Chapter Twelve

The ship began to shake violently just as the Jump Line somehow opened up in front of us. My body stopped, confused, as I saw the familiar blue light of the line. It was beautiful, but how was it possible that we were now able to see it? We were still on Merak, hundreds of thousands of miles away from Earth.

Samuel suddenly appeared, grabbing ahold of my hand and pulling everyone else onto the line.

We landed at Station One. My body instantly began to shudder from the extreme cold...and the fact that Samuel was back. I wasn't sure how I felt right now. My brother was finally here, but I didn't know if we could trust him.

"Fire," Samuel barked loudly just as the fire places began to emit heat-warming flames. "LUX, we need some additional heat and more lights. Quickly."

"Yes, Captain Samuel. All of the utilities have been started. It will take fifteen seconds for them to be at full use—"

"LUX? Is that really you?" I asked, walking over to one of the fire places and placing my palms out to feel the warmth. "It's so good to hear your voice—"

"Yes, Captain James. Welcome home," LUX's voice almost sang. "It is good to see all of you."

With her reassuring words, I turned towards Samuel. My demeanor quickly changed. Where had he been all of this time? Were we walking into a trap?

My fists clenched next to my side. "What's going on?" I glared into his bright blue eyes, hoping he could see just how angry I was right at this moment.

"I have a lot to tell you, but for now you need to know that I've been hiding out here. I didn't think it was a good idea for us to all be together." His voice was stern, yet it was a different tone then I had heard from him before.

"That doesn't make sense. You're lying. You haven't been here at Station One all by yourself. You just had LUX turn on all of the lights and heat. No one has been here for a while. That doesn't make sense."

"I was staying here, just six months in the past. I laid low so I wouldn't draw too much attention while I watched over all of you. I couldn't let Marie find me."

"How did you open the Jump Line?" Theo demanded as he came up behind me and placed a hand protectively on my shoulder. It felt good to have him back me up. My body instinctively leaned into his touch.

Samuel shook his head. "I'm not sure what you're talking about. I've always been able to open up the line. We can all do it—"

"We couldn't open it up there," I pointed towards the ceiling, but really hoped that he and everyone else in the room understood that I was pointing to thousands of miles away where Merak was located. "We tried several times, but were unsuccessful."

"That's because I'm different from you."

"How?"

"Marie, Paul and I are all from Merak. Paul and I previously served in what one might call the military for Merak. Marie is one of the upper class. She jumped on our ship several years ago and we headed for Earth."

"What?!" Theo yelled. "Are you telling us that you are aliens?"

"I'm not sure I would consider us that, but we are from the planet Merak. However, Marie thought very little of me so she decided to hide me among all of you."

"Are you a Cipher like us?"

"No. We stole bodies and used them as hosts. Humans and Meradors are very compatible."

"Meradors?" What is that?"

"It's how you would say what we are in English. We are from Merak."

"You're not my brother are you? We're not related, are we?"

"No Esadore. You have the RaCO of Marie's daughter flowing in your veins. I'm nothing more than just a peasant, but I am not a Cipher and I have more capabilities. Trust me, I wish I was related to you."

"You knew all along—"

"Yes, but then I felt sorry for what was happening to your world. We watched our own planet hit hard times and I never thought we would land on Earth and then a war would break out, but it ended up being the best thing that ever happened for Marie and Paul. The war gave them bodies to use to create Ciphers."

"How?"

"We brought the RaCO from numerous Meradors with us on our mission. All of you have the RaCO of someone from Merak, but Esadore, you are royalty. That is why Marie can't let you go. You have her daughter's RaCO flowing through your system."

"You said we were once human. Right?"

"Yes. Just as you have been told you died early on in the war. All of you were soldiers that we injected RaCO into to create a new elite class."

"But what about all of the normals who were being kept in cylinders?"

"Ciphers are a mixture of human and Meradors, but Merak also just needs some hosts for Meradors so we can easily travel to other planets."

"How did you find us?"

Remember, I've been tracking you. Unfortunately for Marie, I'm smarter and have found a way to bypass whatever code she throws at the system." He lifted chin slightly, almost as if he was proud that he could outdo her. "Marie thought I was inferior, but she was very wrong and I intend to show her just what I can do."

His words caused me to take a step back. I turned to look at Theo and Gave, before turning my attention back to Samuel. So many questions popped up into my head. Things just didn't seem to make sense.

