Maria and the Space-Dragons Investigate #1 -November 2024 Instalment

Sahrai spat some curses in Arshin, the language of her species on the lesser continent of Ran-Nang. She shook the aches out of her muscles and stretched her legs, bouncing on her feet. She grinned, this was definitely better than forcing herself into the limited form of a human, even if she wasn’t at her full size and shape. Ooh, for the day she could fly free across the orange skies of Aurox and deal with the perverts controlling this place. But first, she had to finish her job…

Sahrai whistled. A circular panel opened on the floor, sliding downwards, revealing a set of steps down into the container below. Lights flicked on along the steps as Sahrai stepped on to the first one. The corkscrew stairway was one of the innovations the Investigation Office had developed for undercover missions, along with the modular housing that could be airlifted out quickly in an emergency, taking all their equipment with them.

She passed through the lower floor container which contained the gym, transport, and food and water storage, and further down, into the buried container that stored the mission’s critical equipment, including the comms system. Reaching the centre of the room, Sahrai jumped, flipped and hung by her legs from a bar spanning the ceiling. She fluttered her wing stumps, imagining the beauty of her true form spread out around her.

Sahrai sighed; it was time to do some work. She whistled up the screens that hung in the air and opened the display.

“Comms. Send a message to the Elder.” Sahrai’s voice was a fluting whistle-growl.

Message packet ready to send; prepared to record. The comms system printed in the air in red letters.

“Elder, why did you send a child?”

“No, delete that.”

Sahrai sighed. She couldn’t send that. It’d be too direct; the Elder would think she was challenging dran.

“Officer McLintock calling in for Senior Academician Elder Pjang-Nich. Your agent has arrived… Couldn’t you have sent someone more experienced…I don’t mean to be ungrateful for the assistance, Elder, but I can manage the situation here.

Report: I’ve recorded evidence that the humans on Aurox are using prisoners as slave labour on the planet they call Rocky Horror. Groups of fifty prisoners are taken up every fortnight; only five people have been sent more than once, that I’ve seen. The rest haven’t returned from Rocky Horror. My rock probes have collected images of bodies dumped in worked out quarries. Images attached. Spreadsheet of names attached.

Report: The IGASS Assessment team hasn’t been seen for several weeks, their shuttle remains on the airfield, covered by a tarpaulin. Equipment from the shuttle has been found for sale in the local store. Images attached. It is possible the team have joined the human prisoners in a quarry on Rocky Horror.

The Junior Assessor you’ve sent me is probably in danger from humans here if they start asking too many questions. I’ll keep them near me as much as possible. I don’t need to work for a while. The contracts here are loose enough that I can have a few weeks off. They’ll assume I’m being paid better by the researcher. I hope their Senior is close and doing something useful.”

Sahrai sighed again. It was the best she could do. She whistled in the authorisation and destination codes and waited for confirmation from the screen that her message was on the way.

‘Message sent’ appeared in the air.

Sahrai used her hanging bar to exercise her legs and remember her wings for another hour or so, then took herself back up to the surface. In the middle container, she looked over the food and water supplies, monitored the air filters for contamination, and started up her flyer. It ran for a few minutes, charging the battery, while she jogged around the gym.

Maria – On Aurox

A loud knock woke Maria from their nap; Sarah opened the door slightly, so Maria could hear her.

“Hey there, hungry? Did you get a shower, or did you fall asleep straight away?”

Maria was befuddled, still waking up, but something caught their attention. There was a strange tone in Sarah’s voice, almost as though she had a respiratory infection, but not quite. They grunted, rolled over and rubbed the gumminess from their eyes as they tried to make sense of everything.

“What?”

They were too tired to really understand.

“Food. Do you want some? Shower. Have you had one?”

“Yes.” Their mouth felt full of cotton balls. “Please. What time is it?”

“Six in the evening. Association time.”

That voice tone was beginning to ring bells. It was similar to the way Lah-Shah spoke when he was forced to use Medlish voice speech, but more polished.

“You use Association time on a human-only planet?”

“I do. No one else does. They all use ‘Earth-Standard Time.’ Although I’m sure there were many time zones on Earth?”

Maria let a certain suspicion rise and rambled while they processed the information.

“There were. There was a Mean Time in a place called Greenwich, but it’s been underwater for centuries at this point.”

Sarah snorted a rude noise. “Humans are weird. Sorry.”

“You’re an Agent.” They were suddenly certain. It made sense; the Inspection Office would have someone on the planet. No new colony could be founded without some oversight. And this was a renegade planet.

“Well, you worked that out quickly. I wish the Elder had let me know dran was sending someone from Assessments.”

