Gattsyndrome Ch1

Chapter 1



Datramone is a relatively small town, surrounded with family operated farms and one or two plantation houses owned by the rich. The town in itself is what you would expect cosidering it’s close to the middle of nowhere and contains only the essentials, an old hotel that was far from five star, bar that has seen better days, and bar fights, several other small family owned  restaurants, post office that still uses the same old balance weights to weigh there packages from over 80 or so years ago, a police office with built in jail like in those old wild west movies, a general store where the cashier knows everyone’s name, and the remodeled train station.  Datramone also has a large junkyard, but it’s actually shared with several other towns that surround Datramone and usually have more junk than.
Pyro lived and was home schooled in a farm that his mother, Sharon, owned, working on his mother’s famous tomatoes. Planting, caring, picking, washing, and packing, then the process starts over with another fruit and/or vegetable.  One thing he did to break the usual routean of farming was invent, draw, and repair the advanced almost autonomous farming equipment that broke down from time to time.  In his spare time, Pyro would design, gather parts from the junkyard, build in the barn, or all of the above.   He would build whatever that would pop in his mind, like the remote controlled ball he made for Mrs. Hallie’s twins when they wanted to play with there cat, or the autonomous robotic scale cleaner for the wyrm Jamal so he could get to those hard to reach places without asking for help.  Ether way, when he made it he knew who to give it to, mostly in part because he couldn’t find space for the new contraption.  Some times in the winter season when he was bored he would wright little stories or parts of a novel that he worked on.
To this, Pyro’s basic routine was basically what he thought the rest of his life was going to be like.  Farm, repair, salvage, invent, and so on, over and over until he was six feet under. That is, until he got a special letter in the mail from a certain university.

------------------------------------------

The train station was quite empty, considering that the town is in the middle of nowhere.  The only actual traffic was the occasional person visiting relatives, but this station was important as it was the half way point to two large cities.  The old maned  ticket counter was still there even after the remodeling but that was all that hadn’t been changed. The  large metal arches gleamed as they held a large peace of glass over the tracks and benches as the ground was made of a high grade concrete.  Automated tellers dotted the station like trash cans with touch screens and speakers.
I was leaving for the city far northeast from here, and I was dressed my best was my best.  Witch meant a pair of blue jeans, black shirt, denim coat, working gloves with cuffs that goes to the elbow (I always were them, for unmentionable reasons), and welding goggles, I never forget to bring my welding goggles (I don’t know why, I just feel naked without them).  
Checking the numerous repaired watches that plagued my arm I waited for the train.  Looking down the tracks I saw a glint of silver in the distance coming closer at breakneck speeds.  Closer and closer it came until it was right in front of me, I awed at the chrome bullet that stood before me like a wild metallic beast just ready to be unleashed down the tracks to it’s next unsuspecting city.  It is my first time I have ever ridden on a train before, it almost seemed to be alive as it rumbled and growled at me.
“Hey Pyro, long time no see!”
I turned around to find Sago, a blue dragon with a pointy noes and brown hairlike frills, he was wearing a conductor’s hat that he always wore.
“So you have been promoted to conductor, well congratulations!”
“Thanks” Sago said straitening his hat “so I heard you are going to college already, at such an early age, that kind of qualifies you as genus.”
“Sorry, but no.  I am no genus” I said bringing my bags up “I am just going to tell them in person that I am not qualified for a full scholarship in college in some big city.  I tried telling them on the phone but they wouldn’t get it through there thick heads.”
Sago closed his eyes and smiled “Pyro Pyro Pyro” he said “I don’t know why you think you are some normal kid living in a normal farm with a normal mother, but let me break it to you.         Y  O  U  ’R  E    A    G  E  N  U  S!!!”
I fell back startled  while Sago continued “Let me tell you, in all my life traveling I have never seen someone build a clockwork cat from a few parts of a broken clock that they found in someone’s room in a last minuets notice.  Except you.  Dose that qualify you a genus, hell yah.  Now, get in there or I will send Veronica to deal with you.”
Veronica was Sago’s wife, a yellow dragon, nine feet tall, nice personality, the perfect description of what would normally be quite harmless in dragon term.  Until you noted her very wide garth and thighs as thick as barrels, I was personally afraid of her sitting on me and I always wondered where she bought her pants, but usually what kept me from running away from her was her cooking.  When I was young, she would babysit me and teach me some of her recipes.  Now I can be left at home and cook them from memory.
I tipped an invisible hat and scurried into the passenger car like a frightened jackrabbit.  I entered the flimsy car door as I scooted through the second class bunkers and into the third class passenger car.  I can tell you right now that third class was not the most open place to be, almost all the plastic molded fireproof seats were filled.  I found an open seat between a Gaboon Viper Naga and what looked like a 10 year old red headed kid.  Shuffling my way in my backpack rubbed into the face of the Gaboon Viper.
  Knowing how hot tempered they usually are I apologized “sorry about that” I said before sitting down, keeping my eye on him just in case he got angry.
  Several minutes passed before the horn blew, the scenery started to move and the train departed the station.  I glanced over at the window and mentally said goodby to Datramone, watching it get smaller and smaller until it could fit on the end of a needle.

