"PH has dropped to more normal levels. At this rate, within a month or so it will be possible to introduce cyanobacteria and phytoplankton" Ellie said, pulling an instrument out of the water and checking its acidity. "However, the amount of nitrogen is still too low. Without it, bacteria will fail to fertilize the oceans… Alan, are you listening?"

Professor Grant shook himself. "Obviously yes, honey. You know I'm all ears"

It wasn't true. He wasn't listening to her at all. He was too lost admiring her while she worked. Alan had never been a nostalgic person, but right now he felt like he was back in the old days when they worked together. As if nothing had ever changed. It was the two of them, together, studying the environment just like in the past…

… except that the ground was now much more reddish, the two of them were protected by spacesuits and the gravity was considerably weaker. Because they were on another planet, fifty million kilometers from Eden.

After the shadow of nuclear war had become more concrete after the thermonuclear attack on the capital of Saria, many governments had seriously begun to fear that the apocalypse was indeed inevitable. The security that Eden Union had acquired over the past three years had dissolved. Now, people were seriously afraid and the heads of the nations were no exception.

In the end, many had the same idea that Sobek had long ago: to ensure that Eden's life could have a future even if the planet was destroyed. The colony of Davis was the solution to this problem. And since Sobek had revealed the existence of teleportation, the great distance was no longer a problem.

Thus, each government had chosen to send its best scientists to the colony so that they could help speed up the terraforming process. The Eden Union didn't have teleportation technology, but they did have dinosaurs. To avoid imbalances due to the sudden change in gravity, the scientists had been made to wear a heavy suit which, however, on Davis perfectly reproduced their weight on Eden. The suit was built for mobility and stretch, so people wouldn't feel too uncomfortable.

Thus, Davis had become home to thousands of scientists. Not only that, but using teleportation and the great strength of the dinosaurs they had expanded the colony. Governments had provided all sorts of resources and so very soon the colony was able to expand until it was completely self-sufficient.

The best-case scenario, of course, was that the terraforming process ended before nuclear war broke out, so that if things went badly the entire world population could be saved. Unfortunately, however, it would take another decade for the air to become breathable, although both the scientists on Ares and the tens of thousands of others on Eden were racking their brains to speed up the process as much as possible. Although teleportation and modified plants had allowed the process to be reduced from several centuries to just ten years, there were still problems that needed time to solve.

After Blue obtained Sobek's permission and the first colonists used nuclear bombs to melt the polar ice caps, the face of the planet rapidly began to change. The previously frozen water had turned to rain and for at least a couple of months a global storm of incredible proportions had battered the entire planet, forming lakes and rivers and then small oceans. That had been the turning point: thanks to the water, the modified plants had finally been able to start growing and releasing the enormous quantities of oxygen and carbon dioxide trapped in the Davis' soil. Carbon dioxide had begun to trap the Sun's heat and so other ice reserves had melted and the oceans had expanded. Before long, much of Davis' surface was covered in an ocean several hundred meters deep. With ever-increasing water and heat, the modified plants had spread rapidly across the planet's surface, pumping more and more oxygen and carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, making it thicker and denser. Seen from space, Davis was starting to look a lot like Eden.

Now, the temperature on the planet was acceptable. The sky, from reddish that it was, had slowly turned blue thanks to the enormous amount of oxygen. In addition, oxygen colliding with solar radiation had started to form an ozone layer. Unfortunately, however, it wasn't enough.

Two things were still missing to make Davis truly habitable: nitrogen and a magnetic field.

Eden's atmosphere was composed of only one-third of oxygen, while more than 70% was composed of nitrogen. Without the nitrogen, the atmosphere of Davis was still toxic despite being rich in oxygen. It was already possible to breathe, but only for a few minutes before all that oxygen became poisonous. More, such an atmosphere was extremely flammable: scientists had to be extremely careful when moving outside the colony, because even a single spark could ignite a fire of continental proportions.

Unfortunately nitrogen wasn't something easily found on Davis, and being an element and not a compound it was impossible to produce it artificially. We had to go get it from somewhere else.

The simplest solution was one of the moons of the gas giant Behemoth, Titan. It had an atmosphere very rich in nitrogen. The basic idea was to use the teleportation of the dinosaurs to transport large quantities of nitrogen from there to Davis. However, it would have taken years to fill the planet's atmosphere. Without the teleportation it would have taken at least two generations; with the teleportation this period of time decreased, but in fact it still took a whole decade.

