Esme and Alice in disguise entered the visitor center in the company's HQ campus. They had booked tour tickets under false names and were able to claim them without a problem.
Slinking away from the group unnoticed was somewhat more difficult. In the movies they had seen, it was always easy - a supporting character joins a tour and then simply steals away, just like that. In reality, tour guides are usually determined not to let anyone get lost during the tour and they warn visitors not to wander off when they see them doing so.
Luckily, a perfect distraction provided itself soon enough. There was a nerd hidden among the visitors. Shortly into the tour, he tore his sweatshirt off in a middle of a big hall, revealing his Linux T-shirt with a penguin. He started shouting at the top of his lungs "Linux rulezzzzzzzzz!" When the security tried to escort him away, he grabbed a chair and started smashing windows while yelling "Windows suck!"
Esme and Alice got out of sight. They took their jackets off under which they wore the company's polo-shirts. They also had got false name tags used by the employees.
They had triangulated the signal from the tracker before its battery went out so they knew where they were going. They found an empty meeting room in a building above it. There were Ethernet sockets under the table. They plugged their notebook in and just like that, they were connected to the local network. Just like Kevin Mitnick wrote in his "The Art of Deception" and many others before him, merely making something unaccessible from outside didn't make it truly secure.
Their work was done soon enough. They left the campus and walked to a rendezvous spot where Carlisle picked them up in a car. They left the city.
A goblin is sweeping floor in front of the dragon's vault. Suddenly, a loud metallic click sounds from the vault door. The goblin freezes. He knows what it means but he still can't believe that he's the one to see it - the only one.
The heavy door opens and the dragon emerges. The goblin goes down on one knee and bows his head. He still clutches his broom which looks rather comical.
Not knowing whether it's safe to talk to the goblin mentally, the dragon makes a sound as if he was clearing his throat. The goblin raises his head and addresses him as "milord" and stammers some kind of a greeting. The dragon has a feeling that his speech problems are caused solely by his awe. He clears his throat again.
"I'll notify my superiors," says the goblin, finally managing to say a proper sentence. The dragon was right - he is a native speaker of the human language.
The dragon looks around when he's alone again. The most immediate area is roughly the same as before - there has been no further excavations. That makes sense, they probably didn't wish to disturb him. However, it's much neater than he remembers and it's well lit at the moment. And when he looks into one of the corridors, he sees that it has been extended. His human friends and their descendants have been busy.
A man arrives. He's clearly as agitated as the goblin but he holds himself together better. He tells the dragon that food and water are on the way and that heads of departments have been summoned. The dragon doesn't ask for details at the moment, partly because no one around seems to be eager to get on the receiving end of his mental voice.
A live sheep is lead to him. The animal is crazy with fear so the dragon stuns it with his mind. He washes the snack down by a barrel of water.
The headmaster of their magical academy arrives first. He tells the dragon that he can speak to him if he wishes. The dragon has no immediate requests so they just talk about recent history, the school, and magical research.
As expected, the dragon's meddling in the psyche of future rulers in the area wasn't without consequences. There was no war between them nor did they become weak. A few decades after the dragon went to sleep, the whole region was invaded by horse-riding raiders from far west. Thanks to their unity, the rulers managed to repel the attack. The dragon has ambivalent feelings about that. What if the invasion was meant to make a huge gash in these lands? What if it was meant to undermine people's faith in the monarchy's capability to defend them?
The dragon is glad to hear that the school of magic is doing well - it's Osith's legacy and he's sure that she would be proud. All in all, there's not much to tell in this regard. Most of the students are old Syward's descendants but there are a few outsiders as well.
The part the old wizard is most anxious to talk about are their discoveries. There were two of them.
One was made by an archaeological expedition researching an ancient civilization. That is, ancient from human perspective - it was still around when the dragon hatched. There they discovered that their government employed wizards who wielded a power of divination which allowed them to find, learn, discover, and see things in past, present, and possibly future. Unfortunately, they managed to find only a few fragments of texts explaining this area of magic. No one was able to make any progress with this so it's up to the dragon.
The other discovery was made by one of the professors. It was almost by accident and resulted in an actual accident which killed the researcher. It concerned an area of magic dealing with time and space and could be theoretically used for teleportation. Once again, the rest is up to the dragon. He doesn't think that teleporting something as big as him will be economical but he can see how it can be convenient for humans. And that is just one example of practical application of this area of magic.
As the dragon considers all the areas of magic available (or soon to be available) to him, he also has a thought that it would be interesting to try to combine them in the future.
The rest of the leadership of the organization arrives. There's a chief economist, a man in charge of vampire hunting, a director of non-magical research, and a chief of the navy (who is also in charge of long range expeditions, cartography, and discoveries). The biggest surprise is a goblin in their midst who represents goblins and deals with matters which do not belong directly under one of the other departments. This position used to be filled by a human but it seems that goblins has grown smart and civilized enough to represent themselves. In addition, there's a chairman who coordinates all the others. All in all, it's a setup similar to what the dragon was used to but bigger.
