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escritoireazulThe moment Jurassic World was announced, my first thought was: what the hell is Lex Murphy doing during all this mess? And then, during the movie, one of the characters said he was fulfilling John Hammond's dying wish, and I said, out loud, in the middle of the theater, "oh, hell no."
So when I saw reeby10's prompts, I knew I wanted to tell a story about Lex Murphy, her view of Jurassic World and her grandfather's legacy, and her technological genius. I love stories about Lex and Kelly Malcolm, from the second movie, so I wanted to include her here, too, another girl who survived dinosaurs grown into a woman. There are nods to Tim Murphy, Dr. Ellie Sattler, Dr. Ian Malcolm, and Dr. Ian Grant, too, but mostly this is a story about Lex, Kelly, and Claire Dearing, and scientifically engineered monsters, and the hubris of men.
Title: Beautiful, Terrible Things
Author: escritoireazul
Characters/Pairings: Lex Murphy/Kelly Curtis Malcolm, Simon Masrani, Claire Dearing
Author's Note: This is a transformative work of fiction set before and during Jurassic World. Many thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
carlyinrome for the beta.
Word count: 3,600
Rating: all ages
Read at AO3
Summary: Simon Masrani wants only the best for his beloved Jurassic World. That means, somehow, he must convince Lex Murphy, tech genius extraordinaire, to create the perfect systems to run his park.
Lex thinks this is a terrible idea.
“This is a terrible idea.” Lex flung down the sheaf of papers, scattering pieces across the small kitchen table. It was overly dramatic, and she knew it, but it seemed appropriate. “There’s a reason Grandpa never built a second park.”
Kelly hummed lightly, sympathetically. She stood at the stove, working on dinner; the entire apartment smelled like spicy vegetables. Stir-fry was one of Kelly’s specialties, and Lex’s absolutely favorite meal. “What’d Masrani have to say?”
Lex slumped forward, pressed cold fingers against her forehead. That did nothing to stop the headache pulsing in her temples. “All sorts of pretty, shiny words about how much he loved dinosaurs when he was a child, and how important it was to salvage the legacy of Jurassic Park. He actually said,” she had to stop, swallow, breathe. “He actually said that opening a new park was Grandpa’s dying wish.”
“No!” There was a sharp sizzle, then Kelly set the pan aside, off the hot burner, and turned to stare at her. “That’s such shit.”
“Right? His dying fucking wish.” Lex sighed. “The last thing Grandpa wanted was a second park. It’s – it’s an affront to all the people who died.”
Kelly crossed to Lex and placed her hands on Lex’s shoulders. She pressed her thumbs down hard, working at the knots, and Lex slumped further forward, let her eyes drift shut. “He’s an idiot,” Kelly said, her voice low, each word punctuated with more pressure.
Lex swallowed a laugh. At least, she thought it was a laugh. It felt more like a stifled sob. “He actually thinks I’ll be a part of it.”
There was only a brief pause in the massage. “What’d he say?” she asked again.
“Oh, what didn’t he say?” Lex tried for flippant. Failed. Then she told Kelly everything: Masrani’s enthusiasm; the way he couldn’t sit still as he talked, moving around the room with a frantic energy that, strangely enough, reminded her of Ian Malcolm; the glee that filled his voice when he told her his favorite dinosaurs growing up; his obsession with her grandfather.
That was the hardest part.
Lex had held herself very still when Masrani started gushing about John Hammond and his vision. She wanted to chuck her water bottle at Masrani’s head. Wanted to set his paperwork on fire, the office, the entire building – all of his plans, up in smoke. She wanted to scream at him, wanted to smear blood and guts and show him what the Hammond vision really meant.
People died every single time, and he acted like it was the brightest, smartest idea in the entire world.
Kelly was silent for a moment when Lex finished, probably waiting to see if there was anything more to the story. She’d worked her way down Lex’s back and then up again, fingers steady, pressure strong. Lex rarely let people touch her; when she did, they often treated her like she would shatter.
She was made of stronger stuff than that.
“He’s going to do this no matter what you say.” Kelly’s voice was very calm. Her hands stilled on Lex’s shoulders, pressure, reassurance, but nothing to distract from what she said. “Masrani is a dreamer, but not like John. Not like my father. He’s…,” she trailed off, and Lex could feel her shrug. “It’s adventure he wants, and he’s going to race into this one without care enough for the consequences.” That part, at least, was very like both her grandpa and Ian Malcolm.
Lex opened her eyes, stared at the window across from them. It was dark outside, and the bright kitchen lights turned the glass into a mirror. She could see the outline of the building next door through their reflections, not quite real.
“You think I should accept his offer.”
Again, that shrug. Kelly wrapped her arms around Lex, pressed up close to her back, and the warmth of her body, the tightness of her hug, relaxed Lex as nothing else could do. “I’m Team Lex always,” she said, and rested her chin on Lex’s shoulder. “But if he’s going to build a new park – and he is -- isn’t it better that someone who’s been there be included?”
