Levine turned and glared angrily at Thorne. "This was all your fault. If you hadn't gone out there that way, just wandering off - "
"Richard," Harding said, cutting him off. "We need gas or we'll never get out of here. Don't you want to get out of here?"
Levine said nothing. He sulked.
"Well," Thorne said, "there wasn't any gas in the shed anyway."
"Hey, everybody," Sarah said. "Look who's here!"
Arby came forward, leaning on Kelly. He had changed into clothes from the store: a pair of swimming trunks and a tee shirt that said "InGen Bioengineering Labs" and beneath, "We Make The Future."
Arby had a black eye, a swollen cheekbone, and a cut that Harding had bandaged on his forehead. His arms and legs were badly bruised. But he was walking, and he managed a crooked smile.
Thorne said, "How do you feel, son?"
Arby said, "You know what I want more than anything, right now?"
"What?" Thorne said.
"Diet Coke," Arby said. "And a lot of aspirin."
Sarah bent over Malcolm. He was humming softly, staring upward. "How is Arby?" he asked.
"He'll be okay."
"Does he need any morphine?" Malcolm asked.
"No, I don't think so."
"Good," Malcolm said. He stretched out his arm, rolling up the sleeve.
Thorne cleaned the nest out of the microwave, and heated up some canned beef stew. He found a package of paper plates decorated in a Halloween motif - pumpkins and bats - and spooned the food onto the plates. The two kids ate hungrily.
He gave a plate to Sarah, then turned to Levine. "What about you?"
Levine was staring out the window. "No."
Thorne shrugged.
Arby came over, holding his plate. "Is there any more?"
"Sure," Thorne said. He gave him his own plate.
Levine went over and sat with Malcolm. Levine said, "Well, at least we were right about one thing. This island was a true lost world - a pristine, untouched ecology. We were right from the beginning."
Malcolm looked over, and raised his head. "Are you joking?" he said. "What about all the dead apatosaurs?"
"I've been thinking about that," Levine said. "The raptors killed them, obviously. And then the raptors - "
"Did what? Malcolm said. "Dragged them to their nest? Those animals weigh hundreds of tons, Richard. A hundred raptors couldn't drag them. No, no." He sighed. "The carcasses must have floated to a bend in the river, where they beached. The raptors made their nest at a source of convenient food supply - dead apatosaurs."
"Well, possibly..."
"But why so many dead apatosaurs, Richard? Why do none of the animals attain adulthood? And why are there so many predators on the island?"
"Well. We need more data, of course - " Levine began.
"No, we don't," Malcolm said. "Didn't you go through the lab? We already know the answer."
"What is it?" Levine said, irritably.
"Prions," Malcolm said, closing his eyes.
Levine frowned. "What're prions?"
Malcolm sighed.
"Ian," Levine said, "What are prions?"
"Go away," Malcolm said, waving his hand.
Arby was curled up in a cornet, near sleep. Thorne rolled up a tee shirt, and put it under the boy's head. Arby mumbled something, and smiled.
In a few moments, he began to snore.
Thorne got up and went over to Sarah, who was standing by the window. Outside, the sky was beginning to lighten above the trees, turning pale blue.
"How much time now?" she said.
Thorne looked at his watch. "Maybe an hour."
She started to pace. "We've got to get gas," she said. "If we have gas we can drive the Jeep to the helicopter site."
"But there's no gas," Thorne said.
"There must be some, somewhere." She continued to pace. "You tried the pumps...."
"Yes, They're dry."
"What about inside the lab?"
"I don't think so."
"Where else? What about the trailer?"
Thorne shook his head. "It's just a passive tow-trailer. The other unit has an auxiliary generator and some gas tanks. But it went over the cliff."
"Maybe the tanks didn't rupture when it fell. We still have the motorcycle. Maybe I can go out there and - "
"Sarah," he said.
"It's worth a try."
"Sarah - "
From the window, Levine said softly, "Heads up. We have visitors."
Good Mother
In the predawn light, the dinosaurs came out of the bushes and went directly toward the Jeep. There were six of them, big brown duckbills fifteen feet high, with curving snouts.
"Maiasaurs," Levine said, "I didn't know there were any here." "What are they doing?"
The huge animals clustered around the jeep, and immediately began to tear it apart. One ripped away the canvas top. Another poked at the roll bar, rocking the vehicle back and forth.
"I don't understand," Levine said. "They're hadrosaurs. Herbivores. This aggressiveness is quite uncharacteristic."
"Uh-huh," Thorne said. As they watched, the maiasaurs tipped the jeep over. The vehicle crashed over on its side. One of the adults reared up, and stood on the side panels. Its huge feet crushed the vehicle inward.
But when the Jeep fell over, two white Styrofoam cases tumbled out onto the ground. The maiasaurs seemed to be focused on these cases. They nipped at the Styrofoam, tossing chunks of white around the ground. They moved hurriedly, in a kind of frenzy.