LOOK! A Wizard Tower!?

  The Extremitus and her crew arrived at their first mission objective in sector 6. The crew had met in the briefing room, and hammered out their mission objectives for a second time, and how they would proceed if the asteroids were rich in mineral deposits. Everyone seemed to know their jobs, including the ex-car salesman who was enjoying his new vocation. Danny had met him in the cafeteria one time during the voyage, and seemed to idolize Ross for giving him this job, and was still pissed off at his old boss for his unjust firing. Danny couldn't help reminiscing on how Ross was the reason he lost his job, but he would never tell Anton.

  The crew moved with purpose. Engineering kept power levels nominal, and perfectly regulated allowing, the mining crew to begin their survey of the asteroid. Ross and Danny were in their command chairs. Ross was still a little uneasy around Danny, but Ross was the type of person that would watch your back no matter what, and they were all they had left in this universe. If Danny was in Ross's shoes, he might react the same way. Ross still kept his distance though. Perhaps this new development weirded him out, and he didn't know how to approach the subject considering that their next mission was something that was akin to space exploration. Maybe he was hoping for time to dissolve the illusion.

  Ross knew he was Danny, and for now that would have to be enough. They both watched an asteroid spinning slowly on the view screen with a distant sun shining behind their chairs. “Mining team! Please begin your survey.” Ross commanded. Danny watched as he saw drones spill out onto the screen and swarm the giant rock. The drones moved as one as each member of the mining team controlled various functions while other functions were automated. 2 hours later, the drones were in position, and the rock began to flash as the drones began mapping the surface, and taking measurements of the rock’s density. They needed to complete this process to determine where to take the core sample from. Danny turned to Ross “Are we ok? I mean, are we good?” Ross was still watching the view screen around them and noticed a survey drone drifting “Heather! Stabilize that drone.” A female voice acknowledged over the speaker. Ross did not answer for a while as the survey results appeared on the screen. “We are good Danny. It just scares me a little, but regardless we are all the family we have left, and nothing will destroy that.” Danny looked away wishing he had not shown Ross. “I should have died.” Danny said. “NO!” Ross went to place a reassuring hand on Danny's shoulder to remind him it was ok, and that he would always be there, but hesitated. Danny saw Ross hesitate, and Ross saw the hurt deepen its roots within Danny, and let the subject drop.

  Danny knew what Ross said was the truth. They were in the middle of a job, so Danny pushed his feelings down, and analyzed the survey results. This was in his wheelhouse after all. He noticed three prime sites for core sampling. Glenn's voice could be heard over the speaker “Heather wants to know if were good to take core samples, and if so, we need to know where.” Danny responded trying to keep the hurt out of his voice “Yes! We are good to take core samples. Sending core sites now.” Danny sent the data to Glenn's station. All the survey drones retreated except for three of them which Ross zoomed in on, and Danny saw drilling appendages extend from the drones' underside. One hour later, all three samples were returned to the ship. Each sample varied in length with one sample being half the asteroid's diameter. Heather announced that there would be prize was a trash haul. Ross ordered the crew to standby, and Danny began blasting a hyper ping finding a second, and third candidate 10,000 miles (16,093.44 kilometers) away in a binary pair. Once the ship was in range, they repeated the process yielding no success. Ross relieved his crew for the day. “Don't be disheartened. We still have 1 more asteroid before we leave this sector. I would like to also remind you that you are on standby, so no drinking. You know the drill.” The crew gave a mixed response of yes sir, and yes boss. Ross turned to Danny “I meant what I said. I just need some time to adjust.”, and Ross left the bridge. Danny stayed to run checks on ship's subroutines, and activated Rose's defense station protocol which Ross unwittingly renamed protect by balls. He thought back to his friends attempt to make things better, and smiled. Danny sent out another hyper ping to ensure the area was clear, but as the ping results faded, he noticed an undefined blip at the edge of the holo display between him and the screen. Danny ordered Rose to enhance by max but saw nothing. That was odd. What was that? Danny thought. He sent out another ping but the blip was gone. He couldn't see anything on the maxed-out display, and all that could be seen was the asteroid they had just surveyed. It was probably a core sample floating away. Danny got up and left for his crew quarters.

