Silicon and Scales

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. If Melissa had her way, there wouldn’t be dragons caged in Silicon Valley ever again.

Melissa didn’t know much about dragons; nobody did. They’d appeared gradually, over the course of several years. At first, they were dismissed, like Bigfoot sightings or the Loch Ness monster. It had taken a corpse for the world to change its mind.

That first emerald dragon had looked young when it was skewered through the neck by a harpoon. It had been hunted down and ambushed by a group of cryptid hunters, now famous and calling themselves the Dragonslayers. They’d gone on a world tour with the body as proof. It still made Melissa sick to her stomach to think about. The carcass had lasted a long time, but still… by the end of the tour the poor thing was reeking and foul, bones poking through, the brave and noble Dragonslayers still smearing themselves with its black blood.

It wasn’t until the next dragon was found that they realized they were probably tripping balls, too. Turns out, every part of a dragon’s body has special properties, including all its bodily fluids. There were no more parades after that. Every billionaire and two-bit celebrity went hunting for the creatures. The dumb ones used RPGs. The smart ones used tranquilizers.

Within a year, street drugs claiming to contain dragon parts were flooding the streets. Most of them were just fentanyl or research chemicals. The ones that stuck around performed beyond expectations. Dragonsblood for euphoria and hallucinations, ground bone to make you stronger, spinal fluid to help you ace your exams. The government and most scientists denied everything, of course, but Melissa had seen kids at school snort a line after school and jump six feet straight up for the next hour. Hard to doubt after that.

Of course, she had never done it. Even if a lot of her peers did, that didn’t make it right. That was why she had joined the CFD. And it was why she was meeting her two best friends at this overpriced coffee shop.

“Hey, Melissa,” said Sean, sliding into the booth across from her. “What’s so important that it couldn’t wait until class tomorrow?”

She shook her head and smiled nervously. “Not until Gail gets here. I don’t want to repeat myself. I have big news.”

Sean cocked his head, curious. “Big news at 2 PM on a Thursday. What could it be? Did you find someone willing to put up with you long enough to go on a date?”

“No, asshole. Just wait. You’re gonna wanna hear this,” she said. “You won’t have to wait long -look, she’s here now.”

Gail was a cheerleader for the Stanford Cardinals, plus captain of the Quiz Bowl Club, plus president and co-founder of the Committee for Free Dragons. She walked through the door in jeans and a t-shirt, but she still drew looks from the other people in the café. It wasn’t because of the way she looked, necessarily, but the confidence she exuded. She was popular, athletic, and driven – sometimes Melissa wondered how she had ended up in Gail’s inner circle, out of the dozens of people always clamoring for her attention.

Sean, on the other hand, was the type of guy who didn’t draw attention no matter where he went. Until he started talking, of course. Average height, plain features, wore hoodies most of the time – but he was a passionate orator. He was only a sophomore at San Francisco State, but he was already being invited to speak at protests and fundraisers. He knew how to get people riled up, and he cared more about the world than anyone else Melissa knew.

That was why she was friends with both of them. They would all talk about Senate votes and foreign policy and healthcare prices for hours at a time, arguing and venting and learning at the same time. Sean and Gail were the only people Melissa trusted with something like this. She drew a deep breath as Gail sat down.

“Did I miss the big announcement?” she asked, smiling.

“No, I just got here. Mel’s being all mysterious about it. All I know is that it’s not a date.” Sean chuckled as Melissa threw a napkin at him.

Melissa wasn’t as inconspicuous as Sean or as head-turning as Gail. She shopped exclusively at thrift stores, usually wearing ripped jeans or combat boots that would have been outlandish forty years ago but were now commonplace. She’d pierced her ears and nose and dyed her hair a new color every few weeks. It was hard to stand out in a place like San Jose, where everyone was trying to outdo each other, but she did her best to separate herself from her straight-laced, conservative family.

She cleared her throat. “Ok, so… you know how I have that cousin who works at Dracogen? Well, he’s coming – “

“You have a cousin that works at Dracogen? You definitely did not tell us about that,” Sean cut in. “That seems like important info, given we’ve been trying to find a way in for months.”

