Knocked Up in the Jurassic, Chapter 2
My stories are copyrighted, so NO takee!! The great story icon was gift art from a fan, whose name I have managed to lose! It depicts Charlie's first meeting with Barney when 'she' was compromised in a rather spectacular manner in Chapter 1.
Knocked up in the Jurassic!
Chapter 2
By William W, Kelso
I eyed the hills the spaceship had disappeared behind, and then with a hiss I turned and moved into the woods, followed closely by my mate Barney and the three hatchlings. When it came to running the 'family' a female Allosaurus was pretty much in charge, so my mate deferred to my judgment; at least usually, he could be kind of obstinate sometimes though. We'd just stuffed ourselves on a nice fresh carcass too, so the chicks and Barney were feeling pleasantly full and sleepy. I was full too, but was NOT sleepy, not in the least. Why the HELL did an alien spaceship have to show up now, and in MY territory? I'd pretty much resigned myself to losing all contact with the future, living out the rest of my life as a prehistoric monster, and now this!
It had only been a few months since Barney and I had become mates, and in the process I'd been doomed to spend the rest of my life as a female dinosaur living in the Jurassic. It was the rules, I'd been compromised. I didn't like it, but understood it. There could be NO risk of contamination, so both myself, and Tina, another TROP Observer; 'Temporal Research and Observation Program' volunteer had been sentenced to stay in the past since our NFSG 'Negative Field Shield Generators had been destroyed and we'd both been infected with germs and other microorganism's that could prove to be fatal to humans in the future. Since we'd been sent back sterile there was no danger to the past being contaminated by germs from the future, hopefully. But so far it had worked.
So I had a mate; a fine one by my new species standards, kids, and was pretty happy all things considered, and now this. Someone had to let them know in the future that aliens had landed in the past, and I was the only dinosaur on hand who could do it. Man that sounded weird! I half expected Rod Serling to step out of the bushes and start narrating, but of course Barney would probably eat him. And I had no idea if Tina, who was a female Ceratosaurus, had seen the ship. And the last time I'd seen her she'd had a steady boyfriend too and some youngsters of her own following them around. On top of that part of me just didn't care about the future, a result of my 'mental degradation' as I became more and more used to being a dinosaur as my human mind faded into my subconscious as the dinosaur brain became dominant, and the 'future' seemed more and more like a dream.
I'd always know I used to be human, but was thinking more and more like the dinosaur whose body I wore. My main concerns now were my mate, and my chicks. I really had to think about it, but finally decided the spaceship was probably a bigger threat than anything else, so; with a snort of annoyance, I turned and headed towards where the ship had landed. I needed to get a closer look. Barney sensed I was disturbed about something, and moving up next to my side he worriedly bumped his snout against my neck, and licked my snout. I gave a soft hiss of affection and returned his 'kiss', I really did love him, he was so sweet. And it wasn't entirely animal love, my human part loved him to, and even though as a human I'd been male I was a female Allosaurus now, in every way. And I had not been terribly surprised to find out that dinosaurs were capable of love, very much so. I was mated for life, and my mate WAS my life. For all that he was a powerful killing machine he could be amazingly tender and caring about his mate and hatchlings, and also extremely defensive. Nobody and nothing messed with his family.
As we moved we kept a close eye on the three chicks, two girls and a little male. He had his daddy's markings; and the two females looked more like me. While two full grown Allosaurus's were pretty much untouchable; only something really stupid would mess with us; and contrary to popular belief most dinosaurs were not all that stupid, there was always danger to the chicks as any other smaller or moderate sized predators would make short work of them. Not so much for food as to remove competition. So we kept them nearby at all times, usually in between us as we moved, and we were very caring parents, even brutes like us loved our children dearly.
It was quite a ways to the hills I was heading for, and it was right on the edge of what we thought of as 'our territory', so I knew the way. It would take another day to get there. So we 'camped' for the night next to some large boulders in a small clearing surrounded by the ever present giant ferns and trees that reminded me of conifers. We slept with the children in the middle of a kind of circle made by our curled bodies. We took turns sleeping, one adult awake at all times even as we rested. The chicks curled up next to us for comfort and warmth, and we would lick them every now and then, eyes partially closed in affection. We gave one another a lick every now and then too, also in affection and love. I looked at Barney in the moonlight and realized how lucky I was to have such a fine and strong mate, oh how I loved him. Seeing me watching him he gave a hiss and rubbed his snout against mine, his eyes glowing from the moonlight as he gave me a long slow lick. With a soft snort of contentment I lay my head down and dozed off, I knew we were perfectly safe with him on watch.
As we neared the crest of the hills I began to see signs of panic among other animals. Herds of herbivores passed us; all going in the same direction; away from the ship, nervously eyeing us from a distance. Since we'd just eaten the day before they weren't in any real danger from us, but they didn't know that. I didn't blame them for being cautious at all, but we always got one anyway. We were accomplished predators, and never went hungry. We used ambush tactics like lions, one of us would drive the prey right into the jaws of the other, and we seldom missed. The trees thinned out near the top of the line of hills, and we got our first good view of the spaceship. Or I should say I did, Barney and the chicks could have cared less. If it wasn't food, or mom, they weren't much interested though the chicks might have taken a closer look given the chance; they were pretty curious little things.
And the ship was huge; I'd had NO idea how big it was since it had been so far away when it landed. I tried to estimate the size, but found it hard to do with any degree of accuracy; to my dinosaur mind it was just 'flipping big'. But it towered over the hilltop I was watching from and they were pretty tall, and the ship was round just like a saucer. The sides barely curved as they went out of sight, and I realized it was as big as a town. And it really had landed; it was resting on the surface and had churned up a large pile of dirt and debris around the base, and had even blocked a rather large stream which was damming up against one side. But something wasn't quite right.
For some reason I got the impression it hadn't been so much a landing as a controlled crash. For one thing it was lopsided and didn't look like it was meant to just land on its underside. And I also saw what looked like a partially extended landing gear that looked bent, and there was a rather large crack running up one side and it also looked partially crumpled. So, I thought, they must have had engine trouble. But from this distance I couldn't really get any more detail, so would need to move closer. And that was the problem, I didn't want Barney or the kids anywhere near that thing. I knew if I was an alien that had just landed on a weird new planet, and something like me showed to say 'Hi', I'd shoot first and run like Hell second.
But I needed to find some way to let Dr. Braum know about this, and I figured it would blow his academic little mind. It had pretty much blown mine. So with a 'follow me' snort I turned around and headed back down the hill, Barney and the kids close behind. Barney snuffled at my tail a little, and I gave a soft grunt and 'smiled'. I was just starting to go into estrus, and was looking forward to what was coming, but it would be a few more days. I 'smiled' again; soon my belly would be full of eggs, and I gave a happy honk, I was looking forward to laying another clutch. But I was looking forward to the pleasure my mate would give me even more. Our first mating had been...glorious.
I figured the best way to try and get in contact with Dr. Braum in the future was to return to the hilltop where TROP had always dropped off; and pickd up, the Observer's it sent back. The 'Observer's were always humans who had been transformed into animals from the correct time period using an incredibly advanced mutagen virus that 'attacked' and changed their DNA; and form into that of the 'donor' animal, leaving nothing human behind. But you retained your human memories and awareness intact, at least for awhile, as well as having the animals natural instincts. This made you the perfect observer for the period you were picked for, and if something happened to you then you were just another animal carcass; and any of the very limited technology you took with you was designed to biodegrade in a few weeks into unidentifiable goo leaving no trace. The form was always a top predator of the period as that way you'd be able to move about with less danger, and everything else would pretty much leave you alone. If you went back as an herbivore or smaller life form chances are you'd end up as something's lunch.
