The Mighty Ducks and all related characters are the property of Walt Disney Corporations. No copyright infringement is intended. Jurassic Park and all related characters are the property of Michael Crichton and Ballantine Books. No copyright infringement is intended. This story and any original characters are the property of the author. Please do not archive this story anywhere without asking me first. I'll probably say yes, but I like to know where my stories are. I've rated this story as PG for some mildly bloody stuff toward the end. For general knowledge: This story is based on the happenings in the book 'Jurassic Park,' not the movie or its sequel. If you haven't read it some parts may not make sense. I changed some stuff to make it fit the story better, but hey, that's life. Timeline: Just before the beginning of their second year on Earth. I came up with this story in a fit of insanity. I started writing this story in a fit of insanity. I wrote the gory fight scene at the end in a fit of insanity. And I wrote the smarmy stuff after reading too much Ghostbusters fanfiction, but it's a price I'm willing to pay. For Celyna, who's finally getting better. ________ Terms of Survival A Mighty Ducks/Jurassic Park Crossover "More dinosaurs?" Tanya had to grin at the dismayed tone of Nosedive's voice. "Not necessarily," she said reassuringly. "It could be a crank." "What are the details, Tanya?" Wildwing demanded. "You guys remember Dr. Huggarman?" They all nodded. "Well he called me up yesterday. He's visiting his daughter in Central America. Her name is Roberta Carter. She's a visiting physician working with a small community hospital in Bahia Anasco, in Costa Rica. Early yesterday morning a helicopter landed at the clinic - in the middle of a thundering deluge, no less - with this guy who'd been torn to shreds in a construction accident. At least, the people who brought him in said it was a construction accident. Said he'd been run over by a backhoe and dragged. Roberta said there's no way that's possible. If the guy had been dragged there'd be dirt in the wound. But it was clean. There was no dirt, no mud - nothing." "They'd lied about how he was injured." Wildwing stated. "They lied about how he *died,*" Tanya corrected. "Dr. Carter couldn't help him. But that's not all, Wildwing. I said there was no dirt in the wound and there wasn't - but there was saliva. It was thick and foamy - not human or anything else she'd seen since coming there." "He'd been bitten." "Exactly. And the wounds that they said were caused by the backhoe looked more like something with claws had had at him. Dr. Carter couldn't explain it. Despite popular belief, humans don't usually get attacked by big giant animals out in the jungles. Not in populated areas like this anyway. She took some photos of the wound so she could examine them later, but her camera disappeared when the men left. And just before the guy died, he muttered something about a raptor. In Costa Rican mythology - or fairy tales, really - a raptor is a demon that will steal your soul. It's bad luck to even mention one. Her aide at the clinic was sure that that's what got this guy. But Roberta looked the word up in an English dictionary too, and guess what she found?" "What?" "It means bird of prey." Tanya picked up a book and tossed it at Wildwing. "Check the page I marked." Wildwing glanced at the cover. "Ancient predators?" he flipped to the page Tanya had marked. " 'Velociraptor,' " he read. "A dinosaur approximately six feet in height, weighing about 200 pounds. Believed to be one of the most vicious and deadly hunters of the dinosaur kingdom. Many scientists suspect that the velociraptor may have been one of the most intelligent dinosaurs, possessing an intelligence equal to that of many simians." Wildwing sighed. "And they're often called 'Raptors'." "Dr. Huggarman and Dr. Carter are both having trouble accepting the idea of dinosaurs running around Costa Rica, but they admit that something's happening down there. After all, that man didn't die of natural causes, that much is sure." "How could dinosaurs be running around Costa Rica without someone having seen them before?" Mallory asked. "It's fairly populated down there, isn't it?" "It is," Tanya affirmed. "And there's been at least one other sighting." "What?" "A little girl. She and her family were on vacation. They headed out to an abandoned beach to have a picnic. The little girl, Christina, I think, ran off by herself for a few minutes. Her parents heard her screaming and came running. She'd been bitten." "Do I want to know by what?" Wildwing asked. "A lizard," Tanya said grimly. "A green and brown lizard that walked like a bird. The doctors found a lizard that matched the description she gave them but couldn't identify it. They sent it to the Tropical Diseases Laboratory at Columbia University. One of their lab techs is a woman named Alice Levin. She and I are acquaintances - I helped her on a project for one of her biology classes last year. She thought it was a funny coincidence and since no one could identify the lizard, she sent me a fax of the X-rays and all the paperwork they had on the thing. I'm not exactly an expert on this stuff, but from what I've seen and based on what Drake One told me, this looks an awful lot like Procompsognathus." Nosedive sighed. "English, Taunny?" "Don't call me Taunny. A Procompsognathus is a small dinosaur, about a foot tall. Believed to be a scavenger, feeding on the dead or on babies and unhatched eggs of other dinosaurs." "But it attacked that little girl," Nosedive pointed out. "Scavengers don't usually attack other things right? At least not something as big as a human." "You're right," Tanya said. "But remember, we don't know much about dinosaurs. Everything humans know is deduction based on skeletons and nesting sites. And what we know is taken from the dinosaurs Dragaunus sent after us. They were being controlled, you'll remember, so their actions can't be taken as proper behavior for their species." Nosedive grinned at her in barely contained enthusiasm. "We're gonna check this out, aren't we?" Tanya found herself grinning back. "I was hoping so." Wildwing shrugged and handed back the book. "When do we leave?" he asked resignedly. *** Bahia Anasco was hot. And humid. And very, very wet. Nosedive stared out the window of the Aerowing with a decidedly unhappy look on his face. "You've gotta be kidding me. You want us to go out in *that?