“… And this is our last item on our list in the tour.” The skeleton of a large sail finned dinosaur stood before the group of tourists and me, your tour guide. “This right here is a complete reconstruction of an intact Spinosaurus specimen that we have uncovered a few months back,” I continued to the amusement of the fat man with a large Nikon. He was too busy snapping photos to care about my speech to the others that were clearly intrigued by this curious skeleton.
“Whoa! Can I touch it?” asked an unusually hyperactive boy who was jumping around, his hands tightly gripped onto the display rails. As much as I wanted to chase him away, I couldn’t.
“No, you can't. I’ve been repeating that same friggin' word for the last four displays we've been through. Clearly, you are not getting the damn message.” I pointed to a small sign that said ‘No touching’. I sighed immediately, these buffoons must’ve learned something in social studies, right? Or are they that bloody blind?
“Excuse me, sir. That was very rude of you to my son,” said the mother of the boy who was reaching out his fingers on to the aged fossil of the Spinosaurus.
“And excuse me, miss. I am merely stating the rules over and over again to someone who is clearly not listening- the boy’s fingers had contacted the right leg of the skeleton.
“Look, mommy! I touched the big old lizard!” I grimaced and paced myself to the boy with utmost anger. His mother blocked my way.
“Excuse me, that right there is a breach in the code of conduct in this museum. I have to put an end to this now,” I spat out, trying not to release my pent up anger.
“Let me do that, sir,” she said flatly, causing me to flare up once again. I was getting too old for this shit.
“Now, miss. If you don’t let me do what I need to do, that boy is going to- He poked it again.
“Hey!” I shouted, my finger pointed at the boy who was dead still, so was everyone else as I vented my anger. “Stop touching that bloody skeleton and walk away! NOW!” I shouted, causing him to start sobbing.
“How dare you- I hushed her with an angry hiss.
“How dare me, miss? Because I have worked in this bloody museum for years on end tending to you ignorant bums! Now let me finish off this tour so I can get to my office and rest while you daft punks can just go back home and watch football for the rest of your stinking day!” I yelled out as I formed a fist and threw it in the air. She immediately backed off and so did the sniveling bastard. Good, now I had them in order for the last item in my damn itinerary.
“Now then, I shall continue on with my last explanation for this magnificent creature,” I said, slowly losing my anger. I saw the woman and her son silently agreeing to what I said. “This here is a Spinosaurus of the Spinosauridae family. It possesses several distinctive traits that you may have already noticed.” I pointed to the spinal region of the theropod, highlighting the row of bones forming a sail.
“These are the spines of this dinosaur that gained it its current name. They are at most 1.65 meters in maximum length and form the recognizable sail of the Spinosaurus,” I put my hand down, very exhausted. “We do not know what the sail is used for but many theories has been put up for the usage of this curious part of this dinosaur. They include thermoregulation and showing off their vibrant colors during their mating season,” I coughed out, my voice was a little sore after my rant.
“They also possess a snout much like the crocodiles of today,” I continued. After that, the fat man put his hand up. “Do you have a question, sir?”
“Does that mean it’s a frickin’ large croc?” I face palmed immediately.
“No, sir. It does not mean it is a crocodilian. That snout only means it’s diet must have consisted mainly of fish and the occasional meat,” I croaked, rubbing my throat. “However, your question may have been partially correct, for there is evidence that this predator may have lived in the water like a crocodile.” I saw him smiling in victory before I turned my attention to my watch.
Right on the schedule.
“Alright! We have concluded the tour of this museum. Now, if you follow that way,” I gestured to a hallway leading to the exit of the building. “You will come out at a souvenir store that leads to the parking lot.” I feel like they were giving me their best ‘you don’t say’ expression., but I was just trying to play nice before I slam that door to my office open and take a well-deserved nap.
“Thanks, bud,” The fat man said as the tour group took off, leaving me with the Spinosaurus alone. I let out a breath of relief, finally I was done with today’s round of tourists.
“Well, Rosella. We’re back to isolation in this dusty mess of a museum,” I said to the Spinosaurus I had affectionately named ‘Rosella’ for some odd reason.
“And I suppose you are slowly going insane?” I swerved myself to face my co-worker, Kendra.
“Don’t assume, I am already insane,” I responded as I swiped my shirt clean of dust and flicked my dog tag around.
“Listen, Ethan. I know you’re pretty tired with all these slobs coming in and out, but that doesn’t mean you can simply go ranting about and scaring them off. It’s not good for business,” she said as we walked to my office.
“So what? I’m sick and tired of dealing with them, the only time I felt glad was when I went out for that expedition that brought dear Rosella here.” I pointed to the skeleton again, causing her to grin. I was pretty much attracted to her for the longest time I can remember.
“I know, you’ve been a lot more happier since you came back with the bones of the Spinosaurus.” I nodded in response. We reached my office at last, I quickly opened the door and leapt onto a beanbag chair I bought earlier on in the year. “I see you still are pretty laid back,” she said as she took a seat on a nearby chair.
