No Time For Dinosaurs

by John Benjamin Sciarra

  Kyle shook the girls and they opened their eyes. All around them was the green gel protecting them from the wall of fire that had descended upon them. The gel was moving. Slowly at first. Then they heard it—the sound of a hundred violins in perfect harmony. To the three children, it was the sweetest sound they ever heard.

  Teresa looked down when something caught her eye. My shoestring! She quickly picked it up and tied it back on her sneaker.

  Kyle smiled at his little sister. She had unknowingly saved all their lives.

  ***

  Dr. Donavan watched with eager hope that maybe, just maybe his children had come back. They would all be older now. Much older. He watched as the gel appeared in the distortion field. Inside he saw three figures. They still looked young. He thought that was odd.

  The sound of the music grew louder and louder. The pitch went higher and higher. The volume was deafening, Dr. Donavan raised his hands to his ears. He thought his eardrums were going to explode.

  And then—everything ceased to exist.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The children watched as the walls spun faster and faster. The sound of the violins rose in volume and pitch. Then the fluid shimmered and turned clear like water. Finally, it pulsed with all the colors of the rainbow.

  They grabbed their ears, but this time they couldn’t take their eyes off the spinning liquid. For a brief second, Kyle thought he saw the face of an old man watching them through the spinning walls. Then it was gone. He thought he must have imagined it.

  The sound was so loud, they thought they were going to die, and then, suddenly, it stopped. The walls returned to a solid green gel.

  “Is everyone okay?”

  “Yeah…” said a stunned Teresa.

  “Look!” said Sonja. “The camera is still right in the middle of the capsule.”

  Kyle examined it. “It hasn’t even started to run. Uh…I think we need to get out of here. Like…Right now!”

  After what they had been through, the girls didn’t need any coaxing. First Teresa, then Sonja, and finally Kyle slipped through the gel and stood on the other side. They were home.

  ***

  “Okay, Paul, ready for launch. Is the camera set to auto?”

  “Yes, David. I set it myself. Launch sequence initiated. Harmonics set to fifty percent.”

  “Once we launch, we better get back and check on the children. If I know my son, he won’t sit still for long. Thanks for letting me know the capsule returned. It was what...twenty days, right?”

  “Correct, Dr. David. You really think the image is a dinosaur?”

  “Either that, or a zoo with very strange animals. It was hard to tell through the gel. Something was there. That’s for sure. There’s no way to tell how far back it went. It could be anytime. Any time, but not any place. The capsule can’t move. It should be right where it is now, but it emerged somewhere in time.”

  “Essentially correct. I guess we’ll never know until we send a human. But we don’t know...we just don’t know if they’ll survive.”

  ***

  Kyle stood back as the sound of a hundred violins filled the air. Somehow, they had arrived back in time. While he didn’t understand the science behind it, Teresa’s shoestring had provided the means for the capsule to return.

  “Now what? Dad’s going to ground us you know. How are we going to explain where we were?”

  “Look, butthead. We almost got ourselves killed and all you can worry about—”

  “Hey!” Sonja interrupted Kyle. “Look at your clothes!”

  “What about my clo…” Kyle looked at Teresa with his mouth open. “You’re…not dirty!”

  “Huh?”

  “Sonja’s right. You’re not…none of us are dirty. When we got in the capsule in the past, we were covered in dirt! Now…we’re not. What on earth…”

  “How can that be?” asked Teresa.

  The sound of the violins grew louder and louder. The walls of the capsule began to move.

  “What if we…came back before we left?” said Sonja.

  “Have you gone out of your mind?” Teresa asked caustically.

  “No. Wait a minute. Sonja may be right.”

  “Right? We came back before we left? What kind of stupid idea is that?”

  “Okay, you explain to me how your clothes look like you never left.”

  Teresa thought for a moment and realized that there was no explanation. At least no explanation that made sense. “If that’s true…”

  “Then we need to get out of here before Dad and Dr. Bashan come. Come on, let’s go!”

