Chapter 122: Tracking the spinosaurus

The NMWA contacted Sarah Hardy, Ian Malcolm and Alan Grant immediately after the 'spinosaurus' emergency was discovered, and asked them to find a remedy. The three scientists had been equipped with the best technology available and had access to all the information regarding the movements of the spinosaurus. Finally, after almost a week of waiting, the three famous scientists had deigned to introduce themselves. "Welcome, gentlemen" president Palma greeted them warmly. "We are glad you have come to a conclusion. Have you found a solution to this problem?" "We have a bad news and a good news" professor Grant replied. A murmur spread through the hall. "Bad news first, please" Palma said, preferring to know immediately what the problem was. "All right. We analyzed the data you provided us and the satellite images, and based on the behavioral patterns of the animal and its trajectory we deduced..." "The point, professor" "I say so, since I am always the bird of ill omen" Ian came forward with a funeral face. "We can't stop the spinosaurus while it's in the water" The hall exploded into a great clamor; some of the representatives of the nations seemed almost willing to jump into their chairs. "Order, order!" president Palma called in a loud voice. "What do you mean, professor Malcolm?" "Exactly what you understand. We have no way to stop the spinosaurus while it's in the ocean" Ian explained. "Its swimming speed is comparable to that of a torpedo. This trait alone would be enough to make it a problematic opponent. But its senses (hearing, smell and sight) are so developed that it would perceive the arrival of our ships from various kilometers away. We understand this because its appearances always occur away from too large ships, which the animal clearly deems to be too dangerous opponents. With its speed, it could distance them without the slightest effort. You could try to corner it by mobilizing every ship and submarine within a radius of two thousand kilometers and creating a pincer maneuver... but the aiming of the missiles and torpedoes wouldn't be enough to beat its speed, and it would easily escape blockade by passing underwater. Unless you have enough submarines to create a wall five hundred meters high and tens of kilometers wide, there is no way to trap it" In a world that had no idea what ballistic missiles or thermobaric weapons were, it was impossible to hit the spinosaurus. Sobek in the water had the advantage across the board. That was why he had chosen this route back to Maakanar. Also, thanks to the birds, he could know in advance where the warships were and avoid them. Ian, Sarah and Alan thought this was due to his overdeveloped senses, but in reality it was the small intelligence network he was creating that allowed him to avoid humans. "So are you suggesting that we let it go?" "Unless you want to lose thousands of men" Sarah gave him a hand. "So what's the good news?" "The good news..." Alan interjected, "... is that we have charted the spinosaurus' course. We know where it is heading". The professor Grant showed a map depicting the wide sea strait between Laurentia and Maakanar. Red dots were marked on the map, which were the areas where the spinosaurus had been sighted. Those dots could be connected to form a straight line. "It is returning to its home continent, and it is going in a straight line. If you clear the area, there will be no more accidents" The president rubbed his chin. "So the plan is to modify every naval route that passes through that point?" "It is a little frequented route, because the ships prefer to pass along the coast. Very few will have to move" Sarah replied. "Once the spinosaurus is back on the continent, the emergency will be over" "And where will it land when it reaches the continent? We need to know so we can take it down! On land, it will have nowhere to hide!" Odaria's president exclaimed. Since the spinosaurus would have actually arrived near the new colony, he wanted to make sure it didn't cause any problems. "There will be no danger to anyone. The spinosaurus' route will take it about three hundred kilometers further south from the nearest human establishment. When it'll reach land it will already be in the middle of the forest" Alan explained, pointing to the map. Indeed, the spinosaurus seemed to be heading much farther south than the population centers. What no one knew was that Sobek actually moved south every day to give the illusion of following a false course. With its speed of 320 km/h it took less than an hour to cover an impressive distance even for human vehicles. In reality, the ship the dinosaurs traveled on would land far north, since sadly neither Sobek nor anyone else knew how to set up the tools to move it from its current course. The president pondered the matter thoroughly. Indeed, only large merchant ships passed through that route that could make a detour without any problem. Clearing the area would not have been a great cost. "So be it! Order all ships in the area to move. We'll clear the passage. Professor Grant, professor Malcolm, Dr. Hardy, you are discharged" The three scientists left the room. However, the debate was far from over. "Even if we let it go back to the forest, we will have to start colonization projects soon! What will we do in that case?" the Almagna emperor asked. "We will kill it, of course" Bennett answered. "In the forest, the spinosaurus will not have water