Chapter Seven

The brief moment of happiness I felt at hearing the sound of Caleb's voice was suddenly interrupted by the sickening feeling of the Iliad beginning to roll, again. The pressure caused my head to hit the back of my seat.

"Caleb, I thought you had control of the ship. What's happening?" I attempted to lean forward to look at the control panel, hoping something would magically make sense and stop all of the crazy movement before I unleashed the few contents in my stomach.

"I have control, but the gravitational pull is stronger than I expected. Hold on. Five, four, three, two, one..."

Suddenly, the ship turned back upright. The only sound was our heavy breathing as we all looked around at one another hoping the worst was over, but unsure that this wasn't another temporary moment. Audrina's body was hunched forward as she began to dry heave. Behind her, Theo leaned his head back, letting several coughs escape his mouth.

"Captain James and crew of the Iliad, we have made it through Plesus."

We all sat in silence for several seconds. Our stomachs nauseated and bodies ached, but our eyes still saw the beauty in front of the Iliad.

"Where are we?" Despite the darkness, it was easy to see the large planet in front of us. Its edges appeared almost as if they were glowing. Behind it appeared to be what looked like one large moon. "What is that thing?"

"Merak," Caleb's voice responded nonchalantly. "We will arrive at our destination in twelve hours. I will alert you when we begin our decent."

"Caleb, where is the Napoleon?" My eyes searched the area in front of the ship. Merak was visible, but there was no sign of the massive vessel carrying my mother and possibly my father. The idea that I would have to deal with both of them only ignited my hanger even more.

"Captain James, I am not locating the Napoleon. It might still be inside of Plesus."

"How would we have made it out before them?"

"The Iliad is smaller and may have been able to withstand the climate inside of Plesus to make it out at a faster rate."

"Caleb, that's not a good enough answer. I need confirmation on the Napoleon's whereabouts."

"My apologies Captain James. I am scanning now, but the Napoleon is not showing up anywhere."

I looked over at Audrina. We could no longer read each other's minds, but I could tell from her sour facial expression that she was thinking the same thing as me. Something wasn't adding up. The Napoleon should have been in front of us. We should be able to see it right now.

Audrina cleared her throat. "Caleb, please scan the surface of Merak. Maybe the Napoleon has already landed."

"Is that possible?" My head whipped around to look at Theo, Gave and Luther's seat.

"There are no heat signals coming from Merak," Caleb's voice responded. "The Napoleon has not landed."

"Alright. I guess we will find out in twelve hours. Caleb, please go ahead and lock in our course to land on Merak. Theo, Gave, Audrina and Luther, you guys might want to do an inspection of this ship and find out if we have any sort of weapons. I have a feeling we may need some sort of protection when we land."

"On it," Theo released his seat belt and bolted up from behind Audrina.

"Right behind you Theo," Gave quickly followed. The two were standing behind us with their hands on their hips. I might have laughed at the absurdity of their stances, but something told me to be on guard. She wasn't far away from me. Dr. Marie James was watching us and she knew everything that was happening on this ship.

"One of you needs to provide me with an entire list of essentials we have onboard this thing. I'm talking about food, water, weapons and really anything that might help us survive whatever might greet us on this planet."

"Good call Captain James," Caleb came into view in front of me. "I have a rough list of the Iliad's contents. Most of it should be correct, unless the crew made any last minute changes."

I looked over the list Caleb sent to my screen. There were numerous items that I had no clue what they were.

"What's Goli?"

"It is a special nutrient drink. It should have all of the essential vitamins to sustain crew members for several weeks."

"What kind of crew members?"

"Ones like you," Caleb said.

"So, they had this ship stocked for ciphers?"

"My apologies Captain Esa James. I do not understand what you are asking."

"Sorry," I mumbled. When I had been flying, I had felt a new sense of confidence, but now I was once again doubting whether or not I was capable to help us land safely in a strange, new world.

One thing was certain, I hated the individuals who had the same last name as me.

"Aud, where is Samuel? You have to know something. You guys are so close. Are you sure he didn't tell you something?" I asked, but already knew her answer. Samuel wasn't here. None of us knew where he was at right now.

Her shoulders drooped. "I've been wondering the same thing and have been thinking about our recent conversations. I don't know. He should be here. What if we are too far away that he won't ever be able to find us?"

Her body shook as she silently sobbed just feet away from me. A normal response might be to reach out and grab ahold of her hand and let her know that I was on her side, but she didn't need my sympathy right now. After all, she is the closest one of us to Samuel. If he really is a traitor then it seemed possible that she knew more than she was telling us."

I wanted to say something a little more well thought out to Caleb, but instead I just blurted it out, "Caleb, where is Captain Samuel James?"

"I am showing no vitals for a Captain Samuel James in our system. Has he ever been aboard the Iliad before?"

"No. Please scan again."

"Done. There is no Captain Samuel James in my records."

"That doesn't make sense."

"My apologies again Captain Esa James. I am not familiar with the other Cipher who has a similar name as you—"

"He's my brother—"

"I am not picking up any signals. Is he a Cipher?"

"Yes. I think. Why are you asking?"

"Ciphers have a different make-up. I will try again—"

"It's okay Caleb. Thank you."

As the last words came out of my mouth, Audrina lunged forward and pushed my body back hard against the wall.

"Samuel isn't a traitor—"

I pushed her back off of me. "I never said he was."

"He's going to find us."

"I know he will. I'm just hoping he's someone we actually want to find us. Too many things aren't adding up."

"He's your brother Esa. He's the one who found you and brought you back to the team. Don't give up on him so quickly."

"Yes, I've been reminded that he was the one who found me, but still, you have to admit that something seems off right now."

Theo and Gave walked back into the crowded area.

"We've got some pretty cool stuff on this ship," Gave whistled. "The technology is much more advanced than I've ever seen. I hate to admit it, but Troy did a good job on this thing."

"We'll see about that. What all did you guys find?" I was intrigued by Gave's last admission. At least, it was something more positive than the conversation I was currently having with Audrina.

"We've got enough weapons to outfit an entire army," Theo said. "In fact, there are so many, we can each take three or four. It's crazy."

"Why would we need so many weapons?"

"That's a good question," he let out a deep sigh. "A very good question, but obviously, they wanted to be prepared for something."

I turned my head to look back out at Merak. "Caleb, can you provide us with information on the make-up of Merak's surface."

"Yes Captain James. Anything in particular you are looking for?"

"No. I just have a bad feeling about landing on the planet."