𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐒 . ian malcolm

𝑰. ⸻ the park

JUNE 11, 1993 — THE PACIFIC
OCEAN &. ISLA NUBLAR    

MINERVA HAD DUCKED LOW WHEN THE HELICOPTER GOT CLOSE, trying her hardest to mirror what the others around her did. The air current made her black jacket whip around, and out of instinct she fixed her hair, knowing how wild and tangly her bangs would look. The four scientists, who's faces were unfamiliar to each other, boarded the helicopter quickly. 

Now, she was sitting in a middle seat of the helicopter, nervous to be flying. She was glad it wasn't a news helicopter, one of the ones without doors. But, still, she was trying hard to hide her anxiousness to be flying over the ocean. There was a mousy man sitting on her right, and Mr. Hammond–the only familiar person there–sat across from her. Minerva had a Dead Kennedys cassette placed in her Sony walkman, the headphones resting around her neck while the music was paused. She wanted to listen to what the people around her were saying.

Sitting next to her, though, was a man. Dr. Ian Malcolm, as he'd introduced himself, who she was struggling to guess the race of. Minerva did this with everyone she met, of course, trying to guess their ethnicities before she asked them. She was good at it, being a geneticist and all, but he had her stumped.

Dr. Malcolm was tall and dark. He was wearing a black button up, a leather jacket, and slightly-too-tight black pants. He was wearing blocky sunglasses and Minerva couldn't help but notice how everything fit him perfectly. Unlike her clothes, the loose-fitting jeans and her Converse. Some might say she looked like a college student or just some disheveled young adult.

His clothes, though, might be tailored, she thought. Ian's hair was slightly curly, and it was shiny too. Italian, maybe? Greek...no.

He was leaned over slightly, holding himself up on his elbow, and she was trying her hardest not to make it obvious that she was sneaking glances at him.

The other two people in the seats across from her were just as quiet. Dr. Alan Grant, who Minerva though could be Irish–possibly, since his hair was an odd and slightly reddish brown–was holding a claw. Considering how they were dressed, Minerva was sure they were paleontologists of some sort, so she was sure it was a dinosaur claw. The women, Dr. Ellie Sattler, sitting next to him–Swedish? Norwegian, maybe?–was blonde and very pretty, Minerva noted.

The man next to her started speaking, pointing at them, "So you two, um, dig up, dig up dinosaurs?"

The woman laughed, tilting her head, "Well..."

"Try to," the man sitting next to Dr. Sattler finished coldly. Ian let out a laugh, making a steady err sound halfway through. She looked away from the window when he did that, looking back over at it quickly so he wouldn't notice how oddly she had just looked at him. John Hammond smiled along with him, just as awkwardly.

"You'll have to get used to Dr. Malcolm. He suffers from a deplorable excessive personality, especially for a mathematician," Mr. Hammond said.

"Chaotician. Chaotician, actually," he corrected, putting a piece of gum in his mouth. He must be an ex-smoker, Minerva thought. "John doesn't subscribe to chaos, particularly what it has to say about his little science project."

"Gobswallow, Ian. You've never been able to sufficiently explain your concern about–" Mr. Hammond started, getting interrupted.

"Oh, John, John, John, because the behavior of the system in face space." Minerva stiffled a laugh and Dr. Malcolm glanced at her, grinning wittily.

"A load of it, if I may say so," John started, shooting him down. "A fashionable number cruncher."

Dr. Malcolm touched his knee and then pointed at the other three. "You three have heard of, you've heard of chaos theory?"

"No," Ellie answered for all three of us quickly.

"No? Non-linear equations? Strange attractors?"

"Dr. Sattler, I, I refuse to believe that you aren't familiar with the concept of attraction," Dr. Malcolm said, pointing at her.

There it was, Minerva thought. There was always someone else. She was never the most attractive woman in the room, or helicopter, apparently. She looked back down at her magazine, wishing she was born with blonde hair and girlish charm.

Ellie looked down shyly, as Hammond looked at the lawyer sitting to Minerva's left. "I bring scientists, you bring a rockstar." Hammond looked out of the window in awe. "There it is. "

Rocks and mountains covered with green came close in sight as the helicopter got nearer to the island. If they were in a plane, Minerva thought, they would be flying too close  and would crash. But they were in a helicopter, so her bad thoughts dissipated quickly. Hammond spoke to the passengers, "Bad wind, she is. We have to drop pretty fast, so hold on."

The helicopter shook abrubtly, and the lawyer put his seat belt on. Minerva looked over and did the same thing, and so did the others. But when Dr. Grant tried to clip his seatbelt, he got two of the same pieces and opted for tying them together. When they landed, Hammond's door was opened for him and he stepped out. Gennero followed, then Minerva, Ellie and Alan, and then Ian. They crouched slightly and looked around at the beauty of the island. Dr. Caddel looked around in fascination.

The group was boarded into Jeeps with an icon on the side doors. "Jurrassic Park," Minerva slowly read aloud to herself, a confused look gleaming across her face. Minerva sat next to Ian, and they only glanced at each other a few times.

She had her headphones on her ears now, looking around at the large metal bridge contraptions with wire lines. They were large and looked too modern and architectural to be on such a green and leafy island.

The Jeeps continued, following lines of dirt trails. Minerva couldn't hear the conversation between the three people in the front seat, or read lips for that matter, so she just continued looking around at the island. The group was driving across a clear plain scattered with a few trees.

Minerva saw it instantly, just like Dr. Ellie and Alan in the seats in front of her did too. She slid her headphones off, purely out of shock, and jumped out of the car easily. Minerva walked closer to Ellie and Alan, gazing at the beautiful creature walking before them.

"That's, that's a dinosaur," Alan said, waving his arm around. Minerva nodded at his statement, unsure of what to say.

"This is, this is, impossible," Minerva said with a smile and a laugh, looking at the other two scientists giddily. The three of them moved even closer to the animal.

"This thing doesn't live in a swamp," Ellie said with excitement. Minerva didn't know exactly what Dr. Sattler meant, but she assumed it was about previous educated guesses about the large, and before now, extinct, animal in front of them.

"This thing's got what a 25, 27 foot neck?" Dr. Grant said.

John stepped behind them, "Brachiosaurus, 30."

The dinosaur screeched, lifting up its front legs. All three of them continued looking up, "How fast are they?"

"Well, we clocked the T-rex at 32 miles an hour," John said confidently.

The three stopped looking up, and moved their attention to him, "T-T-rex? You said you've got a T-rex?"

"Say it again," Alan said, grabbing Hammond's shoulder.

"We have a T-rex," he stated, grinning with satisfaction. Ellie and Minerva looked at each other, mouths agape and eyes wide. Alan put his hands on his knees, and Ellie rushed to help him with a smile.

"Doctors," Hammond started, walking a few steps away from the two, "Welcome to Jurassic Park."

A dinosaur sounded a call. Alan was okay now, looking at the moving herds in the distance, "They're moving in herds, they do move in herds. How'd you do this?"

"I'll show you," Hammond responded quietly, looking off into the distance.