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Description
Contracted IN (III)

With his mind still swimming, Pete started to replace his phone into his back pocket when it vibrated again. He lifted it and saw a reply to his text:

‘Thank you, Pete. This is very helpful. It was nice to talk to you too. G.Y.D.’

“Fuck me!” Pete muttered to himself. “I’m texting a fucking dragon!”

Pete returned to the Bureau building and headed straight for the Chief Inspector’s office. His mind was reeling under the weight of recent events: his conversation earlier with Lee held an offer of employment with the Bureau directly, but if he accepted that offer, it would mean leaving his current employer, Matty, who had supported him in the past by offering him a job as a mechanic, and even paid for him to go to college and gain qualifications in the work that he was doing. Then there had been his conversation with Matty, who was facing his own problems of rising rent charges, not to mention the fact that if Pete left ‘Matty’s Motors’, there was a high chance that the contract Matty held with the Home Office would come to an end, leaving the man in more financial troubles than ever. And then there had been Pete’s conversation with the Dragon… the Great Yorkshire Dragon. One thought hadn’t even occurred to Pete until he returned to the Bureau – how did the Dragon even get his number? A thought at the back of his mind wanted to say ‘He’s a dragon, just accept it,’ but Pete was far too rational to just accept strange happenings without at least some degree of explanation. That was why he was making his way to the Chief Inspector’s office. Lee was the only other person he knew who had spoken to a dragon. Did Ter’Duroin have access to the Bureau’s personnel files? Did Lee give the dragon Pete’s number? Pete wouldn’t have minded, if that was the case, but the mystery was gnawing at his mind, and it needed a resolution.

When he arrived at Lee’s office, the door was closed and the lights inside were off. Pete sighed and headed back down the corridor he had entered, and up a flight of stairs. The Bureau was becoming easier for him to navigate now that he had been shown around a little. There were a few places he knew how to get to – Lee’s office; the garage, of course, since that was where he was based; the ‘Archive’, which he had stumbled on while looking for the cafeteria; the toilets; the locker rooms; and of course, the cafeteria itself. When Pete reached the one place he knew he might find someone to ask, the cafeteria was almost deserted. Constable Johnson was working there today – the cafeteria duty rotated on a daily basis, and Pete wondered if at some point he himself might be expected to work there occasionally. Pete approached the constable and asked about the Chief Inspector. Johnson shrugged, scant on details, but he did tell Pete that the C.I. had an urgent meeting with somebody from Fifth Energy that was likely to take all afternoon.

Feeling somewhat despondent, Pete thanked Johnson, and left the cafeteria. Pete felt at a loss as to how to move forward. He started to make his way towards the elevator when he suddenly remembered his conversation with Lee earlier that morning.

“I want you and Billy working on that damned egg,” he had said. Pete turned around and headed back towards the ‘Archive’.

The door to the ‘Archive’ was closed when he arrived, but Pete assumed that Lee had given him a clear instruction, and so he took a hold of the door handle and opened it.

“It’s Pete,” he called into the room beyond, and stepped inside. “Lee wants me to work on that egg. Anyone here?”

“Hey, Pete,” a friendly and familiar voice called back. “Come on in.” Billy Denton was sitting at a table, reading from a book as Pete descended the old wooden steps down into the ‘Archive’. The strange clockwork device was still sitting on the table where it had been the night before. Pete approached Billy, who turned to look at him. He noticed Pete’s expression, and immediately became concerned. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Pete slumped down on a chair on the opposite side of the table from Billy and sighed.

“Long story,” he said. He recounted his conversation with Lee that morning, and then his talk with his boss, Matty. Billy listened closely to Pete’s concerns, and felt heartened by the young man’s sense of loyalty to Matty. Billy certainly didn’t envy Pete’s situation. When Pete moved on to the call he had received from the Great Yorkshire Dragon, he had Billy’s full attention to the exclusion of everything else.

“Wow! Billy said. “You s..spoke to Ter’Duroin?”

“Yeah,” Pete nodded, “it was weird. Hey! I just remembered… I’ve got an app on my phone that records my calls. You can listen to it yourself.” Pete took his phone from his back pocket and thumbed his way through to the call recording app. The recording was at the top of the list, and Pete ranked up the volume on his phone and pressed play.

