Primordial Chapter 4
Title: Primordial
Author: Aquaseamage
Pairing: None
Genre: Action/Adventure/ Humor
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Takes place during “On Stranger Tides” so spoiler warning
Summary: AU for both OST and JP.
Disclaimer: The characters are not mine. They belong to Disney and Amblin/Universal. This is just for fun.
Gillette and Groves emerged from the river soaking wet. Somehow Gillette had managed to keep his powdered wig and bicorn hat through the long fall, although he was unsure how that had happened. Nor could he believe he had actually jumped off of a cliff. Following Captain Barbossa around had taken a new sudden unexpected twist, one he really didn’t care for.
“At least there are no mermaids in the river…” Theo said as he climbed up the river’s bank onto dry land, water dripping off of his uniform.
“There’s probably worst things in the river. We’ve just haven’t seen them yet.” Andrew muttered as he followed him, wiping dripping water off of his face. Water squished in his black shoes but the heat would dry that soon enough. If this place was one thing, it was hot.
And he could see there were back to the tropical jungle, although if it was the same one from before they had entered the cave, he had no idea. It might be an entirely different jungle. Who knew about these magic doorways and how they worked? Jack and Barbossa waited just a few steps from the edge of the plants, talking. He and Theo joined them.
“You see? It’s not so bad…” Jack said to them as he waved his hands about. “Ye get used to jumping off of cliffs…”
“And what was that about a voodoo doll?” Barbossa asked Jack as he dug in his pocket for something.”
“Oh, nothing…”
“Spit it out, Jack. I don’t want any more surprises.” Barbossa ordered.
“It’s just that this girl I know…she’s doing voodoo on me, she and Blackbeard that is. He made this doll, see, and then they threw it off of a cliff and then I jumped off the cliff and I lived, see, because of the mumbo jumbo the big zombie guy did.”
Barbossa sighed. “How do you get into these messes? And now you’re claiming there’s zombies?”
“Seen them with my own eyes I did. Ya can’t kill ‘em because they’re already dead! So if you want to defeat Blackbeard, ya better figure out how to kill the unkillable first.” Jack watched how the older pirate pulled a metal container from his pocket. “Ooo, is there something to eat in there?”
“No, it’s my poison toad innards.” Barbossa replied as he turned to his two officers. “Pull out your blades. We need a little assurance to get out of this place and a bit of poison might be just the thing…and as fer zombies, we’ll deal with that later.”
Andrew and Theo pulled out their swords and held them as their captain carefully applied the toad poison.
“Will those giant reptiles eat zombies?” Andrew asked as he looked at his now poisoned sword, wrinkling his nose. It didn’t smell good at all. In fact, it stunk something awful.
“I reckon they’ll eat anything that moves.” Barbossa replied as he applied the poison to Theo’s sword. “Now be careful with them. Get scratched by ‘em and the poison will kill you in less than five minutes.”
“We’ll be careful.” Theo promised as he carefully slid his now poisoned blade into its scabbard. “Which way do we go now?”
“Well, Jack?” Barbossa turned to the younger pirate who was peering upward at the cliff they had jumped off, his kohl-rimmed eyes seeing the hungry reptile staring downward. He didn’t care for the fact that it had followed them.
“That one is going to be a problem. I can feel it in me gut.” Jack commented as he turned about, facing the opposite direction. “We go this way, mate, away from the nasty beasties. But first, we go inland a bit, away from the river.”
Jack shoved the green fronds aside and stepped into the jungle. Soon the way became clearer and they could move between the trees more freely, the canopy high overhead stopping most of the growth on the ground.
A high pitch sound carried on the breeze and Jack stopped, listening. He turned to the others. “Did ye hear that?”
They stood still and listened. The sound grew louder and clearer.
“It sounds like a woman screaming.” Theo stated. “You don’t think the Spanish had women with them, do you?”
“Nay. They wouldn’t bring women any more than we would.” Barbossa replied, his head tilted a bit to hear better. “But yer right. It does sound like a young woman screaming, no doubt being chased by some horrible beast.”
