Jurassic Park: New Blood

[X][The Kids] Bring Lex and Tim here and share Jurassic Park with them to get an early vetting by the kids of what's fun, what's not, and what needs changed.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

Rather than having the kids take a commercial flight, you'd opted to be the one to pick them up. Right now there weren't any major fires that needed putting out, and Nicte's trainees had hit the point where she was trusting them to be able to handle their charges without having to go to her for every potential incident. Henry and Laura were both involved in their current personal projects, and Cabot was handling the minutiae of your position for you like a champ.

Which made your decision to ask Nicte to accompany you all the easier to justify. Taxiing into the Boston Logan International Airport in the company jet; you'd been reminded that it was still very early spring by the bite of cold in the wind as you disembarked. Nicte shivered, bundled up much like you remember her doing back in Ohio during the winter there.

Alexis and Tim had both been incredibly pleased to see you, Tim practically tackling you for a hug, while Alexis ("It's Lex now uncle Elliot") had been trying to project a more "mature" air. But she'd still allowed you to pull her into a hug as well. Both of them had immediately started grilling Nicte when you made introductions though, to your girlfriend's confused amusement. Which left you free to talk to your sister.

Amber was hiding it well with makeup, but you could see the tension in her shoulders and the droop of her head. She was tired and you had no doubt that trying to manage a failing marriage while raising two admittedly precocious kids pretty much on her own was probably the biggest task she'd ever taken on. (Part of you wonders how she would have handled getting Jurassic Park dumped in her lap.)

You don't really say much, just giving her a hug. She trembles a bit but keeps it together. "Thank you for this Elliot, I can't say how much this helps knowing they're not going to have to see us fighting more." You'd just nodded, not trusting yourself to speak on the matter of her rat bastard of a husband. The black eye you'd given him during the reception had said everything that needed to be said then and now.

Instead you'd called the kids over to give their mom hugs and kisses, along with reintroducing Nicte to Amber. They'd met back when you were in Ohio, one of your sister's visits with the much younger kids at the time looking to take advantage of your status as a zookeeper to get a behind-the-scenes view of things. The two women exchanged pleasant greetings and Nicte promised to keep an eye on you while you were keeping an eye on the kids, to general laughter at your expense.

The flight back had been spent mostly deflecting questions about your park's operating system, apparently "Lex" (good god she grew up so fast) had read about it being a bespoke system created by one of the geniuses in the field. You'd countered that you didn't have as much computer knowledge as she did and you didn't want to give her information that she may use to get into the system itself. If something like that ever happened then they'd have much bigger problems to be dealing with in the first place!

Landing on Matanceros, you'd happily let the kids drag you around the park to see all of the revived animals. You had accrued quite the menagerie at this point, though Lex blushed brilliant red at the Terrorbird enclosure when she saw the placard from Squaresoft thanking her by name for helping bring Chocobos to life.

You'd let them explore for the first several days, when you weren't with them Nicte was; so thankfully they were never without a guide/minder, and you had given them the run of your suite in the hotel. Thankfully neither one of them had splurged on candy or soda or tried to take advantage of your name. You'd had a small talk with Lex about her apparent decision to become a vegetarian, breaking down in frank terms what kind of impact an imbalance diet could have on an omnivore. She'd been shocked to find out that chickens, turkeys and cows were technically opportunistic omnivores to say nothing of various small birds like the Shrike.

At the very least she was thinking harder about it rather than just committing to it without having all the facts. Nicte pointing out that without protein she'd never have been able to build up the muscle she needed to handle larger animals had seemed to put the final nail in that line of thinking. All three of you had been impressed with Nicte's bicep when she flexed (albeit for different reasons). Tim thought she was absolutely cool, while Lex seemed to be sizing her up as a potential role model. You just kissed her breathless when the kids were asleep (you hope).

After giving them a few days to get wowed out by Matanceros, you'd told the two of them over dinner that the next day you had a surprise. One that they had to keep secret afterwards. That had certainly gotten their interest, and you'd emphasized it by offering a pinky swear. Both kids had seized upon the seriousness of the situation, and had eagerly accepted. The next morning you'd loaded them into a helicopter along with Cabot and his mother (who'd arrived the night before) and flew them all over to Sorna.

