Richard was a young man; only about eighteen years old. He, among many other humans, grew up in a facility designed to monitor their growth under the care of the dragons. And like the other humans, he had to attend a little school run to keep them educated. From what he understood, his grade level was the equivalent to a a freshman year in a college in the old earth.

He boarded a tram designed to transport humans across the facility; standard proceedue, really. But to be honest, he wouldn't have minded being carried in a pocket, or by dragon hand. As the tram brought him along a passageway by the ceiling of a hallway, Richard gazed down at the heads of dragons who walked underneath. It was surreal to be higher up than so many towering creatures. Still, it was less risky than travelling beneath their feet.

Dragons... they were so much bigger than humans, and far more powerful. But Richard didn't fear them; he was fascinated by them. He wanted to know everything he could about dragons... to be with them forever.

The tram came to a stop, and Richard and his fellow students stepped off. They walked along a station, and then into a doorway that connected to a bridge. The bridge led to an elongated desk that sat in the middle of a room with a single window. It would have been a small office to a dragon, but to the humans, it was a massive chamber. Richard sat down at his desk, as did the others, and they all sat quietly as the door opened. In strode a brown dragoness in a white lab coat.

The dragoness was thicker-built than some others; she had ram-like horns that curled around her ear frills. Thick black hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and she had a series of spines on her forehead, muzzle and lower jaw. She sat down and adjusted a stack of papers before looking down at the humans.

"Good morning, Class." She smiled.

"Good morning, Miss Catherine." The humans said.

Catherine wasn't just the teacher for the human class; she was one of the many scientists who worked in the biolabs. Richard always wondered what exactly that job entailed; the teacher never really went into details about it.

"Today's a big day." Catherine said as she adjusted her seat. "Today will mostly consist of an exam to determine if you little ones are ready to leave the facility and be adopted by dragons. Those of you who score the highest will be sent off to be adopted by those on the higher floors of Ultimus Tower."

"What about the lower scores?" Someone behind Richard asked.

"Well..." Catherine clicked her tongue. "I suppose you'll stay on the lower floors. Though I suppose we all know what happens to the one who scores the lowest..."

Richard shivered. He looked behind Catherine at the left side wall. There was a series of index cards arranged in a single line from the top of the white board to the bottom. The cards had pictures of each human in the classroom, along with general information about them. And down at the bottom was Richard's index card.

"Uh..." He raised a hand up. "H-How much does this test count toward the final grade for this class?"

"Hmm..." Catherine glasped her fingers together. "Let's just say you'd better do your best, Mr. Richard."

That wasn't good. Richard gulped nervously and adjusted his belongings while the other students kept quiet. Catherine reached over and pressed a button on her desk, which made a keyboard appear. She clicked some buttons, and a small hatch on the desk opened up, out of which came two miniature robots on wheels. The robots handed out little laptops, each coded to a specific human's DNA.

"Now, there will be precisely two hours for you to finish this exam." Catherine said. "When you're finished, close your laptop and return it to one of the robots, then wait quietly. Anyone caught cheating will automatically fail, and risk being eaten on the spot."

Richard gulped again as he took his laptop. At Catherine's gesture, he and all the other humans opened up their screens and got to work.

The exam was composed of just about everything he'd ever learned in the facility: Math, Science, History, Laws and Regulations... what a nightmare. Richard had tried his very best in all the days leading up to this, but that index card at the bottom was a clue that he'd still just barely gotten by. And now, if he failed this exam, he risked being eaten before he ever got to leave the facility and see what life in Ultimus Tower was like.

Eventually, ever single human had brought their laptops to the robots, who disappeared beneath the desk again. Once that was done, Catherine had the keyboard go back under as well, and she stood up to stretch out her back.

"Alrighty..." She said with her arms going over her head. "It will be some time before everyone's test scores come on. In the meantime, I have a special treat for the lot of you: a field trip."

Richard and the other humans chattered curiously among themselves. Catherine pressed another button, which had a secondary bridge extend from the desk on the other side and connect to another gateway by the dragon-sized door.

"Step on through, and you'll be taken to the deepest level of the facility." Catherine gestured toward the gateway. "It's time that you humans learn how you're born."

Richard's eyes widened. He stepped forward with a bit of trepidation. But some of the other humans were much more excited to go on this ride; maybe they were confident that they aced the exam. Not wanting to waste time, Richard joined his classmates on their way to the tram station.

~~...~~

Richard sat quietly on the tram as Catherine walked side by side with it. She gestured out through the glass, where various dragon scientists were hard at work. There was a number of massive machinery that Richard couldn't recognize; they certainly weren't brought up during any of his years of education.

