Scenes from a Preternatural Presidency -- 6. Here Be Dragons, and Tatami Matting (B)
Sitting up we discovered from the senior agent that we’d slept for eight hours exactly and it was now just short of 6 am by his watch. Breakfast was calling, and after we’d returned to DC and I’d dismissed the agents with warm thanks we went for the heaped plates of a Full English, with toast on the side.
“Who knew dreaming worked up this kind of appetite ? Did you learn what you wanted, love ?”
“Maybe. Tell me your take first ?”
It wasn’t so different from mine but less detailed and Adam had had a strong sense of spectating rather than participating. He shrugged.
“I think the elements knew I was there and didn’t much care either way. It was you they answered to.”
“Uh uh. Just answered, sorta.”
I summarised what I thought I’d learned, apologising for the digression into salt, but Adam thought the mingling explanation made more sense than magic. He was, though, a good deal more interested in my very to scale image of dragon transport, but fortunately found it as funny as he did arousing and allowed me to escape to an early start in the Oval Office. Skuffles arrived soon after me, telling me that my disreputable da had been busy somewhere, but Gordon, Wolf, and Bear were all more intrigued by dragons than not and did not suppose Coyote would object, while all the chiefs she’d spoken to, if croggled and distinctly wary, because dragons, which was unarguable, were cautiously in favour and entirely willing to remit such a decision to me as Paramount Chief. She dropped her jaw in a laugh.
They agreed that She Doesn’t Only Fix Cars knows more than they do about dragons, so if the Elder Spirits and Ol’ Manitou River had no objections it was more sensible for you to decide. After all, what are Paramount Chiefs for ?
“Good question, Skuffles. And thanks for taking that on. Did you get any of my dreaming ?”
She hadn’t, so I told her about that and asked her to let Baba Yaga know what had been said about salt, though ‘said’ was a bit strong, while I turned to the other half of the politics involved and called in Frank, State, Defence, Glen Sawyer as Interior, and the Chair of the Joint Chiefs, conveniently still an admiral. The transport requirements for dragons was not what they were expecting, and there was more crogglement all round as I explained what had been requested and what assurances and agreements I already had, followed by dropping jaws when I added what I intended to propose to China.
“It’s just being practical, people. Saying ‘no’ isn’t an option, so the real question is what we can get out of it all as side-bennies.”
I had some ideas about that too, which sat up State, Defence, and the Admiral nicely, and while they did some arguing I spoke to Frank and Sawyer about the domestic side. Then we did some integrating, as however adventitious the dragons’ request, their arrival bare months before an election was not to be squandered. With fae, werewolves, vamps, and great manitous all out we were, I thought, past the reasons Ursula Le Guin had thought made Americans afraid of dragons, but some would find other reasons fast enough, and I had every intention of putting Jesse and the ex-kiddos network onto this one as soon as I could. Getting Jenna and Sally into it would again have been legally trickier but I’d sidestepped that by getting an amused Baba Yaga to agree to retain them, when things went public, with a brief to advise on and assist draconic integration.
“I haven’t told them yet, nor Jesse, but I’ll be doing that as soon as we’ve spoken to China, Admiral, to bank what PR we can ahead of arrival.”
He was good with that, and having got over their immediate shock there was a certain enthusiasm at passing it on to China as soon as may be. State would send a request, specifying urgency while disclaiming emergency, and we kicked details around, agreeing that she should also ask for a senior PRC naval presence plus their equivalents of Frank, State, Defence, and Interior. Once we had a time, there would also be a pleasingly cryptic heads-up to Japan about the part they’d need to play, which had State shaking her head again, more to clear it that deny anything, but as I pointed out they could get some side-bennies too, if it all worked out.
Eventually I sent them all off to get on with their new agendas, and kept myself from wondering too much about dragons with my ongoing repurposing of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as an agency to look after all the new geothermal taps and extend the programme to much smaller individual shafts for isolated communities. Those could be privately owned and paid for, but the big ones were federal property. Everyone had been too taken with a very green solution to worry about a rolling nationalisation of power generation, and I had whacked belated objections not so much out of the stadium as deep into the long grass by asking why exactly anyone minded green federal energy security or a policy that would progressively merge lower power bills into tax liability. It had amused the manitous, who thought opening shafts a paltry price for closing down fossil fuel and curbing use of wind farms to spare birds, and were happy to oblige as fast as turbines and construction crews were available, so I was also having a fine time re-equipping the policy division of the Department of Energy with all sorts of new connections. A federal government that sold very green energy in rapidly increasing amounts and could do as it would with price had the strategy wonks very thoughtful, as well as complimentary, and if the existing power companies were less keen I didn’t much care.
