A/N: Some of this stuff is very much in line with the Jurassic Park novelization. So, again, a reminder that I own nothing related to this franchise. I'm just using it here because I thought it was a good idea that never materialized in the movies. But overall, I would say this entire storyline is one semi-step removed from any of the existing continuities, movies, games, comics or otherwise.
Next day: Workers bustled about eager to get to work so as not to have their minds on the impending fence failures. From the workers lodge, Jake, Henry, Lori, and Sheila walked towards the garage to find a ride out to the docks where the supplies would be loaded to be taken to the Fortress.
"So what's going to happen to your tour group?" asked Henry, curious.
"Bobbie is going to be taking them out to the docks later today so they can look around and Thorne can reclaim his Mercedes-Benz SUV from impound," Lori explained stretching out her arms.
"Anybody seen Nicolette?" asked Jake looking around confused. The others glanced around but saw no sign of her.
"Well, knowing her she probably is already at the docks waiting for us," Sheila figured, her tone evidence that she was still not entirely happy about being forced out of the Village to go to the Fortress.
"Good point," Jake admitted with a nod of his head. Daniela St. Ives and her team had been allotted five gas powered vehicles to take staff solely to the docks until the electric tour vehicles were fully up and running. The Indigo Team had so far left at the crack of dawn every opportunity they had and didn't come back until the work day was over or sometimes later if necessary as they prepared their work area.
The four workers read the schedule and looked at the chalkboard which showed what vehicles were going where and how many workers they could take. They found a vehicle that would take all of them to their destination and wrote down their names and then headed into the garage to the staging area where the vehicle was being prepped, eager to be on their way.
Behind them, Jennifer trudged her way to the garage, not happy about having to be on a set schedule and working in the motorpool garage. Walking in the entrance, she took the downward sloping ramp and walked past various vehicles in different states of repair. She saw the group of Henry and the rest from earlier clustered around a vehicle and tried to avoid them seeing her as she slunk into the main office area where the mechanics got their assignments for the day.
Walking in, she saw a couple workers in there getting some water and food that turned, looked at the new arrival, and promptly stared at her in shock.
"What's she doing here?" asked one of them incredulously at her appearance. "I don't remember there being any openings for a wrench wench whose head belongs in the clouds."
"Yeah, don't try and think we don't know you're always looking down on us landlubbers from up above," the other remarked testily.
Jennifer ignored those comments and marched straight up to the chief mechanic, Hugh, and held her right hand up to her head.
"Jennifer from the airfield reporting as ordered, sir," she said condescendingly and gave an equally half-hearted salute. Hugh sighed before chuckling briefly.
"To answer your question," said Hugh in a heavy Creole accent as he turned his head to his colleagues. "What the main boss says goes goes; even if that includes bringing our friend here down to earth from her lofty perch."
The two workers scoffed at that, but otherwise said nothing to further antagonize the new arrival.
"Hello, Jennifer. Welcome to the Gallimimus Garage," Hugh said in welcome, although he did not get up out of his chair and offer his hand. "I think it's time we laid out some ground rules for your stay with us.
The first is that while I know you and Kevin liked to isolate yourself from the rest of us workers, we won't have any of that here," Hugh continued decisively. "In the garage we are a team first and foremost. We either rise or fall based on our weakest link. And right now, that's you," he told her bluntly. "You have mechanical experience and that's definitely a positive mark in your favor, but working on ground-based vehicles isn't exactly the same thing as dealing with aircraft. So you will be placed under an apprenticeship program. You will work with a different assigned mentor on all sorts of different shift rotations.
You do well and you'll advance up the ranks and be free of your apprenticeship and can become a full fledged mechanic and part of the team. You do poorly and you'll find yourself reassigned to janitorial staff. I don't intend for that remark to be an insult towards them. They do excellent work and I have the utmost respect for them. But it's not the kind of work for me and I get the impression it won't be for you, either.
Are we understood?"
Jennifer composed herself as adopted a steely expression on her face.
"Perfectly, sir," she said while barely avoiding clenching her jaw.
