An Icy Endeavour
Drew Luczynski sat in his office, waiting for his team to arrive. Thankfully, they wouldn't be here for another few minutes, so he had some time to himself. This was a comparatively strange mission – they'd been getting the more outside-the-box stuff a lot lately. Part of him wondered if this had been part of the plan – get all the big-name creatures first and then explore all the weirder ones. Still, a mission was a mission – and if he was being entirely honest, he welcomed the time away from the park – it got him away from Matthew Pike.
"Drew?"
His thoughts were interrupted by a voice, and he turned his head back towards the door to his office in time to see Leon Gilbertson 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, "Yup - the Denhams had stuff they needed to do at the park for today. As for our target? Something a bit weirder." He pressed a button and a picture of a creature that looked rather like the Denversaurus back at the park, only with a frond-shaped tail. He nodded his head stoically, "Antarctopelta."
Looking at the picture, Adrian said, "That's the first Antarctic dinosaur discovered, isn't it?" Leon, standing nearby, nodded, "Yup – Cryolophosaurus was the second. The Antarctopelta fossils come from a place called James Ross Island, which was little studied until very recently; however, studies have found a distinctive community of dinosaurs adapted to thrive in the unique weather conditions of the time, of which Antarctopelta was just one."
Drew nodded, "Correct as usual, Leon. We're also taking the Ancient Mariner… because there's a few weird marine reptiles there that Theodore wanted us to go after as well."
Leon nodded, "I know what you mean. Taniwhasaurus, tuarangisaurus, marambionectes... the southern oceans had their own assortment of marine reptiles." Adrian nodded, "And if the end results of the cryolophosaurus mission last year was anything to go by, we'll probably find a decently large number of undiscovered species." Leon chuckled nervously, "You do bring up a valid point there Adrian." He nodded his head, "And we'll need to remember to call Nikolai and inform him of any undiscovered big carnivores we find before sending them through. But he'll probably be fine with it so long as we don't bring back a shapeshifting alien monster…" Adrian sighed, "You just had to mention that damn movie. Didn't you?" Leon chuckled again, an awkward half smile on his face as he rubbed the back of his head, "Er...sorry?"
Drew chuckled, shaking his head side to side with an equal parts bitter and amused smirk on his face. "Well at least you're in high spirits today, Leon," he muttered before clapping his hands with a poker-faced glare on his face. "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."
Fifteen minutes later, the 'old buddy trio' had reached the park dock, where the Ancient Mariner was already ready to go sailing through the portal. "Good to be seeing you again, Kapetanio," said Stavros. Drew chuckled, "Right back at you." He clasped his hands together, "And it's nice to see we're all dressed up for the occasion." And indeed, everyone aboard the Mariner, plus Drew and his two teammates, were all dressed in parkas and other icy weather gear. "Well let's just hope we don't take too much longer to get to Cretaceous Antarctica then," Kira stated, gritting his teeth as he felt his brow starting to sweat. "Because this outfit is murder in this weather." Leon chuckled grimly, feeling equally as uncomfortable in his own heavy winter gear, "Too true." Drew sighed, "Don't worry everyone, we'll be in a more suitable environment for these outfits soon."
And so, once the rescue team had gotten aboard the ship and the appropriate coordinates were entered in, the portal was opened, and the ship went sailing through to Cretaceous Antarctica!
. . . . .
In a flash of light, the portal opened on the ocean waters near the edge of Cretaceous James Ross Island, and the Ancient Mariner came sailing out into view. And once the Mariner had fully exited the portal, which subsequently closed behind it, the time travellers were hit by a blast of frigid wind. Omoros spat out in shock as he reflexively wrapped his arms around his body, "This is cold!"
Kira nodded his head in agreement, "Rather frigid, I would say." Stavros chuckled, but not without briefly shivering, "You can say that again. And to think that's it actually warmer!" He then noticed that Leon and Drew didn't seem quite as affected, "Not your first time, I take it?" Drew nodded, "Correct – and we've had worse." Looking out to the sea, he said, "We should probably head towards the shore – I mean, we're already close. Also… I'm wondering if we should split up – you guys handle the marine reptiles, whilst we handle the terrestrial animals."
A sound resembling the spouting of a whale split the air from somewhere over the starboard rail. Eyebrows raised, Drew rushed over to the rail and looked over, with everyone else aboard the ship rushing over to join him. And as they all looked over the rail, they soon caught sight of a pod of large, bluish-grey-skinned plesiosaurs. With the largest being 40 feet long, they were the same size as the Elasmosaurus back at the park, only with proportionately shorter and thicker necks.
At the sight, Drew directed a questioning look towards Leon, who nodded his head. "They appear to be some kind of aristonectine plesiosaurs," he stated. "From the size, probably aristonectes itself." Drew nodded in understanding and looked back at the plesiosaurs, "What do they eat?" Leon shrugged, "I've read that they're believed to have a diet similar to that of baleen whales." Drew looked to the Mariner crew, "Let's see if we've got any krill."
Thankfully, there was in fact krill available on board the ship. And so, an appropriately sized portion of it was dumped into the water by the ship's bow in time to attract the plesiosaurs' attention. Once they all went swimming over to snack upon the freshly offered krill, the portal was summoned, allowing the krill and the plesiosaurs to float through. Leon nodded, "Off to a good start." Drew nodded in agreement, "That we are." He looked to Stavros. "Let's head to shore."
Ten minutes later, the ship came to a stop at an ideal drop-off point, with everyone aboard very appreciatively taking note of how there was a medium blanket of snow across the ground at the inland edges of the beach they were docking at. And as the gangway lowered into place to allow for disembarking, Stavros and Kira looked to Drew. "Right then," said Stavros. "I can already assume you'll be going ashore Kapetanio. But who's going to accompany you?" Drew pointed at Leon, "Leon will definitely be coming with me." He then looked to Adrian, "Think you can handle helping the Mariner crew with rescuing more of the local sea life? You seemed to work well with them back at Niobrara, and I think it might be wise to limit a terrestrial party to just two people for the time being." Adrian nodded his head, "Shouldn't be a problem. A light step draws less attention." He looked to Leon, a nervous half smile on his face, "And of the two of us, I'm the more capable of handling the whole leadership thing." Leon winced, all too aware now of how his past feuding with Jack had shown his lack of patience or thick skin for criticism that would be required for a leadership role, "Too true."
Drew nodded, clasping his hands together with his pokerfaced glare still on his face, "Well Leon. Let's not keep the park's newest residents waiting." Leon nodded, drawing out his trusty noise broadcasting device and checking to make sure it was ready for use, "Right behind ya." And so, Leon and Drew disembarked from the ship and began making their way further into the icy landscape, the Mariner retracting the gangway and sailing back off into the open ocean in the process. The mission had now well and truly begun.
. . . . .
For most people, the sight of a baby pteranodon and baby parasaurolophus playfully wrestling together would have been quite the bizarre sight; but most people weren't Henry Odgen.
Dr. Henry Ogden sat in the park nursery, grinning like a fool, as he nosed through the notes – occasionally casting his eye to the two playing youngsters. This had been an absolute goldmine.
Mentally, he recapped the events that had led him here. He'd grown up in the Bronx and had mostly been raised by his mother – he'd never really known his father… which wasn't all that bad. Some people said that screwed someone up, but those people were wrong – after all, he'd turned out alright, hadn't he?
A childhood love of monster movies and an uncle who was a maintenance worker at the Bronx Zoo had led to a voracious interest in the natural sciences. With the patronage of a high-ranking member of the Wildlife Conservation Society – who he'd spent weeks trying to get an audience with – he'd ended up getting a doctorate in zoology at Yale.
Ogden had been described by a contemporary as "living proof of the phrase 'genius and madness are two sides of the same coin'". Erratic, scruffy and with a tendency to ramble and talk loudly, with tattooed dragons on his arm and a fondness for heavy metal music, he was about as far from the standard image of a scientist as it was possible to get.
And yet, this look of scruffy erraticism – and lack of emotional maturity – concealed a very astute and determined mind. Ogden was always willing to challenge the established orthodoxy – sometimes quite openly – and was like a dog with a bone when he was given a task.
