The enforcers escorted Lily off the bus. Eugene, Freddy, and Yassme were standing in front of the giant statue of Hamlet. Yassme rushed over to greet Lily.
‘Lily, it’s so good to see you again!’ exclaimed Yassme as she wrapped her arms around Lily.
‘Wow, you’re taller than me!’ replied Lily as she pressed her face into Yassme’s shoulder.
‘Thanks to my dearest sister, Orcilla,’ said Yassme. ‘And whatever Daddy pumped into me to save my life.’
‘Enough of the chitchat,’ interrupted Eugene. ‘I need to check you into the… prison.’
‘It’s really the region hotel, but we needed to convert it into a prison,’ said Yassme. ‘Orcilla and Vulay consider you a security risk.’
‘She’s the most dangerous criminal Sapey has ever seen,’ remarked Vulay as she joined Eugene.
‘So dramatic,’ replied Lily as Yassme stepped aside so that they could walk her over to the hotel.
Behind the check-in counter in the hotel was an enforcer.
‘I would like the keys to the penthouse suite,’ said Eugene as he approached the counter.
‘We call it the penthouse cell now,’ replied the enforcer.
‘That sounds okay,’ said Lily. ‘Do I get pool access?’
‘You’ll have your own private lift to the roof pool and hot tub,’ replied the enforcer behind the counter.
‘Are you serious!’ gasped Vulay.
‘Trust me, he’s the most serious enforcer I know,’ whispered Eugene in Vulay’s ear. ‘He never jokes around.’
‘That doesn’t sound too bad,’ said Lily. ‘I will need a wardrobe full of brand new clothes. I’ll write up a list of what I need.’
‘No problem,’ replied Eugene. ‘Send the list down when you’re done. I’ll get the twins to shop for you.’
Vulay glared at Eugene angrily.
Orcilla entered the hotel.
‘Welcome back, Lily,’ said Orcilla in a standoffish tone.
‘Orcilla, how wonderful to see you,’ said Lily as she opened her arms to embrace Orcilla.
‘Last time we met, you wanted to kill me,’ remarked Orcilla.
‘That’s ridiculous. I wanted someone else to kill you,’ chuckled Lily. ‘I couldn’t risk being overpowered.’
‘I’ll let you settle in,’ said Orcilla as she turned to leave. ‘I’ll be back later. I have plenty of questions for you.’
Lily pulled a face as she watched Orcilla leave.
‘If you need anything, just call down to reception,’ said Eugene with a big grin.
‘When I send down my shopping list, I’ll also place my orders for dinner,’ said Lily as she was escorted to the hotel lift by two enforcers.
‘Not a problem, ma’am,’ said Eugene as he saluted.
Vulay grabbed Eugene’s arm and tugged him outside the hotel.
‘You need to watch her,’ said Vulay firmly to Eugene. ‘She is the worst type of manipulator.’
‘No need to worry,’ replied Eugene as he raised his eyebrows up and down. ‘I have my keen eyes on her.’
Vulay sighed and walked off. Eugene turned to the twins, who were standing by the giant statue of Hamlet.
‘Make yourselves available. I have some critical tasks for you soon,’ called out Eugene in a serious tone. ‘Yes, you’re going to have to do some shopping for upmarket and glamorous clothes.’
Yassme and Yassmay looked at each other and grinned.
Orcilla was about to head back to the laboratory when Daily waved his arms in the air to catch her attention.
‘We brought back someone special from our trip to the Capital Region,’ said Eugene as X slowly got off the bus.
‘Is that a giant, very scary-looking Sapiod?’ asked Orcilla as she gazed up at X.
‘Much more than that,’ said Daily as the grin on his face widened. ‘He’s a miracle. When the maintenance workers found him, he was locked in a cage. He hadn’t eaten for years, but he was still alive.’
‘Where did you find him?’ asked Orcilla in a serious tone.
‘He was under the Economic Institute,’ replied Daily. ‘He was in a room hidden under the vault. I’m guessing he was one of your dad’s experiments.’
