Copyright 1998 -- Robert Baer Jr.   Revised -- 2000  

D. J. Entry --- The Dinosaur is dead -- Part 2



W A R N I N G  -----------------------------   D I S C L A I M E R  

The following story is PURE FICTION, it REALLY DIDN'T HAPPEN, only in my
mind.  It is presented for ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY, and NOT MEANT TO
BE TAKEN TOO SERIOUSLY.  It represents a struggle of the mind.


The Dinosaur Chronicles

PROLOGUE

Out on the far reaches of the Internet roamed a Dinosaur, but not just any
dinosaur, a Computer Dinosaur.  One who thinks ICQ was short for "Ivy
Covered Quilt."  Is the Dinosaur finally extinct, I wouldn't bet on
it.........

Entry # 1021 --- Continued
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Xeren Zzoom entered this entry:

All of us were crying, so shocked at the sudden loss of our big friend. 
Prairie Mason's children took it very hard, Allen even asked his mom why
'Uncle Dinosaur' wouldn't get up.  The Computer Counsellor refused to
leave his side, still hugging his neck and crying uncontrolably.  The
Renegade hugged Wanna, both trying to console each other.  Everyone was
grieving, it was the first time I ever saw the Computer Gila Monster cry
in public.  Suddenly there was a loud BOOM! heard from behind them, it was
Uncle Buford and Maxx!

"I got your distress call, Otto, what's the situation?" Uncle Buford said
excitedly.

"You called HIM!"  Samantha yelled at Otto,"why did you call that mean man
for?"

"Honey," Otto explained,"perhaps he can help the dinosaur."

Samantha growled and turned her head away, Ben Maddog seemed a little
tense, too.  

"Maxx, what are your readings?" Uncle Buford asked.

"No life signs from the dinosaur..."  Maxx stated in a cold, electronic
voice.

"Can't you do something for him?"  Otto pleaded," can you rebuild him in
your lab like you did me?"

"My dear Otto," Uncle Buford said sadly,"there's nothing I can do.  You
were alive, though barely, when I brought you into my lab and I had parts
and implants all ready, I don't have any parts that are HIS size, my
friend."

Samantha growled again, the others could only stand in somber silence.

"I just don't believe it!" Otto barked,"how could this have happened so
rapidly!   Just this morning we were talking to him, having breakfast, I
even took a digital picture of him before he left for the nature hike,
and...."

"Digital picture?"  Uncle Buford interrupted,"did you say digital picture?"

"Yes," Otto said sadly,"using internal program PL197."

"PL197!" Uncle Buford said excitedly,"Otto, scan your hard core
memory....."

"Stop ordering Otto around!"  Samantha barked,"you don't own him anymore,
who cares about pictures!  Mr Dinosaur is dead, don't you even care?  You
mean man!"

"My dear young collie," Uncle Buford said calmly,"if I'm right, your
finacee may have the means to save the Dinosaur's life!"

At this proclamation, everyone stopped crying and gathered around the
place where Otto and Uncle Buford were standing.  

"What do you mean, uncle?" the Renegade asked.

"PL197 was an experimental computer program I was working on years ago,"
Uncle Buford said,"I wanted to design a program that would capture images
both on film and as data files stored in computer memory.  My attempts to
store inanimate objects like trees and furniture with this program were
failures." 

"Then what does that have to do with our friend,"  I asked timidly,"he's
inanimate, too!"

"You're forgetting one thing," Uncle Buford said calmly,"the big guy
wasn't just any dinosaur, he was a Computer Dinosaur.  Being a "Computer
Dinosaur,"  perhaps his bodily image was stored to memory when Otto used
my program to take his digital picture!"

Uncle Buford turned to Otto and said,"Otto, scan your hard core memory for
a very large output file with the ZIP extention."

Otto looked seriously deep in thought as he stood in front of us, and then
he said,"there is a very large ZIP file which currently occupies nearly
82% of memory core #5, dated this morning!"

"Ok, Otto, listen to me very carefully, drop into DOS mode and unzip this
file, send the output through your wireless port at the exact position the
dinosaur's body is located at."

Otto paused for a moment, then said,"the DOS replies 'File already exists
-- OK to replace?"

"Answer with yes and carriage return," Uncle Buford said excitedly,"i hope
this works!"

"Done!" Otto barked.   As he spoke, the body of the Computer Dinosaur
instantly vanished!  A split second later, he reappeared. posed in the
exact same position he was standing in the digital picture taken this
morning.  Everyone was so shocked when he turned his head a little and
said,"Otto, have you finished taking that picture yet?  I have to take the
Gila and Xeren on a hike soon!"  

