Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire · Owl Dragon Star System
Zhao Chen, back in the Owl Dragon star system, had at last some time to rest after a stretch of meetings.
The moment he had time to rest, he went back within the Owl Dragon star system to the planet where his children were settled.
"Daddy, fly high; Daddy, fly high."
Zhao Chen stood on the beach, tossing his little daughter up again and again and catching her as she came down.
The little girl was not in the least afraid of so thrilling a game; she kept crying out in her milky little voice, with laughter like little bells.
"Daddy, I want a turn, I want a turn." Beside them his second child, his son Zhao Hu, tugged at the corner of Zhao Chen's clothes, his eyes full of longing.
"Righto, it'll be our Huer's turn in a moment."
Zhao Chen looked at Zhao Hu, who was gazing at him eagerly, and said a few soothing words.
Then he looked at his eldest daughter, Zhao Baier, who was fiddling with something not far off, and called, "Little Bai, want to come and play for a bit?"
"No, thank you. Daddy can play with my little brother and sister." Zhao Baier's little body was almost the same size as the second child Zhao Hu's, yet the voice that came from it was far more mature; she had her back turned, as if tinkering with something on her own.
Zhao Chen looked at the little girl, puzzled.
The little girl had been very odd lately; only three-odd years old, she now talked and acted like a girl of ten-odd.
Sometimes Zhao Chen even half suspected that a transmigrator might be living in his eldest daughter's body.
"Daddy, Daddy. It's my turn." Zhao Hu, by contrast, the second of the twins, his nose running, tugged at Zhao Chen's sleeve; it looked as if one moment more and he would burst into tears.
Zhao Chen set down the third child, Zhao Liler,[1] picked up Zhao Hu, and tossed him into the air again and again, catching him steadily each time.
Just then,
suddenly!
A huge bang came from the distance.
Boom!
Cold water came slapping down on Zhao Chen's cheeks.
Even Zhao Chen was stunned for a moment.
"So big… so big… so big a splash! The fishies… the fishies are all… flying…" Little Liler said in her milky voice, pointing at the water's edge.
"Big Sister's blowing up fish again," Zhao Hu said in Zhao Chen's arms, as if it were nothing new.
But the look on Zhao Chen's face now was very strange.
He looked in astonishment at Zhao Baier in the distance, who had a weapon like a miniature rocket launcher on her shoulder.
It was called miniature, but for Zhao Baier, with a body of only three-odd years, it was truly very big.
So big that after firing it she could not hold up so thick a barrel, and sat down hard on the ground.
And in the distance one could see a huge ripple spreading out from one spot as its center.
Very soon a great many dead fish came floating up on that stretch of water.
But these dead fish had died wholly intact; not a mark of injury could be seen on them, yet now they floated there belly-up.
Zhao Baier dropped the rocket launcher and, hands on her hips, said to some little robots that had been set out beside her who knew when, "Fish-Catching Squad One, go!"
"Yes." The little robots answered in a plainly mechanical voice.
Then they actually floated up and flew toward the blast area, caught the "dead fish" one by one, and dropped them beside Zhao Baier.
They worked very fast; in no time the fish beside Zhao Baier had piled into a little mountain, and some of the dead fish among them were even as big as Zhao Chen himself.
Zhao Chen swallowed, set Zhao Hu on the ground, then walked over to Zhao Baier.
"Little Bai, what… what are you doing?"
Zhao Baier saw her father coming over; she blinked her big, limpid eyes and said, "Blowing up fish."
"Where did you get this rocket launcher?" Zhao Chen still wore a gentle smile on his face, but in his heart he was already working out how he would call the people who looked after the children to account.
How could they let a child get near so dangerous a weapon?
"I made it myself."
But at Zhao Baier's words, Zhao Chen was turned to stone in an instant.
Just then a band of people came running up, out of breath, all of them in a kind of regulation maid's uniform.
They were the maids of Zhao Chen's three children, all picked by Charlotte and Lilith, people who could be trusted absolutely.
"Your Majesty… Your Majesty…"
"Young Miss, how did you… how did you blow up fish again…"
"What's the matter with you all? Didn't I tell you to keep an eye on things? How did you let the young miss cobble together something so dangerous again?"
The head maid kept scolding the maids behind her.
"Wait… wait. Can one of you explain to me what on earth… how this happened? Little Bai said just now that she made this rocket launcher?" Zhao Chen was utterly dumbfounded now.
The head maid came over; sweat had already broken out on her forehead.
