Day 4 Morning
How? How?! How!!? How!!! How can this little creature create so much heat by simply pouring water into a bag? In the strange light Dawn Watcher can see that the bag is getting hot, like the-water-is-boiling levels of hot.
Dawn Watcher is starting to wonder if she should go seek out a scholar. She has never been one to believe in the magics mentioned so prominently in legend, but this boiling hot bag is really testing her resolve.
Dawn Watcher wants to put a name to the creature who boils water without flame. She points her tail precisely at the creature and asks: "Variable?"
She suspects this word doesn't actually mean question. But the borrowed mathematics terminology seems to be working fine for now.
"George," the creature says.
But is that the name of this creature specifically, or all of them collectively? If asked the same, Dawn Watcher would say her name. Attempting to mix in her kind's name could get confusing. Dawn Watcher has a theory on how she can find out though, and it involves flying this 'George' to the other island. At least for the time being she shall assume George is the name of the individual.
"Well met, George," she says, knowing that the creature won't understand. But she is full of confidence that one day 'George', this most strange of creatures, who hunts exclusively with tools, will know full well what she is saying.
Things seem more relaxed now that the stone has been buried. The two of them play the naming game for a while, finally making some progress. It is a simple exchange. Dawn Watcher points her tail and says the magic word, and George answers in tow. Sometimes George points to something and says the name of it. Often Dawn Watcher has no equivalent word of her own.
Socks. Clothes. Rifle. Goggles. Hatchet. Tablet. Sand. Ocean. Sky. Wings. Claws. Scales. Skin. Little by Little Dawn Watcher's vocabulary grows. It is better that George's vocabulary of the spoken word. The little creature is yet to utter a single word back in her tongue. It seems the burden of learning will be hers alone. Not that she minds. Already, she thinks this is easier than the seasons she spent learning light speak. Sky Catcher only knows a few words too. Compared to that, this seems easy.
"Flame-less ration heater"
It takes Dawn Watcher several tries to get that one down. Maybe not 'that' easy then.
One item seems most important. It is removed from the rifle and called a "magazine", whatever it does, George shows her it repeatedly and then points around at the sand. Unsure as to what George is trying to say, Dawn Watcher simply repeats the words back. "Sand Magazine."
Dawn Watcher thinks that is disappointment on George's face, though it does not persist for long. George pushes the "magazine" back into the rifle. What an odd mechanism. She hopes this failure to communicate was not important.
Now George opens this 'flame-less ration heater' he has been heating so hot and...
MMmmmmm...
It does smell good. Whatever it is. George picks up pieces of small hot things and eats away. So that is how George eats. Not quite tearing through the thing-that-smells-good and chewing it too. Like a mixture between her and a mollis.
Another mystery solved. Another mystery presented.
Does it taste as good as it smells? Dawn Watcher really wants to know, but wouldn't dare take from another, and her frustration flares at the lack of vocabulary to ask.
Numbers, nouns, and equations are not enough.
And the biggest mystery of all seems a toosii wing-beats away!
Dawn Watcher thinks if she can get answers about the anomaly and its deceased occupant at the other island, the other mysteries will collapse on themselves one after the other. It just needs a little push is all.
Dawn Watcher presents her paw to George, inviting him to climb on. She promises that she will not drop him.
Day 4 Midday
I do think the pizza MRE might be one of those lesser thought about reasons as to why the United States possess a strong military. Hell I'd be strong too if I had a pizza MRE to look forward to after fighting a battle. The dragon seems very interested in it, but I cannot share for the same reasons I will can't partake in its cuisine. I don't know if the dragon's biology can tolerate Olive oil, tomato, cheese, and ham. Oh, and not to mention the other ingredients. Far out man, you'd think you would need a PhD in chemistry to understand the other ingredients. Or much simpler, I would just need to find John.
Me and the dragon have been growing its understanding of English while I got energized for the day. Its pronunciation would make a language tutor cry but its good enough for me.
It seems though, however, that it is now time for something new. The dragon is digging its wing fingers into the sand, propping itself up. This weird act of the body frees up the two fore paws which are are now flat on the sand pointing skywards.
What does this mean? I am forced to make a guess. I tell the dragon that I can't share the pizza with it. If I knew it was safe I would happily give it some. Sharing food is a great way to establish positive relations. Poisoning your friends is not.
The dragon stares at me intently, the four eyelids never move. It reminds me of puppy eyes.
I try to imagine what it would be like with another set of eyelids but I just end up blinking a bunch of times. The dragon tilts its head at me, like dogs often do when they are trying to understand.