You couldn't wait to see all of their reactions.

[X][Margaret]Do a short period to see if Cabot spills the beans, then bring Margaret in on the real thrust of InGen's actual goals.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

In the days leading up to the reveal you'd had Ray monitoring Cabot's emails and phone calls discreetly; one of the security features the HELIX OS offered to you by channeling all of your communications through specific nodes of the system. You didn't understand much more beyond that, you'd just smiled and nodded.

At the end of the month, Ray had reported to you in a closed-door meeting.

"Okay, so the kid makes me feel like I need to wash my hands after shaking his, but that's because he's a suit, nothin' personal against him. I'll give him this much, he ain't said anything to his mother in calls or emails."

"And he hasn't sent any letters out either, the courier service we use for mail would have told me. Nor asked any guests to take anything. Security has been keeping a discreet eye on him." Muldoon had been tailing him between his other duties and had reported that Cabot seemed to be genuinely fascinated by the dinosaurs, though apparently the Dilophasaurs had taken to hiding in their enclosure and jumping out simply to scare him, given the loud trilling after each instance, and a distinct lack of attempting to hit him with their venom.

Speaking of that, you'd found a way to help the Dilophosaurus with getting rid of built up venom while providing both an attraction and being an enrichment toy for them all in one. It was with that in mind that you had extended an invitation to Margaret to meet you on Sorna. Having your niece and nephew with you probably put her a bit off guard as well.

They'd both been a bit intimidated by the older woman, but Margaret had shown how adept she was at charming people, coming across as a friendly matronly woman rather than overbearing and intimidating. You're pretty sure Cabot was taking notes, he'd not been interacting with the kids much over these past few days, and what little he had been had been pretty awkward for both sides.

You touched down outside the containment area for the Dilophosaurs, which had Cabot hiding a grimace and heaving a put-upon sigh. You were focused on Margaret and the kids. "So, the reason I've asked the three of you here today is because I want to get your input on another project that InGen has been working on. One that is a bit more... ambitious, than the Revival Ranch." Cabot snorted, but didn't say anything else. His mother shot him a curious look, while the kids were practically vibrating in excitement.

As you approached the viewing platform, you raised a hand in greeting for Howard Black, the head keeper for the Dilophosaurus. "Howard, how're they enjoying their new toy?" A broad grin split the man's heavily tanned face and beard, revealing a pearly white smile.

"I've gotta hand it to ya boss, I was a little dubious at first but they're loving it." You faintly heard a high "ding" followed by an excited trill coming from inside the enclosure. Margaret's head tilted to the side, brows knitting in confusion.

"What on earth...?" You discretely shared a fistbump with Cabot, who seemed to be rather pleased to be getting one over on his mother in this way, after dealing with his normal nerves regarding the Dilos. You smiled widely.

"Sounds like they're already putting it through their paces. C'mon up." You lead the way through the doors into the air-conditioned observation deck. Directly in view was a large clearing that had a small pond in it, in the middle of which had been erected a pole with an array of arms that held spinning targets on them. And as you approached the window, one of the targets was sent spinning by a glob of mucus, another high "ding" sounding.

At the edges of the pond, a group of Dilophosaurus hooted and chirped as a small pneumatic cannon at the top of the pole rotated before it shot a tidbit of meat towards the one that had made the shot. The small group had been spread around the edges of the pond, so there wasn't a scrum to get to the winner before they'd already eaten their prize. With the way the targets were angled around the body of the pole it meant that they had to spread themselves out in order to get a good angle on their chosen target.

Margaret sat down heavily on one of the available seats. "My god. Those are... are..."

"Dinosaurs!" Tim and Lex both cheered heartily. Cabot was grinning, before he jumped with a yelp as a splat of mucus hit the observation window where he was standing.

"Gah! Dangit Red!" One of the Dilos with more red than any other color in their frill hooted and chittered, sounding eerily like laughter.

"Every time. I swear that that Dinosaur has it out for me..." Cabot grumbled. Howard grinned again as he clapped Cabot on the shoulder.

