Terry leaves the Physic's building and walks across the parking lot to the William G. Davis Computing Center, his book bag strapped across his chest. The DC, as it was known, is the newest building on Campus, and it certainly looked it. The 3-story, tube shaped building, covered in tinted glass, metal siding, and multicolored pipes and ducts, is one of the three most recognizable buildings on campus.
He walks across the lawn and enters the doors near the food court. He collects his lunch and sits down in the eating area. He starts eating his lunch automatically, his mind trying to solve some of the problems for his Computer Science assignment.
"Yo Terry! Air Control to Terry, come in. Your minds blocking traffic patterns over the University airspace." a voice cuts through his concentration. Returning his attention to the real world, he sees his friend, Tom Peterson, a middie winged Mallard Duck morph, staring across the table at him.
"Huh?!? Oh, Hi Tom. Whatssup?" he asks.
"Not much, only the fact that I may finally know what you are." Tom replies, eyes twinkling in amusement. This catches Terry's full attention.
"You do? How?! I've been trying to find out for months!"
"It's in today's Toronto Star; check out the first page of the science section. The only copy I could find was at the Tur- err turn desk otherwise, I would have brought it with..." Tom stops as he realizes he was talking to empty air. Looking around, he sees Terry running up the stairs to the second floor. Instead of going to the closed in bridge connected to the third floor of the Math and Computer building, Terry jumps over the railing, over the open space of the eating area. Before he has dropped very far, he disappears to the amazement of many of the diners.
"I wish he wouldn't do that," Tom mutters as he returns Terry's tray. He then walks out of the building, norm-shifts and flies the short distance to the Student Life Center (SLC).
Terry reappears over the parking lot between the SLC and the Physical Activities Complex. He lands on the stone patio on all fours, gets up and enters the SLC. He walks up to the Turnkey desk, where students could borrow recent magazines and newspapers and other things for free.
"Today's Toronto Star, please," he asks, laying his Student ID Card on the counter. The low-d turkey morph picked up the card and started looking through the racks of newspapers for the Toronto Star. Terry tail-smirked as he remembers the jokes going around about the turkey morph working at the turnkey desk. At least the jokes weren't as bad as the ones made about the porcupine morph working in the Registrar's office in Needles Hall. He still couldn't go in there without bursting out laughing (And scaring many of the smaller prey-animal morphs half to death).
"Here you go. You might want to check out the science section, I think I remember seeing something in there that might interest you." she says as she hands over the paper.
"Thanks, that's what I'm going to do," he replies. He takes the paper and walks over to one of the benches set up around the open area. There were still some couches scattered around from before the Change, but most of the seats were now benches, perches, a few large aquariums and even the occasional bean bag chair. Adequate seating for everyone was still something the University was trying to develop.
Terry opens the paper and starts flipping though the pages. Most of the first section is filled with news on the demonstrations in front of Queen's Park in Toronto about the Premier Harris's planned changes to Unions. Rumors were flying saying he wasn't going to run in the next election because of an image problem; He was a high degree skunk morph, complete with scent glands. The second section was the sports section, which he quickly flips past. The third section was the Science section, and as soon as he saw the picture on the bottom, he froze.
"Not a bad likeness... The wings are a bit off and the muzzle is a tad too long, but still pretty close." Tom says as he looks over Terry's shoulder.
Terry ignores him as he reads the article titled "Long-extinct flying reptile gets its wings back!" The article describes the Coelurasauravus jaekeli; a 250 million year old flying reptile that became extinct before the dinosaurs walked the Earth. Terry quickly scans through the article, reading how a paleontologist at the Royal Ontario Museum had reexamined the fossils of the lizard and determined that the wings, which had previously been removed because they didn't fit the theories, were in fact part of the lizard. At the end of the article was a note asking for anyone who might be, or know of a C. Jaekeli morph, to contact the paleobiologist at the given number.
"So you gonna give this Doctor Brandon a call?" Tom asks.
"I think I will. I've still got a half hour before class starts..." Terry says slowly, jotting down the number before refolding the paper. He takes it back to the Turnkey desk and reclaims his ID card. He walks over to the payphones, with Tom following behind. He picks up the phone, inserts his phone card and dials the number.
"Doctor Brandon's office. How may I help you?" a female voice answers on the other end.
"Hi, my name is Terry. I would like to speak to Dr. Brandon, please." Terry says.