Unsurprisingly, given the text State had sent, it was only a couple of days before we were able to reassemble, adding Gwyn ap Lugh and Baba Yaga, and place the call to China, looking quizzical as we did introductions all round. I was mildly apologetic that the language was of necessity English, but China waved a hand.
“We understand our tongue is hard for others to learn, Ms President. Please think nothing of it. Now, an urgent non-emergency ? And from the presence of Gray Lords a preternatural matter, I take it.”
“Just so, Mr Chairman and President. Do you remember the first conversation we ever had, before my election ?”
“Vividly.” He added wary to quizzical. “Which bit of it proves relevant now ?”
“Several bits, sir. The long and the short is that we are of necessity about to ask you to upgrade your panda diplomacy to dragon diplomacy.” He blinked and I nodded. “It came as a considerable surprise to me too, and in the interests of transparency and offering all the assurances we can I propose to explain chronologically. So, for us it started with a request from the four orders of dragons relayed by Prince Gwyn ap Lugh.”
He and Baba Yaga explained dragons and their request, silently integrating what little extra I’d gleaned from dreaming Underhill, and from the questions that followed we all learned more clearly where the dragons presently were, which was on what China called the Jinsha, the upper Yangtze, and the protected areas of the parallel rivers, including Tiger Leaping Gorge. We also learned that they could and would transport themselves down the Yangtze to Shanghai, but would have to leave the river where it became tidal and so needed a land-route to the deep-water port. Those with China seemed to be waiting on him, and he was frowning.
“I must confess, Ms President, that I am … conflicted, I believe you say. It is good that a Chinese preternatural kind has at last come out, but they have come out to you, not to us, and they wish to leave.”
“Not all of them, sir, but yes, I noticed that. The hard side of it is that their reasons are primarily environmental, and I did warn you about that one. I understand your population and economic pressures make it tough for you, but this could be a lever for you - clean up the Yangtze Basin and more to make a land fit for dragons as well as people.”
I got a cautious nod.
“That I can see, yes. And the soft side ?”
“Depends on what the dragons will agree to, but while being out does not mean being at any human beck and call, it does mean being reasonable. I wondered if you might give them some sort of cultural ambassador status - the Longwoods and the Bison Belt are de facto the largest protected magical zone in the world, with both European and Native American preternaturals co-operating there. A Chinese preternatural presence will be welcome.”
“Huh, as I also believe you say. Cultural ambassadors may be a step too far, for the Party will surely doubt their … orthodoxy.”
“There’s that, sir, though another strand of our first conversation plays in. There are dragons, four orders of them, and the Party needs to wrap its collective head about them far more than they need to wrap theirs about it.”
“That case can be made, certainly. Agreement is another matter, and many will not be happy.”
“Surprise. But as a first preternatural call goes, this is mild. You could easily be in a much tougher spot.”
“Oh ?”
“Un huh. Suppose the great manitou of the Yangtze had manifested as a giant giant panda, on Medicine Wolf’s scale, and introduced itself as Chairmanitou Mao-Xiong, with a little red playbook of its own. I realise the maos are tonally different words in Chinese, but even so.”
China looked appalled, as did everyone with him and State.
“That is …”
“Exactly. Emigrating dragons are really not such a big problem.”
“When you put it like that, perhaps not. But I am still unclear on how this is to happen, Ms President. Dragons … take themselves to Shanghai, and then what, if they cannot cross salt water ?”
“Well, Mr Chairman and President, dragon dimensions are not yet altogether clear to me, but what ocean-going transport do we both have that is all about large flat surface areas ? Now, those are metal, which isn’t so good, I gather, but how long do you suppose it would take to cover one of yours and one of mine with a double layer of tatami matting ? Oh, and a fence of some kind round the edges - we don’t want dragons falling overboard in mid-Pacific.”
China was staring at me.
“I imagine not. And I have not the slightest idea.”
“Me either, sir, but without knowing why Japan is standing by to tell us, if we get so far. My husband can arrange for the … boundary fences - posts in weighted bases, all holding itself together, and easily removed afterwards. And you know, Mr President, there are possible benefits for both of us here. Admiral ?”
“Mr Chairman and President, Admiral, the US Navy is as surprised as you are by all this, never mind the tatami matting, but the fact is, sirs, that if it happens we will each have a carrier group first at Yokosuka, then sailing together to Shanghai, on which there are no weather constraints, and finally sailing together again from Shanghai to Puget Sound, for which we will need clear weather for most of a week. Both carriers will have all aircraft hangared, so we could reasonably each assign a second group as escort, or take the view that the two groups together are sufficient. Either way, we would have over some weeks the chance to run some joint exercises, if without aircraft, and allow personnel to meet ; you could, if you so wished, make nice with the Japanese ; and though we would need my President’s advice on this, there are opportunities for some very positive global PR all round.”
