Nublar: The DC-3 roared over the East Docks headed for the interior of the island and in doing so it passed over the East Docks where S.S. Venture was being prepped to head out for Sorna. As workers stowed their gear and made ready for the voyage, Daniela St. Ives emerged from Samantha Brown's cabin in a daze after having finally learned everything about E.L.E…including all three stages of its protocols. And she felt completely sick to her stomach from what she'd heard.
Behind her, Samantha locked up her room and followed her down the steps to the ground and walked across the docks to a waiting gas powered Jurassic Park Jeep. The two got in and Samantha turned the key in the ignition and drove the car into the interior of the island as the SS Venture departed for Isla Sorna.
After a few moment of driving in silence, Daniela finally felt the need to speak up about what she just learned.
"H-how does something like this even get thought up?" she asked somewhere between helplessness and disgust about the whole thing. Samantha had to think about it for a moment. There was a lot she didn't know about E.L.E. and probably never would but she realized that the details weren't important, understanding the human psyche was.
"You do it when you feel you have no other choice," she stated softly. Daniela wanted to argue that point but the Board Member held up her hand to quiet her.
"It's easy to say 'you always have a choice' but we all know the truth, sometimes there isn't one," she concluded. Daniela slowly nodded her head and stared out the window hoping it would distract her from her inner turmoil.
"They were right," she said aloud and then added more about seeing Samantha's questioning look, "Jake and Henry said that once you learned about E.L.E. you'd never want to bring it up in regular conversation. And I didn't take them seriously when they said it. Now I know better."
Samantha nodded her head but otherwise concentrated on driving. Daniela for her part just sighed heavily and continued to stare out the window at the emptiness of the island with a dreadful sense of foreboding. Neither one of them wanted to think about what situation had led to the creation of E.L.E.
Interior of the island: The DC-3 roared down a dirt path before coming to a stop close to the Jurassic Park gates where the stage, podium, and chairs were being set up by the workers. As it came to a halt, the rear door popped open and Jennifer walked down the steps to the ground.
"I told Hammond a thousand times I could land this thing in the interior of the island without trouble or disturbing any of the dinosaurs but he never let me. Instead he said he'd build an airstrip with pilings out into the ocean. 'Like Laguardia, only safer!' my ass," ranted Jennifer to Kevin annoyed. Kevin sighed at hearing her boast about her piloting skills for the umpteenth time. He looked over at the workers who had scattered and hid in fear when Jennifer brought the plane down right on their doorstep and lowered his head in shame. She was a daredevil pilot and one of the best, but her pride often made her take unnecessary risks. It was little wonder that she and Jake butted heads so often due to their egos.
"Thank you for getting us here so quickly, but you didn't need to bring us down right here," Ludlow commented as he emerged from the plane a little off kilter from the quick landing. He headed out to the podium accompanied by Stephanie Sandelder where Ed Regis was waiting for them. The two teenagers, Arby and Kelly stepped out of the plane and yawned heavily while stretching their limbs.
"Hey kids, long time no see. How's it going?" asked Doc Thorne walking up to them with a smile on his face. The two teenagers gave him a sleepy smile.
"Is there a place to get some food around here?" Arby asked. Thorne nodded his head.
"Follow me and I'll get you some food and then we'll go see Richard," he promised and the trio walked off with him to a nearby vehicle and it trundled off. At that point the final passenger of the plane, Tim the programmer, emerged and looked around the place.
"This isn't Sorna, I want a refund!" he faux-protested. Jennifer gave him a dour look.
"The boat just left but if you want to swim after it, I won't stop you," she promised. Tim shuddered at that prospect.
"Well thanks for getting us here alive then," he hastily admitted and then wandered off to go see if the production crew needed any help with setup.
"C'mon let's thrown some chocks on this thing and check the plane," Kevin ordered as Jennifer nodded her head and the two went to work.
Further inland: "So what happened after I last saw you here?" asked Henry Wu curious. He, Jake Whitacre, and Gerry Harding were sitting at table eating some food as they waited to be taken to the reception area.
"You don't want to know the details," Gerry told them dismissively. "Except I found out where Laura's missing clutch of Troodon eggs on Sorna went. It turns out they wound up on Nublar."
That revelation stunned Jake and Henry.
