Crucible of a Species (14 page)

Two dead tyrannosaurs, one more than thirty-feet long, lay at the edge of the clearing. A second rifle lay beneath the dozer; fresh blood covered the sandy ground. There had been a struggle here as fierce as the fight the squad had just managed to survive. Corporal Tyree walked over to examine a dismembered hand, still clutching the rifle’s stock in silent testimony to the violence of the encounter. “Looks like one of the guys tried to take cover under the tractor,” Tyree commented as he picked up the weapon and nonchalantly began prying it loose from the stiff, dead fingers.

Midshipman Thornsen walked over to the sergeant’s side and said in a subdued voice, “Sarge, we still have our orders.”

Sgt. Marshall abruptly turned and stared at the officer. His eyes seemed to be reappraising this young, just out of school upstart. It lasted a moment before he replied, ‘Aye, aye, ma’am.” Smooth as a targeting drone, he turned back to the others. “All right you Devil Dogs.” The low singsong pitch of the sergeant’s command voice rumbled across the clearing. “This changes nothing. Saren, give the doctor’s weapon back but stay close and watch the perimeter. Corporal Tyree, up on the dozer. I’ll ride shotgun.”

Tyree shouldered his Pulsar and began pulling himself up when he suddenly froze. The sensation began as a low keening that painfully vibrated the back of the skull like the deep rumble of distant tanks. His ears could barely hear the song but his mastoids throbbed from its coarse, painful snarl. “What the hell?” Saren growled as a second call started.

“It’s the tyrannosaurs. The calls are too low for our ears,” Sandra shouted before noticing four small theropods gliding through the undergrowth.

“They’re coordinating their movements with those calls.” Marshall shouted. Vicious cries swung up and down the scales as new screeches and trills rose from the surrounding brush. The jungle rang with their chorus for a time that seemed to stretch into an eternity. Then it transformed into a
sharp buzzing that lifted the hair on the back of their necks. The ground vibrated as the swiftly moving tyrannosaur family emerged from the surrounding walls of green.

Ahead, on the edge of the cleared area, two large tyrannosaurs slipped through the brush with amazing speed. The theropods charged from cover-to-cover in the dense foliage, working their way ever closer to the humans. The colors on their bodies shifted in the light of the late afternoon, constantly blending their forms into the background. “Tyree, I said get up on this dozer.” The sergeant screamed, “Get us moving. Up the berm.”

Marshall turned and shouted up toward the berm, “Saren, they’re a diversion. Set up a zone defense and watch behind us. Stay up there and be ready for infiltrators. Pull your ….” The tractor lurched, almost throwing him to the ground. Hanging on with one arm wrapped around the roll bar’s frame, the sergeant spotted a group of small but deadly-fast youngsters gliding silently through the grass at the other end of the thick green brush. He lifted his Pulsar but immediately shifted its aim to the left. Three other small theropods had managed to move in unnoticed and were already climbing the side. Five rapid shots ripped across them. Marshall watched as they rolled lifeless down the slope.

The sharp staccato of rifle-fire melded with the buzzing calls of the attackers. Screams of dying dinosaurs grated their nerves as the dozer clawed its way up the steep slope to relative safety. The sergeant scanned the dense jungle and a dark resolve filled his soul.
This is it. There’s too many.

*~~*~~*~~*

First Lieutenant Ester Esperanza
was one of the few women to graduate from the Naval Academy and pass the grueling physical requirements of an officer of combat-qualified marines. A slender but large woman with black short-cropped hair, Ester’s physique was misleading, lacking the smooth thick musculature of most of the men in her platoon. First impressions changed quickly when you met her and experienced the power of her quick mind and aggressive personality.

“Look Esperanza, the captain left us with very specific instructions. We were to drop your platoon off and return to the Argos with one of the dozers.” Ensign Middleton was tired of arguing, “If you have any objections then I suggest you take ‘em up with Colonel Drake. We’ll be landing on the plateau in a minute, you can ask him yourself.”

