Alan and I were standing in front of the raptor cage, listening the screeches and whines coming from the animals within.
Only a short time after we had discovered what species the newly hatched dinosaur was, Alan and I had set out about finding the other adult raptors. We wanted to check the fences and find out whether some of our theories were indeed what we thought they were.
We stood at the base of the stairs, not getting too close because we still weren't too sure of the defences.
"Lyanna! Doctor Grant!" We heard a voice yell from down the hill. I turned around and saw John leading our ragtag group up towards us and I sighed.
"We laid a lunch down for us all before you two left," John huffed as he caught up with the two of us.
"We thought it best we feed you before you get into the park," John smiled, coming to a stop just behind us.
Ian walked over and stood beside me.
"You two, uh, you two charged off there quickly. Is, uh, everything alright?" He licked his lips, biting them a little.
"Yeah, no. We're fine. We just wanted to check out the raptors' enclosure," I responded, eyes on the cow being strapped in some kind of harness in front of us.
"Our gourmet chef, Alejandro-" John was cut off as Alan pointed his finger at the cow.
"What are they doing?"
John smiled.
"Feeding them."
I suddenly felt sick as the harness was lifted into the air and the cow was raised over the top of the cage.
"As I was saying, Alejandro has prepared a delightful menu for us. Chilean Sea Bass, I believe," it was clear that no one was listening to him though as the rest of us moved forward up the stairs and onto the lookout area.
The cow was then lowered into the cage and I whipped around, covering my face in Ian's chest who was conveniently behind me.
"Oh. Oh. It's alright," Ian said somewhat soothingly, obviously a little startled.
"Sorry," I mumbled against his chest, looking up at him slowly.
"It's-it's alright," He replied, rubbing my back.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't block out the cow's stressed moo's or the sound of flesh ripping apart as the raptors took apart their meal.
I could smell Ian's cologne on him as I clutched to his clothes. It was mixed with the scent of mud or something musky. I couldn't tell and although it was proving to be a great distraction from the raptors it wasn't distracting me from Ian, who was know running his fingers through my hair.
"They should all be destroyed," I heard a new voice say.
I looked up and saw a man clad in beige clothes. He was wearing shorts, boots, a hat and a vest with a white shirt.
"Ah, this is my game warden from Kenya, Robert Muldoon," John said, looking over at the man.
"Bit of an alarmist, but knows more about raptors than anybody," he added.
Alan wasted no time going over to talk to the new arrival.
"What's their growth rate?" He stood across from him, leaning against the railing with his arms crossed.
"They're lethal at eight months and I do mean lethal. I've hunted most things that hunt you but the way these things move..." Muldoon trailed off, a faraway look in his eyes.
"Fast for a biped?" I asked, stepping away from Ian and standing next to the man.
"Cheetah speed. Fifty to sixty miles per hour if they ever got out in the open," he answered.
"And they're astonishing jumpers," he added a moment later.
"What about intelligence?" Alan asked.
"They show extreme intelligence. Even problem solving intelligence," he paused, thinking about something.
"Especially the big one," he said finally.
"We bred eight originally, but when she came in she took over the pride and killed all but two of the others. That one, when she looks at you, you can tell she's working things out. That's why we have to feed them like this," he pointed at the harness that had reappeared. It was broken and ripped to shreds.
"She had them attacking the fences when the feeders came."
"The fences are electrified though, right?" I checked, inching away slightly from the fence.
"That's right, but they never attacked the same place twice. They were testing the fence for weaknesses systematically. They remember..." he trailed off mysteriously.
"Yes. Well, who's hungry?" John asked, clapping his hands.
"I don't think I could eat ever again," I said, grimacing. Ian laughed behind me. I turned back towards him.
"What's so funny?" I poked his shoulder a few times.
"Uh, uh, nothing," He responded with a cheeky smile. I huffed.
We walked back to the Visitor Centre, the rest of the group chatting animatedly chatting amongst themselves while I trailed behind, biting my lip.
I looked at Ian who was talking to Ellie and Alan and I smiled. Even though I'd only technically met the man about two hours ago, I felt like I had known the attractive man for my whole life.
There was an aura of calm and professionalism about him that was strangely enough compelling. His flirtatious personality was infectious. It drew me in and got my attention. He was also somewhat egotistical which usually would irritate me to no ends but it wasn't too bad. He wasn't too bad.
We walked yet again up the stairs in the Visitors Centre and down a corridor. We entered a black room with a dining table in the middle. The walls were covered in changing images of the park, it's construction, and future plans. We all took our seats. Somehow, I managed to score a spot next to Ian which immediately improved my mood.
John was still rambling about rides and what was still to come when Gennaro spoke up.
"We can charge $2,000 a day or $10,000 a day and people will pay it... and the merchandising. Now, I can personally say-" he was cut off by John.
"Now, Donald. This park is not intended to only cater for the super rich. Everyone in the world has the right to enjoy these animals," he reasoned.
"Yeah, we'll have a-a-a coupon day or something," Gennaro said with a laugh.
John began laughing, thinking that Donald was joking.
"The, uh, lack of humility before nature that's being displayed here... it, uh, uh, it staggers me," Ian licked his lips, speaking up and grabbing the attention of everyone in the room.
