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Project Circe
Topic Started: Feb 2 2016, 06:15 PM (4,036 Views)
Flisch
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Disclaimer:
This story may contain adult themes* and violence that might not be suited for younger members of the forum. Keep reading at your own discretion.


*Adult refers to sexual themes, though not (intentionally) pornographic ones.





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In order to prevent the story from being broken up too much, please post comments, questions or suggestions in the OOC thread. Thank you. :)
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Subject: No subject
 
Date: 2019/11/18
Time: 16:51
To: Staff

So I heard a decision has been made to continue Project Circe. I am not entirely sure what I am supposed to feel about it. On the one hand this is big. On the other hand this is exactly what worries me. It could be too big to handle.

But at least we have a plan now. I can't say it's a particularly stable plan, considering it builds on nothing definite other than "Maybe this works.". Project Circe is steering towards an uncertain future and I hope our plans with A. Johnson will not end in tragedy, should he even accept, which is far from assured.

I also want to take this moment to remind everyone of how serious the situation is. This was not a minor setback. We lost two good people, because we weren't prepared. We should not make the same mistakes again. Even if Johnson is indeed as good as it is claimed, we should double up on our efforts, triple up if possible.

We are not only testing new technology and learn more about the history of our planet. We are also gambling with people's lifes here. Whenever we send someone back, there is a good chance they won't return. I want everyone to remember this, to internalize this.

Personally I can live with the shut-down of Project Circe, but I don't want to be responsible for another person's death. I hope we all see eye to eye here.

Regards,
C. Peters, Head of Research
Edited by Flisch, Apr 9 2016, 05:41 PM.
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Half asleep, I hear footsteps outside, long shuffling ones with the sound of dragging something along the floor. I hear them going across the entire hallway above me, stopping at the end. Then they continue into the other direction, but this time on my floor. I hear them approaching my apartment and then they stop when they are nearest.

There is a faint click as the door opens. The hallway outside is dark and I can't see much from the couch. I decide to lie perfectly still, trying not to draw any attention to me. Hopefully I won't be noticed. The shuffling continues and I hear something heavy dragging itself across the floor towards me. From the corner of my eyes I can see a long body pressed to the ground.

As the creature comes near, my heartbeat quickens. Yet, I do not move. I'm holding onto the hope that it hasn't noticed me. It has reached the couch and the animal raises its head. I can see the jaws of a crocodile entering my field of vision as it slowly opens its mouth. It is ready to strike.

Panicked, I try to move, but my body does not obey. My muscles do not follow my commands. I flex my entire body and yet it moves not even an inch. The jaws come closer and I try harder. Still I can't escape, as if some invisible force holds my entire body firmly in place. I collapse back on the couch and try again. Once more I collapse, but instantly make another attempt. One final push.

I open my eyes and sit up as fast as I can. I rush to the edge of the couch and look back, but there is no crocodile and the door to my apartment is still closed. It takes me a second to realize it was just a nightmare. An unusual nightmare. Normally they are completely surreal and outlandish. This one, however, felt very real. Even the environment, which is usually some strange shifting algamation of multiple places and themes, was almost an exact copy of my room. Yes, I now recognize some differences, but otherwise it was so completely unlike any nightmare I've ever had.

I sit there for what feels like minutes. I do not move at all. Now that I can, I remain perfectly still. The rational part of my brain knows I am not in danger, but the instinctive part is still on full alert. It is dark and the only light comes from the phone on the table next to my couch. It is about one and a half hours before the time I usually get up.

I don't see much point in getting back to sleep so I decide to get up early. After I paid the gym a visit, I take a cold shower and head to the cafeteria. I'm amazed that it is open this early. Maybe it is open around the clock after all. That actually makes sense, if it's also for the military personnel. I take my time and enjoy the largely empty room. It's never quite full, but this time there are only two other people, soldiers from the looks of it, not counting the service personnel.

Eventually the first people from the research project pour in. I'm greeted by Chris as I walk past him and Amy. I also pass Stuart who pretends he hasn't seen me. I return to my apartment to prepare myself for today's trip. There's still plenty of time to kill. I have my carving equipment with me, but no wood to carve on, except for the furniture. Later today I will probably go out into the forest to find some material.

I go to the lab early. I doubt they will be finished sooner than usual, but it's not like I have anything better to do otherwise. I arrive to find only Amy and Chris in the lab. Chris is preparing the timepod while Amy is largely just standing around, lending a helping hand if needed. Both are surprised to see me this early. Thinking about yesterday, I hope they are happy to see me being on time today, not that it would change anything if they're not.

I ask if I am disturbing anything, but Chris assures me that it's fine. It would take a few minutes, but if I want I can take a seat. I don't want to take a seat and instead just walk around. Chris attempts some smalltalk, but I inspect their notes that are lying around. I am careful not to touch anything. I ask if anything of this is classified and Chris says no. Amy corrects him by saying that technically it is classified information, but since I'm part of the research project it doesn't matter.

I ask them what they are actually doing. Chris tells me he is preparing the timepod, checking if everything works. I roll my eyes, but I guess it's my fault, should have asked a more precise question. I correct myself by saying that I meant the whole project. What exactly are they trying to achieve with this research? Amy says that they are basically just figuring out the limitations and possibilities of the technology. They attempt to improve what they already have, trying to find ways to have more control over the time durations, extend the operational range to more recent times and make the whole process safer for the user.

I want to know how my trips help with that and she replies that they are actually after the data they collect during the trip. They track energy spikes and neural patterns and analyze it in hope of finding ways to improve the technology. Fair enough. Chris has finished his preparations by now and is joining in on the conversation. Half jokingly, he remarks that we also learn about life in the past, as a side effect.

I ask if they already know to which time todays trip is going to be. Chris says they are targeting 55 million years ago. I think for a quick moment and mention that in the last few days we have been going back in steps of 20 million years. Chris tells me that this is what they are basically doing. Each day they will set the time to 20 million years before last time, up until the start of complex life. I want to know how many trips that would be in total. The two scientists give each other a puzzled look. They don't have the actual number memorized, but Amy says it's something around 25.

25 trips? Each separated by 20 million years? That seems like a lot. I do the maths. That would amount to 500 million years, an incomprehensibly long time. I ask them what they will do when we are finished with the last trip. Chris says that they are not entirely sure. Based on the findings they might try other times. Maybe they will have found a way to increase the operational range, which would mean that they would focus on more recent times then.

Our conversation is interrupted by Quinton and the two remaining scientists, Josh and Peters, entering the lab. Since everything is prepared, we can start immediately. Quinton gives me a quick overview regarding the time I am going to visit. 51 to 59 million years, early eocene, possibly palaeocene, depending on where I end up at. He concludes his talk by asking me if I have any more questions. I say no and take positions in the timepod.

Before we start, Peters asks me if, considering the events of the last trip, I want them to lower the time duration from one hour to 28 minutes. I tell them to go with the full hour. If I wouldn't have made it, a duration of 28 minutes wouldn't have made any difference either. Peters gives me a quick nod, not in agreement but acknowledgement. I lie down and make myself comfortable, as much as possible at least. As usual, Chris lowers the lid and Josh initiates the ping and starts the countdown.

