The InGen Conspiracy (A Jurassic Park/Net Crossover)

[Dingo]

The InGen Conspiracy​

Disclaimer: I do not own the Jurassic Park franchise nor the Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego franchise (from which I borrowed the concept of the ACME Detective Agency). They are the intellectual and creative properties of Michael Crichton, Universal Studios and Stephen Speilberg and DiC. The character of Carl Gates is my creation and the characters of Angela Bennett, Sean Trelawney, and Jacob 'Sorcerer' Resh belong to USA Network and come from the USA Network TV series The Net. Any discrepancies in the continuity for the Net are mine and I accept responsibility for them.

Author's Note: I know it's not a Star Trek fic, but this is a science fiction fic I'd like to share with this board, as I have with a Jurassic Park messageboard I'm a member of.

Summary: What if the predicted collapse of the Malcolm Effect did not occur in 1993 before Jurassic Park opened to the public? What if the park had actually opened and was a successful tourist attraction? What if on one of its busiest days the unthinkable happened?

---

Somewhere in the Inland Empire, 2010: The drone of the jungle green 2001 Subaru Outback's engine merged with the music from the vehicle's sound system.

The opening notes of Waltzing Matilda, an Australian bush ballad played over the speakers. The driver glanced into the mirrors to scan for traffic before he pulled into the next lane. The stop and go traffic of the Inland Empire's roadways during rush hour usually tended to annoy most people.

The driver was not bothered though. After what he'd lived through a couple weeks ago and not to mention having survived multiple tours in combat zones beforehand the rush hour stress wasn't a problem. If nothing else the commute was the driver's 'Zen hour' - a time to relax and reflect.

In this case to reflect on the events of the past few days. And what a crazy past few days they were. Carl Gates thought as he gently came to a stop at a traffic congestion. Crazy actually didn't quite describe it...

---

Los Angeles, Two Weeks Earlier: The ACME Detective Agency's Los Angeles Field Office was located along West Olympic Avenue in West Los Angeles. Carl Gates walked through the lobby and into the elevator and hit the button for the seventh floor. Standing about 5'8" and weighing in at 161 pounds he was a lean and compact fellow with a surfer's build and a fairly deep farmer's tan.

He walked across the seventh floor towards his desk in his cubicle. He nodded to the blond haired young man typing his computer. Jacob Resh was his name, the new guy, but he went by the internet label Sorcerer. Weird.

He had just fired up his computer when he glanced up to see his boss - Chief Inspector Ray Randall - walking with a dark haired woman.

It couldn't be. Was it? He saw the pair headed for his desk.

He'd just gotten back to the office and gotten back into the routine of being a detective with the rank of Inspector for the ACME Detective Agency.

The pair passed by 'Sorcerer's' desk first. As usual the young man barely looked up until he noticed the woman with Randall. His eyes lit up and he exclaimed excitedly, "Hey Angel! It's been a long time!"

He got up and swapped hugs and then it all came together. Sorcerer. He'd heard her mention him many years ago. Almost a decade.

Angela Bennett finished swapping hugs with Jacob Resh when she noticed the dark haired man glancing at her a few feet away.

Carl headed over to where they were as Ray Randall introduced him, "Carl Gates, this is Special Agent Angela Bennett, Federal Bureau of Investigation."

Randall had noticed that Carl had been observing their gathering for the time that that Sorcerer kid went to go chat up his friend.

"Do you two happen to know one another?" Randall asked.

"Yes sir." Carl replied.

"Good. Helps to cut the intros down." Randall replied, "And it allows me to get right to the point. The FBI needs our help with a case in Costa Rica on an island called Isla Nublar."

"Wait are you talking about John Hammond's Jurassic Park?" Carl replied.

"Exactly. I'll give you two the exact details in the conference room. You'll leave as soon as you're ready." Randall replied, "I'll see you there in ten."

"Ray, can I talk to you for a minute. In private." Carl replied.

"In my office." Ray replied.

The two men walked out towards the hallway and Randall's office leaving Angela with Sorcerer.

---

Randall's Office: As soon as he got into the office Carl said, "Alright Ray. What gives? And why me?"

"First and foremost there was a mention of a computer terrorist group known as the Praetorians. I understand you had an encounter with them as a young second lieutenant." Ray replied.

"That's the truth." Carl replied.

"I believe you encountered Angela Bennett back in those days when she was on the run from said organization." Ray continued.

"That was the case Ray." Carl replied.

"I understand you'd worked with Miss Bennett before." Ray continued, "And that the two of you have a bit of a personal history."

"I don't believe this." Carl replied.

"Look. Carl your expertese is needed in dealing with the Praetorians." Ray replied.

"Me?" Carl replied.

"Your little tryst with Miss Bennett notwithstanding your past assignment with Delta Force ran you a lead with this organization somewhere in South America." Ray replied.

"Ray, look, Resh had something to do with this as well. Why the hell didn't you assign him?" Carl said, and then realized something, "Something bigger is going on isn't it..."

"I'll need Resh back here to handle things. I need my resident computer expert and subject matter expert on the Praetorians here." Ray said, "And that's all you need to know at the moment. Can I count on you?"

"Ray, we've served together for about as long as I can remember on God knows how many tours of duty. You know you can count on me." Carl replied.

"That's all I needed to know, Carl." Ray replied: "Now I'm going to need to brief you two on your assignment. Head for the conference room."

----

Conference Room: Angela Bennett saw the two men walk into the conference room as she leafed through the file on the inGen Corporation of Palo Alto, California.

