As they neared the spot where the garden would be, Syp saw huge tracks that crisscrossed the ground. Someone had dug a big hole.

“A hole? Why would someone dig a hole in the snow and mud?" Syp began to blink. It fought the urge to cry. “I’m so sorry, Eiske. This is all my fault. If I leave, all these things will stop happening.”

“Let’s unpack the hovercraft, Syp.”

Silently, they put the equipment away. Syp laid the sleeping bags over the chairs in the house to air out. After disinfecting their hands, they worked together to pack the fish in freezer paper and label it.

At Eiske’s direction, Syp put a package of fish into the refrigerator. Eiske filled two buckets with soapy water, and they scrubbed the hovercraft from top to bottom, to get rid of the fishy smell. When they were finished, Eiske sat in the sitting room with his head in his hands. “Why are they so angry with Syp? What will it take before they stop? I can’t let it go off on its own.”

“I need to check on the chicks.” He carefully opened the door so he wouldn’t scare them. As he looked into the shed, he caught his breath. “Oh, no!”

Syp came outside as the expletives rolled out of Eiske’s mouth. It ran across the yard. “What is it, Eiske?”

“Don’t look!” he said as he pulled the door shut. “Don’t look! Don’t touch anything!”

“Okay, I’ll go inside to read.”

“No! Don’t go inside.! I have to think! I don’t know what to do!” He began to walk in a circle talking to himself. “This is supposed to be a sanctuary. What if one of us had been here? Would it have stopped with this? Digging a hole is one thing. Killing animals is another. Putting threats on the wall is something else. Having someone pay someone to kill us is another. Where will it stop? What is the reason? Syp, we’re going to go inside. We’re going to walk through the house without touching anything. I want you to notice whether anything is missing or has been moved. Do you understand? Don’t touch anything.”

“Yes, Eiske.” Syp nervously followed him inside, and they looked around the sitting room. Eiske’s computer was missing from the table. He didn’t bother with the kitchen since they had been working in it earlier. They stood in the doorway of Eiske’s sleeping room. It seemed as if everything was there. Syp pushed the door to its room open with the toe of its boot. In big letters on the wall, someone had written, “Leave Iragos or you will die!” The computer screen was shattered, and the equipment was smashed and mangled.

Carefully the pair went into the medical rooms. The treatment table had huge gashes in the leather. Equipment lay on the floor, smashed into pieces. Somone had broken the glass of the storage cabinet, and all the clean bandages lay on the floor, contaminated by boot prints.

“Let’s go outside,” Eiske said quietly. He touched his communication button. “I need to file a report and initiate an investigation.” He and Syp stood waiting as Solrio transported down. She suggested they go in the house.

“What’s going on, Doctor?” He tried to speak. “Syp?”

“Someone’s trashed the place and killed his animals,” Syp finally answered. “We went fishing and someone tried to kill us. Please tell us what we need to do to end this.”

“I’ve already read the report about the attempted murder. Let’s walk around here, and you can show me the damage that’s been done. Let’s start out here.”

Eiske pointed. “Someone dug a hole in the yard. Syp had just put dormant plants in the ground.” They went to the chicken shed. Solrio took pictures of the dead chicks and the graffiti on the wall above the busted nesting boxes. When they went returned to the house, Eiske told Solrio that the only thing that was missing was his computer. Solrio walked into Syp’s bedroom and calmly took pictures of the graffitti on the wall, the destroyed bed and computer, and the clothing that seemed to have been rifled through. She studied the damage in the medical rooms.

Solrio asked more questions and called an investigative team down. It was nearly three hours before they finished. One of the attic windows was found shattered from the outside. “I’d like you to transport to the Protectors’ Enclave and stay there tonight.”

“What if whoever did it comes back?” Syp asked, worriedly. “Maybe I should just leave. Eiske shouldn’t have to go through this. It’s all my fault!”

“No, Syp,” Eiske said firmly. “You’re not going anywhere without me. Before we go to the enclave, I’d like to take this fresh fish to my parents. They were supposed to check on the chicks while we were gone.”

“I’m going to accompany you,” Solrio stated firmly.

“I’d also like to eat dinner in Pencadick Rill. I’m tired of fish and I don’t want to cook. And I’m sorry, Solrio, but I don’t think I can stomach the food provided at the enclave tonight.”

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“Are you sure?” Solrio asked.

“Yes. Please be our guest at dinner.” Solrio agreed to accompany them. It wasn’t long before Eiske, Solrio, and Syp were at his parents’ house. “Solrio, this is my mother, Oenke, and my father, Jert Bonnema. This our friend, Solrio Nansen. I thought we should bring over some fish from our catch this weekend. We didn't do so well. Here's a package for you.”

Jert smiled, “We love fresh fish. Thank you.”

“Thanks for checking on the chicks, Dad.”

“I did. That was about seven o’clock this morning. They’re awfully cute.” He paused. “We heard there have been some problems at your place.”

Eiske was surprised. “Oh?”

“We heard that someone broke into the house and that there's a big hole in the farmyard."

“Who told you that?” Eiske asked curiously.

“Tysske Jelsma.”

“Mom talked to her at school,” he guessed.

“No, Eiske. It’s Saandag. We saw her at Limke’s," Oenke responded.

