Jack Denham stood in the dromaeosaurus paddock of Hell Creek, observing the seven mid-sized theropods go about their business. As he did, he carefully took note of the pack dynamics.
Duke and his mate Cassie were about the same age and were the pack's dominant pair – they ate first when being fed and all the others deferred to them. The other adult female, Jane, seemed to be the oldest, with her dulled feather colours and slightly stiffened gait and the two adolescents, Bindi and her brother, were the youngest in the group, with their energetic, playful demeanours.
Jack's thoughts were interrupted by seeing Duke walking towards him, curious as to why this human was watching him. Partly on impulse, Jack gently reached his hand in and put it on Duke's snout and gently rubbed it. Jack smiled at the theropod, who cocked his head curiously at him. The two briefly regarded each other. It got Jack thinking. About the irony of it all – Duke's ancestors would have likely fed on Jack's, whilst some of Jack's ancestors would have fed on Duke's kind's chicks/eggs.
That was weird - however, the gravity of the moment quickly came to him. Two creatures, separated by 65 million years of evolution, had formed a bond. Two creatures, whose ancestors had lived in constant war, had made a gesture of peace. Two creatures, by virtue of a single shared experience, now respected each other to a degree no-one could imagine.
Suddenly, he heard someone clearing his throat behind him and he turned to see Collete Dubois standing behind him. Jack raised his eyebrow and asked her, "What are you doing here?" Collete shrugged and said, "Dropped in to visit. How well are you doing with the dromas?" Jack smiled, "Good; they seem to have accepted me."
Collete walked down the walkway to stand next to Jack. Looking around, Jack reflected, "It's amazing, you know." Collete looked, confused, "What do you mean?". Jack looked around and said, "Amazing how well things have been going lately. Six successful missions and, aside from the compys and the torvosaurus escape, no major incidents…" "Yet", Collete interrupted him, "Nikolai always says never tempt fate – worse could easily happen…" Realising how that sounded, Collete immediately backtracked, saying, "Not that he's paranoid, but, you know…" Jack shrugged, "I suppose."
The two looked at each other and smiled, almost savouring and regretting the intimacy of the moment, before it was punctuated by Drew letting out a low, throaty squawk, as if in amusement. Jack and Collete, realising what had happened, looked away diffidently, "Anyway", Jack said, to which Collete replied, "Should be going…" They went off in opposite directions, Collete to the tyrannosaur paddock, Jack to the Hell Creek forest building – he had some work to do with Kaa.
. . . . .
Jack stood in the Hell Creek forest building, Kaa draped over his shoulders. After saving her from the log back in the Cretaceous, Jack had begun handling her – she was the perfect place to start if he wanted to get the dinilysia accustomed to handling. Kaa, for her part, responded surprisingly well to being handled by Jack in particular.
There was method in this seeming madness – there was a full initiative by the reptile team to get the smaller reptiles and amphibians used to handling, so they could be handled by the vet team without the risk of anaesthetising such small animals. It had been hard at first, but pretty much all the animals were starting to get it.
Jack stood, as still as a tree, as Kaa slithered down Jack's shoulder, nosing through the folds of his shirt and slowly moving around the body. Eventually, the session was over. Jack gently picked her up off him and placed her back into the tank.
Even though he had handled dozens of snakes before, Jack felt elated for some reason – maybe it was a bit of E.O. Wilson's biophilia, the positive response people had to nature. Or maybe it was just the fact that he was the first to handle this previously-extinct snake – there was a lot to be said about being the first person to do anything.
. . . . .
After leaving Hell Creek, Jack headed for the area where the terrestrial crocodilians were kept – the erpetosuchus and terrestrisuchus shared an enclosure whilst the larger saltoposuchus were kept separately.
Walking over to the exhibit of the erpetosuchus and terrestrisuchus, Jack dropped some insects into the tank and the little crocodiles quickly dived on them, scarfing them down. Once the little crocodiles had taken their share of insects, he lowered his hand at the nearest terrestrisuchus, a female, and waited for her to crawl on to his hand. The little reptile sniffed his finger before slowly moving onto his hand, tensely, before Jack gently lifted her out and began stroking her like a Bond villain's cat, as the little reptile rested tensely on his lower arm.
