iv. the laboratory

AFTER ALAN HAD QUESTIONED HOW JOHN HAD CREATED THE DINOSAURS, JOHN SIMPLY ANSWERED 'I'LL SHOW YOU'. None of the scientists nor the chaotician were over the sight of the real-life dinosaurs, yet all were incredibly intrigued by John's aura of mystery.

After another short ride in the jeeps, they arrived at a large white cement building with a thatched roof that was modelled to appear like a modernised village hut.

John trotted up the steps, his six guests following him quickly. "The most advanced amusement park in the entire world, incorporating all the latest technologies. And I'm not talking just about rides. Everybody has rides. No, we've made living biological attractions so astounding that they'll capture the imagination of the entire planet," John spoke.

"So, what are you thinking?" Ellie asked.

Alan laughed, yet it was more of a scoff. "That we're out of a job," Alna pointed to the four palaeontologists.

Ian laughed, running up the stairs to walk alongside Alan. "Don't you mean 'extinct'?"

Robyn snorted and Jimmy huffed. John led the ground into a small theatre room. In the front row sat in this order; Jimmy, Robyn, Ian, Ellie then Alan. While John and Gennaro sat behind them.

"Ah, here he comes," John spoke. "Well, here I come," The older man gestured towards the screen, just as the video began - a video John walking in front of the Jurassic Park logo.

"Hello," The video John welcomed.

"Say hello," The real-life John ordered.

"Hi," Robyn and Ellie hesitantly answered back. Ian chuckled, nudging Robyn's shoulder teasingly. John soon realised that he was supposed to interact with the video and began stumbling with the cue-cards in his pockets. The two John's did a small skit where the real-life John takes the video John's blood, then multiple versions of the old man popped onto the screen to show the miracle of cloning.

"Cloned from what?" Ian asked the four scientists quietly.

"Loy extractions never recreated an intact DNA strand," Alan commented.

"Not without massive sequence gaps," Ellie added.

Robyn leaned over Ian's shoulder. "Paleo-DNA. But from what source? Where did he get 100 million old dinosaur blood?"

After Gennaro shushed the front row, they turned back to the screen just in time for a cartoon to take over. 'Mr DNA' - a cartoon DNA strand began to explain how the Jurassic Park scientists took the blood from mosquitos that got stuck in tree sap billions of years ago. The character explained how they used the complete DNA of a frog to fill in the gaps of the dinosaur, thus making real-life dinosaurs. John presses a button causing the large metal brackets in front of them to fall down and lay just above their laps. The entire theatre swivelled to turn towards a grass window. Behind it was a live laboratory. However, the seats didn't stop.

"Wait a minute!" Alan threw his hands up. "How do you interrupt the cellular mitosis?"

"Can't we see the unfertilised eggs?" Ellie questioned desperately, turning in her seat to look at John.

"Shortly," John chuckled.

The group of doctors grew impatient quickly. "Can't you stop this thing?" Jimmy questioned.

"I'm sorry. It's kind of a ride," John reasoned.

All five scientists grasped the brackets in their hands and counted to three. With all their strength, they managed to push the barrier up and away from their laps and ran out of the turnable room. They rushed towards the lab. Spotting a nest full of eggs, they slowly made their way towards it.

Robyn saw one particular egg moving. Realising what was occurring, she gasped with a grin and hunched in front it.

"Ah, perfect timing," The head scientist, Dr Henry Wu, spoke. "I was hoping it would hatch before I got on the boat."

"Henry, why didn't you tell me?" John grinned with happiness whilst placing plastic gloves over his hands. "I insist on being here when they're born." A few cracks spread across the top of the egg, the creature on the inside trying its hardest to push through the barrier. John began to coo at the baby dinosaur as its head popped through the hole it eventually made. "They imprint on the first creature they come in contact with. Helps them to trust me," All of the scientists crowded around the heated nest to watch the miracle of life. "I've been present for the birth of every little creature on this island."

"That's incredible," Robyn whispered, in awe of the birth of the dinosaur. As a zoologist, she had seen many animal births. All of them were beautiful and fascinating, but none as magical as the dinosaur birth happening right in front of her.

"Surely not the ones that have bred in - in the wild?" Ian questioned, staring in awe at the small infant creature.

"Actually, they can't breed in the wild. Population control is one of our security precautions," Henry explained. "There's no unauthorised breeding in Jurassic Park."

"How, uh, do you know they can't breed?" Ian prodded again.

"Because all the animals in Jurassic Park are female. We've engineered them that way," Henry nodded.

"But, uh, how do you know they're all female? What - does somebody go out in the park and pull up the dinosaur's skirts?" Ian asked again once he rounded the table, standing behind the still crouching Robyn, to talk to Henry easily. Ian's statement caused Robyn to stifle a small chuckle.

"We control their chromosomes. It's really not that difficult," Henry crossed his arms, clearly not caring for Ian's consistent questioning. "All vertebrate embryos are inherently female, anyway. They just require an extra hormone given at the right development stage to make them male. We simply deny them that."

Robyn furrowed her brows, standing up from her position to turn towards Henry and Ian's conversation. "You deny them that? That's impossible," she laughed in disbelief. "Evolution will eventually catch up with your experiments and overcome them, surely."

Ian nodded, pointing towards the blonde Australian. "the kind of control you're attempting is not possible - like Dr Morris is saying. If there's one thing the history of evolution has taught us, it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free. Expands to new territories and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously, but, hey, there it is," Ian gestures towards the eggs.

"There it is," John nodded with a grin.

"You're implying that a group composed entirely of female animals will breed?" Henry mockingly suggested.

Ian shook his head. "No, I'm simply saying that life, uh, finds a way."

John passed the infant animal to Robyn to cradle once she placed a pair of plastic gloves on. "I'm afraid that I must agree with Dr Malcolm, John," She chuckled quietly, her eyes fully trained on the tiny living dinosaur in her hands. She had handled many baby animals in her life and this dinosaur was similar to a large chick. "In, uh, in the video before," Robyn tenderly handed the animal to Alan. "That little DNA strand character said that you used the DNA of frogs to complete the coding for your dinos, right?" John nodded, insinuating for her to continue. "There's this frog in West Africa - called the Common Reed Frog - that can spontaneously change its sex when in a single-sex environment. I haven't, personally, come across any other species of frogs that can do this, but I am aware that there are a few more African frogs that can possess this ability. If, by some horrid coincidence, that you've managed to use this specific species of frog... well, that would eliminate your control over their chromosomes. But hey, let's hope you haven't used that frog for your coding," Robyn chuckled. What she didn't see was the nervous look shared between John and Henry.

"What species is this?" Alan asked, inspecting the infant in his hands.

Henry looked towards the curious scientist then at the newborn in his hold. "Uh, it's a velociraptor."

The scientists shared a worried look. "You bred raptors?" Jimmy questioned for confirmation. After a nod from the head Jurassic Park scientist, Robyn grew more and more concerned. Something was bound to go wrong with velociraptors on the park.

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top