Jurassic World: Tyrannosaurus Rex Act I: Team Membership Down in the Kittitas Valley in the city of Ellensburg, located in the state of Washington, U.S.A., late night rush hour was coming to a close. The streets were dark and had been for many hours at this time of year. People were heading home and the city centre stood in a grid lock as both customers and employees were entering traffic. Honks could be heard repeatedly as traffic rules degenerated into the laws of the jungle with larger vehicles dominating the smaller ones. Among this battle of giants a tiny bright white Fiat city car stood out as it carefully made its way to one of the large grocery stores at Ellensburg's city centre. Like a tiny mouse it squeezed itself through the approach lane and rushed onto the parking lot. There the driver had to wait for a few moments as customers crossed the car's path pushing their full carts and returned empty carts to their storage. It took a few minutes for the parking lot to clear of customers allowing the tiny Fiat to proceed. Luckily the vehicle was the only one entering this parking lot at this time. The city car made its way toward the parking spaces closest to the store's entrance. Most of these were now vacant except for the space adjacent to the one the Fiat driver chose. There a large truck was parked painted in the exact bright white colour the Fiat was. Normally for an average driver parking this tiny car would be a routine manoeuvre without trouble but somehow the Fiat driver managed to make contact with the truck as the vehicle turned into the parking spot. Hardly any sound could be heard at the collision but it should have been noticeable for the Fiat. Nevertheless when a young lady wearing jeans, white sport shoes and a hand knitted Christmas themed sweater left her tiny vehicle seemingly oblivious and walked to the nearby shopping carts before entering the store. Despite the late hour, less than half an hour before closing, the store was still sufficiently stocked for the young ginger girl to find what she needed. Most alleys were devoid of other customers and the store only had a skeleton crew remaining which allowed the young lady to browse her items fairly efficiently. Once her food items were loaded onto the cart she made her way to the toy alley. The store was quiet after the staff shut off the music which was a cue for all customers to finish their shopping as soon and make their way to the counters. But the ginger girl still needed some time to select a collection of toys. A Tyrannosaurus Rex plush was among these toys and a Lego T-rex. Then she pushed on to the bookshelf and select a thick paperback titled "My survival on the Island" by Eric Kirby. "Do you like dinosaurs?" The spoken words and a light tap on the shoulder startled the ginger girl. She turned around to make eye contact with a woman not much older than her. This woman was both plump and taller than her with short hair painted black. A big pair of sunglasses shielded the woman's eyes and she was dressed in thick black winter coat running all the way down to her ankles. "Well yes, I do like dinosaurs. But these things are for my little brother who is pretty much obsessed with them, especially Rexies. This is for his birthday and to cheer him up for what we are going through." "Today is your brother's birthday?" "No, it's in a few days. It's on Santa Clause day, December 6th, in case you never heard of it." "Oh I know. Few people celebrate it the Dutch way. You are immigrants?" "Yes. But our grandparents have lived here for many years. We just moved in with them because our parents passed away a month ago. We had nowhere else to go, so here we are." The black clothed woman nodded. "I'm sorry to hear that. How old are you?" "I'm 18 since Halloween." "And what is your name, if I may ask?" "My name is Valerie Bakkermans." Both extended their hands in simultaneously. "Nice to meet you, Valerie. My name is Laura Goldblum. And I'm a teacher at the Central Washington University, which is right here in this town as you may know." "Oh, I know. Nice to meet you, Laura. How can I help you?" "By telling me you have a drivers license and car insurance. Because a few minutes ago your little car scratched my truck. You owe me some money because we will be getting it unscratched." On this news Valerie's face turned sour as her stomach turned. She may or may not have been aware of the contact between the truck and her vehicle, but the nice lady who had been conversing with her now seemed so intimidating in her voice and stature Valerie nearly wetted herself from stress. Hesitantly she kept eye contact and reached for her wallet inside her tiny purse sitting in her shopping cart. "Well... I mean... I do have a license, a provisional one from back home. And my grandparents lent me this car so I suppose it is insured. But this is my first time..." Suddenly a store employee entered the alley and approached the women. He was a young man about the same age as Valerie from his looks. His black hair was trimmed extremely short and he had a small bread, small glasses and an earring on his left ear. Laura turned to him and nodded. "Hello, Sean! Did you get the footage?" The young man nodded. "Yes ma'am, erm... Laura! But the store is about to close. Could you both head for the registries so we can check you out? I will bring you a copy tomorrow." Laura nodded and started moving her cart alongside Valerie. "Sean is a student of mine. Like I said: I'm a teacher at the Central Washington