by Blaze Ward
The side door opened before Gareth could decide. Eveth Baker and Jackeith Grodray entered, and nobody else. Just the four of them in the room.
He looked around the room at the other three people with an inside giggle. He and the two Constables were all wearing the exact same uniform, the steel blue bodysuit with triangular scales. Grodray had added the outer tunic that made him look more formal, while he and Baker had not.
Talyarkinash was wearing purple. Skin-tight, cheongsam top without any sleeves. Baggy, Samurai pants in a broad straight-leg cut, with a high waist that flared out at the top, almost like a pirate girdle. Everything she wore was embroidered with silver, in some arcane design that almost looked like something he had seen once in a Shia Mosque in Samarkand.
“What’s so funny?” Baker asked as she took the seat directly across from Gareth.
She wasn’t angry. Or it wasn’t at him, anyway. At last not that he could tell.
Grodray had ended up across from the Nari woman, but his face was more closed.
“Wondering if there was any symbolism in fashion,” Gareth replied.
It didn’t make any sense, but she had asked.
Baker looked like she wanted to say something, then looked like she was trying not to roll her eyes at him. Finally, she huffed once and settled.
“Will it be just us today?” Talyarkinash asked in a serious voice, dividing her attention between the two.
Eveth Baker was probably the more dangerous, from a purely physical standpoint, although Gareth had been her match back when he’s still been human. Grodray was still a more interesting foe from a strategic standpoint. He only looked like a Senior Constable, a role he played to mislead watchers. The man was really a Prime Investigator, a free agent allowed by his superiors to go wherever the crime might lead him.
As far as Gareth knew, Baker wasn’t one. Not yet, but she had something like a candidate status, so she probably would be in another year or so, if all went well.
Gareth really didn’t know where he fit into the whole mess. Talyarkinash was at least a scientist, and had been working closely with some of the staff here, but only a few people and most of them were not read fully into the project that was Gareth St. John Dankworth, renegade human, genetically-engineered monster.
Baker paused and looked deliberately at Grodray.
The older man suddenly looked angry enough to chew nails, where he had just been serious before.
“The fewer people that are aware of this operation, the better,” Grodray said ominously.
Gareth heard the echoes of vast, bureaucratic arguments in the background of those words. Complaints taken all the way to the highest authority, rather than being worked out down in the trenches.
When you have a human on the loose, things could get ugly. Two of them doubled the problems.
“How can we help?” Gareth asked the man simply.
That was why they were here. Nothing else would require the two of them to physically travel this far, when they could send a message or a courier.
“I understand from Dr. Liamssen that you have gained better control of your…powers,” Grodray began.
Gareth nodded silently.
“I need to see you in action, Gareth,” the Senior Constable said. “That will tell me what I need to know about how to use you, going forward.”
“Here?” he asked.
“No,” Grodray said. “Too many witnesses. We need to go up-country to the gunnery range. I’ve had it locked down for the next two days, so there will be nobody but us.”
Gareth whistled unconsciously at the astounding display of authority in those words. He caught the slightest flinch in Baker as well. Talyarkinash had never been in part of a major bureaucracy, so didn’t understand that it was almost never possible to simply snap your fingers and just have something happen.
“I can go whenever,” he said, turning to the Nari woman next to him. “Talyarkinash?”
“I suspected that was why you were here,” she allowed. “I have some equipment in my lab that we will need, specially prepared for Gareth when he’s in the field.”
“What kind of equipment?” Baker spoke up now.
“When he transforms, his clothing and anything he is carrying somehow become absorbed into the new form, and then returned to normal later,” Talyarkinash replied. “After a month, I still don’t understand it, but humans have vast, latent psionic powers that might eventually put them on a par with the Chaa.”
“And?” Baker almost growled.
“So the first round of bio-sensors I put on him went perfectly blank for the entire time he was transformed. Constable Baker,” the Nari woman returned the challenge. “I have a new design that I want to try. Hopefully it will work. Science is about attempting and failing until you succeed. I do not know if I am there, yet, but I am getting closer.”
“Oh.” Baker backed off, which Gareth found rather interesting.
She was a big woman. Slender and athletic, but muscular and a whole head taller than the scientist. However, she was apparently willing to learn, and maybe even admit when she was wrong, or maybe pushing a little too hard.
“Gareth?” Baker asked.
Which was kind of astounding, but he hoped he hid it well. Usually, she only called him Dankworth to his face.
“Whatever you need, Constable,” Gareth replied evenly. “Maximus is still out there.”
Scientist
If the gods would have allowed it, Talyarkinash would have rebuilt herself to be seven feet tall, just so she could lurk above Eveth Baker for once, to give the woman a dose of her own medicine. Among her own kind, Talyarkinash was usually an inch taller than any Nari woman she met.
Being around Vanir all the time was wearing on the soul.
She kept her grumbles to herself though, as she climbed into the Constabulary Transport and buckled herself in, followed by the three giants from some fairy tale. Her small equipment bag, almost a purse, went between her feet.
