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Description
Gerrill knew it was going to be a long day. The good news, arguably, was that the new mask-integrated comms system was working. The bad news was that it was working, which in turn meant Wreck was talking back. He was very good at that. Right now, Gerrill was starting to wish for a comms failure.

'Wreck,' Gerill said, 'that's the wrong hand-signal. You're meant to - no, that's even more wrong!'

Outside the pressure-proof window, the other dragon was making an obscene gesture.

'Really?' Gerrill said, feeling irritated.

'How about this?' Wreck asked, his voice slightly tinny over the small speakers in Gerrill's pad. Gerrill rolled his eyes - somehow, the new gesture was even ruder this time.

'Would you like me to turn your air off?' Gerrill said, with irritation.

'Ooooh scary, big dragon in his little domain!' Trying to intimidate Wreck, of course, was a complete waste of time. The other dragon had no reasonable sense of personal risk, as he'd proved on multiple occasions. Honestly, that was the main reason why he had the first testing-slot outside the underwater facility, testing out the Imperial Army's latest round of new scuba gear. (Gerrill was due out later that afternoon; to save himself some time, he'd already changed into his drysuit. He hadn't counted on an entire morning of Wreck at his most difficult. The other dragon seemed to be in one of those moods.)

Gerrill shook his head. 'Look,' he said, 'we need this report filed sometime before the end of the day. I know that rebreather of yours can last for hours, but I'd really like to go for lunch, you know? Can we just hurry up at least a bit?'

'You're no fun,' Wreck griped.

Gerrill looked down at his pad. 'OK,' he said, 'moving on to Test Number 2...'

It was definitely going to be a long morning; the checklist had sixteen items on it.

Description
Gerrill knew it was going to be a long day. The good news, arguably, was that the new mask-integrated comms system was working. The bad news was that it was working, which in turn meant Wreck was talking back. He was very good at that. Right now, Gerrill was starting to wish for a comms failure.

'Wreck,' Gerill said, 'that's the wrong hand-signal. You're meant to - no, that's even more wrong!'

Outside the pressure-proof window, the other dragon was making an obscene gesture.

'Really?' Gerrill said, feeling irritated.

'How about this?' Wreck asked, his voice slightly tinny over the small speakers in Gerrill's pad. Gerrill rolled his eyes - somehow, the new gesture was even ruder this time.

'Would you like me to turn your air off?' Gerrill said, with irritation.

'Ooooh scary, big dragon in his little domain!' Trying to intimidate Wreck, of course, was a complete waste of time. The other dragon had no reasonable sense of personal risk, as he'd proved on multiple occasions. Honestly, that was the main reason why he had the first testing-slot outside the underwater facility, testing out the Imperial Army's latest round of new scuba gear. (Gerrill was due out later that afternoon; to save himself some time, he'd already changed into his drysuit. He hadn't counted on an entire morning of Wreck at his most difficult. The other dragon seemed to be in one of those moods.)

Gerrill shook his head. 'Look,' he said, 'we need this report filed sometime before the end of the day. I know that rebreather of yours can last for hours, but I'd really like to go for lunch, you know? Can we just hurry up at least a bit?'

'You're no fun,' Wreck griped.

Gerrill looked down at his pad. 'OK,' he said, 'moving on to Test Number 2...'

It was definitely going to be a long morning; the checklist had sixteen items on it.