Aggy and the Dinos

Introduction

All stories begin at the beginning of everything, and this story is no different. Each occurrence influences everything that follows it, lending some notion to the idea that all things are predestined. This is frequently mistaken for religion by those who suffer from it.

This story was born with the clashing of matter in the depths of space, spinning until a semblance of order was attained. It first walked under purple skies, breathed acidic air and heard the thunder of the mighty volcanoes. It lived in the wild fury of a new world, and it would be many ice ages before the next players in the tale would take up their part. It started with dinosaurs.

Linda Evergreen, the wife of one of the greatest scientists of all time, was having a very exciting day. Very little had happened in Hell's Creek for the last few million years, and the passage of time had hardly mattered to this hot, dusty, yellow place, as can be seen by the quality of the fossils that have been, and continue to be, found there. Linda was a palaeontologist, and what she had found would change the world.

The temporary laboratory was a far cry from the world outside – cool and sterile and tranquil. Every sound she made seemed amplified. She forced herself to move with her usual casual grace, not to rush, not to sweat, not to scream. On the slide she had under her microscope, was a piece of cretaceous soft tissue.

Linda had learned a lot about people during her career, making keen observations regarding how human character changes in the presence of concepts such as 'discovery', 'breakthrough', 'fame' and 'power'. She carefully assembled an expression of bored familiarity, and leant once more over the lense. She looked for a long time at the most exciting discovery in archeological history. It was a most uninspiring colour.

She had found the tissue clinging to a thigh bone from a Troodon fossil. Troodon was common in Hell's Creek, and at first she had tried to scrape off the brown lump, thinking it was dirt. When it stuck, she looked a little closer. The Troodon was a man-high, razor clawed little bugger with a big brain and forward facing eyes, that had died out with the rest of them in the K-T Boundary. It was not cool enough to get cast in Jurassic Park. She adjusted her lens, looking for the impossible. After millions of years it was unlikely that there would be any....

But there they were. The tissue contained cells, travellers from the land before time. There were more than a few of them, looking back at her, waiting to be unlocked. In that moment, Linda makes a key decision. Taking the role of chess master, she sealed the tissue sample and put it in what looked like a small cool box. She logs the find as a thigh bone in good condition. Then she takes the box to her car. The future edges a little closer.