Gareth was the most perfect gentleman. Had been from the first moment they had met. Had remained so even after she had discovered he was human. He gave lie to all those horrible threats and fairy tales her mother had told her as a kitten, even going so far as to confirm her seatbelt was done before attaching his own harness when he got in just now.
Baker, on the other hand, had been a major burr in her tailfur from the beginning.
Talyarkinash was willing to allow that she had been with the bad guys at the time. And guilty of some of the worst crimes on the books. Technically. Conspiracy and Being an Accessory to Treason were not particularly good things to list on her C.V., so she was planning on leaving those off, if she ever managed to make to a class reunion.
At least one outside prison. She had a pretty good idea how many of her old associates would probably be able to make one of those in another few years.
Eveth Baker was a bully. Emotionally. Psychologically. Even physically. It made her a good cop, Talyarkinash supposed. It also made her a pain in the ass, most of the time.
At least Baker appeared to be completely immune to the charms of one Gareth St. John Dankworth. That helped.
Gareth still had the card from some other Nari woman in his wallet. Seriously, the woman had given a complete stranger from another species a scent card.
What the hell?
Not that Talyarkinash hadn’t considered doing the same, from time to time. Being human, Gareth had just possessed a magnetism that would have made her rich, had she been able to identify it, bottle it, and market it. After becoming Vanir, it was all she could do some days to not run her fingertips through his mane.
The craft lifting off concealed the way her fingers curled in her lap.
Post-zenith sun in a clear sky out the windows. Cool up here from the elevation, but she could have found a place out of the breeze, if she wanted to just bask on a warm rock. Instead, she had added a jacket that hung to her knees and a wool-lined cap with the perfect ear holes, for when t
hey got even further up the enormous valley and the temperatures began to nip, even in direct sunlight.
This much wilderness was unnatural to a city kitten like her, but it was the hand she had been dealt. Rumors had been circulating that Maximus was currently in a war with his own people, deep in the underworld, to retain control. Or regain it. She was much safer with Baker and Grodray protecting her.
And Gareth.
If she was in the city, any city, someone would have found her, eventually. Maximus had done some amazingly savage things, even for a human, according to Gareth. She would have been on Sarzynski’s list. Especially from where the two of them had started, her and Maximus.
Much better here.
The flight took all of about fifteen long, silent minutes. Gareth was lost in his sightseeing. Baker was scowling at something, but she always did. Grodray had grown introspective.
Gareth had explained to her the armies of earlier centuries on Earth. The tremendous wars fought over things she still couldn’t quite parse. But more importantly, the science of destruction that his species had worshipped for so many millennia and the amazing advances they had driven in human culture, over just a few millennia.
Bronze Age to Space in three thousand years? Without outside intervention? Amazing.
And frightening. Where would they be in another thousand years?
The Gunnery Range they were about to take over was designed to give Heavy Rescue teams from the Constabulary a place to practice, working with weapons that could kill, rather than just stun, when you needed to blow things up, or destroy vehicles.
When you were reduced to the sorts of savagery that humans apparently just took for granted.
Talyarkinash shuddered, in spite of herself as they landed.
She had been here twice before, working with Gareth as he flew and practiced things like the breath weapon he had insisted almost all human cultures expected that dragons were born with.
Was there a more violent species, anywhere in the galaxy?
Today, the place was abandoned. Completely empty.
Even the vehicle bringing them had been auto-piloted, so the four of them might be the only people within twenty kilometers in any direction.
The old Talyarkinash would have had serious qualms about that sort of situation. Too easy to be brought up here and vanish without any trace that a crime had been committed. But Baker and Grodray weren’t that sort of cops. And there was Gareth.
This might be one of the few situations in her life that Talyarkinash was confident she could take at face value.
She turned in place to view the magnificent arena formed by a bowl of mountains all the way around her as she emerged. The tarmac where they had parked was probably over one thousand hectares by itself, with a line of six enormous hangars on the right and a set of office buildings and warehouses on the left. Space for five, or maybe eight thousand people in a pinch, although last time she had been here, the population had been barely two dozen, sworn to secrecy but still gawking in the afternoon sun at a bronze dragon flying overhead. At least they had all had an occasional friendly smile for her.
The air was crisp, but not enough to penetrate her coat. If a breeze picked up, the hat would go on, but she was fine for now. It even smelled faintly of pine sap, a sticky, green pungency at the lower end of her range. Gareth almost certainly could detect it, but she doubted the cops would be able to.
That brought the faintest smile to her face as she fell in behind Grodray, with the other two behind her.
He led the column to a tower, a five story square cylinder where flight control would be able to see aircraft coming and going, and keep them organized in the sort of emergency where auto-pilots might not be smart enough to all maneuver in synch.
The stairs warmed her, as did being inside, to the point she pulled her coat open and considered taking it off.
Talyarkinash found the echoes in the stairwell amusing. Grodray walked with a lighter step than most Vanir, while Baker seemed to be trying to punish each tread as she stepped on it. Gareth made almost no sound, just a whisper more than she did.