“She doesn’t like me all that much. She probably thought I’d mess up whatever you were working on if I knew about you.”

“Not telling me almost did! What’s your real name?”

“What’s yours?” Maria asked.

“Sahrai-Maahlin.” Sahrai pushed the door open, head poking into the room.

“You’re a star-dragon.” Maria sat up; head tilted as they took in the new information.

Sahrai snarled.

“Sorry. Lah-Shah keeps telling me not to call your people that, but no one will tell me what to call you all instead. Ran-Nangian? Does that work?”

“You’re rambling again.”

“Sorry.”

“I’m the most human-looking of my species; I’m an Investigator, Investigations Office. I had to have some extreme modifications for this job.”

“I’m Maria Waldon, Junior Assessor, in the Assessments Office. My Senior is Lah-Shah.”

“I know dran! Well, dran’s a protégé of the Elder. I think they’re related, distantly. That whole clan is connected on Ran-Nang.”

Sahrai whistled something that Maria couldn’t understand, but the implication was clear: Lah-Shah’s clan were wealthy and powerful.

“And I’ve heard of you.” Sahrai’s voice cut through Maria’s musing, “The only human in the Assessment Office, or in the whole of the IGASS bureaucracy. The Elder must like you, dran had to fight hard to get the Assembly to  allow you into the Academy.”

“I…didn’t know that.”

Sahrai blew air out of her snout. It might have been a laugh, but Maria couldn’t tell.

“Can I shift out of human? Or would you prefer it if I was human?”

“Oh, shift if it’s more comfortable. Lah-Shah likes to be in his basilisk form around me, because he can fit into buildings and shuttles that way.”

“Thanks.” Sahrai sniffed the air. “You need a shower.”

            “Thanks.” Maria rolled her eyes, “I can’t smell that badly?”

            “No, but the air outside is lively, best to wash off and launder clothes as soon as you get in.”

            “And you couldn’t have told me this when we arrived?”

            “You were exhausted. Shower. Chuck your clothes out here, and I’ll strip the bed and launder everything while you’re in there. Come on. I’m hungry!”

Maria groaned as her stomach loudly grumbled. They rolled out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later Maria left the room, bare feet padding on the wooden floor. They could hear the rumble of a laundry machine; their clothes had disappeared from the bedroom floor and the bed had been stripped, so Sahrai must have done the laundry. Maria looked around, blinking in the brighter lights of the living area.

Sahrai was leaning against the kitchen counter, watching a pan of pasta and sauce gently bubble. She was naked; normal for star-dragons in basilisk form, but unexpected. She wasn’t even wearing an apron to cook. Her skin was more human than Lah-Shah’s, smoother, scales less visible, and she had some head hair. She had breasts, rather than the flat torso of a star-dragon, and no ear fans.

Maria blushed when they realised that they were staring at their host, and that Sahrai was naked. It didn’t usually bother them, so they assumed it must be the incongruity of human features on a dragon. Sahrai’s tail slid around her feet, although smaller than Maria would have expected, and her wings weren’t visible. Maybe those extreme modifications Sahrai had mentioned included doing something to her wings? Maria considered what that would mean and winced.

“I hope you like pasta and creamy mushroom sauce?”

“Where did you get human food?” Maria asked, surprised.

“This is a human planet. For now. They have a farm for human food in the factory. Prisoners work on it. They sell surplus in the company store.”

“That…makes sense. If you’ve got unlimited slave labour, you can grow lots of food. How edible is the indigenous life?”

“It’s not. Even the air is poisonous to humans.”

“So, the air is going to kill me?”

“Not in here. I have filters. But you should probably take anti-fungal meds every day and do blood scans whenever you come back from a trip outside.”

Maria nodded, and felt the anxiety flood them, “Do you have…”

“Yes, of course. They get given out to the mercenaries working for the prison company. I keep them downstairs. I’ll get you some after we eat…You’ve gone very pale. Is that normal?”

A laugh burst out of Maria, “Nothing about me has ever been described as normal. Should I do a blood scan now?”

They paced, feet moving rapidly, erratically, across the wooden floor, wall to wall. Back. Again. Again. Hands shaking, flapping at their sides.

“Wow, wow, Maria, it’s going to be fine. We’ll eat, and then I’ll get the meds and the scanning kit. Steady. Steady.”

Suddenly, Sahrai was there, holding Maria, bracing arms against their shoulders, claws gently pressing into Maria’s skin. The contact brought Maria back to themself. Their throat felt clogged; Maria started to cry. Sahrai pulled them close, holding the sobbing human as they worked the adrenaline out of their system.

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