pinpointing concerns...

i found a lead on the pack of the primordial feather's whereabouts here in calgary... from the most unexpected source!

now i needed to see if it would lead me to this crate of theirs (which i had on good authority was something they should not be allowed to keep)!

there was only one person who could help me sort out whether this information was of use, as information was kind of his thing...

that was of course mike the librarian!

i called him to cut down on the time usage rather then go over to his place. he seemed to like the fact i didn't come over uninvited.

i informed him of the coelurosaur sightings in the (most remote section of the) university geology department. "hmmm," mike stated as he loaded up all the information he could find on the department.

man i couldn't believe what mike could find as a librarian. i always used to think librarians just put books on shelves, but in reality they're information sleuths who can find out anything if it is written down ANYWHERE... "there doesn't look like much here. just supply and specimen storage and shipping requisites..."

suddenly mike paused as though to read something. though his response came a lot quicker than it would have from me. mike is a powerhouse reader compared to me it would seem!

"those sneaky little bird like reptiles!" he gleefully stated, much like the hunter who has caught his prey. "there was a recent inbound shipment of a 'crate 14' to the university not too long ago. why didn't it raise any red flags though?"

crate 14 eh... okay, so we now knew not only where the pack was hiding, but where the crate was and what it was called. the only question was what was i going to do about it now?

mike had continued his probing while i was lost in this deep concerned thinking. "of course," he concluded. not that i had been part of the problem. "the crate didn't show up as it was sent through a 'legitimate' agency. tracing it back a few levels, i have to say the pack is well set up. they maintain a whole network of dumby companies to hide their activities. how could they keep them all running i wonder?"

i had my suspicions. the pack of the primordial feather had quite a few movie actors in its ranks. my cousin larry being the biggest among them. with all those big hollywood salaries there was no end to the number of things the pack could probably afford.

"where is the crate being kept?" i asked. hoping mike would not only point me in the right direction, but also hoping he might give me some hints on how to get it away from the pack.

"i'm not sure," he answered.

my info guru had tracked down a top secret mailing, but couldn't tell me to where?!? "i can tell you where it was delivered traumador," mike retorted annoyed, when i questioned his info tracking skills. "but it has only arrived. so it hasn't been logged into the university's collection catalogue. which means it is where ever the collection manager has decided to store it until it is officially added to the collection."

"so the plan is what?" i asked hopefully.

"i don't know!" mike defiantly responded. "i helped you find these guys, just like i said i would. now it is up to you."

i just stood silently on the phone thinking helplessly of what i was going to do next. finally mike offered. "maybe if you track down the geology collections manager they can show you the crate."

i was just about to ask who they were, when mike beat me to the punch (somewhat annoyed i was going to ask). "i'll track them down for you. however you are not to contact me about this whole crate situation again if i do!" he warned. i agreed.

so i'm off to track down this carmen, the university collections manager. hopefully she(?) will be a nice person, and help me out (instead of mike)...

all i know is that this tracking mission has been going relatively well so far... so i'm just waiting for it to go demonstrably wrong!

Meanwhile in the University of Calgary Geology Department...

(From the reflections of Desdemona Deinonychus, Crimson Talon and Pack Matriarch of the Pack of the Primordial Feather)

I yearn for the hunt. One where the quarry would be a certain Oviraptor!

As if it weren't bad enough I have been reduced to a simple watch dog, I have had to put up with Layla being in command. The pack can afford to hire proper mammalian sentries, rather than treat our top warriors as dogs. My hunters are needed on the front line, not guarding a human school.

I had thought Razi [the Saurornithoide]s' arrival signaled that our mission here was important. Unlike Layla, Razi has proved not only how dangerous her planning and cunning are in battle, but she has actually fought in combat. Normally Razi's interest in a plan would indicate it to be of importance to the pack.

Now that I have seen the contents of this great "strategy", to say I am not impressed would be an injustice to the disgust I currently feel!

The only way we Primordial Feathers are going to defeat our enemies is through battle. Not this complicated "stratagem" that Razi and Layla have been obsessed with the past few weeks. The contents of the crate possibly represent a great weapon to the pack, but it is not yet ready for deployment. In fact it could be no where further from!

The "refinement" required to ready it, unlike what Razi tries to assure me, is not going to be quick or easy. After all the intense energy and effort needed to ready it, there is no guarantee that when unleashed, the pack won't be among those it damages.

Adding insult to injury, the contents themselves are a little self indulgent on the part of Razi and her pride. To give into a personal flight of fancy would be a trait I'd expect of the Oviraptor, not Razi. I fear Layla is beginning to rub off on the Troodontid matriarch. They think I'm a idiot, and that I haven't noticed them plotting and scheming together, but I have. I am ready for when they make their grab for power within the pack too.

In the meantime I have the current crate situation to worry about. For whatever reason the Royals have placed a great deal of faith and interest in this mission. Meaning that if they succeed in returning with the crate, both Razi and Layla will receive great favour within the pack's leadership. All the while my efforts and sacrifice will no doubt be downplayed. After all I was merely the guard.

Of course I dare not risk sharing these thoughts with most of my Crimson Talons. Despite their loyalties to me in battle, sadly some of them have ambitions that have set them to ally with those such as Layla or Razi. Especially with Layla, the treacherous scavenger! Meaning I can not currently trust my own hunters.

All but one, my chief lieutenant Valour [Velociraptor]. There is not another Theropod alive today who is such a pure hunter. Valour lives for the hunt, and could not care less for politics. I see eye to eye with her on almost all matters. (Except perhaps on how to emote. Valour's upbringing in China, has brought her up very in control of her feelings in battle. Too much so if you ask me. How can one enjoy the rush of the kill if they are constantly meditating on it? I digress.)

