Page 41 of Riding My Dragons

”I agree,” Neal said.

“But what’s stored in there?” I asked.“Do you have any idea?”

Keeping the thing in his hand but lowering his hand to the table, Neal replied, “Not for sure.Not without putting it in a working dataplex from the same period—which is hard to come by, as you can guess—and opening up its files.All we have to go on is an old story from those times.A story of a soldier on a secret mission to get something developed by Scaler scientists and engineers through a battle zone to the commanding officers of the Scaler Legion and the Scalers’ Ruling Dragon.The story has it that the soldier fell in battle.What he was carrying was a top secret that only the ones who’d sent him and the ones he was trying to reach knew about.He lost his life, and what he was taking to his leaders was simply lost.

“Some of our scholars have managed to learn what the scientists and engineers might have given that soldier.”He held up the data box again.“If what they learned about is actually in here, this is potentially the most dangerous object on Tellus.”

The room went quiet then as the import of Neal Callaway’s words sank in.A cold feeling went through me, and, I expected, through my friends as well.

“Mr. Callaway,” I asked, my voice catching nervously, “what could be in that little box that’s as dangerous as that?”

Neal said, “Being native to this world, you understand how the Ambience is used.The network of power nodes collects energy and feeds it into the grid, which directs it into your utilities and devices.That’s the cycle:collect energy, process energy, distribute energy.The Ambience isn’t the same as theelectricity of the power grids of my own world.Electrical energy can be stored in batteries or capacitors to be used later.But the Ambience can only be processed and directed.

“Now the Ambience is a source of vast, immense power.Its upper limit isn’t known.It isn’t even known whether it has an upper limit.What if there were a way to tap into that power and not just channel it, but accumulate it?And what if accumulated Ambience energy could be weaponized?Think of it:such unlimited power, used as a weapon.”

There was a moment of chilled silence as we all took in what the scientist from the other world was suggesting, before he went on.“Weapons technology like that could tap the power of the Ambience, use it with devastating results, and continue to replenish themselves over and over again.It could devastate whole cities, wipe out whole armies.The user of such weapons could capture the world.Now, think of that kind of power in the hands of religious extremists like the Gorgonites.”

Hearing that name in this context, I felt something like a spike of alarm in my chest.“I’m from a political family,” I said.“Lawmakers, government administrators.I’ve heard about the Gorgonites.Some of our lawmakers are members of that sect.”

”Yes,” said Neal.“We have people like them in our public life on Earth—people who’d like to see religion control the government, and control everyone’s life through the government.It’s something our two worlds have in common.”

I recalled, “The Gorgonites think the ancient dragon spirit god, Gorgonos, created dragons and humans, then created beings who were both dragon and human—my people.And Gorgonos, or so they say, ordained his two-bodied people as the natural rulers of the world, superior to every other creature except, of course, their maker.That’s what the Gorgonite faith is based on, this belief that Scalers are meant to dominatethe world—including humans.They think…Well, Sir, you understand what it is they think.”

”To the Gorgonites,” Callaway said, “single-bodied humans are lesser beings and Scalers are our rightful lords, the rightful lords of everything.Yes, I know all about that.This is what their Reaffirmation is about:the Gorgonites reaffirming that they are the chosen people of their spirit god, reaffirming their divine claim on the world.”He smiled bitterly, ironically.“The Gorgonites are very human.They need someone to be ‘better than’.”

“Yes, Sir,” I said, seeing how well he understood the way certain Scalers saw the world.It was obviously all very familiar to him.

“So,” Neal said, “what we’re talking about, if what we suspect may be in this box is true, is the possibility of reigniting the Old Wars between humans and Scalers.Stored in here may be plans for a weapon that can not only channel, process, and transmit the Ambience, but collect it and store it to use in weapons of mass destruction.The order that has existed on Tellus since Reconciliation could be disturbed, even completely toppled.Millions could die.And as the sole users of this technology, the Gorgonites could seize the world.”

Cade looked ready to fall over and die.He grabbed his head and raked his fingers through his hair, with scales breaking out randomly on his skin.“No!No, no, no, no, NO!” he babbled, starting to sound frantic.“I don’t believe it!I don’t believe my family could get mixed up in something like this!A lot of our business is crooked, low-down, illegal.We cheat and blackmail, even hurt people.But I can’t believe we’d be any part of…of…this!”He faced Elliot and me with a sick look of shock and despair.“The Gorgonites paid my elders to send me out to steal something that could destroy the world!”

Elliot took Cade by the shoulders, lending him strength.“Take it easy, buddy.Now we know what this is and who we’re dealing with.”He looked gravely at me, then at Neal.“What scares me is that this bunch of wanna-be terrorist war makers have got Jenna.We can’t let them have that box—and we’ve got to get her away from them.”

”Yes,” Neal agreed.“Our sources say the Gorgonites are holding Jenna hostage to ensure that Cade will complete the Taisce’s contract with them.Once they have the box, they’ll release her, or that’s the assumption.But to the Gorgonites, Jenna is ‘only human.’And they may consider my niece…expendable.”

An edge of anger was in Elliot’s voice when he snapped, “She is not expendable!She’s not a tool they can just use and throw away!I want her back, out of their hands—now!”

”So do I, lad,” said Callaway.“And that’s what we’re all doing here.This village has become the hub of operations for Gorgonite activity.Their leader is here, a Scaler who calls himself Nidaag, after a legendary figure in their religious texts.He’s here to stir up sentiment for their cause during this time of Reaffirmation, rallying people to his side.The Gorgonites are holding Jenna somewhere in this village.If we could only find some way to determine her exact location, the Intercross could rescue her and keep the data box out of Nidaag’s claws.”

There was a tense beat of silence before I spoke up again.

”Mr. Callaway,” I said, “there might be a way—depending on what kind of equipment you and the Intercross could get hold of.”

”What do you mean?” asked the human.

I hesitated just for another moment because of his possible reaction, what he might think.Then I said, “I gave Jenna a gift.It’s something we might use to find her.”

”A gift?” Callaway said.“What kind of gift?”

Elliot realized what I was talking about.“Byron—the jewel!The sensor jewel…!”He stopped himself as quickly as he started.Glancing over at Jenna’s uncle, he suddenly knew what he was telling Neal, and what Neal might guess from what Elliot was saying.

The human’s eyes widened, then narrowed, and his brows tightened, with understanding.“A sensor jewel—for showing physical responses to stimuli.”

Neal fixed those narrowed eyes on the three of us, and I could sense what must be going on in his head.Jenna’s uncle had obviously learned enough about our world to know the kinds of things that sensor jewels were used for.Without using exact words, Elliot had just admitted something.Scales blossomed on my back as I anxiously awaited Neal’s reaction.Anticipating, I spoke before he did.“Every sensor jewel emits Ambience on its own frequency.It’s a small output, but with the right kind of equipment, it’s traceable.And if you could get a receiving device, I could give you the frequency of the jewel that I gave Jenna.I stored it on my mirror because I had to initialize it first.”

Jenna’s uncle asked his two associates, “Fergus, Jade, do you think our contacts here in Reptos could find us a sensor jewel receiver?”

Fergus said, “There has to be someone who can lend us one.”

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