"Doctor Brandon is currently busy. Would you care to leave a message?"
"I- I guess so. Tell him that I saw his article in the paper today, and I believe that I am a Co-e-lur-a-saura-vas morph. I can be-" Terry says, pronouncing the name carefully.
"Please hold." the voice at the other end interrupts him in mid sentence. For the first time, Terry realizes that he is speaking to an automated phone secretary.
"Doctor Brandon here. You say that you believe you are Coelurasauravus morph? Unbelievable, I hardly expected to hear of one, let alone two... Could you describe yourself." a new voice says on the other end, full of excitement.
"Well, I guess I'm about 5 foot 5, my tail's another 4 feet or so, and my wings are about 5 feet or so, with only a boney leading edge, like you described in the article. Hmmm, what else can I say? Well, actually, it might be easier if we met, then you could see me in person."
"Yes, that would be a good idea... Where did you say you were again?"
"I didn't; I'm at the University of Waterloo right now."
"The University of... Yes, a meeting would be a good idea. When is good for you?? I'm willing to pay the bus fare for you, and any other costs you might have. You see, I'm really eager to actually see one of the fossils I've put together, in the flesh, so to speak." the man says, somehow managing to sound even more excited.
"Well, it's 12:00 now. I've got a class at 12:30, till 1:30, but after that, my afternoon is free. How about I meet you at the base of the CN Tower, near the Skydome, at 1:45? I'm afraid that tower is one of the few places I know well in that city. Oh and don't worry about bus fare or anything like that; I can get to Toronto from here without any problems."
"1:45 at the CN Tower... Gotcha... But wait a minute, Waterloo is an hour's drive away from here! How are you going to get from there to here in 15 minutes?"
"Don't worry, I have my ways. Now, how will I recognize you?"
"I'll be the Ankylosaurus morph... You know what an Ankylosaurus is, don't you?"
"Sure, the armored tank dino. See you then." Terry hangs up the phone, and turns to his friend.
"I take it, you're going to go visit him?" Tom asks as they start walking towards the Math building.
"Yup. Want to come with me? In your norm form, you're easily in my teleportation field." Terry says. He hadn't determined exactly how far his teleportation field extended; experiments with the physics department were scheduled to determine that; but he had discovered that small objects, living or non-living, held close to his body could be teleported without a problem.
"No thanks; I've got some things I need to do. Have fun though." Tom says quickly. He had once teleported with Terry, and he had not enjoyed the experience. The complete sensory depravation during the teleport was too much for him to handle.
"Suit yourself." Terry says as they walk into the classroom. They take off their book bags and grab their seats.
"I hear you've discovered what you are, Terry," Laura Thomas, a mid-degree wolf morph and another friend of his, asks, catching him in the hallway outside of the classroom after the class ends. Tom and a few of his other friends are with her.
"I'm pretty sure. I'm meeting with the guy in Toronto in about 20 minutes to find out for sure."
"Well, we're all going to East Side's today at 5; Meet us there if you want to, and let us know how things went." Tom says.
"Sure, I'll see you there; I need to get back to my room and get my flight computer; I'll need to get clearance before teleporting over there." Terry replies.
"See yah later then." Tom says as the group breaks up to head their own ways.
Terry cuts through the Math Student's lounge on the third floor and walks onto the balcony. Jumping onto the railing, he quickly judges the wind whipping around the building before jumping off. Instead of directlyteleporting to the house in the Student Village 1, he glides across the campus. The jump off of the third story balcony does not give him enough lift to make it there completely, but by the time he needed to land, he was close enough to the house to easily walk there.
He runs up the stairs to the top floor of the house, where the South 3 fliers stayed, and unlocks the door.
He is busy searching for his flight computer on his crowded desk when there is a knock on his open door.
"Hi Terry, Have you seen today's paper yet?" someone says at the door.
Terry looks over his shoulder and sees a finch morph with wings at the door. "Hi Darwin. Yeah, I saw the paper. As soon as I can find my computer, I'm heading to Toronto to meet the guy."
His floor mate looks confused. "Going to Toronto? Isn't that a bit far just to go see a movie?"
"The movies? What are you talking about?"
"The Lost World's opening tonight; I thought you were coming with us to see it?" Darwin says, holding out the K-W Record, open to the movie listings.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. I'm afraid something's come up, and I don't know if I'll be able to make it. I'll explain later. If I can, I'll meet you at the theater... Ah ha! Here it is!" he says, pulling the small computer and radio out from under a pile of papers.
