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Dragons of Science - Part 2

Greg was a dragon now, by the looks of things. Or at least, when he looked around at himself, all his senses said "This is a dragon". Generally he was right about such observations, so until evidence was presented to the contrary, he was going with it. The freshly transformed purple dragon trundled along the public paths, putting one paw in-front of the other with a stunning display of efficiency. Well, to anyone who might have seen it anyways. Greg had already established that nobody could see him, for whatever reason.

Technology still seemed to respond to his presence however, which was a relief. After a short walk, he carefully stepped onto one of the moving sidewalks, and was whisked away deeper into the Archology complex. Once more, nobody seemed to notice a fairly sizable flying reptile shooting along the giant conveyor system. The odd individual got their hats knocked off by a flailing tail, but they merely blamed the wind. All too soon Greg was deposited inside an elevator lobby, which was fairly quiet for this time of day. Padding up to one of the control consoles, he punched in his unit number, and let the system think about it for half a second.

A display popped up prompting him to take elevator number 6, which opened up and beckoned him inside with a softly flashing blue light. Again, the system seemed to register that there was somebody inside the elevator, and went about its business without bothering to confirm a species type. Good old trusty technology, it didn't care what colour your scales were. After a few minutes in the large elevator, he was spat out on his floor. The system was even so kind as to wait for his tail to be safely out of range of the doors, before slamming shut and zipping away.

Shrugging to himself at the continued oddities of the situation at hand, Greg walked down the hall to his apartment. He passed several people on the way, all of which managed to not bump into the apparently invisible dragon. It likely helped that he kept his wings folded in tight to his body, and was careful not to trip anyone up with his tail. His familiar door was just where he left it, much to his relief, as was the keypad. Ever so carefully, he punched in his door code, and sighed with relief as the door rolled open and let him inside. It was a slightly tight fit passing his wide torso and legs through the door, but he made it with a minimum of paint scratches.

Everything was just where he left it earlier that morning, which seemed like a very long time ago indeed. Funny how changing species will do that to your time sense. The big purple dragon looked around, wondering what to do with himself with his current situation. Nobody could see or hear him, and he couldn't explain what happened. He supposed he could monitor any developments from his home computer, which had ties to his job. Perhaps somebody would come looking for him. Glancing at the clock, he realized it was still mid-afternoon, so he definitely had time to kill.

Stretching out his elongated hide, he peeked into his bathing chambers, and figured a soak might be in order. Provided he'd fit, anyways. Padding into the large chamber, he found he did indeed fit in the facility, if sideways and just barely. The push of a button with his snout-tip set the tub to filling, with warm soapy water. With a smirk, he touched a few more controls, and watched as the bath fluffed up into a huge mound of suds. Everyone always said Bubble Baths were good for relaxation, and he could definitely use some of that at the moment.

Slowly, and carefully, the dragon climbed up over the rim of the tub, and lowered himself into the soapy froth, flipping over to lay belly-up. He found the situation quite comfortable in short order, as his frame was quite flexible, and conformed to the curve of the tub without issue. His tail flopped over the far end however, and was resting in the sink, but that wasn't an issue. Sighing with contentment, he lazed back, and let the bubbles work their magic on his hide.

Flipping his tailtip around this way and that, Greg went over the situation again in his mind. He had found... something during his research, and then poof, he was a purple dragon. There was obviously more to it than that, but he had nothing to go on right that minute. Sighing, he wriggled down into the mass of soap fluff and warm water all the more, doing his best to relax. Reaching down, he scrubbed at what he could reach of himself with thick paws, figuring he should at least continue practising good hygiene.

His body was quite a bit longer than it had been earlier in the day however, and he could only reach so far. He discovered he could take care of most of his upper torso, neck, and head no problems, just with his forepaws. His rear paws could twist around and get other bits, but not that well. Looking across the room however, he noticed that his tail was curling around a wash cloth, and maintaining a fairly good grip on the thing.

Curious, he focused on what he was doing, and discovered that he could not only pick things up with his tail, but use them fairly effectively. His tail whipped over and was used to wash his lower body, while he busied his paws on the rest of his hide. The system proved quite efficient, and soon he was scrubbed down and positively shiny. He figured a bit of a rinse was in order, so he used his tail to fetch down a water-wand which was folded into the side wall. It was meant to be used as a mobile shower nozzle, to further assist in getting all those hard to reach places. The designers likely didn't have a dragon in mind when they built it, but it would likely do in a pinch.

