the victors

despite the fact i'd beaten the pack of the primordial feather, it didn't feel like i'd won. sure i'd stolen the extremely evil crate 14 from them, but i couldn't have been celebrating less then i was at that moment!

partially my lack of enthusiasm about my success was due to a major delay in that success. the crate was due to be shipped to me in new zealand in just over a month, but of course that was lots of time for things to go wrong. especially since i figured it would be a safer for me to get out of calgary in a hurry. i had suspicions the pack might come after me, now that they knew i was in town.

killing any sense of this being a win was the contents of the crate though... i knew exactly why the pack had stolen them... but it was as though they'd tried to personally target me and everyone i'd known in my childhood... if only it were just that. the ramifications of the whole thing made me sick to my stomach.

as for the crate, carmen (the university collections manager) was very confident nothing would happen to it. she'd altered its paperwork to a level the pack couldn't hope to touch it (unless they managed to replace almost everyone in the WHOLE geology department!). not that it they'd get a chance.

carmen had done it all on the down low. unless the pack were extremely into getting tangled in red tape and reading a million of shipping vouchers, the pack wouldn't have been aware the crate was being shipped to me instead of them now. as far as they were concerned it would ship to their destination as they'd planned.

i couldn't stop taking my mind off the cargo in the crate though... which would soon be mine to safe guard (i had no clue what that was going to mean!?!).

fortunently my co-conspirators caleb and kirsten showed up at the rendevous as per the wrap up of our crate caper plan.

"why do you look so down?" kirsten asked with concern. "don't tell me we went through all that, not too get that stupid box in the end!?!"

kirsten was of course referring to her and caleb's valiant efforts at distracting the pack, so that me and carmen could sneak to the crate undetected.

"no we made it," i assured her miserably. my remorse turned to guilt (my tiny brain often shifts between similar emotions), as i was suddenly concerned for their safety during my stupid plan. "you guys okay?!?"

"we are fine," caleb smiled. "your hunch that the pack would not attack us, due to us being humans, turned out completely correct!"

"so why are you acting like it is someone's funeral?" kirsten demanded. you know she wasn't as far off as she could have been.

"i'm feeling helpless," i stated matter of fact. with that admition every single doubt and worry in my head came spilling out. "sure we've stolen the crate, but the pack will still win in the end. i can't keep the crate safe forever! eventually the pack will get it back, and knowing my luck i can't fix the contents before that point. meaning this was all for nothing!!!"

"what are you carrying on about?" kirsten came close to scolding me. "the tyrannosaur with a brain the size of peanut outsmarts an entire gang of theropods, not to mention two palaeontologists..."

"grad students," caleb factually corrected kirsten mid-sentence, causing her to glare at him for a moment before continuing.

"grad students," kirsten acknowledged caleb annoyed. "your plan accomplished everything you set out for with no real loses, and your think you lost?"

"hey," i realized. "you're right! i did outsmart all of you..."

my dread and depression was suddenly changed to the glory i should have been feeling (another of those trademark me emotion shifts). caleb and kirsten were right! i had some how out thought and schemed both them (in that they thought my plan won't work), and certainly the pack. who i'd just stuck it too... at least in a month...

i launched at my two grad student friends with a mega high 4 (i'd give the full 10, but i don't have enough fingers...).

"that's more like it!" kirsten said with a sigh.

caleb in his usual logical manner. "what was in the crate that had you so upset?"

some of my apprehension returned, but only a little bit. a nagging worry about the future. not to worry people of the innerweb, suddenly i felt like i could take on the whole pack single clawed. it was just going to require a lot of thought and effort...

how to tell caleb and kirsten? in many ways the crate concerned them too, as they'd been in drumheller in those key years...

before revealing the secret, i made both of them swear to keep the secret. of course they both did. "alright, well inside the crate we found..." i began, but was suddenly interupted by my cell-phone ringing!

what? that hasn't happened in a long time. i put my claw up in the air to ask for a moment. "hello?" i ventured to the person on the other end.

"traumador, baby, why haven't you been answering your phone?!?" came the familiar voice of my special talent agent peter bond.

"oh hi peter," i replied. how to put this delicately. "can i call you back? this isn't a good time."

"no i can't traum," peter said with some urgency. "it's an emergancy!"

what?!? i suddenly felt dread and fear again... something happened to lillian?!? i'd entrusted peter to look after the albertosaur of my dreams. why hadn't he done that?!?

"look we don't have a lot of time," peter stated, fairly cheerfully for an emergancy i have to say. "i've already booked you a flight here, but it leaves in an hour. so you need to get to the airport right away!"

what!!! it was all happening so quickly. "where am i going?" i demanded.

peter sounded surprised by my not knowing. "where else? vancouver!"

"why?" i again demaned to know.

"we can work that all out when you get here!" peter dismissed. "just make sure you don't miss that plane! it cost quite a bit of, your, money!"

with that peter hung up. leaving me with two very confused scientists. i started to rush towards the door. i explained i had an emergancy to attend too.

immediately i had to reassure them it was not a crate related emergancy, and that they should keep tabs with carmen to make sure it stayed that way! while they were at it, i told them to get the laydown on the crate's contents from carmen. she knew almost as much as me.

i on the other hand had to race to the airport to get to peter, and find out what he (and hopefully) lillian were doing in vancouver! they'd been in new york last i heard. what could possibly be in vancouver to get them to leave???

to be continued with the big start to 2010!!!

plans collide!

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

The Runt* has not let me down!

*[Traumador]

I was hoping he'd stick his snout into our affairs not more than a few hours ago, and he just showed up!

Ever since the Runt managed to inflitrate our perimeter the other day, we moved our defence point into a more central location of this mammal environment*. That way Vicsurus [Daspletosaur], and her powerful sense of smell would be able to better detect intruders.