Three. Two. One.
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Flisch
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I find myself in a cave, a tree hollow to be precise. The green of a forest is visible through the opening. The chamber is cushioned with a layer of dried moss, leaves and other plant materials. I can feel nips on my belly and look down to see... four small blind naked bodies huddled together, heads stuck into my side. Am I-... I am.

I am suckling four little baby animals.

I can't believe this. Am I really doing this? Part of me wishes to be back in the bird from the last journey, but then again... I really don't. I almost died there. This, however, is just some minor annoyance. I look down at the baby animals, how peacefully they drink from... me. I drop my head on the soft padding and let out a defeated sigh.

I'm thinking about leaving the tree hollow to go out exploring, but... the thought of leaving my babies alone is deeply uncomfortable. I decide to stay inside, for now. At least until they're done feeding. That actually sounds like a good idea. I will wait until they are done feeding and then I will go out to get something out of this trip.

But for now I'm just lying there. I inspect my body in the meantime. I look pretty much like a squirrel, again. This time I even have a bushy tail. Evolution sure isn't going to win any awards for innovation. I wave my tail around to try it out. Works like a charm. Immediately I notice one of the outer pups let go of the teat it was suckling from and huddles closer to the others in uncoordinated jerking movements. It's not really cold, but their bodies are naked, so I quickly lay down my tail again, surrounding the young.

I lie there for several minutes, waiting for the babies to finish. Occasionally one of them would let go of its spot and raise its head as if to sniff the air and then resume suckling. I lay down my head on the soft padding again, looking out through the hollow's opening. Unfortunately I cannot see a lot, just some green from the trees outside.

This is going to take a while.
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As I lie there, I listen to the noises outside. The soundscape reminds me a lot of a jungle, which is to be expected, considering the temperature. I can hear birds and buzzing insects. What is missing is the occasional monkey. I remember what Quinton told me. Monkeys as a whole did already exist, but none of the modern forms. Maybe these monkeys don't vocalize or I'm in an area they had not populated yet. I hear quite some chittering though and some hollow clacking sounds, as if someone keeps knocking together wooden tubes. I assume it's some bird with a large beak, maybe not unlike the bird from my last trip. Occasionally there is also a short highpitched call that reminds me of a blend between the bellow of a stag and the squeal of a pig.

My musings are interrupted by strange movements at the entrance. I can see long shapes covered in hairs feeling their way around the opening. The motions are slow, almost thoughtful. I jerk my head up from the cushion. A big spider is about to enter the cave, a tarantula from the looks of it.

As if feeling my alarmed response, my babies let go of the teats and press themselves to the ground. I get up just in time to see the spider reaching with its front half into the hollow. There it stays for a second, assessing the situation. It holds its front pair of legs up into the air, possibly as a defensive stance. It must have noticed me.

Subconsciously, I begin to chitter loudly. It's probably the default reaction. I'm pretty sure spiders are deaf though, so it probably doesn't do anything. I'm trying to think of a way to get rid of the spider. I can't get too near, or the thing will just grab me. Furthermore, I can't risk a fight, because that thing is about my size, and has a higher range with its long legs. My best bet is to just push it through the opening, though I need to find a way to do so without making body contact.

I move around, trying not to give the tarantula an opening to tackle me, trying to keep it busy. The most terrifying thing about the situation is that it seems to follow my every movement. I'm sure that if I were to stand still, it would just jump at me. All the while I notice in the back of my head that my mother instinct always keeps me between the spider and the baby animals behind me. I take a quick look back to make sure the babies are safe. They are still lying there, pressed into the cushion of leaves and moss. That gives me an idea.

As I am dancing around the spider, I push the litter around me, trying to form a clump. Eventually it's big enough and I charge forward, making sure to keep the padding between me and the intruder. I hit the tarantula and feel it staggering back for a bit. Unfortunatey, it was only an inch or so and I manage a narrow escape as the spider grabs the clump to inject its venom. After realizing that it was not its aggressor, it lets the litter fall to the floor.

That didn't work out as I hoped. I'm running out of options. Infact, I'm not even sure I still have any. I frantically look around as the spider positions itself in the opening again. There is nothing in this hollow I could use. There's no loose piece of wood, no pebble, no nothing. Goddamnit.

As I am weighing my options while simultaneously keeping the spider busy, I hear my chittering echo from outside. No, it's not an echo, it's another animal. The voice sounds familiar, relieving even.

Suddenly the spider jerks a bit to the outside. I notice from its reaction that it was not a deliberate move. Rather, it was pulled by a leg. It turns back towards the opening. Another tug. Now it focuses entirely on the animal outside.

As the two animals fight outside, the spider is gradually moving away from the hollow. I move to the opening and see another animal like me circling around the spider, occasionally tugging at one of its legs. The spider barely moves, possibly waiting for the right moment to strike. The attacks of the other animal get bolder, the bites more frequent.

I hear a faint hissing sound coming from the spider and see the other squirrel stumbling back, rubbing its eyes and nose with its front paws. The spider must have shot a salve of its irritating hairs. I run out, trying to help my fellow by distracting the spider myself. However, I am too late. The tarantula has already jumped on the other squirrel, turning both into a tangle of fur and legs. I jump onto the back of the spider and bite at the spot behind its eyes. Let's hope these things have brains.

I can feel the body of the tarantula going stiff, the legs sprawling out. Panicked, the other squirrel escapes its grasp, but I can see a wound on its right hide. I was too late, the spider did manage to get a bite. The body of the spider is still slightly convulsing as I push it off the branch.

My fellow squirrel presses itself against the bark, eyes shut and watering from the tarantula's hairs. As I get closer I pick up its scent. It smells male and intimate. This must be my partner. I give him a gentle nudge, trying to get him to move. He does, but slowly. We make it back into the tree hollow where our babies are still huddled together at the spot I left them.

My partner inches towards the back of the hollow but stops midway through. Instinctively I make contact between our whiskers. I can not feel any actual communication going on, but I sense that it calms him down, and also me. I am not a relationship person, I never had any romantic feelings for anyone, but this... It feels right.

I grab our babies to put them closer to us as I lie next to my mate. The young animals begin suckling again as I listen to my partner's heartbeat. Minutes pass and it becomes weaker over time. Eventually it ebbs out and his whiskers stop moving.

I lie there motionless, not even keeping track of the time. I do not know how many minutes have passed when I am finally pulled back to the present.

After I help opening the lid from the inside I sit up and bury my face in my hands. The room falls silent apart from the hum of the machines and the lights. After some seconds I stand up and tell them to give me a call when they want the report. After that I leave.
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As always I am the first to leave the room after giving the scientists the report about my journey. I've told them everything, there is no more to say and no need for me to stay any longer.

After a few meters Quinton catches up with me. Seems like he forgot something. He tells me that we are leaving the Cenozoic and the next trips will be set in the Cretaceous. This means that there will be another lesson today to get me up to speed. I ask him if it can wait, I wanted to stretch my legs a bit. He says that's no problem at all. In fact he needs to finish something else before as well. He tells me he will have everything ready in a few hours. He will let me know. Sounds like a plan.

