JURASSIC PARK
EMERGENCE
SPECIAL SNEAK PREVIEW
Written by: Bernard BrachioInGen Kyer Alex EV-108 Evans
Characters/ Situations By:
Michael Crichton, David Koepp
Based on the Films of the Jurassic Park franchise
I can hardly entertain the idea that man could cause the extinction of any species. -Carolus Linnaeus , father of Taxonomy 1790
God s creation is perfect, allowing for no animal to die from the face of the Earth. -The Great Chain of Being, 1570-1790
All species can go extinct: including Man. -Ian Malcolm, 2001
Introduction Industry, Charity, Faith, Hope
Dinosaurs live!
Once the 1997 San Diego incident thrust International Genetics BioEngineering overnight into the public arena, the secrets and the story of the powerful, global company became common knowledge. Its doors thrown open to the world, the company quickly shutdown and dispensed a whopping sum to the tune of twenty-eight million dollars for damages, wrongful death settlements, and trauma to the population in the area surrounding the migrant visitor who quickly was returned home.
Amazing stamina shook the worlds' politicians who lobbied for greater control over genetic research, stronger sanctions to control international business practices, and for a complete government controlled investigation into InGen. By this point, however, the company had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy allowing the board of investors to quickly garner a trustee and sell everything, wiping whole computer systems clean, dismantling equipment with the purpose of leaving very little information through which to be ciphered.
Dr. John Hammond stood at the forefront of the world's mind in this time, begging for protection over the island chain and eventually being present as an international treaty was signed into effect in early 2000, cementing the protection of the island chain. Few had disagreed with the need to protect the island but from a lone scientist, the greatest dissent to Hammond's philosophy found its voice: Dr. Richard Levine. His argument lay in the concept of the islands sustainability. With very little research conducted on the islands ecosystem, he postulated that man must control the island or risk loosing it. Riding a high of public opinion, Dr. Levine spoke out publicly for many months until the horror stories of Dr. Ian Malcolm were dredged from the enquirer headlines and reported in reputable newspapers, causing a general dismissal of Levine's argument as simply impossible.
In hindsight, very little legislation passed as a new threat grew in the minds of the world: terrorism. After the attacks on September 11th, the focus lay no longer on the horrors of Genetic Research, but on this greater threat to freedom. The world's economy began to feel the pinch of reality upon its purse-strings with many companies and banks falling into bankruptcy, turning attention from the once galvanized topic.
In the years since the revelation of InGen to the world, greater steps towards legitimizing scientific research brought about a change in the field. No longer truly concerned with growth for the sake of knowledge, science focused on its marketability. Outreach programs began to open and the idea of the Science Fair took on a new dimension with the creation of iGEM in 2003. The purpose of the fair was to place biological components in the hands of college students tasked with developing biological machines, unicellular 'manufactured organisms' that function in a singular purpose such as destroying cancer, preventing sepsis, or as simple a function as glowing, detecting light, or giving beer the same benefits of wine. The possibilities of these creations are near limitless. Companies like Shell, Ford, and Mazda, who had once begun to fall behind due to public distrust and a growing 'Green' movement greatly funded research into this field, exploring the limits of genetics.
The true answer to consumer biologicals was born. It is on this frontier that man now stands. Technological development, growth in all directions, may single-handedly save the economy of the world at the risk of Humanity. Like with so many discoveries before, science has opened more doors, revealing the power that exists not in huge, but in small.
Science itself was born from the simplest of ideas. In so much as to know a man by his work, man could know God by better knowing his handiwork and think God's thoughts after he thought them. From here science took its first steps into a much larger paradigm. Working from the Bible, early scientists searched into the world from doctrine, putting in place a law of existence known as The Great Chain of Being.
The Great Chain of Being or scala naturae told the story that all things, great and small, were created by God to fulfill a specific purpose on the Earth. The answer to the philosophical issue of why a perfect being would create imperfection took form through this scale whose degrees towards perfection were shown with God resting securely at the top, followed by the Angels, eventually humans, flowing down even as far as the trees, fire, and stones. All creation, both corporal and non-corporal lived in a hierarchy under the one God, fulfilling a specific level of imperfection. With this came the idea of plentitude, the belief that all creation existed in abundance and no step lacked in amount or ability to survive. As such, no sooner could the cougar be extinguished than could the stones on which it walks and if a species could die off, a gap in the scale would be created, introducing imperfection in God s Perfect Creation.' This dogma stood strong and permeated science for hundreds of years until in 1706 this belief met the argument that would ring in its end.
