Matthew Pike felt equal parts excited and curious as he strolled down the path that led down from Novum's Florida headquarters to a nearby airfield, his sandy blonde hair agleam in the light of the sun as he descended calmly along. At this time, he'd been selected to serve as one of two co-managers for the mystery facility in Sarasota, Florida. And while he didn't know the exact details, he had to admit that this'd be a good opportunity to start again… something he knew he needed, given the events the last few years. Theodore had known this too – a "fresh start" were the words he'd used.

He nodded his head. He'd first joined Novum as part of their conservation and environmentalism unit several years ago – after a sponsorship meeting with Fish and Wildlife, Theodore had asked him to join up. Whilst he'd done quite well over the course of his time in the position… other things had complicated factors – which had been a contributor to him accepting the transfer to the 'mystery facility'. The memory of this nickname got a brief chuckle out of him; after all, it was unoriginal… but it was apt. All but the most high-ranked of people knew the facility's true purpose – its site reports shared with a high degree of confidentiality, its assets hidden to all but the board and a few people in the highest echelons.

He shook his head side to side to clear his thoughts. Now was not the time to overthink the whole business. After all, as curious as he'd been about the project, he'd learned from his days as a Green Beret that sometimes it was better to just stay quiet. And besides, he'd find out soon. And with that in mind, he directed his full attention towards the airfield as he finally reached the entrance. Upon entry, he started looking carefully around him, hoping that he was still on time. "Right then, my flight should still be here," he muttered under his breath. He continued looking around as he walked, looking for the plane that would be taking him there. Which plane was it again...?

"You son of a gun."

Eyes widening in surprise at this sudden oddly familiar voice, he turned his head to the left just in time to see another man his age with dark brown hair and vaguely brownish looking hazel eyes standing nearby with a giddy smile on his face. Chuckling, the dark haired man shook his head side to side in bemusement. "You actually got hired to work at the mystery facility." At this, Matthew couldn't help smirked amusedly, "Nice to see you too, Edgar."

Edgar Miller chuckled, clearly still quite happy indeed to see his old friend from their time in school together as he walked the remaining distance between them and extended his right hand as if for a handshake. "Man, it's been forever since we last talked," he said. "Got that right," Matthew stated as he grabbed onto Edgar's outstretched hand and gave it a nice firm handshake. "Has it been what, three years? It feels like thirty." Edgar snorted, "Yeah – it's weird." He then raised his eyebrow. "And I'm glad to see you looking so well after… everything that happened."

"Glad to see you boys catching up."

At this, the two men turned their heads to see a woman their age with honey blonde hair and sky blue eyes standing nearby with her hands on her hips and a warm smile on her face as she walked into view and came to a stop directly next to Edgar. "Small world ain't it?"

Matthew chuckled, already nodding his head as he recognized Marisa Scott, whom he'd met at college alongside Edgar. He then looked to Edgar, "Nice to see we'll all be working together at the mystery facility." Edgar nodded his head, "Got that right." He looked at Marisa, a warm smile on his own face as he looked towards her, placing an arm over her shoulders in a gesture of companionship. "Man, it's gonna be so fun." Marisa chuckled, "Just like old times." Turning to Matthew, she sighed, "Wait, I'm sorry, I forgot – I'm glad to see you looking better. All this talk about 'old times' and 'fresh starts' - it must be hard not to think about… what happened."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Matthew stated, "All in the past." At this, Edgar silently nodded. "Right, of course," he said before looking to Marisa. "What plane did you say we were supposed to be taking again?" Marisa chuckled as if she'd been expecting them to forget. "Follow me boys," she said as she turned around and started walking towards the plane. "It should be around here somewhere."

. . . . .

Meanwhile...

"Don't you think you're taking this a little too personally?"

Jack Denham sighed as Drew gave him a dirty look. Drew had been sulking for the past three days – Drew's new co-managers and a couple of other people were flying over. They would be the first of an influx of new staff members for the pre-existing divisions – people transferred from various divisions of Novum. And Drew – who had not liked Theodore and the board's decision – had been sulking at this prospect the whole time.

