'Watch,' said Rick. 'See them skimming just above the water? Watch what they do. See that? One just caught a fish.'
'That's so neat!' said Con with excitement. 'It scooped it up without missing a wingbeat.' There was no place to land, so Joe simply circled the island slowly. Occasionally they were able to follow a pterosaur as it flew, sometimes approaching within a few yards of the animal.
'They look like giant hairy birds or something out of a medieval bestiary,' said Con. They soared among the pterosaurs for almost an hour before Con asked if they could see how far the sea ex-tended. Joe flew away from the pterosaurs, then put the plane into a steep climb. As their altitude increased, their view of the world became more expansive. The moun-tains of the western coast and the narrow, river-cut coastal plain could be seen clearly. 'Shall I just follow the coastline?' asked Joe.
'It's up to you, Con,' said Rick.
'That sounds good.'
The view from such a high altitude, while impressive, soon became monotonous. Con found her mind wander-ing. 'I found something strange in my room last night.'
'What was that?' asked Rick.
'Some luminous symbols on the wall. They had been covered over with plaster.' Joe turned quickly around, paused for a moment, then said casually, 'Oh that's just one of Eduardo's things.'
'Who?' said Con.
'He was the decorator, before he got canned. Wanted everything to look high-tech. You know, sort of a
'time travel motif.' It looked god-awful.'
'You mean that thing is just a decoration?' asked Con.
'Yep. An expensive one, too. Mr. Green had me plaster it over when he went for the rustic look.'
'Oh,' said Con.
A few minutes later, Joe brought up the subject again. 'I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention my lousy plas-tering job. Especially to Mr. Green.'
'Sure,' said Con. 'In fact, I'll cover it with a leaf from one of those short, fat palm trees. I like the rustic look, too.'
'Thanks,' said Joe.
Rick sensed Con's waning interest in sight-seeing and suggested that they head back. 'Tomorrow, if you like, we can see some dinosaurs.'
'That would be great.'
The trip back was uneventful. The late hours of the previous night before caught up with Con, and she dozed off. Rick was feeling tired, too, but nagging questions kept him awake. Something was going on. It bothered him he didn't know what it was.
12
WHEN THEY LANDED BACK ON THE ISLAND, CON WANTED
to take the ammonite shell back to camp. Joe said he could make a litter to carry it more easily. He grabbed a gun and adjusted the settings, saying, 'I'll cut some poles and rig up the litter while you two go back to camp to recruit some litter bearers.'
Rick and Con headed back to camp. Once they were out of Joe's hearing, Rick said, 'I'd like to see that decoration you found.'
'It's no decoration,' replied Con matter-of-factly.
'Why do you say that?'
'There was the same pattern on the control panel of the plane.'