At a convention in France, Georges Cuvier spoke about his controversial new theory of extinction. Science, for the first time, had been asked to explain the surmounting evidence that began to rise up from the ground in the form of fossilized bones, the remains of giants that had not been seen by man in his whole existence, hinting to a time long before man when the world was filled with beasts from nightmares and legends. Some skeletons bore remarkable similarity to living animals such as the rhino and the elephant while others were dismissed simply as animals that had adapted or migrated to lesser known regions of the world like Asia or Africa, giving credence to legends of dragons and monsters. Expeditions to find these Lost Worlds were sent in search of the missing animals, vain attempts to prove the 'Great Chain of Being' infallible.
Even to this dissent, Georges Cuvier stood his ground, believing firmly in the idea that animals in the past had gone extinct and could in the future go extinct. This radical idea brought forth another new theory called uniformitarianism, dictating that all things in the past are equally possible again in the future. Expeditions continued to return with little to no evidence and thus the 'Great Chain of Being' slowly lost founding as it became further and further apparent that these animals were indeed extinct.
Despite this, there were many prominent in the scientific community who argued against the theories. None other than the father of taxonomy, Carolus Linnaeus, disagreed with Georges Cuvier's view on extinction. History would prove him wrong.
In Carolus Linnaeus' time, the study of animal familial connections was firmly based on skeletal and observable attributes. Two animals with similar bone structures would be considered the same family. A logical idea, the theory was not without its failures. Certain species were exceptions from the rule such as a mammal that could lay eggs and had the bill of a duck. Such anomalies were not consistent with his view on the animal family trees and remained unexplained. Not until hundreds of years later, after the discovery of DNA and the ability to map genomes, would the old world begin to break down and the true lineage of a species be ascertained.
The repercussions in the research into mapping the human genome were unknown in the early 1980's, even to those who devoted their careers to it. Having attended Harvard and moved on to bio-genetic research at Berkeley, Dr. Henry Wu joined the Human Genome project in its youth, spearheading the movement and working to fund the project. Searching out funding from all sources international and private, Wu eventually met John Parker Hammond, a billionaire whose family had earned its wealth in the construction business. Hammond spoke briefly with Wu about the project and almost immediately funded him, much to Wu s amazement.
Years passed with Hammond's great fortune leading to the near completion of the project. With the final research in sight, Wu was contacted again by Hammond and summoned to his mansion. A death in the company had left a void that Hammond was convinced only one man could fill. Wu wanted to agree but the meeting was brief and the details were sketchy. Nervous, Wu nearly turned down the offer until he realized the reason Hammond had funded the project at all. Handed an ultimatum, the choice was to help Hammond on his new company InGen, or have trouble finding further funding.
Involved in almost every form of research and development possible, InGen was built from the ground up by Hammond, using funding from around the world and the expertise of an old professor of Wu's, Norman Atherton. Atherton's death had left a void in the company that Wu quickly filled and in less than 10 years, InGen grew into one of the most promising Bio-Genetic firms in the world. Wu's expertise with the great advancements in computer technology and genetic extraction techniques gave the company an advantage, moving it to be the fore-runner in genetic ventures world wide, taking over many contracts from other companies like BioSynth, BioSyn, OrgaGen, and IHC.
Known for his eccentricity, Hammond funded research in many varying fields, studying everything from the re-sequencing of DNA, supercomputers, Paleontology, and Hammond's most bizarre spending: his massive Amber collection. Even to this extent, his most well kept secret lay in what wasn t researched in United States borders. Overseas, in the waters off the coast of Indonesia in the Java Sea, InGen owned the small island of Hantu Rimba. Here, the first steps of research towards the collecting and examining of prehistoric material for its genetic value began. Dr. Henry Wu, working closely and eventually exclusively on this project, proved his worth to the company in a matter of years.
On December 23rd, 1987, Wu phoned Hammond in the dead of night.
I beg your pardon for waking you master Hammond, but a man by the name of Dr. Henry Wu is calling from one of the InGen research facilities. He says it s important, the butler spoke from the door.
Hammond moved across his bedroom, waving his arms in excitement. Taking the phone, he answered.
Have you done it, m'boy? Have ya' really done it? There was a brief pause. Hammond could hear the hiss of the line and the slight pop of the distortion.
