Jurassic Park What if
Chapter 1: A surprising solution, a chance to face your own dragons
Notes to read before the story: Jurassic Park is owned by Universal Studios, the Michael Crichton estate, and is not mine. Characters belonging to properties such as Disney, Marvel, or whatever else I may use belong to their respected owners are are not mine. This is a work of fanfiction and is a thought experiment that was supposed to be just some artwork I wanted done. As the time was perfect to actually do a story about this, I figured why not write it and see how people like it. This will not interfere with my other fanfiction, but I hope that I will turn this into a fully fleshed out novel of sorts with chapters having their own art if I can find a site that will let me do that. But I don't get a dime from this, I am doing this as a fan of all parties involved, I hope to get some good feedback on this, and please if you like it let me know as I have been working this out for years in my head.
The warnings were clear: Don't try to play God, things will come back to bite you, you can't put your trust solely into machines, and of course the obvious "life will find a way". Well what would happen if the most unlikely of events happened when the most infamous theme park had as one of it's staff someone who never would have thought would work for them, but who could prevent one of the greatest tragedies in fiction from happening. Someone from a completely different universe, completely different time, but a special someone who was going to prove she was just as good as anyone else.
We open our story on a very typical rainy day on the island. Not a torrential downpour from the not too uncommon hurricanes, and not the haze of water droplets that would hang in the air during one of the larger foggy periods. No it was a steady rain mixed with a slight cold breeze that contrasted the warm feeling from the volcanic heated ground below. This was the common backdrop when you were on Isla Nublar and the game warden Robert Maldoon internal conflictions on this latest addition to the parks staff. He had been introduced to this young lady a few weeks ago and he would be damned if he could figure out how Hammond found her. Supposedly she was given a talk on bird calls and explained how she was able to completely translate the complex clicks, whistles, and hoots into human language and even did a small demonstration where she perfectly mimicked a robin's call getting a recently acquired wild bird to bounce around on her finger, do a few tricks, and then let the animal go. Hammond put too much stock in showmanship and his latest endeavor was proving to be the most challenging adventure in the history of human and animal relationships.
"Maldoon." The cheerful voice of the head of InGEN greeted him as the old man walked over to the experienced animal handler. "Ah Maldoon glad I caught you." The eccentric multi-millionaire had called the South African away from the Kenya game preserve to run this newest attraction and from the beginning something felt fishy, something was off here and the level of fencing and power output for that protection was unlike anything else on earth and Dr. Wu was constantly creating more and more of those cloned animals in his lab here and on Isla Sorna. When the experienced hunter had thought he had seen the most dangerous animals nature had to offer, along came Dr. Wu and his cloned killing machines. The Dilophosaurs were a pest to deal with as their spit was a blinding toxic sludge that caused extreme pain upon contact. Eye protection was an absolute must when handling them. And the T-Rex? The things wasn't even two years and already it was breaking down doors and had shown far greater strength than any of the other carnivores and the deafening roar could already break eardrums before it tore whatever it got its mouth around to bits. And the worst of the bunch was the raptors. Those blasted things were lethal in less than a year, a year. Fast as a cheetah, smarter than a chimp, and they could jump higher than anyone had expected. The nine they are so far were more than enough and that blasted doctor was breeding even more of them. So who was this supposed animal expert to say she could do anything more than waste our time when Hammond should have killed every last one of those sickle toed freaks.
"So what is making you so happy today sir?" Maldoon said as he addressed his employer.
"Oh really Maldoon you worry too much. The park will work and I already have invested the engineers to have the special housing for the raptors as you asked."
"It's my job to worry sir. Keeps people alive when I worry."
"Yes well. This should help calm your fears." Hammond handed over a print-out of some sort of scientific study this new expert had done. Most of the figures were easy to make out, even if the technical terms were incomprehensible to Maldoon. The strangest part of this was that this was done by a Dr. Aurora Briar Rose. Maldoon had thought that the woman was just a performer, not the researcher who had done the research herself just as Hammond was a consummate demonstrator for the ones who did the hard work that kept everything running.
"So what exactly am I looking at?" he asked the older man as the two headed to the helicopter pad.
"Well this is her dissertation work. Absolutely fascinating stuff, even Dr. Wu was impressed by how easily she could understand the test animals and develop a training method for them."
"All well and good, but pigeons are not raptors." Maldoon said as he flipped through pages.
"Ah, but read the final pages my friend. That is the work she has done for us involving live specimens."
"So she was brought on board understanding what we are doing here? What was it a compy in a lab room."
"Oh no no no. She was able to communicate with adult dinosaurs. Fully grown ceratopcians and hadrosaurids after only a few hours of hearing them communicate and even moved on to predators before she left Isla Sorna."
"She handled carnivores?"
