Dinosaur Blackout (9 page)

Suddenly, the
Zapsalis
abandoned their meal. The next thing Daniel knew, they were bounding across the clearing towards them. With the
Pteranadon
above them, and the
Zapsalis
almost on them, they were trapped.

“Time to leave!” Daniel yelled.

Dr. Roost and Mr. Pederson nodded frantically. The
Zapsalis
were only a few metres away, so close they could see their fierce eyes, gleaming with anticipation of their first delicious human meal.

“Everyone hang on!” Daniel felt the leaf clutched in his hand. He made sure Mildred Roost and Pederson were touching him.

Just as the
Zapsalis
sprang, he dropped the leaf.

Chapter Seven

D
aniel saw a split second of darkness,
heard a sharp whizzing sound and then he was once more looking at the rolling hills of the familiar pasture. Beside him, Pederson stood speechless. Mildred Roost shook herself and moved to Pederson’s side.

“You okay, Ole?” She stroked his arm.

Pederson spoke like a person under some kind of magic spell. “I’ll never forget this as long as I live!”

“I’m sure you won’t,” Dr. Roost said.

He blinked and seemed to see them more clearly. “We’re going to have to give some serious thought about what to take when we go back.”

“I don’t know that I want to go back,” declared Dr. Roost. “That might just have been enough for me. I’d forgotten how many dangerous creatures there were about.”

Daniel agreed. “That was a little too close for comfort!”

“I think we were slightly off the mark in our calculations too,” suggested Dr. Roost.

“Not by much. I think we should have launched about twenty metres to the east,” Daniel said. “But it was just bad luck to run into the
Zapsalis
. They could have been anywhere.”

Pederson was totally focused now. “We’ll just have to make a few adjustments before we go again.”

Daniel and Dr. Roost looked at one another with fear in their eyes. Daniel really wasn’t keen on going back. And then he remembered something important.

“I don’t have the leaf anymore,” he admitted, not looking at either of them. He crossed his fingers behind his back. “We can’t go back.” He didn’t want to tell them about the tiny branch, hoping the first trip had been enough of an adventure for Mr. Pederson.

He noticed Dr. Roost let out a breath of relief.

Ole Pederson stared at Daniel in disbelief. “How could we all have forgotten that important detail?”

Daniel shuffled uneasily, watching Pederson to see how he was taking the news. Although he had a look of dismay, he didn’t seem extremely perturbed.

“That’s what comes of rushing, I guess,” said Dr. Roost. “I can’t deny that I’m relieved.”

“You really wouldn’t go again if you had the chance?” Pederson asked.

“I’m not saying that exactly, but I’d make sure we had plans for being a little safer.” Dr. Roost glared at Pederson. “I told you we needed more time to prepare!”

“How about you, Daniel?”

“This research is important, but maybe not worth it if we lose our lives,” he admitted.

“So you have nothing else in your bag of tricks to take us back again?” Pederson asked.

Daniel tried to look innocent. Keeping his crossed fingers behind his back, he shook his head “no.”

“Too bad.” Pederson grimaced, but his eyes didn’t show any distress. “So tell me, can anyone bring back something from the past to make it work?”

Daniel and Dr. Roost looked suspiciously at Pederson, but he kept his face absent of emotion, as if it was just something he was curious about.

“I suppose it would work for anyone,” Daniel said reluctantly. He could feel butterflies flipping in his stomach. “Why?”

Pederson tilted his head, and with a little smile admitted, “I may just have a little something we could use.”

“Ole, you don’t.” Dr. Roost seemed agitated about the prospect.

“Yes, I do. I picked up some vegetation along the way. I’ve got it in my backpack.” Pederson slid the pack off his shoulder and patted it.

“Leave it there!” said Daniel, stepping away from him. “The moment you touch it, you’ll be flung into the past.”

“That’s what I figured,” said Pederson. “So Mildred, will you go with me again?”

She hesitated. “Only if we take time to really prepare for our safety,” she admonished.

“I’m in, if you two are!” Daniel declared, not wanting to leave them on their own.

“No, you’re not,” Mr. Pederson and Dr. Roost said in unison.

“We’re perfectly capable of going on our own!” Pederson said. “And I have the means to do it.”

“But I know the terrain better than either of you,” Daniel protested.

“Maybe, but we’ll manage.” With a mischievous grin, Pederson said, “We outwitted
you
this time, lad!”

“You definitely aren’t going, and that’s final.” Dr. Roost waved a finger at Daniel.

Daniel groaned and shook his head at his two conniving companions. But he let them think they had outsmarted him, although he still had some ideas up his sleeve.

“Well, let me at least help you make your arrangements,” he said.

“That would be appreciated and welcomed,” Pederson said.

“How about we go back to the farm and see what’s going on,” Dr. Roost suggested. “I could use a break.”

The other two agreed. Pederson dropped them back off in the yard. Daniel saw the rest of his family in the garden and planned to head that way. Then he noticed Dr. Roost lean back into Pederson’s truck and heard her offer to drive him to an appointment with his doctor the next day. So there was something wrong with him after all.

Maybe Pederson shouldn’t be going into the past. He should speak to Dr. Roost, but she had already gone into the back of her little camper truck and shut the door firmly. Pederson waved at Daniel and zoomed back out of the yard.

