Chapter 206: New members of the pack

Sobek headed for the newcomers as soon as he was done dealing with the humans. Up to that point it had been Old Li, Buck and Carnopo who had looked after them, but since he was the pack leader, it was appropriate to give them a fair welcome. But as he was approaching he saw himself coming towards Carnopo. "Pack leader, you have to come" "Did something happen?" "No, but... you will see it for yourself. The newcomers have... problems " Sobek did not understand. Problems? What was Carnopo talking about? When they got off the ship he had only glimpsed the new dinosaurs, since he was more focused on dealing with humans, but they seemed normal to him. However, as soon as he got to the spot where Old Li, Buck and Carnopo had gathered the newcomers, he realized that things were much more complicated. The dinosaurs actually had no physical injuries... but that didn't mean they were healthy. He realized this simply by observing the first dinosaur he met his gaze with, a young male paralititan. He wasn't yet a full grown-up; normally, at that age, he shouldn't have weighed more than 40-45 tons. Instead, the animal in front of him weighed almost 60 tons at a guess, the equivalent of an adult paralititan. This is because of the enormous amount of fat he was wearing. The dinosaur was so fat that it seemed to struggle even to stand on its paws. And it was not the only one: all the other sauropods and part of the other dinosaurs shared the same problem. Some didn't seem to be able to lift their necks due to their excessive weight. Sobek understood why Carnopo had talked about problems. Those dinosaurs most likely came from intensive farming or something similar. To increase meat production, the farmers had made them fatten to the limits of excess. And the excessive weight was just one of the problems. With his overdeveloped ears, Sobek could also perceive the low frequencies of the dinosaurs' heart and lungs, and they were both very irregular. It was likely they had a heart problem or something. With all that fat, cholesterol was probably at extreme levels and if something hadn't changed it would have completely blocked the arteries causing a heart attack. Let's try to work things out, Sobek thought, and then pass [Regeneration] to all the dinosaurs there; luckily Old Li, Buck and Carnopo had already arranged for them to join the pack, so the [Contract] was already signed. Unfortunately it did not have the desired results. [Regeneration] repaired the damaged parts of the body, wiped out excess cholesterol and restored heart and respiratory functions to perfection, but did not make the accumulated fat disappear. The skill wasn't designed to make them lose weight. This could be a problem. The dinosaurs were clearly relieved that their internal organs had been repaired, Sobek could easily understood it from their faces, but if they didn't return to their normal weight it wouldn't be long before the heart problems recurred. On top of that, their immune systems probably weren't working at their best due to excess fat mass, so it would have been much easier for them to get sick. Obesity was one of the most common causes of death in the human world. On Earth, Sobek remembered well, about 4 million people died every year from obesity, so more or less 11,000 people every day. Sobek could avoid most causes of death thanks to [Regeneration], but if he really wanted to help those dinosaurs he had to solve the problem at the root. "I'll have to find a way to make them jog... even if..." An idea came to Sobek. He could use [Fast digestion] to speed up the weight loss. That ability meant that only the part necessary to give energy to the body was absorbed, while everything else was discarded. Therefore, what would normally have been converted into fat mass would simply disappear thanks to [Fast digestion]. This at least would have allowed Sobek not to worry about feeding the dinosaurs; he after all he was not a dietician and even if he had been the dinosaurs were different from humans and moreover they differed from species to species; the right diet for one would not have been right for another, even if they were practically cousins on the evolutionary tree. However, in order to eliminate the fat mass already present, he would have to force the dinosaurs to move. "Listen to me! Not you, you can ignore me" he said to the non-fat dinosaurs, who stepped aside. Sobek was therefore able to address only those directly concerned. "I want all of you to take at least one hundred thousand steps a day from tomorrow. Old Li will supervise you to make sure you are exercising correctly. This way you will improve your physique and lose some kilos" The dinosaurs remained silent. Finally one of them asked: "Excuse me... but how many are a hundred thousand steps? And what is a workout? And a physique? And the kilos? " Sobek was thrilled. 'They don't know such basic information!?' he screamed in his mind. Carnopo, Buck and Old Li approached him. "That's the problem I told you about, pack leader" said the carnotaur. "These dinosaurs... they don't know anything. Most of the terms that are commonly used in the language are foreign to them" Buck continued. "They don't know what hunting is, they don't know what a forest is, they don't know what even a pack is. They can barely speak. It is as if they were born and lived under a glass dome" A revelation struck Sobek, who suddenly understood everything. Because Buck was absolutely right: those dinosaurs had lived under a glass dome. They were born in intensive farming and had never known anything other than that; they had probably never even seen the light of day before they were released. They ate from pipes and interpersonal relationships between one and the other were reduced to a minimum. It was natural that they didn't have the faintest idea of how the world worked. They probably didn't even have the concept of family. "Is it like that for everyone?" Sobek asked. "Oh, no. They're not like that" Buck replied, pointing to the non-fat dinosaurs, which remained slightly apart from the others. "How do you know that?" "I talked to them. They come from a zoo. Consequently they are not as ignorant as these, as