Living Dangerously - Chapter 28
Jurassic Park’s animal handlers: none of them ever mentioned by name in Michael Crichton’s original novel. Who were they? What were their lives like on Isla Nublar? Did any of them survive the disaster?
A year in the life of those responsible for the care of the dinosaurs. Many people would kill to have their jobs.
But would they die for it?
Jurassic Park novel/Jurassic Park film (1993)
Viewpoint: 3rd person female oc
Warnings: few mentions of the ol alcoholism
Tagging: @heresthefanfiction @ocappreciation @wordspin-shares @howlingmadlady @arrthurpendragon @themaradwrites @starryeyes2000 @kmc1989 (please lmk if you would like informed of my sporadic updates)
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Chapter 27 | Chapter 29
Since You Been Gone - Rainbow
Several weeks later
Although the island would be virtually uninhabited over Christmas, InGen had shipped in an impressive Douglas Fir that was already shrivelling up and disintegrating in the tropical heat. It was dropping enough needles to make Marìa implore the Almighty for help every time she swept the floor, which was now a daily task. Someone had used the cherry picker to fling tinsel over the model skeletons in the atrium of the visitor centre. The Alamosaurus had a shiny blue party hat perched jauntily on top of its skull.
About as festive as you could wish for in a near-Equatorial country.
Muldoon wanted to meet with Lizzy beneath the skeletons before he began the long journey back to Kenya.
“I’ve done the best I can with staffing, but there will be two days at Christmas and again at New Year when you’re by yourself. I’ll be back on the third.”
Lizzy nodded solemnly.
“You do not go out in the park by yourself on those four days you’re alone, do you understand me?”
”O-kay?”
”I don’t care what you see on those video monitors in the control room. I don’t care what alarms go off. It’s not your problem to fix. You make a note of it and tell someone later, but whatever happens you stay indoors.”
”Richardson said-“ She started.
“I don’t care. You do what I say.” He fixed her with an icy blue stare. “Screw Richardson and his half-baked ideas.”
”No, thanks.” She wrinkled her nose.
Muldoon didn’t smile. “Armstrong, are we clear?”
Lizzy sighed. “Yes, we are perfectly clear.”
He remained unconvinced. “The weather looks alright too, no storms forecast-“
”Seriously! I’ll be fine!” She reassured. “Go home, see the kid. Don’t worry about me.”
Satisfied his point had been made, Muldoon became apologetic. ”Sorry about all this.”
Among the offers of come back to Oz, come back to Baton Rouge, come back to Lisbon, there would have been the offer of Kenya too, and not just out of politeness.
“You know I hate flying, it makes me feel very green. I’m the logical choice, anyway. No ties. No commitments.” She wiggled her fingers, conscious for the first time in a while that the weight of her engagement ring was no longer there.
If it had to be anyone, it may as well be me.
Everyone else had parents, kids, significant others, siblings. Jeff was back in Newcastle for the festive period, with his own blood relatives.
Lizzy had nobody.
“You can give me a bell me if you need to. Don’t care if its the middle of the night.” The park warden handed her a piece of paper with a Kenyan dialling code on it. “Doesn’t have to be work-related, either.”
Lizzy cleared her throat, unsure what he meant. “Got it. Thanks.”
”One last thing.” He reminded her. “Do not go near that raptor.”
“Aw, but I was planning to take her on a day trip to climb Sibo!”
”Not funny. If you remember one thing from this conversation, let that be it. No raptor.”
Kathy’s silhouette appeared in the double-doorway, dragging her chunky duffel bag, the contents threatening to burst forth from the zips all over the marble tiles. It looked like it weighed more than she did.
“Travelling light, are we?” Muldoon looked her up and down.
She waved him away, pushing her glasses back up her nose. “Hey, Minnesota is cold. You really think I’m walking over a snowy runway in my flip-flops?”
The park warden was still fixated on her luggage. He pointed to it with his boot. ”You’re going to make me carry that to the airport, aren’t you?”
”No, no way!” Kathy made a show of exclaiming, before quietly muttering out of the side of her mouth to Lizzy. “I absolutely am.”
“Keep commenting on how heavy it is, how small you are, until he feels bad.” The ethologist suggested, but she knew her deceptively strong friend was able to lift and carry two straw bales at once.
