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Welcome to the fourth discussion of The Lost World by Michael Crichton! After last week I didn’t think I could get any more annoyed with Richard Levine, but now I am convinced that he NEEDS TO BE STOPPED. There was a moment there where he appeared to care about the children and I thought hmmm, maybe he’s improving, but then the consequences of his littering came back to bite everyone else in the ass… I wouldn’t mind so much if he had got himself killed with his carelessness, but of course that isn’t what happened.

Morals of this week’s section – don’t litter, and don’t take baby animals away from terrifying predators.

Anyway, sorry I’ll stop ranting (for the moment anyway) and get on with the actual summary! I talked about spoilers in more detail in the first discussion, so now I am just going to link to r/bookclub‘s spoiler policy.

Section summary

Fifth Configuration: “At the edge of chaos, unexpected outcomes occur. The risk to survival is severe.” – Ian Malcolm

Baby

Our main characters cluster around the baby tyrannosaurus rex as it lies unconscious on a table in the trailer. Eddie Carr tries to explain that he couldn’t just leave him there to die, so he shot him with morphine from the first aid kit (… they have morphine in their first aid kit?!) and it’s cool because the oxygen mask seems to fit ok. Ian Malcolm says this was the wrong thing to do as he’s interfering with the system. Richard Levine butts in over the radio to comment it is extremely unwise (shut up Richard, you do not have the moral high ground here).

Sarah Harding says it is too late to worry about all that and that they just have to deal with the situation. She attaches cardiac leads to the dinosaur’s chest, and everyone hears its extremely fast heartbeat. Carr confirms he shot the dino with around twenty cc’s of morphine, and Malcolm wonders how longer it will remain unconscious. Harding cannot estimate this as she has only sedated lions and jackals in the field, and notes that with young animals it unpredictable anyway. Either way, she wants the tyrannosaurus out of the trailer as fast as possible.

Harding uses a small ultrasound transducer, and asks Kelly and Arby to get tf out of the way of the monitor so she can see what is going on with the leg. She thinks the leg bones are very like a large bird, like a vulture or stork, and points out bones like metatarsals, tibia, fibula and patella. Arby asks why the bones come up in different colours, and is because the legs are mostly cartilage with very little calcified bone, so the infant cannot walk properly yet. Kelly is surprised she knows all this anatomy, and Harding tells them she has to understand comparative anatomy when examining leftover bones from predators’ kills. She also casually mentions that her father was a vet at San Diego Zoo – is this supposed to be Harding from Jurassic Park?! I’ve just checked and he was indeed a vet at San Diego Zoo… But if that’s her dad, then why didn’t she just ask him what happened on Isla Nublar instead of tracking Malcolm to a Costa Rican hospital? Also how did it never come up in conversation with Malcolm before now? Anyway I take back what I said before about Michael Crichton needing a name book so he can stop giving unrelated characters the same name.

Arby magnifies the image and Harding identifies a fracture on the leg just above the epiphysis, which she says will mean death for the infant as the fibula will not heal straight, meaning it will be crippled and easily picked off by another predator. Carr suggests using a polymer resin as a cast, but Harding says that will kill him too as the infant is going to grow rapidly and the resin is too rigid and will restrict growth. They need something rigid but that’s also biodegradable so it will drop off as the infant grows. They debate various suggestions, and finally Arby suggests making something that is strong for vertical stresses but weak for later stresses. They decide to make a cuff with aluminium foil and coat it with resin.

The infant starts to wake up, so they give him another 5 cc’s of morphine. Malcolm wonders if dinosaurs even have adrenal glands or hormones, and Levine butts in again over the radio with his opinion nobody asked for, and also asks Thorne to answer the phone. Malcolm says Levine is starting to get on his nerves which is completely understandable. Thorne gets to the phone, and Levine tells him that bringing the infant to the trailer was a terrible idea and he should take the kids and Carr to the high hide just in case. Finally he is thinking of someone other than himself!

Thorne tells the kids they’re going on a field trip and leaving Harding and Malcolm to work in peace, referring to them as lovebirds. After they leave, Harding wonders why Levine is clearing everyone out of the trailer. They start on the cast so they can get the infant home asap.

