Chapter 19
Microceratops
Tim stared at the computer screen in front of him, and smiled. The system was online, all he had to do was log in and then he could access the system. From then on, he could reroute all power to the main visitor area. Hopefully there wouldn't be any shorts along the way, but he didn't expect that there would be. The power lines were underground after all.
He positioned his fingers over the keyboard, and hit the return button. The computer beeped, and the screen changed. The disks whirred, and then clicked. Now he faced a screen that resembled a standard company login interface.
InGen Geothermal Power Facility
Login:
Tim recognized the screen; he had seen it in the representations in the archives back at InGen headquarters. Promptly he typed in 'Hammond'. He hit the return key again. One again the disks in the computer whirred. This time it took several seconds before they clicked, and the screen changed again.
InGen Geothermal Power Facility
Password:
Tim patiently typed in 'Alexis', and paused. When he had looked this up on the InGen interface, it made sense that Lex would be his password. He had loved his granddaughter. But now Tim felt a stab in his chest at the sight of his sister's name. He wished that he could have taken her along; he could have used her skills. She was talented in the art of computer science, and even though Tim thought that he would be sufficiently skilled for this mission, his sister would have been a big help. Especially now.
But it was too dangerous, he reminded himself. He was here now, and he needed to just get on with it. He hit the return key again.
Guiterrez ascended the ladder slowly, wincing slightly. His ass hurt like hell, his fall down the stairwell outside wasn't any fun at all. Anderson was in front of him, his rifle bouncing on his back as he climbed. Sarah, Wu and Rodriguez climbed below him, waiting patiently as he hopped up the ladder one step at a time.
He watched as Anderson jumped lightly onto the landing above, and swung his rifle from his shoulder. He beckoned for Guiterrez to follow him, holding out his hand. Guiterrez grabbed it, and pulled himself up, grunting. As the others jumped up after him, he looked up at the turbine as it spun rhythmically. The glint of the gold alloy sparkled in the mixed light of Anderson's rifle and their torches. Underneath them they could hear the pumping of a piston, chugging away like a steam engine.
Anderson set off along the catwalk, passing into the tunnel. Guiterrez followed him, limping slightly. They passed into the tunnel leading into the next room, where the moss dripped water onto his forehead. Within seconds they were back out into the first room, full of piping. Now that they had activated the plant the pipes were all juddering against the wall, with small snakes of steam following out through the rust ridden seams. The noise was considerable, the clanging of metal reverberated in the air, and echoed in Guiterrez's ears.
It was a relief to step through the open door a minute later, out into the stairwell. Anderson waited as each of them passed him, and then closed the door firmly. There was a hiss-snap, and the vacuum resealed.
Sarah led them out of the stairwell, with Anderson bringing up the rear. Sarah had the handgun stowed in the waistband of her trousers, her hand resting on the butt, ready.
"How's it going, Tim?"
"Ah, I'm just accessing the system now," came Tim's voice, the sound of his rapid typing coming across the radio.
They set out across the wide open field again, heading back towards the bunker-like control room. They had to step carefully once more in the tall grass, forcing Guiterrez to hop around, supported by Wu.
"The vacuum seal on the door has activated over here, so the power's working," said Guiterrez, flexing his leg.
"Yes, the power in the immediate area around the power plant comes online on startup. The door locks have come on here, too."
"Yes, that's very nice," interrupted Sarah from in front, "but shouldn't we be discussing what to do next?"
"Just get back here first," said Tim, "it'll be easier to work things out—"
A chirping floated across the field towards them from the tree line to the south. It was soft, almost like a sigh. It started off low, and became higher pitched as it continued. It reminded Guiterrez of a pony. But he knew that it wasn't; it was another one of those damned animals.
"What was that?" he asked.
"Shh," hissed Sarah, cocking her head.
Anderson signaled for them all the get down. They all crouched in the knee high grass, which provided them with some protection. Guiterrez grunted as he folded his leg underneath him.
An answering call came from the west, floating out of the depths of the trees. This one was even higher pitched than the previous one. The first call came again, accompanied by another.
So, there were at least three of them.
"Tim," whispered Anderson, "we've got three dinosaurs at the southern and western tree line."
