A/N: Ten years of working on this. Where did the time go? Hopefully it won't take another ten to complete it!
Aside from the Mt. Watson near disaster, the rest of the week was relatively uneventful. Laura Sorkin begrudgingly agreed to leave the Fortress and began packing up her stuff with David Banks; work progressed on the new dinosaur clutches; John Brown and his team began prepping for their excursion to Costa Rica; and Peter Ludlow and his legal team continued their plans to interrogate everyone on Site B for more information regarding the Jurassic Park Incident.
The Fortress, Sublevel-3, Isla Sorna: It was a bit of an unusual day for Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu. Not that being in the Fortress wasn't unusual in and of itself, but rather that instead of being left alone in their part of the Sublevel, they now had a guest: Nicolette Stefrassa.
Ever since Dr. Graves departed for parts unknown, it had just been the two of them for so long that to now have a visitor in the sanctuary felt a little unnerving. Not that Nicolette was much of one for words so the silence in the room was largely the same as when it was just Jake and Henry by themselves in the rare times they had been up here. The difference being the two of them had known each other for so long they could usually tell what the other was thinking at most times and so unexpected moments were few and far between. Although those had been increasing since the Jurassic Park Incident. But Nicolette was an unexpected wildcard. Perhaps they'd gotten complacent over the years which is how they now found themselves in their current situation.
The other unspoken part was a little sexist the two scientists had to silently admit. While there were a fair number of female geneticists in the regular ranks, virtually none had yet managed to break through to the levels of top scientist like Graves, Whitacre, Wu, Venn and Chang currently occupied. The group wasn't ignorant of the fact and had high hopes for Laura Sorkin. But then right as she had been promoted to the upper echelon she'd then gone and blown it trying to circumvent the lysine contingency. Officially she still had her rank of Lead Scientist but none of the rest of the group would ever fully trust her again. Carly Carlson was now showing promise amongst the mid-level scientists but she still had a ways to go before being top-level material. But now recognizing the complacency in regards to their own situation, perhaps a push in the right direction from Whitacre and Wu might finally get her there.
How this related to Stefrassa being with them was that while Sublevel-3 was still largely classified from anyone who wasn't Whitacre, Wu, or Graves; it had in a way become even more of a boy's club than the upper geneticists group. And now a woman was suddenly in their midst. One who didn't even have a background in genetic engineering. It sort of brought to mind the final scene in Around the World in 80 Days when Princess Aouda entered the Reform Club and the whole place physically fell apart. Times were certainly changing in ways both expected and unexpected. Perhaps it was for the best in the wake of creatures who hadn't been seen on the planet in over 65 million years now suddenly roaming it once more. Nicolette for her part wasn't oblivious to the situation, she just didn't give a damn. Her work was always more important than whatever circumstances she found herself in.
At the moment, the two scientists were reviewing what genetic records they had on file in the servers. The records were by no means equivalent to the master versions stored in Kenya but they at least contained some of the oldest versions they had on the island. While it might seem odd that Site B didn't have the all the records from the Dinosaur Revivification Project, it simply boiled down to logistics. They simply didn't have the infrastructure to have all the records on file here. When things were still normal, if they needed one of the older files they could have it either transmitted electronically or had physical copy records shipped to them. But neither one was an option now. The Lockdown severally limited what could come or come off the island. However, more importantly, they didn't want to tip their hand in case whomever managed to alter the genetic structure might still be watching in case anyone found out.
Visibly yawning and stretching out, the two decided to give their searching a break and wandered over to the long table Nicolette was sitting at. In front of her were the binders of the E.L.E. Project that she was meticulously leafing through. Normally, no one had access to them outside of those who had reason to be in this part of the complex but Nicolette had argued that now that they were letting her into this area that she deserved access to them. No mention on her part of how she even knew what the project was.
