Chapter 17- Trouble On the Horizon

  “Yes. It has all the classical signs of a dragon rider bond. The serum has suffused her body and is making genetic and physiological edits.”

  “We need to stop it!” Jett blurted out.

  The doctor looked unperturbed, “It’s too late. Your friend is now a dragon rider.”

  Jett swallowed, knowing the truth: there was no dragon. That whatever had bitten her had transformed her into something else.

  “How long before she wakes up?” Ashley asked.

  The doctor rubbed his chin. “Should be in another hour. Whatever neurologic you gave her really did a number on her.”

  “Neurologic?” Jett asked.

  The doctor nodded, “We were able to counter it. Next time, I would recommend you leave drug administration to the professionals. Any more and it could’ve led to permanent brain damage.”

  “Will she be able to bind another dragon after this?” Jett asked.

  The doctor raised his eyebrow, so Jett lied, “The dragon didn’t make it.”

  The doctor frowned and put a hand on Jett’s shoulder. “I’m sorry to hear that, but no. Another bonding would either not take or could be too much for her. Even without a dragon, she will have all the other benefits and a bright future ahead of her.”

  A ping from the doctor’s wrist alerted him to a blinking notification. “I’m sorry, I need to make reports concerning your friend. If you have any more questions, you can give them to the nurse at the front desk, and she will be able to help you.”

  Jett and his friends kept watch over Amanda until his sponsor came to talk to him. Dragon Rider Franklin pulled him into an empty room.

  “How’s your friend?”

  Jett shrugged, “The doctor said she was stable, but it sounds like the creatures injected her with a cocktail of dragon rider serum and neurologic.”

  “I read the report. It looks like she will make it out better than she went in.”

  Jett frowned, “Except she won’t ever fulfill her dream of being a dragon rider.”

  “Becoming a dragon rider is a long shot for most. Many people would pay fortunes to get just the serum.”

  “Are you sure it won’t have any other side effects?” Jett remembered the way her eyes went wide, and she did everything she could to make them go back to the swarm. Even crushing a ship with her mind.

  “Preliminary analysis says she will be fine, but we will continue to run blood samples.”

  Jett let a silence fill the room for a moment, then sharpened toward the mission. “What happened after we left?”

  Dragon Rider Franklin chuckled, “You really stirred up the nest. The little squids don’t maneuver well in space, but their ability to absorb energy weapons is annoying. Stargazer blasted them before I called in an extermination squad. I couldn’t risk them escaping.”

  Jett grimaced, “Did you find the people?”

  His sponsor frowned, “It looked like they were hiding in the nest. Whatever hive mind they had was also controlling the crew, except that they had the strength of dragon riders and the same psychokinetic power that Amanda had shown. A few of the scientists hypothesized the neurologic in the cocktail was to make them easier to control.”

  “Space zombies? The horrors turned people into superhuman space zombies?”

  His sponsor raised an eyebrow, “Not how I would phrase the situation, but it fits.”

  “So what happens now? Do we gear up and go back in?”

  His sponsor shook his head, “No, now your suspension is over, and you go back to school.”

  Jett glared at his sponsor, “There are space horrors turning people into zombies, and you want us to forget it and go back to school?”

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  His sponsor nodded, “I need you to prepare, train, and be ready for next time. There will always be a war, monster, or catastrophe waiting on the horizon. Your efforts helped us save lives. I need you to focus on becoming a better dragon rider.”

  Jett clenched his hands. He didn’t like walking away. He wanted to go back and finish what he started, but he also knew the military had the resources to do more than he ever could. He forcibly relaxed.

  “Alright.”

  Dragon Rider Franklin put a hand on his shoulder, “Good job today. I want you to know you saved lives.”

  Then his sponsor left the room. Jett spent the rest of the day relaxing with Layla and sitting with his friends as they watched Amanda sleep.

  Amanda woke a few hours later, groggy and disoriented. Her friends took her to the cafeteria. Amanda almost fell asleep in her food twice, so after finishing half her plate, they escorted her back to the carrier.

  The carrier had sleeping quarters for twelve people. Sleeping quarters, not bedrooms. The areas were little more than beds with a few drawers and a door, but Amanda was out as soon as she hit the bed. Jett idly thought about upgrades he would make, including expanding the sleeping areas.

  They were built so crew and fighter pilots could cycle off if missions took longer than a day, but he planned to use the ship as a staging and transport for his friends. He might need a larger ship in the future as Castledrive and Layla get bigger. Stargazer wouldn’t be able to fit, but Stargazer was an adult dragon, and he could almost fit.