"What kind?"
"I don't know. We haven't got a visual. He can hear them."
"Are they close?"
"Very."
"What do they sound like?"
"Like a duck having a seizure," muttered Guiterrez.
Tim scowled over the radio, "Not helpful, Martin."
"One second," said Anderson, "I'll hold up my headset, listen for it again."
Anderson took the earpiece out of his ear, and held it up in the air. The call came again a few seconds later, and this time the leaves of a tree to the south thrashed for a second.
"Tim, you better have got that," murmured Guiterrez, eying the tree which had just begun moving.
"I can't be sure," said Tim, "I'm not getting very good reception. Just get back here as soon as possible. You should be alright."
Anderson nodded, and stood up. Cautiously, he began to walk off again. The others followed, Guiterrez wincing as he stumbled to his feet. They travelled at a trot, glancing frequently at the tree line. They only had another hundred meters to go, and then they'd be inside the control bunker.
A shrieking roar suddenly blasted out over the clearing, very different from the previous vocalizations. They all froze in their tracks, and turned to face the source of the sound. It had come from the south. Everything had become deathly silent, the birds had stopped singing, and the frogs had stopped croaking. Everything was still.
"Tim?" whispered Anderson.
"I heard it, I didn't need a radio for that," said Tim's voice. "Get back here, now."
"Okay guys," said Anderson tensely, "let's move."
As they turned to set off, the trees at the southern tree line shook violently, and the roar blasted out again, louder and closer than before.
"God," breathed Rodriguez.
With another roar, a black shape over eight feet tall tore away from the trees, casting aside the foliage without apparent effort, and ran towards them at full pelt. The Metriacanthosaurus sped straight for them, jaws wide and claws splayed.
"Oh shit, not again!" shouted Guiterrez.
"Go! Now!" shouted Anderson, raising his rifle to shoulder height. Sarah ran back to stand beside him, withdrawing the pistol from her trousers and aiming it at the Metriacanthosaurus.
Guiterrez turned and ran, ignoring the screaming protests of his leg. He yelped in pain every time he stood on it, but he kept pumping as fast as he could. Wu and Rodriguez ran alongside him, casting terrified glancing back behind them. The control bunker was only another seventy meters, and then they were safe.
"GO, GO!" shouted Anderson from somewhere behind him. Blasts of pistol fire rang out, accompanied by short bursts of automatic rifle fire. He could hear the low whines of the bullets as they snaked into the grass and ricocheted off tree trunks in the distance. The dinosaur screamed at them, and Guiterrez could tell that the volley of firepower was having little or no effect.
"Go! Move, move, move!" shouted Anderson from behind him. He had started running after them, and a second later he grabbed Guiterrez by the arm, dragging him forward. Sarah appeared on his other side, and together they picked Guiterrez off the ground, and ran with him like he was a rag doll.
"Hey!" barked Guiterrez, struggling. He could make it; they didn't have to carry him like this. "Get off me!" he shouted.
Sarah glanced behind her, and aimed the pistol over her shoulder, firing several rounds at random. Anderson did the same, delivering several rapid bursts, which received a scream of rage from the rampaging dinosaur. The ground began to shake violently as the Metriacanthosaurus gained on them. Now they were only twenty meters away from the entrance to the bunker.
"Tim!" shouted Guiterrez into the headset, "Open the fucking door!"
The dinosaur screeched again, and Rodriguez gave a yell of fright ahead of him, waving his arms in the air frantically. By now Wu had reached the entrance of the control bunker. He didn't stop, but ran straight through the open whole where the outer door had once stood. The Metriacanthosaurus roared in rage at the sight of him disappearing, and Rodriguez put on a spurt, running into the bunker with another yell. Anderson swung his rifle over his shoulder and shot off another few rounds. There was a resounding smack, and the dinosaur screamed as a bullet slammed into its body.
Anderson and Sarah, both panting heavily, ran as fast as they could straight through the gaping hole in the wall, dragging Guiterrez with them.
After the startling sunlight outside, it was overwhelmingly dark inside the building, and their eyes struggled frantically to adjust to the light levels. They stumbled along the dim hallway, their heavy breathing amplified in the enclosed space. Behind them they could hear the roars of the dinosaur, and then an explosive impact shook the building. The Metriacanthosaurus growled as it slammed into the building, and knocked concrete flying as it tried to fit through the narrow doorway.