*[building, in this case the University of Calgary's Geology Department]

I was there when Vicsurus detected the Runt, along with several mammals, exiting the mechanical ascender**. The opportunity I'd been awaiting arrived, and it couldn't have been more perfectly timed! Layla [Oviraptor] and Razi [Saurornithoides] had both gone to attend to more "important" matters than the defense of their precious crate, leaving me and Vicsurus to deal with any situations that might arise. Though I technically outranked Vicsurus, Layla had undermined me and formally left Vicsurus in command.

**[elevator]

Any other time I would not have tolerated such an insult, but this time I was willing to bear the disgrace. Layla had handed me everything I needed to ambush her in the Pack's political arena. How could the failure of the Crate be my fault when I was not the one in command? While I was at it, I was about to exact my revenge on the Runt for the defeat I suffered on account of him!

I "entrusted" Vicsurus, as the lead hunter*** to take point and deal with the intruders. She agreed to this course of action so I could mobilize the Crimson Talons, something I very much had in mind. I reminded her not to draw any undue notice to our presence which Vicsurus fully agreed with. The Crate was as good as lost!

***[solider or warrior]

(From the notes of Kirsten Brink, Palaeontology Graduate Student at the University of Calgary)

Traumador is so dead. Assuming I don't beat him to it!

As per his "cunning" plan, we all piled into the elevator and headed directly into the basement, while all the rest of our little "assualt team" split up and snuck off through some restricted maintence corridors (thanks to Carmen the collections manager), I got the fantastic job of being the bait!

I didn't even want to take part in this suicidal scheme in the first place, and yet I get to be the decoy! Which if it sounds great on paper, is even better in real life!

Especially when I saw what I was going to get to distract. I'm off the elevator for two minutes and what should show up? A Tyrannosaurid.

Mind you I guess that makes sense. It'd have the olfactory suite best suited to notice us right away. Sadly for me it is also among the best equipped dinosaurs to finish me off without much fuss.

Oddly enough I was stressing about this role so much on the way down, now that I'm here I'm finding doing distracting things is coming quite naturally. At least with my arms! Who knew my adrenal responses would cause my arms to be as spry as a hummingbird on a Coke truck (don't ask, it's a long story!). Yet my legs seem to be made of cement, I'm so terrified.

Scratch that on the arms. As Mr. or Mrs. (a Mrs. on closer examination) Tyrannosaurid leaned in closer for a look, suddenly my arms decided that what my legs were doing was far better. I froze, which knowing predators is probably better than running at this sort of range.

I feebily put on a smile, and tried to play it cool. "Are you a new arrivial for the Vivus-fossil collection?" Was what I found myself saying.

Obviously Mrs. Tyrannosaurid didn't like that inquiry so much, as I got a full on death roar. You know, like the one the T-Rex in Jurassic Park delievers (only an octave higher). I nearly fainted.

Then it didn't do anything, but ferciously stare at me. For a good minute.

I'll be dared! Traumador's theory that these things weren't going to kill me, due to my being a human (or palaeontologist) seems to have been correct. At least for Tyrannosaurids.

I hope for Caleb's sake the same holds out for the other Coelurosaurs hiding down here.

All I know is I'm going to make my way as far away from this Tyrannosaur as I can, and sneak through another of Carmen's limited access corridors to the key point of Traumador's plan. I'm also hoping Mrs. Tyrannosaurid here doesn't go back to the Crate's storage room right away, as right now having it guarding the elevators works perfectly for us.

(From the margins of Caleb's journal)

I HATE TRAUMADOR!!!

(From the meditations of Valour Velociraptor, chief lieutenant of the Crimson Talons)

It is not everyday that an ambush plays out as you plan. Yet on this day Desdemona and I have been rewarded with our quarry offering itself to us. If I were to go with this metaphor, it is up to me to bring it down. Though in reality I must ensure quite the opposite, for if the Runt or any of his mammalian companions fall today, I hand victory to the scavenger* Layla. I will not stand for her trimphing over me on this day!

*[to be called a scavenger is among the greatest insults within the Pack]


Yet with my Crimson Talons in tow, I now have a difficult balancing act to accomplish. I must ensure our efforts seem as geniue as possible in warding off the Runt's assault, but at the same time to kill any of his lot would be failure.

My party stumbled across a male mammal as he exited a new passage way in this labrinth. Of all the environments Layla could choose for us to defend, she picks this strange alien one. A hunter's instincts are useless here. The mammals hold all the advantages, and it was once again demonstrated here!

Before any of my hunters pounce the mammal, I quickly assert my authority. "Not yet!" I bark, earning me looks of surprise and scorn. "We shall let him lead us to his accomplices."

This logic sounds wise, and indeed if I were really hunting this mammal it is what I would do. My hunters comply. We chase the mammal just on the edge of attacking distance. This way, in a real hunt we could subdue him at a moments notice.

As we reached the center of the labrinth another mammal, this one female, appears from another of these hidden mammal tunnels. My hunters behind me express their surprise at this repeated phenomenon. The air of confusion aids me in my next deed.

"Halt at the juncture ahead, and establish an ambush point," I order. This is met with near insubordination from Dexter [Dromaeosaurus]. I come to a full stop much to my hunters surprise, who just manage to halt themselves and avoid each other and/or myself, allowing both mammals to disappear around the corner. With our prey now potentially escaping my troop looks to me for an explanation. "Layla's orders were for me to deal with any mammalian intruders personally, as to leave doubt on our connection to the deaths."

This satisfies my hunters more then enough. Each of them knows well enough I am capable of far more subtle and surgical strikes than any other theropod alive today, the benefit of my dedicated training in China.

However they still prepared to escort me on this task. Something I can not allow. Witnesses would destroy what I am about to do. Plus I can now sow the idea of Layla's responsibility. "Layla was quite specific," I state convincingly. "Once we have them cornered only I am to pursue. You are to ensure aid does not reach them in time."