The dragon asks for a report on vampires first. He's told that all vampires in this part of the world have been found and destroyed. Only one other vampire has ventured into the kingdom itself and was promptly dealt with. Quite a few more have been hunted down in long range expeditions. At the moment, they are unable to find more. This means that there are either none left in range or they are suspecting something and hiding. The good thing is that a dormant vampire is unable to wake up on its own according to what they know about them. The dragon can try his own hand in tracking them down. A team of veteran vampire hunters is prepared to aid him in this. It's up to the dragon whether he wishes to divert resources to training more of them.
The goblin reservation is still in place but the goblins there are no longer hunter-gatherers, they have become an agrarian society (though they don't have that much land to farm on). Their territory has been cut into three parts by two big roads connecting the kingdom and the duchy. Both countries have interest in keeping the reservation around to prevent smuggling - the goblins have the right to detain anybody (and impound their cargo) crossing their area outside of the approved roads with customs offices on both sides. Goblins living among humans are treated as foreigners - if they have a passport given to them by local authorities, they can move around freely.
The director of research has a special surprise for the dragon but not a pleasant one. His assistants role in a strange metal object. The director shows him a bowl of some kind of a black powder and explains that it's a substance brought there by the invaders. After the war, local craftsmen found an interesting use for it. The dragon probes the substance and the object and immediately knows its purpose - it's a canon. The director tells him that according to their tests, getting hit by a cannonball would be as healthy for him as for a human to get hit by a stone. In other words, he's far from invulnerable. Of course, the currently used cannons can't be aimed at a flying target so they are less dangerous to him than ballistae were the last time. However, it's a sign of things to come.
The main topic is brought up by the chairman and the chief of navy. According to them, they have run out of space in this part of the world and, as the population grows denser, the dragon and his lair are in ever greater danger of being discovered. The same can be said about their school of magic and their whole organization.
"However, there might be a solution," says the naval chief. "According to some travelers and scholars, the world is round. Is that correct?"
The dragon nods.
"They also claim that if one sailed far enough to the east, he could reach another landmass, previously undiscovered by humankind."
Or reach the west coast of their own continent, thinks the dragon. However, that would be improbable given the projected size of the world.
"Alas, our civilization doesn't posses means to make such a voyage. Maybe we could reach the place, if somebody mapped out the way there. And that's where you come in, should you decided to undertake this project."
"You wish to colonize this hypothetical place."
"That's the idea, yes," confirms the chairman. "And build a new base of operations there. Of course, such an adventure won't be for an old man like me, even if it happens during my lifetime."
"What if there are sentient beings living there? Other humanoids, let's say, or even people or goblins."
"Than we'll rely on your ability to find an unpopulated area and on your peacemaking abilities."
In following days, the dragon takes a look around the region. When he first arrived to the area, it was almost deserted. Then he saw it populate and now it's populated quite densely.
The forest where he hatched and the desert where his meteorite fell isn't far away so he flies there. The forest has been replaced by fields. The desert isn't as big as he thought it was. There's a saltpeter mine there. No goblins.
This time is different than the last two. There's no drama or crisis to resolve, no people to get attached to, and no stories to become part of. On the other hand, his feeling of attachment to the planet is as strong as ever and without any distractions, he can feel it clearer than before. He realizes that his actions in next century or two will set the course of this world for next millennium. Fortunately, his actions since the time he met Syward have given him, his followers, and the world around quite a good position.
He decides to crack the two new areas of magic open first. That's a simple and straightforward decision at a first glance. Armed with new magic, he can search for vampires more effectively and teleport human and goblin assistants to him. In praxis, crafting truly useful spell will take extra time after finishing the basic research. Then again, human wizards might have a chance of discovering some spells even without his assistance.
After researching details of the economical and political situation, he makes plans for the organization and leaves the heads of departments with their orders. That way, the time spent by magical research won't be wasted entirely. Then he and some human assistants get to work.
During next decade, a few of the department heads retire and the dragon has to pick their replacements. Other than that, there are no issues requiring his immediate attention but he does keep track of messages and reports coming his way.
When they are done, the dragon starts taking care of the accumulated business. While he was researching magic, the head of vampire hunters reported that their spies discovered a mention of what they believed was a vampire in annals of a city far away - farther away than the place where the dragon cultists were. They are quite certain that this vampire is not one of those destroyed by them already. The trace was old and cold even before the dragon woke up but he decides to pursue it. He does so without support of any usable spells from the two new schools of magic but he sees no reason not to do it the old way while he can.
He picks a small team - a wizard and two goblins. It's not much but it will allow him to travel faster. The goblins, as expected, are both awed and fearful about sitting on the dragon but it isn't the first time their kind ridden on him actually - he has flown to such mission before but never so far away.
