1. The River

Mami was thirsty and that was a problem as large as a dinosaur. Before her, the river shimmered in the sun. Every delicious drop was an invitation, but also a danger. She peered at the beautiful spot through the bushes, waiting for the right moment.

Because she knew she was not alone. To her left, kindred spirits hid behind rocks. Tiny ape-like creatures that still walked on four legs.

Of course, dear reader, that wasn’t their name yet, because apes did not exist. Mami belonged to the Gosti.

Across the water she noticed several salamanders slither through the ferns. Above them, lizards clung to the trees, hoping their dark brown bodies made them invisible.

But at any moment—

The ground rumbled. Mami dug her paws into the mud to stay upright. The Gosti next to her shrieked. Above the wall of branches and leaves, a thick tail whipped, dark gray and covered in spikes, and effortlessly sliced through trees.

Each step of the dinosaur felt like an earthquake, though he moved as slow as a snail. All life around the river held their breath. But the dino did not look their way and walked on. Even better, the giant dino droppings that followed landed far from Mami’s area.

A red-yellow baby dinosaur, no taller than the bushes, took her chance. Supported by two big hind legs, she hopped toward the river. She looked around again, leaned her little front legs on the rocks, bent her neck, and swiftly drank as much water as she could hold.

Now that the first Small One had emerged from hiding, the rest followed.

Creatures of all kinds raced to the river. Mothers held their babies tight. Fathers tried to collect water and bring it back to their families. They ran in wide arcs around the baby dino legs, but some took the time to thank her.

Within moments the river teemed with life; a few moments later it was deserted again. Like bees and wasps suddenly swarming around flowers when the sun shines on them, but nowhere to be seen when clouds hide the light.

There was an Agreement, though creatures could hardly talk yet. Someone had to be the first to come out from the bushes. If a meat-eating dinosaur was waiting nearby, it would strike and reveal itself. If that didn’t happen, the rest knew it was safe.

But Mami hesitated. She had no group to help her, no one to fetch water and bring it back. Her family had been eaten by a dino, so long ago she couldn’t even remember what the monster looked like. She only survived because she was too tiny to be a delicious meal for the dino.

Come on, she urged herself, it’s clear. Run over there and drink!

Her front paws reached for ground outside the bushes. Slowly she pulled herself out, then back in again, poking her head through the leaves, yet still crawling back. Don’t hesitate, she thought. Run!

She burst through the branches and sprinted with all her might toward the river, leaves fluttering like wings around her.

But she never reached the water.

A medium-sized green dinosaur ambled toward the river, blocking her path. She bumped into his foot and tumbled backwards. She quickly jumped up and looked skyward, but the dino hadn’t even noticed. It’s so unfair. Why are they so big and we so small?

He mumbled. “Bla bla bla, dreams aren’t real, come hunt with us now, if you don’t join we’ll kick you from the herd.” Suddenly he looked back and shouted. “I’m a plant eater! I don’t need to hunt!”

Mami had to jump left and right to avoid his giant feet. A plant eater!

She felt safe in his shadow and joined him on his path to the river. While the dino gulped down gallons of water, with a noise that echoed across the clearing, Mami could finally quench her thirst in silence.

She had, however, forgotten The Agreement.

Again, Small Ones burst from the bushes, headed for the river. They thanked her and ran around the dino, who watched with growing bewilderment. He tried to walk away from the chaos and lifted his foot.

A few young Gosti ran right underneath. He’s going to crush them!

“Stop! Stop! Don’t put your foot down!”

The dino searched for her voice, his foot hovering in the air. Which was an issue, as he only had two legs to stand on in the first place. By the time he found Mami, his heavy body had already started falling sideways.

“Aaaah!”

“Look out!”

The dino fell in the water, sending high waves over the Small Ones. Most had fled in time, but not all. A few salamanders were crushed on the seabed. Other animals lay unconscious on the sand. The dino’s tail landed right on top of Mami, breaking her hind leg.

Pushing off with his front legs, he quickly rose up halfway again. His hind legs did the rest of the work.

The Small Ones glared angrily at Mami and the dino, but said no word. A few moments later the area was deserted once more.

“Sorry!” he called after them.

“Also sorry,” said Mami. She crawled away, but with three healthy legs she couldn’t get far.

The dinosaur bent his neck until his face hovered right in front of hers. He said nothing. He just looked at her. And the longer it went on, the more uncomfortable Mami became.

“Leg broke,” he whispered, along with other words Mami didn’t know. “Climb on back.”

“Oh!” Eyes closed, she stretched out her five-fingered paws and climbed on his head. She slid down his neck until she wedged halfway against some scales. What are you doing, Mami? You’re not riding on a dinosaur’s back! This is why your family is gone.

“Donte my name.” He strolled away from the river, but stopped when he couldn’t see which way to go. “How suddenly so foggy?”

Another word she didn’t know. Mami opened her eyes, but saw nothing. The sunny clearing had become a white hazy blotch. That could only mean one thing.

“Sorry, sorry, so sorry,” said a cheerful voice from within the cloud. Not long after, a friendly young face took shape, made from the vapors. “It was just a little accident.”

“Little accident?” Donte blew through his nostrils to push away the cloud vapors.

“Yes, you see, I had to deliver a message to your father, when such an odd event happened that I lost control of my mists!”

The fog dissipated. Donte tried grabbing the cloud with his front legs, which would obviously never work. It was, after all, a Cloudbeing.

Mami let curiosity get the best of her. “What? What happened?”

“Oh, sorry. I’m Willi Smallcloud, messenger of the Chiefcloud. During my descent a panda appeared on top of me and said I must warn the dinosaurs.”

Mami laughed and forgot she lay on a dino’s back with a painful broken leg. “I’ve never heard anything so silly. You must have been dreaming.”

“Clouds don’t dream. Because we never sleep.”

Donte lurched at Willi, his voice full of panicky dino words that sounded fearful to Mami’s ears. “Warn of what?”

“Yes, you see, the panda didn’t say. Or wait … " The cloud looked thoughtful, spinning circles above the river, which created a whirlwind. Leaves slapped their faces, but their eagerness to know the answer kept annoyance at bay.

“We’re waiting … for some time now … "

“Oh yes! An asteroid is heading your way.”

That, dear reader, is a chunk of rock drifting through space. Sometimes they call it a mini planet. A comet looks similar, but is made of ice and gas. When parts break off of these, we call them meteoroids. But Donte doesn’t know the difference at all: to him that word simply means “big rock.”

Donte shook his shoulder blades. “Then we eat it.”

Willi grew thick wooly eyebrows, just to furrow them. “Do you know how massive an asteroid can be? How fast one of those things hits?”

“Then dino’s work together and stop it.”

Willi shook his clouds. “No, no, no, you don’t understand. Everything has been peaceful and balanced for thousands of years now: sunny, warm, flourishing. An asteroid impact is like earthquakes happening all over the world. Even the gods can’t predict the consequences!”

Mami thought it all nonsense. For us, an asteroid strikes every day: dinosaurs stomping their huge clumsy feet into the ground. I don’t see the problem. But if that asteroid comes … then all the dinosaurs will be gone in an instant! Wonderful!

“Dreadful!” cried Donte and he bounded away. “Must warn dinosaurs!”

“Hey! I’m still on your back!”

“Will leave you be. Am certain. Say you friend of dino!”

“I feel less certain about that!”

But he was deaf to Mami’s shouting, the doom of the dinosaurs a nightmare in his mind. Whether she liked it or not, she was being taken to the Dino Nest.