Adelaide (Ian Malcolm)

Chapter Five - Feeding Time

Chapter Five – Feeding Time

Adelaide

Henry Wu had royally pissed her off. He'd basically called her stupid, well, called everyone stupid, just for being sceptical of his so called 'control over breeding'. Adelaide did not like people assuming things about her or judging her merely because she was a young woman. She'd been underestimated many times in the past, particularly by men. For some reason they believed her capability only stretched to looking pretty and smiling. Why did they always want her to smile?!

"So uh, tree frog-" Apparently Ian's nickname for her had stuck. "- don't let that arrogant son of bitch get to you, he's one of those clever but stupid types,"

Adelaide watched him as he strode easily beside her, the top of her head barely reaching his broad shoulders. Once again, the man had easily read her emotions, pin pointing exactly what had been going on in her mind. "He sure thinks highly of himself. I mean yeah, I get it. What they've achieved is great and I'm no scientist for sure, but putting people down like that? It's just...urgh."

"Very eloquent indeed," Ian teased – his white teeth flashing brilliantly in the sun.

"Yeah yeah, whatever Mr 'Life finds a way'," She mimicked his words from earlier, putting an airy tone to her voice as she grinned up at him.

"I resent that comment," He said with the imitation of offence. The smile on his lips remained, both grinning like idiots without any notion of the world around them. It was only when Adelaide cast her eyes over to the rest of the group, that she spied her Grandfather staring at them both in disapproval.

It took her back to her teenage years, when she'd gone out with a young lad named Jamie Daniels. Her dad caught them both kissing (there may have been some groping going on too) in the den, and sent the young boy packing - much to her dismay. Adelaide had been forbidden to see him ever again because 'he wasn't the sort of boy our family associate with'.

Not that it ever stopped her, of course. It was with Jamie that she lost her virginity and pulled a whitey – all in the same night.

"What are they doing?" Dr Grant's question, thankfully, distracted her Grandad from she and Ian. The Doctor alluded to a large black cow, being airlifted over a small enclosure.

"That's a cow." Adelaide breathed. "That's a whole cow."

"Uh, yah, absolutely right," Ian responded, earning a glower from her.

"They're feeding them," Rather grimly, Hammond gestured to the paddock. "But lunch? Why don't we eat first, eh?"

Adelaide was already bypassing the old man and racing up the steps two at a time, her inquisitiveness peaked.

"Aida be careful for goodness sake!" Her Grandad called from behind. "Don't slip over now!"

The cow was mooing pathetically and although Adelaide wasn't a vegetarian, she still felt sorry for the poor thing. The others had followed her up quickly as she pushed herself up slightly on the railings to get a better look inside the enclosure. Her view was obscured by a variety of jungle plants, the leaves obscuring whatever lurked below and effectively swallowing the cow as its journey was concluded with a final creak of the crane.

Adelaide could see the trees and plants being jostled around frenziedly, low growling noises encompassing the enclosure. High-pitched, feral screeching that sounded otherworldly hit the audience's eardrums like the squeal of faulty audio equipment, her eardrums ringing from the pitch. She winced, tempted to cover her ears as the cow was ripped to pieces by the evidently hungry creatures, the cows sorrowful wailing silenced quickly.

She continued to watch with her mouth hanging open.

"They should all be destroyed." Robert Muldoon's severe voice sounded as he paced up the stairs, eyeing the group knowingly.

"Ah, this is Robert, Robert Muldoon, bit of an alarmist I'm afraid but knows more about raptors than anyone," Her Grandad introduced.

Robert tipped his hat to Adelaide in greeting and she smiled back, before trying to peer back down at the raptors. She really wanted to see one in the flesh, her mind trying to conjure up an adult version of the baby one in the labs.

"What's their growth rate?" Dr Grant asked immediately, barely shaking hands with Robert before he exploded with questions.

"They're lethal at eight months, and I do mean lethal. I've hunted most things that can hunt you, but the way these things move," Muldoon pulled off his hat.

"Fast for a biped?"

"Cheetah speed. 50, 60 miles per hour if they ever got out into the open. And they're astonishing jumpers,"

Adelaide immediately jumped back from the fence, her face paling. Ian sniggered at her in amusement, leaning his back against said fencing in a far too casual manner after what they'd just witnessed.

"Do they show intelligence?" Grant beseeched, his eyes alight with alarmed fascination.

"They're extremely intelligent. Even problem solving intelligent, especially the big one. We bred eight originally, but when she joined she took over the pride and killed all but two of the others. That one...when she looks at you, you can see she's working things out. That's why we have to feed them like this, she had them all attacking the fences when the feeders came. One lad lost his arm because he leant too far over the old fencing – took the limb clean off, he was lucky they didn't pull him over."

"Aren't these new fences electrified though?" Ellie asked.

"That's right, but they never attack the same place twice. They were testing the fences for weaknesses, systematically. They remember."

Adelaide felt the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. "Shouldn't they be in a larger enclosure, if they run that fast? Cheetahs need miles and miles of territory...isn't this just...cruel?"

"You're right, the behaviour they display is conducive to needing vast space, that's why I believe they should be put out of their misery and forgotten about," Robert did not hold back, and Adelaide appreciated his candour.

"Like I said before Robert, you've always been rather dramatic – it's perfectly safe and these animals are an example of the extraordinary miracle we've created here. We will see to it that they have an increased enclosure, once we have the necessary go ahead," John placed his hand on Adelaide's shoulder. Before she could respond, the crane began lifting out of the foliage. The metal and blue material had been ripped completely out of shape. Destroyed, seemed the appropriate word.

With a squeeze of her shoulder, Hammond turned happily to the mortified group. "Who's hungry?"