His tail made it rather easy to spray water over his hide, even submerged under the mounds of soap fluff. Greg realized that it would be best to wash all the soap and such off when he wasn't laying in it, but it could wait a few more minutes. After all, it felt delightful to have the water jet brushing up against this and that, under the surface. With almost guilty pleasure, the dragon explored his new body in various ways. Bits of flesh were flicked around, this and that was fiddled with, and his underside was rubbed. Pushing mounds of fluff out of the way, he caught a glimpse of two openings on his lower underside, near the base of his tail. One was smaller and further down, the other longer and slightly raised.

He thought back to animal anatomy classes back in his early education, and recognized what did what. The smaller of the two openings was clearly his new arsehole, while the larger one was a Cloaca. He gathered that any reproductive organs or systems he might have would be inside the Cloaca, safely stashed away out of sight when not in use. Grunting, he playfully sprayed the submerged water jet over these new parts of his anatomy, and soon found his tongue dangling out of his jaws from the pleasure of it all.

Leaving the sprayer nozzle there for some time, the dragon rumbled to himself, drumming claw-tipped hand-paws on the sides of the big tub with glee. A strange sensation joined the feelings of pleasure, namely warmth and fullness. Looking down, he saw the very top of his belly starting to part the sea of soap fluff, revealing lots of taut purple flesh. It was slowly rising higher, prompting the dragon to look around to see what was going on. Following his tail, he realized that he was shooting the water jet right into his tail-hole, thus giving himself a high colonic of sorts. Snorting with a silly grin on his snout, he pulled the wand away, and once again relaxed. He realized he was suddenly horny as hell, and a quick check revealed his almost crocodile-like maleness had expanded out of its pouch, and was now rubbing against his own belly.

Greg was far from a prude, having not grown up with any of the archaic "morals" and taboo that plagued previous generations. Still, he was a bit taken aback by the size of his loins, and his pleasure at having such a full belly. It was something else to add to the list of strange things happening today. For now, he decided to conduct a little... research.

Slowly, he pushed the still pumping water wand up against his tail-hole once again, and returned to rumbling as his belly filled up with warm soapy water. His junk continued to fill as well, stretching out to be a good 2ft long, and quite thick towards the base. He seemed to have what looked like knot as well, stretching out against the base of his sheath. Pressure continued to build near the base of his tail, and he briefly viewed his sack stretching out of his Cloaca, taking its place behind his shaft.

Already his triangular tip was drooling fluids, which splashed onto his still rising belly, and into the bubbly water. He found he could reach up with a footpaw to stroke at his endowments, rubbing and prodding this and that, and squishing his rather puffed up sack around. It was a delightful sensation, to say the least. The big purple dragon almost forgot about his rising belly, which was quickly blocking off the sight of his huge package. He busied his forepaws rubbing over the bloating sphere of purple flesh, checking it for tension and getting quite a thrill out of the process. He'd never imagined of such hobbies even the day before, and was really starting to enjoy being a dragon.

He let the process go on for several minutes, until he had a huge round gut holding him down in the tub, and spreading out over the sides. The rubbing and filling had its desired effect, and he went off like a rocket, splashing the wall behind his head with thick dragon spooge. Quite a lot of it sloshed down onto his face and chest, making quite the mess indeed. He laughed despite it all, hissing and rumbling as he continued to go off for quite some time, putting out gallons of seed. He made a mental note to himself, that dragons were apparently quite potent.

Huffing and spent, the bloated up dragon finally removed the water wand from his tail end, and went about standing up. It was a difficult process, what with holding so much water in his belly. He discovered that if he braced himself against the walls and ceiling with his forepaws, he could almost stand upright. This proved convenient, as he propped himself up and used the shower to rinse off all the spooge. Standing up also helped him drain, and he stood there for a while as the bubbly water flushed itself from his system.

Sometime later Greg padded out of the washroom looking quite pleased with himself, sparkling clean, and smelling of soap. His plus sized junk had retreated into its pouches, and was now once again hidden from view. He felt this was a very efficient system indeed, as he didn't have to worry about being naked in the slightest. Though he likely wouldn't have a problem padding around, with his giant package flopping around. His only concern would be stepping on it while he walked, which might be uncomfortable. It was likely best to keep it secured when not in use.

He glanced up at a wall clock and flicked his tail around curiously, noting that it was getting near the time when he usually came home. As if on queue, his delivery system dinged, and dinner appeared there in a sealed container. The big purple dragon licked his chops eagerly, discovering that he was quite hungry indeed. Grabbing the thermal container and some other munchies from around the apartment, he ambled over to his couch, and entertainment system. There was just enough room on the couch to flop over the whole thing, propping himself up with pillows and other soft things to boot. His long tail of course trailed back into the rest of the room a ways, but that wasn't a problem.