The two finally sat in their seats and took out their lunches from some Jurassic Park red plastic lunchboxes that Hammond had gifted to the entire staff once merchandising had cranked them out shortly after they broke ground on the park. The picture on them was a photorealistic image of the Tyrannosaurus Rex peering down at one of the tour vehicles, which was a little unnerving in light of what had actually happened during the Jurassic Park Incident.
Observing her, the two scientists were surprised that she had managed to get through so much of the material in them so quickly. That and the notes she seemed to be taking from what she learned seemed to be few and far between.
Henry finally spoke up to her about it and Nicolette finally paused in her work and looked up at him.
"The reason is because I already know most of what is in these binders. I helped draft the E.L.E. Protocols in the first place," she informed them to the complete shock of the other two. As far as they knew only the two of them and Dr. Graves had been the only ones who contributed any material to them.
"You forget that you didn't operate in a vacuum when drafting them. You three have unparalleled knowledge of the dinosaurs and what had happened to drive them to extinction. But you had little to no knowledge of this island on which you now found yourselves after Kenya was quickly abandoned," Nicolette began, clasping her hands in front of her. "You had to get information from the other departments housed in the Fortress on the logistics involved in what you were trying to accomplish. Most of it came from Strategic Planning. I wasn't in charge of the department then but when your constant requests were coming in, the entire department was at whit's end with the three of you. They had enough work trying to plan out the future of this island. So they handed most of that work to me. Not because I was their punching bag but because I specifically asked for it.
Your requests seemed innocuous enough to anyone not knowing what you were really getting at. But not to someone who survived the A-0 Incident," Nicolette concluded with a dark shadow over her face. "So I gave you what I had and good portions of it are reproduced verbatim in this report. Or else modified but not to the point I still can't recognize it. Truth be told the work I did allowed me to quickly advance up the corporate ladder here and take over the Strategic Planning Department. I then was able to find out what the other departments had given you originally and put together the pieces as best I could.
Truthfully, this all ended up benefitting you in the end. Once I got where I am now I was able to find small holes in how the whole thing was actually set-up physically and do what I could to close those gaps."
The two scientists took all that in in contemplative silence.
"So you're our guardian angel?" asked Jake sardonically as he leaned back in his chair. Nicolette raised a skeptical eyebrow at that.
"I'm no angel," she admitted with a light bob of her head. "I just don't want to be trapped on an island full of devils should the fences fail."
"So you approve of E.L.E.?" asked Henry curious. He'd never been able to ask that question of a relative outsider before. Everyone else had already been briefed on its existence because they needed to know and none of them would likely be involved in its implementation. Daniela St. Ives was the most recent exception to that but as they'd told her then, it wasn't something you just spoke about in open conversation. And judging by the way she had looked at them from time with shock and dismay, plus what Samantha Brown had told them of her reaction, they gathered she hadn't taken the knowledge well.
"In principle," was Nicolette's only response as she resumed looking through the protocols.
"Do you think it will work?" was the expected follow-up question.
"On the contrary, I expect it to fail spectacularly," was the equally expected response from the Head of Strategic Planning as she didn't even look in their eyes upon that admission. "But I'd rather we did something rather than nothing. The A-1 Incident would just be the beginning of what we could expect to happen in 60 days."
Jake finally sat back up wondering if Nicolette had any more insight on one particular nagging question. "Failure because of what we did or…"
"Let's just say…," began Nicolette pausing as she carefully considered her next words. "That there are outside forces who do not want it to succeed."
That nugget definitely got Jake and Henry's attention. "Why?" they asked.
"That's what I'm attempting to discover amongst other things," the Head of Strategic Planning responded while deftly avoid specifically mentioning whether she already knew who was responsible and what their reasoning was. "But these forces do exist. The dinosaur genetic codes being potentially altered is evidence enough of that."
"We don't technically have proof of that," said Henry with a wry smile despite himself. Nicolette had to nod her head in acknowledgement of that fact.