She remembered the information she'd looked up on Ray Randall. Major Ray Randall was an older fellow in his early forties and like Carl a California Army National Guardsman. He was currently the company commander of the California based A-Company of the 1st Battalion of the 19th Special Forces Group. Being head of the ACME Field Office was his civilian job.

She watched as the older salt and pepper haired gent walked into the room with Carl in tow.

Sorcerer was in the room as well at a laptop computer fiddling with a Power Point presentation. On the screen was a photograph of an old Englishman in business suit.

"John Hammond, Chief Executive Officer of the inGen Corporation of Palo Alto." Ray began, "He is the founder of the well known biological preserve on Isla Nublar known as Jurassic Park."

Ray continued his brief as he crossed the front of the conference room with long legged strides, "The fact that inGen is years ahead of any genetics company in the field of bioengineered DNA makes it an attractive target for all sorts of industrial espionage, not the least of which is its chief competitor BioSyn."

"How far behind inGen are they in the field of genetics and bioengineering?" Angela asked.

"At least five years." Ray replied.

"And what about inGen's data? How secure is it?" Angela asked.

"InGen's electronic data is presently secured on its mainframe at the Isla Nublar facility with its backup at the Isla Sorna facility." Ray replied, "Both databases are heavily encrypted and not connected to the internet. The two databases are linked by an independent datalink that cannot be hacked..."

"That's a fallacy. There's no such thing as a hacker proof system." Angela replied.

"We can debate the arguement about hacker proofing systems til we're blue in the face. But the fact remains it is very difficult to penetrate the inGen research database remotely." Ray replied.

"What about an inside man? BioSyn or the Praetorians could bribe or coerce an InGen employee. Classic social engineering would be the best method." Carl replied.

"You're absolutely right. The most cost effective method for the Praetorians or BioSyn to get a hold of inGen's data would be to find a disgruntled employee with the right access and the right motives and groom him to get them into his system." Ray replied.

"BioSyn and the Praetorians? What's the connection?" Angela asked.

"In a word mutual benefit. BioSyn gets what it wants and the Praetorians get access to the cutting edge of genetic engineering." Ray replied.

"What would the Praetorians want with that?" Carl asked.

"That's one of many questions we have and part of your mission. We want you two to identify who BioSyn and the Praetorians are possibly grooming as their inside man. Additionally we want to investigate the rumors of a Praetorian resurgency." Ray replied, "Officially you're acting as safety consultants performing the annual safety and security inspection for the island. That is your cover."

"I'd completely forgotten that Jurassic Park undergoes yearly investigations on its safety and security from outside agencies due to those construction accidents they had back in the late 1980s and early 1990s when the park was being built." Angela replied.

"Exactly." Ray replied.

"When do we leave?" Carl asked after jotting some information on the small green notebook in his hand.

"I've got you two on the 3 PM flight to San Jose from LAX." Ray replied, "I suggest you guys get packed and ready to go."

Without another word both Bennett and Gates left the room to get ready for their flight.

---

San Jose, Costa Rica: The fat, bespectacled man sat in the outdoor cafe just outside the helipad. There were clusters of tourists also awaiting the helicopters to take them towards Isla Nublar. His eyes scanning the crowd showed a man in a red golf shirt and khaki pants with sunglasses and a straw hat heading his way.

"Hey Dodgson!" Dennis Nedry said with a wave of his arm.

Dodgson headed over to the table and cautioned the fat man, "You shouldn't use my name."

"Dodgson. Dodgson. We've got Dodsgon here!" Dennis said shouting and pointing. Aside from a couple curious stares from some nearby tables and a raised eyebrow from the manager of the cafe no visible interest was shown.

"See...nobody cares. Nice hat. What are you trying to look like, a secret agent?" Nedry replied.

Dodgson put a briefcase onto the table, "Seven fifty. On delivery fifty thousand more with each viable embryo, that's one point five million if you can get all fifteen species off the island."

Nedry could barely contain his excitement at the six figures he'd been paid at the start and nearly missed Dodgson's next remark, "Remember, viable embryos. They're no good to us if they don't survive."

"I'll get 'em all. How am I supposed to transport them?" Nedry replied.

Dodgson produced a can of shaving cream and said, "The bottom screws open..."

"You gonzo that's great!" Nedry laughed as he saw the hidden compartment.

"Customs can even check it if they want. Look." Dodgson said and tapped the top. Out came some shaving cream.

"There's enough coolant in the compartment to last for thirty-six hours. The embryos have to be back in San Jose by then." Dodgson continued before asking, "How are you planning to beat security?"

"I've got an eighteen minute window. Eighteen minutes and your company catches up on ten years of research." Nedry said.

The server came by with the check as Nedry heard the helicopters heading for the helipad.

"Don't get cheap on me, Dodgson. That was Hammond's mistake." Nedry replied.

Dodgson paid the amount as Nedry walked off towards the helipad with the cluster of tourists.

After the helicopter lifted off a man in his mid thirties headed over to where Dodgson was sitting.

"Everything is in motion?" the man replied.

"Yes Mr. Trelawney." Dodgson said, "I've got my insider and once he has the DNA samples both our organizations will benefit. But I do have a question about Nedry...what if he compromises us?"

"If he's as good as you claim that shouldn't be a problem. However leave the lose end of Nedry to me, we have ways of dealing with him if he should present a problem." Trelawney said.

"Good." Dodgson replied before he and Trelawney parted ways.

---

Los Angeles: The passenger terminal at the Los Angeles International Airport was crowded with people waiting for flights or heading towards distant departure or arrival gates. Angela Bennett watched the hustle and bustle of activity from behind her small notebook computer as she sat at the airport Starbucks.

