Threshold shift

Chapter 22

The quarantine area was far outside the theme park, set up to be easily accessible by air, land and sea, but still secluded enough that not even an adventurous visitor could simply stumble over it.

It was also continuously under a 24/7 heavy guard and when Owen limped through the massive gates two days after his little adventure, he felt like he was entering a high security prison. Normally just a few of Isla Nublar's attractions were brought here if they showed signs of an infection, like a virus or bacteria. Now and then a baby would have to be raised here because of a weak immune system; sometimes they died here.

Right now there was a different kind of quarantine. It had nothing to do with an infectious disease, but more with three lethal, aggressive velociraptors, a collection of infant Isla Sorna dinosaurs, and a lot of unhatched eggs. Quarantine had become a high security prison of sorts.

There were armed troopers on the walkways, there were cameras mounted at regular intervals, and to get inside he had had to go through three gates, getting IDed every time.

They knew him by sight, greeted him respectfully, by name no less, but he still needed to get his finger prints and retina scanned, as well as his ID card run through the system.

"I'm not about to run off with an egg," he grumbled to Carter, who was accompanying him.

"Well..." Dan teased. "Not with that leg anyway."

Owen shot him a dark look. He had been checked once again by Dr. Svensson, who had simply jotted down notes and told him he was healing fast, there was no inflammation of the wounds, nor an infection, and that she would take out the stitches soon.

From the looks of it, she was slightly baffled by the speed he was getting better. It wasn't some Wolverine healing factor, but he was doing well. Then again, some people had such good healing and Owen was lucky enough to be one of them.

He had called Carter, more or less demanded to see the captured animals, and the head of security had given in.

The quarantine unit was big enough to hold several very large animals, though an apatosaurus wouldn't fit. So far there hadn't been the need to quarantine a fully grown specimen of that species.

Owen looked at the monitor with the feed from the raptor hold. All three velociraptors looked healthy enough, just like he remembered them. The two males were easily distinguished by the feather quills on the backs of their heads.

They had been fed, the meat supplemented with vitamins, and they had eaten heartily.

"They really are a sub-species," Owen said, almost as if to himself. "More brightly colored. Different eyes with completely round pupils, not slit ones like with mine."

Carter gave him a wry look. "Yours."

"Alpha, remember? My pack."

"Hard to forget, especially when your beta is the only one keeping you upright."

Owen raised one shoulder in a weak shrug. They hadn't really talked about it much.

He tentatively reached out for the three raptors, feeling their focused minds, their intense awareness of their caged existence, the need to be free again. He didn't dare come closer, just skimming the surface, and he was already drawing their attention. Blue's anchor became tighter, her own awareness of what her alpha was doing without her growing, and she didn't approve.

"Sornas are as vocally communicative as the Lab's later creations, socially a tightly-knit family pack," Owen said. "Studies have shown there is no brutality in their pack."

"Also like yours?"

He nodded once.

"They really look smaller," Carter remarked.