"That's why when you inevitably leave this island for Kenya to get those answers that I need to go with you," Nicolette requested in a tone that wouldn't take 'no' for answer.
Jake drummed his hands on the table absently in lieu of a verbal response. The two of them had never told-and never planned-to tell her that would have to leave the island to access the master records. But once again Nicolette proved her powers of observation so necessary to her position.
Silence descended on the trio that was only broken up by Jake and Henry eating their lunch and Nicolette flipping pages in the E.L.E. Binders.
San Diego, California: "Costa Rica?" asked Jessica Harding curious. She was out on the back porch of the family house tanning herself on a lounge chair as her sister sat nearby at the patio table reviewing their notes.
"Yeah, we learned quite a bit from our excursion to the Dominican Republic and I think another field trip is in order," Sarah turned her head to look at her sister while she straightened her notes. "Your passport was last stamped in Costa Rica, Bob Morris's documentation from The Office of Technology Transfer routes most of InGen's stuff down there, my prior research says InGen has an office down there, and then there's the possibility of dad being on an island off the coast…"
"Well you've got me convinced," Jessica agreed as she sat up and folded up her tanning board and then sat across the table from her. "When do we leave?"
"On Monday," Sarah responded as she pulled out a couple of airplane tickets and handed one to Jessica. That surprised the younger sister and her raised eyebrows indicated that.
The older sister looked at her younger sister frankly as she took a quick sip of her lemonade through a straw. "We're under a real time crunch now. I leave for Kenya in three weeks."
Jessica turned forlorn at that topic being brought up again. "Do you have to go?"
Sarah solemnly nodded her head. "I've been fortunate to have most of the summer off but I still need to pay the bills little sister. Plus, I love my research as an animal behaviorist. But I promise until then we will work 24/7 to find out where dad is and regardless of if we're together or apart we will do everything we can to keep him safe."
Sarah propped up her elbow on the table and extended her hand outwards towards Jess.
"The Harding Sisters are the best," Jessica agreed and slapped her hand into her sister's with a satisfying smack.
Operations Building, Isla Sorna: Sam Stone was fanning himself to try and keep his mind off of a none-too-happy Gerry Harding who was sitting across from him. The DRT Team and Island Inspection Team were still out in the periphery of the island examining the fences but Harding had had to be called back to home base.
"But I don't want them," Gerry insisted upset, a slight amount of spittle leaving his mouth after such vitriol. Sam reluctantly put down his paper fan and faced the Veterinarian.
"I'm sorry, Gerry, but I'm not giving you a choice. The Cats go with you," the Head of Operations told him seriously, bringing up the crux of Gerry's vented anger.
"They are a menace to the island's security and stability and you want them out with us and with the team specifically trying to determine how secure this island is?!" said the Veterinarian astounded at such logic. Sam could only give a lopsided smirk/grimace at that statement as he didn't have much of a rebuttal for it, but pressed on anyway.
"Look, the Gunsmith Cats have their…'eccentricities'," Sam began trying to think of a word to describe them. A word which didn't sit well with Harding judging from his dismayed expression and how he muttered the word 'flaws' under his breath. "But besides that, I think you do need them. Despite her attempts to gobble up as much information as she can on this island for whatever purposes, Rebecca Farrah is a qualified Level 1 technician. That means with a portable terminal she can plug into the diagnostic systems associated with each pen and see if the readings match what we have back at base.
Irene Vincent is one of the best trackers we have on this island. She could be a member of the DRT Team if she really wanted. Though obviously she insists her skills are better suited on human beings than dinosaurs. But she will be able to tell if any animals are escaping their pens and are loose in the island or not."
"And Hopkins?" asked Gerry bringing up the elephant in the room with a raised eyebrow nearly identical to the one his youngest daughter had given moments ago hundreds of miles away.
Sam stretched out his arms on his desk to give himself a moment to put his thoughts together. "May Hopkins is a qualified structural analyst given her ability to pinpoint structural weaknesses and destroy almost anything," he continued, while leaving out the point that it was that usage of that knowledge that got her kicked out of the construction unit. "If the fences are structurally compromised in some way, she'll see it.
