Minx Ep. 04: The Sphere, Mesozoic Zone

The man paled. "That is, after we recover this Minx woman. With decent weapons we could sail this sea and fend off any sea monster that attacked us."

"I'll keep that in mind, Rod." They walked a few steps, and Rod began to wonder what his captain had wanted from him. "I talked with Alice, Rod."

The man glanced at the hyperman.

"She's amenable to the idea of you becoming the second mate. However, there are some conditions. I'm not a typical pirate captain. So it will not be part of your job to eliminate the first mate if she makes a mistake. Only I can remove her from her post. Is that clear?"

"Absolutely."

"Also, I should note that Alice is a very dangerous woman. How committed to Vanessa are you?"

"Were you serious about using her as fish bait?"

Dragon chuckled. "No. At least, not yet."

"She's fun. But, I think I'll get bored of her in a few more weeks. I just don't see any other options right now. If I'm second mate then I can pick another woman from the crew. Most of them would jump at the chance to be sleeping with an officer."

"Do you think any of them are as pretty as Alice?"

Rod was quiet for a few seconds. "No, Captain. But I won't interfere with your fun."

"I'm not sure Alice would want you." Dragon thought for a few seconds. "You have to know how to treat her right."

Rod smiled briefly. It was an enigmatic smile that made Dragon wonder if Rod had somehow shared Alice's bed at some point, or if Rod thought he knew exactly how to treat the first mate. The hyperman decided it was time for a demonstration.

"As second mate, I expect you to help me with some tasks. One of those is mapmaking." Dragon led Rod to the stairs, and then down to his room. He opened the door, startling Alice, who sat up suddenly then blushed slightly and lay back down.

Rod's eyes held on the naked woman for several seconds, until Dragon called him over to the table. He pulled out his rudimentary map, charcoal scratches on a thin bark mat, and reversed it so Rod could look at it without craning his neck.

"What do you make of this, Rod?"

"There's the village where we found Vanessa and the rest of the cavemen. And behind it is some of the land we travelled through."

"Very good, Rod."

Alice shifted on Dragon's bed. Then the soft sounds of her footfalls distracted the two men. Dragon sat down in his chair as she came to the table. She stood up straight. Rod's eyes kept drifting from her to Dragon and then back to the map. The hyperman was a little concerned that his new second mate might get dizzy.

"You said you were going to discipline me when you returned, Captain." Alice bent over, placed her hands flat upon the table and then wiggled her bottom beside Dragon.

"Very well." He pushed his chair back from the table. "Rod, there isn't much we can do about mapping the actual sea. However, the land on either side can be mapped. I'll want your help in noting landmarks and approximating distances."

Rod nodded.

Dragon brought his hand back. Then he slapped Alice's bottom. The sound filled the room, making Rod wince. Alice gasped in pain, then smiled and wiggled her bottom again.

"I'll teach you how to do this, Rod."

The man swallowed hard. His eyes fixed on Alice. Her mouth was slightly open and her face betrayed an almost eager anticipation. Her breasts swung slightly.

Dragon smacked her bottom again. Alice squealed briefly, then bit her lip as her eyes went to Rod. She gave him a small smile. Dragon slapped her one more time and Alice moaned. She hung her head down and shivered.

"As thinking creatures we have an opportunity to learn everything we can about this world and her ecosystem. Then we can use that knowledge to adapt ourselves and not only survive, but thrive."

Dragon reached forward and grabbed one of Alice's breasts in his hand. He squeezed it gently, pulling down as he did so.

"I'll teach you to milk everything we can out of her."

Alice's knees wobbled. Dragon squeezed more tightly as his fingers reached her nipple. He gave this a turn as he squeezed and pulled.

The hyperman gave Rod a look, as if waiting for a response.

"I'll do the best I can, Captain."

Dragon leaned back again. "That's good, Rod. I want a second mate who can accomplish things. This world is dangerous, and the threats within her are many."

His hand slipped up Alice's leg from her knee. His fingers traced a line up her thigh until he reached the mound where her legs met. He pushed his digit in gently, and then used the two fingers beside it to hold the folds open. The tip of his finger passed over Alice's clit and she shuddered.

