This way, everybody, this way," Ed Regis said. By his side, a woman was passing out pith helmets with "Jurassic Park" labeled on the headband, and a little blue dinosaur logo.
A line of Schnee Land Cruisers came out of an underground garage beneath the visitor center. Each car pulled up, driverless and silent. Two men in safari uniforms were opening the doors for passengers. Team CRDL got in the first car and RWBY got in the second.
Ruby sat where the driver would normally sit. Blake sat in the passenger seat. And Yang and Weiss sat in the back seat.
They heard a fanfare of trumpets, and the interior screens flashed WELCOME TO JURASSIC PARK. A sonorous voice said, "Welcome to Jurassic Park. You are now entering the lost world of the prehistoric past, a world of mighty creatures long gone from the face of remnant, which you are privileged to see for the first time."
After they finished the tour, the Land Cruiser turned around on a cul de sac of track.
-CONTROL-
"Damn it!" Arnold said, punching buttons on the console. "It's all screwed up."
Taiyang was standing at the windows, looking out at the park. The lights had gone out all of the island, except the immediate area around the main buildings. He saw a few staff personnel hurrying to get out of the rain, but no one seemed to realize that anything was wrong. Taiyang looked over at the visitor lodge, where the lights burned brightly.
"Uh-oh," Arnold said. "We have real trouble."
"What's that?" Taiyang said. He turned away from the window, concerned for his children's safety.
"That idiot Nedry turned off the security systems," Arnold said. "The whole building's opened up. None of the doors are locked anymore."
"I'll notify the guards," Taiyang said.
"That's the least of it," Arnold said. "When you turn off security, you turn off all peripheral fences as well."
"The fences?" Taiyang said.
"The electrical fences," Arnold said. "They're off, all over the island."
"You mean . . ."
"That's right," Arnold said. The animals can get out now." Arnold lit cigarette. "Probably nothing will happen, but you never know . . ."
Taiyang started toward the door. "I better drive out and bring in the students in those two Land Cruisers," he said. "Just in case." Taiyang quickly went downstairs to the garage. He wasn't really worried about the fences' going down. Most of the dinosaurs had been in their paddocks for nine months or more, and they had brushed up against the fences more than once, with notable results. Taiyang knew how quickly animals learned to avoid shock stimuli. You could train a laboratory pigeon with just two or three simulation events. So it was unlikely the dinosaurs would now approach the fences.
Taiyang was more concerned about what the students in the cars would do. He didn't want them getting out of the Land Cruisers, because once the power came back on, the cars would start moving again, whether the students were inside them or not. They might be left behind. Of course, in the rain it was unlikely they would leave the cars. But, still . . . you never knew . . .
He reached the garage and hurried toward the Jeep. It was lucky, he thought, that he had the foresight to put the launcher in it. He could start right out, and be there in—
It was gone!
"What the hell?" Taiyang stared at the empty parking space, astonished.
The Jeep was gone!
What the hell was happening?