After working 'in the field' for a year you were transformed back into your human form, collected your pay, and retired fixed for life. But if you screwed up; as I had done, literally by letting myself get humped during a careless moment when I let my guard down while I was in estrus, your ticket to Jurassic Park became one way. But hopefully TROP was still using that same location to send other Observers, and I was pretty sure they would be as it wasn't easy to set the coordinates for time jumps. If they were I should be able to contact any Observers if I hung around long enough, providing, that is, that Barney didn't eat them. My communication implant would still be working as it ran off my body's electrical field, so I should be able to contact them. And there again, the problem was they were short range. So if I did run into an Observer I had to make sure I could ditch Barney and the kids; which was easier said than done. For one thing it would make me antsy and unpredictable to be away from them for any length of time as a female Allosaurus has a very narrow range of concerns and interests, her family being all of them, and those had replaced most of my human concerns and interests. Plus Barney and the kids would be as worried as Hell if I was gone for any length of time, and would come looking for me, and would find me as there was no way I could cover my scent. It's truly amazing how much we depended on scent, and what it could tell you.
We reached the hilltop are a few days later and I hung around the forest that edged the bottom of the hill. Barney and the kids pretty much just lazed about as after our last feast it would be another week before we'd start to get hungry again. So while they dozed in the shade I 'patrolled' the area. It was just within the territory claimed by Tina and her own 'family'. She was a predator too, somewhat smaller than an Allosaurus, but still nasty. Her species had an edge on us in speed, but in an actual fight our size and weight advantage was a major plus. Still, we avoided any confrontations if possible. Even if you won you'd usually be pretty badly chewed up, and if you were crippled, well, that was a slow death sentence here. A cripples only hope was a family that would look after them. So most predators avoided conflict with others, unless they had a good reason. The ones you had to worry about were young unmated adults looking to establish their own territory, and sometimes they traveled in small loose 'packs'. They usually wouldn't mess with a mated pair though.
I wandered up to the top of the hill and looked around the world I called home now. I thought it was pretty much perfect, which I guess was my dinosaur minds point of few. I had originally been surprised when it turned out to be more semi-arid rather then a gloomy swamp like you usually saw in the movies. Oh, there was swamp, just not in this area. It got really hot in the daytime and pretty cool at night. And when it rained; boy did it rain, talk about torrential downpours, it was like standing under a waterfall. But it was the 'dry' season right now, though there was plenty of water as some of the rivers and creeks flowed all year long. I snooped around, but other than a partially rotted backpack there was no sign of any Observers. There was a real chance they'd closed down sending any more Observers to this period and/or to this exact site. If that was the case I was fucked, and there would be nothing I could do. After mulling over the situation; which was surprisingly hard to do as my attention span had grown a lot shorter, I decided to hang around until the need to hunt made it necessary to leave the area as game was scarce here; it was too open, and let 'nature' take its course. I figured eventually I'd forget about the aliens as the human part of my mind kept degrading, and just finish living out my life here. I wondered how long an Allosaurus lived, anyway? So far as I could tell Barney and I were pretty young and in our prime, so I hoped it would be a long time. Thinking about Barney and the kids made my instincts kick in, and with a worried grunt I set off to find them.
Four days later I got lucky; depending on your point of view. To my human part it was luck, to my dinosaur part it was another annoying break in a simple life. I had left the hubby and kids down by the creek and wandered over to the hilltop, and just about the time I got there I saw a flash; smelled ozone, and knew an Observer had arrived. I looked around; no sign of Barney, so started up the hill. As I got near the top I saw movement, and at first thought it was Tina, but soon realized it was a male Ceratosaurus. The second he saw me he went into a defensive stance and I knew I had to hurry, he might trigger his emergency recall program if he felt he was definitely threatened as I was bigger than he was. The rules were to run, and if that didn't work, bug out.
"Wait!" I 'said' via the implant, and he lifted his head and cocked it inquisitively in surprise. Good, the implant was still working. I didn't get too close though as I couldn't trust some of my own instincts anymore, part of me still saw him as a 'threat' and 'trespasser'.
"Who the Hell are you?" He asked.
"Nice to meet you too, I replied, I'm Subject No. A-11, name's Charlie."
The male raised his head even more, "I'm Subject C-11, my name is Bruce. I've heard about you, you screwed up and had to be left in the past, you and another Class C Subject. I'm really sorry about that."
"Don't be, I replied, it's not so bad once you 'adapt' to the lifestyle. But look, we may not have much time, Barney might come looking for me, and he's not much on introductions I'm afraid, he's a bit overly protective."
"Barney?" Bruce asked, with a snort.
"My mate, I said, if he shows up he'll attack you and not worry about asking any questions first, or later, the big goof. He'll think he's protecting me."
"Oh, that's right, Bruce said, I heard about um, er, how you got compromised. Its part of the training now, and they give us shots to keep us from going into heat or rut. That must have been, well, interesting."
"You have no idea", I replied; remembering the feeling of Barney's weight on my back when he took me and made me his mate. He's been so strong, so dominate, and I'd never felt such intense overwhelming pleasure; "and don't knock it until you've tried it." I added.
"Er, thanks, I'll pass, Bruce said, being a dinosaur for a year is interesting, but I'll pass on the sex and family part, thank you very much."
"But look, I said, the reason I came back here is, you won't fucking believe this, but an Honest to God alien spaceship crash landed a few weeks ago, and it's a big mother. Sucker is huge."
"A what!?! Bruce said with a hiss, you're pulling my leg, right? Maybe you've gone native for too long or something, and are hallucinating."
"No, seriously, I wish I hadn't seen the damn thing land! I said, you don't understand how hard it was for me to take this action. The longer you're like this the more you become the dinosaur, and that part of me wanted to just ignore it and go on my way. But I'm not that far gone yet. You need to go back right now and let them know though. We'll need more gear for sure, and, Oh, one other thing, ask Dr. Braum if he has anything I could give Barney and the hatchlings to knock them out for awhile. Having them following me around could really screw things up. I mean, if they want us to try and contact the aliens or something it would kind of blow it if Barney showed up and started biting their heads off."
"Hmmm, good idea, Bruce said, I can see where they might consider that a hostile action. I'll be sure to ask the Doc. Any other messages?"
I thought hard for a second, "No, I don't really have any close family back in the future, but do you know how the Phillies have been doing this season?"
Bruce snorted in amusement, "No, afraid not, but I'll be sure to find out for you."
I suddenly heard a loud 'Where are you, my love?' bellow from not terribly far away. "Better go, I said, that's my hubby, and he's looking for me!" I threw up my head and gave an answering 'I'm coming honey' bellow. "See you later; I'll hang around this area until you come back." I told Bruce, then turned and loped in the direction the worried bellow had come from, anxious to see my mate and our hatchlings.
As soon as I reached Barney there was a brief 'reunion', nuzzles and snout rubs all around, and I 'kissed' each of the youngsters on their snouts with a quick lick of my tongue. One of the hatchlings gave an 'I'm hungry, mom!' squeal, so time to hunt. Since the hunting was a lot better in the general direction of the ship that worked out nicely, so with a snort I turned and headed in that direction, the kids following and Barney bringing up the rear, ever watchful for any threat to his mate and young. I figured a day or two to give Bruce time to report in and for the eggheads to take some kind of action, then I'd come back to the hilltop. I'd of course keep an eye out for any sign of the aliens, they might be sending out scouting parties to check out the new neighborhood. I would.
