the.lost.world-第27部分
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ld not see much beyond。 He had the sense of a large space; and plex machinery; but the glass was dusty and streaked with grime。 It was difficult to see。
Thorne said to Malcolm; 〃You really think you know what this building was for?〃
〃I know exactly what it was for;〃 Malcolm said。 〃It's a manufacturing plant for dinosaurs。〃
〃Why;〃 Eddie said; 〃would anybody want that?〃
〃Nobody would;〃 Malcolm said。 〃That's why they kept it a secret。〃
〃I don't get it;〃 Eddie said。
Malcolm smiled。 〃Long story;〃 he said。
He slipped his hands between the doors; and tried to pull them open; but they remained shut fast。 He grunted; straining with effort。 And then suddenly; with a metallic screech; they slid apart。
They stepped into the darkness beyond。
Their flashlights shone down an inky corridor; as they moved forward。 〃To understand this place; you have to go back ten years; to a man named John Hammond; and an animal called the quagga。〃
〃The what?〃
〃The quagga;〃 Malcolm said; 〃is an African mammal; rather like a zebra。 It became extinct in the last century。 But in the 1980s; somebody used the latest DNA…extraction techniques on a piece of quagga hide; and recovered a lot of DNA。 So much DNA that people began to talk about bringing the quagga back to life。 And if you could bring the quagga back to life; why not other extinct animals? The dodo? The saber…toothed tiger? Or even a dinosaur?〃
〃Where could you get dinosaur DNA?〃 Thorne said。
〃Actually;〃 Malcolm said; 〃paleontologists have been finding fragments of dinosaur DNA for years。 They never said much about it; because they never had enough material to use it as a classification tool。 So it didn't seem to have any value; it was just a curiosity;〃
〃But to re…create an animal; you'd need more than DNA fragments;〃 Thorne said。 〃You'd need the whole strand。〃
〃That's right;〃 Malcolm said。 〃And the man who figured out how to; get it was a venture capitalist named John Hammond。 He reasoned that; when dinosaurs were alive; insects probably bit them; and sucked their blood; just as insects do today。 And some of those insects would afterward land on a branch; and be trapped in sticky sap。 And some of that sap would harden into amber。 Hammond decided that; if you drilled into insects preserved in amber; and extracted the stomach contents; you would eventually get some dino…DNA。〃
〃And did he?〃
〃Yes。 He did; And he started InGen; to develop this discovery。 Hammond was a hustler; and his true talent was raising money。 He figured out how to get enough money to do the research to go from a DNA strand to a living animal。 Sources of funding weren't immediately apparent。 Because; although it would be exciting to re…create a dinosaur; it wasn't exactly a cure for cancer。
〃So he decided to make a tourist attraction。 He planned to recover the cost of the dinosaurs by putting them in a kind of zoo or theme park; where he would charge admission。〃
〃Are you joking?〃 Thorne said。
〃No。 Hammond actually did it。 He built his park on an island called Isla Nublar; north of here; and he planned to open it to the public in late 1989。 I went to see the place myself; shortly before it was scheduled to open。 But it turned out Hammond had problems;〃 Malcolm said。 〃The park systems broke down; and the dinosaurs got free。 Some visitors were killed。 Afterward; the park and all its dinosaurs were destroyed。〃
They passed a window where they could look out over the plain; at the herds of dinosaurs browsing by the river。 Thorne said; 〃If they were all destroyed; what's this island?〃
〃This island;〃 Malcolm said; 〃is Hammond's dirty little secret。 It's the dark side of his park。〃
They continued down the corridor。
〃You see;〃 Malcolm said; 〃visitors to Hammond's park at Isla Nublar were shown a very impressive genetics lab; with puters and gene sequencers; and all sorts of facilities for hatching and growing young dinosaurs。 Visitors were told that the dinosaurs were created right there at the park。 And the laboratory tour was entirely convincing。
〃But actually; Hammond's tour skipped several steps in the process In one room; he showed you dinosaur DNA being extracted。 In the next room; he showed you eggs about to hatch。 It was very dramatic; but how had he gotten from DNA to a viable embryo? You never saw that critical step。 It was just presented as having happened; between rooms。
