‘Professor,’ she said sympathetically, ‘I understand your concerns. In fact, I share some of them. But, as a realist, I don’t think the Ant Federation has any other choice. Scholars like you can offer us no better alternative. As to the terrible consequences you spoke of, I can see why you might be nervous about the dinosaurs’ nuclear arsenals, for example. They are capable of wiping out all life on Earth. But there’s no need to worry. It’s true that the nuclear-weapons systems are controlled entirely by dinosaurs, and ants are only permitted to perform routine maintenance work under close scrutiny. But infiltrating those systems will be a cakewalk for our special forces. We will deploy more than twice the number of mine-grains in them than in any of the other systems. When the appointed time comes, they will be crippled. Not a single warhead will explode.’

Professor Joya sighed. ‘Field Marshal, it’s far more complicated than that. The crucial question is this: do we really understand the dinosaur world?’

This comment stunned all of the ants into silence for a moment, even Supreme Consul Kachika. Then she eyeballed Professor Joya and voiced what the others were thinking. ‘Professor, there are ants in every corner of the dinosaur world, and it has been that way for 3,000 years! How can you ask such a foolish question?’

Joya slowly shook her antennae. ‘We should not forget that dinosaurs and ants are two very different species. We inhabit disparate worlds. Intuition tells me that the dinosaur world holds great secrets that we ants know nothing about.’

‘If you can’t be specific, you might as well drop the subject,’ Birubi snapped.

But Joya would not be deterred. ‘To that end, I suggest that we establish an intelligence-gathering system. Specifically,’ she said, inclining her head in Birubi’s direction, ‘whenever we deploy a mine-grain in a dinosaur’s brain, we should also install a listening device in their cochlea. I will lead a department that will monitor and analyse the information sent back by these devices, with the aim of discovering things heretofore unknown to us as soon as possible.’

‘The preparatory work for Operation Decapitate should be finished in half a month,’ said Field Marshal Jolie. ‘Your department will be inundated with information from 5 million listening devices. Even if you invest enormous effort in this, the mine-grains will detonate before you’ve had the chance to analyse a fraction of that intelligence.’

Professor Joya dipped her antennae. ‘That is why, Field Marshal, I ask that the mine-grains’ detonation be delayed by a further two months, so that we can analyse as much information as possible. We may learn something.’