Jurassic Park: The Broken Lives Saga by Dinohunter55
Introduction: A Timeline of Broken Lives and Broken Dreams
The late twentieth century witnessed a plethora of new ideas and new technologies, all of which tied into the human need to delve headlong into the abyss of the unknown in pursuit of enlightenment, influence, or simply greed. But to those unwary souls who dive so recklessly into the depths of imagination and knowledge to plunder its vast treasures the great titan of unforeseen consequences nestles in wait. Yet even the most diligent, with preparation and careful planning, may yet enter the abyss and return with great treasures that will change the world only to unknowing bring with them the seeds of their own destruction for the titan has infinite forms.
It was in this way that a biotechnology company as ambitious as International Genetic Technologies, Inc. would arise from the shadows and leave its mark on history.
It began with a man and an idea. The man was John Parker Hammond. He was born March 14, 1928 in Edinburgh, Scotland. And what idea could he have had that would so fundamentally change the world? In 1951, he asked himself a simple thing whose consequences would reshape the future. What if ancient life could be brought back from extinction? The rapidly expanding fields of genetics and computer science provided the key that unlocked the answer. Yes it could and he would be the one to make it happen.
And so in 1975, John Hammond established International Genetic Technologies, Inc. in San Diego, California, United States of America. It was not until 1981 when the first breakthrough occurred. A young scientist by the name of Dr. Laura Sorkin provided a proof of concept that extinct DNA could be extracted from mosquitoes trapped in amber. Abracadabra! The genie was out of the bottle.
With a proof of concept in hand, John Hammond raised money from wealthy investors that saw the potential and profits such ambition could reach. In 1982, InGen leased the largest island of the Las Cinco Muertes archipelago from the Costa Rican government for 99 years. In 11 months Isla Sorna became the most powerful genetics facility in the entire world. The following year, a young scientist prodigy gained the attention of InGen for his undergraduate thesis at MIT. Dr. Henry Wu was brought in to the Jurassic Park project and proposed accelerating the rate at which dinosaurs could be made by filling in the sequence gaps with amphibian, avian, and reptile DNA. This method would be faster, easier, and more cost efficient than the method proposed by Dr. Sorkin that required the whole genome to be painstakingly stitched back together from fragments found through hundreds if not thousands of pieces scattered across time. Ultimately, this contributed to InGen choosing Dr. Wu to be the chief geneticist over Dr. Sorkin, a choice that sowed some division within the staff and fostered enmity in the hearts of a few.
Construction of Jurassic Park San Diego began in 1983. The curious nature of secrecy behind the park's construction drew the attention of InGen's rival companies around this time. But the true nature of the park remained hidden despite several attempts of espionage. While InGen awaited the completion of the Isla Sorna facilities, a secret laboratory provided the foundation stone where the first prehistoric creature resurrected in the safety of an artificial ovum, a beginning but not an end.
John Hammond's dream and ambition grew. In 1985, he canceled construction of Jurassic Park San Diego in favor of something far grander. And so he leased Isla Nublar along with the other islands in the Las Cinco Muertes archipelago. He had a dream and he spared no expense, permitted no failure.
The Isla Nublar and Las Cinco Muertes acquisition was not without controversy however. Several Bribri tribes lived on the islands. It would not be until 1987 that the last of the tribe was resettled to the mainland by the Costa Rican government. Rumors persisted for years about the backdoor deals that the sped up the process and the legal cases quietly swept aside within the judicial system.
While these troubles delayed the construction of Jurassic Park until 1988, InGen overcame its greatest hurtle and on April 24, 1986 the first dinosaur hatched on the Isla Sorna Site B facilities. This was a time of celebration and yet it was also a time of problems. Dr. Wu's method of filling in sequence gaps caused complications in addition to those bound to arise when bringing species back from extinction. Disease, mutation, infant mortality plagued the dinosaurs. Only a fraction of a percent of dinosaurs proved viable enough to hatch. Even then, few lived long enough to mature. Dr. Wu and his team would improve upon the dinosaurs over the coming years until they had animals sufficient to display to the public.
As Jurassic Park neared completion in 1993, an incident occurred that brought major construction to a halt and placed the future of Jurassic Park in limbo. Investors demanded an inquiry into the safety of the park and so a team of experts was assembled. The events that followed ended in tragedy and in time would ultimately break InGen as they slipped towards Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The occurrence was covered up and the parties involved paid off. Though some spoke out and suffered the destruction of career and association in the media.
InGen's bad luck persisted as later that same year Hurricane Clarissa forced the evacuation of Isla Sorna. More lawsuits followed for the few who never made it off the island on the day of evacuation or suffered great injury in the chaos. The dinosaurs were left to expire without human intervention. But they survived and thrived in the world without humans.
Yet inevitably, humans would return. Whether from rumored riches, malicious intent, or simply accident, the lost and the damned would make their way to Isla Sorna. The islands suffered no trespassers lightly. The jungles swallowed most and they were lost forever beneath the dark canopies. However, some survived but were irrevocably changed by the events.
What follows is an account of the lives of just a few of those forgotten souls and the strange and wondrous tales they lived on the secluded islands of the Las Cinco Muertes archipelago.