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Jurassic Park IV: Costa Rica (Part 5)
By Carnotaur3
PART 5
CHAPTER 12: CONTROL ROOM
Bright lights shown in the halls. They were bouncing all over the place as the scientists and employees who were left looked around to see what had happened. There were voices coming from the left giving demands, voices to the right answering them and the others were just hard to hear. A lot of commotion was really going on. Greg, Knox, and Drinnan took a flashlight from one of the employees and hurried to the control room. Drinnan felt dizzy after the disaster while Knox just wanted to find some way to get the hell out of Costa Rica.
In the control room, Greg saw Jed Harrison banging on the computers and telling his workers to hook up the back up system. Jed Harrison is the computer expert, he’s the one who hooked up the facility and the outside electrical fences to the computer. He can fix anything. But this one, he had to have some hands in order to accomplish.
“I need two of you to go to the back up system and plug it in. You, right there, take this key card and this walkie-talkie, and head on over to the maintenance building, I want you to wait there until I give you the word. It’ll be an hour or two.” Harrison said.
Greg pounded on the desk, looked to Jed, and yelled.
“Come on guys, a little faster now.” Greg announced.
“We’re doing the best we can. It takes time and effort, Mr. Palmer.”
Knox noticed everybody at work.
“Well, Drinnan,” said Knox, poking at his side. “What are you waiting for, let’s help get this thing back on line.”
Voices talked at once making everybody’s struggle to cope with this even worst. Jed took his flashlight and pointed it at Greg.
“Do you know what happened?” Harrison said, looking under the computer desk at the cords.
“Hard to explain. But the fences and everything are down.” Greg said.
There was another voice behind him. It was coming down the hall. The voice was from a woman. Then, Greg realized it was Dr. Kristen.
“Mr. Palmer?” She asked when she saw his face lighten up by a flashlight.
“Yes?”
“Have you seen Dr. Baron and my friends?” Kristen asked.
“No.”
“They must have kept running. I think they are lost, Mr. Palmer. I think we better look for them.”
“Look, we need to get the power on in the facility before we do that as well as the fences.”
Kristen nodded. She hoped that they were alive. Baron might be alert about things that are little but he can handle it. She watched as they went right to work. Their faces were terrified.
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Anne lay on the concrete floor of the shed asleep, her dreams taking her to a place where everything was all right. But back in reality, nothing was. Baron and Kyle kept high-spirits. They knew they were stuck in a dangerous situation that required a lot of effort to get out of.
In the shed was a small light up on the ceiling, just dangling around. A desk was to the right side and a chair in the middle of the room. But they had moved it to make space. The shed wasn’t that big, but it was big enough.
Kyle though of Baron, and how he was lucky to have him here with him. He knew a whole lot more about dinosaurs than him. Kyle was the guy that only helped out at the digs. He’d learned a few though during his time there. Dilophosaurus and Triceratops were probably the only one’s he could remember. Kyle and Baron sat up against a concrete brick wall chatting on their situation.
“When I was young I use to play ball all the time with my brothers. They were so mean to me. They use to tease me and never give me the ball. One time they threw the ball out into the woods. And I went to go look for it. The next thing I knew I was lost. Many days passed by and I lost all hope of ever surviving. All the pain was about to fade away from my barley living body. As I started to fade a dog came to me. It looked so wise and so calm and it guided me out and I found my home.” Kyle told.
Baron looked at him.
Kyle finished it up, “I see how that I was needing a guide. And without you we probably be dead by now.”
“I understand how you feel, Kyle. We are all in need for a guide, and that’s the truth.”
Kyle nodded.
“What went wrong tonight. Was it the fence?”
“Might’ve been. It might have been the carnotaurus.”
A crunching sound was coming from outside of the shed. Baron got up to take a look out the window to see what it was. From the left, the trees separated showing an adult iguanodon come into view. It’s tiny detailed scales and bumps could be seen thanks to the reflected light of the moon. It was followed by smaller ones; some medium sized and some as small as chickens.
The infant inguanodons followed her mother closely, and she was alert. Looking around the jungle very quick and constant.
