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The Jurassic Chronicles- Book 1- Jurassic Park 3- Chapter 10-12
By Vito_The_White
10. THE BADLANDS
Based from the movie Jurassic Park 3 written by Peter Buchman, Alexander Payne, and Jim Taylor
Tuesday, July 12, 1999
Snakewater, Montana
It was peaceful in The Badlands of Snakewater Montana. A body of water reflecting the setting sun behind the clouds in the sky surrounded a light brown strip of land, dotted with several tents, trailers, and crevices dug in the ground. It was quiet. Just the sound of the birds singing in the background and the calm wind weaving through the shrubs and trees in the area. And on one part of the land, people had made a large imprint in the earth. It formed around a skeleton of a five-foot tall and seven-foot long body of a Velociraptor.
A handsome young man of about twenty-five was bent down over the fossilized animal. He had dark brown hair and had little areas of stubble here and there. He was muscular and wore a black t-shirt with cargo pants. Across from him was a beautiful young woman of about the same age with black hair. She wore white shorts and a blue flannel shirt. She looked up at Billy with admiration. They were both digging and dusting the fossil.
"Um, Billy," the woman asked to get his attention. "Can you come here for a minute?" Billy Brennan put his tools down and crawled over next to her. "Can you show me how to tell which is bone, and which is rock? I have a really hard time with it." She smiled.
Billy chucked and took her hand. "Look," he said, placing her hand on the crevices. "The rock is very rough, see, Cheryl? But then put your hand on the bone, and it's smooth." He looked up at her to see if she was watching. She nodded. He kept putting her hand between the bone and the rock. "Rough, smooth, rough, smooth," he chuckled. She looked up at him with a smile.
Cheryl Logan put her fingers on his unshaven chin. "Rough," she smiled. She then put her fingers on his lips. "Smooth," she said, leaning closer to him. Billy seemed to get really nervous of her doing this and started to back away.
"Please stop," Billy said. "That makes me uncomfortable."
"I'm sorry Billy," Cheryl replied. "I just thought-"
"You thought wrong," Billy cut her off angrily.
"Sorry Billy," Cheryl said, feeling extremely uncomfortable now from being around this boy that she thought she knew well enough of flirt around with.
Suddenly, this was interrupted when Billy heard the familiar noise of a motor from a truck. He turned to see a dirty blue pickup truck pulling up near they dig, kicking up dust behind. Billy smiled, stood up, and left Cheryl to continue her work a little upset about the way the boy had acted.
Billy approached a man with a fedora on that was getting out of the truck. "Alan! Good to see you back! How'd your presentation go," Billy asked.
Grant just shook his head and grunted. "They just don't care anymore, Billy. They just don't care," Grant replied. Billy nodded gravely. He knew that the digging they were doing here was hanging by its last thread. It all depended on people's interest. Otherwise, how would they make money? "How'd you hold down things here?"
"Fantastic! Wait till I show you this! You're going to love what I did with the raptor skull data," Billy said enthusiastically putting his arm around the older man's shoulder. Grant smiled. Billy reminded him of himself when he was that age. But Grant was much more of a traditionalist than Billy, who believed any advancement in technology that would help them with digging was worth using.
"Does it have to do with computers, Billy?" Grant smirked.
"I know how much you love them, right?" Billy patted him on the back. Billy picked up his backpack and the two headed across the dig site to a nearby tent at the opposite end. They entered quickly and Billy brought Grant to a table where a large machine that covered the entire support stood on. Billy leaned over it and looked Grant in the eye. "Meet the future of Paleontology! This is a rapid prototyper," he told Grant.
"Then I guess it can dig," Grant teased. Billy just shook his head and smiled.
"I entered the scan data from the raptor skull. This baby sculpts it perfectly," Billy explained, opening the top lid. Several shavings were nested around the opening. He blew them away and carefully pulled out a modal of some sort of bone or body part. "I introduce to you a raptor's resonating chamber!"
Grant's smirk suddenly turned to a serious face. He suddenly became interested and compelled to look at this thing. It looked like a promising start to get out of going broke. It was surprising to Grant that a computer could ever produce something that he would actually be fond of. "Watch this," Billy exclaimed. He put his mouth up to the chamber, which almost looked like a giant seashell.
As he blew, haunting noises came out. They were noises and sounds that Grant vividly remembered from ten years ago. They made him shudder as they brought back all the horrors, all the nightmares back into his brain. He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. "Ok, ok, Billy, that's enough," Grant said, shaking his head. He didn't ever want to think of Jurassic Park again. It made him want to hurl.
"Don't you like it," Billy asked surprised.