Melissa glared at him. “He’s a distant cousin. Didn’t think it was important.” The lie slipped out easily. “Look, it is important info, especially since he’s coming to my parent’s house for dinner, tonight. He’s a lab tech. He’s not supposed to say what he does, but he likes to brag about it anyway. He works with them. In the lab where they keep the dragons.”

Gail leaned forward, eyes bright. “Is he with us? Is he gonna help us break in?”

“Keep your voice down,” Melissa said, looking around nervously. “No. He’s an asshole. I haven’t talked to him in years. But he has a card. And… look, I know someone who takes Hypno. The stuff that’s supposed to have dragon spit? I can get some, put it in his drink.”

“You’re going to drug him?” she whispered. “Is he that much of an asshole?”

“First of all, yes, he is, second of all, I’m not gonna kill him! It’ll put him to sleep long enough for me to steal his card, and if all goes well I’ll return it before he wakes up and nobody will be the wiser. I never see him, this is a huge opportunity for us. We can take pictures, we can grab documents, we could expose what they’re doing in there!”

Melissa paused, gauging their reactions. Gail looked troubled. Sean was… pensive. She could tell he was thinking through all the implications. What would happen if they got caught. What each of them stood to lose. How much the risk was really worth.

“You only have the one card, right?” Sean said abruptly. “How are you going to get us in?”

“Well… we’ll need a distraction. Gail, we have that big protest planned on Saturday, right?” Gail nodded. “How many people do you think we could get to protest outside Dracogen, tonight?”

Her eyes widened. “Tonight? You mean, in like five hours? Shit, I’d have to start texting people now, and I’m guessing you want it kept kind of quiet, so…” She trailed off, pulling out her phone and swiping through contacts.

“And, Sean, I figured if it’s after hours, I can get the door open and we both run in while security’s dealing with CFD. The timing would have to be just right but I think it could work. Worst case scenario, they catch us and we run, never show our faces there again.” Melissa hesitated. “It’s not like, Ocean’s Eleven or anything, but it’ll get us a foot in the door.”

Sean was nodding slowly. “You sure you want to risk this? Look, you know I got nothing to lose, but you have that scholarship at Berkeley. You could go places with that. If we get caught, we probably go to jail. No telling for how long. I could go in alone. You don’t have to put your future on the line.”

“Oh, so it’s ok for you to risk everything, but not me?” Melissa scoffed, already shaking her head. “I don’t need protecting. Besides, I’m gonna search his laptop while he’s out. Get a feel for the place. Even if I gave you the card, you wouldn’t know where to go. I can figure out what floor he’s on, where they keep the secret shit, all of that. You’d be lost without me.”

Sean conceded with a rueful smile. “Just checking. I’m not trying to talk you out of it. I’d do anything to stick it to those assholes at Dracogen. Especially Chris Dunne. Just give me a time, a place, and a game plan, and I’m all in.”

“What about you? Are you down?” she asked Gail.

“What? Yeah, of course,” Gail answered distractedly. “Just give me a sec. Organizing doesn’t happen by magic. This is such short notice, but I can probably get a headcount by seven. What time are you going in?”

“I was thinking seven or eight, actually. Late enough that everyone’s gone, but not so late that we couldn’t pretend we were working late or making a delivery or something. And, Gail?”

Gail looked up at Melissa’s grim smile.

“We should break out the supplies for this. Send a message they can’t ignore.”

____________________________________________________

Just before sunset, the Dracogen complex was a sight to behold. It took up a whole city block, all sleek glass and steel. It had been designed more for form than function: it emerged from the ground blocky and squat like a hospital, but the top floors separated into individual, swooping spires. The overall impression, with the burning sun reflecting from behind, was of a futuristic, incandescent crown.

Melissa had never seen anything so ugly in her life.

Someone in CFD worked at Domino’s, so Melissa and Sean were dressed in the blue uniforms and carrying some empty pizza bags. They’d given the actual pizza to the protestors as an incentive to come out. College students never turned down free food.

