i'm a what???

i think i need a vacation from my vacation!

at least the worst part of it all is over... or at least i hoped!

professor paradigm had just rescued me from being dinonapped and dissected by the evil (and chatty!) dr. spectre...

the way paradigm had saved me though was the biggest shock of the day!

spectre wanted to cut me apart because he thought i wasn't a tyrannosaurus rex, but rather something else. which kind of ran in the face of everything i thought i knew about myself!

paradigm had beat spectre to the punch though, and had not only already studied me on the same suspicion, but had announced to the entire scientific community i was a new species of tyrannosaurus... a Tyrannosaurus traumadori...

as the professor approached me (spectre had hit him and bolted) i struggled against the ropes tying me up, to try and convey i wanted out! NOW!!!

"hold your ungulates!" paradigm barked at me as he approached. "of course i'm going to untie you," he growled at having to say the obvious.

then a though occurred to me, but i couldn't ask it properly due to my mouth being tied shut. paradigm understood me though! "no, i would not worry about jaden coming back," the professor addressed my concern about dr. spectre back tracking and attacking us again. "he might hold 'something' of a grudge against me, but the scientific prize here has been claimed. he won't risk being captured if there is no discovery in it for him."

with my mind put to ease about a follow up attack (which had been happening a lot lately), i just instinctively asked the next thing on my mind. not that it came out sounding like this, but i tried to say. "Tyrannosaurus traumadori, what is up with that?"
`
unlike dr. spectre, who heard whatever he wanted in my muffled talk, paradigm seemed unphased by my incoherent words (leading me to suspect he'd dealt with a lot of people when they were tied up!). "it is what you are," paradigm informed me, though he clarified. "scientifically speaking, mind you."
`
still muffled, i asked. "why has everyone told me i'm a tyrannosaurus rex my whole life then?!?" though the rex sounded funny through my closed mouth...
`
"because in essence that is what you've always been!" paradigm assured me, as he started delicately undoing the ropes.
`
"why the different species then?" i immediately wondered. "what changed?"
`
"on all fronts, absolutely nothing, and that is the reason," paradigm said, but it made me more confused, and a little upset frankly. i thought he wasn't answering my question seriously, and though it might sound silly, but being a tyrannosaurus rex has always been such a key part of who i see myself as. now i was being told that wasn't who i was anymore, but for no reason!?!
`
paradigm picked up my irritation (how does he do it?... i didn't say anything this time). "tell me traumador, when was the last time you measured yourself?" he wondered of me. i shrugged, not being able to recall. "well the last official measurement i have for you, sent to me by craig in 2006, had you at 2 metres long exactly and 51 centimetres tall. my own measurements taken one year ago, had you at 2.1 metres long and 54 centimetres tall. does that sound like a significant change to you?"
`
i shook my head... in agreement? how does that work. i was shaking my head no, but it meant i agreed with paradigm... that made little to no sense to me. stupid tiny brain!
`
"preciously," the professor carried on. "a tyrannosaurus rex your age would be at least three times that size, and would still be growing. not only has your growth ceased, but based on your bones it has finished."
`
i threw him a quizzical look wanting to know how could he tell that from my bones? "all animals with bones, have a number of spots in their skeletons that aren't solid while an animal is still growing. we call these loose areas sutures, and they let bones grow without having to break themselves in the process. when the animal finishes growing the sutures seal together, to the skeleton stronger."

"every single one of your sutures have sealed, traumador," paradigm informed me point blank. "you are as big as you are ever going to get."
`
wow! that was a big (actually small come to think of it!) bit of information to take in... i'd always thought i was just a late grower, and that one day i'd get as big as the other tyrannosaurs. for as long as i can remember, i've always feared everyone looking down on me was because i'm a dwarf of what i should be... a true tall mean tyrannosaurus rex... but i'd always thought a day would come where i'd get that respect when i finally grew tall.
`
paradigm had just dashed those hopes... if he was right, and frankly who was i to think he was wrong!?!... this was how i was going to be the rest of my life. a small laughable joke of an excuse of my kind.

paradigm finished untying me. "there has to be some sort of mistake," i pleaded with him, though i knew the professor was pretty dead set on his conclusion.

"there actually was," he said, sparking my hopes, but i should have known better. "something about your mother and father's interbreeding caused a mutation in you and your siblings."

"i'm a mutant?" i asked dumbly. i thought those were something only in movies and comic books... "shouldn't i be super strong, or advanced or something.?"

"no," paradigm dismissed. "while in many cases mutation can produce new characters, and thus start a new pathway on the evolutionary tree. on occasion mutations cause back tracks to more ancestral traits."

"i'm more primitive than a t-rex?" i asked horrified.

"preciously!" paradigm excitedly responded. "the combination of your parents somehow tapped into long dormant genes in the tyrannosaurid genome. the resulting clutch of offspring, you and your siblings again, came out with traits far more similar to ancestral tyrannosauroids then a proper tyrannosauriane. the closest analogue we know of so far would have to be raptorex!"

"so won't that make me a raptorex?" i asked confused.

