A/N: As non-professional writer, my only real advice for aspiring writers is to write as much as you can as often as you can. I believe some famous author said that once.
Early Morning, Isla Sorna: The tour vehicles were once more parked outside the visitors lodge as the technicians were herded back into them having had an early breakfast. Cassie again looked for her sister but still didn't see any sign of her and so she boarded the tour vehicle feeling even worse than she had the day before.
Tim walked outside of the lodge on the opposite side of the road with a donut in his mouth as he put on his jacket while Samantha Brown accompanied him.
"You coming with us to San Diego?" the programmer asked after he finished pulling the jacket on and taking the donut out of his mouth. Samantha shook her head.
"I wish I could but I've got too much work here to do," she told him with a hint of regret. Tim gave a brief nod his head that he knew that would be the case.
"You'd better be careful. You don't want to be here after the Lockdown goes into effect," he teased. Samantha gave a slight grin at that knowing that as a Board Member she was free to come and go as she pleased.
"I am going to try and be on this island as much as I can over the next couple of months while the Lockdown is in effect," she informed him. "I am not going to let you all hang out to dry for the Board's mistakes."
"Thanks," said Tim with sincere gratitude as the horn on the lead Explorer honked. "Ha, ha, Sheila, well done with the programming on that one." He remarked knowing that Sheila had admitted last night she'd rigged the tour vehicle to automatically honk once the convoy was fully loaded. The two walked over to the lead vehicle and Tim opened the door to what would've been the driver's side if the vehicle didn't automatically drive itself.
"Did the staff give you a list of things they wanted you to pick up before the Lockdown?" Samantha asked conspiratorially. Tim shifted uneasily as he took his seat.
"Don't remind me. I've got a giant list and I'm wondering how to pay for it all," he remarked as he closed the door as he closed the door and leaned out the open window.
"Well if you promise to be responsible with it, I'm willing to let you use…this," said Samantha as she produced her company credit card in her hand. Tim's eyes brightened upon seeing that.
"Keep track of all your purchases," the Board Member warned him before handing the card over. "Anything over a thousand dollars in a single week I have to answer for."
"I gotcha," Tim said understandingly as he took the card and put it in his wallet. "I can't do that much damage in a single day but I'll still keep an eye out."
Samantha nodded her head. "Just don't tell them I let you use my card to pay for it all. I don't want the staff thinking the Board is trying to shut them up in regards to the Lockdown. Take care," she told him as Tim nodded his head and hit a button on the center dash and he wound up his window as the tour vehicles rolled off out of the Village. She watched them go while pondering when Jake and Henry would finally arrive here after wherever they'd been hiding last night.
She didn't have much time to think about it as Lori Ruso emerged from the lodge in a one-piece blue and black mesh swimsuit with gym shorts on over the bottom of it. She also had a pair of oversized plastic sunglasses on her face, a floppy beach hat sat on her head, an umbrella tucked under one arm, a folded up beach lounge chair tucked under the other, and a tote bag slung over one shoulder as she tried her best to apply suntan lotion.
"Busy day planned?" asked Samantha lightly with a smirk across her face that she tried to hide with her hand.
"Oh yeah, you'd better believe it," Lori promised. "Today's beach day! I'm going with the first group out to stake out the best spot on the sand. Then I'm going to do nothing but soak up the sun and finally finish reading my newest romance novel."
Samantha turned to look down the road at a van that had some workers getting onboard while others were seen loading their gear into a trailer attached to the back. She thought for sure she saw at least a couple of surfboards in there.
"Don't let me keep you then," said Samantha as she stepped aside. Lori was walking past her when she thought of something.
"So beach day isn't cancelled?" she had to ask mischievously. "Not a waste of fuel or anything?"
Samantha snorted at that question. "They cancel beach day because of fuel concerns and I'll go complain right along with you!"
Lori laughed hard at that and was about to continue on her way when Roberta Carter stumbled out of the lodge looking dazed as her hair was a mess and her clothes were all wrinkled.
"Hey Bobbie, want to come to the beach with me?" asked Lori. Bobbie looked up at her through sleepy bloodshot eyes.
"Beach…no beach…coffee…need coffee," she said as if in a trance and then she trudged off towards the Operations Building. Samantha and Lori watched her go.