"Of course I do. This is really a breakthrough, Billy," Grant said, trying to force those sounds out of his head. Just then, there was a knock on one of the posts of the tent. Grant whirled around to see a man in a white overcoat, with sunglasses and a brown mustache. It was the same man that had been talking to Marty Guititerrez before.
"Dr. Grant," the man asked. Grant wasn't sure how to react. Depending on who this person was, he wasn't sure if he was in the mood to talk. He simply nodded, hoping this man would get straight to the point. "I'm Paul Kirby from Kirby Enterprises," the man smiled, putting out his hand. Grant forced himself to shake it and the man handed him a business card.
Grant pleaded within himself for this man to get to the point as to why he was there and why no one had came and told him that a vehicle was coming toward the site. That was part of the program at the dig site. Grant was always supposed to know if someone was coming to the site as soon as someone saw a vehicle moving toward the site. However, it was possible that the man had gotten there before Grant did. Even then, Billy should've told Grant that he was there.
“It may take a bit to talk about it…so I was curious if you wouldn’t mind to have dinner with my wife and I tonight at Hell Creek Bar and Grill.”
“That’s a generous offer Mr. Kirby, but I’m a very busy man…”
“It will be my treat," Paul said. "Dr. Grant, it is very imperative to me that you take this offer.”
“I… I'm really tired. I've just got back from a very long trip,” Grant said. "Perhaps some other time."
“We'd love to," Billy said interrupting. "Both of us.”
Grant gave Billy an odd look. Grant thought, What's he up to? When Billy decides things for me something is usually wrong. I hope he isn't up to anything with this guy.
“Great," Paul said. "See you guys tonight at 8:30 P.M.?”
“Sounds fine," Billy said. "Right Alan?”
“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt," Grant said." Thank you Mr. Kirby.”
“Thank you," Paul said. "See you later. Non smoking section.” The strange man walked back in the direction of his car. It was actually a large black limousine with a man wearing black standing there waiting for him with the door open for him to get in. He got in and the driver shut the door and jumped into the driver's seat. The limo started and went away from the dig site. Grant and Billy watched the vehicle leave the dig site at a very fast speed. It looked almost that this man was in a hurry for some strange reason.
"Rich people are untrustworthy," Grant said turning toward Billy. The boy just smiled at him. "We'd love to? Do you know that man?"
Billy smiled. "Actually he's been here for about two hour just waiting for you to show up. I guess it took him a long time to realize that you were here."
"Why didn't you tell me that he was here when I arrived," Grant asked angrily.
Billy shook his head. "It slipped my mind. Seriously. I'm sorry."
Grant shook his head. "Well I guess I can't stay mad at you."
Billy smiled and walked over to Grant and then amazingly kissed him. Grant pulled away immediately and pushed Billy off of him
"I told you to never do that," Grant yelled. "I'm not gay Billy. I wish you would get that through your head.
Billy suddenly looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry Dr. Grant. I'll never do it again."
Grant sighed and started walking. Billy feel into step with him. "Come on let's get going. We don't have long before we have to leave for that meeting, and I need a shower."
"I need one too I guess," Billy said nodding, and they both walked toward the truck.
The two got in the truck and drove away from the dig site as the sun began to set over the horizon.
11. THE INVITATION
Based from the movie Jurassic Park 3 written by Peter Buchman, Alexander Payne, and Jim Taylor
Tuesday, July 12, 1999
Snakewater, Montana
Billy Brennan walked into the Hell Creek Bar and Grill with Alan Grant while a Randy Newman song, ‘Big Hat, No Cattle’ played in the background. Billy could smell the beer on the breaths of the drunk idiots in the bar. He thought to himself, I hate this place. I don't understand why we had to meet here. However he was happy to be there with Grant. He loved him very much and was just happy to be there no matter what the reason was. He knew that Grant would never want to be with him. He guessed this was just another one of those lost loves. He would just have to get over him.
They came to a table, which was seating Paul and Amanda Kirby. The couple stood up to greet the two dinosaur experts. They exchanged handshakes, and sat down.
"Hello, Dr. Grant," Amanda said. "Very nice to finally meet you.” Amanda was thirty-five years old and was wearing a white dress shirt and black dress pants.
“How do you do, Mrs. Kirby," Grant asked." It’s good to meet you as well.”
“Amanda, this is Billy Brennan,” Paul said.
“Hey Mrs. Kirby, how do you do,” Billy asked.
“Thank you, very good,” Amanda replied smiling.
“Well…honey. Let’s start." Paul said." I just want to say, Dr. Grant, that we are highly fond of your work and such. History is Amanda’s profession and mine. Well, side profession."
