There was a general stirring now among the dinosaurs. Ants began emerging from the miniature nests that were hung about the dinosaurs’ bodies or placed on the tables before them; they spilt out in their inky-black hundreds and thousands. For although the dinosaur printing industry had been mechanised, individual dinosaurs still carried small nests with them, just as we carry pens. They relied on ants to write their personal notes and missives. The nests varied in size, and some were veritable works of art. Among dinosaurs, they had become a must-have personal ornament and a symbol of wealth and status. But the ants inside the nests were not the dinosaurs’ personal property. They had to be hired from the Formican Empire, and ultimately they answered only to their queen. Swarming down from the tables and off the dinosaurs’ bodies, these ants were now streaming across the floor to join the departing phalanx.

‘Good grief,’ rasped a dinosaur minister, ‘if all of you leave, how am I to draft and review documents?’

Urus gave a theatrical flick of his claws. ‘They’ll be back to work before long,’ he said contemptuously. ‘The ant world cannot survive without us. Fret not, we will show those upstart insects who truly has God on their side.’

At the door, Lassini turned around and spoke, and the word corps swiftly formed a line of text: ‘That is exactly what the Formican Empire intends to show you.’

6

The Ants’ Arsenal

‘What? We’re going to war with the dinosaurs? But that’s madness! They’re so big, and we’re so small…’ an ant minister exclaimed.

In the imperial palace in the Ivory Citadel, the imperial high command had just heard the queen’s account of the Dinosaur–Ant Summit.

‘Our empire has come a long way. Anyone who still takes size as a measure of strength is an idiot,’ said Field Marshal Donlira, commander-in-chief of the imperial army. She turned to the queen. ‘Please rest assured, Your Majesty, that the imperial army is robust enough to defeat those clumsy beasts.’

‘Talk is cheap.’ The minister fixed his gaze on the field marshal. ‘We all know that you have personally led the army into countless battles and have sailed on dinosaur ships to wage war on other continents, but you were only fighting against uncivilised ant tribes then. When it comes to confronting creatures many times larger than ourselves, I doubt one of your divisions could beat even a lizard.’

The queen dipped her antennae to the field marshal. ‘Yes, Donlira, it’s not empty talk that I want but detailed strategies and carefully conceived tactics. In one week we will go to war. So, tell me, what’s the plan?’