I continue my way out of the building and leave the area. The guards at the entrance watch me closely but don't say anything. I wonder if they know who I am or if it's just unusual for personnel to leave the area on their own. Either way, it doesn't really matter, as long as they leave me alone.

I head towards a forest in the distance, walking along the road. It's late november and it shows, looks like it had rained recently. I walk on the grass next to the muddy road.

The forest itself is less of a forest really, only an accumulation of pines. I listen to the soundscape and realize how empty everything feels. Sure, there may be the occasional bird, but it does not compare to naturally grown woodland. I don't hear any woodpeckers, no buzzing insects or a bellowing stag. It's... hollow, for the lack of a better word. A shell of trees without anything to fill it.

There are not even a lot of other plants. The forest floor is largely blank, except for some fallen branches and the occasional weed. Coniferous forests often lack thick underbrush due to the dense layer of needles, but there should still be young trees or patches of ivy.

This forest is dead, or at least about as alive as a piece of labgrown meat is. Technically it's living tissue, but it lacks everything that makes it into living breathing environment. I would wager a bet that a desert would have more variety.

I continue my stroll through the mockery of a forest regardless. This walk was partially to find some wood for carving, but I can already see that I will return emptyhanded. On the other side this is the closest thing to something natural I have around me, as sad as it is. At least the bark feels as it should when I run my hand over it. I notice the smell of resin and see some of the sticky fluid flowing out from a tree I am passing by. I lean in closer to take in the scent and notice a little black shape under a large droplet. There's a spider trapped under the hardening resin. Isn't that how amber is formed? Maybe this spider will be found encased in a little gemstone in some hundred million years by some future palaeontologist, long after humans have dug their own graves. The unfortunate spider will be a bit like a reverse time traveler in this way, a visitor from the distant past.

I carry on, keeping an eye out for wood, although I don't expect to find anything useful. Most of the branches are too thin to carve anything meaningful out of them and the thicker ones have been lying around for too long. Especially in this rainy weather dead wood decays quickly.

After about an hour I head back. Looks like I need a new hobby.
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C:\Users\qross\Documents\PalaeoNotes\Johnson_2019_11_27.doc
 
Timeframe: 59 mya - 51 mya
Era: Early Eocene (possibly Palaeocene)
Session Length: 56 min
Location: Forest, possibly tropical

Today's trip was not as informative as usual, but I guess not every session can be a treasure trove. Not that I'm blaming Johnson, of course.

He was transported into the body of an arboreal mammal again. He described it as distinctly squirrel-like, though that doesn't mean it was a true rodent. It's very well possible that instead it was a multituberculate or creodont, but I feel somewhat silly always having to repeat myself, so I decided to take a closer look. Cimolesta also seem to be a very likely group for the mammal in question, and though I know better than to try and pinpoint the animals to known genera, I can't help but point out how remarkably similar Johnson's animal was to Kopidodon.

Apart from his animal there was not much else, except for a tarantula. Normally I'd be hesitant to be this specific, but the fact that it also produced urticating bristles, just like modern tarantulas, makes me confident. It's not too much of a surprise though, given their cosmopolitanly tropical distribution and their seemingly archaic hunting strategy. I wouldn't be surprised if they actually are one of the oldest remaining true spider groups, dating as far back as, say, the Triassic. Or why not go all the way and say Carboniferous?

Other than that there was even less. Johnson described the sounds of other animals he could hear, but that's about as vague as it can get when it comes to information. He stressed how he couldn't hear any monkeys, as if that was something peculiar, but just because he couldn't hear anything that sounded like modern monkeys or lemurs, doesn't mean primates didn't already exist.

Going back to the "squirrels", the most potentially informative part comes from Johnson himself, interestingly enough. The way he described the scenery and events revealed that he was more than just an observer. He was literally there, both in body and in mind. When he described "his" baby animals and his mate, he didn't sound like the Johnson that is walking down the halls alone, the one who pushes people away and is just generally a misanthropist. The death of his mate during the trip left him at least somewhat distressed. This was most evident right after he returned, when the memories were still fresh, but it was still noticeable during the report.

So what does it mean? Well, the thing is that I don't believe Johnson is playing a role, or that he hates humans exclusively. When he talked about the events of the last trip he seemed almost confused, as if he was telling a story he didn't quite believe himself. I also took note of some of the phrases he used during his last reports, just like Carlos and Nathan did at times. I remember when Carlos excitedly talked about flying around as a pterosaur and dropped the phrase "whenever I fly". Everyone looked at him confused, considering his trip was 7 minutes, and he noticed how odd that sounded himself. Or another time when Nathan talked about the taste of berries he decided not to eat.

All this combined leads me to believe that the animal has a bigger influence on the user's psyche than initially thought. I don't want to raise any alarms. If it turns out to be detrimental to their health, I'm sure Mr. Dale will be the first to have concerns.

So, actually getting to the point, if all of that is true and Johnson's feelings towards his mate did not come from him, but from the animal he was in, then that means those animals must have been unusually emotional, possibly hinting at a monogamous behaviour.

Or maybe animals are just in general more emotional than previously thought. And who knows how much influence Johnson's human mind has on the interpretation of the animal's instincts. Maybe the human psyche even "processes" the animal's thoughts, to make sense out of something that humans are biologically unable to understand.

Isn't that ironic? We have a machine that literally puts a human into an animal mind and we still do not know how they think.
Edited by Flisch, Feb 15 2017, 06:37 PM.
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After I'm back in my room I relax on the couch for some minutes. Not that I need the rest, but I don't know what else to do. The first thing my mind jumps to is picking up lunch at the cafeteria, but I realize that this idea stems from boredom and not hunger. As I am contemplating the idea of paying the gym a visit the phone in my room starts ringing. Quinton is on the other end, asking me if I want to do the lesson now. I agree and he tells me to meet in the same room as last time. Seems like I have the next hour covered.

I arrive to find Quinton already in the room. He has spread out various pictures again, scenes of life in the past, just like last time. I can't judge just how naturalistic they are, considering they depict animals I've never seen, such as dinosaurs, but if I had to take a guess they're not much better than the ones from the Cenozoic. Infact, I'd say they're worse as the artist wouldn't even have any modern animals to base them on.

The first thing Quinton shows me is the timescale of the Cretaceous. He tells me it is one of the three eras of the Mesozoic. The bar before the Cretaceous is just as large as itself but labeled Cenozoic. Is the entire age of mammals really just as long as one third of the age of dinosaurs? I check the numbers. Yeah, there is no break or skip in the dates. I ask just to make sure. He confirms and adds that the Cretaceous is even slightly longer. He also was so kind to mark the times of my future sessions. There will be four, which is more than I had in the Cenozoic.

After we got that out of the way, he goes on to tell me about the climate. He shows me a map of what the earth looked like back then. All the continents are there in recognizable form, except for europe and north america, but huddled together. Though, considering it's the past, it's quite the opposite. They must be moving away. Quinton confirms and tells me about the movement of the continents. Basically everything moved away from each other erratically, like the balls in pool after the break shot. How fitting, during the final years of the dinosaurs their entire world was literally falling apart, culminating in their extinction.

