JURASSIC PARK

7 - One Thing After Another

"I saw what you did, earlier, by the way," Muldoon stated while glancing over his shoulder at Pet. The two were on their way to the kitchen via a side door labeled 'Authorized Personnel Only'.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Pet coolly replied while smiling mischievously. She could hear the slideshow playing in the conference room nearby and though tempted to crash Hammond's little party, continued to the kitchen instead.

"You're not even supposed to be seen by the public, as was In-Gen's orders. I'm already certain Hammond will have a thing or two to say about it when he gets the chance." The two strode down the hallway and to where the kitchen door was where the smells of freshly cooked lunch wafted through the air.

Pet scoffed and opened the steel kitchen door to go inside. Her gaze locked with the master chef, Alejandro. He spoke to the newcomers. "Ah, there you are! I was wondering when I'd be seeing you, today." The stocky man, wearing a black apron with the park's logo on the front, went to a nearby fridge and opened the door. He then got out a saran wrapped plate and on it, a fresh eight-ounce sirloin cut steak. "I guess this is what you're after?"

Pet's eyes were back to being a raptor's, and she nodded, eagerly following the chef to a hot stove. "Oh yeah..." The chef could feel her warm breath against his neck, and it slightly unnerved him. "Do what you did to the other one, last time. That was really good!"

Muldoon grabbed the hybrid by the arm and drug her away from the slightly recoiling man. "Give the man some room, for crying out loud." Pet whimpered, eyes still on the steak as it slid off the plate and into a seasoned skillet. "People are going to think I don't feed you."

He watched the girl next to him become anxious and knew she had been fighting a growing blood crave since the raptors were fed. It happened almost all the time and none of which did she stick around long enough for the harness to be removed. By that time, she was usually running to the kitchen for a raw steak.

The game warden leaned in closer to the heavily breathing hybrid. "I am proud of you, by the way, and how you handled yourself at the quarantine pen." Raptor eyes peeled away from the skillet and to the soft gray eyed gaze next to her. "You're getting better at controlling yourself." He stood up straighter and crossed his arms over his chest. "Made my wallet thicker, too."

"What?" Pet sounded slightly irritated. "People were making bets?"

"Just a couple of us. They didn't think you would be able to restrain yourself. Made a bit of money off you staying controlled and then a bit more for you managing to keep your claws off Dr. Grant." Muldoon shot his sidekick a playful smile.

"You git."

Their conversation was interrupted when Alejandro approached them, handing Pet the plate with the mostly raw steak on it. "My lady?"

The hybrid squealed in excitement and took the plate, not bothering to use a fork or a knife as she picked up the steak to eat it. Muldoon shook his head and dug into his pocket. He pulled out a small amount of his bet winnings from earlier and handed it to the chef. "Damn it, Pet. Would it hurt you to use silverware for once?" The chef laughed and strode away, sticking the money in his pocket.

A few minutes later, the two were heading back out into the central lobby when they were stopped by Sydney. She handed Muldoon a piece of paper with a weather report printed on it.

The visitors were on their way, now, starting the tour of the island. Hammond was coming back inside when he saw Muldoon and Pet going up the stairs. He called out, "Excellent. I was just about to come find you, Robert."

The three people made their way to the control room, Muldoon skimming the text on the page. "The National Weather Service is tracking a tropical storm about seventy-five miles west of us."

He and Pet went to a computer to see a visualization of the storm for themselves, Hammond mumbling. "Why didn't I build in Orlando?"

Pet rested a clawed hand on her hip and snorted a laugh. "As in...Florida?" She looked at Arnold nearby and tilted her head to the side. "Aren't they constantly getting hit with tropical storms and hurricanes?"

"I'll keep an eye on it," Muldoon cut in. "Maybe it'll swing south like the last one."

"Or plow right over us like the one before it." Eyes fell on the hybrid, who was digging at her teeth with a clawed finger. "Damn steak..."

Hammond shook his head with growing irritation at the young woman, and he sighed. "Ray..." he placed a hand on the black man's shoulder. "Start the tour program."

Pet watched the man type in the code and exclaimed. "And so, it begins."

Arnold wheeled his chair from one computer and to another to start the tour. "Hold onto your butts."

Multiple computer screens came to life, displaying different things. One presented a map of the island zooming in to show the location of the tour vehicles while another displayed video feed from a security camera. Hammond's grandkids could be heard happily chatting from within one of the SUVs while Malcolm was heard in another, starting, "God help us, we're in the hands of engineers."

Pet laughed and nudged Arnold in the side. Arnold shook his head. "No respect, I tell ya."

Hammond brought up one of the interior monitors from within a vehicle to see his grandkids bouncing around from window to window in the backseat. He chuckled and waved his hand in the air. "Get me a headset. Someone, anyone."

Arnold reached behind one of the monitors and retrieved a headset, handing it to the requesting man. Pet stood on the other side of Arnold and glanced over his shoulder. "Where's the one with Grant in it?"

Muldoon rolled up the weather report in his hand and smacked Pet upside the head with it. She snorted and glared at him. The camera feed changed to show the other vehicle with Grant inside. Pet rolled her attention to it and giggled to herself.

Hammond put the headset on and shifted the camera back to his grandkids, speaking, "The voice you're now hearing is Richard Kiley." He laughed again. "We spared no expense."

