Fate Of The Dragon Read online

  Now we are moving. Fantastic! I am actually getting more and more excited the closer we get. We are moving at a pretty steady pace. I may get the answers I’m looking for along with many more questions that I haven’t thought of yet. As I get closer, I realize exactly how much I underestimated the actual size of the building. Where I had stopped counting, is where the line had progressed to at the door. So, I can scratch off 400 if I should choose to count again; I think I’ll pass. Now the size of the building, in comparison to the last time I guessed, is about 5 times that size. In a few minutes, I have a very good feeling that I will see exactly how big that building is going to be. The line isn’t slowing down, which is great.

  A crowd is starting to form, and they gather to witness the new creations. I feel a bit awkward as they all stare at me, but I don’t let it bother me. They are merely spectators, and nothing more. They are all suited in the same outfit as I am. Same color, same weird boxes on the back that make you zoom into the air. Most are talking amongst themselves, and mostly in pairs. There are some larger huddles of four to five a piece. Their conversations are in a hushed tone so as not to bring attention or be too distracting. Well; that is until I hear a voice in the crowd call out, “Hey guys! Does anybody have any idea how to make a meat pie?”

  What? That doesn’t make any sense at all. Here we are waiting for our initial briefing, and some random person is asking all of us for meat pie recipes? His voice sounds very strange, too. It seems to have an unstable pitch when he speaks. It rises and falls almost every other syllable. It is very annoying to hear him talk. He actually sounds very unintelligent when he speaks; and he is still talking. Does this guy have any idea that not a single person is acknowledging such a silly question? So, I ignore him, not that I know how to make a meat pie anyways. I think everyone else is doing the same thing as well; of course, there is a lot of laughter to go with the ignoring, too.

  I turn back around in an attempt to ignore the blabbering fool of a distraction. While I was listening for that brief moment, we continued to make head way towards the auditorium. Looking at it again, I had to catch myself from stumbling. We had moved a great deal closer. Was I distracted that much by the idiot that I entered into a dumbfounded trance? Or was his rate of speech and lack of intelligence just that stunning? It must have been something hypnotic, because the door to the auditorium is upon me. I’m practically five people away from being let in. My head tilts back to take in the sight and size of it all. Suddenly, I feel extremely short.

  It is huge.

  My eyes grow wide as we walk inside. The seats are arranged in a curve, and the rows of all the seats are stacked in an incline. The rows of seats go up and up for what seems like forever. Ok maybe not that far, but I will say that I have to squint to see where the last row might be. We file in and take our seats. My seat is almost at the center of the auditorium. I should be able to have a great view of the screen from here. Looking at the screen in front of me, I can now see the need for such a huge building. It stretches from the floor to the ceiling and from the far-left wall to the far-right wall. I hear a familiar sound, and so I turn around.

  “Excuse me.”

  Oh no. No! It was the fool from outside! How did he manage to get in? Hasn’t he already seen this before? He was a part of the crowd, not in the line! Was he that dense that he thinks he is a new creation? Please let him not say anything. Please! Don’t say a word. If he is anything like he was outside, then I really don’t want to hear his voice right now.

  “Hey buddy.”

  I cringe. I want to help the guy, but there is a part of me that just wants to dismiss him altogether. This is frustrating. How can I have two conflicting feelings? Is this normal? What do I do?

  “Umm… sir?” He taps me on the head.

  I turn around. I didn’t have to see him to know that my fears were correct. Upon looking at him, though, he is not shaped like the rest of us. His hair is missing in a few places. His eyes are not in a straight line. One eye is larger and a little higher up than the other. His mouth, on one corner, curves down and does not straighten out. And there he sits; right behind me. The wonder-pie-maker. Joy. I squint my eyes and I lay on an extra thick disapproving tone, “What do you want?” I ask.

  “On a serious note, do you know anything about pies?”

  “No. I don’t.”

  “Are you sure? You look like a pie type of guy to me.”

  “I assure you I am not.”

  “Really?”

  “Truly.” Sigh.

  “Are you absolutely, 100 percent, without a doubt, sure?”

  Now, I’m mad. This guy behind me is beyond annoying. I want to help him; really. I could even introduce him to his own arm pad that we all have, and possibly teach him how it works. I could also just punch him in the face. Why can’t he find somewhere else to sit? Why me? Not enough other citizens in this massive auditorium for him to go bother? What I really want to do is get up and go find somewhere else to sit. This is ridiculous! Somehow, I don’t think that will make him shut up, and he will end up following me.

  Have patience, my beloved.

  I spin around quickly with a pointed finger and grit my teeth in annoyance. “Listen, we are all here for the same reason. I need to pay attention. I have zero answers for you. Do me a favor and please keep your mouth shut!”

  “Umm, I didn’t say anything that time. Are you feeling ok? How can you speak with your mouth shut like that?” he says to me with his larger eyebrow raised.

  “Well…I thought you did.” I say defensively.

  “Nope.”

  “Fine. Just please stay quiet. Ok?”

