Early Morning – Fence Line, Sector C-4
The buzz of chainsaws was constant now.
The rainforest was being edited.
Carlos stood near the edge of the fence line with a clipboard in one hand and a grease-stained thermos in the other, barking orders through his radio.
"Tree seventy-nine goes. Seventy-eight stays. Anything leaning within twenty degrees toward the fence, mark it red."
Crews moved through the brush, tagging trunks, assessing root strength.
Sawdust and mist filled the air.
I stood beside Avery and Marin just outside the containment zone, watching a sixty-foot tree crash down with a seismic crack, branches scattering birds in all directions.
"Overkill?" I asked.
Avery didn't blink. "Next time it won't be a Gallimimus. Might be something with teeth."
Marin added, "And roots tear fences, too. You don't want a triceratops using a rotten stump as a battering ram."
Carlos looked over, half-smirking. "See? Even nature's quiet kids want to kill you."
Later – Briefing Room, Visitor Compound
Jia entered mid-meeting, panting slightly, a tablet clutched under her arm. She nodded at Kamal, then me.
"We just got word from the University of Colorado," she said. "Paleontology team there uncovered a near-complete Parasaurolophus specimen. Skull, spinal crest, even partial tissue mapping."
Kamal's eyebrows rose. "That's significant."
"Very," Jia said. "Confirmed lineage matches the ones we've sequenced already. But better, the new data refines the range. These animals weren't limited to the Canadian badlands. They reached as far as southern Utah."
Carlos looked up. "That changes the climate zones, doesn't it?"
Marin, who'd been quietly reviewing habitat reports in the corner, finally spoke up. "Thats more arid forest and slightly warmer range with less dense canopy. But we can simulate that here."
I leaned forward. "Could they share a habitat? I mean it would save me some money hehe"
Marin nodded. "Gallimimus and Parasaurolophus? Sure. They're both non-aggressive, herbivorous, social. Gallimimus moves in flocks, Paras live in herds, they'd probably coexist fine. Gives the guests more to look at without needing twice the space."
"Efficient and naturalistic," I said. Then I turned to Carlos. "But it won't be small. Expand the enclosure. I want enough space for both species to behave naturally, full-speed runs and whatever else that they do."
Carlos gave a slow exhale through his nose. "That'll mean shifting the southern boundary. Maybe pushing back into the grade by the maintenance road."
"Then push it," I said. "I want open terrain for the Gallimimus and enough shaded cover and water for the Paras. No concrete corners. No cramped sightlines. Build like we're giving them room to breathe."
Carlos scratched the back of his neck, then grinned. "Big, beautiful, and probably a pain in the ass to mow."
I smirked. "Then we don't mow it."
Marin added, "Let the ferns win for once."
Carlos chuckled and tapped a few notes on his tablet. "Alright. I'll update the blueprint, we're going bigger, baby!"
Marin gave a sharp nod. "I'll revise the biome specs. Gallimimus like open run space but Paras like shaded water and brush zones but I can layer that with Carlos."
Midday – Research Lab, Utah Dig Site (Remote Feed)
Jia stood on a windblown plateau, her hair tied under a field scarf, squinting at the excavation trench as a technician called her over.
A drone camera streamed her live feed back to the science center on the island.
"This just came in," she said, holding something up to the lens. "Amber."
Kamal's voice crackled over her earpiece. "Single insect or multi?"
"Two," she said, smiling. "Mosquitoes. Trapped in the same sample, but not from the same period. One is older, deeper striation. Second's almost modern by comparison."
Kamal sounded excited. "We'll need sequence dating and protein decay assessment, but if either of them fed on something exotic…"
Jia grinned. "That's the hope. Could save us millions if it's a rare species we don't have to reconstruct from scratch."
I leaned in from the observation room, watching her hold the amber against the light.
"Wonder what secrets are in there," I said Excitedly.
Later – Hatchery Lab, Isla Nublar
Kamal met me outside the incubation chamber, a rare spark in his normally reserved expression.