“What do you do, exactly, Mr. Kirby,” Grant said wondering if these two were for real, or if they were just like John Hammond or some other stupid philanthropist that wanted him to go to one of the dinosaur islands.
“You can call me Paul. Basically Kirby Enterprises handles import and export regarding Proctor and Gamble stocks. Amanda basically makes sure it all happens. She, makes sure it works in a way,” Paul said.
“That’s odd… my cousin works at Proctor and Gamble… he’s never mentioned Kirby Enterprises,” Grant said.
“That’s because we are an unknown branch," Amanda said. "Although we are crucial to their cargo, we aren’t very… popular, and until recently we've resided in Enid, Oklahoma. We are going to be moving to San Francisco soon. However, we are very well organized. We are also looking for more workers.”
“Don’t tell me this whole meeting was to get me to work for you,” Grant said.
“No, no, no, no, no,” Paul and Amanda said at the same time getting very nervous.
“Of course not." Paul said. "However, we have a very interesting proposition for you and Billy, if he’d like.”
“As we said a moment ago, Paul and I, well, when we can, we like to attempt adventure,” Amanda said.
“Right. You name it, we’ve been, umm, we’ve scouted the Nile, Himalayas, K-2,” Paul said. The both of them seemed extremely nervous for a couple of rich people.
“We even have two reserved seats for the first civilian travel to the moon in a few years,” Amanda said.
“And so now, we are doing what no one else in the world can," Paul said. "Dr. Grant, we have chartered an airplane...” Paul and Amanda exchanged glances in the middle of Paul’s lines. “… to fly us over Isla Sorna, and on that trip, we'd like you to be our guide.”
Grant sighed and began thinking to himself. What is with people wanting me to go to that damn island? First it was those students at my lecture earlier today. Then, it was Bob Morris, and now it's these goofs. Who's next? Will Ellie come out here and ask me to go there with her? Maybe Ian will get his crazy ass out here and want me to go with him. This is ridiculous! “I already know what you want, and it’s a kind offer, but there’s no way," Grant replied." I mean further persuasion is useless.”
“Dr. Grant. You have no idea how much it would mean if you came with us," Amanda said. "Show us some of the creatures. We will not even land. We’ve hired skilled military pilots.”
“Yes. We make a few fly overs, examining the different herds of species and we leave," Paul said. "Dr. Grant, on our behalf, come with us.”
“Like I said before, no.”
“Dr. Grant, see this,” Paul said. He went through his pockets and got out his checkbook. “I can write a whole bunch of numbers on this.”
After a moment of silence, Billy got excited and broke into the conversation. “Alan, what would it hurt? Who knows, maybe we will discover something, and the Kirby’s here have went out of their way to persuade you. We could use the money too. You know how much we need it for the digs.”
“Billy, I-” Grant was interrupted.
“Please,” Paul asked desperately.
“Mr. Kirby, there are a lot more trained paleontologists other than me,” Grant said. "Think of Richard Levine or perhaps Jack Horner. They're more trained in this particular area then I could ever be. Dr. Levine has even been on the island!"
“Nope,” Amanda said.
“Absolutely not," Paul said." Nope, you’re, you’re the best.”
“How do you plan on flying over it anyway," Grant asked. "Costa Rica has limited airspace. Hell you can’t even fly over Sorna.”
“That’s the thing,” Amanda said.
“Through our trading, export and import, we talked the Costa Rican airspace department into letting us have special privileges to fly as low as we can," Paul said. "We have been very generous to Costa Rica over the past few years.”
“How low exactly,” Grant said.
“Like we said, as low as we want," Amanda said. "But after all that stuff that Dr. Ian Malcolm said happened when he was there, we don’t want to get lower than a hundred feet to the surface.”
“If you went through what I did on Nublar you’d want to check out Sorna from satellite shots,” Grant said.
“We will stay high," Paul said. "Over two hundred and fifty feet. Guaranteed.”
“There is not really any further need to waste your time, Doctor," Amanda said. "But just take into consideration that you will be long remembered for this. Paul and I have been just itching to ask you both, but we didn’t know how to approach ya'll for a while…”
“And like I said earlier, I can write all kinds of numbers on this check, Dr. Grant," Paul said." What will it take?”
Grant looked at Paul in the face and smiled.
12. THE DINOSAUR FLY-BY
Based from the movie Jurassic Park 3 written by Peter Buchman, Alexander Payne, and Jim Taylor
Wednesday, July 13, 1999
Choteau, Montana
Huford Udesky helped Cooper and Nash load up the guns in a plane. This time, they had changed. They were no longer wearing casual clothes. They all wore black jump suits with black t-shirts underneath. They also all wore sunglasses. They looked to be part of a private group of secret agents or something. The plane they loaded the things into was by no means run down or junky like the kind they had been handling in the plane graveyard, but it was roughed up.