When Lex was thirteen, she thought technology could do anything. She thought she’d saved the day, figuring out the Jurassic Park system while terrified and aching. Then a raptor came through the window, and she learned well that nothing man-made, structure or tech, could guarantee safety, and she ran far, far away.
For a moment, she could hear the bark of a raptor, that terrifying sound that was animal and strange, like nothing living should ever make, echoing around her. She never visited Kelly at the zoo; she couldn’t stand the noise the predators made as they prowled their cages, sounds more suitable to hunting. Too often, she found the ghost of a raptor there, the roar of a tyrannosaurus rex, the hot, putrid smell of meat eater. Monster.
She took a deep breath, grounded herself in Kelly and the warm light of their home.
“I can’t build a perfect system,” she said.
Kelly laughed. Kissed her cheek. “Of course not. No one can. But you’ll do better than anyone else, because no one else knows what you know.”
Lex sighed, and leaned back into Kelly. “You do realize we’re both idiots, right? Making the same mistakes Ian and Alan made? Letting someone pull us back in. We’re supposed to be like Ellie, too smart to fall for it a second time.”
Another kiss, this time to the corner of her mouth. “That’s my terribly romantic girl, comparing me to my wayward father.”
“You’re trying to talk me into helping create a park full of dinosaurs, Kel. You’re not getting any romance for at least a year.”
Kelly squeezed her, hard, into a hug, but she was shaking a little. Muffled laughter, Lex realized. Then she straightened, headed back to the stove. “Yeah, cut me off all you want,” she said, and though she smiled, her tone was serious. “You’re the one who has to break the news to Tim.”
“If I decide to do it,” Lex said.
Her smile got even bigger. “Yes, of course. If.”
Lex dropped her face into her hands. “Tim is going to kill me,” she said, words muffled by her palms, and if Kelly tried to quiet her laughter, well, she failed miserably.
*
Tim yelled. A lot.
*
It wasn’t as bad an experience as Lex feared. She met with Masrani numerous times, but never on the island, and rarely in person; he was always off somewhere, exploring something, adventuring. Easily bored, Kelly called him, and she wasn’t wrong, though if either of them had secretly expected him to drop the idea of a new park, they were disappointed. He was obsessed, and exuberant, no matter how many potential issues Lex flung at him.
She spent six months just taking notes on his vision, gathering her own thoughts, brainstorming ideas. For someone in the throes of obsession, Masrani was pleasantly hands-off when it came to her team. She had his corporate resources at her disposal, but Lex read resumes, conducted interviews, made her own choices.
(Kelly took great pride in pointing out that the new Masrani tech department for an undisclosed project was earning the same reputation for off-the-wall questions as Microsoft, Apple, and the fast-growing Google. Lex shrugged, and didn’t read any of the posts about it. She made interviewees sign strict NDAs, and their ability to come up with escape plans was almost as important as their tech skills.
More important, she feared.)
Masrani purchased a building in Chicago, and Lex moved her core team in, though there were a backup group of coders who could work remotely on writing code and running tests when the time came. They kept the windows covered to cut down on corporate espionage, which wasn’t a problem during the long, cold winter, but when spring finally came, everyone mourned losing the view of Lake Michigan.
Twice, people tried to break into the building. The first time, Masrani tightened physical security. The second was a cover for an attempted system hack. Lex sat up three days straight improving on the best security code Masrani’s money had been able to buy. It was good. Her code was better.
There were more attempts, no breaches. Masrani was pleased, and said it was a good sign, a great sign, proof that the park would be an unmitigated success.
Lex disagreed.
*
“Come to the island,” Masrani’s voice boomed over the speakers subtly threaded throughout their apartment, and his face filled the big screen that took up an entire wall. The large living room was why they’d taken the apartment even though the kitchen was tiny and the elevator broken half the time, which meant way too many trips up and down the stairs to and from the tenth floor. He clasped his hands together. “Everything is finished, and you, my dear, should be here to celebrate.”
Kelly reached over, took Lex’s hand. Her fingers were cold, but Lex held tight. She had known this moment was coming. It was amazing she hadn’t been out before, but she trusted her team, particularly Rachel and Amin, her two right-hand people. Right and left hand people? It was a strange turn of phrase for more than one person.
“Lex,” Kelly whispered, jerking Lex out of her thoughts. “You good?”
She nodded, and Masrani’s grin spread wide across his face. “Good, good!” he cried. “Bring beautiful Ms Malcolm with you.”
No.
But before Lex could actually say that – shout it – Kelly dug in her nails and cut her off sharp. “Yeah, sure. It sounds like fun.”
It sounded like the second worst idea in the world, the first being the existence of the park itself. Lex fumed while they made plans. It was bad enough she had to risk herself and visit the island, but she did not want Kelly anywhere near those monsters, not ever again.
