Dragon

[DerVVulfman]

Chapter Five
Roy Scheider

“Hiya, baby!” Fricker greeted her when they reboarded the hovercraft.

OH, SHUT UP! read the note. Becky had written it in advance.

“Lift off preparations. I’m sorry, Doc.” Hunt said. “That was shit-sloppy.”

“I have another idea,” Roberts replied. “She might like it better.”

The general scratched his head. “Wouldn’t you just know it. The minute we set up that little goil for action, she gets recognized. Aaaaaah!”

“Put her in the holding cell, Emerson. In one hour she gets to burn me.” Roberts was still smiling...

● ● ●

“Blast it,” Lizzie said. “My father knows nothing about the VSO.”

“Does anybody?” Diamond replied. “At least the police have the word out.”

“Time for me to tune in to the wavelengths. Maybe I can pinpoint something, somewhere, somehow.” But she suspected it was fruitless.

“Dave, she’s gonna be okay,” Rabikes promised.

“Chris, if you’re so sure of that, prove it. Otherwise, shut the hell up.”

Fred was awake now. “Hey,” he protested. “You can’t talk to Moulty’s Mutants™ like that.” He looked wounded.

Chris saved Fred from a serious ass-whipping by steering him in the other direction. “Beat it, Freshee. He’ll take your head off.”

“Easily fixed. But I’d like to point out that I’ve known Dragon since she was a half-pint-- longer than either of you--”

“Stop calling her that,” Furfy cut in.

“--and between the three of us, she kicked my ass all over the playground 49 percent of the time, so--”

Furfy’s expression darkened. “Only 49 percent? Did you hit her?”

Freshee knew he’d stumbled into a minefield. “Um... we were kids!” His voice rose an octave.

“So you’re not denying it, punk?” Furfy snarled. He stood up.

“Aw, c’mon, man-- my point was...”

“No one-- ever-- hits my Becky and lives-- ESPECIALLY when she’s a kid!” Fred rushed straight to the bathroom in a vain attempt to flush himself down the toilet. Rabikes struggled to hold it in... particularly when he heard diddlysquat from the bathroom...

● ● ●

Dr. Roberts was on fire. The General and the soldiers watched, impressed.

Actually, it was Roberts’ metallic asbestos bodysuit that was on fire, not him himself. It protected him completely; even the rectangular eye slots weren’t affected due to asbestos glass/plastic shielding. He and Becky were on opposite ends of the immense chamber (which was usually reserved for war games). He’d ordered her to “let me have it,” and she did, lightly at first, then doubled, tripled and quadrupled the power by keeping her mouth wide open.

Roberts staggered somewhat, more from the force than the heat. Becky wasn’t as reluctant to shoot flame at him now, not after the stunt he had pulled at White Flint. Still, she’d been flaming him for three minutes. Doesn’t this damn stuff ever run out? she thought. How much fire can there be?

The General and the men observed from above, behind glass.

“All right, that’s enough,” Roberts said on his suit-speaker. He was laughing. “Cool down now! Stop it! That was fantastic! Cool down... close... that’s it.”

Becky obeyed, feeling slightly feint. It did feel kind of good to “burn” the doctor. She noticed all the fire in the room had respectfully curled around her during the inferno blast. The rest was being doused by auto-sprinklers.

The men came down. Roberts was ecstatic, checking his heat monitor and shedding his suit. “THREE THOUSAND DEGREES! THAT WAS BEAUTIFUL!” He laughed again, almost giggling. “YOU’RE FANTASTIC! DID YOU ALL SEE THAT? God, I’m sweating like a pig in this -- ” The others watched him, perplexed. He cleared his throat. “Well, then. I guess we’re done for today.” He ran up to Becky, spun her around and kissed her forehead. “That’s my Dragon!” She winced, pulling away. “Cheer up now. The best is yet to come.”

Hunt took her to her holding cell, which was about seven feet high, but only three feet wide. “Bedtime, foxy.” It was early afternoon. “General’s orders.”

She began to write, PLEASE. I’M CLAUSTROPHOBIC--

He slapped the note off, pushed her back and slapped the cell door hard. “Get the @#$% in there!” He turned out most of the lights and stormed off. Becky sunk down to the floor, her eyes welling with tears...

