Chapter 9: A Second Species

The sun shone through the glass windows that wrapped around the front of the building, giving the people inside a clear look outside, and vice versa for visitors who just arrived via helicopter. One by one the men entered the building and Hammond walked up to the front desk. He conversed with the secretary sitting there for a few seconds before the secretary motioned with her hand and Hammond returned to the group. He pointed down the same hallway, explaining to them that this building served exclusively as the fertilization and hatchery building, with pens around the other side for the younger animals.

They made their way down the hallway, passing a line of candy bar and soda vending machines. Nedry, being the fat lug that he was, felt the need to stop and get a Snickers out of the machine, before waddling his way back to keep up with the others.

The other men looked at him disapprovingly, but he just shrugged and bit into the candy as they walked through the door way into the lab area.

From where they stood in the doorway of the lab, there were tables and tables endlessly stretching the full length of the room. Most of these tables had eggs on them, being heated and kept moist so that the embryos inside would be perfectly healthy throughout development.

Dr. Wu was off to the side filling in a chart and looking at some data when one of the assistants came running up to him from the back of the lab.

"Dr Wu! Dr. Wu!" he was shouting, running through the aisles of the lab.

Wu looked up curiously, wondering what was going on.

The assistant reached Dr. Wu and bent over, trying to catch his breath.

"You….have to….come quick….an egg…is about to hatch…" he said, red in the face from exertion.

Dr. Wu happened to look around and saw Hammond standing there.

"Good day sir, how are you. One of my assistants here has just informed me that an egg is hatching. Come, follow me," he said quickly with a smile.

Wu lead the small group of men through the hatchery quickly, down the center aisle which was kept clear for situations like the current one, when a person had to get all the way through to the back of the laboratory. Hammond looked around as he walked, the sheer amount of eggs was staggering. He hoped that several new species would hatch due to the amount of eggs, but he was a vivid dreamer.

They reached the table all the way in the back that hugged the wall, and one of the automatic egg turners was holding the egg still. The egg was visibly shaking, a small hairline crack slowly descending down the egg. Wu put on a pair of plastic gloves and stood in front of the egg, slowly picking off pieces as the egg shell started to flake. Hammond looked over his shoulder as the egg continued to crack. A deep throated grunting could be heard from inside the egg as a tiny snout burst through the shell. Tiny needle like teeth gnashed at the shell as the top part of the egg cracked off and landed on the table. The head was fully exposed now, the yellow eyes looking around curiously. The egg continued to break away, revealing the two short stubby arms, the thick hind legs, and the long muscular tail. The infant looked around, cooing lightly and taking in the surroundings. Hammond stared in wonder at the baby, and finally broke the silence.

"Is this what I think it is?"
Wu started at the infant for a few seconds.

"Yes sir, I am pretty sure that it is a Tyrannosaur," he said with a smile on his face.

"Brilliant, Brilliant," Hammond said, full of joy. This is exactly the kind of species that Jurassic Park needs. So that makes two species, right Henry?"

"Yes sir. Hopefully there are more species among these egg tables. We are not sure at the moment. We have pieced together about seven genomes, but only two are known, Brachiosaurus and now Tyrannosaurus. The rest are awaiting hatching."



Wu walked away with a different clipboard to check on a different batch of eggs.

Hammond turned to the four other men.

"Well, that was exciting. Now, we have some serious work to do on the systems for Isla Nublar. If you are all ready, we shall proceed to a different building where work can begin," he said smiling.