“Absolutely delicious. Thank you so much.”

His parents continued to look at their son with stunned expressions. They had not known he would be coming home and when he arrived all he had wanted from them was a peach, a simple peach. Sylvia had been outraged that her son hadn’t said, or even hinted, that he loved her, but she didn’t understand how desensitized he really was. She decided it was time to speak up.

“Sylvan, I know you were really busy but why didn’t you send us at least one letter.”

Sylvan, along with the rest of his family, stared at his mother. He hadn’t noticed before he left how dull she really was. He immediately chastised himself for thinking such a thing, especially about his mother. He finally remembered the disease that she was fighting.

“Well, I’m really sorry mom. I know that probably doesn’t cut it for you, but I just didn’t have a choice. It’s not something I can explain.”

He hated lying to his mother but if he hadn’t, he knew how much hurt it might’ve done her. He thought of the hours, even the days, she must have spent writing letters to him. If she ever found out that he hadn’t gotten one of them, she wouldn’t be able to take it. His mother was slowly losing her memory and Sylvan didn’t want to shock her too badly. He took the pause in the conversation to actually look hard at his family. His mother looked desperately tired but also seemed to have a kind of numb energy. While he stood there and talked to her, she moved around, adjusting cushions and doing other small things to make the room look nicer. His father, Ben, had an expression that Sylvan had not seen in all his youth. Ben looked angry. It made him wonder what was happening to the Dolan-Delaney household. His brother looked as bad as his mother but at least Sylvia had smiled. Verchat had dark rings around his eyes and Sylvan caught sight of a dark purple gash along his brother’s leg. What is happening to my family? That’s no normal cut and it shouldn’t have gotten that infected, not if it was treated. It was a relief to Sylvan when his father stood up.

“Sylvan, your mother and I were just on our way out. You can talk to your brother if you like but I don’t want to see your face when we get back. Take those two men outside the door and get out of this house or you’ll get a beating when I get home.”

Sylvan stood, shocked, unmoving until both of his parents left. When he heard the door slam his whole body shuddered and he fell to his knees. He turned to Verchat and the voice that came out of his mouth was not his own.

“What the hell is going on here?”

Verchat had a sick smile on his face now, an extremely sick smile.

“You like the changes dear brother. As soon as you left, Mother went nuts and Father didn’t wait very long to follow. Father beats me every time I do something wrong. Hell, he’s even been beating me when he does something wrong and I’m finally beginning to like it.”

The smile still stood on Verchat’s face. Sylvan wasted no time in standing up, walking to his brother, and slapping him in the face. He yelled in hopeless frustration.

“Don’t change on me Verchat, not you!”

“Why brother, that slap felt quite good. Would you do it again for me?”

Sylvan’s mind hardened so forcefully that he became dizzy. Almost falling to the floor, he braced himself on the arm of the couch.

“Verchat, please go to your room. I have something that I need to take care of before I leave.”

All alone now, Sylvan walked swiftly into his family’s small kitchen. It took him almost five minutes to find the things that he needed. When he was done, kitchen drawers were splayed and broken around the room. He walked slowly with his knife in hand and sat down on his parent’s couch. Sylvan then waited for his father to return, so he could face the alien bastard. The buggers thought they could take his home, but they were wrong.

Five minutes after his family came home, Sylvan left out the front door with a content look on his face. The IF Officers escorted him back to his shuttle, the one that would fly him far away.

All the other students had been placed in a separate craft, which made him wonder even more what was going to happen. He sat down in his own very small room. There were only two chairs, both with magnetic harnesses and electronic desks. A screen was attached to the wall, most likely for emergency instructions from the pilot or crew. Sylvan assumed almost immediately that this shuttle was probably used only by IF personnel.

A major met him on the shuttle, sat next to him in fact, and explained to Sylvan the rest of his life.

“You’ve just gotten yourself in more trouble than you can imagine, Sylvan. Much more trouble than you can imagine.”

Sylvan wasn’t in the mood for meaningless talk.

“Sir, take me to prison if you want, execute me even, but don’t play games with me.”

The major was a large man, just beginning to bald. He stroked his gray moustache as he continued to explain the situation.

“You still don’t understand. The IF owns you now. That means that the IF does whatever the hell it wants with you. From now on, you don’t exist in any records nor does your family. None whatsoever. You, you mother and your brother have disappeared from every network that ever knew you existed, with the obvious exception of the IF.”

Sylvan remained silent, too stunned to speak.

“We are presently not going to Eros but we’ll be close. There is a smaller installation somewhat near, used for special cases such as you. Normally you would be sent to the Charybdis Institute, but as I said before, you serve the IF and that means you need to be trained as an agent. When this is finally over I am quite sure you will be cured of your insanity and serve the IF well for the rest of your life.”

“I’m not insane.”

The major’s expression softened somewhat.

“Sure kid, whatever you say.”