Prologue

11 June 2021

Graham leant back in his chair with his eyes closed and ran his hands through his short hair. He could feel the sun gently warm his forehead as it filtered through the glass skyline. His short little break ended abruptly as someone wacked his head lightly with something that felt like paper. Smiling he turned around in his chair to see that Amelia Kanda, Head of Animal Behaviour and the reason why the park had anything more than a few toads, had jokingly hit him with a flyer.

"I think Hiroshi would skin you alive if he found you napping at this time," she laughed.

"I was just resting my eyes. You need a break sometimes looking at these computer screens 24/7. Isn't that right Bogdan?" Bogdan merely grunted in response. He was never one for talking. Over the last month Hiroshi Komon, CEO of Shinchoku Co. and the fourth richest person in the world, had been a virtual maniac through the stress of opening the park to the public. Announced to the public just a month prior the park had already been fully booked with guests for the next year. Meanwhile Hiroshi had to deal with juggling advertisement, public safety and a whole heap of things that he was glad he didn't have to deal with.

"So this is the leaflet that marketing spew out?" he asked looking at the crumpled paper in Amelia's hand. The park's logo of a blue silhouette of a frog lodged between the 'c' in Prehistoric and the 'p' in Park blazoned on the top of the page. Below the logo were several of the park's inhabitants were placed here, there and everywhere. Inside there was a large map of the three islands and several blocks of text advertising the park.

"A safe and thrilling ride through the past," Graham laughed. Both Bogdan and Amelia laughed as well. "That's an exaggeration if I've ever seen one."

"It should say 'come to Prehistoric Park where we stumbled our way to success. Leave with all your limbs intact and you get a discount on your next visit'," Amelia joked. "How many technical difficulties have to be ironed out?"

"Too many," Bogdan replied glumly. "One of the cameras in the aviary keeps malfunctioning, lights in sector 4 do not turn off during the day unless manually done, the synthetic food producer 2 breaks once a week, the fencing sometimes shuts off during storms and we still have a few issues with the boat tour…"

"Which I'm fixing!" Graham yelled. "I think Michael said he'll look over it for me. Anyway bar the boat all the problems we have aren't major ones. Even the fencing turning off isn't a major issue. Just tiny hiccups."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Amelia check her watch. "I best be off; got some jobs to do. Just think after four years this place is finally going to be open. Hey, today's actually the anniversary of when we arrived here."

11 June 2016

She woke up rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Right before her eyes she could see the brilliant bright blue waters that made up the Pacific Ocean. It seemed days ago since they set off from Whakatane Airport although it could only have been an hour max. At that moment she noticed that the other two passengers had woken up as well. Like her they both wore a headset so they could communicate over the incessant whirring of the helicopter blades. The one sitting opposite her was a man either in his late forties or early fifties. He wore wire rimmed glasses on a crooked nose. His brown hair was losing a battle against the grey which his beard had long lost. The sleeves on his shirt were rolled up to his elbows revealing a surprising amount of muscle. It was hard to guess accurately his height due to him sitting down but she could tell he was tall. This contrasted greatly with the man sitting next to her. He was easily shorter than she was and seemed to be in his early twenties. While the older man was apparently physically fit the person sitting next to her was plumper. He had short brown hair with a patchy beard of the same colour. Both were white.

"Ah the third musketeer awakes!" the older man happily cried. He had an American accent but she couldn't pinpoint where in America he came from. "I am Professor Philip West although please call me Phil." He leant over with his hand extended which she shook. He had a firm handshake.

"Graham Lang," the younger man said holding out his hand which she shook. He had an Australian accent.

"Amelia Kanda," she replied. "Sorry for falling asleep. I had a crying baby behind me from London to Dubai, someone snoring Dubai to Auckland and it was a bumpy bus ride to Whakatane."

"Ouch," Graham replied.

"Ah you're English!" Phil cried. "I'm a bit of an Anglophile."

"Originally yeah. I came from an area of London called Notting Hill. I moved to Kenya two years ago. My job," she further explained "I'm an animal behaviourist and tracker with a specific focus on big cats and hyenas. I was given the choice of the Masai Mara in Kenya or the Okavango Delta in Botswana. My grandfather came from Kenya so I thought go to the homeland. I went home for a month before flying out here."

Both men nodded their heads impressed. "I love lions," Phil said "although my specialty is far older than lions. I'm a palaeontologist with a particular emphasis on paraves." At the sight of their confused faces he elaborated. "Sorry. Raptors. They aren't like they are in Jurassic Park but by God they're interesting. I'm based at UCLA but I'm from a town in rural Michigan."

"I'm the odd one out then," Graham laughed. "Computer programmer and technician. I'm from a town just out of Brisbane and through some stroke of luck managed to get a big role in creating Disneyland Seoul. That's where Shinchoku Co. found me. Although I don't know why a wildlife park needs me."

