Author's Note: I originally was going to post this next week, but I was on hiatus for so long and the last chapter was fairly short so I felt like making up for it. That, and this chapter was fun to write so I didn't want to wait. I have more work to do to ready for the next chapter next week, but I can make do. Enjoy!

Please remember to leave a comment. They are very motivating. Hopefully, this chapter gives you a lot to comment on. It's packed full of lore. lol.

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Chapter 9

Communication

"You'll have to delete that one, Madame," Barry said apologetically as he and Joanne reviewed her photos. "We can't show any part of the gates or rangers, for security reasons. And the personal privacy of the staff."

Joanne nodded and deleted the picture, along with a few others she had that showed the armed guards.

Barry looked up behind her and muttered in French under his breath.

She looked where he was just in time to see a man heading up to the walkway with purpose.

"This will not be pretty," Barry muttered. He looked at Joanne. "I'm sorry, Joanne. We may need to cut the tour short. Do you know when Aaron is planning to pick you up?"

"We didn't agree on a definitive time, but he said a few hours," she answered. She frowned a little and glanced at the new arrival. "Is something wrong, dear?"

Before Barry could answer, Owen came over. "The rats thawed?"

Barry nodded. He pursed his lips. "Hoskin's is here."

Owen nodded. "I saw. A day early. Just do everything the same. They already smell the pig again. We need to stick to routine." He smiled at Joanne. "Joanne, Ma'am. We're about to do another training demonstration. It might be a little …disturbing." He looked a little worried about scaring the old woman.

Oh, bless him.

"Oh, that's alright dear. I'm fascinated to see your work if you'll allow me. I've got a strong stomach."

Barry laughed.

Mr. Grady looked a little dubious but didn't really want to argue. "You're welcome to watch, but you can't take any video. That okay?"

She smiled pleasantly and nodded. "Thank you."

Owen nodded as he pulled his radio out and began talking to one of the other handlers.

"This way," Barry said, gesturing for her to follow him.

She situated on another part of the catwalk before she asked. "Do they tire of a similar exercise? You just had them chase a pig."

"That was a warmup," Barry said, leaning his elbows on the railing for a better view as he watched the foliage below. "This training is to test if Owen can redirect their target and if they'll listen to him telling them to stop the chase."

"Interesting." She put her camera away so no one thought she was taking a video. These people did not expect an elderly high school teacher to have tiny hidden cameras in her earrings or watch.

Owen called for someone to release the pig again. No….it was a different one. One that wasn't as stressed. That wouldn't last long.

Joanne could feel some sympathy for the animal, but it was prey. Everyone here understood that.

Even the pig…

Animals did not need really words. Words were a human invention, a necessity to thoughts beyond the basic needs of survival and contentment, and a necessity to share such ideas with another being outside of one's own head. She remembered the days before names and words.

Humans correlated language, as they defined it, far too much to markers of intelligence. It was arrogance, really. But it was an extraordinary invention, all the same.

What need did she and her pack have all those years ago for knowledge such as the structure of DNA or knowing that the ground they stood on was a round, tiny rock that went around a ball of fire? They conveyed the meanings they needed just fine with body language and their own "words".

The language of animals was expansive but simply different from that of humans who had to go and complicate things with names. It was strange though. Nowadays, her inner voice couldn't help but turn the telepathic meanings into words.

Joanne hadn't paid as much attention the first time the researchers conducted their exercises. She had been a little too…stunned at the shapes that ran beneath her. But now she put all her attention into listening to the activity before her.

Those weren't human "words" she heard. But she heard and understood the meanings clear as day.

It was…twisting something inside her to hear those sounds—vicious and probably terrifying to the surrounding people—but full of meaning to her. She tried to avoid thinking about her feelings through the chirps and trills and squawking barks, but those sounds pulled at a near-lonely pain she had spent literally millions of years burying.

Still, she listened.

Simple commands from the obvious leading child.

Left. Right. Follow me. Go around. I'm here. Hide. Be quiet. Be fast.

Hunting commands.

The eldest vocalized the most, with her commands, while the other three primarily made identifying noises, mostly to call out their position in the brush as the pig raced around in terror, squealing all the way.

