Chapter 83: Documentary (part 2)

Sobek cursed several times in his mind as he tried to move the tiny cursor to skip the commercial. When he finally did, he was so nervous that he was thankful for having something to distract himself with, or he would have had to bite into a tree trunk to let off steam. Damn commercial! Apparently the evils of the television were the same in any world in existence. The documentary resumed, and the spinosaurus was shown meekly carrying large carcasses to Jocelyne and gently pulling her down from the tree to let her eat. The narrator told how for the next few days he had done nothing but bring her the results of his hunt. "But after a little time, a new enemy arrives" With a quick cut, a huge paw banging on the ground was framed; soon after, the gigantic body of a carcharodontosaurus appeared on the screen. "A new superpredator has begun to prowl around. Almost 13 meters long and second in power only to the fearsome tyrannosaurus rex, a carcharodontosaurus is a very dangerous opponent even for the spinosaurus" Cut to Max Morgan. "When two predators of similar size find themselves living together in the same environment, a stalemate generally arises between the two; as they would both be seriously injured in any fight, they just prefer to ignore each other. However, this forced coexistence can often lead to conflict, if there is a shortage of preys or... if one of the two has something to protect" The video returned to show the carcharodontosaurus approaching the child, attempting to devour her, when the spinosaurus appeared from behind the trees and roared furiously. "If one of the two predators has something to protect, even a fight to the death can become a not so remote option. Two peaceful neighbors can suddenly turn into rivals" explained the narrator. "And if no one decides to back down..." The video showed the two predators throwing themselves at each other, turning into a whirlwind of bites, shoves, claws and tails. "With its length of 23 meters, the spinosaurus has size and power on its side". The video showed Sobek clawing the carcharodontosaurus in the face. "But the carcharodontosaurus has the strongest bite". The video showed the carcharodontosaurus biting Sobek's sail. "It is a deadly encounter between two very different and dangerous rivals" the narrator continued. "But in the end, one of them gets overwhelmed" The video showed the carcharodontosaurus being hit by one of Sobek's claws, which opened a deep gash in its side. The two animals roared at each other a little longer, until the carcharodontosaurus crawled away. "Wow... they did an amazing job!" Sobek thought satisfied. The special effects were so realistic that he almost forgot it was all fiction, and almost hit the screen with one of his claws to smash his opponent's face. "The carcharodontosaurus won't survive the night" explained the narrator as he showed the animal limping away. "But the spinosaurus was also badly injured. The carcharodontosaurus' huge bites and blood loss could cause severe bruising that would lead to death. For any other animal, the injuries sustained in such a fight would be the equivalent of a sentence to death. But the spinosaurus has an advantage" Cut to Mitch Morgan. "While we were looking in the forest, we found some blood samples; even though it was now dry, it was still recent enough to be analyzed. This is how we discovered incredibly ductile stem cells, which promote rapid tissue regeneration. Even the immune system was quite developed, guaranteeing immunity from possible infections. The wounds that for other animals are fatal, for the spinosaurus aren't something irreparable" "Mumble... I guess this is an explanation for how [Regeneration] actually works..." Sobek thought. The video continued showing the spinosaurus slowly recovering. While the images were being shown, Jocelyne's voice was played in the background: "It was a fight... incredible. I don't think there is a way to describe it. And it made me understand one thing: I absolutely didn't want to be alone in that place" Subsequent shots showed Sobek unsuccessfully trying to keep Jocelyne up in the tree. "From the point of view of the spinosaurus, it would be safer to leave the 'weak element' of the pack in an elevated spot, away from potential predators" Max Morgan's voice explained in the background. "But clearly human beings don't think that way. For little Jocelyne, it's much more preferable not to stray from her only lifeline" The subsequent events were recounted rather quickly: from Sobek's forced acceptance of letting the girl follow him, to their encounter with the stomatosuchus, and finally to him helping the girl to fish. "This was the part that most confused us" Mitch explained. "A dinosaur who can understand that what the child needed at the time was learning to fend for herself should not only have an IQ equal to that of humans, but should also be able to understand the human language, which is what we all know it's impossible" "Not if you have a human soul" Sobek laughed in his mind. "After a long debate and analyzing all the evidence we gathered, my colleagues and I came to the conclusion that the little girl's attempts to fish probably triggered the spinosaurus' teaching instinct. Basically, it's