Summer Camp

CHAPTER III

By Quickstride

Because there were so many people attending the camp, and because of the time it took for Morrison and the half-blind Cornelius to assign them to appropriate "teams" (Quickstride still wasn't sure what that meant at this camp,) it was nearly an hour before the five at the end of the line made it to the two counselors and their list.

"Names, please?" asked Cornelius, perhaps not so much because he didn't recognize them but instead for Morrison's benefit (though Quickstride decided the former was just as viable a reason as any.) They each gave their names, and as they did Morrison wrote each one down on the scroll.

"Team 13," he said. "Your Team Counselor's name is Thomas Hallock. You can meet him and your teammates at Barn Number Four." He gave them quick directions to the barn, which turned out to be about halfway across Treetown. Naturally, thought Quickstride. They set off, dusk already falling. Quickstride and Francis loped along rather slowly, tired from their long trip to Treetown. Scribble, however, pranced happily along before them, often being lost from sight for minutes at a time and then returning and urging the others on anxiously, obviously puzzled by their fatigue. That kid just doesn't feel tiredness, thought Quickstride, Or much of anything else. Cae just kept a steady pace alongside the boy and the other Gallimimus.

Finally, with just enough light for humans to see by (most of the saurians had much better night vision,) they arrived at Barn Four, and for the first time beheld the other members of Team 13. Looking around, Quickstride could see five humans, three girls and two boys of varying ages, sitting at the edge of the clearing in a group by themselves. A Kentrosaurus chatted peacefully with a young Chasmosaurus, while a Zephyrosaurus stared absently at everything from a distance. Cae tapped her shoulder, and when she glanced over he nodded with his head to his left, where two scaled Archaeornithomimuses were going through their bags of supplies together. They were the same color- orange with purple eyes- and probably related. It seemed the three Gallimimuses would not be the only ornithomimids on this particular team.

A Velociraptor emerged from the barn just then, a clipboard of some sort in her claws. She approached the five newcomers.

"Names, please?" she asked, in a not unkind but very professional tone. Having lost count of how many times she'd done so, Quickstride and the others gave their names, while the Velociraptor copied them down. When the dromaeosaur didn't volunteer her own name, the increasingly annoyed Quickstride asked for it.

"Sergeant," said the raptor, without looking up.

"Sergeant? What does that mean?" asked Scribble.

"That's a military title in the World Outside," explained Francis. A look of bewilderment then washed over his face as he thought about it. "But how did a Velociraptor in Dinotopia get that for a name?"

Sergeant looked up from her clipboard for a moment and regarded the boy, her eyes betraying no hint of benevolence or malice. "It will make sense momentarily," she said, "when you meet my partner."

"Would your partner happen to be Thomas Hallock?" asked Cae.

Sergeant nodded. "He'll be along any time now- he is helping one of your teammates at the moment in the barn."

"Any time now" turned out to be only about a half minute later, when a tall man of undeterminable age marched out of Sauropod Barn Four. Clothing, like everything else in Dinotopia, had a way of varying greatly in humans, but this one was wearing some of the strangest garments Quickstride had ever seen- they had shiny buttons and all other manner of decorative devices, yet still managed to convey a sense of being nice and neat. The words "proper" and "formal" jumped into the Gallimimus's mind, and as she stared at the man- whom she presumed was Thomas Hallock- she realized it was somewhat similar to what the elders might wear at Round Table Hall in Waterfall City, quite different from anything seen on Outer Island, where most everything was an informal affair. Looking closer, she saw also that despite the meticulous care given to the uniform, nothing could prevent it from betraying a little of its age and wear. Quickstride guessed that Hallock was a dolphinback, and that these clothes had come from the World Outside.

"Well, I'll be," said Francis. "I never thought I'd see that again. That's a military uniform. American."

Cae leaned to whisper into Quickstride's ear. "I guess Sergeant was right when she said her name would make sense. All we had to do was look at her partner!"

