Terra Page 4

  The babies watched intently as Sky plucked the leo and skinned it as Dar gutted it and tossed the parts he didn’t to the ‘kids’…and were snapped up gratefully. As they had walked the pair had seen what remained from the flock of leos that had been caught by the kids, including a few that had been stepped on, what they were tossing at them was merely desert.

  Now cleaned and plucked, Dar made a spit and slowly began roasting the dinner.

  As the humans ate, the rexes watched. Now and then they would look at one another in a puzzled way. Finally Dar tossed part of the leo to Dash. He caught it, bit down on it…and spit it out. He looked at Lady and squawked something, she sniffed the leo remains lying on the ground, backed up and looked at the two humans and snorted. She then walked back over to it and with one quick kick, sent it flying through the roots. She watched it hit the ground and roll until it hit a root. Satisfied she turned and looked at Dar and snorted as both rexes laid down to settle in for the night.

  Dar looked at Sky “Guess she pretty much said it all, huh boss?”

  “Yup, the raw way or no way.” she laughed to a chorus of distant roars, growls, screams, and other assorted creature noises from without “Well, sounds like it’s going to be a noisy evening daddy.”

  Dar nodded and unfolded his blanket “Geez…I sure hope there aren’t any of those foot long millipedes down here. Just then there was a loud snap and Dash had one hanging half in and half out of his mouth. A quick flip and he chomped down as the millipede squished loud enough to be heard clearly by both humans.

  “Thanks for that Dash.” he snorted while making a face, as Sky chuckled musically.

  “Go ahead and laugh, but remember if there’s one, there’s more.” Dar got up and found one of the tree sized roots that was growing sideways and stretched out on that. He started to laugh at Sky looking around her blanket on the ground…until one of the many legged critters scurried across his chest.

  “Fuck this!” he shouted “I sleeping on my feet!” this got strange looks from the babies as the light began to fade.

  Lady got up and walked over to Sky’s blanket and snapped up the scurrying millipede and quickly made a snack of it, and this time the squish didn’t bother her as much. Dash ran over to Dar’s blanket and looked around and sat on its haunches as a millipede skittered by, it snapped it up and looked at Dar.

  Sky laid on her blanket as Dar brought his and laid it next to hers. With one baby on one side of the pair, and the other on the other side, they knew they would get a good night’s sleep…assuming that the squishing sounds didn’t keep them up.

  Chapter 6.

  These roots turned out to be the perfect place in which to make a base camp while a two man raft was built. As it turned out the humans didn’t have to hunt, the rexes were quite efficient at it. Other than one huge chunk of a large creature that apparently had been killed by something else, where they passed on the meal, they ate fairly well. There were various sized fish that teemed within the swamps and though tasty to the humans, the rexes didn’t like fish and went out and to get their own dinner. During the time it took to build the raft, life went on as usual although there were a few close calls and everyone one would retreat back to the giant mango-like trees and huddle deep within the secure network of wood.

  Because of the size of the monstrous trees, it took nearly a month to get a raft put together by climbing up and cutting higher limbs. On the other hand this species of tree was light to carry and the buoyant properties were incredible.

  A comical jump to the raft and a flip in shallow water taught Dash that the raft was for humans only. Three weeks later and only poling the raft about twenty miles from the tree they first spent the night in, Sky realized that constantly trying to find a route the babies that by now were a good eight feet tall, could follow them from was nearly impossible.

  If they got out of sight, the young rexes would sit on the edge of the water and cry until they returned, going was slow, but by now, Sky and Dar had decided that they had to keep the babies with them…babies, right! The river had split and split again, and then came colliding together causing many delayed and confusing trips. Finally it was decided that they would scout the river from land, and decide which way to go in this confusing delta of sorts.

