Dragon Dawn (Dinosaurian Time Travel) (25 page)

Chapter 20

And pluck till time and times are done

The silver apples of the moon,

The golden apples of the sun.

~William Butler Yeats,
The Wind Among the Reeds

Australopithecus
afarensis. Australopithecus sediba. Australopithecus
anamensis
.
Ardipithecus
ramidus
.
Sahelanthropus tchadensis
. 

All were ancient hominid species that had lived, propagated, and died in Central Africa and the Great Rift Valley of East Africa.
Au.
afarensis
had walked on the savannas with a humanlike gait some three and a half million years B.C.E., while
Au. ramidus
ranged over a mixed savanna/woodland environment a million years before that.
Au. sediba
, with its versatile hands, made tools around two million years B.C.E. All were descendants of an ancient lineage going back to the time when hominids and chimpanzees diverged from a common ancestor, sometime between six and seven million B.C.E. 

But here, in the late Cretaceous, hominids hadn’t yet evolved. Here, the ancestors of the human race were part of a future world, some sixty million years off.

Ancestors. The future. What paradoxical thoughts!

Dawn rested in her bunk, her tablet on her lap. Biding her time by surfing her e-encyclopedia, she tried to put the impending cometary impact out of her mind, but her brain refused to cooperate, roaming instead to another worry – Gus, Kris, and Harry had left hours ago on their quest for more specimens. This time, however, they had gone after dusk, because Harry believed some of the smaller dinosaurs were active then. Despite the fact there was a slight risk predatory dinosaurs occasionally hunted in the dark, they probably resorted to nocturnal behavior only when stalking wounded prey. So, Harry reassured her, everything would be okay; the odds were good the crew would return safe and sound.

But if anything were to happen to Gus tonight, or to any of my friends...

Don’t go there
. Dawn put her tablet aside and let her thoughts wander back to the previous morning. Gus had been so sweet after she’d seen the strange dinosaur standing outside. He made her a mug of tea and patiently listened to her rather distracted recitation of the previous events. 

And just when she’d begun to question her own sanity, he relented and went out with Harry and Kris, looking for tracks. Sure enough, they’d found a scattering of trampled footprints. Harry thought they were
something like the tracks made by carnivorous dinosaurs – the so-called theropods – because the prints had their small toe depressions on the inside, not the outside, of the foot. 

“See?” Gus told her. “As for the wave of its hand, I bet it was just happenstance. The beast couldn’t have meant anything by it.”

Gus was probably right. Besides, he wasn’t the patronizing type. It just seemed like the thing had waved goodbye. 

She smiled, feeling a little better, but then the creeping doubt reentered her mind. She struggled with it, only to have it replaced by a horrible sense of foreboding.
Gus
, she thought miserably.
I know I won’t get any rest until you’re back here with me
.

Dawn tried to push aside her fears. Feeling wide-awake, she turned, staring at the wall, edgy and restless. Since the entire night stretched before her, she needed to find a way to keep occupied. 

In her mind’s eye, she conjured up an image of Tasha, soundly sleeping in her bunk. She played with the idea of monitoring the crew’s progress over the com-link in the main cabin, or maybe she could use the computer’s art program and draw the creature she’d seen that morning. 

Then she imagined Tasha again and decided against getting out of bed. If she got up, she could make noise. This might be the first good night’s sleep Tasha had gotten since Lex’s death, and Dawn was loathe to disturb her.

With a yawn, she went back to her tablet, scanning the text until she spotted another article about paleoanthropology. After skipping over the first few pages, she found herself staring at the reconstructed faces of an
afarensis
family. With their powerful, jutting jaws and low, sloping foreheads, they were primitive and apelike, yet also compelling. The sculptor’s lifelike rendition captivated Dawn; the promise of humanity shone in the eyes of
Au.
afarensis
. 

After skimming the article, she studied a picture of the famous Laetoli footprints. Anthropologist Mary Leakey and her team found the remarkable 3.56 million-year-old fossils in Tanzania in the 1970s. A group of hominids, perhaps two or three individuals, had walked northward across a layer of soft, wet, volcanic ash, leaving a path of tracks, which had hardened into stone. Additionally, a variety of animal tracks and raindrop patterns had been imprinted on the ash layer. With this find, Leakey helped to confirm humanity’s remote ancestors had been capable of moving like modern human beings, upright with free-striding gaits. 