"As some of you may already know, your human governments waged a deadly nuclear war against each other, bringing your species to near extinction." Catherine said. "When my kind arrived on earth, we set to work fixing what was destroyed. It's a long project; it'll likely keep going even after my grand-children become scientists. But we'll do what we can to fix things. And the project we started first was saving human kind... in a manner of speaking."

The tram continued on its way to another room. They could see countless glass tubes on the walls, which slowly rotated around. The room behind the glass seemed to have no floor and no ceiling; the tubes kept going on forever. Catherine had the tram come to a stop so she could point to various things in the room.

"The Colonists... us dragons," Catherine clarified, "gathered up as many remaining humans as we could. Many of them were horribly mutated by the radiation from the nuclear fallout. We tried to heal who we could, but for many of them the pain was too great."

"What did you do with them?" A student asked.

"Well, if we couldn't save that generation of humans... we could at least make their children immune to the radiation." Catherine pointed to the various glass tubes. "From the humans that volunteered, we harvested their DNA and encoded it into this machine. This was done from as many humans as we could find, in order to ensure a wide-enough gene pool to prevent future inbreeding."

"Uh... Should we be taking notes?" Richard asked.

"I know it's a lot, but I'm doing my best to simplify things..." Catherine had the tram move forward again to the next room. This room was shaped like a circle, and had a massive spherical machine dangling in the very center over a table. A series of strange numbers and symbols flashed on a screen, constantly changing every few seconds.

"This is the DNA Randomizer." The dragoness said. "It looks over all of the countless collections of chromosome pairs that make up a human genome, and creates sequences at random. This is to ensure that every human is as unique as possible."

"Were there enough samples from the original humans you harvested?" Another student asked.

"Some, but not quite for the entire planet. As such, we got hard at work encoding artificial strands to insert into the human genome." Catherine continued. "We also ensured the elimination of harmful birth defects, and even some compatibility features with our own species."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That will be explained some other time..." Catherine chuckled. "For now, let's watch as another human is created..."

A blue dragon walked into the room and pressed buttons on a keyboard. One by one, the digits on the screen came to a stop to create a specific number (not that Richard understood what it meant). After that, the computer made a chime noise as a blue light flashed. A bottle was picked up by a mechanical arm and inserted into the bottom of the spherical machine. A strange fluid was poured into the bottle, followed seemingly by... nothing? Richard stopped and watched as the bottle was carefully transferred onto a smaller machine on the desk. Richard scratched his head as the bottle of fluid was carried off elsewhere.

"Uh... was something supposed to happen?"

"It did happen." Catherine said. "The machine created a zygote; once the fusion of human sperm and egg cells. It's already hard to see with the naked eye, so naturally you wouldn't be able to see it from there, Richard."

"Okay, fair enough..." He shrugged. Catherine had the tram continue onward into the next room.

Here, the bottle from before was carefully inserted into a wall socket with a screen and buttons. Many more of these bottles and screens were present, and a few dragons monitored them. A timer appeared over the inserted bottle: it started at 24:00 and began counting down in real time. Meanwhile, strange machinery poked its way into the bottle and seemingly grasped at nothing.

"In the old earth, a human female needed nine months to carry a single human zygote to term as an infant." Catherine said. "But without technology, we're able to replicate the process and speed it up to a mere 24 hours. In fact, you're about to see one being born."

Richard and the others watched as a timer dropped to zero and played a musical jingle. Robotic hands emerged to remove the bottle, and they carefully tipped the contents out into a grate. One of the scientists approached and very delicately picked up a human baby from the grate. After a moment, little cries were heard, and the dragon sighed in relief as he gently carried it to the center of the room.

"Newborns are sent off to the Nursery." Catherine said. "That's where they're cared for as they grow older. I'm sure a few of you have some fond memories of living in the Nursery."

Richard could certainly attest to that: he used to play ball with the other kids while a dragon was on staff watching over them. It was a good life; plenty of food, exercise, good places to sleep. But what was waiting for him outside the doors of the facility?

"I do believe that brings our tour to a close." Catherine said. "If any of you have any questions, I'll send you back home: you'll learn the results of your exam scores tonight."

"Miss Catherine..." Richard stuck his hand in the air. "I've got a question."

"Go right ahead, Mr. Richard." Catherine nodded her head.

"Are humans still able to reproduce on their own?"

"Hmm..." Catherine scratched her chin. "I suppose they could, if given the right circumstances. But the human woman would need to be watched closely by her dragon owner, to ensure that there aren't any problems during the pregnancy. Why do you ask, Richard?"

"I was just curious, I guess..." Richard shrugged. "I've often wondered if there was anything that humans lost when dragons took on the responsibility of looking after us."