Baron opened the door of the shed to get a better look at the dinosaurs. As he did, he accidentally stirred them up. They moved back very fast to the side, then they were calm again.
“Motherhood is much more than we ever expected for them. To tell you the truth, I didn’t expect much of the herbivores and how they took care of their infants. Some carnivores may have actually eaten their young if they wanted too. Not quite the kind of family we’d expect.” Baron said.
“Only for a selected few though…right?”
“Correct, but you got to wonder… maybe they all were caring parents.”
“True, but these then we’re left with this question: We’re they like this in the past? Are they exactly dinosaur material?”
“Who knows, kid, tough question. Whether they are the right stuff will never be determined.”
Rain pattered on the rooftop of the shed, making beating sounds. Baron watched as the drizzle plopped on the dense jungle foliage and then off onto the ground making a stream of water flowing in the mud. He smiled and shut the door behind him.
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An electric whir sounded as the back up system prepared to jump start and power up the lights. It began minutes ago actually and through it all Jed Harrison had his fingers crossed. What if it didn’t come back on at all, he wondered. Then, the lights flickered on. Everyone cheered in the back on him.
Harrison sat himself down at his console, clicking an icon. Kristen strolled up to him.
“There are three people missing. Maybe a fourth, someone else had followed us.” Kristen said.
“I will have to switch the motion sensors back on. They will track any movement of anything on the ground. If nothing happens then I’m afraid they might be dead.” He said, giving her the impression that they probably were.
Harrison pointed to the window he had. It was a screen showing an animal run around the ground, possibly a rodent of some kind.
“This screen will change to different cameras if something passes a motion sensor the screen will change to that location making us see what it is that’s passing.” Harrison said. Kristen nodded with interest. “I’ll have to debug a few systems before I can get that back on.”
James Colburn entered the room. His rifle had a strap that was hooked around his shoulder and he had the “pissed off” look in his eyes. John Bakker was right behind him.
“I’m sure you would like to inform me on what’s going on,” asked Colburn.
Greg jumped up, twirled around, and headed right over to Colburn. He smiled. “Just the job for you, Colburn. Go and find Dr. Kristen’s friends.”
“What happened to them?” John asked.
“They went missing. They were chased by a dinosaur out into the jungle.” Kristen informed.
“What dinosaur? What the hell happened here?” Colburn asked.
“The carnivore,” said Greg, “is here. It tore the generator to shreds. Now we have fences with absolutely no power. It was the carnotaurus.”
“Oh shit, me and you are gonna have a talk later, Palmer! As for your friends… they are dead.” He was about to walk to the computers when Kristen stopped him.
“Mr. Colburn, please find them. Please, find them.” The look of concern on her face was surprising. Colburn was never in such a situation and now he wanted to act on it.
“I’ll go.” Colburn said. “Bakker, you’re riding with me in the jeep.”
“Sure.” John said and followed him out the door.
Kristen looked to the floor. Greg noticed her lonely expression and put his hand on her shoulder.
“Come on, let’s go get something to eat.”
CHAPTER 13: MORNING DRIVE
Beams of light sneaked passed the thick leaves of the jungle and onto the roof of the shed. Morning dew had developed on the jungle floor. Mud puddles still lay from the long night of endless rain, for which seemed like days and days ago to Dr. Baron, who was already awake on the floor in the shed. He got himself propped up and looked out of the glass window.
Outside was very wet, but what did you expect it is a rain forest. No life was seen, which meant it must have been not too long ago that the sun had come up. Dr. Baron checked his watch.
6:37 A.M.
He puffed out his breath, then, he woke up Kyle and Anne. They were groggy indeed and it took them a while to remember what had happened last night.
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Harrison was dazing off real badly. He could barely keep his eyes open and he kept hitting his head on his console, which is the only way he kept from falling asleep completely. But it wasn’t until a call on the radio made his attention go straight to his work.
The radio crackled. “Harrison, you there?” It was Colburn.
Harrison yawned. “Yeah, still here. We managed to get the motion sensors back up but to no avail, no one has triggered it.”
“We’ve got bigger things to worry about. Turn on camera 23.”