Carl Gates came over with two cups of coffee he'd ordered and set one cup by her. "Here you go."

"Is there something the matter with you?" Angela asked, "You've barely said two words to me since I arrived."

"Do I really owe you more than two words." Gates replied, "After all you did just leave me in the middle of the night with only a letter. And after I offered to help you."

"Carl, I was running from the Praetorians at the time." Angela replied, "Can you blame me for leaving so quickly?"

"I was willing to help you." Carl replied.

"I couldn't let you just throw away your career. You had a promising career with both the California Army National Guard and the ACME Detective Agency. I couldn't let you throw that away...even for me." Angela replied.

"Do you have any idea what I went through afterward? No sooner than you left I had the US Army Criminal Investigative Division sniffing around. I was interrogated severely over you." Carl replied.

"Yet you were able to save your job on both sides of the house." Angela replied.

"And you never once in ten years bothered to go see how I fared? I'm honestly a little upset by that. For all you knew I could've gone to jail for aiding and abetting." Carl replied icily.

"I actually did learn a lot about what happened to you after we parted ways." Angela replied, "I know you went through Selection and made it into Special Forces. I actually did see you put on your green beret for the first time."

"Really?" Carl replied.

"I was on an assignment at Fort Bragg and I was about to leave back to Seattle on my flight when I saw the ceremony on the base's news channel." Angela replied, "I really wish I could've been there."

Carl's icy glare softened as he replied, "I really wish you could've been there. To be honest I scanned the crowd hoping to catch a glimpse of a certain spunky, slim brunette."

"However," Carl continued, "That still doesn't explain what happened over the past ten years, why you never attempted to find me."

"I could say the same about you." Angela replied.

"I tried several times over the years. I remember once I found out you'd joined the FBI I tried to call the Seattle Field Office to look for you." Carl replied, "And then the clerk said you were out on assignment and I wouldn't be able to reach you."

"It seems like we just kept missing each other over the years. I was at Fort Bragg again two years ago and I asked after you but they said that you were gone." Angela replied.

The PA system chimed in with the announcement, "Flight LR 461 to San Jose, Costa Rica is now boarding at gate A-20."

Angela closed up her laptop and put it into her backpack as Carl hefted his own bag and held a paperback under his arm. Angela glanced at the title, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemmingway.

"Well I guess that's our call. And that means that we've got a case to solve and a personal relationship to sort out. In that order." Angela replied.

"Sounds good to me." Carl replied as they headed to queue for the flight...

---

To Be Continued...

 

[Dingo]

Ramadi, 2006: Five men moved silently through the shadows of the back alleys of the Iraqi city of Ramadi. Captain Carl Gates held the telescope sighted Armalite AR-10 rifle in his hands as he took up a position covering down the alleyway where the team had just come from as Sergeant First Class Anthony Mazzola, a stocky Italian-American from the Bronx cut the chain on the heavy metal door of the old building.

After he'd gotten into the door the other members of the Delta sniper team moved rapidly and silently into the building before locking the door yet again. The team set up shop in the third story window looking out into one of the busier streets of Ramadi and into a neighborhood nicknamed 'the Badlands' by the US Marines.

Mazzola slung his M4 carbine and then removed the heavy .300 Win-Mag bolt action rifle with its massive Leupold telescopic sights and desert camouflaged paint scheme from its case and set it up on its bipod onto a table behind the window.

The Marines had been taking fire from that particular area and they had lost two sniper teams in the previous year in that area when they had been compromised and overrun by large insurgent elements.

Recent Marines casualties from the area had come from IEDs and sniper fire and it was around then that the Marines decided to go on the offensive into that neighborhood. For weeks Gates and his sniper teams alongside Navy SEAL, Army and Marine Corps scout-sniper teams hunted the insurgents expected to oppose the US and Iraqi forces that were moving in to root them out.

The five men of Payback 31 were supporting Kilo Company of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment.

Staff Sergeant Will Katz, a skinny blond haired fellow everyone nicknamed Supercat, set up the spotting scope onto the table beside Mazzola.

Gates set his AR-10 on its bipod atop a bedside table he'd moved to the end of a bed in the next room right beside the spotting scope. On another table Master Sergeant Keith Krohn set up his .338 Lapua chambered L96 rifle. This one peered out of a window that also overlooked 'the Badlands' neighborhood.

Staff Sergeant Willie Jacobs set up the radio and got onto the horn to check in with the Joint Special Operations Command Tactical Operation's Center. In his other hand he had his M4 Carbine with the 40mm M203 grenade launcher bolted underneath its barrel.

The Kilo Company Marines were starting their patrols of the city below. A dozen men of 1st Squad, 1st Platoon of Kilo Company scanned their sectors as they walked down the street.

"I've got movement in the house with the rusty tin roof." Supercat said, "850 meters, one man with Dragunov sniper rifle."

"Got it." Mazzola said as he lined his crosshairs up on the insurgent preparing to snipe at the Marines below.

Mazzola squeezed down on the trigger ever so slowly as he applied a steady pressure as he exhaled.

CRACK! The heavy Barnes X bullet flew from the .300 Win-Mag chambered rifle downrange and struck the insurgent just above the sternum just about where the torso met the neck. Mazzola swiftly cycled the bolt on the rifle and slid another bullet into the chamber.

Jacobs was already on the radio with the Marines below, letting them know that their hide site had just engaged an insurgent. The Marines continued on their patrol when the distinctive whistling whoosh of mortars in the air could be heard. The Marines immediately sprinted for cover as rockets exploded behind them. Gunfire erupted not soon after as an insurgent machinegun team opened up on them.

