Explorer is the seventh chapter in the Sixth Configuration. As Harding attempts to fix and start the Explorer, Dodgson appears and they fight with one of the adult Tyrannosaurus rex appearing.
Plot[]
The chapter follows the events from the last chapter, describing that the Explorer is now near a mudhole which was a puddle overnight. The Pachycephalosaurus are splashing and drinking from it, surrounding the whole vehicle. Sarah Harding has much experience knowing when and how to approach wild animals not with these dinosuars. She checks in with Doc Thorne who tells her Richard Levine says, "nobody knows anything about these animals...a complete skeleton has never been recovered...nobody has even a guess about their behavior, except that they're probably aggressive." The only suggestion Levine provides is that she should enter slowly without any sudden movements or gestures, checking if the pachycephalosaurus would allow her to enter. After seeing their dome-shaped heads, she tells the men she'll try another method. Levine looks out of the store window and is again uneasy, trying to think about the terms 'daylight' and 'territory.' As he learns resetting the Explorer won't take long, Harding informs them she's above the vehicle in a tree.
Harding is on a weak tree branch and as she positions herself, she notices the pachycephalosaurus notice her, get agitated and one of them slams the tree she climbed on. This eventually caused her to fall right amongst the dinosaurs. In the store, as Levine wishes they could view what Harding is up to, Kelly Curtis wakes up and informs them they could try the computer. She tries to operate it, finding a password is required. Remembering that Arby Benton found one previously, she does not wake him up and instead checks his dirty clothes and finds the muddy paper reading, 'VIG/&*849/' and after entering it the screen changes, albeit different from that from the trailer. Levine checks with her and she just says she's working on it. Despite not as well-versed as Arby with computers, she tries, initially making a mistake then finds the the video feed. The men are surprised and see the Explorer and pachycephalosaurus yet Harding is not in sight.
Harding is in fact underneath the vehicle and radios Thorne, first finding the radio spoilt again then after remembering what he said regarding the radio cover, she screws it on and put on the earpiece. Thorne's voice finally is audible and he instructs her to check the breakers. As the pachycephalosaurus strike the vehicle, she fixes it yet Thorne tells her to still stay underneath. She suddenly spots the pachycephalosaurus leave, radioing why yet Thorne cuts of communication. Suddenly, she sees human boots trying to enter the Explorer and immediately recognises it as Lewis Dodgson.
Swiftly, she pulls his ankles and he lands on his back, immediately cursing at her, stating he thought he killed her previously. Filled with rage, she tries to move away, them feels the ground shake and knows why, quickly flattening herself. One of the adult Tyrannosaurus rex approaches and Dodgson shifts towards her. The Tyrannosaurus sniffs the vehicle and Harding knows it can smell both of them. While Dodgson is filled with fright, Harding is calm and recalling how he threw her overboard and how she nearly drowned, she pushes him as he himself tries to escape the Tyrannosaurus. Dodgson yells at her and its either herself or him, so she pushes him again and the Tyrannosaurus yanks him out with its jaws. Dodgson tries to drag Harding with him, however she is strong enough to kick him away. Dodgson is naturally terrified yet the Tyrannosaurus carries him, not eats him on the spot.
In the store, Ian Malcolm is now also watching and Levine wonders why the Tyrannosaurus did not eat Dodgson. Malcolm, previous a staunch agnostic, remarks, "There is a God." Meanwhile, Harding finds that the Explorer works and as Thorne tells her to hurry, she hears the blades of a helicopter.
Trivia[]
Levine or rather Michael Crichton writes that "nobody knows anything about (the Pachycephalosaurus)." That was around 1995. Today there are articles like this which provide detailed information on the dinosaur. It is may have eaten both plants and meat. They may have not be so aggressive.
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