The Trip

Have you ever taken a long road trip and wanted to kill your fellow passengers, slowly? Imagine a month or more in a ship racing through space, a cargo ship, with a few modifications for passengers.

There were 120 original pioneers that headed out to colonize what they would later call NewEarth. Only 117 survived the journey and first week. One poor woman lost her husband and partner to an unfortunate accident on the ship as they were getting ready for the drones to transport their container. The other two deaths were within the first week of landing. Two men did not use the toxicology testing kits before eating berries on the new planet. Their deaths were swift, but not painless.

There were so many shocks when the ship flew off, leaving them to fend for themselves, it was a wonder they did not lose more of their party. But humans are resourceful and they are capable of learning. In a short time they broke into five small groups, forming the first five colonies.

It took generations before those humans grew a connection strong enough to the planet for a bond to form between a human and a dragon. Those first humans saw the winged flying creatures and tried to kill her. They never realized that she was a territory dragon sent by the counsel to introduce herself to the off-worlders who had arrived. She was tasked with assessing the danger that these off-worlders posed to the power of the planet.

Her answers to the council was that the humans must have been rescued by a superior species and brought to them for protection. They were obviously inferior, punny in size, terrified, had no communication, and no connection to the planet. The counsel agreed that more time should be given the newcomers and that she could report on their assimilation each cycle. This was a demanding task for a new territory dragon with a limited clan. She agreed, reluctantly.