Mesozoic Park (part 2)
#3 of Mesozoic Park
I almost forgot to upload this weeks part.
It's been a little over a month since Gena was last here, the ostrich-saurs are now in their permanent enclosure and pretty comfortable in it. They enjoy running around pecking at the fruit and insects and lizards that fall in. The ostrich-saurs enjoy running enough that I plan to expand their enclosure as they grow.
Another week passed and it was opening day for Mesozoic Park and I managed to convince Gena to come for opening day. I told her I needed her here for moral support. I waited on the dock for Gena and my first tour group for the day which is also the first tour group ever.
The boat arrived, Gena lead the front of the group of 25. There where other foxes and wolves that I noticed, a few kinds of big cat, the rest where too close and moving too fast for me to tell what they where.
"Hello Gena" I said as she walked up to me.
"Hey Jake" she said with an excited tone and hugged me.
I hugged her back, getting her to my side with an arm around her. I cleared my throat "Hello everyone" I said to the crowd, letting them quite down "I'm Jake, creator of Mesozoic park and you are all my first ever guests" A few cheers rose from the crowd. I chuckled a little before continuing "Alright, so being my first guests your all getting a pretty good discount of all purchases made on the island"
The tour started, I lead the way along the path, pointing out all shops and buildings. One that I'm really excited about is a hostel thats currently under construction. "50 rooms" I said to the guests "when the park gets bigger it could be compared to a small city and there would be no way to see it all in one day... and this was Gena's idea"
Gena blushed as I started leading the crowd along again, coming to the enclosures.
"First up, we have chicken-saurs, the product of highly modified chicken embryos" I said, noticing someone poking their fingers through the fence "Please keep your fingers out of the enclosure, we are not liable for loss of digits" They pulled their fingers straight out.
Another member of the tour group questioned "could these little chickens really do that?"
"Well, I've seen them get lizards that slipped in there, seeing them kill the lizards, I believe they could do a lot of damage to your fingers" I explained to them.
I lea them to the turkey-saurs, briefly introducing them before moving to the young ostrich-saurs "and these little cuties are ostrich-saurs... I'm preparing something for these guys for when they are older." I said to the crowd.
Gena looked up to me "you haven't told me about this"
"I haven't told anyone yet" I said "I'm going to make their enclosure longer and make a race so guests can interact with the animals a bit more... It's really more of a thing for the kids, but maybe we could get professional runners to try to race them"
A very skeptical sounding rabbit questioned "interact with the animals?"
I nodded "yes, birds are very smart and sometimes playful, for example, the ostrich-saurs will run along with you if they see you running"
The rabbit remained skeptical, he rolled his eyes.
"How about you try to race them, they are only a little over a month old, you might stand a chance" I said to him.
The rabbit sighed "I believe they could outrun me, I just doubt they are as smart as you say" but he still lined up along the fence, both of the ostrich-saurs walked up, already knowing what he's doing from me running with them. The rabbit hopped, breaking into a sprint, he could easily run the length of the enclosure in a few seconds, but when he saw the ostrich-saurs pass him he slowed to a stop. "Okay" he said while panting and walking back "I'll take your word for it next time"
Most of the group laughed a little, a few getting ready to try racing the birds themselves.
I looked at my watch "okay, 15 minutes to take pictures and visit the shops than I'd like for you all to meet me at the lab over there"
A few members of the crowd nodded, at least one set a reminder on their phone.
I lead Gena over to the lab, sitting on the front step with her.
We sat and watched the guests spread out a little and explore the currently small park.
I turned to face Gena "hey Gena" I said.
She looked to me with a smile "Yeah?" she questioned.
"There is kinda something I've been wanting to ask you" I said "you see, your just so sweet and beautiful... I was wondering if you'd want to go out with me?"
She pulled me into a tight hug "oh my god!" she exclaimed as her tail started wagging excitedly "I thought you'd never ask me out!"
I chuckled a little, hugging her back, my own tail wagging.
After a while of hugging, I looked at my watch "Looks like it's time to get the group in the lab" I said, getting up and offering my hand to help her up. I pulled her up and started walking "There is about half an hour between tours" I said to her "a half an hour I can spend with you"
She blushed with a smile, chuckling a little "that's great!" she said.
We rounded up all the guests and gathered them in front of the lab, quickly counting to make sure everyone was there.
I lead them into the lab "okay everyone" I said "Your going to get to see how we make dinosaurs" I said excitedly. they took seats surrounding a work table to watch. I walked over to a cooled container, reaching inside I pulled out a fertilized cassowary egg. I carried it over and gently put it down on the padded work table. The large greenish egg sat in a little dip to stop it from rolling.
"okay, so to make these dinosaurs we take normal bird eggs, in this case, cassowary eggs, make a small hole and genetically modify the embryo" I explained "evolution, evolution, so on and so on, birds are closely related to dinosaurs and we can change their genetic code to make them grow teeth, tails and arms with claws"
Using a small drill, I carefully made a hole in the eggshell and placed a state-of-the-art microscope camera inside the hole along with a syringe controlled by a tiny robot arm. The picture the camera produced came up on the large screen in the front of the room, I sat down, taking control of the robot arm, directing it to make all of the changes to the birds genetic code.
I finished the genetic modifications and removed the tools, covering the hole with a small piece of tape.
"Okay, any questions?" I asked.
A few hands raised in the crowd. I pointed to one. "How long does this take to hatch?"
"A normal cassowary egg takes 50-60 days to hatch, so around than" I said, pointing to someone else.
Someone else asked "how big will they get?"
I pulled my phone out "nearly six foot tall, I'm not sure about length or weight"
There where no other questions. "Alright, I'm doing the same to a pheasant egg, you can watch if you want or go back to the park" I said, which divided the group again.
Over the rest of the day I had time to hang out with Gena between tours and making another two cassowary-saurs and pheasant-saurs.
I asked Gena to stay the night here with me, she happily accepted the invite.