I explained my concerns to her, and quickly she came to my point of view. Something had to be done about the crate. Especially given with how the situation was unfolding at moment. If it succeeded according to the current plan, it would be more of a defeat for our pride. We needed to shift the situation so that it was we Dromaeosaurs who would benefit from the crate. Not the conspiring Razi and Layla.

"Do you have a plan?" Valour asked me cautiously.

With regret I was forced to reply. "Not as of yet. No opportunity has yet presented itself," Valour eyed me with anticipation, suspecting what I was going to say next. "Of course, all great predators must be patient, so they may wait for an opportunity to walk into their 'waiting' ambush."

We discussed a number of possible scenarios and how we might act upon them. Quickly we both agreed we needed an outside distraction to properly act. Yet, at least for the moment, none had presented itself. We could only wait, and hope one would materialize.

Then we would turn this pathetic sitting around into a true hunt!

To be continued...

the mounting problems

the pack of the primordial feather was still one step ahead of me in their scheme to poach fossils from around alberta's badland. however today i could tell i was closing in on them!

i was going to try and retrace the pack's break into the tyrrell museum's collections today(hopefully without having to resort to breaking in myself!). they'd been after the geologic samples in the horseshoe canyon cabinets. obviously there was some sort of clue in these rock samples that was leading them to whatever type of fossil they were stealing... if i could figure out what the clue was then i could figure out what they were poaching.

as i walked through the museum towards collections, i found that i was being overwhelmed by nervousness.

you ever get that people of the innerweb? limbs going all numb. at the same time your chest tightens up and it feels a giant python has crept into your ribcage and is tightening up in there keeping you from breathing? well that's what it felt like to me anyways!

to try and calm myself down... as i was possibly going to have to play it "cool" if i ran into collections staff... i tried to pop into familiar and calming places throughout the museum.

my first stop was the auditorium...

man this spot in the tyrrell had a lot of memories. the most prevalent of which was my job interview that got me my job here at the museum all those years ago... here is a link to movie video that includes that interview!

many other cool things had happened here though. way too many for me to talk about today. maybe another time if people are interested.

a side effect of my small brain is that when i'm confronted with a powerful memory it tends to overlay reality. meaning i can have events from the past play out in front of me while the present is going on... which is weird.

today i thought i was having another one of those merging events. i could hear distant voices (for some reason the past always plays back in echophonic sound... you ever get that?), and i assumed i was having a flashback moment. only this time there was no picture.

then i realized the conversation was not one i'd ever heard before... which didn't make sense! till it dawned on me, it was happening right then in front of me behind the stage!

sadly my t-rex hearing isn't anything special. not that its bad mind you, i can hear a bit better then a human, but its nothing compared to my sense of smell (i have one of the best noses to have EVER evolved!). however i'm sure i heard one of the two voices mention "they're starting to talk an awful lot about poached quarries".

as i approached the stage the voices suddenly hushed in a startled manner, my presence had been noticed.

emerging from the stage was education staffer megan, who you might recall i'd met when i first got to the museum for this trip home. with her was another woman . i couldn't help but notice this still unknown (to me) museum staff member had a labcoat on that was covered in dried plaster of paris... the sort sort used in field jacketing.

there were education programs at the museum that used plaster, mind you. i'd just never seen a education staff get so covered in it before. typically you only get that covered when you're out at a real dig...

"why hello traumador," megan greeted me. she introduced her friend as being jo... which struck me as odd, i thought that was a human boy's name? oh well, you learn something everyday!

i greeted them back. i couldn't help but ask. "i'm sorry, i couldn't help but overhear you mention poached quarries. what were you talking about?" i asked trying to pretend i didn't know what was going on.

i had two reasons not to let on i knew anything. the biggest was i was under the impression the whole poaching "situation" was being kept secret, and people around the museum weren't supposed to know about it. that alone being talking about it... in the auditorium while it was deserted. something about megan and jo discussing it here bugged me reason... but i couldn't put my claw on why.

second of all, if it got around i was talking to people about the poachings, word could get to professor paradigm. he had threatened to do some meanish things to me if i didn't keep my snout out of the whole affair... which to be fair, i now had my snout in it to the point my neck was engulfed now! so it was best not to alert paradigm to this fact!

both megan and jo looked very uncomfortable for a moment upon hearing my question. however that was replaced quickly by devious smiles. "don't lie to us traumador," jo said. "we've heard the stories going around. you were the one who found the poachings in the first place, aren't you?"

oh oh, was it common knowledge i was involved? not that i was worried about paradigm being upset, as he already knew i was the one who found them. however it just gave the pack of the primordial feather that much more reason to be angry with me!

they both wrapped their arms around each other in a jovial manner when i hesitated in responding. "come on traumador, we're all friends here, museum staff and former staff alike," megan assured me. well i liked to feel that way. all of my best human friends (outside of new zealand) were all tyrrell staff members of one time or another. against my instincts i confirmed i had been the one to find the poachings.

for some reason they shifted their stance, which was outwardly friendly, but somehow gave me a funny vib. "do you know who they are and what they are after?" megan pointedly asked.

the incredibly cheerfulness about (our all being "friends" rather than) the poaching, was starting to creep me out. i told them it was the pack, and both megan and jo reacted in a bizarre manner.

i can't tell you what that manner was exactly, not in words. just something deep within my predatory tyrannosaur instincts didn't like the minor shifts they both made in the body posture at hearing of the pack's involvement.

they both laughed, and wanted to know more about my theory. almost as though it were a joke or something... i had to get away from the overly chummy twins, so i excused myself saying. "sorry i have something important i need to do."

