Jurassic Park (13 page)

    Tim nodded, and told Grant about his family's last trip to the Museum of Natural History. His father had looked at a skeleton and said, "That's a big one."

    Tim had said, "No, Dad, that's a medium-size one, a camptosaurus."

    "Oh, I don't know. Looks pretty big to me."

    "It's not even full-grown, Dad."

    His father squinted at the skeleton. "What is it, Jurassic?"

    "Jeez. No. Cretaceous."

    "Cretaceous? What's the difference between Cretaceous and Jurassic?"

    "Only about a hundred million years," Tim said.

    "Cretaceous is older?"

    "No, Dad, Jurassic is older."

    "Well," his father said, stepping back, "it looks pretty damn big to me." And he turned to Tim for agreement. Tim knew he had better agree with his father, so he just muttered something. And they went on to another exhibit-

    Tim stood in front of one skeleton-Tyrannosaurus rex, the mightiest predator the earth had ever known-for a long time. Finally his father said, "What are you looking at?"

    "I'm counting the vertebrae," Tim said.

    "The vertebrae?"

    "In the backbone."

    I know what vertebrae are," his father said, annoyed. He stood there a while longer and then he said, "Why are you counting them?"

    "I think they're wrong. Tyrannosaurs should only have thirty-seven vertebrae in the tall. This has more."

    "You mean to tell me," his father said, "that the Museum of Natural History has a skeleton that's wrong? I can't believe that."

    "It's wrong," Tim said.

    His father stomped off toward a guard in the corner. "What did you do now?" his mother said to Tim.

    "I didn't do anything," Tim said. "I just said the dinosaur is wrong, that's all."

    And then his father came back with a funny look on his face, because of course the guard told him that the tyrannosaurus had too many vertebrae in the tail.

    "How'd you know that?" his father asked.

    "I read it," Tim said.

    "That's pretty amazing, son," he said, and he put his hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze. "You know how many vertebrae belong in that tail. I've never seen anything like it. You really do have dinosaurs on the brain."

    And then his father said he wanted to catch the last half of the Mets game on TV, and Lex said she did, too, so they left the museum. And Tim didn't see any other dinosaurs, which was why they had come there in the first place. But that was how things happened in his family.

How things used to happen in his family, Tim corrected himself. Now that his father was getting a divorce from his mother, things would probably be different. His father had already moved out, and even though it was weird at first, Tim liked it. He thought his mother had a boyfriend, but he couldn't be sure, and of course he would never mention it to Lex. Lex was heartbroken to be separated from her father, and in the last few weeks she had become so obnoxious that-

    "Was it 5027?" Grant said.

    "I'm sorry?" Tim said.

    "The tyrannosaurus at the museum. Was it 5027?"

    "Yes," Tim said. "How'd you know?"

    Grant smiled. "They've been talking about fixing it for years. But now it may never happen."

    "Why is that?"

    "Because of what is taking place here," Grant said, "on your grandfather's island."

    Tim shook his head. He didn't understand what Grant was talking about. "My mom said it was just a resort, you know, with swimming and tennis."

    "Not exactly," Grant said. "I'll explain as we walk along."

Now I'm a damned babysitter, Ed Regis thought unhappily, tapping his foot as he waited in the visitor center. That was what the old man had told him him: You watch my kids like a hawk, they're your responsibility for the weekend.

    Ed Regis didn't like it at all. He felt degraded. He wasn't a damn babysitter. And, for that matter, he wasn't a damned tour guide, even for VIPs. He was the head of public relations for Jurassic Park, and he had much to prepare between now and the opening, a year away. Just to coordinate with the PR firms in San Francisco and London, and the agencies in New York and Tokyo, was a full-time job-especially since the agencies couldn't yet be told what the resort's real attraction was. The firms were all designing teaser campaigns, nothing specific, and they were unhappy. Creative people needed nurturing. They needed encouragement to do their best work. He couldn't waste his time taking scientists on tours.

    But that was the trouble with a career in public relations-nobody saw you as a professional. Regis had been down here on the island off and on for the past seven months, and they were still pushing odd jobs on him. Like that episode back in January. Harding should have handled that. Harding, or Owens, the general contractor. Instead, it had fallen to Ed Regis. What did he know about taking care of some sick workman? And now he was a damn tour guide and babysitter. He turned back and counted the heads. Still one short.

    Then, in the back, he saw Dr. Sattler emerge from the bathroom. "All right, folks, let's begin our tour on the second floor."

Tim went with the others, following Mr. Regis up the black suspended staircase to the second floor of the building. They passed a sign that read:

CLOSED AREA

AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY

BEYOND THIS POINT

    Tim felt a thrill when he saw that sign. They walked down the secondfloor hallway. One wall was glass, looking out onto a balcony with palm trees in the light mist. On the other wall were stenciled doors, like offices: PARK WARDEN ... GUEST SERVICES ... GENERAL MANAGER. . . .