This had gotten the attention of Novum – who'd recruited him for their various conservation projects and, eventually, he'd been interviewed by Theodore, Percival and Bryce Bennett to take a research position at Theodore's secret project. Intrigued by the promise of "new horizons," he'd been astounded to find out that the park was actually a collection of de-extinct prehistoric animals… and then ecstatic. This was a treasure trove for an eager biologist – how many of the greats of the field would have envied to document many of the residents… even if it meant, as he had spent the morning, playing babysitter to an orphaned pterosaur and hadrosaur, who had developed an unusual bond.
That was something worth thinking about – the sentimental would argue that they had formed a friendship… however, they were just two social animals that had been living alone and, after being introduced, had taken to each other quite well for company.
He'd spent the past morning looking through some of Leon's notes – a task that was, honestly, pretty boring. Leon was a bunny-hugger – his emotional attachment to the animals he worked with was quite clear. There were nuggets in there, but mostly it was just tawdry garbage. If he wanted to be sick, he'd chug a bottle of Ipecac.
At least Khatin's notes were, y'know, comprehensive – and, hey, he and his team had named a comprehensive number of new species. There were at least fifteen new species of lizard-croc from the Morrison alone to look at – some of them hadn't even been named yet. Hey, he could respect that.
Bernie was now spending all his time at the Tanystropheus paddock, as the males continued to display – making notes on their breeding behaviour…. which, had, apparently, gotten him into trouble when an overly curious four-year-old had asked him what he was doing and had ended up being prematurely given "the talk." Henry rolled his eyes – the guy was clever, but God, did he ramble…
"Henry?"
He was suddenly brought back to reality by his communicator ringing. Reaching for it, he said, "Ogden here – who is this?" At his bluntness, the voice at the other end sighed, "Henry, this is Asha – I need you to come down to the psilopterus paddock at Santa Cruz. Matthew wants us to get a handle on something." Henry rolled his eyes, "Sure – I think Beth can take over at the nursery. See you there."
. . . . . .
Meanwhile, at the Prehistoric Park veterinary facility, Jack Denham was in a less than dignified state of mind as he observed Jane, the oldest droma, looking weary as she sat it one of the vet pens, scanning the air exhaustedly. He mentally recapped the events that had led up to this.
Several weeks before, the droma pack had all come down with a mysterious virus that had left them feverish, shivering and with breathing difficulties. It was unclear where they'd got it from – the two new adolescents had had a full health test (using repurposed Novum medical technology – which enabled the park to shorten the quarantine period), so it couldn't have arrived from them. And the virus was novel – so it clearly hadn't come from modern birds.
His mind started wandering – to a thought that had been preying on his mind for a while. It had been accepted that, after Koda (whose sudden arrival had been caught on the park security cameras), the incident the year prior where three dromas had mysteriously appeared in the park was due to some sort of unusual portal activity… whether it was just a residual lapse from the energy or something else.
Now, those dromas were dead… but some of the maintenance workers in the time since had sworn blind they'd seen droma tracks in various areas around the park, whilst others had heard droma calls working on certain areas, especially at night. Rather more dramatically, two workers, whilst checking a disturbance at the Santa Cruz herbivore paddock, had allegedly seen a young droma at close range for a period of about a minute. And outside the park, occasional stories of "raptor" sightings in the area near the park had appeared on the crypto-blogosphere…
Anyway. Save that mystery for later.
Whilst most of the pack had recovered fully, courtesy of an antiviral treatment that had been reverse engineered from an infected blood sample Linda had sent off – even though, for the four youngest juveniles, it had been up in the air – and were ready to be returned to their paddock, Jane had taken rather longer. And that was why Linda had called him for the meeting today.
The door opened and Jack looked up as Linda walked into the room, a concerned expression on her face. As she sat down, a sighing Jack said, "Just to clarify, the antiviral worked?" Linda nodded, "Yeah, it did – the virus is gone from her system. What I'm concerned about is the complications – obviously, because she's older, her infection was more severe. There are a few things I'd like to go through with you later – but, for now, I'd like to keep Jane under continued observation." Jack sighed, "Fine – see you later."
. . . . . .
Stavros raised his eyebrow, clearly amused at the sight that currently graced him on the underwater camera screens. "I'll admit," he stated, "a more showboaty captain would have probably considered having ammonites be the first sea creatures to be rescued immediately after rescuing a pod of plesiosaurs to be a major downgrade." Adrian snorted, "Well good thing you're the humble man that you are." And indeed, at that very moment, the Ancient Mariner had detected a small gathering of ammonites on the screens of the underwater cameras. Whilst some of them looked like the stereotypical image of an ammonite (albeit some with laterally flattened shells), quite a few of them didn't – one species had a helix spire shaped shell that ended in a bizarre U-turn that faced the animal towards its own shell, with another having a long, straight shells. The largest were also the strangest – having shells shaped like enormous paperclips.
Omoros nodded and looked to Adrian, "The parapuzosia from Niobrara got me interested enough in ammonites to do some further research. They're mostly pachydiscus, sphenodiscus and scaphitids, but the ones with the helix shells are nostoceras, the ones with the straight shells are baculites and the ones with the paperclip shells are diplomoceras." Adrian nodded appreciatively, and then drew out a portal grenade, "Shouldn't be a problem to handle these guys." He primed the portal grenade and dropped it into the water, sending the ammonites to the park. Next, he looked to Stavros, "Let's keep sailing. We're bound to find some other interesting creatures sooner or later."
A sudden pterosaur-like shrieking in the air caused Adrian and the Mariner crew to look skyward in time to see a flock pteranodontids with black-and-white pycnofibres flying about in the sky. On their heads were yellowish ochre-coloured crests shaped similarly to the dorsal fins of orca whales, with five of them having somewhat larger and brighter crests than the other eight. Stavros looked to Adrian, his eyebrow raised once more in curiosity, "Any Antarctic pteranodonts in the fossil record?" Adrian shook his head, "Not to my knowledge. Which probably means these are an undiscovered species." Kira snorted, "Drew will certainly be happy to hear about these." He then looked to Adrian, "Let me guess; get out some fish to use as bait?" Adrian smirked, "That obvious huh?"
And so, with the new plan of action agreed upon, a suitably sized serving of fish was taken from the ship's galley and spread across the upper deck of the ship to entice the pterosaurs into descending aboard. And once the pteranodonts had all come to a landing aboard the ship and started feasting upon the fish, Adrian looked to Stavros as the two of them, plus the rest of the crew, stood as far back as they could to avoid the risk of alarming the pterosaurs. "We'll let them feast for a while," Adrian stated. "And once they're starting to wind down, we'll open the portal and entice them through with some of the fish from the bait bags that Drew and Leon left on board with us." The crew members all nodded their heads in agreement, seeing Adrian's idea as a reasonable plan.
A sudden additional round of pterosaur squawking coming from the sky caused the humans and pteranodonts to look skyward in time to see what appeared to be a flock of nyctosaurid pterosaurs slowly gliding down towards the Mariner, seemingly just as eager to feast on the apparent free fish as the pteranodonts had been. In a stark contrast to the pteranodonts, the nyctosaurids were covered in pycnofibres coloured like modern day skua feathers and had crests that vaguely reminded Adrian of reindeer antlers. Another flock of alcione-like pteranodontians with whitish grey pycnofibres and blue faces accompanied them. The three flocks of pterosaurs began to squabble over this strange iceberg.
Kira looked to Adrian, "Does this complicate things?" Adrian sighed, "A little. But we can still salvage a rescue out of this." He looked back to Stavros, "Let's start getting out the fish from the bait bags."
The pterosaurs were still squabbling when a sudden burst of noise from a whistle caused them to halt and look in the direction of the humans. Adrian nodded his head, lowering his whistle away from his lips as he gestured towards Stavros and Kira, who were both holding an armload of fish each in their arms. "That's right," he stated as he started cautiously stepping back and between Stavros and Kira. "Take a nice long look at all this tasty fish." Once he was in position, Adrian summoned the portal, which the captain and first mate of the Ancient Mariner tossed their armloads of fish through. This triggered the pterosaurs into rushing at the portal, squawking and warbling in equal parts hunger and rage as they all eagerly rushed to avoid losing this ideal free meal. And before long, they'd all vanished through the portal, which Adrian subsequently closed. Kira nodded his head, "Not bad."
