Disclaimer: John Hammond, InGen, Jurassic Park, Isla Nebular and Isla Sorna are all things that I have unconscionably stolen from Michael Crichton's novels Jurassic Park and The Lost World, as well as the movies of the same name. I have drawn on both forms of media (the books and the movies) for this story. It does not follow one or the other specifically… it is implied that John Hammond is still alive in this story, but I use dinosaur elements from the books… and a few that were in neither. None of the characters from Jurassic Park or Lost World, in either variation, appear in this story. Instead, I have chosen to plunk down a new set of characters on the island. The events described take place sometime between the Jurassic Park Incident and the San Diego Incident. Well, I guess that's all there is to say, except… enjoy the story.
Los Cinquo Muertes
Chapter 1: Survey
20
CAMPFIRE TALES
Huddled around the campfire, the survey team looked more like a group of refugees than a government-financed expedition. The fire had not been built out of necessity, because they were, after all, on a tropical island and it was warm around the clock, but because the heat felt soothing after the team's recent traumatic experience. As if the fire wasn't enough, several members like Alice were wearing blankets around their shoulders, which had been packed 'just in case'. Those who weren't gathered around the fire were staring off into the stars, contemplating the mystery that was the island or reflecting on their own, recently proven mortality. Richley mused that the only thing missing to give the team an air of war survivors was a low, sad harmonica.
After the incident in the clearing, the team had drove on for several hours until finally unanimously coming to a stop in a small, clear area. There, they had sat down to a bitter, silent meal. Afterwards they had simply lingered around, doing menial tasks, none of them wanting to discuss the nightmare that had just taken place. It was nearly nine p.m., local time, before the incident was mentioned at all.
Richley stood resting against a tree, staring off into the jungle as if he expected that afternoon's monster to come charging out. He was lost in his own thoughts. Though the incident was not spoken of, it was foremost on everybody's mind, including Richley's. Benny came up slowly behind him and sat down on a rock besides the team leader. Richley didn't acknowledge his presence for at least a minute when, not even turning to look at Benny, he asked:
"How could it of happened?"
Since Benny had no answer, he did not reply. Richley continued anyway:
"How does a goddamn monster that's supposed to be dead for sixty five goddamn million years suddenly show up on this island and start snacking on my men?!"
With a faint trace of a smile, Benny says:
"I don't goddamn know?"
But the joke falls flat, and Benny slums back. Finally, Richley turns away from the jungle and asks:
"Could this be some kind of lost world? A place where the dinosaurs somehow avoided extinction and have been living here ever since?"
"No. Had these dinosaurs somehow avoided extinction then evolution would have taken its course. The modern dinosaurs on this island would be significantly different from the ones we knew existed sixty five million years ago, which are the ones we have seen here. Besides, don't you think the Costa Rican government would have noticed that giant prehistoric beasts inhabited one of their islands? No, the dinosaurs got here recently, sometime during the years between the last survey of the island and now."
"Are you going to tell me that a group of dinosaurs decided to do some time travelling?"
"Of course not. Time travel is, at least for now, a physical impossibility. I'm completely stumped as to how they got here."
Richley though for a moment, then said:
"Before the U.S. government acquired these islands, it had been briefly owned by a private corporation, something called InGen. Could they somehow be responsible for this?"
"It does seem the most likely explanation. Trick is, though we may know whom, we still don't know how. I bet that if we figure out what it is exactly that InGen did, we would know how the dinos got here." Benny looked towards the circle around the fire. "I'd be willing to bet that our government attaché knows more about this company than we do."
They got up and slowly walked towards the group around the fire. Richley tapped lightly on Ellis' shoulder.
"Ms. Ellis, could we have a talk with you?"
Ellis seemed to hesitate, then got up. Blanket still shrouded over her shoulders, she walked over to a small cluster of trees with Richley and Benny. She seemed to be completely out of it, very shell-shocked. Richley hoped she would be able to answer him. He kept his voice low when he spoke.
"Ms. Ellis, you know all the governmental details that are attached to this island, right?"
Ellis nodded
"Then could you tell us a little about the company that was here before us, InGen?"
Ellis appeared confused by the question, and then searched her memory for the information that had been in the formal report. Her brain barely worked as she spoke, it was all automatic. Right now, it hurt too much to think.
