Another year had passed. In Sobek's eyes, ti seed to have begun to flow more rapidly. The months and weeks all passed almost the sa and in a flash the morning turned into evening.
Humanity had continued its advance. By now, the planet Sarah had been fully colonized. Whole cities had sprung up on it and millions of settlers had begun to live there. The planet Davis had now reached more than a billion inhabitants and the planet Raab now owned thousands of mining establishnts.
Thanks to teleportation technology it was so advanced that traveling between planets was even easier than going from one city to another. Since energy and material consumption were now no longer a concern thanks to solar panels on Hers and mining plants on asteroids, everyone had a portable teleportation device. By now, being hired to work a mine on an asteroid was no different than being hired to work at the local convenience store.
Colonies on the moons of Leviathan and Behemoth had multiplied, providing even more materials and resources. Many had even begun considering terraforming projects. Basically, the idea was to build huge orbital lenses that would increase the sunlight enough to allow liquid water to exist on the surface. For the mont the project existed only on paper, but it was highly probable that in the future it would beco a reality, as had happened for the mirror of Sarah.
Now only the moons of the two most distant planets, Ziz and Nephilim, were still waiting for man to set foot on them. Once those were removed, only outer space would be the last frontier. Frontier that probably would not remain so for long: scientists around the world seed to be on the verge of discovering how to get around the problem of telecommunications.
The basic idea was to exploit space-ti fluctuations to make the signal travel for several light years in a few monts, overcoming the light speed barrier.
Simply put, it was likely that humanity would no longer be constrained to the solar system alone within another decade.
Sobek was satisfied with this. The existence of many habitable planets was further insurance for the future: even if it was now almost impossible for a global conflict to break out, you could never know for sure. It could always happen that an asteroid hit the planet or that a supernova exploded on the edge of the Solar System. Being able to get out of the Solar System ant guaranteeing all living species to beco immortal: once a species had beco multi-star, nothing could threaten it anymore... apart from another more evolved civilization, but Sobek wasn't too worried about that.
From Sobek's point of view, an alien civilization was highly unlikely to be hostile. To reach the current level, humanity had had to forget differences and unite; if it didn't, if he, Sobek, had never existed, it probably would have consud its planet's resources and beco extinct on its own before it could reach the stars. Therefore, it was likely that an alien civilization had either already destroyed itself, or had evolved enough to smooth out all internal conflicts and thus understand the futility of a war. After all, the universe was huge: what was the point of fighting for a planet or two? They might as well have agreed and each went their own way. There were over a hundred billion stars in their galaxy alone, each with at least one planet; even if each planet had been inhabited by a single living being, not even all of Eden's human, animal, and even plant population would have been sufficient to cover all the planets in the galaxy. And the galaxy where Eden stood was only one of many billions of galaxies in the universe. With so much space available, why fight for territory and resources?
Sobek's thought was shared by his daughter. By now Nefertiti had arrived to replace him in almost all the tasks concerning the pack. She asked him for advice very few tis, and when she did she seed to do it reluctantly. She almost seed like she wanted him around as little as possible.
Sobek knew what was going on: his daughter was trying to step out of his shadow. By now, she was old enough to walk on her own paws and forge her own way, and she didn't like being in a lower position than her father yet.
Sobek was both proud and worried. He was happy with all the independence her daughter showed, but he was worried about what could happen to her if he gave her his full role. And he was also a little annoyed: he hated to admit it, but he almost felt usurped of his position as pack leader. He knew it was a silly thought, but unfortunately his animal heritage made him feel those feelings.
He had often found himself brooding about this, and he was also brooding when it happened. While he was deep in thoughts of him, he felt Al's [Contract] disappear, without any warning. Only later did he find out what had happened.
All those years, Al had continued to work as a negotiator at the Eden Union and the few nations that remained outside it, trying to break down as many barriers between human and animal people as possible. He had never stopped, not even when his body had begun to show signs of old age. He had been a very helpful nurturer to Nefertiti and often took her to etings to teach her how to confer with humans properly.
It was at one of these etings that Al had breathed his last. Since that morning he had seed strange, more tired, but he had still wanted to go to the eting. There, at one point, he had closed his eyes. Everyone assud he had fallen asleep and just carried on. Only when Sobek appeared in the garden of the building and asked to check did they realize that he was no longer breathing. Apparently, he had suffered a cardiac arrest in the middle of the eting.
Al was loved by all, humans and animals, and therefore his body was taken out and displayed on a huge stretcher for all to say goodbye. Sobek couldn't rember ever seeing so many people at a funeral: in the future, polls that day would speak of tens of millions of people, so many that it was necessary for the police to establish a periter to allow everyone to say goodbye to Al in orderly manner, and the queue lasted for almost three days.
Nefertiti had co to greet her uncle with tears in her eyes. She had been hugging his corpse for almost half an hour. She was now much bigger than him, but despite this she had curled up so much that it seed that the allosaurus was still the one bigger than her.
Buck and Carnopo had also co to say goodbye. Like Al, they too were now very old. Everyone seed to be carrying the weight of the years on their shoulders. They had each stood by Al's head for ten minutes and moved their lips as they whispered sothing. Sobek hadn't wanted to use his superior hearing to know what they had said to him and had used all of his willpower to shut those words out of his ears: it was sothing too personal.
