Chapter 1

"The dinosaurs' vocalizations display elements of discreteness and semanticity. In some cases, there was a strong likelihood of displacement, but further observation would be required, as the footage was taken locally. From these observations, it can be said with confidence that the animals are capable of more complex communication that approaches full language development."

Cathy didn't think the words could be any more boring. When she woke up this morning, she had been nervous, and even anxious about giving a presentation, but now it was tedious. Patiently, she waited as the professors glanced down at their clipboards, tallying various boxes. In the silence, she took a small breath, listening to the sound of a parasaurolophus behind her. She spared a half glance at the video.

A herd of dinosaurs were moving along a field, with a few Gyrospheres passing them. The sound of the vehicles had been hard to scrub out, but she had managed it in the end. What was more frustrating was the person taking the video; a young woman, if the voice and reflection in the glass were any indication. It was amateur work, to say the least, but it had served its purpose. The camera had only really focused on the parasaurolophus for a minute before moving onto the next thing in sight. Any photographer worth their salt would have done at least a slow pan. These people didn't care; it was all just a sight to them.

The image changed, and this time it was a still camera, focusing on a roving pack of Metriacanthosaurus. Cathy's frown eased slightly. She recognized the handiwork. It had taken barely any effort to clean this one up, and she had Roger to thank for that. The photographer was quite talented, and she made a mental note to thank her mother for putting her in contact with him.

"So, Ms. Bowman, I hope you do not mind a few questions?" Cathy turned to face her supervising professor, Dr. Wagner.

"Feel free," she lied, hoping the smile stayed on her lips. She knew it wasn't his fault; in fact, he had given her substantial of freedom in her study. It was not exactly orthodox, after all.

"I noted that you closed with the summation of the qualities the dinosaurs possessed, but there are six qualities to language. Yet you only mentioned two, possibly three. Do you have any evidence of arbitrariness, for example?"

Cathy held back the urge to laugh. Of course their language was arbitrary. The raptors alone had dozens of sounds due to their highly evolved nasal cavities, and the Tyrannosaurus infrasonics were a thing of beauty. She couldn't hold it against them, though. They didn't know what she did.

No one did.

"In the incidents where a dinosaur was clearly gesturing to an object, nothing about the vocalization was intrinsically linked to the qualities of that object, thus proving the dinosaurs are arbitrary with their language," Cathy explained, turning towards one of the displays. A single line extended across the screen, and several still images were hung below it, with various wave printouts. Red boxes enclosed sections of the waves, separating it out. Tapping on her laptop for a moment, she set the Gallimimus calls to play through. The waves accompanying their screeches played across the screen as she continued.

"As you can see, each individual call is made up of small sub calls. In the printouts below I even isolated the individual segments to make them more clear. This proves the discreteness of the dinosaur communications."

"Can you prove they have semanticity? Duality of patterning?" Dr. Guzman asked, one eyebrow raised in curiosity. A language professor. Cathy did not get along with her, though not on principle. The professor had been skeptical the whole time, especially when she had people with more promising projects in mind.

"These clips begin to show some of that. The number of various sounds I recorded were abnormally high for even the volume of videos I used, which is a strong contender for semanticity. However, the videos I used in my study were taken by visitors or hired personnel in the park, not by scientists. The premise here mainly stands on the fact that there is a strong probability the dinosaurs possess some form of advanced communication. By proving that there is a chance they communicate, it should draw attention to the field for more in-depth study." Cathy did not mention that same probability was basically guaranteed. She wondered if anyone would even care. Jurassic World was a huge attraction, and one that drew people of all fields. No doubt there were dozens of projects done a year. They would be insane to pay attention to all of them. Especially the marketing ones.

She had seen those types before. To them, dinosaurs were a cool feature piece, and a highly exclusive one at that. Dinosaurs made for great marketing, assuming you could make them look good. They were the ones who made the park what it was, and were the root of many problems others didn't pay attention to.

"If they did look into it, what are your expectations for the results?" Dr. Guzman continued.

"I would expect the dinosaurs' intelligence to be at least some level roughly approaching chimps," Cathy lied again. Dr. Guzman's eyebrow ticked up, betraying her surprise, and Cathy restrained her laughter.

That sounded like a good answer; high enough to surprise, low enough to not be laughed at. She had been tempted to say proto-language, just to surprise Guzman with her knowledge, but she knew better. Any slip ups now would be terrible, especially with all the years she had poured into this.

She had researched the statistics, even been behind some of them. Of course, not all of them had been above board. A count of corporate espionage was equivalent to a decade to a decade and a half in prison, along with thousands of dollars in fines. And never mind if they found out how it was obtained. No, she would play it close to the chest.

Idly, she straightened her jacket, trying to make the baggy fabric look a little more presentable. Even if this presentation had been for the President of the United States, she would not have worn a dress. No way was she showing that much skin.

Patiently, she waited for one of them to speak. Other students might have taken the chance to navigate the conversation to something fascinating or valuable, but she honestly did not feel like speaking any more. Giving the speech had already taken a lot of her focus, and trying to go off script would just sicken her.

Dr. Wagner seemed to realize it as well, straightening up with a smile. "Well, I will have to read the paper on it for the statistics. In the meanwhile, thank you for the presentation."

Cathy nodded imperceptibly, stepping back as they walked on by. She was content to hide on the side. With the white, sterile presentation space, her dark outfit stuck out like a sore thumb, so it wasn't likely. She didn't care though. She was far more focused on other things.

