Mesozoic Park (Part 12)
#13 of Mesozoic Park
I'm not exactly a big fan of Dr. Karingson, I get along great with just about all of my employees, but he's pushed his luck time and time again and for once, I'll be letting him have the fun he wants.
Walking down the hall to his lab reminds me of our experiences, when I hired him he sounded like a great person that would be a huge help to the park, but he always asked for a few little things, in the end he got a secret underground lab, when I found out about that I nearly fired him, but I gave him a chance to show me it's useful, which he showed me how well it works.
Soon after he gained my trust he tried to restrict access, I refused to let him do that and proceeded to investigate to find him doing many experiments, even cloning without telling me. The only reason I didn't fire him was because he convinced me that he got really into his work and I can set up cameras to check in on him.
The last thing he did... He's lucky he didn't get anyone hurt. He cloned a number of dinosaurs and kept them caged up underground, the conditions could only be compared to a factory farm for chickens. When word got out and I found out he was already beaten up enough that I felt bad for him and I let him stay around.
Remembering this made me just want to punch him in the face and fire him, but he's too important yet.
It took nothing to convince him, I guess he just wanted an opportunity to use his factory farm of a lab again, but I told him that if he pulls another of his stunts, he's fired and banned from the island.
I walked out of his lab only a little calmer than when I entered, but I had to drop it and get to work, an employee pointed out that the alpha Albertosaurus has a minor mite or lice infestation.
This was exciting and terrifying, it confirmed my belief that dinosaurs could get mites like man modern birds, but it also means the whole pack needs to be sedated to be checked and treated accordingly.
After the park closed for the night, we went to work as it was getting dark enough that many of the dinosaurs became tired, the only ones that remained active where the Troodons.
The Albertosaurus pack was laying down to go to sleep, the alpha, a large and strong female carefully stretched and reached it's head down to gently nip at her own stomach, scratching and crushing some mites that hid in her feathers. The prick of the dart was a bit of a surprise to her, she flinched, but did not jump up, her looking and acting so calm helped keep the pack calm enough to be sedated too.
The small team of three plus me carefully entered the exhibit and checked the consciousness of each of the animals before covering the alphas head, which in theory will help keep her calm, before we got to work, combing through her feathers with one hand while the other held a bottle of mite spray, we each had a head lamp to see in the dense feather coverage.
There where a few that would hide in the small feathers on and around her head that would come out and feed on the uncovered skin of the face, a quick spray killed the mites almost immediately.
After tipping her on her side, we found the worse of the mites on her stomach, a patch of thin feathers that remains humid and warm is like heaven to the little blood suckers until we came in and sprayed them out.
We gave the others a quick check before making our safe escape to monitor the animals until the sedative wore off and they could get themselves in a comfortable position again, the alpha looking much happier.
After that, the mites did come back, but not very often, maybe twice a year and always on a different animal.
Time passed, I would loose track if it wasn't for my son's birthday every year, him now being 8 and a half years old told me that it's been a bit over three years since work was started on recreating the Indominus Rex, cloning on other dinosaurs slowed to a near stop, only making half a dozen new species.
Two eggs now sat in an incubator, not just any eggs, a pair of very special eggs that contained the embryos of real world Indominus Rexs. My heart was racing like they where our first ever eggs, it may be the first day of incubation, but I can't wait.