UTBT

I paused, mid-Whitesnake, to watch whatever-it-was scorch through the atmosphere. I decided it was probably just space debris burning up, and that even a meteor wasn't going to tear me from my happy new discovery.

An hour or so's waterfalling around later, I reluctantly sloshed my way out.

My stuff had dried well enough, so I re-boxered, shouldered Blanky, and got to wondering if I should head back to camp. 'Cause, you know, perhaps I should be helping out with something.
I wasn't really sure how our new system was supposed to work, yet. I certainly wasn't used to spending so much time up close and personal with the others; On the Dwarf I'll just head off to my quarters when anybody's a pain in the rear, which, in my opinion, is fairly often.
A lot of the time though, we're engaged in some insane scheme or other, and I don't get much chance to think about 'personal space', but now it was becoming an issue. There's only so long you can put up with Seymour's snoring, or Phil's nocturnal releasings. I also felt a bit awkward every time I saw Cass having a nightmare. I'm not sure I'd like people to notice me having one.
The Dwarf is about five miles long - the size of a city - so if you need your own space it's pretty easy to find. True, I now had an entire planet to play with, but the point is that realistically we were dependent on each other. We were on a potentially hostile new world, where there could be all manner of predators – we'd seen a few already - and we would probably have to start working together for our own safety and survival.
Much as I disliked the thought, it was beneficial and practical to pull together - from simple stuff like cooking, and keeping watch at night, to hunting and fighting if it was needed. 'Don't walk alone in these woods at noit, sur.'
So we were stuck in each others' laps; Dysfunctional Swiss Family Robinson.

Before I'd made an ass of myself trying to chat Molly up - like an inappropriately suggestive male basketball coach in an all girls school - and all that cringey business, I wouldn't have minded being 'up close and personal' with her. But that's another story.
I probably shouldn't be going on about laps. Or pulling.

Now - with good reason - I ain't the most trusting of fellows, but today I found that I was kind of letting my guard down, which probably explains the singing (which was not too bad, I might add). And I was thankful to be alone while this relaxation was occurring.
It was weird it was happening at all, though, 'cause I'd started out this morning feeling pretty shaky back at camp. I'd felt like parts of my brain and body were shouting at me, which was inconvenient, so I'd ignored it. (It had been difficult to stop myself from pathetically begging FeBuggure for some alcohol, though.) But now, incredibly, I felt calm. Serene, even.
Bloody hell, I hadn't felt serene in a long time.
I'd felt something on the GELF planet, but I'm not sure it was serenity. I think that was probably just The Horn.

I – very cautiously - wondered if Lady Karma was being kind to me today. Perhaps this was a gentle wake up call and I'd checked into Jungle Rehab. Nice thought.

A cloud of oversized mosquitoes emerged from a thicket and swarmed around me.
Maybe not.
“Gaargh! Geddoutofit!”
I dashed across the area in front of the pool, scuffing my toe and making a split second decision to head off to the right side of the waterfall, where the ground disappeared off in a slope, instead of going back around the rocks.

The little gits stayed by the water. Lady Karma still had her sense of humour, then.
I snorted and turned, meaning to wander casually down the slope, but it was a little steeper than I'd guessed and I ended up slipping and skidding my way to the bottom. It wasn't what you might call 'elegant'.

Bumping to a stop I sat for a moment, cursing the dirt on my newly washed blanket and body, and the throbbing of my toe.
Whatever.
I got up, brushed my backside down and found myself scanning a gigantic tree up ahead. It stood near the end of an avenue of similar types which were almost, but not quite, as magnificent.
I limped over to it, curious.
The trunk was huge and twisting, straight at the bottom but leaning forward towards me as it rose, before it stretched up high, seeming proud and ancient, bigger than any tree I'd ever seen. Its branches were crowded with intriguingly shaped leaves which mingled, broccoli like, with those of its neighbours.

The lower, straighter, part of the trunk looked to me like the leg of a brachiosaurus – thick, strong, solid, and heavy. The base was even a bit foot-like.
The thought made me smile, I'd been fascinated with dinosaurs when I was a little boy. Still liked 'em in fact - not that I'd probably admit such a thing, should anyone ask. I found that I was absent mindedly humming the Jurassic Park tune.

I yanked a banana-ish thing off a bush and sat down to eat it and study the Brachiosaur Tree awhile. It felt old, and wise, and sacred.
The branches reached so far this direction, that it almost created a natural shelter. Maybe I'd bring it up if we had a camp meeting.
A sudden movement behind it made me jump, and blink, because my vision seemed to be going wonky. It looked like the trunk of another tree was shifting behind this one. There was a rustling overhead, too. Could another tree be moving? Was that even possible?
I peered at the second trunk, wondering what the smeg was going on.
It shifted again but this time didn't come to rest in the same position but moved sideways. I couldn't figure it out, till, in a sort of dream-like disbelief I realised that emerging from behind the solid trunk of the Brachiosaur Tree... was the sun dappled leg of an actual brachiosaurus.

“OH MY GOD!” I leapt instantly to my feet in astonishment and backed away, stumbling over a root and winding up on my ass again.
“Oh my God...”
The creature didn't seem to hear me – or if it did, it wasn't interested – and it lumbered off, away from the tree and further up the wide avenue.

I stared after it, blinking, heart smashing against my ribs. I watched until it disappeared and all I could see was its head bobbing away above the trees.
Never had I wished I had a smegging camera more, than at that moment.

Legs wobblier than a sumo's moob I ran after it, wanting to look again, drink it in. Believe it.

When I burst out of the trees I halted, craning my neck up at the animal's seeming acres of rough skin looming before me, so massive that it blocked most of my field of vision. It was still plodding away but my skin prickled with the thrill of our proximity.

I moved around to get a better view, and when I saw what was beyond it my breath was taken so that for a moment I thought I was gonna pass out. Behind my brachiosaur stretched a grassy plain dotted with many more dinosaurs - other sauropods mainly - all slowly, placidly, going about their business.

As I gawped, mesmerised, across the plain, then back up at the brachiosaurus, the theme to Jurassic Park rang through my soul again, the full orchestra this time.

“It's a dinosaur!” I whooped.

“It's a smegging dinosaaaaauuuur!”

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