Jocelyne wasn't the only one to work hard to convince world leaders that evening: Pauline also put in her own. So did Darius and Grace, who were present in the palace as prime minister and advisor to the queen. The gist of it was always the same: procrastinating didn't do any good, except to widen the gap between humans and dinosaurs, so it was best to get busy now to clear that gap.

It was a sleepless night for almost everyone. Nobody could sleep knowing they had to make that fateful decision. When the sun rose the next day its light illuminated the still awake world leaders, lying in their beds for sheer appearance.

Absolute silence reigns in the palace all morning. Nobody showed up, not even in the corridors. Only around eleven did the politicians begin to come out of their rooms and meet. But none of them seemed to have any intention of saying a word. In religious silence they gathered and walked towards the garden, their heads full of thoughts. Once they got to the gazebo, they sat in their seats and waited.

About half an hour later the truck carrying Sobek arrived and the huge spinosaurus entered the garden. Like the previous day, he lay down under the gazebo and rested his huge head on the ground, so that the humans were not forced to lift theirs. He too, however, didn't say a word.

It was only when the clock placed above the door of the building announced that it was noon that the atmosphere changed. World leaders tensed and Sobek's breathing grew heavier. "And now. The time has come to vote" Pauline said. "Anyone have questions before proceeding?"

The politicians looked at each other. Suddenly, one of them stood up: "With your permission, I would have one, which I personally believe is shared by many of my colleagues here. It's a question for you, lord Sobek"

The spinosaurus looked at the man. "I will answer your question, Mr. ...?"

"Thompson, Trey Thompson"

'Thompson… sounds familiar to me. Wasn't he a secondary character of Salvation? The one who became vice president?' Sobek thought looking at him. "Okay, Mr. Thompson. Ask me what you want"

Trey narrowed his eyes: "This is the only question that grips me: lord Sobek, are you aware of all the implications and risks that would arise if we chose to accept your proposal?"

Sobek almost laughed at the man's wit. The question basically was: 'Do you know what you are doing, or are you acting without thinking?' Consequently, based on what he would have answered he could have influenced the vote of many of those present. "If you are asking me if I have taken into account the possible attacks, the threats, the discontent of the people and so on, I did. I know that there are many risks in carrying out this action, and that is why I have already taken some precautions. For example, the twenty thousand I will bring will not be just any dinosaurs, but the ones most accustomed and knowledgeable in relationships with humans. They will be the ones who will not lose their temper in the face of a threat or a mockery. And in the same way I will put in place security measures to avoid attacks and attacks. And these are some of the precautions I intend to take. So… the answer to his question, Mr. Thompson, is yes, I have taken into account every single unforeseen event of this decision. However, I also took into account all the problems that would arise in making the opposite choice, which is to simply establish a wall between us, and I decided that it was much more convenient for both of us to go the first way. I have already made my choice; now, the choice is yours"

Trey seemed satisfied with the answer. "Thank you, Lord Sobek. I have no more questions" he said as he sat down again. What appeared to be a smile had appeared on his face. And he wasn't the only one: many others seemed much more relaxed. Sobek had shown that she knew what he was doing, so they were much more sympathetic now.

"Other questions?" Pauline asked again, and this time no one stood up. "Very good. So, let the voting begin"

The vote was obviously secret, as is the practice for each democracy, so Sobek would know the final result only once the votes were counted. Fortunately, the voting was performed via tablets, so the digital algorithm took a few seconds to calculate the result. When it was ready, Pauline announced it aloud.

"Of the 159 nations that are currently part of the Eden Union, 120 are in favor of accepting Lord Sobek's proposal, 12 have abstained and 27 are contrary" declared the Queen of Prettania. "The result is clear: since more than three quarters of the voters are in favor, the Eden Union accepts lord Sobek's proposal"

Even though he didn't show it, Sobek was beaming: even though he had a lot of faith in Jocelyne, Pauline and their allies, a democratic vote was still an uncertain fact of which one could not be sure of the outcome until the end.