  Ross woke up to the AI's alarm “Warning! Ship under attack” He could feel the vibration as a rail gun turret fired. Ross made his way to the bridge, and opened a ship wide communication “We are under attack. Man the guns! Shoot first ask questions later.” Danny was already in his chair controlling the main rail gun turret. Ross took a seat, and asked “How much damage have we taken?” Danny fired scoring a direct hit on the enemy ship, ripping through its hull venting out oxygen. “Minimal damage, but the hydrogen tank has been ruptured.” Danny said quickly. Soon the crew reported in, working like a well-oiled machine, firing their respective turrets. Ross noticed several small ships on a collision course for the Stern. He recognized them as boarding vessel, and a known tactic used by pirates. They were coming in hot, dodging and juking the turret fire. His chair notified him of an incoming message which Ross answered. “This is Captain Zane! Give us your ship, and her cargo or die.” Ross would sooner die before letting them have his ship. Ross replied “Go Fuck yourself.” There was a pause, then Zane replied. “So be it.” The boarding ships were torn apart as Glenn got direct hit after direct hit, ripping the transports to pieces. This caused the torn boarding ships to tumble out of control, slamming into the Extrimatus. The ships armor was thick, but it could only handle so much. Danny fired another salvo from his turret missing the other ship as it took evasive action. Ross followed suite, evading three missiles which flew past the ship lighting up the bridge's screen. It seemed that if they couldn't take the ship, they were going to destroy it. “Guess they gave up on taking the ship. What armor did you get for the ship” Danny inquired with panic in his voice. “Wouldn't matter! Those were nukes. Where the fuck did they get nukes!? Danny, take out its engines! I'M making an emergency jump.” The Pirate's ship fired its 100mm Gatling turrets causing the ship to buck sideways as alarms started blaring. “Hull integrity 70%, Hydrogen thrusters offline, Rail gun turret 1 and 3 offline.” the AI notified. Anton and Glenn could be heard cursing over the comms. Danny opened a ship wide comm “All stations! Fire on the enemy ship’s engines, and prepare for emergency jump.”. “Ross! How long until the surge drive is online?” Danny said launching another salvo into the other ship. Ross could tell Danny was panicking, but he had to admit, he was doing a fine job staying collected. “One minute until jump.” Ross felt the ship jerk violently again as more 100mm rounds pounded the ships armor, and took out another turret followed by more cursing. Ross pulled the ship into a nose dive, and then brought it up into a tail spin to give the back rail guns line of site. Danny heard Alexis over the comm “Fuck you, and your ship!” as a turret took out the enemy ships' engine, reactor, then its aft missile launcher, but not before it was able to launch a nuke, and fire a salvo of rounds from its turrets. Ross saw Danny's eyes widen as the ship took more 100mm fire, violently shaking the ship sending Ross out of his chair and head first into the ceiling display as gravity was taken offline. Ross lost consciousness.

  Danny Saw Ross get launched out of his chair and hit the display. He was not moving, and with Ross unconscious, there was no one flying the ship to evade the missile. If only there was something he could do. He couldn't help Ross until that nuke was taken care of. The other ship was clearly disabled save for a remaining launcher and 100mm cannon array. Thinking back to the specs of the mining drones, he knew their core sampling abilities could be used to dismantle those armaments. He issued the order. “Any personnel unable to control a turret, launch all mining drones and disable the pirates remaining armaments.” Before their remaining missile launcher was disabled, it launched a missile. If it hit, they were done, and the Extrimatus only had one turret left and the person controlling it had not noticed its approach until it was too late. If only Danny could get rid of that missile. Before it hit, Danny held up his arms to protect himself out of reflex. He saw a bright flash from between his arms and felt a sudden drain. He felt instant mana fatigue. He looked up to see a light blue barrier in front of the ship pop out of existence. Danny was fighting to stay awake as the AI could be heard “Surge drive online. Preset concordance are locked in.” Danny was fading fast. So, he stood up with wobbly legs and grabbed Ross, tossing him into his chair which sensed his presence and strapped its occupant in on Danny's command. Danny got back into his chair strapped in with his last seconds of awareness, he activated the surge drive, and then everything went black.