Quinton tells me that the world's climate was tropical, which prompts me to ask if the past was always tropical. He tells me that our modern world is actually freezing cold compared to the previous ages. It's not so much that the past eras are tropical. It's just that the parts in our modern world that can hold such temperates can be found around the equator, thus the tropics. If anything, the climate of the past was temperate and ours is arctic. To actually answer my question, yes, most of the past was tropical, but there were some really cold periods, comparable to modern times, inbetween, the Permian being one of those. I look at the scale and try to find it. Cretaceous, Jurassic, Triassic, Permian. Ah, well that's quite some distance. It will take a while until I get there.

Quinton continues and describes the vegetation during the Cretaceous. Apparently narrow-leafed trees like conifers dominated most of it, but some modern broad-leafed trees emerged, such as magnolias and planes. Also flowering plants appeared, together with bees. Apparently Quinton has taken my feedback from last lesson to heart and does not dwell too much on the details. Rather he goes on to tell me about the things I should look out for.

He goes over the various groups of dinosaurs and divides them into carnivores and herbivores. Luckily enough it's easy to tell them apart. Even for someone who doesn't watch movies, like me, you still pick up that sort of stuff. T-Rex is dangerous alright, while large long-necked dinosaurs are not. Easy enough to figure out. As a rule of thumb, he tells me that bipedal dinosaurs are carnivores, though there are some two-legged herbivores as well, such as Pachycephalosaurus, weird animals with round domes on their heads. It does get a little bit fuzzy with smaller theropods, as he calls the carnivores. Technically they do hunt animals, but the size of their prey is determined by the size of their pack and their hunting strategy, so it's not as clear cut. Seems to be no different than in the modern world.

He tells me about other predators I should look out for. For one, there are pterosaurs, some of which apparently reach such massive sizes that they could look a giraffe in the eyes while still being able to fly. Yeah, I don't believe that until I see it. Then there are crocodiles. Of course. Why does it have to be crocodiles. I don't have a problem with venomous snakes, spiders scorpions or whatever, really, but crocodiles? Oh whatever, they can't be much worse than they are today.

How wrong I am. Quinton tells me about crocodiles that could grow to 10 meters. I hope it's called Hellnosaurus, everything else would be a misnomer. That thing could eat a human and wouldn't even notice. Looking at the dinosaurs though, it seems like everything was bigger back then, so maybe it won't be as bad when I get to be in the body of a... I ask him what these long-necked dinosaurs are called. Sauropods, what a stupid name. I'd go into a timepod and then end up in a sauropod.

I ask him which of the herbivores would make for nice prey, should I end up in a large carnivore. Quinton gives me a confused, almost worried look, but snaps out of it. A group of dinosaurs he calls hadrosaurs would probably be the best option. They're essentially the deer of the Mesozoic, with no means to defend themselves other than fleeing. Depending on behaviour, pachycephalosaurs could also be possible prey, but could be problematic, if they end up being overly aggressive. Adult sauropods are most likely too big, so they can only be preyed upon as juveniles. He advises against trying to go after ankylosaurs, which are heavily plated and have powerful tail clubs, and ceratopsia like the well-known Triceratops, which have horns for defense. Then there are therizinosaurs, which I have never heard of before. They have long claws on their front legs and although they are believed to be herbivores, Quinton says that he does not know if they also use their claws for defense.

Well, that was quite indepth. I ask about mammals and birds. He says that mammals exist, but they are small, probably no larger than a badger, and those are the exceptions. And while birds are almost modern-looking, most modern groups had not evolved yet. For completion's sake Quinton adds that most non-dinosaur reptiles and amphibians would probably be indistinguishable from their modern counterparts, with the possible exception of snakes, which evolved in the Cretaceous. The same goes for invertebrates, although pollinators such as bees and butterflies were not as widespread as they were a very young group. Similarly, ants were nowehere near as successful back then as they are today.

After we covered the land, we move to the seas. Apparently they were just as different from modern times as the land, possibly even more so. While fish did exist, ammonites, which looked somewhat like a nautilus, were very widespread and successful. There were also belemnites, which looked like squid. I ask Quinton what the difference is and he says that they lack suction cups have an internal shell. Details.

The apex predators in the seas were sharks, and various marine reptiles, such as the long-necked plesiosaurs and the mosasaurs, which look somewhat like a cross between dolphins and lizards. Then there were ichthyosaurs, though they went extinct half-way through the Cretaceous. These weren't even looking like reptiles at all but instead like fish with the head of a dolphin. There could also be giant squids, but the fossil record is not very generous when it comes to soft-bodied animals.

Even the reefs were not as they are today. Rather than corals, clams were the major reef builders of their time. I wonder what that would look like, possibly less colourful. He also mentions a group of sea lilies that attach themselves to driftwood, forming entire colonies. Quinton adds that he doesn't know how common those will be, but since they have been found globally, he thought he should at least mention them. It could be that they formed entire ecosystems, like the sargasso sea, but since they are fully dependent on driftwood, that seems doubtful. I tell him I'll keep an eye out if I get the chance. His look gives away that he doesn't think I'm serious. Well, to be fair I wasn't.

Quinton is ready to wrap up the lesson, and I'm thinking about sitting in my room twiddling thumbs. Before we leave I ask him if he has any books about the Mesozoic I can borrow. His eyes grow large. What, does he think I can't read? He says that he does have some books, but... He struggles for the right words. He's probably trying to figure out how to say that they don't have pictures without it sounding condescending. He finally continues his sentence by saying that they focus on evolutionary relationships between species rather than ecological ones. I say it's fine. After giving me a quick look to see if I am serious he says he can lend me some books.
Edited by Flisch, Apr 17 2016, 05:30 PM.
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Quinton wasn't kidding when he said these books focus on evolutionary relationships more than anything. He also wasn't kidding when he said they're a bit dry. They're mostly lists of various extinct animal names put in relation which one another and a vast number of footnotes and cross references. The only included pictures are fossils, often indistinguishable from ordinary rocks, and anatomical drawings of skeletons and skulls. Okay, there's also the occasional reconstruction of an animal here and there, but they seem to be a mere afterthought.

The funny thing is that these books seem to tell me more about Quinton than about life in the past. As I flip through the pages I realize how detached it is from everything. Quinton isn't studying life, be it from the past or not, he is studying schematics and scientific nomenclature. None of the things in the book are useful in understanding how things really are. Sure he can categorize the bazillion different breeds of pterosaurs, but these books don't tell him anything about how they lived. They don't even tell him how they looked.

Nevertheless I keep turning pages, mostly out of boredom, if I had to be honest. One of the five books he gave me is less dry than the others. It has scenes depicting life in the past, making it almost seem like a children's book in comparison to the others. Other than some parts, these books aren't too useful, not that I expected them to be.

