BEGINNINGS

16 - A Matter of Control

The InGen conference room grew tense with impatience. John Hammond was late for the meeting, he called with the executive board members as eight-twenty AM rolled around. The meeting was scheduled for eight AM, and the board members already had enough time wasted that a couple of them were about to leave when Hammond entered the room.

He had a bright smile on his face as he spoke. "I do apologize for my being late, ladies and gentlemen, but I had an important call come in at the last minute from the park. I'm sure you all know why I requested this meeting to be held…again."

One of the executives met gazes with a very severe and stern-faced Asian woman, the woman speaking. "Mr. Hammond, with all due respect, we are all very busy, and we do not have time to spend on these little meetings of yours continuously."

The older man's face met the expression of the woman he had his attention focused on, him replying. "I would hardly call them little, Mrs. Yoshida."

"They always seem to be about the same thing these past three months and so far, the answer is always the same!"

Hammond rested his cane beside the chair he refused to sit in, as he wanted to stand to show his being higher than them in an executive way. "Mrs. Yoshida, this is my company, and I will not have it, or its executives, run me." The woman, as well as others seated around the conference table, seemed offended. "Now I have a responsibility to fulfill, and that is to make sure that Jurassic Park is properly staffed by people who are more than confident in their ability to perform their job required of them! Whether anyone here likes it or not, Pet will be transferred to the island."

A man appearing to be in his mid-fifties, leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest and spoke. "Not to question your authority or decision, sir, but I-10 HY is an unpredictable danger."

Hammond jumped to the hybrid's defense. "Pet is one of the best game wardens I have, and her partnership with senior warden Robert Muldoon has proven to be very effective."

"I-10 HY has always been a matter of InGen security, and it's being transferred to another job location to work with people who don't even know of its existence puts InGen in a very delicate position."

Hammond scoffed. "I would think Pet possibly running away on an entire continent would place InGen in bigger danger, than her running away on an island no bigger than eight miles across with the closest largest land mass being one hundred and fifty miles away across an ocean!" Hammond tried to calm himself as he took a deep breath. "She is my responsibility since she is in part my creation, and she will be going to Jurassic Park by the end of the month. If anyone wishes to object, then please do so, now."

Mrs. Yoshida spoke up again. "I have an objection, sir." Hammond eyed her as though demanding she continued. "Call of the wild."

"Pardon?"

A couple of the other executives nodded their heads in agreement, the woman continuing. "I-10 HY has no idea her true potential and the capability she possesses."

Hammond barked, "Like hell!"

"She has worked around zoo animals all of her life but has no real familiarization or connection with those animals."

Hammond questioned, "What is your point?" with a deadpan expression.

Mrs. Yoshida sighed. "If we agree to have her transferred to work on Jurassic Park then she will eventually be introduced to the very creatures she is a part of. We take a very big risk of her obtaining a call of the wild. If that happens, she could very well turn on everyone she works with."

Hammond erupted in a disbelieving laugh. "I don't believe it! She is the most qualified person to work with these creatures, and you're afraid of her going bonkers over working with the things. I trust Pet and know she would never harm anyone!"

Mrs. Yoshida continued sternly. "It's an option we should consider. Is the risk worth the taking if we have her transferred to Jurassic Park and possibly killing who knows how many workers? Or do we keep her where she is?"

Hammond's eyes squared down on the female executive. "Would you rather her kill an entire village? Small town? Maybe several villages or towns in Africa? Or have her kill a few workers on an island where she can't run away from…" The room went quiet, the Asian woman looking away from the older man. "That's what I thought. The decision is made. Meeting dismissed."

The room slowly emptied of people, but Hammond remained leaned over the table with his fists clenched in anger. He would not let anyone control him.


Channel after channel offered nothing worthwhile to watch as a clawed thumb kept pressing the channel forward button on a gray remote. Pet mumbled, manually keying in the numbers to the Discovery Channel.

Muldoon glanced up from cleaning his Springfield .30-06 rifle to see a somewhat bored looking Pet toss the remote onto the table. He spoke. "If you're so bloody bored then why don't you make yourself useful and start cleaning something…"

He grabbed his .50 Cal rifle leaning against his desk and tossed it at the hybrid. She caught it with a clawed hand and sneered. "But you seem to be having so much fun playing with your toys."

The man jabbed the cleaning rod and tissue down into the barrel and twirled it around. "Too bad the remote's mute button doesn't work on your mouth."

Jophrey laughed from the other side of the room and leaned back in his chair to prop his feet up on his desk. "Probably a good thing because it would be broken by now."

