Friendship is Magic: Jurassic Park

by Triple B Studios

Chapter 12: A Stroll Through The Park

Twilight gazed upon the multitude of computer monitors in the dimly lit control room, overcome with a sense of wonder. She possessed a profound fascination with the realm of computers, recognizing their ability to receive information in the form of digitized data and subsequently manipulate it to yield desired outcomes, all through the execution of meticulously crafted programs, software, or sequences of instructions dictating the precise manner in which the data is to be processed. It was all amazing to Twilight but Alan Grant didn’t share her fascination for the devices.

“You want to know about control mechanisms?” John Arnold asked, turning in his chair in the control room.

The head engineer was a thin, tense, chain-smoking man of forty-five. He squinted at the others in the room.

“We have unbelievable control mechanisms,” Arnold said, and lit another cigarette.

“For example?” Gennaro inquired.

“For example, animal tracking.” Arnold pressed a button on his console, and the vertical glass map lit up with a pattern of jagged blue lines. “That’s our juvenile T-rex. The little rex. All his movements within the park over the last twenty-four hours.” Arnold pressed the button again. “Previous twenty-four.” And again. “Previous twenty-four.”

The lines on the map became densely overlaid, a child’s scribble. But the scribble was localized in a single area, near the southeast side of the lagoon.

“You get a sense of his home range over time,” Arnold pointed out. “He’s young, so he stays close to the water. And he stays away from the big adult rex. You put up the big rex and the little rex, and you’ll see their paths never cross.”

“Where is the big rex right now?” Gennaro asked.

Arnold pushed another button. The map cleared, and a single glowing spot with a code number appeared in the fields northwest of the lagoon.

“He’s right there.” He replied.

“And the little rex?” Twilight chimed, looking at Arnold curiously.

“Hell, I’ll show you every animal in the park,” Arnold quipped. The map began to light up like a Christmas tree, dozens of spots of light, each tagged with a code number. “That’s two hundred thirty-eight animals as of this minute.”

“How accurate?” Gennaro probed.

“Within five feet.” Arnold puffed on the cigarette. “Let’s put it this way: you drive out in a vehicle and you will find the animals right there, exactly as they’re shown on the map.”

“How often is this updated?” Gennaro probed further.

“Every thirty seconds.” Arnold responded.

“Pretty impressive,” Gennaro commented. “How’s it done?”

“We have motion sensors all around the park,” Arnold said. “Most of ’em hard-wired, some radio-telemetered. Of course, motion sensors won’t usually tell you the species, but we get image recognition directly off the video. Even when we’re not watching the video monitors, the computer is. And checking where everybody is.”

“Does the computer ever make a mistake?” Twilight asked, looking at Arnold curiously.

“Only with the babies, ms. It mixes those up sometimes, because they’re such small images. But we don’t sweat that. The babies almost always stay close to herds of adults. Also you have the category tally.”

“What’s a tally?” Applejack asked with a raised brow.

“Once every fifteen minutes, the computer tallies the animals in all categories,” Arnold replied. “Like this.”

Arnold handed Twilight a clipboard with a sheet of paper pinned into said board. Her eyes scanned the list of many dinosaurs that were currently on the island. Arnold got down on knee to Twilight’s side, and pointed his finger at the list of names then slowly ran it down.

“What you see here,” Arnold explained further, “is an entirely separate counting procedure. It isn’t based on the tracking data. It’s a fresh look. The whole idea is that the computer can’t make a mistake, because it compares two different ways of gathering the data. If an animal were missing, we’d know it within five minutes.”

“I see,” said Twilight. “And has that ever actually been tested?”

“Well, in a way,” Arnold said. “We’ve had a few animals die. An othnielian got caught in the branches of a tree and strangled. One of the stegos died of that intestinal illness that keeps bothering them. One of the hypsilophodonts fell and broke his neck. And in each case, once the animal stopped moving, the numbers stopped tallying and the computer signaled an alert.”

Malcolm chimed. “Within five minutes.”

“Yes.” Arnold replied.

