Scrapyard Ship 4 Realms of Time (22 page)

No one got much sleep through the night. Even with their encircling fire barricade, the sheer size, the scale, of the indigenous animal life here necessitated that the fire be kept equally large. Apparently, the nocturnal predators were proportionate to, if not more abundant than, those of the day. As it turned out, anyone not on sentry duty was needed to add kindling to the fire and help keep it stoked.

The rhinos, without having protective battle suits, were showing the most wear. Monster mosquitoes the size of golf balls zeroed in on their exposed hides, resulting in painful stings as if from large hypodermic needles. Dira was in constant demand. The bites were bad enough, but the intense itching that followed was debilitating.

By 0600 all the wood gathered the previous evening had been burned.

“
What time is sunup?” Jason asked Ricket.

“
0640, Captain. The swarms of mosquitoes are already starting to dissipate.”

Jason looked over to Traveler who, like the rest of the crew, was periodically firing stun-level plasma bolts into the surrounding trees. His hide was covered in swollen, oozing boils. Dira, having just finished treating Few Words, moved in to attend to Traveler.

Jason saw movement in the trees and fired off several plasma bolts in the same general direction.

“
How am I supposed to light up with those damn things hovering around?” Billy asked, joining Jason and Ricket.

“
Maybe this is a good time to quit,” Ricket answered, looking up at the tall Cuban SEAL.

Billy ignored the comment. Noticing Jason’s preoccupation with Dira and Petty Officer Myers, he said, “Look, a woman who looks like she does, who can even make a battle suit look sexy, is going to attract attention. Especially on a ship where the male to female ratio is so off-kilter.”

“
Are you getting to a point anytime soon?” Jason asked.

“
Cap, it’s no secret that you and Dira have something going on. Okay? Your own daughter sees it.”

Jason’s eyes turned toward Billy and glared.

“
Hey, I’m just telling you how it is here, my friend. Anyway, um … looking the way she does, she’s had to turn men away on a daily basis. I know all this because she and Orion are friends, they talk.”

“
So what are you saying? Petty Officer Myers hasn’t taken no for an answer?” Jason asked.

Billy shrugged and said, “She’s a big girl, Cap. She’ll speak up if she needs help.”

A low-flying mosquito hovered in close to Ricket’s visor, causing him to bat it away with an audible thump.

Dira was finished with Traveler, having applied ointments and salve over much of his exposed hide. As she headed off toward her RTM, sure enough, Myers followed not far behind.

Jason turned toward the petty officer. “Myers, we’re breaking camp. I want you on task.”

Turning to Billy, Jason said, “I want to get the next drone paired off and get us the hell out of Jurassic Hell.”

Both Ricket and Billy answered at the same time, “Aye, Cap.”

The two moved off in separate directions while Jason continued to watch Myers, who lingered outside Dira’s RTM for a moment, then jogged off toward the others.

* * *

With the evacuated campsite now twenty minutes behind them, Ricket’s best-guess estimate was the drone was about a half mile away. He and Jason continued to stare at the holo-display, waiting for the drone’s icon to reappear. What came into view was a slow moving herd.

Jason leaned forward, using his HUD optics to zoom into the distant landscape. Sure enough, they were dinosaurs.

“
What are those things, Rizzo?”

“
Triceratops, Captain. There must be thirty or forty of them.”

They approached single file, in a long line. Soon they’d be upon them and Jason nervously took in their girth—huge, almost beyond belief. Sure, he’d seen their pictures in books, their skeletons propped up in museums, but here, in real time, they were truly frightening.

“
Perhaps we should get out of their path.”

“
Although they are believed to be fierce fighters, they’re herbivores. I don’t think they’ll pay us much attention, unless we directly confront them or make a surprise movement,” Rizzo said.

As the lumbering dinosaurs moved by, Jason and the rest of the team stepped several paces back into the trees to let the long procession pass. Each one had a large boney frill protruding upward behind its head, and three horns, not dissimilar to those on the rhino-warriors. As Rizzo suggested, they didn’t seem to have an interest in them. Thick stubby legs trod forward, kicking up layers of dust. To Jason, their behavior reminded him of huge cows. Even their repetitive jaw movements were like cows chewing their cuds.

Few Words made a sudden shoulder jerk that turned into an almost flailing motion. He quickly reached an arm behind himself to scratch one of his oozing mosquito bites. That was all it took to startle the closest of the Triceratops. It charged. Head low and horns pointed forward, it came directly for Few Words. Holding his ground, the rhino-warrior brought up his heavy hammer instead of drawing his plasma weapon. Jason brought up his own multi-gun but before he could get off a shot, Petty Officer Myers stepped in next to Few Words, blocking Jason’s clear shot angle. Myers fired continuously but the massive beast kept coming. Spouts of blood erupted from its head and forward torso as mini-rail munitions peppered the Triceratops’s hide. No more than ten yards out, Traveler and the two other rhino-warriors rushed in from the dinosaur’s left flank. With one swing of its massive head, the Triceratops’s forward horn took one of the rhino-warriors’s head clear off at the shoulders.