It is then the dragon decides to take to the sky. I must say it is a very cool sight. It made sure to step someways away from my camp so the "dragon-wash" (not to be confused with jet-wash) doesn't blow my things around too badly. My black scaled friend flies off towards the islands in the distance. Perhaps it is hungry and needs to hunt? It has been a long night after all.
With time to myself now, I take a deeper look in the tablet's file system. Silly me, forgetting to use '--all' when listing the directory contents.
We really do have plans for everything.
I found this hidden folder, yeah? "Contingencies". Guess what was inside?
"First_Contact_Protocols.pdf"
Well, it's a bit late for that now isn't it? Haha. I give it a read and realize it is just a refresher for what I already know. There is no master plan for establishing relations with dragon kind. I'm going to have to figure that part out on my own. No, what the document contains is a reminder of the "Zoo Protocols". That if we find intelligent alien life we are to observe them and try to avoid contact. Observe and report. Let people higher up the food chain decide what to do next. Like kids on a trip at the zoo.
Well, I can't exactly walk back my being 'discovered' by at least one local inhabitant (if you don't count the crabs) but I can honor the spirit of these protocols by being 'selective' in the information that I do share.
How did we get here? Sorry I can't explain. How does your rifle work? Sorry I can't explain. No, I won't be explaining many things if I can help it.
History is full of examples of indigenous people and cultures being ravaged by the consequences of first contact. It is my duty, ethically and morally, to limit the damage I do to the dragons' way of life by our meeting.
And that can start with the mess that has been made of my camp.
I get to work cleaning up the area.
I still can't find my sleeping bag.
Day 4 Afternoon
I can see the dragon returning now. It wasn't gone that long. Now that we've spent the better part of a day together I don't feel the need to flee into the treeline. Or... I'm assuming it is the same dragon. I shouldn't make so many assumptions because, in case you didn't know, assuming is how you make an ass of you and me. I get my boots ready and my other gear, just in case...
"Gooorge!" The sound echoes off the hills.
Nope. Definitely the same dragon. I wonder if it will comment on the camp. It is much tidier now, more befitting for guests.
It lands a little ways down the beach, pretty close to where the reactor casing wall fragment has been banished. It makes me wince.
The dragon trots over and I swear it wags its tail wags like a dog. It carries something in its mouth. It deposits the 'something' in front of me and asks:
"Two tweelve escaape pod vuhreeble?"
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Oh shit.
Unmistakable is what it is. I need only look at my own escape pod to confirm. External fairing of escape pod twelve from crew bay two. The numbers are inscribed on the metal. The fact that it is not burned and charred means the pod would have at least made it to ground. Perhaps it broke apart on landing?
And Crew bay two! Double the mystery! Why not?
"Where escape pod two?" I ask, almost frantic.
The tail points at the horizon across the ocean. It points at the islands.
Fuck man, this whole time another escape pod has been here this entire time!? So close! Maybe I should have built a raft after all. No radio contact with Will Shen, inhabitant of slot 12 of crew bay 2 cryo directory means something is wrong. Very wrong. I have to find a way to get over there.
A grumble comes from the dragon.
Oh, yes, right almost forgot.
"Island," I say.
"Two tweelve escaape pod, oceean, island," the dragon responds.
The dragon flaps its wings, not enough to take off but enough to get my attention. It says 'variable' again. I'm impressed it's trying something more abstract on its own. We're progressing from nouns to verbs.
"Fly," I say, mimicking the motions with my arms.
Happy with the new word to work with, the dragon does as it did before. Paws on the sand facing upwards. It celebrates the new word with a tap of the tail on the sand.
"Fly Goorge oceean island vuhreeble?"
Damn. The dragon must have known the other escape pod already. No wonder it was making the gesture to invite me flying. Maybe that is why it came to this island in the first place?
And here is idiot George fucking around with mathematics 101 while the dragon was hunting for the words it needed to tell me about the other escape pod this entire time.
Flying. Shit man, that beats a raft any day.
"Yes, fly across ocean to island. Show escape pod."
I pack my bag with a bunch of stuff. It's hard to say what I will need so I try to bring it all. The dragon watches but asks not for the names of anything. I infer that it too can sense the urgency.
Finally it is time to step onboard the dragon. This is your captain dragon speaking. Please fasten your seat belts, relax, and read the onboard safety card in the seat in front of you. The weather forecast today is sunny with scattered clouds at 20,000 feet.
Yeah right.
