Dinosaur Blackout

by Judith Silverthorne

  “They wanted to hurt us in some way, I suppose,” Dad said. “Though why, I wouldn’t know.”

  When they were almost finished loading the pieces, Daniel happened to catch a flash of bright light from across the pasture. He pulled out his binoculars and watched carefully. When it happened again, he pinpointed the place and studied it. At last, he saw other movement and realized it was someone with a telephoto lens on a camera, reflecting in the sun. Whoever it was crept closer on foot, attempting to hide behind bits of scrubby sagebrush and small bushes.

  Daniel sidled over to Corporal Fraser, handed him the binoculars and indicated with a slow nod for him to look at the glinting in the distance. Corporal Fraser moved behind a protruding chunk of debris and studied the area.

  “Adrian McDermott,” guessed Daniel.

  “Yes, I do believe it is,” answered Corporal Fraser. “Now, how do you suppose he knew where to find us? Most people only know of the two ways of getting in here. I definitely need to pay that man a visit sometime soon and find out what he knows from his ‘sources.’”

  Daniel took the binoculars back from Corporal Fraser, who went back to finish supervising the task of gathering the smaller pieces. When they were ready to leave, Daniel at first rode slowly behind the caravan of Jeeps, atvs, tractors and flatbed led by Corporal Fraser. But Gypsy seemed ready for another good run, so he galloped across the hills. Partway across the pasture, he doubled back to the site of the old falling-down shack.

  He surprised Adrian McDermott, who was taking photographs of the site. McDermott tried to run and hide when he heard Daniel coming, but he was no match for Gypsy’s speed. Besides, he had nowhere to hide where Daniel couldn’t find him.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Daniel demanded, drawing up beside him.

  “Getting my story on the missing Stygimoloch,” Adrian McDermott said.

  “How did you get here?” asked Daniel, knowing he hadn’t come by either of the two usual routes.

  “I’m good at my job and I do my research.” The reporter turned smug.

  Daniel suddenly remembered Adrian McDermott telling someone he was doing a project on old abandoned places. He must have found another way in.

  “And just how do you know so much about what’s going on here?” Daniel circled Gypsy around the reporter.

  “I told you, I have my sources.” The reporter relaxed a little.

  “What sources? No outsiders know about the Stygimoloch,” Daniel insisted, brushing closer to McDermott. “Let’s hear about them.”

  “Yes, let’s,” said the voice of Corporal Fraser, suddenly stepping out from the pile of weathered boards.

  Daniel let out a little yelp. He hadn’t heard Corporal Fraser’s return. He must have looped back around on a borrowed horse. McDermott tensed, his eyes became wary. He gave a quick glance around, looking for a way to escape.

  “I don’t have to tell you anything!” he retorted.

  “I think your knowledge has nothing to do with protecting the sources for your story,” said Corporal Fraser, moving closer to McDermott. “I insist you join me right now for a little chat.”

  McDermott seemed to wither. He sighed and returned his camera to the bag. “Fine,” he said.

  “Daniel, how about you head for home and I’ll drop by in a while,” suggested the Corporal.

  Daniel nodded, giving McDermott one last piercing look. Corporal Fraser would get the truth from the reporter. Daniel turned Gypsy around and headed for home. Maybe the Nelwin brothers were there by now.

  He was just in time to see the flatbed backed securely into the garage. Everyone congratulated themselves on a job well done and disappeared from the yard in a short time. Daniel cooled Gypsy down and stabled her with fresh water and her evening feed. Then he did his barn chores.

  He kept looking through the open barn doors, hoping to see the Nelwins arrive, but they never did. His desire to ask Todd what he might know about his father’s possible involvement in the theft was not going to be satisfied that night. Dad came to help him finish the chores and together they returned to the house for supper.

  Daniel was just about to head for bed later that night, when he finally heard Dr. Roost arrive back in their yard. He scurried over to her parked truck and knocked on her camper door. She stepped out, greeting Daniel with discouragement in her eyes.

  “Ole still hasn’t returned,” she said. “I checked a few of the spots in case he took a sudden desire to go into the past tonight, but I’m sure he hasn’t gone yet. Something must have held him up in town. I didn’t want to wait for him all night, so I left him a note pinned to his door,” explained Dr. Roost. “I told him the fossils had been found.”