Some scientists had proposed taking nitrogen from several celestial bodies at the same time, for example from the planet Aphrodites or from some moons of the gas giants, but unfortunately this would have reduced the necessary time only by a little.

And then, there was the second big problem: the magnetic field, without which even with a breathable atmosphere it would have been impossible to settle on Davis without protection.

Eden had a very strong magnetic field that deflected lethal radiation from the Sun. Davis didn't have one, however. He was utterly defenseless against the star's lethal rays. While that was good for now, since more solar radiation meant more ozone production, as long as the planet didn't have a magnetic field it would have been impossible to move outside the colony without spacesuits.

The solution the scientists had come up with was quite simple: build a giant magnetic umbrella and place it at the L1 point of Davis. The L1 point was a position that would have allowed the magnetic umbrella to orbit around the Sun always maintaining the same position with respect to Ares, thus continuously protecting it from solar radiation.

The plan was basically to build a huge superconducting ring powered by enormous solar panels. Since the Sun alone wasn't powerful enough, the colonists also had to build a set of mirrors that reflected more sunlight back to the magnetic umbrella. This space-based facility would constantly protect Davis from lethal radiation. Unfortunately, however, building it wasn't so simple. Thanks to the teleportation, the colonists weren't without resources since they could use the asteroids as sources of metals and materials, but to build and assemble everything would still take time.

Both of these projects were very long and tiring. Therefore, governments around the world had agreed that making the colony completely self-sufficient was necessary. This way, even if the world ended, the colonists could have completed these two projects themselves and thus concluded the terraforming. At that point, they should have contributed to the rebirth of all living species.

All the scientists left on Eden had embarked on a titanic undertaking: to obtain, catalog and preserve the DNA of every living animal species, every seed of every existing plant, and even the genetic maps of bacteria, fungi and protozoa, to then send them on Davis, where they had been stored in a huge airtight structure beneath the colony. If nuclear war broke out, the colonists would have to use these seeds to rebuild the biosphere and give living species a second chance. Not only that: all historians, men of letters, scholars and so on had joined together to transfer all human knowledge, every single piece of knowledge, to a huge database stored in the most powerful supercomputer in the world, created by uniting the minds of all mathematicians and technicians and with the unlimited resources and funds provided by the Eden Union. Virtually all of human history would have been stored inside that supercomputer. Once completed, this supercomputer too had been transferred to Davis and carefully preserved. A further load had been the works of art: the most important paintings, statues, documents and even holographic sculptures had been sent to the red planet. Finally, the governments of the Eden Union had begun to select a certain number of individuals, including artists, poets, philosophers, politicians and other cornerstones of human society, who were to join the scientists in the colony if the situation worsened. With these assumptions, the Eden Union was sure that human society could be reborn.

The dinosaurs had been happy to offer their support and skills. More animals were now present in the colony to help the scientists. Eema, under the orders from Sobek, had also been sent there to help with the construction. And although very few knew it, Sobek had also secretly prepared a list of dinosaurs that would have to flee to Ares in case atomic war broke out.

For the moment, however, the situation was still miraculously stable. Despite all the precautions taken and the fear that was spreading, there had been no real sign of a nuclear apocalypse. Four months after the thermonuclear attack, the Empire had still not dropped any bombs.

Currently, the situation on the battlefield could be summed up as follows: the dinosaurs had established a front and then waited. The imperials had done the same. From then on, no one had made decisive moves; fighting broke out every now and then, but it often resulted in a retreat on both sides. Having gone to great lengths to provoke war, the Imperials seemed strangely reluctant to act, and the dinosaurs were unwilling to attack for fear of a second nuclear strike. Therefore, both waited. Some hoped that the situation would be resolved with an armistice or in any case with a tacit non-aggression agreement, but most of the world's population didn't see it that way. This is why the governments had insisted so much on sending so many scientists to Davis.

Alan and Ellie, of course, were two of this scientists. Given their popularity and influence in academia, it was impossible for them not to be chosen. Alan didn't mind it: not only did he appreciate the idea of being one of the pioneers of terraforming another planet, but so Ellie would be safe despite the probable imminent disaster. The only part he didn't like… was that he was forced to interact with HIM every day.

"Ellie, what questions are you asking? It's obvious he wasn't listening to you!". Ian Malcolm's petulant voice reached his ears promptly. "This incredible romantic guy was too busy observing your lovely figure. Am I right, Alan?"

