Jurassic World: Return to Isla Nublar – Chapter 33: DNA Project #1
A/N: Wondering what DNA Project #1 is? Well, this chapter will explain that, but there's also so much more information in this chapter. Chapter 33 will also focus a little bit on Grant's group's attempt to reach the coast, Stanley's tracking skills, a creature that hasn't made an appearance in the story since earlier chapters and on Dodgson's supply helicopter. This should be an exciting read for any Jurassic Park fan!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Jurassic Park except the very characters I've made up.
The USS Mars pulled up alongside the North Dock and the ramp extended downward until it clanked onto the dock itself.
"So . . . this is Isla Nublar," Kelly breathed, taking everything in.
"Yes, breathtaking isn't it?" Hammond asked. "It's really a beautiful location. Far grander than the location we initially planned to have the park in San Diego. There's a certain touch this place gave the park; I'm unaware whether that be it's mere beauty or the feeling this place gives you when you enter its jungles. It almost feels like we've gone through a portal back to the dawn of time itself where we can observe these amazing creatures we've brought back from extinction–"
"Yes, yes, thank you very much, Hammond," Lester interrupted.
Hammond frowned. "I wasn't finished."
"I know that. In case you all have forgotten, we have a rescue mission to accomplish. Let's get this stuff unloaded!"
Ten minutes later, the Lexico team was busy unloading equipment and vehicles off the ship. The members of the new team – Hammond, Malcolm, Sarah, Kelly, Eric and Stanley – watched as the Lexico soldiers drove one of the jeeps they'd brought down the ramp. Other soldiers made a barricade around the dock area bearing their rifles, ready to use them on any dinosaur that posed a threat.
Eric looked around the place. He glanced back at the large archway gate bearing the words "Jurassic Park" that led into the park itself and then at the container yard. He also looked over at the two tall buildings in the center of the docking area where two two-story buildings connected by an archway bridge stood. As you might recall, these two buildings were either guard towers, processing centers or both. Wow! he thought. So this is Jurassic Park! It's amazing, and I haven't even seen any dinosaurs yet!
Sarah turned to the others. "Hammond was right," she said quietly. "There is a certain feeling about this place."
"Yeah," Malcolm agreed. "Oh, I forgot, Hammond and I are the only two people who've actually been here before. The rest of you had your brushes-with-death on Sorna." He then turned to Stanley, who stood nearby, and said, "Well . . . while we're waiting on Lester's men to finish unloading, why don't we start looking for clues as to what happened to our team around the dock."
Stanley nodded and said, "Yes, your right. Let's see, let's look at the evidence we have here." He and the others scanned the entire area with their eyes, looking for signs of disturbance, aside from the broken section of the dock. Then Stanley bent down to the ground – he spied several footprints. Let's see . . . he began to think, we've got tracks here. Looks like their no more than a few days old. Stanley scooped a small amount of dirt from one of the footprints and lightly licked it with the tip of his tongue.
Kelly grimaced. "Oh dear . . . seriously?"
But Stanley paid no attention to Kelly's remarks and did the same to another set of footprints.
"Aha!" Stanley exclaimed. "These tracks are slightly different in age, but they were both formed on the same day. Look here: we have one set of footprints that head over to the pair of buildings over there, back over here where we are and then eventually out of the docking area; these footprints were laid right after the team arrived on the island and tell us that they went inland. But there are a slightly newer set of tracks here leading back to the docking area from inland, and there's a new pair of feet – must be the stowaway girl considering their size – with them. Then they move toward the section of the dock that's broken."
Eric spoke up. "Lester told me that the research team had reached the dock to return the little stowaway girl, but the USS Mars had already gone back out to sea and got caught in a storm before they could return to fetch the girl."
Stanley nodded. "Yeah man! That's what happened here. The members of the research team returned to the dock after going inland and then they went over to the section of the dock that's broken. Let's access more damage."
Without saying another word, Stanley got up and led Hammond, Malcolm, Sarah, Kelly and Eric to the section of the dock he was speaking of. Then he went on with his lecture.
"So the team moves to this area, which is where we loose the tracks because they head onto the part of the dock once used for parking smaller boats," Stanley explained.
