Draconum Astronautic (part 2 and conclusion)

The reply came back- “Its too late, they are committed!”

   I had of course had plenty of trips on transporters, never was afraid of the process, well established and trouble-free, despite its unnatural functions. I expected the Poop to start flying after we had materialized. I even had a flash-dark in one hand ready to go. These were like the flash bangs except they emitted darkness. They exploded silently, could cloak a team plus disrupt attackers. With that and my other hand on the pistol grip in its holster, the transport began.

   The sight of energy swamping or retinas soon began, the yellow sparkling patterns, the “rush” of feeling your cells start to dissassemble, but with the last sounds being Bryce’s desperate call to halt the transport, I grit my teeth and the flash as we started materialization at the site after five nanoseconds of my ass being nothing but Signal!

  Normally rematerializing was the same sight, yellow sparkle and glow, the heavy feeling of all your components reamassing. NOT THIS TIME!

  There was a violet glow and bolts of energy, pain off the charts. I had a look at the video of it later to figure out what happened later, it looked like all the metal items first dropped free. The skeleton was assembling first but it looked so different, there were longer parts, sharp claw tips and then the flesh began to coat it, The arm was a lot bigger in length and muscle size, plus as it soon formed, the outer layer materialized as ---SCALES. The guns, belts and packs all dropping by my side. I looked ahead as my skull formed to the end, with a long nose finishing and scaling over. A quick breath turned into a huge gulp of air, my chest was all different, shaking and convulsing as more new structures added in layers. Vision returned at the nearly finished point, but confusion reigned.

Like the parts before, the final cover was a layer of scales, but bigger angular flat plates covered parts of my chest. The transport beam lasted quite a bit longer than normal but eventually terminated. I fell over as soon as the beam stopped supporting me. I remember rolling onto my side as a side view caught sight of an appendage from my back, a new one, in the view. It was long plus covered in a kind of flexible, tough skin, over some really tough ribs and formers. I lay for a few seconds as the pain started to decrease, wondering if this was death’s door or a new beginning?

   After a few minutes, it seemed like it was time to move. Several tries to stand failed, so I thought that maybe what I had seen in the transporter beam was real. Maybe I was a creature now. Pushing my feet into the dirt, placing my palms flat on the ground too, up I went, easily- onto all fours.

  From a corner of my view, there was a glare of sun on transparent metal, a starship window. I trotted over to have a look in the mirror... What is that? Very familiar. “What am I ?” I mumbled. I could understand it too. I kept saying it, trying to refine the voice more and more. Suddenly a reply from next to me, “You’re a dragon I suspect, basic type - Draconus Familiaris  most likely. This came from a bigger golden colored example who was also amazing over the image in the glass.

   “Rob? Are you Robinton?” I asked, getting a nod from him with a pleasant smile. A further look in the mirror, I was a teal color, but the chest plates were light blue. There were a few colored marks here and there, and my eyes were fully blue for the entire sphere along with a dark vertical slit pupil. The horns and claws were ivory shade, and there was some of my hair still on top of my head.

   Letting Rob take the glass, I tried some movements, bounding into the air, until I realized that I was rising some 40 feet and clung to the ground afterwards. Taking a claw, I punched it through some discarded hull plating from the ship with ease. Then I crumpled the plate like it was typing paper, 3/16 alloy Duridium sheet. I looked at the claws flex open and closed, this is crazy. Looking at the plate, could see the finest scratches, yet could look away to a nearby mountain and see flowers at the summit, it sank in...human no longer.

  I sat on a rock near the Deviantic’s hatchway door, wondering how I could live any kind of life now, on Earth.

  Soon Rob was there, probably thinking the same thing. What happened here?

  Next came Torkos (Well he said he was Torkos!) followed by Crazikc, an incredible shade of violet, along with a more typical dragon color of red, who called himself Draco - Draconis, our ship’s security officer. Soon, the last of our group slithered up, Shinkou- in the form of what Rob called Draconus Orientale - an eastern dragon of blue with a yellow mane. We all looked at each other, the same questions on all of our minds, but nobody daring to venture asking.

  With a mechanical whirring sound, one of the rovers stopped in front of us. Its mechanical arm grabbed a small poker type of probe. I knew what it wanted and found another hull plate and pushed it into the sand leaving it upright like a tombstone. The rover drove up to it and began scratching a message...

   “ RADIO ! ” was the simple note. We began looking for one, but all of ours were fried by our transporter ride. Finally Shinkou found one inside the Deviantic then switched it to our channel, handing it to Rob, who was  still in charge of the Landing team.

   The device then began with “Zorath here, can any of you.... speak?” I grinned at Rob and it went around the group. The rover had video going up to the ship so Rob hung the radio on the rover after switching it to VOX (voice activated key). We lined up side by side, saluted the camera then each read our name aloud. The radio switched to their side and there was cheering on the bridge of the Kuzhnetsov. In looking, even the rover was clapping its two sampler hands together.

The Captain explained what it looked like as our forms began arriving on the surface. The ships transporter had channeled a huge amount of unexpected energy and burned out, but hope rose as the beams arrived, then turned to horror as our skeletons formed blazing in plasma flames, it looked like. They thought we were goners

  As more of us materialized and the fireworks died down, hope again, but then the look of us groggily wandering about on all 4’s, replaced hope with the idea that we were no longer sentient. It was agreed by the Physics types that there was an electromagnetic layer surrounding the planet, preventing safe transport, even if the transporter could be rebuilt again.

