Chapter 38: Computers and Pterodactyls
Alan stopped the jeep just before the door of Control Room 3. They had been in touch with Ethan on and off, so that Ethan could keep opening and closing the security gates for them. The jeep skidded off to the right, as it came to a stop in the mud. Ellie ran out and headed toward the door and what was left of Control Room 3. About half of the building was still standing, after the Baryonyx had fallen on it. Alan ran around to the back of the building, to shut the power off. He quickly flipped the switch, waited the 2 minutes Ethan had told him to wait, and then flipped it back on. He ran back around and into the building. He was soaked, from head to foot. He stepped over some of the debris in the room and searched for Ellie. She had been looking for a working computer, and after he flipped the power switch back on, she found one in the front. She glanced at him and he nodded, telling her that the power was restarted. The two of them were completely in sync with each other, once again. They didn't even have to use words. She nodded back and leaned down, beginning to adjust the keyboard. Up until that moment, Ellie had forgotten about her hand hurting. As she grabbed the keyboard, she cried out in pain, holding her hand.
Alan was looking around the room, when he heard her cry in pain. He hurried over to her.
"You okay?" He asked.
Ellie nodded.
"Yes. It's just . . . I can't type, Alan," Alan stared at her. "I need you to do it," she said.
"Huh?"
Ellie smiled.
"I need you to type. On this computer. You can type a few words, can't you?"
Ellie thought that he looked absolutely frightened by what she was proposing. She got up.
"Come on. Get over here and type what I tell you," she said.
"Okay. Okay," he said. Alan knelt down by the computer. He just stayed there, staring at the screen. "Now what?"
Ellie laughed. There was a black screen on the monitor with just one orange box in the middle. Obviously the login screen.
"Type the user name MORGAN and the password LAPORTE."
Alan did what he was told. She hovered closely behind him, reading what the screen said.
"Now, type 020270071342 on the keyboard," she said.
Alan did what he was told. The computer beeped, as they watched the next screen come up. It was the exact screen that Ethan had described on the paper.
"Now type SET SERVER=ED030248," she said, reading off the paper.
Alan typed it in. After a few mistakes and a few times of Ellie yelling at him, the command finally worked. The screen that came up was blue with a yellow border all around the edges. It had ten blank boxes, one right under the other, placed in the center of the screen. Ellie turned the paper over.
"Now, tab down to the third blank box, and type ACCESS PADDOCK SECURITY," she said, as she looked at the paper again.
Alan did what he was told. He was amazed that he knew where the tab key was. The screen switched again, to yet another login screen.
"Good, good. Username is MALCOLM. Password is CHAOS," Ellie said.
Alan shook his head, as he typed what she told him to. A security grid popped up, with a graphical representation of the electric fences.
"Now, hold down the ALT key and push F7."
"ALT key?" Alan looked at her strangely. "Look, talk to me like I'm two years old, okay . . . because I have no idea what the ALT key is."
Ellie laughed. She reached over him and held down the ALT key herself. Alan glanced at her, as her face was now very close to his. She looked at him.
"Now push F7. Up there, on the top row," she said, gesturing at the keyboard with her head.
Alan held his gaze on her for a few more seconds, and then he looked back at the keyboard. He pushed the F7 key. Another small window appeared on the screen. Alan looked at Ellie again.
"How was that?" He asked her.
She smiled. She slowly leaned forward and put a hand on his face. She gently kissed him.
"That was very good," she said. "See? Computers don't have it in for you, after all."
He returned her smile with one of his own. The computer beeped, making them both bring their attention back to the task at hand. Ellie looked back down at Ethan's notes.
"Okay, now we need to let the little demon birds out. Choose the Pterodactyl Aviary. Press PA."
Alan pressed the P and A buttons on the keyboard, bringing up the data on the Pterodactyl Aviary.
"Now turn off the electricity there," she said. "Press 9, for off."
