Survivors 2
Part 2 of the Survivors series, and the conclusion. :) I felt like writing a follow-up to the first one not too long ago, so here it is.
"Are you homesick? Do you have a longing to see the place where you came from? Thousands of people have already made the trip, so why not YOU? When the cities recreation centre's just can't cut it, and you've been to the warm sandy beaches for the hundredth time this year, then its time for a change of VENUE! For only a small fee, you can board the pleasure ship Proxima 3, and set sail for ADVENTURE! Visit EARTH today! Contact your local tourist board at info-code blue 563..."
The electronic billboard continued its spiel, using all the right buzz words and catch phrases to hook potential clients. If one were to look around, they would likely see many such advertisements talking away, even in the middle of the night. A couple sat on a park bench near one of the many city ponds and recreation fields, watching as yet another passenger ship blasted off into orbit. One left every few days now, taking people out on trips of the solar system, or out to explore in general. Some, like the line of Proxima pleasure ships, made frequent trips back to mother Terra.
Travel was a good business to be in these days, as more and more people were getting Earth Fever, as it had become widely known. Despite there being nobody left alive that had been born there, they all wanted to see where they had come from. The early trips to go see their fabled home of old, were less than stellar. The planet was still in the middle of a long ice age, and would likely remain that way for a while yet. But still, every few years there was more to see. They all knew it was home of the great Dragons, after all.
Sure, some lived here on their little colony world, but they weren't an entire planet of the beasts. Besides, those few that lived here kept going back home again before they got too big to travel. They were an exotic treat far too little people got to experience, and the citizens of this colony world named Crim liked to have their exotic experiences.
Many wondered what was really happening in the great frozen wastelands of Earth, and if they were being left out of some great secret by their engineered descendants. It had been taught for decades now that the great dragons were made by those who survived during the century of isolation, before the first deep space ships went on rescue missions. Since then their history had been added to and improved dramatically, and everyone knew just what great things had happened while the colonists were away on their warm world.
Some truly didn't believe that the great dragons were technically relatives, and that many alive these days could probably claim one as a cousin or maybe even better. To others, it was almost a status symbol to have a dragon in the family. When a youngling came to visit, they were often snatched up by one family or another claiming some genetic link to the creature. Then they would parade it around at parties and social gatherings, showing everyone how they had a mighty dragon in their family tree.
Usually the dragon was all too happy to be shown around fancy meeting places, and be served plenty of good food. But eventually all good dragons would see that this place was not really theirs, and head for home. They missed the close company of their peers, the fun and sometimes perverse entertainments they got up to when no humans were around, and most of all, they missed the wide open spaces. While it was true that humanity was building a much better world than the one which was destroyed a long time ago, everything was human sized. And everything was close together, with lots of large human-sized buildings dotting roads and pedestrian walkways. Even the smallest dragon had a hard time getting around any but the most open of areas, as they were on average the size of a large vehicle.
And that was just the young ones.
If any of the humans living on Crim knew just how huge the adults actually got, they might actually be frightened. Even portions of the population from Home were scared of the great beasts, and were secretly happy to be away from them once they had been evacuated to the stars. This didn't bother many of the elder dragons all that much, as they had almost come to expect it. Besides, it was better not having to walk on eggshells all the time, worried you were going to scare somebody for standing too close, or moving too fast, just because you're huge and they're tiny.
Both groups got along just fine with the amount of contact they had, and that was that. Let the humans worry about their world, and the Dragons will worry about theirs. Their planet of course, being Earth.
Earth was under new management, and it showed. If one were to take a look at it today, and compare it to the pictures stored in many the electronic document, you wouldn't recognize it. Most of the surface was covered in ice and snow, and little to no cloud cover. But things were starting to change, hopefully for the better. If one were to look around the equatorial regions during certain parts of the year, they might just notice little wisps of green and brown instead, and flickering shades of blue.
If you were to look much closer, you might see gigantic dragons ballooning up to incredible sizes, but then you'd be peeking. Not that anyone would really mind, as they're all somewhat perverted and even exhibitionists from time to time.
Either way, life did still exist on Earth, and in the opinion of its current residents, life was good. If one were still using the Gregorian calendar, it was the year 2242. If you had converted to the newer calendar, it was the year 177. The colonists which had landed on Char back in 2065, had started recording time from this fresh date. To the dragons on Earth however, it was simply July.
Their little winterized surface shelters of old had given way to modern constructions, made with the best new technology had to offer. Their main population centre was spread out across the northern parts of what used to be called South America. There was a town on the east coast of old Brazil, near the mouth of the former Amazon river. Further inland, there was a village in a river valley that had thawed out a few decades back. And finally, there was another village on the west coast of what used to be Ecuador, or perhaps Columbia. Old maps weren't entirely accurate, you see.
Further around the planet, there are villages build on the islands of old Indonesia. Mostly coastal, and relatively small so far. But they're building themselves up just as fast as they can go, same as all the rest. The western towns are all connected by a great rail network, built to dragon proportions of course, which runs mostly through huge tunnels. The engineers that devised the rail link quickly came to the conclusion that it would be much easier to keep snow off the tracks if the whole system was kept sub surface.
You can see the trains in the towns, but that's about it. The rest of the time, its below ground in tunnels hundreds of feet in diameter. Dragons young and old simply loved going down there, taking in the wonders of it all as they zipped along inside the trains. For the more distant population zones, air travel was used to keep in touch. It was frequently too cold or stormy for high altitude flight, and there was too much shifting ice to bother with the old hovercraft designs from years gone by. So instead, the Dragons put their love of ballooning to good use, and constructed great airships.
Huge gas bags were mounted together in pairs and even groups of three, filled with countless cubic meters of helium. Fortunately for everyone, helium was in abundance.
The wonderful gas was a waste product technically, cast off from the reactions inside their fusion reactors. It was decided long ago to bottle and store the gas rather than letting it go to waste, as it was very useful as a coolant in liquid form, or even fuel for a different fusion process. But most important to its users, it that it was damned fun to fill up with, and float around. Sure you had to be tied down so you didn't float away, but still. What an uplifting experience!
But, we've "drifted" away from the subject at hand. The massive airship balloons were attached via struts of composite material, to passenger and crew cabins made out of much the same. They were thickly insulated, heated by the fusion generators on board, and sent powering through the skies by huge jets. Even the gas bags were heated, to keep out the sub zero temperatures outside. The ships tended to travel within a few hundred feet of the ground, to lessen the problems of high altitude temperatures. After all, if its barely above freezing at ground level, who wants to go up a few thousand feet?
With a top speed of roughly 500 kilometres per hour, it still took between 40-48 hours to cross the Atlantic between the two major population zones. Longer still if you were going from the farthest eastern shores to the farthest west. As such, the Airships were built to have all the comforts of home. Exactly 100 fully grown adult dragons could fit within the massive hull, and still have room to get around. There was a galley where hungry dragons could eat together, observation and entertainment areas where dragons could hang out together, and of course the dark and warm bays where dragons could sleep together. They had no need for cramped private rooms, as they liked being in the company of one another pretty much at all times. So the airships had a fairly open deck plan.
Buildings inside the Dragon towns were much the same, on the whole. At most you might find the kitchen and dining area walled off from the entertainment and sleeping room. And of course the bathroom, but that was more to prevent the rest of the house from getting wet. After all, once a big fat dragon starts splashing around, things can get quite moist in a hurry.
Most of the towns were much the same, namely a series of single floor buildings that were built along walkways of various sizes. For the time being, everything was built alongside the transport networks. In addition to high speed line that ran to other towns, there were slower train-like moving platforms that moved along securely under long tubular domes. This made them easy to keep warm, even during the winter.
The majority of the buildings only had windows on one side, to increase the insulation. After all, it still got quite cold out at night, even around the equator. You'd still find dragons of all shapes and sizes out and about at all times of the day, despite the lack of truly warm temperatures. They were built for the cold, after all. They liked being warm however, so they usually kept inside one building or another. The exception of course being ballooning outside on warm days.
In the decades that had passed since the last Humans were evacuated to Crim, it was clear that the Dragons were indeed doing a hell of a job getting civilization up and running again. Many of the elder clutch still easily remembered their first few days on the surface, exploring a strange snow-covered world. Others remembered the first few huts and shelters that had been set up in the general area, and which had been replaced with modern buildings as they came to be constructed. It had not been much time in the grand scheme of things, but the dragons worked fast. 10 months of winter like conditions and a very short summer were definitely great incentive to get warm houses built for everyone, plus their rugged and sheltered transportation systems.
Aside from the long and low housing units that most resided in, this particular town had several rebuilt aircraft hangars, and even one massive airship hangar. It could hold just one of the huge areal vehicles they used to get to the distant island territories, plus all the support equipment used to keep it fit for duty. Dozens of dragons worked there full time, servicing the craft between flights, or just making sure the helium bags were topped up.
