"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Queen Mackenzie"
Sobek stared at the woman in front of him. She was apparently a normal person, she was even dressed like an ordinary woman... but after all, the era in which kings and queens wore sumptuous clothes and made themselves known in public had long since ended up on Eden as well. It was normal for an important character to dress normally in the modern era, even if she was a queen.
Besides, he felt like he had already seen her sowhere... that she was also a reincarnate, like the characters of Jurassic Park and Zoo? After all, God seed to enjoy always playing strange tricks on him...
Pauline was paralyzed in front of him. For a few monts she refused to believe that all the parts of the body her eyes saw belonged to a single creature. She mistook a part of the tail for the whole tail; she took a small piece of a tooth that protruded from the lips for a complete tooth; and he thought that the tangle of legs the spinosaurus lay on was a bunch of animals huddled together. Only when he looked up and saw the huge dorsal sail, higher than a house, did he actually realize which giant he found himself in front of.
It seed impossible that such a creature could exist. Pauline was not an expert, but she was pretty sure that if Sobek never beca intelligent then she would trigger an ecological collapse, as entire ecosystems would be torn apart every day to satisfy the appetite of such a behemoth.
However, Pauline could not be intimidated. And she could not remain silent for too long, or the other part of her could have received it as an offense. "The pleasure is all mine, Lord Sobek" she said with a perfect half bow.
"Please, just call Sobek. For us dinosaurs, the titles are not important"
"Then you can call Pauline"
"Wait a minute… so she would be Pauline Mackenzie !? One of the protagonists of Salvation, that series that I nevertheless liked was bastardly canceled after only two seasons !?" Sobek gasped in his mind, finally realizing who reminded him of the woman in front of him. Indeed, it looked like her!
He tried to compose himself: "Okay, Pauline. Under normal circumstances I would be happy to et you, but I must confess that I am quite confused by the urgency with which you wanted to have an interview with . May I know what happens if I'm not too hasty?"
Pauline did not seem to be waiting for more: "Please, you must help save the world!"
"Uh? I've actually been trying to do it for four years..."
"This ti it's different! You do not understand! They..." Pauline bit her lip, "... WE have created a weapon that will destroy us all!"
Sobek's eyes widened as if they had just been electrocuted. 'A weapon that will destroy us all... could it be...?'. "Tell , is this weapon capable of transforming the sky into flas and the rock into vapor, and takes the shape of a mushroom?"
Pauline seed to have just received a blow to the head: "You… you know? How…?"
'So it's really the nuclear bomb!' Sobek thought, risking panic, but luckily he managed to keep a cool head. 'If such a bomb has indeed made its appearance here on Eden, then I have to thank that there are conscientious human leaders like Pauline... even if she doesn't know it yet, she could be the only chance to save the world. Even so, however, atomic warfare looms over our heads... with [Supre instinct] and [Teleportation] the dinosaurs are safe, and in turn the dinosaurs can protect human civilians, but not even I will be able to restore the planet after a nuclear holocaust'
Sobek knew that the war was now even more difficult. If he wanted to keep Eden from turning into a desert, his every next move would be delicate and crucial. 'Pauline is the leader of one of the five superpowers, which ans that if she agrees to help I should be able to buy so ti... but as much as I mind, I fear that the explosion of the bombs is inevitable. Even if you manage to wage a blitzkrieg, the other human leaders will prefer to kill us all rather than let us win, even if they lose too. The only hope I see of surviving the fallout is to evolve one last ti; the System is designed by God himself to help , so maybe you will give a way to at least contain the disaster'
He looked down and noticed that Pauline was still waiting for an answer. She called herself stupid: now that she answered? She could have invented that she had spies, but in that case all the questions he would ask the queen would have been useless, besides the fact that her reaction testified that she knew nothing about them. Pauline was not stupid, she would have sensed that sothing was wrong, and she could not afford doubts if she wanted to gain her trust in her. She was starting to sweat when Buck ca to his aid: "Your vision, pack leader! It ca true!"
'What vision? What is he talking about?' Sobek wondered, then suddenly rembered when he had given his speech to the dinosaurs to reveal to them that he wanted to go to war and had pretended he could see the future, and all the tis he had talked about a weapon capable of burning the sky and lting the stone. Apparently, the dinosaurs ended up putting the pieces together believing it was all a vision of him. 'Thank you, Buck!' He exclaid in his mind as he caught the ball: "Apparently. I knew it would happen, but I hoped to the last to be able to avoid it..."
