Indigo: Thomas and John and the rest of his disaster investigation team were in biohazard suits as they moved through the solid waste tanks of The Equestrian.
"Remind me again how we wound up here?" one of the workers grumbled.
"Because I'm paying you is why," said John also annoyed at their current predicament. "No come on, we need to tag and bag it all."
The workers shuddered at that statement before they continued working. Elsewhere, Billy and Alan were randomly wandering the corridors of the ship looking for any other sign of dinosaur activity that they could. Grant took out a pack of gum and popped a piece in his mouth before offering some to Billy who took a piece as well.
"So how come you didn't want to stick it out back there with the rest of the team?" asked Billy amused.
"Why didn't you?" Grant shot back. Billy shrugged lightly.
"I didn't want to… 'excite' the senses so soon after being discharged from the hospital," said his student. Grant shook his head.
"And I had to ensure my student's safety," said Grant to Billy's amusement. "Besides, I've seen enough shit to last me a lifetime."
"Dr. Grant!" said Billy mildly shocked at Grant's word usage.
"When you've seen what I've seen you've earned a right to use that word," Grant responded thinking back to both Nublar and Sorna. He'd thought Ellie was crazy when she'd gone digging through those triceratops droppings just to prove a point only to find himself later going through spinosaur droppings to find a phone to call her with. If anyone said irony didn't exist, they certainly had never met Alan Grant.
"So what are we looking for?" asked Billy snapping Alan out of his reverie.
"Something…out of the ordinary," was all Grant could come up with. "Something just isn't right about all this."
"I hear that," Billy confirmed also feeling rather bewildered at their current situation. The two continued on before a bleating noise was heard and a protoceratops bolted around the corner and came to a halt right in front of them. The creature eyed them curiously before its owner, Stephanie Sandelder, came to a halt at the corner breathing heavily.
"Finally," she said tired. She bent down and retrieved her wayward dinosaur before straightening up.
"Hello, Doctor Grant I'm a big admirer of yours," said Stephanie offering her free hand. Doctor Grant was still a little unsettled at nearly becoming trampled by a runaway dinosaur before he shook her hand and focused on her protoceratops.
"She's a thing of beauty," said Grant as he bent down to look the thing in the face.
"Yeah but she weighs a ton," said Stephanie shifting the weight again. "My girlfriends always asked me how I manage to stay in shape. You try keeping up with this thing and lugging her around for ten years and see how you look."
"You've had this thing for ten years?" asked Grant stunned. "How?"
"She used to work at Site B," Billy explained. The two had been introduced on the chopper ride earlier.
"Yeah, she was mine back when I worked as receptionist," explained Stephanie. "Then when I left…I took her with me."
That was a lie, but it's not like the truth mattered to Grant or Billy.
"Well from what I can tell you've taken excellent care of her," said Grant standing back up.
"Thanks, it hasn't been easy," commented Stephanie. "But it's about time to let her go. Once Sorna's back in our hands, I'll let her go there amongst her own kind."
"So what do you make of all this?" asked Billy waving around at the ship around them.
"Nothing is ever simple when it comes to Jurassic Park," said Stephanie knowingly. Grant and Billy nodded at that statement.
"So what are you two looking for?" asked Stephanie curious.
"Just…anything out of the ordinary," said Grant at a loss for words. Stephanie nodded.
"Yeah there had to be something more to this than just a case of dine and dash," she agreed. Grant and Billy looked at her perturbed by her statement.
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "It's just that I had a lot of friends back on Sorna who got slaughtered by the dinosaurs and death just doesn't hold the same sanctity it once did for me. I feel bad for what happened here don't get me wrong, but…I'm not loosing sleep over it. I do want to stop this from happening again, though."
Grant and Billy both nodded at that.
"So where're you headed?" asked Billy.
"The Vault," answered Stephanie. "Or at least I was before she bolted off."
She shifted the weight of the protoceratops again and smiled before heading off with Grant and Billy.
