#67: The Dragon Lady

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The bell tinged and a small group of people stepped into the shop. Foremost was an older lady in a wheelchair. She was being pushed by younger female, a real doll Elvira thought, the type that used to call a china doll. The two women were accompanied by two huge males....Orcs, was the word that sprung to mind, or perhaps Ogres or Trolls. They were big, fierce looking, and identical, except that one was dark brown and the other one was pale white. How odd, a matched set. Bodyguards no doubt.

It had been raining outside, as usual. They were closing their umbrellas when Elvira drew attention to herself.

“What can I do for you?” She said

Upon seeing Elvira the umbrellas were ignored. They were dropped to the floor with a moist clatter as everyone except for the old lady reached for a weapon. None were drawn but Elvira suspected that they were all poised to draw pistols.

When the entry bell had ‘dinged’ Shelby had been in the shop immersed in a project. He was thus unable to ‘answer the door’ in a timely fashion. Elvira went in his stead. All of their customers were used to seeing Shelby’s flying dragon.

These weren’t.

“I...I ....” the older lady stuttered.

“Don’t be alarmed.” Elvira said. “This is just a robot. Nothing to be concerned about. I make tele-operated cybernetic service robots. They look like Dragons. This is one of them.”

“I tinker with robots when I’m not building wheelchairs.” Shelby said from the doorway. He glided silently onto the salesroom floor, wiping his hands on a shop rag. He and the older woman were at the same level, eye to eye, fancy that.

“Oh.” she said “that’s very interesting.”

She nodded slightly to her companions. They all relaxed. The two men bent over to retrieve the dropped umbrellas. The young lady kept a weather eye on both Shelby and the dragon.

“I’ve heard about your products. Rumor has it that they are special. I’ve come to see for myself.” She said.

Shelby nodded. He felt that he was being evaluated. Somehow he felt that he very much did NOT want to fail the evaluation. “ That’s very kind. I think that I make some very fine wheel chairs. I can show them to you if you like.”

“I’m sure that you do.” the old lady said.” however I’m not exactly interested in wheelchairs.”

“ I understand that you make drones, such as that one?” She pointed to Elvira.

“Yes ma’am I do.” Shelby said “I’d be happy to demonstrate one to you if you qualify.”

That MIGHT have been the wrong thing to say. The temperature seemed to have dropped precipitously. The Ogres frowned.

“What do you mean by qualify young man? “The dragon lady asked.

“The drones are special.” Shelby told her “I won’t make them for just anyone.”

“How does one ‘qualify’ as you put it?” The Dragon Lady asked.

“Two ways.” Shelby said “Either spend enough time with me that I can get to know you or be recommended to me by someone that I trust.”

“You don’t sell your products to anyone with the money?” the Dragon Lady asked.

“No Ma’am.” Shelby replied. “Not my drones. I’ll sell my wheelchairs to anyone, but the drones are reserved.”

“Perhaps a great deal of money? Everyone can be bought.” She continued.

“No Ma’am. There isn’t enough money to persuade me to sell them to someone I deem unworthy.” Shelby said. “In fact the drones are not for sale. I give them to those in need or those deemed to be worthy, either by myself or by those that I trust.”

“Perhaps force then?” the Dragon Lady nodded to her matched set of bodyguards. As if on cue the two huge men reached over their shoulders and drew massive Talwars. The steel hissssed as they were withdrawn from their sheaths.

“No Ma’am. Not even force. Not even death.” Shelby inspected the Talwars with a critical eye. “Nice swords.”

“Very impressive young man.” The Dragon Lady almost smiled.

She nodded to her entourage “My work here is done.”

.....and they left.

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“I hear you met the Dragon Lady?” Sam looked across the table at Shelby. They’d taken to having breakfast together daily in the company diner.

“Is that who she was?” Shelby said.

“Yup.” Sam said. “She is very influential in these parts.”

“So it would seem.” Shelby said, sipping his coffee “so it would seem. Just my luck, the mob.”

“Not exactly. Her organization is similar to the Japanese Ninkyo Dantai,“ Sam said. “That means Chivalrous Organizations and she is that. The Ninkyo Dantai are known for their strict codes of conduct but are not necessarily criminal. Neither is the Dragon Lady. She just cuts through a lot of red tape to look after her people. She could be your best friend or your worst nightmare. There are a number of missing thugs who learned that lesson too late.”

“Besides all that,” Sam said with a grin. “She’s your boss. I’m the manager but she’s the owner.”

“Oh Shit.” Shelby said quietly.

“It gets better.” Sam’s grin was even bigger “she’s my aunt.”

“Double Shit.” Shelby said “Well I guess I’d better pack. It was a nice job while it lasted.”

“Not at all.” Sam was suddenly as serious as a heart attack in a nursing home. Shelby could tell. “She called me last night. We had a nice long chat. She said that her visit was a test. You passed it with flying colors. Very damn few living humans can do that. I’m proud of you boy.”

“Do you recommend her?” Shelby asked, just as seriously. ”I mean that’s a slam dunk question but I need to hear you say it.”

“I do.” Sam replied.

“Good enough.” Shelby said.

“I’ll call her right away.” Sam told him. “She’s waiting for the call. Shall I tell her you’ll be free in about an hour?”

Shelby nodded. What the Sam Hill had just happened?

...................

The Next Episode is
#68: The Dragon Lady Returns
The Previous Episode was
#66: Quantum Entanglement
the First episode was
#1 : Prologue

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