"Wasn't there a pot or two of coffee in the dining hall?" Samantha asked. She normally didn't drink it straight up, preferring lattes instead, but she was sure she'd seen two coffeemakers, one decaf and one regular.
"You don't know Bobbie," said Lori in slight disagreement. "She's a doctor who is used to not getting much sleep in her line of work. In med school she learned the secret art of brewing a pot of coffee strong enough that will knock anybody's socks off. It's not for regular folk. But for her it helps get her up to normal speed," the Head of Production revealed. Samantha whistled at that.
"Look, I know you won't be having as much fun as I will today, but hopefully it won't be too bad," Lori stated as she then bid her goodbye and joined the other early risers who were leaving for the beach.
Samantha then looked around and observed how early morning Saturday was in the Workers Village. Carly Carlson was seen walking towards the front gate with her covered tennis racket in hand and counting the number of tennis balls she had on her in their slender plastic containers. She was then joined by a couple of other workers who were each carrying a large bag of golf clubs and they began chatting as they exited the village. Over by the mechanics garage, a small group of workers were outside working on a truck's engine compartment and laughing and joking about various things as they did it.
"Abby!" a voice cried out startling Samantha as a young Caucasian male with brown hair was being dragged rapidly down the main road by a shorter Asian woman.
"Quit complaining!" Abby Nakajima shot back at Derek Hoyle. "I promised you that you would take me on a romantic walk through the interior of the island. You can't very well break my promise now can't I?" she asked in some weird form of twisted logic. She dragged Derek past the mechanics who looked at them for a few moments before they began making exaggerated cat calls and giving obnoxious whistles at the two.
Derek for his part turned beet red before straightening up and in an attempt to not lose face, he stopped struggling and firmly took a hold of Abby's hand and walked steadily towards the exit. The mechanics stopped their calls and waited a moment as Abby used her free hand to give them a thumbs-up sign at their effort and the mechanics began laughing to each other before resuming their original work.
WHOOOOOOSSHHHHHHHH
Samantha was taken briefly aback as a wind gusted against her skin as an orange and blonde haired young woman in a pink jumpsuit tore past her. A moment later a youthful scientist came to a stop near her as he hunched over breathing heavily.
"Katrice get back here and finish brushing your teeth!" Colin Maken shouted at his younger sister.
"No way, you'll have to catch me first!" Katrice goaded as she made for the exit to the village. "Freedom!"
Colin had to get back up and chase after her once more before she vanished from sight down the road. Samantha for her part could only stare at their departing forms as she wondered if she had really just seen that.
Sam walked out with a Styrofoam cup full of coffee and was stirring it as he looked at Samantha's confused expression towards the front gate.
"Saw Katrice make her early morning getaway did you?" he asked knowingly. "She usually does it every other Saturday. I think she does it to make sure Colin gets some exercise around this place."
Samantha could only stand there and wonder as the van full of beachgoers pulled away into the jungle blaring loud rock music.
"So what does everyone else do around here who has the day off?" Samantha asked, curious. Sam looked around at various workers going about random tasks while others just wandered around the village chatting to each other. At the bridge leading over the moat to the Operations Building, a group of workers in tracksuits were getting ready for their weekly run by first doing their morning stretches.
A pair of shadows overhead caught their attention and the two looked up to see twin pterodactyls soaring overhead as moments later a third object joined them in the form of the DC-3 which was being tested by Kevin and Jennifer before they took the technicians off the island. The plane circled the village a couple of times before taking off due south and the pterodactyls instead took a northwesterly direction.
"Trying to forget what's going to happen in 76 days. Trying not to think about the fact that 10,000 volts and a handful of thin pieces of high tensile steel is really all that separates us from a lot of things that would like nothing better than to tear us to shreds," the Head of Sorna offered sagely. He then took a sip of his coffee before cringing at how watered down it tasted as he then poured the thing out onto the ground.
"Well said," Samantha agreed. A truck moved past the two carrying yet another group of workers who were decked out in what looked like safari gear. In the truck were also a number of pieces of digging and excavation equipment and a small banner on the side of the vehicle read: "Site B Volunteer Archaeology Team: Rediscovering Lost Worlds."
