First Contact

Ludlow looked over his plans for their work on Isla Sorna. The first thing they would do upon arrival would be to capture a minimal number of dinosaurs of each species and cage them, with the exception of the sauropods. Bloody brutes were too huge. Minimal numbers because Isla Sorna was much smaller than Isla Nublar, and because they just needed the juveniles for the park, but the adults were just for showing off to their investors. Last he'd heard, the adults that survived all these years after Hurricane Clarissa without any care from humans had somehow survived without lysine, even though Dr. Wu had altered their genes to make them reliant on rich sources of exogenous lysine. Plus, the adults there had been bearing young, making it clear that somewhere down his line of work, Dr. Wu had screwed up regarding birth control procedures. His current geneticists, Drs. Jules Venn, Jason Chang, and Lori Ruso had hypothesized that the dinosaur's breeding could have been due to the various DNA used to repair their time-degraded DNA strands after extraction from the amber-encased insects. The three scientists inferred that Wu might have used amphibian DNA, or rana, which might have had some of the genes containing the ability of certain amphibians to change sex. Hence, male dinosaurs might have emerged in a fully female environment.

The next step would have been to kill off the unneeded specimens. The scientists he'd be bringing along wanted the chance to dissect some dinosaurs, and he was only too happy to oblige. They didn't need all those ugly, unpopular dinosaurs with no selling points, either. They would then regain control over the embryo freezers, and keep all viable embryos safely. Once that was done, they could shoot every fucking dinosaur on Site B for all Ludlow cared. Damn lizards were more trouble than their worth. Maybe he was exaggerating a bit. After all, each and every one of them was worth at least two million US Dollars.

Ludlow watched from his office as the InGen Dinosaur Recovery Team prepared for their mission to Isla Sorna, a.k.a. Site B. He watched several extensively modified Humvees glistening in their new coats of paint. Workers were pulling up vehicles using gigantic electric winches, spot-welding cables and pipes, and spray painting various things. He left his office, running smack into someone outside the door.

"Watch it, you idiot!" he snapped, before realizing who he had walked into.

The man he had run into was a thin, well-built, suntanned person. The man cocked an eyebrow, "Yes, Pete?"

"Roland, is your stuff ready? We're leaving in three hours," Ludlow said.

"Stuff be damned. I'm ready for anything," Roland Tembo said, taking a swig from his hip flask, "I've come to discuss my fees."

Ludlow nervously straightened his horn-rimmed glasses, saying, "Didn't we agree that you would be paid as soon as the animals gain us some income?"

"We did agree on that, but you can in exchange for something else," said Roland, locking stares with Ludlow.

"And that something would be?" asked Ludlow, curious.

"I want the rights to hunt one specimen of three dinosaur species on Isla Sorna. Simply put, I want to take their heads home to Mombaasa without you suing me for 'Theft of InGen Property," replied Roland.

"I see. I'll write up a contract for you… But what three species are you after?" asked Ludlow, now taking of his glasses and cleaning the lenses with his handkerchief.

"I want the rights to hunt a male tyrannosaurus. The buck. Also, I want to get one of those dinosaurs with the two red crests on its head, the venomous one. It was called a dilo-something, if I remember right. Lastly, I want the head of a one of the ceratopsians, the one with a many-horned frill, a styra-something," said Roland, leaning on the wall.

"Very well. I'll get a contract up for you. Mind coming in my office to check the species?" said Ludlow.

"Yes."

They entered Ludlow's office, and Roland took a look at the things inside. A map of the 'Five Deaths' island chain was on the wall, many files and documents were scattered all over Ludlow's desk, the computer showed a picture of a long-necked dinosaur, and the filing cabinet in the corner was in a mess, all of its drawers open, with papers spilling out of them. Ludlow stepped around his desk, and sat down in front of his computer.

"Ok. We know you want a tyrannosaur. The crested one was a what?" said Ludlow, bringing up a screen labeled as 'Species Search'.

"Dilo-something and styra-something," replied Roland, looking at the screen over Ludlow's shoulder.

"You mean dilophosaurus," said Ludlow as he tapped several keys, bringing up a screen which said,

SEARCH: DILO

FOUND: I MATCH(ES)

Click here to view result(s)

He clicked on the link, and they waited as the computer moved through images of dinosaurs on the screen. Images of tyrannosaurs, pterodactyls, maiasaurs, apatosaurs, and stygimoloch moved aside to show the image of a dinosaur with two flaming red crests on its head. It had an umbrella-like frill of skin sticking out from its neck, and had yellow skin that was spotted with black spots, much like the fur of a leopard. The image was labeled as 'Dilophosaurus Wetherilli (09)'.

