by Dan Thomas
“You couldn’t have killed this thing any closer? You know how Taz hates carrying the basket through the jungle.” Chopsticks gestured over his shoulder to the wooden crate that was strapped around the dino’s wide body behind the saddle.
Max hooked his axe back on his belt. “Hey, at least you didn’t have to cut this thing up with a blunt axe.”
“Point taken.” Chopsticks hiked his leg over the saddle and hopped down from the dino’s shoulders. “Looks like this was another Kentrosaur, they seem to be getting more common around here lately. Let’s get this batch loaded up.” He turned and unhooked a piece of rope looped around a corner of the basket, swinging one side down so that they could more easily pile things on the wooden platform within.
Taz the Edmontonia sniffed the ground, lumbering over to a thick bush, and began stripping it of leaves while Max and Chopsticks started picking up the Stego plates, carrying three or four between them. They hoisted them up and into the basket.
“We’re not going to be able to fit everything on, we’ll just take a few of the plates, the spikes, and whatever meat we can fit on top.” Chopsticks shifted the plates around to stack neatly.
“All right. We could do with another dino, really.”
“Yeah, but our other beasts of burden are currently sitting in another Crew’s base,” Chopsticks said with disdain.
Taz stood quietly for them as they loaded two of the Kentrosaurus legs, and various cuts of meat into the basket. As it filled up, Chopsticks closed the side up and had to climb onto Taz’s back while Max passed the meat up to stack on top of what they had already loaded. He then used some rope to tie on a few extra cuts of bone-in meat onto the side of the basket.
“That will have to do.” Chopsticks jumped down from Taz’s back. The dinosaur didn’t even seem to notice as it munched idly on plant stems.
Max looked at the half carcass still left on the ground. “Seems a shame to leave the rest to waste.”
“I’m sure something will come along and make use of our leftovers,” Chopsticks said. “Come on, we’ve got to hurry. Come on, Taz!” He began to walk out of the clearing. Taz looked up at him, then with heavy footsteps, followed.
“Why? Has something happened?” Max jogged to catch up with his friend.
“No. But I have something to show you,” Chopsticks said over his shoulder. “Don’t ask what it is, it’s a surprise.”
Excitement threaded through Max’s veins. “Did they...”
“I said don’t ask!” Chopsticks’ grin gave away the surprise.
Chapter Thirty-Five
“Did they hatch?”
“That is asking.” Chopsticks tried to keep a straight expression but the grin on his face grew wider.
“How many?”
“That is also asking.” Chopsticks rested a hand on Taz as he walked between them. “You’ll have to come look for yourself.”
“Since when have you been able to keep a secret?” Max asked.
“Since we both know that Pez and Ticket might not approve of our little hatchery experiment,” Chopsticks said.
“Okay, since when have you been able to keep a secret from me?” Max rephrased the question, although he was certain for once Chopsticks was keeping his lips sealed. “Okay, you win.”
Chopsticks chuckled deviously.
“So...we’re not taking the meat back to the base first?” Max asked.
“No!” Chopsticks looked at him as if he was crazy. “Why do you think I ran all the way out here? Just so I could come and haul some meat?”
“Because you’re jealous of the time I’m spending with Ticket?” Max joked.
“Yeah, that’s totally it. If my name was Pez, maybe.” Chopsticks patted the basket full of meat. “Lots of little mouths to feed.”
They didn’t rush as they waded through the jungle. Although Max could see that his friend wanted to pick up the pace, they kept to a speed comfortable for Taz that didn’t risk the heavy load from falling off.
They soon broke out of the thick jungle and onto one of the many trails that crisscrossed through the trees around their base.
“How much farther?” Max asked. The jungle wasn’t as dense here, and if they got much closer to home, they’d be able to see their walls. “Pez might see us. Or Ticket, she’s around here doing something.”
“Not much farther.” Chopsticks veered off to the right, Taz trampling vegetation underfoot as he followed. “I’ve only ever walked here on foot.” He looked behind them. “We’re kind of leaving a trail.”
