Sobek realized he had fallen for a trick. "As I imagined. It was a trap!" he exclaid, then stared at the rapidly sizzling ground. "I don't know what it is but I don't like it! I better get away before…"
The Imperials began firing relentlessly at him. Sobek felt hit countless tis. If it weren't for the combo of [Reinforced skin] and [Regeneration], he would have beco a sieve right now.
Sobek opened his mouth and unleashed [Devastating roar] in every direction. Countless soldiers flew off and several tanks were blown to pieces, but for every soldier or war machine blown away, two took its place. Sobek found himself besieged on all sides.
Clearly the Imperials aid at not letting him go. Sobek decided to use [Teleportation], but suddenly the formation below him glowed with blue light, so much so that it dazzled him.
"What the…!?" Sobek exclaid, and then disappeared.
A flash of light hit the spinosaurus and the entire area, dazzling anyone who was watching the scene. Then, as quickly as it had co, the flash of light was gone, but Sobek was gone with it.
"Pack leader!" was the yell from the dinosaur army.
"It's done! Let's retreat!" all the commanders shouted of the imperial army in unison, which imdiately turned around and abandoned the lines. This ti it was not a slow retreat, but a real rout.
And they weren't wrong, as soon as they recovered from their amazent, the dinosaurs leapt at them in a rage. Sobek's disappearance had filled their hearts with pure panic and now they were furious. In their primitive minds there was only the desire to tear apart any human being who stood in front of them.
However, despite the dinosaurs' initial total victory, a barrage of missiles soon rained down on them. Apparently the Imperials had built a second defensive line nearby and were converging there; and now the defenses of that line were bombing the dinosaurs. In addition, even from the sky innurable planes and helicopters ca to lend a hand.
"Buck, call up your soldiers" Old Li said. "And send soone to tell other commanders to do the sa"
The tyrannosaurus snorted. "We can't stop now! We have the advantage of numbers. We can still…!"
"By continuing like this, we only risk losing soldiers. Even if we managed to break through their defense line, it is likely that the Empire would respond by dropping a nuke" Old Li stopped him. "Forget it. We'll have ti for revenge later. Now we have to think about reorganizing ourselves"
Buck grit his teeth; from his point of view, the imperials had to pay for whatever they did to Sobek. But despite his anger she managed to think clearly and agreed that, as always in such cases, the old ankylosaurus was right. With a roar he called back his troops who imdiately abandoned the attack and retreated back beyond the trench. Seeing the shock legion withdraw, Carnopo and the Apache agreed it was best to follow his example.
In a few minutes the situation cald down again: the defense lines of the two armies were re-established, with the difference that they were now about twenty kiloters apart instead of ten. And that among the dinosaurs there was no longer a pack leader.
Given the ergency situation, the commanders imdiately t to talk. Old Li summoned Buck, Carnopo and Apache for an ergency eting. When they arrived, both were very worried. "What happened to the pack leader!?" Apache shouted, who had watched Sobek disappear from above. "Wouldn't he be…?"
"No, in that case our skills would be gone. The re fact that we're still talking is a sign that he's still alive" Old Li reminded them. The other dinosaurs cald down: it was true, as long as they still had their abilities it ant that Sobek must still be alive.
"But then why doesn't he tell us anything?" Carnopo asked. Under normal circumstances, Sobek would surely have used the mind-sharing feature of the [Contract] to explain to them where he was and what he was doing, or even just to tell them 'I'm fine, don't worry about '. Instead, since he had disappeared there was dead silence from him.
"Maybe he passed out. Or he is too busy to think about it. Or… the Imperials found a way to prevent him from communicating with us" Old Li said. "My theory is that that strange light was a teleportation device, similar to the one the Imperials used to drop an atomic bomb on Frigeria, and that it teleported the pack leader to so distant location"
"Your theory is correct, Old Li"
The four dinosaurs turned to see Snock appear in front of them holding a human in his jaws. The giganotosaurus spat the poor fellow on the ground and then said: "I took the trouble to look for answers on my own. Co on, tell them what you know"
The human raised his trembling head: "I'm... I'm an army technician. A week ago we received the task of assembling the teleportation device"
"I've made so inquiries" Snock said. "Apparently, this morning the Imperial army generals received orders to stage an attack and then a feigned retreat to lure the pack leader into a trap. They wanted it to end up on top of the teleportation device"
"Why? Where did they take him? What is their plan?" Buck snarled looking at the human. "Speak out!"
