Well, that was interesting. Kind of like Space Mountain without the rails. Then again, Space Mountain had always been Kir's favorite part of Disneyworld. It was impossible to tell how long this ride had lasted, though. Seconds? Years? Probably both. Given the distances involved, there had to be some sort of time dilation — like being near the event horizon of a black hole — squashing years down into seconds. He wondered how long after you stepped thru the portal the effect lasted. Does a worm hole have its own event horizon? If so, were you quicker to react once you reached the other side . . . or slower? Slower, probably, since it had just taken you effectively years to think, "whoa, this is weird." Was it a physical slowdown or a mental one? Or both? And if slower, how long did that leave you vulnerable? The thought didn't give him warm fuzzies. He made a mental note to go thru first on some future occasion, so he could observe the team on its way out and make some calculations.

Letting his eyes become accustomed to the light probably took longer than the trip. Another few seconds and the landscape started to come into focus, but before he could ascertain any details, the Colonel was grabbing his shirt and pulling him down to the ground. Hmm…that might be partial confirmation to his theory right there. Still a touch unsteady from the totally alien experience of 'porting' — and possibly suffering from a dazed effect — Kir found the sudden assault momentarily startling. In consequence, he very nearly shouted, but past experiences had proven that it wasn't really a good idea to make loud announcements of one's arrival in strange places. Sometimes the local inhabitants took offense. So, he snapped his mouth shut and bit down on the gasp that had started to rise to his lips.

Glancing at the Colonel, he caught just a glimpse of a self-satisfied smirk before it was replaced once more by the frown that, apparently, was going to be C³'s perpetual expression. Okay, the man had gotten here a good minute and a half before the rest of the team. He'd had time to acclimate already. Or...maybe he'd actually seen something before the rest of them arrived. At any rate, Kir decided to stay in character and let him play 'Savior of the Geeks'. Why not, if it made him happy? Now what might he have seen that could have scared him so badly?

Kir turned his attention to the landscape. They were on the edge of what looked like a massive savannah to the north, while the south was covered by a forest of inordinately large gingkoes, cycads, and ferns. The whole thing was dotted by the occasional stand of araucariad pine with their spindly-looking trunks and strange umbrella shaped canopies. It looked like something out of Dr. Seuss. A warm breeze ruffled the ferns around them, making Kir realize how humid it was. An hour from now they would all be hot, sticky, and soaked to the skin, although just now the warmth felt good after the chill of the portal trip. He'd been in jungles and rain-forests before, though, and . . . wait a minute. Something wasn't right here.

"Kir, where's the goddamn dialing device?!" Connail hissed.

Dialing device? What the hell made him think there was going to be a dialing device? The mobile exploration recon device (MERD) hadn't picked up any images of one. Besides, it looked like there was something a little more important to their immediate situation that warranted further examination. Without replying, he shouldered his weapon (the one the colonel hadn't wanted him to have) and quietly slid over three feet to the nearest fern. "This is a seed fern," he murmured to himself. While he was studying the plants, Trini crawled over to find out what was so fascinating.

"What ya got?" she whispered.

"Seed ferns."

"You're kidding? I read about those in a botany class once. You sure?"

Kir shrugged. "About as sure as I can be without having seen a real one before."

Trini nodded her agreement. "Well, I wouldn't know a seed fern from a Boston fern, but I got a really good sense for history, and this place ..."

"What?" Kir prompted.

"Let's just say it feels like way before history...if you know what I mean."

"Yeah...that's what I'm afraid of."

"You don't need to worry, guys," the colonel whispered from behind them. "We've all had jungle survival training. We'll cover your six."

Kir looked at Trini, who shrugged and bit her bottom lip. Whether from nerves or an attempt not to appear amused, he wasn't sure. "Unh-hunh. You want to take a look at these plants, colonel? They're callipterids...seed ferns." When the colonel just looked at him, he grabbed one of the leaves to illustrate. "Look, Cen, you see these umbrella-shaped fructifications, here? Those are seeds. Ferns reproduce by spores."

"And that means...what?"

"Seed ferns went extinct during the Jurassic Period. You know, Spielberg ... Sam Neill, Laura Dern ... dinosaurs?" About that time some large, unidentified creature decided to roar. Whatever it was, no one looked much like they recognized it. And it sounded BIG. Kir looked back at Conaill with a vaguely uncomfortable smile. "Like that," he said, after a beat.