Chap. 220 New Home

Chap. 220 New Home

If he hadn't had a guide, K'ndar would have instantly been lost in the orderly maze that was Landing.

He'd been there before, of course, but only in a few buildings. Landing was laid out in rows, with roads composed of exposed volcanic rock, smoothed and flattened by some long forgotten process. The roads ran north and south, east and west. To a man who'd spent his life in a cottage with outbuildings scattered here and there, then in a honeycombed volcanic ridge, the geometric layout of Landing was utterly alien.

Marsh, the teenager who met him in the dragon meadow, greeted him with a "Nice dragon!"

"Thank you, " K'ndar said.

"Grafton told me you'd be coming in tonight. Welcome to Landing! Have you ever been here before?"

K'ndar pulled off his riding gloves and goggles. He looked at the teen curiously. Who was Grafton?

"I have, but only in the Library and Main Reception building, and the home of one of my friends. Oh, and the visitor's dorm, and the barns," he said. He realized that every time he'd been at Landing, there'd always been someone to guide him to where he wanted to go. This place was so big, there were so many of these curved roof structures and they all looked alike! How would he ever find anything? Like tomorrow, when he had to meet Raylan, how would he find his way?

"Yup," Marsh said, consulting a small datalink. It glowed in the fading light. "I thought as much. I hope it doesn't insult you, then, but I promise you, you'll get lost. Most people do when they first come here. So I'm going to show you where you'll be living, and please wait for me to come get you first thing tomorrow. There's some fresh klah and bread, some fruit and some berry jam in the kitchen. There's a small box under the counter, that's called a 'refrigerator'. I turned it on this morning, so it should be cold by now. I'll be leaving this datalink with you, do you know how to use one?"

K'ndar, befuddled, said, "Uh, no. Although I've seen them in use."

Marsh handed him the datalink. "It will shut off by itself to save power, but if you want it to wake up, just stroke the screen, like this." He demonstrated as K'ndar held it rather gingerly.

"How..if I wanted to get hold of you, what do I do?"

"Just say, "Marsh of Landing, please," and it will link you to my datalink, but it's at home right now. Do you know anybody here other than Raylan?"

Still feeling unsure, he raced through his memory of the folks he'd met.

"I know Francie, Raylan, Elene, Jansen, um um, and Risal."

"Just wake it up, say the name of who you want to talk to and where they live, and it will connect you. And, if someone wants you, it will call your name. When I get home, I'll give it a test. Do you have anything to put in your quarters?"

"I do," K'ndar said, feeling as if it was all coming too fast, "I have two crates, they're still on my dragon."

"Oh, I should have mentioned it first. Your quarters are on this side of Landing, with a larger building than most,because of your dragon. It's right over there." The boy pointed in the general direction of a line of buildings. "Most of the time, landsmen are put up in buildings closer to the center. But dragons need a place to sleep, so these buildings, we think they used to be workshops, they have a large door to let your dragon enter. The shops are on the far edge of Landing, so you'll have a walk to get to work. It's all set up, all we need to do is get your dragon inside the building and we can offload there. Come on...Oh! A fire lizard!"

Siskin had left his perch atop Raventh and swirled over their heads, unsure of Marsh.

"Here, lad, to me," K'ndar called. Siskin chittered and landed on his left shoulder. He looked at Marsh with doubtful green eyes.

"He's really pretty," Marsh said, entranced, "Can I pet him?"

K'ndar shook his head. "They're not like dogs or cats, Marsh. They're usually not friendly to strangers. Once he gets to know you, he's better, but even then they don't really care for other people than the one they're bonded to," K'ndar said.

Marsh sighed. "Okay. I think I'd like to have one, someday. Let's go, it's getting dark."

He turned and began to walk towards the line of buildings. K'ndar followed. "I'll just open the bay doors, I'll show you how to do it and then you can call your dragon..oh."

Raventh trotted til he reached K'ndar's shoulder, listening avidly. His eyes glowed a pensive green. He was a bit uncertain, too.

