Control Room, Isla Sorna: "Shit, shit, SHIT!" shouted Sam as the video monitors from the clinic showed the raptor emerging from the doorway behind the team. The team opened fire but it was in too close proximity to them and immediately took down one of the team members and then another as the rest turned and fled with the dinosaur in pursuit. They passed underneath the camera that was positioned in the lobby and then were out of sight
"How did we miss that thing go in there?" demanded Sam angrily of Sheila.
"I didn't know it could do that!" the female programmer insisted in shock. "And I didn't even see it go down that hallway. One sweep of the cameras and it was there and the next it wasn't! I didn't see it down the hall so I figured it went the other way."
"It's not her fault, Sam," said Samantha on the radio. "The CCTV system on your island is junk anyway for anything not having to do with the dinosaur revivification project. But we have to do something now because they're going to be dead in the next few minutes if we don't…oh my God!"
She had just noticed on the monitors showing the lobby that Jake, Henry, and the rest of the team they had encountered being brought in on stretchers.
"I don't think we can worry about that right now," Tim reluctantly pointed out. Samantha turned to him.
"There's a terminal in the main lobby, right?" she asked quickly. Tim nodded his head.
"There's an informational booth by the far wall; what of it?" he confirmed as his look became puzzled.
"Get it on the network right now," ordered Samantha as she grabbed the microphone on the desk. "Peter?"
"Yes, we're here," Peter Ludlow confirmed on the other end.
"Under Executive Mandate 934 I am hereby initiating Stage 1 of the E.L.E. Protocols," Samantha let her boss know.
"Confined to this specific incident?" asked Ludlow for clarification.
"At this time, yes," confirmed Samantha.
"No other alternatives?" asked Ludlow again. He knew precious time was being wasted but E.L.E. was not something to be taken lightly.
"Our team has finally gotten to the compound and darted the raptor outside but then the damn thing threw itself against the fence overloading it and now we've got to cut power to the whole thing in order to pry its corpse off the gate before we can get inside," said Sam frustrated. "These bastards had this whole operation planned from the start."
"Then you have my approval," said Ludlow after hearing that. Samantha immediately ran from the room as Tim sighed and then worked on getting the terminal switched over to the network.
Field Clinic, Isla Sorna: Bobbie and the remaining workers continued fleeing down the hallway as the raptor pursued them at every turn. One by one the workers fell to the creature's claws until it was down by to Bobbie and the worker from earlier whom she had spoken with at the fence gates.
"I…never…got…your…name," Bobbie huffed out of breath as the two rounded a corner and the raptor was going too fast and slammed right into the far wall.
"It's Tom," the worker told her as he slammed in a new cartridge of darts. "Tom Eniot."
"Nice to meet you, Tom," said Bobbie trying to sound cordial despite their situation. "I hate to break this to you, but we've only got two more hallways and then we're out of space to run."
"Last stand," Tom figured knowingly. "Better make it count."
Bobbie cradled her rifle in her hands and shook her head.
"I won't let them take any more lives," she swore to herself and continued running.
Visitors Center, Isla Nublar: "You want me to what?" said the field doctor in disbelief at what the InGen Board member had informed him to do. He was hovering over the still bodies of Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu who were resting on makeshift stretchers in the lobby along with the survivors of the other Jurassic Park Deconstruction Team.
"Wake them up," said Samantha fiercely. "I don't have time to debate this because lives are at stake."
"Their lives will be at stake if they don't rest!" said the doctor not backing down. "They should be heavily sedated with morphine not pumped full of adrenaline."
"Wake them now or I'll-," began Samantha when a hand clasped her wrist and she visibly jumped.
"Will you two keep it quiet I'm trying to sleep here," said Jake's dry and scratchy voice as his hand grasped Samantha's wrist which he had managed even with his eyes closed. Nearby Henry shifted as well to face them.
"What's so important?" he rasped out curiously. Samantha sighed at what she was about to say.
