Hey guys! I'm really sorry it took so long... My Beta was on holiday and I don't feel confident posting something before she read it, but here's the next chapter, and I'll post more regular from now on!
Chapter 2
Hatching altogether took five hours, surprisingly short, but Owen was happy about it. The doctors and scientists (and tourists) all observed from a distance, taking great precaution to stay clear of the incubator.
Owen already hovered over them like a hen, and they hadn't even hatched yet. When they did hatch, he left them be for a bit before cleaning them and making sure they were warm enough.
When they had all hatched and were cuddled up in their nest together, Owen opened the hatch so the doctors could check them up and insert their tracking device. Their skin was still tender, so the needle went in easy. They squirmed a little bit, but seemed fine. When the doctor said they were perfectly healthy, Owen could finally admire his babies up close (and feed them. Boy, they were hungry).
This time, there were no deformities, no extra limbs or missing limbs. Owen smiled. These babies would make it through. They even were kind of cute, he thought, seeing one of them nibble on a rat's tail. The smallest one kind of retorted that by coughing up a giant hairball.
To make things less complicated, the scientists had made sure all four little raptors were female this time. A male might be a little too much for Owen to handle in his battle to become alpha of the pack.
"Hello girls," he cooed. He scratched one of the raptors under her chin. She had blue stripes across her back. Owen frowned and turned back to one of the doctors. "Is it a problem that she's blue?"
The doctor shook his head, it was the guy who showed him how to turn the eggs. "No," he said. "We probably made a mistake, but it doesn't really affect her health."
"A mistake?" Owen turned back to the raptor babies. "You're not a mistake, you're just a little blue!"
He chuckled. "Shall we take them to their paddock?"
The doctors nodded approvingly and one of them went to get a carrier, but Owen shook his head and gathered the raptors up in his arms. "I'll carry them."
"That is probably a bad idea," one of the doctors said.
Owen did it anyway. He gathered the four babies up in his arms. The blue one nipped at his ear with her razor sharp teeth, and Owen turned his head, quick enough to dodge her before her jaws snapped together.
"Let's get one thing straight," he said harshly. "No biting me, okay? You bite your sisters and your food, but not your papa, clear?"
She cocked her head and purred a little.
"Yeah," Owen said.
He could feel eight little claws in his arms and chest, but that didn't really hurt him. They were only searching for a bit of grip.
He put the raptors in a box that he'd already put in the front seat of his car. Owen preferred to cruise around the island on his motorcycle, but it wasn't the best way to move newborn raptors around.
He was pretty sure there was a protocol about moving 'assets out of containment', but Owen couldn't care less. The raptors couldn't and wouldn't hurt anyone yet, they were too small and helpless. Owen left the AC off, so the little ones could keep warm easier. The temperature outside was perfect for them, and he didn't want to start his weekend off by giving his raptors a case of pneumonia.
He whistled a tune, happy that everything went all right. It would take him about half an hour to reach the raptor paddock, but he didn't mind driving this evening. The training could finally start.
In the raptor paddock, he'd built a nest. They guessed that usually, mother raptor would be hunting all day and bring them food every now and then. The little raptors could easily fend for themselves for a couple of hours.
They never ceased making noise, and Owen had a lot of fun discussing with them.
"What's wrong, little one?" He asked the gray raptor after a rather loud belch. She belched again. "Are you hungry?"
The blue one was the biggest, but only just. The brown raptor was just a little smaller.
"How about some names, huh?" Owen proposed. "Before the others turn up and start naming you D4 or something weird like that."
The blue one cooed.
"Yes, you're the easy one." Owen grinned. "Blue."
He was silent for a bit. "We could do Bravo, Charlie, Delta and Echo…" he said.
Bravo cooed again.
"Yes," Owen nodded. "That's a great idea. I'm the alpha right, so it'll make tons of sense!"
He looked at his pack. Charlie, he decided, was the green one with dark stripes, and also currently chewing up the blanket. Echo, the brown one, was ripping at the cardboard box. Delta had gotten hold of the seatbelt and Bravo was staring at him, head cocked like a pigeon. He fumbled his hand in the box. "Girls, please! You can chew up the nest all you like but not the car. It's not mine, see."
The radio started hissing, and Owen turned the receiver on.
"Mr. Grady? Control room for Mr. Grady?"
He picked up the intercom. "This is Owen Grady for control room. Over."
"Mr. Grady…"
"Owen," Owen interrupted the lady. He'd had enough 'Mr. Grady's' at the Navy.
"Owen…" She said. "Did you take the raptors out of containment without following the protocols? You are aware that these are wild animals? Over."
Owen scratched Bravo under her chin. "I'm nearly at the paddock. They're babies, they won't hurt anyone. Over."
"Can you be sure of everyone's safety? Over." The lady asked.
"Of course I can," Owen grinned. "These girls are not even three inches long, head to tail. I could eat them, instead of them eating me. Over."
"Yes, adorable," the lady sounded a little annoyed. "I want them in the paddock. I will not risk incidents. Over."
Owen swung the car around the corner and stopped in front of the raptor paddock. It consisted of three parts, that could all be opened and closed separately. The nest was in paddock one. When the raptors got big enough to paddle around for a bit, the gates to the second part of the paddock would open. Then, after they had fully grown, a hatch in the paddock's walls would open, so that the raptor pack could mingle with other dinosaurs in the jungle.
He jumped out of the car, walking around to grab the box of newborn raptors. He opened the door and chuckled when he saw Echo had already devoured three walls of the box.
"Echo! You're not supposed to eat cardboard!"
The raptor cooed happily, pieces of wet box between her teeth.
