"This is ridiculous"

"I told you that you should have disguised yourself"

"I was thinking of a fake mustache! Why am I dressed like this!?"

"I couldn't think of anything else to get you to put on a balaclava"

Ellie was trying hard not to laugh, but it was next to impossible. Not with Alan next to her bare-chested, in a pair of sexy knickers, a balaclava on his head and tied by big chains.

The two entered the Department. It was night, so it was obviously deserted, but some people were always there: guards, orderlies, and obviously some technicians who kept the situation under control even when everyone was asleep. After all, if an emergency occurred, someone had to be ready to intervene.

In fact, as soon as they entered they had not taken three steps before four guards met them. "Doctor Sattler!" they greeted her. "How come here at this time? And who is yours… "Their eyes widened as they saw Alan. "… friend?"

Ellie laughed under her mustache. "He's my new boyfriend. Let's say we were having fun in bed, when a… accident happened" she replied trying to remain serious. "It is enough for you to know that this morning when I came to work I put a couple of keys in my bag that were not those of the house, and then I forgot them here"

It took the guards a moment to understand, then they couldn't help themselves and laughed out loud. "AH AH! This is good! Sorry friend, but it's too funny! " they exclaimed throwing several sympathetic slaps to Alan, who was probably smoking under his hood.

"I would have come alone, but she wants to get that stuff off as soon as possible," Ellie explained. "The hood is tied up too, see?" she said pointing to the chains closed by powerful padlocks that prevented the balaclava from coming off.

"Yes, we understand. Go ahead, you should find them! " the guards laughed as they let them pass.

As soon as they were away from them, Alan growled, "Did it really work?"

"It's the advantage of being in a high position, never breaking in and being nice to everyone. Nobody here would think that the well-known and loving Dr. Sattler intends to break the law, "Ellie explained. "Trust me, for these people it is much more credible that my new lover has been blocked by BDSM games and that I have lost the key here"

"Mph. What idiots "

"Nah, they're just human beings. When you are social, people always end up trusting you, even if you behave absurdly afterwards. Your problem, Alan, is that you have always been a bear"

When she accepted Alan's request, Ellie knew that the man had no hope of entering the Department by showing his face: they would recognize him immediately, and considering that he was currently there for all to see due to wiretapping they would never do it. to pass. Even sneaking in was impossible due to too much surveillance. Maybe they would even arrest him. The only solution therefore was to make him wear a balaclava, but justifying such clothing was difficult. In the end she Ellie had found no other solution than to make the poor man pass as her BDSM playmate who had accidentally been tied up like a salami. Ellie found the situation amusing, Alan a little less.

"One question: where did you find this stuff?"

"Oh, you would be surprised to know how I have fun on a Saturday night"

"What!?"

"Does it surprise you? I am a single mother whose children have finally left home. I feel the need to explore new emotions "

Alan preferred not to delve into it.

The two quickly reached Ellie's office. As they passed, not a few people saw them in passing, but they didn't say a word and just called the guards at the entrance. From the laughter that came immediately after Alan realized that the story was now in the public domain. Very soon even the people they passed would no longer call the guards, but burst out laughing directly.

Once inside Ellie's office Alan was finally able to take off his hood. "Are you sure there are no cameras?"

"Don't worry, there isn't even one" replied the woman. "Anyway for me you should keep it. You're sexy dressed like this "

Alan said nothing, but from his expression it seemed that he was premeditating a genocide.

Ellie sat down at her desk and started working. The Department's computer was very powerful and was protected against outside eavesdropping. Even so, however, being able to open a safe channel was very difficult. It took her ten minutes before she was sure she was able to evade the controls. "It's done, but we won't have much time"

"I know" Alan replied. The screen was silent for a moment, then the video clicked and Jocelyne appeared on the screen. "Alan, you did it! Great job…" she froze. "How are you dressed?"

"This is not the time!" the man growled.

