By Dana Sterling
It had been an incredible moment in her life and an equally heart-stirring journey ever since. Akadeanna still couldn't believe how it had all come about! She'd also come to realize that, when all's said and sifted, she wouldn't have changed a thing!
A student of ancient civilizations, Akadeanna had been attending the local university on Altair VI when she'd first learned about the Hivers and how that ancient race of sentient, marauding insectoids had nearly destroyed Deneb… were it not for the combined efforts of the Prime Talents that were part of the Federated Telepaths and Teleporters, FT&T for short. They'd managed to neutralize the hivers' Many, their queens, before hurling their asteroid spacecraft out of the star system.
But, as it turned out, more sentient beings than just the humans in the FSP had had dealings with the Hivers. The Linyaari, a pacific race of humanoid unicorns knew them by another name… the Kleevi… who had destroyed the Linyaari's homeworld, Vhiliinyar, and very nearly succeeded in destroying their new home, narhii-Vhiliinyar, before the FSP and their strike teams had finally put a stop to the Kleevi, tracing the creatures back to their home world where the rest of the marauders were eventually eliminated.
Or so they had thought. Not long ago, archeologists had uncovered a nest of Kleevi on a previously unexplored asteroid. The creatures had appeared to be in some sort of stasis and, unwittingly, the investigating team disturbed the nest… to their eternal regret. The ruthless Kleevi dispatched the team of archeologists with great relish before once more powering up the systems of what turned out to be an asteroid vessel, just like the one that had attacked the citizenry of Deneb. Only this one had a different destination… alpha Sagitarii, also known as Rukbat.
Rukbat?! What kind of name was that? Computer records on the star were somewhat confusing, even after all this time. Some records listed it as a blue, class B dwarf star. Others reported it as a golden G-type star. Well, Akadeanna knew the truth. She had seen it first-hand! But the journey to that moment of discovery had been fraught with difficulties and obstacles.
"You want to go where?" her doctorate counselor at the university wondered, his expression clearly puzzled.
"Pern!" Akadeanna repeated, growing frustrated. "Haven't you been watching the vid news?"
"Doesn't affect me," the counselor grumbled, shuffling papers on his desk. "I don't watch it."
"How could you not watch it?!" Akadeanna spluttered, staring at her counselor. "Don't you know who was part of the colony?"
"Colony? What colony?"
"Pern, damn it!" Akadeanna spat, leaning on the edge of his desk. "Admiral Paul Benden and Governor Emily Boll were the leaders of the expedition!"
"Never heard of them," the counselor grunted, shaking his head.
Akadeanna staggered back a couple of steps, clearly stunned by this. How could one of the senior counselors at the university on Altair VI not know who Admiral Paul Benden, commander of the Purple Sector fleet, was? How could he not know about the heroic acts of Governor Emily Boll during those merciless Nathi attacks and how Admiral Benden and his fleet eventually brought those attacks to an end?
Overcoming her astonishment, Akadeanna once more leaned on the front of his desk, saying, "A technologically advanced Earth colony quickly devolved over several millennia into a primitive governing system akin to ancient fiefdoms and then recently struggled to relearn all that lost technology to save themselves from certain destruction. I am convinced it would make a great doctoral thesis… but I have to go there to do my research and study the planet's inhabitants!"
The counselor looked up from his terminal when it beeped. "There's no mention of this so-called Earth colony named Pern anywhere in the records."
"Not in the computer records, I know that," Akadeanna growled, grinding her teeth. She'd just returned from Earth and was privy to something the counselor wasn't aware of. "However, every colony is required by law to file a printed copy of their charter. I was able to locate the Pern Colony Charter in the printed records at the headquarters of the Federated Sentient Planets back on Earth. I don't know why the computer records don't mention Pern, but the recent holovid news reported the residents there recently put down an uprising that would've crashed the colony vessels into their planet, killing thousands of the residents… and all because some of their numbers objected to the reintroduction of the long lost technology."
"You're determined to go through with this, aren't you?"
Akadeanna didn't say a word, but, judging by the grim expression on her face, her counselor could tell that nothing would stand in her way… no matter what he advised. Looking straight at Akadeanna, he grunted, "Go. Do your research. But I expect a top-notch thesis when you return."
Akadeanna didn't wait to see if he would change his mind. She flew out of the office as if the Devil himself was after her!