University. I'm teaching Paleo Biology, which is a very important course in this age as you may know. So I want you to visit my office tomorrow around 7 a.m. with your insurance papers and drivers license. If you don't show up I will go to the cops at 8 a.m. and file charges against you. And if I do you will face some grief consequences for your mishap and you may even get deported by the end of it. So I advice you to be there tomorrow." Valerie nodded and let Laura proceed first at the cash registry. A long sequence of beeps echoed through the store as the women were checked out. Together they left the building allowing Sean to lock up and close the business. The next morning the tiny white Fiat city car made its way through the city centre towards its destination. To comply with Laura's demands Valerie had left her home at 6:30 a.m. to be sure to be on time. And she was not alone as she turned onto 10th Avenue. An elder man was sitting in the Fiat's passenger seat directing Valerie towards one of the free parking lots at the university. There both left the vehicle and started walking toward the Science Building where supposedly Laura Goldblum's office was located. While they were crossing the campus Valerie spotted the white truck in a parking lot near the Science Building and pointed it out to the elder man accompanying her. At this time of day the campus was pretty much deserted and quiet. Only Valerie and the elder man were near this building so it was easy for Laura to track them and guide them inside. This time she wore a knitted sweater in the same style as Valerie did both the night before and this morning. With a smile she kept the door open keeping her sunglasses in her jeans. "Good morning Valerie! Is this your grandfather?" "Good morning! Yes, I am her grandfather and I'm pleased to meet you missis Goldblum. My name is Adriaan Bakkermans and I came to help my granddaughter with the paperwork to settle her little run-in with your truck. My sincere apologies for your inconvenience." With a smile Laura tried to calm the balding old man down as he seemed even more nervous than his granddaughter. The old man posed somewhat submissively holding a large file with papers most of which would likely be redundant for the incident. Calmly Laura let the two visitors towards one of the elevators sparing them a long walk up the stairs toward her office. Next to her the old man picked out his glasses and opened the file to bring up the insurance papers to the surface of the paper pile inside. Gently Laura touched the file and closed it leaving the old man puzzled and looking at her with confusion. "Let us first talk in my office before we work on settlements. I am actually as new here as your grandchildren so let us use this moment to set up connections. Follow me!" Once the elevator doors opened Laura led the way down the hall toward her office. The place was small, barely fitting for a single person, let alone three people. But somehow the young plump teacher had arranged some space for all three to fit and coffee maker had been running for a time providing juice for this trio just in time. "Please sit down and let us have a nice talk. Your granddaughter told me she and her brother like dinosaurs. She told me her brother is pretty much obsessed with them. Which leads me to my first question: did you ever visit Jurassic World before it was shut down?" Both Valerie and her grandfather looked at each other in confusion, then turned to Laura. Valerie sighed and spoke: "We did not, although we planned to go eventually when my little brother was older. The entry and round trip were beyond our budget and my little brother has quite an extreme obsession with these animals. If we had gone at the time or even now there would have been a good chance my brother would have taken any chance he had to escape our attention and jump right into that Tyrannosaurus' paddock as more than one did during the park's opening weeks if you remember." Laura nodded and brought up a serious look on her face having known one of the jumpers, but she did not reveal this fact to her guests. "I remember, yes. I read about these incidents of course being a teacher in Paleo Biology. Reading and knowing about the dangers of these animals is part of my job. And yes, the entry fees were extravagant, unless you had connections to get special treatment." After sipping his coffee Adriaan opened up his file and reached for the insurance papers. "Can we please get to business. My wife and I need to proceed to the hospital as soon as I get back. And I intend to get back home soon. Let's fill this out and we'll be on our way." "This won't take long, my dear. Please be patient." Gently the teacher pushed the file and papers back at Adriaan. "I can see that you have some funds, but you are not exuberantly wealthy. Your insurance company will raise its fees after this settlement and I doubt you are in a position that can cope well with set backs like that." Annoyed the old man hissed a bit. "I assure you we can manage. We will manage." "Did your grandchildren inherit a fortune? Was your son wealthy?" Adriaan shook his head and sighed. "My son had an average income and a modest apartment back home. It is up for sale now. As soon as it gets sold Valerie and Jeremie of course will get half in their funds. But right now my grandchildren are both poor orphans. But my insurance will cover this scratch on your truck I assure you. So can we please start with these forms?" Laura shook her head, then smiled again. "I