Gates snapped off two shots that took down one of the insurgent machinegunners. CRACK! Krohn squeezed off a round and another insurgent gunner went down.

Mortar fire again came flying at the Marines and towards Camp Corregidor, their base which was less than half a mile away.

"There's gotta be a forward observer directing all that rocket fire." Gates said as he scanned the city.

"I've got a guy with binos and a cell phone - four hundred meters. I don't have a shot." Krohn said.

"I've got him." Gates replied as he took in a deep breath and leveled the crosshairs of his AR-10's powerful Leupold telescopic sights onto the target. The target was a young man in his early twenties. His beard was neatly trimmed and he wore a slightly stained red soccer jersey.

Gates pressed down on the trigger after flicking the safety catch on the Armalite to fire. He kept the pressure steady until the rifle bucked in his hands. Thanks to the suppressor there was a barely audible thump as the bullet left the muzzle. The insurgent observer's face caught the round right in the nose and he pitched backward and spastically threw the cell phone behind him as electrical impulses in his brain fired at random as he died.

Little did Gates nor any of the other Delta snipers realize that this was just the begining of thirty-six hours of continuous gunfights. One where the team would be in support Kilo Company elements coming under fire as the insurgents attempted to oppose the Marines trying to push them out of the neighborhood.

---

Somewhere Over the Pacific Ocean, 2010: "Carl?" Angela asked.

"Huh?" Carl said as his eyes snapped open and he sat up. He noticed he'd been part of the way through his book.

"Are you alright?" Angela asked him. He could see concern in her eyes.

"I'm fine." Carl replied, "Just the usual shakes one expects from an old war horse."

Uh huh. Angela thought. PTSD. He's suffering from PTSD. What happened to you out there? Can't you open up.

"Old? You? You're 33 for crying out loud. You're not old in the least." Angela replied.

"Some lines of work do age you fast." Carl replied.

"What happened to you?" Angela asked.

"Sorry Angela, a good percentage of what I did over there is classified." Carl replied.

"I have top secret clearance." Angela replied, "And even if I didn't I could always hack it."

At Carl's glare she replied, "I'm joking."

"Let the dead lie peacefully." Carl replied, "It's never any good to dig up the past."

Whatever it was Carl had done looked like it had its effects on him. There were a few gray hairs she could see on his head and it looked like part of his carefree demeanor wasn't quite there. Angela decided not to press the matter and instead put her arms around his shoulders.

He returned the hug and gave her a small smile and said, "There's a good bit that I've been up to over the past few years that you don't know about. Even with the access you have."

"I could always look it up. But please tell me about it." Angela replied.

"Well I'll tell you the unclassified parts." Carl replied, "I've been to Iraq twice, Afghanistan, Europe and parts of South America."

"All on the government dime?" Angela half joked.

"You could say that." Carl replied, "What about you?"

"Well mostly every state in the Union." Angela replied, "Canada a few times. And Mexico once or twice."

"Still on the Praetorian hunt?" Carl asked.

"Partially things the FBI sent me on. The other half of it is just some travelling I wanted to do." Angela replied, "So was all your travel something the Army sent you on?"

"No. Actually I did some of my own travelling. It was shortly after you left." Carl replied.

"Where did you go?" Angela asked.

"I needed some time to think. To clear my head of all the craziness that went on after we met." Carl replied, "I took a leave of absence and spent two months sea kayaking and backpacking through Prince William Sound and across the Alaska Glacier."

"Sounds beautiful." Angela replied.

"I needed to go to a place of some natural beauty to get some things out of my head." Carl replied, "To get some one out of my head. As long as we're talking about our lives since we last parted ways there's something on my mind: Why didn't you go try and find me after all of that went down. Like you mentioned in your letter."

"I thought you'd moved on. Married with two point five kids with the yellow lab and the house with the white picket fence." Angela replied.

"Well. I have the dog but he's no lab. He's an Alaskan Malamute." Carl replied and took out his cell phone and showed the photograph of a gray and black and white dog, "Jacob owed me a favor so he's babysitting my dog."

"Aww...he looks like a big sweetheart." Angela replied.

"That he is. He's an eighty plus pound lap puppy." Carl replied somewhat distantly.

"On another note, you actually read that letter?" Angela asked.

"What do you expect I did with it?" Carl replied.

"I don't know. Threw it away. Shredded it. Ripped it apart." Angela replied.

"It was all I had left of you. I read it more than a few times." Carl replied.

"That's so sweet." Angela replied and smiled before adding, "So you've thought of me over the years?"

"Look, Angela, suffice to say I have." Carl replied, "It's been a few years and it's the first time I've seen you in a few years."

"What's wrong with you? You open up to me and talk like old times and then you just close off." Angela replied.

"Angela how in God's name did you expect me to react? First off you just appear back into my life after ten years. All sorts of old emotions are rearing their head inside me. A lot has changed over the years." Carl replied.

Angela looked a little bit hurt at his reply as he continued, "It's been a long time and honestly I've missed you. But I want to give this a real honest to God shot. Let's take it slowly and let things fall how they will. Like you said - we have a case to take care of and a relationship to straighten out. In that order. I honestly want this to work and I promise I'll do everything I can to make it work this time."

"I'll hold you to it." Angela said.

"You have my word fair lady." Carl said with an enigmatic smile as he went to go read his book.

---

Los Angeles: Jacob Resh napped at his computer. One of the neat things about working with ACME's IT department was the fact that he could work from home. And in this case he'd taken an early day off and was doing all the research he could do on Jurassic Park and the InGen corporation.