Kelly still woke up screaming some nights, raptors chasing her awake. Hunting her. Communicating.
As soon as they hung up, Kelly turned to her, caught both Lex’s hands in her own. “I love you,” she said, and there was a hard set to her shoulders; she held her chin high. “There is no way in hell I’m letting you go there alone.”
Lex opened her mouth. Closed it when Kelly shook her head.
“No, Lex. No. I’m not staying here. I snuck onto an island full of dinosaurs once, don’t you ever think I won’t do it again.” She laughed, but her smile didn’t reach her eyes. Lex thought about how awful it would be to know Kelly was back in danger, how much worse it would be if she wasn’t right there, able to see her at all times.
“This is a terrible idea,” Lex said in defeat, for probably the millionth time since Masrani first approached her. “What’s worse than terrible? Horrendous? This is a horrendous idea.”
Kelly shrugged. “Aren’t you the littlest bit curious? I am.”
“I’ve seen the schematics.” And designs, and pictures, and, well, everything. All the things. Far too many things.
But, if she was honest with herself, yes. Yes.
“Curiosity killed the cat,” she said, slumping forward to rest her head on Kelly’s arm.
Kelly’s body shook a little as she laughed, let go of one of Lex’s hands and rubbed her back. “Satisfaction brought her back,” she told her. “No one ever remembers that.”
Lex surged up and kissed her, grinning against her mouth.
*
“Wait until you see it, Lex!” Masrani clapped her on the shoulder. “It’s beautiful, and it will only become better. It’s everything John Hammond wanted to give the world.” He smiled at her widely, showing his teeth. “In his honor, I have spared no expense.”
Lex thought he meant to be kind, but she could feel the words, each one a glancing blow until all of them together, in her grandfather’s voice filling her memories, became a gut punch, the grand KO. She pressed her lips together, managed a tight smile, did not throw up.
The park was beautiful, and even more terrible because of it.
“People are going to love it,” Lex whispered to Kelly. They stood in the control room, staring at the physical part of Lex’s carefully designed systems. The room was sterile, the machines bright, shiny and new, and cold dread washed through her. “They’ll never want to leave.”
Kelly wrapped her arms around Lex’s waist and rested her chin on Lex’s shoulder. Her body was a warm press along the length of Lex’s back, and slowly Lex’s hands unclenched. This was done, it was happening, and there was no way to stop it now.
There never had been a way to stop it, not really, not so long as InGen -- or any other company able to access their resources -- had the ability to create new dinosaurs. In order to stop them, it felt like Lex would have to burn the whole world.
“Better with me than without me,” Lex said, like a mantra, low enough that no one else in the room could hear her but Kelly.
“Better with you than without you,” Kelly repeated, soft as a breath against her ear. “Always.”
*
The park opened. Lex held her breath, watched from afar, real time, glued to her computers, monitors streaming information too fast to follow. It was winter in Chicago, and the cold wind beat at the building, darkness and snow outside the glass, but on Isla Nublar, so far away, so warm, her systems worked.
They worked, and no one was hurt during the grand opening.
Or the next day.
Or the day after that.
*
Three hundred and sixty five days passed without the park breaking down, without anyone dying.
Lex worked even longer hours than before, obsessed.
*
Lex stood in the main building, surrounded by excited children and families eager to see the bits of pseudo-science available in the displays. There was a life-size statue of John Hammond in the center of the room, and Lex couldn't take her eyes off it.
"Grandpa," she whispered, and touched one foot. Bronze. Cold. She missed him terribly, and was still, at times, glad he would never see Jurassic World. He would have loved it, just as he did the original park.
It would have broken his heart, just like the original park.
“Ms. Murphy.” Claire Dearing greeted her with a smile that was too bright, too perfect, white teeth that had to be bleached and capped, dark lipstick, pale skin against a light, expensive suit, hair straightened into submission.
Lex shook her hand – good handshake, brief and strong, but not too hard, not intentionally trying to do damage – and smiled. “Lex,” she reminded her.
That softened Claire’s smile a little. “Lex,” she said. “It’s good to see you again.”
Lex never asked how much Claire knew about her. Everything, she assumed. That was the sort of person Claire was, she had learned, precise and detail-oriented. She did not love Jurassic World the way Masrani did, the way Grandpa would have.
That, Lex thought from their first meeting, was a very good and useful thing.
When you loved something, it was far too easy to stop seeing its flaws, and when it came to Jurassic World, seeing the flaws, real and potential, was everything.
“How’s Kelly?” Claire asked as they headed for the control room. It really wasn’t necessary; Lex could do her work from Claire’s office just as easily, but it was something she wanted to do – felt compelled to do. The control room was the mechanical heart of the park, and Lex needed to see it. Each time she stood in the middle of it, she wanted to set everything on fire, tear out wires until things fell apart.
