Chapter 1
Space - October 6th 2069 A.D.
Captain Ethan Woods - Final log entry before Nasa Science Research Vessel Chomsky conducts Dark Space Drive engine test. Our three scientists' social and motor neuron skills don't seem to be their strong points. I can only conclude, though they've barely learned to shave, they must be geniuses to be given even a low budget project like this. Otherwise ship and crew ready, eager and waiting.
*
It had been Chak Chak's turn to patrol the razor peaked highland perimeter of Attillas valley, to scent mark against any intruder who might dare to trespass. It was early evening now and on his return he’d come to realize his family had disappeared mysteriously. None had returned his bellowing territorial calls even as he’d reached the low lands again. His mother Ophira, matriarch of the valley, along with his aunts were nowhere to be found. Standing on the crest of a small ridge Chak Chak swung his great head, gazing into the distance, up and then down the broad sweeping valley. He was more or less of age now but, where ever his family had gone, he hoped they would return soon - before the rival clans sensed a change in the rhythm in the air.
He stood, overlooking the shadowed patchwork of bright and deep greens of Attillas valley. He was bathed in the red light of the copper sun as it sank with the speed of dripping honey, beyond the Black Mountain smoker. The whole valley had fallen silent. Evening was never this still. Even the blood sucking insects were no longer buzzing. Birds had disappeared from evening's red domed sky. The silence hung in the valley like a thick heavy mist. A thought began creeping into the back of his mind: He could sense what was coming. The memory of a dream from infancy began returning: The green mountain ridged valley would rain red, the broad leaves would be splattered with dripping blood. A sudden acrid taste came into his mouth.
The big matriarchal sisters were never to be crossed. Especially in this clan: The Ophira clan. She was the largest T-Rex in the region but also one of the most intelligent and kept tight order with those who survived into adulthood. And yet, mysteriously, she and the rest had just left him. Never did Ophira do things on a whim. This was not like her to just vanish.
A pulsating star had appeared in the northern sky where he hadn't seen one before. It shimmered enough to be seen even before the evening sun had set. Snout skyward, he sniffed it but it gave no scent. He wondered if it was a threat.
Chak Chak eased off the ridge placing his taloned muscular foot carefully to avoid slipping. Instinctively his broad padded feet became more stealthy as he began the hunt for clues. He had to find them and not be found out himself. He hadn't eaten for three days but what was worse, he couldn't find any tracking markers, no fresh footprints, no territorial calls. This had never happened before. This couldn't happen in the nature of things as he understood them. It was only a matter of time before the rival clans came across un-renewed scent markers rather than fresh and pungent ones and would make a move for Ophira’s valley.
The clan had controlled their sweeping long valley further back than he could remember: Three generations at least. The great matriarchal aunts had held on to this valley after all other coastal Tyrannosaurs had fallen to the Blood Knife by weight of numbers. Three hundred years after a blood stained war and the raiding Blood Knife clan from a great southern land had been held at bay. They'd finally accepted an uneasy truce at the delta after they realized they'd lost too many of their raiders into the valley from the delta. Now as an adult member it was his turn to make a border patrol as he took on his responsibilities.
Something was out of place and this troubled him. The security of the clan was still a need in him. His sensitive sense of smell was working despite the new odor in the air. Not even that could hide older scents from him. He made a quick pumping high pitched snort only to gently draw air into his arching snout as he lifted his thick head sky wards. Again nothing. No reassuring scent. Only the odor of burnt wood but of a variety he couldn't place. Something the breeze carried from a far distance. It was the on set of summer but a chill was forming around his thighs and tail. He looked down his snout, making himself almost cross eyed, and noticed trails of steam from his nostrils as he breathed out, like the vapors from the hot springs of the Black Mountain two days up stream.
He padded silently, despite his muscular bulk, onto more even ground; into the ferns and amongst giant trees. Patches of light were still breaking into the valley floor. He flushed his skin green with black vertical stripes starting from his hips flowing down his tail and up his head for camouflage. Caution, he found, was always best. Despite his size and natural weapons, it had allowed him to reach early adulthood where all others of his brood had been picked off.
