Hwo Thumb
04-21-2014, 08:07 PM
I've been kicking this idea around for a bit, finally decided to type it up. It's a dialogue-heavy work, so it reads pretty quickly. Enjoy, and feel free to share any constructive criticism.
Dragons
“Explorer 178 contacting Queen.” the radio crackled.
“Ugh,” Dako sat up, spilling the pile of aluminum can that had been precariously balanced on his lap. The rattling gave him a headache. “What…?” To be getting a call from an explorer vessel was unusual. To be getting one at this hour was even more so. And of course, this was terrible timing; Dako’s shift ended in another ten minutes.
“Explorer 178 contacting Queen,” the message repeated. “We have a situation.”
Dako groaned and reached for the radio in front of him, checking the caller’s credentials. He clicked the button on the side of the radio. “This is Queen,” he muttered groggily. “What do you need, Explorer 178?”
“It’s bad, Queen. One of our operatives…” the voice on the other end trailed off nervously. “Well, we had an exposure scenario.”
He sighed and spun around in his chair, opening up a text file on his computer, ready to transcribe the event. “How big?”
“Big.” the caller replied. “It’s bad, like, really bad.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. How many people were exposed?”
There was a moment of hesitation. “Um… Gori.”
He gave the radio a strange look before remembering that the caller couldn’t see him.
“Sorry, what?” Dako asked, bending over to inspect one of the empty cans on the ground. It was empty. He wished it wasn’t. He could really use a drink. “What do you mean, ‘Gori’?”
“I mean, the entire city of Gori, Georgia just saw us.”
He froze, the empty can of alcohol in one hand, the radio in the other. “What did you just say?” He demanded in disbelief.
“We were flying low, trying to get some photos of the city. Just standard procedure, you understand. We got too close to a cloud, the pilot couldn’t see and we ran into something. It knocked our cloak out of commission and the whole city saw us.”
“Oh, Tarrak.” Dako swore. “You weren’t kidding. This is bad.”
“I know.”
“You’re telling me that you just flew a dietan spaceship right over a city of creatures who haven’t even invented cars?” Dako couldn’t believe his luck – or lack thereof. Why did this have to happen on his shift? Why couldn’t it have waited ten minutes? Then Ago would be stuck with this mess instead. “These people are still in the medieval age, you idiots!”
“I know!”
“How much did they see?” If the humans had only gotten a glimpse of the Explorer 178, they might find some way of rationalizing what they had seen. Human were good at that: ignoring what was right in front of their faces.
“We were almost completely visible for three full minutes. A few people shot at us with a bow and arrow. What do we do?” The caller’s voice had grown higher, on the verge of outright panic. “Queen, what do we do?”
Dako snatched a log file off a shelf behind him, plugging the disk into his computer. “Just give me a second, Explorer. I need to check the protocols.”
“We already looked, Queen. There’s nothing in there about an exposure this big.”
“That’s impossible, there has to be something.”
“Nothing helpful. According to protocol, we obliterate the whole city, and then use an agent to plant a story about how it was the wrath of their gods or something.”
“We can’t do that!” Dako exclaimed. “The humans are in the middle of a holy war; do you have any idea what that would do?”
“That’s why I said it wasn’t helpful!” the caller shouted back, half panicked, half furious. “Tarrak, I am so getting fired.”
“No, Explorer. We’ll figure something out.” Dako tried to sound reassuring.
That’s when he got an idea. To his knowledge, it had never been tried before, and it was a long shot, but it just might work. “Explorer, are you still there?” he asked.
“Yeah,” the caller replied. “Do you have something?”
“Just an idea. You know how the protocol book says to spread rumors about how the city’s destruction was an act of god?”
“We’re not going to blow up a city! There’s, like, fifty-thousand humans in Gori!”
“I know!” Dako snapped. “That’s why we’re not blowing it up! What we do instead is simpler; Start a rumor about a monstrous beast flying around. It breathes fire; it has skin as hard as diamond, the usual mythical monster stuff.”
“You really think that will work?”
“No. You’ll need more to convince people. What you do next is start staging demonstrations. Fly around and shoot lasers-”
“Kill people?” the voice on the other end exclaimed.
“No, don’t hit anybody, just set a few buildings on fire. Move fast enough that they don’t get a good look at you, and deploy the solar sails.”
“To look like wings?”
“Yeah, if we’re lucky, they won’t even think to suspect aliens. They’ll just assume it’s a monster.”
“That’s brilliant, Queen!”
“Please,” he replied humbly, finding one of the cans on the floor with a few spoonfuls of alcohol left inside and drinking it down, wincing at the bitter taste. “Call me Dako. And don’t tell anybody I was drunk when I came up with this idea.”
A laugh. “If all goes well, Dako, we won’t have to tell anybody you came up with this idea at all. Let’s just pray nobody finds out about this whole incident.”
“Yeah,” Dako laughed along with the caller. “By the way, out of curiosity, what did you hit that knocked your cloaking device out?”
“Some animal that was flying around.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Hell of an animal.”
“Yeah, this gigantic lizard thing. I don’t think we killed it, though. After we ran into it, the thing just flew off. Must have some hard scales to survive an impact like that.”
“Weird.”
“Yeah.”
Dako sighed, glancing around the room for another can of Tik-lak. “Well, my shift’s just about over, Explorer. Crises averted?”