This combat order sounds amateur enough to have come from Layla. Despite being a total scavenger, Layla prides herself on being a great tactitian despite never having once been in battle. The orders she has been giving us for the past few weeks all sounded as foolish if not more so than the one I have made up. My hunters will have no problem being convinced in the debriefing they heard this order from Layla herself to avoid blame being assigned to us.

With my hunters holding a defensive position outside I cautiously venture into the void space* both mammals have entered. I find them not far from the entrance, clearly attempting to entice me to enter.

*[empty warehouse]

I cannot believe the Runt's troop is foolish enough to believe I'd somehow lost their trail let alone that they were losing me. Had this been a real hunt both of them wouldn't have made it but a few steps from their secret passageways.

For the time being it suits my purposes that they enter this enclosed space away from my hunters.

I have them trapped in their own wire nets*. I believe the extent of their plan was to lure us into this space and trap us, thus keeping us from guarding the crate.

*[fence]

Oh how in some ways I wish I weren't using them for my own purposes. It would have been fun to teach them the error in their ways. Not a single Primoridal hunter would have fallen for this trick of theirs for a second. Let alone me.

The male makes a dramatic escape attempt, to try and cover the female's more subtle and slow departure out a door. How he doesn't think I could leap this fence quicker than him I do not know.

With both mammals safely out of my reach, I can clearly see their plan. However it requires the rest of my troop to be in here with me. So I oblige, and signal my hunters to assist me. With them out of view this whole time, it won't be hard to convince them the humans had already escaped, and I'd walked into their trap.

It will be very easy to have Layla reported as the cause of this disgracful outcome.

From the mammals' point of view their plan works perfectly, as I let them escape and the rest of the Talons rush in behind me.

Only to be trapped, as a second human female pounces on the gate behind us from yet another secret passage in this labrinyth.

The other Talons look about in confusion, as from their perspective the trap is incredibly efficient. Not a single one would suspect I would have allowed this to happen. Clearly the mammals legitimately ambushed us.

To add to this illusion, I take several futile pounces at the first mammal female, who remains to taunt us. I take a moment to remember her face. No one who has ever taunted me has lived long to tell the tale.

As they run off thinking how terribly clever they are, I can not help but feel statisfied. Soon they shall help themselves to the crate and its contents. With that they will suffer wounds far deeper than those my ego has endured today!

(From the notes of Kirsten Brink, Palaeontology Graduate Student at the University of Calgary)

It worked! I can't believe it worked!

I give Caleb a high five as we double check the Raptors are indeed sealed in.

Who would have thought Traumador's half thrown together plan would work so well!

As he and Carmen head off in another of these magic corridors of hers, I hope he finds this thing of the Pack's and gets rid of it effortlessly.

I'd hate to have gone through all this for nothing!

To be continued with THE CRATE itself...

converging schemes...

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

Enough is enough!

I am a hunter*. More to the point I am a Matriarch**, and the Alpha** of the Crimson Talons. Not some Ornithomimid or Alvarezsaurid commoner for Layla [Oviraptor] to order around!

*[in pack language a hunter is more akin to soldier]
**[A commander and chief within the pack]



Yet she continues to walk about our temporary territory* as though she is a Royal**. What makes her even more insufferable is that the Royal who is present allows her to do so. If I were Vicsurus [Daspletosaur] I would most certainly have shown the Oviraptor who the superior one was.

*[Base of operations]
**[Tyrannosaurid]


Alas, Vicsurus is too disiplined a hunter to go against the orders from the Grand Matriarch. Even the supreme predators of the Primoridals thought that Layla's and Razi [Saurornithoides]'s precious crate was valuable enough to devote half the Crimson Talons to its protection, meaning none of us here could make a move against the smug Oviraptor.


This has made my position all the more difficult, for I am beginning to fail in containing my contempt for Layla. Especially the way she has had the gumption to order my troops around, as though she'd passed the trails and been marked a Crimson Talon.

Reports from Vicsurus of the Runt's* sudden appearance here has caused Layla to worry about security even more than before. Today I had to use all my control not to slash her throat as she did rounds instructing us all in how to ward off enemy intruders. Of all the nerve!!! The cowardly scavenger hasn't once lifted a claw in the heat of battle, and yet treats us frontline hunters like fresh hatchlings!!!

*[Traumador]

Like I said enough was getting to be enough. Despite Layla believing she is about to ascend within the Pack's leadership, I have other plans. Her current authority is only secure if the crate is secure, which is something I very much have a say over!

However my list of true allies in my potential planned treason is thin . Layla and Razi are both political scavengers*! They've undermined the loyalties of many of my Talons, and though the Talons all still unquestioningly follow me into battle, are not all completely devoted to our Pride as they once were. If I actively ordered them into what I planned, some of them might very well turn on me, in hopes of gaining favour with the Pack's leadership and ascend with Layla.

*[an insult similar to being referred to as a weasel]

There was only one in my Pride I could trust my rage and plans with, Valour [Velociraptor]. Despite her martial arts trained calm, Valour was also beginning to wear under Layla's lecturing. The thought of pouncing the Oviraptor had even passed through Valour's crystal clear mind once or twice today.

I vented my anger to Valour when I was certain no one else was within earshot. In her typical manner Valour was unphased by my anger, but for once at the end showed her own feelings. Many in the Pack do not fully trust Valour due to her relative lack of emotion. I must admit initially I did not immediately take a fancy to her when she first earned her place amongst the Talons. As a rule we Dromaeosaurids tend to be a very passionate Pride, and Valour most certainly does not fit this mold. Yet I have come to envy her for her detachment.

When it came time for us to discuss how to sabotage Layla's precious crate, I especially envied her clear minded control. Though I had my own strategy devised, Valour had already concieved a brilliant tactic for integrating the rest of the Talons into transparently helping us. All we needed was for the Runt to make a move against us.