"OK, guess I'll see you later. Have a good trip," Darwin says, leaving the room.
Terry quickly straps the computer to his belt and plugs in the radio headset into the port. Even though he was not a long distance flier, his flying teleport ability meant that he still needed to follow the air rules put in place for all fliers. A special addition had been added to these rules stating that aerial teleporters, rare though they may be, could only use certain points when teleporting into a city. At least teleporting within a city, though frowned upon, is still hassle free.
Terry runs up the stairs to the roof of the house and activates his radio. "This is FLiz 005 to K-W Local Air Control." he says in the radio. Since he hadn't known what exactly he was when he had applied for the permits, he'd been stuck with the generic Fliz, for Flying Lizard.
"This is K-W Control, what can we do for you Fliz 005?"
"I need two teleport points within the next 5 to 10 minutes, one over UW, the other in Toronto, preferably a CN Tower point. I'm going from UW to Toronto, landing directly after arriving."
"OK, DP N500 is free right now. Give me a minute to see what Toronto Air Control says is free near the tower."
While the controller is checking with the airport that handles the fliers flight plans in Toronto, Terry stares across the university to the repaired Dana Porter library. The point he would be going to first was on the North side of the library at an altitude of 500 meters. He begins to visualize his port.
"Toronto control reports that CNT E450 is available. They report that current conditions in Toronto are partly cloudy skies, and that the SkyDome roof is currently being closed; it is at the halfway point now. You've got a tight window of opportunity Fliz 005, so I would advise you to leave now."
"Roger, Air Control." Terry says, leaping over the side and gliding towards the main campus. "Expect me to appear on your screens in a sec," he says, just before teleporting. He reappears over the northern face of the library, facing the science and math buildings. He checks his altitude and finds he's actually at 515 meters above the ground.
"We have you Fliz 005. You're a tad high though. TAC reports that they are ready to receive you."
"Thanks KW Control. See yah in a few hours." Terry replies, concentrating on the location he wanted. He made certain that his image of the Skydome had the roof half closed. Even though he rarely made trips to Toronto, the teleport locations in the city were among the ones he made sure he always had memorized.
With another quick trip into blackness, he reappears over the city and immediately starts gliding down lower. The tall Canadian National Tower is to his right, the sports stadium underneath it. The air around the tower itself is crowded with sightseers. He glances at his watch and realizes he is late for his meeting. He switches his radio over to the Toronto Air Control frequency and reports in.
"Fliz 005 to Toronto Control. I'm going to 'Port down to the ground. Thanks for getting this point for me."
"No Problem Fliz 005." the Toronto controller replies.
Terry looks around the area, trying to find an empty space closer to the ground he could go to. He sees a suitable area, close to where he said he would meet the Doctor. A quick hop later, and he reappears 50 meters above the ground, gliding over to the courtyard between the stadium and the tower.
He sees the armored dino-morph sitting at a table setup in the courtyard. Dr. Brandon is a large, high degree Anklyosaurus. Boney plates covers his back and his head, even his face. His mouth was a beak which he was using to chew up a salad on the plate in front of him. His club-like tail lays nearly motionless behind him.
Terry lands near the table and walks up to the dino-morph. "Doctor Brandon, I presume?" he asks.
The Doctor looks up and does a quick double take. "The resemblance is uncanny; he definitely is a Coelurasauravus..." he says quietly to himself, putting down his fork. He stands up and holds out his hand, on the end of a thick, elephant sized arm. Even his arms seem to have a few bone plates on them.
"You presume correctly... Terry was it? Call me Chris." he says as they shake hands.
"Yup, I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long; I had trouble finding my computer." Terry says, indicating the flight computer strapped to his chest.
"You flew here? Hmmm, I'll need to reevaluate my figures for the lizard's flight capabilities..." the doctor says, taking a notepad out of his briefcase next to the table and jotting down some notes.
"Well, actually, though I did fly here, but I took a short cut along the way. You see, I'm an aerial teleporter. I can teleport from place to place as long as I have the airspace at either end." Terry quickly explains, not wanting to throw off the Doctor's studies with false information.
"Ah, I see. That would explain a lot. If you don't mind me asking, what is the range of your ability?" Doctor Brandon asks, slowly walking around Terry and still making notes. His salad lays forgotten on the table.