When it was his turn, Sobek nuzzled Al's face. The allosaurus was still grinning. At least, he seed to have died happy. "Goodbye, my friend" he told him. "I'm glad I didn't completely degrade you that day. Without you I would never have made this far. I hope that when we et again, you will be able to forgive for being such a stubborn and hot-headed pack leader" he whispered to him, then he walked away and let others go and say goodbye to the allosaurus.
Sobek went away to be alone for a while. It was then that he heard a voice. "Are you okay?"
He looked down and saw Jocelyne. By now, what he had known as a twelve-year-old girl was well into her thirties. She was still a beautiful woman, but it was a strange effect for him to see her so… adult.
Sobek snorted. "When I started creating the pack, I knew that most of my subjects and all of my most trusted companions would likely die before . I was only two, they were at least five tis that age" he sighed. "I just wish it was less painful"
Jocelyne placed a hand on his hip. By now, she looked like an ant compared to the enormous behemoth beside her. Sobek hardly even felt her touch. Nonetheless, that small gesture of affection was welco. "I know it's painful. You can't prepare yourself to say goodbye to soone. But it's okay to cry" she said. "It ans that the ti spent together has been appreciated"
Sobek smiled. "Oh, it was really appreciated. Al was… a good guy, and a very good friend. Many of the diplomatic successes and integration laws of the last twenty years are thanks to him. It can be said that it was a milestone for our future"
"Yeah" Jocelyne smiled back. "I didn't know him like you did, but I've spent enough ti with him to know what he was worth. He deserved all these tributes"
Sobek nodded, looking at the very long line that was still thinning after three days. Yes, Al deserved that goodbye. "My daughter lost her first uncle when she was just hatching, and this is the tenth she has lost. And she will soon lose Buck and Carnopo too, and then . I wonder if I'm not putting too much suffering on her shoulders"
"Seeing your older family mbers die is sothing no one can avoid" Jocelyne said. "You cannot change this. She is strong; she will endure and carry on, just as everyone else have endured and carried on"
Sobek inhaled, looking at Nefertiti in the distance. The young spinosaurus was leaning against Buck, who was whispering sothing to cheer her up. "Jocelyne, I would like you to give an honest answer now"
"Please ask "
"What do you think of my daughter?"
Jocelyne shook her head. "Are you asking if she's ready to take your place, by any chance? Do you really need to ask this question?"
"I know it's stupid, but I'd like to get an outside opinion. One that isn't veiled by paternal concern" Sobek replied.
Jocelyne was silent for a mont, then she smiled at him. "I assu all parents are the sa about such things" she said with a slight note of amusent in her voice. "You can dwell on it all you want, but I doubt she'll ever be ready in your eyes. You will always find obstacles that will prevent you from giving her complete control. The only solution… is to trust her". She patted her hand on his side a few tis: "She may be young, but she's very capable. She will be fine. You may let her take the reins and lead the carriage. Let her forge her destiny"
Sobek sighed deeply. "Thank you, Jocelyne. I needed it" he said standing up.
Jocelyne nodded. "That's what friends are for, right?" she said, then nodded at him. "Co on. Go to her"
Sobek followed her advice and headed towards Nefertiti. "Ehy" he called her.
The young spinosaurus seed to notice his presence only at that mont. "Father. I'm sorry, I didn't hear you"
"I understood" Sobek said, then he looked at Buck and Carnopo. "Can you leave us alone for a mont? We need to talk"
The t-rex and the carnotaurus nodded and walked away. Nefertiti looked at him intently. "What did you want to talk to about?"
Sobek took a deep breath. The ti had co. "I know this is not the best ti, but waiting is useless. Al would have liked to tell you this right away" he said. "My daughter, I… I believe that you no longer need now"
Nefertiti looked at him questioningly. "What do you an?"
"That I give you the command. The pack needs a new leader" Sobek replied. "Oh, don't make that face. I'm too old now, I can't keep up with the tis anymore. Let's face it openly, I am now sothing outdated. The pack needs another pack leader… not better, not worse, just different. Soone who knows how to drive it correctly in this new era"
Nefertiti's eyes widened like two balls. She had dread of that mont many tis over the last few months, but now that she's finally arrived, she's not feeling as elated as she'd expected. "Are you sure? I don't... feel ready"
"The re fact that you don't think you're ready proves you are" Sobek said. "I have not taken this decision lightly, my child. I have pondered it for a long ti. I have been watching you since you hatched and believe when I tell you that you are perfect for this role. I have no reason to put off this mont any longer". He lifted one of his front paws and brushed her muzzle. "The pack is yours. I'm giving it to you formally. If soone has sothing against it, beat them up and show that you are worthy of your role. I get out of it. It's ti for to retire too and leave the task to the new generation"
Nefertiti was silent for a few monts, then she raised her head and touched his muzzle with hers. "Thanks, Dad" she whispered. "I will do my best to make you proud of "
"I'll always be proud of you, no matter what you decide to do" Sobek replied.
"I'll do my best anyway" Nefertiti whispered, trying not to cry. "Thank you. You made this day less painful"
"I know. Knowing Al, he would have been happy with it" Sobek said.
Al was buried in front of the central building of the Eden Union and a huge plaque was placed above his grave. In the future, it would beco common for those entering the palace for the first ti to pay their respects at that tomb, to thank the allosaurus that had done so much for the human and animal worlds. Despite the years and decades that passed, this tradition would never be forgotten for a long, long ti.
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