The Captive House

The first adventurous incident in Desa's life that she could relate in detail took place in March of 2023 on Earth. She was 161 Earth years old at the time, but had still never met a person who had experienced old age. She grew up in a land that was settled by people who never knew age. At this time in her life, she was still considered something of a youngster, and she might have still felt she had something to prove.

She is just returning from her first experience with distant travel and another culture. She had not known how being in a different culture could convert a person to that culture. She had been away for a decade and a half, all the way to the distant Kassikan, researching a text. She was very glad to be back in her own land again, most of all she was glad to return at last to her grand and beloved home.

This novella examines what one must do to overcome a theft when there is no government, no courts, no means to force the thief to give her house back. This is also the first time Desa really experienced a mob and what a mob could do. It was also her first experience with the type of person who would raise and wield a mob, a demagogue. This was written back in the late 90’s - early 00’s, and first published in 2011, all long before the events of Jan 6, 2021, but the dynamic is the same.