Cipher Code {complete}

Chapter Twenty Six: Time •New•

"Something strange just happened."

Roger was the only one able to sense the change that had occurred the moment the connection between Rhea Lee, Dawn and Philip had been severed. Because he had only served as a conduit and was not involved in direct telepathizing, he was more sensitive to their reality.

He open his eyes and scanned the room, his gaze landing on Dawn and her sister. He blinked away the afterimages clouding his vision and ran his hand through his hair. "Are you both alright?"

Dawn and Rhea Lee opened their eyes simultaneously and sat up. They had been lying down on the bed while they had delved into Philip's mind. Even though they had been fully conscious of their travel through space, their bodies had no longer been under their control.

To prevent themselves from being dragged back into their bodies and getting interrupted while they spoke to Philip, they had gotten into position while letting Roger link them to Philip.

"What?" Rhea Lee asked and yawned. "I'm just sleepier than normal. Otherwise, that was the easiest long distance conversation I have ever held with anyone."

"It would have been easier if the fog hadn't interfered with our technology and reduced connection speed on the Chain to the point where instant communication is impossible." Dawn said, an apology weaved into her words as she stared at Roger's pale face.

"That soldier-" Roger's brows furrowed and he cut himself off. "Something altered our connection."

"What do you mean?" Dawn asked carefully. Mind travel wasn't easy to accomplish, it was easy for things to go wrong. That was why despite telepathic Enhancements being one of the dominant abilities citizens in North developed, the Chain was still the prime form of communication. "Is he okay? Are we okay?"

"Look at the time." Roger pointed at the holoscreen. "It took at least ten minutes for my mind to travel to Lacau, another five to actually find Philip and another ten to connect his mind to yours. But here not even a second passed."

"Maybe time works differently. . ." Rhea Lee began, her gaze fixed on the blinking timestamp. They had decides to time their travel for research purposes but the clock remained at 00:00:00.

"No," she shook her head and frowned, "telepathy works in real time. But if time hasn't moved doesn't that mean we didn't go anywhere? We couldn't have just imagined everything, could we?"

"That can't be possible. You uploaded Philip's memories into the Chain. I can see them," Dawn argued and blinked back the information that had appeared in front of her eyes.

She had activated the Chain subconsciously. If she hadn't been strong enough to read them in her mind back then, she certainly wasn't now.

"Half an hour from now, you recorded them in Lacau. My logs say so," she explained.

"Holoscreens don't get the time wrong." Rhea Lee said. "If we imagined it all I wouldn't be surprised. It isn't the strangest thing to happen to us."

"Philip talked to us before we talked to him." Roger said suddenly. "That's the only explanation."

"The only explanation?" Rhea Lee laughed. "Roger, are you feeling space-lagged? That made no sense."

"No, he's right." Dawn got off the bed and walked to the holoscreen. "We haven't talked to Philip yet."

"So you finally agree with me?" Rhea Lee smirked.

"I don't." Dawn pulled up Philip's memories. "According to the travel logs in this district, none of our consciousnesses have left this room yet so we haven't talked to Philip. But we have memories of doing so and evidence of the experience, so we didn't just imagine it."