16
7 - The arrival at Isla Nublar
As Nicolas slowly returns to reality, getting out of his memories, the movements on the boat and the engines stop make him jump.
He opens his eyes.
The sun is now up.
The three "awful" come out of the cabin.
Obviously, they get ready to leave the ship.
A distant noise draws the attention of the Frenchman. He looks at the sea and sees arriving a rubber dinghy.
Farther, the island of destination stands out on the sky.
He gets up, approaches the rail and, by means of his artificial eye, begins to observe what takes place there.
At first sight, everything is normal. Several camping tents stand on the beach, deckchairs, parasols, wetsuits that dry on the wires, a man who carries bottles of compressed air. What could be more normal, in fact ?
The beach that he sees is constituted by fine sand. No rocks, no coral reef in this part of the island. But then, why to dive ? To see what ? To go hunting what because the fishermen of the country say that the marine monster of the park scared off all the fishes ?
He thus decides to examine more attentively the landscape of postcard which he has under his eyes.
He so perceives, hardly visible in a shadow zone, a stiff trailer hitched to a big four wheels drive vehicle. It is a Command Post of transmission. Its antennas are widely spread out.
It is very welldone ! If the coastguards approache, they will have time enough to hide the set in the forest.
Suddenly, somebody goes out of one of the camping tents. It is a man dressed in a camouflage dress.
The Frenchman jumps, it is Trevor, always so athletic, in spite of his age and his white hair. He does not seem to have changed a lot since the Gulf war.
He makes big gestures and seems to shout but, at this distance, Nicolas's artificial ear is not powerful enough to understand what he is saying.
Soon, going out of the forest, strange bipeds approach by running.
Even if he is not a specialist, Nicolas sees well that they are small dinosaurs, more or less about the size of a man.
He can see five or six individuals. But they are not all identical. Apparently, there are from two different species.
He does not understand well what happens. He believed that only the new Jurassic World reserve, and the second relief island, whose name he has forgotten, contained such animals.
He is impressed by the formidable jaws of the little saurians. They are carnivorous, it is sure ! But what do they do there ? And what does Trevor and his men prepare with them ?
Bipeds seem to obey them. Apparently, preparations are in progress. But in what purpose ?
While he is lost in his reflections, the other passengers are begining to embark except Ignacio who approaches him.
- You may say, announces the Spanishman, I am sure that we already saw each other.
- I would remember it myself if it was the case !
- I think, indeed, that you remember it, Hombre, but that you do not want to admit it. But do not worry ! I will finish by remember. And maybe that we shall see again each other.
- It would amaze me, answers Nicolas who hopes that Ignacio does not refind the memory too early.
- Hey, Ernesto, suddenly shouts Jurgen, come on. We have to go there !
- I arrive, Johnny, answers the Spanishman !
Then he turns heels and goes away.
Ernesto ? Johnny ? What is this cinema ? Why do they hide their real names while nobody knows them here ? Definitely, there are many gray areas in this story. Very most probably, with the arrival of the three men, the commando squad has to be complete. And it is accompanied with these funny animals. What can be their intentions ?
But the Frenchman does not have time to think about it more, because the boat already goes away. The time has come to act. It is not the moment to dawdle !
- Hey Manolo, he says suddenly, are you married ?
- Yes senior, answers the man.
- And you have children ?
- Euh! Yes!
The sailor becomes worried. What does his interlocutor want to say ?
- And your amigos, they are married and have children ?
- Yes, senior.
One of the men, discreetly, seized a harpoon, to defend himself if need be.
Their anxiety becomes tangible, but Nicolas does not pay attention.
- Then, amigos, he says suddenly, if you want to see again your wifes and your children, put full gas immediatly ! It is necessary to leave from here very quickly !
- I do not understand, senior.
- It is simple. Your tourists, they are mercenaries and they are not certainly on holiday ! Besides, some of them know me and, if ever the memory returns to them, it will not be good for us !
« Then, a good advice, amigo : direction Isla Nublar and fast !
Manolo has understood.
Without discussing more, he pushes completely engines.
Anyway, the three Gringos were putting him ill-at-ease. It predisposes him to believe his interlocutor.
While the boat takes off at high speed, Nicolas penetrates into the cabin.
The sun is already high in the sky and some shade will be welcome.
As he is going to sit down, he perceives on the ground an unusual object, which he cannot identify.
He collects him and goes out on the bridge of the boat.
- Ho, Manolo, he says !
- Yes, senior ?
- This thing belongs to you ?
- No, senior. I think that it belonged to the Gringos. One of them transported a big bag. Maybe that it was inside it and that it fell !
- May I keep it ?
- No problem, amigo. What would I make with it ? I do not even know what it is for.
