I stole a line from The Princess Bride for this chapter; see if you can find it ;)
Chapter 24
Doctor Sarah Spencer sat down heavily on her bed; she seemed to be doing that a lot lately. It had been yet another difficult day of preparations and training for the upcoming series of space shots the railgun would make in only several months time. She wasn't the only one feeling the pressure and that was one of the reasons she felt so frightened. If any of her people should tire of putting up with Sage and his Raiders, all the ill feeling between the two groups could escalate into something deadly; and she had to avoid such a scenario at all costs. She was tempted to ask Doctor Vieira for something to help her sleep, but she only had a few hours to rest and didn't want to be drowsy the next morning.
To make matters worse, before Sarah had a chance to put her head on the pillow, there was a knock at her door. With great effort, the exhausted woman pulled herself up and dragged her tired body across the room.
"Yes?" she yawned as she opened the door.
"Sage wants to see you" Joshua Cook informed her.
"Of course he does" she sighed "Why would he think I need to sleep for more than ten minutes a day?"
"Don't be smart Doctor Spencer" Cook sneered.
"Oh... sorry... did I offend your delicate sensibilities?"
"Just get moving" Cook stepped back to let Sarah by.
She found Sage sitting in his office with his legs crossed and the usual self-satisfied grin on his face. All he needed to complete the picture was a snow white Persian cat.
"Ah... Doctor Spencer; thank you for coming" he smiled his usual man in charge smile.
"Anything for you Sage" Sarah replied with obvious sarcasm.
"Doctor Spencer... is anything wrong? You look, to be perfectly frank, like you've just been run over by a herd of stampeding elephants."
"And one baby zebra" Sarah added "I'm just tired; so if we could just..."
"Yes of course" Sage rose to his feet and stared to pace "Now there is something that has been bothering me for a long time now."
"Really?" Sarah yawned again.
"Yes there really is. When my raiders and I are safely locked up in our capsules waiting to be shot out of your railgun, what's to stop you from doing something I would not like? Indeed I would not be surprised to learn you may have already considered doing something regrettable."
"Well I can guarantee you there are no plans to do anything... we have been through this before but it's hardly surprising you don't believe me."
"I don't" Sage's face turned to a scowl "But fortunately for both of us, I have thought of a way to keep you and your people in line during the crucial moment of our launch."
"Will I like it?" Sarah asked.
"Probably not; please come with me."
Sage led Sarah out of his office and down the corridor as two tall men followed them. She didn't know who they were but as soon as she saw the size of these ham handed brutes, Sarah imagined they would have names like Brick Wall Vinnie and Not Very Compassionate Arthur.
"In here" Sage opened a door and motioned for Sarah to go in ahead of him.
There was only enough illumination in the room to reveal only the barest of details. Even though there was very little in the way of furniture, Sarah was sure she could make out the silhouette of a person sitting on a chair in the centre of the room. This proved to be correct when Sage turned on the light.
"Huh? Noodle!" Sarah gasped.
Sarah expected a surprise but this was far more of a surprise than she ever could have imagined.
"Stay where you are Doctor" Sage warned when Sarah took a step forward.
"I present for your approval, one Buck Luttrell; whom you refer to a Noodle" Sage continued "As you can obviously see, he was not executed for his crimes against me but the continuation of his life is not yet guaranteed, and I am only showing him to you now because of the sterling way you have keep you miscreant bunch of technicians and engineers in line recently."
"Your Raiders and their over developed sense of privilege certainly have not made that an easy task" Sarah scowled "I thought you said you were going to take care of that and tell them to back off."
"What can I say; I lied" Sage smiled like a man with the power of life and death over all.
"Are you okay Noodle?" Sarah dared to ask.
"Well... I'm alive and that's a good start."
"Mr. Luttrell only lives because of an idea provided to me at the last minute by one of my underlings" Sage began to explain.
"But... I heard the gunshot" Sarah wondered.
"Merely the result of my frustration at having been interrupted in the middle of the execution" Sage shrugged.
"He shot the wall only inches from the guy's ear" Noodle revealed.
"Indeed I did" Sage admitted proudly and he would have received a second shot to the forehead if he had not given me a satisfactory explanation for the interruption... which he fortunately did. It was suggested that perhaps I should not trust you to keep your end of the bargain, to get my men and I safely on our way to Mars, once we were safely locked in our capsules and were flying through the upper atmosphere. You could do all kind of horrid things to me and even if you were not planning to do so, I believe I would be a fool to take the risk; that's why I've decided to take pre-emptive action."
"I still have the feeling I'm not going to like what's coming" Sarah sighed.
"Do you ever?" Sage smirked.
Before he continued, Sage had Buck removed and taken back to his cell, leaving him alone with Sarah to speak of his plan.
"What I intend to do Doctor is to take Mr. Luttrell with me in my capsule, and even place some more of your people in the others. Perhaps we'll even take Mrs. Dias with us."
"April!? B-but you can't; she's looking after her baby and you can't take the baby!" Sarah panicked.