Grant added. “What is the right-hand column?”

“Release version of the animals. The most recent are version 4.1 or 4.3. We’re considering going to version 4.4.”

“Version numbers? You mean like software? New releases?” Twilight inquired.

“Well, yes,” Arnold said. “It is like software, in a way. As we discover the glitches in the DNA, Dr. Wu’s labs have to make a new version.”

The concept of living ancient creatures being numbered akin to software, and being subject to updates and revisions, caused Twilight great concern. None more so than Grant. She cannot precisely articulate the reason behind her unease, as it is a novel notion, but she is instinctively unsettled by it. After all, they are living beings…

Arnold noticed their expressions. “Look, Dr. Grant, Ms. Sparkle, there’s no point getting starry-eyed about these animals. It’s important for everyone to remember that these animals are created. Created by man. Sometimes there are bugs. So, as we discover the bugs, Dr. Wu’s labs have to make a new version. And we need to keep track of what version we have out there.”

“Yes, yes, of course you do,” Malcolm said impatiently. “But, going back to the matter of counting—I take it all the counts are based on motion sensors?”

“Yes.”

“And these sensors are everywhere in the park?”

“They cover ninety-two percent of the land area,” Arnold said. “There are only a few places we can’t use them. For example, we can’t use them on the jungle river, because the movement of the water and the convection rising from the surface screws up the sensors. But we have them nearly everywhere else. And if the computer tracks an animal into an unsensed zone, it’ll remember, and look for the animal to come out again. And if it doesn’t, it gives us an alarm.”

“Now, then,” Malcolm said. “You show forty-nine procompsognathids. Suppose I suspect that some of them aren’t really the correct species. How would you show me that I’m wrong?”

“Two ways,” Arnold said. “First of all, I can track individual movements against the other presumed compys. Compys are social animals, they move in a group. We have two compy groups in the park. So the individuals should be within either group A or group B.”

“Yes, but—”

“The other way is direct visual,” he said. He punched buttons and one of the monitors began to flick rapidly through images of compys, numbered from 1 to 49.

Twilight shifted her gaze to the monitors. “These pictures are …”

“Current ID images. From within the last five minutes.”

Twilight turned her head back at Arnold.

“So you can see all the animals, if you want to?” She asked.

“Yes. I can visually review all the animals whenever I want.” Arnold replied.

“How about physical containment?” Gennaro inquired. “Can they get out of their enclosures?”

“Absolutely not,” Arnold said. “These are expensive animals, Mr. Gennaro. We take very good care of them. We maintain multiple barriers. First, the moats.” He pressed a button, and the board lit up with a network of orange bars. “These moats are never less than twelve feet deep, and water-filled. For bigger animals the moats may be thirty feet deep. Next, the electrified fences.” Lines of bright red glowed on the board. “We have fifty miles of twelve-foot-high fencing, including twenty-two miles around the perimeter of the island. All the park fences carry ten thousand volts. The animals quickly learn not to go near them.”

“But if one did get out?” Gennaro asked.

Arnold snorted, and stubbed out his cigarette.

“Just hypothetically,” Gennaro said. “Supposing it happened?”

Muldoon cleared his throat. “We’d go out and get the animal back,” he said. “We have lots of ways to do that—taser shock guns, electrified nets, tranquilizers. All nonlethal, because, as Mr. Arnold says, these are expensive animals.”

Gennaro nodded: “And if one got off the island?”

“It’d die in less than twenty-four hours,” Arnold said. “These are genetically engineered animals. They’re unable to survive in the real world.”

“How about this control system itself?” Twilight probed with curiosity. “Could anybody tamper with it?”

Arnold was shaking his head. “The system is hardened. The computer is independent in every way. Independent power and independent backup power. The system does not communicate with the outside, so it cannot be influenced remotely by modem. The computer system is secure.”

There was a pause. Arnold puffed his cigarette. “Hell of a system,” he commented. “Hell of a goddamned system.”

“Then I guess,” Malcolm said, “your system works so well, you don’t have any problems.”