Jocelyne and Pauline were also happy; Sobek could sense by their scent that they were celebrating victorious in their hearts. Many of the politicians present, on the other hand, were satisfied; no one seemed to have second thoughts about their choice. The only ones who were a bit angry were those who had voted to reject the proposal, but had no intention of protesting: a democracy was a democracy, after all, and if the majority wanted something then their wishes had to be respected.

"When will you bring the dinosaurs to the continent?" someone present asked Sobek.

"I have already agreed the plan with President Jersey here" replied the spinosaurus. "As soon as you announce the outcome of this meeting to your nations, the Great Republic of Beleriard will lend some of its ships to transport the dinosaurs. Their arrival on the continent will be determined by the navigation time"

Sobek could have simply teleported the dinosaurs to the continent, but as he has already said several times, he didn't want to reveal his ability too soon.

"There will be a need for someone to coordinate operations. Will you be the one to do it?" asked another politician.

"No. I will return to the continent. Like you, I too have my own people to manage, and even if twenty thousand of my subjects come here, there will still be millions on the other continents who need my guidance. I can't go away forever" Sobek replied. "My advisor, Old Li, will manage the operations"

Sobek knew that, of all, Old Li was the best in that field: the old ankylosaurus was kind and available to everyone, but also authoritarian if needed, and he knew how to calculate the situation well and prevent it from irreparable degeneration.

"I understand. So, if we need to, will we have to turn to this Old Li?"

"No, he will just coordinate the dinosaurs and avoid damage. He will be, let's say, a kind of foreman. If you need to discuss matters relating to the relations of our two peoples, you can do so with Al, my negotiator" Sobek replied. "He will also come to the continent and will be available for all your requests. I have full confidence in his work, so whatever you want to say to me, if I'm not available, you can tell him "

Al had now been fully reinstated in Sobek's circle and had received forgiveness for his past actions; moreover, of all of them, he was the one who had the friendliest relations with humans. There was no better dinosaur than him for discussing political issues with humans, so Sobek was happy to give him the job.

The politicians seemed satisfied. Of course, they didn't know who Al and Old Li were, but they were happy to have someone they could discuss state affairs with. After all, if Sobek hadn't been there, there had to be someone who could do the job for him.

Seeing the serene atmosphere, Pauline decided that it was time to drop the bomb: "Gentlemen, since we have concluded the questions concerning the economy and the approach we want to take with the dinosaurs, we are left with one last topic. discuss: how to behave towards the NMWA"

A veil of silence fell over those present. That was, unfortunately, the thorniest issue. Everyone knew that the NMWA would hardly agree to see its power destroyed; for the moment, what lay ahead was only a political battle, but nothing guaranteed that if pushed too far the NMWA would not decide to resort to arms.

Every politician gathered there had their own ideas on how to deal with the NMWA's anger, but at the moment everyone was more interested in the opinion of one person, indeed a single dinosaur. "What is your opinion on this, lord Sobek?" Pauline asked.

Sobek let out a snort from his nostrils. "Clearly, my hope is that this battle will only be resolved on a political scale. By showing them our superiority in the medical, economic, social and scientific fields, the nations still part of the NMWA will choose to join us, one after the other; it will take years, but doing so will prevent bloodshed. And in the end, even the superpowers and the most recidivist nations will be forced to surrender. However, even if this scenario is very feasible, we would be crazy not to prepare ourselves even for the worst case scenario"

Unfortunately, humans knew how to bring out the worst in themselves when really cornered, and Sobek had no doubts that now that they possessed the atomic bomb some superpower would eventually take a shit. "My opinion is to evaluate the various nations still part of the NMWA and establish which of them are more likely to take our side and which ones will remain loyal to the NMWA until the end. This obviously also taking into account the possibility of riots, new elections and so on. Once this is established, the best choice would be to build a defensive line on the nations already belonging to the Eden Union most at risk. It will have to be a malleable defensive line that can change over time as other nations join us. We are talking about some well-manned forts that can quickly curb the advance of an enemy army while waiting for the bulk of our army to come to the rescue"

The politicians thought hard. "So you are basically suggesting us to assess the situation, and then build a border line on the most vulnerable nations?"

