Chapter 5: The Colonel’s Hidden Mission
Nobody spoke.
Not because we had nothing to say.
Because everyone in that chamber was trying to decide which truth was more dangerous.
The message from my father.
Or the fact that Colonel Victor Kane had been silent afterward.
I looked up at the speaker.
“Kane.””
No response.
The silence stretched.
Then the speaker clicked.
“I knew that message was still there.””
Commander Voss immediately raised her weapon toward the ceiling.
“You knew?””
Kane did not answer her.
His voice stayed focused on me.
“Hannah, listen carefully.””
I stared at the speaker.
“No.””
A pause.
“You don’t get to tell me to listen.””
I stepped closer.
“You knew my father left a message. You knew this machine recognized me. You knew what was inside this ship.””
My voice hardened.
“And you still let me walk onto the Resolute.””
“I didn’t have a choice.””
Everyone looked at the speaker.
That was the first time Kane had ever sounded human.
Not powerful.
Not untouchable.
Human.
I almost hated that.
“You expect me to believe that?””
“No.””
His answer surprised me.
“I expect you to understand it.””
The chamber trembled again.
The Meridian Device continued activating beneath us.
The platform holding my father’s recording lowered slightly, revealing more of the machinery underneath.
Voss moved closer to me.
“Do not let him control the conversation.””
I glanced at her.
“You sound like you know him.””
She looked away.
“I do.””
“How?””
She didn’t answer.
That was becoming a pattern.
I turned back toward Kane.
“Start talking.””
The speaker remained silent for a moment.
Then:
“My mission aboard the Resolute was never to hide the Meridian Device.””
I frowned.
“Then what was it?””
“To protect it.””
I looked around the chamber.
“From who?””
Kane’s answer came quietly.
“Everyone.””
A bitter smile crossed my face.
“That’s convenient.””
“It’s the truth.””
“Your truth.””
“No.””
His voice sharpened.
“The truth that got your father killed.””
The words hit harder than I expected.
The room went still.
My father.
Every conversation I had replayed in my mind for twenty years.
Every unanswered question.
Every birthday where I wondered what he would have said.
I hated that Kane could still use his name like a weapon.
“You don’t get to talk about him.””
“I knew him better than almost anyone.””
“Then why did he disappear?””
Silence.
A long one.
Too long.
Then Kane answered.
“Because he wanted to make sure you survived.””
My hands tightened.
“That doesn’t answer my question.””
“No.””
His voice lowered.
“But it explains why he left you clues.””
I looked toward the screen.
The image of my father was gone.
Only the dark glass remained.
“Clues?””
Voss suddenly spoke.
“We need to move.””
I turned toward her.
“Not yet.””
“Hannah—”
“No.””
My eyes stayed on her.
“Everyone keeps saying we’re running out of time. Everyone keeps telling me what to do.””
I pointed toward the chamber.
“I want answers.””
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Dr. Vale stepped forward.
“You deserve them.””
Voss looked at him.
“Adrian.””
He ignored her.
“Your father discovered the Meridian Device twelve years before his disappearance.””
I stared.
“Twelve?””
“Yes.””
“That’s impossible.””
“He worked under a classified research division. The discovery was buried after the first tests.””
“What tests?””
Vale looked at the machine.
“Communication.””
I frowned.
“Communication with what?””
He didn’t answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
I looked down.
“You’re saying this thing talks to something?””
“Yes.””
The chamber lights dimmed.
Then a new message appeared on the main display.
*EXTERNAL SIGNAL DETECTED*
Nobody breathed.
Voss whispered:
“No.””
I looked at her.
“What?””
She stepped toward the screen.
“It’s responding.””
“To what?””
Her face went pale.
“To someone outside the ship.””
The alarm suddenly changed.
A new sound filled the compartment.
Not a warning.
An incoming transmission.
The speaker above us activated.
But this time, it wasn’t Kane.
A different voice came through.
Distorted.
Electronic.
“Authorization confirmed.””
Everyone froze.
The voice continued.
“Subject Hannah Mercer Cole located.””
My blood turned cold.
Subject.
Not soldier.
Not investigator.
Subject.
The same word from the file.
I looked at Kane.
“What did you do?””
“I didn’t.””
The answer came immediately.
And for once, I believed him.
The voice continued.
“Retrieving memory sequence.””
The chamber floor shook.
A section of the Meridian Device opened.
Inside was a small metal cylinder.
It rose slowly.
Vale moved toward it.
“No.””
Voss grabbed his shoulder.
“Don’t touch it.””
“It’s the archive.””
“What archive?””
Vale looked at me.
“Your father’s final research.””
The cylinder stopped.
A small light appeared.
Scanning.
Then:
*IDENTITY REQUIRED*
Everyone looked at me.
I stared back.
“No.””
Voss stepped forward.
“Hannah.””
“No.””
I backed away.
“This is exactly what my father warned me about.””
The words felt strange coming out of my mouth.
But true.
Do not trust anyone aboard this ship.
Especially the man who claims he saved your life.
I looked at Kane.
“You saved my life before?””
Silence.
That silence was worse than an answer.
“You did.””
Kane finally spoke.
“Years ago.””
“When?””
“Hannah…”
“When?””
His voice became quieter.
“The night your family died.””
Everything stopped.
The chamber.
The alarms.
The ocean outside.
Everything.
“My family?””
I could barely speak.
“What are you talking about?””
Kane did not answer.
I stepped toward the speaker.
“You said my father wanted me to survive.””
“Yes.””
“What happened that night?””
No response.
I felt something inside me break.
Not sadness.
Anger.
Twenty years of unanswered questions.
Twenty years of accepting a lie.
“You knew.””
Kane’s voice was almost a whisper.
“Yes.””
“You knew what happened to my family.””
“Yes.””
“And you never told me.””
“I was ordered not to.””
“By who?””
Silence.
Then the answer came.
A name.
One I had never heard.
But one that made Voss immediately look terrified.
“Director Elias Ward.””
Voss stepped back.
“No.””
Kane continued.
“He was the person who authorized the original Meridian program.””
Vale shook his head.
“Ward is dead.””
Kane replied:
“That’s what everyone was supposed to believe.””
The cylinder suddenly activated.
A bright light scanned the room.
The system turned toward me.
A mechanical voice repeated:
“Identity required.””
I looked at the machine.
Then at the people around me.
Kane.
Voss.
Vale.
Everyone had lied to me.
Everyone had hidden something.
But the machine?
The machine was the only thing that had been waiting for me.
Slowly, I stepped forward.
“Hannah, don’t.””
Voss’s warning came too late.
I placed my hand on the scanner.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the entire ship went silent.
Every engine.
Every alarm.
Every system.
The Resolute stopped.
The Meridian Device recognized me.
A message appeared.
Not in code.
Not in military format.
A message written by my father.
*WELCOME, HANNAH.*
A second line appeared.
*IF YOU ARE READING THIS, THEY HAVE ALREADY COME FOR YOU.*
My heartbeat slowed.
Another line appeared.
And this one was not a warning.
It was a confession.
*THE MAN WHO RAISED YOU WAS NOT YOUR FATHER.*
I froze.
The screen continued.
*AND THE MAN WHO SAVED YOU THAT NIGHT WAS THE ONE WHO CAUSED IT.*
I looked toward Colonel Kane’s speaker.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Then Kane said one sentence.
The sentence I would remember for the rest of my life.
“Hannah…”
May you like
His voice cracked.
“Your father lied to you because he was trying to protect you from the truth about me.””
