Obviously, hardly any member of the group went to sleep right away. Everyone had their chores to do before they could rest.

Jackson and the escort were working to establish a perimeter so that they could defend themselves in the event of an attack. They knew that if the dinosaurs really wanted to attack them they could do little, but their role was to defend the other members of the group and so they had to do. Furthermore, Jackson was more afraid of individual dinosaurs than of the entire herd: it was not impossible for someone to decide independently to undermine the peace by attacking them, so as to cancel the negotiation. Among humans he was full of fanatics and obsessed, it was possible that even among the dinosaurs there were such elements.

Peter, Sebas and Tuare had chosen a room and turned on their computers, sending all the material they had obtained since that day to their news houses and writing a detailed account of everything that had happened. They were there to disclose, after all, and the world expected results as soon as possible.

Chloe had retreated somewhere to contact the NMWA and inform them of the progress made. Since what she was talking about had to remain secret she had made sure to find a room away from everyone, so no one knew what she was telling governments around the world.

Finally, there was Jocelyne. Since Chloe was already thinking about reporting, the girl was exempt from this task, but that didn't mean she could sit idle. She also had people to contact. First, she had phoned her parents to reassure them that she was fine; after that, she had initiated a video call with Alan, Ian, Mitch, Robert and everyone else, to inform them of what she had discovered.

She left out nothing: from the dinosaurs' attempt to restore the forest to their hierarchical structure, from their culture to the way they welcome them. She especially detailed Sobek's words, especially what she had said about the fire. "I really don't understand. If they fear fire, then how do they make weapons and tools? Somehow they will have to melt the metal "

"We're as confused as you are" Mitch admitted. "Based on what we know from studies on various species of hominids, when a species reaches a certain degree of intelligence it automatically stops being afraid of fire. Indeed, taming the fire should be an essential act to establish any civilization"

"I wouldn't be so sure" Ian interrupted. "I'm afraid our thinking needs a change of perspective"

In a moment, all attention was on professor Malcolm, who certainly didn't ask for prayer. "You see, we take it for granted that the advancement of a civilization is linear and always follows the same path: from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, from the feudal age to the industrial age, from horses to cars. But the truth is that we have never REALLY confronted another civilization. Our studies are based on our species and other hominids, such as Neanderthals, who have very similar brains to ours. But dinosaurs have completely dissimilar brains and neuronal abilities. The path that led us humans to be the dominant species may not be the same, indeed it is very likely that it follows a different path. A road where the fear of fire remains, where other sources of energy are exploited instead of thermal ones, and where you do not rise above other creatures but live in symbiosis with them"

"Are you suggesting that dinosaurs may have evolved different ways to build weapons?" Jocelyne asked in amazement. "It's possible?"

"Technically yes. Nature provides many sources of energy, although fire is the most easily accessible" Alan explained, who agreed with Malcolm's opinion. "Electricity, for example. It is easy to get it, for example from lightning. Or the sun's rays, which if sufficiently amplified can reach temperatures sufficient to melt gold"

"Not to mention that dinosaurs can exploit 'that thing', that surely is useful" Mitch recalled referring to the Mother Cell. "It could be much more useful to him than we imagine. From what we know thanks to Spinosaurus ingens, it may even be able to modify the molecules that structure matter"

"If they were able to master such a power, they could get any tool without having to build it" concluded Robert.

Jocelyne understood very little of the scientists' words, but thought that probably the gist was: "Dinosaurs have other ways to make weapons". In practice, they could not establish with certainty how the dinosaurs managed to create their superb paraphernalia without the use of fire.

"Anyway, now at least we know they fear fire. Can we use this information to our advantage?" Alan asked.

Jocelyne shook her head. That was an unscientific matter that she could understand very well. "This information seems important, but in reality it is useless. To start a fire on such a large scale, we would have to enter the dinosaur territory directly, which is impossible given their surveillance. Any agent would be caught right away" she explained. "Also, if lord Sobek has revealed this information to us it is because he knows we cannot use it against him or his people. He is not a fool. Think about it: even if we equipped our troops with flamethrowers, the dinosaurs would just need to bombard us from a distance or let the pterosaurs attack from above to defeat our assault lines, making the use of fire useless. Unless some of you know how to generate a blaze that is several kilometers long, or even tens of kilometers, knowing that they are afraid of fire has no use to us"

Jocelyne knew the maneuvers of the political game. She knew that if the opponent revealed apparently important information lightly, she was actually aiming to lead them into a trap. Unfortunately, the cases of people who let the key element to victory escape by pure chance existed only in films.

