Nublar: Jeff Thomas immediately dropped his rifle and used his freehand to pull out his sidearm and unloaded several rounds into the dilophosaur as it the back of its head exploded. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the momentum of the beast and it slammed into him and pinned him against the jeep before Ed appeared and helped him pull the beast off where it slumped to the ground in a pull of blood.
"Thank you," said Jeff grateful as he checked to make the animal's claws hadn't punctured his protective suit.
"I should be thanking you for…," began Ed when he suddenly became startled as a glob of venom flew past his face and smacked against the side of Nedry's rotting head inside the jeep causing it to lean over at an odd angle. Ed became a little green at that as Jeff popped off a couple more rounds with his gun at the unseen dinosaurs past the trees before he put his gun away and collected his rifle.
"Move it, I'll hold them off," he ordered as he pushed Ed towards the embankment so they could crawl back up to the armored vehicle on the road above them where the gunner was still fending off a separate dilophosaur attack.
"But-," began Ed reluctantly. Jeff pointed up the embankment.
"I'm sure whatever you're looking for isn't of any interest to these dilos. You can get it later," Jeff replied, leaving no room of argument. Ed looked around at the dilophosaurs approaching more boldly from the trees with teeth glistening in the small streams of daylight that made their way through the trees.
"So go, I'll cover you!" ordered Jeff and Ed gave him a thankful look and scrambled up the embankment as Jeff aimed the rifle at a dinosaur and fired, the loud noise of the shotgun reverberating through the tree leafs above.
Sorna: The senior staff was gathered around the conference table as Samantha took Sam's seat at the head of it.
"I know you all have more questions than you can think of right now floating in your heads," Samantha began. "And I wish I could answer all of them, but right now I can't. We're still working out many of the crucial details, but I can give you an overview of where InGen is right now and where we hope to be in the near future."
Questioning glances rose up from the group and Samantha help up her hand to quiet them.
"Let me launch into my presentation first and then you can ask some questions then," Samantha continued before looking at the one individual in the group. "Except for you Jake, you can hold your questions until the end."
Jake gave an exasperated groan as Samantha tried to avoid a brief chuckle that would've seemed out of place with what she was about to say next.
"So as you're no doubt aware, we are currently in the preliminary phase of liquidating Jurassic Park," began Samantha on what had to be a dour note. She pulled out a remote and pressed a button and a slide was projected behind her onto the projector screen, showing a map of Isla Nublar. She then pressed the remote again and a new image of Nublar appeared with some arrows pointing from the east dock towards the interior of the island.
"Per your advice, the team should now be setting up at the lodge with secondary headquarters being the Visitors Center before spreading out into the island," Samantha began before clicking another slide that showed arrows heading out from the lodge into the interior of the park with the caption 'Phase 1: Specimen Retrieval and Liquidation'. Then a new slide showed the arrows were seen heading to the west dock and then yet another slide showed them heading back into the park with the caption 'Phase 2: Equipment Deconstruction'. Then one final slide showed the arrows heading to the docks.
"That's a simplified version of what will happen, but it gets the point across," Samantha noted as she returned her attention to the group.
"So there's no chance of Jurassic Park being restored?" asked Sam a little saddened. Samantha gave him a sympathetic shake of her head.
"Ludlow, Regis, and Ross went over every possibility for how to handle PR if anyone found out what happened during the Jurassic Park Incident of a few weeks ago and there's no possible way to put a positive spin on what happened," she informed them. "I wish there was a way because we poured a lot of money into the Park that we'll never see back now, but there just isn't. I'm sure you've reached the same conclusion, right Nicolette?"
All eyes turned to the blonde haired head of strategic planning on the island as she looked at them a little surprised at the sudden attention.
"I-," she began hesitantly and then her head dropped down defeated. "Yes."
The others were taken a little bit back by her emotional response as normally Nicolette was very stoic. It just all went to show how much of an emotional toll Nublar's collapse was having on them.