He had demonstrated many times now that this was something that he would most certainly do. When he did so this time, we would make sure he succeeded. Not only would Layla suffer, but the Runt himself would no doubt be devastated by the crate's contents. And this should lead to a complete victory against my enemies with one box! Of course, that's only if it all goes according to plan...

(From Traumador the Tyrannosaur's blog The Tyrannosaur Chronicles)

i'd hit a most stressful... no that's not strong enough word for it. a most terrifying. yeah that'll do... moment in my life.

the crate was now within sight. the only trouble was, i had no idea how i was going to get it away from the primoridals!

the collections manager carmen had taken me through the building's layout, and given me a few ideas of places that might be handy in distracting theropods... but there was a lot of uncertain variables, in particular how many and what types of coelurosaurs were guarding the area. this had me in particularly worried. there was every likelihood that the crimson talons were about, and i knew there was at least one daspletosaur kicking around. worse, i had no idea how i was going to get them ALL away from the crate and remain safe!?!

one thing was certain. i was going to need help... especially given my history with the crimson talons. the pack had vowed it would make me join them one way or another... so walking right into a stronghold of theirs solo just didn't strike me as a good idea!

fortunantely i had a scheduled lunch with two people who might very well be willing and able to help me! my palaeontologist friends caleb and kirsten! man i'm glad last time i met up with them i'd scheduled this lunch date...

concidentally the university's resturant stuck us in the most darkly lit corner, which give it the perfect conspiracy air to plan a heist.

caleb and kirsten were somewhat amused by my immediate launch into my pack/crate woes and how i needed their help. "only you could say hi, by asking us to risk life and limb," kirsten pointed out to me. "we really should bet on such things, 'how long it'll take traum to bring up something perilous."

"you're certain its the pack of the primordial feather?" caleb asked pointedly. he had a bit of a history with the pack too. they'd kick him out of the tyrrell just like me. i assured him there was no question, to which he responded "what's the plan then?"

the tough question. one to which i had an answer, but not the best...

kirsten immediately upon my conclusion agreed it wasn't a great answer. "that is seriously your plan?" i nodded, prompting her to reply. "you seriously expect the two of us to take on a whole swarm of raptors and who knows what else?!!"

i couldn't see any other way. it was better the two of them than me... and not for the selfish reasons that sounds like!

silence took over our lunch for a bit. caleb sat thinking on it all before finally asking. "why don't we ask the lab rats for help too? their presence might help ensure we stay safe."

"no," i answered firmly. despite thinking not being my strongest suit, i had considered the possibility of bringing in other vivus-dinosaurs to help (such as norman). "you'd be bringing something with you that is definitely a meal. to the coelurosaurs that would signal a hunt definitely being on. they'd kill the lot of you without blinking. just the two of you, palaeontologists and all, might throw them off enough."

"i'm afraid it is either you guys going in on your own, or i need a different plan," i admitted guiltily. "i know it is a lot to ask."


"no it isn't traum," kirsten stated calmly. i raised my head in hope which she noticed, and just as i thought she was in, kirsten shouted. "because you're going to need a new plan!"

i was crushed. not that i blame her really. i was asking everything from these guys, and i hadn't always been the best friend to them (more in my actions mind you than my intentions... having a small brain causes one to make some bad descisions, but for all the right reasons... sort of like what i was asking of them...).

suddenly caleb countered kirsten. "we're in."

"what?!?" kirsten spat at caleb.

"true its not the best plan ever," caleb explained. "but given what we know it is the only logical course of action. any attempt to probe the pack's position for more information would be even more dangerous."

"you don't seriously expect me too..." kirsten started, but was interupted by caleb.


"to stand up against a force that is actively attacking our field?" caleb challenged in reference to the science of palaeontology. "the primordials have shown they have no qualms with interferring with our research, science, and field work. now they are using our institutions as fronts for their activites."


"where does it stop. simple smuggling? if they get away with this, what is to stop them from stealing things from our collection while they are at it next time? who's to say they won't start using this cover to start poaching our vivus-fossil collections? to top it all off, their presence here went completely unnoticed, if not for traumador's hard work. this might be our one and only chance to stand up to them."


kirsten thought on that a moment. "what choice do we have but to stand up to them?" caleb asked again, somewhat rhetorically.


"alright," kirsten reluctantly signed on to my little operation. she then threatened me. "if i die trying this little stunt of yours though. i'll, i'll..." she thought for a second, clearly fighting off her anger and fear at the situation. then she came to a decision. "i'll kill you!" she said in a surprisingly playful manner. she wasn't mad or frightened anymore (or at least angry at me in any case). she'd come to the same conclusion as caleb.


if we didn't stand up to the pack, then it would keep acting like they could push any of us around. something i hoped this afternoon might fix...


otherwise kirsten was going to kill me... and i couldn't have that! it would mean she was dead too!


"there's just one little part to the plan i'd like to alter," caleb suddenly cut off that thought. both me and kirsten looked at him puzzled. he'd just convinced us all my course of action was the only option. why was he suddenly suggesting a change. "we're going to grab carmen. you're going to need her help once we do our part." he said, clearly with a scheme in mind...

to be continued with lots of plans in action...

the rats

i needed any and every bit of info i could get on the pack of the primordial feather's presence in calgary (especially about this crate of theirs). i'd gone to my old palaeontologist friends kirsten and caleb to see if they knew anything. sadly neither of them had heard anything, but they thought some "rats" they knew might...

don't look at me people of the web wide world! i'm not sure why two incredibly smart scientists like caleb and kirsten are going to ask rodents, but that's what they said they were going to do. so off they went to try and track down these rats.

next thing i know caleb came wandering back with a vivus-dinosaur in tow!?! not what i was expecting at all ...

"i thought you said you were going to find a rat?" i found myself asking out loud... not necessarily how or what i wanted to say. one of the draw backs of the small brain.

