Freshman year in college had been a bit tougher than expected, but Sophie had felt quite pleased in doing relatively well when the year ended. Sophie was also pleased to see that both JC and Pauline had done well. It'd be away before they and Roland got things like their final grades confirmed, but she'd felt fairly confident in late May when the school year ended and the Albers and Luwrie's drove down from Lyre, Nevada to Dallas, Texas to pick up their children for summer vacation. Though there was one slight detour on their way back in which they stopped at Dino City and a stop at the hotel/apartment tower that was Skybax Heights.
For the most part, there were only two Pterosaur Dinotopians that had moved in full time, and the rooms, particularly in the tower, were big enough to even house and support the Sauropod Dinotopians, but that was more a result of the planning that went into building Dino City and making sure its buildings were scaled up to fit the size of Dinotopians. It also made for a good starting point for Sophie's visit and provide her and Roland's parents with some other introductions to people she'd met while in college.
"I'll say the accommodations are nice," Mr. Albers commented as he looked over to Quetzal from where he was standing behind Sophie and Roland. His wife and Roland's parents were just to his left.
"They are, and affordable, in a sense," Quetzal chuckled from the chair that she was in, "Which can be good... as Dr. Timm has also been by a few times in discussing some things with me..."
"I would have thought that Dr. Timm wouldn't be as needed once we confirmed on whether or not you could fly and how well," Sophie commented.
Quetzal gave a sheepish smile, hard to do with her long toothless beak, but she managed, "well, let's just say it was more giving him an opening. Because I noticed that all through the times when you and Roland were giving me my flying lessons there at your college, he seemed to be following with what I thought might be more than just paleontological interest as to whether or not Quetzalcoatlus could fly. So... I'm seeing if he's like Doctor Ramos."
There were a few nods, as just about everyone knew about how Rex Ramos was a paleontologist who had done a lot of work on various Tyrannosaurs in the past and converted to actually answer the question as to whether or not Tyrannosaurus Rex had feathers. The answer was ultimately "yes," but not completely. He had grown feathers, but they weren't much more than simple quills along the the dorsal side of his body, indicating that the Jurassic Park Tyrannosaurus design wasn't completely wrong. Though, most of the reason people knew about Rex was because of his falling for Tyra and the "publicity" that came from that. The Albers and Luwries had some sense of that sort of thing possibly going on here, but decided to leave that alone for the time being. As the visit with Quetzal was more like a teacher checking in on a student.
"So... what did you find out with the flying?" Mrs. Luwrie wondered, "I mean Sophie has said that JC and Pauline can still fly, to a degree, and there was some talk about you wanting to do a "flight around the world" kind of thing."
Quetzal lowered her head for a moment at that before giving a bit of a sigh, "well, that was something I wanted to try. Particularly as I'd seen some documentaries that had said that Pterosaurs like Quetzalcoatlus could fly for long distances by getting to altitude and gliding for a long way. It'd be quite impressive given how big Quetzalcoatlus is, which made it all the more attractive to me because it had my name in it."
Mr. Albers looked to his wife as Mr. Luwrie did the same. Sophie and Roland gave an assuring smile to Quetzal who then continued.
"But we found that while I have the muscle power to get into the air and fly," Quetzal continued, "it's actually only going to be for short distances. The balconies here at the Skybax can make take off easier, but my muscles do tire fairly quickly and I have enough weight, most of it muscle and bone, that I can't hold a glide for that long before needing to beat my wings again. It's something where I might be able to get away from something but I wouldn't be able to sustain that flight over a long distance... Not without a lot of training to build up endurance, and that would still require aid with regard to crossing oceans."
"But you are still training, right?" Sophie asked, remembering some of Quetzal's disappointment when they'd reached a point in her flying lessons that proved the theory that Quetzalcoatlus's could fly, but not well and not for very long distances, and comparable to some types of birds that seemed to be at the limit for powered flight. Dr. Frederick Timm had commented that aligned with some theories from a Dr. Sato. They proved that Quetzalcoatlus wasn't flightless as a Dr. Henderson had suggested because of its weight, but neither was it the super soaring animal that a Dr. Witton and Habib suggested because most thermals wouldn't be large enough to accommodate the turning circle Quetzalcoatlus would need to get to sufficient height. In some ways it made sense, but still disappointing.
"Of course," Quetzal commented, "I may not be able to glide around the world, but one does have to stay in shape and that doesn't mean that I can't get better at it." She then waived around the room, which while it wasn't fancy, it did look nice. "And with a nice place like this that isn't too expensive... it's worth being here. She then looked to the Albers and Luwries as they stood behind their children. JC and Pauline were presently sampling some of the local foods and catching up with some of the Dinotopians that like them were uplifted birds. "I mean... wouldn't you like having some interest in being here?"
