ADAPTATIONS

33 – Jacobs' Video Memoirs

"December thirteenth, nineteen seventy-three," began another one of Jacob's audio diary entries. "Today marks the day I-07HY did not make it past day twenty-three of the development phase."

Simon typed away on his keyboard while listening to the audio file in the background. Because of his busy schedule, he was left with limited time to dedicate to the disk. It didn't help he inadvertently forgot it in California while away on a series of business trips carrying him around the world. He just knew he would return to his office and find the disk missing. Much to his extreme relief, the top drawer of his office was still locked and the disk exactly where he left it.

By the time Simon finished typing his report, the was three audio files in. "April eighth, nineteen seventy-four. Another failed specimen after I-09HY did not make it past day thirty-six of the development phase. Although, this is the longest recorded a specimen has lasted in this phase. I will continue experimentation after another series of tests."

Simon stared at the last audio filed labeled 19741115 and clicked on it. "November eleventh, nineteen seventy-four. It seems the latest specimen of my experiments is the strongest yet. Today marks the fortieth day and all tests show positive results of it steadily growing at a healthy rate. Should the tests continue to reflect positive growth I will have the specimen transferred to a specialized vat where it can continue to develop with ample room."

The file ended, bringing Simon to the first video file. Its date was two months after the last audio file. The image of a much younger Dr. Jacobs in his Kenyan lab appeared. Sitting behind him on a table was a vat filled with a pinkish-red yellow colored substance. "January seventeen, nineteen seventy-five. After one hundred and nine days, I-10HY is still growing. It is quite the little fighter. I can only hope it will continue to develop strong and well. If it does, I expect my employers will very satisfied."

Simon wondered if the 'employers' part was in reference to Biosyn or John Hammond and the InGen executives. Before he could continue to the next video, his doe eyed secretary knocked on his open office door. "Sir, your nine-fifteen appointment is here."

"Excellent! Let her in!" And so, Simon was regrettably pulled away from his going through the files for how long, he wasn't sure. Either way, it was too long for his liking but he did have more pressing business matters to attend to.


SPLAT! Pet instantly seized up after getting hit in the side of the head with a snow ball. It was mid-November and with it, the month's first snow. She snorted in annoyance and cut her eyes down on Derek taking cover behind his Challenger. The hybrid tugged off her black beanie and shook off the bits of snow clinging to the wool fabric. SPLAT! Another snow ball managed to hit her squarely in the cheek, its icy chill sharp and a bit painful to the cold sensitive hybrid. A chill snaked down her spine and she shivered in response to.

Another snowball came towards her, but she ducted to avoid it. "You're so dead," she growled and charged after Derek. When he tried running around his car for protection, he found it unsuccessful as she leapt onto the hood of it.

"That's bullshit," he said and took off running around Quarantine to avoid getting pounced on.

He tore through the dig site but didn't make it very far when a strong force collided into him, knocking him off his feet and sending him into a snow bank. He laid there, imbedded into the snow and unable to breathe. Pet popped him upside his cheek with a heavy, woolen glove while grinding a handful of snow into his face.

Little did she know.

Standing off in the distance and tightly compacting his own snowball was Muldoon. Terrence arched a brow at him. "She's going to be pissed if you actually hit her with it."

"I've been waiting far too long to do this," he calmly stated, grabbing another handful of snow to add to the growing ball.

After a few minutes of watching the two people wrestle in the snow, with Derek predictably being pinned down, the snow ball was now the size of a softball. Its slick surface glistened in the sun peeking in between the cloud cover over head.

"That is going to hurt, even with all those padded layers of clothing she's wearing." Terrence watched the older man walk away, snow ball in hand.

Pet had Derek pinned down and face down in the snow. "Yeah, how do you like that, hmm?"

Muldoon sharply whistled, the hybrid habitually looking up. WHAM! Pet fell backwards off Derek as she clutched at her side, whimpering. She laid in the snow, frantically rubbing at her side where the baseball sized snow cannonball struck her. She could see Muldoon come into view as he helped his nephew off the ground.

"What that really necessary?"

Derek looked at the pieces of the shattered snow ball and laughed. "You just got wrecked, Pet."