He found himself joining the solemn silence of the forest and haunched down in the ferns, half closing his eyes. Maybe he felt the depth of the silence and didn't want to challenge it; or maybe he just felt alone. The new star at least would keep him company tonight.
One more thing he may, or may not, have noticed through the broken gaps in the tree tops: The pulsating star, now above the western horizon, began blazing like the flapping wings of a fiery bird.
***
Chak Chak snored from the back of his throat. Images came and went surrounded by a patchwork of dark greens and reds. Chak Chak had never known such sleep as he sat hunched sitting in a bed of green ferns. He began to sense the bulk of his head ease into the fern bed. The leaves tickled his nose making him jerk back up slightly. A conversation started in his mind as he enjoyed his slumber. For the first time in his life he was totally asleep. No one slept deeply in his world. And he broke the first rule ever taught him. Never sleep. A slight spasm went through his spine as he shuddered for a moment from the dawn chill. His eyes almost closed, blinked on and off as his snout pressed into the moss and earth hidden under the fern canopy. The deep sleep he was forbidden held him. His idle thoughts began to realize his body temperature was lower than usual but this felt so good. A snap sound reached his ears and he began half dreaming of broken twigs. Though his eyes were almost half open, blinkerd on and off, images of his stern mother staring at him made his childhood memories come back. A sense of alarm made his eyes stop blinking and yet stayed half closed and drowsy. His mother's image stopped all idle thoughts. He heard another more muffled snap. His mind zoomed through the tunnel of images and became aware of the distant drowsy vision seeing only a sea of green fern surrounding islands of giant Redwood trees. A scent was in the air. Close. Raptor scent.
He took a silent whiff, still sitting hunched down in the fern bed, his snout brushing the top of the leaves. The air was barely moving this morning. From the direction of the soft breeze he sensed four or five. Six? No. More. The slow air current changed. Chak Chak whiffed even slower to increase the sensitivity of his smell. Nine. No. Even more. Ten or twelve Raptors.
A blurred image entered his thoughts. They were silent but the tiny grains of talc powder from their preening feathers revealed their presence. From what he would sense they'd formed an arcing crescent around him, except straight in front avoiding his head and thick re-curved teeth. He had to wait. He was, despite the shelter of the forest, sluggish in this early morning chill. It didn't help that he had to climb back out of a deeper sleep level. A level, the big alpha female, his mother, had warned never to enter. And there were no clan members to watch his back here.
If he stayed still they might be less guarded or cautious in their attack. They might make the mistake of seeing his deep stupor as weakness. He kept his eyes half closed and still with a vacant stare. A crested raptor bobbed its head up. The green blue iridescence visible even in the early morning dim light. Several other heads bobbed up out of the fern canopy. They clicked and whistled to each other in whispers.
They had come to eat him: A big easy breakfast. He'd made the mistake of deep sleep and now he was paying the price with these upstart nomads marching into his clan's territory. They must be from beyond the great delta and the Black Mountain smoker.
*
Three raptors came forward. Necks outstretched, they sniffed him along his flanks up to his neck. The one furthest up near Chak Chak’s neck was giving pointless instructions to the other two. This was not lost on Tik Tik the alpha male Raptor whose eyes now narrowed. Something he would have to deal with after they'd brought this monster down. The upstart raptor began bickering to the others. Tik Tik’s patience had been tested all these weeks as he considered this the stupidest group he'd ever assembled. A few had more nerve and a lot of pretensions, but none sufficient brains. Rather than shriek out a warning he chose to watch with a raised brow ridge and quiet serenity when Chak Chak swung his head round at medium speed and grabbed hold of it from the back and neck. Its mouth full of needle sharp teeth, hands and feet thrashed the air as the cage of Chak Chak's jaws and teeth held it firm. Tik Tik saw a look of wide eyed terror came onto the raptor. The Rex’s teeth held tight on the upstart and Tik Tik could see what was finally dawning on its face: A realization it couldn't lash any part of the T-Rex's mouth or face. Everyone could see the meat cleaver teeth press down with a firmer, more uncomfortable, clench. The raptor felt a huge wet tongue on its back even as air bellowed in and out over it, through the stout long teeth. The others startled for a moment backed off a few paces.