There were a few other large structures, namely hydroponic farms, a few big domed structures that housed heated public pools and bathing facilities, and some large squared off structures which were the seats of government, and or schools. From the outside most of the town looked like a long stretched out row of black metallic structures, but inside they were all warm and comfortable. Most of the elder clutch lived in this town, which was the first one set up as the Dragons fully claimed the surface of the planet for themselves. Nobody lived in the temporary shelters outside of Home anymore, and nobody had for many years. The buildings still existed however, but they were mostly used to house automated research stations.
Government was lax in the dragon society. What little officials there were, existed mainly to keep the transport systems working, make sure there were enough workers for whatever jobs needed doing, and to help regulate the odd little everyday thing. A fellow could work in the government offices doing one thing or another for a few years, then go back to farming, or even running a train around the continent. What you didn't know, you could get trained in, and then off you went to the races. They never bothered setting up a system of currency, and mostly things got done simply because they needed to be taken care of. The rest of the time, your average dragon could be seen in the bathing pools, teaching a class in one subject or another, visiting friends and loved ones in other cities, or at rest. And lets not forget expanding to wonderful sizes, a favoured activity among many.
During the few weeks where the temperature rises above the freezing point in town, various expansion related competitions are held in whatever open space there is to be had. In the end, all the competitions boil down to seeing how big a fellow can get, and how long they can stay that way before their gas starts leaking out. Winston, one of the elder clutch, is still the record holder for largest size and longest time. He reached a grand size of 600ft in diameter, and held that size for 48 hours. Many have tried to beat that time, and unfortunately this resulted in the odd bursting over the years. Fortunately for everyone such record breaking attempts are closely monitored now, so folks won't go farther than their bodies can handle. Dragons are not immortal, after all.
Winston is still alive, as is most of the elder clutch. One or two have been lost to accident over the years, but that's it. No dragon has yet to die from old age, or disease. They're not immortal, but they certainly do seem to go on for a long time. The big fellow is an instructor at the local education centre, as any Dragon reading this should already know. This educational document is aimed more at our distant cousins on Crim, whom asked for some current events and the like during their last visit a few years back. Hopefully they'll find the ramblings of this old giant informative and entertaining, as well as that of the other attached documents.
With that, Winston saved the file he'd been puttering around with for weeks, and turned off his computer. Yawning and stretching his arms up high, he stood up and wandered to his kitchen unit. Several thousand calories of assorted foodstuffs were piled high on a plate, and he sat down on a comfortable bench sofa to enjoy his snack. In short order he was watching some old movie from the Home database, which had been scavenged along with many other things decades prior.
Eventually they were sure to make their own media, and various digital entertainments. But for now, they were still happy to watch all the lovely stuff the humans had made centuries earlier. When the program finished, the huge fat reptilian critter hauled himself upright again, and wandered outside. The sun had long set for the day, and it was already settling in to a steady -10c. Fairly normal for this time of year, as it got closer to the summer months. It hit a whole -5c that day, so it wouldn't be long now before it got nice out again.
He wandered along down a partially covered walkway, towards one of the many public bath houses. He was in the mood for some hot soapy water and perhaps a filling or two, plus the company of whomever was still up at this hour. Surely there would be somebody, as the bathing pools had never been completely empty since the facility opened. Minus days closed for cleaning, of course. Before long he had entered through the huge automatic doors, and into the massive domed structure. You could see the stars shining brightly through the transparent sections of the dome, plus an ample amount of moonlight.
Winston made his first stop in one of the shower booths, a big cubical room off to one side of the dome. At the moment he wasn't even wearing clothes of any sort, so he didn't bother hanging anything up in the sheltered nook made to keep such things dry. Walking into the middle of the big room, he pushed a little floor control with one big toe, and let the system do its thing. It took mere seconds for automatic sprayers to hose him down with warm water, making the big fellow emit many happy dragon sounds as he soaked up the warmth. The soap sprayers did their thing as well, covering him in pre-warmed fluid which frothed up all by itself, making him look like a big fat puff ball. While he rubbed in some of the stuff and let the rest sit and soak in, he grabbed a hose from the wall to continue with his fun.
With a smirk and a little grunt of effort, he seated the soft rubber tube in his ample backside, right up his tail-hole. The system went on automatic after that, and began pumping warm water into him directly. He purred loudly as he swelled out at a good pace, hefting his increasingly large belly as it filled out, before he was forced to lay down on it and keep swelling. The pumps kept him expanding at a steady rate, filling his already huge 50ft frame up until it was nearly 200ft in diameter within the big room, filling it wall to wall. Once sufficient pressure was detected, it shut itself off, and even pulled the hose out of his rump.
He was left to lay there and wobble as long as he liked, covered in thick soapy suds, bubbling randomly every time he exhaled from his soap encrusted muzzle. Eventually he sighed and let himself deflate, quickly passing all the water back out the way it came in, making a bit of a mess in the process. Fortunately the system was built to handle this kind of abuse, and everything drained away in good order. Then he was rinsed off, soaped up again, and rinsed once more. With that, he was pronounced clean by a little hidden electronic voice, and the whole automation shut itself down. Shivering with delight, the big fat fellow wandered off into the public area, and climbed into the pool. As he expected, there were other Dragons there, enjoying the warm waters. Wading through the shallows, he eventually floated up to them all, and squished up with the lot to join in random conversations.
Everyone liked a good chat, and nobody minded when just anyone showed up to share the warmth, cuddle, eat, or anything of that nature. Winston was also well known, so he was pretty much welcome anywhere. So he settled in for a few hours of floating in the deep pool, casually cuddling his fellow dragons, and talking about anything that came to mind.
It was a good life.
Chapter 2:
During the weeks leading up to summer, the Dragons received word that another tourist ship was coming in their direction. Most of the ships up until now had stayed in orbit, or had sent down transports only to turn right around and leave. Humanity wasn't used to the cold, and showing up in the middle of a winter blizzard definitely wasn't a highlight to anyone's vacation. Various members of the limited government had been aware of another trip on the books for a while now, and had been getting dragons working on a few projects to hopefully help keep their guests more comfortable.
It would likely only just be above freezing whenever the tourists showed up, and much colder at night. So to aid in their comfort, a human-sized bunkhouse had been put together near the big domed bath house. It was much smaller than most Dragon sized dwellings, a mere 20ft in height rather than the usual 60ft or more for just one floor. Quite a lot of younger dragons had worked long hours to get the thing built, as they were the only ones small enough to fit inside without breaking anything. A few of the younger generation were selected to act as envoys, tour guides, and general assistants within the facility.
In addition to the bunkhouse, a special car was built for use on their high speed train network. It had human sized seating within, plus space for a few dragon sized tour guides, be they full grown adults or the youth helpers. They had even installed some human seating and other comforts aboard one of the huge Airships, should anyone want to go visit the island nations. Nobody was quite sure how many people would be coming down for a visit, or how long they'd stay there. But the dragons were determined to show their guests a good time all the same. Various cautionary warnings were sent out amongst the population, to avoid ballooning in public, or anything equally perverted. It was still a widely held belief that humanity wouldn't understand their kinks, and they preferred to just avoid the whole situation.
With the date of arrival looming, the town decided to hold some of their usual summer antics a little early. It didn't take long to clear off a large field, and commence ballooning one another to massive proportions. Everywhere you looked, dragons were swelling up larger and wider, filling the horizon with their own stretched out hides. Immensely distended dragon boobs and sausages were standing out all over the place as well, making it a very arousing spectacle to say the least. In the middle of it all, several dragons were going for broke, hoping to beat the record as some did every year. All around them others were just enjoying a good bloat in the warm weather, and some were even floating high in the air, tethered via long cables to high tension towers.
Winston was among them, of course, bloated up as big as he'd ever gotten, namely his old 600ft diameter size. He was loving having a chance to be this big again, as he'd missed out on the previous years festivities due to work. He felt it was perhaps time to propose another huge engineering project, to provide more large-scale covered space for dragons of all shapes and sizes to play in. Perhaps underground, or against the side of a mountain. As he pondered, there atop his own stretched out frame, he watched many the other dragon swell up nearly as large as he was, nobody yet reaching the record point. Some sneaky dragon had climbed up his distended body while he wobbled there, and was teasing him via licking at his immense and rather distended dong.
Moaning at the arousal of it all, he tried in vain to see just what was going on back there. A younger blue dragon had begun to lick and suckle on his immense tool, which was nearly as big as she was. The lass rubbed her considerable chest up against Winston's distended package, obviously enjoying herself as she pleasured the elder. More and more of the younger generation had begun to idolize the elder clutch, and some just couldn't resist having a go at them whenever the opportunity presented itself. Winston wasn't about to say no, as he enjoyed a good screw as much as any other Dragon. And when he was blown up and relatively helpless like this, it wasn't like he could do much about it anyways.
