Chapter 16

Rather than tell them himself, Lao took out his portacom; a portable computing/communications device that looked like nothing more than a folded plastic sheet. He unfolded it to form a ten-inch screen, activated it and propped it up on his mug on the table.

He spoke to it. “News. Grand Location Plan. Play random.”

After a moment, the screen played clips from various news broadcasts about the issue he had requested. There were many versions of the story, told from different perspectives, but out of that jumble, the essentials became clear. A ‘rogue government faction’ had masterminded the development of a biogenic weapon that would be capable of wiping out the ‘scourge of the dragons’ from the skies of Lavos. According to the reports, research had been at a ‘very early stage’ when the ‘mysterious extra-planar being’ Daelen StormTiger had burst into their world and ‘exposed the plot’. Actions that led to ‘unfortunate but unavoidable casualties.’ Government leaders had assured him that they had been ‘unaware of the extent of the crime.’ However, they had every confidence that their own intelligence agencies would have ‘uncovered the plot’ before there was ‘any real danger’ of such a bioweapon being completed.

There had been several high-profile arrests made after the event. The public was assured that those who had been pulling strings from afar would be prosecuted. The authorities were apparently ‘sure beyond all reasonable doubt’ that, thanks to skilled interrogation, they had identified all those responsible.

The pro-dragon opposition was quick to condemn the plot and called for an independent investigation into government involvement. They demanded the President’s resignation and an election in the face of this ‘government-sanctioned genocide attempt.’

The government had rejected this ‘unreasonable overreaction’ and accused the opposition of ‘political opportunism,’ trying to take political advantage from this ‘terrible crime.’ They issued a statement, reassuring the public that while they continued to take the ‘threat of the dragons’ very seriously, they would never condone such an ‘extremist policy.’ They reiterated their commitment to reducing ‘unwarranted violence’ against dragons and were ‘actively seeking a peaceful solution.’

Now, according to a recent announcement, such a solution had been found. There was a large southern island continent, Wirathia, whose people were known to be very pro-dragon. Wirathian towns and cities were mostly limited to the outer fringes. The interior of the continent consisted of mostly unspoiled forests, deserts and mountainous regions that were unsuitable for modern Lavosian civilisation, but ideal for dragons. Indeed, according to studies, the continent already had by far the highest concentration of dragons anywhere in the world.

A few days ago, the Weslend government announced to the media that, following a successful summit with the other member states of the Vranian Alliance and the government of Wirathia, that the southern island continent was to become the new dragon homeland. Dragons were to be ‘encouraged in the strongest possible terms’ to accept their new home as the ‘best solution for everybody’ so that everyone would feel safe.

A new technological solution had been developed to create a kind of forcefield around Vranian territory that would keep dragons safely within. By international agreement, that territory would extend significantly further into what were currently international waters. This additional territory for Wirathia was the international community’s way of thanking them for agreeing to this proposal. The dragons would be free to do as they wished within this vast expanse, safe from hunters and ‘other hardline elements.’

Responding to accusations from the pro-dragon opposition in Weslend that this was tantamount to a penal colony for innocent dragons, they dismissed such ‘emotive language.’ The area they were talking about was further than many free Lavosians travelled in a lifetime. Besides, if the dragons were only patient, a kind of dragon passport system was being developed. This would grant individual dragons licence to travel beyond the barrier, providing it could be demonstrated that they had committed no crime or offence against Lavosians. It was also their hope, they said, that such a demonstration of peaceful co-existence would offer reassurance and inspire a ‘softening of policy’ against dragonkind.

They strongly encouraged dragons to take up this offer quickly, because, they were sorry to say, the intelligence community were on ‘high alert.’ They had detected increased chatter in terrorist circles about plans for a major attack against the dragons sometime in the next few weeks. Obviously, they explained, they couldn’t go into details for reasons of security. Still, they once again urged dragons across the world to take refuge in the generous sanctuary provided by Wirathia, at least until the ‘imminent crisis’ was over. Once complete, the forcefield around Wirathia could be erected at a moment’s notice and would be ‘absolutely impregnable’ by any outside force, they promised.

It seemed as if dragons were seizing this lifeline as there had been a mass southern migration and dragon sightings in the northern hemisphere were becoming increasingly rare. Even so, northern governments everywhere were imploring dragons to step up their migration because the terrorist threat was ‘absolutely real.’ The forcefield was due to be erected in just four weeks, which, according to intelligence reports, would give the terrorists insufficient time to organise. If dragons were to miss that deadline, it would be more difficult to process their entry, and any such delays could leave them vulnerable to the ‘growing threat.’

*****

“Sounds like a good idea,” Sara offered when Lao shut down his device.

“You can’t be serious!” Jessica objected.

“Why not? The dragons get a home, safe from attack. What’s wrong with that?”

“You don’t really believe this ‘terror attack’ rubbish that conveniently shows up at the same time as this plan, do you? Sounds too much like some of the excuses they made on Earth for some of their ‘security measures’.”