Alan sighed, summoning all of his mental resistance not to grab his friend by the space suit and throw them into the water. Only the awareness that due to the weight Ian would have drowned and even if surely the world would have benefited from his death, Alan didn't want to be responsible for a murder.

Of course, Ian had also been selected to go to Davis. Professor Malcolm was considered too important for him to risk his life on a planet ready to explode. His contribution had been remarkable: with his mathematical knowledge, Ian had helped to improve the plans for the construction of the magnetic umbrella. However, the side effect of his presence on Ares was that Alan had to put up with it every day. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

"Professor Malcolm, you disappoint me. You should know Alan by now. Behind that simpleton face hides a predator of the worst kind. Other than looking at Dr. Sattler's ravishing figure, he was calculating how he's going to pounce on her tonight."

Alan turned to where that voice had come from. Not far away a man was approaching holding some vials full of samples in his hand. It was Billy.

After the regenerative abilities of dinosaurs had begun to be studied in the medical field, many new therapies had emerged. Billy was constantly updated on them and so one day he discovered that some doctors wanted to try an experimental therapy to rebuild the damaged spine and were looking for volunteers. Billy hadn't missed the opportunity and had participated despite the great risks represented by an experimental therapy. The surgery had been successful and he had regained the ability to walk, albeit with some awkwardness since not all of his nervous system had been fully repaired. However, he was now able to move without the wheelchair again. Given his optimal physical condition again, the leaders of the Eden Union had selected him to join the colony of Davis; after all, he was Professor Grant's protégé and had turned out to be a brilliant person.

Alan had been happy to have him there. The problem was that, strangely, after a few days of living together Billy and Ian had discovered that they had a lot in common. After less than a couple of weeks they had become inseparable friends. And so, they had teamed up to become the champions of their new favorite Olympic sport… drive Professor Grant crazy.

Luckily, Ellie was there to help. "Gentlemen, forgive me if I say this so bluntly, but… you are idiots" she told them.

"Never a definition was more appropriate" Alan grumbled.

Ian patted him on the shoulder in response. "Of course we are idiots! Otherwise, how could we be here joking and smiling despite the fact that the world we were born in is about to end? It is clear that we must possess a high rate of idiocy"

The vein on Alan's temple began to swell. "Rather, what are you doing here? Didn't you go to the rocks with Sarah, at least two beaches away from here?"

"Yes, but she kicked me out"

"For real? I never imagine that..."

"I don't understand why. She and Jamie were busy collecting hydrothermal rock samples and I just thought that I could join in the conversation. After just five minutes my beautiful woman gave me a killer look and she said 'either you leave, or I'll use this drill on your skull'. She was joking, of course… but I'm only sixty percent sure."

'Blissful ignorance' Alan thought. From his point of view, the probability that Sarah was joking was less than zero percent, not sixty.

"Anyway, it's not a problem, they should be back any moment. Oh, there they are!" Ian exclaimed as he saw the two women approach from a distance. "So, honey? Do you finish?"

"Not thanks to you" Sarah replied sharply. She seemed to be ready to leap on Professor Malcolm and tear him apart, then dance on his grave, laughing to boot.

Any person with common sense would have been slyly silent. But Ian obviously lacked the instinct for self-preservation. "It's your fault. I wanted to help you. You're the one who sent me away..."

"Ian, one more word and I swear I'll take off your helmet. I'm not joking" Sarah threatened.

Ellie approached Jamie, who was grinning trying to not get noticed. "What did he do this time?"

"Oh, nothing…" Jamie replied biting her tongue to keep from laughing. "He has only begun to give us an accurate description of Dr. Hardy's favorite position in bed"

Ellie let out a sob and tried her best to not laugh back at her. Sarah's murderous gaze stopped her. Realizing that the woman's threat wasn't bogus at all and that surely Ian wouldn't listen to her, and since she didn't want to see her longtime friend reduced to a corpse (even though she was more than sure that Alan would uncork a bottle of champagne at that sight and would have drained it all in one gulp), she hurried to bring everyone back to the rover, where even without the helmet Ian would not have risked death. "I think it's time to go back to the colony. All aboard, come on!"

"Wait, Mitch and Robert are still missing" Billy reminded her.

"We can wait for them on the rover"

"But…"

"On the rover!"

The group understood that Ellie didn't want to hear reasons and they decided to oblige her. Just in time, because as soon as they were inside the rover Sarah she snatched the helmet off Ian's head and started slapping him savagely, completely oblivious to the fact that she still had the gloves on and so her slaps were ten times bigger bad. Alan smiled as he was in heaven as he watched this scene and almost wished he had brought along some popcorn.