"But we don't know what happened to the dock," Eric said. "Do you think it broke because of age, because something crashed into it or because some creature was trying to catch them?"
Stanley shrugged. "Hard to say really. But look down here. The same number of tracks that went onto the now-broken dock come back; they walk back to where their vehicle is parked and drive away, according to the vehicle-tracks."
Sarah sighed in relief. "So now we know they didn't get eaten by a creature, at this point of the expedition anyway."
"Correct."
Just then, Lester walked over to Stanley and the others. "Well, making any progress?"
"We've just deduced that the team didn't get killed by a creature this point of their expedition," Malcolm informed him.
Lester nodded. "Good to know. Well, the soldiers are finished unloading everything. So we're ready to head inland and begin our search for the missing team."
"I hope their alright," Eric said.
"Are you done with that pump yet?" Dr. Sorkin asked.
"Patience, Doc," Ryan said as he continued pumping air into the inflatable boat using a pump they'd found in the shed. "This pump's a little rusty after so many years of non-use."
Grant looked up at the sky – the sun was rising higher and higher. Looking at his watch, he saw it read 6:35 a.m. They needed to get a move on.
"Do you think there's a rescue ship coming for us?" Taylor asked.
"Can't say for sure," Grant answered. "Lester might have a rescue team already on the island for us, but there's no way of knowing."
"But what about that guy we saw last night? Remember? The spitting dinosaurs got him."
"I was thinking about him too," Dr. Sorkin admitted. "That guy didn't look familiar; I don't think he was one of Lester's soldiers."
Grant agreed. "You're probably right."
"Lester's not dumb," soldier #1 told the others. "After learning we went missing, he wouldn't send a little band of scouts to look for us. He'd send large groups of people to the island. Plus, that guy we saw last night wasn't even wearing a uniform."
Ryan paused from his pumping. "But if he's not a Lexico soldier, who is he?"
The others were silent, unsure of the answer.
"When we get back, we can alert Lexico," Grant suggested. "Humans don't need to be on this island, obviously. I just hope he was the only one."
All of a sudden, the bellow of a Triceratops nearby drew the group's attention. They turned to watch the Triceratops herd.
"Looks like we've got trouble," Dr. Sorkin said.
The Triceratops herd nearby was becoming agitated and made loud bellowing and snorting sounds, as if a predator was nearby. Even the babies seemed a little nervous. But before anyone could ask why they were acting agitated, five Dilophosaurus strode out of the tall grass in between Grant's group and the Triceratops. But they weren't concentrated on the Triceratops or the humans. Instead, they merely walked toward the river to get a drink. The leader of the Dilophosaurus pack hooted to her group; they hooted back in reply.
"Their probably washing down that man they ate last night with a drink of water," Taylor commented.
The Dilophosaurus bent by the river's edge and dipped their mussels into the water; their snouts were still covered in blood from last night's meal. Seeing the predators had no intentions to hunt, the Triceratops continued their morning feeding. However, one large bull stepped between the herd and the smaller dinosaurs, eying them suspiciously, just in case.
"I don't think they're hungry at the moment," said Dr. Sorkin. "They're probably still stuffed from last night's meal."
"But I really don't want to wait around and find out," Ryan said. "This boats filled up." He turned to his fellow soldiers and said, "Help me push this into the water."
The soldiers nodded and the three of them pushed the boat out of the shed and into the water's edge. The boat wasn't very strong, but it floated and was able to get them to the coast, and that's all that mattered.
Ryan looked up at Dr. Sorkin and asked, "Did InGen clone any water creatures? Other than the mosasaur of course."
The scientist shook her head. "Not to my knowledge. As far as I know, they only cloned that one species . . . aside from the fish they used to feed the mosasaur."
"No native freshwater wildlife that could be of danger?"
"No. The freshwater fish on Nublar aren't predatory or large enough to pose a threat to us. And the nearest crocodiles live in swamps and wetlands of Central America, and unlike their saltwater crocodile relatives, they don't cross large bodies of saltwater."
So Grant, Dr. Sorkin and the others quickly got into the boat and Ryan began paddling away from shore and away from the Dilophosaurus.