Soon his senses were filled with moving pictures and sounds, as the big flat screen monitor automatically resumed the movie he'd been watching the night before. It was some sort of old science fiction production, decades old but still a classic. As the media flooded his senses, the dragon stuffed his gullet, shovelling down his dinner without even stopping to identify what it was. Various snack foods joined the full meal, as well as a few bottled beverages for good measure. In minutes it was all gone, but his stomach growled for more. Being a dragon was hungry work.

Huffing, the pudgy beast lifted himself up off the sofa, and went to the delivery system. There he returned the now empty and licked clean thermal container, and signalled for seconds. His account was credited for the extra food, and a second dinner plus added desert quickly appeared inside the chute.

The happy dragon licked his chops in anticipation, and returned to watching the movie, gobbling down more snacks as he went. This time he bothered to inspect what he was eating, before wolfing it all down. It was chicken, rice, mushroom sauce, and steamed veggies. And for desert, he had a big slice of apple pie. He smiled at it all, and began tearing into the lot once more. His evening passed in relative silence, and the food-gorged dragon happily lazed through the scrolling credits, absently rubbing at his slightly swollen gut. As if on queue, his communications panel lit up beside the entertainment system, blinking to get his attention.

Standing up once more, the pudgy purple dragon padded over to investigate, and poked at the answer button with a claw. It was an electronic message from his immediate superior, asking where he had gone after the incident down in the lab. It also asked why he had not reported to medical, which was standard procedure after a release of unknown energy. With haste, Greg did his best to type out a clear message in reply, explaining the situation.

He must have been disoriented after the blast, and had walked out when all the emergency personnel arrived. He added in a surprised comment that nobody had stopped him. He had come home and gone to bed, and was now resting. He didn't feel well, and planned to take a few days off to recover.

Hoping for the best, he sent the message off, and waited. An audio reply came back this time, from a very angry sounding supervisor.

"What do you mean, you just walked off? You could have contaminated the entire area! Were you mad, man? Stay where you are, we're sending over a Hazmat team immediately. You have no idea what you've done..."

The message cut off and the system went dead, and was replaced by a biohazard symbol, glowing brightly before his eyes. The delivery system locked itself down too, and flashed the same warning. In a panic, he tried the front door, but found it locked, with magnetic seals engaged. Just what had he unleashed on the world, if they were reacting this seriously? With haste, Greg bounced over to his home office computer, and checked for any developments from his research wing. Sure enough, strange energy readings had been detected all around his lab, and they were leaking outside. Reports had already come back about strange sightings in the immediate area, from oversized animals to bizarre plant growth.

One woman had reported seeing a common snake slithering around, but at 3-4 times the normal size for one of the breed. A group of students had taken pictures of ravens that were the size of dogs, and appeared to be plotting to steal their lunches. There were reports of giant spiders, huge ground lizards, and other out-of-control animals that were suddenly popping up and getting large. Most had already been caught and moved outside of the city, but this was only a short term solution to the problem. And who knows what could happen when these altered creatures began to interact with the environment? They could take over!

Greg concluded that this same energy must have done a number on him, leaving him in his current state. He set up a quick tracer on the computer to log any more developments, and forward them to a personal account he kept off the research grid. Sure enough, his home office shut down soon as well, and he began to hear people outside his door. He had to hide, and fast.

But how do you hide a dragon? Very carefully, as it turns out.

Without even thinking about what he was doing, Greg climbed right up the wall, and clung to the ceiling. There he hunkered down as if he were laying on the floor, and tried to squish himself in tight. The seals on his door released themselves, and some kind of instrument was stuck through the portal, attached to a long pole. It chattered and clicked like a Geiger Counter, and must have been tuned to look for the odd energy signature that exploded into the world. The device screamed as it was moved into the centre of the room, and was quickly retracted. Several men in armoured suits stomped into the room, waving hand scanners around and looking for various things.

They broke off and ambled about, picking up various objects and putting them into collection bags. Greg's empty food containers were scanned and gathered, and another was busy collecting samples from his bathroom. Every surface was wiped down with various cloths, before being bagged and put in shielded containers. Several more men came and took his computer, and they even took the couch and coffee table. They kept looking around for something, likely Greg himself, but they never noticed the dragon on the ceiling.

