Disclaimer: Not mine
Chapter 3
"Now remember to do as the staff tells you. Don't try and pet the dinosaurs. No magic…" Andromeda checked their packs again while Ted stood back and tried not to laugh at his wife's actions.
"Mum! We're just going to a wildlife park for a few days, I promise, I'll keep the midget safe," Nym rolled her eyes and quickly shouldered her bag.
"I promise to be good Aunt Andromeda," Harry gripped his own backpack tightly. He was so excited, but he was also nervous, he'd never done something like this before.
"Better hurry up kids, don't want to miss the Portkey," Ted offered them an escape. Hugs were exchanged and then the two were off to Porta Rico.
"Tell me they'll be safe," Andromeda begged her husband, staring at the space where their children had stood seconds earlier.
"They aren't irresponsible children, Nym's of age and Harry doesn't actually go looking for trouble. She'll keep him safe and you sent them with enough Healing potions to heal a battalion. This is the holiday Harry needs after the last year," Ted assured her, wrapping an arm around her waist, leading her back to the hotel.
"You're right," she took a deep breath. "We better have a house lined up by the time they get home."
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Robert looked around for the two people he was picking up. Mr Hammond had gone to recruit Dr Grant for the inspection team personally while he had asked Muldoon to pick up the only investor who wasn't getting cold feet from the accident. The Potters had been the biggest investor outside of Mr Hammond himself. They had died in the eighties, but their son had invested more money over the last year and so had been invited to visit before the grand opening, and it had to be during his school holidays. Because Mr Potter was only thirteen years old. Thankfully he had a chaperone with him. He finally spotted a young man with messy dark hair and glasses, dressed in functional jeans, top and jacket with new hiking boots and a backpack. With him was an older girl but she couldn't be more than nineteen or twenty with dark eyes and pink hair although also dressed comfortably and not fashionably. "Mr Potter?"
"Hi," Harry greeted him, taking in the rugged man, dressed more for a safari than picking people up.
"Robert Muldoon, Game Warden at Jurassic Park. Mr Hammond asked me to escort you to the Park."
"Nice to meet you Sir, I'm Harry and this is my cousin Nymphadora Tonks."
"Nym or Tonks," she warned as she shook his hand. Harry had started calling her Nym because with three Tonks in the house he couldn't really call her that. "How are we getting there?"
"Helicopter," he led them out to the helipad and saw them both stare with wide eyes.
"Wicked," Harry whispered, and Robert smirked slightly.
He helped them in and showed them how to strap in before the pilot took off. By helicopter it wasn't a long trip and he was soon pointing out the islands to them. "That is our destination, Isla Nublar. Site B is on Isla Sorna, in the distance there, and it is where much of the science is done It is part of the Las Cinco Muertes, unlike Isla Nublar." He smiled as the two stared out at the chain of six islands in awe, not that they could see them all. "Bad wind shears so hang on, we have to drop fast," he warned and was surprised when the two loved it, Harry cheering. He didn't know he was sitting with two Quidditch players. A jeep was waiting for them and he drove them into the park, across the herbivore plains, stopping the Jeep to let them stare in awe at the dinosaurs.
""This is…" Nym shook her head, lost for words. She'd gone to a muggle school before Hogwarts, so she knew something about science and extinction. Magic couldn't bring back long dead animals, but science could. They stayed for a while, occasionally asking Muldoon questions but overall content to silently observe.
Eventually he restarted the Jeep and drove on. "You'll be staying in the Safari Lodge as it is the most complete Visitor Accommodation so far." He parked and showed them into a small two-bedroom villa. "If you need anything dial '0' and it will reach the operations centre for now. There's no room service but meals are served in the Visitors Centre, the large building we drove by."
"Thank you, Mr Muldoon," Harry grinned, and Muldoon nodded.
"Have a good night. Mr Hammond should be back tomorrow with the inspection team." He left them to it. Nym let Harry choose his room and then they settled in before heading over to get some food for dinner. They went to bed early, knowing that the next day was going to be very busy.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Two large, open-top jeeps roared down the hilltop away from the landing as the helicopter engines whined back to life and the rotors started to spin again.