"Unknown; I know I can go home, to New Brunswick, easily enough, but I've never really tested myself beyond about 1500 klicks, I guess." Terry replies, twisting his head to follow the doctor as much as he could.
"Oh, you're from New Brunswick?" the Doctor says, stopping in front of Terry again, the disappointment is clear in his voice.
"Yeah, is that a problem?" Terry asks, confused.
"No, no, no; no problem at all. It's just that since that article ran, I've been getting calls all the time; so many in fact, that it nearly overloaded my phone secretary! There were many prank calls, but there were also many serious calls about a Coelurasauravus-morph sightings, mainly in the western central New Brunswick area, near a town called Woodstock, and in the University of Waterloo area. Naturally, I assumed that they were two different people, but now I see that they were both the same person. I should've realized it. After all, the chances of having such an old animal show up are very low, even lower to have it show up in Canada. It would be next to impossible to have two show up, especially two within a population of 15 million! What was I thinking!" The doctor's voice trails off as his attention shifts to berating himself. Despite his distraction, he is still busily jotting things down on the pad of paper.
"Hey! Don't be so hard on yourself. There was a chance that it could've been true; after all stranger things have happened. And you do have me. As the new saying goes, a Coelurasauravus-morph in the hand is worth two in the bush!" Terry says, trying to get the doctor back on track. He succeeds.
"I suppose you're right." Doctor Brandon says. He stays silent as he finishes up what he is writing before flipping the book shut."Now, I suppose you'll want to get back to your studies..." he starts.
"Not particularly." Terry interrupts, tail grinning.
"Right...Well, I do want to get on with my studies, so why don't we head to the ROM and continue from there," the Doctor finishes.
"Fine, lead the way, Doc; I'm afraid I haven't got two sweet clues how to get to the ROM from here." Terry says, falling into step behind the tank-like dino-morph.
After a quick subway trip, and a short walk, Doctor Brandon leads Terry into the museum and to his office. Doctor Brandon sits down in a huge chair behind an equally large desk, while Terry sits on a smaller chair in front of it.
"OK, I'm sure you're wondering why I wanted to meet you... Would you mind me taping this conversation?" The Doctor starts, setting up a microphone.
"Sure, go right ahead and record it; I've got no secrets. I am kind've wondering why you would want to see me; though I suppose it is because of your recent discoveries." Terry says.
"You're mostly right, though I didn't discover the Coelurasauravus's wings; I just put them back on. As the article you read said, the fossil with wings, has been around since the 60's, but most paleontologists just discredited them, until I looked at them. I examined the fossils we have of the Coelurasauravus, and determined that the wings that were being scrapped off were actually part of this reptile."
"Right, I read that in the paper, but what exactly does this have to do with me?"
"I'm getting to that. Anyways, I gathered as much proof I could, and published it, with lukewarm success. You see, paleontology isn't my first calling; biology was, but paleontology was a hobby of mine. With the Change though, I decided to shift my interests to the relatively new field of paleobiology, for obvious reasons. Anyways, to make an already long story short, I don't really have the credentials to completely prove my theories. I still have some options open to me through the fossil records, but they are quickly petering out, so I decided to take a shot in the dark and see if anyone had become a morph of one, and that is where you come in."
Terry nods his head slightly, understanding what the Doctor is leading up to. "So, basically, you want me to help you prove that the Coelurasauravus had wings?" The Doctor nods his head. "Sure, I'm game. But I should warn you, I can't norm shift... I hope that doesn't put too big of a cramp in your studies."
The doctor's armored face seems to drop in slight disappointment, but the look quickly disappears. "A minor problem, but we can work around it. For today, I just want to ask you some questions about yourself; what your body feels like, what you can do, how strong your instincts are, that sort of thing. If you're willing, I would also like to schedule some tests for you at U of T; X-Rays, CAT scans, blood tests, et cetera. You will be payed for your time; I believe that the normal rate is about 8$ an hour now?"
"As long as they don't conflict with my school work, I'll try and do them. After all, what University student would turn down money?" Terry says, tail twitching in amusement.
"Right. I'll get the paperwork ready for the next time you come here. Now, would you mind if I started interviewing you now?"
"My afternoon's all yours Doc. Fire away."
"OK, I guess my first question is about your senses. How did they change?" The Doctor starts.