“A great big wide trail.” Max stopped walking and looked back at the trampled mud. “Leave Taz here and we’ll walk the rest of the way.”
“Good idea. Let’s carry as much meat as we can. Then we can come back for more.”
“Whoa,” Max put his hands up. “If you take too much meat, Ticket will know we’re up to something.”
“She won’t check and anyway, we can just come up with an excuse.” Chopsticks untied a rack of Stego ribs from the side of the basket, grunting as he took the weight. “Come on, they’re waiting for their dinner.”
Max hesitated and then untied another chunk of meat from Taz. Chopsticks had walked off through the jungle and Max had to run to catch up with him. “Wait up.”
“I said we’re going to have to hurry, don’t want anyone getting suspicious.” Chopsticks glanced sideways at Max. “How is the training going?”
“Good. Maybe too good.” He didn’t look at Chopsticks as he continued. “I’m just not sure I’m ready.”
“And Ticket thinks you are?” Chopsticks asked. “She hasn’t mentioned it to me. Of course. But that doesn’t mean she hasn’t said something to Pez.”
“She hasn’t said so, but the training schedule she made up for Murf is nearly done.” Max stopped walking, listening. He could hear faint chirping.
“You can hear them.” Chopsticks cracked a grin.
“Is that what that is?” Max followed Chopsticks as he rushed forward. Max had no idea where Chopsticks was going as there was no obvious trail or marker. “They aren’t going to eat me, are they?” he asked breathlessly as they jogged on.
“Uhh, no. We’re all part of the same Crew so it should be fine.” Chopsticks slowed back down to a walk.
Max matched his pace. “You don’t sound too sure.”
“If they do, then you’ll have to say you were ambushed by a raptor or something.”
Max decided it was worth the risk. “You go first. Since they know you.”
“Know me,” Chopsticks said. “They think I’m their daddy.”
“...Right.” Max came to a stop. He could hear the muffled chirping, much louder than before, but he couldn’t see anything except a large mound of dirt covered in vines, with denser and denser jungle ahead of them. “So, where are they?”
“Let me show you.” Holding the rack of ribs by the rope in one hand, Chopsticks reached down and grabbed a stick that was protruding from the ground and pulled it. There was a clicking sound, and a section of vines on the mound popped forward. Chopsticks grabbed a handful of the vines and pulled them; the section swung out like a low door. “Clever, huh? I had to find a way to keep the little guys corralled, so I might have used the spare door and mechanical parts we had to make this.”
“Ingenious.” Max watched Chopsticks duck down and enter the small passage. With a last glance around to make sure they weren’t being watched, Max followed.
He had to crouch low to fit through the hidden door and onto the rough slope within. Chopsticks was silhouetted below him by light coming from farther underground.
Leaning back so as to not slip or hit his head, Max followed his friend down the short slope.
There was a chorus of excited chirps as Chopsticks reached the bottom of the slope. He turned and beamed at Max. “They know daddy’s home.”
“Geez, Chopsticks, I never took you for a father figure.”
“Neither did I, but here we are.”
Max ducked his head under the last part of the tunnel as the ground evened out, the ceiling now high enough to stand up straight.
The area they stood in was deceptively large, extending back away from the entrance thirty feet or so. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all built with a kind of flagstone, inset at various intervals with glowing crystals similar to the Illumine Crystals they used for lighting around the base, except these actually gave out radiant warmth. Those coupled with the surprisingly dry air and barn-like smell gave the grotto a cozy feel. A few stacked crates sat to the side.
A wooden barrier with a gate in the middle ran across the entire width of the grotto a few yards away from the entrance. The chirping was coming from behind the barrier, and many serpentine heads were poking up over the top of it, pushing and shoving against each other to look over, calling out in shrill, excited voices to their visitors.
“Listen to how happy they are to see me,” Chopsticks said gleefully as he approached the gate and unlatched it. Like a flood breaking a dam, as soon as there was even a small opening in the gate, a stream of twenty or so knee-high dinos rushed out, surrounding Chopsticks. Many were jumping up at him, some nipping at the meat he held, and all of them chirping hysterically. “Hello, all of you, hello!” Chopsticks crooned as the pack began to calm down.
