Jurassic World: Apocalypse – Chapter 29: The Calm Before the Storm

A/N: Sorry I'm a day late everyone! I've been pretty busy! In this chapter, Sarah and Hammond have a one-on-one conversation about priorities, Henry and Hammond have a quick chat and...well, basically everyone's regaining their strength from the day's adventure. Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Jurassic Park except the very characters I've made up.

7:30 p.m.

Control Room

For the first time in a long while, things at Jurassic World had calmed down. Most of the theropods (including the tyrannosaurs), had been returned to their enclosures, most of the tourists had evacuated to the South Monorail Station, awaiting the monorails to be brought back online so that they may return home. The I. rex and the other escaped raptors hadn't been spotted for a while since sighting them in the Restricted Area. Even now, Sarah, Claire, Owen and Anthony watched via a security camera live feed Rexy – who had brought down a full-grown Triceratops before she was subdued – being returned to T. rex Kingdom.

"See what I told you?" Arnold said. "Everything's back in order."

"We still haven't tracked down the Indominus," Anthony reminded him.

"True, but at least we know she's still in the Restricted Area. No humans are anywhere near that area. If push comes to shove, we might have another dinosaur death or two, but at least we shouldn't loose any more human lives."

Masrani offered to allow the survivors Billy, Oscar and D-Caf had rescued to rest after their escapade in the Control Room. Billy Brennan, Cheryl Logan and the injured Ian Malcolm were here too. At present, they were reclining in a special resting area set up for them.

Smiling to himself, Masrani looked up at the large monitor on the wall. "This could have been a lot worse."

"Several people died today," Owen told him.

"Yes, and I feel for their loss. I am merely saying things could have been so much worse. This whole event is just a delay, that's all it is. All major theme parks have delays. Hammond tells me that when they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked.

"But Simon," Malcolm interjected, "when the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down the pirates don't eat the tourists."

"Still feeling OK, Brianna?" Dr. Harding asked.

She moaned her answer, "My head still hurts. And my body's still pretty sore."

"You'll be fine, Brianna," the veterinarian replied. He had just finished checking her body to make sure nothing was broken. "No broken bones, no injuries, everything's good now."

"Thanks Dr. Harding."

Tom said, "I wonder what happened to the rest of our school group."

"They're probably caught up with the evacuation," Billy Yoder assured him. "No tourists are anywhere else on this island except at the South Monorail Station. Well, except you guys anyway."

Sarah looked around the room – John Hammond was nowhere to be found. "Where did Hammond go?"

"He left some time ago," Anthony told her. "I'm not sure where he's at though."

Claire said, "I think I know where he is."

Hammond at a desk in the now-quiet Creation Lab. Dianthus sat by his feet and a container of vanilla ice cream was open in front of him. Hammond grabbed another scoop and dropped it into his bowl.

"Hungry tonight, are we?"

Hammond turned around in surprise to see his head geneticist standing behind him with a clipboard. "Oh, hey, Henry."

"Looks like you've had quite a day, sir."

"Yes, Henry. I have. Would you like some ice cream?"

"No thank you. Vivian and I still have some things we need to–"

"You must have just a little, Henry," Hammond encouraged. Dutifully, Henry grabbed a spoonful of ice cream. He nodded his head, indicating the taste was attractive to him. Hammond continued a moment later, "I have a great many questions in life, Henry."

Henry suspected Hammond was about to go into one of his speeches again about all things relating to life and the natural order of things. "What questions?"

"Did this park really need a hybrid? I mean, we created a beautiful, well-designed animal—this Indominus rex—but did we really need it? Was it worth all this?"

"In order for Jurassic World to remain operational, we need people to keep coming back to see something new. You know that. You, Claire and I discussed this ages ago."

"Yes, I know. But, surely we could have created a less dangerous species of dinosaur already known to the world of paleontology. There are a great many species that would excite the public—excite the children? Over a thousand species of dinosaurs are known to man. What's wrong with them?"

"Nothing," Henry said, "except that they're real."