The step into the brightness of the top chamber, after the dimness of the stairwell, caused her eyes to slam nearly shut for a moment, before they flickered sideways again.
Empty.
Four sides where up to eight controllers could work, although one was normal. She followed Grodray to the side where they had the best view of the long runway. He turned and gave them his best grouchy stare.
“Wanted to confirm we were completely alone,” he said simply. “Dr. Liamssen, you said you had mechanisms that would not necessarily be part of Gareth’s translation?”
“I do,” she said, reaching into the bag she had brought with her and pulling out a small, clamshelled container that she handed to Gareth. “Attach this to your ear like an earring, and flip the tip into your ear canal.”
He took it and opened the box warily. Simple enough, for now. A clip for the cartilage, hinged. He pulled it out and put it on. She saw a little red light appear.
Talyarkinash pulled out the communicator and pressed the button that would send a beep. He nodded in response, so she handed it to Grodray.
“Gareth’s side is voice activated,” she said. “Press the button on the side when you want to talk.”
“Gareth, I’ve seen the videos of you in action,” Grodray said. “I’ve read Dr. Liamssen’s reports, plus a few others from around you. Those were relaxed, controlled circumstances. I want to see you in something like combat circumstances. Questions?”
“Anything in particular?” Gareth asked, himself falling into the seriousness of the other cops.
“Speed, maneuverability, fire,” Grodray said. “We’re reaching a point where talk now is about putting you in the field to hunt Sarzynski.”
“Stalking horse?” Gareth asked.
“Do you know a better way to hunt lions?”
Talyarkinash shuddered. Maximus was at least that dangerous. Hopefully Gareth was as well.
Draco-form
Gareth emerged from the bottom of the tower and sniffed the air around him. Nobody. It was odd, being able to smell like a hunting dog when he concentrated.
The base had been occupied until recently, but everyone had left at least a day ago. All this, just for him.
“Checking in,” he said, assuming that the earpiece would pick it up.
“Go ahead, Gareth,” Grodray said.
Deep breath. Reach down and grasp hold of the power that Talyarkinash had placed inside his soul when she given him the ability to transform. It no longer hurt as much to turn. Instead, it was a friendly heat that wrapped around him like hands, rather than scorching them. Even the pain of transformation was manageable.
Gareth paused, and took a second breath. The fire seemed to engulf him physically, although he had seen videos where he transformed, and everything was internal.
Just his imagination that he was burning.
And his perception changed as well. Eyes moved outward as his skull reshaped, granting him peripheral vision almost good enough to see all directions at once. Chitin formed from his blood and bone created a ridge of dragon plates that ran back his skull and all the way down to the new tail that was extending outward.
Fortunately, the uniform really did subsume itself into his flesh. The first attempt Talyarkinash had given him had shredded under the stress, coming apart and leaving him naked when he shifted back.
Dragons could blush, but right now nobody could see it under the bronze scales covering his face. He smiled, as much as he could with the new form of his jaw, too much like the Yuudixtl who had been his inspiration.
Crocodile smile.
“Can you still read me, Constable Grodray?” Gareth asked, his voice rumbling a rich bass in his own ears.
“Affirmative, Dankworth,” the man replied. “Go ahead.”
Gareth took several running steps and threw himself at the sky. He could fly from a standstill,
pumping heavily to gain altitude, but this was much more efficient, using the tiny amount of breeze to gain a little lift.
Quickly, he was twenty meters in the air, racing along at sixty kilometers per hour as he rose higher. Grodray had given him no directions, other than to show off, so Gareth decided to stretch his abilities today.
Up and up, slowly orbiting the tower as a central beacon for his column, until he was nearly a thousand meters in the air. He rolled over and aimed himself to glide a little, back along the runway back to where their transport was parked.
There were a few birds up this high, but most had fled at the sight of the monstrous, strange beast breaking up the afternoon sky. A few predators continued to circle at what they thought might be a safe distance, but even they kept their orbits far wider than his, reacting like scalded cats when he turned one way or the other.
Finally, he turned, finding the line of the runway and pulling his wings in until just the tips stuck out, like tiny ailerons providing him control as he nosed over into freefall. Below, the equivalents of eagles and hawks scattered to the four winds with surprised cries.
Gareth rumbled a laugh, forgetting for a moment that the microphone was live.
“Everything okay?” Grodray asked, but it sounded more like a formality than anything.
“Speed drop,” Gareth replied. “Locals are a little nervous.”
“Roger that.”
His draco-form was streamlined. The final size he had reached when he had stopped growing as a Vanir was twenty-seven meters from sleek snout to spiky tail. Pulled in tight, he quickly reached a terminal velocity far greater than a human skydiver ever could.
And he had learned early on how much torque his wings could take before they buckled under the stress, so he slowly stretched his wings out, forcing his flight flatter and flatter as he went, transforming into the horizontal from the vertical that he had started.
He didn’t have an airspeed indicator gauge to track his speed, but his inner eyelid had dropped down, making everything just the slightest bit fuzzy while still letting him track large targets. Still, Talyarkinash had built him a communicator.