have a better idea, mister Bakkermans: Valerie will pay for the damage by helping me. And if she performs well she may attain a job here at the university, perhaps an education on top of that. What do you think?" Valerie looked at her grandfather, who looked back at her startled and confused before showing a more friendly face than he did since she returned home the night before and explained what happened. "What do you think, Valerie?" Valerie turned her gaze back to Laura. "How should I help you out?" "By doing what I ask. Help me with my job here at the university, technology, keeping my office clean and many more things. We'll hammer out the details as we go, but I think you'll perform nicely if you are willing to listen do as you're told. Are you willing to help me?" Without hesitation Valerie nodded and even cracked a smile. Laura smiled back and even Adriaan began to smile. "Well then, we have an agreement. Mister Bakkermans, if you wish you may leave. Your granddaughter may stay here as of right now she is my assistant. Can you get home yourself?" The old man nodded and finished his coffee and then got up to shake Laura's hand, then reach his hand over to Valerie and receive the keys to the little Fiat. Politely he nodded carrying his file and made his way to the door. Right at that moment Laura pointed at the now empty coffee maker implying Valerie's first task of her new life. For her first hour at the service of Laura Valerie was handed a couple of simple task. The coffee maker was cleaned and readied for the next batch later this morning. She was also asked to help clean and set up the teacher's assigned classroom. As soon as more staff and students began trickling into the building Valerie was asked to return to Laura's office and stay there until further notice. To keep her busy the teacher handed her a package of basic tests in math, English language and general biology as well as a quiz on dinosaurs. Many hours went by with Valerie staying pretty much hidden. On the occasion of her passage in the corridors she was ignored by all except Sean whom recognised her and greeted her, but did not interact further. Valerie did not mind the lack of attention and kept to herself keeping her outings short. By the time Valerie had finished all her tests lunch was very much overdue. Right on cue Laura entered her office and lead the young girl out towards one of the many cafés on campus where she was welcomed by Sean and a collection of very young men and women. "Of course you already met Sean Dern. Next to him sits Jeff Neill, Bryce Ortega, Jenna Bergman, Isabella Pratt and Justice Howard. All of them are students of mine and all of them will be Paleo Biologists and experts in dinosaurs before they leave out group. And you are welcome to become one of us." Politely Valerie went in a circle to shake each team member's hand, then proceeded to the only free chair on this table next to Laura Goldblum. "Thank you for the welcome. But I am not sure I am cut out for this circle. Despite the fact that I am actually quite fond of these new animals I'm in no way as well versed into dinosaurs as you may be or even as well as my brother is. My brother would be better suited to be a part of you but he is still years away from admission to your university." Polite nods and chuckles responded to Valerie. Laura leaned over to the girl and patted her on the shoulder. "No need to worry, my dear. I will take a look at your test later this week but regardless of your results we will shape you up to be a team member. We are scientist and our task is to collect data. That is our core task. And the world needs data about these animals if we are to be sharing the world with them. We need all the help we can get, even if it's just in the shape of driving our team to locations and help clean our equipment. I think your contribution will be appreciated before the end even if you think of yourself as redundant. All will become apparent by the end of this meeting. But first... tell us about yourself!" Food was brought to the table and distributed among the students and teacher. Being quite hungry Valerie first took a moment to get a bite before starting her introduction. The food consisted of raw vegetables with dip sauce, a variety of tiny sandwiches and a variety of salted nuts to go along with a collection of healthy drinks. "Well... My name is Valerie Bakkermans. I am the granddaughter of Adriaan Bakkermans and Miranda Leenstra who have been living here in Ellensburg for about two decades by now, so some of you may know them if you're from this town, but perhaps not. I also have a brother, Jeremie. We recently immigrated and moved in due to tragic circumstances, but for now I would prefer to keep these circumstances private." Polite nods came in reply. "When I went out for groceries last night I accidentally bumped into your teacher's truck and now I'm here sitting with you eager to hear how exactly I can repay the damage. As a mere cleaner I'm not sure how it will be paid any time soon." Across the table Isabella Pratt, an ebony young girl with black braided hair and an impressive collection of golden jewellery on her body, gave Valerie a reassuring tap on the hand. "Oh, don't worry about that money. Ms Goldblum isn't the best driver either and keeps on crashing her trucks on our icy Washington roads. The winter just started and by the end it any repairs will be undone fore sure. That truck is brand new because she crashed her previous one just a few weeks ago on