Of course, getting there was a whole different story. Pern was about as far from the center of the FSP as you could go. It wasn't easy to arrange transport to such a remote location. Akadeanna had had to call in nearly every favor she was owed before she finally arranged passage on the Wolfhound, the FSP vessel that had originally discovered the long lost Pern colony.
Akadeanna had hoped the Wolfhound would get a teleport assist from the local FT&T Talent tower, but, unfortunately, due to maintenance, the assist was unavailable. So, the Wolfhound had had to make the crossing using its FTL drive. Significant advances in faster-than-light propulsion had been made over the last several millennia, but it would still take the Wolfhound nearly six months to get there! Much better than what the original colonists had had to endure. Yes, they had been moving at faster-than-light speeds, but it had still taken them fifteen long years to make the crossing!
Akadeanna was on the bridge of the Wolfhound the day it finally entered orbit around Pern… and she was a nervous wreck! She had no contacts on the planet! Who could she go to? Who could she talk with to begin her research?
"Your best bet would be at Landing," Captain Morgan responded, pointing at the forward viewscreen. "The colony's AIVAS unit is still functional…"
"What?!" Akadeanna gasped, eyes absolutely bugged out. "How is that even possible? After three millennia, I thought…"
"So did we," Captain Morgan chuckled, shaking his head at the memory. "It's open territory there. No hold, hall, or weyr has control of it. Plenty of non-partisans there, too, that you could speak to."
"Landing it is, then," Akadeanna sighed, smiling as she felt the first stirrings of hope that she could pull this research off.
Captain Morgan himself escorted Akadeanna down to the shuttle launch bay and helped her board the craft that would take her planetside.
"Good luck with the research, Ms. Kestrel," he commented, shaking her hand just before the hatch was sealed.
As the shuttle made its descent and approach to the field at Landing, Akadeanna found her heart racing with excitement, excitement tinged with a healthy dollop of nervousness, too. Gods, how was she going to pull this off?
With a gentle bump, the shuttle touched down and easily rolled to a stop. The hatch hissed open at the press of a button, the boarding ramp extruding and lowering to the ground as she watched. Nervously, clutching her travel bag tightly, Akadeanna made her way down the ramp, pausing briefly at the end before stepping onto the surface of Pern.
Just like the colonists! she realized, meaning the feeling she felt.
As anxious as she had been during the journey, she realized her feelings of finally arriving on Pern would've been that much greater if she had had to endure the 15-year… no, 15-Turn she corrected herself… If she had been one of the original colonists all those millennia ago, she would've been overjoyed at finally setting foot on their new home.
A new arrival?
Akadeanna gasped, spinning about as she tried to locate the source of the voice just now. She gasped again, dropping her travel bag as her hands snapped up to cover her ears. That voice had echoed inside her head!
Then Akadeanna got an even bigger shock. From the sky above her, a massive, winged creature swooped down, kicking up a cloud of dust as it settled a short distance away. Akadeanna's eyes nearly popped out of her head as she spotted the person riding astride the great beast!
"A dragonrider!" Akadeanna whispered, her heart thudding beneath her ribs.
She seems nervous, lifemate.
Akadeanna gasped again, staring through disbelieving eyes as the dragon's rider dismounted, removing goggles and gloves as she approached the visitor to Pern.
"Are you alright?" the stranger solicitously asked, pausing a few steps away.
"I… it's just… Gods, but she's big!" Akadeanna stammered.
The stranger chuckled, gazing tenderly back at her dragon. "Would you like to meet her?"
Akadeanna's heart thudded like a sledgehammer beneath her ribs. Gulping quite audibly, she managed to nod.
"Ramoth?" the rider called, waving to her dragon.
"Ramoth?!" Akadeanna gasped, glancing back and forth between dragon and rider. "Then you're… you're…"
"Lessa," the rider introduced herself, offering her hand to Akadeanna as Ramoth eased up next to her rider. "Weyrwoman of Benden Weyr. What brings you to Pern?"
Akadeanna nearly fainted right there. The Benden Weyrwoman! The one mentioned in that stunning visual report the Wolfhound's crew had sent back to Earth!
"Forgive me, Weyrwoman," Akadeanna apologized, one hand over her wildly pounding heart as she shook Lessa's hand with the other. "I saw the vid report the Wolfhound recorded about that Exiles uprising." Drawing herself upright, she added, "I study ancient civilizations. When I finally learned about the Pern Colony and heard the reports about how the colonists and their descendants had devolved into a feudal sort of governance, I had to come see for myself and see what I could learn about Pern and its people."
