Compy practically shuddered in terror when Rex came into the room that he'd been in as part of his uplifting. He actually remembered seeing Rex when he was still a chicken, a healthy male Brown Longhorn and seeing the Dinotopian's large teeth, in what was pretty typical of a Tyrannosaur's natural overbite. For a moment Compy thought he remembered seeing Rex raise his upper lip a bit, almost as if to snarl at him, which didn't help when Rex came into the room with the Horizon scientists that had been working the closest with him with the project that would allow for Horizon to essentially uplift animals into extinct relatives.
"You can relax," Rex said to Compy and raised his hands as if to calm him down a bit, "Animalia has some pretty stringent rules regarding things like predation. No Animalian, regardless of size, is to be preyed on."
"That's good," Compy said, practically instinctively and letting the air escape his lungs rather quickly, "but... I... I still feel strange."
Rex slowly nodded and looked Compy up and down. The new Compsognathus Dinotopian had many of the typical features that were seen in Animalians in that for his height he looked rather strong and combined what would be expected from both a human and the specific dinosaur in question, Compsognathus. Of course, since the present experiment was with regard to changing Animal species there were certain features that were typical of Leghorn Chickens that weren't present in Jurassic Theropods such as his comb. There was also the fact that Compy's feathers were largely brown in color and in many ways looked like what they had been like fore his uplifting.
The feathers that he "lacked" were the long wing and tail fathers. Though his arms and tail were feathered, or at least covered plumage that looked like brown feathers, they WEREN'T the long wing and tail feathers that most birds had. To Rex it was a triumph in some areas and failure in others. The successful uplifting and that Compy was in good health was a sign that it worked in terms of the process and that they could continue with experiment that if successful would likely lead to Sophie's parrot JC becoming a Dinotopian when she and her boyfriend became Pterodactylus Dinotopians. That part was good.
The part that was failure was the fact that since Compy was a bird before his uplifting and that certain features of his avian form did carry over in the course of the uplifting process that it wouldn't work as well with regard to his theories on bird evolution. At present in various paleontology circles it was believed that that birds would actually evolve out of the various Theropod groups and particularly the Coelurosauria group, which included mostly smaller dinosaurs that from which Tyrannosaurus would evolve from as well. It was from these groups that many of the soft tissue fossils had been found that would give an indication of feathers in dinosaurs had been found and would further the theory that birds had evolved from dinosaurs...
And this part had shown success in that Sora and Yuki were both feathered and that even Rex and Miko were at least partially feathered. This all fit in with the theories that Rex had argued for years on. However, these theories were best supported with human conversions in the sense that humans as mammals were not supposed to have feathers at all. Thus when he, Miko, Sora, and Yuki grew feathers on at least part of their bodies that demonstrated the connection. However, the fact that Compy was originally a bird, the fact that some avian features carried over in his uplifting that weren't seen in extinct Theropods would allow for the use of Compy's original status to be used as the reason why he had a near full covering of feathers now.
"I've been told that the uplifting can be confusing at first for animals that are uplifted," Rex commented, "especially as they're adapting to features that are more human like than what they were before."
"You've been told?" Compy wondered.
"I was a human before I became a Dinotopian," Rex explained, "so what I adapted to was largely the inhuman features that are now part of my anatomy as a Tyrannosaurus."
Compy slowly nodded as Gerry and Sal brought him clothing to wear, much of which had actually been made for many of the uplifted chickens that lived in Animalia. Compy responded well enough to them and seemed okay as it was explained that human society would expect him to wear clothing at least for basic modesty. Rex figured that Compy was likely processing a lot of factual information that was told to him and didn't want to rush him into anything that could potentially "break" him.
"Your family members are most friendly," Compy stated as he managed get into the pants and shirt that Gerry and Sal provided, though he ended up twisting his head when the two of them laughed.
"Gerry and Sal are co-workers," Rex answered, "and we've all worked together... usually with things related to paleontology... studying extinct animals... and how they work and function and even mapping their DNA, which is something that Horizon Labs has a lot of interest in... which connects a lot of my research in with certain projects they're doing... but I don't want to bore you."
"But they aren't family?" Compy wondered.
"I wish I could claim to be related to someone as smart as this guy," Gerry gave a small smile, "my grades surely would have been a lot better in school."
"I seem to recall you saying you did okay," Rex commented.
"With computers," Gerry answered, "the computers do the hard work for me."
Compy looked between the three as they shared a few chuckles together. That had to mean they got along together, but in his past experience, that was usually with regard to family members and nest mates and outside of the breading season. If these three men weren't related, Compy wondered why were they so friendly with each other. It was something that was not unlike any other animal as they adjusted to being an Animalian, and he stood quietly turning his head from side to side as he looked between them.
"But you get along well?" Compy asked.
"Yes," Rex nodded, "we have been friends for years... I was in fact surprised to find that Gerry and Sal were on Horizon's staff, as a lot of times, when I'd see them it was to deal specifically with something I was researching and needed their computer and genetic mapping expertise to help with... But friendship is more than just who you're related to or what "services" be provided. Our personalities have mixed well and it's been fun to talk with each other on various subjects, not just work related."
Of course some of those things related to things that were personal for him, particularly with regard to Tyra. Animalia had its rules regarding breeding, which presented its own potential troubles. It didn't necessarily block Animalians from falling in love, but unless they were of the same species, or their "species" were so closely related that they counted as the same species, they couldn't breed naturally by Animalia's Edicts. Any child of that union would have to be adopted. Though for him and Tyra that could be a bit difficult, mostly that as a Syntixisaurus Rex, Tyra, like Jeremy and Heather was a hybrid theropod that had come from various fossil bones, which would likely mean that if he and Tyra were to have a genetic makeup that was well over 50% Tyrannosaurus Rex.
And that would present a private project in and of itself. As while a Tyrannosaur DNA had to be part of Tyra's make-up as a Syntixisaurus Rex, there at least nine separate species that were relatively closely related to Tyrannosaurus Rex and there were even more that were related but more distantly so. And since Heather had admitted that the creation of the Syntixisaurus Rex was the result of a scheme to make additional money in Costa Rica, narrowing it down to which specific Tyrannosaur would take time. And even if they could identify that it was Tyrannosaurus Rex there was also the fact that it wouldn't be the only Theropod in the Syntixisaurus make-up, let alone the only dinosaur. Tyra, Heather, and Jeremy also had features of the Abelisaurid Carnotaurus with the horns above their eyes as well as the single row of lizard like spines running down the center of their back, which was more in common with Sauropods, which could make mapping the Syntixisaurus Rex DNA even tougher, but for the moment that was a private and didn't relate to helping Compy adjust.
"So you do more than work together?" Compy inquired.
"Yes," Sal nodded, "Human or Animalian... or Dinotopian in Rex's case, we are friends and we get along, and that's what matters."
"And while a lot of what we do for work is to earn money," Gerry commented, "there is fun in it that goes beyond just money..."
"I've gotten to dig in the dirt past the point where a lot of people think kids should stop doing that," Rex smiled, "and when a NEW fossil is found... it's amazing."
"Interesting," Compy said slowly, though there was a lot that he was still curious about.
"In the meantime, how about I show you around Lyre and Animalia," Rex offered, "you can see sights and I'd be more than happy to answer any and all questions. We'll likely meet other Animalians along the way."
Compy nodded and they made their way out. He remained a bit cautious as there was some lingering fear that related to the fact that Rex towered over him, but he had been polite and friendly and that was beginning to help him get over that fear. He was very curious about many of the features of Horizon's hallways and then the buildings when they made it outside. He'd remembered seeing buildings before, but most of them were familiar and had many other chickens in them with wire for safety. The buildings he saw now weren't built like that, and he recognized that they served a different purpose. Rex happily answered those questions.
The walk was rather pleasant and even with the snow that was still visible and some parts of the ground still being very wet, Compy found it surprisingly comfortable. He also found that various people along the way that he and Rex ran into also proved to be very curious about him. Many were human, but they were polite and relatively friendly. Others were other Animalians who were often based on mammals with fur, birds with feathers, and reptiles with scales. Compy was most surprised to see that they recognized him as a new Dinotopian but had some curiosity of their own. One was an Animalian that resembled a big brown cat with a short tail and great sabers for canine teeth.
"Isn't he a bit small for a Dinosaur?" Diego wondered, noting hat Compy was under five feet tall. He was roughly about the same height as the chicken Animalians, but Dinosaurs were supposed to be great big creatures. Many extinct Animals were. After all, Smilodon was bigger than many modern cats.
"He's based off of Compsognathus," Rex answered, "which was about the same size as a chicken... While there were many big Dinosaurs there were also many small ones. It's how they filled certain niches in the prehistoric world. And in some cases, it's been found that there were some small dinosaurs that would have been preyed on by mammals that lived during the Mesozoic Era... and I'm not talking stealing eggs... I'm talking a dog sized mammal in the Cretaceous hunting and preying on a small species of Dinosaur."
"And he's based off that dino?" Diego asked, lowering one ear.
"No," Rex answered, "Compsognathus lived in the Jurassic Period and lived in Europe. The specimen I was referring to that was being hunted by Mesozoic Mammals was found in Asia, I believe... but still, the point is that not every Dinosaur is huge."
"You wouldn't judge me by my size," Compy asked, "Do you?"
"Nah," Diego tilted his head with a smile, "Mostly just curious. I've always been into extreme sports and so on... so I'm afraid I'm not that up to date on fossil finds."
"Extreme sports?" Compy asked, sounding curious.
"Yeah... things that involve a thrill and getting an adrenaline rush," Diego answered, "once you get through all your acclimation courses and so on... I can show you more about what I mean."
Compy nodded. It was interesting to him in a way, especially as it was so new to him, even though he'd become something "old."