Jurassic World: Apocalypse – Chapter 8: Ralphie the Triceratops
A/N: If you're at all interested in the attractions they have in Jurassic World, you're going to love this chapter. Here, we'll see Malcolm's group head to Gallimimus Valley where they encounter their first dinosaurs. We'll also follow Tom, Alaina and Brianna as they check out the Gentle Giants Petting Zoo, where they'll get to see and pet a real live dinosaur for the very first time. And as if this weren't enough, expect to see the latest process of Biosyn and the incredible work they're conducting...Please enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Jurassic Park except the very characters I've made up.
Instead of getting off at the Innovation Center, Hammond, Dianthus, Masrani, Ian, Sarah, Kelly, Cheryl, Billy and Gennaro continued to ride the monorail.
"Why didn't we stop at the Innovation Center?" Kelly asked as she, Sarah and Cheryl continued to examine and play with Dianthus.
"Well, you're on a special tour guided by the owners of the park, of course!" Hammond declared. "Therefore, we're taking you to a special place in the park."
Hammond's guests watched the scenery as the monorail vehicle zoomed along the track, moving through and over trees, across open plains and winding around hills until they eventually reached the next station. Hammond and Masrani led them away from the station, into the crowds that were ready to board the attraction located here. Some people even recognized Ian Malcolm and Sarah Harding and asked for autographs, asked a few questions and got to take some selfies with them...much to Ian Malcolm's discomfort. Finally, some staff and Gennaro got the crowd away from the "celebrities" and allowed Hammond's group to move on.
"What's this attraction called?" Cheryl asked. Billy gestured to the sign above them: Gallimimus Valley. "So this attraction has Gallimimus? So cool!"
Masrani laughed. "That's not all you'll see on this ride. Come on. We've prepared a special all-terrain vehicle for you so you don't have to mingle with the crowds."
"Thank goodness for that," Malcolm said.
They boarded the jeep and their driver, named James, took off into the wide open plains.
"This is so cool!" Kelly exclaimed. "With or without dinosaurs this place is awesome!"
"I'm amazed by how tropical it looks," Sarah said.
"Yeah, Isla Nublar is one of the most northern tropical islands in the world," James explained. "It's even further north than Hawaii. We needed someplace warm and tropical because of all the reptiles we have here. We should be seeing some in just a minute."
All of a sudden, the group spotted dozens of relatively small two-legged ostrich-like creatures stampeding over the hill behind them. The animals ran with grace and ease and made loud squawking sounds as they moved about. Sarah gasped as she came to realization: these were dinosaurs.
"There they are," Hammond said. "Gallimimus."
"Look how they move," said Cheryl. "They're beautiful."
The Gallimimus flock continued to race along, passing by the jeep. Though they looked small from a distance, they were actually about six feet tall and 26 feet long. Their small, toothless heads, long necks and strong legs made them look a lot like reptilian ostriches. But unlike an ostrich, they had a tail, clawed forearms and scaly skin, which was mostly peachy in color with brown markings. Hammond's party was in awe as they watched the first dinosaurs they ever saw run past.
"Gallimimus is one of the fastest dinosaurs we have in the park," James told the group. They can run up to 30 mph and are very social. They eat mostly soft vegetation, insects and grubs."
"They're incredible alright," Sarah said.
Then all of a sudden, the jeep came to a sudden stop near a grove of tall trees. The Gallimimus ran past.
"Why did we stop?" Malcolm asked.
James said nothing, but gestured to the right of the jeep. Looking to the right, the group saw a large animal making its way up the hill. By large, I do mean large! It was a humongous dinosaur stood 17 feet tall at the shoulder and stretched almost 80 feet from nose to tail. Its neck and tail were long, each about 30 feet, but its head was quite small. The animal's legs were strong and thick, perfectly suited for supporting the animal's weight.
Sarah's mouth dropped as she watched the creature. "It's...indescribable...Apatosaurus?"
Masrani nodded. "Yes. It is an Apatosaurus, one of our largest specimens to date."
The colossal animal bellowed as it moved toward the grove of trees, barely noticing the significantly smaller jeep and its occupants. It stopped walking to raise up its long neck and begin browsing on the tall tree, stripping the branches clean of leaves with her peg-like teeth. The humans in the vehicle could hardly contain themselves.
