Notes
Hypothetical casting:
Gaia Weiss as Sophie de Mafart
Soundtrack suggestions:
Sophie's visit:
- Mrs. M. Coulter — Lorne Balfe, The Musical Anthology of His Dark Materials (Up to 01:00).
-o-
Meanwhile, far in the northwest, several employees of the World De-extinction Monitoring Center were gathered around the coffee machine and chatting. Their main topic of conversation was the progress of the situation with the stolen InGen animals.
Indeed, during the night of the 5th to the 6th, after having received a call from a mysterious contact, the police had found part of them in a warehouse located near the international airport of San Francisco, but unfortunately the two thugs in charge of watching them had fled before they could be caught and questioned about the fate of the others, probably already sent to unknown destinations, probably abroad. Shortly after, an InGen Security team arrived at the scene and thanked the police for their intervention before taking the retrieved animals to the headquarters in Palo Alto. When questioned by the press the same morning, Edward Torres had declared that his teams were doing their utmost to find the others, that InGen had their well-being at heart and used other arguments which sounded false for those who distrusted the corporation and its most notable representatives, and who knew that it was above all their market value which mattered to them. While the WDMC knew that it was representatives of small species that had been stolen, they did not know which had been found and which were still missing, as InGen had not yet communicated this information.
At the same moment, a young woman sporting a crop entered the center, took off her sunglasses to hang them on the collar of her blue blouse, and headed to the reception desk.
"Hello," the receptionist said to her.
"Hello. Is Guillaume Vuillier there?" The newcomer asked with a strong French accent.
"Let me check."
Having heard them, Peggy went to meet the woman. She was impressed by her appearance. Barely thirty years old, she had a slender and athletic body of tall stature. Without the high heels which exaggerated the latter, she was still almost six feet tall. She was taller than Guillaume and a lot of the WDMC employees. Her beauty, her graceful yet muscular body and her blond hair made her look like a Viking warrior in the eyes of the assistant.
"Hello Mrs, I'm his assistant," Peggy said. "Mr. Vuillier is there but he is busy. Who do I need to announce?"
The woman turned to her and tilted her thin, angular face down to look at her.
"Lieutenant Sophie de Mafart," the newcomer replied confidently. "I am an old friend of his."
Peggy was even more impressed when she learned that this woman was not only a soldier or a policewoman, but also someone of aristocratic origin. Although her knowledge of the French language and culture was not very deep, it seemed to her in any case that the particle De in a family name indicated a noble ancestry.
"Okay, I'll lead you to his office."
Sophie de Mafart started to follow her and while she walked beside her, Peggy couldn't help but feel intimidated... Not only their guest was an officer and seemed to be able to easily overpower any scoundrel, either by force or by ruse, but in addition to the great assurance in her haughty gait, there was also a certain form of arrogance. De Mafart walked with her chin slightly raised and took long strides, almost forcing Peggy to trot in order to keep the pace. It was as if the Frenchwoman was advancing on conquered territory and that she considered herself superior to the other people around her.
She's probably from a rich family. I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. She reminds me of some girls from college, the assistant thought.
When the door to Guillaume's office appeared, other thoughts crossed her mind.
I hope it's not an ex of his. Or worse, the woman he's currently seeing. He thinks he's discreet but the little mouse which I am has noticed his sometimes dreamy look and the bags he has under his eyes on some mornings.
She went to knock on the door.
"Yes?" Said the voice of the director of the CSMD.
"Guillaume. You have a visitor."
"Who?"
"A young…"
"Une vieille amie!" the visitor interjected.
"Sophie?" The director said aloud in a surprised tone, recognizing her voice.
They heard him get up and walk towards the door.
"Mais qu'est-ce que tu fous là?" he asked in astonishment when he opened it.
Looking at her superior's expression, Peggy knew it had been a while since he'd seen the woman, but he was pleasantly surprised to see her.
Doesn't look like to be his girlfriend, his hookup or whatever. Phew. A guy like him deserves better, she thought.
"J'ai appris que tu bossais ici maintenant. Je passais dans le coin et je me suis dit que je pourrais peut-être passer te dire bonjour," Sophie replied.
Guillaume moved away from the doorway and stretched an arm his office in a welcoming gesture.
"Ben entre," he told her. "Thank you, Peggy," he said to his assistant.
Sophie walked into her friend's office and he closed the door behind them. He gestured to the chair in front of his desk.
"Please sit down."
While he walked around his desk to sit in his chair, Sophie tilted her head to the side to look at his computer screen. She noticed that it showed an article about the odyssey of four survivors of the fall of Isla Nublar, four teenagers who were staying at some Camp Cretaceous when the volcano awoke and unleashed its long-contained fury. In the photo associated with the article, taken weeks after the disaster, just after they were brought back to the mainland, she saw said teenagers. There were two rather skinny boys, aged fifteen, one was African American and the other Caucasian with brown hair and a narrow face; a sixteen-year-old Costa Rican girl, rather burly with shoulder-length hair; and the eldest of the group, aged seventeen, was a girl of Middle Eastern descent, with long black hair and a slender, athletic body. The article also mentioned two other teenagers, who did not make it and whose photos were posted below. There was a fifteen-year-old girl with pink-coloured hair, and a seventeen-year-old tall, slim Japanese-American boy.
Sophie also noticed that Guillaume had highlighted some parts in the article and she thought she saw the word poaching in one of them.
"What are you working on?" she asked him.
