Copyright 1998 by M. H. Glenn
The elderly woman pushed open the massive door marked CEO and walked into the vast, softly-lit chamber beyond, her conservative shoes scuffing quietly on the textured granite floor. She soon reached her chair at its location at the edge of what was arguably the world's largest throw-rug, seated herself with her notepad, then patiently waited for the scaled behemoth coiled before her to notice her.
Eventually the creature sighed and turned away from its contemplation of the flames dancing within the room's immense fireplace. Two golden, catlike eyes set within a gleaming skull the color of gun steel gazed down at her. "Good morning, Max," it rumbled.
Maxine smiled up at the apparition. "Good morning Hasai. Did you have a nice evening?"
Hasai tilted his head in wry humor, a corner of the hard mouth turning up slightly. "Passable. Anything on the agenda for today?"
"Yes, sir," Maxine quickly flipped to the first page of her pad, scanned the contents. "The government of Japan has contacted our local office there regarding some prevention work."
The steel-scaled dragon thought for a moment. "That super-typhoon in the Marshall Islands?"
Maxine glanced at her notes. "Um, yes. They think it's going to hit them sometime next week. They're asking if you would reroute it for them."
"I see. Well, we'll give them the usual rate; two percent of the projected damage estimates in the offshore account-"
"It's already been deposited, Hasai."
One of Hasai's heavy brow ridges rose. "Really?" He smiled. "If you would write them a note, Max, please tell them I'm deeply flattered by their confidence in my abilities, and I will address the problem immediately."
Maxine quickly jotted something down on her pad. "All right; I'll have this in the mail as soon as we're finished." She flipped the page. "The next job is from India-"
"Request denied."
Maxine paused. "I'm sorry?"
A long, glittering mane of steely strands tinkled like wind chimes as Hasai shook his massive head. "We won't be doing business with India until further notice, Maxine. Not until we see the funds they stiffed us for the last bit of work we did for them. Please send them something to that effect, along with my apologies."
Maxine nodded, "All right," She made another entry on her pad, took a moment to brush a bit of lint from her simple black dress. "Next, we have an interview request from Forbes, who wants to run an issue on dragon-owned businesses."
Hasai frowned, a frightening sight. "Very well; set it for sometime in the evening, after business hours. Also, tell them to make sure they don't send a dracophobe like those idiots at Money magazine did."
The elderly secretary looked up, a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "Should I quote you?"
Hasai paused, then chuckled. "Why not? It'll make their day. Anything else?"
"Yes," Flip "We have a report from Security; evidently someone tried to break in last night. Security says it was one of those Fundamentalist people, armed with some sort of bomb. They turned him over to the police." Flip "And . . . your wife called from Wyoming. She'd like you to call her back."
"Hm. All right; I'll call her as soon as I'm finished with the typhoon. Max, do me a favor and tell Purchasing we need a resupply for the meat locker. Also, my agent in Sonoma just sent me an absolutely wonderful Syrah from Per Sempre vineyards. Please call him back, and ask him to negotiate the purchase of, say, twenty cases. "
Maxine looked up at the Steel Dragon reprovingly. "Hasai, you really should cut back on all this wine you've been drinking."
Hasai laughed quietly. "Yes, mother. One other thing; please let Maintenance know that the shielding on the main monitor bank seems to be breaking down again and I'd like them to take a look at it."
Maxine nodded. "I'll drop them an email. Well," she flipped her notepad shut and stood "that's it for this morning. Shall I hang out the Do Not Disturb sign as usual?"
"For the rest of the morning, at least."
"All right then, I'll block out the time. See you after lunch."
Hasai smiled and nodded to her, and Maxine turned and left. The Shen Lung crossbreed gazed reflectively at the door for several long minutes after it closed behind Maxine, then arose and stretched, jaws gaped open in a terrifying yawn. He shook his mane out, then resettled himself facing the huge, segmented display panel mounted upon the opposite wall, shifting position slightly until his head was within focus of the microphone mounted next to the display. "Wake up, please."
There was a momentary pause, then the dark panels lit up. Dominating the screen was a real-time satellite image of the North American continent, while off to one side several small text windows scrolled various pieces of information.
