BLJaR Goes to Jurassic Park P.1

Benny, Leo, Johnny and Rae Goes to Jurassic Park
Part 1
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An artist’s camel hairbrush carefully sweeps away sand and rock to slowly reveal the dark curve of a fossil – It’s a claw. A dentist’s pick gently lifts it from the place it has laid for millions of years. A group of workers are seen working on a large skeleton. Among the group, the leaders of the Fantasy Adventure Team: Benny, Leo, Johnny, and Rae, were also working on the claw. Leo lays the claw in his paw.

"Four complete skeletons..." thought Leo. "Such a small area...The same time horizon..."

"They died together?" Johnny asked.

"The taphonomy sure looks that way," said Benny.

"If they died together, they lived together," said Rae. "Suggests some kind of social order."

"They hunted as a team," said Leo. "The dismembered Tenontosaurus bone over there...That’s lunch."

"But what killed our raptors in a lakebed, in a bunch like this?" Benny asked.

"I’m not sure, we better come up with something that makes sense."

"A drought," said Rae, pointing at the dry lakebed. "The lake was shrinking..."

"That’s good. That’s right!" Leo spoke with excitement. "They died around a dried-up puddle! Without fighting each other. This is looking good."

From the bottom of the hill, a voice shouts to them.

"Dr. Grant! Dr. Sattler! We’re ready to try again!"

Dr. Alan Grant, mid-thirties, a ragged-looking guy with intense concentration, sighs and sits up, stretching out his back.

"I hate computers," Dr. Grant muttered.

Leo hands the claw to Grant who shoves it absent-mindedly into his pocket. With them is Dr. Ellie Sattler, late-twenties, athletic-looking, and working with Grant, follows them toward the source of the voice. As they walk, they pass through the badlands, consisting of exposed outcroppings of crumbling limestone stretching for miles in every direction, not a tree or bush in sight. In the dig itself, the ground is checkered with excavations everywhere. A base camp with five or six teepees, a flapping mess tenet, a few cards, a flatbed truck with wrapped fossils loaded on it, and a mobile home. There are a dozen volunteers of all ages at work in various places around the dig. The Volunteers are from all walks of life, dinosaur buffs. Three or four of them have children wit them, and the kids run around, like in a giant sandbox.

Grant, Ellie, the leaders, and a volunteer walks down the hill. Benny spots a kid kicking dirt onto one of the digs. She notices and frowns.

"What’s that kid doing?" Benny asked to himself. He shouts to the kid. "What are you doing there?! Excuse me! Can you just back off? This is very fragile! Get off that and go find your parents! Do you see what he just did?"

The kid stomps away, clearly mad.

"Freak," spoke the kid to himself.

"Why are we even here anyway?" Johnny asked, using his paw to fan himself, groaning for he is being overheated. "This heat is killing me!"

"Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler have four summers of work here," Leo explained. "They were willing to pay us if we accepted their offer to hire us for one. And besides, this is a learning experience, sort of a vacation, so of course there will be volunteers with kids."

"Least Mackenzie is well behaved, more than that kid," said Benny.

The gang arrives to where several volunteers are clustered around a computer terminal; it is set up on a table in a small tent, the flaps lashed open. The volunteer throws a switch on a machine that looks a bit like a floor buffer. The whole thing hops up into the air as it drives a soft lead pellet into the earth with a tremendous force. There is a dull thud; the earth seems to vibrate. Johnny hollered and lands into Rae's hands.

"NOW THAT’S A GUN SHOT!!!" Johnny screamed.

"Get off Johnny!" Rae blasts Johnny's ears with her powerful shout. She sets Johnny roughly down onto the dirt.

Soon all eyes turn towards the computer screen.

"How long does this usually take?" Ellie asked.

"It should be immediate return," said the volunteer. "You shoot the radar into the ground; the bone bounces back..."

The screen suddenly comes alive, yellow contour lines tracing across it in three waves, detailing a dinosaur skeleton.

"This new program’s incredible! A few more years of development and you don’t have to dig any more!"

Grant looks at him; his expression is positively wounded.

"Well, where’s the fun in that?" Grant asked rhetorically.

"It looks a little distorted, but I don’t think that’s the computer."