"This is my responsibility; it was my poor management that let the young miss get near something so dangerous. Please punish me, Your Majesty." The head maid had the look of one confessing her guilt.
Just then Zhao Baier sensed that something was wrong too, and looked up at Zhao Chen with longing eyes. "Daddy, did I… do something wrong?"
"Little Bai didn't do anything wrong. Daddy's just curious how you made this… this… this thing." Zhao Chen pointed at the rocket launcher.
"It's very easy; you just have to find the parts first, then draw the plans…" Zhao Baier tapped her handheld terminal.
A sketch actually came up,
and the sketch was actually of this rocket launcher.
And Zhao Baier explained all this very earnestly, not at all like a little girl of only three-odd.
"Little Bai could get this rocket launcher directly before, but after I used it once, the maid sisters wouldn't let me touch it anymore; they said it was dangerous. So Little Bai had to make one herself."
As she said this, Zhao Baier put her hands behind her back, like a child who had done wrong.
Zhao Chen looked utterly lost.
He looked in astonishment at the head maid beside him.
The head maid nodded, then explained quietly at Zhao Chen's side, "One day, the young miss got into the armory by some means we don't know, and took this rocket launcher out. Then she brought it to this beach and, just like today, fired a shot at the sea. In fact, at the time, the armory had a storeroom password, for the safety of the three young ones. But we don't know how the young miss actually cracked it. Since then we've added staff at the armory. This time… we never imagined the young miss could assemble a rocket launcher herself. But… but it's still our dereliction of duty; please punish us, Your Majesty."
"All right, stop bringing up punishment at every turn."
Zhao Chen had learned how it had come about; he crouched beside Zhao Baier and asked gently, "Little Bai. Tell Daddy. Why do you like playing with this thing?"
Could this daughter of mine have some violent streak?
If so, I'll need to discipline her more.
Ah. Maybe in the end it's because I haven't spent enough time with the children, and that's left the child lacking something in her feelings.
By now Zhao Chen had already begun looking for the cause in himself.
But Zhao Baier's next answer was one Zhao Chen had never in the world expected.
"Because I should like some fish."
Fish?
So she blew up fish?
That did seem to make sense, actually.
But it also struck Zhao Chen that something was not quite right.
"Who taught you to blow up fish, and with this thing?" Zhao Chen pointed at the rocket launcher beside them.
This rocket launcher, never mind blowing up fish, would have been more than enough even as an infantry weapon on a battlefield.
A child of three-odd actually carrying this thing on her shoulder now and saying she was blowing up fish here:
just hearing it felt utterly unbelievable.
"Yes, blowing up fish with this is quick. One blast and you get lots and lots of fish." Zhao Baier even spread her arms to show how strong the blast was.
Zhao Chen's brows knit tighter.
Wait, I seem to have missed something key.
"Wait. If you wanted to eat fish, why didn't you have the big sisters make it for you?" Zhao Chen asked the question that had been in his mind all along.
Zhao Baier blinked and said softly, "Because Big Sister Annie said food you catch yourself and cook yourself tastes best."
An… nie…
Zhao Chen felt his breath catch; he had never in the world imagined that this fellow, whom he had not been in touch with for a while, would turn up before his eyes in such a way.
"Annie told you that? Don't tell me making this rocket launcher was something she taught you too?" Without his knowing it, Zhao Chen's fist had already clenched.
But Zhao Baier did not notice this change in her father's mood at all; she nodded and said sweetly, "Yes. Big Sister Annie said fishing like that is too slow; you only catch one fish at a time, never enough to eat. Blowing up fish is quicker. She taught me too that when you blow up fish, you shouldn't use that high explosive, but the explosive with the shock wave. Firing that kind of shell does the least harm to the fish, and makes the area it reaches as big as possible. She gave me a whole set of design drawings too. I studied for a month before I made the first one. It works really well."
When she had said all this, Zhao Baier seemed only then to catch on; she looked carefully at her father, like a child who had done wrong, and asked softly, "Daddy. Did Little Bai do something wrong? Did I make Daddy angry? Don't be angry, Daddy; Little Bai won't blow up fish anymore, all right?"
Zhao Baier hung her head, truly like a child who had done wrong.
This eldest daughter of his truly was different; she could not be treated as a child of three-odd.
Zhao Chen laid his hand on his eldest daughter's head and said soothingly, "Daddy isn't angry. Daddy's just curious how our Little Bai made this thing. Those sketches, and those tools: you understand all of them?"
