Pacific Ocean: The Anne B. crashed through the waves as it made its way towards Isla Sorna. Onboard were Jake Whitacre, Henry Wu, Nicolette Stefrassa, Tim, and the rest of the programmers.
UC Berkeley: Sarah and Jess Harding stood outside of the university grounds and noticed the place was largely deserted as everyone had left early to enjoy the Fourth of July weekend.
"You sure about this?" asked Sarah of her younger sister for the umpteenth time.
"Positive," said Jess with a nod of her head. "InGen deals in genetics and I remember hearing something on the news about how mosquitoes are carriers of any number of diseases since they're real bloodsuckers. So I think InGen is getting into the diseases business," she reasoned before looking at Sarah's questioning look.
"Now of course why would InGen bother digging up old pieces of sap out of rickety old mines to get those diseases in the first place?" she continued before her eyes glazed over. "Well, millions of years ago there were mosquitoes just like today. And just like today they fed on the blood of animals," she said as if in a trance before snapping out of it. "So I think what they're after are ancient diseases that are still inside those bugs preserved by the amber."
"It's an…interesting theory," Sarah had to admit although she had her doubts about it being true. But at the moment she had no theories of her own for what they were up to and since her sister had worked so hard coming up this idea, there was no reason not to pursue it.
"So what do you want my colleagues to find out for you?" asked Sarah next about why Jess had insisted they come here.
"Confirm if what I said is possible and also find out how old this piece of amber is," the younger sister answered while holding up the amber fragment.
"Okay. We'll figure that out tomorrow then when we meet my friend here," said Sarah as she pointed at the doors before stating wistfully. "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
Jess was about to start forward when she stopped and looked at her confused.
"What?" she asked bewildered.
"Hamlet; Shakespeare," said Sarah leading her sister towards the doors of the genetics labs. "I know you read that book this last semester. I know I did when I was your age and you're at my old school."
"Oh, right," said Jess as if she finally recognized the title. "The one with the three witches. I remember that," the sister continued, digging herself into a deeper hole.
Sarah gave an exasperated groan upon hearing that. "And mom wonders why you got a 'C' in English this year."
She then pushed her sister back towards her jeep before any protests could be launched at her.
Isla Sorna: The Anne B. came to a halt in her berth at the docks and a ramp was lowered allowing the passengers off the boat while the cranes got to work taking supplies out of the hold and lowering them to the flatbed trucks that were waiting. As soon as Jake and Henry hit the concrete, they were immediately greeted by nearby workers who expressed relief that the two were okay.
"So how's the track laying going?" asked Jake of the one of the workers as he noticed a group of Jurassic Park tour vehicles pull into the harbor.
"It's easy and hard," said one of the workers. "It's easy to put the track down because we've got so much of it and the dirt roads are well marked. But it's hard to secure it to the ground so it won't shift from either dinosaur feet tremors or the vehicles moving along it. Plus this island is a hell of a lot larger than Nublar and we're on a tight deadline."
"Well keep it up you guys because we all know what's going down in a little under 80 days," Henry said encouragingly. The workers nodded in agreement and dispersed back to their work as the two scientists walked to Tim who was securing the vehicles whose windows were completely blacked out. Even though the programmers all knew about the dinosaurs on Jurassic Park, InGen was still trying to cover up Sorna's existence.
"Glad to be back home? I know I am," stated Tim as Henry and Jake nodded their head before each gave a brief yawn as the sun began to set over the ocean. "You guys coming with?"
The two scientists exchanged a brief glance before turning back to the programmer.
"We actually want to go see Jennifer first and let her know we're okay," Jake told him. Tim nodded his head, recalling how frantic the female pilot had been upon finding them.
"See you for dinner then," he said with a wave while knowing that Samantha Brown would immediately interrogate him about where they went once he made it back to the village.
The two scientists headed for a nearby truck that wasn't in use, fired it up, and then headed off into the jungle with the tour vehicles trailing behind.
InGen Headquarters, San Diego: The building was closing down for the night as Stephanie Sandelder collected her things at her desk. As the workers slowly filed out for the night, she heard the elevator chime and watched the doors open as the Board of Directors slowly filed out.
Watching them filter past her desk she noticed how each looked extremely haggard and unkempt as what had happened at Jurassic Park continued to occupy their entire time while at the office…and possibly every waking moment they were outside of work. Stephanie didn't envy them and was grateful she didn't have to deal it.