"this is one of the rats," caleb retorted. i just looked at him disbelievingly. seriously, even i know the difference between a rat and a dinosaur!

suddenly the dinosaur piped up. "he means lab-rat, i can see your confusion," it mockingly told me. it then sarcastically greeted me "i'm theodore by the way. nice to meet you."

i was taken back for a moment, but then again thinking about it i had been somewhat rude. despite the little ornithischians immediate dislike of me, i recomposed myself and tried to redo my introduction... after all i hadn't specifically addressed it yet.

"nice to meet you theodore?" i paused unsure of his genus (and thus last name... most of us vivus-dinosaurs weren't given very imaginative last names). "i'm sorry it was rude not to introduce myself a moment ago. i'm traumador the tyrannosaur, and it is good to meet you."

suddenly the mid sized dinosaur picked up (i say mid sized as for a hypsilophodontid [like anyway] dinosaur he was actually quite large). "traumador, like as in the traumador?"

"uh maybe?" i shifted a bit unsure what theodore meant.

"you were the one who turned down the pack of the primordial feather?!?" he asked very excitedly.

"yeah," i said in a drawn out manner, not sure what response that was going to get me.

"then it is indeed very much a pleasure to meet you! wait till the other rats hear who i just met!" the large small dinosaur said excitedly. "i am theodore thescelosaurus. theo to everyone famous and important who knows me, and you do now know me. in fact you need to say theo as often as possible around my friends."

thescelosaurus that explained theodores large size. They were the largest of their very long running family the hypsilophodontids, although there are some long running questions as to just how they fit into this family... which come to think of it is what caleb studies!

"what am i suddenly?" caleb quipped in. "chopped liver! who feeds you, cleans up your messes, and takes you to the movies from time to time. why aren't i calling you theo? how can i now be the most important person you know?"

theodore didn't take his eyes off me, and spoke over his shoulder at caleb. "not now! you'll embrass me in front of the hero."

"fine," caleb dismissed his large saurian sidekick and walked towards me. "theodore still needs newspaper in the corner of his pen as he still hasn't figured out to piddle outside consistently."

"CALEB!" theodore shouted in annoyance. not that i laughed. we dinosaurs are a little more feral then humans. it isn't easy for us to break into the civilizaed mold of human society on such things.

to calm theodore down caleb continued. "i once caught traumador talking to a poster of a tyrannosaurus rex in the tyrrell's gift shop not realizing it wasn't real. for over two hours!" i thought it could be my friend...

it was as though caleb had handed theodore a toy, for the agile hypsilophodon sprinted off spouting off how he couldn't wait to tell the others. caleb turned to me. "sorry about that. i needed to give him something to gossip or he'd have never gone quiet. you can just mention you were 6 months old when i caught you doing that, when he retells the story to any of the other dinosaurs around here." caleb then winked at me. "now let's go find kirsten and see if she has tracked down our other in the know lab rat."

other dinosaurs. i had no idea the university had any vivus dinosaurs on hand, that alone more than one... and caleb and kirsten were calling them lab rats. i didn't like the sound of that!

"what do you do to these lab rats?" i asked with a bit of pointedness.

caleb caught my drift right away. "not what you're thinking traumador. we have had to," he paused for a moment thinking of the right word. which is something i've always liked about caleb. he never says anything without thinking about it first, and making sure it is the proper thing to say. i've always admired (and envied) him for that ability. " 'adopt' a number of vivus-dinosaurs from other institutions and museums recently, as they could no longer properly manage their supervision."

as if to emphasis what caleb was saying about this lack of supervision, theodore jumped into a nice patch of potted flowers and started chopping on them. "theodore stop that right now! you know how much trouble i get in with the grounds keepers!"

"why do you say recently?" i asked noting his use of the word earlier. again caleb doesn't say something without it being important, and a key part of his meaning.

"there has been a massive increase in the number of vivus-fossils people have been finding in the last few years. it started with just those few random and exceptional specimens turning up vivusly preserved, like yourself. now we are striking entire geologic units that are nothing but vivus specimens! there is no logically explanation as to why they are suddenly all turning up now. logic dictates we should have been finding them at a dispersed and steady rate throughout the history of fossil collecting. yet right now they are on a exponential increase," informed me while yet being puzzled by what he said.

wow, i didn't even know where to begin understand what that meant on so many levels. not only why they were finding so many of us vivus dinosaurs, but what all these new vivus dinosaurs were going to mean for me and our kind living in the present...

"many museums and institutions aren't able, or willing, to put in the resources needed to raise and tend to all these, at times certainly, attention requiring specimens once they've found them," caleb continued. "having watched what happened in drumheller with its dinosaur infestation problem, the international palaeontological committee has tried to set up a program to relocate vivus-dinosaurs to institutions that won't exploit these animals, and take as good of care of them as possible."

"has it worked?" i asked with concern.

"so far," caleb said uncertainly. "we're only really hitting the beginning of the 'crisis'. for example the U of C is currently home to four adult vivuses, nine juveniles, and sixteen hatchlings," that didn't sound too bad till he added. "but we're sitting on forty unhatched eggs, and have a waiting list of over twenty seven more waiting to be accepted. with only a staff of 6 full time palaeontologists, and a dozen research students to look after them all."

