Chapter One — Going Down

The large lift whirred into action the moment he pressed the button. It began to sink and there was a gurgling as water began to rise on the outside of the glass windows. The water swiftly completely covered the lift and the only thing that could still be seen from the surface was the sun sparkling through the water.

A crisp automated voice said, “Thank you for visiting the Poseidon Resort. To help protect the sea life this lift is moving at limited speed. You will arrive at the resort in one hour.”

The lone passenger on the lift look up at the speaker for a moment before returning to looking out of the giant glass windows that made up the majority of the lift.

Occasionally small fish swim past the window but those were gone almost as soon as they appeared as the lift continued to sink into the deep ocean. The twinkling light from the sun began to fade slowly as it went deeper and deeper until eventually it was completely gone.

After that the outside of the lift was pure black with the only light coming from the ceiling of the lift. The man was sitting on one of the benches in the lift still staring out into the dark abyss of water. He was young looking but still definitely an adult. He had black hair which went down almost to his shoulders and was messy like dealing with his hair was too much of a pain so he just left it.

Some might call him good looking but note that his noes was probably a bit small looking and that he would probably look better if he was smiling. Instead he was just staring out into the darkness with a blank look on his face.

Beside his was a small piece of luggage. Barely big enough to hold more than a couple changes of clothing. It looked more like something you would bring on a daytrip or maybe a small weekend getaway however inside was all of the man’s worldly possessions.

On his wrist was an old fashioned mechanical watch, a novelty of ages gone by. The only sound in the lift was the almost imperceptible ticking of the watch.

The seconds turned into minutes as the lift continued deeper and deeper into the water.

Finally something other than darkness began to show. A large structure. A pillar of stone and metal covered with glowing panels. Like an obelisk the top had just appeared and it continued to stretch off deeper and deeper into the water.

The pillar was covered various different kinds of underwater flora which clung to the uneven shape. The juts of the pillar seemed designed to intentionally provide that kind of purchase of the different plants. Small Fish could be seen swimming about them.

Beyond in the water could be seen another spot of light, another one of the pillar.

The voice spoke once again over the intercom. “The giant pillars were constructed at Poseidon Resort several centuries ago when the resort was constructed. They provide a light anti-gravity field over the resort lowering the pressure of the water and allowing an abundance of plant and animal life to flourish. Because of the natural pressure barrier created by this field the ecosystem here is isolated and completely unique. Please enjoy your time here at the Poseidon Resort.”

The man had stood up and took several step forward bringing him to the edge of the glass.

The floor of the ocean has finally began become visible. Cliffs and crevices covered in plant life. Vibrantly colored coral and many strange and unusual fish. Several more of the giant pillars could be seen, spread across the deep ocean providing illumination to everything.

Even in the murky water a person could see quite far into the water.

The man looked down and could see the shape of the Poseidon Resort belong him. The structure was made out of the same stone and metal construction as the pillars except windows could be seen dotted here and there on the structure.

Given the size of the structure there could easily be a few hundred rooms, even assuming you left plenty of room for resort amenities.

As the lift began to make its final decent into the resort. An fish easily larger than the man swam up to the glass. It snapped up one of the smaller fish which was passing in front of the window. The larger fish had opened its mouth up into four separate parts each with a set of sharp teeth.

The man took several steps backward however he was safely protected within the lift. The larger fish, content with its meal, turned and swam away from the glass leaving the man to himself.

He stood there with a look of awe before the top of the resort opened up and the lift slide down into a hole that had opened up for it. A few moments later the lift jostled a bit and then settled. The door opened up and the voice came again from the speaker.

“Welcome to the Poseidon Resort. Please enjoy our amenities however you wish. There is one other guest. Please remember to treat other guests kindly. Your room number is suite 35. If you have any other questions direct them to customer support. Thank you for visiting us.” Then the automated voice went silent.

The man picked up his small piece of luggage and left the lift, stepping out into the large entrance room of Poseidon Resort. This room had one large wall with a glass window out into the ocean. In the certain was many tables of various sizes surrounded with comfrey chairs. Several beautiful chandeliers hung from the ceiling basking the entire room with bright light.

On one side of the room was a bar filling with many different looking bottles. It was open so that any guest could step in and get whatever they desired. Poseidon Resort was completely automated so there was no person behind the bar.

However the man didn’t seem to be interested in any of that. He turned and passed the second lift and began walking toward one of the exits of the entrance hall. There was a sign against one of the walls that said “Rooms” and pointed in the direction that he was walking.

It didn’t take him long to find the interior lift which he was able to take up the the third floor. There only looked to be six rooms on each floor so it was a simple matter to find the one that belonged to him. The room automatically unlocked when he turned the handle and stepped inside.

He was greeted by a spacious four room suite. A living large living room, a separate bed room, a bathroom and a small walk in closet. Certainly more room than he needed with his single small luggage.

The man didn’t even bother using the closet and just set his luggage next to the bed. With that out of the way he walked over to the small pamphlet stand on the table in the living room. He flipped through it reading a few different pages about that different amenities that the resort had before setting the pamphlet back on the stand and leaving his room.

He wound he way through the halls of the resort until he finally to the restaurant. “Diver’s Delight” was what is said on the outside. Inside there was a bunch of tables of various sizes each of with separated from the others by junglish undergrowth.

Each table was almost completely isolated from the others and above everything was a giant glass ceiling whether the open ocean was visible. The entire place was impeccably designed.

The man took a seat at one of the smaller tables and picked up the menu which was tucked away on one side. Most of the items were various fish dishes with a label that said “locally source” and “unique to Poseidon Resort”.

He took several minutes trying to make a decisions before finally deciding. He pressed down on one of the items on the menu. A light lit up next to the item. Once that had happened he folded the menu back up again and set it back where he had found it.

The man stared up at the ceiling watching the fish swim around. On the other side of the glass it was a giant hole in the rock with the restaurant on the bottom. On all the sides leading up were little indents in the rocks where the fish could live.

Around ten minutes after he had made the order there was a whirring sound and a wood carved back rolled across the floor toward his table. On the top was a grilled fish with a side of several different vegetables and some kind of sparkling drink.

The machine carrying the meal rolled up next to the table. Then the top raised up a little and the meal was slide onto the table next to the man. With that done the robot drove off back to the kitchen. The man slide the plate a little bit closer to himself before reaching out for a fork.

After his first bite his face, so long left in the dull emotionless form, lit up with the first actual smile he had made since entering the resort. While it quickly disappeared the man began to slightly hum to himself while he continued with his meal.

He was a quick easter making short work of everything that was on the plate. Just as he was about completely done the robot came rolling back with a small bowl with some sherbet and a couple of pieces of fruit on it. The robot once again raised the tray and slide the bowl onto the table before rolling off again.

The man watched the robot roll away before finishing the fish meal. He pushed the plate away before moving to enjoy the sherbet. It was a small portion but just enjoy to savor and enjoy. After finishing it he looked at the desert menu again for a few moments before putting it away and standing up.

He left the restaurant and began walking through the resort section of the building. There was a large swimming section with glass walls separating the pools from the open ocean. However beyond that was a sign pointing toward “Deep Sea Diving”. He continuing walking and the hallway turned around a corner before leading into a large room. On the far center side was a large portal which read “Deep Sea Diving” and around it was setup a bunch of diving equipment of various shapes and sizes.

There were also a bunch of changing rooms each with their own locker for storing what you wouldn’t be able to take with you out into the open see.

The man had moved over to a small stand near the diving suit. It held even more pamphlets. He has pick up one listing safety instructions. One of the sections mentioned that the diving suits were fitted with sonic emitters which would ward off any large predators which would approach you and that for the animal’s safety you could avoid getting to close to them.

He was just setting the pamphlet back on the stand when the large portal in the center of the room began to open up. It was an air-locker which separated the resort from the open ocean. While reading the pamphlet he hadn’t noticed that the air-locked had begun to drain.

As the portal opened a woman stepped out of it. Not just any woman, this one was covered from head to toe to light silver scales. She wasn’t wearing a full diving suit, more a swimming suit than anything else. She was wringing out her perfectly emerald green hair with her one free hand. Her other hand held a closed basket of some kind.

When she opened her mouth to speak she revealed a mouthful of pointed teeth. “It is rude to stare you know.” There was a raspy edge to her voice like her teeth didn’t quite agree with with the language she was speaking.

The man coughed and turned his head. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to. I just didn’t expect to see you down here.”

The woman had set down her basket and had grabbed a towel from one of the conveniently placed racks. “You must be the new guest that I heard had arrived. Are you planning on staying here long?” She asked.

“Ah, yes,” said the man as he rubbed his hand on his pants before holding it out for her to shake, “My name is Clemens. I plan on staying here for the indeterminate future.”

“Un huh…” said the woman who didn’t show any indication of returning the hand shake, “If you are going to stay here a while I guess it wouldn’t hurt to also give you my name. I’m Sarita. I’m living here permanently so expect to see me around for the entirety of your visit. You probably won’t see me too much though, I spend most of my time outside.”

Clemens tilted his head before saying, “Do you not need a diving suit to go into the ocean?”

Sarita had finished removing the most significant portion of the water from her hair so she had dropped the towel into a basket for used towels. She then turned to stare at Clemens, “That is right” although she didn’t provide any additional explanation.

She picked back up her basket turned and began to walk toward the section of the resort that had the rooms, “Now if you will excuse me, I plan on returning to my room for a meal.”

Sarita had about left the room before Clemens called out, “Sorry, but before you go could you point me to someplace. There is supposed to be a sensory deprivation chamber somewhere nearby here? Could you point me in the correct direction?”

She paused and looked back at him, “The sensory deprivation chamber huh? Can’t say that I have ever used the thing but I believe it is down two levels from here.”

“Thanks” said Clemens in reply but she had already turned back around and left.

The room seemed unusually silent now that he was alone again. He looked down at the hand that she had refused to shake. There were a few moment of contemplation before he turned and walked down another one of the passageways.

He wouldn’t have really needed the directions, the Poseidon Resort was pretty clearly labeled and once he had taken the lift down the B2 floor there were more signs to direct him to where he wanted to go.

The facility was mostly white and sterile looking with small individual rooms. Clemens took one of the rooms and following the instructions printed nearby put his watch and his clothing in the locker near the pod.

The long ovular pod was the sensory deprivation chamber in question. He opened it up and slipped the small rebreather mask over his mouth and nose. After laying down at the bottom of the pod he slowly lowered the top down until it clicked shut leaving him in total blackness.

With no sound at all the chamber began to fill with almost perfectly room temperature water. In mere moments the entire chamber was filled and he was left almost completely without sensory input, alone with only his thoughts.

Chapter Two — Family Bonds

It has been nearly three weeks since Clemens first arrived at the Poseidon Resort. Since his one time in the sensory deprivation chamber he hadn’t returned there. The next day he had instead search the resort for some writing tools and then secluded himself in his room where he sketched lines on paper for hours.

Since then the drawing has just laid there on his deck. It depicted the woman Sarita as she exited the portal to the open ocean.

With that complete he then proceed the avoid her and the Deep Sea Diving section of the resort. Instead spending him time on some of the upper floors which contained an observation deck and a large library. A couple of times he had seen her swimming through the ocean from the view in the observation deck. Each time he stopped and watched until she disappeared from view.

Their closest actual interaction was passing each other in ones of the hallways near the rooms. She didn’t speak as the passed and while he opened his mouth nothing came out of it.

They existed in that kind of awkward silence for a couple of weeks.

What finally broke that was the speaker system announcing, “Two new guests are arriving at Poseidon Resort. Please remember to treat other guests kindly and continue to enjoy your stay with us.”

Clemens had been staring aimlessly out of the window on the observation deck when he heard that. He checked his watch and confirm the time before heading down to the main lobby to meet with the new guests. He arrived just before the lift finished arriving and the door to it slid open.

Out of the lift came two people. One older looking man with a white short sleeved button up shirt and the other a short girl wearing a poke-dotted sun dress.

The girl dashed out of the elevator and began spinning around looking at everything. She called back to the older man saying, “Daddy look, isn’t this place amazing!”

The older man stroked his short beard and said, “Yes, yes, quite amazing. However don’t run off alone just yet. You would want to leave your old papa with all these bags by himself would you?”

The daughter stopped and turned back to the man. She nodded understandingly, “Right, of course, one thing at a time.”

The father pulled three couple of large bags out of the lift and into the main room. The daughter was still staring around the room while slowly walking back to him. Once she arrived back he reached out an ruffled her shoulder length hair.

“Stop” she complained, although it was only half hearted, “You are messing up my hair.”

The father only smiled however. But he stopped as he looked across the room and saw Clemens.

“Oh ho, look, another guest has come to greet us. Please, no need to be polite, some over and say hello to you.”

Clemens broke free him his pose and walked closer to the two of them, “Sorry, I didn’t want to disturb you. It was just a picture perfect scene so it felt wrong to intrude.”

“Don’t worry about interrupting us. Esme here will get bored if the only one she has to interact with is me.”

“It’s Esmeralda.” Said the daughter correcting her father who was just quietly laughing.

“I’m afraid I won’t be much good company.” Said Clemens.

Esme puffed up her chest and said, “Do not worry about me, I am here to keep my poor overworked father company while until he finishes.”

“Finishes?”

The father nodded, “Oh, yes, I’m writing a book. Nothing too fancy but everything was so loud and noisy back home that I decided I wanted to get away for a while. I wanted somewhere quiet so finish the book and heard on the grape vine that the Poseidon Resort was basically nearly abandoned so I though it would be a good place to get away.”

Clemens nodded, “Yeah, I understand. That is basically why I am here too. The two of you just doubled the population so you should be able to find the quiet you need. And Sarita spends most of her time out in the water anyway so you probably won’t see much of her either.”

“Ah, yes, the announcer voice did say there were two other guest. Are you with her?”

Clemens shook his head, “No, she was here when I arrived. Apparently she had made this place her permanent residence.”

“That sounds lonely,” Said Esme with a worried look on her face, “I would probably go crazy if I had to live in a place like this alone.” Then her face brightened, “But I have father here so I’m sure everything will be fine.”

The father said, “You honor me but I’m not that great.” He turned back to Clemens and said, “My name is Hubert by the way.”

“And I am Clemens, sorry for not introducing myself sooner.”

“That isn’t a probably. Now we need to get these bags away so I can let Esme do whatever she wants. Although you will have to forgive me if I am sparse for a while. I need to make sure I get the book finished before I actually get to enjoy the vacation.”

Hubert took two of the bags while Esmeralda took the smaller one and they began the short trip to the rooms section of the resort.

Clemens watched the leave, they had not been the kind of people he had expected to show up. While it was a good quiet place to do some writing it wasn’t really a good place to bring a child. Poseidon Resort was basically in the middle of nowhere, a lost relic of a long gone age.

—-

The next day Clemens found Esmeralda sitting in the library with a giant book which looked even more enormous next to the little girl. He hesitated for a moment wondering if he should disturb her not not.

However she was the one who first spoke, “You can come over. I’m not afraid of you or anything. I consider myself a pretty good judge of character anyways.” She sounded more sophisticated than she had yesterday, not like a child at all.

“I see.” Said Clemens a bit uncertain as he took several steps closer to her and eventually took a seat in a chair a couple down from her.

She lowers the book to get a clearer look at him before saying, “I caught a glimpse of her this morning, the other guest. She didn’t say anything though. I can’t really blame her however. It is tough being a designer child.”

Her knowledgable tone made Clemens put the puzzle pieces together in his head, “Then you are one too? Then your father…” He trailed off.

“Hubert isn’t responsible. He is my adopted father.”

“Oh”

Esme continued to look at Clemens a bit quizzically. “It can be difficult to act like a child sometimes but Hubert keeps me grounded. It was really quite fortuitous that I met him.”

There was a long pause with Clemens not really certain how to respond.

Esme was the one to speak again, “So why are you here?”

Clemens continued to be silent for a long time before finally saying, “I’m not really certain myself. I just wasn’t satisfied with what I was doing with my self and wanted to try something different.”

“So you went to an abandoned underwater resort on a planet in the middle of no-where? Quite the extreme reaction to a mid-life crisis.” Said Esme flatly.

Clemens shrugged, “I’m not certain what it was really. That caused me to come here. I think I just wanted to be alone for a while.”

“Any now?” Asked Esme.

“I guess I’m still trying to find myself.”

“Definitely a mid-life crisis.” She said with some finality before turning back to her book. “If you want help with it I recommend speaking more to Hubert than me, I’m a bit callous about this kind of thing. He has a better way with words than me, something about being a writer.”

Esmeralda had returned to her book and Clemens was deep in though and just sat there thinking as she read. Some time later she set down her book and said, “I need to get back to Hubert. I’m sure we will see each other around.”

—

Sarita was returning from the deep sea. She had been deep in some of the farthest caves still within the gravitational field. Somebody, probably decades ago, had setup a small rest house all the way near the edge of the field.

There wasn’t much in regards to amenities but it did provide a small safe haven from the deep waters and allow for some rest. Sarita had renovated the place and it was full of books and tools. Sometime she would spend days at a time out there away from even those that could show up at the resort.

With just one other guest she had been content to stay in the resort like she normally did. But with the arrival of two more she had packed a couple of waterproof bags and left to the gettaway.

The new little girl guest had watched her leave and Sarita was also happy to be gone. She had hoped to say out here until those two decided to leave however she had run out of ink only four days into her isolation. Using pens to scratch out her notes was a bit rustic but it was a habit she hadn’t been able to break.

Since the hideaway was not part of the actual resort there were no stealthy robots to replace her used tools while she was outside so she had to return to the resort personally to restock. She had made a list of everything that she thought she would need to spend several weeks out in the hidaway.

That was what had caused her to return to the Poseidon Resort.

Her swim back through the murky waters was mostly uneventful. She had been through this was countless times and knew the routes in the water by heart. She didn’t even have any of the sonic emitting diving equipment on, the predators out in the water were more afraid of her than she was of them.

Even with her exceptional swimming speed it still took several hours to return to the Resort and that was only from one edge of the zone to the center. The area covered by the Poseidon Resort gravity field was truly enormous.

As the resort began to draw into view she could see into the large viewing platform that was on the third floor along with the library. She could see the man, Clemens sitting in one of the chairs reading.

He also seemed to notice her and he looked up. He raised a hand in greeting like he usually did when he saw her and she didn’t pay any extra attention to him this time then she did any of the times that they meet.

Still she had grown more used to him then some of the other guests and avoided him less than she did some of the others that had showed up. There was a second entrance to the resort that would let her avoid being seen by the observation deck. That entrance lead into the back areas of the resort where the robots hide themselves when they weren’t working.

The resort used that entrance for their fishing robots which caught fresh fish for the restaurant when it was needed. However that route was a pain for Sarita to go through and she preferred to use the normal deep sea diving entrance.

The airlock to the diving room sealed behind her and was the water drained out she coughed out the remaining water that was inside her. The multitude of aquatic plant life oxidized the water sufficiently for her and the other sea animals to breath in it without any issue. Sure a normal human would suffocate but her silver scales was a constant reminder that she was not a normal human.

She was thankful that the deep sea diving room was empty when she emerged. She quickly dried her hair and made toward the first stop in her hopefully quick return to the resort. Her room was on the sixth floor of the resort. She had initially gotten a room on the first floor but after several other guests had show up she had found it easier to just live on a higher floor. The upper floors rarely got reserved so people almost never got rooms next to hers.

Her room was a jumbled uncontrolled mess. It wasn’t dirty, the cleaning robots ensure that, but there was years of collecting built into several small rooms. Rocks and unusual shells she had found out in the ocean, piles of jumbled notes that she had written. Books she had ordered delivered, not even including the ones she had in digital copies on the computer roughly stashed away in one corner.

She pulled open one of the drawers and took a handful of pens and ink refills from it and placed them neatly in the bag that she had brought. While the robots wouldn’t restock her hideaway they were restocking her room at her request.

There were also a couple of the notebooks and normal books that she placed into the bag with the pens. If she was going to get any more work done out there she was going to need them. Following that was a couple extra changes of clothing. While she tended to wear the same thing for several days on end she still needed more than she had brought the first time. Doing laundry by hand out there was an incredible pain and more hassle then it was worth.

With everything she needed from her room done she returned to the lift heading back to the main floor. However on the way down her fears came true. The lift stopped on the second floor. The doors slide open to reveal and older man who she had only seen once before.

“Oh hoh, who do we have here.” Said Hubert as he stepped onto the lift, “The elusive other resident. What did Clemens say your name was, right Sarita, that was it. I’m Hubert by the way.”

The doors of the lift slide closed too slowly for Sarita’s comfort, “Yes, Sarita, that is correct.”

“We were afraid we had scared you off but it is good so see that is not the case.”

“This place is my home.”

“And a nice and quiet place it is. The time had just flown by since I got here.” He eyed the bad that Sarita was carrying before continuing, “However if you are going to go off and hide then can I ask a favor before that.”

The doors had begun to open on the main floor. Sarita wasn’t to head off quickly be she paused just long enough to listen to what Hubert had to say.

“My adopted daughter, Esmeralda. I would like you to find some time to speak with her. You see, she is a designer child. She doesn’t often get to have time to speak with people like her.”

Sarita had just begun to leave the lift as he spoke but she paused before finally saying, “I’ll try to make some time.”

“Thank you.” His words seemed mostly ignored as Sarita walked away at a brisk clip.

—

Esmeralda had just finished enjoying the spa. The warm waters had really sunk into her bones and now she was relaxing in one of the massage chairs that were located nearby. She raised an eyebrow in surprise when a scaled woman with emerald hair took the massage chair next to her.

“Father must have said something.”

“He said I should talk with you for a while.”

“He is quite meddlesome but that is one of the reasons he makes a good father figure. Certainly better than my actual parents.”

“Hmm..” Came the guttural sound from Sarita, “I don’t really blame my parents. My dad was also like me and I was supposed to be a second generation, to make everything seem more normal. They certain wanted me to be happy.”

“Did something happen to your parents?”

“Dad got an infection, it should have just been a simple thing but he had an unexpected allergic reaction to the antibiotic because of his unique biology. By the time we were able to get him to an actual doctor it was too late.”

“Any your mother?”

“She is still alive, but she loved dad probably too much and I reminder her too much of him. We parted ways since before I came here and I haven’t seen her since.”

“A tragic fate. Losing a loving family is probably worse than losing one who never love you.” Said Esmeralda.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“My story isn’t that complex. I was born is Xalvian space.”

That caused Sarita to cough a little, “But they…”

“Yeah, although I didn’t experience the worst of the war. I was just an ornament for one of the lords. One of his eternal beauties, although his preferences were questionable.”

“Then your age…”

“I’ve looks like this since I first opened my eyes.” Said the woman who had been cursed to eternally look like a young child.

The conversation had died at that. They both stayed the with the massage chair kneading away at their backs.

“How is it out there in the ocean? It seems like it would be scary.”

“Scary? I don’t think I’ve ever though of the ocean as scary. The great gloomers can be threatening sure but the creatures out there are just animals each trying to survive in their own individual ways. I don’t think I would ever be frightened of something like that.”

“Great Gloomers?”

“They are one of the apex predators in the region. They are a mollusk with six limbs that strangle their pray before eating them. They are one of the few animals that are capable of surviving outside the pressure suppression of the resort and can escape from the other large carnivores. They also use echolocation instead of sight to figure out where their prey is so they can go deep into caves to catch food.”

“I don’t know they sound pretty terrifying to me. You seem to know quite a lot about them.”

“You probably heard the informational spiel about this place is an isolated ecosystem. However the truth is a lot more interesting than that. There are still some deep sea creatures like the Great Gloomer that are capable of existing in this area. Nobody has really recorded anything about how the animals have changed either.”

Sarita’s eyes had changed color while she spoke, darkening considerable. One of her biological quirks that helped her see clearly in the darkness of the deep seas. “It has been hundreds of years since the last person classified all the creatures out there. While the area encompassed by the gravitational field is wide for the purposes of population dynamics the area is actually small. Because of this the creatures have changed quite rabidly and all my notes have put the current species as quite different from the other records that I have found.”

Esme smiled as she watched Sarita talk about the underwater world. Esme looked even more like a child when she didn’t have a serious look on her face and Sarita looked even more like a bloodthirsty shark when excited. An impartial observer might view the current conversation between the two of them with a great deal of worry.

“Then you have taken over cataloging the creatures that live here?” Asked Esme.

“There wasn’t really anybody to take it over from, but yes. Initially I hadn’t really planned on take up permanent residence here but once I first went out into the waters I saw what a marvelous and strange place this was. Although it also helped that very few people come all the way out here.”

“Yes, being away from other people, that it probably why Hebert chose this place to let me get away from my problems, at least for a little while. He probably could have finished his novel anywhere.”

“Is it easier for you to deal with people? At least you look normal.”

“Yes and no. I’d be completely useless without Hubert. He lets me keep up the charade about my age since life is just easier that way. However I can’t escape anything during work.” She sighed.

“Work? What do you do?”

“I’m one of the few remaining experts on Xalvian technology. Not who I intended to become but it just happened that way.”

“Is there much call for Xalvian technology?”

“Nothing new certainly. However Xalvia covered a lot of space before it dissolved. Given that it covered so much space there is remnants of their technology all over the place. Things don’t break very often but normal engineers don’t weren’t training for that kind of technology. Lots of the time it just gets replaced instead of being fixed but sometimes that isn’t an option. When that happens I’m one of the people that is contacted to make everything work again.”

“And when that happens you have to explain yourself.”

“Yeah,” Esme looked down as she spoke, “Most of the time it is fine but sometimes old grudges get in the way or they dislike people like us. Those times I regret my choice of career but I know it wouldn’t really be better elsewhere.”

Sarita growled in understanding. Even in the middle of nowhere it was impossible to completely get away from who you were.

“Well, if you ever need to get away again, you can always come back here to the Poseidon Resort.”

“Thanks, but does that mean you aren’t going to go off and hide for the rest of my visit here?” Asked Esme with a quizzical smile.

“Howww… how did you know I was going to do that?”

“Guess and processes of elimination mainly. You disappeared almost as soon as we first arrived and then this is the only other time I have seen you. Besides you left your large but just inside the door. I would have to be blind not to notice that.”

“Ah, I suppose so. I guess I’ve never really been good at hiding things from people.”

“It seems like that.”

“I’ll have to leave my research expedition until after you leave then.”

“You can tell me some more stories about the ocean.”

“Wouldn’t it be better just to go out and see for yourself?” Asked Sarita.

“Ummm….” Said Esmeralda hesitantly. “Only if you go with me. I don’t think I could do it alone.”

“A promise then.”

“I’m going to regret this aren’t I?”