"Good," said Hugh knowing she wasn't happy but knowing there was little he could do to change her disposition. So instead he took out a sheet of paper and handed it to her. "This is your schedule for the week and I'll be checking up on you periodically. You'll find your first assignment down in slip 17 where they're doing an entire engine block replacement. Should be enough work to even get you hands on experience rather than just being an observer. Good luck, kid."
Jennifer dipped her head just enough to stand square between respect and disrespect and left the office. The two other workers in the room watched her go before turning to the boss.
"What do you think?" one of them had to ask. Hugh looked at them annoyed.
"I think you two have had enough of a break and should get back to helping Tim and Sheila with those Jurassic Park jeeps," he snapped at them. The two workers straightened up at that and quickly left the room. Hugh shook his head annoyed before returning to his work of figuring out ways his department could contribute to conserving power.
Environmental Protection Agency, San Francisco: The offices of the EPA were always bustling with activity and today was no different. There were ongoing investigations, reports to be files, cases that needed to be updated, various penalties to be levied; the works.
In one particular office sat Bob Morris, an EPA investigator, plugging away on some new case he was working on. It was an unusually hot day in the office but while he had already discarded his suit jacket, the young man still wore his shirt buttoned up and his tie on over it. He had earlier debated shucking off his wing-tipped shoes so he could relief some heat but decided he'd rather avoid the awkward situation of having to put them back on in case someone came and needed him for some reason.
He was so engrossed in his work, he barely heard the knocking on his office door.
"Come in," he said, a little glad to be distracted from his work. The door opened and a woman around his age and a younger teenaged female poked their heads in. This surprised the agent as he was at a loss as to who they were. He briefly debated looking through his schedule book to see if he had any appointments that day, but instead decided they must be lost.
"Hello, how can I help you?" he asked, trying to be friendly.
"Yes, are you Bob Morris?" asked the older woman, throwing him for a loop. His next thought was he hoped they weren't members of some crazed environmental group out to make an example out of him for something he'd done while on the job. He made sure to rest his hand on his phone just in case he had to quick dial for security.
"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage," he said next, trying to stall for time and get more information at the same time.
Knowing she was now in the right office, the two pushed their way into the room. "My name is Sarah Harding and this is my sister Jessica Harding," the woman continued introducing the two of them as the two slung off their backpacks. "It took us a little bit of research to track you down, but we're glad you work on the west coast."
That really set off alarm bells in Morris's head as he picked up the phone receiver.
"Do you have an appointment?" he asked, trying to delay as he started punching numbers into the phone.
"Well, no," Sarah admitted.
"Then I'm afraid I can't help you unless you do," he said quickly and he finished dialing his phone and heard the dial tone, hoping security picked up it sooner.
"Please, it's a matter of life and death," Jess said desperately to avoid being kicked out.
"Not my problem," said Morris a little harshly but not wanting to hear it as the phone was picked up. "Hi, Steve, it's Bob, I need-."
"We're here to talk about International Genetic Technologies, Inc., or as they're more well known, InGen," said Sarah trying her last card. That caused Bob to completely stop talking and just stare at them intently trying to figure out if they were on the level or not. They at least looked sincere, or could decently fake it, but what really made him hesitate in throwing them out was his deep desire to know more about the subject that had just been brought up.
"Sorry, Steve, it looks like nothing. I'll call you back if I'm wrong," he said, an indicator to be alert but not alarmed to the security guard and hung up the phone. Still, just because he'd let them off the hook didn't mean he would be taken for a fool.
"Okay, who sent you?" he asked, acting aggravated at the topic having been brought up.
"I don't understand," said Sarah confused as she and Jess sat down and took out their notebooks and pencils from their packs. Bob gave her an annoyed shake of his head before leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.
"The InGen investigation went nowhere almost three years ago. It was yanked out from under me and I got reprimanded for it," he said as if stating something they should already know. "So if this is a practical joke by whomever sent you, I'm not laughing. Very funny you guys!" he shouted out the doorway but failed to hear any snickers or chuckling from people out of sight.
