Shadowrun 01 - Never Deal With A Dragon (37 page)

Stuffing the pics away, she took out the chip case and turned it over in her hands. It too would be analyzed, but she suspected that, as with the pics, nothing of note would found. At least nothing hidden. Among the instructional chips there was a Bible. Most magicians, whatever their magical tradition, had little to do with organized religion.

Then there was the Narcoject, a pacifist's weapon. Not a common choice among shadowrunners, but then this one was new to the underside. He was a curious fellow, full of contradictions. Such a personality was rarely predictable or reliably controlled. Verner hardly seemed a suitable pawn for her master's game.

The note had said, "Go to the doors at the end and wait."

Sam walked in the direction the nurse had pointed, the corridor empty and quiet. With its dim lighting and rough, dark cement floor, the place looked far from high-tech. He passed a few doors, most of them large enough to admit a truck, though a few were the size of his cell-like recovery room. All the doors were unmarked and the watchful cameras hanging from the ceiling in clear plastic globes discouraged him from trying to open any. His footsteps echoed off the widely spaced walls, marking a steady rhythm. If his pace was slower than usual, it was because his side was still stiff and the muscles weak from lack of use. The rough fabric of the new clothes chafed, and his leg muscles felt mushy. His ankle no longer pained him, but he had walked little in the last few days.

While he lay recovering from his ordeal, Sam's only visitors had been a doctor and a pair of nurses. He had learned little from them, for they spoke only French and seemed not to understand his English or Japanese. The only sign of Jacqueline had been a note from her bidding him to be patient and recover. Had the words not been on paper, he might have thought her a part of his strange dreams on the mesa.

The first thing he had done on awakening was to get out of bed to try the door controls. That they were inoperable distressed him, but he was too weak to attempt running away. Where would he have gone? Sam didn't even know where he was. And the only clothing in the room was a hospital gown hardly suitable for traveling.

The doctor and nurses had been efficient and solicitous, but uninformative. Their language was circumstantial evidence that he was in Quebec, but far from definitive. They hadn't even twitched when he had mentioned Quebec or Genomics, both words that would have been understandable even if all the rest were not. Had Jacqueline lied when saying she would take him to Genomics, claiming it was her employer? Wherever he was, the medical equipment in the room and the attention he received were top-notch. He had rapidly regained his strength.

Sometime during the second day, one of the nurses brought a tray with a datareader and the few belongings Sam had carried with him in the
Little Eagle
. These included the Narcoject, which had been cleaned and oiled. The ammunition had been removed. It was distressing to see how poorly his old photographs had fared, but when all this was over he would try to get them restored.

Nothing was missing from the chip case, whose contents were the only alternative to staring at the walls. He reread Bible passages that had comforted him in the past, but now he saw odd interpretations for them and caught himself wondering what Dog would think of them. Thoughts of Dog had turned to thoughts of magic and so he had begun to scan the professor's instructional chips.

Some descriptions of the astral experience awakened disturbing memories of his dream on the mesa. Cautiously, dreading success, he had tried the exercises for astral projection. His first attempt had brought on an airy feeling while the colors in the room shifted, much as the colors had done on the mesa. From the texts, he expected to be able to pass beyond the walls of the room, but he stayed right there on the bed, unable to move.

In the midst of one exercise, the doctor had entered the room. She had seemed full of a green light that, except for a dimness on her right index finger, glowed brightly through her skin. The apparition had startled Sam back to wakefulness, where he saw that her finger was bandaged. He had husbanded his strength and practiced further, but never again achieved that state while another person was in the room.

Now, as he approached the great double door that sealed the end of the corridor, he wondered if his astral perceptions had been only more hallucinations. If real, they should enable him to see what waited on the other side. What harm in another try?

He composed himself and willed the shift. The light muted and the color shift began, then everything jerked back to normal, with Sam suddenly lying on the floor. The result brought back memories of the Dwarf mage in Laverty's guardroom and Sato's magical bodyguard. Both had seemed to slumber, giving Sam the impression they were lackadaisical about their work. Now he realized they might have been working after all, using astral projection while their bodies seemed to sleep. He picked himself up, stepped to the corridor wall, and leaned against it. The exercise text hadn't warned that he would lose control of his muscles, only recommended lying down to practice. Now he knew . Braced, he tried again.

Once the colors shifted, he forced his point of reference to the door, hesitating a moment before pressing forward. His vision blackened for a fraction of a second, and then he was perceiving the chamber beyond the doors. Or at least thinking he was.

The immediate area was an antechamber that opened onto a larger space. On the walls hung paintings of great beauty, their emotional content varying wildly. The lure of those images and the pulsing sculptures that stood beneath the paintings at first distracted him, but once his view touched on the prominent occupant, he had eyes for nothing else. Behind a transparent wall of blue and enthroned on a mound of gold, silver, and jewels, lay a Dragon.

The beast seemed made of golden crystal that sparked power with every motion. Distortions of light like tiny auroras flickered in the air about its head. The Dragon was in conversation with a tall, hairy figure that Sam recognized at once as Jacqueline, though she looked different. The Sasquatch carried a tasseled shoulder bag and an amulet of intricate design hung around her neck. At her side flashed a smaller aurora. Sam had no time to register more, because the Sasquatch bowed as though receiving orders. With the conversation over, Sam feared the Dragon would somehow see him if its attention turned his way. He dreaded discovery, for his spying would be considered impolite, at best. He knew the stakes had gone up and did not want to compromise his position with his apparent host, whatever that position might be. Besides, his new ability was an asset, all the more potent if kept secret. He retreated.

Sam was standing in the middle of the corridor when the doors swung open and an attractive woman with silver-blonde hair exited the chamber. She wore a business suit, but her necklace pendant was identical to Jacqueline's amulet.