Jack and Leon had been appointed the business of heading to two Novum-owned airfields and picking them up – one of them had been flown separately for reasons that weren't quite clear. And while Leon was waiting at the garage for the order, Jack had noticed that Drew seemed a bit sulky at the whole prospect. Sighing, Jack said, "The planes are going to be landing really soon, so Leon and I really don't have time for this…"

At this, Drew sighed. As much as he didn't like having to welcome his two colleagues, he supposed it was key to make a good impression. "Give them a Prehistoric Park welcome," he stated, clear exhaustion in his voice. Jack nodded, "As you wish fearless leader," he stated with clear relief in his voice before he then turned and left the office.

. . . . .

On the plane, Edgar, Marisa, and Matthew were currently recapping what they knew about the facility.

"So construction started two years ago right?" Matthew asked, wanting to make sure he remembered the information he had so far correctly. His two companions nodded. "Yup," said Marisa. "But we didn't get the announcement until a few months later," said Edgar, "that Novum were building a facility in Sarasota County, Florida. And after that...well...that's where things get odd."

"No kidding," said Matthew, shaking his head as he thought of all the bizarre and at times seemingly rather contradictory details he'd been given, "I mean, even with how much space some animals require, Novum's using a shitload of land for this facility. There's even resort facilities under construction." Edgar snorted in amusement. "Almost like they're building a theme park," he stated before nodding his head. "But yeah, I see what you mean. Hell, even the security precautions look like overkill."

"I'll say," said Marisa. "I mean seriously, they hired a freaking ex-Spetsnaz sniper for the head of security. That's not someone you hire just to deal with buffaloes."

Matthew whistled silently. "That last part's probably debatable," he muttered, "But point taken nonetheless." He nodded his head. "Not to mention...you two were hired for the facility's research division right?" Edgar and Marisa nodded. "That's correct," said Marisa. "There's not a problem with that, is there?" Edgar asked. Matthew shook his head. "No," he said in response to Edgar's question. "No problem at all. I'm just...well...perhaps you and Marisa may have noticed that an interest in the past seems to be almost like a recurring theme…" At this, Edgar and Marisa both thought to themselves. "Well now that you mention it…" Marisa eventually admitted, "It's like something out of a sci-fi novel…"

At this, Edgar couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, let's hope that this one has a good ending," he stated. This caused them to start laughing for a couple minutes before they finally regained their composure. "In all seriousness though," said Matthew, "It's definitely weird just how hushity-hush this all is." "I can certainly see what you mean," Edgar stated, directing a brief look out of the window. "I mean, why all this secrecy? What are they trying to hide?" Matthew sighed, "Well, I suppose we'll just have to hope that everything will be made clear once we've arrived."

. . . . .

On one of the park's nearby airfields, said additional co-manager had already arrived ahead of the other three new workers scheduled to arrive that day and was walking off the plane and looking for the person from the mystery facility who was picking her up. At 34 years of age, she appeared quite fit as she walked confidently in her chosen direction, her dark grey eyes narrowed determinedly and her dark black hair billowing lightly in the gentle Florida breeze. She'd been flown separately to the rest – she was hitching a ride with somebody who was running supplies. For some reason, they'd all been flown separately. And now, having arrived at her destination, she was eager to get a good look at the place.

Eventually, she took notice of a dark-haired young man, slightly shorter than her and with a slightly stocky build, standing right at the gate, a fake smile plastered on his face - he was nervous. As she walked towards him, the man offered his hand, "Hi – Jack Denham. As in I'm Jack Denham." The woman came to a stop, rolling her eyes in mock annoyance at the young man's faux pas, and said, "Jennifer Aratuk – you can call me Jenny." Jack gave her a confused look, "Aratuk? That's certainly not a surname you hear every day." Sighing, she said, "I have Inuit ancestry." Jack nodded absentmindedly, "Ah. I see."

Jenny mentally groaned. Already she could see how Jack was staring at her nervously, almost as if he expected her to rip his head off if he turned away for just a second. His eyes briefly looked towards her stomach, where her scar was exposed… before darting away and looking at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

Yeah, he was intimidated.

After a pause, Jack said, "Right, I've read your personnel file and I have established you and I are comically dissimilar. So… shall we head off to the facility?" Jenny sighed… this was going to be an awkward ride.