The High Hide

Carr, Thorne and the kids join Levine in the high hide. Even though it was his idea for them to come, he is rude to them for moving too much. Kelly sees that a thunderstorm is forming which is NEVER a good omen in horror books. Thorne says the helicopters are taking them away the next morning, so he thought it was a good last chance to view the dinosaurs before they leave. Arby asks what the real reason is, and Kelly knowingly says it’s so Harding and Malcolm can hook up in private – maybe I’m just getting old, but I can’t imagine being in a trailer with a wheezing, squeaking baby tyrannosaurus rex being a particularly erotic environment.

Levine tells them to knock it off because they’re missing interesting stuff – the triceratops herd are restless and starting to yelp. The herd forms a defensive formation with the baby in the centre, and Kelly spots velociraptors at the edge of the trees. Levine is cheerful about documenting the group defensive behaviour, which most palaeontologists don’t believe dinosaurs did.

A single raptor hops out of the trees and approaches the herd, going on a wide arc around them towards the river and crossing to the other bank. As the triceratops herd follow its progress, other raptors sneak out and stay low in the grass as they move towards the baby. Levine confirms it is pack hunting behaviour as he drops another wrapper over the side of the high hide (ugh), and says they may be about to see a kill (scientists think raptors hunted solo with limited cooperation). As the raptors close in, a sudden flash of lightning makes one of them stand up in surprise, making it briefly visible above the grass and alerting the triceratops herd, which wheels around to face the other raptors. They stop as if reconsidering; Levine says there aren’t enough of them to take on the herd.

The raptors slink off, but the single one that had been distracting the herd suddenly charges before they have a chance to regroup. The baby squeals in fright and the raptor leaps, but a triceratops smacks it out of the air. It charges, but the raptor gets up in time and kicks it in the face, then gives up as two more triceratopses come for it. Arby says wow, that was something (little does he know what’s about to happen to him though).

The Herd

Howard King is delighted to recognise the ridge road leading back to the boat, and as he looks across the valley he sees it in the distance. The fishermen are looking at the sky as the storm approaches, but don’t seem to be preparing to leave yet. He will be there in a few minutes. To the west he can see Malcolm’s group’s trailers, and he thinks about how they never found out why they were on the island, but at this stage he no longer cares. He thinks about having a nice cold beer or two when he gets to the boat (and this is when I started suspecting he would never make it there).

Around a curve, King encounters a small herd of pachycephalosaurus, the herbivorous dinosaurs with a thick cranial dome, which remind him of water buffalo. He tries to drive through the herd but they won’t budge. One butts the front of his jeep and he worries it might puncture the radiator. He looks towards the boat again, which is now about a quarter of a mile away, and he sees the fishermen getting ready to leave. He exits the jeep, I guess to try walking to the boat, but the dinosaurs jump up and several charge him. One dents the open door and slams it shut. He runs to the edge of the hill, but it is a steep vertical descent and he can’t find another way down with these dinos charging him. He returns to the car and jumps up onto the spare tire, but another charge knocks him back onto the ground. King runs to a small rise and hides in some foliage, and they stop pursuing him. However, he is now on the wrong side of the road. He tries to walk along the vegetation for about a hundred yards until he’s out of their sight, and then go back onto the road to go to the boat. However, he quickly finds himself in dense jungle and trips, tumbling into a ravine and becoming disoriented.

In the high hide, Thorne pulls Levine to the side and asks for the real reason why he wanted them to leave the trailer. Levine said bringing the infant to the trailer was asking for trouble, as parents don’t like when their babies are taken away, and these parents are very big. Arby interrupts to point out a man emerging onto the plain – it is King.

King is disappointed to be on the plain, clearly nowhere near the boat. He sees the triceratops herd and notes that they look agitated, and decides to avoid them. He takes out a candy bar as he walks through some tall grass. He hears a reptilian hiss and pauses, noticing a rotten scent. Then he hears splashing from the river and turns.

From the high hide, the others can see the raptors moving towards King and wonder why he is waiting.

King sees two raptors approach from the river, snapping their jaws and hissing. There are others coming too. He runs into the grass and dodges another, while yet another leaps in the air but it misses him too. He sprints to the trees, thinking he could climb one, but realises he won’t make it. One strikes him from behind and he falls, and tries to roll but it has him in its claws. He feels its hot breath on his neck and a sleepiness overcomes him as he hears his bones crunch.

