Scales of Empire

by Kylie Chan

  The screen flipped back to the journalist, now walking past a village pub. ‘The question remains: can we control this situation? Can we stop the dragonscales from impregnating every woman around them? The value of having a dragon in the family is impossible to quantify. Everybody wants one. Birth control doesn’t work on dragonscales, and somehow condoms aren’t effective either.’

  A man tottered out of the pub behind her, and stopped to grin at the camera. The reporter didn’t see him.

  ‘When Shiumo first arrived seventeen years ago, we were looking at extinction in a hundred years as the oxygen disappeared from our atmosphere,’ she continued. ‘We’ve saved ourselves from that. But are we about to breed ourselves out of existence instead?’

  ‘Alien invasion!’ the drunk man said, raising his arms. ‘They came for our women.’ He guffawed. ‘Who’da thought they’d come for our women – with their own women?’ He leaned unsteadily on the fence. ‘Dozens of the little buggers in the village! Shame I’m a bloke – I’d be having a baby with them too. Word is the dragons will be able to charge whatever they like to transport stuff to other planets – they’ll be a gold mine for their families.’ His grin disappeared. ‘Wish I’d been born a girl. Would’ve had one of them babies in a second.’ He waved dismissively at the camera and staggered away muttering, ‘Aliens taking our women.’

  ‘The government has yet to respond,’ the reporter said. ‘In the meantime, all we can do is count the losses, and hope we can salvage our species.’

  32

  General Maxwell charged into my office barking into her tablet. She’d dropped her daughter and dragonscales granddaughter at Scaleshome thirty minutes before. Obviously she’d seen the report and returned immediately.

  ‘Yes. Legislation to identify and isolate them. Round up all those at the ferry terminal. Arrange for sweeps through every neighbourhood where a first-generation child lived. We want them all.’

  She folded her tablet, and shook her head. ‘I’m retired, dammit! Where are the dragons?’

  ‘They disappeared,’ I said. ‘We can’t find them anywhere. Marque, did they go back to their ships?’

  Marque was silent.

  ‘We are altogether too reliant on that thing,’ Maxwell growled. ‘We need to deport it with its dragon masters.’

  ‘Right now it’s our only contact with them,’ I said. ‘Marque, where is Shiumo?’

  Marque hesitated, then said, ‘I don’t know. She and Richard folded away. She’s out of this system and beyond my reach.’

  ‘She ran.’ The general scowled. ‘I believe it. And Zianto and Hanako?’

  Marque hesitated again. ‘They’re … visiting with –’

  ‘They’re already fucking the girls?’ the general shouted. ‘Holy fuck, we need to stop this!’ She turned to me. ‘How many weapons do you have here?’

  ‘There’s no need for that,’ Marque said.

  I retrieved a handgun from my locked desk drawer. ‘This is all I have. I never thought I’d need it. Scaleshome is secured by the elevator.’

  She took the gun from me, then opened comms on her tablet again. ‘I need two squads of elite special forces at the Scaleshome ASAP. Bring them in on a ’copter. ETA on Admiral Blake?’ She listened, and nodded. ‘Good.’

  She loaded the handgun and checked it as she spoke to Marque. ‘Tell Zianto and Hanako that if they’re not in this office in two minutes, I will personally shoot the dragonscales that they are currently “visiting”.’

  ‘You’d shoot your own granddaughter?’ Zianto said from the other side of the room.

  ‘Get Hanako here now,’ the general said.

  Hanako appeared next to Zianto. ‘There’s no need to cause a fuss.’

  ‘You two listen to me,’ Maxwell said, leaning one hand on the desk and glowering at them. ‘I am putting all of the dragonscales in isolation. They are not fucking anyone. Then I am rounding up every woman they’ve impregnated and I’m putting them in isolation as well. If you make any attempt to stop me, I will order their execution. Every single one of your children – and your grandchildren – will die. Do you understand?’

  ‘They’re your children too!’ Hanako said.

  ‘You would really shoot your own granddaughter?’ Zianto repeated.

  ‘In. A. Second,’ the general said.

  ‘They have soulstones,’ Hanako said.

  ‘I’ll crush them.’

