Jurassic Park Third Iteration Summary

How It All Goes Down

Chapter 17: Jurassic Park

  • The group admires the dinosaurs.
  • Malcolm asks Grant how this new technology will change his field of study. Grant answers that it will change everything.
  • Malcolm observes that Grant isn't terribly upset.
  • Grant responds that the scientists in his field anticipated this development, just not so soon.
  • Sattler and Grant wonder how Hammond came by the DNA necessary to make dinosaurs.
  • While passing specially made Jurassic plants by the poolside, Ellie notices that the ferns are poisonous.
  • Ed Regis points out the Safari Lodge, where they'll be staying.
  • Grant and Sattler notice the obvious additions to the building. The new defenses (bars and fence, anyone?) don't fit the aesthetic.

Chapter 18: When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth

  • Gennaro reminds everyone why they are there: to assess the safety and security of the park. He mentions the dinosaur Grant identified, the reports of biting lizards in Costa Rica, and the rise in infant mortality rates.
  • Malcolm says he can answer the question now: animals have escaped, but they are unrelated to the rise in mortality rates. You'd need hundreds of escapes to account for it.
  • Malcolm also explains his view that the isolation and control over nature that Hammond is attempting isn't possible.
  • Hammond and Malcolm exchange unpleasant words.
  • Hammond's grandkids arrive for the tour, at which point Hammond and Gennaro exchange unpleasant words. Liability, anyone?

Chapter 19: The Tour

  • Tim Murphy and his sister Lex see their grandpa arguing with a man.
  • Ed Regis introduces the kids to the group.
  • Tim loves dinosaurs and knows Alan Grant by his work and reputation. Lex mentions how their dad thinks dinosaurs are stupid. By the way, their parents are getting a divorce.
  • Tim and Grant talk dinosaurs.
  • Tim mentions how a museum once got the number of vertebrae in a Tyrannosaur wrong. Grant knows which museum that is.
  • Ed Regis is irked at being made a babysitter.
  • The tour group passes some hazard signs. Regis says they're just there to please the lawyers.
  • Everyone is introduced to John Arnold and Robert Muldoon, the chief engineer and park warden of the island. Next they meet Henry Wu, the chief geneticist.
  • Wu explains that they got the dinosaur DNA from insects preserved for millions of years in tree sap. Now we know the reason for getting all that amber.
  • The group moves on to the computers that identity the dino DNA.
  • Nedry is bored. He designed these computers.
  • There are some problems with the system. Nedry blames Hammond for this, because he was kept in the dark about what the computer system was needed for. He had to work without knowing what he was designing.
  • After the fertilization room, the group visits the hatchery. Wu explains the workings of the room.
  • The group then moves on to the nursery.
  • It's cute playtime with a baby Velociraptor.
  • Wu explains how all the dinosaurs on the island are created as sterile females. No breeding should be possible.
  • Grant examines the baby raptor. It fusses. Ed Regis tells him to put it down.
  • Apparently, the dinosaurs are delicate.

Chapter 20: Control

  • Malcolm asks Wu how many species they've made.
  • Answer: fifteen.
  • Wu explains that they made so many compys (that's a Procompsognathus) because they help take care of the waste products of the big dinosaurs. Yuck.
  • Malcolm asks Wu how they know a compy or other dino hasn't escaped.
  • Wu says that all the dinosaurs have been made lysine dependent. They can survive only on the island. There's no getting voted off this island—not if you're a dino and want to survive.
  • The group has to wait to enter the control room because a boat is docking.
  • While they wait, some members of the group go down to see the raptors.
  • Grant notes the raptors' pack hunting techniques when they attack the fence.
  • A park employee says the raptors don't mind the electric shocks.
  • Grant and Malcolm talk raptors.
  • Malcolm wants to know where these raptors learned that humans are easy for them to kill.

Chapter 21: Version 4.4

  • Wu and Hammond discuss the tour. Their conversation turns to the dinosaurs. Wu wants to improve them, but Hammond likes them as they are.
  • Like Muldoon, Wu thinks they should have better weaponry.
  • Hammond had hired Wu right out of college.
  • Hammond is set in his ways and will not listen to his staff.

Chapter 22: Control

  • Arnold shows the group how he tracks the dinosaurs from the control room. He argues that the animals can't get out of their enclosures.
  • The group finds out that the park will eventually have rides. Grant is surprised.
  • Malcolm asks Arnold to show him group study measurements. Arnold does so.
  • Malcolm says he's seen what he needs. He's sure animals have escaped, because the population growth graph doesn't fit with what you'd expect in a controlled environment.

Chapter 23: The Tour

  • Ed Regis ushers the group to the two tour cars.
  • Grant, Sattler, Gennaro, and Malcolm get into the first Land Cruiser. The kids get into the second, along with Regis.
  • Regis turns on the car radio so that they can hear what the others are saying. Gennaro is swearing at Malcolm for some reason.
  • Regis hits a button, telling the passengers in the other Cruiser that they can hear them. Gennaro is upset at not being able to speak freely.
  • The "show" starts.
  • A voice recording describes the scenery.
  • The group notices small dinosaurs in the trees.
  • Lex is bored.
  • Next, the group sees Hypsilophodonts in the fields.
  • The recording says they might see the animals scratching. The scientists at the park are not sure why.