*" Tanya shrugged, not seeming to understand what her younger teammate was so opposed to about the local environment. "It rains worse than that during the warm season back on Puckworld." "Rain isn't my problem," Nosedive muttered. "The heat is. Have you checked the temperature out there? It's worse than Anaheim!" There was a series of groans from his teammates - none of whom, apparently, had checked the temperature. Mallory muttered under her breath, Duke sighed, Wildwing rolled his eyes at the three of them and Grin didn't seem to care. Tanya shrugged. "It's summer. We're a lot closer to the equator. What do you expect? The clinic is air conditioned, anyway. Don't worry about it." "Come on," Wildwing urged. "Sooner we get this over with..." He smiled sweetly when Tanya glared at him. They were greeted at the door to the clinic by Tanya's old friend, Dr. Huggarman. He ushered them into what appeared to be a private office. From the pictures on the wall Dive guessed it was that of his daughter, Roberta Carter. "Bobbie is with a patient right now," Dr. Huggarman told them. "Another baby was bitten last night and is having a pretty serious reaction. She may be a while, so you're stuck with me." "No problem, Doc," Dive said easily. "What do you mean, 'another baby was bitten'? Like that little girl you mentioned?" "Yes." Dr. Huggarman took a seat at the chair behind the desk. "Lately a number of infants and babies have been bitten by an unidentified creature while they slept in their cribs. They've each had a pretty severe allergic reaction." "The same kind of creature that attacked that little girl?" "One and the same." "So there are more of these things?" "At least one more," Dr. Huggarman said. "Have you heard from Mr. Hammond?" The Ducks exchanged blank gazes. "Who?" Wildwing asked. "His name is John Hammond. He employed that man who was killed in the alleged 'construction accident.' The one that started all this. I don't know how, but he found out Bobbie and I contacted you. He said he was going to speak with you." Huggarman regarded them worriedly. "You haven't heard from him." Wildwing and Tanya shook their heads. "Oh, dear. I'm afraid Mr. Hammond is the type of man who is accustomed to getting things his way - and likes it. He may not be happy to find that you've gotten involved in this." "Is he something we need to worry about?" Wildwing asked. "Well, if you mean - Is he going to take us down? - the answer is no. If you mean - Is he going to cause a lot of trouble? - then I'm going to have to say yes. Mr. Hammond is *very* influential." "Indeed he is," a new voice cut into the discussion. In tandem, Wildwing and Duke jumped to their feet, bringing their weapons to bear on the intruder. A man stood in the doorway to Doctor Carter's office, dressed in a business suit and carrying a suitcase. He looked rather startled to find himself on the wrong end of a puck launcher and a sword. Dive was almost amused at the look of total shock on the man's face. Wildwing and Duke both lowered their weapons, a little sheepishly. They had both been acting on reflex. "A friend of yours, Dr. Huggarman?" "I've never seen him before," Huggarman said firmly. "If you'll allow me to explain," the newcomer said hastily, "My name is Donald Gennaro. I'm a lawyer involved with Mr. Hammond." "And you were spying because...?" Wildwing asked. "I wasn't spying," Gennaro insisted in an affronted tone. "I merely arrived in time to overhear your last comment. I'm here to inquire into your involvement with Mr. Hammond's newest project." Wildwing gave Gennaro one of his patented 'I-really-don't-like- you-looks.' Usually, Wildwing was pretty tolerant of people, but when he got that look on his face there was a pretty good chance he'd like to see the guy packed and shipped off to another country. Preferably one on another continent. Most of the friends Dive had had as a kid had earned that look. And they'd all deserved it. This Gennaro guy was going to be trouble. "I don't know what you're talking about," Wildwing said. "We have no knowledge of John Hammond or any 'project.' " "Unfortunately, that's not the case." Gennaro shrugged a bit, still keeping his eyes on the lowered weapons. "When I learned that Doctor Huggman-" "Huggarman." "Yes. Of course. When I learned that Doctor Huggarman had informed you about that patient of his who had died I decided to bring you in on the situation completely." Gennaro set his suitcase down on the desk and undid the latches, raising the lid. "What I have here is the basic information of Mr. Hammond's newest project - a wildlife refuge of sorts." "Why are you telling us this, Mr. Gennaro?" Wildwing inquired. "Three reasons. One: Since you have already become involved there's no harm in letting you in all the way. Two: From what I hear you may be able to provide some valuable insight into the park's computer and security systems. Three: You are the only people alive who have dealt with the types of animals being raised in Mr. Hammond's park." "I am getting such a bad feeling about this," Tanya