  ‘You’re turning us all into dragons. Why? Why are you doing this?’ I said, my voice forlorn. ‘You don’t need to – there’s no reason.’

  ‘It’s just easier to deal with people who aren’t too different from us,’ Zianto said with casual dismissal. ‘You’re so primitive that even talking to you is hard work.’

  ‘The dragonscales are half-human anyway,’ Hanako said. ‘They’re you … but civilised.’

  ‘Wonderful – straight-up colonisation,’ the general said. ‘Earth, terra nullius. Fantastic.’ Her tablet pinged and she opened comms on it. ‘Good. Is the legislation through? Excellent.’

  She lowered the tablet and spoke to the dragons. ‘You are now officially expelled from Earth. Leave and do not return.’

  ‘But your interstellar colonies,’ Zianto said. ‘The dragons for your spaceships … We’re helping you!’

  ‘Not any more. Leave.’

  Zianto and Hanako shared a look, then turned back to the general.

  ‘No,’ Zianto said. ‘We’ve started this, and we’ll finish it.’

  ‘We made an arrangement,’ Hanako said, and both dragons disappeared.

  ‘Fuck fuck fuck,’ the general said under her breath. She made a call on her tablet. ‘How far away are you, Stew? And the specials? Good.’

  She turned to me. ‘Choumali, can you lock down Scaleshome? Stop them from leaving?’

  I winced. ‘No. Marque runs the place. It intelligently controls everything. Marque?’

  It didn’t reply.

  ‘Fuck!’ the general roared, and stormed out.

  ‘Why are you helping them?’ I shouted at the ceiling. ‘They’re going to wipe us out. I thought you were programmed to protect life!’

  ‘Nobody’s being hurt or killed,’ Marque said from the air above my head.

  ‘The dragons offered the Nimestas reproductive assistance. I thought they preserved species.’

  ‘The Nimestas are dragonscales. The dragons already did them,’ Marque said with amusement.

  ‘Did them? This is what they do – drive species to extinction? Now they’re doing it to us!’

  ‘And isn’t that ironic, human? How many species has humanity wiped out in its quest for comfort and security?’

  ‘We’ll all die, and you’re helping them kill us.’

  ‘Nobody will die,’ Marque said. ‘You will all live long, full and comfortable lives. I have your genome stored away; you can’t become extinct. Human dragonscales will always exist. There aren’t enough dragons in the universe to completely wipe you out. Your species will become larger, stronger, healthier and altogether more civilised. To be honest, Jian, I really don’t see why you’re making such a fuss.’

  I roared with frustration, and followed the general to the main square. Some of the dragonscales had already gathered there to see their parents off. Zianto and Hanako were standing near them.

  ‘Jian,’ Marque said when I arrived.

  ‘Not now,’ I said.

  ‘Leave Earth and take your children with you,’ the general said to the dragons.

  ‘No. They’re your children. You deal with them,’ Zianto said. She turned to the dragonscales. ‘Go down in the elevator, and I’ll have Marque move you to a place that’s independently run by us. Veronica?’

  General Maxwell’s granddaughter stepped forward hesitantly.

  ‘You stay right here,’ the general said. ‘You saw what they’re planning, Ronnie – I can’t let you leave. We need to lock this down.’

  ‘Jian, this is important,’ Marque said.

&nb
sp; ‘Can you keep Veronica here?’ I said.

  ‘More important than that.’

  ‘It can wait.’

  ‘Do as you’re told, Ronnie,’ Linda, her mother, said. ‘Stay here.’

  ‘Go down in the elevator, dear,’ Hanako said kindly to Veronica. ‘Lead the others. You’ll all be safe.’

  Veronica looked from her grandmother to her mother and then to the dragons, her face full of uncertainty.

  ‘Ronnie, if you try to leave I will be forced to shoot you,’ General Maxwell said. ‘All of you need to stay here so we can stop you from creating any more dragonscales. We need to sort this out.’

  ‘Jian …’ Marque said.

  ‘Marque, unless you can get rid of Zianto and Hanako and keep the dragonscales contained here, shut the fuck up,’ I snapped.

  Veronica took a couple of hesitant steps towards the elevator.

  The general pointed my handgun at her, and Veronica stopped, her pale face contrasting with the red scales at her temples.

