Asha asked, "Any idea what they are? Because, obviously, 'dragon" is a bit too vague." Bernie said, "Scansoriopterygids, probably – the only group of theropod to evolve membranous wings."
Flabbergasted, Khatin shook his head, "It shouldn't be possible – it would require a ghost lineage on the order of almost 100 million years. However, the fossil record is fragmentary – especially against small vertebrates, so perhaps…" Bernie turned to Khatin with a grin, "Or they skipped ahead in line." Turning to Asha, Khatin said, "And this is where he goes completely crazy."
At this, Asha looked confused, as Bernie said, "Right – there have been two incidents where creatures have just appeared. They couldn't have slipped through the portal… where did they come from?", as Khatin sighed, "The portal opening and closing releases a massive amount of energy – it's possible that these incidents represent residual lapses, supported by the timing of the second one in particular…"
Asha rolled her eyes as the two bantered – affectionately or not, she wasn't quite sure. But what Bernie was saying made sense – they didn't really have much proof that this wasn't just a natural phenomenon that people had somehow learned to harness. She shook her head – she wasn't a quantum physicist, she was an animal handler. And now, she needed to get the injured female to the vet offices and the male and juveniles for the health tests.
. . . . .
The rescue team hadn't gone very far outside the dragon clearing before they came across more animals to rescue. Specifically, they found a small group of aardwolf-sized dark olive green scaled and tannish underbellied terrestrial crocodilians that were feasting upon a recently dead dwarf abelisaur. Jack silently whistled at the sight of this, "Terrestrial crocodilians – guess, even in a land of oddities, evolution knows what works." Drew nodded in agreement, before pointing towards the dead abelisaur's side, "Big question is… what did that?" His teammates looked where Drew was pointing and noticed a large injury on the dead abelisaur's side – an injury that seemed to have been inflicted by a beak. "Ah," said Kaisumi. "From the size, a Hatzegopteryx did this."
Jack nodded in agreement, "Would make sense – Hatzegopteryx probably attempt to drive these guys off to get rid of competition." He then looked to Drew, "The crocodiles are doratodon by the way, in case you were wondering. They must have finished it off." Drew nodded, a clear look of appreciation on his face before then clasping his hands together. "Well everyone, business as usual." And so, with the boys all attracting the attention of the crocs via their airhorns, Kaisumi subsequently opened the portal in time for the crocs to go rushing straight through when they charged towards the team in the belief the humans were thieves gunning for their kill. Drew nodded his head once Kaisumi had closed the portal, "Well done everyone."
The sound of a long, low bellow, suddenly split the air from further ahead, immediately attracting the rescue team's attention. Kaisumi looked to the boys, "I'm guessing that's where we're next headed?" The boys nodded. "Good to see you learning quickly," Jack said with a smile. "Yep," Drew agreed. "You've certainly figured out quickly how we work." He then beckoned for his companions to follow him. "Follow me."
Ten minutes later, the team reached another clearing. And inside said clearing was a veritable smorgasbord of animals. To start, the same zalmoxes herd from the previous day, made up of two species, one larger than the other, was browsing upon several of the bushes with a herd of Clydsedale horse-sized sauropods, with greyish green scales, grading to steely grey on their undersides, browsed upon the leaves from the low-hanging branches. And perched upon several of the branches, easily identified by their chickadee-like feathers, were eight balaur that were watching in curiosity as the herbivores fed. The lead male of the zalmoxes herd turned his scarlet red scaled head in the direction of the humans, a confused grunt escaping his beak before he then shrugged and resumed his eating. Drew nodded his head, "The zalmoxes and balaur I recognize. And the sauropods I guess are magaryosaurus." Jack and Kaisumi nodded their heads. "Correct fearless leader," said the former. Kaisumi, meanwhile, was looking in awe at the balaur as they remained perched upon the branches not too far above the herbivores. "How did they get up there? I thought they were too big to fly?" Adrian shrugged, "Maybe they climbed up – perhaps they can glide down too."
