THERE BE DRAGONS!
Chapter 4: Making Believers
For more than two and half weeks, nothing seemed to be happening about the reveal. Jake was becoming concerned and he had already been asked by the eldest what was going on. All he could tell him was it took time to gather the scientists in one place. Trimaris eyed Adair thoughtfully then nodded and dropped the subject.
By the time the third week ended, Jake was about to get back with Dr. Sinian on what was going on. He had curbed his impatience over the long wait and never made contact with her but he was really becoming concerned so was very relieved when he finally received the awaited summons to appear at the museum.
He had chosen his disguise very carefully and had his excuse to Chance about his absence, ready. Thankfully when the summons came, it was one of those quiet days where they had few cars and could relax.
When his signaler buzzed silently in his pocket, he was sitting on the ratty over stuffed chair reading a technical journal while Chance was watching his favorite cartoon. He reached into his pocket and carefully pressed the acknowledgment button then shut off the device. Casually, closing his magazine, he stretched then got up.
"Hey buddy, I've got a friend to meet down town. Call me if you need me," he said easily.
Chance looked up at him in surprise for a moment but then just nodded, "sure buddy, see you later. Have fun!"
"We're only going to trade new tech info," Jake said, pretending amusement.
Chance grimaced at that. "Well have fun anyway," he snorted then returned to his cartoon.
Sighing mentally, pleased his subterfuge had worked so easily, Jake left the living area for his bedroom. There he retrieved the backpack he had previously prepared, pulled his jacket on then went back through the living area, waving bye to his friend, who never looked his way when he returned the farewell, before heading down the stairs for the garage.
Grabbing the truck keys, he went outside and was soon driving to the museum. Using the same method he had before except he wasn't dressed as Razor, he went in his secret way to an empty exhibit hall which had been left unlocked just for him. He avoided anyone walking in the halls as he made his slow and cautious way there.
He sighed in relief when he made it to the door of the small exhibit hall and slipped inside. With the door closed, he flipped the hood of his black cape off his head then removed it. Walking over to a huge black stage curtain that had been hung to hide the back half of the room by Dr. Sinian, Jake stepped through the curtain opening to stand behind it. He set his hooded cloak behind him on the floor then ensured his disguise was perfect before taking his dragon form. Now all he had to do was wait.
Fortunately, it wasn't long, just ten minutes, before he heard the door open and many voices filled the air as a group of people entered the room.
"Why are you locking the door Dr. Sinian," a peevish voice asked.
"I promised our guest only you would be allowed to see him and locking the door ensures that no one else will accidentally join us," he heard her voice say quietly.
"A lot of nonsense, I say," another voice muttered not too far from the curtain.
"Thank you all for being willing to come all the way to my city. As I told you in my letters and wires, this is a very exciting and important event and you are now a part of it. Without further ado, may I please present the red dragon named Adair," Dr. Sinian said dramatically, gesturing to the curtain behind her.
Taking his cue, Adair stepped through the curtain and carefully stopped just a few steps past it. He nodded his head to the suddenly stunned and speechless group of scientists that gaped at him.
It was silent for all of two minutes before a dozen voices began to speak at the same time, many of them rude, angry, and demanding answers from Dr. Sinian. Adair sighed and shook his head.
"Excuse me, but I can answer your questions if you'll direct them to me rather than badger poor Dr. Sinian who was only helping me do this really difficult thing. Please do me the courtesy of shutting up!" He rumbled loudly to be heard over them.
The voices cut off again in shock. They had been told the dragon was intelligent but more than half of them didn't believe it and now were stunned anew by the proof speaking to them.
"That's better," Adair said in mild amusement. "Now if you'll listen, I'll tell you a story you've never heard before. Once I've finished, then you may question me." His jeweled eyes looked them over quietly to see if they would be quiet.
No one said anything, all eyes were directed at him with varying degrees of fear, fascination, anger, excitement, and amazement.
Taking their silence to mean they were going to listen, Adair told them the same story he'd told Dr. Sinian. When he finished, no one spoke for several long minutes as they absorbed this incredible information.
"You expect us to believe such a huge beast as you are can simply shrink down to the size of a Kat? That's blatantly impossible!" One brave soul finally blurted out.
Adair snorted in amusement. "Well, as a fellow scientist, I would have been just as skeptical however, I'm not just a scientist but a worker of magic and magic is how we can change shape. At least that is how it was done in the first place all those many centuries ago but as generations used this ability, it soon became something we now pass down through our genes so each generation is capable of doing this very thing without any real thought or effort."
"Prove it!" The scientist who had spoken, demanded.
"Certainly. One thing though, I'm sure Dr. Sinian has mentioned this but I'm going to repeat it so that you don't ask me about it again. For the safety of our species, no one, not even us, know each other's Kat identity. It's the last barrier we have to protect ourselves. When I alter to Kat, I will be wearing a disguise. I request you respect the need for it and not hassle me about it," Adair said smoothly.
The scientists looked at each other then back at him. No one seemed to object to that stricture so Adair morphed back to his Kat form. For the reveal, he had decided to wear a g-suit he had dyed a very deep red, wore black boots, and had a red mask that covered his head and face just like his Razor mask did. Now his long red fur practically blended into the clothes making it hard to really judge what he truly looked like.
"Holy Kats!"
"My God, that is utterly incredible!"
"I'll say! Would you change back again, please?" One of the scientists asked excitedly, taking his camera out.
Adair nodded and did as asked. In his dragon form he spread his wings so they could see how far they went when open. Camera bulbs and digitals were clicking and flashing madly for several minutes.
"Now back to your Kat form please." He was asked and obliged, feeling a little uncomfortable as they took more pictures.
"Adair, would you do it again so I can video tape the change?" A scientist asked as he held up his digital video cam. Nodding, Adair morphed yet again.
