The Message
A Dragon’s History of the Republic /The Message
The Dragon’s Appetite for Murder /
Compiled and Narrated by Lance Archer
8/17/2830
Contents
Introduction
The Message
Epilogue
Introduction
Dragon Investigations filed for commercial recognition on August 17, 2619 with the Republic’s Ministry of Trade and Exchange. The filing was approved the same day by the Executive Chief Citizen of the Western Republic. The filing listed Bing Tam, a.k.a. Dragon or the Dragon, as Owner, Executive Chief, and Executive Financial Officer. Lance Archer was listed as Executive Secretary and Executive Operating Office to the Enterprise. Dragon Investigation filed as a service provider. Services listed by order of importance in the filing were private criminal investigation, public criminal investigation, and criminal investigation consulting.
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Previous editions of the Dragon’s History pegged the formation of Dragon Investigationsto August 17, 2619; acknowledged the collaborative relationship shared between Dragon Investigations and the Ministry of Investigation; acknowledged leading the private criminal investigations to close some of the more spectacular M.I. dead end case files; and refused comment on classified M.I. case files linked to Dragon Investigations by the both private and publicnewsfeed sources. Previous editions of the Dragon’s History offered no context for the Dragon’s sudden formation of Dragon Investigations and the simultaneous abdication of his role as Executive Chief forDragon Industries.The catalyst for those changes can befound in the events recorded at the Dragon’s Central Keep on August 15, 2619 and August 16, 2619.
The following annotated abridgement has been produced from the audio-vid record created by the Dragon’s A.I.R. (Artificial Intelligence, Realized) on August 15, 2619 and August 16, 2619. The Dragon authorized its inclusion into this abridgement into A Dragon’s History of the Republic: A Dragon’s Appetite for Murder, 2800AD Classified Edition. Annotations for this text version are provided by Lance Archer and approved by the Dragon.
Distribution of the 2800AD Classified Edition is EYES ONLYto the Executive Chief Citizen and theCouncil of Executive Chiefs. Chain of Custody protocols prescribed in the Western Republic Security Act of 2545 are mandated. The complete record is available to persons authorized by the Executive Chief and approved by the Dragon. Persons authorized and approved may view the entire record by appointment only.All data files and tables, video files and graphics, audio files and sound bites, and all data analysis and reporting produced by the Dragon’s A.I.S.R. or persons in the Dragon’s employ are the exclusive property of Dragon Investigationsand wholly owned for its exclusive use. Information from those files may not be copied, distributed, or quoted in any form without the Dragon’s expressed and recorded permission.
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Richard A. Seaman ©2015
This document is the intellectual property of Richard A. Seaman, author, and may not be reproduced in any form, whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of the author.
The Message
The Message
“Murder is such a heinous, cowardly act. Growing up in a time when murder was la saveur dujour in these lands,I thought that I was numb to its vileness. But I’ve grown accustom to humanities better side. Even our gangsters have beencivil. Sadly, that will change.Murder has beenunknown in the Republic for almost 400 years. Then we hadthat brutal Ranger slaying, Dyanna; sensationalized as it was for its horror. Her head and body separated, ritually displayed in the square of the village of her birth.No clues, no motive, no evidence, a crime unsolved. And then sixty-five more years without murder;now, in this year, we have almost a dozen murders that have been committed all around the Republic. The Ministry doesn’t know what to do. They’re inept, not for lack of intelligence, but for lack of old fashioned know-how.”
Those were the Dragon’s comments just four days ago after learning of the latest killing while taking inthe Republic’s dailynewsfeed. Few details are ever revealed right away, the Ministry of Criminal Investigation, or more specifically Chief Marshal Cedric Henderson,locks down the crime scene until every shred of residual DNA and chemical evidence is pulled. Even the Dragon agrees with Henderson’s protocols. However, I can tell by his inaudible mutteringsthat he is disappointed by Henderson’s 0 – 11 case record. The Dragon has no respect for the timid and even less for what he calls acts of stupid. He’s stopped short of calling the Chief Marshal stupid, but he’s made no secret of his chiding.
And now at 0830 on what I’m sure would have been a gorgeous summer day; here he sits, Chief Marshal Henderson, in the audience chamber of the Dragon’s Central Keep to talk about murder. The Chief Marshal is a large man for a bureaucrat, carrying themeatygirth of steel workerand not a desk jockey.Facing the Dragon, this Dragon, is no small feat; especially for Henderson whose own public chiding at the Dragon has been devoured by the newsfeeds and ungraciously redistributed to the Republic audiencenow demonstrating an insatiable appetite for the sensational.Here the Dragon’s mutterings have not been inaudible. Henderson sits in the chair, which I affectionately referred to as the hot seat, directly opposite the Dragon’s rest, taking in the his two metric tons of blue and gray scaled dragon hide. The Dragon in turn is laying on that enormous belly, his massive blue head and orange hair, resting upon folded arms, showing his classic disinterest and no movement at all were it not for the occasional twitch of those hairy orange accents above the lips andeyes. When the yellow almond shaped eyes opened, they wereintent upon the Chief Marshal.
