17
2 - Renewed hope
Friday, 8:30 am.
Jonathan pushes the door of his cabinet in a decided movement.
Emma looks at him in surprise.
It has been one moment since she arrived. As she uses the public transportation and is afraid of the crowd, she always comes to the office very early. It allows her to work peacefully, without being disturbed by the telephone or the surprise visits.
- Hello Emma, says Jonathan of a cheerful tone ! "
- Good morning, Jonathan, you are very early ! "
- It is because I have an important meeting at 9 : 00 am, and I want everything is ready to welcome my visitors. "
- Your VISITORS, says amazed Emma! I believed that you have to receive Mister Taylor at this hour. "
While speaking, she verifies the agenda, opened in front of her.
- It is not any more mister Taylor's question ! I put back his visit at a later date. As he is a nice man, he made no difficulty. No ! Those for whom I wait, because they are several, bring me, if I understood well, a last-minute, apparently very serious, proposal, for Isla Nublar's resumption, and I am hopeful whether it is the good one. "
- Here is thus the reason of your good mood ? "
- Indeed ! But, tell me, is my son there this morning ? "
- No! He has an appointment near Port Angeles and left very early this morning. "
- Very well ! I am thus going to borrow him his armchairs because my visitors will be four. Would you have the kindness to let in them to my office from their arrival? "
- Of course, with no problem at all ! And be without fear, I shall welcome them as is proper. "
- I don't doubt it for an instant and thanks you for it in advance, answers Jonathan by smiling! "
Then he withdraws in his office and closes the door behind him, as he is used to do it every day.
He removes his hat and throws it in the direction of the coat rack. It is not the first time when he is engaged in this kind of exercise, but he has never succeeded.
Curiously, today, his headgear describes a perfect curve and a hung on rest.
- It is a good omen, he says to himself !
He removes his overcoat and his scarf which he suspends
then is going to sit down to his desk.
In front of him, there are only some papers to be signed, that Emma has already prepared, and several letters to read.
No worries, thus, he will be ready to receive his hosts.
Ten to nine o'clock, already !
Jonathan is feverish. He does not manage to concentrate. He feels nervous. He has the clammy hands.
Repeatedly, he gets up and makes hundred steps in the room.
And if his appointment did not come? And if this last proposal was only a bad dream ? And if ? And if ?
He has all the difficulties of the world to calm down.
Nine hours, finally !
Then one past nine, two past nine then five past nine, already !
And nobody arrives !
Jonathan feels the anxiety winning him.
And if, finally, they do not come ?
Discret knocks on his door make him jump.
- Yes, he asks ? "
Emma sticks the head in the chink.
- Your visitors are arrived, she announces with a wide smile ! "
- Let in, please! "
The old man relaxes finally. Automatically, he caresses the summit of his bald skull.
His door opens, largely this time.
He gets up and by-passes his office to go to welcome his visitors.
These are effectively four : three men and a woman.
- I am very glad to receive you here, he says without waiting, with a wide smile. Settle down, please ! May I offer you a little coffee … or some tea ? I have an excellent one of which comes directly from Sri Lanka.
The order is quickly taken : two teas and two coffees, and Emma retires to prepare them.
She quickly returns, while the people finish sitting down, carrying a wide tray. As usual, she had already prepared everything in advance.
Then she abandons Jonathan to his visitors and closes the door behind her by going out.
While everyone takes his cup, Harvey Harper speaks.
It is a real giant of about two meters high, with very large shoulders. His fair hair are short and cut in brush and his eyes are deep blue. He is dressed in " cowboy " with a jeans, a shirt with embroidery and leather sharp boots. His hat, which he removed when entering, is lying on the tip of his knee.
- Mister Rigby, he begins to say, thank you for having agreed to receive us. We know that you are very busy and I think that he was not very easy for you, further to my call of yesterday evening, to organize you but, you see, we are every four very distant and very taken by our professional obligations, what makes that it was very complicated to us to find a common date in our respective timetables. It is also for that reason that we position so late for the resumption of the island in dinosaurs. In fact, our motivations are different, even if our purpose is common.
" Mine, you certainly know it : I was always fascinated by these big animals and I was excited by the fact of seeing them returning to the life. That is why I made the decision to protect this fantastic work, dreamed and realized by a man full of enthusiasm. And what better way would I have to protect it than to become owner ?
