Three days. It had only been three days since Abe had left to investigate, and the world around Jocelyne seemed to be collapsing every second more.

First, that strange feeling that there was a storm coming had haunted her, preventing her from sleeping. And now she, in spite of herself, knew that feeling was more than justified. She didn't know how she had sensed the incoming disaster, perhaps the time spent alone in the forest had awakened in her some sort of primal instinct that allowed her to perceive the dangers, but still she would have much preferred to discover that she was wrong.

After that fateful night, Abe had called her. Actually, he had called Jackson, but of course he had later informed her as well. And so she had received proof of her theories. Dinosaurs were getting intelligent, no, even worse: they were now sentient.

Not only they were getting sentient, they were building a civilization. Dozens of different species collaborated, and by the time they painted their faces it was likely they already understood how to use some tools.

Her fellow scientists had literally gone mad at that news. Robert yelled something like 'I told you! I told you!', all while a distraught Mitch put his hands in his hair, Jamie tried to not faint and Sarah seemed to be in the throes of a mystical crisis. Ian had cursed worse than a drunken longshoreman and Alan had fallen off his chair for two times, and still no one, including himself, had understood how he had done it.

Jocelyne couldn't blame them. She too had felt the world collapse on her. They had studied that phenomenon for weeks, made dozens of hypotesis, speculated, imagined various scenarios... but it was one thing to theorize, it was another thing to see their theory turn into reality.

And although she was the first to propose to look for intelligent dinosaurs, now she would have much preffered find out that she was wrong. Oh, how much she would preferred to discover that everything was just in her head.

Even though she tried to remain calm, she was terrified. This was a situation beyond anything humanity had ever faced. If intelligent dinosaurs really existed, then all of Dr. Robert Oz's theories were likely to be true; and if, as Robert claimed, that situation would have only ended with an all out war between the two sides... she preferred to not think about it.

And then the third day had come. When Abe called her and brought her up to date on what was happening in Cartago, she felt the urge to bang her head against the wall.

"Let me understand, Abe" she whispered when the man finished telling. "Not only have the dinosaurs become intelligent, but they have already discovered how to build and use weapons, and now are they ready to start a conflict?"

"I wish I could tell you otherwise, miss, but... it is so" was the man's reply.

Jocelyne put a hand to her face and squeezed her temples tightly. She wasn't alone at the time: as soon as Abe called her she put the call on speakerphone and then got in touch with Ian, Alan, Sarah, Jamie and Mitch, and summoned Robert and of course Jackson to discuss the matter. to be done all together. She normally she would never have shown herself in such an obvious act of weakness, but right now she was seriously giving her a headache.

To complete her mental breakdown Ian took care of it. "Good. Apparently the end of the world has begun. Well, what can I say guys, it was nice to meet you"

"Ian... shut the fuck up" Sarah hissed, apparently in the same state of mind as Jocelyne.

"Yeah, we don't need to know that the world is about to end, we can see it for ourselves" the young girl said. "Now let's think about the serious stuff. Abe, come back here right now. You must leave the colony immediately"

But apparently the world was conspiring against her to drive her crazy, because the man's response was: "I'm sorry, miss, but I can't. There are other people here, I can't leave them"

"Captain Abraham, I remind you that you are employed by me" Jocelyne growled. "Come back immediately. It's an order"

"Not really. Jackson is in your employ. I am in your father's dependency. So I'm afraid I don't have to obey you"

Jocelyne was tempted to grab the phone and throw it against the wall. Why, why did people have to get emotional at the very worst times? Why couldn't they think about their own survival before that of others?

"In that case, I'll get there right away" Jackson exclaimed.

He was already about to rush out of the room when Robert stopped him: "Wait! It would be useless. You will never be able to arrive to Cartago, take Abe and return before the ultimatum is up"

"And what am I supposed to do, leave my brother to die?" Jackson protested.

"YOU STAY HERE!"

Jackson and Robert jumped; never would they have thought that a young girl like Jocelyne could make such a sound. She eyed them with fiery eyes and especially pointed her finger at her head of security. "Your brother has already gotten into trouble, I don't need you to end up there too! I won't let other men go to their deaths! You're in my employ, so you stay here, and that's an order! If your brother wants to play hero is his problem, but try to get through the gate of this mansion without my permission and I can swear you won't get out of town before being caught and locked up in the safest prison my father can appeal!"