muttered. Mallory nodded in agreement. Wildwing glanced at his teammates before nodding his agreement. "We'll hear what you have to say, Mr. Gennaro. But that's *all* we'll do at this point." "Fair enough," Gennaro said pleasantly. "Let's say we find somewhere more private to talk, hmmm?" *** Tanya scanned over the last page of the file Gennaro had given her and closed it, a thoughtful look on her face. "Good news?" Wildwing asked. "Bad news?" Tanya shook her head. "Depends on your point of view. Gennaro didn't tell us everything with this, he's skipping around what type of animals are actually living in this park of his, but anyone with a basic knowledge and familiarity of the field would figure it out instantly, so that's not really important." "Yes it is," Wildwing contradicted grimly. "It means Gennaro said he'd tell us everything and he didn't. He lied." "What exactly is at this park of theirs?" Nosedive asked. "And what field did you mean?" "Dinosaurs." "Sheah. Right. Say that again?" "Dinosaurs." Tanya waved the file folder slightly. "It's all here. The DNA scans, the type of computers they're using. And the specialists they called in: Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler. Grant is one of the world's foremost paleontologists and Sattler is a knowledgeable paleobotanist. In other words: they're dinosaur experts. Combine this with the information we had before we met Gennaro..." Tanya shrugged. "There ya have it." Duke sighed. "Oh *goody.* More dinosaurs." "The question now is: Are we going to do as Gennaro proposes and accept his invitation to the island?" Tanya pointed out. "He was right when he said we're the only people who've had any experience with living dinosaurs. We could be able to provide valuable information to the people who run this 'wildlife refuge.' " "Tanya," Dive interjected, "the only dinosaurs we've ever run across were either four feet tall - definitely not the standard norm for a T-rex - or being controlled through cerebral implants. We don't know squat about natural habits like hunting or nesting and what they eat." Tanya grimaced. "You guys got the plant eaters. *I* certainly know what those T-Rexes intended to eat." "Regardless," Wildwing said, "he has a point. And are we willing to trust a guy whom we've only known for ten minutes, and who has already lied to us?" Tanya shook her head. "No. I don't trust him." She tilted her head. "But I'd still love the opportunity to get a closer look at those animals." "Guys?" Wildwing waited for each of them to make up their minds. "It's set then. Tanya make sure you have everything you need. I'll tell Gennaro." Dive and Duke exchanged a glance. "Dinosaur Island, here we come." *** "There it is," Dive proclaimed. "Isla Nublar." It was unspectacular, about ten miles long and two miles wide at it's greatest. Most of the island was covered in a thick canopy of trees, but roads could be seen breaking through the foliage and buildings stood at the southern end of the island. And along the northwestern end of the island thick clouds of steam rose into the air. "Hey, Taunny, is that a volcano?" "No, not really," Tanya said. "Looks like the island is a seamount - a pile of volcanic rock which erupted up from the seafloor. What you see are probably steam vents. And don't call me Taunny." Dive lowered the landing gear. "Bringing her down for a landing. Better take a seat, Tanya, the wind shear looks pretty rough." The landing was uneventful, if unsteady, and Dive brought the Aerowing down beside one of the island's helicopters on the small landing pad. "Nice of them to leave us some room," he said sarcastically as he jumped down onto the landing pad. "We must have had a whole six inch margin of error." "Ladies, gentlemen," a human approached from the left. "My name is Robert Muldoon. Welcome to Jurassic Park." Wildwing accepted the offered hand. "If you'll follow me," Muldoon continued, "I'll show you to your rooms and then you can get a tour of the island. I'm afraid you've missed the first tour, our other guests arrived about half an hour ago." They followed as Muldoon led them to two open topped jeeps painted in reds and greys. The park's name was printed on the doors of each car beneath a logo of a t-rex skeleton. "I'm park warden here at Jurassic Park," Muldoon said as he escorted them to the jeeps. "I deal mostly with behavior and feeding of the animals, so don't ask about anything technical and we'll get along fine. During the tour I'll introduce you to our mad scientists and more management types than you've ever hoped to meet. In the meantime I and Carlos," a young Hispanic man nodded to them as his name was mentioned, "will be your drivers." They split up into the cars, Duke Tanya and Wildwing in the first with Muldoon; Mallory, Grin and Nosedive taking the second with Carlos. The jeeps left the landing pad and sped along a well-used dirt road that led into the dense forest. Carlos didn't speak much English and Dive's Spanish was only slightly better than his Serbro-Croatian, so conversation was mostly non-existent during the twenty minute drive to the lodge. Grin took up most of the backseat and Mallory had claimed shotgun, so Dive perched on the top of the backseat, holding on to the bar to keep his balance. He studied the forest around them. It was more of a jungle really - no surprise; they were in Central America, after all. There were a lot of ferns as well as many other plants. But some of the plants looked strange. Some of them he recognized from Bahia Anasco, but the others were completely unfamiliar with bright leaves and flowers and berries. There were no plain plants, not along the road at least. 'They must have done some major landscaping with this place,' Dive decided. 