okay that was bizarre, and definitely wasn't helping me collect myself. that was the first weird thing that had happened to me in the auditorium. bad things had happened there, mostly creationists (man those people and their make belief history scare me! but that's another story for another time), but never anything bizarre like that.

i decided that of the new staff i'd met, megan and this jo were my least favourite so far!

fortunately leaving the auditorium i found myself in the museum's learning centre. another place i had many fond memories. some of the best were my teaching at badland's science camp.

helping me chill, as planned, were some cool new decorations they'd added to the learning centre since i'd left the museum.

a flock of cool wooden pterosaurs.

man, they were neat. just like the skeleton play sets made of balsa wood i used to play with as a hatchling.

i enjoyed the simulated pterosaur swarm for several minutes. all the while walking slowly towards collections. i should taken momentary breaks from staring up at the ceiling though. had i bothered to watch where i was going i might not have had my second run in of the day!

thankfully i have my previously mentioned super smell. suddenly i was aware of a very not human smell in the hallway (i can smell things for a REALLY long time after they've been a place... especially in enclosed none open places like buildings! so usually anywhere inside a building just "stinks" of human). it was a dinosaurian smell, but not a dinosaur type i was very used to...

i was startled to find myself face to face with an oviraptor!

somehow its smell didn't travel as far or as strong and any other dinosaur i'd ever encountered. just must be something about them... point is it was there, and i'd had no early warning.

my fight or flight instincts flared up to red alert. oviraptors were coelurosaurs just like me... meaning there was no way this one won't be part of the pack... which considering the pack's heightened presence around here lately was no surprise.

"you!" she hissed, i could tell she was a female the instant i heard her 'voice'. more to the point she knew who i was, and clearly didn't like me...

i wanted to match the resentment and anger she displayed towards me, but curiosity overcame me. "who are you?" i kind of dumbly asked, which in hindsight probably was way more insulting then a cliche reply like 'you!' back or 'we meet again'.

the oviraptor was caught off guard by my removed from the situation question. instinctively she answered "layla," followed by nothing more. somehow based on who she answered i could tell she was someone important within the pack. had i just met one of the big wigs in larry's little club?

i jumped on the lull my question had caused, and decided to have a show of force. "you should just give up on your little scheme here in town layla. i know all about it, and once i get into collections it'll be all over. go back to the rest of the pack and tell them to never show themselves in this museum again!"

as if my exaggerated threat wasn't enough to try and upset the oviraptor, my mention of the museum's collections clearly hit a weak spot. she visibly winced in the form a of a neck twitch. oviraptors communicate a lot through their necks.

"i dare you to try to enter collections," she threatened back, though the curve in her neck betrayed she was slightly nervous. i was onto something with the collections angle! though layla had no doubts about her next threat. "not show ourselves in this museum," she laughed, a horrible sound from a oviraptor i assure you. "we are this museum, runt! nothing happens here without our knowing or say so. if i were you, i'd consider the rest of your time here with great care, or we might remind you of just how much we do control it!"

okay so that last bit was of the normal pack melodramatic variety.

i decided i'd spent enough time in close range to a primordial, and sprinted past layla towards collections... though the oviraptorids may look similar to our common relative the ornithomimids they certainly didn't have their leg build and thus the same speed. there was no way layla was going to catch me at my top speed. which i used all the way to collections... i'd given up on a relaxing walk through the museum.

i was going to bust the poaching case wide opening!

that is till i nearly burst straight into unprepared collections (read this link to learn what unprepared collections is), which was crawling with raptors!

i could now see why layla had so eagerly dared me to try and enter collections in her first threat. the pack had positioned the crimson talons in the tyrrell's collections to clearly guard the clues it held about their activities...

this was not good! this was SO not good!!!

i'd barely survived my last run in with the crimson talons! (see here and here) this time i couldn't count on a rescue though...

i was going to have to sneak into collections (as opposed to break in).

the good news was that unprepared collections wasn't the only way into prepared collections. there was no way i was going to be able to sneak through unprepared though, there were even raptors patrolling the shelving!

i had expected prepared collections to be worse... but to my surprise it was empty!

that was bizarre... the raptors must have been expecting most people to use the obvious path of unprepared to get into prepared collections. which just seemed dumb. even to a peanut brained peace loving t-rex like me! the backdoor to prepared was easy enough to access. better yet from their point of view it was a tighter space, ideal for an ambush...

why would the pack put all their guards on the wrong collections space?

it didn't matter i guess. prepared collections appeared to be completely safe.

so what is the difference between unprepared collections and prepared collections you might ask?

the first and foremost, prepared collections is a lot more impressive to visit than unprepared... this is where all the cleaned off and studied specimens of the museum are stored (unless they are out on display for the public in the museum's galleries). so it is a giant warehouse-like room full of all things palaeontologic and geologic!

sadly i was going to have to skip the fossil shelves, the coolest section in my opinion, and make my way to the more boring looking (but equally informative and important) cabinets...

i made it to the geology collection aisle. the answer to the poaching mystery was contained in here, and i intended to find out what it was!!!

to be continued: with the target of the poaching!!!

theropod's bane... (raptor attack part 2)

i was in trouble people of the innerweb... BIG trouble...

what had started off as a care free and normal day at the tyrrell museum had turned into a nightmare. the pack of the primoridal feather had finally made good on its promise to get back at me for not joining its ranks! they'd sent a pack of dromaeosaurids (commonly known as raptors!) to come and get me...

so far with devastatingly effective results!

they'd cornered me and tony in the tyrrell's back parking lot... making things worse i was hiding in the pack on tony's back. so i couldn't do anything about it at all! worser even still, they held our friend yumi hostage at talon point. with the flick of a dromaeosaurus' toe, yumi was done for...