"Why the Vault?" asked Billy confused. "What would dinosaurs need with money?"
"You've got me," Stephanie agreed. "But up there on the bridge did you notice anything strange?"
"Aside from the fact that some of the people were mauled and some were shot?" asked Billy not sure what was more strange than that.
"The captain wasn't on the bridge," answered Grant. Stephanie looked at him surprised.
"Very good," she said. "I almost didn't notice it myself but I kind of prepared ahead of time to look for anything unusual."
"And why is that unusual?" asked Billy. "Maybe he just wasn't on duty."
"Yes but you didn't hear the distress call," Grant pointed out. "The captain was on the bridge when the call was made but if he wasn't there that raises the question where he went."
"He could've run off," Billy surmised.
"He couldn't have gotten very far then seeing as the whole bridge crew was slaughtered in seconds," said Grant.
"Yeah but he wasn't in the adjoining corridors either and he wasn't a survivor of whatever happened here," Stephanie pointed out. "So where did he go?"
"And you think he's at the Vault," stated Grant. Stephanie nodded.
"He would be the only one to be guaranteed to know the combination," Stephanie said.
"But to what end?" asked Grant. "What would all this prove if the captain is by the Vault and it is raided?"
"It would be a motive for one," said Stephanie. "And now forgive my language, but going through and emptying out the waste receptacles isn't going to prove 'shit'."
"I do agree with you there," admitted Grant. "But what we really need is at least one good piece of dinosaur DNA to prove they were involved but without it…"
"Yeah but what can you do?" said Stephanie helplessly. "So let's at least determine a motive and then go from there."
"Just like out of CSI!" said Billy excitedly. "Let's go!"
He bounded down the corridor as Steviesaurus squawked trying to chase after him. Stephanie reluctantly put the protoceratops down and it tore off after the scientist.
"He really likes CSI," was all Grant could say to explain. "So do you not think dinosaurs did this?"
"I don't know," admitted Stephanie. "But I hope not."
"Yeah me too," said Grant shuddering. The two continued onwards down the corridor in calmed silence.
Sorna: The Interceptor roared to a halt next to a pair of APCs as a legion of troops took up a flanking position around the vehicles, aiming up at the Thermal Generator Complex as gunfire could be heard followed by a light explosion.
"Sir," said the leader of the troops as Jake looked up at the building.
"Well this brings back bad memories," said Sam nonchalantly.
"Yeah nothing like an invisible enemy to get the blood flowing," said Gerry as a dimetrodon roared.
"Let's go," said Jake yanking out his Long Colts and heading up the stairs.
"Wait, how can you see them?" asked the troop leader following them with his fellow soldiers.
"Experience," said Jake offhand. "But that's not a good thing, believe me."
"So how're we going to know where they are?" asked the leader as they entered in through the broken glass door.
"We'll peg you eliminate," explained Gerry. A pair of soldiers burst through a pair of metal doors firing blindly back into the generator room.
"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, EASE DOWN!" shouted Jake over the hail of gunfire. The two soldiers looked at him shell shocked as Jake holstered a Long Colt and relieving one of them of their M-16 as Gerry did the same to the other.
"It'll be okay just take five," said Jake calmly. The two soldiers nodded as they stumbled off and Jake sighed before holstering the other Long Colt and swinging up the massive rifle. He briefly shuddered before turning around and heading for the doors.
"Let's hope this goes better than the last time I was in one of these stations," said Jake as Sam and Gerry nodded.
Sorna, 1993: The convoy of vehicles that had just escaped from the Embryonics Administration were waiting outside Thermal Generator Plant Number Two.
"Run, run!" shouted Jake as he and his fellow workers tore out of the building and into the blinding rain. They ran down the steps and into their vehicles as an army of dinosaurs could be seen roaring in the distance, occasional illuminated by lightning flashes. The vehicles tore off down the mud soaked road as the dinosaurs swarmed the building.
"Vaya Con Dios!" said Jake as he yanked out a remote control and pressed the button on it. The geothermal vent went up in a massive explosion taking a whole cadre of dinosaurs with it.