Jurassic World approached its ten year anniversary, and Lex still wanted to destroy every inch of that pretend prehistoric world.
“Will you have a drink with me when we’re done?” Claire asked, her voice careful. Lex glanced at her, and wondered, for a moment, whether she was being handled, the precocious technical genius who must be kept happy so she’ll keep the park running.
Then she shook off that thought. Even if she was, it didn’t matter. She was not the sole technician. It was a terrible idea to put one person in charge of the all the park systems. That was a lesson she had learned young, and learned well. If Lex stopped doing anything, there were plenty of people who understood the systems, who could maintain them, who could improve them.
Jurassic World was a ticking bomb, but it would not come apart because of the systems. Lex did not believe in perfection, but she trusted in the redundancies she built.
“That sounds great,” Lex told Claire, then squared her shoulders, and braced herself to step into the heart of the park, of this self-contained disaster waiting to happen.
*
“So then Kelly punches him in the face,” Lex said, her voice a little too loud, her gestures a little too broad. She refused to get drunk, not on the island, but she felt slightly looser after a couple of martinis. Claire’s smile was wider, and her jacket was draped on the back of her chair. She loosened the perfect bow on her shirt after their first round, and her hair was just a bit disheveled by the time she ordered the third.
There were moments sometimes when Lex realized again just how beautiful she was. Most of the time, Lex marveled over Claire’s intelligence, her organization, her sense of humor, but then there were moments where the beauty distracted her from everything else.
Kelly called her an ice queen, and it was true to an extent, but that was part of her charm.
(“She’s straight,” Kelly said, during that first visit. She had more time to socialize than Lex did, or at least took more time; Lex, as always, obsessed with her technology and her machines. “It’s such a shame. That mouth of hers –”
Lex hit her with a pillow, Kelly pinned her to the bed, and, for a short while, Lex mostly forgot they were on an island full of dinosaurs.
Mostly.)
“Seriously?” Claire asked, and took a big drink of her latest glass. It was a deep purple, dark as a bruise. For a long moment, Lex couldn't look away from that perfect mouth.
“Unfortunately no,” Lex admitted with a grin, and forced herself to focus on Claire’s eyes instead. “But it sounds better, right? She read him the riot act, though, and he was so embarrassed. It was great.”
“I hope she can come with you next time.” Claire smoothed a strand of hair out of her face. “Neither of you visit often enough.”
“You could come to Chicago,” Lex countered. “Christmas will be here before you know it. Michigan Avenue, the lights at the zoo, Kelly’s home-cooked foods – she goes all out.”
“Tempting.” Claire sounded sincere. “But we’re busy around the holidays. I could never get away.”
“You need to be careful.” Lex eyed her, this time ignoring her beauty and searching for any little cracks, anything that would give away whether she would break. “This park,” but she stopped, because her next words were will eat you alive, and that sounded far too much like a curse.
But Claire didn’t seem to notice her stumble. “You sound like my sister,” she said, and there was a bitter twist to her mouth. Then she smiled again. “But you’re right. I’ll try to schedule some time off, come visit. I haven’t been to the Chicago offices in years.”
“You’d better,” Lex said, and downed the rest of her drink.
*
Lex watched from afar when everything fell apart.
She had no warning. She didn’t monitor the security systems, she wasn’t involved in the science beyond providing them with new software designs to support their work, and though an animal being out of its pen triggered an alert, she wasn’t the first call for that, either.
But security systems kept triggering, and Lex’s paranoia sat her down at her computer, her fingers flying over the keys as she pulled up feeds, one after another. As she watched people die. As she choked on her own anger, and rage, and, deep, the sense of being utterly right.
Kelly came home in the middle of it, and Lex blinked at her, confused.
“It’s all over the news,” she said. She brought Lex a fresh Dr Pepper, dragged over a chair so she could sit close but not in the way. Pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapped her arms around her legs. For a breath, she looked young again, a terrified child, but then the moment passed, and she was adult. Still scared.
There was nothing Lex could do. Her systems held, worked perfectly.
And still, as they watched, clinging to each other, everything fell apart.
*
“Lex.” Claire’s voice shook, but only for that one word. “I – we – need your help. In – I’m in trouble. I don’t want to talk about it over the phone.” There was a world of things she didn’t say, concerns she’d told Lex quietly in her office, when they sat alone after dinner, hinted at between other problems.
“Tell me what you need,” Lex said, no hesitation, already pulling up a secure environment. She caught what Claire hadn’t said, and she had her own distrust of InGen even after it had been acquired and, allegedly, became something new.
“Someplace safe,” Claire said. “To sleep. To talk. Owen Grady’s with me.” The raptor man. Huh. “I trust him.” On that, Claire’s voice was low.
“Give me five minutes,” Lex said.
It only took half that.
