A/N: This chapter is a little gruesome, just a warning.
The Next Day: Maintenance Shed, Isla Nublar: Jeff Thomas and Ed Regis were squatting over a decaying corpse of an African-America male that had been found stuffed in a corner and had nearly been torn to shreds with bites marks all over the body. Ed had his face covered with a handkerchief as he looked positively green at what he was seeing.
"Who was he?" Jeff asked curious as he wrote down some notes on where they had found the body as a team member nearby took photos of the corpse.
"John Arnold," Ed Regis confirmed. "More informally he went by Ray. He was one of the two lead programmers we had on this island."
"And I'm guessing he came here to turn the power back on," Jeff figured as he looked over at a metal door whose wire mesh had been torn off but through the opening he saw buttons for turning on the individual park systems.
"That's what our depositions confirm only he wasn't aware that the power reset had turned the power off on the raptor fences and they subsequently escaped and came after him," Ed answered sadly. "The woman who ended up turning on the power accidentally stumbled on his severed arm and thought he was still alive until…"
Jeff nodded his head knowingly but said nothing until he finished his visual report on the scene and looked at the photographer who gave a solemn nod and then Jeff stood up and turned to a couple of hazmat workers.
"Alright, bag him up," he ordered emotionlessly and stepped back as they group prepared to seal Ray Arnold in a body bag for transport back to the mainland.
"So who is left that we're missing?" asked Jeff as he put his notepad away. "We've found the lawyer where your report said he would be and we know where Dennis Nedry's final resting place and we've just located Arnold."
"All that we are missing is the game warden, Robert Muldoon," Ed answered as he and Jeff headed back for the entrance to the shed.
"You're certain the Velociraptors got him?" Jeff inquired.
"We're sure," Ed confirmed as they emerged into the daylight. "According to our eye witness, they split ways somewhere down that path as Muldoon went after the raptors. Given that all three appeared later on, that would mean…"
Jeff nodded his head in agreement. "I'd rather not send anyone out there into the jungle until we can confirm liquidation of all biological assets first. This dirt path is dangerous enough as it is."
"Agreed," said Ed nodding his head vigorously as he looked at the mist covered jungle beyond the chain-linked fence surrounding the shed. "I suppose there's no word of the other teams encountering any velociraptors?"
Jeff silently shook his head and then Chip and his team emerged from the shed indicating that the building was secure.
"Alright, lock it up then," Jeff ordered as he and Ed headed off down the path and was shortly joined by Chip and his team who scanned the jungle around them for any signs of movement. Eventually they exited the jungle only to find themselves alongside the Velociraptor enclosure with its mangled section of fencing leading to the outside.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this," said Ed softly. Jeff watched him solemnly wondering if he should say something or not but before he could get a chance, the treetops shook as a helicopter raced overhead headed for the Visitors Center. And with that distraction, Ed Regis was now again in business mode as he strode with purpose back to the base of operations for the dismantling of Jurassic Park. Jeff watched him go and then lightly shook his head wondering if he'd gotten into more than he could handle by volunteering to infiltrate this operation…and whether or not, when all was said and done, that it'd be worth it to his boss, John Brown.
San Diego: Sarah Harding was in one of the labs at the University of California at Berkley holding a piece of golden fossilized tree resin in her hands.
"Amber…," she said in deep concentration on the object.
"That's right," said a white coated scientist sitting nearby with his hands clasped in his lap. "It has a number of uses from jewelry to medicinal and even as a perfume. We like it here because it holds incredibly paleontological value because it can trap and perfectly preserve anything it comes into contact. It's a great way of peering into the past."
Sarah looked up finally from the orb as that last word had struck a nerve with her. She set the piece of amber on the counter and pulled her notebook out of her trusty pack and flipped through the pages to Ian Malcolm's confession about what had happened to him. Unfortunately, because he was still heavily sedated, the words he told her didn't make much sense…yet. But with every piece of the puzzle she was beginning to get a clearer idea of the bigger picture. And what she was looking at now was a long list of dinosaur names.