Nicolas returns to sit down in the cabin, and begins to examine the object.
It seems to be a kind of leather collar, carrying accessories : a camera, doubtless to film what his carrier sees, a mini-bomb and two needles, directed to the internal part and which must be planted in the flesh of the neck, each of them being connected with a reservoir filled with liquid.
A mini receiver completes the equipment, what seems to indicate that the set can be remote-controlled.
The observation of the object arouses more questions than it brings answers.
Who could well agree to wear such a machine ?
And why a bomb ?
And what contain both reservoirs?
While take place these events, the boat has joined the beach and the three men land.
They are welcomed by Trevor.
- Then, guys, you had a nice trip, he asks?
- With no problem at all, answers Jurgen.
- You have the necklaces ?
- Yes, my colonel, they are in this bag, answers Luigi, and he walks past him with his impressive burden.
- OK, then let us not waste time. Take care with equipping the cattle. And do not forget ! Do not set up them before the veterinarian who accompanies us intervened to anaesthetize the neck of the animal, otherwise, the felt pain when you will push needles risk of making it aggressive. And you all saw of what these tiny creatures are capable ! No need to draw a picture for you !
- Received, my colonel. We shall pay attention.
The men go away with the devices, whereas Trevor goes to the trailer of transmission.
Half an hour later, one of the men comes to see Trevor.
- We have a problem, my colonel, a necklace is missing.
Without answering, the officer makes call Bollini.
- Tell me, Sergeant, a necklace is missing. You are sure that you had them all when you embarked this morning ?
- Absolutely sure, my colonel. I verified several times before leaving. He had to fall on the boat. I had nevertheless said that this badly closed bag did not suit.
- It is OK, Bollini. But go to tell the IT specialist to make it explode immediately.
- I am well afraid that the boat is too far, my colonel. The remote control will not have enough reach.
- In this case, answers Trevor, you will take a boat, you will approach as close as possible to the ship which brought you here and you will activate the explosion.
- It risks to attract the coastguards, points out Jurgen. And we need discretion.
The colonel reflects a few moments.
- You are right, he eventually tells. Anyway, these uncultivated sailors will be incapable to determine the role of the object. On the other hand, as a necklace is missing, one of our tiny creatures will have not it. It will be number 8 because it is the most docile. We can order it directly, by the voice. Do what's necessary so that all is ready this evening. We have to test everything before taking action.
- At your orders, my colonel.
Isla Nublar is in sight. Nicolas, on the bridge of the boat, looks far off at the impressive cliffs which block the horizon.
He reaches his purpose. He is finally going to be able to rest.
The term of its journey is there, very close by. He fetches his backpack, in which he slides the necklace, while Manolo begins the operation of accosting.
On the quay, armed guards watch at them approaching.
- Hello, hombre, said one of them, what do you come to make here ?
- I bring a passenger, senor.
- You are sure ? We wait for nobody.
- I come to see Owen Grady, intervenes Nicolas. I know that he is waiting for me.
- No worries, says the man, I am going to verify immediately !
Then, taking his walkie-talkie :
- Post 6 calls HQ, Post 6 call HQ.
- Here HQ, speak post 6, answers a voice.
- I have here somebody who lands of a boat and claims that Mister Grady waits for him.
- What is his name ?
- What is your name, asks the sentinel ?
- Randanne, I am captain Nicolas Randanne.
- Captain, grumbles the man of a disdainful air, now we've seen everything !
Then, speaking in the device :
- He says to be called Nicolas Randanne.
At the other end, the voice has changed.
- Post 6, I am Owen Grady. I wait actually for this man, bring him to me !
- Good news, says the guard by addressing Nicolas ! You are known and you are waited for. Come with me !
And he guides the Frenchman towards the main building, up to the floor where is situated the control room.
- It is here, he says!
Then he turns and goes away.
Nicolas penetrates into an immense room, which slopes towards a wall covered with screens.
On both sides of the main aisle, men and women work in front of their computers.
Owen advances by smiling.
- Welcome, he says ! I did not hope to meet you any more.
- It is necessary to say that my trip was a little complicated.
- But you're here, it's the essential, says the American, holding him by the shoulders.
« Come ! I am going to present you to the owners of the park. They are there, exactly.
He turns around, crossing the arm around the neck of his friend.
- Madam, gentlemen, I present to you Nicolas Randanne, a French friend. We have known each other on the basis of Coronado. I suggested him to come here.
- But, he is a tramp, murmurs a young man to his neighbor !
- No, retorts Nicolas, not tramp, but roaming, out of necessity.
The called person jumps.
- How did he make to hear me, does he whisper ? I spoke in a low voice.