After a last-minute, whispered discussion with Gail, they were ready to head inside. The doors to the vestibule were locked, but they got buzzed in without questions, thanks to the disguises. They found themselves in an expansive atrium with ostentatious decor. Officially, Dracogen conducted medical research on legally obtained dragon byproducts, but it was an open secret that they hunted and imprisoned them as well. Paintings of grisly hunting scenes lined the walls, and antler-and-bone chandeliers hung from the ceiling. All the couches were exotic leather.

“Not very subtle, huh?” muttered Sean.

There were a couple bored security guards at the front desk. One looked up and waved them over.

“You can drop that pizza off with us,” said the one whose nametag read ‘Mikey.’

Melissa strolled over while Sean sat down, looking bored. “Sorry sir, we got special instructions not to leave it with security. Maybe he’s paranoid that you’ll eat some.” She smiled apologetically.

Mikey glanced over at the other guard, who snorted out a laugh without looking up from his phone. “Who is this for? Are they coming down to get it?”

“Yes sir. It’s for, uh…” she lowered her voice. “Chris Dunne. I don’t know why he’s ordering from Domino’s, man could probably get takeout from a Michelin star just as easy. But hey, I’m just here to deliver the pizza, and maybe he tips well.”

Mikey looked skeptical. “Yeah, I doubt that. Probably some joker trying to be funny with the wrong name. Fine. You can stay until ‘Mr. Dunne’ gets here.” He accompanied the name with air quotes.

Melissa shrugged and took a seat on the side, out of their direct line of sight. Sean leaned over and showed her the text he’d just sent to Gail.

We’re in position. Make em hurt.

“Bold move, pretending to deliver for the CEO,” whispered Sean. “Why not your cousin?”

“He was the only person I didn’t think they’d question,” responded Melissa. “They could call my cousin or look him up; they wouldn’t bother calling Chris Dunne.”

Within a couple minutes, the first rock hit the doors. The masked students who had been milling around the block now gathered in force right outside. The crowd was small at first, but they could see it growing steadily. More rocks hit the reinforced glass, soon followed by red paint balloons.

They started chanting, waving their signs up and down. The guards were on alert now, but not looking too concerned. Dracogen drew crowds like this frequently. Mikey glanced over at the two of them.

“You guys should leave before it gets too violent out there.”

“And give up our tip? No thanks,” she called back. He shrugged.

Sean shot out another text.

They’re not worried. Bring out the big guns.

The glass shook but held with the first blow of the battering ram. It was the same kind that SWAT teams used. Melissa had bought it herself. Now the guards were on edge.

The second guard activated the intercom. “THE POLICE ARE ALREADY ON THEIR WAY. DISPERSE OR ELSE. WE ARE AUTHORIZED TO USE LETHAL FORCE TO PROTECT THIS BUILDING.”

That got a pause from the protesters, and Melissa and Sean looked at each other, wide-eyed.

“That seems extreme,” she whispered.

A few people backed away, but most of the activists went right back to it. A couple more good swings, and the first doors to the vestibule slammed open. That wasn’t supposed to be possible, but Melissa had inside information. The glass was basically impenetrable, but the magnetic locks could be disabled or weakened with the right electric pulse.

Mikey pressed a button, and a robotic voice echoed throughout the building.

“System breach. This is not a drill. All security to the front, repeat, all security to the front. Employees, please shelter in place.”

The guards drew their weapons, and made another announcement.

“THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING. THESE ARE NOT TASERS, THEY ARE HANDGUNS. IF YOU ILLEGALLY ENTER THIS BUILDING, WE WILL OPEN FIRE.”

Melissa looked at Sean and exhaled slowly. They’d hoped the security would be less aggressive, potentially even go outside and leave them to slip in unmolested. But they didn’t have time to wait, and the people they had brought were in danger if they continued to escalate.

“Last chance to back out,” she said. Sean just shook his head tightly.

Mikey walked around the desk to block the entrance to the vestibule, pistol raised. His colleague remained seated, hand by the phone, watching the cameras. They wouldn’t get a better opportunity.

Melissa and Sean walked up with their pizza bags, other hands raised. “Hi, um, is there another way out of the building? We changed our mind about the pizza.”

