Fate Of The Dragon

by Richard Lovegood

  The crowd snickers and whispers among themselves as the loner continues.

  “I was told that I was going to have the strength of 10 men! I was told that people will worship me for what I’ll do. Nobody else will be able to stop me, because I’ll be a giant among other men. I will squash people beneath my feet… once I have feet. I will be unstoppable!” Someone from deep within the crowd can no longer contain himself, and bursts out with laughter.

  “Sure, you will. Oh, we are so scared! Ha ha ha!” The crowd grows wide-eyed and leaps onto the newly found noisemaker, and attempts to silence him. The loner GOC turns and sees the crowd.

  “Who dares mock me?! Answer me!!” He screams. “I will destroy all who oppose me!” He starts heading our direction.

  Gulp.

  “Time to flee!” says the crowd as they scatter. I’m left standing in awe as the loner comes right at me. and towers over me as he stands before me. You know, I could have sworn that we were all the same size, but as I stood there in the shadow of this GOC towering above me, I knew that wasn’t the case. I wonder if this guy broke a piston or something as he came out of the factory. I can feel him breathing on me as he talks at me through his tightly pursed lips.

  “Since your friends abandoned you that must mean you’re the guilty one. So, tell me, worm, why were you laughing at me? I’ll be generous and give you five seconds to think through your answer.”

  If I could see my own face I’m sure that I look like I am shouting, because I can feel that my mouth is open really wide and a little on the droopy side right now. Needless to say, I’m scared right now. What do I say to this giant? I have a really good feeling that I will not be able to fight back, should he want to fight me. I’m clearly no match for his strength. I consider my only remaining options: take off as fast as I can and hope that he doesn’t catch me or try to talk my way out of it.

  “Time’s up, short stuff. What do you have to say for yourself?”

  Well, it’s too late to take off. The second option, it is. “Uh, what’s your name?”

  “You laugh at me, and all you do is wonder what my name is? Why would you want to know my name?” He tilts his head back with an air of confidence and continues on. “I was really hoping you would challenge me to a fight. I’m always looking for a stronger opponent. So far, I haven’t found any that come close to beating me.” He smiles out of the corner of his mouth.

  I’m really glad I went with option two. He seems to enjoy talking about himself… a lot. If I play humble, and feed that part of him, maybe I can buy some time or possibly change the subject all together. “I can definitely believe that, given your amazing size. I would be a fool to challenge you. I mean, look at me. I’m small and insignificant. You clearly knew that because you called me a short worm! I’m amazed that you were able to predict that about me. Let me ask you a question, oh great one. How many fights have you won?”

  That did it.

  He puffs up his chest and gives his head a gentle shake as he speaks. “Since the time of my creation I have a flawless winning streak of 12 victories. I never back down from any opposition. Every single one was completely the fault of the other person, while I was merely defending myself; albeit with little effort. All it takes is just a swift thump with my head, and down they go! After they recover, no second thought is given to messing with me.”

  “That’s great and all, but you still haven’t told me your name.”

  “Ah yes. My name is Luther, as in Luther the great.” He pauses. “You may bow if you wish.”

  “I’m sorry. What?”

  “You know, bow. Tip your head down to the ground in my direction to show that I am superior to you.”

  I don’t want to. How can I get out of this?

  He looks at me with a puzzled expression and a sideways tilt. “Why aren’t you bowing yet?”

  I got it. “Well, either I’ve never seen it done or I don’t know what the proper “bow” looks like. Then again, it could also be that you are assuming that I already know what to do when clearly, I don’t. I’m a newbie. Can you show me?”

  “You know, you are the first to ever ask for a demonstration. If I must, I must.” Luther tips his large head down towards the ground and pauses after a short distance. “This is a proper bow when greeting your superior or wishing him farewell.” He bows lower to where his head is slightly below his neckline. This is a proper bow if you are apologizing to your superior.” Then he rises up back to his full height. “Finally, I will show you the bow you should do right now as a show of respect and submission to me.” He drops his head slowly, all the way down until it touches the ground.

