Daffodils and Dinosaurs

A new piece of fanfiction in the intertexual narrative of the Cyborg Mermaid! 😀 Published author Katelynn E. Koontz wrote this short story about the prehistoric world that was spoken about while the Cyborg Mermaid was in her spaceship towards earth. Thank you, Katelynn!

“It’s here again.”
Rivet looks up, extending her neck. There, in the sky, there’s a light. It’s a blinking, glinting thing. He sighs. “I see it.”
The small, many legged creature clacks its pincers together. It’s half hidden by the daffodils that bloom around the brachiosaurus. “It’s not natural. Harder than stone. With a thing inside.”
“Just one thing?”
“Just one thing.”
“I don’t like it,” announces Rivet. He turns back to the plants and takes a mouthful. The flowers are sweet against his massive tongue. “And I don’t like that you know so much about it.’
The insect, Arach, clicks again. “I don’t know why I know so much about it. I just…do. I want to call it a Divina.”
“That sounds stupid,” says Rivet. He nudges his insect friend with his snout. “Come on.”
Arach listens, clambering first up onto the brachiosaur’s snout, and then crawling down the very long neck to settle on Rivet’s back. “I know it does. But it’s true! And at night, I dream about – “
“A featherless creature, with fins made from shiny stone and arms too weak to carry itself. You’ve told me.” Rivet sighs, and the sound sends the yellow daffodil petals fluttering. “I know you’re worried, but I think we should just ignore it.”
Arach protests, “what’s ignoring it going to do?”
Rivet laughs. It’s a deep, braying sound. “It’s going to make you worry less! And that, my friend, means that I will worry less!”
Brachiosaur’s have very long legs to match their very long necks. Rivet is able to cover more ground in a few strides than Arach could hope to cover in an entire day; they’ve been best friends for as long as they’ve been alive, and always take good care of each other.
But for once, Arach can’t help but think that Rivet is wrong. As the brachiosaur moves away from the daffodil field, the insect can’t help but turn around and stare up at the light. Whatever it is – whatever this Divina might be – Arach thinks that it’s very important. And he thinks, too, that it must be very important he knows these things.
“Stop thinking so hard,” says Rivet, after a few quiet moments.
Arach clatters his pincers in nervous laughter. “I can’t help it. It’s just so strange!”
“Exactly!” Rivet picks up his pace, until his running with a long lumbering stride that shakes the entire world. “And strange things are never good! The best we can do is leave now and hope that it leaves in the other direction!”
“Maybe,” says Arach, unconvinced but knowing he won’t get anywhere. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe it’s nothing.”
“It is,” says Rivet firmly. “Trust me.”
And Arach tries very, very hard to do exactly that.