Лю Цысинь - Of Ants and Dinosaurs

When it got to about two metres high, the wall advanced to the rim of the flaming trench. Its surface writhed in the heat like an angry python. Scorched by the blaze, it began to smoulder and the acrid smell of roast ant filled the air. Charred bodies tumbled into the smelter below, lending the flames a ghostly green hue. But new layers of ants continually filled in for their fallen comrades, leaving the wall standing firm on the edge of the hellish ditch.

Black spheres now began hurtling over the top of the wall. Some were snatched by the fires but most had enough momentum to propel themselves across the moat to the other side. As they passed through the inferno, the spheres’ outer layers sizzled and fried, but the ants held tight to each other, forming a scorched shell that protected their comrades inside. Within mere moments, more than a thousand balls had reached the opposite bank of the trench. Their burnt shells split open and the spheres dispersed into vast throngs of ants that surged up the steps of the signal station.

At this point, the dinosaur guards lost it. Despite the lieutenant’s attempts to stop them, they raced out the door and around to the rear of the building, galloping at full tilt along the only path not yet completely awash with ants. The ants streamed into the ground floor of the signal station, then up the stairs to the control room. Other divisions scaled the exterior walls, spilling in through the windows, painting the lower half of the building black.

Six dinosaurs remained in the control room: the lieutenant, the engineer, the technician and the three operators. They watched horror-stricken as the ants poured in through every crack and crevice. It was as though the building had been submerged in a sea of ants, its black waters leaking in through every orifice. The view out the window was no different. As far as the eye could see, the ground was a roiling ocean of ants, the signal station a lonely island stranded amid it.

In no time at all, the entire control-room floor was carpeted with ants, save for a circle around the central console in which stood the six dinosaurs.

The dinosaur engineer hastily took out his translation device. He heard a voice as soon as he switched it on.

‘I am the supreme consul of the Ant Federation. We do not have the time to explain everything to you in detail. All you need to know is that if this signal station does not transmit its signal in the next ten minutes, Earth will be destroyed.’

The engineer peered confusedly at the dark mass of ants encircling him. Then he consulted the translator’s direction indicator. It pointed him towards three ants standing on top of the central console. The voice that had just spoken belonged to one of them. He shook his head at the trio. ‘The transmitter is broken.’

‘Our technicians have already reconnected the wires and repaired the machine,’ replied Kachika. ‘Please begin the transmission immediately.’

The engineer shook his head again. ‘We have no power.’

‘You don’t have a backup generator?’

‘We do, but it runs on petrol and now we’re out of petrol. We poured all the petrol we had into the trench outside and… er… set it alight.’

‘All of it?’

The lieutenant took over from the engineer. ‘Every last drop. Our only thought was to defend the station. We even used up the dregs in the generator’s fuel tank.’

‘Then go outside and collect what’s left in the trench.’

The lieutenant glanced outside and saw that the flames in the trench were dying down. He opened a cabinet in the central console and pulled out a small metal pail. The ants stepped back to clear an exit route for him.

When the lieutenant reached the doorway, he paused and looked round at them. ‘Is the world really going to end in ten minutes?’

Kachika’s answer came through the translator loud and clear. ‘If that signal isn’t sent, yes, the entire planet will be burnt to a crisp in ten minutes.’

The lieutenant turned and hurried down the stairs. He soon returned, setting the pail on the floor. Kachika, Jolie and Joya crawled to the edge of the console and looked down at it. There was no petrol inside, only half a bucketful of stinking mud mixed in with a lot of frazzled ant corpses.

‘All the petrol in the trench burnt up,’ said the lieutenant.

Kachika checked out the window and saw that he was telling the truth. The fires had gone out. She turned to Field Marshal Jolie. ‘How much time is left on the countdown?’

Jolie kept her eyes glued to her watch as she answered. ‘Five minutes and thirty seconds remaining, Supreme Consul.’

Kachika inhaled sharply and allowed herself a couple of those seconds before she shared her momentous news. ‘I have just received a call. Our forces in Laurasia have been defeated. When they attacked the Laurasian signal station, the dinosaurs guarding it blew up the building. The interrupt signal cannot be sent to Luna. It will detonate in five minutes.’

‘It is the same for Leviathan, Supreme Consul,’ Field Marshal Jolie said calmly. ‘All is lost.’

The dinosaurs did not understand a word the three leaders of the Ant Federation had said. ‘We can get some petrol from nearby,’ the engineer offered. ‘There’s a village about five kilometres from here. The highway is blocked, so we’ll have to go on foot, but if we’re quick about it, we can be back in twenty minutes.’

Kachika waved her antennae feebly. ‘Go, all of you. Do whatever you want.’

As the six dinosaurs filed out of the room, the engineer stopped on the threshold and repeated what the lieutenant had asked earlier. ‘Is the world really going to end in the next few minutes?’

The supreme consul of the Ant Federation looked at him with the shadow of a smile on her face. ‘Nothing lasts forever, sir.’

The engineer cocked his head in surprise. ‘That’s the first time I’ve ever heard an ant say something philosophical,’ he said. Then he swung round and left.

Kachika made her way back to the edge of the central console and addressed the ant troops massed on the floor beneath her.

‘I need you to relay my instructions to all units with extreme urgency. All troops in the vicinity of the signal station should immediately take shelter in the basement. Troops further afield should seek out crevices and holes in which to hide. The government of the Ant Federation issues the following final statement to the citizenry: the end of the world is upon us. Every ant for herself.’

Professor Joya was quivering from her feelers to her feet, impatient to get going. ‘Supreme Consul, Field Marshal, let’s make our way to the basement,’ she said.

‘You go, Professor,’ Kachika replied. ‘Field Marshal Jolie and I will not be accompanying you. We have committed the gravest error in the history of civilisation. We have forfeited our right to life.’

‘The supreme consul is correct, Professor.’ Field Marshal Jolie dipped her antennae solemnly. ‘Though the odds are against you, I sincerely hope that you will somehow manage to keep the embers of civilisation glowing.’

Joya touched her antennae to those of Kachika and Jolie, the most heartfelt gesture of respect in the ant world. Then she scuttled down off the console and joined the tide of ants streaming out of the control room.

After the troops had evacuated, a hush descended on the control room. Kachika pattered over to the nearest window and Jolie followed her. From the sill, they witnessed an extraordinary sight.

Dawn was about to break, but the night’s crescent moon still hung in the sky. Suddenly, the angle of the moon shifted and the moon began to brighten rapidly until its silvery light became a blinding arc of electricity. The world below, including the scattering throng of ants, was illuminated in stark detail.