The last figure to emerge was InGen's COO, Peter Ludlow, and he was talking on his cellular phone.
"So after the speech at Jurassic Park on Sunday, we'll start drafting up plans for interviewing personnel of interest," he said into the line. "Great, I'll see you on Monday, then."
He then shut off the phone and then put it in its carrier before noticing Stephanie looking at him.
"Ah, Ms. Sandelder, how are you?" he asked amicably. "It's been awhile since we last spoke."
"Unless you count when Whitacre and Wu barged into your meeting," Stephanie replied, a little miffed and embarrassed at their actions. Ludlow snorted briefly at her comment.
"They're certainly headstrong and tend to follow their own rules," he grumbled. "I wouldn't be concerned about what they did, I expected no less from them."
"Yes sir," said Samantha slightly relieved. "But if you don't mind my asking, why even keep them around if they're that much trouble?"
"Because my uncle can tell instantly about people and has taken a liking to them," said Ludlow annoyed but realized he was being a little unfair. "But in their defense, they are two of the best geneticists in the world. Without them this project wouldn't have come together as quickly as it did. If they leave, they would easily find success elsewhere at any number of genetics firms and this company would then have a harder time isolating the DNA strands. No, they may be annoyances but this company needs them to survive. I just wish they didn't already know that. Not that they couldn't act worse than they already do."
Samantha nodded her head as she put some things away in her purse and snapped it shut before pulling the strap over her shoulder. She was about to head for the door when Ludlow stepped in front of her.
"Ms. Sandelder, how long have you worked for this company?" he asked frankly. Stephanie's eyebrows furled as she wondered the purpose of that question.
"Three years sir. I started out as a temp secretary/receptionist and then was hired full-time," she answered before deciding it was too late to be circling around what he was driving out. "Is there something wrong with my work?" she asked bluntly. Ludlow immediately shook his head.
"No, no. If anything you've been a model employee," he answered positively. "You've been an excellent receptionist, secretary, and also been willing to put up with the various things I ask of you like observing those two…brats who were poking around in our computer system." He concluded.
"Then…," began the receptionist confused about where this was all headed.
"I have a special assignment I'd like to discuss with you here tomorrow at noon," Ludlow stated, finally revealing the truth of why he'd brought up the topic.
"Uh, yes sir," said Samantha shocked but pleased that she had gotten that much attention from the higher ups.
"Good," said Ludlow glad as he clapped his hands together. "Until then."
"Can I at least get a hint of what we're going to discuss?" asked Stephanie curious and hopeful. Ludlow paused briefly before he exited the building.
"It involves an island off the coast of Costa Rica," was all Ludlow would admit to in a slightly ominous tone. He then was gone from the lobby leaving Stephanie all alone as she briefly thought about what he had said before having to leave as well before security locked up the building for the night.
Hangar, Sorna: Jennifer and Kevin were securing the cowling back onto the right engine on the DC-3 having finished their work on it.
"We'll test it tomorrow morning before we fly the programmers to Indigo and then back to San Diego," Kevin informed his protégé. "But I'm sure it's good to go."
"We're in the pipe, five by five," Jennifer quipped as the two climbed down the ladder off of the wing and onto the concrete below. Gathering their things, the exited out of the front of the hangar and then closed the large metal sliding doors as Kevin then locked the doors with a metal chain and a padlock.
"I don't suppose we're taking any workers with us?" Jennifer asked reluctantly while Kevin tested the doors to make sure they wouldn't open.
"Not that I've heard, but I'm sure Sam would be keeping that information close to his chest if there were," Kevin figured trying not to think about the idea.
"And what's going to happen to the plane and the helicopter?" asked the female pilot next, seemingly more worried about those two pieces of equipment.
"Sam said we can conduct periodic maintenance on them to make sure they're still flyable. But once the lockdown goes into effect on Monday, July 5th, we're going to have to drain all the fuel out of them and that fuel will then be stored in a secured location," Kevin told her based on a conversation he'd had with the Head of Operations earlier in the day.
That comment caused a mix of emotions in Jennifer which Kevin immediately noticed.
"We won't be flying anywhere so it makes sense not to keep them fuelled and ready to go at a moment's notice," the male pilot pointed out.
"Yeah, but are they even going to tell us where the fuel will be stored?" Jennifer had to ask. Kevin shook his head.
