The Right Scales: An Informal History of Draconic Spaceflight

Humanity's fifth interstellar voyage is not going to plan. Communications Engineer George West exits deep sleep to find himself crash landed on an alien world under an alien sun – crew-mates whereabouts unknown – and he's not even part of the ground operations crew! Emergency supplies dwindle and the same mystery disaster befalls humanity's attempt at a rescue; George, with his limited survival skills, takes little solace in the knowledge that help is only 27.6 light years away... or is it? The planet's local inhabitants are a curious bunch and they have high altitude ambitions of their own. They are eager to help and learn from the Star Man – George is living proof that spaceflight is possible. Whether the dragons reach the stars or blow themselves up in rocket propellant explosions, one thing is certain: it is going to take someone with 'the right scales' to escape their gravity well.  Is George really helping this hopeful species by aiding their development of 'dual use' technologies? Technologies they may not be mature enough to wield should they realize rocketry's other applications? As the draconic space program progresses it becomes clear that there are bigger mysteries afoot than the origin of George's misfortune, that the disaster may not have been a freak accident accident after all – whatever destroyed the Star Man's vessel, may very well harm the dragons too.