He yawned again and switched on the screen to camera 23. What came up shocked him. Triceratops lay around Colburn’s jeep. No, they were asleep, and there was Colburn and Bakker waving at the camera. They were parked right beside a fence.
“Sticky situation you’ve got there.” Harrison said.
“These guys are gonna take a blow to us if we disturb them, I suggest you send out the wake up call.”
“Coming your way.” Harrison said booting up a program.
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Outside, in the Trike paddock, James Colburn had his fist under his chin, waiting for the sound to be heard. He was arched over on the canopy of the jeep and it was hot. At night it was perfect weather, but during the day you’d burn up. Colburn heard the squealing noise from the overhead sound speakers located on poles near the woods. The noise came abruptly and made the sleeping dinosaurs react very quickly.
They got up from their spot and moved on, right back into the jungle. Colburn blew a sigh of relief. He started up the jeep and moved on onto the trail.
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“Well is conclusive,” said Harrison as the radio crackled. “The triceratops are definitely out of their pin.
“You find that amusing?” Colburn said with a sweat. “I’ve could have been killed by these things. Obviously the most dangerous herbivore here.”
Greg jumped up and took a radio.
“Colburn, this is Greg, stop fooling around and get to work.”
There was a long pause, and then, “Whatever.”
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The jeep sped forward passed the trail and onward into the jungle, breaking limbs and small trees in the way. Colburn was in the front passenger seat looking around the jungle for any sign of human life. In the driver’s seat was Bakker, his hands tense at the wheel.
They entered some dark territory and backed up to get out. Then, they proceeded to the lush.
“Why did you tell me not to go there?” Bakker asked.
“Because I have a bad feeling about that place.” Colburn said.
They moved onward into the jungle, when they saw a female triceratops grazing. It’s three horned head armed and dangerous. It was feasting on the foliage.
“Stop the car, for God’s sake,” screamed Colburn.
The jeep came to an abrupt stop, about ten yards away from the triceratops. Colburn put his index finger up to his lip and watched the trike.
“It’s ready to go at any minute if it should notice us. Why the hell is it doing all the way out here when it should be with it’s her?” Colburn said.
The triceratops looked up in alarm and snorted. Its eyes poised at the vehicle. Then, it reared back and ran full force towards the jeep. Bakker put the jeep in reverse and hit the accelerator, sending the jeep back into dense, hard to see, jungle. The foliage slapped the windows.
Then, Colburn and Bakker both felt the jeep fall. It was plummeting down a cliff. Life flashed before their eyes like a twig in a hurricane, and they found themselves stop in mid air. Bakker had his hands over his eyes, waiting for his life to end at any second…but it didn’t. Colburn was speechless and stiff. He saw that the jeep was facing the cliff and that they seemed to be in mid-air. Further witnessing and they found that they were actually caught by a large tree.
Colburn looked up at the soft plastic window on the canopy above and saw the triceratops grunting and making trumpet sounds. Bakker opened the door slightly, and that’s when it happened. The jeep rocked.
Holding Bakker’s arm, Colburn said, “Don’t move…don’t even make a sound.”
The vehicle creaked in the tree as Colburn looked down to the side of the jeep wrangler. Jungle foliage all the way down, a never endless pit of green. Bakker slowly reached for the CB. His mistake was a punished. The jeep rolled off the tree and tumbled into the smaller trees. It fell more, breaking even more branches and tearing up the canopy. Then, the jeep rested back on its wheels. Bakker and Colburn were in shock for a few minutes but began to laugh. It was incredible! The jeep had not been seriously damaged and they were still alive!
“Son…of…a…bitch. I’m not going to let that happen again,” Said Bakker turning on the ignition.
Colburn nodded in agreement and they drove off back into the jungle. Bakker took the radio in his hands.
“What is out current location, Harrison” Bakker asked.
The radio crackled, “Your in the brachiosaur paddock, don’t know how you got there. You must of jumped over a whole fence or something.” Harrison said.
“You’d be surprised.” Bakker said into the radio.
6/21/2002 11:15:30 PM
(Updated: 6/21/2002 11:41:16 PM)
(Updated: 6/21/2002 11:54:45 PM)
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