Domesticating Dragons
Page 19
The woodpecker cackled again, basking on the cusp of freedom. It spread its wings, turned away.
And flew right into the dragon’s jaws.
Crunch.
I stood in shocked silence. Then I pumped my fist in the air. “Oh yeah!”
The executives cheered. So did the guards and the dragon handlers.
I still couldn’t believe my flier had pulled it off. He must have swooped around the wall. Probably flew thirty, forty miles an hour to reach the other side so quickly.
Now, seeing no more airborne targets, it banked its dark wings and glided back to the nest. Settled in among its siblings and preened, knowing we were all watching. The stands thundered with applause. Evelyn and the other executives all wore smiles and shook hands in decorous celebration.
I kept my eyes on Greaves. Only his opinion truly mattered here. He was quiet and unreadable behind his sunglasses. He leaned over to say something to Evelyn. She beckoned to me.
“Oh boy,” I whispered.
“Be confident,” Korrapati said. “That dragon speaks for itself.”
Wong nudged me and grinned. “Remember us when you are lao-bahn.”
I tried to swallow, but my mouth was dry as a desert. “Yeah.”
I hurried over, conscious of everyone’s eyes on me. The sudden attention made me nervous as a kindergartener.
“Quite a dragon,” Greaves said.
“Thank you.” I felt out of breath, though I wasn’t winded. I guess it was the thrill of talking to him. “Worked out even better than the simulator predicted.”
“How much will it grow?” he asked.
“About forty percent larger.”
He nodded. I still couldn’t read his face. I waited him out and tried to remember to keep breathing.
“Did you see the agility?” Evelyn asked. “And the speed? I think it could be our best model yet.”
Greaves nodded again, as if half-listening to her. “It ambushed the woodpecker. Did you plan that?”
“Wish I had, but no,” I said. “That was pure instinct.”
“More like strategy. And that means intelligence.” He took off his sunglasses; his eyes were bright amber, like a wolf’s. “You went outside the guidelines.”
A twinge of cold hit my stomach. “Just a little,” I admitted.
“How far?”
“Twenty points. It was the only way to meet the specs,” I said.
He looked at Evelyn. “You signed off?”
“Yes,” she said, with a touch of hesitation.
He nodded again and put the sunglasses back on. Then he stood. I still couldn’t read his reaction, until he turned to his security chief and spoke two words.
“Quarantine them.”
I didn’t understand what he meant. I mean, I got the words right, but couldn’t wrap my head fully around their meaning. Fulton signaled two of the dragon wranglers.
“Robert—” Evelyn began.
“You know the policy,” Greaves said.
The wranglers marched toward the nest. The red-haired woman unpacked something from her burlap duffle bag. A weighted cast net. The first Condor, the one that had flown, watched them approach. Sensed their intent, maybe, because it hissed and took off.
Greaves looked at the guys with the M-15s. “Shoot it down.”
“Wait. What?” I couldn’t believe it.
They raised their guns.
“Is this a goddamn joke?” That was my dragon up there. It was pretty amazing. Everyone in the coliseum had to admit as much. I took two steps toward the security dudes. Surely they’d listen to reason.
Fulton materialized in front of me. I tried to squirm past him, but he laid a tree-trunk arm on my shoulder and held me fast. “Don’t get in the way, son.”
“Come on, man!” I struggled with no result. Then I looked him right in the eyes, desperate. “You know it’s wrong.”
“Look around, Parker,” he said quietly. “Neither of us can stop this.”
I craned my neck to look past him, to where the guards were stalking steadily.
“No.” Fulton put both hands on my shoulders. “Eyes on me.”
The crack-crack of gunfire echoed in the silent coliseum.
The dragon groaned. A long, low sound. It tore at something inside of me. I had to look. The Condor’s perfect glide faltered. I watched as it tumbled downward out of view beyond the roof of the coliseum. Darkness pressed in around my vision. My greatest creation, gunned down like it was nothing. I just couldn’t believe it. Couldn’t fathom it. My legs gave out on me, but Fulton held me up. I hated him for it.
Meanwhile, the wranglers had the five still-wet hatchlings crammed together in their net. The bearded wrangler cinched it tight, and then the two of them dragged it away.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Corporate Retaliation
I had to go home after that. I didn’t even go up to get my stuff. My feet carried me to the parking garage on their own. I let the Tesla take me home and just sat there, in a daze. Didn’t even turn on the radio. Too much sound would hurt me. I needed the soft hum of the Tesla and nothing else.
Those dragons had been special. Not just because I’d made them, or because of what they meant for Connor. Everyone on the demonstration field had seen the promise of what these creatures could be without point restrictions. Strong, graceful, and clever all at once. An image, even, of the mythical dragons that Connor was always geeking out over. Greaves had seen all of that and ordered it locked away. The worst part was, my fliers were intelligent enough to understand what quarantine meant. That they would never have the freedom of the skies they’d been made for.