tony was left no option, but to surrender over the backpack (and by extension me!)...

i don’t blame tony though, you must understand. there was nothing really stopping them from killing him or yumi to get to me. by handing me over, tony at least gave himself and yumi a chance at living through this... maybe...

i was kinda wishing there was an alternative to handing me over though, mind you... not that any were obvious ones to my tiny brain.

the whole time, a group of hadrosaurs sat on the other end of the parking lot gawking at what was going on... stupid burgers!

they'd stopped by the museum in their relentless search for work... work being the modern replace to food. the over flow of vivus-dinosaurs in drumheller meant anywhere tourists went, vivus dinosaurs were sure to not be far off. as the museum is the biggest tourist attraction in the valley, there are always plenty of saurian wanders like these guys hanging around...

on any other day the tyrrell was a lot safer to loiter around for a walking lunch like a duckbill. today though, with a pack of highly pumped up and psyched raptors in active hunting mode just metres away, the hadrosaur crowd quickly caught the vibe if they stuck around much longer they might end up becoming a victory lunch for the dromaeosaurs.

as tony handed me over to the raptors, the pack got very audibly excited and wound up. the duckbill's decided they'd witnessed enough, and before the raptor's attention left tony and the backpack, the hadrosaurs began to make their way towards a more public area...
`
probably a smart move. it's what i would have done, if i were a burger that walks and talks like them...

suddenly, against the follow of their crowed, one of the duckbills walked straight towards the tense bag hand off. this caused a slight commotion among the duckbills, who honked and bleated annoyance at the uncaring rebel who just continued to push, check, and shove his way through the herd... the raptors all paused hearing the distressed call of their instinctive prey. i let out a involuntary sigh of relief... even if my tiny brain knew this was but a momentary pause from my doom...
`
being able to speak a limited range of the duckbill language, due to my time growing up at the tyrrell among various types of dinosaurs, i could tell something weird was going on. clearly the other hadrosaurs were not just annoyed by being delayed by the single dissenter. they were scared by this one's actions too. it was risking the raptors noticing and attacking (even if i was their objective, which they'd yet to fully collect).
`
what duckbill could possibly be stupid enough to risk being eaten...
`

i finally caught an edmontosaur angrily state the trouble maker’s name. i should have guessed it was them way earlier... it was lance the lambeosaur, the rather grumpy and ill mannered assistant of professor paradigm. I even knew he was already in town and everything...
`
before i could wonder why lance needed to struggle his way through his peers for a better look, suddenly he let out the most unusual call i'd ever heard a hadrosaur make...
`
the raptors thought so too, they all started chatting uneasily in response to it... though feeding off each other, their unease quickly shifted into predatory anticipation. lance, and possibly now some of his friends, were now in much more immanent danger...
`
i was as confused as i can be (what with a tiny brain and all). lance's behaviour seemed almost suicidal... especially considering the clear evidence of scars covering him head to toe from close calls with theropods. why in fossilizations’ name would he be trying to provoke another encounter?!?
`
before i could think about this any further tony shifted the bag (and thus me too) in utter surprise. the most unexpected thing happened...

`

seconds after lance’s eerie bellow (it resembled a ceratopsian battle cry, come to think of it... something duckbills don't have or do) he charged full steam towards us, and more to the point the raptors...

he ran head long towards yumi and her dromaeosaurus captor.

wisely the tiny raptor bolted from her captive... at a mere 15 kilograms the dromaeosaur really couldn't afford lance's impressive 20 tonnes slamming into her (unless it wanted to be a pancake!)...

with the immediate relief from the removal of the raptor’s weight and talons, yumi rolled over to tend to her wounds... though rolling over she let out a scream as lance's giant mass came charging over top of her.
`
despite her panic, yumi was in little danger (somehow?). lance gracefully and carefully narrowly avoided crushing her. all while making it look easy, despite considering how big he was it must have been hard to pace his steps like that. still lance never broke his stride or speed, though why he didn’t just stop there began to raise our suspicions (human, t-rex, and raptor).

`

i could feel tony air fist in victory at lance's success... i'd have to thank lance for his efforts on our behalf. assuming tony could get away from the 10 raptors still surrounding us, that was...

suddenly things went insane!
`
lance didn't turn or even hesitate. he ran straight over yumi, and bore right in on the main grouping of raptors!!!
`
the dromaeosaurids were a mix of reactions. some panicked. others were dumbfounded like me. however the scarier ones (the deinonychus, velociraptor, and atrociraptors in particular) all grew excited... in a very scary way. like x-mas was running over to them early.

as lance closed on us, the pack swung into a big game formation. clearly with the intent of taking him down before seizing me... the raptors fell into two frontal attack waves, supplemented by a group of decoys who mocked flanking lance to try and distract him, while some real flankers snuck behind the man made cover of the recycling bins to try and double back on the brave hadrosaur.
`

lance wasn't a brave duckbill, come to think of it. he was a really stupid one! no wonder he had so many scars on him from theropod attacks! he just walked into situations with them (or was it running?)... even i'm not that stupid!!!
`
the raptors were happy as... uh, well, happy as hunting raptors i guess...

they clearly weren't used to dinner being so helpful in rushing in for slaughtering, but they sure weren't complaining about it either. all around me their excitement could be heard.
it was at this moment everything that was about to unfold became clear. i just didn't realize it...

desdemona deinonychus, leader of these "crimson talons", muttered under her breath "lance," in a very angry and spiteful manner. there was a hint of uneasiness in her voice, which i chalked up to her sizing up such large prey... if i only knew the half of it!
`

just as the front line raptors met up with the on coming lance, things started to go fast. the raptors began spacing themselves out, aligning for optimum pounce positions.
`
just as the first couple raptors were about to jump onto him, lance suddenly swung up his head. the motion was so powerful i heard the whosh of air it made in the backpack!


had things been normal lance would have been dealt the first deadly blow by the raptor front line. however things were suddenly not normal, not normal at all!

as the lead dromaeosaurus began to leap towards him, lance swung his whole body weight right into the tiny theropod...

the crunch of bones could be heard, as the tiny coelurosaur was flung helpless into the air away from lance.
`
abruptly the scenario of the helpless duckbill, me and the raptors had anticipated, disappeared! for all of us but desdemona it seemed, as she'd never had this idea, it became clear.