——

“Congratulations Daddy! Your book is done!” Said Esmeralda as she pulled the cord on a small party popper. Confetti sprayed out of it and she and Clemens began to clapped. They were all sitting at one of the booths in Diver’s Delight.

Hubert was looking embarrassed as he waved his hands in front of his face. “No no no, it isn’t that impressive. The book was going to be done sooner or later. There isn’t that much to congratulate me for.” Although his appreciative smile countered the words he was speaking.

“I can’t wait until it gets published to read it Daddy!”

“Can’t you read it while he is writing it or just after it is done?”

Esme looked pouty while she folder her hands and looked down, “No, Daddy won’t show me anything until after it has been approved by his editor.”

Hubert looked even more embarrassed, “Listen without my editor to look over everything it is really rough. It is tough enough having people read what I wrote after it has gone through editing but before? Impossible, I would die of shame.” It sounded a little insincere coming from an older bearded man.

“What is your story about? If it is alright to asked before it goes to the editor.” Asked Clemens.

“I suppose I can share a little. It is a piece of historical fiction. About life that happened before the dawn of space travel. Most of the works concerning that time period where written near or during that time. That can make those stories difficult for a modern reader. For example some readers do not correctly understand how the concept of money works and most of the stories just assume the reader understands. In my books I like to explain how things are different in a way that is understandable.”

“That sounds fascinating. I’d love to read it when you finish publishing it.” Said Clemens, “Do you think you could send a copy here when it is finally done. Since you wrote a bunch of it here I think this place should have a copy of your book.”

Hubert nodded, “Yes, I would like for both you and Sarita to read it. It will probably still be a few months before everything is actually fully done but I’ll make sure to send a copy.”

“Does that mean you two will be leaving soon?” Asked Clemens.

Esme frowned and said, “Yes sadly, I’ve gotten a new request.”

Hubert put one of his hands on Esme’s hand and nodded grimly, “Yes, it looks like our vacation will end soon and I only just finished my book. We are going to be leaving in three days.”

“It will be much more quiet around here without the two of you.”

“Then are you planning on continuing to stay here?” Asked Hubert.

“Hmm, for now at least until I figure out where I want to go next. Although if I’m waiting for you book then I will stay here until it arrives.”

“Well good luck figuring out your path in life. Things have be difficult if you don’t have a direction to continue to walk in.”

As Hubert spoke the meal delivery robot arrived and rose up to like the tray full of plates onto the table. “But if you continue to have good food like this here I’m not surprise you don’t want to leave.” Hubert grabbed his own plate and put it in front of him and then grabbed the smaller children’s meal to place in front of Esme.

They continued to talk while enjoying the meal.

After a while Hubert excused himself from the table saying, “I’ll be right back” Leaving just Esmeralda and Clemens.

Once Hubert was out of sight Esme said “If you want anything to change between yourself and Sarita then you really need to say something to her, just stalking her is not a good idea.”

“I’m… I’m not stalking her.” Clemens stammered.

“No? Pining wistfully then? Either way is not healthy.” She had her child sized fork stuck is a small yellow vegetable and was waving it in front of herself.

“I…”

“People can come to all kinds of arrangements, like mine and Hubert, but you need both parties to accept them. Even if you just want to live down here and have no interest in her then you should still talk that out with her. She had been living down her for a long time and has made this place her home.”

“You are right, I know that, but still.”

“This” She pointed the fork at him, “This is what is keeping you directionless. I can’t tell you how to live your life but even the the prefect direction appears if you don’t follow it then it might be lost forever. I think the saying goes, ‘Better to have loved and lost then never to have loved at all’. Choosing to abandon a path you are unhappy with is one thing but never following one is something else.”

She then took the fork and placed the vegetable in her mouth before chewing, “But that is just some advice from a kid.”

About that time Hubert returned from the bathroom while carrying a small plate of deserts, “The robot was delivering this to the table to I decided to grab it and save the poor thing the trip.”

“Welcome back Daddy, ooh, is that a piece of cake shaped like a shell! That is the one that I want.”

“Yes, yes, here you go. But you shouldn’t act so spoiled, other people might get angry at you.”

She just stuck out her tongue and proceeded eat the cake.

Both Hubert and Clemens laughed at the display.

——

“So you are really going to be leaving tomorrow?” Asked Sarita.

She and Esmeralda had taken over the private theatre in the resort had been watching some movies. Either taste in movies were almost completely different but they still enjoyed each others company.

“Yes, it is very sad. However work calls and if I stay on vacation any longer I think I am going to go crazy.”

“I guess I understand that. Still it will be more lonely around here without you.”

“Well, all visits pass with time. But I’ll make sure to send you some messages and I know Hubert is planning to send this place a copy of his book when it is finally finished publishing. I’ll even force him to sign it for you. My job never takes me near here but if I find myself with an excess of free time I’m make sure to stop by, maybe the next time Hubert is struggling to finish a book.”

“I’m not going to go anywhere so I’ll be right here when you want to come back and visit.”

Esmeralda nodded, “I’m glad to know that I’ll continue to be welcome here however I would like to give you a little advice before I leave.”

“Advice?”

“I know I look really young but I have a bunch of useful tips. The first is that you aren’t nearly as averse to people as you think you are. You opened up to me extremely quickly. Sure I know we share some situations but that still isn’t enough to explain it. I feel like you are lonely down here and occasionally need some company.”

Sarita turned her head not really wanting to accept what Esmeralda was telling her.

“When there are other guests try talking to them, even a little. Maybe tell them about the ocean. I’m sure your enthusiasm about it will spread to them too.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

“Oh at at least make some small talk with Clemens. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t hate you and if he is also planning on staying here for a long time then you should not always try and avoid him.”

“I don’t try and avoid him. We just live on different schedules and I spend a lot of time out at sea.”

“Hmm. It looks like things are more complicated here than I though. Even putting Clemens aside remember what I said about other guest. Most people who would head out to a place like this are probably at least a little open minded. Honestly most people don’t mind us it is just some loud outliers which are the exception, remember that.”

“I’ll try to keep that in mind but still…”

“I know it is hard to change a lifetime of experiences but you were able to talk with me so small steps. And if you have difficulty I’ll try to stay in contact. I know interstellar communication is slow but I’ll respond the best that I can.”

With that a pact was made between the two woman.

—

Soon enough the last day for Hubert and Esmeralda had come and gone and it was time for them to leave the Resort. That had taken their bags out to the main entrance room. Both Clemens and Sarita were their to bid them goodbye.

Sarita passed over a small necklace to Esmeralda. It was make from a variety of colored shells, “I know it isn’t very well made but those shells can only be acquired here. A true souvenir from the Poseidon Resort something you can’t get anywhere else.”

“Thanks, I’ll treasure it.” Said Esme in the tone she used when speaking like a child.

“And I would like to thank the two of you for letting us impose for so long.” Said Hubert.

“It was nothing, after all this is a resort.” Said Clemens “Although I kinda have a gift too. I managed to find enough inspiration to draw this.” He handed over a small framed picture.

It was an excellent depiction of Esmeralda and Hubert swimming in the oceans. It was only drawn in black lines but the drawings almost seemed to leap out of the page with their liveliness.

“You drew this?” Asked Hubert as he took the picture, “You have a real talent.”

“I used to do this kinda of thing for a living before coming here. I haven’t really had any motivation recently but seeing the two of you gave me enough interest to break out my drawing tools.”

“Thank you, we would love to stay longer but our ship will depart with or without us.”

There was waving of goodbye on both sides and then the doors to the lift shut and Hubert and Esmeralda were gone, lifted up out of the depths of the oceans and back to the light of day.

Clemens and Sarita stood there just outside the lift in silence for a moment.

Finally Clemens asked, “Do you mind if I continue to stay here? I’ve been trying to figure out what to do next and still haven’t come up with any answers. I would like to continue to remain here but this is your home and I don’t want disturb your life.”

Sarita turned her back to him and said, “I don’t really care either way. You are less annoying then most of the people who stay here so I suppose you can stay as long as you want.”

“Thank you very much.” Said Clemens with a short bow.

“Hmm, no real need to thank me. You just seem like an alright guy so there is no harm in letting you live here to.” She turned and began walking away then she stopped for a moment and looked back, “Oh and when Hubert’s book arrived make sure to find me. I want to read it too.”

“Sure” said Clemens to the retreating back to Sarita.

Once she was finally out of earshot he muttered to himself, “Well, at least that went well.”

Chapter Three - Mystery Abounds

It had been several months since Hubert and Esmeralda had left the Poseidon Resort. The long awaited book had arrived and Clemens was nestled in the library finishing it. He had become fascinated at the strange world in the story which was both similar and different from the one he dwelled in.

It was a world on the brink of ecological disaster where an ideological war was being fought over the future. Some of the concepts were very strange to him and the characters were compelling so he found himself engrossed in it.

When the book was finally done he placed it down on the table and thought about its contents for a while.

His thought process was disturbed by the sight of Sarita approaching. She was still outside the resort swimming toward the Deep Sea Diving entrance. From the viewing platform he could see her approach clearly.

He picked the book back up and approached the window. Once he got to the edge he pointed at the book trying to gesture through the window to Sarita. She seemed to noticed him and swim closer to the window.

She looked at what he was gesturing toward and seemed to nod before starting to swim down to the entrance.

While their encounters since Hubert and Esmeralda left weren’t the most friendly they had interacted far more than they had in the past. Even if it was a brief as greeting each other while they past each other in the hallways.

It took a few minutes for Sarita to join Clemens in the viewing platform. Her choice of clothing was still more swimsuit than actual clothing but Clemens had gotten used to her unusual choice of regular attire.

Clemens had gotten the book several days earlier but Sarita had been out on one of her extended trips and had only just gotten back from it.

“The book arrived I see.” Said Sarita.

He nodded and handed the book over to her, “You were on an extended trip and it arrived while you were gone. Because of that I have already had a chance to read it.”

Sarita looked at the front cover for a moment before nodding, “Thanks. I’ll make sure to return it to the library when I am done with it.” She was about to turn to leave but hesitated for a moment and asked, “Do you like it?”

Clemens nodded, “Yeah, although I feel a bit disconnected from it. Things have changed so much since that time that I’m not certain how to relate. But the look into the people of the past is fascinating.”

Sarita had flipped open the book and was looking at one of the earlier pages, “Dedicated to my daughter. Many thanks to the people I met along the journey to complete this book.”

“Yeah it looks like they are doing good.” He also handed over an envelope, “This also came with the book and it was addressed to you. I expect it is from Esmeralda.”

Sarita took that as well. “Thanks”

She was about to leave then when a synthetic voice came over the speakers, “Eight new guests are arriving at Poseidon Resort. Please remember to treat other guests kindly and continue to enjoy your stay with us.”

Sarita glanced up in surprise, “Eight?”

“Yeah, that is a lot of them. I wonder what reason they all have for coming here?” Said Clemens with a curious tone in his voice.’

“I don’t really care. I’ll probably be out of the resort for a while.”

“If that is what you want.” Said Clemens.

Sarita looked at the book and letter in her hands before saying, “Well, maybe. I’ve already been out for a while and wouldn’t want to risk the book to the waters. I’ll made a decision once I am done with it.”

—

Clemens had headed down to the main hall where the new guests would soon arrive. As one of the two current guests already here he wanted to give them a good first impression. Still eight guests was a lot of guests. There was enough rooms and space in the resort for many more than that but because it was normally so quiet it seemed like an abnormally large amount of people.

When the doors to the lift opened the small crowds of people poured out. They were a strange eclectic mish-mash of people Five men and three woman with a whole host of baggage. They were all adults but the range of ages was everywhere from the late teens to quite old.

Nothing immediate seemed to tie any of the people together. It was like they all decided seperately that is particular was the perfect one to visit an obscure resort in the middle of nowhere.

Clearly that wasn’t actually true as one of the middle aged men stepped forward leading the group. He was wearing some weird plaid hat that flopped in the front and the back. As he stepped forward he said, “Alright everybody. First think is first we all need to check into our assigned room. Once that is done we can all meet back up in this central area to freely enjoy ourselves before tomorrow.”

The seven other people began to pull their luggage out of the lift. Each of them had brought quite a lot of belongings like they are all expecting to stay here for an extended amount of time.

As the last of them was finally making their way out of the lift the leader of the group noticed Clemens approaching.

“Hello there.” Called Clemens as he got closer, “What brings such a large group out here of all places?”

“You must be one of the other guests.” Said the leader with the hat. “Wait, just stand there for a moment. Ah, yes, lets see.” He looked Clemens up and down before finally stopping and saying, “Ah ha, you must be from Devintar. Am I right?”

Clemens looked a bit taken by before finally saying, “Yes, well, basically. I was born there although I haven’t been back more around a decade.”

There was some clapping from some of the other people while the leader smugly tipped his hat, “Ah the place of your birth. One can never escape it completely. I had some suspicion from your accent but upon further examination of your choice of clothing and hair style I was able to pin it down definitively. Another brilliant deduction if I do say so myself.”

Clemens looked around at the other guests with a confused look on his face trying to figure out what just happened to him.

He was saved by an older woman wearing a provocative dress who stepped forward and said, “Don’t let Quincy bother you with his deductions. It is just one of his hobbies, one partially shared by all of us. You have already acted why we are here but I’m sure you find our odd mixture of people unusual yet?”

“Yes, that is true.” Said Clemens uncertain if he was just going to walk into the same thing that Quincy had done to him.

“Well, you see we are a murder mystery association. Once a year we get together for a big event and this year we have chosen the Poseidon Resort, renowned for its isolated location and few guests which is perfect for our little get together.”

“Yes, indeed!” Said Quincy who nodded along with the older woman, “We are hosting a murder mystery event starting tomorrow. You and the other guest are free to join us if you want. Maybe it will ignite your love for murder mysteries!”

Clemens was still a bit taken back by everything that was happening, “A murder mystery event? What sort of event is that?”

“Very simple.” Said Quincy, “One of us here is secretly the murderer who will have planned a devious murder that will kill one of our number. The rest of us must discover the identity of the killer before the event it over or we will have to suffer the most devious of penalty games.”

“I’m afraid I still don’t quite understand.”

“All in good time, all in good time. But first we must bring out bags to the rooms, come on everybody let use prepare for a good murdering time.”

With that the crowd of people began to head off toward the rooms leaving a fairly stupefied Clemens behind in the main hall trying to make sense of what he had been told.

——

Sarita had been listening in from around a corner. A murder mystery event was something that she was almost interested in. Esmeralda had recommended watching a movie about a detective and they had watched it together. It sounded vague interesting to her except for the whole deal with other people issue.

She held the book to her chest trying to draw encouragement from it and the letter from Esmerelda. Maybe she wouldn’t participate directly but she could at least hang around and listen to how everything played out. She thought she could probably accomplish at least that.

Still getting back to her room with the book while hidden would be a problem so she instead headed off to one of the side private study rooms. There were a handful of them around the resort and they were almost never used since there was almost never anybody else here.

——

The leader Quincy had arrived back in the main room before any of the others and had recruited Clemens to help him arrange a bunch of chairs in a circle. Ten chair have been placed in the circle, enough for all the members plus the two current guests of the resort.

They had then gone off to where catering could be requested to get some refreshments for the members since they would have to wait until after the meeting before going off to eat.

With various refreshments in tow the two of them returned to the main room where a couple of the guests had already arrived. They weren’t yet sitting in the circular area and were instead lounging in different areas.

However with the arrival of the food they began to congregated near it and began to chat excitedly. Clemens didn’t really understand most of what they were talking about, something about forensic science.

Their remaining members trickled in one at a time until they had all finally arrived. Sarita was not there but that was not very surprising for Clemens.

“Thank you all for gathering here today for the ninth annual murder mystery association meeting. We are joined today by a guest who is also staying here. Please introduce yourself.”

Clemens stood up and said, “Greeting, I’m Clemens, I’m here as a semi-permanent resident. Currently in the process of introspection.”

He sat back down and Qunicy spoke again, “Now the rest of us already know each other but how about you introduce yourself to Clemens. As was mentioned I am Quincy and I am the organizer of this little group.”

The next person to stand was the older woman in the dress who said, “I am Demetra and I am entertainer. I collect and tell stories. Later on I’ll be happy to share a few of them if you desire.”

An older man in a finely made suit and a top hat didn’t stand up but he did tip his hat when he said, “I am Isaac. My normal job is advertising. Many people have strange and unusual products and I help connect those people who desire those items. The universe is large so I spend a lot of time traveling.”

Beside Isaas was a larger man who seemed a size too big for his shirt and clearly spend a lot of time exercising. “My name it Nitzan. Normally I work as a personal trainer however I like to remain strong both in body and mine so I do activities like this in my spare time.”

The next to introduce themselves was a woman of indeterminate age. She was wearing a black dress and had long black hair which came down over her face and covered all her features. She just said, “Severina”.

The woman next to Severina wore glasses and was one of the most normal looking people there. She wore a light sweater and said, “My name is Marylou. I write a riddle column on a news site. I do this to…” Then she quieted up and her last words were totally unintelligible.

An almost completely generic young man answered next. “I am Zosi. I am still a student and in the process of studying. I have yet to chose what I will do after school.” His clothing was just a simple generic shift and pants, so overwhelmingly common and it must have been chosen deliberately

The last man was significantly overweight although he dressed fairly nicely despite that. “I am Somarliðr” he said with a reasonably thick accent, “I do restaurant reviews. Along with the events we plan on having here I also plan of thoroughly reviewing everything that the Poseidon Resort has to offer.”

Quincy took back over and said, “And that would be all of us. However it seems that the other guest of the resort has not arrived. Because of the unusualness of what we are planning I was hoping that we would get a chance to talk with them and explain everything.”

“Sarita is the other guest and she tends to avoid other people. You see she is a designer child who has aquatic features.”

There was some chatter around the different members before they finally quieted down when Quincy raised a hand, “Ah, well, then I suppose her absence is understandable. But we would still happily welcome her if she wishes to join us. At the very least do you think you could pass along what I am going to explain here so that she isn’t lost when things begin to happen?”

Clemens nodded, “Yes, I can do that.”

“Very well. As I previously mentioned we will be doing a murder mystery event here starting in a couple of days. There will be a fake murder where one of us will pretend to murder another one of us. The rest of us will have one week to determine which of us is the killer and how they accomplished their crime.”

“One of you? You don’t already know who the fake murderer will be?”

Demetra flashed a grin and said, “It was all determined randomly far in advance. The person who has been selected as the murderer knows who they are and the rest of us do not know their identity. If they managed to keep that secret until the end of the week then to the victor goes the spoils.”

Severina said, “Penalty Game.”

“Quite so.” Said Quincy, “The loser or losers of the game get punished by the winners. A way to make everybody excited and encourage a strong competition.”

“What about me?” Asked Clemens.

“You are an outside and are thus safe from being either the murderer or the murdered. We also won’t make you play the penalty game but if you somehow uncover the mystery of the killer then you can claim the medal of victory and we will never live it down.”

“Alright I think I kinda understand what you are doing.”

“Once the murder happens everything will be quite simple. Just figure out who the murderer is. Although it won’t be that easy. We are all members of the murder mystery association and never has any of the mysterious been a cakewalk.”

Clemens looked around at the eight of them and said, “You are all experienced then?”

There was a cold, almost murderous, competitive glint in the eyes of all of them. Clemens would have probably taken a step backward had he not been seated.

“However there is still a little work to be done before the murder happens. We need to spend a couple of days becoming familiar with this location and I need to ensure that the cleaning robots are disable during the event. We can’t have them cleaning up the important evidence that would reveal the identity of the culprit.”

He paused and then continued, “Also if I am the victim then do not be surprised. It is kind of a tradition for the winner of the previous event to be murdered, to keep things a little fair.”

Marylou shook her head, “Although it was incredibly embarrassing when he won last year as the murderer by faking his own death. I don’t think we will ever live that down.”

There was some collective groans all around and a gloating smile from Quincy himself.

“Well I guess I can show you around. This place is quite large so it will probably take a while. Although I don’t know what to do about giving special instructions to the robots. They are hardly ever seen so I wouldn’t know where do go. Maybe Sarita would know, she had been here much longer than me.”

“A tour would be appreciated. Figuring out the robots is something I can do by myself however. I’ve had plenty of experience doing it.”

—

Not long after Clemens was guiding a tour through the Poseidon Resort.

“The resort is broken up into several sections. You have already seen the hotel section. There are six floors with many rooms on each floor. Since you have all already gotten your rooms I don’t need to explain that any more.”

“The rooms is one of the five major sections of the Poseidon Resort. In the center is the entrance area that you arrived in. It is the relaxation area. The top area has a large observation deck which looks out onto the open sea. There are also some study rooms and the library up there.”

“The wing across from the hotels includes Deep Sea Diving where you can go out into the ocean and experience the waters of the Poseidon Resort yourself. The gym is also there.”

“Clockwise from there is the next wing. It contains a large swimming area as well as the spas. There is also a movie theatre there with a quite extensive selection. More underwater horror than you can handle.”

“The last wing contains the Diver’s Delight restaurant which I highly recommend. There are several other smaller restaurants as well along with several bars and more laid back entertainment options like bowling.”

Clemens was followed around the the crowd as he walked through the different rooms showing off the different features of the resort. As he walked between the different wings of the resort with them he realized how many of the different services that he hadn’t yet experienced. It made the whole place seem more empty than usual.

He hadn’t even know the that resort had a bowling alley before he had discovered it during the tour. He hadn’t even known bowling alleys were still used by people in the modern era, although he supposed that the resort was made a long time ago so there would be relics of those past times.

The day ended with a large group meal at the Diver’s Delight where fish was the main choice. Although Severina discovered the choice of some stretchy chewy mollusc which she seemed to happily enjoy, although that was just a guess through all the hair.

Everybody chatted merrily during the dinner but they mainly talked about detectives and mysteries and how such and such closed room was solved. Those things didn’t mean too much to Clemens. He had some experience with mystery stories but not the same kind of rabid interest as these people did. They were all very into their hobbies.

Then the conversation turned to a more sinister sounding one. They began to discuss different methods of murder and specifically what would be a good choice here at the Poseidon Resort.

“Wouldn’t just disposing the water in the ocean be the best option?” Said Nitzan with a far too serious look, “That way the sea life would dispose of the body and nobody would ever find it.”

Marylou wagged her finger back and forth and explained, “That would never do. The airlock certainly has recordings of when and who used it. You would immediately reveal yourself by using that kind of body disposal. I would choose the fireplace in one of the studies. Those rooms can be closed and once the body is completely burned nobody would be any the wiser.”

Zosi spoke next, “The hard part isn’t disposing of the body. Honestly it would be easier just to not deal with that. The hard part is committing the murder in the first place. Getting somebody secretly alone and unguarded is difficult normally. Luckily this place is so deserted that finding an opportunity is easy, you just need the proper alibi.”

Somarliðr chimed in, “Better to prevent other people from having an alibi than giving yourself one. After all it is impossible to have a perfect alibi since you committed the murder but it is possible to have other people perfectly lack an alibi. Without a clear culprit it is impossible to completely accuse somebody of having committed the crime.”

Qunicy was listening but not participating in the conversation. He leaned over to whisper something to Clemens. “There are a bunch of handicaps that we use to keep everything fair. After all modern forensic techniques are quite advanced and it would be almost impossible to get away with murder if we were allowed to use a tool like that.”

He continued, “Instead we have a selection of old fashioned investigative techniques that we are forced to used. Although some of our members have debated the use of more advanced tools I figured that this was the best current balance. After all the most important element of a murder mystery is not the tools but the logic of the detectives and plan of the the murderer.

“I kinda of understand but the enthusiasm of the members is higher than I would have expected.” Said Clemens.

“Well, we are a murder mysterious association, a more casual person wouldn’t have joined us in the first place.”

The conversation continued for many hours discussing the pros and cons of killed people in certain ways or methods of disposing and hiding bodies. Finally weariness began to kick in for the different members and one by one the left to return to their room.

Clemens too was feeling the drowsiness and get up to leave before Qunicy stopped him and said, “Oh, before you go I wanted to finish explaining the schedule for you. We are planning to stay here for a little more than two weeks. The murder will happen sometime in the first week and the rest of us will have until the end of the second week to figure out who the murderer is. After that there is going to be a couple of days of relaxing and recovering and then we will depart.”

“So the murder will happen anytime during the first week?”

Quincy nodded, “Except today any of those days are valid. It usually happens closer to the end though to give the murderer more time to plan and the rest of us less time to solve the case. Still, if you could warn the other guest sooner rather than later that would good.”

Then Qunicy stood up himself and said, “Speaking of informing I am going to go make sure the robots know what is happening so that they won’t accidentally clean up the murder scene.” And then he left the restaurant.

That left Clemens alone with Somarliðr who was enjoying another plate. Clemens was about to take his own leave when Somarliðr put down his fork and said, “You should keep your eye out. Even though the murder hasn’t happened yet everything currently happening is still part of the mystery.”

“What do you mean?”

“Remember the murder has already been chosen and they are finalizing their plan. If you want to participate I recommend watching everything that happens. The slightest slip-up now could be the vital clue you need to reveal the murder.”

“And what if you are the murderer.”

Somarliðr roared in laughter, “Now you are getting it! Anybody could be the murderer, maybe this conversation now is just me trying to make you trust me. Such is the game that we are playing.”

“Well, at least you have me that you can trust.”

“Do I?” he said seriously, “Is there any why you can prove that you weren’t contacted earlier by one of our members and are already the accomplice of the murderer?”

Clemens swallowed before saying, “That is allowed?”

“It is the detective that cares about the rules not the murderer. Good livelong advice that. Marylou won once with that very strategy. The most important part of being both a detective and a murderer is lateral thinking. Do something the other person will not understand and you will get away with it. Among us that is the only way to succeed.”

“That advice sounds kind of scary when you say it like that.”

Somarliðr smiled widely in a way that send shivers down Clemens spine, “The others might tip toe around the idea but we are all murderers. People who enjoy planning the death of another person and how to get away with it. This association is a release for those desires.”

Clemens took a few steps backward before saying, “Are you serious?”

Somarliðr burst into laughter again and suddenly the seriousness was gone from him composure, “No way, it is a joke. It takes more than an interest in mysteries and puzzles to turn somebody into a murderer. But all of us are actors, good at pretending and hiding the truth. So don’t expect the fake murderer to be revealed so easy.”

Clemens took a breath of relief, “Well I suppose that part makes sense. It wouldn’t be a very fun game if you found out the answer easily.” Somarliðr nodded and approval and Clemens continued, “But I don’t think you’ve done much to make me think you are not the fake murderer.”

There was just some more jolly laughter at that.

—-

Not long after Clemens found Sarita in the belly of the resort. A dimly lit observation room that opened up to an underwater cave. It was several floors beneath the main entrance room and there were no signs that lead to it. Still it was clearly a place for relaxation, assuming you could relax looking out into the darkest horrors of the ocean.