Cheryl asked, "Can we..."
"Oh sure, go ahead," Hammond encouraged.
Cheryl, Kelly, Sarah and Billy exited the vehicle, slowly walking toward the enormous long-necked sauropod. Malcolm eventually got out as well and while glancing back at Hammond he said, "You did it. You crazy old man, you actually did it."
"Apatosaurus," Billy breathed. "Just look at the size of this thing. We barely come up to its knees."
The Apatosaurus swallowed its meal as it finally took notice of the humans below, staring at them from above. It groaned before taking another mouthful of leaves and branches. Hammond and Masrani also took this opportunity to exit the car and walk up to their guests (Dianthus remained in the car, fearful of the reptilian giant).
"That necks got to be at least 20-25 feet long," Sarah guessed.
"How fast are they?" Malcolm asked.
"Well," Hammond began proudly, "we've clocked the T. rex at 32 mph."
Sarah nodded, still in awestruck wonder. "That's right, you do have a T. rex."
In the jeep, Gennaro shook his head in amazement as he watched the expressions on the scientists' faces. "We're going to make a fortune at this place once they encourage more people to visit the park," he said to himself.
"Hey! Mom! Dad!" Kelly exclaimed. "There's more dinosaurs down in the valley!"
True to her word, there were several other dinosaurs in the valley below: two Apatosaurus were wading in the lake. On the shore, herds of Parasaurolophus and Edmontosaurus and a single Apatosaurus quenched their thirst. Nearby, the flock of Gallimimus gallivanted about across the wide open grassy plains. It was a beautiful landscape; a vista from a forgotten time; a place reminiscent of an African plains.
Hammond took a deep breath and looked at his guests, content that they were amazed by what they saw. "My friends...welcome...to Jurassic World!"
The first Apatosaurus they had seen emitted a loud bellow and began walking away from the grove of trees. The ground shook with every step the behemoth took. It moaned to the fellow members of its species by the lake; this was followed by the other Apatosaurus called out, swishing their whip-like tails through the air.
"They're moving in herds," Billy said with a grin, "they do move in herds." At first, Billy wasn't at all interested in coming to the very park that was causing his fossil-hunting project to loose money. But now, he had second thoughts about that notion. Where else in the world would he have the opportunity to look upon the very creatures he devoted his life to studying? He just stared into the distance, watching the majestic dinosaurs with a look of absolute rapture on his face. With a voice of hushed reverence, he asked "Mr. Hammond...how'd you do this?"
"I'll show you," Hammond replied.
Tom, Alaina and Brianna had arrived at the Gentle Giants Petting Zoo where in the relatively small exhibit, they saw a creature about the size of a four feet tall and 10 feet long. It had three horns on its head – two above its eyes and a stubby one on its nose. A bony frill protruded from the back of its skull, protecting its neck. The animal looked up at the people gazing at it from outside its enclosure and gurgled.
"It's a Triceratops," Alaina said, "a baby Triceratops. It's so cute."
Next to the Triceratops was a young woman with long black hair – she was the animal handler. "Remember everyone," she said, "please respect all Jurassic creatures when you're here at the park, including Ralphie. Ralphie here is a juvenile Triceratops and he's really friendly with all of our guests." She bent down and stroked the Triceratops behind her frill. The little animal cooed. "Around you, you will see little boxes of dino feed attached to the fences for you to get so you can feed Ralphie. When you feed her, hold your hand out flat and don't tease her. Even herbivores can bite. The Triceratops has a strong beak for chomping through tough plants in their natural habitat."
"Let's get some dino feed," Tom encouraged. The girls agreed, so the three of them walked over to the feeding station.
Brianna frowned. "Dino feed costs five dollars," she said. "Glad I remembered my wallet."
"How did you expect to buy souvenirs from the gift shop without money?" Alaina asked.
"I dunno," Brianna said with a shrug, "maybe Tom could loan me some money."
"Don't bet your bottom dollar that I'd do that," Tom responded. The three of them laughed. They placed 15 dollars into the feeding machine box, received several pieces of dino feed and walked to the side of the fence.
