Jeremy stood by quietly as the man was escorted by a nurse from the Horizon Light Hospital in Dino City. Christmas had been reasonably calm and collected and even quiet, though some of that was a result of the wedding between Candace and William Tarr. Heather had gone to the wedding and was one of the few "non-family" guests that had been there, and she did report that things did go well and Candace seemed happy. From there, he expected William would be well on his way to being a Dinotopian with Candace, which Jeremy was happy that both had found some means to be happy. But the work related to many things in Horizon went on after Christmas.
This brought the Horizon Labs staff back in the day after Christmas and the Horizon Light Staff brought the man down from the hospital, as the two areas were connected, just in case anything related to Project Phoenix came up. The present case was one of those issues with a man from Glen Rose who had apparently had the brilliant idea to either drink some hand sanitizer or something containing methanol in or literally putting it into his eyes with an eyedropper. Jeremy wasn't sure which it was, the hospital hadn't been all that detailed and he felt he didn't want to ask. The end result was that the man was admitted into the emergency room and apparently only just avoided dying as a result of the methanol poisoning.
Though, while the man's life was saved, he had also suffered permanent blindness. Jeremy could see that by look in the man's eyes and how he was reliant on the Horizon Light nurse to help him move and made little response to things that most would see. Jeremy even waved to the man as he approached, just as a test, and got no response, confirming the blindness and qualification under Project Phoenix. With that he let the nurse help the man forward. Once they were close, Jeremy began to speak...
"Well, Mister..." Jeremy began, catching the man's attention and he did turn his head toward Jeremy after hearing his voice.
"Buzz Rainfield," the man spoke in announcing his name, "here to be part of your Phoenix Project to bring back Pterosaurs..."
"We actually have a few Pterosaur Dinotopians already," Jeremy spoke, "One Ornithocheirus, two Pterodactyls, and one Dimorphodon. You would be the first Pteranodon Dinotopian."
"Yeah the last one sounds right," Buzz commented, "the one shown in all the dinosaur movies and tv shows... though according to the article I found online... people called it Pterodactyl too..."
"From what Rex tells me, just about any Pterosaur was called "Pterodactyl" when their bones were first found," Jeremy answered, "eventually the early paleontologists began to get a better naming system... and something that went for a great many different prehistoric animals."
That was something more that Rex had shared at times when Jeremy was able to talk with grandfather-in-law. It was interesting as it did introduce new parts of science that Jeremy didn't get involved with until Project Mesozoic got started. It seemed to help as Jeremy out quite a bit with the projects that related to the Dinotopians.
"So... how will this work?" Buzz asked as Jeremy turned and opened one of the conversion room doors and the Horizon Light nurse began to move Buzz forward.
"I have the needle with your doses to become a Pteranodon Dinotopian in my pocket," Jeremy spoke as he let the two in, "the nurse from the hospital will help you onto the bed and remove your shirt and shoes."
"My shirt and shoes?" Buzz gasped and thrashed a bit, but the nurse managed to keep him upright enough to make it onto the bed.
"Yes," Jeremy answered, "Your shirt to give your wings room to grow, as like flying bird and bat Animalians, Pterosaur Dinotopians grow their wings as a separate set of limbs from their arms. Your shoes, for while the Pterosaur Dinotopians don't have the long digitigrade feet that many Animalians have... there will be some alterations to your feet that would easier for you to be barefoot."
Buzz seemed to nod and actually went about removing the shirt on his own. The nurse went down on one knee and began to untie the shoe laces. They were then placed on the floor by the bed. While this was done, Jeremy pulled the specialized plastic box that contained the syringe that contained the two doses of the Pteranodon strain of the Animalia Virus in it. The first was to apply the alcohol to make sure that the injection wouldn't spread any sickness or contamination.
"This will fix my eye sight?" Buzz asked.
"It will restore your sight," Jeremy assured him, as he delivered the injection, "the key thing will be to NOT take methanol. And welcome to Dinotopia."
