The Prophesy: Book 3 - The Hammer of Atlantis

 

The Elvin kingdom had been busy and the princes and kings were hard at work scouring the world for anything Atlantean. By the time Ian's fourth birthday came around, Easter Island had been searched, and what was left of its huge statues moved into one of the multiple treasure tessaracts. Tropical islands had been scoured, to the exception of some of the biggest ones, which still hid many secrets. Borneo, Sumatra, Papua - New Guinea were on the upcoming hit list, as well as a more thorough search of Madagascar. Antarctica had not revealed any more doomsday vault, but the forest of Siberia had brought to light another one, more a laboratory than a vault, that was left intact.

"Why did you leave it intact, Dunbar?"

"Harold, when I entered it, I had a feeling of dread like never before. I began reading the last report I could decipher, in Cyrillic. That was a doomsday vault all right: the doomsday vault of the world. It contained every known type of sickness known to the Ancients."

"Couldn't it be useful?"

"Weaponized? I doubt we want to get smallpox out!"

"How come you didn't get contaminated?"

"I did not open any door out of the lobby. There was this huge skull with crossed tibias under it and I did not need a diploma to understand that this spelled death. After some hard work with Yamato and the others, Williams and I were able to decipher the writing. The journal was pretty damaged, but the last page was clear. Apparently, its last occupants at the onset of the nuclear war that spelled the downfall of the Ancients abandoned the laboratory. They wanted to die with their family. So they sealed everything, put the laboratory on lock-down and left. The seals are giving way gradually, and the last five levels are now contaminated, according to the biosensors. But I wouldn't trust that information on my life. The sensors in the upper five levels are probably dead."

"I see. What have you done to secure the laboratory against intrusions?"

"We closed it, and sealed it. The area we surmised covered the laboratory is under a magic dome. Nothing can get in or out, for some time. However, the dome is a stopgap measure. Anyone really wanting in can do so if only by going under the dome."

"That is better than nothing. It will have to do for now."

"Couldn't we extend the field below?" suggested Samson.

"I doubt it would be a good idea. The field would require more energy than is available, your Majesty."

"I have abdicated, the title goes to Enron, Williams."

"Anyway, let's not keep second-guessing ourselves. As far as I'm concerned, I am satisfied with the efforts Dunbar and Williams put into insuring the security of this area," Enron added.

"By the way, dad, we have moved the last tessaract in the Tessaract cave, and completed the Ark zoo to its final destination. There is still a lot of space left. The Aquarium is also in its tessaract, but it is at least ninety percent empty. The garden tessaract is being prepared, and we should be able to move the Pegasuses shortly in their space. We offered to rebuild an environment similar to their homeland, but they declined. They asked simply to have enough space to multiply and fly. The next to be moved will be the Trolls. The aviary is not completed yet, which explains why that part of the zoo is still in Eloise. We also have to begin on the Insectarium. The fairies have offered to take care of that once we are done setting things in place and collecting insects."

"Thank you for the heads up Harp. What about the Unicorns?"

"They will be moved into the middle level of the tessaract reserved for the Pegasuses, while the rest of the Equines, will be moved into the lower level. Do not believe that these levels are going to be less well prepared than the others. We are simply waiting to find the last Crystal to activate them. We do not want to stress the five crystals we already have. The current output is at five percent of optimal, with an added one hundred percent safety margin. We could do without the sixth, but why give up the search, we still got so much to cover, and the Atlantic Ocean is not a piece of cake to search. I admit we have not done things in the best manner anyway."

"Why do you say that?"

"We covered the Arctic and Antarctic oceans first, because the ice cover is progressing fast. Then we dealt with the Eurasian inner seas, before we could lose any chance of finding life, and also spent an important amount of time recovering Atlantean artefacts. The exploration of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea led us to the recovery of the last sturgeons, a measly two hundred specimens. They are in stasis, for decontamination. They we will put them in a reproductive basin, in an effort to control the reproduction and insure the maximum genetic diversity. It will not be easy. Our last project is the Dead Sea. It carries its name insofar as life is concerned, but there may be some interesting stuff under that thick brine."

"Is it not extremely radioactive?"

"Yes, like most of the region. We have consulted with the Artificial Intelligences of the Pyramids, and they have helped us design robots that will be controlled by telemetry. The prototype is already on Paschal's drawing board."

"The drawing for the prototype is done. It looks like an oversized spider, measuring over ten feet in length, with eight powerful legs, and a pair of pincers that can cut a man in half."

"I hope you have planned some safeguards? I have a bad memory about anything artificial!" piped up Ian.

"Oh yes. There are three circuit breakers, one of which is on the underside, the other just behind the neck on the back, and the last one is a red pressure button that Enron or any of us can hit with an object from a distance. I made quite sure these features are unknown to the Artificial Intelligences that helped me design the robots."

"How do you plan to control it from above?" asked Enron.

"I found something interesting in the books of the Ancients. There is a particle that can cross any mass, called the neutrino. I have looked at it, and it can make a specific string of magic resonate. I plan to tune the control of the robots to that string and use magic itself to manage the spider. I have yet to figure out the return means, Paschal. Maybe I can have the information the detectors will gather sent back to me by having a resonating string, much like the Ancients used resonating crystals for electromagnetic waves. I do not know exactly how I'll feed the information back to the string; the issue is speed. I am looking at how they modelled sensory systems, and the Ancients had the same issue: how do you stream what is in essence a parallel process into a linear one?"

"Do you think you have any chance of success within the time we have left?" asked Annabelle, looking at her son with some amazement.

