Chapter 1: The Announcement

Henry listens, diving into the opportunity to avoid the topic Kris was about to raise.

"Jesus. What the hell was all that? Sounds like a load of bull to me!

Have you seen Jurassic Park? Don’t worry! Everything is under control!

And then dinosaurs are eating our asses." Henry laughs to let the tension of the moment out!

Håkan frowns heavily as the radio announcement goes on. When it finishes he looks at Stina. My father handled some big Krafta accounts. He had people from that company over for some of his business cocktail parties. They were shifty, like anyone with that much money is. I'm pretty sure my father's company's legal team smoothed over some investment stuff for Krafta once. There were a lot of phone calls and my father was stressed for weeks," he looks at his knees for a moment before looking back at Stina. "I think it's fair to say that a company like that can't be trusted, and probably has something to do with a mysterious illness no one knows about. I don't buy their story. I think we need to find out what we can so we don't get sick too."

Mikael twists his face up in confusion. "Well, I guess I spoke too soon. Must be real, right? Sheesh, what does Krafta have to do with our school?" He hits the bass drum a couple more times. "Recruited by a foreign organization? Horseshit," he says.

Stina knows that her cousin is not in the best of terms with his father. "Hmm... you think he would tell you what he knows about this story, if you asked him?" she asks, trying to sound tactful.

Håkan's face turns a dark red and he stands quickly enough to knock over the stump he was sitting on. "He doesn't know anything useful. He only cares about money, stocks, investments. You know? Just a bunch of bullshit." Håkan waves his arms and hands in a dismissive gesture. "No, if we want to know anything we'll have to figure it out ourselves. We need to find the people that went in to Krafta, or who have gotten the Ugliness, or the people that treated them. I really haven't been paying attention. Do you know anyone who's sick?"

Stina is taken aback by Håkan's reaction (and feels a bit guilty for having caused it). "No... don't know any of them."

She decides to change the subject and closes the tractor engine cover, patting it twice. "This old boy lives to see another day, Håkan. He's a tough cookie."

"Scheiß drauf! Sounds way too familiar to me." Sabine says, as she strums her guitar a couple times and tightens one of the tuning pegs."Its not too far from Dr. Liv's Frankenstein experiments to a Dr. Moreau who makes people ugly. Only this time they have some shady Corps fronting for them and spreading disinformation." She theorizes. "Our old foe could very well be connected to this somehow."

Sabine plugs into the amp and turns on her microphone. "We should look into this mysterious female Professor X character who is talking to students at the edge of school campus before they go AWOL from classes the next day. If anyone knows what's going on, I bet its her. We'll get nothing but lies and blödsinn from everyone else."

"Dinosaurs?", Kris asks Henry. "What the hell are you talking about? Nobody said anything about dinosaurs." He thinks for a moment. "That's bullcrap, though. The story this guy told. It's some cover up for the real Ugliness. Lars got it. And he did not break into some lab to stop a bioweapon, I can tell you that much. He's not the type for that crap."
He shrugs. "Anyway, let's get back to business. I can start you off slow and easy if you want. A hundred extra kronor a week, low risk, low reward, potential for growth whenever you're ready."

---

"Woah, woah, what are you talking about?", Hare asks, looking at Sabine as if she's crazy. "Frankenstein experiments, old foe, female Professor X?" She chuckles nervously. "Did I stumble into some bad comic book here?"

"I wish it were a bad comic book." Sabine replies and shouts into the microphone. "One..one..check!" Satisfied the mic is set properly, she looks over to Mikael. "There are some dark and shady people hiding on the islands. We run across one now and again." She gives Mikael another glance and sighs. "It does sound crazy...I know..."

Håkan combs his hair out of his eyes with the fingers of his right hand and lets out an explosion of breath. "Thanks, Stina. I'll try to be more careful with it in the future. I just wish I know what I did to it in the first place." He looks up at the dark night sky. The snow has started to dust the ground and buildings with a light coating of white. Håkan takes a deep breath and exhales two plumes of steam from his nostrils. "It's so quiet out here. And dark. Not at all like Stockholm."

He takes a moment to look around, the only sound the cracking of the birch wood in the fire. Suddenly he throws a thick arm around Stina's shoulders, drawing her into a sideways half hug. "Come on, let's go warm up inside. Mom just made some vetebröd, and I bet grandpa has coffee brewing. We'll throw Spike in the bed of the truck and I'll drive you home after. The road will be too slick for Spike until you get back to town." Håkan dumps a bucket of water into the fire ring, then turns and heads toward the merry lights spilling from the windows of the old stone farmhouse.

"To be honest, I almost wish she'd show her face again, do something stupid that might get her thrown in prison."

Mikael shakes his head and addresses Hare, "Yeah, this place is weird. I've lived here my whole life and even I think so. I-we-hope you don't run away too fast though." He laughs and adds, "Especially once we see what you're made of."

He strikes up a simple beat, alternating hi-hat and snare with a steady bass hit in 4/4 measure, repeating the bar while nodding his head and making eye contact with Hare. "All yours," he says.

"Look. I’m not really into all that. Not that I don’t appreciate the offer…"

Thin ice…

"… but I don’t need any more trouble right now. My folks are up to their necks in shit right about now."

Henry feels uncomfortable. Like the whole interaction is on the edge of a knife now.

"Like I said, thanks. But I’m not interested…"

Henry braces himself for the inevitable anger. Would it be a fight? Fine, if it was. But, like he said, Henry doesn’t need any more trouble.

Henry sees Kris' knuckles tighten on his steering wheel for a moment and readies himself for an angry outburst. Instead, Kris takes a deep breath and his grip relaxes again. He is silent for a while as he continues driving towards Henry's home and then stops in front of it.
"Have a nice day," Kris says with a forced smile as Henry gets out. "And if you're worried about getting in trouble, remember that sometimes, teachers make mistakes. You might mistakenly get busted for something you haven't even done. Just something to think about."

With that, he lets his engine howl again and drives off.

---

When Håkan and Stina get inside, Håkan's mother looks somewhat worried. She has a snack and a warm drink prepared for them but as they sit down, she asks them: "You two haven't gotten in any trouble, have you? You don't know anything about what the man on the radio said?"

She listens to their promises that they are not involved and accepts them, sounding reassured but still a bit worried.

---

Hare considers Sabine's and Mikael's words for a moment longer. "You know, one of these days, you'll have to tell me that full story. I mean, I've heard rumors about this place and the Loop but I always thought they were like an Area 51 type thing, just conspiracy theories." She looks at Mikael as starts a simple beat and then nods. "Right, but today we're here to make music." She plugs her bass into one of the store's amplifiers, sets it up and quickly tunes by ear. Then she nods at the others and joins in Mikael's simple rhythm...