Thorne tells the kids not to look as five raptors tear at King’s body. One shakes his severed head in its jaws; at this point I would like to acknowledge u/Greatingsburg’s comment from last week’s discussion – “After Ian Malcolm’s resurrection, I don’t think anyone really dies in these books, unless they get their head ripped off” – well now we have seen it! Levine notes the hierarchal organisation of the pack’s hunt is abandoned for a feeding frenzy when they have a kill. He spots one of the raptors with King’s candy bar in its jaws and clearly enjoying it. More raptors race across the plain to join in on the fray.

Dodgson

Lewis Dodgson regains consciousness as he hears a noisy chittering; to the surprise of absolutely nobody, he is still alive. He is lying on his back on a damp slope, and has difficulty moving as his body feels painful and heavy. He feels sleepy and starts falling unconscious again, but feels something tugging his hand. He sees a compy ripping chunks of flesh off his fingers and pulls his hand away, then jumps up, scattering the compys. They retreat a few feet and watch him, waiting. He examines himself and sees his shirt and trousers are covered in tears and he is bleeding from hundreds of little wounds. The compys inch forward and he kicks one into the air, but the others wait without fear.

He notices it is getting dark, and his watch says it is 6:40pm. He uses his watch compass and heads south towards where he thinks the boat is. The compys follow him, still chittering. He is in a lot of pain, his balance isn’t good, he is losing blood and he is feeling drowsy. He thinks he won’t make it to the river, but forces himself to go on. Finally, he sees a light ahead and finds a toolshed or guardhouse; seemingly the light has a timer to turn on a lamp at night. He gets inside and shuts the door, then lies down on the concrete floor. The compys bang against the windows in frustration as he falls asleep.

Trailer

Long chapter alert! Harding finishes the infant’s cast, and discusses the island’s dinosaurs with Malcolm. She thinks there are too many carnivores for Isla Sorna’s ecosystem to support, comparing it to her fieldwork in Africa where there is one lion for every 10-15 square km. Malcolm points out that the prey is huge, but she thinks it isn’t enough and there must be another food source or maybe a differential death rate among prey. Malcolm adds he noticed there aren’t mature dinosaurs so maybe they’re being killed off early, but Harding says then there would be carcasses and none of them have seen any. They agree there is something funny about the island.

In the high hide, Carr suggests going back to the trailers as they are stronger structures than the hide. Levine dismisses this and continues to watch the raptors and King’s body through night-vision goggles. Thorne says they should stay a little longer then all go back to the trailers together.

Malcolm tells Harding about the recent carcass discoveries on mainland Costa Rica, and wonders why this has started happening after five years. He looks at the network Arby got access to, recalling that InGen had trouble with a mysterious disease. Harding says there are slow-acting animal diseases caused by viruses or prions that can take 5-10 years to show up, but Malcolm says prion diseases only come from eating contaminated food. According to the files, the infant dinosaurs were given goat’s milk for six weeks, which zoos also use because it is hypoallergenic. Harding notes that the resin cast has a strong smell, and she hopes it will go away as it hardens so the parents don’t reject the infant. She wants to take him back to the nest, but with the dark and the storm it may be too late to do it that night.

Malcolm discovers the herbivores were given plant matter, while the carnivores were given ground-up extract of animal protein, specifically sheep extract. They’re both shocked at this but we don’t find out why, because suddenly the perimeter sensors activate and turn on the outside lights.

From the high hide, Kelly sees the lights come on around the trailers. Thorne radios Malcolm, who says they don’t see anything. Carr wonders if the sensors are too sensitive.

Harding wraps the infant in a blanket and restrains him on a table. They hear a snorting growl and feel a deep vibration, which Malcolm recognises. Harding spots the tyrannosaurus parents in the nearby trees and wonders if they have come for the baby. Malcolm thinks this is ridiculous as they would have no way to track it, but she points out that they don’t know anything about their physiology, biochemistry, nervous systems, behaviour or sensory equipment, so it could be possible. The adult T-rexes are silent, moving their heads in slow arcs. They think they could be listening, as they wouldn’t be able to see in the spotlights and their nostrils aren’t moving.

