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For the past two years, Arnold&039;s job had been to get Jurassic Park up and running As an engineer, he was accusto ti," by which heyear-and as the Septeress that had been made He knew fros out of a single park ride-let alone get a whole park running properly
"You&039;re just a worrier," Hammond said
"I don&039;t think so," Arnold said "You&039;ve got to realize that, fro standpoint, Jurassic Park is by far the most ambitious theme park in history Visitors will never think about it, but I do"
He ticked the points off on his fingers
"First, Jurassic Park has all the problems of any amusement park-ride , living accommodations, trash disposal, security
"Second, we have all the problems of aand cleanliness; protection froies, and illnesses- maintenance of barriers; and all the rest
"And, finally, we have the unprecedented proble for a population of animals that no one has ever tried to maintain before"
"Oh, it&039;s not as bad as all that," Hammond said
"Yes, it is You&039;re just not here to see it," Arnold said "The tyrannosaurs drink the lagoon water and soet sick; we aren&039;t sure why The triceratops fehts for doroups sosaurs frequently get blisters on their tongues and diarrhea, for reasons no one yet understands, even though we&039;ve lost two Hypsilophodonts get skin rashes And the veloctraptors-"
"Let&039;s not start on the velociraptors," Ha about the velociraptors How they&039;re the most vicious creatures anyone has ever seen"
"They are," Muldoon said, in a low voice "They should all be destroyed"
"You wanted to fit thereed"
"Yes And they proet free," Arnold said, "I think we have to accept that Jurassic Park is inherently hazardous"
"Oh balls, " Hammond said "Whose side are you on, anyway?
"We now have fifteen species of extinct anierous," Arnold said "We&039;ve been forced to delay the jungle River Ride because of the dilophosaurs; and the Pteratops Lodge in the aviary, because the pterodactyls are so unpredictable These aren&039;t engineering delays, Mr Hammond They&039;re problems with control of the animals"
"You&039;ve had plenty of engineering delays," Hammond said "Don&039;t blame it on the animals"
"Yes, we have In fact, it&039;s all we could do to get the et the CD-ROMs inside the cars to be controlled by the et that working properly-and now the electric gearshifts on the cars are acting up! The gearshifts!"
"Let&039;s keep it in perspective," Ha correct and the animals will fall into place After all, they&039;re trainable"
Fro, this had been one of the core beliefs of the planners The animals, however exotic, would fundamentally behave like aniularities of their care, and they would respond
"Meanwhile, how&039;s the colanced at Dennis Nedry, orking at a terminal in the corner of the room "This damn computer has always been a headache"
"We&039;re getting there," Nedry said
"If you had done it right in the first place," Ha band on his ar Nedry while he orking
"It&039;s a large systelitches"
In fact, the bug list now ran to more than 130 items, and included many odd aspects For exa program reset itself every twelve hours, not every twenty-four hours, and would not record feedings on Sundays As a result, the staff could not accurately
The security system, which controlled all the security-card-operated doors, cut out whenever main poas lost, and did not coram only ran with main power
The physical conservation prograhts after 10:00 pm, only worked on alternate days of the week
The autoned to check for parasites in the ani the parasite Phagostoram then automatically dispensed medication into the animals&039; food If the handlers du dispensed, an alarm sounded which could not be turned off
And so it went, page after page of errors
When he had arrived, Dennis Nedry had been under the impression that he could make all the fixes himself over the weekend He had paled when he saw the full listing Noas calling his office in Ca to have to cancel their weekend plans and work overtime until Monday And he had told John Arnold that he would need to use every telephone link between Isla Nublar and the rarammers
While Nedry worked, Arnold punched up a ne in his ownat the corner console Not that he didn&039;t trust Nedry But Arnold just liked to knoas going on
He looked at the graphics display on his right-hand console, which showed the progress of the electric Land Cruisers They were following the river, just north of the aviary, and the ornithischian paddock
"If you look to your left," said the voice, "you will see the dome of the Jurassic Park aviary, which is not yet finished for visitors" Ti off aluminum struts in the distance "And directly below is our Mesozoic jungle river-where, if you are lucky, you just limpse of a very rare carnivore Keep your eyes peeled, everyone!"