our first bit of frost and last winter several predecessors went down. She just doesn't seem to get used to our weather." A shy chuckle came from the teacher and she nodded to Valerie. "That is right: I don't actually want your money and certainly not that of your grandfather. I just want your help. We all do. The damage to my truck is just a little... leverage to recruit you." With a confused look Valerie finished one of the mini sandwiches. "Why do you need my help? Surely this campus is overrun by people far more qualified for your likes this ignorant little Dutch girl." Sean budged in. "But you like dinosaurs. And you said your little brother loves them. And if you both love these animals then your help will be vital. Because our job is to help prepare the world to live with these animals. We collect data and process that data so the right decision can be made. A decision that differs from pushing them back into extinction." "Live with them? But they are all on that Costa Rican island, aren't they? Why do we have to live with them if they are locked on there?" Isabella replied. "First of all: they are not all on just one island. There are more dinosaur islands out there. And secondly we know these islands are already leaking and they will be leaking more in the future. One day these animals may be here and we need to be ready for that day." Justice Howard, a blond and short Caucasian boy entered the conversation. "Observing these animals is an extremely dangerous scientific endeavour with a significant casualty rate. Few universities are willing to put the lives their students at risk willingly, so we are lucky ours is. Our school's president was once Claire Dearing's teacher. Claire needs our research so the Dinosaur Protection Group can make a case to our government to grant protection and animal rights to dinosaurs, our government needs our research so it can quietly prepare for the inevitable and our school needs the funds our research will provide. And it's not just the United States' government who is paying our university. You and us will be paid from these funds for doing the perilous job of observing these new animals in their habitat to either confirm or refute the findings, observations, assertions and anecdotes of those who already were and are in contact with these animals so their behaviour may be predicted and anticipated." The overflow of information only confused Valerie but she tried to hide her confusion by staying casual and consuming food as explanations came to her ears. "Hold on! Who is Claire Dearing? What is this... Dinosaur Protection Group? I've never heard of either." Laura Goldblum answered her questions. "The Dinosaur Protection Group is a recently started collective of animal right groups both within and outside the United States who seek to protect dinosaurs and challenge their ownership and exploitation by the private companies who currently claim ownership and deny these animals' basic rights as well as challenge those who seek to destroy these animals out of fear and ignorance. We are talking about a lobby group mostly at this point but also an increasingly active animal rights group by itself." Laura paused briefly eating a bit before continuing. "Most involved are former employees of Ingen and Masrani Global. So in other words they were employed by Jurassic World and sometimes its predecessor: Jurassic Park. Along with these core people are also former visitors to Jurassic world and general dinosaur and animal enthusiasts. Claire Dearing used to be a chief employee of Jurassic World and is one of the founders of this Dinosaur Protection Group and she is extremely important to us and our income. So remember her name!" As noon passed into early afternoon lunch came to a close in the Ellensburg café. But that did not mean the Ms Goldblum's meeting was over. Before putting the bill onto her Campus credit card she leaned over to the Bryce Ortega, a chubby Latina girl sitting next to her neighbour Jeff Neil. Jeff looked nearly identical to Bryce except for a slightly paler taint of skin. Both Bryce and Jeff wore the same t-shirt, the same glasses and the same hair style and could easily be mistaken to be twins. On receiving the whisper Bryce took off ahead of the rest of the group, to reunite with them once they returned to Laura's classroom. Only this small club of youngsters was present this time with all remaining on their feet while Valerie was invited to sit at a front row chair. Laura motioned her fingers at Bryce and on cue the girl approached with a large file with documents. Upon opening the Central Washington University's logo was marked promptly on the top document along with Valerie's full name. A pen was also attached to this document. Laura unlocked the pen and then handed over the top document to the young girl. "These are registrations and permits to be allowed on campus and to receive the privilege of our facilities. You will be an assistant and student since you will get paid for your service and not be the one paying. You will be an assistant to the Paleo Biology classes and in particular this small group. You will be part of this group as such with the same rights and duties of all members including myself." Carefully Valerie started to read each document before signing at the designated areas. ^^ "For your services this university will pay you from the moment your trial period ends. Your trial period will consist of your basic training and apprehension of our general assigned tasks. You are