"Well let's see if they're hungry enough to come down," Drew stated as he reached into one of the bait bags and drew out a handful of fruit. "Adrian. Start helping me draw out fruit from the bait bags. Jack, Kaisumi, I want you two to set up a small fence around an area of soil and unearth some grubs. I've got an idea how to catch the balaur flock."
Within minutes, the planned trap had been set up, with the balaur gliding down into the fenced in area to feast upon the fruit and grubs that had been offered up as bait. And while the small stocky theropods were understandably startled when the portal was summoned, curiosity ultimately won out and allowed them to walk through the portal when Kaisumi opened a gap in the fence. And once the fence had been taken down and put away, Kaisumi looked to Drew, "I trust you also have a plan for the herbivores?"
Drew was just about to answer when the silence was suddenly shattered by a rustling in the bushes, as the herbivores began to snort and bellow in panic… before, seconds later, a pack of abelisaurs emerged from the bushes, a situation that was complicated when two hatzegopteryx, one male and one female, appeared right after. The herbivores began to panic as they were caught between the two groups of predators – who now seemed more interested in challenging each other than hunting. At the sight, Kaisumi winced, "I do hope this won't complicate things." Drew snorted, "Tis but a temporary snag. Nothing we can't adapt to." He looked meaningfully at Jack and Adrian, "You know what to do."
And indeed they did, already drawing out their airhorns as they rushed into position to attract the attention of the predators – once they'd done that, Kaisumi quickly summoned the portal under Drew's orders while Drew used his own airhorn to get the attention of the herbivores. "Don't just stand there!" Drew yelled as the herbivores briefly stood still and stared uncomprehendingly at him and the portal, "Get moving! We're trying to save you!"
It was around that moment that the abelisaurs and pterosaurs all bellowed once again, trying to drown each other out, which proved just the incentive needed for the zalmoxes and magyarosaurus to finally start rushing to the portal. They were halfway through the portal before the male amongst the abelisaur pack noticed, at which point he hissed an alert and tore off after the herd, with the rest of the predators following him. Fortunately, the bizarre procession managed to make it through the portal. "Whew," Kaisumi sputtered once the portal had closed. "That was intense." Jack let out an exhausted chuckle, "No lies there." Adrian nodded his head in agreement and looked to Drew, "What do you think Drew? Think we've been at Hateg Island long enough?" Drew thought to himself – whilst the answer for him was obvious, he couldn't help but notice the team were looking a little tired.
A cacophony of squawks and bellows splitting the air soon solidified Drew's decision. "I'll be staying just a little while longer," he stated, looking determinedly to his team. "After all, it probably might not hurt to get a few more azhdarchids…. But you guys can go ahead and return to the park if you want." But already Jack, Adrian, and Kaisumi were shaking their heads.
"Not on your life, fearless leader. We're a team," said Jack, "And teams stick together." Kaisumi and Adrian nodded, as Drew smiled appreciatively, "I really am lucky to have such loyal teammates." And at that, the team resumed their trek through the forest, eager to see what awaited them ahead.
. . . . .
All of ten minutes later, the team found themselves exiting the forest and entering an area where tall thick bushy vegetation dominated the landscape. It was almost as tall as they were. "Don't go into the long grass, eh?", Jack chuckled, as Drew rolled his eyes and said, "Yeah, of course – but, well, we're looking for the predators, aren't we?"
As they brushed their way through the thick vegetation, a squeak alerted them to a small group of zalmoxes, walking nervously through the grass, constantly scanning the air. Suddenly, one stopped, sniffed the air and let out a squeal of alarm. The team gave each other a confused look… what could be in there?
Suddenly, the vegetation began to rustle – and the team went rigid. Seconds later, what they had thought was a stem of some kind in front of them began to move towards them and, suddenly, a pair of huge jaws lunged down and tried to grab the nearest zalmoxes, which managed to move away just in time. Mute with horror, the team looked up to see the big male hatzegopteryx they'd seen in the clearing at the start of the mission, scanning the clearing intently, his head and neck towering above the vegetation. He was an imposing sight, and before him, the team looked as insignificant as mice.
