CHAPTER 95
Dr. Conners stood at the top of a metal staircase overlooking the hatchery. The long room with its high ceilings felt less like a place that was breathing new life into the world and more like the assembly line in a car factory. Large robotic arms extended down the center from above, reaching out to round shallow basins on either side. Each was about five feet wide and filled with neatly placed dinosaur eggs. The arms moved with a delicate touch, turning each egg. When one arm had rotated every egg within a basin a clear glass bubble would cover the artificial nest, and the arm would move on.
Three lab technicians with clipboards paced the center aisle, monitoring the eggs and jotting down information. There was scarcely a time when the labs were totally unoccupied. Dr. Conners had visited them at strange hours, and there was always someone around.
One of the technicians noticed Dr. Conners and uprighted himself from leaning over one of the basins. The man looked very involved in what he was doing. The expression on his face was one that said, I know I ought to be helpful, but I wish you wouldn't bother me. He looked around the lab. Dr. Conners couldn't tell if the tech was trying to look for someone or something that he predicted Dr. Conners was in need of, or if he was just hoping someone else would step up and address the doctor before he did. The other two techs kept their eyes to their clipboards and continued to scratch away with fine tipped pens. It was like an unspoken game of chicken, where the first person to give in to their conscience and be helpful was the looser.
The technician hugged his clipboard to his crisp white lab coat and said, "If you're looking for Dr. Wu he's with the new prototypes." Dropping his chin back to his clipboard he didn't even wait for Dr. Conners to give so much as a nod.
Dr. Conners shrugged and rolled his eyes. Many of the lab technicians were never very personable while they worked. He had grown accustomed to the deep over involvement with which they faced their tasks.
Dr. Conners followed a catwalk that stretched over the egg basins to the other end of the hatchery. Here there was a door with a stenciled sign that read: PROTOTYPES TESTING AND EVALUATION. Few people other than the lab technicians had access to the labs and the hatchery. Even fewer had access to the prototypes. When the viable hatchling of a new species was attained it immediately was transferred to the prototypes division, where it was raised in isolation. Dr. Conners was one of the few permitted to see the new specimens. It was his job to study and document each species to determine its behaviors, nutritional and environmental requirements, and hazards. From there he collaborated with Ms. Murdock to develop security measures and procedures. This task was particularly important when dealing with a species that did not match anything in the fossil record or where little material was provided.
Dr. Conners swiped his access card through a reader next to the door and the lock disengaged. He entered onto another catwalk that circumscribed the interior of a much larger room. Its likeness was akin to that of a gutted warehouse. Exposed steel I-beams held up the ceiling and walls. Ventilation fans whirred up in the rafters, controlling the temperature and humidity. Down below there was a sparse jungle-like terrain that had been sectioned off into three separate indoor paddocks that had zero exposure to the outside world save for rows of large skylights in the roof. At night the indoor paddocks were kept dimly lit to maintain an evening ambiance.
Dr. Conners peered over the railing to spy for the prototypes. It was about thirty feet down. The building had been reconfigured to meet the specifications of each new specimen that it held. He remembered when they had three full sized brachiosaurs roaming around inside its walls. As large as the structure was they had made it seem a lot smaller.
Dr. Conners leaned over a little more. In the nearest enclosure he spotted movement among a cluster of trees. He could just make out a shape in the darkness. Two eyes shimmered back at him. The creature came forward but hugged the shadows. A chill ran down Bryce's spine. The dinosaur below was like something from a nightmare, comparable to a demonic specter. Dr. Conners wished now more than ever that they had never created them, now that they had matured and he had come to realize what they were. That truth compounded by all the disaster that had ensued gave him a new found fear for what these prototypes were capable of.
"Dr. Conners, I expected you might pay our new acquisitions a visit after all that's transpired."
Bryce looked up to see Dr. Henry Wu coming his way. He had a small neutral smile on his face, the kind that worked to mask what he was really thinking.
Dr. Conners nodded. "Henry."
"I can assure you everything is under control here." Dr. Wu maintained his smile. "Despite certain unforeseen circumstances we've been experiencing with a small number of our assets you know as well as I do that these prototypes are monitored more thoroughly than any other creatures on this island. There's certainly no danger here."
"You can understand my concern, Henry. There's a strong chance these utahraptors may begin to exhibit the same issues down the road. We still don't understand how or why its happening with the others."
"Exactly, Dr. Conners. We don't know nearly enough about what we're dealing with yet to start panicking about problems that aren't there. For now let's take it one step at a time, shall we."
Bryce knew that the three utahraptors were kept isolated from one another and that the chances of unauthorized breeding among them was far from plausible, but still he was not convinced that everything was "under control." If it were up to him he'd have had them destroyed already. "Actually, I came to speak with you." Bryce was almost sullen when he talked, but it seemed to go unnoticed.
"Perfect. As a matter of fact I have something for you. Perhaps it'll put your mind on something else for a while." Dr. Wu handed him a manila folder. "It's about our unclassified therapod. One of our field workers believes a team of paleontologists may have found a fossil match in Argentina."
Dr. Conners barely thumbed through the file before tucking it aside. He gave Dr. Wu a serious look. It was met with another neutral expression that only differed by lack of the previous smile.
"Bryce, I understand how upset you must be. Believe me. I feel the same way."
"Fourteen people are dead, Henry! A child is dead! You have no idea."
"I extend my deepest sympathies. What more do you want from me?"
"Are you kidding me right now? In two days Mr. Hammond is going to be giving a tour that'll decide the fate of this whole project. You have to convince him to pull the plug. We're not ready. This place is dangerous. The park is dangerous."
Dr. Wu let out a laugh that was a shy step from being the cackle of a mad scientist. "A delay now would kill the company. Do you have any idea how much we've invested in this island resort? We have to push forward."
"With fourteen people dead Mr. Hammond must already have consternations about going through with any of it."
"Mr. Hammond hasn't been informed."
"What are you talking about? He's the head of the god damned company. How has he not been informed?"
Dr. Wu maintained a neutral composure and somehow came off both cheery and condescending, however the cheery bit was more like Hannibal Lecter right before he killed and ate somebody. "Dr. Conners, I appointed you special privileges because I believed you and I shared a similar drive and enthusiasm for the project." He paused. "Our investors aren't the only ones who've been shaken. There are those among the board of directors who believe that John Hammond isn't serving the best interests of INGEN."
"Wait a minute. What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that when Mr. Ludlow arrives I would advise you to keep your head down and your mouth shut."
"Mr. Ludlow is in charge of handling this crisis? This is total bullshit, Henry."
"I have work to do, Bryce. If there's nothing else?" Dr. Wu pushed past him and went for the door.
"Fourteen people in one day, Henry. Are you just gonna let it get worse? Why the hell not just open up all the cages and set everything loose? And what the hell happens when these things get out?" Bryce pointed down into the paddocks below. "You think the velociraptors have created a shit show? Just wait!"
Dr. Wu paused at the door. "We're just smoothing out the wrinkles, Dr. Conners. And when I get to Isla Nublar I'm going to put on my most convincing smile and tell Mr. Hammond that everything is absolutely copacetic." Dr. Wu reached for the door. "Get some rest, Dr. Conners. You look tired."