Sam watched them leave before speaking up. "They went nuts the day Nicolette and the survey team accidentally stumbled across that pyramid while planning new pen locations."
Samantha held back a laugh at hearing that. "So how did Nicolette take that wrench in her carefully laid plans?"
"How do you think?" asked Sam pointedly. "But she got over it by realizing you could plant an antenna up on top of it and cut down on radio interference by 15 percent."
The runners finally began their trek into the interior of the island. That cleared up the bridge and Sam and Samantha walked towards the Operations Building.
"Did you know the temple was there?" asked Samantha curious. She had only remembered a little bit about when it had been reported to the Board. Since it wasn't really an HR issue she'd largely not paid attention to the brief flurry of attention it had caused.
"No idea," Sam confessed. "We'd been here for four years at that point and thought we knew everything there was to know about this island. And suddenly there's this big huge structure that nobody knew was there." He reminisced. "It really makes you wonder what else might be out there hidden in the trees."
Samantha nodded her head as the two walked up the steps to the Operations Building.
"Since you brought up the topic of things out there that are hidden that nobody knows about, there's something I need to ask you," Samantha began as the walked through the doors of the building which was largely deserted. "Have you looked at the party favors lately?" she asked cryptically.
Sam's eyebrows scrunched up as he looked at her confused. "Someone's having a party?"
"Elle might," Samantha pointed out. That caused Sam to do a double-take upon hearing E.L.E. being brought up and what the party favors really were in this case.
As they continued walking towards Sam's office, the two passed Nicolette's office where she was seen feverishly typing away on her computer. Her keystrokes seemed to be a little loud, which might have implied anger behind her actions had Sam or Samantha been paying any attention to her. She did note the two walking past her and part of their conversation. Due to power saving measures, all the buildings had to cut back on air conditioning and so if you didn't leave your door open you would instead bake in your office.
Given she was the one responsible for introducing the cost-saving measures, any passing worker would get the impression that she was mad at her own actions. But that couldn't have been farther than the truth. To her, all of that was just a matter of mathematics. The numbers said they would save power this way and thus maximize the amount of time the island had until the fences finally failed. Discomfort would come with her suggestions but that was unavoidable and thus not worth dwelling upon.
What she was really thinking about was the report sitting on her desk that she had compiled during her time on Nublar. It was handwritten and in code so if anyone read it, they'd make no sense of it. But she was currently typing up a non-coded version on her computer for further review.
But for every keystroke she made, and with every line she read, her anger and resentment grew and grew. And then a lone bead of sweat dribbled down her hair in front of her face from the temperature in the room. The Head of Strategic Planning on Site B angrily flicked it off out of sight where it landed with a splat on a second report on her desk. A report title simply: The Sustainability of the Jurassic Park Project.
Airfield, Sorna: The DC-3 came to a halt on the dirt airstrip as the tour vehicles reached the end of their track near the field and the technicians got out and walked towards the plane. Jake and Henry watched as the rear door of the plane opened and Jennifer and Kevin got out.
"Okay, ladies and gentlemen," Jennifer began speaking to the group. "We just need to quickly refuel the plane and we'll be on our way. Until then you can either board now or wait outside."
She then took some chocks and placed them on the wheels on the plane. Jennifer next headed off to join Kevin who was firing up the fuel truck, but not before shooting a look at Jake and Henry to let them know her interest in that DNA sample hadn't ended with their talk last night.
"Hey you guys need anything from the mainland?" asked Tim walking up to them and breaking the stare between the two scientists and the pilot. Henry shook his head.
"We were just there, remember?" he pointed out lightly while displaying some of his bruises. "Have a good time without us."
"I will," Tim promised. The two scientists gave their regards and then headed for the truck.
"I didn't see any workers with that group. Guess everybody decided to stay," Jake observed as Henry nodded his head. A little further on their way, they passed by a group of technicians not waiting inside of the plane, one of them being a forlorn Cassie Matula. The two scientists decided to just walk past her rather than confront her but then she surprised them by speaking to them.
"Will you do me a big favor and please tell Sheila I'm really sorry," she pleaded as the two stopped with their backs to her.