“We’ve got endless problems here,” Arnold said, raising an eyebrow. “But none of the things you worry about. I gather you’re worried that the animals will escape, and will get to the mainland and raise hell. We haven’t got any concern about that at all. We see these animals as fragile and delicate. They’ve been brought back after sixty-five million years to a world that’s very different from the one they left, the one they were adapted to. We have a hell of a time caring for them. You have to realize,” Arnold continued, “that men have been keeping mammals and reptiles in zoos for hundreds of years. So we know a lot about how to take care of an elephant or a croc. But nobody has ever tried to take care of a dinosaur before. They are new animals. And we just don’t know. Diseases in our animals are the biggest concern.”

“Diseases?” Applejack repeated, suddenly alarmed. “Is there any way that a visitor could get sick?”

Arnold snorted again. “You ever catch a cold from a zoo alligator, Mr. Gennaro? Zoos don’t worry about that. Neither do we. What we do worry about is the animals’ dying from their own illnesses, or infecting other animals. But we have programs to monitor that, too. You want to see the big rex’s health file? His vaccination record? His dental record? That’s something—you ought to see the vets scrubbing those big fangs so he doesn’t get tooth decay.…”

“Not just now,” Gennaro said. “What about your mechanical systems?”

“You mean the rides?” Arnold questioned.

Grant and Twilight looked up sharply: rides?

“None of the rides are running yet,” Arnold was saying. “We have the Jungle River Ride, where the boats follow tracks underwater, and we have the Aviary Lodge Ride, but none of it’s operational yet. The park’ll open with the basic dinosaur tour—the one that you’re about to take in a few minutes. The other rides will come on line six, twelve months after that.”

“Wait a minute,” Grant said. “You’re going to have rides? Like an amusement park?”

Arnold said, “This is a zoological park. We have tours of different areas, and we call them rides. That’s all.”

Simultaneously and harmoniously, both Twilight and Grant frowned. Again they felt troubled. They didn’t like the idea of dinosaurs being used for an amusement park.

Malcolm continued his questions. “You can run the whole park from this control room?”

“Yes,” Arnold replied. “I can run it single-handed, if I have to. We’ve got that much automation built in. The computer by itself can track the animals, feed them, and fill their water troughs for forty-eight hours without supervision.”

“This is the system Mr. Nedry designed?” Malcolm asked. Dennis Nedry was sitting at a terminal in the far corner of the room, eating a candy bar and typing.

“Yes, that’s right,” Nedry said, not looking up from the keyboard.

“It’s a hell of a system,” Arnold boasted proudly.

“That’s right,” Nedry said absently. “Just one or two minor bugs to fix.”

“Now,” Arnold said, “I see the tour is starting, so unless you have other questions…”

“Actually, just one,” Malcolm said. “Just a research question. You showed us that you can track the procompsognathids and you can visually display them individually. Can you do any studies of them as a group? Measure them, or whatever? If I wanted to know height or weight, or…”

Arnold was punching buttons. Another screen came up.

The screen materialized a white chart. Showcasing the height distribution of Procompsognathhids. The aforementioned height had risen from zero, and all the way up to a round-shaped mountain. Reaching ten as the last number of the chart.

“We can do all of that, and very quickly,” Arnold said. “The computer takes measurement data in the course of reading the video screens, so it is translatable at once. You see here we have a normal Gaussian distribution for the animal population. It shows that most of the animals cluster around an average central value, and a few are either larger or smaller than the average, at the tails of the curve.”

“You’d expect that kind of graph,” Malcolm said.

“Yes. Any healthy biological population shows this kind of distribution. Now, then,” Arnold said, lighting another cigarette, “are there any other questions?”

“No,” Malcolm said. “I’ve learned what I need to know.”

As they were walking out, Gennaro turned his gaze to Malcolm. “It looks like a pretty good system to me. I don’t see how any animals could get off this island.”

“Don’t you?” Malcolm questioned. “I thought it was completely obvious.”

“Wait a minute,” Gennaro said. “You think animals have gotten out?”

“I know they have.”