"Nah, just means that he likes you for some reason kiddo. The Dilos are pretty playful and they all have favorite targets to 'prank'. Diana there never misses a chance to spook me if she can," he indicated one of the larger Dilos, the sexual dimorphism between males and females having the males generally be smaller with much more vivid colors on their frills while the females were about ten percent larger and tended to have darker hues interspersed with spots. "Diana" had a spot that looked somewhat like a star on both frills bracketing her face.

"Well, I have to say Elliot, you certainly weren't kidding about this being more ambitious than the Revival Ranch." Her eyes sparkled in a way that reminded you of your father, a sparkle that was in your niece and nephews eyes as well. "What other dinosaurs have you brought back?"

Oh yeah, this had been an excellent idea.

[X][Dilophotox]This is a chance to start getting a return on the dinosaurs without revealing their existence quite yet. More money is always needed to keep the lights on after all. Creating a new division of InGen to handle any other further medical discoveries is probably a good idea overall.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

As you rode the monorail to the next area you intended to stop (and you'd already okayed an idea that Nicte had for having specificMonorail cars for moving Rangers and Keepers around the Park, complete with side-lines for guest trains to move onto in an emergency) Cabot handed you a report just to look over. With Tim and Lex both distracted by the scenery, you took a moment to look over the profit indicators for your newest income stream.

Dilophotox was already showing some real promise as a safer alternative to Botox; but there were some other avenues of research they were pursuing in terms of seeing if they could perhaps distill some kind of anesthetic or something else that might be able to stimulate nerves. There was a lot of medical terminology that even you weren't familiar with. But honestly that was the point of spinning off MedGen to handle any possible medical applications for the technology that you were developing here.

Naturally the same stringent screening processes put together for Jurassic Park had been applied to MedGen, with some of the more medically inclined researchers from the Park forming the core team. You'd relied on Cabot's help to pick the right executive to head the new spinoff, as you knew that trying to handle two major corporations would be well beyond your capabilities.

MedGen makes a splash as it enters the medical research field. Promising products that offer a safer alternative to Botox hinted at as their flagship product. Allergan, secure in their 50 year control of the market, welcomed the competition.

[X][Revival]Stellar's Sea Cow-ovitch. Apparently word of the request that the government had made of your company had made its way to Moscow. You've received a couriered letter requesting for you to revive the Stellar's Sea Cow for the government of the USSR. While it might get some people ranting in DC, you're a long way from there and it's hardly a request to create weapons...

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

You'd stopped off at the tank where Henry was watching the Manatee mothers with their oversized offspring as you continued the tour. Transporting the mothers from Florida hadn't been easy but thankfully compared to moving Rexy or one of the rapidly growing Stegosaurs around it had been fairly easy to figure out the logistics. There had been a couple of protestors at the airport when your people took responsibility for the animals; but thankfully no one had done anything stupid.

Lex and Tim both were incredibly excited as Wu coached them through feeding one of the infants from a bottle. The man was shockingly good with children. While the Manatee mothers could provide nourishing milk to their normal calves, Sea Cows were almost an order of magnitude larger and needed even more nutrients and especially fats to build up their blubber. The "milk" was practically a thick cream, and both Tim and Lex giggled at the foamy "mustache" forming on the infant Sea Cow's lips, while Wu looked on with a fond smile.

Margaret was off to one side, gently tossing quartered heads of cabbage to the adults as they lazily jostled against one another like massive bumper cars made of marshmallow. Given the growth rate and age that Sea Cows could supposedly reach according to historical records, it was going to be a while before you had a full breeding population available. So in the interim you'd be holding them at the Revival Ranch. Getting paid twice was certainly nice when you could pull it off.

The payment that the Russian Government had initially offered was unexpected, as in lieu of a full payment in cash, they attempted to offer you a couple "demilitarized" cruisers from their navy, along with Amber-mining rights to various sites in Russia and Siberia though those were of... dubious enforceability in some cases. The Costa Rican Government had immediately vetoed the idea of any non-military facility having access to that kind of firepower; and frankly you were a little scared to contemplate what Muldoon would do with them given the chance.

Instead you'd given them a list of geneticists that Henry and Laura had compiled with a request for them to be remanded into your employ or at least given a reference and a chance to speak with them. While it had been a bit difficult to get it past the State Department, with McCarthyism finally dying out (for the most part) it meant that you had managed to add three out of the list of twenty scientists that Laura and Henry had compiled. When asked about the others, you'd been rather awkwardly stone-walled by the Russian Government. You had a sneaking suspicion that they'd been silenced for not falling in line, some of the things you'd heard about the Russian "science" scene had been pretty brutal, especially from Sorkin.

