Tag

Malcolm visits an old collegue of his, Elizabeth Gelman, who works at the San Francisco Zoo who Malcolm had asked to look at the specimen sample Levine sent him. Gelman admits that the specimen has generated quite a bit of interest from others working at the zoo, and inquires if it has anything to do with the rumors of odd animal corpses showing up in Costa Rica. Malcolm, being evasive, asks about her curiosity to which she responds that the animal is most certainly an unknown one. Looking at the slides of the sample under a microscope, Elizabeth states that due to the epidermis the creature is some sort of lizard, and due to the presence of femoral scent gland pores, that the creature was male. She switches slides that show smooth muscle fibers, which are atypical of lizards, and states that the impression given by the sample is that the creature was warm blooded, and had avian characteristics and a highly unusual immune system. Elizabeth asks if it would be possible to get more samples from "Site B", which Malcolm has never heard of and. Elizabeth points out that "Site B" is emblazoned on the ID tag they found on the sample; the tag itself is small and made of the same material that football helmets are made of, making it very strong and durable. The tag itself is hollow, with circuitry filling the inside presumably so the animal could be tracked electronically. The tag is also heavily corroded, which could only have occured from volcanic fumes.

Gelman admits that the tag has upset people because it implies that somewhere, people are rasing whatever these creatures are. She asks Ian if he knows how this could happen, which he denies. An exasperated Elizabeth accuses him of lying and gives him his sample back; Ian promises to explain things to her soon. As Malcolm leaves, Elizabeth asks him how the animal died; he replies that there were signs on the carcass that the animal had been in a fight. Elizabeth informs him that there were signs of skin cells from another animal in the carcass, which is typical of fights among lizards as they press against each other. However she noticed that the arterial cells showed signs of chronic stress and asks Ian as he leaves that if someone is breeding these things, why are they under so much stress. Once outside, Ian tries to call Levine but gets no response.