Ellie, Alan and Ian held on tight in the front jeep while Hammond and Gennaro were in the rear one. They passed through an enormous gate in a thirty-foot-high fence, which closed behind them. There were large electrical insulators on the fences, warning lights that strobed and clear signs - "ELECTRIFIED FENCE! 10,000 VOLTS!"
Gennaro regarded the fences critically. "The full fifty mile of perimeter fence are in place?"
"And the concrete moats, and the motion sensor tracking systems. Donald, dear boy, do try to relax and enjoy yourself," Hammond was amused by his attitude.
"Let's get something straight, John. This is not a weekend excursion, this is a serious investigation of the stability of the island. Your investors, whom I represent, are deeply concerned. Forty-eight hours from now, if they - -", he gestured to the occupants of the other jeep, "- -aren't convinced. I'm not convinced. And I can shut you down John."
"Forty-eight hours from now, I'll be accepting your apologies," he grinned.
In the front Jeep, Ellie stared off to the right, fascinated by the thick tropical plant life around them. She tilted her head, as if something was wrong with the picture. She reached out and grabbed hold of a leafy branch as they drove by, tearing it from the tree.
Hammond watched Grant and signalled to his Driver. "Just stop here, stop here. Slow, slow." The Jeep slowed and so did the front one.
Ellie stared at the leaf, amazed, running her hand lightly over it. "Alan - -" But Grant was not paying attention, he was staring too, out the other side of the jeep. Grant noticed that several of the tree trunks were leafless - just as thick as the other trees, but grey and bare. "This shouldn't be here," she muttered.
Grant twisted in his seat as the jeep stopped and looked at one of the grey tree trunks. Riveted, he slowly stood up in his seat, as if to get closer. He moved to the top of the seat, practically on his tiptoes. He raised his head, looking up the length of the trunk, he looked higher. And higher. And higher. That was no tree trunk, that was a leg. Grant's jaw dropped, his head falling all the way back, and he looked even higher, above the tree line.
"This species of vermiform was been extinct since the cretaceous period. This thing - -" Elie continued and Grant, never tearing his eyes from the brachiosaur, reached over and grabbed Ellie's head, turning it to face the animal. She saw it and dropped the leaf. "Oh - - my - - God."
Grant let out a long, sharp, HAH - a combination laugh and shout of joy. He got out of the jeep, and Ellie followed. Grant pointed to the thing and managed to put together his first words since its appearance: "IT'S A DINOSAUR!"
Technically, it was a brachiosaur, of the sauropod family. It crunched the branch in its mouth, which was some thirty-five feet up off the ground, at the end of its long, arching neck. It stared down at the people in the car with a pleasant, stupid gaze.
Ellie looked up at the sauropods in wonder. They were pretty light on their feet - a far cry from the sluggish, lumbering brutes expected.
Hammond got out of his jeep and walked to join them. He looked like a proud parent showing off the kid.
Ian Malcolm looked at Hammond, amazed, and with an expression that was a mixture of admiration and rapprochement. "You did it. You crazy son of a bitch, you did it," he muttered and the driver glanced back at him.
Grant and Ellie continued walking, following the dinosaur. "The movement!"
"The - - agility. You're right!" In their amazement, Grant and Ellie talked right over each other.
"Ellie, we can tear up the rule book on cold-bloodedness. It doesn't apply, they're totally wrong! This is a warm-blooded creature. They're totally wrong."
"They were wrong. Case closed. This thing doesn't live in a swamp to support its body weight!"
Several of the top branches were suddenly ripped away. Another sauropod, reaching for a branch high above their heads, stood effortlessly on its hind legs.
"That thing's got a what, twenty-five, twenty-seven-foot neck?" Grant looked at Hammond.
"The brachiosaur? Thirty."
Grant and Ellie continued to walk. "- - and you're going to sit there and try to tell me it can push blood up a thirty-foot neck without a four-chambered heart and get around like that?! Like that!? This is like a knockout punch for warm-bloodedness. How fast is it?"