  Danny was floating in a dark room, drifting as if he were floating on the surface of a vast ocean, taken by a gentle tide. It was quite pleasant. He felt a familiar presence, and it felt the same as when he was in the presence of Craylon. Danny looked around, expecting to see her, but when he looked around himself, he only saw more darkness followed by a large strange symbol that glowed green with an ethereal glow stationed below him. On instinct, he moved towards it. Not with motion, but with intent. The mere desire of wanting to be near it propelled him to it. Soon Danny was standing on it. Upon landing on the glowing symbol Danny felt a strange energy fill him, and felt connected to something powerful and ancient, then he saw an alert making itself known to him, vying for his attention. He focused on the alert and a message notification sprung into view, and could be seen clearly this time with a readable player sheet.

  Congratulations! New Skill learned: mana Barrier Lvl-10 Apprentice. Extends a shell of mana that reflects, deflect, and at times absorbs incoming objects and spells. Barrier's defense is 100+X where X = the skills level +150 XP for learning this new skill! +200 XP for reaching the apprentice rank in this skill.

  Congratulations! Level up! You have reached level 2. Your attributes have increased.

  This must have been what that garbled nonsense was. Danny concentrated on the presence he felt, trying to examine his situation and dissect it. His inner scientist wanted so desperately to understand it. He studied the room thinking back to what happened before this happened, and suddenly his memory of the event played out before him as if on commend. The notifications disappeared blinking angrily in the corner of his vision. Danny saw the missile headed straight for the ship. He saw himself raise his arms up in front of himself out of reflex to preserve his life, and a bluish barrier appear. This must have been the new skill he learned. It didn't cover the ship, but it was big enough to impact and was angled in a way that it directed the blast around and away from the ship. He thought he saw Craylon, otherwise known as the lady of the forest appear next to him placing a hand on his shoulder. “Come to think of it, I should not have been able to stop that.” Danny voiced out loud, seeing her vanish. Also, he had not noticed it before, but he had felt power inter his body, and was reminded of when Craylon visited him when he was in the hospital. He concluded that this was his dormant connection to Craylon fully awakened. The memory vanished. He didn't know how he knew this, but it felt instinctual.

  He had played plenty of RPGs to know what attributes were, and what they were about. STR was a measure of muscle and physical power. DEX was hand/eye coordination, agility, reflexes, and balance. INT was how well and quick you learned something. WIS was common sense, and intuition, but instinct told him it was linked to his mana somehow. CON governed his stamina and vitality. CHA was how he was perceived by others, and his ability to direct conversations, and now he had 10 extra points to spend. He concentrated on his notifications again. Once again Danny was asked “Do you wish to level up Yes/No?” He chose “No!”, and looked at his player sheet again. It showed he was level 2, but Danny figured he wasn't actually level 2 until he placed his unspent points. It wasn't that he didn't want to spend his points. It was actually quite the opposite; he just did not know the best way to test it out. So? YOLO! Danny put 3 in CON, 1 in WIS, 3 in STR, and 3 into CHA. When he was done, he was asked to confirm his stats, and he selected yes glancing over his player sheet. Danny noticed that placing points into WIS and CON raised his mana and Stamina. He had not placed any points in LCK, because he did not understand what that was, and the other stat he would have to wait until he woke up before accessing the difference.

  Name: Danny Anderson Race: Human Level: 2

  Mana: 60/60 Regen from Stamina

  Stamina: 70/70 Re gen +1.5

  Skills--

  Spells--

  Danny felt awareness start to creep in, but before he awoke green vines sprouted from the sigil beneath him, and he saw the lady of the forest stand before him with a kind but sympathetic smile. The vines glowed an emerald green as pain blossomed through his wrapped body. Once the pain stopped, she said, “You are almost home Danny. I have given you 2 gifts. One is a choice to bestow my blessing to one other, and the other gift is one of power.” The vines retreated back into the sigil.

  Danny woke up. He was on the bridge of the ship. The ships AI repeating an SOS “Mayday mayday, the Extrimatus needs assistance.” Danny did a self-assessment of his body, and found that he felt spry and full of vigor like he did when he was 18. So, he looked at his command chair and requested a damage report from Rose. While he waited Danny looked around the bridge to see the screens non-functional. They were flying blind. Even though they were not hit directly, the nuke still devastated the ships internals and melted the ship's armor to slag. Danny looked at the received damage report. 50% hull integrity, hydrogen thrusters offline, all turrets offline, hull breaches in drone bay, engine room, and med bay. Antimatter reactor leak detected containment protocols active. Gravity generator is offline. Oxygen levels stabilized. Danny commanded Rose “Rose broadcast ship wide. All crew! This is captain Anderson. To all that are alive, put on your spacesuits and mag boots, then begin first aid on those who can be saved, and make sure they are suited up. Start with yourselves first move to the wounded closest to you to assist and move to the next.”