When she was young–very young–the Dakotaraptor that would eventually become Joanne Moynihan always wondered why prey was so loud as it ran. It didn't make sense to her to make more noise while trying to escape. She was given a very rude lesson when the prey she had been chasing that day (alone despite her mother's warning to never do such a thing) kept screaming until its horned herd made it very clear there would be no hunting in that area that day. She barely escaped.

Joanne gripped the railing a little and shook her head.

Her mother? It had been nearly a literal era since she thought of her mother…

She didn't even remember what her mother looked like.

She shook her head again and focused back on the hunt below her, hoping Barry or whoever might be watching her just thought she was reacting to the display.

The eldest—the favorite, she could tell—the one with blue markings held her sisters' attention like a leader and never wavered. She moved with certainty and refused to show any weakness to the younger three.

The other three would take advantage if they sensed it. That was just how it was. A pack didn't survive if there wasn't confidence and strength to back it up.

But she saw how the blue one's eyes continually flicked upward. She had seen that attention before, from a hatchling that was focused on a parent and somewhat eager to please. She doubted the humans were aware of the eagerness.

Then the keepers opened up a little escape door for the pig.

"Delta, round."

She was not sure what she "heard" for a moment. A new "meaning", followed by a command? The old raptor in human skin had no frame of reference for the chirp the blue one made but watched as one of the sisters broke off and ran at an angle toward the sound of the opening pig-escape door.

She raised an eyebrow at the realization, intrigued and maybe a little excited.

Did they just use a name? An invention they learned from the humans?

She had "named" her hatchlings, but said names were little more than variations in purrs that were kept between her and her mate, and the clutch themselves. That was all they needed.

"Hey! Hold!"

The blue child gave an order, and "Delta" skidded back into formation as the four of them halted below the walkway Owen had chosen.

They were annoyed, tapping their sickle claws impatiently as the pig got to safety.

Joanne tried not to smile in amusement as the one with a prominent scar on her face hissed petulantly across the clearing at the little door which kept the pig from harm.

Owen pressed a clicker and Joanne's attention was back on the man, looking between him and the children.

"Okay!" Owen Grady spoke authoritatively, using the clicker as he maintained their attention. "Eyes on me!"

The oldest was checking her sisters, snapping a little as they fidgeted in irritation.

"Blue? Blue! Watch it."

The youngest halfheartedly snapped at one of the others who came a bit too close, while another jostled a little closer to the walkway.

"Charlie. Hey! Don't give me that shit!"

Click click click.

"Delta! Lock it up!"

They were quiet. They were listening; the man's scolding as effective as possible within the limitations that dragged both sides of the relationship through muddy confusion.

"Good! Aaaand we're moving." Owen moved toward a bucket that smelled of dead rats on another section of the railing.

He was nervous. But it was more excitement than fear. He seemed to be handling it very well.

There was some hesitation from the younger three before they followed their elder sister, Blue, whose attention on the man seemed more…focused than a moment before.

Joanne leaned on the railing and frowned. She could see and hear the problem.

They didn't understand. They spoke a completely different language from their parent. They were too young. They didn't have millions of years to learn a completely different pattern of thinking necessary to understand human language. They had to stumble through a frustrating language barrier that reached down to the very structure of their brains.

Blue seemed to grasp Owen's communication the most out of the four of them. It appeared the other three relied on her for the interpretation, following her cues and body language. They were all trying so hard…

They clearly understood the tone of praise, though. Some words too, most likely.

"That's good. That is damn good." Owen pressed the clicker as he retrieved a few rats.

He was not using the right body language or the right sounds. But of course, he couldn't. He didn't have a tail to lash. Or frills to lift. Or feathers to spread, although she doubted these children would understand anything to do with feathers. Most notably, Mr. Grady did not have the vocal chamber structure within his skull needed to communicate his messages.

The sisters were making do with the clicker, the direction of his gaze, and his voice. They were doing very well, all things considered.

"Very good! See, Charlie, that's what you get!" He threw Charlie a rat. She was more than ready to catch it and very pleased with her prize as she snapped it out of the air. The others didn't fight her for the treat. "Echo, there you go! Delta!"

Joanne huffed in relief. Good. He fed the lowest ranking in the pack first. Intentional or not, setting the example of letting the youngest, weakest, or otherwise less powerful in the pack eat first was how it was supposed to be done. Well...it was how she had been brought up and she made sure to continue the way of things when she took over. It encouraged pack-mates to care for each other without the expectation of fighting for resources. Charlie was clearly the youngest, despite Echo being smaller.