Seriously, how stupid did you have to be to think that you could plant Spring Wheat during the winter and somehow force it to become Winter Wheat? It just wasn't possible, and anyone with two working brain cells should have been aware of it. It's like planting a pear tree in the fall and expecting apples!

Ah well, their loss was your gain. Especially as you began to eye cloning animals from Arctic and Sub-Arctic conditions in the past.

Added Russian scientists to the payroll:

• Sergey Aphanasievich Zimov - Russian geophysicist that specializes in Arctic and Subarctic ecology.
• Armen Leonovich Takhtajan - A famous botanist who first came up with the Takhtajan system for classifying flowering plants.Still incredibly spry at the age of 70.
• Alexey Matveyevich Olovnikov - a Russian geneticist who first discovered telomeres and their importance in aging as well as causing cancer.

New genomes available:

• Olorotitan
• Amurosaurus
• Nipponosaurus
• Wooly Mammoth
• Smilodon
• Wooly Rhino
• Cave Lion
• Short-faced Bear

As you contemplated the new additions to the staff, Henry had come over with the children both bearing the now emptied bottles. "So, given that you've let the kids in on the big project, I thought it would be nice to offer them the chance to help me pick which dinosaur we brought back next." Tim and Lex were both practically vibrating with excitement once again as you nodded, taking the files that Cabot handed you in a move so smooth it likely looked practiced (it was, Cabot wanted to make sure his mom was aware that you were working together as a well-oiled team).

"Well then, here's what we've got to choose from kiddos."

[][Wu Next Step]Utahraptors. With the Dilophosaurus growing quickly and with only a few hiccups as they're acclimated to their handlers and the enclosure, you think that you might be able to pull this off. Probably the biggest "medium" sized carnivore that you're going to be bringing back. With the knowledge gleaned from the Dilophosaurus it should make tailoring containment and handling for the species much easier. Like the Dilophosaurus they would become big enough to see a person as prey, and if the theories about them hunting in packs are correct, you'd be looking at something as or even more dangerous to raise than lions, let alone the wolves or hyenas that these animals have been compared to.

[ ][Wu Next Step] Spinosaurus. Not as big as Rexy is projected to grow, and theorized to be a piscivore, the large sail on its back makes it stand out prominently from the T-Rex. If it's an ambush predator like crocodilians, then it shouldn't be too hard to contain, but there's always the possibility that you're wrong. But it'll still be good to have at least one other big predator for the park as an attraction; they're usually one of the "must see" animals at normal zoos.

[ ][Wu Next Step]Pachycephalosaurus. These unique dinosaurs with their heavily armored skulls would make for an interesting addition to the park. If the supposition about them using those skulls akin to the hons of Bighorn sheep were true then they'd make for excellent entertainment for the guests during the breeding seasons. As well as allow them to co-exist with some of the larger species of herbivores.

[ ][Wu Next Step]Iguanodon. The OG dinosaur, the one whose discovery kicked off the birth of paleontology as a science, as well as birthing the science of reconstructing dead species. A large herbivore with thumb-like spikes that were originally mistaken for being a horn-like growth similar to the Rhinoceros Iguana, the current mostly-agreed upon theory is that they were instead habitual quadrupedal creatures that rose up on their strong hind legs when they needed to fight or reach something high up, much like modern bears.

The files that you had available all included pictures with the geneticist's best approximations of what the dinosaurs may look like. There have been quite a few changes from the early days when your father's dream was still just starting to take shape. Time notices one immediately.

"Why does that one have feathers?" He pointed at the picture for the Utahraptor. You grinned down at him.

"Because we found out something really cool about some dinosaurs. They actually had feathers! Or at least, they had something like feathers. We'll go visit the first one we hatched that had those after this, okay?" Tim and Lex both nodded, looking intrigued.

---

The kids had been absolutely floored by Rexy, and you couldn't help the grin at their gasps as she heard you give a three-tone whistle, moving out where she could see and be seen in turn. Margaret was shaking slightly, and Cabot helped guide her to a chair in the viewing platform to sit down.