"no, traumador," paradigm was clearly trying to keep his patience. "you're still a tyrannosaurus, just a very weird one. you still have all the proper bones and relative proportions of a tyrannosaurus rex. just, you have not grown as large or robust. you have stopped growing while in a juvenile form for your genus. this is similar to the adult form of your ancestors, like raptorex or guanlong, but unlike them your carrying features meant for a much larger size. this is where your mutation occurred. you are genetically misprogrammed to tap into this genetic memory of the growth pattern of a primitive tyrannosauroids, but yet you still have a tyrannosaurus rex body plan."

"with this in mind, if we were to classify you biologically in current zoological convention with modern living animals, you would probably be still considered a tyrannosaurus rex. however, acceptance of vivus-palaeontology has not taken hold as much as i have pushed for. meaning you are still evaluated in terms of true palaeontology, and that is just off bone analysis," paradigm went off on an outloud tangent... the first time he'd shown anything in common with dr. spectre...

"when your skeletal system is the sole criteria, your suture solidification suddenly presents you as a marked departure from excepted tyrannosaurus rex physiology. i'm sure practically you would be fully capable of breeding with another tyrannosaurus rex, and produce viable offspring. at least if one could solve the height issue. again as palaeontology has not embraced the opportunities presented by vivus- fossils yet, this line of logic is currently moot within the established scientific establishment."

paradigm looked to me, as though this meant something to me. i could only muster a blink in response. i'd followed him up to the point where i was not a raptorex. however i still couldn't get how my being small didn't make me either a tyrannosaurus rex nor a raptorex. what the difference between both of these and me.

"in lay terms, traumador," the professor explained. "you are a dwarf tyrannosaurus rex. however as palaeontology has yet to accept living dinosaurs like yourself as acceptable specimens, i could only submit your skeleton. because you are already an adult form, which is so much more gracile and small then an adult tyrannosaurus rex, i was left no choice but to assign you a new species. this is just an artificial name, like so many others. however it is accurate from the modern taxonomic point of view."

i was starting to get it, though not directly from the prof's answer (weird, with my brain i'm not used to making logical connections like this). i wasn't a proper tyrannosaurus rex because my body wanted to be more LIKE a raptorex, but yet i still had all the t-rex bits.

meaning i was a dwarf...

i let out a wail on this now confounded fact, how could i not? it confirmed i was going to stay a pathetic runt the rest of my life!!! (a t-rex wail is not pleasant... the baby t-rex in jurassic park two lets one out several times in the early film).

"stop that at once!" paradgim screamed. i stopped in shock at his angry outburst, but i was still very upset and sad. the professor saw this, and calmly (the nicest he'd ever been to me) asked. "why does this upset you?"

i blabbered out my fears of being small. not only was everyone going to keep thinking me a tiny nothing, but i was a pathetic weak primitive creature!

paradigm laughed in response to that last part. i seriously was wishing dr. spectre HAD cut me apart! "is that why you are upset traumador? because you think primitive is bad?"

i nodded, but unsure based on how the professor asked his question... so now i was agreeing with my head to disagree! man human expression is so weird!

"traumador, despite what our culture thinks, primitive does not mean old and obsolete!" he assured me. "primitive is simple that which came before us in time. nothing more. in some instances we the later descents gain more useful "advanced" traits, but these are only advanced because they came after the original form. in many cases these advanced traits are not actually superior, and in the long run the 'advanced' form goes extinct, where the more primitive traits could have or do survive!'

"how is a tiny runt like me greater than the greatest killer the planet has ever known?" i asked.

"can you fit through a door?" paradigm challenged. i didn't see what that had to do with my being pathetic... until it occurred to me, he was 100% correct. sure in the cretaceous i might have been in big trouble, but the human age was way different! i was totally better adapted for buildings then a proper tyrannosaurus rex!!!

the professor didn't stop cheering me up there. "could a proper tyrannosaurus ever hope to catch you if you saw them coming? no they couldn't! not with their huge heavy bodies. sure they could catch equally big prey, but i was not only smaller, i had frame built for super speed. my light body wasn't a burden on my super long, but yet powerful legs. i hadn't tried it, but i could probably keep up with an ostrich in a race!

the new wave of enthusiasm must have caused me to perk up, as before i knew it i was standing on the table and swaying back and forth (instinctive behaviour anticipating a hunt... sort of like a dog wagging its tail... only mine had a more deadly origin). "that's more like it..." professor paradigm happily pointed at me. "a fine specimen of tyrannosaurus traumadori!"

"now if only i could figure out why jaden came after you in the first place?" paradigm thought out loud... which caused me to pause too... why had dr. spectre shown up when he did?

if only me and paradigm had had x-ray vision...

if we did, we would have noticed what layla oviraptor and desdemona deinonychus were loading onto a truck totally unnoticed out back of the tyrrell (as both me and paradigm were on the other end of the very BIG museum!). their precise crate... with a cargo so important the pack of the primordial feather had tried to kill me for it!

now they had succeeded at removing it from the prying eyes of myself, and more importantly palaeo-central and paradigm!

to top it off none of us had even the tiniest idea what it carried. which as i was going to learn was really bad news... really bad for us all... especially me!!!

to be continued...

brains over brawn...

it looked like it was the end of me, people of the innerweb...

i'd been dinonapped by the (evil and) crazy dr. jaden "needles" spectre. from his life story he told me, i couldn't help but think he intended on cleaning me right down to my skeleton to get some sort of scientific pay back at his old "friend" professor paradigm...

let's just say i had some pretty compelling clues that removing all my skin, muscles, guts, and organs was his primary goal here today...

just as his really huge scary saw was about to cut into me, i thought there was NO way i was going to make it out of this one alive...

