Project Orpheus: A Tale of Blood and Feathers

Chapter 14: The Reserve

They once again had gone to the plane, Ashton once again going on about how the liberals don't know anything and how president McNannon's decision to start the war was the best thing that had ever happened, up until Derek threatened to shove his opinions so far up his ass he could taste hypocrisy.

Myrtle was definitely pleased with that development. The war was a humanitarian nightmare, started by a filthy rich businessman and his ludicrous desire for every skyrocketing profits. There was a conspiracy theory that China had started the whole thing, by being the first to attack, but the clear and blatant actions of the Americans in essentially rigging the elections was more than enough to show that you don't have to be the first to fire to start a war.

From there the whole thing had spiraled out of control, piece by piece, until every nation in the world was now more or less fighting every other one. Germany was even getting involved now, and that was a whole other can of worms not worth opening. The point is, she was glad to have a day to get away from the difficulty of the war and this schweinehund kept dragging it back up.

But now, they had made it. As the doctor had promised, the plane had made it here in a little over an hour, landing in an air strip this time, but they still filed onto the tram and rode off along a path to the central visitor's center.

"So, Doctor," Ashton asked. "What are your thoughts on the war? You haven't said much."

Noh, who had been staring out the window, made no move to look towards Ashton as she responded. "War is never good. But it's been very useful for my research. A lot of people want what I do to help them fight it better. Im

There was an unusually somber tone in her voice. Was that regret? Taking advantage of a war was surely something to feel guilty about. She imagined no matter how shallow Noh's morals, even she was getting tired of what felt like an endless vortex.

"But I don't get involved in politics. I just want to do my work."

"Yes, your work!" Chester laughed, "the wonderful work of bringing back extinct species! You've done such a good job! Ah. Here we are, here we are!"

They passed under a large metallic arch of white and black, with glowing blue letters welcoming them to "Daniels International Dinosaur Reserve" with the words "powered by Wagner Corp. and AXIS labs" in smaller painted letters beneath. The tram slid beneath it.

"Wow!" Steven said. "It looks cool!"

"Of course it does," Chester said, "we worked hard for it. Hard work always pays off."

Ashton chuckled, "Oh, if only everybody believed that."

Myrtle narrowed her eyes at him, "what do you mean by that?"

Ashton shook his head, "Nevermind, nevermind."

The tram continued down the road and rounded the top of a hill. From the top, they could see a large, domed building in the distance with a large T. Rex looking thing sculpted on top of it. The building was made of the same whites and blacks, with blue glowing lights running up and down the 8 pillars that ringed the dome and the 8 that supported it from the outside. Large glass opened the area beneath to the sky above, but from here, there was no way to tell what exactly was there, especially as the dense foliage of the forest covered the building.

This was quite a site, to be sure. The tram sputtered further along the road and down the hill, closing in on the strange building.

"So this is the visitor's center! We'll be going here to show you around and introduce you to our Game Warden, and then picking her up for the tour!"

"Game Warden?" Steven asked.

"Yes, the head of the animals. The one who takes care of them! She's very learned at what she does, you'll love her." Chester said, patting Myrtle on the shoulder.