All of it was my fault, too. I should have seen Greaves’ reaction coming. All the evidence was there. Now those fliers would spend their lives in purgatory.
I should have known better.
When I got back to my condo, I found Octavius watching the television.
“What the hell?”
He gave me an honest-to-God guilty look, like a kid caught sneaking a cookie.
“Is this what you do every day when I go to work?”
He shrugged his scaly little shoulders and turned back to the screen. They were running a puff piece about hypo-allergenic cats, and the joy they brought to the feline-loving-but-deathly-allergic segment of the population.
No wonder my channels were never the same when I turned on my TV after work. “You little rascal,” I said, but my heart wasn’t in it. His cleverness knew no bounds.
My flier had been clever, too. So clever that Greaves gave an order to shoot it down, as easily as some people order lunch. I didn’t want to care about dragons, but those were mine.
Those dragons felt different.
I took my sweet-ass time getting in to work the next day. Part of that was my reluctance to face the other designers after the disastrous demonstration. Beyond that, I was hardly eager to start churning out one custom dragon after the other. When I got off the elevator, I even imagined that my badge might not work at the security doors. I pictured the red-light-and-buzzer combination, and then the awkward conversation with the security guard. Greaves had fired people for lesser offenses than going outside of the points system.
Termination might even be a relief. Better a quick death for my scientific career than a slow, agonizing spiral. I approached the door to the hatchery. Moment of truth. I held my breath and waved my badge in front of the scanner.
Nothing happened.
My heart sank, but there was a chance I wasn’t close enough. I tried it again. The light blinked green, and the door hissed open. Thank God. I tried not to let my relief show as I hustled through the hatchery, dodging the occasional egg cart. The design lab lay in cool, productive silence. No one noticed my arrival, or if they did, they were nice enough to pretend otherwise. I was actually starting to cool off a bit when I got to my pod.
I reached in to flip on the lights, which is how I noticed a red LED on the back wall. “That’s new.”
He rolled out in his chair and raised his eyebrows.
I pointed a thumb back at my camera. “Do you believe this?”
“We all have them.” Because of you, he didn’t have to add.
Build-A-Dragon had hundreds of security cameras—in the hallways, in the elevators, watching all the main entry and exit points. I passed at least a dozen just going from my car to my chair. I’d stopped noticing them a long time ago. But this one was pointed at me. Well, technically it was pointed at the God Machine, but I’d be in the frame. It didn’t have the angle to read my screens, or I’d have refused to work outright. I could just picture Fulton down in his security office, watching us with unblinking eyes.
“Unbelievable,” I muttered.
“Not good for us,” Wong said. “But still better than Shenzhen.” He rolled back into his station.
“Noah?” asked a soft voice. Korrapati had tiptoed over. “I’m sorry about the Condor.”
“Oh. Thanks.”
“It flew wonderfully.”
“Yeah, it did.”
She glanced surreptitiously at the camera. “Well, see you.”
She scurried away. Not that I blamed her. No one in their right mind wanted to be associated with me at the moment. I was toxic.
I sighed and logged in at my workstation. There were already two messages from Evelyn telling me to come to her office as soon as I got in. That rankled me a little bit, too. Yet another little corporate power-move she had picked up from the execs: summon someone to your office first thing, like they have no higher priority in the world.
Her door was open, but she had her back turned. I knocked on the glass. “You wanted to see me?”
She smiled, but it wasn’t convincing. “Come in, Noah.”
I sat down, and she activated her doorseal. Technically, the engineers put that in as a safety measure, but all of us quickly discovered that the hermetic seal provided wonderful soundproofing, too. The perfect thing for awkward conversations.
I almost blurted out a question about the camera, but I held my tongue. Let’s see if she brings it up voluntarily. Something told me she wouldn’t. She knew me enough to guess how I’d feel about up-close surveillance.
“I was just talking to Robert about the flier demonstration,” she said. “He is not very happy with us.”
I barked a laugh. It sounded as spiteful as I felt. “Yeah. Well, the feeling’s mutual.” I still couldn’t believe he’d sent my fliers to quarantine.
“This is his company.”
“I thought it was Simon Redwood’s company.”
She bit her lip, as if nervous. “Robert oversees the day-to-day operations.”
“I’m aware.” A spark of anger flared up in me. “You know, you could have backed me up out there.”
“What do you mean?”
“With the point limitations. You didn’t even make our case for an exception.”
“You went so far outside the limits. I couldn’t deny it,” she said.
You were meek, I wanted to tell her. You let them slaughter him.
“That dragon was perfect,” I said. “There’s no way to design one without bending the rules. Not with the specs that you want.”
“I think we should let one of the other designers have a crack at it.”
“What for?”
“We need to keep you out of the spotlight for a while.”
“So what am I supposed to do?” I demanded.
“Work on the customs. Keep your head down,” she said.
“This feels like a punishment.”
“It’s not. It’s . . . a strategy for us.”