Studying the picture of the Laetoli tracks, Dawn wondered if perhaps the hominids were a family moving together across the African plain. She read some of the text. From the track patterns, it appeared the maker of a smaller set of prints – a female, no doubt – had stopped and looked over her left shoulder, perhaps reacting to some perceived threat or momentary disturbance. 

Quite distracted by now, Dawn regarded the picture of the footprints with fresh enthusiasm. Here was something she could identify with. She visualized the hominid female, perhaps walking with a child resting on her hip. The female had halted in mid-stride and cast a glance behind her. Had she heard the rumble of a distant volcano? Was a predator lurking nearby? Or was she leaving her homeland, taking one last look before striking out for new horizons?

For all eternity, the fossilized footprints held their story, capturing a human act which would otherwise have been lost in the vastness of time.

Dawn closed her eyes again and imagined walking along Oak Creek. It was a silvery, moonlit summer’s eve, with a balmy breeze passing through the red rock canyon. The dogs were up ahead, busily sniffing, and Gus strolled beside her. Between them was a child, a little towheaded girl. They held her hands as they walked parallel to the stream. As they moved along, they left three sets of footprints.

Eyes still closed, Dawn realized the daydream had made her feel homesick again. But now, she understood the happiness she shared with Gus had changed things in a profound way. 

Together, they would make a future. And if they didn’t leave their tracks on Earth, then they would somehow, someday, make footprints beneath the glow of two opalescent moons. 

In the red sands of Mars.

PART FOUR

Chapter 21

Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night!

Comets, importing change of times and states,

Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky...

~William Shakespeare,
Henry
VI

“Hey, wake up, sleepy head. Come see what we got.”

Dawn’s eyes opened. Gus stood in the doorway of her cubicle, looking excited. Her gaze lingered on the strong cut of his jaw, covered with a swath of thick, reddish-blond stubble. 

She smiled sleepily. “What time is it?”

He looked at his watch. “0240.”

“But it’s so early.”

“We got one, Dawn. A few hours ago.” 

“What are you talking about?” she asked as she threw back the covers and rose to her feet. She moved closer to him and caught his scent, fresh, clean skin, yet with a faint trace of manly aroma, all Gus. Pulse quickening, she forced aside her feelings and reached for her robe.

“
Troodon
,” he said. “We captured one. A female.”

“
Troodon?
”

“She’s a small meat-eater. Harry thinks she’s pregnant. How’d he put it? She’s gravid. That’s it. Said she’s gravid.” He motioned Dawn outside. “She’s a feisty little sucker. Looks like she’s itchin’ to attack. Remember how the other dino reacted when we put her in the cage? Well, she’s nothing compared to this one.
Troodon
has a bunch of these tiny, pointy teeth. Harry says they’re sharp as hell. They’ll take a chunk out of you if you aren’t careful.”

Dawn poked her head out of the hatch. Harry, Tasha, and Kris stood by the Rover, flashlights shining on the caged animal. She followed Gus outside.

Looking at the sky, Dawn caught sight of the comet. She frowned, recalling how it had appeared only a few hours before. Was it her imagination, or did it now seem a lot larger? 

Squinting, she spotted the faint, blue fluorescence of electrically charged molecules, the ion tail of the comet. 

Just then, Harry said, “Gus told you about our little
Troodon
, eh?” 

When Dawn realized Harry was speaking to her, she dropped her gaze and nodded.

“I wouldn’t have believed it myself if I hadn’t seen it,” Harry went on. “We put some bait in the cage and waited a few minutes. She walked inside like she was invited. Boy, was she mad when she realized she couldn’t escape.”

Half-listening to Harry’s excited talk, Dawn watched the creature. One of the birdlike dinosaurs, she was somewhat bigger than the other species they’d encountered. She did a quick mental calculation, estimating the
Troodon
measured around one and a half meters from snout to tail tip, about the same size as an average adult human female. She had large, green eyes with catlike pupils, green skin, and bright, peacock feathers on her head.

Hang on!
Dawn thought.
It looks something like the thing I saw yesterday.