A sudden plesiosaur hissing attracted the attention of Adrian and the Mariner crew. A quick rush to the port rail later, and they were just in time to see ten aristonectine plesiosaurs with grey-and-black spotted skin swimming leisurely through the ocean waters. Adrian looked to Kira, "Any idea what these might be? Marine life isn't really my specialty, and you seem to know a thing or two about marine reptiles…" Kira thought to himself, carefully observing the plesiosaurs in the process. "Alexandronectes, probably. But we should probably allow Khatin to examine and identify them himself before I let you quote me on that." Adrian nodded, "Fine with me." He clasped his hands together. "The leftover fish we had for the pterosaurs? Let's throw it all down for those plesiosaurs. Heck, while we're at it, let's also go ahead and throw down a decent load or two of chum; see what else around here we can draw out."
The Ancient Mariner crew did as Adrian requested, allowing all the leftover fish from the pterosaur baiting as well as at least two large loads of chum to go plunging into the water in front of the ship's bow. And like clockwork, the plesiosaurs began eagerly swimming over towards the offered food upon catching the scent, hissing eagerly as they approached. And within seconds after the alexandronectes arrived and started eating, multiple other aquatic creatures began to come swimming into view to feast on the offered fish and chum as well.
"By all that is holy," Stavros stated as he witnessed the sizable number of different aquatic species coming out of the metaphorical woodwork to feast upon the bait. At that moment, alongside the alexandronectes were a shoal of vaguely sawfish-like rays, a group of frilled sharks, a shoal of vaguely rabbitfish-like creatures with oddly pointy shaped noses, a shoal of cow sharks, four species of mosasaur, of varying size and colouration, and five species of plesiosaur, consisting of two species of aristonectine and three species of elasmosaurids. Adrian smirked, already having a feeling Drew would be incredibly happy indeed to see all these animals at the park, "Let's open the portal gentlemen." And so, the portal was opened, at which point all the bait, plus the creatures that had gathered to feast upon it, all got sucked through the portal and into the present.
Once the portal was subsequently closed, Adrian nodded his head, flashing a thumbs-up in approval. "Good job everyone," he said. "I think Drew will be pleased to hear how things went out here for us." Stavros chuckled, "I certainly hope so."
As they moved closer to the coast, the sound of squawking coming from above caused Adrian and the Mariner crew to look up in time to see eight large azhdarchids soaring along the coastline. Much like the pteranodonts from earlier, these azhdarchids were black and white in colour, with entirely white pycnofibres and black wingtips. As the azhdarchids flew along the coast, the Mariner crew looked to Adrian. "Should we head after them?" Kira asked. "Kapetanio placed you in charge," said Stavros. "Whatever order you give, we'll follow." Adrian thought to himself, carefully considering his options...and then nodded his head, "I think we've rescued enough in the sea… let's head back to shore and see if we can catch these undiscovered azhdarchids on land."
. . . . . .
Stephanie nodded her head, her eyebrows raised as she nodded her head in approval. "I'll admit," she said. "The sight of these particular new arrivals does make me appreciate my current position."
At that moment, she was at the main terrestrial portal site, serving as acting captain of the holding pens team gathered there. Matthew Pike had assigned Asha Sengupta, her immediate superior and Curator of Flying Vertebrates, to try and get a handle on the longstanding trichomoniasis outbreaks alongside Dr. Schorzberg's colleague and rival in the research division Dr. Henry Ogden. Whilst reptile curator Conor MacFerran was supposed to be filling in, he was still busy with a separate issue, so it had fallen on Stephanie. And while she so far still wasn't entirely certain if she was the most qualified for such a position, she had to admit that the sight of the apparently newly discovered species of pterosaurs now present in the holding pens had certainly proven enough to get her to at least temporarily appreciate the fact that she was now present at the holding pens at all.
She looked to a nearby assistant researcher, Matt Thompson if she remembered correctly, who'd been assigned to be on duty at the holding pens that day while Dr. Von Schorzberg and his other two young assistants were busy elsewhere in the park, "So you're certain that these pteranodontians are undiscovered?" Matt nodded, "Yeah - the fossil record for Antarctica is incomplete compared to that of the rest of the world – and the fossil record of pterosaurs is pretty bad to begin with." He gestured at the newly arrived pterosaurs, "So trust me, these guys are brand new finds. Gonna be interesting studying them."
Stephanie nodded in agreement, "Can't help but agree with you there." A sudden round of squawking and bellowing caused the assembled holding pens team to look back at the main terrestrial portal site in time to see the pteranodontian flocks squawking and sizing each other up as if wary and seconds away from fighting. "And on that note," she stated. "We should probably go ahead and round them up before they start fighting. And especially before Drew sends anything else back through the portal."
. . . . .
Meanwhile, at the main aquatic portal site...
"Well now," said an amused Oskar Willig. "Drew is spoiling us today."
And indeed, at that moment, the entirety of the main aquatic portal tank was jampacked with newly rescued Cretaceous Antarctic fish and marine reptiles, with the researchers present having tentatively identified them as alexandronectes, australopristis, chlamydoselachus thomsoni, edaphodon, kaikaifilu, kaiwhekea, marambionectes, moanasaurus, morturneria, notidanodon, taniwhasaurus, tuarangisaurus, and vegasaurus. One of the other keepers present amongst the holding tanks team nodded his head, "We'll certainly have our work cut out for us, sir."
Oskar sighed, shaking his head side to side at once again having been referred to by the honorific 'sir' instead of by his first name – but there were more important things to worry about. "That we will." He clasped his hands together, "But the sooner we get started on it, the sooner it will be over. Who knows? Something bigger, toothier, and meaner might be coming through next. Just the way we like it."
. . . . . .
Fortunately, as it so happened, the next animals to immediately be sent through the portal would be a fair amount more low maintenance compared to the pterosaurs and aquatic wildlife that had been sent through prior. Drew shook his head, a disappointed look on his face. "We finally find something," he muttered, taking note of just how long it had taken in his mind for him and Leon to find anything to send back since they'd begun their trek across the Cretaceous Antarctic landscape. "And it just had to be a small mammal species."
And indeed, at that moment, the very first animals he and Leon had found since their departure from the Ancient Mariner had turned out to be a small colony of local gondwanatheres. The gondwanatheres in question were about the size of modern-day rock hyraxes, and were covered in fur. Leon nodded his head, an accepting smile on his face, "Well like Kyle always says, never hurts to start small." Drew groaned, "Hell of a lot less exciting though." Leon chuckled, "We had an exciting start with the aristoncectes – I think it only makes sense that something more low maintenance be found next. And besides, like some wise person or other said, good things come to those who wait. Not to mention, as far as I can remember, these mammals are a species that's never yet been discovered in the fossil record."
"I suppose I can't argue with you there," Drew muttered before nodding his head and drawing out a bait bag. "Well, I suppose we both know what to do here." And so, with a trail of vegetation, the gondwanatheres were successfully led through the portal. After looking through the clearing and finding some more mammals, including two more gondwanathere species and a bunch of different meridolestians, which were promptly sent back to the park, Leon nodded his head, "Now what?"
The sound of bird calls in the distance proved quick to provide Drew with an answer to Leon's question. "We go after those birds," he groaned in resignation.
Fortunately, it wasn't long before they reached a large shoreline where multiple birds turned out to be gathered. The first birds to be noticed were a medium sized flock of vaguely skua-like ichthyornithine birds squabbling with each other over some freshly killed fish. Next to be noticed was a flock of long necked and sharp-beaked birds with muddy brown fur and ash grey underbellies walking leisurely along the frigid beach alongside a flock of black and white sandpiper-like birds scurrying along through the waves and a flock of duck-like birds with tern-like beaks. Two flocks of loon-like birds floating in the waters of a nearby tidepool, the smaller group of which had black and grey feathers with piercing blue eyes, whilst the other group were twice as big, jet-black feathered and with piercing red eyes. Leon, naturally, was quick to get to work on identifying them, "The ichthyornithines I'm guessing are antarcticavis and the rest are vegaviids - the long-necked ones are conflicto antarcticus, the ones with blue eyes are polarornis gregorii, and the ones with the tern-like beaks are vegavis iaai." Drew nodded in appreciation, "What about the sandpiper-like birds and red-eyed giant loons?" Leon thought to himself, "To my knowledge, neither of those have been discovered yet." Drew let a bemused grin come on his face, "Outstanding." And so, with offerings of food, the birds gathered on the shore were all coaxed through the portal as well.
