JURASSIC PARK III

17 – Absolutely Necessary

Derek sat, worried and annoyed, in an office belonging to a military security officer by the last name of Lewis. Derek had already drank countless of cups of coffee and because of, was having extreme difficulty sitting still. His constant fidgeting was enough to bother Lewis. The radio beside his desk had been filled with chatter from the search and rescue teams deployed to the island. Seated next to Derek was Jacobs, his black case at his feet. Even he was slightly bothered by the level of caffeine enhanced anxiousness in the younger man.

Derek had heard enough radio talk in his days to pick up on what was being said. So far, the Kirby's downed plane had been found by InGen's security team on the west side of the island. While the news gave Derek hope, hearing more about the grim find further distraught him. The plane was all but a 'trail of debris' as reported by some man named Hoskins who was leading the InGen team. The tail was in one place, one wing in another with the second wing close by. The nose of the aircraft had been 'ripped off', also described as by Hoskins with 'massive claw marks along the side'. Then came the actual discovery of the fuselage, crumbled and a hole torn into one of the sides.

Another report had come in of a crashed boat found along the rocky shoreline at the west end of the island. Apparently, it had been there for several weeks. "Approach with extreme caution. Non-lethal force requested against any encountered animals. Tranquilizers only."

Derek arched a brow. "Who's the retarded asshole that gave that order?"

Jacobs answered. "That would probably be Mr. Masrani."

"Non-lethal force? Just shoot the damned things! He can afford to make more later!"

Then, came the one report Derek had been waiting to hear. "

"This is Sea Shadow, we have located two survivors. One is a Caucasian male and the other a female. Awaiting status."

Derek's desperate eyes locked onto the radio. He thought maybe the male being referred to was Grant and the female, Pet. It better not be that piece of shit Paul Kirby and his wife. If it was, Derek had plans on throwing their asses off the ship once they landed if they weren't already dead.

The radio talk continued. "The male is still alive." Brief silence. "Sea Shadow has located two survivors. I repeat, Sea Shadow has located two survivors." Derek heaved a sigh in relief, but still kept a level of skepticism. He wanted to cry he was so scared. "Sea Shadow has recovered the male. Resuming search and rescue for more survivors."

Derek looked at Lewis. "Is there any way you can request the names of the survivors?" The officer stared deadpan at him.

More radio talk interrupted whatever response Derek was about to get. "Dust Storm moving into position to recover the female survivor." A moment of silence. "This is Sea Shadow, this is Sea Shadow…security of the search and rescue mission has now been advanced. NDA requested."

"Non-disclosure agreement," the security officer stated. "Must be pretty damn important."

Jacobs was baffled. "The military does NDA?"

Derek laughed to himself. "It's her! It's Pet! It has to be! She's still alive!"

More radio talk. "Dust Storm has recovered the female and is returning to base. Emergency medical team on standby."

Jacobs shot to his feet. "I need to see the female survivor the moment she lands!"

Lewis gave the other man a stern stare down. "On who's authority?"

Derek interrupted. "Simon Masrani. That's why," he pointed a thumb at the geneticist, "he's here! Get on the radio and ask for verification if you don't believe me!"

The security officer scoffed and reached over to the radio's mic, cueing it. "Sea Shadow, Sea Shadow this is Tango Base S.O."


Muldoon watched an IV be placed into Pet's arm and an oxygen mask placed over her face. It surprised him how tough that girl was. She had been through so much in her twenty-six years from her days at the zoo until fourteen, the Jurassic Park fiasco when eighteen, helping Roland and Dr. Malcolm on Isla Sorna when twenty-two and finally this. Hopefully her days of surviving the wilderness and fighting dinosaurs was over. But something told him otherwise.

Muldoon looked over at the quiet billionaire, his sleep deprived eyes never looking away from the hybrid. He had a strong feeling the hybrid's days of living amongst the island's titans were far from over. That is, if the viral out cure he heard so much about proved a success. There was only one way to find out, which Muldoon wasn't too keen on. Pet had already been through enough over the past two days. Couldn't it wait until she was better? But he knew that wasn't the case. She needed to be given the viral out while the illness was active. At least, that's how he understood it from Jacobs.

Owen felt of the woman's face. "She feels hot. She probably has a fever from an infection somewhere. The ship's medical team will probably have her put on a strong antibiotic to fight it off."

"No," Muldoon stated. "She doesn't have an infection. She's sick."

Owen looked over at the scarred man. "You know this how?"

"She's my adopted daughter. She's gotten sick like this before in the past since an infant."

"Not for too much longer." It was the first time Simon had said anything since leaving the island.

Owen's confused eyes darted between the two men for a moment before returning his attention back on the injured woman. He still couldn't get over those feet. What was she?!

Muldoon saw the concern in the younger man's eyes and spoke. "Not to worry. She's not contagious."


Derek and Jacobs shielded their eyes against the morning sun when watching a helicopter approach the helipad on the Naval hospital ship. They hadn't been there long after the Lewis authorized their transfer to the hospital ship. The helicopter with the call sign Dust Storm touched down, its back side door sliding open. A medical team that was on standby off to the side on the flight deck rushed to the stretcher being carried out. The stretcher was secured to a gurney and the gurney rushed into one of the ship's flight deck doors.

Derek joined his uncle as Jacobs closely followed Simon. "Sir, I can't perform any medical procedure without special clearance."

Simon gave a single nod. "Leave that to me."

