Helicopter Ride
After the dinosaurs were wrangled back in to their cages the group of four boarded a helicopter heading back to the island known as Research Jurassic Park.
"Okay, so what's this whole thing that you were talking about with dinosaurs' abilities?" Sam asked. Daren looked hesitant to answer so Kevin answered the question for him.
"What Daren was talking about was that many dinosaurs have natural abilities that go far beyond what we could have imagined." Kevin explained. "Some seem even supernatural."
"You mean like the carnotaurus being able to camouflage itself to near invisibility?" Jessica questioned.
"Which was first reported being seen on Isla Sorna by the group of people with Ian Malcolm." Samantha pointed out. "Hammond explained later in a press conference that some of the cloned dinosaurs could do certain things like that due to the DNA that InGen would use to complete some DNA sequences of the dinosaurs. An example being chameleon DNA to help complete the carnotaurus sequence."
"That was a lie." Daren plainly stated, standing up and pacing back and forward in the confined space of the helicopter. "InGen never used any other DNA to clone those animals. They just stumbled across a truth they didn't know how to handle, so they covered it up."
"What? How would know if they didn't use other animal DNA or not? What truth are you talking about?" Sam asked.
"He worked for InGen on Isla Sorna before the first Jurassic Park incident." Kevin explained.
"Yes, I basically ran the place." Daren chuckled a little but soon returned to his serious composure. "So I knew exactly what went into bringing those creatures back to life. Every dinosaur was cloned from a fully extracted and intact DNA sequence. No DNA was added anywhere in the process."
"So what you're saying is…" Jessica started.
"That's right. Those are full blooded, living and breathing dinosaurs we made." Daren finished.
"But where does this whole super natural abilities thing fit in at?" Sam inquired.
"Just think about it. If the carnotaurus doesn't have chameleon DNA then its ability to camouflage is its own." Daren said excitedly.
"I see what you're saying, but it still seems far from being super natural." Jessica doubted.
"There are more amazing abilities than just the carnotaurus's invisibility." Daren said quickening his pacing. "Some dinosaurs can manipulate nature itself, and others can become it!"
"Okay, now you're just starting to sound crazy." Jessica stated.
"Manipulate or become nature?" Sam emphasized. "Kevin, are you sure you're working for the right guy?"
"He's telling the truth, Samantha. I've seen it for myself." Kevin reassured her.
"Okay, I'm willing to believe InGen lied about the DNA thing, but dinosaurs manipulating and becoming nature. That's just too farfetched. Sorry but I may have to decline this job." Sam complained.
"Yeah, I'm starting to reconsider taking a job with this whole Research Jurassic Park." Jessica said.
"That reminds me, before I make a rash decision, I have to ask what is a Guardian Research Assistance?" Sam inquired.
"Glad you asked. I assume you read that in the file I sent you?" Daren asked.
"Yes. I assumed it was just a title, but with all this stuff you're saying I have to guess that the Guardian part actually means something. I'm curious to what it refers to." Sam said.
"It refers to this." Kevin said tossing Samantha and Jessica a small box labeled 'select eyes only'. The girls cautiously opened it to see that it was full of pictures and a small hand held recording camera. Jessica started to sift through the photos while Sam turned the camera on.
"Oh my…Samantha you have to see this." Jessica gasped.
"Just a second…" Sam was busy with trying to get the camera to work.
"No. Look now." Jessica insisted and pulled Sam's arm.
"What?" Sam asked annoyed. She looked at the current picture Jessica had stopped at in the pile of photos and her jaw dropped. "That's impossible. This has to be fake."
"Nope. It's real alright." Daren smiled.
"But…but…but…" Jessica stuttered staring at the photograph. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"This T-rex is…is…is…" Sam stuttered too as she looked up to Kevin and Daren.
"Encased in pure diamond. That of which can only be formed in molten magma underneath the earth's crust." Daren stated. Sam looked at the photo once again. The Tyrannosaurus rex was perfectly preserved in a giant diamond casing around its body; flesh and all. It was a greenish blue color with light brown stripes from head to tail. The dinosaur's body was postured in a stomping motion, and it was looking to its left. It looked as if it were roaring at something before it had become encased in the precious gem. "Watch the footage on the camera." Daren pointed to the camera in Sam's lap. Sam immediately picked it up and started to select a recording to view. Jessica scooted closer to her to see what she had selected as the footage began.
