Needle in a Drumheller

(From the active case files of the Palaeo Central Initiative. Personal log of Palaeo-Prime: Professor Alvar Paradigm.)


This has not been one of my better days.

Despite our successful capture of Case #132-09's poaching racket, my personal participation in the operation was less than ideal.

However today has been the first time I have ever been thwarted in hand to hand combat by two separate combatants!

My second altercation was quite an unexpected surprise however, especially in who I clashed with.


What the hell is Jaden [Spectre] doing here in Drumheller???

The logical conclusion is he was somehow involved in the poaching. That does not make sense though.

He has known about the Vivus egg layer in the Horseshoe Canyon as long as I have. More to the point he would never resort to employing anyone else to excavate for him. He is far to skilled and capable to need hired help. Not to mention his pride!


No, there must be something else behind his presence here, but I don't have time to figure it out now!

Jaden has abducted TMP 2003. 12. 7., known to most as "Traumador". Being taken by Jaden means the Tyrannosaur only has a few hours left, unless I can track them both down!

I think I know what Jaden is up to. Or so I hope. I have made a crucial call to the International Palaeontological Committee publishing house. I am going to need them to rush something through a peer review in the next hour if there is any hope of stopping Jaden.

Naturally Jaden was smart enough to not leave me anything resembling a useful trail. His tracks end at the Dinosaur Trail highway. Meaning he could be anywhere in the greater Drumheller area by now. He is not foolish enough to try and leave the area, as he or his captive might be found if I were to order a road closure.

It has been a long time since the two of us have played cat and mouse in Drum. Nine years, two months, and five days to be precise. His choice of hideouts in the area has altered a great deal in the past decade, and like always I don't have much time to figure out which!


I can immediately eliminate two of his classic haunts from the list. Both the old abandoned Prehistoric Park and Antler Museum sites have been thankfully demolished in the last few year, and thus he can't fall back on familiar ground or the previously installed defences.


At the same time there is no shortage of potential new sites for him to use around town. All Jaden needs is privacy and access to the barest basic utilities and he is fully operable.

[Photo courtest of David Lloyd]

I fear he may yet, one of these days, resort to using one of the several dozen old dilapidated farm buildings in the area. He has never done this in his exploits in Canada, but there is always a first time in this country. Which would prove disastrous, I do not have the time to check them all.

Based on our encounter earlier today though I am willing to gamble he will not be using this tactic today. He went out of his way to ensure I survived our battle, and I have fought him enough to know the difference. No, Jaden wants me to know exactly what he is doing to TMP 2003. 12. 7, and thus he will have chosen a hideout that will be obvious so I can find it.

[Photo courtesy of David Lloyd]

My first stop, Jaden's still standing second base in Drumheller. The Bleriot Ferry. In 1986 during his attempt to illegally break into the Tyrrell's type specimen collection, Jaden used the Ferry's mechanical shed as his base of operations.

However here in 2009 there is no sign that he has been here in the past twenty years.

When Jaden is pulling one of his more showy schemes, he likes to go as grandiose as he can on his venue. Having a flair of theatrical sense, Jaden tends to pick historic sites for these occasions.

You can not get much more historic or flashy then the Atlas 5 coal mine site.

I wagered it 40% likely I'd find Jaden and Traumador here at the mine, it turns out that my 60% reservations were correct.

Clearly Jaden wants to be found, but not too easily. If he is going to attempt what I think he is, then this makes sense. He can not afford me finding him too soon. I need to really get in Jaden's headspace right now if I am to save the Tyrannosaur!

Jaden is very fond of abandoned facilities, for the clear advantages they provide to someone with his agenda. His usual two the Prehistoric Park and Antler museum no longer exist, but as small cities and towns tend to do, Drumheller has produced a few new such places for him to choose from.

A fire last year, rendered the former high school completely useless. Making it perfect for Jaden's purposes, especially since it is right in the heart of the city and very close to electrical and water systems that can be tapped into.

If I gave the Atlas mine 40% likelihood, then the high school was 50%. The boarded up front was almost like Jaden's version of a welcoming mat.

Yet after an extensive search of the building I was astounded to find the high school had simply been abandoned.

Which did not bode well for me or the Tyrannosaur! Those were the only clear places I could think of, and Drumheller was a town I knew particularly well.

A last possible location occurred to me, though I did not bother to investigate it.

The new "museum" being constructed 5 minutes down North Dinosaur Trail from the Tyrrell.

