Dreams 7
A Winds of Change story

by: Lance Holloway

	I woke up.  I looked around.  I was in another of those strange
caves.  Flat walls all around me.  Except one.  It had vines hanging down
over the opening.  I lumbered over to the entrance and tried to push the
vines out of my way.  They wouldn't move.  The vines were hard and cold.
I backed away and swung my tail at the vines.  Nothing happened to the
vines.  As for my tail, it hurt.  I walked back to the opening and looked
out.

	I had never seen this place before.  More caves with vines were
around mine.  Other dinosaurs were in them.  Hopefully that large meat
eater couldn't get out of his either.

	I gave up on trying to get out and relaxed against one of the cave
walls.  Suddenly, I heard a screech.  I knew that sound.  It was a
velociraptor, and it was close.  I leaped to my feet and peered out of my
cage.  In the middle of the other cages, an elephant and ape were carrying
the caged raptor and putting her into another cage.  The two men left.

	"Cage?  Velociraptor?  Elephant?" I repeated to myself.  "Where
did I learn these words?"  Suddenly all snapped back.  I remembered who I
really was.  I was getting tired of losing myself to the stegosaurus.  If
only I could shift back.  I concentrated on shifting to morph form, but I
still couldn't find the mental barrier.

	"Lance?  Lance is that you?" I heard a voice ask.  I recognized it
as Scottie's.  I had been hearing it this whole time, but I hadn't know
what English was.

	I let out an affirmative bellow.  It sounded affirmative to me.

	"Lance, try to go to sleep and project yourself," she said..

	I closed my eyes and tried to drift off to sleep.  It was rather
hard with all the dinosaur noises going on outside my cage.  Eventually I
did.  I projected myself as another stegosaurus.  I quickly changed my
projection to that of a mouse.  It would look strange to have two
stegosauruses in the same cage where one was a moment before.

	"Scottie, where are you?" I squeaked.

	"I'm in the cage next to you.  On your right."

	I scurried through the wall and ended up in Scottie's cage.  She
was still bound.  I wanted to untie her, but I couldn't as a projection.
When I got closer, I saw that she was crying.  She saw me and tried to
hold back her tears.

	"What's going on?" I asked.

	"I'm not sure," she said.  "I think they are capturing dinosaur
morphs and shifting them all the way.  It looks like they have lost their
humanity too."

	"Why haven't we been affected?"

	"Well, YOU have," she said.  "You can't shift to morph form can
you?"

	I shook my head.

	"As for why you are still sentient, or why I haven't been affected
at all, I have no idea," she said.  She started crying again.  "Oh, Lance.
I thought I lost you.  You were acting like a stegosaurus."

	"I tend to do that sometimes," I said.  I wasn't very good at
comforting people.  "These people haven't altered my brain yet.  Well, not
that I know of."  I smiled.

	She smiled back.  "Now, we need to find a way out of here," she
said after choking back her tears. 

	"How?" I asked.

	"I've been thinking about that while you were sleeping and acting
like a stegosaurus.  You see those keys over there?" she gestured with her
head to a pole in the middle of the circle of cages.

	"Yes," I said.

	"Well, remember I can.... Quiet," she stopped abruptly.  I looked
out into the yard and saw three figures approaching.

	The lion morph was taking a tour of his prizes.  He started on the
opposite end of the yard.  He slowly walked around looking into the cages
of all the dinosaurs.  The ape and elephant were following him.  I stayed
hidden behind Scottie.  I could have just woken up, but I didn't want to
risk being lost in the stego-mind.

	The lion stopped in front of the velociraptor's cage.  "Ah, I see
we have a new guest," he said.  "You will love your stay here.  You will
love it even more once we get a mate for you."  The raptor hissed and
leaped at the lion only to be blocked by the bars.  The lion turned to
face the ape morph.  "Have you received any more information about the
raptor at that humane society near Grand Junction?"

	The ape looked down at a clipboard he was carrying.  "Yes.  He has
not regained his human mind yet."

	"Good.  He's a raptor in every way, and we didn't have to do it.
I want him brought here as soon as possible."

	"Yes, Sir," the ape said and walked away.

	The lion and elephant continued their tour.  They stopped in front
of my cage.  "He hasn't been awake yet?" the lion asked.

	"No, Sir," the elephant replied.