Sorna, 17 years ago: "Anything more on our 'mystery man'?" asked Jake mockingly.
"You shut up," said Henry. After a couple weeks of trying to track down where Dr. Graves was going to in the Park, he'd found nothing.
"Only the Shadow knows what evil lurks in the hearts of man. Muwahaha," laughed Jake in an evil voice. Henry growled angrily at him before he rolled his eyes and held his head in shame as the two walked past the receptionist desk.
"Hi-yo!" said Stephanie popping up from behind it.
"Hey ya nut, what's up?" asked Jake hopping onto the edge of the desk.
"Oh not much," said Stephanie lightly. "When do I get to see a dinosaur?"
"Well let's go see shall we?" asked Jake. Stephanie grinned and the two headed off into the back with Henry in tow.
"Hey Henry, what's up?" asked Stephanie.
"Just makin' dinosaurs," responded the scientist simply as he shrugged his shoulders.
"And stalking people," commented Jake softly.
"What?" asked Stephanie surprised.
"Just a joke," said Jake trying to change the subject.
"It's not that nutso Graves, is it?" Stephanie asked. Henry faltered briefly but kept walking.
"Maybe," he said trying to play it off. "Why?"
"I was talking to requisitions about getting a vending machine installed in here and the person there started rambling on about some strange order Doctor Graves put in," said Stephanie.
"I don't suppose you could get us a copy of the list?" Jake mused.
"May-be," said Stephanie innocently. "You gonna tell me what's up?"
"Possibly later," said Jake as the trio entered into the embryo storage room. "So, pick your poison."
"Really?" said Stephanie excited. "Any of them?"
"Go nuts," said Jake waving his hand at the various storage tanks. Stephanie advanced eagerly on the tanks as Henry and Jake stayed behind.
"So it appears we finally have something," said Jake.
"Yeah I can't wait to get my hands on that list," said Henry rubbing his hands together. "That'll give us some idea what he's up to."
"And then what?" asked Jake. "Because even with the list I don't know what we'll be able to prove."
"We'll come to that when we come to that," said Henry. "I'll take a copy of the list with me back to San Diego and try and work on what he's up to."
"Suit yourself," said Jake throwing up his hands in defeat. "I'm going to be busy though; we're transferring those deinonychosaurs over to Nublar and Hammond and wants to make sure everything goes smoothly. We've transferred juvenile herbivores through Indigo but never fully grown carnivores and that's why I need to make sure nothing gets loose."
"Well good luck with that," said Henry putting his hands in his labcoat pockets. "I'll see you in a week then."
"Yeah," said Jake nodding. The two slammed hands together and shook as Henry left the cold room and Stephanie rapidly advanced on Jake.
"Got it!" she said producing an embryo capsule. Jake took it and held it in his palm.
"And what is it?" he asked curious thumbing the thing.
"Find out," said Stephanie as she headed for the exit with Jake in tow.
"So what is the deal with that Graves dude anyway?" asked Stephanie.
"Always the inquisitive one…" said Jake wistfully.
The Equestrian: "Boy do I hate being right all the time," Stephanie muttered. They were looking down at the paper image of the slaughtered captain just outside the vault that had been opened and cleared out. Dr. Grant was chewing on an apple as Billy was scouring the vault looking for anything of interest.
"Pirates I suppose then," said Grant. Stephanie eyed him curiously.
"Dinosaur…pirates," Grant amended feeling ridiculous at having considered the notion. The captain had almost literally been torn in half.
"You know as a kid I would've found that cool," admitted Billy. "But now I just find it disturbing."
"I felt that way about dinosaurs once as well," admitted Stephanie. "It went away when the dinosaurs slaughtered my coworkers on Sorna but thankfully I've managed to get past it. But for others…for others it isn't so easy to forget."
She sighed at that and just hung her head as Grant nodded wondering how he would've reacted had Ellie been killed back at Jurassic Park.