"Do you know any reasons why a genetics company would be interested in this stuff?" Sarah asked of her colleague. The scientist narrowed his eyes at her.
"By genetics company do you mean InGen?" he asked pointedly. Sarah was glad she hadn't been holding the piece of amber otherwise it would have fallen to the floor and likely smashed into several pieces. As it was she barely grabbed a hold of her notebook.
"Yes, how did you know?" Sarah asked stunned. The scientist gave her a mild grin.
"Guess it wouldn't have make the daily newspapers but about five years ago or so, InGen began buying up large amounts of amber from all over the world," the scientist continued. "They even tried to buy some from the labs here but we had to turn them down on principle."
"You mind if I…," began Sarah as she pulled out her tape recorder and also took out a pen to write down some notes. Her colleague waved off her concerns.
"It's no secret," he responded simply. "They never said why or what they were looking for but they bought enough of it at the time to cause the price on the stuff to temporarily surge."
Sarah was fiercely writing all of this down while trying to think of the next question to ask.
"And then they just stopped, why would they do that?" she asked since the price of amber only shortly surged. The scientist shrugged.
"They probably couldn't find what they were looking for," the scientist figured. "But…."
Sarah looked up a sharply. "What?" she prodded as her colleague had intentionally trailed off in his sentence. The scientist shifted uncomfortably in his chair.
"I really don't want to spread unfounded rumors about a company that I really know nothing about," the scientist continued reluctantly. Sarah nodded her head and reached over and shut off the tape recorder and set down her pen.
"Off the record, then," she agreed. The scientist swallowed loudly and then nodded his head.
"Our sources for where we get our amber from have hinted that InGen may have bought some amber mines around the world," the scientist revealed. "I have no idea where they are or anything like that but it would be cheaper to own a mine than to just buy the stuff wholesale at the prices they were purchasing it for. And that's really all I know…about InGen. You have any questions about amber, let me know."
"I will," Sarah promised as she collected her things and left the lab with her thoughts about what she had gotten herself into.
"I see you're making some headway," a familiar voice came from a no less mysterious stranger. Sarah turned to see the man she knew as 'John' sitting at a table in the lobby while reading a newspaper and enjoying some coffee.
"You might say that," she said, no less annoyed that he was here and that she needed information from him. And so she took a seat.
"You know the game, you give me something, I give you something," said John bluntly as he folded his paper and stared at her, waiting for her to make her move. Sarah sighed and pushed her notebook across the table and the man glanced through it before taking out a notepad and jotting some things down.
"Thanks," he said and pushed the notebook back. Given how little he had written down, it was clear none of the dinosaur names had surprised him.
"So…," Sarah began anxiously, desperately needing another clue. John looked at her and then turned thoughtful as to what his next statement.
"Mano De Dios," he said finally as he stood up.
"That doesn't mean anything to me," said Sarah a little testy at being given riddles rather than answers. John stopped briefly and nodded his head.
"Well it might if you lived in the Dominican Republic," he concluded offhand. "Until next time."
Sarah for her part now turned thoughtful rather than wallowing in anger which would accomplish little. "Why do you even need me?" she had to ask. "Why do you even care?"
John shrugged lightly and kept walking without saying a word.
"It's because you did something and screwed up and now you're trying to make up for it aren't you?" Sarah ventured. John laughed at that.
"Stick to animal behavioral studies, you're no good as a psychologist," he remarked and then was gone from sight. Sarah shook her head lightly and then wrote down Mano de Dios in her notebook and then after another moment of thinking about their conversation, wrote down Dominican Republic as well. Then she repacked her notebook and immediately headed for the business library of the university.
Sorna: The inspection team, minus Kelly and Arby who had returned to San Diego yesterday evening to attend their summer classes on Monday, were walking with Lori Ruso as she continued her tour of the Village.
"And this is the gas station next to our parking garage," said Lori as the group paused outside of the twin pumps in front of the small building that had a wall full of vehicle keys.
