Jurassic World: Aftermath

The courtroom had a crowd around it. Reporters, journalists, scientists, and fans, all gathered around.

Those involved in the Jurassic World incident were to appear before Senator Jones to explain what happened on that day, and how over fifty people died, and over five hundred injured.

“Today, people are gathering from across the world to hear from a few people from the Jurassic World incident-“

“…an ‘Indominus Rex.' Cathy, have you heard of such a dinosaur?”

“Robert, I have not. It sounds like a bad name for a CEO of a company if you ask me! Hahah-“

“Hoy es un día de tristeza para el familia de Luciana Carmen Pérez, madre de tres hijos, que murió en el Jurassic World incidente…”

The world had gathered to hear about how the world's most expensive and scientifically advanced theme park had turned into one of the largest crime scenes, and nightmares, of the modern age.

“Alright, everyone, settle down. We are about to start the hearing. Mr. Carl, go on.”

“Thank you Senator. Today, we will hear form Dr. Henry Wu, head genius researcher of InGen. Ms. Claire Dearing, the park's operations manager during the incident, Mr. Owen Grady, one of the veloc- velocity raptors trainers on the-“

“It's velociraptor, Mr. Carl.” Grady spoke into his mike, a small grin on his face. Of mockery. He turned to smile at Claire to his right. She nodded her head, and then looked back at the senators in front of her.

“Yes of course, and Mr. Lowery Cruthers, the last person to remain in the Jurassic World Adventure security offices. Today, all of you present will have to answer for your failures and sins. You will answer questions from various senators about what happened at Jurassic World two months ago, when multiple dangerous, in fact deadly, dinosaurs were on the loose, all of them hostile, resulting in the horrendous deaths of fifty individuals, many of them noble, and patriotic US citizens. Those who perished were from multiple countries, including the USA, Costa Rica, China, England, Italy, France, Mexico, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, and Panama. I will now dictate the ridiculous history of Jurassic World Adventure, beginning with Mr. Hammond's Jurassic Park Adventure incident-“

“Actually, Mr. Carl, I think it best if we just get on with the questioning.”

“Yes of course Senator.”

“Just for the record before we begin, we actually have many individuals present here from the Jurassic Park incident, including Dr. Alan Grant. Dr. Ellie Setler, and Dr. Ian Malcolm. They have not told us their position on World, nor will they required to present it. We also have the niece and nephew of the late Simon Masrani, the owner of Jurassic World who perished in the incident. They inherit his wealth and assets, which includes the park. Family of Mr. John Hammond are not able to appear today, but they are watching via live feed. We also have a few family members related to those who died at Jurassic World. If I have forgotten anything, that should go on record, and be cleared up after the hearing.”

The Senator sighed. Blinked a few times, and sat back in his chair, and grinned, looking straight at the row of well dressed “criminals” before him. The lady next to him leaned over and told him something.

“Ah yes, Mr. Jimmy Fallon is in the audience today as well, who was involved in the park's media outlet and gyro-sphere entertainment. Thank you,” he nodded at the lady next to him. 

She was smiling, and they all looked towards the back of the room, where Mr. Fallon stood up and was waving at everyone around him. Even Mr. Grady turned around and smiled a little. He nodded his head, and turned to face the senators.

“Now, I am Senator Jones, the head of the investigation committee regarding the Jurassic World Adventure incident. I will be the only one questioning you today. I will begin by questioning the person I hold responsible for the incident, Ms. Dearing. Ms. Dearing, please state your name into the microphone, along with profession.”

“Claire Elizabeth Dearing. Chief of Jurassic World Park Operations.” She was dressed to a tee. Her hair had grown out a little, but she looked as fierce as she did when she was directing ferries off the island. That picture was famous, and would be used many times today - either in her defense, or incrimination.

“Thank you. Now, I'm not quite sure how to state this. But do you know why you are here today?”

“Yes.” Claire replied.

The Senators eyebrows went up. “And that is…?” he said shaking his head slightly.

“We are here to answer questions about what happened at Jurassic World.”

“Yes. Is there not an ‘Adventure' in there somewhere. ‘Jurassic World Adventure'?”

“No, just Jurassic World.”

“Ah, okay. I don't know why it says ‘Adventure' on our sheets. Clear that up in the record,” he said pointing at Mr. Carl who was located to his right, to Claire's left.

“Ms. Dearing,” he paused, and frowned. “What the hell happened on that island?”

“Well, a lot of things happened. A dinosaur was accidentally released-“

“One dinosaur? If I remember correctly there were at least multiple dinosaurs on the loose that day.”

Claire looked straight at the senator. “One dinosaur was released accidentally. Other dinosaurs escaped due to a breach in their glass containment, and a few dinosaurs were released to help track down the Indominus Rex. In the end, the Indominus was taken down due to the efforts of myself, Mr. Grady, and Mr. Cruthers.”

The Senator smiled. “And do you consider yourself heroes for such actions? Do you find valiance in your attempts at containment?”

“I think if we did not act, there would have probably been more damage to the park, and to the people at large on the park.”