No weyr for me?

Not a weyr, a 'building'. They are giving us a big 'building' with room specifically for you.

Marsh, feeling the brown Right Behind him, had stopped and turned to face Raventh.

He was awed by the dragon's size.

"He's..he won't hurt me, will he?"

"No, of course not. Not only are dragons mentally and emotionally incapable of hurting any human, he's gentle as a lamb. Even more so, he's kind," K'ndar said, pride flowing his heart. He reached up to put his arm around Raventh's neck.

Marsh turned. "I can't touch him, he's like a fire lizard, right?"

"On the contrary, he's not at all like a fire lizard when it comes to humans other than me. Do you want to pet him?"

The teen quailed, then straightened up, not wanting to be seen as afraid.

"Yes, I'd like to," he said.

Tell him I like having my chin scratched

"He said to tell you he likes to have his chin scratched. Like this," K'ndar said, and reached for Raventh's jaw.

"He..understands what I said?" Marsh said, amazed.

Don't they teach you anything about dragons? K'ndar wondered. How is it you know so little about the one creature that has allowed humans to live on Pern?

"Yes," he said, disturbed at the idea that Marsh's lack of knowledge-and, by extension, the rest of young Pernese, would probably only worsen with the eradication of Thread. He let that concept sit for now.

"He understands every word we say. Not only that, he talks to me just as easily as you and I are talking. Here, see where I'm touching his jaw? Scratch right there," K'ndar said.

The boy reached out, gingerly, and touched the dragon's jaw, tentatively. He gave the jaw a few half-hearted scratches, ready to retract it instantly.

Harder. He's tickling me

"He says, harder, right now you're tickling him," K'ndar said, grinning.

"I..I had no idea. He's warm! And his skin! I thought it would be hard, but no, it's soft!" The boy said. He started scratching a little harder than the first contact.

Higher. Higher up

"Higher up his jaw," K'ndar repeated.

Yes. Right there. Stop tomorrow morning.

K'ndar laughed. "You're in his favorite spot. You can stop when your fingers fall off," he said.

Marsh laughed, gaining confidence. "I've never touched a dragon before," he said, scratching. "We have, I think, about ten total here, but they're usually out on missions. His eyes! They're changing to blue. Is that okay?"

"It means he's happy. You must be a good scratcher," K'ndar said.

After several moments, K'ndar said, "he would be more than happy to have you do that all night, but I'd like to see my quarters, please?"

"Yes, of course, um...let's go. What's his name?"

"Raventh. Brown dragon from Kah..well, now, I guess it's Landing."

________________________________________________________________________

After settling them into their new home, Marsh had left.

K'ndar wandered about the building. It seemed enormous after his cramped weyr at Kahrain Steppe. It was separated into several distinct rooms, with a kitchen in one with a table and chairs, a bedroom in another, with shelves and a chest for his belongings. A latrine was off the main bedroom, with running water and a shower. The main section had a desk, a couch and a few chairs.

Windows on either side of the building had darkened upon nightfall, precluding the need for curtains.

Otherwise it was fairly barren. His steps echoed. He remembered Francies' art work on the walls of her home. I'd like a picture, he thought.

"Once you get settled in, we can get you more furniture if you want, but for now this is the basic issue," Marsh had said. He'd shown K'ndar how to turn on the lights in each room. One activated the lights by waving at gently glowing panel on the wall next to the automatic doors, something K'ndar had seen on earlier visits and had never tired of playing with.

Siskin whirled about the rooms, searching for a ledge to claim as his own.

He wheeped, unhappy.

"I know, little lad, I'll have a ledge installed for you in a few days. For now, do you want to stay with Raventh?"

Siskin chipped in irritation but agreed. He flew to the door that entered the dragon bay. Lowering himself to K'ndar's chest level, he hovered in front of the glowing panel.

It opened.

Siskin had the doors figured out! But, he had witnessed me operating them on earlier visits.