"Depends," Jake began as he turned his head to look at her out of the corner of his eye. "Will you tell your boss to go to hell?" he asked, his tone simmering in anger towards John Brown.
Cassie considered it for a moment before responding. "I think you'll have an advantage over him if he doesn't know you knew I was here," she suggested instead.
That was food for thought for the two scientists as they both considered it.
"Good point," said Henry having to agree with that for now. "We'll tell her."
Cassie nodded her head. "Thank you," she said grateful. The two scientists got in the truck and drove off back towards the Workers Village.
UC-Berkeley: Sarah and Jessica Harding walked towards the Genetics Research Building ready to find some answers about their amber fragment.
"So if I'm right, what'll you give me?" Jess teased. Sarah looked at her young sister dubiously.
"My gratitude?" she offered. Jess shook her head.
"I want something better than that!" she insisted as the two entered into the facility.
"Like what?" Sarah asked. "And don't say cigarettes because I'm not buying you any." She added. Jess rolled her eyes at hearing that.
"I swear when mom caught me that was the first time I tried one!" she insisted. "And now I'm still getting crap for it."
Sarah just gave her a pitiless look but dropped commenting on it further.
"So what then?" she asked, moving on. Jess gave a conspiratorial grin at that.
"I want you to owe me a favor," the teenager requested. That request threw Sarah off briefly.
"A favor?" she repeated confused. Jess nodded her head.
"Nothing I'll regret later on?" Sarah had to ask from experience when it came to previous favors with her. Jess rapidly nodded her head.
After a few more moments of consideration, Sarah finally had her answer. "Fine, a favor it is," she agreed. "Assuming you're right."
"Oh, I will be," said Jess self-assuredly. "But now that's settled, what are you planning on doing for Fourth of July?"
Sarah shrugged. "Ian's still recuperating in the hospital so I figured I'd spend it with you and mom. I really don't think dad's going to make it this year from wherever it is he's working," she figured. Although if he did make it, Sarah thought, she wouldn't let him leave until he finally admitted what his work involved and what had happened to Jess all those weeks ago.
"Yeah, I figured we'd spend the early part of the day with mom," Jess said. "But then I figured we could go to San Diego University and go to your department's Fourth of July party." The younger sister requested.
"And why would you want to do that?" asked Sarah curious as they stopped outside the room where they were to meet her colleague.
Jess now had a wide grin from ear to ear. "Because mom made me clean up some stuff in your old room and I found one of your old departmental yearbooks. I found some pretty interesting separate photos crammed in there from one of their old parties. If I'm going to get practical experience being an animal behaviorist, I think now is a good time to start. Because I saw some things in those photos…"
Sarah groaned at that reminder of her past and how she'd been a different person back when she was still a student. Not bothering to answer her sister's request, she pushed open the door and the two entered into the lab.
Operations Building, Isla Sorna: Samantha Brown stood by Sam's window and watched as the DC-3 went soaring overhead headed towards Isla Indigo. As it vanished from sight, the Board Member's attention then turned towards a semi-truck rolling into the main avenue of the village with what looked like a long black metallic cylindrical object on the trailer behind it.
"What is that?" she had to ask curious. Sam turned in his chair and rolled over to the window.
"Oh, that's what we call the Giganotosaurus Grill," he said with a laugh. "We haul her out during holidays and other special events. Alejandro and the rest of the kitchen staff cook up a big meal on it and we eat outside around it."
A swarm of workers descended on the trailer, walked up some steps onto the area on the truck bed next to the grill, and then pushed open the various segment covers. They then took out their tools and began scrubbing the cooking surface clean.
"Must be quite a party," Samantha mused before turning around and sitting in the chair opposite Sam's desk and pulling out a type list of questions, "which brings me back to my original point about Elle's party favors." She had to use E.L.E.'s code name and related code phrases because Sam couldn't keep his door and windows shut due to the heat.
Sam sighed as he pushed back on his chair and drummed his fingers on his desk. "I'll just flat out admit I haven't been out to where we store her stuff since I've been so wrapped up with Jurassic Park going under plus the preparations for the Lockdown," he stated. "But as soon as the Lockdown is well under way, I'll try and get and out to the party supply warehouses towards the end of next week."
