A New Beginning

The James Cook has two entrances, the emergency airlock on the bridge and the other in the lower flight deck. This latter entrance has steps that fold down from the underbelly of the ship and is the one that was used for going to and from the living section.

With the steps and landing gear down, the James Cook sits a little under three meters off the ground. This is plenty of room for us to work around under but it is also enough room for a small, vicious carnivore to maneuver in -- I have plans to enclose the ship with timbers like an old west fort. But that is the future.

We were preparing to go outside to greet the Cretaceous Period for the first time when something began pounding on our spaceship. I, as well as everyone else, was wondering what was trying to break into our ship. I'm sure everyone was also thinking that maybe our first adventure into Shangri La was going to end us all up as dino dinner. I know that's what I was thinking.

"Wait!" yelled Anthony our dinosaur expert. "Don't open the hatch yet. Listen!"

We all stopped and listened. It was faint but you could definitely hear the chatter of what sounded like monkeys. We all smiled and began to laugh.

"Joseph, open the hatch and lower the stairs," I again ordered him. "But to be on the safe side, Joshua you go first. Chantelle, Anthony . . ."

"Why do I have to be the first one to die," he joked as he replaced the .45 caliber pistol in its holster.

I wasn't impressed with his wise crack. "Because you have the gun. Chantelle, Anthony, you two have the taser guns you go second."

I followed Joshua, Anthony and Chantelle Dawn down the steps, firmly gripping my hand axe.

The monkey chatter was quite a bit louder outside. The air was a lot cooler than I expected; there was a slight breeze blowing off the dried up lake bed to our rear. The forest was lush with greenery. As I reached the bottom step I noticed a strange plant near the foot of the steps with what appeared to be large orange buttercups for flowers. There were dead insects sticking to the inside of the cups.

I saw a small silver and black bird-like animal with a red head fly off as I stepped off the stairs. Instead of a beak, it had a short, narrow jaw with teeth sticking out the side of its mouth similar to that of a crocodile. I didn't get a good look at it and wondered whether it was a bird or a small flying dinosaur.

We all walked out from underneath the James Cook and looked up. There, crawling all over the James Cook and in the tree branches, were about 35 or 40 proto-primates. It seems the tree we came to a rest under was their home.

As soon as they saw us their chatter stopped. For about five seconds we just looked at each other, neither group moving. Then one of the larger ones shrieked loudly and all of them scampered to top of the tree.

They were cute little animals, a little larger than a squirrel. They were black with a white stomach and a red nose, reminiscent of a male mandrill baboon. Their eyes were large and black. They were arboreal quadrupeds but sat up on their haunches like baboons. They had five long, clawed digits on each of their feet and hands but did not have the primate opposable thumb. They had long slender tails. The babies clung to their mother's back.

Anthony, our dinosaur expert, said they were probably related to the Plesiadapids or possibly the Prosimians or some other Cretaceous primate. I don't know about that but these creatures reminded me of small white capuchin monkeys except for their coloring -- they didn't have white faces. Their faces looked more like a kitten's face than a monkey's face.

Joshua asked, "Think I should shoot a few of them for our supper?"

"No!" yelled Anthony. "Let them be. As long as they're chattering we're safe. Their chatter means that there are no predators in the area. It's when they stop chattering and scamper to the tops of the trees, that's when a predator is close by."

He was right. These proto-monkeys or whatever they were had all climbed to the top of the tree and were deathly silent; all of them intently watching us.

"Then what should we do about them," Laci Bianca asked, looking at me.

But Anthony answered her. "We let them be. They can be an alarm system for us. Like I said, as long as they're chattering there is no danger."

"Yeah but all that chatter is going to keep us awake all night," she continued.

"No it won't. They go to sleep at night just like we do," Anthony continued.

Akira Carissa butted in, "And who made you an expert on monkeys?"

"I'm not an expert on monkeys. But these are forerunners of the monkeys and apes. I know a little about dinosaurs. While studying dinosaurs I also studied the early primates."

"Anthony's right," Doc Yves added. "I've studied anthropology and man's origins. These Plesiadapids or Prosimians or whatever they are, will warn us if any beast comes in the area."

"But what should we do about them?" Laci asked again.