At one point one of the suited individuals walked head-long into Greg's dangling tail, but merely brushed it off when he couldn't see what he touched. Greg swiftly retracted his tail and wrapped it around a ceiling fixture, keeping it secure. Hours passed, and eventually the team left. They didn't find anything in his bedroom, so they left it as it was. A guard was left outside his unit, which remained "off" for now. Apparently they wanted to whisk him away somewhere as well, which didn't sit well with him at all. It was quite late when he finally lowered himself back down to the floor, wondering just how he'd stayed up there all this time. There were deep scratches in the ceiling from his claws, and even a few puncture marks.

He had no choice but to shrug it off however, as some strange thing that dragons could do, apparently. Feeling exhausted, Greg quietly padded into his room, and flopped on the bed. He did his best to curl up under the covers, but still hung off the sides here and there. After all, a double bed was not designed for something his size. It had been pure luck that he even fit in the bathtub earlier.

Sighing, he decided that sleep was in order. He'd figure out all this shit in the morning, assuming they didn't come for him in the night. Fatigue won out over paranoia, and soon the dragon was slumbering quietly. Little purple wisps of smoke trailed out of his nostrils while he slept, filling the room with a spicy smell. The troubles of the morning could wait for now.

* * *

As Greg slept, the world continued to turn. Some of the oddly enlarged animals were collected and hoarded by citizens of the mega city, and kept as pets. Over time they would become incredibly popular, valued for their intelligence and frequent displays of affection. Who wouldn't want a lizard the size of a large dog, that liked to cuddle? An emergency meeting was held in the highest offices of the city, as the powers-that-be attempted to handle the growing situation which had been developing all morning. And hidden programs buried deep within master systems, activated and began gathering data. There were many parties interested in this sudden energy discovery, and most had orders to follow.

One such group didn't want to exploit the energy, but instead wanted to contain it. This wasn't the first time it had been stumbled upon, nor would it be the last. They had to work fast however, as the current technology available to man made things difficult. It was entirely likely they might find out what they were dealing with this time, and maybe even put it to use. This could not happen, and certain individuals would stop at nothing to make sure of it.

Plans were put in motion to get things back under control, and deal with as much of the contamination as possible. All interested parties hoped to fix things as soon as possible. All the while, a purple dragon continued to sleep under a pile of covers. It appeared things were still changing for Greg however, as anyone watching would have observed. While he slept, his body expanded ever so slightly. A few inches added themselves to his frame, making him taller, longer, and wider. This of course added to his weight, which made his bed creak ominously.

To the casual observer, this wouldn't have been much of a surprise. After all, the bed was manufactured to human specifications. The factory and the workers which assembled the finished product guarantied that the bed could hold up a 400 pound human being with no wear or tear. Lifetime warranty, or your money back! They had of course not planned for large dragons, or ones which enlarged while they slept.

As Greg's weight pushed past 500lbs, the creaking and cracking grew louder. Parts of the frame began to split and warp, making quite the racket indeed. Greg stirred after a rather large creak, and sat up with alarm after still more noises. The rapid shift in weight was too much for the lightweight bed, and it crushed down around the poor dragon. The purple beast soon found himself in a tangle of broken wood, torn fabric, and lots of ruined foam. Pouting, he climbed out of the ruined mess and dusted himself off.

The bed was most definitely a write-off, but he'd come out unscathed. Well, minus a few hours of sleep anyways. The crash had unfortunately alerted the guard outside, and the fellow was busy calling in alerts while fumbling to open the door. Needless to say the armed and armoured individual didn't notice the fat dragon on the ceiling, despite plaster doing its best to crumble into dust. While the guard was busy inspecting the ruined bedroom, Greg got sneaky and shut the door behind him. It took little effort to rip part of the kitchen counter right off the floor, and blockade the door with the heavy mass.

Loud noises aside, Greg figured he had mere moments to escape. Invisible or not, they were bound to trip over him at this point. Quickly, he emptied his fridge and cabinets into whatever bags he could find, and bolted for the door. His hide scraped paint off the frame on his way through, which proved confusing. Padding down the hallway on all fours, he got into an elevator just as a team of armed guards came down from another floor. He felt safer once the large double doors of the elevator closed behind him, but felt even more cramped in the relatively small capsule. Sensors within the elevator registered a single occupant, and quickly weighed the car to confirm occupancy.

A small screen lit up signalling the lone rider that he might want to consult medical services for emergency weight loss programs, as he or she was incredibly overweight. Greg hissed at the screen with annoyance, and it promptly shut off. With the click of a button, he was on his way to ground level once again. It was a calming ride down, once which allowed him to have a moment of peace and collect his thoughts. Guards were after him, and his apartment was in ruins. He couldn't go back there, that much was certain. But where could he go? There was nowhere on the planet that the various detector grids wouldn't eventually locate him. If they could pick out a stray particle of energy out of the air, it wouldn't take long to track down an invisible dragon. A thought came to him in a flash, and he decided to act on it. What was there to lose?