"Quite a bit actually. My senses of taste and touch remained pretty much unchanged, but I've noticed fairly major changes in the other three. My sense of smell definitely improved. Not as much as some of the caninemorphs, but it is better than humans. My hearing though, actually decreased slightly. I used to have pretty good ears, in my opinion, but since the Change, my hearing hasn't been what it used to be. I guess the lack of external ears is the main reason. I do kind've miss it, but I did get something better; my eyes."
"You see, before the Change, I wore glasses this thick," Terry indicated with his claws, exaggerating the thickness more than slightly. "Without them, I was blind as a bat, so to speak. After I Changed, though, for the first time in years, I was actually seeing clearly without glasses. It was quite the feeling to finally be free of those lenses. I've had my eyesight tested since then and discovered that it is only slightly better than the eyesight of a normal person, but they were eagle-morph eyes for me."
"I know what you mean...." the Doctor says slowly, writing in his notepad again. He pauses for a moment, seeming to try and decide on something. He makes up his mind and asks his next question.
"You seem to have mastered flying by now, how difficult was it when you first started flying?"
"Surprisingly, not very difficult. I was out and flying the day of the change. Then again, I shouldn't really say I was flying, it was more instincts than anything. The one time I really tried to take over, I nearly ended up in the river until I let my instincts take over again. Since then, I've mastered flying on my own, so it isn't all instincts, but they are there to fall back on if I need them." Terry explains.
"Hmmm...How strong are your instincts? Do they talk to you, or are they quiet? Do you need to fight with them or do they seem content to just be along for the ride?"
"Well, let's see, I guess my instincts are strong; I certainly know that he is there; but he is subdued. I have never spoken to him nor him to me, but without him, I wouldn't be here right now. You see, I'm 99% certain that he controls my teleporting ability. I send the mental picture of the place I want to go to, and he guides us through between to that place."
"And is that all that he does? Guide your teleports?" The Doctor asks.
"Pretty much. At first, I'd been scared that he would completely take over my body; kind've like what happened to my boss during the Change, but he seems content to let me have the body for as long as I want it and just lend me a helping hand when I teleport and occasionally when I fly. He does seem to have fun with my dreams though."
"Your dreams? What do you mean?"
"Well, not every night, but every three or four days, I have this dream that I'm hunting in a forest of some sort. When I first started having these dreams, I would usually wake up before the kill was made. I hink that ticked him off though, cuz the very next night I would be back in the forest on the hunt again. Those nightly hunts continued until I finally managed to stay asleep long enough for him to make and eat his kill." Terry shudders as he remembers the first completed kill-dream he had. "I've gotten so used to them now, that I barely notice when they happen anymore, especially since he has scaled back his dreamscape forays into the forest."
"These Hunting dreams, could you describe what usually happens in them?"
"Well, soon after I fall asleep, I 'wake up' and realize that I'm in a forest of some type. Sometimes it's like the forests back where I grew up, other times it's more of a rainforest or a jungle or something like that. I think that it is dusk or dawn, some time like that, since it seems dark, but there is light. I am usually just landing on a branch, overlooking some sort of game trail. If we are lucky, I see a frog or a rat or some other small animal right away and the hunt can begin. Otherwise, we end up waiting. If I am waiting and I see an insect in easy reach, I usually grab it for a quick snack. Sometimes, I leap from branch to branch, looking for prey. Eventually, we come across some small animal that looks appetizing, and I leap off of the branch and grab it from the ground."
"The first few times I had these dreams, I would usually wake up around this point, but now I manage to complete the kill, most of the time. I usually try to kill the animal in flight, so its struggles don't cause me to lose too much air or my food. If I can, I try to get back up to a tree branch to chow down, but if I can't, I usually take shelter in some bushes and finish my meal there. Depending on how hungry I am, and how big my prey was, I may or may not hunt again. Usually, one animal is enough, and I wake up soon after I've eaten."
"Well, those certainly are interesting dreams, much more interesting than mine usually are." Doctor Brandon says. "About the forest you are in, do you notice any other animals other than the ones you are 'hunting'?"
"I can remember a few, but not too many; I don't usually remember my dreams, even ones this vivid. Let's see... I seem to remember birds, lots of birds, both seen and heard. The monkeys tend to get quite loud in my dreams too, if I'm in a jungle or rainforest, and I seem to remember barely escaping some sort of snake at least once. Oh, and last spring, I remember once how my dream started on the edge of a clearing, and how beautiful the flowers in bloom in that clearing were."