I wasn’t entirely sure where the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy stood on PR, and neither were State or Defence, but their Admiral seemed quite keen, allowing for bemusement, and China stayed silent as the others with him engaged with my own array. So did I, save when asked about PR, the simple point there being that well-matted aircraft carriers and their groups co-operating to aid a new kind of preternatural had any number of upsides to exploit, and the one big no-no being pointing out the debt dragons thereby incurred.
“There is a debt, and the dragons will know it, but as none of us yet know how they feel about debts, but we do know the Fae acknowledge them as cousins of a sort, I very strongly counsel letting it bide until we know a great deal more. Prince Gwyn ap Lugh ?”
“I concur entirely, Ms President, Mr Chairman and President. Baba Yaga ?”
She shrugged. “I have never contracted any debt to any dragon, nor had one indebted to me. Caution is surely the wiser course, but I suspect you may find draconic gratitude more like that of cats than fae.”
“Whatever we do is their due as dragons, you mean ?”
“Along those lines, Ms President.”
“Huh. We’ll see, then, but no proclaiming the debt while we finesse the PR.” I looked at China. “Unless you’re going to call your end off.”
“What happens if I do ?”
“Dragons will go down the Mekong or Salween, and we’ll pick them up there. Longer route, more awkward all round, and a bore to have two carrier groups tied up at once, but perfectly doable if we must.”
“Yes. You are once again being honourable in asking us first.”
“I try to be so always.”
“Indeed.” He was still for a moment before nodding, once but sharply. “Very well. I shall file dragons under force majeure, and accept this strange offer, Ms President. A time-frame of some kind would be helpful.”
I gave him a wide smile. “Thank you, Mr President, and yes it would. And I confess I’ve rather been looking forward to this bit, but it does depend which ships we’re using. For us it will be a last hurrah for the USS Nimitz. Which of yours will you use ?”
After some humming and hawing the answer was the PLANS Shandong, which gave us the two necessary deck-outlines. I gave some technical orders, and after a few moments we were joined by a tense Japan with his equivalent of Defence, a senior admiral, and a very nervy civilian who was introduced as the head of a large matting company and did a lot of bowing. And I’d been right to anticipate this, because when I asked them, without mentioning dragons, how long it would take them to tatami-mat the flight decks of the USS Nimitz and PLANS Shandong with two layers, both with proper sewn rice-straw cores and certainly no modern polystyrene, naturally using a fully auspicious layout, their looks were entirely priceless. I’d been surprised to discover there were inauspicious ways of laying tatami-matting, and quite why it should be auspicious to avoid four-mat junctions remained a mystery, but I was happy to defer to their expertise and certainly wanted nothing inauspicious. After a long happy moment in which I watched the buck pass down the ranks, the nervy civilian swallowed hard, said the quantity of most traditional mats was no problem, he having more than enough on hand, and the actual laying should only take a few days, but might he please ask how long they had to produce a fully auspicious layout-design for each layer ? A quick sidebar between admirals decided the carriers could be in Yokosuka, aircraft hangared, in six weeks, and the civilian seemed more relieved than not, though they were all once again croggled when I told them we would also be installing a temporary boundary-fence around the flight decks, Adam would be in touch with the US commander at Yokosuka if they needed any data on that, for practical or auspicious purposes, and the bill for both carriers was going to be met out of the Borrowed Warchest. As that was the only clue I was giving them I ended things by thanking them and promising a quick visit to Yokosuka to see matting in progress. Then it was back to China and us, and he was staring at me again.
“You did not say anything about dragons, Ms President.”
“Yeah, I noticed that. Wouldn’t you rather have control over what is said and when ?”
He would, and we put together the rest of the timetable. Yokosuka to Shanghai was only about 1200 nautical miles, for many reasons aircraft carriers are pretty speedy despite their size, and a steady 30 knots gives you 720 a day - but Shanghai to Puget Sound was better than 5,000 nautical miles, while some allowance should be built in. Neither Gwyn ap Lugh nor Baba Yaga had hard figures on dragon speed, but if they were following the Yangtze they had at least 3,000 miles to go, so as they had no more than eight weeks to do it, and perhaps a little less, an earlier rather than a later start might be wise. Ap Lugh didn’t disagree, however he had never heard of any dragon being late, and undertook to let the dragons who had asked know our answer soonest ; I promised to relay it, ditto ; and we were, surprisingly, mostly done. The admirals and Defence secretaries could liaise about exercises along the way, we revisited PR briefly - leaving me amused at China’s immediate understanding of why the Fae were hiring Jenna and Sally, and request to hire them also, if there were no conflict of interest - and I gave one more push at clearing up some of their pollution, offering to share geothermal tech if they would undertake the drilling before we all made polite farewells and the conference call ended.
