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Jurassic Park: X-Factor (Chapter Seven - Countdown to Chaos)
By drucifer67
Will Bradford sat in his study, pecking away at the keys on his desktop computer, making notations and finalizing the details on a handful of reports. His desk was a symphony of clutter: stacks of papers, jumbles of pens and pencils, floppy disks, paper clips, envelopes, and a vast array of yellow sticky notes. His wife, Melinda, referred to Will’s desk as the place where history and technology crashed head-on.
His one-year-old son Stuart played on the floor at his feet, banging away with his toys on any surface that came to hand. Currently, he was whacking the base of dad’s chair with a plastic guitar.
“The musician in the family,” Will sighed, scooping up the toddler and placing him a short distance away from the desk. Samantha, Will’s daughter, arrived to investigate the noise. She was older than Stuart by eleven months, and she never let him forget it. She chastised him in a language perhaps only she could understand, then crossed to daddy’s desk.
“Meeky,” she said, pointing at the screen.
“No,” Will corrected, “Mickey’s not on daddy’s computer right now.”
“Dosaur,” she said, trying a different approach.
“There are no dinosaurs either,” he replied patiently. “What’s mommy doing?”
The answer came not from the two-year-old at his feet but from the other room. “Mommy’s eavesdropping,” his wife called. “Listening to you avoid interaction with your kids.”
“I’m almost finished here,” he said apologetically. “Then I’ll take over with them.”
“You’re taking them to the park today, right?”
“Of course,” Will answered distractedly. “Don’t I always keep my promises?”
Before she could respond, the telephone on Will’s desk rang stridently. He looked at it for a moment, then called out: “I’ll get it!” Sometimes he said this without thinking; other times he did so because he knew it drove his wife crazy when he announced his intention to answer the phone that only rang at his desk.
He snatched up the receiver. “Bradford.”
Stuart had found something new to smack with his guitar-- his sister’s head. The scream that followed was much more satisfying than the usual thump-thump, so he repeated the process.
Will waved to his wife to come and collect the kids, then turned his attention back to the phone. “No, sir. Yes, sir, I’m listening.”
Melinda looped an arm around each of the toddlers and whisked them out of the room.
“No, sir, not really. Just finishing up some reports.”
She stopped at the door, a child hang-gliding in the crook of each arm, and looked back at him quizzically.
“Yes, sir, if you need me to come in, I can be there within the hour.”
She rolled her eyes and turned to leave.
“Yes, sir,” he said again. “I’ll see you then.”
He hung up the phone and followed his wife into the kitchen. “That was—“
“I know who it was,” she said. “It was Haley, and his tail is in a crack and he needs you to give up your Saturday to help him out.”
“No,” Will said patiently. “I have to go in so they can bring me up to speed on a new situation. And it wasn’t Haley, it was Eichmann.”
Grant stood on the gently pitching deck of the ship, staring into the distant haze. The horizon was obscured by fog on all sides, heightening the illusion that they were alone in the world, lost at sea. He thought of the place they were going—of the danger and wonder that was Isla Sorna—with an odd mixture of terror and eagerness. He could never get enough of seeing the gentle giants like the brachiosaur, grazing from the high trees. In his mind he saw the herds of herbivores as he had seen them from the window of the Kirby’s plane. There could be no more fascinating sight in the entire world.
But he couldn’t enjoy those mental images for long. The other inhabitants of Isla Sorna leapt unbidden into his mind’s eye; the Tyrannosaurs, the enormous Spinosaurus, and the lethally intelligent Velociraptor. He often wondered what the entire Jurassic Park project might have been like, had the InGen researchers had the foresight to breed only herbivores.
“So what’s your paycheck for this gig look like, old timer?”
The voice shattered the contemplative silence, sending Grant’s thoughts in a million directions. He recognized the voice immediately. “Good afternoon, Rick,” he said without turning.
“Morning.”
“My paycheck for this…gig, as you so eloquently put it, is really none of your concern. But if you must know, I’m going because an old friend is marooned on that island, and another old friend asked me to help him.”
“So this is a freebie,” Rick said, considering. “That’s real hero stuff. Must be the girl. Isn’t she a little young for you, Doc?”
“Look, Rick--” Alan began.
“Easy, Dr. Grant. Just trying to make conversation. Listen…I think maybe we got off on the wrong foot.”
“I can’t imagine.”
“Look,” Rick said gently, “in a little while this is going to turn into the ultimate survival situation. I think under those circumstances, even a little animosity could be deadly.”
Grant nodded agreement.
“That remark about the girl was out of line,” Rick conceded. “And some of the things my men have been saying…well, you have to understand, they’re a little rough around the edges.”
“Just a little,” Grant agreed.
“Is it true she’s John Hammond’s granddaughter?”
“Yes,” Grant answered. “Why?”
“Just curious,” Rick shrugged. “She’s cute.”
Alan could feel his expression change. In an instant he was giving Rick a warning look, his face not unlike that of a father who has met his daughter’s date for the evening—and doesn’t approve.
Rick smiled. “Just making an observation. I see it’s a bad subject.”
“Maybe,” Grant conceded.
“So let me ask you this,” Rick said, his tone suddenly becoming grave. “You’ve been on that island. Are the dinosaurs as bad as the media has made them—“
“Infinitely worse,” Alan answered.
“Worse how?” Rick asked, but Grant didn’t answer. He was staring into the distance, as if something out there had caught his eye. Rick turned, trying to see whatever Grant was staring at. After a long moment, he spotted a faint silhouette, barely visible in the haze. “What is that?” he asked.
“Land,” Alan whispered.
1/12/2003 11:32:43 AM
(Updated: 1/13/2003 3:38:25 AM)
(Updated: 1/15/2003 12:59:24 PM)
(Updated: 1/15/2003 3:46:24 PM)
(Updated: 2/11/2003 3:13:16 AM)
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