Chapter Fifteen

My room was still dark. The gray numbers of the clock on the table showed me that I had been asleep for about five hours. Hmm. It was a good five hours. The sleep had definitely been welcome. My body still ached from the previous day's activities.

Ugh. There was no sense in fighting it. My chances of getting back to sleep were over. I rolled out of bed and headed for the bathroom. There was a large shower in the back corner. I hadn't taken a shower in what felt like forever.

Of course, this shower wouldn't be as easy to operate as the ones back in 2010. There wasn't a handle to turn for the water to come on. I looked outside of the shower and finally found a series of buttons. I pressed one of them. Water shot out of the shower head. It was almost immediately hot causing steam to fill up the room. I put my hand in to see and instantly pulled it back out. It was scalding. I pushed another button. LUX came into view in a screen on the far wall of the shower.

"Can I help you Captain James?"

"Um, it's LUX, right?"

"Yes, I am LUX," the robot responded without any emotion.

"I was wanting to take a shower," I said, still looking at the series of buttons on the wall.

"I will make it the temperature you like," LUX responded. I put my hand back under the water. This time it was much cooler. Perfect!

I pulled off my white suit and stepped inside.

The steady stream felt amazing on my skin. I tilted my head back and let the water trickle down my face and neck. I thought back to everything that had happened over the past few days. It was unreal. I didn't understand all of it, but at least I felt like I was no longer a freak. These people looked like me and kept reminding me that we had all been close friends or family.

Getting out, I reached for the large plush towel hanging on the rack and wrapped it around my wet body. I searched the bathroom, looking for a hairbrush, but there wasn't anything on the sink or in any of the cabinets. Finally, I brushed my hand against a glass plate in the wall.

LUX appeared again. "How may I help you, Captain James?"

"Is there a hairbrush?"

"What is a hairbrush?"

"A device to brush my hair."

"The cylinder looking object next to the bathroom is your preparation tube," LUX responded, sounding almost confused by my question. I guessed, in the year 2105 there was no need for hairbrushes.

I left the bathroom and saw the object she had described next door. The door slid open.

"This must be my presentation area," I whispered to myself. Hesitantly, I entered. Before I could turn back, the glass panel slid shut, trapping me in the object.

LUX appeared on the back wall. "Please hold out your arms. This will only take a few seconds."

Obliging, I stretched my arms out to the side. Just as I was beginning to question my sanity for listening to a robot with bright pink hair, the air in the room grew hot, almost as if there were a fire nearby.

I glanced at my arms. They were covered with white fabric. I had on a white jumpsuit. How did that happen? I could seriously be losing my mind right now.

LUX appeared back on the screen. "Job complete."

The back door slid open. I scrambled to get out before it shut on me again. Just outside was a large mirror. When I glanced at my reflection, I couldn't help but take a step back. In addition to the appearance of a full white jumpsuit, my hair was dry and pulled back into a ponytail, with a perfect part right down the middle.

LUX appeared on a screen next to the mirror. "Does your appearance meet your satisfaction, Captain James?"

"Uh, yes, I guess." I ran a hand over my perfectly styled hair. It seemed so amazing.

Before I could say anything else, LUX said, "It's a perfect line. Lines are important. Isn't that what you always say, Captain James?"

"Yes, but why?" I looked over at LUX. Maybe this robot could help me understand my previous life.

"Because you are Captain Esa James. A soldier. A leader. You like things in perfect order," the robotic voice responded.

"LUX, can I ask you something?"

"Yes. I am here to help you."

"Were we friends before I disappeared?"

"No."

Her response startled me. It wasn't what I had expected.

"Okay, thank you," I responded, defeated.

Heading out into the hallway, the distinct voices of the other five floated down the staircase. I wondered how long they had all been upstairs. Theo's deep throaty laughter stood out among the group of voices.

"Hey Esa. Did you sleep okay?" Gave asked with a wink.

"Yes. Thank you. I slept well." I said joining the group and grabbing a piece of toast. "It looks like someone has been cooking."

A large bowl of eggs surrounded by plates with bacon and fruit were in the center of the table.

"Yep, and you're just in time," Gave said with a look of pride. "I had to do something to pass the time while you guys slept and since we just collected some new food I figured we should put it to use."

"Did everyone else sleep too?" I glanced around the table. They all look like they'd never left the first floor.

"We were all able to grab about a ten-hour nap," Theo said mischievously.

"What? How's that possible?" I asked, looking at the silver clock on the far wall. I'd only gone downstairs about five hours ago.

"Ahh," Samuel said to the rest of the group with a hint of laughter. "Esa still hasn't learned the trick of getting rest."

"No. What's the trick?" I asked, really wanting to know the answer. How did they all get more sleep then me?

"We all jumped to different time zones, slept and rested for ten hours, and then jumped back to a minute after we left," Audrina said as she took a bite of bacon. "I picked up a few items before I returned," she said, nodding toward two large white bags.

"We can do that?" I muttered. I hadn't thought of that idea. It did seem logical, but the entire magnitude of jumping to different places in time was overwhelming.

"We can travel anywhere through time on the Jump Line, but sleeping in different years can be dangerous. You need to seek a good spot where no one can find you."

"Can I go back and visit myself when I'm younger?" I asked, wondering if maybe that might help me make sense of my previous life.

"Duh. Of course, and we expect you will. We've all done it. The only thing you can't do is go forward in time."

"Why not?" I asked. It seemed odd that we could go to the past but not the future.

"Because the future hasn't happened yet. It's impossible to visit. There are too many variables that could change in an instant," Samuel said. "Esa, just be aware that when you travel through time you can only stay in certain years for a short period. Anything over seventy-two hours could be problematic, which is why I can't understand how you lasted three years away from our primary year."

"We also emit a lot of energy," Theo said. "So, if more than one jumper is on a mission, we have much less time that we can be in that year together. Otherwise, we could cause damage to that year's electrical systems."

"How are we all able to be together in this house right now?"

"The house is built with fortified walls. A year before you disappeared, I developed a special program to create a force field around our home, but it only applies in our primary year," Samuel said.

"Plus, we have it booby-trapped with all sorts of special stuff," Gave piped up. "Cool stuff."

"Grrrrreat. That makes me feel so much better." I was still unsure how to respond to the group. They all seemed very close. It made me feel like an outsider.

"Esa, it's also important that when you go back in time you don't disturb or change what has happened. We are there to watch and steal stuff, but not to change history." Samuel looked me squarely in the eyes. Somehow, I knew there was more he wanted to say.

Instead, I returned my attention to Audrina. "What's in the sacks?"

"Oh, just a few bodies that were on the list. They were all normals that at one point were healthy."

"Aren't we changing history if we are taking these bodies?"

"Yes and no, but it's not anything too dramatic. They would have been out of the system no matter what," Audrina responded.

"So, what do we do with the bodies now?"

"We'll take these two into the tunnels in a little bit. Samuel has the one we collected earlier for his research, but there is a doctor in the tunnels who sent word that he was running low on everything."

"Everything?"

"Yeah, everything. Organs, tissue, blood...anything really that can be salvaged off of a body. It's all needed," Audrina said. "This will at least hold them over for a few days."