Upon closer inspection, she knew the comparison was ridiculous. The
Troodon
did not have a humanoid shape. If anything, it resembled a small ostrich.

“
Troodon
means wounding teeth,” Harry said. “And it’s true. Watch out for her if you go near the cage.”

“Okay,” Dawn said. “I believe you. She must be a formidable predator.”

Harry nodded, chest thrust out like a proud father. “Her species has the largest brain-to-body ratio of any dinosaur; in fact, in the Cretaceous, it was probably smarter than anything else, including all contemporary dinosaurs, mammals, and birds. We can tell this by casts made of the interiors of troodontid craniums. The skulls show brain folding, which allows more surface area for the development of cells in the cerebral cortex, a prerequisite for the evolution of higher intelligence.” 

Dawn stared into the animal’s eyes. “I wonder what she’s thinking about? Poor thing must be scared out of her wits.”

As if to render an opposite opinion, the female
Troodon
puffed up her feathers, drew back her head, exposed her little sharklike teeth, and leapt against the cage, flailing against the metal bars and sputtering like a demon.

Dawn jumped back, startled. Her glance met Gus’s as an unspoken thought raced between them – what had they gotten themselves into?

“
Troodon
has been called the ‘coyote’ of the Cretaceous.” Harry grinned. “Damn, she’s beautiful!”

Gus rubbed his stubbly chin as he shot Dawn a look filled with humor. “I don’t think so,” he told her. “She’s ugly, if you ask me.”

But Dawn didn’t answer him. Instead, she stared off, remembering the humanoid dinosaur from the day before and wondering if there could be some kind of connection.

***

Since it was still so early – around 0400 – the crew had secured the
Troodon
with the rest of the specimens and then gone off to bed. 

Dawn was just drifting off when she heard, “Wake up.”

Her eyes opened wide and she stared into the shadows, her pulse pounding in her ears. 

“Dawn Ssstroganoff.”

Gasping, she sat bolt upright in bed and a hand immediately clamped over her mouth, stifling her scream.

“I senssse your fear,” the voice whispered into her ear. “Calm yourssself. I will not harm you.”

Now she discerned the reptilian hisses mingled with the words. It could mean only one thing! 

“I will releassse you if you promissse to be quiet, Dawn.”

She nodded and the hand withdrew. Despite her fear, she
had
to see him. Fumbling at her nightstand, she managed to flip on the light switch. She blinked against the light, then stared in shock. A strapping, man-sized alien stood there, copper-skinned with ice-blue eyes and a headful of golden feathers. And he was definitely a male; beneath his genital pouch, he swelled with potency. 

This must be a nightmare. 

“I am the Keeper.”

She looked into his eyes, willing herself to hold his gaze. He must have realized she was frightened, because he sat on the edge of the bed and made a soft, cooing sound as he reached out and gently touched her good arm. 

“I will not harm you,” he said as he slowly drew his hand away. “Do not be afraid of me.”

“Wh – why are you here?” Dawn stammered. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

“I do not understand.”

“But before, when you spoke to me in that contraption on Mars, you said you were already dead. You told me your mind had been preserved, but that you didn’t have a body.”

“I sssee.” He gave her a look that resembled a frown as he rubbed his chin. “Apparently, your experiences indicate I am alssso the Keeper of a parallel universsse. Or... it could be you ssspoke with my future ssself, after thisss body,” he touched his chest, “hasss died.”

“Oh.” Dawn shook her head. The idea of time paradoxes was going to drive her nuts. She had to think of something else, anything else to talk about. “Wh – when are we going home?”

“Sssoon.”

“Then we’re definitely going to leave the Cretaceous?” 

There was a long pause. “Yesss. You are.”

“And what has been the purpose of all this?”

“I cannot reveal that to you, not at thisss time.”

“Why not?”

“You mussst be patient.”

“Patient?” Dawn asked, her anger flaring. “It’s a little too late for patience, don’t you think? Do you have real answers for me, or are we going to play godlike alien versus cowering, awestruck mortal again? I refuse to jump through any more hoops for you.”

“What?”

“Just why did you come here? Why? Did you know I almost died last week? Do you care what happens to my crewmates? Lex is dead because of you! And why was another one of your kind standing outside the lander yesterday?”

