Sorna: Flames rose high into the sky as the team ran to the fields of agama beans and soy beans.
"What the hell is going on?" asked Gerry confused as the entire field was light aflame.
"I don't know," said Jake. A roar was heard from behind them as a jeep came to a halt and Stracken came out and walked towards them.
"Oh hi guys," he said. "I didn't realize you were back."
"What the hell're you doing?" demanded Gerry grabbing him by the collar.
"Oh, yeah that's right you wouldn't know," said Stracken cryptically.
"Know what? We've only been gone three days, what the hell happened!" said Sam.
"We had an incident," said Stracken simply.
"What kind of incident?" asked Gerry. "Did a dragon get loose or something?"
"Ha, good one," Stracken said. "No, we had an incident with the triceratops."
"Go on," said Jake. Stracken grimaced.
"I don't know if you know this or not, but we're running on lysine, very low. I'm talking low to the point of we're not have any more in three weeks," said Stracken.
"Yeah," said Jake grimly. "That's why we grabbed all we could from Indigo."
"Too bad our main supply of lysine depends on incoming shipments from the mainland," Gerry reminded them. "Shipments, which we are no longer going to get thanks to Ingen cutting off all ties with this island."
"So anyway, we decided to start rationing the lysine. We would split it up into deciding which animals get it when on a three turn cycle," said Stracken. "One of the animals we cut was the triceratops. What we didn't realize was how deprived of lysine some of them were. The second day after you left, one of them went ballistic and actually managed to smash through the electrified fence surrounding its pen and escaped into the island. It caused relatively minor damage throughout the island on its rampage. Rather than confront the beast head on, we decided to see where it was going. While it did meander a bit, its ultimate destination was here so when we finally caught up with it, what was it doing? Eating all the crops in the area," said Stracken crossing his arms and leaning against the jeep.
"Why would it do that?" Karrie asked.
"Think about it," said Stracken. "What is heavily present in agama and soy beans that the dinosaurs would want so badly? And no the answer isn't protein."
Silence descended on the group as they thought it out before Jake's eyes went wide open and he covered his mouth before staring out at the burning.
"Oh damn," he said suddenly. "I wonder why this didn't occur to me before."
"What?" demanded Karrie. "What is it?"
"Agama beans and soy beans are both lysine rich," said Rebecca cutting in.
"That's right," said Stracken with Jake nodding in agreement. "It came here to load up on lysine."
"So wait," said Karrie. "Why are you burning the crops, couldn't we harvest them for their lysine and replenish our supply?"
"Wouldn't work," said Jake shaking his head. "The only way the dinosaurs could get enough lysine would be if they ate a lot of it and we simply did have the time or the supplies to do it."
"So why not plant the crops in their pens?" asked Rebecca.
"No," said Gerry decisively. "We are the ones who regulate the lysine supply, not them. If they can get access to all the lysine they could ever want, then we've lost control over this island."
"As for why we're burning it, that's in keeping with the contingency plan in case of evacuation," said Stracken. "The part where the dinosaurs are cut off from any solution that would allow for them to survive longer than the lysine contingency would allow."
"So who planted these crops?" Jake asked. "I know they weren't here when we first surveyed it, I made sure of that."
"It did take some digging," Stracken admitted. "But I eventually uncovered the answer just a few hours ago."
"Who?" asked Jake really wanting to know. Stracken looked at him nonplussed.
"Take a wild guess," he said. Jake groaned.
"I knew he'd find a way around the lysine contingency I just knew it!" Jake shouted to the heavens. "Way to go John, you finally got past me on that one. Oy."
"Wait why would Hammond not want the lysine contingency to work?" Karrie asked confused as the group headed over to Stracken's jeep and crammed in as the vehicle roared off back to the docks.
"Hammond hated the lysine contingency," said Sam. "He constantly put off approving it and only after Jake strong armed him did he reluctantly decide to implement it."
"I didn't know that," Karrie admitted. "Are you sure?"
"Think about it this way, why didn't Hammond simply wait out the dinosaurs until the lysine contingency kick in?" Jake asked. "Because he wanted the island working as soon as possible so members from Sorna could come in and give the dinosaurs' lysine before they all died."
"Hey, where's Burke?" Stracken cut in suddenly. "Is he back at the boat?"
