‘We have been performing medical services for the dinosaurs for more than a millennium now,’ Field Marshal Donlira replied, ‘so we are intimately acquainted with their anatomy. The imperial army will penetrate the dinosaurs’ bodies and attack their vitals. In this kind of warfare, our petite size is to our advantage.’

‘How will you gain access?’ another minister asked. ‘While they’re sleeping?’

The field marshal jiggled her antennae in disagreement. ‘No, from a moral standpoint, we cannot be the ones to start the war. This attack against the dinosaurs will be carried out on the battlefield.’

‘Easier said than done! On the battlefield, the dinosaurs will be awake and on the move. Will your soldiers be able to scale them? Even if they stood still to let you onto their feet, how long would it take to climb up to their noses and mouths? By the time your army gets inside them, they’ll have already trampled our capital into oblivion.’

Instead of answering directly, the field marshal scanned the gathered members of the high command with a long, deliberate look. ‘Comrades,’ she said, ‘our most excellent Queen Lassini has long foreseen the fracturing of the dinosaur–ant alliance. Early in her reign, she ordered the imperial army to begin preparing for war with the dinosaurs. We have undertaken extensive research, as a result of which we have developed many new weapons and combat techniques. Now, if everyone will step outside, we will demonstrate two key pieces of equipment.’

The ants of the high command duly pattered out onto the plaza outside the palace. Two dozen soldier ants carried forward a peculiar piece of kit: a small catapult affixed to a long base. They pulled the catapult’s elastic cord taut and hooked its pocket onto a mechanism at the far end of the base. Then they climbed into the pocket and clung tightly to one other, forming a black projectile. A soldier ant stationed beside the base pulled a tiny lever, releasing the pocket from the mechanism and twanging the black projectile a full twenty metres into the air. When the projectile reached its maximum height, it swiftly dispersed, and the two dozen soldier ants went fluttering through the air overhead, their glossy black bodies glittering in the sunshine.

‘This piece of equipment is called a Formican slingshot, and it is the solution to the problems cited by the honourable minister,’ explained Field Marshal Donlira.

‘Looks like useless acrobatics to me,’ muttered one of the ministers.

‘The imperial army is meant to be take offensive action,’ another minister said. ‘That’s the strategic principle on which it was founded. In the past, you have stated that its operational objective is “Attack! Attack! Attack!”. Now it seems this has changed to “Defend! Defend! Defend!”.’

‘Offensive action is still the strategic principle of the imperial army,’ replied the field marshal.