The deinonychus angrily cursed. "not this time you don't!" desdemona had definitely met lance before, and what he was now doing didn't surprise her one bit.
`
with this nebulous threat desdemona snuck off from the carnage being dealt to her front-line troops, and fell back into the maze of recycling bins and cars around the emerging battle.
`
lance's sudden battle prowess may not have surprised desdemona, but it sure was throwing her crimson talons for a loop!
`
the first frontline futilely tried to do their job, but lance dispersed them quickly.
`
the second wave put in a token effort, but it was cleverly just to distract the duckbill. as they convinced him they were trying to attack, the real danger to lance closed in behind him.
`
the flankers that had snuck off behind the bins had emerged behind lance, and were about to get the drop on him...

lance's current offensive looked like it was about to be short lived. the flankers swung into action in perfect form!
`
yet somehow lance knew the pack's tactics better then they did...
`

out of no where, the decoys went from effective distractions, to becoming lance's weapon against their flanking cohorts!
`
combined with lance's unbelievable use and coordination of his body... i'd never seen a hadrosaur (that alone any of the proper "fighting" ornithischians like ceratopsians or ankylosaurs) use their head, tail, or limbs so effectively and naturally as weapons!

it was like watching a hadrosaur samurai! seriously... it was the closest i'd ever seen to a dinosaur martial artist!
`
keeping in mind i've seen ceratopsians, ankylosaurs, and stegosaurs fight (no stegosaurs outside of on TV mind you), and they are all amazing fighters.

just not in the gracefully and effortless manner lance was displaying. his moves were always perfectly times, and never more or less power then they needed to have. the traditional fighters tended to overpower their moves.
`
also true fighting plant eaters all tend to preferentially use their battle endowed anatomy. ceratopsians just use their heads due to the obvious attached horns or bosses. for the stegosaurs and ankylosaurs it is their tails, which end in either deadly thagomizers or clubs.

not lance though. probably, because he didn't have any of these natural enhancements to begin with, and because a preference would hinder his total combat style. no, lance used his entire body so well the whole thing became a weapon, on par with any horns, club, or even thagomizer!

the crimson talons didn't stand a chance against him one on one.

to prevent them from using their superior numbers against him, lance somehow kept them off balance and at bay with an uncanny knowledge of their own battle tactics. he was always one step ahead of them, and taking them out slowly one at a time as he did so...
`
i was beginning to wonder if he was some kind of superhero? his counter attack was going perfectly...

of course i jinxed the whole battle by thinking that!

the crimson talons had been sitting on a secret weapon... valor velociraptor.

i was dumb founded, a velociraptor, really?!?

of course when the average human hears the name velociraptor they associate it with being among the most deadly dinosaurs of them all. however this reputations, is well frankly, completely overblown!

despite what you saw on jurassic park, raptors aren't quite that dangerous... the writers in hollywood decided to soup up their raptors quite a bit, to make them better movie villains. so the raptors were given through the script and stunts things like human intelligence, opposable door opening thumbs, and speed of a cheetah etc. dromaeosaurids were pretty impressive predators in real life, but none of them could do all of that stuff! that'd be a super predator...

the other reason i was surprised by this velociraptor being so dangerous, is that for jurassic park spielberg cast deinonychus to play the raptors (desdemona was the lead raptor in fact! come to think of it). the reason being velociraptors are small things in reality, and only come up to the average humans hips. not something that could stare you imposingly in the eye...

i'd have expected the most deadly of the crimson talons to be desdemona or an atrociraptor...

man was i wrong. within seconds the velociraptor had effortlessly bypassed lance's defences and was really tearing into him.

watching this valor i realized something unnerving. i'd thought lance was impressive a second ago, but watching the velociraptor attack such a massively larger opponent, i realized lance was but an amateur martial artist compared to her.

suddenly my spirits sank... the wail of pain from lance indicated valor was inflicting some serious damage to him!

with ninja like grace, valor leapt away from her prey having inflicted as much damage to lance as she could safely.

it looked bad. she'd scored a pretty good slash on his neck. fortunately not anything lethal, but it wasn't a mere flesh wound either!

as valour delicately landed beside him, lance sort of collapsed... probably from the pain...

just like that, the invincible hadrosaur warrior image faded... he was mortal just like the rest of us, and in fact quite vulnerable it seemed.

suddenly the pack regained its predatory spirit as desdemona and help gathered above lance on the bins he was leaning against.

lance's momentary pause gave the raptor's the opportunity they'd been waiting for...

suddenly lance was covered in biting, kicking, clawing, and slashing dromaeosaurids!

his bellow of agony and pain was awful to hear. especially at such close range. the battle was literally over top of me and tony now!

though all i could do was spectate through a small opening in the zipper, tony suddenly realized the situation had shifted.