Following Drake’s orders, Ensigns Mark Middleton and Andrew Dailey had only just begun loading the platoon of marines when problems with the lieutenant began. Apparently, Esperanza hadn’t received the order that the ensigns were to return to the ship with one of the dozers.

“How are we supposed to put up a fence before sunset if we only have one dozer? They can wait …”

“Lieutenant, talk to the colonel and see if he’ll change the orders. Otherwise, we all have to work with what we’ve been given.” Ensign Dailey huffed as the Hunter gently touched down in the meadow. The lieutenant started down the still lowering ramp, “Sergeant, take the men outside and form up. I’ll be right back.”

Dailey climbed back into the cargo hold,
Where the hell is that dozer anyway? It was supposed to be ready and waiting.
He moved to the bay and lowered the ramp, “Hey Middleton, let’s load up what we can and clear a space. I don’t see the tractor out here but we should be ready to go when they bring it.”

It wasn’t pleasant working outside. They could feel the heat of the sun and the humidity sapping their strength as they worked. Middleton spotted movement under the trees and stopped to watch the lieutenant jog the final few yards towards the colonel’s tent, “She could have offered to leave a couple of grunts over here to give us a hand. Why do they need so many guys anyway?”

A little later, Middleton heard someone coming. “Well, that was fast. Here Esperanza comes now, she must have jogged both ways. I told you she’d be pissed.”

The lieutenant swung onto the ramp in one easy fluid motion, “You were right, Dailey, you get one of the tractors. Unfortunately, both tractors are up working on the berm and there’s no cleared landing area up there. I can’t afford to release a single man to return it and the colonel agreed with me. You and Middleton come along. You can bring back your own dozer.”

“What the hell is he thinking, Lieutenant? We’ve never driven a dozer before.”

“Can it, Dailey! You’ve got your orders and I’ve got mine. Besides, if you can fly a Hunter Recon then a little old tractor should be a piece of cake. Fall-in and keep up with us or I’ll leave you behind.”

Ensign Middleton groaned as he grabbed their rifles. Halfway down the ramp he stopped when a flurry of shots sounded off in the distance. “That caps it. They’ve run into trouble over there and we’re heading right into it. Here take this and let’s go.”

The marines were up to the field’s edge before the ensigns fell into line. They double-timed along the cleared trail. Flying insects filled the air and the fields crawled with small animals running across the path and occasionally between the feet of the jogging marines. A few minutes later, the platoon arrived at a slight turn in the trail and slowed.

Up ahead a dozen small dinosaurs were frantically scratching at the roadway and squabbling among themselves. They were only four-feet tall but their feet had the three-inch, saber-like killing claws characteristic of a raptor along with long slender jaws filled with pointed teeth. Golden brown feathers like those of a pheasant covered slender bodies and several sported bright red plumes that ran down their back onto a broad tail. They were excited about something in the freshly broken ground of the roadway and ignored the approach of the humans.

“Hey, Dailey, look. There’s a group of Ricardoestesia blocking the roadway.” Ensign Middleton called out. “I’ll bet there’re hundreds of them across this plateau.”

“How the hell do you know what they’re called?” The ensign responded.”

“Shieve pointed them out when we first landed. Don’t you remember Sgt. Marshall booting them around as he walked beside the dozer? That’s a wicked spike on their big toe. I’d hate to have one try and gut me with it.”

Esperanza sped up as she pushed through the group of raptors. The surprised dinosaurs screeched in protest and stumbled to the sides except for one who turned in defiance. The dinosaur charged, leaping as it swung around into a gut-ripping kick at the belly of the officer. Experanza didn’t lose a step as she countered and butted it with her rifle.

“Our lieutenant’s obviously in a bad mood.” Dailey quipped as the flock screamed and scattering just out of reach.

The freshly broken ground of the dozer track they followed released swarms of flies and gnats. The bugs were annoying but familiar pests. Esperanza picked up the pace when she heard a flurry of shots from the berm and knew the marines up ahead needed help.

Dailey slapped the back of his neck, “These gnats are vicious, it’ll be nice to ride back even if it’s only on a dozer.”