No sooner were all the birds through when Leon and Drew got their attention drawn back inland by the sound of squawks and caws. At the sight of this, Drew sighed in equal parts relief and frustration, "About time." Leon raised his eyebrow in concern, but so far remained silent as he and Drew departed from the shore to go after the birds and dromaeosaurs that they'd now hopefully soon be rescuing.
And so, Drew and Leon headed back inland. Fifteen minutes, they reached a lake, where they found a flock of bathornids coloured similarly to modern giant petrels confronting a pair of wolf-sized, black feathered and white underbellied dromaeosaurs, with long snouts and unserrated, conical teeth. "The dromaeosaurs are probably imperobator," Leon whispered to Drew. "Whilst the birds are probably another undiscovered species." Drew nodded his head curtly, "Let's see how this unfolds." Leon raised his eyebrow, once again feeling concerned about Drew's current attitude. But then, with a bitter squawk of defeat, the birds turned and moved away from the dromaeosaurs, clearly deciding the fish wasn't worth the risk. And with a nod of his head, Leon started drawing out fish from one of the bait bags, "Here goes nothing."
Once a sufficient trail had been formed, the birds started cautiously walking towards Leon and Drew, gingerly eating the fish that had been offered to them as they went. And while briefly startled when the portal was summoned, curiosity ultimately won out over caution, and the birds calmly walked their way through the portal and into the safety of the present. The sound of the imperobator snarling and cawing in their direction caused the duo to turn their heads in time to see the two glaring warily in their direction. Leon looked awkwardly at Drew, surreptitiously placing his hand in his backpack in the process, "I think the sound of the portal activating must have gotten their attention." Drew nodded his head, a slight smirk starting to form on his face, "Well on the bright side, it shouldn't take too long to rescue them now." He looked to Leon, "Alright, draw out the airhorn and..." But Leon had already drawn out and primed a portal grenade, and he tossed it over just in time for it to send the imperobator pair and the pile of fish they'd been feasting upon to the park. Drew glowered irritably, his shoulders slumping forward as he glared at where the imperobator and their pile of fish had been, "Or you could do that." Sighing bitterly, Drew shook his head and turned away from the lake, "Guess we'd best start looking for something else..."
"Is something the matter?"
Eyes widening, Drew turned his head in time to see a now half irked and half concerned looking Leon glaring at him. Wincing, Drew raised his hands in a placatory gesture, "Oh no. Everything's fine."
Leon only narrowed his eyes, clearly not convinced. "Well, you're hardly acting like everything's fine." He gestured towards where the imperobator and their pile of fish had been, and where the multi-use portal grenade that had been used to send them to the park still lay. "You've been jumpy ever since we left the Mariner – is something wrong?"
Drew sighed wearily, "I do appreciate it, Leon." Sighing again, he walked over to a nearby log and sat down upon it, "It's just...I'd kinda hoped the experience with them would last at least a tiny bit longer." Leon looked back towards where the imperobator had been, and then back at Drew. "And risk allowing all that fish they had to go to waste?" He asked. Drew sighed again, "Well I'm sure something would have found it all eventually, or that you and I could have gathered it up and used it later as bait for another animal or two." He shook his head, "I just don't want this to be over too quickly."
Leon raised his eyebrow, "You seem awfully eager to drag this one out – is anything the matter? It's just… I heard from Jack about how you've been acting lately." Drew sighed again, realising that there was no point in lying. "I just like being able to clear my head," he stated before glaring up towards the sky. "Get away from the park – be able to think about all the changes..."
"Changes?" Leon asked, a now visibly perplexed look on his face. "What do you mean?"
"Nothing, nothing, it's just…," Drew groaned, shook his head side to side, and turned to look at Leon, "What do you think of them? Matthew and Jenny, I mean?" Leon gave him a confused look, "I think they're alright – I'm glad they're running a tighter ship. I mean, of the new staff, I can certainly name worse. Things seem to have stabilised a bit, which is good. Why do you ask?"
Drew sighed, "Don't play dumb Leon. We both know why Theodore allowed the board to hire them. It's because Theodore's disappointed in me and no longer trusts me with the responsibility. He feels I've failed him because of the breakouts, amongst others." He shook his head again, "It's just, just… sometimes I feel like Theodore's… set me aside a little – or he let the board set me aside. Whichever's worse. Things have changed and not in a good way and sometimes it seems like I'm the only one who notices it. I just want space to clear my head, try and process it."
For what felt like an eternity, dead silence hung between the two friends as Leon processed what Drew had just told him. "Ok," he admitted. "When you put it like that, I can kinda see why you might be a little concerned." He nodded his head, "But even so...are you sure you're not taking this all a little too personally? I mean, I'm not saying you don't have a right to be upset, but I'm sure Theodore felt that it was all for the best. It is a big change – perhaps he thought it would be best to give you some help."
"That's the problem, Leon," Drew spat, bitterness starting to show in his voice. "I didn't ask for help. Granted, sure I screwed up a bit along the way, but I got everybody to opening night. All I needed was a little more time."
"And what's so bad about needing help?" Leon asked, now sounding equal parts curious and concerned. "I mean, we all know that you're perfectly happy with having me and the rest of the team to help you with the rescue missions. So really, it's not like having Matthew and Jenny around is any different."
"It is different, Leon," Drew said, a slight frustration now in his voice. "That was at the start – everyone didn't know each other then. But now… we've shed blood, sweat and tears together and we got to opening night together. We'd shared that experience – we were compadres! And then Theodore and the board push Matthew and Jenny on me – and everybody just accepts it. Some people seem to prefer it. That hurts."
At this, Leon was quite stunned to say the least about just how strongly Drew was feeling about the whole situation. But nonetheless, he chose to respond. "Drew, let me reiterate. I understand perfectly why you're upset. But seriously, you're really making a mountain out of a molehill." At this, he couldn't help but let out a slight nervous chuckle escape his lips, "I mean, there's nothing wrong with asking for help – it doesn't make you weak. That's why Kyle was fine with the curators – because he knew that it made his job a little bit easier. Seriously, there's really no shame in just admitting that you needed help." He rubbed the back of his head, "And besides, you can't possibly tell me that you don't appreciate having a reduced workload – we all knew you were struggling. And then there was the Shutdown and the Breakout…"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa," Drew stated, a perplexed look of disbelief on his face as he raised his hand to signal for Leon to stop talking. "Back it up a little. What was that about the Shutdown and the Breakout?" Leon sighed, "Well… the general consensus is that you did your best – but there's some people thinking you could have done better. Got things under control a bit quicker. Mostly the new staff, but a few of the old guard."
"Stop," Drew stated, his eyes now narrowed in suspicion. "First off, who? And second, you said you had a talk with Matthew and Jennifer? When did that happen?"
Leon raised his eyebrow, "Well to answer your first question, I don't really know. As for your second question?" He nodded his head. "Well honestly, I'm surprised you didn't already know. After they arrived, they were holding interviews with all the staff, getting an idea of how we all felt about the way things were done and if there were things we felt that they could improve upon. They actually had their interview with me and the rest of the rescue team the day before we went on the Post KT-Event mission." He chuckled and rubbed the back of his head, "It wasn't even an interview, really – it was just a friendly discussion. A chat in the breakroom, that was all."
Drew remained completely silent, his mind moving a mile a minute as he processed everything Leon had just told him. He understood the intention – they wanted to get to know everyone and get a feel on what they needed to be done… but would it have killed them to have informed him?
"Drew? You OK?"
Wincing, Drew looked to Leon, who now once again looked concerned. He gritted his teeth. 'This just got awkward...'
Suddenly, a cacophony of bellows and snarls split the air in the distance. Nodding his head, Drew got back up from the log. "Come on Leon," he said, privately relieved at the ability to change the subject. "Let's get to work."
As Drew headed off in the direction of the sound, Leon stood still for about a minute before finally starting to walk to follow Drew. But even as he followed Drew, a small part of him couldn't help but feel concerned. 'Why am I getting the distinct feeling I've accidentally made things worse?'