"Alan I think I've got something," said Billy sticking out his head from the vault. Stephanie and Dr. Grant looked at each other briefly before advancing into the vault.
Sorna: Gunfire erupted inside the generator room.
"On your left!" shouted Jake as Gerry began firing at a blur indicating a dimetrodon. Small fires were burning across the room as more gunfire erupted amidst a hail of sparks. Jake crouched down as a table was tossed off of its legs by an invisible force before he pulled back on the grenade launcher on the rifle and fired as a dimetrodon became visible and roared as the grenade went down its gullet and exploded throwing Jake back into the wall behind him. Stunned, the scientist dropped his gun as a pair of dimetrodons encroached steadily on him. But before they could get there, Sam and the other soldiers opened fire on the two dinosaurs ripping them to pieces.
"Thanks," Jake croaked out as Sam helped him to his feet. The scientist shook loose the cobwebs as his whole body ached.
"Anytime," said Sam as more gunfire erupted.
"Why are there so many here?" asked Sam as he popped off another round that just hit the far wall unopposed. "I hope they're not those clones we made right before we abandoned this place."
"They'd better not be," said Jake looking around for shimmers. "But I think there are dimetrodon eggs in here, this has to be their nest for them to be so willing to die to protect this place."
"So how do we end this without destroying this place?" asked Sam as another roar pierced the air as a dimetrodon appeared and reared up on its hind legs before several shots tore through it.
"Good question," admitted Jake as he had no clue. "Sam you know this place like the back of your hand right?"
"I did thirteen years ago," said Sam a little unsure. "But now…beats me."
"All I want to know is how many exits are there?" said Jake simply. Sam racked his brains on that one as he and Jake advanced past various pieces of machinery.
"Well at worse you'd have maybe…fifteen people working in here so you'd need maybe two emergency exits at the worst," Sam mused aloud.
"Not really helping," said Jake as he swung around and aimed into a darkened space but didn't fire. The two continued onwards before Jake instantly swung his rifle around and found himself facing Gerry Harding. Jake groaned and rubbed his eyes as he swung the rifle upwards.
"I must be getting old," Jake complained.
"I should say so," said Gerry as he aimed down the area Jake had just ignored and fired, taking out a juvenile dimetrodon.
"Must be the smoke and lack of lighting," said Jake looking around at the encroaching darkness.
"Too bad no night-vision goggles," Sam lamented.
"I don't think that'd make the situation any better," stated Jake.
"I got it!" said Sam pointing. "The exit's that way."
"You'd better be sure about this," said Jake.
"Caveat Emptor," responded Sam. Jake pulled back on the grenade launcher.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" he shouted. Soldiers dropped as a grenade came flying out and destroyed the far wall allowing sunlight into the room. Several shimmers escaped through it as the group breathed a sigh of relief.
"You sure that's a wise idea?" asked the team leader.
"Better to confront them in an open area with more light when they can be spotted easier," explained Jake. "Besides, we need this place now and in one piece, those dimetrodons can be dealt with later."
"In the meantime we'd better get that wall fixed and check the overall structure for weakened areas. The last thing we need is them crashing through again," said Sam heading off to check out the building. Gerry and Jake made their way to the open hole and looked out at the sunlight and jungle around the building.
"Always the damn jungle," said Jake shaking his head before heading back in. From the distance, several darkened objects watched them before vanishing into the trees.
Nublar, 17 years ago: A fern moved aside as Jake Whitacre and Henry Wu made their way though the jungle of Jurassic Park.
"Face it Henry, we're lost," Jake complained as he wiped off his face of sweat with a rag.
"We are not lost, I know exactly where we are," said Henry looking at his map confused. He was decked out in travel gear that looked like it had come out of the 1960s while Jake was just in regular clothes and a Jurassic Park hat.
"Fine, which pit are we in, Tyrannosaurus or Gojirasaurus?" asked Jake as he took his machete and cut down another fern.
"Ha, ha," said Henry annoyed. "Where we are is near the area where Dr. Graves has regularly been sighted in."
