Jurassic Park: A Novel (58 page)

Finally, he was sitting around the swimming pool of the hotel one afternoon, watching Tim and Lex splash, when an American in khakis walked up.

“We’ve never met,” the American said. “My name is Marty Guitierrez. I’m a researcher here, at the Carara station.”

Grant said, “You were the one who found the original specimen of the
Procompsognathus.
”

“That’s right, yes.” Guitierrez sat next to him. “You must be eager to go home.”

“Yes,” Grant said. “I have only a few days left to dig before the winter sets in. In Montana, you know, the first snow usually comes in August.”

Guitierrez said, “Is that why the Hammond Foundation supported northern digs? Because intact genetic material from dinosaurs was more likely to be recovered from cold climates?”

“That’s what I presume, yes.”

Guitierrez nodded. “He was a clever man, Mr. Hammond.”

Grant said nothing. Guitierrez sat back in the pool chair.

“The authorities won’t tell you,” Guitierrez said finally. “Because they are afraid, and perhaps also resentful of you, for what you have done. But something very peculiar is happening in the rural regions.”

“Biting the babies?”

“No, thankfully, that has stopped. But something else. This spring, in the Ismaloya section, which is to the north, some unknown animals ate the crops in a very peculiar manner. They moved
each day, in a straight line—almost as straight as an arrow—from the coast, into the mountains, into the jungle.”

Grant sat upright.

“Like a migration,” Guitierrez said. “Wouldn’t you say?”

“What crops?” Grant said.

“Well, it was odd. They would only eat agama beans and soy, and sometimes chickens.”

Grant said, “Foods rich in lysine. What happened to these animals?”

“Presumably,” Guitierrez said, “they entered the jungles. In any case, they have not been found. Of course, it would be difficult to search for them in the jungle. A search party could spend years in the Ismaloya mountains, with nothing to show for it.”

“And we are being kept here because …”

Guitierrez shrugged. “The government is worried. Perhaps there are more animals. More trouble. They are feeling cautious.”

“Do you think there are more animals?” Grant said.

“I can’t say. Can you?”

“No,” Grant said. “I can’t say.”

“But you suspect?”

Grant nodded. “Possibly there are. Yes.”

“I agree.”

Guitierrez pushed up from his chair. He waved to Tim and Lex, playing in the pool. “Probably they will send the children home,” he said. “There is no reason not to do that.” He put on his sunglasses. “Enjoy your stay with us, Dr. Grant. It is a lovely country here.”

Grant said, “You’re telling me we’re not going anywhere?”

“None of us is going anywhere, Dr. Grant,” Guitierrez said, smiling. And then he turned, and walked back toward the entrance of the hotel.

In preparing this novel, I have drawn on the work of many eminent paleontologists, particularly Robert Bakker, John Horner, John Ostrom, and Gregory Paul. I have also made use of the efforts of the new generation of illustrators, including Kenneth Carpenter, Margaret Colbert, Stephen and Sylvia Czerkas, John Gurche, Mark Hallett, Douglas Henderson, and William Stout, whose reconstructions incorporate the new perception of how dinosaurs behaved.

Certain ideas presented here about paleo-DNA, the genetic material of extinct animals, were first articulated by Charles Pellegrino, based on the research by George O. Poinar, Jr., and Roberta Hess, who formed the Extinct DNA Study Group at Berkeley. Some discussions of chaos theory derive in part from the commentaries of Ivar Ekeland and James Gleick. The computer programs of Bob Gross inspired some of the graphics. The work of the late Heinz Pagels provoked Ian Malcolm.

However, this book is entirely fiction, and the views expressed here are my own, as are whatever factual errors exist in the text.

Michael Crichton
’s novels include
The Andromeda Strain, The Great Train Robbery, Congo, Jurassic Park, Rising Sun, Disclosure,
and
The Lost World
. He was also the creator of the television series
ER
. Crichton died in 2008.