𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑛

Life Finds A Way

The genetics lab was seemingly quiet, but the energy within was no less than ecstatic. Several scientists looked into microscopes or wrote information down on a clipboard, each one eager to discover something new. John had followed behind the group and went up to a dark haired man.

"G'day, Henry."

"Good day, sir."

Ellie noticed a machine turning eggs in a strategic way, and she gasped softly. "It's turning the eggs." Alan looked on as well, noticing an egg begin to shake. It appeared to be hatching, and Alan stood closer to Ellie.

"Oh, perfect timing. I was hoping they'd hatch before I had to go to the boat," Henry explained.

John huffed as he headed towards them. "Henry, Henry! Why didn't you tell me? I insist on being here when they're born." He positioned himself in front of the shaking egg, covering his hands with white latex gloves. He stood in between Ellie, who was next to Alan, and Y/n, who was beside Ian.

"Come on. Come on, little one," John cooed. The eggshell began to break, causing the man in white to laugh happily. "Very good. Push. Push. Come on. Come on. Come on, then." The dinosaur pushed through the ivory shell and poked its head out. The small creature let out a little screech as each onlooker grinned. John removed pieces of the shell off the dino's head, movingthem to the side. "There you are. There. They imprint on the first creature they come in contact with. Helps them to trust me. I've been present for the birth of every creature on this island."

"Well, surely not the ones that have bred in the wild," Ian piped up softly.

"Actually, they can't breed in the wild. Population control is one of our security precautions. There is no unauthorized breeding in Jurassic Park," informed Henry. Y/n looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

Ian continued. "Uh, and how do you know they can't breed?"

"Well that's because all the animals in Jurassic Park are female. We've engineered them that way."

"There you are," John smiled. He continued to aid the new life form out of the shell, and the tall dark haired man paced around. Henry handed white cloths to John so he could clean the new addition.

"Blood temperature seems like about high eighties, maybe," Alan noted.

"Wu?"

"Ninety-one," Henry corrected. Alan lifted the empty eggshell, only to have the machine take it from his hands and put it back where it came from.

"Homeothermic? It holds that temperature?" Ellie questioned, looking to the geneticist.

"Yep," he replied.

"But, uh, again, how do you know they're all female? Did someone go out into the park and, ah, lift up all the dinosaur's skirts?" Ian kept with his earlier, genuinely curious as to the answer.

"We control their chromosomes. It's really not that difficult. All vertebrate embryos are inherently female anyway. They just require an extra hormone given at the right developmental stage to make them male. We simply deny them that," Henry returned.

Y/n stood next to the chaotician, looking at him, then the geneticist. She quietly spoke, mostly to herself. "Almost seems like you're playing with fire."

"'Deny them that?'"

"John, the kind of control you're attempting here is, uh, it's not possible. If there's one thing that the history of evolution has taught us, it's that life will not be contained. Life breaks free. Expands to new places and crashes through barriers. Painfully, perhaps even dangerously. But... uh well, there it is," Ian resumed. Through his small rant, he had happened to move closer to the artist. He either noticed her slight nervousness or just happened to end up closer to her, or another reason entirely. Y/n didn't know.

"'There it is.'" John repeated with a slight eye roll.

Henry looked to Ian once again. "You're implying that a group composed entirely of females will... breed?" He said this sentence with annoyance in his tone as if that would never happen in a million years.

"No, I'm simply saying that life... uh, finds a way." Perhaps it was his voice itself or the tone in which he spoke, but this one statement caused a shiver to crawl up Y/n's spine. She couldn't tell if it was a good feeling or a bad feeling, but it was there.

Alan took a second look at the dinosaur in his hands, then said in a low voice. "What species is this?"

"It's a Velociraptor."

"You bred raptors?" Henry nodded slowly. The paleontologist gazed down at the baby dinosaur once again, taking a silent, sharp breath. Was it fear of the killer it would become or awe of the fact that he held in his hands a living, breathing Velociraptor? Either way, a sharp look filled his eyes and he placed the raptor down.

John cleared his throat, slightly stomping his cane on the floor. "Well. Shall we continue on with the tour?" He plastered on a smile as he approached the door. "Come on, now. Don't have all day!" Alan, Ellie, and Donald followed him while Ian and Y/n held back slightly.

"They're making a mistake," Y/n whispered once they were out of the lab.

"I know what you mean," Ian agreed.

"They're challenging nature. You don't mess with nature. Yes, I love seeing living, breathing dinosaurs, but you don't mess with nature. Like you said, 'life finds a way'. This is no different," Y/n ranted, glancing at him. He appeared to be listening intently, face angled towards her with a glint in his eyes.

"You're completely right."

"It's nice to have someone who agrees with me. Most people don't when I have an opinion on something. They say I'm delusional," she laughed softly.

"Delusinal? I doubt that. You're probably one of the smartest."

"Nice flattery, Dr. Malcolm."

"Ian."

"What?"

"Call me Ian."

"Okay," she smiled. "Ian. Better than calling you Dr. Malcolm til the day I die." She said the last in a teasing manner, causing him to let out a low chuckle. "I know you already did, but Y/n. Call me Y/n." She stuck out her hand, and he shook it.

"I'll bear that in mind," he uttered quietly, leaving a feather light kiss on her knuckle. "Y/n."

***

A/N: Heyyyy! I'm doing good at publishing, aren't I? I'm so proud of myself! I had a not so great day today, so I wrote to make it better. I am LOVING this book so far. I forgot how much I liked Ian until I watched the JWD trailer, so now I may write more Ian fics, cuz I CAN. Anyways, I hope this was good, point out any errors you find, and see ya in the next one. BYEEE!!