We couldn't believe our eyes!   The dinosaur was standing before us, 
upright and talking!   Anita shouted "UNCLE DINOSAUR!" as the Mason
children ran toward him.  "DINOSAUR!"  the Counsellor screamed as she ran
and hugged one of his front feet.  When our large friend asked,"What's
going on, y'all and why are we in this canyon?"  everyone ran forward to
hug him!   Uncle Buford jumped up and down and shouted,"IT WORKED!  IT
WORKED!  YOU DID IT OTTO, THE DINOSAUR IS ALIVE!"  Otto also was happy,
but he remained frozen, almost in a state of shock unable to comprehend
the feat of 'computer magic' he had just performed.  

I attempted to explain to the Dinosaur everything that had happened during
our hike.  "You mean I fell from all the way up there and landed down
here?" the Dinosaur asked, "Y'all, I don't remember any of that, the last
thing I can recall was posing in front of Otto for some sort of
computerized photo he was taking for practice."  

"It's only natural that he can't remember all of that,"  Uncle Buford
said,"this Dinosaur was stored on disk during the cliff incident, of
course he doesn't remember."

"Buit is this the REAL Computer Dinosaur?"  the Counsellor asked.

"Of course I'm real!"  the Dinosaur responded,"remember when we first met
on that old BBS?  Remember when you had the Renegade summon me to Limbo? 
Remember when you told me you cared aboui me in the garden? And the
time..."

"You're the real Dinosaur alright!"  the Counsellor sobbed as she hugged
his neck.

"Y'all, why don't we go back to my cave?" the Dinosaur said,"still have a
wedding to plan, don't we?"

"Allow me to do provide the transportation," the Renegade said happily as
he produced his black box and pushed the button. 

BOOM!!   We were all instantly back in the cave!  It was here that a very
sad looking Samantha Maddog approached Uncle Buford.

"Uncle Buford, sir," she said very timidly,"may I have a word with you?"

"Of course," Uncle Buford said,"you seem troubled young lady, what's the
matter?"

"I was very rude to you today...,"  Samantha was so sad she couldn't
continue. 

Uncle Buford bent down on one knee and gently hugged Samantha and
said,"there, there, it's all right."

"I'm so sorry!" she repeated as she sobbed in Uncle Buford's embrace.

"I wasn't willing to forgive you, but you are a good man!" she muttered
through her tears.

"It's alright," Uncle Buford repeated,"I understand."

"Sir, will you please come to the wedding?"  Samantha begged.

"My wonderful canine friend," Uncle Buford said joyously,"I wouldn't miss
it for the world!"

Ben Maddog approached the two and added,"I'd also like to apologize for
the things I've said about you, sir."

"Apology accepted, my good man!" Uncle Buford replied.

That's when the dinosaur came over to the three of them and said,"Uncle
Buford, this is the second time you've saved my life, thank you once
again!"

"Don't thank me, thank Otto!   It was his programming and memory circuits
that kept you alive, my large Jurrassic friend!"

Seems like everyone was thanking Uncle Buford and Otto for bringing the
big guy back to life, even the Gila Monster came over to Uncle Buford and
said,"thank you for saving that big galoot!  He's one of the best friends
I've ever had!"

Now the wedding "planners" were all finally getting along, and agreeing on
almost everything!   In fact, the rest of the evening went quite well
except for a small disturbance at around seven o'clock.  Seems Prairie
Mason and his wife were walking outside the cave when two large shadowy
figures appeared before them.

"Have you read his will yet?" one of them asked Prairie.

"You're his lawyer, what did he leave us?" the other said sarcasticly. 
That's when they threw of their robes, it was Romulas and Remus!   

"His will hasn't been read yet," Prairie Mason attempted to explain,"but
he's not ......."

"Oh shut up Dog Breath!"  Romulas cackled.

"Yea, shut up!" Remus,"we'll just take all his stuff!   He won't need it,
being dead and all!"

It was at that time, the big guy poked his head out the window of the cave
and shouted,"don't you think you'd better ask me about that first?"

The two pteradactyles were completely stunned!  Remus shouted,"this is
impossible, we saw you die....."

"Guess again, Brainiac!"  the Dinosaur screamed back,"now you two get out
of here or I'll let the Gila Monster bite you again!"   He punctuated that
last statement with a "ROAR, Y'ALL!" which scared the two pteradactyles
into flying quickly away!    

The rest of the evening went without a hitch, and we were all so thankful
that our friend the Computer Dinosaur is alive and well!


End of Entry
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