Doc continued, "My advice is that we work around them. We should disturb them as little as possible or they might move to another tree. But if they perceive that we're not a threat to them, then they'll probably stick around for a while."

Sensing that we were not a danger, a few of the creatures had begun to chatter again.

"If they're not Plesiadapids or Prosimians, what do we call them?" Veronica Anne asked.

"Let's call them PrimusPrimates," Juan answered her. "Since they're the first primates we've encountered."

"I'll buy that," Akira added.

"So what do we do, Captain Antoinette?" Joshua asked.

I wondered whether he asked because he was anxious to shoot one or what his intentions were. He once told me that he did some deer hunting with a crossbow, but has never shot a real gun at a living animal. To my knowledge the only animal he's ever "shot" was virtual hunting on a computer.

Nor was I worried about him missing his target and wasting ammunition. He was the best shot onboard the James Cook using a virtual gun. Thomas and Chantelle were the only persons who could come close to out shooting him.

"We follow the advice of our two experts and we leave the PrimusPrimates alone." I looked around, "Any questions?" There were none. By now all the PrimusPrimates were chattering once again. But they still hadn't come down from the top of the tree.

"OK, y'all have your jobs to do; let's get to it. Joshua, could I talk to you a minute before you and your crew go scout out the area?"

"Sure Toni, what's up?"

We walked up the steps. Once at the top I turned and faced him, "We only got 100 rounds of ammunition. I prefer we use it for protection against large predators if it's possible. Am I going to have to worry about you using it all up on every animal you see?"

He put his head down and tightened his lips. Then he looked up. "You're right. I'm sorry. It's just that I have never shot a real gun at an animal before and I was kind of excited . . ." He paused a moment and, slapping the gun strapped to his hip, he continued, "You have my assurances that I'll be very prudent when shooting this thing. I won't use it unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Thanks Joshua. I knew I could count on you. I just wanted to make sure."

"Thank you," he answered me.

He then went with Joseph and Louis to check out the nearby lake. Akira, Aleks Michelle, Elizabeth Dee, Natalie Amiee and I started removing the seats and the center navigation table from the lower flight deck to make room for cots for everyone to sleep on.

Joseph and I had figured earlier that once everything was removed from the lower flight deck there would be enough room for about 20 of us to sleep there comfortably; the rest could sleep on the bridge. That was the plan until we could build a wall around the James Cook. Then those who wanted to could sleep outside under the protection of the ship.

The five of us had been working for about an hour when I noticed that Sam, Carli and Valarie hadn't brought up the parachutes. I told Aleks, Beth, Akira and Natalie to continue working and went downstairs to search for them.

I found the parachutes at the bottom of the steps still in their packs. But Sam, Carli and Valarie were nowhere around. Thomas was handing some branches with leaves the size of an elephant's ear up to Veronica, who was standing on the wing. I asked him if he had seen the three of them. He answered me that they went to check out the lake.

I shook my head in disbelief and whispered to myself, "How can they possibly think of playing around when there was so much work to be done?" I made a mental note to talk to everyone later about goofing off, at least until we got settled. I was about to go back upstairs when Joseph came running from the lake.

"Quick, where's Doc Yves?" he screamed. "It's Sam. He's been attacked by a dinosaur."

"What?" I screamed myself.

He ran past me to the top of the steps and hollered. "Doc, come quick. It's Sam. He's bleeding something bad."

I hollered up to Joseph, "Where is he? I'm going there!"

He looked down at me and pointed. "Follow that little trail off to the left there. It leads straight to the lake. I'll bring Doc Yves along in a second."

I looked back toward Thomas. He was helping Veronica down from the wing. "Thomas, follow me! Veronica, tell everyone I said to get under the James Cook or in it until further notice."

Thomas pulled an axe from his belt and handed it to me. Then he pulled his hunting knife out from its sheath. The two of us took off running toward the lake.

When we got there, one look told me that Sam wasn't going to make it. He was deathly white through loss of blood. Both his legs had been bitten off just above the knees and most of his left arm was gone. Joshua had ripped some strips of cloth from his shirt and tied them around Sam's thighs to act as tourniquets. He was in the process of putting a tourniquet on the nub of his left arm when we arrived.

