Prompt #4 Control

Dennis Loves Chaos Theory Because…

Dennis Nedry sat at the far end of the table in InGen's conference room located in the visitor center. As usual, he sat by himself. Ray Arnold, Robert Muldoon, Gerry Harding, and Henry Wu sat grouped together at the opposite end. Donald Gennaro entered the room followed by John Hammond. Nedry turned in their direction: Gennaro was whispering furiously to Hammond, who was walking at a brisk pace while leaning on his cane.

"I don't want him here, Donald. I told you why already."

"You don't have a choice. At least hear him out. You don't have to agree with anything he says, just listen."

Hammond waved his hand, dismissing Gennaro's advice. They sat together and faced the InGen staff.

"We have a…" Hammond searched for the right words. "A special visitor coming today to speak with us about our project."

"Who—?" Wu started to ask when suddenly the door swung open.

A tall lanky man dressed in black clothing from head to toe, waltzed into the conference room.

He wasted no time in introducing himself. "Dr. Ian Malcolm, mathematician. I specialize in chaos theory."

Before Hammond offered him a seat, Malcolm joined them at the table. He had an uncanny air of confidence about him. A certain smugness, and yet, he also seemed quirky. Eccentric. Nedry watched as Hammond flashed a forced smile that came off more like a grimace of pain.

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to Dr. Malcolm," Hammond said, trying to keep his voice even. "He's one of my consultants for the Jurassic Park project."

Gennaro rested his hand on Hammond's shoulder, encouraging him to remain calm, and then invited everyone to introduce themselves. Wu started, followed by Harding, then Arnold, and finally Muldoon. When it came to Nedry, he mumbled about designing the computer systems for Jurassic Park.

Malcolm was eager to get started. He opened his soft leather briefcase (also black in color) and passed out papers to everyone seated at the table. "I'm sure John told you that I act like a rock star, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I'm here to tell you why you should stop everything you're doing."

He paused to see their reactions. Arnold sent Malcolm a blank stare. Harding turned the paper over. Wu appeared dumbfounded. Muldoon maintained his usual icy expression. Hammond was shaking his head while Gennaro whispered furiously to him. Nedry was the only one who appeared interested.

"We should stop everything we're doing?" Arnold repeated.

"Yes! I'm gonna cut straight to the chase. Usually, uh, I'd give you a lecture for hours, but I'm on a strict timetable and must get back to the University of Texas by this time tomorrow."

"The sooner, the better," Hammond muttered under his breath.

Nedry's eyebrows rose, interested in that little tidbit. He didn't think anyone else caught it, but it was apparent Malcolm did because he let out of a self-assured chuckle.

"And why do we have to stop?" Wu folded his arms across his chest. "We've come this far, and you're saying we should stop now?"

Nedry thought Wu sounded defensive.

"Small changes in complex systems can have big, unpredictable effects. What you're attempting here—uh, you, meaning all of you—" Malcolm waved his hand in an inclusive gesture. "It's simply not possible. What you're building here, what you're developing is an intricate maze of complex systems."

"Okay, and?" Arnold wasn't impressed.

Nedry glanced in his direction and saw that Arnold was already mentally shutting down.

Malcolm finally just said it straight out. "You're creating a theme park of dinosaurs. This is a complex undertaking—"

"It's simple," Hammond said. "There's nothing complex about it."

Malcolm shook his head as though he felt sorry that Hammond had it all wrong, and he said as much. "You have it all wrong, John. There's nothing simple about what you're doing. Your staff is bringing back dinosaurs to a time they aren't familiar with. Placing them in a park setting, acting like they know and understand dinosaurs' behavior, and then going off on this wild idea that somehow, they will be able to control it all."

"We can, and we will," Arnold said.

Nedry had been reviewing the equations on the paper Malcolm handed out. He found it intriguing—and he also was amazed at how defensive Arnold was. Maybe because Arnold was an engineer and had experience with theme parks.

"You can't control nature, just like you can't control the animals. This entire project is unstable to begin with," Malcolm continued. "This park, this island—this control you think you have—it's not real. It's all an illusion that's blinding you to the truth. You see what you want to see."

Hammond bolted from his seat. "Of course it's real!"

Ooooo, you're triggered, John! Nedry bit down on his tongue. Usually, he would spit out exactly what he was thinking. This time though, he was satisfied to watch Hammond get all riled up. Nedry wished he had popcorn to munch on during this meeting, so he could sit back and be entertained by having a front row seat watching Malcolm burst Hammond's bubble.

Gennaro urged Hammond to sit down, and he did so, albeit slowly.

"The truth is an inconvenience, but it doesn't mean you should disregard it," Malcolm continued. "To do so would be at your own peril."

"And what 'truth' do you mean, Dr. Malcolm," Gennaro asked.

"Jurassic Park is an accident waiting to happen."

An uncomfortable silence filled the conference room.

"And how do you know that?" Arnold pressed.

"It's chaos theory," Malcolm said, his tone was matter-of-fact.

"What the bloody hell is chaos theory?" Muldoon asked.

Harding nodded in agreement with Muldoon's question.

Malcolm rubbed his palms together, clearly excited that he was about to delve into—or more so, preach about—his favorite topic. "It goes back to small changes in complex systems having big, unpredictable effects. The control you have here that you're all attempting isn't real and it's not possible. Life cannot be contained. It can't be contained in a fictitious setting such as this island."

"I think you've outdone your welcome," Gennaro started, but Malcolm continued as though he hadn't said anything.

"I'm just getting started…"

For the next hour, Malcolm lectured them. He freely offered his expertise on chaos theory. The more he went on, the angrier Hammond became. He sat with his fists clenched and a heaving chest as though he was keeping all his rage inside and that it would burst forth at any second.

Nedry thought it was funny that Hammond was losing control of himself. It was ironic, given that usually Nedry couldn't control his own mouth. He imagined having friendly banter with Malcolm about mathematics, chaos theory, complex systems, algorithms—and Hammond and the rest of the InGen staff getting all agitated and crawling on the walls. This time, though, he didn't have to spout out a single snide remark. Instead, he let Malcolm do all the talking. Nedry knew right then that he loved chaos theory. And what he loved most wasn't that Malcolm was raining on Hammond's parade—he was unapologetically shitting on it!