. . . . .

Meanwhile, at a separate airfield, the plane carrying Matthew, Edgar, and Marisa finally arrived. As they disembarked, Matthew, Edgar, and Marisa looked around, mild interest on their faces, in search of whoever would be greeting them. Marisa eventually was the first to notice a bespectacled and lanky young man somewhat shorter than them with brown hair and eyes, plus very lightly tanned fair skin, smiling awkwardly and standing at the airfield's main gate. "Think that's the guy?" Marisa asked. Matthew shook his head. "We were told a staff member was going to pick us up," he responded, "I think this is him." Edgar nodded, "Well let's not keep him waiting."

This decision made, the trio walked over to where the younger man was waiting and Matthew asked, "Are you Leon?" The man nodded, "I am. Nice to meet you everyone," he stated, rather nervously, "Drew sent me to pick you up – but, of course, you were already told that…" Edgar couldn't help but let a small smile come on his face - the younger man reminded him of himself. And so he accepted the offered handshake, "Again, it's a pleasure to meet you." Leon chuckled nervously. "I'm guessing you're one of the new co-managers?" Edgar chuckled, "Flattering, but no." He pointed at Matthew. "He is."

Nodding his head, Matthew stepped forward closer to Leon, a poker faced look on his face as he observed the younger man up and down as if trying to get a good read on him. So far Leon seemed pleasant enough – he was clearly intimidated… but he wasn't about to judge him too quickly. "Name's Matthew Pike," he stated as he shook Leon's hand, "And they are Edgar Miller and Marisa Scott." Marisa smiled and gave a slight wave, "Nice to meet you." Edgar nodded his head, "I trust the facility's not too far from here?"

Leon nodded his head. "Nope," he said before gesturing towards a nearby jeep. "I'm here to drive you… but, again, you already knew that. I know you've probably got quite a lot of questions about this place… but maybe it's better to be shown than told."

Matthew nodded, "In that case." He clasped his hands together, fingers intertwining in the process. "What are we waiting for?"

. . . . .

Fifteen minutes later, after driving down a maintenance Leon finally brought the jeep to a stop by a stand of trees inside a paddock designed to resemble a scrubland environment. Matthew, Edgar, and Marisa had initially made efforts at asking for explanations, but Leon had seemed rather diffident and evasive to every query – so they'd eventually decided to avoid the matter for the time being. And right now, they'd reached their destination – however, since Leon seemed to be mentally readying himself for something, they decided to quickly take the opportunity to get a good look at their surroundings while waiting.

Marisa looked curiously at a nearby cluster of ferns, "Hmm, interesting choice of plant."

Edgar, meanwhile, had his eyes narrowed in suspicion at the sight of some rather unusual footprints in the ground on the opposite side of the jeep. At first, he had thought they were elephant tracks – however, aside from the fact that they were much too large, the similarity was not borne on closer inspection. Interestingly, the front feet had a single large claw, with the hind feet having three claws – a morphology that he had seen before…

At the same time this was happening, Matthew scanned the air from his position in the front passenger's seat of the jeep and regarded what appeared to be four giant tree trunks, reddish tan coloured and with light yellow blotches… which was an unusual colour. Now feeling far too curious to stay silent, he turned to Leon...only to then pause right as he was about to speak when the nearest trunk moved about its axis…

Marisa, meanwhile was focused on the ferns. "Something's odd – plants have been extinct since the Jurassic..." Edgar suddenly placed his hand upon her head and turned it around to face the direction he and Matthew were looking, and for a brief moment she was confused about the sudden interruption...until her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

For it turned out, what they'd initially believed to be oddly coloured tree trunks were in fact not actually trees at all.

They were looking at the legs of an enormous creature, standing almost fifty feet high.

They were looking at a dinosaur.

. . . . .

"Oh my God," Marisa said as they all stared at the animal above the trees.

Her first thought was that the dinosaur was extraordinarily beautiful. Many portrayed them as lumbering, ungainly creatures, but this sauropod moved in a graceful, almost dignified manner. It moved rather like an elephant or a giraffe, with the surprising gracefulness, the silence and the effortlessness of these large animals. Most distinctively, its front legs were much longer than its back ones, giving it a lop-sided, front-heavy appearance. It had reddish-tan skin, with golden yellow patches. On its head was a little bump. On the top part of the neck, and the end of the tail, there were small spines, like an iguana.