“Well, it’s certainly not Angelica.” Jack knew that for a fact. She could take care of herself. Besides, her voice was lower than this high pitch wail.
Barbossa pulled out his sword, his keen eyes staring ahead to where the sound was coming from. He heard the sound of his officers drawing their blades as well.
“Are ye sure you wanting to be doing this, Barbossa? What if it’s a pack of them nasty beasties? The four of us cannot fight that.” Jack pointed out nervously as he stared between the trees, his hand on the hilt of his sword. “Of course, saving a fair damsel is all very good!”
“She may know another exit from this place, Jack.” Barbossa pointed out the obvious.
That made more sense to Jack as Hector normally didn’t go around saving people, female or not. What pirate did? Pirates only did things that they could profit from and Barbossa wanted out of this beast ridden jungle badly, badly enough he would even start doing good deeds. Imagine that.
And then the ground started trembling under their feet.
Theo and Andrew exchanged fearful glances but stood with their swords at the ready on either side of their captain. Barbossa seemed fearless, his leg and peg spread apart for better balance and his poisoned blade in his good hand.
The screaming was even louder and then two blonde children appeared, running frantically. They were dressed in the oddest clothes ever and were certainly not Spanish. This shocked all of them, as how did children get to the Fountain of Youth? Did someone abandon them here among the nightmare beasts?
And then they saw what was chasing the kids, something far worse than the beasties they had seen earlier. This one was twice as tall for one, at least twelve feet. And it was so heavy that when it ran each footfall made the ground shake beneath their boots. The treetops swayed as it passed by the trees, its huge mouth lunging forward trying to grab one of the kids. It ran with its gigantic head trust outward in front of itself, a large horn over its nose very prominent. Its eyes were almost not visible due to the bony head ridges on top of its giant skull. Its arms were tiny and shrunken, practically useless. Somehow the children kept avoiding it, just staying ahead of it by a few feet. The children saw them, then, and both put on an extra burst of speed.
“Your swords not going to work on that thing.” Jack commented. “It must weigh a ton.”
“Yer always a coward, Jack.” Barbossa replied, holding his ground unafraid. He could sense both of his lieutenants fidgeting, unsure if they should stay with him or dive on the side. He didn’t blame them. It was a hard thing to do, stare down the throat of your approaching death. “They do this in Africa, yer know, to prove yer a man.”
“With a lion, not this thing!”
“They bite just the same, Jack.”
Jack sighed but made ready to snatch the kids to safety if it was needed.
“Aim fer its tender mouth.” Barbossa ordered. “But watch out fer its teeth - it could take yer arm right off. And make sure it doesn’t fall on you, either.”
Andrew grimaced. This assignment was getting worst and worst! First jumping off of cliffs and now taking on a giant monster! He didn’t join the Royal Navy to do this. Heck, he didn’t even know pirates did this sort of stuff! Weren’t they supposed to go around and raid ships or towns? That’s what Norrington had always said they did. And here they were in a jungle saving children from some runaway overgrown lizard!
Theo was feeling very uncertain as well, but he had always secretly desired to go on an adventure with Captain Jack Sparrow. He just never dreamed that the pirate got himself into such strange and dangerous situations! He saw how fearless Barbossa appeared to be and wondered how the man did it. Just seeing the creature coming right at him, behind the poor kids, made him want to leap aside and flee. But his duty wouldn’t allow him to do that.
The two children were almost upon them now and they quickly darted to one side to go around the clearly armed men. And then the gigantic monster was upon them, its mouth open wide and descending at an incredible speed. Barbossa was ready, his sword aimed upward at an angle to stab the soft innards inside its mouth and hopefully go into its brain. Even if he didn’t get the brain, the poison would take care of it. He could see the blades of his officers ready, too, and he hoped they were ready to jump aside. His blade hit the tissue inside its mouth and a powerful jolt went down his arm, as the creature had a lot of force behind it. The blade sunk into the creature easily, like a knife into a ripe piece of fruit. The Pirate Lord let go of his sword and leaped back, his officers jumping back as well. They had each stabbed it with their swords, the hilts plainly visible inside its open maw.
