The journey to the island had been smoother than Ellis had anticipated. Her father had told her terrible tales of helicopters that practically fell from the sky due to terrible wind shears, but there hadn't been a helicopter in sight. Instead, Ellie flew into San Jose International Airport on the mainland of Costa Rica and from there she was ferried – quite literally – to the island.

Despite the glorious sunshine on the mainland, the closer the ship got to Isla Nublar the denser the cloud cover became. Ellie could just about make out the island, rugged and craggy breaking sharply out of the ocean. A chipper voice over was broadcast throughout the ship, spouting out facts and figures to the passengers, all of whom were more interested in getting a decent photograph of the island, all of them except Ellis who instead remained seated, gazing out the window but listening intently. "Isla Nublar is not a true island, but rather a seamount, rock thrusted up and out of the ocean by underwater volcanic eruptions." The voice explained and Ellie nodded along silently.

"There is evidence of Isla Nublar's volcanic origins all over the island, there are numerous steam vents scattered across the twenty two square miles and the ground is often hot underfoot. So visitors are advised to wear appropriate footwear at all times." Ellie's dark eyes flickered to the hiking boots she was wearing momentarily before glancing upwards again when the sounds of shouts and exclamations erupted from the other passengers on the boat. The thick fog had cleared and Isla Nublar was revealed in all its glory. The ocean crashed against the dock and rugged cliffs came into view, the dense fog that had previously concealed the entire island now only blanketed the tops of hills, giving the entire island a mysterious appearance.

"My god it looks like Alcatraz." One passenger exclaimed and others agreed, Simon Masrani stood from his position next to Ellis and spoke for the first time the entire journey.

"Yes, but much, much bigger." He moved to stand closer to the large front window and everyone moved to let him pass. At the front he extended his arms, a wide smile plastered upon his face. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Jurassic World."

When the boat finally docked the tourists rushed forwards, every one of them wanting to be the first to step foot on dry land, the first to get into the park. Ellis hung back, she was just as excited as the rest of them to get into the park, but she, unlike them, was an employee and was expected to display a certain amount of self-control.

Swinging back and forth on her heels in a desperate attempt to curb her excitement Ellis watched as the last passenger disembarked the boat before finally kicking herself into gear. She leant down and picked up her old rucksack, it had belonged to a friend of her father's – Billy – whom Ellie had had the biggest crush on as a child. Billy had travelled to Isla Sorna with her father and barely made it out alive, he claimed to owe his life to the very backpack Ellie was slinging over her shoulder, and so when she'd told him that she'd accepted the job offer to work at the park, he'd immediately given her the backpack, for luck. She was about to step off the dock and join the back of the queue for the monorail which presumably transported passengers to the park itself but was stopped when Masrani caught hold of her elbow.

"No Miss Grant, we're staff, we get to take the more...shall I say, scenic route." A sly smile danced on his lips and an excited spark twinkling in his dark eyes. The man oozed enthusiasm and excitement, it was contagious and Ellie soon found herself grinning back at him. Repositioning the strap of Billy's backpack on her shoulder she followed the business man for a few hundred yards, until they reached a small parking lot where three Ford Explorers awaited them. Ellis raised an eyebrow at the sight of the old models.

"These are pretty old school." She mused, stepping forward and running her finger along the paintwork, greens, yellows and reds covered the car and there was evidence of old stencil lettering that had long since been removed.

"They were salvaged, from the original park. It's our way of paying homage to its vision." Masrani replied quickly, not bothering to look at Ellie. A handful of other employees milled about the parking lot, some of them smiled at her whilst others were far too immersed in their phones or tablets, a couple of tall, muscled men stood in front of Masrani, speaking in hushed voices. Not wanting to pry into something that didn't concern her Ellie went back to looking at the car, circling it twice and studying it intently. If this vehicle really was salvaged from the original Jurassic Park then there was a good chance her father had ridden in it, and the thought of him made her smile. The pair hadn't exactly parted on the best of terms, Alan Grant had been completely against his daughter travelling to Costa Rica, and had tried to put his foot down more than once. For the first time in her life Ellie had disobeyed her father's wishes, she'd accepted the job and in turn left the country – pretty extreme for someone's first act of defiance – but not before writing him a heartfelt letter that said she hoped he could find it in his heart to forgive her, she was after all only doing what he had done twenty two years ago.

Masrani climbed into the front passenger seat of one of the Explorers and Ellie followed behind him, climbing into the backseat of the same car. A few other employees climbed in along with her and others filled the two other cars behind them. The tree vehicles moved in convoy through the maintenance roads of the park. The air was thick, damp and hot and Ellis mentally cursed herself for putting on jeans that morning and not something a lot cooler. When the dense foliage cleared somewhat she turned to look out of the window, wanting to see the landscape better. "It's not like the mainland." She mused aloud, to no one in particular but one of the muscled men to her left nodded in agreement.