State blew out a breath, hard.
“Well, that went a lot better than it might have done. But Ms President, Chairmanitou anything gives me hives, never mind Mao whatever it was.”
“Mao-xiong”, I told her. “Means cat-bear, while the Mao in Chairman means something else - some sort of reed, I think. Goosed him nicely, though.”
Ap Lugh laughed softly. “Yes, it did. Yet I must sympathise with your Secretary, Mercedes Elf-friend. Tatami-matting aircraft carriers is a surprising departure, even for you.”
I gave him a look. “With all respect, Gwyn ap Lugh, when you tell me the dragons are confident I will think of something, I am obliged to think of something. Nor can I think of any other way of transporting dragons.”
“I was not objecting, Mercedes, but merely admiring your capacities of vertical sideways.”
I gave him another look, and he laughed again.
“Don’t you have dragons to talk to ?”
“I do, and will be about it. Such conversations are not entirely straightforward, but I would hope to be in touch again within a day or two, Overhill time.”
He and Baba Yaga left, but I had to stay for a while, giving State and Defence as well as the admiral some parameters, and suggesting strongly that all the tensions in the various China seas would be a lot less if China, Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines accepted that they had all contributed to overfishing those seas, as well as large chunks of the Western Pacific, and deducted fishing rights from their agendas until there were once again enough fish. There was also my formal brief for Glen Sawyer, because once the dragons were on US soil somewhere by Puget Sound, and as the USN base at Kitsap was on the western shore and downtown Seattle not so dragon-friendly that meant somewhere north - the Tulalip Reservation came to mind - they would have to get to the Longwoods. With Skuffles’s aid, would he therefore please liaise with the Tulalip and with Thunderbird, Raven, and Owl, who could reasonably be asked to escort flying dragons. Nearer the time a list of airspace closures could be announced, but more urgent was a jetty into deep enough water for carriers, and wide enough for disembarking dragons. It would be temporary, so wood over empty plastic drums would probably do, and he could liaise with my engineers about that. I got more looks, but he also laughed, shaking his head, and said he’d come to appreciate finding himself in left field and a dragon-jetty was not a boring proposition. Then it was only me and a bemused if equally appreciative Frank, for whom the major concern was fitting it to his education brief, and I assured him I’d given ap Lugh a clear list of what resident dragons would have to do, which was mostly to behave politely and responsibly, as well as ecologically, but while I wouldn’t compel them to be conversational, or even seen much, if they didn’t want, I would require them not to interfere with anything else legitimately going on in the Longwoods, including school visits.
“I hope they’ll be up for some visibility, Frank, but it may be only to other preternaturals for some while. And until we know more, that’s fine by me. Meantime, do share with Rachel, but no-one else, please, until China and I can agree a global announcement.”
That evening I had the considerable pleasure of telling Adam that he needed to ring-fence two aircraft carriers and might be contacted by a man about auspicious tatami matting on that account, after which I laid it out properly, he did a good deal of laughing, which pleased me, and we made some private plans of our own. Otherwise it was back to waiting, but Gwyn ap Lugh told me two days later that while unavoidably uneasy about ocean-crossings, the dragons were happy I had an answer, glad to hear it, and reluctantly agreed to be mostly visible as well as careful in getting themselves down the Yangtze on time, which would take them perhaps a month, while Baba Yaga had agreed to liaise with China about it all, and would accompany them in her flying mortar. China was pleased to hear it too, and the timetable firmed up considerably, meaning that the announcement could be pencilled in for about a month’s time, before which there could be a very careful widening of those in the know.
Given present sensibilities about China, selling immigrating dragons to the US public was trickier than it might have been, but with the foreign policy bit cleared I could tell Jesse and let Jenna and Sally know they were about to get requests from the Fae and China. Their expressions were priceless too, until the matting made them laugh, but once they grasped the scale they were being asked to think on they did it very impressively. Jesse kept me updated, so I knew they’d managed to talk to Thomas Hao about Chinese sensibilities, as well as my dubious Da in his PR Guru Extraordinaire mode, and within a fortnight there were any number of hashtags ready to go as well as a simple but deep story arc - at the Chinese end, that dragons were leaving not only to explore a new magical environment on behalf of Asian preternaturals but also to warn everyone in China that their land was at breaking-point, and at the American end that dragons were coming to the land of the free, as so many had before them, and welcome. A separate strand involved types of dragon, these being neither the Beowulf and Smaug type, nor any of the cartoon varieties, nor remotely related to any biblical invocations, but elementals of earth, air, fire, and water ; and another insisted on it all as a ringing endorsement of the Longwoods, Bison Belt, and green lurch - Thunderbird, great manitous, trolls, and Purity had all blessed them, and so did dragons and elements. What was not to like ?