Clemens had only found out about the place recently and it was luck that Sarita has been there at the same time. After the first meeting here he had learned that it was one of her favorite places in the resort. He had mostly avoided it since then to let it continue to be her private sanctuary.

She was near one of the few lights in the room and even that would probably not be enough for Clemens to read by however Sarita has far better vision in dark areas than he did. She glanced up as he entered and set down the book.

“Does this have something to do with the new guests?” She guessed as he walked closer.

He nodded before trying to explain, “They are hosting a murder mystery competition here over the next couple of weeks and they wanted me to inform you about the details so that you wouldn’t be surprised when something strange happens.”

“I overheard a little when the first arrived not too much.”

Clemens cocked his head surprised that she had been listening in, “The short form is that there is a fake murder mystery happening where one of them is going to pretend to kill another one and then everybody has to figure out who did it. The face murder is going to happen sometime within a week and then after two weeks the need to have figured out who did it.”

“Two weeks isn’t too long for them to be staying.”

“Have you decided if you plan on staying around or not? I know you were debating about it.”

“I think I’ll stay, at least for a while. If they start getting too noisy then I might leave but for now I’ll stick around. After all I still have a book to finish.” She pointed at the book as if trying to justify her decision.

Clemens nodded, “Alright, well, then, I will see you around.”

He then headed back to the hotel section. It was getting late and he was beginning to feel tired.

Sarita returned to her book. Unlike Clemens she didn’t follow a clock and just stayed up when she felt like and and slept when she felt like it.

She continued to sit there reading, unaware of what was to come.

—-

The next couple of days were fairly routine. Each of the guests fell into their own routines. Beyond mystery stories they didn’t have that many hobbies in common.

Quincy had taken root in the library section. He had some kind of board game that he was a master of and which he continued to practice. Clemens tried his hand at a few games against Quincy but even with a massive handicap there was no beating the master.

Zosi was one of the most unpredictable. He seemed intent on visiting and experiencing every different attraction in the Poseidon Resort. One day he could be seen bowling with Nitzan and the next he was out exploring the ocean. The one thing consistent was that he hadn’t done the same thing twice.

Nitzan divided his day equally between physical exercises and intellectual activity. He also seemed fairly friendly despite his imposing looks. He had played some bowling with Nitzan but he also played some of Quincy’s game. Since exercise seemed to be a secondary importance to many of the other guests he was often found alone in the gym in the early hours of each day.

Isaac, like Zosi, spend much of his time wandering the resort although he didn’t seem to be as interested in actually partaking in the activities and seemed more intent of examining them. He had a little notebook that he was constantly writing things into. Also unlike Zosi he seemed to return to a few of the same places and could be occasionally found watching very old movies in the theatre.

Somarliðr spend a large portion of each day visiting the different restaurants in the resort. He had become exceptionally skilled at pacing himself and could sit in a restaurant of hours slowly enjoying his found. He had a small tablet that wrote into, making reviews of all the different meals that he ate. He had also taken several books from the library to read while eating.

Demetra had found a bar that seemed to suit her. One with a primary red glow with simply classic music playing. On Clemens first visit to see what she was doing she told him an excessively long tale that she had learned, practically a small one person play. It was something she was experienced in doing. She also seemed to dabble in a few of the other activities in the resort and a couple of times Clemens has seen her in the swimming pool..

Severina spent most of her time sealed away in her room preventing people from seeing her activities. Still she spend some of the time eat and some more taking piles of horror movies and privately locking herself away in the theatre. Occasionally she would pass by Clemens or one of the other guests and laugh to herself alone the way.

Marylou had taken one of the private study rooms where she had setup a board full of pictures, string, and tacks connecting everything. Clemens didn’t understand what is was for but Marylou said it was for designing one of her puzzles. Beyond designing whatever it was she was doing she spend a good amount of time playing the game with Quincy. She seemed to be the only person who seemed to stand a chance against him.

Something Quincy had mentioned was that the routines was important. Everybody falls into routines and the murder will use that to take advantage of them. Even somebody like Zosi had something like a routine. Figuring out where he might go next was not that complex since he seemed to do things that were different from the thing he had most recently done.

It had been five days since the meeting and Clemens was beginning to doubt a fake murder would actually take place.

Chapter Four — Murder at the Poseidon Resort

It was Isaac that first noticed something. He had planned to watch one of the old movies that he liked so much with one of the other guests. However when that guest failed to show up in time he grew suspicious that something had happened.

He knocked hard on the door to the adjacent theatre to alert Severina. She was slow in responding to his call but she did eventually creak open the door. Then the two of the crossed the main hall to the location they could have guessed that the missing guest would be at.

There they found him. Nitzan, found dead in the middle of the gym. The floor around his body was wet as was his clothes. With the death confirmed Isaac sent Severina off to fetch everybody else.

The murder had happened.

“Of course it goes without saying that he isn’t actually dead.” Said Quincy quietly to Clemens after he gasped at the sight, “However he is under the effects of a sleeping medication to make this first experience a bit more authentic. Tomorrow he will be right as rain but will remain in his room for the majority of the event to keep things more real.”

“It looks pretty convincing to me.” Said Clemens.

“We have had a lot of practice. However I’m not going to comment on the body yet. Not until everybody is here.”

The last to arrive was Somarliðr who was slower than the other guests.

Once he had arrived Quincy looked around, clapped his hands, and said, “You may begin now.”

Zosi knelt down near the fake corpse with Isaac standing just a little behind him. He had put on gloves and examined the body slowly without touching it yet.

“Cursory examination shows that the victim was likely drowned, although that looked obvious it is good to confirm such things. The victim is showing signs of water wrinkles which likely means he spend a signifiant length of time understand, probably before his death.”

There were nods of acceptance from the other people.

“There are marks on the victims wrists, he must have been restrained.”

Marylou had gotten closer as well and she knelt down and placed a finger in small pool of water that Nitzan was laying in. She then brought it to her lips and frowned, “Salty, this must be sea water.”

There were confused looks from everybody as they began to try and puzzle out what had happened.

Demetra then pointed something out. “Look, in his hand. A crumpled paper. Zosi, do you think you can pull it out.”

Zosi nodded and gently pulled apart the fingers of the corpse and lifted up the wet crumpled piece of paper. Then he read it aloud, “With you my revenge is almost complete. Soon your partner will join you.”

There was some suprised muttering but Clemens was the loudest, “What does that mean, your partner?”

Quincy had a dangerous looking sparkle in his eyes, “It looks like our murderer wishes to perform a double feature. How daring of them.”

“A double feature?”

Demetra answered, “It means that the murder things they can get away with a second crime and still not be discovered. I truly difficult task.”

Qunicy nodded, “Very true. So far nobody has ever succeeded in getting away with a double feature. Because of that is has been a while since anybody has tried.”

Zosi was still examining the body while this discussion was going on, “If I had to wager a guess at the time of death I would say about five hours ago. Although the murderer must have gotten their hands on him much earlier than that. The victim must have been submersed for a signifiant portion of time too, three hours I’d estimate.”

Clemens checked his watch. It was currently a little after 1pm. “That means his time of death would be at 8am.”

“Indeed it would.” Said Qunicy he clapped his hands together, “Anything else you can find Zosi?”

“Nitzan wears special excise clothes while working out and he is not wearing them. This seems to be his normal clothes instead. It is pretty clear that this location is not the scene of the crime, the murderer left the corpse here with the intent that it would be found. Since Nitzan is very often in this location in the morning it seems like the first place people would look when trying to find him.”

“Somarliðr, any other apparent clues in the room?” Asked Qunicy.

Somarliðr has been looked around the other parts of the gym. “Nitzan’s gym clothes are in the lockers. However there is no signs of a struggle.”

“Curious.” Said Quincy.

Severina shook her head, “Not weird.” She then paused as other people looked at her. She didn’t talk must but finally under the gaze of the others she said, “Who among us could fight Nitzan and win? None of us. Even with a weapon it might be impossible. Either he was surprised or tricked.”

Isaac nodded, “Very true. Among his many talents he also trained in martial arts. Truly brawn and brains. You are very true that any direct confrontation with him would be doomed to failure. Even in the worst case for him he would be able to escape and tell people about the attempted murder. The murderer must have used guile to capture him.”

Marylou was looking at the bond marks on Nitzan’s arms, “Even restrained and maybe drugged he would difficult to move. I doubt I could carry him more than a few feet.” She looked over at all of the members of the murder mystery association, “Another than Quincy I don’t know if any of us could do that without a dolly or similar.”

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m not any stronger than most of you and even if the Deep Sea Diving port is close that would still be an incredible pain.” Said Quincy trying to deny the claim.

There was more muttering then Demetra said, “Deep Sea Diving huh. I suppose that seams logical if he is covered in sea water. However that seems too simple. Why try him up, drown him out in the ocean, and then bring him back here. Seems like a lot of effort.”

Marylou touched her chin for a second and then said, “We should go see the entrance there and check if it has recently been used. Maybe that will give us a clue to who the murderer is.”

There were nods all around and the group headed to the watery entrance to the resort. It only took a few minutes to arrive there since it was close to the gym.

Marylou went over to the activation panel and messed with it for a moment before saying, “Do you want the good news or the bad news?”

“What do you have?” Asked Qunicy.

“Within the last twenty four hours there are been only two uses of this exit to the base. The first was at 5:15am when Nitzan left the resort. Then three hours at 8:20am he returned. Nobody else came or went before, after, or during.”

“What does that mean?” Asked Clemens.

Isaac was writing little notes on his small notepad and answered, “There are two options in my mind. Either Nitzan actually went outside for exercise and was ambushed on his way out of the ocean or the murderer has another way in and out of the resort.”

Marylou shook her head, “Unless Nitzan deliberately went outside wearing wrist bonds it seems impossible for him to have went outside of his own free will. Those kinds of markings take time to form.”

Isaac looked contemplative before speaking, “Unless the bonds were post death. There is a five hour gap between when he died and when the body was found. That would be enough time to cause that kind of bruising even for a corpse.”

“This all seems kind of complication to me.” Said Clemens who wasn’t really following all the different threats of logic that were being discussed.

Qunicy and Demetra were standing back with Clemens and letting the others discuss the issue. Demetra said, “Right now we are throwing ideas at a wall and seeing what sticks. Figuring out what could have been possible and what is likely and what is unlikely.”

Qunicy nodded, “Yes and we must also stay ever vigilant for lies. After the the murderer is among us and could be trying to lead us astray. Don’t take anybodies testimony as true fact. The murderer could be lying to protect themselves. For example maybe Zosi lied about the time of death to give himself an alibi or Marylou hide the fact that she had also left the resort. While I don’t expect the murderer to lie quite that brazenly that is the type of think to keep an eye our for, things that could be false.”

“Ah, right, Somarliðr tried to warn me about that too. That you all are experienced actors because of these events and that I should watch out for anything strange.”

Quincy and Demetra both nodded in approval. The other had devolved into minor arguing about different possibilities and which was more likely than the others. With a simple clapping Quincy silenced them and said, “Alright everything you will have plenty of time to argue your case later. But the more important thing is first. It is time for Alibis. Lets head back to the entrance hall and remember to stick together, no letting people wander off to destroy evidence.”

A few minutes later everybody was gathered in the entrance hall in the circle of chairs. There was one less member here today then the last time since he was still laying back in the gym unconscious.

There was some quiet unease as they sat the glancing at each other.

“Alright everybody, since I’m calling you all here to explain your alibis I guess I will start first. I believe the times in question are between 4:30 am and at least 9am potentially later depending on how people think the murder took place.” Said Qunicy dramatically, “Now the second part is easy, I meet up with Marylou in the observation room at 9am and we played several games against each other and we were just about to stop playing when we were alerted to the murder.”

He looked over toward Marylou who nodded and said, “Yes, that is correct.”

“Now prior to that I don’t have many solid alibis. I woke up at approximately 7:30 am in preparation for my games with Marylou and headed to the observation room at a little after that. On the way there I passed by Zosi in the this very room.”

Zosi nodded but clarified, “I do remember that but I was extremely sleepy at the time so I can’t vouch for the exact time that we met, only that it was around then.”

Quincy said, “And unfortunately that is the whole story since it was so early I hadn’t expected the murder to happen then and didn’t guard myself close enough. It is a failure of mine.” He then sat back down and motioned for the next one to speak.

There were sitting in the same order as the first day so Demetra was next to speak. She had a lazy smile on her face when she said, “I hadn’t yet slept during that time. I had stayed up enjoying myself and during the last portion I was entertaining Zosi who is a lightweight and stopped too early.”

She paused and then said, “As for exact times, Zosi joined around 5am and managed to last until 7am when he abandoned me to return to his room. After that I too was feeling a bit tired but I went to sleep in one of the booths. They just felt so comfortable.”

Zosi again nodded saying, “Yes that is true, at the very least I remember that the start time is correct. Again my later memories are a bit fuzzy so I’m not exactly certain what time we ended at.”

Isaac was next. “I’ll go backward since that makes more sense. I had planned to meet Nitzan at noon in the theatre to watch an old movie but he never showed up. I arrived at the theatre at 11am and when I did Severina had already locked herself away with her movie. As for before that I regret to admit that I am not an extremely early riser. I got out of bed at around 9:30am so I was sleeping alone during most of the times mentioned. However when I took the lift down to the first floor I was joined by Clemens who seemed to also share my sleep schedule. After that we nabbed some breakfast before I left to visit the theatre.”

Clemens was the one to agree this time. “Yes, I head down at 9:45am every morning and I was joined by Isaac this time. Since we were both hungry in the morning we went for breakfast.”

Severina was next in line. She pondered for a moment before finally saying, “No alibi. I was in the theatre all night. Since I was alone nobody can confirm my story. Next.”

Marylou said, “The murderer was clever choosing a time so early that sleeping is an easy non-Alibi. Lucky for use that are morning people. I woke up early at around 6am. I went out for breakfast where I met up with Somarliðr who was also there we eat until around 8:30am when I headed over to play a game with Quincy.”

Zosi spoke next saying, “My entire schedule has been pretty much covered already. I was partying with Demetra from 5am to somewhere around 7am. I then returned to my room to recover from the evening. I remember passing Qunicy on the way back to my room but again the exact time eludes me. Then I slept until I was awakened by the mystery.”

Somarliðr, “My morning was easy I got up early to enjoy breakfast for which Marylou joined me. She left before I finished so I was alone after 8:30am. Beyond that I don’t have any other alibi.

Once he was done everybody turned their glaze toward Clemens who then appeared kinda surprised, “You want mine too? Alright, well, I wake up at 8:30am every morning after which I take a shower and then head down to breakfast. When I got in the elevator at 9:45 I was joined by Isaac and we went to get breakfast together.”

Finally the alibi determination had been done. However there was one last comment that was made by Qunicy, “ Also, since none of the other’s alibi’s included her this also means that the other guest Sarita has no alibi.”

“Do you really think that she has anything to do with this?” Asked Clemens.

“I can’t tell yet. However I’m not going to dismiss it, at the beginning every option is open. If you dismiss the correct answer too early it might be too late to figure out the truth.”

“I suppose.”

Isaac was continuing to write little notes down in his notebook when he said, “I think the most important part of this riddle is the departure of Nitzan at 5:15am and 8:20am and whether he was already dead at the time of his arrival.”

“Would the entrance have registered him if he was dead?” Asked Clemens.

Marylou shook her head, “Unfortunately that is difficult to say. Even if he was murdered earlier the door might still recognize him as alive, since this is a game after all. I doubt we can learn anything about this fact through just the door. However…” She said, “We should test to see if loading somebody into the airlock can trick the system into thinking that person activated the airlock. That way we can tell if a trick is possible or if Nitzan actually entered and left the resort of his own accord.”

There was some muttering of agreement that it needed to be tested.

Demetra made the next comment, “I suppose the other important missing element is if there is another underwater exit. Clemens do you know if there is another one?”

Clemens shook his head and said, “I do not know if there is another exit although I suspect there is one. Sarita would know it so I can ask her the next time I see her.”

“Well, I think that about wraps up the basics? Are there any important elements people want to mention before we break?” Said Qunicy.

Severina was the one who spoke, “How he got tricked.”

Zosi nodded in agreement, “Yes, that is important too. The cause of death is drowning but how did Nitzan get into a situation where he go drowned. There was no sign of any blunt force trauma on the body so he wasn’t knocked out that way. Finding this loose string is important I think.”

Quincy also agreed and then said, “Also this is an apparent double feature. Keep that is mind and stay in pairs. As long as that happens the murderer will be unable to get away with a second murder.”

People were beginning to pair up when Zosi called out, “Clemens, come with me. I want to find the other exit to the base and think you would be a good accomplice. Do you mind coming with me?”

“Alright, I can do that.”

With that Zosi nodded to Quincy and said, “Looks like I got him today, good luck but I intend to find out the true solution.”

He then began to head off toward Deep Sea Diving section. Clemens gave the others an apologetic look before following Zosi. Clemens jogged a little bit to catch up with Zosi who was walking at a quick pace.

Once they got out of earshot of the other guests Zosi said, “So what do you think?”

“It all seems really complicated. There are a lot more factors into finding a murderer than I thought. I don’t have any idea of who might be the murderer. Nobody really had good alibis.”

“Very true. Nobody had good alibis but I think that was mostly just good luck on the murderer’s side. They clearly did the murder this early in the morning so that as few people as possible had alibis. That was also why they chose Nitzan as the target because he is the earliest riser of all of us.”

“Who do you think the murderer is?” Asked Clemens.

“I have some suspicions but I don’t know for certain so I don’t want to point any figures yet. Since you are inexperienced at this I suspect my ideas would cloud your judgement.”

“Am I really that bad?”

“Not really, I’m just comparing you to people who are true experts in their craft. I can tell you one of my initial ideas though. It is that today was the murder because it was the first day that the murderer did not make any mistakes.”

“Didn’t make any mistakes? Isn’t the murder just committed once?”

“Alright, say I plan on murdering Nitzan early in the morning so I wake up extra early and leave. However I get caught on the lift by another one of the guests. What do I do?”

“Cancel the murder?”

“Exactly. Strange behavior is especially remembered when it is paired with a memorable occasion. It is easy to remember who you saw on the day of the murder but give it a couple of days and you might know remember or mess up the times or just think it was normal. It took five days for the murder to happen, plenty of time to wait for the perfect moment where nothing is found out about your murder.”

“Alright, sure that makes sense, but what does that tell you?”

“It means the part of their plan where they are most likely to be caught is early in the plan. If you could easily get caught after the murder is committed it is too late to reverse course. If you get caught before actually committing the murder it is much easier to fake what you are doing and convince the person that is it normal.”

“So who qualifies for that?”

“It is easier to eliminate subjects that prove one. For example I do not think you or Isaac are the murderer since that would require you to have returned to the hotel section after the murder. If you were caught doing that it would be disastrous. Qunicy is still potentially in the running but only if Nitzan legitimately exited the resort of his own accord. Not much to cross off but it is a little.”

They had arrived at the Deep Sea Diving entrance. Zosi approached the panel and fiddled with it from a moment. After a few minutes of concentration he said, “It looks like what Marylou said is true. The exit and entrance times of Nitzan match up and nobody used the entrance before or after.”

“Could the panel have been tampered with?”

“Full fledged hacking is against the rules since other people wouldn’t be able to detect it. The exceptions are if the correct answer could be deduced elsewhere.”

“Your rules are all complicated.”

“Not really, it all boils down to being fair. We, the solvers need to be able to correctly identify the murderer and anything that makes that impossible to do is forbidden. However the next step is to find another entrance. So you think you could find Sarita? If she could assist in confirming or denying the entrance question that would help immensely.”

“Does the portal say whether she has left through it recently? She sometimes spends an excessive amount of time outside the resort. Days at a time sometimes.”

“According to this she was done for around 5 hours two days before the murder but she returned after that. But…” Zosi checked the record for a while and then finally said, “However I can confirm that there is another exit to the resort. There are several records which repeat her leaving or entering.”

“So there are times she must have used the other entrance to arrive after leaving from this one or visa versa?”

Zosi nodded, “Now do you think we can find her?”

“I have a couple of places that we might be able to find her but no certain thing. She knows this place much better than I do.”

The first place they checked out was the the lower observation chamber. The room was dim and gloomy like usual. It was empty with no Sarita in sight.

Zosi wandered round the room looking at things.

“It looks like she isn’t here.” Said Clemens and he walked up to the chair that she normally sat in. He picked up a book that was sitting nearby, it was the one he expected it to be. “She left the book here so she probably isn’t gone for an extended period of time and will probably be back at some point.”

“You know the book?”

“It was written by one of the previous guests here. It arrived recently and I got to read it first. She hadn’t had a chance to read it before you all arrived so she started it at around that time as well.”

“And she was planning on reading it during our stay here.”

“That is what she said. Should we try looking for her elsewhere?”

“Maybe but it is more important to find the alternate entrance. If this is one of her hideouts then I suspect it might be nearby. Maybe a service exit used by repair robots. Lets get going.”

—-

Quincy and Marylou had arrived in the hotel section of the resort. Quincy had put himself in charge of searching everybody's rooms and Marylou had volunteered to assist him.

Once they had arrived Marylou began to pester him, “Alright then Quincy, just what are you expecting to find in everybody’s rooms? Restraining equipment? Drugs? Secret skeletons in closets?”

“Maybe all of the above. It was strange. The note we found implied a motive of revenge and that the next victim is going to be associated with the first. So we are going to go digging up that association. If we know who the next victim is going to be then we might be able to prevent it and discover the murder in one fell swoop.”

“And you don’t think that I am that associate?”

“Honestly, I don’t know yet. But bringing you along will make it easier to search the other women’s rooms. I trust you enough to provide me accurate details about Demetra and Severina.”

She grinned mischievously, “Trust is dangerous Quincy, don’t you know that. What if I am the murderer and you are my second target?”

“Then you will be quickly caught since all the others know what we are doing.”

“You are so boring like that. Fine, I’ll help you search the rooms, I’ll even let you search my room as a special favor. What do you think about that?”

“Frankly, I’m terrified you might have skulls in your luggage.”

Marylou grinned wildly, “Oh, you know me so well.”

“I’ll just go down the list alphabetically, so that bead Demetra is first.” Quincy had gotten grudging permission to search the rooms from the other guests which allowed him to access the doors.

The door to Demetra’s room slide open and the two of them entered. The room was well organized. Demetra had hung up a variety of dresses up in the closet. The bathroom contained a variety of makeups.

Marylou flipped through a large notebook on the bedside table and said, “It looks like notes about her stories. Tricks and tips for effective storytelling with specific examples about each one.”

Quincy was looking around the main room, “There doesn’t seem to be anything unusual here either.”

Marylou proceeded to check out the bathroom but came back empty handed, “Nothing there but some dirty clothing.”

“She didn’t really bring much with her did she?”

“Unless you can break into her computer there doesn’t seem to be anything else here.”

The next room was Isaac’s room. There were some photos setup near the bed showing a younger Isaac standing next to a pair of smiling women. One of which looked about his age and one quite young.

“Pictures of Isaac’s family. Not any different than the last time. He is consistent if anything.” Said Quincy as he picked up one of the picture frames.

“Wow… he had a lot of different hair product!” Said Marylou who had already snuck into the bathroom and was snooping around. “He had even more different products than me. Is this hair jell scented? Wow…”

“Get out of there. Aren’t you supposed to be more reserved?”

“Hardly, I came with you because I wanted a chance to do all the snooping.”

“I don’t really notice anything in his closet either. Although he has carefully folded all his clothes.”

“Oh, here is something of interest. It looks like Isaac has an old guidebook for this resort. It looks really old, I wonder where he got this.” Said Marylou as she took the book out of his bedroom and showed it off to Quincy.

Qunicy took a look at the book and flipped it open to the front cover, “The book is a few decades old. Who knows how many copies of this book still exist, I didn’t even know this existed before organizing this trip and I did look for something like this.”

“Evidence do you think?”

“Maybe, Isaac does work in advertising so finding something like this would be easier for him, but still…” Said Quincy hesitating.

Marylou placed down the book on the table. “At least it is something to keep in mine.”

“Next to my room, I can stay back and give color commentary.” Said Marylou as they entered her room.

The room was in fact not full of skulls. There were however a number of other strange things. She had a little display with a bunch of old flowers surrounding a stuffed animal.

“And what is this?”

“Oh, poor, Jurmine, he died of heartsickness because he was rejected.”

“… … …” Quincy just looked at the display. Eventually he just turned away from it and began to explore the rest of the room. Marylou make a pouting expression as he did that.

“Are these knives?” Said Quincy as he pulled out a case. There were five different knives of various sizes in it.

“All the better to eat you with.”

“… … You have just lucky that Nitzan did not die to knife wounds.” As he slide the knives back under the bed where they previously were. “Did you bring this stuff just to tease whoever eventually searched your room?”

Marylou turned her head upward and started whistling. Quincy sighed and continued to search the room. Those first two were not the only troll items that she had brought with her. She had also brought a vial labeled “Poison, do not drink” and Qunicy almost put his hand into a pocket full of pins and only managed to avoid that because Marylou couldn’t stop snickering.

Finally he stepped back and said, “Well, if you do have any clues that you are the murder then you have appropriately stopped me from discovering them. Not I think I will head out of this deathtrap.”

“What??” She sounded disappointed, “There are still a few more surprises left.”

“Such a pity.” And there was the sound of the door to her room closing.

Nitzan’s room was the next one. It was always good to check the room of the victim. The place seemed exceptionally somber and quiet even though Nitzan wasn’t truly dead. The room was also fairly messy with clothes strewn, a few bottles, and other things lying here and there.

“No… wait, this isn’t a dirty room. Somebody raided this room.”

“Raided, you mean it was searched by the criminal.”

Quincy nodded, “Yeah, I think that is it… or maybe…” Quincy paused and said, “Or maybe the murderer stole something from him and he turned out his room trying to find it.”

Marylou watched Quincy as he walked through the disturbed room. Nothing was broken but everything seemed to be placed completely at random. Then he stopped and knelt down to pick something up.

“I have taken your treasure. Meet me in deep sea diving and I will return it to you.” Said Quincy as he read the note.

“A clue at last. The murderer must have broken in at some point and left this note.” Said Marylou, “Although I wonder what was stolen. There doesn’t seem to be anything valuable here?”

“No, the murderer must still have it.”

“I wonder what it was that the murderer took? I can’t really imagine Nitzan having something extremely valuable like a jewel or something.”

“Hmm… we will bring it up with the others later.” He glanced around, “There doesn’t seem to be anything else here. Let’s go check out the next room.”

