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Leviathans Re-Written (Act II)
By Vader
ACT II - PART A: BRACHIOSAURS
Russell and Rick ran over to the Pangonia watch station where several other people had congregated. The Rangers were handing out tranquilizer and machine guns to each person. Everyone there didn't need to be told that the machine guns were only a last resort.
Right afterwards, the men ran over to their jeeps. When Russell got to his, a beautiful, muscular, young-lady of about thirty-years-old was already sitting in his car. "Oh, no, Amy, not this time. You gave me a flat tire last time we did a round up!" Russell cried. Amy just smiled silently and loaded her gun.
"Well, it was your fault. You drove over the pile of crap - that's what made you swerve. I can't believe you didn't see it. It was right in the middle of the field," she nodded. She finished loading and closed up her gun, ing it. Russell was about to continue when she put her finger on his lips. "No more talking. Let's go!" she cried. Russell shrugged and hopped into his vehicle. He gave glance over to Rick through his rear-view mirror, who had already started his jeep. Russell rolled his eyes at his friend.
"Don't do that again," Amy told him as Russell drove his jeep in a u-turn and headed through the brush, away from the research compounds. All Russell could think about as his hair waved around in the wind was preventing the huge animals from entering the villages south of them. The researchers had managed to stop the animals all the times they had tried to get away before. Yet each time the people had been called upon to stop them, the group of dinosaurs that were escaping got bigger and bigger. This time, it would probably be the biggest group of all, making it the hardest time they would have in halting them. With a sigh, Russell knew they were getting closer and it was only a matter of time.
They drove up to a small electrical gate, just the size of a car. Amy got out and pressed in a code on the key pad on the wall. The gate opened with a hum and she jumped back in with Russell. They continued driving on. "You'll just never forgive me will you?" Amy asked Russell. He sightly shifted in his seat.
"What do you mean?" he asked nervously. Amy shook her head.
"You know. Me ending up going with Thompson all the way back," she replied.
"I could care less."
"You're lying. You wanted to marry me, Russell. Don't deny it."
"Fine," Russell sighed, "I wanted to marry you. Why do you think I proposed to you?"
"Our time together was nice while it lasted."
"Then why did you chose Thompson?"
"Ah-ha! You do care!"
"No I don't! I just want . . . to . . ."
Russell couldn't reply. He knew he did care. He just didn't want to admit it. Suddenly, the panel in his jeep began beeping. "We're coming up to the Brachiosaurs," he announced. Amy readied her gun.
They broke out of the foliage into a large field where a herd of six Brachiosaurs were migrating southward. Their skin was pale blue with blotches of grey all over, their leathery skin giggling as their feet pounded against the ground as they walked. Russell saw Rick and several other trucks zoom out of the jungle towards the animals. Rick made the sign that Russell already knew well - circle the herd.
Everyone turned their wheels and stepped on the gas. Russell pressed a lever that moved Amy's seat a bit outward from the jeep for her to get a better aim. All the vehicles encircled the huge leviathans. "Now don't shoot until I tell you, Amy," Russell told her. Suddenly, several darts sped out of the nose of Amy's gun into the bottom of the neck of one of the taller brachs. "Dang it!" Russell pounded the dash board. "Why don't you do what I tell you to do?"
"You aren't my father," Amy balked. Russell rolled his eyes again. Amy shot a dart just millimeters away from his neck into the seat. "I told you not to roll your eyes again. Next time, it'll be in the flesh," she smiled, pointing to his neck.
The brach that Amy had shot was slowly stopping his walking. It gave out a loud moan and dropped to the ground on its knees with a thud. It then slowly lay its long neck onto the dirt, falling into unconsciousness. This was horrible to have to attack these creatures. But there was no other way to keep them secret.
Meanwhile, Russell saw another man in a jeep heading for a smaller brach. The animal screamed and pounded the jeep with its large foot. But the driver still managed to shoot the dart, even though it was a bit misplaced. The jeep was overturned by the animal, crushing the man at the wheel.
Rick turned his vehicle around to shoot another dart into the smaller brach to put it to sleep. He then edged closer to another, aiming and shooting three times. The carefully aimed darts sped into the brach's neck. Everything was going well. Only three more to tranquilize. Suddenly, one of the brachs kicked Rick's jeep across the field. The brach that Russell had shot began to tumble down on the jeep just as Rick quickly jumped out. But both of his legs were stuck under the overturned vehicle, and his legs were landed on by the animal as his body was jolted.
Amy began to shoot another brach but the vehicle she and Russell were in swerved and the dart sped elsewhere. "What are you doing, Russell?!" Amy cried.
"We have to go help Rick!" he replied. "Take over the driving while I try and help him!" Once they got near Rick and his crushed jeep, Amy let Russell out of the jeep, jumped into the driver's seat as he had told her to, and then drove away to do more shooting.