- Yes, but not enough for me, pursues the Frenchman who turns away and follows Owen in the direction of the four people of whom he shakes hands.
- Randanne … Randanne, said Harvey Harper. You would not be this French soldier whom we reconstructed and who sneaked away from us ?
Nicolas hesitates to answer, not knowing too much what his interlocutor wants to say.
- Euh, yes, he eventually tells. It is me, indeed.
- Well, dear captain, I have an excellent news for you. No one is looking for you now, and the accusation of desertion has been removed. You are free to go where you want.
- And those who tried to catch him, asks Owen ?
- Ah ! You want to speak about this unidentified group ? Hey well, its members were not lucky. They fell one day, accidentally, of course, on agents of our secret services, and they had - how would I say ? - a kind of accident. In any case, they are definitively out of the race.
- It is a good news, indeed, pursues the Frenchman. I ran a lot, these last years and I have it enough. I add that I have now very precise reasons for staying in this sector. Then, if you do not see inconveniences, I would linger well a little.
- You see me delighted, concludes Harvey. You see, Mister Randanne, we are soon going to open this park to the public, and we need men effective and well trained to insure the safety. I think that you can bring us a lot.
- What do you know about it, answers Nicolas ?
- I am spare general and I have my entries to many secret places. When Mister Grady spoke to me about you, I consulted your military folder.
« Congratulations ! You are a brilliant officer ! And I know that, since your repair, you have capacities superior to any human being.
- You are actually well informed.
- Let us change subject, interrupts Sir Humfrey Mordegan. Do you know dinosaur species ?
- Unfortunately, no. As many children of my generation, I dreamed a lot on some books where I saw pictures of these animals. But, at this time, the information was restricted. I know only very few species, the most famous : Tyrannosaur, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus and some others. I did not imagine that we could return them to life one day.
- Then, look on your left, through the window, intervenes Jacqueline Mordegan, and tell me what you see.
Nicolas looks through the immense window. Under his eyes, big animals move, heavily. He recognizes some of them but not all.
- It is so fascinating, he says !
- Mister Randanne, it is this treasure which you will be in charge to preserve and, if need, to defend.
- I am afraid that it will arrive earlier than you think.
- What do you want to say, says Toshiro Nakagoshi ?
- What I want to…
Suddenly, Nicolas breaks off. He looks outside at a precise point.
- A drone comes towards us, he eventually tells.
- Where is it ? I do not see it, answers Jacqueline.
- Neither do I, adds Harvey !
- It is normal, answers them Owen, my friend has a visual acuteness much more developed than ours.
- It seems to me that I perceive it, says Toshiro, but it is only a tiny black point, hardly visible on the sky ! You are sure that it is a drone ?
- Absolutely sure ! You are frequently visited by this kind of flying objects ?
- For some time now, yes, Owen replies, three or four times a day.
- And it is not a problem for you ?
- Oh ! Doubtless somebody who wants photos of dinosaurs, answers Sir Humfrey.
- Did you give authorizations for it ?
- No, answers Owen. Actually, shots will be unusable on a business level because the lawyers of these Ladies and Gentlemen will know how to call back what is the right of image.
- And if they did not come to take photos, retorts Nicolas ?
« Moreover, look !
The flying object has just curved its running and begins a systematic scanning of a precise zone.
- They make it every time, specifies Toshiro. They began at the bottom and go back up slowly towards us.
- And you did not wonder why, questions the Frenchman ?
- To tell the truth, not really.
- Owen, pursues Nicolas, can you make shoot down this machine ?
- No worries, I have excellent shooters.
Then, seizing an internal telephone :
- Hello, post 12 !
- Post 12, I listen to.
- Shoot down the drone which overflies us and bring it here !
- Received!
A long silence follows. All the eyes are looking at the flying machine.
The wait seems endless, when, suddenly, a shot resonates.
Immediately, the flying object curves its trajectory towards the ground.
Less than ten minutes later, a guard enters and puts the machine down on a table.
Nicolas throws a quick look on the object then turns to Owen.
- What do you think about it, does he say ?
- You were right. It is not a camera to take photos which the machine transports but a camera for filming with immediate transmission.
- What does it mean, Mr Grady, asks for Jacqueline ?
- That this device filmed in a systematic way the reserve and transmitted immediately the informations to a computer. This one must not be very far because these devices have not a long range.
- I do not understand, intervenes Toshiro, Our helicopters indicated no ship, small or big, in our area.
- I think that there is not, cuts Nicolas. I made the road by boat with three people disreputable. They joined, supposedly, friends on a small island very close to yours.
- Well then, pursues Toshiro ?
- Then ? The friends in question, like those who have kept me company, are Colonel Trevor's troops, whom I have seen on the spot.