“Oh, I plan to.” Kathy abandoned the bag on the floor and pulled her in for a hug. “Next year, I don’t care how far apart we are, you are coming for Christmas with my family. There‘s always gonna be a place set for you at our house.”
Lizzy managed to blurt out her thanks awkwardly.
Promised I wouldn’t cry. Jeez.
“And this year-“ Kathy continued. “-if you feel ill at all then you just up and leave the island, okay? It’s not worth it. Call the mainland at Puntarenas…or my mom. I’ve set her as speed-dial two at Ray’s desk.”
“Nice surprise for him next time he tries to call Palo Alto and gets Momma Baker instead.” Lizzy grinned at her friend’s ranking system of who to contact in an emergency. “Just think of me when you’re raising a toast, okay?”
”I will not be cheersing anything this year-” Kathy denied. “-unless it’s with a juice box.”
Lizzy scoffed. “Like he’d know.”
”He’d know.” She insisted, sweeping her braids over one shoulder. “Muldoon said I could if I wanted, but we made a pact. The pact holds firm even if we’re not in the same place anymore.”
The Team Leader was in her mid-twenties, and fond of a beer with the guys, especially on Friday evenings after work. But she had decided to lead by example.
“How’s it going? You helping him…stop?” Lizzy dared to ask. She’d been avoiding finding out for the past few weeks, in case the answer wasn’t what she wanted to hear.
“Really good. You’ll be pleased to know he remains firmly on the wagon.”
Despite Kathy’s insistence he didn’t have to go all or nothing straight away, Muldoon had quit the booze cold turkey. The following weeks the island’s coffee usage had increased dramatically. He’d been shorter than usual with almost everyone. Kathy had taken the worst of it more than once, like a trooper. But so far, so sober.
“That is really good.” Lizzy’s eyes darted past Kathy to see the man in question picking up and hoisting her friend’s ridiculously overpacked luggage over his shoulder without changing expression, as if it were nothing.
“Yup. Really good.” She caught herself biting her lip.
Tom swaggered in, minus any bags of his own. “Hey, I thought we already had the Christmas party? What’s with the gathering?”
“And I thought you were leaving on today’s ferry too? Where’s your stuff?” Lizzy wondered aloud.
“Nah. Tomorrow.” Then louder, for Muldoon’s benefit. “Gotta reduce the amount of time this one has to single-handedly destroy the island. Right, boss?”
“Christ. Don’t remind me.”
Tom’s gaze rested on Kathy, who looked very uncomfortable at the sudden attention.
”I’m actually gonna miss you, four-eyes. Who’d have seen that one coming?”
”Uh-huh…”
“Well-“ He ironically saluted before turning to leave. “Until next year, loser.”
“Now or never.” Lizzy elbowed her friend in the ribs. “I’m not doing it for you.”
Kathy gave her the dirtiest look possible before jogging after Tom.
“Baker, we have to get going-“ Muldoon sounded exasperated, still holding her bag.
“Give her a minute.” Lizzy told him. “It’s important.”
”Kennedy of all people, is missing-her-flight levels of important? That’s new…”
”Wait, Tom!” Kathy called as she ran.
The Texan turned and stared at her hurrying closer, confused.
”I, um-…I made you this.” She pulled a parcel out of her shoulder bag, it too was straining at the seams. “But I dunno how cold it gets in Texas, it’s probably useless…You know what, never mind, you don’t have to take it. It’s stupid.”
She hugged the gift close to her chest, wishing she could rewind the last thirty seconds. Why had Lizzy encouraged her to do this?! It was so dumb. He clearly still hated her.
“You give that here, missy. I’ll be the judge of whether it’s stupid or not.” Tom held out his hands. ”Can I open it now?”
”Uhm…okay. Why wait, I guess?” She chuckled nervously then hiccuped.
Tom tore the paper, making a performance out of doing it as slowly as possible while Kathy carefully awaited his reaction.
Muldoon huffed and looked at his watch.
”Woah…is that-”
She’d knitted him a slightly lumpy scarf in the colours of the Texas state flag. Everyone had received a woollen item from Kathy as a gift, in the colours of their place of origin.
