Mammalandia

Article by R. K. Wigal

The sun was just peeking over the western mountains of Saurasia.  Menagerie's twenty-one hour days meant that dawn was breaking rather early for Chance Munro, former Confederate captain, and for Brack, voyageur extraordinaire.  The sunrise itself was unspectacular, a pale contrast to what the two men had seen the day before.  Brack spoke. "Next stop, Mammalandia.  But first, Breakfast. Scrambled eggs and bacon okay with you?"

"You bet.  I could use some coffee too, so I'll fix that."

Breakfast was unrushed, but brief. Chance couldn't help commenting on what he had seen just a few hours earlier. "How some animals, as large as those dinosaurs are, can be so graceful is beyond me!  Some of them are as light on their feet as ballet dancers!"

"I've found that nature not only provides for her creatures' needs, she often gives them a little something extra to have fun with."

"Indeed," Chance replied, "Nature can be quite magnanimous.  She can also be cruel at times.  Like when the dinosaurs were rendered extinct on Earth.""

"Ah, but nature has friends, friends like the Eldars, friends like the many who followed the Eldars, friends who rescued the untold species that now reside on this planet and the various other planets like it."

"Which begs the question:  why, BracK?"

"The answer's quite simple really.  Because it needed to be done, and because they knew they could do it.  You'll see some more of their handy-work shortly."  Brack then emptied his cup.  "I like your coffee, by the way," he said matter-of-factly.

The two had little to clean up.  They were in the air in minutes and soon on the ground in a clearing on the much cooler continent, Mammalandia.  "We can take the horses," Brack said.

"Good," Chance responded.  "Horses shouldn't be cooped up for too long."

"This time, you'll need a jacket," Brack quipped with a grin.

The two men saddled and mounted their horses, then started riding.  Again, for hours, they followed fenced in roadways with views to immense landscapes.  This time, roaming the lands surrounding them were creatures, also extinct on Earth but from a later time than those on Saurasia, from the time of the last great ice age.

Chance saw living examples of immense wooly mammoths and mastodons, two-toed and three-toed sloths, dire wolves, North American camels, dog-sized Western horses, short faced bears, ancient bison, and what he deemed his favorites over both days, great saber toothed cats.

"This is unbelievable," Chance exclaimed.  "These are from Earth?"

"Yes, they are. They, did not die out due to a natural catastrophe. They, sadly, were hunted to extinction."

"The Eldars weren't around to save them.  So who did?"

"A people called the Annunaki.  They still exist, but they are very...shall we say...shy.  They keep pretty much to themselves."

"Brack, I thank you for the most amazing two days I've ever spent."

Brack said, "You're welcome.  Let's head back now and get some food for ourselves and for the horses"

"I'm with you, my friend!  Where are we off to next?"

"A planet called Carrelia.  But this, my friend, will be a rather unpleasant visit."

Chance, one eyebrow raised, could only look at Brack and wonder at his words.