"I don't need to see this!" Levine scoffed with outstretched arms at the station. Lori gave a mock disappointed expression at his outburst.
"You are here to conduct an inspection of this island and determine it's viability for continued operation," she stated matter of fact. "This gas station provides fuel to vehicles heading in and out of this facility. Without it, we'd largely have to walk as opposed to having to carpool at the moment until the electric tour vehicles are up and running."
Having to defend those electric deathtraps made Lori shudder internally before moving beyond that and then looking at Levine pointedly for a rebuttal.
"I want to speak with Samantha," Levine demanded for the umpteenth time. Lori shook her head with false sympathy.
"She was called away to Isla Nublar to oversee part of the deconstruction. She'll either be back this evening or sometime tomorrow," Lori replied dismissively. "Next we'll see the garage which is where we keep our fleet of vehicles along with the diesel pumps."
Levine growled under his breath but otherwise followed the tour as it headed into the underground garage.
Nublar: Ed Regis strode across the clearing in front of Visitors Center and past the front pond as a blue InGen helicopter slowly stopped spinning its blades. From the inside, Samantha Brown and Nicolette Stefrassa emerged and walked to meet him.
"Ed," said Samantha with a professional smile in otherwise less than happy circumstances with Nublar's demolition going on around them. Ed gave her a silent nod and then turned to Nicolette.
"Well, I certainly haven't seen you in a long time," the PR man remarked but then turned to the operation going on around them and nodded his head. "Although the work your team did coming up with a quick and easy way to disassemble Nublar has proven to be very helpful."
Nicolette tipped her head acknowledging the compliment. "Part of the work goes to Lori Ruso and her designs, but my team was able to then craft that work into a faster timeline. My team prides itself on creating something with top accuracy and effectiveness provided the plans are carried out to the letter."
Ed had to avoid shaking his head at her words. The woman didn't mince words which would make her a PR nightmare if she ever had to say anything on camera. Fortunately, Nicolette often shunned the public scene to focus on her work, not that that did anything to tame her ego.
"Well if you'll just come with me, we'll…," Ed's voice trailed off as he noticed two figures appear from behind the helicopter. "What are you two doing here?"
Of the two scientists who were now before him, Jake gave him a big smile as Henry chuckled lightly at the response to their arrival.
"Well we figured since we had to bail you out the last time you here that we wanted to see if things went more smoothly this time," said Henry amused. Ed's eyes narrowed at that comment while Jennifer emerged from the cockpit of the helicopter.
"Technically I'm the one who bailed them out, you two didn't do jack," she reminded Jake and Henry before turning to Samantha. "And my past two experiences here weren't pleasant ones so can I please not have stay here during you visit?"
"No," said Samantha bluntly and then returned her attention to Ed. "I'm sorry I have to be here at all to oversee you, but the Board required a member to be present in-person on this island every three days or so. I'm sure you understand."
"Rules are rules," Ed figured as he shrugged. "C'mon, I'll show you where we are."
Samantha and Nicole followed him as Jake and Henry followed behind at a distance.
"Seriously, why are they here?" Ed asked curious. Samantha just gave a look of confusion herself.
"They said they needed to pull something from the databanks, they never said what," she recalled. Now Ed was the one confused.
"I thought we linked up the Nublar computers to Sorna," he pointed out. Samantha gave a half-hearted expression on her face in response to that.
"I'm sure they had their reasons," the Board member figured, not really caring what the two scientists would be up to on the island so long as they didn't get in her way or interfere with anything. Ed meanwhile gave a small glance back at the two scientists who were walking calmly far behind them as Henry had his hands in his coat pockets while Jake and Jennifer were arguing about something or other and judging from Jennifer's steamed expression it likely related to Jake's impression of her flying abilities.
But as he turned back, he thought he caught a glimpse of a troubled expression in both of their eyes of something he couldn't pin down, but of something that apparently wasn't related to the destruction of Nublar as they paid it no notice as they walked into the lobby where the bones of brachiosaur and tyrannosaur were being stacked into piles.
