Jurassic Space Part II
Posted on Sat Jun 6th, 2026 @ 11:09am by Lieutenant Christopher Blake & Ensign Nala Rider
Edited on on Thu Jun 11th, 2026 @ 6:04am
3,004 words; about a 15 minute read
Mission:
Episode 2 - The Sins of History
Location: Holodeck 2 - Deck 4 - USS Artemis
Timeline: MD014 - 1700 hr
There was more movement now as the shell cracked. After a bit more movement, part of the shell fell away as a tiny claw poked through and scrapped down through the shell. Everyone was in awe as the tiny creature cracked away more of the shell until it poked a scaly head up and looked around slowly. It let out a high pitched squawk as the robotic arms began to move it once more into an incubator.
"Was that..."
"Yes. It is."
John giggled excitedly. "Yes everyone, that was a velociraptor." The smile on his face stood in stark contrast to the horror that seemed etched on most of the group.
Nala couldn't help giggling as well. John's enthusiasm was just that contagious!
"So you're breeding raptors? They were highly intelligent pack hunters. Tell us John, just how many carnivorous or dangerous breeds have you created?" The archaeologist was visibly upset at dinner later that evening. He'd been hounding John ever since the incubator room.
"Well Alan," John said with a jovial laugh tinged with a tiredness. "A lot of people would say that all dinosaurs are dangerous. A lot of the creatures on Earth can be considered dangerous."
"Yes... but uhh.. you're adding to the ahh danger column John." Malcolm countered between a bite of his salad. "You are tipping the ahh... proverbial scales!"
John raised his hands in mock surrender. "Gentlemen," He then motioned to the women also sat at the table. "And ladies, I understand your concern and I assure you we've taken ever precaution and safety measure into account here. We run simulations and daily drills. All carnivorous dinosaurs are safely contained and tracked. There is nothing to fear here I promise."
Chris listened to the discussion with the interest of a passenger on the titanic watching the iceberg approach. He kept mostly quiet but took a glance at Nala. He remembered that something happened, but couldn't remember the details. He stuck a fork into a cherry tomato and popped it into his mouth. Chewing and swallowing it before catching Nala's eye. "How's your salad?"
Nala'd been only half listening to the conversation in order to keep her ears open for the disaster she knew was coming...even though she couldn't remember exactly WHEN said disaster was going to take place. Chris's question drew her back to the table.
"It's really good...I tweaked the settings to make it Wraith steak strips instead of regular cow cause after all that drama I wanted a little spice," Nala grinned sheepishly.
"How do we know the dinosaurs wouldn't just continue to reproduce and overrun this island?" The dude with BAD fashion sense asked...well slurred was a more appropriate term, the guy was straight DRUNK. Nala winced, bracing for a brawl.
"Because, my good fellow, they are all females." Mr. John said smoothly, not seeming to be fazed by Mr. Drunky Breath.
The drunk guy froze for a moment, went to speak, froze again, then merely sat back down, redder in the face than when he'd stood up before. Nala let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"Excuse me, would we be able to explore the park after we eat?" Nala asked, trying to change the subject.
John was obviously happy that Nala had spoken up and broke the tension. "Why yes Nala! Of course, I've got a full day of excursions and demonstrations to show you all!" He glanced at Alan once more but didn't lose his smile. "I'm sure you will all find it very entertaining and reassuring."
Chris gritted his teeth. This was a story, it was like watching Icarus fly higher and higher as he watched John talk. It was a story, and that was the point. But a part of him felt bad that they couldn't warn Icarus about the sun.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd love to see some of the dangerous ones. Behind the fences and cages of course." Chris said with a shrug. If he couldn't warn Icarus he might as well prepare to watch the show.
Nala nodded eagerly...then she remembered that the story was gonna go bad cause of the meat-eaters...and gulped.
The group soon found themselves divided into groups of four and assigned to different awaiting jeeps at the front of the compound. Unlike when they'd arrived, the sky was a bit darker and the winds had picked up. As Chris sat in the driver seat of his jeep, he noticed that there were pecks of rain on the windshield.
John's voice chirped over the speakers. "Everyone buckle in. All of your vehicles are linked to the lead vehicle and will follow along on their own. You should all be able to hear me through the tour. If there are any questions, please use the radios."
Chris looked at the others in his jeep. Nala had picked her spot next to him while Ian Malcolm and the Mr. Gennero, the lawyer, had taken the back seats and were already starting to squabble. He rolled his eyes at their back and forth before turning back to look at them. "If you kids don't behave yourselves, you're not getting any ice cream."
They paused for a moment before dismissing Chris and going back to their argument which currently revolved around how spectacle and profits were required to truly fund ethics research. Chris sat back in his seat and grinned at Nala. "Worth a shot right?"
