Chapter 174: End of the first true battle

Davies and his guards were dropped badly in the midst of the herd of dinosaurs. Davies fell on his face, but since the pterosaur carrying him had left him less than half a meter above the ground, he did not suffer serious fractures; however, part of his face was covered by abrasion on contact with the hot, grainy ground. He didn't even have time to look up as countless furious roars rose around him. He opened his eyes and saw thousands of dinosaurs standing on him and staring at him with eyes of fire. However, as soon as an immense paw landed in the ground in front of him, everyone fell silent. Davies looked up to see the giant sailboat dinosaur that was supposedly the boss. "WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!?" he roared, narrowing his eyes in anger. Davies realized that the dinosaur wasn't alone in front of him: behind him there were also his guards. Evidently the dinosaurs did not know who was in charge of the humans and therefore asked them to reveal it. "SPEAK!" he roared the dinosaur again. "IF YOU DON'T TELL ME WHO IT IS, I WILL PUNISH YOU ALL!" The guards looked frightened and bewildered, but none of them said anything. They didn't seem willing to betray their general. Even Davies, however, couldn't betray them. "It's me," he declared as he stood up. "I'm General Davies, from the state of..." He didn't have time to say more: the dinosaur's huge paw pushed him, making him fall with his back to the ground. Davies coughed, but then a huge weight hit his chest: it was one of the toes of the dinosaur's leg, which held him pinned to the ground. "DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY ARE DEAD TODAY!?" the giant dinosaurus roared. "HOW DARE YOU THROW POISONOUS GAS AT US? YOU KILLED EVEN YOUR OWN SOLDIERS! WHAT KIND OF LEADER KILLS HIS OWN SUBORDINATES?" Davies gasped, trying to breathe, but the dinosaur's paw pressed harder and harder on his chest, crushing his lungs. "I hate people like you" the dinosaur growled. "You, you pathetic men who live by sacrificing the lives of others. You men thirsty for victory, who send thousands of people to death for the glory of a single one... you are the scum of your species, you are the scum of all life on this world! I wonder how humanity manages to be commanded by such petty and pathetic beings! You generals who take glory for the actions of others, or your politicians playing with other people's lives while sitting behind a desk, or those 'riches' who think they can do whatever they want because they have some metal and printed paper in their hands... you disgust me" All the anger, all the fury, all the disgust that until then Sobek had matured towards humans finally exploded. He hated men like Davies, who waged battles well hidden in strategic points, and he hated the men who sent him there, who chose the fate of thousands of people thinking only of their own profit. Whether on Eden or on Earth, such men always ruled the world. Finally, Sobek's furious breathing began to slow and he pulled his paw off Davies' chest; the general was finally able to breathe again. Sobek looked with disgust at the man gasping for breath, as if he were staring at a disgusting cockroach on the ground. "I almost wish anger and rage were enough for me to eat you alive, but you don't deserve such a simple death. Tie him up and put him under surveillance! We will decide on an appropriate punishment later" The dinosaurs jumped on Davies and tied him up like a salami. Many of them dug wounds into his skin with their claws and even ripped off his military outfit, leaving him shirtless. Sobek, finally calm, looked at the battlefield. There wasn't a single fly moving inside it: it was all dead. "When the gas has dissipated, retrieve the bodies of our fallen brothers and sisters" he ordered Carnopo and Buck. "We won't let them rot in this place. We will give them a worthy farewell" Even though the dinosaurs didn't know what a funeral was, and used to abandon the bodies of their dead comrades, Sobek still wanted to give the fallen the salute they deserved. Even though Carnopo and Buck didn't understand what Sobek meant by 'good farewell', they still felt his words were right, so they didn't object. "What do we do with them?" Carnopo asked pointing to the general's guards. "Tie them up and take them to the city. They will join the other hostages" Sobek replied. After all, every more hostage meant better negotiation. While he didn't like to leave survivors in battles, a general's guards were not supposed to be just anyone; it was likely that among them was the son of someone important. Now it was time for the last act. The final action that would officially conclude that great play and that would finally put the humans in their place. "Where is Blue?" "I'm here, pack leader!" The velociraptor stepped forward. She had been in the back all the time, safely off the battlefield, but she had come anyway; after all, she had an essential task. "Are you ready for your duty?" Sobek asked. Blue nodded and showed the phone: "You just have to talk and I'll register it" "And can you transmit it to every electronic device in the world?" "Every electronic device in the world will be difficult. At most I can do it with those connected to the world computer network. However, I won't be able to send the video to military barracks or similar... also some countries may have their own Internet, like Odaria" "It doesn't matter. The essential thing is that the greatest number of civilians see it. At that point our existence cannot be kept hidden" "I understand. Whenever you want, pack leader!" Sobek positioned himself in front of the cell phone. As soon as Blue gave him consent, a sign that she had started filming, he began his speech. "Humans!" he growled. "I'm Sobek, and I'm the pack leader of the largest dinosaur pack the world has ever seen. See for yourself how big the lines are here with me, and know that they are but a small part of my real army!" Blue made a panoramic, showing the huge army of dinosaurs that surrounded him. "You humans have always thought that you can do whatever you want with us" Sobek continued as the camera caught him again. "And for a long time we let you do it. But that's enough! We are tired of your abuses! We will not stand still and watch as you turn a heavenly world into a desert!" Sobek gritted his teeth: "Less than ten days ago, my people and I showed up at the gates of the city you call Cartago, and we asked its inhabitants to leave and give us back our land. We just wanted