  “I guess there’s nothing more we can do,” Daniel said. “He surely won’t want to go when it’s dark.”

  “I’ll take first watch in the morning,” said Dr. Roost. “That way you can get your chores done.”

  “Okay,” Daniel agreed, although he hated to miss a moment of keeping watch over Ole Pederson.

  Daniel said good night and sauntered back to the house, staring up at the night sky and the constellations. He easily picked out the Big Dipper and Orion’s Belt. How much had the stars changed over sixty-five million years, he wondered? Had the Cretaceous dinosaurs lived under the same formations? He supposed the constellations must have appeared to have changed position each time a major natural geographical disaster shifted the Earth’s axis – at least that’s what the scientists seemed to believe.

  Later, Daniel readied his backpack for the next day’s jaunt to watch over Ole Pederson. He checked his notebook to make sure the leaf was secure, then tucked it into his backpack in the closet, before setting his alarm for four a.m. He didn’t trust Ole Pederson not to leave by daybreak. The old man always rose early and Daniel didn’t know if Dr. Roost would get there fast enough.

  When he finished packing his camera, binoculars and a dinosaur book to study, he snuck downstairs. There he readied his jacket and shoes by the back door, making sure he could easily grab some bottles of water from the fridge when he left. Back in his room, he didn’t even get into his pyjamas, not wanting to disturb anyone when he got up. Before he crawled into bed, he checked again to make sure the recently picked prehistoric leaf was secure in his notebook.

  Sometime during the night, the wind picked up and rain brushed against the windows. There was still a slow drizzle blown about by a strong wind when Daniel rose. Luckily his rain gear was stored in the porch and he had little trouble finding his poncho and rubber boots. He tucked his sneakers into his backpack for later. He’d let Dr. Roost take over the watch when he left to do chores.

  The sky was dark and dreary as Daniel headed over the rolling hills to Mr. Pederson’s shack. He ordered Dactyl to stay home and the dog seemed contented to obey, curling back up in his sleeping spot on some soft straw in the barn just inside the partially open door. Using a flashlight, Daniel stumbled over the uneven ground until the sky lightened to a softer grey and the rain diminished to a few drops now and then.

  From several hills away, Daniel could make out the speck of Mr. Pederson’s roofline a little farther down the valley. He pulled out the binoculars. Mr. Pederson’s truck was parked close to the shack. Daniel relaxed. Mr. Pederson was home.

  Then he noticed movement and gasped. The old paleontologist was carrying some object from the back of his truck and placing it on something oblong that lay on the ground. Daniel began to run. He lost sight of Pederson when he dipped down into a valley. Panting by the time he made the next rise, he studied the action below.

  “No!” he yelled when he saw what Pederson was doing. He was still too far away to stop him and there was no way the old man could hear him over the fury of the wind.

  Pederson continued to haul items from his truck, but he was placing them on an inflated rubber dinghy! What looked like ropes and tackle, then a fair-sized canister of something, a spraying machine, a backpack, camera equipment, and other things t
hat Daniel couldn’t quite make out, were stacked evenly at both ends. When the oars were added, Daniel knew Pederson was going to try to land in the river. But what if he didn’t hit the right spot? The dinghy could be overturned, or he could land on the shore. Worse, one of the meat-eating dinosaurs could be having an early morning drink and Mr. Pederson would be a goner. Daniel didn’t even want to think about the creatures lurking in the water.

  Daniel pounded across the next hill and raced towards Pederson. But the paleontologist still couldn’t hear or see him. He was intent on donning some kind of overalls and a full-face mask hooked to a small oxygen tank strapped on his back. Frantically, Daniel charged across the top of the last hill and down towards Pederson, waving his arms and yelling. He dug a whistle out of his pocket and began blowing as hard as he could.

  Pederson saw him then, but didn’t stop. Instead, he hopped into the dinghy, sat down, and grabbed the oars. Then he picked up something on the seat beside him. A split second later, he was gone.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “No!” Daniel yelled and kept running.