David Lee appears with java espresso andsteamed milk and with sweet breadsbaked fresh from our chef’s kitchen. The tension in the air was so thick that I had to use my katana to cut a swath so Lee could enter the room. I cubed the pieces so they could be dropped in the water to cool the drinks. You get the idea.
The Dragon fancies himself as a criminal investigator, a super-sleuth of sorts. There are some merits to the argumentsfor that label. His genius is irrefutable. That’s a good start. He comes from a time when murder was common and the methods for murder investigation, deduction, and criminal prosecution were well documented. He points to the old fashioned print bookshelf along the back wall of the audience chamber with pride. Here he has his comprehensive library of crime and mystery fiction created during the 19th, 20th, and 21st Centuries. His library includes many of the authors from the era, but his most extensive works are by Poe, Doyle, Baum, Stout, Gardner, and Spillane. Some of his crime and mystery collection has been converted to the oversized, leather bound volumes of printed text that the Dragon fancies.He points to these volumes as his virtual reference and case study library, a resource second to none, so he claims. I’ve been with the Dragon 166 years now and this overt criminal investigation interest of his is new territory, for me anyway. He has a blasted library full of the stuff. I can’t say if it’s his genius or his reference library;as it is, he can talk the talk like no other. And undoubtedly that is why Chief Marshal Henderson is here, hat in hand.
“Archer!” The Chief Marshal finally speaks. “Is this Dragon going to speak, answer my questions, or sleep there all day?”
I address the Dragon, lathering it liberally with creamy sarcasm. “Sir, the Chief Marshal has made a three point inquiry. Point one questions your ability to speak. Two questions your ability to answer his questions. And the final point wonders if you are sleeping and wish to remain so for the remainder of the day?”
And then the Dragon, “Mr. Archer,please advise the Chief Marshal that the data feed he provided has been uploaded into Hortense, who as I speak, is sorting it into something comprehensible. Once the disorganized gibberish is reviewable, I will engage the impatient Chief Marshal.” His lips barely moved and his eyes were open, but barely. He finished the word “Marshal” with a heavy sigh. But before I could speak he uttered, “One more thing, Mr. Archer. You’re fired as intermediary between the Chief Marshal and me. If he is unable to speak directly to me, show him out. Now enjoy the java and sweet breads and let things be as they will be.”
That was classic Dragon. Here’s where I learned something about Henderson, the Chief Marshal.
“Now see here Dragon!”Henderson blurted. “I’ve come here seeking your help, listening to any ideas that you might have, that will help theMinistry deal with these sudden killings, these murders that are happening throughout the Republic. It’s unprecedented in our 272 year history.These killings have our citizens running scared and they want answers; answers that the Ministryhas thus far been unable to provide. This, this air you’re putting on is insulting and uncalled for. Taking pot shots at one another through the media is one thing;but this, THIS…”
The Chief Marshal stopped without finishing and suddenly stood up, red faced and angry, exclaiming, “I told the ECC that this would be a waste of time!”
And with that the Chief Marshal turned and started heading out of the Keep. It happened so fast that I had to scramble to get on my own feet in time to escort him out the chambers and through the Keep’s security doors. Hortense, the Dragon’s AI, could have handled it; but the Chief Marshal was already in such a state that more impersonal treatment wasn’t in the program. I hurried to catch up to Henderson just as he reached the audience chamber steps. I saw-heard first-the Dragon roll to his right side and tap his Dragon Pearl with the first digit of his left claw. The white, translucent energy curtainimmediately appeared, halting us in our tracks.
Dragon voice of the calm, commanding variety reached out.“You will please take your seat, Chief Marshal Henderson. We have important work to do.”At least he said, “Please.”
The Chief Marshal stopped, looked at me, turned to face the Dragon, looked at me again, then back to the Dragon. He sighed and went back to the hot seat, face now returned to the hues of calm. The Dragon rolled back to his stomach, head resting on folded arms, and spoke.
“Chief Marshal,” he began his voicecarefully modulated. “You are not here by accident nor do I intend to let this time with you be wasted. Important work is required of us both. For us to meet that requirementwe must learn how to work together. Let us begin there, do you agree?”
“Anything is better than the start we just had.” Dragon voice or not, Henderson was huffy and still visibly irritated. “I WILL NOT…”
The Dragon cut him off. “Chief Marshal!” His newly modulated Dragon voice was so well fabricated, that all Henderson could do is quietly close his mouth and listen. “Youwill let me finish before you present you list of will-nots, won’ts, andcan’ts.”