"May I know what you are talking about?" Pauline asked.
"Forgive " Sobek said, pretending to rember only then that she existed. "He must know that long ago I developed the ability to see things that have not yet happened"
"Things that haven't happened yet…? Can you predict the future?"
"Just fragnts. Small glimpses of what is to co. And many tis in my visions a weapon of unimaginable power has appeared, destined to transform this world into a gray desert where neither humans nor animals will be able to live anymore"
Sobek hoped that her lodramatic tone would convince the Queen of Prettania and that she would avoid asking too many questions about her presud foresight.
Pauline was confused and curious, but given the situation she preferred to return to the main topic: "If you have seen what that weapon can do, then you must help stop it!" she pleaded with her. "Co with , on Laurentia. I will get you to speak before the NMWA. Maybe we can find a way to..."
Sobek stopped her right away: "We both know it's not going to work. He could have if you or soone else had co first to offer peace proposals. But now, the other mber states of the NMWA are convinced that they have the ans to defeat and my people. None of them will listen to us"
Unfortunately, humans were only open to peace proposals when the situation was stalled. But now, humans had the illusion that the scales were tipping in their favor.
Incredibly, however, Pauline shook her head: "The other nations know nothing about atomic bombs. Only the elites of the five world superpowers are aware of it"
Sobek's eyes widened. This changed everything. If only five nations knew of the existence of nuclear weapons, then all the others still did not have the illusion of being able to win. And with their peoples now exhausted by the war of attrition they were subjected to, it was likely that they would let themselves be persuaded. "If so, then we have a chance"
Pauline smiled: "So will you co with ?"
"No. I'm not going to appear before the NMWA"
Pauline's smile faded. "Why?"
"Don't you understand it by yourself?"
"No. Explain "
Sobek let out a sigh. "Do you know what the NMWA's weakness is? Which was created only to avoid wars"
Pauline was surprised: "And that's not a good thing? You yourself have said several tis that you hate war"
"And so it is. There is no evil worse than war. But that's the point… there is no worse evil, but that doesn't an there aren't other evils on the sa level. Iniquity, for example" Sobek replied. "When the NMWA was created centuries ago, humanity only wanted to put a stop to the wars that had plagued it, so it accepted all the nations of the world without any distinction. He did not impose conditions on HOW to join the NMWA. It was enough to be a nation that did not want war, and you were imdiately inside. Because of this, however, all that is written about the order of the NMWA is that mber states cannot go to war. End. No legal, legislative or governntal proceedings are described, it is not specified how nations can make their decisions. And as a result, the more powerful nations end up oppressing the weaker ones, since nothing prevents them from preventing trade if the small countries do not do as they say. Do you understand what I an?"
Pauline understood. "In practice, you argue that certain nations have preferential treatnt over others, because they are economically and politically stronger"
"Exactly. And this causes these nations to dictate the law, because there is no way to curb their excessive power. In particular, the five superpowers dictate the law" Sobek explained. "The very concept of superpower is wrong, Pauline, because if a nation gains too much power, then the mont it makes a mistake everyone pays the consequences. And in fact, despite the fact that everyone in the Commission votes and debates, in the end it is always the sa five nations who direct the ga, all the others are just puppets"
Pauline nodded. "I understand what you want to say. Since the various nations all obey the superpowers, then it would be useless for to take your side, because the other four superpowers would be our opponents and would therefore have more votes in the final decision"
"Exactly"
"But I'm not the only one. The ilong Republic is also opposed to the use of nuclear power..."
"The re fact that you are here, while the ilong representatives are not, shows that they are not as sure of their choice as you are. And even if you could finally convince them, we would still be at a disadvantage. Going to the NMWA we will only waste ti, ti that we cannot afford to waste: every minute we lose accelerates the outbreak of nuclear war"
Pauline fell silent, trying to find a way to argue, but she couldn't. It really felt like a dead end street. "So what do you want to do? I appeal to your wisdom" she said, putting her tone on the last word, hoping that Sobek did not decide to carry out a preemptive strike now that the construction of the nuclear arsenals was still underway.
Sobek snorted deeply. "It depends on you. How much are you willing to do to avoid the destruction of the world?"
The woman swallowed and cringed under Sobek's deep gaze; it seed that those huge eyes of her were probing her soul. "A queen's job is to protect her people, regardless of her consequences for herself. I will do anything to avoid atomic war"
Sobek's eyes narrowed: "Then you'll have to help destroy the NMWA"
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