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Tale of a gatekeeper
By Dino-dave
Tale of a Gatekeeper
Jophery Hughes walked forward, tasers humming either side of him. As he approached the rectangular crate the raw stench of death enveloped him. Here was the reek of a hundred animals stalked and killed by the Velociraptor, a graceful murderer. It waited without any hesitance as Jophery approached the grey container. He could see it’s eyes, highlighted by the grey light filtering through the cage. It’s eyes looked content and tranquil, only blinking to carelessly survey the activity going on outside. Maybe it wasn’t going to try to pull anything. Jophery climbed the ladder to the roof of the cage and tried not to inhale the dead air as he awaited his orders from one of the men on the courtyard.
‘Jophery! Raise the gate!’
Jophery unlocked the catches and released the gate. Now all he had to do was lift the gate steadily and smoothly......CRUNCH!!! Jophery felt the air rush past him before he thudded against hard concrete. He gasped for air in a small cloud of dust and felt the throb of his ribs. He tried to focus as he began to move without wanting to. He felt a tug on his limbs and the air gently brushing past him as he came to.
‘Jophery? Jophery? Are you okay?’
He coughed and tried to sit up ‘Wha..?’ He could make out the bronze skinned face of his thirty two year old companion, Terrance.
‘Your overalls got snagged on the gate and you lost your balance. You fell off the
cage, we had to carry you. Are you alright?’
‘Yeh...yeah.....I’m okay.’ The courtyard was now filled with the buzz of tasers as officers formed a tight circle around the cage. Jophery could still see the eyes through the crowd, content and careless. ‘Muldoon’s gonna kill me!’
Terrance helped him to his feet.
‘Cheers Terry,’Jophery managed to smile even though he was still winded, ‘I can never tell when the fabric catches like that.’
‘Good thing you didn’t land on your back, you could have broken your neck!’
Terrance removed his helmet and handed it to Jophery‘If your going to be sick...’
‘No, I’m okay Terry!’ Jophery noticed the rip in the leg of his overalls, ‘Muldoon’ll want a report or something, all incidents have to be reported, even the minor ones.’
Jophery loosened his helmet and felt the sweat in his hair turn cold as the wind brushed through it.
‘Terry, you get back to your post and I’ll go see Muldoon.’ Jophery stepped off the concrete platform and started to walk through the compound. He heard the raptors softly hissing as he passed the grey enclosure. The evening air was cool and crisp, laced with sea salt from the ocean. Jophery usually savoured these tropical evenings; the whine of the cicadas, the stillness of the undergrowth and the deterioration of light as the sun slid below the horizon. Tonight however, he was heading towards Muldoon’s office. Robert Muldoon, the park warden of Jurassic Park, was a stern man with steely eyes and thin, taut lips. He had been decorated with the name ‘T-rex’ by some of the staff who worked at Jurassic Park because of his harsh temperament. When he was incredibly irritated he could turn a violent shade of red and slam his fists on his desk, upsetting all of the stationery. Jophery had only encountered this form of Muldoon once before. He had been carrying out some maintenance on one of the power generators at the compsognathus enclosure when he cut the power for five minutes as he tried to repair the damage. One compy escaped and was found nearly six days later drinking out of a toilet near the Rex paddock. If it had not been found by Muldoon who happened to have his tranquilizer gun with him, the creature could have escaped off one of the docks and reached the mainland. Hammond would have been furious. Jophery entered a small hut near the back of the visitor centre and continued up a small flight of stairs. He opened a glass door and walked into room filled with glowing computer screens and one big one which displayed a map of Jurassic Park and the areas still being worked on. John Arnold sat hunched over his computer near the centre of the room, with Dennis Nedry draped lazily over his chair in the corner and Muldoon leaning over a large television screen that showed the night time activity at all of the different animal paddocks. He was wide eyed and observant, taking notes on any unusual dinosaur behaviour. He was paying close attention to a herd of hadrosaur as Jophery approached him.
‘Uh..Mr Muldoon, sir?’
‘Yes?’ Muldoon continued to gaze at the television screen.
‘You told us to report any minor incidents that might occur..’
‘That’s right.’
Jophery felt the tear in his overalls. ‘Well, we were transporting a male raptor into the pen. I was lifting the gate and my overalls got caught on it. I lost my footing and fell off.’
Muldoon chuckled to himself. ‘You okay?’
‘Yes sir, I’m fine’
‘The raptor okay?’
‘The team had it locked down in seconds.’
‘Good then, don’t worry about it.’
Jophery was surprised at how calmly Muldoon reacted to the incident. He was just about to turn and leave when Muldoon called him back.
‘What’s your name?’ Muldoon asked.
‘Jophery Hughes, sir.’
‘Ah yes, Jophery. I think I might have a job for you.’ He placed his notebook and pencil on a table and pointed at the hadrosaur herd on the television screen. ‘See these dinosaurs here?’
‘Yes’
‘They’re moving in a zig zag fashion.’ Muldoon drew a Z on the screen using his finger. ‘This usually means they’re averting a predator. Now I don’t know how, but I think there might be a loose dino in there somewhere.’
‘What?’ Jophery leaned forward to inspect the picture more closely.
‘These hadrosaurs have been zig zagging for well over an hour now and we know the Rex wouldn’t wait that long.’
‘A Compy?’
Muldoon shook his head ‘A Raptor.’
The jeep roared across the open plains, the night air cold and motionless. In the driver’s seat was Muldoon, tranquilizer gun wedged between his seat and the door. Jophery sat in the passenger seat, brushing mosquitos out of his face. Muldoon took a swig of water from his flask and passed it to Jophery.
