Лю Цысинь - Of Ants and Dinosaurs

‘Then let me remind you of something that does have a direct bearing on reality. Do you remember the new sun that suddenly appeared in the night sky three years ago?’

Kachika and Jolie remembered, of course. The incident had left a deep impression on all of them. It had been a normal cold winter’s night when suddenly a new sun had appeared in the sky over the Southern Hemisphere. In an instant, Earth became as bright as day. The light of the sun was so intense that looking straight at it caused temporary blindness. Twenty seconds later, the sun winked out again, but not before its radiant heat had turned the frigid winter’s night into a sweltering summer’s day. The effects were catastrophic. The rapid thawing of snow unleashed flash floods that inundated many cities. The event rocked the ant world. But when they asked the dinosaurs what had happened, the dinosaur scientists offered no explanation and the incurious ants soon forgot about it.

‘At the time, the only definite conclusion that could be drawn from our own observations was this: the new sun appeared approximately one astronomical unit from Earth, or roughly the same distance as that between Earth and the sun presently in the sky. Based on the distance and the amount of radiation received on Earth, we were able to infer the luminosity of this new sun. If such a vast quantity of energy had been generated through nuclear fusion, there should have been a relatively large celestial object there. But astronomical observations taken since have revealed that no such object exists. In other words, it’s possible that higher-energy processes than nuclear fusion exist in this solar system.’

Kachika was unconvinced. ‘Professor, all of this is still very far-fetched. Even if that sort of energy does exist, there’s no proof that the dinosaurs brought it to Earth. In fact, the probability that they did so is close to zero. One astronomical unit is a very great distance indeed, and given that most of the dinosaurs’ spacecraft operate in near-Earth orbit, it would not be easy for them to travel that far into space.’

‘I used to think that too, but…’ Professor Joya paused. ‘Please continue listening to the recording.’

DADAEUS: We are playing a very dangerous game here. Insupportably dangerous. Laurasia should immediately stop Luna’s command-loss timer or at the very least change over to a regular timer. If you do that, Gondwana will do likewise.

DODOMI: Gondwana should stop the timer on Leviathan first! If you do that, Laurasia will follow suit.

DADAEUS: It was Laurasia that activated Luna’s timer first.

DODOMI: But, Your Majesty, that’s not where this all started, is it? If a Gondwanan spaceship hadn’t pulled that little stunt in space three years ago, on that fateful fourth of December, Luna and Leviathan would never even have existed. That devil would have followed its original path out of the solar system and left Earth well alone.

DADAEUS: It was for scientific research—

DODOMI: Enough! Let’s cut the crap, shall we? It was the Gondwanan Empire that pushed civilisation on Earth to the brink of the abyss. You’re nothing but a bunch of irresponsible criminals and you must certainly have no right to make any demands of Laurasia.

DADAEUS: Then it seems the Laurasian Republic has no intention of making the first concession.

DODOMI: And what of the Gondwanan Empire?

DADAEUS: Well, well… It appears that neither of us is particularly bothered about the imminent destruction of Earth.

DODOMI: If you’re not bothered, then neither are we.

DADAEUS: Ha ha ha! Well, so be it, then. Dinosaurkind has never been that bothered about anything anyway.

Joya stopped the playback and turned to Kachika and Jolie. ‘I presume both of you took note of the date mentioned in that conversation.’

‘December the fourth, three years ago?’ Field Marshal Jolie’s antennae twitched. ‘That was the day the new sun appeared.’

‘Precisely. It is the common thread running through all of this.’ Professor Joya swivelled her gaze from the supreme consul to the field marshal then back to the supreme consul. ‘I don’t know about you, but this makes my feelers stand on end.’

‘We have no objections to your making every effort to try and clarify this matter,’ said Kachika coolly.

Joya sighed. ‘Easier said than done. The best way to get to the bottom of this would be to undertake a deep search of the dinosaurs’ military networks. Unfortunately, however, our computers are structurally incompatible with theirs. Infiltrating their hardware is easy enough, but to date we have not succeeded in hacking into their software. Which is why we’ve had to resort to eavesdropping to gather information. But that’s a clumsy and imperfect way of going about things and will almost certainly not enable us to resolve this mystery in the short time we have available.’

‘Well, Professor, in my opinion, your concerns are deluded.’ Kachika was impatient now to get back to the business of monitoring her soldiers’ progress on the big screens. ‘Nevertheless, I will provide you with the antpower required to conduct an investigation into this matter. But this cannot be allowed to affect in any way our war against the dinosaurs. Right now, the thing that makes my feelers stand on end is the possibility that the dinosaurs may continue to exist on this Earth. And that, Professor Joya, is our Federation’s one and only cause.’

Without another word, Professor Joya turned and left. The next day, she went missing.

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.’