The audio guided tour began as the onlookers in the control room crossed their fingers in hopes of everything going smoothly.

Arnold lit up a cigarette in anticipation of a long day judging by the way things were going so far. In the background, Hammond ranted, "Of course the Dilophosaurus wouldn't make an appearance. That would be too convenient, wouldn't it?" Pet and Muldoon exchanged stares, hating it when the older man got in a mood like this. "And what happens when the park opens, and people are paying money to see these things? Only, they don't?!" He slammed his cane on the ground and continued to complain to himself.

Arnold leaned in closer to the screen, tapping a pencil on the screen. "The headlights are on, and they shouldn't be. Those shouldn't be running off of car batteries." He tossed the pencil to the side and rested his head on his propped up arm. "Item one fifty-one on today's glitch list." Pet rolled her eyes and allowed her head to fall back in the chair she was seated in next to the engineer. "We have all the problems of a major theme park, and major zoo and the computers aren't even on their feet yet."

Pet spoke next. "Maybe the bugs will work themselves out of the system once the computers are up and fully running."

Hammond's scowl slowly sailed across the room to where Nedry sat. "Dennis, our lives are in your hands, and you have butterfingers?"

A smartass laughter erupted from the man, and he wheeled around in his chair to face his employer. "I am totally unappreciated in my time."

Pet sat up and leaned forward from where she sat, glaring at the man seated at his workstation. "Not this again," the hybrid mumbled and buried her face in her clawed hands.

Arnold huffed. "Just be thankful you don't have to work with him all the damn time."

Pet continued. "We can always shove him in the harness and feed him to the raptors." That brought a laugh from the man.

Arnold shook his head, still frustrated, however, at the vehicle lights. "Dennis...The headlights."

"I'll debug the tour program when they get back, okay?" The answer wasn't good enough for Arnold, him drumming his fingers on his desk. "Okay? It'll eat a lot of compute cycles. We'll lose part of the system."

The black man wheeled back to his computer, blanking out the rest of what his co-worker had to say. He really couldn't stand that man and mentally imagined the overweight man being lowered into the raptor pen. The thought brought a devious smile to his lips, wrapped around a cigarette.

"Quiet!" Muldoon bellowed. "All of you!" The room got quiet as all eyes focused on the game warden. "They're approaching the Tyrannosaur paddock."

Pet nudged a flustered face Hammond in the side. "Here we go. Maybe the Rex will make a nice appearance for the tourists."

The older man neared the computer and brought up the camera feed within the vehicles. Everyone held their breath in high expectations of the T-Rex making a hopeful appearance, but so far, it didn't seem that way. Pet frowned when she saw the fluster brighten on Hammond's face.

"Try luring it," Hammond urged.

"Alright," responded Arnold and he wheeled back over to the computer behind him, typing in yet another code. He spoke over the vehicle radio. "We'll try to tempt the Rex now. Keep watching the fence." Faces of the tourists neared the windows, the goat bleating from its being tethered.

Hammond heavily plopped down in the chair in front of the computer, shaking his head at Malcolm tapping and blowing air on the camera lens. "I really hate that man."

Pet snickered and lounged back in her chair. "Well he at least seems to love himself, so it evens out." The hybrid watched the computer-generated imagery of the tropical storm and saw it creeping up closer to the island. "Hey Robert, I don't think this storm is going to pass on by." The game warden joined the hybrid pointing a clawed finger at the screen. "It looks like it's going to pass right over us." About that time, the caution alarm chimed from over the main monitor's speakers. It alerted that the vehicle doors were opened. "Uh oh, that's not good."

Hammond rushed to the screen displaying the vehicle operation diagram and cursed under his breath. He then turned his attention to Arnold. "Stop the program. Stop the program!"

Muldoon chimed. "I told you, how many times, we needed locking mechanisms on the vehicle doors."

Pet nodded in agreement. "It would only make sense to have safety precautions with a tour involving dinosaurs, but whatever."

Hammond shot his attention to the hybrid. "Oh, shut up."

She snorted a bark and was about to jump up, but was stopped by Muldoon tightly gripping her shoulder and forcing her to remain seated. She dug her clawed toes into the insoles of her boots and growled. Muldoon leaned over the hybrid to study the tour status map, seeing the vehicles stopped in front of the Triceratops enclosure.

He knew exactly what the guests were doing and shook his head. "Lovely."

Pet looked to see what her best friend was looking at. "What?"

"The sick Trike." The game warden grabbed his radio seated on a nearby table and questioned over it. "Gerry, what's the status of the Trike?"

Upon hearing his name called, a man standing in a field near a sedated Triceratops brought his attention from the bobbing heads of the oncoming tourists in the tall grass and over to his radio. "The same as earlier."

Pet slimmed her gaze down on Muldoon in concern, the man nodding. "Copy that."

"Looks like I'm about to have visitors. Should I turn them away?" The veterinarian shifted uncomfortably where he stood, watching the people become more visible through the grass.

"No, it's fine. Just keep me posted on the Trike." Muldoon set the radio back down and looked at Pet. "I found her sick this morning when making my rounds, so I tranquilized her and called Gerry. He's been out there with her, sense."

"Oye." Pet stood up and stretched, not being one to sit still for too long. "I wonder what's next on the list of surprises for today."