    Halfway down the corridor they came to a glass partition marked with another sign:

[picture]

    Underneath were more signs:

CAUTION

Teratogenic Substances

Pregnant Women Avoid Exposure

To This Area

DANGER

Radioactive Isotopes In Use

Carcinogenic Potential

    Tim grew more excited all the time. Teratogenic substances! Things that made monsters! It gave him a thrill, and he was disappointed to hear Ed Regis say, "Never mind the signs, they're just up for legal reasons. I can assure you everything is perfectly safe." He led them through the door. There was a guard on the other side. Ed Regis turned to the group.

    "You may have noticed that we have a minimum of personnel on the island. We can run this resort with a total of twenty people. Of course, we'll have more when we have guests here, but at the moment there's only twenty. Here's our control room. The entire park is controlled from here."

    They paused before windows and peered into a darkened room that looked like a small version of Mission Control. There was a vertical glass see-through map of the park, and facing it a bank of glowing computer consoles- Some of the screens displayed data, but most of them showed video images from around the park. There were just two people inside, standing and talking.

    "The man on the left is our chief engineer, John Arnold"-Regis pointed to a thin man in a button-down short-sleeve shirt and tie, smoking a cigarette-"and next to him, our park warden, Mr. Robert Muldoon, the famous white bunter from Nairobi." Muldoon was a burly man in khaki, sunglasses dangling from his shirt pockct. He glanced out at the group, gave a brief nod, and turned back to the computer screens. "I'm sure you want to see this room," Ed Regis said, "but first, let's see how we obtain dinosaur DNA."

The sign on the door said EXTRACTIONS and, like all the doors in the laboratory building, it opened with a security card. Ed Regis slipped the card in the slot; the light blinked; and the door opened.

    Inside, Tim saw a small room bathed in green light. Four technicians in lab coats were peering into double-barreled stereo microscopes, or looking at images on high resolution video screens. The room was filled with yellow stones. The stones were in glass shelves; in cardboard boxes; in large pull-out trays. Each stone was tagged and numbered in black ink.

    Regis introduced Henry Wu, a slender man in his thirties. "Dr. Wu is our chief geneticist. I'll let him explain what we do here."

    Henry Wu smiled. "At least I'll try," he said. "Genetics is a bit complicated. But you're probably wondering where our dinosaur DNA comes from."

    "It crossed my mind," Grant said.

    "As a matter of fact," Wu said, "there are two possible sources. Using the Loy antibody extraction technique, we can sometimes get DNA directly from dinosaur bones."

    "What kind of a yield?" Grant asked.

    "Well, most soluble protein is leached out during fossilization, but twenty percent of the proteins are still recoverable by grinding up the bones and using Loy's procedure. Dr. Loy himself has used it to obtain proteins from extinct Australian marsupials, as well as blood cells from ancient human remains. His technique is so refined it can work with a mere fifty nanograms of material. That's fifty-billionths of a gram."

    "And you've adapted his technique here?" Grant asked.

    "Only as a backup," Wu said. "As you can imagine, a twenty percent yield is insufficient for our work. We need the entire dinosaur DNA strand in order to clone. And we get it here." He held up one of the yellow stones. "From amber-the fossilized resin of prehistoric tree sap."

    Grant looked at Ellie, then at Malcolm.

    "That's really quite clever," Malcolm said, nodding.

    "I still don't understand," Grant admitted.

    "Tree sap," Wu explained, "often flows over insects and traps them. The insects are then perfectly preserved within the fossil. One finds all kinds of insects in amber-including biting insects that have sucked blood from larger animals."

    "Sucked the blood," Grant repeated. His mouth fell open. "You mean sucked the blood of dinosaurs.

    "Hopefully, yes."

    "And then the insects are preserved in amber. . . ." Grant shook his head. "I'll be damned-that just might work."

    "I assure you, it does work," Wu said. He moved to one of the microscopes, where a technician positioned a piece of amber containing a fly under the microscope. On the video monitor, they watched as he inserted a long needle through the amber, into the thorax of the prehistoric fly.

    "If this insect has any foreign blood cells, we may be able to extract them, and obtain paleo-DNA, the DNA of an extinct creature. We won't know for sure, of course, until we extract whatever is in there, replicate it, and test it. That is what we have been doing for five years now. It has been a long, slow process-but it has paid off.

    "Actually, dinosaur DNA is somewhat easier to extract by this process than mammalian DNA. The reason is that mammalian red cells have no nuclei, and thus no DNA in their red cells. To clone a mammal, you must find a white cell, which is much rarer than red cells. But dinosaurs had nucleated red cells, as do modern birds. It is one of the many indications we have that dinosaurs aren't really reptiles at all. They are big leathery birds."

    Tim saw that Dr. Grant still looked skeptical, and Dennis Nedry, the messy fat man, appeared completely uninterested, as if he knew it all already. Nedry kept looking impatiently toward the next room.