"Sounds like the dude has a few screws loose," Jess whispered in his sister's ear but was immediately shushed.
"I promise you I'm not here as a prank," Sarah promised. "I didn't even really know for sure you had investigated InGen until you just confirmed it for me. The reason I'm here is because our father is Gerry Harding and he works for InGen and we think his life is in danger. We really need to know what you found out about that company, but if you won't help us then we're wasting our time and will go find our answers somewhere else," she ended sharply. She wasn't in the mood for games. She'd been getting enough of that from her mysterious stranger.
Her words slowly forced Bob to reassess his initial opinion on the two individuals in the room. The name Harding did ring a bell and it could have had something to do with that bio-engineering company…
Sighing and wishing he wasn't buying into their story, he opened the bottom drawer of his file cabinet and retrieved a file that by all rights should've been destroyed when the investigation was canned. But it was a story he couldn't quite let go of no matter how much time had passed. He rifled through the parts of the file that contained personnel he'd hoped to interview and found a listing for Garry Harding, a veterinarian that he'd failed to locate and speak with before the abrupt termination.
"How do I know you even are his daughter?" he asked, still skeptical. Sarah gave him a smug look.
"As an animal behaviorist at San Diego University, the EPA has consulted with me before in the past. You should find a record of me in your computer," she said, pleased she'd outmaneuvered him on that one. "My sister would be in there too, but her status as an ecological menace is just below the attention of the agency."
"Hey!" shouted Jess not happy about being the butt of that joke.
Bob chuckled briefly at their repartee but decided that he wasn't going to look her up in the system just to prove her point.
"Okay, yes, I did investigate InGen," he admitted willing to be open with them. "I was contacted way back when by the Office of Technology Transfer because they were concerned InGen was up to something suspicious by transferring a lot of heavy genetics equipment to Costa Rica."
"Interesting," said Sarah as once again InGen was tied into that small Central American country. She'd have to consider going there herself to see if she could dig up more answers…unless her upcoming planned assignment to Kenya didn't delay her plans. "Genetic technologies to do what?"
"Analyze and sequence DNA strands," the EPA agent replied, trying to give her the simplified version. "There were Cray XMP supercomputers and hood gene sequencers to start off. They also purchased a patent for a polymer that had primarily been used to act as a type of eggshell but was useless to those who originally developed it because they couldn't make it any smaller than an ostrich egg. Really bizarre stuff altogether that drew some suspicion that something shady was going on. And so I assigned myself to look into it."
"And how much did you uncover?" asked Jess, also really interested in the whole tale. Bob Morris stopped himself and looked at the two of them.
"You can write this down, but it's all strictly off the record and I'll deny having said it, understood?" he informed them, not willing to take any choices that this would come to haunt him later.
"Absolutely," Sarah promised.
"I didn't get to interview anyone from InGen directly but I did find some people who InGen had done some subcontracting out to who were willing to speak with me about the work they had done," Bob Morris revealed to them as he sifted through his notes. "One particularly insightful interview was with Doctor Alan Grant who is a paleontologist working for the University of Denver. About seven years ago, InGen began funding his work and in return he gave them information for something called…," Morris paused as he looked at his notes, "'juvenile hyperspace.'"
"What?" asked Jess as she scrunched up her nose completely confused by that term.
"It means he was consulted on the behaviors of young animals," her older sister supplied since she was fully versed in the concept having done on research on countless animal hyperspaces over the years in her work. "What they eat, what sort of environment they live in, how the animals interact with each other, stuff like that."
"Oh," said Jess nodding her head, understanding what she was talking about. She then wrote down the name Alan Grant as that name seemed familiar to her somehow.
"Juvenile hyperspace for what kind of animals?" asked Sarah of the EPA investigator. Bob shifted uncomfortably behind his desk as he looked to make sure the door was securely closed.
"Again, off the record," he stressed as if a little fearful what he said next might cost him his job. Both Harding sisters nodded their heads.
"They were asking about the habits and behaviors of dinosaurs," he told them finally.