"You cutie," Owen gathered the babies back up in his arms. Charlie and Delta settled against his chest, but both Echo and Bravo nearly trampled their sisters to get to his neck and shoulders. "Down girls," he said, pushing the two raptors away with his chin. Bravo yapped at his earlobes again, and Owen pinched her tail in response. "I had a girlfriend who liked doing stuff like that, and that relationship was over quickly. So I'm telling you for the last time now, I'm not into biting!"
"So, does talking to them help the bonding?" he heard a voice behind him.
"Is that a rhetorical question?" Owen turned to the lock, typing in the eight digit code with his little finger.
"Uhm, not really…" The lady sounded a little hesitant. Owen looked over his shoulder, she was very beautiful, maybe a little too stiff for his liking, but she had a very petite looking face, and some beautiful red locks framing it.
"Okay," Owen grinned, turning back to the cage door. "Well, I kinda got my hands full right now, how about we talk about it over a cup of coffee?"
"Is the process that complicated?" the lady asked, clearly not picking up on his hints.
Owen chuckled. "Follow me, I'll show you something,"
"I'd rather not approach the assets that have any risk of attacking," The lady said.
"Assets?" Owen frowned. "Animals. Living beings." When the woman's face didn't show any sign of understanding, he sighed. "These girls are not going to attack you yet. In six months they're lethal, but until then you can approach them."
"Still rather not." She said.
"Then why are your even here?" Owen said. Echo started scratching his leather jacket impatiently. "Hold up, I'm gonna put the ladies to bed and then we can talk normally."
The lady nodded. "I have a device here, you need it to scan their chips so we can put them in the system individually."
Owen wiggled his hip, and she looked a little confused. "Put it in my pocket," he clarified.
Her face cleared up, and she slid the thing in his pocket.
He turned away. "See you in a bit. Don't go away."
She shook her head. "Don't take too long!"
"That's what she said," he muttered under his breath, crossing through the paddock to the nest with long strides (Echo's claw was kinda hurting him).
"What?" she yelled after him.
"Nothing!" Owen said. He pushed some vine leaves away and put the girls down in the nest, making sure they were all comfy. He took the device out of his pocket and scanned Bravo's chip.
ENTER ASSET SUBJECT:, the screen read. A keyboard appeared on the touch screen.
He entered 'BRAVO', and pressed enter, but a pop up appeared on the screen.
ASSET SUBJECT DOES ALREADY EXIST. PLEASE PICK A DIFFERENT ONE.
And then under it:
SUGGESTED ASSET SUBJECTS: BRAVO-04, BRAVO-FOUR
"Dang," he said to Bravo. She looked up at him. "You already exist! What is this, a video game?"
Bravo clicked and cocked her head.
"So, we need a different name…" Owen sighed. "It sucks that it won't fit the pattern anymore, but we could just go with Blue?"
Bravo cooed happily, and even though she probably had no idea what they were discussing, Owen would've sworn she nodded.
"Blue it is," he said, and entered her new name in the 'Asset subject'.
He then made a profile for the other raptors, who did not yet exist. So they could all keep their original names.
"Good night, girls!" he said, turning away.
Delta croaked after him, but stayed in her spot.
Owen walked back to the lady, who was still waiting, and closed the gate, locking the entrance carefully. "So, how can I help you?"
"Please don't kidnap any of the park's assets, Mr. Grady." She said.
Owen sighed. It was the lady from the radio. "O-wen," he said. "Seriously, what are we in, a military camp? Do you want me to call you ma'am?"
The lady extended her hand, completely oblivious to the sarcasm. "You can call me Miss Dearing. Claire Dearing."
Owen shook it. "Owen Grady."
"I knew that," she said.
"I know you knew," Owen retorted. He handed her back the device. "I gave all the girls a profile. It's for medical reasons, right?"
Claire nodded. "Yes," she checked it. "Did you put them in by the NATO alphabet on purpose?"
"Initially not," Owen shook his head. "I gave them all names, and this was easier."
"But you got Charlie, Echo, Delta and… Blue." She frowned. "That's really inconsistent."
"Does it bother you?" Owen grinned.
Claire nodded, in all earnest. "Yes, it does. Shall I change her name to Bravo in the files?"
Owen laughed out loud. "She was called Bravo in the first place, but the name was already taken."
"Oh," Claire frowned. "Well, it's better like that, to avoid confusion."
"I think it's cute," Owen said.
Claire smiled and tapped away at the device. "Why start at B though? Why not just at Alpha?"
Owen's smiled faltered when she said that, but he swallowed the tinge of pain in his chest, and quickly made something up. "Because I'm supposed to be alpha."
Claire nodded, "Well, now that we've got that settled, I'm heading over to PR. If I get the message out tomorrow, we might get through the after Christmas dip a little bit better."
"Yeah, Christmas." Owen grinned. He'd almost forgotten that Christmas had been last week. New Year's was coming up too, but it didn't feel like New Year's. He was used to cold and bitter winters, instead of no winters at all. "What did you do?"
"What, for Christmas?" Claire put the device in her bag and started towards her car.
Owen nodded. "Yeah, did you like, go out? Do you have a family?"
"No," Claire said, but then she corrected herself. "Well, yeah, I have a sister, but I haven't seen her in a few years."
"So… you spent your Christmas alone?" Owen mounted his bike, which was parked next to Claire's car.
"No, of course not!" Claire opened the car doors. "There was a cocktail party."
Owen chuckled. "A cocktail party. Cute."
He started his motorcycle with a roar. "Well, I'm gonna go, if you need me, you know where to find me."
And he drove back home, to get a good night's sleep for like the first time in forever.