Twilight chimed. “But how? You saw for yourself, didn’t you? They can count all the animals. They can look at all the animals. They know where all the animals are at all times. How can one possibly escape?”

Malcolm smiled. “It’s quite obvious,” he said. “It’s just a matter of your assumptions, Twilight.”

“Your assumptions,” Gennaro repeated, frowning.

“Yes,” Malcolm replied. “Look here. The basic event that has occurred in Jurassic Park is that the scientists and technicians have tried to make a new, complete biological world. And the scientists in the control room expect to see a natural world. As in the graph they just showed us. Even though a moment’s thought reveals that nice, normal distribution is terribly worrisome on this island.”

“It is?” Applejack raised a brow at the mathematician expert.

“Yes. Based on what Dr. Wu told us earlier, one should never see a population graph like that.”

“Why not?” Gennaro questioned.

“Because that is a graph for a normal biological population. Which is precisely what Jurassic Park is not. Jurassic Park is not the real world. It is intended to be a controlled world that only imitates the natural world. In that sense, it’s a true park, rather like a Japanese formal garden. Nature manipulated to be more natural than the real thing, if you will.”

“I’m afraid you’ve lost me,” Gennaro said, looking annoyed.

“I’m sure the tour will make everything clear,” Malcolm said.”

“This way, everybody, this way,” Ed Regis said. By his side, a woman was passing out helmets with “Jurassic Park” labeled on the headband, and a little blue dinosaur logo.

A procession of Toyota Land Cruisers emerged from an underground garage situated beneath the visitor center. Each vehicle gracefully came to a halt, devoid of any drivers and emitting an air of tranquility. Two gentlemen of African descent, attired in safari uniforms, courteously attended to the task of opening the doors for the esteemed passengers.

“Two to four passengers to a car, please, two to four passengers to a car,” a recorded voice was saying. “Children under ten must be accompanied by an adult. Two to four passengers to a car, please…”

Before the group could enter they heard a voice shouting from behind them.

“Hold on it right there people, you got one more!”

Everyone turned around and saw a duo walking them. A man and a woman approached the group. The man smiled with a wave while the woman standing beside him had a blank expression.

The young man was striking in appearance. His skin was white. He possessed a well-defined square jaw and a pair of captivating chocolate-colored eyes. His attire was composed of a pair of sturdy work boots, dark chinos, and a sleek leather vest. His curly locks were a rich shade of rust-red, and his facial features were notably robust.

The woman beside him possessed fair skin, complemented by brown eyes, and a modest yet buxom figure. Her brunette tresses gracefully cascaded down to her shoulders. She adorned herself in a simple, zipped green jacket, a white undershirt, long blue jeans, and sturdy black hiking boots. Additionally, she sported a brown stetson hat.

“Don’t worry people, I won’t take too much of your time,” George started. “I’m just here delivering our guest here that will be accompanying you through this tour.” He turned to the woman and patted her shoulder before turning away. “Have fun!”

She rolled her eyes. “Great...”

Tim observed with keen interest as Grant, Sattler, Malcolm, and Twilight embarked upon the first Land Cruiser, accompanied by the esteemed lawyer, Gennaro. Tim then directed his gaze towards Lex, who stood resolutely, diligently pounding her fist into her glove, flanked by the presence of Applejack and Fluttershy.

Tim pointed to the first car and said, “Can I go with them?”

“I’m afraid they have things to discuss,” Ed Regis said. “Technical things.”

“I’m interested in technical things,” Tim said. “I’d rather go with them.”

“Well, you’ll be able to hear what they’re saying,” Regis said. “We’ll have a radio open between the cars.”

The second car came. Tim, Lex, the mares, and Carter got in, and Ed Regis trailed behind.

“These are electric cars,” Regis said. “Guided by a cable in the roadway.”

Bobbie Carter occupied the front seat, where she observed two computer screens and a box resembling a CD-ROM, which functioned as a laserdisc player under the control of a computer. Additionally, there was a portable walkie-talkie and a radio transmitter of some sort. The roof boasted two antennas, while the map pocket contained peculiar goggles.

