“PH has dropped to more normal levels. At this rate, within a month or so it will be possible to introduce cyanobacteria and phytoplankton” Ellie said, pulling an instrument out of the water and checking its acidity. “However, the amount of nitrogen is still too low. Without it, bacteria will fail to fertilize the oceans… Alan, are you listening?”
Professor Grant shook himself. “Obviously yes, honey. You know I'm all ears"
It wasn't true. He wasn't listening to her at all. He was too lost admiring her while she worked. Alan had never been a nostalgic person, but right now he felt like he was back in the old days when they worked together. As if nothing had ever changed. It was the two of them, together, studying the environment just like in the past…
… except that the ground was now much more reddish, the two of them were protected by spacesuits and the gravity was considerably weaker. Because they were on anoth
Sobek snorted as the water crashed over his huge body. One of the disadvantages of being 60 meters long was that it was not easy to find a place to shelter from the rain. And since he was in the trenches he really didn't have the possibility to look for one…He looked up and looked towards the boundary line. In front of him were several dinosaurs, each of them sheltering as best they could from the rain and trying to rest; just beyond, were fortifications built of wood and earth and tunnels dug out of the mud, similar to the defenses adopted by armies on Earth in World War I, and other groups of dinosaurs stood guard. Beyond the fortifications was a wasteland at least ten kilometers long. Beyond it, lights could be glimpsed in the distance: it was the trench placed by the imperials.After Sobek publicly announced his intention to go to war alone, international tensions had calmed down somewhat. The Empire had accepted the declaration of neutrality of the Eden Un
It had finally begun. After four months of waiting, finally a real fight was starting.Dawson licked his lips maliciously. He was a mere Major who commanded a single wing of the huge imperial army. He was far from a high command position and knew next to nothing about the plans the Empire had in store, and he personally didn't even care. All he wanted was to be able to pull the trigger and put one bullet through as many dinosaur skulls as possible.In anticipation of war, during those years, the Empire had implemented a strong policy of indoctrination of the population. The soldiers in particular had been adamant that dinosaurs were nothing more than worms that needed to be wiped off the face of the planet for their crime of daring to challenge sacred human supremacy.As surreal as it sounded, it hadn't been difficult at all. Such indoctrination had occurred many times on the Earth from which Sobek came. Through the right words, a person could be persuaded to do
Sobek was confident he could win. But he knew that the situation could change immediately if an atomic bomb arrived. Therefore he was prevented: since due to the battle it was difficult to use [Supreme instinct] to warn of the arrival of the bomb, he had asked Rambo to place some members of his intelligence about five kilometers behind the trench of the dinosaurs . In this way they would not be affected by the battle and therefore could use [Supreme instinct] to warn of the approaching dangers. Since a nuclear bomb had a destructive range much greater than five kilometres, [Supreme Instinct] would immediately activate if that eventuality occurred and they could warn Sobek in time. If that had happened Sobek would have simply ordered [Teleportation] to be used and the dinosaurs would have fled.In short, Sobek had thought of everything. However, he wasn't confident enough to believe it was that easy. The Empire must have had a reason to attack right now. He had ordered Snock,
Sobek realized he had fallen for a trick. "As I imagined. It was a trap!” he exclaimed, then stared at the rapidly sizzling ground. “I don't know what it is but I don't like it! I better get away before…”The Imperials began firing relentlessly at him. Sobek felt hit countless times. If it weren't for the combo of [Reinforced skin] and [Regeneration], he would have become a sieve right now.Sobek opened his mouth and unleashed [Devastating roar] in every direction. Countless soldiers flew off and several tanks were blown to pieces, but for every soldier or war machine blown away, two took its place. Sobek found himself besieged on all sides.Clearly the Imperials aimed at not letting him go. Sobek decided to use [Teleportation], but suddenly the formation below him glowed with blue light, so much so that it dazzled him."What the…!?" Sobek exclaimed, and then disappeared.A flash of light hit the spinosaurus and the
Sobek stared in shock at the robotic monstrosity in front of him. In his old world, that could have been considered nothing more than science fiction. Instead, in that world they had come to build it. He tried to yell, 'What does this mean!?', but no sound came out of his mouth.The huge robot seemed to laugh. "You forgot? There is no air here. You can't use your voice” he said. “In case you haven't noticed, we are communicating using the same psychic waves you use to communicate with your subordinates”Evidently he was referring to the [Contract's] mind-sharing ability. Sobek decided to follow his advice. “Why can't I communicate with my companions? And why can't I teleport?”"A simple block" the robot replied, then pointed to a point in the distance where the structure that Sobek had seen earlier was located. “About ten kilometers away from us right now there are eight special devices that form a perfect circle within which