*
Kelly packed their bags, a small backpack for clothes, a bigger one for Lex’s tech gear. They locked up their apartment, and went to save the world from corporate monsters and the genetically engineered dinosaurs they so loved.
Again.
So when I saw reeby10's prompts, I knew I wanted to tell a story about Lex Murphy, her view of Jurassic World and her grandfather's legacy, and her technological genius. I love stories about Lex and Kelly Malcolm, from the second movie, so I wanted to include her here, too, another girl who survived dinosaurs grown into a woman. There are nods to Tim Murphy, Dr. Ellie Sattler, Dr. Ian Malcolm, and Dr. Ian Grant, too, but mostly this is a story about Lex, Kelly, and Claire Dearing, and scientifically engineered monsters, and the hubris of men.
Title: Beautiful, Terrible Things
Author: escritoireazul
Characters/Pairings: Lex Murphy/Kelly Curtis Malcolm, Simon Masrani, Claire Dearing
Author's Note: This is a transformative work of fiction set before and during Jurassic World. Many thanks to
carlyinrome for the beta.Word count: 3,600
Rating: all ages
Read at AO3
Summary: Simon Masrani wants only the best for his beloved Jurassic World. That means, somehow, he must convince Lex Murphy, tech genius extraordinaire, to create the perfect systems to run his park.
Lex thinks this is a terrible idea.
“This is a terrible idea.” Lex flung down the sheaf of papers, scattering pieces across the small kitchen table. It was overly dramatic, and she knew it, but it seemed appropriate. “There’s a reason Grandpa never built a second park.”
Kelly hummed lightly, sympathetically. She stood at the stove, working on dinner; the entire apartment smelled like spicy vegetables. Stir-fry was one of Kelly’s specialties, and Lex’s absolutely favorite meal. “What’d Masrani have to say?”
Lex slumped forward, pressed cold fingers against her forehead. That did nothing to stop the headache pulsing in her temples. “All sorts of pretty, shiny words about how much he loved dinosaurs when he was a child, and how important it was to salvage the legacy of Jurassic Park. He actually said,” she had to stop, swallow, breathe. “He actually said that opening a new park was Grandpa’s dying wish.”
“No!” There was a sharp sizzle, then Kelly set the pan aside, off the hot burner, and turned to stare at her. “That’s such shit.”
“Right? His dying fucking wish.” Lex sighed. “The last thing Grandpa wanted was a second park. It’s – it’s an affront to all the people who died.”
Kelly crossed to Lex and placed her hands on Lex’s shoulders. She pressed her thumbs down hard, working at the knots, and Lex slumped further forward, let her eyes drift shut. “He’s an idiot,” Kelly said, her voice low, each word punctuated with more pressure.
Lex swallowed a laugh. At least, she thought it was a laugh. It felt more like a stifled sob. “He actually thinks I’ll be a part of it.”
There was only a brief pause in the massage. “What’d he say?” she asked again.
“Oh, what didn’t he say?” Lex tried for flippant. Failed. Then she told Kelly everything: Masrani’s enthusiasm; the way he couldn’t sit still as he talked, moving around the room with a frantic energy that, strangely enough, reminded her of Ian Malcolm; the glee that filled his voice when he told her his favorite dinosaurs growing up; his obsession with her grandfather.
That was the hardest part.
Lex had held herself very still when Masrani started gushing about John Hammond and his vision. She wanted to chuck her water bottle at Masrani’s head. Wanted to set his paperwork on fire, the office, the entire building – all of his plans, up in smoke. She wanted to scream at him, wanted to smear blood and guts and show him what the Hammond vision really meant.
People died every single time, and he acted like it was the brightest, smartest idea in the entire world.
Kelly was silent for a moment when Lex finished, probably waiting to see if there was anything more to the story. She’d worked her way down Lex’s back and then up again, fingers steady, pressure strong. Lex rarely let people touch her; when she did, they often treated her like she would shatter.
She was made of stronger stuff than that.
“He’s going to do this no matter what you say.” Kelly’s voice was very calm. Her hands stilled on Lex’s shoulders, pressure, reassurance, but nothing to distract from what she said. “Masrani is a dreamer, but not like John. Not like my father. He’s…,” she trailed off, and Lex could feel her shrug. “It’s adventure he wants, and he’s going to race into this one without care enough for the consequences.” That part, at least, was very like both her grandpa and Ian Malcolm.
Lex opened her eyes, stared at the window across from them. It was dark outside, and the bright kitchen lights turned the glass into a mirror. She could see the outline of the building next door through their reflections, not quite real.
“You think I should accept his offer.”
Again, that shrug. Kelly wrapped her arms around Lex, pressed up close to her back, and the warmth of her body, the tightness of her hug, relaxed Lex as nothing else could do. “I’m Team Lex always,” she said, and rested her chin on Lex’s shoulder. “But if he’s going to build a new park – and he is -- isn’t it better that someone who’s been there be included?”