"I'm surprised anything can be spotted in this mess," Jake grumbled. "When is Robert supposed to get back, he's the expert tracker around here not me."
"He'll probably be awhile, deinonychosaurs aren't something you take lightly," said Henry.
"If you say so," said Jake brushing it off. "Course if they escaped we'd have no way of knowing it."
"Yeah too bad I didn't bring a gun," Jake commented remiss.
"What?!?!" shouted Henry shocked. Jake laughed as he produced a small tranquilizer gun before sighing.
"We're screwed," he said before putting it away. "Doctor Graves where the hell are you?"
No response came as Jake's head dropped.
"Great now he knows we're out here looking for him," said Henry.
"He's not out here Henry," Jake aggravated as his head dropped defeated. "How can I possibly prove that to you?"
"By leaving me alone!" said a voice startling both of them out of their conversation. The two spun around to see Dr. Graves for the first time in weeks. The man had clearly not seen the light of civilization in some time as his clothing was torn, his hair mussed about, and he generally looked like he hadn't seem a shower in a long time.
"Damn!" said Jake shocked.
"Jake!" Henry admonished as Jake scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Doctor Graves, what happened to you?"
He rushed to the Doctor's side and helped him sit down as Graves stumbled slightly trying to stay upright.
"Thank you," Graves admitted as Henry helped him sit down and helped himself to some of Henry's water.
"You don't look so good Doctor," said Henry as he and Jake sat down across from him.
"Yeah you look like something that came out the business end of a dinosaur," said Jake with a grin. Henry shot him a look as Jake rolled his eyes while Graves finished the water.
"Regardless, what are you doing here?" demanded Graves wiping his mouth.
"Looking for you of course," said Henry crafting a tale. "You haven't been seen in days and Hammond was beginning to worry."
"And your investigations into me had nothing to do with it?" asked Graves harshly. Henry sighed at that as Jake shook his head at his naivety before Graves focused on him intently.
"And what's your stake in all this?" the Doctor inquired.
"Does it matter?" Jake asked.
"It does to me since you seem to have gone along with his plan despite not caring," answered Graves.
"If Henry thinks it's important than it must be," Jake figured. "But you're right I don't care. You can do whatever the hell you want out here and it wouldn't bother me one bit. As long as I'm unaffected by it, which Henry believes it will and I don't like that."
"You don't like being here do you?" observed Dr. Graves. Jake remained silent at that as he considered that statement.
"Like I've said before, it's a job," Jake admitted finally. "But it's not important. What are you doing out here?"
Dr. Graves struggled to his feet and looked at them two of them with pure fury in his eyes.
"I have tolerated your meddling in my affairs for this long but if you make any further pursuits I will stop you," stated Graves as he began to trudge off. "By any means necessary if I have to."
Jake and Henry watched him go with narrowed eyes before Jake shrugged helpless.
"Well that went about as well as I expected," he said before putting his hands in his pockets.
"We should've pressed him for more," said Henry aggravated at the whole situation. Jake sighed as he hung his head.
"Henry nothing short of an interrogation is going to get anything out of him," responded the scientist. "And I could've shot him with this but what good would it have done?"
Jake aimed his tranq gun at Grave's fleeting form before reaching into his jacket and pulling out his Long Colt and aiming it as well before jerking the guns upward as if firing invisible bullets before putting them away.
"Let's go," said Jake walking off. "I'm hungry."
Henry watched Graves go with narrowed eyes.
"This isn't the end," he swore.
"C'mon Henry, I don't want to be late to complain about Alejandro's cooking," Jake called back to him before the two vanished into the jungle. Unbeknown to the two of them, several darkened shadows watched in the distance before turning and vanishing down the same path Graves had taken.
The Equestrian: Grant and Billy put the piece of skin and the smear of blood from the side of the vault into a pair of containment jars before John Brown showed up.
"You found something?" he said surprised as he wiped his nose with his sleeve.
"Yeah, how about you?" asked Billy looking at the glass jar and the samples within.