The other guard’s nametag read ‘Joel.’ “Forget about the fucking pizza. There’s an emergency exit over there, get the hell out of here.” He gestured with his gun towards the far end of the atrium, and Melissa shot him with the taser she had been hiding in the unzipped pizza bag.

Joel convulsed, and Sean lunged at Mikey with a smaller stun gun. It clipped him, enough to make him stumble but not enough to knock him out. Mikey swiveled his gun around at Sean.

Gail took that opportunity to slam open the doors, and half a dozen masked protestors rushed at the guard. He fired but the shot went wide.

“Sean, come on! Last chance in!” Melissa yelled.

Sean scrambled to his feet and ran after Melissa. She scanned her pass card and the electronic doors to the interior complex swung open. Not a moment too soon, either – a second after they passed the threshold, metal bars slammed down behind them. She glanced back to see Joel, still shaking, activating the emergency facility lockdown. The fire alarm blared, and red lights flashed across the hallway. As she watched, the mob vaulted over the security desk before Joel could recover his weapon. Mikey was thoroughly incapacitated too.

Sean tugged at her arm. “Let’s not waste this. Hopefully the card will get us past any more lockdowns.”

Heart beating fast, Melissa followed him into the secretive belly of Dracogen.

The interior of the facility wasn’t as flashy as the outside. There was practical linoleum flooring and plain white walls, almost like a hospital. The hallway branched in three directions, and neatly labeled doors lined the walls at irregular intervals.

“The first two floors and all of the basement floors are labs. Everything above is for office space and conference rooms and stuff,” said Melissa, raising her voice over the continuing sirens.

The elevators were conveniently dead ahead. Sean and Melissa reached for the buttons at the same time, and both UP and DOWN lit up. Sean looked at her, puzzled.

“If the top floors are office space, that’s probably where all the business files are. We could get proof that they’re laundering money, find their connections to the street drugs, all of it. We could bring all of Dracogen down,” said Sean.

“How long would it take us to dig through their paperwork and find something useful? Besides, I’d bet anything that they keep the incriminating files in the same place as their cash cows – in the hidden underground level.”

“There’s a hidden underground level?” Sean replied skeptically.

The elevator came right at that moment, and instead of responding, she swiped her card and punched in five different floors. A voice came through the intercom, “Access granted.”

“I told you I was going to look through my cousin’s computer. There’s an unmarked floor below the last main level. You just have to know the right code,” Melissa told him proudly.

The elevator began heading down, and Sean, rather than being impressed, looked irritated. “Mel, I know you like to reveal things for dramatic effect, but this is the sort of thing you need to tell me before we break into the highly guarded experimental laboratory. Anything else you’re hiding?”

“No, that was it. Sorry,” she mumbled, face reddening. She couldn’t tell him why she’d kept it a secret for the same reason she couldn’t let him know the real reason this pass card worked. “From here on out, I know as little as you do.”

Sean accepted the apology, then frowned. “Hey, was that code Chris Dunne’s birthday?”

Melissa chuckled nervously. “I don’t know, is it? Why do you know his birthday?”

“Know thy enemy, right? Honestly, I was kind of hoping we’d run into him here. Another reason I wanted to check out the top floors,” he said.

“What? Why would you want to see the CEO here?” asked Melissa.

Sean’s expression darkened. “I don’t like that smug, egotistical bastard. Let’s leave it at that for now.”

“Weren’t you just mad at me for keeping secrets? Why are you so obsessed with him?”

He scoffed. “Seriously? You’re gonna defend Chris Dunne, out of all the corrupt billionaires in the world? Look, more importantly, how deep is this secret floor? We’ve already passed B6.”

He was right. Melissa could tell that they were still moving steadily downward, the sirens above fading into the background.

“I don’t know. Like I said, all I know is that it exists.”

There was another minute of awkward silence. Melissa glanced over at Sean, but he was lost in his thoughts, an angry expression on his face. She was glad to get out of the elevator when it finally clunked to a stop.

The doors opened, blasting them with heat, and they both gasped.