Somehow I manage to pass the time and I decide to go to bed early today. As I lie down, memories of my trip return to my mind. Despite all my boredom I was able to push aside these thoughts all day, until now. I think back to my partner's heartbeat. I correct myself, my host animal's partner's heartbeat. What is wrong with me, why do I keep thinking this way? I do not feel the same emotional attachment to the dead squirrel the same way I did during the trip and shortly thereafter, but still... It's there, just below the surface. The trip was only one hour and yet the connection to the other animal feels a lot longer than that. The same is true for the other trips as well, even those I had right at the beginning. They lasted mere minutes and yet deep down it always felt like a lifetime. I just shouldn't mention that to the shrink though.

I wake up in the morning. Looks like I fell asleep while lost in thought yesterday. After my morning routine I prepare myself for today's trip and go to the lab. Just outside, Quinton intercepts me and quickly recaps the lesson from yesterday. Today's session is going to be in the very late Cretaceous, only about ten million years from the big extinction event. The actual time will be somewhere between 79 and 71 million years. I cut him off before he can recite all the different animals I could encounter, I have it memorized from yesterday. With that I enter the lab.

The scientists seem to have finished preparing the equipment. The atmosphere in the room is somewhat bleak, nobody is engaging in smalltalk and the smiles are short and lacking joy. Did someone die? Well, who cares, I walk to the timepod. Hopefully they leave me alone with their problems.

Chris turns to me and asks if I am feeling- I know what he wants to say and shoot him a look that makes him reconsider finishing his question. This must be the single question I hate the most. If I am not feeling well I will let them know. Plus most of the time it's just a means to feign empathy. Nobody really cares if the other is feeling well, if they ask exactly that question.

Only now do I realize why he feels compelled to ask me that. They are concerned yesterday's trip has affected me emotionally. Not only are they bothering me with their problems, they're trying to bother me with problems they think are mine. Goddamnit, I am this close to snap, but I realize that I can be elsewhere in a few seconds, so I stay calm and lie down in the timepod.

Before Chris closes the lid, Peters asks me if I want to use the same parameters as the other times. Parameters, I think he just means time. I confirm and watch the lid come down.

Three.

Two.


Finally.

One.
Edited by Flisch, Apr 5 2016, 07:10 PM.
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The feeling of vertigo subsides, but the sensation of moving does not. The ground below me is shifting back and forth and I realize that I am sitting on another animal, a rather large one. And it is not the only one, around me are others of its kind, an entire herd from the looks of it. They have big round bodies with stout pillar-like legs and a powerful medium-sized tail outfitted with stiff bristles. Their mouth is a curved beak and two horns are protruding from their eyebrows. The back of their necks expands into a large frill, the top of which sports another pair of horns, facing upwards and away from each other. The frill itself contrasts with the rest of their brownish bodies through its colourfulness. Saturated green, red and yellow hues are forming intricate patterns of intersecting shapes in different sizes. The animals look somewhat like a Triceratops, but not quite. I guess it's another kind of... How did Quinton call them? Ceratopsia, I think.

Luckily they are herbivores, though even if they weren't, they don't seem to mind my presence. Infact, I can see birds sitting on the backs of the dinosaurs. Birds? I take a look at myself. Yeah, sure enough, I am one of those. The plumage is yellow and black, in equal parts and the proportions remind me of a finch. I'm probably one of those birds that sit on large animals to feed on parasites. Oxpeckers, just for dinosaurs.

I can't say I'm a huge fan of the lifestyle of these birds. Feeding on parasites? We'll see about that. On the other hand, I am finally in a flying animal, for more than a split second that is. I decide to try out flying, because really, who wouldn't. I must admit I am a tiny bit nervous, but I trust my muscle memory. Or maybe the bird's instinct does, same difference. I take off and fly over the herd in half-circles. They are not many, only about 20, I'd say. My plan was to just fly around a little to get used to it, but it comes so natural, I barely need to concentrate. On the flipside it's also not quite as exciting as I had hoped. I guess you can't have both familiarity and novelty. Damnit.

As I am trying to find a spot to land, one of the herd animals catches my eye. Not only is it noticeably bigger, but its frill is also larger than that of the others. Additionally, its shape is more rectangular, while the frill of the other members looks more rounded. The horns are longer as well. Furthermore it walks in the front of the herd, as if it's leading the way. All that makes me think it must be some sort of alpha male, or maybe female. I swoop down to take the place right between the alpha's two frill horns. Makes me feel a little bit as if I am the leader now, overlooking everything from an elevated position.

The landscape around me is something of an open woodland. There are some groups of trees but nothing too dense, just enough to cover the line of sight into every direction. There is a surprising variety of plants. Most of the trees are different kinds of conifers, but there is also quite a selection of broad-leafed trees. The ground meanwhile is covered with a carpet of all kinds of herbs, ferns and shrubs. I think back to the pictures I saw in the books. There the environment was always depicted as naked earth with only a few trees and ferns growing here and there. So much for that.

The herd spends the next few minutes simply walking through the wilderness. I notice how they do not even stop to eat. They must have a certain goal in mind. I would roam a bit farther, but the pterosaurs soaring above us make me nervous, so I stay close to the big guys. Rather, I watch my fellow birds inspect their hosts. To my surprise they do spend a fair amount of time hopping between the giants' feet, rather than on top. I figure they are after the insects and other small animals that are flushed from their hidings by all the trampling. When they are looking for food on the dinosaurs, they usually inspect skin folds for any parasites. One of the birds picked a nostril opening to look for food. Apparently it was too rough in doing so as the host drove it off with a quick shake of its head.

As I continue watching the other birds without joining in, I almost miss the large lake that appears in front of us at the bottom of a valley. The herd heads straight towards the water. I guess this is what they were looking for.
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As the herd approaches the water, I can make out other dinosaurs around the lake. There is a loose herd of hadrosaurs, their pale yellow bodies covered in black stripes. Among them are also other kinds of hadrosaurs, bigger and coloured differently. One of them has a black hide with white lips and feet. A single white stripe runs half-way down from its shoulder while smaller horizontal stripes cover the lower section of its upper thighs. Its most striking feature however is a small round red crest atop its head.

Then there is a group of four other hadrosaurs, also with crests. Their skin is covered with a complicated pattern of brown, beige and black shapes, seemingly swallowing each other. Their throat has a greenish-blue colouration and the crest on their head, which looks more like a horn, is coloured in a bright yellow with brown stripes towards the base. Quinton told me that from past trips they know that these hadrosaurs use their horns as display and communication to coordinate within the herd. And yet these individuals are alone. Maybe they got separated from their group, or maybe the others are just hidden from my view behind some vegetation.

In the far distance I can even see the shapes of two big longnecked dinosaurs. Through the fine water vapour rising from the lake their hide looks grey, although they seem to possess a striped dewlap-like flap of skin running down their neck. Behind their head they also appear to have a very short mane, or possibly just some bristles. It's hard to tell from this far away.

As my herd is moving towards the water, I scan the lake thoroughly. I don't want any surprises. My mind jumps back to the giant crocodiles Quinton had told me about. The lake would be big enough to house some of those and the water's edge is overgrown with vegetation at various spots. I'm not taking any risks and fly onto a nearby branch. I've had enough encounters with crocodiles to last a lifetime, even fought a terrestrial one two days ago.