A few hours later we crossed the trail of a small group of herbivores on the move. I looked at Barney, he looked at me, and we both turned in the direction the herd had gone. The trail was fresh, and we caught up with the herd after a couple of miles. Or I should say part of the herd as we came up on a straggler who was having a hard time keeping up. It was an easy kill, the young bull was lame and there was no way he could outrun an Allosaurus. It may seem cruel but my family was hungry, and it was eat or die in my world. But the kill was quick as we don't torment or 'play' with prey. We kill it and eat it, as quickly as possible. While Barney and the kids pigged out I kept watch, and when it was my turn I noticed the wound on a hind leg that had made the usually fast and hard to catch prey so slow. I sniffed it and smelled something a part of me vaguely remembered, cooked meat. The wound was a burn, an almost perfect hole that had burned deeply into the flesh and bone, and the only reason the animal hadn't died from blood loss was the wound was cauterized. Neither the human or dinosaur parts of me had ever seen a wound like it before. But I lost interest pretty quickly once the taste of raw flesh and blood filled my mouth, and with snarls of pleasure I savagely tore off large chunks and swallowed them whole. Oh yeah, this was the life! After eating our fill; our bellies noticeably bulging, we 'groomed' for awhile, gently licking the blood off of one another's snouts and the youngsters in our regular after dinner 'quality time' ritual. I loved the feel of Barney's thick rough wet tongue as he gently licked me, and the feel of his hide against my own tongue as I licked him. We crooned our love softly, rubbing against one another and the chicks. It was surprisingly tender, and wonderful. Then it was time to move on. The young Apatosaurus had been fairly small and we didn't leave much other than a few well chewed bones and hide, had it been a larger kill we might have stuck around for awhile for seconds.
Dr. Braum looked up as the AI chimed for his attention, and said, "Doctor, Subject C-11 has just returned after a very short insertion, and requests immediate contact with you, Bruce says it's an emergency, level Red. He's waiting in Bay 13 to talk to you."
"Acknowledged, Dr. Braum said, and on my way!"
Level Red meant a major fuck-up, so he hurried as fast as he could, using his card to swipe through several security doors. He entered an observation booth and looked through the armored glass window at Bay 13. He was quite used to the scene it showed, the banks of equipment, cables strewn on the floor, and the raised platform in the center. Men in biosuits; mainly technicians, moved around the equipment performing the never ending task of running system checks and diagnostics, and other boring; but necessary, routines. At one time he might have been awed; actually he still was a little, by the sight of the large Theropod standing in one corner of the large Bay. And the Ceratosaurus certainly was awesome enough, just one look instantly told anyone, or anything; predator, run! He keyed the comsystem to pick up the dinosaurs implant, and keying the mike said,
"Hi Bruce, looks like you cut your trip a little short, what's up?"
"Hi Doc", said Bruce, the dinosaur raising his head to stare up at the observation booth. "This com channel secure? I have got some news you won't believe, still not sure I believe it myself."
"Yeah, Dr. Braum replied, no one can hear us, even the AI can't."
"Good, Bruce said, just after I was inserted I was approached by a female Allosaurus, she said she was Subject A-11, and since she had an implant I didn't doubt it of course. But what she told me was, well, mind boggling."
"A-11, Charlie?? He, I mean she, is still alive, and cognizant? I'm surprised, usually the mental degradation is pretty bad by now and she'd find it hard to relate in a 'normal' fashion. How's she doing?"
"Well, Bruce said, she was a little on the squirrely side, but she was in excellent health, one lean mean lady. She's got a mate and hatchlings, was really worried about them. I think the news she had shocked her back into a more human mind set Doc, she said a huge alien spacecraft has crashed, and wants to know what to do."
"A WHAT?" Dr. Braum blurted out.
"I had the same reaction myself", Bruce said with a snort that made some techrats look at him nervously. "But I think she's on the level, I could tell she was really worked up about it."
"Well, Dr. Braum said, Charlie was always a bit of a joker, but he, I mean she, wouldn't make up something like this. Did you see it, get any recordings?"
"No such luck Doc, Bruce said, Charlie said it was several days travel from the insertion point. She said to give her some cameras and whatever else in the way of gear you think might be useful, and she'd take a closer look. I can do it too, be a better chance if two of us did a recon. Oh, she wants some drugs or something to knock out her mate and kids, says since they basically run as a pack having them following her around might cause problems."
"This is a big one Bruce, Dr. Braum said, I'm taking this on my own head but we need to take action as soon as possible. If I run this by the powers that be it could get tied up in committee for years before the idiots make any kind of decision. Plus I want more conclusive proof, so getting some recordings is the most important thing right now, and an actual alien artifact or two would be fantastic, but do NOT take any chances. Avoid any direct contact at all costs. We do NOT want them to be aware they're being observed by another technically advanced race. We need to approach this situation carefully before we decide what to do. I'll have supply run over some longer range and night vision cameras adapted for use by your body types, and also some tranquilizers that should work on Charlie's mate and kids. And for now this is just between you and me, NO one else. We can NOT let this news get out, you OK with that?"
"Sure Doc, I understand, Bruce replied. But what about the techrats? Won't they wonder about my coming back so quickly?"
"Not really, Dr. Braum said, I'll log it as an emergency recall due to the presence of a large predator in the immediate area of the insertion point, and your recordings so far will back that up. They'll take one look at your recordings of Charlie and agree it was a necessary recall. Since you were only on site for about an hour I'll also authorize an immediate re-insertion, no need to mess with decon procedures other then basic wash down since your NFSG wasn't compromised. By the time they get through the extra gear should be here. If anyone asks about the gear just tell them you have no idea, that some admin type wanted the stuff field tested so far as you know. I doubt they'll ask though, you're pretty intimidating in this form."
Bruce lifted a forearm and used a huge claw to pick between his equally huge fangs. "Yeah, I do have that affect on people." He said smugly.
Dr. Braum chuckled. "OK Bruce, I guess I'll see you when you get back. You tell Charlie to be careful, and you be careful too. If you encounter a female Ceratosaurus with an implant her name is Tina, she might be able to be of some help too. I'll have them include plenty of the tranquilizers just in case. The large pills are for adults, the small for young."
Dr. Braum watched as a techrat arrived carrying an extra bag of gear, and after suiting up he made some changes to the cameras mounted at strategic points on Bruce's body. He attached an additional small pack to his back next to the power source for the NFSG; it was a small computer that would operate the cameras and automatically work the zoom and other features since the dinosaurs fairly short arms and large claws were pretty much useless for fine tuning any equipment. As the dinosaur walked up and squatted in the center of the platform he keyed the mike again,
"Break a leg Bruce." Dr. Braum said, and the dinosaur waved a forearm as the equipment hummed into life, and he turned away from the bright light. When he looked back the dinosaur was gone.
Bruce immediately checked the area, both visually and for any scents that might indicate danger. He'd materialized right in the middle of a stampede once; now THAT had been interesting, terrifying, but interesting. But the hilltop was clear and the faint breeze only brought normal scents of plants and a few faint ones of animals. No sign of the female Allosaurus known as Charlie. Well, he might as well test out the new gear until she shows up, if she does. He'd give her three days, and then he'd head out in the direction Charlie had indicated the ship was himself. There was always a possibly she'd gone 'feral', and lost interest in the situation.