"They were cycling the power on the fences on Sorna when the raptors got loose and now they're in the field clinic. Dr. Carter went out to confront them with a team and now they're going to die if we don't do a localized activation of Stage 1 of the E.L.E. Protocols," she quickly said, bringing them up to speed. Without even a momentary hesitation, Jake and Henry both struggled to get up and in severe pain managed to sit up right as both clutched their sides in anguish.
"Give them a small dose of adrenaline," Samantha ordered of the doctor who reluctantly prepared the necessary injections and then quickly gave it to both the scientists. After a quick moment the two found themselves getting to their feet as if in no pain at all and followed Samantha to the nearby wall terminal.
"Sam, how's it going over there?" Samantha needed to know.
"Not good. It's down to Bobbie and one other worker and they've got thirty seconds before they're out of running room," Sam said concerned.
"Tim?" asked Samantha next.
"Ready to go," the programmer confirmed. The screen on the monitor in front of the trio switched from showing a tour map of the Visitors Center to the operating system that the InGen systems ran on. Samantha's fingers flew across the keyboard as she quickly accessed Sorna's mainframe that was now only possible because of the earlier linkup between the two islands for which she gave silent thanks. She then accessed the Site B building listings directory and found the field clinic. Punching the appropriate option, she was now viewing a top down layout of the entire building.
"It's your turn now. I just hope you haven't gotten rusty over how this works," said Samantha stepping back. Jake forced himself to move again as some pain still came through despite the injection and he brought up the command prompt menu. Shaking his head briefly to clear his murky vision he typed in a series of commands before stepping aside and having Henry type in a few more. After a few quick moments of this, a new dialogue box displayed reading: WARNING: E.L.E. PROTOCOLS STAGE 1 IS ABOUT TO BE ACTIVATED. DO YOU WISH TO PROCEED? Y/N.
Jake hit the 'Y' button and then a box showed up for three usernames and passwords. Jake typed in his username and password and Henry typed in his as Samantha briefly wondered who the third username and password box was for. But apparently two entries were all that was required at this point in the game as the next dialogue box read: E.L.E. STAGE 1 PROTOCOLS ONLINE.
Field Clinic, Isla Sorna: Bobbie and Tim slid to a halt at the end of the hallway and quickly turned to face the raptor that was just about to leap on them. But before either side could make a move, a series of electronic alarms began sounding off as the lights came on in the building and began blinking in succession to the alarms.
"Attention, Attention," said an orderly pre-recorded voice over the loudspeakers. "E.L.E. Protocols Stage 1 is now in effect for this location. Please follow the instructions from headquarters on how to proceed without causing harm to yourself and others. I repeat; E.L.E. Protocols Stage 1 is now in effect for this location…"
The trio could only look around confused at this new addition to their desperate situation.
Nublar: Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu slumped down against the wall next to the terminal again in pain as Samantha tried to make sense of what she was seeing on the top down floor image of the Field Clinic.
"This…this…," she said at a complete loss and what she was looking at. "I mean I knew about E.L.E. and all it covered but this…wow… How did Hammond let you get away with this?"
"It was that or no more dinosaurs," Jake rasped as he coughed hoarsely and was grateful that no blood came out. "Where are they now?"
"At the end of Hallway 9," said Sam after Samantha asked him that same question over the radio. "It's now or never."
"Choose the appropriate response measure and then the right point location option and hit execute," said Henry giving Samantha further instructions. "And then log off right away."
Samantha found the right options and then her finger hovered over the enter key and she turned once more to the two scientists.
"I won't let it come to this," she swore. Jake and Henry turned to look at her with saddened expressions.
"That's what Hammond said," Jake began.
"And here we are," Henry concluded. Samantha looked up at the screen with new resolve and hit the enter button.
Field Clinic, Isla Sorna: All three beings in the hallway realized at the same time that they alarms were apparently just distractions. Bobbie and Tom lifted their weapons at the raptor as it reared back on its legs and leapt at them.