“Really? Well, I couldn't give a damn about the damage to the park Ms. Dearing, because people died!” He yelled the last part into the microphone.

Claire straightened up and swallowed. 

“I am aware that people died-“

“Over fifty people! There's hasn't even been a official number released! More than five hundred injured, and that hasn't even been clarified either. Let me read off their names I have, if you have forgotten that they exist.” He reached for a piece of paper under the file in front of him. 

“I am aware of the list. I've contacted each family personally to convey my deepest-“

“That doesn't bring them back, does it? Does it?!”

“No.”

“And if I'm correct, your two nephews could have been among this list had they not been ‘saved' be you? Is that right!? Is it?!”

Claire stared at the Senator. She pursed her lips and blinked multiple times.

“Exactly.” He smiled, and placed his hand on his chest. “Excuse my behavior Ms. Dearing. But I now have some statements from people who worked under you who said, before the incident, you were, let me see what these employees said ‘desensitized to number of lives on the park.' That you would, ‘look at numbers, profit margins, and fame rather than safety of the human occupants, or the care of the dinosaurs on the park.'” He paused again. “That was a private statement from a person who worked on the park. I believe this person is actually in the hospital right now. Still recovering. He mentioned the benefits of working at such a park ‘sucks'. There are also some statements here saying the park was a “disappointment,” and that ‘We met Ms. Dearing on our park visit. In my opinion, she should pay more attention to the guests and animals than she does to keep her hair straight in such a humid climate.' Did your nephews post that?” He grinned a little as he looked at Claire.

Claire looked down, her pokerface still intact. Grady saw this.

“You gonna read more things off TripAdvisor, Senator?” Grady spoke into the mic, a small grin creeping across his face.

“Mr. Grady, I do not believe you're in the position to criticize anyone, as your velociraptors happened to kill multiple people after they were released. In fact, its a good time to start with you Mr. Grady-“

“What makes my velociraptors different from, say, a lion trainer, whose lions happened to kill a tourist?”

“Well, glad you-“

“…or better yet, why aren't lifeguards on beaches where shark attacks take place called to a hearing? The discrepancies in this place is ridiculous…”

“Mr. Grady, we will-“

“Call me Owen.”

Some cheers were heard from outside.

“Alright, Owen, we will get back to that soon. Please state your name and profession for the record.”

“Owen Grady. Former head Velociraptor trainer, and current head of the Velociraptor care at Jurassic World.”

“Thank you. Mr. Grady-“

Owen widened his eyes, looking annoyed.

“Owen, ‘current head'? Isn't Jurassic World closed?”

“Not as far as I know. Closed to the public perhaps, but there still some cleaning up to do there.”

“Of course there is. There's a lot of blood and bodies to collect. But as far as I believe, you're going to be unemployed pretty soon. Anyway…”

“I'll just rejoin the Navy.”

“Ah, yes. Let me ask you a question. How did you end up in animal taming?”

“I was hired out of the Navy by InGen. They said they had a opportunity for me. Something that would help the nation. And I thought, what the hell? I had heard about the entire Jurassic initiative before, but I had no idea how far InGen was willing to take it.” 

“And how far was that?”

“I'm not sure. Ask Dr. Wu. He's knee deep in these strange operations, aren't you Hen-,” Owen leaned forward to look at Dr. Wu further down to his right. Dr. Wu keep looking forward.

“InGen. I'l ask Dr. Wu later on. But, how did your Navy help you tame dinosaurs?”

“Oh, I didn't tame them. I built a relationship with them. Almost in the same way Pavlov did. Except the raptors don't think about food all the time.”

“Relationship?”

“A trust relationship, yes. It's reasonable if such a relationship is baffling to a politician like yourself.”

“I-“ The Senator stopped, and stared right at Grady. Grady stared right back at him.

“Your silence is comforting.”

The Senator looked around him, grinned, and then scoffed. “Hm, yeah. So, according to this report, obtained by NBC News, you ‘led' the velociraptors to hunt the, T-Rex?”

“The I-Rex, yes.” 

“I-Rex, yes. Actually, lets go a little further back in the day.”

“Be my guest.”

Some people began chattering in the back, and some laughing could be heard from outside.

The Senator fake-smiled. “Can you tell us at about, what time did you and Ms. Dearing go after the T-Rex, I mean, I-Rex, initially?”

“Well. It was about when the, the sun was about right here in the sky“ it was using his hands to explain the position of the sun, “and we were right here, if you have a map, I could point out the position, but the ground was right there, and the sun was hot and-“

“A time please, Mr. Grady.”

“…the sun was sort of behind the trees at- I need to measure this angle. Does anyone have a quadrant” Grady smiled at Claire, and turned about to the audience, most of whom began to laugh.

“A time, Mr. Grady! Tell us a time, or you will be excused for a later time!”

“I'm sorry, I don't have the best memory-“ 

“Ah yes, so we will move o-“

“But it was at 15:42, 3:42 PM, Central Standard Time.”

The Senator stared at Grady. Grady stared right back.

Claire looked down and grinned a little. He remembers?