"Pfff yeah. I get a kick out of guys getting all in a huff about silly stuff like that. I think we get about half way through before we get zapped right?" Nala asked softly, watching the raindrops get bigger.
"I can't remember what exactly set things off, but I know it was during the storm." Chris whispered back. As he spoke, the jeep ahead of them began to move and their own lurched forward under automatic control.
He looked down at the wheel as it turned on it's own. "I didn't know they had self driving vehicles this far back."
"That always puzzled me as well. I mean, they could hardly get into orbit, yet they figured out how to do this, it's quite interesting." Nala watched the set-up for a minute, then looked back out into the storm.
With the two men involved in their argument and the vehicle driving itself, Chris relaxed and bit and offered a lopsided grin at Nala. "So at the time, they really believed dinosaurs really looked like this. It wasn't until we learned more that they found out how wrong they were. There's a follow up to this holonovel that explains the dinosaurs looked like this due to the mixing of genes, and selecting the traits to specifically make them look this way. So it's not so much about the dinosaurs but a lesson in science going too far." He motioned to the men in the back with a nod of his head. "Just like our boy Malcom says."
"Ah, understood. Wouldn't it be awesome if they came up with a Time Machine so we could...Ops, never mind! That's WAY a bad idea if those old 'Back To The Future' movies are anything to go by!" Nala snorted out a laugh, covering her mouth to try and be quieter.
"If time travel were as easy as those movies, everyone would be doing it." Chris laughed. There was a twinkle in his eye though. "I did that holonovel by the way. Just to get behind the wheel and floor it. There's something about the feel of velocity that I miss from modern shuttles and flyers. I took Warp history as an elective at the academy and got to do a simulation of the old NX-Alpha, just about shook the teeth from my skull getting up to warp 1.8."
"Nice! Yeah, it's super fun, and I've been known to tinker with it for some good old Sci-fi holonovels...OMPH!" Nala omphed as the car went through a sudden pothole.
The jeep trundled along for a moment longer before slowing to a stop. Chris had been so involved in the conversation that he'd barely noticed the now pouring rain. They had stopped at a point where the road curved around an exposed section of tall fencing on one side and the jungle on the other.
"Now for a bit of a treat." John's voice chirped over the intercom. Even as he spoke, they could see something moving on the other side of the fence. Slowly, something on the jungle floor shifted and a living goat rose into view, illuminated by several spotlights in the darkness. It bleated and began eating the grass at it's feet. It couldn't move far as it was tied to a large wooden post.
"The tyrannosaurus rex is known and the king of the dinosaurs!" John announced triumphantly as they waited. And waited.
There was an eerie calm as the rain rhythmically beat down on jeep and everyone watched for a sign of this bleating goat to attract it's predator. After another long moment of waiting, there was a shuffling in the backseat and one of the rear doors opened.
"I'll be right back." The lawyer shouted through the rain as he slammed the door shut and ran to the porta pottie nearby.
Chris shrugged and went back to watching the goat. Just when it seemed like nothing was ever going to happen there was a momentary flash of the lights and then darkness. Only the headlights of the jeeps illuminated the road ahead of them. He looked over at Nala and grinned nervously before mouthing "It's time."
"Eyup, here we go...gulp," Nala gulped as goosebumps slowly started to rise on her arms.
"Good thing I made sure to program rain gear. You want some as well?" Nala asked softly as she made several subtle movements and her clothes shifted, not enough to be noticeable, but enough to make her feel better. She LIKED the rain...but she wanted to be able to focus on the story and not chafing.
"Nah," Chris said with a shrug. "I'm in this for authenticity."
There was a crack of thunder and the whole area was illuminated for a split second before everything went dark and their eyes adjusted.
The goat was gone.
Chris nudged Nala and pointed to the section of the jungle where the goat had been. They could see the rustling of the foliage but it wasn't clear if it was something or just the rain. Chris leaned forward in an effort to see something in the dim light.
Nala nodded, craning her neck to catch a glimpse of the T-Rex camouflaged by the night and rain.
His cybernetic eye was no better than a normal eye so he didn't get any advanced warning before the dismembered hind leg of the goat fell out of the sky and landed on the windshield. Chris jumped back in his seat as the bloody limb slowly slid down the glass and rested on the hood.
"AAAAH!" Nala couldn't help the scream even though she'd been expecting it. Her heart was racing in her chest, the expectation of what came next causing more goosebumps to erupt across her skin.
Ian Malcolm stared dumbfounded at the bloody streak on the windshield.
The trees and foliage rustled and parted as the large dinosaur came into sight. Lightning cracked and illuminated the area just as the tyrannosaurus moved up to the fence. It paused only a moment as it sniffed and then pushed through the dead electric fence.
