leaving my old life behind... again!

i guess it had to happen sooner or later, people of the innerweb. my vacation back to my former "home" has come to an end...

like so many things in my life, it seemed to last so long, but yet end so fast...

it's probably just because so much happened while i was here. i found out how my egg was found, made a huge palaeontologic discovery, was attacked by raptors, uncovered a fossil poaching scheme in the area, and finally was dinonapped! no wonder this vacation felt sooo long...

with its conclusion though comes some great sadness. sure i won't miss all the crazy stuff that happened towards the end of the trip, but i will miss my childhood home. the royal tyrrell museum...


i decided to use my last afternoon in drumheller to take a final wander of the museum's galleries where i used to live.

it was a bitter/sweet use of my day i'll tell you. a whole flood of memories (good and bad) from that long gone era of my life streamed through my tiny head.

despite all the amazing things that had happened to me since i'd left the musum (pretty much everything on this blog, for my new readers), part of me yearned for these long gone days to come back. it was silly i know, especially given how unhappy i was back then, but part of me really did miss it all.

granted enough had changed around the museum itself since i left, that my yearning for old times was now more of nostalgia then me wanting to actually stay here now. my museum was gone, and it wasn't coming back...

as if i needed a reminder, the museum's new resident albertosaurus wandered the halls interacting with the guests. a sharp reminder of how the tyrrell had become the domain of larry my JERK! of a cousin and his gang of bullies the pack of the primordial feather.

it wasn't like this at all when i lived here. back in those days all sorts of vivus-dinosaurs (vivus is the fancy scientific name for living dinosaurs) lived and worked here. including one that made looking out into the dinosaur hall a visual treat. that was the incredibly hot and beautiful lillian (man i missed her not being here the most this WHOLE trip!... at least i know roughly where she is these days! i should as i sent her ;P)...

thinking of all those dinosaurs of times past, i couldn't help think of another big change for the worse in town since i left...

that of course being drumheller overrun with tons of unemployed and jobless vivus-dinosaurs!

it had been bad when i lived here, but nothing compared to how many wander the streets now! the pack taking over the tyrrell meant that nearly all the local vivus-dinos ended up as vagrants. the recent drop in tourism lately has just made things worse for dinosaur employment. if tourists aren't willing to pay to see them, the locals sure aren't going to pay them to stand around town!

so i'm glad i'm not situated here anymore for that reason...


as i wandered down the halls of the museum, i couldn't help but feel very odd. despite being a place that used to be so familiar, and still was in a sense, i felt very much like an alien intruding in a place i didn't belong.

the museum was like a ghost town. all the landmarks and places were the same, but yet the people who i associated with them were no where to be seen... most of my friends and former coworkers (human and dinosaur) had moved on from this place...

the giant of the triassic display was a most sobering reminder of this fact. the museum had finally put dr. betsy nicholls' magnificent shonisaurus sikanniensis on display, but sadly as a memorial to her passing away. fortunately all my other former coworkers and colleagues hadn't died, but simply moved on with their lives and gone elsewhere... yet in same ways it felt like they were gone for good.

`

those that were still there were a painful reminder of yet more that i'd lost. the most significant of which was my mother. who like always, stood silently and motionless dominating the dinosaur hall.

i still yearn for the days before i'd figured out what death was... when my tiny brain was pure and innocent. i'd always just assumed mom was very shy and lazy, and was otherwise okay. as she was just standing there, and would listen to my ever word (never once interrupting me)...

i wonder what would have happened had she not died out 65 million years, and i'd hatched back then like i was supposed to? would my life have turned out better?

snapping me out of my feeling sorry for myself and missing the old days, i suddenly was hit by a wave of dizziness... oh man not more magic!!!

okay so the magic thing is my own fault. had i not doused myself in pure maori magic it wouldn't be an issue. however by doing so i'd turned myself into a living magic detector. anything remotely mystical (and real!) turns on when i'm around it... including vivus-dinsaurs.

`

i'd learned we dinosaurs in the modern world, owed our being here to magic! the mysterious eggs that palaeontologists had been finding the past few years from which we were hatching had been doing so due to some sort of magic protecting us for millions of years...

