Jurassic Universe

Chapter-13

"Mmm-hmm." said the girl. "Our grandfather's the owner of this park."

"Well, he WAS. He re-tired 10 years ago." said Timmy. "But he still likes to visit this place often. In-fact, we were actually visiting him when he decided to bring us down here."

"That's funny." said Zach. "We're actually visiting a family member of ours that works here too."

"Really?" said Lex. "Who are you visiting?"

"Our aunt." said Gray. "She's the park operations manager."

"I see." said the Girl. "I'm Lex Murphy, and this is my younger brother Timmy."

Lex shook hands with Zach and Gray.

"Yea... we... kind of already met your brother." said Zach. "I'm Zach Mitchell, and this is MY younger brother Gray."

"Next!" said the gyrosphere operator.

"Zach, we're up next." said Gray pulling on Zach's sleeve.

"Hold on a sec bro." said Zach.

He looked back at Tim and Lex.

"Say uhh..... Would you two like to ride with us?" he asked. "The hamster ball has four seats."

"Uh Zach? Do you really think that's a good idea?" whispered Gray. "We don't really know them and-"

"Relax." said Zach. "It'll be fun. Plus, it would be cool to get to know the old owner's family members. AND Aunt Claire might known the old owner."

"True." said Gray.

The two of them hopped inside one of the gyrosphere balls.

"Alright." said Lex. "Tim and I are up for it."

"Great." said Zach.

Tim and Lex got inside, Gray and Tim in the two back seats, and Zach and Lex up in the front seats with the driving panel. The door closed and the four of them drove away.

"Enjoy the ride." said the gyrosphere operator.

Just then his phone rang.

"Hello?" he said.

His eyes widen in surprise on the call he was getting.

"Seriously?" he said. "Alright, will do."

He hung up the phone and turned towards the long line of people waiting to ride the gyrospheres.

"Sorry folks. The ride is closed." he said.

Everyone began to moan.

"Everyone needs to proceed to the monorail and exit towards the--"

People began to shout angrily and annoyed.

"Come on, guys, I just work here." said the operator.

Back at the visitor center, Masrani had asked Henry Wu to speak with him in the science lab break room. The two were drinking tea and began to discuss about the situation.

"So how did you say the north fences were failing?" asked Henry pouring some tea.

"We think that Dennis put some sort of virus on the computers and we lost half of the parks security power because of it." replied Masrani. "But we have a much bigger problem Henry."

"What is it sir?" asked Henry.

"The Indominus has escaped." replied Masrani. "I would like to know, what kind of DNA is in that thing."

"Sir you know that I'm not at liberty to reveal the asset's genetic makeup." replied Henry.

"It's killed people, Henry." said Masrani.

"That's unfortunate." said henry.

"One of the men we sent after it reported that it has the ability to camouflage." said Masrani. "How?"

"It must be the cuttlefish." replied Henry.

"Cuttlefish?" asked Masrani.

"Cuttlefish DNA was added to help her withstand an accelerated growth rate." said Henry. "We didn't know how fast she would grow so we gave her Cuttlefish genes to slow down here growth rate encase she grew bigger than we designed her to. Cuttlefish have chromatophores that allow the skin to change color to match the background."

"Alright." said Masrani. "But it even hid from thermal technology Henry."

"It did?" asked Henry a bit surprised.

"Yes. How is that possible?" asked Masrani.

"Tree frogs have been known to change their body temperature when they need to warm up or cool down." began Henry. "We used strands from their DNA to adapt her to a tropical climate."

"Who the hell authorized you to do this?" asked Masrani.

He was slowly getting angry.

"You did sir." replied Henry.

Masrani looked at him a bit surprised.

""Bigger." "Scarier." "Cooler" I believe is the word that you used." said Henry. "You can't have an animal with exaggerated predator features... without the corresponding behavioral traits."

Masrani was losing patience.

"What you have done... The Board will shut down this park, seize your work, everything you've built." he said.

"But sir, If I don't innovate, somebody else will." said Henry.

He too was getting annoyed.

"You are to stop all activities here immediately." said Masrani.