As the team silently moved through the vegetation, the zalmoxes following them, they saw the giant male hatzegopteryx was not alone. An entourage of smaller azhdarchids – several eurazhdarcho, albadraco and the small azhdarchids they'd seen on the beach – followed in his wake, possibly hoping to catch animals that he had flushed out. Somehow, the presence of these smaller pterosaurs made the male seem bigger than he already was.
Trying to move silently and avoid a snapping beak, the team looked nervously at Drew, and Jack said, "How are we going to get all this lot through the portal?" Chuckling, Drew said, "We take a page out of Leon's book…", as his team looked at each other, confused. Dropping a recording device, Drew played the calls of a zalmoxes – the smaller azhdarchids, all moving as a single entity came towards the team – as the zalmoxes hid behind them, quaking in terror. Eventually, once they'd all gotten close enough, Drew threw a portal grenade, swallowing up the whole flock, with the zalmoxes being sent in later.
The giant male, however, had ignored them – some distance away, he lunged at something in the grass and pulled out a dead zalmoxes. The male flew off, his prize in his jaws. Looking up, Drew smirked "Wonder where he's headed… shall we find out?" His team nodded – they knew they had to end with a bang.
. . . . .
"I'll admit, your idea actually worked out better than I'd thought."
At that moment, Stephanie and Jackson had finished their work at La Pampa Plains and were walking through the park to see where else they were needed. Naturally, the events at the kelenken paddock were still fresh on both their minds. Jackson let out a low chuckle, "Not bad for an ankle-biting bogan eh?"
Stephanie winced, clear guilt now on her face. "Yeah, not bad," she admitted before looking apologetically at Jackson. "And for what it's worth, I'm sorry about what I said. I just got annoyed and lost my temper." Jackson shrugged, "Eh, it's alright… I was annoying in retrospect, wasn't I? And for what it's worth… I've been called worse", to which Stephanie raised her eyebrow. Sighing, she said, "Regardless, I shouldn't have reacted the way I did today… and I'll be honest, I should have talked to you rather than just avoiding you."
"Valid," Jackson agreed. "Though for what it's worth, my intention was never to annoy you." Snorting, Stephanie said, "I believe that now."
And indeed, at this point, she was now starting to seriously wonder just how much she'd truly misjudged Jackson. She'd assumed him to be an irreverent ignoramus who refused to respect boundaries and treated everything like a game… but now, she couldn't help but remember how, for all his irreverence, Theodore had seen something in him – after all, he was here, wasn't he? In addition, regardless of how annoying he might have been, Jackson had clearly had good intentions… perhaps it was time to ask why. "One little thing," she said, "Why were you barraging me with all those jokes? Was it really that important for you to get me to laugh?" She winced, realizing how that sounded, "Out of curiosity I mean?"
Jackson nodded his head, "I've seen that look on your face. The one that indicates there's something bad that happened to you in your past that you really don't like to talk about, but is even now still eating at you from within. I've seen that look in the mirror so many times."
Stephanie's eyes widened. She'd been so certain that her mask of stoicism she liked to put on had been airtight. Had she really proven that easy to read? Or was Jackson just simply that much more observant than everyone else? And then the second half of what he'd said registered… "But you're always so happy all the time? Making all those jokes...?"
Jackson chuckled sarcastically, "When I first met him, Jack told me that telling jokes all the time doesn't always mean you're happy." He nodded his head, "Suppose that's the best summation." He rubbed the back of his head, "Let me put it this way Steph, my life hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows. And, the way I see it, if you don't laugh, you'll be crying."
Stephanie stayed silent. In all honesty, she'd never really known all that much about Jackson before working at the park. And now that she thought about it, she could honestly say the same about everybody – yes, almost everyone had been transferred from some part of Novum, but the company was huge. Everybody, on some level, was a stranger to somebody.
"And for what it's worth," Jackson then stated. "There was one other thing…" Stephanie directed another look of confusion towards him. "And what might that be?"
"It can be a lonely business," Jackson stated. "Dealing with it all – trying to make sure that nobody sees." He nodded his head, "And yes, other people might not understand – not really. But, to paraphrase a great writer, friends may not be able to carry the burden with us, but they can carry us." Then he placed a hand on Stephanie's shoulder. "And at the end of the day, I think you need somebody to do that."