  ‘Mum, don’t!’ Linda said, standing between Veronica and the general. ‘She’s your granddaughter!’

  ‘You know my priorities, Linda.’ The general’s voice was hoarse with emotion. ‘Move or I’ll shoot you too.’

  ‘Mum, no,’ Linda said.

  The general shook her head, overwhelmed with grief at the decision to shoot her own child and grandchild. ‘You all have to stay here, Veronica, to protect humanity. You’re too dangerous to our species. Linda, move.’

  ‘She means it, Ronnie,’ I said.

  ‘Marque will protect you,’ Zianto said. ‘Go down in the lift, and we’ll take you all away from here.’

  Veronica nodded sharply.

  The general took careful aim. ‘Ronnie, I mean it. You can’t leave. Dragonscales children are popping up everywhere out there. If you don’t stay here, away from humanity, you’ll wipe us out!’

  Veronica ignored her and strode with determination towards the lift. Three of the other dragonscales followed her, then the rest.

  The general’s aim didn’t waver. ‘Move, Linda, or I will shoot you too.’

  Linda followed her daughter, blocking the general’s line of sight. The general made a soft sound of pain and fired. The bullet pinged off a Marque energy wall and landed on the ground a metre away from Linda’s feet. The general fired again, and again the bullet didn’t hit.

  ‘Jian, this –’ Marque said.

  ‘Shut the fuck up!’ I shouted at it.

  The girls passed some shocked-looking parents who had remained to help their daughters settle in, and stopped in front of the lift.

  A two-second blinding flash of light was followed by a blaze of heat so searing it burned my lungs and throat. There were screams, then the flash was gone.

  We all stood riveted to the ground with shock and confusion.

  ‘I suggest we discuss the extinction issue later,’ Marque said. ‘I’ve been trying to tell you: a cat light cruiser is in orbit, along with an exploration ship, and they’re attempting to blow up Scaleshome, probably because they identify it as dragon-made. I can’t protect us forever. What do you want to do?’

  The general pulled out her tablet and made a call. ‘Brian, it’s me. Yes, it’s an invasion – the dragonscales have been making more dragonscales babies all over the place. But this is worse … Stop. Stop, Brian! It’s worse than that. The cats are attacking us.’ She paused to listen. ‘Yes! That’s what it is. Destroy the potatoes! Give the order.’

  She turned to speak to the dragons. ‘You said we had more than seventy years before the cats knew about us. And that the cat that attacked New Europa and New Nippon wasn’t heading for Earth. Were those lies too?’

  ‘No. The cats may have seen our ships,’ Zianto said.

  She and Hanako rapidly tapped the scales on their necks, then shared a look.

  ‘They haven’t attained non-warp FTL as far as we know,’ Hanako said.

  ‘It’s only one cruiser and an exploratory ship. It should be a small fleet,’ Marque said. ‘They usually attack from an overwhelming position of strength. You must have forced their hand by showing up.’

  ‘If they see our ships in orbit, they will try to intervene,’ Zianto said.

  ‘Could this be the exploratory ship that attacked New Europa and New Nippon fifteen years ago?’ the general said. ‘The colonies are fourteen light-years away – it would take the cats at least that long to reach Earth.’

  ‘Checking … Yes, it’s the same ship,’ Marque said. ‘The cruiser must have been nearby and joined it. Dropping out of warp to join up may have delayed them.’

  ‘They’re here for the rest of the potatoes,’ I said.

  ‘They want to get them before we dragons do,’ Hanako said.

  ‘I know that,’ the general said. ‘All the potato growers on the planet just received the order to destroy every plant they have.’

  ‘Don’t destroy them all!’ Hanako said.

  ‘We were ready for this,’ the general said. ‘Where’s Oliver?’

  ‘Here, ma’am.’ Oliver approached, accompanied by his own Marque sphere.

  ‘Don’t you two go anywhere,’ the general told the dragons. ‘We need your help to defend your children from this attack. And the dragonscales are safer here. Don’t let them leave.’

  ‘We know,’ Hanako said.

  ‘Two rotocopters are on their way with Admiral Stewart Blake and some special forces,’ the general said. ‘Let them in when they arrive, Marque.’

