Gleran

Impressed at Falas Genetic Program Center

Gleran is 19 Turns old. She is of average health, slightly tall and of slender build. Her skin is a light tan. She has wavy shoulder length hair that is pale platinum blond in colour. She usually ties it in a ponytail. She has emerald green eyes. Her general appearance is quite pleasant and attractive.

As a daughter of dragonriders who were not permanent Weyrmates, she was fostered like the other Weyr children. She hardly knows her real parents except by name. Early on, she chose a specific job to do in the Weyr, and was trained to be the resident Technician for the Weyr, a highly unusual position.

She is very interested in machines, computers, electrical equipment and technology in general. Also, she has a tendency to be anti-social, and usually prefers to be in dark rooms tinkering with machines than with other people. She enjoys solving problems and treats repairing machines as a challenge. She has a fairly cool temper, but especially hates people dismissing her skill simply because she is female.

Inith

Inith is a female blue dragon.

Pet

Astul from Dragonsclan Weyr

Story

Unlike most people in the Weyr, and most people everywhere else in Holds and Halls, Gleran usually woke up just before noon and went to sleep after midnight. As the Weyr's resident Technician, she worked the night shift, so that repairs and maintenance to the machinery would not disrupt the day's activities. During the afternoon and evening, she was not given any other duties, since her night job was already a heavy responsibility.

After the moon had risen and the sky was filled with stars, and most of the Weyr asleep, Gleran began her work.Her pet watchwher Astul was awake and shuffling impatiently in her den. Gleran grabbed her tool box, spare parts box and a leather harness and loaded her heavy equipment on Astul's back. Her pet might be smaller and thinner compared to other watchwhers, but she was still decently sized and very strong.

They walked across the empty Weyrbowl together in silence. Gleran looked up and admired the night sky briefly, before they entered the cavern that housed the refrigerators.

The large machines hummed and whirred softly in the darkness. The cavern was empty and silent, a vast difference from the daytime scene, when there would be a constant stream of people entering and exiting, preparing meals for the many residents of the Weyr. The cavern would only be empty during the night, and this was the only time Gleran would have the space and freedom to do repairs, without other people crowding around.

Astul lay down at the entrance, allowing her owner to retrieve her boxes. Gleran turned on the electric lights, and her watchwher reacted by moving out of the cavern, away from the bright lights. Gleran sensed her settling into a watchful guard position in a shadowy corner outside the cavern. She focused on the work at hand. One of the machines had been reported earlier as losing power and cooling efficiency, and now was making an odd noise.

She opened the door of the machine and examined the things inside. It was a freezer, used for storing meat. The contents had not been taken out.

Idiots. If they wanted me to repair this they should have taken the meat out. Good thing I checked first, she thought angrily. She transferred the frozen food to an adjacent freezer. Fortunately, the freezer units were clustered together, away from the chillers. By the time she finished moving the meat, her fingers were cold and numb. Gleran rubbed her hands together to warm them up.

Then she turned off the power to the freezer and examined the back. The cooling coils were exposed, and upon inspection, they appeared all right. She removed the cover of the motor, dismantled it and discovered the problem. Some of its parts were worn out and had to be replaced.

- - - - -

The work took a long time, and Gleran was sweaty and dirty when it was finally done. The cavern was hot with all the refrigerators operating, and her hands were covered in grease from the motor. She returned it to its original place, screwed it firmly in and checked her work one last time. She switched on the power, listened to the smooth hum and felt the cooling breeze with satisfaction.

Another repair job well done, she thought, pleased.

She was wiping her dirty hands with an old rag when she suddenly sensed alarm and anger. The feelings were coming from Astul, standing guard outside. Her watchwher was furious. There was an intruder, a stranger coming towards the cavern. Gleran realised her pet was ready to attack. She rushed out of the cavern as Astul pounced on the stranger with a vicious growl.

"Stop! Get off!" Gleran yelled in a commanding voice, reinforcing her words with a mental order. Astul had knocked the stranger down and was preparing to bite and claw. The watchwher paused upon hearing her owner's command, and reluctantly climbed off the prone body. She crouched at one side, still staring at the stranger.