The recording that played back was his own voice, but where the dragon had spoken in the conversation, there was nothing but silence – not even the sound of passing traffic.

“Aww, shit!” Pete moaned. “Don’t tell me the app’s not working!”

“I d..don’t think it’s the app that’s the p..problem,” Billy said. “I’ve done some r..reading on dragons. It was the f..first subject I looked for when we g..got all these books for the ‘Archive’. D..dragons don’t speak in the same w..way we do… actually, they can’t. They d..don’t have the right anatomy for s..spoken language in the way we understand it, not to m..mention that their mouths just aren’t equipped to handle it.”

“So how did he speak to me?” Pete asked. “I heard him, clear as day.”

Billy explained further. “They can c..communicate,” he said. “They understand s..spoken language, and they can r..read it, they just can’t speak it. From what I’ve r..read, they have two ways of c..communicating – the first is through m..magic, which is how Ter’Duroin must have s..spoken to you. It’s like t..telepathy. They p..project what they want to say to the p..person they want to say it to. You hear it, b..but it’s in your mind instead of through your ears, b..but to do it they need to have a l..link, a direct route to you. I s..spoke to Troy a while ago, and he said he’d s..spoken to Ter’Duroin over the phone once. He said he hung up the c..call during the conversation, and he and Adam were s..still able to talk to him. I’m only g..guessing here, but I reckon Ter’Duroin must have f..found a way to use an open phone line to m..make a link.”

“So what’s the other way?” Pete asked. “You said there were two?”

“Yeah,” Billy nodded. “Using m..magic to communicate is hard work, even for a d..dragon, so they prefer to use a ‘t..translator’. They make physical contact w..with a human and speak ‘through’ them. It’s k..kind of like they take over the human’s m..mouth and vocal chords. The b..books I’ve read are pretty clear on the f..fact that the dragon doesn’t take over their m..mind, just the p..physical parts they need in order to t..talk. It still uses magic, but it’s m..much less draining, I suppose.”

“I don’t think I’d want a dragon to do that to me,” Pete shuddered.

“No, m..me either,” Billy agreed.

“Well,” Pete said, “Since I don’t have a recording…” he went on to recount his brief talk with the Great Yorkshire Dragon, and how Ter’Duroin had wanted to get in touch with his boss, Matty.

“What do you think he wants?” Pete asked.

Billy leaned on the table in thought. “Again, I’m only g..guessing… maybe Ter’Duroin wants to n..negotiate with your boss to get you to w..work here. Lee was r..really impressed with you g..getting the ‘egg’ working. If he’s m..mentioned it to Ter’Duroin, maybe that’s what they w..want?”

“I wish I’d never got it working,” Pete glared at the device. The front hatch of the ‘egg’ had been closed since Pete saw it last, but the ‘eye’ inside was still open and emitting the eerie yellow glow from within.

“D..don’t say that,” Billy said, “Look, Lee’s a g..good man. He’s not going to let anything b..bad happen for your boss if he can s..stop it. I’ve heard him s..swearing down the phone at the Home Office. He’s not afraid to s..stand up to authority.”

“Yeah, but this is a dragon we’re talking about,” Pete objected.

“I don’t think that m..makes a difference to Lee,” Billy smiled. “Minister or D..dragon, they’re all the s..same to Lee.”

Despite his feelings, Pete felt reassured by Billy’s words. He rose briefly and glanced at the book that Billy had been reading. One page held a sketch of the clockwork device, while the other was covered in tiny scrawled handwriting in a foreign language.

“Can you read that?” he asked.

“Yeah. It’s L..Latin,” Billy nodded. “I f..found it this morning in the unsorted section of the l..library.”

“What’s it say?”

“It w..waffles on a lot,” Billy explained. “It talks about the m..materials the device is made from, the hours it took to f..forge bits of metal and glass, and how it was c..carefully put together. The details are scant on what it actually d..does, but it has a number of functions, and I have f..found a few very interesting bits and p..pieces.”

“So what is it?” Pete asked.

“I kind-of need to explain a l..little bit about how magic works,” Billy said awkwardly. Pete nodded and listened. “There’s m..magical energy all around us everywhere, but it’s inert. It has to be d..drawn into a living component – a m..mage – to become usable.”

