So welcome to my only story currently worth reading. This story was inspired by BlackRoseRaven109's A Pet By Any Other Name. While the beginnings will seem similar, the story diverges wildly.

Kenya 1980

John Hammond leaned back in his desk chair and shifted the phone at his ear. He thumbed open the invitation to his daughter's baby shower.

"Yes darling I know- I'm sorry, but you know I can't- I promise, I'll be there… Alright, love you, goodbye." He set the phone down and placed the invitation in the only clear spot on his desk. He looked at the two mountains of paperwork before him, one for his animal preserve and the other for his genetics company InGen. Hammond sighed, he could really use a drink; the paperwork was piled so high he couldn't even see the crystal decanter on the other side of the desk. He rose from his chair and made his way to the decanter to pour himself a scotch. Just as he set the decanter back down, a knock on the door of the office drew his attention to the nervous lab tech standing just outside.

"What now?" Hammond looked down into his glass; if something had gone wrong in the labs he'd need to make this drink a double.

"Well sir, ah," the lab tech quickly looked around the room, "Project Rebirth is ready."

That got Hammond's attention. He immediately set down his drink, grabbed his cane, and strode past his employee. "Fantastic! Let's be going, shall we?"

The pair quickly reached the door to the administrative building and stepped out as a wave of hot, dry air washed over them. They had to take a moment to adjust to the bright sun and high heat before moving to the laboratories; it was the middle of February and the dry season was in full swing and punishing any foolish enough to be out at midday unprepared. They set off towards the east wing of the laboratory building, the hub of the facility's genetic experiments.

Hammond was excited, but a ball of anxiety clawed at his gut. While InGen had been cloning animals in secret for years, prehistoric life was a whole different ballgame and today marked the biggest milestone yet for InGen's "dinosaur project". If things went well, they were one step closer to achieving his dream. If they failed, it was back to square one for Dr. Wu's team.

They entered the sterile white halls of the laboratory building, Hammond's cane tapping against the floor. Soon they came to an access control checkpoint. Hammond swiped his ID card and they quickly passed through. The building was split into two halves: the veterinary wing to examine and care for the animals, and the genetics wing to create them. A short walk later, they reached the door to the lab. Robert Muldoon, Hammond's top game warden, was leaned against the wall next to the door.

"What are you doing here Muldoon?" Hammond asked.

"Well sir, I've finished up for the day and I hear your little pet project is about to be done so I figured I'd come see what all the fuss is about." Muldoon shrugged, "I don't have access to the genetics labs so I'm just camped out here waiting for someone to tell me what happens."

"Yes, well. You'll be the first to know."

"Thank you sir." Muldoon drawled as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

Swiping himself into the lab, Hammond laid his eyes on the central figure of the room: a tall glass tank filled with murky liquid. Inspecting the tank were Dr. Henry Wu and Dr. Albert Stevens, the top geneticists of Hammond's company.

"So this is it?" Hammond asked them.

"Yes sir, it's almost ready to take out and move to an incubator." Henry Wu, the chief geneticist replied. "However, we will have to insist that you leave the room to reduce the chance of contamination."

"Fine." Hammond agreed reluctantly. "What is it supposed to be anyway?"

"We believe the DNA taken from the amber belongs to velociraptors. Of course, due to the incomplete genetic code we had to fill in the gaps in the DNA with that of modern species. What comes out is anyone's guess really, but we hope and expect to see a velociraptor. Actually, if you go around to the back of the tank you may be able to see its tail."

Hammond wandered around to the back of the cylindrical tank and sure enough, a tail drifted into view before receding back into the cloudy liquid.

"Incredible." Hammond whispered. Moving to the front of the tank Hammond grabbed the clipboard proffered by Dr. Stevens and began to flip through the pages of data he could barely understand.

Seeking clarification Hammond asked, "Dr. Wu, have there been any complications? Is everything stable?"

"No sir, everything has been going according to plan. The temperature is holding steady and all the tests we've run on samples of the fluid have come back positive."

"Sir, it's time to take it out." Dr. Stevens informed Hammond.

"Yes, yes, alright." Hammond sighed, "But let me in as soon as you finish!"

When the doors had shut behind him, Hammond decided to take up residence along the wall on the other side of the door from Muldoon. The game warden raised his eyebrow in a silent question.

"They kicked me out so they could take it out more carefully."

Taking his cane in both hands Hammond gazed at the mosquito in the ball of amber at the top. It symbolized everything he had worked towards for the past four years, his dream of recreating prehistoric life. Such a tiny little thing had made the fantasy of seeing live dinosaurs into a possibility. Hammond thought back on the years of research and millions of dollars spent to reach this point. This was just the start of his crowning achievement.

"What in hell?!"

"Jesus Christ!"

Hearing the alarmed cries from inside the lab, Hammond nearly fumbled in his frantic attempt to swipe his card to open the door. As the door opened, Hammond rushed through and immediately set his eyes upon the cause of the commotion. In the arms of Dr. Stevens was not a velociraptor, but what appeared to be a human infant with clawed hands and feet, unnaturally shaped legs covered in scales, and a tail.

I hope that you all enjoyed. I will be working on this diligently and any help would be much appreciated. Shout out to lemonygoodness1998 for telling me how much I suck at writing and forcing me to improve, so I can present you a much better final work. Another shout out to BlackRoseRaven109 for their masterpiece A Pet By Any Other Name and for giving me permission to write this years ago. I know it's short but I'm just worldbuilding and laying the groundwork for the actual story. Let me know what you think!