"Turns out we had more trouble than we bargained for back on Sorna," said Gerry angrily.
"Let me guess, raptor's right?" Stracken asked.
"Yeah," said Jake. "How?"
Stracken shrugged as the jeep bounced over a bump in the road. "I found some records after you guys took off indicating that we'd shipped them over there when I was searching for who approved planting the beans. But by that point it seemed too late to warn you about it as if there were still alive you'd probably encountered them by then."
"It's okay," said Jake. "By then it was too late to do anything about it."
"Yeah," said Stracken. "You're probably right."
"Ingen's going to hate another lawsuit," said Jeff in the back.
"There won't be a lawsuit," said Jake.
"Why?" asked Karrie confused.
"He's the only surviving member of his family," said Jake. "In effect, his family lineage is now 'extinct'."
"I guess that would explain his jitteriness," said Jeff.
"So what're you going to do?" asked Stracken.
"Tell Ingen and have him and then bury him," said Jake shrugging, still a little perturbed by his lack of feeling towards the whole issue.
"I guess it would be the humane thing to do," said Stracken. "Speaking of which…"
While still driving he reached under his seat and retrieved a packet of papers and tossed them onto Jake's lap.
"Latest recall notice," he said. Jake rifled through it.
"Karrie, Jeff, enjoy your new lives," said Jake. Jeff and Karrie embraced happily after hearing this as the jeep pulled to a stop at the docks.
"Wait," said Karrie. "Will you be okay without us?"
"Yeah we'll be fine," said Jake. "Like old times right guys?"
"God I hope not," said Gerry as they all got out of the jeep.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jake demanded as Rebecca laughed at their outburst, which caused her empty stomach to hurt.
"Nairobi, August 29, 1988," said Gerry simply.
"Oh," said Jake with realization as the walked onto the boat.
"Yeah," said Gerry nodding.
"Well don't wind up in any mine shafts with me then," said Jake simply as he began unbuckling the crates.
"You do remember what specimen you were so desperate to obtain before that shaft collapsed don't you?" asked Gerry. Jake glared at him.
"Yes, yes I do," he said bitterly and left it at that as he instantly was silent.
"Sorry Jake, I shouldn't have brought it up," said Gerry with regret. Jake just nodded solemnly as he pushed the crates up onto a dolly and rolled them off.
"What specimen was it?" asked Karrie.
"Velociraptor," said Gerry. "It contained the code for one of the deadliest that we'd ever run across. Jake wanted it to kill off the raptor population on Nublar because he felt there were too many on the island and he didn't want them to gain control of Nublar. So he made it and shipped it off, and it did just that. But not before it killed Jeffrey," said Gerry as he too took a crate and wheeled it off of the boat.
"It seems like he's always been confronted with that image," she said grabbing a crate.
"Now you know why he's often so bitter," said Gerry. "Can you imagine being reminded of your greatest fault day in and day out? It's enough to drive any man mad."
"Do you think Jake is mad?" asked Karrie. Gerry shot her a look.
"Just asking," she said. "I'm leaving anyway and I really want to know your opinion."
"Jake is the sanest man I know," said Gerry. "Even if he does go over the edge, he'll have rightly earned it. In the past three months he's been assailed with more burdens than most people face in an entire lifetime. The fact that he hasn't lost it speaks testaments to his mental psyche than anything else. The death of his best friend, Ingen suddenly collapsing, the loss of his 'girlfriend', dinosaurs running loose, this island falling apart all around him, an uncertain future, it's incredible! And yet he wakes up and goes to work every day and does his job when any lesser man would've given up."
"Yeah," agreed Karrie. "But soon he'll experience burnout, there's no avoiding it."
"You're probably right," said Gerry. "But until then he's the only hope we've got for restoring normalcy on this island."
"You want go have another go at hunting down something before I leave?" Karrie asked swinging up her rifle.
Gerry shook his head. "I seem to have temporarily lost interest in it. Something about being reminded of those mestizos seems to have taken the fight out of me."
"Fine," said Karrie disappointed. "I guess I do have some packing to do."
"Hey Jake," said Jeff. Jake looked up from his work and stared at him silently. "What should I tell the guys back at Ingen regarding what's going on here regarding the dinosaurs."