Inside the Land Cruiser, the screens showed a bird-like head topped with a fla out the s The car was driving along a high ridge, overlooking a fast- river below The river was ale on both sides
"There they are now," said the voice "The animals you see are called dilophosaurs"
Despite what the recording said, Tis by the river, drinking It was built on the basic carnivore pattern, with a heavy tail, strong hind li neck Its ten-foot-tall body was spotted yellow and black, like a leopard
But it was the head that held Ti the top of the head fro a V shape above the dinosaur&039;s head The crests had red and black stripes, reave a soft hooting cry, like an owl
"They&039;re pretty," Lex said
"Dilophosaurus, " the tape said, "is one of the earliest carnivorous dinosaurs Scientists thought their jaw ined they were priers But noe know they are poisonous"
"Hey" Tiht"
Again the distinctive booting call of the dilophosaur drifted across the afternoon air toward them
Lex shifted uneasily in her seat "Are they really poisonous, Mr Regis?"
"Don&039;t worry about it," Ed Regis said
"But are they?"
"Well, yes, Lex"
"Along with such living reptiles as Gila monsters and rattlesnakes, Dilophosaurus secretes a helands in its mouth Unconsciousness folloithin minutes of a bite The dinosaur will then finish the victi Dilophosaurus a beautiful but deadly addition to the animals you see here at Jurassic Park"
The Land Cruiser turned a corner, leaving the river behind Tili! Poisonous dinosaurs! He wished he could stop the car, but everything was automatic He bet Dr Grant wanted to stop the car, too
"If you look on the bluff to the right, you&039;ll see Les Gigantes, the site of our superb three-star dining room Chef Alain Richard hails from the world-famous Le Beau four from your hotel rooms"
Ti
"Not for a while, though," Ed Regis said "The restaurant won&039;t even start construction until Nove on our prehistoric safari, we coroup If you look to your right, you can probably see them now"
Tie tree Triceratops: the size and gray color of an elephant, with the truculent stance of a rhino The horns above each eye curved five feet into the air, looking almost like inverted elephant tusks A third, rhino-like born was located near the nose And they had the beaky snout of a rhino
"Unlike other dinosaurs," the voice said, "Triceratops serratus can&039;t see well They&039;re nearsighted, like the rhinos of today, and they tend to be surprised by e our car if they were close enough to see it! But relax, folks-we&039;re safe enough here"
"Triceratops have a fan-shaped crest behind their heads It&039;sThese anih about seven tons each Despite their appearance, they are actually quite docile They know their handlers, and they&039;ll allow themselves to be petted They particularly like to be scratched in the hindquarters"
"Why don&039;t they move?" Lex said She rolled down her"Hey! Stupid dinosaur! Move!"
"Don&039;t bother the aniis said
"Why? It&039;s stupid They just sit there like a picture in a book," Lex said
The voice was saying, "-easygoing one world stand in sharp contrast to ill see next The hty tyrant lizard, known as Tyrannosaurus rex"
"Good, Tyrannosaurus rex, " Tim said
"I hope he&039;s better than these bozos," Lex said, turning away from the triceratops
The Land Cruiser ru Rex
"The hty tyrannosaurs arose late in dinosaur history Dinosaurs ruled the earth for a hundred and twenty million years, but there were tyrannosaurs for only the last fifteen million years of that period"
The Land Cruisers had stopped at the rise of a hill They overlooked a forested area sloping down to the edge of the lagoon The sun was falling to the west, sinking into a misty horizon The whole landscape of Jurassic Park was bathed in soft light, with lengthening shadows The surface of the lagoon rippled in pink crescents Farther south, they saw the graceful necks of the cae, their bodiessurface It was quiet, except for the soft drone of cicadas As they stared out at that landscape, it was possible to believe that they had really been transported millions of years back in time to a vanished world
"It works, doesn&039;t it?" they heard Ed Regis say, over the interco And just sit"
Grant was unimpressed "Where is T-rex?"
"Good question You often see the little one down in the lagoon The lagoon&039;s stocked, so we have fish in there The little one has learned to catch the fish Interesting how he does it He doesn&039;t use his hands, but he ducks his whole head under the water Like a bird"
"The little one?"
"The little T-rex He&039;s a juvenile, two years old, and about a third gro Stands eight feet high, weighs a ton and a half The other one&039;s a full-grown tyrannosaur But I don&039;t see him at the moment"
"Maybe he&039;s down hunting the camarasaurs," Grant said
Regis laughed, his voice tinny over the radio "He would if he could, believe oon and stares at those aniles those little forearms of his in frustration But the T-rex territory is couised froo anywhere"
"Then where is he?"