"A story about dinosaur poaching in a post-apocalyptic Isla Nublar," he replied, putting his glasses back on. "According to those kids, some cases occurred one to two weeks after the park's fall."
"They were still on the island? I thought all the surviving visitors were evacuated on Christmas Day."
"Yes. They did not evacuate because they ended up in the northern part of the island after a whole combination of circumstances and had to take hurriedly take refuge in a bunker when an entire section of Mount Sibo slid and created a powerful shock wave which would have pulverized them if they had stayed in the open. They remained underground for several days and what they went through, and saw, there nearly drove them to madness. Some dinosaurs which looked like more like demons from the abyss than anything according to their testimonies. Then they had misadventures with free-roaming dinosaurs and poachers, and had to flee by boat to the Five Deaths to escape the latter. And there too they had problems… The four there escaped by the skin of their teeth."
"Quite a story."
Guillaume clicked the minimize button and the article disappeared from the screen, leaving only the desktop. He then sat back in his chair and looked at his friend, crossing his fingers.
"I learned through your father that you joined the DGSE," he told her. "Congratulations."
"Thanks."
"How is Jean-Yves, he hasn't retired yet?"
"My father is doing fine, thank you. He still has a few years ahead of him before retirement. After all of his good and loyal service, I think Interpol would like to keep him a little longer."
"I think so too. I'm glad he's doing well."
He paused and then asked:
"Since you work for the secret services of our dear country now, did you met Jupiter first of his name in person?"
Sophie smirked.
"No not yet. There are intermediaries between us.
"Have you done any missions?"
"Some."
"Where, if you don't mind?" He asked, raising an eyebrow teasingly.
She laughed and shook her head.
"State secret, Guillaume," she replied. "If I tell you too much, I will be forced to kill you. You don't want to end up in the bay, feeding the fish? I might even make your death look like an accident. You were on the quays bottle in hand, you drank too much and hop, you fell into the water and you drowned. Easy as pie."
He smiled and then let out a chuckle.
"Are you on a mission now?"
"Nope. I'm just having a vacation."
"When did you arrive?"
"A few days ago. I'm staying at a friend's place. He's an expatriate, like you."
"Interesting."
Out of the corner of his eye, Guillaume saw a notification appear in the corner of his screen, telling him that he had just received an email. Sophie saw a glimmer appear in his eyes and he quickly opened the email.
"You got some good news?" she asked.
"Yes. A friend has just informed me that her worries were solved. Some issues with the local authorities."
"A friend you say?"
The WDMC director slightly lowered his head to look into her eyes over the lenses of his glasses.
"Yes, a friend," he insisted. "And actually more of a professional-related relationship than a true friend. You see," he added after a silence, "she has a child and a man, a big guy who handled very dangerous animals. And they love each other, deeply. He'd bone me like a chicken if he found out I have feelings for his woman. He seems to be a nice guy but when you see him in front of you, you don't want to piss him off, believe me. And I'm not hunting on somebody else's territory."
"Your ex-wife might not agree with that part..."
Guillaume bit his lip and sighed.
"Don't bring this misunderstanding back to the table, please."
"Sorry…" Sophie said with a smile. "When do you finish?"
"At five-thirty."
Sophie looked at the time: It was about a quarter past four. One hour and a quarter left.
"Do you have a lot of work?" she asked.
"Oh yes. Right now I mostly have to keep an eye on the end of InGen's Operation Fallen Kingdom."
"Yeah, I saw that on the news. They're going to sell their dinosaurs to zoos during an evening at some old-timer's mansion somewhere upstate. It's next week, right?"
"Indeed. In fact, I went there a week and a half ago. I talked with the old-timer as you say; the manager of his foundation, who seems to be quite phoney by the way; and a certain geneticist with a somewhat…controversial reputation."
"Professor Henry Wu?" She guessed. "InGen's chief scientist? The one who managed to recreate the dinosaurs more than thirty years ago? The creator of the Indominus rex?"
Guillaume nodded.
"You also meet eminent personalities in your work," she added.
"Yeah, and a lot of them are jerks and morons," he said wearily. "And people are surprised that incidents occurs when that kind of specimens can be found in high positions..."
While watching him, Sophie began to touch the edge of his penholder with her fingertips.
"Why so much gloom? You have a quiet job and a rather good pay I suppose, the worst is behind you. If I believe my father, you saw enough when you were younger."
"You wouldn't believe it, but we are living in a pivotal time. The world is changing, and I'm not sure I like the direction it's taking..." he said seriously.
"If you say so."
After a moment of silence, Sophie added:
"If you have a lot of work, I will not bother you any longer."
"For how long are you staying in San Francisco?" he asked. "We could meet later if you want to talk."
"Yeah, I was thinking about it. But you could come and have dinner with me and Nicolas tonight. If you are free, of course."
"I am."
"Come on, I invite you."
"Okay cool. Where will it be? At his place or elsewhere?"
"In some restaurant. We're going downtown tonight. We have not yet decided where exactly. Give me your number, so I can tell you where and when. I'll let you know before the end of your day."
Shortly after, they got up and Guillaume accompanied his friend to the building's exit.
Notes
About the campers:
Compared to their versions from the Netflix show, the campers are two years older. Since I imply that the events they went through are much more dramatic than those of the show (and this is without mentioning the deaths of Brooklynn and Kenji who, of course, survive in the official canon), I decided to make them older in order to "sweeten the pile" (Just like Game of Thrones made the Stark children and Daenerys older compared to their book equivalents because of some scenes).