So together the three are a complete package that your group could use."
Gerry let out a giant frustrated groan at those reasons but realized he didn't have a leg to stand on since it was a direct order from the highest voice of authority on the island.
"It's just until Daniela finds work for them to do so you may not be out with them that long," Sam informed his subordinate hoping to find the positive in things. "For all you know you may find yourself enjoying their company and want them to stay," he continued with a wry smile.
The incredulous stare Harding gave him pretty much put the kibosh on that ever happening.
"Speak of St. Ives," Gerry began wanting to get away from the topic of the Gunsmith Cats and onto something else. "Are you sure she's the best person to be leading the island's staff if you are somehow injured, incapacitated, or worse in two months when the fences fail?"
Sam eyed him critically. "You don't think she's qualified?" he asked concerned that Gerry had such an apparent low opinion of the former head of Indigo.
Now Gerry shifted uneasily at having to say what was on his mind. "It's not that I don't think she's capable or qualified. But this isn't her island, it isn't Indigo. Sorna is a completely different beast that I don't she's currently in any way shape or form capable of running in your absence."
Sam considered what was being said and sat in silence for several moments.
"Well for starters; if I'm incapable to lead this island, operational jurisdiction falls to Lori Ruso," he began, which reminded him he did need to get up to speed on things in that regard. "But as far as Daniela goes, I know she's a little rough around the edges right now but I think she has what it takes to be a capable co-head of this island. If we let her."
Gerry's skeptical look was the only response to that as he chose to otherwise say nothing else in that regard. As for Sam, it gave him a lot to think about regarding his co-head. Because if Gerry felt this way and was willing to voice it aloud then no doubt other personnel on the island may very well be feeling the same way.
A couple days later:
The Fortress: All the necessary equipment Laura Sorkin needed had been loaded into the trailer that would be picked up by a semi-truck later in the day when they all pulled out of the complex.
"I'm going to miss this place," Laura admitted as she closed the doors to the trailer and locked them. "She went before her time."
Jake and Henry looked up at the facility looming over them and remembered the years they had spent there working on the DRP project. Plus a variety of unpleasant memories a couple years back they'd rather avoid.
"It's not like it's going anywhere," Jake had to point out. Laura gave a small raise of the side of her mouth at that.
"Buzzkill," she responded mildly amused. She then looked out wistfully at the morning air and stretched her arms.
"Well I've kind of been holding off asking this for the past week since you've been squirrelled up in that bunker of yours but I guess I'm running out of time so I'll ask now," Laura began out of the blue as Jake and Henry looked at her quizzically not sure what she was about to ask them so suddenly.
Turning to face them, she asked "Heard anything about Dr. Graves lately?"
The two scientists reflected on that for a moment before answering her.
"No," said Henry truthfully as he thrust his hands into his lab coat pockets. "Why?"
Laura had the look of someone about to deliver bad news. "Just wondering that if there are variations in the code perhaps he's responsible for them being there."
The two male scientists reflected on that as well. Certainly Sorkin could be trying to deflect blame or distract them from the matter at hand, but the germ of the idea had merit.
"But to what end?" Jake had to ask. "He's the one who helped put the lysine contingency into effect in the first place."
Laura shrugged at that, having no further argument to make in that regard. "Still, you'd need a dedicated bio-geneticist to know what they're doing to be able to alter the code and then how would you even be able to insert the sequence into the genetic files? Even if we assume the former was done by an outside third-party, the second part could only be done internally."
That part didn't sit well with either Henry or Jake but it was a point they had ruminated on multiple times already since the lysine test experiment had failed.
"Well we're trying to figure out the why so it's up to you and your team to figure out the how of it being possible," Jake reminded her.