"Right" Jocelyne said, but from her expression it was clear that she was having a hard time not laughing. "Nice to meet you, Dr. Sattler. Thanks for your help"

"Forget about it. Anyway you have to hurry. I don't know how long I'll be able to encrypt the connection" Ellie replied.

"Yup. Alan, here's what happened in the last few hours" Jocelyne said, and she briefly told them about the proposal she had made to the dinosaurs. When he finished, the two scientists were shocked.

"It's the strangest negotiation I've ever heard" Ellie began.

"I know, but it's our only chance. Until we are able to understand where everything started from and how we can manage the situation, the only solution is to eliminate any reason for war"

"And the dinosaurs will accept?" Alan asked.

"They have no reason not to"

Ellie shook her head. "Governments won't agree. This peace proposal will guarantee stability in the short term, but leaves many uncertainties for the future"

"I know, that's why we have to force them to accept. Here you are". A sound on the screen signaled the arrival of an email. "I just sent you three newspaper articles that were written by the reporters present here. They illustrate very well what I have in mind and the benefits it will bring. You have to take them to their publishing agencies. At the moment, the masses are our best weapon"

Ellie nodded. "All clear" she said, downloading the contents of the email onto a stick. "We will do it"

"Thank you, Dr. Sattler"

"Alan trusts your judgment, so I'll trust me too. If this is really the only solution, so be it. There's more?"

"No"

"So goodbye, miss Jersey"

Ellie immediately turned off the link. She from her point of view had left it open for too long. "Here we go"

Alan nodded and put the balaclava back on. "Ellie, seriously, you're awesome" he let out.

"This is not the time. And anyway, I know it"

The two walked backwards through the building. When they reached the ground floor the four guards greeted them with amusement. "So, do you find the keys?"

"Yes" Ellie said pointing to Alan, who was fumbling with a tiny key to unlock the chains. There were at least twenty-five padlocks, so it was justifiable that he still hadn't been able to free himself and take off his hood. "Apparently they ended up in the trash can"

"You are lucky then that the attendants don't empty them before four o'clock! Have a good evening!"

The two left the Department, and obviously behind them the laughter of the guards could be heard again. Alan paid no attention this time: by now he had made a call. They reached the car and there the scientist was finally able to take off that damn hood.

"Don't worry, now let's go home and you can get dressed" Ellie assured him, then looked at the key. "And then we'll send this to the journalistic giants"

*********

Sobek used to get lost in his own thoughts, but it usually happened because he had to plan something himself. It was the first time that this bewilderment stemmed from someone else.

"That little girl... who expected her to be such a prodigy?" the spinosaurus murmured.

His initial plan was only to buy enough time with negotiations and hostages to fully rally his army, and then use his new, immense strength to force governments to listen to him. He certainly didn't aim to rule the world, but he wasn't an idealist: from his point of view, there was no omelet if you didn't break the eggs. Humanity would not have changed only with beautiful words.

But maybe there really could be another way? Jocelyne had shown him new possibilities. Perhaps violence wasn't the best solution.

Sobek's plan was a long one; the spinosaurus could force humans to listen to him and change their way of life, but being able to coexist with them would be more difficult since humans would see him as an autocrat and a tyrant. Achieving coexistence would have been a long process that would take decades, perhaps even centuries, and that Sobek aimed only to lay the foundations and then leave the job to subsequent generations.

But maybe there could be a safer way. With a simple peace agreement, Jocelyne had guaranteed not only that the dinosaurs would be free and regain their territory, but also that humans would have to change their energy and food systems. No imposition, no violence: just a mutual agreement between both sides, in which the dinosaurs came out more than victorious.

Was another war inevitable? Sobek was sure so. The System wouldn't have guaranteed him two more evolutions otherwise. But was there a way to make such wars as short and as bloody as possible?

With acts of violence and force Sobek would make himself known as an invader, and humans would develop a sense of resentment towards him. If he too had managed to control the entire planet, uprisings and riots would have been the order of the day. There were potentially dozens of wars.

