Chapter 116: Freedom!

With [Swim speed] Sobek could now swim up to 300 km/h; although they remained underwater for just a minute he was able to put five kilometers away from where they had fallen. When he was sure he was far enough away he emerged holding Carnopo in his jaws, who panted heavily. "Are you ok?" "You are a fucking madman!" Yes, he was ok. "I don't see why I should be called madman. I knew what I was doing" "You could have warned me! I lost ten years of my life!" "I told you to trust me. If you don't trust your pack leader, how can you call yourself a member of the pack?" "Fuck you!" When they jumped off the cliff, Carnopo still had [Reinforced skin], and Sobek obviously had it permanently. In that way, even if they had fallen from a considerable height, nothing had happened, except a little redness in the part that had hit the water. By then he had grabbed Carnopo with his jaws and swam away to give the humans the illusion that they were both dead. "I'll pretend I haven't heard your last words. Now stop squawking, you might get attention" "Mph. All right. And I'm not squawking. I'm not a chicken" "But you're one of its ancestor..." "Sorry?" "Nothing, nothing" Sobek concluded, laughing under his breath. He didn't want to spend his time to explain the laws of evolution to Carnopo. Sobek modified Carnopo's [Contract] again by returning [Ambush], so the two disappeared from the sight of potential pursuers; after which he continued swimming for a while, holding the carnotaur tightly in his jaws. He would have preferred him to swim on his own, but without [Swim speed] Carnopo couldn't keep up. And since there were only two skills he could swap and given the circumstances he had to leave him [Linguistics] and [Ambush], he had no choice but to drag him all the way. Eventually they came in front of what looked like a pipe embedded in the rock, from which gushed placid water. Huddled inside, crammed like sardines, were all the zoo's dinosaurs. When Sobek planned the escape, he had initially thought about taking the dinosaurs to the out-of-town grasslands, but he quickly dismissed that idea as it would be the first place humans would go looking for them. Furthermore, the satellites would have identified them effortlessly. Unless the dinosaurs maintained [Ambush] perpetually they would be tracked down: even a distraction could cause their demise. So he had opted for another option: the sewers. Human cities, being so large, had an intricate sewer system that dumped the remains straight into the ocean. But since they needed controls, there were points on the surface from which they could be accessed. Sobek had located the closest one thanks to the Internet and then had explained to the dinosaurs how to get there. Thanks to [Ambush] they were able to move undisturbed. The sewers were designed to allow several grown men to pass through, so even the dinosaurs passed quietly. Most of the zoo's dinosaurs weren't too taller than a human, so they had no problem moving through the tunnels thanks to the four-meter-high ceiling. The larger ones such as triceratops and stegosaurs had had to sag a bit, but in one way or another they had made it. Sure, some would surely have noticed that the access point to the above-ground sewers had been breached, but it would take them a while to figure out what had happened. Sobek finally let go of Carnopo and looked at his new pack. He hadn't noticed how many dinosaurs there were in the flight, but now he could count them. There were four stegosaurs, six ankylosaurs, at least ten utahraptors, two ceratosaurs, seven velociraptors, four allosaurs, nine sinoceratops, three triceratops... Fortunately, there were no sauropods or other giant dinosaurs, because those would never go through the sewers. Sobek himself could not enter it and in fact was forced to stay outside the tunnel. One of the allosaurs stepped forward. "You have arrived" he said. "You doubted it?" Sobek laughed. "We had a few snags, but the plan went well. You are...?" "My name is Big Al. Or so humans call me" the allosaurus answered. " 'Al' is enough. This will be your name from now on. Looks good on you?" Sobek said. "No problem" the allosaurus replied without changing his expression in the least. "What's the next move?" Sobek snorted. "Very simple. We will have to..." "Wait a moment!" Sobek turned to the source of the sound. A large horned dinosaur was coming forward. It was a styracosaurus. "Why should we take orders from you? Who gives you the right to decide for us?" Sobek gritted his teeth. That was the problem with domesticated animals: they didn't know the laws of the jungle. It wasn't just strength that counted for them. "I have given you back your freedom. What else do you want?" "Yes, a very beautiful freedom! Would this lousy place be freedom? We followed you because you promised to take us to a paradise, but I seriously doubt that you are capable of it" the styracosaurus grumbled. "You are also a carnivore. Even if you can actually get us out of here, sooner or later you or any of these predators will need to eat. And what are you going to eat?" Sobek was tempted to tell him that he would gladly eat him, but he held back because he noticed that many herbivorous dinosaurs were starting to get scared. He therefore decided to opt for another option. "All right. So what do you propose?" The styracosaurus looked surprised. "Sorry?" "I asked you what are you proposing, Mr. ...?" "My name is Scowler" "Scowler. What's your plan? Since you raised some criticism, surely you will have an alternative to propose, or not?" Silence fell. Sobek barely