  Teresa and Sonja went through the door of the vault and out into the laboratory. Kyle turned to take one last look and marvel at his experience. Then he, too, went out and shut the door.

  As he turned to cross the laboratory, he heard the sound of an elevator door open. Quickly he raced across the hallway and ducked into the lounge. As he shut the door, he noticed his can of soda. It was unopened.

  ***

  “I cannot wait to see the film when it returns this time,” said Dr. Bashan. “Maybe we will get a better image?”

  “I hope so. Let’s go check on the kids. If I know Kyle, he’s probably gotten into some kind of trouble. That kid will never amount to anything, I’m afraid. He has no focus.”

  “I know what you mean. My little Sonja is bright, but she has no sense of adventure. I had to drag her out of the house today so she would not just sit on the couch and read all day long.”

  “Hey, I have an idea. Maybe we can take them to the museum. Think they’d like to see some dinosaur bones?”

  Kyle shut the door very carefully so as not to make a sound. He snickered to himself as he ran across the hall to where the girls were anxiously waiting for him.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Kyle, Teresa and Sonja stood in front of the strange looking skeleton of a dinosaur. The pictures that depicted the animal were all wrong. It was called a Bambisaurus and the sign said it was a member of the Velociraptor family. Kyle was irritated and walked over to one of the museum guides.

  “Excuse me, sir. This exhibit over here?”

  “Yes. A fine example of the species. Only one of its kind ever found. Very nasty beast. Flesh-eater…”

  “I’m afraid that’s not true. This animal ate roots and berries and was very friendly. I think you need to change the sign.”

  The guide began chuckling. He was an older man with a bald head and short with a bit of a paunch that hung out over his belt. “Now, how would you know that, young man?”

  Kyle hated it when adults were condescending. He bet the T-Rex would have a banquet on this man.

  “Because I was there!” He shot back without thinking.

  The man laughed louder sending his belly into convulsions.

  “Oh, hah, ha! Wait until I tell the professor about this one. Ha, ha! That’s rich. He was there! Ha, ha, ha!”

  Kyle stormed off and rejoined the girls.

  “Guess he did not believe you?” asked Sonja.

  “No. But we really have no way of proving it.”

  Kyle noticed that Teresa was crying.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “Kyle, Priti’s probably dead, isn’t she?”

  “Of course she’s dead. All the dinosaurs are dead. They died sixty-five million years ago! Remember?”

  Teresa wiped her eyes and looked directly at Kyle. “We have to go back.”

  Without a beat, Kyle answered, “You’re right. We do have to go back.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Kyle sat on the edge of his bed and listened intently with his eyes closed to the music coming through the earphones. He wasn’t bopping to the beat—it was far too complicated for that. In fact, the expression on his face was that of someone enduring a great deal of pain. Yet, it wasn’t painful. Kyle was simply concentrating—concentrating harder than he had ever done in his life. He knew he was onto something, but he wasn’t quite sure what. He knew the sho
estring left in the time capsule by his sister was the key to figuring it all out. So far, it eluded him. The answer was just beyond his ability to comprehend—to understand a theory so complex, so deep, that only a few men understood its implications. Ironically, his father was one of them.

  ***

  Teresa knocked on his door again—harder this time. “Kyle! Mom wants you! You have to take out the garbage! Kyle!”

  She knocked again and again pounding the door with her fist. Frustrated, Teresa ignored the sign on the door written in red magic marker that said, “DO NOT ENTER UNDER PENALTY OF DEATH—ESPECIALLY GIRLS!” and she turned the doorknob. She was surprised it was unlocked. Very un-Kyle-like, she thought. She stood in front of Kyle with her hands on her hips and was about to yell when she noticed the expression on his face.

