After a few more minutes, Spirit literally pulled her companion inside. As usual, the Sentinels at the door pounded their staffs. One of them announced, “Spirt, of the Hameggattic Sisterhood and her companion, General Korn of Earth.”
Spirit had put her arm through the General’s and gently led him down the aisle past a gaggle of citizens and visitors. The poor guy stared at all the alien forms and found himself a little less enthusiastic when he walked past his first dragon. Without realizing he was doing it, he kept mouthing the word ‘wow’.
When they got to the Throne, Egg stood up and walked down and greeted Spirit with a hug. “Welcome home.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Really good. Thanks. And who is this gentleman?” Of course, she already knew the answer.
“Queen Eloise, may I present General Korn, the head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of Earth.” Close enough.
“General, welcome to Aerianna. It’s nice to see you again.”
The poor guy had no idea what protocol dictated so he bowed awkwardly from the waist. “Your Royal Highness, I never did properly thank you for saving my life.” He was in Spirit’s escape pod just before it imploded. Flying Girl pulled him to safety.
“It was the least I could do to repay your hospitality to my sister,” she teased.
“Sorry about that. Spirit was the first alien to visit Earth.”
“Actually, no but that’s another story.”
“I’ll ask Spirit to tell me about it. I don’t wish to be impertinent, but it’s hard to believe that you’re the same teenager that I saw on Earth. You were wearing a costume of some sort.”
Egg smiled then looked at Spirit who nodded. “Ring, tend to my suit”.
His reaction was pretty standard. “Holy crap”. Then he realized what he just said. “I’m so, so sorry. Please forgive me.”
“You’re not the first person to be surprised. You are, however, the first to express the emotion so eloquently.”
Chapter 6 – Play Ball
“Promise me you won’t tell Benny, but I find myself getting tired more easily. By midday my butt’s dragging.”
Sassi reflexively tried to look behind Egg to see this phenomenon. “It seems to be alright to me?”
Egg turned to look where her sister was looking. “Good grief. That’s just an earth saying. It means I’m very tired.”
“Oh,” and the green-skinned girl (well, almost middle aged woman if I have to be exact) shrugged. “That’s normal in your fourth month. So are swollen ankles, stuffy nose, the Bl’azzz Craze . . .”
Egg smiled. “The Bl’azzz Craze?”
“You know . . . when she would burp and burn before she took those burp-be-gone pills.”
“Antacids – and you’re referring to heartburn.”
“No. No, not your heart – your stomach and the airway in your chest. What is heart burn?” She seemed horrified by the concept.
“Sorry, Sass. It’s what we call that thing Bl’azzz had. And yes, I have it. What’s worse, I can’t stop eating . . . usually some very weird stuff. And that only makes the heartburn worse.”
“All of that’s normal and the price we women pay to propagate the species. It’ll pass . . . eventually.”
“Yeah, I get the same advice from my grandparents and mother. Anyway, I’ve kept you busy these past few weeks. I’m really excited to see what you’ve come up with.”
“Thank you so much for letting me be a part of this. It’s been too long since I’ve been an active member and if feels wonderful to finally contribute something.”
“I understand but that’s going to change. We’ll talk about that in a few weeks. So, what’s first?”
“Here is the patch for sports. What I’m thinking is that all the athletes wear this. Later I’ll make patches for each specific sport as well as the team for which they play.”
She handed Egg the patch. “Oh, my gosh – this is beautiful. Tell me why you chose this design.”
“Well, you said at some point in the future, our teams will play against teams from other worlds in the Commonwealth. So, I wanted to identify our players with Aerianna. The images represent the time when all three species had a hand in fighting Mobius. The Warrior Prince Rose, the legendary dragon Storm and Dazzle, the sword made of serpent’s crystal.”
“That’s brilliant. I absolutely love it. Well done.”
Sassi beamed with pride. “Thank you. Ready for the next one?”
“Can’t wait.”
“Okay, this is for Thanks Gathering” and she handed Egg the next drawing.
Egg studied it intently, then smiled at her sister. “This is really clever. You honored the Myst Tree and you show that all of us are united . . . one world, one extended family. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.”
“You’re not just saying that, are you? You won’t hurt my feelings if you want me to modify it in some way.”
“Sassi, when it comes to creating, you are the genius. I could never improve on what you do.”
“Well, thank you. Okay, I have one more . . .” and she handed Egg the last drawing.
Once again, Egg studied it intently. “Impressive.”
“You said you wanted a symbol that depicted Aerianna with its three species united . . . and forever linked to each other. This was the best I could come up with.”
A sudden surge of hormones generated from the love she was feeling for her sister and for the beauty of the girl’s creations caused Egg to sob. “I love it and I love you.” she managed to mumble.
Sassi stood up and hurried over to her pregnant friend. “Permission to hug the Queen?”
“Per . . . permission granted,” and they did.
*****
“Come in guys.”
“Hi, Egg. Are you still pregnant?”
Egg tried not to smile. “Yes, Tee, I’m still pregnant. I will be for about another eighteen weeks.”
“Okay.”
“Waldo, thanks for coming.”
