SL Huang - Up and Coming - Stories by the 2016 Campbell-Eligible Authors

Third stalked in a large male called Nidhug, whose power-element was his strong, towering legs like tree-trunks. He was dark grey, with black spikes and wings that, when opened, as they briefly were while he was settling in, almost seemed translucent. His chin was tipped in dark blue beard-spikes, and his eyes were almost white, as though he didn’t need a pupil. Those who had seen him before today speculated that he was a deep-dwelling cave or underwater dragon, and that impression was not undone with his court appearance. While the bright lights didn’t seem to cause pain, one got the sense he, like Ladon, would have preferred to not be here.

Fourth was Pythios, who is said to be psychic in addition to a Dragon’s regular telepathic abilities. She can see the future in addition to what you’re thinking, and can project that future vision into your mind, should she choose to do so. She was smaller than the others, perhaps younger, and her green-blue scales rippled in the light, almost as if they were illuminated from inside, perhaps bioluminescent. She had no spikes and her four powerful but still delicate legs somehow reminded you of the fact that most dragons do fly. Their bones must be especially lightweight, unless the flight is caused by some kind of magic and not evolution. Her eyes seemed to pierce into everyone’s soul as though she knew all of your secrets, kept them, but knew what would happen to you because of them.

The fifth and final dragon was Tiamat, also a female. She is rumored to be a fire-dragon, who could literally breathe fire if she chose. Her coloring was beautiful—orange red, with creamy scales along her underside, golden spikes that looked more like soft feathers rippling down her neck. Some said that she was the matriarch of all of the dragons on the planet, that somewhere in history she had been the first Dragon. Since nobody knew how old dragons could be or were, and since both Dragons and Tiamat had been here as far back in recorded history as we had records, it certainly seemed possible. The other dragons deferred to her, and it seemed as though coming last in line was, to the dragons, the position of greatest authority.

After the initial excitement, the bailiffs to the court were able to clear a section of the Judges’ chambers for the Dragons to gather in. They had indicated that they were here to observe, and not to speak.

This seemed true until one of the Judges spoke of the letters of John Tycho, and his warnings about the device that he had invented.

This caused the Dragons to stir, and as though they had agreed upon this beforehand, one of them spoke. I will record their speeches here, as best as I can remember them. For anyone truly wanting to know what happened, they should consult the official transcript, available in the Hall of Records.

Pythios: Learned Counselors, we are here today to speak to you of our species. We do not, as people believe, originate on this planet.

(At this, there was argument among those gathered in the Court Hall which continued until the Dragons, almost as one, turned their eyes towards the people, who immediately quieted under the piercing eyes of Dragonkind).

Pythios continued: It is true. We once lived on a planet in a solar system far away. You would know this system as being approximately 16 of your light-years away, in the constellation commonly called Grus but which we named the Winged Dragon. That planet is now governed solely by a group we call, in your language, The Dark Ones. You would not like to meet them. But their history is one that your planet shares—a history of hate, and intolerance. A history of not allowing open debate. And a lack of a desire to explore outside their own comfort zone.

We who came to this planet before your recorded history longed to connect with other sentient beings. Longed to explore the galaxies. We found this planet second from your solar orbit with your early humanoid ancestors and came here, hoping to co-exist. The other planet in this system, the third from the solar orbit, was not ready for us, too cold, and too unready for our kind then.

Now it seems as though our shared existence on this planet is in danger. Those among you who question the drive to reach for the stars are gathering, and they are dangerous. I believe there is little chance to alter the future I have seen.

Please, join with myself and the other Dragon Elders at our compound. We must evacuate as many as we can to the great Starships, and we must lead a colony to the third plant.

At this, the audience erupted again, and even the eyes of the gathered elder Dragons would not silence them. There were many who ran from the Hall, and never returned. The Council of Judges ordered a recess to the proceedings and cleared the Hall of the rest of the assembly.

We do not know what the official orders will be concerning evacuation and colonization.

Jude ran from the academic rooms to the staging area. He looked into the sky where the ominous clouds of a seasonal thunderstorm were just beginning to form. From what he had been told, the storm that was coming would be far worse, and last far longer. He didn’t know what to think about the immediate future, but he was glad his parents had made a quick decision to leave.

Frantic crowds gathered in front of the ships holding bags filled with whatever they could carry. Entire families, children crying, mothers trying to comfort them. Men trying to look stoic but sometimes failing and crying too.

Jude knew that Yalta-ba-oath was near. He had finally just mastered the empathic link between his Dragon guide that was required to pilot the Starship just last cycle but it was there. Still tentative, but there.

Jude. This way, towards the front of the ship.

Jude pushed through the crowds. There were guides gathered there, trying to calm everyone, trying to advise them on where to load the Starship, how to stow their baggage. The stewards would handle those details. It was time for him to climb into his pilot pod, nestled next to the Dragon’s much larger pod, and boot up the system for its initial checklist sequence.

He knew that the ship, a biological cyborg entity that had a symbiotic relationship with its Dragon pilot, had already cycled through much of the real checklist needs. The ship would have made the environment right for the occupants based on their metabolic patterns, which it could sense. It would have already plotted out exactly how much fuel they needed, and mapped the path they needed to take. The ship simply needed a special translator-team of the biological organisms onboard to translate those needs, to remind it to continue running and adjusting life-support and adjusting for any emergencies.

He stowed his own gear in the space beneath his seat provided for that purpose and climbed into the seat, which was exactly his size, as though built for him. He scanned the checklist: Auxiliary fuel supplies—Off; Flight controls—Free and correct. Dragon empathic interface—loading. He clicked his tongue on the top of his mouth, which was the signal for the headset to begin the software that helped the process.

At this, he felt Yalta-ba-oath’s calming mind connect with his. The image of water flowing over dark black rocks, which he had been taught as a way of smoothing out any hiccups in the initial upboot, made his anxiety fade away.

He went down the list: instruments and radios—checked and set. Between themselves, Yalta-ba-oath and Jude checked the engine idle status, monitored the still-in-progress passenger loading status. It appeared that almost everyone was on board, and the stewards notified the two pilots, one human, one Dragon, that they were ten minutes from being ready for takeoff.