"Got it thank you!"
"Could we touch you?" Another asked, eagerness in his voice.
"Fine, just don't poke me with anything but your claws," Adair said.
The group moved cautiously closer and began to examine him all over, making copious notes and asking numerous questions as they did so. Adair did his best to answer them without revealing everything about his species and their culture.
"Can you produce fire?" One asked.
"Yes, but don't ask for a demonstration, since I don't think Dr. Sinian would be happy to repair the damage I'd cause in such a small space," Adair demurred.
The scientists looked disappointed but continued to ask other questions, like what he ate, did he hunt for his food, mating, fighting (when and if it was necessary) and on and on.
Finally, after some three hours of grueling questions, touches, probing and requests to change back and forth numerous times, Adair called a halt to the research session.
"I think you've gotten everything I'm allowed to reveal to you and satisfied the tip of your curiosity...." Many actually laughed at that knowledgeable statement that a scientist's curiosity was never truly quenched. "......but I'm very tired and do have other things to do....like have a life."
There was a smattering of laughter at that comment as they reluctantly agreed to allow Adair to leave. With many a backward look, the scientists were herded out of the room by Dr. Sinian, who paused at the door a moment.
"Thank you, Adair. I think this will do what you hoped."
"I hope you're right Dr. Sinian. All we can do is wait and see," Adair sighed, giving her a small smile.
She smiled back and slipped out the door. Groaning in relief, Adair morphed back to his Kat form, put his cloak back on and walked across the room to the door. Peering out cautiously to see if the coast was clear, he slipped out and headed back to his escape route. Like he had told the doctor, all they could do now was wait and see how the public reacts to this bombshell.
While Adair made his strategic exit, Dr. Sinian was herding the scientists to the conference room they had gathered in before going to see the dragon. During their absence, she had ordered a buffet set up for everyone to eat and discuss what they had seen and heard.
She took up the leadership once more and guided the scientists into a discussion on how to consolidate this information with the one collected for the ancient city then how they would disseminate it to the scientific community before releasing it to the public.
An uproar was caused when Dr. Sinian made a request that met with immediate objections.
"What you ask is ridiculous!" One noted scientist scoffed.
"I don't think the dragons would think so. Look, you are exposing them to the population after the scientific community publishes their findings. Of course, the dragons should have the right to preview the report before its released to assure themselves that it is accurate and isn't embellished with things that could cause them harm. It is their lives were talking about. They are nearly extinct as a species," she said passionately.
"A too large portion of their numbers are terrified of Kats and may not reveal themselves for fear of retaliation despite the reveal by the braver of them. Then there is the smaller percentage that are so afraid they won't even reveal themselves to their own kind. You must admit this division of their kind into different camps will simply increase the speed of their decline. So I don't think it is that much of an imposition that we let their council review the report before it is released to the rest of our community," Dr. Sinian stressed her point, trying to make them see this really wasn't an option.
Many heads still shook in disagreement.
"We've never done that in all the years the scientific community has existed. I don't see why we should change our procedures now," another of the older scientists said pompously.
"Then you will have nothing!" Abi said flatly. Blank looks of confusion greeted this statement.
"Your report won't be worth the paper its printed on if dragons never reveal themselves. It will be considered yet another piece of fiction and ignored," she clarified.
Looks of disbelief covered many faces.
"We have proof, tons of pictures....."one objected heatedly.
"Of course you do. But they could be faked! You seem to forget how hard it is to impress our own peers. Unless they can actually see it for themselves they will remain skeptical as will the public. It's just the nature of Kats. That's why we always back up our research with tangible things whenever we can. So if the dragons never appear, they may or not believe you and there you will be with a war between the believers and the non-believers. That's what we have already," Abi said mildly sarcastic.
Grumbles of displeasure, angry retorts, and reluctant agreements to her blunt assessment sped around the room. The argument lasted for several hours until finally, a consensus was reached. Even the diehards were forced to accept that what Dr. Sinian had said would put a big spike in their discovery if they did not allow the dragons to review their report before it was published.
Since this was such a big deal and the dragons obviously trusted Dr. Sinian with ensuring their history was reported accurately, it was agreed she would be the one to consolidate the various reports each scientist would write on their portion of the research then have it typed up in a readable draft for all of them to review before a copy would be given to the dragons.
Further, they agreed not to speak of it to anyone outside their teams and that no word of it would be released until the dragons gave their okay on the draft. With that, they finally broke up for the night, tired but mostly satisfied. Tomorrow they would return to their far off homes and begin their work.
Abi was exhausted but pleased. She just hoped nothing major happened while all this was taking place. It would take a few months before all the reports would start to trickle in then another month or more for her to consolidate it and get it typed.
Well, the dragons had waited this long, a few months more wouldn't matter that much.
Later that month, Adair was happy to report that the scientists had met, been impressed, took lots of notes and asked lots of questions. Though they were reluctant at first, Dr. Sinian had forced them to sent the draft of their report to the dragons for their review before it was published. They even went so far as to have Dr. Sinian be responsible for consolidating all the information into the draft. He felt confident the resultant document would be all they'd hoped. However, he cautioned, it would take some time for all of this to be done.
"How long do you estimate?" The elder asked.
"Most likely four or five months."
The elder nodded. "That actually is fairly quick in dragon time," he rumbled, pleased. He noted the ones attending this meeting seemed to be pleased as well except for the ones who still didn't like this at all. He sighed mentally. Well, it would have been too much to ask if everyone agreed.
"You did a great job, Adair. We are very pleased. Keep on top of it and we'll see what we will see," the elder rumbled as he ended the meeting.
Adair smiled with pleasure at the compliment then took his leave for home. Now all they had to do was wait but dragons were masters at that game.