Matthew was speechless – this defied all his expectations and he was shocked into silence. He could scarcely believe what he was looking at. This was what the facility had been keeping – dinosaurs. Actual damned dinosaurs.

Edgar, meanwhile, was looking at the animal, quiet with interest - because he was looking at something he had never expected to see in his life. Yet he was seeing it. The animal was clearly a brachiosaurid – a group of macronarian sauropods from the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous – of some kind, based on the longer front legs than back legs. From the size, it was probably either Brachiosaurus or Giraffatitan and from the slenderer build, he concluded it was the latter.

Edgar turned to Leon and said, "I'm guessing… Giraffatitan brancai?", to which Leon nodded, a slight smile on his face, "Yup. The name means 'titanic giraffe… but obviously, you already knew that. And, of course, this isn't the only one we have… not just more giraffatitan, but stuff in general…" He chuckled awkwardly, before saying, "Anyway… you probably want to know what happens next, so I'll take you to the main offices and you can meet Drew. He should be able to explain things better than I could." He then looked directly at Matthew, an awkward grimace on his face, "I should warn you though," he then stated. "He wasn't happy about your arrival."

At this, all three raised their eyebrows. "Does this apply to all three of us?" Marisa asked. Leon shook his head, "Oh no, not at all." He gestured at Marisa and Edgar, "You two, he seems fine with." He then gestured to Matthew, "You, however…"

At this, Matthew, Edgar, and Marisa looked into each other's eyes, a silent message passing between them… this was concerning. Then they looked back at Leon. "Well I'm a big boy," said Matthew, clear confidence in his voice. "I'm sure I'll be able to handle myself just fine." Edgar nodded, "Let's not keep the boss man waiting."

. . . . .

Jenny, meanwhile, was currently standing at a viewing area for a paddock that contained a large forest. The jeep that she'd ridden in was parked right behind them as they stood at the paddock. And for the time being, she hadn't seen any sign of… anything, really.

She turned to see Jack, twitching and fidgety. To tell the truth, she'd had her suspicions about the facility for a while – she'd initially assumed it was some kind of conservation centre. However, they had also hired researchers with a specific interest in extinct species – palaeontologists and so on. And the fact that they'd also had an oddly disproportionate amount of land set aside for the place, plans for building resort facilities, and an ex-sniper from the goddamn Spetsnaz as the place's chief of security certainly hadn't helped matters. Hell, even the project's name, 'Project Lazarus' or some other mumbo-jumbo, had seemed strangely melodramatic. She had hoped that she might be able to get some information when she'd been picked up.

However, this information was not forthcoming – Jack had been, almost deliberately, trying to talk about anything but the facility and its work. When she'd tried prodding it, he'd looked out the window as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. Jenny sighed – this had been a long, awkward ride. Sighing once more, she looked to Jack to ask him how much longer they'd be...only to pause at the sight of a sudden movement within the paddock from out the corner of her eye.

Intrigued, she looked to see a large animal standing in the clearing, browsing on the plants. However, its appearance was… odd: small head, thick neck, huge lumbering body, with a double row of pentagonal plates running along the crest of the back. Its tail held horizontally, with four vicious-looking spikes.

Jenny blinked.

It couldn't be.

Confused and dazed, her brain fumbled for the name of this creature, and it came back to her, all the way from childhood.

Stegosaurus.

It was a goddamn stegosaurus.

In her astonishment, her mind went back to the car ride with Jack, and on how evasive he had been when he tried to turn conversation to the topic of the facility's work. She'd had her suspicions about the place yes… But even now, confronted by a living stegosaur, her immediate reaction was that it must be a trick – a man in a suit or an animatronic. Jenny squinted at the animal, looking for the seam in the costume, the mechanical joints beneath the skin. But the skin was seamless, and the animal moved in an integrated, organic way.

She turned back to look at Jack, who was grinning ear-to-ear. This was why he'd been so evasive – this was what the facility was keeping. Dinosaurs. The stegosaur let out a low, bovine grunt, before ambling off into the forest. Almost mute with shock at what she had witnessed, she said, "That… that", to which Jack grinned, "Was a dinosaur, I know. We have quite a lot of them."