"My God, Rick are okay?" Russell asked intensely. But under the harsh, incandescent Brazilian sun, Rick was already knocked out.
ACT II - PART B: HOSPITAL
Rick Leavesden lay quietly in his hospital bed, his legs mangled, with Russell at his side. Russell had been praying fervently for an hour that his old friend would be alright after the brutal crash by Brachiosaurs. He just sat there, hoping Rick would wake up from his sleep so he could be reassured that he was going to be fine. From behind, the door opened and gentle light flooded into the room. It was Amy.
"Hi," Russell said, wiping his eyes. He tried looking at his watch but it was too dark to see. "What time is it, Amy?"
"Two o' clock in the morning. You should get some sleep," she said coming up to put her arm around him. Russell shook his head. He wanted to go to sleep, but his body wouldn't let him. He couldn't go to sleep till Rick awoke, it would be impossible. It felt better with Amy comforting him though. "Will you be alright?" she asked.
"Yeah, I think so. I just want to make sure he's . . . ok," he replied. They sat there in silence, looking at Rick. White bandages surrounded his cranium, his legs. It was unbearable for Russell to look at him like that, but he couldn't stop. He had to keep looking at him, hoping for him to make a sound and open his eyes.
"It's sad, isn't it?" a voice from behind suddenly sounded. Russell and Amy turned to see Lintino in the doorway. "It seems these kind of accidents happen far too often in Pangaea these days. A long time ago, when we first began, things were more peaceful, more controllable, more-"
"You can't go back to the way things were," Amy shook her head. "In reality, you know how bad it was. The artificial intelligence insertions into the brains backfired on us. They all had to be destroyed because of it. We can't re-do it all over again." Everyone knew what Amy eluded to - the dreaded horror of the use of advanced science by trying to control their brains, but resulted in the worst tragedy imaginable. Everyone closed their eye-lids , keeping those horrible memories away, knowing they would only return in due time.
Lintino just stood in thought. After a moment, he spoke. "You are right. Ever since then our scientists have been looking for ways to keep the dinosaurs from leaving our research grounds. Up till now, we have all refused to cage the animals up, therefore having to hunt them down and stopping them before they would escape us . . . using weapons of warfare," he shuddered. Lintino was a man that truly hated guns, period. "But, after years and years of study and research, we've finally found it." At hearing this, Russell's surprised attention was suddenly aroused. Could it be? Could it be that they'd actually done it, they've found a way to control them in a peaceful way? "You would probably be interested in learning more about this, wouldn't you, Russell?" Lintino smiled. Russell wasn't sure how to take it. Everyone in Pangonia had been longing for new ways in control for a long time. He was dazed, hardly able to believe it had finally been done.
"I can't speak hardly," Russell cleared his throat. "You must actually show me how this new order can be achieved!" he stood up.
"To do that, you must come with me to Greenland. I have scheduled our flight on a respectable airlines. We leave in four hours. You will come, I take it?"
Russell suddenly stopped his enthusiasm. He looked back at Rick and at Amy. "I have to stay by his side. I can't leave my friend like this," he whispered. Amy stood and took his shoulder.
"You go, Paul. I'll stay here by his side at all times till you return. I promise. Rick will be alright when you come back. He would want you to go to Greenland, you know that," she looked him square in the eye. Russell was caught in an unusual situation. He was torn between two decisions. He couldn't decide.
***
Lintino and Russell sat in comfortable seats on the small airplane. Outside it was foggy, grey, and snowing. It was impossible to see anything. They both wore winter coats and snow caps. Russell was anxious about all this. He could hardly believe they would have some new ways soon. The Pangaea New Order - that sounded good to him. It had a nice ring to it. Maybe it was just because he was excited about it. Without resorting to violence or caging, they could finally control the animals in a peaceful and natural way. But he had now clue how they could do it. All he knew was that we would be shown very soon.
The voice of the pilot rang through the plane. "Ladies and gentlemen, we're arriving at the North Plains Airport in just a moment. Please have your baggage ready and be prepared to exit the plane," the calm voice announced. Russell and Lintino didn't have much baggage. Just two duffel bags with warm clothes and money in them.
The plane was brought down and came to a halt in a matter of moments. Everyone unbuckled their seat belts, got up, taking their luggage, and exited. Russell and Lintino were approached by a teenage boy almost immediately afterwards. "Are you two Dr. Lintino and Dr. Russell?" he asked. They nodded their heads. "I'm Dr. Drakon's son, Nathaniel. Follow me. I have a vehicle for us to get to the excavation site." They all headed across the from the snowy airport. "We have to reach the site before the real blizzard hits."
They all got into the large, blue vehicle with wheels that were similar to a tank's. Inside, they sat themselves down in the leather seats, their hot breath forming grey cloud puffs in the icy cold air. Dr. Drakon's son blew into is hands to warm them up, started the engine and went trailing off through the snow.
