Tagging

"We need to just start flying drones around darting people with vaccines like we tag wildebeests." - Lawrence “Eoraptor” Hults II

The first drones appeared in 2035. No one knows where they came from, they just appeared one day. Conspiracy theorists have blamed the government for them. Alternatively, the Illuminati were named as the source of the mysterious drones.

They seemed innocuous at first, just buzzing around people getting a good look at everyone’s faces. After awhile people got used to them being there observing everything. Occasionally someone would shoot one down or accidentally run into one. But there wasn’t much to learn from the debris as they never survived the impact intact. The best guess is that they had mini self-destruct devices inside of them.

As time went on the drones became faster, more agile, and less likely to be destroyed. Soon after that, they started to sting people, injecting tiny tracking devices into them. A portion of the human population managed to avoid getting stung by the drones by simply proving to be unavailable.

Meanwhile, the military had begun to capture the drones in an attempt to determine who was responsible for them. The medical community also began to examine people who had been stung by the drones. After months of study of millions of samples, scientists discovered a new, never before seen antigen in the blood samples. People were suddenly healthier, more robust after the injections.

The doctors also found a small metallic cylinder just under the skin at the injection site. At first, they thought that it was merely the delivery system of the antigen. The devices were handed over to engineers who specialized in micro technology. A discrete signal was detected by the laboratory technicians. The conclusion was that in addition to delivering the antigen, the devices served as tags for the already inoculated.

Questions would remain unanswered for years while the drones continued their work. The truth about the strange drones was unraveled by a child. While sitting on her father’s lap, she remarked, “Daddy, you smell good enough to eat.”

Zephyrus and Iole

Iole lived in the mountains above Akrotiri. She paid little heed to the comings and goings of man despite the warnings. She was faster than they were. None of them tread softly enough to surprise her. She had learned to trust a man-child who came to collect berries from the bushes every spring. They had both been yearlings when they met.

Zephyrus lived in Akrotiri. He often traveled to the mountains with his mother to collect berries. He possessed a gentle spirit and often communed with the wildlife. He had befriended a young doe when he was five years old. They met again every summer when the berries would ripen to share the bounty from the bushes. They would run together through the woods for days on end. And they would part ways at the end of a week.

Iole felt the ground beneath her feet shake. The earth cracked open and fire burst through setting fire to the dry grass. Zephyrus had just come to the hillside to gather berries and Iole had set out to meet him. She leapt across the open fissures feeling the heat of the escaping steam against her hide. A second rumble from the mountain sent up smoke and ash into the air above them.

Zephyrus had come alone this trip being all of fifteen years. He stumbled when the ground first shook and nearly tumbled down the mountain. Regaining his footing, he pushed on concerned for his friend. He found her waiting in their usual spot. Iole greeted him with her usual bow and snort. He smiled at her. Just as he reached out to pat her neck, the ground nearby split open and fire began to pour from the crack.

Iole knelt next to him hoping that he would understand her gesture. Zephyrus smiled and climbed on her back. She moved swiftly carrying his weight, jumping chasms that he could never have managed to span. Down the mountain, into the heart of the deer hunters, Iole carried her cargo to the nearby sea. Despite Zephyrus protestations to stop and return to shore, she continued to swim away from the doomed island. When she reached the safety of a far shore, she collapsed of exhaustion.

Zephyrus’ parents had been at sea having dropped a net just moments before the sight of their son on the back of a deer. They had quickly retrieved the net and followed the two to that distant shore. They found Zephyrus alive, safe from the devastation that destroyed their home back on Thera. Iole was old for a deer and had given her life to carry him to safety. That night, she was dressed, her carcass hung to drain, while her hide was stretched to dry. Iole would feed Zephyrus and give him a new leather vest as her final sacrifice to her friend.