From my perch I see the dinosaurs below me enter the shallow water. The ones behind them push them further into the lake, so they end up with all four feet submerged. As I am looking around, some flowers on the shrub below me catch my eye. They are white with a yellow center but each petal also has a thick silvery stripe running down the middle. It's this colour again, the one I saw in the fire forest. I still really can't describe the hue, silver is as close as I can get and that's not even a proper colour. There's also the hint of violet in it, but not enough to justify calling it that. I take a mental note to ask Quinton if he knows what this could be.

Now that I am focused on these flowers, I see the same colour on the litter below the shrubs. It's not as strong as on the petals, infact it's barely visible, but I can see small blotches of it covering the ground. Most of them are thin organic shapes, following the texture of the surface, as if someone poured out tiny amounts of water. Many of these blotches have been broken up, presumably by animals walking or crawling over them. Some are drawn out in two directions, like a smudge. Some seem to follow a certain pattern, but they are not consistent enough to create an actual shape.

My thoughts are disrupted by a shadow flitting over me and the dinosaurs. I look up and see a pterosaur approaching. A big one.
Edited by Flisch, Apr 9 2016, 06:26 PM.
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The pterosaur causes a disturbance among the dinosaurs. As it prepares to land a few meters from the herd, I can see the younger members of the group move into the center while the adults at the outer areas turn to face the intruder. The alpha, which is standing in the lake together with some others has stopped drinking and is intently watching the pterosaur.

Meanwhile the winged creature has landed and is standing on the ground on all fours. Rather than walking like a bird on its hindlegs it assumes a quadrupedal gait as it walks towards the water, the wings folded against its elbows, pointing upwards. I have no real frame of reference, but if the plants around us are any indication then it must be at least two times the size of a human, possibly even more. What I find amazing is that despite the pterosaur having to walk with its wings, its movement do not come across as awkward. Every step is done with the precision and routine of an animal born to walk, rather than to fly. I always figured pterosaurs would behave more like bats, but they are neither birds nor bats, they are truly their own kind of animal.

I watch the winged giant walk over to the water. Despite the herd animals' caution it does not seem to be interested at all in their young. It lets them know to stay out of its way with a clattering of its beak as it makes its way to the lake. As it passes my tree I can see dense black fur covering its body, apart from the head, which has pale red skin and a shining yellow crest atop its head. Seems like everything in the Cretaceous had a crest, for some reason. Its head is massively oversized, making the whole animal look incredibly imbalanced. Yet, it does not seem to have any problems moving its head around. I suppose the huge beak is hollow, or something like that.

Unlike the hornfaces, the hadrosaurs do not seem to mind the pterosaur at all and its appearance merely causes mild curiosity, even as it passes them by only one or two meters. The winged animal stops at the water's edge to drink. Like a bird, it swoops up water with its lower beak and brings its head upwards to gulp it down. It only takes three sips before it turns around and walks along the lake, inspecting the ground. It's possibly looking for small animals, like storks do.

As the pterosaur moves away from our herd, the hornfaces calm down and return to their normal business. By now, most of them have had their fill in the lake and are either grazing on the vegetation surrounding the lake or sunbathing. Only the youngest members of the group are active, walking amidst the resting giants. They do not actually play, but seem to explore their surroundings.

I look for my fellow birds and find a group of them sitting on the lone black hadrosaur with the red crest. They seem to be interested in something on the upper thigh on the side of the body that is facing away from me. I want to know what the fuss is about so I fly over and take my place on the dinosaur. Only now do I realize that I just flew the way without thinking about it.

Now I see what has gotten the others' attention. On its upper right thigh, there are five wounds, arranged evenly in an arc. The ones in the middle are deeper than the ones at the edges. It's clear that this hadrosaur has been attacked by a carnivore and managed a narrow escape. I suppose this is what got it separated from its herd in the first place.

The other birds peck on the wound and I wonder what they're after, so I approach to get a closer look. I can't see any insects or other parasites. Instead, the birds seem to enlargen the wound by biting the edges. One of them even drinks some of the emerging blood. I'm not sure what the hadrosaur thinks about this, but I can't imagine this to be beneficial. Aren't we supposed to be helpful, eating parasites and the like?

I leave the others be and fly back to my perch. After some minutes I see the pterosaur return. I wonder what it's about to do as it walks towards a clearing. Maybe it wants to leave, but I wonder how such a large animal even hopes to take off. Then it stops in the middle of the clearing and lowers its body, followed by swinging forward over its wings by pushing off with its hindfeet. Then, when the body is at the maximum height, the strong arms stretch out to propel the body into the air. The whole process takes about a second and the now airborne pterosaur takes to the skies. Amazed I watch it soar past the horizon.

The next half an hour remains rather uneventful. Suddenly the herd below me is stirring. It seems like they are preparing to move again. The alpha is already on its way to leave the lake area and most of the herd is following, with the last stragglers reluctantly ending their sunbathing doze.

As I watch the hornfaces leave I consider staying here at the lake. There are other dinosaurs I could accompany.
Edited by Flisch, Apr 11 2016, 01:37 PM.
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After some thinking I decide to follow the hornfaces again. The hadrosaurs would probably not be a big help should predators arrive and the sauropods do not seem inclined to move out of the lake area at all.

I take my place between the alpha's horns once more. Although the dinosaurs leave the valley the same way they entered, they take a turn to the right and continue walking into the opposite direction from where they came from. Considering the height of the sun and the sunbathing session the dinosaurs had some minutes ago, I would guess its either noon or shortly thereafter. The herd is walking towards the sun, but since I don't know on which side of the globe I'm on, it could be either north or south. At least I know we are not close to the equator, otherwise the sun would be almost vertically above us.

The progress now is not as fast as it was when the herd was moving towards the lake. Rather than walking continously, each herd member stops to feed on the vegetation, then catches up by moving to the front. Since each animal stops at different times, the progress is still steady, just a lot slower.

I watch my fellow birds as the herd is inching forward. I did not actually count, but it seems as if we are less than we used to. I suspect some of the birds stayed with the hadrosaurs. Trying to count the birds seems futile as they keep flying and hopping around the giant reptiles, but I do it anyway. If I am right, we are seven, including me.

Since the alpha is facing away from the group as it feeds on some plants, I have since turned around to watch the rest of the herd. While I am observing the other animals, one of my fellow birds is landing on the alpha's back, tweeting and doing some odd movements. At first I ignored it, but the bird seems to look at me all the time. Now I see that it does some strange dance, with the body lowered as if bowing before me and the wings slightly spread out and shaking. All the while it is hopping back and forth and left and right in an oddly regular pattern. Is that a courtship ritual? And is he doing it for me?

Wait, "he"? How do I know it's male? Well, for some reason I can tell. This must mean that I am most likely female. Goddamnit, why do I have to be female all the goddamn time? First the whale, then the squirrel and now this bird too. Who knows, the bird from the second trip could have also been female. Whatever, maybe the scientists' equipment is broken. Or maybe they neglected to tell me it only works on female animals so I would agree with their experiments.

