Red Dragon

The sun was shining brightly in the cloudless blue sky, and the trees were dancing in the gentle breeze. A sweet smell of flowers lingered in the air, as crystal clear water gracefully flowed down a shallow stream. This was the perfect dream, a dream of home and a dream of hope. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long.

A loud siren and the flashing of red lights snapped me back into reality. It did so, so violently that I found myself sitting up right away. As the others in my team jumped off their bunk beds and got dressed, I slipped out from under my warm blanket and reached for my communicator. Once in my ear, I immediately knew what was going on.

“Kindly report to your stations immediately. We are under attack,” the robotic female voice repeated, too calm for a distress wake up call.

Following her orders, I quickly put on my suit and made my way to the door. As the other men in my team joined the stream of rushing fighters, cadets, and everyone else that were far more important than me, in the main hallway, I began to wonder if this was the last day of my life. Was I going to explode together with this massive vessel when it takes a deadly hit from the alien force outside? The chances are… I might.

Pushing those thoughts out of my head, I found myself standing at the entrance of the white walled dormitory. But just as I was about to join the stream of people, a sudden and forceful tremor sent me sprawling on all fours. I heard questions being raised all around me immediately, but I got the answer first.

“Dex, Red Dragon has jammed! Fix it now!” the chief engineer of the starship shouted in my ears.

Hearing those words, I responded with a quick ‘O.K’ and jumped to my feet. The Red Dragon was the mother of weapons on our ship. She was the wall breaker in battles, shooting a glaring ray that broke through force fields with ease. With the Red Dragon down, we were sure to lose.

Suddenly, I felt important. The minute engineer in this giant vessel now had a role to play, and I was determined to save the day. Picking up pace, I dashed through the panicky crowd and scrambled down flights of stairs to the base of the ship. Once I was in the engine room, I headed to a metal trapdoor on the floor, engraved with the warning, ‘Do not enter during battle’. Whoever decided the warning probably never envisioned a real battle.

Without wasting anymore time, I swept my identification wrist tag across the door and it slid open. Once I saw the ladder leading downwards, I jumped into it and hurried down. When I reached the bottom, I was standing in a triangular room with the Red Dragon positioned at the front. It was a huge, cylindrical weapon with tubes connected to it. It also occupied the entire room, giving me barely any space to move about. Hence, it was not hard to find the reason of the weapon being jammed.

“Dex, what’s the hold up?!” the chief engineer demanded through my communicator.

“There’s a dent in the wall pushing up against the Red Dragon,” I said.

“Fix it!” the chief engineer ordered.

I had no idea what he wanted me to do, as the dent was not something I could kick back in place. As I took a closer look at the Red Dragon, I noticed that a couple of its tubes were disconnected from the weapon, and the dent was making it impossible for me to reconnect them. Cracking my head for a solution, I attempted to kick the wall.

Leaning against the ladder, I gave the hardest kick I could give. There was a loud thump but the dent remained. Just as I was about to give it another go, another sudden tremor sent me stumbling forward. My chest landed heavily onto the back of the weapon, forcing the air in my lungs out. Quickly drawing in a deep breath, I returned to my position at the ladder and gave another kick.

“We need the Red Dragon now!” the chief engineer’s voice screamed in my ear.

I know! I thought to myself. When the chief engineer began demanding a miracle, I pulled my communicator off and threw it to the ground. Then, without having any other option, I kicked continuously at the dent in the wall.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve! I stopped to catch my breath. My brief resting period was accompanied by another tremor that propelled me towards the dent. It was then that I noticed the little difference I made through my kicks.

Picking up the tubes on the ground, I began locking them into their positions through the gap I had made. The moment the last tube was secured, the Red Dragon began glowing red. That was when a new wave of panic hit me. The Red Dragon was charging and the control center did not even care that I was with it. Dashing back to the ladder, I shuffled up the steps quickly and when I hit the metal door, I frantically waved my wrist tag across it.

At that very moment, seconds felt like hours. As the rumbling sound of the Red Dragon reached my ears, I pushed my palm violently on the metal door. If I did not leave now, I would be toast! Just as the rumbling hit an inaudible pitch the door finally slid open. Pushing my way out, I was safely outside of the Red Dragon’s lair a second before the floor beneath me heated up; a sign that the Red Dragon was just fired.

It did not take me long to feel insignificant again. I was nearly collateral damage and I did not feel any better about it even after we won the war. The Red Dragon successfully took down the enemy’s defences, making their mother ship vulnerable to our attacks. Once the mother ship was down, they fled. Hurray.

As I stood with the crowd outside the command center, I found myself lacking a cheer for the captain and his team. I was going to let them pass me by, but to my surprise, someone decided not to. The captain, a man I knew but never spoke to, stopped in his tracks when he was in front of me and said, “Thank you.”

At first, I thought I was imagining the whole scene. But after hearing him repeat the words and giving my shoulder a squeeze, I found myself nodding my head with a small smile. Suddenly, I felt valued. It may seem as though my feelings are prone to flipping sides, but I can assure you it would not any longer. The captain thanked me because he knew I was important to the win. And no matter how small or low I ranked in this giant vessel, I was needed.

