Cretaceous Sea

by Will Hubbell

  "Would you and Miss Boyton like to come?"

  "Oh, dinosaurs are more a kid's taste," said John. "I'll find all the adventure I need on our private beach."

  "Well, Con," said Rick, "whenever you want to go, we can leave."

  "On second thought, I'll spend the day watching the wild-life here on our private beach." She laughed at her father's annoyed expression. "Just kidding. You're lucky, Daddy, I have more juvenile tastes." Rick did his best not to react to the exchange. "I'll wait by your quarters." CON SHOWED UP about ten minutes later, put on some shoes, then headed to the plane with Rick. As they walked up the path, Rick said, "I see last night's spell is already broken."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Between you and your father. You're already pushing his buttons."

  "How's that your business?"

  "For some reason. Green holds me responsible when your dad gets upset."

  "So you're my baby-sitter? Look, I don't have to go anywhere with you."

  "Con..."

  "Did it ever occur to you that he pushes my buttons? That is, when he bothers to pay attention to me at all!" Con halted on the path, her eyes beginning to well with tears.

  "I don't blame you," said Rick gently. "I've seen how he behaves toward you. It's just that Green's business involves your father in some way. He wants your dad to be in-a good mood."

  "So? I thought you said to ignore Green."

  "I want him to ignore us also."

  "You mean ignore you."

  "Yeah," said Rick, "I suppose you're right. I was sort of hoping you'd help me out. Green can be a real jerk."

  "And I'm supposed to just bite my tongue."

  "I think it would help."

  Con mulled over Rick's request. "Green's like a lot of Daddy's friends. I didn't trust him even before you told me that stuff."

  "So, will you help me?"

  Con made a face. "You don't ask much!" She paused, then sighed. "I'll try. I really will."

  "Thanks, Con. I know it's not a little thing. Now, let's fly away and forget Green and your dad."

  "Sounds good to me."

  ONCE THEY WERE in the air, Con's and Rick's moods lifted as the spirit of adventure took hold of them. Joe, also, seemed to be happy to be away from camp. Soon he was regaling Con with a humorous telling of his and Rick's first trip. "Invisible?" he said, imitating his terror at seeing the Dromaeosauruses.

  "I'm looking at my shak-ing hand and thinking, this sure doesn't look invisible to me! Some fine guide!

  First day out, and I'm dinosaur shit." Con was laughing so hard she had to catch her breath. "Yessir, if that thing took one more step in my direction, I'd be needing a diaper!"

  "You look unchewed," said Rick.

  "Unchewed, but unnerved. I'm a broken man!" wailed Joe in mock anguish. "A broken man!"

  "So that's Green's plan," said Con, still laughing. "To have Rick feed me to the dinosaurs."

  "Mr. Green doesn't have a plan," said Joe abruptly. Then he cracked a smile, and said breezily, "Except for you to have a good time."

  Soon they were flying above the cypress swamps of the low-lying coasts, and Con and Rick were intently peering at the scenery. Once they spotted a fifty-foot crocodile, a Deinosuchus, walking along the riverbank. They circled back around four times to view it before it disappeared into the river. As they headed upland, and the land became firmer, they saw their first dinosaurs of the day. A small group of hypsilophodontids were graz-ing on water plants in a shallow pond. The bipeds were shorter than a man, since a third of their nine-foot length was tail. Con said their short snouts made them look "cute." As they crossed over the uplands, they encountered a herd of two dozen sauropod dinosaurs grazing the tree tops. They were heavily built animals, thirty-five feet in length, with shoulders higher than their hips. Their necks were relatively short and thick for sauropods, making their heads look ridiculously small.

  "Somehow," said Con, "I expected them to be bigger."

  "These are Alamosaurs" said Rick. "The real giants, like the Ultrasaurus and the Diplodocus, went extinct tens of millions of years ago."

  "They don't look too shabby to me," said Joe. "One of those babies would make quite a barbecue."

  "For God's sake, don't tell that to Pandit!" said Rick.

  "Speaking of food," said Con, "where are we going to picnic?"

  "I thought the mountains might be nice," said Rick.