  What is he listening to? She wondered if her brother had finally lost what little of his mind was left. Maybe the time capsule stole his brain—or left it back in time. She shook off the thought since it reminded her that Priti, the bambiraptor, had probably died when the comet struck. Of course, it died, she thought. It was 65 million years ago! How stupid of me.

  Teresa reached over and gave her brother a shove on the shoulder and he practically flew off the bed. The earphones jerked from his head and he wound up on the floor.

  “What in the world are you doing? Are you out of your mind?”

  “No. But I think you were. What are you listening to anyway?”

  Kyle quickly reached over and shut off the CD player.

  “Are you listening to rap again? Dad will kill you if he finds out.”

  “It’s none of your…hey, what are you doing in my room?”

  “Mom wants you to take out the garbage, lazy head.”

  “You came in here for that? She thinks the whole world will end if the garbage doesn’t go out on time. What’s the big deal? Why don’t you take out the garbage for a change?”

  “That’s your job. I’m going to the Mall with Sonja today.”

  “Sonja? I thought her mother wouldn’t let her near that place of demons.”

  “Her mother thinks I am a very nice girl.”

  “Well…what she doesn’t know will hurt her. Now, get out of my room!”

  Kyle accidentally hit the eject button while fiddling with the CD player and Teresa got a glimpse of the disk: “Mendelssohn for Strings, Opus 75.” He quickly pulled the disk out and slipped it under his pillow. Teresa was so stunned she was speechless. Kyle knew she saw it and turned bright red.

  “Now I know you lost your mind,” she finally managed before turning and walking out the door. In the hallway, she scratched her head and wondered, what is he up to? Then she remembered the sound of the time capsule: the sound of a hundred violins in perfect harmony and suddenly it all made sense.

  ***

  Dr. Bashan sat at the computer and entered the complex instructions as Dr. Donavan watched in astonishment. He couldn’t understand how anyone could keep so many numbered sequences in his head without making a mistake.

  Well, Dr. David, I have made the minor adjustments to the code. The harmonics are the same as before, except for the super high frequencies. I adjusted them plus .002%. According to your theory, that should send the capsule back further in time.”

  “It’s still just a guess. We’re playing with something no one ever thought was even possible. If we can get a rough calculation of how far back we sent the capsule, we’ll better be able to control it.”

  As physicists, the two doctors had stumbled across a secret that helped them unravel the mysteries of the universe. At one time, scientists thought that atoms were the smallest particles in the universe. Then they discovered even smaller particles that made up all the parts of the atoms: the electrons, protons and neutrons. Then they discovered sub-atomic particles. However, even Einstein might have been surprised that the sub-atomic particles contained little bits of electricity that pulsated like tiny ribbons or strings. What Dr. David Donavan and Dr. Paul Bashan discovered was that they could change the way the strings act by bombarding them with sound waves. What one could hear sounded like violins—a hundred of them.

  However, the sounds had to be perfectly tuned beyond what the human ear could hear. It was the sound that humans couldn’t hear, because they were too high or too low, that caused the capsule they created to move through what some called the space-time continuum. In effect, they had actually created a time machine. Time travel was no longer science fiction.

  What they didn’t know was that the power they had unleashed on an unsuspecting world—and that their children were the only ones that could save the universe from extinction.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Teresa and Sonja laughed at the boys flirting with them. They seemed so silly and immature.

  “My mother would sweat in her sari if she were here.”

  “Her what?” asked Teresa.

  “Her Indian dress. She wanted me to wear one today. I told her I’d stand out like a sore finger.”

  “Sore thumb.”

  “What?”

  “The correct word is thumb. You’d stand out like a sore thumb.”

  “Oh. You see what I have to put up with? Is your mother so protective?”

  “Yeah. But I guess not as bad as your mother. I suppose they just care.”

  “Yes, they do love us, do they not?”

  “It’s not like we’d get in trouble or anything…unless Kyle is with us.”

  “Yes, Kyle,” said Sonja with a sigh.

  “You don’t really like my brother, do you?”