"That's it," said Roland, nudging Ludlow, "Now the styra-something, if you may hurry up?"

Ludlow re-entered the search window, this time bringing up a screen which read,

SEARCH: STIRA

FOUND: 0 MATCH(ES)

"Ludlow, it's spelt S-T-Y-R-A," chided Roland, "Hurry up, will you. I need to pee."

"It's a styracosaurus, Roland."

Ludlow retyped the search phrase, and this time brought up a screen which said,

SEARCH: STYRA

FOUND: 1 MATCH(ES)

Click here to view result(s)

Clicking on the link, they watched the computer move through a different set of images while it searched. Images of ankylosaurs, triceratops, stegosaurs, and dimetrodons flashed up on the screen, the search finally stopping at an image of a dinosaur with at least six ornate horns of varying sizes arranged around its frill with amazingly intricate symmetry, with a seventh, massive horn on its beak. The image was labeled as 'Styracosaurus Ovatus (03)'.

"What do those numbers after its name mean?" asked Roland.

"The numbers refer to how many were seen by our ground survey team that has gone MIA, presumably even KIA, on Isla Sorna. There might be more, or less, when we get there. More, if some hadn't been seen at the time when our survey team was there, or less, thanks to the carnivores or natural causes," said Ludlow.

"Thanks, Pete, ciao," said Roland, rushing towards the toilets.

xxxx

InGen's small group of helicopters, housed at their hangars at Palo Alto, California, which included several remodeled Apaches and Chinooks, revved their engines, rotors slowly starting to turn. The InGen Dinosaur Recovery Team was loading things into the choppers, even as vehicles were being tethered to the choppers by high-tensile strength steel cables imported from Japan. A few of the smaller choppers lifted off, carrying only important personnel and light cargo, including weapons and supplies such as cables, bolts, light-yet-strong aluminium bars, and boxes of bullets.

On board one of the choppers, Ludlow was talking to Roland Tembo, the team's animal expert, Felix Zaliky, their computer expert, Dr. Miles Lee, their paleontologist, and John Dice, their authority on Isla Sorna.

"So let me get this straight. Roland is being allowed to hunt a specimen of the three species tyrannosaurus, dilophosaurus, and styracosaurus," said Lee, chewing on a candy bar.

"That's right," replied Ludlow, pulling out a contract and showing it to Lee, "He's allowed to hunt only one of each species. As exchange, his entire fee will be forfeit."

"Are you nuts! You'll be destroying an established ecosystem that has formed among the dinosaurs!" snapped Lee, his candy bar falling onto the floor, "And the dinosaurs are worth Much more, with a capital 'M', than his fee! He should be paying to hunt them!"

"Let me remind you, bone-digger, that I am the only person here who is remotely qualified experience-wise, to conduct this operation!" snapped Roland, glaring icily at Lee, "Furthermore, I think you wouldn't have the balls to stop me even if you could."

Lee shut up, huffing. Felix asked Dice, "How large is Isla Sorna?"

Dice thought for a moment before answering, "I'm not sure, but I'd say…. What's 2.5 squared multiplied by pi?"

Felix, who loved mathematics, almost immediately answered, "19.6"

"That's a rough estimate of Isla Sorna's area. The island is ovoid, but approximately five miles in diameter," said Dice, taking out a sheet of paper that resembled a map.

"You used circular area equals to pi times radius squared, right?" asked Felix, grinning happily.

"Yup. Now hush! I'm gonna have to study the map of our route," said Dice, unfolding the two foot by three foot map.

Ludlow suddenly brought everyone back to the helicopter by announcing, "We're landing in two minutes!"

They immediately looked out of the windows, seeing a tree-filled island nearly directly underneath the helicopter. The island had many hills, and they could see small clusters of buildings every here and there. The helicopter pilot called out to them, "Brace your selves! We've got tough wind shears up ahead!"

They scrambled to strap themselves up with safety belts. As they were doing so, the helicopter slowly made its descent towards the rather clean-looking helipad at the island's northern side. The helipad, 80 feet by 30 feet, was the largest they could locate on Site B. The helicopter stayed alarmingly close to the cliff walls next to the helipad, but was shaken around like a rag doll in a dog's mouth nonetheless. They heard Felix puking into an airsickness bag, and no one cared when he threw it out of the helicopter, into the lagoon next to the helipad.

