Chapter 11

WEDNESDAY 3:45 P. M. CST Elfrealm Lake's Edge

Galden's voice sounded in Elnore's mind, 'My Lord, Aldana reports that The Clutch is nearing hatching stage. She described it as "a batch of popcorn on the verge of exploding". What would you recommend we do? We can not contain them all in the birthing chamber.'

Elnore explored the possibilities and then an idea blossomed full blown in his head. With a chuckle he contacted Kimiroto and passed on his thoughts, asking if that might not be a big enough prank to earn a third tail.

The breathy sounding, 'Oh yes, My Lord, ' coming back over the net, was accompanied by the image of a six-foot-tall-cat-in-Kimono, vibrating with anticipation and quivering with glee.

'I thought you might like the idea, ' sent Elnore along with a soft chuckle.

Elnore then contacted Michael and Aldana bringing them in as a conference call. As he explained his idea, Mike at first was balking having been raised in a deep secrecy mode. Elnore then said, 'Michael, look out at Lake Shore Dr. Do you think that zoo is going to calm down anytime soon, if ever?'

'No, ' came back with a sigh.

'And neither do I. They now have photographic evidence of Draconic beings. Do you think they are going to just shelve this as a neat little factoid and move on? Also, there is the fact of our needing to find a place for three hundred and twenty two more of these entities. Any ideas?'

'No, no, you're right. It just grates against everything I've ever learned about keeping my head down.'

Aldana broke in with, 'My Lord, it will take major energy to create the paths needed.'

'I know, but we do have it to hand, so why not?' Elnore responded then added, 'Besides, our guest is about to vibrate out of his kimono he's so excited.'

'I'll just bet he is, ' tossed out Mike in a tone of resignation.

WEDNESDAY 3:47 P. M. CST Dwarven Nursery

As the crew gathered together, Kimiroto was given the honor of plotting the paths that would be created. He was shivering so badly that he resembled one of those quarter fed massaging beds in a hotel room.

When all was in place there was only one thing left to do ... wait.

Mike produced a deck of cards and turning to their guest asked, "Have you ever played Texas Hold'em?"

WEDNESDAY 3:50 P. M. CST St Jude's Children's Hospital

Sally Michaels had been a nurse at St. Jude's for twelve years now, working her way up to day shift charge nurse in the ICU unit. She was on her half hour mid-shift break and trying to get some relief for her soul in the open air section reserved for staff on the roof.

She could remember days without end when her beloved husband Gary, would spend a good part of the evening just holding her as she unwound from her day. She had seen things here that would have put even Gandhi into a state of anguish, but this latest one took the cake.

Sean Collins was eight years old and up till six months back had been looking forward to seeing his friends in the third grade. Now, he was looking forward to easing out of this mortal life as gently as the staff here could arrange. The Leukemia eating him up from the inside was seeing to his transport. It was also eating up the heart of Sally Michaels.

Her face raised to the heavens, her mind screamed out one question, 'WHY!?! He's only an eight year old boy. He should have his whole life in front of him, ' her mind raged on.

'Oh God, please, please, ' echoed in her mind as the sobs wracked her body.

WEDNESDAY 3:55 P. M. CST Lake Shore Dr. CNN Van-1

CNN camera man Dennis Sands was bored out of his mind. After the first rush of seeing the massive crowds gathered here, it got mighty darn routine. He was amusing himself by panning camera two across the breadth of Lake Michigan and trying out some of the more exotic modes with the telephoto lenses ... when the Lake exploded into five columns of colored light and water streaming for the sky.

"Oh, My, God," escaped from his mouth and then professionalism snapped into place.

"Camera two, live feed, NOW!" he screamed.

The chief producer leaped for his board at this point and three seconds later CNN was broadcasting live coverage of an event never before seen on the Earth.

Lake Michigan was boiling and five streams of multi-colored something was being launched into the skies.

As the other cameras came on line, Sands snapped the wide angle lens into place. 'My God, ' he thought, 'it looks like a fourth of July display. Only this is the biggest one I've ever seen.'

Every color of the spectrum was represented here, truth be told, some that weren't in the spectrum too. After the first thirty seconds, the streams began breaking up into individual entities and it became apparent what these were ... Dragons, hundreds of them.

Bernard Shaw's voice over was heard then, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe we are witnessing the birth of a new species on the Earth today. Stay tuned as we bring you breaking coverage of this historic event."