For this evening and tonight, Scott intended to rest as best he could. Radar would warn him of incoming dragons, and floating fifty feet off the ground should keep him out of reach of everyone else. It also ought to scare away any war parties who thought now might be a good time to attack again.
They wouldn’t remain cowed forever. Hector had been right, they’d come back. Scott intended to make sure the people below were ready when they did.
“Hector is still in a medical coma,” Toby said, stepping back into the cockpit. “No real change.”
“Thanks for checking on him,” Scott replied.
It would be touch and go for a while yet. The days ahead would determine if Hector would live or die. Scott hoped the man would make it. He was gambling with a lot of medical supplies that he would survive. But then, it just wasn’t in Scott to give up on anything without a fight.
“We’re really staying then, boss?” Toby asked in a quiet voice.
Scott looked over at him. “We are. I promised Hector we’d keep his people safe, at least for now.”
“What about your cure?” Toby asked.
Surprising himself, Scott laughed. He thought he was still broken up about not flying west right away, but he felt lighter than ever.
“Toby, that cure might not even be out there. But if it is, it’s waited two hundred years. It’ll probably survive a little longer,” Scott said. “These people, though? We might be their last shot at having anything better than this.”
How many humans were left on Earth, all scattered in small and isolated bands like this? It didn’t look like they were thriving or growing. Seemed more like they were feeding off the remnants of the old world, using up whatever resources were available.
Scott’s technology might be the last high-tech equipment still functioning on Earth. If there was ever going to be a shot at humanity coming back to be more than what he saw right now, he was going to have to do the heavy lifting.
“We might be the last hope humanity has of ever getting out of this dark age. Maybe of even surviving at all,” Scott whispered. The words felt like they had a weight of their own, settling over his shoulders.
“In that case, I have been instructed to play a message for you,” Toby said. He sat down next to Scott, and suddenly his voice changed to another one Scott knew almost as well as his own. It was his mother speaking.
“Scott, if you’re hearing this then the shit has truly hit the fan,” his mother’s recording began. “But if Toby is playing this for you, it also means you’ve decided to do something about it.”
How could she have known something would be wrong with Earth? Scott gaped, trying to consider all the implications.
“What did you do, mom?” he whispered. She didn’t reply; it truly was just a recording.
“We’ve known a rogue planet was on the way for a long time now. It’s due to come near Earth sometime after you depart. I probably won’t be around to see it, but you might have been. It’s probably going to screw things up badly. Big old fashioned apocalypse. I wasn’t sure what you’d find upon returning, so I helped make sure the Stargazer was packed with anything you might need for any eventuality.”
“Betcha didn’t expect dragons,” Scott said with a small smile.
“Toby is only going to play this if you decide to put the needs of others ahead of your own. In which case, I’m damned proud of you, son,” his mother said. “I wish I could be there to help, but since I can’t, I sent them the next best thing: my brilliant child.”
“I don’t know what you found when you arrived,” she went on. “I can’t predict what will happen when the planet passes Earth. Just that it won’t be good. Whatever you’ve run into so far might not be the worst you’ll see, either. But as you’ve probably already figured out, you may be the last shot human beings have at rising out of whatever ashes are left when you get there.”
Scott leaned back in his seat. The tears he’d barely managed to hold back for Hector tumbled down his cheeks now. Hearing his mother’s voice from all those centuries ago undid all the self-control he had left.
“One last thing. Toby has coordinates for a supply cache I am setting up. I’m putting it someplace geologically stable and digging it in deep enough that it should survive whatever comes. It’s the best I can offer you. No promises, but I’d recommend going there when you can to see what’s left,” she said. “I’m proud of you, Scott. You never thought you were worth much, and that made me sad. But you’ve always been smarter and stronger than you thought. There’s a lot riding on your shoulders out there in the future. But I have faith you can make it happen. Good luck.”
Then Toby’s voice went back to normal. “End of recording.”
When Scott was able to stop crying, he looked up at Toby. “Are there more like that? More voice recordings she left for me?”
“I didn’t know that one was there until you triggered it. If there are more, they’re buried by a trigger, too,” Toby said. “I do have those coordinates she mentioned, though. It’s a spot about three hundred miles north of here. We gonna go?”
“Not right away,” Scott said. “Too risky to leave everyone this vulnerable. But yeah, we’ll go check it out as soon as we can.”
Scott leaned back in his chair again, watching the moon rise over the towering trees. His mother had faith in him. Hell, she’d always believed in him, apparently. She was the smartest person he’d ever known. If she thought he could do something about the mess Earth was in, well, he’d just have to work at it until he managed.
“Scott Free, Dragonslayer. Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?” he asked Toby.
“Mrrp!” Gorbash said, fluttering over and depositing himself in Scott’s lap.
“Not of you, oh flying hot dog eater!” Scott laughed. “You get to stick with us.”
Gorbash slurped his face with a long tongue, then curled up under his arm and went to sleep.