"I… I don't know!" the poor man exclaid. "No one knew about it, not even the army commanders. The transporter device had coordinates already entered"
"But…?" Snock hissed, then gave him a half kick. "Co on, tell him what you told !"
"B-But there was a rumor going around among the soldiers!" the man said. "They claid that the top echelons of the Empire had found a way to eliminate the enemy once and for all, and that it was necessary to take him to a distant and hidden place to implent it!"
Old Li's eyes widened. "Distant? How much distant?"
************
Within a second, Sobek realized several things. First, he was no longer on the battlefield, but on an expanse of barren gray rock. Second, it was no longer day but deep night, and the stars were so bright they were easily visible, as if there were no atmosphere between them to confuse them. Third, the ntal link he had with the other dinosaurs thanks to the [Contract] had just been broken.
And fourth… his lungs couldn't find air to breathe. Within monts, he felt suffocated.
He imdiately activated [Apnea] and his body relaxed again. Without the feeling of suffocation he was able to think much more clearly. He tried to take a step, but almost jumped involuntarily; shocked, he realized that his body felt much lighter than he was used to.
"What the…?" He thought confused, then looked up. And the sight of him resolved all his doubts.
It wasn't night at all: the sun was shining on the horizon and his light illuminated the gray rocky surface where he stood. The sky was simply not blue anymore. Indeed, it could be said that the sky did not exist: there was only the cosmic void and the stars which were now easily visible even if it was day. And then, in the center of the void, was a familiar blue ball studded with great green masses and white cumulus clouds.
"Are you kidding !? How did I end up on the Moon!?" Sobek scread in his mind. He now he understood why he couldn't breathe and why he felt so light. He thanked that [Reinforced skin] also protected him from cosmic rays, or he would have already been cooked alive by the lethal solar radiation that without an atmosphere could easily reach him.
"I arrived here via teleportation… the Imperials must have set a trap for . But why?" he thought. What was the point of teleporting him to the Moon? It was unlikely that they hoped he would die of asphyxiation, since he could…
A doubt seized him. He tried to teleport back to Eden.
He didn't move.
When he tried to activate [Teleportation], as soon as he did he felt like an interference in his mind. The ability didn't work. "How?" Sobek exclaid in his mind, and for a mont he was really scared: if he couldn't co back within the hour, not even [Apnea] could save him!
"Keep calm! Stay focus!" he ordered to himself. "Reflect. Have the Imperials found a way to oppose my teleportation? But they have to have a way to keep it going. Whatever this machine is, it can't be far…"
His eyes darted across the lunar surface and very quickly his excellent vision spotted so sort of man-made structure about ten kiloters away. "There it is! Well, let's get her out of the way!" he thought, activating his [Personal mutation].
[Selected mutation: tal mutation]
It was the sa mutation he'd used to deflect the thermonuclear bomb. Even though the object was particularly far away, it wasn't that far away. By hitting in the right places, Sobek could cause the structure to collapse in on itself.
But his magnetokinesis didn't work.
"Damn! Did they figure out how to block this too!?" he roared into his mind. "Okay, that ans I'm going to use brute force. All I have to do is reach that thing and…"
[Supre instinct] kicked in and he felt movent behind him. Sobek turned just in ti to see sothing teleport in front of him; a second later, a giant tal hand tried to punch him in the face, but he dodged it and moved to a safe distance.
"Lord Sobek, please don't try to use your magnetokinesis. While they appear to be made of tal, both those pillars and this little gem are constructed of a plastic alloy. We have to thank you, he knows… if you hadn't shown us that you could manipulate tals, we would never have thought about this eventuality"
Sobek looked dumbstruck at what he had just said. The situation was so surreal that for a mont he thought he was dreaming.
He was a robot. It was at least a hundred ters high and nearly three tis as long. But the strange thing was that he replicated almost perfectly himself! It had the features of a spinosaurus: the dorsal sail was replaced by dozens and dozens of solar panels, the tal legs were equipped with curved and very powerful claws, and the head was a spinosaurus head with bionic eyes and a very long and powerful snout.
"What... you're not kidding , are you? What is this, a... chasobek!?"
Reviews
All reviews (0)