“Who knew dreaming worked up this kind of appetite ? Did you learn what you wanted, love ?”
“Maybe. Tell me your take first ?”
It wasn’t so different from mine but less detailed and Adam had had a strong sense of spectating rather than participating. He shrugged.
“I think the elements knew I was there and didn’t much care either way. It was you they answered to.”
“Uh uh. Just answered, sorta.”
I summarised what I thought I’d learned, apologising for the digression into salt, but Adam thought the mingling explanation made more sense than magic. He was, though, a good deal more interested in my very to scale image of dragon transport, but fortunately found it as funny as he did arousing and allowed me to escape to an early start in the Oval Office. Skuffles arrived soon after me, telling me that my disreputable da had been busy somewhere, but Gordon, Wolf, and Bear were all more intrigued by dragons than not and did not suppose Coyote would object, while all the chiefs she’d spoken to, if croggled and distinctly wary, because dragons, which was unarguable, were cautiously in favour and entirely willing to remit such a decision to me as Paramount Chief. She dropped her jaw in a laugh.
They agreed that She Doesn’t Only Fix Cars knows more than they do about dragons, so if the Elder Spirits and Ol’ Manitou River had no objections it was more sensible for you to decide. After all, what are Paramount Chiefs for ?
“Good question, Skuffles. And thanks for taking that on. Did you get any of my dreaming ?”
She hadn’t, so I told her about that and asked her to let Baba Yaga know what had been said about salt, though ‘said’ was a bit strong, while I turned to the other half of the politics involved and called in Frank, State, Defence, Glen Sawyer as Interior, and the Chair of the Joint Chiefs, conveniently still an admiral. The transport requirements for dragons was not what they were expecting, and there was more crogglement all round as I explained what had been requested and what assurances and agreements I already had, followed by dropping jaws when I added what I intended to propose to China.
“It’s just being practical, people. Saying ‘no’ isn’t an option, so the real question is what we can get out of it all as side-bennies.”
I had some ideas about that too, which sat up State, Defence, and the Admiral nicely, and while they did some arguing I spoke to Frank and Sawyer about the domestic side. Then we did some integrating, as however adventitious the dragons’ request, their arrival bare months before an election was not to be squandered. With fae, werewolves, vamps, and great manitous all out we were, I thought, past the reasons Ursula Le Guin had thought made Americans afraid of dragons, but some would find other reasons fast enough, and I had every intention of putting Jesse and the ex-kiddos network onto this one as soon as I could. Getting Jenna and Sally into it would again have been legally trickier but I’d sidestepped that by getting an amused Baba Yaga to agree to retain them, when things went public, with a brief to advise on and assist draconic integration.
“I haven’t told them yet, nor Jesse, but I’ll be doing that as soon as we’ve spoken to China, Admiral, to bank what PR we can ahead of arrival.”
He was good with that, and having got over their immediate shock there was a certain enthusiasm at passing it on to China as soon as may be. State would send a request, specifying urgency while disclaiming emergency, and we kicked details around, agreeing that she should also ask for a senior PRC naval presence plus their equivalents of Frank, State, Defence, and Interior. Once we had a time, there would also be a pleasingly cryptic heads-up to Japan about the part they’d need to play, which had State shaking her head again, more to clear it that deny anything, but as I pointed out they could get some side-bennies too, if it all worked out.
Eventually I sent them all off to get on with their new agendas, and kept myself from wondering too much about dragons with my ongoing repurposing of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as an agency to look after all the new geothermal taps and extend the programme to much smaller individual shafts for isolated communities. Those could be privately owned and paid for, but the big ones were federal property. Everyone had been too taken with a very green solution to worry about a rolling nationalisation of power generation, and I had whacked belated objections not so much out of the stadium as deep into the long grass by asking why exactly anyone minded green federal energy security or a policy that would progressively merge lower power bills into tax liability. It had amused the manitous, who thought opening shafts a paltry price for closing down fossil fuel and curbing use of wind farms to spare birds, and were happy to oblige as fast as turbines and construction crews were available, so I was also having a fine time re-equipping the policy division of the Department of Energy with all sorts of new connections. A federal government that sold very green energy in rapidly increasing amounts and could do as it would with price had the strategy wonks very thoughtful, as well as complimentary, and if the existing power companies were less keen I didn’t much care.
Unsurprisingly, given the text State had sent, it was only a couple of days before we were able to reassemble, adding Gwyn ap Lugh and Baba Yaga, and place the call to China, looking quizzical as we did introductions all round. I was mildly apologetic that the language was of necessity English, but China waved a hand.