. . . . . . .
Ogden left the nursery – with Beth taking over watching Ducky and Petrie – and headed over to Santa Cruz. Walking to the Psilopterus paddock, he saw Asha Sengupta standing there. The psilopterus were not in there – he'd seen them undergoing treatment in the vet offices when he'd been observing Ducky and Petrie. Considering that, he knew the probable reason why Asha had wanted to see him.
He tuned back in to hear Asha say, "Ever since the very first mission, there had been occasional outbreaks of oral trichomoniasis among the birds and small theropods – especially the phorusrhacids, dromaeosaurs and troodontids." At this, Ogden sighed irritably – he knew all this. Why did she feel the need to tell him? Not noticing, Asha continued, "Now, Drew, uncharacteristically, had put his all into trying to get a handle on these outbreaks… however, every attempt repeatedly hit a blank. Every road they went down came up a dead end…"
Ogden rolled his eyes, "Asha, I know all this. Why are you telling me?" At his tone, Asha took a step back, before sighing, "Matthew decided we should see if we can get a proper handle on this problem. He wants to take a more proactive approach to problems than might have been done before. So, we must work out why."
At the briefing, Ogden began to think. Whilst he was no vet, he'd been at college with a lot of them – their studies required a lot of background in basic zoology and biology. And he knew that, in birds of prey – like phorusrhacids and (sort of) non-avian maniraptoran theropods – oral trichomoniasis was contracted by eating an infected animal. As if reading his mind, Asha said, "One of the first things they did was try and change their suppliers – to see if it came from improperly tested animals… so I think I know where we check first."
. . . . . . .
As they walked out into the clearing where the cacophony had come from, Leon raised his eyebrow in curiosity, "Well now, this certainly isn't something we see every day."
And, indeed, a quite surprising sight had greeted them – two separate packs of large theropod having a stand-off over a dead hadrosaur. The smaller group consisted of three large abelisaurs, with the largest being almost forty feet long, and covered in dark, midnight blue scales, grading to bluish white on their underbellies and with white armour plating on their backs. Their arms were almost ludicrously small, with an almost invisible forearms and four tiny fingers. However, their most notable features were their foreshortened, bulldog-like heads, full of sharp teeth, and impressively long, sharp bull-like horns on the tops of their heads.
The other group of theropods were nothing short of unusual – there was a vague resemblance between them and the alioramus back at the park, mostly owing to the long, shallow heads and pointed muzzles, but only slightly larger, with the largest being about thirty feet long, and with longer and well-muscled arms with three-fingered hands and a large, hook-like thumb claw. Its head was longer, shallower and had a more pointed muzzle than the Allosaurus. It was coloured a tannish green, with a greyish underbelly, and tan stripes; perfect for forest camouflage.
Drew silently whistled, his eyes shining with awe, "My God…"
Leon took a closer look at the two groups, saying, "Neither of these have been found at James Ross Island – although, considering the fossil record there, that's not really a shock. The abelisaurids are clearly carnotaurus – or a close relative." Drew turned to Leon, confused, "They've never been found this far south…" Leon shrugged, "South America and Antarctica were connected – perhaps this is a polar species. It's certainly too big to be carnotaurus sastrei – Bergmann's rule. It's the megaraptorans that interest me…" Drew gave Leon a confused look, "Megaraptorans? I thought they were weird tyrannosaurs for a second."
"Megaraptorans, Drew," Leon sighed, "They're tyrannosaur oids – just a very different branch. The northern continents had tyrannosaurids – well, Asia and Laramidia did – and the southern continents had megaraptorans." He paused, "And that reminds me, we need to drop Nikolai a line – I told him there were indeterminate megaraptoran fossils found from that time, but it'd only be polite. And, besides, you said you didn't want this mission to be over too quickly…" Drew sighed, "Fine – just don't take too long."
With Nikolai duly informed, Drew and Leon watched the squabbling theropods, with Leon saying, "What's our plan?" Drew grinned, showing more enthusiasm than he had the entire mission, and said, "I think you know what."
Before Leon had time to respond, Drew came charging towards the squabbling theropods and whipped out the airhorn. Leon sighed and rolled his eyes as, Drew stood and blared his horn at the warring theropods, who snarled and snapped at him - it wasn't long before both groups of predators dove towards Drew, who activated the portal, with the predators going through it, moving as if a single entity.
With all the theropods gone, Leon nodded his head and looked to Drew as the latter closed the portal. "So, what now?"
Drew had just started thinking to himself when another cacophony of bellows and snarls split the air. He pointed in the direction the sounds had come from, a determined glare on his face. "We head after what made those sounds."
. . . . . . .
Five minutes of trekking later, Drew and Leon finally reached the area where the bellows and snarls were coming from… and once again, several rival groups of predator were confronting each other over a hadrosaur carcass. But unlike the previous time, only a quarter of the conflict consisted of theropods. The other three-quarters, crazily enough, consisted of pterosaurs. And in that moment, the theropods, a pack of large noasaurids with grey feathers and black spots, were all snarling and hissing as they crouched defensively before the carcass while a flock of large azhdarchids with grey and white pycnofibres, squawked and bellowed in reply, as two smaller azhdarchids circled around them. However, those weren't the most surprising sight they saw. That honour instead went to a person they hadn't been expecting to see.
Drew raised his eyebrow, mildly amused, "Adrian? What are you doing here?" Adrian chuckled in reply, and then gestured towards the azhdarchids. "The Mariner crew and I to pull into shore when we saw these guys," he explained. "Figured it wouldn't hurt to dock the Mariner and try and follow them. Saves you having go back to the shore. I decided to go alone – light step, less attention."
"Why didn't you call ahead?" Leon asked, sounding more curious than displeased. Adrian shrugged, an awkward half smile on his face, "Didn't want to risk calling you at a bad time – and I found that I was following your tracks anyway." He looked meaningfully at the noasaurids that were currently still confronting the pterosaurs, "Though I'll admit, these guys being here has thrown a bit of a spanner in the works."
Drew smirked and chuckled anticipatorily, "Well good thing you met up with me and Leon then. Because I know exactly how best to rescue both species for the price of one."
As it turned out, Drew's plan was quite simple indeed. After first making a quick call to the park that allowed all the necessary preparations to be made, he took a winch attached to a truck on the other side of the portal and then snuck into position right by the tail of the hadrosaur carcass, taking advantage of how the pterosaurs and noasaurids were so far still too focused on each other to notice him as he subsequently jammed the winch hook into the tail and then hurriedly ran back towards the portal. And once he'd subsequently given the appropriate signal, the employee driving the truck on the other side put the truck into gear and started towing the carcass through the portal. The instant the pterosaurs and noasaurids noticed the carcass getting dragged away, they all went rushing after it, their earlier animosity forgotten in a mutual desire to avoid losing their meal. And before long, all four groups of predator had successfully followed the carcass through the portal, moving as if a single entity as they vanished through to the present.
Nodding his head, Drew closed the portal and turned to Adrian, grinning on an emotional high. "Right then," he said. "Just so you know, I plan to stick around with Leon a little longer. We still haven't found our primary target of antarctopelta after all." He clasped his hands together, "But… have the Mariner crew gone back yet?" Adrian nodded, "I said they could go back – we'd found everything we needed in the ocean, and I wanted to go alone – a light step, less attention. They told me to tell you to wish you luck." Drew grinned again and chuckled anticipatorily. "Come on boys," he stated. "Let's go find some antarctopelta!"
. . . . . . .
"Of course, we test all our birds!"
Asha rolled her eyes – perhaps letting Henry take that call wasn't the best idea. Not noticing the tone, Henry said, "Well, are you sure your testing methods are accurate?" The voice on the other end screamed indignantly, "Of course they are! And if it turns out they aren't, it was your damn company that gave us them!" Henry said, sarcastically, "All this when I was just asking a question…," to which the voice replied, "Well, you shouldn't have conducted it like an interrogation…"
Deciding to interfere, Asha walked up to Henry and said, "Henry, pass me the phone," as Henry, rolling his eyes, did so. Putting on her best smile and in the most diplomatic tone she could possibly muster, she said, "I am sorry for my colleague – he isn't the best at interacting with people. But… I think we can confirm that the outbreaks we're calling about are nothing to do with any issues in your supply chain."