"Do you think we'll be able to handle them, guys," Cooper asked Nash and Udesky. They all looked at each other and smiled.
"Yeah," they all said together, shrugging.
Suddenly a man in a suit and tie came walking forward carrying a briefcase. He shook Udesky's hand.
"Hello," the man said. "I'm Ben Talon of the EPA."
"Oh," Udesky said smiling. "It's nice to meet you Mr. Talon. I was told that you might be early."
"Well, I want to get this investigation started as soon as possible," Ben replied.
"What's going on here Mr. Talon," Nash asked. "Why does the EPA want to go on a rescue mission for? It's not like this is the president's kid."
"It's not the kid's rescue that I'm truly concerned about," Ben replied.
"Then why the hell are you going," Cooper asked in a hateful tone.
"There is a possibility that you guys aren't the only people going on this trip to Isla Sorna."
"What are you talking about," Nash asked confused. "This plane is barely able to hold all of the passengers that we know are going now."
"No sir," Ben replied smiling. "You don't seem to understand me. There is a large possibility that there will be a genetics company called Biosyn going there. The EPA has been investigating Biosyn for several years now. Actually it was since the early nineties."
"What makes you so sure that they are going," Nash asked.
"What is it that they want on that island," Udesky asked.
"Why aren't you taking anyone from the FBI or something," Cooper asked.
"Slow down gentlemen," Ben replied, putting his arms up in defense. "I'll answer all of your questions. "First Mr..."
"Standish; Nash Standish," Nash replied shaking the man's hand. "And this is Mr. Huford Udesky and Mr. Cooper Reglado."
"Fair enough," Ben said smiling. "It's nice to meet all of you. To answer the first question, we know that they are going, because of a property that they have recently purchased. It's too long of a story to tell right now, and I don't think that I need to be seen when Dr. Grant arrives anyway. The second answer is that they want to take some of the dinosaurs off the island and put them in the property that they have bought. The property, by the way, is in San Diego. The reason we haven't informed the FBI, or any of the other law enforcement agencies is because if they were informed, they would take over this expedition and any hope of finding Mr. and Mrs. Kirby's son would be done for. Does that answer your questions?"
The three men shook their heads in agreement. "Good. May I get on the plane now?"
"Yes sir," Udesky replied. "We're almost ready to go. We'll call for the rest of the passengers in a few minutes. You can go ahead and get settled in though. Since you don't want to be seen by Dr. Grant, it might be best to go to the back where the storage department is."
"Thank you," Ben said smiling. "That might be a good idea."
The EPA agent walked up the ramp and onto the plane.
"He's a weird man," Nash said, "but not too bad."
* * *
Alan Grant and Billy Brennan walked up to the airport from their truck. They had duffel backs with them that were very heavy. They walked out to a small runway where a white plane with several portholes, indicating plenty of seats, sat. On the wings, turning blades were located in the front. A long streak of blue lined the side of the vehicle. On the side, the hatch was open and three men in all black were loading things into the airplane.
The Kirbys were inside a small shed watching and waiting with a man wearing green cargo safari clothing. Grant immediately recognized him as Marty Guitierrez, the man who had talked to him down at a Costa Rican hotel after what had happened on Isla Nublar. Guitierrez had told him about animals that were on the mainland in Costa Rica. They had sounded like to have been Velciraptors. Grant had wondered a lot about what happened to those animals but he'd just assumed that the Costa Rican Government had killed them just like they'd done to the animals on Isla Nublar.
"Well, thanks for bringing me along, Alan. I appreciate it," Billy smiled at his mentor as they walked towards the small shed. Grant smirked, putting on his dark brown fedora.
"What did you think I was going to do? You were the one that got me into all of this. You really think I would leave you behind to have fun! Oh, no. You're going to go through every irritating moment I go through. Billy chuckled as they neared the Kirbys and Guitierrez. Paul saw them and put out his hand.
"We're almost ready to go! My pilots are just finishing up the loading of the cargo," Paul smiled. Amanda wasn't as happy as Paul. It was easy to tell. She would manage a fake smile once in a while, but she just wasn't as cheerful as her husband. What could possibly be wrong? Grant thought this would be a really happy day for them; they were going to get to see dinosaurs in the flesh. Grant looked at Guitierrez who he could tell immediately was pissed about all of this and was probably mad that he had been invited along on this adventure.