"We'll be around," said Henry abruptly cutting into his thoughts as he and Jake immediately wandered off in another direction to an unknown destination. Ed watched them go and then decided a moment later that worrying about their concerns was too much for his system with having to worry about the future of InGen's operations.
"The Control Room is this way," he said, glad to have gotten that concern out of his system. Samantha nodded her head, but she too had seen Jake and Henry's expressions and coupled with Ludlow's apparent concern that the two apparently knew something they shouldn't worried her more than anything. Things were always strained between the COO and the two lead scientists and she prayed that with InGen in the state it was now in that things wouldn't completely split open between them.
She'd have to question the two later, she had no doubt about it, but for now she had more pressing matters to attend to as her group entered into the Control Room and she could now only gape at the shattered glass window leading to the auditorium.
"Yeah, that was my reaction to," Ed chuckled despite himself.
Indigo: Daniela was sitting at her desk sorting through the messages she and Kelly had recovered from the InGen servers on Sorna and made various observations as she consulted with her notes she had taken from interviewing her various personnel about Nedry's easy clearance through customs. And on top of that, she'd also taken interest in Jake and Henry's little pet project about finding out why so many of Nublar's personnel had been recalled from the island during the Jurassic Park inspection that had gone horribly wrong. On the one hand it had lessened the amount of casualties when the dinosaurs escaped but on the other hand it also meant that with more workers, Jurassic Park might've been brought back online before it reached the point where the island could no longer be used.
And the timing was just too coincidental in her mind for it to not have been intentional on someone's part, the only question was who…and why.
RING RING RING
"Yes?"
"Boss, it's time for your meeting with the workers about InGen's future plans,"
Daniela sighed heavily and massaged her temples with her hands and then nodded her head.
"I'll be right out,"
As if she didn't have enough to deal with right now.
San Jose, Costa Rica: John Brown was once more in the Pacific Pharmaceuticals Field Office as he reviewed a topographic map of Isla Nublar and compared it with satellite photos he'd collected of the island over the past few days. He made various marks with his pencil on the map and dated those marks and then reviewed them in context with the prior dated notes he had made. After drawing various inferences and conclusions, he pulled a file out of his briefcase which read "InGen Demolition Plans for Site A Facility" which was marked "Confidential" which he immediately opened and began reading through before nodding his head.
"Well they seem to be doing alright," he said aloud to himself. And then there was a knock at the door.
"Enter," John ordered as he quickly put the file back away and looked up to see a Pharmaceutical Worker enter.
"The information you requested, sir," the worker said as they handed over a cardboard sleeve full of photos.
"Ah, yes, thank you," said John grateful as he took the package and the worker left the room. He immediately opened the package and spread the photos on top of the map of Nublar and began looking at them.
"So Mr. Gutierrez, what did you find out before InGen let you in on their little secret?" John wondered as he looked at the pictures taken from a distance into Mr. Gutierrez's workplace that showed a map on his wall of the Costa Rica coastline with various pins of different colors stuck into it and a single word title at the top: "Incidents".
John instantly reached over and grabbed a map of his own that was identical to the one of Mr. Gutierrez's only with fewer markings on it and he instantly made the other markings on it and then took a ruler and placed one end on Isla Nublar and drew lines from it to the new points he had made and saw how they compared to the lines he had already made.
"Shit," he said leaning back in his chair as he rubbed his chin deep in thought. He then immediately hit a button on his phone.
"Yes?" asked the secretary on the other end.
"Tell whichever Costa Rican Cabinet Minister is in charge of wildlife that I need to see him immediately," said John into it and then shut off the speaker while the secretary had begun to respond in the affirmative and he once more looked at the map.
"My God, it's worse than I thought," he remarked exasperated and then immediately pulled out a magnifying glass and looked at the pictures of Gutierrez's map once more and began writing down the dates he saw next to the marks he had just made.
Nublar: Jake and Henry were sequestered away in Henry's office in front of his computer terminal which was waiting for the inputting of commands.
