"So you two, um, dig up dinosaurs?" A man dressed in black clothing and leather asked Dad and Ellie.
"Try to," Dad answered. The man let out a snarl/laugh combo.
"You'll have to get used to Dr. Malcolm," Hammond spoke up. "He suffers from a deplorable excess of personality, especially for a mathematician."
"Chaotician, actually," Ian corrected. "John doesn't subscribe to chaos, particularly what it has to say about his little science project." I leaned forward at that, was Ian going to spill what the island carries?
"Codswallop, Ian," Hammond snapped. "You've never been able to sufficiently explain your concerns about the island."
"Oh, John, John. Because of the behavior of the system in phase space?" By now I was leaning across the lawyer to watch the exchange, and from the corner of my eye I saw Ellie and Dad smile.
"A load, if I may say so, of fashionable number crunching," Hammond said lowly.
"Is not," Ian said as he placed his hand on Hammonds' knee and squeezed it gently.
The hand was quickly snatched up. "I do wish you wouldn't do that," Hammond chastised. I raised an eyebrow, he's done that more than once?
"Dr. Sattler, Dr. Grant- plus little Grant, you've heard of chaos theory?" Ian turned his attention to us now.
"No," Ellie said as I shook my head.
"No? Non-linear equations? Strange attractors?" He sat up a bit. "Dr. Sattler, I refuse to believe that you aren't familiar with the concept of attraction."
Ellie and I shared a humored look. She was used to a lot of attraction.
"Hmm! I bring the scientists, you bring a rock star," Hammond said to the lawyer, who looked slightly offended at that. Hammonds face went still before his eyes lit up with excitement. "There it is."
The helicopter flew in between two plant covered and lush mountains before starting to descend.
"Bad wind shears," Hammond said to us. "We have to drop pretty fast, so hold on, 'cause it can be just a little thrilling."
I clutched my bag tightly against my stomach as the helicopter lurched downwards a bit. "Ya-hoo!" Hammond cheered before the adults started to chuckle nervously. Except for me, I was too busy buckling in and praying to be able to touch the ground. I didn't like to fly, obviously.
Across from me, Dad held up two end pieces and tried to click them together.
"No, no, you need that piece over here, and that piece- look we'll have landed already by the time you get it right," Hammond said.
With a grunt, Dad tried the two straps together and looked up at me and Ellie with a successful smirk.
The helicopter landed with only a final, and soft bump. Hammond made his way out first, followed shortly by the lawyer, then me, Ellie and finally Dad. Two roofless jeeps made their way over and backed in front of us, facing a high voltage gate. On the side was a logo with a black T-Rex skeleton and the words Jurassic Park.
"Nice logo," I said as I sat down next to Ian. Dad nodded as he settled in beside me, Ellie taking the passengers seat. Feeling squished and deciding that I probably wouldn't be able to read without feeling spied on, I decided on a new plan. Cautiously, I laid my head against Dad's shoulder and closed my eyes, falling asleep almost instantly.
~line break~
The sudden stop accompanied by the breaks screeching jolted me awake. With a yawn I looked to the left side and felt my jaw drop. Beside me, Dad threw off his hat, I followed suit and peered around his side as he fumbled to take off his sunglasses.
"Alan, this species of veriforma's been extinct since the Cretaceous period," Ellie was saying. Dad slowly reached in and took hold of the top of her head. "I mean, this thing is humongous. What? What?" She asked as he turned it. She soon joined us standing, slack- jawed like me.
In front of us was an actual living brachiosaur walking calmly, and unconcerned with the two jeeps. The ground hummed with each step it took and the air echoed with each low bellow it let out.
Quickly, the three of us climbed out of the jeep to get closer to the dinosaur. Stumbling over to get closer, Dad pointed up at it.
"Um, its- it's a dinosaur," he said dumbly.
"Oh, we could just tear up the rule book on the cold-bloodedness," Dad said as he peered up high at the brachiosaur. "It doesn't apply. They're totally wrong. This is a warm-blooded creature."
"This thing doesn't live in a swamp," I said, my voice thick with both awe and joyful tears. I mean, who would blame me for feeling emotional? Dinosaurs were one of my few passions, and here was one right in front of me!
"This things got what, a 25-27- foot long neck?" Dad asked.
"The brachiosaur, 30," Hammond said from behind us.
"Thirty feet," I breathed out.
The brachiosaur let out a bellow as it swung up on it's hind legs to grab a branch from the very top of the tree it was grazing on. Ellie and I clutched at each other with smiles on our faces as the ground shook considerably when it landed.
"How fast are they?" Dad asked, not even bothering to look away from the dinosaur.
"Well, we've clocked the T-Rex at 32 miles an hour," Hammond said lightly, not even phased at that little Jurassic bomb he dropped on us.
Ellie and I turned immediately to him. "T-T-Rex?" We asked. "You got a T-Rex?"
"Mm-hmm."
Dad clutched his shoulders and stared him dead in the eyes. "Say again."
"We have a T-Rex!" Hammond laughed.
"Oh," Dad groaned as he let go and sunk to the ground.
"Put-put your head between your knees," I said as I sunk down next to him, rubbing his back in a comforting manner.
"Dr. Grant, my dears, Dr. Sattler and Miss Grant," Hammond said as he walked a few feet ahead. "Welcome to Jurassic Park."
The sound of numerous bellowing in the small distance caused the three of us to look over and down the slope to a waterhole. There, two brachiosaurs were wading back to shore while a herd of parasaurolophus' drank and grazed around it.
"They're moving in herds. They do move in herds," Dad said. Wrapping an arm around both Ellie and I's shoulders, he over to Hammond who had joined us on the ground. "How'd you do this?"
"I'll show you."
That's it for tonight, it's late and my hands are cramped to be honest. I figure that this is a good stopping point, keep it nice before the heavy science next chapter. Anyways, let me know what you think!