Noon. Several years earlier.
John Hammond and park veterinarian Gerry Harding stood at the edge of the concrete helipad, the thundering of the nearby waterfall almost drowned out by the even louder thundering of the rapidly descending chopper’s blades. They both looked nervously upward at the chopper, swaying from side to side on it’s way down.
“Good thing the winds are calm today, Mr. Hammond. Sometimes that chopper ride shakes up first time visitors pretty good.”
“Perhaps, Gerry, but Mr. Nedry seems hardly like the nervous type.”
The chopper touched down, and Dennis Nedry glanced out the window at the jungle enveloping him.
Isla Nublar! A million miles from nowheresville! Geez! What a dump! But it’d be worth a trip to Siberia for the dough old man Hammond is coughing up for his computer network!~
“Mr Nedry, welcome to the island! How was your flight?”
“Fine” Nedry shrugged. He looked around, unimpressed. “Where’s the cafeteria?”
“It’s uh, a short drive. Forgive the informalities, but our Jurassic Park facilities are still under construction.”
They loaded up into a nearby Jeep, and set off into the undergrowth.
After a short drive, Dennis saw the dramatic outline of tribal gates above the road. They dramatically parted and the Jeep passed through. Hammond turned to Nedry with a smile on his face.
“You’ll have to hold on just a moment, Dennis. We’re taking the scenic route.”
Oh please, it looks like something out of every bad jungle flick I ever saw!
“No sweat Mr. Hammond” mumbled Nedry. There’s a lot of money behind this set-up. But a sappy name like Jurassic Park? Give me a break!
“Please, call me John. We’ll get to the Visitor Centre in about ten minutes. The Control Room and Embryo development labs are in there. But I expect you’ll be more interested in seeing the practical results of your team’s theoretical research and development. The word made flesh, as it were.”
“Yeah well, I still don’t know exactly what sorry of applications you have in mind, John.”
Who does he think he’s kidding? He’s obviously a wacko dreamer, not a realist like me, Nedry thought to himself. Obviously this job’s gonna be a lotta headaches and I still don’t know what’s going on! I wonder if I can break my contract- Nedry snapped back to reality, the Jeep coming to a jolting stop in front of a fence. There were some oddly shaped rocks on the other side.
“...Don’t you think?” Hammond was still talking at him.
“What was that, John?”
“You know Dennis, you’ll need to be more focused if you expect to be able to handle the work here!” The huge rocks turned and faced them. Nedry suddenly realised they weren’t rocks at all. They were the scaly brown hides of huge reptiles. Dinosaurs!
“As I was saying, this is the reality of Jurassic Park!”
“Holy! They’re dinosaurs!” Nedry was dumbfounded. “I don’t believe it! It’s a trick! Some sort of animatronic gimmickry! Man I’d love to get a look at the software that’s running them-”
“I’m afraid Dennis, you’ve been playing with computers so long you don’t recognise the real thing.” Hammond climbed out of the Jeep and approached the animals closest to the fence. “Hello young lady, I’ve brought a few more soy beans for you today - and a friend.”
The Triceratops gently began eating the beans out of Hammond’s hand. “Here, give her a few of these, she’s quite tame.”
"You’re kidding, right? It’ll really take them? C’mere, you!” Nedry gaudily rushed forward, arm outstretched. The Triceratops froze, then began to shuffle backwards. “Hey! What’s with it? It’s backing away!”
“You’re too aggressive Dennis! They normally like people.. And soy beans. But then again, I was there in the lab at her birth.”
Nedry looked on at the creatures in awe. When this place hits, Hammond is gonna own the trademark of dinosaurs! He’s got a gold mine here! The mother of all gold mines! I way underbid this job!
*
Twenty minutes later, and they were back in the Visitor Centre.
“You know John, now that I’ve seen what you’re doing, I realize that the networking and programming problems here are going to be a lot bigger than I thought. We need to talk about that bid.”
“Dennis you were given a very complete picture of the problems you’d be expected to solve before you agreed to come down here.”
“Yeah but John, there's no substitute for on-site inspection. And if your guys could handle it, I wouldn’t be here now!”
Hammond was getting agitated. “No, but ‘my guys’ understand the problems and were quite clear about them to you. I accepted your bid in food faith. And no matter how much you grumble, we both know you’re being very well paid.”
“Still, given the necessary redundancy factors-”
“We’ll get whatever equipment you need Dennis.” Hammond snapped. “And I am sure your people in Cambridge would take a dim view of any unprofessional conduct on your part while you’re here. Do we understand one another?”
Two months later.
Nedry had taken a drive out into the park, and had found a spot to overlook the park, alongside a big fence.
I don’t believe it! Eight weeks already in this tropical paradise. Most of the systems are up and running, the major bugs are just about fixed… and I can’t squeeze another dime out of that lousy tightwad-
Suddenly a dark shape slammed against the fence behind him, and in a burst of electric light showered the road in sparks.
“Argghhh!" Nedry stumbled back and screamed at the sight of the dinosaur.
"Hah, it’s electrified dummy! Say, how’d you like a Hammond sandwich? Yeah, well, I sure wish I could fix one for you! Geez, people will be lining up to force Hammond to take their money from them when they find out about this place. And I’m only making four times my usual rates! Is there no justice?”
*
Back at the Visitor Centre, Nedry was sat hunched over his console. A voice rang out over the intercom “This is Wu. Would Hammond like to report to the Hatchery for a live birth.”
I slave through eighteen hour days and barely get the time of day from Hammond… but when one of those crummy eggs hatches he’s there at warp speed!
Wait a moment… the embryo lab! Dennis you idiot, of course! It isn’t the park and the computers that’s key, it’s the dinosaurs! And they don’t start out weighing tons, they start as embryos. I’ve worked for Hammond long enough, and more than one guy out there would give his right arm for a shot at his own Jurassic Park. Prehistoric Planet? Camp Cretaceous? I think it’s time I start investing in the Dennis Nedry retirement fund!
The main problem with an automated system, he mused, is that the computer log is stored in the on-site mainframe.
Hard to do anything without leaving traces… but what hacker would I be if I didn’t leave myself a little trapdoor in the system?
Nedry typed: whte_rbt.obj.
...And now it’s time to make a phone call.
He picked up the receiver, recalling a number a stranger had slipped him on the mainland.“...I believe I’m very well positioned to supply some answers… for the right price. Don’t get cheap on me. That was Hammond’s mistake.”
END
