I smiled as I walked back into the small trailer we used as temporary shelter during our digs. Alan Grant, my brother had just terrified another kid with his infamous Raptor claw. I, being ten years younger than my brother, was used to his scare tactics.
I opened the refrigerator and gasped as I heard a man clear his throat. I turned around quickly to see a shorter, older man. He had white hair and a white beard , and was wearing a hat. He was wearing a white short-sleeved button up and had a cane. The cane piqued my interest, for there seemed to be an insect inside it.
I observed it was possibly a mosquito drowned in sap of some sort. Possibly amber? I recovered from my thoughts long enough to speak. "How can I help you?" I asked, glancing at the man curiously.
"Sorry for the fright dear. I wonder if I might inquire your knowledge on the whereabouts of Dr. Grant?" The man asked in an accent I couldn't quite place, while he rummaged through the refrigerator. He pulled out a bottle of champagne.
I was about to speak when the door of the trailer burst open. "What the hell do you think you're doing in here?" Alan asked angrily. If you saw Alan and I side by side, you wouldn't think we were siblings. He had dark blonde hair and blue eyes, while my hair was a light brown. I had blue eyes, but I took after our mother. Whilst everyone acknowledged that Alan was the carbon copy of our father.
I shifted my eyes to the older man, as the cork popped off the champagne. Alan ducked, and I found it hard not to laugh. Then, Alan stood up. "Hey! We were saving that!" He said, pointing to the champagne.
"Alan-" I started, But was silenced by Alan's glare. Alan hardly ever listened to me. I guess it made sense. Who would listen to a sister ten years their junior? The age gap between the two of us made me feel like a child constantly. This of course caused some strife between us because I was most certainly not a child.
I was twenty six years old, not six. "For this I guarantee it!" The man exclaimed and I eyed him. He seemed jolly, and not at all affected by the glare Alan sent his way. This made me respect the man a little, for even I, who proclaimed Alan didn't scare me, still shrunk under his glare. Alan walked up to him and pointed a finger at his chest.
"Who In Gods name do you think you are?" Alan asked him. "John Hammond." The man said and I felt my jaw drop. John Hammond, billionaire, was in our trailer, and Alan had been glaring at him?! John Hammond also happened to be funding our digs. So I watched in amusement as Alan looked positively flabbergasted.
"And I'm delighted to finally meet you in person, Dr. Grant. So I can see that my 50,000 a year has been well spent." John Hammond said, shaking Alan's hand. I watched with widened eyes. John turned to me. "And you are?" He asked and I stammered. "Um, Olivia Grant, Sir. Archaeologist." I told him, and shook his hand.
"Ah, so this must be your wife?" John asked and I laughed. "No. Sister." Alan finally recovered himself enough to say. The door burst open again and Ellie barged in, yanking her hat off of her light blonde hair. Ellie Sattler was my brother's girlfriend. She was also my best friend, despite being ten years my senior. "Who's the jerk?" She said angrily.
Alan looked alarmed. "Um, this is our paleobotanist, Dr. Sattler." Alan said nervously, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. John Hammond walked forward to shake her hand. "Ellie, this is Mr. Hammond." Alan said and Ellie's eyes widened in recognition.
"I'm sorry about the dramatic entrance, Dr. Sattler, but we're in a hurry." John said, shaking her hand. "Did I say jerk?" Ellie said nervously with a grin. John held up the champagne bottle. "Will you have a drink? We won't let it get warm. Sit down." John told us. I glanced at Alan.
John walked over to the sink. "Let me have this." Ellie insisted, by John shook his head. "I'll just get a glass or two. I can do it. I know my way around the kitchen." John told her. Ellie seemed to be trying to make up for calling him a jerk. She walked over to stand by Alan. She shared a quick glance at me and I could tell she was nervous.
I was too. It wasn't everyday a billionaire stopped by your dig site for a visit. "Now I'll get right to the point." John said, washing a glass out with water. He turned to face us. I was standing slightly closer to Ellie and Alan now. "I like you. The three of you. I can tell instantly about people. It's a gift." John informed us, while drying the glass out.
