But I did.
That was the other thing, the M’alue weren’t really the M’alue at all. They called themselves the Maanjaulfgaa.
The name was more a sensation than even a word. A shiver that started with a hum and ended with a vibration. In my head that made perfect sense, but my mouth couldn’t wrap itself around it. So, until there was a better option, Dr. Clarke and my dad were right, M’alue was close enough.
The information the M’alue had given me was enough to fill my brain, my dad’s brain, and everyone’s in this entire room. It was probably enough to fill every computer in the ISA.
Tyler had been right though. It was no accident we’d come here. The M’alue had been using us, leading us, homing in on us and sending messages meant only for us. They wanted us to be here. But not to hurt us. They weren’t the ones who couldn’t be trusted.
I now knew the full history of the First Contact Meetings, including who was really there, where they met, and the transcripts of each and every conversation they’d had.
I even knew the exact coordinates of the M’alue’s home planet, which was so far from Earth, and so outside the realm of human comprehension, that even if I tried to disclose it, I’d have to hand draw star chart after star chart just to get close.
I had the names, dates, and locations of every abductee who had ever been taken, and the information of everyone who was ever returned, which was a far smaller number.
I knew who’d died and who they sent back.
I would’ve been angry if I hadn’t also been given a glimpse at the M’alue and their dying population . . . not hundreds or thousands, but millions of them. As far as they were concerned, we’d been their last hope. Not because they’d believed we held the cure, but because by the time they’d located us, they’d run out of resources to keep searching for other options.
Fortunately for them, it had been us. We had been the answer they were seeking. It had taken them decades, and several failed attempts, but ultimately, through their experiments on humans, they’d managed to perfect and extract the one microscopic chromosome they’d needed to save almost an entire population.
Was it worth it? The M’alue believed it was, and who was I to decide whether their entire planet . . . their entire species should have gone extinct without what we—the human race—had to offer.
If only they would have gone about it a different way.
If only the ISA hadn’t captured and held Adam.
“Right now we have bigger problems,” I told my dad. “I know the real meaning of the message.” Suddenly no one was pretending not to listen, and it wasn’t just my dad and me having a private conversation. “We got it wrong,” I told the others. “It was a warning, but not in the way we thought it was. The meaning . . . the interpretation . . .” I shook my head, and looked at everyone but my dad. I couldn’t do it, make things right with him yet. “It wasn’t right. And we didn’t have the entire message. It wasn’t ‘The Returned must die,’ it was ‘The Returned must end.’ They were offering us a bargain. An exchange.” I hoped I was making sense because I was talking so fast, wanting to make them understand. We didn’t have a ton of time. “They were offering to end all this. To stop taking and returning humans if Adam is released.”
Tyler came toward me. “So let’s do it. Let’s tell Dr. Clarke what we know.”
I lifted my chin to meet his eyes. “The ISA already knows. They got the full message and rejected them. They’re never letting Adam go.”
“How can you be so sure?” Jett asked.
“Because something happened when I boarded that spaceship up there.”
Jett looked confused. “So . . . wait. Are you saying you weren’t taken by force? Because that’s what it looked like . . . on the radar screen. That that ship of theirs, or whatever it was, just engulfed you.”
I shook my head. “They’re not hostile. At least, that’s not their intention. I can’t explain it, but somehow I sensed they were inviting me on board. Maybe not in so many words . . . at least not in a way you or I would understand . . .” I chewed my lip trying to think of a way to make it clear. “And they never actually spoke to me, but I . . . knew what they wanted.” I shook my head. “Seriously, I get how crazy this sounds, and I wish I could make it more clear, but the truth is, I don’t remember how it happened. I honestly thought I was up there for less than an hour.” I tried to laugh it off, because that was starting to feel like the story of my life—gaping memory lapses—but the laugh caught on a lump in my throat. I swallowed, trying again. “All I know is we’re running out of time.”