"Hmmm, interesting, very interesting. Your instincts must be taking images from the present and using them in your dreams." Upon seeing the confusion on Terry's face, the Doctor explains his theory. "The Coelurasauravus lived 250 million years ago; before the dinosaurs even. There weren't any birds or monkeys or flowers back in that time period, yet you say you've seen them in your dreams, so your instincts must be taking parts of today's world for his hunting dreams."
"OK, I see what you mean."
"Right, now, about your... uh oh, sorry, I'm afraid I'm going to need to end this question session now. I've got a meeting I need to get to. Could I get your phone number and or your e-mail address and contact you later for our next meeting?" Doctor Brandon asks after glancing up at the clock.
"Sure, no problem." Terry replies, taking the pen and scrap of paper the doctor offers him.
"And in the meantime, if you have another dream, when you wake up, could you write down everything you remember about it? These dreams of yours could offer us insight into the lifestyle of a Coelurasauravus." The Doctor takes the piece of paper back from Terry and stuffs it in a pocket. They get up and walk out of the office.
"I'll try to, but I don't usually think straight soon after I get up, so you might get some strange stuff, if I remember." Terry says, smiling.
"Well, if you're willing, I know of someone who might be able to help you remember your dreams clearer. She's at your university actually, in the Psych department. She's a bat-morph with the ability to piggy back into other people's dreams and see what they are dreaming. She works in their sleep research section and is very busy, but I might be able to see if she can squeeze you into the experiment schedule."
Terry stops near the front entrance of the museum, and considers the offer. Finally he decides to accept it. "Why not, in for a penny, in for a pound. Contact her and try and book me a night." he says.
"Thank you Terry, thank you very much. You don't know how much you are helping me." the Doctor says joyfully, grasping Terry's hand in his own huge paw.
"Anything for a fellow creature who's come back from extinction." Terry replies, winching as his hand is crushed.
"Back from extinc-? Well, I suppose you are right in that respect. Oh yeah, that reminds me." The Doctor puts his briefcase on the information desk and starts digging through it. He soon pulls out some pamphlets and hands them to Terry.
"The MesoClub?" Terry asks, seeing the logo on the top.
"It's the organization for dinomorphs mainly, started by some people down in California I think. They help us get clothes, food, and other things that we may require that tend to be different from most other morphs. I know technically that you aren't a dinosaur, but you are an animal that is older, than most, if not all of the other members, and they do take members of species from just outside of the dinosaur family. The branch here in Toronto has an Archeotropyx. You might want to contact them; they could help you get any special clothing you might need for your wings and tail and that sort of stuff."
"Oh yeah, I've heard of this club. They've got a small branch on Campus if I remember right, though it's more a part of the Toronto section. Thanks for the pamphlets; I'll look them over." Terry says, slipping them into his flight bag. He waves good-bye to the doctor and leaves the building, glancing down at his own watch.
Five O'Clock?!? Where did the time go? Well, I guess I still have time to meet the gang at East Side, providing I don't get caught in the rush hour traffic! he thinks to himself. Glancing over head, he can see the streams of fliers leaving the city and realizes that avoiding the rush hour traffic would not be easy. He activates his flight radio and contacts Toronto Air Control and sets up the teleport points to leave the city. It takes ten minutes before the controllers can clear up a teleport point long enough for him to use. Thankfully, the ones over the University are much less crowded, so he doesn't need to spend much time waiting for a point there.
The picture clear in mind, he jumps off of the stairs, activates his teleport and reappears high over the city. Without even pausing to admire the view, he quickly teleports back down to the Dana Porter library on campus. He briefly considers teleporting to the restaurant to meet his friends and quickly decides against it. He switches over to the Kitchener frequency.
"Welcome back Fliz005. Have a nice flight?" the controller asks.
"It was fine, except for the fact that TAC gave me a level 750 meter teleport point again. I really wish they would get rid of that level." Terry replies.
"Yeah, I've heard those points are killers. What else can we do for you today?"
"Not much, I'm just going to do a straight glide down to East Side Mario's. I don't quite feel up to another teleport right now, even one that short, and I decided to just let you guys know that."
"Gotcha. Traffic's light over the university now, so it's no problem. Have a nice flight."