"But the good news is that Jurassic Park: San Diego still remains a viable option for showcasing off our product," said Samantha with a pleasant smile on her face as a new slide appeared showing art commissioned a few years back that showed off the complete amphitheatre.
"I'm sure we all remember the uproar we all had back when the San Diego Complex was almost nearing completion and Hammond decided to abandon the idea for Nublar," Samantha reminded them. "I'll admit it; I thought the idea was a bad one at the time. It cost us money and time waiting for Nublar to be constructed and we weren't seeing how the public would react to our product," she continued a little miffed. "But it made some amount of sense. We could better control our product on an island and we could better control access to it while at the same time working out any kinks in the gene sequencing process. But as we've seen over the past few weeks, it also had some drawbacks."
The group shifted uncomfortably at her stark summary of InGen's history of the Dinosaur Revivification Project. But now wasn't the time to wax nostalgic about the past, all that mattered now was the future.
"But because our cash flows were so tight, we were never able to spare the funds to demolish the amphitheatre," Samantha continued as now slides were shown of the actual location that was only partially constructed. "And if our architects are right, we could have the facility full finished and ready to receive visitors in two months after beginning groundwork once Nublar is dismantled."
That number immediately got the staff's attention.
"But we're going to lose the fences here in two and a half!" Lori reminded her. Samantha nodded as she consulted some notes.
"Yes, I know," the Board Member confirmed as she looked up. "But according to the financial statements drawn up by the treasurer and the accountants, it's only by pretty much cutting you guys off from any further supplies and selling the supplies you would've gotten plus our surplus plus the other changes we're planning on making, that we're going to just barely have enough funds to take Nublar apart and finish work on the San Diego Complex."
The group sat silent contemplating that statement.
"It's cutting it close," Henry stated, blowing out a long breath he'd been holding in to try and ease his tension. Samantha chuckled nervously at that.
"You have no idea," she answered as a new slide appeared showing the timeline of Nublar's Deconstruction Operation, the finishing of Jurassic Park: San Diego and its immediate opening, and where that stood in relation to the shutdown of power on Sorna.
There was a single week between the grand-opening of Jurassic Park: San Diego and the complete collapse of Site B.
"Oh shit…," said Daniela softly while feeling a little nauseous. She knew things were going to be bad, she didn't expect it to be that bad. Especially as the entire plan hinged on…
"And that's assuming everything goes off without a hitch and there aren't any unforeseen complications along the way," said Samantha giving voice to Daniela's thoughts. "Once San Diego is operational, we'll then buy as much fuel as we can get our hands on and rush it to you on Sorna before the fences fail. Until then, it's absolutely imperative that nothing bad happens to this island in any way. We lose the facilities here, then the lysine contingency kicks in, the dinosaurs can't breed, and then we lose everything."
Jake and Henry shifted uncomfortably about the mentions of lysine and breeding but they otherwise kept silent.
"And I can't tell you how we relieved we were back at HQ when you finally cured that DX fiasco," Samantha said relieved as she continued consulting her notes. "But enough about the past, let's focus on the future. And the first step after cleaning up the mess on Nublar is combining the staff and shifting the responsibilities of Indigo onto Sorna."
This caused an outcry from the senior staff and Samantha let them vent their frustrations before responding.
"We just don't have the capital to justify keeping both islands open," admitted Samantha as she slid a folder onto the center of the desk that had an analysis of InGen's financial situation as if to emphasize the point.
"If it wasn't for Indigo, we'd never have traced what causing the DX fiasco in the first place," Daniela complained, frustrated. Gerry Harding had felt he'd discovered the root of the problem that was causing the infant dinosaurs to suddenly begin dying off in great numbers, but only be figuring out what was being transferred through Indigo had they managed to conclusively prove what the problem was and fix it.
"I never said it was a perfect situation but it'd only be for a few months until InGen gets back on its feet," Samantha replied. Daniela had to avoid rolling her eyes at that.