Levine watches the tyrannosaurs through the night-vision goggles as they move their heads in a synchronised way, then rush into the clearing. Malcolm turns off the lights. The dinosaurs pause, confused, then move towards the trailers again.

Malcolm and Harding realise they’re in danger and crouch down to stay out of sight. The tyrannosaurs come up on each side, then circle the trailers. The scent makes Malcolm start to panic as it brings back his experience in Jurassic Park. Harding notes it isn’t hunting behaviour, and they seem to be searching for something. One of them roars, and the other replies then peers in at them through the window. One of them slams its head into the trailer, rocking it. Malcolm assures Harding that it is very strong. The other one strikes the trailer, and they start alternating blows which throws everything inside the trailer back and forth. Thorne radios them to see if they’re ok, and Malcolm turns it off.

Harding says they want their baby, and they discuss how to get it to them. Harding stands up and speaks in a soothing way that has worked with lions as she unstraps the infant and takes off its oxygen mask. The female tyrannosaur smashes the window and shoves its head inside, so Harding drops the baby and jumps back. The adult sniffs it and feels its heartbeat, then picks it up in its jaws and carries it outside. She puts it on the ground and licks it awake, and the adults carry the baby out of the clearing.

Thorne tries to radio Malcolm again, but it is still switched off. The group in the high hide cheer as they see the tyrannosaurs walk away, but Levine thinks they have made a critical error.

Harding and Malcolm watch the tyrannosaurs put the dinosaur into the fork of a tree, which they find weird as they should be taking it back to the nest. The adults roar and charge the trailer at full speed, and they brace for the attack. The impact knocks them both sideways into the air. Malcolm hears Harding scream as the trailer turns over. Glass and lab equipment is smashed all around him, and rain drips through the broken window onto his face. The tyrannosaurs start pushing the trailer through the dirt; it turns again and is lying on its roof. Malcolm tries to reach Harding and some acid drips on his shoulder. The junction between the two trailers is almost twisted shut, and he hears the dinos biting the tyres. He reaches Harding, who has blood all over her face from a piece of glass in her head. He pulls it out and holds a dishtowel to the wound.

Malcolm realises the trailer is being pushed to the cliff, and that the power is out. The far end of the trailer sinks down as it tips over the cliff edge, and it gathers speed. Harding falls away from him and he grabs onto the fridge door, but he can’t keep hold and drops downwards, hitting something on the way and blacking out.

Arby asks Levine what is happening, but he finds it hard to see in the downpour. Thorne asks why the tyrannosaurs would push the trailers towards the cliff, and Levine reckons that moving the baby has redefined their territory to include the clearing with the trailers so they are defending that territory. Lightning flashes and they see that the first trailer is hanging over the cliff; Carr shouts that the accordion connector won’t hold for long. The dinos are pushing the second trailer over the edge. Thorne resolves to go back, and Carr says he will go too but Thorne tells him to stay with the kids. Thorne judges the distance is a little over three miles, and driving will take six or seven minutes which is probably too late, but he has to try.

In the trailer, Harding hears creaking and wakes up lying across the driver’s seat. She is disoriented, but sees the trailer is hanging precariously. She is still covered in blood and makes a compress from her shirt fabric. She calls to Malcolm, who is bent over a lab table, but he doesn’t move. She feels the trailer shudder as the tyrannosaurs are still pushing the second one across the ground. Ignoring her pain, she climbs up the trailer using the furniture and reaches Malcolm, who has an injured leg again.

He apologises for getting her into this mess, and tells her they need the power back on. She looks for a panel and finds one near the accordion connector. She presses all the buttons she can reach and the trailer starts lighting up, and some of them short out. A monitor comes on close to her face and she can see the tyrannosaurs kicking the other trailer. The final button has a silver protective cover – it is the famous IUD! – and she presses it. On the monitor, she sees the sparks flaring around the tyrannosaurs, who roar in fury. The power in the trailer goes off, and the pounding resumes.

Thorne

Thorne speeds through the heavy rain, driving through mud and puddles on the road. He accelerates through a deep puddle and the car’s electrics short circuit, stopping it dead. As he tells Carr over the radio, he notices a faint red light ahead. He jumps out of the car with the radio and the rifle, running towards the light, which is from King’s abandoned jeep. The keys are still in the ignition. He drives on, passing the lab and reaching the clearing where the headlights illuminate the tyrannosaurs and the trailer. They bellow at him and charge; Thorne reverses but then sees they are not charging him but running towards their baby in the tree. They retrieve the infant and disappear. He wonders if they are really gone, and hears the trailer sliding towards the cliff edge.