For once in my life, I knew I was right where I belonged. Not home on earth, but in space as an engineer that made a difference.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Do you feel small and insignificant? Like a spec of dust that makes no difference in this world? Let me just tell you that you’re quite the opposite. Not all of us were meant to make headlines and be a star, but all of us were meant to make a difference. Wherever we are in life, we are inspiring, changing, and influencing lives. We are right where we are supposed to be, and we should never ever doubt ourselves. I know a lot of us feel like we don’t matter, but I just want to tell you that you do. You matter to me too, as a reader of my story! So don’t let anyone tell you otherwise 🙂

Anyway, this is actually my first try on pure science fiction. I’m planning my third novel to be set in that genre, hence I decided to test it out through a short story. So let me know what you think of it in the comments below! Your comment is important to me 🙂

© 2014 Jeyna Grace

(For more short stories, click HERE)

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The First Dream

Tad was special. His mother was told that she could not bear any child, and when the doctors told her she was pregnant, his parents immediately knew he was a miracle. The day he was born, the stars sparkled in the clear dark sky and a bird sang a beautiful song as it perched by the window, watching the baby boy breathe his first breath.

Tad had dark hair and big brown eyes that would light up every time someone made a funny face, forcing him into the most adorable giggles a baby could give. He was the talk of the town for a while as his presence gave dark times a glint of hope.

As Tad grew older, his father pampered him more than his brothers. He was given better clothes and was spared from the farm work. But on the down side, Tad was forced to study, day in and day out. As though education was only made for him and not his brothers.

At the age of 7, something rather peculiar happened. One night, while Tad was asleep in the room he shared with his brothers, he heard someone calling to him. Even under the loud thundering rain, the voice was so distinct as though it was in his head. And when he finally could not ignore it any longer, Tad got up and squinted his eyes in the dark, hoping to find the source. The same deep voice then told him to look out the window and Tad obediently did as he was told.

When he pressed his palms on the cold window pane, he saw a baby bird in a nest, on a tree near the window. Its parents were not around and it was struggling to stay in its wobbling nest as the wind blew. Tad tried to pry the window open, to safe the baby bird from impending danger, but his small hands could barely lift the weight of the tightly bolted panels.

And then the worst imagination Tad could have at that moment, happened. The nest fell and Tad gasps. But to his surprise, the baby bird took off into the sky, flapping its small wings as it battled the strong winds. Every time the bird seemed to be loosing its fight with the wind and the rain, it would force itself to try harder. And every time it tried, it succeeded. Tad watched for a while before he felt a heaviness in his eyelids and as everything plummeted into darkness, Tad could not even remember walking back to his mat on the floor.

The next morning, Tad hurried out to see the nest, hoping to be able to place it back to where it was, but there was none.

“Where’s the nest?” Tad asked himself as he looked around the tree.

“What nest?” Roth, his oldest brother, asked.

“There was a nest. I saw a nest last night and the wind blew it off the tree.”

“Well, if the wind blew it off, I guess you won’t find it anymore,” Roth said as he walked off to his morning chores.

“But…”

“I kicked the nest, destroyed it, so the birds won’t have a home anymore.” Simon, his third oldest brother, smirked with his arms folded by the door.

“Why would you?! The baby bird won’t find its home anymore!”

“Aw. I imagine the baby bird to be you, lost and alone, with no home, and no mommy and daddy to cry to,” Simon said and laughed.

“You’re mean!’

“And just like the bird, nobody wants you.” Simon shoved Tad against the tree before he left.

What Simon said made Tad scramble around, looking harder for the nest, but when he found none, he retreated to a corner in his room and sobbed. He didn’t know how long he was there until his mother came looking for him. When she heard his soft sobs, she hurried to his side and gave him a hug.

“Mommy, the baby bird is all alone,” Tad said softly as his wet brown eyes stared out the window.

“Baby, there was never a nest in that tree,” his mother whispered in his ear. His brothers must have told her the story.

“But I saw it last night!”

“It was a dream.”

“No, it was real!”

“It was a dream Tad. If there was a nest, I would know. Trust me o.k?”

 “But mommy, the baby bird fell and -“

“Don’t worry about the baby bird, it will be strong, even on its own. It will learn to fly and reach for the stars. Just like you!” his mother said as she tapped his nose.

“Like me?”

“If ever you think you are alone, and if the world throws you out of your nest, just trust yourself and fly.”

Tad nodded and gave his mother a tight hug. If only he knew his mother’s words would carry so much weight in the future, he would have memorized it day and night.

Tad never knew his first dream would come to pass, in fact, he had forgotten about it over the years. But as he fell in and out of consciousness in the sweat smelling van, after the cold-hearted betrayal of his brothers, he vaguely recalled what his mother said, and it was the strength he held on to for as long as he could.

“If the world throws you out of your nest, just trust yourself and fly.”

(Wanna know what happened to Tad? Get an E-book copy of The Dreamer at USD3!  Visit the bookstore to purchase one!)