"Lets see, InGen… oh yes. InGen is a privately owned company that specializes in genetic splicing and reconstruction. Owner and CEO, John Hammond. Was given a few government subsidiaries to assist in researching the possibility of cloning rare animals, like the Californian Condor. It bought these islands in 1994 then sold it to the U.S. government, saying that the transportation fee was to high to establish company headquarters on an island this remote. That's all I know."
"Okay, thanks."
Dismissed, Ellis returned to the warm, comforting fire.
Richley turned to Benny and asked:
"Well, what do you think?"
"I'm a little less confused, but not by much. Sure, you can take DNA samples from existing animals and try to clone it; they did it with that sheep in New Zealand. But there aren't any dinosaurs around anymore. At least, there wasn't…"
"Wait, what about dinosaur fossils?"
"Naw. These guys have been dead for at least sixty-five million years, most of them more. There wouldn't be anything remaining in the fossils after that long. It's just impossible to resurrect millennia-dead dinosaurs like that."
"Well somebody found a way… maybe not with genetics, but they certainly found a way. I'm going to try to have another chat with her tomorrow," Richley said, nodding his head towards Ellis.
Richley let out a long sigh and sat on a root.
"If – I mean when – we get off this island, I'm sure that the U.S. government is going to want to have a frank talk with mister Hammond. However, even if we did know where the dinosaurs came from, it still doesn't particularly help us."
"True, true."
Richley and Benny drifted back into silence, still pondering the odd information that their governmental attaché had given them. Then they spotted P.J. coming towards them, and got back up.
"Boss, I got bad news."
Richley looked at him incredulously. After a day like this, what news could possibly be considered bad?
"The trailer that got stuck, and then used like a football by the Rex, it was the one that held our communications equipment, our navigation equipment and a good deal of our provisions. Which means that we're lost on an island with lots of dinosaurs, with no way to contact home base and only a few days left of food."
Richley slumped against the tree again.
21
SHORT-TERM PLANS
"Alright, listen up people."
The sun had risen over the jungle trees once again, and the members of the expedition had woken up from a restless night to a bright, sunny morning. Though several of them still wore worried expressions, they didn't look half as haggard as they had the night before. Richley hoped that the shock from yesterday's events had passed; he needed his entire team at optimum performance. After breakfast, Richley had gathered the whole team in the centre of the clearing to address them. He stood on the hood of one of the jeeps to make sure that he had everybody's attention.
"As you all know, we have encountered some . . . unexpected problems," several people chuckled uneasily at this, "on this island, resulting in the loss of one team member. But the news only gets worse."
Like Richley the evening before, many members wondered how things could possibly get worse.
"The trailer that was lost in the… incident… was the one that carried our communications gear, so we can't contact the plane. Also, we lost our navigational equipment, so we have no idea where we are or where we're going. Last but not least, we're running low on food supplies. So, here's what were going to do for now. Soles, Carlson and P.J. are going to return to the lost trailer to see if anything can be salvaged. Myself, along with Ms. Ellis and you two," Richley pointed to Stanley and Peter, "are going to go with them, then split and head towards the lake to replenish our water supply. This will have to be done in several trips. As for the rest of you, I want you to coordinate with Benny and Folker to search around the camp for any plant that might be edible. Don't eat anything before it's been analysed. Last thing we need now is somebody coming down with a case of food poisoning. Afterwards, we'll see what our long-term plan is going to be. Are there any questions?"
"Where do those things come from?" asked John.
"Ah, I've talked to Benny and Ms. Ellis about that one…"
Ellis looked surprised for a moment, then remembered last night's questioning and made the connection.
"We think that the company from whom the U.S. government bough the islands from are responsible for the presence of the dinosaurs, because they weren't here in '91. Whatever their plans had been, there must have been a problem because the company left these islands, then turned around and sold it. Didn't even bother to tell us that these things were here."
There were a few muttered invectives from the team.
"Any more questions? No? Good. Well then, let's get cracking."
22
MEILLER JOINS THE PARTY
After the little conference, Meiller walked up to Richley who was giving the last instructions to P.J. and his team.
"Sir," Meiller addressed Richley in this way even though he wasn't a superior officer, "I request permission to go along with the scavenging team. No insult to mister Jaminson's abilities, but if the Tyrannosaur shows up again, it would be best if they had somebody with military training with them."