  ‘No,’ Zianto said. ‘No soldiers. Don’t let them in, Marque.’

  ‘Dammit,’ the general began, but the cats hit Scaleshome again with a blast of light and heat that knocked the breath out of us.

  ‘General, the transmission equipment’s in the admin section,’ I said. ‘This way.’

  Oliver took up a position behind the microphone. I nodded to him, trying to broadcast encouragement.

  The dragons stopped just inside the doorway. It was a crush with all of us in the tiny transmission room.

  ‘They’ve attacked our ships, and Marque can’t defend them forever,’ Zianto said. ‘You said you have a way to stop them?’

  ‘We can try,’ I said.

  ‘You won’t hurt them, will you? We don’t want to go to war with them.’

  Another attack hit us with a blinding crash.

  ‘I can’t take much more of this,’ Marque said. ‘I’m running out of energy to maintain the barrier. Two or three more hits and Scaleshome will be destroyed.’

  ‘Hurting them is the least of our worries right now,’ I said, and nodded to Oliver. ‘Go! Go!’

  He pressed the button to connect to the cat ships’ wavelength and spoke to them in their own tongue. Marque translated for us.

  ‘Stop attacking the dragon facility,’ Oliver said. ‘I’m one of your kind, kidnapped by the humans, and I’m inside the facility. Please stop; you’ll kill me.’

  The cats replied in their own language. ‘You are a feral, uncivilised and not trained in the way of the true cat. You are contaminated and must be destroyed.’

  Another hit, and this time the ground rocked beneath us.

  ‘I really can’t keep this up,’ Marque said. ‘Another hit and I’ll only be able to put a few of you in energy bubbles. Many will die.’

  ‘Tell them the rest, Ollie,’ I said.

  Oliver spoke again. ‘The humans have destroyed every potato on the planet, and hidden all the seeds in a secure storage facility. If you don’t stop now, the humans will destroy that too and we will never again taste the excellence that is potatoes.’

  ‘Don’t harm the potatoes!’ Hanako said, her eyes wide.

  ‘We will destroy them completely if this doesn’t stop,’ the general said. ‘And if you don’t control your dragonscales, we will destroy them anyway.’

  ‘No,’ Zianto moaned. ‘This is going so wrong!’

  There was another blinding flash, then another. I ducked, then looked around, surprised
to be still alive.

  ‘That was your ships, dragons,’ Marque said. ‘They blew them up.’ Its voice filled with fury. ‘I had data stored on those ships.’

  We waited for another hit, but it didn’t happen.

  ‘They may have run out of power on their ship. If so, they could be recharging the guns from their warp drive,’ Marque said.

  ‘Do you know how long we have before they start firing again?’ I said.

  ‘For a small cruiser like that, about seventeen minutes.’

  A message came through from the cats. ‘Give us your potatoes and the feral now, or we will destroy a population centre. You have seventeen minutes to submit.’

  The general opened her tablet. ‘Stew? We have seventeen minutes until they can fire again. There are two cat ships. I’m on my way to Birmingham with the dragons. I’ll infiltrate with Choumali and the specials. No, you secure Scaleshome; I’ll do the cat ships. If you’re in mid-air, swapping Choumali will be too complicated.’

  She folded her tablet and spoke to the dragons. ‘We have strike teams with a special weapon that will completely disable the cat ships. But we need you to fold us there. You take us, we drop the weapons, and leave.’

  ‘We don’t want to hurt the cats,’ Hanako said.

  ‘The weapon will disable their ships without any long-term damage,’ the general said. ‘We won’t kill them or destroy their ships. Nothing that would give them cause to retaliate. We just want to shut them down long enough for you to drop them back home; and make it clear that every time they approach Earth we’ll do it again.’

  Both dragons’ heads shot back on their long necks.

  ‘You really have a weapon that can disable the cats to that degree?’ Hanako said.

  ‘We do,’ the general said. ‘We tested it on Major Choumali’s son.’

  ‘It completely incapacitated me for more than a day,’ Oliver said. He winced, showing his long canines. ‘They’ll only need to experience it once, then they’ll stay away forever.’

  ‘I hope you’re right, General,’ Zianto said.