He gave his standard reply. “As your sister and friend, I could do no less.”
“Well, thank you anyway. Please, have a seat and make yourselves comfortable.”
They did just that. “Your Majesty . . .” began the big man.
“No, no. Remember what you just said . . . you’re my sister and my friend. So, call me Egg.”
“Is that permissible?” Social norms would always be a struggle for him.
“When we’re in private – absolutely.”
Waldo actually looked around to assure himself that there was no one else in the room. “Egg, I wish to express my profound appreciation for selecting the Klat to defend the black hole project. We pledge to die to the last man and woman to assure its safety.”
“No. No one dies.”
“I am not aware of that military tactic. In war, surely someone must lose their life?”
“Again, no. No one dies. Not the Klat. Not the bad guys. Nobody.”
Waldo stared at Egg then turned and whispered something to his wife. The girl listened intently then whispered something back. Egg watched patiently and with great fascination as these two former AI’s matured into a functioning married couple. They were truly perfect together – each helping the other become human.
After what would have been considered an unconscionably long time to keep a Queen waiting, Waldo turned to Egg. “You defeated the entire Federation without causing harm to anyone. That was not possible yet you did it. Is this what you are referring to?”
“Yes and no.” She was about to explain but Waldo interrupted.
“Both answers nullify each other. Do you apply a different logic paradigm?”
Egg covered her mouth . . . and her smile. Sometimes it was not easy talking to a computer . . . A.I. or not. “I apologize. I hadn’t finish my explanation. The ‘yes’ part referred to the fact that if you think outside the box, you may find an alternative answer. The . . .” Waldo was about to interrupt and Egg realize
d her mistake. “Outside the box means to think unconventionally.”
“Thank you.”
“Sure. The ‘no’ part refers to the fact that defending the project is a completely different situation. So, let’s call the solution Shock and Awe.”
“As you wish,” but he obviously had no idea what that meant – and was probably too embarrassed to request an explanation.
“Waldo, always ask if you are unsure of my meaning. It’s a sign of intelligence, not weakness, to acknowledge that you need additional information to understand.”
“Your wisdom is inspirational.”
“Thanks, but I’m just stating the obvious. Anyway, let me explain by asking you a question first. Would you willingly attack an enemy with vastly superior forces or armament knowing – or at least assuming – that you would be doomed to failure?”
“Would my defeat serve a purpose?”
“It would be a completely futile gesture.”
“Then, no. I would not.”
“And that was the ‘no’ part of my response.” She waited for him to consider her words.
“Ah. I see your point. We will convince the Federation that we are even more formidable then we truly are. To attack the Klat would be to commit an act of supreme stupidity.”
“There you go. Are you good with that approach?”
“Eminently.”
“Great. So, now let’s talk about the reason for this meeting. I need your help.” For the next half hour, she told them what she wanted, answered their questions and agreed to a time frame for completion. “Thanks guys. But please don’t tell anyone else until I’m ready.”
“We will die rather than reveal your secret.”
“No, no. No dying.”
*****
She was looking forward to her next meeting and hurried to the conference room and the bevy of familiar faces. There was Benny, Rap’tor, Lord Z’kkk, her parents, three members of the Citizen’s Council, S’eee-sik and F’aerianna (great, great granddaughter to the famous Rainbow Dragon).
They all stood as she entered, which embarrassed her to no end. These were friends and family and such nonsense made her uncomfortable. Just to be playfully mean, she sat down but didn’t ask the others to do so. She was curious to see how long they would stand there.
After an awkward minute of silence, her mother said, “Oh this is just plain silly,” and sat down. When no one else followed suit, she demanded, “Sit, now,” and they all did. To Egg she scolded, “That wasn’t nice. I taught you better, young lady.”
“Yes, you did. Sorry Mommy,” and she winked at her husband then smiled. Everyone else laughed politely. “Okay guys, tell me what you came up with.”
“If I might summarize your goals, Majesty?” asked Lord Z’kkk.
Egg was tired of trying to get people to be less formal. But, for sure, she intended to be herself. “Go ahead, my dearest father-in-law.”
“You charged us with finding sports that can be played by each of the three species amongst themselves, sports than can be played with other species and lastly but at a later date, sports that can be played with teams from the other worlds of the Commonwealth.”
“Correct.”
“Please understand that this is preliminary since, other than your parents, we have no experience with such things. If it weren’t for your mother and father, we would have nothing to propose,” and he bowed his head at the two earthlings.
“Better not be soccer,” mumbled Egg.
Pretending not to hear, Lord Z’kkk then turned to Queen F’aerianna. “If you would, your Highness.”
“Of course. For intramural sports for dragons, we have a relay race,” and she looked at Egg’s mom for approval. “Then . . .” and she went on to name a few other events. S’eeee-sik did the same for serpents.
“For humans,” began her husband, “in addition to baseball and basketball, we will introduce swimming races and ski jumping. There are so many more sports played on Earth and we will add to these as people accept the concept of sporting competition.”
“Okay. So far so good. Benny why ski jumping?” That seemed weird.
“Since we will have a water sport, I wanted one that could at least approximate flying.”
