Baby is the first chapter in the Fifth Configuration. Eddie brings back the injured young T.rex, Levine and Malcolm disagree with that move and after much disagreement, they figure out how to make a cast.
Plot[]
This opening chapter in the Fifth Configuration in The Lost World sees Eddie bringing an injured baby Tyrannosaurus rex into the trailer and Ian Malcolm immediately objects. Eddie remarks he shot the dinosaur with morphine and the oxygen mask fits over its stout. Malcolm repeats his objection saying bringing it interferes with the system. Richard Levine over the radio agrees, however, Sarah Harding says it is too late. She attaches cardiac leads to the animal's chest, allowing everyone to hear its heartbeat which is extremely fast. After asking, she learns Eddie shot the male animal with around twenty cc's of morphine and Malcolm wonders how longer it will remain unconscious. Harding cannot confirms as she has only sedated lions and jackals in the field, and with young animals it unpredictable. She knows nothing about young dinosaurs and can only state she wants him out and as fast as possible.
She uses another device, a small ultrasound transducer and tells Kelly Curtis and Arby Benton to move aside to give her a clearer view. She starts pointing out parts like metatarsals, the tibia and fibula, prompting Arby to ask why they are of different color. The answer is the legs are mostly cartilage, with very little calcified bone and the animals cannot walk properly yet. Kelly asks how she knows all this anatomy. Harding answers she has to and has examined leftover bones, identifying what predators have eaten. She also adds her father was a vet at the San Diego Zoo which interests Malcolm, who met a Gerry Harding in Isla Nublar. Arby switches on more light and she further identifies a fracture, just above the epiphysis. There is a little black line, a mark of death and she says the T.rex won't heal and might not move fast enough before another predator eats him. Eddie says he has lots of diesterase, a glue however Harding says that would kill the T.rex and they need something rigid, but biodegradable. Eddie suggests degrade the resin with table sugar however Thorne argues hydroxy groups in the sucrose will make the resin friable. Eddie wonders if cloth soaked with sugar might work and Thorne counters they need to test that out. Arby finally suggests something useful: make a cast weak in the diameter and Thorne picks it up, saying to construct a split-line perhaps with aluminium foil, strengthened with resin. Eddie wonders what will hold the cast when making it and Arby says chewing gum.
Suddenly, the baby stirs and Sarah quickly orders more morphine, only 5 cc's. She says it is already in shock from the injury and anymore would kill him. Malcolm wonders if the dinosaur has adrenals or even hormones and over the radio, Levine tells to to draw blood and ask for a private conversation with Thorne. In their private talk, Levine reiterates his disagreement in bringing in the animal and tell Thorne to take the kids and Eddie to the High Hide. He does tell the three of them, telling the kids it is a 'field trip,' and not letting Arby stay to watch. Thorne mentions the word, 'Lovebirds' and Harding remarks to Malcolm if it is Levine's idea to re-kindle their romance. The chapter ends with her saying she wants the cast made fast and return the Rex.
Trivia[]
- It is suggested, not determined, that Sarah is the daughter of Gerry Harding.
- Diesterase may be a fiction compound.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||