  Of course the two humans had never seen, nor heard of anyone knowing anything about these phantom creatures. As long as the pilots had been alive, mega-rexes were a puzzle. Over the few centuries that humans had existed on Terra, there had been scattered reports, but now Sky and Dar were learning first hand. Imprinted at birth, these ‘babies’ had grown in leaps and bounds.

  Nearly three months now since the crash, and almost as long since finding the rexes several things became apparent.

  The first was these beasts were incredibly intelligent. Dash and Lady hunted and shared their kills with the increasingly tiny humans. Growth spurts were sporadic, but the nearly twenty foot tall rexes actually scared off a full sized rex twice their size. These creatures were definitely the top of the food chain.

  The second thing they learned was that their pets were more than just pets, they had become partners, even looked upon as family. In between the small swamps and in open grasslands, the humans bedded down for the night in a small indent in the ground. All night one rex or the other would stand watch over the others as they slept.

  It was the start of the fourth month and deep in a swamp where the going was slow that the tiny humans waded through chest deep water that now barely topped the ankles of their ‘kids’. Sky spotted a small island where they flopped down to rest. Lady snorted and grunted at her brother who quickly reached up and ripped several mouthfuls of long, dangling Spanish moss-like ropes and dropped them on the humans.

  “HEY!” Dar shouted as he laughed “We aren’t tired, and it’s too hot to need a blanket.”

  The two rexes looked at each other and gave a series of low grunts and bellows, to which Dash gave a loud snort, bent down and looked at the small humans as Sky swore that he was perturbed.

  “Dar, they want something, they’ve given us that look before.” Sky stood and stroked Dash’s cheek “We don’t understand boy.”

  Again there were looks between the two rexes. Lady gave a loud snort walked beside the raised land and squatted so that the larger part of her tail was even to the island.

  “Dar, I think she wants me to get on her.”

  “No fuckin’ way.” Dar looked at Lady who had turned her head to look back at the humans. As sky stood next to Lady, Dash lowered his massive head and as gentle as a mother urging a baby to walk, Dash nudged Sky toward Lady’s tail.

  “You have go to be shitting me…” Dar sputtered “we’d fall off.”

  Sky gleefully stepped on Lady’s tail and as she did so, Lady leaned forward to make it easier for her to climb up her back to her neck. Upon arriving on what would be the nape Sky laid flat and threw her arms around Lady’s neck; or at least as far as she could reach, which wasn’t much. She cooed “Oh I have wanted to hug you for so very long my Lady”

  “You’ve got to be shitting me!” Dar sputtered again “I think Lady is purring.” Dar leaned close to her neck and sure enough there was a soft rumbling sound that was comforting and soothing.

  This was quickly broken up as semi wet mossy vines were dropped on the flattened rider. Again it was Dar that stood in amazement.

  “My God…Sky…they planned this way before now.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” she replied.

  “Last week, remember? Dash brought us vines, dropped them and they both stood with their backs to us.”

  “Yeah, I remember and you thought they brought us fire makings and burnt them.” She laughed “No wonder they kept looking at us so funny…and snorted.”

  Dar grabbed one of the vines and tossed it around under Lady’s neck and Sky tied it off as Dar tossed another.

  “At some point we can make some sort of a seat, but for now just tuck your legs unde
r the lower vine, and hold on to the one higher up on her neck.

  Sky slid her legs under the larger mossy vine, all the way up to her rear and then sat into a more upright position as she grasped the higher vine. Lady slowly raised herself into her normal upright position as Dar stepped back and looked at the lovely rider.

  “I’ll be damned.” He muttered as Lady took off and did a few steps to make sure Sky was secure. Dash lowered himself and Dar took the vines and tossed them over his new ride’s neck. As Dash leaned in so he could tie them off he too was making soft rumbling sounds. Dar stepped back and Dash lowered himself as Lady had done before and Dar climbed on.