"The truth," said Jake simply. "What else is there?"
"Yeah but-," began Jeff.
"Look," said Gerry butting in. "They clearly don't care so lying isn't going to do us any good because then they'll think something more is going on when it isn't. So just tell them the truth and you'll be set free."
"I'd keep quiet about the A-1 incident," Sam reminded them. "Ingen is in no way linked to that incident and they will fight to keep it that way."
"Right," said Karrie. "Look I'll miss you guys. It's been fun…for the most part."
"Yeah we'll miss you two," said Sam throwing a box into a truck parked at the dock. "But at least you'll be off this blasted island and can get a decent night's sleep."
"Yeah," said Karrie. "Too bad I'll be out of a job, probably for awhile."
"How so?" asked Sam as he slammed the door shut on the back of the vehicle as Gerry got in the passenger's cabin. The two of them, along with Jeff, headed for a nearby hummer while Jake got into the jeep with Stracken and Rebecca.
"Kind of hard to put working with dinosaurs on your resume," said Karrie as Sam started up the jeep.
"How do you think I feel?" asked Jeff with a quick laugh. "It's going to be difficult explaining what I did for Ingen."
"I'm sure you'll come up with something," said Sam as he gunned the engine and the vehicle roared off in the small convoy.
Jeep: "So what else has gone wrong since I've been gone?" Jake asked still reading through the recall list.
"The geothermal power system is starting to go again," said Stracken. "It's not like it's going to stop working, it just can't provide enough power for the entire island."
"So it's either cut power to certain areas or risk having the system fail altogether?" said Jake. "I thought we had this problem fixed last month."
"Yeah, but thanks to the recalls, we're having to rely more and more on automation to account for the continued loss of personnel," said Stracken as he turned a corner and the vehicle rolled past a pair of fences on both sides of the road.
"Like what?" asked Rebecca.
"We have an automated assembly line that gives hay and other food to the pens at regular intervals, sprinkler systems that periodically water the grounds to prevent them from drying out, and other things just like that. It's all costing power," said Stracken.
"That and like Indigo this island was never meant to contain dinosaurs for a prolonged period of time. What was supposed to happen was that we'd keep the dinosaurs in their pens for a few months then ship them to Nublar care of Indigo. During the downtime we would relax any systems that had been taxed during the maturity period. Unfortunately that's no longer an option and as a result our systems are being worn out and we can't fix them," said Jake reading the final tally on the board. "And it looks like we're done to less than eighty people on the entire island!"
"I'm as shocked as you are," said Stracken. "That means we've finally fallen below the minimum amount of personnel on the island for smooth operations."
"Yikes," said Rebecca. "So what're you going to do?"
"First of all," said Jake. "You're getting the hell off of this island. If we fall below minimum safety standards, all civilians are to be evacuated immediately and that means you."
"Aw c'mon!" Rebecca protested. "I need the job experience of working under adverse conditions!"
"I don't even think your parents are aware of what's happening on this island and I don't think Pete knows you're here either, so you're gone," said Jake. "Believe me, what you've seen happen so far is well beyond anything you'll encounter in the professional market. Afterwards I'm calling a meeting of the entire island and we are going to decide what to do about it."
"I look forward to that meeting," said Stracken shaking his head. Jake shrugged.
"Oh yeah," he said. "What happened to the trike?"
"Well despite the fact that it got some lysine into its system, the thing went into anaphylactic shock. We've got it restrained in one of the warehouses but it ain't coming out of that coma. Actually come to think of it it's probably dead by now," Stracken mused. "Why?"
"I need a look at its genetic structure," said Jake simply. "I'm worried about dangerous genetic mutations occurring as a result of too much cloning on so few samples."
Stracken's eyes narrowed. "I thought we worked past that?"
"It's probably nothing," Jake said. "But I need to know for sure just for some peace of mind."
"Okay," said Stracken. "I'll tell whoever's left to prep for dissection."
"No that's okay," said Jake trying not to sound too abrupt. "I could use the diversion and if need be, Sam can help me."
"Then you have must have a lot of time on yours hands if you could dissect a full grown trike on your own," said Stracken with a grin.
"Just drive," said Jake. Stracken laughed and pressed the accelerator and the car pressed forward.
