“In a word,” Levine said, “yes. I do.”
As the morphine was injected into the baby, he gave a sighing wheeze and collapsed back onto the steel pan. Sarah adjusted the oxygen mask around his face. She glanced back at the monitor, checking the heart rate, but once again Arby and Kelly were blocking her view. “Kids, please.”
Thorne stepped forward, clapped his bands. “Okay, kids! Field trip! Let’s get moving.”
Arby said, “Now? But we want to watch the baby – ”
“No, no,” Thorne said. “Dr. Malcolm and Dr. Harding need room to work. This is the time for a field trip to the high hide. We can watch the dinosaurs for the rest of the afternoon.”
“But Doc – ”
“Don’t argue. We’re just in the way here, and we’re going,” Thorne said. “Eddie, you come, too. Leave these two lovebirds to do their work.”
In a few moments, they left. The trailer door slammed shut behind them. Sarah Harding heard the soft whirr of the Explorer as it drove away. Bent over the baby, adjusting the oxygen mask, she said, “Lovebirds?”
Malcolm shrugged. “Levine…”
“Was this Levine’s idea? Clearing everybody out?”
“Probably.”
“Does he know something we don’t?”
Malcolm laughed. “I’m sure he thinks he does.”
“Well, let’s start the cast,” she said. “I want to get it done quickly, and take this baby home again.”
The High Hide
The sun had disappeared behind low-banging clouds by the time they reached the high hide. The entire valley was bathed in a soft reddish glow as Eddie parked the Explorer beneath the aluminum scaffolding, and they all climbed up to the little shelter above. Levine was there, binoculars to his eyes. He did not seem glad to see them. “Stop moving around so much,” he said irritably.
From the shelter, they had a magnificent view over the valley. Somewhere in the north, thunder rumbled. The air was cooling, and felt electric.
“Is there going to be a storm?” Kelly asked.
“Looks like it,” Thorne said.
Arby glanced doubtfully at the metal roof of the shelter. “How long are we staying out here?”
“For a while,” Thorne said. “This is our only ay here. The helicopters are taking us away tomorrow morning. I thought you kids deserved a chance to see the dinosaurs in the field one more time.”
Arby squinted at him. “What’s the real reason?”
“I know,” Kelly said, in a worldly tone.
“Yeah? What?”
“Dr. Malcolm wants to be alone with Sarah, stupid.”
“Why?”
“They’re old friends,” Kelly said.
“So? We were just going to watch.”
“No,” Kelly said. “I mean, they’re old friends.”
“I know what you’re talking about,” Arby said. “I’m not stupid, you know.”
“Knock it off,” Levine said, staring through the binoculars. “You’re missing the interesting stuff.”
“What’s that?”
“Those triceratops, down at the river. Something’s bothering them.”
The triceratops herd had been drinking peacefully from the river, but now they were beginning to make noise. For such huge animals, their vocalizations were incongruously high-pitched: they sounded more like yelping dogs.
Arby turned to look. “There’s something in the trees,” he said, “across the river.” There was some hint of dark movement, beneath the trees.
The triceratops herd shifted, and began backing toward each other until they formed a sort of rosette, with their curved horns facing outward, against the unseen menace. The solitary baby was in the center, yelping in fear. One of the animals, presumably its mother, turned and nuzzled it. Afterward, the baby was silent.
“I see them,” Kelly said, staring at the trees. “They’re raptors. Over there.”
The triceratops herd faced the raptors, the adults barking as they swung their sharp horns up and down. They created a kind of barrier of moving spikes. There was an unmistakable sense of coordination, of group defense against predators.
Levine was smiling happily. “There’s never been any evidence for this,” he said, suddenly cheerful. “In fact, most paleontologists don’t believe it happens.”
“Don’t believe what happens?” Arby said.
“This kind of group defensive behavior. Especially with trikes – they look a bit like rhinos, so they’ve been assumed to be solitary, like rhinos. But now we will see….Ah.Yes.”
From beneath the trees, a single velociraptor hopped out into view. It moved quickly on its hind legs, balancing with a stiff tall.