Pet's eyes cut down on taunting grey ones as their blue-green depths changed to a raptor's. "Disabled or not, old man, you're going down."

She rocketed out of the snow and onto her best friend and guardian. She tried to hook her clawed toes into his belt, but her having on her boots stopped her. This left her at a huge disadvantage she wasn't normally used to. A frustrated screech came from her as Muldoon grabbed her under a leg and flipped her off of him and back into the snow. That didn't stop her. She was back on her feet and lunging at him. This time she was able to knock him off balance as the two toppled over the other and into the snow bank.

Site workers near the immediate area were greatly worried by this. Everyone knew not to cross the scarred man's path the wrong way. To see him and the girl they thought to be his daughter looking to be in a pretty heated brawl greatly worried them. One person was so bothered by this that he dashed off towards the fossil's weather protective tent where Dr. Grant was working inside.

He and his protégé were bundled up and doing their best to scrape away what hard earth they could from the fossil's skull. "Dr. Grant," the worker panted. "I think that British gentleman and his daughter are fighting."

Billy glanced up at the frantic worker curiously. "Fighting?"

The worker nodded. "They're having a good tussle on the ground."

Billy smiled at Grant as the senior scientist grumbled when getting to his feet to see what the commotion was about. He hadn't even gotten to their position when he saw what had the worker so panicked. There, covered in head to toe in snow and struggling against the other was Muldoon and Pet. She was tangled up in a headlock and working herself loose from her guardian's clutches. She was trying to claw him through her thick gloves and toeing at his side with her booted feet. Had it not been for the mischievous smile on Muldoon's face, Grant would have been worried too.

Pet finally wiggled free and body slammed her best friend onto his back. "You're cheating, Robert! You know I can't fight in all this shit I'm wearing!" He laughed, something Derek hadn't heard from his uncle in years. The two people stopped wrestling when they saw Grant approach them. Pet tried to wipe the snow off her face with her hand, only to make it worse from the snow on her glove. "Hey Alan. You, uh, you need something?"

Seeing how the hybrid was distracted, Muldoon took the opportunity to wrap her up in a tight embrace from behind. Pet hissed a screech in annoyance. "I thought I taught you better than to let your defenses down for any reason."

Derek patted Pet on the head. "Yeah, Pet. Way to let your defenses down."

She snarled at the haughty bounty hunter as he walked away, feeling Muldoon's grip on her start to loosen and not to continue their fight. Pet grabbed a handful of snow and snuck up behind the man in his trek to Quarantine's front door. Just as he reached for the door handle, Pet shoved the snow down his coat and shirt.

"Oh shit! Cold! Very cold!" The bounty hunter fluffed out his shirt and coat to shake out the snow. "Going down the pants! Oh shi-"

Pet snorted in amusement. "Maybe that will cool off your ego."


As the United States prepared for Thanksgiving, Simon was in his Palo Alto office and sending the last e-mail to one of Mascom's executives. He had only been typing and sending e-mails over the better part of two hours. Once it was sent, he minimized his e-mail's screen and opened the top drawer of his desk. The disk was removed from its case and dropped into the open disk drive of his computer. The password screen came up and its many files accessed.

By now, Simon had managed to find time to watch three short video files though they offered nothing interesting in information. Regardless, he continued to watch the documentaries in order for that just in case something interesting came up. With that, he clicked on the 19750622.

As always, the young Dr. Jacobs appeared on the screen. Instead of the fluid filled vat behind him, there was an incubator and visible behind that was the person Simon recognized as Robert Muldoon. In his arms was a blanket wrapped baby. Jacobs spoke. "June twenty-second, nineteen seventy-five. Much to many peoples' doubt, I-10HY has gone three days since her birth without any significant health complications. This is surprising given her development stage being sixty days shorter than that of a human's." The scientist looked over his shoulder at the game warden. "While not the desired Velociraptor specimen Mr. Hammond was hoping for, our little Pet is even better of a scientific breakthrough." Jacobs looked back at the camera. "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the first ever human-Velociraptor hybrid…Pet."