"That depends on how much time we really have left, mom. We still do not know what is up. Yes, we went through the simulator, and, as Ian said, we can see far ahead. But some things are still hidden to us. For instance, Ian has not been able to see himself in the future. At first he was worried, until we all told him we saw him in it, but could not see ourselves. That is one such limit. We cannot see ourselves. There is another limit: we see big events, but not small ones; everyone knows that big events result from an accumulation of small ones, and you do not need to be a Seer to notice that! The last point is that time is elastic, and what we see may be around the corner or years ahead of us; it is hard to measure elapsed time without stable reference points. We tried to see what would be served for breakfeast repeatedly, and failed miserably. It is like trying to bend a steel rod."

"Or trying to look at your own butt!"

"Ian!"

"What? I tried! And failed!"

"Ever tried as a wolf, brother?" suggested Harp.

"Harp!"

"What? I'm just trying to be helpful!"

"Could it be that the simulator was based on what will happen?"

"Dad, a simulation is just a simulation, at least I hope so!" replied Enron.

"All this tells us is that our Seers foresaw that we would have to leave the planet. I figure they could not tell in great detail what would happen, only the most prominent actors in the unfolding drama. Time is short, this we all know, but how short? That remains to be seen."

"Don't we have some indication, if only by looking at the sequence of events?"

"Yes and no, Diamondcutter. We have many events yet to see, and they seem to be packed so tight they are blurred. It is like a fog," replied Sitar.

"Let's go feed our familiars, guys. Anbraxias, Apalapa, Brinsop, Jormungandr, Uwibami, and Typhoon want to go hunt and need the exercise."

"So do I, Sitar! Being a king isn't fun! At least, they could make the King's Bench comfortable! I have calluses on my ass!" replied Thorsten. "Are you coming, Timor? I am sure Tiamat would love to fly with you tonight!"

"That's a good idea. I like the wind on my wings as a dragon. It feels as nice as the wind on my fur when I run as a Troll!"

«My friend Greywolf and I will accompany you. Our own familiars are fed, but the more numerous we are the more likely the hunt will succeed.»

«Hey, contact with predators is changing your view on reality, Silver Moon!» replied Ian, laughing.

«It goes both ways, my lord. Understanding the Equines' side has helped us communicate,» butted in Greywolf. «Anyway, Galeru and Ness are waiting for us.»

The boys quickly exited the palace, changed into wolf forms to run freely with Greywolf to the Royal Stables, where they picked up Silver Moon before exiting the town to reach the Fields of Mars. Once there, the party converted to their chosen dragon form before flying off to join their bonded in a hunt up the western coast of Labrador, were there had been reports of a high concentration of caribou.

***

"While they are out hunting, Harold, have you given thought about organizing a birthday party for Ian? He will be four shortly!" asked Annabelle.

"Yes, my dear. Lord Agramon has promised us a dance; the wolves will also do their Wolves Hunting one; the Trolls will be acting as drummers, and the Dwarfs have promised to complement the Troll orchestra with strings. The Fairies are working on a new set of silk clothes. The Unicorns and Pegasuses are working on something, but they have not told me what. The Legionnaires and Elves, along with the Centaurs, have promised a military march and a contest of abilities. Nestor will be there as well, but the old man is aging. I have asked Francesca to ready a stasis chamber for the day he can no longer function. All I know is that they say the show will be at night, outside."

"I see. I can't wait!"

"I wonder who will enjoy this more, you or Ian?" asked Amethyst.

"That little devil was away from home for his third birthday, and I don't know if he remembers his first or second that much."

"I agree, he has been away too much, Annabelle. But do not worry about his memory. I think he probably remembers more than you care for him to! How is the pregnancy going?"

"I am fine so far, dear. According to Francesca, the child is due a few days after Ian's birthday. And Harp says it is a boy. I have a collection of nutcases waiting for another brother! Even your second son Sven is in on it, Amethyst."

***

The spring Equinox had finally arrived, and the kingdom was in full-blown party mode. It was Prince Ian's birthday, and everyone wanted to be at the party. The Field of Mars had been expanded considerably, bleachers set up to accommodate just about everyone in the kingdom, as a gigantic Coliseum that dwarfed the Araneta Coliseum by a factor of one hundred to one had been set up just outside of Eloise. Its dome was retractable. It was designed so sliding pie slices of orichalque, whose crystalline structure had been made transparent for the occasion, could be moved should they need to be used. It could seat three point three million people, and included sections specially fit for the Equines, with special boxes for the much bigger Pegasuses. There were also dedicated emplacements for the Centaurs, the Canines, the Trolls, the Fairies, the Dwarfs, and naturally for the Elves and Legionnaires. At one end, covering a quarter of the circumference was a section for the dragons, with a prominent place reserved for the dragon queen and king. All bonded dragons had space reserved for their human form, as it helped reduce the size of the building considerably. A special box, the Royal box, was set just below the Dragon royals, and was reserved for the princes and royals of all other species, with a special section for the seven leaders of the Centaurs on one side, while on the other side were places reserved for Silver Moon lord Agramon, the generals of he Equine armies, the Pegasus Black White-Wing, Golden Horn and Isosceles, the Unicorn leaders. Naturally, the entire School of Magic was present, from Nestor to the last janitor, with Nestor seated right between Harp and Enron, with Ian just below, on a lower bleacher. The other royals were spread around the royal box, which was big enough to accommodate a sizeable lunch table.

The festivities began early in the morning, with foot races, followed by gymnastics, and then flying abilities. A flying course was set and each participant had to navigate between poles without touching them with their wings. Given that each flying species was of different size, the competition required adjustments of the course for the Dragons, sorted by colour, and the Pegasuses. The Equines took front stage with obstacle races, to be followed by the Centaurs.

