Diamond Embers_The Beginning of Dragons_Jeweled Embers Read online

  The Obsidian, though he was far more aloof and had something of a menacing presence, did sometimes seem to respond to Montgomery. Right now, though, he was curled up motionless in the shadows at the back of his cave, as though he had retreated into sleep – or even hibernation.

  It was unusual behavior for The Obsidian, but perhaps not surprising. He had lost one of his children this day and The Diamond had reacted in much the same way a year ago, when the Shiny had been lost to a faulty implant. Though there was much debate about how aware any of the dragons were about such things, Rose was convinced that they knew very well that the Fleet dragons, being clones of the Three Jewels, were in every sense their children.

  Anyone who didn't believe that had only to look at The Diamond right now.

  The great dragon, gleaming and glittering white from the actual diamond armor he had been genetically engineered to have, faced toward the wall that separated him from The Obsidian. The Diamond's cave sat at a ninety-degree angle to the other two and so he could sometimes catch glimpses of their occupants when they were near the huge front window.

  Right now he could not see The Obsidian, for the black dragon remained tightly curled up and sleeping near the back of his cave; but The Diamond still glared in his direction, filled with seething hatred. He swung his weight from side to side, and his great head swung back and forth on the snakelike neck, causing the wide collar around it to shift about.

  These dragons had been fully grown before the control chips were developed, and so there had been no way to implant controllers into them. Instead, they wore collars which did nearly the same thing.

  The Diamond's huge eyes, almost as clear as crystal, stayed focused on the object of his cold rage. Occasionally, he would rise up on his hind legs and open his mouth as though breathing fire, but then he would go back to rocking back and forth again.

  Yet even though he was clearly infuriated beyond measure, the coldness was almost greater. He remained focused entirely on The Obsidian, and only occasionally would he swing his head in the general direction of the Glassy cavern and roar his rage, sending the transparency into vibration even though no sound could be heard.

  It was almost more terrifying that way.

  "I spoke to James. It was his dragon that was lost today."

  Rose looked up to see Eleanor Gomez standing over her, still wearing a uniform jumpsuit. She was one of the many controllers at the base. Each of the Fleet dragons had several so that someone was always available.

  "I'm sorry for him, Ellie. Is there any more word on what happened with the overrides?"

  "Well, not that anybody wants to talk about." Ellie sat down nearby, keeping one eye on The Diamond. He only went on glaring at The Obsidian.

  "In case you're interested," said Ellie, with a trace of frustration in her voice, "everybody's reviewing the whole incident to see if there was anything that could have been done. Haven't found anything yet."

  Rose sighed. "I'm not a controller. I'm only a geneticist. There's nothing I can do. I helped create them, but I don't fly them."

  "But you know them so well. Maybe you've got some insight as to why – "

  "No. I don't." Rose got to her feet and stood gazing at the gleaming white Diamond Dragon. "I'm just worried about him."

  "I think you just wish he liked you. But all of us Shiny controllers can tell you that they're just as cold as he is. We love them, in our own way, but we never forget that they tolerate us only because they have to."

  Rose glanced again at her dragon. He was so beautiful, and she was not ashamed to admit that she was very drawn to him both as something she had helped create and as a work of art in his own right. She had never told anyone that she felt more emotionally connected to this creature than she ever had to any human being . . . at least, to any human who was entirely human.

  But there was no denying the love and sympathy she felt for her dragon now. Her heart broke for him and she refused to admit that Ellie might be right and that he might not care about her at all. Rose clung to the hope that one day she would find that there was more to The Diamond than just the cold, hard exterior she saw every day.

  "He's different from the other two," Rose said, almost under her breath. "They are fifty-five percent Lizard. The rest is human and falcon. Except for The Obsidian, who has no bird genes at all."

  "But this one is nearly half human and barely five percent falcon," said Ellie, nodding towards The Diamond as she stood up. "The Sapphire has so much falcon that he's got feathers, and is more docile; but this one, I don't know. Maybe it really is all that diamond dust that keeps him from feeling anything. Because he doesn't. And that's what makes him so dangerous."

  "He is a living creature, Ellie," whispered Rose. "They all are."

  "Living creatures with no soul," Ellie said. "The Sapphire, maybe. The Obsidian, a small chance. This one? No."

  Rose was silent for a moment. "Have you looked into his eyes? Into the eyes of the dragons you control? I have. The Shinies' eyes are human. Not birdlike, the way they are in The Sapphire, or solid black like The Obsidian’s. With The Diamonds, the eyes are purely human. Not bird or Lizard."

  "Eyes as clear and cold as the rest of them," insisted Ellie. "No humans have eyes like that."

  "Adam does. Look at him. He's – "

  "Wait! What? What did you call him?"

  Now she had done it. She'd slipped and spoken her name for him out loud. "The Greek word for diamond is adamas. It means 'unbreakable.' I – yes, sometimes I think of him as Adam."