When Lex was thirteen, she thought technology could do anything. She thought she’d saved the day, figuring out the Jurassic Park system while terrified and aching. Then a raptor came through the window, and she learned well that nothing man-made, structure or tech, could guarantee safety, and she ran far, far away.
For a moment, she could hear the bark of a raptor, that terrifying sound that was animal and strange, like nothing living should ever make, echoing around her. She never visited Kelly at the zoo; she couldn’t stand the noise the predators made as they prowled their cages, sounds more suitable to hunting. Too often, she found the ghost of a raptor there, the roar of a tyrannosaurus rex, the hot, putrid smell of meat eater. Monster.
She took a deep breath, grounded herself in Kelly and the warm light of their home.
“I can’t build a perfect system,” she said.
Kelly laughed. Kissed her cheek. “Of course not. No one can. But you’ll do better than anyone else, because no one else knows what you know.”
Lex sighed, and leaned back into Kelly. “You do realize we’re both idiots, right? Making the same mistakes Ian and Alan made? Letting someone pull us back in. We’re supposed to be like Ellie, too smart to fall for it a second time.”
Another kiss, this time to the corner of her mouth. “That’s my terribly romantic girl, comparing me to my wayward father.”
“You’re trying to talk me into helping create a park full of dinosaurs, Kel. You’re not getting any romance for at least a year.”
Kelly squeezed her, hard, into a hug, but she was shaking a little. Muffled laughter, Lex realized. Then she straightened, headed back to the stove. “Yeah, cut me off all you want,” she said, and though she smiled, her tone was serious. “You’re the one who has to break the news to Tim.”
“If I decide to do it,” Lex said.
Her smile got even bigger. “Yes, of course. If.”
Lex dropped her face into her hands. “Tim is going to kill me,” she said, words muffled by her palms, and if Kelly tried to quiet her laughter, well, she failed miserably.
*
Tim yelled. A lot.
*
It wasn’t as bad an experience as Lex feared. She met with Masrani numerous times, but never on the island, and rarely in person; he was always off somewhere, exploring something, adventuring. Easily bored, Kelly called him, and she wasn’t wrong, though if either of them had secretly expected him to drop the idea of a new park, they were disappointed. He was obsessed, and exuberant, no matter how many potential issues Lex flung at him.
She spent six months just taking notes on his vision, gathering her own thoughts, brainstorming ideas. For someone in the throes of obsession, Masrani was pleasantly hands-off when it came to her team. She had his corporate resources at her disposal, but Lex read resumes, conducted interviews, made her own choices.
(Kelly took great pride in pointing out that the new Masrani tech department for an undisclosed project was earning the same reputation for off-the-wall questions as Microsoft, Apple, and the fast-growing Google. Lex shrugged, and didn’t read any of the posts about it. She made interviewees sign strict NDAs, and their ability to come up with escape plans was almost as important as their tech skills.
More important, she feared.)
Masrani purchased a building in Chicago, and Lex moved her core team in, though there were a backup group of coders who could work remotely on writing code and running tests when the time came. They kept the windows covered to cut down on corporate espionage, which wasn’t a problem during the long, cold winter, but when spring finally came, everyone mourned losing the view of Lake Michigan.
Twice, people tried to break into the building. The first time, Masrani tightened physical security. The second was a cover for an attempted system hack. Lex sat up three days straight improving on the best security code Masrani’s money had been able to buy. It was good. Her code was better.
There were more attempts, no breaches. Masrani was pleased, and said it was a good sign, a great sign, proof that the park would be an unmitigated success.
Lex disagreed.
*
“Come to the island,” Masrani’s voice boomed over the speakers subtly threaded throughout their apartment, and his face filled the big screen that took up an entire wall. The large living room was why they’d taken the apartment even though the kitchen was tiny and the elevator broken half the time, which meant way too many trips up and down the stairs to and from the tenth floor. He clasped his hands together. “Everything is finished, and you, my dear, should be here to celebrate.”
Kelly reached over, took Lex’s hand. Her fingers were cold, but Lex held tight. She had known this moment was coming. It was amazing she hadn’t been out before, but she trusted her team, particularly Rachel and Amin, her two right-hand people. Right and left hand people? It was a strange turn of phrase for more than one person.
“Lex,” Kelly whispered, jerking Lex out of her thoughts. “You good?”
She nodded, and Masrani’s grin spread wide across his face. “Good, good!” he cried. “Bring beautiful Ms Malcolm with you.”
No.
But before Lex could actually say that – shout it – Kelly dug in her nails and cut her off sharp. “Yeah, sure. It sounds like fun.”
It sounded like the second worst idea in the world, the first being the existence of the park itself. Lex fumed while they made plans. It was bad enough she had to risk herself and visit the island, but she did not want Kelly anywhere near those monsters, not ever again.
Kelly still woke up screaming some nights, raptors chasing her awake. Hunting her. Communicating.