"You're acting like we are engaged in some kind of mad science here." said Henry defensively. "We are only doing what we have done from day one. Nothing in Jurassic Universe is natural. We have always filled gaps in the genome with the DNA of other animals. And, if their genetic code was pure, many of them would look quite different. But you NEVER ask for REALITY or PALEO-ACCURACY, YOU just asked for more teeth!"

"I NEVER ASKED FOR A MONSTER!" shouted Masrani.

""Monster" is a relative term." snapped Henry. To a mouse, a cat is a monster. We're just used to being the cat."

Henry left the room feeling very hurt. Masrani was still a bit cross with him, but he couldn't deny that Henry made a valid point.

Out on the gyrosphere valley, the four kids had just entered the valley rolling inside the giant gyrosphere ball, but had yet to see any dinosaurs. They were beginning to get a bit impatient.

"Where are they?" said Tim eagerly.

Like Gray, he too was a big dinosaur fan.

"Does this ride even have dinosaurs?" sighed Lex.

She was beginning to feel board.

"OVER THERE!" shouted Gray excitedly.

Everyone looked towards the direction Gray was pointing and gasped.

"Wow...." breathed Tim in amazement.

Grazing on a tree was a dark grey Apatosaurus. This was another long necked dinosaur like the Brachiosaurus, only the Apatosaurus was much smaller than a Brachiosaur. The four of them stared at the 70 foot long creature in amazement when Lex noticed something.

"Hey.... what are those things behind the Brontosaur?" she said.

Everyone looked under the sauropods tail and saw two Parasaurolophus grazing on the grass.

"Parasaurs!" said Gray. "They're Parasaurs!"

"The hell are those things?" asked Zach.

"It's a kind of duck-billed dinosaur." said Tim "The big crests on the back of their heads are used to communicate with each other."

"Triceratops!" said Gray.

Lying under a tree were two large Triceratops, cooling off in the tree's shade.

"Their beautiful." smiled Lex.

"They are." said Zach.

He looked over at Lex and smiled. Lex looked at him and smiled back. Zach thought he felt himself blush a little. Suddenly, an announcement came on from a little computer screen under neath the controls that allowed the tourists to drive the gyrosphere.

"Due to technical difficulties all our exhibits are now closed. Please disembark all rides and return to the resort." it said.

Everyone sighed in disappointment.

"Aw man." sighed Tim.

"We just got here too." pouted Gray.

Zach looked at his brother and new friends faces. Seeing them disappointed gave him an idea.

"Come on, we can stay out for a little longer." he said.

"But they told us to go back." said Tim.

"So?" said Zach. "Our relatives gave us special wristbands, right? We're VIP, dudes."

Zach put his hand on the control stick and continued their tour. But little did any of them know they were heading for serious trouble. Not far away, the Indominus had reached the fence that divided the Gyrosphere valley from the restricted area. She had been chasing a group of Compsognathus when she smashed through the fence and roared at the fleeing Compys.

A nearby Apatosaur spotted her and roared defensively, the I. Rex turned towards the odd looking creature and roared back at the long-neck, forgetting all about the creatures she was chasing. The sauropod then reared up on her hind legs trying to make herself look bigger, hoping to scare off the Indominus. Unfortunately the Indominus wasn't scared. The Indominus roared once more and charged after the sauropod. The Apatosaur reared up once more and slammed her feet on the ground to crush the predator.

The Indominus leaped out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed by the 24 ton giant. The Indominus roared fiercely at her opponent. The Apatosaur begun to rear up again, but just as she did, the Indominus bit down on one of her legs and pulled her down. The I. Rex then smacked the sauropod's head with her tail making her opponent feel dizzy. Before the poor sauropod could regain her consciousness, the Indominus slammed her head into the sauropods side knocking her over. The animal roared in pain and desperately tried to get up, but it was no good. The Predator slowly walked over to the fallen giant to finish the kill. She drooled and hissed as she walked over. Placing her hands on the head and neck of the animal, the Indominus bit on the long-neck's neck to finish the sauropod.

At the control center, Claire was watching the security cameras that were still working. One of the cameras had caught a mother picking up her child she had lost at the gift shop. Upon watching this clip, she realized that her Nephews were still out there. Quickly she picked up her phone and called Zara.

"Hello?" said Zara.

"Zara." said Claire. "I need you to bring the boys back to the hotel right away."