"Hooray! We're out of here!" Taylor exclaimed.
The Dilophosaurus suddenly shot their heads upward and looked directly at the boat, hooting and trilling amongst themselves.
"Shh!" Dr. Sorkin shushed. "Dilophosaurus can eject their venom 20 feet away. They could easily spit at us from where they are."
But as the boat passed by, the theropods merely watched them float down the river before presuming their morning drink. Fortunately, they weren't hungry from last night's dinner.
The river's current was strong enough to pull the boat along without anyone rowing, so Ryan sat back and rested. Grant looked back at the herd of Triceratops and Dilophosaurus. He smiled. This is great, for the first time since we started this expedition, I think we're actually going to get an easy way off the island.
While Grant's group traversed down the river, Levine and his "gang" (A/N: have to be so careful how you use the word "gang" these days.) moved through the jungle at a pretty fast pace. To pass the time, Levine was recalling some of the information he'd learned by reading the Wu's emails to Hammond.
". . . then after they obtained the amber specimens from the amber collector," Levine continued, "InGen's scientists decoded some of it and learned that they'd discovered some unidentified species of creatures. They also found mosasaur DNA in an amber specimen they collected."
"How on earth did they get that?" Kailey asked. "Mosasaurs live underwater, right? So how could a mosquito bite the blood of a mosasaur?"
"Maybe when they come up to the surface to breath?" Lex suggested. Levine and Tim shook their heads.
"Nah," said Tim. "Mosasaurs lived in the ocean. Mosquitoes live near generally still bodies of water – places like swamps, lakes and ponds."
"But," Levine started to say, "what do you think would happen if a mosasaur swam inland, via a river, and found itself in a lake, swamp or pond? Modern bull sharks do the same thing: their happy in both salt and freshwater. What if a mosasaur did the same, found itself in shallow water and/or died with a portion of its body out of the water? Then a mosquito could bite the mosasaur, land on the branch of a tree and etc., etc."
Rob said, "That explains that mystery. Can we rest for a minute? My legs are killing me."
Levine nodded. "Sure, I wanted to look up another email anyway."
The group sat down on the ground and Levine brought out his computer to do his research. He scrolled down the list of emails he had already read until he found an unread one. He double-clicked on it and the email opened. He read to the group:
January 3, 1993
Dear Hammond,
Let me tell you, a lot of different and rather exciting things have happened both since my last email and since your most recent visit to the park! First off, you might want to know that our other four tyrannosaurs that we planned to ship to Nublar are finally old enough to be shipped from Sorna. I'm glad that we'll have more than just one Tyrannosaurus rex on the island, you know, just in case something were to happen to the one we plan to showcase on the tour. One of my lab assistants, Zoey, has suggested that instead of shipping just one species, we ship Laura's parasaurs for her study as well (Laura's insisted on running the operation of transporting the Parasaurolophus and the Tyrannosaurus, which is OK by me since I've got a lot on my plate already). Both the tyrannosaurs and the parasaurs will be shipped to Nublar in three days.
And here's the next piece of news: we've successfully decoded the DNA for all of the specimens for DNA Project #1. As I've mentioned before, due to this project's confidentiality, our work has already started being conducted at the secret laboratory in the Northwestern portion of Nublar, away from the other projects we're working on in the Sorna laboratories. We've also successfully produced quite a few embryos of the creatures for DNA Project #1. The strange thing is that even after doing much research, I haven't been able to find the species identification for quite a few of the species we've recreated. Here is the list of the ones we've cloned so far:
Anurognathus ammoni
Unidentified species of extinct species of dromaeosaur-like bird
Unidentified species of pachycephalosaurid
Unidentified species of oviraptorid
Hypsilophodon foxii
Two unidentified species of theropods
My lab assistants will continue to do research to try and identify their species, but I'm doubting we'll find answers. My hypothesis is that we might have in fact discovered new species of extinct creatures not yet known to science. I won't jump to conclusions just yet, but the thought of actually discovering a new species before paleontologists do is rather exciting! My lab assistants and I plan to hatch these new creatures very soon and keep them in the observation paddocks at our secret facility. DNA Project #1 is definitely going to be of great value to the park later on.