  When he reached the spot where Pederson had disappeared, Daniel hurriedly drew copies of the two area maps out of his backpack. The wind lashed at them as he tried to figure out how he could join Pederson in the past without landing in the river. He didn’t want to be breakfast for meat-eating marine reptiles like the Mosasaurs or the three-metre crocodile Borealosuchus, nor did he want to be scooped up by an Ichthyornis – a powerful seabird with a lower jaw that held at least twenty teeth.

  But if he didn’t hurry, Pederson might be swept far down the river and into the sea before he arrived. He decided he needed to be a few metres up the hill above Pederson’s shack, which he hoped would land him on the bank above the river. He pounded his way back uphill, slipping on the rain-soaked grass. Struggling against the wind, with the rain striking his face, he stuffed his maps into his backpack and then dove for his notebook.

  Without a moment’s hesitation, he grasped his prehistoric leaf.

  ~

  Daniel found himself standing on a crumbling piece of the riverbank in almost complete blackness, with wind-whipped hair in his face and raindrops dripping from his forehead. He scrambled for a better footing and clung to a pine tree, terrified he was exposed prey. He gasped, trying to catch his breath, but bits of something caught in his throat. He swiped his hand across his face to clear the moisture from his field of vision and scoured the dismal, dark location.

  At first, he thought the sun had not yet risen.

  Then he realized falling debris shrouded the whole environment. He was in the middle of some kind of geological fallout! He wrestled for his water bottle and took big gulps to wash out his mouth and throat. He shrugged out of his poncho and yanked off his t-shirt. Pulling his jacket out of his backpack, he put it on with the rain poncho overtop. Wrapping his t-shirt around his head, he covered his mouth and nose. Next, he pulled his cap down as far as it would go to shield his eyes from grit. The most important thing was to find Mr. Pederson and get back home!

  He moved towards the river. There was a weird stillness in the air and he felt prickles creeping up the back of his neck. The atmosphere had changed rapidly since his last visit. Cloying heat made it difficult to breathe, and his entire body felt clammy. He wouldn’t last long without a proper mask with some oxygen. He couldn’t go back to the present and get one; it would take too long.

  Suddenly, he remembered the masks and other equipment that Dr. Roost and Mr. Pederson had left behind during the Dromaeosaurus attack. If he could get to the spot, he’d be fine until he could locate Pederson. He surveyed his surroundings and compared them to the map he’d made, trying to work out where he was. He plotted a route he hoped would lead him to the equipment he needed. He’d have to brave the open meadow to shorten the jaunt both going and returning. And he’d have to be fast.

  Daniel jogged through the jungle-like terrain, his t-shirt over his mouth, being careful not to trip over vines and large-leafed vegetation. Howling and shrieking surrounded him in the peculiar darkness. His lungs hurt and his heart pumped hard, but he carried on.

  When he came to the edge of the meadow, he found Edmontosaurus, Stegoceras, Thescelosaurus and Stygimoloch rummaging for food. He paused for a moment to catch his breath, watching as they nibbled at dust-covered, crumbling leaves and other decayed plants. Some trees had turned black.

  Daniel was astonished to see the creatures all at once turn on one other, nipping and biting, panicked by the rapid changes around them. Daniel heard their terrified screeches, saw the bleeding wounds on their bodies.

  There was no way he was going to be able to go across the meadow.

  He swerved to his left, figuring that was the closest way to the mask and other oxygen tanks. Underfoot, slight tremors made running difficult. He shut out his thoughts, concentrating on moving as fast as he could, yet watching for imminent danger.

  Suddenly, a horrific roar resounded, followed by vicious snarling that made him go weak. He dived under a cycad to get his bearings, as the hideous sounds of two huge dinosaurs fighting grew louder.

  Then there was a sudden moment of quiet.

  He was about to venture over to the next giant fern, when a terrible crashing of trees and branches came from his right and two Tyrannosaurus flashed into sight. They lunged at each other, propelling themselves into the open meadow, gaining momentum as their fight intensified. Thrusting massive tails, they plunged forward, biting into one another’s leathery hides, leaving deep gashes streaming with blood. Snarling ferociously, one suddenly smashed his head against the other’s throat. With a loud snap, one T. rex sank to the ground with a final dreadful scream. The other gave a fierce roar of triumph.