“Oh my god! How did we get so many?” Max asked as a couple of the pack broke off and stalked toward him. They kept their long necks out and sniffed his feet warily, before stepping back and looking at the hunk of meat expectantly with wide round eyes set into their long, triangular-shaped skulls. He could almost imagine them being a bunch of puppies. If puppies were little killer lizards.
“Out of the first lot of eggs, I managed to hatch seven. Three males and four females.” Chopsticks pointed to one of the dinos that was slightly larger and calmer than the rest. “And the rest are all the second generation, all fifteen of them.”
“Whoa.” Max looked down at the group of Coelophysis gathering around him. Their bright green scales almost glistened as the light feathers covering their bodies shifted with their movement. Their throats were splashed with a myriad of colored, bare scales that shimmered as they chattered.
“Twenty-two of these?” Max looked at Chopsticks. “How many are you going to breed?”
Chopsticks shrugged. “As many as it takes—hey, wait a second.” He scolded one of the dinos that nipped at the ribs he carried.
Max narrowed his eyes at his friend. “What does that mean...as many as it takes?” He must have already burned through a bunch of Quartz to make the Shards for these dinos alone.
“I’m going to create super dinos. I know, I know, sounds crazy, but let me show you.” Chopsticks stepped through the gate. “Come on, you guys.” All of the Coelophysis turned and rushed after Chopsticks.
Max followed after, closing the gate behind him. The area behind the barrier was covered with straw. There were several mockup nests made of sticks and straw dotted throughout the area that Max assumed Chopsticks had created for his dinos. A long, shallow wooden trough of water ran along one wall.
“How did you manage to build all of this?” Max asked as he looked around the room.
“It took some time, and a few favors.” Chopsticks threaded the rope holding the rack of ribs through a metal ring set into one of the walls, tying the meat up. “Dig in, my lovelies,” he said, and the whole pack swarmed the meat, falling quiet as they busied themselves stripping the flesh off the bones. Chopsticks carefully stepped over the dinos. “I managed to persuade Symon, from the BlackSkull Crew, to let me borrow their Bore-min to dig all this out. They’re little snake things from Avarice that eat minerals. With them, and me wielding a pickaxe, I dug this whole thing out. The walls are all built with the stone I mined, and a truckload of mortar I managed to harvest from the termite mounds to the east with the Mononykus—which I’ve named Clover—which has pretty much waterproofed the whole thing. It’s just the entrance that leaks, and I’ve dug a channel that funnels any rain into the water trough over there.”
“Holy cow,” Max muttered as he passed his chunk of meat over to Chopsticks, who stepped over to another ring farther along the wall.
“Oh, and I might have traded our wax weevil silk for the Carmine gems from Svelkif,” Chopsticks said over his shoulder.
“You what?” Max asked incredulously.
“What?” Chopsticks asked innocently as he hung up the meat, some of the dinos running over to the less crowded meal. “I had to find a steady heat source to hatch the eggs and keep my babies warm. Besides, how long has that silk been sitting in the base?”
Max scoffed. “Pez will literally kill you if he finds that missing.”
Chopsticks waved him off. “He won’t find out it’s missing. Besides, this is far more useful than just sitting gathering dust...it’ll be our little secret.” He winked.
Max shook his head in disbelief. “How on earth do you get away with stuff like this?”
Chopsticks grinned mischievously. “My undeniable charm?”
Max couldn’t resist the infectious smile of his friend. “So, what’s with the super dinos then?”
“Oh, yeah, I’m going to try selectively breeding them to see if I can create a genetically superior Coelophysis.”
Max raised an eyebrow. “You think that’s possible?”
Chopsticks nodded eagerly. “Incredibly. I’ve done some research, and it looks like some other players have had some success, but limited, and most seem to have given up on it. These guys are the best candidates for it, though, they hatch fast, they grow fast, they’re easy to house. And I’ve already had some success, even with only one generation.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, look,” Chopsticks clicked his fingers. “Timmy, come here.”