The two monsters clashed in a perfect dance of strikes, claws, tails, bites and even headbutts. Clouds of lunar dust rose with their every movement and if an atmosphere had been present probably every time the two touched each other they would have generated shock waves so powerful as to destroy everything in the surroundings.The robot was bigger, but it was slower. Sobek was smaller, but he was faster. This allowed the spinosaurus to overcome the mechanical monster's defense and strike it with its claws. In response, the blow left not a single scratch on the robot's body."Stupid! Did you think it would be that easy?” Wafner exclaimed as the robot kicked Sobek away. “This is the ultimate weapon, created to defeat you!”Sobek looked at his paw. His claws were shaking slightly from the force of the blow. “What is that robot made of?” he growled.“Of ordinary plastic. My scientists would have preferred to use titanium, b
Sobek's body shrunk as he deactivated [Ultimate Mutation]; thanks to this, his head slipped off the robot's foot and the dinosaur was free again. Within seconds, a new arm replaced the severed one, the dorsal sail repaired itself, and all wounds vanished. The spinosaurus picked up his [Personal weapon] again.Wafner watched as he tried unsuccessfully to restart the robot, which still didn't move an inch. "What have you done?""Easy. You said this was a video game for you, right?” Sobek said. “Well, it was for me too. With the difference that I played two games instead of one"“What… what are you saying?”"Very simple. You must know that I can use up to three mutations at the same time… but so far, to face you, I have only used two. Why?"Wafner froze as he was struck by the revelation. “Did you do something to the robot!?”"Of course yes! I could never have won in a one-on-one battle against
For a second, a mere instant, nothing happened; then, in the lunar sky, space warped and time seemed to stand still. A great dark sphere appeared, an immense void that devoured even the light of the Sun.A black hole had just appeared in the lunar sky.In an instant, the Moon's gravity disappeared. Sobek felt himself being pulled towards the dark sphere as everything around him began to rise and fall towards the black hole. The spinosaurus knew he had to act quickly, or he would be sucked up.[Selected Mutation: Gamma Mutation][Selected Mutation: Atomic Mutation][Selected Mutation: Supreme Mutation]His body swelled again, his muscles swelled and his veins glowed green. Using all of his strength to keep himself on the ground, he began to run. As he ran, he spat an atomic beam at the black hole.The only way to overcome a black hole's gravity was to counter it with speed. By running parallel to it using the more powerful muscles prov
It took Sobek a few moments before he realized he was back in the room where it all began. That room where time and space ceased to exist, and where everything and nothing seemed to have changed at the same time. He already knew where he had to go; walking through the infinitely large (or perhaps infinitely small) room, in a few minutes (or perhaps a few centuries, who knows) he reached the familiar armchair on which was seated a woman with white skin and light hair.God didn't even seem to move since she sent him to Eden. Even her expression didn't seem to have changed at all. She was still the same, beautiful and terrible at the same time, whose gaze was both magnetic and loving on him. “Welcome back, son,” she greeted him in her crystal clear voice.Sobek advanced on her. This time there wasn't an armchair waiting for him, but a large mattress wide enough to allow him to lie down. She lay back on it and gazed intently at God. Even now, after he'd grown i
On the continent of Maakanar, near a river that was once a typical spinosaurus nesting place, something immense could be seen. A huge creature was lying on its belly, but nevertheless it was so tall that its dorsal sail towered over the surrounding masts.Sobek was now thirty-three years old. To say he had grown into a behemoth was an understatement: he now measured 150 meters from head to tail and reached 45.6 meters in height. Even without activating the mutation he was now larger than Godzilla: the gigantic atomic reptile was a tiny lizard compared to him. All kaiju would be small compared to him. Even King Ghidorah would have been forced to acknowledge its superiority.In the last five years he had hardly moved. After the death of his last loyalist he returned to his birthplace and settled there. He ate what was provided to him from the [Personal Manger] and drank the water from the river. Otherwise, he remained calm, warming himself in the sun or admiring the star
After a few days Nefertiti settled at the lake together with her father and her last remaining uncle. With the help and indications of Sobek she built a comfortable nest and there she laid her egg.Thus began the brood. The female spinosaurus never moved from above her little egg, keeping it constantly warm. Sobek and Buck brought her food and water. When Nefertiti was hot, Sobek used her huge wing as a parasol and Buck fanned her with his tail. In the rare moments when it was cold, the two of her huddled to help her warm up.That routine went on for three months. Finally, at the end of the third month, a familiar clicking sound came from under Nefertiti's paws.The female spinosaurus reared up and looked down. A small crack was opening on the egg. With a smile she moved from above it. The crack widened more and more and finally a large piece of egg broke off, showing a lively green eye that stared intently at Nefertiti.“Hello, baby. I'm your mothe
