Breakfast and a Show

Ch 05 - Breakfast and A Show

A huge buffet of raw meats from various large and small animals were laid out for Hammond’s guests. Birds, mammals and any number of swamp grasses were flowing as only pounds of raw flesh and vegetation can when no expense is spared.

Dr. Grant snapped at some fresh bison while Ellie had some lean chicken. Hammond ran around the breakfast table with a toy human in his hands, “I am the super cleaner! Whee! Look at me suck up all that gas! Whee!”

Tim and Lex slowly walked in. Donald had their bags. Hammond looked at the group and said loudly, “You ARE BEST FRIENDS! Starting in 1, 2, 3 and NOW! HA! BEST FRIENDS! Now, Dr. Alan and Dr. Ellie will show my grandkids why my park is SO KEWL!”

Alan’s eyes widened, “Hammond, I’m horrible with kids. Is this why I’m here? You should have seen what happened to the last kid that spoke to me. I don’t think he’ll ever eat FruityMeatChunks cereal again.”

Hammond looked with tears in his eyes, “MOMMY! Dr. Grant is mean!”

Hammond’s surrogate mother introduced herself, “I’m Susan and I’m sorry for Johnny’s behavior. Things at the park aren’t working as well as they should. I think he wants you to see the park from the eyes of children. He wants to make sure that children, his actual audience for the park, are delighted and well informed after their visit.”

Alan complained, “I can’t handle children, Susan. I’m just too far removed from the real dinopod world. My head is always in the dirt. I need to put every hero human back into the earth and I won’t stop until it’s done.”

Hammond considered this and countered, “Nope! BEST FRIENDS are BEST FRIENDS! You guys should hang out with Dr. Malcolm! He’s got some silly notions called ‘adding’ that he can’t stop talking about! Hah!”

Susan asked Hammond to stop interrupting and to finish his meat.

Tim slowly sat down into his chair. He’d been able to sit and stand for years and started to briefly jog if needed. His sister was obviously faster at her age. They both looked up from faces full of raw meat and said through swallows, “Nice to meet you. We should be done soon.”

Alan was about to complain again but Ellie stopped him, “Remember, we get through this and have ten years of internment ahead. No more begging at the Human Internment Board for more funds.”

Alan sighed and wryly thanked Ellie. After a moment he said, “Let’s watch the park demo while these kids eat.”

Hammond pointed to a doorway and said, “Dr. Alan and Dr. Ellie! Go to the DinoSir DNA show over there for a demo! It’s so much fun! He’s so KEWL!”

Alan thanked Hammond and he escorted Ellie to the DinoSir DNA theater. There were three rows with seat restraints facing a large silver screen. Alan and Ellie looked at the seats. Alan had four back flanges and Ellie had five spikes on her back. They found a couple seats that had the correct holes and moved them as needed to fit their backs. Both sat comfortably with their back appendages correctly supported.

The lights dimmed and the movie started. An animated DNA helix with a dinopod head appeared on the screen.

“Hi everyone, I’m DinoSir DNA!” said the very-animated and also physically animated helix/dinopod melange.

“As you all know, DNA is the instructions that every creature on earth uses. Four base pairs are just like the base eight math we all know and love today thanks to Dr. Malcolm!” the helix wildly offered next.

The screen showed a helix and multiple species, including dinopods, with arrows pointing to each. “It’s like a recipe! A recipe that we can read and if we cook it just right?”

“Well, we could make another you!” said the animation as the screen showed the audience back to them with fake human heads over each person.

“Ha ha ha! Well, maybe not exactly another you! But what we think you would have been like, if you were a noble ape, based on all the research fine scientists have done to study our ape ancestors!” the unceasing animation continued.

“Here at Quaternary Park, our founder John Hammond collected DNA from amber,” the helix offered as the screen displayed a large yellow stone with an insect trapped inside.

“You see, as a human would be walking around, a mosquito would bite the poor helpless savior” and the screen showed a bug biting an ape on the neck.

“That blood you see the mosquito draw from the clueless beast? That blood is full of ape DNA!” and the screen offered a diagram of the extraction.

“Then, the insect would be trapped in amber or fossilized tree sap! Forever held in stasis like Han Meatlo, the famous Star Wars character, in carbonite,” said the unstoppable animation.

“Then our scientists carefully extract that old human DNA!” as the screen showed a drill moving closer to the bug trapped in amber.

“You see that ancient DNA can help us reanimate humans today! We simply find some old monkey bones, drop a bit of old human DNA in there, and bury it all in the sand. Let’s see it for ourselves right now! Let’s visit the birthing lab.”

The screen dropped and the entire theater moved to the left. The silver screen was now a window. Alan and Ellie could now see the laboratories that were employed to create the fauna of the park.

A large patch of dirt sat in the middle of the room while multiple dinopods in white coats looked on with interest.

“Every day here at Quaternary Park, new human species are revived! Today, we expect the re-emergence of a new species!” offered DinoSir DNA who was now just a voice narrating.

Alan looked confused, “Humans alive now? How can that be?!”

Ellie hushed him, “Look at the ground, Alan! Something is happening.”

The ground in the lab had a small crack open, then some dirt flew up. The white-coated dinopods wrote in their notepads furiously.

A decayed human body pulled itself up from the dirt and lay bare on the ground. It rested there still for a moment. Earthworms, bacteria, fungi and deoxidation chemicals worked to repair the new human’s flesh. Artificial sunlight was turned on to complete the healing.

Slowly the bare ape’s eyes opened and it said, “FOOOOOTBAAAAALLLLLL! FOOOOOOOOOOTBAAAAAALLLLL! FOOOOOOOOTBALLLLLL!”

Ellie happily added, “It’s an American Football Fan! I can see the head dents and face paint!”

Alan squinted and added, “Yeah, I’d expect dents everywhere and ‘FOOOOOTIE!’ if it was a European Football Fan.”

Ellie gushed, “This is just amazing, Alan. We have to see the rest. Where are those kids? Let’s get on a tour!”