  Jett spent the rest of the day working on the ship. He made a few quality-of-life upgrades, like giving Angie control of the lighting and doors so they didn’t need to scan into every room. He also sold some of the excess they salvaged and bought a few more parts.

  They broke even monetarily but made out like bandits when he considered all the supplies they wouldn’t need to buy.

  Jett and Kyle flew around the station to let their dragons stretch their wings and then slept on the carrier. The next day, they got up and shared breakfast. Amanda was still feeble, but she weakly smiled at her friends and was able to finish her meal. Jett talked to his sponsor to make sure she had an excuse to get out of classes. After breakfast, they flew back to school.

  Technically, Jett was still under suspension when he got back, so he spent his day with Layla in the repair dock. Some of the upgrades he bought had arrived, like additional housing for Angie and stronger scanners. He also had a few upgrades to the buggies, like miniaturized shields and an idle drive so they wouldn’t need to heat up the engine if they needed an emergency exit. It was more than he could do in a day, but more than enough to fill his time until his suspension was over.

  Layla “helped” him by nibbling on the tools so they weren’t so cumbersome to use. She didn’t understand why someone would need a foot and a half of a wrench, much to Jett’s amusement. He was very glad they had grabbed backups of the tools on their mission.

  As Jett was heading back to his apartment after spending the day upgrading the ships, he saw Kyle in the middle of a crowd of students cheering his name. Jett messaged his friend, who replied a few hours later.

  “Word got out that I went on my first mission with a sponsor. Everyone was excited and wanted to go to dinner to hear all about it.”

  “What did you tell them?” Jett wasn’t worried, more idly curious.

  “He can’t talk right now, he’s busy.” It looked like someone else had gotten hold of his friend's phone. Jett wondered if he should be worried, but it should be fine. He would have to talk to his friend in person to get answers.

  The next day, Jett went to class. Amanda still looked pale and feeble, but she also looked like she had grown a few inches.

  Jett wondered what the school would do now that she was technically a dragon rider. Would they keep her in the hopeful class or transfer her? Her growth spurt and abilities would start to manifest soon, and everyone would know. Then he wondered if the school would kick her out. She could never bond with a dragon, and the focus at school was taking care of and riding dragons.

  Jett got through his first class without falling asleep, and when he walked with Amanda to his next class, she was silent the whole way. Jett tried to get her to talk, but she only gave one-syllable answers. In his third class, he had planned to ask Kyle about what happened, but overnight, his friend had become a celebrity.

  Everyone wanted to talk to him, and in the center of the buzz was Lucy with her arm around his, her face beaming. Jett messaged his friend, “We should meet later.”

  He didn’t want to interrupt his friend. He looked like he was having fun.

  In the last class of the day, he walked in to find everyone glaring at him. He caught enough of the whispers to realize why. They blamed him for the debacle of the space flight.

  A familiar trio came into the room and walked up to him.

  Eggo sneered down at Jett, “So it turns out you aren’t so special anymore. Your sponsor found another dragon rider to run missions.”

  Confused, Jett eloquently asked, “What?”

  “Yeah, word is all over the school about Kyle Dawnrider and how he finished his first mission.”

  Jett thought about telling him that it was his mission. It was Kyle and him that did the mission together, but he knew it would be wasted breath.

  “You got me.” He said in a mocking tone, while putting his hands up.

  That only infuriated Eggo more, but before he could escalate, the professor walked in and started class. Eggo didn’t miss an opportunity to threaten him by whispering, “Watch yourself!”

  Jett shook his head. During class, he could see the professor giving him a few pointed looks, especially when it came to subjects related to safety. Jett wanted to scream out that it wasn’t his fault, but he knew it would only get him into trouble.

  After class, he dreaded leaving because there was something he knew he needed to do. He needed to talk to Amanda. He needed to tell her she would never be able to be a dragon rider. It was his mission and his responsibility.

  She was still excused, and Kyle was too busy to answer his messages. So he messaged Amanda, and he headed to her apartment. The door of her apartment slid open to show two bunk beds. Amanda stood up from her chair, where she was sitting, working on her computer.

  “Amanda, there is something I need to say to you.”

  “I know, I can’t be a dragon rider.”

  “Amanda, I want you to know-”

  Jett couldn’t speak anymore because Amanda’s lips were pressed to his.