When they reach the city, the dragon decides to be straightforward and not to worry about being detected by the vampire. His reasoning is that the creature must be hibernating in a sarcophagus even if it's still there. This begs a question: If all vampires are hibernating, how do they expect to reawaken? Is there some kind of a secret cult which is going to do that? That seems unlikely, their spies would have found some trace of it by now. The dragon probes the underground of the city and confirms that there's nothing there.
They discuss what should be their next move. The wizard is convinced that the creature must have moved in a direction away from the kingdom - their spies would find out about it otherwise. The dragon agrees and sends him to the city.
The wizard doesn't know the local language but that's no problem with the dragon whispering in his ear. He buys two maps - a modern one and a historical one from the time when the vampire passed through. After examining them, they come to a conclusion that regardless of what was the creature's final destination, there was only one city where it could have stopped along the way and as it is, the city still stands today.
They fly there and the wizard is sent in once again. They have enough gold with them so he hires a young scholar to help him. The dragon spends next few weeks experimenting with divination magic but doesn't get far in such a short time.
They find only one little mention which can be attributed to a vampire. A series of strange murders and one count of a discovery of a dying man struck by a strange disease. The dragon assumes that the vampire attempted to turn someone and was interrupted. Luckily, the subject was incinerated.
Seeing that they are on the right track, they continue. And that is where the search ends in a rather anticlimactic but hardly unexpected fashion. There are only three cities where the vampire could have possibly continued - two still standing and one in ruins. Beyond those is an ocean.
The dragon can't laugh like humans do but if he could, he would laugh cynically. Their quarry has ran out of space to hide in - just like he himself can no longer hide here. Thankfully, he has wings and his followers have got a naval fleet.
They go to the ruined city because that's an option which doesn't cost them anything to rule out. As it is however, that's where they find the vampire. It's hard to tell whether the dragon's probe stirred him on some level but it hardly matters. The two goblins are sent in and after some navigating of underground tunnels and excavation, they reach the sarcophagus.
They chop off and burn the beast's limbs but leave the rest. The dragon has a special plan for this specimen. He believes that a specialized divination spell could be tailored just for these monsters. Moreover, an antidote against their spores (or an inoculation) could be developed by the research department.
After returning, the dragon resolves all other issues on his agenda. As he does, the feeling of "claustrophobia" is reinforced. What used to feel like a virtually infinite land when he was a hatchling seems quite small now. That's probably because he has grown big.
A few more years of the dragon's time is dedicated to magical research but then it becomes unwise to delay their exodus any longer. They have some knowledge of how winds and currents work in seas near the coast but it won't be enough for a trans-ocean voyage. The dragon does additional research and estimates on which latitude they should sail on their way there and on which one on their way back. The question is whether the dragon should fly all the way over the ocean on his own or whether he should be accompanied by ships. They decide for the latter.
Three special ships are built and the dragon flies to the blue horizon ahead of them. Through their captains, he guides them safely from island to island. If he wasn't there, such a voyage would be nigh impossible. That's good - it means that no people have done it before. Like he said at the very beginning, he doesn't wish to run into people who have reached the place first.
During their voyage, the dragon remains in contact with the people back home. Additional ships are dispatched to some of the more interesting islands.
They see many amazing plants and creatures on their way but no sentient life. This trend holds all the way to a new continent. The dragon finds that almost too good to be true when the ships drop their anchors.
The dragon takes a look around before he lets a small landing party to follow him. They search the area. It's not a bad place but the dragon believes he can find better in time. Still, the expedition makes a temporary camp.
As the dragon flies over the new land, he can't but be reminded of how the world looked when he hatched. This is even better though - utterly pristine and primordial. It won't stay that way for long because the dragon is here to bring civilization.
He finds a good place for a permanent settlement. Not on the coast. It's a short distance inland but easily reachable by a wide river.
The ships move there and a settlement is built. Most of the pioneers remain there and the expedition's leader becomes a mayor. His ship remains as well but the other two sail back loaded with crates of dried fruit and samples of fauna and flora. There aren't that many goblins in the new settlement so placement of their district doesn't receive much long-term planning.
The dragon decides to explore some more before following the ships. He still doesn't find any indigenous sentient life. He catches up with the ships shortly before they reach the old continent.
Preparations for what's soon going to become the greatest logistical operation conducted by private business begin. The trick is to avoid attention of the authorities. While people of these lands don't need a permission of their lord to move, the dragon is quite sure that the crown would frown on somebody founding a new country somewhere else using its subjects. The same can be said about leaders of neighboring countries. This is a price for helping to keep their lands strong.
