Kachika nodded. ‘Please allow Field Marshal Jolie to explain.’
Field Marshal Jolie, who had commanded the ant troops at the Second Battle of the Ivory Citadel several days earlier, approached the podium. ‘I would like to show everyone something,’ she began. ‘Something we invented on our own, developed without recourse to our dinosaur teachers.’
At the field marshal’s signal, two ants brought forward a pair of thin white strips resembling scraps of paper. ‘The weapons you see here have evolved from antkind’s oldest, most traditional weapon, the mine-grain. They’re the latest model. The Federation’s military engineers developed them for use in this final war.’
She waved her antennae and four more ants came forward, carrying two short lengths of wire, the kind most commonly used in the dinosaurs’ machinery. One wire was red, the other green. The ants set the wires on a frame, then wound the two white strips tightly around the middle of each wire, like pieces of white adhesive tape. Something miraculous now occurred: the two white strips began to change colour, taking on the hue of the wire they were wrapped around, one turning red, the other green. Within moments they were all but indistinguishable.
‘These are chameleon mine-grains. Once they’re fixed in place, it’s impossible for dinosaurs to detect them.’
A couple of minutes later, the mine-grains exploded with two sharp cracks, neatly severing the two wires.
‘When the time comes, the Federation will deploy an army of 100 million ants. One division of this army has already gone back to work in the dinosaur world; the other division is infiltrating the dinosaur world as we speak. This army of millions will affix 200 million chameleon mine-grains to the wiring of the dinosaurs’ machines. We have called this campaign “Operation Disconnect”.’
‘Wow, a truly magnificent plan!’ Senator Birubi exclaimed in admiration. The other senators fluttered their antennae in sincere and vigorous approval.
‘We have also initiated another campaign, to be conducted in parallel, which I am confident you will find to be equally magnificent,’ Jolie continued. ‘The Federation will deploy another army of 20 million ants to penetrate the skulls of 5 million dinosaurs and affix mine-grains to their cerebral arteries. These 5 million dinosaurs comprise the elite echelon of the billions of dinosaurs on Earth. They include, among others, their national leadership, scientists, and key technicians and operators. Once these dinosaurs have been eliminated, dinosaur society will be without a brain. We have therefore dubbed this campaign “Operation Decapitate”.’
‘This plan seems more complicated than the first,’ said Birubi. ‘As far as I know, all key personnel in dinosaur society are routinely subjected to high-precision three-dimensional scans. The Gondwanan Empire was the first to adopt this practice, and the Laurasian Republic quickly followed suit. In the Gondwanan Empire, even Emperor Dadaeus himself regularly undergoes such examinations.’
‘The first mine-grain of Operation Decapitate has already been planted,’ said Supreme Consul Kachika with a smug expression on her shiny black face. ‘It is currently lying in wait in Dadaeus’s brain, and it was put there by the medical team I led. The emperor has undergone a series of examinations since then, yet that mine-grain has remained safely stuck to his cerebral artery.’
‘You mean we’ve developed a new model of mine-grain that cannot be detected by high-precision three-dimensional scanning?’ Professor Joya asked.
Kachika shook her head. ‘We tried, but all our efforts failed. As you know, those scanners are one of the most revolutionary inventions of recent years, a shining example of what ant–dinosaur collaboration can achieve. A high-precision three-dimensional scanner can locate and identify the slightest abnormality in a dinosaur’s brain. Of course, mine-grains installed in other parts of a dinosaur’s body are not easily detected. But to kill a dinosaur with a single mine-grain – or at least to cause it to lose consciousness and the ability to think – can only be done by deploying the mine on the cerebral artery. The dinosaurs are well aware of this, so they only scan their brains.’
Professor Joya pondered this for a long while and then flapped her antennae, confused. ‘Forgive me, Supreme Consul, I don’t see how that mine-grain can escape detection. I was the ant in charge of the scanner project, so I know just how powerful those instruments are.’
It was now Field Marshal Jolie’s turn to look exceedingly pleased with herself. ‘My dear Professor, you always overthink things. We simply sent a detachment of troops to infiltrate the imperial infirmary and sabotage all six of its scanners. Destroying a single microchip reduced the scanners’ accuracy by 20 per cent, preventing them from detecting the mine-grain.’
‘But aren’t you planning to mine the skulls of 5 million dinosaurs? That will never…’ Joya gasped as the realisation hit. ‘You can’t possibly be thinking of sabotaging every scanner in the dinosaur world?’
‘Indeed we are! Compared to operations Disconnect and Decapitate, it’s an easy task. Remember that the dinosaur world has a mere 400,000 such machines at present. An army of 5 million ants should be quite sufficient to deal with them.’
‘That’s an insane plan,’ said the chief scientist, shocked.
‘The most brilliant part of the plan is that the attacks will happen simultaneously,’ interjected Kachika, choosing to interpret the professor’s exclamation as praise. ‘The 200 million mine-grains in the dinosaurs’ machinery and the 5 million mine-grains in their brains will all explode at exactly the same moment. And I mean exactly. There will be no time-lag between explosions – not so much as a second between them! This will ensure that no section of the dinosaur world will be able to receive assistance or reinforcements from any other section.’
Supreme Consul Kachika surveyed the senators massed before her. There was not a twitch or a quiver among them. Every single pair of antennae was frozen in astonishment and pride. It was an impressive sight; the sort of spontaneous homogeneity that would make the Ant Federation great again. She continued.
‘The first effect of these coordinated attacks will be a complete breakdown in the dinosaurs’ extensive information network. Shortly thereafter, their major industries and transport systems will also grind to a halt. Because this will be happening in every corner of the dinosaur world, they will have no way of bringing these systems back online in the short term. And with 5 million of their key personnel eliminated, dinosaur society will go into total shock. It will sink swiftly, like a ship with its hull ripped apart in the middle of the ocean.’
The assembled senators were still rapt. Kachika paused briefly to savour the moment.
‘As we know to our cost, dinosaur cities indulge in staggering levels of consumption. According to our computer simulations, once the information, industrial and transportation systems that supply the dinosaur cities have collapsed, in less than a month two-thirds of dinosaurs in urban centres will have died from starvation or dehydration. The rest of the dinosaur population will scatter into the countryside. Under sustained assault from our forces, and ravaged by hunger and disease, less than a third of the survivors will last the year. Those who do will have regressed to the low-technology society of the pre-industrial era, and they will pose no threat to the ant world. And then, finally, we will be the rightful rulers of Earth.’
Birubi could barely contain her excitement. ‘Madam Supreme Consul, can you tell us when this great moment will occur?’
‘All of the mine-grains have been set to detonate at midnight one month from now.’
At this, the ants immediately started cheering. They were unusually loud and exuberant.