“By all means finish,” sniped the Chief Marshal. “Introduce me to you so I can learn how to work together.”Yup, more sniping and sarcasm.The Dragon and Chief Marshal were now just butting heads.
“My public chiding of you should have given you the impression that I am an investigator without equal, especially when it comes to murder investigations. You should also know that the chiding was my deliberate attempt at capturing your attention and to bring you here.So here you are. Certainly you have done your homework, Chief Marshal. You know that I’m a genius. My history with the Republic and the prominence of Dragon Industries in its economy provide further testimony.So let’s dispense with the posturing and stop wasting time. I already have an opinion about the eleven case files you brought with you. My opinions are formulated from my deductions, with or without sufficient evidence. I hold all my opinions, my deductions,intact until proven wrong, an unlikely occurrence; or until new facts require me to revise my opinion. And yes, you will think me insufferably conceited. So what; I am what I am. Over time you will be able to understand some of my methods and trust them, or not; I really don’t care.You’ll take my council or not. Regardless of what I say to you or how I say it, it will never be false, and it will always be reliable. That fact you cannot avoid.”
The Chief Marshal starts to speak but stops when he sees me out of the corner of his eye holding up my hand. Better for Henderson to check himself. The Dragon was on a roll and would just silence him without relinquishing the floor.
“You, sir, I appear to be a capable investigator, installing a soundinvestigative process in the Ministry.However your office workswithout an extended intuitive sense and does not appear to take investigative risks. Hence, the case files that you brought with you today all have the same flaw; they meander on and lead invariably to a dead-end. This you need to self-correct, or at least as much as you can.I know the laws of this Republic and its protocols for gathering and managing evidence. You and your team perform admirably in this regard. Hortense completed uploading and restructuring the evidence data. Despite the obvious weaknesses in compilation and analysis, her feedback to me suggests that the relevant data is fairly complete.”
With that, Henderson adjusted himself in the hot seat, taking a more erect posture. He spoke with the authority one would expect from his position. “Dragon. I appreciate your candor. It allows me to process your arrogance without necessarily assigningfault, but IT IShard to swallow.Nothing I’ve heard tells me that working with you in any capacity is going to be agreeable or pleasant. However, I am here because I do agreethat there is important work to do. I believe that the best we can hope for will be a tolerable relationship. If tolerable is enough for you to move forward, then let us do so.”Left jab straight to the kisser.
I saw the Dragon lift his left orange eyebrow almost imperceptibly. I’m sure Henderson missed it. But he didn’t miss the Dragon’s reply.
“Tolerable is agreeable to me, Chief Marshal.”
“Good.” The Chief Marshal answered quickly. He eyes show his anxiousness to move on. “These eleven cases have all dead ended, just like you said. I wouldn’t even begin to guess how to apply intuitive sense to any of them. Take this poisoning case for example…”
“Chief Marshal, I must interrupt. With the first item of important business behind us andbefore we begin case file discussions, we need to come to agreement on the second item, the fees for my services.”
“Your fees?” His surprise not masked. “The ECCsaid you’d be willing to offer council per an agreement you have. There was no mention of fees!”
The Dragon shifted slightly in his position. Unruffled, he stated simply, “My agreement with the Executive Chief Citizen is her’salone. I will tell you this. If at any time you wish to come to me for advice or council, I will be more than happy to provide what I can to you without any expectation of payment. But this hardly falls into such a category. You arrive with eleven unsolved murder cases, your investigations all at a dead-end, expecting some kind of guidance or insight that will miraculously lead you and your office to the evidence necessary for arrest and conviction. Poppycock!” That sat Henderson back in his seat.
“A murder investigation is tedious, risky work, and most often unrewarding until the end is finally reached.” Here’s where the Dragon starts standing on the podium of self-grandeur.“Hortense, file this with the other Dragon idiosyncrasies to be shared with the Chief Marshal under the title, How to work with the Dragon: Four Things the Dragon Never Does in the Course of an Investigation.One:I never rely on or take at face value the investigative results, deductions, or conclusions of another; ESPECIALLY those that take the investigator to a dead end. Two: I never take on a case that can’t be solved. And three: I never avoid a case that must be solved. And finally, four: I never leave the Keep as part of a murder investigation. Fix the pronouns, tense, and send.”
“I have an appetite for criminalinvestigation, Chief Marshal Henderson, especially murder. Murder is themostvileof crimes, nurtured in the bile of all human failings, greed, envy, jealousy, vanity, and lust. Worse, and as often as not, murder is neatly packaged under the rationalization that it’s justifiably serves business. More poppycock!”The Dragon is showing emotion! Watch and learn, I guess.“Murder’s vileness and cowardice enrages me! Another thing that you will learn, Chief Marshal; I am driven by my appetites.”