Lunch Conversations
Chapter 5
We found ourselves standing outside the raptor pen which had three security guards on close watch. It made me nervous just looking it, Dad was standing in front of me with his hands on his hips and one hand over his eye. They were loading a cow with a harness on it and were preparing to drop it into the pen. Oh gosh, this is sick. We heard footsteps towards us behind us.
"Dr. Grant, Miss Grant? Uh we planned to show you the raptors later, after lunch." He said with Ellie, the lawyer and Ian behind him also fascinated with the scene in front of us. Dad didn't turn his head while John spoke.
Dad and I didn't move, so John pressed again, "Dr. Grant as I was saying, we've laid out lunch for you before you head out into the park. Alejandro, our gourmet chef –"
"What are they doing?" Dad demanded. As we watch, the giant crane lowers the poor cow down into the middle of the jungle foliage inside the pen.
"Feeding them." John said knowingly and then changed his attitude. "Anyway as I was saying Alejandro is preparing a delightful meal for us. A Chilean sea bass, I believe. Shall we?" He looked to us but Dad was already half way up the viewing deck.
I quickly follow up after him, with Ellie touching my arm as we both hurry up to see what happens. The jungle seems to grow very quiet. We all stare at the motionless crane line. It jerks suddenly, like a fishing pole finally getting a nibble. The line jerks every which way, the jungle plants sway and snap from some frantic activity within, there is a cacophony of growling, of snapping of wet crunches that mean the steer is literally being torn to pieces and is almost makes it worse that we can't see anything of what's going on and then it's quiet again. The line jerks a few times, then stops.
I had my hand on Ellie's arm the whole time, my Dad looked breathless at the sight that just unfolded, and I couldn't say that I wasn't abit freaked out then.
"Fascinating animals, fascinating." John mumbled. I let out a breath. "Give time, they'll out draw the T-rex. Guarantee it." I wasn't even sure if I wanted to go to see the T-Rex after seeing this.
"I want to see them. Can we get closer?" Dad rushed, Ellie puts a hand on his arm, like calming an overexcited child.
"Alan, these aren't bones anymore." I nodded agreeing. They weren't and that's what scared me.
"We're…still perfecting a viewing system. The raptors seem to be a bit resistant to integration into a park setting."
"They should all be destroyed." Someone said and we turned to see a grim-faced man who was around fortyish, and by the looks of it British and was in a rangers outfit. He joins us and takes his hat off.
"Robert. Robert Muldoon, my game warden from Kenya. Bit of an alarmist, I'm afraid, but he's dealt with the raptors more than anyone." John said.
Dad shakes his hand, "Alan Grant. Tell me, what kind of metabolism do they have? What's their growth rate?"
"They're lethal at eight months. And I do lethal. I've hunted most things that can hunt you, but the way these things move…" He looked at me and then looked at Dad.
"Fast for biped?" He said like an overexcited child. I rolled my eyes.
"Cheetah speed. Fifty, sixty miles per hour if they ever got out in the open and they're astonishing jumpers." I shivered, I was not liking this now one bit.
"Yes, yes, yes, which is why we take extreme precautions. They viewing area below us will have eight-inch tempered glass set in reinforced steel frames to - -" John got cut off once again.
"Do they show intelligence? With the brain cavity like theirs we assumed - -"
Muldoon calmly replied, "They show extreme intelligence, even problem solving especially the big one. We bred eight originally, but when she came in, she took over the pride and killed all but two of the others. That one when she looks at you, you can see she's working things out. She's the reason we have to feed 'em like this. She had them all attacking the fences when the feeders came."
"The fences are electrified, right?" I asked keeping my shakiness together, I really did not want to bump into these things on the rest of this tour.
Muldoon nodded, "That's right. But they never attack the same place twice. They were testing the fences for weaknesses systematically they remembered." Behind us the crane whirrs back to life, raising the cable back up out of the raptor pen. We turn and stare as the end portion of the cable becomes visible. The steer has been dragged completely away, leaving only the tattered, bloody harness. John claps his hands together excitedly.
"Who's hungry? After you, my dear." He said to me and we walked down.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Less than ten minutes later we were sitting in a very dark restaurant with only a screen and a few corner lamps for light. I was sitting by Ian and Ellie, and was waiting for whatever we were having, to be honest I had no appetite after seeing the raptor pen before. I took a sip of my Coca Cola as I listened to John.
"None of these attractions have been finished yet. The park will open with the basic tour you're about to take, and then other rides will come on line after six or twelve months. Absolutely spectacular designs spared no expense."
The lawyer had papers around him, "And we can charge anything we want! Two thousand a day, ten thousand a day people will pay it! And then there's the merchandising - -"
"Donald, this park was not built to carter only to the super rich. Everyone in the world's got a right to enjoy these animals." John said.