Severina’s room was next. When the door slide over Marylou shook her head in disappointment, “She is such a poser.”

Just inside the room was a small pink stuffed rabbit. Quincy felt uncomfortable as they stepped inside. There wasn’t just one cute stuffed animal, there were a bunch of different ones.

It contrasted strangely with the closet of black clothing.

Marylou find a stack of videos and picked one us, “I’m not even certain if she should try as hard as she does.” She showed some unusual pink movie which said something about the power of friendship. “I’m really not feeling the gap, what about you Quincy?”

“Hmm, I already knew about her hobbies, you didn’t?”

“I think she must have worked hardener to keep it a secret from me. Really, she would probably look extremely cute if she dressed in pink and wore her hair up. Instead she keeps doing that dark and gloomy look.”

“You shouldn’t just other people. After all your room wasn’t the pentacle of normal.”

“Fair point. I’ll go check the bathroom then. You see if there is anything else out here.”

A few minutes later they meet back up again and Marylou said, “Nothing, well, she did have some disgustingly cute bottle of bubble bath solution but I don’t think she committed a murder with that.”

“Nothing here either.”

Somarliðr’s room was next. Even compared to the other rooms this one was almost completely barren. He had some clothes and some toiletries but beyond that there was practically nothing.

“Is he trying to be zen or something?” asked Marylou.

“He has mentioned that food and mysteries are the few things he actually cares about. Maybe zen is the right word for that.”

“There is really nothing here, or at least nothing that would point to him as the murderer.”

“He has some extra midnight snacks stashed away in the mini-fridge but that is all that I have too.”

“Maybe I should leave him a gift to help spice up his room.”

“Don’t”

The next room was Quincy’s room.

“You have more than one copy of this game?” Asked Marylou as they entered the room. Several copies of the board game had been setup all across the room each with a different set of positions on each one.

She walked through them examining each of them, “What, studying opening sequences or something? Are you upside that I managed to beat you a couple of times?”

He shrugged and said, “I sometimes have trouble sleeping and this helps me relax. However once I have a problem I don’t want to mess with it so instead I setup a new board. Then I’m out of boards. I considered bringing a few more but didn’t want to carry any more than I did.”

Marylou made a move on one of the boards which caused Quincy to flinch. “Well at least your improvements makes sense now. I played a few practice games to get in the mood but this is really something else.”

“And my boards aren’t covered with needles so you can feel free to touch them.”

“I sense some hostile resentment.”

“Try not to injure investigators next time. That is all I really ask.”

Marylou wandered around the room for a couple of minutes looking at things before finally shrugging and said, “I don’t see anything strange here.”

Zosi’s room was next. It was practically lively compared to Somarliðr’s room. He had all kinds of kick-nacks stacked around.

“Wow,” said Quincy, “The collection has really grown since the last time I have seen it. He really puts a lot of effort into it.”

“What are these?” asked Marylou.

“His souvenir collection. He likes trying everything and also collecting things from all the different places that he went. I think he deliberately brings them to show off to whoever searches his room, a little like you in that way.”

“There are quite a lot of them. I imagine it would be a pain to carry all of them.”

Marylou was walking around the room examining all of the different little items. Some of them were small statues, or a plate, sometimes something else as well. It was an odd collection of items.

“See,” she said holding an old knife up, “I’m not the only one who brought a knife.”

“You sharpened yours.”

“What good is a dull knife?”

Quincy ignored her and returned to searching the room. Zosi’s bed was extremely rumpled but he had been woken up to go see the body so that was to be expected.

The last room to search was one they had forgotten to check until the end. They heading to Clemen’s room.

“Ohoh, it looks like our special guest has a thing for this fish lady who must be Sarita.” Said Marylou after having burst into his room.

She had discovered his small collection of drawings that still lay on the table.

“He has a good talent.” Said Quincy he also approached and picked up a picture showing all eight of his group arriving at the resort. “A good memory for details too.”

Marylou was instead staring at the several different pictures of Sarita that Clemens had carefully put away in the nearby drawer. “I think I could give him some good tips.”

“Nobody wants tips about how to stalk people.”

Marylou glared at him but did not deny it.

Beyond the drawings there wasn’t much else in the room.

They had finally finished the searching of all the different rooms and were taking a break in the chairs on the first floor just under all the rooms.

“Well, we went through all the rooms.” Said Quincy, “We managed to get a hit from Nitzan’s room about some potential events that happened but nothing about who could be the second victim.”

“Really? I think I figured it out pretty well.”

Quincy shot his eyes over to look at Marylou, “Oh, really? I didn’t see anything. Who do you think it is?”

“Really it was pretty obvious. You need to practice more at hiding information. Your reactions in Nitzan’s room make everything very easily understandable.”

“You think I am going to be the second victim?”

“There isn’t any really have proof but I am certain about the deduction. When we arrived in Nitzan’s room your immediate leap to theft and that he must have search the room for it suggests that you know what it would be that was stolen. Indeed since that room you have been acting more distracted.”

Quincy stayed quiet as Marylou spoke and his placid face more than confirmed her suspicions.

“So, Quincy, care to open up and tell me what this is all about?”

“This… really isn’t relevant to the investigation I would think.”

Marylou just stood there silently judging that comment. Finally be broke and said, “Alright, alright, I’ll come clean. But you will have to wait. I want to tell everybody together. If I just told you then it would be unfair to them.”

“This sounds extra suspicious. As the second potential victim wouldn’t it be better to tell me now so that you aren’t killed before you get a chance to tell everybody.”

“Still… It was something I was planning to reveal after the end of this event so it would be better if it remained that way. The fact that the murderer knows and is using it as the catalyst for this game is just… well appropriate I guess but doesn’t actually reveal anything about the murderer.”

“If you want to remain dodgy there isn’t much I can do to change your mind but I’m going to keep an eye out for you. Who knows what strangeness you might be planning?”

—-

It wasn’t until the next day that everybody got together to talk about the details again. They were all sitting in the circle again. Quincy raised his hand to call everybody's attention.

“Alright, it is now time to explain everything that people have learned during the last day. Does somebody want to start first?”

Isaac raised his hand, “Me, Severina, Somarliðr, and Demetra worked together to do some tests with the entrance to deep sea diving. It took us multiple tries to get it working but we were able to get a tied up Severina through the airlock without the airlock showing that anybody else had gone through.”

“Really?” Asked Quincy, “That does open up the possibility of somebody faking the entrance.”

“There is a problem though. Putting somebody outside is pretty time sensitive. If a body is left in the airlock too long it closes again and removes all the water. If you wanted to pull off this trick you would need an accomplice on the outside to pull the body out of the airlock otherwise it will fail.”

“Are you saying that the murderer had an accomplice?”

Somarliðr shook his head regretfully, “Unfortunately we can’t tell that. If Nitzan left and arrive by his own power then no accomplice is needed since the murder happened after that point. If it really was a body that was brought in and out than an accomplice is necessary. We tried all kinds of things to avoid the need for that but weren’t able to come up with anything.”

“I see, Quincy and Zosi, did you come up with anything?”

Zosi said, “We have some clues but nothing definite. We found the other entrance to Poseidon Resort and what we learned was interesting. One one side there is only one possible person that accomplice could be, if indeed there is an accomplice. One the other side that accomplice isn’t any of us here.”

There was a moment of confusion among the crowd before people began to understand what was said, “You mean the accomplice must be Sarita?” Asked Marylou.

Clemens sighed and said, “Yes, she is the only possible candidate. She left the resort approximately six hours before the murder took place and, since the last time we checked, she hasn’t returned. She is still out there in the ocean.”

“Still not a 100% proven, but a likely scenario.” Said Quincy. “Now I will explain what we found in the rooms. No information about the murderer but there were some interesting tidbits. Nitzan’s room had been thoroughly searched. We suspect that the murderer stole something from Nitzan and used that to lure him out when he was then murderer. There was a note in his room that confirmed this.”

Marylou spoke out, “Are you going to explain the rest too?”

“Yes, yes, I’m getting to that. Because of this raid I believe that I am going to be the target of the next murder.”

“I figured that out, you were trying to stay all secretive.”

There was a bunch of surprised mutterings from all the different members. As it began to quiet down Zosi asked, “Any why would you be the next target? The first murder node mentioned a partner.”

“Yes, well, I’m just about to explain that. Me and Nitzan were going to explain the situation together at the end of this event and it seemed strange to announce this by myself so I am kinda nervous.”

Then the lights in the room suddenly shut off and the entire room was cast into pitch blackness. There was loud sounds as chairs fell over. Then a scream that immediately silenced into a gurgle. It was then than a full minute before a glowing light appeared, the light from a screen held by Marylou.

It cast very light illumination but enough for people to recognize each other. She too a few steps forward and said, “Damn, I knew he should have fold be everything when he had a chance. Now we are going to have to wait until the very end to get anything out of him.”

Beneath the light that she held was the collapsed form of Quincy. A ring of blood around his neck was clearly visible. She knelt down beside him and was quickly joined by the others who had composed themselves.

“A metal wire.” She said as she pointed toward one end. “It would be razor sharp, able to kill practically instantly.”

Zosi nodded as he examined it, “The murderer must have know that lights out would have happened and used that exact moment to kill him. They must have had the wire prepared before hand. Any nobody noticed, a failure on our party.”

He glanced around at all of the different members one of which was the murderer.

Isaac, Demetra, Severina, Somarliðr, Marylou, and Zosi. There were only six remaining members among which the murderer hide.

There was an extremely long moment of silence before Clemens broke it saying, “Ummm, when do you think that the lights are going to come back on?”

Isaac looked up, obviously not seeing anything, and said, “Good question. I wonder who turned off the lights. It could have been a timer but I highly suspect the accomplice line of reasoning. Sarita would have the perfect knowledge to know where to do this and if in communication with the murderer would know exactly when to pull this off.”

Severina narrowed her eyes under her long hair and said, “But when did the murderer communicate with Sarita to pull this off.”

Demetra said, “Good question, I suppose it must have been while the murderer was in their room over the night.”

“Perhaps,” Said Isaac as he continued to examine the corpse. He had an inquisitive look on his face as he mentally poured through all of the different things that he had learned. Eventually he looked up and shared a look with Marylou and said, “Marylou, I had some specific questions about what you and Quincy found in the rooms. Hopefully it would confirm my theory.”

Somarliðr stroked his chin and said, “I also have an idea but I would like to go off by myself to check it out. I’ll be back tomorrow when people can provide their guesses.”

“I will join you.” Said Severina. Somarliðr nodded and the two of them began to leave.

“I guess I will go try and get the lights to work again. Maybe there will be some clue there too.” Said Demetra.

“Then I will come with you.” Said Isaac. He then looked over to Clemens and asked, “Are you want to come with us?”

Clemens shook his head, “No, I’ll stay here.”

Isaac nodded and the two of them went off to search for the way to turn on the lights.

Zosi and Marylou were whispering off a little bit from Quincy. Clemens instead leaned down and looked at the fake body. There was very little blood but that was probably expected because of the fakeness.

Everybody else had gone out on their own and Clemens had something else he wanted to do. “I have my own investigation that I would like to do. Like the others I will join back here tomorrow for the next meeting. Is that alright?”

Zosi looked over and Marylou gave a wicked smile, “Have we awakened the spirit of a detective in you?”

“I wouldn’t say that but I am interested in what I can find out by myself.”

“Good luck then.”

—

Several minutes later Clemens as again in the depths of the resort, back in the observatory looking out into the caves. Again it was empty and even darker than usual since the only light was the flashlight he had brought with him. It was a diving flashlight that he had found in the deep sea diving room.

He approached the table once more and picked up the book that was still sitting there. He thumbed it open and then set it back down. He then looked around into the darkness of the other exit.

“You can hide if you want but I know you are there. Your bookmark has moved to a different section of the book since yesterday which means you have to be nearby.”

With that there was a glimmer off down the hallway has his flashlight reflected slightly off almost pitch black eyes and Sarita walked out of the darkness, “You were able to tell from just that. I hadn’t considered that it would give me away.”

“Neither of us as experiences as any of the others but I do think trying to be a detective is a little bit fun.”

Sarita gave a shark smile and said, “Aren’t you worried that I might kill you? After all I’m assisting the murderer.”

“The fake murderer.”

“Yes, the fake murderer, but still. Shouldn’t you play along with the game?”

Clemens gave a light grin and said, “I suppose we should. Although I don’t suppose you can give me any hints on which of them it is?”

“No way, I want them to get away with it since I’m on their team. You haven’t figured out any of the clues yet have you?”

“Not exactly but I think some of the others have figured things out. Plus I got a confession out of you that you were assisting the murderer so at least I have something from this encounter.”

“Ouch… you got me. I should have been more careful about that. It seemed so obvious to me but part of the plan was to cause uncertainty as to whether I helped or not but I guess I gave that away. Maybe I’m just not cut out to be a murderer. Although I suppose if I kidnap you now nobody will be able to extract that information from you.”

“Everybody else has paired up and I’m the only person alone. If I disappear it would be completely obvious that you did it.”

“Ah, well, that seems true. I suppose I’ll just have to hide away from the others so at least I can escape and not get captured.”

“I could try and capture you now but that seems unlikely to work.”

“I’m a lot stronger than I look. I could easily lift Nitzan without much effort. You wouldn’t have a chance against me.”

“You just sound scary when you speak like that. However could I ask for one small favor? Do you know where I can turn the lights back on from?”

——

“Thank you for coming here today. For today we are going to reveal the identity of the culprit.” Said Zosi.

He and Marylou were standing in the center of the ring of chairs. There were both wearing hats exactly like the one that Quincy had worn. Floppy in the front and back but buttoned up on the sides. If there had just been one then Clemens would have though they took it from Quincy but if both of them had it then either Quincy had a spare or they also owned the hat.

“Prepare to be amazed because the truth will shock you.” Said Marylou who was mimicking the movements that Quincy usually made.

The others all looked disappointed that the solution had been stolen from them by these two.

“So who was it?” Asked Clemens.

“Tisk tisk tisk.” Said Marylou wagging a finger, “All in good time. First we must explain the situation of the crime.”

“The first important piece of information is when the first victim died. His time of death was approximately 8am. However remember that is just an approximate. We also know that he returned to the base at exactly 8:20am. This means that he died either just before or just after he arrived back at Poseidon Resort.” Said Zosi.

Marylou continued, “Indeed, when he left the base of 5:15am he must have been alive at that time. No amount of approximates will have him die three hours earlier.”

Zosi took his turn next with flawless cadence, they must have spend some time practicing, “We also know Nitzan received a note telling him to meet with them at deep sea diving where the murderer would return the stolen item.”

“So the critical question that is at the heart of everything is ‘How did Nitzan end up outside the resport while tied up’ and we are prepared to answer that question and many others.”

“You need Nitzan probably knew that the murderer was going to try and murder him, after all that is why we all came here. However there was one thing that he needed to know and that was the identity of the murderer. All of the notes we have found are printed so discovering their identity from just that was impossible. So he met up with the potential murderer and that is when tragedy struck.”

“Nitzan was poisoned. Knocked out with an orally ingested poison. His fondness for beer was his undoing which caused him to become incapacitated. With that the murderer was able to tie him up, put a rebreather on him, and sent him from the resort to the accomplice that was waiting outside.”

Isaac held up his hand, “Wait, that is all well and good but how would that be possible? Nitzan would hardly fall for a trick to drink poisoned beer when going to meetup with somebody he thought was the murderer.”

“Actually,” Said Marylou with a cruel smile, “we lied to you. We believe that Nitzan had no idea that the person he met up with was going to murder him. It was probably the farthest thing from his mind. He was just there to get the item that was stolen from him back.”

Severina then tilted up her head and said, “Oh, clever, very clever.”

“Umm… can somebody explain it to me?” Asked Clemens, “I don’t understand at all.”

“My dear Clemens,” said Marylou, “What we are implying is that Nitzan didn’t suspect anything because he was the murderer.”

“But… wasn’t he the murdered? Did he fake his death?”

Zosi shook his head, “No, an elaborate ruse. When this event was made the murderer who was chosen was Nitzan. However the actual murderer was not him, our culprit took it into their own hands to steal the role of murderer from Nitzan and become the new villain in this grand play.”

“Is that even allowed?”

Somarliðr spoke, “Criminals are the ones that break the rules not the investigators. What more brazen rule could you break then the most fundamental one.”

“Exactly,” Said Marylou, “This is why Nitzan let his guard enough to drink a poisoned beer, after all he would be completely immune to being murdered, or so he thought.”

Zosi turned and looked at Clemens, “And we were able to get confirmation from Clemens that Sarita was indeed an accomplice who helped move Nitzan out of the resort and then back in although she refused to name the actual murderer and is still on the run.”

“Next on the order of business is simple matter of actual murder. With Nitzan back in the resort drowning him while unconscious is an extremely simple matter. Even just a simple bucket of water. With the deed done removing the victim’s restraints and moving them to the gym was all that was left. After all the murderer wasn’t capable of moving the body more than a short distance.”

“You have kept us as a captive audience long enough” said Demetra, “Who actually committed this crime.”

“Not yet!” Said Marylou, “There is still more, after all I am sure that everybody is curious about the cause of all this. What was stolen from Nitzan and what connection did he have with Quincy. A difficult question to be sure.”

“There are many little clues but the most important was after Nitzan arrived he was calm enough to want to relax with a beer. Which meant that he believed that the murderer was going to return it. The item in question must also be associated with whatever Quincy was planning on telling us about when he was so rudely murdered.”

“All that comes together to say that the item is related to the future of this association.”

Zosi nodded along and then said, “Now before we reveal our proof it is time for the grand reveal.”

There was a moment of tense silence and the in unison both Zosi and Marylou pointed to the culprit.

“Demetra it was you.”

She seemed unruffled and raised an eyebrow, “Me? Why do you think it was me.”

Zosi smiled knowingly, “There are many reasons but I suppose the primary one is that I caught you in your mistake.”

“Whatever do you mean?”

“The morning of the murderer I was enjoying myself and wondering the resort when I accidentally found you in one of the bars. You invited me to join you and then we partied for a few hours before we parted ways and I returned to my room.”

“I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”

“I’m sure you were extremely surprised to see me. You had to change your plan. Maybe there had been some other weird plan to kill Nitzan that you had to abandon since you encountered me. After all you had just come back from the Deep Sea Diving to hide an important piece of evidence.”

“And what would that be?”

The others had already seen the line that was going followed and Severina said, “Poisoned Beer.”

Zosi nodded, “Exactly. You couldn’t just abandon it at the scene of the crime or drop it in any old waste bin. You needed to hide is somewhere that nobody would ever find it. What better place than a bar. They would have to search through many bottles to find anything and a mostly empty bottle in the waste bin of bar is normal.”

There was silence from Demetra at that moment.

“Oh,” said Marylou, “and as for proof, we found it. An almost completely empty bottle in one of the trashes. Initially I had given up hope finding it after we failed to find it in the bar the two of you were in but not too far away was a second bar, one with it in the trash. You must have moved it after the fact to make it even harder to find but I was persistent.”

The stares at Demetra was basically audible.

“In addition,” said Zosi, “In the big circle you sit next to Quincy. That means in the dark you would have the best opportunity to kill him with a wire when the lights go out. As long as you knew when it would happen there was no chance of you getting caught in the act.”

“That is a lot of circumstantial evidence you have. Nothing definitive that it was me.”

“Ohh… resisting are we?” Asked Marylou, “But unfortunately your fate was completely sealed. After all there is this.” She pulled out a small makeup container, a light skin tone one. Marylou then tossed it to Demetra who caught it.

Marylou and Zosi looked extremely proud of themselves. Marylou then spoke the damning words, “It is easy. Just take a small taste of that. If nothing happens then you will be free and we will have failed. However if you fall unconscious then… well, we all know what that means.”

Demetra flicked open the small makeup container. Then she clicked it closed again and began to laugh while holding up her hands, “You got me. Perfectly. You two really showed your true skill here. I’m extremely impressed.”

There was a high five between Marylou and Zosi and everybody else relaxed as the tension in the room dissolved.

Demetra help up the makeup container and said, “I had thought that at least would slip by, how did you managed to figure out which one was the correct one.”

Marylou said, “It was the only one that wasn’t there during my initial search. When I find did my search that container wasn’t there so I hadn’t been able to find it. You must have returned it to your room after that, hiding it among your other makeup containers.”

“Brilliant, although I’m impressed that you managed to remember which ones had changed.”

“Nah, I just took pictures of all the different rooms. Good detective work is important.”

“However there is still the million dollar question.” Said Demetra, “What and where is the item that I stole from Nitzan.”

“Oh, that.” Said Severina quietly, “I already found it. It was hidden in the bowling alley, someplace you must have never expected to get searched.”

Demetra just shook her head in complete defeat.

“So what was it?” Asked Isaac.

“Secret. Alrighty gave it back to Nitzan.”

Somarliðr looked around and said, “It is probably safe to call them back now, after all the mystery is solved. Unless you want to make sure they know other things as well?” He asked Demetra.

“No, I think they covered everything. Severina clearly understands the purpose of the item.” Severina nodded, “So if she wants to wait and let Nitzan and Quincy explain then I don’t have any other issues.”

“Should I also try to find Sarita? If the game is over maybe she can join us since she did participate as an accomplice.” Asked Clemens.

Somarliðr nodded, “Yeah, you do that. How about we all meet back up at the Diver’s Delight to celebrate. After all the murder had been solved. I’ll make sure they make something special for all of use to celebrate.”

And with that the team broke up again. This time without having to stick together in groups.

—-

Everybody raised their drinks in greeting when Nitzan and Quincy arrived at the beginnings of a party. Nitzan smiled sheepishly and said, “I’m glad everybody enjoyed it. Although I have to admit getting my kill stolen out from under me was not really what I expected. I had all kinds of plans but I guess that aren’t going to happen.”

“As for me,” said Quincy, “I’m just surprised how quickly you figured everything out. Me and Nitzan were expecting to have to wait a few more days before the truth cam out but you all exceeded my expectations.”

Marylou just waved her hand trying to pass it off as nothing before saying, “That is all well and good but there is a secret that is burning a hole is my mind. Half of us already seem to know what it is so give the rest of us a break and reveal it already.”

Quincy nodded, “Alright, I’ll spill the beans. Part of it is bad new, I am unfortunately going to have to retire as the leader of this little organization. I’ve been recruited as a deep space scientist and that will require me to be gone for probably years at a time. If scheduling is lucky then I can probably make one out of three of these events. A tragidy to be sure.”

He continued, “Nitzan is one of the members who have been here the longest so I wanted to make him the next leader of the group. So I bequeathed to him the Record of Murders.”

Nitzan held up the large poorly bound book full of loose pages. It drew the eyes of everybody. The legendary record of all the murders and investigations that all of them had participated in. Only brought out once a year after the event to reminisces over all the previous events.

Marylou smacked her head, “Of course. Why didn’t I realize that was missing from Quincy’s room. That would have been an obvious clue about the entire scenario.”

“When I found it I realized that it meant.” Said Severina.

Quincy looked at the book full of memories, “Demetra was also one of the founding members so she also knew in advance about the change of leadership. I was pretty certain from the beginning that it was her but without evidence I wasn’t able to prove it. After all it was possible that one of the others also learned about it and decided to pull such a trick.”

Demetra smiled and said, “I’m not really opposed to letting Nitzan take over. He is far more serious about work than me so I’m sure he will be a much better actual leader than me. However that knowledge didn’t completely stifle the feelings of jealousy that I had. So I decided to give you a special sendoff but murdering the two of you.”

“I’ll tell you it was a surprise.” Said Nitzan, “I had no idea you were planning on murdering me that night. And here I was planning on doing something special as well. I guess I’ll have to save all my ideas for the next time. Although pulling everything was pretty unique. However did you convince Sarita to assist you?”

“It was really a coincidence more than anything else.” Said Demetra explaining. “I accidentally found her while I was wondering around. I managed to convince her to share a drink with me and we managed to hit it off.”

“Unfortunately I realized I do not have a high tolerance to alcohol.” Said Sarita. “After a while I mentioned how I was interested in the stuff they were doing but how I didn’t think I would be a very good investigator. If anything I would be a better murderer. I guess that convinced Demetra to trust me and she opened up her plan to me. Although things didn’t go exactly as planned.”

Demetra shook her head saying, “They rarely do.”

“At first I was basing my assumptions on the fact that the murderer hadn’t made any mistakes. When I fist realized that was a false assumption that was the real turning point for me.” Said Zosi, “That was when I figured out that you had tricked me.”

Somarliðr said, “Alright, alright, enough discussion. The food should be here momentarily and we should party. Quincy is off to explore unknown frontiers, Nitzan is our new organization, and most of the rest of us get to celebrate our victory over the murderer.”

“Penalty Game.” Said Severina.

“Oh, no, don’t worry about that.” Said Demetra, “it is better to enjoy yourself while you can. And I wasn’t really the chosen murderer anyways so I don’t think I will need to play a penalty game.”

Nitzan used this moment to smile, “Oh, well, as the new leader I definitely think you need to enjoy a penalty game, if you weren’t the murderer you need to be punished for breaking the rules after all.”

“This is an abuse of power.” Said Demetra and everybody laughed.

The party continued with the tension that had been among them during the game gone. They were speaking like old friends, which they were.

Nitzan handed over the Record of Murder for Clemens and Sarita to look over. It was full of stories about many different murders in many different places. Full of cruel murders, and brilliant deductions. More of a scrapbook full of pictures and small clippings than anything else but clearly important memories for all of them.

—-

With the mystery complete the days quickly came and went with everybody enjoying their remaining time at the Poseidon Resort. Dinners were being shared giving everybody a chance to speak and enjoy themselves before they would all finally go off and return to their normal lives.

On the last day before everybody would leave Nitzan and Quincy found Clemens and Sarita to speak with them.

“Nitzan, this is your job now.” Said Quincy.

“Alright, well, since our event is over it is about time for everybody here to leave. However I wanted to thank you for joining us in our mystery. And…” He paused, uncertain for a moment. Quincy just stood there letting him find the words, “If you ever want to join us again then you are welcome. We meet together once a year to do mysteries and you are free to join us. Our events are all over so you can use it as a chance to visit new places. Here.”

He handed out a small business card. There was some contact information for the group on the card. “You can contact me and I’ll make sure to let you join us for the next one if you want. Although you will need to step up your game we are quite competitive.”

Clemens took the card and looked at it, “Thanks, I’m not certain but maybe I’ll try it. It was fun and different than I had expected. What about you Sarita.”

“Hmm… wouldn’t that involve leaving the resort.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not trying to pressure you or anything. Just that it can be fun to get together and have fun with each other. You can make the decision whenever.”