“We understand our tongue is hard for others to learn, Ms President. Please think nothing of it. Now, an urgent non-emergency ? And from the presence of Gray Lords a preternatural matter, I take it.”
“Just so, Mr Chairman and President. Do you remember the first conversation we ever had, before my election ?”
“Vividly.” He added wary to quizzical. “Which bit of it proves relevant now ?”
“Several bits, sir. The long and the short is that we are of necessity about to ask you to upgrade your panda diplomacy to dragon diplomacy.” He blinked and I nodded. “It came as a considerable surprise to me too, and in the interests of transparency and offering all the assurances we can I propose to explain chronologically. So, for us it started with a request from the four orders of dragons relayed by Prince Gwyn ap Lugh.”
He and Baba Yaga explained dragons and their request, silently integrating what little extra I’d gleaned from dreaming Underhill, and from the questions that followed we all learned more clearly where the dragons presently were, which was on what China called the Jinsha, the upper Yangtze, and the protected areas of the parallel rivers, including Tiger Leaping Gorge. We also learned that they could and would transport themselves down the Yangtze to Shanghai, but would have to leave the river where it became tidal and so needed a land-route to the deep-water port. Those with China seemed to be waiting on him, and he was frowning.
“I must confess, Ms President, that I am … conflicted, I believe you say. It is good that a Chinese preternatural kind has at last come out, but they have come out to you, not to us, and they wish to leave.”
“Not all of them, sir, but yes, I noticed that. The hard side of it is that their reasons are primarily environmental, and I did warn you about that one. I understand your population and economic pressures make it tough for you, but this could be a lever for you - clean up the Yangtze Basin and more to make a land fit for dragons as well as people.”
I got a cautious nod.
“That I can see, yes. And the soft side ?”
“Depends on what the dragons will agree to, but while being out does not mean being at any human beck and call, it does mean being reasonable. I wondered if you might give them some sort of cultural ambassador status - the Longwoods and the Bison Belt are de facto the largest protected magical zone in the world, with both European and Native American preternaturals co-operating there. A Chinese preternatural presence will be welcome.”
“Huh, as I also believe you say. Cultural ambassadors may be a step too far, for the Party will surely doubt their … orthodoxy.”
“There’s that, sir, though another strand of our first conversation plays in. There are dragons, four orders of them, and the Party needs to wrap its collective head about them far more than they need to wrap theirs about it.”
“That case can be made, certainly. Agreement is another matter, and many will not be happy.”
“Surprise. But as a first preternatural call goes, this is mild. You could easily be in a much tougher spot.”
“Oh ?”
“Un huh. Suppose the great manitou of the Yangtze had manifested as a giant giant panda, on Medicine Wolf’s scale, and introduced itself as Chairmanitou Mao-Xiong, with a little red playbook of its own. I realise the maos are tonally different words in Chinese, but even so.”
China looked appalled, as did everyone with him and State.
“That is …”
“Exactly. Emigrating dragons are really not such a big problem.”
“When you put it like that, perhaps not. But I am still unclear on how this is to happen, Ms President. Dragons … take themselves to Shanghai, and then what, if they cannot cross salt water ?”
“Well, Mr Chairman and President, dragon dimensions are not yet altogether clear to me, but what ocean-going transport do we both have that is all about large flat surface areas ? Now, those are metal, which isn’t so good, I gather, but how long do you suppose it would take to cover one of yours and one of mine with a double layer of tatami matting ? Oh, and a fence of some kind round the edges - we don’t want dragons falling overboard in mid-Pacific.”
China was staring at me.
“I imagine not. And I have not the slightest idea.”
“Me either, sir, but without knowing why Japan is standing by to tell us, if we get so far. My husband can arrange for the … boundary fences - posts in weighted bases, all holding itself together, and easily removed afterwards. And you know, Mr President, there are possible benefits for both of us here. Admiral ?”
“Mr Chairman and President, Admiral, the US Navy is as surprised as you are by all this, never mind the tatami matting, but the fact is, sirs, that if it happens we will each have a carrier group first at Yokosuka, then sailing together to Shanghai, on which there are no weather constraints, and finally sailing together again from Shanghai to Puget Sound, for which we will need clear weather for most of a week. Both carriers will have all aircraft hangared, so we could reasonably each assign a second group as escort, or take the view that the two groups together are sufficient. Either way, we would have over some weeks the chance to run some joint exercises, if without aircraft, and allow personnel to meet ; you could, if you so wished, make nice with the Japanese ; and though we would need my President’s advice on this, there are opportunities for some very positive global PR all round.”