"Ah, Monsieur Verner," she said. "You may go right in."

There was no recognition on her face, and no sign that she had noted his intrusion. He nodded and walked past her, wondering what kind of game this was.

The moment Sam crossed the threshold, his eyes were riveted on the Dragon. Its golden scales glinted brightly, seeming to reflect and merge with the sparkling wealth that made up its bed. Its long neck was arched and its chin rested on a peninsula of treasure near the edge of the mound. It appeared to be asleep.

Sam drew nearer, treading softly. Of the rippling auroras there was no sign, but he suspected that whatever magic they represented had not gone away. The blue wall was also invisible, but he felt a tingling as he stepped past where it had stood. Looking down, he noted a strip of arcane symbols inlaid in the floor.

Nearing the Dragon, Sam became truly aware of the beast's size. Its head was longer than he was tall, and several of the teeth, jutting past the scaly lips, were longer than one of his hands. It was the first Western Dragon he had ever been near, but something about it was familiar. He put it down to general dragonishness because its odor was similar to Tessien's. He took another few steps closer, stopping when he felt the breath sighing through the Dragon's nostrils ruffling the light cloth of his trouser leg. The beast's presence was oppressive, and Sam longed to flee, to escape from the great predator. He held his ground, though his knees felt weak and his legs rubbery.

Should he speak? What does one say to a Dragon?

The eyes opened, regarding him with pools of liquid opal.

"
I am Lofwyr
."

It was as though Sam's ears heard words, but he recognized that the Dragon's voice was only in his head. He had not realized it before, but Tessien spoke the same way. This creature, however, was far more menacing than the feathered serpent. That worried Sam. It lay before him almost dormant, while Tessien had destroyed a panzer with flame and magic. He swallowed nervously, then hoped his voice would remain steady. "They call me Twist," he said.

"
Your
they
are not many, Samuel Verner
." Amusement rippled in the air. "
Though I expect their numbers will grow
."

Startled by its attitude and use of his real name, Sam forgot some of his fear. "You know who I am?"

"
Obviously
."

The dracoform had the advantage of knowledge while Sam was in the dark. How did this beast come to know about him? Emboldened by his annoyance, he asked, "What do you want with me? Why have you brought me here?"

"
You are here because I wish to help you
."

Help was the last thing Sam expected from a Dragon. "Why is that? We've never even met before today."

"
My reasons are my own
.
As Jacqueline informed you, we have a mutual interest in the affairs of Genomics Corporation
."

Unless the creature could read his mind, denial seemed the safest course. "I have no interest in Genomics."

"
You had a decker inquiring into its affairs and personnel
."

"What is that to you?" Sam asked with a brashness he really didn't feel. "Are you a cop? Are you going to charge me with data theft or something?"

"
So belligerent
." The Dragon's expression remained placid. If that fixed, toothy smile could be called placid. Sam felt its disdainful tolerance. "
A. A. Wilson, an employee of Genomics, seems to be someone who interests you particularly
."

"So?"

"
Mr. Verner, you are not a child of your kind
.
Leave off the games
.
Normally, I would take your prying less than well, but your poking about has alerted me to an injustice against me and mine
.

"
Doctor Wilson has been making unauthorized use of Genomics resources and personnel in a project of his own
.
Though such initiative is sometimes admirable, he has not had the good judgement to confide his successes to me
.
As benefactor, I have supported him, symbolically fed and clothed him, and now he shows his gratitude by gifting another with the fruits of his labors
.
You are familiar with
Mister Drake?
"

All too
, Sam thought.

"
I can see that you are
."

Sam relaxed the muscles in his face, realizing it wouldn't take a mind-reader to see his hate. "Do you want to help me bring him to justice? He has deaths to answer for."

"
Death is the only answer for death, Samuel Verner
.

"
Though you have tasted his violent villainy, he has caused little harm to me and mine as yet
.
Were he to do so, I would take action and openly chastise him
.
But a solution suited to me is not necessarily suited to you
.

"
Any direct action by me would be hard to justify in your world's courts
.
He has committed no crime against me
.
Has he stolen from me or killed any of my retainers? Until now, he has only taken advantage of a faithless person, who will face his own reckoning in the fullness of time
.

"
Whether by plan or chance, all evidence of the misuse of Genomics resources leads only to Doctor Wilson
.
The doctor has been deceived by a lying tongue into believing that he works in his own interest
.
In the end, Doctor Wilson will be returned to the Earth and I will
be deprived of the benefits that I sought to nurture
.

"
It is presumptuous of this plotter to believe that he may cull his feast from a herd that I have bred
.
And I find this schemer and his presumption
. . .
offensive
." Contempt hung in the air. "
I am informed that you too find this Mister Drake offensive
.
And that is where our mutual interest lies
."

"So you want me to do something about Drake." Sam sensed the Dragon's agreement, and suspected he knew what Lofwyr wanted him to do. "
I won't kill him for you
."

"
I understand
.
If you killed him, it would be for yourself
."

"Just what do you want?"

"
I have yet to determine the exact nature of Mister Drake's plans
.
I find that vexing
.
What I want is for you to continue your efforts against Mister Drake, to uncover his scheme, and report it to me
."

"Why not have Jacqueline do it? She seems quite good at finding things and she's already on your payroll. Why me?"

"
You are an unanticipated player
."

Player? People had suffered and died, but this creature seemed to think it was all part of some game. Did the Dragon see Humans as nothing more than pawns to be shuffled around a gameboard?

The Dragon stretched a paw and raked talons through its hoard. Sam took the motion to indicate its response to any refusals.

"
Will you do as I ask?
"

Sam feared to say no and dreaded saying yes. He needed a way out that would not anger the Dragon. "What do I get for doing your dirty work?"