That day, it was a rainy day. It was strange: on the human continent it was rare for it to rain in the height of sumr. But that day, however, it seed that heaven had decided to cry to give one last, worthy greeting to the man in the coffin.
Jocelyne was under her umbrella, staring blankly at the cetery. The chapel in front of her was besieged by countless people, and many others were out waiting, like her. All of them were dressed in black and had a mournful face. After all, no one could be happy at a funeral.
Jocelyne just waited for her turn. She could have used her position to get in before her, but she didn't want to. Even though there were dozens of ard guards around her who kept an eye on her to protect her, she at least wanted to pretend to behave like a normal person.
Finally, her turn ca. Entering the chapel she noticed the dejected looks of so people staring at her curiously. She paid no attention. She just went quickly to the altar. There, right in front of it, was a still open coffin, surrounded by flowers. Jocelyne looked at the man lying inside, sighing deeply.
John Hammond was smiling. Even in death, he remained the nice grandfather he was when he was alive. And judging by the decorations on the coffin, he too had spared no expense in death.
The old man's sunken face showed not the slightest sign of fatigue. It seed he was sleeping and he was having a good dream. His limbs, however old and wrinkled, were relaxed, as if enveloped in an eternal peace. Well, in so ways it was.
Jocelyne wondered if Hammond was now in a place that was really making him smile so genuinely. She was not a person who believed in the afterlife, but she hoped there was one. After everything she had done for her, she felt that Hammond deserved her eternal bliss.
She had really been waiting for her. For all those years, she had been waiting for her. She promised that he wouldn't die until he could et her again in person, and so he did. Jocelyne's fists clenched and her lips twitched slightly as she thought back to the last conversation they had had.
********
"Jocelyne, my dear. Finally you're back"
Hammond had welcod her with all the warmth possible. Even though she couldn't get out of bed, her smile was contagious and he seed to be enveloping her like a hug.
Jocelyne sat down beside her mattress. She just reached out her hand and shook the man's. Though Hammond was now nearly a hundred years old, his grip was still strong. "I'm sorry if it took so long"
"Forget about it. You've had your work cut out, I noticed" smiled the old tycoon. "Reshaping the world is not sothing that can be done in one day"
"You kept up to date with the latest news, I see"
"I kept up to date with every news. I have my sources, girl... it's the advantage of having a lot of money"
"No expense is spared here, right?"
"I see you rember that. Good girl, you hit the point"
Hammond let out a laugh, which was soon cut short by a cough. Jocelyne wanted to pat him on the back, but she stopped her hand in midair, fearing it would make the situation worse. As energetic as he seed, she knew that Hammond was now very frail.
"Sorry. This damned old age..." the elderly tycoon grumbled. "Enjoy your youth, please. When you reach this age, even breathing will beco difficult..."
"He assured you that I'm enjoying it"
Hammond's face beca stern. "No, you are not doing this. Working late at night is not a way to enjoy life"
"I do not…"
"My eyesight will be bad by now, but I can still see the bags under your eyes. Don't try to make fun of . I will be old, but I'm not senile yet"
Jocelyne was about to reply, to deny again, but she realized that it would be impossible to fool Hammond. So, she just told the truth. "I just don't have ti to enjoy myself at the mont. In short, I have a country to manage and an international organization to create..."
"… Which is too much for a girl your age. You should think about going to the disco, getting drunk with friends, playing video gas, going out with the boys..."
"Are you really inviting to sleep with so guys?"
"Shouldn't I? When was your last love affair?"
Jocelyne bit her lip. "I'm only eighteen!"
"Yeah, but don't think they are few. Ah, youth... there always seems to be a lot of ti ahead, and then suddenly you discover that the years have flown by. If you're not careful, ti and work will take it all away" Hammond suddenly shook, as if he had suddenly awakened from a dream. "Sorry. What I ant is don't miss the opportunities. Carpe diem, as they say. Seize the mont, all the monts"
Jocelyne tried to smile. "I can assure you that I will seize all the monts... when this story is over"
"And when will it end, Jocelyne? What if it never ends? Do you really want to throw your life away by spending your ti just working?"