“I see what you’re saying, Jess, and I guess the timing is a bit suspicious, but it’s carrot and stick, isn’t it? The pull of a promised land and the threat of this terror attack, real or imagined, to push them into accepting it.”

“But if this promised land is all it’s cracked up to be,” Michael offered, “why would they need to be pushed into it?”

“Look, all I know is if somebody on Phitonia had come up with an idea like this before the dragons turned on our people, maybe we’d still have a civilisation. A home.”

Finally, Jessica understood where her sister was coming from. Despite the stories they told Lao and even their Tempestrian friends, no-one really knew what they and their people had been through. The only other person that might have an inkling was Dreya. She’d gone there and conquered their world, using extreme force and the threat of more to make the dragons cower before her. Still, she’d only seen a snapshot of their world. She hadn’t grown up there, lived there, so even she couldn’t really know what Sara and Jessica had suffered as a people and as individuals.

Despite being twins, Sara had somehow always been the ‘older sister’ doing her best to look after her ‘younger sister’, trying to protect and shield her. Even when that wasn’t possible, she was always the one to put aside her own pain and terror to try and help Jessica deal with hers.

No, nobody else would ever truly understand like they did, but Lavos was not Phitonia, and Jessica felt that the lens through which her sister was seeing these events didn’t work here. She was fighting the last war when she needed to see the new battles for what they were. Still, she didn’t want to argue with her sister over events that frankly didn’t concern them one way or the other. Leaning close, she nuzzled her sister’s neck and wrapped her tail around her waist.

Sara smiled; she didn’t want to argue, either. She hated being at odds with her sister. In whatever place they might find themselves, Jessica was her world. The last and only piece of Phitonia, the only other Chetsuan, the only family she would ever know. She would fight any battle anywhere with her. But fighting against her was such a waste of time. They might see things differently, sometimes, but arguing over the politics of another world was just stupid.

Happy to let the subject drop, Sara nuzzled her sister in return and linked her tail with Jessica’s as they both sat back.

“Anyway, thanks for the update, Lao, but I don’t think this has anything to do with why we’re here.”

Jessica nodded in agreement, but Michael leaned forward, frowning and disputed, “I’m afraid I’m not so sure.”

“What makes you say that, Michael?” Lao wondered.

“This forcefield around Wirathia. New technology, they said – just recently developed.”

“What of it?” Lao wondered.

“Well, I can’t help thinking it sounds awfully like the containment field Daelen threw around this place before his Final Battle with Kullos.”

“So?”

“So, that was shadow warrior technology, powered by higher planar energy. Now, I’m not saying the same thing couldn’t be achieved by other means but, given that we know the fragment we’re looking for came through a matter of weeks ago, the timing is suspicious. Somehow, I need to get there and take a look.”

Sara was sceptical. “It’s a long way to go if you’re wrong.”

She thought their time would be better spent building their detector. They were also going to need a containment box to transport it safely back through a portal to Tempestria, not having the Guardians’ ability to wrap it in a Timeless field.

“Why can’t we do both?” Jessica asked. “I mean, I’m sure you and Lao can build your gadgets without needing Michael’s help.”

“Well yes, of course we can,” Sara agreed.

“And let’s face it,” Jessica added with a twinkle in her eye, “Michael’s big and scary enough—”

“Hey!” Michael mock objected.

“—to look after himself, without a pair of Chetsuan bodyguards.”

“I suppose,” Sara reluctantly agreed. “We’d need to stay in contact somehow, though.”

“So, lend him your phone,” her sister suggested. “Or I’ll lend him mine. Either way, I’m sure a smart girl like you can adapt them to operate with Lavosian networks.”

Sara smiled. “Flatter me into submission, why don’t you!”

“Only saying it, ‘cause it’s true.”

“There’s still the problem of how I get there,” Michael pointed out.

“I can help with that,” Lao offered. All eyes were on him. “Hey, I’m not just Gadget Man, you know!”

“Gadget Man?” Jessica wondered with a puzzled look.

“You have your pop culture references, I have mine,” he shrugged. “But seriously, I can help.”

“How?” Sara asked.

“Your lives have changed since we last met; why do you assume mine’s still the same?”

*****

Daelen StormTiger’s actions a few weeks ago had been a watershed moment for many people. Until then, he had been a legend, a story, nothing more. Then, suddenly there he was, tearing down a plot to exterminate the dragons. That shifted public opinion against the current Weslend administration and its allies. People might be fearful of dragons, but that didn’t mean they would condone genocide.

The subsequent PR campaign did much to quell the public’s outrage, but things hadn’t entirely shifted back to the way they were. Some people continued to question things, and the new Relocation Plan, while generally popular, made some people even more suspicious. Laoghaire was one of them. From his small downtown office, while business was slow, he began to explore the GlobeNet a bit deeper, finding his way into places he shouldn’t have been. It was scary, knowing he could be charged with treason and espionage if he were caught, but Lao didn’t let that deter him, because the more he looked, the more he began to worry about what he was finding…or rather not finding.

