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Cybertiger at Star City Dragonry

There was a strange sensation everywhere - and Cybertiger knew it as electrical impulses. There were computers everywhere here, surrounding her. And she'd been brought here, by the Sengihr guys, because they thought she might be good for a dragon.

Who ever heard of a dragon in a space station?

Who ever heard of a space station anyway? She had a lot to learn - and because of her new cybernetic units, she could learn it, in an instant, by inserting a chip filled with information right into her head jack. It was completely amazing. She loved every moment.

She learned about the old worlds, earth history, not-earth history... Dragon worlds, maps - she was exceptionally keen on learning the maps. Because that was something that dragonriders did, right? They had to memorize maps to get from one place to another?

Well this one place was among beautiful stars that weren't the old world's, and they weren't Alskyr's. This place... was great.

Filled with people of every description, and dragons that flew or glided around in the air, heedless of gravity or wind. Endless shops where you could fit yourself with a new arm, or skin, or get a halo installed.

Maybe she'd get some stripes put on her skin, in neon. That would make Tilla just drool. Of course, she'd also complain that it would make Cybertiger awfully easy to spot in the dark. And that would make their games of hide and seek rather pointless.

The hatching dragonets drew a huge crowd - and when the actual hatching started, every candidate (and there weren't all that many) was rounded up. Cybertiger shuffled out from her dorm, hoping that maybe she'd get lucky - and maybe they'd have an early dinner. There weren't enough candidates to go around, and Cybertiger's pern-based sensibility said that wasn't right.

The first hatching was a beautiful purple with spotty markings, rainbow colored wings. She went off to find food, and unbelievably, ignored the candidates. Cybertiger glanced from one to the other, and they shrugged. Maybe it would be okay - if the dragonet knew to just find food, that was okay, right?

Well the second one hatched, and was a dark blue with amazing rainbow markings on his wings. Another egg, hatching a copper, who was much bigger than the blue. Their mother made a rumbling sound, because they looked about to fight. And both of them wandered off to find food. However, one candidate stopped the copper from leaving. Finally, the other two eggs were shaking. A very bright blue dragonet spread his semi-transparent wings, and he was seemingly in awe of his surroundings.

But he ran straight for the food, like his siblings. That left Cybertiger with a weird sensation in her gut. What if she didn't pair up at all? Would she have to stay here? Not that it would be a bad thing, mind, because she liked it here immediately. But... She'd never see her family again after being reunited? No way!

But it wasn't too much longer before the last egg hatched. A lovely and amazing copper with transparent rainbow wings, not the biggest but not the smallest, came from his egg. He seemed to be stuck halfway in the goo of his shell, and Cybertiger moved over to help get it off his nose. It was clearly blocking his -

Chooopth!

He sneezed the rest of the goop from his nose, right onto Cybertiger's nice clean new eye visor. This was the most disgusting thing... Ever. Yet the little guy was so ... cute!

She had the sense to wipe off her own face before laughing, not getting any of that slop into her own mouth was a priority.

Someone yelled out, "what's his name!?"

Because apparently, they thought he'd bonded to her. "I don't know!" She said back. He was rubbing her leg with his head, that was something. And, he was thinking hard at her. Anyone who could hear dragons, heard this:

Thank you for your help!
Er... thank you....? Hello?
Hello in there?
I said hello in there!

He began nudging her toward the food, it was time to eat. She would figure it out. She had to! Cybertiger fumbled with her feet on the sand, and then they finally started walking away together.

Okay, that's it... come. this. way. now. Towards. Food... there we go... that way! Good! Don't worry, I'll find a way for you to hear me... I know you can't hear me now, but you will!

It was obviously strange, but she was faintly aware that the dragonet was trying to contact her. But the wiring replacing most of her visual cortex and parts of her brain wouldn't let any communication in. She'd learned that, Etan was a telepath and she had to concentrate on where he was, if he was to sneak up on her mentally. Cybertiger saw a faint bit of electrical energy moving around the copper's head, and she decided that she'd have to just live with it for the moment. He was too young to alter - but maybe, there was something that could be done about their unique situation?

"His name is Tchaneehath," Said Siche, having learned his name through various dragons on the sands. "And he's quite yours, you know. He adores you."

"Does he?" Cybertiger asked, "well I guess he has to," she laughed. "He's got good taste!"

(pending: 1 major or 2 moderate adjustments)

***

Tchaneehath demanded an audience with one of the cyborware vendors, but he had to do it by talking to other dragons and getting their riders to help. Cybertiger was great - he loved her and everything. That was why he needed to get these enhancements.

"But... How am I supposed to pay for this?" Cybertiger asked the vendor, who had a fist full of wires and wetware jacks and was about to start drilling. It would be made easier by the fact that Tchaneehath already had the rudamentary jacks that had been grown in his brain while he was still in the egg. No one questioned that he was a good candidate for enhancements. He just needed to get his rider jacked into his head.

"Riders," muttered the vendor. "You get this because you're signed up as a rider here. It's part of your hatching plan."

Stunned, Cybertiger stared at the man. He had some kind of eye device, kind of like her own. Clearly it made his work easier, he might be seeing everything greatly magnified or something.

"Listen," he said, "your jacks right here," he poked at the plastic and metal connection at the side of her visor, "is connected directly to your brain. You've never jacked it into anything other than a local map or something eh?"

Cybertiger admitted that she had not been used to actively playing with the jacks - but she wanted to learn how to work it.

She couldn't stand to see her dragon's head open like this... It was just the skin peeled back a bit, with microwires holding it open and exposing the faint grey wiring that had been growing inside his brain all this time. There were several ports coming out of what appeared to be completely natural bone spurs, where his 'horns' were. They made ideal jack locations, she thought. But it was still kind of icky.

When the work was done, though, Tchaneehath woke almost instantly and shook his head a bit, almost to jiggle the connections into place. There would be little healing time needed, as the microwiring meshed his skin right back down over the bones. There wasn't much muscle right there - why would it be needed?

"Try it," the man suggested. "Go ahead and take your connector," he held up the wire that the Sangers had placed into her pack before sending her off here. "Put it into your jack first." She followed his instructions carefully. The jack felt cold, but it was almost comfortably heavy. "Now, take a deep breath and let it out as you put the other end into the dragon's jack."

She did as she was instructed.

The world froze and then turned a rich color of rainbow.

There you are! I have been waiting and waiting for you to get this implant! Tchaneehath exclaimed right into Cybertiger's mind! She almost jolted backwards, but then, shaking, she felt his warm face with her flesh hand.

"You... waited for me all this time... I wish I could cry...."

You do not need to cry, my one! We are now together - you can feel through me, and I can sense everything through you! Isn't it great! This is how dragons and humans are supposed to interact! You can relay information, and I can fly according to the commands - you could give me a map and I could fly to anywhere you want!

"Tchaneehath... I didn't..." Cybertiger gasped with a sobbing laugh, "I didn't know you'd talk so damn much!"