"Ultimately after Roland and I graduate college," Sophie answered while glancing over to Roland for a moment, but it wasn't long.
"The parents of some of our children's friends have converted, either by accident or intentionally," Mrs. Luwrie commented, "and they've commented on liking the conversion, even if in some ways it's changed the dynamic of how they interact with their children... particularly if both parents and children were double dosed. So, some of that is there, but not the sole reason to convert."
"Of course," Quetzal nodded, "I didn't want to insinuate anything. Though, I would say that if you do move here... regardless of what kind of Animalian you become... things here at Skybax Heights are going to be the most affordable. Trust me on that."
That was something that got Sophie and Roland to glance to each other, but that was going to be a question better answered by someone they were more familiar with in Dino City...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
That came a few days later as Sophie, Roland, JC, and Pauline flew from Skybax Heights to one of the modest homes that were on the south side of the main streets. It was bigger than their homes in Lyre, but that came along with the "charm" of Dino City. The flight was easy and allowed them to come in for a soft landing on the lawn before turning to walk up the sidewalk to the front door. Sophie took the lead and knocked on the door and they then waited for a few moments. Eventually the door opened to reveal a familiar face, though the Dinotopian who owned that face was presently in some workout shorts and a tank-top.
"So... college get out already?" Heather asked with a small smile down to Sophie and Roland before stepping back to let them enter into a large living room area where Heather had an aerobic video presently going, though there was something going on in the background.
"What is that plinking noise?" Pauline wondered at a tone of notes that was coming from another room at the moment. It sounded sort of like a piano but with a more metallic edge to it.
"That would be Jeremy practicing," Heather answered, "One of the first people from outside of Texas to come here to become a Dinotopian became an Amargasaurus Dinotopian. It's a relatively small Sauropod, the actual animal only being around thirty feet long, less than half the length of the giants... like Andrew and Jen or Luke and Marjorie... but it has a whole bunch of spikes that go down its neck. He's had to complete some drug rehab and community service, but he has done that. With that done, he's been moving his band from Oklahoma City to here and has set up a recording studio in one of the buildings here... I think it was intended for offices of some kind, but I'm not sure..."
"Anyway," Sophie commented as they followed Heather deeper into the room. She watched as Heather reached over the back of the couch and picked up the remote, and noted that it was oversized from the one at home with much larger buttons. It let Heather then easily find the power button and the television screen went from showing a woman do some set of exercises to a black screen as the power shut down.
"The band all converted and had some "spike" theme to the Dinotopians they became," Heather continued, "with their normal keyboard player being a Carnotaurus... which they said lived at the same time as Amargasaurus... but with the IAC coming up, they wanted to have a special shot at being part of the opening ceremonies they came wanting to get me to be the keyboard player since I was the first Dinotopian."
"You play the keyboard?" Sophie asked.
"Not well," Heather gave a smile, "and at the time when they came over, I was still pregnant. I've since laid the two eggs, which we have in an incubator in our room... so you can tell me my eggs are cuter than Tyra's when we get there... but it turns out Jeremy does know how to play the piano. Apparently he took lessons as a kid and often played at times to entertain Polly... though eventually as he put more studies into science to help her, he got a bit rusty with his musical abilities, which I didn't know he had."
"So... he's getting back into it?" Sophie wondered hearing a few chords play now that they weren't competing with the exercise video to be heard.
"Just for the IAC opening ceremony," Heather answered, "as he's had to do a lot practicing and that's just for the handful of songs that will be played for the IAC. And his work for Horizon pays more reliably and I think he actually likes the promotion to be the top scientist for Horizon Labs in Dino City. So once the IAC opening ceremony is done, the Carnotaurus Dinotopian will resume his role with the band and Jeremy will return to his lab... Though, I think we may get an actual piano that he can play some classical music on. The books say that'll help produce smart kids, so if he plays the music while the eggs are incubating... ours will be geniuses!"
Sophie and Roland both chuckled at that, but let it go. They also looked around to again note the inside décor. It was nice and what one would expect from a middle class home, though from a block or so away there were larger homes that they had seen on the flight over and brought some questions back from the discussion had with Quetzal.
"So... uh... I know I'd asked about seeing the eggs and giving my congratulations to you on becoming a mom," Sophie began, "but as we flew in, I couldn't help but notice some changes to Dino City that weren't here when it was first built..."
Heather's smile vanished with a grown which made both Sophie and Roland cringe. JC and Pauline actually hopped back a bit. Heather did catch this and understood. While Microraptor and Pterodactylus were predators in their own right, they were also smaller and thus could also be prey to larger predators in nature back in the early Cretaceous for Microraptor and late Jurassic for Pterodactylus.