This was part of the initiative by the reptile team to get the smaller reptiles used to handling. This female, with her aggressive demeanour, had been a bit of a problem, but even she was beginning to get that the big, tailless bipedal creatures posed no threat.
When he put his hand a little closer to her head, the little crocodillian whipped her tail and hissed at him – that was still better than last time, where she'd attempted to bite him. Eventually, he put her down – the small reptile gave him a withering, haughty look, before sneaking off.
At the little reptile's bravado, Jack smiled. The small crocodilians from Triassic Europe reminded him of small lizards, like skinks or agamids – small, stealthy insect hunters, with an almost constant alertness and curiosity. In fact, they moved so quietly that, during one meeting, Jack had, half-jokingly, stated that the reptile team should put little cameras on their heads and use them as spies.
The tcinosuchus and saltoposuchus, on the other hand, reminded him more of the varanids – fast, powerful hunters of small-to-mid-sized animals. On further reflection, it was strange how diverse the crocodile line used to be as opposed to the sedate, aquatic ambush predators of today, like the phytosaurs and the "true" crocodiles they had in the Morrison and Hell Creek sections.
. . . . .
Eventually, his duties were over and, after a long day, Jack entered his on-site flat – Novum had erected a bunch of accommodation for staff, including an apartment block. Turning the light on, he said, "Alright, everyone, Jackie's home." There was no other human in the apartment, however – instead in almost every available surface, there was a reptile tank. And that was the way Jack liked it. All he really needed to live was a bedroom, a kitchen and a shower – everywhere else he was happy to give to his reptiles.
Jack's fascination with reptiles had been since his childhood (when Steve Irwin was in his prime and catching crocs and wrangling snakes seemed like the coolest thing imaginable). Eventually studying zoology at LJMU, his natural impatience had meant that academics had never been his strong suit. However, he'd gotten a good degree and had taken a job in a reptile shop… only to realise that the place was a health-and-safety hazard, most of the staff were lazy, underqualified and/or insane and the boss had no idea how to do… anything, really.
After a few weeks of this, he'd left and sent his CV to various zoos for reptile handling jobs. From there, he'd worked as a reptile handler at various British zoos – working with Komodo dragons, venomous snakes and crocodiles, as well as critically endangered reptiles and amphibians. Seeking new challenges, he'd noticed a Novum apprenticeship scheme – Novum worked with a great deal of zoos around the world and, since he couldn't afford a plane ticket, he'd taken it.
Smiling, Jack strolled into the kitchen, preparing dinner for his collection. He prepared the mealworms for his bearded dragons and skinks, dead mice for the snakes and ridge-tailed monitors, with some vegetables for Iggy the green iguana and the tortoises.
People were so naïve about reptiles, Jack thought, as he prepared the food. There was a common perception that reptiles just sat on rocks, eating leaves or bugs, whilst the mammals and birds did all the important stuff. The extras of the ecosystem, their time in the sun going out with the dinosaurs.
This wasn't true, of course. Almost every recognisable mammal had some reptilian equivalent – the skinks and agamids were reptilian versions of the shrews, whilst the giant tortoises were stand-ins for the elephant or giraffe. The slow, sedate, seaweed-eating marine iguanas of the Galapagos were a stand in for the manatees, whilst the varanids were the reptilian version of the carnivorans.
Now that he thought of it, people's naiveite about reptiles was probably why they made popular impulse purchases – the same people who'd think keeping a tiger as a pet was insane would probably not bat an eyelid at a boa or a python.
Speaking of boas and pythons… He reached into the fridge and got out two large rats– these were for Monty, the ball python and Bessie, the boa constrictor. They'd come with the names – they'd been abandoned exotic pets and had been the first two reptiles he'd obtained.
Indeed, most of Jack's collection had been acquired from some inexperienced or irresponsible owner who had been forced to give up the animal when it had proven to difficult to look after. Whilst some people were responsible and did their research, for most it would have been best getting a corn snake or a gecko. Less likely to impress your neighbours, but more manageable for you.