Mr. Hammond, listen for yourself. It was faint, but unmistakable. The chirping of a small animal: bird-like, but with an almost alien rasping. Wu had indeed done it.
In all, Wu re-birthed over 30 species of animal, insect, and foliage, a monstrous achievement for one man in a span of fifteen years, enough to honor him with a Nobel Peace Prize, lifetime achievement award and a lesson in biology books. History, however, had a plan of its own.
On June 11th, 1993, a group of scientists visited the skeletal island retreat Isla Nublar where Wu s creations were only partially inhabiting. The island was incomplete, with many planned safety features not fully operational. Yet, the man who funded Wu and owned InGen, John Hammond, pushed on anyway, exposing the group to a disaster that lead to the collapse of the island.
Less than a year later, Isla Sorna, the powerhouse of Wu s production, was destroyed by hurricane Clarissa, wiping out facilities and all hope of resurrecting the project. Hammond seized this chance to abandon his dream, allowing it to die away on a forgotten island. None were allowed to speak of the incidents on the islands, being forced to leave all research and technology behind to rot away in the tropical rain forests.
For three years Isla Sorna remained unchanged and untouched by man until an unfortunate incident lead the board of investors to strip John Hammond of his control over InGen. In an attempt to recoup their losses, the company undertook an expedition that would eventually bankrupt the fledgling genetics company and expose their secret to the world.
The islands again lay undisturbed, protected now by international law, until one of the most prominent figures from the initial incident on Isla Nublar was tricked back into the dragons nest in a families attempt to save their son. Alan Grant, the worlds leading paleontologist and self proclaimed cynic survived the island with a small group of civilians, rescued in one of the largest covert operations in modern times. Stranded on the island, being hunted by beasts unknown, the group barely survived and left an indelible mark on the psyche of the paleontologist. The entire group was indicted and gave testimony to a grand jury at the UN in private about the incident.
It would be the testimony of Dr. Grant that the most disturbing truth would be realized. The UN had blissfully ignored the island, attempting at the behest of John Hammond, to leave the island as a natural preserve. Alan spoke directly to the council, reading from his written statement in a sharp voice.
This island remains a living threat to the world. Every delegate of the UN security council sat fixated on Dr. Grant, hanging on his every word. The council had been convened in secret to hear the testimony of Dr. Alan Grant who's story outlining the dangers of Isla Sorna's continued existence had caused a stir within the governments of the world. Some had feared that the islands mere preservation could lead to a much larger threat should the animals adapt or manage to find a way to cross the expanse of ocean that separated this lost world from civilization. Others insisted on pillaging the island for the secrets they were convinced it held.
My belief is that InGen used this breakthrough in technology to produce facsimiles of extinct mega fauna. This process was not without its errors. Living on the island are many species that seem reasonably reasonably realistic but alongside these creatures are errors: problems that arose during the recreation of the animals. It is unknown how many species exist on the island. InGen's own list omits many species I saw as well as the unnatural species I witnessed and which almost took the life of my colleague. Alan took a short, shallow breath. Looking up from his written statement and into the eyes of a few stone faced councilmen. He could tell his concerns didn't bother them. He needed to scare them.
My studies into a specific inhabitant of the island, the Velociraptors, gave me a rare insight on these animals. We've known that this species was intelligent but until my encounter on Isla Sorna, the extent of that intelligence was unknown. Problem solving skills, complex communications, intelligent and emotional behavior with a remarkable and complex social hierarchy firmly places these animals on the level of Cetacean intelligence and possibly higher. The council looked on, not entirely understanding. Grant sighed, recognizing the confusion in the groups eyes. He leaned into the podium microphone deciding to unbind his tongue.
I have no doubt in my professional and personal opinion that these animals, if ever allowed off the island, could he hesitated a moment, correcting himself.
would end the reign of man kind as the dominant species on this planet.
This had been the turning point. The dire warning visibly shook the council who, thanking Alan, dismissed him. The council argued in secret for nearly two months on how to handle the island. No decision was leaked and no plans were known. Small incidents from time to time hinted to the plan underway. Attacks from animals were hushed and few knew of the growing danger.
For nine years the world kept going. Man focused again on his life, the economy, who would be elected president, the avoidance of spreading diseases and the humanitarian aide needed in disaster stricken lands, oblivious to the plan nearly finished.
For more than nine years this secret remained safe until the final breaking point was reached.