Chapter Three

It felt like we were walking through a giant labyrinth. Each hallway turned into another similar one.

We walked swiftly trying to find something that would lead us to our destination, but everything looked the same.

"How big is this thing?" I felt disoriented. "These hallways are never ending."

Theo walked several steps in front of me. His hand slid over a glass plate and the number 1980 appeared. "The good news is we are actually walking down different hallways. The room number in the last hallway was 1945. So, at least they are all different."

"I didn't expect a ship traveling to Troy's new world would have so many rooms and floors. Are you sure there are only a hundred normals onboard? I'm starting to think there might be more."

"I don't really know. The manifest had that number of names," Theo stopped ahead of me and was looking at an image that appeared in front of us. It was a map of the facility. "It looks like there may be holding rooms for the other Ciphers that she brings on the ship. It should be interesting to see how similar they are to us."

"I've only encountered one that was invisible. So, I'm not really sure what to expect."

We opened up the next door. We still hadn't seen any sign of human life. Large, horizontal tubes filled up the space. I walked cautiously over to one of them to see if there was a way to look inside. It was dark. I rubbed my hands together and created a ball of electricity. A pair of eyes looking out of one of the tubes made me jump backwards.

"Something is in there—"

"What is it?" Theo walked over to where I was standing. I created another ball of electricity. The eyes were dark. We both stared at the object looking back at us. "That's not human."

"I agree. What is it?"

"It looks like an animal."

"Do you think they are bringing animals back too?"

"My information is limited."

I pinched my lips together and touched my medallion to see if we could jump to another room, but nothing happened. We were still standing in the same place.

Theo let out a loud sigh. "I was afraid something like this might happen. Let's just walk around some more. Maybe we will be able to jump from a different location."

"Why can't we jump now?" I whispered, feeling nervous about the idea of being exposed and not being able to quickly exit.

"I don't know." He shook his head, but that didn't make me feel better, it only frustrated me more. How could he not know? He and Luther had jumped here several times. They should understand this environment and what we could and couldn't do up here.

"Where is Samuel? Why isn't he here? We could really use him to help us sort everything out. He's the one person who I know would have the answer." I was frustrated that nothing seemed to make sense right now.

"We haven't seen him since we were inside of Artek," he shrugged his shoulders, but there was more to his movement. He was keeping something from me. I could tell he wasn't telling the entire truth.

"I was hoping it was just me who hadn't seen him. I still have some questions Samuel needs to answer."

Theo exhaled a deep breath, almost as if he was exhausted. It seemed exaggerated. He hadn't been that tired just a few seconds ago, but I let him continue to walk forward until he turned back towards me. "Yeah. I think we all do."

We found the door and walked out of the room. It was quiet except for the dull hum of whatever was making air for this ship. It reminded me of the first time I met Theo. That day, I had awakened in a strange, narrow room with a bed made out of glass. At the time, I had thought maybe I was dreaming, but it turned out I was very much awake and was in the right place.

As we turned down another hallway we heard someone yelling our names in the distance.

"Theo, Esa!? Are you guys here? Answer us! We've been looking everywhere for you!"

The sound of the other voices caused us to pause briefly, and then smile.

"Yes!" I began to run forward trying to see if we could connect up with them. "Audrina, where are you?"

"I don't know. We're walking down a hallway. Everything looks the same," she responded as she coughed. "Except, it doesn't feel right. I'm light headed and weak. Where are we?"

"Sit down and catch your breath. You may not be getting enough oxygen in your lungs," Theo said.

"Am I going to die? If so, I'm not ready to give up just yet," she asked.

"Just relax. Your body will adjust," Theo told her, just as we rounded the corner and saw Audrina and Gave sitting down in the hallway.

"This sucks," Audrina said through deep breaths. "Where are we?"

"Welcome to the Napoleon. It's on a course headed for Merak," Theo bent down next to her.

Audrina took in several deep breaths. "My body feels like it is going to crumble under the weight of this environment."

