“Sarah – ”
From the window, Levine said softly, “Heads up. We have visitors.”
Good Mother
In the predawn light, the dinosaurs came out of the bushes and went directly toward the Jeep. There were six of them, big brown duckbills fifteen feet high, with curving snouts.
“Maiasaurs,” Levine said, “I didn’t know there were any here.” “What are they doing?”
The huge animals clustered around the jeep, and immediately began to tear it apart. One ripped away the canvas top. Another poked at the roll bar, rocking the vehicle back and forth.
“I don’t understand,” Levine said. “They’re hadrosaurs. Herbivores. This aggressiveness is quite uncharacteristic.”
“Uh-huh,” Thorne said. As they watched, the maiasaurs tipped the jeep over. The vehicle crashed over on its side. One of the adults reared up, and stood on the side panels. Its huge feet crushed the vehicle inward.
But when the Jeep fell over, two white Styrofoam cases tumbled out onto the ground. The maiasaurs seemed to be focused on these cases. They nipped at the Styrofoam, tossing chunks of white around the ground. They moved hurriedly, in a kind of frenzy.
“Something to eat?” Levine said. “Some kind of dinosaur catnip? What?”
Then the top of one case tore away, and they saw a cracked egg inside. Protruding from the egg was a wrinkled bit of flesh. The maiasaurs slowed. Their movements were now cautious, gentle. They honked and grunted. The big bodies of the animals blocked their view.
There was a squeaking sound.
“You’re kidding,” Levine said.
On the ground, a tiny animal moved about. Its body was pale brown, almost white. It tried to stand, but flopped down at once. It was barely a foot long, with wrinkled folds of flesh around its neck. In a moment, a second animal tumbled out beside it.
Harding sighed.
Slowly, one of the maiasaurs ducked its huge head down, and gently scooped the baby up in its broad bill. It kept its mouth open as it raised its head. The baby sat calmly on the adult’s tongue, looking around with its tiny head as it rose high into the air.
The second baby was picked up. The adults milled around for a moment, as if unsure whether there was more to do, and then, honking loudly, they all moved off.
Leaving behind a crumpled, shattered vehicle.
Thorne said, “I guess gas is no longer a problem.”
“I guess not,” Sarah said.
Thorne stared at the wreckage of the Jeep, shaking his head. “It’s worse than a head-on collision,” he said. “It looks like it’s been put in a compactor. Just wasn’t built for those sorts of stresses.”
Levine snorted. “Engineers in Detroit didn’t expect a five-ton animal to stand on it.”
“You know,” Thorne said, “I would have liked to see how our own car stood up under that.”
“You mean, because we beefed it up?”
“Yes,” Thorne said. “We really built it to take fantastic stresses. Huge stresses. Ran it through computer programs, added those honeycomb panels, the whole – ”
“Wait a minute,” Harding said, turning away from the window. “What are you talking about?”
“The other car,” Thorne said.
“What other car?”
“The car we brought,” he said. “The Explorer.”
“Of course!” she said, suddenly excited. “There’s another car! I completely forgot! The Explorer!”
“Well, it’s history now,” Thorne said. “It shorted out last night, when I was coming back to the trailer. I ran it through a puddle and it shorted out.”
“So? Maybe it still – ”
“No,” Thorne said, shaking his head. “A short like that’d blow the VR. It’s an electric car. It’s dead.”
“I’m surprised you don’t have circuit breakers for that.”
“Well, we never used to put them in, although on this latest version…He trailed off. He shook his head. “I can’t believe it.”
“The car has circuit breakers?”
“Yes, Eddie put them in, last minute.”
“So the car might still run?”
“Yes, it probably would, if you reset the breakers.”
“Where is it?” she said. She was heading for the motorcycle.
“I left it on that side road that runs from the ridge road down to the hide. But Sarah – ”
“It’s our only chance,” she said. She pulled on her radio headset, adjusted the microphone to her cheek, and rolled the motorcycle to the door. “Call me,” she said. “I’m going to go find us a car.”