[Photo Courtesy David Lloyd]

funny enough, at this exact moment it suddenly was watering time outside in the cretaceous garden. all around us in the plant nursery, the echoes of the loud watering systems reverberated from the plumbing lined walls. it wasn't deafening by any stretch, but the subtle noises were drowned out by the pumps.

i'd have happily continued my diabolical dissection had i been dr. spectre (though i'm NOT anywhere evil enough to him i'll point out!), but he was instantly distracted. spectre began looking all over the place as if the walls themselves were out to get him...

just as i was about this think him even more crazy then i already did (up to a 13 out of 10 from an 11), he suddenly suspiciously murmured to himself. "it's quarter to 5. the timer is set for 6..."
wait, if the sprinklers aren't supposed to go off for another hour, what made them go off right now?

interrupting both spectre's and my own curiosity, a booming voice echoed throughout the nursery. "do i have your attention, jaden?"

i recognized it right away, but spectre confirmed it moments later. "alvar!" he cursed under his breath.

immediately professor paradigm marched in through the nursery's only door. spectre instinctively challenged him in bewilderment. "how did you..."

paradigm cut spectre off mid thought. "trigger the sprinkler system, please jaden. you were palaeo-prime once. you never put overrides into a museum's maintenance infrastructure?"

"no!" spectre seemed insulted by this obvious (to him anyway) thought. he repeated his question. "how did you find us?"

"it wasn't easy," admitted paradigm. "i searched nearly the whole valley looking for you, and i have to hand it too you jaden, you almost throw me off your trail this time."

spectre was clearly going to ask what gave him away, paradigm cut him off with the answer. "once i figured out you weren't in the obvious places, than clearly you had to be in an even more obvious one!" the professor paused for slight dramatic effect. "the tyrrell was your only option in that scenario. it is just lucky for me, you are so predictable."

spectre was visibly enraged by that last jab by the professor. i grew worried, as it was an already tense situation, but in such an enclosed space i didn't want to fathom how a battle between these two would play out...

the professor however seemed unconcerned by the opponent that had earlier beat the stuffing out of him. if anything, i think he enjoyed winding spectre up. "you know, i could not help but notice a few inaccuracies in that sob story you were telling our small friend here," paradigm said in reference to spectre's life story.

"you..." spectre was taken back.
`
"overheard you?" paradigm once again finished spectre's sentence. "how could i not! your voice carries jaden. worse than mine sometimes. anyone could have heard your woeful tale all the way out into the shonisaurus display."
`
"a far more tragic version of events then the ones i recall, through," paradigm pointed out. "i would not want our small friend to get the wrong impression, jaden. you missed out a few key details, if you ask me."

"i never forced you to join palaeo-central, jaden," paradigm aired, more for my benefit then for spectre's. "you were bored with the pure academic nature of your 'promising' early career. you would have taken on the crusaders of genesis even if i hadn't stumbled into that situation. palaeo-central was as much your idea as my own, after they tired to destroy your museum."

"as for me 'blocking' the publication of your warm blooded dinosaur theory, i only stopped you from snipping from bakker by illegally publishing your papers without peer review," the professor furiously recalled. "funny how being in palaeo-central would have allowed you to bypass due process. it was your choice to sit on that discovery, and keep it a secret from everyone for all those years, even me. i would have helped you get it out there had i known about it, and you knew it jaden!"

"which brings me to my favourite part of your misrepresentation of history. i'd hate for traumador to leave not knowing the whole story," paradigm addressed me. "i did not 'side' against you with bakker until after you tried to kill both us. bakker had no idea about your discovery. he is an amazing man, and no doubt would have brought you in on the publicity had you been reasonable and approached him. instead of that, your first resort was to try and blow him up!"

spectre finally blew in face of this critiscm. "which you stopped!" spectre hissed. "after all the falls i saved you from, all the bullets i took for you, and all the years i wasted for you, saving palaeontology extinction knows how many times??? that's how you repaid me... by stopping me from getting my one true acknowledgement from our peers!