“So a mage is like a transformer,” Pete said. The statement came as a surprise to Billy, who had expected to have to explain far more to be understood. “They convert AC magic into DC magic.”

“I n..never thought of it that way,” Billy said. “But b..basically, yes. The ‘egg’ is capable of d..drawing that magic from a mage, storing it…”

“…like a capacitor…” Pete interjected. Billy nodded.

“… and it can then t..transmit it to someone else.”

“Doesn’t that need some kind of transmitter and receiver?” Pete asked.

“Exactly!” Billy said. “From what I’ve r..read, this device was used as a means of b..binding a criminal mage. They would put some k..kind of shackle on the mage which would then t..transmit that mage’s power to the device. Another shackle on someone else would act as a r..receiver…”

“…so they would be able to use that power themselves.” Pete concluded.

Billy stood up from the desk, opened the front hatch of the ‘egg’ and pointed at the glow that was coming from the orb inside. “The ‘eye’ is g..glowing because it has some power already stored inside it, just like you said - like a c..capacitor. If we had a receiver, we’d be able to use that p.ppower, at least until it runs out.”

“Wouldn’t the one with the receiver have to be a mage too?” Pete asked.

“Apparently not,” Billy shook his head. “N..normally, to use magic, a person needs to have the ability to d..draw the energy from around themselves – they have to be a b..born ‘transformer’ in order to convert it into a usable f..form. But this device d..draws on the already-transformed energy of a mage, so it’s already in a usable form. It can essentially t..turn ANYONE into a mage, as long as they’re w..wearing a receiver.”

“So we just need to find a receiver,” Pete leaned back in his chair.

“Or m..make one,” Billy smiled. “Like I said, this d..device has more than one function. If it holds a charge…”

“…which is does…” Pete gestured towards the glowing orb.

“…we can m..make a receiver.” Billy pressed a combination of the keys at the bottom of the device, causing the ‘eye’ to rotate. At the back of the ‘eye’ were two covered slots. Billy pressed another key, and the cover of the slot on the right drew back. Inside were two small metallic pins. “If we could get s..something made from the right kind of m..material to touch both of these contacts, the d..device can convert it into a receiver.”

“Don’t tell me,” Pete said and pointed towards the covered slot, “that slot’s for making a transmitter.”

“G..got it in one,” Billy beamed.

“So what’s the right kind of material?” Pete asked.

“Any pure metal element,” Billy said. “G..gold… silver… p..platinum…”

“Expensive stuff,” Pete sighed.

“Also, c..copper, zinc, l..lead, aluminium or tin,” Billy added. “Alloys work too, just not as well. The only m..metal that doesn’t seem to work is iron, or anything containing it.”

“Sounds like iron is a resistor,” Pete smiled and winked. “I know my electronics.”

“No w..wonder they want you to w..work here,” Billy observed. “You’ve got a n..natural understanding for this.”

Pete turned his attention to the device again, particularly the pins inside the slot. “I bet we could use some crocodile clips and copper wire here. If we attach those to the pins, we could run a cable outside the ‘egg’ and attach something to the other end and make ourselves a receiver.” Suddenly his eyes widened as an idea came to him. “You know what? I bet if we had a set of handcuffs made out of the right stuff we could make those into transmitters. Officers could use them on any mages they arrest and neutralise them – stop them using their magic!”

A quick visit to the garage gave Pete all the equipment he needed. Returning to the ‘Archive’, he arranged the parts he needed on the table next to the device, and began working. Within a few minutes he had connected two cables to the pins inside the ‘eye’ of the machine, and the other ends were connected to an old pair of aluminium handcuffs.

“I think we’re ready,” Pete said to Billy, who nodded, and scanned the book he had been examining earlier. After double-checking a few passages in the book, he confirmed the sequence of keys to press, and wrote them down on a piece of paper. Pete took the page from Billy and compared the symbols to the keys. Then, after a moment of hesitation, he began the combination.

As the last key was pressed, the ‘egg’ began to hum. The cog wheels turned faster in the heart of the machine, and both Pete and Billy took a step back. The glowing light inside the ‘eye’ shone brighter, and as they watched, the handcuffs attached to the cables also began to glow.

“Is it working?” Pete asked.

“We’ll know s..soon enough,” said Billy.