"Change focus, Marshall Islands, go."
One of the text windows scrolled rapidly for a second or so. In an open field behind the building a 21-meter dish slewed westward. The image window changed to show a dark, smudged view.
"Zoom out two, go. Change image, infrared, go."
The concealed computer obliged, and soon Hasai was gazing at a vast cloudy swirl, the hapless Marshall Islands marked in red beneath it. He drew in a breath as he studied the stats scrolling up another window. "My, aren't you the big, beautiful beast?" The computer beeped at him in confusion, and he glanced at the microphone in annoyance. "Ignore. Change image, superimpose barotropic one thousand millibar, go. "
The image blinked, and the massive spiral was now covered with a complex maze of lines, numbers and arcane symbols. Hasai studied them for several minutes, then nodded his massive head. "Display auto-update. Mute microphone. ....Hmm. Looks like the Japanese were right to be concerned about you, weren't they? Now, why would you want to go clean the clocks of a nice bunch of folks like them, hm? Ah, well...."
The dragon stared at the image, his head turning this way and that, looking for all the world like a pool hall hustler contemplating his next shot. Finally he smiled and nodded to himself. He turned away from the screen, settling himself more comfortably, then closed his eyes.
Minutes ticked past with nothing to show for their passage. Hasai might as well have been a steel statue as he lay there motionless, his muscular neck bowed in concentration. Slowly, so gradually that it might not be noticed unless one was waiting for it, a strange sense of oppression filled the room. The dragon's mane began to stir, shifting slightly as if from some unfelt wind. A blue-black glow began to outline each metallic strand, and a faint, hissing crackle could be heard. Nearby, the display screen grew blotchy, discoloring as if it were in the presence of some enormous electromagnetic field.
Hasai's head came up, his fanged snout lifting until it pointed skywards, the glow spreading outwards from his mane until every scale on his rangy body was limned with it. It intensified, and Hasai's breath began to come in little panting gasps.
Abruptly it ended. The glow went out like a candle flame and the oppressive sensation vanished. Hasai sagged tiredly, sighed, and glanced at the display. Nothing yet. He turned and fished a side of beef out of a curious bin-like structure situated nearby and munched on it, resting while he watched the weather map begin to change.
Slowly, a high-pressure system northeast of the Japanese Islands started to drift southwards. The lines and symbols began to shift and contort as a pressure gradient began to build between it and the oncoming typhoon, the large black arrow showing the typhoon's probable course ever-so-slowly beginning to rotate counterclockwise.
Several hours later, the storm course was shown as being well-away from Japan and toward a large mass of cold water, there to substantially weaken before hitting mainland China. Hasai nodded in satisfaction. "Un-mute microphone. Phone wife, go."
A few moments later, a voice not too unlike his own issued from a hidden speaker. He smiled. "Hey. Sorry for the wait, but I had a nasty little critter out in the Pacific to deal with. How's the bison-hunting?"
"Wonderful! The kids want to stay another week. Is that all right?"
Hasai chuckled. "Fine with me. Everything else okay?"
Pause. "Well, I'm afraid Ashadh managed to mistake a Black Angus for a bison yesterday."
"You're kidding."
"No, afraid not. He's terribly embarrassed over it, so I wouldn't mention it to him if I were you. I made sure he apologized to the rancher."
"Good. Black Angus, hm? Well, at least he has good taste. I'll have Maxine contact the owner and compensate him. Anything else you might need?"
"Just you, honey. Wish you were here."
Hasai smiled wistfully. "Wish I were there too, baby. Watch the kids. Make sure they don't eat anything they shouldn't."
"I will. Love you."
"Love you too, baby. Bye."
For several minutes after the line disconnected Hasai simply sat and stared into the middle distance. Then he sighed and glanced at the wall clock. Fishing another side of beef out of the cooler bin, he ordered the computer to tune the display to CNNfn. He ate his lunch as he watched the midday update, idly wondering if Maxine would have anything interesting for him to do that afternoon.
Regards from the Steel Dragon;
---------> Hasai