Of Ants and Dinosaurs

16 Defection

Two soldier ants crept beneath the gate of the imperial palace of Gondwana. 3,000 ants had been charged with laying mine-grains throughout the palace’s computer systems and inside the skulls of the palace dinosaurs and these two were the last to withdraw. Having slipped through the crack beneath the gate, they began the precipitous descent of the tall palace steps. From the sheer cliff-face of the top step, they spotted the figure of an ant climbing towards them.

‘Eh? Isn’t that Professor Joya?’ the first soldier ant said to the other in surprise.

‘The Federation’s chief scientist? You’re right, it is her.’

‘Professor Joya!’ The soldier ants greeted the chief scientist with a concentrated burst of pheromones.

Glancing up at them, Joya gave a start, as though she might scuttle off and hide. After a moment of hesitation, she steeled herself and continued on up to meet them.

‘Professor, what are you doing here?’

‘I’ve come to… ah… inspect the deployment of mine-grains in the palace.’

‘It’s all done. The troops have already withdrawn.’ The soldier ant paused. ‘What’s a high-ranking officer like you doing here? It’s too dangerous!’

‘I need… I need to have a look. As you know, this zone is of particular importance.’ And with that, Joya scurried swiftly towards the gate of the imperial palace and vanished beneath it.

‘Did she seem a bit off to you?’ asked the first soldier ant, gazing after Joya.

‘She did. Something’s not right. Where’s your radio? We need to report this to the commander right away.’

Emperor Dadaeus was presiding over a meeting of the chief imperial ministers when a secretary entered the hall with a missive: Chief Scientist Joya of the Ant Federation was requesting an urgent audience with the emperor.

‘Let her wait. I’ll speak with her after my meeting,’ said Dadaeus with a dismissive wave of his claws.

The secretary lolloped out of the room but was back again within moments. ‘She says it’s a matter of utmost importance. She insists on seeing Your Majesty immediately, and she requests that the interior minister, the science minister and the commander-in-chief of the imperial army be in attendance as well.’

‘The cheek of her!’ spat Dadaeus, spraying the hapless secretary with foul-smelling spittle. ‘They’ve got no manners, these bitsy bugs. She can wait or she can get lost.’

‘But she…’ The secretary surreptitiously wiped at his face, glanced at the assembled ministers, then, with caution, leant close to the emperor’s ear and whispered, ‘She claims she has defected from the Ant Federation.’

The interior minister interrupted. ‘Joya is a key figure in ant leadership circles. Her way of thinking is very different from that of other ants. Her coming to us like this may well signify something of urgent importance.’

‘Very well,’ said Dadaeus wearily. ‘Bring her in, if you must.’

A couple of minutes later, Joya was standing on the smooth wooden plain of the conference table and addressing the mountainous dinosaurs encircling her. ‘I have come to save Earth,’ she began. A translator device converted her pheromone speech into the dinosaurs’ language, broadcasting her words from a hidden speaker.

Dadaeus gave a scornful laugh. ‘Such arrogance! Earth is doing just fine, as it happens.’

‘You will change your mind about that shortly, sir,’ responded Joya. ‘But first I would like you all to answer one question: what are “Luna” and “Leviathan”?’

This immediately put the dinosaurs on edge. They exchanged wary glances with each other but kept their jaws firmly shut. Not a peep came out of them. After a long pause, Dadaeus said, ‘And why should we tell you that?’

‘Your Majesty, if they are what I think they are, I will reveal to you a highly classified secret that relates to the survival of the dinosaur world. You will find it a fair trade.’

‘And if they aren’t what you think they are?’ Dadaeus asked darkly.

‘Then I will not tell you my secret. You can kill me or keep me here forever to protect your secret. In any case, you have nothing to lose.’

Dadaeus was quiet for several seconds. Then he nodded to the science minister, who was seated on the left side of the table. ‘Tell her.’

Inside the control centre of the Ant Federation’s high command, Field Marshal Jolie put the phone down. With a grimace, she turned to Supreme Consul Kachika and said, ‘Joya has been located. Two soldiers in the 214th Division saw her enter the imperial palace of Gondwana as they were returning from the mine-laying operation. It seems our suspicions were correct. She has defected.’

‘The shameless traitor! I dread to think what she’s told the dinosaurs.’ Kachika began pacing up and down the control room, wracking her brain for the best way to respond to this unwelcome twist. ‘Weren’t listening devices installed in the skulls of all of the dinosaurs in the palace?’