When the double doors opened, a charging mass of purple scales trundled out of the car, and went charging through the public areas around the mega structures. It would have made for quite the source of excitement, if anyone had seen it anyways.

Curiously enough, nobody seemed to notice several bags full of food and supplies dangling around in mid-air either. Or if they did, they merely didn't mention the fact. After all, nobody liked to be called crazy. It was likely just their eyes playing tricks on them. Greg charged along, passing well outside the boundaries set up outside his old lab. He passed right between two suited individuals waving around hand scanners, and likely left a trail of contamination in his wake. As it happens, the two people got a reading, and went running off in the other direction, following Greg's trail back towards the giant super structures.

The dragon had a destination in mind, and it was a long shot. He studied many things, some for his job, and others just for fun. One of the things he looked at was space flight, and the various passenger and freight schedules to off-world destinations. If his memory was right, and it usually was, there should be a ship leaving that day. Where it was going didn't really matter right then and there, so long as it left.

He'd always wanted to go on a trip off world, and now it seemed he had the opportunity.

After running for an hour, the spaceport was clearly visible in-front of the fatigued dragon. Still he ran, huffing and puffing all the while. There was a large ship on the pad, looking like one of the many mixed passenger and freight barges that left for the colonies. It would do. After a quick glance from some bushes, Greg determined that the big beast of a ship was still being loaded. A cargo port was still open, and people were going in and out of the thing.

He was up and running again in no time flat, and jumped over the 20ft high safety fence like it wasn't even there. He barely registered the hard concrete tarmac under his paws as he continued to gallop along at full tilt, dodging around this and that as he went. As he reached the side of the ship, he aimed and jumped with every bit of power in his thick hind-legs. He sailed through the air and into the exposed hatch, followed by running along a wall and gripping tight to the ceiling. Shaking with adrenaline shock, the dragon did his best to hold tight and be quiet.

Somebody must have seen something, because inspectors were soon all over the cargo bay, looking all over the place for signs of movement. They'd seen a blur of movement enter the port, and that was it. It might have been a bird, or something. Finding nothing, they went back about their business. Minutes later, the large hatch shut tight and sealed up with magnetic force and manual bolts. A larger interior pressure door slid shut over the area as well, really sealing the ship up. Greg wasn't going anywhere now, that much was certain. Confident that he was safe for now, he dropped down off the ceiling, and tried to make himself comfortable. All he had for company was stacked shipping containers, and some spaces here and there that were free.

He found one that was carelessly unlocked, and opened it up. It was the typical model used for shipping everywhere, both on Earth and out to the colonies. A steel and plastic box, 40 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 10 feet high. Ideal for stowaway dragons, apparently. This one was filled with farming tools, bags of seed, and other such important things for the booming off-world farming industry. Right now it looked like a pretty good hiding spot, so Greg helped himself. The metal tools were tossed out, and the grain bags used as pillows. It wasn't ideal, but it would do for now.

Greg was exhausted, and likely had a few days do figure out what to do next. For now, he closed the big container doors, curled up into a ball, and went to sleep. At mission control, the flight was approved for launch, and all the final safety checks were made. With barely any noise at all, the huge ship turned around on the launching pad, and slid forwards onto an even larger series of rails. Circuits closed, power was shunted, and the huge electromagnetic catapult began pulling the ship down the rails, picking up speed.

Internal gravity fields within the ship limited what outside inertia the passengers and cargo experienced, but there was still a bit of a bump as the ship picked up speed. It raced down the rails at supersonic speeds, before arching upwards on a nearby mountain range. The huge ship quickly became a missile, as its engines lit, and carried it the rest of the way out of the atmosphere. Less than 10 minutes later, it was in high orbit, where it waited for final clearance to begin its long journey.

Some new passengers were shuttled out to the larger ship from nearby space stations, while final launch windows were calculated and double checked. After a few hours of waiting, powerful fusion drives lit on the back end of the ship, and it raced away from Earth with mounting speed. It was headed for Mars, a popular destination for tourists and new colonists. There it would pick up any mined natural resources to be sold back on Earth, and eventually return to be cleaned up, and used again weeks or months later.

Greg knew nothing of this down in the cargo hold. He slept knowing that he had escaped for now, and would live another day. That's all that mattered to the big pudgy purple dragon at that moment.

He had a long journey ahead of him.

To be continued in part 3