The thought of this abomination of an institute feels me with intense rage. Despite the Tyrrell's, my own, and even the International Palaeontological Committee's efforts to block them, the Annex Corporation has been allowed to build this tourism branch in Alberta. I can not even properly express my disgust over this situation. If this is a sign of things to come, than my efforts to combat the company have been for nothing!

`

I digress though. Such a new facility only being partially complete, it would make an ideal temporary base for Jaden. Yet, I can thankfully dismiss the Annex Corp. museum without a second thought. Despite our disagreements in the past, Jaden and I still share an absolute disdain for the company. He would not ally himself with them under many circumstances, and getting back at me through the Tyrannosaur certainly would not be one of them!

`

No, Jaden has to have come up with a far cleverer hiding place then these. I just wish I could think of where the hell it is?!?

To be continued... In the last place anyone would think to look!

paradigm vs. spectre (in comicrama vision!)

i'm REALLY regretting getting up this morning!

after all the crazy excitingness that had been the drumheller poaching caper, i thought my day couldn't get any weirder...

then suddenly me and professor paradigm had come under attack out of no where!

our attacker, some guy called "spectre", seemed to know paradigm pretty well... all i knew was that he was intent on dinonapping me, and that he packed a might impressive grip.

in fact spectre's holds on me so far had been so good, on account of his knowing several ubber effective pressure points on my tyrannosaurid physiology, i was nearly paralyzed. as much as i wanted to struggle, and even at some points use my bone crushing bite on him, the most i could muster was a spastic twitch. he'd shot my body into totally useless numbness.

as for why he wanted to steal me, i wasn't sure. based on how paradigm had suddenly tensed up, i could tell my abduction wasn't going to be a good thing... was this another angle on the poaching case i'd managed to miss? or was there something else behind this?

"let him go jaden!" paradigm ordered. so they were both on a first name basis with each other. i was really starting to hate this whole surprises around every corner that palaeo-central was seeming to bring with it.

"now, now alvar, you didn't say the magic word," jaden spectre mockingly answered.

paradigm said nothing more, but rather rushed towards myself and spectre. in a moment's reaction i was tossed aside and spectre replaced me with a long japanese sword he had strapped to his back.

you might be thinking this was an ideal chance for me to escape. sadly spectre's pressure point grip had rendered me capable of just slightly better than a weak crawl. so though i made incredibly slow progress away from the battle that was about to ensue, I didn't get very far from it...

the fight happened really fast too. i include the pictures here in comicrama style so it might be easier to follow (let me know what you think of this style of blog post for my future consideration)

seeing spectre's sword paradigm hesitated for a moment, but only a moment, before trying to close with his opponent. spectre took a slash at paradigm, which the professor narrowly ducked. in this moment of opportunity spectre landed a solid kick on the professor...

it was a good kick, and paradigm let out an audible grunt of pain. i thought this was going to turn out just like his last fight, and i was doomed.

needles seemed to think so too, as he took another swing with his blade. paradigm suddenly pivoted on the spot, and launched an awesome punch right into spectre's stomach. as spectre keeled over in response paradigm shot his hand up in a rather mean uppercut like blow right into spectre's jaw.

spectre recoiled and restored his sword in front of him. "just like old times," spectre said almost fondly. "it's just too bad you came unprepared, alvar," he taunted with the tip of his blade.

"i always come prepared," paradigm retorted very confidently, as he reached behind him. i grew hopeful of the mystery weapon he'd pull out from behind him. was it his own sword (maybe from england or somewhere exotic like antarctica?), or better yet a battle axe, or wait a rocket launcher, no of course it would be a tank! crushing my enthusiasm paradigm pulled out a standard issue digging awl...

spectre paused, just as confused as me. "that's a little creative, on using what you have available," he pointed out to paradigm. "even for you alvar!"

paradigm in a very civil, and almost embarrassed i'd venture, manner replied. "you are catching me at an awkward time jaden. which i'm sure you planned on," paradigm explained. "i did just spend a great deal of effort on two poachers, and this is the only piece of evidence i collected that is close to a weapon."

spectre seemed more enthused and honoured by this answer. "you're willing to use a piece of evidence from a case against me," he humbly stated. "why not then..."

spectre lunged full swing with his sword, and all common sense would bet the professor was doomed with his tiny excavation tool.

yet paradigm counter lunged, and his awl caught spectre's sword masterfully. a splash of sparks erupted from the colliding weapons. both combatants didn't disengage though, rather both tried to swing the close quarters to their enemy into an advantage.

