Jurassic Park

Hammond sat in the back, his hands folded across his chest.

"We're about to tour the facilities," Ge

"Now, my question for you is a simple one. Is this island safe? Is it safe for visitors, and is it safely containing the dinosaurs?"

Ge

"Costa Rica has an excellent medical service, and it tracks all kinds of data. Begi

[picture]

"I direct your attention to two features of this graph," Ge

The lights came back on. "All right," Ge

"We can save ourselves a great deal of trouble," Malcolm said. "I'll explain it for you now."

"You will?" Ge

"Yes," Malcolm said. "First of all, animals have very likely gotten off the island."

"Oh balls," Hammond growled, from the back.

"And second, the graph from the Public Health Service is almost certainly unrelated to any animals that have escaped."

Grant said, "How do you know that?"

"You'll notice that the graph alternates between high and low spikes," Malcolm said. "That is characteristic of many complex systems. For example, water dripping from a tap. If you turn on the faucet lust a little, you'll get a constant drip, drip, drip. But if you open it a little more, so that there's a bit of turbulence in the flow, then you'll get alternating large and small drops. Drip drip… Drip drip… Like that. You can try it yourself. Turbulence produces alternation-it's a signature. And you will get an alternating graph like this for the spread of any new illness in a community,"

"But why do you say it isn't caused by escaped dinosaurs?" Grant said.

"Because it is a nonlinear signature," Malcolm said. "You'd need hundreds of escaped dinosaurs to cause it. And I don't think hundreds of dinosaurs have escaped. So I conclude that some other phenomenon, such as a new variety of flu, is causing the fluctuations you see in the graph."

Ge

" Probably, yes."

"Why?"

"Because of what you are attempting here. Look, this island is an attempt to re-create a natural environment from the past. To make an isolated world where extinct creatures roam freely. Correct?"

"Yes."

"But from my point of view, such an undertaking is impossible. The mathematics are so self-evident that they don't need to be calculated. It's rather like my asking you whether, on a billion dollars in income, you had to pay tax. You wouldn't need to pull out your calculator to check. You'd know tax was owed. And, similarly, I know overwhelmingly that one ca

"Why not? After all, there are zoos."

"Zoos don't re-create nature," Malcolm said. "Let's be clear. Zoos take the nature that already exists and modify it very slightly, to create holding pens for animals. Even those minimal modifications often fail. The animals escape with regularity. But a zoo is not a model for this park. This park is attempting something far more ambitious than that. Something much more akin to making a space station on earth."

Ge

"Well, it's very simple. Except for the air, which flows freely, everything about this park is meant to be isolated. Nothing gets in, nothing out. The animals kept here are never to mix with the greater ecosystems of earth. They are never to escape."

"And they never have," Hammond snorted.

"Such isolation is impossible," Malcolm said flatly. "It simply ca

"It can. It's done all the time."

"I beg your pardon," Malcolm said. "But you don't know what you are talking about."

"You arrogant little snot," Hammond said. He stood, and walked out of the room.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen," Ge

"I'm sorry," Malcolm said, "but the point remains. What we call 'nature' is in fact a complex system of far greater subtlety than we are willing to accept. We make a simplified image of nature and then we botch it up, I'm no environmentalist, but you have to understand what you don't understand. How many times must the point be made? How many times must we see the evidence? We build the Aswan Dam and claim it is going to revitalize the country. Instead, it destroys the fertile Nile Delta, produces parasitic infestation, and wrecks the Egyptian economy. We build the-"

"Excuse me," Ge

At the foot of the mountain, Ge

"Take it easy," Hammond said.

Ge

"Now, look here," Hammond said, drawing himself up. "I think we have to get something clear-"

"No," Ge

"This is my island," Hammond said, "and I can invite whomever I want."

"This is a serious investigation of your island because your investors are concerned that it's out of control. We think this is a very dangerous place, and-"

"You're not going to shut me down, Donald-"

"I will if I have to-"

"This is a safe place," Hammond said, "no matter what that damn mathematician is saying-"

"It's not-"

"And I'll demonstrate its safety-"

"And I want you to put them Tight back on that helicopter," Ge

"Can't," Hammond said, pointing toward the clouds. "It's already leaving." And, indeed, the sound of the rotors was fading.

"God damn it," Ge

"Ah ah," Hammond said. "Let's continue this later. I don't want to upset the children."

Grant turned, and saw two children coming down the hillside, led by Ed Regis. There was a bespectacled boy of about eleven, and a girl a few years younger, perhaps seven or eight, her blond hair pushed up under a Mets baseball cap, and a baseball glove slung over her shoulder. The two kids made their way nimbly down the path from the helipad, and stopped some distance from Ge

Low, under his breath, Ge

"Now, take it easy," Hammond said. "Their parents are getting a divorce, and I want them to have a fun weekend here."

The girl waved tentatively.

"Hi, Grandpa," she said. "We're here."

The Tour

Tim Murphy could see at once that something was wrong. His grandfather was in the middle of an argument with the younger, red-faced man opposite him. And the other adults, standing behind, looked embarrassed and uncomfortable. Alexis felt the tension, too, because she hung back, tossing her baseball in the air. He had to push her: "Go on, Lex."

"Go on yourself, Timmy."

"Don't be a worm," he said.

Lex glared at him, but Ed Regis said cheerfully, "I'll introduce you to everybody, and then we can take the tour."

"I have to go," Lex said.

"I'll just introduce you first," Ed Regis said.

"No, I have to go."

But Ed Regis was already making introductions. First to Grandpa, who kissed them both, and then to the man he was arguing with. This man was muscular and his name was Ge

"Your mouth is open," Lex said.

Tim said, "I know him."

"Oh sure. You just met him."

"No," Tim said. "I have his book."

The bearded man said, "What book is that, Tim?"

"Lost World of the Dinosaurs, " Tim said.