"Exactly. I can provide some of my guns to build an effective anti-aircraft gun, and I can offer you the services of Pierce, my defense commander" Sobek confirmed.

Unfortunately, that was all he could do: study the situation, build a new 'Iron Curtain' and offer aid in terms of armaments and war advisers. With these precautions and the help of the dinosaurs, Eden Union could have defended itself very well from any attack by the NMWA by conventional means. Unfortunately, this was not true of nuclear bombs; Sobek had offered them the anti-aircraft on purpose to repel any missiles, but if one of them was able to pass then nothing could stop him. To solve that problem Sobek could only wait to evolve and hope that the system would guarantee a solution.

"Wouldn't it be better to deploy our armies? A massive front would be more easily defensible" one of the politicians proposed.

However, Sobek immediately shook his head: "Deploying an army on the border would be a real threat to the NMWA. We cannot give the impression that we want to open hostilities. If we did this we would not only risk the NMWA responding with an attack, but we would also alienate the sympathy of those nations that would side with us in the near future"

Pauline nodded imperceptibly, a sign that didn't go unnoticed by Sobek. Like him, the queen was also aware of the risk of nuclear war, and she understood better than anyone the need to avoid the outbreak of the conflict. "Let's put it to a vote. Is this the line of conduct we want to take towards the NMWA?"

This time the votes against were very few: no one was eager to risk an open war with the NMWA, even if they still did not know about the atomic bombs. Therefore the pacifist path was received with much favoritism.

Suddenly Jocelyne spoke: "Sorry, there is something I would like to propose"

Sobek was a little surprised; he felt that the topics to talk about were over. Had he forgotten something?

Jocelyne stood up: "It's about the attitude we want to have with other nations. As you well know, our current plan is to lure them into the Eden Union peacefully. Since specific requirements must be met to enter, we are already certain that we will not incorporate dictatorships. However, I have noticed that there is a weakness in the requirements we have imposed. My old nation, Odaria, was a democracy on paper and could easily have met the requirements to join the Eden Union, but that didn't stop rich and powerful men from controlling it from the shadows. This is because the Odaria system provided that anyone wishing to be elected had to finance the electoral campaign out of his own pocket; in fact the politicians were forced to submit to the big entrepreneurs, who could therefore put in power exactly who they wanted and establish the laws that were convenient for them. The result has been that over the years the entire political class of Odaria has turned into a group of puppets who obeyed the rich like little dogs" The girl seemed to feel some disgust as she spoke. "If we want to maintain the rights of the people in each nation of our organization, then we must eliminate this possibility. Therefore, I propose to draft a law that requires that at each election the state, regardless of which one, provides each candidate with a minimum amount of funding to pay for his election campaign. By doing so, we will reduce the risk that only puppet politicians will be elected"

"In many countries this is already the case" Trey Thompson noted. In fact, almost all the nations that were part of the Eden Union already possessed that law.

"True, but not in all. And above all, this will not be the case for those countries that will join our organization in the future. If we want to protect democracy, we have to establish this law" Jocelyne replied.

Sobek looked at the girl with satisfaction. He was happy to have her on her side: she could see problems that instead escaped him. After all, Sobek was a dinosaur, not a politician; even though he still had human memories, his mentality was that of an animal. There were factors of human politics that he could not understand or simply took for granted.

This time the vote was unanimous: most of the nations gathered already had this law and therefore had no problem making it a common condition for the whole Eden Union, and the few who had not yet adopted that law were happy not to have to anymore depend on the capitals of large industrial owners. And so that question was resolved too.

After two days the first important meeting between humans and dinosaurs ended. Others would have followed, and much effort would have been required on both sides to coexist; but the names of the politicians present at that first meeting were destined to go down in history.