I continue watching the bird below me. I'm in no mood to... get it on, right now. Although I do have to admit his movements are rather fluid. And the undersides of the wings have a nice violet sheen- I decide to stop that train of thought before I do something stupid. I fly down in front of him and let my admirer know that he has overstayed his welcome. He doesn't seem to get the hint so I peck him in the side, just enough to hurt. Now he leaves. Good.

I return to my place between the alpha's horns and continue watching the other animals. I can see my former admirer courting at least one other bird and I feel just a hint of jealousy, though vastly overshadowed by relief of being left alone.

After a while something seems to disturb the herd all of a sudden. I hear grunts and barks coming from the other side of the group. As the alpha is moving towards what is causing the commotion, it becomes clear that not all of the barks come from my herd. Then I see other hornfaces emerge between some trees, also lead by an alpha.

As the two alphas begin approaching one another, the rest of the two herds are moving back to stay out of the way. Now things get interesting, but I think I will watch it from a safe position, so I fly to a nearby tree. The alphas are now barking at each other. None of them seem to be intimidated by its opponent, however, so they enter the next phase of their quarrel.

The two animals lower their heads and move forwards, until their horns are interlocking. Thrusting their heads, they try to push each other backwards. I assume they will do so until one of the two gives up and cedes the territory to the winner.

I watch the battle go on for several minutes until I am suddenly pulled back to the present. I sigh out loud from within the timepod and after opening the lid Chris asks me what the matter is. I tell him that I was in the middle of something. Chris raises an eyebrow, but I don't feel like going into detail. They will get the full report soon enough. As I leave the lab, I think back to the fight of the two alphas.

Now I will never know who won.
Edited by Flisch, Apr 12 2016, 04:49 PM.
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C:\Users\qross\Documents\PalaeoNotes\Johnson_2019_11_28.doc
 
Timeframe: 79 mya - 71 mya
Era: Late Cretaceous
Session Length: 56 min
Location: Open woodland, probably North America

So it took five visits to the Cretaceous for ceratopsians to show up. What an elusive bunch.

The results are nevertheless fascinating, if not groundbreaking. I really wish Carlos could have heard about Johnson's trip. He would be ecstatic. Who knows, maybe he got to experience them first-hand in his last visit, though I'm not sure if that's a good thing considering what must have happened.

The environment Johnson described sounds similar to the one from Nathan's second trip, not immensely remarkable: Very open woodland with dense undergrowth.

The animals he encountered made up for it though. Most noteworthy are the aforementioned ceratopsians. His descriptions matched Diabloceratops so closely, that I will refer to them as such in the following text. This also means that his trip must have taken place in North America.

It should be noted that Johnson himself was not put into the body of a ceratopsian, but rather a bird that lived very similarly to a modern oxpecker. Thus he was able to follow around the dinosaurs and observe how they lived.

Apparently Diabloceratops lived in herds, which is not too remarkable, though somewhat strange considering that we haven't found any bone-beds of ceratopsians, which would imply a gregarious lifestyle. This could simply be a matter of chance though. It could also be that Diabloceratops was the social oddball here, but the presence of an alpha implies a rather developed social system.

Plus, we also seem to have found alphas of other species, without us knowing. The thing is that Johnson described the alpha as being bigger and having a larger, more rectangular frill, basically being stretched to the back. I was very strongly reminded of Torosaurus and Triceratops, as well as Titanoceratops and Pentaceratops. In both pairs we have an animal that is bigger than the other with a very similar frill, except larger and usually longer than wide, especially when compared to the smaller member of the pair.

This would mean that those who claimed that Torosaurus was the adult form of Triceratops were partially right. They are the same animal, but not necessarily different growth stages. If they were indeed the adult forms, Johnson should have seen more "alphas", but he was able to meet two herds and both had exactly one alpha each. To me this heavily implies that the growth process into the larger form is triggered by social standing. It could very well be that only the dominant member of the group grows up into an alpha.

As for why, I have no idea. Johnson described a fight between the two alphas of the two herds he encountered. Similar to how gorillas settle arguments between two herds by having their respective leaders fight, so too might the alphas be responsible not only for leading the herd, but also to deal with other alphas and settling "disputes". In this way they'd be king, diplomat and gladiator all in one. Interestingly, this could mean that the alpha morphism emerged due to selective pressure, in that only the strongest alpha would be able to guide their herd to rich feeding grounds. Rather than having the bigger size develop in all members of a herd and thus wasting energy, the genes for the alpha morph lay dormant until the conditions are met.

Some questions remain open though. Is only one gender eligible to become the alpha, and if yes, which one? If Johnson was in the body of one of the Diabloceratops, he might have been able to tell their gender, but hopefully this is something that we will find out in the future. Another interesting question is whether or not the alpha has special rights when it comes to reproduction.

As for their overall appearance, there's not too much surprise. Their tails were covered in bristles and their frills had colourful patterns that Johnson described as reminding him of butterfly wings.

The other animals didn't yield as much information. Though, I must say the discovery of alphas in ceratopsians is quite a lot already.

His own animal was a bird, as mentioned above. The behaviour was very close to that of an oxpecker, even down to the fact that they opened or at least enlargened wounds to attract parasites. They can't have been related to oxpeckers though, since passerines hadn't evolved at that point. Another case for very close convergent evolution.

Then there were three different types of hadrosaurs, two of which were actually lambeosaurines. Johnson was also able to see a pair of sauropods, though only from a distance. They had both a dewlap and a crest, just like in the reports from Carlos and Nathan. However, Johnson described the crest as a mane. It could either just be that it looked different from the distance, or that this species actually did have a mane.

Last but not least Johnson was able to witness an azhdarchid from up close. He even got to see it land and take off in one session. Interestingly they took off just how some palaeobiologists have predicted: By vaulting into the air from a standing position, without a run-up first. This is even more remarkable if one considers the sheer size of these animals. It's ridiculous to imagine a giraffe jump into the air, and yet these animals somehow did just that.
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Ultraviolet.

Quinton told me that was the silvery violet colour I saw. Apparently it's something humans can't normally see. He said that some mammals can see ultraviolet as well, but not with the same intensity as birds and reptiles in general. I also know now what these stains on the ground were: Urine. For some reason the piss of mammals is ultraviolet. To humans it's invisible of course, but birds apparently always know where we relieve ourselves. The stripes on the flower petals on the other hand were just regular markings. Quinton called them nectar guides, telling bees and other insects where to land and get food, kind of like tiny airstrips.

While we were talking about colours, Quinton asked me if I noticed anything else, when I was in a bird. I told him that everything seemed normal, which he found odd, because apparently everything is supposed to be more colourful and vibrant, due to the fact that I could see an additional wavelength that mixes with the others to produce new colours. He also asked me about my vision when I was in a mammal. I tell him that I could only see black and white when I was a whale, but otherwise, everything seemed normal. He found this strange as well, because most mammals cannot see many colours. He explicitly said that red was one of those wavelengths. I actually took a moment and thought back to my trips and I couldn't recall a single instance in which I saw something red, except for the times when I was a bird of course. Seems like I couldn't see red, but still see the other colours as I'm used to.