“Oh. Clever. What else have you got?”
“I will defer to your parents for the intermural sports.”
“Okay, Pops, lay it on me.”
“How about an Aeriannian version of Quidditch but without the Golden Snitch? Never did like that idea. We’ll have humans riding on dragons instead of brooms. They’ll use Lacrosse sticks to catch and throw the ball. We’ll call it Dragons and Dragoons.”
“Cute and clever. That should be fun to watch . . . and play.” She turned to her mother who was bursting at the seams to talk. “Your turn.”
“Water Polo . . . Humans on Serpents.”
“Perfect. What are we going to call it?”
“Water Polo.”
Egg laughed. “How about Serpents and Sailors?”
“Water Polo,” came the deadpan reply.
“I defer to a greater authority. So, what about a sport for dragons and serpents?”
“Bubbles and Boulders,” replied Rap’tor with a grin.
“Why are you grinning?”
“Want three guesses?” he teased.
“Don’t need three. In fact, I don’t need any.”
“Then answer your own question. Why am I grinning?”
“Cause you thought I tried to stump you with finding a sport for a water species that can’t fly and an airborne species that hates the water with a passion.”
Rap’tor stared at his friend and Queen then let his head drop. “I am not worthy to serve one such as yourself,” he said in semi-seriousness.
“Oh please, you big feather duster (Mrs. Graystone giggled at that). If you came up with any sport, you’re more than worthy. So, do tell . . . what does one do in Baubles and Ballast?”
“That would be Bubbles and Boulders, your Majesty.”
Egg grinned. “My bad.”
“In B and B, teams are made up of five dragons and five serpents . . .” and he went on to describe the sport in painstaking details.
It was a clever contest but one of brute strength. That didn’t particularly appeal to Egg’s sensibilities. “Not bad. Considering the difficulty of finding a competition to suit both species, you did well.”
Her compliment fooled no one.
“Sorry, your Majesty,” said a crest-fallen Rap’tor. Disappointing his friend and Queen was a horrible feeling.
“Listen . . . all of you. We’re talking about creating a game; this is not exactly a life and death decision. Lighten up. The only reason I’m not ecstatic about Baubles and Bling (not even close) is that it’s only about strength. Even though serpents are strong, they are much more comfortable using their brains.” This observation caused S’eee-sik to smile in appreciation at her friend.
“We will go back and give this more thought,” offered F’aerianna.
“Egg.”
“Yeah, Dad?”
“What about Tetris but in three dimensions?” That brought vapid stares from everyone except his daughter.
“Pops, you’re a genius. Do you know if Ashley has her laptop? I know she has the game on it.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Drat. Oh wait. She’s still on Earth. I’ll see if I can get a message to her.”
“Gracie, what are you talking about?” asked her husband.
“It’s an electronic game played back home. To simplify the rules, images of blocks fall and the player has to manipulate them so they form a perfect line – one without gaps. Then the next set of blocks fall at a faster rate. The game is over if you build the wall high enough or something like that.”
“What has that got to do with the discussion at hand?”
“If I may?” interrupted Rap’tor.
Egg smiled. “Go for it.”
“I believe the L
ady expects dragons to drop the blocks with such speed and complexity that the serpents on the receiving end cannot rearrange them into this continuous line. We show our strength and stamina in carrying these pieces – and perhaps a bit of intelligence in our methodology – while our sea friends show their intellectual prowess plus a bit of that same strength in manipulating these blocks. A perfect solution.”
“Well said, my friend.” Her compliment made the dragon feel a wee bit better. “If we can get the laptop, we can demonstrate the game. Then, you guys can figure out the rules for a 3D version. Oh, before you ask, a laptop refers to a portable computer.”
“Egg.”
“Yeah, Dad?”
“What about introducing Chess? I know it’s not exactly a sport but it is a game that I think every species, of any age or sex, might find challenging and enjoyable. Everyone can participate in tournaments.”
“Pop, you are on a roll. BUT – you need to come up with pieces that better represent the three species of Aerianna. AND – find a non-Aeriannian entity for the pawns . . . if you get my drift?”
“Understood.”
“Once you figure it out, Sassi can create them for you.”
“That’s great.”
Benny, in frustration, exhaled very loudly, but said nothing.
Egg leaned over and gave her man a kiss on the cheek. “I was about to explain, my dearest husband. It’s a game of strategy. Pieces are moved on a checkered board; each one has its own unique rules of movement. The game ends when one opponent captures the King of the other person. And no, you can’t substitute a queen for a king.”
“May I assume that you, my dear wife, are an expert player?”
Egg laughed. “Hardly. Dad, tell him how bad I am.”
“Oddly enough, my daughter can out-strategize the entire Federation navy. But when she plays chess, she is childlike in her thinking. No offense to children.”
“Really?” and Benny smiled broadly. “In that case, I will personally oversee the introduction of this game to our people.”
“Thinking you can take advantage of your poor wife?” teased Egg feigning hurt.
Gracie - Box Set #6, Part 2 of Ever After [an Egg and the Hameggattic Sisterhood novel] Page 38