Description
Contracted IN (III)

With his mind still swimming, Pete started to replace his phone into his back pocket when it vibrated again. He lifted it and saw a reply to his text:

‘Thank you, Pete. This is very helpful. It was nice to talk to you too. G.Y.D.’

“Fuck me!” Pete muttered to himself. “I’m texting a fucking dragon!”

Pete returned to the Bureau building and headed straight for the Chief Inspector’s office. His mind was reeling under the weight of recent events: his conversation earlier with Lee held an offer of employment with the Bureau directly, but if he accepted that offer, it would mean leaving his current employer, Matty, who had supported him in the past by offering him a job as a mechanic, and even paid for him to go to college and gain qualifications in the work that he was doing. Then there had been his conversation with Matty, who was facing his own problems of rising rent charges, not to mention the fact that if Pete left ‘Matty’s Motors’, there was a high chance that the contract Matty held with the Home Office would come to an end, leaving the man in more financial troubles than ever. And then there had been Pete’s conversation with the Dragon… the Great Yorkshire Dragon. One thought hadn’t even occurred to Pete until he returned to the Bureau – how did the Dragon even get his number? A thought at the back of his mind wanted to say ‘He’s a dragon, just accept it,’ but Pete was far too rational to just accept strange happenings without at least some degree of explanation. That was why he was making his way to the Chief Inspector’s office. Lee was the only other person he knew who had spoken to a dragon. Did Ter’Duroin have access to the Bureau’s personnel files? Did Lee give the dragon Pete’s number? Pete wouldn’t have minded, if that was the case, but the mystery was gnawing at his mind, and it needed a resolution.

When he arrived at Lee’s office, the door was closed and the lights inside were off. Pete sighed and headed back down the corridor he had entered, and up a flight of stairs. The Bureau was becoming easier for him to navigate now that he had been shown around a little. There were a few places he knew how to get to – Lee’s office; the garage, of course, since that was where he was based; the ‘Archive’, which he had stumbled on while looking for the cafeteria; the toilets; the locker rooms; and of course, the cafeteria itself. When Pete reached the one place he knew he might find someone to ask, the cafeteria was almost deserted. Constable Johnson was working there today – the cafeteria duty rotated on a daily basis, and Pete wondered if at some point he himself might be expected to work there occasionally. Pete approached the constable and asked about the Chief Inspector. Johnson shrugged, scant on details, but he did tell Pete that the C.I. had an urgent meeting with somebody from Fifth Energy that was likely to take all afternoon.

Feeling somewhat despondent, Pete thanked Johnson, and left the cafeteria. Pete felt at a loss as to how to move forward. He started to make his way towards the elevator when he suddenly remembered his conversation with Lee earlier that morning.

“I want you and Billy working on that damned egg,” he had said. Pete turned around and headed back towards the ‘Archive’.

The door to the ‘Archive’ was closed when he arrived, but Pete assumed that Lee had given him a clear instruction, and so he took a hold of the door handle and opened it.

“It’s Pete,” he called into the room beyond, and stepped inside. “Lee wants me to work on that egg. Anyone here?”

“Hey, Pete,” a friendly and familiar voice called back. “Come on in.” Billy Denton was sitting at a table, reading from a book as Pete descended the old wooden steps down into the ‘Archive’. The strange clockwork device was still sitting on the table where it had been the night before. Pete approached Billy, who turned to look at him. He noticed Pete’s expression, and immediately became concerned. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

Pete slumped down on a chair on the opposite side of the table from Billy and sighed.

“Long story,” he said. He recounted his conversation with Lee that morning, and then his talk with his boss, Matty. Billy listened closely to Pete’s concerns, and felt heartened by the young man’s sense of loyalty to Matty. Billy certainly didn’t envy Pete’s situation. When Pete moved on to the call he had received from the Great Yorkshire Dragon, he had Billy’s full attention to the exclusion of everything else.

“Wow! Billy said. “You s..spoke to Ter’Duroin?”

“Yeah,” Pete nodded, “it was weird. Hey! I just remembered… I’ve got an app on my phone that records my calls. You can listen to it yourself.” Pete took his phone from his back pocket and thumbed his way through to the call recording app. The recording was at the top of the list, and Pete ranked up the volume on his phone and pressed play.