Samantha nodded her head as she wrote that down in her notebook. "Take Jake, Henry, and Daniela with you to help out. The Board needs an accurate count of everything that's out there and what condition it is in."
"Well until Daniela is over here and fully briefed, on this island Jake, Henry, and I are the only ones who know what's out there so the numbers should be the same," Sam began. "Condition I couldn't really tell you…at least not with one-hundred percent accuracy. I mean you've got everything in there from Randlers to Moro-12."
Samantha wrote down some more notes in her notebook. "As it gets closer to the day the fences fail the Board intends to quietly sneak an inspection team in here to look at the party favors. Until then, just give us your best estimate."
"Right," said Sam a little uncomfortable about the whole thing.
"What about the towers?" Samantha asked next as she checked off the first topic she needed addressed and moved right on to the next.
"Towers are good to go," the Head of Operations told her as he swung his feet up onto his desk. "The maintenance crews have been checking them for years and never realized, well…you know."
Samantha gave a brief nod of her head. Sam for his part then shifted nervously in his chair.
"With all these questions, I have to ask: does the Board think E.L.E. is going to be activated within the next 76 days?" said Sam intentionally using the correct term of the contingency plan to emphasize the point. If someone outside was listening then they were listening, but he had to know the answer.
"I don't know," Samantha answered truthfully as she tapped her pencil against her cheek. "Besides it's not like the Board can do much to stop it if they don't approve its use. Only Jake, Henry, and Dr. Graves are needed to activate it."
Sam knew all of that already. "And where is Doctor Graves?" he asked about the one thing he didn't know as he took his feet of his desk and went looking through a file cabinet behind him. "I haven't seen him since the groundbreaking ceremony on Nublar back in '89. As for Jake and Henry, the last they heard from him was about six months ago when he called asking about something called…glucocorticoids." Sam said, reading through the information he'd collected on the elusive scientist.
"I don't have an answer for that one either. Except, I don't think he's dead since he's still on the payroll and receiving benefits," said Samantha frustrated at not having a lot of answers at the moment. "I'm trying to find out where he is. But it's not easy since I don't want Ludlow and the rest of the Board to know what I'm up to." She confessed. That hit Sam right between the eyes as he looked at her shocked by that admission. But that she was really going to all that trouble for them at risk to herself and her career further proved that the staff putting their trust in her and not the rest of the Board was the right decision.
"Sam, did you have any big work plans for today?" Samantha asked out of the blue. Sam shook his head.
"Some routine stuff here and there but I'm planning on taking it easy while I can," he admitted.
"Can I use your office today?" the Head of HR inquired.
"Go for it," said Sam glad the interrogation was over, and then getting up as Samantha took his chair.
"Oh and if you could look over the rest of these questions and get me your responses before I leave on Sunday, that'd be great," said the Board Member handing him her list. Sam looked them over briefly before nodding his head. He knew it couldn't have been that easy.
"Oh and one more thing," added Samantha before he could leave. "I know when someone in authority says 'we have not abandoned you' that means they pretty much have. Right now I'd say the Board doesn't care what happens to this island between now and when Jurassic Park: San Diego is opened," she began, not bothering to be tactful. "But as Head of Human Resources, I consider myself personally responsible for each and every one of your lives. I will try and be on this island as often as I can and I will not stop working hard to make sure the fate of this facility and its personnel doesn't include the fences failing in two and a half months. I promise."
"Thanks, Samantha," said Sam grateful. He then turned to leave and was out in the hallway when he nearly ran into Roberta Carter who looked at him startled.
"Oh hey, Bobbie, what's up?" he asked as he saw her hands shaking around her coffee mug.
"I-uh, I-," she stammered and then she looked over his shoulder and pointed. Sam turned around and stared at the approach of three individuals, one of which looked like he had an axe to grind.
"Company," he said to Samantha as he leaned into his office and then strategically withdrew from the area. Moments later Jack Thorne, Marty Gutierrez, and Richard Levine walked into the office.
"Are you available now?" asked Levine, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Samantha could only stare at him with a lack of pure resentment on her face.
Down the road, a truck carrying Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu raced towards the Workers Village and an upcoming verbal confrontation with her.