Chapter Sixty Seven: Unauthorized Life Form Detected
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The woman glanced up, her sandwich dropping from her mouth. She looked around, then quickly ran over to them, her sandwich forgotten. "You're trespassing," she said in a low voice. "What are you up to?" She gasped, then, and pulled her tablet close to her chest. "Are you here to spy?"
"Yes, we're an elite band of teenage secret agents," Kenji replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice like an icicle.
"Ooh, I'd totally watch that show," Eva commented.
"Are you crazy?" Brooklynn whispered. "You're eating a sandwich in the middle of a T. Rex fight?"
"First of all, they're not fighting, they're pla—"
"Playing!" Darius whispered enthusiastically. "Cranio- facial biting! It's true!"
"Uh, yes. Don't change the subject!" The woman snapped.
"Lady, we don't wanna be here, either," Yaz butted in.
Eva grabbed Kenji's hand again, and began playing with his fingers, whilst staring down at the ground.
She didn't want to be there any more than the next camper. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to be alive or not, and the fact that this woman was doing nothing to help them— but instead accuse them of being spies— well, things could be a lot better.
"We just wanna go home," Eva mumbled.
"Oh, yeah, we'll see about that," she said with a scoff. "Follow me."
The campers slowly trickled after the woman, with Darius and Brooklynn taking the lead, and Kenji and Eva taking the rear. Kenji nudged her with his elbow, then whispered, "Hey, Eva?"
"Hm?"
"Got any feelings about this woman? Any distrust?"
I don't even care anymore.
"Um, not yet. Maybe if I knew more about what was happening here, where we were, I could read the situation better, but I just... I just don't know."
"That's okay," he whispered. "We'll figure this out, together."
Eva nodded weakly.
She tuned in to Darius relaying their struggles and survival to the woman at the front of the group. He talked about their six months of survival— which still sounded unbelievable to Eva— and their crash landing on this new island due to the Mosasaurus.
The woman scoffed. "You really expect me to believe that children survived alone on Isla Nublar for six entire months?"
"Trust me, it's hard for us to believe, too," Brooklynn said.
"Mmhm... I suppose you must be telling the truth, because who would make up such a crazy story if they didn't have to. Not saying that you don't have to, or that you're crazy, but who knows? I don't know you, you don't know me for that matter. Am I yammering on? I've been out here for the better part of a month with no one to talk to, and I guess I had more to say than I realized."
"You look so familiar," Darius commented out of the blue.
The T. Rexes' roars echoed throughout the trees. On instinct, Eva stopped in place and looked around, her chest aching.
"Don't worry," the woman said nonchalantly. "They're almost tuckered out. They won't bother us."
"How could you know that?" Ben asked.
The woman grinned widely. "I study dinosaur brains! Behavioral paleoneurobiologist. I'm Mae Turner—"
"Turner! That's it! You're Dr. Mae Turner!" Darius grabbed her hand and began shaking it. "It's an honor to meet you. I read your book: A Theoretical Emotional Journey with Theropods."
"Ah, you were the one," Mae said, chuckling.
Kenji stepped forward, away from Eva. "Look, if you could just point us to a phone, we'll be on our way."
"Yeah, slight problem with that," Mae quipped. "This island is completely shut off the grid. No communications in or out."
Eva's heart dropped into her stomach and she frowned, eyes glued to the ground.
Would they ever escape dinosaur hell?
"Are you kidding?"
"Why?"
"What?"
Brooklynn motioned to her tablet. "Wait, you can't use that to call out?"
Mae shook her head. "Sorry, closed circuit. Mainly I use this to connect to a doodad in their brains— oh! Can't tell you, actually. Proprietary research."
"So, there's no way home?" Yaz said.
"Don't lose faith," said Mae. "You can all rest up with me until we figure out how to get you out of here."
"Do we trust her?" Kenji whispered.
Brooklynn gave him a dumbfounded look.
"I'll take that as a no."
Darius quickly matched pace with Mae, "So the saber toothed tiger, and the T. Rexes, your bosses are making prehistoric creatures?"
"Some, although they got the T. Rexes from Isla Sorna. Not that I should be telling you any of this," she explained.
"Why—?"
"Hold up," Mae said as she held out her hands, stopping everyone. "Important announcement time! Whatever you do, do not go down there," she said, gesturing to a part of the forest that caved downward. "Super dangerous," she whispered. "All right, off we pop!"