"But we won't be able to maintain the integrity of Sorna in the meantime," Daniela continued as that was the main point of her whole argument. "Nedry nearly succeeded in getting embryos off Nublar with the system we already had in place. If you put my workers on Sorna and don't give them the resources we have on Indigo, then there's no telling what the integrity would be of everything coming and going from this island."
Henry finally spoke up upon hearing that. "Did you figure out yet how Nedry got that can past customs?"
Daniela managed to maintain her cool despite how her investigation was turning up a number of troubling concerns about Nedry and that modified can of shaving cream.
"I'm still looking into it," Daniela confessed, which was true, before adding in a lie. "Right now it's looking like the can was so well designed that it didn't even tip off customs."
After concluding her quick explanation, she looked around with slight trepidation to see what the reactions of her fellow staff would be since undoubtedly if anyone could take the blame for not preventing Nedry's actions on Nublar, it would've been her. If the can had been found and confiscated, none of what happened on Nublar would've occurred.
But to her relief, the looks from the others seemed to not be judgmental regarding what had happened. The only one who likely would've said something inappropriate would've been Jake, but he was busy yawning into his hands.
"Daniela, I want you to know that per official approval of the board that you aren't to blame for what happened on Nublar. Only Nedry is responsible and he's dead because of what he tried to do," Samantha said, giving voice to the sentiments of the senior staff. "And the COO championed that motion by the way."
Daniela nodded relieved while Jake and Henry shared a curious glance but again said nothing.
"And while we can't prove they were responsible, we have strong reasons to believe that Biosyn won't try and make another play for the embryos," Samantha informed them as she continued consulting her notes.
"Assuming they're not making a play for them now," Jake grumbled finally, mainly to himself. Samantha shot a sharp glance at him before calming herself.
"According to your own research the coolant in that can is long gone," Samantha replied smoothly as she pulled out the file on Jake and Henry's research into portable embryo cooling systems.
"Embryos are still embryos, even a ruined one can be a huge advantage to any genetics firm," Henry pointed out. "But I'm guessing you're certain that Biosyn is no longer interested in us."
Samantha nodded her head. "They failed once and based on our sources, they have no interest in getting caught should they try again," she told them. "But we'll keep watching them more closely to make sure they stick to that plan."
Jake nudged Henry briefly and drew a couple of letters on the desk with his finger and Henry immediately shook his head refusing to say whatever Jake wanted him to. The two began silently arguing with each other as Samantha chose to ignore them. Instead she pulled out more dossiers and slid them across to rest of the senior staff.
"These are basically everything I've just told you including timelines, charts, and more for the dissolution of Jurassic Park, the combination of the personnel and duties of these two islands, the activation of Jurassic Park: San Diego, and where we hope things will go from there," she told them as she allowed herself to relax in her chair. "It's been a rough few weeks but finally things are getting back on track for InGen. In three months this whole mess with Nedry and Biosyn will be behind us and this company will own the number one tourist destination the world over. I promise."
The others looked at each with a mixture of hope and uneasiness about the future in a place where the present meets the past. Except for Jake and Henry who were still mutely arguing until Henry elbowed Jake in the chest and the two finally stopped.
Nublar: The Humvee shot out from the jungle area where the dilophosaur enclosure was located and raced off down the main road towards the large Jurassic Park main gate.
"We were lucky to get out of there," Jeff stated ruefully as he took off his jacket, protective mask, and gloves which were covered in dilo venom. "I thought you said those dinosaurs should've kicked it by now."
Ed just shook his head at a loss as he stared out the windows.
"When dealing with dinosaurs, you realize there are no guarantees about what they're capable of," the PR man admitted. "But I'll talk to our head scientists and see what they have to say about it."
Jeff nodded his head and yawned briefly as the sun was seen setting in the distance, giving the sky above the trees an eerie orange glow.
"At least we didn't have any big plans for the first day besides setting up at the lodge," Jeff said, relieved. If they'd had big plans for the first day, the dilophosaurs would've easily derailed that and potentially killed the team's morale at the same time. Ed nodded but said nothing before reaching for the satellite phone and flipped it on and dialed a number into it.