After feeding the large snakes, he took two dead mice to a tank containing two ridge-tailed monitors. Dropping them in, he saw each of the lizards pounce on them with the speed of a cat. Jack chuckled – he'd gained a fondness for the species on his first Novum post in Australia, where he'd handled saltwater crocodiles, their incredibly venomous snakes and the many native varanids. Australia had been a wonderful place – with brilliant people, beautiful scenery and lovely weather.
After Australia, he'd been to Costa Rica and then the Caribbean, where he'd worked with the endangered native reptiles and amphibians and where he'd met Hugo, Aaron, Carmen, and Maria. After those glorious months working in paradise, he'd been transferred to China.
Compared to Australia, Costa Rica and the Caribbean, China hadn't been fun – it had been a cold, dreary place with too many meetings, too much red tape, too little progress. He'd lost count of the times where he'd stood at a conservation summit where State Councillor Something gave one of the most pressing conservation issues today more lip-service than a kiss-me-booth at a summer fair, before, with a healthy whiff of hypocrisy, jetting off to enjoy his private country retreat, which he neglected to share with his fellow comrades in the Worker's Party. All these endless platitudes and bureaucratic sludge was exactly what Jack didn't care for.
From a nearby tank, his Chinese three-striped box turtle looked up at him with her dim, placid eyes. Jack smiled – this one had a unique position in his collection, as she was the only thing Jack had ever stolen. When he'd been stationed in China, curiosity had compelled him to investigate a Chinese "wet market". It was one of the most horrifying sights he'd ever seen – barely alive animals stacked like sardines and parts from critically endangered animals sold with all the casualness of a grocer selling a pound of cabbage. He shuddered at the memory.
Eventually, his wandering eye had settled on a mass of turtles, destined for turtle soup. Among the common-as-muck red-eared sliders, he'd noticed a three-striped box turtle. He knew in that moment that this turtle was too rare and too beautiful to be on someone's plate – he had to do something. And, when the vendor hadn't been looking, he'd grabbed the three-striped box turtle, hidden her under his coat and walked away as fast as he could. He'd been halfway across town by the time the vendor had probably noticed it had gone. Smiling, Jack refilled the food bowl with some lettuce.
Surrounded by his little collection, he began thinking. When Theodore Richardson had came up to him and asked whether he would like a position at a facility he was making in Florida, where his sister and old friends would also be working, he'd accepted. He was out of China in two days – fortunately before the damn virus had hit.
Theodore's enigmatic promise of new horizons intrigued him. That statement was strange – Jack had worked with most of the large snakes, crocodilians and lizards, as well as some of the rarest reptile species on the planet. What could "new horizons" possibly mean?
Once he'd found out about the facility's true intentions, he'd immediately started compiling his wishlist – Titanoboa, Megalania, maybe a couple of the Cretaceous super-crocs. However, that would probably lie in the far future.
And, besides, they had such a huge assortment of reptiles already – small crocodiles that walked like mammals and lived like small lizards, one of the world's oldest known snakes, several species of crocodile (one that was as big as the biggest saltwater crocodile), a tuatara relative the size of a green iguana, a relative of the Gila monster the size of a Komodo dragon and turtles of all shapes and sizes.
He could wait – there was more than enough to keep him occupied for now.
So, this is Jack's POV chapter – he's sort of the reptile (and raptor) expert of the mission team. Most of his APs will be reptiles and when there's a prehistoric reptile or dromaeosaur prominently appearing, he'll probably go on the mission.
BTW, the terrestrisuchus are going to be secondary APs to Jack – however, his primary Phase One partners are, of course, Kaa and Duke. However, since that idea came really late, just as I was writing this chapter, I have no idea for names for any of them – any ideas?
Another point here, Jack and Alice are from the North West of England, like myself – precisely where, I don't know.
EDIT: I have chosen to remove the note about the COVID. The reason why is it dates it a bit. Whilst I'm mostly taking a "never was this timeline" approach, for a future note, we have to assume COVID happened and got on a plane somehow - but people were prepared for it somehow and it didn't affect the world as massively as it has done.