Page 68 of Escaping my Dragon

Which led to me thinking about my choice of egg donor. Initially, I’d chosen Velma because I knew her. On the wind that whistled, I’d listened to her show. Had found myself lulled by her voice. Intrigued at the way she presented facts of this time. Had intentionally infiltrated the dreams of those running McMurdo Station, whispered they should bring her to Antarctica. Bring her to me.

Only, the reality proved more annoying than expected. Velma purposely made me uncomfortable. Forced me to question my own existence. Made me feel emotions I didn’t enjoy at all. Forget using her eggs. I might have to eat her instead.

I surfaced a fair distance from Antarctica and floated, reveling in the sun on my snout and belly. The cold, salty water and my natural buoyancy kept me afloat. The air tickled across my scales. Got sucked in when I breathed, not for oxygen, like an animal. For me, air was about information and nutritional energy. As ionized particles were absorbed, frequencies vibrated, imparting information.

“…coastal cities in Chile as well as New Zealand are bracing for possible tsunamis due to the numerous earthquakes being reported from Antarctica, which has been evacuated since Erebus, as well as three other volcanoes in the in the Antarctic, have erupted.”

Old news. I tuned into another set of sound waves. “…yes, I admit I’m pregnant, but… it’s not yours.” A female voice. “Is it my best friend’s, Jose?” “It’s your father’s, meaning, this child is your brother.” I’d come back to that drama later. I was a few episodes behind and didn’t want it spoiled.

Another bouncing signal almost got ignored until I heard, “Hostile has been spotted. Locking coordinates and sending with aerial footage.” In reply, if slightly less clear: “Hostile code name Leviathan has been verified. Fire on my mark.”

Opening a single eye, I noted the streaking tail across the sky from the jet that just crossed over. The humans had sent an attack! How fun. I righted myself in the water, allowing myself to remain buoyant as I searched the sky.

There they were. Five airplanes, which looked as expected from the signals I’d intercepted, oblong bodies with wings that didn’t flap. They were smaller than expected. As one zipped past my snout, my paw whipped out and my claws pinched at a wing. I meant to inspect it more, only, it broke. The body of the plane spiraled down into the water while the human piloting it ejected and drifted more slowly, the deployed parachute making it bob and sway.

Before I could grab it and pop it my mouth for a crunch, the other planes fired their guns. The faint rat-tat-tat of bullets proved barely noticeable, the pinging on my scales more musical than anything.

The frequency I’d been listening to had much conversation going on.

“…I repeat. Hostile shows no sign of damage. Looping back around and prepping Fox 3.”

“…Pink Rabbit, beacon location transmission is being received. Secure yourself until a retrieval unit can be dispatched.”

Then a different announcement. “The Hostile appears to have spawns. I’m counting three, make that four-winged creatures of smaller stature on the peninsula. Heading in to take them out.”

Sounded as if the humans planned to eliminate the itty-bitty dragons that hadn’t done anything to aid my emergence, despite obviously being offspring of my drones.

Protect them or not? On the one paw, I had no reason to aid them. They’d disobeyed a direct order by not bringing Velma as commanded. They’d yet to pledge allegiance. They appeared more interested in me disappearing than in worshipping me as I deserved. If they died, I’d make better versions.

Maybe… After all, who knew if humans would make good egg donors? What if I couldn’t find an animal comparable to a dinosaur to make useful drones?

Guess I couldn’t let them die quite yet.

I launched suddenly from the water, causing waves to ripple outward. My sudden appearance in the sky deterred the jets about to fire, and I heard panicked yells, “Fuck me, it can fly!”

Dumb observation. Had they not noticed my wings?

“Fire the foxes!” was the screamed reply.

Oh. I’d heard of these. Missiles that would detonate, more sizeable and sturdier than the spears used by the last humans that fought me.

Much sturdier since one tore right through the membrane of my left wing.

Ow!

I bellowed in shock, the pain surprising, unexpected, unpleasant. The offending jet that fired received a blast of pure heat from my annoyed exhalation. It melted so thoroughly it left nothing for a snack.

Those monitoring went into a sudden panic. “Abort! Abort! Return to base.”

Suddenly the gnats that dared attack my greatness sought to flee. Flee so they could rearm and return!

I opened my mouth, ready to exhale again, when a voice, female in tone, spoke in my mind.

Don’t you dare.

The jets escaped as I held my breath. My gaze swiveled to seek out the speaker, a tiny speck on land, standing atop the promontory by the station where Velma and the others huddled.

I’d never even felt her arriving.