"Why would I take a screaming smelly baby?" Sage sneered 'But there is no need to worry Doctor; once my men and I are safely onboard the Mars Transfer Vehicle, all of our hostages... I mean... guests will be given one of the capsules and be permitted to return together back here into your loving arms."
"How can I be sure you won't just eject them into space" Sarah snorted.
"You can't" Sage grinned with glee "I won't, but I just love the thought of you sweating over their fate."
"Come Sage I know you; you're not a total psychopath so why are acting like one?" Sarah asked.
"Oh I heard what you did there" Sage wagged his finger "Add the word 'total' so perhaps I wouldn't noticed you actually had called me psychopath. But yes Doctor Spencer I am playing something of a role... and I must admit I am enjoying it to the hilt. It's fun to keep people guessing; will he stay calm, will he go nuts, will he stab me in the neck with a fork. It works quite well as a way to maintain loyalty through fear. Of course to keep up the pretence, you do have to figuratively stab someone in the neck with a fork occasionally."
"You realise if you take a large number of my people with you, we'll have to factor in one or two extra launches, and that will only delay your departure even further."
"Then perhaps I'll change my mind and just take Mr. Bucky Noodle" Sage smiled "but prepare two more capsules just in case I don't."
"I could really use Buck's help. Any chance you would let him come back to work?" Sarah dared to ask.
"I don't see why not" Sage nodded "I hardly think he try and start a revolution with not only his life, but the lives of his friends at risk."
"Thank you... now if there is nothing else, I would like to get some rest before morning."
"Please do Doctor Spencer; after all, if you don't have your health, you haven't got anything."
'
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With a loud splash, the forward anchor of the Sea Tug Striker dropped into the water off the western side of the Isle of Berk. Not long after two lifeboats were lowered from the stern and started to transfer their passengers around to a beach on the southern side. Two figures stood patiently waiting on shore for the boats arrival, and each one bore a contented friendly dragon on their shoulders.
In the lead boat, Professor Linton Adisa sat quietly beside one of his oldest friends, a man with a lot on his mind.
"Ready to face up to what you've done?" Linton broke the silence.
Henry Dias the First looked at the Professor but said nothing. He tried to hope for the best, but found it far too difficult. He had always thought he was doing the right thing in keeping his identity secret, but he doubted Blue would see things his way.
When the boats finally made shore, Professor Adisa took great joy in stepping ashore. The Striker was a good ship but solid ground was more far to the old man's taste. Seeing the young man he had helped raise striding towards him the Professor face clearly beamed.
"Blue my boy; it is so good to see you again."
"Hello Professor; I'm glad to see you safe and well and I'm looking forward to hearing about your adventures."
"Well judging by this big, odd looking lizard on your shoulder, I'd say you have a lot more to tell."
"Oh I think you'd win that bet. This is Firefly... and he's not a lizard; watch this."
Looking around his feet, Blue spotted a small piece of driftwood and picked it up.
"Firefly... get the stick" Blue cried out as he tossed it in the air.
To the Professors surprise, two long wings unfolded and the beast shot up into the sky and snatched his target before it had even arced back down towards the ground again. Soaring around in a wide circle, Firefly landed back in the same spot and dropped the piece of wood into Blue's waiting hands.
"Oh my goodness" Linton gasped "you've rediscovered a breed of winged lizard. I thought they became extinct well before the last ice age... maybe as long as two or three million years."
"You haven't quite got it yet Professor; keep watching."
Blue prepared to toss the piece of wood again, but this time he gave a different order.
"Firefly; shoot the stick."
This time the beast did not open its wings, but instead open its mouth wide and sent a shot of bright yellow flame up it to the air, turning the wood onto nothing more than black splinters.
"Good boy" Blue praised the obedient creature who purred as his chin was scratched.
"Wh-what.." was all the Professor could manage.
"Believe it or not Sir, what we have found here on this island... are dragons."
"That... is astounding" the Professor said while trying to calm himself.
"I know" Blue grinned broadly "After all the things that have gone wrong lately, this is..."
The young man's voice tapered off when he noticed another man slowly walking up the beach.
"Hello Blue... it's um... good to see you again. You're looking... well... and you've grown some too."
"Yes... hello Mr. Deming" Blue replied with almost no visible emotion on his face.
Even though they knew this day was coming, neither of the two was fully prepared for the reality of the situation. Blues reluctance to use his Grandfathers real name, clearly showed he was not yet ready to forgive the deception Henry Dias had forced on everyone, including his own family.
"Welcome to Berk" Blue greeted before turning on his heel and walking off.
'
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It's amazing how fast a week goes by at this time of year. As I was getting ready for work this morning, it suddenly hit me; today is Thursday and it's time to post the next chapter (insert profanity filled screaming here)
Fortunately I had a few hours to spare in the morning so I booted up the ol' computer and made sure everything was ready to go... at least that was the plan. I forgot I had promised to take one of my neighbours to the airport this morning, and then I had to drop in at the office to swap busses. Finally when I got home, I had to regularly let Boo Cat in the front door, wait till she'd eaten two cat biscuits, and then let her out the back door again.
Oh well, I got there in the end (sigh)