…And then everything went to white.
Time passed.
Evening, Visitors Center, Isla Nublar: Cassandra had long been excused from the Control Room to go back the Lodge as Samantha sat at Dennis Nedry's former console in a conference call with the Board of Directors in San Diego, Daniela St. Ives on Indigo, and Sam Stone on Sorna.
"You saved Dr. Carter's life and that other worker; I think that is what matters right now," said Peter Ludlow trying to sound conciliatory as his image showed him looking through his reports. "And from the looks of things Whitacre and Wu will only be out of action for a few weeks. That should be enough time to finish demolishing Jurassic Park without having their continued interference."
Samantha considered that statement as she sipped her coffee before thinking up a reply.
"Sam, how long before you can repair the damage at the clinic?" asked Samantha instead of voicing her thoughts aloud.
"Shouldn't take more than week," the Head of Sorna replied. "Replacing and rewiring the charge back into the network might take a little bit longer but we can do that when the clinic is closed at nights."
"I trust we can convince Dr. Carter to not pursue any questions regarding what happened?" asked Ludlow concerned.
"She was knocked unconscious by what happened along with the other worker. I think we can convince her that she doesn't remember what really happened…if she does at all," said Ed Regis who had just walked into the Control Room having finished up making sure everyone was locked down for the night back at the lodge.
"Good, that's one less mystery that needs to be solved," said Ludlow pleased. Samantha eyed his image on the computer monitor curiously.
"There are others?" she asked confused. Ludlow waved off her concerns.
"There always are," he said disarmingly before becoming concerned. "Like what Whitacre and Wu were doing in the field for so long."
"Tests, probably," said Samantha not sure what her boss was so concerned about the two scientists. She was also curious to know what the two had been up to but it hadn't weighed heavily in her mind…until now that Ludlow expressed his concerns about it.
"Yes, I'm sure you're right," said the InGen COO apparently brightening up at that…or else faking it; and then he added softly. "Hopefully this little lesson will teach them the value of when to quit."
Samantha had to barely avoid snapping at him for that comment. Bruised and battered the two had endured long enough to save Roberta Carter and everyone else in that clinic.
"I have to know, though," began Daniela St. Ives tentatively. "Is that what E.L.E. is? I know the basics of the project but not the specifics."
Ludlow look at the image of Samantha confused. "You didn't go over the details with her yet?"
Samantha had to avoid squirming at being called out by her boss. "Things have been a little crazy here but it will be done before I return to San Diego. But to answer your question, what you saw doesn't even scratch the surface. Project E.L.E. is a last resort and if it had really gone into effect, you'd know."
"Which this is not the time to be going into the details," said Ludlow cutting into their conversation. Samantha paused and ultimately nodded her head in agreement. To properly discuss E.L.E. would take more time than they had at the moment.
"But I will say this," began Samantha as she stared intently at her boss. "I won't let the situation on Site B reach the point where E.L.E. will have to be implemented."
"None of us will," said Ludlow trying to reassure her before turning serious. "But that brings me to perhaps the most important part of this meeting. We need Unit Designate 00000 recovered at all costs."
Unit Designates referred to materials being recovered or disposed of in Jurassic Park. Samantha didn't even need to look up what that particular designates referred to as it was the most important piece of the puzzle of the Jurassic Park Incident. It referred to the device Dennis Nedry used to try and smuggle the fifteen dinosaur embryos off of the island. And it was completely off the records for what the various recovery teams were looking for. Samantha and Ed Regis were the only ones on the island who knew of its existence.
"We're slowing closing in on the area where Nedry's jeep is," said Samantha reading her notes of the progress of the Jurassic Park Recovery Teams. "But it'll be slowing going once we reach the Dilophosaurus Territory. They're now the premiere carnivores on this island and they're heavily rooted in the jungles on the eastern side of the island. It won't be easy getting that canister back."