Once she'd hung up, Asha sighed, "Well I think we've already established that it's not in food that's been given to them – changing the food supplier did nothing. Could it be something in the water? Or is there some variable we're missing?"
Henry was about to speak when, suddenly, out of the corner, he noticed a black-feathered creature fly into the psilopterus paddock. Running to the wall, he noticed a crow land in the paddock, looking around for food – cawing in dismay, the crow flew away. In that moment, his eyes widening as the beginnings of an idea began to cook up in his mind, he looked to Asha. "Ms. Sengupta?" He stated. "Call a couple of your team and ask her to come over here – it's best if I ask them in person."
. . . . . . .
Stephanie whistled silently, shaking her head side to side in equal parts amusement and bewilderment. "Jackson certainly wasn't exaggerating when he said that work amongst the holding pens team on mission days would never be boring," she muttered. And she had good reason to have this belief now. She'd thought that nothing could have topped the carnotaurus and megaraptorans… but three species of undiscovered azhdarchid and an undiscovered noasaurid certainly came close. She shook her head side to side in bemusement. While she'd been aware of how the fossil record was notoriously incomplete, the sheer number of undiscovered species rescued this day so far had been enough to allow her to truly understand it.
Matt nodded his head in agreement. "The research division's certainly going to have their work cut out for them today with all these newly discovered specimens to study and name," he stated.
"I'll certainly take your word for it," Stephanie admitted. She nodded her head, clasping her hands together with a determined glare. "Right, no sense wasting time. Let's get to..."
"Sengupta to Tanner, over!"
Gritting her teeth at the sudden interruption that had just now been broadcast over the walkie-talkies, Stephanie drew out her walkie-talkie to answer her superior's call. "Tanner to Sengupta, over?"
"Could you and one of your colleagues in my division drop by the psilopterus paddock really quick? Dr. Ogden has some important questions he needs to ask you in person about the trichonamosis problem. Over?"
Stephanie sighed. 'Of all the times,' she thought to herself irritably. "Tell him to expect me by the end of the hour," she stated. "A new batch of animals has just now arrived, and it would be unwise to leave the holding pens team without a proper supervisor. Over."
"No need to worry about that, little lady."
Eyes widening in surprise, Stephanie and the rest of the team turned their heads in time to see the distinctive, cowboy-dressed Conor MacFerran marching his way over. "Apologies for being late," he stated gruffly. "That incident at those goddamn Hateg Island dragons' paddock ended up taking longer to resolve than expected. It's truly a mystery to me how that bloody idiot tasked with handling them today hasn't already gotten himself killed."
Stephanie rolled her eyes upon hearing this, but chose not to comment on it for the time being. "Strike what I said earlier," she said to Asha over the walkie-talkie. "MacFerran's finally arrived. I'll be on my way over shortly. Over."
"Sounds good. Over."
And at that, the call ended; at which point Stephanie turned around and pointed her finger at the first fellow bird and pterosaur keeper within her line of sight amongst the holding pens team. "Owlsley, you're with me," she said. "The sooner we see what Ms. Sengupta and Dr. Ogden need to talk to us about, the better."
. . . . . . .
About half an hour after parting ways with the Ancient Mariner crew and subsequently trekking their way through the Cretaceous Antarctica landscape, long enough for Drew's emotional high to wear off, the trio at last came upon another batch of rescue worthy animals when they reached a large forest clearing that turned out to have a sizable combined herd of local herbivores gathered within. Amongst these herbivores were a combined herd of hadrosaurs and ankylosaurs calmly browsing upon the bushes in the clearing. The hadrosaurs were rusty red scaled kritosaurians with cream yellow underbellies and stripes along their flanks and tails, with some of them having vivid electric blue throat pouches. The ankylosaurs, meanwhile, resembled the ratovantaysaurus back at the park, only with dusty grey skin and tannish gold armour plating.
Also present in the clearing were two herds of local elasmarians. Of the two elasmarian species, one of them were covered in downy reddish brown feathers with icy band all around looked remarkably similar to the pagodontosaurus back at the park, only twice the size and without the tusks. The other elasmarian species, meanwhile, was covered in black and white feathers, while also possessing yellow skinned hands and feet as well as rusty reddish skinned faces, with six of them having brighter faces than the other seven. And while the reddish feathered elasmarians were actively sniffing at the ground in search of food, the black and white feathered ones appeared to be taking a nap amongst the branches of the trees surrounding the clearing.
But the most attention-grabbing herbivores present by far were a small herd of armour-plated titanosaurs. Covered in dark midnight blue scales and with snowy white armour plates, the sauropods were truly awe inspiring indeed as they calmly feasted upon the ferns on the branches of the clearing's trees. Adrian whistled, "Awe-inspiring." Drew nodded, "I can certainly agree with you there." He looked to Leon, "I trust you can identify them?" Leon narrowed his eyes in concentration as he continued observing the dinosaurs in the clearing, "The ankylosaurs are definitely antarctopelta. And as for the elasmarians, the larger ones on the ground are morrosaurus and the sleeping ones in the trees are trinisaura. But the hadrosaurs and sauropods? Those I know haven't been discovered in the fossil record yet. Though for what it's worth, the sauropods could very well be an undiscovered species of saltasaurus."
Drew let a slight smirk come on his face, his old sense of glee returning at the idea of a mass rescue, "Perfect." He looked to Leon and Adrian, "See if you can get their attention with your broadcasting device Leon. Adrian and I will start getting a food trail ready."
And so, the team got to work, with Drew and Adrian setting down some of the appropriate bait bags and drawing out vegetation to use as bait while Leon drew out his broadcasting device and began playing recordings of the appropriate dinosaur vocals. And at the sight of the herbivores swiftly turning their heads in the team's direction at the sound of the recordings, with the trinisaura even waking up and groggily looking the team's way from their position in the tree branches, all three of the old friends couldn't help but let confident smiles come on their faces. So far, it looked like the rescue of their primary target, plus all the other herbivores present alongside as much, could yet prove a surprisingly peaceful affair...
The bushes suddenly rustled.
Eyes widening, human and dinosaur alike turned their heads towards the back of the clearing just in time for a small pack of the local carnotaurus to come bursting into view. From the midnight blue scales and snowy white underbellies and armour plating, Leon and Drew instantaneously recognised them as the species they'd encountered before. Rather noticeably, all six of the adults in this group had noticeably shorter horns than the horns the trio confronting the megaraptorans had possessed. 'The adults in this group must all be females then,' Leon thought to himself, remembering how the majungasaurus lived in a similar social structure.
The six adult female carnotaurs all snarled unison, clear hunger in their eyes as they readied themselves to charge at the herbivores. The larger herbivores all bellowed, already getting into a protective position around their offspring as they readied themselves for a confrontation. The elasmarians, meanwhile, all bellowed in fright before rushing towards the rescue team, the trinisaura all hurriedly jumping down to the ground from their resting spots in the tree branches to avoid missing the chance to escape. Nodding his head, Drew summoned the portal just in time for both elasmarian herds, moving too fast to stop, to go barrelling straight through the portal and into the present. Drew then looked to Leon and Adrian, a no-nonsense glare on his face. "Adrian, you and Leon keep the carnotaurs busy. I'll get the rest of the herbivores through."
Leon and Adrian looked to each other, briefly feeling mutual concern at the uncharacteristic seriousness, but then nodded and looked to Drew. "As you wish," said Adrian, whilst Leon quietly nodded. And at that, they rushed over to get in position by the carnotaurs as they bellowed and cawed at the herbivores, with Adrian drawing out an airhorn while Leon drew out and readied his broadcasting device. Right as the matriarch was preparing to charge, Adrian let out a burst of noise from his airhorn! Snarling in surprise, the matriarch carnotaur turned her head in the direction the airhorn noise had come from, her eyes narrowed into a glare at the sight of the unfamiliar creature standing nearby with the odd object in his hands. The rest of the pack had just enough time to direct quizzical looks towards their leader before the entire pack tensed up in surprise at the apparent sound of another carnotaur's cawing bellow coming from the direction opposite Adrian. At which point they all turned with a snarl of rage just in time to see Leon standing nearby with his broadcasting device drawn out and active.
