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[TheBiggerFish]

+1

[crazyabe]

+1 To every thing above this post.

[Gwolfski]

bumpity bump I WANT A PET HUMAN!!!!!!!!!!!

[My Name is Immaterial]

PTW.

[LordBucket]

Q&A

"This is Search and Rescue. Who am I speaking to?"

Introduce ourselves, being sure to list our lofty titles and achievements.

Dragons lay eggs then abandon them. You never even met your progenitor, let alone received a name from her. Fortunately, humans have given you plenty of suitably impressive-sounding names and titles to fall back on.

"I AM THE GREAT DRAGON, A SERPENT OF OLD. HEAR ME AND TREMBLE, MORTAL, FOR AM THE SHINING ONE, THE BRINGER OF FIRE AND LIGHT, GOD OF THIS AGE AND PRINCE OF THE POWER OF THE AIR. MY NAME IS APOLLYON. MY NAME IS ABADDON. I AM THE DESTROYER. I AM THE WICKED ONE, THE ENEMY. I AM THE DARK ANGEL OF THE ABYSS. I AM YOUR DOOM."

You hear a muffled exchange.

"We've got a nutter, Tom"

"Just keep him talking."

The first voice responds, a bit louder.

"Well, that's a bit of a mouthful, isn't it? I suppose I'll call you 'Dragon' then, shall I? Now, Mr. Dragon, am I to understand you're holding miss Sophie captive?"

So then this is not the Coast Guardian to whom you speak. The speaker is some peon being coached to keep you talking, presumably so that the Coast Guardian can track you down while you're engaged in pointless conversation.

take the human somewhere safe, warm, get food for her (so she wont die before we get the info) and demand all her knowleedge of the world

get her to solid ground and land if possible; the coast isn't ideal, but what are you gonna do. Then we can begin asking her very basic questions; why is it "the year 2012," why are there so many lights, what do the lights come from, explain talking boxes and bird chirpers in detail, and so on.

+1

Great idea, +1

+1

+1

+1 this.

With the Coast Guardian tracking you, you decide to find solid ground that isn't attached to your lair. Covering the female with both hands to shield her from the cold, you descend back to water level and make your way towards the mainland. As you approach, it becomes clear that was once a single landmass in your day has become an archipelago of small islands leading up to where the coast now lies, further in.



You identify a suitable landing site that appears to be uninhabited. There are lit buildings on one of the other islands a short distance away, but that distance should be sufficient to keep you shrouded from human eyes. While your chosen island has no trees to provide cover, you're able to find a suitably shielded alcove, and tear away at the rock to make a flat place for your charge to rest. You yourself will lay out across the incline leading into the water. It's not ideal, but it is adequate for your purposes.

You deposit the female on the freshly sheared rock.

"REMAIN HERE IF YOU WISH TO LIVE. I WILL BRING FIRE."

You quickly fly up the higher part of the island and grab some brush. Returning it to the woman, you light it with your breath and allow her to warm herself. She removes one of her outer garments and holds her hands up the fire, rubbing them occasionally. You idly note that she smells pregnant, though her belly doesn't give any indication of it yet. After a time, her shivering stops, and you begin your questions.

"YOUR NAME IS SOPHIE."

She nods, dully.

begin asking her very basic questions; why is it "the year 2012,"

"WHY IS IT THE YEAR 2012?"

She frowns, not understanding.

"What do you mean?

"I DO NOT RECOGNIZE YOUR CALENDAR. WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN YOU SAY, THE YEAR IS 2012? WHAT IS YOUR MEASURE OF YEARS?"

"Umm, well it's the Gregorian calender, and it's supposed to measure the number of years since the birth of Jesus Christ."

"YOUR RELIGIOUS FIGURE."

"Yes."

It's difficult to reconcile that with what you know. You never paid very much attention to human religion, but you're fairly certain The Christ was supposed to have died long before you. They even have a holiday celebrating his death. If this new calendar counts years from that event, that means that the dates you're familiar with probably occur somewhere in middle. You can't simply count years and have it mean anything without knowing how the two calendars relate.

"How long has it been since the beginning of the reign of King William?"

"HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE REIGN OF KING WILLIAM?"

Sophie raises her eyebrows.

"Which William?"

Rather than answer, you wait for her to continue.

"Well, the first William was William the Conqueror, that was about 1000 years ago. The most recent was William the fourth, in the 1800s. And then there were a couple in the middle. Come to think of it, you are talking about England, right? William's quite a common name and there've been a few non-English kings named William too."

That complicates things. But assuming one of her Williams is the one from your time it does provide a general range that you've been asleep: somewhere from roughly 1000 to roughly 200 years. Speaking of which, if the calendar has changed you should probably confirm that the meaning of 'year' is still one complete cycle of the seasons, as it used to be.

"HOW LONG IS A YEAR?"

"You're serious? It's one revolution of the earth around the sun. 365 and a quarter days."

That's a far more precise definition than any you've heard, but it sounds about right. But her notion of earth movement is far more interesting.

"THE EARTH TRAVELS IN CIRCLES AROUND THE SUN?"

"Yeah?"

Her incredulous look tells you that she believes what she is saying. You're uncertain how to reconcile that with your experience.

why are there so many lights, what do the lights come from

"WHILE FLYING TO HERE, I SAW MANY LIGHTS ON THE SHORE. WHY ARE THERE SO MANY? WHAT ARE THEY MADE OF? THEY ARE NOT FIRE."