The scientists looked disheartened, but quickly recovered and changed the subject. "So what's the next move?" Robert asked.

"For the moment, rest. The negotiations will officially begin tomorrow. First, I'll ask lord Sobek to show us the prisoners so we can make sure of their condition" Jocelyne explained. And Jackson can see Abe again, she thought to herself.

"Will he accept?"

"He has no reason to don't"

"And then?"

"I will inquire about his will. What he desires, and what he is willing to do to get it. I've already got a big picture of how dinosaurs' society work, but for the negotiations to be successful, I'll have to ask him personally. Then... we'll see "

"In that case, we better let you sleep. Tomorrow will be a hard day for you"

Indeed, the clock struck almost midnight and Jocelyne was exhausted from the journey. If she wanted to be strong the next day she had to rest at least a few hours.

After greeting everyone, she turned off the video call and went to bed. As she changed, she noticed that through the windows she could see several dinosaurs a few steps from the house sleeping peacefully, illuminated by the moonlight. This reassured her a little: if they were so calm, perhaps there was a high probability that the negotiation was successful.

**********

The next day the group woke up at the first light of dawn. Sobek had stated that they could rest as long as they wanted, but they still didn't want to make him wait too long.

They didn't take too long to get ready: after a short shower they were all ready. It was incredible that the running water still worked, but it was possible that the dinosaurs were somehow keeping the pumps running.

When they left, several dinosaurs were already in front of the house waiting for them. Without delay, they took them to Sobek as soon as the humans declared their willingness to speak to him.

Sobek was obviously awake already, in fact he hadn't even slept. After all, he could now go weeks without rest. After three evolutions his brain had grown strong enough to withstand an infinite period of wakefulness. "Welcome back, friends" he greeted them. "Come on and sit in front of me; we can talk face to face"

Jocelyne noticed that the table had disappeared, replaced by several chairs placed in front of the giant dinosaur's snout. Without delay, she sat down on the central one. "You are too kind. We don't deserve such courtesy" she said.

"Don't belittle yourself. Today our negotiations to achieve peace will begin. Yours is an important role"Sobek replied. "I hope we will be able to reach an agreement that satisfies everyone"

"We hope so too"

"I'm glad of it. So, first of all..."

Jocelyne stopped him with a wave of her hand: "Lord Sobek, if it doesn't bother you, could we see the prisoners before starting the negotiation? We would like at least to make sure of their conditions, to make sure they are well"

Sobek considered the request. It was not too expensive, in fact it was more than normal since we were talking about hostages. "Of course, I agree" he replied, lifting his immense bulk on his hind legs. "Follow me. I will take you to the prisoners"

As she stood to his full height Jocelyne felt a shiver run down her spine. Finally he had a chance to see how big the dinosaur actually was. His footsteps alone made the ground shake so much that Jocelyne feared she would end up upside down. Seeing the creature tallest than a building rise to her feet he felt her primal instinct awaken and scream at her to escape: her body desperately wanted to run away from the giant predator in front of her. "But how big is he?" she thought speechless as the dinosaur approached, noting that even its legs were larger than a human.

"Since there were many prisoners, we couldn't keep them all in the same place, not without massing them excessively, and this would have risked causing disease and infection. Furthermore, the lack of living space would have made imprisonment more intolerable and a revolt could have broken out much more easily" Sobek explained as he set out. "In order not to run into these problems, we have divided the prisoners into different areas. The one I will show you is the closest, but if you want to see them all I will not object. After all, you have the right to make sure your pack members are safe"

Each step of the spinosaurus was equivalent to at least twenty of humans. In order not to distance them, Sobek had to wait at least ten seconds between one step and the next, or they would never be able to keep up with him.

"What do you feed them? Cooked meat, just like how did you do it with us?" Jocelyne asked.

"No. We have lit the fire just for you. We give prisoners large rations of raw meat, fruit and some vegetables that we know are edible for your species"Sobek replied. "Each prisoner receives about five kilos of food a day, sorted between the various meals"

Jocelyne widened her eyes: "Five kilos of food !?" he exclaimed in surprise. Such rations were more than abundant even for a free person, let alone for prisoners! Many people around the world dreamed of such meals.