I knew Bruce was in the area as I approached the hilltop, I could smell the male Ceratosaurus as I was downwind. But I still approached cautiously even though I recognized it was Bruce from his scent. He would have the survival instincts of his current form as well; and if I surprised him he might attack me as an automatic response to the sudden appearance of another predator. You do NOT sneak up on one of us and say 'Boo', unless you're suicidal. As I got closer I gave a low nonthreatening grunt to announce my presence. I'd managed to give Barney the slip down by the creek, but didn't know how long I could get away with it. I was entering estrus, and the big goof was being even more attentive than usual, he knew I'd be receptive soon. Hell, I already was! I flared my nostrils, Barney's faint scent comforting, my need for him growing more intense hourly. It was hard for me not to just turn around and go to him.
Bruce turned and lifted his head as high as he could, and spotted the female Allosaurus right away. He tensed, unsure, until he realized it was Charlie.
"Hi Charlie, Bruce said, right on time, I've only been here for a few hours. Anything new to report?"
"No, I replied, not a thing. Been quiet. Need to move out soon though as the hubby and kids and are getting hungry and hunting around here is lousy."
Bruce felt a sensation of longing as he thought of hunting. Like all Observers he'd been given an appetite suppression drug to keep his natural instincts to hunt from becoming too strong. If he ever gave in he'd compromise his NFSG and have to remain here. But part of him wanted to stalk and kill, and he drooled at the thought of raw meat and fresh blood. The sides of beef he was fed back at TROP HQ were fine, but still...
"Bruce, you there?" Charlie said, and Bruce realized she'd been talking to him for awhile. He shook his head to clear it, and replied,
"Sorry, my mind kind of wandered there for a few seconds."
"Be careful about that, I said, a few moments distraction is all it takes for someone to get the advantage on you. Then you're dead, very quickly. Or you get compromised, believe me, I know."
Bruce shook his head again, she was right. She moved a little closer to him, and as the wind died down he finally caught her scent. He flared his nostrils with a grunt when he realized she was going into heat, and even though she was a different species it still smelled...interesting, and for the first time since he'd been changed into his current form he felt a stirring of lust, and was shocked by the intensity of it. He cautiously backed away a little from the larger female, and said,
"I talked to Doc, and he sent some special gear for us to use when we do a recon on the alien spacecraft. There's an extra set if Tina turns up too, or if we break one of ours. He also said to say the Phillies are runners up. Here, let me fix the cameras on you." He picked up the bag and started towards the Allosaurus.
As Bruce started toward me I dropped my head and hissed, "What are you doing!?" I said, and snapped my jaws.
"I was going to fix some cameras to you", Bruce said, as he froze and instinctively dropped into a defensive stance at the sign of aggression.
"Don't come too close, I said, my instincts are stronger now, I might attack you without meaning too. You have to understand, most of me sees you as an enemy. I can't let you touch me, I just can't!" And I snapped my jaws again in warning, giving a low hiss.
"Ooookay", Bruce said, backing away with his head down submissively, which he might not realize was his own instincts kicking in to avoid accepting a challenge from another predator. Which was smart, she was larger than he was.
"Look, I said, it's not personal, OK? Just drop the bag with the extra cameras and I'll fit them myself, I still remember how to do all that. Give me a week, no, make it ten days. No, I...damn it, look, I have some trouble telling time now; at least in days, but that should be about right. A few days to get there, a couple to scout around, and then a few more to get back. If I don't come back the ship is over there behind that dormant volcano." I said, pointing. I couldn't read a compass anyway, not with my kind of eyesight, couldn't see something that small close up.
"OK, Bruce said, but I'm going too, the Doc need as much Info as we can get, and if something happens to one of us maybe the other can make it back."
I whipped my tail indecisively, and said "I can understand that, but do NOT come anywhere near me. Barney would be extreme aggressive, especially right now. Stay at least several miles away. One you get around the volcano you can't miss the ship anyway, it's huge."
Bruce nodded; which looked kind of funny, and dropped the bag of gear. I picked it up, and with a wave of my tail turned and left. I figured he'd wait for awhile before following. I almost ran as I left, I was anxious to get back to my mate and children.
The youngsters were curious about the bag I was carrying, and I let them have a look, but once they figured out it wasn't food they lost interest. Barney just looked at the bag and grunted. He didn't care what it was, but if it was something I liked, fine with him. He came up to me and rubbed his snout against mine affectionately, and I rubbed back rumbling softly. If he smelled any of the male Ceratosaurus's scent on me he didn't 'mention' it, but since Bruce hadn't actually touched me I figured it had dissipated as I couldn't smell it either. Which was good, Barney could be so jealous. If another male of any kind even looked at me it was kick-ass time. Of course I'd help him do it too. He was the only male I wanted. If another male Allosaurus showed up sniffing after me he got both of us on his ass. We were mated for life, period. I gave him another loving rub with my snout, and from his reaction knew he was as ready as I was, but I wasn't quite in full blown estrus, so we'd wait until we found a more suitable place.
Normally we'd kind of laze around after stuffing ourselves, but this time I started moving slowly in the direction of the alien ship, and unquestioningly Barney and the kids followed. If mama wanted to move on, fine with them. The first couple of days I moved pretty much in as straight a line as I could manage. I didn't see any sign of Bruce, which was good, if he'd been stupid enough to try and contact me Barney would do a river dance on his ass, and I'd probably help. I knew I couldn't control my defensive instincts when it came to my mate and young, and if Barney got in a fight I'd pile on no matter who it was.
On the third day we reached a small waterhole, and after everything else split we had a nice long drink. It was small enough there wouldn't be any larger predators in it, so it was OK for the kids too. It was midday and hot so we moved into the shade of some trees for a siesta. While Barney and kids snoozed I kept watch, turning my head from side to side as I scanned the area, testing the breeze for any scent of possible danger. But the ground cover under the trees was pretty sparse, so anything that saw us stayed well away. Most dinosaurs may be kind of dense, but they're not really stupid. A family of sleeping Allosaurus's was not something you wanted to get anywhere near. T-Rex wouldn't show up for a few more million years, so we were pretty much on the top of the food chain. There were other nasties, but we pretty much had a 'leave me alone and I'll leave you alone' kind of arrangement that worked pretty well. That was of course unless they tried to move in on our turf, or threatened our young or mate. They might challenge if we were in their territory, but if we let them know we were just passing through they'd back down, honor served. I leaned over and gave Barney a lick, his taste exciting me. Soon my love, I thought, I'll be ready for you soon.
Bruce waited for a few hours after Charlie had left, and could hear the Allosaurus's calling to one another. He decided to make a sweep to the right and parallel their course as much as possible, but stay well away. He might be able to take on one Allosaurus, if necessary, but two? No way in Hell. He stopped at times to test out some of the new gear, and it was pretty good stuff. It was a little awkward as his front 'paws' weren't really designed to manipulate stuff at all, but the equipment had been designed with that in mind. By ducking his head he was able to slip on the binoculars, and even with them on they were hard to see as they were super state of the art stuff and were very small and thin and had the same coloring as his hide, and were angled to match his range of vision. It was neat; there were little readouts that gave the range and elevation of whatever he was looking at, and the computer automatically adjusted the zoon and focus to keep everything crystal sharp. Plus the night vision option was unlike any he'd used before, there was no green or red tint, it just looked like a fairly dim day. With an impressed grunt he kept on his way.