restrained himself from laughing. Here's what was the best way to destroy an opponent: turn the omelette over. Scowler felt the eyes of all the dinosaurs on him. It was clear that he didn't know what to say and that he was in crisis. "I tell you to go back. Humans didn't treat us so badly. We still lived in excellent conditions and..." "Shut the fuck up!" Carnopo suddenly roared, making everyone jump. "Do you want to go back to being a slave? Very good! Keep your head down, a little food and the protection of a fence are enough to be happy, right?" "If you want to leave, do it!" Scowler bellowed. "But I'm not going to keep following this predator. Who do you think he will eat when he will be hungry? Why do you think he set us free? We're just his food reserve! He wants to use us for food while he returns to his land! In the end he will eat you too!". The styracosaurus let out a snort from his nostrils. "We are proposing to follow a creature we don't know, the natural enemy of all of us, to venture out who knows where together with carnivores, with no guarantee that we will receive food or that we will live another day! Tell me, what security do we have that everything will be okay?" "None" Everyone turned to Sobek in amazement. Scowler himself was confused. "What's up? Did you expect me to deny? What we are about to do has no security. Because what I'm promising you is a life" Sobek clicked his tongue. "Because 'life', my friends, is not being locked up in a fence eating what is brought to you and playing clown in shows for another species. That is to vegetate, it is to remain passive. Life, the real one, is made up of uncertainties, and that's what makes it wonderful. We must commit ourselves to achieve our goals, have the courage to break the shell, not stop in the face of difficulties. Life means having an active part in one's own existence and that of other beings, for better or for worse. It means sweating, struggling, working hard and being afraid, but it also means receiving unparalleled euphoria when you get something. And it also means breathing pure air, going wherever we like, making our own plans for the future without anyone being able to say 'no'. Life... means feeling alive" Dinosaurs didn't move a muscle, Scowler himself had eyes like two bowls. "If you now wish to go back to being toys for the entertainment of humans, never knowing anything outside your enclosure and never having the ability to do something humans don't want, then please know the way. But I ask you a question: in these last hours you have felt fear, terror, excitement, stimulation... a lot of emotions that you have never felt in your life... but tell me, you have not also felt that magnificent sense of victory when did you manage to outwit the humans? Have you not heard, even for a moment, the luminous call of freedom? Don't you feel now that unstoppable desire to embark on new businesses which, however uncertain and frightening they may seem, will still be your choice? If the answer is yes, then stay here and follow your new pack leader! I can leave without you too, but that's not what I want. I want you, all of you, to be able to swim, run, roar, breathe out of here. I want you to understand what it means to be alive" Nobody breathed in the tunnel. The tension could be cut with a knife. Of all of them, the only one who did not seem in the least concerned was Sobek, who at the end of his speech remained calm and impassive. But everyone else, including Carnopo, was so tense that their nerves seemed about to pop out of their skin. But suddenly there was a movement. A large ankylosaurus stepped forward, heading for the tunnel exit. "Old Li?" someone murmured behind him. The ankylosaurus snorted. "I have spent my entire life knowing nothing more than that fence. I don't have much left to live anyway. If this has to be my last trip, then I want to be able to die as a free animal! I'm going with the pack leader" Carnopo took the ball: "For too long I have been waiting to be able to leave this place. Anyone who knows me knows that I want nothing more than leave this cage. I'm tired of being a prisoner" "I have spent many years dreaming of seeing my homeland again, and now I don't intend to miss the opportunity. Even if I may die, at least I can say I tried. I'm with them too" Al said. One after another, all the dinosaurs came forward. Initially it was only the members of Old Li and Al's packs, but then others gave their assent as well. "I always wondered what the outside world was like. I am with you" a large utahraptor said. "I am not afraid of the unknown. Only cowards are happy to live in a cage" a ceratosaurus murmured. "I don't hold back in the face of challenges. I am strong, I can face them" a huge concavenator growled. Very quickly the dissident faction emptied completely, until only Scowler was left. Sobek barely looked at him, as if he considered him a fly. Scowler didn't dare say anything. With his tail between his legs he rejoined the pack and didn't say another word. Al turned to Sobek: "I rephrase my previous question: what's the next move?" Sobek smiled. "We will need the help of the little ones" he said looking at the velociraptors, who recoiled slightly at that gaze. ********* "Are you kidding me? What does 'disappeared' mean!?" the mayor roared. "I... I don't know what to say. They just... vanished" Gene admitted sadly. "The patrols don't spot them anywhere. They seem to have evaporated" "What you say is impossible! But how incompetent are you? You can't even find heavy dinosaurs I don't know how many tons! It is in you that I invest the municipal