Jurassic World: Next of Kin

Next of Kin

Owen Grady preferred the warmth of home as much as anyone, but he had probably never been more impatient for a bout of field work to end as he was now. As a navy officer turned trainer and researcher at a unique zoo that housed genetically engineered dinosaurs, he had been one of the first people recruited by the government to contain and neutralize the threat posed by the de-extinct creatures that had been set loose on the world by mankind's latest display of exploitative hubris. He did not entirely trust the joint federal/state task force, but he and his girlfriend Claire Dearing had decided that they had best strike a bargain with the authorities. They both would have been inclined to aid in cleaning up the mess for which they felt partially responsible anyway, but the latest Jurassic disaster had left Maisie Lockwood, an orphaned ten-year-old, in their care. So until the red tape between them and the girl's hefty inheritance could be surmounted, decent support for the child demanded greater financial security than any freelance options could reasonably provide.

Part of the deal was that, to the greatest extent possible, he would remain in California, tracking the dinosaurs that had escaped from an illegal auction there rather than going abroad in pursuit of those that had been successfully sold and shipped away. He needed to stay local so that he could rebuild his relationship with the woman he loved, an already non-negotiable undertaking which had taken on extra importance with Maisie now part of the equation. She had already been through so much and become quite attached to both Claire and Owen. Despite his and Claire's better judgment at such an early stage, the adults could not bring themselves to resist slipping into increasingly parental roles. They were certainly the closest thing the youngster currently had to a mother and father, and given her unusual origins, they may have been the closest thing she had ever had in her life. In any case, another break-up for any but the most incorrigible reason was simply out of the question with Maisie in the midst. Plus, the trio all depended on each other for emotional and moral support after the trauma they had all survived, especially Maisie, and the discovery that she was actually a clone of her so-called grandfather's deceased daughter was not even the worst of it.

The young girl had been the one to release the dinosaurs that remained after the auction in order to rescue them from fatally noxious fumes that were overtaking the underground lair. Owen and Claire soon learned that she had vastly overestimated the likelihood of the authorities successfully containing the creatures before they reached civilization. To someone of her stature living a life as secluded as hers apparently was, the wilderness surrounding the mansion probably looked much larger in area than it was, and in addition to that, her faith in governmental efficacy was likely inflated by the naivete of youth. When Claire hesitated and ultimately decided not to open the life-saving doors herself, Maisie had also mistaken her reluctance as concern for what the villains potentially lurking outside might still do to the dinosaurs instead of what they themselves would almost certainly do to civilians.

When the already battered child realized that she had all but guaranteed that at least a few innocent humans would be devoured, trampled, or otherwise killed before the animals could be recovered, she had quickly descended into hot tears of crushing guilt. As much as he wanted to, Owen could not deny that, in some sense, there was indeed human blood on her hands, but especially after she revealed her fateful misunderstandings, both he and Claire felt truly confident in absolving her. The mistake itself was something from which she should and certainly would learn a hard lesson, but the disproportionately horrific nature of its consequences was far from her fault. The blame in that regard lay squarely on a combination of sheer circumstances and the greedy goons who had brought the dinosaurs to the mainland in the first place. Yet even in Maisie's deep feelings of guilt there was a silver lining to be found. The couple's efforts to soothe their young ward proved very therapeutic in helping them assuage their own sense of culpability, especially Claire, who even then still had occasional flare-ups of self-blame from the first disaster at Jurassic World.