    "I see Mr. Nedry has spotted the next phase of our work," Wu said. "How we identify the DNA we have extracted. For that, we use powerful computers."

    They went through sliding doors into a chilled room. There was a loud humming sound. Two six-foot-tall round towers stood in the center of the room, and along the walls were rows of waist-high stainless-steel boxes. "This is our high-tech laundromat," Dr. Wu said. "The boxes along the walls are all Hamachi-Hood automated gene sequencers. They are being run, at very high speed, by the Cray XMP supercomputers, which are the towers in the center of the room. In essence, you are standing in the middle of an incredibly powerful genetics factory."

    There were several monitors, all running so fast it was hard to see what they were showing. Wu pushed a button and slowed one image.

1     GCGTTGCTGG  CGTTTTTCCA  TAGGCTCCGC  CCCCCTGACG  AGCATCACAA  AAATCGACGC

61    GGTGGCGAAA  CCCGACAGGA  CTATAAAGAT  ACCAGGCGTT  TCCCCCTGGA  AGCTCCCTCG

121   TGTTCCGACC  CTGCCGCTTA  CCGGATACCT  GTCCGCCTTT  CTCCCTTCGG  GAAGCCTGGC

181   TGCTCACGCT  GTAGGTATCT  CAGTTCGGTG  TAGGTCGTTC  GCTCCAAGCT  GGGCTGTGTG

241   CCGTTCAGCC  CGACCGCTGC  GCCTTATCCG  GTAACTATCG  TCTTGAGTCC  AACCCGGTAA

301   AGTAGGACAG  GTGCCGGCAG  CGCTCTGGGT  CATTTTCGGC  GAGAACCGCT  TTCGCTGGAG

361   ATCGGCCTGT  CGCTTGCGGT  ATTCGGAATC  TTGCACGCCC  TCGCTCAAGC  CTTCGTCACT

421   CCAAACGTTT  CGGCGAGAAG  CAGGCCATTA  TCGCCGGCAT  GGCGGCCGAC  GCGCTGGGCT

481   GGCGTTCGCG  ACGCGAGGCT  GGATGGCCTT  CCCCATTATG  ATTCTTCTCG  CTTCCGGCGG

541   CCCGCGTTGC  AGGCCATGCT  GTCCAGGCAG  GTAGATGACG  ACCATCAGGG  ACAGCTTCAA

601   CGGCTCTTAC  CAGCCTAACT  TCGATCACTG  GACCGCTGAT  CGTCACGGCG  ATTTATGCCG

661   CACATGGACG  CGTTGCTGGC  GTTTTTCCAT  AGGCTCCGCC  CCCCTGACGA  GCATCACAAA

721   CAAGTCAGAG  GTGGCGAAAC  CCGACAGGAC  TATAAAGATA  CCAGGCGTTT  CCCCCTGGAA

781   GCGCTCTCCT  GTTCCGACCC  TGCCGCTTAC  CGGATACCTG  TCCGCCTTTC  TCCCTTCGGG

841   CTTTCTCAAT  GCTCACGCTG  TAGGTATCTC  AGTTCGGTGT  AGGTCGTTCG  CTCCAAGCTG

901   ACGAACCCCC  CGTTCAGCCC  GACCGCTGCG  CCTTATCCGG  TAACTATCGT  CTTGAGTCCA

961   ACACGACTTA  ACGGGTTGGC  ATGGATTGTA  GGCGCCGCCC  TATACCTTGT  CTGCCTCCCC

1021  GCGGTGCATG  GAGCCGGGCC  ACCTCGACCT  GAATGGAAGC  CGGCGGCACC  TCGCTAACGG

1081  CCAAGAATTG  GAGCCAATCA  ATTCTTGCGG  AGAACTGTGA  ATGCGCAAAC  CAACCCTTGG

1141  CCATCGCGTC  CGCCATCTCC  AGCAGCCGCA  CGCGGCGCAT  CTCGGGCAGC  GTTGGGTCCT

1201  GCGCATGATC  GTGCT.............      CCTGTCGTTG  AGGACCCGGC  TAGGCTGGCG  GGGTTGCCTT

1281  AGAATGAATC  ACCGATACGC  GAGCGAACGT  GAAGCGACTG  CTGCTGCAAA  ACGTCTGCGA

1341  AACATGAATG  GTCTTCGGTT  TCCGTGTTTC  GTAAAGTCTG  GAAACGCGGA  AGTCAGCGCC

    "Here you see the actual structure of a small fragment of dinosaur DNA," Wu said. "Notice the sequence is made up of four basic compounds-adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine. This amount of DNA probably contains instructions to make a single protein-say, a hormone or an enzyme. The full DNA molecule contains three billion of these bases. If we looked at a screen like this once a second, for eight hours a day, it'd still take more than two years to look at the entire DNA strand. It's that big."