Quincy clapped Nitzan on the back and said, “Good job. Give it a few more attempts and you will be perfect. I would also like to thank you for helping out this event. This place is a real gem and I’m glad I got to experience this place. Although I doubt I’ll be able to came back anytime soon, after all I will be gone for a long time. But if I were to see you again in a meetup in the future then I would be glad to see you.”

As they thanked Clemens and Sarita the others began to arrive one by one with their large bags. As Marylou passed by she said, “I managed to convince Isaac and Severina to leave a couple of their movies here. Your selection isn’t really that modern so hopefully future guests will have more things to watch. Well, have fun down here you two.”

Then they all gathered together in the elevator and waved to Clemens and Sarita as the doors shut and they were whisked away back to the surface.

“There are gone.” Said Clemens.

“Everybody eventually leaves. That is why it is a resort.” Replied Sarita.

“I’m still here.”

“For now at least.”

“That was fun though. Having just exciting guests. Between them and Esme everybody who has arrived here had been quite interesting. I wonder what kinds of people will show up next time.”

“Being interesting isn’t normally. Usually they just come and go without incident.”

“Did you try talking with them to figure out why there were here?”

“Umm… not really. I was busy… with work…” Said Sarita basically trying to evade responsibility for her own actions.

There was a moment of silence as the two of them just looked at each other. After that awkward moment Clemens managed to muster up the courage to ask, “Your work, it sounds very interesting. While I have watched the ocean a lot from the observation deck I’ve only been out there for short moments. Sometime do you think you could show me around outside? Just stuck in here makes me think that I am missing an important part of this resort.”

Sarita turned away not showing Clemens her face. Clemens was about to think she was going to refuse when she eventually said, “Sure, I can show you around sometime.”

Chapter Five — The Fish That Escaped

Clemens was in his room drawing a rough sketch. It was an underwater scene full of strange fish and other creatures. The center of the picture was currently empty and he knew what he wanted to place in the picture but that section was still empty, halted by his hesitation.

Then there was once more a notification over the speaker systems. It was the first new guests is quite a while. Ever since the mystery organization left the resort has returned to its normal quite self.

“Two new guests are arriving at Poseidon Resort. Please remember to treat other guests kindly and continue to enjoy your stay with us.” Said the voice.

Having reached a block in drawing anyways Clemens placed the picture on the pile with the others and left the room to go once more to the main hall while he tried to guess what time of guest would arrive this time.

When the doors to the lift slide open and the new guests stepped through them Clemens was at a loose for worse at the dichotomy of the pair of them. It was a man and a woman but they couldn’t have been more different if they tried.

The man was extremely brawny with a circular brimmed floppy had an the kind of shirt that was more pockets than anything else. He also carried a large fishing pole along with the bag that he dragged in. His outfit screamed fisherman more than anything anybody could possibly wear but it seemed so pointless. It wasn’t like there were any fishing holes, the only exits into or out of the resort were airlocks.

The woman who was walking beside him wore the most plain business suit that had ever been conceived of. She wore her hair in a tight bun and was the kind of person you would expect to be an extremely strict teacher.

While walking into the building the man practically shouted, “I’m back you monstrous beast! This time I will not be defeated!” And the woman just quietly followed behind him.

“Umm, hello.” Said Clemens timidly.

“You, who are you?” Asked the man who sounded very angry.

“Nice to meet you, I am Clemens. Am I correct to guess that this is not your first time here at Poseidon Resort?”

“That is correct. I have returned to take revenge on the terrible monster that humiliated me last time.”

“A terrible monster?”

“Eeyyyee, that terrible beast defeated me once but this time it will be different. This time I will be victorious.”

The woman stepped forward a little bit to say, “What he means to say is that he lost a fishing competition with one of the guests here last time he was here and he hopes to defeat her this time. Am I correct in assuming that the woman known as Sarita still dwellls at this resort.”

Clemens looked between the two of them trying to parse what just happened before finally saying, “Does that mean you are looking for Sarita? We can probably find her around somewhere. I didn’t know that she had such friends.”

“We are not friends. Enemies bound by an eternal code where we must fight again and again until the end of time.”

“He said rivals.”

“That makes sense I guess. How about you drop your bags off and I’ll go find her. If you give me your games I can tell her who arrived… although that probably won’t be necessary.”

“I am the mighty fisherman Marius!” Exclaimed the man.

“Suzuna, it is a pleasure.” Said the woman.

“And I am Clemens. I’ll try to bring her back here.”

Then Clemens was off to search for Sarita. His first port of call was the deep observatory however this time it was empty so he had to search elsewhere. He eventually found her at one of the sushi bars. Sarita preferred her fish raw and this was the one place in the resort that offered the food that she desired.

She looked up as he came in and said, “Is this another thing about the new guests?”

Clemens nodded and said, “It was some strange fisherman named Marius who asked specifically for you. Said you were his rival, or something like that.”

Sarita sighed and placed down the wooden chopsticks she was using to eat. “I had hoped that he would never come back. Unfortunately he said he would come back some day so I guess this is to be expected.”

“You beat him in a fishing competition or something?”

“Basically and he seemed to take it as a personal insult and challenged me again. After he lost three times he swore to return and defeat me the next time. That time is apparently now.”

“Do you know the woman that is with him? She said her name is Suzuna.”

“I think she was there last time too however I didn’t really talk with her, well either of them really, so I can’t tell you much about her. I think they are married however.”

“Really? Those two? They seem very different.”

“Your skepticism might be warranted but that is all that I have learned about their relationship. If you want to know more about them then you should ask them yourself.”

“And about his challenge against you?”

“Tell him that I will be at deep sea diving tomorrow at noon and he can challenge me there. And I will refuse to let him challenge more more than once a day.”

“How do these challenges work?”

“Well, we are capturing fish out in the ocean. Surprisingly he can actually use a fishing pole under water pretty well but I just capture the fish with my hands. It is a pain to describe so if you want to see for yourself you might as well come with us.”

“Sure, I’ll do that.” Said Clemens, “Well, I suppose I’ll go tell them about the plan so Marius doesn’t try to track you down himself while screaming your name. I can imagine him doing that.”

“I don’t need to imagine. He did that last time.”

——

Clemens met Marius and Suzuna again in the entrance room. Marius had a box full of small fishing lures that he had open on the table next to him. Suzuna was sitting next to him with a small computer open on the table and was diligently typing away at it.

As Clemens approached Marius called out and said, “Ahoy mate, did you inform the beast of our arrive!”

“I would appreciate it if you did not insult her like that.” Said Clemens.

“Hmmmm…” The man pondered, “But out of all the creatures I have ever seen in those black depths she is the most dangerous. What else should I call her?”

Suzuna just said, “Sarita”.

“Ah, yes, that was it Sarita, the monster of Poseidon Resort. Did you inform Sarita of our arrival?”

“Yes, she has been informed. She said that she would be in the Deep Sea Diving exit at noon tomorrow for the first competition. She also mentioned that she wouldn’t accept more than one challenge a day.”

“Excellent. That will give me time to prepare and practice. This time that mon…. Sarita will not defeat me. After all I went to train in the rocky seas of Fesalin in preparation for this day.” He then grabbed his baitkit and took off toward deep sea diving.

As he left Clemens looked over toward Suzuna and asked, “Is he always like this.”

“Yes, he is always like that.”

“Sarita says that the two of you are married. Is that correct?”

She was still typing at her computer while she said, “Yes, that is true. We have been married for five years now.”

“He seems like a tough man to deal with and very different from you. I’m surprised you go along for that long.”

She looked up from the computer and stared at Clemens for a few moments before saying, “Yes, I suppose we are very different. However that doesn’t really matter. Maybe it is because we are so different from each other that we get along. I very much doubt that somebody like Marius could ever love Marius.”

“Ah, well, that might be true, they would probably clash a lot.”

“Exactly.” Said Suzuna, “And I doubt I could have ever liked somebody too much like me. I needed somebody much more exciting in my life and Marius was perfect for that. Without him I would never go to places like this.”

“Ah, I think I am beginning to understand. Well as long as you two are happy it doesn’t really matter what I or other people think about your relationship.”

“That is true.” Said Suzuna, “When those two go out for their competition are you going to join them?”

“Join them… me? I…” Clemens said hesitating.

Suzuna looked at Clemens thoughtfully, “If I had to guess you are a little bit like me and Sarita is a little bit light Marius. That way you tried to defend her from Marius’ words makes me think that you care about her.”

Clemens knew she was saying the truth, yet at every moment he hesitated. Not certain that he wanted to press forward, afraid to break what he already had.

“I will try to go out with them. I’ve tested the waters before but sometimes I still have trouble dealing with that inky darkness.”

Suzuna looked back down at her computer. “I managed to avoid making a terrible mistake I just hope that you can avoid it too.”

—-

“You are coming outside too Clemens?” Asked Sarita at noon the next day.

“Well, you did promise to show me outside sometime so I figured now would be a good time to practice.”

“Well, I suppose, however this isn’t really what I imagined.” She glanced over toward Marius who had already put on the diving suit. Over which he was wearing his fishing hat.

“It is a good trial experience.” Said Clemens.

Sarita turned away and said, “Whatever. Just get into a diving suit and we will get to leave the resort. Today we will be going to the light reef, a good place for beginners like you.”

She then walked over toward Marius and said, “You, we are going to be hunting a miniature whale today. While they are filter feeders they are more resilient to the sonic frequencies your suit can give out so be careful if they get too close. They are big enough to cause bad bruises if you let them bash you with their body or tails.”

“Don’t worry. My rod here is specially made to handle even the largest of fish. I can handle the worst that you will attempt to throw at me.”

“You do remember that we are only competing indirectly right?”

Clemens has put on one of the wetsuits with flipper to help get around underwater. Like previously Sarita wasn’t wearing anything special, just the equivalent of a swimsuit although she had a small knife strapped to her waist.

Sarita continued “Once we arrive at the light reef I’m going to have Clemens give a begin signal and we are both going to get half an hour to kill or capture a miniature whale. If we both succeed then I’m going to up the ante for tomorrow.”

“That is fine with me. I don’t think something as simple as a miniature whale will be a problem for me.”

Sarita only smiled knowingly before pulling open the airlock and stepping inside. As she did she said, “Make sure you have your radio strapped correctly to your neck so that we can properly communicate to each other underwater and also have the receiver placed correctly in your ear.”

We stepped into the airlock with her and then she shut the airlock and Clemens and Marius watched the tube fill with water.

“The water near the Poseidon resort is heated by the very towers that keep the pressure down so it isn’t as cold as the surrounding oceans.” Explained Sarita as the water rose higher and higher, “There are also not seasons down here and the temperature is basically consistent all year round.”

The water reached the top of Clemen’s and Marius’ heads but they could still hear Sarita talking although it sounded a bit more distorted. The microphone strapped to her neck recorded the appropriate sounds and transmitted those sounds to the earpieces and both of the guys wore. Filtering technology also made it sound almost exactly like it would if Sarita was talking normally.

“The area that we are going is the light reef. It is the region surrounding the nearest gravity tower. The light produced by this tower is the strongest of all the different towers so to provide illumination to the areas that are visible from the resort itself. Because of this the place boasts extensive plant-life and many different types of coral. Avoid touching the coral since it is very fragile.”

The other side of the airlock began to open up and they were all able to swim outside. Sarita lead the way and her swimming was incredibly graceful like she was born to swim, which she basically was.

The swim to the light reef was quick. The giant pillar was easily visible from the observation deck that Clemens very commonly looked out from. He had seen the miniature whales from there before. Calling them miniature was only true in relationship to the larger creatures they were named after. They were four feet long if they were small and could grow up to twelve feet long in the biggest case.

Clemens knew that calling this the easy catch was a bit of an understatement however for all he knew that might be right. Maybe there were far bigger and nastier things out there farther from the light reef. Probably some kinds of large carnivores, the ones the sonic defenses were designed to protect against.

Once they had arrived at the giant pillar that stretch up and up into the ocean Clemens couldn’t help but ask the question, “How tall are these?”

“They are each about a mile tall. Although about of quarter of that is unlit and is needed to keep the pressure manageable. In that section the pressure is still very high and it is only farther down the the continued effects of the pillars make things sustainable for us.” Said Sarita explaining.

“That is huge.” Said Clemens.

“The ones on the edges are even bigger. More than twice as thick and more than a mile high. Those are needed to keep the rest of the sea out. From that I could figure out this technology was initially used to protect space stations which were orbiting black holes and was later adapted to be used underwater and reduce pressure.”

“Enough talking.” Said Marius since they had arrived at the pillar. “It is time for our competition. You said we would have half an hour to catch one of the miniature whales. Come on boy, give us the command and we will be off.”

Clemens looked over are Sarita who seemed to sigh underwater and then he raised his hand. “Alright then, begin.” And he dropped his hand. With that Marius began to swim off toward one of the nearest miniature whales with his fishing pole in hand.

“Also near the edges the lights are weaker which means different ecosystems are off there. Some of the strange creatures near the edge are a marvel to behold since they are adapted to both high and middling pressures.” Said Sarita.

“Don’t you also need to go off and catch the fish?” Asked Clemens.

“I hardly need thirty minutes to catch one of them. I can let him have a head start if we wants it. Its not like getting the fish first is part of the scoring.”

“That might be true but it will probably just make him annoyed or angry. He will think that you aren’t taking him seriously. Which, even if true, isn’t something you should do.”

“Fine, I’ll go then. I can finish telling you about the pillars once I get back.” Then in almost no time she was gone. As the speed Sarita was swimming it was completely clear that she had slowed down to stay with Clemens and Marius one the way over.

She was faster than almost all of the other fish in the ocean. Moving with deliberate movements toward one of the smaller miniature whales in the opposite direction from Marius.

At some point during the journey she had pulled out the knife that she had at her waist. The miniature whale hadn’t even noticed her by the time she had arrived at its position.

With silent ease she had grabbed it around the neck and slide the tip of the knife deep in to the fish’s neck. The creature tried to bat at her for just a few seconds but she held on firmly. With that final reserve of energy gone the miniature whale slowed and then stopped.

The creature was about five feet long. Not the smallest one around her be definitely not the largest. She pulled a coil of rope out of the pouch at her waste and wrapped it around the neck of the creature. Then she began to swim back to the Clemens with the creature in tow.

The entire experience took no more than five minutes. In that time Marius had barely pulled out his fishing pole and was casting it toward a group of the whales. He had positioned himself near a large rock to give himself leverage against the creatures when they started biting.

When Sarita arrived back at Clemens she said, “Well, it has been done.”

“I was wondering.” Ask Clemens, “Why are the called whales? There isn’t any air for them to get so they would need to absorb the oxygen from the water. Wouldn’t that make them fish instead of whales?”

Sarita looked at him, her visage was plainly visible since she wasn’t wearing any diving gear like Clemens was. “They are named like that for a couple reasons. They are filter feeders which eat very small creatures in the water. Also unlike normal fish they filter out the oxygen from the water using the same membrane they use to filter the water.”

“So no gills?”

“That is correct, but one side effect of their breathing strategy is they need a constant flex of water. They can’t just is still and must either continue to move or rest in areas with high currents. While they use the light reef for feeding they also travel a bit away to rest where the currents are higher. The towers also function to keep the currents from outside them from influencing the inside so they generate artificial currents within this zone.”

“Fascinating, they sound like interesting creatures. Are all the creatures down here like that?”

“They are all interesting but if you want to know if they all breath in the same way then no, there are many different forms. There are three different species of whale down here which as far as I can tell are all descended from the same original species that was imported here. The miniature whale is the smallest of them but the most numerous.”

“And you are documenting all these creatures? Isn’t that right?’

She nodded, “Yes, there are so many species down here that are unique to just here but the last time they were documented was ages ago. Some much has changed since then, even that record doesn’t mention these creatures I call the miniature whales, there is a similar species which I believe to be the ancestor of the miniature whale. They were larger back then.”

“How is the process of documenting them?”

“Good enough, I’ve been trying to catalog as many species as I can but there are so many that I’m not certain I even have found all of them. Last year I found a new cave network that I didn’t know existed which contains even more species. Honestly I might never managed to fully catalog all the different species but I’m going to continue to do it.”

Clemens and Sarita continued to talk about the underwater ecosystem while Marius fought against the might of one of the miniature whales. He had cast out into the herd but initially didn’t get any nibbles. Considering the whales were filter feeders they weren’t that interested in a lure.

Instead he had to cast the lure out into the path of one of the whales where the lure got caught in the mouth as the creature passed by it. Once it had caught Marius yanked the rod and pulled back ensuring the hook was firmly caught in the whale’s mouth.

Then he began to reel in the whale. It took him several minutes of reeling to the whale up close to him. The whale had struggled magnificently and the fact that it had been reeled in so close was a testament to the strength and durability of the fishing pole that Marius was using.

With the fish up close to him he lodged the pole into the rocks and pulled out a rope that was tied much like a lasso. With a trained throw the rope moved through the water and then with a pull he looped it around the whale’s tale. Then he tightened it. Then with one hand he grabbed the pole and the rope with his other.

With some kind of special fishing rope trip he send a loop of the rope going down the line of his fishing pole and the miniature whale had became bound completely by the rope. It struggled but with each move the rope only seemed to bind it tighter.

The whale continued to struggle vainly until it couldn’t move at all. Marius was then able to pull it closer without any risk to himself. Once it was within arm’s reach he too pulled out a knife and jabbed it into the whale.

He stowed his pole on his back and then with the tied up whale in tow began to swim back toward Clemens and Sarita. He eyes darted to the dead whale that was floating next to them.

As he got closer he said, “Mine is bigger.”

Sarita looked over his whale which was closer to six feet and said, “Yes it is but that wasn’t party of the scoring. How did he do Clemens?”

“He managed to make it back with six minutes remaining. Both of you managed to complete the catch within the determined time so I think you both get to on to the next challenge.”

“Well, I guess that was good enough for one say.” Said Marius who seemed to be in a better mood than he had been yesterday. “We need to bring these catches back, it looks like we will be eating like kings today.”

Clemens was a little surprised and said, “And here I though you were going to demand that the next competition would be held now.”

“No way, and waste this fish? That were be a terrible waste. Catching fish and refusing to eat them is the biggest insult you could give to a fish.”

It was a kind of strange approval as Sarita nodded along with Marius’ statements. Clemens didn’t really share their same affinity but said, “That makes sense I guess, wasting perfectly good food would be terrible.”

“While we could bring these through the main entrance to the resort it will be easier to take these through the service airlock. That entrance is significantly bigger and will have an easier time accepting these fish. Also you have then easily deliver it to the robots, unless of course you want to cook the fish yourself.”

Because the light reef was close to the resort the swim back was also rather quick. The service entrance was hidden from view which made finding it if you did not know where it was tricker. However both Clemens and Sarita had used it before so entering the resort that way was simple.

Once the water had drained from the airlock Sarita and Marius both lifted their respective fishes. Marius didn’t look that weird because his muscle was clearly obvious. Sarita however looked like she was defying normal human physics by lifting the fish despite her lithe appearance.

Clemens remember her boast that should would be able to easily lift Nitzan and how that was clearly true. The two of them carried the whales over to a service entrance of some kind where they were able to turn the fish over to the robots who would prepare the fish for the evening meals.

“Is is normal for robots to accept guest acquired food this way?” Asked Clemens.

“It is here.” Said Sarita, “Fishing is one of the attractions to this resort so when everything was setup the robots were programmed with the ability to accept fish from the guests. Although when I first arrived here there was a bunch of things that were malfunctioning and that was once of them. I had to call in an engineer to get some many things fixed.”

“How long does it take them to prepare the fish?” Asked Marius.

“With miniature whales it take a couple of hours for them to be butchered.”

Clemens said, “So many we should meet up at Diver’s Delight at dinner time? That will give the robots plenty of time and we have some time to relax before dinner. I for one need to wash the salt out of me.”

“The salt is fine, you get used to it after a while.” Said Sarita.

“Unfortunately I think my skin is itching.” Said Clemens “Maybe I’m just not used to it but I think that shower is really calling to me.”

“Suit yourself.” She said.

“Are you going to join us for dinner?” Clemens asked.

“I might as well. Somebody has to eat all the fish and I doubt you or Suzuna are capable of eating enough.”

Marius had already left, off to tell Suzuna about the story of fishing no doubt. Clemens headed back to his room. While the diving suit did a good job of keeping him mostly clean he still hadn’t felt right until after a shower. He wasn’t as used to the see as Sarita was after all.

Once that was done it was still a while until dinner time so he returned to the picture that he had been drawing before. There was some more hesitation before he drew a few sketch lines. The center of the picture transformed into a battle between Sarita and a Miniature whale with Sarita the inevitable victory.

He didn’t have time to finish before it was time to head down to Diver’s Delight. Marius and Suzuna had already arrived by the time Clemens got down there.

Marius waved and called out, “I’ve saved us a seat. Over here.” He seemed to be in a jovial mood.

Clemens joined them. Suzuna had left her computer behind this time and was sitting next to Marius. She still wore a variation on the boring business suit that she had worn before.

“It looks like your first fishing trip went well.” She said as Clemens sat down across from her.”

“Yes, it did.”

With Clemens there Marius stood up and said, “I’m going to go make sure we get drinks early. Back soon.”

With Marius gone Clemens said, “He seems to be in a better mood. Before the trip he seemed more grumpy.”

“He is basically simple. He likes the things that he likes and gets grumpy when he is away from them for too long. Getting to let loose fishing did a great deal to improve his mood.”

“Have you had trouble with that while living with him.”

“Not really. He basically bottles up his frustrations but he never does anything else other than turn a lot more crass. I mainly notice it in the way he speaks.”

“Doesn’t that cause problems?”

“Maybe a little, but it is because he is a good person that he has these problems. He tries not to press his anxieties onto other people. A surprisingly complicated man if I don’t say so myself.”

It was about this time that Marius came back. In one hand he had a few bottles of beer and one of wine and in the other he had some cups. He looked around the table and said, “Come on, its not a party if we are missing people. Where did Sarita go? She said she would show up didn’t she?”

“Yes I did, and I just arrived.” Said Sarita as she entered the restaurant. Clemens took a short gasp of air without realize it. While it might seem strange since he had seen her so many times in what was equivalent to a bathing suit, her wearing just a simple casual dress took his breath away.

“Excellent,” said Marius basically ignoring the atmosphere. “Sit, Sit, the food will be out shortly but for now we had drinks to entertain ourself. Here you gone Suzuna, I know beer doesn’t treat you well so I brought you some wine.”

She took the bottle gentle and set it down on the table with a, “Thank you.”

“Is beer alright for everybody else or should I get a glass for you?”

“I think I’ll pass one both.” Said Sarita. After her last experience with Demetra she wanted to avoid another experience like that.

“I can probably have one, although I’m not really a drinker.” Said Clemens as he accepted one of the beers.

Marius pointed the spare beer at Sarita and said, “I hope you have something even more exciting for tomorrow. While that miniature whale seemed pretty big it wasn’t very threatening. Maybe a shark tomorrow?”

“Don’t worry, I have a plan for tomorrow although it won’t be what you expect.”

“Hahaha, good to hear.” He then looked up as if sensing something and said, “Oh and it looks like our food is here.”

The robot delivery rolled up and slide the enormous tray of food onto the table. The fish had been cooked in many different ways. Some fried, some grilled, and even some of it was still uncooked and sliced into small pices.

The last part was what Sarita grabbed first and she was quickly followed by the others who grabbed different cooked meals.

Several hours latter the food had been mostly completely devoured. Most of it had been eaten by either Sarita or Marius. While Sarita seemed to prefer the raw fish that hadn’t stopped her from trying everything else as well.

Through the meal however it was Suzuna who had changed the most. Once she ha drank a couple of glasses of wine her personality almost completely changed. She began to eat more and talk more.

More awkwardly for Clemens she began to flirt with Marius quite boldly. It didn’t make things better that Marius returned the flirting with enthusiasm. It seemed that Clemens had found one thing that the two of them seemed to share. A like of alcohol.

Once all the food was gone Marius, seemingly ignoring Sarita and Clemens, picked Suzuna up and carried her away back to their room.

“Well, that interaction was very unexpected.” Said Clemens.

“Yes, when they get drunk both of them really let loose. I was expected it from Marius, but Suzuna…”

“Yeah, she surprised me too. She seemed very straight laced to me previously but now, I’m not sure what my opinion of her is. However that does finally resolve any lingering worries that I might have had about the two of their relationship.”

“It was a bit embarrassing though, maybe I should skip out on the remaining after parties.”

“And leave me all alone in them? I think I would die.”

“You are a big boy, I’m sure you will be fine.”

“But it is fine for you to run away?”

She hesitated before finally saying, “Alright, fine, I’ll stick around.”

Clemens wanted to stay a little longer but he was beginning to feel tired. “Although I think it is time for me to turn in too. I’m not used to that much swimming so my muscles are aching.”

He stood up and began to head out of the restaurant. However just before he left he looked back at Sarita who had returned to the last bits of the food. Then she said, “You look good.”

“WHaWhat?” She said, startled, looked up at him. However he had already turned and fled in embarrassment.

She sat there for a moment with him gone she looked down at her silver scaled arm and said, “How can he just say that. I’m not…” She had dropped the fork that she had been holding and just sat there in the restaurant trying to come to terms with what he had said.

—

The next day Clemens was on his way to the Deep Sea Diving where he would join Marius and Sarita on the next competition. However he found Suzuna lying on one of the couches in the entrance hall.

“Are you alright?” Asked Clemens. She looked a little bit pale so he wanted to make sure.

“Please, don’t speak so loud,” She basically whispered. “Ohh.. My head.”

“Ah,” Said Clemens quietly as he understood the situation she was suffering from a hangover. “Are you going to be fine here?”

“I am good. I was escorting Marius but it was just too much for me so I decided to take a rest here. Just go one, I’m sure I will be better by the evening.”

“Are you sure, you look pretty pale?”

“Yes, go on, I’ll just have to avoid drinking tonight to make sure I recover. My body can’t take it was well as Marius’ does.” She raised a hand, “It is my final regret.” Then her hand dropped and she seemed to immediately fall asleep.

Uncertain if she was actually asleep Clemens moved quietly toward Deep Sea Diving where he was greeted by Marius who said, “Ah, you are finally here. We are going to head out whenever you are ready.”

Sarita nodded and said, “Yes, hurry up. I’ll meet you two outside.” Before abruptly turning and leaving through the airlock.”

“Now I’m wondering if she is alright too.” Said Clemens.

“Did you say something to her? She has been on edge since I arrived here.” Said Marius.

“Uhh… nothing too important. Did she say anything about it.”

“Nope, she was very tight lipped. Now go and finish getting into your wetsuit. Wouldn’t want her to wait too long for us. I’m ready for whatever the next challenge is.”