"Good timing on your part, then," Lessa chuckled, smiling at Akadeanna. "We're just starting to relearn about our ancestors… the Ancients as we call them. With your familiarity with their level of technology, maybe you could help us with that effort."
Unexpectedly, Lessa's dragon brought her head closer, whuffling Akadeanna up and down, her excitement growing with each second.
Lifemate, she can hear dragons!
"What?!" Lessa gasped, turning to stare at their visitor.
Startled by what was happening, Akadeanna's knees gave way. She fell to the ground, her heart fluttering beneath her ribs. How was this possible?
Don't be afraid, Lessa's dragon hummed, gently, lovingly rubbing her massive head against Akadeanna's tear-soaked cheek.
For nearly ten minutes, Akadeanna just sat there, shaking her head in disbelief, Lessa calmly kneeling beside her, Ramoth's multi-faceted eyes gleaming a pleased blue shade. Just as she was beginning to calm down, a second dragon and rider landed, the dragon's rider dismounting before the pair slowly approached.
"And who do we have here?" the stranger asked, coming up next to Lessa.
Lessa rose, smiling as she planted a tender kiss on the man's cheek. There was only one possibility…
"Weyrleader F'lar!" Akadeanna whispered, dizzy with the speed her heart was beating.
"That I am," he responded, offering his hand to help Akadeanna stand.
She had to hold onto his hand for several seconds after getting back to her feet. Her knees were trembling so badly she was afraid of falling.
And then, it happened again. This time, F'lar's dragon drew close, whuffling Akadeanna up and down, the whirl of his glowing blue eyes growing faster with each second.
You were right, Ramoth, Akadeanna silently received. She can hear dragons!
F'lar's strong grip on her hand and Lessa's timely grip of her other arm kept Akadeanna from falling yet again. Without a word, F'lar swept their sputtering visitor up into his strong arms and carried her over to a nearby Quonset hut. Lessa opened the door and the three humans went inside, the dragons watchfully just outside. Gently, F'lar eased Akadeanna into a comfortable seat.
"Never suspected you had the gift?" he calmly inquired, pulling up a seat as Lessa offered Akadeanna a glass of water from the nearby sink.
Vigorously, Akadeanna shook her head. Gratefully gulping down some of the water, she told them, "I was even tested for Talent levels at the university. Didn't register a single blip of any esper abilities."
"Sounds like someone else we know!" Lessa chuckled, pulling up a seat next to her weyrmate. Then, more seriously, she asked, "You could hear both of our dragons, couldn't you?"
Akadeanna nodded, sipping some more of the water as she fought to get her pounding heart under control.
"Does it bother you?" F'lar wondered, concern etched on his weathered face.
Akadeanna vigorously shook her head in the negative. "Just surprised the hell out of me, is all." Grinning shyly, she added, "It's kind of exciting! I never would've guessed…"
Then, an entirely different thought sprang into her mind. "What became of the Exiles?"
"A sad chapter in our recent history," F'lar sighed, a hint of a tear coming to his eyes. "Thankfully, we were able to handle it with a minimal loss of life." Meeting Akadeanna's gaze, he added, "If not for the recent arrival of another visitor from the FSP, things might have turned out drastically different."
"Yes, that former Star Service team leader they mentioned in the vid report," Akadeanna sighed, recalling the story. "Whatever happened to him?"
Chuckling, Lessa replied, "That is a whole amazing story unto itself. Right now, how about we get you settled at Benden Weyr so you can get started on your research?"
Escorting their visitor out of the Quonset hut, Lessa took Akadeanna over to Ramoth, pulling a spare riding belt from her lifemate's saddle bags.
"You… you mean… ride your dragon?!" Akadeanna spluttered, eyes wide with amazement.
Chuckling, Lessa came over and laid a gentle hand on Akadeanna's trembling shoulder. "Well, if you'd rather not, we can arrange a sailing for you, but that could take nearly a week for you to reach Benden."
Is she afraid of me? Ramoth wondered, the tone of her mental voice sounding confused and maybe a little hurt.
"No!" Akadeanna exploded, rushing up to Ramoth. "No, it's not that. It's…" Eyes averted, she whispered, "From the moment I first heard about the Dragonriders of Pern, I dreamt of one day soaring through the skies astride a mighty Pern dragon, but I never thought I would actually ever get the chance to do it!" Tears falling, she looked up at Ramoth, gently laying a hand on Lessa's dragon's massive head, saying, "I would be greatly honored if you would allow me to ride you, noble Ramoth!"