'Trying to keep it pretty for the visitors maybe, or just trying to make the scenery fit the theme of the park.' His thoughts were disrupted by movement in one of the plants along the edge of the road he glanced down as they drove by and saw a small lizard peering up at him. Not a lizard, Dive realized. Mini-dinosaur. The dino was only about two feet tall, a deep greenish-yellow in color slashed with tiger like brown stripes. It stood on its hind legs, a long thick tail slashing the air. The jeep had sped past before Dive could see much more and when he twisted around to see more he nearly fell out the back of the jeep. He caught his balance at the last minute and cast a careful glance back down the road, but didn't see anything. "Fantastic," he murmured. But a worried thought pushed at the back of his mind: Was it safe to have these animals running around like that? Shouldn't they be contained somehow? Maybe it was a plant-eater... Jose was shouting something over the roar of the engine and the rushing wind. Dive sighed and listened to catch a few of the words. 'Hold on,' Dive thought disgustedly. 'Yeah, Jose, m'man. I couldn't figure *that* one out on my own.' But all sarcastic thoughts and worries fled his mind as the jeep came up on the visitors lodge. *** "What the hell is this place?" Dive asked. "A bloody *prison?*" The visitor's lodge was surrounded by a high metal fence, easily twelve feet high and sloping outward at the top. Dive frowned as they drove through the gate. The bars of the fence were an inch thick and apparently solid steal. The fence was easily strong enough to hold off Dragaunus himself. It had obviously been built to keep the dinosaurs out of the visitor's lodge. Beyond the fence they came upon a pool, laying just outside the lodge. But it was the lodge itself that had drawn Dive's attention. It was a low building, the roof decorated with a series of glass plated pyramids. But if you looked closer you could see the thick metal bars covering the windows. Mallory surveyed the lodge as the car slowed to a stop outside the main door to the lodge. "I don't think that fence was in the plans Gennaro gave Tanya," she said. "And why would they put bars on the skylights?" "They wouldn't," Dive said flatly. "Unless they were afraid something would get in." "Something?" Grin echoed softly. "Not someone?" The other car had arrived just ahead of them and Muldoon and the others were waiting for them at the main doors. Dive didn't answer Grin's question-that-was-not-a-question as they went over to join the others. Muldoon showed them inside, while Carlos remained with the jeeps. The lodge was apparently still under construction, there were a lot of finishing touches and cleaning up left to be done, but it was habitable. The rooms were decorated in understated earthtones and paintings of prehistoric scenes graced the walls. There was a television in each room, but only static came through. Dive switched it off with a sigh. This was going to be a loooong weekend. He hadn't even bought any comics with him. Maybe there were some magazines or books around for the guests. Muldoon was saying something but Dive wasn't paying much attention. He had suddenly realized he'd seen that little dinosaur somewhere before. He left the room without giving Muldoon a second glance and went down the hall. He stopped outside Tanya's room and knocked on the half-open door. He called for him to come in. "Tanya?" he asked. "Did you bring that book of yours? Ancient Predators?" She nodded without looking up from the papers she was going through. "On the desk." There was no desk, but there was a small table underneath one of the windows. Dive looked it over and saw the thick paperback book Tanya had used back at the Pond. He flipped through it quickly, not bothering to return to his own room as he did. There it was - what he was looking for. "Tanya? How dangerous were these velociraptors that you mentioned before?" That certainly got her out of her papers. "According to what I've read they were extremely vicious, and very intelligent. Why?" "And if these people here," he gestured vaguely, "included velociraptors in their little park - how much trouble would we be in?" "A lot. Velociraptors had claws that could rip you to shreds. They ate their prey while it was still alive. They hunted to hunt, not to survive. They could take down anything, even a T- rex if there were enough of them. They hunted in small groups and were believed to be intelligent enough to create stalking and hunting strategy. They probably communicated amongst themselves. If one of them got you, you'd better start praying." She frowned, and Dive could tell she was talking more to herself than to him. "If these people did include Velociraptors in this park then they're either insane or suicidal. Maybe just stupid. Why do you ask?" "I think I saw one." Tanya was up and at his side in a second. "What? Where? Are you sure?" "Back on the road when they drove us in," he answered. "And no, I'm not sure. It was smaller than the picture here," he pointed to the book. "About three feet. A baby? But it didn't run from the jeeps and it had a claw in each of its feet." "That sounds like a velociraptor," Tanya said doubtfully. "But these people can't be stupid enough to have one of the most dangerous hunters of the prehistoric world running around loose." She looked at him and he could see that she was genuinely concerned. "Even if what you saw wasn't a velociraptor, I should like to know why they let the animals run loose." "Makes you wonder," Dive added softly, "why they were so anxious to have us check out their security systems." *** After they had set up at the lodge, Muldoon and Carlos drove them over to the visitor center. They were shown into a room labeled HATCHERY through a