Cretaceous Body-swap
by Bella Wang Tsz Ki 6B
This short story was written for the Hong Kong Young Writer’s Awards Competition. This year’s theme is about the Sinosauropteryx, a Chinese dinosaur from the Cretaceous period..
“Dang it! I can never find anything!” groaned LiZhi.
LiZhi was wearing a plain white shirt with black shorts, nothing too extravagant, unless she wanted her best clothes to be soaked and sticky with sweat.
LiZhi was slowly chipping away at the rock with a stone chisel. Nothing, nothing, and nothing! Not a SINGLE fossil in sight!
LiZhi sighed and looked at the time, five o’clock.
“Time for a break, I guess.”
LiZhi was in Liaoning for an excavation for the Zigong museum and it was ANNOYING, so were the higher ups that instructed her to go on this excavation. LiZhi started scrolling through Baidu to find tips to for increaseincreasing her luck. Although the tips probably wouldn’t work, but hey, you know what the Americans say? Leave no stone unturned.
LiZhi was getting bored when a link caught her eye:
Having bad luck? Then this is for you! Do this simple and cheap ritual to guarantee your luck for a limited time!
Here are the steps for the ritual:
1. Get some yarrow oil
2. Mix it in a bowl with water
3. Get different kinds of food like rice and noodles
4. Put them in a square with the bowl of yarrow oil in the middle
5. Chant this with your eyes closed: Ji Ji Ru Ji Ling, Bei Ke Tu Hai Er
“Well, this looks simple enough,” murmured LiZhi.
The ritual was finished quickly. LiZhi took a deep breath and started chanting “Ji Ji Ru Ji Ling, Bei Ke Tu Hai Er”.
LiZhi opened her eyes, and nothing.
Just as LiZhi felt stupid for believing in these superstitions, she let out a cry of pain. It was just as if someone stabbed a knife between her temples and twisted it 80 degrees. She tried to move her body, but she couldn’t budge an inch.
”Is this going to be the end of me? “LiZhi thought, “but, I can’t die yet! There are tons of dinosaurs out there to discover, I can’t…”
LiZhi opened her eyes to find a brand new environment, it was...strange, weird and humid. Hot and sticky. Large volcanoes fuming in the distance, palm trees growing here and there, and tons of weeds and grass.
She looked down and was shocked—feathers growing on her body, tiny arms, no, not arms, talons. Upon closer inspection, she had scales, scales. LiZhi was flabbergasted, not only was she a dinosaur, but she was also one that she had never seen before. Not in the museums, not in the books, not even in the movies. She had discovered a new species. The Sinosauropteryx. Yes, that was what she was going to call what she was now.
She found a lake not far away and stared at her reflection. Only one look was enough to confirm that she was a new species of dinosaur. She looked like a T-rex, but with long feathers that covered her body. She had a beak and looked a little like an orangutan.
“Am I really a dinosaur?” she said out loud, but instead of Chinese words which she was used to, growls of different pitches and lengths came out of her mouth.
“Ahh, this makes sense. I’m a dinosaur now. Of course I wouldn't be speaking human language.” thought LiZhi.
LiZhi piloted her new body, jumping and running across the plain. It was really hot but her feathers were cooling her down. She looked out and saw many other dinosaurs too, in the sky, in the lakes, and on the ground. Her eyes widened in wonder and amazement as she roamed across the land which was home to the dinosaurs. She saw a ginormous venus flytrap that was about the same size as her. There were also sundews and cobra lilies in the deeper parts of the forest where she had to be careful.
She was enjoying the view when a sudden growl interrupted her thoughts. LiZhi whipped her head around to find a pack of other dinosaurs glaring at her with a gleam of bloodlust. They had plumes like roosters growing in the middle of their heads, with a ridged back and huge gleaming teeth. “What on earth…” Li Zhi whispered.
“Oi! What are you doing in our territory?” the bigger dinosaur asked.
“Huh? Oh, I'm sorry. I didn’t know it was yours!” cried Lizhi, "I'll leave right now.”
“No, no, no. I don’t think you understand. Once someone gets into our territory, they will never leave.”
The leader plunged for LiZhi, and she managed to flick the leader away.
“Huh, not so bad at fighting, are you?” He said.
He lunged at her again and pinned LiZhi to the ground.
LiZhi’s eyes caught on to the cliff and had a plan. She flung the dinosaur onto the edge of the cliff.
The other dinosaur scrambled to his feet and tried to block her, but LiZhi threw herself at him, throwing both of them over the edge of the cliff.
Falling, falling, falling…
The next moment, she opened her eyes, finding herself in the excavation site once more. LiZhi couldn’t describe the feeling, but that pile of rock over there looked awfully familiar. She slowly got out her chisel, and started chipping the rock…
“Congratulations, Ms Li. You have discovered a completely new dinosaur species –the Sinosauropteryx. If it’s fine with you, may we ask you a few questions?” A reporter from Paleontology Today asked.
“Sure, sure.”
“Miss Li, why do you think that the Sinosauropteryx was never found until today?”
“This is my theory :The Sinosauropteryx was found next to a Yangchuanosaurus, which is a top predator. Perhaps the reason that the Sinosauropteryx is rare is because they were hunted by other dinosaurs”
“How did you find the fossils? Was it pure luck or did you know it was there? If you did know, then how did you know?”
”Well, believe me or not,” LiZhi started, “it was a matter of both. Let me tell you all about it…”