"Hello, just checking in," he said into it. "Yeah, things are going as well as we figured, we're on our way to the lodge now. No, it doesn't look like the lysine contingency kicked in. Yeah, I'll talk to Jake and Henry about it. Thanks, I appreciate it. I'll be in touch more tomorrow as we get the Visitors Center back online."
Ed shut off the satellite phone and put it away as the Humvee moved past the Jurassic Park main gate headed for the lodge. Then after passing by the darkened Visitors Center and driving for a few more minutes finally reached the lodge which was heavily lit by floodlights in the nighttime sky. The vehicle waited for a few moments as the guards inside deactivated the electronic locking mechanism on the fence entrance and the vehicle then drove through the opened gate before the doors were closed shut behind it.
"Good to see you," said Tim relieved as he approached the vehicle. "We were almost about to send out a search party."
"Good thing you didn't, it would've been a mess," said Ed a little annoyed at the situation. "Are we set up here?"
Tim nodded his head. "The remote feed I installed earlier to the lodge is still working so we've got the perimeter fence up and running and are getting some images from the security cameras that still work."
"What about the motions sensors?" asked Jeff while looking at the current setup of the vehicles and security personnel outside the lodge.
Tim shook his head. "It's a lost cause until I can get access to the main computers. The readings I'm getting now are…erratic I guess is this best word to describe it."
"You think you can get that fixed in the control room?" asked Ed skeptical. Tim gave a shrug and held out his hands indicating he had no real idea.
"Great," said Ed a little frustrated as he rubbed his head. "Get some sleep, tomorrow will be a bigger day than today was."
Tim nodded and shuffled off into the lodge as Ed joined Jeff who had been reviewing the current setup around the lodge with the third in command.
"I want guards stationed all around the perimeter and especially at the gate for the entire night," Jeff ordered. "I also want perimeter sweeps conducted every fifteen minutes to a half hour and all guards should be wearing night vision binoculars InGen provided us. Inside, I want the guards monitoring the videocameras around this place and make sure the automatic sliding doors are in the off position."
Jeff then walked over to the electrified fence and picked up a stick lying on the ground.
"I don't want you shooting at shadows that you might see out there, but if you can confirm a dinosaur is out there in the trees, then take your shot," Jeff swore darkly as he held up the stick and then threw it against the fence where it exploded into flames and then dropped down onto the ground where smoke poured off of it.
"Remember that the fence and all 10,000 volts flowing through it is not our first defense…it's our last," Jeff told them. "We let just one of those bastards loose in here and it'll be a bloodbath. I won't let that happen and neither should any of you."
Jeff tipped his head at them, said some words of encouragement to the third in command, and then headed off towards the lobby of the lodge as Ed followed him.
"Do you think we can defend this place?" the PR man asked concerned as the two walked through the sliding doors which were then immediately switched off and closed shut to the outside and locked by the inside guards. Jeff looked at his boss and gave him an uncertain smirk as he lightly shrugged.
"I don't know because this place wasn't really designed to be defended, it was to give off a great view of the island," he pointed out. "Those trees all around the fence aren't working in our favor both from a visibility standpoint as well as possibly providing a way into this compound by anyone wanting to use them to go over the fence. Basically what I'm saying is that it's all up to the dinosaurs now to make the first move."
THUMP THUMP THUMP
Ed looked around terrified as the whole building began shaking as a rhythmic thumping was heard outside.
"Just relax, that's the helicopters returning from their sweep," Jeff said amused at Ed's reaction as the four helicopter landed around the building and powered down. Ed breathed a sigh of relief as he tried to calm his nerves.
"Sorry, but when you hear a thumping like that your mind automatically thinks T-Rex," Ed apologized sheepishly. "I'll just go get some sleep before I get really antsy. Good night, Jeff."
Jeff nodded and clapped him on the back as Ed headed for the elevator before turning to the helicopter crews coming in through the front door.
"Anything?" he asked of the group leader. The leader shook their head.