The all nighter he'd pulled the night before on a programming project had caught up to him and he was now napping in front of his computer. Gina, his girlfriend, was still doing residency work at the hospital till six and she wouldn't be back till at least seven.

As he napped he felt a warm body leaning against him. "Mhm...Gina? Wow I didn't hear you come in."

He turned towards the warm body and said, "I love it when you get frisky with me and..."

*LICK*

Jacob's eyes flew open to see the large Malamute on its hind legs with its forepaws around his neck. The dog was panting with his tongue hanging out.

"Oh...it's you." Jacob said with a tired sigh.

The door opened and Gina Dailey, a young veterinary intern in her mid twenties, walked in. "Busy?"

"Not really." Jacob said as the Malamute dropped off him and immediately ran to Gina.

"Buck, sit." Gina said as she pushed a stray strand of her red hair away from her face.

The Malamute sat down with his tail swishing back and forth as he looked up at her panting.

"Having trouble with the dog?" Gina asked Jacob.

"Not really. I was napping at the computer and the dog just went and licked me awake. I just took him for a walk and he's still a ball of fire." Jacob replied.

"Jacob...with that kind of dog a little walk around the block is not enough. Malamutes were bred to pull sleds at steady paces through the Arctic." Gina replied with a smile and a chuckle.

"I took him around twice..." Jacob protested.

"That's still not enough." Gina said as she smiled and went over to give Jacob a quick kiss, "So I gather you're working from home today?"

"How'd you guess?" Jacob replied.

"Well the fact that you have a chat window with 'Angel' open." Gina replied jokingly.

"I do chat with her about things other than work." Jacob replied.

"So how is Angela?" Gina asked, "I haven't really seen much of her since she introduced us a year and a half ago."

"She's been pretty busy. The Computer Crimes division keeps her on her toes a lot." Jacob replied.

"So where in the world is Angela Bennett now?" Gina asked.

"She's in Costa Rica...in fact I think I should be hearing from her in a few seconds and...ah." Jacob said as he opened the chat window.

---

To Be Continued...

 

[Dingo]

San Jose, Costa Rica: Waiting at the helipad Angela and Carl sat at a table in the small cafe. They'd arrived in time to miss the mid-afternoon helicopter flight and were in for a two hour wait for the final 5 PM helicopter flight to Isla Nublar.

Angela was dividing her time between talking to Carl and her notebook computer on an IM conversation with Jacob.

"So we missed the flight by five minutes. Wow." Angela remarked.

"Well blame that on the traffic jam coming out of the airport." Carl replied, "However I've seen worse in the world."

"At least we have time to do some research." Carl replied and compare notes, "According to what I've seen regarding InGen's initial construction of Jurassic Park in the late '80s and early '90s there are several reports of accidents among the local workmen that they had. And there were a lot of out of court settlements for lawsuits pressed by family members."

"Did the reports say anything about the nature of the accidents?" Angela asked.

"No the records are all sealed." Carl replied, "The law firm representing inGen must've done that. I've already placed a call in to ACME's legal department to see if they can't subpeona the files relevant to our investigation. What have you found out about the CEO?"

"On John Hammond? Well he seems to be your standard venture capitalist with what sounded like an impossible dream that was achieved. I did watch that interview he did on the View a few nights ago and found him to be an interesting character but not one who'd collude with the Praetorians." Angela replied.

"Maybe not intentionally. Maybe inadvertently." Carl replied.

"He probably isn't too technically saavy and relied a lot on advisors. But that remains to be seen." Angela replied, "But I'd like to get a closer look at their computing systems and see just how hacker proof they are."

"You can talk to Dennis Nedry, their chief programmer." Carl replied.

"Nedry? From Cambridge?" Angela replied.

"Yeah. You know him?" Carl replied.

"Unfortunately. He had to be one of the most arrogant and chauvanistic men..." Angela replied.

"Wow. Tell me what you really think of him." Carl joked, "And how do you know this moron."

"It all started when I chatted with a fellow who went by the label of Mr. Goodbytes when I was in college." Angela replied, "It was one of my late night programming projects I was doing. I was having some problems with the thing and I went into a chat room and found this guy from Cambridge who was working on a similar project. I asked for a tip and I think I had probably one of the longest and most chauvanistic internet chats in history."

"One of your caffeine fuel injected up all night typing at a keyboard and staring at a screen while simultaneously watching a movie or playing a video game?" Carl replied.

"Since when do you understand computer geeks?" Angela joked.

"I did fall in love with one." Carl replied.

Angela smiled back at him and that was one thing about her that he would never forget. That smile was one of the many things that was an instant and direct line into his heart. So many nights through various phases of his life after meeting her memories of that smile and of that phase of his life kept him going.

"Carl?" Angela said before reaching across the table and tapping his right shoulder and saying a bit more forcefully, "Carl!"

"Huh? Oh sorry." Carl said.

"You're thinking of something." Angela said.

"And how are you able to know that?" Carl replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Well when you're thinking about something you get a faraway look in your eye and your breathing slows down. And your pupils start to contract..." Angela said ticking examples off her fingers.

"OK. How do you know that?" Carl replied.

"Consider the last time you got that way you pretty much mentioned an offer to me." Angela said, "You mentioned some friend of your Uncle Archie."

"Yeah. That's part of the advantage of knowing someone who is a military advisor for Hollywood. We had a special effects company you could've hidden with for a while. My Uncle Archie is former Delta Force and we could've helped you with these Praetorians. He believed you and still does." Carl replied.

"That was sweet of you but I..." Angela replied.