"No, it won't. Not when agents from our competition may be involved," Ludlow finally revealed. Samantha was startled by that open confession about something everyone suspected.
"Biosyn?" she had to ask. Nedry's connections with that organization had still yet to be proven, but it stood to reason they were why he had stolen the dinosaur embryos in the first place.
"Them…and maybe others," said Ludlow mysteriously as he yawned into his hand. "Sorry, it is a little late. Guess we should all be heading off to warm beds."
Samantha nodded her head and yawned as well while wondering what other companies might want what InGen had. One other than Biosyn immediately sprung to mind but she hoped she was wrong on that end. And so she put that line of thinking aside before typing a couple of commands on Nedry's terminal and brought up an image on the main viewscreen of the part of island highlighting various incidents the Jurassic Park Recovery Teams had had with the dilophosaurs.
"Peter, before you go I have one question to ask," asked Samantha looking over at the monitor of the Board. Peter Ludlow nodded his head for her continue.
"Is John Hammond going to return to the fold anytime soon?" she had to know. Ludlow sat back down at that statement.
"I wish I knew," he confessed with just a hint of sadness. "I wish I knew."
The monitor went dark and Samantha immediately powered everything down before looking at Ed Regis who was standing there silently.
"What do you think?" she asked helplessly of InGen's Head of Public Relations. Ed shrugged.
"I don't think Hammond's coming back to run this company anytime soon," he offered. "As for rival companies infiltrating our little shindig here, I'd say absolutely because they'd be crazy not to."
"Terrific," said Samantha annoyed while rolling her eyes. She got up and collected her things and headed for the exit.
"And one more thing," Ed began cautiously as he stopped near the exit. "I don't know all the details about Project E.L.E. and honestly, what little I do know I wish I didn't. But I do know this. If word ever got out to the public at large about the dinosaurs on these islands before some version of Jurassic Park is launched, that might be a PR disaster…but it could be smoothed over. But if E.L.E. ever got implemented and the world found out, there'd be no way to explain it…absolutely none."
"So what are you saying?" asked Samantha confused. Ed Regis sighed heavily.
"No choice, cover up," was all Ed said in response to her question as a pair of guards waiting outside the Control Room then accompanied them on their way back to the lodge and no more words were shared between the two on the matter.
Night fell on Islas Nublar, Indigo, and Sorna.
Lodge, Isla Nublar: Jeff, Serena, Lorne, Chip, and Cassie were in one of the many rooms of the building eating their dinner together.
"So Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu didn't know about Directive 17; that's very interesting," agreed Jeff with Chip's previous statement. Chip had been the one in charge of the Dinosaur Team the two scientists had encountered in Galimimus Valley although his second in command had been doing the talking for the group.
"Sorry, what is Directive 17?" asked Serena at a loss as she shoveled down some noodles with her chopsticks.
"Any and all dinosaur eggs discovered on the island are to be immediately destroyed," Lorne recalled. That caused Serena's eyes to widen.
"These things are breeding?" she said, slightly disturbed by that idea for some reason.
"No," said Jeff amused at her reaction. "Well, maybe, I don't know. But eggs are just a natural biological process. It doesn't really mean anything unless any of them are hatched."
"And if I remember the briefings, all the dinosaurs are female on this island," said Lorne. "So why hide this from the InGen's two main scientists?"
"Another mystery," Jeff conceded as he wrote down notes on their conversations. "Good thing this is all for the boss to figure out because we're just here for intelligence gathering. None of these makes much sense to me."
The others nodded before Serena turned to Cassie.
"You've been quiet so far, anything to report?" the scientist asked of her coworker. Cassie looked up at her from a previously distant state and tried to organize her thoughts.
"Does E.L.E. mean anything to any of you?" she finally asked. The others in the room all turned to look at her before each shook their heads.
"I don't think John ever mentioned it," Jeff said in response. Cassie nodded her head.