Pet mocked a laugh at the junior warden and threw her soda bottle's cap at him. He caught it, but just barely and shook his head. The man threw the cap back at the hybrid who laughed and swung a hand at it. This caused it to hit the side wall and ricochet to where Muldoon sat.

Muldoon yelled at the two. "Knock it off, you two!"

Pet glanced back at Muldoon from over her shoulder. "You're no fun at times, you know that?" She started to disassemble the gun. "A real fuddy-duddy."


Two hours later, the guns were spotlessly clean and hanging back up on the weapon's rack. Muldoon was now sharpening his favorite knife as Pet was filing away on her claws. A commercial came on TV advertising the latest episode of the documentary series Paleo Science. Pet paused in her sharpening and smiled wickedly.

Jophrey saw the commercial and joked. "Oh boy, here comes Pet's little obsession." A malicious, toothed smile contorted the hybrid's features. "Reminds me of that poor bloke who interned under Liz for a little while." The warden shook his head. "Poor guy didn't know what to expect."

Pet leaned back in her squeaking desk's chair and spoke. "One day Robert, I'm running away to America. Just giving you fair warning."

The man didn't look up from his knife sharpening when responding. "Like hell you are."

The hybrid eyed him. "There are no worthwhile hotties here and well..." she pointed her nail file at the TV screen, "he seems like he'd be worth the effort."

Jophrey chuckled. "Oh, the irony. I can see it now on World News Tonight...world-renowned paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant falls victim to a crazed, teenage raptor girl."

Pet laughed. "Well, I do remember him saying how excited he was about excavating raptors." She sat up and stretched. "I'll give him something to excavate. I mean, I am part raptor and all."

Muldoon paused to look up at the still devilishly smiling hybrid. "Excuse me?" He pointed the knife's tip at her and glared down its length with a stern expression. "You need to watch your mouth, there, little miss." The two locked gazes, her golden yellow eyes bright with amusement. "Don't you dare think I'm letting you go anywhere." He continued to sharpen the knife. "I'll tranquilize your ass and hog tie you to the Jeep if you try."

Pet sneered. "And why is that?"

The two stared at each other again. "Because you're my Pet. You belong to me!"

She looked at the knife blade and then to her friend. "Right. Well, I don't see a collar around my neck or a branding on my ass saying I belong to you, so I guess I have no obligation to stay here."

Muldoon yelled to Jophrey, now munching on popcorn while lounging back in his chair. "Get me the branding iron, Jophrey. It looks like we have a stubborn mule who needs readjusting."

Pet shot the middle finger at the game warden. "Readjust this!" He grabbed her hand as she tried to pull away, her erupting in laughter as Muldoon grabbed her from her seat and threw her over his shoulder. "Jophrey help me!" She laughed and kicked her feet in protest. Muldoon opened the door leading outside the warden shack and tossed her in the back of the game warden Jeep. Following behind the two was Jophrey carrying zip ties. "No fair! Two on one isn't fair!" Muldoon grabbed at her clawed hands while the other man grabbed at the hybrid's flailing, clawed feet. Jophrey then wrapped a tie around her ankles and pulled it to fasten it tightly as Muldoon did the same to her hands. "Let me go!"

"Bitch, bitch, bitch." Muldoon took the hybrid's hands, and zip tied them to one of the Jeep's canopy supports.

Jophrey went back inside the office only to emerge a moment later with a roll of duct tape. "Think this will shut her up?"

The junior warden was all smiles and ripped a piece of the tape off. Muldoon grabbed the hybrid's head and held her still as the other man taped the hybrid's mouth shut. Muffled sounds came from the flailing hybrid as she tried to peel the tape off her mouth by rubbing her face on her shoulder. The two men went back inside the office, the hybrid pausing in laughing when she saw Muldoon grab the water cooler from outside the door.

A chirp-like bark of distress escaped Pet, her knowing she was about to be in for it. A moment later, she wasn't laughing anymore and desperately attempting to get out of her plastic bonds. She tried to cut them with her claws on her inner toe but found her claws were more for tearing at flesh and not plastic. It wasn't but a few minutes later, that the two wickedly smiling men came back outside and carrying a sloshing water cooler between them.

Pet's eyes got wide and she even more so flailed about, hastily slashing at the plastic ties. Knowing she was doomed, she balled up in anticipation. A sudden rush of ice water rushed over the hybrid as her body seized up in shock. Jophrey burst into laughter and nearly fell over, Muldoon giving the hybrid a vengeful smile and pointing a finger in her face.