"Thank you, Doctor Malcolm but I think things are a little different than what we expected," Gennaro tried to cut him off.
"Yeah, I know. They're a lot worse," Ian leant back against his chair, sniffing slightly.
"Now, wait a second. We haven't even seen the park yet-" Gennaro continued.
"Let him speak," I said, glaring at him. God I hated people who did that.
"Thank you, Lyanna. Don't you, uh, see the danger, John, inherent in what your doing here?" Ian questioned.
"Genetic power is one of the most incredible powers the planet has, uh, ever seen and, and, and you wield it like a kid that's found his dad's gun," He turned his palm over so that it faced up.
"It's hardly appropriate to start hurling-" Gennaro started up again.
"I-I-If I may," Ian paused, raising his palm at Gennaro to make him be quiet.
"I'll tell you the problem with, uh, uh, uh, the scientific power you are using here," He looked to make sure Hammond was listening.
"It didn't require any discipline to attain it. You, uh, uh, you read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't learn the knowledge for, uh, yourselves," he licked his lips.
"So you didn't take any responsibility..." he trailed off for a second. "For it."
John tried to interrupt but Ian obviously wasn't done.
"You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you, uh, could and before you even knew what you had, you, you, you patented it, and you packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox and now you're selling it," he slammed his hand down on the table.
"You want to sell it," he finished with an exasperated tone.
The way he stammered and repeated words when he got angry or passionate was adorable. I bit my lip. There wasn't much point in getting attached. Odds are that we will never see each other again after this trip.
"I don't think you're giving us our due credit," John responded.
"Our scientists have done things nobody has ever done before," he added, defending his work.
"Yes, yes but your, uh, your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could they didn't stop to think if they should," Ian retaliated, leaning forward. John was silent for a moment.
"Condors! Condors are on the verge of extinction. If I was to create a flock of condors on this island, you wouldn't have anything to say about it," John pointed his finger at him accusingly.
"No. No. This isn't some species that was, was obliterated by, uh, deforestation or the building of a dam. No. Dinosaurs, uh, dinosaurs had their shot and nature selected them for, for extinction," Ian said, obviously getting irritable that his message wasn't getting through. I couldn't help but notice that no one had touched their meals yet.
"I don't understand this Luddite attitude. Especially from a scientist. How can we stand in the light of discovery and not act?" He asked incredulously.
"What's so great about discovery? It's, uh, it's a violent penetrative act that, uh, scars what it explores..." he paused for a second to take a breath.
"What you call discovery, I call the rape of the natural world," Ian leant back again, happy with the reaction he had caused. That was a little dramatic but I could see where he was coming from.
"The question is, how can you know anything about an extinct eco-system? And how could you ever assume to control it? You have poisonous plants in this building. You picked them because they look good but these are aggressive living things that have no idea what century they're living in and they will defend themselves... violently if necessary." Ellie added to the conversation.
John looked around at the group sitting around the table.
"Doctor Grant?" He asked desperately. Alan sighed.
"The world has changed so radically and we're all running to catch up," he looked around the table.
"I don't want to jump to conclusions, but dinosaur and man... two species separated by 65 million years of evolution have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we possibly have any idea what to expect?"
John looked to me. His last attempt.
"Well, first off, everyone has excellent points," I started. I saw John shake his head angrily.
"No. No, listen to me. This is a completely different world to what these animals are adapted to. It's hotter and the entire land mass is different. They have a delicate eco-system that is extremely fragile and we don't know for sure what entails in that eco-system. Yes, sure. We can dig up their remains and make speculations based on our discoveries but that's exactly what they are. They're speculations," I took a deep breath.
"On the other hand, you are trying to create something that fifteen years ago, would have been considered impossible," John nodded.
"I agree with Malcolm on the gender control though because as he so eloquently put it, "life finds a way." In the video earlier, you said that you used the DNA of frogs to fill in the DNA gaps but did you do your research? Certain types of frogs in Africa can change gender in a single sex environment," John visibly paled.
"The fact that you've managed to create this is absolutely spectacular and it's amazing and I can understand why you've done it but I also don't think having them on display like in an amusement park is a good idea. These are living creatures that have never dealt with the severity of human nature before. This is a whole new experience for them and having small children yelling, screaming, coughing, sneezing and touching them is sure to stress them out and be more likely to cause them to panic which also makes the likelihood of an accident much higher..." I trailed off.
"Basically I'm on the animals' side," I said, watching everyone for their reactions.
John looked thoughtful, Alan and Ellie were processing what I was saying, Gennaro looked angry and Ian was watching me. I looked over at him and caught his gaze. There was something in his eyes... maybe pride? Or awe? I wasn't sure.
"Thank you, Lyanna. I'm glad someone has some sort of clue but as for the rest of you... I don't believe it. You're supposed to come down here and defend me against these characters and the only one I've got on my side is the blood-sucking lawyer!" He exclaimed with a nervous laugh.
Gennaro looked slightly offended.
"Thank you," he said somewhat sarcastically.
All of a sudden a man walked into the room and leant down to whisper in John's ear. He smiled, thanked the man and stood up.
"They're here."
Updated on the 2nd of August, 2015.