  "Oh, Rose, Rose . . . you are expecting far too much from this creature." Ellie paced a few steps, even as The Diamond continued to sway and glare. "Please listen to me. I control them. I know what they really are. Sure, we nickname them – mine's called Ice, and there are others like Sparkler and Rock. That's more fun than just calling them Diamond Nineteen or Diamond Twenty-Three. But that's all they are. Nicknames. You've given him a real name."

  Ellie shook her head. "You are such a kind soul, Rose, so very gentle underneath, that I don't know what you see in this monster."

  Chapter 4

  Rose started to snap back at her, but then thought about what Ellie had said. "I wonder . . . if I see in The Diamond so much of what I lack within myself. He has the kind of strength and determination that I could only wish for."

  "But you were strong enough to become a highly specialized geneticist – strong enough, and smart enough, to end up in a place like this and help make something like these dragons. That took more determination than most people ever thought about having."

  "Well – yeah – I guess – but that's not really what I meant. I wish I was strong enough to stand up to people, sometimes. He's strong enough to stand up to anyone or anything. Maybe I can learn from him."

  "Oh, Rose . . . " Ellie's voice was a little gentler now. "You said he was unbreakable. The only thing that's going to be broken around here is your heart if you go on being so attached to him . . . if you go on hoping that someday he'll respond to you the way a dog or even a horse might do.

  "But he's neither. He's a weapon, exactly as you and the rest of the team designed him to be. He's every bit as cold as he looks. He's just as hard and unfeeling and transparent and empty as his name. He has no soul for you or anyone else to connect to."

  "He is nearly half human. He is – "

  "He is an animal. He is more Lizard and falcon than he is human. A magnificent animal, sure, but still an animal. He's as cold and hard as the jewel he was named for. And so are all of his clones."

  "You're a Shiny controller, and you'd say that about them?"

  Ellie laughed. "No one knows the Shinies better than their controllers. Not even you, Rose, for all the time you spend right here. And he never even looks at you."

  "Sometimes – "

  "No, Ellie. Never. No one has ever seen him look at you. Or at anyone else."

  Rose looked up again at the great dragon, whose head towered over her own as he continued to
sway back and forth in his fixation. "You see a monster," she whispered. "I see – a father who has lost one of his children. How can he be as cold as everyone says he is if he reacts in this way?"

  Ellie shrugged. "He hates The Obsidian. Always has. I've seen him do this before."

  "Not like this."

  "Yes. Like this. Cold. Angry. Fixated. Vicious."

  "He never does this towards The Sapphire."

  "Like I said, The Sapphire and his Birdie clones are different. They've got so much falcon in them that Montgomery calls them 'parakeets.' The Diamond can barely see The Sapphire from here anyway. He's only got The Obsidian to fixate on, so that's what he does."

  "It was a Glassy that killed one of The Diamond's clones today. Of course he's angry. Grieving. I only wish I could help him, but I don't know what to do. What can anyone do for someone who has lost their child, especially to sudden violence?"

  "Rose, I'm telling you, he's always been like this."

  "And Ellie, I'm telling you that I've spent countless hours observing him and he's never been like this. Not until now – with the singular exception being the other time he lost a child, but even then, he wasn’t quite like this. To me, it only proves that he's not a monster. Otherwise, he wouldn't care. But he does care. Look at him."

  "They are not his 'children!' They're his clones! He's never even seen them. He doesn't even know!"

  "He knows," Rose whispered, gazing up at him. "He knows."

  Ellie sighed with frustration, but then touched Rose on the shoulder. "You want to talk – somewhere away from him – just let me know." She walked away, disappearing back into the enormous cavern among the many workstations and technicians.

  Alone again in the dimly lit Cavern, Rose went on gazing at the troubled Diamond and wished desperately there was some way she could reach him and help him. As he sat tall, looking up at the roof doors of his cavern and occasionally raising his white wings, it seemed that he sometimes did glance her way and that his clear eyes met her pale blue ones.

  He did look at her. He did. She was sure of it.

  Chapter 5

  The months passed, and turned into a year – two years – three years. Project: Reborn Fire continued until it was thought to be complete – at least, in the sense that it had gone as far as it could go.

  After that terrible day when the Glassy and the Shiny had fought to the death, there were no further attempts made to join the three groups of dragons. Never again would they be sent out together, not unless and until some way could be found to overcome their instinct to fight each other.

  But after months of research and experiments on a few unfortunate Lizards, it became clear that anything strong enough to stop a dragon from fighting another dragon would shock it so severely that it was in danger of unconsciousness or even death.

  Strengthening the override chips only resulted in a creature with no thoughts of its own and no drive to fight at all . . . and that was no different from the mindless machines that the dragons were intended to replace.

  Some things could not be overridden.

  So, from that day forward, the clones of the three Dragon Fleets were kept strictly with their own kind. All resources were put towards making them the extremely powerful weapons they were intended to be, whether flying with their Fleet or flying individually.

  The Diamond did eventually settle down somewhat. His rage subsided and he became silent, brooding with ongoing bitterness. He remained the frighteningly cold, aloof creature he had become after the death of his child – his clone – with no change at all towards anyone, no matter what Rose tried to do to reach him.

