“Stop it,” I snapped, and stood abruptly. “Just ... Look. What are you saying?”
“I’m saying this was left by a member of the theropoda clade of the Saurischia order, division Carnosauria.” He looked up at me as though it should be obvious. “Whose family was probably—”
I grabbed him by a system umbilical and yanked him to his feet, began shaking him like a ragdoll. “Talk sense, damn you! What are you saying? That whoever that shoe belonged to was attacked by a—by a—”
I paused, trying to get a hold of myself, as his face hovered mere inches from my own. At last I released him and quickly stepped back, breathing heavily, repulsed by my own behavior.
“I—Jesus, I’m sorry. It’s just ... it’s just that none of this makes any—”
That’s when I saw her: like a ghost, or an ashen specter, just st