They found Tim waving them on from the control room door, and dragged Guiterrez inside, taking him out of their hands. Guiterrez shook himself free of Tim's grasp with a snarl, and limped into the room. Behind him he could hear Anderson and Sarah shooting at the dinosaur from out in the hallway.
"Get in here!" shouted Guiterrez.
Anderson, Tim and Sarah stumbled into the room, and all three of them grabbed the door, and slammed it shut. The metal vibrated as it impacted the wall, and the door locked shut with a thunk.
They all stood in the darkened room, panting and covered with sweat. Dust rained from the ceiling as the Metriacanthosaurus continued to slam into the building, roaring into the hallway. Guiterrez was groaning, the pain in his leg shooting up into his spine like needles. He sank to the floor, and looked up at the others, the readouts of the dials on the wall projected onto their anxious faces.
The dinosaur gave a final slam, and roared. They heard its footsteps turn away from the building, and head north. Slowly, the trembling of the ground lessened as the Metriacanthosaurus retreated.
"There are politer ways of waking a man up, you know," said Malcolm sleepily.
Guiterrez sighed deeply from his spot on the floor, and put his head between his knees, baring his teeth as another shot of pain run up his leg. "I hate that thing," he said weakly.
"Yeah, well, it's gone now," said Tim, sitting in his chair in front of the main computer terminal.
"How long to get the power rerouted?" asked Sarah, standing behind Tim.
"A few minutes," said Tim, beginning to hammer on the keyboard rapidly. A new screen popped up. This time is was standard blue, with the InGen logo in the top left corner. Two lines of white text scrolled slowly onto the screen in the center.
InGen Geothermal Power Facility
Main Access
Tim clapped his fingers together. "We're in," he said.
Everybody crowded around the computer screen, the blue glow of the screen filling the room and illuminating their faces. Guiterrez pulled himself up using the table top, and Malcolm limped over with Sarah's help, surveying the screen with a mild detached interest.
Holding onto the table for support, Guiterrez watched as Tim began typing again, and letters began to scroll along the screen near the bottom.
: Gotopower-distrib
Tim hit the return key, and the disks whirred rapidly, clicking several times before snapping into place.
"What are you doing?" asked Guiterrez, staring as the screen turned black and filled with lines of code that passed to rapidly for him to read.
"I'm accessing the power distribution network. From there I can reroute power to wherever I want."
Now the screen was full of static, and the disks whirred, stopped, then whirred again before clicking into place. There was a whine which lasted several seconds that came from the wall opposite them, and then the screen changed back to standard blue, this time beeping several times as lines of writing appeared one at a time. Guiterrez frowned as he read them.
InGen Geothermal Power Facility
Power Distribution Network
Name
Zone
Z-Code
Status
Hlpad
01
ZC-1
Offline
Mntnnce
02
ZC-2
Offline
VstrCmplx
03
ZC-3
Offline
RptrPn
04
ZC-4
Offline
Prmtr
05
ZC-5
Offline
SfrLdg
06
ZC-6
Offline
GPlnt
07
ZC-7
Online
HydrPlnt
08
ZC-7
Offline
Would you like to reset network Y/N?
Guiterrez shook his head in confusion; none of this made any sense to him at all. "What is all that?" he asked.
"These," Tim said, pointing to the list of words under the 'Name' column, "are power divisions of the island, where the electricity is divided up into sections. The zones are the individual designations, and the Zone Codes are the keystrokes required to manipulate each zone. As you can see, 'GPlnt', which stands for geothermal plant, is the only zone currently online. Right now it's asking if I want to reset the system, to bring everything online. Seeing as I don't want to do that, as there isn't nearly enough power to supply electricity to all of these zones with only one of the three power stations online…" he punched 'N', and the computer beeped. The bottom line of text disappeared from the screen, and another one scrolled to take its place.
Would you like to initialize an individual zone Y/N?
"That's more like it," murmured Tim, and punched the 'Y' button. The screen turned black once again, and the disks clicked loudly. Slowly, a detailed colored map of Isla Nublar scrolled into view, crisscrossed with many squiggling lines.