Picking up her notebook, Cathy flicked the pencil off its cover, spinning it around her fingers as she opened it up. Routinely, she checked off a box on her list, tapping down the line as she checked her notes.

She wished she could have brought her other notebook, but if anyone had glanced inside of it, that would be the end. No, as much as this was a waste of her time, it was an important one. Getting her project noticed, or at least out there as a reference, would be the first step in the public part of her plan. She would just have to grin and bear it.

It was about a month later when she got the email. Having finished her schooling, she had returned home to her mother's, ready to get back to her work. Thankfully, she had been able to play the "tired" card, and spend most of the day in her room, headphones on as she tabbed through audio clips.

During one of her sessions, she received an email and checked it absently. It was from Dr. Wagner. Odd, she noted. I've already graduated, so why would he be talking to me?

A sense of fear began to climb into her bones, exaggerating the soreness she already felt. Had she accidentally let something slip during her presentation? Maybe her paper? Had she named a species not in the park?

Opening it was like ripping off a bandaid. Pretty simple to start with. Congratulations on her presentation and her paper. A couple of points that he had found interesting, the whole nine yards.

"I sent the details of your presentation through a friend of mine, and I just got an email about it from the administration over at Jurassic World. They couldn't find your email listed, so I told them I would send a link on to you."

Opening the link, Cathy's breath was taken away.

Dear Ms. Bowman,

We're delighted to extend this offer of employment for the position of Veterinarian with Jurassic World. Please review this summary of terms and conditions for your anticipated employment with us.

If you accept this offer, your start date will be July 20th, 2012, or another mutually agreed upon date, and you would report to Division Supervisor Jacklyn Martin.

Please find below the terms and conditions of your employment, should you accept this offer letter:

Position

Your title will be Entry Level Veterinarian, and you will report to the Company's Division Supervisor. This is a full-time position. While you are employed at this Company, you will not engage in any other employment, consulting, or other business activity (whether full-time or part-time) that would create a conflict of interest with the Company. By signing this letter of agreement, you confirm you have no contractual commitments or other legal obligations that would prohibit you from performing your duties for the Company...

Sincerely,

Claire Dearing

Cathy was still as she read it. It was almost too perfect. This was what she had worked for for years. Still, she had expected to apply and struggle to get their attention, maybe work a few years in a subsidiary company. All of it would lead up to this moment. Instead, here it was. They wanted her for just the job she wanted to do.

Needed to do.

As if the offer might slip away, she fired a message back quickly, explaining that she would happily discuss with them however they wished. That bit was partially a lie, but she wanted to leave a good impression. She would meet them on their terms.

She closed her laptop shortly after, taking a deep breath. For just a moment, she felt relaxed, and yet she almost felt shaky. The months of readying her project, inspecting it for errors or slips, the years spent in school, taking classes she didn't care about in order to have an excuse for her research, the almost decade of research before; it was all suddenly worth it. She had never let herself even think about the alternative. If she hadn't been noticed…

She had more important things to worry about, like getting her paperwork in. She already had it in order, waiting in her desk drawers. She would just have to copy the formatting over to whatever form they gave her. It would take little time, if all the practice she had with the forms she found online had done anything for her. Idly, she wondered if that particular slip up had cost anyone their jobs. Leaking paperwork online was generally frowned upon.

Crouching down, she reached under her bed, feeling for a box. Her fingers caught on the side, and she tugged out the old metal. Brushing aside the blanket, she stared down, contemplating how she would get all of its precious contents into the park.

The hard drives would be easy, since she could claim them as her research notes. She'd already backed up the files, both on a Cloud and on another set of hard drives. These hard drives could be blanked before she left, and then redownloaded.

The maps and notes would be harder. Assuming that she put them into her clothing, she doubted that anyone would check with any real intensity, especially if she put her paperwork and the park map in her luggage. It would look like it belonged. Besides, if worse came to worse, she also had images of them backed up, too.

Picking up a bound book, she smiled to herself. Die Funf Todesarten, one of the few books about the Muertes Archipelago. Had it not been for that auction in her childhood, she never would have even known about its existence. She had to admire its dedication. The author, Moritz Lutz, and the other scientists had rigorously recorded all they had observed about the five islands during their visit.

Die Fünf Todesarten would be easy to get in. She doubted anyone knew what it was, and even if they might, her copy was in German. It has been hard to learn, but worth it for the extra security. Still, she would have to keep an eye out for anyone who knew German.

Do they even still care about Sorna at all? Cathy wondered, staring at the book. As far as she had seen, no one had been on the island since her accident, save the San Diego Incident. Not even the fisherman went there if the reviews of the region were to be believed.

Dr. Wu was the major concern. He had been the head geneticist at the first park, and was now the head of Jurassic World's genetic sector. Masrani's website had proudly boasted that particular fact. That meant Wu knew about Sorna. She would have to find some way of getting the active personnel listing to compare with her old hiring ledger.

Well, either way, she had a lot of stuff to pack, even aside from her personal collection. Living in the park would mean she couldn't afford to forget anything. No doubt they would have everything available to the staff for a reduced price, but she wasn't too keen about putting money into InGen's pockets. Not to mention that reduced prices were still exorbitant in a place like Jurassic World.

On some level though, she couldn't help her excitement. She had never been to Jurassic World personally, so this would be her first time. She might even be able to convince one of the guides to give her the grand tour by mentioning that. Get more insight than usual.

In the meanwhile, she would have to tell her parents. No doubt, they would want to celebrate. She could humour them this once.