Now it was on the table. A friendly kick-out it was. Sadly, I could follow his reasoning—or at least, not prove it wrong.
“When?”
He made a sad face. He didn’t have to voice it. I understood him anyway.
I nodded. “I will leave. We will leave. I understand you have to act this way. I will not think badly about you for it, and when you one day send me a message that the situation has changed, we will return. Until then…”
Yes, what? Where should I go? Into hiding again?
Jo, pull yourself together. You won’t show the Japanese emperor any insecurity now. You’ll find something, as always.
He watched me expectantly.
“No, it will be better if I don’t burden you with it. There are other loose ends I should pick up.” The moment I voiced it, I had already come up with the first ideas. “I’ll visit some old friends.”
“If you wish, I can call the Captain in.”
“What? Oh—no. Give him my greetings and a good return home. Achrotzyber and I will travel alone.”
Chapter Three
It wouldn’t have worked anyway. The Captain and his team of armor suits had arrived by submarine and surely would return to the States with this submarine—invisible for the Cartel’s henchmen. This submarine would surely offer enough room for a slender woman like me, but where would they put Achrotzyber?
Not to mention how my presence, my clothing, and my usual behavior in public showers would stir up the crew. It would surely be fun, but only for me.
No, we were better off alone.
With even tail strokes, my Dragon propelled us forward, while I, anchored to his wing roots with my legs, rested and healed. Eastward and then always straight forward, I had advised him. This way, we should inevitably end somewhere in California, at the worst somewhere on the Baja California, and from there on, I could find my bearings.
“Would you rather have flown?”
He slowed down and raised his head above the surface. “No, Mistress. I am just a cub, not strong enough yet to fly such a distance. Surely I would not be strong enough to carry you through the air.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“I do not understand, Mistress.”
“Do you like to fly, Achrotzyber?”
“It requires much power to take off. But by sailing, I can cover long distances efficiently. Moreover, I can overlook a larger part of the surroundings and I cannot be reached by most threats. So it is advantageous to fly. Yes, Mistress, I would prefer flying.”
“But…” I stopped myself. What would be the point of asking a Dragon whether flying would be fun?
All alone in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the next island at least a thousand kilometers away, and then no boat, that was a situation that took getting used to. I could swim well, but no competition could prepare one for such a distance.
During all the years of my hide-and-seek, I had never felt as lonely and lost as this moment. The gentle swell around me, rising and falling less than three meters, still didn’t permit me to see very far. From a cloudless sky, the sun mercilessly burned down at me.
My stomach grumbled, my mouth felt dry, and a headache announced itself. Dehydration, I diagnosed.
Cautiously, I let a little ocean water pass my lips. Before I swallowed, I allowed my nanos time to check—no dangerous substances, only the salt, and I could filter that away. With little sips, I consumed half a liter, stretched myself out in dead-man-position with closed eyes, and let my digestive nanos do their work while my suit accumulated solar power.
There were wind, current, swell, sun, and nothing else. Wrong. Achrotzyber’s signature approached, as my Companion returned from hunting. Still he was ten kilometers south of me, no more than half an hour of swimming or a few minutes by air.
No, I wasn’t really lonely.
With this reassuring thought, I dropped my concentration and let my thoughts follow the physical drift.
What kind of sound was that?
Not the whistles of the small school of dolphins—I was curious about the humming a good kilometer west of my position—which now fell mute.
Intuitively, I focused all my senses in this direction, but even my nano-enhanced senses weren’t good enough to hear the silent noises of a submarine crew across this distance. Instead, I could easily discern the stray emissions of their fusion reactor’s envelope field.
How had they found me? Could they detect my signature? Or had they bugged me? No, I could rule out both.
Much more likely was a surveillance satellite following my golden shape on the surface and relaying my location to the submarine. So—they’d shadow me?
Perhaps they wanted to protect me. This way or that—if I made up my mind to disappear, it wouldn’t be an effort. A little camouflage, a little change of course, a longer leg of swimming submerged, and I’d be alone again.
But for the time being, I granted them the fun. I’d let them think I hadn’t noticed them. Perhaps it was better this way? Did I know how long my Dragon could really do it? After all, a swimming distance of almost ten thousand kilometers was no little deal, even for a Dragon.
I couldn’t ask for more than five-hundred kilometers per day, if there was to be some time left for hunting. After all, we both wouldn’t want to starve.
My stomach was grumbling again. I had to be patient until my Dragon brought me a serving of fresh catch. Raw, as always, as he couldn’t spit fire.
No, Jo, you’re lazy, I chided myself. Hey, I had survived more than forty years without a Dragon, so I wouldn’t make myself so dependent now!
Taking a deep breath, turning around, and diving were one. With strong dolphin strokes, I pushed my body down. With a little luck, I’d surely find some fish there—yes, I could already feel the vibrations of their fin strokes. Only another short swimming leg, and this planet’s most dangerous predator, regardless whether above or under water, darted into their school, let the silvery bodies burst away, and with a nano-amplified accelerated move of my arm—chop—I held a fish in my claws.