like when a mother dog understands that she has to teach her puppies how to walk, because she notices that they are trying it on their own and knows that otherwise they will get hurt. Finally, it is likely that little Jocelyne's cry was interpreted by the spinosaurus as a request for help" "Seriously, I really hope they pay them well. They deserve it for racking their brains so hard..." Sobek thought. Subsequent frames showed Sobek and Jocelyne hunting together, or rather, Sobek teaching Jocelyne how to hunt alone. "In the following days, from a simple protector the spinosaurus turns into a strange teacher who teaches the little girl how to survive" Cut to Jocelyne. "I don't know how to explain it, there was some kind of... trust between us. It knew I would obey it and not get into trouble, and I knew it would help me. Sure, every time it took me in its jaws my heart literally stopped, but the rest of the time I wasn't afraid. I knew it didn't want to eat me and was just trying to help me. Ironically, it was also a good listener" The scene showed the spinosaurus lying down staring at Jocelyne and her talking. "Once I started talking to it. I knew it was a crazy act, but I urgently needed to argue with someone, or I felt I was going mad. I certainly didn't expect to receive an answer, but at least I had the impression of not speaking to myself, because I felt that it was listening to me" The narrating voice resumed. "But the calm was about to end, again. One evening, a roar cuts through the air. And the spinosaurus seems to be panicking" "It grabbed me and it hid me in the tree in a hurry, and then it ran away" Jocelyne explained. "I realized that something was wrong" The spinosaurus was shown running and stopping on top of a hill. His gaze became hard and frightened. The narrator resumed: "In that previously peaceful corner of the forest, a herd of some of the forest's most dangerous predators has arrived: the torvosaurs" Maybe they overdid my expressions a little, Sobek thought. He didn't remember doing all that facial mimicry while doing those actions. However, this version would certainly have had more impact on people, resulting in increased fame points, so there was no point in complaining. The documentary went on to briefly explain what torvosaurs were, their nature as ferocious predators and their danger lower only to the one of very few other carnivores including the tyrannosaurus. He then showed how the spinosaurus had changed its attitude following the arrival of the torvosaurs, making longer and longer journeys. Cut to Mitch. "Examining the paths that the spinosaurus followed and those that the torvosaurs did, we realized that they were meticulously studied to avoid them, but at the same time to distance them as much as possible from the tree where Jocelyne was hidden. The spinosaurus knew that against such carnivores he had no chance, and therefore he was trying to safeguard himself and at the same time keep them away from the child" It hadn't happened quite like that, Sobek admitted to himself: in reality he was drifting so far away because he hoped to smell other human smells so as to deliver Jocelyne to him and run away as soon as possible. New cut on Jocelyne. "I could see it was tense. I could feel its anxiety. From that day on it never made me come down from the tree and if I tried to make a sound it growled at me. It was clear that it was really scared" Another cut on Mitch. "Some may wonder why the spinosaurus didn't just take the girl and run away; at this point it is also fair to ask why, instead of waiting, it didn't simply follow the tracks of the humans and immediately bring Jocelyne back to her house? Well, the answer was that it didn't have the ability to do that. The spinosaurus' claws were too sharp to hold on to anything without breaking it, and carrying the baby with its jaws would mean killing her, since at the slightest sound it could jump and shut its jaws on her. If it had been a t-rex then it could have sat her on its back, but the spinosaurus spinal column is made up of bony spines that can cause serious injury. The spinosaurus could therefore only move the child for short distances, but could not risk making long journeys" The video continued showing the increasingly exhausted spinosaurus. "For the next few days, the torvosaurs push the spinosaurus more and more" the narrator explained. "However, the animal refuses to leave the little girl" Another cut, this time on Max. "Such behavior is very unusual. Often in circumstances of extreme danger, animals put their survival before that of their own puppies, this for a simple evolutionary factor: if the parent dies, then the puppies also die, but if the parent survives, it can always have others. Instead in this case the spinosaurus puts the survival of the child, a puppy not even its, before its own. This is a very strong degree of empathy, even greater than that shown by whales and even dolphins" "I actually thought about abandoning her..." Sobek thought. Weren't they putting him in a slightly too heroic light? Sure, he had waited as long as possible, but he was ready to leave if things got really bad. "Well, people love heroes. The more they make me a hero, the more fame points I'll obtain, so... it's a win-win situation"