`

paradigm didn't say anything. he didn't need too. spectre's insanity spoke for him. in spectre's head blowing up a rival simply because of his great service seemed a justification. i had a sudden chill, thinking about the perils palaeo-central must have faced to bend someone like spectre into this madman...
`

"not just that, but you cost me my face, my breathing, my normal life!!!" spectre pointed angrily at his re breather.
`

paradigm finally lost his cool, and growled back pointing at his own face mask. "and it didn't cost me the same things, you idiot?!? what choice did you leave me, but to blow up that chemical tank?"
`

there was much to this story i didn't know, but i could tell it had damaged them both beyond repair... i couldn't help but feel sorry for paradigm. the pain from his having to turn on an old friend came through his voice.
`

paradigm went back to his not caring stance and posture a minute after the tense shouting match. "there you have it," he said to no one but yet everyone in the room. "we have gone through the whole sad routine once more. so yes jaden, you poor poor hurt thing. i certainly betrayed you badly, as once again here i am chasing and cleaning up after you!"
`

"so what is your scheme this time to try and get all of our acknowledgement and astonishment today?" paradigm demanded of spectre.
`
spectre finally made his first move indicating the risk of violence breaking out, as he wielded his scary saw menacingly towards paradigm. "don't be mistake alvar. i may not kill you now, as you wouldn't get to witness my triumph over you, but i have no reservations about gravely wounding you."

"i believe that," paradigm admitted, as he took a few slow calculated steps towards me and spectre. "so what would have you risking a confrontation with me. especially over top of the specimen itself."

"you've kidnapped TMP 2003. 12. 7 and are about to 'prepare' him, but the question is why," paradigm thought out loud. "let us see, note worth features of the specimen..."

`
"he is a vivus-fossil first and foremost, but that is not an under published topic. more to the point removing all the soft tissue as you are prepared to do would destroy his usefulness as a type specimen post description," paradigm deducted.
`

"the specimen is a male, and so might be useful for studies on sexual dimorphism in tyrannosaurids. yet again that can not be it, as again removal of soft tissue would destroy all the key features," the professor asserted.
`

"in fact, removing the soft tissue would seem to eliminate all possibilities and advantages of TMP 2003. 12. 7, unless there were something you suspected to be revealed by the skeleton alone," paradigm narrowed in. "so, based on the fact our friend here is still in his juvenile growth stage, you wish to examine something along these lines."
`
spectre shifted slightly at that. paradigm appeared to be closing on spectre's intentions.

"it would not just be a examination paper on such a juvenile though. there would be no break through in it for you. no major scientific coup. you'd merely open the floor to debate. not your style at all. someone could easily swoop in and grab the credit from you there," paradigm reasoned. "no, there is something about this 'juvenile' that you have caught, and the rest of us missed."
`

spectre was visibly impressed, as paradigm carried on. "based on the fact that traumador hasn't grown or changed a bit since about 2 years of age, you are suspecting there is a more pronounced reason to this, then just late maturing as had been assumed."
`
spectre finally broke his silence. "assumed indeed! by none other than you, the 'great paradigm!"
`
"you are an idiot alvar," spectre taunted, and posed the saw into a clear attack position. "there was a brand new species of tyrannosaurus under your nose for years, and now i'm going to claim it!"

"i really do not think so, jaden," paradigm disbelieved spectre.
`

this merely provoked spectre worse. "how do you intend to stop me?!?" as he brandished the saw. "you've sent away all your available backup. meaning it is just you and me. i defeated you earlier today, and i am more than willing do it again!"

"i'm sure you are," paradigm heartily agreed, as he reached behind his back for something.
`
"we both know you were always the superior warrior out of the two of us, jaden..."

paradigm seized something from behind him and swung it in front of him. man i was hoping for something really powerful that could take out spectre in a heart beat like a laser gun or a mini-ninja. instead he pulled out a book?!?

"i however, was always the superior scientist!" paradigm concluded thrusting the book towards spectre.


" 'a new tyrannosaurid from the scollard formation by alvar paradigm'!!!" spectre read the title of the book in disbelief. no wait, it wasn't a book. it was a scientific paper! paradigm had already not only made the discovery before spectre, but he'd gotten it published. meaning that the whole world knew it! "genus tyrannosaurus, new species: traumadori!?!"

wow wait, what? suddenly everything that was being discussed hit home. this big scientific battle that was going on over me, was going on literally over me!!!

if i was following correctly, both paradigm and spectre, believed i was NOT a tyrannosaurus rex at all... instead they both thought i was a slightly different (yet related) type of tyrannosaurus, and it sounded like paradigm had named this whole new category of tyrannosaurus after me!?!

"how?" spectre pleaded helplessly, as he flipped through the pages of the paper in vainly. realizing with every turn he'd be completely defeated. "how did you get these pictures of the sealed skeletal sutures? you even managed a comparison between him and raptorex???"
`


"there is more than one way to skin a tyrannosaur," paradigm actually joked! "only someone as crude as you, jaden, would think of cutting apart the only living specimen of an animal. the rest of us would be content to study its skeleton from x-rays and CAT scans."
`

that sneaky paradigm! i knew exactly when he must have figured out i was something new... back during my medical check up with him in melbourne!!! he'd taken a bunch of (painful) scans and readings off me then... more than enough to study my skeleton i'm sure.
`

"there is no way this 'just' came into publication today!" spectre accused looking at the publication date on the paper.
`

"true," paradigm admitted. "i had to pull a few strings to push it through into print for this little meeting."
`

"you hypocrite!!!" spectre accused paradigm. "you stopped me from bypassing peer review all those times, and now you just happily do it back at me. just to smite me?!?"
`

paradigm calmly retorted. "first of all, that paper was peer reviewed you'll notice. i made the call to get the process underway this morning when i came to. i would never resort to publishing something that was not first properly weighed by the scientific community. second of all jaden, there is a marked difference in why i fast tracked this paper compared to your motivations. when you did it, it was for personal selfish glory. in my case, a life was in danger. i hope even you see the difference..."