"We're making sure that all the animals on the island are acclimated to humans as caretakers. It means that they're less likely to hurt anyone because to them a human is associated with care. The dinosaurs overall are pretty smart, and the predators seem to be a lot more intelligent than we had initially expected. We've been giving them different engagement toys to help their minds develop and keep them entertained." As you spoke, there was a two-tone "ding-dong" from a hatch near the viewing platform. Rexy immediately turned her attention towards it, her protofeathers fluffing outwards in anticipation.

The hatch opened and her favorite engagement toy was launched out, the tough rubberized plastic able to handle the forces easily. Rexy practically pounced like a cat, leaping forward after it and ignoring the hatch as it closed.

"We use a launch mechanism because it helps stimulate her instincts to chase prey, and because it means that she's not going to spend time investigating the hatch and potentially breaking it. We're also continuing to hand-feed her and groom her, which means that she's still seeing people as caretakers, and not as snacks. We're hoping we can continue that with the other dinosaurs, and so far it seems to be working."

Lex looked at you excitedly. "Can we feed her?" Tim looked excited as well, while Margaret's eyes widened slightly. You shake your head.

"Sorry hun, after this she's generally resting, but it's also when she gets some grooming from handlers. If you follow every instruction that I and they give you, I'll see about letting you pet her." You see Margaret's look of alarm and give her a reassuring smile. "It's not something I'm planning on making that available to guests in general or even VIPs usually."

Margaret nodded, before looking thoughtful. "Having some kind of petting zoo might be a viable attraction though, by using small herbivores and possibly carnivores if they're well-socialized. Or at least have some way to keep them from harming the guests."

[ ][Tiny Zoo]Sounds like a good idea! There are hundreds of small dinosaurs; and it would also serve as a way for new additions to the project to "cut their teeth" so to speak. It's just a matter of figuring out which dinosaurs would be safest to use for such an attraction. It would take time to determine which species were best suited to this, but those that aren't good for general interaction could instead become a kind of equivalent to a reptile house.

[ ][Tiny Zoo]It may not be a good idea... While there are dozens of zoos that offer similar attractions, you're not sure if having a "petting zoo" would be a good idea. A lot of the smaller therapods probably would get overstressed by the constant attention, and frankly you need to think of the health of the animals.

---

[X][Sorkin Next Step] Brachiosaurus. One of the biggest of the Big Boys, and along with the T-Rex, Stegosaurus and Triceratops one of the most widely recognized dinosaurs of all time. Much like Rexy is your stress test for large carnivores, these behemoths would set the ceiling on how big the herbivores you bring back would be. You're also well aware that very often herbivores are much more dangerous than carnivores. It's the Hippo and the Cape Buffalo that kill the most people each year in Africa, not the Wild Dog or Lion.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

The next stop had been the Nursery, where you had met up with Nicte. Giving her a chaste kiss (that nonetheless made Tim make gagging sounds), you smiled at her, one she returned.

"So how're you liking the tour so far?" She bent down slightly so she wasn't quite towering over Tim and Lex, helping put them a bit more at ease.

"It's been really awesome!" Tim had exclaimed. Lex had nodded before adding her own two cents.

"It's been really cool, but I kinda wish I knew more about the dinosaurs. Watching them is great but if you don't know anything about them it can get a little boring if they're not doing something exciting," your niece shrugged.

You made a mental note to add infographics to the various exhibit viewing platforms. Information about both the species when it was alive, as well as facts discovered by the Park staff. Along with pictures showing the various dinosaurs growing up. And perhaps a few items for posing for photos as well...

You take an offered notepad and quickly write down the core ideas there, handing it back to Cabot who begins to look it over. Good, he'd get it to the PR guys and they'd handle the heavy lifting.

Entering the building proper, Lex had to stifle a squeal at the sight of half a dozen infant Brachiosauruses that were milling about in the biome that you'd originally used to house the Plateosaurs. Acclimation for smaller species as they became larger was important before they became too big. From everything your team had dug up and crosschecked against the genetic assays, the Brachiosaurs would reach their full growth in 30 years; but they were going to grow fast.

