Chapter 3: Transport

Triceratops 6 (7?), Tyrannosaurus Rex 1, Velociraptor 8 (9?), Stegosaurus 6, Parasaurolophus 10, Gallimimus 24 (25?), Brachiosaurus 4, Apatosaurus 4, Dilophosaurus 2, Compsognathus 36, Pteranodon 9, Pachycephalosaurus 11, Spinosaurus 1, Ankylosaurus 5, Dimorphodon 17, Mosasaurus 1

Total animals 161

Transporting any large animal is always a challenge but transporting over 160 dinosaurs was a monumental task. Gerry Harding watched as the helicopter slowly lowered the sleeping Triceratops into her new paddock. They had bred all the dinosaurs on Isla Sorna, studied their behavior and their habitats so that when they moved them to their new homes they knew what to expect. That had been one of the tremendous flaws in the original JP project had been that they had tried to establish the systems for controlling the dinosaurs before they knew what sort of behavior to expect from the animals. Admittedly, you never really knew what to expect when you were containing a species you had never had in a zoo before, but the fact was that some animals responded differently to captivity than others.

Harding knew that the animals needed to be watched, some of them were natural cage breakers. The raptors had always been getting out of their old cage with disastrous results and the Trikes were the same way, they used their horns to open the cage doors and were constantly getting out. The best way to deal with cage breakers was to remove the cage, or more specifically, make them forget that there was a cage between them.

Sarah had told him about her work in Africa, elephants were always getting out of cages in zoos and parks, they were famous for it, but in Africa they tended to stay in game reserves because the reserve was big enough that the elephants didn't realize that they were in a very big cage. Today they were moving the entire Trike herd over to Isla Nublar starting with the big matriarch. It had been decided that the Trikes would be put in the main field, the largest area on the island, alongside the stegos, paras, anks, brackies and apatos. The field had been cleared during the fire-bombing of Isla Nublar after the initial breakdown in the 90's. "Operation Clean Slate" had left the island barren and devoid of all life, but ripe for terraforming. The broad sweeping savannah that they had today on the island always reminded Harding forcefully of the velt in Africa, but he knew that the quick growing grass that they had planted across the main paddock was the only chance of even attempting to keep the main field populated with grass once they moved the animals in.

The simple fact was that deforestation was a problem in every zoo. When Harding had been working with the San Diego zoo he had observed that no matter how much hay you brought in for ground grazers like rhinos or elephants to eat, they were constantly eating the native plants as well. A group of only four or five rhinos could clear a paddock of all vegetation in less than a single season. Big animals ate almost constantly and some of these dinosaurs were among the largest animals that ever lived. The brachiosaurs weighed about 60 tons each and such an animal required A LOT of food. The problem of deforestation had been so monumental that INGEN had even looked into GMO plants in some of their other branches. The genetics team had created a type of super grass that grew exponentially faster than normal grass and had tougher seed cases so that the animals dung would fertilize the seeds and make them grow. They had been very wary of any effect that the super grass had on the animals but as far as they could tell, the dinosaurs suffered no ill effects from eating the super grass.

Moving the animals always gave Harding heartburn. There were so many factors to be considered; correct dosage of tranquilizer, careful handling, monitoring the animals vitals, making sure that they adjusted to their new home, making sure they weren't overly stressed and so on and on. Harding had become an expert on anesthetizing dinosaurs and had passed on everything he knew to all of his subordinates but it was still a challenge. Too much tranquilizer and the animal could slip into a coma and die, too little and their bird-like metabolism would burn through the sedative and the animal would come awake mid transfer.

Transporting an adult triceratops was like shipping an Abrahams tank, they were about the same size and weight. The difference was that you didn't need to worry about the tank waking up halfway through the ten minute flight between Isla Sorna and Nublar and trying to break free of its transport pod. Despite their bulk and muscle, dinosaurs were highly susceptible to damage, the air sacks and hollows in their bones meant that their bones were prone to breakage. And damage to the dinos was bad news because not only would the bean counters get into a snit and start barreling around puffing and blowing in managerial rage, but if the damage was sufficient, they might need to put the animal down, and they were expensive.

It was only in recent years that the discovery had been made that triceratops and toroceratops were the same animal. Harding had only seen a toroceratops skeleton after he had already seen the real thing so he wasn't surprised by the news. Everyone was surprised to learn that a triceratops had been only an immature version of the toroceratops, but of course they hadn't had the benefit of watching one grow up right in front of them. People just couldn't wrap their heads around the idea that an animal that weighed eight tons and was twenty-seven feet long wasn't an adult. The scale of the size of dinosaurs and the length of their lives was hard for some people to understand.

Big Mama, the matriarch trike was the only full grown animal in the JP heard but she was enormous, nearly ten tons on her. Harding had worked with trikes before but this new stock were different than the first round he had encountered. Big Mama was entirely unlike the original trikes, she had a fair amount of rhinoceros DNA as well as some kiwi and iguana in her make up. She was a muddy orange in color with markings like blazing red and blue eyes on her crest and a bright blue and black snout and muzzle. The trike's skull was nearly ten feet long, the frill on the back like a kite shield. Lines of quill feathers, eighteen inches long, ran down her back and tail. Her huge chest rose and fell with her rhythmic breathing, she was giving regular low grunts.