As the helicopter landed, the violent rocking finally subsided. Roland glanced out of the window and saw the remains of a small steel-cable fence that had probably kept the helipad safe from dinosaurs once. The fence's many cables were now twisted and snapped, some with creeper plants growing on them for support. The main structural pylons were still erect, but some sported claw marks that seemed quite fresh. They stepped out of the helicopter, watching the other helicopters slowly land, passing through the wind shears.

The small, lightweight helicopters landed first, disgorging the Vehicle Support Crew. The burly rustabouts rushed into position as the by now struggling against the wind shears Chinooks slowly lowered the vehicles on their taut steel tethers. The rustabouts quickly and efficiently turned the release bolts locking the vehicles to the tethers, separating the vehicles from the Chinooks. The tethers, now swinging around dangerously in the fierce winds, were pulled up into the Chinooks with high-powered winches.

"LOOK OUT!" shouted one of the rustabouts, clearing out an area near to one of the cliff walls. One of the steel tethers had swung into the cliff wall with such force that several dislodged boulders were rapidly rolling down the slope. All the people there ran off, leaving one of the armored transport vehicles at the base of the cliff wall.

"FOOL! That's expensive equipment!" roared Ludlow as the rolling boulders slightly damaged the vehicle, which was after all, armored, as he faced the rustabout foreman.

The foreman merely grunted at him, "Senor, which would you prefer to have? A car, or the people who could drive your other vehicles? Besides, the armored transport seems to have survived the rock fall with little damage."

Glaring at him, Ludlow stormed off, barking out orders to the other workers, who were standing around relaxing.

"All vehicles move out single file! Armored vehicles in the front and the rear! All weapons lock-and-load! Get the capture vehicles ready!" he shouted, causing the workers to scramble to their posts.

As Ludlow walked towards his transport, Roland nudged him.

"Did anyone tell you that you sound like a total bitch when you shout?" asked Roland, earning an angry look from Ludlow.

xxx

The vehicles moved in a single line, flanked by speeder bikes, towards what had once been the Site B Worker's Village. The foremost vehicles, large, intimidating weed-whackers, cleared a clean path through the dense long grass they were moving through. The convoy suddenly broke into a clearing, startling various dinosaurs that had been grazing there. The men started whooping excitedly, and the cars broke formation, each one chasing a certain designated dinosaur, escorted by speeder bikes that circled the slower, moderately-sized dinosaurs, causing the air to be filled with panicked lowing and grunting.

As the cars maneuvered closer to the dinosaurs, the dinosaurs turned tail and ran, the smaller herbivores speeding off, leaving the slower, multi-ton dinosaurs behind. The cars roared towards the slow moving ones, long cattle-prod arms telescoping out forward, aimed at the dinosaurs. One of the cars closed in on a stegosaurus, already surrounded by three speeder bikes. The stegosaurus grunted in alarm, whipping its tail with its six three-foot long spikes around dangerously, almost swiping a biker aside. The people in the car extended the cattle prods at high speed, ramming them into the stegosaur's side and delivering hundreds of volt into its thick hide.

The stegosaur snorted angrily, swinging its tail around unbelievably fast, in a sweeping arc that sent two bikers, and their now-mangled bikes, flying. The cattle prods fired again, only causing the stegosaur to rear up in the air on its hind legs, blood oozing from the puncture wounds on its side and long trails of ropy saliva flying from its mouth.

"Amazing! We paleontologist never knew that Stegosaurus Armatus could rear up on its hind legs like that!" exclaimed Lee excitedly, as he watched the attempt at capturing the stegosaurus.

The enraged, hurt dinosaur roared in fury, and suddenly brought its seven ton bulk down on the cattle prods, snapping them off. The people in the car attempted to reverse the car, to move further away from the mad stegosaur, but were stopped when another stegosaur charged at the car from behind, performing a 180 degree turn and smashing its spiked tail down on the car's roof. Agonized screams were heard, as the spikes had pierced through the roof, impaling the people inside severely. Ludlow watched this in anger.

"Shoot the fucker!" he shouted.

"What?" shouted Lee, disbelieving, "I thought you wanted to catch them!"

"They're all replaceable! I say this again, shoot the fucker!" yelled Ludlow, stamping his foot on the car's floor.

