The raptor looked down in surprise at this new gift. It bent over and sniffed the glowing egg. It rolled the egg with its snout along the floor for a moment.
And ignored it.
The velociraptor stood upright again, and slowly moved on, continuing to search.
It wasn't working.
Grant reached for a third egg, and injected it with a fresh syringe. He held the glowing egg in his hands, and rolled it again. But he rolled this one fast, like a bowling ball. The egg rattled across the floor loudly.
One of the animals heard the sound-ducked down-saw it coming and instinctively chased the moving object, gliding swiftly among the tables to intercept the egg as it rolled. The big jaws snapped down and bit into it, crushing the shell.
The raptor stood, pale albumen dripping from its jaws. It licked its lips noisily, and snorted. It bit again, and lapped the egg from the floor. But it didn't seem to be in the least distressed. It bent over to eat again from the broken egg. Grant looked down to see what would happen. . . .
From across the room, the raptor saw him. It was looking right at him.
The velociraptor snarled menacingly. It moved toward Grant, crossing the room in long, incredibly swift strides. Grant was shocked to see it happening and froze in panic, when suddenly the animal made a gasping, gurgling sound and the big body pitched forward onto the ground. The heavy tail thumped the floor in spasms. The raptor continued to make choking sounds, punctuated by intermittent loud shrieks. Foam bubbled from its mouth. The head flopped back and forth. The tail slammed and thumped.
That's one, Grant thought.
But it wasn't dying very fast. It seemed to take forever to die. Grant reached up for another egg-and saw that the other raptors in the room were frozen in mid-action. They listened to the sound of the dying animal. One cocked its head, then another, and another. The first animal moved to look at the fallen raptor.
The dying raptor was now twitching, the whole body shaking on the floor. It made pitiful moans. So much foam bubbled from its mouth that Grant could hardly see the head any more. It flopped on the floor and moaned again.
The second raptor bent over the fallen animal, examining it. It appeared to be puzzled by these death throes. Cautiously, it looked at the foaming head, then moved down to the twitching neck, the heaving ribs, the legs. . . .
And it took a bite from the hind leg.
The dying animal snarled, and suddenly lifted its head and twisted, sinking its teeth into the neck of its attacker.
That's two, Grant thought.
But the standing animal wrenched free. Blood flowed from its neck. It struck out with its hind claws, and with a single swift movement ripped open the belly of the fallen animal. Coils of intestine fell out like fat snakes. The screams of the dying raptor filled the room. The attacker turned away, as if fighting was suddenly too much trouble.
It crossed the room, ducked down, and came up with a glowing egg! Grant watched as the raptor bit into it, the glowing material dripping down its chin.
That makes two.
The second raptor was stricken almost instantly, coughing and pitching forward. As it fell, it knocked over a table. Dozens of eggs rolled everywhere across the floor. Grant looked at them in dismay.
There was still a third raptor left.
Grant had one more syringe. With so many eggs rolling on the floor, he would have to do something else. He was trying to decide what to do when the last animal snorted irritably. Grant looked up-the raptor had spotted him.
The final raptor did not move for a long time, it just stared. And then it slowly, quietly came forward. Stalking him. Bobbing up and down, looking first beneath the tables, then above them. It moved deliberately, cautiously, with none of the swiftness that it had displayed in a pack. A solitary animal now, it was careful. It never took its eyes off Grant. Grant looked around quickly. There was nowhere for him to hide. Nothing for him to do . . .
Grant's gaze was fixed on the raptor, moving slowly laterally. Grant moved, too. He tried to keep as many tables as he could between himself and the advancing animal. Slowly . . . slowly ... he moved to the left. . . .
The raptor advanced in the dark red gloom of the hatchery. Its breath came in soft hisses, through flared nostrils.
Grant felt eggs breaking beneath his feet, the yolk sticking to the soles of his shoes. He crouched down, felt the bulge of the radio in his pocket.
The radio.
He pulled it from his pocket and turned it on.
"Hello. This is Grant."
"Alan?" Ellie's voice. "Alan?"
"Listen," he said softly. "Just talk."
"Alan, is that you?"
"Talk," he said again, and he pushed the radio across the floor, away from him, toward the advancing raptor.
He crouched behind a table leg, and waited.
"Alan, Speak to me, please."
Then a crackle, and silence. The radio remained silent. The raptor advanced, Soft hissing breath.
