Chapter Seventeen

The group broke up and went in different directions. Erik led me towards what looked like a small pool in the middle of the room. Its silvery exterior shimmered in the low light. "Please join me."

"Where are we going?"

"I thought you might like to see Merak." He turned away. It looked as if his body melted into the ground below.

"Erik?" I kneeled down towards the water. "Erik, where did you go?"

His face and body developed back in front of me. "My apologies. I am still trying to understand what you Ciphers can and can't do. It's quite amazing. Obviously, you are not as developed as we are on Merak."

"Obviously," I mumbled in response as I looked back behind me. We were still alone.

Erik reached out his hand and grabbed mine. Instantly, I felt my body move forward, but before I could yell for help, we were in a different room. A white object the same height as myself and about three of me round was in front of us.

He placed his hand on one of the walls and a door appeared to slide open.

"Has that entry always been there?" I looked at the newly created opening.

"No. I just formed it so you could enter. I figured this might be an easier way for you to travel right now."

"That's what I thought." Merak was becoming more and more interesting. It felt as if I was standing in a computer game, not a new world. They could move with their imaginations and transform into anything they wanted to be.

"Erik, what are you made out of?"

He smiled. "My people came from the Rashandid Colintum."

"What is that? Is that a city here?"

"It's all around us," he pointed down towards the watery substance that moved through all of the buildings.

"The RaCO?"

"I am not sure what you are talking about," he tilted his head to the side inquisitively. I had to be honest with myself, I also wasn't entirely sure of what I was alluding to. There was no way they came from RaCO. Caleb had said that it was stronger than any mineral known to humans.

"It helps us become anything we want to be. Dr. James, as you call her, showed us pictures of various humans. I chose this face. It was nice. Do you like it?"

I looked at Erik's face. My eyes narrowed as I wondered exactly who he might take after on Earth. Was it one of the normals that Marie had kidnapped or some other innocent person that she had saved an image of and brought back to Merak? Maybe that was why Aurora looked so familiar. She was me.

We walked into the small oval object. It was narrow and looked to be the same material as the RaCO. Erik slid behind what must have been the driver's seat. There was no steering wheel or joy stick. Just a flat square in front of him. He placed his palm on the object and the machine raced forward. Flying through all of what had appeared to be buildings.

My hand flew to my mouth. On several occasions, it looked as if we were going to crash right into a large object, but then the machine would go through it, as if nothing had walls.

"Is anything real here? It seems like everything can constantly change."

"Everything is real, just hold on," The machine suddenly nosedived towards the RaCO. My heart began to race. Maybe this wasn't just a friendly joy ride, but a mission to kill me.

"Erik!"

He didn't say a word, just sat there looking out the window. Finally, he smiled. "My apologies. I was letting them know we are about to descend through."

"Who?" I hadn't heard anything or seen anyone talking.

"The Regency is waiting for us."

"Who is the Regency?"

This time he turned to look directly at me. "They've been waiting for you Esadore. I intentionally picked you out of the group. I've known about you for years, but then she actually brought all of you to back to Merak."

"Wait a minute. I thought you were working for Dr. Marie James."

He laughed. "No. She left this planet and abandoned all of us. We have been on our own for a very long time and have thrived. We had wanted her to stay away, but then started getting reports that she would return when the two moons became one. She doesn't know what has happened on Merak since her departure. Ultimately, we'd like to send her back to Earth or somewhere else."

"Is there a way to travel back?"

"Yes, but again, the two moons have to become one."

"How often does that happen?"

"Every few solars."

"What is a solar?"

"When we rotate."

"Do you have days or years?"

"No. Time is different on Merak. We are very far from the sun."

"Then how does the RaCO stay in liquid form?"

"I still don't know why you call it RaCO, but it is because we have created a very large heat source under our ground. It is the Ubeti that keeps the RaCO in liquid form. The Ubeti is very powerful. It is one of the reasons we were attacked so long ago."

"What happened? Marie said an evil is coming towards the planet?"

"They once lived here. There are different versions of the story, but the most popular is that the leader was, again as you call her, Dr. James' lover. She dismissed him and he took many soldiers and fled to a new planet, but then he attacked us and killed many, including her daughter, Esadore. That's you. He threatened to return again when the two moons became one."

It was somewhat making sense to me. I have always loved the sun, but hated how it made me feel, but the sun gave me strength because I had RaCO in my veins. It was the reason I could morph so easily through time, but we were prone to the radiation. That must have been my human side. With human blood in the mixture, the Meradores wouldn't be so dependent upon the heat. They could survive longer, but they would not be as advanced.

"I know all of you say I have Esadore in me, but I don't know her. I've known myself, Captain Esa James."

"Esadore, you were warrior. One of the best. That's how you died. You were on the front lines of the battle."

"But, you said I died."

"You did. Thousands died in that battle. Dr. James took samples of your RaCO when she fled. That was one of the reasons she left. To find a way to give you life again."

I looked down at my hand. Everything seemed so familiar, but Erik said I was from a different world. It wasn't surprising. So much of my life was a mystery.