Shane's look will be short brunette hair, slightly tanned skin, green eyes and a scar on his right hand from a croc that bit him. In this chapter, he'll be wearing the same get up Steve Irwin would wear and the rest of this story will have him wear a baseball shirt, sleeves rolled up to the elbows and wearing cargo pants and boots.
An Enticing Offer
Hello, there. My name is Shane Jordan, this is my story of how I've had to face Dinosaurs. And this is how it all started.
I remember it like it was yesterday, it was a random day in 1993 at age 13, I was helping at a digsite for Dinosaur fossils.
You see I was born from parents of which, my mother was a zoologist and my father, a palaeontologist. They taught me so much about animals and Dinosaurs that when I was thinking of what I'd want to do, I thought 'well, why not both, and see if I can learn about Dino behaviour?'. And my parents were good friends with Alan Grant, one of the top palaeontologists of the time and shortly after my 13th birthday, my parents decided to let me join Alan with this new dig as he is becoming the lead expert on Velociraptors.
It was down in Montana and we managed to find a complete Raptor skeleton as the hot sun was beaming down our backs. I was cleaning off dirt on a tail bone as I noticed Alan grabbing one of the claws on the foot and decided to have it as a little token. I smirked because I was more into a Dino's tooth more than the claws, because they can be revealing of how they eat and even hunt. Of course, I learned of it by handling big cats and various reptiles like crocodiles. And part of that was me being taught by Steve Irwin in Australia. I even wore the same kind of clothes he would wear.
"Dr. Grant, Dr. Sattler? We're ready to try again." Someone spoke as he made his way to us, right when we finished. Alan in turn got up and so did Ellie Sattler, who was a palaeobotanist (which was essentially researching prehistoric planet life) and had a nice fling with each other, pretty much in a relationship.
"I hate computers." Alan groaned, to my amusement. He always hates the new technologies and preferred old school methods. Ellie then grabbed a bandana and wrapped it around Alan's neck.
"Feeling's mutual." Ellie remarked and they both chuckled.
"Hey, Shane. Want to come and see it as well?" Alan asked me. The thing that was about to be tried again was this new tech that allowed sonar imagery of the fossils to be seen and some believed that this could prevent the idea of digging, which I was completely against, but I was interested.
"Sure." I answered as I got up to my feet and walked with them down the hill to the group, down below who gathered around the tech.
Two of the crew were about to launch a component of the tech into the ground for the sonar imagery and then they shot it into the ground, causing a cloud of dust which swept over us all. I was clearing off the dust, which caused me to cough and not be able to hear what Alan, Ellie and Jared were saying at first. But then I cleared up and walked to them and listened to what they're saying.
"This program is incredible. A few more years of development and we won't have to dig anymore." Jared muttered as he typed and the imagery fully showed the Velociraptor in a fuzzy way, thanks to early 90's tech being not the greatest. And the stab at not digging felt like getting stabbed in the heart.
"Where's the fun in that?" Alan asked in a tone that showed his disdain at the notion.
"Yeah, that'll be boring." I added as me, Alan and Ellie moved up to look closely at the screen.
"Mm…. Post mortem contraction of the posterior neck ligaments. Velociraptor?" Ellie said as she looked and squinted her eyes at the screen. Now one thing to note is that this Raptor isn't like the ones found over in Mongolia and those are dubbed Velociraptor Mongoliensis but this one are considered as Deinonychus, another type of Raptor but because of John Ostrum in the 60's, they are also called Velociraptor Antirrhopus. Due to this, we call them Velociraptors and it stuck.
"Yeah, in good shape too. It's about five, six feet high, I'm guessing nine feet long." Alan explained, using a finger to point at particular points of the skeleton on the monitor.
"Look at the extremities-" Alan was starting to further explain but when he touched the monitor, it fuzzed into static. It just made me laugh because it perfectly showed how Alan is such an old fossil with technology.
