Dr. Grant charges across the compound ahead of the whole group, a sense of urgency in his step as all of us struggle to keep up. As we are approaching an unusually small pen, a terrible shriek comes from somewhere ahead of us making me jump a few inches off the ground. Dr. Malcolm looks over at me and chuckles a bit before making his way over.

"You know, if your scared, I can always protect you from the monsters." He says with quick wink before looking over the top of his glasses with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. I just roll my eyes at his comment, even though a smile is threatening to escape my lips.

"Dr. Malcolm..." I start

"Ian. Call me, Ian. Dr. Malcolm is too formal for my taste." He interrupts, chewing on a piece of gum with a smirk.

"Ian." I state again, his name feeling weird on my tongue, "If I were wanting protection from a dinosaur, I would ask the paleontologist, not a chaotician." I bit my lip in an attempt to hide my smile, but am unable to contain it when Ian begins to laugh at my comment. I chuckle along with him for a moment before being snapped back into reality by John.

"Dr. Grant!" He shouts, trying to catch up with the doctor. We all follow Grant up to a large staff viewing area, a long walkway wrapping around the concrete structure, "As I was saying, we've laid on lunch for you before you set out into the park, our gourmet chef Alejandro--"

"What're they doing?" Dr. Grant asks, as a cow is being raised above the pen with a crane.

"Oh, feeding them." John states without missing a beat, "Alejandro is preparing a delightful menu for us: Chilean sea bass, I believe. Shall we?" John offers, but is ignored by the group. The jungle seems to grow very quiet as we all stare at the motionless crane line. It jerks suddenly, like a fishing pole finally getting a nibble. There's a pause - - and then a frenzy. The line jerks every which way, the jungle plants sway and snap from some frantic activity within, there is a cacophony of growling, snapping, and of wet crunches that mean the steer is literally being torn to pieces and is almost makes it worse that we can't see anything of what's going on. Then it's silence once again. The line jerks a few times, then stops. Slowly the sound of the jungle starts up again. My stomach twists into knots at the sight of such a cruel end for the cow.

"Fascinating animals, fascinating." John states, looking into the pen with extreme interest.

"Oh my God." Ellie mutters, mirroring my facial expression exactly.

"Given time, they'll out draw the T-rex. Guarantee it." John continues

"I want to see them." Dr. Grant cuts in, "Can we get closer?" Ellie quickly puts a hand on his arm, like calming an overexcited child.

"Alan, these aren't bones anymore." Ellie tells him, expressing concern.

"We're... still perfecting a viewing system." John explains, "The raptors seem to be a bit resistant to integration into a park setting."

"I wonder why." I mutter quietly, making Ian, who is standing next to me, snort at my comment.

"They should all be destroyed." A familiar voice states, making my ears perk up at the sound. John laughs a bit before walking up the grim-faced British man.

"Robert, Robert Muldoon, my game warden from Kenya." John introduces, "A bit of an alarmist, I'm afraid, but knows more about raptors than anyone." Before he can continue, I sprint up to Muldoon and engulf him in a hug. He chuckles to the best of his ability, pulling me away from him and planting a kiss on each cheek.

"So this is where you have been for the last 5 years?" I tease with a smile.

"Oh? I forgot to tell you?" He shoots back, a crooked grin on his lips. Before we can conversate anymore, Dr. Grant walks up to him with questions practically pouring from him. I take a step back for the doctor to have some alone time with Robert. I turn back to the others and see that Ellie and John are in a conversation about the dinosaurs while Ian is just looking at me, his eyes hidden behind his transition lenses. I walk up to him, leaning up against the railing while looking at him.

"You two seem to know each other pretty well" He remarks about Muldoon and I. I raise an eyebrow at him, but just nod.

"We have known each other for years. I help take care of all of John's wildlife preserves, while Robert was stationed at Kenya. I was actually working there when I got the invitation from John to come down here for the weekend." I explain, watching all of the others talk, only getting a raised eyebrow at my description of out relationship. I shake my head, a small smile forming, "And before you ask, we aren't together, so keep that out of your mind. We're just good friends." Ian smirks at my remark, realizing I already knew the question was coming.

"You've heard of Chaos Theory?" He asks, walking over and leaning on the railing next to me with his eyes still glued to the raptor pen, our arms practically touching. I resist the urge to lean in closer, feeling a sense of comfort from his presence especially after the incident with the raptors moments ago.

"Not exactly. I've heard a bit of it, but don't know the full extent." I reply, looking up at him and suddenly realizing that he is nearly 7 inches taller than me. He smiles, leaning down a bit over me, but before we can continue to talk the crane that was in the raptor pen whirrs back to life, raising the cable back up out of the pen. Ian and I stare as the end portion of the cable becomes visible. The steer has been dragged completely away, leaving only the tattered, bloody harness. My eyes are unable to move from the horrendous sight. John claps his hands together excitedly, startling me a bit.

"Yes, well, who's hungry?"

-

We are all guided to a long table in the visitor's center restaurant to eat lunch. There is a large buffet table and two waiters are busily moving around the table to accommodate the six of us. The room is darkened and John is showing slides of various scenes all around us as his recorded voice describes current and future features of the park while the slides flash artists' renderings of all them. While John is sat at the head of the table, I am sat on the opposite end with Dr. Grant and Ellie to my left, and Ian and Donald to my right.

"None of these attractions are ready yet, of course, but the park will open with the basic tour that you're about to take, and then other rides will come online six to twelve months after that. Absolutely spectacular designs. Spared no expense." John explains to us as I half listen as more slides click past, a series of graphs dealing with profits, attendance and other fiscal projections. Donald, who has been increasingly friendly towards John since the ride in the Jeeps, grins from ear to ear.