As Hallock stepped away from the barn entrance, the ground started to tremor in a slight but noticeable way. Now what? thought Quickstride, but before images of horrendous earthquakes destroying Treetown and everyone in it could pass through her mind, the source of the shaking revealed itself to be a benign Brachiosaurus as he followed Hallock out of the barn. The sauropod was quite young, not even half grown, and looking up at his face Quickstride noticed strange lines running down his "cheeks" from his eyes. Had he been crying? Though not unknown among the Dinosauria, it was certainly unusual.

Hallock walked on until he was in the center of the assembly of saurians and humans, and inspected his new charges without any sign of emotion. For some reason this made Quickstride uneasy. At last he spoke.

"Welcome," he said, speaking in heavily accented Dinotopian- common among dolphinbacks- "I am your Team Leader, Captain Thomas Hallock."

"Captain Hallock?" Cae said in low tones, a look of amusement in his eyes. "Where does he think he is?"

"Wow," said Scribble, "he has one of those Outer World things on his side, those what-cha-ma-call-its."

"A holster," explained Francis, "with a revolver in it." Weapons were almost never seen in Dinotopia, as they were never needed. The only real exceptions were the Knights of the Unrivaled, and even they used their swords purely for display. The boy continued his inspection. "It's not loaded," he said, then after a glance at the captain's face and demeanor, added, "Probably."

"Excuse me." Hallock, who had been addressing the team all this time, now turned in the direction of the whispering group. "Have you something to say?" He walked over to the three Gallimimuses, the boy, and the pterosaur. He then focused his gaze on Quickstride and spoke to her. "What is it that is so important that you feel you have the right to be rude and speak while I am speaking?"

"I wasn't talking," said Quickstride truthfully.

"Yet you remain in the company of those who would, and so agree to accept the same treatment as them. Understood?" Feeling her face flush with embarrassment beneath her feathers, Quickstride nodded. "And you will address me as 'sir'," added Hallock, walking back to where he'd been before. Quickstride, her companions, and all the other teammates just stared in confusion.

"Now, for introductions," resumed Hallock. His Velociraptor companion darted to his side. "As most of you probably know already, this is Sergeant. We will now go around, and when I point to each of you, you will give us your full name."

So they went around, and again Quickstride, Francis, Jonathan, Scribble and Caerulus had to introduce themselves. But they also learned the names of their teammates. Of the five humans, there was Marie, Claudia, Faye (the youngest,) her brother Michael and Antony (the oldest.) The Chasmosaurus was named Pliny, the Kentrosaurus Sharpspike, the Zephyrosaurus was Windbreeze, and the Brachiosaurus Earthshaker (how appropriate, thought Quickstride.) The Archaeornithomimuses were, as Quickstride had suspected, brother and sister, the male being Kaskazi and the female Kiya.

After the names had been exchanged, Quickstride watched as Hallock and Sergeant quietly conversed over the clipboard, with Sergeant pointing and occasionally explaining something on it. The meeting was brief, and soon Hallock looked up, again addressing his charges. "These are your sleeping quarters for encampment," he said, taking the clipboard from the dinosaur. "Male humans will be in Tree house 10, and females have 11. You will be shown to them momentarily. Male saurians are in Barn 5, a little farther down from where we are, and females are in 6. Sergeant will show you there. You will be awakened at the appropriate time tomorrow morning, and will meet here at Barn 4. That is all."

As soon as he was done, the humans and saurians began chattering and moving about, saying their farewells for the evening and trying to orient themselves into their proper groups. Quickstride, a little dazed, was only partly aware of exchanging brief words of parting with Francis, who seemed a little nervous about going off with the other boys (and she couldn't blame him- he was stuck with Hallock,) though she absently assured him that he would be fine once he got to know them better. Cae promised to look after Jonathan and Scribble (Quickstride wondered if he realized how daunting a task that was.) Soon she herself was being shooed by Sergeant into the little band of female saurians, which consisted of only herself, Sergeant, Windbreeze and Kiya.

Seeing that her charges were in order, Sergeant faced the group. "Make sure you have all your things with you. Now, follow me." With that, she turned and walked off along a dirt path amid the trees, the three others keeping pace behind her.

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