One of the eating dino’s heads popped up above the others, looking toward them, before it ducked back down and the little dino wiggled its way out from the crowd and ran toward them.
“There’s a good boy!” Chopsticks knelt down as the lithe dino came toward them, nuzzling Chopsticks’ outstretched hand. He ran a hand down the dino’s feathers. “Look at this dude, he’s got the best camouflage so far, being much darker than the rest. Although he’s not fully grown yet, he’s larger than the others.” With his other hand, he lifted up the dino’s lip to reveal a row of razor-like teeth. “Good teeth as well. I’d like to breed them to be a little darker and more mottled, and maybe more muscular, rather than just being bigger. From what I’ve looked up, there doesn’t seem to be a problem with inbreeding in the game, and when you’re hatching dinos, it turns out you don’t need any kind of Amica plants to tame them. So as long as I can feed and house them, and they keep laying eggs, I can just keep going until I’ve got the perfect breed of little death machines. Well, minus all the quartz I’m going to need. Check his stats out.”
Holic focused on the dino and the menu appeared.
Timmy
Creature: Coelophysis, Male
Tier 1
Type: Dinosaur, Theropod
Diet: Carnivore, Insectivore
Maturity: Juvenile
Level: 2
Bonding: Stranger
Temperament: Inquisitive
Species Traits: Cold-blooded, Lightly Insulated
Individual Traits: Serrated Teeth
Health: 400/400
Stamina: 872/900
Bonding: Stranger-This creature is not hostile toward you, but doesn’t know you. No bonuses
Species Traits: Cold blooded-Gain negative status effects from being cold much quicker and at much higher temperatures than normal
Lightly Insulated-Body temperatures fluctuates a little slower
Individual Traits: Serrated Teeth-Bite attacks from this creature will cause more severe bleeding
“Geez, that’s a lot of health, I thought these guys capped out at one-fifty or two hundred. And there was me thinking we were just going to hatch some eggs and have some fun. This explains why y
ou haven’t been around the base so much.” Max folded his arms across his body. “Are you sure you can control them all? It’s a big group to keep command of.”
“Yes, I can control them. Want to see?” Chopsticks clapped his hands and twenty-two little faces stopped what they were doing and stared at him. “Mental control is a little harder because there’s so many of them, so I’ve been trying to use sounds to help out a bit. But now that you’re here, we can split them down to make it easier.”
“Okay.” Max held out his hands. “Which ones are mine?”
“Temporarily yours.” Chopsticks sniggered. “Joking. You’re the one who stole them from their parents.”
“Don’t tell them that!” Max said in mock horror.
“They wouldn’t mind, they’re having great fun here with me.” Chopsticks crossed back toward the gate. “Wanna take them out for a spin?”
“Right now?” Max looked over to the pack. “Hell, yeah, let’s do it.”
Chopsticks grinned. “Nice!”
“So, which ones are mine?” Max repeated.
Chopsticks gave a whistle and all of the Coelophysis stopped eating, and made their way toward them, standing in a group and watching them curiously. Chopsticks split the pack into two even groups, unsurprisingly assigning himself Timmy and a few of the other meaner-looking dinos, while Max had all of the older dinos in his group.
“Before we head off, have a try with controlling them. It’s doable, but managing so many at once takes some getting used to, especially if you don’t have any of the bonding I do with them.” Chopsticks raised his eyes to the left and half of the dinos split away, grouping together.
Max rubbed his hands together. “Okay, dudes, let’s give this a go.” He focused on the group of dinos, and all of their attention turned toward him, their chirps falling quiet. In the top of his vision was a little green 11, signifying that he was taking mental command of several animals.
He then asked them to move as a group toward him. They all walked forward a few steps, not taking their eyes off him. Then he told them all to follow while walking backward slowly, and the group of little dinos kept pace with him. “I think I’ve got it.”
