The Legend of Hjarnes Island - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Returning to Earth

All was silent in the dark of space behind the Moon. Silent except for the endless radio signals rushing back and forth through Earths satelite network. The moon´s surface lay barren, quietly reflecting cascades of sunlight toward the planet around which it circled. There in the silence and coming from Earth, a small vessel approached the place where the American lunar landing module had once been set down in 1967. The vessel didn´t land, but simply hovered above the NASA site, humming above the spot, waiting. Painted on the side of the vessel was a symbol of an eye inside a triangle and next to this what looked like a giant snake around a ball. It was the symbol of a people once worshipped as gods by the indigenous population of the planet. In the vacuum of space a cloud gathered close to the small vessel. Sparkling with energy a bubble of bright white light grew stronger and from the center of the bubble a large space ship appeared. It had an image on the side similar to the one on the smaller vessel and next to it the word “Mjolner” written in Runes. The captain of the small vessel smiled. He was really looking forward to seeing his old friend and commander, who´s company he hadn´t had the pleasure of for almost two centuries. He called up ‘Mjolner’ transfering the security codes and an appropriate greeting. The response was immidiate and friendly.

“So good to hear your voice,” Loki heard a voice say, “you are clear to embark.”

“Likewise, Commander Thor,” Loki replied as he entered the code for the engagement procedure, “I crave for some decent food, so I hope you brought some.”

“You bet, Loki,” Thor responded, “In fact, Sif is in the kitchen right now, preparing a hero´s meal.”

Loki smiled and glanced out the window for one final look at the vast emptiness of what the Vikings used to call ‘Ginnungagab,’ a word they had taken from the Aseir language and translated to their own tongue. It simply meant ‘never ending gap’ and while the Aseir used it to describe the essence of space, to the locals it was the feared concept that if you ever crossed the edge of the world, you would fall down and forfeit your life, both the present and the afterlife.

Loki had mixed feelings about the humans. He liked them just as much as most Aseir did, although he wasn´t technically an Aseir, but rather a renegade Yetten. Still, something bothered him about the way the Aseir treated them. It was almost as if they bowed to these barbaric and backwords beings, instead of saving them from themselves - or at least ignoring them. However, this wasn´t for Loki to decide and as long as Thor was the commander, Loki would follow his orders.

As he approached the docking area he recited to himself his report on the progress on the surface. He would emphasize the importance of Tjalfe and Roeskva and the fact that they still showed no signs of remembering anything. He knew how important this was to Thor and he meant to be sure not to leave anything out, however tedious it may seem. As for the other events, he had no clue what to tell Thor. How could he explain that somehow parts of their secret had been uncovered by simple humans? It shouldn´t have happened. It couldn´t have happened. But it had… A small group of humans were slowly gaining knowledge about the Fyrkat Project.