The capture crew working on capturing the stegosaurs halted their attempts to catch the dinosaurs, suddenly whipping out elephant guns. Five loud gunshots were heard, before the stegosaur that had been shocked by the cattle prods fell down to the ground, dead. Its head oozed out fluid from three large gunshot wounds.

The other stegosaur, which Lee presumed to be its mate, roared and swung its tail hard, towards some men who didn't have the chance to run away from it. The car, which had still been stuck to its tail spikes, dislodged and flew into the air, along with the bodies of three men, moving in a series of somersaulting turns before crashing into the trunk of a large tree at the edge of the clearing. The twisted car fell to the ground, fuel leaking from its ruptured petrol tank. The men's bloody corpses landed in the long grass, where some smaller dinosaurs had taken refuge. Squeaks of fear were heard, as the small dinosaurs ran away.

The lone stegosaur bellowed in pain as the four remaining men who surrounded it leveled their guns at it and fired. The stegosaur's sides quickly turned magenta with patches of blood, as it swung its tail around, uselessly. The dinosaur finally fell to the ground, crashing down on the twisted remains of a cattle prod. The men who had been surrounding it cheered, shooting their guns into the air.

"Stop that nonsense! Go after those bald-headed ones here!" shouted Roland, as he pursued a small group of pachycephalosaurs. The tired-looking men rushed to his aid, forming a circle around the confused dinosaurs. They looked funny, with their bald, domed heads, circled by some short horns and stubs. The surrounded pachys grunted and stomped their claws on the ground, raising clouds of dust.

Roland and his two assistants pulled up in their open-roofed Jeep. Roland stared at the cowering herbivores. He spoke simply, "Shoot all but one."

The air was filled with the sound of gunshots, as the pachys fell one-by-one. After five minutes, only a large-sized, older-looking pachy remained. It snorted and lowered its head, making a moaning sound. The workers laughed, lowering their guns. What could this baldy do, anyway?

They were taken aback when the last pachy ran up to one of the bikers who had helped to corral the pachys, and butted his bike with such force that the biker flew, his bike now a useless mess of metal pipes, sprockets, and parts.

Before they could get their finally-prepared tranquilizer guns aimed at it, it charged a nearby car that was facing a tranquilized gallimimus. The car's boot caved in, the car itself sliding nine feet forward from the force of the pachy's charge. The people inside were thrown through the windscreen, flying onto the ground which was wet with gallimimus bodily fluids.

Felix stared in amazement. It had been one thing to see real dinosaurs, but this one had charged with enough force to move a two ton vehicle forward, and even throw the drivers through the windscreen. Of course, its head was small, but it had inflicted such force through mere speed!

"This is amazing!" he shouted, drawing angry looks from the workers.

Meanwhile, a lone dilophosaur had managed to get itself surrounded. Opening its frill, it spit a mass of black venom at a worker, who got hit in the face. Screaming in pain and clawing at his eyes, he quickly got the attention of Roland Tembo, who knew what he had to do.

Roland took out a gun with an exceptionally wide barrel, and aimed it at the dilophosaur's neck. BANG! A fine cable with metal balls at both its ends shot out, spinning rapidly like a cowboy's lasso. The barbell cable wrapped around the dilophosaur's neck like a whip, winding and tightening around the dinosaur's long neck upon contact. It started to choke, venom dribbling downthesides of its head. Roland sighed. He'd wanted this one's head, but he hadn't unpacked his formaldehyde yet.

The pachy was now backed up against the car it had so severely damaged. It lowered its head again, preparing to charge. Before it could do anything, a gunshot sounded through the air. It swayed on the spot, as though drugged, before falling to the ground, tranquilized, as a large dart stuck out of its neck. Roland Tembo, Ludlow, and Lee stepped closer to the drugged pachy.

Lee dropped to his knees in front of it and ran his fingers over it gently. Tears ran down his cheeks as he slowly caressed its thick cranium. He spoke, barely a whisper, "Pachycephalosaurus Wyomingensis. A beauty."

Ludlow cleared his throat, getting Lee's attention, "It's already twilight. And I'd like it if we were indoors when night falls."

Reluctantly, Lee left the pachy to be lifted into a truck before entering his transport. The vehicles started up, and he saw a drugged triceratops, several drugged procompsognathids, and also a drugged parasaurolophus, all strapped to various vehicles.

The convoy started their journey to the worker's village, everyone wanting to get there and set up base camp before night fell.