It may not have been in lance's favour, but it definitely was in ours! all the raptors were either lying injured around us or actively attacking lance... we were no longer being guarded!!!

without a second thought tony sprinted as fast as he could from the massive tussle going on behind him.

within moments we were clear, and out of danger. tony gently peeled yumi off the ground and starting assisting her towards the museum's front to get her medical attention.
behind us the battle took yet a new shift...

lance's yells of pain suddenly ceased... and it wasn't cause the raptors weren't still ripping him apart. far from it. he now had some pretty serious wounds on his face, neck, and flanks... yet he wasn't crying out anymore?

then it hit all of us, human, tyrannosaur, and raptor. lance had been faking it the whole time. sure he was hurt (you could see him starting to limp a bit), but he still had plenty of fight left in him.

he'd been hamming it up to distract the raptors and give us the chance to escape. now that we’d gotten away, lance was back in the game.

in really bad accented dromaeosaurid lance warned. "break off now, or else!"

despite his lack of obvious pain, the raptors knew they doing him some critical damage, and thus they still held the upper hand...

all of them except valor that is... hearing lance's ultimatum she suddenly leapt off in almost a panic.

the others should have followed her cue. lance immediately veered the bulk of his colossal body sharply. desdemona and the atrociraptor had no choice but to desperately hold on.


with the same amount of power lance swung back towards the dumpsters. the force of his giant strength and weight flung the atrociraptor from his head, and it helpless flew towards the recycling bins back first.

desdemona found herself dislodged too, but being by the more stationary legs she managed to land rather cat like on top of the bin.

not the atrociraptor. with a horrendous snapping of bones it slammed into the bin.

lance wasn't done though. he could see desdemona and valor preparing to renew their assaults.

"it is over," he steerly warned. despite the clumsiness of his theropod language (lance's head is basically a giant organic tuba! imagine trying to speak through one of those...) his dead seriousness came through.

desdemona won't yield. her and valor weren't phased by his word at all.

i'm certain in theory, valor especially, but probably desdemona too (who i could now see was almost as good as the velociraptor) would at some point be able to out manoeuvre the larger slower lance again.

however it was now just the two of them against the lambeosaur. lance had disabled or wounded every other raptor the crimson talons had thrown at him. sure the two remaining raptors probably could have gotten in a few more attacks, but the odds of them inflicting mortal wounds, versus the odds lance would get a piece of them along the way weren't good.

to demonstrate his dominance in the new tactical situation, lance reared up onto his rear legs and trumpeted "IT'S OVER!"

the display was awesome, which i mean it was just amazingly powerful. not the surfer boy version of the word.

valor, clearly the calmer headed zen like warrior, immediately realized the odds against her seeing the 13 metre 20 ton behemoth towering above her, and retreated.

desdemona took almost a whole minute before following. however her and lance engaged in the most hate filled stare i've ever seen (and me and larry have glared at each other before remember!) before she turned and screamed a retreat call.

slowly all the raptors picked themselves up (most in clearly severe pain) and dispersed in any direction they could. so long as it took them the furthest from lance.
just like that, it was over...

somehow tony, yumi, and i (me in particular) had all made it out alive, and in one piece (mostly).
we owed it all to lance. which i never would have expected in 65 million years!

though the being one piece couldn't be said for lance. as the last raptor disappeared, he slumped on the pavement in sheer pain and exhaust. blood freely poured from the large wounds he'd incurred. despite the posturing he'd just display, lance was clearly much worse for wear then he'd let on.

i ripped open the backpack (finally!) and sprinted towards lance.

tony paid our saviour no further mind. his concern was on yumi, who herself sported a rather serious raptor wound. he took her off to see a doctor.

i rushed over to lance to try and see if i could offer similar assistance. plus i wanted to know why he'd helped us?

lance had made it clear he hated us theropods, including (and especially?) me! yet he'd just put his life on the line for me.

why???

to be concluded...

RAPTOR ATTACK!!!

today has been, to put it lightly, a nightmare!

which is "funny" cause i've been having real nightmares recently, but not in my days. up until now.

the reason for my unfun dreams was the scary (but very good) the dinosaur dealers book i read by dr. john long. it confirmed that frightening things like fossil poachers, smugglers, and rogue dealers were all real and threatening us dinosaurs, and not just made up monsters to scare us by the campfire.

in fact, it was my worry about the fossil poaching, currently going on around drumheller, that started off the terrible events of today...

it started with me and tony chatting in the tyrrell museum's staff lounge.

`

me and tony were supposed to head out and continue our fieldwork this afternoon. we'd made a great team so far, and had made a huge find. however, due to my run-in with professor paradigm the other day, i was now reluctant to go out and accidentally run into anymore evidence of the fossil poachers.

`

not only had dr. paradigm implied bad things would happen to me should i stick my snout where it doesn't belong, but his saurian assistiant lance the lambeosaur had outright threatened me should i simply bump into him again. so in general i was not only wanting to lie low, but kinda wishing my trip home would end... yet i was stuck here a bit longer. so i might as well make the most of it.

`

talking to tony about these various issues made me feel better. as tony is such a laid back and fancy free dude, he said i shouldn't let it worry me so much... granted he'd never had any of the stuff that seems to always happen to me occur to him.

`

he suggested that we head out into the field looking for "legitimate" finds, but on the "side" keep our eyes open for poaching activity. my brain was opposed to this (as small as it may be, it has good danger recognition), but my guy was telling me tony was right. i couldn't spend the rest of my time cowering in the museum.

`

it was decided. we would head out just as soon as our third exploring member yumi showed up. i just wish she'd shown up a little sooner...

`

as if we'd headed out of the building even a minute or two sooner none of today's events could have happened.

`

just as we'd decided to head out into the field, i smelt something funny. now i should note as a t-rex i have one of the best senses of smell ever evolved... so when i smell something funny it is usually odd (and not something i smell around me everyday... what you humans rank as funny or gross smelling often doesn't tend to register with me, as i can smell it hanging in the air long after it disperses below what you can pick up).