  At first the rexes moved slowly, but in the swamps it was many times faster than the humans had been going and it soon became apparent that the rexes had actually been waiting on them. Moving through the trees in the swamp wasn’t much of a problem at first. The trees had high limbs so they needn’t worry about getting knocked off. However the curtains of Spanish moss draping from them was another story, and after Dar wound up hanging under Dash’s neck by his harness after being swept off by moss, the kids learned to stay clear of it. If it was unavoidable, then they moved slow enough to let the humans on their necks move it out of the way…again stunning the humans as to their intelligence.

  “Jesus, Sky…maybe that’s why they wanted us to ride them.” he roared with laughter “we were just slowing them down.”

  Sky was about to reply, but both rexes stopped and listened. The humans knew from past experiences that when they took this posture, it was time for silence. Slowly both rexes lowered themselves and just by looking at one another they knew it was time to dismount, they quickly slid off their backs. No sooner had they hit the marshy ground beneath their feet, both rexes moved in front of the humans by about ten yards.

  Loud crashes could now be heard and as the moss in the trees parted there charged a spinosaurus, but unlike any that was in the old Earth history files. This one walked on four legs and the fin towered well over the heads of the defending rexes. The fin turned a dark red as the spinosaurus screamed. The creature seemed enraged and the humans guessed that it was because they had entered its hunting grounds. A second later it charged from over one hundred yards away.

  Dash charged directly at it, while Lady moved slightly off line of the charge and slightly back of Dash. As they closed Lady slipped directly behind Dash and now running at full speed they closed.

  As the humans sought shelter within the giant roots of a tree, the behemoths charged each other. As they ran dark murky water flew toward the heavens and loud bellows roared forth as the gap closed. At twenty yards the spinosaurus opened its long narrow jaw to show its sharp teeth…and both rexes split apart. One to each side of the charging behemoth, and slowed. As the attacker tried its best to stop, it rushed by them as the rexes spun and lunged. Each of the huge lunging jaws ripped a large chuck out of the spinosaurus’s neck.

  An ear piercing scream burst from the creature and blood sprayed from its neck and before it could turn to face the twins it fell into the water that sent a wave all the way back to the pilots in their root shelter.

  The spinosaurus flopped a few times as it vainly tried to stand, and then its head flopped into the water and the brief fight was over. The humans slowly walked out as both the twins bellowed their victory.

  “Sky…did…you see…that?”

  “Jesus Dar, they used tactics…must be inherited because we sure as hell didn’t teach them that.”

  Dar shrugged “Maybe Sky, maybe…or maybe they just figured it out. They kept calling to each other, could they have been making it up as they went?” the pilots looked at one another as it was becoming obvious that they were in for a lot more ‘understandings’ from these creatures they once thought of as merely primordial beasts.

  Of course it took another month and several attempts to create a workable saddle and reins to stay on their mounts. There was one scary time when at nearly a full run, Sky was thrown off from thirty feet in the air when her vine snapped that held her legs secure, after swinging back and forth under her Lady’s neck by her reins, Lady managed to slow and start to lower before she lost her grip…but was just a second too late as Sky landed face first in swampy ooze.

  Dar jumped down and once making sure his mud covered commander was unhurt, he began to laugh his ass off. As Sky stood there covered in dripping mud both of the rexes began making sounds that neither had heard before…and Sky began to roar with laughter as well.

  “Dar! They’re trying to simulate our laughter.”

  Dar had tears running down his cheeks “I know…and they’re…laughing at you.” he laughed even harder and incredibly, so did the rexes.

  Sky snorted something about ‘not being ‘THAT’ funny’ and walked over to the water, dove into it to clean off, and started swimming alongside the bank.

  The laughter stopped as Lady quickly stepped to the swampy bank, bent down and gently scooped Sky out of the water by her once muddy back pack.

  “Hey!” she screamed “Not funny!” she waved her arms as she dangled there until Dar pointed below her…to the giant alligator and its snapping jaws merely feet below her as Lady swung her back to the higher river bank. One roar from Dash and the alligator slid back into the murky depths, two rexes was not a fair fight even with a twenty-five foot long crock.