"What's that?" asked Sarah.
Tim pointed to the south-eastern corner of the island map. Most of the lines that crossed the map were silver, but two of them were red, and one was bright green. "These lines indicate the viability of each zone. Silver means that it's ready to go; you just need to direct the current in that direction. Red indicates that there's a major short or the conduits have been damaged. And green indicates an active zone. Right now, the only zone active is here, at the southern tip. Those two red ones," he pointed to the eastern portion of the island and a zone near the visitor area, "well, the eastern one would be the perimeter fence, which initially housed most of the animals when the park was active. And the other one is probably the raptor holding pen."
Another line of text rolled onto the screen underneath the map.
Which zone would you like to initialize?
Promptly, Tim punched in 'ZC-3'' and hit the return key. The wall opposite them emitted a strained groaning, and a building electronic whir emanated from beneath them. On the island map a central silver line that led from their position at the geothermal plant to the northern portion of the island began to turn to green, the colour snaking upwards along the line.
"What's that?" asked Guiterrez, standing on one leg to relieve the pain in his injured one.
"The power is being distributed along the main conduit line that runs underneath the main road," said Tim, rubbing his chin absently as he watched the screen. "It'll take a minute or so to charge the capacitors along the way, and then it'll run along to the Visitor Area."
"Mr. Murphy," said Anderson suddenly, "what about the radio spires on this station?"
Tim snapped his fingers. "Hey, I forgot all about that!" He flexed his fingers, and rattled on the keyboard again.
: mainaccess
He hit the return key, and the main screen flicked back onto the monitor, the blue glow hurting their eyes after the brightly colored map. He then punched in a new directory.
: Gotoradio-net
The disks whirred once again, and the screen went blank. They all waited for a few more seconds, but nothing happened. Guiterrez groaned; it wasn't going to work. He hasn't expected it to after all this time. The radio spires outside looked pretty old, and rusted. His head dropped when he saw the words 'Access Denied' appear on the screen.
Tim cursed, and hit the return key again.
Nothing happened.
Tim hit the return key one more time, but it was a move of frustration. This time more words began scrolling in the centre of the screen.
Access Denied
Main System core required for successful radio network activation.
They were all silent for a moment, until Guiterrez cleared his throat. "What, ah…what does that mean?" he said.
"It means that we have to activate the computer system at the control room in the visitor centre for the radio network to function properly," said Tim dully, bringing the main access screen back up.
"And when is it that your company will miss us?" said Sarah, raising her eyebrows.
"Not for another twenty-four hours at least," sighed Tim, leaning back in his seat.
"We can get to the visitor centre and back by then if we have to," she said confidently.
Guiterrez didn't share her confidence. They'd only been on the island a few hours and already it seemed to be weeks. And Malcolm wasn't going very far any time soon, not with his bite wound.
"We need a route," murmured Anderson.
Everybody turned to face him, frowning.
"I mean to get to the visitor centre as soon as possible. Tim, you can get that map back up, right?"
"Sure," said Tim, and after a few moments of typing the colored map was back on the screen, this time it was free of the power lines.
Anderson surveyed that map for a few moments, nodding to himself. "Okay," he whispered, "if we can go from here through the jungle here, heading west," he drew a line with his finger across the screen, "and then across these fields," his finger passed by an area which was marked with a sign that indicated steaming mounds, "then we can reach the lagoon." He pointed to a large pool of water on the screen, several miles north of the field. "From there, we can follow the river to this point, "he indicated a place on the map where a blue line and a grey one almost met," we can get onto the main road, and follow it all the way to the visitor centre."
Guiterrez absorbed this information, and nodded his head slowly. "Sounds good to me," he said.
Tim looked around at them all.
"Okay," he said, "let's go."
He made to get up, but Rodriguez gave a small bark, and held out his hands. "Hey, hey, hey. How do we know that our friend outside is gone? Is it such a good idea to just go running out there?"
Anderson swung his rifle from his shoulder. "We haven't got much choice, have we?"