〃The fact was; Hammond's whole show was too good to be true。 For example; he had a hatchery where the little dinosaurs pecked their way out of the eggs; while you watched in amazement。 But there were never any problems in the hatchery。 No stillbirths; no deformities; no difficulties of any sort。 In Hammond's presentation; this dazzling technology was carried off without a hitch。
〃And if you think about it; it couldn't possibly be true。 Hammond was claiming to manufacture extinct animals using cutting…edge technology。 But with any new manufacturing technology; initial yields are low: on the order of one percent or less。 So in fact; Hammond must have been growing thousands of dinosaur embryos to get a single live birth。 That implied a giant industrial operation; not the spotless little laboratory we were shown。〃
〃You mean this place;〃 Thorne said。
〃Yes。 Here; on another island; in secret; away from public scrutiny; Hammond was free to do his research; and deal with the unpleasant truth behind his beautiful little park。 Hammond's little genetic zoo was a showcase。 But this island was the real thing。 This is where the dinosaurs were made。〃
〃If the animals at the zoo were destroyed;〃 Eddie said; 〃how e they weren't destroyed on this island; too?〃
〃A critical question;〃 Malcolm said。 〃We should know the answer in a few minutes。〃 He shone his light down the tunnel; it glinted off glass walls。 〃Because; if I am not mistaken;〃 he said; 〃the first of the manufacturing bays is just ahead。〃
Arby
Arby awoke; sitting upright in bed; blinking his eyes in the Morning light that streamed in through the trailer windows。 In the next bunk; Kelly was still asleep; snoring loudly。
He looked out the window at the entrance to the big building; and s aw that the adults were gone。 The Explorer was standing by the entrance; but there was no one inside the car。 Their trailer sat isolated 'n the clearing of tall grass。 Arby felt entirely alone … frighteningly alone and a sudden sense of panic made his heart pound。 He never should have e here; he thought。 The whole idea was stupid。 And Worst Of all; it had been his plan。 The way they had huddled together in the trailer; and then had gone back to Thorne's office。 And Kelly had talked to Thorne; so that Arby could steal the key。 The way he had set up a delayed radio message to be transmitted to Thorne so that Thorne would think they were still in Woodside。 Arby had felt very clever at the time; but now he regretted it all。 He decided that he had to call Thorne immediately。 He had to turn himself in。 He was filled with an overwhelming desire to confess。
He needed to hear somebody's voice。 That was the truth。
He walked from the back of the trailer; where Kelly was sleeping; to the front; and turned on the ignition key in the dashboard。 He picked up the radio handset and said; 〃This is Arby。 Is anybody there? Over。 This is Arby。〃
But nobody answered。 After a moment; he looked at the dashboard systems monitor; which registered all the systems that were operative。 He didn't see anything about munications。 It occurred to him that the munications system was probably hooked into the puter。 He decided to turn the puter on。
So he went back to the middle of the trailer; unstrapped the keyboard; plugged it in; and turned the puter on。 There was a menu screen that said 〃Thorne Field Systems〃 and underneath that a listing of subsystems inside the trailer。 One of them was radio munications。 So he clicked on that; and turned it on。
The puter screen showed a scrambled hash of static。 At the bottom was a mand line that read: 〃Multiple Frequency Inputs Received。 Do you want to Autotune?〃
Arby didn't know what that meant; but he was fearless around puters。 Autotune sounded interesting。 Without hesitation; he typed 〃Yes。〃
The static scramble remained on the screen; while numbers rolled at the bottom。 He guessed he was seeing frequencies in megahertz。 But he didn't really know。
And then; suddenly; the screen went blank; except for a single flashing word in the upper…left corner:
LOGIN:
He paused; frowning。 That was odd。 Apparently he was required to log into the trailer's puter system。 That meant he would need a password。 He tried: THORNE。
Nothing happened。
He waited a moment; then tried Thorne's initials: JT。
Nothing。
LEVINE。
Nothing。
THORNE FIELD SYSTEMS。
Nothing。
TFS。
Nothing。
FIELD。
Nothing。
USER。
Nothing。
Well; he thought; at least the system hadn't dumped him out。 Most networks logged you off after three wrong tries。 But apparently Thorne hadn't designed any security features into this one。 Arby would never have made it this way。 The system was too patient and helpful。
He tried: