It was a calm, clear, summer's day, it was very tranquil, the calm only pierced by the occasional bird song trailing in through the open window. Nick was in his office, reclining in his leather office chair, reading a detailed book about the Devonian Period. It was filled with detailed info on hundreds of species from the time. Nick was fascinated by two species in particular; Eusthenopteron, and Bothriolepis. As well as the many species Trilobite in this section of the book. The two Trilobites that really fascinated Nick were named Ceratarges, and Comura. He wrote down their locations and the time period, as well as a few other trace notes. As soon as he put down his pencil to go back to reading, he heard footsteps.
Devian knocked on the door.
"Ello?" he called.
"Come in Devian!" Nick called in the direction of the door, marking his place in the book and resting it on the desk, before opening and logging into his laptop.
"I 'ave those concepts for the exhibits you wanted," Devian said, putting them on his desk.
"As you can see, this one for the fish is made of limestone with a glass viewing area, some artificial 'orsetails, and a waterfall. The Trilobite cage is a shallow pool with a gravel bottom and some rock caves." Devian looked at the trilobites fossils on Nick's desk, a Comura and a Ceratarges.
"interestin' choices," He admitted.
"Well, they were some of the few that caught my attention, thought you n' the others'd find 'em interestin', considering the shape of their shells," Nick said, gesturing to the spiny and ornate trilobites on the desk.
"Although, you might find this a bit more interesting," He said, holding up illustrations of a Hynerpeton, and a Cyrtoceras. The Hynerpeton was on land.
"Bah, that Hynerpeton reconstruction is unrealistic. the bones they're missing in their limbs make them incapable of walkin'. Only later in the carboniforous did tetropods finnally live on lan'," Devian scoffed.
"Don't blame me! I just got that image from Walking With Monsters," Nick said a little defensively, his fake accent gone. Nick had decided then that he would stop trying to replicate Devian's accent.
"So, how are our two resident coelacanths doing? And what's the portal status?"
"Coelocanths are doing good, but remember, this isn't going to be a quick trip," Devian reminds him.
"Portal is ready, but it needs a few adjustments so that we can bring liquids through it."
"Interesting choices, boss!" Matt said, walking up behind the two. "Hynerpeton's always been a favorite of mine, and Trilobites have a special place in my heart. So, I'm guessing... Devonian. So, I've got a suggestion for another creature..."
"Good, wouldn't want to head through and leave all our bodily fluids and liquid supplies behind, now would we?" Nick jested, getting up and packing the fossils and illustrations into a padded, shock-poof case, and sticking his little notepad in his shirt pocket, and the Devonian book in his back pants pocket.
"Well, shall we go wake the rest of the crew?" Nick asked, with a mischievous grin.
"And Matt, we can talk on the way." I add.
"Also, I think we should bring back a Dunkleosteus. When I think Devonian, I think one of these puppies!" Matt said, flipping through Nick's book.
Devian smiled evily.
"I'll get the air 'orn," Devian said, opening up a closet door.
Grabbing it, he added, "I also ave' a suggestion. why not a Pteraspis? they where one of the las' of their kind."
"Well, we are bringing back animals from extinction, the way you put it, them being the last of their kind an' all, makes it a given that we bring back a few, or at least tag, or set a camera to observe them." Nick replied.
"So, yah, we'll do something with 'em," he said, walking to the door, "Oh, and I've got a better wake up call than an air-horn." Nick grinned widely as he rested his hand on the intercom, switched it to the bunks, stifling a laugh.
Devian grinned. "I see," he said. his radio beeped. "'Ello?" Devian asked the other end.
After some mumbling, he said, "ol right, I'll tell 'im." he looked up at the other two.
"Portal's fixed. the volunteer tester won't ever be, I'm afriad," Devian said, stiffling a laugh.
"What happened to the poor fella?" Nick asked with mock fear.
"Ow' do you think we tested if the portal aloud liquids?" Devian asked. Nick looked at Devian, still clueless about what he meant.
"You said the portal's fixed... Come on, tell me, what happened?" he asked, annoyed Devian wouldn't come out and tell me.
"We used some lab rat on the first test to see if the portal aloud liquids through, since that was a bit of a problem. I'm afraid we only have mummy rats now." Devian said, snickering.
"What? you mummified some poor chap?" Nick asked, shocked at Devian's attitude. But then, a sick idea came into his mind.
"Wait... You didn't... You can't have made him do that through the portal!"
