Dragon Dawn (Dinosaurian Time Travel) by Deborah O'Neill Cordes

Author:Deborah O'Neill Cordes [Cordes, Deborah O'Neill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Timeswept Productions™
Published: 2014-01-13T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.

~William Shakespeare, Twelfth-Night

The next day passed swiftly, much of it spent collecting biological specimens. The crew kept to the hills and valleys around the Valiant. Harry’s plans to survey nesting sites on the island would have to wait until tomorrow.

By late afternoon, the astronauts were on a last round of trapping, going after the increasingly elusive, small, predatory dinosaurs, such as the turkeylike Saurornitholestes. Much to their disappointment, so far just one specimen had been caught. Apparently, the little creatures had figured out the purpose of the snares, perhaps by sheer luck, but then again, Harry surmised, maybe because of their keen powers of observation. Smart little buggers, he called them.

Smart, indeed. Dawn would never again forget the distress cry of the young, female Saurornitholestes when they found her in the trap that afternoon. Eerie and bone chilling, it reminded her of the caterwauling of a tomcat.

Dawn frowned, recalling how she felt when the alien had first called himself the Keeper. And just who were the keepers now? Could they really justify their plans to capture animals and create a mini-zoo?

It was still a source of tension within the crew. As the day wore on, friction between the astronauts had been building. Harry and Gus, in particular, found it difficult to be around one another.

Dawn decided to put the problems out of her mind. She studied the little bird-sized dinosaur. It had calmed down, staring at the other caged animals, its curiosity seemingly aroused. A few delicately built, Cretaceous birds twittered nearby. They resembled modern birds, yet upon closer inspection, some clear differences stood out; they had short, feathered tails, three hooked claws on their wings, and jaws lined with tiny, spiky teeth. Harry also said he wanted to capture some shore birds, because he believed they may have been the actual ancestors of all modern birds, surviving in the water after the firestorms ravaged much of the planet in the devastating K/T Event.

“Chirp, chirp, chirp.”

Dawn’s gaze darted to the cage housing two shrewlike mammals. Like the birds and dinosaurs, they’d been difficult to catch. Gus joked they needed a cat, but Dawn had another idea, telling him how her terriers were natural-born ratters. She envisioned the dogs, poking their heads down any varmint hole they encountered.

There were a few other animals in the Rover as well. Unlike the birds and mammals, these specimens did not appear much different from their modern-day counterparts. Two opossumlike specimens of the pouched mammal Alphadon had been captured. Insects, including dragonflies, ants, beetles, butterflies, bees, and flies, rested in specimen jars. In a few additional cages, some smaller creatures waited quietly: hard-shelled turtles, a constrictor snake, several lizards, and various colorful species of frogs and toads.

“Hiss.”

Dawn was instantly drawn back to the little dinosaur. Scaly head bobbing to and fro, its piercing, mustard-colored eyes locked onto hers.

The dinosaur gave another long, snakelike hiss and Dawn drew back. Just what the devil were they getting themselves

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