“Really? Did you have lunch with her?”

“No. We had coffee and apple cake this morning around 9:30.”

“We’re headed there for our evening meal. We thought our friend would like some of the local dishes.”

“It’s the best food around. Thanks for the fish! Do I get a hug from you, Syp?”

“Of course, you do! I’ll see you another time, Grandma!” Syp hugged its grandparents tightly.

On the way to Pencadick Rill, Solrio said to Eiske, “You went there fishing for information! Are you satisfied?”

“I did not! I just wondered if he’d been there early like he said he would. I couldn’t imagine him not keeping his word. Who did this?”

“Well, Haerm Bron has been detained an extra day. And Geldou won’t be released until she’s gone before a judge.”

“Let’s go have dinner,” Eiske exhaled. “I really don’t want to talk about this right now.”

After the waiter had taken their order, a collective sigh went around the table. “We didn't catch much fish today, Solrio. But it was still fun. Some day, we'll go back and catch some turtles."

“Are you going to keep them as pets?” Solrio asked.

“Oh, no. We’re going to make turtle soup.”

“That sounds interesting. Have you had it before?”

“I haven’t, but I think Eiske has.”

“I have. It has a very unusual flavor; very good if it’s cooked right. Eaglestje Bron made the best turtle soup that I ever tasted.”

“That’s Haerm’s mom, right?”

“Yes.”

“Where did you meet your wife, Eiske?”

“In Kop. We were both in medical programs there. She was there for a medical degree, but more focused on wholistic medicine. I was interested in thoracic surgery and working with adolescents.”

“Did your sister go to the university there too?”

“Only for a few months. She got married after her first and only semester.”

“So, she’s younger than you.”

“Two years.”

Syp asked puzzled. “But she’s always told us kids that she was older than you. She’s older, therefore, smarter.”

Eiske laughed at this. “Just because one person is older than another, doesn’t make them smarter!”

“Mom always told us that the older kids were smarter than us younger kids.”

“Do you think that’s true, Syp?” Solrio asked.

“In a way. They’ve had more school. But they don’t understand things the same way I do.” Solrio waited for an explanation. “I think things in this world are connected in ways that people can’t see. Something is happening on our planet, and if we don’t figure out what it is, a whole bunch of people are going to die.”

“What makes you think that?”

“The people around me that I hear are saying things that don’t make sense. I’m supposed to figure this out and find this person.”

“Who is it?”

“Lu Kan Moti. They keep saying that I need to find Lu Kan Moti.”

“Who’s that?”

“It’s someone on Shifos.”

“Tell us more, Syp.”

“There’s a group of people on Shifos. They live in the area that’s not been mapped.” Syp began to shake.

“What’s wrong?”

“I wasn’t supposed to say anything yet.” Syp put its hand over its eyes. “Let’s go back to what you were saying about Geldou, Eiske. You said she was younger than you, but she’s always said she was older. She told me that she graduated from the university. Then she worked for a couple years. She said she was fifteen when Melle was born. He’s my oldest brother, Solrio.”

“No way!” Eiske exclaimed. “She married Haerm and they lived with our parents while that domed building was erected. They moved to their farm a few months before Melle was born,” Eiske explained. “She’s two years younger than me. I’m seventeen; that makes her fifteen now. Nine years ago she was six.”

“Are you saying that my mom didn’t graduate from the university?”

“The math tells the truth, Syp.”

Syp was stunned. “Why would she lie, Eiske?”

“You would have to ask her that, Syp. I have no idea.”

Syp put its fork down and tried to think. Nothing made sense anymore. Questions whirled around in its brain and it felt sick.

During the meal, Solrio asked Eiske questions about how they spent their time and what she should go see on her days off. Eiske told Solrio about the Daray Caves, the Jakesh Sands, and fishing in the ocean. She was originally from the continent of Shifos and had thought that this distant assignment would be different. She’d been told that the people on the Iragos Peninsula still had the same lifestyle of three hundred years ago and had believed there would be fewer conflicts here than in her previous stations.

Other patrons had been watching the three curiously. Who were the two people with the doctor? No one seemed to know. After the meal, Eiske stepped to the counter to pay the bill. “Your meal is free tonight,” Piter informed him.

“Really? Am I the thousandth customer or something? Thank you!”

“No. The celebration at your office carried over to here.”

“The celebration,” Eiske said slowly.

“Yes, Kryn Bron was really excited today. He said they’d helped you celebrate the fact that you’re moving.”

“Really? What time was that?

“The seven brothers were here around eight o’clock. Congratulations!”

“Thanks,” Eiske said, trying to keep a smile on his face. “I’ll see you another time.”

The three walked to the hovercar in shocked silence. “I’ll park my hovercraft, do the charm over the property, and we’ll go with you for tonight, Solrio.” He told Syp to pack a few things and went to get his own things. At the enclave, they sat in a small lounge near the guest quarters.

Solrio glanced at the messages on her electronic pad, then closed it. “Where should we start?”

“I don’t know. We all know that my father was on my property at 7:00 this morning, and everything was fine. Kryn told Piter that we were moving around 8:00. And my parents were in town around 9:30. That’s when Tysske Jelsma told my dad that the house had been broken into and the garden destroyed.”