  Yet not long after the dragon fight, rumors began to float around the base of strange things happening amongst the dragons. Most of the people at the base dismissed these rumors as wishful thinking, or the result of far too many hours sitting and staring at dragons.

  Surely no one wanted to see the enormous and infinitely powerful creatures develop the ability to shape-shift – but the rumors persisted that they were showing signs of this, and the rumors would not go away.

  Rose did not dismiss these rumors out of hand. It was well known that the primitive Lizards had this ability to some degree. Ever since their discovery deep in their Antarctic cave, they had been observed changing into forms that were more batlike or birdlike whenever it seemed that that shape would help to protect them or let them find food.

  With the Lizards, this was simply another survival skill like any other. It was strange, to be sure, strange and miraculous, but in essence no different from what chameleons were able to do.

  But with the mixed DNA of the Fleet Dragons, those shape-shifting abilities seemed to have vanished.

  The current reports remained rumors because these purported changes only happened when the dragons were tightly curled up and sleeping. There was nothing that could be seen either on direct observation or on the cameras. So most everyone insisted that this could not happen with the dragons, for even though the Lizards had some rudimentary shape-shifting ability it surely would not manifest in the dragons, who were less than half Lizard.

  Anyway, the changes that were purported to have taken place were minor – things like eyes looking more human or claws looking more finger-like. They could have just been tricks of the mind in the dimness of the caves.

  Rose knew that in truth, no one wanted to think of what it might mean if these huge and powerful dragons, the most formidable living weapons in human history, ever turned out to possess such an ability . . . and were able to control it at will.

  Finally, three years after the two dragons had fought to the death, it was believed that Project: Reborn Fire was as good as it was ever going to get. The test flights were going extremely well, as long as the Fleets were kept strictly separate from each other. Some of the dragons were even permitted to drink their fill of seawater and then breathe fire on command.

  It was a stunning success. Even better, the rumors about possible shapeshifting among the dragons began to fade until most everyone had forgotten about them.

  With the world being an increasingly hostile and threatening place, the decision was made at last to introduce the dragons to that world and give all the hostile nations an excuse to back down. The base hoped that the dragons could be weapons of peace as well as weapons of war, and now was the time for that.

  One fine day, each of the three Fleets was sent out to a different section of the globe. The Sapphires were sent to the Americas, the Obsidians to the Pacific Ring of Fire, and the Diamonds to Africa and Asia.

  All three Fleets gave a terrifying demonstration of how easily they could sneak in and out undetected by radar, carrying bombs and missiles strapped to them and dropped by remote control; and, of course, they showed how they could breathe fire on their own.

  These were weapons that needed no refueling or reloading, outside of meat or fish to eat and seawater to drink. Given those two things, they could fly and fight virtually forever.

  The world watched, and all was quiet. Other weapons were put away. There was much loud complaining and protesting about the dragons, but all other weapons were put away.

  In the face of the wildly successful test, Rose dared to feel happy. This was what they had hoped the dragons would accomplish: convincing the world that it was not worth tempting such power. The dragons would have to do nothing except exist and be seen. They would never have to unleash their tremendous power directly against anyone. It was exactly what their original researchers had hoped for.

  But success can often demand more and greater success. Some of the teams began to push their dragons even harder in an effort to learn what their limits really were, and even if they had any limits at all.

  So, about a week after the great demonstration, a team of controllers got permission to take out one of the Sapphire clones – a Birdie – for a very long test flight. They wanted to see how far, and how high, it could fly without needing rest.

  The dragon flew and flew,
and was forced to go so high that, at last, the terrible cold and breathlessness it encountered at nearly the edge of space began to exhaust it. Its tracking system showed basic life function readouts that were alarming to see.

  The controllers tried to bring their dragon back and breathed a sigh of relief when the Birdie was tracked as once again being over Antarctica. Flying very slowly, it had nearly reached the base when the signal vanished.

  Search teams went out, but no Sapphire dragon was found.

  What they did find was the very dead body of a man – a naked man who had once been a dragon.

  It was quickly determined that the Birdie had not shapeshifted because it had died. It had changed before that. And the techs and researchers began to rumor that every time the dragons were greatly stressed, they were showing signs of changing shape. The best theory was that it was a survival response to danger, inherited from the ancient reptile DNA of the Lizards but expressed in the dragons as being able to take on human form.

  But it wasn’t really a rumor anymore; clearly this was possible. One of the dragons had fully shapeshifted into a human male. Some of the other humans at the base were horrified at that knowledge, questioning the moral implications of imprisoning and making weapons out of creatures that were apparently as human as they were dragon.

  Other humans, however, began to whisper that such an ability could make the already powerful dragons into creatures that could never be defeated or outwitted, and such an ability ought to be exploited to the fullest.

  Chapter 6

  Another week went by. All seemed normal, and those at the base dared to hope that it would stay that way once more. Then, late one night, an alarm rang throughout the base and all the top-level researchers were ordered to go immediately to the Cavern of the Three Jewels.