"Well it's wonderful to wonder these things." Catherine smiled. "I've always found humans fascinating: always wanting to learn what they can about the world."

Richard smiled at that. "Uh, that'll be all, Miss."

"Alright. Anyone else have any questions?" Catherine looked around at the rest of the class. When nobody raised their hand, she fluttered her wings. "Very well, I'll send you all home. Goodnight, class."

~~...~~

Richard didn't sleep a wink. Ever since he got his results back last night, his mind filled with dread. He just stared at his name at the very bottom of the screen. Once again, despite all of his efforts to succeed and do the dragons proud, Richard came in dead last. He just couldn't understand: he'd answered every question as correctly as he could! He was polite, studious, studied every night... and he still failed? How could he be so terrible at school?! And what would become of him because of this?

When the chimes started, all of the humans in the bunks got out of bed and went to wash off. Everyone got dressed, Richard included, and went to breakfast. The others gossiped happily about how well they did on those scores. So many of them were eager to be shipped out to various parts of Ultimus Tower to be adopted. But Richard sat alone, lightly eating his meal as he feared the worst.

Soon another chime sounded, and all of the humans made their way toward the tram station. From there, they were carried to a large office, where a group of dragons were waiting in attendance. Catherine was behind the new desk, and she extended a bridge for the humans to walk over.

"Good morning, Class." Catherine smiled. "I'd ask if you've packed your bags, but I know you don't have any. Today's the day you're assigned to new floors in Ultimus Tower."

Richard stayed quiet as his classmates chattered curiously. Everyone stood still, while Catherine picked up a clipboard.

"I'm going to list off names and tell you where to stand on the desk. One of these gentleman will pick you up to take you to a new tram station." Catherine said. She cleared her throat and began to read off. "Aaron, stand off on the left before the red dragon. Benjamin, stand before the yellow dragon..."

One by one, classmates were organized into three groups on the table. Everyone seemed so happy as the dragons smiled down at them. When Catherine got to the R's, Richard tensed up and waited.

"Rachel, stand before the blue dragon. Ronald, stand before the blue dragon..." Catherine continued.

Richard blinked. He was skipped? He turned around to ask Catherine a question, but she suddenly stuck a finger into the air. Something was definitely going on here... Richard nervously turned back around and continued waiting.

Soon, all of the classmates were organized into three groups. The red, blue, and yellow dragons picked up their respective groups and carefully carried them out of the office. That left Richard alone with Catherine. He took a few nervous breaths as the dragoness organized her supplies.

"Would you care to turn around, Richard?" Catherine asked. "We need to talk."

"Y-yes, Miss Catherine..." The human sheepishly spun around. He expected the dragoness to glare angrily at him for his failure, or to snap him up in her jaws right away. But instead, she took a few calm breaths and clasped her fingers together.

"Well, Mr. Richard, you just barely managed to pass..." She said. "But you still came in dead last in your class. I have to admit: I'm a bit disappointed in you."

"I..." Richard bent his head low. "I'm sorry. I did the best I could."

"Well, if it's any consolation, the end result is the same as if you were the top scorer."

"Ma'am?" he lifted his head curiously. "What do you mean?"

The dragoness extended a hand out to the human, palm up. Richard cautiously stepped aboard, and the dragoness lifted him up to her face.

"I've had my eye on you for a long time, Richard." Catherine said. "I love eager you are to ask questions about the world around you. I decided months ago that I'd like to go on teaching you things."

"You mean..." Richard blinked. "You're adopting me?"

"I hope I'm everything you wanted out of a dragon owner." The dragoness smiled softly.

Richard was stunned; he never suspected that his teacher would want to adopt him. But the longer is sunk in, the happier and more relieved he felt. The human hugged Catherine's thumb.

"I could definitely live with being your human pet." Richard said happily.

"Hmm, I think I'd rather you be a little more than just a pet..." Catherine said. She stood up from her desk and opened the front of her lab coat.

"Miss Catherine, what are you-?"

The dragoness carefully inserted the human inside her cleavage. She chortled as he struggled to right himself. Soon, he popped his head out from between her breasts, his face as red as a tomato.

"You don't have to call me 'Miss' anymore." Catherine said down to him. "Just Catherine is fine, Richard."

"Uh... okay." The human rested his head against one of Catherine's breasts. "So, am I going to hang out in here from now on?"

"You'll be there for a little while..." Catherine adjusted her lab coat again and strode forward. "There's a lot that I have to introduce to you, and there's not much time before I'm assigned a new class of humans."

"What did you have in mind?"

"Hmm..." A grin spread across Catherine's face. "Let's get you home, and I'll teach you a thing or two about our species'... compatibility."

~~...~~

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