"Fascinating animals, raptors are truly fascinating." Hammond says cheerfully.
"Oh my God." Stunned words finally slip from Ellie's lips.
"Given time, they'll out draw the T-rex, I guarantee it." Hammond says pridefully.
"I want to see them, can we get any closer?" Dad asks and I have to agree, Ellie puts a hand on his arm, and mine like she's trying to calm overexcited children.
'Don't touch, I saw who you really were earlier.' I shrug Ellie's hand off of me, she looks at me a little hurt and confused.
"Alan, these aren't bones anymore. Alec these aren't like the lions, tigers and wolves that you've been exposed to either."
Hammond clears his throat,
"We're still perfecting a viewing system…the raptors seem to be a bit resistant to being integrated into a park setting." His words sound embarrassed, disappointed and uncomfortable, 'Money can't solve all your problems.' My hand goes to the Kabar knife at my back, as a voice comes from behind me.
"They should all be destroyed." Everyone turns to look at the man who spoke.
'Robert Muldoon.' I think as I let go of my Kabar knife, as I inspect the
grim-faced man, who is wearing functional clothing for this environment, he looks to be about
fortyish, definitely British, as he joins us he takes his hat off, there's a gravity to the man that Hammond, Dad and Malcolm lack…it's the sort that when Muldoon talks, people listen.
"Ahh, Robert, nice of you to join us. Everyone, this is Robert Muldoon, my game warden from Kenya, he's a bit of an alarmist, I'm afraid, but he's dealt with the raptors more than anyone." Hammond introduces Muldoon to everyone, I step forward and offer him my hand.
"Alec Grant, one of the only down to earth person, you're going to meet in this group." I joke and Muldoon cracks a smile, and I hear the others make a few sounds, "Nice to meet you kid, and I saw those instincts you'll want to keep them here on this island."
"I will." I say to him with a nod and step back out of the way.
Dad steps up and introduces himself,
"Doctor Alan Grant, tell me, what kind of metabolism do they have? What's their growth rate?"
"They're lethal at eight months. And I do mean lethal. I've hunted most things that can hunt you, but the way these things move…" Muldoon
"It's like you're hunting an upgraded version of yourself with its only purpose being to kill." I say and make every one turn to look at me with wide eyes. Muldoon nods
seriously.
"My eyes connected with one of them…it was reading me, it scented the air…to remember my scent…I haven't seen any species do that before not with that kinda intent…that's…just." I find myself rambling at the gazes of everyone being me.
"How fast are they, being biped?" I ask the question Dad would be asking if I wasn't trolling.
"Cheetah speed, fifty, sixty miles per hour, faster if they ever got out in the open, and they're astonishing jumpers." Muldoon answers thankfully drawing attention away from me.
"Yes, yes, yes, which is why we take extreme precautions, the viewing area that will be below where we are standing now will have twelve-inch thick tempered glass set in reinforced steel frames to…" Hammond starts to prattle on but I can tell he's trying to minimize how dangerous the Velociraptors are on their own.
"Do they show intelligence? With a brain cavity like theirs we assume…"
"As your son has pointed out, they show extreme intelligence, even problem solving…Especially the big one, we bred eight originally, but…
When she came in, she took over the pride and killed all but two of the others. That one…" Muldoon looks at me, "when she looks at you, you can see she's thinking, working things out. She's the reason we have to feed 'em like this…she had them all attacking the fences when the feeders came." Muldoon says and you can tell that his experience losing a worker on his watch to Clever Girl, has really colored his view of the raptors.
"The fences are electrified, right?"
Ellie asks but to me it seems a bit pointless, you can hear the energy running through them from here and see a distortion in the air like from hot black top or a pan on a stove top with the right circumstances.
"That's right…but they never attack the same place twice…they constantly…systematically…test the fences for weaknesses…they remember." Muldoon says but honestly his whole thing doesn't really hit the same as it should, 'They know it causes pain…yet they keep attacking it…they should be able to tell when the fence is unpowered through hearing alone.'
Behind us, the crane whirrs to life, raising the cable back up out of the raptor pen.
I already know what it looks like so I don't turn back to look at it, like everyone else, the frame is mangled and covered with blood with shredded bits of fabric straps, Hammond claps his hands together in excitement and asks, "Who's hungry?" Ellie makes a sound of agreement and Hammond motions for her to lead the way, "After you, my dear." Ellie smiles and nods, I reluctantly have to admit she does make a nice view walking away.
"Are you joining us for grub?" I ask Muldoon, but he shakes his head no.