Two more Triceratops charged. Jason pivoted and fired. Changing from rail to mini-missiles, the closest Triceratops’s eye exploded in a plume of smoke. Its steps faltered and it came to a stop. Shaking its head violently, it turned and ran off in the direction of the other fleeing dinosaurs. Two crazed dinosaurs remained and both were out for blood, but heavy hammers swung and multi-guns fired until both triceratops lay still on the ground.

The four rhino-warriors went down to three in number: Traveler, Few Words, and the one called Born Late. Another SEAL was lost, as well—John Parker—leaving Jason, Billy, Rizzo, Myers, Chang, Goldstein, and Mead as the remaining Navy combatants. Dira and Ricket both survived and were attending to the injured.

This mission was taking a bloody toll. As the casualties added up, Jason was becoming more and more convinced that how they dealt with their enemies, the Craing and now this faction of the Caldurians called the Originals, needed to change. No longer could he and his father afford to hold back advanced technologies from their own government, fearing they would be misused or cause an imbalance of power among the rivaling nations on Earth. It was only from strength that Earth and the Alliance would survive. But first he and his team needed to be successful here—because in this realm of time, the Earth that was home didn’t exist.

Both the SEAL’s and rhino-warrior’s remains were phase-shifted deep below ground. There was little time for any kind of memorial service in such a perilous environment.

The injured, attended to by Dira, included Myers. Apparently he’d been stepped on by a triceratops; his battle suit saved his life. But even battle suits had protective limits, and Myers had one, maybe two, broken ribs. Myers’ internal nanites would repair the damage in hours, so it mystified Jason why he needed so much attention. The upper portion of his suit was off and Dira was wrapping his chest with a bandage.

“
In ten minutes you’ll be completely healed. It’s just not necessary,” Dira explained, sounding more impatient than she probably had intended. She finished up. She looked at Myers and didn’t return his smile. “You’re all set. Thank you for wasting needed medical supplies.” She collected her supplies, stood, and strode off without acknowledging Jason’s presence.

Jason watched as the petty officer’s eyes leveled on her, tracking her as she walked away. He brought his attention back to matters at hand. With their latest round of casualties, everyone was quiet, introspective. Jason and Ricket took point, following in the rough direction of the last sighting of the drone icon. Jason took a quick look behind; everyone was on edge—heightened senses coincided with the violence of the land. Jason saw Billy in the process of lighting up.

“
Not now, Billy. We don’t need to announce our approach any more than we already have.”

Billy withdrew the cigar from his lips and lowered his visor. Behind him Dira and Myers walked silently together.

Chapter 36

Chapter 36

The following two hours were uneventful. Rizzo continued to share his knowledge about the late Cretaceous period as they passed by several small dinosaurs, a few odd-looking mammals, and various plant genomes and how they differed from today’s varieties. Ricket was the most interested and never short on questions.

Ricket slowed as he accessed his locator equipment. “What do you know … the icon appeared on the first try,” he said.

Jason looked at the holo-display and saw the now-bright and steady icon. “Where is it? Maybe only a hundred yards out?”

“
Yes, Captain, no more than that,” Ricket replied, nodding; he continued to look at the display as if waiting for something to happen.

“
If we’re this close we should move on and get it over with,” Jason said, turning away.

Ricket stayed still. “It’s just that …”

“
What is it, Ricket?” Jason asked over his shoulder, now several paces ahead.

“
If you look at the surrounding terrain, the drone appears to be close to another lake and some large life forms.”

“
Dinosaurs are large. We’ve certainly determined that,” Jason shot back.

“
No, these animals are of a whole different magnitude. And from what Rizzo has described, we’re not looking at your everyday T-Rex, either.”

Jason and Rizzo both fell back, rejoining Ricket.

Rizzo bent over and took a closer look at the display. “Well, I don’t know what we’re looking at here, but during this period, the late Cretaceous, T-Rex was the biggest badass around.”

“
Why don’t we just keep walking and see for ourselves?” Dira remarked from behind them, looking mystified.

“
I agree, let’s just go. Close that up, Ricket. We’re almost there,” Jason said, heading off into the trees.

As Jason led the team forward, the surrounding forest seemed to thin out. In the distance, he could make out the shimmering surface of the lake Ricket had mentioned. It certainly looked to be as large as the one the Perilous was currently floating on. It might be a good idea to bring her here; closer to us, more accessible, he thought.

Approaching the lake, only a few trees grew close to the shore. Jason stood and took in the picturesque view. The lake was large and blue, with distant snow-capped mountains off in the distance. Numerous streams and tributaries fed into the lake; one such stream was directly to their left.

“
Now this is making me homesick,” Dira said, smiling as she took in the postcard perfect view.

“
I have a small cabin, probably not far from here,” Myers said, leaning in close to Dira.

“
Maybe in sixty-five million years you can show it to me,” she replied, sarcastically.

Ricket assessed his equipment, nodded, and pointed to a clearing farther down the beach. “There, and inland just a bit, we’ll find the drone.”

“
And those life forms you were talking about?” Jason asked.