Alaina made a kissing sound to get the dinosaur's attention.
"Call her by her name," the handler suggested.
"Ralphie!"
Immediately, Ralphie perked up, gurgled and ran toward Alaina and her two friends. She stood on her hind legs, putting her front feet on her side of the fence, and opened her mouth.
"Aw! That is too cute!" Brianna took out her camera and snapped a few pictures as Alaina and Tom held their hands out, full of dino feed. The Triceratops growled happily and began feeding out of Tom's hands.
Tom shook his head in amazement. "She's amazing," he said. Then he asked the handler, "How old is she?"
"Ralphie is six months old. She hatched out of an egg about the size of a cantaloupe. When she hatched, her horns were nothing but short nubs on her face. As you can see, her horns – still growing – are pointing upward. During her growth, her horns will grow longer and point forward and obviously, she'll grow much bigger. An adult Triceratops can weigh up to 10 tons."
"Wow!" Alaina commented. "That's about the size of an elephant."
Then the handler said, "Scratch behind her frill. She loves that."
Alaina and Brianna complied and Ralphie cooed, closing her eyes as she continued to eat from Tom's hands. Apparently she liked the treatment she was getting.
I'm actually touching a real live dinosaur! Alaina thought. She began to gently stroke the animal's side, feeling the unique texture of her tough skin. After she had finished eating all the food from Tom, she moved onto Alaina. Alaina giggled.
Brianna wrapped her arm around Tom and held up her phone. "Mind if I take a selfie?" she asked. Tom shook his head, smiled and the picture was taken. "I'm going to post that on Instagram."
Tom watched as her little feminine fingers typed digits and letters on her phone's keypad. She looked so happy to be here.
The monorail carrying Hammond's guests stopped at the Innovation Center and this time, they got off. Kelly was astounded by all she saw in the Innovation Center.
"This place is really high-tech," she proclaimed.
"Yes, yes, yes," Hammond said as he led them toward the Creation Lab. "We've created the most advanced amusement park in the entire world."
"And we're not talking just about rides," Masrani explained. "Everyone has rides, these days. Disney World has rides; Sea World has rides; Six Flags has rides..."
"But we've made, living biological attractions so astounding that they've captured the imagination of the entire planet!"
Billy frowned as he watched the happy, bustling crowd he saw around him. Cheryl asked, "What's on your mind, hon?"
"No wonder our dig's loosing money, this place is awesome. If we don't do something different soon, we'll be out of a job."
"Don't you mean 'extinct'?" Malcolm asked. Sarah nudged her husband with her elbow. "What? It was just a Jurassic pun...at Jurassic World." Sarah glared at him. "Sorry."
Just before entering the Creation Lab, Malcolm stopped by the statue of Hammond himself. He shook his head and clicked his tongue. "You seriously made yourself a statue?"
Masrani chuckled. "Well, it was Hammond's very idea to clone the dinosaurs and create these theme park," he said, "so it is only natural that his statue should be placed right outside the Creation Lab, where the quest to bring dinosaurs back to life all begins. Step this way, you might find this interesting."
Lewis Dodgson and his assistant Miles Chadwick entered the front doors of Biosyn. Removing his straw hat, he walked up to the man at the front desk.
"Hello, Mr. Dodgson," the man said.
"That's Dr. Dodgson," came the reply. "Is Dr. Adam Corts here?"
"Yes, sir. He's waiting in the Corts Laboratory for you."
Dr. Adam Corts was one of the chief geneticists at Biosyn. He received his education and degrees in genetic engineering from the University of Cambridge in 1998. In 2013, he was hired to conduct research here at Biosyn. Originally he was hired to attempt to replicate InGen's technique to clone dinosaurs, something he was unable to do. But after Dodgson had bribed Nedry to begin stealing embryos from InGen, the true depth of his work could be carried out and he was now head of the project to create Biosyn's own genetically-engineered batch of dinosaurs for research.
Dodgson nodded and he and Chadwick walked down the hallway and toward the elevator. They entered the elevator, pressed the appropriate floor number, began going down to the laboratory.
"Why are we going to see Dr. Corts again?" Chadwick asked, somewhat concerned.
