"I have no idea where I'm from exactly, but I know that our desire to explore will one day solve the mystery of my past."

-Galaxy

ESTHER

I'm the first one through the archway and I've barely blinked before I arrive, tingling throughout my body, on the Mayflower. When I open my eyes on the ship, my vision is blurred, but I see dark shadows standing before me, just off of the platform. Then my mom comes through beside me.

As my vision clears, I see that there are about ten men standing in front of me with guns drawn, and Emperor Oshiro waits behind them. I only recognize him from photographs, but I know it's him. 

"Emperor," I say, kneeling, and even though Mom's vision is clearly still blurry--she's rubbing her eyes--she kneels as well.

"Are you here to find my son?" the Emperor asks.

"Your son?" Mom responds. "Is he lost? I thought he was on the ship with you."

"He was, and then he escaped."

"How does one escape a spacecraft?" Mom asks.

"At ease," Emperor Oshiro instructs the line of men who, until a moment ago, were still aiming their guns at us. "Are you the only ones coming through the arch?"

"For now, yes. We need to send back a signal that we've made it," Mom replies.

"Do it then," the Emperor instructs. "I must show you another pathway."

I look to my mom, who nods at me. "I'll do it," she says. "Go with the Emperor, I'll be right behind."

I nod in understanding and step off of the platform, away from the archway.

Mom stands up straight. "Send me through," she instructs, and a man who had once held a gun at us steps forward to the control panel and allows her to disappear in a burst of light before me.

As quickly as she leaves, the Emperor shouts, "Close the arch!"

The man at the control panel taps some controls and then all the light and all the buzzing from the archway ceases. 

"What did you do?" I yell.

"Your mother would have stopped you," Emperor Oshiro says, "or insisted on going with you. The FTL drive only allows for one more person to pass through it from our end for another week while it recharges. I need answers now. Follow me."

He tells me to follow him as though I have a choice in the manner. Two of his soldiers hurry to my sides and guide me out of the room after Emperor Oshiro. If I could just find Tempest, then I could get some real answers as to what is happening on this ship.

"Where is my cousin Tempest Becker?" I demand.

"She is wherever my son is," the Emperor replies.

I swallow hard. What has Tempest gotten herself into? Whatever it is, I pray she hasn't broken any laws or hurt Yuri Oshiro, otherwise, we will have a war on our hands when we all get back to Earth.

I follow the Emperor down a long series of hallways and finally into a room marked LABORATORY. 

"Here it is," the Emperor says, stepping out of the way to allow me to see the FTL drive.

It looks more like a magic mirror than anything scientific. Yellow, glowing light swirls, constantly in motion, in what looks like the opening to a tunnel. The scientist beside the FTL drive--I can tell he's a scientist by his white coat--looks dejected, ashamed. What has happened here?

"What does this do?" I ask.

"It's supposed to transport you to Janus," the scientist replies after Emperor Oshiro gives him the go ahead.

"Does it work?"

The scientist nods. "I believe it does; however, we only have room for one other person to go and see, at least for this week. It's a new technology, and the charge ran out much faster than I anticipated."

"Your arrival was fortuitous," Emperor Oshiro says. "We believe that your cousin Tempest may have forced my son into the FTL drive, and now they both are lost, along with a worker on board, Neo Sanders. Tempest had connections with both of them, and we believe she pressured them both."

"That's bullshit," I say. "Tempest would never have done that."

I hear footsteps running toward the lab from the hall, and I turn to see Aunt Ava in the doorway. "Is it really you?" she asks, tears in her eyes. 

She pushes past the men with guns to embrace me. "You have to find Tempest," she whispers to me. "I can't lose her."

I hold Aunt Ava tightly, and as I feel her hair, wild and curly just like mine, I remember my lineage. She is my true aunt, the person I look most like in this world, and Tempest is my true family. They are the only ones I've always known were truly mine, and now that I've sacrificed so much for my family back in Hicksmon, I need to make sacrifices for this family too. Maybe this is why Milo didn't immediately get back together with me, why he said he needed time. Because maybe somehow he could sense I'd have to do something bigger, more dangerous.

"I'll get her back," I say. I let go of Aunt Ava, brush the tears from my cheeks, and turn back to the Emperor. "What do I need to do?"

The Emperor smiles and then looks to the scientist and nods. The scientist then stands up and hands me some clunky device that looks like a big walkie talkie.

"Take this with you," the scientist says. "It will act as a portable FTL drive, but it only has charge for one trip. You have to stand directly beside Yuri, Tempest, and Neo if you hope to bring all three back, and you have to all be in contact. Anyone who is not with you will not travel back. Do you understand?"

"It will bring me back here?" I ask. "And you'll let my mom come back through or let me go back down to Earth? And Tempest will be able to clear her name?"

"Yes, if she is truly innocent," the Emperor says. "But I need my son back to know for certain."

"I will bring him back," I say.

The yellow swirls begin to glow even brighter as I clutch the portable FTL drive to my chest. 

"The drive is ready, sir," the scientist says, sitting back down beside the tunnel.

"You may travel," Emperor Oshiro tells me.

I step closer to the light and in one swift motion, I dive in. I feel myself stretching and expanding until I'm snapped back into place in a strange landscape. 

The grass here is up to my waist and sways peacefully in a the slight breeze. The sun is high in the slightly indigo sky, which is spotted with buffs of white clouds. Ahead of me is a structure that looks like a base. I've made it to Janus.

As I move to take a step forward, I hear a click behind me.

"Don't move," a woman's voice instructs me, and then I feel the barrel of a gun pressed to the back of my head.

I hold up my arms.

"What is that in your hand?" the woman asks.

"I don't want any trouble, I'm just here to get some travelers who came through here. Have you seen them? A young girl, about my age, with long black hair, and two men?"

"What is in your hand?" the woman asks again, sternly.

"It's a portable FTL drive," I say, my voice shaking a bit. "I'm here to get the three of them back, and this device can bring them back to the Mayflower, where I can bring them back to Earth."

"Back to Earth?" 

I feel the gun pull away from my skull slightly. 

"Yes."

"From any dimension?"

"I guess."

The gun leaves my head entirely. 

"I will take you to where the travelers are if you promise to bring me back to Earth with you."

"I promise," I say.

The woman steps in front of me, her gun pointed at me just in case, I guess. She has long, silvery blonde hair and wrinkled skin. How long has she been here? 

"Follow me," she instructs. "We have another portal to go through."