"No, but I wouldn't be able to enjoy the aforentioned life if I gave up everything now. I would constantly live in fear that sothing would go wrong without … I would just watch the news and wonder how things could have gone. I know it's stupid, but that's how I am" Jocelyne sighed. "I promised myself to go all the way. I can't give up, at least not until the world hangs by a thread. When things finally change… then I won't hesitate for a second to leave for the tropics and have fun. I have already chosen the dream place where I will spend my well deserved vacation. It is a southern island full of palm trees, with wonderful beaches, crystal clear waters and coral reefs. There are clubs and pubs and discos and beach parties. Every day they organize sothing new..."
Hammond coughed, interrupting her. "You are so extraordinary" he murmured. "When I first t you, you were only fourteen years old and already at that mont you were worried about solving international crises. You are now eighteen and you carry the future of the whole world on your shoulders. I wonder what extraordinary ntal strength you must have to bear such a burden"
"I used to ask myself that too. Now I am convinced that, in all likelihood, I have simply gone mad but I still don't know" Jocelyne replied.
Hammond smiled at that joke. "I have sothing for you" she said pointing to the nightstand. "Open the drawer"
Jocelyne did it and found a stack of papers. When she read the first few lines, she imdiately understood what it was. "This is…"
"My testant, yes. I finished writing it a month ago and had it copied by a notary. I don't know how much this body of mine will still hold up, so I wanted to prepare myself. I left my company in Masrani, with the promise that it will carry out our goal. I left my grandchildren more money than they can ever spend. I left Alan, Ian and the others with the funds they needed to continue their research throughout their lives. And I decided to leave sothing to you too"
"Godfather, you shouldn't have..."
"Yes, but helping you is my duty as a godfather" Hammond replied. "I also left you a good portion of my assets... but I know it will be useless for you, since you will already have the inheritance of your family. So I decided to give you sothing else"
"What?"
"Knowledge"
Jocelyne didn't understand. "Knowledge?"
"Yes, Jocelyne. The knowledge of Henry"
Jocelyne's eyes widened. "You an… Henry Wu's personal researches? The ones he had led when he was still at Ingen?" she asked. "I thought you had seized them..."
"Oh yes" Hammond replied. "I had seized them, but... not destroyed"
Jocelyne looked at Hammond speechless. The private searches of a genius mind like Henry Wu were a priceless treasure. Although they had recovered so of them when they arrested him, the man had taken most of the secrets with him to his grave.
"In my will I left you this house, Jocelyne" Hammond said. "When I am dead, it will be all yours. This room, all my furniture, my collection of statues… and my vault" The old tycoon barely moved, then pulled a golden key from under the covers and handed it to Jocelyne. "This is the only key to enter. It is a unique specin and there are no copies. I haven't been separated from it for all these years... and now I want to give it to you"
Jocelyne reached out and let Hammond put the key between her fingers. As he squeezed the cold tal, he felt an electric shock flood her.
"I kept everything in there" Hammond said. "Henry didn't need to take away his searches for him, as he had them all morized in his mind, so he left them to . I kept them there. All of Wu's genetic knowledge is in the vault, entire decades of work by one of the most brilliant minds on the planet. That knowledge can be used for evil... but in the right hands, like yours, it can also be used for good"
It was rare that Jocelyne felt pressured, but right now she couldn't help it. "You are potentially entrusting with the power to destroy the world. Do you really trust that much?"
"If you wanted to destroy the world, you wouldn't have worked all these years to save it. Yes, I can say that I trust you. I've never doubted you a second since you beca my goddaughter, and you've never let down" Hammond replied. "Whatever you decide to do with that knowledge, it will be fine with . You can use it as you please and like. I know you will find the right way to use it"
Jocelyne knew that for Hammond that knowledge wasn't just enormous power. It was all that remained of Henry Wu, the best friend the old tycoon had ever had. In that vault there were the dreams and hopes of the man who had changed the world's fauna forever. And now, Hammond was entrusting them to her. Jocelyne didn't know how she was feeling right now, but she was pretty sure she was flattered.
"Oh, I almost forgot. I have one last thing to give you" Hammond suddenly exclaid. "Open the second drawer"
Jocelyne obeyed, and when she saw what it was she burst out laughing. "What... ah ah ah!"
It was a photo. A photo by Ian Malcolm, in which the man made a face halfway between amazed and indignant and assud an extrely funny pose. "This is…?" Jocelyne asked as soon as she managed to quiet the laughter a little.
"The photo of Ian Malcolm after I brought your ssage back to him three years ago" Hammond replied with a smile. "I told you I would have jealously guarded it"
Jocelyne wiped away her tears, trying in vain to stop giggling. "Didn't Ian try to get it back?"