*
Chak Chak lifted himself up slowly, hoisting his thick head. The captive tried to squirm free making a running movement. Chak Chak held it secure and swung around to survey their formation. They adjusted the crescent flocking to avoid his front, scurrying to match his movements. Chak Chak was still sluggish from the morning cold as though he were moving in slow motion but made sure he had their attention. He looked at the alpha male square on. He pressed his teeth together and heard the raptor screech then explode with blood. The warm liquid flowed over his tongue. It reminded him he hadn't eaten for a few days. His head jerked up chomping down and swallowing the raptor whole. A red smear of warm blood over his mouth appeared like a smile.
The other raptors snapped back out of shock. They hadn't eaten in days and he was so big. A month's worth of meat. Their hunger drove them forward. He was still slow. And they were many.
The same thought occurred to Chak Chak: These raptors were hungry. And many. Chak Chak was hungry also. He felt the swallowed raptor's muscles dissolve in his highly acidic stomach. It became a part of him as it was absorbed into his blood. He hadn't eaten for days so his digestive juices made short work of it. His blood pumped through his system loaded with nutrients but he wanted to reserve energy as much as he could. Each one would be a mouthful but there were enough to satisfy him.
His skin went from a green defensive to the aggressive red body, black snout with black stripes down the side of his thighs and thick tail. He realized what he'd done and pulled back against his instincts, forcing himself to cascade back to a green defensive scheme. His first step was not to spook them. He had to look vulnerable and uncertain. Or else he'd never catch them in full sprint the way they could dart about. They didn't run. Good. Not often breakfast comes visiting you, he thought.
He knew they would go for his back and flanks, trying to shred open his belly or throat. Their trouble was they were too hungry to think or see the obvious. He had to use that against them in some ways. He turned slowly offering his back. Three sprang forward ready to climb up his thighs with their sickle shaped feet hooks only to meet his muscular tail, battering two with broken ribs and thigh bones; the third ducked but Chak Chak's taloned broad foot unintentionally pinned down its feathered tail at the base. He looked down and pressed sharply, snapping the tail and part of the pelvic bone. Four more scurried and clawed up his thighs hacking away at the thick hide on his back. Another leaped for his throat. He felt the sharp needles of it's teeth and hooked claws begin to cut deep enough to draw blood. Chak Chak's hands preened off the raptor by impaling his own hand claw in its mouth. He squinted and growled pulling it away as the Raptor's hooked feet claws tugged and pulled out his hide cutting him more. It tried to go to work on his hands and arms but Chak Chak rammed his own clawed hand down its throat further till the jaw bone dislocated and cracked. His other clawed hand scraped open the raptors delicate yellow eyeball, as clear liquid and lens fragments burst out of its, now blackened, eye socket. Chak Chak felt the four raptors on his back were making good work on his hide with their claws. The raptors were too preoccupied to notice anything but his bloodied hide as Chak Chak made a dash for the nearest broad redwood, crashing his back into it. All four fell with broken feathers flying off, ruptured innards and bone fracturing.
He turned and looked at what was left of their number. The three remaining looked at each other having lost most of their troop.
The alpha male began to consider this a mistake. This breakfast was killing them. He screeched off disappearing under the fern canopy with his two remaining lackeys; saving his followers while he still had followers to follow him. After all, if this hunger continued he could always eat them instead.
This much was certain, all three had a good prospect of starving to death. Unless a rival raptor gang polished them off beforehand.