"Some hostiles here and there but that is really about it," the leader figured before jerking his head towards the door. "Do you want us out there doing sweeps with the vehicles during the rest of the night?"
Jeff shook his head. "No, but just be aware that you might have to launch at a moment's notice."
The crews nodded and headed for the elevator and got into it with Ed Regis. As the door shut behind them, Jeff finally let the pent up tension in his body release as he sighed deeply to himself. Today had been a stressful day all around with having to juggle InGen's interests with Pacific Pharmaceuticals hidden interests all while avoiding some of the deadliest creatures at every turn. But he'd gotten through the first day and hopefully the rest would be easier until it came to the team somehow getting their hands on the embryo canister near Nedry's jeep.
"Excuse me, mister, would you like something to drink?" asked a familiar voice cutting into his thoughts. Jeff looked up to see Cassie holding out a steaming paper cup of coffee to him.
"Thanks," he said grateful as he took the cup and then looked at Cassie with a mixture of false confusion. "And you would be?"
"Cassandra, I'm one of the technicians," Cassie told him. "And you don't need to introduce yourself; we were all told who the leaders of this expedition are."
Jeff nodded lightly as he drank from his cup. "Why aren't you asleep like everyone else?"
Cassie gave a brief sign of her usual self by giving a small smirk at his concern. "No one's up there sleeping, they're all too scared about what's out there. I'm just one of the few who refuses to think that a locked door is going to save me and if something's coming, I'd rather know about it ahead of time."
Jeff nodded his head before trying to figure out what Cassie's additional angle was in all of this. She could've easily been preparing for tomorrow and getting into the InGen computers without being noticed, but instead she was down here risking someone noticing them and possibly making some connection between the two.
"Oops, silly me," said Cassie once again cutting into his thoughts as she dropped her bagel she'd been carrying onto the floor. After bending down to pick it up, he saw her gaze fall briefly on the remote terminal Tim had set up to the Visitor Center computer but was currently unmanned before straightening back up and looking over her bagel to see how dirty it was. She then gave a glance Jeff's way as she took a thoughtful bite out of her food. Jeff gave her a questioning look to see if she was sure she wouldn't get caught with whatever it was she was planning on doing. Cassie gave him a nearly imperceptible nod while smirking just slightly.
"You're a disgusting person eating that," Jeff commented of her eating the bagel that had been on the floor.
"I loves me my bagels," Cassie said unapologetically and completely sincere. Jeff sighed before he began looking around the room and his eyes fell on the computer terminal.
"You said you're a technician right?" he asked of Cassandra. The woman nodded her head.
"If I put you on that terminal do you think you could see about working with the motion trackers and the security cameras to get more online?" Jeff asked next. Cassie took sip of her drink and wiped her mouth with her arm and nodded her head.
"I don't know the system very well, but I'm willing to try," she confirmed.
"Then get to it," said Jeff bluntly. "If you're not sure what you're doing then walk away. I don't need those fences failing on us because you were poking around where you shouldn't have been."
"Aye, aye, dude!" said Cassie giving him a mock salute as she bolted for the terminal. Jeff watched her go before groaning briefly at her desire to mess with any computer system she could get her hands on before he went off to talk with the team leaders about their plans for the morning.
"Are we all here?" asked Jeff looking around. The others looked around at each other.
"I think we're just missing Howard King and Chip Hanford," said one of them. The doors were heard opening behind them and the group turned to see a drenched man walk in through the doors.
"Sorry," said Howard King apologetically as he held up a soaked cigarette. "I thought I could get one in before the meeting started."
"But now you're all washed up, right?" asked one of them. The group laughed as Chip Hanford, one of Jeff's Pacific Pharmaceuticals team, appeared from out of nowhere. Jeff looked at him and Chip silently made a quick motion of holding an imaginary cigarette and then pointed out his thumb and pinky finger in the form of an imaginary phone and then pointed at Howard, all in one swift motion that escaped everyone's notice as it just looked like he was getting the blood flowing in his hand.
