Chapter 8: An Island to Behold
Hammond sat at his desk, the ever growing pile of papers surrounding him. At the moment though, he was very focused on two pieces of a paper, sitting directly in front of him on his desk. One of the pages was a progress report on Isla Sorna. The worker's village had been completed earlier in the week and the finishing touches were being added on for worker comfort. Also on this report was the status of the labs, which had been completed just that morning. In other words, it was extremely positive news for the project, seeing as how they didn't have much more room downstairs for any more animals to be born. He needed to get the genetic material over to Sorna so that the cloning progress could begin with a greater magnitude of not only eggs, but the testing process on the eggs to figure out which genomes would become which species of dinosaurs. That was one of the goals very high on Hammond's list because he needed to know which species he had access to for the Nublar park. The other paper that he had was the lease agreement between INGEN and the Costa Rican government. President Vasquez had processed it quickly, and all it needed was his signature and the transaction would be completed. He had just finished signing it when a knock came to his door.
"Yes!" he called out, getting up from his chair.
"Hello Mr. Hammond, there are some guests for you out here, they say they have all been summoned here," said the INGEN employee.
"Yes, yes, thank you Johan, I will be there in a minute," he said smiling.
He took the contract and put it in one of the heavy duty manila folders and wrote what it was and where it needed to go, and left it on his desk to give to the secretary later. She would take care of it for him. She always did.
Hammond got his cane and left his office, locking the door behind him and hastily made his way down the hallway. He came to the front lobby and standing near the front entrance were four men.
All the way on the right, the tall lean Ray Arnold stood, cigarette in his mouth apparently arguing with a rather large man in a Hawiian yellow button shirt. This man was Nedry. Arnold and Nedry had a love/hate relationship ever since Nedry arrived, constantly arguing over aspects and parts of the system they were designing. Next to Nedry looking at him with an unaproving gaze was a barrel chested man with a safari hat on. This was Muldoon, the man that Hammond wanted, due to his reputation in Africa. Finally, standing next to Muldoon was a man in a baseball cap, arms crossed and waiting. This was Harding, the avian expert that Hammond himself researched about and suggested offering him the job opening.
Grinning wide, Hammond approached the men, forcing Arnold and Nedry to stop arguing.
"Welcome, welcome gentlemen. It is so nice to see that all of you could make it. As you may have guess already, my name is John Hammond, CEO of INGEN and the creator of the project that you all have been approached and agreed to work on. Now, I know this is all rushed and confusing, but I assure you everything will be sorted out before long. Now, rather than give you a tour of the building itself, there is something downstairs in the labs that will give you a better idea of the project and what it entails. Follow me please," he said in an almost nauseating happy tone.
Hammond slowly led them down the hall and down the stairwell at the end of the hall that opened right next to the first set of labs. Before long they were in front of a specific lab and the door hissed as it opened, showing that the lab was self contained on itself.
They slowly walked in and were introduced to Henry Wu the lead geneticist of INGEN and head of the genetic work associated with this project. Hammond whispered in his ear for a second to which Wu smiled, and motioned the four men to follow him. Arnold knew what was going to happen, but kept quiet and let the others see for themselves. Wu walked over to a large pen and pointed to it, telling the men to look down into it.
Sitting on the bottom of the pen, the Brachiosaur, a bit larger than when Arnold saw it the previous day, looked up and called to them, a somewhat melodious call that could almost be mistaken for
someone singing. Nedry, Muldoon and Harding stared down at the baby in shear amazement. There were no words for what they were looking at.
They picked their heads back up and stared at John, who simply smiled and laughed at their reactions.
Behind them, Wu walked up to the small pen holding what seemed like a small containment unit, and carefully picked the baby up and placed it into the unit, along with the blanket that was in the pen and some leaves and palm fronds.
He waved to Hammond and on with way out picked up a large bag that clanked slightly when he lifted it.
"Now," started Hammond. "Like I said before, I know this very rushed and spur the moment, but I needed to show you the baby before we got to work, so that you would not be skeptical the entire time of what we are trying to do. In the morning, we will be taking a helicopter to Isla Sorna, I want you to see the island, and get a complete tour of the labs and the worker's village. We are going to breed the animals there and raise them a little while, before the other island is ready."
"Other island?" Ray asked.
"Yes, Isla Sorna is going to be the island for just the animals. Isla Nublar, which is a fair distance away, will be where the actual park will be located. Not much work has started on Nublar yet, while Sorna has been completed. We will be able to work on all of the things that need to be worked on at Sorna, and in a few weeks, all basic construction on Nublar will be completed. At that point, we will move over with some animals and get the park going. From there, the sky is the limit. Now, we have booked you rooms at a local hotel, please go and get some rest and I will see you here tomorrow morning," he said, still smiling.
As soon as the sun was high in the sky the next morning, the helicopter containing the six men was up in the air, embarking on a journey that was going to change the lives of all those involved. It was a long ride across the sea and to the island, so Hammond used the time to his advantage by taking all the questions that the men had about the project, the animals, and the overall ideals of the park and the company.
The average trip to the island was about five hours, they made in a little over four. The helipad warning lights were flashing as the helicopter made its slow descend onto the platform, located on the outer edge of the village. A thick heavyset fence with spiral wiring rested behind the helipad, signifying the boundary of the worker village. An INGEN worker wearing an orange headset was standing by, and undid the security latch on the helicopter, and the men quickly exited the helicopter and walked down the stairwell into the operations building. From here, one of the workers led them outside and gave them a short tour.
Once the tour was over, Hammond and the group entered the Embryonics building, looking for Dr. Wu.