Through the Wormhole

Chapter VIII: The Lost World of Bugs

Dan, still stunned, chewed his muddy fingertips and held his palms out to the Hylonomus. His instinct said it was a girl. "It's okay, it's okay—I won't hurt you." He'd rather see a Hylonomus than an Arthropleura any day.

She sniffed his palms and touched his finger with her little foot. One would mistake her for a lizard, but she wasn't. They didn't appear until the Jurassic Period. However, there was no doubt she was a reptile trapped in the Lost World of Bugs, Dan's nickname for the Carboniferous. She was also much friendlier than the Temnospondyli, who got him in this mess in the first place—trapped in a coal swamp with broken rocket boots and an injured leg. However, the Hylonomus lifted his spirits.

"Is this your swamp?" Dan gently asked.

She responded by licking her right eye.

"Sorry," Dan apologized. "I'll go if you want me to." He then remembered that PPMC told him to stay put and added, "However, my starship told me not to go anywhere. So..."

The Hylonomus seemed to smile. She ran in a circle on Dan's palms and stretched her body like a cat. What was it about him that she liked? Dan thought she'd be shyer.

He placed her on his shoulder and limped through the swamp, approaching the rocket boots. Dan picked them up and groaned. "PPMC's gonna kill me." He wasn't going to get out of this one easily. He needed a day in a Carboniferous coal swamp to find an excuse. However, he couldn't stay exposed in the Lost World of Bugs with an injured leg for long.

With that in mind, Dan asked the Hylonomus, "Do you have a nest around here that may be—well, you know—a little hidden?" Oh, who was he kidding? A Hylonomus wouldn't understand him.

It looked like she did, though. She hopped off Dan's shoulder and hurried to a log before another cluster of ferns. There, the Hylonomus turned and waited for him.

"Where are you taking me, girl?" Dan could trust her, right? She didn't seem like a troublemaker—just an animal curious about an unexpected visitor.

He headed for her, but his leg screamed in pain, and Dan fell over, smearing a few plants with blood.

Concerned, the Hylonomus stepped forward.

"I'm okay." But between his leg and illness, Dan knew he wasn't. That hookup and a new prehistoric world were waiting, though.

Holding onto that thought, Dan pushed through the pain and joined the Hylonomus at the log. "Take me to your nest."

At once, she popped into the ferns.

Dan split them and checked for another sudden drop. The last thing he wanted was to bust his other leg.

Once he ensured the coast was clear, Dan stepped into the ferns and saw the Hylonomus. "There you are," he said, smiling. Dan moved toward her but yelled when something suddenly entered his peripheral and buzzed by him.

The Meganeura, a dragonfly the size of an eagle, landed on a tree branch, its wings ringing like wind chimes.

"Meganeura!" Dan hollered. Holy smokes—they really were enormous! The thanks for that went to Earth's high oxygen levels during the Carboniferous. Dan never thought he'd see a Meganeura up close! He started for it, but the dragonfly flitted away. It looked like it wasn't as social as the Hylonomus. Maybe the next Meganeura.

Dan and the Hylonomus trekked through the forest for a good while, but then the Hylonomus reached a new cluster of ferns. Here we are! was the look it gave Dan.

"Is your home through here?" he eagerly questioned.

She nodded and slipped through the ferns.

At first, Dan hesitated. How far away from PPMC was he? At the same time, though, he needed shelter. Dan couldn't walk much longer with his leg. Considering that, he pushed the ferns aside and stepped into a vast but wondrous coal swamp. "Whoa!"