One week later, three and a half months post-Nublar: The helicopters departed into the distance as Jake headed for the meeting with the remaining 75 unlucky individuals still left on the island. As Jake approached the podium, he noticed that all the members were there, taking up only three fourth of the seats in the room. It was an incredible contrast to right after Nublar had fallen and the room had been full to standing capacity and even then that was less than a fourth of the total personnel on the island at the time. Jake sighed and took the podium.
"Hey guys," he said. The others looked around and noticed the complete lack of personnel.
"Shouldn't we wait for the others?" someone asked.
"There are no others," said Jake simply. "We are all that remains of Ingen's presence on this island."
A brief moment of silence descended on the auditorium before it turned into an angry uproar.
"We can't run this island with 75 people!" shouted someone. "We could barely run it with 150!"
"Well that's how it's going to be from now on," Jake snorted. "So sayeth our Lord Peter Ludlow!"
"Fuck Ludlow!" shouted Dillon, one of the more radical members of the island. "I've had enough of this bullshit, it's time we stood up to Ingen because I refuse to spend another minute on this damn island!"
"And how do you propose to do any of that?" Gerry shouted over the ruckus that emanated after that statement. "We're on an island that's on the verge of falling apart at the seams in the South Pacific and they're in their cozy offices in Southern California. Believe me when I say in all honesty that they really don't care what happens here."
"Then I quit," said Dillon.
"Unfortunately you can't," said Jake. "When you signed your contract you voided that possibility unless you were either fired or dead."
"Fire me then," said Dillon.
"Can't, that's corporate decision not mine," said Jake. "You want to have a go at the radio knock yourself out. Somehow I don't think they'll refuse someone wanting to leave."
"If we seize control of this island, then they'll be down here in a hurry," said Dillon with a grin.
"I don't think you get it," said Jake. "We barely have anybody left on this island and if you start a scene ultimately those dinosaurs are going to get loose and then things really will go south for the winter. Right now we need to use the supplies we got from Indigo to fix the fences and then decide how best to conserve power to survive this ordeal."
"Why prolong the inevitable? Doing all of this isn't going to change the fact that the dinosaurs are ultimately going to escape and that we'll be stuck here with them. I don't want to see my life slowly crumble before my eyes, I've worked too long and too hard to see that happen," said Dillon leaving the room. Jake watched him go before looking at Gerry who just shrugged helplessly. Jake sighed and shook his head before returning his attention to the group.
"Anyway I feel that by quickly repairing the damaged fences and fixing any other damage to them, with that and power conservation we should be able to hold out until Ingen comes up with a plan to get us out of Chapter 11," said Jake.
"Oh what's the point," someone said defeatedly. "Nothing we do here is going to matter in the future, let's just enjoy this tropical paradise while we can. C'mon let's get outta here."
The others nodded with defeated looks on their eyes and all got up to leave.
"Yeah I hear ya," Jake admitted to them sadly. "It does look hopeless, but we'll pull through…somehow."
"Thanks Jake," said one of them honestly. "But optimism isn't going to make this situation any better, it just can't."
The rest filed out leaving Sam, Gerry, Jake, and two three others scattered about the room.
"Thanks," said Jake to all that remained.
"Damn my work ethic!" Mandy teased. Jake shook his head lightly before collapsing onto the chair behind the podium.
"Yeah damn us all to hell," said Jake groaning as he held his head in his hands. He then leaned back in his chair and stretched out his legs as put on his sunglasses.
"So what're we going to do?" asked Billy.
"Well we're not going to shoot eggs alright?" said Jake with a grin.
"Yeah I don't what we were thinking at the time," said Mandy.
"It's this island," said the final member Timothy, one of the last few remaining computer programmers left on the island. "It somehow makes you do strange and bizarre things, like a virus that you're just simply not aware of it until it's too late and your CPU and hard drive."
"Nice analogy Tim," laughed Sam. Tim shrugged.
"Do what you know I say," he responded.
"Be honest," said Billy. "Do you think Dillon's going to pull something?"
"I don't know," said Jake truthfully. "He never struck me as the take action type, but if his…CPU has been affected with a virus, who knows?"
Tim groaned as the others thought about it concerned.
"So what're we going to do about it?" asked Billy.