”Dude, you made this? For me?” Tom couldn’t hold back a massive grin, and immediately threw the paper aside and tied the scarf in a loose knot around his neck. “Shit, that’s sick, man! It’s soft as all Hell! Sorry, Heck. Soft as Heck.”
Kathy let out a sigh of relief. She’d been half-expecting to be ripped to shreds for her handmade gift.
“But I don’t have anything for you, Kit…”
”It’s okay.” She knew he’d been saving up to really spoil his little sister this year. Lizzy had told her as much. “I wasn’t expecting anything in return. But I made them for everyone else, and you actually work really hard, and-“
Next thing she knew, her face was pressed close to his denim jacket as he scooped her up in a bear hug.
She couldn’t recall having physical contact with Tom before, doing her best to stay away from him unless she had no choice. As far as she knew, he didn’t do hugs. Not with anyone.
Kathy tensed, stiff as a corpse until she heard him rumble against the side of her head ”Thank you, darlin’.”
He sounded so genuine, and she buried her face in the fabric of his jacket, squeezing her eyes tight shut to hide how they were welling up.
She relaxed into the hug. ”Happy Christmas, Tom.”
***
The two weeks that followed turned out to be uneventful, if very lonely, for Lizzy. On the big day itself she’d opened a few small gifts her friends had left for her, including a brand new knitted bobble hat. In the colours of Namibia, not Scotland. She had called Jeff in Newcastle at InGen’s expense, had a lengthy catch-up and a good laugh, then nuked some leftover macaroni cheese, the Christmas dinner of champions, before focusing on writing up her behavioural research she was in serious danger of falling behind with. Lizzy wondered if she’d ever get clearance from InGen to publish a paper on the behaviour of juvenile Velociraptor mongoliensis. Unlikely, but she had to write the damn thing first.
She missed her elephants.
Don’t go out into the park. She wasn’t an idiot, and Lizzy had to admit it was asking for trouble. If anything happened, nobody would find her for a very long time, that much was certain. God forbid she came to a sticky end because she fell and broke her ankle, or something equally stupid.
But watching the dinosaurs on a video screen just wasn’t the same as being out there among them. Hearing the sauropods trumpet in the far distance was nothing like feeling the ground shake when they walked by. Seeing the dilophosaurs flare their crests near the river, smelling the Rex on the breeze and knowing in your gut she was nearby even if you couldn’t see her. You could just feel her. Lizzy missed the smallest things she’d started to take for granted in her job.
She may not have her elephants, but she didn’t have her dinosaurs either. Neither did she have her new favourite, the little raptor who was her biggest challenge yet.
Lizzy wondered if there was a fellow lonely soul on Isla Sorna who had been given a similar task to her. If they had family they missed, or if they too had friends but were alone in the world.
Some local InGen employees came and went between Christmas and New Year, but she was soon left to her own devices for the second two-day stint of solitude.
It was far worse than the first time around. Lizzy thought constantly about using the Kenyan dialling code, or hitting speed dial two. But she always talked herself out of it.
They don't need me bothering them. They see me every single day, they see their families hardly ever. God, give them some space. Stop being so bloody needy.
She kept trying to persuade herself of the passing of time, trying to think of things to do while she was effectively trapped indoors, all while debating if cabin fever was a legitimate medical condition and how long it normally took to develop. She wondered whether she could find Gerry Harding’s San Diego number and really piss Sarah off by calling him at home to ask.
New Year's Eve, however, more than compensated for how tedious Lizzy's Christmas break had been.
She was leaving the showers that night, minding her own business, and rounded the corner wrapped in her towel, humming, totally unprepared for who was waiting for her when she finally glanced up at close range through half-misted glasses.
“Shitting Heaven!” Lizzy shrieked, flattening herself against the wall in shock.
Muldoon was just there in the corridor, looking surprised, in the process of unlocking his door.
”You nearly gave me a bloody heart attack!” She accosted him when she recovered her wits, red-faced and angry now the fear had retreated. “Christ alive! Thanks for the warning!”
“Sorry, Armstrong.”
”Don’t give me Armstrong! Why the Hell didn’t you say anything?” She moaned, rubbing her forehead, heart still thumping with the force of a war cannon against her sternum. “You must have heard me coming!”
“Again, sorry.”
Lizzy’s eyes widened. She’d been enjoying singing loudly in the shower. Horribly out of tune, and she knew it. A one-woman rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody.