Surprisingly, the head of the goblin department comes up with a nice cover for their operation. They tell the authorities that they have found an inhospitable and otherwise useless island which is big enough to accommodate all the goblins in the reservation. The island actually exists but is quite nice and similar to what the land looked like when goblins first arrived here. The dragon likes that because it solves two problems at once. There are some people in both neighboring countries who would say that the goblin reservation is important for maintaining political stability but far more believe that their presence hinders development of trade between them. The dragon isn't sure what kind of an effect is their absence going to have in the long run but according to all he knows, war is extremely improbable.
As first ships with reservation goblins set off for the island, three more are sent to the new continent while the dragon makes preparations for the whole operation. There are more goblins than the last time but all of them are assimilated. The dragon has no intention of letting their wild cousins set foot on the continent where they would be able to expand without limits. As for human passengers, most of them are denizens of the formerly neutral land around the dragon's lair. No one can say that the people of old Syward's grandparents don't get around.
It's time for more exploration. The dragon finishes mapping the coastline of the entire continent. It's bigger than the old one. Still no sign of any sentient life.
The settlement progresses nicely but the dragon isn't sure whether the separation of humans and goblins was done wisely. They are separated now all right but the problem is that the currently used area is going to become a core of a city in future and what is separated now in two halves is going to become intertwined. The dragon decides to make settlements dedicated to either one or the other species in future. He isn't sure how well is a solely goblin town going to fare (the only other precedent is the reservation) but it's simpler than dealing with problems stemming from close coexistence.
Another trip back and forth. Because the colony isn't self-sufficient yet, trade is needed to cover the costs. However, direct one would attract attention so a kind of a mercantile triangle is formed: from the new continent to the southern lands (where vampires came from), from there to their old home, and from there to the colony.
Further exploration finally confirms it: There are no natives anywhere on the continent. All that dragon finds is wilderness filled with all sorts of interesting plants and animals. He also maps natural resources when he's at it.
One of them is quite interesting - a special kind of a tree growing in equatorial areas in swamps contaminated by seawater. Probing the trees reveals that their wood is incredibly hard and resilient to salt water. The trees could be used for construction of ships.
It's on his third trip on which he turns his attention to nearby islands on the other side of the continent. He spots something under water which looks like very interesting and unusual coral reefs. He dives down there and encounters a strange creature soon. It looks like some kind of a fish with barely noticeable humanoid features. Intrigued, he follows it. Too late he realizes that the coral reefs look so strange because they are semi-cultivated and that the creatures are actually sentient.
Horrified that he has just exposed himself to yet another sentient species, he flees. The sea-people follow him to a beach. It seems they are amphibian and can leave water for a short period of time.
He wants to fly away when he notices that they are trying to reach him telepathically. It seems that's how they communicate under water. He responds and tells them not to mind him, that he's just a dragon. Of course, they have no reference to the word so he just sends the idea of the sound. After they get over the effect of being touched by his mind, their leader opens his mouth and says "Dagon". They start swaying their bodies and chant and hum.
The dragon would bang his head against a rock if he thought that it would help. Not only has he exposed himself again but it seems that he has started yet another cult. He looks around, as if expecting the dragon from space to appear and chastise him. He also thinks that it would be nice to have a power which would allow him to start again from an earlier point in time but then he concludes that exploiting such a power in this particular case would be lame.
He consults with his people about what should be done. They agree to ice the matter for the moment and hope that the creatures will forget about it. The dragon suspects that they hope in vain.
Their operation starts attracting vague suspicion of authorities. Not that anyone imagines that they have found a new continent to settle but people and goblins are disappearing and ships are going and coming. The dragon's spying reveals that some think that slave trade is involved while others believe that they are building their own naval trade base on an island somewhere.
Using bribes, the dragon's abilities and magic, and their own spies and wizards, they manage to sabotage any investigations for now. A committee is sent to the goblin island but there's nothing to hide there. They note that the island isn't as unsuitable for human settlement as they were led to believe but that hardly matters at this point. They leave quickly again before the goblins start demonstrating how unwelcome any visitors are.
Not wanting to leave anything to chance, the dragon searches every bit of the old continent using specialized magic for finding vampires. He finds one last vampire in a land far west. He has to admit that he wouldn't have found it without the magic.
Unfortunately, he wasn't the first to make the discovery. There are locals at the site. The place has been turned into a primitive laboratory. It seems that they are examining the creature. That's bad and potentially dangerous. The dragon has to be uncompromising on this one.
Using teleportation magic, the dragon gets a team to his position. It takes a while but it's faster than making two trips to get them there on his back. Two wizards, a few infiltrators and soldiers, and several goblins.
The dragon reads the mind of the supervisor of the wannabe researchers just before they attack. They don't belong to the local authorities but to an underground criminal organization. Not too dissimilar to their own organization in its secrecy but very different in its purpose and morals. That's good, it means gloves off.