Hearing that her father was not angry, and was even interested in what she had made, Zhao Baier brightened at once and began telling her father on and on about what she had made,
and all its details.
Zhao Baier stumbled a little as she told it, but Zhao Chen could tell that Zhao Baier really did understand these things fairly well,
and in some details was even more at home with them than craftsmen who had studied for years.
This astonished Zhao Chen greatly.
He had never in the world imagined that this eldest daughter of his had such a gift.
Zhao Chen did not interrupt Zhao Baier's telling; he could see that his eldest daughter was very absorbed and happy as she told him these things.
Perhaps this was how a child feels in sharing her joy with her parents.
"Daddy, Huer's hungry."
Only when Zhao Hu beside him tugged at the hem of his clothes did Zhao Chen come back to himself.
Only then did Zhao Chen say to Zhao Baier, who had not yet had her fill of telling, "Little Bai, didn't you blow up lots of fish? Let's grill fish and talk about things at the same time, all right?"
Zhao Baier nodded happily, then said straight out, "Daddy, Little Bai can grill fish. Today will Daddy eat the fish Little Bai grills?"
Zhao Chen was startled again; how could this daughter of his even know how to grill fish?
As she spoke, Zhao Baier pressed a few times on her handheld terminal.
Then a drone robot was seen flying out of the villa on the hilltop in the distance; this drone robot landed steadily before Zhao Chen and Zhao Baier, then unfolded itself automatically.
Only then did Zhao Chen see that this drone robot was in fact a storage robot, and inside it, plain as day, was a barbecue set.
From the grill to every kind of barbecue tool, it had everything.
"These were all given to me by Big Sister Annie. Big Sister Annie said that if you want to cook delicious food, you have to have the best cooking tools. Only that way do you get the most delicious food." Zhao Baier put her hands on her hips and said it earnestly.
Zhao Chen nodded with a smile, then muttered the name Annie again in his heart.
Good, good, good.
Annie, you again.
By now Zhao Baier had already begun grilling with practiced skill; the fish blown up before were quickly cleaned by Zhao Baier, then laid on the grill.
The practiced way she went about it: one could have said she was an old master with ten years' skill, and it would not have been too much.
But who could believe that this was only a little girl of three-odd?
Watching the scene, even Zhao Chen could not help finding it comical.
Most likely that fellow Annie taught her this too!
And this barbecue set had plainly been made especially for Zhao Baier, for its height could be set however one liked, which made it handy for Zhao Baier, a child of only three-odd.
Zhao Chen muttered the name Annie in his heart once more.
Most likely this was the time Zhao Chen had "thought of" Annie most often in a while.
Time passed bit by bit.
Gradually the smell of grilled fish began to spread over the beach.
Plainly the two children Zhao Hu and Zhao Liler felt their mouths water; two pairs of big, limpid eyes fixed on what their big sister Zhao Baier was doing.
Very soon the first skewer of grilled fish was done.
But Zhao Baier held this grilled fish out to Zhao Chen, looked at her little brother and sister beside her, and said earnestly, "Daddy always works very hard. Of course the first skewer has to go to Daddy first. Your big sister will grill some for you now, all right?"
One could see the wish to eat in Zhao Hu's and Zhao Liler's eyes.
But they still nodded very sweetly and let this first skewer go to Daddy first.
Zhao Chen looked at these sensible children of his, then looked again at the grilled fish in his hand.
"Daddy, this first skewer is for you. You mustn't give it to my little brother and sister; theirs will be ready very soon!" Zhao Baier said, perhaps seeing through what her father was thinking.
Seeing this, Zhao Chen could hardly say any more, and could only begin enjoying the food his eldest daughter had made for him with her own hands.
To tell the truth, with the first bite
Zhao Chen tasted nothing in particular, but Zhao Chen held this to be the most delicious food he had ever eaten in his life, bar none!
For no other reason than that his daughter had made it for him!
Very soon two moons rose slowly, and the stars filled the sky.
A bonfire appeared on the beach too.
The two children Zhao Hu and Zhao Liler, rubbing their round little bellies, sprawled on the ground fast asleep.
Plainly these two children ate more than other children their age, and slept more too.
Zhao Chen had learned from the doctors early on that these children of his were not quite like other children.
Perhaps because he had been gene-modified, his offspring too had inherited a little of it.
So in body and in intelligence alike they were far above ordinary children.
But though they had known this early on, neither Zhao Chen nor Charlotte and Lilith had any thought of bringing these children on too early.