“Of course I am, why wouldn’t anyone be?” I answered back as I pulled out a laptop that was charging and opened up the story I was currently writing on. Something about a spy and his country, but whatever.
Kendra knew I was also working as a writer in the meantime, so she let’s me do my work whenever she felt like I had done enough for the day. “Still writing that novel you’re working on?”
“Definitely, just writing a little bit before I go out again to check on the skeleton. Some stupid kid touched it, got pretty mad at him and his mom,” I said.
“So that’s what happened just now,” she replied, thinking back to my rant.
“Indeed.” My fingers were quickly zipping across the keyboard as I typed out lines and lines of words. She got up to my dismay, that girl always had something to do.
“Alright, I got some stuff to clear up now. See you in a while!” she waved good-bye to me, I responded with the same as the door slammed shut. I let out a yawn.
I was done ten minutes later with my writing. I had run out of ideas on what to write anymore. I grunted in frustration and close the laptop to charge it before walking out of my office. It took me two minutes to get to where the skeleton of the Spinosaurus was.
I was a very curious person even before I became a writer and a paleontologist. My dad used to read me tales of flying horses, men with hearts of steel and creatures so terrifying even Dracula couldn’t compare to it. I was pretty much into all that stuff until I picked up a book on dinosaurs when I reached my tenth year in existence. Ever since then, I’ve been on a trail to get the required grades to become a qualified paleontologist. Along the way, I had also become a talented action writer. I had like six books that I’ve published and always saw whenever I passed by a bookstore in town, they were all about science fiction and constant action, something I never thought I could get into in reality.
I scanned the skeleton with the eyes of an eagle to see whether the kid had done anything to Rosella. It took me ten minutes before I was convinced it was clean of any harm. I looked up to it one last time before I went back to my office, and that was when I spotted the strangest thing in my entire life.
On one of the spines of the skeleton was a bright and rainbow colored orb that was flashing rapidly. I rubbed my eyes in disbelief and found that it was still there. Normally, I would’ve called Kendra here to help me out but something inside of me was literally screaming at me to investigate it myself.
So I went into the nearby janitorial closet, took out a large ladder and placed it next to the display. I clambered up as fast as I could to investigate the mysterious object.
“What in the hell?” I mumbled as I reached the top, eyes locked on to the orb that was now glowing brighter. I rubbed my forehead before I made a very stupid decision.
I needed to touch it, like right now. But you don’t touch mysterious orbs that had the colors of the bloody rainbow, do you? I was conflicted with my sense of morality and the wave of intense curiosity.
Guess who won? Curiosity did, and you know what they said when curiosity killed the cat.
I reached out to touch the orb. It felt like time slowed down a lot as my fingers stretched out to it. I finally poked the object.
I only saw a bright white flash after the first contact, and then I went through what seemed like that scene from Star Wars with all these stars, except it was happening to me right now.
---
‘Hoo boy! That’s the last of them trees!” Applejack said as apples dropped from the tree like bombs into the baskets below. She had finished her daily bucking of the trees in Sweet Apple Acres and now she was currently on her way back to her farmhouse.
“Hope Granny Smith can whip up some of her pies again!” she exclaimed gleefully. Just then, a loud boom resonated from the sky causing her to turn back. It might’ve been Rainbow Dash doing another of her sonic rainbooms, but she had a feeling it wasn’t. A second after, another boom was sounded as an enormous dark figure crashed into her apple trees much farther behind.
“Mah trees!” she dropped the baskets and trotted to the fallen trees. No one had the guts to fell her tree whether on purpose or by accident. Whatever just did had crushed multiple trees, and now she was steaming mad. Her day had just been ruined by something that just fell out of the sky.
She finally reached the edge of the crash site, and what she saw made her tremble.
Lying down in that very patch of destroyed farmland was a large reptilian with an enormous and colorful sail of its top. Was it a dragon? She didn’t know, but had the feeling it was very, very dangerous.
“H-h-hello..?” She sounded like Fluttershy, only that now she was really in a situation that warranted absolute fear.
The dragon-like beast groaned in pain, and slowly moved it’s left claw. It took five long minutes before it finally turned over onto its stomach and with both of its reptilian eyes wide open. It was now staring at her with the one eye that was on her side and observed her sharply. It pushed itself up very slowly with it shorter than usual arms, which gave Applejack enough time to back away to a considerable distance and behind another tree.
Once it had risen, only then she realized that its size was bigger than she estimated of it earlier on. It was bigger than a hydra and most certainly larger than a dragon.
But it didn’t end there, it attempted to scratch itself but it couldn’t, seeing it had the arms the size of a branch. It then proceeded to spin its monstrous muzzle and faced the frightened cowpony who was now cowering behind a tree.
That was when it started speaking in a very hoarse voice. “Well, fuck me! Is that a talking pony I see and hear with my oddly invisible ears and my snake-like eyes?”