After a substantial lunch, distributed by the grace of Harp, the festivities resumed. It was now a competition at different weapons: archery, lance, knife, stave, hand-to-hand combat, and axe. Then came the joust and tourney, the focal point of the entire day. The Centaurs were gasping with shock at the violence and the number of horsemen that were thrown off their saddle. Then Yamato took over the arena to demonstrate advanced manoeuvres with horses, again to the total surprise of the Centaurs, Pegasuses and Unicorns. It was immediately followed by demonstration of swordsmanship, archery, axe and lance handing from horseback, that left the Centaurs totally wide-eyed.

The last show before nightfall and the quick dinner that would keep the guests from starving until the State Dinner to be held after the sunset was a demonstration of magic. The Mages divided themselves in two groups and began fighting each other with spells of all sorts with a single goal: the winner would be the last one standing. The amount of magical energy might have seemed considerable to any but the royals, who had declined to partake in the battle given their insurmountable advantage in raw power.

As the sun set down, the arena's walkways between bleachers suddenly were covered with tables containing an impressive amount of food of all sorts, adapted to each individual's preferences. The State Dinner was the occasion for all to discuss what they had seen that day. As compline rang in Eloise, a huge bang called everyone to attention. Harold stood and began a well-rehearsed speech.

"I have been told to keep my speech short. Now, short for one may seem unending to others. As I have become a consummate politician, get your pillow, I intend to put everyone to sleep!"

A short burst of laughter came out from the crowd.

"Today is Ian's fourth birthday. Today, four years ago, a miracle happened. My son Ian was born, and received a vow of fealty for the first time from a group of wolves, that came to render homage to the newborn baby. Today, four years ago, was the day his wolf nanny, Samantha, walked into our camp in Elvin Woods and offered her milk to feed him. It was also the day he received fealty from Silver Moon, lord Agramon, and prince of the Equines. In all these years, so much water has passed under bridges. If you noticed, I have white hair, and not all is due to old age or Harp!"

Another bout of laughter came from the crowd.

"I am sure he and his brothers will continue their best to make me age faster than time does! Now, son, it is difficult to give anything to someone that has everything material and only needs to think about an object to create it from thin air. All I can give you, son, is my love, and my unconditional support. I promised short, and short it is. Enjoy the fireworks. It should last about an hour and is a contribution of the School of Magic to the party tonight. Once this is done, the arena will light and we will assist to two ritual dances, the Wolves Hunting, and the Mating Dance of the Lords of the Equines. After that everyone is invited to dance on the sandy floor of the arena until day breaks. A combined orchestra of Elves, Fairies, Dwarfs, and Trolls will supply music. Refreshments will be available for all. Enjoy the evening!"

There was a thunderous applause that was cut short by a huge bang and the firework was on. Bombs that rivalled what the Ancients had done before took off, and a variety of animals, both real and imagined, lit the dark sky. Some were so recognizable that the public took to yelling the name of the person shown in brilliant incandescent colours. Then there were whole scenes, with towering pyramids, fountains of light, the Sphinx, and a couple of battle scenes that left the public speechless. In all, six million tons of explosives were expanded for the fireworks, some of the biggest rockets reaching an astounding forty thousand feet before exploding in a dazzling show of light and colour. Music accompanied the fireworks, and matched its feverish tempo, giving an additional depth to the entire spectacle.

As the lights of the last bomb faded, the wolves took to the floor and began their Wolves Hunting rendering. As the last sound of the music was heard, the Equines walked into position and began their Mating Dance of the Lords of the Equines. The rhythm and tempo was so engaging that everyone in the coliseum began keeping up to the dance. Finally the dragons and their bonded began the Dance of the Bumblebee, something that took Harold and the others by surprise. It implied a complex combination of loops, spins, barrel rolls, candle climbs and vertical barrel rolls, with twisting sliding motions that mimicked a double helix. The aerial acrobatics show lasted about forty minutes before the bonded returned to their seats, barely showing a sweat. The Pegasuses marvelled at the flight, and wondered when they would be able to learn all these complex figures they had painted by the powerful incandescent smoke-producing rockets the dragons had carried aloft.

Harold and Annabelle walking into the centre of the amphitheatre and beginning a waltz officially opened the ball. As soon as the Imperial Waltz was finished, the others descended on the lower floor and began dancing to the music of the Dance with the Wolves. Those that could fly took to the air, whilst the grass roots were dancing on the sandy floor of the arena. Not everyone danced at the same time, but still, it was not uncommon to see half a million couples dance and swirl, on rhythms that ran from the slow to the daredevil rhythms of a quickstep. The funniest to observe were the inter-species dances. Wolves would put their front paws on the shoulders of their partners and manage to dance very convincingly. Those that had dragon bonds could change into more convenient shapes, but they were a very tiny minority still. After all there were only eighty-eight bonded pairs!

As dawn began lighting the sky, the last dance was offered to Ian, which graciously accepted to share it with his friends. First he took the form of a young male fairy prince to dance with Iridia, then changed to a female wolf to dance with Greywolf; and, as the dance continued he took the form of every single allied species of the Empire matching his sex to the opposite of his partner. He even bothered to change to an old woman so he could involve Nestor in a slow part of the dance. This prowess of magic left the old Mage completely unbalanced, as well as his ambassador.

Finally, Ian walked back to his seat and, using a quick flick of his wrist, brought silence to the giant assembly.

"May I thank you all for coming to my birthday party. I too am a consummate politician and promise a short speech! Today, rest of your fatigue, for tomorrow we start a new year and there is still a lot to do. We may have foresight, but it does not dispense us from working to achieve what we must in the imparted time. Believe me, there are many steps to take, and all of us have to do our best if we are to have a chance at succeeding. As I know many of you live in some remote areas of the kingdom, even if it has shrunk considerably since the invasion of the Orcs and the consolidation of our defendable borders, I will send you back home using magic. Think of your bedroom!"