For a moment, P.J. considered remarking to Meiller that his soldier's military training hadn't really done him any good, but didn't. Though he was sure he could handle anything this cursed island threw at him, it was nice to have somebody who could operate a gun along with him.
Richley just nodded his approval, and then walked back towards the interior of the camp.
23
ORDINARY BEETLES
"Alice?"
"Yeah, dad, I'm here."
Alice was in one of the foldable shelters. Since it appeared that they were going to be staying in this clearing a while longer, nobody had bothered to take them down.
Alice didn't bother turning to face her father when he came in. Her attention was riveted on the objet she had placed on one of the bunks. Inside the clear, plastic cage, Tiny was snacking on some juicy bugs Alice had found under a rock. Richley frowned at the creature. Alice, sensing what her father was about to say, said:
"Don't worry dad, I checked with Benny before I took the bugs, they're just ordinary beetles."
She paused, then continued:
"It's nice to see that something on this island is what it seems. A cute little animal turns out to be poison; a huge, supposedly dead monster comes out of the jungle . . . what's next, man-eating trees?"
"Honey, I assure you, if I had know that there was any danger here, I wouldn't have brought you."
"Well, duh. You're so overprotective that if you had known that these dinos were here you would have had me shipped to wherever the other end of the world is from here. China, maybe, or India."
"I'm not overprotective. I'm just . . . concerned about you."
"Yeah, right. Look, I got to go help Benny with the plants now. Been fun talking to you."
And she left the shelter, leaving Richley alone with Tiny, who had finished his snack. It looked at Richley a moment then started making short, squeaky sounds.
"Oh, what are you laughing at?"
24
LAKESIDE DISCUSSION
The two jeeps roared down the clear-cut path into the large clearing. Then the vehicles split, as planned. P.J.'s team followed the tracks that the fleeing jeeps had made in the weeds the day before. After a short while, they arrived at the wreck. From close up, the sheer damage looked even worse. The trailer lay on its back, pierced wheels in the air. The impact had crushed the vehicle; it now stood no taller than a meter high. The door had been blocked by a broken piece of monitoring equipment, so Soles had go enter the trailer through one of the shattered windows. Carlson also went that way, though he had much more problems getting in than Soles because of his bulk. This worried P.J. because if the Tyrannosaurus returned, they might waste valuable time extracting Carlson from the trailer.
Richley's team turned eastwards as soon as they entered the clearing, heading for the lake. They drove for a minute or two before arriving at the lake's side. There, Peter and Stanley, the two men Richley had brought along, unloaded the water tanks. Then both men took one and started filling it up using a vacuum hose. Weaker than the workers, Richley and Ellis took one tank for both of them. Richley put the suction end of the tube into the water, whilst Ellis fixed the sizes on the filters. They activated the machine, and slowly water came through the tube and into the tank, all impurities removed by the filters and measured quantities of chlorine.
As Richley crouched to examine the water slowly filling up the tank, Ellis asked him:
"Okay, Richley, what is this all about?"
"Excuse me?"
"Come on, I'm not an idiot you know. You didn't bring me along because you needed an extra pair of hands. If that were true, you would have brought another of the bulging biceps buddies over there," she said, pointing to Peter and Stanley.
Richley didn't deny the accusation. In fact, he was glad that Ellis had figured it out. It meant that she had shaken off her coma-like state from the night before. Also, the alliteration she had used to describe his men amused him. He made a mental note to remember it and tell Stanley and Peter later on.
"Alright, I'm going to ask you a question. And I want you to give me an honest answer. Did you know?"
"What?" replied a bewildered Ellis.
"Did you know what was here? You said the government purchased this island. I can't believe the infrared satellites you people have up there didn't pick up an animal the size of a house! Did you or did you not send us here as guinea pigs?"
"No!" Ellis was indignant and slightly scared by the ferocious look on Richley's face. "The government isn't some uncaring, conspiratorial, power hungry institution, Mr. Richley. If we had known that this island was populated with man-eating monsters, the only thing we would have sent here would have been a squadron of bombers! I assure you that we… I… wouldn't subject anybody to this kind of nightmare."
"But what about the satellites?" asked a significantly less suspicious Richley.
"Well, to tell you the truth, and this is classified," she pointed out, "We've been having problems with pirates lately."
"Pirates?" Richley asked, confused. He could hardly imagine a group of swashbuckling sixteenth century buccaneers holding up to a regiment of U.S. soldiers armed with M-16 rifles.