"What are they loading? It looks like a lot of heavy things," Grant pointed. Paul whirled around, suddenly becoming nervous. These people sure were strange, that was for sure. From the looks of what those men were loading, it looked like weapons, concluding from the shape of the bags. "Are those guns? We really aren't going to need those, Mr. Kirby," Grant informed them.
"Perhaps not. But I always like to be safe. That's one thing that irritates, Amanda, heh, I'm always safe! She thinks I'm too safe," Paul said, sounding like he concocted that up in just a second. "As I'm sure you already understand, that island is kind of an unlucky place and-"
"If you only knew," Grant interrupted.
"Well," Paul began again, "we just want to be prepared incase there is some kind of emergency."
Grant and Billy nodded as the people walked out to the plane. In the next moment, the men were done. As they turned around, Grant saw they were all pretty muscular, unless it was just that they had a lot of armor on.
"I still don't quite understand how you were able to get the Costa Rican Government to clear this, but I guess we'll be ok," Grant said.
Paul waited a moment and then put on his irregular manufactured smile. "Now that's the spirit, Dr. Grant," he replied. Amanda approached and nodded, putting her hands on Paul's shoulders.
"So tell me about your team," Grant said. "I need to know who we have to work with here."
"That's perfectly fine," Paul replied. "Beside us is a Biologist, Dr. Marty Guitierrez."
Grant smiled. "We've met."
Paul was confused. "You have?"
"Dr. Grant and I have met down in Costa Rica," Guitierrez said. The man still seemed irritated for some reason that Grant couldn't figure out.
"Well that's good to know," Paul said showing his nervousness again. "Our pilots work here in Choteau. They are skilled military pilots, and they actually went to dessert storm."
"Why do you need three of them," Grant asked.
"It's one of their weird precautions," Paul replied. "They work as a team. If they aren't together they won't work for you no matter what the price is. I would've tried some other pilots, but they're all on some sort of leave, or already have customers."
At that, the pilots gestured for all of them to board the plane. The five of them walked up the steps and through the hatch.
* * *
Inside, the plane was nicely furnish with white, leather seats and tan carpet. Grant noticed that all the seats were able to bend back in order to lay down. He smiled. On this trip, it would be good to take a nap to avoid annoying chat with the tourists. He immediately took a seat across from Billy. One of the men who was dressed in all black sat behind Grant while Guitierrez took the other seat in the back, and the other two, a black man and a red-head, took the pilot's seats. Paul and Amanda Kirby sat in front of Grant and Billy.
"Here we go folks," the redhead announced. He pressed a few buttons and pulled on the steering wheel. His co-pilot looked at him with a small smile and gave him a thumbs up. The plane turned and began to go faster. Grant looked out the window to see them rush down the runway, slightly picking up off the ground. In a few moments, he saw they were above Montana and he heard the wheels retract into the underbelly of the plane. They kept rising higher and higher into the clouds.
* * *
The roughed up looking airplane soared through the sky, ripping through clouds. On the inside of the plane’s passenger quarters Billy was rambling on about something.
“…and then, my friend looks up at me with a very twisted face," Billy said." It was so freakin’ funny. Anyway, he was just hanging there. Chris went after him though. He had on a paraglider, so he wasn’t in any trouble.”
Billy was clearly trying to get a laugh out of Grant. However, it was evident that during this trip, Grant was not going to be at a calm state. How could he considering he was almost killed on the other island several years ago. He seemed to be nervous about all of this, but was trying his best not to show it.
“Billy…you’re always carrying that pack around," Grant said." What’s up with it?”
“Well, that’s the next story I was going to tell you," Billy replied. "You see, I’ve had this for barely as long as I can remember. My dad was a fireman, and he loved it. Everyday he would come home singing the same song over and over.”
“But what about the pack,” Grant asked.
“Well that’s the thing. This pack was lying next to my bed the last night he came home singing his song. Next day, mom came in my room with an unpleasant glare in her eyes. She looked at me, and told me in these exact words. William…your dad wants to tell you something. I said ‘what mom? What’s he want to tell me?’ And then mom starting to cry, told me I would have to pray to get his answer. He never did come home. And every time I look at this pack, I remember the song he would hum. You see, he was a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings, so he would sing The Road Goes Ever On. Hah, he was a terrible singer, but that didn’t matter.”
“Go on,” Grant said.
“Well… a few years passed. Mom was outside hanging clothes… we didn’t have enough money to buy a washing machine or dryer, dad basically homeaged us. But ever since he was, well mom got a job at the local grocery store making around three dollars an hour. She barely drew enough to pay for our food. After a while…”
“Billy… don’t go any further,” Grant said.