As his two best friends continued their work in goading the carnotaurs into fully focusing on them instead of the herbivores, Drew got straight to work. "Hey!" He yelled, jumping up and down and waving his arms in his efforts at getting the attention of the remaining herbivores. By sheer luck, the sauropods, hadrosaurs, and antarctopelta all managed to turn their heads in his direction just in time for him to rapidly gesture towards the portal. "Come over this way! It's safer!" The herbivores all looked at each other, groaning in uncertainty over what to do...until another loud cawing 'roar' from the lead carnotaur as she and her pack once again heard a goading burst of noise from Adrian's air horn proved enough to convince them to risk the unfamiliar vortex of light. And with a bellow in unison, all the adults amongst the herbivores began rushing towards the portal, the juveniles eagerly following along for protection.
But even as the herbivores all started charging through the portal, moving as if a single entity, the matriarch carnotaur, soon noticed the fleeing herbivores out the corner of her eye. At which point she snapped her gaze back in their direction, 'roared' in outrage, and then went barrelling after her escaping would-be prey, the rest of her pack mates hurriedly following close behind her. Once the last of the carnotaurs had vanished through the portal after the herbivores, Drew nodded his head and closed the portal before directing a bemused glance towards Leon and Adrian, his eyebrow raised as he saw both directing awkward half smiles his way. "Sorry," said Adrian. "The carnotaurs were a bit slower to reach breaking point than the other giant theropods we've used this strategy on," said Leon. Drew shrugged, "It's fine. You still got their attention on you long enough for the herbivores to come through the portal first. So, in that regard, I'd still consider this a success."
He then checked his watch, "And at this point, I'd say this mission's gone on long enough." He looked back to his friends, "Let's go home."
. . . . .
Back at the park, Stephanie and her colleague Jordan Owlsley arrived at Santa Cruz to find Asha and Ogden waiting by the psilopterus paddock exactly as they'd been told. The latter nodded his head, a stoic glower on his face, "Took you long enough." Asha directed a brief glare of disapproval at Ogden, but then looked back to her two underlings and nodded her head. "Glad you could make it," she said before gesturing towards the psilopterus. "You are amongst the workers who've most recently handled the psilopterus, correct?"
Stephanie and Jordan nodded their heads. "Yep," said Stephanie. "That's correct ma'am," said Jordan. Ogden narrowed his eyes impatiently, his teeth gritting in a silent snarl. But another glare from Asha proved enough to convince him to hold his tongue; and then she looked to her two underlings once more. "In the times you've worked with them, or any of the other carnivorous birds, have you seen them hunting after any crows that have landed in their paddocks?"
Stephanie raised her eyebrow, "Well now that you mention it, I have seen them go chasing after crows every now and then." Jordan nodded in agreement, "I've definitely seen them chase after the crows that land in their paddock. Granted, I've never seen them actually catch any – but I wouldn't be surprised…."
Asha looked to Ogden, "Sounds like your theory might actually hold water." Ogden nodded his head in agreement, clearly not at all surprised, "This is definitely something I'll need to bring to the veterinary division's attention. Not to mention to that of my department."
Stephanie narrowed her eyes in confusion, "Dare I ask?"
Asha had just opened her mouth to explain before her communicator suddenly started going off. Wincing, she raised her finger and drew out her comm. "Sengupta. Who is this?"
"MacFerran," said the voice on the other end in the man's characteristically blunt fashion. "Drew and his mates just returned with one last batch of beasts. And considering how we'll probably be getting all the new arrivals transferred soon, I'd recommend you come back to the holding pens with the two ya needed to borrow. Might need ya around to make sure the rest of your people don't fuck up too bad."
Asha gritted her teeth. 'And I thought Ogden needed a lesson in etiquette,' she thought to herself. Then she nodded her head, "We'll be there shortly."
"Excellent," MacFerran responded before then ending the call. Nodding her head, Asha looked to Ogden, "Do you need any assistance in getting the information to the vets?" Ogden shook his head, "Go ahead and worry about the new arrivals."
"Well, here's hoping you're correct in that thought," Asha stated before looking to Stephanie and Jordan while Ogden drew out his communicator and started tapping in the call ID for Linda's communicator. "Right then," she said. "Let's get back to the holding pens. I'll explain what Ogden was going on about along the way. Hopefully we'll get there before MacFerran loses his head."
. . . . . . .
An hour later, all the Cretaceous Antarctic creatures were transferred to their new homes within the newly constructed James Ross Island Zone. Positioned directly at the entrance to this zone was a small building themed after the forests and coasts of Cretaceous Antarctica. The mammals were kept in a series of small indoor pens positioned in the very centre of this building's interior and were currently exploring their new home, rooting for food in the leaf litter that had been provided for them. As Leon had suspected, the mammals were all previously undiscovered species.
Nearby, a large walk-through aviary served as home for the antarctiornis and vegaviid flocks, who were now exploring their new territories, with the sandpiper-like birds having been dubbed khionavis notios and the red eyed giant loon-like vegaviids dubbed pseudogavia rossi. The bathornids, meanwhile, dwelled in an outdoor pen positioned directly outside the James Ross Island building's rear exit door, and had been dubbed glaciornis antarcticus. And at that moment, they were all exploring their new territory while also keeping watch for non-existent threats.
All the other animals had been moved to the new zone. The largest enclosure, positioned directly behind the glaciornis paddock and serving as the centrepiece of the exhibit zone, contained the herbivores – the elasmarians, hadrosaurs (which had been dubbed aurorasaurus rossi), antarctopelta and titanosaurs (which had been dubbed saltosaurus antarcticus) - who were now roaming their new forested home, browsing from the trees and bushes.
The four theropods, rather fittingly, all lived in large polar forest paddocks positioned to the left and right of the large herbivore paddock. Dwelling in the paddocks to the right of the herbivores were the imperobator and noasaurs, the latter of which had been named cryoceratus rossi, who were both either exploring their new territory or napping in the sun within their respective paddocks, waiting for their next meal to arrive. Both larger theropod species, meanwhile, dwelled in the paddocks positioned to the left of the herbivore paddock. The carnotaurus, determined to be an endemic polar species and dubbed carnotaurus nivalis, lived in a paddock strategically split between the larger pack of adult females and their offspring and the trio of bachelor males. Whilst the larger pack was heartily feasting upon a cow carcass, two of the adult males were napping while their apparent leader, named Macready, was currently standing warily as he let out a threatening caw of challenge in the direction of the megaraptorans next door, to a snarl from Childs, the alpha of the megaraptorans, which had been named glacioraptor frigidae, whilst the rest of his pack fed on a cow carcass.
The three azhdarchid species – the large one having been dubbed antarctazhdarcho khionensis and the smaller ones being dubbed chionvunodraco nordenskjoldi and notudraco shackletonensis respectively – shared a large aviary themed after the forest of James Ross Island. The pteranodontians, meanwhile, had been provided a large coastal aviary directly behind the herbivore paddock to fly and hunt in, with the pteranodontids being dubbed khionedraco antarcticus, the nyctosaurids valkyropteryx rossi and the alcionids having been named notudactylus amundseni.
Finally, a separate building directly behind the pterosaur aviary now served as home for the James Ross Island aquatic animals. At the centre of the aquarium building, a large tank served as home for the various rescued ammonite species, with separate tanks for the sharks and other fish species arranged in a circle around it. The marine reptiles, naturally, had their own larger tanks to dwell in. The plesiosaurs all shared a tank directly behind the tanks containing the ammonites and fish, since it was deemed that they were unlikely to hurt each other, whilst the mosasaurs were kept in separate tanks in their own section of the building.
Overall, things appeared to be going well for the park – there was a new mission and a new exhibit to show for it and, thanks to Ogden and Asha, they finally had a handle on the trichomoniasis problem. But even so, life could only be peaceful and smooth sailing at Prehistoric Park for so long. After all, not only would whatever mission came next inevitably leave the park vulnerable for further drama and stress all over again, but there were still some other lingering issues at the park that would no doubt still have the chance at rearing their ugly heads once more at some point or other further down the line.
. . . . . .
To start at the veterinary facility not too long after the staff's designated dinner time...