Kelly asks Levine what Thorne is doing; he is driving around a tree. Carr says he must be running the cable around the tree. Thorne hooks the jeep winch around the trailer’s rear axle, restraining it. Carr tells him over the radio that the connector may snap as it won’t hold the full weight of the trailer for long. He goes to look for rope.

Trailer

Harding is hanging from the top of the trailer, and the pounding has stopped but she feels water dripping on her face and knows this means the accordion connector is coming apart. She climbs down to Malcolm and insists that he move despite his defeated air. She asks if there is rope, and he points her to the dash. She braces her feet against the sides and carries Malcolm on her back down the trailer. He comments on her strength and she replies that she is still feminine (…what?). They reach the dashboard and she finds about 50 feet of nylon rope. Harding opens the door and looks out and up the side of the trailer. Thorne is hanging on the underside of the trailer and tells her to hurry up, but she says Ian is hurt.

Kelly watches Arby and thinks about how he can’t handle it when things get tough. He has turned away and is looking towards the river instead of at the cliff. Levine reports that Thorne just went into the trailer, and now Harding is coming out, climbing up the trailer’s undercarriage. Arby is only half-listening, as he has spotted something in the distance and is waiting for the next lightning flash to confirm what he saw.

Harding doesn’t look down as she climbs up holding the rope, which they need to get Malcolm out of the trailer. She reaches the top of the cliff and loops the rope onto a bracket of the second trailer, then throws it down to Thorne, who ties it around Malcolm and swings them both out. Harding pulls them up as they climb. Malcolm reaches solid ground and as Harding holds out her hand to pull Thorne to safety, the connector starts tearing. He slips as the trailer falls but Harding grabs his hair and pulls him up by his scalp. The first trailer smashes on the rocks below the cliff.

The High Hide

Levine reports to the kids that everyone made it, and Kelly cheers. Arby snatches the night-vision goggles from Levine and looks out at the plain, as they hear snarling. 12 raptors are moving towards the high hide, still licking blood off their snouts. They haven’t noticed the high hide, and Levine tells them they are safe as they are downwind; the raptors are probably following the game trail and will pass them if they all stay quiet. Levine also assures them that the raptors can’t jump up so high, although Carr remembers him saying they could climb trees.

Malcolm comments that he doesn’t have much luck on these trips. Harding cuts away his right trouser leg, finding a large gash that is almost to the bone and is filled with grease and bits of leaves. Thorne gets the medical kit while Malcolm tells Harding he owes her his life. She injects him with a lot of morphine so she can clean the wound out.

Levine watches the raptors through the goggles, hoping to see some organisation or dominance hierarchy in the pack, but there isn’t any. Carr is comforting the kids as they crouch down on the floor of the hide. Levine doesn’t know why anyone is afraid as they are perfectly secure. As the raptors pass the structure, one pauses and sniffs the air, then rummages in the grass. It emerges with a candy bar wrapper, then looks up at the high hide, snarling at Levine.

Malcolm

Malcolm relaxes as the morphine kicks in. Thorne tells Harding that the helicopters will collect them in less than five hours. Malcolm druggily says that he’s sad the experiment is over, and that Darwin was wrong. Harding decides to keep him talking while she cleans the wound, and asks what Darwin got wrong. He explains that life is a complex system, and mentions fitness landscapes, adaptive walks, Boolean nets and self-organizing behaviour. He notes the limitations of scientific understanding, and how we cannot describe the interaction between so many variables because it is so complex. Maybe living forms are a type of crystallisation.

He gives the example of the yucca plant which depends on a specific moth; neither can survive without the other. Malcolm says complex animals can evolve their behaviour rapidly, like crystallisation, and changes can occur quickly. For example, humans are transforming the planet and nobody knows if it is dangerous or not, but he thinks cyberspace means the end of our species as we are losing intellectual diversity.

Malcolm says his hypothesis was that dinosaurs, as complex creatures, underwent rapid behavioural change and this led to their extinction. He had thought they might be able to prove it on Isla Sorna, but now it’s over and they have to get out of there.