“
Also there. Although I’m getting readings from—”

Ricket’s words were cut short by a disturbance in the water. It took Jason’s brain several moments to wrap around what he was seeing. First, a long slender snout broke the surface, like that of a crocodile, although this one was of a massive scale. As the dinosaur continued to rise out of the water, it became apparent it was not a T-Rex. Dragon-like, the beast had a curved dorsal ridge of long spines along its back and was easily a third bigger than a T-Rex. The size of the thing seemed nearly incomprehensible.

“
That’s not possible,” Rizzo said, astonishment in his voice. “What you’re looking at is a Spinosaurus. There simply was no bigger dinosaur … ever.”

“
And I take it that it, too, is carnivorous?” Jason asked him.

“
I honestly don’t know that much about the species, other than they lived both on land and water, and were supposed to have died out millions of years before this time period. It shouldn’t be existing here!”

“
No one make any abrupt movements. Let’s let him go wherever he’s going.”

Standing like statues, the team had learned well from their previous encounter with the Triceratops. Jason took in the massive beast as it stepped out of the water and onto the beach. With every step, the ground shook. With casual glances downward and to the left, the Spinosaurus turned its long snout toward the team, standing still in the shadows of a few trees. As it disappeared into the tree line, only its moving head was visible.

Jason let out a sigh of relief and nodded toward Rizzo. “Let’s hope we never have to see that thing again.”

“
Captain,” Ricket said, “we may have to. Indicators show the probe is situated in that general direction.”

“
Yeah, of course it is.”

Jason moved out in front and followed the large footprints into the tree line. He’d learned from experience it wasn’t a good thing when the forest was this quiet. Bringing sudden attention to yourself when in the proximity of large predators was a good way to get yourself dead. The team moved with more speed than usual, and stayed close together. About to tell everyone to spread out, Jason came to an abrupt stop. He held up a clenched fist, and those behind him held their positions and crouched down low.

Jason spoke quietly over his comms. “Slow it down … Tread quietly, everyone.” The team moved further into the trees toward the commotion Jason had heard. Although the trees obscured much of what was going on ahead, something was happening on a gargantuan scale. As they crept closer, it became clear there was more than one Spinosaurus. Jason next witnessed something he wished he hadn’t.

“
Wow. There’s been speculation for hundreds of years,” Rizzo whispered. “I now have to admit, it makes perfect sense.”

Dira, smiling, brought her hand up to cover her mouth and exchanged a quick glance with Jason. The ground shook and trees swayed. The team took in the violent scene before them. Obviously, it was the female of the two dinosaurs that was on her side, almost on her back—her long, sharp, fin-like spikes pushed off at an angle into the ground and away from the towering male above her. Her jaws were agape and tightly clenched around the male’s thick neck. As he drove his seven-foot-long member into her, she tightened her jaws with each frenzied thrust. Blood flowed freely from his torn neck. It ended quickly and the male was off her and running deep into the forest before she had a chance to gain her feet. It was only then that the nest came into view.

Ricket pointed, but no words were necessary. Not substantially different from a typical bird’s nest, other than its enormous size, the nest was circular and made from an accumulation of tree trunks, branches, foliage, and, surprisingly, other dinosaur bones. The six eggs seemed proportionally small, considering the size of the female Spinosaurus, now up and standing nearby. But what the team’s eyes were transfixed on was the six-foot-diameter sphere sitting in the middle of the nest, as if trying to pass itself off as one of the much smaller eggs around it.

Dira was the first to start laughing. Her helmet obscured the sound from the outside environment and, fortunately, from the mother-to-be Spinosaurus. Soon Jason and Rizzo, followed by Ricket, saw the humor in the unlikely placement and started to laugh too. As if sensing their presence in the trees, the dinosaur abruptly looked down from her towering height to their low position. Already agitated, she took quick steps forward. Blood continued to fall from her mouth, and several large drops splashed at their feet. The seriousness of the situation brought Jason back to the mission at hand.

“
We’re going to need a diversion to get her away from that nest,” Jason said. Both Ricket and Rizzo stared back at Jason with blank expressions. “Ricket, get that other probe prepped and ready to land here. I’m going back to talk to Traveler … you hang tight here.”

Jason waited for the agitated dinosaur to move toward her nest before scurrying back toward his waiting team. He saw Traveler’s life icon position on his HUD and changed direction. He found him standing tall at the side of a large tree trunk.

“
Captain Reynolds. You have witnessed a great thing.”

“
You saw the … um … situation with the dinosaurs, I take it?”

“
Yes, Captain. It was unmistakable, of course.”

“
There’s a dinosaur nest and an agitated mother who’s ill-disposed to move more than a few feet away. Unfortunately, our sphere’s right there, in the nest along with her eggs.”

Traveler was nodding his head; Jason did not need to explain further. “We will distract this great beast. When she comes after us, you must act fast, Captain. We have never faced an adversary such as her. One so huge!”

Jason had seen this look in Traveler’s eyes before. It was a look of eager anticipation. Challenges such as this one were what the rhino-warrior lived for.

Chapter 37

Chapter 37