They approach the site at night, knocking out one guard and killing the others. They spare no one in the subsequent attack and burn the vampire, any extracted samples, any other materials, and the whole place down. The wizards and the dragon fabricate the sole survivor's memories afterwards. When he's going to wake up, he's going to believe that the creature awoken, broke free, and killed everybody. He's going to tell his superiors that setting the place on fire was the only way to contain the catastrophe.
With that out of the way, the dragon's work on the old continent is finished. All he needs to focus on now is the colonization process.
Years pass. Many of the organization's lands and other unmovable assets are sold. The employees (who aren't in the know already) are given a choice: remain with a new owner or relocate with their whole family and receive their own land as a bonus. A rather suspicious offer but the organization makes an equal risk telling them even that much.
The magical academy is moved but a small branch remains behind to search for gifted people. They collapse all access tunnels to the underground complex housing the lair and HQ save one. With the power of teleportation, physical access isn't so critical anyway. They are also prepared to rig the rest of the complex with kegs of black powder but the situation doesn't call for doing that just yet.
Leaders of countries with access to sea decide that they shouldn't stay that far behind private business in the area of naval exploration. The dragon makes a new directive for their fleet prohibiting any records concerning the way to the new continent to be put on paper. The crews can use only standard nautical charts with captains committing everything else to memory. The organization also sets security measures in place to protect the captains and all other officers who know enough - should the authorities arrest them to interrogate them, the dragon will learn soon enough.
Their fleet is no longer dependent on the harbors they used to utilize for long term storage of ships because they have got their very own ones at the new continent and they can rent short term docking for their ships in southern lands. Still, it's good to limit the presence of the ships in their old home to minimum so they construct a secret "way station" inside a small barren rock not far from the coast.
First ships other than their own start sailing across the ocean - or at least attempt to. In the beginning, they turn back when they reach half of their range. Many of them don't make it back because of unfavorable winds.
There's a talk of pressing the goblins into letting them use their island as a resupply stop. However, it's not that far along the way and another island is discovered (again) a little further away soon. That's good. The goblins are well entrenched on their island and a war with them wouldn't improve relations between the two peoples.
Later, a new tactic is tried - sailing straight ahead until reaching something. They aren't that many volunteers for such an adventure. The dragon watches these ships as they meet their doom one by one. Some perish in storms, others run out of water, and some fall to mutiny. This only feeds the resentment of those who believe that the dragon's organization has found a safe way across the ocean.
Landlocked countries watch their seafaring neighbors with envy in turn. So far, having access to sea mostly meant an easy trade route to southern lands. With a possibility of new discoveries, the stakes are much higher.
There's a new queen in the kingdom. Not too young, but quite inexperienced. With proper manipulation, the kingdom could be turned against its former allies. And that is where the dilemma comes. Playing the landlocked nations against the coastal ones would solve their problem. However, is it worth the cost?
In the end, a middle way is chosen. Their associates in the court are approached and it's hinted to them that their shipping company could work to prevent the coastal countries from obtaining any oversees riches and thus maintain a political balance in the region. Not many people know about the link between this mysterious shipping company and the vanishing economical empire originally created by Osbert but those who do realize that all that wealth had to go somewhere which would also explain the rumors about them being able to cross the ocean.
In older times, the crown wouldn't suffer a private subject exploiting a political situation. However, the current queen just wants to maintain peace and avoid degradation of diplomatic relations. The monarchy doesn't have as much power as it used to anyway. The kingdom gives a silent approval to naval activities of the dragon's organization without expecting much in return. This frees the hands of the organization in dealing with any greedy naval powers. Also, they stop disposing of their assets in the kingdom. It's good to retain some presence on the old continent after all.
Within a year, all of this proves to be a good investment when a ship of theirs is detained in a port in the duchy. Their informant network has failed to learn about this in advance which was bound to happen one day. The crew decides not to fight or try to flee which is wise in the current situation. The ship is searched for any secret nautical charts but none are found. The captain and his officers are questioned but they aren't taken away. A combination of the dragon's magic and pressure from other trading companies secure the ship's release. The incident is a dire warning for the organization.
A decade passes. The duchy and other coastal countries continue to fail in crossing the ocean for the time being. The dragon's help enabled his ships to get to the new continent decades ahead of their time but it's clear that this head start won't last for much longer. Because of this and because they don't want the naval powers to claim all the islands in the ocean for themselves, the dragon starts sabotaging search for them in certain key places. While he can't turn an entire island invisible, he can cause a lookout to miss it.
The continued lack of success increases the hostility of the naval powers against the mysterious ocean-crossing fleet. Increasingly bigger efforts are given to secure the ships from this threat. This includes spreading rumors that the rumor of the successful traversal of the ocean was just a myth created by the shipping company to make themselves look bigger than they were.
Development of the new nation faces challenges of its own. For example, the goblins, while being more responsible than their wild kin, still breed way faster than human colonists. It's not such a problem in cities which provide some limits to expansion of their population but it's quite visible in countryside where the only hindrance to founding a new farm is the need to clear a forest. There are different ways to approach questions such as this one and none of them are inherently good or bad - it's a matter of creating a strategy which will be best for the situation in the rest of the world.