"What did it do?" Alan asked, surprised, and looked at me with a glare as I laughed.
"He touched it." Ellie laughed along with me as the screen came back to normal and then Alan touched the top and it went static again, which made us laugh more.
"Dr. Grant is not computer compatible." Ellie struggled to say through her laughing but managed to cease, as did I.
"It's got it in for me." Alan muttered in distaste as he let his hand off and the screen came back on. He then pointed right at the talons.
"And look at the half moon shaped bones in its wrists…. No wonder these guys learned how to fly." Alan said. And everyone around us laughed for some reason. I don't know why because it's really known among palaeontologists that Dinos are very much related to birds, as well as reptiles.
"Hey, it's true. Dinosaurs are closely related to and evolved into birds, aside from reptiles." I said to them all and they were all a bit taken aback at the fact that a 13 year old shut them all up. Alan looked happy to see me back him up.
"Thank you, Shane. For example, look at the pubic bone, turned backward, just like a bird." Alan told us all as he pointed to a particular part of the skeleton.
"Look at the vertebrae, full of air sacks and hollows, just like a bird." Alan further explained, pointing at another part of the skeleton.
"Heck, just the word 'raptor' means 'bird of prey'." I said to conclude the whole explanation as everyone leaned in to take a close look at the screen.
"That doesn't look very scary." A voice loudly mocked. I inwardly groaned and we all turned to where the voice came from to see a kid, a few years younger than me wearing shorts and a baseball cap. And I know for sure that Alan needs to put this kid in his place.
"More like a six foot turkey." The kid further mocked and I sighed, preparing for him to get a talk down.
"Go ahead, Alan. Prove him wrong." I prepared him as I patted his arm. And Alan had a smirk on his face.
"A turkey…." Alan murmured. And then he walked up to the boy and me and Ellie followed and essentially took front seats.
"Okay. Try to imagine yourself in the Cretaceous Period. You get your first look at this 'six foot turkey' as you enter a clearing. He moves like a bird, lightly, bobbing his head. And you keep still because you think that maybe his visual acuity is based on movement like T. Rex, he'll lose you if you don't move. But no, not Velociraptor." Alan started. The kid rolled his eyes, but then he paid more attention when Alan continued.
"You stare at him," He then pointed at the kid. "and he just stares right back. And that's when the attack comes, not from the front, but from the sides." Alan said as he moved his hands to visualize his point and made a sound to get the sense of the speed in front of the kid and his eyes were focused on Alan's hands.
"And the other two raptors, you didn't even know were there." Alan then said, to bring the point across on how Raptors are really intelligent.
"Because Velociraptor's a pack hunter, you see, he uses coordinated attack patterns and he is out in force today." Alan said as he circled around the kid and put his hand in his pocket to pull out the sickle claw he grabbed from the recent find.
"And he slashes at you with this." Alan placed the claw in his hand and the kid was wide eyed. "A six inch retractable claw, like a razor, on the middle toe. He doesn't bother to bite your jugular like a lion, say…. no, no, he slashes at you here," Alan steps in front of him and shows with the claw where the Raptor would strike. "or here," he did somewhere on the kid, which made me and Ellie shake our heads in amusement and he then slowly dragged the claw across the kids belly. "or maybe across the belly, spilling your intestines. The point is… you are alive when they start to eat you. So you know, try to show a little respect." Alan said to him in a tone to make him reconsider what he said earlier, and the kid nodded.
"Okay." He said, and with that Alan smiled and walked away up the hill where we found the skeleton and me and Ellie decided to follow him.
"Hey Alan, if you wanted to scare the kid, you could've pulled a gun on him, you know." Ellie said, which made me chuckle at the idea while Alan murmured at the notion.
"Yeah, I know. Kids."
"You want to have one of those?" Alan asked, clearing treading on ground that might end up offending me since he's talking about kids.