"Postmortem contraction of the posterior neck ligaments," Ellie reads to the screen.
"Velociraptor?"

"Yes," said Grant. "Good shape, too. Five, six feet high, I’m guessing nine feet long. Look at the..."

He points to part of the skeleton, but when his finger touches the screen the computer beeps at him and the image changes. He pulls his hand back, as if it shocked him.

"What’d you do?" Leo asked.

"He touched it," Ellie giggled. "Dr. Grant is not machine compatible."

"They’ve got it in for me," he said with a small giggle coming out.

The volunteer laughs and touches a different part of the screen, which brings the original image back. Grant continues, but doesn’t get as close.

"Look at the half-moon shaped bone in the wrist. No wonder these guys learned to fly."

The Fantasy Adventure Team laughs. Grant is surprised.

"Well maybe dinosaurs have more in common with present-day birds than reptiles. Look at the pubic bone… It’s turned backwards, just like a bird. The vertebrae… Full of hollows and air sacs just like a bird. Even the word raptor means 'bird of prey'."

The kid steps forward and looks at the computer skeleton critically.

"That doesn’t look very scary," spoke the kid. "More like a six-foot turkey."

"Uh oh..." Leo shook his head.

"Now he’s done it!" Benny spoke under his breath

Everyone sort of draws in their breath and steps aside, revealing the kid, standing alone. Grant turns to the kid, lowers his sunglasses, and stares at him like he just came from another planet. Grant strolls over to the kid, puts his arms around his shoulders in a friendly way.

"Try to imagine yourself in the Cretaceous Period," said Grant.

"Here we go," Ellie said, rolling her eyes.

"This oughta be good," said Johnny.

"You’d get your first look at the six-foot turkey as you move into a clearing. But raptor, he knew you were there a long time ago. He moves like a bird; lightly, bobbing his head, and you keep still, because you think maybe his visual acuity is based on movement, like a T-Rex, and he’ll lose you if you don’t move. But no, not Velociraptor. You stare at him, and he just stares back. That’s when the attack comes… Not from the front, no, from the side, from the other two raptors you didn’t even know were there."

Grant walks around the kid.

"Velociraptor’s a pack hunter, you see, he uses coordinated attack patterns, and he’s out in force today. And he slashes at you with this..."

He takes the claw from his pocket and holds it at the front of the raptor’s three-toed foot.

"...A six-inch retractable claw, like a razor, on the middle toe. They don’t bother to bite the jugular, like a lion, they just slash here, here..."

He points to the Kid’s chest and thigh.

"...Or maybe across the belly, spilling your intestines. Point is: you’re alive when they start to eat you. Whole think took about four seconds."

The kid is on the verge of tears.

"So, you know, try to show a little respect."

And with that he walks back across the camp, returning to his skeleton. Ellie and the team hurry to catch up with him.

"You know if you really wanted to scare the kid you could’ve just pulled a gun on him," said Ellie.

"Yeah, I know, you know...Kids. You want to have one of those?"

"Well, not one of those, well yeah, possibly one at some point could be a good thing. What’s so wrong with kids?"

"Oh Ellie, look. They’re noisy, they’re messy, they’re sticky, they’re expensive..."

"Cheap, cheap, cheap."

"...They smell."

"Oh my god, they do not!" Ellie laughed. "They don’t smell."

"They do smell. Some of them smell...Babies smell."

"No offense, Dr. Grant," said Leo. "Some of us have children of our own and they definitely don’t smell. Besides, we have bigger accidents with Johnny on the Arofighter."

"I did no such thing!" Johnny defended himself.

The team eyes Johnny and he finally gives in.

"Okay, I had 'one' accident that time, but the point is: our babies don’t smell."

"You're so original, Johnny," said Rae.

A strange wind seems to be whipping up. Grant, Ellie, and the team look around, confused. The wind is getting stronger, blowing dirt and sand everywhere, filling in everything they’ve dug out, blowing the protective canvasses off. Now there’s a more familiar roar, and they look up and see it: A huge helicopter descending on the camp.

"Get some canvasses and cover anything that’s exposed!" Ellie shouted to the volunteers.

Grant and the team are already on it, trying desperately to protect the skeleton they’ve excavated. They look up at the helicopter and Grant shouts, shaking his fist.