  Danny cut comms and looked over to Ross who was unconscious in his command chair bleeding from his head. He grabbed the space suits and mag boots from under both command chairs, putting his on first, and then checking over Ross. Danny felt awful for what he said to Ross, and would do all he could to ensure their survival. He would not let their conversation be his last words to him. Danny felt the top of Ross's head feeling a tender spot where He had hit his head. Danny felt a loos pieces of bones and there was bleeding. He walked over and dislodged a busted screen, reviling a hidden compartment containing an emergency med kit. It had a basic med scanner and various stabilizers, and stimulants. Danny placed the med scanner around Ross's arm, while Danny injected Ross with the emergency stimulants and stabilizers, but if Ross had internal bleeding in this zero G environment, then he would already be lost, and all Danny could do would be to make him comfortable. Seconds seemed like an eternity as the med scanner completed its scan. Danny waited in anguish as different scenarios played out in his mind, most of them ending in death.

  Danny heard a Ding, and looked over the results. Ross was in a bad way. The injections were only good if there was no internal bleeding, and Ross had brain hemorrhaging. Danny felt his eyes sting as his vision became blurry with tears, knowing Ross was going to die unless they could restore gravity. A broadcast came over the comms bringing Danny partially to his senses. “Bridge this is Anton over? I repeat this is Anton over!” Danny answered trying to keep his voice steady “This is Captain Anderson. What's your status?” There was a pause before Anton answered trying to articulate his words “Not good. I have been cut off from the others, and before you ask, I am ok. I have lost comms with the mining team. I don't think they made it.” Danny punched the chair out of rage and anger. He was tired of having everyone he loved and cared about ripped from him. Over the course of the trip, he had come to know these people and even care for them. “You know this ship! Can the gravity generator be fixed?” Danny inquired with little hope. “No, the other engineers have tried, but we need Mercury and a new oscillator.” came Anton's response. Danny grimaced “Make whatever repairs you can. If the jump took us where I think it did, then let’s hope that this rock has what we need.” Danny cut the comms. He paced around the chairs trying to think of what he could do. Even if they had propulsion, it would take a year unless a ship got their distress signal, but that was assuming they were even heard at all. “Rose! Re-rout all exterior visuals to my command chair.” Danny sat down looking at Ross who's breathing had become shallow. He was not going to give up on him. Danny would save him. He looked at the area outside and around the ship. What Danny saw surprised him. Danny saw an asteroid with a gate in its side made from carved stone. Inside he could see a prairie with a sky and a large tower. Normally he would have said it was a trick of the light but given everything that's happened, he knew better.

  Danny assessed the situation further. There had to be a way out of this. “Ok think! This tub should be able to jump 2 more times. No! That won't work. Not with reactor containment protocols active, which meant the PME was their only means of space travel. There are maneuvering thrusters and there were the escape pods? If He could get Ross to that mysterious asteroid then the injections might still save him. Danny maneuvered the ship, aiming the pods at the asteroids stone gate. Maybe this was a stupid idea, but it was this or Ross would die. Under any other circumstance they could have limped back home, but he was not going to let Ross die crew be damned. Besides, they were as safe as they were going to get.

  Danny disengaged Ross's mag boots and attached their helmates, readying both of them for the possibilities of space exposure. With the lack of gravity, Danny was able to carry Ross to the escape pods. He passed various members of the mining team including Alexis on the way there. They floated lifelessly with shrapnel littering their bodies, and signs of battle leaving parts of the ship exposed to the vacuum of space. It was too late for them, but not for Ross. Each pod could hold 2 people, and each was equipped with the basics for survival, which included a beacon and transponder.