"Well, go ahead," said Jake verbally prodding Henry. Henry turned to him.
"You do it," he replied crossing his arms. Jake gave him a dim expression at his refusal to type in the command as Henry sighed.
"Do you even understand the implications of what we might find out if there is a variance in the code?" he asked of his friend. Jake shrugged with his lack of caring expression clearly on his face.
"It's either that or accept the damned frog theory," the scientist figured with a bitter taste in his mouth. "And there's no way we made a mistake like that."
Henry had to agree with that statement even though they still hadn't completely heard what Alan Grant's theory was.
"You realize Ludlow's going to know what we're up to," Henry continued as he reached for the keyboard already knowing what his friend's response would be.
"So what?" replied Jake dismissively. "He must know we're here anyway. If doing this provokes him into doing something at least we'll know something is up."
Henry had to agree with that as he finally reached over and typed in a couple of commands and then opened the CD Drive as he took out a binder that was filled with plastic sleeves containing numerous CD-ROMs. He looked through the various sleeves that had all been identified with permanent marker on pieces of tape before finding the CD he was looking for.
"Here we go, the Tyrannosaurus Rex DNA strand," Henry noted out loud. "The first dino DNA strand we unraveled and probably the most complete strand as well. If there's any difference between our records and Nublar's, this would prove it."
Jake nodded and took the CD from him and then held it in his hands and promptly sighed as he contemplated the disc.
"What?" asked Henry concerned. Jake gave the disc one more look before looking at Henry with a mischievous smile.
"Floppies forever!" he said melodramatically as Henry groaned and rolled his eyes.
"Do you need me to remind you that the last time you said that Sheila smacked you?" he asked his friend bluntly. "Because I'll remind her if you keep this up."
"Ah but where's your sense of excitement Henry?" asked Jake as he loaded the CD into the tray and closed it. Henry immediately began typing in some commands before once more turning his attention back to his friend.
"Between this and having to deal with the escaped dinosaurs on this island, I'd say I've had enough excitement to last a lifetime," he remarked and then hit the final command and the program on the computer began running to compare the DNA strands.
"Well that was anticlimactic," said Jake as he consulted his watch and then stood up. "We seem to have plenty of time on our hands until that is completed so how about a walk?"
"And go where to do what?" asked his fellow scientist curious as he stood up as well. Jake gave him a solemn expression.
"Search for out our answers first hand," he said grimly. Henry nodded his head glumly as he dug into one of the cabinets of his office and removed a cardboard box full of rubber gloves and put them in his pack as Jake checked to make sure they had all the surgical equipment they would need for what they were going to do.
And then both shared a pointed glance at each other and then headed for the door.
Control Room: Cassie Matula was snacking on a power bar as she looked at the security cameras showing the two scientists leaving the building. She instantly felt a wave of relief rush through her that the two hadn't come to the Control Room with Samantha Brown and the rest because they could easily identify her, Jeff, and the rest of the team from having seen them with their boss in that café in Costa Rica.
But upon reflection, she knew of her boss's driving interest to always know what those two were up to. She just didn't know why he was so interested in them beyond the scope of the mission.
"Oh well, I guess that's not my business…unless Sheila knows something I don't," she figured and then shut down her terminal and packed it away before heading for the exit of the room.
"Going somewhere?" asked Tim curious from the main terminal as he continued staring intently at the screen and typing in various commands.
"Yeah, I need to use the little girl's room so where is it?" she asked sharply. Tim blinked at that comment suddenly no longer focused on his work before he lifted a hand to his mouth as he choked back a laugh as Cassie looked at him strangely.
"I-I'm sorry," he apologized still amused as he took off his glasses to wipe away a tear. "It wasn't what you asked it's just that I've been a little on edge right now with everything that's going on and what you just said just reminded me of something my coworker sometimes says when I get too focused on my work and forget to give her a break."
