Chapter Twenty-Five

Theo studied Paul. "What else? I know there's more you're keeping from us. We want to know the truth."

Paul walked closer to the window. "You're right. We have been very busy over the past few hours. This is one of the reasons we should continue to work together. My son and I are excellent lab partners. Samuel, maybe you should tell them what else we've discovered."

Samuel cleared his throat. "I've known there was something going on with Luther for a while, so I decided to have LUX track him. At first, it didn't make sense what Luther was doing, but then I saw him jump to several random dates and return with extraction bags. I followed him and realized he was taking healthy people who weren't yet set to expire."

"Are you sure?" Audrina asked. "That's very dangerous."

"I know," Samuel said. "But there's something else.... Luther always looks different when he's on these missions. It's almost as if he's being controlled."

"I agree," I said. "The Luther I encountered in the area behind Marie's house was different from the Luther I've come to know over the past few days."

"Wait. Why would he bring healthy people to 2105?" Gave said from behind Theo. It was a valid question. "It doesn't make sense. Besides, it's risky. Too risky."

"Gave's right. Do we know how many he's taken, and how far back he's taken them from?" Audrina asked.

"I watched the areas where Luther had taken the people from for several days, and I scanned the news stories. It didn't take much to figure out what he was doing. He was taking people with certain skill sets. One of them was an Olympic runner, another was a prominent neurosurgeon and one was a famous architect. They were all instantly missed and stories circulated about their mysterious disappearances."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Audrina asked. I felt sorry for her, knowing that she was probably fuming that Samuel had kept this big a secret from her. First, he hadn't told her about me and now this. "We could have helped you figure it out. After all, we are, or were, a team. I understand you needed to talk to your father, but what about me? What about Theo and Gave?"

"I was about to tell you and then everything happened with Esa." Samuel looked defeated. "I'm sorry. I got so caught up in finding Esa that I thought I would try to get more information about Luther before bringing it to the group."

Theo shot back, "But you hesitated to speak to us. Why? Samuel, I understand how Esa is feeling right now. It's unbelievable how you've kept so much information from us."

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, but I knew Paul was the one I needed to talk to first. I figured he could probably help me put the puzzle pieces together since he's the only one who really knows Troy and our mom. I approached him right before I brought Esa back home. I knew you would all see this as a violation of trust, but he's my father," Samuel pleaded, doubtless hoping we would show him some kind of mercy. "If it makes you all feel any better, I wasn't sure I could trust him. It took me a few trips and then when I saw him with Esa, I knew he was telling me the truth that he didn't have anything to do with her disappearance."

Paul clicked his tongue. "Twenty-five years ago, Troy had his first big breakthrough and sent a mission to a newly discovered planet in another galaxy. Everyone was excited someone had found a place we might be able to move to if this planet was destroyed. Troy claimed the planet had similar properties to Earth, but, like all of the other missions, it was a failure. Everyone onboard died because they couldn't last the length of the trip. Their bodies simply weren't equipped to handle it."

"So? That was twenty-five years ago," I said.

"That was just the beginning. He was determined to figure out how to get life to a new planet. He sent up another ship, and then another. Unfortunately, as I said before, they all failed, but two years ago, we heard that one of his ships had survived the journey. Troy was successful, but there were only two humans on the ship at the time. Everything else onboard was a machine."

"So, Troy had several missions that failed and then a successful one. What does that have to do with Luther and the people he's been bringing back?" I asked, trying to put all the pieces together.

"Luther has been grabbing healthy people with certain skills. He's not bringing them back for parts. He plans to keep them alive so that they can grow and reproduce. I think Troy realizes they are running out of healthy people for any future colony, so he sent Luther back to collect his new villagers. This isn't about the past or present, but the future. That's why he's collecting individuals who are considered the top in their fields. He has another ship scheduled to launch tomorrow," Samuel said.

Paul let out a deep sigh. "Troy and Luther will both be on that ship. Once it leaves the atmosphere, Troy has a machine that is set to release a virus that will kill all remaining life."

