Prehensile Digits

Female dragons have come to earth to find a safe place to lay their eggs, protected from predation by males of their own kind. They need humans to care for the eggs, keep the hatchlings from killing each other, and protect them from rival males. Unfortunately, before the dragons can leave their young in the humans’ care, humans must stop killing each other. In surprise lighting-swift raids, fifty fire-breathing female dragons invisible to radar quickly disable all the world’s air forces and navies, destroying any weapon that can threaten them.Air shows featuring dragons and specially designed aerobatic aircraft become part of dragons’ propaganda, surveillance, and attitude-management techniques to keep humans obedient. The dragons halt the international wars, but civil strife and random bloodshed continue in the power vacuum the dragons created. Mass shootings, insurrections, and criminal enterprises thrive despite the dragons’ best efforts to control them. No population likes to be conquered, and even subjugated people fight among themselves.Angry at having been abandoned, the male dragons arrive and attack human cities to demonstrate their worthiness to mate with the females hiding from them. Since the female dragons have left the human population without air defenses, the unarmed aerobatic teams rally to defend the cities and drive the male dragons to the females so they can mate.After mating, the males are forced back to where they came from, a feat that would have been impossible without human interference. The female dragons leave the eggs with a team of young adults, many of whom are jet pilots, to care for the eggs until they hatch and keep the hatchlings from killing each other. These teams of young adults have been carefully matched to form pairs. Romance follows as expected. The teams accomplish their primary mission and travel to the dragons’ home planet to address a threat that imperils not only the dragons but all life on their planet.The young adults rely on their creativity to solve the current threats while laying the groundwork for a sustainable future free of violence and random bloodshed.