2 1. Just a normal day in Canada.

Sanne's POV

"Ilva, can you get the welder for me, please? I think the radar is broken." "Why? Is it off or something?" "No, it— it's fine... I think."

I frown and look at the screen.

"Then what's the problem?" Ilva asks.

"Something is entering the atmosphere, but—" "But what?" Ilva interrupts me. "It's not a rocket nor a meteor. The radar doesn't know what it is."

"Probably just a weird meteor, we've had a few of those." She says.

"Yeah, but the radar could figure it out then, now it couldn't. Just get the welder, I'm trying to fix this." I hesitate for a second. I have a feeling that I know what it is, and it's not a bug.

"I think it's a bug." Ilva says.

"Sure."

Ilva runs down into the basement and back. She hands me the welder.

"Does it work now?" Ilva asks after a minute.

"Ilva, the welder didn't even warm up. Why would you think that I'd already fixed the radar?"

"Because the radar's beeping."

Okay, that's weird, I'll admit that.

"It says that the meteor isn't just going down, it's going up too."

Weird.

"Ilva, could you take a look outside or something?"

"Sure."

I look at the radar, while I shift my position on the chair.

She opens the door and walks onto the platform.

We can look way down from there, since the house is in the side of a mountain.

"Yeah, I don't see anything. Just our big ol' sun diving behind the horizon."

Well, how in the world is that thing entering then?

"Sanne, can you calculate where it might hit the ground?" "No, it's moving around like a ball in a pinball machine. I don't even think that there is something."

I put the now red-glowing welder on a spot that seems to be making the bug.

"Sanne, it's not supposed to be red." Ilva says.

"It is, Ilva." "No, welders are not supposed to be red! Did you make it yourself?" "Yes, I did." I say annoyed. "Let me fix it, it's broken." "It's not! I made it glow red, so you know it's on and working and you won't put it on your face again!" "Fair point." Ilva says after I finish my argument.

I wait and restart the radar. It—again—picks up something going through the air. Now it's moving away from us; far away. "It's gone, probs just the cable I just welded." "Great, now can you play chess with me?" "Er, what?" "Chess, I bought a 3D board, must be fun!" "Oh Physics..."

I smile.

"What?' She asks.

"You know I'm gonna win." I walk towards the table, with indeed a box on it.

- - -

"We're halfway through the game, Sanne, it's looking really good for me!"

"Sure." I move a pion towards one of Ilva's pieces.

"Dumb move Sanne, I can kill you!" I don't react. I focus on the board.

If Ilva indeed kills that pion, I can make a checkmate. But she comes close too. She moves her horse on my pion and throws it away. "GOTCHA!"

"Thanks." I say, coldly. If I move the wrong pion, Ilva has a checkmate. She's damn good at this.

I make a move.

She looks confused and pushes a piece forward, but it doesn't matter. I got her first.

I move my arm to make a checkmate when the ground rumbles underneath us.

Not that wild, or that strong, just a minor earthquake.

The pieces fall on the ground, and now I look confused.

"I win!" Ilva says happily.

The earthquake gets a little bit stronger.

"Oh no!" I say when a thought jumps into my head.

I tip over my chair when I jump and roll over the table and sprint to the stairs. I grab the bar above it and swing myself downstairs. I run through the tunnel towards the desk.

It's a desk that you can push up against the wall, to make more room.

I push it up as usual, but click a button at the same time.

The lock goes open and I turn the desk, revealing a space behind it. It's a three-by-three-by-two room, just big enough for my secret project.

I look for the small can on the second shelf, it fell. It now lies on the ground, dripping bright orange fluid. I pick it up and put it back.

The earthquake has stopped, so it won't fall again.

I got some of the fluid on my hands though, it feels kinda weird.

I walk out of the room, turn the desk and put it down, making sure the lock is back on.

I quickly wash the liquid off my hands and go back upstairs, making sure I don't look suspicious.

"What were you doing down there?"

"Nothing."

If Ilva found out about the stuff coming out of a meteor that crash-landed on the mountain, she's going to flip, so I keep it a secret.

"Oh, sure..." She says with a not-so-convinced face.

"Did you finish your project yet?" I ask to distract her.

"What project?"

"The homemade fridge/unicorn/robot-transformer?"

"Oh! I forgot! Must be my damn brains, I can't focus."

"That's why I reminded you."

"Thanks!" She now goes to the basement.

It's a genius project. You'd need some amazing engineering skills just to think it is possible. She has a pretty amazing mind.

I may design and invent stuff, but she's an engineer that makes the craziest things.

As a joke, I presented the idea of a pen that made a hologram, so you could work easily and call, but I got stuck on one part I was building. She looked at it, moved a few things and boom, a holographic pen!

She's the weirdest genius I know. I bet even Einstein wouldn't beat her.

Anyway, my fingertips still feel funny.

I do some pushups and stuff, just out of boredom.

After an hour, I'm sweating and tired.

Why did I do that? To win arm wrestle from Ilva of course!

I lay down on the couch and snooze a bit.

It's calm now, finally. We have a lot going on here, even though we're on an island in literally the middle of nowhere.

It's usually cold here, but my muscles are warm right now. Another reason to work-out. And to win the push/sit up game.

We do a lot of challenges, to just spend some time together, instead of working non-stop or boring each other.

That includes our prank-game on YouTube. I convinced her I was a vegetable when she was half-sleeping once. That was fun.

"Sanne!"

"Yeah?"

"Could you come please?"

"Uhm, sure."

I walk back down to the basement again.

"What's up?"

"It's making a sound."

Oh God, that doesn't sound good!

"I think it's going to explode or something."

"That really is not good Ilva. What did you do?"

Then, all of a sudden—trust me, I'm an engineer!—blasts out of the machine.

I jump and hang to one of the beams on the ceiling, like a cat being scared by a cucumber.

"Got you!" She yells above the song while laughing.

"Ilva, why?!"

"Now it's a homemade fridge/unicorn/robot/speaker/camera-transformer!!"

"YOU FILMED THAT? DELETE THAT FOOTAGE!!" I yell.

"THAT IS NOT GOING ON YOUTUBE."

Ilva snickers. "Oh, it is, Sanne!"

I fall back on my feet. She laughs.

I'll get her back. I just laugh it away, too.

"First a broken radar, then 3D chess, then an earthquake and then a jumpscare." I say. "Just a normal day in Canada!" Ilva answers with the usual joke.

"But seriously, do you think Silvie felt that too?"

"Yeah, I mean, she lives closer to the shore than we do."

Silvie is our - kind of - park ranger.

She takes care of the more Eastern and Southern parts of the island.

It's like a nature reserve we own.

It's in Northern Canada, Yukon, Herschel Island.

"Ilva, could you go to Thetis to check in on Silvie? Then I can clean up a bit. It's really messy in here."

Thetis is the name of Silvie's house, more in the South of the island.

Ilva nods. "But when I'm back, my fridge/unicorn/robot/speaker/camera-transformer is still alive, okay?"

"Fine, I promise I won't touch it."

Poking it with a hot stick of iron won't be touching it...

"I'm going to ask her about the earthquake, too." Ilva packs some stuff and walks away.

"Ilva, wait!"

"What?"

"Could you take this bag with you? I think it would be handy."

"Sure." She shrugs and takes the bag, opens the door and disappears down the mountain.