"Sorry... that's just the result of some stuck up snobs who wanted to move in but didn't want to live in something that wasn't a mansion," heather relaxed a bit, though there was still a growling edge to their tone.
"A lot of super rich people have moved into Animalia too," Sophie commented.
"Yes, but Animalia has also had more room to expand, and from reports that I've seen, the rich people that have moved into Animalia have also PAID the property evaluators to keep the properties around them that aren't mansions priced at rates the common man can afford," Heather pointed out, "the general cost of value on the properties is still there, but the upper crust has actually pre-paid that cost, thus anyone new moving to Animalia doesn't take on that price. These rich goons wanting to move into Dino City supposedly made a stink to Mr. Tarr at the Mayor's office about Dino City taking the properties to then demolish the old middle class homes and then build mansions for them..."
"Which would then drive up the prices for any homes that aren't demolished to build the new one," Roland surmised.
"And would then bring any anger BACK on the city government and NOT on the rich people who can't live without their mansions," Heather nodded, "and they got frustrated when Mr. Tarr said he couldn't involve the city government in seizing what was effectively private property owned by the real estate companies to sell to those coming to move here. Though from what Candace told me... they still bought the houses and then commissioned the construction company that built Dino City to tear those houses down and build mansions to fit the theme."
"Well at least it fit the theme," JC offered.
This time a male voice answered and the group, including Heather turned to see Jeremy in the doorway with an electric keyboard hanging from one shoulder and Polly standing behind them, though Polly also looked a bit exhausted by Texas's high heat and glad that Dino City's homes had air conditioning.
"Yes, but it also removed multiple homes that were hoped to be filled by those moving to Dino City to become Dinotopians," Jeremy spoke, "and once the mansions were in, the property value for the homes next to them went UP due to the proximity, which then drove most of those wanting to move in, but hadn't yet bought the houses at a lower rate away because they couldn't afford the new housing value and Horizon LOST business because they didn't want an apartment at the Skybax the other modest homes were spoken for. So... they've essentially driven away a fair number that have wanted to live here and some of the money and business that would come with those new residents because they couldn't accept living in something that wasn't a mansion. Now, this sort of thing won't last for long as either A bigger homes for Dinotopians will be built elsewhere for Dinotopians, and banks will change their mortgage deals and loans to take advantage of the conversions and so on but it doesn't change the immediate negative effects that have come from this in the short term. Though the one plus thing is that one of the group of super rich folks that have been snobs about this whole thing became a Tyrannosaurus, and I mean a real Tyrannosaurus, not a hybrid-subspecies like Syntixisaurus. And when she found that a former navy vet and MP or SP... I'm not sure what the Navy calls its military police also converted to become a Tyrannosaurus, she got excited at seeing him trying on his new policeman's uniform to serve under "Sargent" Slash and go interested in him... and he wasn't so interested in her."
"Oh, that sounds like it'll be an adventure," Sophie gave a groan.
"Will you be staying for the concert?" Polly asked as she came around Jeremy to say high, "they say I'm not supposed to cheer his name... even though the number of Syntixisaurus Dinotopians is only three or four adults and Jeremy is the only male."
"I'm afraid we can't stay that long," Roland managed, "we're mostly here to congratulate your brother and his wife on the laying of what will be your niece and nephew..."
"Or nieces or nephews," Jeremy corrected, "Heather laid the eggs, but until they hatch we won't know on the genders and even that may take a blood test."
"But we'll love them and that is what matters," Heather managed.
"And shows haw far both of you have come," Pauline commented, "You should be proud."
That brought a happy smile to Heather's face and a semi-nervous one to Jeremy's. It betrayed odd and mixed expectations that would be expected from new parents, and as they came into Jeremy and Heather's room, they were treated to the sight of a large incubator, one much larger than those used by Bird and Reptile Animalians in Lyre/Animalia. It was made of a heavy plastic and gave a soft and steady hum. Inside the top container were two large eggs, each about the same size as an Ostrich's egg and stabilized by blankets. The top of the incubator bathed egg in a warming light.
"We're mostly going by the data we got from Ralph and Annie's pregnancy and the raising of their eggs until they hatched... along with some of the data from the Bird Animalians that have hatched eggs," Jeremy explained as Sophie and Pauline both seemed to smile to the two eggs in the incubator, though Roland and JC didn't notice, "and while we can't be certain on what the genders will be, they will be healthy."
"Which is great," Sophie managed with a now more obvious smile, "I'm sure you'll both be excellent parents."
"You mean "egg-sell-ent," don't you?" Polly asked, gaining some pained laughs at the pun.