Back to FIRE . . . . . Back to EMT/PARAMEDICS . . . . . Back to HAZARD
Updated 2.10.2024

True to Steele's words, Alabaster's semi-secret plans were revealed. The next week would be something that not one of the group, or anyone in the Station for that matter, would ever forget.

For that week, they were all given instructions in dragon care, gryphon instructions, sea-dragon feeding, and assorted other information that somehow would be used... soon.

Steele, Barratt and Davies all met up in the common office, to discuss what was going on. The EMT and Hazard crew leaders were experienced men, like himself, though neither as old as Steele.

"What you are saying," Thad Barratt said, his pale blue eyes drifting around the office, "is that we're supposed to be going out and... finding our own dragons. Is that it?"

"That's what Engell said, and I tend to believe him. He's funded this operation anyway." Steele shrugged. He'd been told certain things, and the fact that they were going to be selectively moved off-world by dragons was among them. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to tell these two. They might not believe him, even now. Now that they had a winged wolf as a Stationhouse mascot and a dimensional portal for housing dragons in their building.

"I got one of these to look over," Steele said, holding out a slickly printed color booklet. "I've flipped through it and I really... don't know what to say."

"It's a dragon vacation planner?" Asked Davies. "Cool."

"Maybe to you, but..." Steele said, "remember what Dr Sanger said? The dragons take up to three years to mature in some cases, and the gryphons not much less than that."

"This is a problem? We're an experimental Station." Barratt said. "My daughter will go nuts over this."

"But can you live without her for two years, Thad?" Asked Steele. "Because that's what has to happen. You can't be bringing her along."

"Why not?" Davies said, "if they can take us, we could bring family."

"Not like you have any," Barratt said and nudged the lanky younger man in the ribs.

"No, but I have friends. My band would miss me." Captain Davies shrugged. "Didn't they say that these things teleport?"

"Through time and space, Steele," Barratt said. "And what that spooky guy said was that we'd not be missed here, only we'd gain those years outside."

"I remember when the police dragons dropped in," Davies said, "they were fully grown. Like the ones that are always up there over the Alabaster tower."

Had they a window, they would have seen three of those dragons, two brown ones and a brilliant emerald female. Why they circled was a mystery, but there were always a batch of them up there.

"Then we have to get prepared, because we're going on an extended trip." Steele stood up. "I've got to call my ex. I don't know if she'll want to be letting my daughter come with me, but I swear she's coming to see me off."

***

The preparations for the Station's 'leave taking' went well, those who had family directly would be afforded a bit of leeway in packing up their things. Some didn't want to join their husband or wife, and some others were unsure that this trip was even for real.

Finally, with each member of the Station that was qualified to go ready and trained up, they literally walked through the big arched doorway in the Exotic fourth block.

The place was well lit, but huge. A vast cavern of stone, edged on one side by a carved and smooth walled hallway structure. They could see it before they actually arrived inside it.

They all felt a bit of a popping sensation and lurched to the left before regaining their balance.

"Sorry, it's the spin compensation," said Dr Sanger from the other side of a large machine. "You'll be a bit dizzy. The Healing Den doesn't spin. You'll get your asteroid-legs shortly. If I can do it, anyone can."

"If you can do it, I'm afraid that you're setting us all up for a fall," Engell muttered from nearby. "I have to go and make the other arrangements. It will not be easy so please try not to disturb me."

"I disturb everyone," Sanger said with a sincere and disturbing grin. He put down the wrench he carried and glanced over the group. It was large - there were eighteen in all. Eight from the fire group, six from the EMT, and four from Hazard. Tiger's husband and son saw them off, but couldn't come because the difference between a four year old and a six or seven year old child was painfully obvious. Mike was frothing to go, but knew that he'd be taking care of their son and Tiger would miss them terribly. Caine's girlfriend Sylvie had packed and come along. Nina Steele cried openly as her father begged his wife to allow her to come. She said no, of course, and unfortunately she had the final say. Thad's family both were remaining at home, again because their 17 year old daughter wasn't going to remain young forever and she had other things to do than dream of dragons. Redburne's family on the other hand, her husband and both children, were ready for the time of their lives. Mineko's boyfriend hadn't even been informed, she wasn't really ready for the kind of commitment that he wanted and she needed to devote a bit more time to her paramedic work. So in all, twenty two wasn't bad for a group traveling through space and time. "Come along, we'll get you educated about where you're going."

"Why can't we have a say in that?" Asked Dooley. "I'm not comfortable with this at all."

"Well don't worry then," said another man who so greatly resembled the tall dark skinned doctor that they thought he'd grown a twin. "You will have complete control over where you're going. Didn't they get the pamphlets?"

"They got one or two, but we ran out of time," the first Sanger said.