"CURSES!!!" dr. jaden spectre screamed, and returned paradigm's paper to him through a painful and well placed attack...

as paradigm reeled from the blow, spectre made a dash for the door. before the professor could recover, the mad palaeontologist dr. spectre had made his escape...

paradigm didn't seem a bit concerned, and instead walked straight up to me...
`

hopefully to untie me and stuff. those ropes are about as comfortable as they look, yo!
`

to be concluded...

Needle in a Drumheller

(From the active case files of the Palaeo Central Initiative. Personal log of Palaeo-Prime: Professor Alvar Paradigm.)


This has not been one of my better days.

Despite our successful capture of Case #132-09's poaching racket, my personal participation in the operation was less than ideal.

However today has been the first time I have ever been thwarted in hand to hand combat by two separate combatants!

My second altercation was quite an unexpected surprise however, especially in who I clashed with.


What the hell is Jaden [Spectre] doing here in Drumheller???

The logical conclusion is he was somehow involved in the poaching. That does not make sense though.

He has known about the Vivus egg layer in the Horseshoe Canyon as long as I have. More to the point he would never resort to employing anyone else to excavate for him. He is far to skilled and capable to need hired help. Not to mention his pride!


No, there must be something else behind his presence here, but I don't have time to figure it out now!

Jaden has abducted TMP 2003. 12. 7., known to most as "Traumador". Being taken by Jaden means the Tyrannosaur only has a few hours left, unless I can track them both down!

I think I know what Jaden is up to. Or so I hope. I have made a crucial call to the International Palaeontological Committee publishing house. I am going to need them to rush something through a peer review in the next hour if there is any hope of stopping Jaden.

Naturally Jaden was smart enough to not leave me anything resembling a useful trail. His tracks end at the Dinosaur Trail highway. Meaning he could be anywhere in the greater Drumheller area by now. He is not foolish enough to try and leave the area, as he or his captive might be found if I were to order a road closure.

It has been a long time since the two of us have played cat and mouse in Drum. Nine years, two months, and five days to be precise. His choice of hideouts in the area has altered a great deal in the past decade, and like always I don't have much time to figure out which!


I can immediately eliminate two of his classic haunts from the list. Both the old abandoned Prehistoric Park and Antler Museum sites have been thankfully demolished in the last few year, and thus he can't fall back on familiar ground or the previously installed defences.


At the same time there is no shortage of potential new sites for him to use around town. All Jaden needs is privacy and access to the barest basic utilities and he is fully operable.

[Photo courtest of David Lloyd]

I fear he may yet, one of these days, resort to using one of the several dozen old dilapidated farm buildings in the area. He has never done this in his exploits in Canada, but there is always a first time in this country. Which would prove disastrous, I do not have the time to check them all.

Based on our encounter earlier today though I am willing to gamble he will not be using this tactic today. He went out of his way to ensure I survived our battle, and I have fought him enough to know the difference. No, Jaden wants me to know exactly what he is doing to TMP 2003. 12. 7, and thus he will have chosen a hideout that will be obvious so I can find it.

[Photo courtesy of David Lloyd]

My first stop, Jaden's still standing second base in Drumheller. The Bleriot Ferry. In 1986 during his attempt to illegally break into the Tyrrell's type specimen collection, Jaden used the Ferry's mechanical shed as his base of operations.

However here in 2009 there is no sign that he has been here in the past twenty years.

When Jaden is pulling one of his more showy schemes, he likes to go as grandiose as he can on his venue. Having a flair of theatrical sense, Jaden tends to pick historic sites for these occasions.

You can not get much more historic or flashy then the Atlas 5 coal mine site.

I wagered it 40% likely I'd find Jaden and Traumador here at the mine, it turns out that my 60% reservations were correct.

Clearly Jaden wants to be found, but not too easily. If he is going to attempt what I think he is, then this makes sense. He can not afford me finding him too soon. I need to really get in Jaden's headspace right now if I am to save the Tyrannosaur!

Jaden is very fond of abandoned facilities, for the clear advantages they provide to someone with his agenda. His usual two the Prehistoric Park and Antler museum no longer exist, but as small cities and towns tend to do, Drumheller has produced a few new such places for him to choose from.

A fire last year, rendered the former high school completely useless. Making it perfect for Jaden's purposes, especially since it is right in the heart of the city and very close to electrical and water systems that can be tapped into.

If I gave the Atlas mine 40% likelihood, then the high school was 50%. The boarded up front was almost like Jaden's version of a welcoming mat.

Yet after an extensive search of the building I was astounded to find the high school had simply been abandoned.

Which did not bode well for me or the Tyrannosaur! Those were the only clear places I could think of, and Drumheller was a town I knew particularly well.