There was no way in Hell he wouldn’t have heard. She’d been performing the entirety of the song as a solo for the last five minutes.
The absurdity of the situation hit her, and she covered her mouth to stifle a nervous laugh. Now was not the time. She was still very much ticked off at him for ambushing her, and she wanted him to know.
“Why are you here?” Lizzy demanded, doing her best to regain control. The park warden was back a full four days before schedule. Not that she was counting down, or anything.
“Baker phoned me.” As if that was a perfectly reasonable explanation.
“So?”
”She had a feeling. She was worried about you.”
”You came back because of a feeling? Someone else’s feeling?” It didn’t make sense to Lizzy at all. He didn't normally go in for superstitions, or anything of the sort.
Muldoon recalled the previous night, and the fateful phonecall that led to cutting his trip home short. His daughter had answered and come to get him, tapping with her small hands covered by new wool mittens that she point-blank refused to take off, even when she was eating dinner, or sleeping.
“Baba, phone. Cat lady from…Min-ah-so-tah.” She’d pronounced carefully.
Muldoon was then wide awake. Why in God’s name was Baker calling him at this ungodly hour? Who had died?
By the time he’d made it to the phone, she had been sobbing down the line, borderline hysterical. When he’d finally gotten some sense out of her, if you could call it sense, she told him she’d had the most terrifying nightmare. That the dinosaurs had all escaped and were roaming free, Lizzy was in danger, she was sure of it.
At first, he was sceptical. Just a dream, nothing to it.
Then she had uttered the magic word raptor, and Muldoon knew that made two of them that wouldn’t be going back to sleep anytime soon.
What had he been thinking? What had InGen been playing at? Leaving Armstrong alone to man the island, all for the sake of someone keeping an eye on the place.
Were they really that paranoid that a rival would try and steal from them? With all the security systems they had in place? It was virtually impossible.
Although he wouldn’t put it past the ethologist to send intruders packing, to be honest. Sub-par depth perception aside, she was still pretty handy with a shotgun.
”Please.” Baker’s voice had steadied, suddenly clear and direct. “I need to know Lizzy’s okay. I can’t bear to call her, in case…But if you won’t do it either, I’m leaving for that island tonight-“
”I’ll phone her now. You do realise she’s probably fine?” Muldoon became aware he was trying to convince himself of that fact as much as he was Baker.
”And what will you do if she doesn’t pick up, hm? What will you do if she’s fine now, but you arrive back in a few days and something has happened?” Her voice rose in pitch. “Why did we leave her? On a dinosaur island?”
And then Muldoon did something very out of character. He hung up, waited a few minutes, and called Baker back to tell her Armstrong was fine, not to worry, have a Happy New Year.
Then he quietly made his way to the airport in Nairobi. Only when he was on the first of several flights had it started to sink in, exactly what he was doing. What it all came down to.
He needed to see her.
It’s for safety. This automation business is nonsense. Shouldn’t have left her.
He reflected that his Team Leader and partner in sobriety wasn’t exactly making life easy for him.
How it had taken every ounce of willpower he had not to answer Scotch, please when the heavily made-up air hostess had come around with the drinks trolley.
And then came the worst, and most time-consuming part, finding someone on the Costa Rican mainland who fit the Venn diagram intersection of having a boat and being willing to sail to Isla Nublar at short notice.
Turned out not many of the locals fit both criteria. Not for cheap, anyway.
“Baker made a very strong case.”
”Right…” Lizzy was still baffled, and a little put out that the reason for him standing in front of her in her towel wasn't for anything other than safety.
It was only because Kathy’d had another of her stupid dreams, that she was always convinced meant something more. Lizzy had lost track of the number of times she had reassured her that they were not. She wasn’t a prophet. She was just a worrier with an active imagination.
After the ferry, Muldoon hadn’t stopped to drop off his backpack. He couldn’t find Armstrong at first, anywhere in the staff quarters. She wasn’t answering his calls to her radio, and for a second he had feared Baker was right.
Maybe something had happened.
Then he’d heard the God-awful “singing” coming from the women’s showers and it was the most beautiful sound Muldoon had ever heard because it meant Armstrong was alive and well.