"How?" the two scientists asked in unison. Gerry shrugged and threw up his hands in confusion.
"When Laura sent them in to be tested, I think they got mislabeled or something and were accidentally sent there instead rather than being returned to her," Harding figured. Dr. Laura Sorkin was another geneticist like Jake and Henry except she tended to deal with the more vicious and poisonous dinosaurs. Dimetrodons, Troodons, Dilophosaurs, and more were her work and she constantly studied them. Because of the danger if the subjects got loose, she tended to be a recluse and that suited her just fine. She really did not like being distracted in her work. Her laboratory was way up in the mountains and the only person with her was her assistant, David Banks. Routine supply deliveries, routine security checks, and them showing up at required company functions were the only reason anyone knew they were still alive.
"Were you able to return them-," began Jake when Gerry shook immediately shook his head grimly.
"They'd already hatched," he muttered. Jake and Henry both shivered in fear at hearing that.
"And before you ask, I took care of it," the veterinarian also told them. The two scientists were extremely relieved upon that.
"Did you have a chance to tell her yet?" Henry asked curious. Gerry shook his head.
"I've been too busy and you know how she is when it comes to being bothered," he reminded them. Laura tended to give an earful when anyone invaded her domain and giving bad news was greeted even worse.
"I think a field trip to her fortress might be in order after the lockdown goes into effect," Henry mused. Jake nodded his head in agreement.
"May as well touch base and make her life miserable," he yawned as Harding got up.
"I think I need to have another go at the food before the speech starts. Excuse me," he said and with that he was gone from the table.
"You think she might have some clue about the problems we're having with the lysine contingency?" asked Jake in a hushed tone after Harding left. Henry shrugged.
"Well she was the biggest opponent against the contingency at the time and she did try to bypass it once," the scientist mused. "I don't really think she's responsible for what's going on now but she would be the one to ask about her opinion on what we've encountered so far."
Jake nodded his head. "Now if only we could get off this damn island and get to work," he muttered. "So when is this stupid ceremony supposed to start?!" Jake yelled at no one in particular.
"Quit being lazy and go find out!" shouted Bobbie from a distance as Lori laughed. Jake grumbled to himself and then rested his head on his hand and stared out in the opposite direction.
At a nearby table, Richard Levine had his head resting on the tabletop as he tried to get some sleep. Across from him, Marty Gutierrez had a map out of Nublar and was feverishly making notations on it as well as on another map showing InGen's island assets in relation to Costa Rica.
"Dr. Levine!" said a couple of voice startling the two. Levine immediately shot up, fully alert.
"Paparazzi!" he said in terror before the blood rushed to his head and he felt a little woozy and had to stay still until his vision cleared.
"No, it's us!" said Arby and Kelly walking up to him.
"Oh, hey kids, how's it going?" said Levine genuinely even though he felt like hell.
"It's a warm sunny day and we're in a tropical paradise," Kelly began. "So things are going great!"
"Wonderful," said Levine not feeling all that cheerful. "Hey look…"
The sound of a honking vehicle pulling up to the tables immediately diverted everyone's attention. From the car, Samantha Brown and Daniela St. Ives emerged. The two students wanted to walk up to join Daniela, but she caught their gaze and with a slight shake of her head warned them off for now. The two held back as Samantha got up on a table.
"Hello everyone, sorry for making you wait so long but Peter Ludlow is just about ready for us," said the Board Member. "So if you'll head for the vehicles, we'll soon be started."
Everyone started forward at that ready to get off the island. Bobbie and Lori greeted Daniela immediately and led her away towards a vehicle. But before Daniela's head completely turned, she shot a darkened look at Jake and Henry. The two didn't look away, but greeted her gaze head on and then walked into a nearby vehicle and the convoy headed off towards the main gate.
Isla Sorna: Sheila had just finished chasing away Katrice who was making shadow puppets on the projection screen when the screen came to life and Tim appeared on the other end.
"Sheila, you there?" he asked. Heads turned towards the screen for a moment before returning to their conversations as they realized the speech was still a few minutes in coming.
"Yo," said the female programmer as she popped a gum bubble.
"We go live in fifteen minutes," Tim informed his colleague. Sheila nodded her head.
