Later that day, Braedey and Valka were standing nearby a large pen that held the Velociraptors. They could hear the snarls and sounds of the raptors inside it.
"Mr and Miss Martin." John walked up with the others next to the two Martins. "As I was saying, we've laid out lunch for you both before you head out into the park. Alejandro, our head chef-" John was interrupted by Braedey.
"What in the world are they doing?" Braedey asked, as he saw a large cow or a bull being lifted into the air by a crane inside of a harness and moving towards the pen.
"Feeding them." John replied as he and the others watched.
"With the cow?" Shaggy asked in bewilderment.
"Alejandro is preparing a delightful meal for us. A Chilean sea bass I believe. Shall we?" Braedey knew John was wanting the gang to move on, but Braedey and Valka didn't listen, and walked up the ramp and onto the viewing deck, the others following behind them.
The gang all stood there watching as the claw was lowered into the pen. There was silence for a few moments, until all the bushes rustled violently and we heard growling, snapping and the cries of the raptors as they feasted on the cow. The sounds echo out of the pen into the air, and Valka was deeply horrified by what she had to witness, and Daphne seemed rather disgusted by this also.
"They should all be destroyed." A voice spoke out a few moments later. The gang looked over, and saw a middle aged man wearing a safari outfit and sporting a British accent.
"Ah, Robert. Robert Muldoon, my game warden from Kenya. Bit of an alarmist, I'm afraid. But he's dealt with the raptors more than anyone." John introduced the gang to the man.
Braedey walked over to him and shook his hand as he introduced himself. "Tell me, what kind of metabolism do they have? What's their growth spurt?" He asked Robert.
"They're lethal at eight months. And I do mean lethal." Robert explained. "I've hunted most things that can hunt you, but the way that these things move-"
"Fast for a biped?" Valka asked.
"Cheetah's speed. Fifty, sixty miles per hour if they ever got out in the open. And they're astonishing jumpers."
"Yes, yes, yes, which is why we take extreme precautions." John said and then turned around to talk to Fred and the girls, along with Dr. Malcolm.
"Zoinks. 50-60mph for an animal like that." Shaggy commented. "Like, that's almost as fast as the Mystery Machine at full speed."
"Ruh-uh." Scooby shook his head. "Rhe van is faster than that."
"Do they show intelligence? With the brain cavity like theirs, we assumed-" Braedey asked about the intelligence of the raptors.
Robert looked over to him. "They show extreme intelligence, even problem solving intelligence. Especially 'The Big One'. We bred eight originally, but when she came in, she took over the pride and killed all but two of the others. That one..." Robert seemed to be lost in thought. "When she looks at you, you can see she's thinking or working things out. She's the reason we have to feed 'em like this. She had them all attacking the fences when the feeders came."
"But, the fences are electrified, right?" Velma asked.
Robert nodded. "That's right. But, they never attack the same place twice. They were testing the fences for weaknesses systematically. They remember..."
All of a sudden, the gang heard the whirring noise of the crane being lifted. They turned around to the pen and saw the crane lifting the straps that was wrapped around the cow, but this time, there was no cow inside it. The blue straps were all covered with blood, and they had been torn to shreds.
Daphne turned around and laid her head on Fred's shoulder, starting to feel sick at the sight and the thought of what happened to the poor creature. Valka looked rather pale in the face at the sight of what those vicious animals had done to that cow, and Braedey looked like he would jump into the pen and tear each raptor's head off, and mount them on his wall as trophies.
"Yes. Well...who's hungry?" John asked suddenly as he led the other back inside.
~*~*~
Later that afternoon, we were all sat at a long table. Braedey was sat across from John at the end of the table, Fred, Daphne and Velma to his left, along with Scooby and Shaggy, and Malcolm and Gennaro to his right.
Chefs came along, and placed plates of food down in front of each member around the table. When Daphne looked at the food, known as Chilean Sea Bass, it made her want to be sick even more, but she managed to hold it back.
"None of these attractions have been finished yet. But, the park will open with the basic tour you're about to take, and then, other rides will come online after six or twelve months. Absolutely spectacular designs. Spared no expense." John explained, as slideshows of different and various attractions appeared on large screens around the room.
"Rather interesting." Velma agreed.
"I'm with Velma. These do look very interesting, even the underwater dome." Braedey added.
"Ah, that one would be a challenge, but it will be a sensation for people to see." John replied.
"And, we can charge anything we want. Two thousand a day, ten thousand a day-people will pay it. And then there's the merchandising-" Gennaro started, and Valka was completely flabbergasted.
'Oh my god...is that what they're going to charge! Shouldn't they be thinking about people's happiness other than money?' She thought, and decided to take action.
"Excuse me, Sir." Valka spoke out, emphasising on the 'sir'. "Shouldn't you be focusing on people's happiness instead of your own money? Honestly, I've seen theme parks charge up to $20 a ticket, and that's for an entire weekend's worth at the parks." The gang were mentally agreeing with the sorceress. "This park shouldn't pay so much for families that don't have enough money."