"Get to the shelter!" A voice yelled on the camera in the background.
"Just a minute I have to film this!" The holder of the camera said. An erupting volcano came into view. The hot lava spewed in every direction thousands of feet into the air with burning hot ash from the volcano's summit. Through the spewing ash, though, a figure could be seen. With curved horns over its head the silhouette of a bipedal dinosaur distinguished itself in the cloud of ash. The unmistakable roar of a dinosaur echoed into the camera as the silhouette lifted its head into the air and spouted a stream of fire from its mouth. "This is-WHOA!" The camera man fell back as a chunk of flaming rock crashed down in front of him. When the man holding the camera fell the screen went to static, but almost instantly popped back into life. The camera now showed a scene of dark grey skies and a molten field of lava. Rivers of molten rock could be seen wherever the camera turned.
"Sir, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, this volcano just erupted a couple of weeks ago." A distance voice spoke.
"Of course I'm sure this is a good idea. This is where one of the Guardians is supposed to lie." The holder of the camera said. A few minutes passed before the camera beheld the mouth of the volcano. The camera man made his way to the very top and began turning the camera left and right like he was searching for something. "Do you see anything, Michael?"
"Sir, over here!" The voice that could be assumed to be Michael called out. The camera started running towards Michael's voice through a thick fog of falling volcanic ash.
"Where are you?" The camera called out.
"Look out, Sir!" Michael yelled. The camera man slid to a stop at the edge of a pit of molten lava. "This way, Sir." The camera panned and viewed a silhouette in the steamy fog waving. The holder of the camera rushed up to and past the waving silhouette. A giant indistinguishable shape took frame in the camera.
"You found it Michael." The camera man said in awe, approaching the shape. As he got closer the fog cleared enough to show that the shape was the same diamond encased rex from the photo. "It's an actual Guardian. What the-" A blinding flash of light emanated from the encased T-rex making everything on the camera go white, and then the camera went to static again. A few seconds passed before the camera came back to life with picture. It was still facing the encased theropod. "Michael, did you just see what I saw in that flash?"
"I believe I did, Sir." Michael replied. "Let's just call in the team to get this so we can leave."
"Right. Let's do that." The camera man agreed as his hand entered the frame and started to reach to touch the diamond. Just when he was centimeters away the giant gem started to slide backwards down a slope. "No, no, no, no, no, no!" The man started to chase after it but suddenly stopped. "Michael, let go of me. We have to get the Guardian."
"We cannot Mr. Phoenix, just look." The diamond encased dinosaur slid down the slope into a pit of hot lava and slowly sank in until it was no longer in sight. "It was solid diamond, Sir. We can come back when the volcano settles, and excavate the site." After that the camera went to static once more.
"That was my father and his friend." Daren said. "They never went back to excavate the site for two reasons. The main one being that they feared they would run into that fire breathing dinosaur they saw…" Daren paused.
"And the second reason?" Sam asked.
"I was born a week later after my father's discovery." Daren sighed. "He felt his family was a little more important…only a little though." Daren frowned.
"And that rex is supposed to be a Guardian?" Jessica asked.
"That's right." Kevin answered.
"What is a Guardian, exactly?" Sam asked.
"I'll explain." Daren said. "When I was a little kid and my dad was home in time to tuck me in he used to always tell me bedtime stories of these super powerful dinosaurs. They would fight and clash with each other, shaking the very ground beneath their feet, just to see who was the strongest. Mountains would crumble and, volcanoes would erupt, and storms would blow from these clashing dinosaurs. Sometimes though the fighting got out of hand and…"
"And let me guess, the Guardians would step in to stop it, right?" Sam interjected.
"That's right. Every dinosaur feared them. As the legend goes, they were so powerful they were seen as the forces of nature itself." Daren finished. "My dad always said that in that flash of white light he saw everything that was the truth about dinosaurs. About their special powers and their true past which can't be told through bones. He said that the Guardian showed him everything he needed to know to find and reawaken the other Guardians incase it were ever needed."
"And that is where we come in?" Jessica asked. "To find and reawaken these Guardians?"
"You got it." Kevin said.
"My dad gave me a diary he wrote all the information he knew in." Daren stopped pacing.