"I was wondering also why I am needed!" Phil exclaimed "Animals that died out a long time ago aren't very relevant to animals vanishing in the here and now! Although through the grapevine I have found out that Hiroshi Komon is a bit of a dino-nut. He may be making a museum or something."

She nodded in agreement. This whole deal seemed rather shady. A few of her friends before she had left had joked about Hiroshi Komon being an illuminati member. Despite being the fourth richest person in the world Hiroshi Komon was a virtually unknown figure; his company was the exact opposite. Directly involved in the UN Mars colony programme it was pumping out technology only thought of in sci-fi movies each year as a result. It was a conspiracy theory gold mine. The more she thought about it the more shady it seemed. Before she set off she had to sign a legal document promising not to divulge what inhabitants the park had until it opened to the public. She had assumed this was to not alert animal poachers to what was on the islands, (from experience she knew how far poachers were willing to go). Her job description now seemed very strange: Ensuring that animals arrived at the wildlife park safely and when the park opens to be Head of Animal Behaviour. She had even got the job in strange ways. A friend called Morarji Patel had been employed as this park's Head Ranger and, had suggested that she take up the position here. Now finding out there was a computer technician who worked on Disney's most advanced park as well as a palaeontologist this made things very bizarre.

"Ah there they are! The Nga Rara islands!" Phil said very happily. "It's Maori for 'The Ribs' because back in the day the island didn't have any large animals. Unfortunately Europeans stripped the island of virtually everything bar the soil itself."

She looked out of the window to see a beautiful set of islands. They were arranged in a horseshoe shape which was in turn surrounded by a large reef with a few sandy embankments which pierced the water. Despite the fact that Europeans had stripped the islands bare Hiroshi Komon and Shinchoku Co. had made a good effort to repopulate the islands. She could see a mix of rich tropical forests, open yellow grasslands and even a rich mangrove forest. The largest island even had a mountain swamped in fog! There were various buildings scattered across the islands and even some large structures which resembled golf balls of all things.

"Wait, are those biodomes?" Graham asked.

"They must be," Amelia replied. "Shinchoku Co. made loads for the Mars colony so they must be easy to come by. You would be surprised by how many endangered animals don't live in tropical climates."

The media always liked to focus on endangered animals from hot or tropical climates: lions, tigers, elephants, rhinos, gorillas and the like. Animals like snow leopards always seemed to be the exception. The European bison was one of the world's most endangered herbivores but they certainly didn't live in savannahs and rainforests. Her heart warmed knowing that her new employers had taken the time to accommodate these animals. The helicopter started descending and she got a clearer view of the landscape. It was far hillier than she imagined. Trees dipped high and low thanks to the contours which could not be seen from higher up. The helicopter roared causing several egrets dart from the trees in fright. It did not take long for the helicopter to land with a thud and the blades stop rotating.

"Looks like we're here," Phil said. They took their headsets off just as the pilot slid the door open for them. Instantly warm air rushed into the cockpit like an invading army. Beads of sweat crawled down Phil's face which had turned a pinkish-red within seconds of the door being opened. As they stepped out of the helicopter they stopped dead. A man stood to greet them in a blue suit. He was fairly tall, wore glasses, was balding and had a goatee with a few grey specks in it. Amelia had seen his photo on the internet. It was Hiroshi Komon!

"Ohayou gozaimasu Komon-san," she said likely butchering the pronunciation and grammar. She had tried to learn Japanese before arriving in case Komon ever came to the islands. Even then she had only learnt about ten phrases. However, she never expected meeting this soon.

"Don't worry Ms Kanda I'm fluent in English. Please call me Hiroshi. I like to run an informal ship. Until the park opens I'm acting as manager. Anyway, welcome to Nga Rara!"

11 June 2021

She could practically taste the higher amount of oxygen in the atmosphere. Nearby she could hear a generator whir like some large, mechanical cicada. One day she would learn how the oxygen generators actually worked. They had simpler ones in the various biodomes, which were easy to understand how they worked, but these ones were far more complicated. Biology was her strongpoint, not physics. Stones and dirt crunched under her boots as she walked along the dirt road. To her left it was a shear drop where the only thing separating her from said drop was a meter and a half tall wall with the odd viewing scope. A jeep was parked further down the road with someone looking through a viewing scope. It was a girl in her teens. Her father got out of the jeep. Jesse Washington was often regarded as a heart-throb by most of the staff. He was African-America, a chiselled jaw line, tall, was in his late forties but look hardly a day over thirty, a shaved head with smart but subtle stubble and very smart as well. Being joint Head Vet with Suzanne McNab he had to be. Like the other vets he wore khaki combat trousers, a lime green shirt with the Prehistoric Park logo over the heart and, a headset.

"Hey Amelia!" Jesse yelled waving when he noticed her.