Another decision, which won't affect the new nation itself but is of not so insignificant practical value to the dragon and the organization, is placement of the lair, the HQ, and other key elements of the organization. A wise decision would be to think for a long term and place the lair somewhere where it won't be reached by civilization. However, that's what they did the last time and civilization still reached the place - thanks to themselves! And if they do choose that option, should the HQ be with the lair or separate? Hawing it in a middle of nowhere carried its own cons. And what about the magical academy? Decisions, decisions, decisions.
Speaking of those, the dragon and his people need to think about how many of them should be done by citizens of their new nation. Not just about themselves, that's already a well established freedom, but about the nation itself. In other words, how should the new continent look from a political standpoint? Democracy and republic are terms known to this world but neither of those are practiced anywhere at this point. And if they choose to go that way, who shall be eligible to vote? It's clear to the dragon that not every human born on the continent is ready for such a responsibility. With goblins, it's even worse - wast majority of them are unprepared to be given such power. However, the dragon would like to give the best of them a chance to earn it. Above all, he wants the rules to be universal for all citizens of the country (humans and goblins alike).
Another decade passes. The organization's relations with their old home is quite good and their remaining assets there flourish. It's similar with other inland countries but their properties there are kept at minimum. On the other hand, they have gotten rid of anything they owned in coastal countries ages ago and their relations with them have deteriorated to a point when their ships can no longer show up in their ports.
Moreover, seamanship and construction of ships have improved to a level which could actually allow those countries to cross the ocean. The dragon can deter them for a while longer but they should prepare for hostilities. There are three important things that need to be done.
One is crafting of good warships. That is where those hardy trees the dragon has found earlier come in. They don't grow on the old continent so it's quite an advantage.
Second, they need to create a military. So far, the role was fulfilled by the organization itself. For obvious reasons, they want to stay in the shadows. Moreover, they wouldn't be enough and the citizens deserve a chance to defend their new homeland.
Third, they need to turn their attention back towards the old continent and start claiming the islands which used to serve as their resupply stations during the early stages of colonization (starting from their own side of the ocean, of course). It's way better than to let their potential enemies claim them first.
As for those few key islands which the dragon has prevented anybody from discovering and which would raise quite a few questions if they were discovered and there was no apparent explanation for the earlier lack of success and which are more on the other side of the ocean, they leak their locations to certain pirates operating around the coast of the southern lands (on the old continent). Moreover, the dragon causes a few ships to crash there.
Another thing is a possibility of the continent being invaded from west. Truth to be told, the dragon has not found the time to make a full circle around the planet yet but he calculates that if he flew in that direction, he would reach the western side of the old continent. He decides to leave the west coast unprotected for now and use the fish people in a worst case scenario.
There are two things of significance left: declaration of independence and finalization of the constitution. Both are mostly formal representations of earlier decisions. Strangely enough, the former won't be published outside of the new continent for some time because thanks to the dragon, their very existence is still a secret.
Two more decades pass before that secrecy is finally broken. By that time, the pirates in the way are routed and the coastal countries control islands all the way to the defensive line of the new country. The southern lands have claimed a few islands as well and the goblin one has been left mostly alone. There's some tension between the countries about who gets to claim which island but that quickly dissipates when they encounter the new foe.
Publishing of the declaration of independence is met with shock and disbelief in the old continent, even in the kingdom. The declaration is vague about the existence and especially the location of the new continent and many people still believe that there isn't any, that it's just a bunch of islands. The duchy and neighboring coastal countries declare war immediately, thinking that they are facing a bunch of pirates controlling a handful of islands. The kingdom remains neutral - years of the organization's political scheming pays off. The new country opens an embassy there.
The southern lands traditionally take no part in politics of their northern neighbors. A convenient side effect of the whole situation is that the southern lands are cut off from the new continent as well - they can't sail directly from their location because of the winds so the only way leads through a war zone. However, this feels more like an excuse and it seems they wouldn't try anyway. They do raise their tariffs though in response to the situation.
All in all, the war is uneventful thanks to all the preparation done to this point. The dragon and his people are as prepared as they can possibly be. All vampires are destroyed, magical research yielded all the fruit it could, the dragon himself is as perfect as he could be at his age, both the organization and their nation is strong and united, their fleet superior to anything the old continent can throw at them, and the strongest country on the old continent, the kingdom, does not support the war. Still, the dragon does his best both in planning and direct involvement to minimize the causalities and shorten the war.
In the end, their associates in the court make sure that the kingdom uses its diplomatic power to get the sides to a negotiating table. Another factor that aides the end of the war is a political fall of the duke. The (former) duchy is taken over by a kind of a mercantile regime which is more interested in trading with the new nation rather than warring with it.