Thorne tries to radio Carr, but there is no response. Then, they hear a human scream over the radio.

The High Hide

The raptor leaps at the high hide, and Carr is astonished at how high it can jump. This attracts the attention of the other raptors, which come back to circle the hide and soon they are surrounded. The hide sways as they slam into it, and Levine notices they are learning fast how to climb it. Carr throws a lit flare at them, which makes two fall away, then pulls up a aluminium bar from the floor and tries to hit them with it. One has got high enough to strike at him and misses, but gets his shirt and pulls him towards the edge. Levine drags Carr back as he hits it with the metal bar, then jabs it in the eye making it release its grip. The two men fall back to the floor, but more raptors are climbing up the sides.

Carr hits the raptors with the metal bar and shouts at the kids to get on the roof. Kelly gets up there easily but Arby is frozen in fear. Levine lifts him up to help him. One of the raptors grabs the metal bar in its jaws and yanks Carr over the side of the rail, and the pack all drop to the ground. They hear Carr’s screams as the raptors snarl. Levine is terrified as he tries to push Arby to the roof of the hide, but Arby kicks Levine in the mouth by accident; Levine drops him and Arby falls to the ground.

Thorne unhooks the cable from under the trailer and runs for the jeep. Harding is already racing off on the motorbike with a rifle across her shoulder. Thorne is impatient as the cable winches in. Over the radio, Malcolm tells him not to worry about him and that he’ll be fine.

Kelly saw Arby hit the ground on the other side of the hide from Carr, but she can’t see where he went. Levine is frozen in terror, listening to the crunch of bones. Then he hears Arby shouting at the raptors; he has managed to get inside the dinosaur cage and close the door, but when he puts his hand out to turn the key, three raptors lunge at him. They bite the metal, and one gets its lower jaw stuck in the key’s elastic band, pulling it out of the lock. The other raptors pull the cage free from the hide’s structure and knock it to the ground, slashing at Arby through the bars then kicking at it. Seven raptors surround the cage and start rolling it away.

Levine sees three raptors dragging Carr’s remains into the jungle, fighting over it frequently. The other group rolls the cage away down the game trail. Thorne approaches in the jeep, and Levine hopes he has a gun as he wants to kill every dinosaur. Kelly watches the raptor with the elastic loop stuck on its snout as it tries to get free of it. It is confused by the jeep’s headlights and Thorne tries to run it over, but it sprints off into the plain.

Levine jumps in the car and tells Thorne the raptors have Arby in the cage. Kelly tries to tell them about the key, but they tell her to get back up into the hide to wait for Harding. They drive after the raptors with the cage so they don’t lose Arby.

Malcolm hears the panicked voices over the radio, and thinks about how everything is going to hell at once.

Thorne drives quickly through the dense jungle, wondering aloud how the cage could have broken free. He struggles to keep up with the raptors.

Kelly tells Harding about the cage’s key, and that Thorne and Levine didn’t listen to her. They can see the dark shape of the raptor with the key in the distance. Harding tells her to get on the motorbike and hands her the rifle, explaining how to shoot it, before they head out onto the plain.

Thorne says if they lose sight of the raptors, they will have lost Arby as they don’t know where the raptor nest is. Levine gives up and says they need to accept they have lost him, but Thorne says Arby never gave up on Levine. They follow the raptors down a steep hill.

Bookclub Bingo 2023 categories: Sci-fi (grey), Horror, A Book Written in the 1990s, Bonus Book (blue)

Trigger warnings: Storygraph users have marked the book with the following trigger warnings: Death, Violence, Gore, Animal death, Blood, Cursing

Other potentially useful links:

• The Lost World discussion schedule
• The Lost World marginalia
• The first discussion
• The second discussion
• The third discussion
• Michael Crichton on Wikipedia
• Kill Site Interpretation: ‘Sherlocking’ your way to an answer [content warning – pictures of dead animals]
• Predator-Prey Models
• What Did The T-Rex REALLY Sound Like?
• Vicious Velociraptor: tales of a turkey-sized dinosaur
• How do we know what we know about dinosaur behaviour?

The discussion questions are in the comments below.

Join us for the final book discussion on Sunday 15th October, when we talk about the Sixth Configuration to the end.