  He winks at me. It’s time to turn around anyway. Shaking my head, I take my place in my seat and fold my arms across my chest. I know I heard something, but at the same time it wasn’t the same voice. Once we get out of this enormous place, I think I need to apologize to that dude.

  The doors close and the lights begin to dim. The guide from earlier walks to the center of the floor and stands behind the podium. He taps the microphone to ensure that it is on and working. The microphone retaliates with a small moan that echoes through the speaker system. We all wince a little, but the noise doesn’t last too long.

  He clears his throat and says, “Ladies and gentlemen, I bid you good morning! I ask that you all please remain seated throughout the entire presentation. You will receive two briefings. The first will be a live broadcast from headquarters. The captain will speak to you all and give you instructions, a description of the city, and your purpose. The second briefing will come from our Superintendent. He is the one that will give you inspiration, guidance, and more importantly your name. So, I ask that you all please take your seats at this time, and we will begin shortly. Thank you.”

  The lights turn off and the screen in front turns on. There are a lot of flashing symbols going across the screen, followed by some music. Then a highly decorated figure in a uniform appears in the middle of the screen. He appears to have a very friendly posture about him. His suit looks like it is designed like mine, but color patterns containing different shades of blue and black. And he also has a cape! It’s a solid black cape with a glossy overtone, but appears to be extremely fluid when he shifts. That’s not fair, I want a cape too! He clears his throat rather loudly with a smirk, we all quiet down, and he speaks.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to be the first to officially welcome you all to The Vast City. Look around you. There are approximately 5,000 of you in this auditorium right now; 5,021 to be exact. Therefore, making the grand total of the entire city 61,536,453. As you may have noticed, there is a lot more seating available. That is in the event of extra citizens being produced. You all have a very important mission, and I will get to that in a moment. At this time, I need everyone to gently place their arms on the armrests.” We all do, and both arms become locked in place as curved metal plates extend from beneath the sides of the chair. They wrap around my arms and close down upon t
hem. Thankfully it’s not tight, or painful. The metal plates begin to give off a humming sound followed by an orange glow.

  “Excellent. Let’s get down to business.” The captain says. “What has just now happened is you are all now locked into the main vessel database. Each one of you has been registered with headquarters, and each of you will be given extra information that will be downloaded directly to you during the briefing. As I mentioned before, you all have a very important mission. The explicit details are being downloaded, should you have questions later on. In the meantime, I will describe to you the whole area in which you reside, and the components thereof. Within Vast City you have two factories in which you all were created, the main assembly area, two loading docks, and finally the great tunnel. The city itself is merely a part of the entire vessel known as the H.B. Charley Ray Duncan. I am the captain of this vessel, and I am the one who issues orders throughout the entire vessel from up here in headquarters.”

  I’m confused; however, I’m also hoping that this captain guy will explain more.

  The captain’s facial expression pauses. His eyes lock in to a focal point right in my direction. “Yes. I see one of you has a question.” Crap! I didn’t raise my hand! Who did? Who in their right mind would ask a question at this point in the briefing? We have only just begun. You would have to be asleep, not paying attention, stupid, or a combination of any one of the three.

  “I have a question about pies.”

  I’m stunned. It’s that guy.

  “If I am to be a famous pie chef in the world of chef-dom, what ingredients will I need for every kind of pie?” The man behind me asks.

  The entire auditorium is silent. They quickly glance from staring at him to the reaction of the captain on the screen; who wears a blank expression on his face and joins in the ominous pause that has just now taken place.

  The captain slowly closes his eyes and pinches his nose a little. Breathing out slowly he says, “Sir. You would do well to hold all questions until the very end. That question was in no way relevant to what I am talking about. I recommend that you relay all questions of that nature to your data pad that is located on your left arm. You all, even you sir, have been given the basic download of information. In it, you can find that about 90% of your questions will be answered there. Otherwise, keep all non-related questions to yourself. Is everything clear to you?”

  “You are confusing.”

  I need to learn some tricks from this captain dude. He apparently has years of practice in patience!

  The captain’s tone changes to a more compassionate one. “I am not here to be confusing! My purpose is to ensure the safety of this vessel and the overall wellbeing of the crew therein. My Superintendent is not the author of confusion, but just so happens to be the author of peace. It is with that very peace that I live and move and have my being. It enables me to guide this vessel in the way it should go. If I were to back out altogether and relinquish that peace, this vessel would succumb to laziness, overeating, and eventually death.”

  Note to self: remember everything the captain says.

  The captain takes a deep breath and speaks again, “Are there any more questions?” He stares right at the guy behind me. If I didn’t know any better, I would swear he was staring at me. Everybody else in the auditorium shifts their focus to look right at the guy as well. “Fantastic! Let’s move on.” Without saying a word, the pie guy settles down lower into his chair. The captain seems to breathe a sigh of relief.