"Well, we clocked the T-rex at thirty-two miles an hour," Hammond grinned, enjoying their childlike wonder.
"You've got a T-rex!? He's got a T-rex! A T-rex! He said he's- -"
"Say again?" Alan croaked.
"Yes, we have a T-rex," Hammond couldn't help laughing at them a little.
Grant felt faint, he bent over but then half fell down on the ground.
"Honey put your head between your knees, and breathe," Ellie coached.
Hammond walked in front of them and looked out. "Dr. Grant, my dear Dr. Sattler. Welcome to Jurassic Park." They turned and looked at the view again. It was a beautiful vista, reminiscent of an African plain.
A whole herd of dinosaurs crossed the plain, maybe a hundred, crossing the plain. "Ellie, they're absolutely - - they're moving in herds. They do move in herds!"
"We were right!" She couldn't stop smiling in excitement.
"How did you do this?!" Alan looked up at Hammond who nodded.
"I'll show you."
Gennaro, still in the jeep, was just staring, a look of absolute rapture on his face. He spoke in a voice that was hushed and reverent, "We are going to make a fortune with this place." That got him an unimpressed look from his driver.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Hammond led grant, Ellie, Gennaro and Malcolm up the stairs, talking as he went. Two park attendants opened the doors to the Visitor Centre. The lobby of the still-unfinished visitor's centre was a high-ceilinged place, and had to be house its central feature, a large skeleton of a tyrannosaur that was attacking. Workmen in the basket of a Condor crane were still assembling skeletons. A staircase climbed the far wall, to another wing. "- - the most advanced amusement park in the world, combining all the latest technologies. I'm not talking rides, you know. Everybody has rides. We made living biological attractions so astonishing they'll capture the imagination of the entire planet!"
Grant stared up at the dinosaur skeletons and just shook his head. Ellie caught his reaction. "So, what are you thinking?"
"We're out of a job."
Ian Malcolm popped in between them with a grin, "Don't you mean "extinct"?" Ellie and Malcolm moved on ahead to find Hammond had stopped.
"Welcome to Jurassic Park, Harry. I am sorry I wasn't here to greet you," John smiled and offered his hand to the boy who was the same age as his granddaughter, yet he looked younger.
Harry just smiled happily. "I don't mind, this place is amazing! I can't wait to see more dinosaurs. Oh, Mr Hammond, this is my cousin Nymphadora Tonks. Her parents are my new guardians."
"Pleasure to meet you Sir, thanks for letting me come but someone has to keep an eye on him."
"It is no problem at all young lady, the more the merrier. Now, then. Dr's Grant Sattler and Malcolm, this is Harry Potter, the biggest investor in the park other than myself."
"You're Doctor Grant?" Harry asked, eyes wide and Grant nodded warily.
"Wow. I've read your books and papers. Your theory on dinosaur evolution is incredible," Harry told him, and Ellie hid a smile.
"Thank you…you've read them?" Alan was shocked that such a young-looking kid had read and understood his work.
"I love dinosaurs. I was very excited when I found out my parents had invested and just what InGen was working on. I am hoping to be a palaeontologist one day." He wasn't giving that dream up, especially now he was away from the British Wizarding World.
"You have a fan Alan," Ellie teased softly before smiling at the young teen. "We're working on a dig of Velociraptors at the moment, maybe you could come and see what it is we do in the field," she offered, theirs were not easy fields of work, either in study or finding actual work but with the people he already knew he had a better chance than most to make it.
"I would love too," Harry grinned, unable to believe she had offered.
"After we ask Mum and Dad," Nym added and Ellie nodded.
"Time to move on," Hammond ushered them into a dim room with rows of seats set before a large screen. "Why don't you all sit down."
Ellie quickly manoeuvred the group, so Harry was next to Alan, getting a grin from his chaperone. "Ellie Sattler," she offered a hand that was quickly accepted.
"Nymphadora Tonks, call me Nym or Tonks please. So, you dig up dinosaurs?"