“Oh… yeah maybe I shouldn’t," Billy said. "But let me continue the story about the pack.”
“By all means,” Grant replied smiling.
“Chris and a few more of my buddies went with me to K-2. Of course, I had my pack on, and hanging from the side of it was a pulley for a parasailer. Those things are pure fun. Anyway, we got about oh, thirty-four hundred feet up, right before the impact winds came through with blistering cold temperatures. Toddy went off first, followed by Jason and Brent. I went last; to make sure they made it. After all, I am the king of parasailing! I waited a few moments, to let the last of the gusts go by. I jumped, my excitement overweighing my intelligence. The gusts weren’t over. Wind blew me right into the side of the cliff. Wham! I smacked the side, and I was knocked out. I had no control of my body…”
“Well.”
“Anyhow, I woke up, and I was lying at the place where we had jumped. Toddy came after me. I looked around, you know, to get a grasp on what had just happened. I then looked at my backpack. It had a small tear in it. Jason said I was hanging on the side of that cliff by my pack. It saved me. That’s why, to this day, this pack goes everywhere I go. And it’s with me while I’m doing… whatever I’m doing.”
“That’s quite an amazing story Billy," commented Guitierrez from the back." A friend of mine has a lucky pack as well. It's saved him a few times also.”
Billy looked at Guitierrez trying to hide his anger. He hated it when people listened in on conversations that they weren't allowed in. It was just very rude to him. “Yeah, that's interesting Dr. Guitierrez." Billy turned back to Grant trying even harder to hide his anger. "When we get back Alan, I’ll tell ya some more," Billy said." You know, when we aren’t around anyone else and alone.”
Billy turned back around and looked at the man in the backseat beside Guitierrez. He recognized him as Cooper Reglado. “How do you guys know the Kirby’s?”
“Ah, oh through our, our church,” Cooper replied.
“What denomination,” Grant asked.
“Uh, the one that loves God and Jesus,” Cooper replied.
Billy and Grant exchanged glances. Guitierrez smiled a lost smile. Grant motioned for Billy to lean in.
"These people are a lot weirder then I thought," Grant whispered. "Do you have any idea what's going on here Billy?"
"Not a clue Alan," his apprentice replied.
"None of this makes any sense to me," Grant whispered. "It's quite weird for someone to want to fly over Sorna after all that they probably heard about it."
"Or think they heard," Billy added.
Grant shook his head in agreement. "It's pretty bad if you don't know what denomination your church is."
"Also you've noticed how nervous the Kirby's seem to be, haven't you," Billy asked.
"Definitely," Grant whispered. "I think they're hiding something."
"What could they be hiding," Billy asked.
"I don't know Billy," Grant replied. "But whatever it is, I'm sure I won't like it."
* * *
Up front, Paul Kirby was talking to the pilots. “So how much further?”
Then, one of the pilots, Huford Udesky, spoke up from the cockpit. “We still have about an hour or so let me clear uh, with the Costa Rican air patrol”
“Great,” Paul replied playing along so that Grant and Billy could hear them.
“Well I’m going to take me a quick nap while we are waiting," Grant said.
“Yeah I think I’ll do the same,” Billy said.
Grant tilted his fedora down to shadow his eyes. It was not long until he fell asleep.
**** Grant's Dream ****
It didn't seem long before Grant felt someone nudging him. There was a frail and beautiful voice that kept repeating his name. Grant finally took his fedora off his eyes to see Ellie Reiman shaking him awake, although she looked a little messy. Her hair was awful and her cloths were ripped in several places, plus she looked several years younger from the last time that he had seen her at the Reiman household.
"Alan! You need to see this," Ellie exclaimed. Grant quickly raised back up in his seat to see Lex and Tim Murphy asleep and Ellie, Robert Muldoon, and Donald Gennaro looking in the pilot's cockpit area. Grant stood to look at what they were looking at only to see that the two pilots were dead. Their veins had been pulled out of their necks and their ribs were showing. Their intestines were sprawled out on the floor.
"My, God! What did this," Grant whispered.
There was a very loud hissing sound from the back of the helicopter. Grant and others turned around to see a huge Velociraptor staring right at them. They all froze in terror at what they saw. The raptor then leaped for them landing on Gennaro ripping his body apart as he screamed.
Suddenly, the helicopter started to go out of control and started to rush downward toward the pacific ocean below. Muldoon jumped up in the front of the helicopter trying to get the chopper to go back up, while everyone screamed to the heavens. Muldoon's efforts were useless. The helicopter went crashing into the dark water below.
Grant turned to see that the raptor had been thrown from Gennaro's body and had hit the side of the chopper. The animal was unconscious.
