by Saxon Andrew
• • •
Gregor ran to the bridge and began yelling, “GO, GO, GO!!”
“If I exceed the proscribed speed moving into orbit you won’t have to worry about the Dragons.”
Gregor growled, “AAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH!”
“Sit down and calm down!”
Gregor forced himself to sit still and managed to say, “How long before they arrive?”
“They’ll get here before we make orbit.” Gregor knew he was as good as dead. “What’s this?”
“What’s, what?” Gregor asked the computer.
“Traffic has ordered all ships on the inbound filament to stop and move off it.”
“WHAT?”
The Wall Speaker activated and he heard, “ALL INBOUND TRAFFICE WILL STOP, MOVE OFF THE FILAMENT, AND AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUTIONS!!”
Gregor saw the stars getting brighter and then they were in orbit above the planet. “Is there an intersection on the outbound filament?”
“Are you talking about the one headed toward the Dragon Ships?”
“No the one headed toward the star.”
“There’s not one on the map but I can see a small one on my scanner.”
“We’ll never make it by the Dragons if we head toward them. Take us to that filament and get on it.”
“I have no idea where it goes.”
“If it’s not on the map, the Dragons don’t know about it either and that intersection is hidden from their scanners by the planet. Get moving and boost us.”
“We can’t afford to use our fuel.”
“We can’t afford not to. We have to be out of here before they get back on the filament!”
“I’ll boost if Traffic releases them before we arrive. If we can get to that filament without boosting, I don’t think the Dragons will detect us moving there.”
“Do what you think is best. But don’t wait until it’s too late.”
Gregor watched the small filament in the distance growing larger and just as they arrived they heard the Traffic Controller say over the traffic frequency, “Your August Majesty and Emperor, Jester welcomes you and your family to our humble planet. Please allow us to show you a royal welcome. The High Principal is awaiting your arrival.”
“Holy Crap!! No wonder all traffic was stopped! That has to be the Begron’s Royal Family in that giant blip moving toward Jester!”
“Changing filaments. Hold on!” The small ship moved off the fast moving filament headed directly toward the central star and connected to the small filament moving away. Gregor was thrown back in his chair and felt incredible acceleration. “This is impossible. The smaller filament is moving at ten times the speed of the larger.”
“Where are we headed?”
“I don’t know but I’m jumping off this as quickly as possible.”
“Why?”
“If the Dragons managed to detect us leaving the planet, they’ll be following us and they do have fuel they can waste.” Gregor nodded and held on to the arms on his chair. An hour later, the ship moved off the small filament and connected with a major filament headed toward the center of the galaxy. They disappeared in an instant and a few moments later, the small filament disappeared.
• • •
The Ranking Dragon Commander was past rage. He roared and the entire bridge shook with the vibration. “Do we comply with the Traffic Directive, Sire?”
The Dragon almost ordered his ship to continue toward the planet ahead but managed to get his anger under control. “Move off the filament and order the other ship to the other side of the filament. Have it scanning anything moving away from the planet.”
Yes, Sire.”
The Dragon coiled up on its massive chair and sat still staring at the scanner screen. The tip of its tail was moving left and then right. There was only one filament leading to this planet and there were no intersections between his vessels and the planet. If he ignored Traffic’s orders, there was a real possibility that all of the Empire’s ships could lose their travel rights. That ship on the planet ahead wasn’t going anywhere.
When he heard the Traffic Controller welcome the Begron’s Royal Family, he nearly died of swallowing his own poison. If he had ignored the Controller’s order, his entire species could have been barred from the filaments for years. This was far more serious than he thought; the Begron’s provided the traffic controllers used by the Cartians to control starships traffic. He looked at his warship’s pilot and said, “Son, the next time you don’t stop me from acting foolishly while I’m angry, you will never have an opportunity to have a family.”
The Pilot lowered his long head, “Yes, Father. I felt that if I challenged you when you are this angry, you would have killed me.”
“I would have, Son. But the Empire would have been spared being barred from the filaments. Do not make that mistake again.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Sire, we’ve just received a message from the planet that our contact there has been found dead.”
“How did it die?”
“It, along with two of the Ohincet Warriors we hired to keep an eye on it, were cut into pieces.”
“What?”
“They were cut into multiple pieces.”
The Dragon’s eyes narrowed. Killing two Ohincet Warriors was not something that was easily done. He doubted one of his species could do it without being severely injured in the fight; that’s why they were hired. He lifted his communication handset, “I want four more ships sent here immediately. We are not moving away from the filament until I can be certain the ship we’re pursuing is not attempting an escape. We will continue to scan the filament until they arrive.”
