CHAPTER 309
"I found some." Arby returned with two, small, metal cages. "There's a whole shelf of them just up that way. I knew I had seen them earlier." Arby was nodding in the direction they had originally all come.
"That's quite fine, Mr. Benton. Just bring them over here," Dr. Levine instructed him. "Let's see if we can coax one or two of them into the cages. For God's sake, not so loud. You're going to scare them all off."
Arby fumbled with the swinging cage doors, trying to hold them still.
"Here, clumsy," Kelly took one of the cages from him.
They were about to make their first attempt at capturing one of the baby pteranodons when a loud and unsettling animal scream came from further down the corridor. It was raspy and gravely, and whatever creature was making it was most certainly in distress.
The baby pteranodons fluttered up toward the ceiling at once. With sharp screeches and panicked flapping they were quickly out of reach.
Arby stumbled and dropped the cage he was holding. He fell on his rear and floundered. Kelly and Dr. Levine covered their heads and ducked. Moments later they were all looking at the ceiling in dismay, and then the distressed animal cry came again.
It was louder and shrieking. All heads turned down the corridor where Diego was seen backing out of one of the enclosures in a hurry.
"What in God's name?" Dr. Levine uprighted. "Diego, what on Earth is going on over there?"
Diego was in no position to respond. He continued to back away until he was up against the cages on the opposite side of the corridor. That's when George Baselton came crashing out of the enclosure. His shoulder smashed against the metal doorframe with a loud chainlink rattle. He was holding onto a metal pole, and it appeared to the others as though he were wrangling with a very large deep sea fish.
The raspy animal screams came again, followed by hissing and growling. George tugged and wrenched his arms one way and the other, struggling to subdue whatever was at the other end of the pole, but he did not look scared or worried. His face was simply one of determination and perhaps excitement, the way a champion bull rider looked when he was going for a record. George felt he was in control.
With another large tug George wrestled his way into the center of the corridor, and the creature at the end of the pole emerged out of the enclosure. It fought to get away from George, but he had a firm hold on it. The baby animal snapped its teeth and lunged against the hold of the snare around its neck, but it could not escape, and George was not budging. The stiff pole in his hands kept the creature at bay, keeping George safely out of reach of its biting jaws.
George looked at the others. He was beaming. "Behold," he said through a grit as he fought to hold the dinosaur steady.
Dr. Levine's jaw dropped, and the others reacted the same. She stepped forward, her mouth open and breathless. When she collected her words they were stammering.
"G-George, be very careful with that." She proceeded closer, but remained at a respectfully cautious distance from the biting animal.
"Look at this cute little bastard," George grinned. "Who would've thought they'd be furry?"
The baby dinosaur jumped at him.
"Feisty though!"
Some part of Dr. Levine's brain started to kick in, and she became rational. "Those are feathers, George."
"Go figure."
The baby leapt again.
"Please, try to hold her steady, George, and be carful."
"I'm trying."
Dr. Levine inched closer, and examined the creature. "George? Do you have any idea what this is?"
"It's a T-rex?"
Dr. Levine nodded, "Some kind of tyrannosaur, yes."
George had answered the question properly enough for someone uneducated in the field of paleontology, but it was the seeming lack of respect George displayed for the animal he was handling that disturbed Dr. Levine.
"Just hold that pole tightly."
The little tyrannosaur took note of Dr. Levine and stopped trying to attack Baselton. It turned toward her with a precautious poise. The young carnivore opened its jaw ever so slightly, and a hiss of air leaked from its mouth. As it did this it rapidly clicked its tongue on the roof of its mouth. It was a very bird-like sound, and Dr. Levine perceived it as a warning to keep back.
"Fascinating," Dr. Levine whispered.
The baby watched her every move and kept a cautious eye on Baselton also. Its glances started to shift more rapidly as Kelly and Arby came up behind Dr. Levine.
She waved them back. "Don't frighten it."
They lingered away.
Dr. Levine kept her eyes on the baby tyrannosaur. "We must find a cage. Arby, Kelly, go find something suitable quickly."
They nodded without words and turned around, but their mission immediately came to a halt as two figures were looming in the corridor just behind them. As they came forward through the shadows of the hall their identities were soon clear.
Lew Dodgson's sharp disturbing grin was unmistakable alongside Howard King's stiff robotic posture. Dodgson advanced forward while King remained a few steps behind. He began to clap slowly but with an intense enunciation. His grin widened.
"Well well well."
He paused to light a cigarette and then pushed past Kelly and Arby like he was nonchalantly parting a curtain. By now he had everyone's attention.
Dodgson stopped next to Dr. Levine and took a thoughtful draw on his cigarette as he beheld the squawking baby tyrannosaur for the first time.
He released a thick swirling puff of smoke and said, "I finally hear the sound of money."