Jackson looked furious but didn't say a word. Instead, he sat back in a chair, but he did so with a pained expression, as if he were straining.

Jocelyne breathed a sigh of relief. At least it seemed like Jackson had a little bit of phosphorus in his head, or at least he was loyal enough to stop when she told him to. "Let's change the subject. Professor Grant, Dr. Morgan, I need your expertise. Is there a risk of contamination for humans?"

The two people involved bit their tongues. "If you're wondering if the mutation caused by the Mother Cell can be transmitted to humans... we can't say for sure" Mitch replied. "Well, our studies are incomplete, and we clearly haven't experimented on human subjects..."

"Is there or isn't there?" Jocelyne asked in annoyance.

"We think it is unlikely" Alan explained quickly. "It all depends on which organisms the Mother Cell has already taken root. For now all the contaminated subjects have been birds, dinosaurs and pterosaurs. The mutation doesn't seem to have extended to reptiles in general, in fact we haven't noticed any anomalies in other animals. If all the reptiles can't be infected, then the mammals shouldn't be infected too. At least for now"

"Mitch and I tried testing other creatures in the same spot where we caught the eagle" Jamie explained. "We've tested mice, rats, lizards, snakes, frogs, even some larger mammals. None of them have any anomalies"

"So logically, the Mother Cell shouldn't be transmissible to humans" Jocelyne said.

"At least for the moment, no. It is possible that it will become able to do it in the future... but for now it doesn't seem to be able to be transmitted beyond certain creatures" Alan replied.

Jocelyne refocused on the call. "Abe, can you confirm that?"

"Yes, miss. All the subjects I came across were dinosaurs. No mammals, no synapsids, no crocodiles" Abe answered.

"Well, at least we're sure we're avoiding a potential biohazard" Jocelyne muttered. "Abe, now listen to me carefully: whatever happens, you have to stay alive, okay? I don't care how, just do it"

"I can't make promises" Abe replied.

"I don't care about your promises. Just stay alive" Jocelyne said before ending the call. Silence returned to the room.

Eventually it was Jackson who broke the ice. "Maybe we should talk to Mr. Jersey. We could send some help..."

"They will never arrive in time, and I honestly doubt they would do any good. We don't have the power to stand up to an army of dinosaurs, our personal militia is not an army" Jocelyne replied. "There is nothing we can do at the moment"

"So... we sit down and wait?" Jackson asked.

"I'm afraid we have no other choice. The next few hours will decide Cartago's fate. And tomorrow... no matter how things turn out, the world will know about sentient dinosaurs" she said. "And strangely, this worries me more than the dinosaurs themselves" she murmured inside her head.

**************

Abe switched off the phone. He knew miss Jersey was probably furious with him. Not to mention Jackson: his brother would surely kill him when they'll met again. But unfortunately he couldn't do anything about it: he was like that, he was altruistic. He couldn't run away knowing he was abandoning hundreds of thousands of people.

"So you stay?"

Abe turned and saw Malcolm looking at him with a questioning eye. "Do you have the habit of eavesdropping by accident?" he asked.

"Only when the safety of my family is involved. And of the city" Malcolm replied. "I appreciate that you want to stay"

"How much did you hear?" Abe asked.

"Not much. I didn't understand who your boss is, if that's what worries you" Malcolm answered.

Abe sighed in relief. "So what do you want?"

"I wanted to ask you a request" Malcolm said. "Tonight I probably won't be able to leave the mayor's office, Dreyfus will need my help. So would you mind spending the night at my house? I would feel calmer knowing that you are there to protect Ellie and Alexander"

Abe let out a half laugh. "You remember, don't you, that we met two days ago? Basically I'm a stranger. Why do you trust me?"

"Because you're brave enough to stay here instead of running away. You're not someone who abandons people" Malcolm replied. "That's enough for me. Besides, you have nice muscles, which would certainly be useful against dinosaurs"

"Do you expect that I can beat a dinosaur hand-to-hand?" Abe asked rethorically.

"No, but I bet you can gain at least a few tens of seconds" Malcolm answered.

Abe nodded. "Okay, you've won. After all, I like Ellie's cooking. I'll gladly come to your house another evening"

"Thank you" Malcolm said.