The creature roared a terrible sound that shocked them in its loudness. Then it stumbled on its feet, swaying this way and that. Finally it fell over, the impact of its body hitting the ground making everything shake.
“Ye see, a little poison be a good thing.” Barbossa smiled a bit evilly as he cautiously approached the beast, tapping at it with his wooden crutch to see if it moved. “We gave it a good dose of poison, so it acted a lot swifter. I suspect the thing thought we were defenseless and easy prey.”
Jack had rounded up the two kids, making sure they were safe during the duel.
“Oh, I can’t believe I just did that…” Andrew leaned against a nearby tree, sweat pouring of his brow. “The craziness must be catching…”
Theo was feeling the shock and adrenalin rush as well. He slowly made his way over to the captain, who was staring at the gigantic creature’s head. Its body was jerking and trembling sporadically, its mouth opening and closing. But the life was already gone from its eye. Still, he wouldn’t want to stick his hand into its mouth to get his sword back, not until he was certain it was cold and not going to move any more.
“It be dead already, but its muscles don’t know that yet.” Barbossa commented as he waited patiently to retrieve his sword.
Jack, meanwhile, ended up consoling the two terrified children who now clung to him, crying on his shoulders as he crouched down before them. “It be all right, mates. The beastie is dead. See, ol’ Barbossa has killed it with his shiny sword. Didn’t know he had it in him truthfully….”
Sniffling a bit but feeling calmer already, Tim wondered over to the dead dinosaur. He stared at it with wide eyes. He poked it one in the snout with the tip of his sneaker. “Boy, those ceratosaurus sure get big!”
Barbossa and Theo stared at the young boy in surprise.
“What did ye call this critter?” Barbossa asked.
“It’s a ceratosaurus. It means ‘horned lizard’. According to Dr. Grant’s book it’s supposed to be a scavenger but I’m having my doubts as to how accurate this book is. But think, a real dinosaur!” Tim was in a good mood now. “Of course, you can see it’s a theropod as it walks on two legs…”
“Ye know about these giant reptiles?” Barbossa asked, glad he had saved the children now. Information in this sort of case was priceless and their very survival might depend on it.
“Of course I do.” Tim replied as he turned now to look at Barbossa and Groves, noting for the first time their odd clothing. His eyes darted about, from the pistols tucked into their belts to Barbossa’s bicorn hat and to their white trousers that ended above their knees with the white stockings. Then Gillette came over and he noted the white powdered wig and their black shoes. “Uhhh… I read it … in a book?”
“Ye can read?” Barbossa asked, impressed by this bit as it suggested he came from a wealthy family. The Pirate Lord turned privateer smiled in a friendly manner, revealing several golden teeth. “I be Captain Hector Barbossa, of His Majesty’s Royal Navy. And these be me officers, Lieutenant Commander Theodore Groves and Second Lieutenant Andrew Gillette. We won’t hurt ye, boy. What’s yer name?”
“Tim Murphy.” He replied. “And she’s my sister, Lex.”
“And how did ye get here to the Fountain of Youth?”
A confused expression appeared on his face. “What fountain? This is my grandpa’s park, as far as I know. Or anyway, I think it is. There was this shimmery curtain that looked like a pool of water and we went through it and ended up outside.”
“And where be this pool of shimmery water?” Barbossa asked, knowing it must be another magic gateway.
Tim shrugged. “Why are you dressed like that?”
“We be in the Navy.” Barbossa explained, but also was wondering about the child’s odd clothes. He had never seen shoes like those before and he had traveled all around the world. If something like them had existed, he would have seen them. And he hadn’t. “Where de ye hail from?”
Tim just stared at him, having no idea what he had asked. The only kind of hail he knew was ice balls that fell from the sky during bad thunderstorms. “What?”
“Where are ye from?” Barbossa repeated, his clever mind beginning to realize the child didn’t know certain words.
“Well, this is Isla Nublar, isn’t it?”
The three Navy men exchanged glances. None of them had ever heard of Isla Nublar.