Gasping with delight, he felt the unseen dragon grasp his tool firmly in her pudgy paws, and begin to suckle on the tip. That alone was almost enough to make him burst in one way or another, and he started to churn out various fluids at a considerable pace. Many the other puffed up dragon sat there watching, aroused and loving the sight of it all. Some laughed at the huge blush on their elders face, or pointed with delight at the swelling mid-section of the younger female. She guzzled the fluids that came to her eagerly, swelling up like a balloon herself as a result. Winston felt her weight increasing as she sloshed outwards in volume, getting very bottom heavy indeed with all of his seed.
Soon it was all too much for the big guy, and he went off like a rocket. The lass barely managed to keep her grip as his flow of seed shot forth, and she guzzled it all down. Blimping up twice her size in mere moments, she took it all with lusty abandon, stretching and sloshing with every movement. All too soon for the both of them, Winston was milked dry. The bloated she-dragon slid down and landed with a wet sounding splat, and wobbled around to a point where he could see her. She showed off her massively spooge-filled hide with pride, making Winston all the more aroused once more. With that she blew him a kiss, and wandered off to find some other horny dragon to milk. With that kind of attitude, she'd be huge in no time, though filled a far more naughty substance than mere air.
The huge green elder continued to lay there in a happy glow as others resumed ballooning all around him. He was feeling quite comfortable indeed, and decided to try something. Taking in a deep breath and swallowing it, he began to increase his own volume bit by bit. The judges down below saw what he was up to, and several fellows ran over to feel his sides and make sure he wasn't going to burst himself. Relieved and surprised that he was feeling loose and stretchy, they allowed the big guy to keep puffing himself up bigger. A score-board lit up his current size, and began advancing as Winston stretched out wider still.
He reached 605ft around before the crowds started cheering, egging him on to shatter his old record and then some. He was careful about it, sucking in air slowly and letting it sit for a while before taking in more. The safety dragons cautioned him to give it a rest when he hit 615ft, and finally told him to stop at 617. Winston felt tight as a drum, and ready to burst, so he complied. He was a bit disappointed, as he'd hoped all this relaxing at such an even size for so many years would have started stretching him out again even more-so. Still, a few extra feet wasn't anything to shake a stick at. With more practice, he might be able to get even bigger. Still, he'd need much more than a few stretching sessions a year to really pull off some new sizes.
Later that day when he'd deflated back down again, he set about detailing his plans to the town council. The project he had in mind might take years to complete, but they definitely had the time. After all, the most anyone had to do during the winter months was do things inside their own homes, or inside the bathing dome. More activity definitely couldn't hurt anyone! He made his presentation fairly quickly, showing off drawings he'd made of a huge surface dome, several times the size of the bathing complex. It was larger than any structure ever built by dragon, minus the airships of course. But they were long and squat, not gigantic half spheres. He proposed building most of the structure below the surface to aid with insulation, and perhaps let the top of the dome poke outside, to let in whatever natural light there might be. It was put on the tables to be considered, and evaluated by the city engineers. With that, Winston went off in search of a blue beauty to further pump up with his seed.
It was only a week later when a passenger ship appeared in orbit around their mostly frozen globe, and landing craft began to come towards the surface. There was some griping about those in the ship not having the decency to call ahead first, but it was swiftly dismissed as an accidental oversight. After all, the humans weren't out to be rude, right?
Winston and several others came to meet the landing craft after their jets had cooled down, and the dust had cleared. They had selected the open field from their prior expansive antics as a landing site, and while mostly clear of snow, it was quite dirt-filled and dusty in the sunshine. Various environment-suit wearing people climbed out of the small ships in short order, and started sweeping hand held instruments about. They agreed with one another that the temperature was acceptable, and the air was still fine, and that there were no pathogens around to worry about. With that, they took off their helmets, and waved over the assembled collection of Dragons.
Winston, being the only elder around at the moment, decided to speak up first.
"Hello there you lot, welcome to Earth. How many have you brought down for a visit?"
The techs marvelled up at his colossal bulk, and at the huge shadow he cast while looming over them. Several started to stammer with surprise and maybe even a little fear, but one of them had the stones to answer back without making a mess of himself.
"Good day sir. We've brought down approximately 100 visitors for the moment, with more to come should there be space for them, and supplies of course. We weren't sure what accommodations had been put together."
Winston snorted, gazing down at the little fellow with a mixture of mirth and a wee bit of annoyance.
"Well if you had called ahead before landing, we could have told you. There's one master bunkhouse we've put together for the use of human visitors. It can hold 250 people easily, more if they don't mind sharing closer quarters. We've already assigned some younger Dragons whom can fit into the place to act as tour guides and information departments. There's enough food and water for everyone, plus transport if you wish to visit other locations. The other cities have built similar shelters, so I don't think space will be a problem right now."
The tech nodded, and made some calls over his suit radio. All the dragons assembled were still somewhat irked over the lack of communication, or even asking to visit in the first place. They weren't even properly telling them what was going on, or how many people were here in total. That would have to change, and in short order.
Winston cleared his throat, making the little tech jump somewhat and glance up in annoyance.
"Ahem. Just what are your intentions? Are people coming for a visit, or is this official business, or what? We've not really been told anything, you know. We just got a short broadcast months ago telling us to expect company, and that was all."
The tech rolled his eyes in what could only be annoyance, and started to lay it all out, so to speak.
"Obviously headquarters assumed you'd figure it out. There are tourists to serve here, and likely some folks wanting to move back in. Meetings will be held in short order once we offload more delegates and officials from Crim. They'll be telling you more, and likely giving out instructions. Its about time you lot started pulling your weight again, and we're here to get things back in order."
This kind of cheek wasn't going to get anyone anywhere, and Winston did not look amused.
"Excuse me? Orders and instructions? Just what the hell is going on here? We were expecting guests in our home, not a bloody invasion force of government officials and the like."
Obviously the tech had strong opinions on the matter, and waved a finger at the living wall that was Winston.
"Now see here you. As I understand it, you and your kind were created to serve humanity, and help reclaim the surface. Seems you've been doing part of your job, but not enough of it. People want to move back to Earth, and its high time they're permitted to. You'll likely be given plans for appropriate shelters and whatnot, and orders to build them. Now shut up and go back about your business, you'll be called when we need you for anything."
With that, the fellow walked back into his ship, and started talking to the passengers. Winston felt an impulse to pick up the whole ship and shake it around furiously, and he knew he could. But that would be unfair to those within, and would likely kill the lot of them. He always prided himself on being a calm and reasoning individual, and he wasn't about to go Godzilla now.
He walked back to the gathered throng of dragons, and had a little conversation of his own. They'd play along for now, greeting their guests as intended, and being civil. But if these pricks from another world thought they'd just move in and start giving orders, they were sorely mistaken. Earth had been their domain for a long time now, and they weren't about to just crawl back into the test tubes where they came from.
There would be words, that much was sure. Hopefully no more than that. But anything was possible. Many of the elder generations had been around long enough to soak up a lot of history, and they knew what Humans were capable of. The last thing they wanted was for this wonderful world of theirs to see yet another war.
For the time being, everyone went back about their business. Passengers were offloaded, and shown to the bunkhouse. Those in-charge of them were told to be civil, and show them every benefit of the doubt. All down so far were just tourists, here to enjoy a few weeks of holiday. It was likely that they had no stake in the harsh words from earlier, so they were left alone. More came down over the next few days, and soon their bunkhouse was full. The rest were soon shown to the train network, and ferried off to other locations to enjoy themselves. All told a little over a thousand tourists came down, and spread out over the globe. Some were quite excited to take a ride on the huge airships, and visit locations they'd only read about. After all, there was nobody left alive on Crim that had ever seen Earth in its prime.
Winston was left to brood with his thoughts, at least until a surprise of sorts found its way to his doorstep.
Chapter 3:
Winston was in the middle of having a cup of tea when there was a knock at his door. He wondered whom it might be, and went to go have a look. Sliding the huge metal door out of the way, he looked out to see nobody there. Gasps were heard from below, so he glanced down to find a small gathering of humans upon his doorstep. He forced himself to smile, and knelt down to get a better look at them.
"Well hello there, little fellows. Are you lost? Your bunkhouse is further along in town, next to the big dome. You can't miss it."
A few of the gathered humans seemed to be children, and were staring up at him with open-mouthed wonder and awe. There was one lad there that appeared to be in his teenaged years, and a two adults. The adults seemed to be in their late 30's or early 40's, and were smiling up at the huge fat dragon. The female was the first to speak, as she wiped a tear from her eyes.
"See dear? Its true, he has her eyes."
Winston still wasn't sure what was going on, and scratched at the side of his head.