"Is everyone alright," Grant yelled. It seemed that everyone except Grant was unconscious. He was the only one that was awake or possibly alive.
Suddenly he saw a huge object coming toward the helicopter. Grant recognized it immediately as being a humongous Plesiosaur coming right toward the chopper. Grant screamed as the animal opened its mouth and things went black.
* * *
Grant then woke up to Billy’s voice. “Alan… Alan get up, we're about there.”
“Billy…I’m not so sure about… about this,” Grant said as he was trying to shake the dream away.
"Ah it’s okay… remember… we aren’t landing,” Billy said.
“I suppose… okay," Grant said. "Hey, owww… help me up. I have a catch in my side…”
“Sure you old geezer," Billy said. "Don’t over do it.”
“Just wait until you are my age,” Grant said. "Besides, I'm only ten or so years older then you!"
Guitierrez laughed listening in to the two odd Paleontologists.
“Let’s not imagine me at your age,” Billy said. Billy helped Grant up, and they proceed to the Kirby’s seats.
“Welcome to Kirby airlines, Dr. Grant, and Dr. Brennan,” Amanda said.
“Hey Alan, she called me doctor,” Billy said smiling.
“There's only two doctors on this little camping trip and you're not one of them,” Grant teased.
“You know… I know just as much as you do,” Billy said.
“Okay," Grant said. " Then tell me...”
Billy prepared for a quiz. Grant was always hard on his questions when it came to quizzes, but he was sure that he'd do ok.
“Archaeopteryx. How did it use its wings?”
Billy looked at him astonished. That one was easy. “Other than flying, it would flap them in a violent notion… it would extend its left wing, and flap the right one to, you know, confuse it’s prey.”
“Okay. Tell me this,” Grant said.
Billy grinned, waiting to answer Grant’s question like no one’s business.
“What unique bone in a dinosaur causes it to differentiate itself between it and modern reptiles,” Grant said with a smile. There is no way he is going to be able to come up with the answer to that one, Grant thought to himself as he sat back down in his seat.
“That sleep really got your smart box ticking,” Billy said.
“Exactly," Grant replied. "Billy, pretty much all hipbones on each species of dinosaur was constructed so that it would stand at an erect stance.” Grant then flipped Billy on the chest. “Buddy.”
“I’ll buddy you in a minute,” Billy said.
“Amanda, how far is Sorna from here,” Guitierrez said a little tired of just staring at the ocean. He was ready to see the actual animals. He was also tired of the Paleontology lecture that was taking place. He had heard all of these lectures from Richard Levine a million and one times and he was extremely tired of them.
“Huh," Amanda said dumbfounded. "Oh, it’s right up there, see?”
* * *
The plane broke through the puffy white clouds. They approached a lush green piece of land, a jewel in a huge sea of bright blue. Large canyons and valleys covered the entire area. In the middle of the island's crevices, stretches of tall trees, light and dark green colored, dotted with red flowers and berries. It could almost be paradise, if it wasn't for the things that lived on it, which made it a world untouched by time. The Lost World that Ian Malcolm had lectured about years ago, and before he even knew about the island. This was the place left untouched by man for so many years. Actually more like four years. That was how long it had been since Ian Malcolm was on the island.
“Amanda… we’ve waited for this forever,” Paul said.
“I know," Amanda said. "And we even got the best of the best to be our guides in the expertise of these animals…”
“I actually used to study them a while back,” Paul said.
“Oh? Why didn’t you pursue paleontology,” Grant said not believing a word of what Paul was saying.
“Because I couldn’t tell the difference between Amanda and a Tyrannosaurus,” Paul said smiling.
“Okay, I’m not that ugly,” Amanda said with her mouth wide open.
“But Mrs. Kirby, Tyrannosaurs are Beautiful creatures, why, I even made friends with one about eight years ago,” Grant said.
“I’m not great at detecting sarcasm, but…God,” Billy said.
In the cockpit Nash and Udesky were on a radio. “The-Rica-around. Please, turn-," A voice over the radio said.
“Cut it off,” Nash said. He couldn't believe that the Costa Ricans didn't believe that Eric could possibly still be alive. Those idiots just didn't realize that they were professionals and that they knew what they were doing. Governmental types were always that way toward Nash and any of his people. They always believed that he couldn't get the job done. That's why he took Paul Kirby's proposal. He wanted to prove to all of those political people that he could be good at any job that they were to throw at him.
“-no-turn around immediate-,” The voice over the radio said. Udesky then leaned up and switched the radio off.
“Tell em’ we are about ready to start searching over the island,” Nash said.