------------------------------

It was around 11:00 at night when I checked last, it wasn’t as if I wanted to stay up, but I never knew that a Naga can snore so loudly. Or, I think he was, seance Nagas don’t have eyelids you could never tell if they were asleep or not. Heck, if he wasn’t snoring someone might consider him dead by accident, it happened before once when I was 8.  They were carrying out a shiny black body bag from the local inn,
I asked my mother “Mom, what’s in the bag?” my mom replied
“A person that went to sleep and never woke up.”  By that time I was already at the bag shaking the contents going “wake up sir, wake up!” By that time the bag unzipped and the naga slipped out yawning.  “See mom I woke him up!!”  I was told that the naga overdosed his sleeping pills and slept for three days strait, the police thought that he was poisoned.
I wasn’t going to get some sleep anytime soon so I pulled out my old scratched up laptop and popped in “The Best of Monty Python” DVD. I slid on my headset and pressed play, the speakers shouted out “THE BEST OF MONTY PYTHON!!!”  I jabbed the pause button, but it was too late, the Naga was awake and staring down at me with angry sleep deprived eyes.  Waking a naga was like waking a bear during it’s hibernation, there tired but have enough energy to maul you many times over, so the best thing to do was run.  Unfortunately the naga was blocking the isle with his thick gaboon viper body, I smiled and slid on my goggles because it was the only thing I could do.  The naga did a double take at the laptop and asked me
“are you watching Monty Python?” it was an odd question at the moment but I anecred yes anyway.  The naga rummaged around his suitcase and pulled out a pair of headphones
“don’t mind if I watch do you?”
“Not at all” I said glad that the naga wasn’t going to bite my head off or anything.  He plugged in his headphones in the computer and I pressed play.  In no time at all both of us were quietly repeating lines like old friends, the favorite quote being “Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!”  After around 2:00 A.M. the Gaboon naga was presumably asleep, followed by me minutes later after I put up the laptop.
----------------------
I was awaken by a nudge on the sholder in the middle of the night. I snorted awake, cramped in several places, I looked out of the window to see it was still dark out, I checked my watche, it was 6:00 A.M.  I looked over to find Sago with a long stick
“Sago.... what in the world are you doing?” I said with th obvious moaning whiny tone of lack of sleep,
“Waking you, I need to give you something.”  Sago replied.  
I rubbed my eyes “can this wait until morning?”
“No.”
  I slowly uprooted myself and skimmed down the small gap between the seats.  
“Why in the world did you have to wake me up so early?” I asked
“Well, I need to give you something but” Sago said “I can’t do it normally or one of the crew members might confiscate it, but at night everyone’s too tired to care.” I couldn’t disagree with that logic.  We passed through the 2nd class car, from above the seats it looked like a field of heads, both Reptilean and human.  Then we exited the 2nd class and entered the 1st class car, first class was what you would normaly expect.  Large highly furnished rooms that had the love seates that had the fold down plasma television and bunk beds.  This was the way anyone would like to travel, but only those with money to burn could, that was why the usual first class occupants are ether stars, important government types, or the very successful business men.  Not farm boys like me.  
Sago knocked on one of the doors and opened it
“Hello, would you not mind if a friend of mine stays here for a second........ alright” Sago turned to me “just sit down in there and wait for me, I will be right back.”