I was going nuts trying to figure out how to put the dam camera's on my body. The techrats had always done it before, but with my short forearms and three clumsy 'fingers' with their wicked long claws it was almost impossible to apply any of the cameras to my body, I just couldn't reach anywhere very easily and also couldn't see what I was trying to do most of the time. At least I still had the mounting pads; kind of like Velcro, that had been glued to my hide. Barney just sat and watched like he had no idea what in the world I was doing, and I'm sure he didn't. The kids got in the way, wanting to see what mommy was doing, and the little male ran off with one of the cameras and lost the damn thing, then one of the girls chewed a hole in the damn bag and when I lifted it up half the stuff fell out. I'd had it that point, and with a snap and snarl let them know mommy needed some 'alone time', so they hid behind daddy, who looked at me reproachfully. I just hissed, so he didn't press the point and he stayed where he was, three little heads popping up over his body to look at me from time to time to see if mommy was still pissed off.
Finally I managed to affix a couple of cameras on each side of my head and upper neck, but had no idea if I got the angles right. For all I knew they were pointing at the ground or sky, or my butt. I tried to look at my reflection in the pond, but too close so a no go. The binoculars were pretty amazing I had to admit, the techrats had outdone themselves on this one. They looked kind of like really thin goggles or ray-bans more than anything else, and even with them on it wasn't very obvious. I figured that except for really close up the aliens would never notice them, unless they had scanners or something that could pick them up. They were such low power though I doubted it, and being biodegradable plastic and other materials wouldn't show up on a metal detector. That little chore taken care of, more or less, I made up with the family and everyone was happy again, a few gentle snout nudges and everything was forgiven. I went down to the pond and got a drink, and when I came back Barney made his move.
As I walked back under the trees Barney got up to meet me, and with a low kind of moaning croon he rubbed his snout against mine, then moved to the top and sides of my tail at the base caressing me with his tongue and claws, gently scratching at my hide. I felt my breath quicken, my body trembling, and I knew what he wanted. I could smell the heady scent of his growing rut as he responded to my own pheromones. I was ripe, and it was time, and God, how I wanted him, and I gave a low moan of pleasure from the erotic foreplay. Man, he really knew how to turn a girl on!
The kids knew what was going on and made themselves scarce, they were old enough now to be fairly safe in a group, and if anything nasty showed up they'd let us know, so for now Barney and I were alone.
With low grunts and croons we rubbed our snouts against one another, bumping heads gently, and he moved down my body to my rear and rubbed his snout and claws gently against my tail again. I couldn't wait any longer, and with a moan of lust I crouched and lifted my tail, and gave a bellow of pleasure as he mounted me. He threw a leg over my body to pin me and hold my tail out of the way, and with a powerful lunge penetrated my swollen needy sex with a roar of exultation, announcing to the world that I was HIS mate! And I roared in ecstasy and approval to let the world know as well, that, yes indeed, he was MY mate and I loved him. He leaned forward and bit me on the back of the neck, but oh so very gently, and I quivered and moaned in ecstasy as he serviced me. He was so strong, so male, so magnificent, and the pleasure he was giving me incredible.
I clawed at the ground; my eyes half shut, as his hardness slid against the soft sensitive folds of my cloaca, grunting and groaning in pleasure and delight as we mated, so very happy. He suddenly gave a deep guttural snarl and bit a little harder; causing me to groan in delight, and sped up his thrusts, and a minute later I screeched as I felt his cum spurting deep inside my sex, his blasts triggering my own climax, and we both threw back our heads and roared in ecstasy. Then he waited for a minute before dismounting, and I spun around to face him and licked his snout crooning my satisfaction, letting him know how well he'd pleasured me, and he licked me back just as affectionately. In our own way we let each other know we were happy and lucky to have such a fine mate as we showed our love for one another. A few minutes later he was rubbing my tail again, and with a delighted snort I crouched and raised my tail for him. Again, already? Oh joy! Then I roared as he mounted me again, oh how I loved my mate!!
That slowed us down for a couple of days until we were satisfied, for now anyway. I'd be receptive for another week or so, so figured on a few more wonderful 'romantic' interludes. I'd tried to get him interested in sex out of season, but it was a no go, so I gave up after awhile, and as my instincts and needs became more and more those of an animal I pretty much lost interest myself. Except during breeding season of course, then I made the most of it. Then I was going to get it while the getting was good, as often as possible. Barney certainly didn't seem to mind that I was quite a demanding lady, and Barney was quite an energetic lover, and never left me wanting. He usually instigated our couplings, but he never turned me down when I let him know I wanted him. All I had to do was rub against him in a slinky sexy way, and he got the idea. Yes, I was quite happy with my mate, and loved him dearly. As we walked I sidled over next to him and rubbed my head against his neck to let him know I was 'in the mood', and a short time later we took a 'break', the forest echoing to feral bellows of pleasure and ecstasy for quite some time as my mate took me to heaven and back again several times.
When we reached the area of the ship again I was shocked, the aliens had been really busy. The local forest had been pretty much razed, either for the wood or for security reasons, I guessed. And there did seem to be some kind of perimeter fence about a hundred yards back from the edge of the razed area, but it didn't look like much, just some metallic poles at regular intervals. I figured probably an early warning alarm or something. Fortunately it wasn't necessary to get that close, the zoom on the binoculars was fantastic. Plus I figured if I did get too close the aliens would probably become alarmed, it would be pretty obvious to just about anyone; alien or not, that I was a nasty critter. And I wasn't planning on getting zapped by an X-14 Space Modulator or Buck Rogers ray gun, or the alien equivalent of a bazooka.
It was hot, so while Barney and the kids dozed well back in the trees in a nice shady spot I moved closer to the edge of the cleared area and zoomed in on the activity around the ship. And saw the aliens for the first time. They looked like, well, best I can describe them is giant rats. Not gerbils, or hamsters, or the cute & cuddly type rodents, but big ugly New York City sewer rats. They had brown to black fur, long pink or purple looking tails, beady black eyes as far as I could tell, and big snouts full of fangs. I could also tell the males from the females as some of them went naked; the females had rows of small titties, and the male's rather obvious genitalia, there was no mistaking those dangly bits for anything but cocks and balls, though they had penis sheaths. Most however wore some sort of shorts, even the females; evidently public display of breasts was not a social taboo, or some sort of coveralls. And it was obvious some were workers, and others soldiers; or at least security guards, as they carried what were obviously weapons. They looked a lot like rifles, and some had what looked like pistols of some kind. And they were real slobs; there was garbage and junk everywhere. Some were hauling off some of the trash, and as I watched a big hatch opened on the side of the ship about thirty feet off the ground, and more trash was dumped out. Litterbugs, I thought. Then the breeze brought me a whiff from the direction of the ship, and PU! They stank! I was used to nasty smells, rotting meat, shit, and the usual stuff (and believe me a five ton rotting carcass adds whole new meaning to the word 'stink'), but his was NASTY!
Then the wind changed again, and I wrinkled my snout as I caught the scent of something dead, a LOT of something's. I'd never smelled such an intense scent of blood and carrion before. It was a little ripe even for me; the sheer intensity almost overwhelming my senses, though I'd eaten carrion plenty of times. I was not a picky eater; it was amazing what my digestive tract could handle, and if I was hungry enough I'd eat almost anything. Whatever it was I was going to take a look, and I WAS kind of hungry. I went back for the hubby and kids; might as well make a family outing out of it. From the smell there was more than enough for a family of hungry eating machines.