As soon as they hung up, Kelly turned to her, caught both Lex’s hands in her own. “I love you,” she said, and there was a hard set to her shoulders; she held her chin high. “There is no way in hell I’m letting you go there alone.”
Lex opened her mouth. Closed it when Kelly shook her head.
“No, Lex. No. I’m not staying here. I snuck onto an island full of dinosaurs once, don’t you ever think I won’t do it again.” She laughed, but her smile didn’t reach her eyes. Lex thought about how awful it would be to know Kelly was back in danger, how much worse it would be if she wasn’t right there, able to see her at all times.
“This is a terrible idea,” Lex said in defeat, for probably the millionth time since Masrani first approached her. “What’s worse than terrible? Horrendous? This is a horrendous idea.”
Kelly shrugged. “Aren’t you the littlest bit curious? I am.”
“I’ve seen the schematics.” And designs, and pictures, and, well, everything. All the things. Far too many things.
But, if she was honest with herself, yes. Yes.
“Curiosity killed the cat,” she said, slumping forward to rest her head on Kelly’s arm.
Kelly’s body shook a little as she laughed, let go of one of Lex’s hands and rubbed her back. “Satisfaction brought her back,” she told her. “No one ever remembers that.”
Lex surged up and kissed her, grinning against her mouth.
*
“Wait until you see it, Lex!” Masrani clapped her on the shoulder. “It’s beautiful, and it will only become better. It’s everything John Hammond wanted to give the world.” He smiled at her widely, showing his teeth. “In his honor, I have spared no expense.”
Lex thought he meant to be kind, but she could feel the words, each one a glancing blow until all of them together, in her grandfather’s voice filling her memories, became a gut punch, the grand KO. She pressed her lips together, managed a tight smile, did not throw up.
The park was beautiful, and even more terrible because of it.
“People are going to love it,” Lex whispered to Kelly. They stood in the control room, staring at the physical part of Lex’s carefully designed systems. The room was sterile, the machines bright, shiny and new, and cold dread washed through her. “They’ll never want to leave.”
Kelly wrapped her arms around Lex’s waist and rested her chin on Lex’s shoulder. Her body was a warm press along the length of Lex’s back, and slowly Lex’s hands unclenched. This was done, it was happening, and there was no way to stop it now.
There never had been a way to stop it, not really, not so long as InGen -- or any other company able to access their resources -- had the ability to create new dinosaurs. In order to stop them, it felt like Lex would have to burn the whole world.
“Better with me than without me,” Lex said, like a mantra, low enough that no one else in the room could hear her but Kelly.
“Better with you than without you,” Kelly repeated, soft as a breath against her ear. “Always.”
*
The park opened. Lex held her breath, watched from afar, real time, glued to her computers, monitors streaming information too fast to follow. It was winter in Chicago, and the cold wind beat at the building, darkness and snow outside the glass, but on Isla Nublar, so far away, so warm, her systems worked.
They worked, and no one was hurt during the grand opening.
Or the next day.
Or the day after that.
*
Three hundred and sixty five days passed without the park breaking down, without anyone dying.
Lex worked even longer hours than before, obsessed.
*
Lex stood in the main building, surrounded by excited children and families eager to see the bits of pseudo-science available in the displays. There was a life-size statue of John Hammond in the center of the room, and Lex couldn't take her eyes off it.
"Grandpa," she whispered, and touched one foot. Bronze. Cold. She missed him terribly, and was still, at times, glad he would never see Jurassic World. He would have loved it, just as he did the original park.
It would have broken his heart, just like the original park.
“Ms. Murphy.” Claire Dearing greeted her with a smile that was too bright, too perfect, white teeth that had to be bleached and capped, dark lipstick, pale skin against a light, expensive suit, hair straightened into submission.
Lex shook her hand – good handshake, brief and strong, but not too hard, not intentionally trying to do damage – and smiled. “Lex,” she reminded her.
That softened Claire’s smile a little. “Lex,” she said. “It’s good to see you again.”
Lex never asked how much Claire knew about her. Everything, she assumed. That was the sort of person Claire was, she had learned, precise and detail-oriented. She did not love Jurassic World the way Masrani did, the way Grandpa would have.
That, Lex thought from their first meeting, was a very good and useful thing.
When you loved something, it was far too easy to stop seeing its flaws, and when it came to Jurassic World, seeing the flaws, real and potential, was everything.
“How’s Kelly?” Claire asked as they headed for the control room. It really wasn’t necessary; Lex could do her work from Claire’s office just as easily, but it was something she wanted to do – felt compelled to do. The control room was the mechanical heart of the park, and Lex needed to see it. Each time she stood in the middle of it, she wanted to set everything on fire, tear out wires until things fell apart.
Jurassic World approached its ten year anniversary, and Lex still wanted to destroy every inch of that pretend prehistoric world.