He turned to regard the new hire and raised his eyebrows at seeing her orange hair as Cassie tried to avoid showing any sign of emotion at the mention of similarities between her and her sister.
"So you're the one who looked like a makeup bag exploded all over her when this whole thing began," he said with recognition as he leaned forward in his chair. "I'm Tim but I didn't get your name."
Cassie shook his hand that he then extended to her. "Cassandra, but I go by Cassie for short."
"Oh, yeah I remember your file now," he said as he returned his attention to his screen and was trying to hide the fact that he was now pulling up her file on his monitor and glancing through it. "You have quite the background. Plus you're also one of the few here who never interviewed with InGen back when we were originally hiring programmers during the startup phase of this place."
Cassie cocked her head to the side. "So?" she asked, although she was curious who the other programmers were that hadn't interviewed and if their motives for being here were similar to hers. But Tim shrugged and otherwise said nothing and typed a few commands into his computer and the nearby door lock opened.
"Just follow the unlocked doors and you'll get to where you need to be," he said dismissively. Cassie tipped her head at him and then turned to leave as Tim regarded her curiously.
"You don't happen to know a Sheila Matula do you?" he called out to her after a moment's debate. Cassie immediately froze in her tracks at hearing that.
"The name sounds familiar," she chose to admit not facing him. "What makes you think I know her?"
"You and her were at the same university at the same time studying for the same degree," Tim answered. "I was just curious."
"Who is she to you?" asked Cassie pointedly.
"The coworker I talked about earlier. Maybe I'll get the chance to introduce you two sometime," he figured. "Well I don't want to keep you."
"Thanks," said Cassie unsure of what else to say and then immediately exited the room. She wandered down the hallway trying to push that conversation out of her mind as she watched the security cameras down the various hallways to see if she was being tracked. But to her relief the cameras were just performing standard sweeps which made sense since she was supposed to only be able to get where she needed to go and then come right back. And so she continued to the bathroom in silence and after walking in and making sure it was empty she took out her Bluetooth headset and turned it on and put it over her head. She then pulled out another electronic device and flipped it on as well and scrolled through the list of team members available and then pressed in a command once she'd reached her team leader's option.
"Jeff, Jeff?" she asked into her headset after a few moments had passed but heard nothing on the other end. She then looked at the device again and pressed a couple of commands into it and then brought the device over to the high window above her to try and get a better signal. But after a few moments she was still left with nothing which probably meant Jeff was too far out of range of her broadcast.
"So now what?" she wondered aloud before checking her watch to see how much time had passed since she'd left the control room. She then looked around in a haze of uncertainty before focusing her mind on the problem at hand and looking for a solution. Finally after a little thinking she came up with one and reached into her bag and pulled out a small flip notebook. After thumbing through a few pages she reached a small foldout piece of paper tucked into the pages and took it out.
Quickly unfolding it and placing it against the ceramic tile wall she looked at a map of the Visitors Center that her boss John Brown had somehow acquired and looked at her location and then traced her finger to the science lab. Quickly memorizing which route she had to take she then folded the map back up and tucked it away in the notebook and then put that away before reaching into her shirt and pulling out a lanyard around her neck holding the InGen security ID card her sister had given her earlier.
"This'd better work or mom'll never let you hear the end of it," she swore aloud and then consulted her watch once more and raced out the door.
Sorna: "And the fences are constantly coursing with 10,000 volts of electricity in order to ward off any dino escapees," said Lori as the tour group was now at the perimeter fence surrounding the village.
"Do you get many of those?" Gutierrez asked ready to write down everything she said. Lori thought about that question for a few moments before giving her response.
"We use to in the early days but not so much these days unless a tree accidentally falls down during a storm and breaks a fence," she admitted truthfully. "That being said, we keep track of every dinosaur on this island and we haven't lost any of them."
"I'll have to verify that myself as part of the inspection," Gutierrez informed her. Lori waved off that response with a flick of her wrist.
