Dizzy!

That's how Lin felt. Her eyes too heavy to open. All she could remember, was the Three calling her “Auntie”, though she was never that close to them, and she certainly wasn't that old. And a lullaby, sang by a familiar sad voice.

With her dizziness clearing up, she could sense a gust of air on her face. As if someone, or something was sniffing her. Involuntarily, she lifted her palm towards the gust. The next thing she knew, her hand was covered in something wet and sticky.

Her eyes flew open! In front of her, was a giant parrot's like beak, with a nostril on either side. Above the beak, between the nostrils, a slightly upward, straight curved horn. Some twenty centimeters from the base of the horn, round shaped eyes, looking at her, but placed on the sides of the head(like a bird's set of eyes), with a much longer, front bent, horn above each eye. Behind the horns, like a lions mane, was the rest of the head, ending with spiky little ridges, curved upward, giving the creature a menacing look.

Having loved dinosaurs since childhood, Lin knew this was a Triceratops, which meant Three-horned.

But it wasn't the dinosaur, that was mesmerizing to her at this moment. It was the man sitting behind the mane. He was beautiful, with below shoulder long white hair, and metallic-silver, warm, strong eyes.

He was starring at her, the same way her eyes were glued to his. In that moment, there was no one in the world, except them. All of Lin's instincts were shouting, telling her, he was the one. Even knowing Balaur, who was similarly handsome, she had never felt the same way, as she does now, starring at the stranger.

The triceratops already lying down, the stranger, without taking his eyes off of hers, dismounted, came to her, knelled down, and spoke with a deep, soft, gentle voice: “Коя СИ ТИ?“(“Who are you?”)

His words appeared to be a question, in a language she could not understand. Before she could guess the meaning, his hands cupped her face. His eyes still locked on hers, he leaned down, his lips touching hers in a kiss. In that moment, an electrical current passed throughout her body, giving her a feeling of warmth and security, something she hadn't felt, with any of the men, she had previously dated.

Yet, this stranger, was pressing his lips against hers, without consent. While still feeling a little dizzy, he pulled back, smiled and said: “Намерих те!“(„I found you!”)

He gently took her hands, and helped her stand on her feet. Without saying anything, he leaned in for a second kiss. But this time she was ready to fight. He was taller than her, and much stronger, so Lin knew she needed the element of surprise. This second kiss, was not just touching of lips, like the first one, it was much more intense. So much so, that as his lips were moving around, and his tongue entered her mouth, she found the perfect opportunity, and bit his tongue, shocking him enough, to let her go. But Lin wasn't done yet. Her best friend Bal, had taught her, that men had one obvious physical weakness, which only women, were morally allowed to use. The moment the stranger pulled back, her knee, shot itself between his legs, toppling him to the ground from pain.

A hushed giggle, followed by a deep, echoing laughter. She wasn't alone!

Four other Triceratops, were surrounding them in a semi-circle, each with a rider on it, and one with three riders on, a total of five dinosaurs and seven people. The giggle had come from a young man, in his early twenties. He had sun-yellow hair, and the same metallic-silver eyes, like the stranger on the ground. Judging by their similar looks, Lin assumed they were brothers. On the third and fourth Triceratops, two huge gorilla-like men, both wearing a golden pendant with a silver stone in the middle, were laughing so hard, that they were about to fall off the dinosaurs. The fifth triceratops, was carrying three little girls, a blonde, a red head, and a black haired one. Each had green eyes, and the same innocent look of curiosity, as if, what had just transpired between Lin and the stranger ,was a novelty to them.

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The blonde man dismounted, came within two meters of Lin, held his hand upfront, and said:

“Hello miss! My name is Attar, the two giants laughing themselves silly over there, are Castor and Pollux, the three girls are Eve, Lilith and Pandora, and the impulse on the ground over here, is my big brother Orion. Sorry about him! Are you lost? What is your name?”

Lin looked at him in shock. She could understand him:

“I am Dr. Meri Lin. And why is it that I can understand what you are saying, though I hear you using a language I've never heard, the same that HE is speaking?” said Lin, pointing to Orion with distaste.

Attar had a confused look on his face upon answering:

“Why wouldn't you be able to understand us? Isn't that the whole purpose of the translation program I built? Oh no? Is it still glitching? Man... I thought it was running smoothly by now!” his voice trailing off, as he was now more talking to himself, rather than Lin.

Utter confusion on Lin's face:

“What program? What are you talking about? And how is it, that there are dinosaurs here, when they've been extinct for millions of years? Did you do an unsanctioned experiment? And, HOW, did I even get here, when I was in the lab moments ago, and it was night, yet the sun is shining, as bright as I've ever seen it? Wait! The Sun! Why is it bigger? Usually it looks the same size as the moon! And why is the vegetation tropical?” a torrent of questions rolled out of Lin, leaving them dumbfounded.

Orion got up from the ground, still curled in half from pain:

“What do you mean extinct? Our three-horns are clearly alive and well! And why did you hit me? Didn't you feel our nanites resonating when we first ki...” he blushed, as he was about to say the word “kissed”.

Lin: “Nanites are still in development! And, WHY, would they resonate when people kiss?... Ugh! I can still taste blood in my mouth! Why did you even kiss me in the first place? Huh? Haven't you ever heard of personal space?”

Attar: “Doctormerilin, could you not understand us before my brother kissed you, or before you bit him? I am assuming, a drop of blood entered your system, and reactivated your nanites, but as to why they were dormant in the first place? I have no clue.”

Lin: “First of all, my name isn't Doctormerilin. It is Meri Lin, first name Meri, last name Lin, but I prefer to be called Lin for short. Second, I've never had nanites in me, dormant or otherwise.”

Upon her words, Attar came closer to Lin, pulled out a device, that looked like a tuning fork, attached to a wooden box, with a golden disk on the front side. He placed his hand on the disk, and the ends of the tuning fork, on Lin's forehead. He closed his eyes and mumbled something, then:

“You are definitely from this planet, and your nanites have been dormant since birth. Well, up until a few minutes ago that is, when they were reactivated, when you bit my brother, and a drop of his blood is all it took. The odd thing is, that everyone here is at least ten thousand years, while you look to be twenty thousand, but are in fact only thirty.”

Lin was out of words, while Orion chuckled: “Ha, thirty thousand. She's an old lady then...”.

Attar raised his hand: “No brother, she isn't thirty thousand, she is only thirty years of age, almost thirty.”

Lin: “I am twenty-nine to be exact. And what do you mean “thousand”? People rarely live to be older than a hundred, and that's only if they are lucky. OK, what exactly is going on? Where am I?”

Before the dino-group could answer, a loud booming noise in the near distance, followed by a gust of wind, cut their conversation short. Lin was surprised, but the others looked annoyed. Both Orion and Attar gave each other the same look of understanding, and mounted their triceratops. As she stood there watching, Lin was wondering if she should follow them. Just then, the triceratops with the three little girls, came beside her:

“Auntie, are you coming?”