Down at the base camp, the helicopter has landed. Grant comes down from the mountaintop and gestures wildly at the Pilot to turn the chopper off. The Pilot points timidly to a mobile home across the camp. Grant runs to the trailer and storms inside.

The trailer serves as the dig’s office. There are several long modern tables set up, every inch covered with bone specimens that are neatly laid out, tagged, and labeled. Farther along are ceramic dishes and crocks, soaking other bones in acid and vinegar. There’s old dusty furniture at one end of the trailer, and a refrigerator. A man roots around in the refrigerator, his hand falls across a bottle of expensive champagne before he turns around. John Hammond, seventy-ish, with bright, shining eyes. Grant stares incredulously at the man, holding his champagne bottle without an invitation.

"What the hell do you think you’re doing here?" Grant asked angrily.

The man pops the cork out of the bottle.

"Hey, we were saving that!"

"For today, I guarantee it," spoke the man with glee.

"And who in God’s name do you think you are...?"

"John Hammond and I am delighted to finally meet you in person, Dr. Grant."

Grant is struck silent. He shakes his hand, staring dumbly.

"Mr...Hammond?"

Hammond looks around the trailer approvingly, at the enormous amount of work the bones represent.

"I can see my fifty thousand a year has been well spent."

The door slaps open again and Ellie, along with the team comes in, just as mad as Grant was.

"Okay, who’s the jerk?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah, because thanks to that chopper, I got sand in more places I couldn’t imagine!" Johnny exclaimed.

"Too much information, Johnny," Rae spoke to Johnny.

"Uh, this is our paleobotanist, Dr. Ellie..." Grant introduced.

"Sattler."

"Dr. Sattler. Ellie, this is Mr. Hammond. John Hammond."

"Did I say jerk?" Ellie giggled nervously.

“'The' John Hammond, as in the CEO of International Genetic Technologies?" Leo gasped with excitement.

"The what?" Johnny asked dumbfounded.

"InGen, the genetic engineering company."

"I do appreciate someone who enjoys the fine arts of science," Hammond complimented. "And who might you and your friends be?

"Oh, sorry how rude of me," said Leo, clearing his throat. "I’m Leo Lionheart and these are my friends: Benny the Beast, Johnny the Lion, and Rae the Lioness. We’re the Leaders of the Fantasy Adventure Team."

"Extraordinary, anyways I’m sorry for the dramatic entrance, but I’m in a hurry. Will you have a wee bit of a drink now and then?"

Hammond begins to walk into the kitchen, making himself at home. Ellie follows him trying to help. Grant and the team settle behind the table.

"Come along then, don’t let it get warm! Come on in, all of you. Sit down."

As Hammond moves, they notice he walks with a slight limp and uses a cane… For balance or style, they couldn’t say which.

"I have samples all over the kitchen," said Ellie. She takes some stones out of one of the glasses

"Come along," spoke Hammond. "I know my way around the kitchen. Come along."

Ellie goes around towards Grant. She grabs a bottle of water. They look at each other, really aback by this guy’s bravado, and sit down. Hammond dries the glasses.

"Well now, I’ll get right to the point. I like you, all of you. I can tell instantly with people; it’s a gift."

"I own an island, off the coast of Coasta Rica. I leased it from the government and spent the last five years setting up a kind of biological preserve down there. Really spectacular, spared no expense. It makes the one I had in Kenya look like a petting zoo. No doubt that sooner or later our attractions will drive the kids right out of their minds.

"And what are those?" Grant asked.

"Small versions of adults, honey," Ellie whispered to his ear."

He gives her a dirty look.

"Not just kids...For everyone! We’re going to open next year, unless the lawyers don’t kill me first. I don’t care for lawyers. You?"

"We, uh, don’t really know any," Benny stammered. "We..."

"Well, I’m afraid I do. There’s one, a particular pebble in my shoe, who represents my investors. He says they insist on outside opinions."

"What kind of opinions?" Rae asked.

"Not to put a fine point on it, your kind. Let’s face it in your particular field you’re the top minds. As for the Fantasy Adventure Team, I have heard you’re quite a popular bunch. If I could just get you six to sign off on the park… You know, give a wee testimonial… I could get back on schedule..." He then pronounces it with Americanization. "Schedule."