Sobek looked confused: "Is it cheap? From your size, we thought you didn't need more than three or four kilos of food a day"

"No, no! They are more than sufficient!" he hastened to assure him of Jocelyne. "Indeed, you are very generous. Where do you get so much food?"

"From the forest, of course. Plants provide us with vegetables and his creatures give us meat"

However, Jocelyne wasn't sure. "Where do you find so many animals to feed not only all your people, but also hundreds of thousands of prisoners?"

"We have our methods"

That sentence meant that Sobek had no intention of revealing his secrets, and Jocelyne understood that, so he asked no more. Sobek thanked her: if he hadn't asked for anything he wouldn't have had to irritate someone with a clear refusal. He still wanted to keep many of his secrets from him to himself, primarily the mangers: after all, logistics were the basis of any war.

Jocelyne chose to change the subject: "Did the prisoners ever cause you problems?"

"Just a few. Most of the prisoners were good and obeyed our orders. There have been some who have tried to escape, but nothing more. They haven't even managed to get through the gate, our surveillance is too high"

"No one has ever... well... forced to extreme measures?"

"No. Most of the daring few who tried to escape have returned to their seats after a simple warning. A small minority needed to be immobilized for a while before calming down, but then they were easy to manage"

"Have you ever needed to hurt someone?"

"No offense, but you humans are small and weak. The only reason to injure a prisoner would be if he was too strong to be able to immobilize him without damage. But you humans can safely be blocked by any large dinosaur just by placing a paw on it. Consequently, we never needed to hurt anyone, not even the most stubborn; we just had to immobilize the prisoner and wait for him to get tired"

Jocelyne mentally breathed a sigh of relief. The absence of victims and injured would have greatly helped public opinion and allowed for easier peacekeeping. However, she preferred to make sure of the absolute lack of deaths: "Were there no suicides?"

Humans tended to do all sorts of crazy things when they freaked out, including taking their own lives. During the Three Hundred Years War it was common for many people to commit suicide when a city was invaded in order not to fall into enemy hands, or to take their own lives after being captured in order to escape from that reality. It was therefore very possible that after being taken prisoner by dinosaurs someone might have committed certain insanities.

But against all expectations of Jocelyne, Sobek just looked at her with inquiring eyes: "What is a suicide?" he asked in a confused voice.

Jocelyne was speechless for a moment. And now what was she supposed to answer?

Of course Sobek knew very well what a suicide was, but only because he had been a human in the past life. The animals did not know the meaning of suicide. Only the domestic ones, linked to their masters by strong feelings, exhibited self-harming behaviors. But for wild animals, survival was everything; therefore, no dinosaur should even have known the word 'suicide'. Sobek had decided to stick to that line and play dumb: he too, after all, couldn't technically know what a suicide was.

Jocelyne, embarrassed, tried to put it simply: "It basically means taking your own life. Killing yourself, in fact" she replied.

"Ah, I understand. Yes, someone tried to do it during the first few weeks, but we didn't give them a chance. We have eyes and ears everywhere and we have stripped the prisoners of every possible weapon, so any attempt to… what was the word? 'Suicide' was foiled right away" Sobek explained. "Seriously, we didn't expect such an eventuality to arise. Is this normal for you humans or do you do it only in exceptional cases?"

"Um... it's a bit complicated, but no, it's not common behavior, if that's what you're asking" Jocelyne replied.

"Oh, thank goodness. No offense, but I consider it a very stupid action. What's the point of snatching your own life?"

"I think it's a kind of defense mechanism... in short, we try to escape from difficulties..."

"Nonsense. Life is the most important thing a living being has. Why snatch it off? It is as if in order to escape a predator a prey decided to kill itself. We face many difficulties in the course of our life, but as long as we still have the aforementioned life we continue to struggle"

Jocelyne shrugged: "I don't know what to answer honestly. We humans are… complicated. I guess there are incomprehensible facets of our mind. Many of them are a mystery even to us"

Sobek let out a snort. "I suppose so" he murmured in a hoarse voice, and then looked up: they had arrived at one of the squares where the prisoners were held.