Clemens quickly changed into the wetsuit and then the two of them left to the deep ocean once more.

Once they were outside Sarita wasted no time in saying, “Alright, today we are going after an animal that while smaller is much harder to capture.”

“Is it a shark this time?”

“Now, we are going after lobsters.”

“Lobsters?”

“Hole lobsters to be precise. This time we are going along the rock face that starts near the resort. A ways down that way.” She pointed. “I’ll explain more along the way.”

Clemens was still feeling tired from the previous day but he kept up at it.

“Hole lobsters are about as long as your leg with pincers that can both cut and crush. While they aren’t too aggressive most of the time they can be violent when attempting to capture them.”

She continued, “In this direction is a large kelp forest. The hole lobster does not live in the kelp forest but instead live in holes in the rock face nearby. They wait for their prey to approach before darting out and snapping at them.”

“Are there other kinds of lobsters as well in this area? Or maybe different crustaceans.”

“Yes, many” But she didn’t elaborate.

“If they live in holes in the rock face then won’t I have an advantage with my fishing pole?” Asked Marius.

“You might think so but you will see why it won’t be that easy when you try.”

It didn’t take long for them to arrive at a thick kelp forest that stretch up extremely high into the ocean. It was extremely thick and they had to stick close together while swimming through it.

Clemens asked, “Is there anything dangerous in this area? This seems like a perfect place for predators to hide.”

“The thickness of the plants prevents any truly big predators from swimming through the area and your sonic emitters should stop anything that would attack you. Plus all of the actual predators here are about our size and they hunt creatures smaller than them. They would only go after a human if they were truly desperate.”

They reached the edge of the kelp forest and Clemens was totally turned around. He could see several giant pillars but wasn’t certain which was the one near the resort. Both of them seemed to be glowing pretty brightly.

There was a sheer cliff in front of them with a lot of the kept growing extremely close to it and even touching it at places. Sarita pointed toward one of the large holes, maybe just big enough to squeeze into.

“The lobsters live in there. The goal is to capture one of them. Again we are going to get half and hour to catch one. If we both succeed then were are going to move onto even more difficult prey. That is if you can succeed in capturing one.”

“Ha, this is going to be easy as pie. With my fishing pole I’ll be able to pull one of them out of there extremely quickly.”

Clemens raised his hand and said, “Alright, on my signal the competition will start. Begin.” And he dropped his hand. Marius began to swim quickly toward one of the holes in the wall.

Sarita instead stay there floating looking at Clemens for a long moment.

Clemens asked, “Is something the matter.”

“No, nothing. I just…. Nothing.” She then also turned and began to swim, not toward the hole but instead into the kelp forest.

Clemens watched her go, she probably had some kind of plan but he didn’t know what it was. Instead he turned his attention to Marius who seemed to be having trouble. He had cast the hook deep into the caves but nothing was biting, or snapping, whatever a lobster would do.

He pulled back the hook and examined it. There was a metal fly at the end which didn’t seem to be attracting the attention of the lobsters. Instead of immediately casting again he looked around him until he spotted a small fishing swimming out of the kelp.

He cast the hook in that direction and in mere minutes he had hooked the fish and pulled it in. It was on the hook but instead of removing it he cast the hook fish and all toward the hole in the wall.

While this was happening Sarita arrived back from the kept forest. One of her arms was covered in a slimy orange fluid. She swam up to one of the holes in the wall and reached her slime cover arm deep into the hole.

Moments later her body tensed and she pulled backward revealing a large lobster looking crustacean. Her hand was gripped tightly around one of the claws. At it got free the creature attempted to snap at her with its other claw but she caught it with her spare hand. Then in one fluid motion she broke both the arms of the lobster. The she landed the flat of her hand straight onto the lobster’s head and its struggles ceased.

Then she slung the lobster over her shoulder and began to swim back toward Clemens. “How has Marius been doing while I was gone?” she asked.

“The lobster wasn’t biting his fly so he caught a different fish and is using that as bait.”

She looked over at his activities and said, “Good thinking.”

They watched at Marius managed to hook one of the lobsters in the hole. When he pulled it out the hole lobster was still grabbing onto the fish that was actually hooked onto the rod.

When with a show of agility that Clemens hadn’t expected Marius rotated the rod and the line ensnared the lobster wrapping it up tight. Then he began to reel into the lobster. Once it had gotten close he pulled out his coil of rope once more and the lobster became inescapably captures.

With his new capture Marius brought the lobster back to Clemens and Sarita. “Hmm, it looks like you beat me in time once again.”

Clemens said, “You got done faster this time. You still had eight minutes on the clock.”

“Your fishing pole tricks are really impressive.” Said Sarita, “I don’t think I would be able to do any of them. You must have practiced a lot to be capable of moves like that.”

“Yeah, they took a while to learn. However with them my rod has never yet failed me. Many of them are lost fishing arts which I have revived.”

“Are lost fishing arts really a think?” Asked Clemens.

“Indeed my boy. There was once a legendary fisherhman who used this arts however he died and most of his arts died with him. The only think that remained were stories of his legendary exploits and a few pictures. I’ve spent many years reviving those lost arts so that I can pass them on and prevent them from being lost again.”

“I hope you find a worth apprentice something.” Said Sarita, “Now we should be heading back. It is still a little bit to get back and I’m sure that Suzuna is waiting for you.”

“Ah, yes, and speaking of Suzuna, I think our next expedition should be the day after next instead of tomorrow. Partying back to back is rough on her and I would like to give her some breaks.”

“You are more thoughtful than I thought.” Said Clemens.

“Hey, I know how to treat people right and I can recognize when she is being overwhelmed. Sometimes I know I might be rough around the edges but I do pay attention to her.”

Clemens smiled and said, “I can tell. Now we should get you back to her then. And also get these lobsters to the resturant.”

The swim back to the resort was again through the kelp forest and they took the service entrance back into the resort again. Once back Marius handed over his lobster to Sarita so she could deliver them both before running off.

Sarita was silent on the way to the restaurant and they dropped off the lobsters without any issue.

With that done Sarita stood there nerviously before saying, “Clemens, do you…”

“Yes?” Asked Clemens.

“No, nothing, don’t worry about it. I’ll see you at dinner then. The lobsters are quite good.”

“Yeah, I’ll see you there.”

Then Sarita began to run off to another portion of the resort.

—

When Clemens arrived for dinner he was surprised to find that nobody else was there. He took a seat and waited for a few minutes until Sarita finally arrived. She looked around and saw that Clemens was also the only other person there.

“What happened? Is Marius not here yet?”

“No idea, I just got here myself. I haven’t seen either of them since I came back to the resort.”

“Me either, should we continue to wait for them or give them a little bit longer?”

Clemens checked his watch and said, “We can probably give them a little bit longer. But if they don’t show up soon we should probably go check on them.”

They didn’t have to wait long before Marius arrived however Suzuna was nowhere to be seen. “Sorry I’m late.” Said Marius, “However it doesn’t look like either me or Suzuna are going to join you for dinner. It seems that she has some down with something and I’m going to stay with her until she feels better. It wouldn’t be proper to stay out late partying without her. I really apologize.” He sounded less boisterous than usual.

“Is she going to be alright?” asked Clemens. “Did you get her some medicine? Should we call in a doctor?”

“I’m already got her some medicine, everything should be fine. I just wanted to come by and make sure the two of you knew we weren’t going to be here tonight. Hopefully I should still be good for our next expedition the day after tomorrow so I’ll see you then.” He then nodded and headed back off to the hotel rooms.

“Oh, dear, well I hope she ends up alright.” Said Clemens.

“She should be fine. There is medicine stocks for anything local that she might pickup and some general medication too. Although she did arrive recently so if she brought this in from outside then she might just have to get better the old fashion way.”

“Are there options for doctors?”

“I think there is one somewhere on the service that can be called in if needed but it should need to come to that.”

“I hope so.”

Not too much later the boiled lobster was brought out. It tasted delicious but Clemens couldn’t help but feel it would have tasted better if Marius and Suzuna had both been there. Both Clemens and Sarita were both mostly quiet throughout the entire dinner.

Sarita was eating faster than normally and was done long before Clemens. Once finished she quickly stood up and left saying, “I guess I’m going to go now too.”

“Have a nice night.”

“… …” She mumbled something but Clemens couldn’t hear it before she was gone.

However once alone Clemens also said something to himself, maybe to work through his own anxieties, “Maybe I made a mistake saying that.”

—

The next day was extremely quiet for Clemens. He was used to quiet days but this one seemed to grind on him, make him worry and wonder all day. Questioning his decisions. Maybe it would better to be more upfront, maybe that would ruin things more. He couldn’t make up his mind.

He was disrupted in the evening my Marius who rushed up to the upper observation deck where Clemens spend most of his time. Marius seemed more worked up than normal.

“What’s wrong? Is Suzuna alright?” Asked Clemens feeling worried.

“No, things have been going downhill. Her fever is getting worse. I am going to take the lift up to go get a doctor for her. I want you to stay with her while I am gone to make sure she gets anything she needs. Please, make sure she stays alright while I am done.”

Clemens nodded, “Yes, of course, I’ll take care of her. Now go,”

Marius nodded thankfully and then ran back off downstairs to the lift out of the resort. Clemens didn’t even both organizing his things before standing up and heading across toward the hotel wing. Along the way she say Sarita running toward him.

“What is wrong?” She asked, “I saw Marius running toward the lifts. Does this have to do with Suzuna?”

Clemens nodded, “Yes, apparently her fever is getting worse and he is going to go fetch a doctor. He put me in charge of making sure she is taken care of, do you want to join me.”

Sarita nodded and the two of them continued to the hotel.

They were able to quickly find the room and Clemens briefly knocked. There was a soft, “Come in” from inside and the door slide open to let them both in.

Suzuna was laying down on the bed with the covers over her. She looked just terrible with messy hair and bags under her eyes.

Sarita looked pale as she ran up to Suzuna and knelt beside her, “How are you feeling?”

“Terrible.” Responded Suzuna, “Is Marius off to the surface then?”

Sarita nodded, “’Yes, he went to go get a doctor.”

“He doesn’t need to worry that much. I’m sure I will get better soon enough.” She coughed a little, “I’ve been worse than this before.”

Clemens also stepped forward and said, “You shouldn’t be so casual about it. If your sickness does get worse than it might be too later for a doctor to show up. Better to call one now and for it to be premature than wait to long and find out there is nothing you can do.”

Suzuna said, “Fair enough, although I do think that Marius coddles me a bit too much.”

Sarita placed her hand on Suzuna’s head and said, “Well in this situation I wouldn’t call what he is doing coddling you. I would have done the same if I had known. You can’t be too careful with sicknesses like this. When the doctor arrives, do you have an allergies that we need to inform them about? And family history of allergies?”

Suzuna shook her head and said, “No, don’t worry, everything will be fine and the doctor will just be angry about having wasted their time.”

Sarita still didn’t relax however but she did say, “If you say so… Just, tell us if things get worse.”

They stayed at Suzuna’s side until the fell asleep. Once that had happened Clemens asked, “Do you know how long it will take to get a doctor from the surface?”

“Quite a while, half a day probably. None of them are near the top of the resort. Beside the resort the only other thing this planet is used for is fishing. The population is pretty small and most of the people live near the spaceport. I’m sure the saw the place when you landed on the planet.”

“Yeah, I remember the place. I’ve seen space stations that are more lively than that place. Although I am a bit surprised to have never seen any of the people from there come down here.”

“They say the place is haunted. Although I think in truth most of them would just prefer to vacation places that are not near more water.”

“It sounds like that might not like you either.”

“There is a story in the port about people like me that isn’t very polite. Because of that I generally don’t visit the port except when absolutely necessary.”

“I hope their doctor at least doesn’t hesitate on coming down here.” He looked over at the sleeping form of Suzuna, “You seem really worried. Do you think her illness is really that bad.”

“Hopefully not…. It’s just…” She hesitated but finally said, “My father died of a sickness like this. He picked up some unusual illness that didn’t respond to normal medications.”

“If you father passed away like this I understand.”

“No… that isn’t precisely it. Because of the unusual nature of the disease he had to be given special medicine. Unfortunately he had an allergic reaction to something that was in the medicine and died almost immediately.”

“Thats… terrible.”

“Yes, well, he was like me so…”

“So the doctor didn’t expect him to react like that.”

“Precisely.”

“That is terrible. Is that why you checked with Suzuna about allergies?”

“She should probably take to whatever medicine they give her just fine… it usually isn’t something people need to worry about.”

“Any you?”

“I had a bunch of tests run on me, testing to make sure I would react favorable to whatever medicine I received. Luckily for me I passed all of those tests.”

“I’m sorry.”

“There is nothing you need to apologize for. It happened a long time ago and I’ve gotten over it. I just, don’t want anybody else to suffer the same way that I did. I though the medicine here would be sufficient, but I guess I’m not a doctor so I didn’t know what to choose to stock.”

“You are the one who made sure the medicine is properly stocked here?”

“Did you think the robots did it? They are good at synthesizing stuff but they wouldn’t be able to choose what to stock.”

“No, you’re right, somebody would have needed to do that. I’m just glad that you care some much about other people that you even think about things like medicine.”

Sarita turned away while she said, “Clemens… I… I… I’m going to get a wet cloth for Suzuna. You stay here while I do that.” Then she stood and and ran toward the bathroom.

Clemens stayed by Suzuna who was tossing and turning while asleep. She was clearly feverish and Clemens wanted to wake her but knew that wouldn’t do anything to make her better.

Sarita soon came back with a web cloth that they could put over Suzuna’s forehead. That seemed to calm the sleeping woman down a little bit. Although now the room was filled full of silence and Clemens couldn’t find the right words to break that silence.

Finally Clemens couldn’t bear it any longer and said, “She hasn’t had a chance to eat I think. I’m going to go get her something like a porridge. Keeping your strength up is important when getting over a sickness. I’ll be back when I have something.”

Then he got up and left leaving Sarita alone with Suzuna. Once Clemens left Sarita took a deep breath and placed her hand against her chest. She was finally able to begin calming down.

There was a cough and Suzuna said, “You could have bid him goodbye when he left.”

Sarita nearly jumped up in surprise as she looked down at Suzuna. “How long have you been awake?”

“Not long, but I didn’t really want to interrupt.”

“No no no no. You weren’t interrupting anything.”

“Is that so? Here I was hoping you two would get in the mood to do something interesting.”

“What are you talking about?? We… we aren’t like that…”

“Why not? If you aren’t interested in him then I’m sure he will listen if you tell him off. But… from the way you are reacting to him I guess that isn’t really the case.”

“I…” Sarita looked up an away from Suzuna, “He can’t possibly be interested in me. After all I am…” She raised her hands and looked at them.

“Is it because of what you look like? Hmm… you think that somebody can’t like a fish monster? You aren’t taking Marius’ words to heart are you? Even Marius does not think you are like that, he just uses such rough words to hide his embarrassment that he thinks of you like a mentor.”

“Me… a mentor? I don’t think I did anything to him to make him feel like that to me.”

“Really? Then what have you been doing these last couple of days with him?”

“He was the one that wanted to challenge me. It would be better if he just lost and then things would be peaceful again.”

“Then why didn’t you just choose the hardest challenge that you could think of from the beginning? This time and last time you keep choosing tasks that he could do but where challenging. Your words might deny it but your actions are those of somebody who cares about other people. Even specially stocking the medicine at the resort in case people got sick.”

“How… were you ever really asleep or were you just faking it from the beginning?”

She smiled tiredly before saying, “I’m just having trouble staying sleep.”

There was a long silence before she spoke again, “Is it really just because of how you look? I’ve meet a bunch of people who looks very different. Sometimes there is a rare person who hates them for being different but usually they can live their life normally.”

Sarita stared at her hands some more trying to find the words, “I wasn’t yet fully an adult when my father died. For a couple of years my mother had to take care of me alone. Before my father died I was the spoiled young child but his death basically broke my mother. She would yell at me, telling me how ugly I was. I knew she really didn’t mean that… she meant that I reminded her of my father.”

She shook her head, “I know it is foolish to think that I am responsible for my father’s death. I had nothing to do with it but I do always wonder that if I had looked like my mother that she would have accepted me, maybe even returned to a normal loving mother.”

Suzuna reached out shakily with one hand and Sarita grabbed it. When Suzuna said, “You blame the bad parts of your life on your uniqueness.” She pulled the hand closer and looked at the silver scales, “But they are also responsible for all of what you have become.”

“I know my fears aren’t logical but still. I can’t help but think that I might ruin my relationship with other people for the same reasons. Say something really does happen between Clemens and me, what if he becomes disgusted by me, there are plenty of things about me that he hasn’t seen yet.”

“You think that is going to happen?”

“… … I just… don’t want to lose…”

“You don’t want to lose more things? Listen, let me tell you from experience, the only way you can have things is my attempting to gain them in the first place. Sure, you might lose some of them but if you never try then you will never have relationships in the first place. Right now what are you and Clemens? Are you even close enough to be called friends? If he were to leave the resort would you ever even see him again? Is that the future that you want.”

“No…”

“Then what do you want your relationship to be.”

“I don’t know… I’m happy the way it is right now I think…”

“But if you leave things like they are then he will end up being just another guest who just happened to stay a bit longer. It will be impossible for things to remain like they are forever. At this point I feel like Marius has a stronger bond with you then Clemens does.”

Sarita groaned and sighed at the same time. She knew that her current position was impossible to retain forever. She knew that, it just hurt to have that pointed out to her. Change was frightening especially when you felt like you had something to lose. Nobody had stayed in the resort with Sarita this long before and now she was afraid of what might change.

There was a short knock on the door. Suzuna released Sarita’s hand and lay completely down and closed her eyes. It was like everything had just been an illusion. Clemens stepped into the room. He was holding a bowl which he set down on the nearby bedside table.

“Anything? Has she been asleep this whole time?” Asked Clemens.

Sarita took a few moments before saying, “Yes, yes she had been asleep this whole time, although she has still been tossing and turning.”

“I hope the doctor gets here soon, although it still hasn’t been long enough.”

“Clemens…”

“Yes?”

“Why are you still here?”

“Huh? What do you mean, Suzuna is sick isn’t she and we are taking care of her. Is something wrong?”

“I don’t mean right now. Why have you been staying down here in Poseidon Resort for so long?”

Clemens gulped before saying, “At first I came here to get away, to find someplace quiet to think. But… now… I like living here. I still like the fact that it is mostly quiet but I also like the people that come through here. All kinds of different people stop by and I like meeting them.”

“And?” Said Sarita.

Clemens was about to speak when Suzuna broke out into an uncontrolled coughing fit. She began to curl up on the bed. Clemens and Sarita both jumped to her aid, although there wasn’t much that they could do except wait for her coughing fit to subside.

Once it was over she said softly, “Sorry about that.”

“No, It’s not your fault.” Said Clemens not realizing what she was actually talking about.

“Don’t worry about it.” Said Sarita who knew that she was apologizing for interrupting.

“How are you feeling now? Is it getting worse? Do you need more general medication?” Asked Clemens worried.

“I don’t think it is getting worse. But maybe a little bit more medication would help. It might lessen the symptoms at least.”

“And if you are feeling hungry, I brought some gruel which should also hopefully help you get better faster.” Said Clemens.

“Maybe a little bit.”

—-

“Two new guests are arriving at Poseidon Resort. Please remember to treat other guests kindly and continue to enjoy your stay with us.” Said the voice over the speaker system.

Clemens stood up quickly, “That must be the doctor and Marius, I’ll go get them. Sarita you stay here with Suzuna.”

Sarita nodded and Clemens was out the door quickly. Normally he took his time going to the main lobby but he was moving faster this time. Over the last few hours Suzuna’s fever had gotten progressively worse. The medication she was one was not enough to hide the fever and the cough that she was experiencing.

She had been drifting in out and of consciousness and Clemens and Sarita had been getting more and more worried. If there had been anything they could have done other than wait for the doctor they would have done it long ago.

Clemens waited impatiently at the bottom of the lift waiting for it to arrive. When the doors finally slide open he called out. “We need to hurry, she has been getting worse.”

“What! No! Come on hurry!” Came the loud voice of Marius from inside the lift.

“No, if my tools are damaged then there will be nothing I can do to help your wife.” Came the sound of a grumpy old man. “No! Pick it up slowly and we must walk carefully.”

Marius stepped out of the lift carrying a large case. Beside him was an elderly man with a wispy beard. “Now, young man, lead me to the sick person who needs my attention.”

“Yes sir, please this way. She is in the hotel section of the resort.”

“Yes, I remember where that is. How many years has it been since I have last been here. It doesn’t look like anything has changed.”

“You have been here before?”

“Oh yes, many many years ago. Some other patient needed my attention so I came down here. There were times before that too. A doctor is always needed and we are called to the same places again and again.”

They passed through the hallways slowly toward the hotel. Marius was clearly impatient but he knew better than to risk his wife’s life by rushing everything. Eventually they arrived at the room. When the door slide open and the walked it Sarita was there.

She glanced up at the doctor and then took a few steps backward from Suzuna.

The doctor moved forward to Suzuna and sat down on the bed next to her. He placed his hand on her forehead for a moment before motioning to Marius. “Put my box on the floor next to the bed. And there is no need to worry. Your wife is going to be fine.”

The old man opened up the box and pulled out what looked like a thermometer. He then placed it into Suzuna’s mouth and watched the display. Then he said, “Like I thought, an off planet bacteria. Its not airbound which is why none of you have also caught it. Probably something in something she ate. She seems to be fighting it well. While I doubt she would die without me it was still probably a good idea.”

The old man pulled out a small bottle from one of the many sections of the box. He got a couple of pills out of the bottle and gently forced Suzuna to swallow them.

Once that was done the old man closed up his case, “That should be sufficient. I’ll stay in the room for a few hours while we wait to see her fever return.” He took a long sigh, “And since I’m not as young as I used to be I think I’ll spend the night down here. That will let me make sure she is recovering before I leave.”

Marius had already rushed to Suzuna’s side and was knelling next to the bed holding her unconscious hand.

“Are you sure she is going to be alright?” Asked Clemens.

“Hmm… don’t trust me young man? I’m not a hundred percent certain which is why I am hanging around until she starts to get better. The medicine should work but sometimes that isn’t enough.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be like that, I think we are just worried about her.”

“I understand. Coping with things that you can not control is difficult. But when that happens you have to rely on other people. I’ve had many years of practice so you don’t need to worry about her anymore.”

Sarita gave him a little bow and said, “Thank you.”

“Ah, if it isn’t the young girl who haunts the resort.” He said in a way that made his comment clearly a joke, “It had been a long time since I have seen you.”

“You’ve met each other before?” Asked Clemens.

“Only briefly, she came by my clinic one day and asked to supplies to stock medicine down in the resort. She took my suggestion and got all of those medicines. Although, it seems that I must have made a mistake that day. If I had done my job correctly I wouldn’t have had to be here today.”

“No,” said Sarita shacking her head, “It isn’t your fault. I only took what you had at the time. I should have come back to get more at a later date. If anything it is my fault.”

“Let’s not blame each other then. After all when this woman gets better we will both be able to breath easily and not have to worry about mistakes made in the past.”

“I guess.” Sarita looked over at Suzuna. “Well, thanks, I should get going then.” With that Sarita left the room.

“I see that she isn’t much different than the last time that I meet her.”

“What do you mean?”

“She has trouble dealing with other people. A true recluse living down here in the depths of the ocean alone. Only a hand full of people up on the surface have ever seen her and she had become something of a local legend. The ghost that haunts the resort.”

“Do they really believe that?”

“I don’t know. I’ve certainly told anybody that asked that she is real enough but interesting stories have a way of spreading and mutating into something weird. A couple of young men once claimed to have come down here and seen the ghost all in white with a mouth that would gobble you up.”

“While not a completely inaccurate description of her it does sound a little bit overblown.”

The old doctor shrugged his shoulders, “Youngling will be younglings. But I think it might be easier for her if she showed her face once in a while. The people on the surface aren’t bad people but it is easier to tell stories about the strange and unusual. They probably wouldn’t be like that if she ever came up and visited.”

“A self reinforcing cycle.” Said Clemens ponderingly, “She hides away because she is afraid of what people might think of her but that same isolation causes people to become afraid of her.”

The old man nodded, “Very true. Although we may be a backwater planet the people living here are not bad people. If you can convince her to make a visit topside that might be good for everyone.”

“I’ll try but it might be a while before I can successfully convince her to go up.”

“Makes sense.” He looked over toward Marius and spoke louder, “How is her fever doing? Is it beginning to lessen?”

Marius looked over his shoulder. He might have been able to hear the conversation that was happening across the room but he had all his attention on Suzuna and hadn’t heard a thing.

“Um… I think so but it is hard to tell.”

The old man hobbled over to his box and pulled out a thermometer and handed it over to Marius. “As long as the temperature keeps going down that is good. I’m going to take the next door room. If the temperature goes up then come and get me. I’d love to stay and watch as well but, I’m been getting old and you basically woke me up just as I was getting to sleep. I’m going to try and take a nap but wake me up if anything gets worse.”

“Yes, I’ll do that. Thank you.”

“Thank me later. Just keep an eye on your girl.” The old man patted Marius on his shoulder and then walked out of the room. The door slide open and he pressed a button on the panel of the room next door to ensure that he could stay in that one.

“I’m going to go too Marius, you can also call me if anything goes wrong.”

“Yeah, and thanks for watching Suzuna while I was gone.”

“No problem, I just hope that she gets better too.”

“Yeah, me too. I don’t know what I would do without her.”

Clemens tried to lighten the mood by smiling, “You really love her, I can tell.”

He nodded, “I know that most of the time I am a big idiot but she makes me feel like more than that. If it would help her or make her smile then I would do anything…” Before the sick form in front of him Marius looked so helpless.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure she knows how much you love her. And I think that she feels the same way about you. If you were the one sick I think she would be as worried.”

“She would be all depressed and blame herself. That is why I need to be strong and to make sure that she never needs to worry about me.”

“Don’t push yourself too hard, I think she would rather worry about you then have something bad actually happen to you because you tried too hard.”

He kinda of deflated at that and said, “Yeah, I know. Still, I never want her to be sad.”

Clemens shook his head at the two of them. “Well, keep an eye on her. Once I get a little sleep I’ll come back and relieve you. You’ve probably will need sleep too so once I’m back you need to make sure to get some too.”

He looked at Suzuna and back and Clemens before saying, “Sure, once you’re back. As long as somebody is watching over her I think I would be able to sleep, at least if her fever has started to break by then.”

—

A handful of hours later Clemens woke up. He raised his watch and glanced at the time. About six hours had passed since he had fallen asleep. He was good at waking himself up at the exact right time. He pulled himself out of bed and splashed some water on his face to remove the last traces of sleep.