“Mr. And Mrs. Kirby, we're about to begin our first circle around." Udesky said.
“Excellent," Paul said. "Amanda, get the recorder out.”
“Yeah it’s right here,” Amanda said pulling out a camcorder.
Grant sat there shaking his head. These people had no idea what they were doing. If they did get to go on that trip to the moon they'd probably mess something up and blow the craft to pieces. “You better put that away, Mrs. Kirby," Grant said. "What we are doing is pretty much illegal.”
“He’s right honey, we won’t forget this anyway,” Paul said.
“Yeah, Okay," Amanda said putting the camera back into her bag. She was extremely disappointed to not be able to record the events that they were about to see. "Hey we are above the beach now.”
* * *
The plane soared above Isla Sorna. Ocean waves crashed up against the rocky beaches, and they were suddenly delivered to a calm surrounding as the forests and jungles hid the ocean. The plane was now sailing over the island.
“I haven’t thought about it until now but… ,”Billy said.
“Billy they are nothing great,” Grant said.
“Still… this is a great moment for me,”
“I understand,” Grant said smiling. He knew that since Billy was new to Paleontology and really interested in dinosaurs that it was going to be hard to get him to realize that these dinosaurs were dangerous. However, he was sure that Billy would eventually realize it anyway.
“Well, oh hey Cooper, tell us if you see anything,” Paul said.
“Nah, I thought I would keep it to myself,” Cooper said. This guy is an idiot, Cooper thought to himself. Did Paul actually think that he wasn't going to speak up if he saw that poor boy. Paul'd lost his mind. Cooper wanted to be on this island as much as Dr. Grant did, and he was sure that he didn't want to be there at all.
“Mr. Kirby, who are the pilots,” Grant asked out of the blue. "You never did tell me their names."
“They’re just…hey look,” Paul said with excitement as he pointed out the window.
They looked out one of the plane windows to see a herd of yellow shaded dinosaurs.
“Hadrosaurs. Billy… look,” Grant said.
“Oh… oh… ,” Billy said.
“If you think you’re about to cry, then go away,” Grant said.
“No way… this is extraordinary… just look at them,” Billy said.
“Lord… Lord… Paul honey are you seeing this,” Amanda asked. "This is incredible!"
"Yeah, ooh, ahh, that's how it always starts, but then later there's running and then screaming," Grant said smiling.
“How could I not," Paul said, not paying attention to what Grant said. "Dr. Grant, inform us… what are they probably doing?”
“Well they stay in herds to scout for food mainly, and to evade predators, such as the Suchomimus and many of the raptor families," Grant said. "They are considerably close to the beach so I assume they are wanting water, but are afraid of the beach containing predators.”
“Absolutely amazing,” Paul said.
“Now aren’t you glad you came," Amanda said smiling. " Plus you’re getting paid.”
“I’ll tell you when we are back home,” Grant said.
“Oh guys, lighten up,” Paul said.
Grant looked out the other side, and saw a herd of Triceratops. “Oh, over here, come here, you can see a herd of triceratops… and look beyond them, next to the pond… a pack of Brachiosaurs… and as you can see, the alpha male leading the group, Mrs. Kirby, Paul, look.”
The Kirby's seemed to be staring to lose Grant's attention as they just continued to stare out of the windows not amused to what Grant was showing them. Grant frowned at this.
“Mr. Kirby there’s a landing strip up ahead if you want us to set her down,” Nash said from the cockpit.
“No, no," Paul said. "Circle around some more first.”
“What did he just say,” Billy said.
“What do you mean," Grant said. "You can’t land here…”
“Hold on, I can explain,” Paul said.
“You said we weren’t landing…Kirby, we are not by any means landing this craft,” Grant said.
“Dr. Grant, just wait a second now,” Amanda said.
"What's going on," Guitierrez said still looking out the window not paying much attention to the other people, because he was too amazed at what he was seeing. He now knew that Levine was right and wished he was there with him to share the joy.
"I'm not sure," Cooper said in reply to Guitierrez.
“You cannot land on this island,” Grant said getting furious at everyone.
“Dr. Grant please,” Paul said.
“Do not land this airplane…that was the agreement,” Billy said.
“Are we landing or not,” Nash said.
“No! We are not! Take us back to the mainland immediately," Grant said more angry then he'd ever been before, because he'd just been lied to about something that could've ended up with him dying. " Mr. Kirby, you are in trouble.”
“Now now, just let me explain,” Paul said.
“Paul just tell him,” Amanda said.
“Okay, we’re landing now,” Udesky said.
Grant stood up and started for the cockpit, and was then knocked out cold by someone behind him.
12/29/2002 11:36:28 PM
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