"Why would he want to do that?" Audrina asked.

"So, if he ever comes back then by that time the virus will be gone and then Troy can rebuild our planet and control everything."

"This story is only making me hate Luther even more. Doesn't he realize what he's doing? This is why our timeline is decreasing. He's causing all sorts of ripples in time by taking healthy people before they are set to expire. I'm hoping you all now understand why I've always said he's an idiot." Audrina rolled her eyes before turning to pace. "I really want to wrap my hands around his throat right now."

"Audrina, remember, we don't think it's the normal Luther doing all of this. Troy has something in him that is making him act differently. Luther is being controlled," Theo said.

"Paul, you're the only one who really knows anything about Troy," Samuel said. "Please tell us more. We need to come up with a plan to infiltrate his compound and figure out how to stop the next ship. Unless we decide it's a ship we should also be on. Either way, I think we need to return the normals from other years, or we will all die."

"Please know this is merely a game for Troy. He doesn't like to play by the rules. In fact, I'm not even sure he knows what a rule is, or why it should be followed. Troy has been building his plan for years, and the government has allowed it. We've got to stop him, and I know how we can do it." Paul smiled coyly. The look on his face made me wonder if there was more to his decision. "It's not going to be easy though. What do you all think? Can we partner up this time?"

"It's never easy," Theo shot back. "You always seem to come up with plans that include us putting ourselves right in front of someone else's gun, while you sit safely in the back."

Paul moved his hand and a small screen appeared in front of him. In an authoritative voice, he recited a chain of numbers and letters.

Another image came to life inside the living room. It showed a tall white building with very few windows.

"What are we looking at?" I asked.

"This is NorthStar. Its Troy's research compound. His little playground," Paul said.

The colors of the building suddenly changed. It was as if we could now see behind the walls. An entire city opened up in front of us. The facility was larger than just one office block; it was multiple buildings and underground tunnels. Several little dots raced through the hallways.

"Oh my god, it's huge. But you're right; it doesn't look like there are many people, except over in this room," I pointed to the bottom of the image, where there were little dots lined up. "This must be where they are keeping the normals, but if they are alive then we can't destroy the building."

"We have to destroy it if we want to stop Troy and Luther." Paul shook his head. "It's unfortunate so many will die, but we don't have any other options. They will all die anyways."

Theo glared at him. "I'm still not sure we should trust you. What gives? Why are you suddenly the nice guy? Of course you want us to destroy this building, so you can finally dominate."

Paul looked out the window. "The ripples in time from their disappearances have already happened, and none of us have been impacted. There's no reason to return them to their primary years."

"That doesn't make sense, Paul. These people weren't supposed to die yet. They can't stay here. We need to return them. There is always a chance we will start to feel more ripples within the next few hours, once time starts catching up with itself," Audrina said.

Paul turned to Theo. "Yes, world domination would be amazing, but I care more about protecting your team and the science behind it. I realized that, if we changed history, I might not be in this place now. That's why Marie instilled certain rules in all of you. Those rules are what has kept us all alive and able to travel though time. If Luther and Troy continue, they may be able to collect our ancestors, and then none of us would even be born. We don't need to focus on these people being held at NorthStar. We need to focus on capturing Luther and Troy."

Audrina folded her arms over her chest. "How do we know we can fully trust you and that this isn't a set-up? We could also go back and grab Troy. Esa already killed Luther's grandfather and it caused Luther to disappear. We could take matters into our own hands and grab them before they do something to our ancestors."

"Yes, but don't forget that Luther and Troy are several steps ahead of you," Paul said in a gruff voice. "I have no doubt that's exactly what they are doing right now. Luther is going to figure out that Esa made the first move. He will respond."

"Fine. How do we get to Troy? I want to take him out first," I said. The others looked over at me. I hadn't told them yet, but there was something familiar about NorthStar. I couldn't get over the feeling that I had been inside the facility.