The Docks, Isla Sorna: The workers from Isla Indigo hustled and bustled as they continued to prepare the docks for any incoming ships. At the front gates, Jake, Henry, Lori, and Sheila had their IDs thoroughly verified and then had their belongings thoroughly checked before they were allowed entry into the area.
"Sorry about the whole nine yards," Daniela St. Ives admitted, a little apologetically as she greeted them beyond the entrance area. "But we have to be careful that nothing unauthorized gets off this island."
"Anything new on the supply front?" asked Lori hopeful. Daniela shook her head.
"It's either 'pending' or 'to be determined', take your pick," she offered sympathetically. "But, at least we can hook you up with some coffee and breakfast while you're here."
Expressions brightened around the group as Daniela led them to the small administration building that was part of the complex that mainly consisted of warehouses.
"So where's Nicolette?" asked Henry, curious. That got a confused expression from Daniela.
"I don't follow. She's not here," was the answer, surprising the group.
"Well, she was supposed to go with us to the fortress," Lori said, stating the obvious.
"Maybe she changed her mind or will be in later or else took a gas powered jeep to get there already," Daniela reasoned.
"Maybe, but that doesn't seem like her," Lori said, a little concerned.
"I think this island has thrown all of us off schedule. I wouldn't worry about it," continued Daniela dismissively with a wave of her hand. "Now how about after breakfast I give you a tour of how this facility will operate with us in charge…"
San Diego: Sarah shot a concerned look at her younger sister out of the corner of her eye. The mention of dinosaurs before had almost caused her to have a complete meltdown. But to her relief, Jess seemed okay.
"So…this isn't a surprise to either of you," said Bob cutting into her thoughts. He was both surprised and relieved by this.
"Let's just say that off the record, it matches with some other information we've found," her younger sister said as she absently tapped her pencil against her notebook, wondering about this turn of events. It all seemed distantly familiar to her, but she still felt like she was missing pieces to the puzzle in regards to her missing memories and what InGen was up to. Perhaps finding the individuals Bob Morris had tried to interview might give them more insight into what was going on.
Bob was about to say something further when some hustle and bustle outside caught his attention.
"Oh no, not these idiots again," he said unapologetically as he groaned while rolling his eyes. He then pinched the bridge of his nose while rubbing his eyes as Sarah and Jess looked outside and saw several people being lined up in the hallway by police officers.
"Something we're missing?" asked Sarah confused.
Bob Morris shook his head lightly. "Not unless you count a mountain of paperwork and a headache for the next several hours. They're environmentalists from Earth First and breaking the law is their specialty," he said as he gathered up his InGen documents. "Let's make a quick trip to the copier and then I'm afraid that'll have to conclude our meeting."
The two Harding sisters thanks Mr. Morris for his time as they all walked into the hallway.
"Jess, why don't you hang out here for a few moments and we'll be back with the copies," Sarah said to her sister. Jess briefly wondered if Sarah was up to something but just shrugged her shoulders because the request seemed innocent enough.
"Okay," she answered simply as the two others headed for the copier room. As soon as they got there, Sarah shut the door behind them and leaned against the copier.
"Be honest with me," Sarah pleaded lightly. "Do you think InGen is really making dinosaurs?" she said, bringing up the proverbial elephant in the room.
Bob sighed as he began making the copies and stared at the concrete wall in front of him. "I think they are. And I sure as hell hope I'm wrong."
"And why is that?" Sarah needed to know for the sake of her father and herself.
"There's one thing I didn't tell you back there because I didn't want to scare your younger sister since your father works there," Morris began as he fed more copies into the machine. "In the past eight years, InGen has settled more wrongful death lawsuits than most companies have that have been around since the early 1900s."
"I see," said Sarah unsettled by that fact as she crossed her arms. "Anything recently?"
"You'd better believe it," Morris admitted as he vigorously nodded his head. "I can't officially keep tabs on them anymore, but I still get the occasional word through the grapevine here. A few weeks ago something very bad happened in Costa Rica to them. I can't find any details but people got killed, others were paid off, the whole shebang. And this isn't the first time either. There've also been scattered events going back through the years.