The recording that played back was his own voice, but where the dragon had spoken in the conversation, there was nothing but silence – not even the sound of passing traffic.

“Aww, shit!” Pete moaned. “Don’t tell me the app’s not working!”

“I d..don’t think it’s the app that’s the p..problem,” Billy said. “I’ve done some r..reading on dragons. It was the f..first subject I looked for when we g..got all these books for the ‘Archive’. D..dragons don’t speak in the same w..way we do… actually, they can’t. They d..don’t have the right anatomy for s..spoken language in the way we understand it, not to m..mention that their mouths just aren’t equipped to handle it.”

“So how did he speak to me?” Pete asked. “I heard him, clear as day.”

Billy explained further. “They can c..communicate,” he said. “They understand s..spoken language, and they can r..read it, they just can’t speak it. From what I’ve r..read, they have two ways of c..communicating – the first is through m..magic, which is how Ter’Duroin must have s..spoken to you. It’s like t..telepathy. They p..project what they want to say to the p..person they want to say it to. You hear it, b..but it’s in your mind instead of through your ears, b..but to do it they need to have a l..link, a direct route to you. I s..spoke to Troy a while ago, and he said he’d s..spoken to Ter’Duroin over the phone once. He said he hung up the c..call during the conversation, and he and Adam were s..still able to talk to him. I’m only g..guessing here, but I reckon Ter’Duroin must have f..found a way to use an open phone line to m..make a link.”

“So what’s the other way?” Pete asked. “You said there were two?”

“Yeah,” Billy nodded. “Using m..magic to communicate is hard work, even for a d..dragon, so they prefer to use a ‘t..translator’. They make physical contact w..with a human and speak ‘through’ them. It’s k..kind of like they take over the human’s m..mouth and vocal chords. The b..books I’ve read are pretty clear on the f..fact that the dragon doesn’t take over their m..mind, just the p..physical parts they need in order to t..talk. It still uses magic, but it’s m..much less draining, I suppose.”

“I don’t think I’d want a dragon to do that to me,” Pete shuddered.

“No, m..me either,” Billy agreed.

“Well,” Pete said, “Since I don’t have a recording…” he went on to recount his brief talk with the Great Yorkshire Dragon, and how Ter’Duroin had wanted to get in touch with his boss, Matty.

“What do you think he wants?” Pete asked.

Billy leaned on the table in thought. “Again, I’m only g..guessing… maybe Ter’Duroin wants to n..negotiate with your boss to get you to w..work here. Lee was r..really impressed with you g..getting the ‘egg’ working. If he’s m..mentioned it to Ter’Duroin, maybe that’s what they w..want?”

“I wish I’d never got it working,” Pete glared at the device. The front hatch of the ‘egg’ had been closed since Pete saw it last, but the ‘eye’ inside was still open and emitting the eerie yellow glow from within.

“D..don’t say that,” Billy said, “Look, Lee’s a g..good man. He’s not going to let anything b..bad happen for your boss if he can s..stop it. I’ve heard him s..swearing down the phone at the Home Office. He’s not afraid to s..stand up to authority.”

“Yeah, but this is a dragon we’re talking about,” Pete objected.

“I don’t think that m..makes a difference to Lee,” Billy smiled. “Minister or D..dragon, they’re all the s..same to Lee.”

Despite his feelings, Pete felt reassured by Billy’s words. He rose briefly and glanced at the book that Billy had been reading. One page held a sketch of the clockwork device, while the other was covered in tiny scrawled handwriting in a foreign language.

“Can you read that?” he asked.

“Yeah. It’s L..Latin,” Billy nodded. “I f..found it this morning in the unsorted section of the l..library.”

“What’s it say?”

“It w..waffles on a lot,” Billy explained. “It talks about the m..materials the device is made from, the hours it took to f..forge bits of metal and glass, and how it was c..carefully put together. The details are scant on what it actually d..does, but it has a number of functions, and I have f..found a few very interesting bits and p..pieces.”

“So what is it?” Pete asked.

“I kind-of need to explain a l..little bit about how magic works,” Billy said awkwardly. Pete nodded and listened. “There’s m..magical energy all around us everywhere, but it’s inert. It has to be d..drawn into a living component – a m..mage – to become usable.”