A last possible location occurred to me, though I did not bother to investigate it.

The new "museum" being constructed 5 minutes down North Dinosaur Trail from the Tyrrell.

The thought of this abomination of an institute feels me with intense rage. Despite the Tyrrell's, my own, and even the International Palaeontological Committee's efforts to block them, the Annex Corporation has been allowed to build this tourism branch in Alberta. I can not even properly express my disgust over this situation. If this is a sign of things to come, than my efforts to combat the company have been for nothing!

`

I digress though. Such a new facility only being partially complete, it would make an ideal temporary base for Jaden. Yet, I can thankfully dismiss the Annex Corp. museum without a second thought. Despite our disagreements in the past, Jaden and I still share an absolute disdain for the company. He would not ally himself with them under many circumstances, and getting back at me through the Tyrannosaur certainly would not be one of them!

`

No, Jaden has to have come up with a far cleverer hiding place then these. I just wish I could think of where the hell it is?!?

To be continued... In the last place anyone would think to look!

paradigm vs. spectre (in comicrama vision!)

i'm REALLY regretting getting up this morning!

after all the crazy excitingness that had been the drumheller poaching caper, i thought my day couldn't get any weirder...

then suddenly me and professor paradigm had come under attack out of no where!

our attacker, some guy called "spectre", seemed to know paradigm pretty well... all i knew was that he was intent on dinonapping me, and that he packed a might impressive grip.

in fact spectre's holds on me so far had been so good, on account of his knowing several ubber effective pressure points on my tyrannosaurid physiology, i was nearly paralyzed. as much as i wanted to struggle, and even at some points use my bone crushing bite on him, the most i could muster was a spastic twitch. he'd shot my body into totally useless numbness.

as for why he wanted to steal me, i wasn't sure. based on how paradigm had suddenly tensed up, i could tell my abduction wasn't going to be a good thing... was this another angle on the poaching case i'd managed to miss? or was there something else behind this?

"let him go jaden!" paradigm ordered. so they were both on a first name basis with each other. i was really starting to hate this whole surprises around every corner that palaeo-central was seeming to bring with it.

"now, now alvar, you didn't say the magic word," jaden spectre mockingly answered.

paradigm said nothing more, but rather rushed towards myself and spectre. in a moment's reaction i was tossed aside and spectre replaced me with a long japanese sword he had strapped to his back.

you might be thinking this was an ideal chance for me to escape. sadly spectre's pressure point grip had rendered me capable of just slightly better than a weak crawl. so though i made incredibly slow progress away from the battle that was about to ensue, I didn't get very far from it...

the fight happened really fast too. i include the pictures here in comicrama style so it might be easier to follow (let me know what you think of this style of blog post for my future consideration)

seeing spectre's sword paradigm hesitated for a moment, but only a moment, before trying to close with his opponent. spectre took a slash at paradigm, which the professor narrowly ducked. in this moment of opportunity spectre landed a solid kick on the professor...

it was a good kick, and paradigm let out an audible grunt of pain. i thought this was going to turn out just like his last fight, and i was doomed.

needles seemed to think so too, as he took another swing with his blade. paradigm suddenly pivoted on the spot, and launched an awesome punch right into spectre's stomach. as spectre keeled over in response paradigm shot his hand up in a rather mean uppercut like blow right into spectre's jaw.

spectre recoiled and restored his sword in front of him. "just like old times," spectre said almost fondly. "it's just too bad you came unprepared, alvar," he taunted with the tip of his blade.

"i always come prepared," paradigm retorted very confidently, as he reached behind him. i grew hopeful of the mystery weapon he'd pull out from behind him. was it his own sword (maybe from england or somewhere exotic like antarctica?), or better yet a battle axe, or wait a rocket launcher, no of course it would be a tank! crushing my enthusiasm paradigm pulled out a standard issue digging awl...

spectre paused, just as confused as me. "that's a little creative, on using what you have available," he pointed out to paradigm. "even for you alvar!"

paradigm in a very civil, and almost embarrassed i'd venture, manner replied. "you are catching me at an awkward time jaden. which i'm sure you planned on," paradigm explained. "i did just spend a great deal of effort on two poachers, and this is the only piece of evidence i collected that is close to a weapon."

spectre seemed more enthused and honoured by this answer. "you're willing to use a piece of evidence from a case against me," he humbly stated. "why not then..."

spectre lunged full swing with his sword, and all common sense would bet the professor was doomed with his tiny excavation tool.

yet paradigm counter lunged, and his awl caught spectre's sword masterfully. a splash of sparks erupted from the colliding weapons. both combatants didn't disengage though, rather both tried to swing the close quarters to their enemy into an advantage.

paradigm didn't miss a beat, and cracked the handle of his awl with full force against spectre's jaw. it looked like the professor had planned on swinging the pointy business end of the tool into spectre's shoulder or arm to injury this key combat limb, but spectre out maneuvered him. paradigm's blow was followed nanoseconds later by spectre's sword's hilt into the professor's throat sending him recoiling.

spectre flicked his sword, knocking the awl out of paradigm's grasp...

