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Back Of Ants and Dinosaurs
Chapters (26)
  1. BY CIXIN LIU
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. PROLOGUE
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. EPILOGUE
  25. About the Author
  26. An Invitation from the Publisher

Meanwhile, across every continent, 20 million ants slipped into the skulls of 5 million dinosaurs and planted deadly mine-grains on their cerebral arteries. They installed listening devices on the eardrums of over a million of those dinosaurs, including Emperor Dadaeus and President Dodomi. Via repeater stations scattered across the planet, the listening devices began to transmit copious amounts of intelligence to a supercomputer in the offices of the Ant Federation’s high command. There, the newly established department led by Chief Scientist Joya grappled with the task of analysing this information, dredging the oceans of data for the secrets of the dinosaur world.

15

Luna and Leviathan

In the war room at the heart of the Ant Federation’s control centre, Supreme Consul Kachika and the Federation’s commander-in-chief, Field Marshal Jolie, were orchestrat­ing the destruction of the dinosaur world. Two large screens displayed the progress of Operation Disconnect and Operation Decapitate. At the bottom of the Operation Disconnect status screen was a steadily increasing figure showing the number of chameleon mines so far planted inside the machinery of the dinosaur world. The screen also showed a map of the world. The continents were over­laid with a bewilderingly dense conglomeration of glowing dots, circles and arrows indicating the location of mines and other relevant information. On the Operation Decapitate status screen, a second figure represented the number of dinosaurs whose brains had been mined. Each time the figure ticked upwards, the name and job title of the dinosaur flashed across the screen.

‘Everything appears to be proceeding smoothly,’ Jolie reported to Kachika.

Just then, the Federation’s chief scientist entered the room.

‘Ah, Professor Joya, I haven’t seen you in a week,’ said Kachika by way of greeting. ‘You’ve been hard at work analysing the intercepted information, I imagine.’ She shot the professor a quizzical look. ‘And judging by the grim expression on your face, it seems you may have some news for us.’

Joya dipped her antennae. ‘Yes. I need to speak with you both immediately.’

‘We’re very busy, so please be brief.’

‘I would like you to listen to something. It’s a recording of a conversation between Emperor Dadaeus and President Dodomi at yesterday’s Gondwana–Laurasia summit.’

‘From the summit? Surely there’s nothing more to learn from that,’ snapped Kachika impatiently. ‘We’ve already had the details. It’s public knowledge that the nuclear disarmament talks between the two of them collapsed. War between Gondwana and Laurasia is imminent, which is further validation that our chosen course of action is the right one. We must destroy the dinosaurs before they start a nuclear war. It’s the only way we can save the Earth.’

‘Madam Supreme Consul, that is certainly an accurate summary of the official press release issued at the close of the summit. But I want you to hear the details of a secret meeting between the two dinosaur leaders – a meeting in which they reveal something previously unknown to us.’