SABERTOOTH

"It's so beautiful!" she breathed.

They were standing at the top of a gently sloping hillside overlooking a valley filled with strange trees and shrubs. In the distance a small river wound around rocks and plants, occasionally spreading out to form shallow ponds lined with reeds and tall grass. Beyond, broad meadows rolled like amber carpeting out to forested hills tucked at the foot of a snow-covered mountain. The songs of birds filled the bright air.

Barry was so fascinated he forgot to be nervous. He shaded his eyes with his hand, squinting into the distance. "There are animals down there ... but they don't look very much like dinosaurs."

Mimi was looking around curiously. "And this doesn't look much like Dinosaur World. The plants are different. And I don't think dinosaurs lived in the snow." Something caught her eye. "What is that?"

Built out over the hillside was a large platform. Swaying gently back and forth on a thick wire cable above the platform was a pale yellow plastic car, about eight feet long and three feet wide, the kind you might find on a carnival ride. Only this one was shaped like a pteranodon: an eighty-five million year-old flying reptile. It had wide wings, a narrow crest rising above an arched neck and a thin, pointed beak with rows of sharp, pointed teeth.

"It's a ride," the boy whispered.

There was a ticket booth next to a stairway leading up to the platform, and a sign which Mimi read out loud, "'Prehistoria Tramway automated guided sky tours through the wildest world of all.' Come on, Barry!" And she started climbing the steps toward the waiting car.