"No, not people! rats! real lab rats!" Nick said, shocked at what he was thinking.
"Oh thank god, I thought you'd forced some poor fellow 'til he was water-logged!" Nick said, relieved that Devian hadn't done any permanent damage to anyone. Nick was just about to speak into the intercom when he saw Matt with his book.
"What the?! Hey! How'd you get that?!" he asked him, snatching the book back and replacing it in my pocket.
"And I'm not so sure going after Dunkleosteus is the best Idea. They can bite through chain-mail!" he informed Matt, still confused how he got it out of his back pocket without him knowing.
"I'm going to go see how the exhibits are comin' along," Devian said, walking out the door. he walked over to the Trilobite touch pool. There was a large statue of a Phacops in the middle. It was almost complete, the gravel was being poured in, and the hose was on standbye. he walked over to the fishtank, which was connected by a set of limestone stairs to the Trilobite pool and the viewing area for the fish. It was nearly done, they where hooking up the waterfall and adding sand.
Devian called over to a worker. "Tell the boss to add a Hynerpeton pond too!" Devian said. The worker nodded to him and went looking for his boss.
"Yes, but we have a big acryllic tank, just sitting around, and, dont we have new latex fishing nets and scuba gear? I'm pretty sure those will be good for catching Satan's goldfish!" Matt argued. Devian walked back into Nick's office to report progress to Nick and overheared the conversation. "That Tank is going to be for the fish and Orthocones," Devian said, just catching Matt. He looked at Nick.
"Tanks are being filled now," Devian reported.
"Actually, the scuba gear was for the Keepers in charge of the larger tanks." Nick explained to Matt. he noticed Devian coming in and heard what he had to report.
"Good, it seems everything's going to plan, I guess now is a good time to wake up the crew." Nick said, turning on the intercom.
"WAKE UP YOU LAZY SODS! Portal activation in twenty!" he bellowed, his voice surprisingly deep for my size.
"Besides," Devian said, "We would need a massive tank, bigger than the orca tanks at seaworld even."
"Well, there is a Dunkleosteus-sized bay we could close off up in that direction." I gesture to the north, "But even so, We'll have to wait a bit on that one."
"In the back of the park. I remember Devian building it for a pliosaur, but the mission got cancelled. Now, we have a useless tank, which is perfect for a Dunkleosteus. Also, I think we will be capturing much more dangerous creatures thana giant salmon with sharp teeth." I say, showing Nick the map of the Park.
"The bay's public pro'erty," Devian agreed.
"It would take some time for the locals to get used to a gian' fish in their bay."
"Well, I'm still a bit partial to that bay idea, it'd give the beast a more natural habitat. And besides, your probably thinking about the wrong bay. here, look at this," Nick said, pointing to a bay in to the north on the Park Map, and pondering what to do about this Dunkleosteus issue.
"Well, we can discuss this later. Right now, we should head down to the portal bay." he said, taking his hand off the top of the intercom and heading out the door to a large Jeep Wrangler, painted in a theme that fit the park perfectly.
"Shotgun!" Devian said, and hopped in.
"You got the transport tanks?" he asked.
"Already in the portal bay, but we aren't going in on foot, we're taking the boat out for a spin on this one." Nick said.
"Besides, if we're going to the ocean, we need water transportation. And the crew wanted to take the boat out, so, the portals coordinates'll land us in a lake, somewhere in Devonian Pennsylvania. From there we can take the boat to Devonian Morocco, and the other locations of the critters."
Matt came up to the car and asked, "So, am I going on this time trek?"  
"Morocco?" Devian look at Nick. "I know a similiar sized plachoderm. harmless, but 'uge none the less. a filter feeder. Titanichthys." Devian began to think.
"ok, that's a trip to Pennsylvania, Morocco, Belgium, Quebec... am I missing any?" Devian asked.
"Well, since your head keeper, you have to keep the keepers in line, and give them orders, but since there's nothing for them to be looking after just yet, I'll just say this; If you think you can handle it." Nick told Matt, keying the ignition.
"So, why do we have to do this so early," Austin yawned, walking up behind Nick, laptop in hand and baseball cap on head.
"Because I don't want to waste time here that I could be exploring the Devonian. And Devian, if you think you can catch that monster of a fish, be my guest!" Nick said, revving the engine.
"So, Matt, Austin, you coming?" he asked, unlocking the back doors.

Part 2 coming soon!