Barely had the last injunction left Ian's lips that he flicked his right hand, glowed with power, and everyone in the arena vanished to rematerialize in their respective bedroom. The arena was empty, except for Ian himself. He then ported to his own bedroom, and collapsed in his bed after a quick cleaning charm, which he graciously extended to all his guests.

***

Two days later, the giant coliseum was moved into one of the levels of tessaract number twenty-five, barely filling up the lower right corner. The rest was still mostly empty space. The search for life and Atlantean artefacts resumed in earnest, while Paschal began building his exploratory robot, whose looks sent shivers down the spine anyone looking at the machine.

The machine had six legs contrary to the real thing and the prototype, but was huge. It had doubled in size from the original prototype, to allow for finer control, more power should it be necessary, and more powerful pre-processing before sending the data back to the princes.

The main body measured twenty feet in width, twenty-five feet in length including the slightly mobile head, and seventeen feet and three-quarters in height, giving it a slightly tapered look. The body, supported by movable legs, stood seventeen and a half feet above ground. The head included a pair of cameras for vision, and a pair of retractable pincers to grab and cut, or otherwise allow the robot to carry objects or defend itself against assault and predators, should the need arise. Each leg also had retractable pincers to grip to the surface, which would let the spider climb up walls or cliffs. The mechanism was prewired: As soon as the pad dropped on a surface, the pincers would be pushed out and opens to grip the surface. When the leg began its movement up to take another step, the pincers would release the grip and retract into their protective socket during the movement. At all times, four legs were in contact with the surface of travel, while two were in the process of being moved.

The body of the artificial insect was made of orichalque, and could resist the hydrostatic pressure of the abyssal trenches, some of which reached thirty-five thousand and eight hundred fourteen feet¹¹ ("The Mariana Trench.") in depth, exercising a pressure of fifteen thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds per square inch.

The body's innards were occupied by two things: a powerful energy source that gave the spider a functional autonomy of twenty-four hours, and a set of paired magic strings that gave the transmission and reception bandwidth of the spider at several gigabytes per second, which was slow compared to the capacity of the boys at the same task. The strings were wrapped around each other in a double helix, reducing their length by a factor of one hundred to one while maintaining their receptive and transmitting capacity intact.

The spider's body, itself made of orichalque, collected magic, which was then transferred into the storage crystal. The more the artificial insect moved, the faster it moved, the more it charged up. Added to its almost indestructible body, a force field created an additional shield that gained its energy from whatever external source assailed it. A fast moving object, for instance, would give off its kinetic energy to the field and fall off; the impact of fire was similar: it would suddenly lose its energy to the field; lava cooled down instantly. The only problem with this field is that it expanded as it gained energy, and water or air became cold at its contact, as Brownian movement of fast molecules gave their energy to the field, transforming them to slow-moving particles. The same occurred with atomic particles, as their enormous kinetic energy was suddenly transferred to the field.

The head itself was a marvel of technology. The cameras were rather impressive in their complexity. Each camera had a lens made of flexible polymer that could change shape from the traction exerted on its periphery by tractor cables; the retina itself was curved to maximize the surface available for sensors. The sensors themselves were organized in such a way that the centre of the field was occupied by colour-sensitive chemicals that would trigger a signal should a certain spectra of light hit their surface; intermixed with them and all around the periphery were photo-sensors that just reacted to the variance in brightness. In front of the sensors, also acting as filters was a complex circuitry that filtered false positive signals, processed colours to create composite additive colours from the subtractive colours produced by the chemical reactants. By the end of the process, the number of signals transmitted by the optic nerve through the blind spot had been reduced by a factor of one thousand to one, thus minimizing the size of the blind spot and the optic nerve.

The fact that there were two cameras allowed the perception of depth from binocular information when the eyes both looked at the same object. The depth was generated by interferometry: the further an object was, the further apart were the interference lines. When the eyes moved independently, monocular depth perception was still possible, if less precise.

To further ease the bandwidth issues, Paschal had installed, within the robot's cranium, a sophisticated mechanism that first extracted lines from the signals conveyed by the optic nerve through the application of additive interferometry. Constant eye movements were necessary for the mechanism to work, as the interference would add up to bring out the edges of object. That could lead to the creation of virtual lines that fade, a common illusion in man, but nonetheless, the cost was minimal for the gain. Then, using a principle of common movement equals object, he had the objects constructed out of the lines and colour patterns. That in turn reduced the bandwidth requirement by another thousand. The transmission consisted in sending out a stream of numbers that gave relative position of objects, form, size, colour pattern, and speed of displacement relative to the spider reducing the entire load by a million to one. The spider's speed and direction of movement were themselves estimated from the global displacement of the visual field, minus the head and eyes displacements.

"Aren't you worried about the illusions this system suffers?" asked Francesca, as she studied the results with Paschal and Harp.

 

Figure 1: The Gradient Illusion

"I'm not at all, Francesca. We suffer from a rather impressive set of illusions, and we have survived. If the model I've designed and built suffers from the same set of illusions as we do, than it is a viable model of our own system. An illusion is a limit within a fixed system. For instance, we can give the impression to the spider that it is moving through space by displacing the environment around it. We humans suffer from the same illusion. The spider will automatically adjust its stance to compensate sudden environmental displacements to prevent a fall; we do the same. If you look at the report on colour, the maximum luminescence is in the yellow range, a result of first the subtractive signals of the light sensors which have peaks in the magenta, cyan and yellow-orange wavelengths, then, during the process of reducing the bandwidth by merging signals, we have the additive colours created, namely red, green, and blue; the final result is that the yellow is stronger because of the greater overlap between the two filters which favour yellow. It makes sense too: the sun's light is yellowish, and being more sensitive to it makes for brighter scenery. I even made the intensity measurement sensors follow the same pattern, which makes them sensitive to the near ultraviolet. There are many hundreds of illusions, some very simple to reproduce, like the contrast to background illusion, where a progressive lighter shade change in the background makes the object look darker, even if the colour is actually uniform. I found a rather severely damaged book by the Ancients on optical illusions. The explanations were rather short, and I found no book on how to model the optical system. Cameras are not even good representations of the eyes, except in a very approximate way. None tries to prevent shimmering, well, except a single case developed for astronomical purposes. Since the spider has no light source and the sea bottom is darker than the pits, I have had to make it so that any photon is multiplied several billion times to create an image. That had serious consequences, including the number of false positives. To prevent this I have layered the robot's retina three detectors thick, and designed the final circuitry so it would trigger only and only if two or more out of three layers triggered. Now, a single photon will normally have enough energy to cascade through two layers, and get to the photomultiplier, whose gain is set according to the photonic response within the near proximity detectors. The more photons in a given area, the lower the gain. This prevents the spider from getting blinded should there be a sudden flash of light, while letting it use this sudden influx to determine shape."