“Sergeant Marshall, marines incoming.” The lieutenant shouted to warn the squad up on the berm as they neared the cleared area. No answer returned. The lieutenant pushed through the heavy growth and into the newly cleared area where they ran directly into a dead tyrannosaur. It was a fresh kill. Swarms of flies covered a large gaping hole in its chest and a pool of blood covering the thick matting of the jungle floor.

“Shit, look at that, Sarge? That’d be a prize head for anybody’s wall.” Esperanza flashed a rare smile back at her companion but her eyes never stopped scanning the clearing as she pushed off from the carcass.

They advanced up the steep slope of the berm until the lieutenant spotted the abandoned dozer on the other side. “Simpson, see if you can get that thing working. The rest of you, form a perimeter.”

A mechanical roar filled the clearing. The growl of the motor deepened as the tractor climbed the steep side where Simpson swung it around and shouted, “There’s another one of those big guys dead on the ground down the berm a ways, Lieutenant, and some smaller ones further on.”

“None of our marines in sight?”

Simpson replied as he shut down the tractor, “No ma’am, nothin’. What the hell are these things?”

Another short burst of rifle fire came from the other end of the berm.

“Were you sleeping during the briefing? They’re dinosaurs and they’re gonna crunch your ass if you don’t sharpen up.” Esperanza turned toward the ensigns, “There’s your dozer. Climb aboard and Simpson will give you the ‘Dozers for Dummies’ course.

“Sergeant, wait for Simpson and then catch up to us. Sounds like Marshall’s making his stand down there.”

Simpson motioned the ensigns up next to him, “Okay, sirs. Watch the pro and in one minute, you too will be an expert dozer operator.

“Operatin’ this thing’s easy. There’s the ignition, put your thumb on the control plate to start it. Right foot pedal is the gas. Left pedal is the brake. This right-hand lever controls the right tread and the left directs the other side. Push them together forward and the tractor moves forward. Pull them back and she moves back. Push one side forward and the other back to turn. Careful there, sir, that knob’s for blade height. Back and forth to lift or drop it, you twist it to change the angle. Even my Aunt Betsy could do it! Any questions?”

Dailey settled onto the driver’s seat. “Why do I get the feeling you ain’t taking time to answer any questions, Simpson? Thanks anyway, you run along. We’ll manage.

“Come on, Middleton, we’re heading back to civilization, or at least as close as we can get to it. Right now, the thought of climbing back into our Hunter seems pretty good.”

Middleton grunted as he climbed aboard, “This thing’s a dinosaur itself. Have you ever driven one of these mechanical behemoths before? You don’t know what you’re doing any more than …. Hey!”

“I said hang on.” The tractor’s engine changed pitch as it rolled down the side of the berm and off towards camp.

As they parted, the soft calls of the jungle enveloped the two jogging marines for a time until a new cry arose, vibrating the air with a loud screeching, like a freight train desperately stopping on rusted rails. The jungle came alive with ringing birdcall that was somehow too low on the scale. It transformed to a warbling that could not have come from human throats. A flurry of shots ripped through the trees around them in reply. The firing stopped for a moment then returned even stronger.

“Come on, sounds like they could use every rifle they can get.” Sgt. Martel shouted as they passed by three dinosaur carcasses lying across the berm. One was still twitching, its tail slowly slapping the ground.

“Keep scanning the brushline but don’t slow down. Something’s moving in there.”

They ran amid the whistles, calls and savage animal screams of the jungle. A painful throbbing rocked the sergeant’s head, eventually resolving into a low buzzing. The shots ahead of them grew in intensity. They could now see the platoon off in the distance firing into the trees.

The massive dark-red body erupted from the tree line to their left. “Watch …!” Simpson shouted, stumbling into the sergeant who was twisting to bring his Pulsar around towards the monster. The animal was bleeding from a large rip down its side and its left arm dangled as it ran, bearing down on them with incredible speed. In two bounds, it climbed the side of the ten-foot berm, driving onward under a hail of rifle fire from the two astonished men. It held its head low as it charged past the stunned humans and disappeared into the safety of the trees on the opposite side.