Tim collapsed back into his chair, and turned back to the computer. "Actually…" he murmured, and began typing again. In a few moments the computer emitted a rapid beeping, and the screen filled with around eight video images, split into their own sections. They all showed images surrounding the geothermal power plant complex, and all of them showed nothing but the wide field of grass and the trees at the edge of the jungle, waving in the wind.
"Well, looks good to me," said Tim.
"Alright," conceded Rodriguez. "Let's go then."
Tim hammered on the keyboard, and the screen went blank. The disks slowed down, and then clicked to a stop. "Alright," he murmured.
The mid-afternoon sun beat down on them heavily as they struck out across the field towards the west tree line. Anderson was in the lead, scanning the area ahead of them in wide arcs, his rifle ready at shoulder height. Sarah was in the middle, supporting Ian as he hopped along steadily. Guiterrez brought up the rear, looking over his shoulder far more than he cared to admit.
After two minutes they reached the tree line, and crossed into the jungle once again, cutting the sunlight down to a minimum. "Back again," muttered Guiterrez to the trees around him, "miss us?"
A thrashing sound interrupted his monologue, and they all froze. The trees and bushes seemed to be shaking all around them. A chirping sound that sounded exactly like the one that they had heard before the Metriacanthosaurus attacked floated down towards them. Guiterrez span around to face the source of the sound. Immediately an identical chirp floated down to him from behind him. He whirled around again. Now the chirping sound was coming from several sources, in all directions. Guiterrez was breathing hard now, and he could feel his heart beating against the inside of his chest. The trees were thrashing all around them, the chirping getting louder. He stared ahead of himself, looking for any sign of what was making the noise.
After a moment he realized that the others were all staring at him, some of them with their mouths open.
"What?" he asked.
"Martin," whispered Sarah, pointing at his head.
"…Do I have a zit?" he asked, crossing his eyes to look at his nose.
"No, Martin," she hissed urgently. Guiterrez realized that she wasn't pointing at his head, but in fact she was pointing to an area just to the right of his head. The hairs stood up on the back of his neck. Slowly, he turned his head to the right.
He stared into another pair of eyes, which were yellow and had vertical black pupils. Instinctively, he pulled his head backwards, away from the pair of eyes. Now he realized that he was staring at the face of an animal the size of an average dog, upside down and hanging from the nearest tree. It had a hard, bony face, ending it a horny like beak. It's face was surrounded by a small stubby frill, which had small spikes protruding from it at several intervals.
It cocked its head to the side, and chirped at him playfully.
Guiterrez screamed at the top of his lungs into the face of the animal, wheeling back in horror. The animal, startled, screamed back at him in a high pitched honk, and spun upright, retreating back into the tree.
"What the…" breathed Guiterrez, staring at the animal that stared down at them from the tree. "What the hell is that thing?"
"Microceratops," said Tim, smiling up at the small animal.
The Micro looked at Guiterrez, and cocked its head, chirping. It hopped on the spot, and snorted.
"I think it likes you, Martin," said Malcolm, smirking.
The Micro cocked its head again. Martin stepped forward, and cocked his head in the same way. The Micro snorted again happily, and chirped.
The trees around them shook once again, and then more Microceratops began to emerge all around them. There had to have been twelve in all, all looking down at them.
"Are they dangerous?" asked Guiterrez. He doubted it, they didn't look very vicious. In fact, they reminded him of puppies.
"No, they're herbivores."
"We heard them earlier," said Anderson, "just before the other one attacked us."
"Yeah," breathed Guiterrez, looking at the Micro that had approached him.
Sarah sighed. "Guys, we don't have time for this." She turned away from the Micro's and walked into the jungle with Ian in tow.
"She's right," said Tim, "come on, Marty."
Anderson, Rodriguez, Wu, and Tim followed Sarah and Malcolm, disappearing into the foliage.
Guiterrez walked up to his Micro. "Go on," he said, making a shooing motion with his hands. "Go." The Microceratops chirped again, and hopped up and down.
Martin cursed. "Go on!" he shouted. The Micro backed away at his raised voice, and turned away. The other Micro's disappeared with a unanimous chirp. The trees thrashed as they retreated. Marty's Micro turned to look at him one more time, and then hopped out of view.
Smiling despite himself, and shaking his head, he turned and followed the others into the jungle.