"Umm, eyes? I'm sorry, its been a long day. Would you mind telling me what's going on here?"
The lot broke out of their odd little trance, and the two adults cleared their throats before speaking.
"I'm sorry, we just had to come have a visit. We were comparing your eyes to that of our grandmother. You see, we're your family."
Winston blinked, then put the pieces together in short order. These must be relatives of his, somehow. Descendants from those rescued so many years ago and brought to Crim. He invited them all inside, and found them a place to sit. He didn't have any human sized furniture or even food or drink to offer them, but they didn't seem to mind. The two adults launched into their story once seated, and into the much warmer environment of his quarters.
A sister of Winston's mother had been among the humans transported to Crim during the big rescue mission, years earlier. She had been old, but thanks to modern medicine and the like had managed to start a new family despite her advanced age. She eventually passed on, but left children of her own, whom also had children. This made the humans before him family, that much was certain. Upon closer inspection, they all had eyes like his. That must have been what they were talking about. Being made from genetic material of their family line, he bore certain characteristics from the family tree. Apparently his aunt had eyes like his too.
He sat back and contemplated it all, not really knowing what to say. He had never assumed that his parents had any other living family members, as he'd never met them. Sure it was a possibility, but many humans back then weren't in favour of blending the race up and making the Dragons. Apparently these living relatives of his knew about him, and came for a visit. Well, the least he could do was be a gracious host.
"So, you came all this way to see me did you? Well, hopefully I've lived up to any family expectations. Welcome to my home."
He smiled his best toothy smile, and was pleased to see none of them blanched, or even looked frightened. Apparently they had already gotten used to the idea of having a dragon in the family. The adults chuckled and patted at their children, then looked back at the large bulk of Winston.
"Our grandmother always told stories before she died, and we decided we'd come and see what all the fuss was about. We were raised hearing about you, and always told to refer to you as "Uncle Winston". So, Uncle Winston, thanks for allowing us to visit. It may not be the most glamourous of family reunions, but it will do for now. Come along children, we really should be getting back to the hotel."
Winston stood up to assist them off the dragon-sized chair, and back down to the floor. Then he remembered his manners, and stopped before letting them out.
"Come now, there's no need to go back to the bunkhouse if you don't want to. I could have some dragons from town bring over extra beds and the lot, plus whatever else you might need. You could all stay here, easily enough. No doubt its more roomy."
They nodded and agreed, but said perhaps it would be something to do the following day. All of their things were at the bunkhouse, and they were eager to have a hot meal, a shower, and go to bed. Plans could no doubt be made after that to stay with Winston, once some modifications had been made to their shelter of course.
Winston escorted them back down the lane a ways, taking one step for every few dozen of theirs. Eventually he just picked them all up with a smirk, and padded along with ease before dropping them off at the shelter. The younger of the children exclaimed with joy over the ride, and loudly announced that she wanted to go again. There was always time for more "dragon rides" another time, however, and the lot went into the bunkhouse for the night. He waved them off, and went back to his forgotten cup of tea with a mixture of thoughts floating around his head. He'd have to make some calls and arrange a few modifications to be made to his place in the morning. For now, he wandered off to get something to eat himself, have a hot bath at the public domes, and get some rest.
He had a feeling the following day was going to be a big one indeed.
The following morning was an entertaining day for many of the human tourists, whom were waking up in the company of dragons for the first time in their lives. Various young dragons were already up and about, making breakfast for their guests, pouring coffee, and escorting groups this way and that. Lucy and Ted, the two adults Winston had met the night before, were busy over coffee and eggs with their eldest son, Trevor. The other three kids were still sorting themselves out in their family guest room, but they knew where the galley was.
A (relatively) small dragon by the name of George was pouring all three of them a fresh cup of coffee, smiling and trying not to loom despite his 8ft stature. Despite his size and bulk, he was quite agile, and quite young as the human families soon learned. In fact, he was only 16, and would likely any day resume his upwards assent to a 10ft mark or more. George had appointed himself the caretaker of this family, and even managed to secure a place to sleep just outside their quarters within the bunkhouse. So far the younger children loved him, and were quite pleased when a dragon helped put them to bed.
Once his charges were taken care of, he slid in beside Trevor and began devouring his own breakfast. Dozens of eggs and quite a lot of various meat products and fruit vanished down the dragons greedy gullet, explaining to all the rise and swell of his immense middle. Dragons were definitely pudgy creatures, there was no getting around that fact.
Idle conversation was had between the lot, minus the odd break as George got up for seconds, and to fetch breakfast for the younger children. James, Richard, and Harry, the other three in descending order of age. The eldest of the trio was 14, the next was 11, and the youngest was 9. Trevor was the families eldest at 17, giving them four boys in the family. George idly wondered how Lucy and Ted managed to deal with them all, but it seemed to be working out for them. Dragon family units were usually fairly large as well, at least some of the time. In recent years, more of the young had been raised in large scale development centres, where many parents cared for many children all at once. Plus the kids could live there full time if they wanted, or go home at night to their own families. It was an acceptable arrangement for both parent and child, as it gave the children freedom to make their own choices at a young age.
George lived in the development centre full time, as did the rest of his clutch. There were 2 others that were hatched at the same time, from the same set of parents. His twin sisters, Sue and Sam. They were born from different eggs of course, but they were still twins. Likely broken off the same egg back in the earliest days of their conception. He wasn't exactly sure where they were at the moment however. Last he had checked, they had moved to a development centre further along in town, to be closer to one of the hydroponic facilities. They liked to farm, so they spent a lot of their time there learning the trade.
Once the 6 humans had been fed and watered, so to speak, George rounded them all up and got them ready for a day out and about. Earlier that morning he had received a call, asking him to bring them all for a visit here and there. He'd happily comply of course, and told the group he was taking them out to see the sights. All were eager to go, so it didn't take long for them to all be dressed for the weather, and follow the big pudgy dragon out into the sunshine.
The lot chatted as they wandered along, George pointing out this and that of interest. They all noticed they seemed to be heading in the same direction they went they day before, but nobody said anything. Sure enough, as the family began to suspect, they wound up at Winston's house once more. Various dragons were milling around attaching things to the roof of the big squared off building, chatting amongst themselves in between welding with large torches.
George knocked on the door of the big unit, only to smile up at the elder as he opened the door. Winston looked down at them all happily, and invited them inside.
"Please, come in. Mind the noise, the guest room is still being attached."
The group shuffled inside, and found smaller human-sized furniture to sit on. There was an elevator being installed along one wall near the door, leading up into the ceiling. Apparently an entire floor was being put together up there, all human sized and built for guests. At the rate the build team was working, it might be all installed within the day. Winston had George help him serve various refreshments, then plopped down with the group to properly welcome them into his home once more.
"Well you all, welcome! As I mentioned yesterday, I'm having a guest room installed. The lift there will be for your use, as I obviously can't fit in it. George here might, should you require him for anything. But there's a kitchen up there, washrooms, food, bedrooms, heaters, the works. I believe they're even making a balcony, just so you can have a look around from up in the air. You can have your bags brought here later, but for now, I figured I'd show you around my world. You all introduced me to members of my family I never knew I had, so the least I can do is return the favour."
Ted and Lucy smiled, while the four kids looked around as if they were trying to spot some hidden dragon gathering they'd failed to spot on the way in. Winston and George both grinned, winking at one another. The big fellow gestured down at the smaller dragon, whom had elected to sit on the floor near his human charges.
"You've already met George, so that's one down. He's my youngest son. We'll go and meet the rest of the clutch in a bit once you're done with your tea. They live on the other side of town. After that, I figured I'd take you to meet more of the family further down the tracks."
By this point the gaggle of humans were busy exchanging various hugs and hand shakes with George, obviously pleased with how the day was unfolding so far. It didn't take long for everyone to get together, and wander out the door to the causeway. Once more, Winston elected to pick everyone up and walk along at a brisker pace, much to the delight of the younger kids once more. Before long the group arrived at a collection of sheltered greenhouses, and the big dragon took everyone inside. Two pudgy yellow dragon ladies were hunched over a collection of plants, tails wagging around in the air as they worked. They seemed to be muttering back and forth to one another, exchanging positions from time to time to tackle one plant after another.
Winston cleared his throat, and the two looked up with surprise. Their expressions melted to happy ones as they saw whom was standing there, and the two stampeded over to grasp and hug at Winston's ample mid-section with wet paws.
"Father! You didn't tell us you were visiting today!"
Everyone chuckled at the two, as they spoke the sentence in unison. Winston set down his paw-grasped guests, and let them look up at the twins with delight. He gestured down at them, and grinned accordingly.
"Sam, Sue, these people are family. I guess you could say they're your cousins. Come, say hello!"