Dragon could feel her legs going weak, so he used his palm to support her bottom half. His finger tips traced circles at the start of her folds, as her juices flowed out of her.

Alice gripped the table edge, afraid she might fall over at any second. She was going out of her mind as Dragon teased and played with her. Dragon's hand must be glistening with her fluids, and she knew that Rod could see everything from his vantage point. She was so close to orgasm that she didn't care.

Dragon's finger passed over Alice's clit a few more times. The first two times she shuddered and gasped. The third time she let out an animal groan and fell upon the table.

"You must be able to conquer her, Rod."

The second mate swallowed. He really wasn't sure what was going on, but he was concentrating on the hyperman's voice as he spoke. Had the captain just brought Alice to orgasm in front of him to show his power over her? Rod remembered Dragon's ambiguous comments about hyperpeople and bisexuality. Was Dragon expecting to have the same power over him?

"I want you to think on what I've shown you and said to you, Rod." Dragon's hand was still on Alice's pussy, and from the way her body was moving forward and backward upon the table Rod suspected that the hyperman was finger-fucking the young woman.

"I will, Captain." Rod took that as a dismissal and left the room.

Dragon gave Alice a minute to recover. Then, "Alice, are you ready for more?"

"I could lay here forever and get screwed by your finger, or anything else you wanted to put in me Captain." Her voice was slow and quiet.

"Well, you've been punished and now it's your turn to be rewarded. How do you feel about something to drink?"

"I just need a few minutes to recover, Captain. Then, I'd love to have you cum in my mouth."

Ship was oddly silent.

13

Minx, Paul, and Miguel stood atop the ridge and looked back across the land they'd traversed. The vast jungle spread out before them, concealing both the dangers they'd faced over the previous few weeks and the paths they'd travelled. The sea was a distant blue smear, although Minx thought she could pick out a brown-black dot upon it, near the shore. She briefly wondered what sea creature would spend so long floating in the same place.

As one, they turned and looked westward. A random patchwork of forests, grassy plains, and large lakes stretched out into the distance. The trees appeared to be a mix of somewhat familiar conifers and deciduous trees, and some rather unusual varieties. A tall, thin mountain was visible, only just barely and far away in the distance, and Minx wondered if that was the tower ruins that Mahar had written about. Taking a deep breath she admitted there was only one way to find out.

"Come on. We're going toward that prominence," she said.

"Wait!" exclaimed Miguel. He pointed to the forest that lay at the base of the ridge and which stood between them and the rest of the landscape. "There's something down there."

Minx stared. There was something moving along the tree-line, perhaps a carnivore searching for unwary travellers crossing this very ridge.

"Oh my God! You can't be serious! We're going down there?"

Minx gave Paul a look of disgust then turned back to stare at the impressive beast that had stalked clear of the trees. It was a grey, two-legged, dinosaur, with small arms hanging from its chest. Atop its pear-shaped body was a head dominated by an enormous, tooth-filled jaw. Protuberances atop its head and above each eye gave the beast a sinister appearance, as if it would not merely eat its prey but play with it as well.

"That's a T-rex!" Paul gasped.

"I don't think so. If I remember correctly a T-rex is larger." Minx started making her way down the ridge, sliding from ledge to ledge and climbing down where the passage was too steep.

"We have to go with her," stated Miguel. He started making his way, following Minx's path as best he could.

"Damn it!" swore Paul. He, too, followed, although he had considerable trouble descending while also keeping an eye on the terrifying saurian.

The beast moved away long before the trio drew close to the trees. Minx paused atop a long slope of rocky debris and watched the forest, while the two men waited nervously behind her. At last, confident that nothing dangerous was waiting for them, she began to slide down the scree. Rocks tumbled down around her, making a tremendous racket.

She glanced back behind her to see the two men simply watching her. She shook her head and continued, suspecting that the noise of their descent might bring something to investigate. Reaching the bottom, she bolted for the nearest trees and then waited. The only sounds she heard were Paul and Miguel slipping and stumbling down the tallus slope. Once they were free of the rocks she went into the forest. Minx walked at a quick pace, but she tried to keep a short distance ahead of the others so she would hear any approaching dinosaurs. The sight of the large therapod had made her cautious.

