While Jackson was busy arguing with Abe and Chloe talking about the conditions of the prisoners, Jocelyne was left behind. She certainly didn't need to go and interrogate anyone to find out what the captive humans were thinking and she was sure that Sobek had been telling the truth about how the dinosaurs treated them. After all, despite the frightened faces, no prisoners looked hurt, thin or particularly traumatized.
Rather than wasting precious time talking to humans, Jocelyne preferred talking to the dinosaurs.
It was Sobek she had to convince, that was clear; however, Sobek was unlikely the only one that take the decisions. As charismatic, intelligent and wise as a leader might be, he couldn't rule such a large herd on his own strength alone. He would need to lend some of his power to other dinosaurs to administer the various departments into which the pack was divided efficiently.
That was probably why the herd was divided into castes. This was primarily du
Sobek sat down again in the center of the square, and the delegation did the same in front of him. "I would say it's time to start""I agree" Jocelyne replied. “Let's make the terms clear. We humans want to have the people imprisoned here back"Sobek narrowed his eyes: “I understand that. We are willing to return every single prisoner unharmed, but we want something in return""Naturally. What do you want?""First of all, we want the guarantee that you will never again come to destroy our territory""Understandable"“I want to be very clear. By 'our territory' we don't just mean this land. We will not pretend to get back the places already colonized by you, except this one, but you will never have to touch any other place. In this and the other two continents still virgin"Jocelyne bit her lip. That was certainly not an inexpensive request! Basically the dinosaurs were asking him to keep his hands off not only Maakan
Exactly two hours later Jocelyne, Jackson, Chloe and the other humans show up outside the walls at the designated spot. Sobek and Carnopo were already there, and they weren't alone: several dinosaurs were evidently eager to watch, they were evident.The area of the collision had already been partially reclaimed and was in fact covered by a light blanket of grass. Jocelyne had chosen her precisely because it would be safer for Jackson to fight on soft, malleable ground than on hard, sandy desert ground; moreover man could have everything with the earth in his eyes lighter to accede, which is much more difficult since he was lighter.Jocelyne had remained expressionless the whole time; as soon as she arrived she just looked for a large stone and sat on it, staring blankly at the battlefield. Not a single hint of fatigue, anxiety or tension showed through her.Sobek walked over to her and lay down beside her. The huge reptile practically shadowed the girl, but
Jocelyne didn't leave her room all night; she didn't even show up to eat anything for dinner. Only the next morning she finally emerged from her room, and judging by the rush with which she ate breakfast she intended to meet Sobek as soon as possible.However Chloe had something to tell her. "I spoke to the NMWA last night" she confided. “They aren't happy with your behavior. They call it dangerous"Jocelyne snorted. She certainly didn't expect thanks, but she wasn't prepared to tolerate reproaches. “They can think what they want. Here I am the one that speak for humanity. If they don't like my methods, their problems"Chloe sighed. “I suspected you would answer this way, but please be careful. Governments don't like ambassadors who are too autonomous""And so? They can't do anything to me while I'm here"“They could revoke your title of ambassador. Have you thought about it?""Well, then you can remind them that this
"Have you proposed WHAT!?"Chloe was completely stunned. Of all the peace proposals she had heard, this was by far the most absurd."I don't see anything wrong with it" Jackson murmured, who was sitting nearby. Just a day after the duel he was already able to sit up, testimony that the injuries were not so serious. And that he had a strong stamina. "In this way, there will be assured peace"“Yeah, but… well…” Chloe didn't know what to say. "More than a peace proposal, it looks like a trade agreement!""I'm not a tycoon's daughter for nothing" Jocelyne replied, barely picking something off the plate she had in front of her. Her stomach was closed. Even though she had done her best to stay confident throughout the day, as soon as she returned to the others all her anxiety and mental fatigue fell on him. “Peace negotiations are no different from trade agreements, they are simply called differently. It all consists in convincin
"This is ridiculous""I told you that you should have disguised yourself"“I was thinking of a fake mustache! Why am I dressed like this!?""I couldn't think of anything else to get you to put on a balaclava"Ellie was trying hard not to laugh, but it was next to impossible. Not with Alan next to her bare-chested, in a pair of sexy knickers, a balaclava on his head and tied by big chains.The two entered the Department. It was night, so it was obviously deserted, but some people were always there: guards, orderlies, and obviously some technicians who kept the situation under control even when everyone was asleep. After all, if an emergency occurred, someone had to be ready to intervene.In fact, as soon as they entered they had not taken three steps before four guards met them. "Doctor Sattler!" they greeted her. "How come here at this time? And who is yours… ”Their eyes widened as they saw Alan. "… friend?"
"I accept"Jocelyne smiled at those words. She had predicted that Sobek would accept, but she clearly she couldn't be one hundred percent sure, not until he himself confirmed her agreement. "You made the right choice"“I decide to hope so. I want to trust you” Sobek said. “But I have one condition: we will fulfill our obligations when you fulfill yours. We won't give you prisoners back in advance and we won't give you meat in advance. As for the stocks, you can take them the moment the peace treaty enters into force, given that you have fulfilled our request to leave our territory; but as for the flesh, it will be delivered to you every time you deliver us a member of our people, and a prisoner will be returned to you every time you free forty of our brothers. This is the deal, take it or leave it. I won't accept exceptions on this"A wise man once said that trusting was good, but not trusting was better. Sobek had no doubts that if he immediat
Chloe and Jocelyne were waiting together in a room inside their hotel. After Sobek announced that he would accept the peace, they withdrew to await the response of the NMWA. Sobek had let them do it, knowing that the human political system was much longer than that of the dinosaurs, and he had simply stretched out outside the hotel waiting for news.The tension in the room was such that it could be cut with a knife. Chloe was nibbling on her fingernail while Jocelyne was playing with a lock of her hair.In the end it was Chloe who broke the silence: "What will you tell the NMWA?""The truth" Jocelyne replied. “Either they accept, or we all end badly. There are no third options"“The NMWA won't be sympathetic to you. You had already irritated them in the previous days, but after you bypassed the information block and disclosed those things..."“I don't care if they're angry. What interests me is that they accept, so that all of us
It took two days for the peace treaty to be ready and transported to Cartago. Governments had used the fastest aircraft in their possession to cover great distances in the shortest possible time. After all, no one guaranteed them that the dinosaurs didn't suddenly change their minds. The news of the imminent signing of the peace treaty quickly went around the world. The governments this time did not impose any censorship: everyone knew what was about to happen. In a flash all human beings on the planet were anxious and focused on one thing: that treaty that could finally allow them to breathe a sigh of relief. The signing of the treaty would be broadcast live worldwide. The journalists that Jocelyne had brought with her had already made arrangements with their publishers, which had contacted news and television programs and established contracts for contracts in order to be able to broadcast the event on television. The peace treaty was printed on a huge sheet about ten meters long
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