Grant gritted his teeth as he and Ellie tumbled around in the back of a Jeep as it bounced over the sun-baked central plains of the island. “We’re approaching the herd now” Muldoon shouted from behind the wheel. Ellie clicked on her radio. “Feel like your missing out yet, Ian?”.
“I’m quite comfortable, actually” Malcolm crackled over the radio: “You rangers can shoot them with darts, while I watch safely and uh, securely from a distance. Besides, I’ve got a lot of work to do here.”
“Here we go!” called Muldoon, signalling ahead. Grant leaned out of the Jeep, and spotted a Triceratops charging across the field, flanked by a flock of Gallimimus.
Grant cranked out a large net to head it off, while Ellie took aim with a tranquiliser rifle. They needed to stop the Triceratops from escaping down to the river, where it would be too hard to follow. It went down surprisingly swiftly - the park veterinarians had perfected the sedative dosage.
“It’s down” Muldoon said sternly. “Our transport team will take over from here. The Gallis will be easy enough to shepard back to their paddock with a couple of Jeeps. It looks like we lost three that managed to make it down to the river. But the trike was the priority. There should also be… ah. There it is.”
The Jeep pulled up to large dinosaur at the edge of the field. The crested animal didn’t bolt - instead it looked on with a pleasant, calming gaze. “Parasaurolophus” Grant whispered in awe.
Ellie reached out of the vehicle. Slowly, the Parasaur walked up to her outstretched arm and put it’s beak in her palm. “She” said Ellie, almost brought to tears. “Not it, she.”
Grant watched on in amazement. This could never get old.
“I see you’ve made a friend” Malcolm piped up over the radio, tracking over the motion censors. “Don’t forget this is Hammond’s ‘vision’ and you’re, uh, falling for it.”
Unfased, Ellie continued stroking the Parasaur. “Ian, don’t forget, something good and wonderful came out of all this. Living dinosaurs.”
“Yeah. Good. Wonderful. The chaos is coming, Dr. Sattler. But I do admire your optimism.”
