They reached the bottom of the cliffs and began the hard climb to the top. “Pork Chop, I'm going to tie you to this tree so you don’t follow me! I can climb faster without having to help you up too.” commanded Gino to his little friend. “I’ll be back in an hour so just relax and take a little nap little buddy ok.” The rocks were sharp. They must be some kind of volcanic rock, Gino reckoned. This time era was a very active volcanic time in the Earth’s history. Each step was difficult due to the irregular shape of the rocks. Gino looked up and he could see more and more Pteranodons flying back and forth to feed their young ones. Fortunately there were enough trees to offer some protection from overhead.
After an hour of climbing, Gino was able to see Paul in the reptile’s nest. He was not looking to good as he most likely hadn’t had any water or food in the last 24 hours. Gino picked up a rock and threw it next to Paul trying to get his attention. The third attempt finally got him to look around when he locked eyes with Gino. The next step was the hard part. How was Paul going to escape from the nest without being detected from the pteranodons?
Gino called out to Paul, “Paul do you still have your lighter in your pocket?” “Yes!” yelled Paul. “Take it, and set the nest on fire! The Pteranodons will be distracted by the fire and smoke so you will be able to get away!” Quickly, Paul took his lighter and set the bundle of sticks on fire. The wood was so dry it burst into flames immediately.
Paul leaped out of the nest and crawled down the rocks until he met Gino under the trees. The two boys hugged each other with so much happiness. “Come on Paul, let’s get the heck out of here before they realize that you have escaped and come looking for you!” yelled Gino.
CHAPTER 8
Slowly the boys made it to the bottom of the cliffs and there in the tall grass was Pork Chop, fast asleep. Laughing out loud “You still have your pet Triceratops with you Gino?” Paul questioned. “Yep, he’s been a good companion, especially after you disappeared Paul” Gino remarked to Paul as they untied Pork Chop from the tree.
The three friends began to run back into the wooded area to get out of view of the Pteranodons sight as quickly as possible. “Pork Chops little legs aren’t running fast enough. Pick him up Gino so we can get back to the Noobis-14 as fast as we can,” Paul yelled as he jumped over some tall weeds.
Once the group had safely left the woodland area, they all sat down to catch their breath. As Gino looked at Paul, he noticed a huge insect that was stuck to the back of his arm. “Oh, man,” yelled Gino, “You have a huge tick on the back of your arm. It must be the size of a quarter.” Gino quickly looked for some pine trees as he knew that he had to find something that was gooey.
Nearby was a grove of some kind of pine trees that Gino didn’t recognize, but it didn’t matter as long as they had pine sap available. Oozing out of a large tree was some white sap that was dripping through the bark.
Gino grabbed a big chuck of the sap and ran back to where Paul was sitting. He grabbed some tinder and made a field expedient fire that was just big enough to do the trick. Gino took the glob of pine resin and rammed it onto a stick and held it in the fire for about 15 seconds. The sap was starting to drip, which is just the correct consistency that Gino wanted. “Here Paul, give me your arm. I want to place some of this sap on that gigantic tick.” Gino said.
“Why are you doing that Gino? How is that going to work?” questioned Paul. “Well Paul, you see, the tick can't breathe through his head while he has it buried inside your skin. They breathe out their backend.” Gino replied. “He breathes out of his butt?” Paul laughed. “Yup, exactly!” Gino answered. “You see Paul, the sap will not allow the tick to breathe so he will back his head out on his own. If you just pull him out, the head will break off and you will get a huge infection,” Gino informed Paul.
Slowly the giant tick pulled his head out and Paul smacked it to the ground and stomped on it, smashing it to smithereens. “Ewwwwwwww, that’s gross Paul! I have never seen anything that gross in a long time. Come on let’s get moving before something else happens.” Gino barked back at Paul as they got back on their feet and started heading back to the time machine.
Suddenly, it began to rain like crazy. In fact, it was raining so hard that it actually hurt when it struck you in the face. The three friends huddled together under a large tree until the rain stopped. Luckily, the rain only lasted for about 5 minutes and they all slipped and slid on the muddy path.