"Why would they care what we think?" Ellie asked.

"What kind of park is it?" Grant asked.

"Well, it’s...Right up your alley," Hammond smiled, handing Grant a drink. "Look, why don’t the lot of you come on down for the weekend. Love to have the opinion of a paleobotanist as well. I’ve got a jet standing by at the Choteau.

He hands Ellie a glass and sits up a counter.

"No, I’m sorry, that wouldn’t be possible," spoke Grant. "We’ve just discovered a new skeleton, and..."

"I could compensate you by fully funding your dig," said Hammond.

"This would be an awfully unusual time--"

"For a further three years."

The leaders went to the other side of the trailer for a quick private briefing.

"Well guys, what do you think?" Leo asked.

"Why not?" said Rae. "It might actually be kind of cool; we’ve been to so many theme parks but this one sounds fun."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Johnny asked.

The leaders went back to Hammond.

"So, where's the plane?" Benny smiled.

The gang makes a toast, with the team shouting “Scumps”, as they get set for the adventure of a lifetime.

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Dennis Nedry in his late thirties, a big guy with a constant smile, sitting next to Heath Lynx, owner of Fantastic Lynx Studios, were sitting at a table in front of a Central American café, eating breakfast. Nedry looks up and sees a man get out of a taxi… Lewis Dodgson, fiftyish, wearing a large straw hat, who looks almost too much like an American tourist. Dodgson clutches an attaché close to him and scans the café furtively. Nedry laughs, shakes his head, and waves to him.

"Dodgson!"

Dodgson hurries over to the table. He sat down quickly.

"You shouldn’t use my name," spoke Dodgson.

"Dodgson, Dodgson!" Nedry shouted. "We got Dodgson here!"

"See, nobody cares, you dope," said Heath. "Nice hat. What are you trying to look like, a secret agent or something?"

Dodgson ignores that, sets his attaché case down next to the table, and slides it towards Nedry.

"Seven fifty."

Nedry and Heath smile pulling the attaché closer to him.

"Oh baby, we are in the jackpot!" Heath giggles greedily.

"On delivery, fifty thousand more for every viable embryo," Dodgson explained. "That’s one point five million, if you get all fifteen species off the island."

"Oh, we’ll get ‘em all," spoke Nedry, his eyes still glued to the money.

"Remember...viable embryos. They’re no use to us if they don’t survive."

"So how do we suppose to transport them anyway?" Heath asked.

Dodgson pulls an ordinary can of shaving cream from a shoulder bag he carries and sets it on the table.

"Seriously, Dodgson?" Heath looks at it with disbelief. "You think a dollop of shaving cream would keep those baby things ice cold?"

Dodgson demonstrates by screwing the bottom can open.

"The bottom screws open; it’s cooled and compartmentalized inside. They can even check it if they want. Press the top."

Nedry presses the top of the can and real shaving cream comes out. Nedry and Heath grins, impressed. While Dodgson talks, Nedry looks around for somewhere to wipe the shaving cream and ends up dumping it on top of someone’s Jell-O on a dessert tray next to him.

"There’s enough coolant gas for thirty-six hours."

Nedry looks at the can.

"What? No menthol?" Nedry giggled.

"Mr. Nedry, Mr. Lynx, the embryos have to be back here in San Jose by then."

"That’s up to your guy on the boat," said Heath. "Seven o’clock tomorrow night, at the east dock. Make sure he got it right."

"I was wondering, how are you planning to beat the security?" Dodgson asked.

"We got an eighteen-minute window," said Nedry. "Eighteen minutes, and your company catches up on ten years of research."

A waiter arrives and puts the check down on the table, between them. Nedry looks down at it pointedly, then up at Dodgson.

"Don’t get cheap on us, Dodgson."

Dodgson rolls his eyes and picks up the check.

"That was Hammond’s mistake."

Heath turns himself away, rubbing his hands together and quietly giggles evilly.

"This plan is fool proof!" Heath whispered to himself. "With that much money, my studio will be better than ever...I’ll even have enough to buy out Benny’s film studio so I can burn it to the ground! And with those fools out of a job, Rae will have no choice but to work with me...And then she’ll finally be all mine."
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To Be Continued...