Louis was standing over the two of them with the .45 in his hand. He was real nervous and kept looking from Sam into the shrubbery and then back at Sam again. I could tell by the way he was acting that if a dinosaur showed up the gun would be better in Joshua's hands.

I glanced around but there was no dinosaur in sight. I saw some bloody tracks going off into the surrounding shrubbery. I knelt down next to Sam. He looked at me and smiled.

"I guess we won't get that first night on Earth in bed together like we planned, Toni."

"Don't worry about that Sam. Where are Valarie and Carli?"

He interrupted me, "It may have gotten my legs but I got it." He winced in pain.

"Where are Valarie and Carli?" I asked again.

"We were just observing the scenery when it came out behind us from nowhere. It swooped down and bit Valarie. Her head and chest just disappeared into its mouth. It picked her up, chomped down on her a couple of times and then swallowed her whole. Next it started to come after Carli. I stabbed it in its left leg but . . ."

"Don't talk now Sam." I said to him. I didn't need for him to give me details about their deaths. "Doc's coming and he'll . . ."

"No, I've got to tell you," he interrupted me again. "I tried to distract it by stabbing it but it still bit Carli. Cut her in half with one bite. I stabbed it again in its left leg. Then it bit me on my legs. Picked me up and started to limp off with me in its mouth. It was about to swallow me when I stabbed it in its left eye. It dropped me and limped off."

He gritted his teeth. Then, "I don't know what happened to Carli. I think what's left of her is over there behind those bushes." He pointed to his right and then winced in pain again.

"OK Sam, Doc's coming. He'll be here in a minute."

Doc Yves arrived and immediately began working on Sam. I ordered Louis to go back to the ship and return with something we could use for a stretcher. He handed the pistol to Joshua and took off running.

We managed to get Sam back to the ship but he died within the hour. Doc said it was a combination of loss of blood and shock. I asked for volunteers to dig a grave for him -- we had four shovels.

Why UNESA would have stored shovels on a spaceship going to Europa is beyond me but I was glad to have them. David, Leonard, Joseph and Louis volunteered to dig the grave. Next I ordered Joshua to get with Thomas, Juan and Anthony and follow the bloody tracts, hunt the beast down and kill it. Chantelle volunteered to go with them.

While they were gone, Josephine Jasmine, Laci, Beth, Natalie, Akira and I searched for what may have been left of Carli so we could bury her too. We didn't find anything.

They returned from their hunt just as we were finishing a prayer service for Sam. Anthony said that a pack of five Dromeaosaur raptors, probably Utahraptors or cousins of them, attacked the wounded dinosaur, killed it and were in the process of eating it when they happened upon the scene.

They could see Sam's hunting knife still sticking out its left eye socket. Joshua told us that he was pretty sure that the beast these carnivores were devouring was the same Triceratops Rex that Valarie took a movie of chasing the Deadmeatasaurus.

According to them, Joshua, Chantelle and Anthony snuck up on the grey skin beasts, which stood a little less than two meters high and about five meters from their heads to the tip of their tails. Thomas and Juan were standing back with the taser guns, ready to distract them if necessary.

Joshua shot two of them dead while they were feasting on the Triceratops Rex dinosaur. They were immediately confused never having seen humans or fought against a .45 caliber pistol before.

Then another two of the beasts charged the group. Joshua shot one right in the heart. The other one was about to get Anthony when Chantelle jumped on its back and, grabbing and holding onto some feathers around its neck like a cowgirl riding a broncobuster, hit it in its left eye with an axe and then in its right eye, blinding it. It screamed out and threw her off its back; she landed in some nearby bushes unhurt. The beast then stopped in its tracks, sat down and began to gobble like a turkey.

Meanwhile the fifth one, which they said seemed to be younger than the other four began circling around them. They momentarily lost sight of it in the bushes, which was very terrifying for the five of them. Then it too charged them.

They said I would have been proud of Joshua. He stood and let the lone dinosaur come at him full of fury. When it was about 15 or 20 meters from him he raised the pistol with both hands firmly gripping it, took aim and shot it right between the eyes. It came to a rest just two meters from him.