In their ideas about bringing up children, Zhao Chen and they were very alike:
at the age for play, children ought to enjoy their childhood properly.
What had they built this interstellar empire for?
Was it not in the hope that their children could live in a world where they were free and at ease?
That being so, why make their own children grow up too early, and meet too early things that children their age ought not to meet?
Zhao Chen looked at Zhao Baier, who was sound asleep on the other side as well, her face still glowing with happiness; one could see she was very happy.
Today she had shown her father her ability and her work.
And she had let her father eat food she had made with her own hands; for her, that was a very happy thing.
She had eaten a great deal of grilled fish tonight too.
Beside her lay a fish skeleton a full man's height.
Zhao Chen stood up, opened the camera function on his handheld terminal, and began recording one by one the children's sleeping faces as they were now.
And when he came to photograph his eldest daughter Zhao Baier, he looked at the fish skeleton in the picture beside his eldest daughter, as big as his eldest daughter herself,
and however he looked at the picture, he found it comical.
Zhao Chen could not keep from laughing.
But at the thought of the picture by day, of this three-year-old daughter of his blowing up fish with a rocket launcher on her shoulder, a few black lines appeared on this old father's face again.
Annie…
Thinking of the culprit behind all this, Zhao Chen could not help feeling he ought to have a good talk with the fellow.
If she went on getting near his eldest daughter like this, the devil only knew what dangerous things his eldest daughter Zhao Baier would come up with in future.
If she dared blow up fish with a rocket launcher today, would she dare go and pilot a combat mecha tomorrow?
A child of three-odd at the controls of a combat mecha: the picture was really too lovely.
Zhao Chen did not dare even imagine it.
…
A night passed.
Zhao Chen stayed in his office dealing with the day's matters; though this was his leave, he still had to set aside a little time every day for the Empire's affairs.
After all, with the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire grown as it was now, there were too many things to deal with every day.
For Zhao Chen to be a hands-off boss was no simple matter either.
And while Zhao Chen was dealing with things, he saw a shuttle slowly landing outside the hilltop residence.
At the sight of this shuttle, the corners of Zhao Chen's mouth could not help showing a smile.
…
On the landing pad in the courtyard, the shuttle came down skillfully and precisely.
The shuttle's hatch opened, and a figure came bouncing out of it, carrying on her back a pack fully twice her own size.
One truly could not tell how so small a body could carry so big a pack.
She looked around, stretched, then dropped the pack from her back.
This huge pack actually only settled slowly to the ground, without the heavy thud one would have imagined; it seemed this pack hid some kind of black technology.
Then she shouted toward the hilltop residence, "Little Bai, Little Hu, Liler: your teacher's here!"
At her call,
three little children at once came out of the hilltop residence.
Plainly these three little children were very glad she had come.
"Big Sister Annie!"
"Big Sister Annie, did you bring us presents?"
"Big Sister Annie, I missed you to death."
Two of the three little children hung straight onto Annie, turning into two pendants.
Zhao Baier, as the eldest sister, was rather more reserved, only standing before Annie and holding Annie's hand.
But one could see that Zhao Baier was very glad of Annie's coming too.
All three children liked Annie very much.
"All right, all right, stop hanging on me, all of you. If you keep hanging on me, how am I supposed to get your presents out?" Annie said, looking at the three children.
Hearing this, the two children jumped down off Annie at once, and Zhao Baier let go of her hand too.
Then Annie opened the big pack she had carried and began rummaging through it.
"This is a mecha bracelet, for you, Little Hu. Didn't you say you like combat mecha and such, but your big sister won't let you play with them? This mecha bracelet is very well hidden and uses the most advanced technology. In ordinary times, when you're not using it, it's just an ordinary bracelet. When you want to use it, you only have to switch it on, and it'll cover the surface of your body with a layer of mecha. But because it's the portable kind, it's a light infantry mecha. Its fighting power can't compare with those interstellar combat mecha, naturally. But it has a rocket launcher, and the power of what it fires is no less than one shot of a T2-grade interstellar warship's main gun! And the defense of this armor is such that ordinary firepower can't threaten it in the slightest. When you've switched it fully on and are wearing it, even if you stand in front of a T2-grade interstellar warship's main gun, you won't be hurt! And it can fly at low altitude too, at up to Mach 3. That's nothing compared with interstellar warships or shuttles. But as an infantry weapon, it's quite good already. Most of all, it's very easy to operate."