With that said, Lessa fitted the spare riding belt around Akadeanna's waist. Then, with F'lar's assistance, she climbed aboard Lessa's golden lifemate, settling easily onto the queen's massive neck ridges. Lessa made doubly sure her passenger was firmly belted and attached to Ramoth's riding harness before Lessa clipped herself into that same harness. With an easy swing, F'lar tossed Akadeanna's carry bag up to her which she settled on Ramoth's neck ridge right in front of her and directly behind Lessa.
"Ready?" Lessa called back over her shoulder as Ramoth extended her massive gossamer wings.
"More than ready!" Akadeanna enthusiastically replied.
"You heard her, love!" Lessa chuckled, patting her dragon's neck. "Let's go home!"
Ramoth took several running strides before finally leaping skyward. Akadeanna gasped, having sensed something just as Ramoth had taken off.
"TK?!" she gasped, staring back at Landing. Shouting so she could be heard over the wind rush, she exclaimed, "They use a telekinetic boost to get airborne?!"
"I'm impressed, citizen!" Lessa shouted back, chuckling all the while. "I've never encountered a non-rider who was sensitive enough to detect it. And you're right! Dragons do use their TK to get a small boost just as they are taking off. It was an ability we weren't aware our dragons possessed until recently." Glancing briefly over her shoulder, she commented, "Wonder what other Talents you might possess?"
Talents? She'd been examined back at university, ad infinitum ad nauseam, and nothing turned up! And yet, twice now she'd manifested specific esper Talents… telepathy and sensitivity to telekinesis. Why was this happening now?
"Hang on!" Lessa called back over her shoulder. "We're about to go between. It'll be dark and cold but it'll be over in about eight seconds. Ready?"
"Ready!" Akadeanna responded, looking forward.
"Then, take us home, my love!" Lessa spoke, pounding the neck of her dragon.
A heartbeat later, all sight, sound, and feeling vanished, replaced by a bone-numbing cold! Where the hell were they?
We are between, Ramoth easily replied. Do not be afraid. We are here with you.
And just as she finished that statement, Ramoth emerged from between high over the volcanic crater that was the home of the dragons of Benden Weyr!
"It's incredible!" Akadeanna shouted, feeling her heart stir with excitement.
Lazily, Ramoth spiraled down to the floor of the Weyr bowl, gently coming to rest while barely stirring up any dust.
"Wow!" Akadeanna gasped, glancing about her. "So this is what a weyr looks like!"
Akadeanna held no illusions that it would take a while to get accustomed to the enormity of the weyr, but she was anxious to get started.
Fortunately, Benden Weyr was well placed to give Akadeanna access not just to the weyr but also to neighboring holds and halls. Benden Hold was a short journey by either horse… runnerbeast in the local dialect… or dragon. That afforded Akadeanna an opportunity to not only research the hold but also the Winecrafthall that was located there. In almost no time at all, Akadeanna was soon hopping via dragon all over the planet to study its people, their ways, and their culture.
What quickly became evident to Akadeanna was the crushing burden of dealing with Thread every 50 Turns out of 100. Small wonder then that their society had quickly devolved into a more feudal system of government. Still, it was equally astonishing how quickly the citizens of Pern, especially the dragonriders, had worked to relearn all of that lost technology in a desperate bid to rid their world once and for all of the threat posed by Thread.
Their decision to make use of the explosive force of the three colony ships' antimatter power cores was truly inspired, the resulting blasts nudging the rogue planetoid dubbed the Red Star out of its original orbital track and placing it on a slow inward spiral that would eventually plunge the herald of Threadfall into thermonuclear oblivion. But, more importantly, their efforts would also prevent the Red Star from ever again penetrating Rukbat's Oort Cloud where the Thread spores resided. Once the current Pass was over, Thread would never again fall on Pern!
That made Akadeanna wonder… what would the Dragonriders of Pern do once Threadfall was no more? What would the dragons and riders do once their services were no longer needed? More than once, Akadeanna had wept herself to sleep in her Benden Weyr quarters pondering that question. After such a long time devoted to the survival of Pern and its inhabitants, it didn't seem fair that the dragons and their lifemates would one day become irrelevant.
"Akie?"
She shook herself, just managing not to fall out of the chair she had fallen asleep sitting on. As she sat up, Akadeanna felt tears on her cheeks. Even asleep, she'd been crying over the fate of the Dragonriders.
"Masterhealer?" she finally spoke after using a handkerchief to blot her damp face.