the black clade villain then tried to swing the sword back towards the professor, but paradigm seized him by the wrist and applied some sort of pressure point grip to it, causing spectre to drop his weapon.

one of the two of them tried to hit the other (i seriously couldn't tell, they were both moving so quickly and smoothly now) and the opposite blocked it. spectre put to much emphasis on the arm to arm combat, and thus neglected his lower body's defenses. an opening paradigm struck out against...

however this didn't incapacitate spectre, whose focus on the upper combat zone, now allowed a powerful counter attack on the slightly off balance paradigm.

spectre coyly wandered slightly away from the battle, as paradigm regrouped. spectre clearly had the intent of picking something up off the ground. as his sword lay right beside him, both myself and the professor focused on it. which had been spectre's notion...

as paradigm dashed towards the sword to prevent it from reentering the engagement, i was startled when spectre reached down and seized ME!

using me as a blunt force weapon, spectre batted me into the professor. my thickly boned and muscled head impacted the professor's much more modest mammalian skull with a great enough force i felt him go limp against the blow... not that i felt all that great as a result of the contact either!

we both collapsed into a pile on the ground. for all i knew paradigm was dead at first, till i fortunately felt his chest move and heard the eerie sound his re-breather makes for an exhale.

the whole duel had lasted only a couple of minutes, in a fast and furious blur. i'd been so engrossed on the battle and its outcome i'd almost been excited, rather then fearing for my life. now with spectre looming over the two of us completely helplessly dread finally took its hold on me...

it was very suspenseful too. he could any manner of evil things either of us right now...

no matter what it ended up being, just the mere anticipation and worry of what it was going to be was the worst though!

i shrieked with startled fear, when spectre finally settled on a simple evil laugh...

"pleasant dreams alvar," he goaded the unconscious paradigm. "by the time you wake up, i'll have made scientific history!"

i had no idea what that meant or why it sounded so ominous.

before i had much time to think on it , spectre picked me up, and draped my frozen body over his shoulder and sprinted off into the badlands...

just like that i'd been dinonapped!

by a deadly madman who wanted to make science history... the problem is i couldn't tell what i had to do with it, or why i'd been stolen to do so (i'd have happily helped make history if i'd been asked... which caused me to think this was not going to be a good thing!)

to be continued...

my first (and maybe last) debriefing...

this was turning out to be the biggest day of my life... at least as far as weird things happening to me all at once was concerned! which is saying something, as they seem to happen to me all the time!!!

i'd solved a major fossil poaching case, been captured by the poachers, witnessed not one but two major battles for stolen fossil eggs, in the end been rescued by my former roommate, and learned that not only he but also my legal guardian are both members of a top secret scientific organization!

as if that list weren't big enough, now i had the head honcho of said secret organization, palaeo-central, wanting to speak with me. this was, of course, the very intense professor paradigm. a man who last time i'd seen had promised for something terrible to happen to me if he caught me meddling in this poaching affair... so i wasn't exactly excited about the talk we were about to have.

i nearly jumped out of my skin when he asked me his first question. i was expecting him to scream at me. instead he calmly asked "you weren't harmed were you?" he seemed to ask it out of concern and almost sympathy (not something i'd expect from paradigm).

"no," i answered in a half lie. though my wrists were rope burned and i had a big bump on the back of my skull from the kick, but overall i'd been worse.

"good," paradigm actually sounded genuinely happy to hear. which was odd, i'd always gotten the impression he didn't like me. "now tell me traumador," he prompted. oh great i thought, here it comes! "how did you figure out this was where the poachers were digging?"

i was confused as he didn't sound mad or anything... that and as it was an opening to show off how clever i'd been (i so rarely pull off clever things due to the small brain and all) i proudly explained how i'd collected micro fossils from around all the poached quarrys, had gotten help studying them, and of my big geology break through in the museum's collections...

after i concluded my tale there was an awkward silence. i was ready for paradigm to explode at hearing the depth of my meddling. instead he finally just answered. "impressive," if i didn't know any better i'd guess he was, well, impressed.

the silence returned, and this time it wasn't going to end unless one of us started a new tangent. i figured i was safe from him getting mad now, as paradigm had had plenty of opportunity to yell at me by this point.

"what is palaeo-central exactly?" i asked... which was probably a little bold on my part, but hey what did i have to lose at this point?

paradigm shifted slightly, as though to assess whether i was worth of the answer or not. apparently i made the cut as he instructed. "walk with me."

paradigm started hiking away from the poaching site and back towards the highway, and as he'd asked me too follow i walked along side him. "before i tell you any of this, you must swear to complete secrecy everything i tell you."

"sure," i promised, though its not like palaeo-central is the best kept secret out there...

"we are everything, and yet nothing, that the rumours claim us to be," paradigm explained... or at least i think he was explaining? everything and nothing, he was losing me with the first sentence. oh well, at least it wasn't the first time this had ever happened to me.

paradigm seemed to pick up my confusion, yet he hadn't looked at me, he just seemed to know what he'd said went over my head. it was weirdly familiar somehow.

he started over talking at my level. "palaeo-central in a nutshell is the protective agency watching over all aspects of the science of palaeontology. this mostly centres around fossils," he paused to ensure i was keeping up. "this includes who can and should be collecting fossils, what are they being used for, and most important ensuring they are being used to increase and better humanities collective knowledge of the past." okay this i'd already heard. "our mandate extends beyond fossils though. we deal with the human side of fossils too, including scientists and researchers, traders, collectors, companies, religious groups, and even governments on occasion."