Daniel joined his family picking pumpkins and other squash in the garden. As he worked, he considered ways of making it safer to travel in prehistoric time. He tried to think of substances that would immobilize large dinosaurs. He’d recently read about an alligator in the United States being doped with the dental anaesthetic halothene so researchers could study its digestive system. Would something like that work? He had no idea where they could get it, or how much they would need.

Another problem would be applying it. Could they use a spraying system like those used for ridding an area of mosquitoes? What would the drift factor be like? Maybe they could wear some kind of oxygen masks.

This was getting more complicated by the minute. Even if they could get all the equipment, they certainly wouldn’t want to be hauling heavy gear around. Daniel tucked the ideas into the back of his mind until he could check out some information on the Internet.

Once they finished harvesting the pumpkins and squash, they all turned to cleanup of the vines. When the family was almost done the garden work, the topic of the Nelwins came up.

“I sure hope nothing serious has happened to the boys,” said Mom.

“Maybe we’ll take another run over after supper.” Dad turned to Daniel.

“Yes, I know,” Daniel said before his dad could speak. “Take care of Cheryl.”

Mom laughed. “I guess we do tell you that a lot.”

~

D
r. Roost never emerged from her truck camper
the rest of the afternoon, so Daniel didn’t have a chance to speak with her about his theories or about Mr. Pederson. He did some research on his computer and came up with several other possibilities for halting attacks from various dinosaurs. If they couldn’t get any halothene, maybe they could find some liquid nitrogen to cool the body and slow activity down. Maybe Dr. Roost had some pull somewhere to get some.

But he didn’t know how much of either of these chemicals would be needed for such huge, agile creatures, or how quickly they would take effect. He didn’t want to kill the creatures, just subdue them so they could study them a little in safety. He had a sudden thought. What about laser lights? Although they could cause blindness, maybe they would work as a temporary measure to slow down a dinosaur. He was still thinking this all through when he headed to the barn to do chores.

Dad noticed his distraction and set him to work milking the cows, while he fed the other livestock and chickens. Together they finished cleaning the stalls. When Dad left to get a hammer from the tool shop to fix something in the kitchen, Daniel headed directly to the house with the milk pails. Mom wanted whole milk tonight for special bread dough, so he didn’t need to do any separating.

After supper, Daniel offered to do the dishes so his parents could check on the Nelwins right away. He finished quickly as Cheryl chattered to him from her high chair, then swept his sister off for her bath.

While she splashed and got him wet, part of his mind was on what might be happening at the Nelwins. He wondered again if they were somehow connected with the
Stygimoloch
theft. There had been no word from
Corporal Fraser all day, either, and they hadn’t heard again
from the reporter, Adrian McDermott.

By the time Daniel had tucked Cheryl into bed and read her a storybook, his parents had still not returned. They must have found someone home. This was probably good. At least they would find out what was going on. He lay down on the couch and watched television with the volume turned down low so he could hear when they returned. The next thing he knew, Dad was nudging him awake.

“Time to head for bed,” Dad said, easing Daniel to his feet.

“How did it go?” Daniel asked, struggling to open his eyes.

“The boys were there, but Horace Nelwin is missing. They’ve been looking for him since last night. That’s why they weren’t home when we were there. They started searching for him again early this morning.”

“They must be worried,” said Daniel.

“He’s never been gone this long before without them hearing from somebody about where he is.” Dad rubbed his chin in thought. “We stopped to talk to a couple of the neighbours, but no one’s seen him. Not even Corporal Fraser. We phoned him from the Milners.”

“Wow!” said Daniel. His head was clear now. “What will happen next?”

“Nothing for now. If he doesn’t turn up by morning, he’ll be deemed a missing person and a bulletin will go out looking for him.”

Daniel’s eyes widened. “They’ll put out an arrest warrant for him?”

Dad chuckled. “Well not quite that, but they will check hospitals and notify the network of police to check for him.”

“Is his truck gone?” Daniel asked. “They could track him that way,”

“The funny thing is that it’s not. But his atv is missing,” said Dad, scrunching up his face as he considered the possibilities.

“That doesn’t sound good!” Daniel exclaimed. “He could be anywhere, maybe even lying injured out on the prairie somewhere.”

“Yes, and a few neighbours have suggested we start looking for him in the countryside in the morning. Corporal Fraser agrees. Of course, there’s a chance he may just have gone some place to be alone. Or he could be sleeping off too many drinks somewhere,” Dad said.

As Daniel mulled the information over, Dad guided him upstairs. “It’s late, son. Try to get some sleep. We’ll see if we can’t get things straightened out in the morning.”

“Will Craig and Todd be coming?”

“Yes, we’ve told them to make sure they come for breakfast and to bring us any news. They feel bad about not coming today, but we reassured them that we weren’t angry.”

“Yes,” said Mom from the doorway. “The poor things didn’t know whether to keep searching for their father or not, and then they were afraid to show up here late, so they just stayed away.”

“I’m glad you went to check on them then,” said Daniel, heading to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

“Yes, we had a nice long chat and told them they could come to us any time they had a problem,” said Dad.

As he swished the toothbrush around in his mouth, Daniel wondered if Horace Nelwin’s disappearance had anything to do with the fossil theft. Was it just a coincidence that both events occurred so close together? He still wanted to speak to Todd alone. He’d make sure to do that first thing in the morning.