Mae led the campers towards a waterfall, which despite the situation they found themselves in, Eva still thought the sight was beautiful. The woman led them behind the waterfall, where a chunk of the wall was sleek metal, like the doors in those fancy built hallways they used earlier. Mae opened the door, revealing a cave-styled home.
The door opened directly into a small living room, with a teal couch and chair, and colorful pillows. Directly in front of them was a long coffee table with a woolly mammoth tusk center piece. The back right corner looked like a work space complete with a desk, a microscope, a board of research, and a wall of file cabinets. The left corner contained a hallway, holding who knows what else. And the front right corner had shelves with mugs, books, and crystals on them.
"Wow, as far as caves go, this one's pretty swank," Sammy commented, immediately taking a seat on the couch.
Eva graviated towards the other end of the couch, immediately kicking up her feet on the coffee table.
"You live here?" Darius asked.
"Live, work, play surprisingly competitive games of poker with myself," she replied. "I usually win." Mae started laughing, loud and breathy, while the campers stared at her in confusion. "All right, I'm gonna go whip up some sandwiches."
Mae walked down the back hallway, presumably to the kitchen. Everyone immediately started looking around.
"What are you doing?" Darius whispered.
"We're not just gonna take her word for it, there's no phone here."
"Yeah, dude." Kenji added, "Did you learn nothing from Mitch and Tiff?"
"Or the mercenaries we ran into?" Eva added. She shuddered, the thought of being ziptied and duct taped still hot in her mind. Whether or not she found it funny, she was still very much kidnapped with her life threatened. It almost feels like it occurred weeks ago, even though it was much closer to three days.
"I guess it doesn't hurt to look around..."
Eva got up off the couch and headed to the shelves, checking out Mae's crystal collection.
"Are you guys all right out there?" Mae shouted from the kitchen.
Kenji fumbled with a lamp. "Y-yeah! Uh, no problems over here!"
Eva snickered quietly, to which Kenji flipped her off.
Darius sighed, collapsing into the spinny chair in front of Mae's workspace. "No phone. I think she's telling the truth."
Eva wandered over to his side, looking at the pages on the wall curiously. Scans of brains dominated the wall, highlighted in yellow and red activity, although none of it made sense to her.
Sammy tugged Eva into the corner and whispered lowly, asking if she was okay.
"Why wouldn't I be?" She bit her tongue, her eyes flitting everywhere but in Sammy's direction.
"Well, it's just, you seem a little... off?"
"I'm fine. Just tired," she added as an afterthought.
"You'd tell me if you weren't?"
On queue, Eva yawned. "Yeah, I promise."
"We got nothing," Brooklynn whispered as she walked over. Eva was grateful for the change in subject.
"Us too," Darius replied.
Sammy gasped loudly, her eyes growing wide. She flipped over a page, showing everyone. The page, in big, bold, blue lettering, read MANTAH CORP.
"If Mae works for Mantah Corp, then we gotta get outta here," Brooklynn said.
"Who wants a sandwich?"
Eva jumped, turning to look at Mae, who had practically snuck up on them. Eva raised her hands, branding a smile. "I do!"
The campers all sat around the coffee table, with a plate and sandwich in front of everyone. Eva dug into her sandwich, melting at the taste of mayo and mustard and ham. When was the last time she had ham? When was the last time she had real food?
"Oh my god, mm— mm, this is— this is fantastic."
"I'm glad you think so." She looked around at the others, who were warily looking at their sandwiches. "Is something wrong?"
"We just wanted to ask you about—"
"Something to drink?" Brooklynn quickly cut off Yaz.
Mae gasped, "Of course! Silly me. You need cocoa."
"With marshmallows?" Eva asked.
"And cinnamon, if you like it like that."
Eva moaned. "You know how to dine right, Dr, Turner."
Mae smiled at her, then began humming, heading back into the kitchen.
Eva finished off her sandwich, even going as far as licking her fingers. She pointed at Brooklynn's sandwich and asked, "You gonna eat that?"
"What's wrong with you?" She whispered back. "You downright refused to eat Mitch and Tiff's food until Kenji coaxed you into it, and now you're asking for more from Mae? She works for Mantah Corp. You're not at all suspicious about that?"
"I cared too much with Mitch and Tiff, and I don't care anymore, so are you going to eat that sandwich or not?"
