CHAPTER 10
Rangers Rick and Mike
The day after the battle, Rick interviewed George and Grog on what had happened and where things stood. George found that he already knew more about what was really happening than did Rick.
“So Jewel was really a dragon?” Rick asked in astonishment.
Even after all that had happened Rick still had doubts. “Looks that way,” George agreed. “Of course on Earth usually she’s a crow. But she had to become a dragon to fight the other dragons.”
“And personally I’m alright with that part. But what gets me in hot water with my bosses is that this whole project was supposed to protect Earth from dragons and other nasty folk, for which we established our Treaty with the elves. Now it seems that not all dragons are bad.”
“Looks that way. But that’s a good thing, right? Otherwise we’d all be toast.”
“Yes, but we weren’t prepared for the contingency," said Rick. "We detonated two nuclear weapons. That’s upsetting to a lot of folks.”
“Me included,” said George.
“The dragon being here was a violation of the Treaty.”
“In any case, Jewel saved the damn planet,” George pointed out. "We won!"
“And that’s a good thing, son, though many in the Government dispute our view of events. My point is, I have to recommend tactics to DoD for various contingencies based on my understanding of the situation, which evidently is not very complete. For example, I still don’t know exactly what the ultimate weapon for use against the dragons is, even though we’ve been guarding it for many years.”
George was astonished. All these years and Rick never known about the egg! “It’s safe here with me. I guess Harry felt you didn’t need to know exactly what it was, so I suppose neither do I. Sorry!”
“I need to know more,” Rick insisted. "We can't be blind-sided this way!"
“Join the club," said George. " I’ve got a lot to learn myself.”
“I wish there were time, George but the bottom line is this: I’m out of time.” The old man hung his head.
“What?” George responded. “What do you mean?”
“I’m being replaced.”
“Replaced? Why?” Mary asked. "Didn't you just help to save the Earth?"
“A lot of reasons. The department has been trying to retire me for years simply because of my age. There’s a new generation of management that doesn’t remember Mystery Man or how things got started, and they think this whole Narma and dragon thing is a lot of hokum. My management is pretty fed up with me and my project. Now with the dragons and the nukes and everything, they’re more confused than ever, and feel it’s at last time for a change. I suspect they want this place all under their direct control, whatever it is.”
“That’s crazy.”
“Humans not wise,” added Grog with voice and thought, who had been quietly listening.
“What about the Treaty?” George asked Rick. "Tell me about it."
“Treaty of humans with elves,” added the troll.
“Even with Harry and me gone the Treaty should help stabilize things a bit,” said Rick, “but I suspect the Government will want to rethink everything, including the Treaty. I brought you a copy of it, in case you have trouble finding Harry’s copy.” He pulled several sheets of paper from a pocket and handed it to George.
“Not wise to make big changes,” stated the troll. “Elves will not be happy. Elves need to approve any Treaty changes.”
“That’s what I told the Government," said Rick. "I’ll try to still be around for a week or two to break in my replacement, but that’s about all, I expect. I’m long overdue for retirement. My bosses may have other ideas about me being around for even only a couple of weeks.”
“I’ll do whatever I can to keep you around as long as I can,” George said.
George and Grog helped Rick get the power truck out to the road, through rapidly recovering forest that would be fully restored within days. Rick gave a little wave goodbye as he drove away.
Thanks to Ranger Rick, conventional complications that otherwise might have arisen from the death of Harry Simple were avoided. Over the next few days there were no inquests, investigations, or funerals since officially, Harry hadn’t died. Utility bills, it turns out, didn’t exist anyway, nor did property taxes. These were already taken care of by the Government. George also received cash weekly in the mail from Rick for day to day expenses.
Meanwhile George and Mary studied the Treaty. It was written in obscure legalize, but Mary seemed to understand it. “There isn’t really that much to it.” She concluded. “It says that this house and grounds are a foreign embassy, with Harry the elf ambassador. There are some generalities about cooperation against a common threat to Earth and Narma that includes dragons, and some specifics about the Feds leaving the forest and the house alone except for a single representative that has limited visitation rights, and it talks about continuing financial compensation. That’s about it; it’s all a little vague.”