"that is shaping up into a crisis," i stated somewhat obviously. caleb just nodded.

a brief silence hung as we both reflected on the idea of nearly 100 vivus dinosaurs soon to grace the university. caleb finally got back to my question. "we call these guys lab rats, as we have been using their physiology to supplement fossil research. the experiments are pretty low impact though. just things like getting them to run or walk, all usually for a treat. it's not like the data we gather is readily accepted or publishable."

i looked at caleb puzzled. he just shrugged. "apart from dr. paradigm, the palaeontologic community is not at moment willing to use vivus-fossil 'material' as scientific evidence. there are just too many questions on how you guys are all surviving millions of years unharmed."

kirsten wandered up to us. "i found helma, but she's being a scarredy cat like usually. so we'll have to goto her."

as we wandered down the hall, it occurred to me i hadn't asked theodore my key question yet. though my hopes were dashed. the large hypsilophodontid had not heard anything about the pack in calgary. however bringing up the pack, next thing i knew theodore started listing off everything he knew about them...

or at least what he thought he knew. for a secretish society the pack has done well at keeping the outside world from find out much about them. a lot of what theodore said about pack membership and recruitment was wrong, so i kind of ignored everything he said after that. i couldn't really trust that any of it as accurate.

thankfully i didn't have to listen to theodore's pack rumours for too long. we approached a juvenile hadrosaur, probably in its midteens (in dino-years). kirsten warned me as we walked up to it. "let me do the talking. she doesn't care too much for theropods, and she can be very jumpy even at the best of times."

speaking of jumpy, the duckbill whirled around as it heard us coming. she immediately picked me out of the lot of us, and talking about me (not to me mind you) "who is that?!? why are you with a theropod? has he be security cleared for this building?!?" it half asked half accused.

"he's fine helma," kirsten assured her large lab rat. i could already tell helma was a hypacrosaur due to her crest and colouration (i'd met some before in drumheller... hypacrosaur eggs are pretty common in alberta. especially at devil's coulee). "he just needs to know if you've heard anything about the primordials."

the teenage duckbill grew tense upon the mention of the pack. "why? they're trying to eliminate anyone who knows too much about them? in that case i don't know anything!" helma definitely stated.

kirsten went to go pat the hadrosaur and calm her down, but when she put her hand on helma's back...

helma had a momentary startle. which with duckbills is quite loud.

kirsten smiled slightly embarrassed. "as i'm sure you're noticing our vivus dinosaur are not prone to quirky behaviour and demeanours," she sarcastically defended. "poor helma here was exposed to 'traditional' theropod/duckbill relations at far too early an age from some pictures in a book or TV. which has given her a perpetual predator prey view of the whole world ever since, and naturally she is always the prey. so don't take it too personally. she does this with everybody. it just happens you are a theropod this time."

theodore laughed at helma's freak out. frankly i don't blame him. it was pretty funny, though a little weird.

helma yelled at him to stop, and a whole squabble scene played out before me. the two dinosaurs fought like little hatchlings with theodore provoking helma, and helma reacting just how he wanted. then caleb and kirsten intervened like parents to try and break it up. i kind of wanted to walk away really, at least till they sorted it all out.

by the time they finally had it settled all four of them were upset. kirsten and caleb both explained to helma if she had heard anything, that telling me would keep the pack away (which was a bit of a lie... i had no way of keeping the pack away from the university or the lab rats, really).

the duckbill said she certainly hadn't heard anything about the pack being around the uni. she stated otherwise she would have certainly raised the alarm... which based on her little fright a few minutes earlier, i'm certain everyone would have noticed!

this was no good. i still had no leads... and i was out of dinosaur associating people.

what was i going to do now?!?

to be continued with a chance run in (with a special guest star!!!)

the brain trust

so i needed to mingle with people who dealt in all things dinosaurs, in case they'd heard anything about the pack of the primordial feather's activities in calgary. even the smallest bit of information might give my friend mike the librarian the lead we needed to locate them. once we did that, then i would have to figure out some way to steal one particular crate away from the pack...

fortunately it was just one thing at a time, so i didn't have to worry about that last part till we found the feather in a haystack... er city stack... ummm scape? the pack was going to be hard to find okay!

the good news is i happen to know several dinosaur centric people who work in calgary. at the university to be specific.

these were my old tyrrell buddies caleb and kirsten. back in those days they were both seasonal technicians in the summer, but went to skool the rest of the year to study palaeo. not a lot has changed with them, other then the uni palaeontology thing has become their whole life... all the time! sound grim i know, but not when you realize this is the final stage in their growing up to finally be palaeontologists, it will probably be worth it!

not only had i been meaning to catch up with these two old friends, but as palaeo PHD students, all they did was work on dinosaurs and fossils. if there was any gossip about the pack around these two were bound to have heard it.

of course they were really surprised when i just showed up at their office this afternoon... right, need to tell people i'm going to show up.

both were well... surprised. fortunately happiness followed, which i've learned is not always the case (at least when surprise and me are in combination). we had a quick catch up on our lives. all involved in the chat thought their activities were boring to the others, but yet the other side was eager to hear all about it.

`

i of course had been in new zealand, and or otherwise revisiting canada. the two of them had been up to new research in the field of dinosaur palaeontology. they wanted to hear about my trip, and i wanted to hear about their studies. so it worked out to a good visit. so good we booked a proper catch up lunch for later in the week. as they both had to get back to work (due to my not calling ahead).

`

before i left i made sure to check. "there was one quick reason i popped by to see you both today."

`

they both looked at me inquisitively. "i was wondering if you'd heard anything about the pack of the primordial feather."

man, did the room go sour in no time flat! kirsten just glared at me with a fiery disgust. "i should have known."

"huh?" was my only response to that.

`

"get out!!!" she yelled at me.

`

"what? i just wanted..." i tried to explain, but kirsten cut me off.

`

"i don't care what you want. i will not be helping that gang of theropod thugs recruit anymore members. even if they are dumb enough to seek them out!" she declared glaring at me.

`

oh boy. that didn't look good. all because i didn't think first (sadly not unusual for me). of course, these guys had no idea i'd turned down the pack's offer of membership already. kirsten assumed i wanted to join my coelurosaur kin in their stupid club, and get up to all sorts of mischief and evil with them.

`

just as she was about to rise out of her chair to shoo me out of the room i yelled. "i'm not trying to join the pack. i'm trying to stop them!"

`

that stopped kirsten dead in her tracks. not because of what i said, but rather the fact i'd yelled it. i normally try not to yell, and i certainly never had had the guts or bravery to do it in my museum days.