"The reasons which urge each of my friends here to adhere to this project of resumption are different, naturally. But they are going to expose them themselves. Before, I would like to add, and I shall have finished, that our professional activities and our respective skills will be complementary, undoubtedly, for the success of this adventure. That brings an additional credibility to our file, as you will notice it.
"Dear friend, if you want to speak !"
By saying it, Harvey Harper turned to the small man of Asian type who is at the other end of the row.
This one gets up slowly. He is thin, elegantly dressed in an impeccably adjusted three pieces costume. His short hair are black, just like the mischievous eyes, hidden behind small round glasses with golden rim. He holds in his hands his trilby hat, which he removed by entering.
- Welcome, Mister Toshiro Nakagoshi, tells him Jonathan with a wide smile ! "
Impossible for him, indeed, not to recognize the powerful Japanese industrialist, one of the biggest fortunes of his country.
Blast furnaces, heavy industry, planes, boats, cars, electronics are only some facets of its powerful empire.
- I thank honorable Mister Rigby, says the small man by bowing. I am happy, and flattered, that you recognized me. On the other hand, I do not think that you imagine the reason of my presence today, beside my friends. In fact, very few people know.
" Except my professional activities, I have a real passion : botany. I possess moreover my own research laboratory on the subject and I created a scientific journal which appears among the most famous of the planet today.
" When I studied the characteristics of the park, I stopped for a long time on the laboratory of genetics and on the work which had been made there to recreate, in a most precise possible way, the DNA sequence of animals, and then animals themselves.
" It then occured me that, if we had found mosquitoes taken in the amber, having ingested some blood of dinosaurs, maybe we could, in the same way, discover insects eaters of vegetables - aphids, caterpillars or others - and so, by similar techniques, restore life of the disappeared botanical species.
" If we gain control of this park, I would like that we reconstitute, on a significant surface, a vegetation identical to the one that the big saurians knew at their time.
" Of course, we can, in many cases, use vegetables of today, downward in right line of those of period - cycas, sequoias, yews or araucarias -, but I think that it would be preferable to reintroduce their ancestors.
" And then, I wish we could give life again to the big families disappeared as the Benettitales or the Cheirolepidiacées.
" But I am being carried away by my passion and I forget that these words mean probably not much for you. I ask you to excuse me for it.
" I stop here and thank you having listened to me up to the end »
Before sitting down again, the Japanese host greets his interlocutor by bowing, joint hands.
Jonathan smiles to him and returns him his salute.
The third man of the group chooses to remain seated, certainly because he is just in front of his interlocutor.
Sporty-looking and relaxed, he is dressed in a blue sweatshirt with the sleeves raised up to the elbows, in a grey pants of flannel and a pair of tennis.
His long brown hair comes down him on the nape of the neck and the temples and he raises a three-day stubble, skilfully maintained.
He plunges his grey look into that of Jonathan.
- As you seem to be very well informed, I think that you have to know me also, he announces without introduction. »
- Of course, Sir Mordegan."
Sir Humfrey Mordegan, citizen of the British Majesty, is born in Wales. He is the undisputed master of all which touches the transport all over the world. He builds and exploits taxis, buses, planes, boats, trains and all which can allow the travel of people or goods.
- I am here for two reasons, he introduces. At first because my friends here wished to associate me with their project so that I study the logistics " transport of visitors " and "supply". Then, and maybe especially, because my wife is passionate about this project and because she is persuaded that, led well, it may be an excellent financial operation. And, in affairs, she never makes a mistake. "
His wife is Jacqueline Mordegan, born Orléat. Of Swiss origin, she arises from a long lineage of financiers. Banks, finance companies and of investment, insurances, these are present everywhere on the planet, where it is about money.
Very elegant, she is dressed in a garnet suit and in a white blouse. Her auburn hair, falling on her shoulders, are slightly buckled and emphasize his brown eyes, made up with discretion.
Sat in the right of her husband, she holds on her knees a voluminous folder.
- Dear Mr Rigby, I shall end the presentations for the good reason that these gentlemen asked me to synthesize you the content of this document, that we shall let you when leaving.
" We know that time is short and we thought that an oral presentation would be more effective.
" But, before beginning it, let me tell the reasons of my presence here. As my husband told it to you, I am of financiers' family and I have the reputation to be particularly wise in my strategic choices. I say that without any pretention.
" I am persuaded that this park can be an investment of the first rank, if we know how to take ourselves there and if we are not pressed by time, with a very honorable profitability.
" I made some economic simulations which confirmed me this felt.