"I know you and Sorcerer had your partnership for fighting the Praetorians. We could've helped. Hell Uncle Archie would've been more than willing to get into another war." Carl replied.

Angela smiled, "So how is the old war horse?"

"Still the Bach listening, sarcastic, and crazy old coot. He's also become a counterterrorism consultant running the consulting firm of Gates and Elgin." Carl replied.

"Tell him I said hi." Angela said, "And thank you."

"I'll drop him a line later on." Carl said.

"If you can connect fast enough without that ancient relic of a laptop." Angela joked.

"Hey there's sentimental value behind it. It survived two vehicle crashes." Carl replied.

"It's still a relic." Angela joked, "A 2002 Dell? Come on."

"It's not like I have a need for a high speed supercomputer that does everything but rinse my socks." Carl replied.

"That's the upgraded model of my notebook." Angela replied with a slight chuckle.

"Whatever." Carl chuckled.

The sound of a helicopter flying inbound got both of their attentions. Both of them saw the helicopter touch down on the helipad. The co-pilot stepped out of the aircraft and slid the passenger door open as the announcement in heavily Spanish accented English played over the scratchy old speaker system in the cafe.

"Attention. All passengers onboard Jurassic Air Flight 442. Your aircraft has arrived."

Angela closed her computer and put it in her brown leather backpack. Carl tucked his paperback under his left arm and picked up his own bag before getting onto the aircraft. There was a small group of people on the aircraft. There was a slim blonde woman, a self effacing fellow dressed entirely in black, and a stocky middle aged fellow wearing a cowboy hat and a red flannel shirt. The final occupant of the helicopter, InGen's CEO John Hammond, was a slightly potbellied older fellow with a white beard and thinning white hair.

"You two must be our safety and security investigators." John Hammond replied before he extended a hand, "John Hammond, CEO of InGen."

"Inspector Carl Gates, ACME Detective Agency." Carl said and shook Hammond's hand.

"Special Agent Angela Bennett, FBI Computer Crimes Division." Angela replied and shook hands with Hammond.

"And now to introduce everyone else." John said. He first indicated the blonde woman and said, "Dr. Ellie Sattler-Grant, paleobotanist by trade."

After a round of handshakes Hammond introduced the stocky fellow with the cowboy hat, "Dr. Alan Grant, paleontologist by trade and husband of Dr. Sattler."

And then he introduced the man in black, "Dr. Ian Malcolm of the Santa Fe Institute of Non-linear Dynamics."

"I'm almost certain I know you." Angela said.

"I do travel a lot. And you do sort of look like my type." Malcolm mentioned.

Carl glared at him.

"I'm the sort of guy who never really settled down." Malcolm continued, "But if I had met you before I would've remembered."

"So you're a Cassanova?" Angela replied.

"I've been called far worse by the fairer sex." Malcolm replied.

"You do know that Cassanova died penniless and exiled however." Angela remarked with a smirk.

"Touche..." Malcolm said.

Carl turned towards Dr. Grant and asked, "And how long is this flight?"

"Almost an hour depending on wind conditions." Grant replied.

"Great." Carl replied.

(A/N: I've seen JP3 and know Ellie didn't marry Dr. Grant. However I've been a fan of that pairing for many years.)

---

To Be Continued...

 

[Dingo]

Isla Nublar: The helicopter began its descent towards the landing pad and an attendant opened the helicopter door. The six people climbed out of the helicopter's passenger cabin and boarded a pair of gasoline powers of jeeps.

Angela sat in the front seat of the jeep and turned around to listen to John Hammond in the back of the vehicle. Carl was to Hammond's right.

"So what exactly are your security precausions?" Carl asked.

"We have fifty miles of perimeter fence in place with deep concrete moats on the outside. We also have motion sensor tracking systems throughout the park. And the animals are microchipped before they're released into their respective paddocks." Hammond replied.

"What sort of computer system do you have to track all these animals?" Angela asked.

"I'm afraid I've not completely caught up with the generation gap regarding computers Ms. Bennett. When we arrive at the Visitor's Center I'll show you two our control room." Hammond replied, "And introduce you to Ray Arnold and Dennis Nedry. They're our chief engineer and chief programmer respectively."

The two jeeps stopped and as Angela was about to reply she glanced up and her jaw just about dropped. Standing barely ten meters away was a brachiosaurus calmly munching on the leaves at the top of the tree.

"Oh my God..." Angela exclaimed. She knew intellectually that cloning dinosaurs was possible since the 1990s and remembered reading the articles in all sorts of scientific journals and technology magazines but to see it for herself was staggering.

Carl turned around and his eyes went wide. For an instant he was six years old again visiting Alberta's Royal Tyrrell Museum looking in awe at the massive creatures' remains displayed there. But this wasn't a fossilized skeleton propped up by steel cables and rods. This was a living and breathing thing.

Angela recovered and couldn't help but smirk at Carl staring in unmistakably boyish wonder. He was still capable of having a child-like sense of wonder about things despite what he'd seen in the less than savory parts of the world. The smirk turned into a smile as she could see that boyish innocence and wonder that she'd thought was lost entirely over the last ten years.

Carl noticed Angela smirking at him just then and instantly composed himself just as he noticed Dr. Grant walking over from the trailing jeep.

"Amazing isn't it?" Dr. Grant commented.

"Words fail me." Carl replied.

Angela couldn't resist a comment and smiled, "Don't tell me an English major is at a loss for words."

"If I recall someone was gawking too." Carl said.

"I felt exactly the same way you two felt when I saw the dinosaurs for the first time." Dr. Grant said.

"How did they do this?" Carl asked.

"I'll show you." Hammond commented.