Now, it wasn’t gratifying at all, it was just awkward, she was angry at him. And explaining he was back on Nublar ahead of schedule because of a dream, and not even his own, just sounded more and more absurd.
“Well…I’m okay. You can stop worrying.” Lizzy looked down at herself. “If I were dressed I would probably be okay-er.”
She became conscious Muldoon was looking past her, instead of at her, avoiding eye contact. As if he was nervous to look anywhere else.
She was still dripping all over the floor, hair in wet ringlets slicked to her forehead.
By then, Lizzy just wanted to get back to her room and dry off. She smiled sweetly. ”Gonna make me walk past you like this, huh?”
“Er, no-“ He went back to opening his door, as he had been before she had rounded the corridor and nearly expired from fright. “I’ll leave you to it.”
“Oh, thanks so much!” She replied sarcastically as he made himself scarce.
***
A couple of hours later, Muldoon reluctantly pushed open the door of the staff kitchen to a sight he never thought he’d witness: Armstrong standing over a stove, cooking.
“Hi!” She turned and waved at him.
Instead of her company-issued shorts and polo shirt that she usually lived in, she’d opted for jeans and a loose sweater. Her hair was still wet. She looked very different. Not in a bad way, either.
“Sorry about earlier. Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s okay. Ran into far more people wearing far less.” She brushed it off.
“Excuse me?”
”Joking!” She claimed hastily. “I was joking!”
So awkward.
Lizzy’s heart dropped.
Oh no, was this when she found out they only got on so well because they were both mad at the world? Because they liked complaining about the same things? Take that away and what did they have to talk about?
"Got your note."
"I can see, else you wouldn’t be here, would you?” She said bluntly. This was going nowhere. Lizzy couldn't take it. "Look, it’s fine. It’s honestly fine. I don’t care and you shouldn’t either. Thank you for coming back to check on me.”
She turned her attention away from the stove and cocked an eyebrow. “Though a phone call would have sufficed.”
”I realise that.”
“It’s a good thing.” She pointed the spoon at him. “You’re staying. I've been so bored without anyone around. Don't make me spend another evening talking to myself."
“Hm.” He agreed. “Can you even get a word in edgeways?"
"Nice to have an intelligent conversation around here, actually." Lizzy hid a smile. And we’re back.
“What’s that you’re making?”
“Stew?” She continued stirring.
”Why does that sound like a question?”
“I think.”
”You…think?” He seemed to finally be relaxing. “It either is or it isn't."
“I was making bolognese, but…something went wrong.” Lizzy explained, sounding deflated. She looked him dead in the eyes and admitted: “I actually haven’t cooked dinner in a very long time.”
"In that case, I’m pleased I went to so much trouble to get back here.”
”Give it a minute. It’s getting there.” Lizzy clamped the lid on the pot. Out of sight, out of might. If it burns, just call it Cajun. Gonna be great. So good.
“Getting where, exactly? Why are you going to all this bother anyway?”
“I thought-… you’ve had a really long journey?”
“And you’re trying to finish me off in my weakened state, is that what you’re saying?” Muldoon deadpanned. “You want my job that badly?”
She threw her wooden spoon down on the worktop in a huff and folded her arms. “Please. I wouldn’t stoop to poisoning. Pitfall trap, maybe. Alright?”
The park warden peered over her shoulder at the wisps of black smoke starting to rise from the stove. “Armstrong, I think your-…whatever it is, is burning.”
“Completely intentional.” She wrinkled her nose. “I can manage.”
“Try it.” He dared her.
“It’s too hot-“
”Try it now.”
She caved, but couldn’t stop her face from screwing up like she’d just taken a hefty bite from a lemon. Lizzy knew there was no way it would be her best cooking effort, but it was bad.
“Oh, Christ!” She passed him the spoon, admitting defeat. “I give up. All yours.”
“Take a seat. I can salvage it.”
Quietly, from the battered cassette player in the corner Jimmy Page’s guitar riffs chugged along, Robert Plant wailing something about a flaming heart, every now and then the high notes swelling over the noise of the pots bubbling on the stove as they swapped places. Led Zeppelin IV. Lizzy had found a tape in Gennaro’s office while she was poking around. Didn’t know old Donald got the Led out, she’d thought. But imagining the lawyer with long hair and flared jeans, in the front row at Madison Square Garden was a thought that now frequently made her smile when she was bored.
