Page 39 of Joven's Bride
“I could,meomee. But I can’t fly.”
“What about a forcefield or something?”
“I’ll see what I can do,” he said. “The raptors are protected, too.”
“I don’t want to hurt them either; I just don’t want them to hurt the baby.”
Joven leaned toward her and lightly kissed her mouth.
“What was that for?” she asked.
“Just because I love you,meomee.
The Selkeres Wildlife Refuge was located on a high plateau about 300 klicks from the Glasica Star System Security settlement. It was barely a twenty-minute flit by hover flyer.
Before they took off, Joven went through the preflight sequence with Carly. The multipurpose vehicle could safely operate on voice command on autopilot, but he wanted Carly to learn how to fly it manually as well.
The refuge consisted of a large building that housed offices and a veterinary hospital, but there were no cages or even fencing around the property outside. There were dragons of various ages romping and playing in a meadow with some even flying around overhead.
Carly gasped when the call of a raptor flying higher above the adolescent dragons drew her attention as they were getting out of the vehicle. Joven came to her side, resting his hand at the small of her back as they started toward the building.
“Don’t worry,meomee.There is a forcefield in place so the raptor can’t get to them.”
They were greeted at the reception counter by a humanoid android who directed them to Dr. Meksaj’s infirmary. He dipped his head as he greeted them when they stepped in to the large room. There were about a dozen glassed habitats with dragons at various stages of growth lining three walls of the room.
Carly gazed around until she found the baby she’d rescued. She was walking back and forth crying. “What’s wrong with her?”
“She’s hungry. I was waiting for you to arrive so I could demonstrate how to feed her. It’s only a few minutes past her feeding time.” The vet when to the cubicle and the glass front raised up and the little dragon raised up on its hind legs for Meksaj to pick her up.
She was about the size of a domestic cat from Earth. Since she’d rescued the baby dragon, Carly had called up every bit of information she could find on them. Full grown, she would be about the size of a large dog. They lived in herds or flicks with a hierarchy similar to wolves on Earth. These dragons could be just as fierce. They would have to be to take on those huge raptors.
The animals mated for life and their young were born live on outcroppings on the side of mountain cliffs. It took the equivalent of two years for them to fledge and learn to hunt for their food. Even before she learned that she would be raising the baby she found, Carly decided to compile a learning module devoted to dragons in the courses she planned.
The baby dragon called out to her when it saw Carly though she only had her for a short time.
“There is nothing complicated about feeding her,” said Dr. Meksaj. “We will give you a refillable canister of the powdered food. You mix it with warm water to make a thick gruel and feed her from the large syringe.”
He gestured at everything laid out on the table in front of them. As the little dragon struggled, trying to get to Carly, the veterinarian handed it to her. The small reptilian settled down immediately making little purring sounds.
While she and Joven watched, Dr. Meksaj opened the canister and used the scoop inside to measure out two scoops into a metal dish. He added water from the spigot of the sink built into the table. Using a small paddle, he mixed it until it was the consistency of pudding then drew it into a large syringe.
As soon as the dragon saw the syringe she started bleating again and opened her mouth like a baby bird. Dr. Meksaj put the tip of the syringe into its mouth and squeezed the plunger slowly squirting the contents into the dragon’s mouth. The little head bobbed as it steadily swallowed the contents of the syringe.
“Right now, she is taking two filled syringes of the mixture every four hours around the clock. Basically, like a humanoid baby,” he said, refilling the syringe. “Now you try it.”
Carly had no trouble feeding her new charge, and soon after she finished it the dragon fell asleep in her arms. “Do you know why the other dragons wouldn’t take her back?”
“She must not be from their flock.”
“Maybe she is from the dragon flock on our side of the Preserve,” Joven said.
“The Selkeres mountains stretch out for 2000 klicks and there are hundreds of flocks. But it’s likely she is from a radius of about 100 klicks from where you found her.”
“Do you think she could be released into the wild when she is older?”
“You may have no choice when she comes into heat.”
“If she wants to go, then we will let her,” said Carly.
“By then, she will be big enough that the raptors will probably leave her alone,” Dr. Meksaj said. “I’ve sent all the instructions to your home AI. If you have any questions or problems, just call me. She is fully healed and healthy. And it seems pretty clear she has bonded with you.”
“Yes, I think so. But I know she is not a pet.”
“I see dragons on our land frequently. When she is bigger, we will take her out to the meadow they frequent. Perhaps one of the flocks will accept her when she is old enough to mate.”
“In the meantime, we will be her flock.”