Rest came slowly for Scott. His mind was busy with plans about what he would do the following day. But that was for then. Eventually he let his eyelids close, and he dreamed of dragons and starlight.
Author’s Notes
This story was a ton of fun to write. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did penning the words! If the story is popular with readers, I have in mind several more tales involving Scott and Toby.
“The Quantum Dragonslayer” has an interesting origin story. Back in the summer of 2018, there was a brief kerfuffle in the writing world around trademarks. Several authors began trademarking common words and issuing takedown notices on books which used those words.
Now, I’ve got no issues with intellectual property. As a writer, that’s how I make my living: I make up things that people value enough to pay me for them. (Thank you, by the way!)
But two of the words being trademarked were problematic for a lot of science fiction and fantasy authors: ‘quantum’ and ‘dragonslayer’. SFWA (The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America) got involved in the legal dispute, and as a member I encouraged their participation. Then another member suggested I get some skin in the game by writing a story using the proposed trademarks SFWA was fighting.
It took me all of a day of brainstorming to come up with a fun, lively, interesting, exciting idea that used both quantum and dragonslayer at the same time.
However, the whole thing got resolved amicably long before the book was finished! That left me with a good story that didn’t really have a deep purpose anymore.
But it was still a good story. It went out to my editor, and came back.
I spent some time cleaning the work up, making it a little better as the months went by. I wanted this book to be light; not comedy, but fun and sort of breezy in tone. Some of my work feels incredibly serious. This was an attempt to do something a bit different.
Then it was sent out to my advanced reader team, some of whom sent me back a whole swath of last typos. Especially helpful was Norma Grogan, whose keen eye found more typos than anyo
ne else! Also special thanks to Mark Frink, whose keen eye was invaluable.
It was a fun voyage, bringing Scott and Toby to you. I hope I’ve done well with it.
If you loved this book, drop a review on Amazon? How readers react to this first novel will tell me whether it’s a winner worth pursuing or not.
Feel free to write to me with your thoughts as well! I can be reached at [email protected], and love hearing from readers!
Thanks again for reading. You make everything possible.
Kevin
Other Books by Kevin McLaughlin
Adventures of the Starship Satori (Space Opera blended with military SF)
Finding Satori - prequel short story, available only to email list fans!
Book 1 - Ad Astra: Book 2 - Stellar Legacy
Book 3 - Deep Waters
Book 4 - No Plan Survives Contact
Book 5 - Liberty
Book 6 - Satori’s Destiny
Book 7 - Ashes of War
Book 8 - Embers of War
Book 9 - Dust and Iron
The Ragnarok Saga (Military SF)
Accord of Fire - Free prequel short story, available only to email list fans!
Book 1 - Accord of Honor
Book 2 - Accord of Mars
Book 3 - Accord of Valor
Book 4 - Ghost Wing
Book 5 - Ghost Squadron
Book 6 - Ghost Fleet (2019)
Valhalla Online Series (A Ragnarok Saga Story)
Book 1 - Valhalla Online
Book 2 - Raiding Jotunheim
Book 3 - Vengeance Over Vanaheim
Book 4 - Hel Hath No Fury
Lost Planet Warriors (Military SF with light romance)
Book 1 - Desperate Times
Book 2 - Desperate Measures
Dire Straits - Free short story for email list fans!
Blackwell Magic Series (Urban Fantasy)
Book 1 - By Darkness Revealed
Book 2 - Ashes Ascendant
Book 3 - Dead In Winter
Book 4 - Claws That Catch
Book 5 - Darkness Awakes
Book 6 - Spellbinding Entanglements
By A Whisker (short story)
The Raven and the Rose - Free novelette for email list fans!
Dead Brittania Series:
Dead Brittania (short prequel story)
Book 1 - King of the Dead
Book 2 - Queen of Demons
Raven’s Heart Series (Urban Fantasy)
Book 1 - Stolen Light
Book 2 - Webs in the Dark
Book 3 - Shades of Moonlight
Other Titles:
Over the Moon (SF romance)
Midnight Visitors (Steampunk Cat short story)
Demon Ex Machina (Steampunk Cat short story)
The Coffee Break Novelist (help for writers!)
You Must Write (Heinlein’s rules for writers)
Exclusive for fans of the Accord series!
Find out how the story started… When Captain Nicholas Stein set out to stop one enemy ship, and set in motion events which shaped the course of human history for decades to come.
http://kevinomclaughlin.com/accordoffire/
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Kevin McLaughlin has written more than three dozen science fiction and fantasy novels, along with more short stories than he can easily count. Kevin can be found most days in downtown Boston, working on the next novel. His bestselling Blackwell Magic fantasy series, Accord science fiction series, Valhalla Online LitRPG series, and the fan-favorite Starship Satori series are ongoing.
I love hearing from readers!
www.kevinomclaughlin.com
[email protected]
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