"Yes, however we did have to concede on one point for her to perfect her research. We allowed her to try to imprint on a number of specialized clones. Familiarize herself with them like ducks, to perfect her method."
"Don't tell me she took them off island? A contamination or escape would be….."
"Yes yes, I agree. I was adamant against it too." Hammond reassured his employee. "But with her it is a very special case and I allowed it only after she proved that she could control them when they are grown. Maldoon she was able to talk and control the actions of the velociraptors."
That stopped the younger of the two men in his tracks as he frantically looked through the pages in front of him, the rain running over the paper with the continued droplets. It was right there in black and white. She demonstrated that after a few hours of observation and translation she could indeed talk with and even control to a great degree the raptors. And not just velociraptors but the dilophosaurs and even the Tyrannosaur was swayed by her methods to do simple tasks.
"And how do you know she won't sell to a rival after getting these dinosaurs?"
"Because she decided to become on of our investors, and no small cost I assure you." Hammond said as the copter approached for a landing. "She fronted half of the investment of our new behavior testing lab and even detailed a few errors we have in the cloning procedure...which is why she wanted these specialty dinosaurs made to test long-term development and Dr. Wu was happy to oblige."
The copter landed without difficulty as the Jurassic Park employee opened the door to reveal a stunningly beauty woman who looked no more that her mid-twenties with golden curling blonde hair and deep red lips. She was dressed in a purple version of the standard Jurassic Park attire of hiking boots, open t-shirt with under shirt, and jeans. She smiled as she was lead under the blades of the copter and towards the two men in question.
"Awe Aurora thank you for joining us." Hammond said as she smiled and removed her sunglasses. Her eyes were a bright purple and she looked for all the world like a cross between a fashion model and some sort of fairy tale character. But if she had the goods and skills Maldoon would gladly take the help.
"A pleasure Mr. Hammond." She returned the handshake. "I hope that my request is understandable. As I need long-term access from the earlier age to be able to properly understand your creatures and long-term socialization is key to any anima'ls proper development."
"So you can control raptors?" Maldoon said as he tucked the paper under his arm.
"Indeed, is that a problem?"
"Maldoon is our resident game warden and raptor expert." Hammond interjected. "He keeps worrying about the safety of the park and its people."
"And I care about the men I work with."
"Excellent. Then we shall get along very well as I am here to ensure that this park is safe for all here; people and animals. Even if all your safety designs fail, power go out, equipment accident or random weather, that your people will be able to safely handle interacting with even the raptors and tyrannosaurs."
"That seems an impressive or impossible boast to me." Maldoon smirked.
"Gentlemen you and I work in the field of making the impossible reality." She smiled back honestly and that reformation that he got from her that she understood the importance of this meant that maybe this would actually work out for once. But he need to test her, and if the babies with scyths for toes didn't scare her off then things may be finally working right. "Now where are the animals you wanted me to work with?"
Maldoon smirked as he wanted to see someone who seemed like a braggart and a supermodel get a real taste of the danger of Jurassic Park. She would either left running and exposed as a fraud, or if she was as good as she bragged then she would be worth the temporary disruption.
The rains continued to pure as the grey painted and red marked jeeps bumped down the rather muddy road towards the main building. The park was afterall in only the earliest of stages and the more advanced security features were months away from being completed. In all the excitement to add as many species as possible, John Hammond had developed the nasty habit of running ahead and it was something both Maldoon and the head engineer Ray Arnold had tried to hammer home the need of redundancies and realistic goals for the park. Hammond, however, was more likely to follow the next pie in the sky idea or throw tons of funds on a new amber deposit.
See this was one of the many things that Maldoon had worried about with this new addition to the park crew. She was firm in her belief in her skills and had apparently impressed him enough that the aging head of INGen had given her a copy of the current cloning list, but without seeing what she could do in action she could have been a liability.
"So Aurora is it, how exactly does this training of yours work?'' Maldoon said as the covered jeep's roof was pelted by continued rains. "And getting a wild bird to do what you want is very different from what you are being asked to do."
"Would you believe that I actually talk with animals?" Aurora joked as Maldoon gave her a rather confused look. "And not in the same sense as you may talk with your dog or cat. In that case they are picking up the occasional signal and years of interaction form a subconious bond between the two of you. No what I do, and have done many years, is that I talk with animals in their own language."
Maldoon's shock at that statement was great, but not enough to stop the jeep.
"You some sort of Dr. Dolittle love?" Hammond chuckled at the comment.
"Don't believe me?" Aurora calmly replied as a very mischievous type of grin showed on her face. "Mr. Maldoon perhaps you would like to try and assist me in this."
Hammond smiled. "What a splendid idea. Maldoon is our game warden so you two will work closely on this project."