`

kirsten was nice enough to let me explain everything from larry's visit. the raptor attack, and to my current mission to find the crate.

`

she was a little dubious about the crate part, but trusted me on the other stuff. kirsten had always been a big advocate of how honest and earnest i was about everything, on account of my brain size (but that's not true entirely. i do try to be as good a dinosaur as i can be!).

`

"well sadly traumador, i haven't heard anything about the pack here in cowtown. they are crawling all over drumheller and several other places, but not here to my knowledge," she stated, but then she turned to caleb, and i followed suit. "how about you?" she asked him.

`

caleb suddenly dove back into the book he'd been reading when i arrived. "what? oh sorry, i wasn't listening guys," he pretended.

`

"yes you were," i countered.

`

"no i wasn't," caleb tried to sincerely tell me.

`

"yes, you were!" i stated.

`

"i was not," caleb said again.

`

this continued for a good minute... i should have realized the circular nature of that argument...

`

anyways, before kirsten interjected. "caleb! just tell him."

"tell me what?" i echoed kirsten, though not on purpose. i just wanted to know why caleb was acting so weird.

`

"when i was first trying to decide where to study my PHD, i wanted to stay at the tyrrell," caleb explained. "that was when i learned about the pack."

"they approached me, and told me they could make my studies go smoothly if i were to look into some of the issues surrounding vivus-theropod. in particular how to easily discover more," he stated matter of faculty. "when i refused, they warned me that i might experience certain 'set backs' with my research."

"and?!?" i asked in suspense, despite knowing that caleb got out okay.

`

"i had a few accidents, that forced me to leave the museum," he said rather vaguely.

`

before i could ask for more details, kirsten interjected. "a few 'accidents'?!? you call pushing a field jacket to try and crush you, and killing your vivus specimen accidents!!!"

`

caleb visibly got upset at this reminder. "we never could prove it was them though! what else am i supposed to call them?!?!?"

`

kirsten toned down her confrontational stance, and suddenly took on a look of defeat. why shouldn't she, i was feeling it too. i'd known for a while that the tyrrell had been claimed by the pack, but i'd just thought it was favourite hang out spot or something. i didn't realize it was threatening the people there. that alone people i knew!

`

"so when i left drumheller to get away from the 'accidents', i swore i'd never have anything to do with the pack again," caleb told me in a very cold determined voice. "so, no traumador, i have no idea if the pack is here or not."

`

the room remained quiet a minute as we all sat digesting the pack's latest impact.

`

not only was i depressed by the pack having taken over my childhood home, but i felt even more hopeless. i was beginning to see why ruffled feather had said stopping the pack was so urgent. they were having a negative impact. a really negative one. i shuddered to think of how many more of my friends, or someone else's friends this crate could help them hurt...

`

yet there was nothing i could do about it here. as i made ready to leave, kirsten was the first to cut the silence with words. "we could go and ask the rats."

`

rats?

`

"they won't know anything," caleb dismissed the suggestion, whatever it meant.

`

kirsten shook off the suggestion with her hand. "bull! theodore is such a gossip, if there are any rumours floating about he'll know. helma is so paranoid if there was even a mention of the pack she'd remember what it was, and who said it down to the second."

caleb looked like he wanted to protest, but couldn't quite counter kirsten's line of logic. not that i understood it. however before i knew it, kirsten was herding us out the door to go look for these "rats", which she thought might have heard something...

somehow suddenly it was me who was now dumbfounded with surprise...

to be continued... would the rats rat out the pack?

camping away from... no wait, at home (homecoming part 4)

after the more than somewhat depressing results of my efforts to figure out who bought me the plane ticket back here to drumheller for my my 5th hatching day, i was kinda wanting something fun to happen...

well this afternoon it did happen, well in a way. i'm starting to find this whole coming home thing to be a mix of coolness and unfortunately some sadness.

as she promised the other day, my old coworker amy tracked me down after this week's session of summer camp was done. man i haven't seen amy in a long time!

it was awesome catching up with her. though like everyone around here she thought my having ran off to the other side of the world was more interesting than her life... i should tape record the story. i've been having to tell it a lot!

_

i sort forgot how funny amy was (i didn't really forget, but because it's been a while i wasn't used to it anymore if you follow what i mean...) it was really enjoyable being reminded of it!

our catching up was the biggest highlight of the trip so far. i really enjoyed the afternoon.

yet at the same time it made me a little sad. talking to amy reminded me of when we used to "hangout" in the old days...

_

the times when we both worked at camp!

_

the royal tyrrell museum's badlands science camp to be precise!

_

the most dinosaur and fossil packed summer camp you'll find anywhere. that and one of the awesomest summer camps anywhere too... well that's what craig said anyway, and if anyone would know it's him. he's worked at few camps.

_

back than i was one happy camper... well okay staffer. i might have hung around camp alot with the kids, but i wasn't really camping officially speaking. i was merely an employee (slash resident) of the museum (and being a resident it kinda felt like i camped at the museum... all the time hehehehe).

_

the job was so fun though that with my small brain i'd forget sometimes. so even though i might have been wearing a staff shirt (like always!) i could just as easily have been wearing one of the kids' orange hats!

_

so what was my job at science camp you might ask? well it's not an easy one to answer.

my old job at the museum had been to hangout in the cretaceous garden as a saurian part of the greenhouse, and educate/entertain visitors. what that amounted to really was me pretending to be a statue. from management's point of view that made sense.

_

due to my ability to speak in english and that i usually did so without thinking much about what i said the higher ups, well, they thought it was best i didn't talk to the tourists. of course due to my small brain size i often forgot these instructions, and well the boss dudes they got sick of it, and decided to stick me somewhere the people i talked to might appreciate it. even if i didn't often know what i was talking about...