Mitch and Robert joined them shortly after. Seeing Professor Malcolm passed out on the ground and with his face red as a pepper, they tried to ask for an explanation, but it was enough for them to see the warning expressions of the others and Sarah's furious gaze to understand that it was better to ignore the body lying on the floor of the rover. So, they put themselves at the controls and set off again in the direction of the colony.

Like Ian, Ellie, Alan and Billy, Sarah, Jamie, Mitch and Robert had also been selected to be sent to Davis. After all, Sarah was an expert biologist and one of the first scientists who had studied intelligent dinosaurs, Mitch and Jamie were both renowned experts in the field of biology, and Robert was the one who had first theorized the existence of the Mother Cell. They were all prominent figures in the academic world, so there was no way they weren't sent to Davis to help proliferate the biosphere. Basically, the original team was back together… with the exception that the person who had united them all was missing, namely Jocelyne Jersey, who was obviously busy making the president of a nation and using all her eloquence to avoid a disastrous war. And besides her, Jackson and Abe were also missing, who had not been able to abandon their roles alongside the president of Beleriard. Though Robert would much rather have his boys there, safe on Davis, he knew he couldn't ask much of them.

The rover reached the colony just half an hour later. By now, the dome that covered it had grown to at least ten football fields, and inside it you could see several buildings and numerous people at work. Once inside, the group alighted from the rover (leaving an unconscious Professor Malcolm behind) and headed towards one of the buildings.

"Svern! Hey, Svern! Where are you, you fat chicken?" Billy shouted as soon as they were inside. He didn't have time to finish speaking when a large utahraptor appeared in his field of vision.

"I'm here, and I'm not a chicken" he protested. "Do you have the samples?"

"Yeah, everything you asked for" Billy replied placing the samples on a table. "The PH levels in the water are reaching an acceptable stage, but the salinity of the rocks is still too high. And then there are some minerals that…"

Billy went on to explain to Svern everything they had found on their jaunt outside the colony. Alan felt a strange feeling to see them talking so friendly. Because that utahraptor… was the same one that almost killed Billy.

Just like humans, the number of dinosaurs had also increased significantly in the colony. They were not warriors, but those who were considered the most intelligent in animal society, recruited by Blue himself. Among them there was Svern. Initially, when they arrived on the planet, Billy hadn't even recognized him, but he had noticed that the utahraptor was looking at him strangely. After a few hours, however, that utahraptor appeared before him and declared his identity as his 'murderer'.

Initially Billy had been scared, but then Svern had made clear his intentions: he had come to apologize. He'd admitted that, despite the predicament they'd been in years ago, he'd been wrong to hit him like that. Despite his fear, Billy had listened to him and finally accepted his apology, and in turn admitted that, after all, it was his and Alan's fault that this fight had happened. Thus, the two were reconciled. For some time they had kept their distance, but then, since they worked in the same industry, they had been forced to interact. Initially they had limited their relationship to pure professionalism, but then the more time passed the more they realized they had many things in common. In the end, Billy decided to put the past behind him and the two became great friends. Alan had been a little puzzled, but Billy had told him there was no point in holding a grudge for something that happened when the two sides were actually still hostile to each other. Therefore Alan had accepted that bizarre friendship, although he still felt some anger towards the utahraptor that had almost killed his pupil.

"Oh, I almost forgot" Svern said when Billy finished talking to him. "Liam came here before. He told me to tell you that he, the captain, Blue and Eema have to talk to you "

"I see. Let's go now" Alan said. "Thanks, Svern"

"Don't worry" the utahraptor replied and then went back to his work.

The group headed for the house of Jamie, the captain of the expedition chosen by Darius Tanz, even though the girl was now more of a mayor than a captain. Since the colony was now self-sufficient, she was in no uncertain terms the leader of an entire city of scientists. When they arrived the guard at the door, Lazlo, immediately ushered them through. Inside the house they found Jamie, Liam, Blue and Eema waiting for them.

"Thanks for coming" Jamie greeted them. "Where is Professor Malcolm?"

"Passed out on the rover" Sarah replied.

"Why? Is it bad? Did something happen to him?"

"No, he did something"

Jamie was clearly confused, but noticing Sarah's glare she preferred to not investigate. "We asked you to come because we are ready to start a program to collect nitrogen and the materials needed to build an artificial magnetic field"

"For real? Now that's good news!" Billy exclaimed. "What's the plan?"

