Jurassic Park^TM III Novelization by Scott Ciencin Page A

opponent.”
    Alan demonstrated with some grunts and groans of his own. Charlie’s eyes went wide with fright.
    “Uh, Alan?” Ellie said.
    “Hmm?” Alan said.
    “He’s
three,”
Ellie reminded him. “Why don’t you wait till he’s five?”
    “Oh, right,” Alan said. He made the dinosaurs do a little dance along the edge of the sandbox. “Happy dinosaurs!”
    Alan heard a car engine turn off and a door slam.
    “That must be Mark,” Ellie said. She turned and called out, “Mark, we’re back here!”
    Alan and Ellie turned to see Mark Degler come through the gate carrying a briefcase. He appeared handsome and friendly, and his suit looked as if it cost more than Alan made in an entire month.
    Mark and Ellie kissed tenderly on the lips.
    Alan tensed.
    “Good day at the State Department?” Ellie asked.
    “Keeping the world safe,” Mark said. He gestured to the baby. “Here, let me take him.”
    Ellie gently handed him the baby. “Mark, this is Alan Grant.”
    “Nice to meet you, Alan,” Mark said. He cradled the baby against him with one hand and held out his other hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
    Alan shook the outstretched hand. He felt like an outsider. There had been a time when he belonged here, in Ellie’s life. But that time was past.
    “Daddy, this is a herbabore,” Charlie said, holding up a toy dinosaur. “And that’s the dinosaur man.”
    Alan smiled uncomfortably.
    After dinner, Ellie walked Alan to his rented car. Night had fallen and Mark was putting Charlie to sleep.
    “You didn’t talk shop much,” Ellie said. “That’s not like you.”
    Alan shrugged. “Mark didn’t seem like the type to be interested in scientific theories and fund-raising tours.”
    “Well, I am,” she said. “What’s been happening?”
    They stopped by his car and leaned against the doors.
    “Raising money was never easy,” Alan said. “But before Jurassic Park became worldwide news, you could at least find it. Somewhere. Now fossils are out. Everyone wants to see real live dinosaurs.”
    Ellie nodded.
    “I’ve found raptor remains at my new site,” said Alan. “I have a theory that the key to their social intelligence, the way they can work together as a team, lies in their ability to talk to each other.”
    Ellie shuddered. “You mean those sounds they made.”
    “Given a chance, I’m certain I can prove my theory that the raptor might have been capable of birdlike vocalizations,” Alan said. He pushed away from the door and got inside. “Given a chance . . .”
    He rolled down the window and Ellie crouched beside it.
    “Times change, Alan,” Ellie said. “But you’re still the best. I mean that.”
    “The last of my breed.” Alan looked away. “I’d better get going.”
    “Let me know if I can help, Alan,” Ellie said. “You’re bad about asking for help, but
please ask me.
Anything, anytime.”
    Alan nodded reassuringly as he turned the key in the ignition. He didn’t want Ellie to worry about him. Ellie was happy with the life she had chosen. Maybe if things had been different, if
he
had been different, he might have been the one to share that life with her.
    But he hadn’t been ready to make that commitment, and he still wasn’t. Not to her, not to anyone. Not when there was so much work to be done.
    Paleontology, the focus of his entire life, stood on the brink of extinction. Many believed that all dinosaur scientists had to do now was travel to Isla Sorna or Isla Nublar—the two Jurassic Park sites—and study the living dinosaurs there. But Alan knew different.
    Dinosaurs,
true
dinosaurs, lived 65 million years ago. The answers to how they lived were in the fossil record—
not
in the genetically engineered theme-park monsters that John Hammond and InGen had created for profit.
    Alan was one of the few scientists still dedicated to keeping the study of fossils from perishing. His career
had
to come first.
    Ellie touched his hand. “When I met you, I