‘And as you well know, Mr President, Laurasia’s population growth rate is three percentage points higher than that of Gondwana,’ replied Dadaeus.

‘Mother Nature will simply not allow you insatiable beasts to multiply unchecked. Will it take a disaster to bring you to your senses?’ said Kachika, one antenna pointing at Dodomi, the other at Dadaeus.

‘A disaster, huh?’ Dodomi guffawed. ‘Dinosaurkind has survived for tens of millions of years. There are no disasters we haven’t already seen!’

‘Exactly. We’ll worry about that when it happens,’ Dadaeus said, gesticulating airily with his claws. ‘It’s dinosaur nature to let things run their course. Our kind takes life as it comes and fears nothing.’

‘Not even all-out nuclear war? When that final moment of ultimate destruction arrives, I cannot see what route will be left open to you.’

‘Well, little bug, on this point we are agreed.’ Dadaeus nodded. ‘We don’t like nuclear weapons either, but Laurasia has deployed so many that we have no choice. If they destroy their weapons, we’ll follow suit.’

‘Ha ha. That’ll be the day!’ Dodomi wagged a pudgy digit at Dadaeus and sniggered. ‘You surely can’t believe we’ll fall for that old chestnut, can you?’

‘It goes without saying that you Laurasians should be the first to destroy your nuclear weapons, since you invented them.’

‘But it was the Gondwanan Empire that made the first intercontinental missiles—’

Kachika cut them off with a wave of her antennae. ‘What does it matter who did what centuries ago? We need to face the reality of what’s happening here and now.’

‘What’s happening here and now is that Laurasia is entirely dependent on its nuclear weapons. Without them, it wouldn’t stand a chance,’ said Dadaeus. ‘Do you remember the Battle of Vella Flat? The first emperor of Gondwana led 2.5 million Tyrannosauruses against 5 million Tarbosauruses in Antarctica and put them to rout. The evidence is still there at the South Pole for all to see, commemorated with a magnificent mound of Laurasian skeletons!’

‘In light of which, Your Majesty will then certainly remember the Second Devastation of Boulder City,’ Dodomi fired back. ‘400,000 pterodactyls of the Laurasian Airforce flew low over Gondwana’s capital and dropped more than a million incendiary bombs. By the time the Laurasian Army entered the city, the Gondwanans had been cooked to perfection!’

‘My point exactly! You Laurasians are cowards, always carrying out sneak attacks with aerial and long-range weapons but never having the courage to fight face to face! Hmph. You really are vile, pitiful worms.’

‘Well then, Your Majesty, why don’t we give everyone here the chance to see for themselves which one of us is the pitiful worm?’ And with that, Dodomi leapt onto the great roundtable, brandishing his razor-sharp claws as he flew at Dadaeus.