I was surprised John Hammond included me in his compliment. I wasn't nearly as famous as my brother and I sure didn't even have the Dr. title yet. "I own an island off the coast of Costa Rica. I've leased it from the government and during the last five years, a kind of biological preserve." He told us.
"Really, spectacular. Spared no expense." He added. Makes the one I've got down in Kenya look like a petting zoo." John said with a laugh. I wondered why he was telling us all this. "And there's no doubt our attractions will drive kids out of their minds." John said, drying a second and third glass.
"And what are those?" Alan asked him. Ellie grinned. "Small versions of adults, honey." She told him. I knew that Ellie liked kids, but Alan seemed to have an aversion to them. It was strange considering I'd been a child while he was a teenager. I figured he must have loved me only because I was his relative.
"And not just kids. Everyone. We're going to open next year, if the lawyers don't kill me first." John told us and I wondered why he was being nagged by lawyers. "I don't care for lawyers, do you?" John asked, pouring the champagne into the glasses. "I don't really know any." Ellie said and Alan and I echoed her response.
Truthfully, I didn't really know any lawyers. We didn't really run into them on archaeological digs. "I do, I'm afraid. There's a particular pebble in my shoe, who represents my investors. Says that they insist on outside opinions." John told us and the impromptu visit started to make sense.
He must want my brother's and Ellie's opinions, I thought to myself. "What kind of opinions?" Ellie asked him. "Well your kind, not to put too fine a point on it. Let's face it. In your particular fields, you're the top minds." John told them and Ellie and Alan seemed pleased by the compliment. I expected it, after all, it was true.
"And If I could just persuade you to sign off on the park, give it your endorsement, maybe even pen a wee testimonial, I could get right back on schedule." John told them, and he handed us all a glass of champagne. I took mine gratefully. I wondered why he needed their opinions for a preserve. Ellie and Alan specialized in prehistoric dinosaurs.
"Why would they care what we think?" Ellie said, voicing my thoughts.
"What kind of park is this?" Alan asked as well. John eyed them and I guess he decided to keep a secret. "It's right up your alley." He remarked. I wondered what he meant by that. "Why don't you come down, just the three of you, for the weekend?" John asked and I was shocked he included me in this.
"I'd love to have an opinion of a paleobotanist as well. And an archaeologist." John said, smiling at Ellie and I. I didn't try to hide my surprise. "I've got a jet standing at Choteau." John said, picking up his own glass.
Alan stood up then. "I'm sorry. This isn't possible. We just dug up a new skeleton.." Alan trailed off. "Well, I could compensate you by fully funding your dig.." John said and Alan looked tempted but stood his ground. "The timing is just-" Ellie started to say.
"For a further three years." John said and I glanced to Alan in shock. I knew he couldn't resist the offer. Ellie and Alan grinned. "Where's the plane?" Ellie asked. "Okay. Three years." Alan said, with a smile. We all drank our champagne and Ellie and Alan hugged excitedly.
After that, John left the trailer to allow us to change our clothes. I couldn't believe we were going on this trip. It seemed too good to be true. "This is insane. Three years! Think of all we could uncover!" I told Ellie excitedly as I pulled my brown hair into a high ponytail. Ellie smiled at me. "We can do anything now!" She said excitingly as well.
We went to meet John Hammond then. We met him at the airport where a helicopter was waiting for us. I noticed a tall man with dark skin and dark curly hair and glasses standing not too far away from us. He caught me glancing at him and grinned, which made me realize two things. He was charming, and he was confident. And probably a genius if he was accompanying us.
He was dressed in all black and I noticed he wore a huge ring on one of his fingers. Also stylish I noted to myself. Ellie seemed to notice my gaze and nudged me. It seemed she also thought he was attracive. We all settled into the helicopter. I sat beside Ellie, facing the handsome man. The lawyer, that John Hammond apparently hated, sat beside him. He was wearing a grey suit and a fedora.