Hammond looked up at Henry in surprise. "Hardly, Henry. Nothing in Jurassic World is natural. You told me that yourself. We use the DNA of other animals to–"

"Yes, I'm aware of that. But the dinosaurs we have now might as well be real. And to dinosaur enthusiasts like us, they're great. But to those who still have that nostalgic view of dinosaurs, they're somewhat unsatisfactory. I could make them better."

"Better in what way?"

"For one thing, they're much too fast. People aren't used to seeing multi-ton behemoths moving about quickly. I think the tourists feel like the dinosaurs look sped up, like a film running too fast."

"But Jurassic World is all about bringing things into the realm of reality, and that's what you gave me. Exactly what I asked for."

"I know. But we could easily change their genetic code to breed them slower; we could make more 'domesticated dinosaurs'."

Hammond chuckled slightly. "Domesticated dinosaurs?"

"Let's not fool ourselves, John. Like you said, these dinosaurs aren't carbon copies of their fossilized cousins. We've already modified them. We've inserted genes to make them patentable, and we've done everything we can to promote their growth, accelerating development into adulthood."

"We had no other option. We couldn't wait for them to mature naturally. We have investors to consider."

"Of course. But why stop there?"

"Then the dinosaurs wouldn't be real."

"They're not real now. Nothing in Jurassic World is natural because we infuse the DNA of modern animals into the dinosaur's DNA to account for the gene sequence gaps. And if their genetic code was pure, many of them would look quite different. So I'm just saying, we could take the next step."

Hammond shook his head. "One day, you might benefit from taking time to get out of the lab and observe your animals in the flesh...in person. Observe the dinosaurs interacting with their environment, the public gasping in awe as the Mosasaurus leaps from the water to grab her prey, or the Apatosaurus as it munches on leaves. It's a wonderful experience. You've done great work in this place, but life is short, Henry. You mustn't waste it looking at life from one perspective."

Henry didn't quite agree with Hammond's opinion, but as always, he respected his wishes. A moment later, the doors to the Creation Lab were opened as Claire and Sarah stepped in. "Well, I've got some work to get back to..." Henry said.

"Oh, don't let me stop you." Hammond looked up at his new guests. "Ms. Dearing. I haven't seen you in a while. You look like you've been through a lot."

"Yes, I have," Claire agreed, her high heels clinking on the floor as she walked.

"How are you doing, Dr. Harding?"

"We're alive," she said. "That's the important thing."

"Please take a seat. The ice cream needs to be eaten before it melts."

"Thanks," Claire said. "But I have to go see Dr. Wu."

"Oh fine. He's right in there."

"Thanks."

After Claire left, Sarah took a seat in front of Hammond, sitting in silence.

"How's Ian doing?" Hammond asked.

"Ian's OK for now," Sarah replied. "I gave him a shot of morphine."

"He'll be fine. We'll all be fine. This park will be fine. In a couple of days, everything will be back to normal." Hammond quietly eat another spoonful of ice cream. He seemed to be in deep thought. "You know the first attraction I built when I came down from Scotland, Dr. Harding?" Sarah shook her head before Hammond continued. "It was a flea circus, Petticoat Lane. Really...quite wonderful. We had a wee trapeze, a roundabout...um...merry-go...what do you call it?"

"Carousel," Sarah answered.

"Yes, a carousel. And a seesaw. They all moved, motorized of course, but people would swear they could see the fleas. 'I can see the fleas, Mummy! Can't you see the fleas.' Clown fleas, high wire fleas, fleas on parade..." as his voice trailed off, Hammond's eyes began to water. "But this place...I wanted to give the public something that wasn't an illusion. Something that was real. Something they could...see, and touch. And in the end...not devoid of merit."

Sarah spoke up softly. "But you can't think through this one, John. You have to feel it."

A twinkle came to old Hammond's eyes. "You're right. You're absolutely right! Hiring Nedry was a mistake; creating the Indominus was a mistake, that's obvious. We're over-dependent on automation, I can see that now. But we can correct that the next time around."

"John, John, John..." Sarah shook her head.

"Creation is an act of sheer will. Next time...it'll be flawless."