Sago left as I entered the room. The occupant, sitting on the “love seat” was a dragon with silverish white scales with light blue underbelly, membrane, and “padding” that covers the top of the hands, upper legs, feet, and wings, she also had two long horns that flowed nicely back with sail like frills.  She muttered hello as I sat down, her eyes showed that she hadn’t been sleeping well and there was a tear stain on her cheek, I got a little worried so I tried to start a conversation “Hello, my name’s Pyro, what’s yours?”  It wasn’t original but after a few seconds she replied “Drase” she didn’t say anything else so I tried some topics
“So.... what band do you like?” no reply “Got a favorite show?” Nothing “Wana talk about sports..... gosip...... anything?”
Drase was still keeping her own personal vow of silence with me, I just gave up and told her “Please talk to me, is there anything wrong?  I know it’s none of my business but might help if you just tell me.”
Drase looked up at me and sniffled,
“just don’t talk to me.”  I felt a little taken back, then I noticed a stuffed dragon on the floor that was a bit torn up.  I picked it up and shook it in front of Drase,
“Give him back.”she said taking the stuffed dragon out of my hands.  
“Umm, sorry” I said knowing that any future conversation was down the pipes.
Drace looked back at me “sorry for snapping at you like that” she said “my mother gave it to me, she passed away when I was little.”  I could give her sympathy for why she snapped, “well, it was yours I shouldn’t have messed with it.” Drace sniffed before opening up “my dad has been busy all this time after mom passed away.  He sends me on these trips to keep my mind off of mom, but they never work.”
When Drace was finished she hugged me and said “thank you for listening to me, I hope we meet agin some day.”“I hope we do to” I said
In my point of view I felt a bit awkward and Drase quickly let go of me and blushed.  
“I’m sorry” she said “I usually don’t hug complete strangers like that, I don’t even talk to anyone I don’t know.  Except for you that is.”  
I scratched my head and said “well, let me tell you about myself,  I wouldn’t be a complete stranger then now would I?”
“You don’t have to, really, I just.... have a gut feeling about you, like my friend Blacktail when I first met him.  I just felt like he was a good guy at first but was afraid that he would be one of mussel bound, insensitive jerks that only care about my looks and if I like beer. Then when we were staged as lab partners in my first year of college I proved my feeling right.” she sighed “Blacktail was one of my first friends I had, except for Gloria, and after I met Blacktail he introduced me to Grekk.  It seems that I might actually be making friends now”
Drase was about to cry but she held it in.
“The problem is about traveling is that you say good by to the friends you just made, but tell me... where are you going?”
“I am traveling to the city far north east from here.”
Drace looked at me with wide eyes
“You mean New Helen?”
“Yes, I think so, that’s what it says on the scholarship.”
Drase swung her arms and her wings around me in joy
“What did I say?” I asked surprised
“This is wonderful” she said still engulfing me in her wings “that’s where I live, this is just plane wonderful!”
Right about then Sago poked his head in, “Alright Pyro I got..... whoa...” Drase immediately recoiled back into a sitting position acting like nothing happened.  I leaned over and told her that I would be back later and left the room.  Sago was holding two long metal box like things “I found these jets in the lost in found and when I heard you got a scholarship I knew I should give these to you.”  Sago handed me the jets “the problem is that I couldn’t find an adaption pack so you need to get one of those on your own.”
I looked at him “thank you, I will use them plenty I bet.”  Sago nodded and returned to his shift, while I returned to Drase’s room.  She was fast asleep with the stuffed dragon in her arms, I let her sleep as I returned to my seat to hopefully get a bit more than four hours of sleep.