"We're good to go on our end," she confirmed before adding hesitantly: "And you will be back before we set off the fireworks, right? Because I don't want a repeat of last year's disaster…"
That caused some spooked looks from those still listening in on their conversation.
"Yes, yes, I'll triple check everything," Tim assured her. "Now where are with the power shutdown? Did you get everything set for Embryonics Adminstration and the Hammond Administration buildings?"
"Yes," said Sheila a little aggravated he didn't think she could do her job. "There's a CRAY running a last minute program but it'll shut down at about the same time Ludlow should be done with his speech. Then it is set to run the building under minimum power with the exception of certain intervals where power will be at normal in order to give the scientists some time to still work."
"Good," said Tim pleased, although he was a little perplexed by a CRAY still running. Per his last conversation with Lori, those should've been shut off hours ago.
"Hey, earth to Tim!" said Sheila after she noticed his distant look. "What's up?"
Blinking, Tim looked at the camera again.
"Sorry, I was just thinking," he apologized. "So what about the Fortress?"
The topic had its intended effect on the female programmer as it caused her to completely forget his momentary zoning out.
"Uh-uh, no way!" she insisted. "You want to cut power there, you take care of it!"
Tim looked like he was about to respond when something caught his attention.
"Howdy Tim," said Jake Whitacre in a Southern drawl from offscreen. "What's up?"
"What else, everything," the male programmer joked before turning serious. "We can discuss this later, Sheila. Let's test the audio/video quality of this transmission."
"Right," said the female programmer all business, glad to finally be doing something she enjoyed. Tim gave an apologetic glance to Jake at not being able to continue talking with him. Jake for his part nodded and then turned away to look at the DC-3.
"Now who would be crazy enough to fly that thing in here?" he asked rhetorically. Henry shook his head in shame at his fellow scientist even bothering to say such a thing out loud. And then Jake found himself in a headlock from Jennifer.
"You criticize my flying again and I'll put you back in that hospital," she swore. Jake pretended to struggle against her as the other members of the senior staff largely chose to ignore them.
"Do I need to separate you two…again?" Samantha asked pointedly with a raised eyebrow.
"Help, help, I'm being oppressed," Jake rasped.
"Oh you're concerned about that but not about harassing me every time you can about my flying abilities?" Jennifer balked. Samantha could barely avoid rolling her eyes at their predicament.
"I swear you two are a HR manager's nightmare," the Board Member muttered.
"In all fairness, I don't think she can totally choke him from that position," Bobbie chimed in giving her medical opinion. "C'mon, Lori, let's go find good seats near the back so we can bolt once the speech is over."
"Right," said the Head of Production in full agreement as they left for their seats. As soon as they were gone, Henry turned to face Samantha.
"I'm a little disappointed that Hammond isn't here," he admitted. Samantha nodded her head in sympathy.
"I wish he was here too but from what I hear he's still not in the best of shape to be travelling," she revealed. Henry looked at her concerned.
"Health problems?" he asked in a whispered voice so as not to be overheard. Samantha shrugged lightly.
"Maybe," she offered noncommittally. "I'm going to try and see him in the next few weeks to touch base about the company. I'll know more then."
"Please do," Henry requested, concerned for his boss's safety.
"If it makes you feel better he will be watching the live feed like they are on Sorna and back at headquarters," Samantha said trying to be comforting. Henry nodded his head at least a little relieved that the boss wasn't totally out of action.
"I just hope he isn't seeing this," Henry muttered as he pointed at Jake and Jennifer who had maneuvered over to where the camera was pointing. From the speaker from Sorna it was clear those on the other island were enjoying what they were seeing.
"Me neither," Samantha readily agreed with him. "You two knock it off it's time to take your seats!"
Jennifer finally relented at that and let Jake go who then made an exaggerated gesture of rubbing his throat. Boos were briefly heard from the speakers but then died down as Tim and Sheila finished their equipment checks. The group then headed towards the white wooden lawn chairs as Samantha headed for the stage which was located right in front of the large Jurassic Park main gate.
From his vantage point on the stage, Peter Ludlow viewed the whole affair with disdain but he knew better than to say anything to them. So instead he turned to Sam Stone.
"Sam, I know things have been very hectic lately on Sorna and that is only going to increase once the lockdown goes into effect tomorrow," Ludlow fully admitted. Sam nodded his head but otherwise said nothing.