Stephanie thought to herself, carefully considering what Jackson had just said. She had to admit, she'd never been the best at making friends – and she'd never tried to make friends with anybody at the park. But, having been handed an opportunity, perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to try. And so she turned to him, smiling slightly, "In that case… my shift at Pleistocene Walkabout ends at about five and after that, I'm free until tomorrow morning – if you give me some time to freshen up… I'll be back there at six." At this, Jackson let out a small chuckle, as he smiled warmly "What a coincidence, I'm done at Ajuga about that time… so, six it is."
Stephanie nodded, with a smile on her face, before saying bluntly, "But one little thing; if you want this to work out, just remember that a girl needs her time to herself now and then… and just throwing stuff at me isn't going to get me to like you more." Jackson nodded, "Fair enough."
"Glad you understand," Stephanie said, smiling. After the events of today, she couldn't help but feel happy about how she'd unexpectedly found a new friend – perhaps that's what she'd needed all this time.
. . . . .
Following the male hatzegopteryx was by no means easy – occasionally, they got a glimpse of him flying through the air, but that was it. Muttering under his breath, Drew said, "He seemed pretty determined to get somewhere, but where…", when suddenly, a cacophony of booming squawks echoed through the woods. The team all looked at each other – they knew what these calls were.
Following the calls, they entered a large clearing, where several hatzegopteryx – including both males and females – were gathered. The males were shaking their heads and baring brightly-coloured pouches on their throats as the females watched them. The big male they'd seen in the earlier clearing was with them, the dead zalmoxes at his feet.
Looking at the scene intently, Drew said, "I think they've gathered for mating season – the males are displaying to females. The dead animals are nuptial gifts – killing it proves he's a good hunter and carrying it here proves he's a strong flier. Way to a lady's heart…" Adrian suddenly tapped Drew on the shoulder, "And I think we have unwanted company." Confused, Drew turned in the direction Adrian was looking at to see the two male abelisaurs they'd last seen at the hatzegopteryx nest stalking towards the clearing, his eyes widening, "They're here to nick some of the nuptial gifts."
The big male hatzegopteryx suddenly stopped displaying, seeing the abelisaurs moving out of the corner of his eye. Whipping round, he bellowed at them. The nearer of the abelisaurs, the element of surprise blown, lunged to grab the zalmoxes carcass – however, the big male was too fast for them and stamped down. The abelisaurs hissed defiantly, as the azhdarchids, any animosity with each other forgotten, bellowed in reply. Trying to make himself heard over the din, Jack said, "Erm, fearless leader… do you have a plan?", to which a grinning Drew said, "Yup – let's give them a common enemy."
Before anyone could speak, Drew ran up to the squabbling predators, blaring the horn and moving right near the big male hatzegopteryx to grab the zalmoxes carcass… to which azhdarchid and abelisaur alike went silent and turned to look at him. Grinning, Drew started blaring the horn for good measure – any animosity with each other forgotten, the predators all advanced towards him. Eyes wide with terror, Jack turned to Drew and said, "Erm, fearless leader… they're not really looking impressed with us…", to which Drew chuckled, "That's what I was planning on."
Once they'd gotten close enough, Drew yelled "NOW!" and, grabbing the zalmoxes carcass, he summoned the portal and ran through, his team joining him. The enraged predators tore off after him, their prey drives activated by the retreat. Tearing through the portal, Drew, Jack, Adrian and Kaisumi ran up the ladder into the holding pens, as the hatzegopteryx and abelisaurs tore after them.
A panting Drew looked up to see Asha, Khatin and Bernie giving them weird looks. Grinning, Drew said, "So, how was managing the holding pens?", to which Asha sighed and said, "It's certainly been… eventful." At this, Drew chuckled and smiled, "Sorry we can't be there to supervise the transfer of this little lot – the only place we're going is our trailers. We spent a whole night guarding a nest – we've barely slept a wink. All that's keeping us going has been adrenaline."