Still, I have to admit I'm tickled at his cleverness.

He passed through the door into what Marsh had called the dragon 'bay'. Someone had installed a large, hefty couch, made of sturdy wood, to take a dragon's weight and size.

Raventh had turned round and round in it until he found the sweet spot.

Do you like it?

I don't know. It feels okay, but it's not stone.

I know. It's the only furniture that's not made of lightwood. Do you want stone? I don't know if they can do that.

No, it's okay, I'll get used to it, I think. It is comfortable. I could use a couple of cushions, I think.

Do you have enough room for your wings?

Raventh gingerly opened his wings. As always, K'ndar exulted in seeing them open.

Raventh stretched them out, carefully extending them further and further, judging the room he'd need to have them fully unfurled.

K'ndar judged the room by Raventh's wing span. Here on the ground, his wings looked far longer than when he was aboard.

Looks good. Plenty of room for your wingtips. I'd be careful, because the doorway is narrower than the room, but I think you're good for wing room. Raise them up over your head.

Raventh obeyed.

Plenty of room overhead

He contemplated the bay. A large bay door formed one side of the building. It had a smaller door inset, one that let a human out of the bay without having to open the larger one. At the moment, the bay door itself was overhead, the opening offering a view of the dragon meadow beyond.

"How does the big door open and close?" K'ndar had asked Marsh.

"There's three control panels, see, this one, on the wall to the left of the door we just came through. You can operate the bay door from the inside, too. This panel, here? Wave at it and the door opens and closes. Your dragon won't panic, will he, when I shut the door?" the boy asked.

"I'll warn him, but I doubt it. He's not afraid of much of anything, " K'ndar said.

Will it make a noise? The little doors for humans make a strange noise Raventh asked.

Let's find out K'ndar said.

He waved at the panel next to the human door.

Nothing happened.

Marsh tried it, too, without success. "Okay, we'll have to fix that," he said. "Some of these buildings haven't been occupied in who knows how long. Turns, I mean years and years. This one, this building, it wasn't until last year that it was excavated. Me and my dad and his people opened this one up last month. I guess we didn't check the panels, we'll get that fixed."

He looked around the bay. Siskin had flown into the bay and had immediately noted one entire wall of the bay had shelves. So many to choose from! He went from on to another, kicking up a layer of dust from the topmost ones.

K'ndar laughed. "Look at that silly lizard, he's got an entire wall of shelves and can't figure out which one he wants!"

Marsh nodded. "We think the ancients used this building for machines, there's other buildings like this one with shelves, too. Some even had tools still on them. The metal parts were still there. No one can figure out what the tools do, though. I was supposed to dust off those shelves, but I didn't. We didn't have the ladder with us. Sorry, if you want, I'll come by next week to clean them off," the boy said.

"If you let me use a ladder, I can do it," K'ndar offered.

"Thanks. I'll get you a ladder, I have to put in a 'ticket' for the switch panels, anyway."

The open door posed a different problem.

"How...if the panels don't work, how do I shut the door?" K'ndar said.

"No worries. This happens a lot, especially after dark. The whole building is powered by the solar panels on the roof, and sometimes the batteries get depleted. I'll have my dad's people check it out. But see that panel next to the big doorway? That's the third operating panel," he said. He led the way, carefully skirting Raventh's bulk.

"Here, now let's see if this one works," Marsh said.

He waved at the panel.

Nothing happened.

K'ndar grew concerned. "Will I have to leave the door open all the time? I don't think he'll mind but I wonder about rain coming in."

Marsh laughed.

"Oh, don't worry! Here, see this pedal, these wires, next to the bay door support structure, they're called 'rails', and those wheels on the side? They keep the door from 'jumping the track'. Press on the pedal."

K'ndar touched it gingerly. Nothing happened.

"No, you have to push down on it with your foot. Like this," Marsh said. He stepped on the pedal. With a screech of metal on metal, the door slid down the rails and shut with a definite clunk.