protection and our soldiers will not be limited by buildings. We will not encounter problems even if there were more than one" "However, this would put our men at risk. I remind you that, according to research, that animal is only a baby. What will we do if we come across the adults? Our soldiers may even be able to kill them, but at the cost of many human lives. I have an alternative proposal" Odaria's president said, standing up. "As you well know, my nation has already started the process of colonizing the forest. For some time now, we have putting our scientists to work to find a way to speed up the 'disinfestation' of dangerous species from colonization areas. Well, our scientists would have an idea, but they couldn't carry it out because it could also have... war uses" Weapon research was strictly prohibited throughout the Eden world, which is why war technology was so far behind. It was the only real way to keep the balance between nations, since otherwise those with the most powerful weapons would have dominated the small ones with terror. The humans of Eden, unlike that of Earth, had preferred trade to war as a means of domination. However, there could be exceptions: one example was if the NMWA approved research on the aforementioned weapon. "Obviously we intend to share the result with everyone, if it works, naturally" Odaria's president specified to soothe the spirits. "I don't know the details, but this method consists of trapping some poisonous gases, such as carbon dioxide or methane, and then releasing it en masse on the area that you want to disinfect. The gas will quickly kill any form of life, and we just have to wait for it to dissipate and then proceed with colonization. In this way, even that spinosaurus could do nothing to stop us. Even if there were other bigger and more lethal specimens, they would all be suffocated by the gas" Everyone in the room could see the benefits of such a device. Could it cause an ecological disaster? Who cares. For the big nations, the only interest was to pave the way for colonization. "When could this device be ready?" "The projects are already ready. Taking into account all the possible tests... I would say a couple of months to complete, if you will authorize it" the Odaria president replied. "We will call them 'gas weapons'..." *********** Jocelyne was in her room, lying on her bed, looking at the computer. She was currently using a satellite to observe the planet from above. Unlike most people, who could rely on Google Maps to the fullest, she had access to far more sophisticated tools. She had followed what happened in Flagard City using the news. Initially, she had only done it out of curiosity; when she had heard of a 'new king of the dinosaurs' she had immediately wanted to know what it was. Then, after the animal escaped, she spent the night listening to the news, even after the spinosaurus fell off the cliff. Though she was hundreds of miles away, she could almost feel the terror of the reporters on the ground. Fortunately, the animal had left the inhabited center rather quickly, not leaving behind an excessive number of victims. Although she had only seen the huge spinosaurus that devastated Flagard City on television, she was fascinated by it. She never thought such a colossus could exist! This, combined with her recent passion for dinosaurs, led her to look at satellite images to be able to observe the animal better. Knowing it was still alive and at sea, she hoped to be able to track it down. However, looking for an animal in the middle of the ocean wasn't exactly easy. So, she had decided to track its whereabouts. She was sure that by combining all its sightings and its speed, she could figure out where the spinosaurus was. To better establish its speeds, he used satellite images to pinpoint when the spinosaurus fell off the cliff. Looking at that stretch of sea in that period of time, she Jocelyne was sure she could see the spinosaurus move. She hoped to be able to spot the spinosaurus the moment it left the coast. Unfortunately, the spinosaurus knew how to camouflage, and this, combined with the darkness of the night, made it nearly impossible to track... But suddenly she noticed a detail. It looked like a large shadow was moving near a ship. Suddenly, however, the shadow disappeared. Jocelyne was intrigued by that detail. She zoomed in on the shadow and brought it into focus. It was a whale! The strange thing, however, was that it looked dead, as if something was dragging it by the tail. Then, suddenly, the whale began to tear itself apart and the parts fell to the deck of the ship, where they were dragged into the hold by apparently no one. "What the..." Jocelyne didn't understand. She looked back at the footage several times to make sure her eyes weren't fooling her. The whale had truly torn itself apart! The body parts had come off of their own accord and jumped into the boat alone! Wait a moment. A thought occurred to her: the spinosaurus could camouflage. If it had disguised itself it would have been impossible to see its body. This could explain the whale seemingly being dragged out of nowhere... but why take it to the ship? And who was taking away the dismembered parts of the cetacean? Suddenly something started forming in her mind. Several pieces seemed to fall into place. "It is not possible..." She began typing quickly on the computer to access every image filmed from that night on. She had to see more clearly.