"You mean city lights? Of course they're not fire. Why would you even think that?"

"I AM THE ASKING THE QUESTIONS, MORTAL. YOU ARE ANSWERING."

She sighs.

"I don't even know how to answer. What do you mean 'why' are there so many lights? There are lights because we want lights, because it's nice to be able to see at night?"

The casualness of her statement reveals much. Given the scale of the lights you saw, the sheer vastness of the area they covered, either human civilization has expanded tremendously from small villages and castles, or their capability to spread light across the roads between towns has considerably grown. Perhaps both.

"AND THESE LIGHTS, WHAT ARE THEY MADE OF?"

"Guess you've never heard of electricity?"

"I HAVE NOT. WHAT IS ELECTRICITY?"

She scrunches up her face in thought.

"Look, I'm studying to be a psychiatrist. I'm probably not the best person to be answering this."

"NEVERTHELESS, YOU WILL ANSWER."

"Ok, look...electricity is I guess made of electrons. You get it when you spin magnets and wire together, ok? It lights up light bulbs and powers computers and things."

Magnets, you're familiar with. Dreadful stones that disrupt your sense of direction. You're unsure how stones would generate light.

explain talking boxes

"'AND THINGS,' LIKE YOUR TALKING BOX."

"My cellphone?"

She holds it up. You note that the color has returned to the flesh of her hands. You also note that her 'cellphone' is still hissing. Which presumably means the Coast Guardian is still tracking you.

"SHOW ME."

She rotates around and faces the cellphone so you can both see the colorful side. It shows a field of green, with numbers and a red circle with the words 'call in progress.'  She brushes her fingers across it and it changes to show a number of unfamiliar symbols on top of a picture of her and one of the humans you ate. She tears up for a moment, takes a deep breath then continues.

"So this is my phone. I can push buttons on it to do different things. Like, say I want directions to the nearest pub. Which, I do."

She taps one of the symbols. The display changes to white with the word 'google' colorfully lettered. She taps out a few words, and the display quickly changes to show what appears to be a crude top-view representation of the island you're on, as well as a few paragraphs of text that you deduce are names and descriptions of local establishments of the type she requested.

"Ok, apparently we're in the middle of nowhere."

"THIS DEVICE. IS IT A UNIQUE ARTIFACT?"

"What? No, everybody has a phone these days."

Fascinating. A map that can intelligently locates things in places its bearer has never visited.

"WHAT ELSE IS THIS DEVICE CAPABLE OF? CAN IT SHOW ME WHERE THE COAST GUARDIAN IS? CAN IT SHOW OTHERS THE LOCATION OF MY LAIR?"

She frowns.

"...it doesn't quite work that way. It only knows where we are because the phone is here. Most things, it only knows where they are because they've been entered onto a list somewhere. Somebody adds Patsy's Pub to the list, say, and then anyone with a phone can consult that list to find out where it is. But if something hasn't been entered, then it doesn't know where it is."

So it does have limits. Even so, the implications of such a device, such a system, are staggering.

and bird chirpers in detail, and so on.

"TELL ME OF THE RHYTHMICALLY CHIRPING BIRDS. WHAT ARE THEY AND WHY DO THEY CHIRP IN SUCH A MANNER?"

"What birds?"

"THERE ARE SOUNDS, BEYOND YOUR HEARING. THESE SOUNDS RESEMBLE BIRDS. THEY ARE ALL AROUND US, SINGING CONSTANTLY IN  NEVERENDING IDENTICAL CHIRPS."

"Yeah, I have no idea about that one. Can I go home now?"

As you ponder this, a new sound catches your ear. It sounds like a giant hummingbird. Climbing up from your alcove, you determine that whatever it is, it is coming from the north, and it is directly approaching your location.


What do you do?

[TheBiggerFish]

Well, the course of action is kind of obvious.

Get altitude on the thing and investigate.

[endlessblaze]

"how do your devices communicate with each other? what force allows it to exchange this information without heed to distance"

[vkiNm]

Inquire about the human that we ate, offer condolences if they are related. We may have made a pregnant widow.

As a noble dragon, we must show respect to the little things that keep us alive by being our food, after all.

[TheBiggerFish]

You mean the one that shot us...

[vkiNm]

There were three human, we ate one holding a small box and then we used our claw to rip the one that shot us in half then we kidnapped another. I think there might be a second female too but I'm not sure.

[TheBiggerFish]

((*goes back to check...*

Yup.

Why did we do that, again?))

[vkiNm]

Because we were hungry and there was screaming foodstuff right in front of us?

[Dustan Hache]

I have a feeling whatever that sound is, it is larger than it seems, and is definitely flying. I think we should be prepared to attack it, since this will soon be our new lair. Can we blend in with the land around us?

[Baffler]

Clearly we'll need to get rid of the phone, if it can lead the coast guardian here. We should fly off out to sea and drop it in the ocean, then circle back here after we're sure we're not being pursued. take her along and make her do it if we can't easily carry the thing ourselves.

[Yourmaster]

I have a feeling whatever that sound is, it is larger than it seems, and is definitely flying. I think we should be prepared to attack it, since this will soon be our new lair. Can we blend in with the land around us?

I disagree, as the boat was smaller than us, and certainly loud. We should move to see it before it can see our base. If it's the coast guardians, kill them.