This wouldn’t satiate me, so I enriched my prey with two further maneuvers before I returned to the surface for breathing.
The threateningly approaching shark couldn’t unsettle me. I was stronger, faster, and armored—his teeth couldn’t pierce my nano suit—so I ignored it. If he came too close, I’d simply kick his nose.
Meanwhile, I gutted the three fish with my claws and removed their scales. Then I enjoyed the rest.
Chapter Four
As opposed to me, Achrotzyber didn’t need sleep. We were traveling twenty-three hours a day and set one hour aside for hunting.
He had accepted my self-supply with Dragonish serenity. For him, it was logical that I relied on him, as I was his Mistress, but it was just as logical to decide to train my skills.
“We are under observation, Mistress,” he welcomed me back two days later.
“I know,” I returned. “A submarine following us. I assume they are our companions-in-arms from Tokyo returning home.”
“They would be faster if they would not wait for us.”
“Sure. But they seem to prefer staying close.”
“Why, Mistress?”
“I don’t know, Achrotzyber. Perhaps they feel the need to protect us. Or they want to know about our destination.”
“I do not know by which means they follow us.”
“Probably by satellite. As our course is set, they can as well extrapolate our position.”
“Satellite?”
I explained the term to him. Space travel wasn’t an alien principle to him, but he didn’t know our actual application.
“Astonishing, Mistress. These terms trigger so much knowledge I was not aware of commanding.”
His inherited memories—I didn’t have to comment on that. “You’re learning fast anyway.”
“I have to, Mistress. I am the only Dragon who can protect you. I must not fail.”
“You’r
e aware of the fact that I have to leave you alone for a while once we’ve reached the coast? I must travel inland for some business. You cannot hide.”
“What is your plan, Mistress?”
“I must take care of the Cartel leaders, Jana’s bosses. All evil in the world comes from them, and I’m fed up with it.”
“What?”
“I’ve run away from them for almost twenty years. That has to end now.”
“Why?”
“In the beginning, I wasn’t strong enough to confront them. Later, it had become a habit—that is, the time for a reassessment hadn’t come yet. Then I had other priorities, like you, for example. But now I’m free, and I’m strong enough. I will visit them and destroy the Hydra’s head and heart.”
“Hydra?”
“A mythological creature.”
“What does that mean?”
“Mythology? A fiction. A creature that doesn’t really exist. A symbol with very complex associations. A model to train the mind, so to say, and an option to explain the analogy for a certain topic very quickly. In this case, the Hydra is a creature that grows two new heads for every dissevered one.”
“That is unlikely for a higher lifeform.”
“Of course. But think what analogies follow for a collective.”
“I will ponder that.”
I had imagined it so easy, grabbing myself a Dragon! But a young Dragon was inquisitive and little experienced in dealing with illogical humans—and thus incredibly exhausting.
On no account would I want to risk losing his confidence. Right now, I was accepted as a Golden One. Nano-technically, that was correct—but that didn’t by far make me a golden Dragoness. To not give him reason to challenge my status, I had to match his assumed standards. In the end, I’d grab the opportunity to tell him my version of truth.
Without bad feelings about it. My truth was cynical, dirty, subjectively biased—and without lies.
Take what you can get. This world rewards the strong and isn’t considerate toward the weak, so be strong. Remember that you can be at the bottom, too, so avoid making enemies among the weak. Don’t rely on others but only on your own wits. Don’t trust in anybody if you can’t afford it. Plan ahead—and be ready to discard your plans in an instant. Be unpredictable for your enemies, but be reliable and at the same time surprising for your allies.
Chapter Five
Reliably, I held my course toward the American west coast after my surprising departure.
The news about the Tokyo events would probably travel faster. Even if some questions had to remain open, for which nobody except few involved knew the answer, the Cartel leaders were warned that their attempt had failed. However, they couldn’t foresee that I was on my way to them. When they learned about it, it’d be too late.
For that, I only had to get from the coast to Las Vegas quickly, and there I had a little problem. I was broke, again. I needed transportation, however, if I didn’t want to run all the way and arrive there all worn-out—and I’d have to run if I didn’t want to spoil the effect of surprise by someone spotting me and reporting it. For transportation, I needed money if I didn’t just want to steal it, and stealing would increase the risk of attracting unwanted pursuers.
For the acquisition of money I already had an idea. And yet…
Innocently, the submarine drifted under the gentle Pacific swell. Only a camera and radio probe rose above the sea level. Their satellite surveillance had probably reported to them that Achrotzyber and I had separated as we did each day, and now they were waiting at a respectful distance of five sea miles for us to continue after about an hour, so that we’d reach the coast in the course of the night.
I let the head of my last prey drift away and dived closer to the steel body of my uninvited company.
Would they already have identified me on their sonar? Or was my reflection sufficiently similar to a shark’s? I had refrained from diverting their signal—surely my nanos could have done something about it, but why should I unveil this ability?