A similar trend can be observed in other countries with the exception of the kingdom. Traditional form of governance are being replaced by various other ones. It's not always clear whether it's a change for the better but progress is a process of trial and error.
And that is all the dragon can do for now. He can fly around for a little while longer if he wishes but whatever happens after he gets back to his lair will be another story.
Before that happens though, he needs to investigate something. He feels something like a pull leading him to the equatorial area of the new continent. When he's exactly at the equator, he realizes that the feeling is actually coming from the sky. The camera shoots high above him, or rather far away, where the black dragon hovers on a geosynchronous orbit.
He is way out of the younger dragon's range but that doesn't seem to be any problem for the space one. He makes a contact. Just like before, they don't use any words. Unlike before, the younger dragon is a more equal participant of the exchange.
The older dragon has never left and was sleeping on the moon for this whole time. He acknowledges that the young one has succeeded in keeping himself hidden. He comments on the level of meddling with the affairs of the world but this time around, he doesn't say whether that's bad or good. The young one doesn't hide any details of what has occurred and he isn't sure whether it would make any difference anyway.
Next, he makes a few prognoses but nothing that needed to be spelled out. He thinks that the absence of the goblin reservation might indirectly cause regional instability in the future. He warns that while all vampires have been destroyed, samples of the disease which created them might still be hidden in places all around the world so they might return in future, perhaps even in some other form. Lastly, he comments that as this world grows increasingly complex, it will become virtually impossible for the dragon to control the flow of its history.
Unlike the last time, the young dragon manages to ask his questions. How has his egg ended up on this planet? Who laid it? Where is his mother? What is the purpose of his presence here? What is this strange connection he has got with this world?
He expects a half-answer at best and is surprised when the other one answers in full. The entire mystery is laid bare to him and doesn't seem so mysterious any longer.
Their kind is the oldest existing sentient life in the galaxy. The oldest existing - not the oldest. They have found remains of many civilizations which is hardly a surprise in a galaxy of sufficient age and size. However, on a short term and local area scale, planets suitable for life are not so abundant. Only some actually develop at least a single-cell life naturally. It's extremely rare for such a life to evolve into a civilization.
The problem is that these occurrences are so much separated by time and distance that no two civilizations almost ever come into contact. Dragons found proof of such a thing happening only once in the past and the species involved were so mindbogglingly different that they ended up destroying each other. Dragons themselves are the only known exception thanks to their unique nature.
Unwilling to accept a universe in which they would be alone for most of the time, they decided to start doing what humans would call "playing gods". Their action was two-fold. First, they seeded any suitable planets with simple bacterial life. That life grows in all sorts of strange shapes but at least all of them share the same principles.
The second part is more delicate. Whenever an intelligent life evolves sophisticated enough, a guardian (or rather a shepherd in this case) is sent. Typically, being sophisticated enough means discovering magic but this isn't always applicable. The guardian is always sent as an egg to be hatched only after landing on the planet. This sounds risky but so far, no hatchling has ever gotten itself killed.
As for the strange link with the planet, that's a purely artificial magical construct triggered by the egg entering the atmosphere. It's useful for giving a young hatchling a sense of belonging and later on, it helps with the dragon's task. In time, any dragon with enough proficiency in magic can deactivate the effect but there's no reason to do it until their flock becomes a space-faring civilisation.
As for the young dragon's family, he does have parents, of course, and even siblings. He was isolated from them on purpose because, once again, they wanted this world to be his home and the people living on it his family. He has an older brother whose world has reached space already. The world is near on a galactic scale but as good as utterly unreachable at this point. Some of the other siblings have been deployed and hatched already, others are in eggs still. In fact, it's time for the space dragon to go to one of those younger worlds now.
In the end, he emphasizes a warning that next few centuries will be critical. Music, which was barely noticeable before starts getting louder. Then the dragon starts leaving the orbit but the camera veers away conveniently so it isn't actually shown how he intends to travel between stars. Instead, it shows a shot of the planet, just like in the beginning and the music tracks goes into an epic final theme.
A logo with the name of the game appears but no credits yet. Instead, a text appears claiming that it wouldn't be possible to crate the game without the Open Source community. Under is a challenge asking the players whether they've got what it takes to create sequels followed by links to the SourceForge profile of the project and to an external site set up for coordinating sequels. A little prompt box asking the player whether he wants to keep playing appears.
Afterwards, the dragon can go back to his people and tell them about the visit. He decides to limit the revelation to the fact that his mission here is one of peace. He doesn't have the heart to go further than that and spoil the mystery for them but he promises that he will share more next time he wakes up. Then he goes in his lair, the heavy gate slums shut, and credits roll in.
Edward reached a small side entrance without getting spotted by a camera. It served as an emergency fire exit and by their estimate, it was one of the easier access routes.