With Jocelyne's method, however, Sobek would have made himself known simply as a charismatic leader who aimed at the safety of his people and did not intend to harm humans in any way. This would have greatly facilitated any future interaction and indeed, would probably have guaranteed him a lot of support among humans, since people adored heroic and thirsty for justice figures. There would probably have been wars, it was difficult for humans to give up their excessive power out of the blue, but there would have been much less.

Jocelyne, however, had a flaw: he took it for granted that the weapons that humanity could deploy were those it already possessed. But Sobek knew this was not the case. By invading and subduing humanity, he could have kept their weapons under control; if he had instead stepped aside, aiming for a more peaceful coexistence, he would have given humans the possibility to build weapons of mass destruction. And if humans created an atomic bomb… he didn't even want to think about it.

Sobek's original plan was long and tiring, but he guaranteed that no high-powered weapons would ever appear. Instead, the path Jocelyne showed him opened the door to an extremely uncertain future.

Sobek didn't know what to do. If he could, he would have chosen the latter, but the risk of weapons of mass destruction entering Eden was too great to ignore. God said the System was designed to help him, but would he be able to defend it against nuclear bombs?

"Old Li, what do you think?" he asked. After so much thinking, he wanted someone's advice.

The ankylosaurus let out a low. "I don't see why we shouldn't accept. Fulfilling their requests costs us nothing and they will give us what we want. Furthermore, the girl is right to say that in doing so, peace will last longer"

"Already. And even if humans violate it, we will have plenty of time to prepare our army" Buck added. "We will be able to transform a group of recruits into well trained warriors, and that would give us an advantage"

Sobek listened to both of them, then looked at the other three commanders as well. "And you?"

"I agree. It's the safest route at the moment" Blue said.

"I agree. I'm in favor too" Apache added.

Carnopo snorted. "I hate humans, but I won't let that cloud my judgment. I agree with them. If I know humans well sooner or later they will violate the peace, but we will have time to create a much larger army than the one we currently have"

"What are you really worried about, pack leader?" Old Li asked him, who evidently had guessed the state of mind of the spinosaurus.

Sobek snorted deeply. "I would like to accept too, but I'm afraid to leave humans the opportunity to arm themselves in turn. You see, long ago I had… a vision. Like the ones I showed you long ago. And in this vision I saw a weapon so terrible that it turned the sky into flames and the rock into steam". It was not true, but it was the only way to justify his knowledge of nuclear weapons since they did not yet exist. "I fear that, if we give humanity time to organize, they will create that monstrosity"

The five dinosaurs fell silent at those words and their eyes became worried. Something that could set the sky ablaze and vaporize the earth certainly sounded absurd to the ears of those who had never seen a nuclear bomb, but Sobek had already proved he was not telling nonsense as crazy as his words might seem. "Can you show it to us?" Old Li asked.

Sobek didn't have it repeated and through the [Contract] shared with them one of the memories of him showing the mushroom cloud rising high on the horizon. This time he did not need to calculate the shots or modify the images: the devastation that the atomic explosion caused was enough to cause terror within anyone's heart. Sobek couldn't blame the five dinosaurs when they jumped and nearly fell to the ground in fright.

When the vision ended, none of them seemed so sure it was a good idea to strike a long-term peace with humans. Sure, dinosaurs could use that time to arm themselves and improve themselves… but humans would too. And that meant that there was a strong possibility that nuclear would make its way into Eden.

In the end Carnopo was the first to ask the fateful question: "So... what do we do?"

Sobek shook his head. "I don't know. For the first time, I don't have a clear plan to follow" he replied. The other dinosaurs shared his pessimism. It was rare to see their leader so uncertain.

But suddenly Old Li spoke up: "So what? Every form of life in this world does not have a clear plan to follow. You can plan your life as much as you want, but the unexpected always happens. You can't control everything, pack leader" the old ankylosaurus said. "Are you afraid that this weapon will be created? You do well. I have it too. But this is something beyond our control. We cannot know what circumstances will lead humans to build that weapon. They could do it during the long period of peace that we will get if we accept the negotiation, but they could also do it because we have refused peace and they will decide out of fear to create something that can stop us. Or it will be an event still different from these two. We can't know"

"But we know it will be created. Isn't it my duty to try to prevent this, as pack leader?" Sobek pointed out.

