Clarissa Hammond

Chapter Eight

Clarissa's POV

I groaned as I woke up and smiled as I saw that I was in Ian's arms as we lay on a table. My father came in and glared at Ian, I sighed, "Father. I love Ian. You can't treat me like a child." My father teared up, "But does he love you? I love you, Dearest, and don't want you to get hurt." Ian kissed my temple and looked at my father, "John. I love Clare. I can't explain it, but I will never hurt her."

Arnold came in and shook his head, "No, no that's crazy! He's absolutely out of his mind." Ellie looked at him, "Wait. What exactly would this mean?" My father looked at all of us, "We're talking about a calculated risk, which is the only option left to us. We'll never find the command Nedry used. He's covered his tracks far too well. I think it's obvious now that he's not coming back."

I sighed and leaned my head against Ian's shoulder, "Some embryos are missing right?" Arnold nodded and I grimaced, "Someone paid Nedry to steal from you, and due to the fences going down, I don't think he took into account that the dinosaurs would be on the loose and dangerous." Muldoon looked at me, "You think he's dead?" I nodded, "Eaten and embryos lost in the storm that happened." 

Arnold and Father looked at each other and Father sighed, "So, shutting down the entire system-" Arnold interrupted him, "Get somebody else. I won't do it." Father walked over to him, "Shutting down the system is the only way to wipe out everything he did. Now, as I understand it, all the systems will then come back to their original start-up mode. Correct?" 

Arnold nodded and smoked, "Theoretically, yes. We've never shut down the entire system before. It might not come back on at all" I sighed, "Well now is a good fucking time. Everything isn't working anyway. The fences are down. Phones are down. Spirits are down. Hope-" Ian covered my mouth with a smirk, "We get the point, Clare. I love you and this is entertaining, but don't make everyone else nervous." 

My father shook his head fondly at me and Ellie looked at him, "Would we get the phones back? Arnold nodded, "Yes, again in theory." Muldoon had his chin in his hand, "What about the lysine contingency? We could put that into effect." Ellie looked at me, "What's that?" My father shook his head, "That's absolutely out of the question." Arnold looked at us, "The lysine contingency prevents the spread of animals, in case they ever get off the island. Dr. Wu inserted a gene that creates a single faulty enzyme in protein metabolism. The animals can't manufacture the amino acid, lysine. Unless they're supplied with lysine by us, they slip into a coma and die." 

My father hobbled quickly with his cane and I looked at him in worry, "People are dying. Will you please shut down the system?" Arnold looked at me, "Is he always this pretentious?" I snorted as my father looked at me for an answer, "Most of the time." My father looked at me in fake offense, "My favorite child, and this is what I get?" I smiled and rolled my eyes, "Dramatic."

 Arnold went over to a breaker box and started shutting down the system, causing the lights to go off, he then looked at us, "Hold on to your butts." He flipped the switch and we all looked around to see nothing changed, Arnold went over to a computer, "It's okay. Look, see that? It's on. It worked." Ian held me closer, "What do you mean it worked? Everything's still off." 

I looked at Arnold, "Maybe the shutdown tripped some circuit breakers. Turn them back on, and reboot some systems. The important ones. Phones, security system. FENCES." Arnold nodded and Muldoon looked at him, "Where are the breakers?" Arnold looked at him, "Maintenance shed at the end of the compound. Three minutes, I'll have the power back on in the entire park."

My father looked at everyone, "Just to be safe, I want everyone in the emergency bunker until Mr. Arnold returns and the whole system's running again. Help me with Clarissa and Dr. Malcolm." 

After Ian and I were safely in the bunker, Arnold left to go to the maintenance shed, but he's been gone a while and the power isn't back on. Ellie came down the stairs quickly and whispered, "Something's wrong. Something's happened." My father dressed Ian's leg wound and didn't look bothered, "This is just a delay. That's all it is. All major theme parks have delays. When they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked." 

Ian nodded in pain, "Yeah, but John, if the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the pirates don't eat tourists." My father looked at me and I nodded, "He's right." Ellie looked around in a panic, "I can't wait around any more. Something went wrong. I'm going to get the power back on." 

Muldoon looked at her like she was crazy, "You can't just take a stroll down the road, you know." My father looked at his watch, "Don't be too hasty. I mean, he's only been gone-" I rolled my eyes and stood up, groaning in pain as my ribs shifted and Ian sat up on his elbows, "What are you doing honey?" 

Muldoon looked at me from the gun cabinet and Ellie looked nervous. I walked over to them, "I'm coming with you." My father and Ian started to argue until I turned around, "Quite! It's final. Unless you two have something to say about it?" Ellie and Muldoon looked at each other in fear and then shook their heads. I nodded, "Good." 

My father pulled out a blueprint and set it down on Ian's legs, "Sorry." Ian nodded and held my arm when I went to walk by, "I really want you to stay here." I kissed his lips softly, "Don't worry, Mr. Malcolm. I'll be fine." Ian sighed, "Come back alive, Mrs. Malcolm." I grinned, "No ex?" Ian shook his head with a smile, "I have a feeling this will last." 

My father turned the page to the blueprints and nodded, "Now, this isn't going to be just like switching on the kitchen light. But I think I can follow this and then talk you both through it." Ellie nodded nervously and I grabbed three radios. My father looked at me as I handed him one, "It ought to be me really going?" 

I looked at him confused, "Why?" My father tried to get the comment out, "Well I'm a...And you're a..." I narrowed my eyes at him, "We can discuss sexism in survival situations when I get back." Ellie and Muldoon looked confused, "What?" Ian looked at me, "No. No. No. No. You're not going!" I nodded and kissed him and then hugged my father and he looked confused, "Where are you going? Nowhere!" 

I looked at all of them, "To find Alan and my niece and nephew." I avoided Muldoon's arms reaching out to stop me and ran up the stairs (as much as my ribs would let me) and out the door, into the forest to find my family, hearing Ian's yelling get quieter as I ran farther away.