Marooned Park

Who: Marooned People...and Jay "I Just Wanted To Nudge That
Continent!" Chrysler
Where: Marooning Planet
When: After the Marooning
=========================
It was quiet in the back of the truck as they rumbled along, the
dinosaur now having dropped some distance behind (and possibly given
up, but nobody was exactly eager to get out and check...)
In fact, it was perculiarly quiet in the back of the truck.
It took Tara a few seconds to realise why.
"OH MY GOD!" she screamed, "THE TWINS!"
"At last, somebody else realises the horrors..." said Keto. Jay
smacked him across the back of the head as he too realised what was
wrong.
"They're not in the truck!" he said, "They must be back at the
crash site! Trisees, turn this thing around!"
"You what?" came Trisees voice from the intercom.
"Turn the truck around, we've left the kids back at the bug!"
"It might have escaped your notice that we have a very large and
irate dinosaur on our..."
"JUST TURN THE DAMN THING AROUND!" yelled Jay, Tara, Vanessa,
Coffey and Wildflower at once.
"We could use Keto to distract it," said Cerebrum, at the exact
same time as Keto said, "How about we dump a psychiatrist in its
path?"
There was a muttered oath from the intercom, and then suddenly all
the people in the back of the truck were flung against the wall as
Trisees pulled off an exceedingly neat 180 degree handbrake turn -
the beauty of which was only temporarily interrupted as it cannoned
sideways into a tree before bouncing off and continuing back towards
the crash site.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?" snapped Jay.
"We hit a bump," lied Trisees.
"A bump?"
"Technically."
"Did you hit a tree?"
"...technically."
"Speaking of which," said Wildflower, looking around, "Where IS the
Tree?"
-- Five Minutes Later --
The vehicle skidded to a stop in a shower of dirt and undergrowth,
spraying said materials all over the ruined Starbug. The back door
of the box opened and the people who had actually remembered to get
in it the first time round leaped out.
"Tara, you check the Bug. I'll look around out here. Wildflower,
Coffey, if you'd like to..." began Jay.
"How about Keto looks over in that direction?" asked Cerebrum,
pointing to a patch of undergrowth.
"Why?" asked Jay.
Cerebrum nodded in that direction. Jay looked and saw the bushes
rustling in a way that left no doubt that something alive and very
possibly dangerous was lurking there.
"Good call that man. Off you go, Keets."
Keto's response was covered by a cry of joy from Tara as the bushes
rustled again and parted, revealing the twins - who hurriedly toddled
over to their mother as she hurried towards them. Trisees, who had
just climbed down from the truck driving seat, leaned towards Keto.
"Now, I might not have a medical degree...but isn't it a little
unusual for kids to walk at a couple of weeks of age?"
There was a muffled oof as Tara tried to lift the twins and almost
overbalanced.
"...and they don't normally put on weight at that speed, do they?"
finished Trisees.
"Lawrence, we're dealing with the offspring of Cleavage and a post-
hologrammatical GELF. Anything could happen, so why be..."
"'lo mommy," said Amber. Tara stared at the child in her arms for
a second, and then passed out.
"...surprised?"
Jay caught Tara as she slumped to the floor, managing to stop her
from dropping Amber at the same time.
"And how come they aren't eaten?" asked Cerebrum bluntly, looking
around, "Did we run across the only dinosaur in a ten mile radius or
something?"
The whole party (with the exception of that part of it which was
unconscious, that part of it which was supporting the unconscious
part of it, and that part of it which was going through potty
training at an accelerated pace) turned to face the bushes again as
they rustled. Slowly, something that might have once resembled the
Big Pink Tree crawled out.
Half of its branches had been ripped off and it was leaking sap
everywhere. There were several sets of claw marks down its bark, and
a couple of teeth were stuck in it.
*R...ust...le...* it managed as it hauled itself towards them.
Wildflower, Coffey and Vanessa rushed over to it, trying to help it
upright. Trisees wandered towards the Starbug, climbing up into it
after glancing back at the others.
"Keets, quickly, do something!" said Wildflower. Keto raised an
eyebrow.
"Dammit Wildflower, I'm a doctor, not a horticulturalist!"
Wildflower glared at him as he shrugged and said, "Besides, trees
heal themselves. We've got more important things to discuss."
"Like what?" asked Jay as Tara began to regain consciousness.
"Like who's in command here, and what we do next," said Keto
smugly. "Now obviously as senior officer here I take full control
of..."
"Whoa whoa whoa!" interrupted Jay.
"Senior officer?" asked Cerebrum.
"I think that's a great idea!" exclaimed Tara.
Everyone turned to stare.
"She's still quite out of it," explained Jay. "Besides, who said
YOU were senior officer?"
"I'm the only department head present," said Keto, smiling sweetly.
"Keto is obviously unfit for duty," announced Cerebrum, "Since he's
unable to recall the command structure of the JMC..."
"The psychiatric department is a subset of the medical department,
psychiatrist," interrupted Trisees, climbing back down from the
Starbug carrying a bazookoid, "We had this discussion once."
"We never agreed then."
"I never had a gun then. Besides, Cerebrum is obviously unfit for
duty since he can't remember that the only person who can pronounce
someone unfit for duty is the head of a MEDICAL department. Not a
mental one."
Coffey stepped back from having helped the Tree up. "So now you're
taking over by force, Trisees?" she asked bitterly.
Trisees widened his eyes in mock horror.
"Me? Of course not! I have absolute faith in Charles!"
"Thank you Lawrence," said Keto smugly.
"Fifty-fifty?"
"Of course."
"Like I said, absolute faith!" nodded Trisees firmly, still holding
the bazookoid.
Tara, somewhat dazedly, looked down at the twins and started
giggling.
"She's gone," sighed Jay, throwing up his hands. Behind him, Tara
started to sing, "I love you, you love me..."
"She's singing the Barney song," growled Trisees, and cocked the
bazookoid.
There was a huge roar, and the ground shuddered.
"Ithinkwehavefarmoreimportantproblemsrightnowthough!" exclaimed
Trisees rapidly, and leapt back up into the driving seat, bazookoid
slung over his shoulder. Keto and Cerebrum leapt into the box,
Coffey and Wildflower helping the Tree in while Vanessa and Jay
rounded up the twins and the somewhat dazed Tara.
Jay, the last one, leapt inside just as the huge dinosaur burst
through the trees on the far side of the clearing, Trisees flooring
the pedal and spinning wheels as the vehicle took off.
"Must go faster! Must go faster!" yelled Jay as the dinosaur began
to gain, the door slowly closing.
The vehicle raced off, dinosaur in pursuit.
============
OOC: Tag! :)