But Old Li shook his head. "No, pack leader, it is not your duty. Your duty is to protect us, not to worry about something that is out of your control. Just as you can't stop a storm from raging, you can't change what fate has decided. Humans will create that weapon, or maybe not; it doesn't matter, we'll take care of it when the time comes. You cannot live in fear of something you don't even know if and when it will happen, pack leader; if you do, then we can already declare ourselves losers, because the instant we let paranoia and fear take over our hearts, we have already lost. I ask you, pack leader, to ponder your current choice not on a vision, but on what is concrete and current. You must think of our brothers who are still prisoners of humans and of all the lives we will save by obtaining peace. This is what we need to think about now. Any danger of the future... will be a concern of the future"

The words of the old ankylosaurus hit Sobek deeply. Was he really he getting it all wrong? Should he put his worries about the atomic war behind him and think about the current problems? Looking to the future, but not at the expense of the present? Was that the way he had to follow?

He looked at his other advisers. Buck, Carnopo, Apache and Blue were silent, but from their gaze Sobek knew that they agreed with Old Li, at least to a large extent. "I need to reflect. Leave me alone" he finally said. The five dinosaurs nodded and walked away.

Sobek lay down and stared up at the stars. He felt as lost as ever since he had come to that world. Did he really have to review his own strategy? All the plans, all the calculations, all his work, had to be put aside in favor of a different approach? He had to stop thinking about the future and limit himself to… what? To have faith that things could go well?

'But I'm not a person of faith. I'm a realist' thought the spinosaurus. 'How can I pin my hopes on the future, when I am aware of what humanity is capable of doing? How can I believe that everything will go the right way?'

He didn't know what to do. He found himself staring at the clear, star-studded sky for hours, unable to make up his mind. Eventually, he found himself doing something he had never done in his life, and that as far as he remembered he hadn't done in his previous life.

'Hey, God… can you hear me? I guess so, you said you are omniscient. Sorry, I know you said you wouldn't interfere, but… I urgently need some advice, so forgive this selfish son of yours' he murmured in his mind. 'Please tell me what to do. I am afraid, for myself and for all those who follow me. Should I choose a peaceful and insecure way, or a more violent and bloody one? Both have the potential to lead to a black future. Please tell me something, or give me a sign. I don't know, a shooting star, a bush on fire, the invasion of frogs, a river tinged with blood... something biblical, or something like that... something that allows me to see the right path to follow'

Sobek suddenly felt something. He didn't know how it was possible, but he felt as if his body was surrounded by two large hands, as if in a hug, even if it was impossible since his current shape made hugs impossible. It was a warm, maternal embrace, and as that feeling enveloped him Sobek felt all his worries vanish, and for the first time in a long time he felt truly safe, as if anything in heaven and earth, even the most violent of supernova or the most voracious of black holes, could not even scratch it. And then he caught a glimpse of a voice in his right ear, a voice that he remembered well who it belonged to.

"Who is the real hero? Who wins wars, who saves people in wars, or who with commitment, sacrifice and effort manages to prevent wars from even starting?"

Sobek snapped as soon as he heard those words and turned his head, but he didn't see anyone. The feeling of the warm embrace that enveloped him faded as quickly as it had come, and Sobek realized he could barely remember the whirlwind of emotions it had generated, as if it had all been a dream or a hallucination. Yet it had been real, he knew it had been. His body was feverish, yearning for that magnificent touch again, and his mind was focused on the words he had heard, almost as if he feared forgetting them.

He spent the whole night reflecting on them, trying to understand their meaning. And when the sun came up he had made his decision.

When Jocelyne arrived to confer with him, Sobek began with just two words: "I accept"