"For security reasons, no," he admitted. "But Sam will know and that's good enough for me."
"Well I don't like not knowing," Jennifer told him sharply. "That plane and helicopter are really our only ways off of this island because none of the boats we have will last five minutes out there on the open sea."
The two walked over to the small concrete building that housed the control room and the rooms with their bunks.
"You're over thinking things," Kevin retorted as the two reached the electrified fence that surrounded the building. "The Board has a plan and after it succeeds in two and a half months or so we'll get the fuel back and things'll be back to normal."
"I hope so," said Jennifer not entirely agreeing with his view of things. "Because the last thing I want is to be stuck here on the tarmac with workers desperately trying to escape on a plane that has no fuel while an angry mass of dinosaurs appears from the trees and…"
VROOOOOOOOMMMMMM!
SCREEEEEEEECHHHHHHHH!
Worker's Village: The convoy of tour vehicles rolled into the village that was fully lit up as if an island amongst a sea of trees thanks to the nighttime darkness. From the vehicles, the doors opened and the technicians exited and then were ushered into the lodge.
From the rear of the vehicles, Lori Ruso emerged with the investigation team as Tim also got out and stretched his arms while yawning.
"Boat lag?" asked Lori amused as she too was very sleepy from the long day.
"I can see phantom lines of computer code whenever I shut my eyes," the programmer confessed. "It is so good to be home, though. Good night."
"Thanks for the lift and for Sheila getting most of the tour program online," Lori said before he could leave. "Afraid we were out there a little too long today because my legs are like jelly right now."
Tim snorted at that. "Not too brave to admit the tour vehicles have their uses?" he pointed out wryly.
"Sometimes they do," Lori was willing to admit wistfully. "But only when I'm half-asleep and can't think straight. When I'm in the right mind, no way." She said half-jokingly. Tim laughed at that and waved before trudging off across the street towards the workers lodgings to see what food was left in the dining area and if he could find the island's other programmer.
Behind him, Cassie Matula looked across the village to see if her sister was anywhere watching her…or if she would confront her. To her disappointment and sadness, her sister was a no-show and so the secret Pacific Pharmaceuticals employee trudged into the lodge with a downtrodden expression on her face.
She wasn't the only one not pleased with recent events as Richard Levine walked up to Lori as the tour vehicles sensed they were empty and with all doors closed they headed off towards the garage.
"I want to see Samantha Brown," the Becky Doll owner demanded. "I know she's here."
Lori didn't even bother hiding her groan she was so tired and fed up with Levine's behavior.
"You can talk to her tomorrow if she's available," she told him frankly. Levine shook his head.
"That's not good enough, I-," he began when a figure walked up to them.
"Hello Lori," began InGen's Head of Operations, Sam Stone. "What's-," and then he noticed her expression and Levine standing next to her.
"He wants to talk to Samantha," the Head of Production informed him a little peeved. Sam turned to face the investigation team member.
"You can talk to her tomorrow if she's available," he said in an unintentional repeat of what Lori had just said.
"Then I want to speak with your boss so I can-," began Levine angrily when he was interrupted once more.
"You can talk with me tomorrow if I'm available," said a voice sharply cutting into the conversation. Levine turned to see Samantha Brown standing nearby with a none-too-happy expression on her face over Levine's attitude towards InGen's employees. A light rain soon began to fall lightly soaking the entire group.
"I-I-I-," began Levine off kilter that Samantha had actually shown up and wasn't going to diplomatically deal with his attitude. "I'm going to hold you to that," he said in a huff and then stomped off.
"I'd like to speak with you as well when you have the time," Thorne also said as he too walked off towards the lodge.
"Me as well," Gutierrez also told the female Board Member before departing as well. Samantha blew out a long breath that actually turned in slight mist as she turned to her coworkers.
"As if this day wasn't crazy enough," she told the group trying to sound light-hearted as she started walking towards the workers lodge to get out of the rain.
"You're telling me," said Lori in complete agreement about Levine. And then she realized that comment could be construed in regards to the Lockdown that Samantha had talked about earlier and so she shot a look of apology to the Board Member.
"Lori I am really sorry about-," Samantha began truthfully as they entered into the lobby. Lori immediately shook her head.