  Alright, I’ve had enough of this. With his head down so, I quickly leave and blend with the rest of the crowd. Thankfully they’re all my height. We all erupt in laughter. Luther rises back up at the sound of amusement and notices I’m no longer there in front of him… or bowing for that matter.

  “GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE PINT-SIZED PUNK!!”

  Oops. I have to admit, I feel pretty good about myself right now. However, I think that right now is the perfect time to…

  “Let’s get out of here!” the whole crowd screams. We all take off as one mass, leading this ferocious giant away from the gathering area. We reach the auditorium, and head around to the front of the building. Someone from somewhere in the middle shouts out, “Ok people. Let’s do this just like we all rehearsed!”

  “Wait! Rehearsed what?” I ask.

  The guy next to me says, “We pile into the auditorium, and then quickly rush out the back door. The moment we’re all outside and gathered again in one clump… we scatter right before he comes bumbling out the back door.”

  My mouth drops open. “That works?”

  “Yep, every time.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Just watch. It’s hilarious! Follow our lead, ok?”

  “Sure thing.” I say as we all flow up and around to the front of the building. We squeeze as best we can through the front door, and just as quickly, all file through the back door. Thankfully it’s only a small handful of us. This would be much more difficult if there were many more of us. We all gather outside, and a countdown begins. They’ve obviously done this kind of thing before.

  “5!”

  I hear Luther yelling at us from inside, “I’m going to find you, you little pests! Nobody makes a fool out of Luther the great!”

  “4!”

  A loud crash comes from inside. “Why are there so many chairs? Grr!!”

  “3!”

  Luther roars. “My name means people army! Do you hear me, runt? I am a one-man army. I will conquer you!”

  “2!”

  Another crash followed by a sound of pain. “Oww! Why did I have to be so big?”

  “1!”

  Luther’s head becomes stuck in the back door. That explains the cracks.

  “SPLIT!” shouts everyone in unison. We all take off in different directions, just as Luther comes barreling out of the doorway. He’s huffing and now seems to be out of breath. I’m up against the wall where I met Richard. I see Luther frantically looking around trying to determine which GOC is which, but after a few seconds more he gives up and lies down against the building; and falls asleep.

  Now that mister “people army” has decided to take a nap, I think I’ll go explore some more. I head over to where I originally saw Luther, so I can examine the board he was looking at. It’s blank, so I let out a small sigh, and move on. I wonder what happens after our jet packs light up for launch. Time to check that out. The captain said either E1or E2 for the loading bays. Where can they be? Aha! There’s a sign pointing me in the right direction. It appears that E1 is to the left, and E2 goes to the right. Well, let’s start at the beginning; E1.

  I make my way through the passage, and arrive at the loading bay. There is an odd-looking box on the wall here, and a GOC standing by a gate. “Sir, what is the gate for?”

  He looks up at me and says, “Beyond t
his gate is the seating area. After your pack lights up, you come through that passage way, get checked off the list, and you go in and have a seat.”

  “Oh, wow! Is that the great tunnel?”

  He sighs. “Yes sir, it is.”

  “May I look inside?”

  “Sure.” He opens up the gate to let me pass. I go inside to check it out, but I’m suddenly disappointed. It’s a lot smaller than what I thought it to be. “Uhh, sir? I think there is something wrong with the great tunnel. It… umm… is… lacking in size… a bit.”

  He looks at me with a bored expression. “If you have problems or concerns, feel free to use the call box mounted on the wall. It is a direct line to headquarters, and a customer service representative will be with you shortly.”

  Ok. No problem at all. Besides, I was curious about what that thingy was for anyway, so I make my way over to the box. Uh…there are six different buttons here. “Sir, which buttons do I…?”

  “Sir, just press the white one that says ‘Call’ on it. All the other ones are for emergencies.” He says.

  “I see. Well… white button it is then.” It makes sense after I took the time to read the rest of the buttons. Of course, the white button is the only one that doesn’t say ‘Code’ on it.