Jack then brought over the girl, who was a bit older. He had managed to calm her down but her face was streaked by tears and her eyes red. She stared at the dead dinosaur, amazed that they had actually killed it. Her eyes grew wider as her gaze flickered from the dead theropod to the three navy men. “How … how did you kill that thing?”
“Toad poison, on our swords.” Barbossa said proudly, sticking his chest out and holding his chin higher in the air. “It be but in a day’s service.”
“Swords?” Tim exclaimed, surprised. He did recall seeing them holding something but he had thought it must have been rifles. No one these days used swords!
Barbossa bent forward and stuck his hand and arm inside the creature’s mouth as both children gasped in fear. Pulling back, he yanked his sword out. The long polished steel blade was red with blood. “See, me sword.”
“Look at all the blood!” Tim exclaimed as he stared fascinated at the red blade.
Barbossa wiped the blood off on the nearby grass and then stuck his sword back into the scabbard. “Tell me, Missy, do ye think this is Isla Nublar as ye brother says or are we somewhere else?”
“Well, there should be fences…” Lex admitted as she thought on the matter.
“Fences…” Andrew repeated.
“Yes, big tall fences to keep each animal in its own area. They’re electrified, of course.” Lex glanced down at the weight in her hand and realized she still had her laptop. And that it could access the internet or the satellites up in orbit. “How can I be so stupid? I can use the GPS to find out where we are!”
Tim laughed. “It’s all busted I bet! You were hitting compys with it! Besides, we’re in the middle of a jungle? Where are you going to plug it in? You are such a nerd!”
“I told you, I am not a nerd! I am a hacker! And I don’t need to plug it in. It has batteries. And I know Grandpa gave me a GPS unit with the laptop…I just never used it before.”
“Barbossa,” Jack said softly as he inched close to the other pirate, his dark eyes on the two blonde children. “I fear we have found something even odder than these beasties. They be talking English but it not be normal like and laced with odd words. And they look funny.”
“You think I haven’t noticed that, Jack? I’m not blind.” Barbossa stood still as he watched the blonde girl open some sort of bag and pull something out. The thing was made of some smooth pale gray material unlike anything he had ever seen before. It wasn’t metal and it wasn’t wood or rock or any other commonly used matter. The rectangular device opened easily and he could see little squares on one end while the other end was black and shiny, as if covered in a pane of window glass. Curious, he moved closer to get a better look. She pressed one of the squares and the black window lit up, an odd sound coming from the strange contraption.
“What is that thing?” Gillette asked as he, too, moved in close and stood behind the girl, peering over her shoulder. To his utter shock, bright colors and words flickered over the upper part of the thing.
“It’s a computer, a laptop.” Lex explained as she waited for it to wake up so she could access the GPS program. Now where was the receiver? She dug in a separate little pocket on the protective case and found it, sighing to see the thin black antenna was still in one piece. A long wire dangled from it and she studied the end of the wire to see what type of port it used.
Groves stood next to Gillette, watching the strange device as well. “What does it do?”
Tim rolled his eyes. “It won’t do anything because it’s busted!”
“It is not broken! It’s turning on properly.” Lex shot back at him, clearly annoyed. “You should be thankful I brought it along and that Grandpa had enough foresight to install a GPS on it. How else will we know where we are? It’ll tell us our exact latitude and longitude, which way is north, everything.”
“Is there a sextant in that thing?” Gillette asked doubtfully. “Besides, with all of these trees overhead it’s near impossible to see the sun clearly or to tell when its noon…”
“Oh, it uses satellites in orbit…” Lex stated as she plugged the wire from the antenna into the proper port, then turned on the correct program. She waited with held breath, praying that it would work as she absolutely hated being chased by dinosaurs! And it seemed they were getting bigger and bigger! What had her Grandpa been thinking, putting such dangerous creatures into his park? And why had he left that door unlocked like that? Moments ticked by and the program kept saying the same thing, that it was searching. Finally it spat out a message.
UNABLE TO CONNECT WITH SATELLITES.
Tim shook his head. “I told you…”
“But there’s always several up there within range and we only need three…” She knew the program was working correctly and so were the antenna and her computer. “Satellites just don’t disappear.”
“Did it occur to you, Missy, that ye be in the past?”