`

another dinosaur only phenomenon turned out to be caused by magic. vivus-dinosaurs, myself included, will swear to being able to hear the voices from fossil skeletons long extinct. not that they are ghosts or conversational, mind you, but the fossils seem to have an echoed imprint of its owners last thoughts. meaning we living dinosaurs can communicate with a brief snap shot of our ancestors, not that we can get anything out of them beyond what was going through their heads in the last few minutes of their life.

`

which brings us to my mom. my whole childhood i'd trying to talk to her echo, but sadly missing her skull her echoes were only ever vague emotions. no words. which is why this last trip (possibly due to my now being a magic battery) i was surprised when she suddenly spoke to me for the first time!

`

suddenly here today she did it again!

"my dear sweet little traumador," my mother's echo addressed me. then like before she warned. "be on your guard my little, danger soon shall stalk you..."

i won't lie, having my heard my mother's voice for only the third time ever, this was all i thought of the rest of my time in the museum.

`

i guess that's not such a bad thing. i didn't want to conclude my homecoming with sad memories. it had been a good trip, and it had great to see all the old places and people (who were still here) that once were my life.

`

as i made my way out of the museum and towards the bus that would take me out of drumheller, i couldn 't stop fixating on my mothers dire warning...

`

what did she know that i didn't? how could she have known 65 million years ago something that was going to happen now? should i pay it any attention to this warning?

`

thankfully as the bus lurched to a start, i looked out the window, and all my worries and sadness were gone. the sun was setting on drumheller.

`

a fitting end to my return visit. i said goodbye... out loud, causing many of the other passengers to look at me a little funny... oops!

`

it was at this moment i had a breaking thought! ever since i'd been laid off by the tyrrell, i'd desperately clung to it as part of who i was. everything i had done since, i had compared to this old life...

`

yet it was over, and had been a long time. it wasn't until right now, looking at the sunsetting on town that i realized that fact. it was not the town or museum i'd grown up in. like me they'd both changed too. it was time i let go of the past, and try to create a future for myself!

`

i was finally filled with happiness today, as this trip home went from a pleasant trip down memory lane, to a full on life altering experience. as i drove out of drumheller, i realized in many ways this would be the last time i would ever leave my former home...

`

leaving it, mind you, in the sense of viewing it of where i should be. somehow i suspect, people of the web wide world, this is not the last time i'll be to drumheller though...

`

Next: cowtown!

brains over brawn...

it looked like it was the end of me, people of the innerweb...

i'd been dinonapped by the (evil and) crazy dr. jaden "needles" spectre. from his life story he told me, i couldn't help but think he intended on cleaning me right down to my skeleton to get some sort of scientific pay back at his old "friend" professor paradigm...

let's just say i had some pretty compelling clues that removing all my skin, muscles, guts, and organs was his primary goal here today...

just as his really huge scary saw was about to cut into me, i thought there was NO way i was going to make it out of this one alive...

[Photo Courtesy David Lloyd]

funny enough, at this exact moment it suddenly was watering time outside in the cretaceous garden. all around us in the plant nursery, the echoes of the loud watering systems reverberated from the plumbing lined walls. it wasn't deafening by any stretch, but the subtle noises were drowned out by the pumps.

i'd have happily continued my diabolical dissection had i been dr. spectre (though i'm NOT anywhere evil enough to him i'll point out!), but he was instantly distracted. spectre began looking all over the place as if the walls themselves were out to get him...

just as i was about this think him even more crazy then i already did (up to a 13 out of 10 from an 11), he suddenly suspiciously murmured to himself. "it's quarter to 5. the timer is set for 6..."
wait, if the sprinklers aren't supposed to go off for another hour, what made them go off right now?

interrupting both spectre's and my own curiosity, a booming voice echoed throughout the nursery. "do i have your attention, jaden?"

i recognized it right away, but spectre confirmed it moments later. "alvar!" he cursed under his breath.

immediately professor paradigm marched in through the nursery's only door. spectre instinctively challenged him in bewilderment. "how did you..."

paradigm cut spectre off mid thought. "trigger the sprinkler system, please jaden. you were palaeo-prime once. you never put overrides into a museum's maintenance infrastructure?"