"Blue? This one's for you…" Owen held eye contact with Blue for a moment before giving her the rat.

Joanne's initial assumption was right, and the woman fought an amused smile again.

Blue was definitely her father's favorite.

Joanne highly doubted the young Velociraptors really understood any of his words, but she hoped the "meaning" come across somewhere in whatever cooperative instincts survived the genetic toying of scientists.

"HOLD!" Owen held his hand up. "Eyes up!"

They followed his hand, heads raising.

"And go."

The young dinosaurs scattered, dashing under him before parting ways and calming down to do whatever they wanted.

Cheers from the spectators erupted as Barry left Joanne's side to congratulate Owen.

She hadn't noticed how the arena's audience had been holding their breath. Apparently, what she just saw was brand-new progress to them.

The man from earlier approached the two while Joanne hung back, but shifted as close as she dared.

Something about the new man was off-putting, and Joanne didn't want to ignore that feeling. She did her best to listen as well as she could from her distance, but her attention was more on the raptors still.

Joanne chuckled as she watched Charlie attempt to give Blue half of the rat that she had been holding in her mouth.

Blue ignored her sister and walked to stand where she could see her pack and keep an eye on as many humans on the walkway as possible.

Delta looked like she just wanted a nap.

Echo had wandered over to the little door the pig had escaped through and was idly scratching at the seams and sniffing the dirt around the door.

"And now we know they can take orders!"

"We finally make progress and the first thing he wants to do is make weapons."

Joanne blinked as the men passed her, making her step out of their way although Owen uttered a brief "excuse me". What did she miss?

Hoskins didn't bother to notice her, all his focus on Owen. "Shit. Come on, gents. It's grown-up time. Drones can't search tunnels and caves. And they're hackable. The minute a real war breaks out, all that fancy tech is gonna go dark."

Joanne stared at the back of his head for a moment. She busied herself with her camera while honing in on the conversation.

"But that tech's not gonna eat them if they forget to feed it," Owen pointed out.

Hoskins was irritated. "Look at these creatures." He gestured at the girls.

Blue was looking up at them, watching, listening, and clearly trying to understand. She tapped her sickles in frustration as she picked out as many words as she could distinguish.

'Weapons…Eat. Dark. Look.'

She was watching Hoskins, probably picking up that Owen didn't like the man.

"They've got millions of years of instinct in their cells. Instinct that we can program. Their loyalty cannot be bought. These guys are gonna run straight into the enemy's teeth and eat them, belt buckle and all."

Joanne eyed the young raptors and tried to restrain the horror she was feeling. Lab-grown or not, that was not the world those young ones were meant for.

Barry was already shaking his head. "Then what if they decide they wanna be in control?" he asked.

"Well, then we remind them who is. We terminate the rogues."

Joanne looked up sharply at that. She couldn't even pretend she wasn't listening now. Her fingers gripped her camera. She had to stop herself from crushing the casing.

"Promote only loyal bloodlines."

Barry started laughing as he walked away.

"What? What's so funny?"

Joanne was moments from walking away herself, but she forced herself to at least hear Mr. Grady's response.

"I don't know," the man said, shaking his head a little. "You come here and you don't learn anything about these animals except what you want to know. You made them, and now you think you own them."

"…We do own them." Hoskins stared at him. "Extinct animals have no rights," he said bluntly.

Joanne swallowed. Such was one of her concerns with this place…

"They're not extinct anymore, Hoskins," Owen said.

They stepped away, heading down the stairs.

Joanne barely heard their voices fade as Hoskins ranted about stocking petting zoos and something else about weapons.

She breathed out slowly, pushing her glasses up as she sorted her thoughts. Why on earth did she think coming here was going to be a good idea?

She spent so long trying to save the world from Victor and his mad idea of bringing their kind back only for humans to do his work for him. It wasn't a new fear of hers. She had worried about this for decades. She always maintained her belief that the world belonged to the humans these days. Logic, reason, and love won out over the brutal world of her youth. She had the honor of witnessing it.

So did that mean humans had the right to destroy themselves and spit in the face of fate?