“And what did you find?” Michael wondered. “Or,” he amended, “what didn’t you find?”

“The dragon passport system.”

“Not with you, love,” Jessica confessed with a shake of the head.

“Well, I agree with those who claim that the dragons’ new home is meant to be a penal colony. A prison.”

He tried to research the company that was supposedly developing the technology under government contract. However, it seemed that this company was just an organising hub, with the actual work being subcontracted out to third parties. Nothing unusual about that. However, when he began to research those third parties, the contract just branched out further, and even those branches had branches. Money was being split and funnelled through each of these fractal-like branches, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find any of them doing any real work. By now, with the search growing exponentially, the research was too much for one person to make any progress.

“So, I took a risk. I knew what I’d done was illegal, but I couldn’t let my findings go unexplored. People needed to know. Because, if I’m right, and there isn’t a passport system, then it begs one obvious question.”

Sara took up the thread. “Where’s all that money going? What are they actually doing with it?”

“Whatever it is, it can’t be anything good if they’re going to such lengths to hide it,” Michael rumbled.

It seemed to him that if he was searching for something to do with his new life, now that he was free of his endless battles alongside Daelen StormTiger, then this was an excellent place to start. The shadow warrior had started something here, preventing a genocidal plot against the dragons. Unfortunately, events on Tempestria had been rapidly coming to a head, and that pulled him away perhaps earlier than would have been ideal.

Plus, the demigod couldn’t ignore the feeling in his bones that this was somehow personal. Kullos had known he was defeated and threw those fragments of his dimensional control device through his portals. What if those portals weren’t random? If he knew about the world of Lavos, then perhaps he knew what Daelen had done here. In that case, what better act of spite, than to set events in motion that could undo his heroic actions?

Sara was right that they needed to build their tracker and find evidence, but regardless, Michael was more convinced than ever that something terrible was happening here. Since Daelen StormTiger wasn’t around anymore to swoop in and save the day, Ossian Miach Kaidool would just have to step into his shoes as best he could.

“So, what did you do, Lao?” Jessica asked.

“I turned myself in to the PDI,” he replied.

“PDI?”

By way of answer, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a holocard – a small foldable screen about three inches by two. Upon sensing his fingerprints, it lit up with a holographic logo that read:

PDI: Pro-Dragon Intelligence

“Trainee Analyst?” Jessica read underneath. “Not exactly James Bond, is it, love?”

“Who?”

“Earth reference again,” Sara explained, dismissing it with a wave. “Just ignore her.”

Lao had told the PDI what he’d done, freely handing over his portacom, security codes, everything they needed. He told them he was prepared to face whatever consequences they had in mind for him, as long as they actually used what he’d given them.

“Well, as you can see, the consequences were that they hired me, and despite what I said, I really wasn’t prepared for that.”

It turned out they had a team working much the same angle, but they hadn’t uncovered half of what Lao had. His work had accelerated theirs, and they were keen for him to help them further in exchange for immunity from all charges. As a cover, he would maintain his business, albeit in a cut down fashion.

“Although, to be honest, the big businesses had pretty much halved my client base already, so there wasn’t much cutting down to do. Anyway, Michael,” he continued, “I may not be James Bond, whoever that is, but I do have PDI contacts that could help smuggle you into Wirathia. If you can confirm that it really is something to do with this higher planar technology, they could help you deal with it.”

Michael turned to Sara and confirmed the plan. “Well then, I suggest we pursue our dual approach as your sister suggested, agreed?”

Sara nodded. “Always been the heart of the family, our Jess,” she praised, gently tapping her sister’s nose with her tail. “Of course you’d recognise the right thing when you saw it,” she told her. “I’ve got to stop seeing the dragons of this world like they’re the ones on Phitonia. If there’s some kind of new threat to them, then we have to help stop it, because that’s what Daelen would do.”

“Forget Daelen, sis, it’s what Dreya did do! Daelen may have rescued us, but it was Dreya who made sure our people don’t need to fear the dragons anymore.”

Sara smiled, although inwardly she was worried. Her sister had always had a deep abiding faith in Daelen, even when Sara didn’t believe he was real. Now she seemed to have transferred her faith to Dreya the Dark. Sara liked Dreya for the most part, but she was still wary of her. The Chetsuan had heard people talk about her in Gaggleswick. The ‘Faery who Fell’, some people called her. From what she had learned about the Faery people in general, she could understand the allusion. Perhaps Catriona kept her tethered to the better parts of her nature, but if ever she were to lose that tether, Sara was fearful of what might be unleashed. After all, ignorant, racist, human depictions aside, Faery did not have wings. So, if her sister had placed Dreya on a pedestal, then might the Faery who Fell fall once more?