Dodomi shook his head and sighed. ‘Foolish bugs! You’re missing out on a chance to make history.’ But he did as he was bid and returned to the roundtable.

As soon as Dodomi had replaced the platter in its designated spot, Emperor Dadaeus reached across the table and snatched it up. ‘My apologies, everyone, but I must also now speak with the bugs in private.’

In a rerun of what Dodomi had just done, Dadaeus carried off the crystal platter, pulled out his own translator and addressed Kachika. ‘Right then, Supreme Consul Teeny, I can guess what that chump said to you. But I’m telling you: do not trust him. Not on your incy-wincy life. Everyone knows what a cunning, conniving conspirator he is. It’s those Laurasians who need to be wiped out.’

He swivelled his head round and snapped his fearsome jaws in the direction of his Laurasian rival. The platter vibrated alarmingly.

‘We Gondwanans still have some notion of how to peacefully coexist with nature, and our behaviour is constrained by our religious faith. But Laurasian dinosaurs are incorrigible dinocentrists – they’re true techno-worshippers from their horns to their tails. Their belief in the supremacy of machines, industry and nuclear weapons is unshakeable, far more so than ours. Those bastards will never change their ways! Listen, bugs, you should go on strike in Laurasia. Or, better yet, wreak widespread havoc. The Gondwanan Empire will launch an all-out strike and wipe that garbage nation off the face of the Earth! Little bugs, this is your big chance to do a heroic deed for civilisation on Earth.’

Kachika, however, was having none of it. She simply reiterated to the Gondwanan emperor what she’d earlier said to the president of Laurasia.

Dadaeus was livid. ‘What gives you poxy parasites the right to look down on our great dinosaur civilisation?’ he growled. And with a furious flick of his wrist he sent the platter hurtling to the floor.

The members of the ant delegation fluttered to the ground a few seconds after the platter landed.

‘Know that it is we who rule the Earth, not you. You’re nothing more than living specks of dust!’

Kachika stood on the floor of the hall and stared up at the Gondwanan emperor towering above her, his head way beyond her line of sight. ‘Your Majesty, in times like these, judging the strength of a civilisation by the size of its individuals is the height of naivety. I suggest you read up on the history of the First Dinosaur–Ant War.’

But the translator device was too far away and Dadaeus did not hear her. ‘If the ants dare to go through with this strike,’ he roared, ‘they will rue the day. There will be comeback as never before. No mercy!’ Then he stalked off.