door covered with biohazard warnings. They were introduced to a Dr. Henry Wu, a geneticist, and the Man himself: John Hammond. Hammond was nice enough, if a bit hyper, in Dive's opinion. He seemed to be a bit snappy, like he'd just gotten out of an argument and Dive overheard him arguing with Muldoon about a 'damned mathematician.' Dive remembered that one of the papers that had been included with the information Gennaro gave them had been written by an Ian Malcolm, describing in exquisite detail just why Jurassic Park was doomed to fail. And he was pretty sure Ian Malcolm was a mathematician. Looks like Hammond and his other guests weren't getting along so well. Wu and Tanya were deep in conversation about how he had created the dinosaurs. Dive hated science talk. He understood most of it, and he knew a lot about it, not that he'd admit it, but the interest factor was absolute zero for him. Besides, he had a reputation to uphold and if Mallory ever found out that he knew this stuff she'd never let him live it down. Wu was saying that they cloned the dinosaurs from DNA found in mosquitoes of all damned things which had been preserved in amber over the past 200 million years. Impressive. Dive wondered how many times they'd tried to clone a dinosaur only to find themselves with some weird insect or rodent. Now computers, that was more his thing. And John Arnold knew more about computers than he did people. While Tanya and Wu went into excruciating detail over DNA codes and the care and feeding of the hatchlings, Hammond led the others, minus Grin who stayed behind with Tanya, into the control room. John Arnold was the chief engineer of Jurassic Park - a middle-aged black man who smoked so many cigarettes that Dive was worried about his coworkers getting lung cancer from all the second hand smoke filling the room. He rolled his eyes and tried not to breathe too deeply. But the computers were truly fantastic. It wasn't exactly a career for him, or an obsession, but it was a hobby and he knew something about computers. Enough to know that there was a hell of a lot of memory and power in that room. Tanya was the computer expert but they each knew more than enough to grasp the basics, especially since the advanced sciences of Earth were pretty primitive compared to what Puckworld had as common. As Arnold began to explain the complicated systems used to keep track of the parks dinosaurs - including motion sensors and video trackers - Dive was impressed of only one thing. "You mean you actually *do* have velociraptors in the park?" They did, Arnold explained. Eight of them. "Where are they held?" Dive asked. "Do you allow them to roam through the park with the other animals?" "Definitely not," Muldoon said vehemently. "The velociraptors are extremely dangerous animals. If we allowed them out with the other animals they would kill everything they could." "You deliberately created such dangerous animals?" Mallory asked. "The cloning process is a bit hit and miss," Arnold explained. "We don't really know what it is we're growing until it gets big enough to identify. We didn't realize they were raptors until after we started growing them." "Why weren't the animals destroyed?" Mallory pressed. "If they're as dangerous as you say it can't be safe to have them around." Hammond answered her. "Ms. McMallard, the velociraptors are held in a separate holding facility, away from the rest of the park. There is no way a human being can get into the pens where they are held and there is no way that they can get out." "So again, why haven't they been destroyed? Keeping them separate like that must be difficult. Your people must have to go to extra lengths to take care of them. Why bother?" Mallory studied Hammond curiously. "These animals are very expensive," Hammond said brightly. "*Very* expensive. Destroying them would be a waste of a lot of money. Besides, I think the tourists will enjoy seeing them." "You said they were being held separately." "They are. But we'll take the tourists past on the tour. They just won't be allowed to get up close and personal like they can with the other animals." Wildwing was studying another computer screen. "What happens if there's a power shortage?" Wildwing asked suddenly. "Suppose an electrical storm knocks out the power?" Arnold grinned. "You're watching the weather report aren't you? Got a look at that tropical storm heading our way? What do they call it?" Wildwing shrugged. "Ah, doesn't matter. Anyway, we have a backup generator that takes over if the main power supply is interrupted in any way." "What if there's a problem with the computers? A virus?" Dive asked. "What would you do then?" "The computers are completely protected," Arnold assured him. "Just about the only way to get a virus into these computers is to design one especially for it. The only people who would have the knowledge to do that all work here and would be out of a paycheck if something like that happened." "But it could?" Dive pressed. "Yes," Arnold admitted reluctantly. "It could happen. Theoretically." "Would it be possible for a couple of us to go out into the park and take a look around?" Wildwing asked. "Just so we can get an up close look at the way things work, how the animals are cared for, that sort of thing." Hammond grinned. "Of course! I like the way you think. Sitting on the sidelines never taught anyone anything! I'll arrange for a jeep right away." Hammond picked up one of the phones, then dropped it back in it's cradle. "Where the hell is Nedry?" he asked angrily. "The damned phones are still down." "He said he may need all of them," Arnold said unconcernedly. "He went to get a soda just after we sent the cars out." Hammond grumbled. "I'll send someone to get a jeep ready," he promised. "How