"How many…"

Jack said, a smirk on his face, "Animals in total? A few thousand, give or take – representing a little under six hundred de-extinct species, not counting the modern animals. But keep in mind, most of that total's the little stuff – most of the big animals are just family groups or breeding pairs and Custer the alamo – short for alamosaurus, a kind of titanosaur – is all on his lonesome… We're gonna do something about that someday – stop inbreeding and all, but that's the future."

Jenny could only nod her head, completely stunned. She remained that way even as she and Jack finally got back into the jeep and began to head on over to where the main staff office building was located. Her curiosity satisfied, Jenny sat back in silence the rest of the ride and let Jack talk – she got the feeling that not many people just listened to him. There was a sea change in his demeanour – more talkative, less tightly-wound. The secrecy, it seemed, had been getting to him.

Upon arrival at the main staff building, Jack parked the jeep garage before he and Jenny got out and headed over towards where the latter would now be expected to meet up with Drew and her other co-manager. As they walked down the hall to Drew's office, Jack turned to Jenny and sighed, "Word of warning… Drew isn't gonna like you or the other guy – he's been huffing a bit these past few days. Your arrival was… kind of forced upon us." Jenny winced, "Sorry", to which Jack shrugged, "Eh, these things happen."

"Right," Jack said, once they reached the doors to Drew's office, "if Leon isn't already here with the others, he probably will be soon, so… I guess you can mingle until Drew's ready for you." Jenny nodded her head, "Sounds fair." Mentally preparing herself, Jenny opened the door, readying what she was going to say to Drew. What she saw in the antechamber, however, left her quite surprised.

"Oh God."

. . . . .

At the sound of the unexpected surprise voice coming from near the antechamber's exit to the main second floor corridor, Leon, Matthew, Edgar, and Marisa all turned their heads to see who had arrived, only for the latter three to widen their eyes in utter shock at the sight of the quite stunned woman who'd just walked in.

Their deer-in-the-headlights looks caused Leon to direct a confused look towards Jack, who shrugged in reply. The woman – Jenny, Leon was now just remembering – eventually said, poker-faced, "Hello, Edgar. Hello, Marisa. It's nice seeing you again." Edgar and Marisa both gulped,."It's uh...nice to see you too...Jenny," Edgar eventually managed to say. Marisa nodded her head stoically, "Right back at you, Jen." Matthew, meanwhile, couldn't help but grimace awkwardly.

At Matthew's look of awkward recognition, Jack darted his eyes around the room awkwardly and said, "Oh… you two know each other?", to which Jenny sighed, "He's my ex-husband." At this, Jack's eyes widened, and he said, "Uh... Leon… shall we leave?", to which Leon gave Jack a confused look, "Why?", to which Jack, rolling his eyes, said, "This is not something we should be involved in – it is best for us to leave." Still confused, Leon shrugged, "If you say so." And at that, he and Jack silently walked out of the room.

Barely noticing them leave, the four spent what felt like an eternity staring at each other, with Jenny sporting a pokerfaced glare, Matthew sporting an awkward half smile and half grimace, and Edgar and Marisa looking at each other nervously. Eventually, Matthew proved the first to break the silence. "Hello Jen," he stated. "Long time no see." Jenny narrowed her eyes, now visibly angry. "Not. Long. Enough."

Marisa looked to Matthew, now looking visibly uncomfortable, "Should Edgar and I leave you two alone?" Matthew was just about to respond when Jenny pointed at Marisa and Edgar, "You two stay right here." Matthew took a deep breath, "Jen, this is entirely between you and me. Edgar and Marisa don't need to be dragged into this." Edgar nodded in agreement, "Jen, I know what happened – I was there for it. What happened wasn't his fault – it was no-one's fault." "It wasn't, I know" Jenny spat, bitterly, "I know…" She then placed her hand on her forehead, now clearly struggling not to cry. "But, but…"

"We know exactly what happened – and why you're angry" Marisa stated, a half angry and half tearful look on her face before she pointed her finger at Jenny. "The fact is blaming him changes absolutely nothing." "She's right," Edgar stated, nodding his head, "I completely understand why you're angry – in your situation, I'd react the exact same. But the fact is no matter what had happened…"

Jenny lifted her finger, a response already on the tip of her tongue...