"I don't want that kid. I'd want one like Shane. A breed of a child, Dr. Grant, could be intriguing." Ellie said in a light tone and I smiled at the fact that I'm held up at high praise.
"Besides, how a kid is like is determined by the parents, meaning, your kids wouldn't come close to be like him." I told Alan, hopefully getting through to him.
"Yeah, exactly. What's so wrong with kids anyway?" Ellie then asked him as we kept walking up.
"Oh Ellie, look. They're noisy, they're messy, they're expensive." Alan then listed, and he was actually right, only when we're babies.
"Cheap, cheap." Ellie joked.
"They smell." Alan then added which made me turn sharply at him.
"They do not smell." Me and Ellie said at the same time.
"Some of them smell. Babies smell." Alan reasoned back at us, and again, he was right so I sighed, just giving up.
"Give me a break." Ellie said, clearly giving up as well as she chuckled. We then took a few more steps when all of a sudden, the distinct sound of a helicopter was heard and I looked to where it came from to see a blue and white helicopter coming in to land, and because of the propeller blades, it kicked up dirt and dust and it was causing problems for the findings as it landed.
All three of us then ran our back down.
"Cover the site!" Ellie shouted.
"Cover up the dig!" Alan shouted.
"What is that idiot doing?!" I asked, clearly annoyed at this.
"Tell them to shut down! Shut down!" Ellie then shouted.
"Cut the machine!" Alan shouted.
"Dumbbell!" I roared. Alan then ran to the copter, to talk to the pilot, while me and Ellie helped cover the skeleton.
"Just what we needed. Who's idea was that anyway?" I said to Ellie as I finished and stood up.
"No clue." She replied. Then I saw Alan jog his way to the trailer, I scrunched because why would he go in there? Either way, I sprinted to catch up and right when he opened the door, I followed him in to see someone looking in the fridge. I was wide eyed, where did this person come from? And why was he wearing all white except for the hat which was made of straw.
"What the hell do you think you're doing in here?" Alan asked rather warningly, which made our mystery person turn around to face us to reveal someone who is in their elder years with white hair, including facial hair which was well groomed and wore glasses. I felt like I knew him, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Then I noticed he held the bottle of champagne that was saved for later and the cork popped which made me and Alan duck to make sure it didn't hit us.
"Oi! That was saved, you know." I told him and he just smiled.
"For today. I guarantee it." The mystery man said in a Scottish accent. Alan then looked a bit menacing, and I suspected that things would go hostile, so I had to step in.
"Okay, just, who are you?" I asked the man as I stepped forward and gestured my hand to him.
"John Hammond, and I'm delighted to meet you finally in person, Dr. Grant and Mr. Jordan." He said and shook my hand which had dust on it and when he let go, he blew the dust off. Me and Alan were frozen upon hearing this. This is the guy who founded InGen and made various accomplishments.
"Well, I can see that my, uh, 50,000 a year has been well spent." Hammond then said as he walked to the kitchen spot while I heard Alan mutter 'Mr. Hammond'.
Then the door opened to reveal Ellie, also covered in dust taking her hat off, with an unpleased look on her face.
"Okay, who's the jerk?" She asked, and that jolted me out of my shocked state, and I turned and looked tense at the fact she referred to Hammond a jerk.
"Uh, this our palaeobotanist, Dr. -" Alan tried to introduce, but was clearly still starstruck.
"Sattler." Ellie finished for him. Hammond then 'aha'ed upon knowing who she was.
"Ellie, this is John Hammond, so…." I then said, hoping she got the message of what I'm hinting. And she must've because she flipped 180 and became more hospitable. Hammond walked up to her with a smile and took his hand out for her to shake.
"I'm sorry about our dramatic entrance, Dr. Sattler, but we're in a wee bit of a hurry." Hammond explained and apologised while he shook her hand.
"Did I say 'jerk'?" Ellie asked, mainly to herself.