"no!" spectre seemed insulted by this obvious (to him anyway) thought. he repeated his question. "how did you find us?"

"it wasn't easy," admitted paradigm. "i searched nearly the whole valley looking for you, and i have to hand it too you jaden, you almost throw me off your trail this time."

spectre was clearly going to ask what gave him away, paradigm cut him off with the answer. "once i figured out you weren't in the obvious places, than clearly you had to be in an even more obvious one!" the professor paused for slight dramatic effect. "the tyrrell was your only option in that scenario. it is just lucky for me, you are so predictable."

spectre was visibly enraged by that last jab by the professor. i grew worried, as it was an already tense situation, but in such an enclosed space i didn't want to fathom how a battle between these two would play out...

the professor however seemed unconcerned by the opponent that had earlier beat the stuffing out of him. if anything, i think he enjoyed winding spectre up. "you know, i could not help but notice a few inaccuracies in that sob story you were telling our small friend here," paradigm said in reference to spectre's life story.

"you..." spectre was taken back.
`
"overheard you?" paradigm once again finished spectre's sentence. "how could i not! your voice carries jaden. worse than mine sometimes. anyone could have heard your woeful tale all the way out into the shonisaurus display."
`
"a far more tragic version of events then the ones i recall, through," paradigm pointed out. "i would not want our small friend to get the wrong impression, jaden. you missed out a few key details, if you ask me."

"i never forced you to join palaeo-central, jaden," paradigm aired, more for my benefit then for spectre's. "you were bored with the pure academic nature of your 'promising' early career. you would have taken on the crusaders of genesis even if i hadn't stumbled into that situation. palaeo-central was as much your idea as my own, after they tired to destroy your museum."

"as for me 'blocking' the publication of your warm blooded dinosaur theory, i only stopped you from snipping from bakker by illegally publishing your papers without peer review," the professor furiously recalled. "funny how being in palaeo-central would have allowed you to bypass due process. it was your choice to sit on that discovery, and keep it a secret from everyone for all those years, even me. i would have helped you get it out there had i known about it, and you knew it jaden!"

"which brings me to my favourite part of your misrepresentation of history. i'd hate for traumador to leave not knowing the whole story," paradigm addressed me. "i did not 'side' against you with bakker until after you tried to kill both us. bakker had no idea about your discovery. he is an amazing man, and no doubt would have brought you in on the publicity had you been reasonable and approached him. instead of that, your first resort was to try and blow him up!"

spectre finally blew in face of this critiscm. "which you stopped!" spectre hissed. "after all the falls i saved you from, all the bullets i took for you, and all the years i wasted for you, saving palaeontology extinction knows how many times??? that's how you repaid me... by stopping me from getting my one true acknowledgement from our peers!

`

paradigm didn't say anything. he didn't need too. spectre's insanity spoke for him. in spectre's head blowing up a rival simply because of his great service seemed a justification. i had a sudden chill, thinking about the perils palaeo-central must have faced to bend someone like spectre into this madman...
`

"not just that, but you cost me my face, my breathing, my normal life!!!" spectre pointed angrily at his re breather.
`

paradigm finally lost his cool, and growled back pointing at his own face mask. "and it didn't cost me the same things, you idiot?!? what choice did you leave me, but to blow up that chemical tank?"
`

there was much to this story i didn't know, but i could tell it had damaged them both beyond repair... i couldn't help but feel sorry for paradigm. the pain from his having to turn on an old friend came through his voice.
`

paradigm went back to his not caring stance and posture a minute after the tense shouting match. "there you have it," he said to no one but yet everyone in the room. "we have gone through the whole sad routine once more. so yes jaden, you poor poor hurt thing. i certainly betrayed you badly, as once again here i am chasing and cleaning up after you!"
`

"so what is your scheme this time to try and get all of our acknowledgement and astonishment today?" paradigm demanded of spectre.
`
spectre finally made his first move indicating the risk of violence breaking out, as he wielded his scary saw menacingly towards paradigm. "don't be mistake alvar. i may not kill you now, as you wouldn't get to witness my triumph over you, but i have no reservations about gravely wounding you."