"And we can charge anything we want. Two thousand a day, ten thousand a day, and people will pay it. And then there's the merchandising which I personally--" Donald elaborates. I can begin to feel my blood boiling with every word exchanged.

"Donald, Donald. This park was not built to cater only for the super-rich. Everyone in the world has the right to enjoy these animals."

"Sure. They will. I mean, we'll have a coupon day or something." Gennero laughs at his comment, making me sick. My head shoots up, about to tell him off, but Ian speaks up before I have the chance.

"Gee, the lack of humility before nature that's being displayed here, uh, staggers me." he says, sarcasm dripping from his lips, almost spitting venom at the two men at each of his sides. My ears perk up at his words, now fully listening to the conversation. I look up at Ian, seeing that he is fuming as much as I am at this whole situation.

"Thank you Dr. Malcolm," Donald remarks "but I think things are a little bit different than both you and I have feared."

"Yeah, I know. They're uh, a lot worse." Ian states as I see he is barely able to keep his usually suave composure.

"Now, wait a second now." Donald interjects with a stressed tone "We haven't even seen the park yet. There's no reason--"

"Donald, Donald, let him talk." John says in a calm tone, making the lawyer quickly snap his mouth shut "There's no reason -- I want to hear every viewpoint. I really do."

"Yeah, uh, don't you see the danger, John, uh, inherent in what you're doing here?" Ian asks, obviously knowing the answer is already no, "Genetic power's the most awesome force this planet's ever seen, but you wield it like a kid who's found his dad's gun."

"It's hardly appropriate to start hurling accusations--" Donald begins, but quiets down solely from the glare I shoot at him. Despite Ian's outward, admittedly charming, appearance, it is his words that draw me to him. He has a way of describing exactly what I am thinking, and more exquisitely than I would ever be able to achieve. It's astonishing. Never have I found a man more attractive than in this moment. My heart begins to beat quicker, and my skin glows with warmth as I realize my very real attraction to the snarky chaotician.

"If I may, if I may. Uh, I'll tell you the problem with the scientific power that you're, that you're using here. It didn't require any discipline to attain it. You know, you read what others had done, and you, and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility... for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses, uh, to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew it, you had, you've patented it, and packaged it, and slapped it on a plastic lunch box, and now" Ian bangs the table, finally having lost his composure "you're selling it, you wanna sell it, well."

"I don't think you're giving us our due credit." John replies in a more irritated manner, "Our scientists have done things which nobody has ever done before."

"Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied over whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

"Condors. Condors are on the verge of extinction." John argues back.

"No, --"

"No, no! If I was to create a flock of condors on this island, you wouldn't have anything to say." John's voice raises as he speaks. I stare in surprise. Never have I seen him like this before.

"No, no, listen," Ian says "this isn't some species that was obliterated by deforestation or, uh, the building of a dam. Dinosaurs, uh, had their shot, and nature selected them for extinction."

"I simply don't understand this kind of Luddite attitude, especially from a scientist!" John exclaims "I mean, how can we stand in the light of discovery and not act?"

"Oh, what's so great about discovery? It's a violent, penetrative act that scars what it explores. What you call discovery, I call the rape of the natural world."

"Well," Ellie interjects "the question is, how can you know anything about an extinct ecosystem? And therefore, how could you ever assume that you can control it? You have plants in this building that are poisonous. You picked them because they look good. But these are aggressive living things that have no idea what century they're in and they will defend themselves. Violently, if necessary."

"Dr. Grant, if there's one person here, who can appreciate what I'm trying to do..." John looks to Dr. Grant in hopes of getting some positive feedback.

"The world has just changed so radically, and we're all running to catch up." Dr. Grant replies, leaning forward with a look of true concern on his face, "I don't want to jump to any conclusions but look; dinosaurs and man, two species separated by sixty-five million years of evolution, have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea, what to expect?"

"Lynette, darling, you have known me a long time. You have to know what I am doing here is of purest intentions." John says, looking me in the eyes, practically pleading for me to have his back. Pain and guilt swell in my chest as I know that I cannot support him in this endeavor.

"John..." Is all I am able to get out before the look of heartbreak streaks across his features, "You know how I feel about zoo's. You've pretty much created one here. You have brought these animals back from extinction just to show them off to the public. They have no say or authority in the way they are living, and they are trapped here against their will. If this were a wildlife preserve like Kenya, it would be different, but all of the dinosaurs are separated unlike in the natural world. Their instincts are to survive, and that means not being fed, but to hunt. They can't do that when they are separated into pens. John, this is unnatural and immoral, and I think you know that. This is like bringing a child into the world only to keep it locked away in a circus for others to enjoy and mock. Their lives have no meaning here."

"I don't believe it!" John exclaims, completely baffled by all of our opinions, "I don't believe it! You're meant to come down here and defend me against these characters, and the only one I've got on my side is the blood-sucking lawyer!"

"Thank you." Donald mutters. I take a deep breath, feeling a sense of relief from getting of my feelings out onto the table. Looking around, I see a set of dark eyes staring at me behind thick lenses. Ian sends a soft smile my way, one that I had yet to see from him, accompanied by a nod, clearly agreeing with my analysis of the park. I return the smile, looking down slightly in embarrassment as the heat from earlier crawls up the nape of my neck once again. When I look up again, I notice that one of the waiters is whispering to John.

"Well. They're here."