"Ohmygosh they're so cute!" Lex finally managed to articulate. Tim was staring with wide eyes. Laura gave an awkward smile as she gave an equally awkward wave. It was pretty obvious she didn't know how to act around kids.

"If you like, we have some branches with leaves to feed them." Lex and Tim were at the small box with leaf-laden branches so fast you're pretty sure they bent some law of physics. Laura handed them both branches and instructed them on how to hold them steady so the infants could get at the leaves; which had been further smeared with a nutrient paste to ensure that they were getting the caloric intake that they needed.

Laura almost eagerly handed off her own branch to Nicte as she and the kids continued to feed the infants, before scurrying over to you. "I'd like to go back to my lab now, I'm not really good with kids." You bit back your first, second and third responses, and instead took the files that Cabot handed you.

"Well you're in luck. Here's the latest batch of requests. A few are getting back to basics, but they're still going to need total focus."

[ ][Revival]Auroch. The ancestor of all breeds of modern day cattle, Aurochs were larger with massive racks of horns. There's been some talk about trying to breed them out of their descendants, but honestly this way is much faster and more assured to work.

[ ][Revival] Irish Elk. As one of the largest deer that ever lived, the government of Great Britain is attempting to get some good will with Northern Ireland by reviving one of Ireland's most iconic extinct animals.

[ ][Revival] Hairy Rhino. The Government of Indonesia has reached out with a request to help them re-introduce the Hairy Rhino back into more of its home range, along with increasing the genetic diversity of the species.

[ ][Revival] Pinta Island Tortoise. The Ecuadorian Government has reached out to you in regards to revitalizing the Galapagos Islands ecosystem. Specifically by breeding new generations of the Pinta Island Tortoise to replenish the numbers ravaged by sailors, rats and disease over the years.

[ ][Revival]Costa Rican Golden Toad. A request from the Costa Rican government regarding one of their own species. While efforts would be made to reintroduce the amphibian to its known home range, the officials you spoke with seemed more intent on ensuring that there were breeding pairs spread to zoos throughout the world to ensure that it never dies out again even in the face of habitat loss.

---

[X][Kon's Fate] Divide and Kon-quer. Leaving these two in the same division would be a massive mistake. Put Daniel in charge of the Robotics division and overseeing the development of some of their projects. This Bio Robotic Assistance Droid sounds interesting and the programming involved flies way, way way over your head. But they could be a good way to get help to injured park-goers, or even be used as a way for visitors to basically walk amongst the dinosaurs without actually being in danger. The elder Kon would be placed as a division head for the PR department where he could oversee the Revival Ranch's publicity.

Click to expand...

Click to shrink...

As Lex and Tim napped after the exertions of the day, you sat down with Margaret and Cabot. Nicte was staying with the kids after singing them a lullaby that her mother had taught her. The older woman seemed to be mulling something over.

"I must say Elliot, this is... far, far more ambitious a project than I ever expected even out of someone like John. And I also would like to congratulate the both of you for the well-coordinated tour. Very well done, both of you." You and Cabot got matching pleased smiles on your faces.

"That being said, how far are you going to push this? While I recognize that dinosaurs are going to be a huge draw, eventually the public will get bored. When that happens are you simply going to keep cloning new species? What's the long-term viability plan?"

"Right now the plan is to use MedGen's research and patent income as supplementary income streams for the park. Past that... while one of the former stockholders making the 'suggestion' that we open up a new park focusing on Ice Age animals when we were already in the middle of getting things set up for the initial park was the straw that broke the camel's back for me... Well once Jurassic Park has the majority of the bugs and kinks worked out, we may look into purchasing an island in more northern waters, probably from Canada; but there are some options near Finland, Sweden and Norway that I've got some people scouting. We'll-" You cut off as your phone rang. Sighing, you moved over and picked it up, giving Margaret a "one second" gesture.

"Hello? Ah, Mr. Kon to what do I owe the... I'm sorry, who was there? And he was telling you what? I appreciate the fact that you're willing to tell me this. No, no I understand. And yes, I did see the schematics for the BRAD prototypes. I've got a contact that may be able to help you on the programming side, but I'll warn you now he's a bit eccentric. Yes, I'll earmark it as an extension of your budget; I already know that their work is top notch. Right. And yes, I already approved the vacation request. Yes, Nicte made sure that I have a proper suit picked out, we'll be there. Alright. Thanks again Daniel."