  "Sounds great to me," said Joe. "I don't like unex-pected guests." They flew to the watering hole and the nesting site before Joe headed for the mountains to search for a land-ing site. He found a bare mountain peak not more than thirty feet wide, then impressed Rick and Con by neatly parking on it. On all sides, cliffs dropped precipitously, affording breathtaking views. On one side, a mountain range towered into the sky, while on the other, the land spread out to the gleaming sea. Below them, but still high above the foothills, huge pterosaurs wheeled gracefully on the updrafts. As far as the eye could see, the world stretched out like a green-and-blue tapestry, unmarred by the hand of man.

  They lingered on the mountaintop long after they had finished eating and left it reluctantly. Joe guided their aircraft between the foothills and the coastal plain until they encountered the huge ceratopsid herd. Con let out a squeal of excitement as the plane slowly glided only yards above the animals' backs.

  "We've got to land!" she said.

  "No way!" said Joe firmly.

  "You two did it. Like Rick said, we'll be invisible."

  "Look, if I came back short a guide, that would be one thing. You're different. If you get hurt, there'd be hell to pay."

  "If you two treat me like a baby, I'll just stay on the island. What will your Mr. Green say about that!"

  "Joe ..." said Rick with quiet urgency.

  "Has everyone forgotten her first morning here?"

  "That was different," said Rick.

  "How was it different?" retorted Joe. "A meat eater's a meat eater."

  "Mosasaurs probably learned to prey on wading ani-mals."

  "So? We'll be wading through the bushes."

  "It's different with land predators," said Rick. "Look, do you bite everything you see to find out if it's edible? Hunting takes effort and involves risks. Predators stick to recognized prey."

  "You're putting too much faith in a theory," said Joe. "Nothing doing."

  "You act as if I have no say in this matter," said Con. "I meant it about staying on the island. I'll sit on the beach with Daddy and Sara and be the perfect wet blan-ket. Imagine dinner after a few days of that!"

  "She'll do it, Joe," said Rick.

  "Why do you want to risk your life?" asked Joe.

  "Did you ever ride a horse?" asked Con.

  "Not likely," said Joe.

  "Well, if you get thrown, it's important to ride again soon. You've got to conquer your fear."

  "That's what this is about? Proving something?"

  "No ... No. This place is really special. I don't want to miss out because I'm afraid." Joe turned to Rick. "Have you been coaching her?"

  "Hardly."

  "Well," said Joe resignedly, "I guess we're setting down. Rick, no looking at the scenery. We've got to keep her covered at all times."

  Without further discussion, Joe guided the plane to a landing spot about a quarter of a mile from the head of the herd. The gently rolling ground was covered with a low growth of plants interspersed with occasional clumps of bushes or solitary, broad-crowned trees. The herd was clearly visible. Once they exited the plane, Con headed toward the dinosaurs.

  "Isn't this close enough?" said Joe, hastening to catch up.

  "You got a lot closer," replied Con as she continued to walk.

  "I wish I'd never told you that story," said Joe.

  Rick followed to the rear, anxiously scanning the land-scape with his gun. Previously, when only Joe and he had landed, he had not been nearly so nervous. Then, Rick had felt he was risking only his life. Being responsible for Con's safet
y made this experience very different. Con's exuberance did not make matters easier. She walked rapidly and noisily through the knee-high plants toward the dinosaurs in the near distance. Rick began to repent what he had put Joe through earlier.

  As they approached, the tumultuous parade was nearly overwhelming. Noisy, odorous, always changing, the herd was life on a grand, almost exaggerated, scale. The animals numbered in the thousands. They ranged from youngsters the size of large dogs to massive individuals over twice the height of a man. The herd varied in more than size. The grotesque heads displayed different con-figurations of horns and frills. There were several species of the short-frilled Triceratops. These differed in color-ation and the size and angles of their long eye horns. The huge, long-frilled Torosauruses stood out as the largest animals in the herd. The square-frilled Chasmosauruses were smaller, but still several feet taller than humans. Pointed bones, like small horns, lined the outer edges of their frills so they resembled giant saws. The various spe-cies tended to group together, so that the stream of ani-mals seemed to change continually. Rick watched Con as she halted, enthralled, not more than twenty yards from the moving herd. The beasts passed by, paying her no more attention than they would a stump. Rick's chief concern became that some animal might casually trample her on its path to a bit of green-ery. For a moment, his fears seemed about to be realized when a Triceratops separated from the herd and headed in her direction. Con stepped out of its path. Then, as Rick watched in horror, she advanced and touched the creature's tail. She turned her gaze back at Rick with a look of triumph in her eyes.