Maldoon was really uncertain about having a woman like her close to him. It would seem unprofessional and he tried to focus on this driving a bit more firmly. Plus most of the men he worked with would be from the mainland and had to work for weeks on end before their shifts were up. The cycling of employees in and out of the island helped to keep mistakes down and the down time helped to calm the nerves of some of the more…flighty of the personnel from getting themselves spooked by the very aggressive animals the island was trying to care for. It was only a few years that viable dinosaur babies had been cloned, but even after a few months a number had already been a pain for trainers. So combining a beautiful young woman on an island working with his men that were always on edge…that was going to be trouble fast. Even if she was as good as she bragged, the last thing he needed was anyone getting careless around the animals.
"Well if you are so keen to try your skills on a living dinosaur, then perhaps we can see what you can do right now?" The jeep pulled into the back of the visitor center.
"What are you suggesting?" Hammond asked as everyone exited the vehicle and made a run into the back loading area of the building.
Maldoon opened the door for the other two as the rains continued to pour outside.
"Thank you." Aurora said as she nodded her head to the older man.
"A pleasure ma'am." Maldoon was taken for a moment to realize that she was very polite and had been nothing but genuinely respectful to him. Still he wanted to see what she could do, and he knew that in the back of the command center they had stowed a few of the raptor chicks for study next to the hatchery…
"Now what were you saying about testing her?" Hammond smiled.
"We got a few raptor chicks in the nursery, care to have her show what she can do?" Maldoon looked at his employer, and then to the young lady in question who beamed a bright smile at the idea.
"I would love to." She replied as Hammond smirked.
As the park was in the earliest of stages and the guest stuff was still not fully furbished, the Command Center was being worked on constantly with electricians and engineers retrofitting everything, but the hatchery and the holding pins for the younger dinosaurs were functional…at least they seemed to be. The doors were reinforced carbon steel with bullet proof glass throughout. A mistake made earlier with a pachycephalosaur was that they didn't have strong enough glass, but couldn't let the animals go unobserved for too long least they have a health issue and need immediate medical care. Flashing a security card key at the door and pressing a few buttons, all three walked into the nursery room. Even there the level of containment was high as it worked like a kennel system with each dinosaur species having it's own temporary holding pin.
"Well here they are." Maldoon said as he pulled out a large metal key and turned it in the lock. The large bolts swung back and the door unlocked.
"Thank you." Aurora said as she walked into the pin where three red tiger stripped young raptors were busy playing with what looked like toys for large dogs. The plastic of which had been essentially chewed to oblivion and the stuffed animals put into the room had been violently eviscerated.
"What are you thinking Maldoon?" Hammond said as he shot his long time trusted friend a look.
"If she is as good as she said she is, then I'll eat my hat." Maldoon said. "She ask for anything out of this?"
"All she asked for was the recordings of the animal cries to listen too in preparation for the visit. As far as a contract goes, she said that if she proved her worth she would not only join as an employee but help fund the park as an investor. Something about her father and father-in-law and her own small fortune from a film years ago. She also has experience with theme parks and connections that she has kept secret for now, but if this works…"
"If this works…." Maldoon nodded.
At first the raptor hatchlings took a moment to notice the blonde haired woman who invaded their territory. The dinosaurs where about the size of an actual velociraptor and covered with what looked to be fuzz of some sort. Their eyes brilliantly snapped to attention as they saw the new intruder. Usually someone would only come in to bring them food and they started to snap hungrily with their scythe claws anxiously tapping the floor.
"You didn't lock the door did you?" Hammond asked his friend.
"No. Not risking anyone's life on a crazy idea John. Not my style." Maldoon only held the door shut as he braced himself to have to yank the poor girl out before she got hurt.
As the raptors took note of the new guest, they moved their heads back and forth and side to side. Nostril's flaring to detect some sort of food or treat that was usually thrown to them and then the strange visitors would leave. But this time there was no food and this new person smelled odd, not like the others who smelled of fear and agitation…it perplexed the baby dinosaurs that something that looked like a food bringer wasn't afraid of them.
Then the oddest thing happened, the new visitor opened her mouth and started to sing. Just as simple one oscillating tone utterance that transfixed the dinosaurs and they lined up calmly in front of her. No one knew what was going on, and then.
"Yonm" she made a smiled perfect call in raptor tongue that made the dinosaurs eyes widen in shock. She repeated the greeting "yonm". Hammond and Maldoon were as transfixed as the young killers in the room were.
Then one of the raptors replied in a high-pitched and nasal reply "yonm." Aurora smiled at it and approached all three without fear as the four in the room started to have for all the world looked like a conversation.
"I'd be bloody well sorted…" Maldoon said in shock.
Hammond just smiled, having read and now seen with his own eyes what this woman could do. He had read the report of what she did on Isla Sorna at their off-site growth lab, but to see it in person was borderline magic. The reports had not been exaggerated in the slightest.