Chak Chak looked on as the moving fern stems and rustle disappeared into the distance. He was blooded but nothing serious. He noticed dazed squawk sounds. Most of the raptors were still alive. Nice warm bodies. Some of them did see their leader bolt off. It was his idea to take on this T-Rex. Few creatures had little time for regret. Each one would have one last look at the morning light breaking through the forest canopy then Chak Chak's teeth closing down on them.
Chapter 2
"Watch it, watch it, here it comes again, eight o’clock!" Keith yelled over the rumbling as he peered out of the port side window behind the captain. He jerked his head forward. "It has to be about three or four hundred yards diameter. Is this supposed to happen? Has that thing been dragged in the wormhole with us by mistake?"
"Get back and keep an eye on it!” Ethan yelled back. “The scanners are all scrambled.” He grit his teeth, pulling on the joystick. The fireball jolted him in his seat, along with the cockpit crew, as the fireball slammed into them. “Damn this computer, it’s like steering in quicksand.” Ethan took a deep breath trying to stay focused. He gave his co-pilot a quick glance. “Taylor! Never mind auto-control. The computer’s over compensating. It’s making things worse. On my mark, switch over to full manual over ride.”
“I’m on it.” Taylor flicked her fiery red hair back and grabbed the auto-control lever.
Ethan gripped the wheel of his joystick, pumping his fingers to get a firm grip. He felt his stomach tighten. His eyes met Taylor’s. “Three...two...one. Now!” Ethan shouted and Taylor rammed down the lever. Ethan braced himself as the ship bucked like a mule as they veered towards the fireball again. In the distance he saw another forked lightening tumbling down the worm hole towards the ship.
The vessel shuddered and rolled over as the pilots tried to regain control, passing within yards of the fireball racing along side. Sweat ran down Ethan’s brow. He began to feel the ship come under control. The lightening ribbons danced closer and he spotted a gap. “Keith, strap yourself in, now!" Ethan bit his lower lip and pulled the joystick into his stomach. Keith fell into his seat and scrambled to buckle in. The ship dropped like a roller coaster as Ethan thrust the joystick forward. He heard screams from the test bay area as he weaved the ship through the lightening storm. Ethan steadied the ship as they came through. “Navigator, how far till we reach the Oort Cloud. I don’t want us slamming into any asteroid this far out. None of the instruments are clear enough for me to register what's coming up."
Phil rubbed his bruised head, staring at his screen. He brushed his floppy comb-over back. "Captain I couldn't give an exact fix of our current position. Last known vector was Polaris. We're not on the Plane of the Ecliptic so chances of running through a stray body are small but not impossible. Skipper, I can't tell how far we've come. But we may well slam into the Oort Cloud for all we know."
Ethan push the lever over as they half rolled to avoid another collision with the fireball as it now raced in front of them. His face glistened with sweat.
Keith leaned forward to back him up. "Skipper, if we try to take the main drive off line suddenly- We've been warned not to slip the Main Drive's Dark Space traction from critical to a sudden flat line." Keith inched closer to the captain. "At this rate the hull may break apart before we even hit a solid body. Recommend we shut down - Fast."
The captain looked forward, knotting his brow. Ethan leaned forward and grabbed the main drive's thrust lever. Taylor saw what Ethan was about to do and gripped her joystick control all the harder. Her eyes scanned the distance as a new electrical display began dancing towards them. Ethan manually pulled the lever back and down, from critical to zero.
The ship kept thrusting forward, ever faster as the lightening storm lit up the cockpit and crew in blue light.
The Scientists and engineers in the test bay around the engine core were watching what the captain had done from their monitor read outs. Ethan looked back out of his seat to Keith. "Shut that engine off. Even if they have to rip it out,” he growled.
Flight engineer Keith turned back looking down the stairs, whistling to the engineers and scientists.
"Kill it!” said Keith. “Take the mains off line before this ship tears itself apart.” He shot back forward to observe his instrument panel displaying more static.
At the lower level test bay area the scientists were holding on to their panels and seats.