"Hey. Hi Heather, how are you?"

"Fine thanks. I can't see them though," she waved vaguely at the forest in front of her "and dad won't tell me what to look for."

Jesse gave them a sheepish look with a boyish smile. Amelia leant over to Heather. "Look near the base of those trees, they like to eat fruit from them."

It didn't take long for Heather to spot one with the new hint. She had a look of bemusement on her face. "Wow that's really weird. It's like an ostrich but with more feathers and that beak! I don't know what that beak is like."

"Gastornis," her father explained. "They can crack a coconut like it was a piece of celery with that beak. Trust me not something you want to make angry. So, Amelia where are you off to? I'll give you a lift if we're in the same direction."

"I'm heading towards the Hesperornis. You?"

"Ah. Sorry, I'm with the thylacines," he replied earning a 'What are they?' from Heather. "I'll see you around."

"Yeah see you around. You might want to stay inside later as well. Someone in the control room said there's a storm on its way."

11 June 2016

The next hour was a rush of meeting new people. Graham was introduced to the other computer technician that he was working with, a quiet Belarusian man named Bogdan Kalin, as she was introduced to the Head Vets, Suzanne and Jesse. The Head Keeper Bob Arthur struck her the most. Slightly pudgy he was short with a bushy moustache but seemed to be full of life. According to him they would be working together a lot before the park opened. Bob explained that he once was Head Keeper at Chester Zoo before moving to London where he adopted the same role at London Zoo. There he had been hired by Hiroshi. However, he joked that he only wished he knew what animals they would be looking after. If he doesn't know what's going on here who does? Everyone's reaction to Phil's profession was the same as her reaction, (and Phil's himself): utter confusion. Hiroshi did say that there was to be a museum but it wasn't to be constructed for several years. Why then was a paleontologist needed now?

Eventually Hiroshi had all the new staff converge to what would eventually be the park's reptile house. Calling it a reptile house always frustrated Amelia. What zoos and wildlife parks called reptile houses often exhibited amphibians and invertebrates as well, not just their scaly brethren. With Hiroshi working so close with the head staff she was hopeful that she could bend his ear to get a name change. When they entered the 'reptile house' the questions in her mind doubled. There was nothing in there! There were exhibits but they didn't have anything in them. No iguanas, no geckos, no crocodiles, no terrapins, no snakes, no spiders. Not anything. That is for a pond surrounded by a short wall with a little waterfall. Inside said pond she could hear the rhythmic grunts of frogs.

"Amelia!" a voice behind her said. She turned to see a bald, elderly Indian man with wrinkles to rival a tortoise standing there. He also only had his left arm following an unfortunate incident with a poacher. Morarji Patel had spent almost his entire life fighting against poaching and injustice. Born in South Africa he had somehow managed to get a good job at Kruger National Park and whenever he could took part in anti-Apartheid activities. When almost arrested in the 1980s he moved to Kenya to work at the Masai Mara reserve. He even managed to continue his humanitarianism by regularly raising money to help needy people in the local area. Not even losing an arm to a poacher in 1996 stopped him. He had become Amelia's mentor during her time at the Masai Mara.

"Wait to you see what Hiroshi has in mind," he whispered. Hiroshi beckoned everyone to look at the frog exhibit. Inside there were several orange coloured toads happily croaking away on logs, leaves and, in their bubbling water. It was strange. She recognised these toads but not for a good reason. They looked exactly like the extinct golden toad. A little too much like golden toads.

"They look exactly like golden toads," Amelia commented. Hopefully by saying something it could answer some questions; like why were they looking at toads which resembled an extinct species?

"That's because they are golden toads," Hiroshi replied almost bursting with excitement.

"But…golden toads. Golden toads are extinct," she replied.

Hiroshi laughed. "Not are. Was." What was going on?

"Did you rediscover them?" Bob asked. Hiroshi shook his head and sat down on the wall of the golden toad exhibit.

"There is something missing from our world," he began "The amazing animals that time has left behind. But what if we could bring them back? What if extinction didn't have to be forever? Since I was a small child I wondered this. Ninety-nine percent of all life, from the mighty dinosaurs to fungi, has gone extinct. What a waste! I am not the only one to think this. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle thought this with his book The Lost World where humans and dinosaurs lived side by side, Michael Crichton would think it again with Jurassic Park decades later. Ladies and gentlemen, on these islands we shall turn dreams into reality."