many of you will there be?" Wildwing glanced over at his teammates. "Two. Duke? Dive? You two up for a little tour through the park?" "Sounds cool to me!" Dive agreed. "Whaddya say, Duke?" "I'm in," Duke said. "What are we looking for?" "Check the fences, the gates, how the workmen observe the rules. Basics. Mr. Hammond hired us to make sure the security of his park is adequate, we'll make sure it's adequate. If there's anything that looks wrong, make a note of it." "Gotcha," Duke said. "I'll show them down," Muldoon offered, "They'll need to be briefed on the behavior of some of the animals anyway." *** All the way to the garage, Muldoon briefed them on some of the animals out in the park. "The big guys - brontosaurus, stuff like that - will just ignore you. The compys are scavengers, don't worry about them. All the duckbills are plant eaters and easily scared to boot. The Triceratops have a habit of charging the cars though, so be careful around them. Also, the dilos are poisonous, so don't get anywhere near them. If one of them get you with the poison - they usually aim for the eyes - you have about an hour to rinse it out. There are special first aid kits with the anti-venom all around the island. Clear?" "Clear," Duke affirmed. "And there are radios in the car, right?" "mmm-hmmm. Should be on the right frequency." Muldoon watched as they got into the jeep and Duke started the engine, he stepped forward before they could leave. "There's a storm heading our way," he said over the sound of the engine. "So keep an eye out for it, huh? You might want to head back before the storm gets too bad." He tossed them a crooked grin before lifting a hand in an wave. "It would look awfully bad if you two got fried by lightening while you were on our payroll, now wouldn't it?" Dive said nothing until they had pulled away onto the road. "Wonder if that's what he said to the guy who got ripped to shreds." *** "So you've got your other guests out in the park?" Wildwing asked. "Yeah," Arnold replied. "We sent them on a tour. They're in cars that we control from here. The cars follow the main road past each of the paddocks." "Ah." Wildwing studied the screen before Arnold. "Looks like the gearshifts are acting up." "Yeah," Arnold said disgustedly. "Of all the damned things." "You might want to include automatic locks though." "Tell me about it," Arnold replied. "How the hell were we supposed to know Grant and Sattler would get out of the car?" "You couldn't. But considering what you're dealing with here, I would recommend anticipating anything." The radio babbled with voices and hissed with a soft static. Wildwing could hear the effects of lightening as it came closer to the island. The storm would hit soon. The radio drew his attention now as he heard the people out in the park conversing about something. He listened solely to the radio, ignoring the rest of the conversation in the room. "...A bird..." came one voice. "...literally dozens of species..." "Look... curvature," another voice replied. "...Shell is almost flat. That's... very big egg. And notice the thickness... ostriches on this island, it's a dinosaur egg." Wildwing snapped his fingers and caught Arnold's attention. "Listen to this," he said. "...Can't breed," the first voice returned. "All the animals are female." "...I know... this is a dinosaur egg..." "...species?" asked a third voice. "...It's a velociraptor egg." Wildwing turned to the others in the control room. "Are you hearing this?" he asked. "Absolutely absurd," Hammond said resolutely. The radio crackled and the third voice - Ian Malcolm, Arnold whispered to him - came through. "Let's do a little test, shall we? Ask Mr. Arnold to run one of his computer tallies." Arnold did as Malcolm asked. "We've got 238 animals in the park," Arnold reported. "Same as always." Wildwing caught onto what Malcolm was suggesting a second before he told Arnold what to do. As Malcolm had Arnold search for 239 animals, Wildwing had a sinking feeling that they would find a great deal more than one extra animal. The computer tally came up and Hammond almost fell out of his chair when he saw that the search came up with one extra animal. A procompsognathus. The creature that started it all. Malcolm's voice came over the radio. "Now then: can you ask the computer to search for, let us say, three hundred animals?" Hammond, Arnold and Wu snapped back and forth at each other as the computer searched. Wildwing stood quietly and waited for the result. Tanya came to stand at his side. "They're not going to want to hear this," she whispered, "but Malcolm and Grant are right. The animals are breeding." "Can you prove it?" Wildwing asked quietly. "Yeah. It has to do with the DNA he used to fill in the gaps in the matrix during the cloning process. They're definitely breeding." A shout of consternation arose from Hammond, punctuating her statement. Wildwing and Tanya both turned to examine the computer screen. "Two hundred and ninety-two," Tanya said. "That's fifty-four animals too many." "And how many aren't being picked up?" Wildwing asked. "Some of them must be sleeping or out of the range of the sensors. There could be many more running loose." "It's worse than that," Muldoon said flatly. "There are raptors loose in the park." "Nosedive thought he saw one when we arrived," Tanya said. "Wildwing those things are vicious hunters. Anyone out in that park is in serious trouble." Hammond and Muldoon were still busy arguing about the seriousness of the situation. Wildwing ignored them both, moving away a bit to get away from the sound of the argument. He turned on his wrist comm. "Duke, Dive, come in." "Wing?" Duke's voice replied. "What's up? We just left." "There's a problem," Wildwing said. "A big one. Some pretty