"You did what you had to do. I'm not mad or anything," she told her superior with complete honesty. "But…what does that mean for production now? I mean the production and scientific crew are effectively stuck here with basically nothing to do."
Samantha had to nod in her head in agreement. "Look, unofficially speaking, if you've got enough fuel to spare, as far I'm concerned, fire up the production plants and make something." She told Lori who brightened up a little bit at that idea.
"Just don't use the CRAYs because headquarters will know right away," Samantha added quickly.
"Got it," said Lori nodding her head vigorously. "Well, I've got to get some sleep or else I'll be sleepwalking and giving a tour to ghosts. Thank goodness it's the weekend and I can take some time off for myself."
Sam laughed at that as Lori headed for the elevator.
"Lori, I have to ask you something important before you go," said Samantha hesitantly. Lori had just clicked the elevator call button and turned to face her.
"Shoot, just make it quick," she requested. Sam was curious about what she was going to ask so late at night and turned his attention toward the Board Member.
"What do you know about E.L.E.?" Samantha asked bluntly. Sam had to blink a couple of times at hearing the topic come up and he tried to shake the cobwebs from his head from exhaustion to pay attention.
Lori's forehead scrunched up as she tried to recall what she knew about the term.
"It's an emergency plan in case all the fences are about to fail and the dinosaurs could get loose," was all she really knew. Samantha nodded her head.
"After Sam, Daniela, Jake and Henry, you are next in the chain of command," Samantha began. "Of them, only Daniela doesn't know the details about E.L.E. but I'm about to inform her of the exact details sometime tomorrow. But as the days go on towards when the fences fail, I may have to bring you into the loop as well. I just wanted to let you know in advance before the Lockdown goes into effect."
"Oh, okay," said Lori not sure what else to say as the elevator doors slid open. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, I guess." She concluded trying to be positive. She then stepped into the carriage and the doors closed behind her.
Samantha then turned to Sam who looked at her curiously.
"You really think it's going to happen don't you?" he asked suspiciously about E.L.E.'s implementation.
"Officially or unofficially I can't say one way or the other," Samantha told him. "But we both know something is going to hit the fan and hit hard. When it does you'll need all the help you can get. The scientists will listen to Jake and Henry. The staff from Indigo will listen to Daniela. The manual laborers and support staff will listen to you. But protocol dictates Gerry, Bobbie, Kevin, and Tim can't be fully brought into the loop until E.L.E. is confirmed activated. They and their staff need someone to listen to and trust and she is that person." Samantha told him. "Without her…"
Sam wished he could give a response of any sort to her comment but found that he couldn't.
"And on that note," said Samantha looking at the clock on the wall. "Where are Jake and Henry? I know they got off the boat so they should be here by now!" she said annoyed.
Airfield, Sorna: Kevin and Jennifer covered their eyes with their hands and arms as a pair of bright lights shined on them.
"If you were expecting company you should've warned me," said Kevin to Jennifer over the noise of the vehicle engine. "I only cooked enough chili for two."
Jennifer for her part gave him an incredulous expression at that comment as two figures appeared in the headlight beams.
"Yeah, too bad you'll eat it all yourself," said a familiar voice.
"Which is why got here early to get our share before you do," said another voice the two recognized. Kevin's expression turned into a wide grin as he walked up to the two and draped his arms around their shoulders.
"Ha, ha, Jake and Henry!" the pilot said excitedly. "I'm glad to see you guys are still alive!"
"Thanks, Kev," said Henry appreciatively as Jake quickly went to go turn off the truck and rejoin them.
"Hey, Jennifer, don't you want to greet our guests?" asked Kevin of his protégé as she had used her keycard to unlock the security door in the fence and had pushed it open. She then turned to face them as now she was the one covered in shadow from the lights emanating off the control building.
"I'm not happy to see either of you," she told them before giving a slight smirk. "But I am glad you're alright," She relented. Kevin nodded his head and then headed for the building.
"I'll go throw some more chili into the pot and fire up the burner," he told them before going through the door. That left Henry and Jake alone with Jennifer.
A few moments of silence passed between them before Jake finally spoke up.
"Do you have it?" he asked of the female pilot not bothering with niceties. Jennifer sighed heavily at that.
"I knew this wasn't a social call," she stated frustrated at their lack of concern for her finding them both on that valley near death.
"Did you get it?" Henry asked as well, needing to know. Jennifer looked at them through weary bloodshot eyes.