She had ignored this corporate folly for two decades, hoping it would collapse in on itself. But there were other reasons she tried to avoid it. She knew some of Victor's ideas would be more…attractive to her if she was reminded of what she lost. She was confident she wasn't at that point. She had greater resolve than that. However, this moment was painful. She couldn't deny it.

She did what she could over the years to get in In-Gen's way. She had contacts. But there was only so much…

She paused her train of thought, staring at the railing. Was she really concerned just about the humans though?

Joanne looked up, sensing someone staring at her.

Blue hadn't looked away when Owen went out of sight. She was staring straight at Joanne.

Normally such eye contact would be challenging or aggressive. But this was caution. And curiosity.

'Hello, dear,' Joanne said gently. It was best she kept her telepathic phrases simple. The meaning was more important. A greeting. And affection.

Blue recoiled and backed up, even more confused as she huffed, breath expressing sharply. She snarled quietly.

'I mean no harm,' Joanne said calmly.

Blue half-heartedly snarled again, this time catching the attention of Charlie, who looked up at Joanne as well, cocking her head in confusion.

'How…'

Less a word, but Joanne understood the meaning. A question.

She answered Charlie's little question even as Blue whipped her tail and hissed at her subordinate to be quiet. She didn't want her little sister engaging with the stranger until they understood that the older different female wasn't a threat.

'It is complicated,' the old raptor said. 'I can't explain in a way you can understand right now. But I am a friend.'

The initial shock had worn off and Blue looked far less afraid now, though still cautious. But the curiosity was quickly winning out.

Any other stumbling question that might have been asked was interrupted by Barry approaching the older woman.

He looked apologetic.

"Problem?" she asked.

Barry shook his head. "I'm sorry, Joanne. You shouldn't have heard that.

Joanne opened her mouth to assure him she barely heard anything, and it wasn't any of her business.

"PIG LOOSE! PIG LOOSE!"

It all happened very fast.

There was the squeal of a pig and a young worker reacted unwisely. His snag pole was down and he caught the pig.

Then Echo collided with the prey, dragging it off for a feast while the boy crashed into the pen, landing on his back with a breathtaking thud.

Barry ran from Joanne's side. "Owen, no!"

The other three raptors reacted, turning to the young man in shock and defensive aggression.

'Is this one food?' Charlie asked, looking at Blue.

Delta snarled at the human, inching closer. "It must be. The different others only give us food. This is our territory."

Blue hissed. 'Stop. Don't take it. Wait for Alpha. But keep it scared.'

The young man was certainly scared.

Joanne gripped the railing, moments from breaking all her rules as two rangers aimed weapons at the raptors. It was only experience that told her to wait. If they knew the boy was prey for sure, they would have already attacked.

Idly, she wondered where they got the word "Alpha." Packs were family units, not whatever that flawed study of wolf packs said. Even the author renounced his study.

She shook her head. It was best she focused on the emergency before her.

The young raptors' hesitation gave Owen enough time to duck into the cage, leaping in front of the boy with his hands out at the raptors while shouting at the rangers above him. "No. No! Hold your fire, do not fire!"

The sisters were shocked he was so close.

It was likely he hadn't been so close to them like this in a long time, at least since they were big enough to be lethal. It was possible they were still babies when he last interacted with them without some safety feature between them.

Barry closed the outside gate and scrambled to pull the young man out of the enclosure while Owen continued to talk to the raptors and yell at the rangers.

'He hasn't played with us in a long time,' Charlie said. 'He came in. Echo, Alpha is in home with us.'

Echo was happily eating the pig and barely spared a glance. She was too happy to have a taste of warm blood. "I'm not sharing. My kill."

'I can still take him,' Delta said with a thread of competitiveness as she shifted to the side, trying to get in Owen's blind spot. 'I'm bigger now. I'll win now!'

'Stay right where you are,' Blue ordered, although her gaze didn't leave Owen's as he ordered them to back up.

'I want to play,' Delta argued.

Blue snapped at her a little.

"Hey! Hey what did I just say? Delta, I see you. Back up."

'This is not play to him, dear,' Joanne couldn't help saying. She didn't want to reveal how easy it would be for them to kill the man if they didn't know already. She hadn't seen enough of their personalities to know if Delta would be willing to kill her father for the role of head of the pack.

It was unlikely Blue would allow it, though.