“We’ll call you again if there’s an issue.”
A buzzer went off. Dako's shift was over.
Dragons
“Explorer 178 contacting Queen.” the radio crackled.
“Ugh,” Dako sat up, spilling the pile of aluminum can that had been precariously balanced on his lap. The rattling gave him a headache. “What…?” To be getting a call from an explorer vessel was unusual. To be getting one at this hour was even more so. And of course, this was terrible timing; Dako’s shift ended in another ten minutes.
“Explorer 178 contacting Queen,” the message repeated. “We have a situation.”
Dako groaned and reached for the radio in front of him, checking the caller’s credentials. He clicked the button on the side of the radio. “This is Queen,” he muttered groggily. “What do you need, Explorer 178?”
“It’s bad, Queen. One of our operatives…” the voice on the other end trailed off nervously. “Well, we had an exposure scenario.”
He sighed and spun around in his chair, opening up a text file on his computer, ready to transcribe the event. “How big?”
“Big.” the caller replied. “It’s bad, like, really bad.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. How many people were exposed?”
There was a moment of hesitation. “Um… Gori.”
He gave the radio a strange look before remembering that the caller couldn’t see him.
“Sorry, what?” Dako asked, bending over to inspect one of the empty cans on the ground. It was empty. He wished it wasn’t. He could really use a drink. “What do you mean, ‘Gori’?”
“I mean, the entire city of Gori, Georgia just saw us.”
He froze, the empty can of alcohol in one hand, the radio in the other. “What did you just say?” He demanded in disbelief.
“We were flying low, trying to get some photos of the city. Just standard procedure, you understand. We got too close to a cloud, the pilot couldn’t see and we ran into something. It knocked our cloak out of commission and the whole city saw us.”
“Oh, Tarrak.” Dako swore. “You weren’t kidding. This is bad.”
“I know.”
“You’re telling me that you just flew a dietan spaceship right over a city of creatures who haven’t even invented cars?” Dako couldn’t believe his luck – or lack thereof. Why did this have to happen on his shift? Why couldn’t it have waited ten minutes? Then Ago would be stuck with this mess instead. “These people are still in the medieval age, you idiots!”
“I know!”
“How much did they see?” If the humans had only gotten a glimpse of the Explorer 178, they might find some way of rationalizing what they had seen. Human were good at that: ignoring what was right in front of their faces.
“We were almost completely visible for three full minutes. A few people shot at us with a bow and arrow. What do we do?” The caller’s voice had grown higher, on the verge of outright panic. “Queen, what do we do?”
Dako snatched a log file off a shelf behind him, plugging the disk into his computer. “Just give me a second, Explorer. I need to check the protocols.”
“We already looked, Queen. There’s nothing in there about an exposure this big.”
“That’s impossible, there has to be something.”
“Nothing helpful. According to protocol, we obliterate the whole city, and then use an agent to plant a story about how it was the wrath of their gods or something.”
“We can’t do that!” Dako exclaimed. “The humans are in the middle of a holy war; do you have any idea what that would do?”
“That’s why I said it wasn’t helpful!” the caller shouted back, half panicked, half furious. “Tarrak, I am so getting fired.”
“No, Explorer. We’ll figure something out.” Dako tried to sound reassuring.
That’s when he got an idea. To his knowledge, it had never been tried before, and it was a long shot, but it just might work. “Explorer, are you still there?” he asked.
“Yeah,” the caller replied. “Do you have something?”
“Just an idea. You know how the protocol book says to spread rumors about how the city’s destruction was an act of god?”
“We’re not going to blow up a city! There’s, like, fifty-thousand humans in Gori!”
“I know!” Dako snapped. “That’s why we’re not blowing it up! What we do instead is simpler; Start a rumor about a monstrous beast flying around. It breathes fire; it has skin as hard as diamond, the usual mythical monster stuff.”
“You really think that will work?”
“No. You’ll need more to convince people. What you do next is start staging demonstrations. Fly around and shoot lasers-”
“Kill people?” the voice on the other end exclaimed.
“No, don’t hit anybody, just set a few buildings on fire. Move fast enough that they don’t get a good look at you, and deploy the solar sails.”
“To look like wings?”
“Yeah, if we’re lucky, they won’t even think to suspect aliens. They’ll just assume it’s a monster.”
“That’s brilliant, Queen!”
“Please,” he replied humbly, finding one of the cans on the floor with a few spoonfuls of alcohol left inside and drinking it down, wincing at the bitter taste. “Call me Dako. And don’t tell anybody I was drunk when I came up with this idea.”
A laugh. “If all goes well, Dako, we won’t have to tell anybody you came up with this idea at all. Let’s just pray nobody finds out about this whole incident.”
“Yeah,” Dako laughed along with the caller. “By the way, out of curiosity, what did you hit that knocked your cloaking device out?”
“Some animal that was flying around.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Hell of an animal.”
“Yeah, this gigantic lizard thing. I don’t think we killed it, though. After we ran into it, the thing just flew off. Must have some hard scales to survive an impact like that.”
“Weird.”
“Yeah.”
Dako sighed, glancing around the room for another can of Tik-lak. “Well, my shift’s just about over, Explorer. Crises averted?”
“We’ll call you again if there’s an issue.”
A buzzer went off. Dako's shift was over.