“Ugh. Salvage.” She groaned, resting her head on a propped up arm. “That’s such an unfortunate word. I’m so sorry.”
“S’alright. Like a challenge.”
”I’m better at breakfast.” She defended herself. “I can do a decent fry-up.”
“And how does a man get you to sort out breakfast for them?”
She shrugged. “Be the one to wake me up in the morning.”
Muldoon almost dropped a knife but caught it before it could make a noise on the worktop.
“I mean-“ Lizzy realised what she’d said without thinking. “Uhhh…”
He’d caught her succumbing to nostalgia, remembering grey dawns in New York, when Simon had offered to go out in the rain for bagels, and instead of leaving the apartment, she’d whacked some eggs on the stove.
Looking back, there had been happy times.
But perhaps it had only seemed happy because it was everything she’d never had before.
Although she’d kill for a hot chocolate and a doughnut that always smelled better than it tasted from the cart they went looking for every winter in Times Square. That was one of their traditions.
Simon had been one of the people she'd considered calling over Christmas. He’d be spending a few days at his parent’s house upstate, no doubt. Same as always. But she’d ultimately decided no good could come from contacting him, even though she still knew the number off by heart. No scrap of paper or speed dial required.
It had ended for a reason. She had to remember that. Even though he’d never been brave enough to insult her attempts at cooking.
Unlike some.
Her gaze fell on Muldoon again.
”I’ll be conveniently absent then. State of it.” He grumbled. “Won’t be risking it even if we’re still alive tomorrow.”
”You’re so rude.”
“Could have tortured prisoners at Alcatraz with whatever that was.”
Lizzy cackled.
“Hey-…I‘m really glad you came back, you know?” She told him honestly. “My sense of humour isn’t wasted.”
Oh, who was she kidding? She’d missed him. Really missed him.
“You didn’t phone.” It sounded accusatory when he said it. “Two weeks is a very long time to not hear from someone like you.”
I thought about it.
”I wanted to.” She answered quietly.
I thought about you.
Muldoon had an idea.
Now he was back she could go out into the park again. They could both go out into the park, in fact. And with nobody else around, who would question them going out at night?
Was it a daft thing to suggest? Probably.
Armstrong had been distant the past few weeks before winter break. Giving herself space. Giving him space.
But he had been trying. Succeeding so far thanks to Baker’s efforts. That girl really was something else, putting up with him in his worst moods.
And Armstrong was the one who’d asked him to spend time with her that evening. They could have quite easily existed without running into each other again for days. The place was big enough. But they were in this tiny kitchen together, her struggling to find enough space to set out plates and cutlery without bumping into him.
The other staff would be arriving back in the next few days.
Who knew when he’d have her all to himself again?
Didn’t mean he wasn’t nervous as Hell. It might not have been enough time for her to feel safe around him out in the jungle. She might still say no.
But it was worth a try.
“Armstrong, would you-“
She dropped a bowl on the worktop with a clank at the critical moment. “Sorry, what?”
“Would you like to come for a drive with me later?”
“Why?” The frown lines appeared between her eyebrows. “Is something wrong, out in the park?”
“No-“
”I wrote everything up while you were gone. All the errors.”
”I know-“
”And I haven’t been near the baby raptor!” She added, a little too insistently.
“Armstrong-“. A touch sharply, to get her to stop talking so damn fast. Ask me properly. ”Lizzy. Would you like to see in the New Year with me? Somewhere more scenic?”
”Ohh…” Realisation dawned on her face, then a revolving door of emotions. Excitement, then uncertainty, then indecision.
“If it’s a no, then-“
”I didn’t say no.” Lizzy interrupted.
She wasn't sure if she was ready. Finding that bottle at the back of the staff lodge had knocked her sideways, upended her world.
But she wanted to go with him, she wanted to so badly.
Really good. That was what Kathy had said.
That was enough for her to smile and nod.
”Yes, please. I’d love that.”
***
Thanks for reading!
Is this going to count as a date? I think it’s going to count as a date! (Finally…)
At the museum I used to work in the sauropod skeleton did indeed wear a party hat at Christmas.
Also in Glasgow they put a traffic cone on the head of the Duke of Wellington’s statue on the regular…so it may or may not have been Lizzy.
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