We stopped on the edge of a large meadow, and I was appalled. Even Barney seemed kind of baffled, giving a perplexed sounding snort. It looked like a slaughterhouse, at least forty or fifty medium sized herbivores were lying scattered at random. At first I thought, maybe disease?? Which made me nervous, some of the eggheads speculated disease had killed off the dinosaurs, and I was a dinosaur. But it was soon obvious they'd been killed by the same weapon as the wounded browser I'd brought down a few days ago, most had the same nasty cauterized circular burns, some all the way through the bodies. But this hadn't been hunting; even though a few had been systematically butchered for the choicest cuts of meat, this had been target practice.
I gave a low rumbling hiss. Killing for food I could understand, but this was obscene. I was very quickly starting NOT to like our extraterrestrial visitors. I mean, how'd you feel if someone came out to your farm and shot all your cows for shits and grins? Well, at least there was plenty to go around. There were predators and scavengers of all sizes and shapes feeding on the carcasses, they'd probably attracted everything within miles. The only other time I'd seen so much dead meat in one place was after a herd tried to cross a river in flood, and a huge pile of drowned ones had piled up on a sandbar, and we'd feasted for days. It had been a feeding frenzy of epic proportions. So we staked a claim on a large female near the tree line, and the pack of smaller predators already there wisely moved to another carcass after a short exchange of hisses. It kind of went like this, them: 'Hiss, Hey, this is ours! Hiss!' Us: 'Hiss, Wanna make something out of it? Hiss.' Them: "Hiss, Naw, go ahead, you can have it. Hiss, Assholes.' Us: 'Hiss, I heard that! Hiss!', type of thing.
We'd been feeding for awhile; stuffing our snouts, when there was a sudden commotion further down the tree line. I heard a strange high pitched 'bzztzzt!', and something shrieked in pain. I froze, and then lifted my head up as high as I could and looked around. There was the carcass of a large bull that had been claimed by a pack of about a dozen small predators; I thought of them as raptors, small and very nasty. Even we wouldn't mess with that many as they were group hunters and would come at you from all sides and swarm all over you. We left them alone, and they didn't mess with us. Kind of a 'mutually assured self destruction' kind of deal; dinosaur style. I heard the same 'bzzzzt!', and watched as a needle thin beam of intense light hit; and passed through, one of the raptors, which went down screeching in a flurry of kicking legs. The rest turned and ran like hell into the cover of the woods, followed by more beams of light that set foliage on fire. I gave a 'danger, run, hide!' grunt, and Barney and I quickly herded the kids into the woods. If the raptors had split they had a good reason, and I recognized ray guns when I saw them; lasers of some kind, super powerful ones. It would take an elephant gun to put a dent in my hide, but lasers, nope, not good, not good at all. They'd go through me like a red-hot knife through butter. It was time to make ourselves scarce.
We hoofed it for about a quarter of a mile, and then took cover in a large thicket of palm like ferns. I gave a 'hide while mommy takes a look around' grunting hiss; and Barney stayed to watch the kids. With Allosaurus's mommy was the heavy, daddy was the backup. Then I cautiously went back the way we'd come, but by another route in case of pursuit.
I moved slow, stopping frequently to sniff the air and take a good look around, and stayed far back in the shade of the woods and scanned the clearing carefully. It pretty much looked like all the predators had split for now; after a few more had been toasted, and I could see a small group of 'rats' walking along the edge of the woods on the other side of the meadow. They were taking it easy, and I could hear what I guess was talking, high pitched squeals and chittering sounds. Then I zoomed in on a patch of woods just behind the last rat in the line as sunlight and shade dappled on something moving that blended in almost perfectly. The rats had a visitor, they were being stalked, I realized. And as I watched a Ceratosaurus burst from the trees, decapitated the last rat in line with one bite, and disappeared back into the dense woods, all in about ten seconds.
The rat actually took another step before it collapsed in a spray of blood. The affect on the other rats was instant; complete and total panic. They fired their weapons wildly; yep, lasers, and milled around in confusion. I don't know if they even saw the predator that took out their buddy with such ruthless efficiency, the attack had been fast, silent, and perfectly executed.
I gave an admiring hiss; that had been nice work. An Allosaurus probably couldn't have done that, not the decapitating bit, the speed part. We're just too big, we could run that fast, but weren't as maneuverable. A Ceratosaurus was a more medium sized; and much lither, predator. They were speed hunters, and could run down prey whereas we were more ambush type predators, though capable of short bursts of extreme speed. But a Ceratosaurus would outrun us in the long run every time. What confused me though; was that the attack had been a deliberate hit and run, not for food. Dino's didn't do that. We kill to eat, not for pleasure or the 'hell' of it. Don't get me wrong, we can get in a killing frenzy, but we don't hit and run like that. I watched as the panicking rats finally got their act together and left the scene; taking their headless buddy with them. Then I circled around to the other side of the clearing to take a look around.
When I got to the site of the ambush I could smell the rats, P-U, talk about BO, they smelled rancid. Didn't they ever take a bath?? I gave a disgusted snort, and followed the scent trail of the Ceratosaurus, but very carefully. No self respecting Ceratosaurus would want to tangle with an Allosaurus as they were only about half our size; unless they were pissed off about something, and I had a feeling this one was. It had deliberately targeted the rats; and not for food, I had no doubt about that. A short distance into the trees the trail turned and paralleled the tree line. It was a mature female, and she was still stalking the rats. Suddenly I heard high pitched squeals, and a short time later the sounds of their weapons firing, and the breeze brought the scent of fresh blood, nasty smelling rat blood, they smelled as bad on the inside as they did on the outside. There had been another kill, I realized. And the whole time the Ceratosaurus had been completely quiet, they usually vocalized when they made a kill. This was definitely not your average Ceratosaurus, and I had a feeling I knew who she was.
I was right, it was Tina, the other TROP observer that had been stranded back in the Jurassic with me after her own NFSG had been compromised when Barney; the overly protective goof, and tried to tear her into little pieces because he'd thought she was threatening his mate. I'd pretty much lost contact with her, but knew she'd also found a mate and had a bunch of hatchlings following her around. We'd exchanged waves from a fair distance a few times, not risking getting any closer as the hubbies were sure to object. But this was the first time I'd seen her in a long time. I followed her scent trail to the scene of her latest act of carnal terror, and there was more rat blood splattered around. And this time they hadn't bothered to hang around long enough to pick up the pieces, and had dropped the headless body of the first victim too. From the look of the second victim she'd picked him up and carried him into the woods and then done a lot more than just bite his head off, he looked like a smear of bloody paste. More shots and squeals from up ahead! Jesus, she's massacring them! With a snort I picked up my pace.
I slowed down again when her scent got more intense, knowing she was close by. Then as I moved through the thick ferns I caught another scent close by, a still living rat. Cautiously I poked my head through a screen of fern fronds, and Tina was standing in a small clearing, one of her feet pinning the body of a still living rat, tearing it to pieces a piece at a time. Yep, thought so, it was Tina all right; I'd recognize those markings anywhere. Then I noticed a movement in the ferns right in front of me, and a rat stood up from where it had been hiding, and took aim at Tina with its ray gun. Nope, no way, I thought, and leaning over picked it up by its head with a snap of my jaws. Then I shook it until its neck snapped and it went limp.
With a loud hiss Tina spun around to face me in a fighting crouch, but paused when she saw what was going on. I kept shaking the rat until its head came off in a spray of blood, and then spit it out. Yeck! Bleah! Nasty! They tasted even worse then they smelled! Yuck, phooey!! And I snorted in disgust.