“I don’t like it,” said George. “Further details have been based on the personal relationship between Harry and Rick, and Harry is gone, and Rick is soon gone.”
In the meantime, George learned more from Grog. The egg was the last known male dragon egg in existence, as the Dark One had been destroying rival male dragons and their eggs for many centuries. Harry and the elves found the last egg and brought it to Earth for safe keeping, hoping to hatch a rival that could stand up to the Dark One. There was resulting trouble with the Horde and other Narma bad players that George's mother also helped resolve, at least temporarily.
Certain humans were particularly adept at communicating with and stimulating the birth of baby dragons. Several thousand humans lived on Narma. They had for thousands of years enjoyed a special status by being companions to dragons. That all changed when the Evil One took power and all but wiped out humans on Narma. That is why elves rediscovered how to travel to Earth and why they solicited Harry to help them seek the last male egg. For many centuries elves had nurtured a legend of a human that would come and find a male egg. A young relative of that hero would hatch it, and together with the young male dragon defeat the Evil One.
As powerful as female dragons were, male dragons were many times more powerful. Only another male would have a chance against the Evil One.
George’s mother had helped defeat members of the Evil Horde that sought the egg, using stronger psychic capabilities than even Harry had. Therefore George’s birth very much interested Harry and the elves.
For George it all fit together now, but the elf legends seemed more like wishful thinking than anything else. The Evil Dark One was a dragon of unimaginable power. It had defeated all enemies for over a thousand years, including many other male dragons, and absorbed the strength of many dragons and other creatures of power. How could a young human and a baby dragon ever hope to destroy such a creature? George felt inadequate to the task. In human terms he might be strong, but compared with even a female dragon his powers were of little consequence.
He suspected the same was true of his dragon. It had to be no more than about four feet long. What could it do against the Dark One, a monster that was much more powerful than Jewel?
George tried several times a day to contact the hatchling telepathically to no avail. It could be somewhere in the house or forest. It could also be half way around the world or in Narma, but George didn’t think so. Somehow he knew his partner dragon was not more than a few miles away. Also, he dreamed nightly of either being a dragon or being with a dragon.
While exercising his emerging telepathic skills George began to read thoughts that hadn't been intended to be sent. It happened with Johnny first and was confusing, as Johnny wasn't even telepathic, and his thoughts were all over the place, though many of them were about girls. This was the 'mind reading' that Harry had mentioned. It was very annoying, and he had to quickly learn how to block himself from doing it. Whenever he encountered othe
r people he practiced reading/not reading their minds, including both their current thoughts and memories.
It didn't work for Mary. He couldn't read her thoughts but she could clearly tell when he was trying to and didn't like it. "I can appreciate that you have to learn how to use your skills but practice mind reading on Johnny and Rick, not me," she told him.
"Mostly I'm learning how to not read minds," said George.
"Exactly!" said Mary. "That's one of the hard things about it, and you need to learn that when you're in a crowd like in school or it will drive you crazy. But you need to also respect the privacy of people, and you also need to learn how to block your own thoughts."
"I hadn't even thought of that," said George.
"Well you do rather blazingly broadcast your own thoughts you know," she informed him. "Like right now you're thinking that I'm really cute and you're becoming very concerned that I may be upset with you."
"Holly cannoli!" George said and thought. "Am I that transparent?"
Mary laughed. "Don't be overly upset, George, people think a lot of things, much of it driven by hormones and fears. It's nothing to be ashamed of. You just need some practice. And yes, of course I'll help you."
They spend hours practicing, until George could adeptly consciously control his telepathy, both input and output.
"With practice you'll do it automatically, said Mary. And by the way I think you're cute too, in case you were wondering."
Of course he was. They practiced telepathic skills with each other for several days, until George felt much more confident and comfortable.