  After that the humans took a day to figure out a strong woven vine saddle with both safety backups for both rein and woven saddle that allowed them to sit in a more upright position. They also found out that if they pointed in one direction whichever rex saw it, it would relay the direction to the other and both would go where pointed. The rexes were communicating, to this they were positive.

  Still on a southeast heading to find the massive river that flowed so close to their home in Wheel 7, they pressed onward. Knowing each day took them further away from home, and even riding on what they now affectionately called ‘their kids’, they feared going due east. Raptor land was something to stay away from. The raptors came in many sizes and species, all had been known to take down full sized dinosaurs in packs of as many as ten and they refused to risk the kids. So southeast it was staying all the way close to, or in the safety of the swamps.

  They had hoped to find a river in grasslands that flowed eastward into the main river that nearly four centuries ago a drone had found…just before the drone mysteriously vanished. It was assumed that some flier had thought it to be prey and had taken it down. Before it went black, they had mapped their river south and had found a large tributary, the one that Sky sought now.

  Finally out of the massive swamps and almost six months from the crash, they burst out into a beautiful Pampas-like plain as far as the eye could see. Dotted here and there with much smaller trees that dotted the landscape, and herds of various sized dinosaurs peacefully grazing on the lush greenery. There was a high sloping rise to the south and Sky hoped that she would find the river just beyond that, but as the kids topped the rise they froze…and so did the humans.

  Dar stood in his saddle and peered around Dash’s neck, his jaw dropped.

  “Myyyy…Goooodddd!!!! Sky? Is…is…”

  Sky leaned slightly forward so she could see better “Oh God…”

  Chapter 7.

  Before them were miles of grasslands that unlike where they had been traveling, had high rolling hills and much lower ground between. Some rocky outcroppings burst forth from the green grassy plains and scattered among the serene setting lay what once was what appeared to be another wheel far to the south. However, unlike their Wheel 7, this was old, broken in many sections and overgrown, as if it had landed and broken apart during landing due to the uneven terrain. Gaping holes had been blasted through the hull and what looked to be the center command section was lying on its side rusting. Instantly the two knew this wheel had come down hard and most likely too fast and now covered in vines with no signs of life.

  Both the pilots knew there were other wheels bu
t other than their own this was the first they’d seen. Sky scanned the distant wreck and the couple of miles between them and it. It looked to be clear once they left the grove of trees that they had been watching from.

  “We have to check it out Dar.”

  “I know…think anyone still lives there?” he asked tenuously.

  Sky snorted “Yeah, right! After nearly four hundred years, I’d guess most had moved on, assuming anyone did survive.” she kept scanning “We’ll head on down to that dense forest that edges the prairie. We’ll leave the kids there and check things out.” she laughed “If by some chance there were survivors, I think the kids would scare the crap out of them.”

  “Yeah, and they know our whistle calls and hand signals. We can call for reinforcements if need be.” Over the time they had been with the babies, they noticed they would watch their motions and a few times even went in the direction Dar was moving his hand; that began their training. At first it was just a few simple directions, but after realizing that the rexes had their own set of signals using their tails, head movements and even their arms, the two taught the fast growing rexes more complex signals. Hunt, stay, come, faster, slower, were just a few and they learned so quickly it amazed the humans. One day Sky decided to start motioning signals like crouch, quiet, and of course fetch, which was Dar’s way of playing with them…until one brought back a giant log that nearly crushed him and he realized that the small sticks he had been throwing were too difficult for the rex to grasp in the high grass, or find in the water. After nearly killing Dar, Dash seemed to realize that bigger ‘sticks’ weren’t the answer either.

  Now the size of a regular rex, the still growing siblings lowered the pilots onto the grassy plains just before a wide strip of dense brush and trees. Using the kids to push a way through the forest, Sky signaled for them to stay as she and Dar eased their way through the last mass of foliage.