Suddenly, Gleran sensed more anger, but not from Astul. Instinctively, she spun around and found herself staring into the furious red eyes of a blue dragon. She gasped and backed away, almost falling down. In her mind, the feeling of the dragon's rage mingled with the sense of her pet's fear. Inwardly, Gleran groaned, realising her huge mistake.

He must be a dragonrider. Oh no, my watchwher attacked and nearly killed a dragonrider, she thought in horror, squeezing her eyes shut to block out the sight of the dragon. She found herself on the verge of tears, shocking herself even more. It was so unlike her be so emotional.

"I'm okay, Jesioth. Don't scare the girl," came a voice from behind her. She glanced quickly behind her to find that the dragonrider had stood up and was brushing himself off. Swiftly, she returned her gaze to the dragon and found that he had calmed down. His eyes were now a placid blue, matching his body, but he continued staring watchfully at her.

The dragonrider came up to her and asked, "Are you all right?"

"I should be the one saying that," Gleran said, almost in a whisper, her head bowed in shame. "I'm really sorry about what happened. It's my fault for not chaining her and controlling her better. Are you sure you're not hurt? I can take you to the Weyrhealers."

"Just a few scrapes here and there. No big deal, I've had worse from flying Thread. Don't blame yourself, I should have been more careful. The Watchrider did say there was a watchwher roaming around," he replied in a reassuring tone.

Despite his words, she still felt guilty. "It's just that I didn't think anyone would come here so late at night. Usually it's just the people here, and she knows all of them by smell and won't hurt them. It's too dangerous, letting her run loose like that. In future I'll tie her up in case there're any more night visitors she doesn't recognise."

"Stop blaming yourself. You've trained her well. Look how quickly she obeyed you just now. Anyway she's just doing her job, guarding you and the Weyr. Now, how about introducing us properly this time?" the dragonrider asked, smiling.

Gleran let out a relieved sigh. "Okay, I promise she'll be good this time," she said, gesturing for Astul to come to her. The green watchwher approached cautiously, mindful of the dragon's gaze on them.

"Her name's Astul, and I'm her owner Gleran. She's very sorry about what happened just now, and hopes you and your dragon won't be angry with her," Gleran patted Astul on the head as she spoke. The watchwher lowered her head submissively as they faced the rider and his dragon.

"No hard feelings. I'm M'len, rider of blue Jesioth. See, we're friends now, right?" the man replied cheerfully.

Gleran finally smiled and asked, "Would you like a cold drink? The refrigerators are just inside the cavern. It's my treat to make up for just now."

"Of course, since it's your treat."

"What would you like?"

"Something non-alcoholic, maybe. I don't want to get drunk and have to stay here overnight," he suggested with a smile.

She returned to the cavern and searched the refrigerators until she found a bottle of fresh fruit juice. I'm going to have to explain the missing bottle tomorrow, but for now it's more important to make it up to M'len, she mused to herself as she walked out.

"I hope you like fruit juice. It's citrus juice, by the way. Sorry I can't stay, but I've got some work to do," she explained as she handed him the bottle.

"Thanks. I'll just be resting here for a moment."

Gleran returned to the cavern to pack up her tools and spare parts neatly in their respective boxes. When she had replaced everything, she closed and latched the boxes, then examined the area to ensure that it was clean and no litter was left behind. Finally, she returned the frozen meat to the newly repaired freezer.

That's all, she thought as she ran through her mental checklist. Everything's the same as it was before, minus the repaired motor and one bottle of juice. She picked up her boxes and went back outside.

M'len glanced at her over the top of the juice bottle, and so did Jesioth. Astul was lying down in her shadowy corner. "What's with the boxes?" he asked curiously. "I guess they're what kept you up so late."

"Tools of my trade. I'm a trained Technician for my Weyr. I was busy fixing one of the freezers in the cavern back there. They're always being opened and closed in the day, so I work at night, when there's nobody else getting in the way," she explained.

