Caught in the Cretaceous

Chapter 7: Power Couple

Apollo is on his way outside to check on meg and Valkyrie and see if there is anything he can do to help them. As soon as he steps outside he knows something is wrong. All around the ship in the clearing are large native animals that he immediately recognizes as triceratops. It only takes him a moment to realize that not only is the clearing filled with these huge animals but his niece and the crew mechanic are surrounded by them. Right away he knows he has to do something. 

Without thinking too hard, Apollo grabs one of the branches the ship knocked down when they landed and starts to carefully swing it around in a way that is meant to nearest ones to him let out some grunts of annoyance and displeasure at the new motion. Slowly they all start to move away from him. 

The medic makes his way towards his niece slowly and carefully. He gently puts a hand on her shoulder to let her know he's there. She jumps a little at the sudden contact but he notes that he was already hyper aware of the large animals around them. 

"Here," Apollo hands her the branch he's been using. "Use this to keep them at a distance." After she takes it he bands down and picks up another branch. He shows her how to move the branch to encourage the animals to move but not spook them into a stampede. Together they make their way towards Meg who was so into her work she was completely oblivious to the situation around her. 

Val taps the mechanic's arm to get her attention while the medic kept her eyes on the large animals around them. The mechanic startles at the action. Val puts a finger to her lips, indication to the older woman to stay quiet. Apollo hands the mechanic a branch he picked up and together the three of them start to encourage the large animals to move on. The two women follow his lead and slowly the entire groups of triceratops move on together away from the ship. 

As soon as the last large creature disappears into the surrounding trees the tension lifts and all three breath and sigh of relief. 

"How did you know what to do?" Val asks her uncle. 

Apollo tries to figure out a believable response so they won't realize that he actually had no idea what to do, he was just acting on instinct. "I us had a girlfriend back in college who studied animal behavior." 

Meg looks at him curiously. "Really? Which one was that? I don't remember any of your college girlfriends studying animal behavior." 

Apollo panics for a second, he completely forgot for a minute that Meg went to college with him and his sister and his brother-in-law. She knew everything about his college life. "You must not have met his one." 

"What was her name?" Meg asks in a challenging tone." 

"Does it matter?" He scrambles to change the subject. "The important thing is you're both safe." 

Val feels her mouth twitch into a crooked smile. "I guess you lived up to your supposed job description." 

"What?" Both adults question her words. 

"You said keeping the crew alive is your job. And you made sure we made it through alive." Val points out, trying hard to hold in her mischievous giggle, knowing her words will stir up trouble between the two adults. 

There is a moment of silence while both adults take in the teenagers words. "Oh come on!" Meg exclaims. "That's not- this doesn't count!" 

It's clear Apollo is fighting a smile. "I don't know, I did save your lives." 

Meg rolls her eyes. "I don't know about that. We were doing fine." 

Apollo lets out a small, slightly sarcastic laugh. "Really? you didn't even know that you were surrounded by more than a dozen animals that are basically living tanks until I came out here and helped get rid of them. If you had noticed, what would you have done? Would you even have known what to do?"