At this, Asha shrugged, "Sure", and the team, one by one, departed. As Kaisumi went to leave, however, Asha suddenly said to Kaisumi, "Ishiara, could you please stay for a bit?". At the woman's tone, Kaisumi gulped – her tone was not conducive to sharing good news. Sighing, Asha said, "It's about Petrie?", to which Kaisumi's eyes widened in fear, "Has something happened to him? Is he alright?" Asha sighed, "It's complicated – Dubois would be able to put it better than I did…"
Kaisumi gulped again.
. . . . .
An hour and a half later, once all the dust had settled, all the new animals had been successfully transferred to their new homes at the newly-constructed Hateg Island exhibit zone, which was positioned on an 'island' surrounded by a moat that guests and staff could cross by either boat or one of four bridges built upon the four 'compass point' positions.
Positioned directly by the main entrance to this exhibit zone was a building, the interior of which was designed to resemble the forests of Hateg Island, which was where all the smaller Hateg fauna lived. Positioned in the centre of the building's foyer was a small paddock containing a small 'island' surrounded by a moat, which served as home for the sabresuchus. Four exhibits built into the walls surrounding it served as home for the mammals, with all four species of mammal either sleeping in their burrows or exploring their new territory.
Multiple terrariums were built into the walls of the building's interior, with the lizards and aprosuchus dwelling in the terrariums built into the left wall, with the various species either basking on rocks or exploring their new territory, whilst the amphibians and snakes were kept in the four terrariums built into the right wall, with the frogs all exploring their new territory while the albanerpeton swam through the waters of their own terrarium. The amphibians and nidophis had found themselves somewhat overshadowed by the large madtsoiids, dubbed zmeu draculae by an intrigued Ogden, who were now resting in their terrarium, waiting for their next meal.
A door near the amphibian terrariums led to a coastal themed aviary, which served as home for the newly discovered ichthyornids, which had been dubbed aktiornis draculae by a flabbergasted Khatin and were currently feasting on some freshly provided fish. Positioned in between the nidophis and albanerpeton terrariums, meanwhile, was a door that led into a walkthrough aviary that served as home for the Hateg enantiornithines, all of whom were now searching for food in their new territory. Finally, three terrariums built into the back wall of the building's interior served as home for the Hateg island turtles, with the various species all basking on the rocks or searching for food.
The remainder of the building's animal inhabitants, meanwhile, all dwelled in largish exhibits within the interior of the building. A large paddock by the aprosuchus and lizard terrariums served as home for the newly discovered oviraptorids, which had been dubbed draculdon tippeti by an excited Bernie, the flightless jeholothornids, who had been named Maiastraornis transylvanicus, the bradycneme and transylvanosaurus, who were all exploring their new territory. A pit-like exhibit positioned closest to the turtles, themed after a forest clearing, served as home for the doratodon, and in the very centre of the building, complete with underwater viewing, were two swamp-themed enclosures home to the two semiaquatic crocodilians.
Directly behind the Hateg Island building and in the very centre of the exhibit zone, as per unspoken tradition, was a large paddock that now served as home for the majority of the formation's herbivorous dinosaurs – the telmatosaurus, the rhabodonts, struthisaurus and titanosaurs – who were all either drinking from the lake in the centre or feeding on the plants in the exhibit. A large paddock to the left served as home for the Hateg island dwarf abelisaurs, which Khatin had dubbed capcaunosaurus montanum, with the larger pack heartily feasting upon a freshly provided cow carcass while the two bachelor adult males napped together within a separate area.
Next to the abelisaur paddock was a large forest-themed aviary that served as home for the 'dragons', which a giddy Bernie had dubbed dracopteryx ferox, with the father, named Nestor, scouting for nonexistent threats while his mate, named Eglantine, took a nap in her brand-new den to rest, her broken left wing now in a cast and splint. The five youngsters, meanwhile were currently playing with some dog toys that had been provided for enrichment. Rather amusingly, Leon had, to get some revenge against Jack for the latter rubbing the fact that yet another mythical creature had been "proven real", to arrange for one male among the youngsters be called Spyro, after a video game character that he knew Jack disliked.