Thus began quite a lot more random hugging, exchanged pleasantries, and enquiries of exact family tree structure from the twins. They had a grasp of genetics, and a bit of a scientific background as well, in addition to the love of farming. Everyone visited for a good long time, the human party being shown around most of the hydroponics bay by the eager twins. The younger kids got treated to many the dragon ride, while the elder ones walked along chatting amongst themselves, or with George. It seemed the younger generation amongst both species were getting along just fine.
Soon the lot broke for lunch, and enjoyed many fresh and varied foodstuffs inside the giant pool complex. Every last one of them relished in having a soak in the huge pools, the younger kids delighting in using their dragon family members as mobile islands from time to time. While the kids used George as a diving platform, Winston floated around with Ted and Lucy. The two parents splashed water at their gigantic elder, and chuckled amongst themselves.
"What a lovely day we're having here, Uncle. And its just barely after lunch hour! It makes one wonder what you have planned for us next."
Winston chuckled down at them both, and waggled a gigantic finger at Lucy, whom had spoken.
"Now now, that would ruin the surprise, now wouldn't it? I had planned to swing you by the bunkhouse so you could get a few things, then take you to the train network for another little trip. You'll all want an overnight bag of some sort, as we'll be gone for a while. Don't worry about the rest of your things, they'll be well taken care of. And please, there's no need to call me Uncle. Just Winston will do."
Ted chuckled, and splashed around randomly, cuddling his wife and making her produce many the happy squeal.
"But we like calling you Uncle. It has a nice ring to it, Uncle Winston."
The big fellow stuck out his tongue, and decided to just go with it. After all, he was outnumbered.
Eventually everyone had their fill of the pool, and the lot went off to grab some things. Winston and his own kids had wanted to duck off and make use of the more... specialized segments of the dragon washing system, but it was agreed upon to be good around the humans, even members of the family. After all, nobody seemed to know about their filling antics, and they preferred just to avoid the point of contention.
About an hour later everyone was assembled at a huge cargo platform, which would allow them access to the sub-surface train network. There was a ramp along one side, built with human-sized steps upon it. Obviously the engineers had thought ahead, and realized that the average human couldn't step up onto the cars like a big dragon could. The group only had to wait a few minutes before the train showed up, whisper quiet on magnetic rails. They let other passengers get on first, before the train moved ahead and exposed the newly built car on the end. It had one big dragon-sized door, and several human sized ones.
In short order everyone climbed aboard, and Winston found a place to sit himself down with everyone else. George had decided to stay behind with his sisters, and take care of some business of their own. So the human family of 6 sat in a long row of seats high up the wall of the train, with a balcony at head-height with Winston. Little Harry kept insisting on reaching over the balcony to pat Winston on the nose, which amused everyone equally.
Once the remaining passengers had climbed aboard, the train set off at a good clip, and built up speed rapidly. The sensation of motion was fairly minor within the cabin however, as the huge vehicle plunged down into the earth, and continued to build up momentum. Despite crossing a fair chunk of the continent, the trip would only take a few hours. They would be out the other side by dinner hour, sure as can be. The family mostly chatted amongst themselves and with Winston on the trip, as there was nothing to look at. To further save on heating and the like, there weren't even windows on the big train. Outside the metallic skin, all was dark. Inside however it was well lit, warm, comfortable, and safe.
Before they knew it they had been spat out on the east coast of the continent, in a town smaller than the one they had just been in. All of them seemed to want to ride the train again, as it was so comfortable and novel. Most of their transportation back on Crim consisted of surface trains and walking. And it didn't cover nearly this much distance. Winston soon had them all bundled up and heading towards a big eatery not far from the train station, where the next surprise awaited....
Chapter 4:
The eatery was something else as far as the human guests were concerned. Tables of various widths sat all around a large squared off building, which seemed warehouse like at the very least. Some of the tables seemed to have a second level in the middle, with seats on the interior rather than the exterior. This gave space for small dragons and humans to sit, facing outwards towards larger dragons whom were facing in. To get to the interior, you simply walked up a set of spiral stairs which could be accessed from the floor.
It was definitely novel for Winston as well, as he hadn't eaten from these neat tables either. He helped arrange his human family members around the inner platform ring of the table, then took a seat on a huge padded bench which was built with his kinda girth in mind. Spotting some familiar faces in the distance, he waved over some young adult dragons. There were 2 of them, both about 30ft tall and made up of Orca whale patterns. They had to raise their bench seats a little, but soon they sat down beside Winston, and leaned over to introduce themselves to the rest of the dining guests.
Winston hugged one under each big burly arm, and nodded to each in turn before addressing the others.
"Fellows, these are also my children. Though as you can see, from an older clutch. To my left is Vlad, and to my right is Dak. They're from my second clutch, hatched oh... 33 years ago now? As you can see, they take after the whales in our genetic line. Vlad, Dak, these are your cousins, as I told you over the communicator."
Various greetings were exchanged, with many the hand shaking many the finger tip. Little Harry insisted on patting the two newcomers on the snout, and they just shrugged and accepted the gesture. Food was delivered to them not long after, which both parties happily dug into. The portions for all were huge, even the humans. Ted and Lucy couldn't even finish half their plates of fish and tubers, plus other tasty tidbits. Their eldest gave it the old college try, but he had to call it quits before long as well. The three dragons however had seconds and thirds, and even cleaned off the rest of the plates for an after dinner snack.
While sitting over coffee and the fourth desert, Ted chuckled and pointed out that he'd figured out why dragons were so fat. Nobody bothered to contest the point, and the two younger dragons drummed on their bellies with pride, and belched thunderously. Winston winked at Ted and Lucy, plus the kids. They were starting to realize that it was quite different having a bunch of hungry dragons in the family, that much was certain. Still, they were still accepting it all with warm happy smiles.
That night they stayed with Winston's kids, in a modified guest room of sorts. It was merely a huge sleeping pad for Winston laid out on the floor in the main room, and some smaller ones placed up on a table for the humans. Nobody seemed to mind, and after plenty of chatter and lots of company with family, everyone retired for the evening. Vlad and Dak insisted that they all stay for a few days, and catch up on things. After all, it wasn't every day that unknown family members came for a visit. The kids were all happy to be in the company of the big whale-patterned dragons, as they behaved much like big kids themselves. Harry was vexed that having dragons in the family didn't mean he'd get to grow that big too, or have such a nice tail. Still, they managed to explain the way things worked a bit better, and he calmed down. Winston thought that would be something, to have humans turning into his race. Fantastic, to be sure!
They spent part of one day splashing around another public pool, and Winston even managed to sneak off to the private shower areas for some private time. As he swelled up steadily larger to fill the confines of his private booth, he thought about how nice it was to be visiting family like this. He enjoyed staying bloated up and filling up the room to its limits for several minutes, before finally draining off and making quite a mess of himself up front. He made a point to spend a while longer soaping himself up again and again, washing away the potent stench of dragon musk. He figured his human companions wouldn't be used to such a strong reek, and they'd probably prefer the smell of soap.
He was right, and nobody noticed anything out of the ordinary as he slipped back into the main pool with everyone else. The following day they mainly stayed around the house, watching old movies and stuff from days long past. Most of it was things not even Ted and Lucy had seen, so all were happy to relax and take in the experience. Eventually Vlad and Dek had to say goodbye for now, as they were due on a construction project happening along the coast. They were extending the limits of the train network, letting it poke out over the ocean a tad. This would give them more building room in the future, to let the town spread out along with the trains.
Winston escorted everyone to the train station once more, and they were off back to the central city on the continent. Everyone enjoyed their little vacation, and the kids all asked where they were going next. Winston chuckled and reclined in his seat somewhat, stretching his feet and tail out before replying.
"Well, I was going to run you all back to my place for the rest of today. We'll have a nice meal at home, and a good nights sleep. Then tomorrow we'll all have to get up early for breakfast, because we've got another train to catch. Then you'll see, its another surprise."
The kids all figured it was more family, but they couldn't agree upon the likely details. Even Ted joined in on their muttered conversation, while Lucy talked to Winston.
"Its so nice of you to take us around like this. You didn't even know we existed a few days ago."
The big guy waved a dismissive paw, and smiled.
"Think nothing of it. My parents were always social, and eager to please. I guess it rubbed off on me. They always were light eaters though. I guess I got this from the rest of the critters in my family tree."
He patted at his huge gut with that, chuckling with mirth. Everyone knew they were bread with insulation in mind, but one never really takes in just how plump a dragon is until you meet a fully grown adult in the flesh. Pictures just don't cut it.
That night they had what a finger-food meal of sorts, prepared by Winston at his home. There were crackers, cheese, fruit and vegetables, meat, fish, and various forms of pastry. There was plenty of tea to go around as well, plus other beverages. Ted joked that if the ate like this all the time, they'd look like their Uncle Winston in no time flat. The big guy laughed at that, and thrust out his impressive girth with pride.