The lawyer shook his head, "Sure, they will, they will." I would be calling him the lawyer from now on because he seriously irritated me. "We'll have a coupon day or something." He said writing things down.
Beside me I noticed that Dad looked down, at the plate he's eating from.
"That's conservative, of course. There's no reason to speculate wildly."
I start to pick at the meal before me, I was getting slightly bored now, and "I've never been a rich man. I hear it's nice. Is it nice?" the lawyer asked. Until my attention was with Ian who snorted.
"The lack of humility before nature that's been displayed here staggers me." They all turn and look at him. Oh this would be interesting...
"Thank you, Dr. Malcolm, but I think things are a little different than you and I feared." The lawyer said.
"Yes, I know. They're a lot worse." Ian said, looking at John.
"Now, wait a second, we haven't even see the park yet. Let's just hold out concerns until - -"
John waved him off, "Alright Donald, alright, but just let him talk. I want to hear all viewpoints. I truly do."
"Yeah don't you see the danger, John, inherent in what you're doing here? Genetic power is the most awesome force ever seen on this planet. But you wield it like a kid who's found his dad's gun."
I raised my eyebrows knowing where he was going with this. The lawyer tried to interrupt Ian who told him off. "If I may thank you," he said to him and then turned to John.
"The problem with scientific power you've used is it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge yourselves, so you don't take the responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you knew what you had, you patented it, packages it, slapped in on a plastic lunch box, and now you want to sell it." Ian explained and to be honest he was starting to make sense and he was right.
"You don't give us our due credit. Our scientists have done things no one could ever do before." John defended.
Ian leaned forward pointing on the table, "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should. Science can create pesticides, but it can't tell us not to use them. Science can make a nuclear reactor, but it can't tell us not to build it!"
"But this is nature! Why not give an extinct species a second chance?! I mean, Condors. Condors are on the verge of extinction if I'd created a flock of them on the island, you wouldn't be saying any of this!" John said his face turning red.
"Hold on this is no species that was obliterated by deforestation or the building of a dam. Dinosaurs had their shot. Nature selected them for extinction."
"I don't understand this Luddite attitude, especially from a scientist. How could we stand in the light of discovery and not act?" John said his hands in the air.
"There's nothing that great about discovery. What's so great about discovery? It's a violent, penetrative act that scars what it explores. What you call discovery I call the rape of the natural world!" Well it was getting intense now.
"Please…let's hear something from the others. Dr. Grant? Dr. Sattler?"
Ellie who had her glasses on now, "The question is how much can you know about an extinct ecosystem, and therefore, how could you assume you can control it? You have plants right here in this building, for example, that are poisonous. You picked them because they look pretty, but these are aggressive living things that have no idea what century they're living in and will defend themselves. Violently, if necessary." Ellie said, I had to agree with Ellie and Ian on this one. He surprised me then by turning to me.
"Miss Grant, would you please tell me that you disagree with Dr. Malcolm here and Miss. Sattler?"
I suddenly felt nervous, everyone was looking at me now, and Dad had his eyes glued to me. I looked at him, hoping he would get me out of this one. But he looked back down. Thank you Dad I thought.
"Well, I wish I-I could say that, that I disagree with them but I can't really. I mean look at it this way what if one day the park was going well, everyone was having an amazing time and enjoying seeing the animals and they were looking at the raptors through the viewing glass. They suddenly get very agitated at people staring at them, I know that raptors are not tamed and certainly are vicious they could break through the glass or jump over the fence and attack someone, it could happen and it may happen. I am sorry but that's what I think, but I do think it's cool that you made this but I am just not sure of the safety of the park or the animals so yeah..." I looked down embarrassed.
John looked exasperated, to turned to Dad, who was shell-shocked at my speech. "Dr. Grant, if there's one person who can appreciate all of this…"
But Dad spoke quietly, really thrown by all of this. "The world has just changed so radically. We're all running to catch up. I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but look…" He leaned forward, a look of true concern on his face.
"Dinosaurs and man two species separated by 65 million years of evolution, have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we have the faintest idea of what to expect?"
John laughed, "I don't believe it. I expected you to come down here and defend me from these characters and the only one I've got on my side it the bloodsucking lawyer!?"
"Thank you John,"
One of the waiters come over and whispers to John, who stood up a second later. "Ah…they're here."
"Who?" Ellie asked, I looked at John curiously. Whoever they were it looks like we will be touring with them.
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Sorry for the hiatus I had to take time off, and will be updating hopefully between the two weeks I am off college. Hopefully this long one makes up for it. I will be updating my other story too. Please read and review.
Sarahmichellegellarfan1