by Cixin Liu
‘Minister, the scan is complete. No abnormalities were detected.’
The ants in the lungs felt the air pressure drop dramatically as the dinosaur breathed a sigh of relief.
‘This is your third elective scan of the night, Minister, and the third time the results have come up as normal. I really do think you are worrying too much.’
‘Worrying too much? What do you fools know?’ The minister’s voice was extremely agitated now, the vibrations it produced reaching almost fatal levels for the stowaway soldier ants. It was lucky for them that they were no longer in the eardrum danger zone. ‘It seems I am the only clear-headed dinosaur in the whole of Gondwana. Everyone else carps on and on about the Laurasian threat, pouring all of their efforts into preparing for nuclear war with the republic, and yet the real enemy is quite literally under our noses – inside our blasted noses, probably – and it appears I am the only one who understands that.’
‘But… none of the scans we’ve conducted over the last few days have shown any abnormalities.’
‘I wonder if your machines are working correctly.’
‘There shouldn’t be anything wrong with the machines, Minister. We’ve tested all of the scanners in the imperial infirmary. And this time, as per your instructions, we borrowed a scanner from another big hospital in Boulder City. The results have all been identical.’
The interior minister settled his enormous bulk back down on his bed and drifted off into another troubled sleep. The ant saboteurs quickly left his lungs, made a hasty exit through the right nostril, and scurried down off the bed, across the floor and out of the bedroom.
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.’
The recording began to play.
DODOMI: Your Majesty, are you not aware of the real reason the ants capitulated so readily? Those crafty critters are playing us for fools. Their return to work in the dinosaur world is nothing but a dastardly diversion… a smokescreen… a masquerade! The truth is that the Ant Federation is plotting something huge against the dinosaur world.
DADAEUS: Mr President, do you really think me so dense that I would fail to recognise the obvious? But compared with Laurasia’s decision to put Luna on a command-loss timer, the threat posed by the ants – even the threat posed by your nuclear weapons – is trivial. A dastardly diversion, as you so alliteratively articulated it.
DODOMI: Yes, that’s quite true. Luna and Leviathan are indubitably by far the greatest threats to the continued existence of civilisation on Earth. Let’s discuss that then, shall we? For kick-off, it is outrageous to point the finger at us, since Leviathan started its timer first!
‘Stop! Stop! Stop!’ Kachika interrupted, waving her antennae. ‘Professor, I have no idea what they’re talking about.’
Joya paused the recording. ‘This conversation contains two seemingly crucial but currently uninterpretable pieces of information. Number one: what are “Luna” and “Leviathan”? Number two: what is a “command-loss timer”?’
‘Professor, strange codenames crop up all the time in the conversations of top dinosaur leaders. Why are you so worked up about this?’
‘From both the tone and the substance of the dinosaurs’ conversation, I can draw no other conclusion but that these things, though unknown to us, are so dangerous as to constitute a threat to the entire world.’
Kachika shifted irritably from leg to leg. ‘Logically speaking, that’s impossible, Professor. Anything capable of constituting a threat to the entire planet would by necessity have to be a massive installation. To wipe out civilisation on Earth, for example, one would require upwards of 10,000 intercontinental missiles. Imagine the size of such a launch facility! Not to mention that such a vast, complex system could never function properly without us ants being extensively involved in its maintenance. If such an installation existed, therefore, the Ant Federation would certainly be aware of it. And given that we are essential to the smooth operation of the current nuclear-weapons systems of both dinosaur powers, we are already fully apprised of everything there is to know about them.’
‘I agree with you, Madam Supreme Consul, that no large installation on Earth could be kept hidden from us. But a simple installation of more modest scope could be. A single intercontinental missile, for example, might not need ants to maintain it and could remain on standby for immediate launch for a long time without our involvement. Perhaps Luna and Leviathan are weapons along those lines.’
‘In which case, there’s nothing to worry about. Such small installations could hardly be considered a danger to the planet. Like I said, to destroy Earth would require thousands of even the highest-yield thermonuclear weapons.’
Joya fell silent for several seconds. Then she conspiratorially moved her face very close to Kachika’s so that their antennae crossed and their eyes were nearly touching. ‘That is the crux of the matter, Supreme Consul. Are nuclear bombs really the most powerful weapons on Earth?’
‘Professor, that’s common knowledge!’
Joya pulled her head away and dipped her ante
nnae. ‘Quite right, it is common knowledge. And that is the fatal flaw in ant thinking. We concern ourselves only with things that are already known, whereas the dinosaurs are constantly exploring new and uncharted territory. As you are aware, through their astronomical observations, the dinosaurs learnt of the existence of distant celestial objects called quasars. These can radiate more energy than an entire galaxy of stars; in comparison, nuclear fusion is less luminous than a firefly. The dinosaurs also discovered that when matter falls into an interstellar black hole, it emits extremely strong radiation, generating energy at a far greater rate than nuclear fusion.’
‘But these objects you speak of are thousands of light-years away. They have no bearing on reality.’
‘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.
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.’