A ribbon of blue lightning was picking its way towards them down the wormhole as Ethan pushed forward the control stick avoiding the whip cracking lighting bolt. Although he was handling the ship like a fighter pilot, he knew this renovated cargo vessel was not designed for that. Sooner or later their luck would run out, thought Ethan.
The Fireball was about to veer towards them then leaned off again and hit a lighting ribbon then fell through the wormhole wall. The Ethan and Taylor looked to each other then looked forward to avoiding the lightning bolts.
The lanky Doctor Mojzsis sat next to his fellow scientists, designers of the Dark Space Drive, pulled back a control stick levering down the fuel pod control. The Chomsky was still shaking and swaying about. Doctor Mojzsis turned to the two scientist. "Ellis, Vikkram, the fuel pods are zero. They aren't dampening the reaction. We can't take much more of this."
Doctor Ellis turned to Doctor Vikkram "It's not powering down. There's got to be some reason why the simulations didn't predict this. The computer should have made a fail safe emergency shut down by now."
Doctor Vikkram, half guessing tried to sound confident "The fuel intake pods are ionized before they're injected in the Core via the manifolds. If we reverse polarity instead of just observing protocol shut down?"
Doctor Ellis looked at Doctor Mojzsis. Moz, as he was known, shouted over the shuddering hull noise. "Do it."
Ellis unlocked the manual levers for ionization and pushed in opposite directions. "Moz, bring the fuel pods back into play. Don't wait for me. I'll balance reverse ionization by hand." His hands shook from the ship’s vibrating but switched over the flow of particles by sight. The display monitor showed the two particle lines on a graph flip in reverse then back past each other then get closer till they flat lined together as one thick zero of a dead heart beat.
The ship's hull sounded like an iron bath tub slammed with an explosive hammer. The wormhole vanished and replaced by still, sedate, stars. The concussion left most of the crew stunned as they all jolted forward in their seats.
Ethan held his face in his hands. He looked through his fingers at the wide star field beyond the cockpit window and smiled to himself; even as he ran his fingers through his hair his eyes traced the various rivers of diamonds strewn across a black velvet cloth. Taylor Rooney leaned forward and threw up on her lap. Her red hair had come loose out of her french pleat and hid her face. The motion sickness was too much for her inner ear to tolerate. Or maybe it was just relief. Ethan looked at her. "You better get to your cabin and clean up. We won’t be needing you for a while till we find out what went wrong." Taylor nodded in reply. "Get some sleep if you can. According to the ship’s chronometer we must have been in that wormhole or whatever it was for over an hour."
She put a hand over her mouth and slid off the straps. "I'll be in my cabin if you need me." She slid past the cockpit crew and avoided any gaze as she stepped down the metal stairs to the test bed area and made for the exit leading to her cabin.
Aside from the exhaustion and vomit the captain noticed an odor. He un-strapped and walked to the stairs leading to the lower level of the experimental test bed they called their ship. The odor of urine coming from the lower deck. He shook his head and smiled. Ethan looked down the cockpit again and put his hand on the navigator Phil's shoulder. "Try and get a fix on our position." He turned to the Flight Engineer Keith who was sitting running his fingers through his sandy hair. He slipped off his head mic dropping it onto his lap and looked up at Ethan. "Keith, I know you're tired but make sure life support is intact and we have nominal control in "normal" space. I'll be back in a few minutes to help."
How comforting that sounded to Ethan. Right now if they had to crawl home in normal space that would be fine by him, he thought to himself. He stepped down to the Chief Engineer and Scientists. "Gentlemen, I suggest you find out why this happened before we do that again. I can't allow this ship to be damaged further. We are far too much in the dark to go through that hell ride. And there won't be anyone who can help us this far out. We may well have passed the Oort Cloud or we may not." Doctor Ellis was about to speak but Ethan held up a hand. "Please, Doctor." He pressed on. "But let's not guess any more. The computer simulations were off. Way off. The Dark Space Drive did "work" so someone's theory was proved at last. Yes, something did happen. I'd just rather it didn't happen that way again. Now, if you don't mind, I need to go to my quarters to throw up in peace for a while."