"Just breath," Theo put his hand on her knee. "It only takes a few minutes for our bodies to adjust."

"You guys could have told us that we were jumping up here so that we could've practiced and been breathing normally like both of you," Gave said from next to Audrina.

"Don't worry. I didn't know either. It's a surprise to the three of us. Where's Luther?" I asked, wondering if he had once again decided to take off. Almost instantly Luther appeared.

"I'm standing right behind you," his voice said. My head turned slowly to see one of the people I wasn't entirely sure I could trust.

The sight of his face caused a wave of emotions to rush through me. The last time I had seen him, he tried to kill me. "Hello Esa."

I stood there without saying a word. There just wasn't anything I really wanted to say right now to Luther.

He cleared his throat. "It's good to see all of you again. Did you miss me?"

"No," I responded matter-of-factly. It wasn't like I had known him for that long anyway.

"I'm sorry for everything I did. Trust me, I didn't know they were using me."

"Got it," Theo walked over to Gave. "Did you guys blow up Artek?"

"Yes. Everything was ready to go. We were able to move some of the normals, but it was tough since we didn't know exactly where they were from. After that, we pushed the button and then got out of there as quick as we could." Gave coughed several times. "We couldn't save everyone."

"Did you see Samuel?" I asked, wondering where my brother had disappeared to this time.

"No, but we also weren't looking for him," Gave shook his head as he got up off of the floor. Audrina stood up next to him and nodded in agreement with him. It was surprising to hear that she hadn't been looking for Samuel. Audrina and Samuel had been partners for years. She would no doubt be wondering where he was at right now.

Theo crossed his arms over his chest. "Do you guys think Dr. James or Paul figured out where you were jumping to?"

"Not sure. Luther took care of the jump for us," Gave responded. His voice sounded a little bit more raspy than usual. "Maybe it's a good thing that I don't know. At least, when they capture us, I can tell them that I didn't have any knowledge of what we were doing."

Luther let out a soft chuckle. "No one would believe you."

"Where exactly are we? Audrina asked.

"Inside one of Troy's ships. Headed for Merak."

"Do we even know anything about Merak's atmosphere or where it's located?" I had seen a few images of Merak, but it didn't look like it had much to offer. I definitely didn't see any sort of life in the images, but Samuel told us that the planet was good and we would survive.

"I'm not sure what to expect," Luther crossed his arms over his chest. "But Theo is right, this is our best chance and right now we have a head start. Marie and Paul are sitting on a planet that is dying and we've just commandeered their main form of transportation."

"That's what you think," Audrina sighed. "We shouldn't be celebrating yet."

"We need to find the main deck of this ship to see if there is any additional information we might be able to figure out." The others all nodded in agreement as we set out. Luther and Theo had a slight advantage, but both admitted that they hadn't done a thorough reconnaissance job because they had been more focused on trying to make the jump work.

With every turn we made, it led us to another similar hallway. I swiped my hand over a glass plate next to a set of doors hoping that might open up some of them, but it didn't. Instead, the number 2010 appeared.

My hand flew to my mouth. "Oh my God. Troy isn't keeping all of the normals in one room. They are in individual rooms. Look, this one says 2010. It has to be the room where a person from 2010 is being kept." I thought back to Ms. Vaughn. She had been one of the bodies in the cylinders. My stomach dropped at the idea that this room might be for her.

"What is it?" Theo asked as he took in the expression on my face.

"I saw one of my teachers from 2010 in the cylinders. Her name was Ms. Vaughn. She was my history teacher."

Theo walked closer to me and tried the handle too, but the door still didn't budge. "I don't know how to unlock it."

"Me either. Can you try and jump inside? Maybe your medallion will work now."

Theo touched his medallion, but still nothing happened. "No. We are no longer able to jump. We must be too far."

"From what?"

"I don't know," Theo threw up his hands in frustration. "I know just as much as all of you. I'm lost right now too. I don't know what to expect, how long of a trip we have to Merak or anything else. All I know is that we are together. For now."