"And I'm not surprised if he doesn't even know about it," she figured. "Because whatever it is, it is a heavily guarded secret that InGen doesn't want anybody to know about who is not required to."
"How did you come across it?" asked Jeff making sure he wrote down all the details.
"There was an incident on the other island I mentioned earlier and they needed E.L.E. to fix it," the female programmer answered. "Stage 1 was briefly activated but that's really all I know. I don't even know what Stage 1 entailed, it was that classified."
Jeff nodded his head and then yawned into his hand. "I'm sure the boss will be able to figure it out. And with that I'd say that it's time to call it a night."
The others nodded and slowly filed out of the Jeff's room when Cassie lingered by the doorway.
"Out with it," ordered the head of the group knowing she was debating whether to say something.
"I think we're in over our heads this time," the female programmer admitted. Jeff snorted at that.
"When are we not?" the leader asked slightly annoyed at her bringing up the obvious.
"But it's more than that," Cassie continued despite her boss's reaction. "And I'm not talking about dinosaurs being involved because that is a first. Something else is going on here, some bigger picture that we can't see yet. And if we're going to figure out what it is, it's up to the five of us to solve it out without any outside help."
Jeff shot her a look at that which Cassie met with her own, refusing to back down.
"But that's just one person's advice," she said a little meekly and then turned to leave.
"But why are you so concerned?" Jeff had to know. "We've been in situations like this before and you never batted an eye at what was going on."
"I know," Cassie admitted with a nod of her head. "But…I won't let me sister die. Not if I can stop it."
Jeff's eyes widened slightly at that admission as Cassie then left the room behind leaving him alone.
Nearby room: Howard King and Ed James were in a room reading through the documents that Ed had printed off in the Control Room and secretly snuck out of there.
"This is good stuff," King admitted, pleased. "Now that we know that Cassandra is trying to find out Nedry's connections with Biosyn, it makes her a Pacific Pharmaceuticals infiltrator."
"But she could be from some other rival organization," James pointed out. King shook his head at that.
"None that would have a programmer of her caliber working infiltration in the field," he reasoned. "This has John Brown written all over it."
"Okay," said James not entirely convinced but he wasn't the one in charge of their mission for Lew Dodgson. "Then we now need to identify whoever else came with her."
"Absolutely and I have some names I'd like to run across you. I think Jeff Thomas is probably one of them since he hangs around that programmer so much," began King. Ed thought about that for a few moments before nodding his head.
"He'd have the background experience necessary to be second in command of this whole operation," the programmer agreed. "And I have one too, her name's Serena but I'm not sure about her last name. She works down in the science bay."
"I don't know her either but I'll be sure to find out," King said writing down his notes. "Why her?"
"Because that programmer snuck out of the Control Room and was found with that scientist in the bay," said James, pleased that he'd figured that out when no one else in InGen had.
"Makes sense," said King writing down more notes. "Well we've got two at least. I'm sure there's more but I can't think of any at the moment."
James nodded and yawned into his hand. "So what's the next step? When does Operation: Embryo go into effect?"
"Soon, very soon," said Regis putting away his notes. "It's not going to be easy to pull off but we both know how important it is. The boss won't be happy if we fail."
Both knew full well the wrath of Lewis Dodgson could be immense to anyone who didn't perform up to his strict set of high standards. That he hadn't flown off the handle when Dennis Nedry had failed to get the embryos to him had been a surprise to the two subordinates. They could only reason that because Nedry had gotten himself killed in the process and the resulting chaos he caused resulted in the end of the InGen's Jurassic Park facility was a measure of satisfaction to the Biosyn executive.
Either way, the two had an important task to perform on this island and they would only have one chance to succeed.
Site B, Lodge: Doc Thorne was up late at night in the darkened central living room that connected to his, Richard Levine's, and Marty Gutierrez's suites. The whole area had been intended for use by InGen VIPs but since few visited the island, the three had gotten it for themselves. But none of that mattered to Thorne as he poured over data from the computer screen in front of him.