`

my instincts told me the smell was trouble, but i couldn't put my claw on why at first. when i finally got a good sniff of the odor it reminded me of that albertosaur i ran into a little while ago. yet it wasn't albertosaur, or a tyrannosaurid of any kind. so how could it be worrying me so much? i'd been succeeding in keeping my distance from that big bully.

`

little did i know, but my albertosaur encounter had triggered the events about to unfold, check those events here and here...

`

just as i clued into what it was, there came a terrorifying bark from down one of the museum's many back corridors (it is a sort of mini maze... not one you can get lost in, but there are a lot of long narrow corridors that sounds can echo down...). me and tony recoiled in surprise.

`

we sat in silence for a minute regathering our wits, and using our now fear heightened senses to try and pinpoint the cause of the eerie call. i however had a sinking feeling i knew...

`

breaking the quiet, and freaking me out a second time, tony gasped "what's that doing in the building?"

`

tony pointed to the balcony above the staff lounge. not that i needed to look up to know what he saw. i'd connected the smell and the call now... however standing just a few metres above us was my suspicsions in the flesh.

`

a dromaeosaur, a deinonychus or adasaurus i would have guessed at that moment based on the size. or as the movies have popularized them, a raptor!

`

i panicked... this couldn't be good. this couldn't be good at all!!!

`

there was no way this guy wasn't part of the pack of the primordial feather... my cousin larry's coelurosaur only club. a club i'd royally ticked off when i declined to join it (something very few other bird relatives have ever done and survived).

`

i immediately realized it was not only here because of me (after all deinonychuses and adasaurs aren't native to alberta, and the museum didn't have any on display), but that call we'd heard earlier was a hunting call. it had been sent to alert the other pack members that prey had been spotted...and i had the terrible feeling i was the prey.

`

as quickly as it had appeared, the large raptor (a deinonychus it turns out... so i'll call it that from now on) disappeared. i turned to tony and blathered as much of the story of the pack, larry, and myself as i could. i don't think he understood a word of it, but tony caught that this deinonychus was not good news for me.

`

i wanted to run, but before i could make good on this plan tony seized me by the neck, and assured me "i have an idea," as he proceeded to stuff me into his backpack!

`

it was about as much fun as it sounded, and it was a very tight squeeze. my knees were on either side of my head and my tail wrapped up over the top of my head and down the back of my shirt (very itchy!). yet i fit. i can't believe i'd never thought of this before!

`

i am perfectly backpack sized!!!

`

tony's plan was brilliant. with me hidden inside his pack we'd just walk out past this deinonychus and any other potential pack member's...

`

interupting the euphoria of this discovery and tony's scheme, from up on the balcony there was a shrill hiss... dromaeosaur laughter (tony didn't realize this, but i did. as i speak a spattering of dromaeosaurench). that cheeky deinonychus had simply ducked out of view, and hidden, had

seen what we had done.

it knew where i was hiding! before tony could make good on the escape part of our plan suddenly the deinonychus lept the whole storey down to our level of the staff lounge.

its 3 meter body landed gracfully on the couch right in front of tony (and where i'd just been sitting!). the cushions helping absorb the landing to the point that the cat like theropod didn't even feel the jump.

tony didn't need me to translate from inside the bag to tell him the snarl the raptor was making was a hostile one. not that i'd risk making a sound, i was staying quiet on the slim chance the deinonychus hadn't caught onto tony's ploy.

man was i going out on a limb on that hope... the deinonychus made a (half hearted) lunge at tony. it was more then enough to scare him despite its lack of effort...

`

to be fair had it been me i'd have chickened out a lot quicker... though where he had bravery, tony sure was lacking on the speed. i wish i was carrying him on my back. my long and powerful juvenile tyrannosaur legs would have outrun this dromaeosaur easily (as unlike jurassic park their not super humanly fast).

yet despite his mammalian limitations tony got away, and bolted into the nearest corridor. aiming desperately to get us into a more public part of the building (the back end can be next to empty at certain parts of the day).

sadly for us this was part of, desdemona i found out her name was, deinonychus' plan.

as she got tony running into the bowels of the tyrrell, desdemona let out a new battle cry. i recognized it as trouble. mega trouble... it was a cue to any other raptors that the hunt was now on...

`

as tony burst into a T junction, our situation got more complicated. we nearly ran over yumi, who had final made it to meet up with us (for our now cancelled fossil hunt).

"what?!?" yumi yelped as tony instinctively grabbed her. before she could protest, there were several more raptor barks through the corridors as the pack corrodinated their movements (and possibly pinpointing us through the noise yumi had just made). yumi instinctively now wanted to run, and let tony guide her along.

we headed towards the backdoor of the museum...

however rounding the bend we were startled to nearly run into a true velociraptor (not a deinonychus pretending to be one like in sooooo many movies). our surprisingly small (compared to said movies) adversary put up a very threatening warning. it looked ready to pounce.

`

unlike the deinonychus, this velociraptor sounded like it meant business, and would very well have caused us some harm...

tony didn't give it a chance too though, and veered down a new corridor. it was the best avaliable route as it headed away from the backdoor and staff lounge. it even had a perfect left in obstruction for pursurers in the form of a janitor cart... though it was set up perfectly to slow us down too...

poor tony and yumi were running on pure aderniline and instinct, and didn't have the ability at moment to think through out situation. i on the other hand, immoblized and stuck in the bag on tony's back, had nothing to do but think through out situation.

i may not be the most elegant of thinkers, but even i knew (possibly helped out by my deep inner predator) something was up with the raptor's antics...