"Fine with me, we've got nothing to hide," she told him offhandedly. As she was going to lead them out of the compound to view the external piping that pumped in geothermal energy to the power plant inside the compound, a siren went off for a good minutes and then the lights on top of the electrified fences started flickering.
"You're having power issues already?" said Thorne concerned as he reached into his bag to pull out the projected timeline for power loss across the island.
"Huh?" asked Lori confused before she caught on to what he was saying before shaking her head. "Oh, no no no no no. The geothermal plant inside the compound can supply power to the entire village without replenishment; it's only the outside fences and structures that are in danger of losing power in a few months. What you're seeing now is a test we make of all fences on the island to check for shorts or any other problems with the lines. We check them every so often by periodically cycling large amounts of electricity through them and…"
Lori abruptly trailed off at that as she realized something and her expression suddenly became uncertain.
"What?" demanded Levine concerned and a little angry that something was being kept from them during this inspection.
Lori instantly returned to her normal alert self and faced them. "I'm going to have cut this tour short," she responded and began herding the group back into the village.
"Not until you tell us what's going-," began Levine irate when suddenly a warning buzzer went off repeatedly as several workers armed with weapons rushed out of the Operations Building and down to several waiting jeeps and then raced off into the jungle past the bewildered tour group.
Lori watched them go past as she tried to think of an answer to what was going on when the sound of feet running toward them was heard. The group turned in silence to see Carly Carlson came to a stop in front of them before she leaned over breathing heavily from exhaustion.
"They-they're-," she began trying to find her words but she saw that Lori understood what she meant.
"Shit," she said simply as she held her head in her hands as she felt a headache coming on. "They just don't quit do they?"
"If it makes you feel better they're already half way up the fence. Sam needs to see you right now," Carly told her pointedly. Lori's jaw dropped at that before she turned to the tour group.
"Lodge, now!" she ordered.
"No," said Levine forcefully. "This is an important part of our inspection and if you cover up whatever's going on then we'll have to state that in our reports. No offense."
"Not that it's too difficult to figure out what is going on anyway," Thorne continued. "You're cycling power through the fences meaning that at different intervals there's no power coursing through them."
"And some of your smarter residents have gotten wind of this and are now trying to escape," Gutierrez concluded. "And if what your colleague has said is true then they're almost free."
Lori scowled at their correct conclusion before sighing and nodding her head. "Alright come with me," she relented and the group headed for the Operations Building with Carly trailing behind.
Nublar, Visitors Center, Science Bay: Serena was busy putting away microscopes and other scientific instruments into various containers with her fellow workers as still others began disassembling the various computers that lined the area. It was routine work but she was secretly keeping track of the equipment in the lab to report back to her boss. But she also enjoyed handling high end technology like the Cray XMP supercomputers that were currently being taken apart. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that she failed to notice a new body take up the space right next to her and then tap her on the shoulder startling her out of her reverie.
"Yes how can I help," she began when she realized who was next to her and her expression turned to shock as she saw Cassie standing right next to her. "What are you doing here?" she whispered while trying not to look around for anyone who might be watching them.
"I need to find Jeff have you seen him?" Cassie said all business as she was trying to minimize her time here in the lab. To that end she began collecting nearby tools sitting on the desk and putting them together to try and make it seem like she belonged there.
"He's out with a team doing the rounds and trying to figure out where the T-Rex went," Serena told her as she grabbed several scalpels from Cassie and put them where they should go. "Why, what's up?"
"Our boss's favorite two scientists are on this island and I think we should keep tabs on them without being seen," Cassie figured. "But you and I can't do it because we're stuck here."
Serena had to think about that for a moment. "I should be able to get a hold of Lorne and he could pass a message on to Chip. I don't think Jeff could reasonably follow them but Chip should be okay."
"Good," said Cassie pleased as she consulted her watch. "Now if you'll excuse me I have to…"
"Hello, what's going on here?" asked Samantha Brown suddenly appearing before them with Ed Regis. Cassie and Serena just stared when suddenly Tim ran into the room diverting their attention.
"We've got problems on Sorna," he explained flustered. "And we…wait what are you doing here?"
