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rfmcdonaldContra the statements of my Grade 7 French teacher who gave me a tarot card reading in Kingston a dozen years later, I've never been interested in dinosaurs very much. Brent Trent's article at Strange Horizons raises an interesting prospect: What if a dinosaur species ascended to sentience before the K-T impact?
The whole thing is a provocative read, not least because Trent concludes that the above scene could well have happened.
The hidden hunters are livid green, with dark stripes along their backs. They are bipedal, standing eight feet tall, and their four-fingered scaly hands grasp cruel spears. Unknown descendants of what future primates will call the Saurornithoides, a species of Troontid, they are the warrior caste of their cave-dwelling tribe. Eggs will be hatching soon, and there will be many hungry mouths to feed. The hunt is essential.
The horned behemoth ahead of them can't comprehend what's about to happen. For millions of years it has understood that predators may spring out of the nearby woods, and when this happens you run away. It doesn't realize that ferocious intelligence has bloomed in the late Cretaceous.
The hunters wait, keeping low in the tall grass. Suddenly a blood-chilling shriek erupts on the far side of the Monoclonius herd. A collaborating group of hunters is enacting the first phase of the plan, as they spring from concealment and charge wildly at the massive animals. Predictably, the surprise startles the herd into a panicked run.
The young Monoclonius runs at the hunters without knowing they're there. Suddenly their spears erupt from the grasses, accompanied by wild gesticulations and shrieking scaly throats. The terrified Monoclonius dashes to the side and straight into the trap.
Just a few strides in and the ground collapses. The animal's weighty bulk impales it on numerous pikes set the day before. As it bleeds to death at the bottom of the pit, the last thing it sees is a ring of snake-like heads crowding the top, hissing with victory.
The whole thing is a provocative read, not least because Trent concludes that the above scene could well have happened.