"Thanks KWAT. Fliz 005 out." Terry glides down across the University and down to the plaza that contains the restaurant. He lands in the parking lot and enters the building.
"Can I help you?" a waitress asks him, meeting him at the door.
"I'm with some of my friends. I think they might already be here." Terry says, his eyes roaming around the eating area.
"Yo Terry! Over here!" a voice calls out from the back of the restaurant.
Peering around a potted plant, he sees his friends seated in a booth near the back of the restaurant. "There they are," he tells the waitress, walking over to join them.
"So, what's the news?" Tom asks eagerly.
"Well guys, you are now looking at a Coelurasauravus-morph." Terry says proudly before collapsing wearily into a chair at the end of the table. "Two, no three glasses of Orange Juice for now." he tells the waitress who had come up behind him. She leaves without saying a word.
Terry holds off his friends questions until his juice arrives. He quickly drains the first two glasses, and, feeling better from his jumps, starts sipping the third and answering his friends questions. After the food arrives, the conversation slowly drifts away from Terry's discovery and on to other topics.
"Well guys, it's been a blast, but I need to go now. I'm practically dead on my feet, and I want to call home before I actually collapse." Terry says as the waitress returns with his ID Card, which also contains his meal card.
"Sure Terry. We'll see you in class tomorrow." "Bye" his friends say as he gets up and leaves the restaurant.
Terry walks back to his residence room. Reaching it, he collapses on his bed and grabs the phone off of his desk. He pushes the speed dial button for home and waits for an answer. The phone is picked up and he hears purring on the other end.
"Hi Ash. Is mom home?" he asks. He hears some muffled sounds on the other end before his sister's voice answers.
"Yeah. Just a sec... MOM! LIZARD-BOY'S ON THE PHONE!"
"Can't call me that anymore, sis. It's Coelurasauravus-boy now." Terry says, smirking.
"Colly-what?" his sister replies, confused.
"Hello?" his mother's voice cuts in.
"I'll explain later, Ash. Now get off the line so I can talk to mom... Hi Mom." Terry says after waiting for his sister to hang up.
"Hi Terry, what's going on?" his mother asks.
"Not too much; I just discovered what I am today." Terry says, starting to explain what had happened to him that day.
Over the weeks that followed, Terry makes many trips to meet Doctor Brandon. Chris and Terry quickly become close friends, with Terry becoming as interested in the Doctor's studies as the Doctor is. They soon complete enough tests to confirm that Terry is indeed that ancient flying lizard. With these results confirmed, Chris takes Terry to a MesoClub meeting and is there when Terry is initiated into the club.
Now they are meeting to try and piece together how that reptile had lived, mainly from what Terry could remember from his dreams. Doctor Brandon is anxious for Terry to do the dream experiments with Dr. Bissonette. From examining what Terry can remember of his dreams, there is something strange going on in them, but neither man could determine what exactly it is. When they receive word that Dr. Bissonette will be able to run the experiments the next week, they are both ecstatic.
The night that the experiments are announced, after a celebration dinner in Toronto,, Terry returns to his room and finds a message waiting on his phone. He starts playing it as he calls up his e-mail.
"Hi Terry, my name is Andrew Tadvila, in the Physics department. Your name was given to me as someone willing to let us examine their powers, and try and see what makes them tick. If you are still willing, we can begin some experiments in two weeks. Please call me at 736-7409 at any time between 9 and 9, and let me know your answer."
Terry checks the time and finds it's only 8 in the evening. He picks up the phone and dials the number. After a few rings, it is answered. "Hello, Andrew Tadvila speaking."
"Hi, Andrew, this is Terry. You left a message on my phone about some physics experiments you want to do on my teleporting."
"Oh yeah, right. So I take it you are willing to do them?"
"As long as they don't conflict too much with my classes."
"We can work around that. The first opening I have is on Monday, two weeks from now. The experiments we have in mind will probably take an hour or two to finish."
"Monday's aren't good for me. How about Tuesday?"
"Tuesdays? Just a sec, I'll check... OK, we've got an opening at 10:00 in the morning. Is that all right with you?"
"Sure, that's fine. I'll see you then."
"Thanks Terry. Bye."
Terry hangs up the phone and looks at his computer. A quick glance showed him that the few messages he has are not important. He turns off the screen and pulls out his Calculus assignment due the next day.
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