First Chapter of Future Stories: Part 1

Nikki and Ian Love Story

Nikki's POV

Hi everyone, I am Nikki Porter. I am thirty years old and I am Paleontologist. I specialize in figuring out how a dinosaur lived during it's life. In fact I was there when they uncovered a 95% completed skeleton of an Allosaurus in Bighorn County, Wyoming. I helped piece together his story. He was called Big Al and his skeleton had quiet a story to tell.

We still haven't pieced together everything yet. And it's been two years since he was discovered. Brent Breihaupt is in charge of the research being done on Big Al. Anyway, I wrote a book on what the skeletons of dinosaurs can tell us about how they lived. I was even ask to consult by a John Hammond. Who is a dinosaur fanatic. I don't know why he wanted my help, but I wasn't going to say no. Especially with the amount he paid me.

I used the money he gave me to fly to Montana. Where I joined Dr Alan Grant's team at Snake-water. It is one of the best places to find young dinosaur skeletons. On the dig we have found many eggs of Hadrosaurid dinosaurs. They were probably nesting on the island because then the juveniles were safe from large carnivores. But there were also small carnivores. As a matter of fact we just unearthed a juvenile velociraptor. By my calculation it was about two months old when it died.

"Any idea how it died?" Alan asks when I tell him.

"Not yet, could of been anything" I tell him. "Starvation, a disease or it could of been killed by another dinosaur. We have only unearthed it's head so far" I state.

"There you two are" Ellie says when she joins us on the hill. "Let me guess, talking about the new raptor?" she asks.

"Yep" I tell her. Just then a man appears.

"Dr Grant, Dr Porter, Dr Sattler we're ready to try again" he tells us.

"I hate computers" Alan grumbles.

"The feeling's mutual" Ellie tells him.

"Lets get this over with" I tell them. We head to the computer tent. As a lead bullet gets loaded into a machine that blasts the bullet into the ground.

"How long does it usually take?" Ellie asks the man at the computer.

"Should bring immediate return. Shoot the radar into the ground, and the bone bounces the image back. Bounces it back" the man says and an image of velociraptor skeleton appears on the screen. "This new program's incredible. A few more years development and we won't even have to dig anymore" he states.

"Where's the fun in that?" Alan and I ask him. Besides it's a lot safer to dig up a skeleton by hand. An x-ray can only show us so much.

"It's a little distorted, but I don't think it's the computer" the man states.

"Look. Post-mortem contraction of the posterior neck ligaments. Velociraptor?" Ellie asks.

"Yes. Good shape, too. It's five... six feet high. I'm guessing nine feet long. Look at the extraordinary" Alan says touching the screen. Which flickers.

"What did you do?" the man asks.

"He touched it!" Ellie laughs and I smile. Alan touches the top hood of the computer experimentally. It flickers again. "Dr. Grant's not machine compatible" she states.

"Hell, they've got it in for me" he mutters. "And look at the half-moon shaped bones in the wrists. No wonder these guys learned how to fly" he states. Getting a laugh from the people around us. "No, seriously" he tells them. " Alright, maybe dinosaurs have more in common with present-day birds than they do with reptiles. Look at the pubic bones. Turned backwards, just like a bird. Look at the vertebrae, full of air sacks and hollows, just like a bird. And even the word "Raptor" means, bird of prey" he explains.