A part of me knew she was doing the right thing, that she was protecting me and my not-so-secret temper from doing something brash. But it was a setback. Instead of winning freedom with Build-A-Dragon’s resources, I’d managed to win a double-secret probation and additional scrutiny.
“I’m thinking about your career,” she said.
“Mine, or yours?”
“Noah . . .” She sounded hurt.
I waved my hand in something that might have been an apology. “It’s fine. I can stay busy.” I turned to the door and stood there, waiting for her to release the seals.
“The dragon wranglers couldn’t find body of the flier,” she said.
I turned back. “What?”
“The one that flew the demo.” She shrugged. “They never found the body. It may have gotten away.”
“It doesn’t stand a chance alone in the desert.” I forced myself to keep the anger on my face. To give nothing away. Because the tiny, fleeting hope that my prototype might have escaped into the desert was something I could cling to. I cleared my throat. “I should get to it.”
She sighed quietly. Something had changed between us, and she knew it. Still, I refused to look at her. Then the seal hissed open, and I stalked out.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
To better serve our customers, Build-A-Dragon’s support team has compiled answers to some of our most commonly asked questions here. Even though we know you won’t bother, we still encourage to read this guide in its entirety before contacting us with a question.
Which dragon should I choose?
That depends on what you want. If you’re looking for a family pet or in-home companion, you probably want our bestselling model, the Rover. This model grows up to four feet long, weighs less than eighty pounds, and will be a loyal friend to your family. If you live in a small space and the idea of an 80-pound pet scares you, take a look at our Laptop model, which is designed for urban living. It can even fly short distances and has minimal cleanup. Plus, a customized Build-A-Dragon dragon tote comes with every purchase.
If your heart is set on a flying dragon, we offer two fantastic options with more endurance than the Laptop. The first is the Pterodactyl, our long-range flier. Don’t believe everything you’ve read about it online. This dragon can soar. Does it crash into the occasional stationary object? Sure. But no more often than the average delivery drone. For a nimbler flying dragon, consider our Harrier model, which balances endurance and airborne agility.
Still here? You must be a discerning customer, indeed. May we recommend our premium dragon customization program? You give us the specs, and we design a dragon to the best of our ability that will meet them. Every customized dragon is unique and one-of-a-kind. Pricing available upon request.
When will my dragon arrive?
Once you’ve placed your order, it will enter Build-A-Dragon’s product fulfillment queue, for completion as soon as a dragon becomes available. Build-A-Dragon’s products are generally first come, first served. It may take 4-6 weeks until we’re able to fulfill your order. You’ll receive an e-mail notification when this happens. Add another 5-7 business days for delivery.
I placed a custom dragon order. How does that affect things?
Custom dragon design is a premium service provided by our Dragon Design department, the same team that brought you the bestselling Rover dragon. It may take 1-2 months before they can get to your design. Once you receive notification that your egg has been printed, it will arrive in about a week. We understand that this is a long time to wait and appreciate your patience. That’s also why it’s important that you be the first one in your family and/or group of friends to place a custom dragon order. Then you can lord it over your peers as they settle in for the long haul until delivery day.
How do I get my dragon egg to hatch?
You follow the detailed instructions we provide to you, that’s how. Dragon eggs must be warmed to and maintained at a consistent temperature in order to hatch on time. We recommend a Build-A-Dragon HatchRite heating lamp (sold separately) for this purpose.
We cannot stress enough the importance of having fresh (raw) meat on hand to f
eed your dragon upon hatching. Newly born dragons are ravenous, and they need to eat right away to replenish energy stores after the strain of hatching. Furthermore, this simple act—providing your dragon with food—establishes the link between a dragon and its human master. It’s critical to ensuring that your dragon accepts you as its owner. We ask that you kindly not screw it up.
If desired, Build-A-Dragon offers assisted hatching and imprinting with support from our highly trained personnel. This premium service is currently only available at our headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. Pricing is available upon request.
I don’t want my dragon anymore. Can I return it?
Build-A-Dragon’s standard models are eligible for return for the first 30 days following delivery. Please call our customer service line for instructions on how to complete the return. Fair warning: it will involve giving your dragon a powerful sedative in the form of a suppository. This is the only condition under which we could persuade shipping providers to transport them. Returned dragons are housed at The Farm—our desert facility with specially designed enclosures and full-time care—until we can find a new home for them.
Unfortunately, due to the unique nature of custom dragons, most are not eligible for return or exchange. That’s why we encourage you to specify your custom design with the utmost care.
What can I feed my dragon?
The best way to make sure your dragon gets what he needs is to only feed him with RepChow, our specially designed dragon food. If you prefer to provide your own food, you should administer a RepVite tablet or the RepViteWater beverage to your dragon at least once a month.
With the exception of the Guardian models, our dragons should not be taught to hunt food on their own. That might enable them to escape captivity and live in the wild where they have no natural predators. Reptiles ruled this planet once. It is in everyone’s best interests to make sure that doesn’t come to pass once again.