“So a mage is like a transformer,” Pete said. The statement came as a surprise to Billy, who had expected to have to explain far more to be understood. “They convert AC magic into DC magic.”

“I n..never thought of it that way,” Billy said. “But b..basically, yes. The ‘egg’ is capable of d..drawing that magic from a mage, storing it…”

“…like a capacitor…” Pete interjected. Billy nodded.

“… and it can then t..transmit it to someone else.”

“Doesn’t that need some kind of transmitter and receiver?” Pete asked.

“Exactly!” Billy said. “From what I’ve r..read, this device was used as a means of b..binding a criminal mage. They would put some k..kind of shackle on the mage which would then t..transmit that mage’s power to the device. Another shackle on someone else would act as a r..receiver…”

“…so they would be able to use that power themselves.” Pete concluded.

Billy stood up from the desk, opened the front hatch of the ‘egg’ and pointed at the glow that was coming from the orb inside. “The ‘eye’ is g..glowing because it has some power already stored inside it, just like you said - like a c..capacitor. If we had a receiver, we’d be able to use that p.ppower, at least until it runs out.”

“Wouldn’t the one with the receiver have to be a mage too?” Pete asked.

“Apparently not,” Billy shook his head. “N..normally, to use magic, a person needs to have the ability to d..draw the energy from around themselves – they have to be a b..born ‘transformer’ in order to convert it into a usable f..form. But this device d..draws on the already-transformed energy of a mage, so it’s already in a usable form. It can essentially t..turn ANYONE into a mage, as long as they’re w..wearing a receiver.”

“So we just need to find a receiver,” Pete leaned back in his chair.

“Or m..make one,” Billy smiled. “Like I said, this d..device has more than one function. If it holds a charge…”

“…which is does…” Pete gestured towards the glowing orb.

“…we can m..make a receiver.” Billy pressed a combination of the keys at the bottom of the device, causing the ‘eye’ to rotate. At the back of the ‘eye’ were two covered slots. Billy pressed another key, and the cover of the slot on the right drew back. Inside were two small metallic pins. “If we could get s..something made from the right kind of m..material to touch both of these contacts, the d..device can convert it into a receiver.”

“Don’t tell me,” Pete said and pointed towards the covered slot, “that slot’s for making a transmitter.”

“G..got it in one,” Billy beamed.

“So what’s the right kind of material?” Pete asked.

“Any pure metal element,” Billy said. “G..gold… silver… p..platinum…”

“Expensive stuff,” Pete sighed.

“Also, c..copper, zinc, l..lead, aluminium or tin,” Billy added. “Alloys work too, just not as well. The only m..metal that doesn’t seem to work is iron, or anything containing it.”

“Sounds like iron is a resistor,” Pete smiled and winked. “I know my electronics.”

“No w..wonder they want you to w..work here,” Billy observed. “You’ve got a n..natural understanding for this.”

Pete turned his attention to the device again, particularly the pins inside the slot. “I bet we could use some crocodile clips and copper wire here. If we attach those to the pins, we could run a cable outside the ‘egg’ and attach something to the other end and make ourselves a receiver.” Suddenly his eyes widened as an idea came to him. “You know what? I bet if we had a set of handcuffs made out of the right stuff we could make those into transmitters. Officers could use them on any mages they arrest and neutralise them – stop them using their magic!”

A quick visit to the garage gave Pete all the equipment he needed. Returning to the ‘Archive’, he arranged the parts he needed on the table next to the device, and began working. Within a few minutes he had connected two cables to the pins inside the ‘eye’ of the machine, and the other ends were connected to an old pair of aluminium handcuffs.

“I think we’re ready,” Pete said to Billy, who nodded, and scanned the book he had been examining earlier. After double-checking a few passages in the book, he confirmed the sequence of keys to press, and wrote them down on a piece of paper. Pete took the page from Billy and compared the symbols to the keys. Then, after a moment of hesitation, he began the combination.

As the last key was pressed, the ‘egg’ began to hum. The cog wheels turned faster in the heart of the machine, and both Pete and Billy took a step back. The glowing light inside the ‘eye’ shone brighter, and as they watched, the handcuffs attached to the cables also began to glow.

“Is it working?” Pete asked.

“We’ll know s..soon enough,” said Billy.