“They are being sent now, Sire.”
The Dragon remained coiled on his huge chair while he waited for the other warships to arrive. His mother was wise in setting the trap on this planet. The target would naturally wonder who had put the transmitting device on him. He would have to come back to this planet to follow the route he had previously taken. The target was on that planet. It had changed its appearance but not to the point where its new image would deceive the tracking computers. It was on the planet and it would be found.
• • •
The man sat in a chair at the bar and watched as three Venzel Dragons rushed through the door and began looking around the room. Every being in the room froze and stared at the dangerous creatures. The new manager of M’s walked up to the Dragon Leader standing on his back legs looking around the room and said, “Your species has agreed that you will not enter entertainment establishments without prior permission. This is a violation of that agreement. It’s not good for business!”
The Dragon looked at the Arepian and wanted to bite him so much that he shivered. However, he was outside his domain and knew the agreement had teeth in it. If the tavern’s patrons ran away, he would be forced to pay for the money lost by the owner and judging from the number crowed in the large room, it would cost a hefty sum. The Dragon actually smiled as it said loudly, “Please, all of you relax and enjoy yourselves. We’re simply looking for a friend who contacted us to come and meet him here. We’ll be leaving momentarily and I do apologize if my two companions and I have caused you concern. The lies about our being dangerous are not true. We know how to have a good time just like all of you.”
Most of the beings in the room had never seen a Venzel Warrior and they were more curious than frightened. The Venzel’s brown and green scales flashed in the overhead lights and were something to see. The owner looked around and saw the crowd start moving again and that very few were leaving. He was actually disappointed. He could have used the fee but saw it wasn’t going to happen. He looked at the Dragon and said, “You could at least get off your back legs so you aren’t so intimidating.”
The three Dragons looked at each other and the leader went to all fours. The two others joined him and the owner walked away. “How many?”
“Six.”
“Where?”
; “Three humans are at a table to our left, two are dancing, and one is at the bar.”
“The two of you check out the dancers and the table, I’ll check the one at the bar.”
The three Venzel Dragons split up and moved away from the entrance. Four more Dragons were scattered around the building at the exits as they waited for someone to make a break to escape. The ship in orbit was sending active scans to all of the Dragons on Jester’s surface. Nothing was showing up. The Dragon Leader walked up to the bar and saw the human sitting with his back to the room. “Excuse me, would you be so kind as to ask the server to bring me a glass of Teranol.”
The man turned around and looked at the Dragon. He flinched and the Dragon saw he wasn’t the target. “Certainly.”
The man turned around and the Dragon saw the other two warriors moving back to the entrance, “Never mind. It looks like I’ve been asked to leave.”
The man turned back around and nodded, “It won’t take but a moment.”
“That’s alright, enjoy your evening.”
The Dragon turned and moved through the crowd toward the entrance and the man stared at it as it moved across the room. They were bigger than he envisioned and the poison fangs were visible below its upper jaw. He waited until they left the room and he lifted his wrist.
• • •
After four weeks of searching, even his mother was at a loss to explain how the target had escaped. There was no possible way the target’s vessel could have made it past their ships without being detected. The tension ratcheted higher and the Monarch sent half the fleet out to find the target. Now capturing the target was a secondary consideration. The new orders were to kill it on sight.
Chapter Three
Gregor sat in his chair and stared at the wall in front of him without seeing it. The can of brew sat in the can holder on the arm of his chair and silence ruled the bridge of the ship. The first thing he did after escaping the Dragon Warships was to take off Emmett’s jump suit, carefully fold it, and hang it in the closet in his former room. He put on a uniform and came back to the bridge, where he had remained since, staring at the wall.
“You’re starting to scare me.”
“Computers don’t have fear.”
“True but you get the gist of what I’m saying.”
“We were played like idiots.”
“It does appear you’re right.”
“Were you able to confirm my suspicions?”
“I’ve contacted twenty five computer friends and all of them confirm a Dragon Warship is in their star systems.”
“That bug was a lot more than we thought.”
“Yes, it was. It scanned my databanks and collected a map of all the locations we frequent. We can assume Dragon Warships are at all of them at this moment.”
“It makes me mad that both the Dragons and those humans at the tavern predicted where I would be going and were awaiting my arrival on Jester. They played me like the maroon I am. I was stupid.”
“Hey, I’m the one that took us there.”
“Then you’re an idiot as well. Show me that woman again.” The computer screen on his console illuminated and the image appeared again. The image was of the exact moment she turned around and looked at him before telling him about the Dragons.