That's pretty much it that's going on around here! Can't wait for you to make your next visit to the park so we can show you DNA Project #1's facilities.
Sincerely, Henry Wu."
"Whoa," Tim whispered. "Now we're starting to dig into what really was going on at the park!"
"Your telling me!" Levine agreed. "In this email, it's revealed that they were preparing to transport both Dr. Sorkin's Parasaurolophus for her to study–"
"To keep her busy and away from the park operations," Lex added.
Levine nodded and continued. "And their also transporting four more Tyrannosaurus as well; that makes a total of five T. rex on the island. So I guess that explains why we saw more than one T. rex, because there's no evidence whatsoever that T. rex were able to reproduce via parthenogenesis."
"What?" Rob asked, confused.
"Parthenogenesis," Kailey began, "is the practice of animals reproducing without mating. Very few species can do that, and T. rex wasn't one of them! Otherwise, Henry Wu's 'all-female' trick to stop them from breeding wouldn't have worked until some of them changed to males."
"And remember the Dracorex we saw on our first day here?" Levine asked. "That's probably the unidentified species of pachycephalosaurid they recreated, because Dracorex wasn't discovered by paleontologists until 2006. This email really shows that the InGen scientists were investigating with the DNA of creatures they didn't know about."
"I wonder what species they brought back to life," Lex said.
Levine grinned. "Well, there's plenty more emails to read."
Marcus Jones flew the Biosyn helicopter across the Pacific Ocean toward the coordinates of Dodgson's satellite phone. He and his co-pilot, Larry Manning sat next to him, glancing out the window.
"Do we know how much farther it is to the island?" Marcus asked.
Larry nodded. "Yeah, we should see it any minute now. I hope the fog around the island has cleared, it will make locating Dodgson a lot easier."
Marcus continued onward. Though he'd been a helicopter pilot for 15 years, this mission was by far the one that made him the most nervous. Back home, he'd heard multiple stories of people who'd gone too close to either Isla Nublar or one of the Five Deaths – specifically Sorna – and mysteriously disappeared or were eaten; he'd heard about the Jurassic Park Incident and the fatalities that occurred during that time; he'd heard about the multiple fishermen who ventured too close to Sorna and somehow vanished; he'd heard about the Sorna Incident when InGen sent a large number of people to capture dinosaurs for a new park and how most of the group was killed by a pack of raptors; he'd heard about the Tyrannosaurus buck that rampaged through San Diego; he'd heard about the Kirby Incident when Eric and his mother's friend had become trapped on Isla Sorna and only Eric survived. But perhaps the two stories he'd heard that frightened him the most were the ones that happened most recently – the account of the jet skiers that went missing and of the group of people from a tabloid company that went to Nublar to retrieve evidence of the island's survival and never lived to tell everyone what happened. Perhaps these two frightened him the most because of how recently they took place. He wasn't exactly sure.
Don't worry about it Marcus, he told himself. Your in the air and dinosaurs can't fly . . . except pterodactyls. (He didn't know pterosaurs weren't dinosaurs).
"I really don't feel good about this mission," Marcus told Larry.
Larry laughed. "Come on! We're going to be fine!" He paused and looked out over the water. "Do you think we'll see some dinosaurs?"
"I don't want to see dinosaurs. I'm still concerned that one will hijack the plane. The pterodactyls I've seen in books and movies look pretty big and powerful."
Larry laughed harder than before. "Relax, Marcus! Remember the study their doing in California? They said the pterodactyls are calmer after leaving the island."
"Well, we're not making any detours. We're going in, picking up Dodgson and the eggs if he can relocate them and getting away from Nublar."
"Not so fast!" Larry exclaimed. "You see, the dinosaurs InGen created are hyper-intelligent. First, we need to establish contact with the dino-ruler of the island and let her know our intentions so they don't think we're a threat."
Now it was Marcus' turn to laugh. "You crack me up, Larry. If you really want to see some dinosaurs, I'll buy you a little coloring book when we get home. Think you can stay inside the lines?"
"Sure . . ." Larry's voice trailed off as Nublar came into view. "Alright, we're homing in!"