---

Visitor's Center: Angela and Carl walked inside the Jurassic Park Visitor's Center in company with Mr. Hammond as well Dr. Grant and Dr. Sattler as well as Dr. Malcolm.

The large skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex was poised in combat against a that of an Apatosaurus.

"I can't believe they haven't changed that exhibit. Even after my recommendation." Dr. Grant remarked.

"What change is that?" Angela asked.

"First off the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the Apatosaurus never lived in the same geological era." Grant replied.

Dr. Sattler rolled her eyes with a slight chuckle, as if she had witnessed this comment before.

"Something funny Dr. Sattler?" Carl asked.

"Just call me Ellie."

"Carl." Gates replied and offered a hand.

"Charmed." Ellie said and shook his hand.

Grant continued to mention to Angela the difference between the two eras, "The Jurassic is when the Apatosaurus walked the earth. The animal was long since extinct by the time that its ostensible predator, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, was around."

Ellie tugged on Alan's arm and said, "Alan I'm sure the poor woman doesn't want to hear every gory detail about the exhibit."

Angela gave Ellie a smirk, "I can tell your husband's a bit of fanatic about these things."

"You have no idea." Ellie replied, "Every time he hears a dinosaur misconception he feels compelled to correct it. It can get pretty humorous at times."

"I can imagine." Angela replied.

"I'm going to show you two just how we achieved what we did." Hammond said as he led them up the stairs, "Dr. Grant, Dr. Sattler, and Dr. Malcolm you're more than welcome to join us on the tour."

At around that time Ian Malcolm noticed a slender red haired woman in the queue for the tour. He smiled and said, "I think I'll retake the tour."

Ellie couldn't help but suppress a grin.

"It seems the heat seeking missile found another target." Carl quipped as he followed Malcolm's line of sight.

Angela couldn't help but chuckle at the just so slightly visible relief in Carl's tone.

"Can't stand competition?" Angela joked.

"I didn't think pompous and arrogant mathematicians were your type." Carl replied with a smirk of is own as they walked into the theater with lap bars over the seats.

Ian through shrewd maneuvering found himself sitting beside the red haired woman. "Come here often?" he asked her just as Hammond was talking to the onscreen version of himself as they sat down.

"Oh fine, fine I guess. But what am I doing here?" the onscreen John Hammond said.

The red haired woman smirked and said, "Not often. Actually I've never been here. I finally got the university to fund me..."

"University? Which one?" Malcolm asked.

The woman lightly brushed a stray strand of red hair from her forehead, "The University of Wyoming. I'm finishing up my doctorate and I wanted to do a research project on dinosaur group dynamics."

"Fascinating but you do realize you're not dealing with real dinosaurs." Malcolm replied.

"Enlighten me." The woman challenged him.

"The dinosaurs are genetically cloned and altered." Malcolm replied.

"That may be true but these cloned dinosaurs are the closest living representation of the animals as they existed sixty-five million years ago." She replied.

"But how can you be sure the behaviors and dynamics you observe aren't a result of the fact that they're genetically engineered and are raised in captivity." Malcolm replied.

"It beats scraping around in rock and bone and making assumptions and deductions about the nurturing habits of animals that have been dead for 65 million years." She replied.

"Fair enough," Malcolm replied, "By the way I never caught your name."

"Sarah." the woman replied.

"Is that supposed to be like Cher?" Malcolm replied.

"Sarah Harding. And you are?"

"Malcolm. Ian Malcolm." Ian replied.

Meanwhile in the background the onscreen John Hammond began to duplicate himself when an animated DNA strand appeared.

"Oh? Mr. DNA, where did you come from?" the onscreen Hammond asked.

"From you're blood..." the Texas accented DNA strand replied, "Just one drop of your blood contains billions of strands of DNA, the building blocks of life. A DNA strand like me is the blueprint for building a living thing. And sometimes living things that went extinct millions of years ago, like dinosaurs, left their blueprints for us to find. We just had to know where to look."

"A hundred million years ago there were mosquitoes, just like today. And just like today they fed on the blood of dinosaurs. Even dinosaurs. Sometimes after biting a dinosaur the mosquito would land on the branch of a tree and get stuck in the sap. After a while the tree sap would get hard and become fossilized, just like a dinosaur bone, preserving the mosquito inside. This fossilized tree sap, which we call amber, waited for millions of years with the mosquito inside. Until Jurassic Park scientists came along. They extract the preserved blood from the mosquito and...bingo. Dino DNA..."

Angela had to chuckle at the incredibly simple way that the process was treated by the tour.

"What's so funny?" Carl asked.

"I just can't help but find it funny how they simplify what has to be billions of calculations to such a simple monologue." Angela said.

"Sometimes I think I'll never understand your sense of humor." Carl remarked.

"A little mystery never hurt anyone." Angela quipped.

As the DNA strand on the movie screen finished his remarks to the animated montage of several large sauropods the lap bars in front of the theater seats descended smoothly onto the laps of the tourists and the theater moved slowly to the left of the seated tourists.

At the first stop, the DNA strand narrator made another proclamation, "Well lookie here. Those hardworking cowpokes are the ones responsible for bringing the dinosaurs into the world..."

The first stop was a large open laboratory. There was at least one artificial nest visible to the tourists.

"The pair of you plus a few of our other guests will have a guided backstage tour." Hammond mentioned as the tour continued.

The next stop was a view into a large room filled with large LCD monitors, desktop and laptop computers, and various communication devices. Technicians moved about the room conducting inspections or typing away at work stations. Occasionally one would speak into a radio or a headset or pick up a telephone.