"So, remind me again, the virus is gone from her system, but you're still not sure she's fully recovered? Any reason why?"
Linda sighed. At that moment, she was meeting with Jack at the viewing window of the room where Jane was currently sleeping. "It's like I said, Jack," Linda stated regretfully, "She's just older – her immune system's weaker than the others, so the disease took more of a toll on her."
"Could you tell me exactly what's wrong?" Jack stated. "Yolanda said in the stuff she sent to me there were some permanent effects…"
"A few things," Linda said with a weary sigh. "We did an X-ray on her lungs and air sacs, and we think that there is some permanent damage in the membranes and blood tests have found there's some elevation of liver enzymes, so there's some liver damage there. There are also some minor signs of spleen damage and peritonitis. The virus is completely gone from her system… but it took its toll."
At this news, Jack sighed, "Well… what are her chances?"
Linda sighed heavily at this. "I'm afraid, so far, I can't give you any guarantees," Linda said, "These things are often hard to predict – she could go downhill very quickly. There is a chance she could make a recovery – however, you should be prepared for the worst…"
At this, Jack gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, clearly all too aware of what Linda was hinting at, before letting out an exhausted sigh. Linda gave him a pained look, and said, as reassuring as she could sound, "We will keep her under permanent observation – as soon as there is any change in her condition, one of us will contact you. We all understand how close you've bonded with the dromas – and we assure you that we will do everything we can."
Jack smiled weakly, "I know you will, Doc," before sighing, "So… hope for the best, prepare for the worst?" Linda nodded, a warm smile on her face, "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst." Jack nodded, "I understand. Have a nice evening," before departing the vet offices, feeling exhausted, worried, and powerless.
As he left, neither he nor Linda were aware of how they'd been eavesdropped by Colette and Kaisumi, who'd dropped in to visit Petrie. And in that moment, both looked sympathetically into each other's eyes.
. . . . . .
Meanwhile, in the conference room...
Drew walked quickly down the hallway, cursing under his breath. You see, Theodore had invited Drew, Matthew, and Jenny to a meeting. With the park's management team now up to three, it was apparently decided for these meetings to be had in the conference room – more official. And Drew was five minutes late.
Finally, Drew reached the end of the hallway and opened two giant doors to the conference room. Matthew and Jenny were already sitting at a table as Theodore was on a large Zoom screen. Matthew sighed as Theodore smiled and said, "Ah, Drew – glad you made it." Drew nodded and said, "Sorry, I'm late, Theodore – had a couple of things to think about…" Matthew sighed, "Oh, don't worry – we passed the time by starting without you." Drew gave him a look as he sat down.
Theodore mock-exasperatedly rolled his eyes and smiled, "He's just joking – anyway, let's get properly started. First order of business… Mr. Pike, I must give my most sincere congratulations that you were able to get a handle on the trichomoniasis problem. And an answer that had been staring us in the face to boot. It seems all it took was new perspectives…" To this, Matthew gave an awkward smile and said, "Thank you, Theodore, but the credit really belongs to Ogden and Sengupta – all I did was ask them to look into the problem." At this, Drew rolled his eyes.
Either not noticing or choosing not to, Theodore said, "Anyway, I would like to know how the dromaeosaurus pack are doing? Our scientists are still studying that novel virus – I'm sure you don't need to be reminded how urgent creating a vaccine for it is." Before Matthew could speak, Drew interjected, "Most of the pack have recovered – but Jane is still under observation. Those antivirals worked an absolute treat." Drew turned to Matthew, a smug smile on his face.
Theodore smiled, "Whilst I understand the reasoning for your elation, Drew – one I assume Jack Denham shares – it is not a competition. Wait until everyone has had their turn. But… I also take it that the recent mission went successfully" At this, Drew sighed and sat back, before nodding, "Yup – new creatures, new discoveries, and new challenges. The usual, basically." Theodore grinned, "And that's what makes it exciting. And, with that, I think the meeting is concluded." He paused, "Oh, and one thing – Percival wants to schedule a meeting with you and the board." He sighed, "There are things he wants to discuss. Goodbye and tell Jack I hope Jane makes a full recovery, Until next time." He hung up.
At this, Jenny sighed, irritably, "I wonder what that asshole wants to discuss." Drew gave her a dirty look, "He's the asshole who hired you – so I wouldn't go about pointing fingers." Matthew's lips tightened, "He didn't hire us – it was a vetting process with him, Bryce and Theodore. Something that you already know." Drew sighed, "Yeah, sure," before walking very quickly out the door. As they watched him leave, Jenny said, "Little bastard still has a chip on his shoulder, doesn't he?" Matthew sighed, "Go easy on him – I can see why it would be disorienting for him. But… yeah, this is gonna be a problem."
Rescue Tally:
Alexandronectes zealandiensis (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)
Antarctazhdarcho khionensis (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)
Antarcticavis (18; all adults; 9 male, 9 female)
Antarctopelta (12; 6 adults, 6 youngsters; 6 male, 6 female)
Aristonectes sp. (18; 10 adults, 8 youngsters; 9 male, 9 female)
Assorted ammonites (Baculites, Diplomoceras, Gaudryceras, Nostoceras, Pachydiscus, Scaphites, Sphenodiscus)
Assorted merdiolestids
Aurorasaurus rossi (Antarctic kritosaur) (resembling Secernosaurus) (13; 8 adults, 5 youngsters; 5 male, 8 female)
Australopristis (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)
Carnotaurus "nivalis" (speculative Antarctic carnotaur) (13; 9 adults, 4 youngsters; 5 male, 8 female)
Chlamydoselachus thomsoni (9; all adults; 5 male, 4 female)
Conflicto antarcticus (26; all adults; 13 male, 13 female)
Cryoceratus rossi (Antarctic noasaurid) (12; 6 adults, 6 youngsters; 6 male, 6 female)
Edaphodon snowhillensis (14; all adults; 7 male, 7 female)
Glacioraptor frigidae (Antarctic megaraptoran) (9; 4 adults, 5 youngsters; 4 male, 5 female)
Glaciornis antarcticus (Speculative Cariamiform) (12; all adults; 6 male, 6 female)
Glaciotherium rossi (Antarctic gondwanathere) (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)
Imperobator (13; 9 adults; 4 youngsters; 6 male, 7 female)
Kaikaifilu (9; 6 adults, 3 youngsters; 4 male, 5 female)
Kaiwhekea (17; 10 adults, 7 youngsters; 8 male, 9 female)
Khionavis notios (Antarctic charadriiform) (40; all adults; 20 male, 20 female)
Khionedraco antarcticus (Antarctic pteranodontid) (13; all adults; 5 male, 8 female)
Marambionectes (9; all adults; 5 male, 4 female)
Moanasaurus (8; all adults; 4 male, 4 female)
Morrosaurus (19; 12 adults, 7 youngsters; 9 male, 10 female)
Morturneria (10; 6 adults, 4 youngsters; 5 male, 5 female)
Notidanodon (6; all adults; 3 male, 3 female)
Polarornis gregorii (13; all adults; 7 male, 6 female)
Pseudogavia rossi (Speculative Vegaviidae based on the "Cretaceous Loon" specimen) (12; all adults; 6 male, 6 female)
Saltasaurus antarcticus (9; 6 adults, 3 youngsters; 4 male, 5 female)
Taniwhasaurus antarcticus (4; all adults; 2 male, 2 female)
Trinisaura (13; all adults; 6 male, 7 female)
Tuarangisaurus (13; 8 adults, 5 youngsters; 7 male, 6 female)
Valkyropteryx rossi (Antarctic nyctosaurid) (9; all adults; 4 male, 5 female)
Vegasaurus (7; all adults; 3 male, 4 female)
Vegavis iaai (10; all adults; 5 male, 5 female)
Next time on Prehistoric Park Reimagined:
It's off to the Messel Pit!
(A massive red faced and green and grey feathered bird squawks warily at the rescue team from within a thick jungle clearing.)
Where mammals are slowly undergoing the beginnings of their eventual dominance!
(A troop of vaguely monkey-like animals jump and swing through some trees.)
But not without some serious hurdles to get across!
(An ominous looking gas starts rapidly spewing out from the waters of a large lake.)
All next time, on Prehistoric Park Reimagined: The New Rulers!