" But it is not the only reason of my interest for Isla Nublar. The second is purely sentimental. Possess this quite unique space, where we cross animals which we can find nowhere else, would not be to displease me. Call it feminine pride if you want, but to make salivate of desire all those women who hate me, and they are numerous, through the success of this project, would have something jubilant. Because we shall make a success, dear Sir, be sure of that ! "
- Oh, but I don't doubt it for an instant, dear Madam, answers Jonathan by smiling. "
- Perfect, answers Jacqueline! I see that you understood me. I am going to reveal you thus now our proposal.
" For us, the failure of the previous attempts is bound to the fact that their promoters made a grave error of appreciation. They considered capable of mastering the enormous animals of former days, just because their intellect was upper.
" What a madness !
" It is nevertheless in the name of this imaginary hypothesis that they dashed in the higher exaggeration : always bigger, always more hardly and, of course, always more dangerous.
" Every time, we saw the result !
" A situation which quickly degenerates and which escapes any control.
" The proof is made, from now on. We cannot make the fragile human beings live with the enormous dinosaurs !
" Our project is directly inspired by this report. We shall not create an amusement park, but rather a kind of reserve, as the one that you can find in Africa, where predators and preys will mix and will live freely, and we will gradually look for to establish natural balances.
" That is why, if we win the call of tenders, we shall favor, in a first phase, the scientific aspect : reopening of the laboratory of genetics, researches at the same time on animals and plants, scientists' reception of any horizons. In this last case, we shall offer them possibilities of analysis and studies, through the installation of observation posts, fixed or mobile, completely secured.
" We shall also propose the welcome of seminars or conferences in the hotel, beforehand enlarged and renovated, with meeting rooms offering perspectives on the sea, on one side, or on the park on other one.
" Small detail which I omitted to specify : the reserve will be totally closed by a double continuous fence : a concrete wall on one side and a thick wire mesh on the other one. Both will be separated about four meters to allow the circulation of the vehicles of control or maintenance. A network of security cameras will be also installed.
" On hills dominating the park, villas will be built to welcome rich customers who can so have breakfast on the terrace by watching evolving dinosaurs.
" We shall reopen the site much later for the general public but, even there, no way of direct contact between the man and the animal. No more question of " gyrosphère " or walk in canoé on the river in the middle of the huge herbivores.
" The frequentation will be limited, at first, to 5000 visitors a day, not including the residents of the hotel or the detached houses. My husband will organize the routing and the evacuation, in case of emergency.
" Mister Rigby, that is what I can tell you quickly on our proposal. You will find all the necessary details in this document, which I give you now.
" To end on our offer, we are ready to propose 62 million dollars for the resumption of Jurassic World. It is 2 millions more than the asking price. This higher bid is intended to anticipate the proposals of the other possible candidates because, you see, dear Sir, we want a lot (she insists heavily on the words « a lot »), all four, that our proposal succeeds. "
Inside of him, Jonathan exults. This project seems even more beautiful than his most optimistic dreams and it is presented by reliable people.
- Madam, Sirs, he says after a small moment, I thinks of having understood your intentions and I shall present them as it is advisable in the afternoon in front of the shareholders. "
All is said.
The four visitors get up.
Jonathan takes back them up to the door of his cabinet and greets them as they go out in the corridor.
- We count on you, Mister Rigby, adds Harper. We have faith in your reputation. Do not disappoint us ! "
- I shall do my utmost, answers the liquidator, be certain !
" In any event, allow me to thank you for your visit and this brilliant presentation, which enlightens me largely.
" If everything goes well, he concludes, I think that my customers will announce me their decision from this afternoon and I shall inform you about it as soon as possible. Should the opposite occur, if they wish a time to think, I shall also prevent you, in the same way as the other candidates. "
- In this connection, how much are we, if it is not indiscreet, asks Sir Mordegan ? "
- You are three at present and I do not think that things move before noon. "
Whereas the quartet goes away, Jonathan goes into his cabinet and closes the door behind him.
He leans on the door and pushes a deep sigh, automatically while putting the hand on the summit of his skull.
- Then, tells him Emma, pricked by the curiosity? "
- Then, I believe that I hold the good candidates, this time, and I will make sure, this afternoon, that it is they who are detained. At any rate, an important stage is crossed and, whatever will be the final result later, it's something to celebrate ! John Hammond was right : by trying something of all our strengths, we can give it life. "
Jonathan pauses for a moment. He has something to add obviously but he seems to hesitate.