"Please, you'd have a lifetime of eating to do to catch up with this!"
Dragons took their looks seriously, after all.
The family took the lift up to their completed guest room, and were delighted at all it had to offer. There were 3 full washrooms, beds for everyone, and a kitchen to fetch their own breakfast in the morning. Ted and Lucy shared a bubble bath before going to bed, while the kids took turns showering up and enjoying the bubble-sprayers to boot. The shower stalls were basically smaller versions of the booths a Dragon would use, minus the inflation settings of course.
Winston treated himself to a soak in his own little tub, his fat belly drooping over the sides of the thing as he lounged in the warm water. He could smell all the soap-fluid from up top, and smiled to himself.
"Oh good, they enjoy the bubbles. I thought they might."
With that, he doused himself in plenty of the stuff, and was soon buried in white soapy fluff. There he relaxed for some time, munching on more snacks with a free paw. He didn't have the room in his private washroom for a good filling, so he just stuffed his face instead. That combined with a good dragon-sized electronic book reader, and his evening was pretty much complete. The whole place smelled of freshly washed bodies and plentiful bubble soap by the time everyone went to bed, and that seemed to suit the lot just fine.
The next day was going to be quite the ride indeed.
The next morning Winston woke up to the combination smell of fresh brewing coffee, and several people making use of the shower systems again. It definitely made for an interesting olfactory mix. The big fellow figured breakfast was a great idea, and fixed himself up a nice plate of toast, eggs, meat, fruit, potatoes, and whatever else he could get his pudgy mitts on. With food taken care of, he packed a few things into a little kit bag, and called up to the guest room via a convenient little intercom system.
"Hello up there, and good morning! Our train doesn't leave for a little while yet, so I'm heading off to the big bath house for a proper wash. You all might want to have another shower before we leave, as you might not have the opportunity to take one for a bit. I'll meet you by the closest train platform in 2 hours."
He got various confirmations in return over the device, and with that, he wandered out the door. He figured the family would have no problems, as they knew where to go already. The big dragon walked briskly towards the domed over pools, rather looking forward to a bit of uninterrupted ballooning before he had to behave. It didn't take long for the big guy to stomp on into a private chamber, lodge a hose in his rump, and start stretching out. He was feeling extra kinky that morning, and had configured the system to pump him up with nothing but bubble soap. Winston wobbled and sloshed as he stretched out with the syrupy fluid, purring to himself and already dribbling his own viscous fluids to the deck.
Before long he was laying on his own belly as it ballooned outwards, stretched out assets rubbing against the swelling mass and making quite a mess of everything. Belching out large bubbles every now and again, he grinned deviously to himself as he indulged in such a non-standard method of filling. Minutes passed, and he kept filling out wider, the huge tanks of cleaning fluid doing their job quite well, filling him up until his wide hide bonked into much of the walls. Eventually the soap stopped flowing, leaving him so engorged he could barely move, with his head pressed up into one corner of the room.
Wiggling around with delight, his every move only making his arousal worse, he failed to notice the system clicking back on again. Something must have been wrong, as this time it was filling him up full of water. This was not the most ideal of situations, as he was already filling up the whole room. That, and the soap contained within his hide reacted with water, and expanded into thick suds rather aggressively.
He began to feel the effects all too soon, as the walls around him began to creak and groan. He was belching up quite a lot of suds too, leaving an odd soapy taste in his mouth as he filled up with fluff. Wiggling his paws uselessly, he struggled to somehow get the hose out of his rump. It was all for not however, and soon the walls were crumbling around him. Within moments he burst out of the private cube and into the main facility, and just kept on growing. He tried to belch out more of the suds and drain himself as the hose finally yanked itself out of his backside, but the damage was done. Not only was he swelling out bigger and bigger, and spewing expanding suds everywhere, but there was a familiar face standing along the poolside, mouth hung open.
It was Lucy, and she was wearing a now very soap splattered bathing suit. She was stammering at the sight of her uncle in such a state, and obviously didn't know what to say. Winston did however, as he kept swelling up even as he drained rapidly.
"Erm, you probably shouldn't have seen this. I'll explain it all later, but for now, you should go. Quickly now, run on out of here and go get cleaned up at home."
As if to punctuate the situation further, he stretched out even bigger, filling up most of the pool area and raised dome. Lucy was smart enough not to argue, and simply got the hell out of there in a hurry. All of the cast-off soap was reacting with the pool water, and filling the entire facility up with suds. From the outside, many the curious dragon watched as a big puffed-out face wound up getting smooshed against the glass. Many others noticed a mountain of expanding soap suds pouring out of all the doors, generally making a mess of the whole area.
Many just pointed and laughed, while others went to go see if they were missing out on some fun. Eventually all the onlookers saw that Winston was in a bit of trouble, and went to go assist. Once they'd helped get him properly deflated and cleaned off, the gathered masses had a bubble party. Dozens of happy dragons frolicked around in the mounds of suds, becoming huge fluffy puff-balls themselves. Winston meanwhile managed to get himself cleaned off, and briefly went back home to replace his kit bag, which was completely soaked in suds.
There he also took another shower to further rinse himself off, plus finish taking care of business. Despite the problems that had arisen, it had proven to be one hell of a fun ballooning experience. He'd have to recommend it to others sometime. With clean paws and a freshly washed up hide, he soon was re-packed and met up with the humans at the platform. Nobody had anything out of the ordinary to say, though the lot was watching the still growing mounds of suds where the bathing dome used to be visible. If anything appeared out of the ordinary with dozens of big fat dragons romping around in the suds, nobody cared to point it out.
It took mere moments for the lot to board the train and get settled, and start heading west this time. The trip would only take a few hours, so the lot passed the time with random conversation, and speculation as to where they were going this time. Lucy made eye contact with Winston at one point, and a bit of a curious face. He merely smiled sheepishly in return, producing a bit of a chuckle for his troubles.
At the other end the party found another small coastal city, all laid out along the path of the train network. It too had a little construction project of sorts, that was further extending the line out towards the ocean. Winston directed everyone's attention to the north, where they saw several incredibly large airship hangars. One of the massive ships was landing as they watched, kicking up only the slightest of breezes from its engines as it settled down onto the concrete landing pad. Everyone practically piped up at once, pointing at the huge ship with open expressions of admiration.
"Oh boy, are we going on THAT?"
Winston smiled and nodded, and ushered the lot along towards the huge vehicle. It took somewhat longer to get them all aboard, and into part of the deck with human-sized considerations. There was a small bunk house of sorts at the rear of the huge craft, built into one of the dragon sleeping chambers. Human tourists could have private or semi-private rooms that were closed off from the rest of the ship, and which were sized to fit their needs. There was also a galley and supply areas that had human sized seating, and any other objects creative dragons thought they might need. Winston's family got themselves settled into a big birth, and set about exploring the ship.
The big fellow had told them on the way in that they were going far to the west to their island colonies, and that the trip would take 2 days. So they were to make themselves comfortable, and generally do as they pleased around ship. There were elevated walkways so the humans on board could get around without being underfoot, and so they'd generally always be at head-height with their dragon hosts. There was quite a lot of human traffic on this flight, as guests rotated from the main cities to the colony towns and villages.
Winston sat his ample bulk down in one corner near an observation window, and prepared to have a bit of a nap before lunch. He was interrupted by Lucy however, whom apparently wanted to talk. He figured he knew what this was about, and rolled onto his side to listen as she sat down with her legs crossed.
"Hello here Lucy. Fancy a chat do yah?"
She nodded, and looked around briefly to make sure they were alone. They of course were not, there being dozens of dragons lazing about or napping not far off. But her family was off exploring the ship, so they were largely out of earshot from anyone she was worried about.
"Yes, I thought I might ask you... about what I saw earlier. You seemed to be expanding like a balloon, among other things. You certainly made quite a mess."
He blushed a bit, somewhat pleased with himself all told. But he nodded, and decided to tell the story, so to speak.
"Yeah, I was. Its one of my hobbies you see, expanding like that. Most of my kind shares my interests, and we're always swelling up when we can. It feels delightful, I must say. We've been into that particular vice since we were first created, way back when. But we've always been careful to keep it a secret from you humans... We felt you wouldn't understand, or would be confused and even a little offended."
Lucy nodded, not surprised they'd all want to keep something like that to themselves.
"I can see that. After all, none of us can do anything like that, so it would be seen as quite different and maybe even a little wrong. Well, no harm done really. I was just surprised to see you in such a state, and so large. Here I thought you were big enough already."
Winston chuckled and waved a paw, and mentioned his status as record holder for size. Lucy seemed very surprised that he had ever reached the kind of sizes on file, and could barely picture him in such a state. He suggested just imagining him as he was in the dome, just bigger. She giggled and swatted him on the snout playfully, and shook her head.