With few more strokes, I had reached the tower with the two lenses and appeared at the side of one camera’s field of vision. As expected, it turned a few degrees into my direction. I waved and showed the observer a kiss. Then I dived down with a presentation of my back and aimed at the tower’s entry hatch.
With one arm and one leg, I hooked into the railing, and then I knocked. Dah-dah-dit-dah dit-dah-dit dit-dit-dit-dah dit-dit-dah-dah-dit-dit. QRV?
Are you ready to pick me up?
I owed these signals to one of my Johns, a maritime radio expert who had tried to impress me. As appropriate, I had allowed myself to be considerably impressed, by his firm shaft, too—and had memorized a few codes, not to mention the Morse alphabet itself.
It didn’t take long until I could tell by the hull vibration and a slight rush of water that the submarine was surfacing. As soon as the body came free, I dried myself. I didn’t have to wait. The hatch at my feet opened, and a young seaman stared aghast at my as-good-as-naked crotch.
“Ahoy,” I greeted him with a smile. “Johanna Meier requests permission to come aboard.”
“Please,” he replied and gave way at the ladder, obviously glad to take his gaze away.
Bad girl, I chided myself, grinning. Of all people, do you have to tease submarine seamen like this?
I didn’t have to, so I helped myself to a still skin-tight, but at least white-colored suit with short sleeves and legs before I climbed inside. I simply slid down the vertical poles, and soon I stood before the Captain.
“Welcome aboard, Miss Meier. My name is Gibbons.”
“Thank you, Captain Gibbons.”
“Would you join me in my office?”
I only nodded and then followed. It was only a short walk from his command bridge to the small room with a table and a few chairs. There he offered me a seat and a coffee with gestures while continuing to speak. I accepted both.
“How did you happen to be so far out in the ocean all alone? Did your boat sink?”
“There’s no boat, and you know that. You’ve followed me from Japan.”
“What makes you think so?”
“You’re taking Captain Stokes and his team back home. I’d already noticed you on the second day.”
He made a concerned face. “How?”
“Your engine is silent, but not entirely noiseless.” Moreover, their micro-fusion reactor radiated control quarks, too—what I could do with suits worked even better with such a large power unit. Only he didn’t need to know that. “I assume you had help by satellite? I’ve made sure to stay at the surface during the day.”
“There’s no point in pretending to you, right? Yes, Major Stokes is aboard, and we’ve been following you. But what do you mean by your last sentence?”
Major Stokes, aha. At that moment, I didn’t know yet that there could only be one Captain aboard ships, and he thus had been temporarily promoted.
“We could simply have dived down, change direction or speed, and you’d have lost us. However, I didn’t want that.”
“Then I must say thank you.”
“I don’t profit from making your job hard, even if I don’t need a nanny.”
“Well—according to the little the Major shared, I must believe that. You’re a kind of new Lionheart, are you?”
“Oh, crap. No, I’m not. That would stir expectations and hopes I can’t fulfill. I’m Johanna Meier, and that’s enough for me.”
“But you’re more than a human.”
“I’m just a human with clear wits and clear goals. Moreover, I’m a Dragon university graduate and skilled in dealing with nano technology, which grants me a few additional options. But that doesn’t make me superhuman.”
“The Major didn’t mention the graduate aspect. Should that ring a bell?”
“What do you know about your submarine’s reactor?”
“A fusion reactor based on Dragon technology.”
“Older or newer model?
” Basically, I didn’t need to ask. I could recognize it from the stray control quarks. This reactor had been built according to the most current knowledge—the scarce space on submarines gave them highest priority for this technology.
“The details are secret. I can’t tell more.”
“The new ones have a lot more power at a smaller size.”
He was about to flare up indignantly, but kept his countenance. “Secret, as I said. We shouldn’t talk about it anymore.”
“Don’t worry about the secret stuff. Nobody knows more about the Meier effect than me.”
“Well, yes, the Major mentioned that you know your ways with fusion reactors. From your studies?”
“Captain Gibbons, you’re truly stuck. I invented the Meier effect.”
Chapter Six
I had hoped that this confession would distract him from his Lionheart idea. But once he had overcome his surprise, he returned to his original course.
“A smart woman in a beautiful body, like the Dragon empress. Tell me more about your knack for nano technology.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s my secret.”
“A pity.” He shrugged. “By the way, what did you live on?”
“Fish. There’s plenty in the ocean.”
“And the preparation?”
“Well, I gutted and scaled them. Otherwise—raw.”
“Raw?”
“Not that I had a choice.”
“And you can eat that?”
“Yes. Let’s not discuss taste. Do you know what I’ll do first in San Francisco?”
“Have lunch?”
“Exactly. Noodles al forno and a mega burger with fries and everything. As starter.”
He laughed. “Good choice. Of course, you can taste our cook’s noodles, too.”
“I gladly accept.”
While he passed the order on, I tasted the coffee. It was surely better than filtered sea water.
Lioness’ Legacy IV—Torment Page 2