- Trevor, said Harvey ? The colonel who so much drew attention at the time of the Gulf War ?
- Himself, answers the Frenchman.
- You know him, asks Sir Humfrey?
- I know his reputation, and not for the better, answers the American. Since his escape, he went up a commando of mercenaries which became, over time, the most famous and the most effective of the planet… and doubtless one of the last ones, because he eliminated, little by little, almost all the competition. His presence here announces nothing good. If he is here, it is for a precise mission, certainly generously paid.
- I have to add something, says Nicolas. I saw him together with dinosaurs like yours.
A long moment of silence follows this last information.
- As ours, says Owen ?
- Yes, but small ones, more or less the size of a man, with impressive jaws. Unfortunately, as I told you, I do not know much about dinosaurs.
- If you was shown images, you could recognize them ?
- I think so.
- OK ! Marvin, says Owen by addressing one of his IT specialists, make images of animals parade.
Immediately, a succession of illustrations, photos or drawings, parades on a big screen.
- That one, says Nicolas suddenly, I saw some who looked like this photo.
- It is a velociraptor, adds Harvey.
- But there were others, of about the same size.
The images scroll. Nevertheless, the Frenchman recognizes none.
Marvin nevertheless centered his searches on the small carnivores, but none correponds.
After a while, the screen becomes again black.
- You are sure that none of the animals corresponded to those which you saw ?
- Absolutely sure, I am sorry.
Lost in his thaughts, the Frenchman lets drag its look on the walls of the room, when, suddenly it stops on a poster.
- And that one, he says ?
- Oh, answers Owen, that one, it is the cause of the failure of Jurassic World. It is an animal entirely invented. By mercantilism, its creators had given it the name of Indominus Rex.
- And it was a small dinosaur ?
- Are you kidding ? A dozen meters long and full of ferocity.
- Nevertheless, I saw it, in three or four copies, but of the size of a man.
- It reminds you nothing, Owen, says Claire Dearing, who, until now, did not pronounce any word ?
- What do you mean, answers the interested ?
- Vic Hoskins's theory. Remember as he had admired your training of Velociraptors and how he had imagined an intelligent miniature Indominus Rex, and how he could send it to the fight instead of the soldiers. No need of armament, their natural weapons being sufficient. No need to feed them, they would devour their enemies. No need to pay them. Without counting their speed, their capacity of dissimulation, their physical power. The ideal weapons !
- Except that Hoskins was killed by a velociraptor.
- But maybe he had drafted a report on the subject, which he will have passed on to his bosses.
- It is possible, indeed.
- Could you enlighten us a little, asks Jacqueline, taken aback ?
- Excuse us, answers her Claire. Mr Hoskins was the security responsible of In Gen industry, the former owner of this park. Dazzled by the potential of animals, he had imagined to make them weapons which could serve the men. And Mr Randanne's revelations make us wonder if this company, which took all the embryos and all the files by leaving, would not have given a realty to his dream.
- But it does not still tell us what they come to do in the reserve, pursues Lord Humfrey.
- In my opinion, to test their alive material, answers Nicolas.
- What do you want to say ?
- Where in the world can you unleash dinosaurs without attracting attention… if it is not in a park with dinosaurs ? And, if you wish to make them face people who know well this kind of animals, who have no visceral fear of them and who are trained well, is there a better place than here ?
- I have to recognize, Sir, said Toshiro, that you have just scored a point. And it is very disturbing.
- Bah, we shall see, says Harvey. As said it mister Randanne, we have well prepared guards and our enemies, if really they are enemies, are not still there. For the moment, I propose that mister Grady makes discover our installations to our host who, if I understood well, wishes to work for us.
- Completely, answers Nicolas !
- Good ! While you will visit your new domain, we are going to prepare your contract. Then our manager will show you your accomodation and make you give clothes more adapted to your new functions.
Once out of the control room, Nicolas stops Owen.
- Could you make me meet a chemist and a specialist in electronics, if there are on the island ?
- No worries ! Come with me !
Arrived in the zone of the laboratories, Owen presents his friend to two of the scientists.
- That is what brings me, says the Frenchman by taking out the necklace of his backpack. This object is endowed with a camera, with an electronic receiver and with a load of explosive, which I undertake you to neutralize as quickly as possible ! It also contains two flasks connected with hypodermic needles which owe certainly beings inserted into the veins of the neck of the carrier. I would like to know the nature and the use of both products and the way of functioning of the receiving set. And if you could look at that rather fast, it would be fabulous.
- We go to see it, says the chemist.
- Apparently, the device seems simple. A priori, it should not pose any particular problem, adds the electronics engineer.
- Thank you, sirs.
« OK, Owen, now we can go whenever you want ! I follow you. »