"Hiding," Regis said "He&039;s a little shy"
"Shy?" Malcolm said "Tyrannosaurus rex is shy?"
"Well, he conceals hieneral rule You alht"
"Why is that?"
"We think it&039;s because he has sensitive skin and sunburns easily"
Malcolh
Grant sighed "You&039;re destroying a lot of illusions"
"I don&039;t think you&039;ll be disappointed," Regis said "Just wait"
They heard a soft bleating sound In the center of a field, a sround The cage bars slid down, and the goat re plaintively
"Any ain They stared out the
"Look at the out of the s, so eager They can&039;t wait to see it They have coer"
"That&039;s what I&039;er and watched the Land Cruisers tensely This was the first time that visitors had toured Jurassic Park, and Muldoon shared Arnold&039;s apprehension
Robert Muldoon was a big ray mustache and deep blue eyes Raised in Kenya, he had spent ame hunters, as had his father before him But since 1980, he had worked principally for conservation groups and zoo designers as a wildlife consultant He had become well known; an article in the London Sunday Tiolf courses, Robert Muldoon is to zoos: a designer of unsurpassed knowledge and skill"
In 1986, he had done so a private wildlife park on an island in North America Muldoon had laid out the boundaries for different ani space and habitat require which aniether, and which had to be separated At the time, it had been a fairly routine job He had been erWorld in southern Kasho, he was offered a job as game warden of Jurassic Park It coincided with a desire to leave Africa; the salary was excellent; Muldoon had taken it on for a year He was astonished to discover the park was really a collection of genetically engineered prehistoric animals
It was of course interesting work, but during his years in Africa, Muldoon had developed an unblinking view of animals-an unromantic view-that frequently set hie beside hi dinosaurs in a laboratory was one thing Maintaining them in the as quite another
It was Muldoon&039;s view that so In part, the danger existed because they still knew so little about the animals For example, nobody even suspected the dilophosaurs were poisonous until they were observed hunting indigenous rats on the island-biting the rodents and then stepping back, to wait for them to die And even then nobody suspected the dilophosaurs could spit until one of the handlers was al venom
After that, Hareed to study dilophosaur venom, which was found to contain seven different toxic enzymes It was also discovered that the dilophosaurs could spit a distance of fifty feet Since this raised the possibility that a guest in a car ement decided to remove the poison sacs The vets had tried twice, on two different ani secreted And no one would ever know until an autopsy was perforement would not allow one to be killed
Muldoon worried even more about the velociraptors They were instinctive hunters, and they never passed up prey, They killed even when they &039;t weren&039;t hungry They killed for the pleasure of killing They were swift: strong runners and astonishing jumpers They had lethal claws on all four li his guts out And they had powerful tearing jaws that ripped flesh instead of biting it They were far ent than the other dinosaurs, and they seee-breakers
Every zoo expert knew that certain anies Soe doors Others, like wild pigs, were unusually intelligent and could lift gate fasteners with their snouts But ould suspect that the giant are-breaker? Or the moose? Yet a moose was almost as skillful with its snout as an elephant with its trunk Moose were always getting free; they had a talent for it
And so did velociraptors
Raptors were at least as intelligent as chiile hands that enabled them to open doors and manipulate objects They could escape with ease And when, as Muldoon had feared, one of them finally escaped, it killed two construction workers andrecaptured After that episode, the visitor lodge had been reworked with heavy barred gates, a high perilass s And the raptor holding pen was rebuilt with electronic sensors to warn of another i escape
Muldoon wanted guns as well And he wanted shoulder-mounted TOW- down a four-ton African elephant-and soeuns anywhere on the island When Muldoon threatened to quit, and to take his story to the press, a couided missile launchers were kept in a locked room in the basement Only Muldoon had keys to the room
Those were the keys Muldoon irling now "I&039; downstairs," he said
Arnold, watching the control screens, nodded The two Land Cruisers sat at the top of the hill, waiting for the T-rex to appear
"Hey," Dennis Nedry called, froet me a Coke, okay?"
Grant waited in the car, watching quietly The bleating of the goat becaed frantically at its tether, racing back and forth Over the radio, Grant heard Lex say in alar to eat the goat?"
"I think so," someone said to her, and then Ellie turned the radio down Then they se stench of putrefaction and decay that drifted up the hillside toward them