I wasn’t entirely sure where the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy stood on PR, and neither were State or Defence, but their Admiral seemed quite keen, allowing for bemusement, and China stayed silent as the others with him engaged with my own array. So did I, save when asked about PR, the simple point there being that well-matted aircraft carriers and their groups co-operating to aid a new kind of preternatural had any number of upsides to exploit, and the one big no-no being pointing out the debt dragons thereby incurred.
“There is a debt, and the dragons will know it, but as none of us yet know how they feel about debts, but we do know the Fae acknowledge them as cousins of a sort, I very strongly counsel letting it bide until we know a great deal more. Prince Gwyn ap Lugh ?”
“I concur entirely, Ms President, Mr Chairman and President. Baba Yaga ?”
She shrugged. “I have never contracted any debt to any dragon, nor had one indebted to me. Caution is surely the wiser course, but I suspect you may find draconic gratitude more like that of cats than fae.”
“Whatever we do is their due as dragons, you mean ?”
“Along those lines, Ms President.”
“Huh. We’ll see, then, but no proclaiming the debt while we finesse the PR.” I looked at China. “Unless you’re going to call your end off.”
“What happens if I do ?”
“Dragons will go down the Mekong or Salween, and we’ll pick them up there. Longer route, more awkward all round, and a bore to have two carrier groups tied up at once, but perfectly doable if we must.”
“Yes. You are once again being honourable in asking us first.”
“I try to be so always.”
“Indeed.” He was still for a moment before nodding, once but sharply. “Very well. I shall file dragons under force majeure, and accept this strange offer, Ms President. A time-frame of some kind would be helpful.”
I gave him a wide smile. “Thank you, Mr President, and yes it would. And I confess I’ve rather been looking forward to this bit, but it does depend which ships we’re using. For us it will be a last hurrah for the USS Nimitz. Which of yours will you use ?”
After some humming and hawing the answer was the PLANS Shandong, which gave us the two necessary deck-outlines. I gave some technical orders, and after a few moments we were joined by a tense Japan with his equivalent of Defence, a senior admiral, and a very nervy civilian who was introduced as the head of a large matting company and did a lot of bowing. And I’d been right to anticipate this, because when I asked them, without mentioning dragons, how long it would take them to tatami-mat the flight decks of the USS Nimitz and PLANS Shandong with two layers, both with proper sewn rice-straw cores and certainly no modern polystyrene, naturally using a fully auspicious layout, their looks were entirely priceless. I’d been surprised to discover there were inauspicious ways of laying tatami-matting, and quite why it should be auspicious to avoid four-mat junctions remained a mystery, but I was happy to defer to their expertise and certainly wanted nothing inauspicious. After a long happy moment in which I watched the buck pass down the ranks, the nervy civilian swallowed hard, said the quantity of most traditional mats was no problem, he having more than enough on hand, and the actual laying should only take a few days, but might he please ask how long they had to produce a fully auspicious layout-design for each layer ? A quick sidebar between admirals decided the carriers could be in Yokosuka, aircraft hangared, in six weeks, and the civilian seemed more relieved than not, though they were all once again croggled when I told them we would also be installing a temporary boundary-fence around the flight decks, Adam would be in touch with the US commander at Yokosuka if they needed any data on that, for practical or auspicious purposes, and the bill for both carriers was going to be met out of the Borrowed Warchest. As that was the only clue I was giving them I ended things by thanking them and promising a quick visit to Yokosuka to see matting in progress. Then it was back to China and us, and he was staring at me again.
“You did not say anything about dragons, Ms President.”
“Yeah, I noticed that. Wouldn’t you rather have control over what is said and when ?”
He would, and we put together the rest of the timetable. Yokosuka to Shanghai was only about 1200 nautical miles, for many reasons aircraft carriers are pretty speedy despite their size, and a steady 30 knots gives you 720 a day - but Shanghai to Puget Sound was better than 5,000 nautical miles, while some allowance should be built in. Neither Gwyn ap Lugh nor Baba Yaga had hard figures on dragon speed, but if they were following the Yangtze they had at least 3,000 miles to go, so as they had no more than eight weeks to do it, and perhaps a little less, an earlier rather than a later start might be wise. Ap Lugh didn’t disagree, however he had never heard of any dragon being late, and undertook to let the dragons who had asked know our answer soonest ; I promised to relay it, ditto ; and we were, surprisingly, mostly done. The admirals and Defence secretaries could liaise about exercises along the way, we revisited PR briefly - leaving me amused at China’s immediate understanding of why the Fae were hiring Jenna and Sally, and request to hire them also, if there were no conflict of interest - and I gave one more push at clearing up some of their pollution, offering to share geothermal tech if they would undertake the drilling before we all made polite farewells and the conference call ended.
State blew out a breath, hard.