The flight surgeon Carol Logan entered the test area from the corridor. "I just past Taylor. She says you might have some injuries here."
"A couple of concussions I think. The physics doctors are trying to help but don't have any medical training," said Ethan.
"Ethan, you look like hell. You better go to your cabin and I'll see you there." Dr Logan brushed past the captain, medic bag in hand, and tended to the two fallen scientists.
Ethan walked out of the test bay area somewhat groggy of foot. He held onto the passage way with one hand till the door slid open to his cabin. Almost there, he thought. He confronted himself in the mirror above the stainless steel sink and smiled. The churning in his stomach felt enjoyable for a moment till he doubled over and threw up in the sink bowl. His eyes watered up. In the mirror he saw himself blurred through a pool of tears. He looked up closing his eyes. The tears traced themselves down his temple to the angle of his jaw. There wasn't enough artificial gravity to drop immediately but enough for a large drop to form at his jaw line. Another gush of vomit erupted from his innards into the sink bowl. He felt he'd done a good enough job not to let any of the team see him in this state. He smiled and walked over to his desk. He grabbed the desk and keeled over back onto his bunk and fainted.
***
Phil looked at his rebooted navigation panel again. He swiveled his seat around to look at the back of Keith’s head. Keith was making initial assessment of his systems engineering read outs then turned to look down the cockpit to get up.
"Keith, I'm not sure what's going on here but we're supposed to be in Normal Space."
Keith stopped and held onto the arms of his chair. "What do you mean?" He dismissed Phil's concern. "Check it again. Phil I'm really too busy; I need to do a manual check of the hull."
"Keith, I've checked it five times. Stellar cartography is off. Even accounting for our co-ordinates in the solar system. The star fields are different" said Phil.
"We couldn’t have pass the Oort Cloud? Sweet Jesus, we are way too far out for this glitch to happen here. But the sun is still in view It's still the dominant star at least. "
"No, no we may not have made it that far out. The ship's Chronometer says we've been traveling ninety minutes while the main Dark Space Drive went critical. It reads 2069. As we'd expect. Keith - There's been a - been a change. A change in... time. Or space. I think."
"Don't tell me there's been some kind of time dilation? I thought this experimental Dark Space Drive system was supposed to avoid that. You'd better get some of the professors up hear. This is their ball park." Keith looked down the cockpit to the test bay area without taking his hand of the navigator's head rest. He saw the nearest test team member. "Doctor Ellis. Would you join us up here if you have a moment? We weren't going fast enough for that, surely." Keith leaned forward to view Phil's instrument panel. Phil leaned his head away from Keith. Aside from the cockpit still smelling of Rooney's sickly sweet vomit hanging in the air, Keith was heavily covered in dried up sweat. Just as Phil was. "How far have we gone into the future then? If you've made the correct calculations." Keith said this without trying or meaning to sound condescending. Even if it may have come out that way. "Days? Weeks?" Keith asked. He was trying to keep his mind active before his body let go from exhaustion.
"We may not have gone a week into the future. We could be in another location. Perhaps."
"What? Another star system?" said Keith, gripping the head rest harder.
"According to these readings...if the computer's designated the correct Guide Stars and Clusters... judging from the star fields current positions, adjusting for the constellations unusual groupings we're...We better get the skipper."
"Phil, I'm really tired. We're what?" Keith snapped.
"The navigations are messed up and I don't believe the figures for a second, but"
"But?"
"We're seventy million years in the past."
*********
Chak Chak and the Valley of Blood Copyright ©Art Epstein 2011
http://www.amazon.com/Chak-Valley-Blood-ebook/dp/B005TKAWUY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321275523&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Chak-Valley-Blood-ebook/dp/B005TKAWUY/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1321275675&sr=1-1
