Jurassic World: Evolution (REWORKING)

1. An Opportunity

Some people (cough, cough, Dad, cough, cough) might not find spending hours out in the blazing sun and intense heat tediously digging through the sand and dirt for bones and fossils interesting or the least bit fun. But that's them. In my case, I find it fascinating.

It's like digging for treasure. When you're digging and digging and at last you make a discovery... Well there's nothing quite like it! The overwhelming excitement is indescribable.

I've always had a certain fascination with the past, which led me here to my dream career: paleontology, the study of fossil animals and plants. Furthermore, my love of dinosaurs and curiosity about them has always been present - let's just say it comes from a complicated family past with them.

That's how I spend my days, digging and digging, and when we find something we take it to the museum to clean it off and study it. To me, it's the best job in the world, unearthing millions of years of history to further our understanding of the past. There's just nothing that quite compares to it.

"How are we doing Danny?" I ask my work partner, trudging across the sand to the central part of where we're digging.

He stands from his crouched position and assesses his notes. "Doing good Doc. We're making good progress."

"Good. Keep up the good work." We're heading a team dig at the moment, us and four others. "What do you say another half an hour then we break for lunch?"

"Sounds good Doc."

I lift a hand to shield my eyes from the intense sun and look out across the sandy plain to see our full team and dig site. It brings a smile to my face. Then I crouch down in the sand to resume my own digging, brushing away a few loose strands of the red hair my mom and I share. I am completely immersed when a few minutes later I hear Danny say, "uh, Doc-"

I look up and follow his gaze to the lookout overlooking the dig site, where a black car has parked and a man in a dark suit emerges.

I sigh. "Not again. You keep digging, I'll deal with this," I tell Danny, brushing myself off and approaching the man. "Hi."

"Hi. Doctor Jane Malcolm?" he addresses me.

"Yeah. Listen, we have permission to dig here. I can get you the paperwork if you want."

He smiles. "Thank you, but that won't be necessary. That's not why I'm here." He reaches into his jacket and withdraws an envelope. "I'm here about your father, Dr. Ian Malcolm."

There's a pause, and I stare back expectantly. "What about him? Did something happen?" I can hear the panic rising in my voice. Oh no, what happened this time?

He chuckles, noticing my panic. "Sorry, I didn't mean to alarm you. It's nothing bad, I assure you. I have a message for your father but, believe it or not, he's a hard man to contact."

I breathe a sigh of relief - he had me nervous there for a moment. Then I nod in understanding. "Yeah, he's a bit reclusive these days."

"So we're reaching out to you, his daughter. We understand that you're close. We were wondering if you would pass this on to him." He hands me the envelope.

I take it. Dad's name is written across the front of the envelope in neat handwriting. "We?"

"Yes, me and my representative team. "

"Who do you represent?"

"Ms. Claire Dearing."

"Claire Dearing?" I search my memory for any recollection of the name, but it's not ringing any bells. "We don't know a Claire Dearing," I say with certainty. Not that I know of anyway. Maybe Dad does?

He smiles. "Ms. Dearing is the Operations Manager at Jurassic World."

I feel my jaw fall open at these words, literally drop. I remove my sunglasses to reveal the dark eyes Dad and I share and stare wide-eyed back at him. "Jurassic World?" I repeat in awe. "The dinosaur theme park in Costa Rica? With actual, real-life dinosaurs?!" I chuckle. "Sorry, just totally nerded out there." No way...

He smiles at my obvious enthusiasm. "Ms. Dearing was hoping to meet with your father to discuss the further progression of the park, considering he was involved with its predecessor. We would very much appreciate it if you delivered this letter to him."

Now I was nodding with a large smile on my face. Jurassic World! "Yeah. I'll talk to him."

(Welcome to my newest story! I hope you enjoyed this first chapter :) I'm going through a bit of a 'Jurassic Park' phase right now (and an Ian Malcolm phase ;)) so I'm really excited for this story! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed!)