"We have nothing but time here," the second one sighed. He was leaner, and looked a bit older than the first. "You're going to need to think about your own needs as well as that of your station."

"They are here already?" Asked a tall dark-skinned woman of such a similar look to the pair of Sangers that half the group presumed that she was their sister. Of all things though, she gave the elder man a rather intimate snuggle when they met up in the cavernous hallway. "Good. My name is Baeris, I'm the ... proprietor of the Healing Den, where you've just arrived. I'm sorry to have kept you all in the dark about this, but your Engell is a bit uptight about details."

"My Engell is -" Said the younger Dr, but the elder one and the woman both quickly smacked at him. "Sorry!"

"Our Engell is better at this than yours, because he's had decades more experience. Don't worry." The elder looking man said.

"What... are you talking about?" Steele asked.

"We have a lot of things to talk about..." The woman said. She was tall and shapely but strong, and had a white streak in her black hair. "Not the least of which is that there are many more of us than you expect, because we're all from different worlds."

"Different universes?" Asked Redburne, and her kids both lit up. "This is the greatest thing ever," she said and the rest of the Station folk had to agree.

"For every different universe that supports human life," said one of the Sangers, "there is in fact another of you. And me, and her."

"Don't complicate things by telling them about us okay?" Baeris said. "Suffice to say that Alabaster is a well-known constant in several of them, and dragon kind exist on dozens of other worlds. We're going to show you how to reach them, and your ... what is it?"

"They have a fire station," the younger Sanger said.

"Your Station house will be the new home to your dragons. That's a very clever idea, I think," she turned to him, and he nodded.

"Engell thought so. They already had the two police dragons." Sanger paused, grinning, "and a pair of them in a soap opera on television."

"Those are great," Tiger said, "we met those!"

"You're about to meet a lot more," Baeris said. She swished away down the hall and the younger Sanger turned to the other.

"She's acting rather ... nice, today."

"She's just had a bin of chocolate and coffee shipped in from Catena and Paniya," the elder one said. "All women respond well to that. Don't they?"

Some of the men chuckled, Dooley acted offended, and Yakamura giggled and said she'd love to have some chocolate thank you very much.

"We'll be keeping your families here, while you settle in to your respective locales," the elder Sanger, whose name was Kalkin, said. "They'll be sent on to you when you've paired with a dragon. We don't want to have to keep moving everyone. And you'll have a bit of time to yourselves to learn about the locales themselves that way."

"This sounds like you've planned it out," Temple said.

"We did." Kalkin smiled. "Well, he and his Engell did."

"Don't you have one?" Asked Tiger.

"I do. But that bastard won't take vacations like his," he thumbed at Sanger. "So it was harder to get them to meet up."

"You're..." Heller said, hesitating in the hallway, "you're the same person?"

"We are, can't you tell?" Asked the younger one. "And Baeris is too but like she said we're not supposed to confuse you with that."

"Failed," said Muñoz with a grin.

They eventually all settled in to a large room filled with chairs and computer desks. Each one was humming with electricity, there were no power cords to be found.

Heller sat right down, checking out the system they used. "This is weird, are you running linux?"

"We're running a unique operating system," said the younger Dr Sanger. "It is designed to support the information that we can give it, which doesn't always coincide with our world's OS needs. Languages, temporal constructs, spacial coordinates, those things are stored in a ... different kind of database."

"Geeeeek talk!" Clay of the EMT tittered, and spun himself around in his chair, while Heller tried to smack him one. "Why are we here!?"

"You're here to choose where your dragons will come from, where you're going to bond them." Baeris said from the doorway, with a mug of coffee in her hand and the intense grin of a woman on a chocolate high. "Each of your terminals will run you through a set of images and if you wish you should click on them. That will send you to the specific information for that world. You can organize them by size, shape, construction, whatever details you like. Or, the worlds by whatever feature you like. Islands, climate, whatever."

"You've improved the database," Sanger muttered.

"Of course I have," Kalkin said.

"Just because I got in on this later than all the rest of me, you always leave me out." It was very unnerving to see the same fierce smirk on both men's faces, glaring at one another.

"Go pout elsewhere," Baeris said, "let these good people alone now." She shooed the pair of odd men out of the room and walked around each line of tables. "My recommendation is that you each choose somewhere different. You ... might not realize it but your dragons and perhaps gryphons will most likely be the basis for a new generation on your world. Give them a chance to have the best range of features."

"You mean, we're going to let them breed?" Asked Steele, surprised. Barratt seemed to echo his sentiment, and muttered something more about still wanting to bring his guns along.

"Let them?" Baeris laughed, "I would be surprised if you could stop them."

She swished out of the room and left the large group to its own devices.