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"The raptors got out," Hammond said
"Did they," Malcol shallowly "How could that possibly happen?"
"It was a system screwup Arnold didn&039;t realize that the auxiliary poas on, and the fences cut out"
"Did they"
"Go to hell, you supercilious bastard-"
"If I rerity would fail"
Hahed, and sat down heavily "Da his head "It must surely not have escaped your notice that at heart e are atteues and I detero, that it was possible to clone the DNA of an extinct anirow it That seemed to us a wonderful idea, it was a kind of ti the, and since it was possible to do it, we decided to go forward We got this island, and we proceeded It was all very simple"
"Siy to sit up in the bed "Siht you were And I thought you were a very substantial fool"
Ellie said, "Dr Malcolm," and tried to ease him back down But Malcolm would have none of it He pointed toward the radio, the shouts and the cries
"What is that, going on out there?" he said "That&039;s your simple idea Si at all Your Dr Wu does not even know the na He cannot be bothered with such details as what the thing is called, let alone what it is You createabout the, because you et that they are alive, they have an intelligence of their own, and they et how little you know about thes that you so frivolously call simple Dear God"
He sank back, coughing
"You knohat&039;s wrong with scientific power?" Malcolm said "It&039;s a forenitally rich people are It never fails"
Ha about?"
Hardingdelirium Malcolm cocked his eye
"I will tell you what I a about," he said "Most kinds of power require a substantial sacrifice by whoever wants the power There is an apprenticeship, a discipline lasting many years Whatever kind of power you want President of the couru Whatever it is you seek, you have to put in the tiet it It has to be very important to you And once you have attained it, it is your power It can&039;t be given away: it resides in you It is literally the result of your discipline
"Nohat is interesting about this process is that, by the time someone has acquired the ability to kill with his bare hands, he has also matured to the point where he won&039;t use it unwisely So that kind of power has a built-in control The discipline of getting the power changes you so that you won&039;t abuse it
"But scientific power is like inherited wealth: attained without discipline You read what others have done, and you take the next step You can do it very young You cannored There is no huet-rich-quick, make-a-name-for-yourself-fast philosophy Cheat, lie, falsify-it doesn&039;t ues No one will criticize you No one has any standards They are all trying to do the sa, and do it fast
"And because you can stand on the shoulders of giants, you can acco quickly You don&039;t even know exactly what you have done, but already you have reported it, patented it, and sold it And the buyer will have even less discipline than you The buyer simply purchases the power, like any commodity The buyer doesn&039;t even conceive that any discipline ht be necessary"
Ha about?"
Ellie nodded
"I haven&039;t a clue," Hammond said
"I&039;ll make it simple," Malcolm said "A karate master does not kill people with his bare hands He does not lose his temper and kill his wife The person who kills is the person who has no discipline, no restraint, and who has purchased his power in the forht special And that is the kind of power that science fosters, and permits And that is why you think that to build a place like this is simple"
"It was simple," Hao wrong?"
Dizzy with tension, John Arnold threw open the door to the maintenance shed and stepped into the darkness inside Jesus, it was black He should have realized the lights would be out He felt the cool air, the cavernous di two floors below him He had to find the catwalk He had to be careful, or he&039;d break his neck
The catwalk
He groped like a blind ht into the shed, He went back to the door and cracked it open four inches That gave enough light But there was no way to keep the door open Quickly he kicked off his shoe and stuck it in the door
He went toward the catwalk, seeing it easily He walked along the corrugatedthe difference in his feet, one loud, one soft But at least he could see Up ahead was the stairway leading down to the generators Another ten yards
Darkness
The light was gone
Arnold looked back to the door, and saw the light was blocked by the body of a velociraptor The animal bent over, and carefully sniffed the shoe
Henry Wu paced He ran his hands over the computer consoles He touched the screens He was in constant movement He was almost frantic witb tension
He reviewed the steps he would take He must be quick The first screen would come up, and he would press-
"Wu!" The radio hissed
He grabbed for it "Yes I&039;m here"
"Got any bloody power yet?" It was Muldoon There was so hollow
"No," Wu said He slad to know Muldoon was alive
"I think Arnold made it to the shed," Muldoon said- "After that, I don&039;t know"
"Where are you?" Wu said
"I&039;m stuffed"
"What?"
