As Cory takes a well-earned rest and finally submits to proper weapons training, he and a couple of people from his household go on a hunting trip in the marshland between Barresh and the turquoise sea. A bad storm has come through recently and on a deserted beach, Cory finds something Earthly that doesnât belong there: a message in a bottle, a piece of paper with HELP scratched on it with a sharp object. In Isla.
Cory has a list of all humans in Barresh: itâs very short and no one is missing. A few days later, he receives a curious message through official channels, from a woman on Earth whose rich businessman husband went on a trip of a lifetime âin a place where you can surf with plesiosaurs in turquoise wavesâ.
Cory knows the guy advertising the trip. Heâs a shady character. He also knows where the âplesiosaursâ are. Theyâre not particularly friendly. Not to mention that the area is on the land of a viciously territorial Pengali tribe.
As it turns out, those are the least of his worries.