"It's more of a deciduous rain forest." He explained quietly. "The vegetation on the mainland is more of your classical rainforest."

"It's the microclimate." Ellie concluded, turning from gawking out the window to look at the man sat next to her. He was much taller than she was, and his arm was about as thick as one of her legs. She was unsubtle in the way she checked him out and he smirked when he noticed the way her dark eyes lingered for a fraction too long. A soft blush peppered Ellis' cheeks and she spoke again to avoid embarrassment. "The microclimate only occurs at elevated levels, making this island tropical."

The man nodded again. "Making it the perfect environment for the animals."

The animals. Ellis had been so preoccupied with the geology of the island that she'd almost forgotten the reason she was here. Eyes wide she turned away from the man once more, pressing her forehead against the glass of the window. She squinted, shielding her eyes from the streaming sunlight, and scoured the open planes for any sign of life.

The only thing she was able to make out was a large tree trunk, thick and curving with absolutely no leaves at all. She frowned and was about to turn from the window when the trunk moved, twisted to face the cars that drove alongside it. Ellis gasped when she realised that what she was seeing wasn't the trunk of a tree at all. "Oh my god." Ellie said softly, she was the only one in the car staring at the animal – the others had all seen their fair share of dinosaurs by now. "My. God."

She had never seen anything more spectacular in her life, she'd known what to expect of course, Jurassic World had been open long enough that everyone on earth had by now at least seen a photograph of a living dinosaur. Ellie had watched numerous videos, and was always glued to the media coverage of the park whenever they unveiled a new attraction but she had somehow still not believed it to be true, and now, she was stunned into silence. The dinosaur, a brontosaur, watched the vehicles through small dark eyes and Ellie couldn't believe how beautiful the creature was. It's long neck swayed as it moved its head, following the cars as they drove past, it was almost graceful in the way it moved. She had studied dinosaurs her entire life, and for the longest time it was believed that brontosaurs had spent the majority of their time in shallow water in order to support their large bulk, it was clear now to Ellie that this creature didn't live in a swamp, and never had. "My god." She said again and the muscled man next to her laughed softly.

"You better get used to it kid, you aint seen nothin' yet."

For the remainder of the car journey Ellie had been completely silent, her head rested gently against the glass and her gazer was fixed firmly out of the window. She listened to her heart beating loudly in her chest and drummed her fingers rhythmically against her thigh, she couldn't tell if she was excited or nervous, probably both.

The maintenance roads soon turned to concrete tracks and the vehicles drove into a much more built up area. Ellie sat up straighter and watched as the rolling fields disappeared into the distance, being replaced by large walls, warning signs and electrified fences. "We're now entering the park itself." Masrani explained from the front seat, having seen the look of confusion flashing on Ellis' face in the rear view mirror. "The walls...fences...all security measures, separating the visitors from the attractions."

"Makes sense." Ellie agreed as the car rolled to a stop. Masrani got out first, adjusting his suit whilst Ellie climbed out the back seat. The man who had sat beside her clambered out too, nodded a quick goodbye and disappeared off through a gate signed 'Restricted Area, Employee Access Only'.

To their right there was a large, seemingly man made, lake, a vast expanse of water that went on for at least a mile. Shielding her eyes from the midday sun Ellis studied the water carefully. It looked calm, almost to the point of being inviting, but something told her this wasn't a swimming pool. "Our mososaurus habitat." Masrani said, his hand gesturing to the vast expanse of water. Ellie took a step forward but stopped when he spoke again. "I wouldn't get too close if I were you, she's known to jump out. We're taking extra security measures, building up the walls. No expenses are spared when it comes to guest safety." It sounded like a spiel he had rehearsed and performed multiple times and Ellie responded by merely raising an eyebrow.

"How big is it?" She asked.

"She's approximately sixty feet."

"There's only one animal in there?" Masrani nodded, a look of confusion flourishing upon his features when he caught sight of Ellis' frown. "Roughly speaking there should be one predatory carnivore for every four hundred herbivores, or smaller carnivores." She explained, but Masrani's confused expression never once faltered. "She shouldn't be in there alone. It's a recipe for disaster."

Simon Masrani's eyebrows shot so far up his forehead that Ellie was surprised they didn't disappear into his hair line and for a moment he was silent before shaking his head. "No, no, like I said we spare no expense when it comes to safety. She's quite happy in there by herself." The CEO eyed the water anxiously before gesturing towards one of the larger buildings. "Let me show you to the control room, introduce you to the staff."

Ellie glanced over her shoulder towards the water and frowned once more before turning to Masrani with a smile. "Sure, yeah, lead the way."