CHAPTER 323

Howard King was staring at the bare metal floor of the Chinook. The thoughts in his head were floating around, but he couldn't collect any of them.

"Howard."

"Howard!"

Someone grabbed his face with both hands and stared him in the eyes. It was Dodgson. His expression was stern as he pulled Howard nose to nose with him. Their foreheads were pressing together, and Dodgson's fingertips were sinking painfully into Howard's cheekbones.

Dodgson's words were soft but intense, his eyes holding a crazed and glazed over picture of hysteria on the brink of eruption. "Howard, I need you to pull yourself together. We have work to do."

King stared at the floor as though he hadn't heard him at all.

Dodgson shook King's head with a fierce rattle. "Howard!"

Howard looked up from the floor and met eyes with Dodgson.

Through grit teeth Dodgson said, "I need you to fix the sonic device so that we can get back to work. It's just a broken power cable. Strip the wire and splice it back together. You can handle that, right?"

Howard finally breathed out a word. "George."

"George? George who? Oh, that George. George Baselton got hammered on a beach in Costa Rica. We had to leave him behind, and then we never saw him again. Think Howard! God damn it. If we pull this off nobody is going to be asking about George or his whereabouts. Nobody'll care. Now put your testicles back on and fix that god damned cannon."

Outside of the Chinook Dr. Levine had a procession of people following her. Arby, Kelly, and Diego were trailing close behind, each sharing the same uneasy composure.

Dr. Levine disregarded this. Her excitement and curiosity were brimming, and she spoke as she walked.

"I have a theory that perhaps Rebirtha's taking to Stella could be a result of similar genetic makeups. Supposing they were engineered from the same genetic material Rebirtha might have presumed the little tyrant to be family, her own offspring even. I mean, this is a most unnatural environment for these creatures, so all bets are off."

Behind her Arby blurted, "ok, are we not going to address the fact that George got his arm torn off, and now he's being hauled into the jungle by a tyrannosaurus rex? Is nobody going to mention the fact that a person among us is, at this very moment, getting dismembered, disemboweled, crushed, and eaten by a forty foot long prehistoric carnivore?"

Dr. Levine stopped, turned around, took a breath, and put on a light smile. "Mr. Benton, should someone choose to walk across hot coals they assume all responsibility for what befalls them."

"Ok? Well right now the hot coals are about to scorch our asses too. Should we not be getting on that helicopter right now? Should we not be leaving?" Arby turned to Kelly with exasperation. "Kel, help me out here."

Dr. Levine was already walking again. "Oh, look at these coelurosaurians. What exquisite specimens. Perhaps they might be… Compsognathus I think. We shall get a closer look."

Arby started after her. "Dr. Levine!"

She turned. "Hush. We don't want to frighten them off." Dr. Levine continued onward to within twenty feet of where the compsognathus were scratching around in the bloody dirt in search of scraps. She stopped there to observe them.

Arby had ceased to follow her. "What is going on here, Kel?"

"I don't know. Arb, just relax." She put a hand on his shoulder.

"I can't! I can't!" He doubled over. His breaths were coming in short high pitched gasps.

"Breath Arb. Jesus, just breath. I'll go talk to her, ok? I'll go talk to her." She turned to Diego. "Watch him, please."

Diego nodded, "Sí."

Kelly marched over to Dr. Levine. As she came up beside her the little group of comps looked up at her and chirped but did not flee.

"Dr. Levine?"

"Shh. Just look at them. Aren't they wonderful? Aren't they extraordinary?"

"Dr. Levine?"

"Quiet please, Ms. Curtis. We don't want to scare them off."

Kelly shouted, "Dr. Levine, I have to insist that we get on that helicopter. It's not safe here."

At this the compsognathus ran away.

Dr. Levine snapped her head at Kelly. "No! No I will not. I've worked too hard for this. Too long. I need to be here. I need to see this."

"My God," Kelly shook her head. "This isn't even real. Somebody just died. That's a high price for smoke and mirrors. Arby is right. We need to leave, and we need to leave now."

Dr. Levine had a sobered look on her face as she swallowed a lump in her throat. A teary smile made its way to the forefront of her expression, and she nodded. "I ought to know better, shouldn't I?" She sniffled. "Silly me."