"Sorry to interrupt what was clearly a stimulating discussion."

The four new staff members immediately went white and turned to see Drew looking at them half annoyed and half confused, before giving each other an awkward look, only now realizing that Drew had been able to hear them. "But I could hear you arguing from down the hall and I just wanted to say that I'm ready to see you."

Mentally cursing at the bad first impression, the four new staff members all turned to the door to Drew's office, already mentally steeling themselves. And with one last deep breath, Matthew opened the door and allowed himself, Jenny, Edgar, and Marisa to enter the office, where an irritated Drew was sitting at his desk. "Apologies for having to overhear all that," Matthew stated, eager to start things off on a high note. "I promise we'll make sure to keep stuff like that at a minimum." Jenny nodded her head, pointing her finger at Matthew immediately afterward, "What he said."

Drew snorted, "I hope so." He rolled his eyes, "Believe me. I have had to deal with people with fragile egos getting into a feud more times than I care to count – and I do not want to repeat the experience." At this, the four new staff members all looked surreptitiously at each other, both accepting the rightness of his words and pondering whether the hypocrisy was intentional or not – of course, they wisely remained silent. Drew nodded his head, "Right then. So which of you guys are supposed to be my new...'partners' in managing this park?"

Matthew and Jenny stepped forward just enough to be standing slightly further ahead of Edgar and Marisa than before. "That would be the two of us," Matthew said before extending his right hand towards Drew in an offer for a handshake. "I'm Matthew Pike." Jenny also extended her own hand in a similar fashion, "And I'm Jennifer Aratuk. But you can call me Jenny if you wish."

"I'll keep that in mind… Jennifer," Drew stated flatly before looking to Edgar and Marisa. "And you are?" "Edgar Miller," said Edgar. He gestured to Marisa, "And this is Marisa Scott. Marisa nodded, "We've been hired to work in the research division."

Drew nodded. "I'm sure Khatin will appreciate the extra manpower," he stated before then directing his attention back to Matthew and Jenny, seemingly dismissing Edgar and Marisa from his concerns. "Right then," he then said before pointing his finger at Matthew. "May I ask… who hired you two?" Edgar and Marisa surreptitiously glared at Drew, more than a little annoyed. 'Yep, this one's definitely feeling like his authority's being threatened,' Edgar thought to himself.

Matthew and Jenny found themselves similarly annoyed at just how much more focus Drew seemed intent on showering upon them compared to Edgar and Marisa – but they worked to keep themselves calm as they nodded. "Theodore was the one who gave the final stamp," Matthew stated. Jenny nodded, "But… Percival and Bryce recommended us for the position."

Drew promptly raised his eyebrow at the mentioning of Percival, privately clenching his fists from underneath his desk. He knew Percival would be involved in all this somehow – the guy would do anything to show him up. Of course, he wasn't taking this personally – why would he? Nodding, he unclenched his fists and stated, "I see. I'm guessing you've been informed of the reasons behind your hiring?"

"Now, Theodore described in more detail," Jenny admitted, "and more diplomatically for that matter…" "But Percival did give us the bare minimum," said Matthew. "But they both made it clear your job was starting to get to you." Jenny nodded her head, "Apparently, a lot of issues happened under your watch that you struggled to handle – so Theodore and the board decided that having some people around for you to divide your responsibilities would help things unfold more smoothly."

At this, Drew raised his eyebrow, "I see." He thought to himself for a couple seconds. "Is there anything else you were told about this park? Or about any of the other staff here besides me?"

"Not much in the way of details," Matthew stated, "Though Percival did say there were a few staff members that we would need to keep an eye on." Drew looked confused at this, "May I ask the names?" Edgar and Marisa also couldn't help but raise their eyebrows – they certainly hadn't been told of any anybody they'd need to be wary around.