Brooklynn scoffed, then pushed the plate towards her. "All you."
"Sweet!"
She rolled her eyes. "We need to go."
"Maybe not," Sammy said.
"But Mae works for the company that blackmailed your family."
"Yeah, and I did, too. Sometimes good people can be made to do bad things by bad people."
"Let's at least check out that dangerous area. What if there's a phone or a way off the island, and she's just trying to keep us away from it?"
"Why would she do that?" Darius asked before biting back into his sandwich.
"So we can't tell anyone about whatever shady stuff Mantah Corp is doing here," Ben replied.
"Okay, I'll keep her busy while you check it out," Darius volunteered.
"I'll stay, too," said Sammy. "Maybe we'll get some answers while we're at it."
"Me too," Eva added. "And definitely not because I'm looking forward to cocoa."
Brooklynn rolled her eyes again.
Her, Yasmina, Kenji, and Ben left the cave together.
Eva eagerly bit into Brooklynn's sandwich, moaning in delight.
Mae approached, her footsteps light and echoey. "Bad news, I only have two cups. Good news, with the right attitude, a bowl can be a cup!"
"Hell yeah it can!" Eva cheered.
"Wait, where did everyone go?" Mae questioned, noticing half their party missing.
"Taking a nap," Darius smoothly lied.
"Oh." Mae set the cocoa on the coffee table. "I'll go see if they need extra blankets. I should have some in the back closet."
"Dr. Turner!" Darius shouted, stopping the woman at the hallway threshold. He graviated over to her work station. "You figured out how to tell what a dinosaur is... feeling? That's amazing!"
Mae walked and talked, headed to his side. "Once I made sure the behaviors the dinosaurs exhibited matched the cortical activity, it was only a matter of time before I could anticipate their needs."
Sammy stood up abruptly. "Who did you say you worked for?"
"I didn't. What—"
"This could change everything we know about dinosaurs," Darius grinned.
"Hypothetically, mmhm!"
Eva finished off Brooklynn's sandwich, hesitating between Kenji's and Yaz's, before stealing Yaz's food. She also poured out a mug of cocoa for herself.
"So, hypothetically, this is the coolest thing ever!"
"I know!" Mae said with the same matched enthusiasm. "We can anticipate their needs instead of just guessing, and I really have to shush up because I'm not supposed to be telling you this!"
"Okay, so that's what you're doing," Sammy said, accusatory.
"Hmmm. Don't know what you're talking about. These are just random hypotheticals."
"So, hypothetically, what do your bosses plan to do with your research?"
"I can't say exactly, but it's safe to assume that once their research facility is up and running, we'll be making scientific breakthroughs left and right!"
Sammy frowned. "I... I hope you're right."
The tablet on the desk behind them began blaring.
Mae turned, heading over to it. "Hmm. That's a new sound."
Darius and Sammy began whispering to one another, while Eva sipped on her cocoa.
"Unauthorized life form detected in sector four? Elimination protocol initiated? Oh, that sounds extreme."
Eva stood, approaching the adult. "What's elimination protocol?"
~~~
"Oi!"
The white dog-looking robot scanned Mae.
"Dr. Mae Turner. Authorized life form. What can I do to assist you?" A robotic voice said.
"Never do that again, for starters," Mae snapped. "You killed a compsognathus I could have studied! We don't have any here on the island. Why would you do that?"
"Primary directive is to protect biome ecostasis. Unrecognized life forms pose a threat to ecostasis." Brooklynn, Kenji, Yaz, and Ben crawled from behind a rock, heading in the direction of Eva and the others. "Finishing patrol."
"Wait!" Mae waited until the campers were reunited. "Uh, no, never mind."
The robot dog turned around, scanning the forest as it walked.
Eva brought Kenji into a hug, then pulled back and slugged his shoulder. "Don't scare me like that!"
Kenji grabbed his shoulder, groaning in pain. "Remind me to never piss you off."
"Thank goodness you're all okay," Mae whispered as she approached.
"What was that thing?" Ben demanded.
"One of the BRADs. Bio Robotic Assitance Droids. They care for the island, but I had no idea they did that!"
"You mean killing?!" Brooklynn whisper shouted.
"Back to the cave. The BRADs aren't authorized to go in there— you'll be safe inside. And then, you can explain why you lied to me, and why you were out here in the first place!"
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the feminine urge to rewrite this entire book
- atha