"We've got a second clutch of eggs," he said. "Gallimimus."
"How many viable?"
"Eight embryos, six stable. Two might self-resorb, but so far, no red flags."
"What about the introvert marker?"
"We're tracking it. But interestingly… these ones are all expressing higher serotonin synthesis levels. Early markers suggest more balanced behavioral profiles."
"So… friendlier dinosaurs?" I asked.
Kamal shrugged. "More curious. Less reactive. But it's too early to tell."
I smiled. "Still, not bad for a species we've had for less than a week."
He gave a rare, full laugh. " Now thats Jurassic infancy, You blink, and bam they are already a flock."
Later – Science Center Genetics Lab
The glass wall pulsed faintly with cascading data, columns of code, helix threads, and protein-binding predictions glowing like a string of digital fireflies.
Kamal along with his team stood at the terminal, arms folded, silent for once.
Jia was half-sitting on the edge of the central console, scrolling through comparative genome maps.
Marin leaned against the far wall.
I stepped in and looked up at the display.
"This the Parasaurolophus sequence?" I asked.
Jia nodded. "Most of it. The University dig gave us better-than-average preservation, partial marrow in one femur and some preserved collagen in a neural crest fragment.
We should get 78 to 82 percent usable sequence."
"That's enough?" I asked.
"It's enough to make a real animal," Kamal said. "The gaps are in the usual places, cell wall proteins, pigment genes, some immune variation.
Nothing vital for viability. But…"
He hesitated.
"But?" I echoed.
Jia straightened. "We've been lucky, Simon.
So far, every species we've brought back, Gallimimus, and now Paras, we've gotten high-fidelity samples from single excavations.
Clean marrow, preserved blood, trace proteins. But that's not the norm."
Marin added, "Most fossil sites don't give you neat little mosquito time capsules or well preserved Fossils, normally you get partials.
Fragments.
You'd need multiple expeditions just to piece together half a genome sometimes."
Kamal tapped on the display, pulling up a simulated dig map. "Going forward, we're likely to hit more duds.
Or worse, usable material spread across continents and decades.
DNA decays.
We've been riding momentum."
"So... what you are saying is?" I asked. " We need More time? or More money?"
"All of it," Kamal said. "Some species will require multi-site recovery. Even then, we may only ever get versions of them. Not originals."
I nodded slowly, letting that sink in.
'Do I want A park full of half-animals ? The answer was No'
"Alright," I said. "Then we move smarter. Build redundancy into our expeditions. Coordinate with universities and private digs. No more betting on single sites."
Jia glanced at Kamal. "By the way, we also have some updates on the amber samples."
"Good news and bad news, which one do you want first?," Kamal said.
"Let's start with the bad one," I said.
Jia held up a data pad. "One of the mosquitoes, the younger one, didn't feed on a dinosaur but Avian blood, its Probably a waterfowl, its entirely modern."
"So... no Dino DNA?" I asked.
"Just goose," Kamal deadpanned.
"Terrifying."
"But the other sample," Jia said, her eyes brightening, "the older one, it's real."
I turned to her sharply. "How real?"
Kamal brought up a separate display. A partial DNA strand flickered to life.
It was Segmented and Broken, But still very unmistakable.
"Tyrannosaurus rex," Kamal said. "and its Confirmed."
My chest tightened.
It was like hearing a ghost whisper your name.
"How much did we get?"
"Ten percent," Jia said. "A few stabilized protein chains.
Some skeletal pattern data and a couple of fragmentary developmental instructions."
"Not usable yet," Kamal added. "But for a thirty-million-year-old sample? It's a miracle we got anything."
"And we're preserving it?" I asked.
"Cryo-sealed and encrypted, already" Jia said. "We're not touching it until we know what we're doing with it."
I stared at the strand for a long time.
'Ten percent.'
"Keep working on the Parasaurolophus," I said quietly. "Make sure we finish what we started."
Then I turned away from the screen, already feeling the weight behind that faint, broken code.
Because even ten percent of a T. rex?
Was enough to change everything.