First Configuration Summary

Marty Guitierrez, an American biologist living in Costa Rica, rides in a helicopter with Richard Levine. They fly over undeveloped jungle to a secluded area called Rojas, in the southern tip of the country near the Panamanian border. Levine asks Guitierrez how the creature was found in this area, which is devoid of roads or other signs of humanity. Guitierrez explains that the people who reported it came in by boat and landed on the beach. Levine, who was in the Gobi Desert at the request of a field scientist who wanted his expertise in identifying some dinosaur remains, left Mongolia for Costa Rica upon receiving word of the newly discovered animal from Guitierrez. Levine's brilliance in dinosaur identification is widely acknowledged, but he is impatient with anyone who lacks his gifts. Guitierrez smiles to himself as he recalls Levine's reputation...