Great I'm working for a madman. I'm working for a man whose lackeys found a new species of toad or rediscovered one and thought he could end extinction. They likely told him that they brought it back from extinction hoping for a raise and the gullible idealist fell for it. He's going to waste his entire fortune sitting on dinosaur eggs hoping they'll hatch. There's a reason why humanity landed on Mars before Barney the Dinosaur became a reality. Luckily judging by the faces of everyone else, (bar Morarji), she wasn't the only one thinking this. Before anyone could call Hiroshi out for being nuttier than a squirrel's diet he called for them to follow him. Reluctantly they did and after a gruelling walk through the noon sun they arrived at a new place marked Holding Pens in several languages. Each holding pen was massive; at least large enough to hold an entire herd of elephants with room to spare. They made the ones at Masai Mara for relocating animals look like storage closets. Curiously there was almost a corridor running through the centre of the pens to a place resembling two pylons. Beside the pylons was a small building which Hiroshi gestured them to.

"In here please!" he yelled.

Inside was a large high-tech computer straight out of a sci-fi movie. One screen had a satellite image of the world with the exact date and time right next to it. There were countless buttons, switches and flashing lights on the computer which would make even the most well behaved child want to mess around with it. Although the very stern looking man with an outrageous tangled beard and, a neck that closely resembled a brick sitting at the computer would put any child off touching the computer.

"This is Ivor Strazdy. A genius physicist who made all this happen. Say hello Ivor." Ivor just grunted. He looked the type to punch you in the face than say hello. Hiroshi continued regardless. "In the early 1950s Albert Einstein started investigating an alternate energy source to nuclear energy in a way to undermine the nuclear bombs. Instead he found the secret to time travel. He never published his findings, or even told anyone. He wrote it down in a journal which I bought eight years ago. What we see here is the result of eight years of hard work. We type in the time and coordinates here and a portal opens up there." He pointed to the pylons.

She couldn't believe it. The man was gaga, loopy, completely demented.

"It is flawed," Ivor said in his grumbling voice. She couldn't pinpoint the accent except that it seemed to be a mix of every known accent. "The most recent date it can travel back to is 12,000 years ago. As a plus it does manage to resolve time paradoxes."

"Now hold on here!" Phil said suddenly. "You are expecting us to take this as the truth? Time travel and time paradoxes! I think I speak for everyone when I say this is something straight out of a sci-fi movie."

Hiroshi smiled softly and nodded. "I understand. I too couldn't believe it at first. Ivor prepare the example." Hiroshi headed for the exit and gestured for everyone to follow him. He had them all congregate in front of the pylons. He then gave a thumb up to Ivor and then…Whoosh! A swirling blue vortex appeared right before their eyes. She heard Bob give out a surprised yelp. With no qualms Hiroshi stepped through the vortex gesturing for all to follow him. Slowly one by one they did. It felt strange walking through it. No other experience Amelia ever felt could compare to it. It was like putting your face in water but the water was almost solid. She suddenly felt extremely cold. She opened her eyes and gasped. Instead of the tropical climate she was now in a frozen tundra with a furious snow storm raging around her.

"Have I convinced you all?" Hiroshi yelled over the roar of the snow. They all yelled 'yes' in response and he gestured for them to follow him back through the portal.

11 June 2021

The electric car silently purred as Jesse stepped on the gas. Well, if it could be called gas in an electric car. Heather was looking lazily out of the window as trees darted past. In the back he could see Clarence, Heather's boyfriend, looking at a pair of Prehistoric Park's special binoculars. He didn't like Clarence. The only reason was that he didn't like the idea of his little princess starting to begin dating. He wasn't even supposed to be here which made his animosity towards him grow even more. Heather wanted Clarence to come with her and it was either have Heather and Clarence or not have her at all. He would rather die than not see his daughter. It was a shame that his son, Mike, had chosen to stay back at the Lodge instead of accompanying him on his rounds. Although, he had a feeling that had something to do with an attractive staff member at the Lodge...

"Clarence if you had waited another five minutes you would have got to see the gas…What was it called dad?"

"Gastornis."

"Yeah that thing. It's cool, like an ostrich but bigger."

"Mr Washington," Clarence leant forward. Not again. "Does Prehistoric Park have an Indominus Rex?"

"No that dinosaur doesn't exist. It was made up for Jurassic World." Second time he's asked that!

"Do you have raptors?"

"Yes but they aren't like the ones in Jurassic Park." Third time!

"What about pterodactyls?" It was going to be a long day.

11 June 2016

She was speechless. She had travelled in time! Actual fricking time travel! Wait…her job involved making sure that animals arrived at the park safe. Did that mean? She turned and saw Hiroshi smiling at her.

"Ms Kanda. I'm assuming that you've realised that you will be helping me acquire residents for the park with Professor West!" Phil looked at him in amazement. "Who better to help a wildlife tracker than a paleontologist? Tomorrow I expect to see the two of you at my office to plan the first rescue mission. Eventually someone called Nigel Marven will arrive at the park to help the two of you. He has some family matters to take care of first. Now in the meantime it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the ultimate wildlife sanctuary. Welcome to Prehistoric Park."

I'm leaving a note in the reviews so if you could please have a look. Thanks for reading.