But the crown jewel of the exhibit zone was its aviary, which served as home for the four species of azhdarchids – as well as, somewhat surprisingly, the balaur, who were kept in a separate section, which pulled double duty as a designated "nursery" section for the hatzegopteryx (with the park not taking any chances about the smaller species stealing their eggs). And so far, all the pterosaurs were settling smoothly into their new homes, with the smaller species mostly stalking around the aviary looking for food and the male hatzegopteryx resuming their displaying, scrutinised by females, whilst one of the females worked to build a nest (accompanied by a pair of balaur), whilst the mother hatzegopteryx, accompanied by the widowed male balaur (considering the dead female – as confirmed by Khatin – they'd seen in the same territory), kept a close eye on both their offspring. A caged-in walkway ran through the aviary, enabling visitors to have close-up views of the pterosaurs.
All in all, everything seemed to be going smoothly at the park with the new arrivals – and hopefully the new exhibit zone would prove popular amongst the guests. But there were still some dark shadows over the metaphorical paradise, a fact that Kaisumi and Jack in particular were currently all too well aware of.
. . . . .
Kaisumi sat in the nursery, mute with shock and sadness, as she watched Petrie gingerly crawl around his nursery pen. She mentally recapped the events of the day; Petrie had escaped the nursery, in search of her, and got lost in the park. After combing the park for several hours, they had found him; trapped in the Kelenken enclosure. The terror birds had nearly killed him; they'd barely managed to get him out. She focused her gaze at the little Pteranodon, feeling a sense of shame and guilt; if she hadn't gone on the mission, he wouldn't have gone looking for her. He wouldn't have nearly died. He was her responsibility… and she'd failed. Suddenly, she looked up to see Jack enter the room and sit next to her. He looked at her, smiling, "Hey." Kaisumi turned to look at him and allowed herself a small smile, "Hey." "Do you know what happened?"
Jack, in reply, said, "About Petrie? Yes. The talk was all over the park. I heard about it from Laura." Kaisumi briefly thought that was unsurprising; Laura was a terrible gossip after all. Jack continued, his voice tinged with almost paternal concern, "Anyway, is he OK? I heard he ended up in the Kelenken exhibit."
Kaisumi allowed herself a smile; it was clear that Jack cared about Petrie just as much as she did, "He was scared half to death, but physically alright. The Kelenken nearly got him, but Collete, Jackson and Stephanie got him out in time. Guess that's something I've got thank them for."
There was a brief pause, before Jack continued, "People think he got out because he was looking for you. He's developing separation anxiety – Beth and Yolanda told me that he cries when you leave him." Jack briefly paused, before continuing, "Kyle thinks the problem is that Petrie comes from a naturally social species… and he's being kept all alone. His brain just isn't geared up to being alone for long periods and, when you left him in the nursery today, he got scared and went looking for you".
Kaisumi breathed out, before saying "What are we going to do about it? He can't be introduced to the flock; they'd reject him. And we haven't got any residents he could be introduced to for company…" Jack briefly looked thoughtful, "Maybe there is." Kaisumi gave him a puzzled look, "Who?" Jack stated, "Someone else who's lonely and needs a friend." Jack smiled, before continuing, "Ducky."
Kaisumi nodded with familiarity at the name. A baby Parasaurolophus and one of the other residents of the nursery, Ducky had been hatched at the park. However, she'd been the smallest of her clutch and had been bullied by her siblings; initially, this had just taken the form of shoving and hogging food. However, one day, the bullying had escalated. Kaisumi shuddered at the memory of that moment when she'd seen her being battered by four of her, comparatively, larger siblings, before Edgar, Marisa, Horace and Cass had managed to extract her from the enclosure. Kaisumi remembered never feeling more relieved than when she'd found out the little parasaurolophus was going to be okay. She'd spent a week in the recovery room, before being put in the nursery. Coming from a species of animal that was social, companionship for her was a must.
Their first idea, putting her in with the baby Edmontosaurus rescued from the post-impact mission hadn't worked, as he'd been bullied by the larger, food-monopolising Edmontosaurus. Ever since then, she'd been kept on her own. However… maybe it didn't have to be that way. Maybe getting her accustomed to living with Petrie, who was a little bit closer to her size and rather more docile, might work. They were a herbivore and a piscivore respectively, so they weren't likely to attack each other. Petrie could fly short distances and he could climb, so he could easily get away if she ended up playing too rough. It was a risky plan… but if it worked, it would save two valuable animals. Stranger things had happened.
