Chapter 1
Two children were delivered of the twin sisters, Princesses Aura and Justine on New Year’s Eve, in the year 2201. It was the 23rd century and it was an exciting time of anticipation for everyone.
To Sandor and Aura of the Inner Land was born a beautiful baby girl, Cordelia Michaela. In the Outer Land, where Alwin and Justine dwelt, the kingdom celebrated the birth of a baby boy, Jerod Owen. As the sisters had promised each other during their pregnancies, the children would be betrothed until they became of age when they would marry. It was done against the wishes of their husbands.
Each infant was given a small family crest, which was to be worn around their necks as was the royal custom. So that the two might recognize each other, as they grew older, half a ring was placed next to each crest. They were of the opinion that the union would ensure peace and prosperity between the Inner and Outer Land.
The red tide had not completely disappeared, but through the years, the Outer Land learned to cope with its appearance. It wouldn’t last that long and they learned to conserve certain domestic land animals as they waited for the algae to subside. For eighteen years, the people of the Outer Land had forgotten their arguments with the Inner Land and became independent never fearing the worst. When the red tide reared its ugly head yet again, it took people by surprise. This time it was far more serious. It lasted longer than everyone thought and was spreading to the land animals. Alwen pleaded for Sandor to share the technology, but it was to no avail. Even if Sandor was willing to share, he wanted a high price for the delivering and setting up the computer programs.
Alwen did the only thing available to him and that was to set up his end of the hardware and software on an old computer. His sons, Jerod and Devon helped develop part of the technology, known simply as POL1, according to their father’s specifications. It cleaned up the water and air for a time, but the computer was old and not fully developed. They still needed Sandor’s input, for if the computer went down or the chip failed, it would have to be replaced.
So the people of the Outer Land set up spies to find out when newer technology was being developed. A gang was soon formed with the notorious Lord Fallon as its leader. The stealing of technology had begun and the mysterious Fallon, who only struck at night, had become so famous that he had a price on his head and a certain detective searching everywhere for him.