"I'm a palaeobotanist, I specialise in extinct plants."
"Cool." They fell silent as the presentation began.
Harry watched in awe as Mr DNA explained things, this was why he missed science so much! He loved magic, but science was fascinating too.
The row of seats began to move slowly past a row of double-panned glass windows beneath a large sign that read "GENETICS/FERTILIZATION/HATCHERY." Inside, technicians worked at microscopes. In the back was a section entirely lit by blue ultraviolet light.
"Our fertilization department is where the dinosaur DNA takes the place of the DNA in unfertilized emu or ostrich eggs - - and then it's on to the nursery, where we welcome the dinosaurs back into the world!" Mr DNA continued explaining what was happening.
Gennaro had a wondrous grin plastered on his face, just loving everything now. "This is overwhelming, John. Are these characters animatronics?"
"No, we don't have any animatronics here. These are the real miracle workers of Jurassic Park," John assured him, proud of his people.
Grant, Ellie and Malcolm were frustrated, leaning forward, straining against the safety bars for a better look. But the seats kept going. "Wait a minute! How do you interrupt the cellular mitosis?!" Alan asked in frustration.
"Can't we see the unfertilized host eggs?!" Ellie twisted to look at John. But the seats were already moving on to another set of windows, which gave a glimpse into what looked like a control room.
"Shortly, shortly..." he promised as Mr DNA spoke up again.
"Our control room contains some of the most sophisticated automation ever attempted in –"
Grant strained to look back into the labs, but the seats moved past again, with no intention of slowing down. "Can't you stop these things?!"
"Sorry! It's kind of a ride!"
"Let's get outta here!" Ian offered, and Alan looked at him before nodding and the two of them began pushing the safety bars up, Ellie and Harry quickly joining in. Nym sighed but helped. They stood up and headed for the door of the hatchery.
"Hey! You can't do that!" Gennaro called after them. "Can they do that?"
"Relax, Donald, relax. They're scientists, they ought to be curious," John reassured him as he got up to follow after them.
They reached the door to the hatchery and Grant tried to shove it open, but just thudded into it. He rattled the handle, but the door wouldn't budge as it was on a security key-card system. Hammond stepped up and pulled out his card, scanning it through the reader and then punching in a code. He stepped aside, and the group eagerly went up the stairs. Hammond led them towards the next door. He glanced at Harry to find green eyes dancing with excitement behind glasses, just as excited as the scientists, a good sign for the park. Grant tried to pry open the door and John chuckled. "Dr. Grant, just a minute, just a minute," he swiped his card again and pushed the code. "Remember what Samuel Johnson said. "Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect!" The door opened, and he waved them forward. "Right! Come along."
The hatchery was a vast, open room, bathed in infrared light. Long tables ran the length of the place, all covered with eggs, their pale outlines obscured by hissing low mist that was all through the room.
"Come on in." He took off his hat and handed it to a technician. Henry Wu, late twenties, Asian-American, wearing a white lab coat worked at a nearby table, making notes. "Good day, Henry."
"Oh, good day, Sir," Henry looked up and smiled for the group.
Grant went to a round table, open with various eggs under a strong light. One of the eggs made strong movements - a robotic arm steadies the shell. "My God! Look!" Hammond, Ellie, Harry, Nym and Malcolm joined him, as did Henry Wu.
"Ah, perfect timing! I'd hoped they'd hatch before I had to go to the boat."
"Henry, why didn't you tell me? You know I insist on being here when they're born." Hammond put on a pair of plastic gloves.
The egg began to crack, the robotic arm moved away... a baby dinosaur tried to get out, just its head sticking out of the shell.
Hammond reached down and carefully broke away egg fragments, helping the baby dinosaur out of its shell. "Come on, then, out you come." He looked up and found Harry at his shoulder, so he shifted to let the boy look closer. "They imprint on the first living creature they come in contact with. That helps them to trust me. I've been present for the birth of every animal on this Island. Just look at that," he smiled as the baby broke free, looking at both of them and John smiled, it was good for the boy to get to have at least one dinosaur imprint on him.