Figure 2: The Kanizsa Illusion

"Paschal, enough! I'm having a headache!"

"Do you want to see the circuitry?" asked Harp, sweet as honey.

"No!" replied Francesca, running away while muttering about boys practicing unnatural sorcery.

"Son, you need to go see Francesca and say sorry, I think."

"Why is that, dad?"

"You just rubbed in her face how inadequate her medical training is, and how little she knows about the nervous system."

After some thinking, Paschal and Harp both decided that Harold was right. Francesca had always been nice to them and it was past due that they extended some courtesy in exchange.

"We'll go see her shortly, dad. I think she needs to cool down for a bit before talking to us," replied Harp.

***

The next week was spent displacing other cities and villages in the Elvin kingdom to continue the consolidation of the population. Another auto-defence wall was built along the western shores of the Nile to the Roars. Everything East of the Nile was moved to Thebes. The last item moved from the east side of the Nile was the Palace of Nature and what was left of Eloise. That completed the evacuation of the King's Land, Munster, Frieburg, Dioniz, Ultrech, Sophia-York, Occident, Kent, Vicksburg, Radisson, Landshire, Warwick, Pines, Tritons, Valerian, Ypres, Lee, Xiphias, Wyvern, Acadia, and Roars. Other duchies and archduchies were well on their way to being completely evacuated, especially those located on the western border of the kingdom.

The next week saw the Trolls moved into their final tessaract, as well as most of the equines, exception made of Silver Moon. The fairies also were moved into the insectarium tessaract, with Fe being located about midway between the lower level and the upper level of the Insectarium to ease its maintenance.

***

As the week came to an end, Queen Annabelle began to have the contractions indicating that the time was near for a brother to be born to Ian. The child's birth had been late, according to her estimate, but, as Francesca informed her, nine months was an approximation and all depended on when the parents had done the deed while she was fertile. Theresa insisted that Annabelle be moved into the hospital Paschal had designed and built in Eloise, which had been ported and was now quite close to their new home in Thebes.

Francesca was assisting Annabelle as midwife. Things seemed to go well until contractions began in earnest. After the first few, Annabelle was begging for Francesca to reduce the pain.

"Francesca, get the boy! Something's wrong!" she ordered.

"Your Majesty, childbirth is always painful! Nothing is wrong!" replied Francesca, adamant that the boys were not to be involved.

"Francesca, I am ordering you to get them! Now!"

"No!"

«Sons, come to me! I need your help!» whispered Annabelle, by now almost fainting.

«Where are you mom?»

But Annabelle had fainted and could no longer answer. The boys began searching frantically all over Thebes. After an hour, desperate, Harp used a general call.

"To all who can hear! The Queen Mother is in danger and is missing! Anyone who knows anything, has seen her, or otherwise has information for us, think hard! We will hear!"

Shortly thereafter, a wolf reported escorting the Queen to the Hospital. The search focussed on the gigantic building, and each room was searched one by one. It took an hour to discover the Queen, unconscious, and Francesca watching her.

"Francesca, what is happening?" asked an alarmed Ian.

"Prince Ian, leave! This is the work of women, not of men!"

"Francesca, what is up with you? Explain!"

"Your mother is giving birth, that is what! Now, get out!"

"No, Francesca! She called for help, and we are here for that!" thundered Harp, as he came closer.

"Prince Harp, this is not your place!"

"My place is where I so choose! Get out of my way or else!"

"Else what?"

"You asked for it!"

Francesca found herself ported right in the middle of the Atlantic. Not knowing where she found herself, she had to port tiny step by tiny step to find her way back to a small island, shivering from the icy water.

"I don't know what fly has bitten Francesca, but let's see what is the problem with mom!" decided Harp.

After a few examinations, it became apparent that the newborn boy was engaged seat first, and too far in the passage to be turned.

"Magic is in order. We need to port the baby out of mom if we are to save him. Has anyone traced the umbilical cord?"

"Yes, Harp. It is twisted around his neck. Even if we managed to pull him out he would be strangled!" exclaimed Paschal, worried.

"Then we cut it in-vivo, immediately before porting the baby out. Then mom needs a curetting. Paschal set an incubator! Ian, get a stasis chamber ready! I am beginning to force the blood out of the placenta into the baby! I'm also untwisting the cord from around the baby's neck. Slow does it! Elapsed time since I began?"

"Thirty seconds!" replied Sitar.

"One minute!"

"One minute and thirty seconds!"

"Untwisting completed! Ready to cut!"

The boys did as Harp requested, and three minutes later, everything was ready. Sitar barged in, accompanied by Harold and Amethyst.

"What's going on?"

"The baby is coming by the seat! And Francesca did nothing to turn the baby! I really do not know what is up with her, but she is cooling her head in mid-Atlantic! Now, dad, let me concentrate. In-vivo surgery is dangerous, but it is the only way to save the baby and mom!"

