Introduction

The last few centuries have seen a great influx within the world of knowledge possessed by man, in the form of science. Humankind has watched as its own collective intelligence has gone from strength to strength, until now we find ourselves quadrupling all that we know every decade. Ever since the first scientists set out to validate the biblical implications that so many blindly followed – funded by the very religious body that they would one day oppose and betray -, they have been blessed and cursed with curiosity. So much so that they soon discovered that everything that they had been led to believe, everything that they had used as a ground on which to build upon was false. Of course, this was seen as treachery of the worst kind by the rest of the world. These scientists were persecuted, and soon learned to dare not speak out, for fear of being burned at the stake. But still they persisted, quietly. And as time progressed, and the evidence mounted, they became bolder. Soon the world grew to accept it; that at least some of these "discoveries" must be somewhat true.

Much later, technology became the prime focus of thousands. Advancements became expediential, growing faster and faster. We went from the industrial revolution to the atomic bomb in a few hundred years, to the computer in only a few decades, and then to Biotechnology, where we find ourselves now. All of which bear the mark of incredible achievement, of power, and of ignorance. For although all scientists believed themselves to working for the benefit of all mankind, they ignored unpleasant details, such as their leftovers. The result of the Manhattan project, which was celebrated by millions, was the doom for hundreds of thousands of others. Nuclear test sites decimated the ecosystem of Indonesian islands on which they were built, and Nevada's wasteland was adorned with the craters of others. Astronauts left their unwanted scraps on the surface of the moon. Scientists did not fear these things, did not hide them, nor did they take responsibility for them. They enjoyed the adverse effect that they had on the natural world; for there was nobody overseeing their development. No rules; no consequence. Everybody worked for themselves.

Understanding of the universe has been the sole venture of a faction of scientists for generations; the astronomers. They have been key players in the act of bringing about the fall of the undeniable truth that the bible had spawned for so many people. Their patience has paid off, as they stared through their telescopes, night after night. Technology may have advanced, but principles have remained the same. Now the mysteries of the planet and its history have been unravelled; the Earth is no longer believed to be at the centre of the universe. In fact it is widely believed that we are in fact an insignificant speck in a vast sea; like a grain of sand on a mile long beach. The theory of the big bang has explained the creation of all matter; replacing the theory of Creation for millions. It is no longer believed by many that everything that was, is, and will be was spawned spontaneously by an all power deity. The universe was thought to be expanding, cooling, and evolving. A creature in its own right.

Since the first dusty bones were excavated from the ground by scientists many hundreds of years ago, it was clear that they were different. But it was a long time before they were accepted by the community at large to be bones from creatures that no longer walked the Earth. Extinction was thought to be impossible for centuries, as God created all animals to fulfil a purpose on Earth, and therefore none of them could ever disappear. Yet, as time went on, and other theories were shot down, it became clear that this was the only explanation. After this the field of Palaeontology has emerged swiftly. Yet, hundred million year old dusty bones cannot explain their behaviour during life, or why they no longer roam the planet. The discovery of the KT boundary has introduced the idea that an extra planetary object may have impacted the Earth around 65 million years ago; the fall of the dinosaurs. By now, after the discovery of so many species of extinct animals, it is clear that extinction has been a continuous even, happening throughout history. Virtually all, approximately 99.9 of every species that has ever lived on Earth is now gone forever. But Humanities inherent greed thinks otherwise.

The notion of genetic replication has been considered feasible for many decades within the scientific community during the 20th century. The opportunity to clone new organs for hospitalized patients, the cure for all dysfunctional diseases; heart disease, kidney failure and cancer. The possibility to increase the population of livestock or crops by tenfold, the chance to end world hunger. To make organisms more durable, more sophisticated. If this technology could be properly harnessed then anything would be possible. In the future parents could possibly sit down with a professional, and design their very own baby to their specification. While this may seem like a joke to many, it is far from that, it is only the beginning.

Yet nobody would have believed that the first successful representation of mass cloning would be in the form of the re-creation of the Mesozoic Era. The secretive operations performed by International Genetic Technologies Inc of Palto Alto took place in a remote corner of Central America. The capitalist CEO John Hammond theorized that millions of years ago ancient insects would have bitten ancient wildlife, just as they do today. These insects would have then landed on the branches of trees and become trapped in their sticky sap, thus preserving the DNA within the blood that the insect obtained. All that Hammond has to do was to find this tree sap, which when hardened was known as amber. Then he could burrow into the insects bowels and extract the ancient DNA. When this proved successful he created InGen and immediately began stockpiling this material. Soon he owned the largest private stockpile of amber on Earth. After years of research successful cloning was achieved and ancient animals walked the Earth for the first time in millions of years; Dinosaurs. As an amazing achievement this was it wasn't necessarily a cure for all disease as everybody has hoped. As a means to fund this technology Hammond created a kind of amusement park where visitors could gawp over the towering creatures, paying hundreds, even thousands of dollars per person. People were to be shown glistening laboratories where tiny dinosaurs poked through their eggs. But the fact was that all new technologies are far from perfect, yields are extremely low. Hammond would have to clone thousands of embryos to create one live birth. For this he created another complex in a different location less than 100 miles from his initial location. Here he was free to experiment away from the public eye, scrutiny and law. After a devastating accident at his amusement park; Isla Nublar during a VIP visit InGen's profits plummeted. It was a freak accident, or at least, this is what Hammond insisted. He tried everything he knew to get another chance. If only he could recreate his park, somewhere else, he would do it better, safer. But the incident proved to be too much for the company investors, who began backing out only a few months later. InGen filed for chapter 11 protection, Isla Nublar was destroyed and the entire incident was swept under the carpet by the Costa Rican government, never to be discovered by the world at large. But, four years later an incident in San Diego forced Hammond to come clean. Site B was revealed to hold living dinosaurs. To protect these miracles of science the island was protected and isolated by law. The island was immediately famous worldwide, and the Costa Rican Department of Biological Reserves had their hands full for years, fending off rich tourists willing to pay massive sums of money to fund illegal operations.

John Hammond died on 28th November 2002, and passed his company on to his Grandson, Tim Murphy. The company had been in disarray for years, and Tim had to work for years to organise himself, and to begin making profits once more. He did his best to distance himself from his Grandfather's mistake, concentrating on generating useful products. But over time, carcasses began to wash up along the west coasts of Central America. Nobody could ever explain what they were, as most were disfigured beyond recognition. Most reports were only fleeting glimpses gathered by tourists, and there never seemed to be official investigations into the matters. What's more was the fact that these carcasses almost always disappeared. It was an unpleasant smudge on the day-to-day activities of the world. But it was widely believed to be no cause for concern, nor was it ever thought to be connected to the InGen Island. It was just another myth.Yet, Hammond never revealed all of his secrets to the world. The dinosaur population that he had spawned had somehow developed a deadly disease, dramatically decreasing their lifetimes. His scientists worked for years to solve the problem, and a cure was well on the way to being synthesized when the bottom fell out. This mysterious disease was named DX. While it was in no way an imminent threat to human life, and scientists argued that diseases could not be contracted from lizards, there was a risk that it could mutate. And Dinosaurs did not fit into any existing category of living animals, rendering conventional assumptions useless. Before he died, Hammond informed Tim of these dangers, should the need for intervention ever arise.

It was merely a matter of time.