He did what he was told. He was beginning to get the hang of the whole computer thing. The computer beeped again and warned about the electricity being off in that paddock. A screen came up asking for a confirmation. Alan hit the Y key for Yes, even before Ellie had to tell him. The screen turned a light shade of red, indicating an electricity problem. The graphic representing the Pterodactyl Aviary was flashing on and off.
"Now what?" Alan asked.
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Bodan's jeep was racing toward Control Room 3. Daniel was in the passenger seat, holding his laptop tightly, as Bodan maneuvered the jeep. They had gone through the tunnel, which gave Daniel a small obstacle, but he had figured out a way to get the gate open. He had used a screwdriver, found in a toolbox in the back of the jeep, and opened up the keypad. After a few shocks, and some frequent swearing, the security gate, on both sides of the tunnel, opened and stayed open. The jeep continued on, passing by the unfinished building, where the Albertosaurus had rampaged through earlier.
"How long is the reinstalling thing going to take?" Bodan asked, in a very irritated manner.
"About 3 minutes, as long as they haven't restarted the servers."
"Well, let's hope they didn't get too far ahead of us. Damn Grant. I should have killed him when I had the chance."
"Yes, probably, sir."
"Shut up, Daniel."
"Yes, sir."
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Ethan and Lex were still very well hidden in one of the utility closets on the third floor. Ethan had his laptop ready to go, while Lex held on to the walkie talkie, waiting for Ellie to come back to the radio. After what seemed like forever, Ellie's voice was finally heard.
"Lex? We're all set here . . . I think. The computers are up and the electric fencing in the Pterodactyl Aviary has been shut down."
Lex handed the walkie talkie to Ethan. He pushed the button.
"Good, good. I'm almost certain that Bodan and Daniel are on their way to you, so in case this doesn't work, I would hide if I were you."
"We were planning on it," Ellie said.
Ethan handed the walkie talkie back to Lex and began to type commands into the laptop. He was turning on the high frequency repellers, one at a time, hoping to find the right jeep. The jeep that Bodan was using. If he turned them on in five minute intervals, the Pterodactyls were expected to stay together, as they attacked the source of the noise. When he was finished typing, he looked up at Lex.
"God, I hope this works. If it doesn't, Bodan will find Alan and Ellie."
"It'll work, Ethan. It has to. They're going to be just fine."
Ethan nodded at her. They were squeezed into quite a small space, and Ethan couldn't help glancing at her over and over. She was a very beautiful woman, he thought to himself. He started to think that if he made it off the island in one piece, that he should maybe ask her out. He smiled, as he went back to checking the repeller time schedule on the laptop.
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Ian, Tim and Jodie were on the second floor, when they ran into Jacob. He had been patrolling the second floor, since that's where his room was. Jacob spotted them almost immediately. He yelled for them to stop, but they didn't. They ran down the hallway and turned quickly out of gun range, as he had fired several shots at them with his rifle. He missed them.
Ian slowed down, as they passed a vending machine. Handing the walkie talkie to Jodie, he gestured for Tim and Jodie to go and hide a little further up the hallway. Tim was concerned about what Ian was doing, but he knew he didn't have time to argue. He grabbed Jodie's hand and they hurried up the hallway.
Jacob came barreling down the hallway, rifle in the ready position, and ran right past Ian. Ian emerged from his hiding spot and tackled Jacob from behind, hoping to get the edge over the larger man. He managed to do just that, as Jacob hit the floor with a gasp, knocking all the air from his lungs. His rifle was jarred from his hands, as Ian began to punch at him.
Tim came running to assist, while Jodie just stayed back, behind the safety of an ice machine. Tim and Ian managed to hit and kick Jacob enough times to keep the large man on the ground. After a few minutes, Tim grabbed the rifle and struck Jacob in the head, knocking him unconscious. Ian was still on the ground, when Tim had hit Jacob. He looked up and smiled.
"You're always knocking that poor guy out."
Tim smiled. Jodie came out from behind the ice machine, clearly happy that the events transpired the way that they had.
"Let's get out of here and find Alan," she said.