"Surely not the ones that have bred in the wild?" Malcolm asked from the other side of the table.
"Actually, they can't breed in the wild. Population control is one of our security precautions here. There is no unauthorized breeding in Jurassic Park."
Grant and Ellie exchanged a look, she managed not to smile as they didn't believe that for a second.
"How do you know they can't breed?" Harry jumped in, curious, and Nym bristled at the dismissive look Wu sent him. Her little cousin was very smart, he'd just needed encouragement to begin showing it.
"Because all the animals in Jurassic Park are females. We engineered them that way."
Hammond kept his attention trained on the new dinosaur and Harry. "There you are. Out you come."
"Oh my God," Ellie whispered.
"Could I have a tissue please?" John asked.
"Right away. Coming right up."
The animal was now free, Hammond set in down carefully next to its shell. He cleaned it up a little and then looked to Harry. "Put some gloves on Harry." Wu got a pair for the teen who gloved up and then Hammond gently passed the baby to him and the adults couldn't help smiling at the sweet sight. "What do you think?"
"She's amazing! And so warm!" he gently set the baby down next to the shell again.
Grant had also gloved up and picked it up, holding it in the palm of his hand, under the incubator's heat light. "Blood temperature feels like high eighties." He passed the baby on to Ellie.
"Wu?" John looked at his chief scientist for confirmation.
"Ninety-one," the scientist answered after checking.
Grant picked up the large, broken half-shell, but the robotic arm snatched it back out of his hand, and put it down. "Homoeothermic? It holds that temperature? Incredible."
Malcolm was looking at Hammond, sceptical. "But again, how do you know they're all female? Does someone go into the park and, uh - - lift up the dinosaurs' skirts?" that got a laugh from Harry and Nym for the visual.
"We control their chromosomes. It's not that difficult. All vertebrate embryos are inherently female anyway. It takes an extra hormone at the right developmental stage to create a male, and we simply deny them that," Wu explained, and Harry frowned, that didn't sound very fair to the animals or very morally right.
"Your silence intrigues me," John admitted to Ian.
"John, the kind of control your attempting is not possible. If there's one thing the history of evolution has taught us, it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free. It expands to new territories. It crashes through barriers. Painfully, maybe even… dangerously, but and... well, there it is," Ian's impassion speech had Ellie listening, impressed and intrigued.
"Watch her head - support her head." John warned her, and she passed the baby back to Alan.
Alan ignored the discussion and held it on the palm of his hand, under the incubator's heat light. He spread the tiny animal out on the back of his hand and delicately ran his finger over its tail, counting the vertebrae. A look of puzzled recognition crossed his face.
"You're implying that a group of composed entirely of females will breed?" Wu asked in disbelief. It was utterly preposterous to even contemplate such an idea. This man was a scientist?
"I'm simply saying that life - - finds a way," Ian argued. He didn't know how all female dinosaurs would breed, then again nature already had species that could change gender in a single sex environment, who was to say dinosaurs hadn't been one of those species once?
Grant didn't notice the conversation, as he was still obsessed with the infant dinosaur, measuring and weighing it on a nearby lab bench, Harry and Nym watching. He stopped, a strange look on his face. He knew what this animal was - - but it couldn't be. "What species is this?" he asked, dreading the answer and Harry's eyes were widening as he took in the clues.
"Uh - - it's a Velociraptor." Henry answered absently as he recorded the new dinosaur's statistics in its chat.
Grant, Harry and Ellie turned slowly and looked at each other, then looked at Hammond, astonished.
"You bred raptors?" Alan demanded in disbelief. Did they know nothing of dinosaurs? A T-Rex at least could be seen, avoided, should anything go wrong. A pack of Raptors…that would be any sane person's worst nightmare. Some of the awe was beginning to fade as he began to question if they truly understood what they were doing.
Part of Harry thought that was completely insane, the other really wanted to see a grown one. The baby was adorable, but he'd read Dr Grant's papers and book, the adults would be too deadly for a park, wouldn't they?
TBC…
Not much different here, just some tidying up.