Chapter 24: Control

  • Arnold comments on the grinding of the Cruiser gears. He and Hammond argue about the importance of minor details.
  • Arnold has worked for two years to get the park running. Now he's worried about everything that could go wrong.
  • Jurassic Park has all the problems of an amusement park and all the problems of a zoo. Plus dinosaurs.
  • Muldoon complains about how vicious the Velociraptors are, but Hammond doesn't want to hear it.
  • Hammond asks Nedry about the computer bugs. A lot still has to be fixed.
  • Arnold is keeping an eye on Nedry.
  • In the cars, Tim and Lex see a Dilophosaurus, a dinosaur that spits poison (at least in this this book).
  • Next on the tour is the Triceratops.
  • The recording says that the Tyrannosaurus rex will come after that.

Chapter 25: Big Rex

  • The Tyrannosaurus seems to be hiding. Regis says it's shy. Malcolm finds that idea amusing.
  • In the control room, Muldoon is concerned. He believes some of the animals are too dangerous to be kept alive in the park. He gets up to leave.
  • Nedry tells him to get him a Coke while he's up.
  • Control will try to lure the T. rex with a live goat. It works.
  • The group smells decay approaching. The T. rex is here: they see her head, twenty feet in the air.
  • The T. rex bounds over to the goat, bites it in the neck, then waits, looking around for competitors. She eats the goat in front of the whole group.
  • Reactions from the group are mixed.

Chapter 26: Control

  • Henry Wu returns to the control room.
  • Hammond is complaining about the tour participants' negativity.
  • Wu believes the park is sound.
  • Muldoon pulls out a canister launcher and puts it in the back of a Jeep. He hears thunder.
  • The cars are stopped near the Brontosaurus pad. Regis tells Lex they're the largest dinosaurs; Tim doesn't bother to correct him.
  • As they go on, Tim yells to stop the car: he's seen a raptor. Regis says he didn't.
  • Grant asks to turn around, but they can't: the cars are automatic.
  • Malcolm asks Tim how big the raptor was. Smaller than the adults, but bigger than the babies, says Tim.
  • Wu tells Arnold that Tim probably saw an othy.
  • Hammond is upset that the group isn't experiencing wonder.
  • Control gets a request from the cargo boat to leave because of the storm. Hammond wants it all unloaded first.
  • Arnold argues that the dock isn't safe, because Hammond didn't want to pay to make it so. Hammond says okay.
  • Arnold gives the boat permission to leave. It will return in two weeks.
  • The tour group will be getting close to the Stegosaurus pad right about now.

Chapter 27: Stegosaurus

  • Sattler sees the Stegosaurus as they get close. The vet, Harding, is with it.
  • Grant gets out of the car, and the rest of the party follows.
  • The Stegosauruses have been getting sick every six weeks or so, says Harding.
  • Sattler notices that the sick animal's eyes are dilated.
  • The plants nearby are poisonous, but they show no signs of being eaten.
  • The group finds some gizzard stones.
  • Signs suggest that the when the Stegosauruses swallow the stones, they ingest some berries as well.
  • Gennaro plays ball with Lex as he talks with Malcolm about the park and chaos theory.
  • Muldoon returns to the control room. He hasn't brought Nedry a Coke.
  • The reception with the tour party is breaking up.
  • Grant has found a broken eggshell.
  • It's a Velociraptor egg. What on earth is it doing here?

Chapter 28: Control

  • Malcolm asks Arnold to run another computer tally of all the dinosaurs.
  • Arnold runs the program. 238 animals expected. 238 animals counted. Looks good.
  • Malcolm asks Arnold to test now for 239 animals, one more than there should be.
  • The computer counts 239 animals.
  • Next, they test for 300 animals.
  • The computer counts 292.
  • Uh oh: they had been counting for only the expected number of animals, and not for the total.
  • Malcolm explains to Wu how the data proves conclusively that the animals are breeding.
  • Wu says it's impossible, because all the animals are female.
  • Grant corrects him. Somehow breeding is happening among some of the dinosaurs, the raptors included. There are seven breeding sites in all.

Chapter 29: Breeding Sites

  • Grant says they'll need to find the nests. The raptors may be eating eggs.
  • Wu says they haven't seen that behavior, but no one has watched the park at night.
  • Wu remains unconvinced that any of the animals are breeding; he made them all female, after all.
  • Grant asks Wu if he used any frog DNA in the construction. Wu says he will check.
  • The tour group plans to head back.
  • Sattler decides to stay with the vet, Dr. Harding. Gennaro stays back, too.
  • On the drive back, Malcolm seems subdued. His intuition tells him that they're at a dangerous point. He tells Grant about fractals and his view that events are unpredictable.
  • Tim believes he sees dinosaurs escaping on the departing boat.
  • Grant looks through the binoculars. He can't see them at first, but then notices them in the back: juvenile raptors.
  • The radios have stopped working, so Grant can't notify control.
  • Hammond tells Arnold to call down to the dining room. The group will be back soon.
  • Yeah, nothing doing: the phone lines are out; Nedry has taken them offline while he does repairs.
  • Nedry leaves to get a Coke while the data streams.
  • In the Land Cruisers, on the way back, the power goes out in the park.
  • Arnold wants to know where Nedry is.
  • You saw this coming, right?: the power outage is due to Nedry. He's currently stealing some fine, Grade-A dinosaur embryos.
  • Nedry leaves the building in the Jeep that Muldoon had supplied with some weapons.
  • Arnold discovers that the whole security system is offline. No doors are locked. The electrical fences are off, too. Yeah, this is great.
  • Muldoon goes to take his Jeep out to the Land Cruisers. Jeep's gone.