Like something that happened back to a Costa Rican village that John Hammond saw fit to get involved with. And it all leads back to some kind of pinnacle event in 1986 at InGen's Kenya facilities. Whatever it was, I can't find any firm details it's that closely guarded of a secret. But I can only read between the lines and make guesses about it."
"But what makes you think it's related then?" asked the animal behaviorist playing devil's advocate.
Bob Morris gave her a haunted look. "Because in less than six months after whatever happened, InGen completely bailed on their amphitheatre out there by ceasing all construction on something they'd been working on for close to two years. They then began transferring all that stuff I mentioned earlier to Costa Rica. Then all their wrongful death settlements against them started coming from that location."
The copies were finished and Morris handed them to Sarah who used the time to put them away as a way to digest that information.
"Do you know where their facilities are in Costa Rica?" asked Sarah next as the two entered the hallway to return to her younger sister.
"Not a clue," Bob Morris answered with a quick shake of his head. "It was at that point that my investigation got pulled."
"And why was that?" asked Sarah, having intended to ask him that earlier but had forgotten. Bob stopped and looked at her seriously.
"During my investigation there was a man who led me on a trail chasing breadcrumbs in regards to finding out information about InGen," he said as a chill ran down Sarah's spine. "And from your expression I can see he's latched onto you now. I have to warn you, no matter what his attitude or appearance, he's dangerous. I got too close to proving what InGen was doing and he tried to warn me off. I didn't and I'm pretty sure he was the one who got my investigation pulled and nearly got me drummed out of the agency."
Sarah nodded her head. "Thanks for confirming what I already suspected."
Morris held out his hand and she shook it. "Best of luck in your further investigations. If you need anything, I assume you have my information because he gave it to you. Be careful."
Sarah gave a silent acknowledgment of that and the two parted ways. Sarah was so lost in her thoughts she barely noticed the Earth First people lined up against the wall until she saw her sister being unusually chatty with one of them…a man Sarah immediately recognized.
"Oh, hi, Sarah, I was just…I mean…this is…," began Jess flustered when Sarah patted her sister on the shoulder as a mild warning against fraternizing with older men.
"Don't worry about the introductions," she told the younger woman. "Hello, Nick. Still causing trouble I see."
The thirty-something Caucasian man with the brown curly hair gave his best lady killer smile as he chucked to himself. His name was Nick van Owen and his path had crossed Sarah's on a few occasions whether photographing her university excursions or being part of protest groups opposing them.
"Hi, Sarah," he said warmly while paying no attention to her comment about his actions. "I should've known you two were related, I can see the resemblance of beauty on you both."
Sarah narrowly avoided a grimace at that thinly veiled pickupline as Jess turned bright red she was blushing so hard.
"Go climb a tree," she said lightly as she began pushing her sister down the hallway. "Speaking of, where did they arrest you this time?"
"Same place as usual, the Amazon," he answered. That question gave Sarah pause as the gears in her head began turning. She stopped in her tracks and turned to face the man.
"You know the Central and South American geography pretty well don't you?" she stated. Nick shrugged as he thrust his hands into his jean pockets.
"As well as anyone I suppose," he said, trying not to sound brash.
"Do the words, Indigo, Nublar, and Sorna mean anything to you?" Sarah had to ask. "Besides their literal translations. I think they have something to do with Costa Rica."
Nick shook his head. "Doesn't ring a bell, but if you want I can try and find out," he offered.
"Please, as a favor to me," Sarah requested and Nick nodded his head, telling from her tone it was a serious request and decided not to give a glib remark in turn. They parted ways and the two sisters exited outside.
"Who was that guy, he's cute," Jess admitted a little dreamily.
"Just stay away from him," Sarah warned. "And focus on the matter at hand. Because I think we've just about gotten out of the frying pan and into the fire."
The two got into their jeep and rushed off away from the building. From the shadows, the enigmatic man who watched them leave and then consulted the date on his watch.
"Sixty-six more days," was all he said and then left the area.