Harding turned at the sound of helicopters, the next wave was coming in. The transport of the animals was taking all hands on deck to manage. Jess and Sarah, Harding's daughters, were helping with the move. They had to transport the whole herd at once or they would panic; without their matriarch the herd would go to pieces. Several chinook helicopters were lowering the transport pods with the other trikes.

Harding headed over to wear Jess was gesturing to the moving crew who were already unclipping the transport pod and opening the doors. Heavy duty fork lifts were standing by to drag the sleeping trikes out of the pods so the pods could be picked up by the choppers again. Jessica "Jess" Harding was a pretty brunette woman in her mid-30s. Today she was wearing a pair of dirty jeans and a somewhat faded Jurassic Park t-shirt. She had on her white girl huge tinted sunglasses and was puffing on a cigarette. Harding plucked the cig out her mouth and extinguished it in the moist grass.

"Jessie, how many times do I have to tell you no smoking around the animals." He said on a sigh. His daughter had been secretly smoking since she was 13 but that didn't make Harding any happier about it.

"Sorry dad." Jess said penitently, "I'm just so on edge with the move, you know?"

Harding straightened and grimaced.

"I know what you mean. I've been popping Tums like M&M's." He said rubbing the sweat from his face. "Any problems with the transport?"

"Nah, a couple of the girls were a little groggy and wondered around for a while after we tranked them but they went down no problem."

"Well that's good, let go ahead and get them-"

Harding broke off at a low rumbling bellowing sound behind them and the sounds of men shouting. Turning, Harding saw that Big Mama was on her feet, her head shaking uncertainly, drool cascading out of her open beaky mouth. The workers had immediately gotten clear of the big dinosaur, but the draw straps that had been attached to the trike's harness were still connected to the forklift which had just pulled her from the transport pod. Big Mama's eyes were blurry and she staggered as she tried to walk but it was clear the tranks were wearing off.

"Shit!" Harding swore as he and Jess ran across the field towards the standing trike.

Big Mama rumbled again and then seemed to notice the straps for the first time. She shook her massive head as though trying to clear it and bellowed again.

"We've got to get those straps off her! If she decides to go she'll pull that forklift around like a little red wagon." Harding said crouching as the big tail swung over his head, "Jess, get everybody back, she disoriented right now, if they get to close they might frighten her into charging."

Trikes were prone to charging things because their eyesight was poor. They had had trouble with that before, which was part of the reason that Harding had been so worried about moving the trikes like this. He had seen what a trike could do to a piece of machinery if it took a mind to. Despite their size a trike could and would charge at speeds of over 30mph and when something of that much mass got into motion anything it hit was in big trouble.

Harding looked around at Big Mama to see that she had stopped and had turned to face a figure in a ball cap and khaki's. Sarah Harding was moving towards Big Mama slowly, side on, all the while speaking softly in a low soothing voice, her hands held out to the big dinosaur. She had plenty of experience with dangerous herbivores from her years in Africa, but Sarah could feel her legs trembling as she edged closer to the big trike.

"Woah there… easy girl… everything is fine." Sarah soothed as she drew slowly closer, "Everything is just fine. I'm just going to unclip you and you'll be free. Everything is fine…"

Sarah's eyes never moved from the big trike, but she stayed low and moved closer, talking all the while, her voice calm and soothing. Big Mama took an uncertain step backward and shook her big head at Sarah grunting uncertainly. Sarah was only a few feet from the dinosaur now, still moving slowly she stretched out her hand towards Big Mama like you do to a dog you've just met so it can get your scent. Harding was both terrified and impressed at his daughter's daring. Big Mama rumbled deep in her throat as Sarah came close enough to touch her beaky snout. Harding could see that Big Mama's frill had flushed red as a warning and the big animal shuffled her feet, but she was holding her ground. Sarah left her hand on the trike's beak for a long moment still talking softly to her, allowing the trike to sniff her fingers, before moving slowly to the side of the big head.

Big Mama pivoted her head on its ball joint keep Sarah in sight as she moved down towards the harness, still speaking softly, never taking her eyes off the animal's face. Slowly, very slowly she moved her hand up to the huge carabineer. She unclasped the carabineer with a metallic clank, the trike snorted and moved to the side in several shuffling steps. Sarah froze as Big Mama shook her head and bellowed again. After a moment she very slowly started to crouch to put the carabineer down, but Big Mama bellowed again and moved away from Sarah, the second strap snapped and dangled loose by the trikes side. Big Mama turned to face Sarah, but she was backing away. The big trike snorted, shook her head one final time and then turning lumbered off in the direction of the lake, still dragging the remains of the second strap.

Harding and Jess hurried over to Sarah who had stood shakily. She was drenched in sweat but when she spoke her voice was calm.

"We can get the harness off later, it'll be annoying but I don't think it'll hurt her at all."

"Shit Sarah! Is that all you've got to say for yourself?!" Harding said wiping his face with a shaking hand, "What the fuck were you thinking?! She could have stomped you into the ground for Christ's sake!"

Sarah shrugged and gave a half smile, "It had to be done dad. Besides, it's no different than facing down a water buffalo and I've done that plenty of times."

Harding gave a tired laugh and pulled his daughter into a one armed hug.

"It's a little different." He said with a chuckle.