He told us briefly his name was Donald Genarro. The handsome man was revealed to be Dr. Ian Malcolm. I'd heard of his theories before and was surprised he seemed so hip. I'd imagined an older balding man. Halfway through the helicopter ride, Alan was playing with his raptor claw nervously.
Ian saw this and grinned. "So you three dig up dinosaurs?" He asked and I could see Alan looked annoyed. Ellie and I chuckled. "We try to." Alan said simply, and I saw his eyes flicker. Alan didn't like the wild spirit of Ian Malcolm, I could tell.
Ian began to laugh and John sighed. "You'll have to get used to Dr. Malcolm. He suffers from a deplorable excess of personality, especially for a mathematician." John told us. Ian seemed amused. "Chaotician. Chaotician, actually." Ian corrected them.
I noticed his eyes flash over to me and flashed him a grin. Might as well make the most of his company. "John doesn't subscribe to chaos, particularly what it says about his science project." Ian remarked. I figured John and Ian didn't get along.
He didn't really seem to get along with any men though. But I could tell he was quite a charmer. "Ian, you've never been able to sufficiently explain your concerns.." John said, and Ian laughed. "Because of the behavior of the system in phase space?" Ian interrupted him. They continued to bicker and Ian slapped his hand to John's knee.
"Don't!" John told him and Ian seemed amused. Everyone in the helicopter was watching this exchange. Alan seemed annoyed at Ian, but Ellie and I were intrigued. I didn't know if it was due to Ian's good looks, but he was definitely interesting. "Dr. Sattler, Dr. Grant, And What's your name?" He asked, pointing at each of us.
"Grant. Olivia Grant." I told him and he smiled at me. "I'm sure you're heard of Chaos Theory." Ian told us. Alan and Ellie shook their heads, but I nodded. "Oh, at least someone has heard of it." Ian said with a laugh. "What about strange attractors?" He asked his eyes on me. "Not that one." I said with a grin.
"Miss Grant, I refuse to believe you aren't familiar with the concept of attraction." Ian said and I rolled my eyes. He was very charming, but I wasn't going to fall for it. But the glares Alan sent his way made me want to. Just to mess with Alan of course, though I couldn't deny I felt attracted to Ian Malcolm.
John scoffed at Ian's comment. "I bring scientists. You bring a rock star." He told Genarro. John then looked out the window and smiled. "There it is." He said and I glanced out too. At first all I saw was green. The entire island seemed like a jungle. John turned to us. "Bad wind shears. We have to drop pretty fast." He said, alarming me.
"Hold on. This will be thrilling." He said and I glanced at Ellie in alarm. "I don't believe I've had the time to mention I'm afraid of heights, and the thought of possibly crashing to my death..." I told everyone and Ian seemed amused at this. The helicopter dropped suddenly and I grabbed onto the first thing I saw.
This happened to be Ian's knee. He glanced up in surprise then smirked at me. I ripped my hand back and quickly did my seatbelt. I noticed Alan had trouble with his, which for some reason seemed to amuse Ian. But then again, everything amused him.
"But you need that piece over there. We'll have landed by the time you get it right." John said and I saw Alan just tie the belts together. Well, it was somewhat safe. I felt the helicopter drop until we finally landed. I breathed a sigh of relief.
A man opened the door and Genarro, the lawyer was the first to scramble out. We all climbed out after that. John took Ellie and Alan's arms and I stood behind them, finding myself beside Ian Malcolm. Red and grey Jeeps pulled up to us then. I saw a logo on the side but I couldn't make it out.
I rode in the Jeep with Alan, Ian and Ellie. I was unfortunate enough to end up in the back seat between Ian and Alan. Ellie had taken the front seat. I watched in amazement as we pulled up to what must have been a thirty foot tall gate. I read the sign and saw it said
WARNING 10000 VOLTS
I wondered what could possibly be inside to demand this sort of protection. I felt a strange feeling, which I tried to shake off. We were safe. It was only for the weekend.
Nothing terrible was going to happen, was it?