As the blood flux was cut by a magic pinch, Harp cut the umbilical cord and ported the baby into the incubator, where Ian put a clamp on the residual cord.

"The baby's blue!"

"Not breathing! Clearing passage of mucus, slap on arse coming!" replied Paschal.

Immediately after a resounding slap, the baby wailed loudly, taking his first breath.

"Check for reflexes!"

"Babinski reflex²² ("Babinski's reflex occurs when the big toe moves toward the top of the foot and the other toes fan out after the sole of the foot has been firmly stroked. It tests the neural integrity of the legs up to the lower spinal cord. This reflex, or sign, is normal in younger children, but abnormal after the age of 2.") response at four out of five. Pupillary light reflex³³ ("The pupillary light reflex is a reflex that controls the diameter of the pupil, in response to the intensity (luminance) of light that falls on the retina of the eye, thereby assisting in adaptation to various levels of darkness and light, in addition to retinal sensitivity. Greater intensity light causes the pupil to become smaller (allowing less light in), whereas lower intensity light causes the pupil to become larger (allowing more light in). Thus, the pupillary light reflex regulates the intensity of light entering the eye.") response at four out of five, on the left eye! It's sluggish on the right eye, I would say two on five!" Paschal noted. Palmar grasp reflex⁴⁴ ("The palmar grasp reflex appears at birth and persists until five or six months of age. When an object is placed in the infant's hand and strokes their palm, the fingers will close and they will grasp it. The grip is strong but unpredictable; though it may be able to support the child's weight, they may also release their grip suddenly and without warning. Stroking the back or side of the hand can induce the reverse motion.") at optimal; Babkin reflex⁵⁵ ("The Babkin reflex occurs in newborn babies, and describes varying responses to the application of pressure to both palms. Infants may display head flexion, head rotation or opening of the mouth, or a combination of these responses. Smaller, premature infants are more susceptible to the reflex, with an observed occurrence in a child of 26 weeks gestation.") at optimal; I can't test the ⁶⁶ ("The Galant reflex, also known as Galant's infantile reflex, is present at birth and fades between the ages of four to six months. When the skin along the side of an infant's back is stroked, the infant will swing towards the side that was stroked.") due to the situation. Sucking reflex⁷⁷ ("The sucking reflex is common to all mammals and is present at birth. It is linked with the rooting reflex and breastfeeding, and causes the child to instinctively suck at anything that touches the roof of their mouth and suddenly starts to suck simulating the way they naturally eat. There are two stages to the action:<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Expression<\/strong>: activated when the nipple is placed between a child's lips and touches their palate. They will instinctively press it between their tongue and palate to draw out the milk.<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>Milking<\/strong>: The tongue moves from areola to nipple, coaxing milk from the mother to be swallowed by the child.<\/p>\r\n<p>") at four; rooting reflex⁸⁸ ("The rooting reflex is present at birth and assists in breastfeeding, disappearing at around four months of age as it gradually comes under voluntary control. A newborn infant will turn his head toward anything that strokes his cheek or mouth, searching for the object by moving his head in steadily decreasing arcs until the object is found. After becoming used to responding in this way (if breastfed, approximately three weeks after birth), the infant will move directly to the object without searching.") at four out of five; I can't test the stepping reflex⁹⁹ ("The walking or stepping reflex is present at birth; though infants this young can not support their own weight, when the soles of their feet touch a flat surface they will attempt to 'walk' by placing one foot in front of the other. This reflex disappears at 6 weeks as an automatic response and reappears as a voluntary behaviour at around eight months to a year old.")." After slapping his hands together near the left ear, Enron resumed his report. "Moro reflex¹⁰¹⁰ ("This is sometimes referred to as the startle reaction, startle response, startle reflex or embrace reflex. It is more commonly known as the Moro response or Moro reflex. The Moro reflex is present at birth, peaks in the first month of life and begins to disappear around 2 months of age. It is likely to occur if the infant's head suddenly shifts position, the temperature changes abruptly, or they are startled by a sudden noise. The legs and head extend while the arms jerk up and out with the palms up and thumbs flexed. Shortly afterward the arms are brought together and the hands clench into fists, and the infant cries loudly. The reflex normally disappears by three to four months of age, though it may last up to six months. Bilateral absence of the reflex may mean damage to the infant's central nervous system while a unilateral absence could mean an injury due to birth trauma such as a fractured clavicle or injury to the brachial plexus. Erb's palsy or some other form of paralysis is also sometimes present in such cases. A way to experiment to see if the reflex is present is to hold the infant horizontally on their back and let the head drop slightly or produce a sudden loud sound against the surface. In human evolutionary past, the Moro reflex may have helped the infant cling to his mother while she carried him around all day. If the infant lost its balance, the reflex caused the infant to embrace its mother and regain its hold on the mother's body.") is asymmetric; there is almost no response on the right left side."

"Enron, proceed with the curetting! I have to check the baby's brain functions! Sitar, Paschal, join me!" ordered Harp, alarmed by the last report. "Paschal, check the brachial pathway, while Sitar and I check the brain! Map pathways!"

As Enron began removing the placenta and stopping Annabelle's internal haemorrhaging, the boys began scanning the baby's brain, regenerating those sections that had begun suffering from the asphyxia.

"Basic curetting finished, I'm porting her into the stasis chamber. I'm setting condition to Red. The porting is complete, the cover is closing, physiological fluids in place! Regeneration cycle engaged!"

"Thanks Enron. We are porting the baby from the incubator to the stasis chamber. Can you set it up for us while we continue repairing the higher nervous function?"

"Sure. Give me a minute!"

A minute later, Enron informed his blood brothers that the next stasis chamber was ready to receive the baby.

"Porting in three, two, one, now!"

