He looked around by the printer, and found a shelved stack of sheets. Pulling them out, he discovered that they were memos. They were on faded blue paper, and they were all brief.
From: CC/D-P. Jenkins
To: H. Wu
Excess dopamine in Alpha 5 means DI receptor still not func-
tioning with desired avidity. To minimize aggressive behavior in
finished orgs must try alternate genetic backgrounds. We need
to start this today.
And again:
From: CC/D
To: H. Wu/Sup
Isolated glycogen synthase kinase-3 from Xenopus may work
better than mammalian GSK-3 alpha/beta currently in use.
Anticipate more robust establishment of dorsoventral polarity
and less early embyro wastage. Agree?
Malcolm looked at the next one:
From: Backes
To: H. Wu/Sup
Short protein fragments may be acting as prions. Sourcing
doubtful but suggest halt all exogenous protein for carniv. orgs
until origin is cleared up. Disease cannot continue!
Thorne looked over his shoulder. “Seems like they had problems,” he said.
“Undoubtedly they did,” Malcolm said. “It would be impossible not to have them. But the question is…”
He drifted off, staring at the next memo, which was longer.
INGEN PRODUCTION UPDATE 10/10/88 From: Lori Ruso
To: All Personnel
Subject: Low Production Yields
Recent episodes of wastage of successful live births in the
period 24-72 hours post-hatching have been traced to contami-
nation from Escherichia coli bacteria. These have cut produc-
tion yields by 60%, and arise from inadequate sterile
precautions by floor personnel, principally during Process H
(Egg Maintenance Phase, Hormone Enhancement 2G/H).
Komera swing arms have been replaced and re-sleeved on
robots 5A and 7D, but needle replacement must still be done
daily in accordance with sterile conditions (General Manual:
Guideline 5-9).
During the next production cycle (10/12-10/26) we will sacri-
fice every tenth egg at H Step to test for contamination. Begin
set-asides at once. Report all errors. Stop the line whenever
necessary until this is cleared up.
“They had problems with infection, and contamination of the production line,’ Malcolm said. “And maybe other sources of contamination as well. Look at this.”
He handed Thorne the next memo:
INGEN PRODUCTION UPDATE 12/18/88
From: H. Wu
To: All Personnel
Subject: DX: TAG AND RELEASE
Live births will be fitted with the new Grumbach field tags at
the earliest viable interval. Formula or other feeding within the
laboratory confines will no longer be done. The release pro-
gram is now fully operational and tracking networks are acti-
vated to monitor.
Thorne said, “Does this mean what I think it means?”
“Yes,” Malcolm said. “They were having trouble keeping the newborn animals alive, so they tagged them and released them.”
“And kept track of them on some kind of network?”
“Yes. I think so.”
“They set dinosaurs loose on this island?” Eddie said. “They must have been crazy.”
“Desperate, is more like it , Malcolm said. “Just imagine: here’s this huge expensive high-tech process, and in the end the animals are getting sick and dying. Hammond must have been furious. So they decided to get the animals out of the laboratory, and into the wild.”
“But why didn’t they find the cause of the sickness, why didn’t they – ”
“Commercial process,” Malcolm said. “It’s all about results. And I’m sure they thought they were keeping track of the animals, they could get them back anytime they wanted. And don’t forget, it must have worked. They must have put the animals into the field, then collected them after a while, when they were older, and shipped them to Hammond’s zoo.”
“But not all of them….”
“We don’t know everything yet,” Malcolm said. “We don’t know what happened here.”
They went through the next doorway, and found themselves in a small, bare room, with a central bench, and lockers on the walls. Signs said OBSERVE STERILE PRECAUTIONS and MAINTAIN SK4 STANDARDS. At the end of the room was a cabinet with stacks of yellowing gowns and caps. Eddie said, “It’s a changing room.”
“Looks like it,” Malcolm said. He opened a locker; it was empty, except for a pair of men’s shoes. He opened several other lockers. They were all empty. Inside one, a sheet of paper was taped:
Safety Is Everybody’s Business!
Report Genetic Anomalies!