“Will you have a drink with me when we’re done?” Claire asked, her voice careful. Lex glanced at her, and wondered, for a moment, whether she was being handled, the precocious technical genius who must be kept happy so she’ll keep the park running.
Then she shook off that thought. Even if she was, it didn’t matter. She was not the sole technician. It was a terrible idea to put one person in charge of the all the park systems. That was a lesson she had learned young, and learned well. If Lex stopped doing anything, there were plenty of people who understood the systems, who could maintain them, who could improve them.
Jurassic World was a ticking bomb, but it would not come apart because of the systems. Lex did not believe in perfection, but she trusted in the redundancies she built.
“That sounds great,” Lex told Claire, then squared her shoulders, and braced herself to step into the heart of the park, of this self-contained disaster waiting to happen.
*
“So then Kelly punches him in the face,” Lex said, her voice a little too loud, her gestures a little too broad. She refused to get drunk, not on the island, but she felt slightly looser after a couple of martinis. Claire’s smile was wider, and her jacket was draped on the back of her chair. She loosened the perfect bow on her shirt after their first round, and her hair was just a bit disheveled by the time she ordered the third.
There were moments sometimes when Lex realized again just how beautiful she was. Most of the time, Lex marveled over Claire’s intelligence, her organization, her sense of humor, but then there were moments where the beauty distracted her from everything else.
Kelly called her an ice queen, and it was true to an extent, but that was part of her charm.
(“She’s straight,” Kelly said, during that first visit. She had more time to socialize than Lex did, or at least took more time; Lex, as always, obsessed with her technology and her machines. “It’s such a shame. That mouth of hers –”
Lex hit her with a pillow, Kelly pinned her to the bed, and, for a short while, Lex mostly forgot they were on an island full of dinosaurs.
Mostly.)
“Seriously?” Claire asked, and took a big drink of her latest glass. It was a deep purple, dark as a bruise. For a long moment, Lex couldn't look away from that perfect mouth.
“Unfortunately no,” Lex admitted with a grin, and forced herself to focus on Claire’s eyes instead. “But it sounds better, right? She read him the riot act, though, and he was so embarrassed. It was great.”
“I hope she can come with you next time.” Claire smoothed a strand of hair out of her face. “Neither of you visit often enough.”
“You could come to Chicago,” Lex countered. “Christmas will be here before you know it. Michigan Avenue, the lights at the zoo, Kelly’s home-cooked foods – she goes all out.”
“Tempting.” Claire sounded sincere. “But we’re busy around the holidays. I could never get away.”
“You need to be careful.” Lex eyed her, this time ignoring her beauty and searching for any little cracks, anything that would give away whether she would break. “This park,” but she stopped, because her next words were will eat you alive, and that sounded far too much like a curse.
But Claire didn’t seem to notice her stumble. “You sound like my sister,” she said, and there was a bitter twist to her mouth. Then she smiled again. “But you’re right. I’ll try to schedule some time off, come visit. I haven’t been to the Chicago offices in years.”
“You’d better,” Lex said, and downed the rest of her drink.
*
Lex watched from afar when everything fell apart.
She had no warning. She didn’t monitor the security systems, she wasn’t involved in the science beyond providing them with new software designs to support their work, and though an animal being out of its pen triggered an alert, she wasn’t the first call for that, either.
But security systems kept triggering, and Lex’s paranoia sat her down at her computer, her fingers flying over the keys as she pulled up feeds, one after another. As she watched people die. As she choked on her own anger, and rage, and, deep, the sense of being utterly right.
Kelly came home in the middle of it, and Lex blinked at her, confused.
“It’s all over the news,” she said. She brought Lex a fresh Dr Pepper, dragged over a chair so she could sit close but not in the way. Pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapped her arms around her legs. For a breath, she looked young again, a terrified child, but then the moment passed, and she was adult. Still scared.
There was nothing Lex could do. Her systems held, worked perfectly.
And still, as they watched, clinging to each other, everything fell apart.
*
“Lex.” Claire’s voice shook, but only for that one word. “I – we – need your help. In – I’m in trouble. I don’t want to talk about it over the phone.” There was a world of things she didn’t say, concerns she’d told Lex quietly in her office, when they sat alone after dinner, hinted at between other problems.
“Tell me what you need,” Lex said, no hesitation, already pulling up a secure environment. She caught what Claire hadn’t said, and she had her own distrust of InGen even after it had been acquired and, allegedly, became something new.
“Someplace safe,” Claire said. “To sleep. To talk. Owen Grady’s with me.” The raptor man. Huh. “I trust him.” On that, Claire’s voice was low.
“Give me five minutes,” Lex said.
It only took half that.
*
Kelly packed their bags, a small backpack for clothes, a bigger one for Lex’s tech gear. They locked up their apartment, and went to save the world from corporate monsters and the genetically engineered dinosaurs they so loved.
Again.