The door could be opened from outside but it was secured by an electronic lock. Yes, his superhuman strength allowed him to simply walk through the door but that would have raised an alarm. He could have tried hacking the lock but it wasn't his area of expertise so there would still have been a danger of triggering an alarm. Instead, he simply rapped on the door lightly and put on a ski-mask.
"Hi, what have you needed to..." said the poor sucker who opened the door before he realized that person outside is wearing a mask. Yes, you shouldn't do things just because an e-mail says so, even if you think it's from a colleague of yours.
Edward knocked him out and stowed him away. He proceeded deeper into the building. There were more cameras on the way but it wasn't a problem for him to leap through blind spots.
After a while, he found a security room. There was a lone guard there, watching the monitors. Edward pulled out a small plastic bottle of laxative and grinned evilly. When the guard was looking away, Edward used his superhuman speed to put the laxative in his coffee, just like he had seen in a certain movie. Shortly after the guard finished his coffee, he ran away to a nearest lavatory.
Edward studied camera feeds and floor-plans for a while before he used his radio. "Rosalie, get ready at the cargo entrance. Watch out for the camera."
The cargo entrance was meant for vehicles. The signal of their bug had stopped on the other side. Jasper had commented that maybe it was a trap, just like in movies, but Edward and Bella were convinced that their enemy was way too dumb for that.
Most of the gate was bellow the ground level and there was a gently sloping road leading down to it. A camera was watching the road but not the gate itself. Rosalie leaped over its vision cone, used her hands and feet to absorb the impact to avoid slamming into the building, and dropped down through the camera's blind area. Edward started to open the gate, just enough for Rosalie to roll in, and closed it again.
Rosalie found the van which had delivered the drones. There was an old scent of the drones inside. The (inactive) bug was still attached so she removed it, crushed it, and put the remains in a small plastic bag.
"OK, so far so good," said Edward again. "I can't get you to the bottom level from here but I think it won't be necessary."
Edward navigated her through her floor to an emergency staircase. There was a freight elevator but it required a PIN. He was able to open the door to the emergency staircase but not the one at the bottom. Sure, Rosalie could tear them open but that would trigger an alarm.
There were cameras on the way, one of which couldn't be avoided by any means. They didn't want to leave any record of their passage. Falsifying of small part of the record wasn't necessary, he simply restarted the subsystem and Rosalie slipped through while it was rebooting. Edward was sure that no one was going to find it suspicions, even under closer scrutiny which was to be expected.
Rosalie reached an office where an employee was finishing up tweaks on next version of the drone software. She watched him for a minute and saw him upload a commit without having to type his login and password anywhere. That was good.
She pulled out a bottle of laxative and started to sneak to the programmer. Only when she almost reached him did she see that he didn't have a cup of coffee but a can of soda. As she was contemplating how was she going to put the laxative there without him noticing, he stopped coding, stretched, and did a little merry-go-round on his chair. Rosalie managed to put the laxative away before he saw it.
"Excuse me, may I help you?" he asked after he got over a slight shock of noticing somebody standing behind you.
Rosalie decided that there was only one way how to get out of the situation - she had to seduce the guy. She reached in her pocket and put on thick glasses which, in her opinion, made her look smarter and thus irresistible. She parted the sides of her parka to make the Linux T-shirt underneath well visible, puffed her chest out to make the picture of the penguin taut, raised her hand in a gesture of Vulcan greeting, and said in a quick, nerdy voice "Hi, what's your favorite distro of Linux?"
A flash of revulsion swept over the employee's face. "Is this some kind of a joke my pals are playing on me?"
Rosalie wasn't going to give so easily. "What do you think is better, KDE or Gnome?"
"OK, that's enough, Spock. I don't know who you are but I'll let you know that I'm not a nerd, I've got a life, and I'm even married. Now, I have a sneaking suspicion that you aren't supposed to be here. So, unless you want me to notify security, you'll say that Linux sucks and get out of here."
Anger bubbled in Rosalie's blood (metaphorically speaking). How dare he to try to violate her that way? Before he could as much as blink, she snapped his neck.
First things first, she put an USB flash drive into the computer, replaced all the code with Edward's, and committed it. She wondered whether there was going to be some warning somewhere that all the code was changed but Edward doubted it. She flagged the release as ready for building. Only then did she contact Edward.
"Dammit, what are we going to do with him?" he cursed. "This is exactly what we wanted to avoid!"
"If I place his body conveniently, they might say that he was killed by one of the drones."
"Let's hope so."
The build was progressing without a hitch on a server. Rosalie would prefer to wait till the end but Edward was sure that they could leave. In a short while, they were outside, heading to join Bella and Emmett who were preparing the final showdown which they hoped was going to be great but expected to be utterly anticlimactic.
At the lowest level of the building, technicians saw that the new release was ready. They loaded it on USB sticks of their own and started to install it on all the drones.