Owen watched the group of people disappear into the ship before turning his attention to the helicopter now flying off. His gaze rested on the mountainous form of Isla Sorna. So, renowned paleontologist Dr. Grant was on that island, was he? Owen decided he'd wait around for Sea Shadow's arrival with the expectancy of seeing him.

It was a wait that made Owen giddy, even though the second helicopter was only a few short minutes behind. Sea Shadow arrived at the hospital ship and carefully landed. Owen took off his helmet and tucked it under an arm. Out came the stretcher supporting the injured male as the second standby medical team rushed in to carry him to the ship's infirmary. After the injured male was what Owen guessed as the other survivors; a little boy, an adult red-headed male and blond-haired female. They all looked pretty roughed up but not at as bad as the injured male. Finally, the man Owen had been waiting for stepped out of the helicopter, a hand on his head to keep his hat from blowing off. That guy was still wearing a hat?

Owen started laughing to himself. As soon as the older man was close enough did Owen call out to him. "Dr. Grant?" The addressed man stopped midstep and turned to face the voice.

Grant eyed the uniformed young man worriedly. "Yes?"

"Owen Grady, sir." A hand was extended for shake. Grant accepted it, expecting to hear bad news regarding Pet. "You probably don't remember me, but we met years ago. Approximately eight years ago in nineteen ninety-three in Snakewater, Montana."

"That's great," was stated with less enthusiasm as Owen.

Grant turned to leave but stopped when the young soldier continued. "You made me come to respect your six-foot turkeys after a little educating."

Grant came to another halt and after a moment of recalling what the soldier was talking about, and glanced back over his shoulder with a pleased with himself smirk on his face. Owen joined him, Grant speaking. "Too bad others can't be so easily educated."

"You scared me shitless for weeks after that."

Grant saw an opportunity to get answers to his many burning questions. "The young man that was in the helicopter with me said a woman that was with him was recovered. Where is she?"

Owen motioned the other man follow him. "I can assure you she's in good care, sir. She was taken for immediate medical treatment. She's very ill so expect her to be kept in quarantine. It's protocol."

Grant shook his head. "She's not contagious, Mr. Grady."

"That's the same thing the scarred gentleman said."

"Which reminds me…" Grant continued to follow the soldier, disbelieving the professional young man guiding him through the maze of corridors in the ship was the same obnoxious, disrespectful kid from one of his dig sites years ago. "I was also told there was a Mr. Masrani also present during the search and rescue?"

Owen nodded his head. "That's right."

No sooner did they enter though a bulkhead door leading to a medical treatment floor than did Grant come to an abrupt stop. His stomach lurched into his throat at the sight of the foreign man standing very near to the foot of the bed the hybrid laid in. Hunched over the woman's bruised and scraped unconscious form was an older man with greying brown hair and glasses. In his hand was a syringe he was using to inject something into Pet's IV line.

On the other side of the bed was Muldoon and Derek. Derek looked up to see the senior scientist and the angry flare in his blue eyes aimed at the billionaire. He rushed to stop the respected scientist before all hell broke loose. "It's okay, Doc. He's here to help Pet." Grant wasn't aware he was storming straight for Masrani until Derek blocked his way. He blinked in utter surprise at the bounty hunter. "It's okay. He came to the dig site to find her to cure her. The moment he realized you and the others were in trouble on the island, he flew us down here with him."

Grant gave the wealthy man a skeptical look before pushing past Derek to join Muldoon. "How is she? Her illness, it flared up sometime early yesterday morning."

Muldoon nodded. "We know. Dr. Jacobs, here, says he has a cure for her but it's going to be really rough on her for a few hours."

Grant's frantic eyes pinged between the fever flustered hybrid and the geneticist administering the last of the syringe's contents. "How rough? For how long? Hasn't she been through enough?" He then looked at Masrani for an answer. "Can't it wait? The first three days are always the worst for her."

"Exactly." Jacobs answered, recapping the empty syringe. "Expect her current symptoms to intensify over the course of eight to twelve hours from now, since now is when the viral out has been administered." He turned and dropped the item in a red container marked 'Biohazard', where other used needles were disposed of. "And no, it can't wait. The viraling out has to be done when the illness is in its peak in order to work properly. That being now."

"What happens if it doesn't work? If she has an adverse reaction to this…viraling out?"

Jacobs pressed his lips into a grim frown. "It's a chance we need to take."

"Is it?"

Muldoon answered, though with difficulty. "Yes, need. If we don't then she'll eventually die anyway from the illness." Grant suddenly felt sick. "We already talked about this."

Still standing nearby and listening to everything was Owen. It bothered him to see such a respected man appear so vulnerable. Especially after surviving such horrific events on a dinosaur inhabited island twice. He frowned and left. This wasn't where he needed to be, anyway. He still needed to write out a full report regarding the search and rescue mission. All he could do was hope the strange looking young woman would pull through the procedure she was to endure the next few hours. Maybe he'd see her again just like he did Dr. Grant or maybe he wouldn't. Seeing how he seemed to find himself smack dab in the middle of once in a lifetime events, there was no telling.


This concludes my JURASSIC PARK III revisions. I expect some confused, if not angry, reviews and PMs regarding the changes. They're quite drastic compared to the original in some aspects. An anonymous private messenger asked me if the story revisions were a reboot. I wouldn't so much as say the changes are a reboot as they're more cleaning up a mess I made in the original chapters when hastily trying to post new content for the new and dedicated readers. I'm hoping the story flows better and more realistically, now, rather than the out of character jumble it was before.