"i believe that," paradigm admitted, as he took a few slow calculated steps towards me and spectre. "so what would have you risking a confrontation with me. especially over top of the specimen itself."

"you've kidnapped TMP 2003. 12. 7 and are about to 'prepare' him, but the question is why," paradigm thought out loud. "let us see, note worth features of the specimen..."

`
"he is a vivus-fossil first and foremost, but that is not an under published topic. more to the point removing all the soft tissue as you are prepared to do would destroy his usefulness as a type specimen post description," paradigm deducted.
`

"the specimen is a male, and so might be useful for studies on sexual dimorphism in tyrannosaurids. yet again that can not be it, as again removal of soft tissue would destroy all the key features," the professor asserted.
`

"in fact, removing the soft tissue would seem to eliminate all possibilities and advantages of TMP 2003. 12. 7, unless there were something you suspected to be revealed by the skeleton alone," paradigm narrowed in. "so, based on the fact our friend here is still in his juvenile growth stage, you wish to examine something along these lines."
`
spectre shifted slightly at that. paradigm appeared to be closing on spectre's intentions.

"it would not just be a examination paper on such a juvenile though. there would be no break through in it for you. no major scientific coup. you'd merely open the floor to debate. not your style at all. someone could easily swoop in and grab the credit from you there," paradigm reasoned. "no, there is something about this 'juvenile' that you have caught, and the rest of us missed."
`

spectre was visibly impressed, as paradigm carried on. "based on the fact that traumador hasn't grown or changed a bit since about 2 years of age, you are suspecting there is a more pronounced reason to this, then just late maturing as had been assumed."
`
spectre finally broke his silence. "assumed indeed! by none other than you, the 'great paradigm!"
`
"you are an idiot alvar," spectre taunted, and posed the saw into a clear attack position. "there was a brand new species of tyrannosaurus under your nose for years, and now i'm going to claim it!"

"i really do not think so, jaden," paradigm disbelieved spectre.
`

this merely provoked spectre worse. "how do you intend to stop me?!?" as he brandished the saw. "you've sent away all your available backup. meaning it is just you and me. i defeated you earlier today, and i am more than willing do it again!"

"i'm sure you are," paradigm heartily agreed, as he reached behind his back for something.
`
"we both know you were always the superior warrior out of the two of us, jaden..."

paradigm seized something from behind him and swung it in front of him. man i was hoping for something really powerful that could take out spectre in a heart beat like a laser gun or a mini-ninja. instead he pulled out a book?!?

"i however, was always the superior scientist!" paradigm concluded thrusting the book towards spectre.


" 'a new tyrannosaurid from the scollard formation by alvar paradigm'!!!" spectre read the title of the book in disbelief. no wait, it wasn't a book. it was a scientific paper! paradigm had already not only made the discovery before spectre, but he'd gotten it published. meaning that the whole world knew it! "genus tyrannosaurus, new species: traumadori!?!"

wow wait, what? suddenly everything that was being discussed hit home. this big scientific battle that was going on over me, was going on literally over me!!!

if i was following correctly, both paradigm and spectre, believed i was NOT a tyrannosaurus rex at all... instead they both thought i was a slightly different (yet related) type of tyrannosaurus, and it sounded like paradigm had named this whole new category of tyrannosaurus after me!?!

"how?" spectre pleaded helplessly, as he flipped through the pages of the paper in vainly. realizing with every turn he'd be completely defeated. "how did you get these pictures of the sealed skeletal sutures? you even managed a comparison between him and raptorex???"
`


"there is more than one way to skin a tyrannosaur," paradigm actually joked! "only someone as crude as you, jaden, would think of cutting apart the only living specimen of an animal. the rest of us would be content to study its skeleton from x-rays and CAT scans."
`

that sneaky paradigm! i knew exactly when he must have figured out i was something new... back during my medical check up with him in melbourne!!! he'd taken a bunch of (painful) scans and readings off me then... more than enough to study my skeleton i'm sure.
`

"there is no way this 'just' came into publication today!" spectre accused looking at the publication date on the paper.
`