"Oh, he sure did try. He tried to bribe , break into my safe, falsify the evidence, and a lot of other things" Hammond said, who seed about to burst out laughing himself. "He even tried to break in here in the middle of the night once. Needless to say, he was taken to prison. I didn't file a complaint, so he was released imdiately, but he thought about it Sarah to make him pay"
Jocelyne was now biting her lip to keep from laughing. She was almost causing herself a stomachache. "I'll have to keep it carefully. It is an excellent blackmail material"
"As long as you have that, Ian will be forced to obey you"
"Basically, you have given a way to force the professor Malcolm to silence at any mont. Who cares about Henry Wu's research, this is a power capable of destroying the world!"
Hammond laughed, although he coughed several tis as he did so. "Show him hell for too, please. While I am in the afterlife, I will spend my whole second life observing the face that Ian will make! This is the definition of perfect afterlife for "
Jocelyne laughed again, then she almost threw herself on her godfather and hugged him. It was an action dictated by instinct, without thinking. Hammond returned the hug, despite the moan he emitted it was clear that this cost him effort. Even so, however, he never stopped smiling.
**********
Hammond died three days later. One morning his butler went to wake him up, but he didn't. John Hammond had gone off in his sleep, with no pain and no regrets.
Jocelyne rembered when Hammond promised her that he would not die before receiving one last hug from her. Sohow, she had kept her word. She did not know if this had happened by chance, or if so deity had decided to satisfy her request, or if the man's willpower had been strong enough to keep even death at bay. The only certainty was that, one way or another, Hammond had resisted until even she could say goodbye.
And now, they were there. She, completely wrapped in a black dress and with a pained look, and he, lying in the coffin and smiling like a child who had received a candy.
"Goodbye, godfather. I hope wherever you are now, you are happy" she whispered, then turned and walked out of the chapel, letting other people enter. She went back out, in the pouring rain, among the graves of people already buried.
While she waited, she looked at the other people. Of course, there were Hammond's grandchildren Lex and Tim. Then, there was Simon Masrani, the man Hammond had entrusted with his company. There was Claire Dearing, the director of the MCD, chosen by Hammond himself. In one corner was Alan Grant, wrapped in a black cloak and hugging Ellie Sattler. A little further away were Ian Malcolm and Sarah Hardy. Even Billy, Alan's student, was in a wheelchair. Then, there were Mitch Morgan and Jamie Campbell, both under one umbrella, and not far away was Robert Oz accompanied by Jackson and Abe, in turn accompanied by Chloe Tousignant and Dariela Marzan. There was Benjamin Lockwood, Hammond's old friend, along with his niece Maisie, who was supported by the housekeeper Iris. And there were many others: admirers, co-workers, friends, acquaintances, even the servants. Although he had made many mistakes in life, Hammond was truly loved by everyone.
Finally, after a seemingly endless wait, the coffin was brought out. At that mont, for a brief mont, the rain subsided, as if it didn't want to annoy the gravediggers as they lowered her into the grave. The priest said a few words that Jocelyne did not listen to, too busy watching the coffin slowly being covered with earth. When the gravediggers finished the job, the rain resud with more violence than before.
The funeral was over, but many people did not move, including Jocelyne. They stood there looking at the tomb, their gaze fixed on the tombstone. It was impossible to understand what they were thinking at that mont. Or maybe they weren't thinking about anything and were just looking at the grave of a great man.
It took at least an hour for the crowd to begin to withdraw. Even so, Jocelyne didn't move. Although the rain was becoming more and more violent and her collaborators were inviting her to leave, she did not even answer him. At least, her until she heard a familiar voice.
"What did you want to tell us, Miss Jersey?"
Jocelyne turned to find the familiar face of Alan Grant staring at her. Just behind him, the other scientists were watching her as well. Ian Malcolm, Ellie Sattler, Jamie Campbell, Mitch Morgan, Robert Oz, everyone was watching her.
She jocelyne instinctively touched her neck, where she knew that, hidden under her dress, was the key to John Hammond's vault, hanging from a golden chain that she had decided to wear to avoid losing it. Noticing that Alan was still waiting for an answer, she barely moved her lips. "Everyone co to Hammond's mansion tomorrow. There is one last thing we must do to honor him"
The acquaintance of Henry Wu was about to be unearthed.
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