"Well, I don't really understand it myself, but thanks for clearing things up, Uncle. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. The kids would just gossip anyways, and likely encourage you to show off. And like you mentioned, you try to keep such activities quiet. I'm sure you'd like it if you didn't have to, but that's a matter for another time."
He nodded at that, and soon went back to his nap once the conversation was over. Lucy went off to explore the ship somewhat, and that was that. As it turns out, Winston wasn't the only dragon to be caught ballooning. And unfortunately, not all humans was as easy going as his family. Already the knowledge of such deviant activities was causing a bit of a stir with the visiting human officials and the like.
A few of the more closed minded individuals thought they could somehow put a stop to it all, for the good of the dragons of course. They had no idea what they were talking about of course, but that didn't stop them from trying to change things "for their own good."
It would likely be a point of contention for some time to come.
For Winston and his family however, they were blissfully unaware of such happenings, and were busy with their vacation. Everyone delighted in looking out of a bottom-deck observation port at the ocean below, which was only a few hundred feet away. The airships flew low, which meant it wasn't all that cold outside.
The rest of their trip aboard ship was a grand time for the lot. Many the wonderful meal was had in the galley, the kids likely walked around the entire ship twice, and various toys and play-things were acquired from a store of sorts that existed only to tend to one's needs. The dragons didn't bother with currency, something most humans still thought insane, but it worked for them. Most of the kids had a few toys they had fetched themselves by the end of the second day, everything from simple puzzles to bubble blowers.
Ted had picked up a nice coat some dragon had put together, likely at a young age or via the aid of machinery. He'd also acquired a scarf for Lucy, which she adored. They would be landing late that evening, so they all had a final meal aboard ship, and went back to their respective sleeping areas to pack up their things. The kids stuffed their new toys into their bags, as did the adults in the family. With that, they waited near the debarkation doors for the all clear to leave once they'd landed.
The ship touched down softly, and folded out ramps to climb down. There was a trio of brightly coloured adult dragons waiting near the ship, waving their paws at Winston and the group. Both parties soon met in the middle, and started the process of being introduced to one another. The humans correctly deduced, that they were yet again meeting more of the family...
Chapter 5:
Winston and company were quickly rounded up by the trio of dragons, and taken a short distance down the primary walkway into town. There was only a few dozen residential structures in this settlement, plus a public bath house, public eatery, and various gardens and greenhouses. In total, there was likely more human tourists there than there were dragons at the moment.
Rather than a big bunk house, the dragons living here had built several smaller units, and even a few cabins for large families and the like. As with the rest of the settlements, most of the construction had been done by those small enough to fit into such confined spaces. As such, all the tourist guests had comfortable open suites with 10 ft high ceilings, large washrooms, big kitchens, and plenty of living space.
The group took Ted, Lucy, and the kids to an open family sized cabin, and waited outside while the humans stashed their bags within. All the dragon families living here didn't have guest rooms like Winston had been able to appropriate, so the lot would have to make do on their own a little more. They didn't mind however, as it was a smaller town and things were easier to locate. There were quite a few younger dragons wandering around too, and they all proved quite helpful and eager to turn tour guide in a pinch.
Once everyone was settled, the lot gathered themselves up, and went for dinner. They were served plentiful quantities of a fish chowder at the local public eatery, plus as much fresh fruit and vegetables as they wanted. While they dined, the humans got to meet more of the family officially. The trio of dragons were from Winston's first clutch, which he had some time back. They were all over 40, and definitely getting up there in size. Most had already passed 40ft for height, and were nearing the normal 50ft height range of a full grown adult. They had a few years to go yet before they became breeding age, and then things would really get interesting. As of yet, there were no dragon grand-children. But that day would come before long!
The trio of dragons were all males, and were curiously enough all the same colour. They weren't triplets, though they did act as if they were at times. All three were green like their father, but had stripes of yellow here and there like their mother, Sam. One of them had larger than normal head fins and short horns, and they had named him Winston as well. Though everyone just called him Junior. The second had far more head horns than usual, and even had horns running down the length of his spine all the way to the tip of his tail. He was oh so cleverly named Spike. The third looked normal in every way as far as dragons went, but he had horns on his nose and across his eye-ridges. They named him William, after Winston's long deceased human father.
The three lived and worked in this little town, being involved in setting up their own train network between the islands. It would be a lot of work, as they'd have to build extensive bridges to span the gaps between settlements. Still, they had the time, and they were already breaking ground not too far away from their settlement. They had also moved here to be closer to their mother for a while. After having three clutches with Winston, she had decided to have another with a close friend of them both, Vlad. Vlad had moved here some time back to help develop the place into a successful colony, and now lived with Sam and their clutch. They were relatively young kids so far, only 9 years old. This made them still human sized for the most part, though far heavier. The children of Ted and Lucy wanted to meet them, and hopefully get to play with them as well.
Winston and his older children thought that was a great idea, and made arrangements for the lot to meet over the next few days. Surely Sam would love to meet any extended family Winston had, and Vlad likely would as well. Theirs was a happy relationship, one all involved hope would last for a very long time. They had known one another since they all hatched together, over a century prior. They had no intentions of staying out of contact any longer than they had to.
It was late in the evening when the travelling family went to bed, and the four dragons went to the bath house for a soak. They stayed up for a while longer, chatting about this and that, and generally enjoying the company of one another. His kids asked Winston if he was seeing anyone at present, and he admitted that he was not. Though there were plenty of available females back in his home town, so who knows. He might just fetch himself another mate before long.
That was good enough for the trio, and they eventually took their father home for the night. They were all sharing a big place at the moment, and had ample floor space for their dad. So both parts of the family were soon happily asleep, dreaming various dreams, secure and warm within their own comfortable bed locations.
Vlad wobbled his big Orca patterned frame over to the door of the building, as he heard somebody knocking on it from the other side. Sliding the huge thing open, he smiled as he saw all the various fellows gathered outside in the morning light.
"Winston! So glad you could come. I see you brought the family with you, and the new arrivals to the clan."
The big green fellow nodded, and waved a paw down at the collection of humans standing before him.
"Yep, this is them, as I mentioned via the communication link. Is Sam around? I'm sure she'd like to meet them as well."
Vlad nodded, and waved everyone inside. The various dragons found places to sit around the main room, as Vlad walked around a corner and spoke to his mate. Sam was just finishing feeding the kids, and indicated as such. She leaned her copious bulk around a corner, and waved at the assembled group.
"Hello there! Don't mind me, I'm just finishing breakfast duties. We'll all be out in a moment. Have you all eaten?"
Winston nodded, and waved back.
"Yes, we're fine. Take care of the children, we'll still be here when you're done."
Vlad got to meet the new faces while they waited, and listened as they explained their family relation to Winston. Vlad was practically family as far as Winston's kids were concerned, so that was good enough for the travelling humans. As the lot chatted, Sam eventually walked in holding all of her brood, namely four 9 year old dragons. Each one was about 5ft tall or so, and several hundred pounds a pop. They were all interesting colours too, thanks to their parents.
There was Orca patterned Kit, a male with a very thick tail. Following him up was Harvey and John, twin boys whom both shared their mothers yellow colouration, but had black patches over their eyes. Finally there was Susan, a very heavy yellow female whom was the spitting image of her mother. The kids soon decided to let the adults talk and wandered off to play, with the dragons of the bunch practically dragging their newly discovered cousins off to their room. The teen of the bunch decided to sit and talk for a while, before also wandering off to hang with his brothers.
All of the human kids had brought various toys with them, so no doubt there would be much fun had for the next little while. Vlad and Sam were quite happy to meet Ted and Lucy, and congratulated them on what seemed like a wonderful group of children. Ted and Lucy were likewise pleased with the brood of young dragons, and were quite happy to see both sets of kids hitting it off so well.
Sam got up at one point and fetched back various tidbits for everyone to snack on, including some baked goods she thoughtfully broke up into smaller chunks that the humans could manage. The kids were called in to grab some snacks as well, and the lot eventually retreated outside to play with the various jugs of bubble solution the humans had brought with them. Winston squirmed and blushed a bit at the sight of the stuff, suddenly remembering his puffy antics from a few nights back. Lucy snickered as she noticed his expression, and gently patted him on the side.
Winston's eldest clutch eventually took their mother out on the town to enjoy some quality time together, while Vlad and Winston decided to gather up the kids, and take them to the recreation centre. There everyone enjoyed many long hours playing in the pool, floating around with various sized critters. At one point, the kids found a spot on the side of the pool with their bubble jugs, and engaged in a game of who could blow the biggest bubble. No doubt that would occupy the lot for hours to come.
Vlad took the moment of quiet to float a little closer to Winston's head, and spoke in hushed tones.