"So let me get this straight; if I accept the job I will be trying to find these perfectly preserved jewel encased specimen dinosaurs that are called Guardians, for what reason I have no idea, and they all are supposed to be these super powered beings?" Sam said in awe.
"That sounds about right." Daren said.
"What the hell, count me in." Sam stated.
"WHAT!" Jessica yelled.
"REALLY?" Kevin yelled.
"Wow. That was easier than I thought it would be." Daren said in surprise.
"After seeing a fire breathing dinosaur I'll believe just about whatever you tell me." Sam laughed.
"Jessica?" Daren questioned.
"If not for the fact that I saw it with my own two eyes I wouldn't believe. But seeing as how I did just watch that video …" Jessica smiled. "I'm in too."
"Awesome!" Daren and Kevin both clapped their hands together at the same time.
"Just so you know, we will be doing more than just research. " Daren began. "We will actually be going to remote places around the world weeks at a time and searching for these creatures. There's always a risk of severe injury or even death…especially since Larry now knows about you. He wants to find the Guardians and use their power for his own gain. We have to get to them before he does."
"That reminds me of a question I had thought of earlier." Jessica said. "What's the deal with you two?"
"Yeah, how do you even know each other?" Sam chimed in.
Daren sighed. "To be honest, he was once my best friend."
"No way. He looked as if he wanted to kill you tonight." Sam said.
"No, He won't kill me. Not yet anyway. He wants me to suffer just as much as he's suffered." Daren gritted his teeth.
"What could have happened to destroy your friendship?" Jessica asked.
"A girl." Kevin rolled his eyes.
"Sarah Farroheat wasn't just a girl! She was my childhood friend and…and…" The words caught in Daren's throat.
"Your lover?" Sam offered sympathetically.
"For now, just know that the original Research Jurassic Park was her idea." Daren recomposed himself.
"The original?" Jessica questioned.
"Me, Larry, Sarah, and Jonah, who you will meet when we land, are all founders of Research Jurassic Park. It is located on another island however. The one that Larry uses as his home base of operations." Daren elaborated. "Sarah and I were the care takers and over saw just about everything in the park. Jonah was our tech guy. Name it and he can make or fix it. Larry was our bioengineer. He helped resurrect the dinosaurs." Daren paused. "Because it's a long story, I will just give you a quick rundown of what transpired. Larry fell in love with Sarah, but she rejected his feelings because she had feelings for me. Larry was always angry at me from that day forth. One day a catastrophe arose in the park, which Sarah saved my life from by giving hers. Larry always blames me for her death. He always wished it had been me who died instead."
"That's terrible." Jessica said sadly.
"Was there nothing you could do to save her?" Sam inquired. Daren shook his head. "I'm so sorry."
"That's all in the past now. Now we have to stop my old maniacal friend from abusing a power he does not fully understand." Daren said taking a seat and breathing a heavy sigh. "You guys should probably take a nap. It'll be morning before we reach the island." He gave the group a weak smile and turned to look out the window of the helicopter.
"Is he going to be alright? He seems kind of...sad." Jessica whispered to Kevin.
"He'll be fine. He always gets like this whenever he thinks about Sarah." Kevin reassured. The girls accepted the answer. They sat back and breathed in anticipation of their newly acquired jobs.
Soon everyone was nodding off to sleep. Everyone but Daren. He couldn't help but replay the image of the dying woman in his arms that he could nothing to save.
"Just hold on a little longer Sarah." Daren sobbed as he gently pushed a lock of Sarah's wavy brown hair out of her face so he could gaze into her deep blue eyes. She placed a hand on his cheek and spoke in a weak voice.
"I love you, buddy. So soo much." Sarah slowly closed her eyes and her hand went limp.
"Sarah? Sarah, wake up." Daren began to cry. "Sarah. SARAH!"
"Sarah." Daren sighed while gazing out of his window.
I know. I kind of started the romance with some dark drama, but it gets brighter, I promise. This is only my second attemp at this genre so please don't destroy me into oblivion(that's kinda redundant lol). Instead, would you kindly leave a review, or message giving me advice on what kind of romance you may like to see in this story. I will take great consideration and deliberation in trying to use any advice given to the best of my ability. Thanks for your cooperation! XD