"But John, you're still building into the old Flea Circus. It's all an illusion!"

"When we have control again–"

"But John you never had control! That's the illusion!" Sarah's voice rose. "I was overwhelmed by the power of this place. But I made that mistake too, I didn't have enough respect for that power and it's out now! It's rampaging across the island somewhere, eating and killing whatever it pleases." Sarah caught her breath and quieted her voice again. "John...the only thing that matters now are the people's survival. People died today. They died."

Hammond nodded, clearly digesting the words Sarah said. "I understand."

After another moment of silence, Sarah leaned over and took the scooping spoon out of the container of ice cream and licked it. "It's good."

A small smile appeared at the corners of Hammond's mouth. "Spared no expense," he said.

Vic Hoskins looked over the monitors in the InGen Security Headquarters, not too far behind the Innovation Center. Here, ACU troopers were returning from their task of capturing escaped dinosaurs and looking forward to some much needed rest. On the monitors situated on the wall, Hoskins saw Rexy blink her eyes for the first time in about an hour. The great beast yawned and rose to her feet, still wobbly from the tranquilizers. Behind him, commander's Austin and Roger watched as well.

"OK boys," Hoskins announced, turning to the commanders. "Our new main priority is to prevent further loss of human life. Status update, commander Roger."

"Well, sir," Roger said. "The Dilophosaurus pack, two Suchomimus, seven T. rex and all sighted pterosaurs have been placed into containment (the pterosaurs were placed in a temporary aviary, usually used to foster juvenile pterosaurs). The other pterosaurs have either left the island or have gone into hiding."

"Very good," Hoskins congratulated. "Very good. What happened to the third sucho we have?"

"She never left the enclosure."

"Alright. Still no sign of the I. rex or the raptors?"

"Correct. They're all still in the Restricted Area, we believe. There's no evidence to suggest they left that zone."

Hoskins grinned. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure we'd have a lot more herbivore deaths if they were running amok through the park. That leads me to my puzzle, what are we going to do with that I. rex? We've tried to tranquilizer her on spot and we've tried to shoot her down from the sky. Any ideas?"

Roger said, "Well, she's intelligent enough to avoid traps and hide from our weapons, she's fast, she camouflages, and...gosh, she's almost like a supervillian."

"Yeah," Austin said. "We almost need a superhero to bring her down. Got Superman's phone number on ya?"

"I wish," Roger chuckled. "You almost need another dinosaur to defeat the I. rex."

"Hoskins, didn't you think up the idea to use Owen's raptor squad to–"

"I did," Hoskins said. "But I've breached the idea of using the raptors for military purposes before to Owen and he's not big on the idea. I brought my idea to use the raptors to hunt and kill the I. rex to Masrani, but he didn't like that idea either." Hoskins rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That is the answer to our problem! But Masrani and Owen aren't gonna side with me. We have to use the raptors. It's the only thing that's gonna work when it comes to killing that thing." Just then, an idea dawned upon Hoskins. "Maybe we don't need their permission..."

"We don't?" Austin asked. "But won't you get in trouble?"

"Probably, but we've got lives to save. If Owen and Masrani are too stubborn to try new ideas, then we'll have try my plan ourselves. Roger, how soon can you get another team from the mainland headquarters on the ground here?"

"In approximately four hundred hours, sir."

"Good. Our team needs some support. I want to you contact the InGen Security Headquarters on the mainland and tell 'em to send reinforcements. Austin, I need you to summon the other troopers and tell 'em to gear up. In four hundred and a half hours, I want a team at the Raptor Research Arena. We're gonna use those raptors whether Owen and Masrani like it or not. When my plan works, they'll see they should have been listening to me in the first place."

A/N: Hoskins is gonna try going against Simon Masrani and Owen Grady? He might get into trouble, but he's determined to bring down 'em I. rex! Will their plan succeed? What's been going on with Dodgson, Dr. Corts and their band of Homosaurians? You'll find out soon! Well, Christmas is tomorrow! Can you believe it? It seemed like just yesterday that the Christmas season began, and now it is almost over. So, from my home to yours: HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!