𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐒 . ian malcolm

𝑽 . ⸻ the theory

THE GROUP WALKED BACK DOWN THE SAME STAIRCASE AS EARLIER. "You four are gonna have a spot of company out in the park. Spend a little time with our target audience," Hammond told them cheerfully. Minerva was looking around for others, but stopped when she saw two kids running up to them.

"Grandpa!" They shouted happily. One was a blonde girl who was probably a young teenager, wearing a purplish cutoff and a blue hat. The other one, a boy, had reddish-brown hair and looked to be around ten years old. They ran up to Hammond so quickly that they knocked him down. Ellie–who wanted kids of her own–was smiling, but the other three looked down in confusion and slight annoyance.

When the group walked outside, two identical cars with tacky jungle designs and the Jurassic Park logo drove up to them.

"Aren't they lovely? Aren't they glorious? These will be your transports for the afternoon."

"No drivers." the lawyer spoke, rhetorically. Almost like earlier in the mini-theater, where John had to follow a script.

"No, no, no, no drivers, but they're electric, they, uh, run on this track in the middle of the roadway here. Totally not polluting, top of the line, spared no expense," Hammond explained.

"Lex, darling, you're all right in there? Dr. Sattler and Dr. Caddel, come with me. Dr. Grant come in the second car."

"I'm gonna ride with Dr. Sattler. Minerva too," Ian stated, walking past Alan to the second car. Hammond hobbled back up the steps, his cane pushing him up like the stairs were Mount Everest.

Minerva sat in the back left seat, replacing the cassette in her walkman with a new one, The Clash–her favorite. Placing the headphones over her ears. Dr. Malcolm was standing in Ellie's door, speaking with her. Flirting, more than speaking, but but Minerva couldn't say that. Alan and one of Hammond's grandkids entered the right door and Alan immediately moved back out of it. Minerva stared quietly as the kid talked about, from what she could hear, dinosaurs.

Ian wasn't looking at her, she was so sure. She was blind to his quick glances.

Ian sat in the seat next to her and and Alan sat in the drivers seat. The cars started chugging along the metal track. Minerva could only faintly hear the pre-recoded audio coming from the car speakers, but she didn't really care anyway.

Big wooden doors opened. "Welcome to Jurassic Park," the audio said.

"What do they got in there, King Kong?" Ian said, looking up, earning no laughs.

"If you look to the right, you will see a herd of the first dinosaurs on our tour, called Dilophosaurus." Everyone looked to the right, curious to see the dinosaur. "One of the earliest carnivores, we now know Dilophosaurus is actually poisonous. Spitting its venom at its prey, causing blindness and eventually paralysis. Allowing the carnivore to eat at its leisure. This makes Dilophosaurus a beautiful, but deadly, addition to Jurassic Park."

Minerva looked out the window over Dr. Malcolm's shoulder. She couldn't see anything, and before she could worry about being slower than the others at spotting it, she saw that no one else could, either. There was apparent disappointment on everyone's faces, and they were silently waiting until someone could point at something moving or any other sign of the creature. There wasn't anything there. The Dilophosaurus enclosure was empty, and only thick trees and leaves were on display.

"Alan? Where?" Ellie asked with disappointment, her palms still pressed to the glass like a little kid.

He didn't respond, "Damn."

The car was driving away. It kept driving through the shaded trail, and didn't stop again until they got to another, bigger, enclosure. The audio wasn't saying anything, but Minerva knew that there wouldn't be a point. This creature was going to be big, and not hard to see. And again, there wasn't anything there. Minerva had her headphones off, now, hoping something exciting would happen.