"Dana, please," her visitor insisted, taking a seat on a nearby bed.
"What can I do for you?" Akadeanna wondered.
"I read your thesis dissertation," Dana remarked, nodding. "Top notch. I'm certain you'll earn your Doctorate once you get back home." Noting a pained expression on Akie's face, she asked, "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing," Akadeanna replied, a few more tears falling.
The Masterhealer just sat there, concern mirrored on her face. Confronted by that, Akadeanna whispered, "I was kind of hoping…"
Smiling, her visitor nodded. "You were secretly hoping one day to Impress a dragon, weren't you?"
Akadeanna blushed a mortified crimson, more tears falling. Wiping them away with her handkerchief, she silently nodded.
"I see," the Masterhealer commented. Rising, she extended a hand to Akadeanna. "Come with me."
Uncertain about what Tarnaa's rider intended, Akadeanna got to her feet and followed the Masterhealer out.
They crossed to a different weyr. Inside, the Masterhealer pulled a white tunic off the wall peg. That was also when Akadeanna became aware of a curious humming in the background, a sound that had a sense of urgency to it.
"Better put this on," Dana told her, handing the white tunic to Akadeanna, the humming growing louder, more urgent.
Totally confused, Akadeanna slipped into the tunic just as the Masterhealer handed her a pair of heavy boots. "You'll need these, too."
"What for?" Akadeanna asked, glancing from the boots to the Masterhealer.
"The sands of the Hatching Ground are pretty hot," Dana explained, guiding Akadeanna back out of the weyr once she'd put the boots on. "You'll need them if you hope to Impress a dragon."
"What?!" Akadeanna stammered, skidding to a stop.
That's when she noticed the streams of people hurrying across the weyr bowl towards the entrance to the Hatching Ground. As she stared in confusion, she heard Dana tell her, "That noise you hear is the dragons humming. They only do that twice… when the queen is laying her eggs… and when they're…"
"Hatching!" Akadeanna hissed, finally understanding the significance of the white tunic she was now wearing.
"This is your chance. Come on."
The Masterhealer took Akadeanna by the hand and practically ran all the way into the Hatching Ground. Once there, she escorted Akadeanna over to where the rest of the girls were waiting for their chance to Impress the queens. Ramoth had outdone herself, laying two for this occasion.
"Be strong, Akie," Dana spoke, gently patting her on the shoulder. "You can do this!"
With one final reassuring squeeze of Akadeanna's shoulder, the Masterhealer climbed the stairs up into the tiers.
As she watched the boys while the other eggs were hatching, uncertainty and doubt assailed Akadeanna. She wasn't weyrbred like all these other girls. She wasn't even a resident of this world! How could the hatchling choose her when there were others much more qualified than she was?
Overcome by crushing disappointment, Akadeanna turned away, moving over against the wall at the front of the tiers, crying inconsolably. Behind her, the spectacle went on, hatchlings emerging and pairing off with their chosen lifemates.
Somewhere above her, she distantly heard gasps and exclamations of disbelief from the crowd. And then she felt something butt into the back of her leg.
Don't cry.
Akadeanna gasped. She'd heard that in her mind! Slowly, she turned… and met the opalescent eyes of one of the queen hatchlings!
Don't you like me? it soundlessly begged, the eyes shading to a worried orange in color, the plea unmistakable.
A sob exploded from Akadeanna as she dropped to her knees, throwing her arms around the hatchling's neck, hugging it with trembling arms, completely oblivious to the burning heat of the sands she was kneeling on.
"But why?" Akadeanna sobbed, her trembling arms continuing to hug the little queen. "Why choose me? I don't understand!"
Because, the hatchling calmly responded, her eyes shading to a more contented blue as she wrapped her wings around Akadeanna, deep in your heart of hearts, you want me as much as I want you!
Akadeanna tightened her hug, almost as if trying to bind her soul to the little dragon. But, in her heart of hearts, she already knew how to do that. It brought to mind a line from a dusty old story she'd once read… 'When eyes meet eyes'. Thanks to all the research she had just completed, Akadeanna knew exactly what that meant. Impression. Gently, she pulled back, cradling the little queen's wobbly head in her hands, gazing longingly into those whirling opalescent eyes. "Her name is Vornath!"
An impossible dream had unexpectedly come true. Akadeanna was now a dragonrider! Little did she realize how significant this moment would prove in the not too distant future! But that's a whole different story! Carpe Diem!
-~~ FIN ~~-
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