14

Dragon stared through his binoculars at the island of floating vegetation that was now drifting north and east. It had to be the one that he had seen all those weeks before on the other side of this sea; there couldn't be another one like it. However, he'd seen no movement upon it and no sign of animal, or human, life.

He lowered the binoculars. Had this all been for nothing? Was Minx dead? He refused to believe that until he actually had proof that it was so. Even if she had been swallowed whole by some sea monster, he would still spend the rest of his life sailing these waters searching for her.

Then he wondered exactly how close to shore the floating island had come. Had it been close enough for Minx to swim to land? She might attempt it if food were scarce in those trees. He turned his binoculars to the shore, scrutinizing every metre of it. There was no sign of Minx, and no sign of her past presence.

"Are we following that mass of trees, Captain?" asked Rod, standing a short distance away. Dragon noted that everyone on deck, except for those souls condemned to stand at the rails and watch for dangers, were standing around him and waiting for his next order. Some had collapsed from exhaustion, but he had given orders to simply leave them in place until they recovered and resumed their post.

"We move when I say we move," the hyperman replied with a hint of anger.

He looked at this new continent. Unlike the one where the Cenozoic creatures lived, this one had a ridge that appeared to stretch its entire length from north to south. Why had the builders of this world put this ridge here? They didn't have plate tectonics, so it wasn't a natural landform. There had to be a reason why it was here. Then it came to him: the Mesozoic era was immensely long compared to the Cenozoic. There were three distinct and long periods within the Mesozoic, and each was bounded by an extinction event. The creatures from each of those periods would require separation if they were to co-exist. Then there would be a second ridge somewhere beyond the first, he mused, separating Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous.

He swung his binoculars to the ridge. It was tall and difficult to climb, and he had yet to see any pterosaurs, so it would separate all of the fauna nicely. However, it would not pose much of a barrier to him, or Minx. He scanned the ridge in excitement. A small puff of dust caught his eye. The binoculars adjusted in time for him to see three figures atop the ridge. One had the figure of a female, and had long flowing brown hair.

Dragon watched the figures as long as they were visible. After they slipped down the other side of the ridge he used the binoculars to spot easily recognizable pieces of the terrain from the beach to where the three people had crested the ridge. There was a lot of jungle between the beach and the ridge, suggestive of Triassic flora and fauna he thought, but he would follow Minx wherever she went.

"We're going ashore!" he announced.

Dragon noted, with some discouragement, that his proclamation produced very little enthusiasm from the crew.

15

Minx looked down on the small herd of ankylosaurs as they waddled around the tree she was perched in. Paul and Miguel had also climbed trees, having learned to mimic her actions whenever she did something out of the ordinary. These turtle-like beasts were slow, but they were still large enough to be dangerous with their massive girth and hefty clubbed tails that too-slowly swung back and forth.

Minx dropped back to the ground once the creatures were past. She examined the tracks, memorizing them for future use, and then continued her westward journey.

She was glad that she hadn't seen more therapods, but she was wondering if perhaps those creatures usually kept to the plains and avoided forests. Or perhaps they preferred to skirt the edges of forests and surprise their prey? She chewed her lip thoughtfully as she considered that so much of what she knew about dinosaurs was largely guesswork on the parts of paleontologists. When she did leave the trees she would have to be extra careful.

"Why didn't you kill one of those things? We haven't eaten a real meal since just after we left the ridge, Minx," complained Paul.

She rolled her eyes and continued walking. It had only been two days since their last meal! She had a long way to go and she couldn't stop every time the men's stomachs grumbled! Paul made a few more comments and then went quiet.

A few hours later they came to the edge of the forest. Rolling hills carpeted in yellow-green grasses spread out before them. Minx crept around, keeping within a short distance of a tree with low branches just in case something came after her. There was some pungent animal odour in the area, but she didn't recognize it. Paul and Miguel followed her right to the edge of the grasses. Her wariness made them nervous.

"What if something fast comes running after us while we're out there, Minx?" asked Miguel.

"We'll run."

"That's a stupid answer," accused Paul. He stepped out, plucked a strand of grass and examined it. "We should stay in the woods."