“What the fuck?” Melissa was the first to speak. The scene ahead was something out of a comic book. There was a massive chamber hewn directly into the bedrock. Most of it was a natural formation, dark volcanic rock pitted with steam vents and glowing fissures. The part where they stood looked man-made, blasted out of lighter sedimentary layers and enclosed by reinforced glass and metal. That section was lined with coolant pipes and complicated machinery. Massive tubes drilled up, adjacent to the elevator shaft they had just exited, presumably transporting fluid back to ground level. What looked like shiny white hazmat suits hung lifelessly by the entrance.

In the center of the natural section lay a mutilated dragon, barely recognizable through a mess of IV lines and chains. Whole sections of jade-colored scales had been torn off, leaving a patchwork of exposed, weeping muscle. There were raw sockets on the head and feet where there must once have been horns and claws. All over its body were stitched up wounds where organs had been extracted. Even so, it was huge – easily thirty or forty feet from head to tail.

They stared, unable to speak for a moment, until the elevator doors started closing. Swearing, they stumbled through before it closed. The heat immediately increased to nearly unbearable levels.

“I think we should get in those suits before we sweat to death,” said Melissa. Sean agreed, and they both clambered into one. They were aluminum fire suits, presumably capable of withstanding the heat of an open geothermal vent, and it was much cooler inside, though still not comfortable.

“Why would they build this all the way down here?” she whispered.

“Maybe the dragon needs the heat to survive, and this is the easiest way,” speculated Sean. “It looks like they found most of this as is… and look, up in the roof.”

He pointed out a massive vent directly above the dragon.

“I bet they didn’t even capture it. They just found it sleeping here and covered up the exits. I wonder if that leads all the way to the surface.”

“So that’s why they needed this block specifically. Some of the most expensive real estate in the world, and they had to have it, tore down everything in their way to get it,” said Melissa.

“Yeah,” said Sean angrily. “That would explain a lot. Remember that sinkhole that opened up a few years ago, right before Dracogen moved in? And how suddenly, people started moving out or abandoning this block?”

Melissa put a hand to her mouth as the pieces started coming together. “And they’ve been keeping this dragon sedated and experimenting on it ever since. Jesus. It probably hasn’t seen daylight in years.”

Sean pulled out his phone to start taking pictures. “Shame there’s no service down here, we won’t be able to back it up. We’ll have to make sure we get to send the evidence before the cops catch us down here and break into our phones. There’s no way we’re making it out of here unnoticed.”

Melissa nodded soberly and did the same. She’d known that ever since she’d tasered a security guard that they were going to get caught and arrested. The magnitude of that realization was just hitting her now, as she looked around the sinister complex. If Dracogen was capable of this, what would they do to her and Sean?

She began examining the machinery, photographing everything she could see. Here was the main medical monitor, with heart rate and blood pressure, as well as a few lines she didn’t know how to interpret. Here was the intake for the IVs constantly draining the creature’s blood – the line fed through the glass and into a tank surrounded by inscrutable wiring. Here was a sealed container of samples in varying states of decay, with carefully notated dates and comments.

There were desks, too, with drawers full of handwritten notes and documents. She eagerly rifled through them, scanning every page as quickly as she could. One page in particular caught her eye.

“Hey Sean,” she said without looking up, “I think we should free the dragon.”

Sean stopped what he was doing. “Yeah? Who says it would even survive if we did? Look at the state the poor thing is in. Who knows which of those tubes is keeping it alive?”

She gestured at the notebook she was reading.

Weekly Report 3/12/2025: Experimentation this week has proven a remarkable ability for self-regeneration. Unclear if this is a trait of all dragons or if this specimen is unique in some way. Last Monday, we removed its right forepaw, after some deliberation. By Saturday, it had almost fully regrown the appendage. This has immense financial value, as it now seems clear that amputation and cyclic harvesting of limbs or organs will not result in long-term damage to the specimen.

“I think the best thing we can do for it is let it go completely. Looks like it’ll heal fully on its own. And even if it doesn’t… can we really leave it here in good conscience?” Melissa asked, voice muffled through the suit.

Sean sighed. “Well, we can’t get in any deeper shit.”

The way in was obvious: there was a conspicuous, heavy-duty airlock into the main chamber. Even through the reflective fire suits, it was significantly hotter inside, thanks to the glowing rifts and geysers all around.

