There was a great feeling of loss within the group, as they floated on the waves. An air of silence hung around, except for the ever-present hypnotic sound of the ocean and the occasional gust from the sea winds. The propellers on the hovercraft had been shut off to allow them time to think out their course, while a makeshift job with a piece of rope had tied the two craft together, preventing them from drifting apart. Although the cushion of air was no longer holding them up, they could still float, though they could feel every single wave that rolled underneath them, and therefore rocked in the sea.

"Well, what should we do now", asked David, who was lying down and looking skyward. He was mesmerised by the deep blue sky above him, its infinite appearance and the way it darkened as height increased.

"Find our way to Nublar", replied Jo, logically. It was the plan that Jim had. She said the words without feeling though, as she was too exhausted to care much.

"No great hurry", continued David, "I don't fancy going back to any dino inhabited island too soon", he continued to stare up at the sky, now focusing on the distant stratus clouds that formed miles above his head.

"We can't stay out here forever though", reasoned Boris, "Jim what do you think?"

"I agree, we must get to dry land as soon as possible", came the reply. Jim didn't fancy the idea of returning to danger so soon either, but he knew it had to be done. David knew this too, as did everyone else, but they all kept quiet.

"We need to head north", explained Boris, "Isla Nublar is about 80 miles from here, shall we get going?" he questioned at the end of his statement.

They all reluctantly agreed, before they either dried out from overexposure to the sun, or died of hunger and thirst. Boris fired up the engine of his hovercraft, as Jim undid the bonds keeping them both together. Once undone, the craft drifted slightly apart, and Jim went about turning on his own engine. The waves could no longer be felt now once the cushion of air effectively floated them above the sea. After finding the correct bearing, both vessels then shot off towards their destination.

"What!" spat Stan angrily into the radio, "What do you mean escaped without trace?"

"They've gone sir, they no longer exist on this island", replied the garbled radio communication through scrambled static.

"Trooper, we destroyed the boats they arrived in, they can't have escaped unless they tried swimming", he continued. The man on the other end replied uneasily.

"I'm sorry sir, but they really have gone…" Before the man could finish, Stan aggressively slammed his fist down on the radio, shutting it off. He was still up in the bridge and proceeded to use the local communications system.

"Roland, we need you up here immediately, a situation has arisen".

Roland was well below deck, in a darkened room. It was the room that overlooked the cargo hold, where his subject was currently held. A smaller man in light green overalls was also standing there, his hand rested upon a lever. Stan's message blared out through a loud speaker within the room.

"Damn", he said in response to the request, "I'm sorry Ed but it will have to wait, give it one of the beef joints for now". He turned with an almost military precision, and left the room, leaving the man named Ed a little disappointed.

Up in the bridge entered Roland. As he entered he saw that Stan was in quite a state. Word of the stolen hovercrafts had just come through and Stan was furious.

"Apparently our friends back on Sorna are still alive", he hissed through his teeth, "In fact, they're doing so well that they aren't even there anymore".

Roland looked puzzled at this. He didn't even know who Stan was talking about, having never met them.

"Two hovercrafts are out there somewhere", explained Stan to quell Roland's confusion, "Destroy them", he added coldly. With a simple command to follow Roland made his way down to the deck, happy now that he knew what he was supposed to be doing.

They had been travelling along for quite awhile now. With Jim at the controls, David had reverted back to staring at the sky, since it seemed to comfort him. The endless limits of the dark blue world above him was a lot more optimistic than of the endless expanses of the deep blue world beneath him.

There was little talking because of the loud drone from the propellers, which was what made their journey possible. There was little to say at this moment anyway.

As David continued to stare up at the sky, he noticed something, a small object flying overhead, an aircraft. His heart leapt in his chest.

"Hey, I can see an aircraft", he yelled above the din of the engines to alert everyone. They all looked up as well and saw that indeed there was a small helicopter above them. It appeared to have spotted them since it was coming nearer. Upon closer inspection he could identify it as a 'Little Bird', a small two-seater often used in observation roles. Both hovercrafts stopped, so that they would be easier to identify.

The first suggestion was that it was from the Costa Rican military, probably doing a routine patrol. They wouldn't be too happy to see that their restriction rules about the island had been breached, but that was a small price to pay for survival. What everyone could now hope for was safety of the mainland. It would almost certainly be guaranteed. There would be no need to get to Nublar anymore.

This thought lingered momentarily in David's mind, but soon disappeared as a more disturbing thought emerged. This was backed up by the extra details he noticed on the small helicopter as it got closer and closer. On either side of the craft were two cylinders. The helicopter lined up as if to fly straight over them, hopefully just for identification purposes.

"Start her up", He murmured to Jim, "I have a very bad feeling about this".

"I think you have something there", Jim replied, his eyes fixated on the ever nearing flying machine. Boris switched on his own machine and started moving away, slowly at first, but gradually picking up speed.

"Quickly, quickly", he willed Jim to hurry, but there was a problem.

"It won't start", came Jim's cold words, "The wretched thing won't start".

"Here, let me try", hurried David, who grasped at the ignition switch. He started flipping it on and off, on and off, but to no avail.

"Come on, come on", he hissed.

The 'Little Bird' came ever closer.

"Please God, please".

It was almost over their heads by now.

A sudden roar filled his ears and he jammed the throttle to maximum power, just as the two cylinders on the small helicopter unleashed a devastating barrage of fire, causing great plumes of spray to rise out of the water. It was now clear that the two cylinders were mini guns, a weapon quite capable of cutting the hovercrafts in two. It had wasted its first salvo, but Jim knew it would take great skill in surviving the second encounter. All he could do was pray that his brief experiences as a hovercraft pilot paid off.

"Idiot", snapped Roland to the pilot, "You came in too fast, I need you to fly a lot slower to get an accurate shot at them".

Without a word, the pilot just pulled back on his control column and turned back for another pass. Roland controlled the two mini guns from the co-pilot's position, having the ability to point the barrels up and down, but having his shot depend much on the pilot's ability. He also knew how limited the mini gun was in ammunition, which is why he sparked off at the pilot after the first failed attempt.

Hoping to get it right this time the pilot lowered his airspeed as he came after Jim's vessel. As the distance between him and the target closed Jim started to zigzag his machine, confusing the pilot. Jim then shot straight underneath the 'Little Bird', as Roland fired off another shot, this time tilting the guns up and down to spread the fire and cover more area, in response to Jim's evasive manoeuvre.

"You were much too slow this time, imbecile", Roland once again insulted the pilot, "How do you expect me to get an effective shot if we're practically stationary?"

There was only one more chance now, unless he managed to successfully snipe at them with the mini guns, an almost impossible feat with such an inaccurate weapon. Collateral damage was the mini gun's way of dealing with things.

Chasing Jim in his hovercraft the helicopter lined up for a strafing run from behind.

"Now", yelled Roland, "I have them, more speed, more speed, they're slipping out of range you stupid bastard".

The pilot pushed forward on the throttle, giving the 'Little Bird' the requested extra speed, but as Roland fired of his last burst of firepower, Jim turned his craft out in a long lazy arc to the left.

"Turn, turn", Roland yelled out in desperation as Jim took advantage of the helicopter's blind spot. The 'Little Bird' did so, but much too late. The last of the mini gun rounds exited the rotary barrel, and were wasted to the sea.

"Bastards!" he cursed.

Defeated, the small aircraft headed back to where it had come from. Stan didn't intimidate Roland at all, no matter how much the guy blew his top, so reporting failure was only a defeat to Roland personally. He was, after all, sleeping with the man's niece. If I ever run into those people again, he thought, I will wipe them off the face of the Earth.