ACT II - PART C: CAVERNS
Nathaniel Drakon drove the vehicle with Russell and Lintino in it through the snow. It seemed like it was taking forever to get to their destination. It just seemed it was snow everywhere on this continent and there was absolutely nothing else. Just when Russell was about to tell them how bored he was becoming, three, small, round and grey bunks in the snow came into view through the white blurs. Two vehicles were parked beside the bunks that were similar to the one they were riding in. They had arrived at last.
Nathaniel stopped the vehicle and everyone climbed out and down, putting their jacket hoods over their heads. Russell started to head for the bunkers immediately. "No!" Nathaniel called to him over the howling wind. "We aren't going in there! Come with me this way!" Russell wanted to get inside the warm bunkers, but reluctantly turned to follow Nathaniel, who was obviously more used to this harsh weather than anyone else.
The three men walked into a cavern several feet away. Inside, it was moist and brown rock that served as walls. The route they were taking was a product of nature, a natural cave, until they came to a pont where a man-made hole had been dug into the caverns. They proceeded through that entryway and in a few moments, they could hear voices. Light was at the end of tunnel.
They exited the hole to find several men walking around a large chunk of ice. One of those men noticed the others approaching. He smiled and came up to them, his hand outstretched. Russell noticed the thick, red hair of this man had caught tons of snow in it as he man gently brushed it all off the top of his head. "Welcome you two! I have heard of your findings of the Velociraptor adaptions back in Pangaea!" the man smiled.
"It's a to see you again, Dr. Drakon. We very much appreciate your funds for Pangaea. Without you, we truly could not survive and your studies could not continue," Lintino shook his hand. "And this is another scientist from our little project down there, one that is very valuable to us. Dr. Paul Russell meet Dr. Edward Drakon." Russell and Drakon shook hands.
"How do you do? What is this excavation your men are so excited about?" Russell asked, smiling.
"Well, we've just unearthed another woolly mammoth. Come take a look." Drakon led them over to the ice. Inside was the half frozen corpse of what looked to be a small, juvenile mammoth, covered with a tick coat of brown fur. "This is the first baby we've found. We believe she is the child of Big Jenny."
"Big Jenny?" Russell confusedly asked. Drakon nodded and led him into another area of the cave a short ways away. A giant mammoth body lay, half ripped open. It was ten feet tall and ten feet wide. The brown hair, like it's daughter, was still perfectly encased on its skin.
"Wow! This is amazing! But why is she ripped open?" Russell asked curiously.
"That, my friend, has to do with the reason you came here - a new way to control dinosaurs at our research grounds. Insider her belly, we found this," Drakon went over to a table where several bags held leaves and roots of plants - prehistoric plants. "This is absolutely astounding. It is the largest find of prehistoric plants ever to be unearthed. It contains enough DNA to reconstruct a prehistoric plant and bring it back to life, just as was done with dinosaur DNA in InGen's project."
"What an incredible find! You should report this!" Russell exclaimed, completely compelled and enthused.
"No I'm afraid not. For it would only give away the secret of Pangaea. Our scientists have started the process of bringing these plants back to life already. Soon, we will be able to control the dinosaurs again, but in a far better way that will not backfire on us, like the previous ways we've tried."
"How do you mean?"
"We have done research on the inner workings and systems of the dinosaurs. Their metabolisms are designed to take food that is especially hard to digest. Also, our research shows that even though the dinosaurs now in Brazil are eating modern day plants, they are still eating rocks with the food, which helps in digestion of prehistoric plants. In other words, they are used to eating plants from the original age of the dinosaurs because of the traits of their ancestors that were put into them because of InGen's cloning. That is the way their bodies are designed. The bottom line is that they prefer the plants that existed in pre-history."
"I see. So what are you saying? They are trying to leave Pangaea to look for prehistoric plants?"
"No, not exactly. Dinosaurs migrate as an instinct. But they are used to eating prehistoric plants, ones that are hard to digest. The modern plants are the exact opposite. Therefore, if we re- populate the area of Pangaea with prehistoric plants, the dinosaurs will likely stay there, since that would be the only place for the food they truly prefer. Don't you see, Dr. Russell? We can control them again! We can keep them where we want them so that nothing can interfere!"
"It seems too good to be true."
"It does, doesn't it? But you are going to stay here for a few weeks to witness the recreation of these plants. Once we re-habitat Pangonia, we will be recreating in an entirely prehistoric world, one that will be calm and controllable. And in no way chaotic." Russell just stood there, too amazed to reply. This was a step further from what InGen had done. They had just re-created dinosaurs. Now, Pangaea's scientists were going to re-create an entire, complete, and unflawed prehistoric environment.
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1/11/02 9:41:22 PM
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