"Yes. There is an organized group of privateers who have been raiding commercial shipping in these parts. Most of the satellites in this area are occupied trying to track them. In fact, one of the goals of this colony would have been to insure that the surrounding waters are kept safe through regular patrols launched from a harbour here."
Ellis sighted.
"But I guess that's impossible now. There is no way we could ever let people set foot on this island while these creatures are roaming. We would have to wipe them out first. And then, of course, there's going to be the scientific community protesting that we we're destroying an invaluable research opportunity. Greenpeace and all the other environmental organisations would do rallies and protestations: 'Don't let them go extinct again!' and other slogans and… God, what a whole big mess this is!"
Ellis sighed again and said:
"But no – we didn't know. Believe me when I say: I would never do anything to hurt her."
Richley frowned.
"Her? Who is 'her'?"
"Oh, come on. Don't feign ignorance with me after I revealed classified information to you. Anybody can tell how protective you are about your daughter. You're worried sick that something on this island is going to get her."
"I worry about all my team members." Richley responded flatly.
"But not so much as you do for Alice. You consider everybody except Alice to be reasonable adults capable of taking care of themselves. You still think of her as a little girl that needs to be protected. I guess you're trying to make up for the lack of her mother–"
Ellis stopped as soon as she saw the look on Richley face when she mentioned his wife. It was a mixture of anger and sadness. Up to now, Ellis had assumed that Richley's wife had divorced him, possibly because a man in Richley's field traveled a lot. But the sadness on the man's face betrayed a much deeper loss.
"You're not divorced, are you." It was a statement, not a question.
"No, it's something a lot more… permanent… then that. Alice's mother is dead. She died while on an expedition. With me."
25
E.T. PHONE HOME
"Yo! Carlson! I think I got something here!"
Soles crawled out from under an upturned console inside the trailer. In her hands she held a small device with a LCD screen and several buttons.
"Some of the lights on this thing are still on, I guess that means it still works," said Soles.
"Pass it here," replied Carlson, sitting on his knees in the cramped space. Soles handed him the device then shifted around in the trailer into a hovering position over his shoulder. Carlson inspected the device, then whooped:
"Yes! It's a GRTX module, still in working order. We can use this to radio the plane! E.T. can now phone home, people!"
26
MEMORIES
Hurt spread across Richley face as he told Ellis about an incident that will forever play out in his mind.
"We, me and my wife, were on a expedition, charting a branch of the Amazon River. Alice was six at the time, so we had left her with the U.S. Embassy in Rio de Janeiro before flying northwards to Pôrto de Mòz at the mouth of the river. We had ventured pretty deep into the jungle, then took a recently discovered branching near Fonta Boa. And we made a mistake. We forgot one of the principal creeds of explorations: always listen to the natives. For one thing they know the basic layout of the land, having lived there for generations. But native mythology is usually very important, because they might reveal some previously unknown danger in the area. We had ignored a warning from the natives about the 'Lizard-Guardians of the Gods'."
Richley paused in his recital, and his eyes looked as if he was gazing at something far way.
"She had been wearing her normal clothes that day: faded beige shorts and vest. Her hair had been tied in a tight knot to prevent it from getting snagged by an overhanging tree-branch. She had leaned over our boat to get some water samples, when she cried out and was pulled into the water. Screaming, I ran to the side of the boat, where my wife was struggling against a great black log-like thing, a gigantic alligator. A Melanosuchus niger, the Black Caiman, largest one ever recorded. I had a shotgun at my side, and I used it against the beast. I hit it once, twice, three times before it finally relented. I dragged her out of the water and onto the boat, a pool of red water forming where she had been. The damage was incredible: all the bones in her mid-section had been crushed, and the skin has torn and ripped asunder. She died in my hands, trying to whisper my name, but unable to because she lungs had been punctured. They say people look serene in death, but she looked more troubled than she had ever been in life. I immediately turned around, towards the nearest missionary camp, but there was nothing to be done. Alice took the news hard. She didn't leave her room for a week. Eventually though, she regained her exuberant personality. Like her mother, nothing could keep her down for long."
At a loss for something more appropriate to say in light of such a sad tale, Ellis spurted out:
"Well, at least there aren't any big alligators on this island."
"No," Richley said as he resumed pumping, "Here, it's worse."