"true," paradigm admitted. "i had to pull a few strings to push it through into print for this little meeting."
`

"you hypocrite!!!" spectre accused paradigm. "you stopped me from bypassing peer review all those times, and now you just happily do it back at me. just to smite me?!?"
`

paradigm calmly retorted. "first of all, that paper was peer reviewed you'll notice. i made the call to get the process underway this morning when i came to. i would never resort to publishing something that was not first properly weighed by the scientific community. second of all jaden, there is a marked difference in why i fast tracked this paper compared to your motivations. when you did it, it was for personal selfish glory. in my case, a life was in danger. i hope even you see the difference..."

"CURSES!!!" dr. jaden spectre screamed, and returned paradigm's paper to him through a painful and well placed attack...

as paradigm reeled from the blow, spectre made a dash for the door. before the professor could recover, the mad palaeontologist dr. spectre had made his escape...

paradigm didn't seem a bit concerned, and instead walked straight up to me...
`

hopefully to untie me and stuff. those ropes are about as comfortable as they look, yo!
`

to be concluded...

getting to know doctor "needles"

i can safely say i HATE being caught, captured, and just in general being held prisoner by not nice people!!!

this time it has been by some guy called "spectre", who beat up professor paradigm and then dino-napped me... i don't know why he has taken me though!

my only hope is that someone out there is looking for me! though at the same time i'm very worried they won't find us. not where spectre has hidden us both!

the cheeky meany has chosen the most unlikely hideout in the whole valley. the last place i'd ever look for a dinosaur abducting... uh i'm not actually sure what he does for a living... guy!

he has made his lair in the royal tyrrell museum!!!

as if that weren't enough, spectre has taken over the back room of the cretaceous garden, my former home in the tyrrell!

which ironically makes me wonder, after living right outside it for 4 years, why i never bothered to look inside this room before?!?

i have to hand it to this spectre guy though. it makes the perfect evil genius hideout. the cretaceous garden is the most missed part of the museum by visitors, and this backroom is only accessible by the gardener (who isn't at work today!!!) normally.

it was in here, the museum's plant nursery, spectre had me tied up.

"how does it feel to be back home, traumador?" spectre asked me menacingly as he put me down on a large table towards the back of the room.

i had rope all around me, including my mouth. despite my powerful tyrannosaurid bite, my jaws weren't very powerful when it came to opening (just like modern archosaurs) so i wasn't able to properly respond.

i tried to answer "let me go!" but it just came out a muffle.

"yes, i thought you'd be surprised by my choice of 'workspace'," he answered smugly, despite the fact i hadn't remotely replied at all to his question.

"no! i said let me go!" i tried to counter, but my words were smothered.

"please," spectre responded as though slightly insulted. which was weird, as why would he be surprised i didn't like being tied up and being held captive? "you don't have to be so formal. i'm not a doctor at moment, so much as you're companion of personal discovery, and i am so very much hoping we are about to make some exciting discoveries about you. i feel therefore that we have entered into a more personal relationship. my 'friends' all used to call me needles. so please no more of this doctor spectre nonsense."

what? why on earth would i be concerned about to call him at a time like this?!? who cares?!? i wanted out!!!

"let me go you madman!!!" i stifled, ignoring him.

"yes it is hard to believe isn't it," dr. jaden "needles" spectre happily told me, not that i asked! "back before my falling out with the palaeontologic community i used to have many many friends."

seriously, what was wrong with this guy?!? here he was scarily looming over me, as i was tied up, and he was happily telling me his life story... i was getting even more wigged out by this behaviour (was that the point of it i wonder?)...

"which is funny. it was those very 'friends' who drove me to this form of lifestyle," needles lamented on some clearly long gone better time in his past.

i struggled against the ropes in vainly. if it wasn't bad enough being menaced by this madman, i didn't want to hear him blab on and on...

dr. spectre seemed to think i was shaking my head in disbelief (in reality i couldn't really move my torso below the neck due to it being secured to the table) "i assure you, it is true," he pleaded with me. "why there was a day when 'good old' alvar paradigm and me were best friends."

not that i'd asked, but that was a surprising claim. not that it didn't make sense. during their fight paradigm and spectre had seemed to have a bit of history... just based on how they fought, i'd never have thought it was a good one.

taking my mind off both the ropes and dr. spectre rambling he interjected on his own monologue. "oh well," he said as he reached into a drawer outside my vision. he started rummaging through its content, and my blood went cold as i could hear various metallic objects and tools clang against each other as he tossed and turned them.