● ● ●

“Honey, wake up. Honey! Wake-- up. It’s time to go! C’mon, honey!” Furfy was shaking her. “They’re dead, honey. I killed ‘em. Let’s go, honey.”

Becky’s eyes opened. To her absolute joy, she realized it was David Furfy. Better yet, his face was completely scarless. She reached out, touching it.

“How do you like it?” he asked, smiling. “Seems like old times, doesn’t it?”

“DAVID!” she screamed gratefully-- and burned his face off on both sides.

● ● ●

NO!!! she thought, horrified, waking up, hitting her hands on the cell-door glass. Again her subconscious had kept her trap shut, but that didn’t stop her trembling. Directly outside, Hunt and Roberts were arguing.

“In case you haven’t realized it yet, my authority takes precedence when the well-being of my patient is involved! I didn’t authorize locking her up!”

“The General takes precedence! If he authorizes it, it’s done! She--”

“If he does, I’m still informed! She is MY responsibility! I’m releasing her now! You’re not going to jeopardize our progress! Stay away from my patient!”

“Gladly, Doc” Hunt walked off. “Have a great time with your pet!”

Roberts released Becky from the cell, then covered his face with his hands. “Sometimes I truly hate this job,” he told her.

THANK YOU, she wrote.

Roberts sighed. “Let’s take a walk. I want to show you something.” She hesitated. “Just you and me. No soldiers. I would’ve done this earlier, but the General’s dog had to interfere. Now, please don’t get any ideas. We are alone, but there are surveillance cameras on all twenty decks, in every room, so please behave. The last thing I want is you getting hurt.

I WANT TO GO HOME, she held up.

“We can’t always get what we want,” Roberts said quietly. “But I hope this will be an adequate substitute. Here’s your new quarters, Dragon.”

I wish he’d stop calling me-- oh, my. The room was spacious. There were no windows, and whatever security cameras were in there were well hidden. The bed was queen size. “That’s very comfortable. It belonged to the General’s wife before his alimony. Now, all the accessories aren’t in yet, because I don’t know your specific person tastes. Except for those, of course.” Becky passed a large screen monitor, a CD player and a bookshelf-- then did a double take. The entire video collection of Roy Scheider was stacked in front of her, nice and neat. Oooooh! Realizing her excitement got the better of her, she almost giggled.

“Careful,” Roberts laughed. “That’s probably the only copy of Last Embrace left in the country. I have a thing for Della Reese myself.

Stop it, Doc, you’re killing me! she thought. If she giggled now, this entire beautiful room could be destroyed, and those even-more-beautiful tapes.

OH, MAN, YOU PLAY DIRTY, she wrote.

Roberts laughed again. “I just want you to be comfortable. What kind of CDs do you enjoy? It doesn’t matter how long the list is. Rock-and-roll?

BEATLES, she wrote.

“Who are they?” Roberts asked, deadpan, forcing Becky to suppress another giggle. “Seriously, the VSO will provide you with anything. You can have your pick of clothes within the hour. You can have any man on the ship, except for the General and myself, of course.” She raised her eyebrows on that one. “They’re soldiers, Rebecca. They’re near your age-bracket. Are you interested?”

In spite of herself, she wrote MMMMAYBE. Her loyalty to David was iron-clad, but, after all, there were nineteen big, strong guys aboard, twenty if you counted Fricker (!) , so maybe a little platonic fun between the troops might give her an opportunity to escape. David would understand.

“All right. You’ll have time to consider that,” Roberts said. “You have a golden retriever at home. We have a few dogs on board the hovercraft, too. Would you like one for your room?

Becky shook her head. MIGHT BURN IT. She sat down on the bed.

Roberts stood, continuing “Don’t worry about that. I can do much more for you. I can give you a halfway-normal life. You’ll be able to eat again, drink, laugh, have sex, gargle.” He sat beside her. “Open your mouth.”

She turned her head to him. “Open your mouth. No need to turn your head.” She was hesitant. “That’s an order.” Finally, he put his hand on her lips and slowly opened them. There was no flame. Becky was stunned.