However, Joanne could tell they were confused as to why their parent defended the other human. They didn't recognize any of the other humans around them as part of their pack so Owen's interruption seemed strange to them.

They hadn't hissed or snarled at Barry when the man briefly entered to grab the trespasser. He was an ally to them it seemed, though it was uncertain if they thought he had a definitive place in the pack.

"Okay, good. Good. Charlie? Stay right there. Good," Owen changed tones to talk to Barry. "Close the gate."

"Are you crazy?!"

"Just trust me. Close the gate!"

"Merde," Barry cussed under his breath, sweating as he hit the button.

What on earth was Mr. Grady doing?

The gate continued to close while Owen didn't look away from the raptors. At the last possible moment, he dove for the quickly shrinking gap.

The sharp movement startled Blue, Delta, and Charlie and they dove for the gate in an attempt to follow, clanging into the bars.

Charlie shook the ringing away as she stumbled back.

Delta growled as she did the same. 'I don't understand.'

Blue was quiet as she got up and walked away, shaking her head and looking back at the gate at Owen, still confused. She lifted her head.

'Were we supposed to follow?'

Joanne blinked as Blue's gaze locked on hers.

'You're the same kind of other as Alpha,' Blue said, aggressively. 'But you don't smell like them. You understand him, and you understand us. Were we supposed to follow?'

'No, dear,' Joanne said.

Blue stared for a moment longer before walking away.

Joanne didn't bother herself with why the young dinosaur had no other questions. She hadn't meant to speak to them. It was a lot for them to deal with. They were learning a lot of new things today with no way for her to properly explain just yet. She wasn't even sure how she could get the chance to. She wasn't staying on the island for long…

She understood the young raptor's suspicion, though.

Blue likely was concerned that Joanne might be a threat that was far too close to her and her sisters for comfort. They were used to tolerating humans that were not friends hanging around and getting their smell on everything. But Joanne knew her presence scared them a little with the novelty. Nothing that looked like a human was able to speak to them in a way they understood.

Delta stuck her nose into the bars, snarling at the boy as the other two also stared at him, irritated he was the cause of their confusion, the lost chance with their parent, and the pain from running into the gate.

"Don't ever turn your back on the cage," Owen said as he patted the boy's shoulder and left.

Joanne looked down from the walkway over the other side of the railing. She could see Owen eye Hoskins as the man smirked and left. She saw him walk away until he was out of sight from the raptors before heaving out a relieved breath as Barry slapped him on the back.

Echo continued with her meal, refusing to share as Charlie wiggled closer with her head low and begged for a piece, purring. Delta sat down next to Charlie and licked her younger sister's snout where she had run into the gate.

Echo didn't say anything, a little disappointed she was so focused on the food that she hadn't even noticed Alpha had been inside. She decided not to worry about it any longer. She had her prize. She caught it on her own, therefore it was hers to share if she wanted.

After another moment, she nudged the carcass a little closer to Delta and Charlie, the latter enthusiastically started chewing on a leg while Delta was a little more hesitant. Echo had made the kill by herself, after all.

Blue continued to pace, keeping an eye on everyone and wary of any other stupid "others" who fell into their home. She glanced up at the older other who didn't smell like the others. The old female continued to watch them from above but didn't speak anymore.

Eventually, Blue watched another other approach the strange female. They made their noises.

'Break. Lunch. Jeep. Back. Park.' Blue recognized those words but not much else. She still wasn't sure what most of those meant, except for "lunch." She knew that meant food, at least. Maybe the stranger would tell her what the other words meant.

The stranger's words were easier to distinguish from the noise, but the stranger left after one more long look at Blue and her sisters.

Blue huffed into a patch of plants, disappointed as she laid down to rest, curling up in the sun a few steps away from her sisters. Echo offered some of the food but Blue was not hungry. She'd take some if there was any left when the other three were finished. It was too small for a proper meal.

Author's Note:

So things are really getting interesting. I hope this answers some questions about the dinosaurs' sapience or at least Blue's intelligence. If you can't tell, Ms. Moynihan is my favorite character to write. This chapter was very heavy on the introspective stuff and not so much on action. I know some people might find that boring but I hope I pulled it off here. But don't worry. There should be plenty of action coming.

I'd love to hear where you think I'm going to go with the story now that I've established the raptors as actual characters.