There was a crackle through the intercom in the jeep. John's voice shook in a whisper. "Stay where you are, I've been told its vision is based on movement. We will have a containment team here shortly."
Chris shook his head. He didn't buy that at all. But there was no sense in grabbing it's attention yet for no reason.
That was when the outhouse door swung open as the lawyer walked out. He looked up just as the tyrannosaurus brought it's large head around to look directly at him. The man screamed and ran back into the outhouse.
"Damn, we have to try to do something." Chris said quietly. "Is there a flare or something in the glovebox? Something we can distract it with?" Even as he spoke, he started checking around the wheel and found to his horror that it was locked in place. He tried the brake and then the gas. Nothing.
"I'll check. Mr. Ian, stay as still as you can." Nala said as she carefully moved her hands to the glove box, opened it, and felt around. Some pamphlets fell out, then Nala's hand grasped something round.
"I think I've got one." Nala said, slowly drawing the object out.
By this point the tyrannosaurus had stomped over to the outhouse and in the illumination of the headlights, the group could only watch as it leaned down and sniffed around before pulling back more upright and letting out an ear shattering roar.
Nala fought the urge to slammed her hands over her ears as the terrifying sound ripped through the night.
Chris gritted his teeth as the roar seemed to rattle his entire body. He glanced up once more and then down at the console by the steering wheel. He clasped his fingers around an edge of the plastic and yanked hard. Something cracked as the plastic came loose and left a mess of wires exposed.
"Get ready with the flare Nala." Chris said as he traced the wires with his fingers. He quickly found the ones leading to the steering controls and then the tiny plastic box which seemed to be over-riding his controls. He could hear through the damaged and dangling speaker that the other jeeps were in a panic as well.
The tyrannosaurus opened it's massive jaws and bit down on the plastic of the outhouse. It snapped and twisted easily in the powerful jaws as the predator tossed it aside like a discarded wrapper. The lawyer tumbled to the side and screamed as he was suddenly outside and facing down something that could only be described as a nightmare come true.
With a lightning fast lunge and snap of it's jaws, the tyrannosaurus caught the lawyer as he turned to crawl away. In a surreal and awful moment, it whipped it's gargantuan head back and forth causing the body of the lawyer to flap around wildly like a rag doll caught in a storm. It lifted it's head and with a second horrifying chomp, it bit down the rest of the man as he disappeared amongst the rows of teeth.
Finally, the jeep roared to life and Chris slammed it in reverse. "Shoot the flare!"
Chris's words jolted Nala out of her stupor, and the flare went off with a "PFSHEW!", aiming right for the T-rex'es head.
The jeep lurched backwards, now free of the override controls, and spun around in a 180 before Chris expertly slammed it back into gear and pressed the gas. He barely had time to check if the tyrannosaurus was following them, but hopefully they were enough of a distraction to save the others.
Nala gripped the roll-cage, attempting not to get slammed about by the maneuver.
"I'm glad the Safty's are on!" Nala yelped, her teeth snapping together at all the bouncing.
Chris stole a glance into the rear view mirror and wasn't sure if it was panic or relief that caused the sigh to escape his lips. The flare and noise had done their job and now the tyrannosaurus had shifted her attention from the others and onto them.
"Uh... now that we have it's attention... what do we do now?" Ian Malcom asked from the back seat as he looked back at the gaining dinosaur and then back at the rain and foliage whipping past them.
"That's a good question." Chris said as he took a turn with about as much speed as he could without toppling the jeep. What he wouldn't give for even a primitive inertial dampener. "We can't go back to the main compound. With the power out, we'd be leading it right towards other people."
"Any suggestions while I have options would be appreciated."
There was a loud crack and flash of light before them as something shook the ground and the air vibrated with the long loud cracking of wood. The large tree seemed to suddenly appear on across the road in front of them and Chris barely had time to twist the wheel and avoid a head-on collision.
The side of the jeep scrapped the tree and even went up on two wheels as Chris struggled to maintain control. What influence he had over their vehicle didn't seem like much as the the jeep twisted and went off into the air and off the side of the road.
Chris shouted for them to hold on, but to what he had no idea, and he didn't know if they even heard him.
"Yeah...that tree kinda messed up any thoughts I had on a strategy!" Nala wrapped both hands around the 'oh crap!' bar and willed the rest of her body to go limp...not entirely successful, but negotiable.
A Joint Post By
Lieutenant Christopher Blake
Chief Flight Control Officer, USS Artemis
Second Officer, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
Ensign Nala Rider
Facial Reconstruction Specialist, USS Artemis
Starfleet Criminal Investigations Unit
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