- Emma, he says, I would like finally… if you are willing… I would like to celebrate the arrival of this providential proposal with you. "
He pauses for a moment then continues :
- Would you agree to come to have dinner with me, this evening? "
It is necessary to say that the heart of the old man beats in secret, for a long time, for his charming and faithful collaborator.
Emma is always a very attractive woman, and the time which passes seems to have no grip on her.
Besides, she lives alone and Jonathan also.
- Of course, Jonathan, answers him her assistant, with a small enigmatic smile which enlightens her face ! Nothing could more please me. "
- Good ! Then, it is said ! I shall pick you up at about 6 : 00 pm and we shall go to have dinner both. I know an excellent restaurant in the low city. "
On these words, he returns to his office, leaving his door opened.
Emma hears him to hum.
14 hours, the same day.
The liquidator barely takes time to eat, thanks to his assistant who went out to buy him the necessity.
He crossed almost all of his midday break to take note of his last file.
2 : 06 pm. Emma introduces three representatives of the shareholders of the park.
Rather curiously, they are all dressed in an identical way. They seem to have all the same face, austere and cold, and adopt a similar attitude.
The liquidator presents them successively, in the clearest and the most objective possible way, each of the three proposals, in the chronological order of their deposits.
Discreetly, he insists however on the last one, putting forward the sustainability of John Hammond's work and protection of the big saurians.
But he notices with disappointment that his arguments do not seem to fascinate his interlocutors.
Then, to try to take the decision, he insists on the price of offer, significantly upper to that of the competitors.
There also, much to his surprise, the interest seems moderate. Of course, the perspective to win a few million additional dollars does not displease his visitors, but it does not seem whether it is a decisive element of choice.
- I have a question, says finally one of them. How do these potential successors think of succeeding where we failed? "
- By the strengthening of the security, answers immediately Jonathan. "
- Us too, we had set up a strengthened security. At least it is what we believed. What gives you to think that they will be capable of doing better? "
- By the separation of the man and the animal. No direct contact between the visitors and the dinosaurs! "
- And if they are brought to intervene in an urgent way inside the park? "
- They also thought of it, says Jonathan who does not understand well the purpose of this volley of questions. They planned to form specialized intervention teams, men hardened, led to intervene in the middle of the big animals and equipped as a accordingly. "
- Did you hear, says the affected person of questions to his colleagues ? They are going to set up specialized teams. "
- It does not seem to me not bad at all, answers another one with an enigmatic smile ! "
- I am sorry, intervenes Jonathan, but I am not certain to follow you."
- Do not worry about it, answers his main interlocutor. It is a small game between us. If I summarize your intervention, they intend to create a reserve where animals will live in total freedom, predators as preys, protected by powerful fences and watched by overtrained teams of safety? "
- it is completely it, answers the liquidator."
- Hey good, dear Sir, I believe that we hold the good candidates ! You can tell them that we accept their proposal and that the affair is concluded. We fully agree, gentlemen ?
Both agree by a sign of head.
- You made some very good work, Mister Rigby. Be thanked there. I believe that this difficult affair finds finally a favorable issue and I am delighted at it. "
Then three men greet their interlocutor and go out without turning around.
They look very satisfied and whisper by walking words which the liquidator does not succeed in seizing.
Without caring about it more, he goes back into his cabinet and closes the door behind him.
He looks worried and caresses nervously his bald skull.
- Everything goes well, asks him Emma, a little bit worried ? "
- Yes, yes, do not worry! They chose the third offer, as I hoped for it. The park is going to be able to live again.
"Nevertheless, it is curious, while I should be very happy, their attitude and their insistent questions leave me as a taste of bitterness. They seemed to hid something. The arguments which took the decision are not the ones of which I would have thought."
- But they made the good choice, in the end. Isn't it the main part there? "
- Yes, you are right! I am an old animal which worries about nothing. Our dinner always holds ?"
- More than ever, answers Emma, with a big smile! We have many things to be celebrated, now!
- That's true. "
Jonathan pauses for a moment, as if he looked for his words, before adding :
- If I dared,… I would like so much that we see each other regularly outside of this place… and that we do things together,… if you wish also,… of course… in any case it would please me. "
- We shall speak about it this evening to the dinner, if you are willing. "
A little disappointed by this last sentence but hopeful, Jonathan gets back to his office.
Without hesitating, he goes directly to the wall where are hung on the photos of his youth.
One of them, in particular, represents him with his old friend.
- You see, John, he tells the image, I kept my promise. I protected your dream and I think sincerely that he has again a real future. I am happy and I hope you too.