One morning George was surprised to wake with a large, ornate ring on his right index finger. It was made of a hard, pure white, metallic material that he couldn’t identify, and shaped like a serpentine dragon that curled so snugly around his finger that he couldn’t remove it. As the days passed he continued to be confounded by the dragon ring, which sometimes was on his finger and sometimes was not; its presence or absence on his finger was apparently completely out of his control.
Meanwhile the outside world also moved along and demanded attention. The start of school was scheduled for the next week. The day before classes began, George, Mary, and Johnny were out by the street, sitting on the curb, talking about classes they would take, when a big black limousine pulled up next to them. Four big strange men in black suits got out and confronted the teenagers.
One stepped up to George, flashed some sort of badge at him, and extended his hand. “I’m Mike, Rick’s replacement.” He was in his mid-thirties and the size of a pro football player - a defensive lineman maybe.
George shook the man’s big hand, taking care not to crush it.
“Let’s all go to the house and talk,” Mike said.
“Only you,” countered George. “Your three friends aren’t allowed.”
“I make the rules now, kid,” Mike said. The three other men took Mary and Johnny by the shoulders and pushed them roughly towards the gate.
“Let my friends go,” George demanded, as Mike put his hands on his shoulders and attempted to turn him around. Mike couldn’t budge him an inch. George clutched Mike’s wrists and held the big man motionless. “I don’t want to hurt anyone, but you just got here and already you are threatening to break the Treaty. Let my friends go and you and I will talk.”
“Rick said you were strong, kid, but we’re the law. Somehow Rick pulled the wool over a lot of eyes for decades, scamming money, and now we’re going to prove it. We have a warrant to search the house and grounds and to arrest your uncle.”
“That’s totally crazy,” countered Mary. “The Treaty prevents anything like that. The house is foreign soil; it’s a foreign embassy. Warrants simply don’t count.”
“The so-called Treaty is based on fraud and invalid,” Mike said. “You people have been scamming the Government for decades and that stops today. Take them all to the car and hold them there while we do the search,” he ordered his agents.
George let Mike and one of the other men lead him to the car. He let them open a back door. At that point he shrugged off their grip, grabbed the wrist of each man, and tossed them into the backseat. He did it as gently as he could, though there were grunts of pain from both of them. A third man let go of Johnny and tried to tackle George, but the young Chosen easily tossed him into the back seat with the other two. He closed the back door, then walked to the front of the car, where he casually lifted the car by the front bumper and turned it around, such that it was pointed towards straight down the street towards the cul-de-sac exit.
The fourth man still held Mary by the shoulders, but he looked terrified as George approached him. He suddenly reached under his jacket and pulled out a handgun.
George was a blur of motion that ended with him standing in front of the man with the gun in his own hands. He made a show of casually bending the handgun’s barrel into a twisted U-shape before handing it back to the man.
“Get into the front seat and drive away,” commanded George. “Next time Mike, come back with only Rick,” he added, as the man nervously climbed into the driver’s seat. “Better yet, don’t you come back at all. I don’t think that you’re suitable as a diplomat. You guys need to pay attention to the Treaty.”
“I don’t have the car keys,” said the driver, rather meekly.
George reached in and touched the steering wheel and the car engine roared to life. It drove away rapidly, as Johnny hooted and laughed.
But George and Mary exchanged sober worried looks.
"At least their words matched their thoughts; they weren't being deceitful," Mary noted.
"You're always looking for the good in people Sis," said Johnny. "Yes, those were genuine ass-holes."
“I hope I wasn’t too pushy with those agents,” George said.
“Wasn’t much choice though,” Mary said, shrugging. “I was tempted to do what you did but decided not to show them that I have some powers myself. We’re lucky my Dad didn’t see or he would have freaked. We’re also lucky almost everyone else in the neighborhood is at work. How did you start their car?”
“I don’t know" said George. "I just somehow knew that I could, so I did it.”
“Shocking,” Mary quipped.
“That was so lame!” said Johnny. “What they did, I mean.”
“You’re right Bro,” agreed Mary. “But I suspect it’s only the beginning.”
As if on cue, three big men in jungle camouflage outfits came tumbling out of the front yard and onto the street.