The gentlemen of African descent securely closed the doors of the Land Cruiser, prompting the vehicle to commence its journey with an electric hum. Further ahead, the three scientists, the lavender unicorn, and Gennaro engaged in animated conversation, accompanied by gestures that clearly conveyed their excitement.

“Let’s hear what they are saying.” An intercom clicked.

“I don’t know what the hell you think you’re doing here,” Gennaro said, over the intercom. His anger evident by his tone.

“I know quite well why I’m here,” Malcolm said.

“You’re here to advise me, not play goddamned mind games. I’ve got five percent of this company and a responsibility to make sure that Hammond has done his job responsibly. Now you goddamn come here—”

Ed Regis pressed the intercom button. “In keeping with the non-polluting policies of Jurassic Park, these lightweight electric Land Cruisers have been specially built for us by Toyota in Osaka. Eventually we hope to drive among the animals—just as they do in African game parks—but, for now, sit back and enjoy the self-guided tour.” He paused. “And, by the way, we can hear you back here.”

“Oh Christ,” Gennaro said. “I have to be able to speak freely. I didn’t ask for these damned kids to come!”

Lex and Tim exchange knowing glances. Fluttershy had her hoof over her mouth, appalled by the profanity. Applejack glared at the radio and Carter was unamused.

Ed Regis smiled blandly and pushed a button. “We’ll just begin the show, shall we?”

They were greeted by the resounding sound of trumpets, and the screens within the interior illuminated with the words "Welcome to Jurassic Park." A deep and dignified voice expressed, "Welcome to Jurassic Park. You are now embarking upon the lost realm of the prehistoric past, a realm inhabited by majestic beings that have long vanished from the surface of our planet. It is a privilege for you to witness them for the very first time."

“That’s Richard Kiley,” Ed Regis said. “We spared no expense.”

The Land Cruiser passed through a grove of low, stumpy palm trees. Richard Kiley prolonged.

“Notice, first of all, the remarkable plant life that surrounds you. Those trees to your left and right are called cycads, the prehistoric predecessors of palm trees. Cycads were a favorite food of the dinosaurs. You can also see bennettitaleans, and ginkgoes. The world of the dinosaur included more modern plants, such as pine and fir trees, and swamp cypresses. You will see these as well. The Land Cruiser moved slowly among the foliage. Tim noticed the fences and retaining walls were screened by greenery to heighten the illusion of moving through real jungle. We imagine the world of the dinosaurs.”

“As a world of huge vegetarians, eating their way through the giant swampy forests of the Jurassic and Cretaceous world, a hundred million years ago. But most dinosaurs were not as large as people think. The smallest dinosaurs were no bigger than a house cat, and the average dinosaur was about as big as a pony. We are first going to visit one of these average-size animals, called hypsilophodonts. If you look to your left, you may catch a glimpse of them now.”

They all looked to the left.

The Land Cruiser came to a halt upon a gentle elevation, where a gap in the verdure granted a glimpse towards the eastern horizon. From this vantage point, they beheld a gently sloping expanse adorned with a lush forest, which gradually gave way to a vast meadow of golden grass, reaching a height of approximately three feet. Regrettably, no dinosaurs were to be found in this picturesque scene.

“Where are they?” Lex asked.

Carter looked at the dashboard with a discerning gaze. The transmitter lights gracefully blinked, while the CD-ROM emitted a gentle whir. It was evident that the disk was being accessed by an automated system. The screens elegantly displayed images of hypsilophodonts, accompanied by meticulously printed data about these fascinating creatures.

The voice spoke again, “Hypsilophodontids are the gazelles of the dinosaur world: small, quick animals that once roamed everywhere in the world, from England to Central Asia to North America. We think these dinosaurs were so successful because they had better jaws and teeth for chewing plants than their contemporaries did.”

“In fact, the name ‘hypsilophodontid’ means ‘high-ridge tooth,’ which refers to the characteristic self-sharpening teeth of these animals. You can see them in the plains directly ahead, and also perhaps in the branches of the trees.”