  Zorath then decided to turn the Kuzhnetsov over to the Second watch crew to come down in the shuttle, which should shield them from the e-layer with its hull.

  In an hour we were all together by the hulk of the Artists ship. The question was still, what had happened to their passengers and crew? Robinton felt reasonably sure that, given the best way to abandon ship was by transporters, the ships complement was here, in Dragon form. We would have to locate them and return them to the crash site  to decide what to do next. Would they be able to return? Would the six of us?

   Shinkou was in a debate with Rob about a factor he had thought of. He was suggesting that our crew which had just arrived re-board the Shuttle and return to the ship until more experiments were taken. He was wondering if the e-layer wasn’t the only way of making a dragon. Rob reminded him that the survivors all beamed down, just like we had used a transporter

  “Maybe,” Shinkou said, adding “but what about the Deviantic here. It had to land under pilot control to be in one piece, as Edge said so a few of the survivors landed in a spacecraft, like our six teammates just did. But yet your scans earlier had NO HUMANS, right?”

  Rob’s eyes went wide... Shin was right, they started towards the group but it was already too late.

   We were checking our maps while getting ready to start out in the shuttle to try and spot the survivors. I noticed that Edge was getting fidgety and was zoning out as well. Shinkou, our medical staff here ran over and noted this, relieving Edge of Shuttle piloting. Then I saw the blood drop curl down Edge’s forearm, it had enamated from a scale that had newly rent the skin in order to appear. Then a second, a third, five more, twenty.

   “I thought so! Sit him down and loosen his uniform, quickly,” Shinkou shouted. Unlike our light show transformation, Edge was quietly, with just moderate pain- turning into our next dragon. Rob looked over to see the Captain sit down suddenly as a claw poked out through one of his fingers. Bryce fell over like a cut tree and was helped over to the group. Soon all six were transforming as we could only watch and hope it was as non-fatal as our transporter beam method was!

   Our next six dragons arrived in good health, as we all decided to put off hunting for Deviantic’s survivors, but instead hunt down our dinner. We would have to learn to fly the next morning to resume our search. As some were gathering prey, I gathered wood for the campfire with The Captain plus Edge. Soon we were ready to light it, Edge drew his survival kit Star-X tool, a Magnesium bar that could shave into ribbons with a carbon steel tool that would also spark the ribbon into white hot fire, able to light even wet logs!

   He pocketed the tool instead and opened his mouth as Zorath and I ducked to the sides. A yellow flame sprang from him to the pile. As long as we were listing new abilities... I found fire easy enough to do, as did the Captain. Over the next few days, the list grew quite a bit with a number of amazing things never expected.

  In the growing darkness, our meats were prepared and feasted, Shinkou even brewed a giant pot of tea. We settled in around the fire. All my life I have glanced at a flame to admire its freeform along with its utter need to be respected and channeled. Now I was at one with this element, it was within me both physically and somehow in thought as well. I had lost a lot this afternoon, and there may be other things gone that I have not realized yet. On the other hand, I was becoming very fond of dragon form. I was even thinking that if for any reason, leaving this place were to cause us to revert to human, I would likely return here- to stay. Rob looked over at me with a smile plus a mentally whispered “I as well”.

   It was then that I noticed that there were a few extra dragons with us, in fact about ten of them. It turns out they were survivors from the Deviantic. They were happy to find us - plus to find out that return to Earth might be possible in the coming days, after we did our little test.

   Most mornings are active, but the next was really involved. One by one we learned to fly, fortunately Edge was a natural, so he coached each, plus a number of the Deviantic passengers. At the same time, more trips to bring the survivors back to the crash site getting everyone housed and fed. Then the big test, Edge with the Captain taking the Shuttle up to the Kuzhnetsov for a few days stay, to see if parting from SigmaDrac7 would clip our wings. Turns out we were scaly for the long haul.

   While up at the ship, our skipper had the first of several long Shadowspace radio messages with SpaceFleet Command.

   It turned out that the policy of having recruits willing to transform species was very much a part of our continued service. We would be welcomed to the fleet areas wherever they may be. As to relating to others on Earth, well, that was going to be yet more exploring for us to do.

   A number of the survivors continued living aboard the Deviantic 2, wanting the simple and quiet life there, versus the rush and noise of Earth.

   Due to his size, it looks like we would have to dismiss Rob and return him with the passengers. He would only fit inside a few places on the Kuz’. He stood for awhile, then concentrated and  placed his arms over his head. He shrank for a few seconds until matching the height of the rest of us- a height that he had termed Anthro or Anthroform Dragon.

   “Thanks, Rob,” said the Captain, adding-”I want us to stay together as a group, its too soon to have members separating.

   “So , if you could shift shape like that, to our size, probably we could grow to your size!” I noted.

   “Very likely, Rex”, he laughed. “Or you might go for an Eastern variety,” said Shinkou to us both with a smile.

   As the passengers departed for their transport, new science teams were arriving to research the transformation phenomina. Of course study also meant a change of species. It is the brave who were meant for Space.

  Stepping aboard the Shuttle, I looked about the cabin- into the faces now so different. Could we all be thinking the same thing right about now?  I was signed up for a 5 year service term along with the rest. We were barely ten days into our operational career, yet we had each been rebuilt from the inside out to a fantastic life form. What do you suppose we’ll be up to - next week?