Exploring the Abandoned Seismograph Station

Latte had been following Blood Splatter for about an hour, and the midday sun was beginning to heat the forest around them. He had hoped that the highlands would be cooler, but the humidity trapped the heat making the air suffocatingly hot. He was thankful it had been a week or two since he came up here, the altitude mixed with the heat may have gotten him if he hadn’t. The acro also seemed bothered by the heat, although less so.

“Just a little further, we can rest when we get to the cliff edge.” Blood Splatter’s steady walking pace was more of a trot for Latte, which only added to the struggle. He was used to travelling alone at his own speed.

Soon they reached the cliff edge. The hot sun beat down on the two dinosaurs as they sat down for a rest. A cool breeze blew across the highlands and caught Latte’s feathers. He sighed, happy to relax. He turned to Blood Splatter, who was scanning the land below.

“Look over there.” He motioned with his nose into the far distance. Latte followed his motion and gasped. He could see Melt Town far below in the distance. It was partially obscured by trees, but the areas near the coast were an almost ugly grey patch on the edge of the forests. He didn’t realize how far he had walked. It HAD been several months since he left, but it was still an incredible distance. Especially since he had been huffing and puffing moments before trying to keep up with Blood Splatter. The acro seemed to notice this too.

“Wow, that’s a long way for a cryo.” He mumbled in admiration. Latte smiled to himself, glad that something he had done was impressive to the large carnivore. He felt so small compared to the acro, so frail, but he had still managed to impress him. Blood Splatter turned to him, “Are you ready? The next part is a little ways down.” Latte nodded and got up, then watched in horror as what Blood Splatter had said clicked. The acro was carefully making his way down the steep slope now, rocks clattering down the mountain as his large feet steadily carried him down the slope. How the f-. Latte was stunned at how lightfooted the dinosaur could be. He shook himself and began carefully following Blood Splatter down the side, catching his breath leaning against trees. Blood Splatter got no such respite, as none of the trees were large enough to hold him. Latte could hear his panting from up the slope.

“How much further?” He asked, concerned. The slope was beginning to level out, but he worried it may get steeper again.

“Not- too much- further!” Blood Splatter puffed out, before turning and running down the rest of the forested slope with alarming speed. Latte looked nervously up the slope from which they had come, hoping that the acro from a few days ago wasn’t around to do that too. That was a horrifying amount of speed for such a large predator. Latte turned and followed suit soon after. He broke out of the treeline onto a beautiful grassy slope. The hot sun beat down on his back again, but the sight was worth it. The area had two massive cooled lava flows descending down the slopes across the lush field. Blood Splatter stood beside the nearest one, shaking his foot. Assumedly he had stepped on the sun-heated rock and hurt his foot.

Between the two flows, nestled up against the cliff, was a two story building. The solid lava gripped either side of it, holding it upright despite its age. The lower level of the building was open, though he could see it had once had huge panels of glass embedded in it. The interior looked as black as the cooled lava flows outside, likely a result of that same eruption. He carefully made his way across the hot rocks, making sure to keep his feet up as he leapt across them. Blood Splatter followed, hissing in pain. He couldn’t afford to pick his feet up quite as fast, and the rocks burned despite the thick pads on the soles of his feet. He sighed in relief when he reached the other side.

Latte poked his head through one of the blasted-out windows curiously. There wasn’t much to be seen. The floor was still covered in ash that had melted into it and then cooled. There were piles of melted and charred material here and there, but nothing recognizable. He smiled. Just like home. Blood Splatter came up alongside him and poked his head in.

“There isn’t much down here, but if you can get to the second floor there’s some trash on the ground you might find interesting.” Latte chirped in acknowledgement and hopped into the building through the window frame. It was much cooler inside. The messy black floor beneath him was refreshing on his warm feet. He moved carefully so as not to kick up too much dust and ash. He had been in buildings like this before, and he was a little worried for what would come next. Most buildings in Melt Town that had a second story were too structurally unsound for anything larger than a juvenile to make it up safely. He was hoping that the lava baked into the walls of the building might somehow keep the floor from falling out beneath him, but he wasn’t so sure that’s how these structures worked. He found the stairs and carefully made his way up. They were concrete, cool and sturdy. They had been warped by the heat and weren’t as smooth or even as he had hoped, but they supported his weight better than old wood or metal would have. Reaching the top he stuck his head out, scanning the room. He could see Blood Splatter through the window, his chin resting on the windowsill. Scattered across the ground were some thin glass boxes, some of them broken completely in half but all of them were damaged in some way. He craned his neck and followed a wire leading out of one of them to a large plastic box on the floor under the desk. There were also plastic boards with smaller plastic buttons on them, some missing. He had seen some things like these before in melt town, but never so many in one place. Typically it was just one or two per building, some of the boxes had extra colors on them that these didn’t. These looked like a much blander version of the ones he had seen.

“Do you know what those are?” He shuffled around and tapped one of the screens with his tail from the entrance of the stairwell. Blood Splatter shifted his head in the window to get a better look.

“Computers.” He said, shifting back into a more comfortable position. “These don’t seem to work, but I’ve heard some of the ones in the labs still do. That’s how my family got out of the labs, anyway. Something in the computer changed and opened the doors to let us out. I don’t know what these are used for, though.” He scanned the room. “There doesn’t seem to be much for them to control around here.”

“Maybe whatever it was had been on the first floor and got destroyed by the eruption?” Latte suggested. Blood Splatter nodded thoughtfully. “Maybe.” Latte turned and made his way back down the stairs. When he reached the first floor he found Blood Splatter’s head in the window again, waiting for him.

“It’s too bad you can’t come in here too.” He said.

The acro tossed his head a little, dismissively. “Oh, it’s not so bad. I don’t mind never being in a structure like one of these ever again.” Latte turned to him, cooing his concern.  The acro was once again dismissive, “I’m fine now. Structures like these used to bring back memories of the lab. I haven’t been there in years now, and I’ve since come to accept that not all structures are quite as…” He tilted his head, searching for the right word. “Alarming. As the labs are.” Latte nodded and stepped back out into the sunlight with Blood Splatter, blinking hard.

“Ugh,” the cryo groaned, “We should rest in the trees ‘til the sun isn’t so hot. The acro nodded and began making his way back across the hot rocks, hissing every few steps. Latte followed him and soon he was more grateful than ever for the thick underbrush that always tripped him and the annoying dripping leaves blocking out the sun.