The room was silent. A cough was heard in the back. 

Claire looked at him, and leaned over.

“Owen, take it easy. If you don't settle down, we're going to be here for a very long time,” she whispered in his ear. They both smiled.

“What did she tell you, Mr. Grady?”

“She said,” he looked at Claire and back at the Senator, “that I was about 15 minutes off.”

Claire smiled. The shaking of her head soon became a nod.

The Senator relaxed his shoulders. His eyes moved between Claire and Owen. 

“Already then. We'll come back to you Mr. Grady. Mr. Cruthers, please state your name.”

“Lowery Cruthers. Park Containment and Control.”

“Oh, I didn't need your profession, but, I just have one question for you, for now. This record said that the Dominus, I mean, Indominus Rex, was finally taken down by an aquatic dinosaur after a battle with both a Tyrannas- a T-Rex and a raptor. My question is, how did the T-Rex get there? Was it accidentally released too?”

“I was told to open the T-Rex paddock by Claire. She led the T-Rex to the Indominus Rex. It was released in order to create a diversion Claire and Owen could get kids.”

“And you supported this when she told you?”

“Yes. And I still stand by my actions. They're animals, and they fight. What better way to create a diversion to have one of the largest dinosaurs on the face of the planet face off with one that was created by man?”

“How about not creating these dinosaurs at all?” The Senator made a smile, and even laughed a little. Lowery was taken aback. “Which brings me to you. Dr. Wu. I've seen you before in this same seat. Dr. Wu, please state your name and profession for the records.”

“Dr. Henry Wu, Lead of Genetic Biologist…and Head of ‘Next Step' Division at InGen.”

Claire and Owen looked at one another. Owen mouthed the word “What?”

“‘Next Step.' Hmm, I'll look into that later. Mr. Wu, Dr. Wu, excuse me, you have a lot to answer for don't you?”

“I assume you have many questions for me.”

“Ha. It was your work dating about 23 years ago that led to the creation of Jurassic Park, was it not?”

“Yes, it was.”

“And, can you please explain to me the process in which you created the first dinosaurs?”

“No.”

The Senator looked up from his paper. “ ‘No'?”

“Thats InGen property. I am not at the right position to release it to the public. But it goes like this. I'll simplify it. We extracted blood from a mosquito encased in amber. We then cloned the cells we had, and brought back dinosaurs.”

“You just ‘resurrected' them. And, why did you do this?”

“Because it was my job, and my research.”

“But you just said it was InGen's property, yet you call it your own now?”

“It was my job at InGen. And it was my promise to Mr. Hammond. He spared no expense in funding us, and till today, I spare no effort in living up to my promise.”

“Which is, Dr. Wu?”

“I don't need to tell you.”

“Yeah, well, okay. And those dinosaurs have killed numerous people over the years. Numerous people!”

“I know.”

“You know, of course you know! You brought them back! You brought back these dangerous creatures back to live with us! Jurassic Park incident, multiple people died, dinosaur in San Diego, multiple people died, Isla Surna, or whatever that island was called, the Kirby family, multiple people died on that outing too, however illegal it may have been. And now Jurassic World! People die!”

“You have mentioned their deaths multiple times today. I know that.”

“And what do you have to say for that? Those people died! They paid admission to a park and they died because of your work.”

“Yes. I am aware that people paid for my work with their lives, and I never forget that.”

“I bet you don't, but I bet you do, because you don't care about this. You say that now like it means nothing. All of you say it like it means nothing. But guess what? People die when dinosaurs are around! Kids die. Much before their time. Families slaughtered, torn apart! You don't care because it's ‘your research' My gos-“

“Are you going, anywhere with this, Senator?”

“Do you think these people deserved to die for your work?”

“I do.”

“What? You do? Who are you to decide who lives and dies?”

“Who are you to decide who gets sent overseas to die?”

“What? I'm not the one under investigation, doctor. Answer my question. Do you think you can decide who lives and who dies?”

“I don't know where you're bringing up this question from. I don't know how to answer that. But my work is still leaps and bounds ahead of its time. My work, my dinosaurs, they are the ones who decide who lives and who dies. And they will soon change how battles are fought between nations.”

“Uh huh, yeah. ‘Your work.' ‘Your dinosaurs.' ‘Your' this, ‘your work' that, and you think its justified. You think people dying is justified. How can you say that? How can you say that they can decide? They're animals!”

“They're intelligent beings. Probably more intelligent than we are. Grady can attest to that.”

“Intelligent beings, they're animals! Extinct animals! They had their chance and you brought them back. I feel like this is an ego trip for you now, because you have no other research to go for. You think you're above us. Everything going on at InGen gives us shivers. Its unethical. Its sacrilegious. It's-”

“Senator?”

“Do you think you're God, Doctor?”

“I'm not sure how to answer that?”

“Its a simple question. Answer it.”

“Sir-“

“Answer my question, goddammit! Do you think you're a God?!”

Again, there was silence in the courtroom. All heads were turned towards Dr. Wu.

“I created a dinosaur. I think I've surpassed God, Senator.”