"The food in the visitor's center is too rich for my blood." Muldoon jokes and pats my shoulder, "We'll see each other on the tour, tomorrow though." He says and waves goodbye.
The walk back to the Visitor's Center happens at a much more sedate pace, but with the time approaching midday, the heat and humidity suffocates any and all conversations before it begins.
Everyone lets out their own breaths of relief as we reach the visitor's center. Thanks to the air conditioning, I still feel a sense of awe at the place, Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton and all.
"This way everyone we'll be dining in the presentation room." Hammond says jovially while leading the way.
We enter a large boardroom style area that is also connected to the visitor's center restaurant, with Hammond, sitting at the head of the table, Dad on the left near the head of the table, then me on the right, with Ellie next to me, Malcolm, is sitting across from Ellie and then Gennaro is sitting next to Malcolm, a very pretty looking meal is set down in front of me.
The lighting of the room is darkened as Hammond is showing us all slides of various scenes all around the park, the screens are set up in a U at the end of the table.
Hammond describes current and future features of the park while the slides flash artists' renderings of all them.
"None of these attractions have been finished yet. The park will open with the basic tour you're about to take,
and then other rides will come on line after six or twelve months, absolutely spectacular designs, spared no expense." Hammond continues to proudly show off his baby as more slides click past, a series of graphs dealing with profits, attendance and other fiscal projections.
Gennaro, who has become increasingly friendly with Hammond, even giddy, grins from ear to ear…and looks like he's going to cream his pants at projected profits.
"We can charge anything we want! Two thousand a day, ten thousand a day…people will pay it! And then
there's the merchandizing!" Gennaro happily cheers.
"Donald, this park was not built to cater only to the super rich, everyone in the world has a right to enjoy these animals." Hammond immediately tries to tamp down on the lawyer's enthusiasm.
Gennaro laughs but it isn't so much as out of amusement but greed, "Sure, they will, they will…we'll have a coupon day or something."
Dad looks down at his plate as he eats a piece of fish with a frown on his face, he looks at his drinking cup.
It's got a T-rex on it, and a splashy Jurassic Park logo.
There are a stack of folded amusement park-style maps on the
table in front of us, Dad picks one up, and in brightly colored bold leadering it says, "Fly United to Jurassic Park!"
"Though I will admit from the prices my team has come up with and combining the revenue streams for all three parks we should reach eight to nine billion dollars in a year…"
"That's the conservative projections of of course, but there's no reason to
speculate wildly." Hammond continues and I can tell it's to keep Gennaro hooked.
"I've never been a rich man. I hear it's nice. Is it nice?" Gennaro jokes.
Malcolm, who was been watching the screens with outright contempt, snorts, as if he's finally had enough.
"The lack of humility before nature that's been displayed here staggers me." That makes me snort.
"Coming from a guy like you that's pretty rich." I scoff/laugh and Malcolm looks genuinely hurt for a moment before Gennaro speaks up.
"Thank you, Dr. Malcolm, but I think things are a little different than you and I feared."
"Yes, I know. They're a lot worse." Malcolm says with an accompanying scoff, and Gennaro quickly speaks up.
'Do I save the park? I mean half the reason to come here was to be able to experience running for my life from a T-rex and raptor pack before dominating either Clever Girl or Rexy.' I think and express as Gennaro and Malcolm have their argument.
"Now, wait a second, we haven't even seen the park yet, let's just hold out concerns until…we were brought into to evaluate the safety conditions of the park, the physical containment, of the animals…the theories that all simple systems have complex behavior, that animals in a zoo environment will eventually begin to behave in an unpredictable fashion
have nothing to do with that evaluation. This is not some existential furlough, this is an on-site
inspection. You are a doctor. Do your job. You are invalidating your own assessment. I'm sorry, John…" Donald Gennaro Lawyers the fuck out of Ian Malcolm without making much sense.
"Alright Donald, alright, but just let him talk. I want to hear all viewpoints. I truly do." Hammond tries to come off as placating but you can tell that he is out of patience for the "blood sucking lawyer."
"Don't you see the danger, John, inherent in what you're doing here? Genetic power is the most awesome force ever seen on this planet. But you wield it like a kid who's found his dad's gun."
"If I may.... It is hardly appropriate
to start hurling…such things…" Gennaro starts to defend John in the Lawyerist way possible.
"Excuse me, excuse me, generalizations before, I'll tell you." Malcolm mockingly apologies.