He raised an eyebrow in surprise, and commented, "That's unusual. You don't look like a typical Technician, so I wasn't expecting you'd be one."

"I'm female and young, so everybody says I don't look like one. But that doesn't mean I'm not good at my work. I like being a Technician. Everyone thinks I'm odd too, because I'm Weyr-born, yet Craft-trained, and own a pet more suited to a Hold. But I'm just being myself," Gleran replied in a slightly hostile tone.

His words had hit a sensitive spot. She was reminded of the many times other people had doubted her skill. She had also been treated as an outcast, due to her unusual job, weird pet and her own anti-social personality.

"Don't get so worked up. I don't mean to offend you," he said in a soothing tone. "You've done well, and there's nothing wrong with being different, being yourself. In fact, it's great to meet someone like you, who dares to be different."

"I'm glad you think that way. For a moment I thought you were like some other people I don't want to mention," Gleran sighed. "And what about you? I'm sure you don't usually visit other Weyrs in the dead of night."

"I'm a Searchrider. A 'special' Searchrider," he said with a grin at her confused expression. "I was coming here on Search, but I totally forgot it's night here. It's still early morning where I come from." Now he looked rather embarassed. Gleran could not suppress a small chuckle at his comical expression.

"What's so special about where you're from?" she asked out of curiousity.

"I'm a Searchrider from the Falas Genetic Program Center, FGPC for short. Have you heard of it?"

"The place which hatches genetically-altered dragons and firelizards? I've heard about it, but I don't really know very much about the FGPC."

M'len seemed impressed by her knowledge. "You know about the FGPC? You're certainly well-informed," he said.

"I have to keep up with technological and scientific developments in all fields. But genetics isn't part of my work, so I don't really know all the details. Care to enlighten me?"

"Of course. Well, you see, there's a really large and extra-special clutch in the FGPC right now. I'll give you more details, but first, a question. Do you want to be a candidate for the FGPC clutch? It's guranteed to be a unique, once in a lifetime opportunity," he said, giving her a hopeful look.

"Well, yes, of course. I'm not going to turn down any chance at Impressing. But does Jesioth approve?"

"He's been observing you all this while, and he thinks you'd make a good candidate, even if you are rather strange. That's what he thinks, not me."

"Then I should get ready to leave. I need to tell the Headwoman and pack my things," she said, then paused and asked in a worried tone, "What about Astul? Can I bring her along too?"

"Now that I think of it, yes, I think it's possible for Jesioth to carry her in his front paws. Don't worry, he won't drop her."

Gleran winced slightly at his words. "All right then, I'll go get ready."

- - - - -

After some time spent packing her backpack, waking the Headwoman and explaining the situation, she was ready to leave. M'len helped her climb on Jesioth's back, and the blue dragon carefully scooped up the nervous watchwher. Gleran sent calming thoughts to Astul, willing her to relax. Jesioth took off into the night sky and went between.

They reappeared from between into the full sunlight of day. Astul whimpered, in pain from the bright light. Jesioth landed quickly and Gleran rushed to cover her pet's sensitive eyes with her jacket. Then she guided Astul to a dark corner inside the Hold.

When the watchwher was settled, she followed M'len into the FGPC. "For this clutch, you'll be allowed to request the colour of dragon you wish to Impress. Anything is possible," he explained. Seeing that she was still unsure, he continued, "You can look at the records of previous clutches and pick a colour, or think of a new one."

He turned on a computer and opened the clutch files. Gleran scrolled through the list displayed on the screen and classified them mentally. The first clutch: two-coloured, stones, metals, solids. Too flashy for my taste.

She proceeded to the second list. Opposite gender dragons. Now that's interesting. Looks normal but is actually special, she thought. But what colour and gender? I want a female dragon. Blue, brown or bronze. Yes, a female blue would be nice and not attract unwanted attention.

She turned to M'len and announced, "I've made my decision: female blue."

"Unexpected choice, but it suits you," he replied, then opened another file on the computer. "Here's the registration form. Fill it out and you'll be a confirmed candidate." Gleran nodded and began typing.