"Maybe that'll teach you, hmm?" Muldoon yanked the tape off the hybrid's mouth, watching her raptor eyes trace his every move. "Now if I cut you loose, will you behave?" Pet snorted. "Or will you continue to be stubborn and mouthy?" The hybrid lowered her head and squared her eyes on the man, a faint growl escaping her throat. The game warden got his knife from its sheath at his belt and flashed it again at the hybrid. "Your choice. Either way, whether you choose to be stubborn or not, you will not win this challenge." He tilted his head to the side in question. "What's it going to be?" Again, Pet snorted in annoyance. "Set one claw out of line and I'll readjust your ass, got it?"

Pet didn't respond but instead watched the man cut the ties keeping her restrained to the Jeep. Her louder breathing and sharp bark let the two men know things were about to get serious. Jophrey stopped laughing and quickly ran inside the warden shack as Muldoon gestured to the hybrid for her to bring on whatever attack she had planned.

She slowly stood up as Muldoon slowly backed up, him re-sheathing his knife. With a final snort, Pet took a step off the back of the Jeep and landed on the ground, flexing her signature toes. "Now you fucked up."

The game warden stood his ground, unsure of what the hybrid had planned. "What are you going to do about it, missy?"

She scoffed a laugh and playfully slapped the man in the face. "Hah!"

"You're dead!" Pet narrowly avoided being caught by the man and quickly ran back inside the warden shack. Muldoon was close in pursuit behind her and almost caught her again when her footing faulted to a small puddle of water on the floor from the cooler. To the floor, she crashed, and Muldoon acted quickly to tackle her and pin her down. "You know better than to slap me!"

Jophrey lounged back in his chair to resume eating his popcorn, laughing, when Hammond's voice echoed the warden shack. "Am I interrupting something?" Quickly, Jophrey sat up in his chair, attempting to look professional as Muldoon and Pet got to their feet to better face the newly arrived man. "I just thought you might like to know, Robert, that your replacement, Terrence Mitchell, is here." Hammond studied Pet and noticed she was dripping wet. "He just arrived this morning and is on his way here to start the job."

Pet looked to her best friend, who straightened his posture to something more professional. "Yes, sir."

The thought of Muldoon leaving Kenya to go to a better job in Costa Rica made the hybrid sad. She couldn't blame him for accepting the offer, seeing how it was better work pay and someplace other than Kenya.

Hammond continued. "Try to get him spun up the best you can in the next week before you fly out, Saturday morning."

The game warden nodded. "Will do."

Hammond shifted his posture and cleared his throat. "I have good news for you, as well, Mr. Haughton." The wealthy man's gaze fell on Jophrey. "You, too, have been selected to transfer to the new park. Although, you will be leaving a couple of months after Robert if you choose to go, mind you. It should give you and the family some time to get things ready for the move. You don't have to go if you choose not to, but the offer is there."

Jophrey's face went bright with excitement, him responding. "My wife has wanted me to get the new job for quite some time. I think she'll be ecstatic, sir, thank you."

Hammond smiled at the man as he brought his attention to Pet, her silently pleading behind animalistic eyes. Seeing the heartbreaking stare made the older man's generous smile melt into a solemn frown. He watched the hybrid turn away from and sit quietly down behind a desk she had come to call her own.

Hammond nodded to the men, "Congratulations, gentlemen," and turned to leave.

Muldoon followed and called out. "What about Pet? You can't just leave her here with people she doesn't know."

"Yes, Robert, I know, and I'm working on it. I don't want to get her hopes up only to crush them with bad news should the request for her transfer be declined."

The man heavily sighed and ran a hand over his face in frustration. "Why are they so damned concerned over where she is, anyway?"

Hammond frowned at the other man's persistence. "They are worried that if she is around certain specimens on the islands, she will pick up a call of the wild and become uncontrollable. She knows nothing of how to use her potential."

"She knows damn well how to use her potential!" Muldoon yelled out. "She's constantly around predatory animals! What's on those islands are nothing different!"

"They are much different!" Hammond's face started to turn a brighter red the more his patience started to thin. "They are nothing like any of the feral cats or wild dogs here at the zoo! If she goes to that park, she will start to learn more about what she really is!"

Muldoon started to grow furious. "She deserves to know. All she has done since the day she got here is do everything you have told her to do and without complaint. Maybe Pet will pick up a call of the wild and maybe she won't. She's part raptor, yes, but where it counts, she is human."

Hammond slammed his cane on the ground. "Damn it, Robert, I'm not getting into this argument with you again! This discussion is over!" He started walking away, but paused, stating over his shoulder. "I'll let you know something, soon."

Muldoon didn't think he had it in him to leave Pet, them being all the other had. The man frowned and went back inside the shack, which was quiet except for the echoes of Pet sharpening her claws. The two people locked gazes, and he frowned. He solemnly turned his attention from her and onto his computer.