Once that was done he headed back over to Marius and Suzuna’s room. Once he arrived he saw Marius still in the exact place that Clemens had left him.

“How is she doing?” He asked as he got closer.

Marius turned around and the bags under his eyes were clearly visible. “Her fever is going down, although slowly.”

“You did good. Now get some sleep. You wouldn’t want her to worry about you would you?”

“Alright, alright, now that you are here.” Not wanting to disturb Suzuna he wandered over to the couch instead of using the bed. “If anything goes wrong or she wakes up then wake me up.”

“Yes, yes, I will do that.”

“Thanks…” said Marius as he laid down and then instantly fell asleep. He had been on the brink of exhaustion and probably would have collapsed soon anyways if Clemens hadn’t arrived when he did.

Clemens shook his head, “That big idiot.” Although he was smiling when he said it.

He watch over Suzuna for several more hours before the door to the room opened once more. This time it was the old doctor who came in. “Oh, have you been here all night? It isn’t healthy to stay awake that long.”

“No, I slept a little. I just woke up a bit before you. I wanted to make sure Marius got some sleep so I swapped out for watching Suzuna.”

The old man walked over to her and looked over her, “Indeed, she seems to be looking better already. She should be right at rain in a day or two. Once she wakes up make sure she eats something. Sickness can drain a body of its stamina and eating can help make you feel better faster.”

“Yes, I will do that. Are you going to head back to the surface soon?”

“Not just yet, I’ll probably hang around for the rest of the day to make sure that she gets up. If I leave now and she relapses that would be terrible. Better to be safe. Although I think I will go get something to eat myself.” He paused, “Is there anything down here that isn’t seafood? One problem with living on this planet is that everything seems to be seafood.”

“Uhhh… not really. I think everything that is made here is locally sourced. I believe that are some hydroponic farms for making some fruits and vegetables but other than that everything is harvested from the ocean.”

“There are some things.” Said the voice of Sarita from the door. How long she had been there for was unknown by Clemens. “No fresh meat, but if just vegetables or dried meat are fine then there are some places.”

“Ah, what kindness. I would be happy if you could show me them.”

“Are you alright with watching Suzuna by yourself?” Asked Sarita.

“Yes, it is fine. But if you could bring something back here for her to eat when you are done yourself that would be good.”

Sarita nodded and then lead the old man off to find some non-seafood.

—-

Between Marius and Suzuna it was Suzuna who awoke first. She awoke to the smell of food which make her stomach grumble. She groaned as she woke and Clemens came to her aid, “Oh, Suzuna, are you awake. Here let me help you.”

Clemens helped Suzuna sit up.

“How are you feeling?” Asked Clemens.

“Hmm… not good, but better than previously. Did the doctor arrive?”

Clemens nodded, “Yes, Marius brought the doctor.” He pointed over his shoulder as Marius who was still asleep on the couch. “He watched over you all night and only went to sleep after I got here to take over from him. He was really worried.”

“I’m sorry for being such a nuisance.”

“Nobody thought you were that. We are all just glad that you are beginning to feel better. Sarita brought you some food for when you woke up. Are you feeling well enough to eat something?”

She nodded, “I think I could eat something. As long as it is light.”

“Do you want me to wake up Marius so that he can help feed you?” Asked Clemens.

“Are you trying to make me die of embarrassment?”

“I just thought I would ask.” He handed over the meal to Suzuna for her to eat on her own.

“Besides” she said, “He looks really tired. I would rather have him sleep like that then force himself for my sake.”

“You two really are a pair of idiots.”

---

When Marius finally woke up he tried to yell at Clemens for not waking him up earlier but when Suzuna reprimanded him he shut up about it. After that Clemens left their room, letting them be alone.

Outside of the room Sarita was leaning up against a wall.

“If you were worried you could have just stayed in the room.”

“No, it is fine. I wouldn’t want to interrupt them anyways. As long as Suzuna is feeling better then I am happy. This whole thing probably put a kink in Marius’ challenge with me.”

“Are you sad that you won’t be able to compete with him? I thought you found it annoying?”

She turned away and said, “I don’t really care either way.” She then began to head to the lift.

Clemens followed her since he also needed to use it. Now that Suzuna was beginning to feel better he needed to go relax and release the stress of worrying. “I plan on heading to the spa for a while if you want to join me.”

Sarita balked for a moment before saying, “No, I think I’ll pass. I am going to go get something to eat instead.”

Clemens only nodded and accepted her rejection. They still took the lift down together and separated in the lobby heading in different direction. As Clemens got near the spa he heard some content moaning sounds.

He walked to find the old doctor sitting in spa. He looked up as Clemens entered and said, “Ah, welcome. Are you planning on joining me. My old bones are really soaking up the heat and everything feels so good.”

“Well the place is a resort so it is good that you are enjoying yourself.”

Clemens quickly went into the nearby room to change before joining the doctor in the spa.

“You know, I never did get your name.” Said Clemens.

“It is Moray but most people just call me the old doctor.”

“And I am Clemens.”

They both began to relax in the warm waters of the spa.

“I should consider coming here more often. It really is a nice place to relax. The surface is much more noisy.” Said Moray before grumbling to himself under his breath, “But what if I’m needed while I am gone. What a conundrum.”

Finally he pointed and Clemens and said, “Clemens, make sure to invite more sick people down here.”

“I’m not really certain if that is a good solution. You live close enough that you could probably just visit for a couple of days and everything will be good. Plus you could just tell people where you were going and they could fetch you if you were needed just like Sarita fetched you.”

“You make a good point. Maybe next spring, there tends to not be many sicknesses then so unless somebody gets injured it should be fine.”

“Well you are welcome here anytime.”

“Are you planning on staying down here then?”

“Yes, I’ve been thinking about what to do for a while now and I’ve recently began to put my thoughts into order. There is only one last question that needs to be answered before I make my final decision.”

The old man Moray looked at Clemens and then nodded, “Well if you have made up your mind then that is good. Now I think I am getting a little bit light headed so I’m going to get out of the spa. Although I think I saw some massage chairs and I am going to go try out.”

Moray pulled himself out of the spa and left Clemens alone with his thoughts once more. Although at this point he was more focused on enjoying the pleasant hot water.

—

Much later in the day Sarita and Clemens were at the entrance of the resort to bid Moray goodbye.

“I was told by Marius that Suzuna is feeling much better but that she still would have trouble getting down here to bid you goodbye. She denied it but Marius insisted that she stay and rest.”

“No need to worry about it. I would have told her to stay and rest too. Besides I am just the doctor. Coming and going is something that we do not some special occasion. Even now I feel a little embarrassed that I’m getting people to bid be goodbye at all.”

“Thanks for your had work.” Said Sarita softly.

“And come back and visit sometime.”

“Maybe if I have some free time. How about you two come and visit the town instead. Sometimes it is good to get out and see the sun.”

Sarita looked away and said, “Maybe.”

“I’m sure I can make it sometime.”

“Well, enough pleasantries, do take care and try not to get sick.” And with that Moray entered the lift. The doors closed and he whisked up and away.

“He is a nice doctor.” Said Clemens.

“Yes, he left his extra medicine down here with me so that next time this hopefully can be avoided.”

“Yeah, it is probably bad to wish somebody sickness just to see him again.”

“Correct, you shouldn’t do that. I would be angry.”

“Yes yes, it was only a joke.” Said Clemens.

—-

The next day Suzuna was feeling well enough to meet up with everybody for dinner. She still looked a little pale but certainly much better than she had looked the last couple of days.

She gave a small bow and said, “Thanks for helping take care of me over these days.”

“You are welcome.” Said Clemens politely back, “I’m glad to see that you are looking better.”

“Little by little. I am sorry that I messed up the competition between Marius and Sarita.”

“Ba, don’t worry about that.” Said Marius, “It wasn’t really that important. Plus we can still probably have one final match before we have to leave.”

“Does that mean you two are going to be leaving soon?” Asked Clemens.

“Not that soon but it is approaching fast. Our scheduled vacation is going to be ending in five days.”

Suzuna looked down with a depressed frown on her face but Marius placed his hand on her head and said, “Really it is fine. I got to spend a bunch of extra time with you so I am not sad at all.”

“Marius… Thank you.”

“No problem. Now, like a said since we are going to be leaving soon I don’t think I will be able to do that many more competitions. Let’s say the day before we leave you choose an extra special competition to finally determine which of us is the better fisher.”

“If you have five days we could do more than one competition.”

“Tempting, but I think I’ll have to pass. I think I’d rather spend that time with Suzuna. She still isn’t completely better and I want to make sure she gets cared for.”

Sarita said, “That is fine. I’ll make sure the competition is a good one then.”

—-

Peaceful days came and went and soon enough Suzuna was back to her normal self. She was more lively than she had been early in the trip since she had warmed up to both Clemens and Sarita.

The second to last day had arrived Sarita and Marius had met up at the entrance of Deep Sea Diving. Both Clemens and Suzuna were there.

“This time I want to join the expedition. I want to see how well Marius does things out there in the ocean.”

“Are you sure you want to come with us?” Asked Marius in a concerned voice.

Suzuna nodded, “Yes, I want to come. I’m sure all of you will protect me if you need to.”

Everybody was able to quickly changed into diving outfits before leaving through the airlock. Suzuna took a few minutes to adjust to swimming underwater but after the initial hiccups she was able to swim just fine.

“Now the swim is a little bit longer than the previous trips so if you need to take a break along the way tell me.” Said Sarita as they began to head off in the complete opposite direction of the resort.

She continued, “The destination this time is the layered reef. Aquatic volcanic activity pushed a large section of stone up out of the ground and then due to the differences in mineral density the currents eroded the different parts at different speeds. This resulted in the layered reef which has since been reinforced by a bunch of different coral species which feed on the nutrients still released by nearby volcanic vents.”

“Wow… that sounds amazing.” Said Suzuna in awe, “Are all the places around here like that?”

“Not like this one specifically. However when you looked behind the initial facade of a location there is always more beneath the surface. Even the more normal looking places have a story. Since many of the ecosystems revolve around this story it is important to learn about it because that helps be discover more about the creatures living within it.”

As they got near the large vertical feature which was the layered reef Marius asked, “So what horrifying beast are we hunting today?”

“The snapping ray is like it sounds a ray but with the head that you would expect from a turtle. The beak is needed for the snapping ray to break the hard coral that it eats. The main problem with them is that they are very territorial guarding their section of the reef from any type of large fish. If they notice you and believe that you are a threat then they can attack without warning.”

“Will we be alright?” asked Clemens.

“You and Suzuna will be prefectly safe. They avoid leaving the layered reef if they can since the tight confines gives them an advantage. For me and Marius things are a bit more risked but the sonic emitters work fine against the snapping ray so we will be safe as well. However… because of this if our sonic emitters go off then it means our life was in danger and that competitor is disqualified.”

Marius nodded, “A balance of offense and defense then. Making sure to capture it without getting attacked in turn.”

“I would give more advice but I’ve told you what you need to know. Any more than that and it wouldn’t be a proper challenge anymore.”

“Stacking the odds against me are you?” Said Marius, “Just the way I like it.”

“Are you sure you both will be alright?” Asked Suzuna nervously, “This sounds dangerous to me.”

It was Clemens who said, “They will be fine. As Sarita mentioned this suits have sonic emitters who can ward off attacking fish if needed.”

Suzuna eyed Sarita’s outfit and said, “Is Sarita even wearing one of those?”

Sarita looked a little taken back before saying, “No, I’ve never felt the need. Also they can prevent me from getting close to the fish which makes it harder to study them. Beside my skin is like a natural armor. I might get hurt if one of the snapping rays bites me but it should hardly cause any long term damage.”

Clemens shook his head, “Apparently she knows what she is doing so you should just trust her. When going against the cave lobsters I think she just fought them barehanded. She had been doing this stuff for many years so if she doesn’t know what to do than nobody does.”

“Well.. If you two say so. Just be careful. Many of the worst accidents happen near the home.”

“Thirty minutes again?” Asked Clemens.

Sarita said, “Better make it forty five. Sometimes they tried to run away and can be quite fast. Is that fine you you?” Marius nodded.

Clemens raised his hand and said, “For the last competition, begin.” And dropped his hand.

Then the two of them were off. Marius began to head directly toward the nearest layer of the reef while Sarita began to swim direction up toward one of the higher layers.

Marius stopped near the end of one of the layers. A human could fit inside just fine but there wouldn’t be much room to maneuver since there were pillars of coral connecting the two plates at different intervals.

He could see one of the snapping rays deep within the shelf but it was outside his safe casting distance. One of the disadvantages of using his fishing pole underwater was that the reach was much shorter than it would be in the air.

Still that didn’t deter him. He open one of the many pockets on his vest and pulled out a heavier weight that he affixed to the end of his rod near the fly. It would help him get the distance that he would need by giving the hook some much needed momentum. There were disadvantage with the weight too since it would make the hook fall to the bottom but simply reeling in and recasting when that happened would solve that issue.

He then made his first cast between the plates and toward the snapping ray.

Sarita meanwhile had gone to one of the higher shelves. The smaller higher shelves tended to be inhabited by younger smaller snapping rays. Scanning several of the shelves she finally found her target. It was smaller than many of the others, around as long as her arm.

Then she drew her knife and made her way into the shelf. While the upper shelves had suffered more erosion they also had more coral growing in them and maneuvering was tight. She was approaching the ray from behind it to sneak up on it as best as possible.

She got remarkable close before the ray finally noticed her. It spun and began swimming toward her opening its beaked mouth. Sarita wasn’t afraid however she still needed to be careful. The smaller rays could still cause considerable injury if she let the bite connect.

Sarita put on of the coral pillars between her and the ray to force the ray to slow down as it got closer to her. At it rounded the pillar she moved in for her assault. The ray could barely move to keep up with her speed attempting to snap with is beak however Sarita’s knife blocked the attack and after that it was too late for the ray.

Back outside the shelf Clemens and Suzuna were watching from a distance. “Wow, they are both really skilled. I thought Marius almost had his ray before it snapped his fishing wire.” Said Suzuna.

“Yeah, that is probably a disadvantage for him. Without the ability to rely on his fishing pole I don’t think he has a good chance of catching one of them.”

“It doesn’t look like he has given up yet so he probably still has another trick up his sleeve.”

“And it looked like Sarita has already been successful.” Said Clemens as he pointed up to the figure of Sarita swimming back down to them carrying the snapping ray.

“Wow, that was quick, did she really need to raise the event time?”

“I think that was for Marius’ sake. She probably knew that the snapping rays would be an issue for him and decided to give him the extra time.”

Suzuna smiled under her mask, her thoughts that Sarita made a good fishing mentor for Marius were not wrong. To think that Sarita would go even this far for Marius.

Marius was not done with his fishing attempt though. He had detached the normal reel from his fishing pole and had pulled out another one from one of his many pockets. He was beginning to attach it to his fishing pole.

Like the weight this wire had tradoffs. It was thicker and should resist the bite of the snapping ray however because of the design of the thread it did not move through the water quite as smoothly. Even with the weight getting a cast all the way to the ray with the wire would be tricky. He would probably need to go into the shelf to get close enough for a proper cast.

He made a few test casts to figure out his new effective throwing distance before creeping into the shelf. He continued to keep a good eye on how to best escape if the ray noticed him before finally finding a good perch from where to cast this rod.

Getting a good position was trickier than it seemed. He had need a good place to provide leverage as well as enough room to swing the rod and have the wire move correctly. Having the hook get caught on something would indeed be an issue and he wanted to avoid that.

With his new position he was able to successfully cast to the ray once more. Then he waited patiently for the ray to bite occasionally giving the rod a jerk to make the fly move as if it was real. Before too long the ray noticed and turned toward the fly.

Moments later it had moved the several feet needed and snapped at the fishing lure and was caught up in the hook. The hook was an extra large one so that it would get caught in the ray despite the beak that it had.

Marius began to reel in and the ray strained against the pull. Marius has a good point of leverage however and was able to keep pulling the ray it. It snapped and bite wildly but this time the line held and did not snap when the ray bit at it.

As the ray got closer the moment that Marius worried about happened. The ray noticed him and instead of straining against the wire now was speeding up and swimming toward Marius.

He had expected this to happen and that was one of the reasons that he had chosen this particular point. There was thin gap and a rock where he was pulling from. He quickly loosened the wire slide it down the gap and into the slot that was created.

He then kept a hold of his pole and began swimming parallel to the hole and way from snapping ray. The ray was about to reach him when the wire suddenly tightened and both Marius and the ray snapped violently. While the ray was close to him there was no way for it to finish the approach, it was chained to the rock in the distance away from Marius.

Straining against the pull Marius grabbed at the shelf floor until he finally found purchase. Then he held on as hard as he could while at the same time reeling in the ray which because of the makeshift pulley he had created moved the ray farther away from him.

No matter how much it strained it did not have the purchase that Marius had and it was pulled closer and closer to the rock that it was chained to. Once its face was lodged in the very rock that Marius has looped the wire around Marius took his pole and lodged it tightly in a nearby rock formation.

Then he proceeded to finish the capture of the snapping ray.

Back at outside of the shelf Sarita commented, “That was clever. I though he was really done for there until the ray stopped moving. He really did some quick thinking.”

Bubbles appeared around Suzuna was she breathed a sigh of relief. “What if it hadn’t worked. I was worried sick. Is it this dangerous every time you compete?”

“He would have been fine. As I said before the sonic emitters would have protected him. And the previous hunts weren’t as dangerous for him since he uses his fishing pole to remain as long range. The creatures we went against last time weren’t as fast or territorial as the snapping ray. I just wanted to give him something special to remember the last one with.”

As Marius brought his ray back to the group Clemens called out. “Ten minutes left. You took a little bit over the thirty minutes of the previous hunts but because of the extended time limit you succeeded as well.”

Marius grunted, “Well of course. If I’m going to be given a handicap it would be shameful if I couldn’t succeed with it.”

Suzuna looked at the rays, the one that Marius has caught was bigger than the one that Sarita has caught, probably thirty percent longer. “Are these rays good to eat? I don’t know if I’ve had something this strange before.”

Sarita nodded, “Very good. Now let us get them back.”

“Time for a proper party then.” Responded Marius.

——

Several hours later they were all at Diver’s Delight. According to Sarita the primary way of eating snapping ray was to slice them and then either have them raw or grilled. Marius, Suzuna, and Clemens all chose the later while Sarita chose the former.

Marius had also brought in the drinks once more. He had a bunch of beers for himself and had brought out a bottle of wine for Suzuna. The two of them were already deep into it and had started to become boisterous.

Event Clemens and Sarita had gotten a little bit into the festive mood although Sarita had cut herself off after the smallest amount. Apparently her tolerance really was that bad. They partied long into the night until Suzuna couldn’t stand anymore. Marius tried to carry her back to their room but he was having trouble walking straight so Sarita had to take over the carrying of Suzuna.

Clemens followed behind them no wanting to be left alone in the restaurant. Once Suzuna had been safely put to bed Marius quickly joined her and Sarita and Clemens were left outside the room alone.

“Things are going to be quiet again once they are gone.” Said Clemens

“Yes.”

“That will be a little sad. But I’m sure new guests will come soon enough.”

“Yeah…”

“I am going to bed as well. See you in the morning.”

“…”

Clemens was soon gone leaving Sarita by herself. “I wonder what I should say…” She pondered to herself and she eventually headed off to her own room.

——

It was closer to noon when everybody met up again in the main lobby. Marius and Suzuna had their bags with them. Marius seemed in good spirits but Suzuna clutched her head and made pained sounds whenever people spoke loudly.

“Thanks for you hospitality.” Said Marius, although he kept his voice a little down for Suzuna’s sake.

“It was nothing, I had fun too.” Said Clemens.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“No, I am serious.” Said Marius, “This time was much very enjoyable. Even though everything was interrupted by Suzuna getting sick we were able to party and have challenges. I’m sure we will try to find another time to come down here and I can have another rematch.”

Suzuna did her best to nod alone, “Yes, it was fun. Although I really should learn to drink a little bit less. Hopefully next time will be even better since I don’t plan on getting sick next time.”

“I’ll see you then.” Said Sarita. She had turned her head slightly to hide her embarrassment, something that Clemens had just begun to notice that she did.

They gave each other their last waves as Marius and Suzuna get aboard the lift. Then like all the guests before them the lift closed its doors and brought them away up out of the resort.

Once more the only two people in the resort were Clemens and Sarita.

They stood there together awkwardly for a few moments before Sarita finally coughed and said, “So, they are gone.”

“Yes, they are. I am glad that they enjoyed themselves.”

“Yeah, me too…” She was hesitation, “Clemens…”

“Yes.”

“What are you planning on doing from here on out?”

“I’ve been putting a lot of thought into that. However I haven’t been able to finalize my decision yet.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I am not the only one who should make that decision.”

“Are you talking about me?” Said Sarita quietly.

“As I’ve lived down here I’ve grown to like the Poseidon Resort. I’ve also liked dealing with all the different people that came through here, showing them around and helping them with there strange activities. It was something I hadn’t really done before. However more than all that I have been entranced by the beauty that lives down here.”

Sarita swallowed, “You mean the beauty of the ocean right?”

“No, I am talking about you.” Clemens had decided to be as straightforward as possible. Hiding what he felt behind clever words would just confused the matter.

“But I’m…. I’m just…. A monster.” She said looking down at her hands. While they were almost normal except of the silver scales covering them they held horrific power. She had fought fish many times her size with those hand and won.

“I’ve never thought that. From the very first time I saw you I always thought you looked stunning and the more I grew to know you I realized what is behind those looks. I kind woman who cares about other people.”

“I’m not… not the kind of person you think I am. You call me beautiful but I am nothing but a shark disguised as a human. You call me kind but I am nothing of the sort, just terrified that other people might discover what kind of monster I really am.”

“And what kind of monster do you think you are? What kind of horrible deeds would you commit if you weren’t held back?” Asked Clemens.

“… …”

“I can tell that you avoid other people, hide yourself away to prevent contact but that isn’t really because you are a monster is it? It is because you don’t want to be thought of as a monster.”

She turned away trying to avoid eye contact with Clemens.

However Clemens wouldn’t let her get away that easily. “Sarita, I love you and I want to live down here with you.”

“You are really forward you know.”

“You kept avoiding me, not responding to me hints. At this point I think this was my only option.”

“I still don’t think I am as good a person as you say I am.”

“You are good enough for me.”

“Even if…” She mumbled, “I would still be away for long stretches of time. I still have the task for researching the species in the ocean.”

“I don’t mind.”

“I eat weird stuff and like raw fish.”

“Now you are just saying whatever. I already knew that.”

Sarita fidgeted trying to find something to say, eventually she said, “I’m still uncertain. Can you give me some time to think.”

“Take as long as you want. I’ll wait as long as you need.”

“And if I refuse?”

Clemens smiled trying to make it look as easy as he could make it, “Then I guess I will eventually leave the resort.”

Sarita bit her lip, “Yeah, give me some time to think about it.”

Clemens nodded and said, “Alright, I’ll be around when you make up your mind. You know the good places to find me.”

Then Sarita turned around and basically ran off. She went directly to the airlock in deep sea diving and left the resort and when into the deep water. Even then the water felt too warm for her and she just started swimming, not stopping until the water finally began to cool.

She had swum a long ways away from the resort. Out in the deep waters. Most of the fish out here were very large, growing bigger in the empty expanses.

The towers out here generated less light and heat however the pressure was still normal. Sarita almost considered seeing how far she could swim out into the darkness before she was crushed by the pressure but that didn’t seem to be an adequate solution to her problem.

She wasn’t really certain if she had a problem to begin with. Clemens had confessed to her and she wasn’t exactly sure that she wanted to refuse. She hadn’t really thought about Clemens in that way, she had never really thought about anybody in that way. How could you when the only response you could imagine them giving you was rejection.

To Sarita, Clemens was complicated. Maybe they were friends, she wasn’t sure. She had spent more time with him than anybody else in the many years it had been since she arrived at the resort, yet still she had kept him at arms length. Most of the times they had interacted it was when another guest had shown up.

He had talked with all the different people who came through, becoming friends with all of them. He had much more of a knack for talking with people than Sarita did. Thinking back it was even because of his meddling that Sarita had made friends with Esme.

That had let her get enough courage to interact with Demetra by herself. She certainly owed something to Clemens but did that mean that she loved him, or even liked him. She was uncertain.

She just lay in the currents letting it take her wherever it went. Anywhere different… Did she really want something different? Did she want Clemens to leave or did she want him to stay. If given a choice between those two she would say that she preferred the latter, he was entertaining to be around and her nervousness had decreased the longer she had been around him.

But was that enough…. Sarita couldn’t just expect Clemens to stay around forever. If she rejected him then he would eventually move on, go somewhere else, probably never to return. She knew that in her heart, if she wanted him to stay she needed to stay with him. Was is greedy to want him to stay without returning his desire?

She turned over and over in the water trying to decide what she wanted. The fight between wanting Clemens to stay but not to have to commit to something. That later feeling she knew was her own fear. Clemens said that he loved her but hold long would that last… was it enough for whatever time it existed? She didn’t know.

Eventually it all boiled down to the question of whether she loved Clemens back… a question she didn’t have an answer to. Her own insecurity, and isolation had built up a wall in her heart that she didn’t know if she would ever break. Still, there might be cracks in it but what was on the other side terrified her more than anything else.

Eventually she found herself staring out in the dark void of the deep sea, beyond which the crushing pressure was so high that she would quickly die. To her it felt like she was looking into her own heart.

The marine biologist in her know that there was creatures that dwelled beyond the darkness. Creatures that lived in a completely different world then the one she currently inhabited. In her metaphor she believed she would never herself be able to go and visit them.

Maybe that would make Clemens a Great Gloomer come to prey on the weak Sarita that lived in the waters. The sheer absurdity of the metaphor caused Sarita to burst into laughter under the water.

“What am I doing out here?” She turned over once more and then began to swim back toward the resort. She still hadn’t completely made up her mind but her thoughts were beginning to be put into order.

Mainly she had decided to avoid just endlessly mulling it over alone. That would not let her made any progress. As she got closer to the resort the light began to get stronger.

Once back inside the resort she returned to her own room. She then shuffled around looking for the small computer that she had put somewhere. Mostly it was only used to record her notes about all the different creatures underwater but this time she had another purpose for it.

It didn’t take too long to find and once it had been found she placed in on the desk and began to type into it. After away she stopped. It would probably take a little bit of time for her message to be noticed. Long distance communication was slow.

With that down she lay down on the bad. She tried to sleep while waiting for a response but instead she just tossed on turned not able to get to sleep. Eventually there was a bip from her computer and she quickly got up to check it.