The Keeper stood up. “There wasss another?” He glanced back at the closed door.

Now Dawn saw his long tail. When he turned back to face her, she noticed that his claws had sprung from their sheaths.
Devil
. She shuddered, but fought her fear.

He stared at her, his eyes narrowed and questing.

“Why does the fact that someone else was here surprise you?” she asked, mulling this over. Then it hit her. “Of course,” she exclaimed, “you told me you were the last of your kind. So, what did I see? Who was outside the lander?”

He walked over to the bed, carefully retracted his claws, and took her hand again. “You,” he replied.

“Me?”

“Yes, I believe it wasss you.”

“How could that be? You’re not making any sense.”

He leaned over, touched his forehead to hers and looked deeply into her eyes. 

His presence was overpowering, hypnotic.

“Yesss, Dawn, it wasss you.” With a deep moan, he lowered himself onto her body. “It wasss alwaysss you.”

***

It took Dawn a moment to realize she’d been dreaming. She was on her back, luxuriating under the covers as she opened her eyes.

Wow, that was totally weird
, she thought, mildly embarrassed by her erotic dream. The more she thought about it, the more she realized the dream had been utterly provocative, as if the Keeper – she’d made him an alien stud, hadn’t she? – had been interested in her in a sexual way.

Suddenly, she felt someone move against her. She jumped, almost falling from bed. 

On the verge of screaming, the sound of light snoring caused her to turn and stare. Blond hair poked out from beneath the covers.
Gus?
She glanced around, realizing she was in his cubicle, sharing his bed.

What the hell...? 

Her heart pounded. She closed her eyes and breathed, in and out, in and out.
It’s the meds
, she thought
. I must’ve taken way too many yesterday. That’s why I don’t remember anything about coming into Gus’s room
.

She rose from the bed, taking pains not to disturb him, and tiptoed across the room, only daring to glance back when she reached the door. Gus was still dead out.

Did anything happen between us? Why can’t I remember?

Except, except
...

She recalled another dream. She was back in the chamber on Mars in the strange chair. Through the alien VR, she watched herself watching herself, like one of those strange infinity pictures of a person in a mirror, the image recurring again and again within itself, smaller and smaller, forever repeating. 

With a frown, Dawn tried to put it out of her mind as she slipped into her cubicle and crawled into bed. She looked at the clock. 0642. Everyone was sleeping in after last night.

Last night?

What happened to me?
Dawn closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to take her, wondering what was real, and what wasn’t.

***

There was a knock at the door. “Mind if I come in?”

Dawn’s eyes flew open, and she was instantly terrified.
The Keeper?

But it was Kris. Smiling, she stood in the doorway. 

“Tasha asked me to wake you. It’s after noon.”

Dawn glanced at the clock, surprised she’d overslept.

“Tasha said she wants to take a look at your arm,” Kris went on. “She thinks the cast can come off soon, maybe today.” She glanced down. “Hey, what’s this?” she asked as she picked something off the floor. She held out a golden feather. 

Dawn felt a chill rush down her spine as she swung her feet over the side of the bed and grabbed it.

Kris gave her a quizzical look. “How’d that get in here?”

Dawn studied the feather. It looked like... her thoughts faltered as she remembered the Keeper. “I need to talk to Gus. Where is he?”

“Last I saw, he was eating.” Kris made a move to go. “I’ll tell him you’re looking for him. Give me a holla if you need anything else––”

“No. Wait.” 

Kris turned back.

“Tell everyone to meet me in the main room in a few minutes,” Dawn said. “They need to hear this, too.”

“Are you all right? What happened last night?”

“You won’t believe it when I tell you,” Dawn said. “I almost can’t believe it myself.”

***

Tasha frowned.  “How many painkillers did you take before going to sleep?”

Dawn hesitated, mentally counting. “I took two after dinner, then two more a few hours later, and then another one. I know I shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t sleep.”

“I see.” Tasha nodded. “And do you actually believe you had sex with alien Keeper?”

“I don’t know.” Blushing, Dawn looked around. Gus was staring out the window, avoiding her eyes, while Harry and Kris sat gaping at her. 

“Dawn, tell us what happened,” Tasha said.