"Hi Tina, I asked via my implant, whatcha doin?" At first I thought she wasn't going to respond, her eyes looked kind of glazed and had an intense, well, almost wild burning look to them. She's gone totally feral, I thought, and got ready for a fight, but then she answered me.
"C-charlie? Is that you?"
"Sure is, yours truly in person. Man, this rat thing tastes nasty! Don't tell me you're eating these things?"
"Eating? No, no, Tina said, I'm killing them, I'll kill them all! They, they killed him, killed my mate, and my babies!! I tried to get to them, I tried! My babies were calling me! I'll kill them, kill them ALL!" And she threw her head back and gave a long moaning bellow of grief and anguish.
I shuddered; if Barney or any of the kids were killed I had a feeling I'd react pretty much the same way. If you kill an Allosaurus's mate you'd better make sure you get them both, the other will hunt you down no matter how long it takes; the same with hatchlings. Kill a hatchling and the parents won't stop until they find you. And when one catches you, well, it will kill you with extreme prejudice. I know I would. So I understood Tina's frame of mind perfectly. Dino's most definitely hold grudges, oh yes indeed we do.
"Want help?" I asked.
The utter rage in Tina's eyes faded a little bit, and she nodded.
From what she told me she'd been scouting for food when a pack of the rats showed up. By the time she got back her mate had been shot to pieces defending their hatchlings, and then the rats had killed the hatchlings, evidently just for fun, using them for target practice. She'd been stalking them ever since with single minded determination and an utter burning hatred. And so far had taken out twelve of them, but there were hundreds, if not thousands. She told me they were starting to build a very permanent looking settlement next to their ship. She'd limited her depredations to the smaller hunting and exploring parties she ran across, the occupied areas were really too well guarded to get near. She had a nasty looking, but superficial, graze from a laser across her tail, as proof. And the fence I had seen was indeed some sort of force field, it zapped anything that got close enough. It didn't kill bigger critters, but sent them hissing with their tails between their legs.
I was starting to get worried about Barney and the kids, I sure didn't want them coming looking for me with trigger happy paranoid rats running around, so made arrangements with Tina to meet her every other day at the slaughter meadow. Then we said our 'goodbyes', and she was gone with a swish of her tail. It was amazing how such large beast could vanish in just a few steps. Of course I was pretty good at sneaking around myself. And if I stood still in the shade it was almost impossible to see me, even close up.
I went back to the rat I'd killed, and pulled off an arm to take with me for samples. I also thought about taking the rats rifle, might come in handy and I knew Doc would love to see it, but I'd evidently stepped on it and broke it in half. Ooops, so no go on that little idea. I held the arm out from my body as I carried it, man those things stank! Maybe they had some sort of a scent gland like a skunk.
When I got back to where I'd left Barney he came to meet me, obviously worried. He gave the arm I was carrying a sniff; wrinkled his snout, and gave me a 'you have GOT to be kidding?' and 'I'M not going to eat it!' look. The kids took one sniff and looked revolted. Don't worry, I thought, it's not dinner. I set the arm down, and got the little pack with sample containers out of the tree where I'd stashed it out of the reach of certain too-curious-for-their-own-good little snoops. I took several good tissue and fur samples from the now even smellier limb, then threw it into the woods as far as I could. PU, good riddance. Barney gave an approving grunt. I re-stashed the pack, and it was time for bed. We curled up around the kids, and we licked one another's snouts for awhile, then I feel asleep while Barney kept watch. I knew I'd wake up when it was my turn.
For the next several days I scouted the area, taking lots of footage of the alien ship. The more I saw the more evident it was it wasn't taking off again, it had either crash landed and was too damaged to fly again, or had just had a rough landing to start with. The rats were starting to dismantle it for parts and building materials. It looked like they were there to stay. I wished I could get more than just pictures and recordings of their irritating squeaky language, but like Tina had said their security was too good close in. If anything big; like me, came within about a mile of their perimeter they would send out a patrol, and they were trigger happy. They must have sensors or scanners of some kind, and anything much bigger than they were set them off. Evidently Tina had put the fear of whatever God they might worship into them and they were sticking close to home. I didn't make any effort to contact them, I mean, all I could do was roar at them. A thirty foot killing machine did not make a good ambassador anyway, unless you wanted to start a war by eating the other side's delegation. And as far as I was concerned it was open season on the rats, something in me instinctively loathed and hated them. So, so much for diplomacy.
After I figured I'd gotten about as much useful footage as I could I headed back for the TROP time travel drop-off site, Barney and the kids trailing along because where mommy went, they followed. Time to send the stuff to Doc and find out what the eggheads and higher-ups wanted me to do, if anything. There was a big following of the 'leave everything alone' types who were afraid we'd change history, and an equally large following of the 'who cares, history can't be changed, it's already happened, so anything we do back in time was meant to happen anyway' types. Frankly I thought they were all a bit whacko. I'll bet there were going to be a lot of meetings, and screaming, and tantrums for awhile. I just hoped the more level head, and practical, ones prevailed.
I made a pretty straight beeline to the hilltop, only stopping to hunt once when the kids got antsy. Barney took down a good sized herbivore after I scared the crap out of a small herd, and they ran right in to him. He just stepped out of the woods and 'chomp', dinner was served. It was delicious; he was such a good provider, and always let me have the first pick like a real gentleman. We stayed there until not much more then bones and well chewed hide was left. Two adult Allosaurus's and three growing hatchlings eat a LOT of meat in a very short period. It was truly amazing how much we could stuff down our throats. Talk about pigging out. So we made short work of our large meal, then settled down to rest & sleep for a day to let our meals settle.
My estrus was fading, but Barney and I had one more lovely coupling that evening,; a little longer and slower than usual, and afterward lay next to one another and gave one another a tongue bath. Those were the best of times as far as I was concerned. We were fat and happy, and had time to 'smooch' in our own way, which was mainly licking and rubbing one another's snouts and necks affectionately. Sex was strictly limited to the breeding season, and while part of me was disappointed I didn't fret much over it. I just wasn't all that interested when I wasn't in heat; though I did very much look forward to the next time I'd be receptive. Those few days made the waiting worthwhile. Of course I was pregnant again too, the mating season had produced the usual results, but it would be awhile before I'd lay my clutch.
Seems like once one group of hatchlings reached about two years of age the mother would lay another clutch. I'd seen other Allosaurus families with several 'generations' of youngsters. When they reached around five they tended to wander off by themselves, or were encouraged with a gentle bite in the ass from their parents. By then they were more than capable of taking care of themselves. I'd also noticed adolescents sometimes formed small loose knit 'packs' of the same sex. When they got larger though they took off on their own until they found a mate, then started their own families. I leaned down and gave my son and daughters a wet 'kiss', and they returned them making happy sounds. I dreaded the day they'd leave and head out on their own, and wondered if other dino momma's felt the same way.