‘Hunted a Raptor before?’ Muldoon asked.
‘No. Never.’ Jophery took a gulp of water and returned the flask to Muldoon, who placed it in the back. Jophery was sweating buckets. He knew how these things could kill if let out in the open.
Muldoon looked at him. ‘I’ll hunt it, you can stay in the car and look after the equipment. Okay?’
Jophery nodded. ‘How do you think it got out?’
‘Some of them have been testing the fences. There was a power shortage earlier for a couple minutes. Maybe one of them got out then. It’s those big tropical storms they get down here. They mess up the island a lot.’
Jophery thought about how efficient the Raptors must be. They came to grassy area next to a large tree. Muldoon turned off the engine and reached under his chair. He pulled out two heavy pairs of night vision goggles and passed a pair to Jophery. ‘Put these on.’ He whispered and dimmed the headlights. As soon as the lights went out Jophery could see the herd directly ahead of them. The goggles were so clear he could see the babies weaving in and out of the adults’ feet. In the darkness their eyes shone.
‘These are the ones. They’re called Parasaurolophus.’ Muldoon said quietly. ‘See the large horns sticking out the back of their heads. They’re actually hollow. They use them like trumpets to communicate.’
The herd continued to wander across the grassy area, hooting softly to one another. Then, as one body, the herd suddenly shifted direction.
‘See? They’re zig zagging.’ Muldoon said. Jophery turned to look at Muldoon. He cocked his head and listened.
‘What is it?’ Jophery asked quietly.
‘I think I can hear something.’ Muldoon loosened the tranquilizer gun from its housing and got out of the car. ‘I’ll be back soon.’ He strided through the knee-high grass and headed down a gradual slope. Jophery continued to watch the herd zig zag past the jeep and onto the plains. When they were about a hundred metres from the car the leading hadrosaur grunted and stopped walking. Jophery sat up as the whole herd halted in succession. The young hadrosaurs scrambled to the centre of the herd and crouched underneath the bellies of the adults. Jophery realised something was threatening them. He reached into the back of the jeep and clutched a tranquilizer gun and three darts. He opened the dart chamber and slotted a cartridge in. Jophery fastened the gun and placed it on the seat next to him. The leading parasaurolophus swung back it’s immense skull and forced air through it’s nasal cavity and into the horn. The deafening call shook the ground and echoed out onto the plains. The rest of the herd complied and swung back their vast heads. Jophery braced himself and covered his ears. The jeep trembled as twenty three adult hadrosaurs trumpeted in an attempt to frighten the predator. The sound resonated across the landscape as Jophery removed his cupped hands. Some of the juvenile dinosaurs stamped their feet and snorted loudly. Jophery was watching one of the baby hadrosaurs when he saw what it was staring at. Not less than twenty metres from the jeep a thing was crouched in the grass, making itself comfortable. Jophery pressed a switch on the side of the goggles and zoomed in on the creature. It turned it’s head and revealed it’s glowing eyes. Jophery reached for the gun slowly, not turning away from the dinosaur. It was looking directly at him. Jophery held his breath as the beast leered at him with it’s fluorescent eyes. The lead hadrosaur pushed off the ground onto it’s two hind feet and came down again with a loud smack. The creature turned it’s attention to the hadrosaurs. Jophery swung open the passenger door and crawled out into the grass, embracing the tranquilizer gun. The beast turned towards the jeep, eyes blazing in their sockets. It studied the vehicle for a moment and then turned back to the herd. It hadn’t seen him. As Jophery lay flat in the grass he hoisted the gun onto his shoulder and took aim. The bulky goggles made it difficult to train the gun on the dinosaur and Jophery’s shaky hands made the task even harder. When he had a clear shot of the beast he began to squeeze the trigger. He heard the loud hiss of a Raptor. THUD!!! The Raptor collapsed to the ground, not ahead of Jophery but behind him. Muldoon crept up to the limp creature and shot it again.
‘That should do it.’ He slung the tranquilizer gun in the back of the jeep and turned to Jophery. ‘This one was going to eat you. What were you doing out of the car?’
Jophery watched ahead of him as a young Parasaurolophus, eyes glowing, crawled out of the grass and squealed back to the herd. Jophery sighed.
‘You didn’t think that was a...did you?’ Muldoon tried to contain his laughter. The lead hadrosaur hooted and the herd departed. Muldoon lifted the Raptor’s head and pointed at Jophery to grab the tail end. When they had finished hauling the animal into the back of the jeep Muldoon took out his flask and they both had a drink.
As they climbed back into the jeep Jophery heard the sound of Arnold’s voice over the radio. Muldoon picked up the receiver.
‘Robert! Robert are you there?...’
‘This is Muldoon.’
‘Did you get it?’
‘Yes I shot him with the tranquilizer gun. Enough to keep him quiet for an hour or so.’ Muldoon began to notice the smell.
‘You better get back. They’ve got a female Velociraptor in transport.’
‘Is she aggressive?’
‘Very.’
Jophery looked up.
‘Okay John I’ll be there in half an hour.’ Muldoon put down the receiver. ‘They’re moving a female in to the pen.’
‘I heard.’ Jophery got in the passenger seat and closed the door.
‘Pass me those goggles, I’ll put them back.’ Muldoon turned on the engine and stuffed the goggles under his chair. ‘You’re on gatekeeping duty.’
Jophrey nodded. As the jeep drove back to the compound Jophery turned round and looked at the sleeping monster. In this unconcious state, the Raptor looked as though it were smiling, displaying a full row of deadly teeth. As Jophrey looked down the creature’s throat he hoped he would never come this close to a Raptor ever again.
9/18/2002 8:24:00 AM
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