Jack and Kaisumi looked back at Petrie, and smiled at each other… it was time to schedule a playdate.
Rescue Tally:
* Acynodon sp. (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)
* Aktiornis draculae (speculative ichthyornithean) (27; all adults; 14 male, 13 female)
* Albadraco tharmisensis (6; all adults; 3 male, 3 female)
* Albanerpeton hatzegiensis (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)
* Allodaposuchus precedens (5; all adults; 3 male, 2 female)
* Aprosuchus ghirai (13; all adults; 6 male, 7 female)
* Balaur bondoc (9; all adults; 5 male, 4 female)
* Barbatodon transylvanicus (17; 10 adults, 7 youngsters; 8 male, 9 female)
* Barbatteius vremiri (4; all adults; 2 male, 2 female)
* Becklesius nopcsai (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)
* Bicuspidon hatzegiensis (12; all adults; 6 male, 6 female)
* Bradycneme draculae (13; all adults; 6 male, 7 female)
* Capcaunosaurus montanum (speculative dwarf abelisaur) (13; 8 adults, 5 youngsters; 5 male, 8 female)
* Doratodon carcharidens (9; all adults; 5 male, 4 female)
* Dortoka vremeri (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)
* Dracopteryx ferox (speculative scansoriopterygid 'dragon') (7; 2 adults, 5 youngsters; 4 male, 3 female)
* Draculdon tipetti (speculative incisivosaurus-like oviraptorid) (11; all adults; 5 male, 6 female)
* Draculopterus iapetus (unnamed small, short-necked azhdarchid) (6; all adults; 3 male, 3 female)
* Elavis transylvanicus (undescribed/unnamed enantiornithine) (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)
* Eurazhdarcho langendorfis (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)
* Hainina transylvanicus (13; all adults; 6 male, 7 female)
* Hatzegemys insularis (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)
* Hatzegobatrachus grigorescui (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)
* Hatzegopteryx thambema (13; 9 adults, 4 eggs; 5 male, 4 female, 4 undetermined)
* Kallokibotion bajazidi (6; all adults; 3 male, 3 female)
* Kogaionon ungureanui (14; 8 adults, 6 youngsters; 7 male, 7 female)
* Litovoi tholocephalos (18; all adults; 9 male, 9 female)
* Maiastraornis transylvanicus (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)
* Magyarosaurus dacus (17; 10 adults, 7 youngsters; 8 male, 9 female)
* Nidophis insularis (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)
* Paludititan nalatzensis (13; 6 adults, 7 youngsters; 6 male, 7 female)
* Paralatonia transylvanica (5; all adults; 3 male, 2 female)
* Rhabdodon priscus (14; 8 adults, 6 youngsters; 7 male, 7 female)
* Sabresuchus symplesiodon (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)
* Struthiosaurus transylvanicus (15; 10 adults, 5 youngsters; 7 male, 8 female)
* Telmatosaurus transylvanicus (19; 10 adults, 9 youngsters; 9 male, 10 female)
* Transylvanosaurus platycephalus (17; all adults; 7 male, 10 female)
* Various other Hateg enantiornithines
* Zalmoxes robustus (19; 13 adults, 6 youngsters; 10 male, 9 female)
* Zalmoxes shqiperorum (19; 13 adults, 6 youngsters; 10 male, 9 female)
* Zmeu draculae (undescribed madtsoiid) (4; all adults; 2 male, 2 female)
Next time on Prehistoric Park Reimagined:
The team returns to Antarctica!
(A herd of large ankylosaurs bellow and groan as they calmly browse upon some foliage.)
Where untold wonders await!
(A carnotaurus-like abelisaur roars at a large megaraptoran, which roars back in challenge.)
But is tragedy about to strike back at home?
(The vets perform a checkup on a very sickly and weak looking Jane the dromaeosaurus.)
All next time, on Prehistoric Park Reimagined: An Icy Endeavor!