“In the trees?” Lex repeated. “Dinosaurs in the trees?”

Tim scanned with the binoculars. “To the right,” he pointed. “Halfway up that big green trunk…”

In the dappled shadows of the tree a motionless, dark green animal about the size of a baboon stood on a branch. It looked like a lizard standing on its hind legs. It balanced itself with a long drooping tail.

“That’s an othnielia,” Tim said.

“The small animals you see are called othnielia,” the voice said, “in honor of the nineteenth-century dinosaur hunter Othniel Marsh of Yale.”

Carter spotted two more animals, on higher branches of the same tree. They were all about the same size. None of them were moving.

“Pretty boring,” Lex said. “They’re not doing anything.”

“The main herd of animals can be found in the grassy plain below you,” said the voice. “We can rouse them with a simple mating call.” A loudspeaker by the fence gave a long nasal call, like the honking of geese.

To the left of the grassy field, six lizard heads emerged consecutively, creating a rather amusing sight that elicited laughter from Tim. Soon after, the heads vanished. The loudspeaker repeated its call, prompting the heads to resurface once more, in the exact same manner, one after the other. The remarkable repetition of this behavior was quite striking.

“Hypsilophodonts are not especially bright animals,” the voice explained. “They have roughly the intelligence of a domestic cow.”

The heads exhibited a dull green hue, adorned with a delicate pattern of dark browns and blacks that gracefully extended down their slender necks. Based on the dimensions of their heads, Carter surmised that their bodies measured approximately four feet in length, akin to the size of deer.

A few of the hypsilophodonts were observed engaging in the act of mastication, their jaws diligently at work. One of them even reached up and gently scratched its head, utilizing its five-fingered hand. This particular gesture bestowed upon the creature an air of contemplation and thoughtfulness.

“If you see them scratching, that is because they have skin problems. The veterinary scientists here at Jurassic Park think it may be a fungus, or an allergy. But they’re not sure yet. After all, these are the first dinosaurs in history ever to be studied alive.”

The electric motor of the car commenced its operation, resulting in a discernible grinding of gears. At the unforeseen auditory stimulus, the herd of hypsilophodonts instantaneously propelled themselves into the air, exhibiting a remarkable resemblance to kangaroos as they gracefully bounded above the grass. In doing so, they unveiled their entire physiques, characterized by substantial hind limbs and elongated tails, which were bathed in the warm glow of the afternoon sunlight. Within a few bounds, they vanished from sight.

“Now that we’ve had a look at these fascinating herbivores, we will go on to some dinosaurs that are a little larger. Quite a bit larger, in fact.”

Undeterred by this captivating spectacle, the Land Cruisers continued their journey southward.

Traversing the subsequent section of the park.

Comments

[Star Shimmering]

Lex and Tim exchange knowing glances. Fluttershy had her hoof over her mouth, appalled by the profanity. Applejack glared at the radio and Carter was unamused.

Poor Fluttershy, I guess she doesn’t like hearing profanity just as much as Twilight.

[Auta5tic]

“Notice, first of all, the remarkable plant life that surrounds you. Those trees to your left and right are called cycads, the prehistoric predecessors of palm trees. Cycads were a favorite food of the dinosaurs. You can also see bennettitaleans, and ginkgoes. The world of the dinosaur included more modern plants, such as pine and fir trees, and swamp cypresses. You will see these as well. The Land Cruiser moved slowly among the foliage. Tim noticed the fences and retaining walls were screened by greenery to heighten the illusion of moving through real jungle. We imagine the world of the dinosaurs,” Richard Kiley’s voice continued, “as a world of huge vegetarians, eating their way through the giant swampy forests of the Jurassic and Cretaceous world, a hundred million years ago. But most dinosaurs were not as large as people think. The smallest dinosaurs were no bigger than a house cat, and the average dinosaur was about as big as a pony. We are first going to visit one of these average-size animals, called hypsilophodonts. If you look to your left, you may catch a glimpse of them now.”

I noticed some quotation marks missing.
I suggest breaking this paragraph up.