`

why hadn't desdemona simply pursued us? she probably could have easily caught up too, and incapacitated tony...

`

oh well, i tried to assure myself. it didn't matter. we were a single small hallway away from the exit into the museum's public galleries, and then we'd be out in the open. if the raptors were still planning on harassing us they'd have to do it in front of hundreds of witnesses!

`

as we rounded the bend this hope was dashed by a dromaeosaurus standing guard on the gallery exit...

`

okay things had gone from terrible to uber dangerous!

`

not only had the raptors perfectly cut us off from all (but one) means of escape from the building, but they were now sounding like they meant business. the deinonychus' efforts in the lounge had simply been to get us out into the "open". the staff lounge was the busiest part of the staff only end of the museum, causing carnage there would get noticed quickly. elsewhere in the bowels and it could be hours before it was discovered...

`

around this exit was a terrible spot for them to do anything dirty either though... so they'd placed the perfect sentenal to ensure we didn't linger here so close to help...

`

the dromaesaur made an attack rush at the lot of us.

`

i'm glad tony wasn't feeling brave enough to stand his ground. the dromaeosaur might be half his size, but it was a 100% percent killer. tony would never have stood a chance.

`

yet i couldn't help feel alarmed when we escaped this encounter yet again unpursued or mauled. sure the dromaeosaur had chased us away from the public side of the building, but why not follow us? it wasn't like we were going to be able to get around it.

`

tony and yumi were in total flight mode. they clearly weren't thinking about where we going... which is when i realized what the dromaeosaurs were doing... we were being herded, and there was nothing we could do about it.

`

even if tony had stopped to think about it, we had no other option. the only corridor and exit so far not covered was the loading bay.

`

at the same time i knew there had to be a reason the raptors were driving us in that direction...

`

my theory on their plan gained a lot of evidence when we hit the final corridor to the bay. we picked up our first offical pursuer, a saurornitholestes.

`

it lazily chased after us (for a dromaeosaur. had it wanted to it could have been on yumi or tony in a few seconds), prompting my two human friends to blindly sprint towards the loading bay exit.

`

instinctively it must have seemed to them like escape, but they didn't have the luxary of being able to analyze the situation like i currently did...

`
just like a bunch of naive hadrosaurs we rushed right into the trap. tony and yumi were cut off moments of emerging outside. the velociraptor we'd run into earlier lead this blockade, and it wasn't allow.

`

for a moment i was confused. how could the dromaeosaur and saurornitholestes we'd just left behind us a minute ago have swung around in front of us?

then the rest of the pack made their presence known!

`

this was why we'd be driven to the loading bay. it was an open space where the raptors could overwhelm us with superior numbers. even better at this time of day the bay was totally abandoned. so no witnesses. whatever they did to us here won't be found by anyone else till tomorrow!

`

yet as they closed there was a noticable gap in their formation... a mistake on their part due to over anticipation of the kill?

`

yumi thought so, and seized the oppurtunity to sprint through past the gather raptors, and try to dash to safety...

only tony had figured out it was a trap (i would have, but i couldn't see what was going on outside the bag, and it all happened so fast), and screamed at yumi "stop!!!"

yumi ran on though. her animal instincts falsely told her safety was just around the corner.

in reality the corner hid imminent danger. another dromaeosaurus whose job i'm sure you figured out.

unlike its companions in the museum, the dromaeosaur pounced...

`

yumi let out a scream of sheer pain and terror and the raptor gracefully delievered a jump kick with its giant foot talon...

`

however the dromaeosaur didn't make it a death blow or even a serious wounding slash. rather it simply embedded its claw in yumis back, which not an overly life threatening place for it, was extremely painful. yumi couldn't move without intense pain, and thus was perfectly immoblized.

yet the raptor made it dead clear it could end yumi's life if it choose to by grabbing her head and pulling it back to expose her neck...

`

perhaps the only reason she lived, was the backpack on tony's shoulder... me.

`

desdemona reemerged, and spoke to tony in dromaeosaur... not that he understood it, but i did (this is when i learned her name and species)... not that tony needed to understand her. he already knew what they wanted, and more to point what they were implying would happen to yumi if he didn't cooperate.

with extreme guilt (i would know, i could feel his back tense up real bad) tony reached for the backpacks straps and slowly removed it and me from his back.

"i'm so sorry," he whispered to me with great shame... i tried to forgive him, but my mouth was pinned between my tail and my chest.

i understood why tony was giving me up. it's not like he had a choice. the many raptors around him could tear him to pieces in just a few seconds anyways. that alone what the dromaeosaur up ahead could (and certainly would) do to yumi...

i wasn't about to ask either of my friends to give up their lives for mine... especially since they'd done nothing wrong. i was the one who'd taken on the pack 2 years ago, and "known" what the consequences might be... though i'd never imagined this...

tony began to hand me over to desdemona, and her legion of raptors. just in time to be witnessed by some wandering vivus hadrosaurs.

stupid duckbills. no doubt they were some of the many vivus dinosaurs that wander town looking for work and a home. most of them make stops at the tyrrell many times a week looking for work. only this time their timing was worse then usual (i say their timing sucks partially cause they never get work out of these non stop check ins, and also i'm frankly in a very foul mood... what with my life about to end and all!!!).

it made me even angrier that my end was being watched by a bunch of dumb duckbills. it'd be like a human going out in front of their steak. at least i could take minor statisfaction at some of the onlookers sharing my fate... given the growing excitment in the pack as i was being surrendered to them, the dromaeosaurs were very likely to hunt down a duckbill or two for a celebration meal...

not that it mattered...

the pack of the primoridal feather had promised retribution against me, and they were about enact it.

to be continued???