"How do we know you're not working for them?"

Samuel's head snapped back forward. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at me. "Who are you talking about?"

I threw my hands out to the side and clenched my jaw together in frustration. "Marie and Paul! Samuel, there are too many coincidences that just don't add up. Admit it, you've also been playing us."

There was a brief moment of uneasy silence until Samuel finally walked towards me.

Samuel looked around the room. "You can trust me. I'm the same person I've always been. Besides, I could cast the same sort of doubt on you."

Audrina walked over near Samuel, but didn't touch him. "That's right guys. See I told you all... we can trust Samuel."

I had instantly caught her inflection in the word "trust." Audrina, didn't sound so sure in the statement she was making.

"Samuel, you need to watch your words carefully."

"Oh really. Suddenly, Captain Esadore James has grown very confident. Luther was right. You were always the chosen one and the rest of us would never be as important as you."

"Stop," I was seething. Samuel had picked the wrong moment to argue with me. "You've known the truth all along and you are choosing this time to reveal everything to us. You have no right to think we trust you. All along, you have been deceiving us. You are just like them."

"Then you need to stop as well," he clapped his hands together. "Wake up Esadore. We are a team. I never left you guys and I definitely never betrayed you. All of you know that. There have been times I had to disappear, but that was to protect us. I would never turn against any of you. You are all I have. I already know that when I return to Merak, I won't be among the elite. I'm nothing more than just a servant. Marie will have no use for me."

Audrina turned and wrapped her arms around his neck. "We will protect you. I promise."

He pulled back slightly and then kissed her lightly on the lips. "I, too, am feeling a sense of happiness and relief at seeing you and the team as well. It's been a hard few weeks."

"Weeks?" Audrina jumped backwards, her face slightly contorted into a questioningly glare. "Samuel, we haven't been gone for weeks."

"Yes you have. You've been gone for exactly five weeks, two days and thirteen hours."

"Are you sure?" I asked, hands on my hips as I glared back at my only brother. My thoughts were racing right now trying to mentally put together the timeline to understand if Samuel was telling us the truth. There were just too many unknowns.

"Yes. You forget. When you travel through black holes time can slow down or speed up depending on your place in time."

"Could you see us while we were on the Iliad?"

"Yes. I developed Caleb," he responded. "I knew I need to have a system in place to watch over all of you."

Caleb's voice cut through the quiet. "I'm glad to see you are all back safe and sound on planet Earth."

A deep breath that I had been holding escaped out of my mouth.

"Caleb, why didn't you tell us you had been developed by Samuel?"

"Captain Esadore James, excuse me, but you did not ask me that question, but yes, I was created by Samuel James."

"What about LUX?" I looked around the room. I had just heard her voice a few seconds ago, but still wanted the reassurance that she was here.

"Captain James, I am here as well," LUX's voice came through the speakers throughout Station One. "We are all together and will protect you."

"What does that mean?" My body leaned up against Theo's body.

Samuel cleared his throat. "LUX is speaking correctly. I opened up the Line to bring you all back here to explain my absence, but we need to go back and we need to jump to just seconds before we left. Merak may look frozen, but it is very much alive. The heat source coming towards the Illiad are Marie's sisters, the people of Merak coming to welcome the ship back home."

"Are they dangerous?"

"I don't know. I've never met them personally. Remember, it was just by chance that Marie jumped onto our ship. Otherwise, we would have left on a mission to see if any other planets were viable, without her."

From somewhere on the left side of the room, Luther's voice said, "Should one of us stay back to make sure we can open up the Jump Line in case things get too tight?"

"Caleb and LUX will be monitoring our every movement and I've given them all of the override codes. We should be fine."

"It's not a guarantee though—"

"Luther, you are not in a place to question me," Samuel shot back.

Suddenly, Samuel's body was being pushed backwards and then up against the far wall. "And you are not in a place to question me," Luther's voice angrily replied. "We are a team. We are equal and you will not treat me as any less, even if you are a freakin' alien."

"Fine," Samuel rolled his eyes. "Now put me down."

After several seconds, Samuel's body was abruptly let go. It fell the short distance to the ground. He landed on his feet. "I'm glad to see the entire team is present. We will all be needed if we plan to confront the Meradors."

"Why?"

Before Samuel could answer my question, the Jump Line opened and we were all pulled back onto the Illiad just as the so-called Meradors approached the ship.