dangerous animals are loose. I want you two to head back until we get this straightened out." "Understood," Duke replied. "We're heading... now." Wildwing frowned slightly. The lightening was beginning to interfere with their wrist comms. Behind him he could hear Arnold and the others complaining that their radio no longer worked. "Be careful," he advised. Duke's voice and image faded out and he shut off the wrist comm. "This is a lousy time for a storm," he said. Outside there was already a light rain falling, and the black thunderclouds promised much more. "If something happens and the storm is blocking our wrist comms we'll never know they're in trouble until it's too late." Outside, a crack of thunder ripped through the air. *** Duke blinked as a flash of lightening temporarily blinded him. The thick storm clouds had cut off all light to the island, causing the waning evening light to vanish completely and enveloping them in a dark blackness broken only by the lightening and the headlights of the jeep. The rain at least was staying outside, where it should be. Once the rain had started he and Dive had covered the jeep with the plastic covering that was meant for use in bad weather. Wildwing's call had put them both on edge. The bad conditions alone would have been sufficient to put them on their guard but the knowledge that there had been some sort of problem and that the animals were now loose and doing stars only knew what was definitely making them tense. Right now the pouring rain and the darkness had forced Duke to slow to a near crawl, only going about fifteen miles an hour. The slow rate was grating on Duke's nerves, making him feel horribly vulnerable. The roads were narrow and considering the poor visibility Duke didn't want to risk trying to turn around. He'd attempted it, but the wheels had nearly gotten stuck in the mud at the edge of the road and they'd only just managed to get free. Now he was looking for a good place to turn around, a driveway or side road he could pull into. But the road ahead of them wasn't offering any options. Duke wasn't happy with the situation. The weather would have been enough to convince him to turn back, even if Wildwing had never called. But the idea that they were driving deeper and deeper into a forest inhabited by prehistoric saurians was not doing wonders for his confidence. Dive didn't look any happier. Puckworlders were raised to think of their ancient Saurian enemies as the ultimate in evil, depraved and cruel behavior. And dinosaurs were really just bigger, stupider saurians, right? And they couldn't be reasoned with, and they wouldn't recognize a puck launcher or a sabre. And the only creatures they would be able to intimidate would be too harmless to be worth intimidating. The dangerous ones wouldn't care what Duke and Dive did. And the bigger ones would barely notice them. Duke doubted a T-rex would even feel a shot from a puck launcher. And the sabre would be like a splinter to him. And thoughts like that were most definitely *not* helping soothe his nerves. There was no radio in the jeep - not one that played music at least. Nothing to dispel the gathering impression that something was going to go very wrong. Dive had the two-way radio on and had been listening to the voices as Malcolm and the control center debated back and forth, so they had expected Wildwing's call. But the static was filling the frequency and it was becoming almost impossible to make out anything. Dive finally gave up and shut off the radio with an exasperated sigh. Duke was relieved that the constant noise was gone, yet at the same time, the new silence only served to make him more nervous. It was an odd contradiction of feelings. "We should be coming up on the main road in a minute," Dive said suddenly. "It would probably be quicker to just turn onto that and follow it back to the control center than to double back." "Sounds like a plan," Duke agreed. "I think we intersect the main road right up there." They did and Duke pulled onto the main road. Much wider than the road they had been using, the main road was intended for visitors when they took their tours through the island. The cars for tourists were run electronically from the control room. Duke could see two of the cars up ahead, probably Grant and Malcolm and the others. "Duke." Nosedive's voice was strained. Duke glanced over. Dive was staring through the windshield, something like terror written on his face. "Kid? What-?" then he saw. "Oh stars," he breathed. In one sudden movement he slammed on the brakes and lashed out with his hand, killing the headlights. "Great mother of- Kid, don't move, don't speak, don't even breathe." "Wasn't intending to," Dive assured him breathlessly. Terror, Duke decided wryly, comes in many forms. But a predator the size of a building standing in the middle of the road before you was most definitely one of the purest forms. Duke had to force himself to breath. 'How did it get out?' he wondered. 