The Big Ones

Chapter Eight: Pomp and Ceremony

On Board the Elga River Cruise Ship, Sprau River, Esthirant, Parpaldian Empire

On this early October morning, Howard H. Leach was holding a fish.

"Don't worry about your fingers, Sir. Old Nessie here won't bite. She's as calm as any good domestic sea drake," translated Dr. Banks.

Howard watched the sea drake handler place a fish directly into one of the two creature's toothy mouths to demonstrate. Her head retreated as her long neck bent back and tilted towards the sky before chomping up and swallowing the fish.

"See, she has manners befitting a lady." The handler chuckled.

Howard only thinly smiled. He carefully put his fish into the remaining beckoning mouth and yanked his hand back quickly. The sun shined against the head's white teeth as it pulled back to consume the snack. As it did so, the third head of the sea drake, still dutifully looking forward as the sea drake pulled the river cruise ship, mewled. The black whale-like skin of the sea drake glistened under the new sun.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Howard wished the doctor was inaccurate in portraying the handler's near condescending temperament. The handler was at least ten years his junior.

Contrary to expectations, the Sprau River was remarkably clean, which meant that the sewage system was either better than their 19th-century equivalents on Earth or was being released further down river.

"Was the river always this clean, Captain?" he asked.

"As a matter of fact, no. Just a couple of generations ago the river was brown enough to make anyone who swam in it sick. It was by Imperial decree that the river was cleaned up to protect the health of sea drakes, with sewage being rerouted and treated at great expense."

Howard nodded. The level of cleanliness in Esthirant observed thus far could put New York to shame, although it had significantly fewer residents than the economic center of the United States. There was not a single horse in sight that did not have a manure catcher, and the lack of chimneys on rooftops showed that no smoke was produced by the piped heating system. At the residence, Howard had observed the household staff light up fire gems whenever hot water was needed for tea and showers.

One of the sea drake heads had come back down and allowed herself to be petted by William Harris. As the FSO petted the creature, he asked, "Did sea drakes always have three necks and heads?"

The handler tilted his head slightly to the FSO. "Do you mean if they're natural?"

"Natural?"

"Non-genetically modified, rather than simply selectively bred. Sea drakes as we know them today are certainly not natural."

Howard's attention sharpened onto the conversation. "So this three-headed creature of yours did not evolve to have three necks and heads?"

There was a gap as Dr. Banks had to think to translate Howard's question to Lourin. She initially used the root word ēvolvere, which meant 'to unroll'. Then she quickly clarified with an on-the-spot clarification of 'changing gradually over many generations.'

"Indeed not, her species was created, according to historical records. I believe if you go to the Natural History Museum, you can find a fossil of the base species I believe were labelled as sea wyrms that were modified into sea drakes. Those fossils have one neck and one head like every other natural creature with heads."

"Let me get this straight," said William. "You mean people here can add entirely new heads to animals?"

"Oh by the stars, no!" The handler shook his head. "Such power is unknown to us. Sea drakes were created by... the Ancient Sorcerous Empire."