  It was a successful launch. The Pod shot towards the gate. Danny looked at the med scanner as they shot towards it in an attempt to will Ross's life stable, but to no avail. The med scanner showed Ross slipping, losing the battle as he fought to cling to life. 20 minutes passed, and they slammed into the ground, and suddenly there was gravity, but it was too late. The injections had worn off, and Ross was back to square 1. Danny began to weep. He felt something grasp his hand “Danny! I don't good." Said Ross with weak and broken speech.” “Hang in there Ross. Everything is going to be ok.” Danny lied, tears falling from his face. Ross lost consciousness. Head trauma was serious if the impact was great, and Ross was lucky he didn't break every bone in his torso. Danny cried for an hour holding Ross and remembered how he was there for Danny. Even when he was at the hospital coming in and out of his coma. He remembered seeing Ross sleeping on the couch, when Danny should have died. “Wait a second. I should have died! I healed on the operating table!”. Danny was suddenly reminded of what Craylen said. He could bestow her gift, but only once. Danny didn't know what that meant, but he had to try. He was desperate, and refused to be left alone again. Magic was about intent, so if he intended to give Craylon's gift, then it would happen. “WAKE UP DAMMIT!” Danny yelled, placing a hand on Ross. A green light emanated between his hand and Ross. Ross glowed. Life and breath slowly returned to his body. The blood caked on his face was adsorbed into his skin. The light died away and Danny noticed the med scanner showing Ross as being in perfect health.

  It was like she knew this would happen, which begged the question. Just who or what was Craylon? Was it a god, or a super advanced being? It had shown Danny visions of his wife dying, and she did. He didn't know what the other stuff in those dreams meant, but in there last encounter she gifted Danny with the ability to save Ross. What was its goal? Better yet, what did it want with Danny? Some static came from his suites comms that caught his attention. “This is Anton! Did it work? Are you There?” Danny answered his comms “This is Captain Anderson! Yes, we are ok. What is the status of the ship and her crew?” “I managed to meet up with the remaining crew, but there telling me the reactor can be fixed. I know you said to fix the ship, but I will need your permission for this.” Anton said. The ex-car salesman made this sound a little like this was a good news bad news situation. Danny asked initiating an atmospheric scan of his new surroundings “Whats the bad news?” Anton sighed “We will lose the surge drive. Yes! We can fix the reactor, but we will need to cannibalize the surge drive for its antimatter stabilizers. We took a vote, and we believe this will be the best option. We can always fix the surge drive given that we find an asteroid rich in the right materials.” Danny closed his eyes like he had a headache. This was a good news bad news situation. On the one hand they would stabilize the reactor which would prevent an overload, but on the other hand it would take a year to get back. They would run out of food and water, not to mention breathable air. “Do it, but we won’t be able to fix the surge drive without a guaranteed deposit of very specific ores. It’s like finding a needle in a haystack, but add a few months into the equation and the odds are a lot better.” “But captain. We lost half our drones in the attack.” Anton complained. “No! You don't get it. We all will die without the surge drive. Fix the reactor, and toss us a tow cable. That's an order.” Danny dictated. He cut the comms, frustrated at how they were willing to doom themselves with suffocation and starvation. They were working with a reduced crew, and basic repairs would take a week to complete. This meant they would have to ration their supplies. Sure, they could slum it here, but this would have to be a last resort. Neither of them knew what or were this was let alone the dangers, and the chances of survival. The pod finished its scan determining that the air was breathable. “That's good.” Danny took his and Ross's helmat off, and began checking over his injury. “That's really good.” Danny signed with relief. Ross was showing no signs of his previous injury, or that he was ever injured in the first place. Danny checked the med scanner just to make sure he was ok, but there was no way to check for brain damage without the med bay. He would have to wait.

  Ross went in and out of consciousness. After slipping back for what seemed to be the final time, he found himself standing in a river that flowed through an empty cavern. The water was knee high, but never soaking into his pants. He looked down into the water, and noticed his life playing out before him. Ross felt at piece, but felt torn at the same time. The realization that he was dying, and that he was leaving Danny behind made him feel like he was somehow betraying him. Thoughts of Danny changed what Ross saw in the flowing water, and saw Danny holding him like a brother, shedding tears for him. Ross remembered this, but he also wasn't able to think coherent thoughts as this memory teetered on the edge of his mind as his last memory. Then there was the regret of how things were left between them. Ross saw movement in the corner of his eye, and saw a beautiful woman in green. She smiled at him. Ross couldn't help but ask “Are you an angle?” The woman in green glided into the river. She left no ripples in her wake. Taking Ross's hand, she said reassuringly “No, and you are not dying today.” “Then what, or who are you?” Ross asked confused. Ross saw her hands glow as he felt energy flow into him. Suddenly, he no longer felt distant, but a strong sense of self, and an urge to return to his fleshy vessel. She kissed his hand leaving a most peculiar mark. “Danny will need you. Go back to him.” She released his hand and pushed him into the river containing Ross's own memories where he sank, and no matter how hard he tried to swim, the only direction traveled was down. He suddenly developed the sensation of breathing, and took in water, awaking soaking wet and coughing up the imposible.