"time for us to begin," spectre informed me, though what we were beginning was a mystery to me. however i'd watched enough TV to know that my being tied up for it wasn't a good thing!

needles had picked his first implement, and was ready to thrust it at me. "hold still!" he sinisterly instructed me, and lunged the long slender tool at my face... i let out a muffled scream!

suddenly to my surprise i found that dr. spectre had begun to brush my teeth with a toothbrush! which felt very weird, as i'd never brushed my teeth ever before in my life!

before you say anything people of the webwide world, it's not like i need to brush like you mammals... you only have the two sets of teeth in your life, so you need to take very good care of them. i on the other hand like all other dinosaurs (and for that matter most other reptiles) continually grow new teeth throughout my whole lifetime. so if one breaks or gets a cavity i'll grow a new one in no time... as an added bonus i make a killing off the tooth fairy!

having my teeth brushed tickled, and i was kind of enjoying it. meanwhile, dr. spectre resumed talking. "yes, what an ungrateful man paradigm is," he cursed, and for a moment he brushed harder. "i gave him the best years of my life, and what does he do, banish me into exile from the scientific community!"

i was partially zoned out, enjoying my teeth being scrubbed that much. i let out a blissful sigh, which through my tied up mouth must have been a weird noise. needles interpreted it to mean i was curious about his latest tangent...

"it is true, i gave that man everything, and yet he destroyed me!" needles angrily told me. "i had a promising future when i started out in palaeontology, and he couldn't stand it!" "

"i graduated with my PHD by age 20 and promptly offered a curatorship. making me the youngest scientist to have ever be offered such a position at a major museum. do you know what i did with that chance? i let alvar paradigm talk me out of it, and for what? the chance to co-fond with him the most "unique" palaeontologic institute in the world. HA! that was rich. do you know what that institute turned out to be?" he demanded of me.

"palaeo-central," he snarled. i for the first time was interested in what he had to say. he grabbed my head and forced it back on the table. "no please stay down," as he resumed brushing my lower jaw. "yes, i too was palaeo-prime alongside alvar for the beginning of palaeo-central. what an honour most thought, what glory others resented, what adventures some even stupidly envied. if they only knew!"

with that he finished brushing my teeth, and set aside the toothbrush. as he went back into his drawer i was excited to see what he'd get out next. having my teeth cleaned was fun!

man i'm stupid sometimes. the next thing he pulled out was a surgical pick and a scalpel!

"all palaeo-central ever did for me was put me up against dangerous villains, endanger my life, and worst of all cost me years of research time!!!" needles vengefully fumed, waving the scalpel around my face... "oh but 'it was all for the greater good' alvar would assure me, and i stupidly trusted him. can you believe that. that arrogant jerk never cared about my standing as a scientist, he just used me to boost him up. while i squandered those years, alvar was always 'somehow' making the most amazing discoveries, getting the best publications, and becoming a power house in the palaeontolgic community! "

"what did i get you might ask?" dr. spectres demanded of me again. not that i was paying any attention to his words, what with the insanely sharp tool weaving around my snout! "nothing! that's what. i spent all my time taking care of the 'business' side of central. that would be the combat, the intelligence, and dealing with the law. paradigm as the science end of the duo would swoop in and grab all the credit for anything of scientific value that we found!"