TBC…
Author: Aquaseamage
Pairing: None
Genre: Action/Adventure/ Humor
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Takes place during “On Stranger Tides” so spoiler warning
Summary: AU for both OST and JP.
Disclaimer: The characters are not mine. They belong to Disney and Amblin/Universal. This is just for fun.
Gillette and Groves emerged from the river soaking wet. Somehow Gillette had managed to keep his powdered wig and bicorn hat through the long fall, although he was unsure how that had happened. Nor could he believe he had actually jumped off of a cliff. Following Captain Barbossa around had taken a new sudden unexpected twist, one he really didn’t care for.
“At least there are no mermaids in the river…” Theo said as he climbed up the river’s bank onto dry land, water dripping off of his uniform.
“There’s probably worst things in the river. We’ve just haven’t seen them yet.” Andrew muttered as he followed him, wiping dripping water off of his face. Water squished in his black shoes but the heat would dry that soon enough. If this place was one thing, it was hot.
And he could see there were back to the tropical jungle, although if it was the same one from before they had entered the cave, he had no idea. It might be an entirely different jungle. Who knew about these magic doorways and how they worked? Jack and Barbossa waited just a few steps from the edge of the plants, talking. He and Theo joined them.
“You see? It’s not so bad…” Jack said to them as he waved his hands about. “Ye get used to jumping off of cliffs…”
“And what was that about a voodoo doll?” Barbossa asked Jack as he dug in his pocket for something.”
“Oh, nothing…”
“Spit it out, Jack. I don’t want any more surprises.” Barbossa ordered.
“It’s just that this girl I know…she’s doing voodoo on me, she and Blackbeard that is. He made this doll, see, and then they threw it off of a cliff and then I jumped off the cliff and I lived, see, because of the mumbo jumbo the big zombie guy did.”
Barbossa sighed. “How do you get into these messes? And now you’re claiming there’s zombies?”
“Seen them with my own eyes I did. Ya can’t kill ‘em because they’re already dead! So if you want to defeat Blackbeard, ya better figure out how to kill the unkillable first.” Jack watched how the older pirate pulled a metal container from his pocket. “Ooo, is there something to eat in there?”
“No, it’s my poison toad innards.” Barbossa replied as he turned to his two officers. “Pull out your blades. We need a little assurance to get out of this place and a bit of poison might be just the thing…and as fer zombies, we’ll deal with that later.”
Andrew and Theo pulled out their swords and held them as their captain carefully applied the toad poison.
“Will those giant reptiles eat zombies?” Andrew asked as he looked at his now poisoned sword, wrinkling his nose. It didn’t smell good at all. In fact, it stunk something awful.
“I reckon they’ll eat anything that moves.” Barbossa replied as he applied the poison to Theo’s sword. “Now be careful with them. Get scratched by ‘em and the poison will kill you in less than five minutes.”
“We’ll be careful.” Theo promised as he carefully slid his now poisoned blade into its scabbard. “Which way do we go now?”
“Well, Jack?” Barbossa turned to the younger pirate who was peering upward at the cliff they had jumped off, his kohl-rimmed eyes seeing the hungry reptile staring downward. He didn’t care for the fact that it had followed them.
“That one is going to be a problem. I can feel it in me gut.” Jack commented as he turned about, facing the opposite direction. “We go this way, mate, away from the nasty beasties. But first, we go inland a bit, away from the river.”
Jack shoved the green fronds aside and stepped into the jungle. Soon the way became clearer and they could move between the trees more freely, the canopy high overhead stopping most of the growth on the ground.
A high pitch sound carried on the breeze and Jack stopped, listening. He turned to the others. “Did ye hear that?”
They stood still and listened. The sound grew louder and clearer.
“It sounds like a woman screaming.” Theo stated. “You don’t think the Spanish had women with them, do you?”
“Nay. They wouldn’t bring women any more than we would.” Barbossa replied, his head tilted a bit to hear better. “But yer right. It does sound like a young woman screaming, no doubt being chased by some horrible beast.”
“Well, it’s certainly not Angelica.” Jack knew that for a fact. She could take care of herself. Besides, her voice was lower than this high pitch wail.