‘That’s highly unlikely,’ replied Orcilla. ‘My father wouldn’t have had access to the Economic Institute. He had a rather tense relationship with them at best.’
‘I was thinking we could use whatever is keeping him alive to help you,’ said Daily with a glimpse of optimism in his voice.
‘He’s a Sentray-Sapiod hybrid,’ said Orcilla. ‘It appears what has been done to him predates anything my father did. We need to take some tests to establish his age. I’m guessing whoever took L6 has something to do with him. That makes them very dangerous. They would have found the secret to curing the Linap but chose not to share it.’
‘I’m sorry, I thought I had good news,’ said Daily, sounding sad.
‘No, don’t be sorry. You’re doing everything you can,’ said Orcilla as she put her arms around Daily. ‘You’re my inspiration on a bad day.’
‘I want to make sure you have no more bad days,’ said Daily as he held Orcilla tight.
X patted them both on the head and chuckled.
Later that evening, Orcilla returned to the Hotel Prison. She went up to the penthouse cell to speak with Lily. She had the document they had found in the chambers. Lily was in the hot tub on the roof, enjoying a glass of freshly squeezed pineapple juice.
‘You’ve been here less than a day, and you’ve already got them wrapped around your finger,’ commented Orcilla as she approached Lily.
‘All you need to do is exude class and confidence,’ remarked Lily as she placed her glass down at the edge of the hot tub.
‘We need your help,’ said Orcilla.
‘Of course you do,’ stated Lily. ‘You wouldn’t have brought me here otherwise.’
‘I believe you read Parelic?’ asked Orcilla.
‘It’s a beautiful language,’ remarked Lily. ‘It’s just a pity most of the texts written in it are boring and not worth reading.’
‘I’d like you to translate this document,’ said Orcilla as she handed it to Lily, who had now sat up on the edge of the hot tub.
Lily quickly scanned the document with her eyes. She started to flip through the pages excitedly. After a few minutes of reading, she handed it back to Orcilla.
‘Well, what do you think?’ asked Orcilla.
‘This is quite a story,’ remarked Lily. ‘It describes possibly the most significant period in the history of the Linap and maybe even Sapey.’
‘Yes, yes, do tell,’ said Orcilla enthusiastically.
‘This account of events was by Jenna Alset,’ said Lily. ‘She describes the events when the Linap split into two species. The new species wanted to completely replace the old one. They killed, enslaved, and prevented the old one from reproducing.’
‘According to our documented history, all the Linap were willing participants,’ said Orcilla.
‘Our history is told rather loosely,’ chuckled Lily. ‘It is mostly retrofitted to suit current narratives.’
‘In other words, lies,’ said Orcilla. ‘Okay, continue.’
‘At the time of writing the document, Jenna believed the new Linap were about to wipe out the rest of the old Linap,’ said Lily. ‘This is something they had been expecting for some time. To avoid extinction, they went underground. A few family members volunteered to be frozen. They would remain frozen until it was safe to remerge.’
‘How interesting,’ remarked Orcilla. ‘For whatever reason, they didn’t remerge.’
‘Where did you get this document?’ asked Lily as she took a sip from her glass.
‘We found it in an ancient chamber,’ replied Orcilla.
‘You mean like the ancient chamber your father converted into his hideout,’ asked Lily as she slid back into the hot tub.
‘Something like that,’ said Orcilla as she held her hand out to take back the document.
Lily handed Orcilla back the document and smiled.
Just as Orcilla was about to leave, Lily said in a stern voice, ‘These Linap want to take back their home. I can only imagine the type of grudge they must have against the remaining surface dwellers, Linap or not.’
‘Thank you for your help,’ said Orcilla as she entered the lift.
Lily leaned back in the hot tub. She watched Hamlet, Rico, fluffy Lily, and X running around in the distance. She then looked up at the sunset.
‘We have some very interesting times ahead,’ Lily said to herself as she finished the last drop of pineapple juice in her glass.
Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time is the sequel to the book Sapien Loop: End of an Era. Sapien Loop: End of an Era is available on Amazon, in collection series on my 