What it meant to Jeff was clear. Howard King wasn't out there trying to have a smoke, he was secretly contacting someone. The team had always felt Biosyn or some other genetics firm might infiltrate someone into the demolition of Nublar. Now they had discovered one of them, it was now a matter of finding out who else might be around who could put a wrench in their plans.
But looking at the faces before him, the Pacific Pharmaceuticals member knew he couldn't focus on that right now. Their safety was at stake, what happened with the can of embryos could wait until later.
"Alright let's get down to business," Jeff began and began explaining what was to come in the morning.
Sorna: "And that's basically the tour of the Operations Building," concluded Lori Ruso to Daniela and Samantha. "Course, I'm sure when we give that same speech again to the investigation team, they'll hopefully be more awed."
Samantha chuckled lightly at that as she looked at Jake, Henry, Sam, and Nicole who had walked with her and Daniela on the tour.
"You've all done an excellent job," the Board Member told them as she looked out at the darkened outside and then back at the group. "I'm sorry I kept you all up so late, I think we all need to get some sleep because tomorrow is going to be a busy day."
"Right, another day another disaster," Jake complained before chuckling briefly. "C'mon, Henry, let's go see if there's any food left in the cafeteria."
"Right," said the fellow scientist exhausted. "Then I need some shuteye because who knows what I'll end up cooking in the labs tomorrow without enough sleep."
"And I don't need another headache so you'd both better get that sleep," Lori warned as the trio headed off out of the building towards the moat below. Nicole just gave a tip of her head and walked off after the departing trio.
"Guess I'd better go too and find my room assignment," said Daniela with drooping eyelids. She was about to walk off when Samantha placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her from leaving.
"As much as I'd like for you to get that sleep, we still have one more important matter to discuss tonight," Samantha stated solemnly. Sam looked at her confused as Samantha pulled out a document from her travel bag and showed it to him. The document was sealed in protective plastic and on the outer folder there was only one word and three letters: Project: E.L.E.
"You seriously want to talk about this now?" said Sam incredulously.
"Yes," said Samantha curtly as she nodded her head. "If not now, when?"
Sam groaned in disgust. "I think Daniela's got enough to think about without having to worry about that right now."
"Worry about what?" demanded Daniela bewildered as she looked at the letters of the project but had no idea what they meant. The trio by now had moved back into the conference room and each took a seat.
"She is going to basically be the second person in charge of this island after the merger and so that makes it her business to know now," said Samantha icily as she tossed the document onto the table and set down her bag. Sam shook his head in shame at that.
"Those fences aren't going to fail anytime soon," Sam pointed out of the obvious. "We've still got at least seventy-five days or so left before that happens."
"Nevertheless, the board insists she be informed of the basics of the project today," said Samantha not backing down. "We don't know what will happen tomorrow, a storm could level this island to the ground, or an earthquake, or a volcano, or who knows what, which is why she must know what to do if things go south."
"If things go south, then ELE won't mean much then will it? Especially not to you board members sitting safe in San Diego," said Sam condescendingly. Samantha shot him a glance at that.
"Careful with that tone," she warned. "I know it's late and you're tired and not thinking clearly right now, but I don't need to hear the voice of Jake Whitacre when he's not around."
Sam had to avoid rolling his eyes but then he looked out at the quiet Workers Village through the glass paneled doors.
"Well speaking of, shouldn't he and Henry be here for this?" asked the head of Sorna. "I mean this is their plan after all."
Samantha seemed to pause at that as she considered her next words carefully. "The Board feels it would be in the company's best interest if they had less involvement in this project than they already do."
Sam was completely thrown for a loop by that remark.
"H-how-what?" he shouted, which in the near emptiness of the room meant that it echoed quite a bit. That Daniela didn't say anything to his outburst, or indeed say much in regards to their entire conversation, was lost on Sam and Samantha, they were so involved in their argument.
"Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu are loose cannons," Samantha began simply. "More so Jake than Henry, but his boldness causes Henry to go along with him in his actions. They have no regard for authority when it comes to the Executives and they have openly shown defiance to our COO Peter Ludlow who for all intents and purposes is trying to see this company through its darkest hour now that Mr. Hammond has withdrawn himself from the day to day operations. If those two knew that we hadn't forgotten about that little pet project of theirs and were thinking about it very carefully, they might feel the desire to authorize it at a very inopportune moment as far as InGen is concerned. We cannot allow that to happen. They are good scientists, but we cannot risk their emotions getting the better of them as far as this company's future goes."
Sam leaned forward towards her. "Then why don't you dig up Doctor Graves, he's the only one those two will listen to when it comes to board decisions," the man said, stating the obvious to Samantha about the only lead scientist who was higher ranked than Whitacre and Wu. "I'm surprised you haven't done so already. Where the hell is he anyway?"
Samantha rubbed the bridge of her forehead as she tried to relieve some tension she'd built up over the course of this conversation. "It's classified," she finally answered. Sam stared blankly at her response before reality hit him and he chuckled malevolently at that.
"You have no idea where he is, do you?" he deduced slightly amused. "Oh, that's just great. No wonder you're scared. If Jake and Henry find out then you're right, they might do something drastic when the time comes."
"So now do you see why they can't be here for this?" asked Samantha mentally exhausted and hoping they were at the end of this conversation. Sam nodded his head to her relief but then added one final suggestion.
"I think you should keep those two on the level through all of this. If they find out you're keeping things from them, they won't like it," Sam warned. "But okay, let's get this briefing underway. Daniela, I'm sure you have a lot of questions after what Samantha and I just talked about so…"
Sam's word abruptly died in his throat as he looked across the table to Daniela St. Ives and finally discovered why she had been so silent during the conversation…her head was on the table and she was blissfully snoozing away. Sam leaned back in his chair at that and then looked over at Samantha who had just finished rolling her eyes and then held her hand up to her mouth to try and stifle a laugh.
"Well, maybe some things can wait until tomorrow for clearer heads," the Board Member finally conceded lightly as she collected the ELE report and put it back in her bag. "If you don't mind collecting her, let's all get some shuteye."
Sam nodded and walked over to Daniela's slumped over form and knelt down so he could slump her over his shoulder with a minimal amount of effort and then he stood up and carried her from the room with Samantha trailing behind.
"Do you think it will work?" asked Samantha curious as they were crossing the bridge over the moat. Sam looked at her through tired eyes.
"Think what will work?" he asked as the two moved down the main road in the village.
"ELE," said Samantha as she pulled her vest closer to her body to try and keep warm in the cold nighttime air. Sam looked ahead at the perimeter fence with the entrance to the outside jungle locked shut and then he looked higher up at the blinking blue and red lights on the fencepost.
"I hope we never have to find out," Sam told her, expressing the sentiments of everyone on the island. "But yes, I hope that if we have to use it, that it does work. It'd better after all the work Jake, Henry, and Dr. Graves put into it."
Samantha nodded as she paused for a moment and looked at the electrified fence ahead of them before rejoining Sam who was entering into the lodge. The head of Sorna deftly walked behind the desk with the still snoozing Daniela over his shoulder as he picked up a pair of small pieces of paper that gave her room assignment that the receptionist had left behind. Their InGen security keys would let them into their room. As Sam was collecting Daniela's room assignment, Samantha hit the button for the elevator and by the time Sam made his way over to her, they both boarded it and headed up.
"I take it this place isn't as well defended as the lodge on Nublar?" asked Samantha curious.
"It is and it isn't," Sam told her as the elevator stopped and they got off. "But that's pretty much due to location in comparison to the fences and that this building is part of a larger village. If you need more specific details I can always give you the blueprints for this place."
"No, that's okay," said Samantha dismissively as they reached Daniela's room and Samantha took her ID card and swiped it across the sensor and the door opened since being on the board gave her a universal key that would open any door. She quietly opened it and Sam walked in and laid Daniela on the bed before heading back out and then closed the door behind him.