After several moments of considering what the data was telling him, he sighed heavily and leaned back in his posh chair and rubbed his eyes thoroughly.
"It's not right is it?" asked Marty Gutierrez walking up to him with a steaming cup of tea and nodding at the computer screen.
"No, it isn't," the engineer confirmed as he turned to look up at his companion. "I suppose that terrifies you."
Marty simply shrugged at that statement. "On the contrary I'm relieved. Now I know something is wrong rather than just worried that something might be wrong."
"Makes sense," said Thorne nodding his head and then he sighed heavily while continuing to look at the computer.
"I suppose telling them what we've found would be a waste of time," Marty figured. Thorne nodded his head.
"Only if we're able to conclusively prove it. Otherwise they'll either deny it or come up with some excuse for why it is the way it is," he stated knowingly. Gutierrez nodded his head as well.
"Then we have a lot of work ahead of us," the Central American scientist agreed as he clapped Thorne on the shoulder and then finished his tea and retreated to his own room. Thorne continued to look at the monitor and then finally shut the whole computer off and left for his own room as well.
From the shadows, Richard Levine emerged and silently walked over to the computer and stared down at the black screen.
"I know why the numbers are wrong," he revealed softly to the emptiness of the room and then he retreated to his room.
San Diego, California: John Hammond was alone in his study sitting in silence as thoughts of various things passed through his head so much that he couldn't sleep. The implications of what had happened on Jurassic Park and how helpless he had been to do anything to stop it continued to echo in his mind. He also couldn't shake the fact that Site B was still out there, an island of workers surrounded by dinosaurs running low on power and here he was being just as helpless to do anything about it.
All he could do was sit at his computer and look at whatever information was available on the InGen mainframes about what the company was up to under the direction of his nephew. Limited information on the reclamation of Jurassic Park was in there along with various other goings on like the attempts to finish Jurassic Park: San Diego and preliminary plans for Jurassic Park: Europe and what steps were necessary to ensure both and hide the existence of the original Jurassic Park.
It all seemed to be on autopilot and didn't require his involvement…but then something caught his eye and he sat in stunned silence as he read what it told him.
Project E.L.E. Stage 1 Protocols Activated 6/29/93 17:05:15.
Project E.L.E. Stage 1 Protocols Deactivated 6/29/93 17:10:26.
That caused the CEO of InGen to nearly choke on the sandwich he had been eating. His computer access codes allowed him access to information that wasn't publicly available to others and these messages were part of that. While the information on what E.L.E. contained was not available on any computer wired to the company's intranet, information on its activation was immediately sent to all members of the Board of Directors and himself. Unfortunately, that meant information was low on the details as what was seen in the two lines above was all there was without contacting the Site B itself.
"What is happening to my company…," wondered Hammond out loud, breaking his own reverie about what was on the screen in front of him. Clearly whatever had happened to cause E.L.E. to be activated was nothing life threatening because five minutes didn't allow for much to occur.
But it had occurred and that spoke volumes. Clearly the situation on Isla Sorna was deteriorating more rapidly than he'd realized now that Jurassic Park was no more.
And Hammond would be damned if he'd continue staying as helpless as he was. He'd made mistakes before with Jurassic Park, he realized that now. But with Sorna he had a chance to rectify that. The dinosaurs deserved a second chance at life, he knew that, but he had to carefully balance that desire with those of every living being on Site B. It wouldn't be an easy task, but one he knew he had to try to accomplish.
But he would have to be subtle in his approach. If he stepped in now, he knew his nephew would be just as resistant as he had in their previous discussion several days ago. He just needed to bide his time, consider his opportunities, and then take advantage of them when the time came. He had built InGen from the ground up and nobody knew the company better than he did.
Site B was on the verge of becoming a Lost World, it was only a matter of time and he had to stop it from happening.