Then Thomas, Juan and Anthony took to hacking the blinded carnivore to death with their axes.

It was late afternoon and no one felt like working. We were all too disheartened over the deaths of our friends. I told everyone to just relax for the rest of the day; we would pick up where we left off in the morning. I said a silent prayer that the death of our friends was not a forewarning of our future here in Shangri La. The one thought that kept running through my mind and I'm sure the minds of everyone was that those who chose to stay with the living section had made the right choice after all and that we would all be dead in a week or two.

Laci started a fire just beyond the bottom of the steps with a butane candle lighter; an object that was worth its weight in gold until someone learned how to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together. That night we had our first taste of Utahraptor; David and Josephine cooked it.

While we were feasting on the dino steaks I revealed to everyone that it tasted something like alligator; none of them had ever eaten the delicacy. They teased me over that, about living among the Cajuns in the swamps. I jokingly retorted back that New Orleans was not in the swamps, that as far as I was concerned it was the finest city in the South.

Regina Aurora said that she believed that her home town of Boston was a much better city, while Leonard preferred Atlanta and Akira liked Tokyo. We ended up agreeing that everyone thinks their own home town is better.

As we were finishing up eating our dinosaur diner, I told Joshua that I was not proud of him. He should have been more cautious.

"Supposed you missed?" I scolded him. "Then we would have had to bury you too."

"Toni, I was not going to miss. I knew that. Shooting a real .45 is not much different than shooting a virtual .45. In fact, after the first shot I discovered that the kick of the virtual gun is more than that of the real one. That surprised me. I thought the real one would kick more."

"Well still in all, please be more careful in the future. That goes for all of y'all. We can't afford to lose anyone else."

"If you all insist," he tried to mimic my Southern drawl. I smiled sardonically at him.

After we all finished eating, I informed everyone that as soon as we got things set up here we were going to hunt down every large carnivore within a kilometer or two of here and kill it. I wanted these beasts to know that humans were now on the scene and if any of them wanted to attack us then we would attack them back with ferocity.

Everyone cheered to that. We then sat around the campfire and reminisced over Sam, Carli and Valarie. Before we turned in for the night, we all observed a moment of silence for our three dead companions. I said a silent prayer to God to help us protect ourselves from further dinosaur attacks.

Later, after everyone went upstairs to sleep, I pulled Chantelle to the side. When we were alone I was about to scold her too for her foolish act. But before I could say anything she put her head on my shoulder and began to cry.

She said she didn't know what came over her. She just saw that Anthony was about to be killed by the raptor. The next thing she realized was that she was on its back holding onto the black and white feathers around its neck, shoulders and upper arms.

She said a thought flashed through her mind of Sam stabbing the Triceratops Rex in the eye with his knife. That's when she hit the Utahraptor in its eyes with the axe she had in her hand.

She then begged me to forgive her. Through tears that she had been holding back since the incident, she promised that she would never do anything like that again.

I felt sorry for her and was embarrassed for myself. Here I was about to reprimand her and she was begging me to forgive her for her act of bravery. I just hugged her and consoled her. That night we tried to sleep together but we didn't have sex. There wasn't any privacy.

I'm pretty sure that most of us didn't sleep that first night. I got up several times and went outside. Every time I noticed at least two or three others just sitting up, listening to the sounds of the night.

Once during the night I went upstairs to the nose of the ship and stood below the windows. I looked up through the trees at the stars. Aleks was already there, looking at the sky. Neither of us spoke, we just smiled at each other. I thought about Father Ray and what he would have to say about eating dinosaur meat. I wondered if he would he agree with me that it tasted like alligator. I didn't know. I don't know if he has ever eaten alligator or not.

I don't think it was the heat that kept us awake; it wasn't all that hot. Besides, we kept both the stairway hatch and the airlock hatch open; the latter was open just a crack. Plus we had several small desk fans turned on keeping the air circulating. Nor do I think that was it mosquitoes that kept us awake; there wasn't that many that found their way through the open hatches . . . yet.

But if I know my crew like I think I do, we were all thinking of Sam, Carli and Valarie and wondering if we too were going to get eaten by dinosaurs. I'm sure that's what kept everyone awake. It's what kept me awake.