Gray Feather Ch2
First Days at the Park
I skipped over much in my first entry around my arrival at the old park and the labs that lay with in. I thought it best to make that another entry in its self. The first Nargus Labs Dinosaur Park was located on a peninsula which made it easier to isolate, though not as well as the island the new one is on. A peninsula is also far cheaper than an island and cheaper to access. This lead both to its early success and its demise. The first park fell victim to a terrorist attack that destabilized the power core. All where safely evacuated and the park left for lost. I think Nargus Labs still owns the land just to keep others from taking it over. Well legally anyhow. Unofficially that was just what I was about to do.
As I drove up to the old domes I was both surprised how good of shape they where in yet dismayed too. My stomach was knotted in fear that I would find every thing a complete loss. My fears where quickly put to rest though as I made my way through the debris of the front door though the dryness of my pants nearly came into question as I triggered the sensor for the greeting system. It was the same one in the new park but badly damaged and a little garbled and between that and the crackling of the door mechanism trying to work, I darn near jumped out of my scales. Well, skin still at that point.
After I got over my shock I felt giddy as a school girl who got her first kiss. Not only was something left in the part, some of it was still functioning. It was more than I ever dared hope for! As I made my way past the mostly open door I stared looking around at the mess in side. I had no desire to clean any of it up. This was the visitors area and of no use to me. Besides, I wanted no out ward signs any one was using the place again. The blast had even knocked some of the roof out and blew out the door leading out to the park completely. I wouldn’t miss the door. The doors leading into the second dome where no better than the front one but that is where the access was to the lower levels.
Once I got into the lab I found the power to the old stasis area to be rather shoddy, a bit hit and miss. It could never manage to sustain all the tubes at once, yet it kept trying to power them up. I would have to get the power rerouted to just one though. The one I had brought with me. It might not be the most up-to-date, which is why it was never fix even though it had minor issues, but these ones where piratically antiquated. I marveled that they ever managed to get the transformations to work at all in the old things.
It only got worse though as I dug into the computer systems in the lab. Not only where they out of date, nothing like what I was use to, but most where only partially functional. That turned out to be my first task, getting at least one computer system fully working between the parts I had with me and the other ones at the lab. These where not simple computers with normal inputs but specialized to what they where made to do, for handling massive amounts of input and doing even larger amounts of calculations on that input to make sure the transformations went as smoothly as possible. As worked on that I also started putting together a new control input set up for wireless control. Raptors do not have good hands for manipulating controls, sadly. One of the draw backs though still worth it. The helm I made was designed to work off mental input, basically controlling things with my mind. I will not bore you with the details of it, and the helm its self was down right ugly but hopefully It would fit a raptor head alright and be work well enough. The amount of data that it might have to put out at one time I felt best handled by a few anti. I may yet change that setup, but at this point I feel it is best to be as safe as possible.
I explored too during this time, inside and out. I found the elevator to the old breeding and nesting area to be in poor shape to say the least. The lift was laying half out of the shaft on the ground. I would need help in fixing it so for the time I have left it be. Getting help will be the next thing on my list. Exploring outside felt nice though I felt inadequate now in my human body. I also slept outside. I had not found a way to turn off the dang alarm, and while I can tune it out while working, it can get on ones nerves when not distracted by other things. Besides, I had found being inside any building to be rather oppressive. I longed for my raptor body once more.
That is why the third task, after the computer and power routing where done… Well fourth if you count the control helm, was to get the stasis tube in and working This proved to be one of the easier tasks. One of the biggest problems was a motor for opening the tank. It was a design flaw in this model, the motor was too weak and often burnt out. I was able to rig in one from the old tanks there but it was not in the best of shape either. I will, for now, have to go easy on it.
Even as a human I still seem to sense more than I use to. Not physically though, but in some other way. I had felt as if I where being watched by some one, and after several days I finally caught a glimpse of them. It was a raptor! I had thought they where all taken away in the evacuation. Seems some got left behind, or at least one did. I called out to it but it darted away with out looking back. Perhaps it is one of the ones that went fully feral in the early days. I have not seen it since.
Against my better judgment, I decided to go raptor for a short while. The human body is useful in many ways, I can not deny that. But to be a raptor… It is to be alive! I often wonder if it feels so for other creatures such as wolves or dolphins. Maybe some day soon one with the same vision and drive as Nargus will develop a program like that as he did for the raptors. It might not be as amazing as bringing back prehistoric life, or rather turning people into it, but I for one would not mind trying it as well. I do fear the darker sides of this technology. No one is blind to what it can do for harm as well as what it has done for good. I hope it has not been used in such ways yet, but I would not be surprised to learn that it has…. My the gods help use if the balance ever shifts to the darker side of it….
Having now enjoyed a couple days as a raptor and having reverted back I now have two new tasks at hand. One, I need an assistant who is mechanically inclined. That will be the harder of the two. The other is to gather some up to become creatures for prey. While I have food it is more for human and the urge to hunt as a raptor is great, especially when hungry. I have plans for how to solve this problem, though some may not consider them to be very moral. It really is how you look at it.. For now I must rest and prepare for my journey to the city tonight.