Barbossa pulled out his sword, his keen eyes staring ahead to where the sound was coming from. He heard the sound of his officers drawing their blades as well.
“Are ye sure you wanting to be doing this, Barbossa? What if it’s a pack of them nasty beasties? The four of us cannot fight that.” Jack pointed out nervously as he stared between the trees, his hand on the hilt of his sword. “Of course, saving a fair damsel is all very good!”
“She may know another exit from this place, Jack.” Barbossa pointed out the obvious.
That made more sense to Jack as Hector normally didn’t go around saving people, female or not. What pirate did? Pirates only did things that they could profit from and Barbossa wanted out of this beast ridden jungle badly, badly enough he would even start doing good deeds. Imagine that.
And then the ground started trembling under their feet.
Theo and Andrew exchanged fearful glances but stood with their swords at the ready on either side of their captain. Barbossa seemed fearless, his leg and peg spread apart for better balance and his poisoned blade in his good hand.
The screaming was even louder and then two blonde children appeared, running frantically. They were dressed in the oddest clothes ever and were certainly not Spanish. This shocked all of them, as how did children get to the Fountain of Youth? Did someone abandon them here among the nightmare beasts?
And then they saw what was chasing the kids, something far worse than the beasties they had seen earlier. This one was twice as tall for one, at least twelve feet. And it was so heavy that when it ran each footfall made the ground shake beneath their boots. The treetops swayed as it passed by the trees, its huge mouth lunging forward trying to grab one of the kids. It ran with its gigantic head trust outward in front of itself, a large horn over its nose very prominent. Its eyes were almost not visible due to the bony head ridges on top of its giant skull. Its arms were tiny and shrunken, practically useless. Somehow the children kept avoiding it, just staying ahead of it by a few feet. The children saw them, then, and both put on an extra burst of speed.
“Your swords not going to work on that thing.” Jack commented. “It must weigh a ton.”
“Yer always a coward, Jack.” Barbossa replied, holding his ground unafraid. He could sense both of his lieutenants fidgeting, unsure if they should stay with him or dive on the side. He didn’t blame them. It was a hard thing to do, stare down the throat of your approaching death. “They do this in Africa, yer know, to prove yer a man.”
“With a lion, not this thing!”
“They bite just the same, Jack.”
Jack sighed but made ready to snatch the kids to safety if it was needed.
“Aim fer its tender mouth.” Barbossa ordered. “But watch out fer its teeth - it could take yer arm right off. And make sure it doesn’t fall on you, either.”
Andrew grimaced. This assignment was getting worst and worst! First jumping off of cliffs and now taking on a giant monster! He didn’t join the Royal Navy to do this. Heck, he didn’t even know pirates did this sort of stuff! Weren’t they supposed to go around and raid ships or towns? That’s what Norrington had always said they did. And here they were in a jungle saving children from some runaway overgrown lizard!
Theo was feeling very uncertain as well, but he had always secretly desired to go on an adventure with Captain Jack Sparrow. He just never dreamed that the pirate got himself into such strange and dangerous situations! He saw how fearless Barbossa appeared to be and wondered how the man did it. Just seeing the creature coming right at him, behind the poor kids, made him want to leap aside and flee. But his duty wouldn’t allow him to do that.
The two children were almost upon them now and they quickly darted to one side to go around the clearly armed men. And then the gigantic monster was upon them, its mouth open wide and descending at an incredible speed. Barbossa was ready, his sword aimed upward at an angle to stab the soft innards inside its mouth and hopefully go into its brain. Even if he didn’t get the brain, the poison would take care of it. He could see the blades of his officers ready, too, and he hoped they were ready to jump aside. His blade hit the tissue inside its mouth and a powerful jolt went down his arm, as the creature had a lot of force behind it. The blade sunk into the creature easily, like a knife into a ripe piece of fruit. The Pirate Lord let go of his sword and leaped back, his officers jumping back as well. They had each stabbed it with their swords, the hilts plainly visible inside its open maw.
The creature roared a terrible sound that shocked them in its loudness. Then it stumbled on its feet, swaying this way and that. Finally it fell over, the impact of its body hitting the ground making everything shake.
“Ye see, a little poison be a good thing.” Barbossa smiled a bit evilly as he cautiously approached the beast, tapping at it with his wooden crutch to see if it moved. “We gave it a good dose of poison, so it acted a lot swifter. I suspect the thing thought we were defenseless and easy prey.”
Jack had rounded up the two kids, making sure they were safe during the duel.
“Oh, I can’t believe I just did that…” Andrew leaned against a nearby tree, sweat pouring of his brow. “The craziness must be catching…”
Theo was feeling the shock and adrenalin rush as well. He slowly made his way over to the captain, who was staring at the gigantic creature’s head. Its body was jerking and trembling sporadically, its mouth opening and closing. But the life was already gone from its eye. Still, he wouldn’t want to stick his hand into its mouth to get his sword back, not until he was certain it was cold and not going to move any more.
“It be dead already, but its muscles don’t know that yet.” Barbossa commented as he waited patiently to retrieve his sword.
Jack, meanwhile, ended up consoling the two terrified children who now clung to him, crying on his shoulders as he crouched down before them. “It be all right, mates. The beastie is dead. See, ol’ Barbossa has killed it with his shiny sword. Didn’t know he had it in him truthfully….”
Sniffling a bit but feeling calmer already, Tim wondered over to the dead dinosaur. He stared at it with wide eyes. He poked it one in the snout with the tip of his sneaker. “Boy, those ceratosaurus sure get big!”
Barbossa and Theo stared at the young boy in surprise.
“What did ye call this critter?” Barbossa asked.
“It’s a ceratosaurus. It means ‘horned lizard’. According to Dr. Grant’s book it’s supposed to be a scavenger but I’m having my doubts as to how accurate this book is. But think, a real dinosaur!” Tim was in a good mood now. “Of course, you can see it’s a theropod as it walks on two legs…”
“Ye know about these giant reptiles?” Barbossa asked, glad he had saved the children now. Information in this sort of case was priceless and their very survival might depend on it.
“Of course I do.” Tim replied as he turned now to look at Barbossa and Groves, noting for the first time their odd clothing. His eyes darted about, from the pistols tucked into their belts to Barbossa’s bicorn hat and to their white trousers that ended above their knees with the white stockings. Then Gillette came over and he noted the white powdered wig and their black shoes. “Uhhh… I read it … in a book?”
“Ye can read?” Barbossa asked, impressed by this bit as it suggested he came from a wealthy family. The Pirate Lord turned privateer smiled in a friendly manner, revealing several golden teeth. “I be Captain Hector Barbossa, of His Majesty’s Royal Navy. And these be me officers, Lieutenant Commander Theodore Groves and Second Lieutenant Andrew Gillette. We won’t hurt ye, boy. What’s yer name?”
“Tim Murphy.” He replied. “And she’s my sister, Lex.”
“And how did ye get here to the Fountain of Youth?”
A confused expression appeared on his face. “What fountain? This is my grandpa’s park, as far as I know. Or anyway, I think it is. There was this shimmery curtain that looked like a pool of water and we went through it and ended up outside.”
“And where be this pool of shimmery water?” Barbossa asked, knowing it must be another magic gateway.
Tim shrugged. “Why are you dressed like that?”
“We be in the Navy.” Barbossa explained, but also was wondering about the child’s odd clothes. He had never seen shoes like those before and he had traveled all around the world. If something like them had existed, he would have seen them. And he hadn’t. “Where de ye hail from?”
Tim just stared at him, having no idea what he had asked. The only kind of hail he knew was ice balls that fell from the sky during bad thunderstorms. “What?”
“Where are ye from?” Barbossa repeated, his clever mind beginning to realize the child didn’t know certain words.
“Well, this is Isla Nublar, isn’t it?”
The three Navy men exchanged glances. None of them had ever heard of Isla Nublar.
Jack then brought over the girl, who was a bit older. He had managed to calm her down but her face was streaked by tears and her eyes red. She stared at the dead dinosaur, amazed that they had actually killed it. Her eyes grew wider as her gaze flickered from the dead theropod to the three navy men. “How … how did you kill that thing?”