"The problem with the scientific power you've used is it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read
what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge yourselves, so you don't take the responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you
could, and before you knew what you had, you patented it, packaged it, slapped it on a plastic lunch box, and now you want to sell it." Malcolm raises his voice and pounds the bottom of his fist on the table.
"You don't give us our due credit, our scientists have done things no one could have ever done before." Hammond justifies his people's advancements.
"Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could do something, that they didn't stop to think if they should. Science can create pesticides, but it can't
tell us not to use them. Science can make a nuclear reactor, but it can't tell us not to build it!"
"But this is nature! Why not give an extinct species a second chance?! I mean, Condors. Condors are on the
verge of extinction…if I'd created a flock of them on the island, you wouldn't be saying any of this!"
"Hold on, this is not some species that was obliterated by deforestation or the building of a dam, Dinosaurs had their shot…nature selected them for extinction."
"I don't understand this luddite attitude, especially from a scientist. How could we stand in the light of discovery and not act?"
"There's nothing that great about discovery, It's a violent, penetrative act that scars what it explores. What you call discovery I call the rape of the natural world!"
'Right, like strip mining, deforestation…pollution aren't examples of raping the natural world…for fucks sake farming is technically rape of the natural world…'
"Please, let's hear something from the others. Dr. Grant? I am sorry…Dr. Sattler, was it?" Gennaro asks.
"The question is…how much can you know about an extinct ecosystem, and therefore, how could you assume, you can control it? For example you have plants right here in this building that are poisonous.
You picked them because they look pretty, but these are aggressive
living things that have no idea what century they're living in and will defend themselves. Violently, if
necessary!" Ellie says and though the way she says it I can tell that she's fighting with her desire to study everything she can.
An exasperated, Hammond turns to Dad, who looks shell-shocked, by Ellie's outburst and the whole three way battle between Gennaro, Hammond and Malcolm.
"Dr. Grant, if there's one person who can appreciate all of this…what am I trying to do?" Hammond asks Dad desperately for someone to be on his side, but Dad isn't it, he starts to speak quietly at first, really thrown by all of the points that have been made.
"I feel elated…frightened and…" Dad says before taking in a deep breath and exhales, "The world has just changed so radically. We're all
running to catch up. I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but look." Dad says as he leans forward, a look of true concern on his face…like the time he rushed to the hospital after I wrapped my 67 Fastback around a telephone pole.
"Dinosaurs and man…two species separated by 65 million years of evolution…have just been suddenly thrown into the mix together, how can we have the faintest idea of what to expect?"
"I don't believe it. I expected you to come down here and defend me from these characters and the only one I've got on my side is the bloodsucking lawyer!?"
I clear my throat and Hammond looks to me like I'd just extended a lifeline to him while he was treading water with no help in sight.
"Ahh, Alec you have been insightful to things many of us have overlooked or hadn't even had the faintest idea of, what is your opinion on all of this?"
"John, I want you to know from the bottom of my heart that I absolutely love that you and your team of scientists successfully resurrected and or created new ones through very complex and complicated methods…but each one of the experts you have brought in make valid points, Malcolm comparing what you're doing to a kid playing with their father's gun…is less accurate though.
I am very grateful that you chose to create dinosaurs with this technology instead of say creating a virus to destroy other viruses that would go out of control and kill all life on this planet as we know it, Ellie makes valid points that you have picked things of dangerous natures, but then again just being alive is dangerous being around a honey bee with an allergy is dangerous, Dad…I think he's just overwhelmed right now…is a T-rex really all that much more dangerous than a large crocodile in their environment? No I don't think so…
I do think that rushing to establish a theme park, without properly mapping out these animals behaviors, and creating response plans to them, creating a force of men and women to contain these animals should they break loose of their paddocks, and make no mistake they will eventually break free and trample or eat people.
So no in good conscience I can't give you what you want John, I can't give you my stamp of approval no matter how much I love what you've done here, not that my stamp would mean much anyways." I give a long winded explanation of what I honestly feel.
"Thank you, for that insightful outlook from an unknown nobody." Gennaro snipes and I shrug while giving him a double bird.
Hammond looks at me with a look of resignation and gratitude, one of the waiteresses walks up to John, leans over the back of his chair and whispers in his ear that the helicopter bringing his grandchildren to the island has landed.
The man truly brightens up at that, "Ah, they're here!" Hammond cheers jubilantly.
Dad just looks as lost as lost can get, "Who?" Dad asks and I snicker at that.
"Come, come everyone!" John stands up, and claps his hands together.