"Nothing at the moment," said Jake. "Enjoy the rest of the day and get some sleep, it's going to be busy tomorrow when we try and repair the damaged fences."
The others nodded and prepared to leave.
"Tim, Gerry, can I see you two for a moment," said Jake. The two stopped and advanced towards the podium while Sam looked at him confused.
"Keep dissecting the trike," Jake said. Sam nodded in confirmation and gave him a thumb's up before putting on his Ingen hat and left as Tim and Gerry approached the podium.
"Actually Tim, can you go to the Control Room, I'll meet up with you there," said Jake. Tim nodded and left as Jake sat down on the stage.
"You do think he's going to pull something don't you?" Gerry accused. Jake took off his sunglasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"I don't know," he said in desperation. "But either way I need you to do me a favor."
Fifteen minutes later: Jake and Gerry emerged from the building and went their separate ways with Gerry headed for the docks and Jake to the Control Room. As he walked over to the Operations Building, it was only then that he noticed just how few people were on the island. There was nobody in sight, there were no cars moving about, no unearthly sounds, nothing. For the first time since the recalls had started, the island truly felt like it had truly been deserted. Jake shook his head sadly and pushed into the building. Inside it was just as desolate with the exception of one of the scientists sleeping on a couch in the genetics lab. As Jake walked down the deserted hallways he couldn't help but recall when the place had been bustling and it had been hard to get anywhere. Back then Jake had wished things were less busy, now he wasn't so sure. Yes he did have a grudge against the dinosaurs, but after seeing how badly things had turned out with them gone, he had to begrudgingly admit that things were better with them around. Sighing, he put aside those thoughts for later as he entered into the Control Room.
"So the key is to know your directories," said Tim as he entered into the room. "Then any glitch that comes along will be easy to locate and fix."
Jake looked around the empty computer room confused before he rounded a corner and saw Tim talking to Steviesaurus who was standing on the computer bench next to him and was watching the screen intently.
"Training a new protégé?" Jake asked. Tim looked up at him with some mild embarrassment.
"She seemed willing to learn and at least looked like she understood what I said," he said simply. Jake picked up the dino and set it on his lap as he sat down.
"I'll bet she did," he said distantly as he scratched her head.
"So…what do you need me for?" asked Tim.
"This is going to sound like an odd request and I'll understand if you can't pull it off," said Jake. "But I need you to create a very complex computer program for me."
"I graduated from MIT," said Tim laughing. "I think I can handle it. So what is it?"
"I've always wanted to know what would happen if the dinosaurs could breed," said Jake. "I'd like you to construct a program for me that would indicate, with the current stock that we have now, if some of the dinosaurs could…I don't know, change sex and breed, down the road, how many dinosaurs would be left that would be ours and how many would be the new breed."
"You're right it does sound odd," admitted Tim. "But no real different than SETI's proposed program to use computers around the world to constantly calculate their data to determine if there are any extraterrestrial signals coming in from above. I could do the same thing here using our computers. It'd take a few weeks I won't lie to you on that end, but it can be done."
"Good," said Jake nodding. "But don't tell anyone about this, they'll think I'm nuts. Hell I think I'm nuts, but I'd rather not let anyone else in on that fact."
Tim laughed as he twirled his pen in his hand as he began typing on the computer.
"What if I'm recalled or if Dillon does try something?" he asked as Jake turned to leave with Steviesaurus.
"Then make every moment count," he said simply. "But I need that program done as soon as possible."
With that he left, leaving Tim to his own thoughts in the empty room filled with nothing but silent computers slowly processing away.
Darkened Room, John Hammond Research Facility: Dillon stood there in the dark with five other individuals in the embryo storage room.
"This mockery has gone on long enough," said Dillon. "I don't know how Jake can continue to tolerate Ingen's slow destruction of this island. Those dinosaurs are going to get loose and kill all of us and I wouldn't be surprised if Ingen wants that to happen. All of us have rubbed someone higher up in Ingen the wrong way and that is why they are isolating us and rubbing us out one by one. Well no more, I'm not just going to stand idly by as death closes in around me, we're taking over this island, and we're going to force Ingen to deal with us."
The others nodded and murmured their assent.
"Let's go," said Dillon as they filed out of the building and towards the vehicles outside as they headed straight for The Workers Village.