'The fences are electrified. Unless the storm affected something...' The t-rex roared; a ear-splitting, soul chilling, prehistoric, *primal* howl. Duke flinched, despite himself, but oddly enough the scare startled him back to thinking clearly. "Think we can risk getting out of here?" he asked in a whisper, barely audible over the rumble of the engine and the pelting rain. "Back up and get on the side road, go for help?" "Should we?" Dive asked. "We'd be leaving those people behind with this thing." "We won't be able to do them much good if it eats us, kid." "Good point. But if it comes after us while we're in reverse we won't be able to outrun it." The whole discussion became moot when they heard the scream of crushing metal. Dive turned back to the windshield and his eyes flew open. "By the stars..." Duke turned as well, and what he saw made his breath catch in his throat. The t-rex was standing above the first car, the one furthest from him and Dive. As they watched it leaned over and slammed the side of its head against the car. The green and yellow car rocked and nearly tipped over. Apparently deciding that the car and its inhabitants weren't worth the trouble it was taking to get at them the t-rex turned away- -and lashed out with one of it's powerful hind legs, kicking the car. Duke gaped as the small car literally flew through the air before slamming into the car and rolling over and over until it came to a screeching halt, crumpling against the foot of a tree. "Oh, man," Dive whispered in the sudden silence. "I'm thinking maybe we should've left," Duke muttered. The rex roared again and turned toward the second car. There was a flurry of movement as both doors were thrown open at the same time and two men hit the ground running. Duke watched, and hoped; if those two got away there was a chance he and Dive could make it. And if those two got caught, it would provide a distraction so he and Dive could get away. Morbid. Probably a little cold-hearted. But true. The rex's head came up like a bird who's spotted a cat - or a worm. The powerful hind legs pushed it forward after the tallest of the two men. It lunged, and the head came down; mouth open, teeth gaping; and when it raised its head again, Duke could see a human form, struggling in the grasp of its jaws. 'I think I'm going to be sick.' The second man had turned back to see what had happened to the first and froze at the sight before him. 'Run!' Dive wanted to shout. 'Run and get out of here!' But he knew the guy would never make it. If there was a chance of running to safety, Duke would already have given the order. It wasn't going to be that simple. The rex shook his head once, fiercely, and the man now hanging limply in his grasp was thrown back into the trees. Duke fought back a flinch. If the man wasn't dead already, that fall might have killed him. In three quick strides the rex was standing before the second man. But he seemed confused, he wasn't doing anything. He lowered his head and roared again. Duke was starting to believe that if they got out of there alive they'd both be deaf. But the man didn't move so much as a muscle. He probably had his eyes closed and was holding his breath. Duke could sympathize. The rex sniffed the air, bobbed his head a few times, looking like some bizarre caricature of a bird. And *walked away.* Duke could hardly believe his eyes, but the giant creature had just walked away! "I don't get it," he whispered. The rex paused by the jeep and peered down at them. Duke held his breath, knowing just how little protection the plastic covering would offer if the dinosaur decided to get at them by pulling the car apart like a sardine can. 'I am no sardine,' Duke thought firmly. 'Come and get it, walnut-brain. Ever take a sabre in the eye?' The engine was still running. That was why the rex was watching them so warily. The warmth from the engine was as good as a neon sign saying 'Here we are! Come eat us!' Duke was about to reach out and turn the ignition off. He never quite made it. With a bellowing roar which made its previous outcries pale in comparison, it brought it's head down on the top of the car. Teeth and claws tore at the plastic and reached into the jeep, tearing the upholstery. As one, Duke and Dive hit the floor, taking refuge under the dashboard. Great teeth ripped and gouged the seats before the head pulled back a bit. The rex sniffed, the hot breath filling the small space of the jeep's interior with hot, clammy air. Duke felt the breath hit his face like a gust of wind and felt the insane urge to laugh. He closed his eyes and tried to remember how to pray. Something warm and wet hit him and slithered across his arm and chest before withdrawing. His first thought was a snake; that a snake had somehow gotten into the car, but that didn't make sense. It would have to be one *stupid* snake. And a big one. He opened his eyes and had to fight back a horrified gasp. The rex's *tongue* was exploring the jeep's interior, sliding over the seats and steering wheel, over the dashboard, down around Duke and over towards Dive. The look of complete repulsion on Dive's face would have been funny if Duke hadn't been afraid the rex wouldn't just wrap the kid up in its tongue and pull him from the relative safety of the jeep. Dive held still as the rex passed him over and by, not moving so much as a millimeter except to close his eyes. By the time the rex pulled back they were both covered with the slippery warmth of saliva, but they were still there. The rex pulled back and tilted its head as it stared down into the jeep. It looked almost quizzical as it pondered its prey. It sniffed at them one last time and turned away. Duke felt a giddy relief rising and almost laughed aloud. Thank the stars, it was going away! The tail came out of nowhere, slamming down on top of the jeep, crushing the last of the bars and leaving a sizable dent in the sides of the car. It crashed down again and the shatter proof windshield shattered, cobwebs running through the clear material, turning it opaque. The rex's tail hit the car against the side, right at the driver's side door. The side of the car caved in against Duke even as the jeep itself flipped over onto its side. Duke heard someone scream and was only vaguely surprised to realize it was his own voice he heard, tinged with pain as his right arm and shoulder became trapped in the twisted metal of the side of the jeep. Then the tail lashed out again and the car rolled again and Duke didn't hear or feel anything. Continued in Chapter Two ***