"You remember that he was attempting to create dinosaurs for us using the embryos Nedry stole?"
"Y-yes?"
"Well, Dr. Corts has figured out how to actually manufacture our own dinosaurs. Over the past several months, he and his assistants have been working with the animals under intense supervision. Apparently they are a very dangerous species. He wanted to keep the amount of human contact – other than himself and his assistants – down to a minimum as he worked with them, gaining their trust. He said he has some surprising results from his studies on them."
Chadwick gulped. "You sure it's safe?"
"Dr. Corts assured me that it is now safe."
Chadwick wasn't quite convinced. The elevator doors opened to a dark, cold, dingy, dimly lit hallway. The two men strode forward. Eventually, they went around the corner and saw two men standing in front of a door with large machine guns. Dodgson presented his card to the men, who nodded and stepped aside, allowing him and Chadwick to pass. They opened the door and walked into Cort's Laboratory.
"Dodgson!" A thin, middle-aged Caucasian man with a regal-esque hairstyle, wearing formal long khaki jeans, a line-green shirt, and a typical long-white lab coat that went as low as his ankles approached the two men. He had a thick British accent as he addressed them. This was Dr. Adam Corts. "I'm glad you made it."
"Yes, we are too," Dodgson said. "How are the creatures coming along?"
"They're doing fine. In fact, we're pleased with the progress we've made with them. They've a very impressive bunch. Follow me down this hallway so I can explain." As they walked, Dr. Corts asked, "When is Nedry due to bring us back more embryos for my experiment?"
Dodgson looked at Chadwick. He was still shivering from terror, unsure of what dinosaurs he was to expect. "Tell him, Chadwick!"
"U-um...Nedry's supposed to pick us up some e-e-embryos...t-t-tonight. I'm meeting him at the West Dock."
"Excellent," Dr. Corts commented. "I will need them soon."
Finally, they reached the end of the hallway and Dr. Corts unlocked a heavy metal door. Behind the door was a small room where Dr. Corts' assistants were standing around a large cage. Inside the large cage where ten dinosaurs, the focus of Dr. Corts' research.
Chadwick looked upon them with fright. The dinosaurs in the enclosure were bipedal theropods that bore close resemblance to Velociracptors, but they were different as well. Their bodies were red in color, with black markings along the sides of their bodies and black stripes endowed the tail. They had large jaws filled with needle-sharp, serrated teeth; some of the teeth on the bottom jaw stuck out of the animals' mouths. Their eyes were red and a double row of quills started just above the eyes and ended at about the middle section of the neck. Their strong arms had clawed hands, each bearing an opposable thumb. The dinosaurs' legs were well-muscled and strong. Their tails that stuck out behind them were long and stiff, perfect for balance. The dinosaurs snarled quietly as they watched Dodgson enter the room.
"They're incredible," Dodgson said. "What species are they?"
"They actually do not belong to any known genus of dinosaur. They're genetically-modified hybrids. Much of their DNA comes from the Velociraptor – though all our specimens to date lack the enlarged toe claw. We also combined within their genome the DNA of several living species of animals to create a hyper-predator, the likes of which the earth has never witnessed before."
One of the dinosaurs – he had red quills along his neck (the others had black quills) – approached Dodgson's side of the fence. He clung onto the bars separating him from the humans.
"They're very intelligent animals," Dr. Corts explained. "We decided to dub the species...Homosaurian deinochy, meaning 'terrible wise lizard' in Greek. We've also–"
But before Dr. Corts could continue, the red-quilled Homosaurian did something so extraordinary, that even the wildest, most creative people could not even predict would occur...
"Lewis Dodgson..." the reptile whispered, "...we finally meet."
A/N: WHAT?! TALKING DINOSAURS?! Yes, the Homosaurian are very intelligent creatures, as you just saw. I will explain more about them in Chapter 9. How did you guys like this chapter? Do you like the direction the story is going? What is your favorite character to have appeared in the story so far? What about your favorite dinosaur? In Chapter 9, expect to hear more about Malcolm's and Tom's groups as they explore the park and even a little bit about...Homosaurian! Please be sure to REVIEW, favorite and follow this story and I'll catch you all next week. Spare no expense!