“We have to get back and make the extra batteries Paul so we can fire up the Noobis and get home ASAP,” remarked Gino. The three arrived at their base camp by noon, and everything was still the way they had left it before Paul’s catastrophe occurred. “You know Paul, the vinegar had a couple more days to ferment since it has been sitting here. We might not need the extra coconuts to give the Noobis the extra power we need.” stated Gino. He bent over to taste it and he was absolutely correct. The vinegar was able to ferment quicker in the heat of the day which accelerated the fermentation process.
The boys packed all their gear and started to load the Noobis-14 with everything they had brought with them. Glancing down at the ground, Gino looked at Pork Chop. “Oh Porky! What am I going to do without you?” Gino sobbed. He hugged his little friend, as Pork Chop had become so close to Gino in such a short time. “Paul, what do you think would happen if we took Pork Chop home with us?” “Oh my gosh Gino. Do you have any idea how big Porky is going to get in a couple of years? And everyone would want to know where we got him!” said Paul. “We have to leave him here Gino.”
The words had barely left Paul’s mouth when Gino looked up and saw a herd of triceratops grazing in the nearby grassy area. Gino picky up Pork Chop and carried him over to the herd as close as he could without spooking them. Gino placed Pork Chop on the ground and he began to walk towards the large 3 horned dinosaurs. He stopped, and turned to look back at Gino. A gesture that was easy to translate his intention - a thank you for everything.
Suddenly a large female triceratops approached Porky and she nuzzled him with her beak like nose. She had no babies to care for and the mother instincts emerged. Pork Chop had a mother after all.
CHAPTER 9 TIME TO GO HOME
Gino departed from his little Porky, as he walked back saddened by the loss of his fat little dinosaur friend. Paul was anxious to get going and was all strapped in the Noobis-14 yelling for Gino to hurry up!
“Cone on Gino, let’s get the heck out of here before some more dinosaurs come. But, it was too late. A bunch of loud screaming dinosaurs, appeared to be velociraptors, but they had feathers on them. There were six quick running, screaming, mouth-open dinosaurs coming right at us. “Run Gino, Run!” screamed Paul at the top of his lungs.
“Paul, turn on the Flux Reactor now!!!” Gino yelled back at Paul. Gino was only hoping that the batteries were able to give them the power they needed to get the time machine’s reactors enough juice to get them out of the Cretaceous period – Fast!
Gino leaped into his seat in the Noobis-14 with so much force, he nearly knocked Paul out of his chair. “Hit the button Paul, Now!” Paul hit the button and the computers and the flux reactor began to shake. The lights all light up and everything began to get blurry. This was a good sign Gino was thinking, as he remembered the same thing happened when they departed from their time era. He could eerily see the velociraptors standing just outside the Noobis-14 as they were bewildered to what was going on.
“Paul, did you set the date before we left?” Gino questioned Paul as the Noobis-14 was spinning faster and faster. “Yessssssss,” Paul answered. Then, there was a complete silence. The boys opened their eyes, and to their disbelief, they were sitting in Gino’s backyard. “Yeah Baby!! Gino roared with excitement. We are finally home!”
Gino’s Mama and Papa heard the strange noise and came running outside to see what was happening. “What in the world is this contraption Gino?” asked Gino’s Mama. “This is the Noobis-14, Mama, my time machine.
It can take you back in time to anywhere you want to go.”
Where would you like to go Mama?” Gino questioned his Mama with a huge smile on his face. “Uh, this is the only place I want to be Gino.” Said Mama. For the time being Gino had to agree.
Paul and Gino grabbed their gear from the Noobis-14 and laid it on the ground. Paul’s Mama had suddenly arrived and she hugged Paul tightly. “Mama, we went back in time to the Cretaceous Period and I was captured by Pteranodons and we saw T-Rex and…..”
“OK Paul, whatever, let’s just go home now ok. Then you can tell me where you really were because I'm not too happy with you right now!” Paul’s Mama remarked as she began to gather Paul’s gear. She unzipped Paul’s duffle and there she pulled out 2 ostrich sized eggs. “Where in the world did you get these eggs from Paul?” Paul and Gino looked at each other and yelled, “Oh No!!!!”
To be continued in the next……
Series of Gino & The Time Machine
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