"We calculated the amount of material needed to build the magnetic umbrella and inspected several asteroids, and finally found three that were particularly rich in minerals. By mining those, we can get enough material to build our own solar radiation shield" Liam explained. "As for the nitrogen…"

"We have mapped the surface of Titan and identified the most promising areas for building bases" Eema said. "There we will build large stations fed by tidal waves from methane lakes that will suck up the atmosphere and compress the gases into liquids. After that we will teleport them here and detonate them in the upper atmosphere to spread them. If the work continues, we could bring here the 3,000 trillion tons of nitrogen needed to form a breathable atmosphere within a decade"

"The ideal would be to be able to replicate our teleportation ability" Blue grumbled. "In that way, factories could be fully automated and nitrogen stacks would be beamed directly into the upper atmosphere. That would shorten the time a bit, even if only by a year or two"

"Right, teleportation technology" Mitch muttered. "How are the tests going?"

After the Empire had proven the existence of teleportation technology, the Eden Union was looking to replicate it. Not only would it have guaranteed enormous advantages in terms of transport, but it could also allow humanity to move in space without the help of dinosaurs. This would have meant a great advantage for the colony, since humans were experts in robotics and with teleportation technology they could have obtained the materials they needed without the dinosaurs having to move throughout the solar system. Therefore, many scientists had thrown themselves into the challenge and governments had even sent spies in the hope of being able to steal that technology from the Empire, but there had been no developments yet.

"Darius contacted me yesterday. He says they're still trying" Liam replied. Of course, one of the first to research teleportation technology was Darius Tanz. "There are promising speculations, but… still no results"

"Don't worry. I know how difficult it is. It's a marathon, not a sprint" Blue said, then she looked at the group of scientists in front of her. "We have summoned you to hear your opinion. We wanted to know if, from your point of view, we should also get some other elements to speed up the terraforming"

Ellie shook her head. "I don't think there is any need to worry. Our analyzes show that the planet's chemistry is responding well to our changes. The only thing missing now is a good amount of nitrogen"

"With the nitrogen, the cyanobacteria and phytoplankton that we'll introduce will have an abundance of food and will be able to produce chemical compounds useful to other forms of life, fertilizing our oceans" Mitch explained. "Once this process is completed, the oceans will be able to accommodate all kinds of complex life forms, even whales or mosasaurs"

"So you don't think we should get any more gas?"

"No. At now, the atmosphere is practically perfect. Only nitrogen is missing"

Eema she headed for the door. "In that case, I warn my team to prepare. We'll get to work as soon as you give us the all clear, captain"

"I'll do it asap" Jamie replied. The triceratops came out soon after. "You continue to monitor how the planet's environment reacts to our changes. If you notice any anomalies, notify me immediately"

"Certainly, captain" Alan replied politely.

Just then a voice was heard from outside the door: "I told you I'm with them! I'm Professor Malcolm, you brainless gorilla! Hey… hey, wait, wait!"

Alan stood still for a second, then dashed for the window. "I have to see this!" he exclaimed sticking his face to the glass. The rest of the people present just laughed.

*******

"So are you sure?"

"Absolutely, your Imperial Majesty. Our telescopes and the spies we have positioned in the Eden Union have confirmed this for us. The colony on Davis is now completely self-sufficient and is able to complete the terraforming process on its own"

Wafner carefully read the report his general had brought him. As he did so, a satisfied smile crept across his face. "Marvelous. Finally, the last piece fell into place" he said. "We are ready to launch the Last Hope plan"

The Emperor of Almagna got up from his desk. "Transmit my order to the others. You have twenty-four hours to set our trap. When that time is up, you must attack"

"Yes, your majesty. Don't worry, we know what we have to do"

"I hope so. Make sure you catch that asshole"

"It will be done, your majesty"

The general went out. Wafner was left alone in the room. He stood staring at the wall for a minute, already savoring his victory. After that, he came out of his study and walked along the corridors of the military base where he was staying. The soldiers bowed to him respectfully, but he didn't even look at them.

After a short walk, he arrived in front of a huge glass window that overlooked a rather dark room. However, it was possible to distinguish several teleportation devices that created a circle in the center. And in the center of the circle was a gigantic figure made up of wires and joints and metal plates.

Wafner grinned maliciously. Finally the time had come. He had had to wait years, but now that wait would be worth it. It was time to kill that cursed spinosaurus and wipe out the plague of the intelligent animals once and for all.