“Toad poison, on our swords.” Barbossa said proudly, sticking his chest out and holding his chin higher in the air. “It be but in a day’s service.”
“Swords?” Tim exclaimed, surprised. He did recall seeing them holding something but he had thought it must have been rifles. No one these days used swords!
Barbossa bent forward and stuck his hand and arm inside the creature’s mouth as both children gasped in fear. Pulling back, he yanked his sword out. The long polished steel blade was red with blood. “See, me sword.”
“Look at all the blood!” Tim exclaimed as he stared fascinated at the red blade.
Barbossa wiped the blood off on the nearby grass and then stuck his sword back into the scabbard. “Tell me, Missy, do ye think this is Isla Nublar as ye brother says or are we somewhere else?”
“Well, there should be fences…” Lex admitted as she thought on the matter.
“Fences…” Andrew repeated.
“Yes, big tall fences to keep each animal in its own area. They’re electrified, of course.” Lex glanced down at the weight in her hand and realized she still had her laptop. And that it could access the internet or the satellites up in orbit. “How can I be so stupid? I can use the GPS to find out where we are!”
Tim laughed. “It’s all busted I bet! You were hitting compys with it! Besides, we’re in the middle of a jungle? Where are you going to plug it in? You are such a nerd!”
“I told you, I am not a nerd! I am a hacker! And I don’t need to plug it in. It has batteries. And I know Grandpa gave me a GPS unit with the laptop…I just never used it before.”
“Barbossa,” Jack said softly as he inched close to the other pirate, his dark eyes on the two blonde children. “I fear we have found something even odder than these beasties. They be talking English but it not be normal like and laced with odd words. And they look funny.”
“You think I haven’t noticed that, Jack? I’m not blind.” Barbossa stood still as he watched the blonde girl open some sort of bag and pull something out. The thing was made of some smooth pale gray material unlike anything he had ever seen before. It wasn’t metal and it wasn’t wood or rock or any other commonly used matter. The rectangular device opened easily and he could see little squares on one end while the other end was black and shiny, as if covered in a pane of window glass. Curious, he moved closer to get a better look. She pressed one of the squares and the black window lit up, an odd sound coming from the strange contraption.
“What is that thing?” Gillette asked as he, too, moved in close and stood behind the girl, peering over her shoulder. To his utter shock, bright colors and words flickered over the upper part of the thing.
“It’s a computer, a laptop.” Lex explained as she waited for it to wake up so she could access the GPS program. Now where was the receiver? She dug in a separate little pocket on the protective case and found it, sighing to see the thin black antenna was still in one piece. A long wire dangled from it and she studied the end of the wire to see what type of port it used.
Groves stood next to Gillette, watching the strange device as well. “What does it do?”
Tim rolled his eyes. “It won’t do anything because it’s busted!”
“It is not broken! It’s turning on properly.” Lex shot back at him, clearly annoyed. “You should be thankful I brought it along and that Grandpa had enough foresight to install a GPS on it. How else will we know where we are? It’ll tell us our exact latitude and longitude, which way is north, everything.”
“Is there a sextant in that thing?” Gillette asked doubtfully. “Besides, with all of these trees overhead it’s near impossible to see the sun clearly or to tell when its noon…”
“Oh, it uses satellites in orbit…” Lex stated as she plugged the wire from the antenna into the proper port, then turned on the correct program. She waited with held breath, praying that it would work as she absolutely hated being chased by dinosaurs! And it seemed they were getting bigger and bigger! What had her Grandpa been thinking, putting such dangerous creatures into his park? And why had he left that door unlocked like that? Moments ticked by and the program kept saying the same thing, that it was searching. Finally it spat out a message.
UNABLE TO CONNECT WITH SATELLITES.
Tim shook his head. “I told you…”
“But there’s always several up there within range and we only need three…” She knew the program was working correctly and so were the antenna and her computer. “Satellites just don’t disappear.”
“Did it occur to you, Missy, that ye be in the past?”
TBC…