  The herd thinned out, and Rick was beginning to relax a bit when he spotted a pair of Tyrannosaurs in the dis-tance. He pointed his gun in their direction, and called softly to Joe. "You see them?"

  "Yeah, I sure do," asked Joe softly. "Right out of some movie."

  "You lock on the left one. I'll take the right. Don't shoot unless we have to." Rick aimed his gun and pulled the targeting trigger. The weapon came alive in his hand and tracked the huge carnivore as it advanced. He called to Con, who was still watching the herd. "Con, stay perfectly still."

  "Why?" she called back. Then she froze in terror.

  Even at a hundred yards away, the Tyrannosaurs seemed nightmarishly large. Rising eighteen feet above the ground, they moved with a powerful grace that seemed impossible for such massive animals. Their heads scanned about in an alert, watchful manner as they walked, keeping pace with the herd. Their path headed directly toward Con.

  Rick called to Con as softly as he could and still be heard over the herd's noise. "Come this way, but slowly." A Tyrannosaur cocked its head in his direction.

  Con walked toward Rick and Joe, her eyes never leav-ing the advancing monsters. The huge pair came closer. Rick found himself staring at their legs, a combination of birdlike form with an elephant's mass and power. The three sharp, curved toe claws caught his eye at each step.

  The pair came closer still. Rick had to bend his neck to see their enormous heads. Their partly open jaws re-vealed six-inch teeth surrounding maws so large a child could hide inside. Beneath horny ridges, yellow-green eyes scanned the landscape, seeing it from a treetop per-spective. Rick tried to imagine the view from those eyes. What do we seem like to them? He wondered if they might slay the way a bored child idly squashes an ant, without interest or malice.

  Still following the terrifying heads for some clue to their intention, Rick arched his neck backward. The near-est of the pair passed within five yards of him. Rick could hear its breathing, smell the sweet odor of rancid meat, feel the warmth of his urine as it trickled down his leg.

  Then the Tyrannosaurs were retreating, still following the herd. Rick had to duck a swaying tail as they de-parted. He took a deep breath, turned off his gun's tar-geting, and looked around him. Joe's hands were shaking violently. Con's eyes were wide with excitement and ter-ror. Even as he watched, the terror faded and the excite-ment grew. "Wow!" she said in wonder. "Wow!" Rick, Con, and Joe stood immobile and silent for sev-eral minutes, watching the departing herd. Finally, Joe said, "Maybe we should go back." No one said a word. They just started walking toward the plane. About half-way there, Rick saw a flash of movement in a clump of bushes about thirty yards to the left.

  "Hold up, Joe."

  "What did you see?" Joe asked.

  "A chance to bag Pandit a dinosaur. See that clump of bushes over there?" said Rick, pointing.

  "Yeah."

  "Set your gun at the lowest power and at a wide dis-persal, then shoot the bushes to give them a good shake. I'll try to get whatever's scared out."

  "Got ya," said Joe. "Tell me when you're ready."

  Rick adjusted his gun to fire rapid bursts, then said, "Now!"

  Joe fired, scattering leaves into the air. Three brown forms sped away. Rick followed them with his gun, rak-ing the ground with shots.

  "Did you get anything?" asked Joe.

  "I think I hear something thrashing about." Rick ran to the site of the shaking foliage to fire one more shot. As Rick looked down at the animal at his feet, a wave of regret briefly passed over him. Even in death, the lithe creature appeared graceful and dynamic. Rick consoled himself in the knowledge that, in less than a million years, all its kind would be extinct. At least now, people would hear of them. Joe and Con walked over to see what he had hit. Joe laughed, "You got a bird."

  "I did not," replied Rick. "Some dinosaurs had feath-ers." Joe examined the dead creature and noted its clawed hands and long tail. "I guess you're right."

  "What is it?" asked Con.

