Chapter 22: Herbivore Valley

Hammond walked from the control room main door down to his office door and pushed it open, letting some of the cool breeze from the air conditioner escape into the hallway. He walked over and sat down in his large leather chair, and turned his computer on. He quickly wrote up an email to Regis over at INGEN headquarters, explaining to him what happened and why they need this new structure to be built. Just as he finished sending the email, his phone rang.

He picked up the receiver and spoke into it, and listened carefully to what was being said before hanging up and getting up from his chair. He made his way to the garage where the INGEN worker was ready and waiting by one of the gas powered jeeps. The jeep pulled away from the Visitor Center and headed back to the waterfall and the entrance of the park. Along the side of the road was the building site for the lagoon that was going to be a key part of the Herbivore Mega Paddock. The jeep followed the road and came up to the Perimeter fence, which was opened for them by two other workers. The jeep drove down the side of the hill and down to the flat area where construction was happening.

Hammond got out of the jeep, and walked down to the where the foreman was standing, observing the final touches on the walls. He walked up to the foreman who had a megaphone in his hand still after giving instructions to the workers. He turned, and saw Hammond approaching.

"So construction is complete?" Hammond asked, stepping up the much larger man.
"Construction is complete, the sides of the lagoon have been fortified, and the water was pumped in this morning. As long as it rains often enough, the lagoon should be fine."

Hammond nodded and rested his hands on his cane.

"Good, now please get your people out of there," he said, pointing to the few remaining maintenance workers that were roaming around by the northern shores of the body of water.

The foreman of the construction job turned a knob on the panel of his megaphone and talked into it.
"Will all hands please vacate the lagoon, construction has now been completed."

He lowered the megaphone and turned to Hammond.

Hammond smiled, and picked up his radio. He held down the red tab on the side and spoke into the receiver.

"Go ahead and open the Paddock gates, let them out," he said, releasing the talk button on the side.

The foreman looked at him funny, to which Hammond just smiled and nodded, pointing to over the hill with his cane.

"Just keep your eyes on that horizon," he said, with a wily smile.

A few minutes past with nothing happening, when all of a sudden a thundering noise started, light at first but slowly getting louder and louder, as the source of the sound approached where the two men were standing.

The construction workers looked around confused, as did the foreman, as a loud trumpeting sound erupted into the air. From over the top of the hill, a small herd of Parasaurolophus came charging down the green rolling hills of the large meadow, smelling the fresh water. There were individuals of varying sizes, some older than others. All of them, however, jumped into the water as soon as they reached the shore, enjoying the coolness of the water. The men continued to watch as the thundering continued, with two tall, thin necks appearing over the top of the hill, the crested snouts of the large beasts calling to each other in their deep melodious tones.

These two animals moved at a much slower pace, their large bulk covering a lot of distance with each ground shaking step they took. They too went for the water, wading up to their chests and eating some of the shore plants.

As if all of this wasn't enough, to top off the unveiling, a large herd of orange ostrich looking dinosaurs came sprinting over the same exact hill, all in a tight formation with a large female leading the herd. 

The herd retained order and ran around to the other side of the lagoon and stopping to drink and take mud/dust bathes.

Hammond continued to observe the three species from his vantage point on the hill, and couldn't help but just smile and watch. It was all coming together. The entire scene was just straight out of a picture, and it made him so happy.

All of the workers watched as the Gallimimus herd than left the lagoon and headed towards the plains section of the valley, about a mile south of the lagoon in the large herbivore Paddock.

The workers watched as the herd moved on. The foreman turned to Hammond, who was getting ready to head back to the jeep and the worker waiting for him.

"Thank you for all of your help sir, great job," Hammond said smiling.

The foreman just nodded, still in awe at the animals that he just saw storm the lagoon.

The jeep containing Hammond headed back up the service road and the through the gate in the perimeter fence, back to the Visitor Center.