  Daniel stayed frozen, not knowing what to expect next. He’d forgotten to keep watch on the herbivores, but when he looked, they’d disappeared, more intent on saving themselves from the T. rex.

  Cautiously, Daniel crept as quickly as he could away from the carrion meat-eater, which was already ripping flesh from its fallen opponent. He needed to give it as much distance as possible. Everywhere there was pandemonium. Creatures he’d seen previously were acting in peculiar ways and the sky turned ever darker, filling with tumultuous clouds of black particles and thick dust.

  All of a sudden, a lump of glaring light sizzled towards the ground some distance away. When the burning object hit the ground, sparks flew many metres into the air and cinders rained over a huge area. Rumblings sounded in the distance like thunder, and the earth still rumbled beneath his feet. Daniel had no idea what was causing all the disruptions on the earth. All he knew was that he needed to find Pederson and get both of them home to safety!

  He sprinted as fast as he could to the area where the masks should be. If he’d guessed right, he was close. And then he saw them. He grabbed one, then threw it away. It was damaged beyond repair. Some big creature must have stepped on it. He rummaged through the rest of the belongings, and finally uncovered the second mask. Pulling his t-shirt away from his face, he drew on the mask and adjusted it snugly, slung the small oxygen container in its carrying harness onto his back and plugged the hose into the mask. It worked! He took several deep breaths and felt his lungs ease. Without taking time to do up all the straps on the harness, he reversed direction and raced towards Pederson – or where he hoped he was.

  He made it back to the riverbank unscathed, except for his horror at the devastation around him. He skirted an Ankylosaurus and a Triceratops, pawing for food in the blackened vegetation. He narrowly missed stepping on a cat-sized Purgatorius, but for the most part he tried not to dwell on the perplexing state of the animals or his own danger. Otherwise he would become paralyzed with fear. He concentrated on finding Pederson instead.

  Struggling down the steep embankment, he searched for the edge of the river by following the sounds of lapping water. He tripped on something and almost fell. He looked down – it was the back end of a shell from some tortoise-lik
e creature, probably a Basilemys. The thick, brown-spotted casing was one and a half metres across, covered with a layer of silt. Daniel skirted the creature, avoiding the head in case it snapped at him. He wasn’t sure how fast it could move, so he gave it a wide berth.

  Frantically, he tried to get his bearings, wiping moisture from his face. The temperature had risen and he was uncomfortably hot, but he didn’t dare take any of his clothing off. Was the heat caused by the descent of a burning meteorite shower, or the results of hot volcanic lava and ash spewing thousands of kilometres away?

  At last, Daniel made it to the riverbank. Had he heard the sound of oars paddling in water? He listened intently, afraid to call to Pederson for fear of attracting some kind of menace. He peered through the dark haze and saw what looked like the shadowy form of Pederson floating along in his dinghy several metres to his right. But the image faded and he was sure he’d only imagined it.

  Daniel could now see that a layer of black particles covered the entire river like melted cheese on a bowl of French onion soup. Debris from trees, plants and soil floated on the top like toasted croutons. Whether these substances came from volcanic ash or some kind of dust from a meteorite he didn’t know. Either way, a thick residue covered the entire landscape and there didn’t seem to be any end in sight to the particles cascading down.

  Farther down the shore, he could see what looked like the shorebird Cimolopteryx, its brightly coloured body covered with a grey film of dust, cackling and flapping its wings as it tried to shake itself clear. Around a bend, on higher ground, a small group of Corythosaurus pawed at the layer of powder covering the dying vegetation, searching for food. Daniel knew it would only be a matter of time before the food became scarce and the landscape insufficient to sustain life as the plants died off.

  As he stumbled along the river’s edge, Daniel found breathing difficult. A weird smell like rotten eggs filled the air, likely sulphur gas. His hands felt clammy and his eyes stung. He tried not to rub them and almost had to close them. His eyesight was limited to an area smaller than that of a vision slit on a medieval knight’s helmet with his visor pulled down ready for battle. He only wished he had a full suit of protective gear and infrared binoculars or a spotlight to find Ole Pederson.