_

which is why i ended up at camp. the big cheeses thought that kids won't mind a pea brained t-rex getting stuff wrong all the time... on that count they were wrong. kids can be way smarter than adults a lot of the time... that alone tyrannosaurs!
_
at the same time kids LOVE me... i wish it was them running things instead of adults. than we dinosaurs would get some respect in the human world!
_
anyways, i was one of the science camp educators. which meant i was supposed to help out the camp staff lead educational programs and activities... i say supposed to, because well, often i didn't actually get what we were doing or what i supposed to talk about right...
_
like for example here where the idea was me talking about what science is... i tended to have to get everyone else working at camp to correct me before i'd get it right... man how embarrassing.
_

one of the guys i worked with a lot was strong-man the strongest dude on earth. don't believe me? just look at his colossal muscles!

we used to tag team on leading stuff in the fossil lab. there were all kinds of cool things the kids would get to do there. here we were leading fossil casting. the kids got to make replicas of actual fossils and take home the copy!

lucky ducks. i never got to keep anything from work... oh right, they weren't working...

_
now strong-man ,he was a lab expert... well okay except for his wearing shorts and open holed shoes in the lab... otherwise a real expert (besides the fossil lab was the lab for the public and not very dangerous... as for the real prep labs in the museum. well me and strong-man weren't allowed in them for various reasons. broken fossil reasons. me on account of being less than smart. strong-man on account of accidental crushing a few things with his HUGE might!)
_
i on the other hand was... well, not so much of an expert!
_
i was entertaining though! the kids loved me, and the only thing they loved more than me was my dr. phil currie puppet!
_
man i love puppets. they crack me up, and the kids thought like me... which is funny cause again they're usually a lot smarter than me. how could we be thinking alike with such different sized brains?
_
sadly strong-man didn't like my dr. phil currie puppet as much as the kids.
_
he also didn't like it when i took things too literally... which i don't get. when you're talking shouldn't you mean what you say, and say what you mean?
_
like this time when strong-man said fossils tell stories about the past just like books tell stories. i thought that was silly. books don't tell stories. they don't laugh. they don't sing. they don't do anything! they just sit there and go like this... well that in the picture.
_
i get what he meant now. though i stand by my confusion back than. you read stories from books. they don't tell you them. the effort is up to YOU!
_
anyways sadly our lab sessions almost always ended in strong-man losing his cool at me... which is too bad as he is a real cool dude. just not when he's angry. i really don't like him when he's angry. the angrier strong-man gets the stronger strong-man gets!... which kinda bugged me. it wasn't my fault...
_
not that it bugged the kids. they thought it was funny! which i guess it probably was. i just at the time didn't think so. i kinda thought at times they were laughing at me...
_
fortunately it wasn't all stuff i had no clue about. i also got to do the dinosaurs of alberta talk. if there is one thing i've always known a lot about its dinosaurs!

of course there were lots of other fun activities that the campers would do that i wouldn't have to do much for, cause none of the staff trusted me with anything serious.

i really liked the canoeing. we got to reenact how the old time palaeontologists explored this area. back than they didn't have roads to drive around on. the only easy way to get into the heart of the badlands was by the river that carved them.

which was the sort of trip we'd go on with the kids. including some authentic fossil hunting on the shore! in the middle of no where (the best place to find fossils)!!!

_
okay i liked the canoe trips... sometimes the poor camper stuck on the boat with me didn't like it as much. i wasn't the best navigator... sure i'd been canoeing a lot by the end of my camp summers, but you try paddling with arms as small as mine and we'll talk okay!!!

the kids also got to see lots of stuff the normal museum visitor wouldn't be allowed to. like tours of both the collections AND preparation labs.

i learned a lot about real palaeontology while hanging out with the kids on these tours. learning from real scientists and technicians, like my pal caleb (whose now training to be a real palaeontologist... i'll have to look him up while i'm here in canada!)... though the campers sometimes complained cause i asked more questions than them, and sometimes didn't stop when it wasn't my turn anymore...

still me and the campers were buds by the end of any day. again unless the staff needed me to do something in particular, i was just like one of the kids and hung out with them mostly.

doing all the stuff they did... which come to think of it, with the amount of arts and crafts i did you'd think i'd have learned to draw or paint or something cool like that!?!

i think it was doing all that stuff at camp that started to make me grow up a bit. when i began working at camp i was 2 years old, and i left just after my 3rd hatching day (yeah one year on the calender, but TWO whole summers at camp). in t-rex years that had me going into "teenage"dom (though as a t-rex making it to your teens makes you OLD!).

everyday at camp was full of adventure, and you were always doing some different and new. even if you worked there all summer! i'm serious, at the end of a summer after 6 separate camps doing roughly the same thing, it never felt like the same thing! that and i worked it twice, remember people of the web wide world. it WAS different everytime, even if on paper they were all the same!...

the thing i miss the most about working camp though was it was the first time i was treated equally by humans. i wasn't just a specimen or display at the museum. i was part of a team, and depended on by the camp team EXTREME! (that was what we camp staffers used to call ourselves).

amy noticed me zoning out into the past, and brought me back to the present. after i told her i wanted to work camp again she sympathized. amy had just come from helping take camp down. the kids had all gone back home, and camp was done for the season.

ah nuts...

though don't get me wrong people of the innerweb. it was super awesome to visit with amy. we had fun going over old memories and stories, and remembering all our camp friends who'd since left drumheller.

sure it was sad to think those days were over, and they were never coming back, but it reminded me that new adventures must be just around the corner.

which i guess i was going to need to find. with no sign of who ever brought me back here, and everyone i knew around town leaving what was i going to do? i had a lot more time in drum to kill this trip, and it seemed i was fast running out of people to catch up with. amy was leaving after this catch and and heading home too...

though an idea was occurred to me people of the innerweb. sure all the people of my past weren't sticking around, but my past itself can't go anywhere. i'm thinking maybe i should look into it!

what do you think?