they have had their experiences, albeit in a cage. However, they are still in a precarious situation: they seem to have no idea how to relate or how to live in nature" Well, that was the minor problem: dinosaurs from zoos, even if they had long since suppressed their instincts, could make it resurface very quickly. Buck had already done this with Carnopo, Old Li, Carja and the other dinosaurs from Mega Beast Park. But Sobek had no idea how to handle the other problem. He certainly couldn't close his eyes and pretend it didn't exist! "Call an emergency meeting immediately" ********* All the dinosaurs around Cartago were gathered within an hour. Obviously they were only a small part of the actual herd, but at the moment he had to make do. "We have a problem" Sobek began, and then pointed to the newcomers. "These brothers of ours are in grave difficulty. As for their physical form, this can be remedied; however, they completely lack even the most basic notions, and even struggle to use language properly. Does anyone have any ideas to help them?" The dinosaurs were confused. That request was quite onerous. "Could we entrust them to the troop training regime?" someone suggested. Sobek shook his head. "They would not even know how to understand the most elementary commands" "Then could we teach him to speak correctly?" "The problem isn't the language, it is the mind. We can also make a list of all the words existing in the world, but these brothers of ours would not know how to connect them to something real" Sobek sighed heavily as he listened to all the proposals. Unfortunately none of them were satisfactory. Sobek knew that he absolutely had to find a way to solve that problem. If he let it go, not only would the new dinosaurs be in trouble, but they could also cause trouble in the pack. Also, thinking about it with a clear mind, Sobek knew that dinosaurs from factory farms would not be the most problematic he would have to deal with: those from sport hunting facilities or those from the black market would most likely have mental illness. even worse. But unfortunately he wasn't a psychiatrist. He had no idea how to solve the problems of the mind! And unfortunately even the dinosaurs did not seem at all useful in finding a solution. But suddenly a well-known figure asked to be allowed to speak. Sobek looked intently at the dinosaur in question. He was Al. Sobek was a little surprised. After his demotion, the allosaurus seemed to have intended to keep a low profile: he had never said a word in his presence and even among the other dinosaurs he tried not to stand out much. Evidently he was still ashamed of his mistake. In a way, Sobek was still a little angry with him, but that didn't mean it would take away his right to speak: in his pack everyone could express their opinion as long as they didn't act behind his back. "You're welcome, Al" The allosaurus looked over the moon when he gave him permission to speak. "Pack leader, I thought... you said that these dinosaurs lack the basic notions that are present in all of us. This means that they are practically puppies that have just hatched from the egg. Why then does someone not play the role of the parent for them?" Sobek narrowed his eyes. That argument was interesting. "Keep on" "We dinosaurs, like almost all living creatures, learn with the help of our parents. When we are born they look after us and then show us how to live, how to hunt, how to build a shelter. Well, let's do the same for them!" Al said. "Let's take them to the sanctuary we built in the innermost part of the forest and entrust them to a group of dinosaurs who will have to look after them and teach them everything starting from the basics, as if they were puppies. Since each of our brothers has a different personality, different feelings and, consequently, different problems, we entrust each one with a dinosaur who can understand him and thus help him on his path. This dinosaur will be responsible for both the physical and mental improvement of the subject assigned to him. Once our brothers have learned most of the basics (a matter of a few months in practice) they can be entrusted to the training of Buck, who at that point will have no difficulty in filling the remaining gaps" Sobek rubbed his muzzle. Basically Al was suggesting that we create some kind of support administration. A rehabilitation process, in essence. It was not such a far-fetched idea: after all, the dinosaurs that should have been 'treated' lacked only the basic notions of life outside the farm, they had no particular mental problems; and since dinosaurs learned fast, it wouldn't take long for everyone to rehabilitate if they had the support of another dinosaur guiding them on their path. "For such an idea to work it is necessary that those who will have to take care of our siblings have a strong empathy, a strong sense of responsibility, that they are experts in raising puppies, and so on" "That's right, pack leader" Al confirmed. "I think many of our brothers are like that, so just assign the right individuals to each dinosaur" Sobek looked at Old Li. "What do you think about it?" "I say it's worth a try" the ankylosaurus replied. "After all, of all the proposals, it is the most sensible" "All right. We'll do that then" Sobek proclaimed. "Al, you said you think many of our siblings fit the profile I've described, so I assume you already know who you're talking about. Therefore, for the moment you are in charge of the operation" The allosaur's eyes seemed to become two bright balls. Sobek hastened to get rid of any unhealthy ideas: "Don't believe that this means that I have forgiven you! You are in office only because at the moment I don't know anyone else who can do the job and because our brothers are urgent to start their rehabilitation process right away. Therefore, prepare to be expelled from office as soon as I find someone better or have a better solution" The light in Al's eyes faded slightly, but still his smile didn't fade from his face. "You have my word that I will do my best in the time available to me" he said with a slight bow. "Good. Then move on" Sobek growled hastily. Al didn't have to repeat it and ran off to get to work immediately.