Cretaceous Sea

Following in the rear, Joe found himself stumbling in the darkness. 'Damn!' he cursed, as he tripped over something. 'We should've brought a second flashlight.'

'We'll get the drill down eventually,' said Rick.

'Yeah, about the time the batteries go dead,' said Joe.

'By the time that happens,' said Rick, 'some of the dust will have settled and we'll be able to tell day from night.'

'What I want to know is how that damned dinosaur of yours finds its way in the dark,' said Joe. 'I swear it was watching us.'

'I only assumed it was a nightstalker,' said Rick. 'I don't know for sure.'

'With a name like that,' said Joe, 'isn't it likely?'

'If it's a Noctecorreptus, the answer's simple,' replied Rick. 'It hunts mammals, and the mammals of this period are nocturnal. It has huge eyes and well-developed olfactory lobes.'

'So what it can't see, it can smell?' asked Con.

'That's about it,' said Rick.

'Oh God!' Con said in a shaky voice. She imagined the nightstalker watching her as she bathed, trying to decide if she was edible.

Rick sensed her concern. 'They eat rat-sized prey. That's what I found in the stomach of the one I shot. They're prob-ably scavengers, too. Most small carnivores are. That ex-plains why one might have stolen our meat.'

Con was calmed by Rick's answer, but not completely. Who knows what an animal will do when driven by hunger? She reflected that, on this matter, she might be more expert than Rick. She was very aware of how powerful hunger could be.

When they reached the fire, they retrieved a second flash-light from a duffel bag. With it, the return trip was quick. They entered the plane and spread the damp contents of their bags on the floor to serve as bedding. It was still hot and close in the plane, but it was safe. Very soon, everyone fell into the dreamless sleep of the exhausted.

AN EMPTY STOMACH woke Con. It was dark, but day and night were meaningless distinctions. Mingled with the odor of mud and sweaty bodies was the smell of charred meat. Her mouth watered at the thought of it, but she would not permit herself a single bite before Rick and Joe ate, too. Instead, she groped for a water bottle and had a drink. The bottle was nearly empty. Before long, they would have to refill it at the river. Hopefully, they would need to do it only once.

Lying in the dark, Con imagined what their new home would be like. She assumed they would be able to reach the eastern seaboard in the dark. Rick had told her the Appalachian Mountains would be as tall as the Rockies. She pictured a seaside forest with towering mountains in the background. The dinosaurs would be gone, but along with fish, reptiles, and birds there would be small mam-mals to eat. Perhaps she could catch some to raise as livestock.

Facing the fire and its aftermath with Rick and Joe had made it possible -for her to envision a life with them. Their bonds had strengthened and, with them, her hope that things would work out among them. She wasn't ex-actly sure what form their arrangement would take, but she was less worried about it. Con sensed that both Joe and Rick cared for her, but in different ways. She cared for them, too, enough even to deny her hunger.

RICK WOKE NEXT. Feeling for the water bottle, he touched an arm, and heard Con whisper, 'Is that Rick or Joe?'

'Rick,' he whispered back. 'Have you been awake long?'

'It's hard to tell, I can't see a thing.'

'The next few days will be the worst of it. Every-thing's up there—debris from the impact, soot from the fire, and rain clouds, too.'

'Rain,' said Con wistfully. 'What a lovely idea.'

'It'll pour soon as it cools a bit. A lot of water was evaporated during the impact and afterward by the heat.'

'I'll take it all. I could use a shower.' Con sniffed. 'You could too.' Rick gasped in mock indignation. 'What a personal remark!'

'More a scientific observation.'