“Well, that went a lot better than it might have done. But Ms President, Chairmanitou anything gives me hives, never mind Mao whatever it was.”
“Mao-xiong”, I told her. “Means cat-bear, while the Mao in Chairman means something else - some sort of reed, I think. Goosed him nicely, though.”
Ap Lugh laughed softly. “Yes, it did. Yet I must sympathise with your Secretary, Mercedes Elf-friend. Tatami-matting aircraft carriers is a surprising departure, even for you.”
I gave him a look. “With all respect, Gwyn ap Lugh, when you tell me the dragons are confident I will think of something, I am obliged to think of something. Nor can I think of any other way of transporting dragons.”
“I was not objecting, Mercedes, but merely admiring your capacities of vertical sideways.”
I gave him another look, and he laughed again.
“Don’t you have dragons to talk to ?”
“I do, and will be about it. Such conversations are not entirely straightforward, but I would hope to be in touch again within a day or two, Overhill time.”
He and Baba Yaga left, but I had to stay for a while, giving State and Defence as well as the admiral some parameters, and suggesting strongly that all the tensions in the various China seas would be a lot less if China, Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines accepted that they had all contributed to overfishing those seas, as well as large chunks of the Western Pacific, and deducted fishing rights from their agendas until there were once again enough fish. There was also my formal brief for Glen Sawyer, because once the dragons were on US soil somewhere by Puget Sound, and as the USN base at Kitsap was on the western shore and downtown Seattle not so dragon-friendly that meant somewhere north - the Tulalip Reservation came to mind - they would have to get to the Longwoods. With Skuffles’s aid, would he therefore please liaise with the Tulalip and with Thunderbird, Raven, and Owl, who could reasonably be asked to escort flying dragons. Nearer the time a list of airspace closures could be announced, but more urgent was a jetty into deep enough water for carriers, and wide enough for disembarking dragons. It would be temporary, so wood over empty plastic drums would probably do, and he could liaise with my engineers about that. I got more looks, but he also laughed, shaking his head, and said he’d come to appreciate finding himself in left field and a dragon-jetty was not a boring proposition. Then it was only me and a bemused if equally appreciative Frank, for whom the major concern was fitting it to his education brief, and I assured him I’d given ap Lugh a clear list of what resident dragons would have to do, which was mostly to behave politely and responsibly, as well as ecologically, but while I wouldn’t compel them to be conversational, or even seen much, if they didn’t want, I would require them not to interfere with anything else legitimately going on in the Longwoods, including school visits.
“I hope they’ll be up for some visibility, Frank, but it may be only to other preternaturals for some while. And until we know more, that’s fine by me. Meantime, do share with Rachel, but no-one else, please, until China and I can agree a global announcement.”
That evening I had the considerable pleasure of telling Adam that he needed to ring-fence two aircraft carriers and might be contacted by a man about auspicious tatami matting on that account, after which I laid it out properly, he did a good deal of laughing, which pleased me, and we made some private plans of our own. Otherwise it was back to waiting, but Gwyn ap Lugh told me two days later that while unavoidably uneasy about ocean-crossings, the dragons were happy I had an answer, glad to hear it, and reluctantly agreed to be mostly visible as well as careful in getting themselves down the Yangtze on time, which would take them perhaps a month, while Baba Yaga had agreed to liaise with China about it all, and would accompany them in her flying mortar. China was pleased to hear it too, and the timetable firmed up considerably, meaning that the announcement could be pencilled in for about a month’s time, before which there could be a very careful widening of those in the know.
Given present sensibilities about China, selling immigrating dragons to the US public was trickier than it might have been, but with the foreign policy bit cleared I could tell Jesse and let Jenna and Sally know they were about to get requests from the Fae and China. Their expressions were priceless too, until the matting made them laugh, but once they grasped the scale they were being asked to think on they did it very impressively. Jesse kept me updated, so I knew they’d managed to talk to Thomas Hao about Chinese sensibilities, as well as my dubious Da in his PR Guru Extraordinaire mode, and within a fortnight there were any number of hashtags ready to go as well as a simple but deep story arc - at the Chinese end, that dragons were leaving not only to explore a new magical environment on behalf of Asian preternaturals but also to warn everyone in China that their land was at breaking-point, and at the American end that dragons were coming to the land of the free, as so many had before them, and welcome. A separate strand involved types of dragon, these being neither the Beowulf and Smaug type, nor any of the cartoon varieties, nor remotely related to any biblical invocations, but elementals of earth, air, fire, and water ; and another insisted on it all as a ringing endorsement of the Longwoods, Bison Belt, and green lurch - Thunderbird, great manitous, trolls, and Purity had all blessed them, and so did dragons and elements. What was not to like ?