Gershom
Hannah transformed into the dragon and the two of us flew away from Rzerth. She didn't tell me our destination letting the flight plan itself reveal that mystery. A few hours later we landed on the planet where our race began, Earth.
Our human ancestors, especially those who lived right before the age of enlightenment, would no longer recognize this place. Energy beings are not physical ones thus we don't have to change the landscape to meet our needs. Instead, we mesh with it existing as either plants, animals, sunlight only occassionally will you find actual physical humans. These people live simply off the land and when they leave all traces of their existence go with them.
Hannah took me to a rather famous site on Earth a gigantic sequoia tree planted centuries ago as a monument to the enlightened 50. Â It's enormous trunk extending outward so at least a hundred humans would have to join hands in order to circle its entire width. It's branches reaching upwards until they seemed to disappear into the blue sky. Every century it grew taller and so did the forest surrounding it.
"Why are we here?" I asked her turning my golden eyes to stare into hers.
"Because this is where you communicate with Res Publica," Hannah said and then surprised me by transforming into a physical human, a thin severe looking woman, with small brown eyes and a finely sculptured face. Staring down at her, she gave me an irritated look, "We consider it a sign of respect to approach this place as our human ancestors not as a Little Dragon."
Taking the hint, I became a human choosing the same tall male form I had when I first met Anne. An automatic choice now whenever I became an ancestor. Hannah then surprised me further by producing a piece of paper and a writing implement. She then bent downwards, smoothing the paper on the grassy ground and carefully wrote what looked like a sentence or two, but I couldn't read it. "What language is that?" I asked her.
"One that only established members of Res Publica know," she said as she stood and carefully folded it. I gave her a disconcerted look. "You've established your own language?" I asked more than taken aback by how devious and organized this organization appeared to be for supposedly having vanished over the last half century.
"Although, I am against what happened with Linda Devine, I do feel that our society at times is too open and too trusting. Not every scientific theory or idea is a good one even if it doesn't hurt another. We can waste centuries of our time studying something that is worthless where a little correction can put them in the right direction discovering knowledge that propels our society forward," Hannah said.
"I know this will sound hypocritical of me since I did use your services, but what gives Res Publica the right to decide what is wasteful and what is meaningful?" I asked her.
She turned away as I asked the question, she walked towards the right side of the tree. Bending down she hid the note in a space inside its roots. "They will find it there shortly," she said. "I suggest we walk through the trees for a while to await their response."
Glancing around I realized we were probably being observed at this very moment, so I refrained from further talking following Hannah into the forest. The gigantic trees blocking out the sunlight in spots making it cool underneath. Bird song filling the air as little woodland creatures scampered past us.
"As I told you before," Hannah then spoke, "Res Publica is not run by a person but by all its members. Only after days, months or even at times years of debate is a course of actions created. Then it has to be approved by a clear majority. I don't think reasonably there is any other way to do it that is fair," she said finally answering my earlier question.
Based on what happened to Anne, however, I was becoming convinced that it shouldn't be done at all.
Anne
Felix's laboratory lay on a barren moon far outside any normal route of travel. He took me to a large underground cave equipped with strange instruments and life forms called opeds, I think. Physical beings similar to humans only with fully round heads like balls, large ears that stick out and webbed hands and feet. They were moving around the odd laboratory busy doing things I didn't understand.
"How is all this going to clear me?" I asked Felix as he moved closer to one of them, transforming into an oped as well. The oped Felix observed was mixing together a variety of liquids.
"Patience," he said as he told the oped to add more of something to their batch. "I assure you Anne all of this is being done in preparation for your arrival. Now I ask that you assist me by becoming an oped," Felix said.
"Why?" I asked completely confused as to how this would help me at all.
Felix then transformed back into the dragon moved toward a portion of the rock wall, tapped it, and it swung outward. Inside was a glowing sword. "This is special," he said turning back to me an intense look in his golden eyes. "The garden gave it to me so I could usher in a new era for the Little Dragon people. You are going to be instrumental in bringing it about."
A sick feeling began growing inside my stomach as I realized something was terribly wrong with Felix. Instinctively I backed up a few feet from him.
"You see, I need you to turn into an oped," Felix said his eyes looking right at me. "And either you can do it of your own free will or this will force you into the form." The sword began to glow fiercely in his dragon claw my body instantly began changing forcing me into something I didn't choose! Never had I felt so vulnerable and violated.
"Good," Felix said as two opeds grabbed me by the arms. "We have a lot of work to do Anne and only three days to do it. Let's get started."
That ends Social Conundrums, Part XXVI. Next month is Social Conundrums, Part XXVII. Learn more about the Little Dragons by reading the earlier blog post series titled Humanity's Evolution.
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