"Samuel isn't here," Audrina shook her head. "We're not complete without him. He should be here with us."

"I know, I can't help that. It was Samuel's decision not to make the jump."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, Samuel knew our plan and he chose not to jump," Theo said.

"He knew?" I shot back. "How did he know?"

"We discussed the plan the other day."

"You did? Thanks for once again including me," Gave paced back and forth. "Maybe just once you guys could let me be a part of the conversation on major decisions, like jumping onto a ship in the middle of space. I'm tired of always being the one that gets left out. I'm a part of this team too."

"Sorry dude," Luther said. "It just happened that way."

Gave stopped and glared at Luther. "You were included?"

Luther looked nervously over at Theo and then back at Gave. "Yes, but only because Theo and I were practicing the jumps."

Theo let out a deep breath. "Sorry Gave. We weren't trying to keep anything from you. The three of us were together and started talking about next steps. This idea came up."

"Yeah, I know. It is always conveniently the three of you guys and I never seem to be around when you make major decisions. I've been a part of the team too. I'm not just the one making sure everyone is fed."

"Again, sorry," Theo said.

Theo's last statement didn't sit well with me. "Theo, who actually came up with the idea to jump onto the Napoleon? I thought you said it was Luther's idea."

Theo looked over at Luther. "Well, yes and no. I guess, it was technically Samuel who first mentioned it, but then Luther said that he had worked on this ship and had some other information. We knew this jump would be successful."

"So, it was Samuel who came up with this idea?" I knew my brother hadn't been telling us the truth for a while. He knew more about Dr. Marie and Paul's plans, but he had kept it from us.

"Esa, what are you trying to imply?" Audrina asked. "If anyone can help us figure things out, it's Samuel."

"I'm just asking questions, Audrina." I responded, still unsure of who I could trust right now.

"I'm done with this conversation. Let's get to the bridge and see if we can't get into the system," Gave said, walking in the opposite direction and then turning back to face us. "Any idea where we need to go?"

Luther's voice cut through the quiet. "Follow me."

Audrina snickered. "Hmmm, maybe you could have should us a few minutes ago instead of leading us through a maze of hallways."

It grew quiet in the hallway. "Audrina, give Luther a break," Theo responded.

"There are several smaller surveillance shuttles docked on this massive thing. We could probably load up one of those with some supplies and take off towards Merak," Luther said. "It would be quicker than completing the mission onboard this thing."

Theo shook his head. "We don't know how far it is to Merak. What if the smaller ships don't have enough fuel to make the trip."

"I didn't say we had to go now. We could get one of the search vessels ready for when we do want to take off," Luther put up his hands. "I want to make sure we're ready. Remember, this ship doesn't just have normals who are sleeping peacefully, it also has more Ciphers."

"Ciphers? Like us?" Audrina asked.

"Yeah, something like that, but they have better technology. They are a newer version of us," Luther said.

"Yes," Theo chimed in. "Luther's right. Marie and Paul have replicated the technology and created a new breed of Ciphers to take back to Merak. Dr. James has kept some of the normals, but all of the rest have been turned into ciphers and trust me, they are strong."

Luther walked up near Theo. "We were the originals. The thing that Dr. James thought was so amazing was our ability to continue to learn, but for her, it became dangerous, because we could think."

"How many Ciphers are onboard this ship?" I asked. "The manifest shows at least a hundred normals, but that was it."

"Probably ten to fifteen thousand, maybe more."

"How do you know so much?"

"I watched them and overheard several of their conversations. They are from Merak and they put something from that planet in our bodies, which is how we were created and why we are able to adjust and travel through time. It's not about us needing to leave Earth. Samuel was right. Earth was fine. They destroyed it so they could save their own planet, Merak."

His statement suddenly made me pause. "Luther, if what you are saying is true then I have no doubt that Dr. James knows the coordinates of this thing. She wouldn't let so much of her valuable work leave her sight. We need to leave. Now."

"I know," Luther nodded in agreement.

I shook my head. There was no doubt now in my mind that we were being set up...again.