Control

"Absolutely absurd," Hammond said in the control room, listening to the report over the radio. "It must be a bird egg. That's all it can be."

The radio crackled. He heard Malcolm's voice. "Let's do a little test, shall we? Ask Mr. Arnold to run one of his computer tallies."

"Now?"

"Yes, right now. I understand you can transmit it to the screen in Dr. Harding's car. Do that, too, will you?"

"No problem," Arnold said. A moment later, the screen in the control room printed out:

Total Animals 238____________________

Species Expected Found Ver

Tyrannosaurs 2 2 4.1

Maiasaurs 21 21 3.3

Stegosaurs 4 4 3.9

Triceratops 8 8 3.1

Procompsognathids 49 49 3.9

Othnielia 16 16 3.1

Velociraptors 8 8 3.0

Apatosaurs 17 17 3.1

Hadrosaurs 11 11 3.1

Dilophosaurs 7 7 4.3

Pterosaurs 6 6 4.3

Hypsilophodontids 33 33 2.9

Euoplocepbalids 16 16 4.0

Styracosaurs 18 18 3.9

Callovosaurs 22 22 4.1

Total 238 238

"I hope you're satisfied," Hammond said. "Are you receiving it down there on your screen?"

"We see it," Malcolm said.

"Everything accounted for, as always." He couldn't keep the satisfaction out of his voice.

"Now then," Malcolm said. "Can you have the computer search for a different number of animals?"

"Like what?" Arnold said.

"Try two hundred thirty-nine."

"Just a minute," Arnold said, frowning. A moment later the screen printed:

Total Animals 239____________________

Species Expected Found Ver

Tyrannosaurs 2 2 4.1

Maiasaurs 21 21 3.3

Stegosaurs 4 4 3.9

Triceratops 8 8 3.1

Procompsognathids 49 50 3.9

Othnielia 16 16 3.1

Velociraptors 8 8 3.0

Apatosaurs 17 17 3.1

Hadrosaurs 11 11 3.1

Dilophosaurs 7 7 4.3

Pterosaurs 6 6 4.3

Hypsilophodontids 33 33 2.9

Euoplocepbalids 16 16 4.0

Styracosaurs 18 18 3.9

Callovosaurs 22 22 4.1

Total 238 239

Hammond sat forward. "What the hell is that?"

"We picked up another compy."

"From where?"

"I don't know!"

The radio crackled. "Now, then: can you ask the computer to search for, let us say, three hundred animals?"

"What is he talking about?" Hammond said, his voice rising. "Three hundred animals? What's he talking about?"

"Just a minute," Arnold said. "Tbat'll take a few minutes." He punched buttons on the screen. The first line of the totals appeared:

Total Animals 239____________________

"I don't understand what he's driving at," Hammond said.

"I'm afraid I do," Arnold said. He watched the screen. The numbers on the first line were clicking:

Total Animals 244____________________

"Two hundred forty-four?" Hammond said. "What's going on?"

"The computer Is counting the animals in the park," Wu said. "All the animals."

"I thought that's what it always did." He spun. "Nedry! Have you screwed up again?"

"No," Nedry said, looking up from his console. "Computer allows the operator to enter an expected number of animals, in order to make the counting process faster. But it's a convenience, not a flaw."

"He's right," Arnold said. "We just always used the base count of two hundred thirty-eight because we assumed there couldn't be more."

Total Animals 262____________________

"Wait a minute," Hammond said. "These animals can't breed. The computer must be counting field mice or something."

" I think so, too," Arnold said. "It's almost certainly an error in the visual tracking. But we'll know soon enough."

Hammond turned to Wu. "They can't breed, can they?"

"No," Wu said.

Total Animals 270____________________

"Where are they coming from?" Arnold said,

"Damned if I know," Wu said.

They watched the numbers climb.

Total Animals 283____________________

Over the radio, they heard Gennaro say, "Holy shit, how much more?"

And they heard the girl say, "I'm getting hungry. When are we going home?"

"Pretty soon, Lex. "

On the screen, there was a flashing error message:

ERROR: Search Params: 3000 Animals Not Found ____________________

"An error," Hammond said, nodding. "I thought so. I had the feeling all along there must be an error."

But a moment later the screen printed:

Total Animals 292____________________

Species Expected Found Ver

Tyrannosaurs 2 2 4.1

Maiasaurs 21 22 3.3

Stegosaurs 4 4 3.9

Triceratops 8 8 3.1

Procompsognathids 49 65 3.9

Othnielia 16 23 3.1

Velociraptors 8 37 3.0

Apatosaurs 17 17 3.1

Hadrosaurs 11 11 3.1

Dilophosaurs 7 7 4.3

Pterosaurs 6 6 4.3

Hypsilophodontids 33 34 2.9

Euoplocepbalids 16 16 4.0

Styracosaurs 18 18 3.9

Callovosaurs 22 22 4.1

Total 238 292

The radio crackled. "Now you see the flaw in your procedures," Malcolm said. "You only tracked the expected number of dinosaurs. You were worried about losing animals, and your procedures were designed to advise you instantly if you had less than the expected number. But that wasn't the problem. The problem was, you had more than the expected number."

"Christ," Arnold said.

"There can't be more," Wu said. "We know how many we've released. There can't be more than that."

"Afraid so, Henry," Malcolm said. "They're breeding."

"No."

"Even if you don't accept Grant's eggshell, you can prove it with your own data. Take a look at the compy height graph. Arnold will put it up for you."

[picture]

"Notice anything about it?" Malcolm said.

"It's a Poisson distribution," Wu said. "Normal curve."

"But didn't you say you introduced the compys in three batches? At six-month intervals?"

" Yes…"

"Then you should get a graph with peaks for each of the three separate batches that were introduced," Malcolm said, tapping the keyboard. "Like this."

[picture]

"But you didn't get this graph," Malcolm said. "The graph you actually got is a graph of a breeding population. Your compys are breeding."

Wu shook his head. "I don't see how."

"They're breeding, and so are the othnielia, the maiasaurs, the hypsys-and the velociraptors."

"Christ," Muldoon said. "There are raptors free in the park."

"Well, it's not that bad," Hammond said, looking at the screen. "We have increases in just three categories-well, five categories. Very small increases in two of them…"

"What are you talking about?" Wu said, loudly. "Don't you know what this means?"

"Of course I know what this means, Henry," Hammond said. "It means you screwed up."

"Absolutely not."

"You've got breeding dinosaurs out there, Henry.'

"But they're all female," Wu said. "It's impossible. There must be a mistake. And look at the numbers. A small increase in the big animals, the maiasaurs and the hypsys. And big increases in the number of small animals. It just doesn't make sense. It must be a mistake."

The radio clicked. "Actually not," Grant said. "I think these numbers confirm that breeding is taking place. In seven different sites around the island."