With the injection delivered, Jeremy and the Horizon Light nurse moved to leave. Out of the corner of his eye, Jeremy could note a fine coat of pycnofibers starting to grow on Buzz's body. They seemed to be in a pair of colors, one was white and the other was a dark bluish silver. Jeremy didn't dwell on that and made his way out while also shutting the door behind himself and the Horizon Light nurse.
"You won't be needing me anymore, will you Doctor Green?" the nurse asked.
"No, I can manage with what is left," Jeremy answered, "and Horizon can handle all the billing information. I'm sure you're busy with other things..."
The nurse nodded and then left, while Jeremy waited a few moments. It wasn't long before there was a knock at the door and he moved to open it. As he did so, he revealed the new Buzz, who stood in the doorway looking different and taking on a posture similar to how he'd noticed Sophie and Roland taking after they became Dinotopians. Norrie had the same head posture as well. This posture seemed to fit what Rex had told him on how Pterosaur's heads were supposed to balance and help them see, even if Buzz's crest was a black and gold bony crest that curved upward slightly. Buzz's beak was long and pointed, with a very slight upward curve to it, though he held his beak so that his head was pointed down, and unlike Norrie, Sophie, Roland, and Hazel, Buzz had no teeth, which fit in with the fact that Pteranodon had no teeth.
Buzz also had a fine covering of pycnofibers, with only his beak, crest, and the area around his eyes not having them. His beak was colored in a sort of golden orange, like a toucan's beak with black scaled skin around the eyes leading up to the crest on the back of the head, which had its black and gold striping on it. The back of his head had black pycnofibers, though on the back of the neck and his wings, they were a bluish silver or silvery blue. The same color went down his arms, though there was a spot at the elbows where there was a white band of pycnofibers that wrapped around his arm. His feet also had those bluish silver pycnofibers that went down before transitioning into scaled skin for the toes that ended in claws. Jeremy couldn't tell how his legs were covered, as he still had his pants on. Buzz's chest and inner neck also only had white pycnofibers.
"I think I look good," Buzz announced as he stretched out one wing, revealing that the inside of the wing had white colored pycnofibers, "though the bluish silver seems an odd color..."
"Maybe... maybe not," Jeremy commented, "Dino City's paleontologist, Doctor Ramos, has given his commentary on how close Dinosaurs are to birds and made a contribution to that by essentially uplifting mundane birds into some of the various Dinotopians... based on Dinosaurs most closely related to birds or their ancestors..."
"And?" Buzz asked.
"And, that connection can mean that there could well be room for speculation on how Dinotopians would be colored," Jeremy answered, "Pterosaurs included. For while many modern animals tend to be colors that would blend in with their environment... birds can often be rather flamboyant in their colors. Some may be there to blend in, while others are bright and with very distinctive coloring. It's his theory that birds get this from dinosaurs, and since pterosaurs are "cousins" of dinosaurs, in a sense, they could well have many of those sorts of coloring to them."
"So what now?" Buzz asked, "I have work to do..."
"Now, we move on to helping you acclimate to your new body," Jeremy spoke, "and I'm afraid you'll have to go up to Lyre for flight lessons."
"Flight lessons?" Buzz asked, "ain't that instinctive?"
"For those that have flow before," Jeremy answered, "Animalians that were once Human, which you would count as, would need some instruction at flying. And the one that would have the time to teach you is a college student who lives in Lyre/Animalia."
"I gotta go all the way to Nevada! That's like a whole country away!" Buzz protested.
"Well you could wait until she returns to SMU for her spring semester... but then your time will have to be worked around HER schedule," Jeremy spoke, "right now, while you have time off... you can be flown up to Lyre/Animalia, you get in touch with a Sophie Albers and Roland Luwrie..." He then produced a card from his pocket and handed it to buzz, "this will have their numbers on it to contact them. And remember, they're on Christmas break, so be polite and courteous. And don't drink methanol."
"Okay," Buzz managed as he detected the firmness in Jeremy's voice and decided not to challenge that. He looked at the card and the phone numbers and recognized the detail he'd have to handle, "could I get a ride to the air port and tickets?"