‘Joya destroyed the repeater we erected outside the palace. A team has been sent to fix it, but for now we have no way to eavesdrop.’

‘No doubt she went in there to betray the Ant Federation’s war plans.’

‘I would imagine so. Which puts our entire operation in jeopardy.’

‘What is the status of the mine-grain-laying operations?’

‘Operation Disconnect is 92 per cent complete. Operation Decapitate stands at 90 per cent.’

‘Is it possible to detonate the mines ahead of schedule?’

‘Of course! All of the mine-grains can be detonated either with a timer or remotely. We have already established a network of repeater stations to extend the coverage of the interrupt signal across the dinosaur world, which means we can detonate the mines that have already been deployed at a moment’s notice. Supreme Consul, it is time for decisive action. Give the order!’

Kachika turned to face the screen displaying the map of the world and gazed at the colourfully twinkling lights of the continents. After several seconds of silence, she said, ‘Very well. Let us turn a new page in Earth’s history. Detonate!’

The science minister had finished his account and Joya’s head was now awhirl with shock and dismay. For a long moment she felt as if she was on the point of collapse.

‘So, Professor, what’s it to be? Will you keep your promise and reveal your great secret to us, or will you be choosing… another route?’ Dadaeus bared his impressive fangs in a dangerous smile.

‘This is… This is just appalling,’ stammered Joya. ‘You’re monsters, all of you. But we ants are no better…’ She clasped a feeler to her quivering thorax. ‘You must act fast. Quick! You need to call the Supreme Consul of the Ant Federation immediately!’

‘You haven’t given us an answer—’

‘Your Majesty, there is no time to explain. They already know that I am here, and they may respond at any moment. The fate of the dinosaur world hangs in the balance, and with it the fate of the planet. You have to believe me! Make the call now. Hurry!’

‘Very well.’ The dinosaur emperor picked up the phone from the conference table. With an anxious heart, Joya watched as he flexed his thick finger and laboriously pressed one enormous button after the other. Then she heard the muffled sound of it ringing. After a few seconds the ringing stopped and she knew Kachika had picked up the rice-sized receiver at the other end of the line.

The supreme consul’s voice came through the receiver. ‘Hello, who is this?’

Dadaeus spoke into the phone. ‘Is this Supreme Consul Kachika? This is Dadaeus. Right now—’

At that very moment, Joya heard a chorus of faint clicks all around her, as if all of the second hands on a wall of clocks were moving in unison. She knew it was the sound of mine-grains exploding in the dinosaurs’ skulls. The dinosaurs in the room stiffened, and time seemed to stand still. The phone receiver tumbled from Dadaeus’s claws, falling to the table near Joya with a deafening clatter. Then all of the dinosaurs came crashing down, leaving Joya’s horizon disconcertingly empty. The tabletop shuddered for several moments. When it stilled again, Joya crawled onto the receiver. Kachika was still on the line.

‘Hello? This is Kachika. What is this about? Hello?’

Her voice caused the earpiece to vibrate, sending pins and needles through Joya’s body.

‘Supreme Consul, it’s me, Joya!’ she shouted.

But her pheromone speech was no longer being converted into sound, and Kachika could not hear her on the other end of the line. The palace’s translation system had been taken offline by the mine-grains. Joya said no more. She knew she was too late.

Shortly thereafter, the lights in the hall went out. Dusk had fallen outside, and the room was thrown into semi-darkness. As Joya began the long hike across the conference table, the rumble of traffic from the distant city faded and a grim silence settled in its wake.

By the time she’d reached the table’s edge and begun her descent to the floor, the soundscape had changed again. Now the hall began to fill with the shrill discordance of far-off panic, the frightful pounding of fleeing feet and the unearthly screechings of dinosaurs in pain. There came the intermittent wailing of police sirens. And then the first muted rumbles of faraway explosions. Inside the palace itself, however, all was eerily quiet, for every last imperial dinosaur had been exterminated by cranial mine-grains.

When Joya finally reached the window, she stared out at the gargantuan metropolis of Boulder City, now shrouded in twilight gloom. Thin columns of smoke rose into the dusky sky, and more and more kept appearing, orange flames gleaming at their base. The city’s skyline flickered in and out of view. As the fires multiplied, an infernal glow filtered through the window, throwing shifting patterns of light and shadow across the high ceiling above Joya.