He was staring right at Cassie whose blood suddenly went cold.
Galimimus Gulley, Nublar: Galimimus corpses were being deposited in a pile by a team of workers as Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu came to a halt nearby in a Jurassic Park jeep.
"We'll take one of those if you don't mind," said Jake walking over to the two team members hauling the last of the dinosaur corpses to the pile.
"Ummm, we've been order to dispose of all the corpses," said the leader of the group as the other team members were dousing the corpses in gasoline. Jake waved off his concerns.
"We'll only be a few minutes you can wait until then," the scientist said reassuringly. "And I don't think there's any order not to let us have access to one of the corpses."
"Besides, we're InGen personnel so if there's any problem, we'll be responsible," Henry also added and the pointed to the side of the pile of corpses. "Just put it over there."
The team members looked to their leader who was trying to decide what to do before finally deciding it wasn't worth the effort and simply nodded his head. The workers unceremoniously walked over to the clearing and then dumped the corpse onto the ground and then took a step back.
"You might want to step back farther than that," Henry warned as Jake set a stainless steel case next to the galimimus and popped it open. Inside were the instruments necessary to perform a full autopsy on the body.
The workers took another few steps back.
Sorna: Lori and the inspection team burst into the Control Room as Sam hovered over Sheila who was furiously typing away on her console. On the main screen was a live feed from the Velociraptor enclosure as various members of the species was seen scaling the fence. Occasionally a flash of sparks would be seen erupting underneath one of the raptors and they would fall off the fence to the ground below as others on the ground leapt up to take their place while still others on different parts of the fence hopped from the live wires to dead ones and continued their ascent.
"Damnit even Nedry knew better than to mess with the raptor fences," Sheila remarked under her breath as she continued typing away and examining the readouts coming from the geothermal plant powering the fences along with the computer program designed to run these tests on the fences.
"Hey Lori, what are they doing here?" Sam asked curious of the inspectors. He would've been upset that the team was seeing them at their worst but the current problem was using up most of his attention.
"They figured it out anyway," the head of production responded a little miffed that the team wasn't incompetent.
"Right," said Sam feeling the same as he turned his attention back to the videoscreen.
"They going to get out?" asked Gutierrez concerned. Sam looked at Sheila who gave him a half-hearted expression based on her calculations on when the program would finish.
"Maybe," she offered noncommittally. Gutierrez groaned upon hearing that.
"I knew it!" he shouted. "I knew this island was a prison with the front door wide open!"
Lori whirled to face him. "You don't know anything!" she said angrily. "We work hard to ensure the integrity of this island and as I said earlier we haven't lost a dinosaur yet. What we're doing now is something that has to be done since these animals are no longer being shipped to Nublar where they belong. In the old days they'd attack the fences every chance they got and now this focuses their efforts down to once a month. We're too busy to be keeping tabs on them day and night."
Gutierrez turned red at that. "And somehow that makes it right to even give them a good chance to escape? You're the one who doesn't know anything. These creatures are getting off this island and making their way to the mainland!"
Lori was literally left speechless at that revelation. "That's over 200 miles away! They can't swim that far, the farthest they could get would be one of the other islands in Los Cinco Muertos and we have tracking stations on each island to see that they aren't! And they haven't! A-1 was a freak accident not the norm!"
Gutierrez was steamed at her denial over this particular issue and because she seemed to consider A-1 as not a big deal.
"I don't understand why this test needs to be done on this particular fence," said Thorne perplexed.
"It's because of the way the fence wiring is set up across the grid. We didn't realize until after we'd put them in there that this would be a problem and now we don't have the manpower or the time to change it," said Sam answering his question. And then he turned to Lori and Guiterrez a little annoyed. "Now are you two done?" he asked. "Because we-."
"Shit, there they go!" said Sheila cutting in as she quickly stood up and pointed at the screen. A pair of raptors reached the top of the fence and leapt to the ground below and ran off down the road.
Alarms began blaring anew across the island.