"I'm going to that mountain. To do that I have to cross open country." Minx eyed the two men. "Besides, those therapods don't stay out of the forests. They stay at the edges and look for prey they can ambush."

Paul and Miguel searched the nearby trees with their eyes. Clearly they were going to follow her wherever she went; Minx assumed it was because they had come to accept that she was a survivor.

That strange smell grew stronger, and now Minx could hear branches being gently bent and the rustling of pine needles. Her instincts screamed that something was coming toward them. What she wondered was: did it know where the three of them were?

"If we're going to move we have to do it soon," whispered Minx. "Something is approaching us."

She stepped out from the trees. There was a shadow near the tree-line a couple of hundred metres to her left. A slight vibration in the ground suggested something large was moving around nearby. Looking out into the tall grasses, she determined that she would be perfectly concealed in the rolling prairie even if she were standing. However, she knew she would have to rely upon her ears and nose to keep her out of danger while she was walking across the plains. Her eyes would be almost useless unless something was very close.

She jogged out into the grasses. The leaves scratched at her bare legs, but once the grass was taller than she the coarse leaves were no longer a problem for her. There was no sound of pursuit. Shrugging her shoulders, she pushed her way through the grasses and continued her journey. Paul and Miguel followed her trail, and when she looked back she could just make them out through the stalks.

The vibrations in the ground seemed to be growing stronger, suggesting something was approaching. However, whatever was approaching was doing so very slowly. Minx grabbed a number of tough stalks, held them together in her hands and climbed them to lift her head above the grasses. She stared for a second. The grasses began to bend precariously just as she dropped back down to the ground.

"What's going on?" asked Miguel as the two men caught up to her.

"We have to move quickly in this direction," she said, pointing ahead and not bothering to whisper this time.

"What is it?" inquired Paul. "What are you hiding from us?" He started to collect several stalks together in an attempt to copy what Minx had done.

"There's a herd of sauropods heading right for us. They've got company on either side, and probably behind them too."

"What are sauropods, and what do you mean company?" asked Miguel, trembling.

"Those are the big dinosaurs, with the long necks and tails. And by company I mean therapods! Tyrannosaurs!" Some memory stirred in Minx's mind. "Oh, not tyrannosaurs. Perhaps allosaurus, or albertosaurus. I don't know. They're big and carnivorous and they're coming this way."

Paul and Miguel fled, although in the correct direction. Minx rolled her eyes, and then ran after them. Soon enough she had overtaken them, and then she was ahead of them. The vibration in the ground grew stronger, until she could hear the rumbling of individual sauropod feet. She wanted to climb some stalks again, but understood that the giants were near enough now that to stop running could mean being trampled.

The sounds rose in volume, until it was almost impossible to hear anything else. A giant, green, clawed leg, larger than Minx, came down right in front of her. She ran into the scaly flesh, then fell flat on her back. She looked up to see, over the grasses, the black-striped arching back of one of the therapods pause in front of her, perhaps searching for whatever had struck it. Then, a whip-like tail swung over her and slashed the carnivore, inciting it to snap back. Tooth-filled jaws, almost as large as her torso, snapped shut a couple of metres above her. Then the grasses swayed, blocking the creature from her sight. When the grasses swung back it was gone.

Minx jumped to her feet and resumed her run. She didn't stop until she came to a hard and sandy mound that towered over her. The sounds from the dinosaurs indicated the beasts were receding, but she wanted to take a look and make sure. The mound looked solid, so she used it to climb until her head was above the grasses.

A kilometre away, the chase was still going on. The much-smaller therapods were snapping at the flanks of the sauropods, but not having much luck in bringing one down. Minx noted two places in the grass where the stalks were swaying and shifting, and thought that might be Paul and Miguel. She climbed higher, until she reached the top of the mound and there she sat.

She could feel her heart racing. The whole dash across the plain had been very exciting, and although she had come very close to one of the therapods she still didn't quite believe that she'd been in deadly danger. In fact, she felt confident that she could make it to Mahar's tower safely. Sure, she thought, there would be dangers along the way but she would overcome them and continue on. After all, the dinosaurs had been driven to extinction back on Earth so, aside from their great size, how much real danger did they pose for someone with her abilities?