Ian looked at her.
"Good idea. Let's get all of us back together and get the hell out of here. Jodie, can I see that radio?"
Jodie handed the walkie talkie to him and he pushed the button down.
"Ethan? Do you read me? Ethan?"
A few seconds passed by, and then Lex's voice was heard.
"We're here and we're okay," she said.
"Tim managed to knock Jacob out . . . again. So it's safe to come down."
"Okay," Lex said. Ian could hear her talking to Ethan. She came back to the walkie talkie. "Ethan says to meet us on the third floor. He says we'll take the monorail to the mall. Control Room 2 is right next to the mall."
"Well, Ethan would know. Okay, we'll meet you on the third floor."
"Ethan says to just follow the monorail signs."
"Okay, we'll be there in a few minutes. We're on the second floor right now," Ian said.
Ian grabbed Jodie by the hand and they started to go up the stairs to the third floor. Tim was right behind them. Ian glanced at him on the way up.
"How's the neck?"
"It's okay, I think."
Ian nodded and the three of them continued to the third floor of the lodge.
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Bodan was driving extremely fast. The rain had started to come down harder, and it was pelting his skin pretty hard. Daniel was still in the passenger seat, trying his best to keep his laptop from the rain. As they were driving, Daniel thought he had heard some sort of a squawking noise. He looked around, but didn't see anything, so he figured it was just the storm. Bodan noticed him looking around.
"What is it now, Daniel?"
"Nothing. Nothing."
Bodan shook his head and continued. It wasn't long before he heard the noise, too. It sounded like a flock of birds. He slowed the jeep down, looking around. It was hard to see, though, because of the rain coming down so hard. He stopped the jeep.
"Do you hear that?" Bodan asked Daniel.
"Yes. Yes, I do."
"What the hell is it?"
Bodan's question was answered in that instant. As the jeep sat there, stopped, it was attacked from above. Bodan suddenly felt sharp pain at the base of his neck, as something was attacking from the air. Daniel was scared to death. He tucked himself down into the floor of the passenger seat, as far as he could manage, holding his hands over his head. He had no idea of knowing that the very thing the Pterodactyl's were angry with, was sitting in the glove compartment, above his head. The high frequency repeller continued to work, as the prehistoric birds kept snipping away at the intruders, trying to stop the repeller from making noise. The four Pterodactyls had already attacked some of the other jeeps, looking for the source of the frequency, and had succeeded. Bodan and Daniel's jeep was one of the last ones, in addition to Alan and Ellie's jeep, parked by Control Room 3. But this time, instead of just finding an empty vehicle, the Pterodactyls found two humans, making them even more enraged.
Bodan was able to reach around and grab one of them, throwing it from his body. It just came back, even angrier. He finally opened the jeep door and made a run for it. The Pterodactyl attacking him followed him for a few seconds, soaring several feet above his head. The agitating sound seemed to go away, the farther it flew from the jeep. It surrendered its prey, turned around, and went back to the others, leaving Bodan alone.
Daniel was still in the jeep, as the three Pterodactyls were continuously attacking both himself and the glove compartment. One of them managed to tear a hole in it and find the repeller. The bird instantly destroyed it, striking at it with several thrusts from its beak. The fourth Pterodactyl appeared from above, its two and half foot wingspan gliding down toward Daniel. He looked up, just in time to see its sharp and long beak, coming right for him. It was the last thing he saw, as the bird dug its beak deep into Daniel's face, squawking and screeching the entire time. The other three joined in, squawking and pecking at him. Daniel screamed for help, but Bodan was already quite a distance away, and he wasn't about to come back. Soon the screams stopped and Daniel's limp body became the first meal that they ever had, that wasn't in a mush-like, pasty substance.
Bodan continued to run in the rain. When Daniel's screams stopped, he slowed down and looked behind him. He had a gun, but the walkie talkie, the laptop, and the only dependable computer expert, were all left behind. Things were beginning to look very gloomy for Patrick Bodan.