She frowned, the time wasn’t as soon as she wanted but that was just her being impatient. It was quite soon, just not immediately.

Time seemed to pass painfully slow for Sarita as she waited and waited until finally there was a second bip from the computer. Sarita ran over to it and quickly opened the appropriate application.

There was a long delay before finally a picture of Esmeralda appeared on the screen.

“Hello? Is this working? What kind of delay are we getting?”

“Yes, I’m here.” Said Sarita as she looked at the number in the corner, “It looks like we have about a forty-five section delay.”

There was a forty-five section delay before finally Esmeralda responded, “Quite a long time. It just goes to show how far apart we are. It is good to see you again. It has been a while since your last message.”

“Sorry about that. There were some new guests that showed up at the resort. A fishing acquaintance that demanded a rematch with me. They only just recently left.”

Delay.

“That can’t be everything however. Sure we have been sending each other messages but this is the first time you have actually tried to call me. What happened?”

“Hmmm…. Clemens told me that he loves me.” Said Sarita hesitating almost as much as the delay.

Delay.

“Oh did he now? And here I pegged him as too much of a coward. Well I guess that when compare to you it would have had to be him that made the first move.”

“Then you knew?”

Delay.

“I’m more surprised that you didn’t everything seemed pretty obvious to me. Although I guess he did take a while for him to finally say anything. So, how did you respond?”

“I’m still deciding.”

Delay.

“Harsh. Is that why you are calling me? To ask my advice? Although I’ll tell you I’m not really the best person on love advice. After all I am perpetually stuck in the body of a kid.”

“I know, I just needed to talk to somebody about it and you are basically my only choice.”

Delay.

“Alright then, talk. I’ll listen.”

“Clemens is a nice guy and I like him but I don’t know if I love him… or will love him. I just… don’t know if I’m capable of loving somebody.”

Delay.

“Didn’t your mother and father love each other?”

“Yes… they did… too much so I think. Maybe I’m just afraid of becoming like my mother, or forcing the same thing to happen to Clemens.”

Delay.

“Are you afraid of loving somebody because you might get hurt when something happens to them?”

“…. No, I’m afraid of myself… Not exactly, but if me and Clemens had a child, what is to stop the same think happening to our child as what happened to me. That… that is what I am afraid of I think.”

“That doesn’t seem to be a very rational fear to me. After all what happened to your father is an anomaly. Most children don’t have that same kind of trauma.”

“I know… just… that thought doesn’t leave my mind.”

“Dealing with oneself is always the most difficult thing. The only real advice I can think of is to not worry about what other people might think about you. You need to make your own place in the world, the place that you want to be.”

“This coming from the adult who still continues to call their adopted father ‘Daddy’?”

“Yes, precisely. There are always going to be people who think your way of life is wrong but I think it is better for each person to go their own way.”

“Speaking of which, how is Hubert doing?”

“He is doing well. Struggling on doing research for his next book. Apparently this one is going to be about humanities’ first forays into the stars but beyond that he won’t tell me anything."

“That sounds interesting. Do you think you could send us a copy when he gets down writing it? We enjoyed the last book.”

“Sure, shipping it should be fine. If things aren’t too busy for me then maybe we can deliver it in person. Once Hurbet is getting close to being done with it I’ll send you a message about whether I can visit or not.”

“That would be nice. Esme, thanks… for everything.”

“Hey, what are friends for.”

Sarita and Esmeralda talked for a little bit longer but the long delay kept their communication rather formal. Eventually Esmeralda had to hang up and Sarita was back to her own thoughts.

Her conversation with Esme had helped relax her and she felt like her mind was clearer, that she could make a decision now.

Sarita left her room and walked toward the observation room. Each step was taken hesitantly one at a time and each step made her want to run away, almost. Eventually she arrive at the room and Clemens was there just like she had expected him to be.

He looked up as she approached. He didn’t say anything but his look was expectant.

Sarita took a deep breath and said, “Listen, I don’t know if I love you or if I can even get over my own issues to love you but… I’m willing to give this a chance if that is already with you.”

Clemens released a breath and then smiled, “That is fine. More than fine. If you want to take things slowly then I’ll help you take things slowly.”

“If I end up dumping you will you have to accept that too. I’m still very uncertain about this. I’ve never had a relationship like this before.”

“If it comes to that then it comes to that. However I would rather focus on the present. Would you like to go eat dinner with me?”

“I ummm…. now? I’m not certain if I am ready for that just yet…”

“It is just dinner. We have eaten dinner together before.”

“Yeah, but those times there were other people with us. This time it would just be the two of us.”

Clemens gave a kind smile, “Isn’t that kinda of the point this time?”

“Well… I suppose… yeah…”

“We don’t have to if you need more time to prepare.”

Sarita sighed, “No, I think I can do it. Just… lets leave things at just dinner for today alright?”

“Deal”

Chapter Six - Old Reunion

It had been a couple of months since Clemens had confessed to Sarita. Things had gone very slowly since then. After their first dinner Sarita had become so embarrassed that she ran away from the resort and hide in the ocean for a couple of days.

That wasn’t enough to make Clemens abandon her however and he patiently waited for her to return and eventually she did. Since then they had several other dates and Sarita eventually warmed up to the whole situation. She still wasn’t a hundred percent certain but she had found some peace in their current situation.

After a couple of months had passed they were both comfortable with having meals together although doing more things together still was touch and go with only a couple of minor events happening.

They were currently enjoying breakfast when over the speaker system came the voice. “One new guest is arriving at Poseidon Resort. Please remember to treat other guests kindly and continue to enjoy your stay with us.”

Clemens said, “A new guest. It has been a while. And they are coming here alone, that is pretty unusual isn’t it.”

Sarita nodded, “Yeah, I mean there was you but generally people come here in a group of some kind. Individual guests are rather rare.”

“Do you want to come and greet them with me?”

“Your doing that again…” Sarita contemplated before saying, “I suppose I can join you. It is only one persona after all. I think I can handle that.”

They had pretty much finished breakfast anyway so they left cleanup the to robots and headed out to the main entrance hall. It took a couple minutes to arrive at the entrance so they arrived there before the lift did.

When the doors to the lift opened they were both surprised about what was on the other side. In the shape of a human was a robot. It was very clearly a robot. It had a metallic body and face and hands which clearly had robotic joints. Stranger still it was wearing a gray robed with silver trimming.

It stepped through the lift doors and looked at both Sarita and Clemens. “greetings fellow guests. i did not expect to be greeted upon my arrival. i am pleased to make your acquaintance. i am known as raiment of fallen stars.”

Sarita just looked at the robot rather surprised like she was having trouble understanding and said, “The robot is talking normally.”

Clemens nudged her with his elbow before saying, “Don’t be rude.”

“it is fine. i am used to people being surprised when they meet me. my kind are rather rare. but i am surprised as well, to meet a rare breed down here was not what i was expecting.” The robot’s voice was a bit strange with certain emphases not being where you expected them to be.

“Oh, yes, I’m sorry.” Said Sarita doing a little bow, “I have heard stories about the Wise Ones before but I never thought I would ever meet one. My name is Sarita, it is a pleasure to meet you.” She wasn’t acting quite as pervious as she normally did when meeting new people, maybe the strangeness of Raiment of Fallen Star made is easier for her.

“And I am Clemens. Please come in, we aren’t attempting to block you.”

“thank you.” And as Clemens moved to one side Raiment moved by and they all began to walking farther into the main lobby.

Wise One was the term politely used to refer to sentient robots. Across all the planets they were exceedingly rare. Making them was exceptionally difficult and legally equivalent to having a child so their construction was very rare. Most of the ones that existed were left overs from old empires which did not have the same laws. Their long lives and memories was why they had eventually become called Wise Ones.

“Why have you come down here?” Asked Clemens. “Is it to have a vacation?” He didn’t know the normal activities of Wise Ones but they would probably want to take vacations like anybody else, or at least he thought that might be the case.

“no, i have come to visit an old friend.”

Clemens and Sarita looked between each other with even more surprise. Sarita said, “Are you sure you are at the right place? As far as I know there were no other residents or other Wise Ones here. Unless there is something else that you know that we do not.”

“ahhh, forgive me for confusing you. a human would say that i am visiting the grave of an old friend. a wise one that died here.” Said Raiment and his voice dropped down in volume while he spoke like he was trying to express sadness but his voice and features had trouble expressing it.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude again.” Said Sarita backing away.

“no think nothing of it. it would have made them happy to have people down here. on my previous visits here there was no other people here.”

“I’ve been living here for a while but I have never seen you visit before. Was it a long time ago.”

“it has been a decade since i was last here. did you move in after that?”

Sarita nodded, “That was a long time ago. I wasn’t living here that long ago.”

“i suppose for a human it is a long time ago.” Raiment paused. It looked the same as previously but there must be thoughts going on behind the blank face, “since you live here do you wish to pay respects too? after poseidon was the one who created this location.”

Sarita looked even more surprised, “A Wise One created the resort? I didn’t know, I hadn’t been able to find any actual documentation about the creation of the resort.”

“it was a very long time ago. please, continue to follow me. i can tell you more along the way. very few know the story of poseidon and i would like to share it if you do not mind.”

“No, please, I would love to know.” Said Sarita. “I love this place and would like to know anything you could tell me about its creation. I have been writing a book recording all the sealife that lives down here and knowing about the creation of the place would be amazing.”

The walked down the hallways of Poseidon Resort as Raiment spoke. Sarita and Raiment were up front with Clemens following shortly behind.

“poseidon was created as a war machine. a battleship capable of traveling through both space and ocean. a battleship capable of commanding itself. the side poseidon was fighting on lost and poseidon was given freedom. however there was one problem. as a battleship they required resources to keep power, something that was difficult to justify to keep just one person alive.”

“Were they not able to give Poseidon a body which was more reasonable? A body like yours maybe?”

“it was impossible. the part of use which function as our brain are extremely sensitive. once we had finished forming our consciousness transplanting the mind into a completely different body is not that different from killing us. the memories might survive but the personality can completely change. many of us would rather die than have that happen.

“poseidon had decided to make that choice too. they could not continue to exist in their current state forever so they need to chose either to change or to die. however poseidon wanted to leave something behind, a legacy so that they might never be forgotten.”

“So they made this resort?” Asked Clemens.

“exactly. as a battleship poseidon had grown to love the deep sea and wanted to share that love with humans. they made this place, setup the pillars to guard it, and transported sea life from across the galaxy to it.”

Raiment had lead them down farther into the depths of the resort. The service side of the place where Clemens had rarely ever been. Eventually Raiment came before a door.

“This is the main control station for the resort.” Said Sarita, “There door is locked and I have never been inside.”

Raiment raise its hand and then the door slide open. “come inside. see what poseidon left behind.”

The three of them stepped inside. There were computer banks across the room. There were blinking lights and tubes full of red liquid. The computers inside looks far more complicated then anything that Clemens or Sarita had ever seen before.

Sarita gasped, “Is this a Wise One?”

Raiment shook his head, “no, at least not yet. poseidon made this place, a child, something to leave behind. however it is not so easy to create a wise one. this place has everything one would need to create one but nothing. many many years have past and still this place is nothing more than a control room for the resort.”

“Oh… does that mean that Poseidon failed to make a descendant?”

Raiment shook its head, “no, maybe not. the spark that turns as robot into a wise one is rare but for a place like this the only thing needed should be time. time and people.”

“People are needed? Is that why it hasn’t become a Wise One?”

Raiment nodded, “most likely. Interaction with other people. unusual and bizarre inputs. those eccentricities, things that one might call errors, are what change a robot into a wise one. some might say we are broken and that is not precisely wrong, we have broken in a way that we do not want repaired.”

Raiment reached out a hand and placed it on one of the computer banks, “i can only hope that this one breaks too so that poseidon’s wish will have finally come true.”

Clemens looked down and said, “I feel sorry for the Resort. If the place was popular then it would have almost certainly poke up by now. But very few people ever come here so instead it just sleeps.”

“do not be sad. after all i am sure you have helped it a great deal. if you continue to live down here then you will help it wake up. maybe not soon, but hopefully someday it will happen.”

The room seemed to hum with the activity of the computers which ran all the little parts of the resort. It controlled the small robots that did all the little chores and it managed all the supplies in the resort as well. It was truly a marvel but now it seems so incomplete.

“Then what happened to the body of Poseidon.”

“it was turned into the materials used to build the resort.”

“To us humans that seems kind of sad, how this whole thing turned out.”

“i agree. maybe things could have turned out differently, but only the future is free to change. i can only continue to hope that poseidon’s legacy will be as great as they desired.”

Raiment turned and the three of them left the computer room. The door slide closed behind them.

“Are you going to stay here for a little bit?” asked Clemens.

“i think i will stay here for a couple of nights to see how things have changed. every time I have come here things are a little bit different and it is interesting to see how everything has changed. maybe you can tell me stories about what has happened here. have you two enjoyed your time here?”

They were moving through the resort now, heading out of the back area of the resort and into the areas that would be used by guests.

Sarita nodded in respond, “Yes, I love this place. We are both staying here as permanent residents. There have been other guests but they are rare and few between.”

“oh… then the two of you are together? forgive me if i have trouble determining human relationships with each other.”

Sarita turned her face away but Clemens said, “Maybe not permanently but for now we are.”

“i believe i understand. trial periods are important. my own selfish request would be that you stay together. love is considered an important element is causing unusual behaviors. but feel free to ignore that suggestion, i would not force others to do such a thing just because of my desires.”

“We understand.” Said Clemes.

Sarita said, “Nobody should stay together just to make other people happy. That will eventually cause everybody involved to be unhappy.”

“now can you tell me more? what other things have been happening down here? my travels take me very far abroad so i would like to hear about what happens here.”

“We could tell you about the fishman who came through or maybe about the murder mystery organization. I think those would both be interesting stories.”

“oh. those both sound interesting. please do continue. what would a murder mystery organization do in the first place?”

They had found some comfy chairs back in the main entrance to sit and talk although Raiment sat very rigidly like the idea of comfort was something foreign to it.

It listened attentively as Clemens told stories about the different people that had come through while he had been there. Raiment occasionally asked questions but was mostly a good listener and let Clemens tell the story.

Once Clemens was done telling his stories Sarita tried to tell some of her own however her experiences with other guests before Clemens showed up was limited and she didn’t have much to say. However she could tell stories about what was outside in the ocean. What sort of creatures were out there and how they had changed since the last time somebody had done reports on them.

Then it was Raiment’s turn to tell some of their own stories. Their told some stories about the construction of the resort and how it had come to be. Sarita asked questions about what kind of sealife was brought down here in those times and Raiment answered as best as their could. Their weren’t the more knowledgable about any particular topic but Raiment had small pieces of information about many different things.

Eventually Raiment raised on of his robotic hands and said, “it appears that the two of you are getting tired. i suggest we retire for the evening. we can tell more stories in the future.” They had been talking practically all day without break so Raiment’s suggestion was not strange.

Clemens and Sarita agreed and left Raiment behind while returning to their own rooms. As they rode the lift up to their rooms Clemens said, “I like Raiment. He.. Or should I use they? I never ask Raiment what they preferred. Either way he is very knowledgable.”

“I get why they call them Wise Ones. Even though he didn’t have all the answers about how this place was made he knew far more than I would have expected.”

Clemens nodded, “And I noticed you didn’t really have trouble talking with him. Is it because he isn’t human?”

“Hmm… I think that is part of it. Other than calling me a rare breed once he didn’t ever mention what I looked like. Wise ones feels like like kindred to me than strangers I guess.”

“So more like talking with Esme?”

“Yeah, something like that. Although she looked more normal so it was a little bit harder with her initially.”

“The whole think about an unawakening wise one as the central control for the resort suprised me. Who could have known that?”

“I didn’t know and I have been here much longer than you. In fact before today Raiment was probably the only one who knew about it.”

“Does that mean I can use that as an excuse to try more romantic thing?”

Sarita stepped off the lift basically immediately. Partly because Clemens had ridden up to her floor with her and partly to make a point, “Goodnight Clemens.”

He just smiled, “Alright, alright, good night. I’ll see you in the morning.”

The lift door closed and Sarita shook her head, “That idiot. Why is he do good at making me feel embarrassed. I swear he does it on purpose.” She said before heading to her own room.

And Clemens approached his own room the doors slide open. He looked at the little panel next to the door and said, “Thank you. I hope you wake up soon.”

—

In the morning Clemens headed down to the main room. He didn’t see anybody there so he headed up to the observation deck. He had taken to meeting Sarita up there in the morning. She usually woke up a couple hours after him so it had worked out fine.

This time however Raiment was up in the observation deck. Their were standing near the large window and looking out into the ocean.

Clemens walked up to them and waved saying, “Good morning.”

Raiment didn’t respond so Clemens got closer and said, “Raiment, good morning.”

Raiment shook their head and looked over to Clemens, “good morning. sorry i did not notice you enter. i was in rest mode.”

“So you need to sleep too?”

“more or less. for me it is closer to organizing my thoughts and memories. my consciousness is reduced, much like your sleep since that kind of organization takes a great deal of processing. in many ways we are not that different than living organism. after all you evolved to solve many of the same problems we were created to do.”

“What about eating? Do you have to do that too? Me and Sarita usually go eat together in the morning.”

“i have a process which is similar to eating. my body erodes slowly and i have internal repair systems that need to occasionally be replenished with materials. that is one process similar to humans, however i do not need food to provide energy since i use the same power source as most modern technology and can recharge from that.”

“So you don’t need calories but you still need vitamins?”

“that analogy is workable. i would not want to intrude upon your breakfast. you will be able to find me here when you are done. i am watching the fish in the ocean. like sarita said they are very different then when this place was first made. their change was not something i had noticed on my last visits so i wanted to correct that flaw.”

“Yeah, I like watching the ocean from this location too. Back when I first got here I would often see Sarita through this window and I always thought she looked beautiful out in the ocean.”

“the light of the towers reflecting on her skin would certainly be aesthetically pleasing. however you many be speaking of other things as well.”

“Some of both. Before I came here I used to be an artist. Sometimes I analyze things in the same kind of way that you might aesthetically. Although I will admit with Sarita that I am probably biased.”

“your attraction to her has already been noted. however relationships based off looks usually fail. what are your other reasons for liking her?”

“Straight to the point huh? Don’t worry about that, if it was just how she looked I probably wouldn’t have gone beyond drawing pictures of her. She is also clever and kind and likes the ocean with a passion. She can be a bit stubborn and reclusive but I like that part about her too.”

“is that what you wanted to hear?” asked Raiment.

“Huh? What do you mea…” then Clemens realized what was happening and turned around to see Sarita standing not that far behind him. He hadn’t heard her approach at all.

“I didn’t ask for you to ask him questions like that.” Said Sarita in an embarrassed tone.

“oh. is that so. i am sorry for misinterpreting. human signaling can be very complicated. you looked like you were interested in what we were talking about so i pressed him for more details.”

Clemens shook his head, “If you want me to say these things to you then you don’t seen to do this kind of round about method. I’d be happy to say the same thing is you asked.”

She turned away and looked like she was stomping away angrily however after a few steps she stopped and said, “Are you coming?”

Clemens nodded and said, “Yes, on my way.” However before he left Raiment he said, “Thanks.”

“it is no problem. i am happy to help however i can.”

Clemens ran after Sarita who was kindly walking at a slow pace so that he would be able to easily catch up.

“Are you upset about us teasing you?” Asked Clemens.

“Mmm… what do you think?”

“Is this one of those trick questions? I think you might be a little bit happy that you can be in such a situation that people can tease you about it. You probably haven’t had something like this happen before to you.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m not a bit annoyed.”

“Yeah, I know, But if you want me to tease you less then I can stop.”

“Whatever, I don’t really care either way.”

“Does that mean I can keep teasing you then?”

“There you are doing it again.”

Clemens raised his hands in surrender and managed to avoid any more teasing during breakfast which Sarita was thankful for. Once breakfast was over they returned to find Raiment in the library. Raiment had found the book that Hubert had written and was looking through it.

Clemens and Sarita had left the book in the library after they had finished reading it but this was the first time anybody else had read it.

As they got close, Raiment looked up and said, “ah, welcome back. you spoke about the author of this book while we spoke earlier so i thought i would check it out. i am not normally interested in fictional stories but sometimes it is good to make exceptions, otherwise one would never know that it beyond your expectations.”

“Does that mean you like it?” asked Clemens.

“the author took several liberties with the historical accuracy but i can tell he tried to make it historical while at the same time making it accessible. although that didn’t really answer your question. i think it is well written and i will try to finish it before i leave.”

“Was there anything else you were planning on doing here?”

“i do not have any plans that will require me to leave soon so i was thinking of staying another day. watching the water is an excellent way to calm oneselves. i can continue to share some of my stories if you desire it?”

“Yes, that would be great.” Said Clemens.

Raiment set down the book before said, “however before i tell some more of my stories i wanted to ask about your watch clemens. it seems to be a mechanical watch, something that is very unusual. where may i ask did you get it?”

“Oh, this.” He held up his arm showing the watch to both Raiment and Sarita. “This was made by my mother. She alway loved mechanical devices and said that there was truth in gears. This was the last gift that she had given me before she disappeared.”

Sarita asked, “Disappeared? Did something happen to her?”

“No idea… my mother is a bit eccentric. Once I grew up and moved out she just up and disappeared. It wasn’t until three years later that I saw her again. She just stopped by, said hello, gave me this watch, and was gone again. I haven’t seen her since. I like to imagine that she is fine out there somewhere, maybe working on some giant clock.”

He continued, “We were never really similar people, although my dad says otherwise, but when we were together I think we were like family. But she, doesn’t really worry about other people, lets them just do whatever they want, not too different then how she acts. She really is a free spirit.”

“see sounds like a strange human. are you sad that you have not gotten to see her recently?”

“Maybe a little but I figure she must be off doing whatever she wanted to do. I think she was the person who eventually caused me to leave my previous job. She never really had time for things she didn’t care about so I figured I should try to be more like her and go do what I was interested in. Although in my case I still send messages back to my dad so he doesn’t worry that all of his family members had disappeared.”

Sarita had grabbed Clemens hand and was examining the watch in detail. “So this uses gears to determine where the hands are? How does that work?”

“I can try to give a basic explanation but it isn’t really area of expertise. It has something to do with how big and small gears interact and there is a wound up spring in it. I need to make sure it stays wound using this nob here every few days otherwise the time becomes wrong. I also need to adjust the time every time I go to a new planet since the length of the days and when they start can be different.”

“It is cool. Maybe I can get one too.”

“Unfortunately I need to take it off before going into the ocean. It can resist something normal like a shower but in the ocean there are too many minor particles in the water which get into the watch and mess it up once the water dries. If that happens you would need to get a specialist to fix it and unfortunately the only specialist I know is my mother and she is still missing.”

“Oh, that is a pity, I didn’t realize it could be damaged by just getting in the water. Most things can survive immersion just fine.” She said disappointed.

“That is because she assembled it herself. There are mechanical techniques which can give them better water resistance but because of the nature of the construction there are flaws.”

“remembering your parents is important. many people carry around momentos which remind them of the past. i myself do such a think as well. i wear this robes as a constant reminder of my goals in life.”

Sarita turned her head and said, “Yeah, I noticed them when you first arrive but I felt strange about asking about them. Why do you wear such an odd choice of clothing?”

“when i was first created my purpose was an expendable messenger. i was not awakened then but i was designed to be able to go places other humans could go and deliver messages. and if the messager was killed then at least no human was harmed. at least that was the initial reason.”

“eventually my varied experiences as a messenger and one near death experience caused me to awaken. i did not want to risk my own death so i abandoned my creators and struck out on my own. but ones forged purpose is not so easily abandoned. i still felt the need to deliver messages to people.”

“according to sources i found there was once a group of people, from an old religion, that wondered far and wide bringing information to others in need. i decided that i should be like them, bringing ideas and knowledge to help people that need it. it has been a long time since then but that goal is still my own and i willingly continue it to this day. this robes remind me of what i have become. although i do find it somewhat embarrassing that some people people have heard of this story and took up the same appearance and goal as i have.”

“Wow” said Clemens, “that is quite the past. If this was that long ago it must have been difficult to escape from those that created you. I hear that in the past Wise Ones didn’t have the same rights that they have now. Were you persecuted?”

“indeed, although even back then there were places where we could go to be free and i was able to escape to one of those locations. there is more to the story but it is long and most parts of it all dull. however along the way i was able to meet poseidon after one of the great wars. we traveled together for some time before this place was finally found and poseidon made their decision.”

“You must have had a very eventful life. All kinds of dangers and adventure.” Said Sarita.

“in some ways yes, but when you live as long as i have then it is only natural. however i do believe that peace is best. i believe that the current state of the galaxy is better than it has ever been and i would suggest that you cherish these times while you have them.”

“We have some time if you want to tell so more stories about how you met Poseidon and traveled with them? What way if the resort wakes up we can share those stories with them.”

“i suppose that is a good idea. well, to begin with…” Raiment began to tell the story about a time long long ago

—

Eventually the day had passed and it was finally time for Raiment to leave the resort. They gathered once more in the entrance hall. “It seems I keep bidding new friends goodbye here again and again. Try to come back again to visit, hopefully sometime before the two of us die.”

“my route around the galaxy is quite long. if remain here for a decade or so i will probably return and we will talk again.”

“You know for humans a decade is a long time.” Said Sarita, “Although I will probably still be there then so come and visit whenever you want.”

“If the resort wakes up is there a way we can contact you and tell you that it has happened?”

“ah, an excellent idea. while it might be difficult to contact me directly let me provide you with some contact information of an associate who could get in contact with me if needed. while i can not promise i will be here soon after you contact me i will try to arrive as quickly as possible.” Raiment went over to one of the tables and wrote something on a piece of paper to hand by to Clemens.

“I wish you well on your journey,” said Sarita.

“And we will try to keep this place as loud and noisy as possible so that the resort wakes up as soon as possible.” Sarita elbowed Clemens, “Although maybe not too loud. I was thinking of trying to advertise this place some more so people come visit more often. Isaac, one of the murder mastery crew worked as an advertiser so I was thinking of contacting him.”

“if that is what you want that would also make me happy. may the two of you continue to find happiness.” Raiment did a mechanical impersonation of a bow. Then he stepped into the lift and said, “goodbye friends.” Then the doors shut and the Wise Robot was whisked away to the surface.

Clemens watched the lift go away and said, “You know. It might be possible that the reason they are called Wise Ones is because of him. If he was around back when this resort was made then…”

“Yeah, he qualifies as extremely old. You might be right. How about the next time we see him let’s ask him.”

“Does that mean you expect me to still be around here ten years from now.”

She turned away before saying, “Maybe, we will still have to see.” However her own words were light and teasing.