"Of course I feel fully responsible for that so I want to be able to help you out as best I can," Ludlow continued. "So I would like to introduce you to Ms. Stephanie Sandelder. She was the main receptionist at headquarters but she is a fully qualified administrative assistant and can help you in whatever official capacity you will need over the coming months."
Sam was fully taken aback by that abrupt statement and he looked over at the young woman standing next to him who he had just assumed was either Ludlow's personal assistant or a representative of Cowain, Swain, and Ross.
"You do know what you're getting yourself into, right?" he had to ask of her. Stephanie gave a curt nod of her head.
"Yes. I realize that things are going to get very…tense on your island over the next few months but I genuinely feel I would be better serving this company by being on Sorna," she told him. "You need to keep your attention focused on important matters with running the island and not having to worry about also keeping up with every administrative task."
Sam had to agree with that as he had been without a secretary for quite awhile. He had managed up to now to keep up his work but it had been getting harder and harder ever since the Jurassic Park Incident.
"Welcome aboard," he said with a warm smile as he held out his hand. Stephanie immediately grasped it.
"Glad to be part of the team," she agreed. Ludlow did his best not to smile at the interaction but he was definitely pleased that the Head of Sorna had accepted her without much reservation. He had a feeling the others would not be as welcoming but as long as Sam stuck by her, she'd be able to do her assigned tasks…and report back to him about what was really going on with that island.
The two were heading off to take their seats when Samantha stepped up onto the stage to greet him.
"Hello Peter," she acknowledged before looking at the departing figures oddly. "Was that Stephanie? What's she doing here?"
"She's been temporarily reassigned to Sorna," said Ludlow deciding the best response was a straightforward one as he headed for the podium. Everyone in their seats turned their attention towards him expecting his speech to begin but given the lighting system wasn't fired up and Samantha was accompanying him, they quickly realized things were not about to start right away.
"But I never approved of any…," began the Director of Human Resources when Ludlow held up a hand to silence her concerns.
"It was last minute decision on my part so I didn't have time to clear it with you," he continued trying to sound placating since he knew Samantha would be a different kind of sell since she knew company policies and procedures backwards and forwards having written most of them.
"She'll only be there for the duration of the Lockdown and then I'll be recalling her," the COO added. Samantha still looked at him warily but knew that with the Lockdown she had to more carefully choose her battles and this wasn't a battle currently worth fighting.
"Very well but I'd still like all personnel changes forwarded through me first," she requested. Ludlow bowed his head in response before looking out and surveying the audience. There were four blocks of five chairs each in two rows making for a total of twenty chairs. Next to them was the food services table and behind them was the audio-visual setup in front of the DC-3. The Sorna senior staff was already in their seats talking amongst themselves and with Daniela St. Ives. Near to them, the investigative team was also in their seats with Arby and Kelly eagerly talking to Levine and Thorne as Gutierrez had his camera out and was taking photos of the landscape around him for some reason. Behind them, Tim was working the lens on the camera while speaking with Sheila on Sorna to try and get good audiovisual quality for those watching remotely.
The stage itself was a standard pre-fabricated piece made of wood that was about five feet off the ground and had a black apron on it with the InGen logo clearly displayed. Besides the stairs leading up to the stage, the podium was the only thing on the stage itself. There was no curtain behind him as the Jurassic Park main gate pretty much served as the backing for the stage area which made for a much more interesting visual, Ludlow thought.
"Five minutes until go time," said Samantha looking at her watch. Ludlow leaned on the podium and then turned to face her.
"Would you be willing to give a brief statement before I start?" he requested. Samantha looked at him very confused.
"You want me to introduce you?" she asked. Ludlow shook his head.
"No, just give a brief pep talk," he stated.
"But I already said my peace to them back on…,"
"Please," Ludlow insisted. "It'll be good for morale."
Samantha sighed quietly to herself.
"Very well," she relented before grabbing the microphone. "Alright everyone, we'll be starting in a couple minutes."
That finally did grab everyone's attention as they all looked forward with rapt attention.
Embryonics Administration Building, Isla Sorna: The time was winding down for the Cray-XMP to finish its analysis of the DNA strands before the power was cut to it. It had nearly completed the comparison but it still needed more time. Time it really didn't have.