“We’ll have to hurry,” said Sean. “I don’t think we can stay here long without getting heatstroke.”

It was strangely quiet inside. There was an almost imperceptible rumbling around them, punctuated by the irregular hiss of superheated steam escaping the vents and the deep, ragged breath of the sedated dragon.

Melissa rushed to the dragon’s side and began pulling out needles as quickly as she could. The needles were enormous, and blood or other fluids spurted out from the wounds. She winced, but there was nothing she could do. One of them had to be giving it a sedative, and hopefully once it was removed, the dragon would wake up quickly enough to fly out.

At the same time, Sean was trying to unlock the heavy chains that tied the creature to the ground with a key he’d picked up from the other room. It was slow going – each link must have weighed five pounds, and the chains were looped around each other several times. He had to unlock the end where it was staked into the ground, then lift and disentangle the knotted sections.

They were so focused on their respective tasks, they didn’t notice when the rhythmic breathing permeating the chamber began to speed up. It was hard to miss, however, when the growls started. Melissa and Sean scrambled away as the wounded beast rose to its feet, snarling like a caged wolf.

Or attempted to, at least. One chain was still wrapped around its hind leg, and it was so weak that it collapsed. Its eyes were open now, bloodshot and baleful orange orbs. It stared around, trying to understand where it was. Melissa flinched when its gaze landed on her. There was a fearsome intelligence in those eyes, tempered by incalculable pain. Melissa put her hands out, palms up, and inched closer, trying to make it understand that she was here to help.

“Mel, no!” Sean hissed. “What are you doing?”

The dragon stayed perfectly still until she got too close, then snapped its jaws viciously. Melissa threw herself backwards, screaming. The creature retreated as far as it could, scraping its belly on the hard rock. She realized that the warning bite must have been excruciating – when it opened its mouth, she could see that all its teeth had been wrenched out.

Even the small motions of standing and crawling had reopened nasty wounds. The dragon was now bleeding from a dozen surgical scars, and a hundred tiny cuts where its skin had been removed.

“If you can understand me, we’re not here to hurt you. We’re here to set you free. Look,” said Melissa soothingly. She pointed up at the vent in the ceiling. “You can escape through there. You can fly to the surface.”

Suddenly, the dragon’s head jerked forward, and it resumed growling. The elevator was back. Melissa thought about hiding, but where would she go? It was painfully obvious what was happening here.

The doors opened to reveal Chris Dunne himself, flanked by half a dozen guards armed with heavy assault rifles. He was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt, swaying unsteadily as he moved towards them. His eyes widened and he stopped in his tracks as he saw the dragon was awake and mostly unchained.

“He killed my mom,” blurted Sean. “You asked why I hate him. The bastard killed my mom.” His hands balled into fists, and his stare didn’t leave Dunne for a second.

Melissa swallowed, feeling a heavy weight in her chest. “I’m so, so sorry, Sean. I… I also have something I need to tell you.”

Right then, the dragon broke the standoff with an ear-shattering roar. It blasted a stream of fire at the metal covering the vent, and Sean and Melissa sprinted to the airlock. With a whoosh of air as it flapped its wings, it leaped at the vent, breathing fire and pawing at it. The guards pounded on the airlock; as soon as it opened, one of them shoved Sean and Melissa to the ground while the other five opened fire.

When the grate came loose, the dragon heaved it at the guards. They hadn’t had time to put on the fire suits – the ones that weren’t crushed burst into flame. Amazingly, the glass held, leaving Sean, Melissa, Dunne, and the surviving guard to watch as the dragon crawled painfully up the fissure, dripping blood.

“What have you done,” breathed Dunne. “You stupid children. What the fuck have you done.”

Still barely able to stand, he leveled a glare at Melissa, ignoring Sean completely.

“You drugged me, stole my card, tased my employees, and just lost me billions of dollars…”

Sean stared at Melissa, confused. “Wait, your cousin is – “

“Cousin? Is that what she told you? No, this spiteful, jealous bitch you think is your friend – “

“Is your sister,” Melissa finished with a sigh. “Billionaire CEO of Dracogen Chris Dunne is my brother.”