Chapter Ten
"We've been pre-booking tickets for months. The park needs a new attraction every few years in order to reinvigorate the public's interest; kind of like the space program"
She leads us upstairs
"Corporate felt genetic modification would up the wow factor"
Owen gives her a look
"They're dinosaurs, wow enough"
Claire smiles
"Not according to our focus groups. The Indominus Rex makes us relevant again"
Owen laughs
"The Indominus Rex?"
"We needed something scary and easy to pronounce. You should hear a four year old say Archaeornithomimus"
I raise my eyebrows. I even have doubts about whether or not I would be able to pronounce it, and I'm a full grown adult! Where do these people come up with these names? It's like they took a bunch of vowels and consonants and decided that today would be the day they would make a tongue twister and use the same tongue twister to name something. Poor creature is going to have an identity crisis because it can't even say its own name.
I make a face at Owen and we follow her through a door
"You should hear you try to say it"
I decide to pipe up before they start a fight
"So what is it made of?"
"The base genome is a T-Rex, the rest is classified"
I roll my eyes
"Gee Claire the name Indominus Rex didn't give anything away did it? Duh we know that it's got some Rex in it, what exactly is the other half that you want to unleash on the tourists in the park?"
"Like I said, that kind of information is classified"
Owen joins in
"You made a new dinosaur, but you don't even know what it is"
"The lab delivers us finished assets and we show them to the public"
She looks towards another slacker that is sitting at a control panel
"Can we drop a steer please"
Deciding that now would be a good time to ask some questions, I begin to ask before Claire dominates the conversation again
"So how long has this Indominus Rex been in here?"
She looks at me
"All its life"
Owen doesn't look surprised
"So it's never seen anything outside these walls?"
"We can't exactly walk it"
He points to the crane
"And you feed it with that?"
Claire is clearly exasperated with all the questions
"Is there a problem?"
I hold up a hand
"I don't know if you know this Claire but most animals that are raised in isolation; they aren't really the most functional when let out into the wild"
"The raptors are born in captivity and so is the T-Rex"
"With siblings, they learn social skills"
She raises an eyebrow
"Then explain the T-Rex"
I sigh
"As a baby he had been socialised with other baby dinos. He knows that he is being fed and that there isn't a reason to kill another dinosaur for food"
"We were there for them to imprint, there's trust. The only positive this animal has is with the crane. At least she knows that means food"
Claire looks more frustrated by the minute
"So she needs a friend, maybe we should schedule play dates, that sort of thing"
Not being able to handle her attitude I butt in before Owen does
"Don't get upset with us Claire. Owen and I are just stating facts. Facts that you and those scientists should have known. Keeping an animal locked up like this isn't good for its psyche. Animals need some sort of freedom and socialisation. Do they teach you guys nothing before employing you? What you guys have done is basically created something and giving it no choice but to be stuck in this small space and eventually it will backfire, and from what I can see it's going to backfire horrendously. Eventually it's going to want freedom"
Claire's face turns a light shade of red
"Don't tell me how to do my job. You're not the one in control here, I am"
She looks outside the glass and her eyebrows knit together
"Where is it?"
I look towards the greenery with her
Owen asks of there are other places it could be and Claire shakes her head
"It was just here"
She taps on the tablet in front of the glass and it makes an ominous beep. Eventually the room was filled with the beeping of the monitors. Panic floods her scent and I wrinkle my nose
The slacker in the corner decides to speak up
"That doesn't make any sense. These doors haven't been opened in weeks"
I spot something on the walls and I signal Owen over to look at it
"Those are claw marks Owen"
I look at him
"Do you think it could have?"
He looks over at Claire and points at where we are looking at
"Were those claw marks always there?"
"Oh God"
She begins to stride with a purpose
"She has an implant in her back. I can track it from the control room"
I take Owen's wrist in my hand, feeling panicked at the idea of a dangerous animal being out there in the island
"The tourists…"
"Hey Rae, I need you to relax, okay. Nothing is going to happen"
"Owen there are more than a few thousand tourists on the island"
"I'm going with these guys to check everything out, we're going to find the weakness in the paddock and we're going to get her back into containment"
"I'm going with you"
"No you are not going with me; I need you to keep an eye here in case something goes wrong"
"Owen don't be stupid"
"It's just a check, I'll be fine"
He turns away from me and I grab him one last time. He nods over to the guy that is still eating on the job and they leave me standing in front of the glass. I can't help the feeling that something really isn't right and that I should be with Owen and the others. I let them leave without more complaints but swear to myself that if something happens to him I would never be able to forgive myself, knowing that I could have helped them in the moment of need. I look at the monitors that were still unable to pick up the animal's heat signature and hope that everything would go smoothly.