"Yes, I got your blood sample," she confirmed as Jake and Henry felt a wave of relief wash over them. "Now why is it so important?" Jennifer demanded next.
"It just is," said Jake refusing to answer her question. "Now fork it over."
The female pilot vigorously shook her head at that. "Not until you answer my question."
The rain was now pouring where they were and the trio retreated into the building after Henry shut the gate door behind them. They then walked to the control room where the radar, anemometer, radio, Doppler radar, topographic map of the island, and other assorted equipment were sitting. Jennifer walked over to the small safe in the room as Jake and Henry each took a seat.
Twisting the dial on the safe, Jennifer rotated in the combination and pulled the door open. Inside were logbooks, maps, the keys to the helicopter and plane, two 9mm handguns with extra ammunition, assorted items and important papers, and a vial stashed in the back. Jennifer pulled the vial out before closing the safe and spinning the dial once more.
Pulling up a seat near the two scientists, the pilot sat down and held up the vial with a red liquid inside.
"You tell me what I want to know or the contents of this vial are going to end up being mopped up off the floor," she threatened. Jake just stared at her as Henry rolled his eyes briefly.
"Food will be ready in five minutes," said Kevin as his voice drifted in from down the hallway. "Hope you're hungry."
Henry briefly looked at Jake before turning his attention back to Jennifer.
"Have you modified the DC-3?" he asked seemingly out of the blue. The female looked at him confused.
"What?" she had to ask.
"Have you modified the DC-3?" Henry asked again. Jennifer nodded her head.
"Of course we have," she said as if that were obvious. "That plane is old and sometimes you can't get the right parts for it. So you make do and hope for the best."
"And if you had a modification that didn't work right, how would you restore the plane to what it originally was?" Henry asked next. Jennifer gave him a dim look at that.
"We keep the original blueprints on file in case that ever happens," she told him as if that should've been obvious.
"And if those blueprints had been altered how would you figure out the original design of the plane?" Henry continued as if laying a bombshell on her.
"What?!" asked Jennifer bewildered beyond imagination at that question.
"Just play along," said Jake finally chiming in.
"Well we'd…we'd need an original unmodified plane for comparison," the female pilot reasoned.
"Exactly," said Henry with a nod of his head. "And for those of us in the genetics department, for the T-Rex genetic code what you hold in your hand is our original unmodified strand of DNA. Version 1.0."
Jennifer's eyes widened as she stared at the vial as her mind replayed Henry's line of questioning and how it compared to this.
"Are you seriously suggesting…," she began incredulously. Henry immediately shook his head.
"I'm not 'suggesting' anything," he told her coolly. "I'm just trying to cover all the bases to be sure. It never hurts to be thorough." He then added.
"So will you hand it over or not?" Jake asked, tired of waiting. Jennifer looked at the vial as a thousand questions ran through her mind. But she ultimately said nothing and gave Henry the vial which he put inside a small box he took out of his coat pocket.
"Food's ready! Come and get it!" shouted Kevin from the mess hall.
"Thank you," said Henry genuinely as Jake nodded his head as the group got up out of their chairs and headed for dinner.
"What's going to happen in 76 days?" Jennifer had to know.
"We don't know, but we're working hard to stop it," Jake swore, trying to reassure her. As they entered into the mess area, Kevin was ladling chili into several bowls.
"Now be careful because this stuff is so hot it will probably melt through the floor," the male pilot warned them as they each took a seat.
"Hey Kev, you mind if we bunk here for the night?" requested Jake. Kevin shrugged his shoulders.
"Fine with me but Jennifer and I aren't giving up our rooms for you," he informed them. "One of you can sleep on the couch, the other on the chair recliner."
"Sounds great," Henry told him as he tentatively tried some chili and nearly burned the roof of his mouth off. He coughed hoarsely as Kevin laughed at his reaction.
"That's how you know it's good," the pilot said pleased. Jennifer chuckled as well as she shoveled down a whole spoonful of the stuff no problem.
"Show off," said Jake to her as he breathed on his spoonful of the stuff. A hearty chuckle quickly arose in the group.
Despite the pain the two were going to endure from the night's meal and sleeping on furniture, the two scientists knew it was healthier than going back to the Village and having Samantha confront them. Although the two didn't know for certain that she needed to speak with them, they could each sense a certain chill in the air coming from the Workers Village.
Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day.