Jurassic Park Page #7

GRANT:

(to Malcolm)

Let's get outta here!

The two of them team up on the safety bars. Grant shoves his

all the way back with one foot and Malcolm does the same. They stand

up and head for the door of the hatchery.

GENNARO:

Hey! You can't do that!

Too late. Ellie slips out from under her safety bar too

and stomps right across Gennaro's seat.

GENNARO:

Can they do that?

They reach the door to the hatchery. Grant tries to shove it

open, but just THUDS into it. He rattles the handle, but the door

won't budge as it's on a security key-card system.

HAMMOND steps up and takes his glasses off.

HAMMOND:

Relax, Donald, relax. They're scientists, They ought

to be curious.

(he steps up to the code box)

It's a retinal scanner.

He pushes various code numbers. The door opens. He steps

aside, and the group eagerly goes up the stairs.

28INT.HALLWAY/STAIRS-DAY

GRANT runs up the stairs. MALCOLM and ELLIE eagerly try to get

a look at the lab. HAMMOND and GENNARO come up and join Grant at the

door.

GENNARO:

John, we - - what I'm just saying....

HAMMOND:

Relax Donald, relax. They're scientists. They ought to

be curious.

Hammond reaches the door, Grant tries to pry it open.

HAMMOND (cont'd)

Dr. Grant, just a minute, just a minute,

(or)

Dr. Grant, just a moment, dear boy.

(he pushes the code; the door opens)

Remember what Samuel Johnson said.

(they step into the cubicle)

"Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain

characteristics of a vigorous intellect!"

(the second door opens)

Right! Come along.

INTHATCHERY/NURSERYDAY

The hatchery is a vast, open room, bathed in infrared light.

Long tables run the length of the place, all covered with eggs, their

pale outlines obscured by hissing low mist that's all through the room.

HAMMOND:

Come on in.

HAMMOND takes off his hat and hands it one of the technicians.

HENRY WU, late twenties, Asian-American, wearing a white lab

coat works at a nearby table, making notes.

HAMMOND (cont'd)

Good day, Henry.

WU:

Oh, good day, Sir.

GRANT goes to a round, open with various eggs under a strong

light.

One of the eggs makes strong movements - a robotic arm steadies

the shell.

GRANT:

My God! Look!

Hammond, Ellie, and Malcolm join him, as does Henry Wu.

WU:

Ah, perfect timing! I'd hoped they'd hatch before I had

to go to the boat.

HAMMOND:

Henry, why didn't you tell me? you know I insist on

being here when they're born.

Hammond puts on a pair of plastic gloves.

The egg begins to crack. The robotic arm moves away....a BABY

DINOSAUR tries to get out, just its head sticking out of the shell.

Hammond reaches down and carefully breaks away egg fragments,

helping the baby dinosaur out of its shell.

HAMMOND:

Come on, then, out you come.

HAMMOND (cont'd)

They imprint on the first living creature they come in

contact with. That helps them to trust me. I've been

present for the birth of every animal on this Island.

Just look at that.

MALCOLM:

Surely not the ones that have bred in the wild?

WU:

Actually, they can't breed in the wild. Population

control is one of our security precautions here. There

is no unauthorized breeding in Jurassic Park.

Grant and Ellie exchange a look. She manages not to smile.

MALCOLM:

How do you know they can't breed?

WU:

Because all the animals in Jurassic Park are females.

(I've) We engineered them that way.

Hammond keeps his attention trained on the new dinosaur.

HAMMOND:

There you are. Out you come.

ELLIE:

Oh my God.

HAMMOND:

Could I have a tissue please?

WU:

Right away (certainly). Coming right up.

The animal is now free, Hammond sets in don carefully next to

its shell. Grant picks it up and holds it in the palm of his hand,

under the incubator's heat light.

GRANT:

Blood temperature feels like high eighties.

HAMMOND:

Wu?

WU:

Ninety-one.

Grant picks up the large, broken half-shell, but the robotic arm

snatches it back out of his hand, and puts it down.

GRANT:

Homoeothermic? It holds that temperature?

(to Wu)

Incredible.

Malcolm is looking at Hammond, skeptical.

MALCOLM:

But again, how do you know they're all female? Does

someone go into the park and, uh - - lift up the

dinosaurs' skirts?

WU:

We control their chromosomes. It's not that difficult.

All vertebrate embryos are inherently female anyway. It takes an extra

hormone at the right developmental stage to create a male, and we

simply deny them that.

HAMMOND:

Your silence intrigues me.

MALCOLM:

John, the kind of control you're attempting is not

possible. If there's one thing the history of evolution

has taught us, it's that life will not be contained.

Life breaks free. It expands to new territories. It

crashes through barriers. Painfully, maybe even..

dangerously, but and...well, there it is.

Ellie listens to him, impressed.

HAMMOND:

Watch her head - support her head.

Grant, ignoring the others, picks up the baby dinosaur, and

holds it on the palm of his hand, under the incubator's heat light. He

spreads the tiny animal out on the back of his hand and delicately runs

his finger over its tail, counting the vertebrae. A look of puzzled

recognition crosses his face.

WU:

You're implying that a group of composed entirely of

females will breed?

MALCOLM:

I'm simply saying that life - - finds a way.

ELLIE:

"You can't control anything." I agree with that. I

like that.

She walks over to Malcolm, he smiles at her, too warmly.

ELLIE (cont'd)

You can talk. I don't k now how to say it. You're just

articulate. You say everything that I think, that I

feel. It's exciting.

(or)

I find it so exciting. It's exciting that you can't

control life, that you know - -

(or)

You know that, I find it terrifying. Life will always

find a way.

MALCOLM:

That's right. Will break through.

ELLIE:

I get ah - -

MALCOLM:

I know, it's very exciting.

ELLIE:

And scary.

MALCOLM:

And scary.

ELLIE:

When people try to control things that it's out of their

power - -

MALCOLM:

It's anti-nature.

ELLIE:

Anti-nature.

Grant doesn't notice, as he's still obsessed with the infant

dinosaur, measuring and weighing it on a nearby lab bench. He stops, a

strange look on his face. He knows what this animal is - - but it

can't be.

GRANT:

(dreading the answer)

What species is this?

WU:

Uh - - it's a Velociraptor.

Grant and Ellie turn slowly and look at each other, then look at

Hammond, astonished.

GRANT:

You bred raptors?

29EXT.RAPTOR PEN-DAY

Grant charges across the compound, a fire in his eyes, ahead of

ELLIE, MALCOLM, and GENNARO. HAMMOND struggles to keep up.

HAMMOND:

Dr. Grant, Dr. Grant? Uh - -we planned to show you the

raptors later, after lunch.

But Grant has stopped abruptly next to the Velociraptor pen,

which we recognize as the heavily fortified cage we some earlier, which

the San Quentin towers at one end.

Grant stands right up against the fence, eyes wide, dying for a

glimpse.

HAMMOND catches up, slightly out of breath.

HAMMOND (cont'd)

Dr. Grant - - as I was saying, we've laid out lunch for

you before you head out into the park. Alejandro, our

gourmet chef - -

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