funds!?" Ebert screamed, looking like he was about to explode. His complexion quickly went from bright red to plum purple. "Maybe they are already in the countryside?" Ludlow suggested. "Shut up! I remind you that it is your fault that all this happened!" the mayor screamed. "But he's not wrong. They've probably left town already, though I don't understand how" Gene tried to defend him. "At least this means that the citizens are no longer in danger. It's a good thing, isn't it?" Ebert finally seemed to calm down. His complexion returned to that of a normal human being (well... almost) and he took on a thoughtful expression. "All right. I will put in place a curfew for the whole city, so if the dinosaurs return, no one will get hurt. Tomorrow the police squads will be able to go to the countryside and look for the fugitives. I hope that with the light of day you will be able to do your duty" "Yes, sir" Gene replied, glad the mayor had calmed down. "As for you, we will discuss what happened tomorrow afternoon. With a little luck I'll be in a good mood and maybe, and I undeline the 'maybe', you can avoid ending up on the street" Ebert said to Ludlow, who just nodded. "Perfect. Now I'd better get in touch with the general. Now that the emergency is over we will have a lot to do to manage all the victims..." the mayor murmured grabbing the phone, then he stopped with the hand still in mid-air. "Oh, one more thing: tomorrow find a ship and go to fish out the body of the spinosaurus" Gene was confused. "Sorry, but what's the point..." "The point, my dear, is that the relatives of the victims will not be calm until they see the carcass of that animal! If we don't prove to them that we killed it within a month at the most, the population will want our heads!" Ebert growled. "Er... about this..." Sarah intervened undecided. "There is a possibility that the spinosaurus is still alive" The mayor almost spat out his saliva. "What!?" "Miss, it's impossible. It fell off the cliff" Gene protested. The police chief was blatantly gesturing to Sarah and the others to shut up, but she didn't fall silent. "You saw it yourself, bullets bounce off it. With such hard skin it is possible that it has withstood the impact with water. I doubt it can go up the cliff, but it could swim along the coast until it reaches another city" Ebert gritted his teeth, then shook his head. "Well, fuck this. The other cities don't concern me. If it's dead, we'll take its carcass tomorrow; if it's still alive, then it will be your problem alone, Mr. Ludlow. Rest assured I'll make sure the world knows this is all your fault" Ludlow swallowed. The mayor turned and did not deign more than a glance. Gene stepped forward. "I signaled you to shut up" he whispered to Sarah. "I know, but I couldn't shut up. That spinosaurus has already snatched thousands of life. I don't want any more on my conscience" Sarah answered. "I hope that your conscience can bear the psychological burden, because you can also be sure that if that monster is not dead the population will be furious like a hurricane. And I can't guarantee that the cops will be able to protect him" Gene whispered pointing to the poor Ludlow. Sarah shrugged. "Well, that are his problems" she said simply. Hammond nodded satisfied at those words, fully sharing them. =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= AUTHOR'S THOUGHTS Hi! This time is REALLY been a while. I didn't show myself for a lot of time. But I'm still here. Tired maybe, but still here. And I enjoyed our chat too much to stop to write this little thought! So, let's start... 1) Even this time, we have many characters to introduce. Let's start with the most important. I'm sure that basically everyone of you recognized our beloved John Hammond. Little extra information: I based the personality of this Hammond on his movie's version, not on the version of the book of Crichton (here he resembled Ludlow very well). So, we have our happy grandpa from the 1993 'Jurassic Park' movie that lived in dreams, loves the children and never spares the expense. Ludlow and Katy, instead, are both characters from 'The lost world: Jurassic Park'. Ludlow is Hammond's greedy nephew and Katy is Ian Malcolm's neglected daughter. In my history these characters have remained almost identical to their original versions: Hammond is an old man who realized his mistakes (which I note, have not yet been revealed...), Ludlow is a failed entrepreneur that hopes to get rich exploiting a sensational discovery, and Katy remains professor Malcolm's little-regarded daughter. Yes, let's say that Ian just isn't suited to the role of father, even if he still loves his daughter. 2) Now let's move on to more secondary characters: mayor Ebert, police chief Gene and colonel Hicks. All three are from the 1998 American film 'Godzilla'. I decided to include them because the scene of Sobek devastating half the city is practically reminiscent of the Godzilla film. In the film, Ebert is the mayor of New York, Gene is his assistant, and Colonel Hicks (who got just a mention in my story) is in charge of the military that must bring down the monster. And yes, even in the film Ebert is constantly pissed off at everyone and Gene has to do everything to calm him down. We can change the narrative universe but not the people... 3) Now, let's talk about the dinosaurs. We have a lot of characters here too. Let's start with Buck. 'Buck' is the name of the male t-rex appeared in 'The lost world: Jurassic Park'. Of course, in the movie he doesn't a true personality since he is just an animal. Here we have a much more complex interaction with other character. 