  Danny woke suddenly to the sounds of coughing and sputtering. It was still dark in this strange asteroid world with the strange wizard looking tower looming over them. Stars shown in its sky like they would on one of the habitats during their night cycle. He sleepily turned over to see were the sound came from, and saw Ross on his hands and knees coughing up water, and soaking wet. Danny rushed over and helped Ross by slapping his back, trying to help him in his need to breath. Danny did not know why this was happening but he would take it. It meant that Ross was alive, and at this point, weird was just the new norm. He glanced at the med scanner, seeing his heart rate was elevated. “You alright?” Danny asked worriedly. Ross coughing “COUGH yea COUGH COUGH I am COUGH.” Ross collapsed on his back “I'M ok, but I feel like I'M in the twilight zone.” Danny could not help but but say “You and me both.” Ross told Danny about his experience. The experience had wiped away any miss givings and doubt between the two. Clearing the air once and for all.

  Danny awoke the next morning. He checked on the status of the reactor which was coming along nicely, but something about all this seemed off. His inner skeptic just wouldn't let it go. Was Danny missing something? What was he missing? A place like this should not exist like this. It always bothered him when he didn't understand something. He turned to stare at the tower accusingly as if it held all the answers, keeping them from Danny. It was almost like it was taunting him. Danny began to visually study the architecture seconds turned into minutes, then without notice he fell into a trance like state. He felt something probing his mind. A part of him began screaming at him to resist, but it was too late. Whatever it was, it had intelligence, and right when the intelligence behind this probe began digging into his identity he was snapped back to reality. “HEY DUDE!” Ross was shaking Danny.

  Morten Grey awoke from his long slumber. He Had lived for thousands of years, and had lived well past his prime, but that in and of itself was not unusual for mages. What was unusual was how long he had been alive, and he had aged very slowly. He now had the body of an old man. This circumstance was all due to that holy relic Morten had stolen back when he still went by the name Holland. Morten did not regret his long and eternal life, but the thing he did regret was the loss of his youth, and that cost him his stamina, which in turn reduced his casting abilities. For the last 500 years Morten slept in a magic induced stasis, waiting for that strange race of primitive humans to reach him and his home. Morten had no way to get to them, but he had figured that with enough time they would come to him. Those things had proven to be innovative and inventive. His patience paid off. Sure enough, his enchantments woke him up. Morten decided to see who the willing bugs were, the bugs that had wondered into his dimension. He reached out with his mind pouring mana into the tower enchantments. Morten felt a presence gazing upon his tower. He made a link to their mind. Morten began probing. He needed to know more if he was going to determine if they would serve his proposes. He soon discovered the traces of mana within its mind. This insect was not simple. He had access to the power of the universe, and his potential was great. This was a new development. This species had never had this ability. Now he was curious, and he now had to know if this was evolution or something else. He dove below its surface thoughts penetrating his memories, and began to meet some resistance, and yet this insect, that went by the name Danny Anderson hesitated, causing his resistance to ease, dooming him to Morten's probe. “Got ya!” Morten exclaimed with a arrogant smile. Its only way out now, was with a kick. This meant someone had to move him. There was no reason Morten had to limit himself, when this bug's life was right before him, but didn't find any answers to this latest development. At this point, he knew this specimen would work, but now he just wanted to sate his curiosity. He went for Danny's identity. Morten poured more mana into the enchantment, and began drilling into Danny's identity. He would be gentle, because just breaking the mental barrier could damage all of Danny, destroying the knowledge he wanted to know. Suddenly Morten was thrown out of its mind. He slammed his fist onto the table in frustration. “Almost!” Mortan raged. That meant there was more. He watched this species evolve, and should have remembered that they were social and curious creatures. He cursed his old body for his forgetfulness, but that would change soon enough, and he would solve this new puzzle that was the insect known as Danny. “Time to bait the trap” Morten said with an insidious smile.