"No..." Circe breathed, shaking her head. "I had no idea... and I'm not sure how Raal would know... he always spoke about the Ancestors but... this can't possibly have anything to do with them... can it?" she asked warily.
"You always spoke of how advanced they were... how they could build anything." Vincent said softly as they began wandering away from the pit. "Is that... one of theirs?"
"How can it be?" she asked. "I never thought they actually built stuff like that!" Circe insisted. "Just stories... and none about anything like that."
"Always suppose I could ask." Vincent tried, walking off.
"I wouldn't..." Circe cautioned but Vincent was already doing so.
"Hey! We're uh... new here!" He introduced himself to an allosaur, who narrowed his eyes at him, the hard hat he was wearing making him looking even more menacing.
"Yeah... clearly... this is a hard hat only area, bub!" the allosaur shot back.
"Oho, right! Well we aren't here for too long! Been tasked with taking some supplies to the lab guys! We just couldn't help but gawk at that thing over there... we're not on the dig team so... I thought the virus was the only thing we had going on..."
"Virus? Boy are you out of the loop!" the allosaur chuckled menacingly. "That 'thing' as you put it, will change everything. The mammals will go the way of our Ancestors once we get that thing in operation, rest assured! But if you aren't on the dig team, I can't say more than that, for security reasons. You know how it is."
"Right, right..." Vincent gulped, backing away. "That's... good to know."
"Say if you're lab guys... where's your badges?" the allosaur asked, suspiciously now.
"Oh uh... uh..." Vincent grinned nervously.
Circe sighed and stepped forward, unleashing a high dose of her pheromones as she leaned directly into the allosaurus, and as the bigger dino gasped and recoiled a bit, Circe reached out and put her arm on his back, pulling him gently in to her. A glazed, distant expression passed over his face now, accompanied by a dopey smile. Vincent knew that sensation well enough... he wasn't even standing at the dig site anymore... his mind had taken a trip back to the Jurassic. "There we go... now... you don't remember any of what just happened... it's gone from your mind like an early morning mist." Circe spoke softly and seductively into the allosaur's ear. "Do something useful... wander towards that waterfall in the distance, and gaze at it... lose yourself for ten minutes within its falling torrents... zone out... go on." she instructed, patting his back as he stepped forward in a daze, heading towards a waterfall only he could now see.
Circe smirked at this and Vincent smiled. "Waterfall?" he asked. "I don't see no waterfall."
"I could make you see it if you wanted." she informed him, slapping his back with her tail. "Anyway... I had to do something to erase his mind about that little incident. Let's go." she suggested, continuing on the path to the labs. She smirked at Nicky. "I bet you didn't fully believe me when I told you about my pheromones."
"Heh... wish I could do that..." Vincent murmured. "I'd be a REAL hit with the ladies, I bet." he joked.
"And why would you want to be, Mr. Rubio?" Circe chided him now.
"Uh... right. Oh! There's the labs!" he quickly interjected, pointing ahead. The laboratory building stretched ahead of them, long and sleek as it jutted out of the jungle like the prow of a ship. It was modern but somehow threatening at the same time.
"I don't suppose anyone brought a camera, did they?" Circe asked, suddenly thinking of it. "Not that we necessarily need photos, as all of us telling the Council what we saw should be sufficient for them to dispatch a spy plane out here but..."
"Greetings brothers and sisters!" A beaming ankylosaurus stood ahead of them now, grinning as they approached the building. "It's good to see new recruits about our fair island! What can I help you with, brothers and sisters?" he asked.
"Uh... the new lab guys! Reporting in!" Vincent spoke up.
"Fine, fine! Your badges, please?" the anky asked as he stepped forward.
Circe subtly tapped Nicky's backside with a bade she'd swiped off the allosaurus. She had noted it was a general permit or something. "Well you're our escort... escort." she muttered to him, holding it behind his back for him to take.
"I'm Ernie Carlson." Vincent introduced himself now. "Biochemist, and these are my colleagues, doctors..." he trailed off here, letting Karl, Circe, and Heather introduce themselves in whatever fashion they pleased.
"Well you're kinda cute." the anky complimented and interrupted Heather. "You free later tonight for some herb chewing down by the beach? I know this great little quiet spot we could go..." he began, giving her what he assumed was a charming look.