“What are you thinking, Gregor.”
“I must confess that I firmly believed all of this was some kind of colossal mistake by the Dragons. Perhaps a case of mistaken identity that could all be cleared up once I learned why they put a bug on me.” Gregor nodded toward the computer screen, “She tells me that I was wrong in that assumption and that something big is going on and I play some sort of role in it.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I want you to play the recording of her from the moment she sat down beside me and go back as far as you can see her.” The recording only lasted thirty seconds. They lost her when she walked in reverse from the bar and disappeared into the mist of the huge crowd. “Let’s try this another way. I want you to start looking at the images my goggles picked up from the moment I left the shuttle on the north end of Mgowck Street and started walking south.”
“If she was following you, I would have seen it.”
“I don’t mean to show you disrespect but I’m not at all sure you would have detected her. Humor me and look at all the images my goggles recorded as I walked to M’s and show them on the display. Put each sensors view in a separate panes.”
Gregor stared at the computer screen and scanned the four squares on the monitor. When he moved to avoid at brawl in front of a tavern, he said, “Freeze it!” The images on the screen stopped moving and Gregor said, “Move the view in on the wall beside the door where the brawl spilled out into the street.” The view of the wall next to the door grew larger and then they both saw it. The human male companion of the woman at the bar was staring directly at him. Then they saw him look away toward the brawl. “The reason you didn’t detect him following me was he only looked at me when there was something between us. Your programming assumed he was looking at that instead of me. Keep him on the screen and see what he does.”
“I’ll probably lose him in a moment.” The images began moving and just before the recording moved away from the man, he lifted his wrist to his mouth. “I missed you being followed.”
“Do you know why you missed it?” His question was greeted with silence. “If others know the elements programmed into my computer to determine someone following me, then you make sure you avoid behaviors the computer is programmed to look for.”
“Are you saying that someone knew how to avoid my seeing them, Gregor?”
“Oh you saw them. This recording confirms they were there but they did nothing that would set off your alarms. This also tells me that there were more than just the two of my species at M’s tracking my movements.”
“How do you know that?”
“The woman wasn’t wearing any kind of bracelet. Someone other than that man kept her informed of what I was doing. I also want you to notice that the man wore long sleeves that covered the bracelet and he kept them down when he showed up in the bar. Isn’t one of the first things you do when you examine those around me is to look for any electronic devices.”
“It is.”
“They knew that and kept them hidden before they followed me into M’s. That woman appeared out of the crowd toward the back of the tavern, which meant she was already there before I arrived. They expected me to go to M’s and were waiting for me”
“It does appear you are right.”
“There’s something else you’ve not seen.”
“And what it that?”
“Those humans did not have access to the Dragon’s bug. How did they know that I would go to M’s?” The Computer was silent and Gregor said, “They must have been following me long before that bug was put on me.”
“They are the ones the Dragons are looking for,” the computer said.
Gregor nodded, “I really believe they are the ones the Dragons are trying to find. The Dragons must have found out some way that these humans were tracking my movements. Tick said that the Dragons wanted to follow me because I was involved in a relationship with something they wanted to find. It was those humans following me that the Dragons want to locate.”
“Your logic is sound.”
“There’s more. Those humans want me just as much as the Dragons. Their plan to take me at M’s was foiled by Tick calling in the Dragons. They were forced to back off knowing there was no way to do it and avoid being found by the Dragons.”
“That woman must be trained to read human facial expressions.”
Gregor’s head went back, “What do you mean?”
“You know how you’re sometimes amazed that I know what you’re thinking and you’ve not said or done anything that would tell me.”
“I’ve often wondered about that.”
“Well, there is a program that analyzes human facial movements to see what is b
eing thought. That woman said, ‘I don’t think you’re going to be able to do that. Two Dragon Warships are moving here on the filament and they’ll arrive in less than an hour. I suggest you get out of here now.’ She saw that you were planning to confront Tick later that night by observing your facial expressions. I could also see you were planning to do it. She must know that program as well as I do. She is not your typical human female, she’s something more, a lot more.”
“What’s also disturbing is that she had her back to me and was still able to see my face.”
“She was using some kind of sensor to see you.”
“Look at the image where she turned around.” The image reappeared on the computer screen at just the moment when the woman turned around and looked at Gregor.
“What am I looking for?”
“Look at her eyes.”
The image on the screen grew larger and moved in on her face. Her eyes were blue with a gold ring around the blue iris. “She and I have the same color of eyes and I’ve never seen another human with eyes like mine.”