Free Dinosaur Blackout by Judith Silverthorne

for our safety,” she admonished.
    “I’m in, if you two are!” Daniel declared, not wanting to leave them on their own.
    “No, you’re not,” Mr. Pederson and Dr. Roost said in unison.
    “We’re perfectly capable of going on our own!” Pederson said. “And I have the means to do it.”
    “But I know the terrain better than either of you,” Daniel protested.
    “Maybe, but we’ll manage.” With a mischievous grin, Pederson said, “We outwitted you this time, lad!”
    “You definitely aren’t going, and that’s final.” Dr. Roost waved a finger at Daniel.
    Daniel groaned and shook his head at his two conniving companions. But he let them think they had outsmarted him, although he still had some ideas up his sleeve.
    “Well, let me at least help you make your arrangements,” he said.
    “That would be appreciated and welcomed,” Pederson said.
    “How about we go back to the farm and see what’s going on,” Dr. Roost suggested. “I could use a break.”
    The other two agreed. Pederson dropped them back off in the yard. Daniel saw the rest of his family in the garden and planned to head that way. Then he noticed Dr. Roost lean back into Pederson’s truck and heard her offer to drive him to an appointment with his doctor the next day. So there was something wrong with him after all.
    Maybe Pederson shouldn’t be going into the past. He should speak to Dr. Roost, but she had already gone into the back of her little camper truck and shut the door firmly. Pederson waved at Daniel and zoomed back out of the yard.
    Daniel joined his family picking pumpkins and other squash in the garden. As he worked, he considered ways of making it safer to travel in prehistoric time. He tried to think of substances that would immobilize large dinosaurs. He’d recently read about an alligator in the United States being doped with the dental anaesthetic halothene so researchers could study its digestive system. Would something like that work? He had no idea where they could get it, or how much they would need.
    Another problem would be applying it. Could they use a spraying system like those used for ridding an area of mosquitoes? What would the drift factor be like? Maybe they could wear some kind of oxygen masks.
    This was getting more complicated by the minute. Even if they could get all the equipment, they certainly wouldn’t want to be hauling heavy gear around. Daniel tucked the ideas into the back of his mind until he could check out some information on the Internet.
    Once they finished harvesting the pumpkins and squash, they all turned to cleanup of the vines. When the family was almost done the garden work, the topic of the Nelwins came up.
    “I sure hope nothing serious has happened to the boys,” said Mom.
    “Maybe we’ll take another run over after supper.” Dad turned to Daniel.
    “Yes, I know,” Daniel said before his dad could speak. “Take care of Cheryl.”
    Mom laughed. “I guess we do tell you that a lot.”
    ~

    D r. Roost never emerged from her truck camper the rest of the afternoon, so Daniel didn’t have a chance to speak with her about his theories or about Mr. Pederson. He did some research on his computer and came up with several other possibilities for halting attacks from various dinosaurs. If they couldn’t get any halothene, maybe they could find some liquid nitrogen to cool the body and slow activity down. Maybe Dr. Roost had some pull somewhere to get some.
    But he didn’t know how much of either of these chemicals would be needed for such huge, agile creatures, or how quickly they would take effect. He didn’t want to kill the creatures, just subdue them so they could study them a little in safety. He had a sudden thought. What about laser lights? Although they could cause blindness, maybe they would work as a temporary measure to slow down a dinosaur. He was still thinking this all through when he headed to the barn to do chores.
    Dad noticed his distraction and set him to