"Stuffed in a bloody pipe," Muldoon said "And I&039;ed in a pipe was ht There had been a stack of drainage pipes piled behind the visitor center, and he&039;d backed hi like a poor bastard Meter pipes, very tight fit for him, but they couldn&039;t come in after him
At least, not after he&039;d shot the leg off one, when the nosy bastard ca off, and the others were now respectful His only regret was that he hadn&039;t waited to see the snout at the end of the tube before he&039;d squeezed the trigger
But he ht still have his chance, because there were three or four outside, snarling and growling around him
"Yes, very popular," he said into the radio
Wu said, "Does Arnold have a radio?"
"Don&039;t think so," Muldoon said "Just sit tight Wait it out"
He hadn&039;t seen what the other end of the pipe was like-he&039;d backed in too quickly-and he couldn&039;t see now He edged tight He could only hope that the far end wasn&039;t open Christ, he didn&039;t like the thought of one of those bastards taking a bite of his hindquarters
Arnold backed away down the catwalk The velociraptor was barely ten feet away, stalking hiloom Arnold could hear the click of its deadly claws on theslowly He knew the anirille of the catwalk, the unfamiliar mechanical odors had made it cautious That caution was his only chance, Arnold thought If he could get to the stairs, and then move down to the floor below
Because he was pretty sure velociraptors couldn&039;t climb stairs Certainly not narrow, steep stairs
Arnold glanced over his shoulder The stairs were just a few feet away Another few steps
He was there! Reaching back, he felt the railing, started scra down the almost vertical steps His feet touched flat concrete The raptor snarled in frustration, twenty feet above him on the catwalk
"Too bad, buddy," Arnold said He turned away He was now very close to the auxiliary generator Just a few ht
There was a dull thump behind him
Arnold turned
The raptor was standing there on the concrete floor, snarling
It had jumped down
He looked quickly for a weapon, but suddenly he found he was sla heavy was pressing on his chest, it was i on top of hi into the flesh of his chest, and s above him, and he opened his mouth to scream
Ellie held the radio in her hands, listening Two e; they seemed to knoas safe here But there had been no others in the last few Minutes And it sounded quieter outside Over the radio, Muldoon said, "How long has it been?"
Wu said, "Four, five minutes"
"Arnold should have done it by now," Muldoon said "If he&039;s going to You got any ideas?"
"No," Wu said
"We heard from Gennaro?"
Gennaro pressed the button "I&039;m here"
"Where the hell are you?" Muldoon said
"I&039;," Gennaro said "Wish me luck"
Gennaro crouched in the foliage, listening
Directly ahead he saw the planted pathway, leading toward the visitor center Gennaro knew the maintenance shed was so of birds in the trees A softOne of the raptors roared, but it was soht Gennaro set out, leaving the path, plunging into the foliage
Like to live dangerously?
Not really
It was true, he didn&039;t But Gennaro thought he had a plan, or at least a possibility that s, he could approach the maintenance shed from the rear All the raptors were probably around the other buildings, to the south There was no reason for thele
At least, he hoped not
Hea lot of noise He forced hie here was very dense; he couldn&039;t see an to worry that he&039;d miss the ht, above the palms
He moved toward it, went around the side He found the door, opened it, and slipped inside It was very dark He stu
A man&039;s shoe
Gennaro frowned He propped the door wide open and continued deeper into the building He saw a catwalk directly ahead of hio And he had left his radio behind
Daht be a radio so Or else he&039;d just look for the generator He knehat a generator looked like Probably it was so down
It was darker below, and it was difficult to see anything He felt his way along a his head
He heard an animal snarl, and froze He listened, but the sound did not co dripped on his shoulder, and his bare arm It arm, like water He touched it in the darkness
Sticky He smelled it
Blood
He looked up The raptor was perched on pipes, just a few feet above his head Blood was trickling from its claws With an odd sense of detachan to run, but the raptor juround
Gennaro was strong; he heaved up, knocking the raptor away, and rolled off across the concrete When he turned back, he saw that the raptor had fallen on its side, where it lay panting
Yes, it was injured Its leg was hurt, for some reason
Kill it
Gennaro scra for a weapon The raptor was still panting on the concrete He looked frantically for so-to use as a weapon When he turned back, the raptor was gone
It snarled, the sound echoing in the darkness
Gennaro turned in a full circle, feeling with his outstretched hands And then he felt a sharp pain in his right hand
Teeth
It was biting him
The raptor jerked his head, and Donald Gennaro was yanked off his feet, and he fell
Lying in bed, soaked in sweat, Malcol?" Muldoon said "You getting anything?"
"No word," Wu said
"Hell," Muldoon said,