"Will you have a drink? We won't let it get warm. Come along, sit down." Hammond said while I grabbed a can of Coca Cola from the fridge since I couldn't drink alcohol as a kid. While Hammond walked to the kitchen, followed by Ellie while Alan was standing there, still processing what's going on right now.
"Here, let me-" Ellie was saying while trying to get glasses.
"I'll just get a glass or two." Hammond told her as Alan then moved to sit on a stool.
"No, no, no, no. I can manage this." Hammond demanded to Ellie while I sat on another stool and took a sip of the nice, cold Coke.
"I know my way around the kitchen." He then added while Ellie moved away to be next to Alan.
"Now, I'll get right to the point. Um, I like ya, the three of ya. I can tell instantly about people. It's a gift." Hammond told us as he cleaned some glasses by rinsing them and cleaning them with a towel.
"I own an island off the coast of Costa Rica. I've leased it from the government, and I've spent the last five years setting up some kind of biological preserve. Really spectacular. Spared no expense." He then explained, and this made us pay attention. Why would he buy an island for a biological preserve?
"Make the one I've got down in Kenya look like a petting zoo." He added to illustrate his upcoming point.
"And there's no doubt our attractions will drive kids out of their minds." He said, lastly looking at me with a wide smile before he turned around and continued cleaning the cups.
"And what are those?" Alan asked, clearly referring to the attractions, which alone got me curious as well.
"Small versions of adults, honey." Ellie whispered jokingly. I chuckled before I took another sip. I was silent the whole time.
"And not just kids, everyone. We're going to open next year. That is, if the lawyers don't kill me first." Hammond said as he filled the glasses up with champagne.
"I don't care for lawyers. Do you?" He then asked us.
"Oh, we, uh, don't know any."
"I don't really know any."
"Don't know, really."
"Well I do, I'm afraid. There's a particular pebble in my shoe who represents my investors. Says that they insist on outside opinions." Hammond explained his little predicament with lawyers.
"What kind of opinions?" Ellie asked.
"Well, your kind, not to put too fine a point on it. I mean, let's face it. In your particular fields, your the top minds and Mr. Jordan is climbing up the ladder and is part of the target audience. And if I can just persuade you to sign off on the park, you know, give it your endorsement, maybe even pen a wee testimonial, I can get back on shedual, uh, schedule." He then pointed out to us.
"Why would they care what we think?" Ellie asked.
"What kind of park is this?" Alan then asked.
"Yeah, why is it so special?" I asked. Hammond then finished filling the cups and turned to us.
"It's right up your alley." He hinted. I wished he stopped with the teasing because it was killing me. He then handed the first cup to Alan, which he took.
"I'll tell you what. Why don't you come down, just the three of ya, for the weekend? I'd love to have an opinion of a palaeobotanist as well as from a kid, who also is learning zoology." Hammond added as he handed the second cup to Ellie, which she took.
"I've called Mr. Jordan's parents and they didn't mind as long as he agrees and I've got a jet standing by at Choteau." He said as he then sat on the worktop and filled his cup, while us three stood up, stunned at the prospect. He called my parents for crying out loud, clearly planning it all out.
"Look, I'm sorry. This is impossible." Alan started.
"Yeah, we…." Ellie struggled to say something.
"We just dug up a new skeleton, right now." I finished for them.
"I could compensate you by fully funding your dig." Hammond told us, yep, planned it all out.
"And this is a very unusual time." Alan added.
"The timing is-" Ellie was going say something but Hammond once again, added a new piece of info that fully made us agree,
"For a further three years." He casually said. We were just flabbergasted and since my parents were fine with it all, I just had to agree and we were grinning like hell.
"Where's the plane?" Ellie asked.
"If you say so." I said, and Hammond looked overjoyed and we cheered our drinks. We then laughed and hugged, so damn giddy.
Little would I know that this would be the start of my journey, which changed everything we knew.
This whole series of stories will span from the first film, to the Jurassic World: Dominion, when that film will come out.