"I swear that girl can sleep through anything," Samantha quipped, amazed and then she yawned heavily into her hand. "Well, that's it for me. I'll see you, the others, and the tour group bright and early."
Sam nodded his head and gave a light wave and headed off for the elevator. Samantha thought about saying something more to him but thought better of it and closed her mouth. It could wait until later as the elevators doors closed in front of the head of Sorna.
San Diego, California: Sarah Harding was wolfing down a late night meal as she spoke with a colleague on a payphone.
"Sounds like a great trip you guys have planned out, Pete," said Sarah into the phone as she picked out some onions and tossed them into a nearby garbage can. "Say hi to Richard and Amy for me. Oh and stay saf-hello? Hello?"
The phone line had abruptly turned into static after being softly muted for sometime.
"Weird," she said confused before placing the receiver back on its base.
"Problems with the phone?" asked the person standing next to her who had just retrieved a paper from the vending machine near the phones.
"Yeah," Sarah confirmed as she crammed part of her sandwich into her mouth. The man looked at the business section of the paper and handed it to her.
"Looks like TraviCom is having problems with one of their satellites. Something to do with a lost expedition in the Congo," he mentioned as Sarah took the paper and looked at it as the man pointed at the TraviCom logo emblazoned on the phone base.
"It doesn't say anything about the Congo, just that the satellite is having issues," said Sarah confused. The man nodded his head.
"I know. But I make it my business to know what's really going on behind the scenes when it comes to people I consider my competitors," the man told her and then finally turned to face her. "Which is why I'm here talking to you Ms. Harding."
Sarah nearly choked on her sandwich and forced herself to gulp it down as the man chuckled at her response.
"I'm nobody's competitor," she remarked as she wiped her mouth of the mustard on her lips before giving the man a suspicious glare.
"No," the man admitted lightly. "But you are a woman with a lot of questions. Particularly about a weekend excursion a man named Ian Malcolm went on about a month ago."
If the earlier revelation of her name came as a mild surprise, this one blew it out of the water.
"Do you work for InGen?" she demanded a little irate at what had happened to her on and off again boyfriend. The man slowly shook his head.
"No, but I'm a man just as interested in what happened as you are," he told her. "That's why I have a proposal for you. From the morphine and everything else he is hopped up on, I'm sure he's probably rambling incoherently about a number of different things. I'd like a transcript of what he's mumbling about…along with some questions I'd like you to ask him for me."
Sarah was used to thinking on her feet having spent so much time among deadly predators in the field. "And what's in it for me?"
"You give me information, I give you information on InGen," the man told her as he slid the piece of paper in front of her.
"And how do I know you know anything?" she asked suspicious of the whole conversation. The man nodded his head approvingly of her statement.
"Good that you're not taking me at my word," he said. "First piece of information is free: amber."
Sarah's eyebrows scrunched at that. "That's no use to me. There're probably a million people with that name."
"And I wasn't talking about a person," the man responded promptly and then turned and walked off. "My card's on that sheet of paper if you decide to help me."
"I didn't get your name," Sarah responded. The man paused briefly.
"Call me, John," he told her and kept walking.
"And why do you care, John?" Sarah asked next needing to know. "What's your interest in all of this?"
"That's a question you won't get an answer for. Goodnight Ms. Harding, I hope you decide to help me out on this because there's more at stake than you realize," John requested and then was gone from sight. Because the whole conversation hadn't last more than a couple of minutes in the middle of the night, Sarah was almost convinced it hadn't happened. And yet she held a piece of paper in her hand with a number of detailed questions on it about people whose names she didn't recognize.
"Arnold, Nedry, Muldoon, Graves, who are these people and why do they sound so familiar?" Sarah wondered to herself. While there were several reasons why she shouldn't trust this mysterious man at all, there was one more important factor that decided what her decision would be.
Her father's life may be in danger if she didn't learn everything about InGen that she could. And she would ensure his safety by any means necessary no matter the consequences.