"so you guys are like the james bonds of science?" i asked, as i pictured paradigm pulling out rocket packs for us to ride back to the museum.

paradigm made a strange noise through his re-breather. had it not be so short i would have thought it was a chuckle, but if it was it lasted less then a second. "well, that is what our enemies are meant to think. despite our reputation, palaeo-central is not all seeing, or comprised of an army."

this was a bit of a surprise. after all the hoopla everyone had been making about palaeo-central i had envisioned it as being a huge operation like in the movies. "no, we are rather a loosely organized network of specialists and operatives scattered throughout the world's palaeontologic institutions, who while working a normal job in the field, carry out the secret mandate of safe guarding fossils from the 'dangers' of the greater world."

"huh?" i dumbly said out loud. it wasn't that i complete didn't understand the professor. what did he mean by specialists and operatives?

paradigm once again seemed to know what had confused me, which was getting eerie, and he clarified. "palaeo-central agents aren't really secret agents like james bond, traumador. i recruit people who are already in key positions in the palaeontologic community. scientists, students, technicians, administrators, collections managers, even tour guides!"

tour guides... that explained dan and craig. dan was a physicist, but had been tour guiding at the tyrrell on the side for years. craig, well he'd always been a tour guide until he'd suddenly taken off to new zealand (though he'd been acting weird just before i was fired from the tyrrell 3 years ago).

"why go to all that trouble?" i asked. "i mean, if fossils are in that much trouble, why not just organize the whole science against the 'threats' it faces."

"i always wondered the same thing when i started as a scientist," paradigm reflected. "sadly academics and scientists aren't the easiest to unify on anything. that alone on enemies that might or might effect them individually. getting the whole science to coordinate a united defense across the different personalities, ideals, politics, and countries we all are divided by is all but impossible. believe me i tried."

"so palaeo-central was the solution," i guessed.

"preciously!" paradigm seemed to approve of my keeping up. "for well over a year i campaigned the worldwide central authority of palaeontology, the international palaeontological committee, to recognize the potential threats facing the science. i fell on deaf ears until 1970, when several high scale incidents struck just as i'd predicted. as of that year my proposal finally had received approval, and i was put in charge of a special task force under the supervision and control of the committee to spearhead a defensive effort. you know it today as palaeo-central."

"wow," i said out loud to a key realization i'd had listening to that. it wasn't about palaeo-central or how it was a branch of palaeontology's focal organization (everyone in the science world knows the international palaeontological committee), but rather paradigm's age! if i followed him correctly, 1970 was an early point in his career... i'm no expert at maths, but paradigm sure looks good for a man his age!

then something suddenly occurred to me in my tiny brain... "hold up, what did megan sauer and jo harvager have to do with the pack of the primordial feather?" i thought out loud.

paradigm stopped dead in his tracks and looked at my intensely. "what are you babbling about?"

i quickly explained how i'd gotten involved in the poaching case as i thought it was what the pack had been up to around the tyrrell. paradigm was baffled by this connection, but not by the pack being up to something fishy. before he could elaborate on his knowledge, my big day got a whole lot bigger!

the thing is had i checked my email earlier that day i'd have known better then to go outside!...

for i'd gotten a dire warning from my mysterious contact in the pack, ruffled feather, who had tried to alert me to the about to unfold situation.

Traumador,

You are in serious danger! Get out of Drumheller now!

We underestimated how important the crate is to the Pack. They've responded to your escaping the Crimson Talons by bringing in an even more dangerous player. Jaden Spectre

Pull out of Drumheller to where ever. We'll regroup and reconsider our actions against the pack later, but you have to get out now! Your life depends on it!!!

Ruffled Feather

i really wish i'd gotten this email...

for just as paradigm was about to reveal what he knew about the pack's drumheller activities, i could have sworn i smelt another human nearby (stupid wind direction!)... if only my hearing was as ubber keen as my sense of smell. i'd have heard the man who was literally stalking me and the professor.

just as i was about to state my concern over the smell, i suddenly was seized from behind by my chest. at the same moment the professor suddenly found himself being punched in the head. despite the complete surprise, paradigm instinctively dodged part of the blow...

this however threw him slightly off balance and our attacker seized the opportunity and slammed his elbow into paradigm's exposed back. before i could struggle i was suddenly overwhelmed by a painful hold applied to a pressure point on my abdomen i didn't even know i had... it really hurt! i couldn't move from my tummy up...

"it's been a while alvar," our assailant addressed paradigm by his first name.

"spectre!?!" the professor loudly proclaimed in surprised response. "what in extinction's name..."

"i've just come to study this specimen," this spectre guy replied, holding me up painfully by my throat. "i hope you don't mind too much that i borrow him from you."

to be continued...