  The captain continues on, “You all were created in one of two factories; labeled T-1 and T-2. There is no significance really to which one you came from, I am only giving you a brief description and layout of your city. The factories, themselves, are always in operation. They are either in the production phase, or the cool-down phase. If you notice, there are a lot of you in here that were created today. At maximum capacity, the factories can produce 85 million new citizens per day. According to my records, the factories have been in operation for a steady ten years. So, if you think about it, there are a lot of you.

  “Now you are probably wondering why it is that we don’t experience an issue of overcrowding? I will be happy to tell you. Each and every one of you has a life expectancy of about 35 days or so. If the time should come that you do not fulfill your mission, and you have been here too long, then we will see to it that you are properly disposed of. Your body will begin decomposing and simply dissolve into the floor. On occasion, the factories will produce a higher than average number of citizens; this also creates overcrowding. To prevent this method of overcrowding some of the pre-existing citizens that have not reached their full life expectancy will be loaded into the great tunnel for launch. If the issue of overcrowding is not tended to, then I have to initiate a code blue. A code blue means that there are too many of you, and when that happens, the rest of the vessel will suffer greatly.

  “The next area I shall mention is the assembly area. This is where you are free to roam about. You may talk amongst yourselves, socialize, get to know one another, and discuss the potential mission that you may or may not fulfill. You will have no more than 12 days to spend in the assembly area. Should you have a mission, you all will move to one of two loading docks. It is there that you will be fully equipped to carry out your assignment; again, I will cover that momentarily. You will be given the necessary coordinates, fuel, and mission essential items to ensure that you will be successful. After you are fully supplied you will be taken back to the assembly area, and it is there that you shall wait. If we receive a mission, then you will move to the great tunnel and prepare for launch. If no mission is received, then you will eventually dissolve and die. It is the sad truth I’m afraid. Fortunately for you, death is a painless adventure. Your bodies will simply decompose in a matter of seconds, and then they will be absorbed by the ground beneath your feet. Your suits were designed to dissolve with you, so don’t worry about that.”

  Now I am not thrilled about this at all. So far from what I have learned is that I either get loaded into the tunnel and get launched out on a mission, or I get to sit around with a bunch of other random people passing the time until we all fade away and die. Well, dissolve is the term he used, but it still counts. It is safe to say that I am really confused right now; maybe even a little upset as to just why I was created in the first place.

  Fear not. For I have plans for you young one. I have plans of prosperity, health, welfare, and every kind of good thing for you. Have hope. I have a great future planned for you.

  I know I was watching the captain speak, but what I just heard was not the captain’s voice. The captain’s voice is welcoming, authoritative, and firm. That last voice I heard was soft, gentle, and full of peace. I want to hear more! I want to know what great things I am going to be doing.

  Have patience, son. For now, listen to the captain.

  But I don’t want to. The captain sounds like he knows what he is talking about, and I can respect a guy like that. Coming through the screen though…I feel like I’m just a number. Listening to you makes me feel warm, safe, and valued. When I say warm, I mean actual temperature-changing warm. My whole suit tingles when you speak, and I want more please! I don’t care if I never leave this chair; please just let me hear you talk to me. Your voice is precious sounding to me.

  Fear not, for the captain works for me.

  Wow! Really? That must make you the Superintendent, right?

  Correct. You are smart; just like I meant for you to be. Now is not the time for me to speak. You must listen to the captain now. I will return soon.

  That was incredible! I had a conversation with the Superintendent! I never once opened my mouth; it was all in my head! It was like listening to somebody talk as if they were right next to me, and yet inside of me at the same time. All I had to do was think of what I wanted to say and He responded! I can’t wait to hear from Him again! For now, I guess I will have to settle for the captain’s remaining speech.

  “Your offici
al title is Genetically Ordained Core, or GOC for short. Your mission is to infiltrate the incubation chamber and overpower the treasure that lies before you. Think of it as strength in numbers.” The screen at this time splits into two halves. The captain fills the left half, some weird images fill the right half of the screen, and the captain continues speaking.

  “Turn your attention to the right side of the screen. As you will notice, these images are unfamiliar to you. We will go through each part step by step.” The bottom most portion is a long tunnel-like thing. It becomes highlighted and zooms in. “This is the initial point of entry. Once launch commences, all of you will leave the great tunnel and land in here. This is your drop zone.” Two white circles appear on the screen; one around each wall. The rest of the picture dims a little. “You will notice that the interior walls are not smooth. In fact, they are very rigid. This is not your final destination. These walls were simply designed to speed up the launch process. So, do not get caught up trying to make your way in that direction.” The white circles disappear. The picture remains dim, while a new circle appears around a new section.

  To me, this new section looks like a very thick wall, with a seam in the middle. I suppose I could ask a question at this point in time, but something tells me that that would be a foolish question.

  “These are the crowd control barriers. They are two very large, and very thick walls that come together here,” the seam flashes as the captain talks, “and only open once every few weeks. All the other days it takes absolute determination and willpower to muscle your way through to reach the actual chamber itself. I urge you to listen carefully to this next part, so that when it does happen, you will not be surprised. 90% of you will not make it past the barriers. The other 10% of you will either find a way in, or become pushed in.”