"Okay, we'll have to lubricate those rails," Marsh said,"But until we get the panels repaired, the manual controls will work, always."

K'ndar looked at wires that controlled the ascent. He pressed on the pedal and the door, again with a screech, went back up.

That hurts my ears.

He said they'd fix that. It might take a day or two. Do you want to leave the door open, then?

For now. I'm not used to being shut in. I want to get out to go between to do my business.

"See?" Marsh said.

"Thanks. Why do they have the pedal if the panels are supposed to do the same thing, open and close it?"

Marsh laughed. "It's called a 'manual override'. That's something we learned when we first started getting dragons here. The engineers had to put in the override because the dragons learned to use the panel to operate the door. They love to play with the door! Some of them operate the door so many times it drains the battery," he said, still laughing.

K'ndar laughed. "This makes me sound stupid, but the first time I stayed here, I did the same thing..played with the door opener," he admitted.

Marsh laughed. "All us kids do, too. It's just amazing how it slides open and shut all by itself, with that shifffff noise."

It does look like fun, but the big door noise hurts.

Marsh looked admiringly at Raventh.

"Raventh said it looks like fun," K'ndar said.

"He's really smart, isn't he?"

"He is. Especially after we're no longer feeding them firestone, every dragon seems to have gained in intelligence and memory. Especially memory!"

Marsh gazed at Raventh.

"How did you make him your friend? Did you catch him in the wild?"

K'ndar was shocked.

"Marsh, didn't you learn about dragons? How they made it so that we could live on Pern without starving, how we fly through the air and flame thread out of the sky?" he said, astonished.

The boy looked sheepish.

"Um...no, I didn't. I grew up here. I mean, I know about thread falling, but all we had to do was take cover, because there's little worm things in the soil that eats it. And I know it's gone now.

I've been working with my dad, we don't have a Harper, we go to school here but..no, I know a little about dragons, but not much. I just know they're beautiful animals that fly and can go everywhere in a moment, and some people have them as pets. Like you."

K'ndar shook his head. This was not good.

"He's not a pet, Marsh, he's a partner," he said, more heated than he'd intended.

"I'm sorry, don't be angry," Marsh apologized. "We just, well, we have only a few dragons here, and they're usually busy doing other things. They're not like horses or cows. When we go to school, we learn things like math and physics and engineering, reading and writing."

"No..no biology? Your Harpers aren't teaching biology?"

"Um...not much. We don't have Harpers here, we have 'teachers'. They're staff. I know about oxygen and chlorophyll and photosynthesis, but that's because that's what powers the solar panels! I didn't pay much attention to biology, I'm not really interested. I like mechanical things, like this system of doors, I want to be an engineer, like my dad," Marsh said.

Hmmm. What in the world! No biology being taught? No history being taught, that of dragons and Thread? This is not good. This is precisely what D'nis had warned about, he is always saying, 'those who fail to learn from history are bound to repeat it." Thread isn't coming back, but dragons are still needed! This is Landing! Home of Aivas, with technology, computers, and science. How can this be? An entire wing of science, being neglected?

What a shameful thing! And the head of the Planetary Council is..was..a dragonrider? What the shaff?

He felt a pang of guilt. Surviving the loss of one's dragon had to be like living every day with only one arm and one leg, one eye, only half a heart. The pain of loss never leaving, never easing. He knew it hurt, having lived with his dragonless Uncle Fland, who could just barely tolerate being in a dragon's presence.

You couldn't ask Lord Lytol to insist on talking to kids about dragons and their vital position in Pern culture and economy. The man was so old, had given so much to Pern, it wouldn't be fair to ask much more than his guidance. The emotional pain of his doing anything with dragons would be unbearable. It's impossible, he thought, to imagine life without a dragon. Oh, no, it IS possible to imagine, much too easily. I wouldn't ever be able to live that way. Life without Raventh would be drab existance, nothing more.

Biology. Dragons. They did go together, in a way.

I don't want to be a teacher. But maybe I'll have to do something to teach these kids.