"So, I assume you've heard the news?"
Winston shook his head, and indicated that he had not, whatever it was.
"Well you see, the human officials from Crim have been stirring up shit back in your home down. They apparently are holding a general meeting soon, and plan to make some announcements. A fine sight that will be, eh? A bunch of little government people trying to order us around, ha."
Winston nodded, and brooded over it all. He hoped whatever the had in mind wasn't bad, as he didn't want there to be any bad blood between the two species. After all, they were still related. He supposed he'd have to round everyone up soon and get them back home, and help deal with the problem. After all, he was an elder there, and it was part of his job.
Everyone managed to have a few more days of blissful play and relaxation before they had to say goodbye for now, and boarded the airship once more. The human family was quite pleased to ride the huge ship again, even if it meant saying goodbye to their hosts again. Winston said goodbye for now to the young clutch, Sam, Vlad, and his eldest family living on the island. It wasn't a tear filled goodbye by any stretch of the imagination, as they all knew they'd see one another again before long.
The trip home was largely uneventful, minus some grumbling amongst the dragons about the upcoming meeting, and rumours pertaining to its contents. Two days later they were landing once more, and quickly switched from airship to train to complete their journey.
Winston got the lot back to his place with enough time for everyone to have a hot meal, and get cleaned up for the night. Once more the place filled up with the smells of potent dragon-strength cleaning fluids, and with ample bubbles quite literally in the case of Winston's washroom. He added far too much of the stuff to his bath, and splashed around like a hatchling just for the hell of it. One was never too old to have a good time, and soap stains could always be washed off the walls later.
He informed his relatives that he would be going out early tomorrow, to take care of some business, and that it would be best if they just stayed around the house until he returned. They too had heard about the meeting, and the bullying of the human officials, so they agreed with staying indoors for now. After all, who knows what could happen?
They all had a good nights sleep at least, free from their worries within their own personal dream worlds.
"Order! Order! We'll have order here!"
One of the human officials was banging some heavy object or another against a desk that had been provided for him, shouting for all the talking dragons to shut up and pay attention. Most were of the opinion that they were wasting their time here, and that these "officials" from another planet were obnoxious to the extreme. Eventually Winston stood up and waved his arms around to quiet everyone down. He figured they should at least hear what the people had to say, even if they were blowhards.
"Thank you. Now then, we've called this meeting to address several issues. But they key point is the continued re-development of Earth, and the part you lot have to play in it. As you all know, your race was created to help humanity reclaim the globe, for humanity. It has been decided that we should be involved in further redevelopment now that temperatures have started to improve, and also since you lot have started setting up settlements again. As such, we're here to arrange further construction of human habitats, so re-colonization can commence..."
Several dragons all tried to talk at once, asking what right they had to come and make demands, and other less polite things. Winston had been made their speaker for the event, and once more stood up to calm the crowds, and talk as well.
"Woah there sir, nobody said anything about colonization. In-case you forgot, you left Earth to us years back. All the building that has been done has been for our benefit, not yours. The bunkhouses and transportation modifications were last minute additions to our cities, simply because we felt it would be polite to entertain tourists. If you want to have people move back here, that's all well and good. But you would be wise to ask us, not tell us. Earth is after all, under new management. This is our home now."
Many human delegates went into an uproar over his little speech, and a few hot heads even sounded off about a military invasion, even though they barely had one to speak of. There were many raised voices, tantrums, and stomping of feet. The situation was getting heated to say the least, but Winston managed to calm them all down.
"QUIET!"
His bellow worked like a charm, and both sides of the debate were soon seated and looking rather placid. He took turns waving fingers at them both.
"Just what the hell is going on here? We dragons have never been this riled up before, and I'll be damned if we come to blows over a matter like this. And you humans, just who the hell do you think you are? We're your family, for crying out loud, not indentured slaves you can bully around. And believe me, you wouldn't want to try. I would hate to see what would happen if any of us got in a fight, as the outcome would surely be grim. Now, why are you so set on having people move back here? Don't be fooled by the summer weather, you'd hate it during the winter."
The humans took a moment to gather their thoughts, before one of them stood up to speak again, hat in hand so to speak.
"Well, to be honest, some us want to be involved in the rebuilding of our ancient home. Even though none of us were born here, we grew up hearing about this wonderful world. We like our planet of Crim just fine, but this is our home too. I apologize for the rudeness of some of my companions here... Some of them don't seem to realize that you're people too, and not giant animals to be ordered around. Rest assured, there will be no more talk of forcing you to do anything. We only ask to come home someday, at least in part."
Several of the loud mouths had been practically bound and gagged behind the scenes, keeping them from souring the deal any further. Soon the lot settled down again, and started talking about what everyone could do for everyone else. Give and take, that was the message of the day. The subject of the Dragon's somewhat odd expansion related activities were brought up at one point, though contrary to common assumption, most of the humans were merely curious. The various scientists whom still were interested in Dragon development wanted to know lots of details, like how stretchy they were, and how this process came about in the first place.
Sure there was the odd human whom was disgusted at the idea, but most simply didn't care. After all, it wasn't like the dragons were forcing them to watch or partake. Others seemed somewhat eager to see the whole thing happen at some point, and many were invited to come and watch sometime. After all, the dragons loved to show off. When the meeting was all said and done, Winston went back home feeling quite a lot happier. They had all agreed to start letting humans stay on Earth, though only in small groups for now. There was simply not that much space for them. Still, whomever stayed could help build more proper human sized dwellings.
His extended family was happy to see him home again, and happier still to hear the news. They were practically overjoyed when Winston invited them all to stay, and join the other humans whom had elected to set up roots. Any personal effects they had left behind on Crim could be sent along with the next wave of visitors. The human delegates had agreed to send along supply ships every few months to help provide natural resources and advanced technology, which would further speed along construction plans for the soon to be combined populations of Earth.
For the time being, Ted, Lucy, and their kids elected to stay with Winston in his extensive guest floor. He didn't mind, as it was nice to have company around the house. As the years went by, more and more people showed up, and large apartment buildings were built for the new residents along-side dragon dwellings all along the train network. Work continued on extending the train lines, and new networks were completed over on the distant island settlements.
Ted and Lucy watched their kids grow up and found families of their own, plus they got to watch as Winston's first grand children hatched, not long after the third generation clutches of other families. Most people were working on one project or another, be it construction, farming, education, or further extending the cities and the transportation networks.
Anyone who came to visit Earth these days would hardly recognize the place. A great ribbon stretched around the entire equator, marking the location of the great linear city its citizens had built. Dozens of long distance and local train lines were all bunched together, wrapping themselves around the entire planet. Huge pillars went all the way down to the ocean floor here and there, supporting the portions of the city that was suspended over water. In all cases, there were buildings to either side of the tracks, containing humans, dragons, farms, schools, and various entertainment venues.
There were of course more on the land than the sections that wrapped over the ocean, but even the ocean sections of the city had sizable populations. Every year a little more of the planet thawed, and plans were hatched to eventually start another ribbon-city a few hundred kilometres to the north of the first one. Airships were still used even though they were slower than the trains, simply because they were far more comfortable. They had become flying cruise ships, and many the passenger was eager to spend all their free time aboard ship rather than worrying about going to any specific location.
Many millions of humans now lived on the not too distant world of Crim as well, as did tens of thousands of dragons. In the spirit of mutual development, they had built dragon sized dwellings on the tropical planet, and invited all whom wanted to go come and live there. It was uncommon to see a dragon going anywhere without some humans, and vice verse. This suited everyone well, as both races had developed a very strong kinship with one another.
While they had no real need to further spread out, a joint venture space program was getting together to further explore the systems between both worlds, and hopefully start building new colonies. After all, it couldn't hurt to not have all your eggs in just two baskets.
Winston eventually set down his computer pad, and yawned loudly. He'd finally finished his journals for the history department, and figured it was time to reward himself with a little fun. Despite being over 300 years old, he was still limber and energetic, though he did feel a little old from time to time. Still, modern medical care kept him healthy as can be, and he had no complaints. Doctors were still trying to figure out the lifespan of his kind, and he hoped to keep them guessing for a long time.
Wandering outside into the sunshine, he scratched at his paunch and wandered down to the public recreation fields. Today was the annual expansion games, where everyone came together to see which dragon could get the largest. His old record had been broken the previous year, but he'd been practising again. And there was no way some damned kid was going to beat him again this year!
Looking up at the scoreboard, he stuffed a hissing hose into his mouth, and rumbled as he began to stretch out. 816 feet in diameter? He could do that with his eyes closed. The games went on as they always did, with thousands of cheering fans from mixed races egging on the competitors to bigger and bigger sizes. As Winston swelled out larger by the moment, he smiled to himself and thought about how lucky he was to live in such interesting and fulfilling times.
The end.