"my early reputation as a palaeontology prodigy faded away, and i became nothing more then paradigm's lackey in everyone's eyes. an inferior man serving his better! i was the joke of the scientific community," he coldly recalled. "i'd publish something, and everyone would congratulate him! obviously it was the great paradigm helping out his lackwit assistant needles... i saved that man countless times for unfathomable foes, and that was how he repaid me!"

i was now terrified. not only of the tools he was starting to pull out, but of how he was so detachedly telling me his life story. i just wish i could have paid more attention to it. as he sounded like he could have answered many of my questions about paradigm, palaeo-central, and the dark side of palaeontology... that was of course if he wasn't the most dangerous manifestation of that dark side i'd yet to meet!!!

he had now pulled out a incredibly scary saw to supplement the scalpel and pick. i shivered as i was figuring out what he was up to. the cleaning of my teeth had just been his first step. as i don't brush my teeth their often encrusted in old gooey chuck of meat and such. so if you wanted to see them for study you'd need to get that off. which spectre had now done. i feared he was planning on cleaning off a lot more then my teeth now!...

as he stood clearly contemplating how to proceed with his planned "cleaning" spectre continued his rant about his past with paradigm. "it didn't matter i used to convince myself in those days. in the 70's i'd hit upon the most revolutionary discovery! on the side of my palaeo-prime responsibilities, i gathered and prepared my scientific masterpiece. the first definitive proof that dinosaurs were warm blooded!"

dwelling upon this painful memories seemed to slow down spectre's decision making processes, and he dawdled in picking a tool or technique to get started on me... not that i minded of course, but a moment later i was in for a surprise. i was about to sympathize with the man, despite what he was doing to me...

"i will always remember how i felt on august 16, 1986," spectre said crushed, it was the first time i felt anything resembling pity for the man. despite his being an evil palaeontologist who had dinonapped me, i for that instant related with him. through his voice i could tell he spoke of a genuinely devastating moment in his life where all his dreams collapsed on top of him. i know because it happened to me on september 21 2006 (like him i will always remember the date of that event!). "the day bakker released that damn book!"

"i'd been ahead of them all the whole time, even the 'revolutionary' robert bakker by a good 3 years it turns out. yet, due to the restraints and delays forced upon me by paradigm and palaeo-central i'd been kept from claiming my rightful place in scientific history!" he anguished.

suddenly i couldn't bring myself to completely hating this man... not that he was my new best friend mind you. still, he was right.

there wasn't a palaeontologist in the modern generation more famous than robert bakker. he'd started the dinosaur renaissance, and put dinosaurs and fossils back on the scientific map. with challenging the proposition that dinosaurs were more then lumbering stupid lizards, bakker had become one of the key legends of palaeontology. a name that will no doubt remain prominent in science history.

yet had things turned out differently (or properly?) it sounded like instead we'd all remember jaden spectre, or maybe dr. needles? as being the one to make this find... my head spun at this possible alternate history.

snapping me out of what could have been, and back to what was, spectre lifted up the scalpel and the scary saw, and started mentally weighing them against each other.

he muttered out loud comparing the too. "you'd be best for the cranial incision, but you'd be more fun," he said favouring the saw as the "more fun" option. "but you'd be better at the peritoneal extraction," he went back to the scalpel. "though you'd be more fun," in favour of the scary saw. "the added control for the brevis peeling would be nice," spectre once again referred to the scalpel "yet, in the end it won't be as much fun," his arguments for the saw seemed pretty single noted...

as spectre continued comparing the tools in his head, he turned back to me. "to think after all we'd been through together, alvar sided with bakker when i tried to stop the publication. our entire 'camaraderie', and he discards it for a simple matter of 'proper' timing. if not for alvar i'd have published my findings years before that bearded glory hog!!!"

spectre then made up his mind. "well, i could do the job quickly and cleanly," he said thinking of the scalpel. "but where's the fun in that." okay, like i was surprised at that outcome...

as he picked up the huge scary saw, spectre concluded. "needless to say, i've been trying my best to out do paradigm and the rest of his 'established' scientific community ever since. something which i think you'll help me out with perfectly my small friend."

"i do appreciate your sacrifice in my ascension," spectre informed me. "and though you may not be around to revel in it, i'm about to make you a very famous specimen."

of course the part he left out was that to be made famous, dr. spectre was going to have to clean off my skeleton too! which based on his "fun" saw, was going to hurt a lot... at least while i was still alive...

all i have to say, is good bye people of the web wide world! please think well of me when i'm gone (though being famous might at least help with that)...

to be continued???

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...