"We'll know soon enough," was all John was willing to admit to as his body still smelled of waste. "Where'd you find that?"
"In there," said Stephanie. "Looks like someone or something may have cut themselves on one of the shelves in there cleaning it out."
"You think this was a robbery?" asked John confused.
"Unless you're certain the company who owned this craft were the ones who removed whatever was in there," Grant commented.
"I'll find out," John scowled at being confronted with yet another challenge he hadn't anticipated. "In the meantime, you'd better take this to be analyzed by the labs and then hop back to Costa Rica to let Henry take a look at it. If anybody knows about something Jurassic Park related, it'd be him."
The group nodded and all walked off back to the main deck where they rejoined Thomas and his team.
"Tom you and your team stay with the ship, I'll be back to pick you all up later," said John as he and the group advanced towards the rear helipad.
"Right," said Thomas nodding as he prepared to head out with his team.
"Tom," began John deeply serious as his fellow worker stopped and waited. "Something's not right here and I need you to be on your guard. Something wiped out nearly everyone on this boat and possibly stole everything in the vault before anyone knew what was going on. If that's true then they're likely to come back and clean up their mess. Just be careful and I promise I'll be back as soon as I can."
Thomas nodded solemnly as he hefted his rifle for emphasis and turned to leave with his team. Meanwhile Stephanie was at the very rear of the ship behind the helicopter as her hair began whipping in the wind as the rotor blades from the helicopter began to blow her hair about her as she stared off into the distant orange sunset.
"You seem troubled," said Grant walking up next to her.
"Just thinking about Sorna," she said.
"You have friends there?" Grant asked. Stephanie nodded as she shivered briefly as a cold gust blew past.
"I just hope they're okay, because somehow I know that what's going on here is going to affect them," Stephanie admitted. "And I'm just worried what'll happen when it does."
"We'll just have to deal with it when it comes to that," was all Grant could say. As he looked out at the ocean his eyes wandered over to the shoreline where something caught his eye. Down on the shore where the beach met the trees, something stood staring at the ship. Grant narrowed his eyes but when he blinked the object was gone.
"Something up?" asked Stephanie worried.
"Maybe," said Grant as he turned around and tore off down the ramp to exit the ship.
"What's going on?" asked Billy as he saw Dr. Grant's departure.
"I don't know," said Stephanie before she ran down the ramp as well with Billy following. The two of them tore off across the beach towards Doctor Grant who had come to a halt and was looking at something in the sand. As Billy and Stephanie approached apprehensively, they saw Grant squatting down and examining an indentation in the sand.
"Damn," said Grant as the print was getting less and less defined with each passing wave. "Do any of you have a camera?"
"I've got a camera on my cellphone," offered Stephanie lamely.
"Yeah I do too," said Billy as well.
"Then hurry up and run down that beach taking as many photos as you can of these prints," ordered Grant. Stephanie and Billy nodded and tore off down the beach as John Brown approached out of breath.
"What's going on?" he panted heavily as he placed his hands on his legs for support.
"We were being watched," answered Grant ominously. "I saw something on this beach and then the next instant it was gone. Then when I come down here I find these tracks. Something was here and it was not just imagination at work."
John nodded and heft his Pulse Rifle that had been hanging off him by its strap when Stephanie and Billy returned.
"We followed the tracks until they vanished into the ocean," explained Grant's star student. Grant nodded knowingly.
"Did you get any clear impressions of the footprints?" the scientist asked.
"We got some but they're sort of blurred from us just running by them," said Stephanie. "Maybe one of your tech guys can check them out."
"Yeah we'll see what they can do now come on, it's getting dark," said John as the Helicopter came soaring in and landed on the beach briefly kicking up sand and completely obliterating what was left of the nearby footprints. The group bordered the chopper and it headed off into the air as nighttime eclipsed the island. From the ocean, small ripples emanated from the water as a pair of twin orbs briefly appeared above the waves before vanishing again once more into the abyss.