Time had passed again. Sobek couldn't even figure out how much time had actually passed now. One year? Two? Maybe three? He didn't know.After his retirement, Sobek had gone deep into the forest of Maakanar. It was hard for him to move his huge body through the trees and very often ended up destroying them: his passage was evident as a trail of uprooted trunks was always behind him. He had moved permanently to the lake where he had met Buck and where he had established his first army. And he hadn't gone there alone.Carnopo and Buck had joined him just a month after his departure. They, too, had decided they'd had enough and abandoned their roles entirely. After all, in the new world there was no longer a need for either an army commander or one of the shock legion. Now there was peace, and the old war veterans had no reason to try to find their place in their world. So they had decided to do what they had always done: follow their pack leader.The trio spent th
Another year had passed. In Sobek's eyes, time seemed to have begun to flow more rapidly. The months and weeks all passed almost the same and in a flash the morning turned into evening.Humanity had continued its advance. By now, Aphrodites had been fully colonized. Whole cities had sprung up on it and millions of settlers had begun to live there. Davis had now reached more than a billion inhabitants and Hermes now owned thousands of mining establishments.Thanks to teleportation technology it was so advanced that traveling between planets was even easier than going from one city to another. Since energy and material consumption were now no longer a concern thanks to solar panels on Hermes and mining plants on asteroids, everyone had a portable teleportation device. By now, being hired to work a mine on an asteroid was no different than being hired to work at the local convenience store.Colonies on the moons of Leviathan and Behemoth had multiplied, providing e
More time, more changes. In just one year, many things had changed.Nefertiti had assumed control of the entire astrophysics division of the dinosaur pack, effectively acting as acting pack leader for them. After the first shared mission, she had begun to promote more policies of integration and union between humans and animals. She had facilitated interspecies interspace operations, sending animals and humans to work together in the new worlds to be colonized. Furthermore, there was still much to colonize, as human attention was slowly shifting beyond the outer Solar System to the dwarf planets and comets of the Oort Cloud.The work was not cheap and with it the possibilities of working together. With the Dyson Sphere nearing completion, energy was no longer an issue. After determining which moons to colonize, the Eden Union had begun an intensive mining program in the asteroids of the main belt in order to be able to build huge lenses to capture the sunlight and also
One more year, more innovations. The more time passed, the more progress seemed to accelerate. It was like a speeding train that multiplied its speed every second: first slow, then faster and faster, until it turned into a giant projectile.Sobek knew that progress was bound to accelerate more and more, after all it was his nature. For each new discovery, countless doors open. And every door leads to other doors. This was the nature of progress. It was no coincidence that it took humanity less than two hundred years to go from horses to aircraft capable of leaving the orbit of their home planet.He recalled that on Earth, where he came from, progress had become so fast in the 21st century that it was enough to be born even a generation later or further back to find oneself in a completely different world. While in 1990 the main communication system was the satellite phone, in 2020 people used social networks for the most disparate things. While in 1990 movies were watc
More time had passed. This time it was a year… or maybe a year and a half? I don't know. Not that it mattered much, actually.The world's attention to the inner solar system was gradually waning. Now that three planets had been terraformed, even if one of them still wasn't enough, and Hermes had become a stable colony that was continuously producing large panels of glass that joined in the orbit of the Sun to form the Dyson Sphere, the humanity was beginning to anticipate new challenges. From the inner solar system it was time to move to the outer solar system.Although some colony outposts were already present on some moons of Behemoth, they could not be defined as true colonies. However, now that energy consumption was no longer a problem thanks to the Dyson Sphere, which although not completed already released enormous amounts of energy, the Eden Union decided to start an exploration program of the entire outer solar system, or at least of the space between B
Two more years had passed. The advance of humanity towards the stars continued inexorably.The hypotheses of the scientists had proved to be correct: using a combination of gravity control technology and energy obtained from the Dyson sphere, although still incomplete, they had managed to accelerate the rotation of Aphrodites. The planet was slowly accelerating, though not too fast. There was generally talk of an hour each week. At this speed there was no risk of destroying the infrastructure already present on the planet. Yes two years, the rotation period had gone from 2082 hours to 1978 hours. Continuing at this rate, it was expected to reach 24 hours in 'just' another 38 years.Once this process was completed, the huge orbiting mirrors could finally be taken off. The day/night cycle would no longer be artificially determined and there would no longer be the risk that something would go wrong due to the impact of a micrometeorite. In addition, the accelerated rotati