Somewhat confused, Quinton settled on the assumption that my human consciousness automatically converts the wavelengths I see into familiar colours, except when they are missing entirely, or if they are colours my brain cannot categorize at all, such as pure ultraviolet. Works for me. At least it makes my trips easier.

While I am thinking back to my past trips to find out if there was anything strange visually, I hear footsteps approach my apartment. My first guess is Stuart, but I am not entirely sure. I haven't seen him in a while.

I get up from the couch and open the door, just as the person starts knocking. It's Stu, as expected. He doesn't even greet me. Either he knows by now that I don't care about pleasantries, or he just genuinely doesn't like me. Both works for me.

He hands me a small note and explains that I will have two appointments in the next two days. Tomorrow I will have my first session with the psychologist, which will then continue on a weekly basis, always on a friday. The other appointment is a talk with Mrs. Lang on saturday. I ask him what it will be about. Stu says that she wants to ask me a few questions, about the current state, just to get an idea where I'm at. Mmh, whatever. I grab the note and ask him if there's anything else.

He says that everything was a little bit chaotic when I arrived, because it was on such short notice. As such they forgot to set up the apartment properly. He asks me if I need or want a computer, for personal use. I tell him that I don't. However he continues by telling me I could use it to manage my calendar, for example. I cannot hide a grin. He doesn't want to make my life easier, he wants to keep himself from having to tell me personally about my appointments. Nice try, Stu, but no. I tell him that I have a very good memory. If they want me to be somewhere, they can inform me and I'll be there.

Visibly disappointed, he tells me to inform him whenever I change my mind. Hah, he wishes. Before he leaves, he wants to know if there is anything else I need or want. I ask if they have any wood. There is a short silence as he thinks about my question. After some seconds he wants me to clarify. It was a silly remark and I don't feel like explaining this to him right now, so I say that it doesn't matter. Confused, he leaves.

As I wake up the next morning, I distinctly remember a dream with moving mountains. As the dream progressed they turned into animals, most of them big round reptiles with glowing eyes and shining patterns on their hides. It seems like lately my dreams are more vidid than usual. Maybe it has something to do with the trips? Well, the're just dreams, there's no need to be worried.

After going through my morning routine, I arrive in the lab. The atmosphere is better than yesterday, and Quinton is telling me about today's trip: 91 to 99 million years, still late Cretaceous. I take note of the fact that he doesn't try to recap the lesson we already had. Good.

I take my position in the timepod. As I see the lid coming down, a positive feeling washes over me. My body is looking forward to the trip as much as I am. I find myself silently joining in on the countdown in anticipation.

Three.

Two.

One.
Edited by Flisch, May 3 2016, 04:33 PM.
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Flisch
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As the vertigo subsides, I feel myself exhaling, accompanied by a loud noise, which fades away awkwardly as I gain control over the body. I guess the animal was in the middle of a bellow and I disrupted that. I take a look around to see if there was a reason for the roar, but I can't see anything of note in my immediate vicinity. It is early morning, just past the twilight state. The grey sky is not yet dominated by the sun and blankets of fog are drifting through the air.

Other than some groups of trees, the environment is very open. Ferns and other low-lying plants cover the ground like a blanket. I do hear some frogs and the occasional bird, but not as many as I would expect. Infact, I notice the lack of actual bird song. There are some caws and beak clatters, but no chirps. I also can't hear any crickets.

I do however hear an impossibly deep rumbling coming from somewhere on my right. I can tell immediately what it is. It sounded similar to the bellow I cut short, except... female. Almost reflexively I answer with my own bellow, which again is followed by a reply from the other... What animal am I even?

Without even looking at myself I can tell that I have a big low-lying body. I'm not exactly pressed to the ground, but considering my size, my head is somewhat close to the earth. Additionally I can feel four strong legs and a long heavy tail. I try to look at my body, but my neck is not that flexible due to some bony plates and spikes growing out of my shoulders and the base of my neck. Peering at my side, I can tell that the plates and spikes continue down my body all the way to the tip of my tail. I seem to be an ankylosaur, one of those without a tail club. At least I'm armed this time.

I hear another bellow coming from my right, closer this time. Damn, I forgot about the other one. Hopefully she didn't mind my lack of a reply. Wait, why do I even care? Regardless, I answer with my own bellow again. Luckily, there does not seem to be a complex language involved as with the whales some time ago.

Some exchanges later, the other ankylosaur comes into view, emerging from behind some bushes. She approaches me but turns her side to mine as she comes closer, until she presents her entire flank to me. She bellows again, but they are shorter this time and sound more like barks. I move forward and the other ankylosaur tilts her body so that her underside is slightly more visible. Is she presenting herself to me? Does she want us to mate? Well, she doesn't look bad at all- Argh, there's that train of thought again. I really shouldn't let the animal get control over me.

But... is it really in control? I hesitate for some seconds, not sure what to feel anymore. Part of me thinks that I should not give in to these instincts, but the other part is drawn towards the female in front of me. Moments pass as I look over the body of the ankylosaur, trapped in indecision.

Actually, what the fuck is the problem here? It's not like I'm giving up my humanity. I am still in full control of my actions and decisions.

And I decide to have sex.
Edited by Flisch, Apr 19 2016, 05:02 PM.
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I don't have a lot of experience with this. I only tried it a few times because sex is considered to be the best thing on earth, but it never appealed that much to me. I will see how it works out this time, the excitement is certainly there. Nevertheless this is something entirely new, considering I know nothing about these animals' anatomy or how they do it. Animals mount each other, but no way am I getting onto that spiky back of hers. Even trying to do it at an angle from the sides seems painful with all those spikes sticking out. Actually, why don't I just let my instincts take over, or rather the animal's instincts? I'm sure it would know what to do. I guess I'll just let it happen.

Suddenly I feel her tail gently brushing mine. Only now do I realize that during all my thinking I have somehow moved next to her so that our bodies are positioned in parallel. I let out an involuntary bark while our tails keep swinging back and forth, making brief contact in a pleasant rhythm.

As we stand there, letting out deep barks that become more and more drawn out over time, resembling moans, I feel a tingle in my groin. Looks like it's working. The sensation intensifies until there's a tug in the same area. I try to look back and see a pale yellow object sticking out from under my body. It is slightly curved like a spiral and tapers towards the tip. Rather than pointing straight ahead like a normal penis, instead it is aligned horizontally to my right, towards the female. I suppose this makes the process easier.

I can see my organ expanding, slowly uncurling and getting closer to the female. Eventually I feel the tip touching her body and the intensity of the sensation makes my head jerk back to the front. At the corner of my consciousness I notice our barks and our tails quickening. Not by much, but it's noticeable.

Minutes pass as my body is searching for the destination by touch alone. Subconscious movements in my hip area seem to steer the genital on its way. Eventually her spot is reached and a quick thrust seals the deal. A pulse goes through my organ and a shudder through my body. Moments later the female moves forward, ending our connection. In my haze I notice her walk away, while I stay where I am, as if rooted to the place.

As my manhood is returning into my body, so is my mind.
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