"This here is the Control Room where everything in the park is controlled by both automated and human means." The narration continued.

"Now that's something I'd like to get a look at." Angela remarked.

"You'll definitely be in your element over there." Carl remarked.

"You'll be there in short order." Hammond remarked.

After the tour ended the guests all headed back into the Visitor's Center except for the small group accompanying John Hammond who handed them visitor's passes.

"First stop on our tour is the lab and hatchery." Hammond said.

The hatchery was a large room with a high humidity level and higher air temperature than the rest of the air conditioned Visitor's Center. The artificial nests all had between a dozen or so large ovoids inside them.

One of the eggs began to shake and move. The shell was starting to crack a little as an Asian man with a clipboard turned to look and said, "Perfect timing. I'd hoped it'd hatch before I had to head for the boat."

"Henry. Henry. Henry. Why didn't you tell me?" Hammond said, "I insist on being here when they're born."

After he'd spoken Hammond added, "Everyone I'd like you to meet Dr. Henry Wu, our chief geneticist."

Greetings were exchanged as Hammond turned his attention back to the egg. The shell moved and cracked a little more as Hammond's voice took a gentler tone, "There you are. Come on little one. Push. Push. There you are..."

The head of a small yellowish-brown animal poked out of the shell as it let out a little cry. After a little more effort the rest of the animal emerged. Bipedal. With tiny claws about the size of the thorns on a rose and darker brown stripes along the back to offset the yellowish-brown skin of its body.

It cocked its head back and regarded the strange creatures staring down at it. "What species is this?" Angela asked.

"Velociraptor mongoliensis." Wu replied.

The little animal jumped and landed squarely in Angela's arms. Angela took a step backward from surprise and managed to catch the newborn.

"They sure can jump." Carl commented.

"Wait till you see the adults." Alan commented.

"That thing's less than five minutes old and it easily made a three foot vertical jump." Carl remarked, "That's impressive."

The little thing nudged against Angela's chest and chittered.

"Sure is affectionate." Angela remarked.

"She must be hungry." Wu replied, "I'm going to give her a quick check up before we feed her."

"What does she eat?" Angela asked.

"Mice and then she'll move up to rabbits when she gets a little older." Wu replied, "If you'll hand her over to me."

Angela handed the little animal towards Dr. Wu which hissed its displeasure.

"Doesn't like being held away from bodily contact." Wu remarked and took the animal before weighing and measuring her and walking towards the nursery room a few paces away.

"If I recall correctly." Carl remarked, "Velociraptors were responsible for more than a few accidents during your initial construction. I'd like to refer to the 1989 incident where one escaped and killed two construction workers and maimed a third before being recaptured. What precautions have you taken to ensure that this won't occur?"

---

"We keep the adults in the Raptor Containment Area. It's a large compound near the Jungle River Cruise." Hammond said, "We've had trouble integrating them into the park setting..."

Hammond was speaking rapidly as he tried to keep pace with the resolute looking Carl. Angela and the others were also racing to catch up with him as he headed towards an area walled off by a large concrete wall topped by an electric fence. In front of it was a large gate that fronted the water.

"What's the gate for?" Carl asked.

"We transport supplies and fuel to the Raptor Containment Area by barge on a bi-weekly basis." Hammond said as Carl slowed down a bit and enabled the old man to catch up.

"There's also land access here..." Hammond said and indicated a heavy metal door with a guard booth.

Carl noted that there was a Jurassic Park security guard carrying an M16A2 rifle inside. The guard opened the large metal door by pushing a button and the group walked inside.

There was a forested area inside the walled compound with a large boat shed near the canal and a trio of guard were in sight. On the other side of the canal was a large pen with concrete walls and electrified fencing and bars over the top. There was a small stairwell and a catwalk to the observation deck beside the pen.

"That's the main raptor enclosure." Hammond remarked as he and the rest of the group caught up to Carl.

The sound of a large bovine could be heard and Carl glanced up to see a crane lifting a steer in a slingload into the pen. As the animal was loaded into the pen the humans on the observation deck could see parts of powerful six foot bodies running through the palms. The raptors shrieked and growled as the attacked the steer from all sides and ripped the animal open with the gurkha knife like claws at their feet. They stuck their muzzles into the large wounds torn into the still living animal and ripped chunks of innards and muscle away...

"They should all be destroyed." A British accented voice sounded.

"Ah. Robert. Robert Muldoon. My game warden from Kenya." Hammond began.

"How fast do these guys become lethal?" Carl asked.

"They're lethal at eight months. And I do mean lethal." Muldoon said and added, "I've hunted most things that can hunt you but the way these things move..."

"I recall that the newborn in the hatchery could jump pretty high and far. He landed in my partner's arms when she was standing about six feet away." Carl replied.

"They're fast for bipeds. Cheetah speed. Fifty to sixty miles per hour if they got out into the open. And they're astonishing jumpers." Muldoon replied.

"Yes. Yes. Yes. That's why we're taking extreme precautions." Hammond said.

Carl ignored him and asked, "How intelligent are they?"

"Extremely intelligent - even problem solving intelligent. About the intelligence of a chimpanzee and several times more lethal." Muldoon replied.

Hammond turned to Angela and said, "We are taking extreme precautions to make sure these animals don't get out. However we have had some problems integrating them into the park setting."

"Mr. Hammond, I can see that, but I have to question about having an enclosure for such dangerous animals so close to the Jungle River Cruise." Angela replied, "Just what sort of security measures are in place."

"I'll show you the control room momentarily." Hammond said.

"In any case I'd be interested to see it. Especially now." Angela said.

---

To Be Continued...