"A few names… the only one I recognised was Jack Denham," Matthew responded. "Percival called him 'erratic, quick-tempered and with a possible attitude problem'. Now, I remember a Jack Denham at the China facility – nice guy, could talk the eaves off a house." Jenny raised her eyebrow at this – she'd met Jack and not gotten any indication that he wasn't to be trusted. However, she'd gotten the same list… "Strange – I got the same list… and a couple of names stood out."

All eyes promptly looked to her. "And who would that be?" Drew asked. Jenny sighed. "One of them was some young veterinary assistant," she responded. "Yolanda Hall – from the description I concluded Percival was overreacting… I mean, it didn't sound like it was three seconds from anarchy." Everyone else looked confused.

Drew looked more than a little perplexed at this discrepancy – perhaps it was just Percival overreacting (as he often did) or his deliberately trying to make the problem seem worse. Perhaps it was best to clear the air. Sighing, he said, "Well I'll tell you this much, Jack and Yolanda have a bit of a sense of humour – especially when it comes to authority figures, but at the end of the day, they're dependable. I trust them – just like everybody else here."

Jenny and Matthew looked at each other, silently thinking to themselves about what Drew had just said, all while Edgar and Marisa watched intently. Then they nodded their heads and looked back to Drew. "I suppose we'll take your word on that for now," said Matthew. "We'll give them a fair chance," said Jenny. "Works for me," Drew stated noncommittally. "Anything else you'd like to discuss?"

Edgar and Marisa looked at each other. For some odd reason, they couldn't shake the feeling that Drew was relieved to have this over with. Matthew, as it turned out, also seemed to notice this. "Well since you appear to be having a rather busy day today," he stated, "perhaps the rest of your staff can help fill us in further?"

Drew said, in an almost defeated tone, "That would work perfectly – I'm sure that everyone will be willing to help answer any remaining questions you have." Even as he said all this, it was clear that the concession stung. He sighed – he knew that it was at least important to try to be civil. They were here and he wasn't getting rid of them… however, he could at least indicate that he was only accepting their presence begrudgingly.

Matthew nodded his head. "I'm happy to hear that," he said before calmly looking to Jenny, Edgar, and Marisa. "I trust none of you will have a problem with this?" Nods all around. "Shouldn't be a problem," said Edgar. "No arguments from me," said Marisa. Jenny nodded and then directed a seemingly understanding look at Drew. "I wish you the best of luck with the rest of your work today," she said. "Agreed," Matthew said before looking to Drew and giving him a respectful nod. "Looking forward to working with you." Drew paused for a few seconds, before sighing and saying, somewhat awkwardly, "Right back at you". Immediately after they'd left, Drew hung his head and sighed - even now he was not happy over this whole situation. He supposed he would just have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, the four new staff members had already departed from the antechamber and were making their way out the staff building so they could get to work on scoping out the park. "Is it just me?" Edgar asked. "Or did he seem really on edge?" Matthew sighed, "It wasn't just you. He sees us as a threat… which is gonna be an issue".

Edgar nodded his head, "No kidding." He then looked to Matthew, "Little prick, isn't he?" Matthew nodded in agreement, "Yes. Yes he is… but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt – this situation was a forced upon him, so he'll come round." Jenny sighed, "Too true." Marisa nodded, "Fair enough. And on the bright side, at least Edgar and I won't have to work directly under him." Edgar chuckled, "You said it." He nodded his head, "From what Theodore told me, the head researcher sounds like he'll be a lot of fun to work under."

At this, Matthew and Jenny couldn't help but let a brief smile come onto their faces at the sight of just how happy Edgar and Marisa were. It was almost enough to make the two new co-managers of the park forget the lingering drama between them - without realizing how they were both thinking the same thought, Matthew and Jenny gritted their teeth and shook their heads to clear their thoughts. Right now, what mattered most was getting settled in - with everything that was coming up, they would need to keep a clear head. Nevertheless, they held their heads up high for the time being – after all, there was still hope. Good or bad, life would never be the same.

Aaand we're back!

I must thank WildExpert24 for Edgar and Marisa – even if we had to retool them to be less Grant and Sattler-esque. Matt and Jenny are characters sort of riffed from a James Rollins novel – I'm a big Rollins fan, and there's a sort of thematic comparison between Rollins and Michael Crichton.

Let them live, guys. Let them live.