  "Some kind of Saurornithoidid," said Rick, "a small carnivore. ' Saurornithoides' means 'birdlike reptile,' so Joe wasn't that far off." Rick lifted the animal and slung it over his shoulder. It was about five feet long, but most of that was a long neck and an even longer tail.

  "Is the cook really going to serve that?" asked Con, taken aback.

  "I thought you'd eat anything," said Joe.

  Con flashed him a dirty look.

  "Pandit won't get it until after I dissect it," said Rick.

  "Oh gross!" said Con. "I'll eat lots of rolls instead."

  "I AM MOST gratified by your addition to our menu," said Pandit, eyeing Rick's catch with appreciation. "Two trips, and each time you return in triumph."

  "Just doin' my job," replied Rick, grinning broadly.

  "And now I must do mine," said Pandit as he surveyed the dinosaur. He took up his carving knife. "This will be most challenging."

  "Hold it," said Rick. "I want to study this before you start slicing and dicing."

  "I hope you are a quick study, dinner is in two hours."

  Rick looked at his specimen, feeling chagrined by its ignoble fate. Oh well, it wouldn't keep for two weeks without refrigeration. He made mental notes as he did a quick field examination. The oily feathers were either light or medium brown, giving the animal a mottled ap-pearance. They were like the short breast feathers of a duck, designed for warmth, not flight. Rick estimated the dinosaur's weight to be around forty pounds. The animal looked built for speed, slim with long legs. The feet had three forward-facing toes and a fourth vestigial one in the rear. All the toes were clawed, but the inner claw was enlarged and curved. It was a slashing claw, which was held above the ground when the animal walked or ran. The forearms looked designed for catching prey. They were long and ended in hands with three long fingers tipped with long sharp claws.

  Rick turned his attention to the head. Mounted on a long, supple neck, it, too, seemed designed for catching prey. The skull was slender, with a long snout. The brain-case was large for a dinosaur; Saurornithoidids were the intellectuals of the Cretaceous. Rick counted thirty-eight pointed teeth in the upper jaw, forty in the lower. These were sharp and curved, with serrations on the back. The most prominent features of the head were the very large yellow-brown eyes, the eyes of a creature of the night. Their position allowed binocular vision.

  Rick saw a predator adapted to hunt active small
prey, probably the nocturnal mammals of the period. It looked quick and agile. The feathers indicated that it was warm-blooded.

  Conscious that Pandit was impatiently watching, he opened the chest cavity. The two items that interested him most were the heart and the stomach contents. The heart, as he suspected, had four chambers. It was another indication the animal was warm-blooded. Rick slit open the stomach next. It contained several partly digested hairy bodies.

  "Must you do this in my kitchen?" protested Pandit. "Those little vermin are most unsanitary."

  "Have some respect for your ancestors."

  "Those cannot be my ancestors," said Pandit. "My an-cestors got away." Rick placed the remaining viscera in a bucket for later study. "You sure know how to spoil a guy's fun, Pandit. I trust you don't want the head, hands, and feet."

  "Please take them and let me cook."

  Rick cut off his specimens, then turned the severed head in his hand. "I think I'll name this Noctecorreptus greightonae."

  "How modest," said Pandit, "You should name it after yourself."

  "That's not allowed."

  "Why not?"

  "It's against the rules of taxonomy."

  "So you honor Mr. Greighton instead."

  " Miss Greighton," corrected Rick.

  "I see," said Pandit with a hint of a smile, "but what does the 'Noctecorreptus' part mean?"

  "Nightstalker."

  NOCTECORREPTUS GREIGHTONAE MADE its appearance at the dining pavilion in the form of heavily spiced cubes, stir-fried with vegetables and served over rice. All of Pandit's skill could not disguise the meat's strong, gamy taste. The dish was pronounced "interesting" by the guest of honor, who, like Sara and Peter Green, took only a bite before turning to other fare. Even Con left most of the meat untouched. Only James, aware that this entree would end up featured on the staff's menu of leftovers, finished his serving.

  The dinosaur's main contribution to the meal was a topic of conversation. Here it was more successful. There was a lot of lighthearted banter about Con's adventures, and everyone was in a good mood. Peter Green was ob-viously pleased. By the time Rick cleared the dessert dishes, he sensed that his place on Montana Isle was se-cure. He went back to the staff area feeling content. So what if I dine on leftovers