This stunning woman who could sway many with looks alone was talking with an animal known to attack just about any who got close and they were so docile that she was able to pet them as if they were housecats.
"What is going on here?" A voice from behind said as the two men watched in utter fixation. "Who is that and why is she touching my specimens?" It was the head cloning expert of the park: Dr. Wu who was livid that someone dared enter his specially maintained enclosure and was touching his animals exposing them to who knows what pathogen from the mainland.
"Ah Dr. Wu, this is Dr. Aurora Briar Rose from Berkley. She is our new head animal trainer and specialist who is going to be helping Maldoon and his men better handle our dinosaurs. She is really quite fascinating."
"Mr. Hammond do you have any idea how dangerous this is? How could you?" Dr Wu was furious at this. The danger of having an unvetted individual that close to the dinosaurs with as low as the birth rate was, and with animals that could rip her flesh like an eagle. Was Hammond out of his mind?
"Quiet both of you." Maldoon said. "She's talking with them. She's almost having them eating out of her hands." Never before had the big game hunter seen the like of this, and now that he did he kept careful notes of all he had seen. After about ten minutes of chatting the woman even had the raptors stand back and sit as she exited the room. Maldoon slowly closing and locking the door behind her.
"I hope that my demonstration was up to your satisfaction." She smiled at all those gathered near her. "I can't wait to get started."
"Well I am impressed, but you do know that you won't work with babies all the time. These velociraptors grow to be about the size of a bear when fully grown by our estimates." John Hammond said as he shook her hand.
"Velociraptors? You call them velociraptors?" Aurora looked at him curiously.
"Yes velociraptors. I should know I cloned them myself." Dr. Wu smirked at her. Though he was impressed by her work.
"Dr. Wu I take it?" Aurora asked the man who just arrived. He nodded his response while shaking her hand.
"Not to tell you your job, but velociraptors only got to be about three feet high when fully grown doctor." Aurora said, though respectfully. "These are already almost that big and they are only a few months old. What you have here is clearly not a velociraptor."
"And I take it that you are a paleontologist then?" Dr. Wu said smirking his disapproval.
"Now now." Hammond calmly said as all four humans still stood outside the animal holding cells. The raptors crying to having their friend notice them. She smiled back and had a few one-off calls that were replied to with what seemed cheerful chirps and calls. "What would you say this species is then?"
"Well if it is a perfect clone, then I would guess perhaps Achillobator or Utahraptor. All the more reason I want to help."
"If you can do with the adults what you just did with those babies…well first rounds on me." Maldoon said in awe.
"Thank you. And I have no doubts about how dangerous this work is. Poison spitting that you never expected, eventually dealing with intelligent and aggressive full sized carnivores, the herbivores that and smash through most gates….I am well aware of the danger and after seeing this place I want it to succeed safely for the guests and the dinosaurs. So gentleman not only do I want to help, but I am also becoming your newest investor…provided that a few stipulations are followed and my suggestions are followed to the letter." She pulled from her wallet a check, a very ornate check with 3 million dollars written on it. "I assure you this will go through, but if I work with you and am an investor then I am here as a peer. Not to step on your toes but as serious as you are about this so am I."
Hammond took a moment to collect himself, shook her hand, and accepted the check.
"Splendid." John Hammond said as he agreed with the new help he had. Always looking for more investors, and in constant need of funds, this was a wind-fall for him in more ways than one. Whatever she suggested probably would be done with few if any questions, but how on earth did she do that with those carnivores?
"Maldoon?" Aurora asked as she offered him her hand. He took in in a handshake faster than you could blink.
"Be a pleasure, just hope you don't mind working with a bunch of guys all day long."
"I am nothing if not professional. My only worry is what I'm going to do with my husband Philip when I'm at work. And please my friends call me Rose."
"Oh I'm sure that we can keep him occupied." Hammond said. "Now I want to show you the rest of this island and formally welcome you to the Jurassic Park staff."
As Hammond took over the tour Maldoon and Dr. Wu carefully left the nursery.
"So who's the princess?" Dr. Wu asked as he carefully took notes of this.
"Probably the only one who can keep a handle on this whole mess." Maldoon said in awe. "Never seen raptors act that way before…like she was the head of the pack."
To be continued.
Author's notes: Okay this is a little thought experiment of mine that is about the only story that has nothing to do with Gold Digger and came to me years ago. I was just waiting for the right time to make a story and really is more of a thought experiment than anything else. Why is this happening, why would Aurora join Jurassic Park. Well I'll try to work on that update soon as two movies are coming out this summer that perfectly time the release of this story and how people should be able to use their gifts to their fullest. If you want an explanation of what just happened I can go over it in detail in a note. Also yes I know that neither of the larger raptor species were discovered until years after the book and about the time of the first movie's release, and this fic starts well before the pack even attempts to be ready, but please go with it I have a reason for this.