"CLAIRE I'M SO SORRY! I don't know where the boys are! I've been looking everywhere for them!" yelled Zara.

Zara said this so fast that Claire barely understood her.

"Slow down. I can barely hear you right." said Claire.

"Zach and Gray, they ran off!" said Zara.

"THEY WHAT!?" said Claire about to panic.

Wasting no time, Claire quickly called Zach's phone.

"Hey, Claire." said Zach.

"Zach, thank God." said Claire. "Is Gray with you?"

"What did you say?" asked Zach. "I can't really hear you. We're in the hamster ball."

"I said is Gray with you." replied Claire.

But this time there was no reply.

"Zach? ZACH!?" shouted Claire.

Zach looked at his phone and saw that his phone didn't have a signal bar.

"Hmm, no signal." he said.

"The glass on the Gyrospheres might be too thick for phone signals to work." said Gray.

"Hmm, maybe." said Zach.

Claire rushed over to Lowery and Vivian.

"Are there any Gyrospheres left in the Valley?" she asked.

"No I don't think s- wait, yes there's one still in the field." said Lowery.

"Alright." said Claire. "Vivian, can you call in a search and rescue?"

"On it." replied Vivian.

But as she picked up the phone, nothing happened. She tried again, nothing happened.

"Shit." she said.

"What's wrong?" asked Claire.

"We just lost all the phones." replied Vivian.

"Damn it Dennis! Okay. Fine, I'll do it myself." said Claire.

Just as she was about to leave the room, when she saw Owen and Grant arguing with some tourists on a security camera.

"Hey, do you think I'm the one you need to be worried about right now? Back off!" snapped Owen on the camera.

"Maybe I could ask them to help me find my nephews." Claire thought.

Quickly she ran off to find them. Meanwhile out in the gyrosphere valley, the kids had stumbled across the fence the Indominus had broken through.

"What happened here?" asked Lex.

"Beats me." said Gray.

Seeing the open gate gave Zach an idea.

"Guys, off road." He said.

"But they told us to go back." said Tim.

"Hey I'm just worried you guys not getting the full "Jurassic Universe" experience." said Zach. "Come on, it'll be fun."

With that, Zach drove the gyrosphere through the destroyed gate, into the restricted area.

At the visitor center, Claire was desperately searching for Owen, Grant, and the others.

"Claire!" said a voice.

It was Grant.

"Thank goodness." she sighed as she walked over to the group. "I need your help."

"With what?" asked Sarah

"My nephews, they're out in the Valley." said Claire. "Please, if anything happens to them-"

Owen grabbed Claire's arm and pulled her more to a quiet area.

"How old are they?" he asked.

"Zach, the older one, he's high school age, and Gray, he's a few years younger." said Claire.

"Alright, we'll help you." said Owen.

"I'll come too." said Grant.

"It'll be dangerous, especially since half of the fences failed." warned Claire.

"Hold on." said Ian. "What do you mean "half of the fences failed"?"

"Dennis's virus turned off the electric fences." replied Claire. "If any of the other carnivores break out they'll be in twice as much danger than fighting off the Indominus."

"Alright, we'll help you find your nephews." said Billy.

"Oh thank you so much." said Claire.

Meanwhile out in the restricted area, the kids found themselves in a dense jungle all alone, only to be accompanied by a few Ankylosaurs. Gray, Lex, and Tim were arguing with Zach and trying to convince him to go back, but he wouldn't listen.

"Bad idea, bad idea." said Gray.

"Great idea." said Zach.

"No! We're gonna get arrested." said Lex.

Zach just rolled his eyes. He then pointed at the Ankylosaurs grazing on the ferns on the ground.

"There. You see?" he said. "I told you, up close and personal... with four...... dinosauruses."

"Ankylosaurus, we shouldn't be here. And there's FIVE dinosaurs." said Tim.

"Hey, you said you were a genius like Gray." said Zach. "See, one.... two... three.... four."

"Five." said Tim pointing to some teeth reflecting on the gyrosphere glass.

Before Zach could say anything, he noticed the reflecting teeth too.

"What the...?" he said.

Everyone slowly turned to see the dinosaur behind them. There standing up and uncamouflaging herself, was the Indominus Rex.