"Yeah, yeah," said Laura sheepishly not needing to be reminded. "But if I am able to prove that code's been altered then the shit's going to hit the fan on this island worse than when we found out about the A-1 incident."
The two other scientists had no response to that and stayed quiet. Laura for her part just gave a wave of her hand like she wasn't going to give it any more thought and disappeared back into the complex.
The two scientists were still mulling things over when Nicolette Stefrassa appeared having been hanging about in the shadows.
"She's right you know. It would be a disaster," she began before continuing on. "I'm surprised though why you haven't told her you think the dinosaurs are also breeding."
"We have our reasons," Henry informed her but refused to say any more on the matter. "Besides, trust is always a two way street. You still haven't told us why you really came up here and I doubt it was just to confess your secret to the two of us."
Nicolette looked at them pensively regarding that question. Internally she struggled with her desire to tell them nothing or say what she was up to and try and build a better working relationship with them.
"Like you, I needed access to some old files," was all she was willing to divulge.
"On what?" Jake had to ask knowing it was likely in vain. Nicolette was silent for a few moments in her usual way before she responded.
"Sustainability," was all she admitted to in response and then retreated back to the building, leaving the two alone. Despite being not all that informative, it was more than the two were expecting from her.
Henry turned his attention to Jake who just looked annoyed at the head of strategic planning. Henry nodded his head and the two continued to look out at the island below deep in thought. It was always one step forward two steps back with her.
Nicolette for her part returned to her former office and booted up her terminal and reviewed her preliminary findings she written years ago under an executive mandate. She then pulled out her ever mysterious report on The Sustainability of the Jurassic Park Project and made more handwritten notes on it accordingly. And this she cross-compared with the notes she had taken from the E.L.E. Project binders.
Workers Village, Isla Sorna: Earlier at almost at the crack of dawn, Gerry Harding pulled up to the front of the workers lodge and looked over at the front steps. To their credit, the Gunsmith Cats had shown up on time but they were each seated next to the other on the bottom steps snoozing away with their heads on each other's shoulders.
Rather than blare his horn at them and wake up everyone in the lodge, he instead got out of the Humvee and walked up to them.
"Rise and shine ladies, it's time to go," he informed them curtly.
The three women groggily came to their senses and took their luggage and tossed them into the trunk. Then they piled into the backseat and soon were back to sleeping with their heads on each other's shoulders.
Gerry got back in the driver's seat and adjusted the rearview mirror, briefly pausing as he glimpsed the three of them in the reflection. He had an eerie sense of déjà vu regarding his youngest daughter and hoped she wasn't getting into as much trouble as these three had.
San Diego International Airport: Jessica Harding was barely standing up in line she was so tired.
"Why did we have to get me up so early?" she half-complained, half-cried. "Only dad would get someone up this early to go travelling!"
Sarah snorted at being compared to their father as they finally made their way to the airline counter and handed the worker their passports and tickets.
"The early bird gets the worm JH," she responded as Jessica groaned again. "Besides, you can sleep on the flight."
"Everyone looks in order," the airline worker noted. "On another trip again to Costa Rica so soon Ms. Harding?"
Sarah knew the worker couldn't be referring to her and Jessica immediately came to her senses as she felt the same.
"Yes," she said tentatively acting as if she knew the worker despite any knowledge of having met them locked away in her subconscious with the rest of her memories of Jurassic Park.
"Well, I hope you finally find those dinosaurs you were so excited about the last time," the worker said, unable to contain all of their laughter at that notion. They handed the passports back to Jessica and then moved onto the next passenger in line, completely missing the look of complete seriousness on both the Harding Sisters' faces as the grabbed their carry-ons and headed for security.
Out on the tarmac, a Pacific Pharmaceuticals private plane rolled onto the runway and took off for Costa Rica.
From the terminal itself, Howard King watched the plane take off and disappear into the distance and gave a flippant wave before taking his seat with Ed James and the rest of a Biosyn special operations team. Their destination: Costa Rica.