"Condition Red is set! Closing lid, regeneration fluid at optimal, regeneration cycle engaged! Breathing of fluids stable."

"Thanks Enron!" replied Harp.

"Now, boys, I'd like some more explanations, if you do have time?"

"Dad, it's not the time to be acidic," Ian replied, as he watched his mom's clothes dissolve in the fluid.

"To answer your question, dad, mom called for help before fainting. We spent hours searching for her and when we couldn't find her, I did a general call for information as to whom had seen her last and a wolf guard reported escorting her to the hospital. Then it took some time to find her in the maternity ward, more because we didn't think of looking there first."

"And why did you send Francesca to the mid-Atlantic?"

"She refused to let me see what was wrong with mom, claiming it was none of my business. I told her to get out of my way or else. She asked 'or else what?' and I ported her to cool off."

"Can you get her back?"

"No, she moved. I do not know where she is now. She'll have to find her way back here on her own. She has enough magic to get out of that bind. And I do plan to talk to her when she is back. I have a lot of questions to ask about her behaviour. Dad, she is alive, but only because I care for her and respect her. She put mom and the baby at risk needlessly, and I intend to get to the bottom of her attitude."

"We could triangulate her ports?"

"Only from where she jumped, not to where she jumped, Ian. We would always be behind her."

"Let's keep track anyway, Harp. I do not want her to jump in our midst without warning. She might be right pissed at the treatment."

"Ok Ian, I will organize it. But she better have calmed down and be a bit more reasonable because neither you nor she have an idea what being pissed means, brother!"

"Oh, I do, Harp. I can just imagine what would happen to her if she didn't adjust her attitude, and you would have to wait in line!"

"Dad, have you and Annabelle decided on a name for the baby?"

"No, Sitar, we had decided to wait until he was born. We also wanted to ask for input from you boys."

"Ok, we will wait for mom to be out of the stasis chamber. Paschal, what is her situation on that front?"

"Mom is currently undergoing regeneration of the reproductive organs, Sitar. The baby tore her badly. She should be out of there in a week."

"What about the baby?" Amethyst asked.

"He suffered asphyxia, a crushed hipbone, a severe damage to the left brachial pathway, and has a heart defect. That will keep him in the stasis chamber for a month and a half, mostly to rebuild the brain's right parietal lobe and the optic nerve on the right eye due to unknown cause. We fixed the right brachial pathway, re-establishing the connections between the brain and the body. The heart defect should be fixed by tomorrow morning, and the optical nerve regenerated by tomorrow night. It's the neural connection to the optical path that will take most of next week."

"That means Annabelle will be out of there slightly before him. Will she be able to take care of the baby?"

"If you call slightly before a span of over a month. But to answer your question, yes she will be ready when he gets out. I have put a heartbeat and blood flux sound in the liquid matching hers so the baby is still fed his necessary secure environment sounds," replied Harp. "It should help the baby to recover, calm down from the stress, and sleep."

"What made you think of that, Harp?" asked Amethyst.

"There was an article in a scientific journal I happened to fall on while cleaning up the Library of Congress boxes. It stuck me as a valid point. By the way, we need to get that librarian involved in sorting our documents so we can find them more easily."

"I took care of that when we moved Solon to its new place. The guy had an orgasm at the sheer size of the library," Enron replied.

«Dragon Lord, Manasa is complaining she has problems tracking her bonded. Could you help?»

«And who is bonded to Manasa?» asked Ian, who had a good idea anyway.

«The one named Francesca, Dragon Lord.»

«I suspected as much. Francesca has betrayed our trust and has been sent away to think things over. Her bonded may go keep an eye on her, but under no circumstance is she to be seen.»

«I see. Is this banishment?»

«No, it is a cooling off period. It is up to Francesca to get over her attitude and come back to us in better spirits. Tell Manasa to come to me, I will inform her of what happened. Maybe she will be able to help Francesca think things over, once both Francesca's and Manasa's tempers have lost their sharpness.»

«She is on her way, Dragon Lord.»

«Ask Typhoon to join us. He should be back from his patrol on the western borders.»

«I heard your request, my bonded. I have arrived and flown directly to the entrance of the caring place. I am waiting on Manasa's arrival to join you.»

Shortly after the last exchange walked in Typhoon, whose golden scale plating identified him as a gold dragon, and Manasa, whose blood-red scale plating cried out red dragon to all.

"Let us go to the conference room out in the hallway. Amethyst, would you mind getting a nurse to monitor the baby?"

"Sure, dear. I'll join you in the conference room as soon as this has been set."

About ten minutes later, everyone was sitting around the table.

"Let me explain what happened some time back. Mom, Queen Annabelle, had come to the hospital to give birth, because she sensed it might be a difficult one. She came accompanied by an as yet unidentified wolf, whom left her at the hospital's registrar for admission, since she was beginning to have contractions."

"Would you explain this to us?" asked Manasa.

"We lay our young live, one at a time, contrary to dragons, that lay several eggs and incubate them."

"It must be painful to carry an egg to fruition!"

"It is, Manasa. And it is frequent the hatchling dies during birth, but it is much less frequent than with dragon eggs, or, for that matter, any other egg-laying species. That is why we have few descendants. They have a better chance of reaching hatching while being carried inside the mother. The other consequence is we cannot carry many inside, due to limited space."

"That is well said, Amethyst. It also explains why we attach a lot of attention to both the hatching process and the hatchling: rarity makes them precious," added Harold.

"You mentioned contractions?"

"It is similar to how you lay eggs, Manasa."

"Oh, you mean the baby gets expelled through the cloacae?"

"Actually, we have a special place where the seed meets the egg, grows into one or more babies, err, hatchlings, and finally gets expelled to the world. If you wish, Manasa, I am sure I can find volunteers to let you examine them in detail."