	"I hope you didn't hit him too hard.  These are the only two
stegosauruses we have."  They walked in front of Scottie's cage.  Scottie
glared at them.  "I see this one is still resisting," the lion said.  "You
have a strong will, but it won't last forever."  He made a gesture to the
other cages.  "Do you think these people wanted to be dinosaurs in body
AND mind?  We have ways of breaking you."

	Scottie continued to glare at him.

	"I'm going to enjoy seeing you lay your first eggs.  I'm sure you
will make an excellent mother," he said.  He then looked back at my cage.
"And you will make an excellent father, if you wake up."  He glanced at
the elephant who cringed under the stare.  Then they both walked away.

	"See, I told you they were making them think they were dinosaurs,"
Scottie said as soon as the lion and elephant were out of hearing range.

	"Eggs?  What was that about you being a mother and I being a
father?" I squeaked.  "I thought the children were born human."

	"I don't know," she said.  "We don't have to worry about it if we
get out of here.  So, back to my plan.  Remember I am telekinetic.  I can
float the keys over to your cage, and you open ours."

	"I can't open a cage with a key as a full stegosaurus.  Why can't
you do it?"

	"Because I'm tied up," she said struggling with her ropes.  "I've
tried to use my powers to untie the ropes, but the knots are too tight.  I
can't see them anyway.  So, you have to shift to morph."

	"But, I can't do that..."

	"You will have to try."

	I reluctantly agreed.  "OK, if I can shift to morph, and we open
the cages.  What then?  Just walk away?  There's nothing to hide behind
once we get past the cages.  And no telling how far we are from
civilization," I said.

	"Well, it would be hard, but I think we can do it.  If we wait
until night," she said.

	"Did you notice that the leader was a lion?  He is bound to have
night vision," I said.

	"We will take that chance.  Now, go back to your body and try to
shift."

	I couldn't think of an excuse, so I complied.  I woke up in my
stegosaurus body.  I then closed my eyes in concentration.  I had to find
that barrier.  I mentally searched and searched but found nothing.

	I searched everywhere I could, and the barrier was nowhere.
Hopefully that elephant didn't remove it completely.  He must have just
relocated it into some remote corner of my mind.

	"Lance, have you shifted yet?" Scottie asked from her cage
breaking my concentration.

	I answered with a bellow.  She should know that that meant "no."
I concentrated again.  I found a "dark" secluded area I hadn't explored
yet, so I continued my search there.

	I opened my eyes and saw I was still in that strange cave.  It
seemed like I was doing something, but I don't remember what.  The plants
on the outside looked tasty though.  I tried poking my head through the
vines, but I was too big.  I heard something coming.  With my tail poised
to strike, I waited for what approached.

	The creatures were those strange furry things again.  This time
they didn't have another cave.  They walked up to my cave and looked at
me.

	The one with lots of fur around his head made some noises from his
mouth.  It didn't sound threatening, but it seemed like it was.  The other
one with little hair seemed to be listening to the first one.

	I bellowed.  Hopefully they knew of a way to get those vines out
of the way so I could eat some of the plants outside.  However, they
stopped making their noises and walked away.  I watched them until they
were gone.

	Suddenly I heard a familiar sound.  Another stegosaurus.  A female
stegosaurus.  The same female stegosaurus I saw in that other strange
cave.  I heard her making similar noises as the furry creatures.  I
couldn't understand why she didn't speak our language.

	Then a strange thing happened.  There was an object out in the
middle of the circle of caves.  The round thing was on a tree, but the
reason I saw it was because it was moving.  It was flying.  Flying to me.
It floated into my cave and dropped to the floor.  The female made more
noises.

	I tried to get a look at the female, but the vines prevented me.
I sniffed of the object that floated in.  It smelled like those furry
creatures.  I pushed it around with my nose, but nothing happened.  It
just lay there, not moving.

	I left the object alone and walked around in the cave.  I wanted
to get out so bad.  There were no plants in this cave, and it was small
too.   It was getting dark, and I didn't want to be anywhere near those
predators.  The female continued to make noises.  I bellowed back hoping
that she would speak normally.  She however continued with the strange
noises.

	I needed to get out.  I walked back to the vines.  They had to
give way somehow.  I threw my whole weight into the vines.  I landed
against the vines, but nothing happened to them.  I tried again.  Still
nothing happened.

	I must have been bellowing loudly when I hit the vines, because
the two furry things were coming back.  The female was still making
noises, but she was quieter now.  Hopefully the furry things would let me
out.


To be continued........