Jurassic Kratts

Illusions

Back in the Visitors Center, Aviva and Koki ended their call with the Kratt Brothers and went to tell the rest of the group of the first good news after a disastrous night. Everyone was relieved, but none more so than Ellie and Mr. Hammond, who were worried sick about their loved ones stranded out there in the park. The confirmation of their survival raised their spirits in the midst of this chaos.
Later that night, as she was roaming through the dark hallways, Aviva noticed a small light flickering from the corner of her eye. Following it to the source, she found herself in a darkened restaurant, where a candle burned at a table in the corner. Hammond sat at the table alone, eating a dish of ice cream from a bucket, staring down morosely.
  The inventor drew up to the table. Once Hammond realized he wasn't alone, he looked up at her, but she noticed that his eyes were puffy, his hair was messed up. For the first time she's seen him, the fire is gone from his eyes.
"They were all melting."said the entrepreneur rather quietly. Aviva simply nodded before she replied,"Malcolm's okay for now. I gave him a shot of morphine."
  "If what you and Mrs. Bambrick said was true, they'll all be fine."said the elderly man, noting the young woman's disheartened look. "Who better to get the children through Jurassic Park than a dinosaur expert?" Mr. Hammond then added, "and two creature adventurers."
Another nod. Another pause as the entrepreneur gazed at the ceiling thoughtfully before breaking the silence.
"You know the first attraction I ever built when I came down south from Scotland? Was a Flea Circus, Petticoat Lane. Real quite wonderful. We had a wee trapeze, a roundabout–merry go- What do you call it?"
"Carousel."replied Aviva with a giggle over the mental picture.
"A carousel— and a seesaw. They all moved motorized of course, but people would swear they could see the fleas. 'I see the fleas, mummy! Can't you see the fleas?' Clown fleas, wire fleas, fleas on parade,"
  Aviva just looked at him, not sure what his state is. The old man went on, a little more serious this time.
"But with this place– I- I wanted to show them something that was real, something that wasn't an illusion, something that they could see and touch. An aim devoid of merit."
"But you can't think through this one.  You have to feel it."replied the inventor skeptically.
  "You're absolutely right. Yes, you're right. Hiring Nedry was a mistake, that's obvious. We're over dependent on automation. I can see that now. But that's all correctable for the next time around."
"John, John. John" Aviva murmured, shaking her head. "You're still building onto that Flea Circus, that illusion. And now you're adding onto it by what you're doing here. That's the illusion."
  "When we have control again–" but the entrepreneur was cut off by Aviva's sudden outburst.
"Control?! You never had control! I was overwhelmed by the power of this place. So I made a mistake too. I didn't have enough respect for that power, and it's out now. You're sitting here trying to pick up the pieces. John, there's nothing worth picking up." Hammond remained quiet, wanting to hear what else Aviva had to say. With a sigh, the inventor went on, "The only thing that matters now are the people out there, the people we love. Chris, Martin, Jimmy, Lex and Tim. And Dr. Grant too. John, they're out there where people are dying- people are dying, you know?"
Tears welled up in the inventor's eyes at the thought of her friends, especially Chris, were in mortal danger out there in the jungles where dinosaurs were running rampant. She couldn't bear the thought of him getting hurt again, or worse. She was brought out of her despairing thoughts by a hand on each of her shoulders, and looking over to her left, she met Ellie's gaze, which was smiling sympathetically. Koki was standing at her right side, wearing a similar look, though her eyes were also watery.
"We're all worried, Aviva. They'll be all right."reassured Ellie, reaching out for a bowl of ice cream.
"Besides," added the Tortuga technician, " Those two laugh at danger. You know that. They may be crazy sometimes, but they know what they're doing. There's few things they can't handle." With that she reached out for two bowls, passing one to Aviva who smiled gratefully.
  "Thanks, guys. Delicioso."she said after a spoonful, savoring the taste.
"This ice cream tastes great." complimented Koki.
"It's good."added the paleobotanist.
  Hammond smiled at the simple comments. "Spared no expense."