Seeing Wings of Green

Chapter 3: Learning on the Wing

The sound of Human voices and the displeased hissing of the captive dragons roused me from my slumber. Once I blinked the sleep from my eyes, I saw around half a dozen or so people donned in white lab coats and rubber gloves making their way up and down the rows of glass cages. They would examine the dragon or egg that was in the cage in front of them and write down things on the clipboard that was laying in front of the cage, before setting the clipboard back down in front of the cage, and moving on to the next cage that was in need of observation. A blonde-haired man with glasses was in front of my currently less-than-pleased neighbor's cage, diligently taking down notes.

I inhaled sharply in shock when I realized just how much smaller we had become. Now I knew how a house cat or small dog felt when they looked up at their owner, as the scientists absolutely had me dwarfed. The probably thirty-something year-old man put the clipboard down in front of my neighbor's cage before moving on to me.

Obviously, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with these people who would so willingly turn members of their own kind into miniature dragons and God-only-knew what else. I hastily (and rather clumsily) staggered to my feet and backed up so that my hindquarters were pressed against the back glass panel of my glass prison. A loud hiss escaped me, and I nearly startled myself with the sound. It sounded more like water striking hot rocks than the hiss of the warm fuzzy house cat that my neighbor had compared us to. Speaking of my neighbor, the gold dragon had lowered her head and growled threateningly at the guy, who remained un phased by either of our actions. All around me, I could hear the other dragons as they continued to broadcast their dislike for the scientists who were near them.

Meanwhile, the scientist in front of me grabbed the clipboard in front of my cage and briefly scanned over it before he grabbed a handle that was on top of my cage. He put both the cage and the clipboard down on a nearby cart beside him. I pressed my wings against my body with a fearful whine and backed myself into one of the far corners of the cage. The gold dragon's voice entered my head as her red eyes followed the scientist's movements as he prepared to cart me off to God-only-knew-where to do God-only-knew-what.

"They will cart you off to a small room and take your measurements. Height, weight, and the like." The gold dragon informed me. "They will also most likely give you a chance to move around. They do this with everyone every day, without fail."

Well, at least I now knew that they weren't about to strap me down and play the role of God. Though technically, they already did such a thing; given that I, as well as a bunch of others, were already in this situation. Where's PETA when you really needed them, dammit. I frowned. Not that they would actually do anything to actively help.

The man pushed me out of the large, window-less room and took a left down a wide, featureless hallway before taking a right into a small room. He took a moment to close the door behind him before he transferred my cage over to a nearby metal table top, where various instruments had been already laid out. Scalpels of various sizes, a stethoscope, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, a pair of medical grade scissors, a plastic tray with a few capped empty syringes, plastic vials with some sort of hardened translucent gel or clear liquid at the bottom of them, and a pair of what looked like thick leather gloves. The scientist undid the latches at both ends of the cage. I had no idea that both the front and the back panes of the glass cage could function as a point of access until then.

Another white-clad scientist, this time a woman with her raven black hair in a bob cut, entered the room and took care to close the door behind herself as well. She slipped the heavy-looking, dark brown leather gloves on over her hands before she reached towards me through the opened front of the cage. Naturally, I backed up to avoid her. I didn't realize I had backed out from the safety of the cage until it was whisked away. I was left standing on the cold table with my wings pressed against my sides, shivering both from the cold and from the overwhelming sense of fear that I felt in response to the sudden sense of vulnerability. The woman who donned the gloves started to arrange the various instruments on the table while I slowly inched backward until my hindquarters touched the white-painted, concrete wall.