“And stay out,” said a loud troll voice.
The three men gathered their feet and wits as a collection of guns, radios, and other equipment crash landed around them. All of it was crushed and twisted.
“Go away, and please take your trash with you,” admonished Johnny. "Trespassers will not be tolerated."
Following a head-nod by one of the men, they all picked up what was left of their gear and walked towards the cul-de-sac exit, without ever saying a word, but with frequent looks back towards the front yard to assure themselves that they weren’t being followed by the troll.
“Good riddance,” remarked Johnny.
“What was all that ruckus?” asked Trent Williams, as he emerged from his house and crossed the front yard to approach the teens.
“Nothing much, Dad,” said Johnny.
“Salesmen, I guess,” added George.
“Well, Harry sure took care of them!” Mr. Williams said, as he watched the three men reach the far end of the cul-de-sac and pile into a waiting car. “I heard a car drive away fast, that’s what got my attention. It looked like a big black limo.”
“That’s right,” said Mary. “Harry told off their driver first, then went after the salesmen. He sure doesn’t like salesmen!”
“I guess not,” Mr. Williams agreed. “You guys coming home for lunch?”
“In a couple hours, Dad,” said Mary.
“Good. You come too, George, if you want. I’ll ord
er extra pizza and we’ll stuff you silly.”
“Thanks,” agreed George. “I’d love to.”
The teens and their troll friend together retired to the Simple House to talk. “I don’t like it,” began George. “Rick didn’t even trust this guy Mike enough to even tell him that Harry is dead. They tried to force themselves into the house and push us around. I wouldn’t be surprised if they arrest us when we start school tomorrow.”
“This is just a regular top secret project for them,” added Johnny. “They could get rid of us in the name of national security. You see that on TV shows all the time.”
“That would be an end to national security when it comes to the Portal threat,” said Mary. “But it looks like they don’t believe that.”
“Let me use your cell phone?” George asked her. “Harry wrote down a few phone numbers. I want to talk to Rick or Rick’s boss.”
Rick didn’t answer, so he dialed the other number. “This is George Lock, Harry’s nephew,” he told the person who answered the phone. “Is this Rick’s boss?”
“Rick’s been taken off your case and retired,” said the voice, in monotone. "He's gone."
“That’s unsatisfactory,” George replied bluntly.
“Are you speaking for your uncle?”
“Absolutely. Rick told us himself that he was retiring but there is a transition period that he needs to support. That is acceptable, but only if Rick’s replacement is acceptable to both us and to Rick.”
“Rick’s not in control anymore.”
“Tell whoever is in control that Mike is unsatisfactory as the Government representative. We want a different representative, a human being with integrity that treats people with respect and doesn’t push them around in violation of the Treaty, and we trust only Rick to pick a replacement and help with the transition.”
“You’re in no position to dictate terms.”
“We are; you aren’t. You have already broken the Treaty. If we can’t continue to work with you similar to the way we have worked with Rick, we will be forced to leave.”
“Leave? What do you mean?”
“You heard me correctly. Earth and Narma have a common enemy. This is much too important for all of Earth to be bungled by you people. We’ll need to establish ourselves somewhere else if the United States won’t meet its Treaty commitments.”
“Another country?”
“Perhaps; but just as likely it would be another planet or universe.”
“We’re not convinced there is another planet or universe, or that the threat you describe is real, but in any case we have certain requirements that must be satisfied.”
“Then have Rick and your proposed new suitable replacement representative come and talk to us about whatever those requirements are, and we’ll accommodate them if we can. Whatever your concerns or doubts are, we can work on them together.”
“Alright. We’ll give you another chance. Tomorrow at noon, OK?”
“Alright, we’ll give YOU another chance. Make it 4 PM. Most of us have school tomorrow. And one more thing.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t bug me, Mary or Johnny, and don’t EVER try to sneak onto our property or the Williams property again. If Rick is indeed right and you are wrong, and the threat is indeed real, the consequences could be enormous. I advise you strongly not to screw this up.”
****