John then interrupted as he spoke up. "Miss Martin is absolutely right, Donald. This park was not built to carter only to the superrich. Everyone in the world's got a right to enjoy these animals."
"Sure they will. We'll have a coupon day or something." Donald then laughed.
"No!" Valka thundered, making the laughter stop. "You'd have to be a downright idiot to think that."
"The lack of humility before nature that's been displayed here staggers me." Malcolm suddenly spoke up, and the others all looked to him.
"Thank you, Dr. Malcolm, but I think things are a little different than you and I feared." Gennaro said looking rather annoyed at Malcolm.
"Yeah I know, they're a lot worse." Malcolm agreed.
"Now wait a minute, we haven't even seen the park yet-"
John interrupted him again before he could say anything else. "It's alright Donald, just let him talk. I want to hear all viewpoints. I truly do."
"Don't you see the danger, John, inherent in what you're doing here?" Dr. Malcolm said. "Genetic power is the most awesome force ever seen on this planet. But you wield it like a kid who's found his dad's gun."
Gennaro then spoke up, obviously not happy, "It's hardly appropriate to start hurling-"
"Excuse me, excuse me-"
"Generalizations before-"
"If I may." Malcolm managed to get Gennaro to be quiet while he talked, which Braedey thought was just plain rude, but John said he can voice his opinions. "The problem with scientific power you've used is it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you knew what you had, you patented it, packaged it, slapped in on a plastic lunch box, and now you want to sell it." He then slapped the table for emphasis.
"I don't think you're giving us our due credit. Our scientists have done things no one could ever do before." John said.
"Yeah. But, your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not, they could that they didn't stop to think if they should." Dr. Malcolm then said.
"Condors." John then spoke out, thinking of a rare bird. "Condors are on the verge of extinction. If I'd created a flock of them on the island, you wouldn't have anything to say about this."
"Hold on - - this is no species that was obliterated by deforestation or the building of a dam. Dinosaurs had their shot, and nature selected them for extinction." Dr. Malcolm then spoke out.
"I don't understand this Luddite attitude, especially from a scientist. How could we stand in the light of discovery and not act?" John asked.
"What's so great about discovery? It's a violent, penetrative act that scars what it explores. What you call discovery I call the rape of the natural world." John then finished his statement.
Velma then piped up. "The question is-how much can you know about an extinct ecosystem, and therefore, how could you assume you can control it? You have plants right here in this building, for example, that are poisonous. You picked them because they look pretty, but these are aggressive living things that have no idea what century they're living in and will defend themselves. Violently, if necessary."
Irritated, John turns to Braedey, who looked shell-shocked. "Mr. Martin, if there's one person who can appreciate what am I trying to do?"
Braedey sighed as he leaned forward and started speaking quietly, "The world has just changed so radically, and we're all just running to catch up. I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but look. Dinosaurs and mankind, two amazing species, separated by 65 million years of earth evolution, have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we have the faintest idea of what to expect from this?"
After another long pause, John spoke up with a small chuckle, "I don't believe it. I don't believe it." He then pointed to the gang. "You're meant to come down here, and defend me against these characters, and the only ones that I've got on my side are the bloodsucking lawyer and your mother!"
Gennaro looked insulted. "Thank you."
"I do have a name, FYI." Valka added, looking insulted also.
~*~*~
Later, the gang were lead out of the dining room, and were walking down the stairs of the lobby. "It's time for you all to take your first run into the park."
He lead them outside, just as two cars drove up and stop in front of them. The cars were Ford Explorers, both painted in safari colours with the Jurassic Park signs on the hoods, doors, and even the seat covers. The first one had the numbers '04' on the back of both sides of the car, whilst the second one had the numbers '05' on it.
"Ford Explorers. Nice." Braedey commented.
"Aren't they lovely? Aren't they glorious?" John asked the gang, as Shaggy and Scooby climbed into the first car. "These will be your transports for the afternoon."
"Where are the drivers?" Gennaro asked.
"Drivers? No. No drivers. They're electric cars, guided by this track in the roadway, and totally non-polluting, top of the line! Spared no expense."
"Scooby, look at this. An interactive CD-ROM. You can touch the right part of the screen and it talks about whatever you want." Shaggy told Scooby, as the two looked on the dashboard.
"Row. Rhat's cool." Scooby commented, and got comfortable in the front seat.
"Mr. Rogers, and Mr. Doo, you're alright in there." John told them. "Mr. Martin, hop into the second car." Then, he turned on his heel, and started to walk back into the visitor centre.
"I'm going to ride with Miss Martin." Malcolm said as he went to the second car with Valka, Fred, and Velma, whilst Braedey climbed into the car also.
"Guess this'll be something new." Braedey said.
"I know. This will be exciting." Velma agreed, who was sitting in the front seats.
"The boat is now loading." An announcement then spoke out on the loudspeakers. "Everyone must be on the dock for the 1900 hour departure."