  Sonja had a sheepish look on her face. “Well, he is very smart.”

  “How can you say that when he almost got us killed?”

  “He got us back, did he not? I doubt anyone could have figured that out.”

  “That reminds me; I caught him listening to classical music today!”

  “So? Is that bad? I like classical music.”

  “But this is Kyle we’re talking about. Kyle always listens to rap. Nothing else. I think he’s lost his mind.”

  Sonja stopped walking and looked at Teresa. “Was he listening to violin music?”

  Astonished, Teresa asked, “Yes. How did you…”

  “He’s trying to figure out how to get back.”

  Teresa’s jaw dropped. “Oh no! We can’t go back in that…thing. We we’re almost killed the last time. What if my dad catches us?”

  “What about Priti?”

  Teresa paused as her mind raced back in time—65 million years ago. She thought about the little dinosaur they had adopted or, rather, that had adopted them. “Do you think we can really save her? Why would Kyle want to do that, anyway? He didn’t even like her.”

  “I think Kyle wants to prove something. I think he wants to bring Priti back with us.”

  “Oh my god! Do you really think so?”

  “I’ll bet that’s why he is listening to the violins. He wants to figure out how to make the capsule go back far enough to rescue her. Besides, I think he kind of warmed up to Priti.” Sonja’s eyes sparkled.

  “Oh, please! Let’s just do some shopping. I have to spend some money or I’m going to vomit!”

  ***

  “Dad? Can I ask you some questions?”

  “Make it quick. I’m in a hurry.”

  “You work in string theory, don’t you?”

  He question caught Dr. Donovan off guard. “Yes…yes I do.”

  “Could you explain to me how that works?”

  Dr. Donavan stood with his mouth open for several seconds. Then he began chuckling to himself. “Ha, ha! That’s good. You really had me there for a moment. I’ve got to go. Don’t you have some homework to do? String theory…oh that’s rich! Ha, ha.”

  Kyle stood in the doorway as his father walked into the garage and got in his car. He heard the sound of the engine turn and, in a split second, the BMW roared to life. Kyle was fuming as he watched the car move slowly through the garage door. The soun
d of the diesel engine hurt his ears and the smell of the exhaust made him feel ill.

  Hurt, he went back to his room and put the earphones back on. Soon, he was lost in the sounds of the violins as they reached a crescendo—a high point in the music. He was surprised that it made him feel good. A tingle ran across his head as if the sound of the music electrified brain cells. He wondered, could there be a connection between the sounds—the harmonics that sounded like violins—and the sound of music? Was that the key to string theory? He pondered the sound of the BMW’s engine; it hurt his ears and lacked harmony. The sound of the car was disruptive. Maybe the key to string theory had to do with the pitch being perfectly tuned at every octave and every note in between.

  Kyle looked over at his dog sitting at the edge of his bed. The little min-pin’s ears were twitching. The miniature pincher had the same coloring as a Doberman pincher, but they weren’t the same dog—not even close. Kyle remembered the nervous little bambiraptor. It had reminded him of his dog. Toby was reacting to something he was hearing. Was the dog hearing sound in the music that he couldn’t? Could Toby hear the violins through the earphones? Another thought occurred to him. Maybe it’s what I can’t hear that’s really the key. Can’t animals hear sounds humans can’t?

  The more he thought about it, the more frustrated he became. Maybe one of his science teachers would know. He didn’t need his father. He’d figure this out, go back in the capsule and bring the bambiraptor back with him. He’d show his father he wasn’t as dumb as he thought he was!

  ***

  It was 12:00 midnight and everyone in the house was dead to the world—fast asleep. Kyle dressed quietly and tiptoed out of the bedroom, down the stairs to the front foyer and then he shined his flashlight on the keypad to the house security system. His father’s fingerprints had permanently smudged the numbers and it was a simple matter for Kyle to deduce the exact sequence: 122448, his father’s birthday. His father was too predictable and Kyle chuckled.