  Wait. I get it now. This guy is in charge of the alarm system. There is a code red, blue, green, yellow, and black. The white button is at the top and next to what I guess is the speaker. Just below that are the red and green buttons, side by side. The blue and yellow ones are side by side on the next row down, and then the black button is by itself at the very bottom. I can feel myself grinning. I want to know what the other buttons do. A small part of me wants to press all of them at the same time just to see what will happen.

  But, sensibility prevails, so I press the white one… and none of the other ones.

  A female voice comes through the speaker and says in a very bored tone, “Thank you for paging headquarters. Can you please hold?”

  Wait. What? “Hold what?”

  She sighs. “Wait your turn, sir.”

  “Oh… I… I’m sorry. Ok. I’m waiting.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  I feel disgusted. What did I do to deserve that kind of attitude? All I did was press a button. Now I’m not so sure if I want to press the other buttons. The gate guard looks at me and says, “Don’t take it personal. She’s the only one that answers the customer service page, and she receives pages from the entire vessel. She’s constantly answering the same questions over and over again.”

  “Wow! I had no idea! I think if I had her job I would be a little worn out as well.” The entire vessel? No thanks. I’m glad that I am just a GOC, with my only job of out-smarting giants. What do I do now, though? There’s no telling how long I could be here waiting. Do I go away? No. I don’t think that would work, because then I would feel bad for not being here when she does return. Maybe I’ll ask gate guard guy.

  “So, what do you do to occupy your time? Anything exciting or fun happen to be in your list of daily activities?” I say. I really hope so.

  “I sleep. I check the call board. I sleep some more. From what I understand, an actual launch is pretty entertaining. Aside from that… I sleep.” This guy doesn’t sound enthusiastic at all.

  “Sleep, huh? Have you ever missed a call?” I ask.

  “Impossible. That lady is very loud, and has no problem yelling in order to make sure that her voice is heard. There was one time a code blue was issued, and I was asleep. She held a high pitch scream long enough that not only woke me up but brought a few of the citizens running up here to see what was wrong. Of course, they all laughed at me as I got fussed at by the lady through the speaker.”

  “Well, that’s not very nice of her.”

  “I know. I’m not bothered by it anymore.”

  I feel a warm and caring sensation from within. I want to know his story. “Sir, what’s your name?”

  “Me? That’s nice of you. Nobody has asked my name before. I’m Stephen. I’ve been a guard here ever since the guard before me asked me to stand here really quick while he went to ‘take care of something’. You know what he did?” I shake my head. “He takes off into the tunnel while shouting ‘I aint sticking around here waiting on that stupid call board. I know how this system works! Bye bye sucker!’ and he hopped aboard and locked himself in. What he doesn’t know is that he was scheduled for being dissolved that same day. So, the joke was on him.”

  Interesting. “How long ago was that?”

  “Three days ago.”

  “Oh no, I’m so sorry.” That caring feeling is growing.

  “Why? You didn’t do anything wrong.” He says, shocked.

  “I know. I just feel bad that you were abandoned by that other guy. It’s not right. So, why do you stay?”

  He looks up and to the left. I wonder if that helps for thinking. “That same lady came through the speaker and barked orders at me. When I didn’t understand, she yelled at me and said that if I didn’t listen to her, she was going to put the captain on the line. I know how grumpy the captain is, so I didn’t want to waste his time; especially after some idiot during my orientation day in the auditorium asked the most stupid question.”

  I know exactly who Stephen is talking about. “That question wouldn’t happen to be about meat pies, would it?” I ask.

  “Oh, my goodness! Yes, it was! How did you know that?” Stephen asks me with a shocked expression.

  “That same question was asked by some GOC in our orientation. I think the same GOC might have gotten lost and joined our group in the building.” We both start laughing.

  “Now that’s funny! Your group too, huh? To be honest with you, I hope he never gets called for a launch.” says Stephen.