The radio was still silent.
What was the matter with her! Didn't she understand? In the darkness, the raptor came closer,
". . . Alan?"
The tinny voice from the radio made the big animal pause. It sniffed the air, as if sensing someone else in the room.
"Alan, it's me. I don't know if you can hear me."
The raptor now turned away from Grant, and moved toward the radio.
"Alan . . . please . . ."
Why hadn't he pushed the radio farther away? The raptor was going toward it, but it was close. The big foot came down very near him. Grant could see the pebbled skin, the soft green glow. The streaks of dried blood on the curved claw. He could smell the strong reptile odor.
"Alan, listen to me. . . . Alan?"
The raptor bent over, poked at the radio on the floor, tentatively. Its body was turned away from Grant. The big tail was right above Grant's head. Grant reached up and jabbed the syringe deep into the flesh of the tail, and injected the poison.
The velociraptor snarled and jumped. With frightening speed it swung back toward Grant, jaws wide. It snapped, its jaws closing on the table leg, and jerked its head up. The table was knocked away, and Grant fell back, now completely exposed. The raptor loomed over him, rising up, its head banging into the infrared lights above, making them swing crazily.
"Alan?"
The raptor reared back, and lifted its clawed foot to kick. Grant rolled, and the foot slammed down, just missing him. He felt a searing sharp pain along his shoulder blades, the sudden warm flow of blood over his shirt. He rolled across the floor, crushing eggs, smearing his hands, his face. The raptor kicked again, smashing down on the radio, spattering sparks. It snarled in rage, and kicked a third time, and Grant came to the wall, nowhere else to go, and the animal raised its foot a final time.
And toppled backward.
The animal was wheezing. Foam came from its mouth.
Gennaro and the kids came into the room. Grant signaled them to stay back. The girl looked at the dying animal and said softly, "Wow."
Gennaro helped Grant to his feet. They all turned, and ran for the control room.
Control
Tim was astonished to find the screen in the control room was now flashing on and off. Lex said, "What happened?"
[picture]
Tim saw Dr. Grant staring at the screen, and gingerly moving his hand toward the keyboard. "I don't know about computers," Grant said, shaking his head.
But Tim was already sliding into the seat. He touched the screen rapidly. On the video monitors, he could see the boat moving closer to Puntarenas. It was now only about two hundred yards from the dock. On the other monitor, he saw the lodge, with the raptors hanging down from the ceiling. On the radio, he heard their snarls.
Chapter 25
"Do something, Timmy," Lex said.
He pushed SETGRIDS DNL, even though it was flashing.
The screen answered:
WARNING: COMMAND EXECUTION ABORTED (AUX POWER LOW)
"What does that mean?" Tim said.
Gennaro snapped his fingers. "That happened before. It means auxiliary power is low. You have to turn on main power."
"I do?"
He pushed ELECTRICAL MAIN.
[picture]
Tim groaned.
"What are you doing now?" Grant said. The whole screen was starting to flash.
Tim pushed MAIN.
Nothing happened. The screen continued to flash.
Tim pushed MAIN GRID P. He felt sick to his stomach with fear.
MAIN POWER GRID NOT ACTIVE/AUXILIARY POWER ONLY
The screen was still flashing. He pushed MAIN SET 1.
MAIN POWER ACTIVATED
All the lights in the room came on. All the monitor screens stopped flashing. "Hey! All right!"
Tim pressed RESET GRIDS. Nothing happened for a moment. He glanced at the video monitors, then back at the main screen.
[picture]
Grant said something that Tim didn't hear, he only heard the tension in his voice. He was looking at Tim, worried.
Tim felt his heart thumping in his chest. Lex was yelling at him. He didn't want to look at the video monitor anymore. He could hear the sound of the bars bending in the lodge, and the raptors snarling. He heard Malcolm say, "Dear God. . ."
He pushed LODGE.
SPECIFY GRID NUMBER TO RESET.
For a frozen interminable moment he couldn't remember the number, but then he remembered F4, and he pressed that.
ACTIVATING LODGE GRID F4 NOW.
On the video monitor he saw an explosion of sparks, sputtering down from the ceiling of the hotel room. The monitor flared white. Lex shouted "What did you do!" but almost immediately the image came back and they could see that the raptors were caught between the bars, writhing and screaming in a hot cascade of sparks while Muldoon and the others cheered, their voices tinny over the radio.