Rebecca sat at her desk inside her office doing her usual paperwork. The rescue team – accompanied by a large amount of soldiers – had left the North Dock around five minutes ago and were traveling inland. Rebecca sighed as she flipped another piece of paper over. I never get a break from paperwork, she thought. Maybe it's time I use up some of my vacation time I've been stockpiling.
At that moment, Rebecca thought she heard the sound of whirring outside. Initially, she thought nothing of it until she remembered that there weren't supposed to be helicopters near the island! She immediately got up from her desk and went out onto the deck. A few of the soldiers and the ship's captain on the ship also noticed the helicopter.
"What's going on?" Rebecca asked. "What's the helicopter doing here?"
"I haven't the slightest idea," the captain said. "All I know is that their either lost or suffering a severe case of lunacy! Who on earth would want to come near this island!" He yelled off orders to one of his men to send a radio message to the helicopter to tell them they were trespassing in restricted airspace.
The captain lifted his binoculars to his eyes and gasped. "I say! It says 'Biosyn' on the side of that chopper!"
"Biosyn?!" Rebecca repeated. "Either they followed us or they've already set up base on the island. We need to capture them somehow. They'll be useful for obtaining information on what Biosyn plans to do."
"Might not be a good idea to send choppers over the water right now, Mam," Jimmy the mechanic said as he came up behind Rebecca. "See that over there to the left?"
Rebecca and the captain squinted and were barely able to make out the shape of something large in the water – the object was anywhere between 40 and 50 feet in length and ended in a shark-like tail fluke. The creature expelled a great gust of air out of its nostrils so it could take in a fresh breath of air. Rebecca gasped. "Oh my gosh, that must be the mosasaur!"
The mosasaur looked over in the helicopters direction and submerged. The dark shape moving underneath the water was making a speedy beeline toward the chopper!
". . . you are flying in restricted airspace," the radio in the chopper said, "please turn your coordinates to–" Marcus turned the radio off and glanced to his right at both the North Dock and the large ship resting there.
"They must have seen us!" he said. "Think they recognize us as coming from Biosyn?"
"Don't know and I don't want to find out," Larry told him. "If they know we're from Biosyn, they definitely aren't going to play nice on us! Well what are we waiting for? Let's get out of here and once we're far enough away, we'll return to the island from a different direction."
Marcus nodded and turned the chopper away from the island, not knowing that they were heading for even more trouble . . .
Suddenly a monstrous marine reptile with jaws agape erupted from the ocean's surface below them; its powerful tail launched the 50-foot monster halfway into the air!
"Leaping lizards!" Marcus exclaimed. "What is that thing?"
"Who cares?!" Larry asked. "Just pull up! Pull up!"
Marcus began to pull the helicopter upward but he was too slow – the mosasaur snapped its mighty jaws shut on the chopper's tail and its great weight pulled the flying machine out of the sky.
Larry exclaimed, "We're going down!"
A great splash concluded the mosasaur's antics. Rebecca watched in shock. "I guess that means no one flies low over the waters of Nublar," she said at last.
"Oh my gosh!" the captain yelled. "Look at that!" He pointed at the helicopter as its broken body appeared on the water's surface. The two men were still alive, trapped inside! The captain was sure that the mosasaur would come back to finish its prey. "We really need those two men." He turned and yelled to one of the Lexico soldiers, "I want three of the search-and-rescue boats in the water to rescue those men. The information they have might come in handy later."
"Yes sir!"
Rebecca glanced at the soldiers preparing the boats before looking back at the ocean. She brushed her reddish-brown hair away from her face and watched as, underwater, the hungry mosasaur swam away from the fallen chopper before making a U-turn. Time was limited to retrieve the Biosyn men before they became nothing more than breakfast food for the Tylosaurus, the "T. rex of the Deep".
A/N: I thought it would be nice to bring back the mosasaur Tylosaurus for another chapter or two. I just LOVE mosasaurs so much! Also, what do you guys think of Dr. Henry Wu's DNA Project #1 and what mysterious creatures do you think his team recreated? Other than the ones they were able to identify, of course. You'll find out the answers in upcoming chapters, but I'd love to hear your guys' opinions. Until next week, r&r!