to get back what was taken from us. But they, on the contrary, refused our offer of peace and attacked us. So we showed them what happens when they challenge the proud dinosaur people! At this moment, the city of Cartago is a sieve and every man, woman or child is our prisoner. We have not harmed them, but we have deprived them of their freedom, just as many humans have deprived us of ours. Have you wondered why you haven't heard from them anymore? Well, now you know! They are at our mercy, locked up in sturdy fences and with no chance of escaping!" Sobek stamped his foot on the ground and let out a growl. It wasn't really necessary, it was more of a show. "For the second time, I have offered peace. Through your devices, those things you call 'cell phones', I have communicated to all of you that I am open to trading. I was willing to free all the hostages if your leaders promised me they would never come to destroy our land again, and there would be no bloodshed. We could all have come out victorious. Instead, the reward for my kindness was an attack! Your leaders have sent an army to exterminate us!" Sobek pretended to be furious. Fortunately, he still had anger in him at Davies' actions, so it wasn't too difficult. "Since this has been your approach, we have responded in the most appropriate way. And you can see for yourself how it ended! Look at the battlefield. There has been hardly any loss among the dinosaurs, while instead your entire army lies dead in the desert sands!" Blue made another overview, so that the destroyed human army was clearly visible, and that its dimensions were very clear. "Nothing they used was enough against us! Rifles, machine guns, missiles, tanks, even a gas weapon! Everything useless!" Sobek roared. "Your power isn't as invincible as you think! Do you have any weapons? We have them too! Do you have any protections? We have them too! You have nothing to use to which we cannot respond with equal if not greater force!" Blue displayed all the dinosaur weapons and armor... or at least, the ones that had been used in the battle. Sobek certainly didn't want to reveal to the world every secret about him. "By our law, the will of a pack leader is the will of the whole pack. Normally, I would take this attack as a declaration of war. However, I recognize that you humans have different morals and laws than ours, and that for you the will of the leaders is not the will of everyone. Therefore, I want to show my mercy once again. For the third time I offer you peace. Come and we will negotiate a truce" Sobek took on an aggressive frown: "But if you still come to battle, then nothing will save you from our fury. Neither I nor my people want war, but we will not suffer further attacks on our benevolence. Another attack will be considered a declaration of all-out war, and we will march on your territories. I ask you to think about all the lives that would be lost, both on our side and on your side. Think of your friends and relatives who are in Cartago. Think about the future of your children. Think about it, and I am sure you will choose the best way, which is peace. This is the third time I have offered you a negotiation; there won't be a fourth. Keep this in mind and choose carefully!" Sobek snorted. "I hope I have been clear enough. If there is someone among you who believes that I am being false, or that this entire message is false, then go ahead and check with your satellites, or send your helicopters and planes to inspect the area; until they open fire on us, we will let them pass. Remember, we will not cut a hair to the inhabitants of Cartago and we will not move outside our land, but only if you choose the path of peace. Choose war and... well, I can only tell you that if you make such a stupid choice you will deserve everything that follows it" At a nod from Sobek, Blue stopped filming. "Send it wherever you can. Make sure as many civilians as possible can see it" he ordered. The velociraptor nodded and ran away. Sobek breathed a sigh of relief. It was finally over: now, he could really say he had won. He had put on that staging because he wanted to buy time for all the dinosaurs on the continent to join him, and he finally succeeded: now the humans would start negotiations and he could buy as much time as he wanted. He had organized this whole theater for two reasons. First, humans only negotiated with their equals. If they were convinced that they could beat Sobek, they would have come en masse to attack him without any hesitation. Therefore Sobek had to win a battle first. He had therefore arranged for Odaria to send his army against him, so that he could show the world that the dinosaurs could defend themselves very well. Sure, Odaria's army wasn't worth a tenth of the armies of the great superpowers, but the discovery that the dinosaurs had weapons and armor, and that they had won the battle with minimal casualties, and that their numbers were probably still greater than shown. according to Sobek's statements, it would have made all governments take a step backwards. At least they would have liked to know more before engaging in any warlike act. Second, human leaders hated bad publicity. So if ordinary people learned that Cartago had been taken and that nearly a million people were being held hostage, they would have lobbied their government to try to negotiate. For this he had given Blue the title of scientist and had made sure that he learned hacking: through his skills, he could now send the video to all cell phones on the planet. It did not matter if initially everyone would have taken it for a fake: curiosity would have led them to check on Google Maps, and from there they would have discovered that something was wrong. The reporters would ride the wave and rush to check. Once the matter was made public, no government could remain silent. And since there were people held hostage, governments would have had to go into negotiations willy-nilly, otherwise any politician who refused to be labeled insensitive and selfish would be badly publicized. In short, Sobek now had humanity in his hand. He just regretted not having taken into account the possibility of gas weapons on the battlefield. If he did, there would be no casualties that day... He shook his head. He didn't have to be distracted by dark thoughts. He had won, and it was a cause for joy. Now the little monkeys would dance on his paws as he had trained them to do, and his army could gather safely. At that point, his army would have been powerful enough to stand up to all of humanity.