"That would be very interesting!"

"It's a deal, then. I'll organize a comparative anatomy lesson for both species as soon as practical," decided Harp. "Let's get back to the here and now."

"The issue is that we care very much about our young, and our partners, since we join in raising them, much like we joined in raising you from hatchling to adulthood, Manasa. This care and constant monitoring explains in good part why all the eggs reached maturity and hatched in the last dragon clutch. Now, queen Annabelle was feeling something was wrong and came to the healer to get assistance."

"I do not understand. What does this have to do with my bonded?"

"Manasa, your bonded is the healer, and she was negligent and disrespectful of the needs of her care. I know it is hard for you to understand, but by her action, she not only put the queen's life in danger, almost depriving me of my mother, but she almost killed the hatchling."

"What?"

"It is as Ian explained, Manasa. We had to intervene to save both the mother and the new hatchling, or both would have died today. Not only did she put them at risk, but she openly defied my authority, and was sent for a swim in the big ocean east of here."

"Is the eggling safe?"

"He is under intense treatment as we speak. We nearly lost him. So is the queen."

"If I understand this correctly, my bonded not only acted badly toward her alpha, she acted recklessly toward someone she had under her care, she refused help to an eggling, and she showed disrespect to one of her alpha's family members?"

"That is correct."

"Then I understand why she was sent away. I am dishonoured! I will join her in her banishment."

"There is a slight misunderstanding, Manasa. Francesca is not banished. She was sent away to think things over and have time to get a better understanding of herself, her reasons, and where she committed a mistake. And we do not want you banished either. You have nothing to blame yourself about. In fact we would like you to do something for us."

"I am at your command, Lord of the Dragons."

"You told the Dragon King, Typhoon's progenitor, that you could sense where she is. I want you to go to her, and keep track of her. Do not intervene unless you find she may act irrationally and try to harm herself or that what is happening will harm her. Remember, we, in our human forms, are fragile beings. Heat, cold, depths, lava, and other variations of temperature and living conditions can kill us easily."

"I fail yet to understand one thing, my bonded."

"What is that, Typhoon?"

"Why has she not converted to a dragon or some other fast-moving animal? After all, she is bonded to Manasa, and could be here in short order if she so wished. Instead, she hops like what you call a grasshopper."

"I wish I could answer. That is one thing Manasa will have to clarify for us. Manasa, try to be discreet. Francesca needs to think things out by herself. Again, if you feel she is acting out, taking inconsiderate risks for her current form, you have free rein to intervene, forcibly if necessary. Typhoon, please stay in contact with Manasa. Since I have no idea of how long this will last, Harp will set a rooster to relay you as anchor, Typhoon. Manasa, do not hesitate to call upon assistance from any of us."

"Since Annabelle is in the stasis chamber, have Fanfir join you to locate Francesca, Manasa. I will also have Theresa's bonded, Glaurung, join you. Triangulate her to get a precise location and port directly above, out of sight." Turning toward Typhoon, Harp continued assigning duties. "Typhoon, you will be wing commander. Illuyankas, Diamondcutter's bonded, will be your second in command. Knucker, Ladon and Vasuki, who are respectively Dunbar's, Williams', and Amethyst's bonded, will complete the monitoring wing under your command. The triangulation party will include Aido-Hwedo and Hatuibwari, respectively Harold and Yamato's bonded. Typhoon, contact those not present and distribute the tasks. Dismissed! You have your marching orders!"

***

Half an hour later the first three dragons that had been assigned to track Francesca took flight, and spread along a five hundred mile line to pinpoint her last position. Then they ported high in the stratosphere, and began to glide down silently to about forty thousand feet. Glaurung then converted to an arctic stern, a long ranging sea bird, to escape easy detection and glided further down.

Francesca was spotted on a rather desolate island, shivering uncontrollably, seeking shelter from the wind by lying low between two rocks.

«She must really be out of contact with reality. She could heat a rock with a blast of magic and feel warm!» noted her bonded, as she got informed of the situation by Glaurung.

«I do not know, but I think that would fit into our Lord's special conditions requiring intervention?»

«I have forwarded your observation, Glaurung. I am waiting for a decision from Typhoon.»

After a few minutes, the decision came back.

«Port to Thebes is the decision. Prince Paschal is readying a stasis chamber as we speak. He fears she may be confused due to hypothermia.»

«Join me down here. Let's take the appearance of seagulls. We must not let her know we found her or she might try to run."

The other two dragons slowly glided down as seagulls, and stood station in a triangular form.

«We are ready!» Manasa informed Typhoon, who had moved to the stasis chamber of the hospital.

«Port her to my location. Prince Paschal has set up a stasis chamber for her.»

The porting went without a hitch, and, as soon as Francesca materialized, Paschal ported her into a stasis chamber, activating the emergency cycle. He also added a new command, which he had not told Francesca about: he inhibited her magic so she could not port out of the chamber while undergoing psychological therapy.

«You did well, dragons. Return to base. Manasa, if you wish, you can stand watch over Francesca while she is undergoing therapy. This goes for you as well, Fanfir. I am sure Annabelle will appreciate your presence besides her even is she cannot physically say so given her current state.»

«Can we communicate by mind?»

«This is true for Francesca since she will be kept in dream sleep as soon as her body has recovered. The psychological therapy sessions will be done via dream state. For Annabelle, in a few days, she will gradually be taken out of her coma, and begin to dream. It is then that you will be able to talk to her, Fanfir."

"Typhoon, have all dragons reported home?"

"Yes, Prince Sitar, everyone has. Iridia is currently out; she is hunting with Kalseru. Dunbar and Williams with their dragons, Knucker and Ladon, just left to collect animals. Ness and Greywolf are coming back from a patrol of the Eastern Mountain Range. All the others are in the tessaract and accounted for."