paradigm didn't miss a beat, and cracked the handle of his awl with full force against spectre's jaw. it looked like the professor had planned on swinging the pointy business end of the tool into spectre's shoulder or arm to injury this key combat limb, but spectre out maneuvered him. paradigm's blow was followed nanoseconds later by spectre's sword's hilt into the professor's throat sending him recoiling.

spectre flicked his sword, knocking the awl out of paradigm's grasp...

the black clade villain then tried to swing the sword back towards the professor, but paradigm seized him by the wrist and applied some sort of pressure point grip to it, causing spectre to drop his weapon.

one of the two of them tried to hit the other (i seriously couldn't tell, they were both moving so quickly and smoothly now) and the opposite blocked it. spectre put to much emphasis on the arm to arm combat, and thus neglected his lower body's defenses. an opening paradigm struck out against...

however this didn't incapacitate spectre, whose focus on the upper combat zone, now allowed a powerful counter attack on the slightly off balance paradigm.

spectre coyly wandered slightly away from the battle, as paradigm regrouped. spectre clearly had the intent of picking something up off the ground. as his sword lay right beside him, both myself and the professor focused on it. which had been spectre's notion...

as paradigm dashed towards the sword to prevent it from reentering the engagement, i was startled when spectre reached down and seized ME!

using me as a blunt force weapon, spectre batted me into the professor. my thickly boned and muscled head impacted the professor's much more modest mammalian skull with a great enough force i felt him go limp against the blow... not that i felt all that great as a result of the contact either!

we both collapsed into a pile on the ground. for all i knew paradigm was dead at first, till i fortunately felt his chest move and heard the eerie sound his re-breather makes for an exhale.

the whole duel had lasted only a couple of minutes, in a fast and furious blur. i'd been so engrossed on the battle and its outcome i'd almost been excited, rather then fearing for my life. now with spectre looming over the two of us completely helplessly dread finally took its hold on me...

it was very suspenseful too. he could any manner of evil things either of us right now...

no matter what it ended up being, just the mere anticipation and worry of what it was going to be was the worst though!

i shrieked with startled fear, when spectre finally settled on a simple evil laugh...

"pleasant dreams alvar," he goaded the unconscious paradigm. "by the time you wake up, i'll have made scientific history!"

i had no idea what that meant or why it sounded so ominous.

before i had much time to think on it , spectre picked me up, and draped my frozen body over his shoulder and sprinted off into the badlands...

just like that i'd been dinonapped!

by a deadly madman who wanted to make science history... the problem is i couldn't tell what i had to do with it, or why i'd been stolen to do so (i'd have happily helped make history if i'd been asked... which caused me to think this was not going to be a good thing!)

to be continued...

fossil of the weekend! #45

an Allosaurus fragilis skeleton, mounted at the american museum of natural history in new york. (photo courtesy of my talent agent peter bond and lillian the albertosaur)

my cousin of the week #20

a australasian gannet, aka australian gannetor, a Morus serrator, or Sula bassana, and finally to the maori a Tākapu flying over wellington harbour.

fossil of the weekend! #44

a skull of Centrosaurus apertus, from the royal tyrrell museum.

a science blog post contest

the good gentlemen of deep sea news have asked me to help promote a big evolutionary science event.
the national evolutionary synthesis center (NESCENT) is organizing a big conference on "explor[ing] science on the web". it takes place on January 15-17 2010, but the huge news is that they are holding a contest in which 2 winners will get funding ($750) to attend this conference!

all you have to do is write a blog post (750-1500 words) on a evolutionary science paper or research that went down this year. they also want a tiny mention of the contest somewhere in there.
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good luck to you all!

my cousin of week #20

a new zealand red billed seagull, or Chroicocephalus scopulinus in latin, and in maori tarapunga or akiaki.

Guest Walcott Quarry

prehistoric insanity has teamed up with eTrilobite to present a fully 3D fill-in strip of the ever awesome burgess shale themed comic Walcott's Quarry. be sure to check it out!

fossil of the weekend! #43

a fossil skull of hypacrosaurus in the prepared collections of the royal tyrrell museum

my cousin of the week #19

an australasian harrier, aka Circus approximans, or in maori kāhu. despite being a very common and often seen bird in new zealand, this bird of prey is incredibly shy, and has a talent for avoiding picture distance. this is the ONLY picture i have ever managed to snap of this elusive hawk. a proper drive by it was too, you'll notice the motion blur of everything else as we drove past this guy.