us.” He was smiling and then he lay down beside me and helped me finish off that wonderful breakfast. It was more like a brunch. “Like I told you before, Stacy, I like to cook, but I love seeing somebody eating what I have created with my own two hands.” I felt like there was a shift and that things were slowly changing, so that we might be able to see this through to the end. We finished up breakfast and then he lay there and closed his eyes. I nudged him several times. After 10 minutes I noticed that his breathing was getting heavier. It could only mean that he was into his 1 hour of rest. It only gave me about 50 minutes to formulate some kind of plan of escape. I found the key attached to his waist and I was able to relieve him of it. Once I did that, I made my way over to the door and opened it, while turning the key to turn off the force field that was keeping me from going anywhere. I walked down the path and away from the house, looking towards the dock and the possibility of leaving this place in my rearview mirror. I moved quickly, because I knew time was of the essence. If I was wrong, I’m not sure that he could forgive me for my actions. He would want something, as a pound of flesh. I found the dock and it was lacking any conveyance to make my way across the water. There was no dingy or rowboat, which confirmed to me that he had another way of getting from here to there. It must have had something to do with his abilities and I was curious to know what that might entail. I stood there looking at the water and I was contemplating swimming, but then I began to realize that I wasn’t even sure I wanted to leave. Maybe it was a good thing that I didn’t find a life raft or anything that was able to float across the water to the other side. If I had, I probably would’ve done it without even thinking about it. This way, I could look at all the pros and cons. I began to see that not everything that I believed of Ash was the truth. He was gruff and a little mean spirited, but if I looked deeper, I could find the caring and compassionate side just hiding and out of reach. I went back to the mansion, going through the doors and a little bit surprised to see that he didn’t come down to greet me. I looked at my watch and I found that only about 45 minutes had elapsed. I was able to make the entire circuit around this small island and was back well before he was going to come out of whatever sleep cycle he was in. I went to look into his library and began to take books down, until I found something of alien origin. It showed plans for what they would do to siphon my planet dry. I tried to go downstairs to look at the lab, but it appeared that it was off limits. He said that he would need me and I secretly loved that I was instrumental in his plans. It made it easier to submit to his whims. I’d never met a man with a forceful, yet compassionate side to himself. It’s usually one way or the other. I’d tried to find a way off the island. I suppose I could’ve swam, but I had no idea what kind of choppy conditions I would find myself in. I didn’t know if there were sharks. Frankly I had no idea where I was to begin with. I passed out two times and we could’ve been on the other side of the world for all I knew. “I can see that you are anxious to get started.” When I looked up, I was surprised to see that he was in a suit. It was completely black and he had a white shirt on that had the first couple of buttons undone. His hair was perfectly coifed. It looked like he was ready to get down to business. “Stacy, I think that having you as my assistant will make things go more smoothly and quicker than normal. I have a communication with my world in exactly 5 hours. I just realized that I did not answer your question.” “What question was that? There were so many of them that I was getting a little bit of a headache to try to figure out all of them. “You asked about the process to take