After we reached the drop site area I ditched Barney and the kids, we'd made another kill and they were more interested in filling their bellies then in what mom was up to. I left the cameras and samples, and picked up some fresh ones that were already waiting for me. We'd set up 'regular' drop off and pick up times, but they weren't exact as it was really hard to get temporal travel down to much more then 'within a day or two' of accuracy, and it was easy to be off by weeks or months. I used to know all of the variables that caused that, but that knowledge was gone with lots of other stuff as my mind kept degrading. It was getting hard from me to read or do much more then very basic math too, my new mind just wasn't wired for that kind of stuff. But it was reassuring to know that some of my old memories would always remain, that I wouldn't totally become an animal. That was for the best though; to have a mostly human mind in this body would lead to eventual insanity. Satisfied for now I headed back to my family. We'd hang around the general area, and I'd check the hilltop every day or two. Right now we needed to 'evict' a pack of raptors that had moved into our territory while I was scouting the alien ship. Just showing up would usually do the trick, raptors were NOT stupid and wouldn't want to tangle with us. Even the kids were much larger than an adult raptor now and would take an active part in any conflict. And yep, as soon as we showed up the raptor's buggered off.
Dr. Braum looked at the footage from Subject A-11, or Charlie as he preferred to think of the Allosaurus with a partially human mind. He looked at the images of the alien spaceship and the aliens themselves in fascination. From what he could see they looked mammalian, and in fact very much resembled large rats. They had rather greasy looking fur, rodent faces, and long pink or grey tails. And they looked like slobs too, even their ship looked old and rather poorly maintained; no wonder they'd crashed, and they had already made a mess of the area surrounding the landing site. He felt a feeling of revulsion, they didn't impress him at all, for a space faring race they seemed more like, well, vermin, more than any other label he could think of.
After watching the footage several times Dr. Braum finally turned off the screen and leaned back in his chair to think. Of ALL the things to run into back in the Cretaceous, ALIENS?? He had no real idea what to do, if anything. So far he had kept this little 'development' to himself, not even the AI knew about it. He knew he should report this to his so-called 'superiors', but he knew they would have meetings, form committees, and call in experts for months, if not years, before deciding what to do, if anything. It's what they did, waste time and money, and they excelled at it. Then they'd end up doing the exact opposite of what made the most sense.
He knew all the arguments the various factions would put forth. There had been strong opposition to time travel in the first place, and it was still largely secret on a 'need-to-know' basis, not even the president knew. Some 'experts' would argue that there shouldn't be time travel at all, it could change history and effect the present if anything happened. The other side would argue that anything that was going to happen already had, so the other side's argument was worthless. Another view was that while it would change history it would just create a 'new' alternative time line as what had already happened in the present couldn't be changed. And dozens of other arguments based on similar, or some totally whacko; or whackier, theories. They'd talk, and argue, and scream at one another indefinitely, and nothing would be done in time to make any difference. He had a feeling that something needed to be done...quickly. Since the alien ship was obviously grounded permanently they wouldn't be leaving again, so something had to be done. He had a feeling just letting them move in and set up shop would be a big mistake. And as much as he hated to, he knew who he had to call.
Dr. Braum looked at the older; very fit, man sitting across from him. They had just viewed the footage of the alien 'invaders' again, and the man had a very shocked; but thoughtful, look on his weathered face. His name was General Anthony Harrison Lee, a direct descendent of General Robert E. Lee. His nickname was "Light Horse Harry Lee" from his armor days; and the nickname of another famous cavalryman ancestor, when he made a name for himself commanding a light armored recon unit in one of the numerous ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. His men tended to strike fast, secure their objective, and then take names if there were any enemy survivors. Dr. Braum liked the military officer; which was unusual as he loathed most of the military establishment, but the general treated everyone with respect and was respectful of everyone's opinion's, rather he agreed with them or not. He was also very intelligent, had good common sense, and didn't have the usual 'kill em'all and let God sort'em out' mindset of so many of his colleagues. You could talk to him as an equal, and be treated as one in return.
"Well doctor, Gen. Lee said, I guess my first question is; why did you entrust me with this rather...disturbing knowledge?"
"Because I think you can appreciate the gravity of the situation better than most, you know what would happen if I reported it through the usual channels."
Gen. Lee gave an amused grunt, "Yeah, I think I do, he said. You guys are even worse than the pentagon. What do think doc, any ideas?"
"Well, Dr. Braum replied, I was hoping YOU might have some suggestions of your own. Frankly, I'm terrified. If they establish a permanent colony, who knows what might happen. It depends on which side is right, nothing may happen, or we might just go 'poof' and cease to exist."
"Well, they ARE nasty looking critters, Gen. Lee mused. How about sending back a recon team; composed of soldiers and scientists. Maybe we can make contact? Tell them to bugger off or something."
"Hmmm, Dr. Braum said, I see two main difficulties with that, other than the logistical problems. This first is if a team went back they'd have to stay as no way they could wear bio suits for so long, and they probably wouldn't last long I'm afraid, they might not even make it to alien ship. And I'm not talking about dinosaurs getting them; though there are a lot nasty beasties running around, there are some nasty germs floating around back then and they'd have no immunity or defense against them, and it could take years to come up with vaccines, and we still probably wouldn't cover all of them. The second is the alien ship is obviously wrecked; they're dismantling it for building materials, so I doubt they could leave even if they wanted to. Plus the aliens seem to be extremely trigger happy. From the footage; and Charlie's report, they're blasting everything in sight with those ray guns of theirs."
"Like to get a hold of one of those 'ray' guns, Gen. Lee said. From the look they're some sort of laser, would love to know what their power source is. The military has some working lasers, but they're so big they're limited to tanks and artillery for now, and their power is limited. OK, so a recon is out, any other ideas?"
"That's why I called you first General, Dr. Braum said, it goes against my own beliefs, but I feel we need to do something, fast. Can we 'take them out', as you would say."
"Hmm, Gen. Lee thought. Well, I can think of several ways to do that. The first, an armed strike force, but that wouldn't be practical for the same reason a recon team wouldn't be. Plus there are a lot of aliens, and they have impressive weaponry. Who knows what their heavy artillery would be like. Second is a bio agent of some kind, but not recommended. No idea if it would even affect them at all, and/or what the affect on the local wildlife would be. By killing the aliens we might do the exact same thing we're trying to prevent. Frankly I can think of only one thing, a limited tactical nuke.
"I was afraid of something like that, so I ran some scenarios, Dr. Braum replied. If it takes out all the aliens the effect on the local climate should be limited and not have any major effects of any kind. Using a low yield nuke or proton bomb would limit the physical damage, and the radiation wouldn't last very long. I hate to do that; especially to another intelligent species, but frankly I don't see an alternative. We don't dare let them stay."
"I concur, Doctor, Gen. Lee said. I'm just hoping it gets them all, what if there are a few survivors? From the looks of their breeding habits they pop out large litters almost overnight."
"Oh, Dr. Braum said, we don't have to worry about that. They're not very popular with the 'locals', and we can send some other 'observers' back to help with any 'mop-up' activities. We may lose a few, but I doubt the aliens will last long. Without their weapons they'd be pretty much helpless. Dinosaurs rule, and a giant rat would just be a snack."
"Well, then it's decided, Gen. Lee said. I know some friends from the Pentagon that will see things my way, so getting a suitcase nuke won't be that much of a problem. But the main question is; how do we deliver it to the target? We could send back a one-shot missile launcher, but chances are the aliens would blow it out of the sky. We need to have it delivered directly on target to get the maximum results."
"I think that can be arranged too, Dr. Braum said, the aliens don't seem to pay much attention to the local wildlife; unless they're shooting at it, so I think the bomb can be gotten fairly close without a lot of trouble. How soon can you have one available?"
"Give me two days, Gen. Lee said, and in the meantime hope no one else finds out about this."
"Two days then, Dr. Braum said, that should be soon enough. I just hope we're doing the right thing."
"So do I Doc, Gen. Lee said, as he got up to leave. So do I."
The End
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