Tromping over the bonnet of the jeep and bouncing down to the deck of the ferry with ease, Max moved to meet the others. It almost seemed a little ridiculous to have a military representative with them and she shook her head slightly at the sight of Elena's excessive baggage. Damn yank would have no idea how to handle inhuman insurgents. Max almost spoke up when Elena claimed she was on "the last dinosaur tour". Maybe they didn't know that feral populations of genetically recreated dinos had already been established on the mainland. And maybe they were dumb enough to think that this little party would actually be "the last". At any rate, she was just a veterinarian and it wasn't her job to correct them.
She missed it when the redhead attempted to shake her hand, or perhaps she was simply too busy eyeing Meryl's silver bracelets. But it wasn't a frown of contempt she displayed for the anti-outdoorsy young woman, but a slight grin. Whatever Meryl had done, if Masrani was willing to spring her from prison for this little escapade she must be good at her job.
After that, Tuvya started throwing his weight around as leader of their little pack so Max leaned back against the tail-end of her Jeep and crossed her arms over her bust. The full-sleeve tattoos down her arms almost made the limbs blend into each other with a semi-abstract impression of scales.
It seemed to Max that the others weren't expecting to run into any survivors but the veterinarian wasn't so sure. One thing she'd learned from so many field missions into the bush was that life was fairly tenacious, even human life. If indigeneous tribes could survive undiscovered in the bush for centuries alongside the predators of the modern world Max was sure a few people could have survived the relatively small number of days since the Jurassic World incident.
"We dunny seem to have a doctor with us but I did a tour with a RAF medical unit so if we come across anyone who's right crook or hurt I have a lot of the right equipment in here to deal with it." She slapped the metal side of the med-trailer.
When Tuvya indicated her, Max nodded with a bright grin and fluttered her eyelashes. "I am lovely. But in all seriousness, this isn't going to be like most surveying expeditions. These animals won't be available for any follow-up. Anything we find that is too injured to be fixed in one go will have to be euthed. Better that than letting it suffer." Something about the way she said it suggested the pretty vet would hold to the same standards when dealing with people.
She didn't comment about the Mosasaur. It should be easy enough for her to judge the viability of the containment system when she saw it. If it was anything like American cetecean enclosures it would probably fail long before the creature died of old age. She would also have to determine if the huge animal would be able to feed itself in such an environment. If not, they might as well kill it. If she agreed whole-heartedly with Tuvya on any particular point, it was on this one. The Mosasaur should not be allowed to roam wild in the world's ocean.
But that didn't stop her from smirking a little at his threats. Her intentions were her own. The two main objectives here were to look for survivors and assess the animals roaming loose on the island. She would be directly involved in both of those tasks with the others largely present to help make sure she could do her job. Typical.
The ride was not long and gave Max plenty of opportunity to check on her gear, making sure that the batteries and solar cell systems that would power her equipment in the trailer were all functioning. The supplies were wonderful but she ran her hands over virgin surgical packs and priceless medications with a her lips pressed in a thin line. The amount of money being thrown around here was criminal. What she wouldn't have given for access to this kind of gear while working with endangered croccodilians.
When they were getting closer and she could hear Tuvya over the grainy PA, she came out and spotted Meryl sitting in front of her Jeep. It appeared that the girl's stuff was already in the back seat too. Might as well make the invitation a formal one.
"G'Day. You don't seem too chuffed to be on this bodgy old tour. Can't blame you. Never got along with standover types like that Tuvya, myself. You're the techy type, yeah? Maybe you should ride with me until we find some research to destroy. I'll need someone to take the wheel if I have to drop a dino through the window."
She offered Meryl her bronzed and somewhat weathered hand to pull the girl to her feet and then glanced over the railing to see what Tuvya was talking about. She had a map of the park open across the dashboard in the vehicle and slid into the driver's seat to compare.