not required to become a dinosaur expert as we are, at least not at this stage, but you are required to become expert in the tasks assigned to you. But we did not do into detail about those yet, did we?" During Laura's explanation Bryce had quietly left the classroom and now returned with a cart stacked with books. Most of these books did have the word "dinosaur" in their titles. "As mentioned earlier our general task is to collect and process data relating to all de-extinct animals currently residing on a handful of Costa Rican islands. This task will require a set of potentially extremely dangerous and classified field trips for which you will receive specialised training as we did. This task also requires us to digest all public and confidential records relevant to these animals and filter solid facts from speculations and assumptions. We do not make the decisions but we do provide the information needed to make these decisions." At the mention of the risk Valerie paused reading and signing her papers to look Laura straight in the eyes with a stern look. "Of course my brother and I have not been living under a rock for our whole life. These islands are dangerous. More than one disaster struck there and people tend not to return. Do you expect me to join expeditions down there? I have no experience with hiking at all! This is way out of my league." Sean answered. "Which is where your training will come in. If we were to be called on tomorrow you would not join us. But once you've completed Central Washington University's special outdoors training and apprehend the basics of dinosaur behaviour you will be as safe and experienced as any of us. As long as you won't wander off alone and listen to the guides accompanying us you should return in good health and on top of that upon completion you will get a substantial bonus for your trouble." Valerie's pause with her paperwork lengthened as the implications of what was being said seemed obvious and not too reassuring. "As experienced as you? Do any of you even have experience. Did any of you ever go to these islands?" All except Laura shook their heads. "I once went to Jurassic world, right after graduating. But no, we are not experienced with the field work either, we just had our training this summer. We were set to go this fall but that trip was postponed as our government and the Costa Rican government are still negotiating the right course of action." "So in other words if we are to go on a field mission there is a good chance none of us will return." Laura nodded. "That is the reality of our work. At this point our university is the only one prepared to supply an observation team. And this is why we and you are to be paid right in advance. Don't be so negative, Valerie! When we get to go our university will make sure all safety precautions are followed. Just have a little faith in us and you will be alright." "I am not being negative. We are hammering out my tasks, aren't we? So let us hammer out my issue: I may not survive these tasks. My brother and I are orphans and we are not wealthy orphans. My grandparents do have some wealth but a lot of that is now being spent on prolonging their lives and their ability to provide us with a roof over our heads. But time is running out for them as well and I do not want my brother to be left all alone in a foreign country broke and without a future. Will the university provide protection to my brother no matter what happens to me? Will your university provide some kind of life insurance for my little brother at least until he comes of age." "We shall do more than that!" From a dark corner on the backrow of the classroom a tall balding man stood up and began descending the stairs toward the group. The man did not seem to be in his forties judging by the mix of grey and dark hair surrounding his mostly bald skull. His hand reached for Valerie as she stood up to accept the greeting. "Hello, my name is Paul-Michael Bergman. I'm the Central Washington University's president and I can speak on this facility's behalf. Your concerns are valid, Ms Bakkermans. But you are not the only one in this group with dependant people back home. There is a life insurance policy among your documents, a requirement to be allowed to participate in this specific group. But on top of that because you are both immigrants we do pledge to help you achieve United States citizenship and we will help your brother in any way we can, especially with his education. He will be welcome on this campus as you are, with full permit of access and he will be allowed to use all facility. If your brother choses to pursue his current alleged passion of dinosaurs and become a Paleo Biologist your work will be sufficient pay for his fee. If he choses to pursue a different profession on this campus your work will also be sufficient pay for his fee. So in other words: indeed your brother depends on you and right now his future may depend on the movement of your pen. I will have some additional documents printed for you concerning your brother, some of which he will need to sign by tomorrow. You may share with him all information we share with you but you will be liable for his retainment of confidentiality on this information. Do you understand?" Valerie processed the information then calmly nodded. She picked up her pen and returned to reading and signing the considerable stack of papers still waiting for processing. At this point all was said and everyone but Laura left the classroom. To be continued...