  We continue to talk and laugh some more about the pie guy, and about the exhausted giant. We both hope that neither one will be called to go. If anything, I think Stephen should be the one to go. Poor guy; stuck here getting barked at by a lady with a short fuse. Honestly, I wouldn’t want that job either. I don’t think I would be able to stay happy with her for very long. So far out of everyone I have met, Richard and Stephen have been the most pleasant to talk to. A shame Richard is gone, though. I don’t want the same ending for Stephen. I get the feeling there’s more about him than he’s letting on.

  “Stephen?” I ask. “What are you going to be when you get out of here?”

  “You are using the wrong tense there. I think you mean, ‘what were you going to be?’”

  “I don’t understand.” I say. “Isn’t your pack going to light up too?”

  “No, I don’t think so. I mean, it’s been ten days already. I only have two days left, and I don’t think that my pack, or anyone’s for that matter, will light up anytime soon! I’m doomed to be just a gate guard, instead of what I really wanted.” He droops his head a little.

  “Well, we have a little time. Tell me about it.” Honestly, if I had the time I would want to hear everyone’s story. If we all have significant purposes, I want to know how many possibilities there are! Somehow, I don’t think 12 days is enough time for that. Oh, the possibilities, though! If I were in control of this vessel, I would tell that dumb old captain to chill out. I would prepare a launch so huge, it would allow every citizen to go out and become something great. For now, I suppose I’ll start with where I left off. “What vision did you have, Stephen?”

  Stephen smiles for the first time; well at least the first I’ve seen. He relaxes against the wall. “Back on my first day all I could think about was how things moved. Everything seemed to be almost perfectly in sync, and yet balanced at the same time. I want to know the nature of things. I want to know why certain objects move the way they do. When I stepped out of the factory, I couldn’t help but stare. I got yelled at a lot for taking too long.” We chuckle. “Then when I went into the auditorium, I was so enthralled! From the screen coming on, to the captain speaking, to watching the GOC’s in attendance gather inside
, it was all amazing. I wanted to know how everything worked!

  “As the captain was showing all of us the slide show about walls, chambers, and such, I was staring at the mechanics of it all. Then I thought to myself, ‘I wonder if there is a predetermined path for everything to move just the right way at just the right time in order to maintain a balance.’”

  I feel lost. “I don’t think I understand you fully.” I say.

  Stephen laughs, “Oh it’s quite alright. You’re not the first one to tell me that, but at the same time you aren’t making me feel like an utter outcast. I appreciate that a lot.”

  I feel my face wrinkle around my eyes, “An outcast? If anything, we are all outcasts in this town because not a single one of us are the same. We may all be somewhat identical on the outside, but I know for a fact that we are all different on the inside. We each have a story to tell, regardless of how many days old we are out of the factories.”

  Stephen tilts his head. “You know something, Aiden. You’re a very wise GOC. I’ve never looked at it like that before.”

  “Thanks, I guess.” I say. “I didn’t mean to interrupt you. Please, continue with your story.”

  He smiles and nods. “Alright, I would be happy to. Once the slide show was over, the announcer guy told us to stand by for the Superintendent.”

  I nod. “Yeah, it was the same with us.”

  “I eagerly waited. I didn’t hear a single word. Nobody else came on the screen. Nobody else came into the giant room. Nothing. So, I started to look around the room at all the others and noticed that I wasn’t the only one who seemed confused. A few guys looked at me, and just shrugged. Obviously, they had as much of a clue as I had; which there wasn’t one. I looked in a different direction and noticed a few here and there had their eyes closed. They were smiling. I might as well give that a shot. I closed my eyes, and BOOM! I swear I was looking at a totally different world full of creatures. I couldn’t figure out what the heck they were! I opened my eyes and looked around again, only to see no change. I decided I liked the other place better, so I closed my eyes again. That time I saw a room much smaller than the auditorium, and it was in the shape of a box. Inside this box were lots of chairs, and flat boxes on sticks in front of the chairs. Smaller versions of these creatures sat in those chairs and were looking in the direction of one wall. There was one creature, slightly larger, standing by that one wall, and talking to the smaller ones while he paced back and forth.