'Carnopo', instead, is the name that the fandom once gave to one of the carnotaurs appeared in the 2000 Disney movie 'Dinosaur'. Just like Buck, in the movie we can't see much about his personality, so I almost invented everything. 'Big Al' instead is a reference to the 'Walking with dinosaurs' special, 'The ballad of Big Al', where appeared an allosaurus called with that name. 'Old Li', instead, isn't related to any movie or documentary. It is a reference to the Chinese emperor Li Yu, last of the Southern Tang dynasty. What does it have to do with dinosaurs? Basically nothing, but I liked the way the name 'Old Li' sounded which was particularly like a wise old dinosaur, so... 'Scowler', in the end, is the name of one of the pachyrinosaurs that appeared in the film 'Walking with dinosaurs: The Movie'. 4) Now let's start with some references. Chapter 102, where Sarah, Ian and Eddie study Sobek, is a reference to the documentary 'Dragons: a fantasy made real'. Basically, in the documentary the protagonists studied a dragon carcass, here they study a legendary spinosaurus. I also used many of the gimmicks used by the documentary, for example the hydrogen and methane used to lighten the body (so as to justify that Sobek's weight remains low throughout the story despite he is by no means a true giant). How the scientists find out that Sobek is just a puppy is also a reference to the documentary. And for those who have any doubts that he's just a baby... let me remind you that Sobek isn't even two years old at this point of the story. 5) Although I have already specified it in the story, I want to reiterate it: the phrase 'dinosaur together strong' is a reference to the famous 'apes together strong' of the chimpanzee Cesar in 'Dawn of the planet of the apes'. Yes, I love that movie. 6) The dream that Eddie had in chapter 107, in which he dreams of being mauled by two t-rexes, is a clear reference to the way he dies in 'The lost world: Jurassic Park'. He basically dreamed the way he died in another world. Will it be a memory of the past, or perhaps a vision of the future? Who knows, God is always cryptic when she talks about time. 7) The way Ludlow introduces Sobek to the audience is a reference to the 2005 film 'King Kong'. Even Sobek's escape, in a certain sense, resembles that of King Kong. Unfortunately for humans, Sobek isn't so stupid to put himself in a skyscraper where planes can shoot him. 8) Sobek chasing the truck that carry Carnopo is a reference both to the movie 'The lost world: Jurassic Park', where the t-rex chases Ian and Sarah because they have a baby, and to the first episode of the fourth season of the series ' Primeval', where a spinosaurus chases the protagonists while they escape in a truck. 9) Now let's talk about science. In my story, I use the molecular physics to explain the resistence given by [Reinforced skin]. If between you there are some chemists, surely they could complain that such a thing isn't possible. Well, actually I tell you: I've already thought about it. Simply, this mystery at the moment will still remain a mystery. But in this story we have already introduced quite a few scientists and we still have many chapters before the end. Wait and see, then. 10) The black hole that Jocelyne mentions in chapter 109 to explain what she feels in presence of God is TON-618, the largest black hole that we actually know. It's so big that it can literally swallows galaxies and its accretion disk shines with the light of one hundred trillion stars. It has an incredibile 66 billion solar masses and a diameter of 400 billion kilometers. To give you a sense of scale, if we consider the heliopause as the end of our solar system (approximately 36 billions kilometers), than TON-618 could contain eleven solar systems side by side. If we put it in place of the Sun, it would gobble up everything we know of our solar system, and its accretion disk would be so large that our closest star system, Alpha Centauri, would be inside it and would be burned instantly. And yet, I remind you that in the universe of Eden everything is ten times larger than its counterpart in ours. Which means that the black hole mentioned by Jocelyne could contain not eleven, but 110 solar systems like ours. We're talking about a black hole so large that its diameter would exceed a light-year and its accretion disk would burn everything within tens of light-years. If we put it in the place of our Sun, it would be so large that it would be visible from outside the Milky Way and would probably gobble up our entire galaxy within a few million years. 11) I could have told you about the many dinosaur species that have appeared in the later chapters, but we've pretty much seen and discussed them all already in the older chapters... except for one: the styracosaurus. So let's talk about it. Styracosaurus (meaning 'spiked lizard') is a ceratopsid that lived 75 million years ago in Alberta. It was 5.5 meters long and weighed about 3 tons. The most famous features of this animal are the four (in some specimens six) horns that protruded from the bony collar forming a sort of crown around the skull, a smaller horn on each of the cheeks and a single long horn on the nose that could grow up at 60 centimetres. The function of this incredible array of horns has been debated for many years, but they probably served both as a defense and as a method of attracting a mate. In cinematography, it is shown in the films 'The Son of Kong', 'The Valley of Gwangi', 'The Land That Time Forgot', and especially in the Disney films 'Dinosaurs' and 'The Good Dinosaur'.