Normally I would want some reassurance that I won’t be dropped but there’s no time. No harness. Every internal thought process related to safety metrics screams at me that this is a stupid idea.
How would I even manufacture a harness anyway? What do I have to work with? Paracord? Nah.
I swear I can hear an OSHA inspector crossing the gap between the stars to stop me. Or maybe that’s just my thundering heart sounding in my ears.
Regardless of the doubts I step forwards, rifle slung and backpack hung from my shoulders. I step forwards and sit in the dragon's palm. I give the dragon the thumbs up.
I do these things because Will Shen needs my help, he is just over there across the water. Helping others is just what we do. I know he would do the same for me.
Passing T-38 supersonic trainer jet training didn’t exactly hurt my confidence in this decision either.
As we lift off I watch the dragon splash its hind paws in the water, washing the sand off. It was a pretty neat trick. I get a face full of dragon belly scales. The are a dark grey, in contrast to the black everywhere else.
The dragon flies low over the water. I see small leaves and other detritus floating on the surface. I swear I can see fish or something swimming down there but it goes by much too fast.
For a moment I think the dragon may be acknowledging mankind's complicated relation with heights but no, it was just picking up speed before initiating a climb. I keep my arms wrapped around the dragon's thumb claw. I can easily envision the thing slicing me in half.
I feel lashing winds and spend most of the flight with my eyes closed.
Yeah, it was the intense winds okay? Future reader? And only the winds y'hear?
Later on I brave up the courage to do that thing.
I do not recommend looking down. Big mistake!
Day 4 Extended Event Monitoring
Day 4 Notes From New Island
Will Shen is dead.
I didn't need the escape pod logs to know that. Seeing the body with my own eyes was confirmation enough.
The body has begun decomposing. I suspect the dragon has been snooping around because the cryogenic sheets have been ripped off.
The escape pod logs do tell a lot. So much for dead men telling no tales. Not in this day and age. What more is there to say?
Our crew of 25 is now confirmed to be a crew of 24.
But really our crew of 25 is now a crew of 13, at the very most.
Godspeed guys. You braved into the howling dark, never to return.
We all signed up for this. Knew the risks. It's a shame nonetheless.
It wasn't hard to get the dragon to dig another hole for me. I have buried the dead. The grave has been recorded with an image taken by the tablet, should anyone choose to attempt recovery of the remains in the future. The dragon asked and I replied "Will". It asked again, pointing at me and Will and I think I understood. "Human. We are called Humans."
"Hooman."
"Yes. Human."
"Hooman George. Hooman Will."
"Yes. We are both humans."
"Addition hoomans?"
"I can't say for sure, dragon. Cannot say for sure."
I will not shed any tears. He would – no, they would have wanted me to keep going. We will have plenty of time to catch up later.
Hopefully a long time later.
Let's look at the practicalities. Will Shen's loss is my gain. I have doubled my food. There was another AR-7 survival rifle in the pod, so now I have three magazines instead of one and 166 rounds of ammunition.
I feel like a grave robber.
I decide to walk a while. I note the dragon keeping its distance. Maybe it is curious to see what I will do.
Well, I will continue to survive. That is what.
Look at the mess. Along this beach small bits of debris, bits and pieces of Tongzhou are washing ashore.
I find a pile of junk neatly collected. Has the dragon done this? I know I wouldn't want trash on my beach front.
I know my escape pod was loaded with my PSQ-99's. I walk back to the pod, curious to see what Shen had brought along. I'd be a fool to deny myself any advantage. It occurs to me now that the pod is in a strange place. Not on the beach, but inland somewhat. The dragon has definitely been around. When we have more words I'll need to ask why it felt the need to move the escape pod.
What a feat. Maybe it can move my escape pod too? Who needs a pulley system when you have a dragon?
Oh, and where the fuck did Will get these?
They look like clear gems the size of my fist but I know what they are.
A professor showed us one in 'Intro to artificial intelligence' once. She said if we were really good and carried our studies through to post grad, then one day, if we were lucky, we might get to use one.
A QNI blank. An unborn Quasi Natural Intelligence. Two of them in fact.
Someone back on Earth must be wondering where these multi-million dollar artifacts are right now. I make some room in my back pack. These things are coming with me.
It is a bit endearing how the dragon continues to fail at pronouncing the word 'variable'. It is sort of becoming our little thing. When it asks me after I emerge from the escape pod I reassure it things are OK.
The dragon offers its paw once again. I accept the offer. There is little else to do here. I wonder where it will take me next. Maybe it knows about more escape pods. There are more islands and Chara still illuminates the sky.