Simon was the quickest he had ever been when going to the next video file. "August third, nineteen seventy-five. I-10HY, or Pet, is growing very quickly and with a hell of an appetite at that. So far, her diet has consisted of a mix of hamburger meat and fresh goat's milk. Her InGen appointed legal guardian, game warden Robert Muldoon, has been taking care of her and very diligently at that. It seems Animal Kingdom's tough as nails Brit has a soft side."

The next file was opened, Simon ignoring the new e-mail notification flashing at the bottom of his screen. This time, Jacobs appeared worse for wear and sleep deprived. "July sixteenth, nineteen seventy-six. Pet's health has taken a turn for worst. Robert called me late last night to inform me of Pet having what appeared to be a nasty head cold. Here, three and a half months back she was sick, then, and with the exact same thing. Seeing how Mr. Hammond has removed me from working as a geneticist and placed me in charge of monitoring Pet's health, I took blood samples to test during both illnesses. I compared the two, curious to know if this was something she contracted from the environment or…by chance, as was the case with a chimpanzee when it was cloned while sick…it was something she was created with. I was right to suspect the worst. Come to find out, the Velociraptor DNA obtained from the mosquito was corrupted, so to say, with a deadly virus. Now, seeing how Pet was created with this virus she will be prone to chronic spasms from it throughout her life. So far, it seems to be reoccurring every three to four months, give or take a week or two. It's my professional guess that…in time…the illness will become so severe in symptoms and too much of a strain on her body for it to fight. Meaning, this will kill her if a cure isn't found."

The news hit Simon in the chest and a surge of grave emotion flooded him. Prior to hearing this most recent, twenty-five-year-old news, Simon had hopes that somewhere out there I-10HY…or Pet…was still alive. Now he wasn't so sure. But, maybe, maybe, maybe Jacobs found a cure. He wasn't even finished reviewing the files to even come to the grim conclusion she wasn't alive anymore.

Simon's shaking hand brought the mouse cursor to the following file. "February tenth, nineteen eighty-three. I just finished a check-up on Pet after…um," Jacobs looked visibly disturbed and struggling with the thought of something. "It seems she and her pet dog got into a fight. It bit her as she…uh…after she attacked it. When she was asked why she attacked the dog, she said she didn't know. Robert has his own theory. She is part carnivorous animal, after all, and it's only natural for a carnivorous animal to get the urges to hunt. For Pet, it was to hunt and attack her dog based on…natural instinct. From what Robert told me, there was hardly anything left to tell what kind of dog it was. She made a real mess out of it and with her bare clawed hands and feet. Feet, mostly, given the sickle claws on her big inner toes." Jacobs removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "I should have seen this coming. Thankfully it was just a privately owned dog and not one of the zoo's animal attractions. This just goes to show that even at a young age, Pet can be life threatening should she need to be. I can't even imagine what she'll be like when she gets older and more aware of her potential."

Simon stared at the monitor wide-eyed and horrified. He blinked, unprepared for what he was learning more and more about. The next video file was selected. "July twelfth, nineteen eighty-seven. It seems Pet's skills as a hunter and part predatory animal are going to be used in a positive way. Robert has been pushing Mr. Hammond to allow her to be a game warden. She's only twelve years old." Jacobs shook his head. "Seems like to me child endangerment, but…in the times Robert has taken her out hunting she has proven to be rather resilient when going against certain species of animals. Since her skin is thicker than a human's, she's less susceptible to cuts and scrapes. Only downfall is her bone density being less than a human's. I can see a lot of broken bones coming my way." Someone walking into Jacobs' office interrupted the scientist in his video diary. Instead of ending the recording, he let it continue. The person came into view, it being an adolescent girl in a white tank top and khaki shorts. Her medium brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her golden yellow eyes bright in a smile.

Simon stopped the video to gawk in speechlessness at his first time seeing the hybrid's face. He knew that face. He'd seen her before. He yanked open the top drawer of his desk and frantically rummaged around through the loose leaves of paper and other office tidbits for the wallet sized picture of the docent game warden. Finally, he found it under a notepad and held it up to compare with the video still. It was her. That friendly young woman he first met all those years ago at Animal Kingdom was her. Simon brought a hand to his face and rubbed his tense mouth.

He reached for his office phone and called his secretary. "Could you please locate Dr. Albert Jacobs and have him sent to my office immediately?"