You hung up the phone, looking over to Margaret and Cabot. "That was Daniel Kon. On the bright side, it seems that splitting him off from his father was the right call. He's really diving into the development of those aid robots, and he uh, invited Nicte and I to his wedding later next year. I guess his dad was putting a lot of pressure on him, and he's relaxed a lot now that he doesn't have the entire company's future riding on his shoulders." He was also a damn good kareoke singer, but that wasn't something that really needed to be mentioned.

You'll admit that you'd gone on a bit of a charm offensive once you'd divided the Kons. Yamamoto was honestly a bit scary about how intensely he could immerse himself into his projects. Daniel on the other hand... well you'd honestly felt some kinship with the man. Both of you had fathers that had mile-high expectations and larger-than life personalities though they had expressed in wildly different manners. Both of you had had your lives upended by unexpected forces. The resentment had taken a couple of weeks to fade, but you'd gone back and forth between the San Diego-based robotics division and Sorna over several months, and really once Daniel got into the swing of a project his passion for his chosen field really shone, even if he'd been groomed to become an executive by his father.

Granted, it had taken a couple of bar crawls and an exasperated Nicte bailing both you and he out of the Los Angeles city drunk tank after a bar brawl with some racist pricks, but honestly it had worked out for the best. You and Daniel had really bonded over mimicking the expressions of the guys that you'd laid out while the buzz wore off. Made a couple of short-term friends in the tank too. But it also meant that Daniel now trusted you enough to inform you when certain things happened.

Turning to look at Margaret and Cabot, you had a pinched expression on your face. "So, apparently my least favorite cousin seems to think that he's got a right to start snooping around outside of his lane. Peter Ludlow was just at Daniel's office. He used his position as a Vice-Director for Human Resources to justify his visit. But he was hinting heavily to Daniel that he 'knew what it was like to get passed over for what should have been yours'." You rolled your eyes as you made air quotes.

You'd never gotten on with Peter. He reminded you of someone trying to ape your father's life, all the mistakes included. The man was a workaholic who didn't spend much if any time with his family, and seemed to think that he should have been the "obvious" pick for the new CEO of InGen. The only reason that you hadn't let him go when you took over was because his work was actually efficiently done and effectively run. You thought that he'd let things go, though the fact that he'd not jumped ship when you'd cut InGen from the Board of Directors hadn't really registered back then.

Margaret pursed her lips. "I've met the man. He seems to think that he has John's charisma when instead he tends to come off as condescending. He's also got the habit of thinking he's the smartest person in the room when it comes to business." Cabot shrugged from his own chair. His position as your aide meant that he generally went where you went, and so hadn't had reason to meet with Peter.

"Obviously, he seems to think that he can get the younger Kon's favor. He may be trying to form a power bloc for an internal coup of sorts?" Cabot offered. You shook your head.

"Peter's a lot of things, but he's not really cutthroat enough to make a move like that. If we were still beholden to investors, he may have tried something like that even in the face of dad's will. But this is out of character for him. He likes to plan things out to the very last inch; I'm pretty sure he schedules his bathroom breaks ahead of time," you finish wryly.

"So Elliot, how do you plan on dealing with this challenge?" Margaret's doing the stone-faced thing. Oh joy, another test. Cabot gives you a helpless shrug before taking a sip of his soda. Right, ball was in your court.

[ ][Ludlow]Remove him. The man has shown inclinations towards trying to ascend the InGen power structure even though it no longer adheres so rigidly to his beloved corporate norms. Excise him before he gains more power.

[ ][Ludlow]Look into him. Peter's not someone that would normally make such a risky move. What's changed? Keep things looking normal while you have your team investigate him to see what shifted the balance.

[ ][Ludlow]Confront him. Fuck it, and fuck all the corporate bullshit. Bring him out to Matanceros and confront him there while his family is enjoying the Revival Ranch. Take the initiative and ask him point-blank what the hell his game is.

---

AN: So, got this one out, it fought me in a few areas, shockingly the Kons were one but I think I managed to handle it in the end. More butterflys, yay!