Chapter 73

Soon after unloading the food, Sam led Ralph and the class deep into the water plant to meet Julie Parrish, leader of the resistance. They came to the main meeting room where yet another issue was unfolding for the rag tag resistance. They stood in the doorway and looked on as a man stood at the center of attention for the group.

The man was tall and had brown hair and eye, wore jeans and a plaid shirt and held a blood stained brown jacket with golden buckles with a patch on the side. Surrounding him were the familiar faces of FBI agent, Bill Maxwell, Colonel Steve Austin and Colonel Hannibal Smith with his special forces team. It was apparent the man holding the jacket was just given some shocking news.

"What do you mean I am not from Earth?" he gasped holding the blood stained jacket.

Colonel Austin stood before him and explained, "You crashed here two years ago, John. NASA tracked your entry. You were some kind of fighter craft and you were in some kind of battle with another craft that looked more like wing. Both vessels crashed landed in the desert. In the other craft there were these…things. They were not human. They were some kind of robot cyber men."

He asked, "Is my name even John?"

Steve confessed, "We don't know what your name is. We called you John Doe. You were badly injured in the crash. You were in a coma for two months. John, there were so many things NASA wanted to ask you. You were our first contact but when you woke up you couldn't remember anything. Then these…Visitors…showed up and we had to hide you. We knew they were not human but you are human and that makes us the same."

"Wait!" Sam spoke up. "He's a human alien from space?" The plot was getting thicker for the young inventor.

All eyes fell on Sam, Ralph and the class.

Julie Parrish spoke up, "I see our alternate reality sliding friend came back."

The tall man blinked and looked at the new arrivals. He asked, "You are a slider?"

Sam traded glances with Ralph and the class. She confessed, "We all are."

Julie then squinted and gasped, "Rhonda! What are you doing here? You are supposed to be in the camp."

"Wrong Rhonda." she replied. "I'm in school."

She then realized there were two versions of her cousin in the world at that time. "Ooohh…" she found it odd.

Ralph looked to Bill and greeted, "Bill."

"Do I know you?" he asked him.

"You don't know me here?" he soured.

"Never seen you before." he told him.

"Oh!" he replied rather sad.

The Visitor named Willie was also present. He was tasked with identifying the patch on the brown jacket. He spoke up, "I don't recognize the patch. I'm sorry that I cannot help." He then asked, "Can you describe the cyborgs? Were they clad in metal with a red strobe sensor in the helmet?"

Steve stated, "Yes! We can't decipher the language."

Ralph suggested, "Maybe the nanites can help us decipher it?" He reached, "Can I see that jacket?"

The man called John handed it to him and stated, "I can read it! I guess it's my native language. I had to learn to read English when I woke up."

Ralph took the jacket and noted it looked like some kind of military jacket. The patch had a language on it but it did not look like English to him.

Steve asked his friend, "What does the patch say, John?"

"Battlestar Galactica." he reported. "I have no idea what that is."

All eyes landed on Willie. He shrugged, "I don't know what that is either."

Sam and Ralph both spoke at the same time as a name just popped into their heads collectively. "Apollo." they chimed.

Steve asked, "The Greek god or the NASA mission?"

Ralph shook his head, "It's a name. It just popped into my head." He looked to Sam who nodded in agreement.

"I got that too." she agreed.

Colonel Smith asked, "Just who are our friends here?" He motioned towards Ralph and the class.

Julie stated, "Sam is the girl who came here from a reality that was not invaded. Apparently, she can slid back and forth. She's been trying to help us. She claimed to have invented a warp drive engine."

Apollo stated, "Warp drive is a standard deep space vessel engine." He then asked himself, "How do I even know that?"

Julie explained, "Amnesia can work that way, John. You may not remember who you are or where you are from but some things will still be there."

He wondered, "Could my name be Apollo?"

Ralph and Sam both nodded. They spoke at the same time once again. "Captain Apollo." They traded glances at one another surprised by their own reactions.

Ralph figured, "Nanites are using us to deliver information to the people in this reality."

Willie figured, "You must be Peacekeepers."

"In my reality I have the red suit." Ralph told him. He then mentioned, "I didn't bring it with me though."

Willie smiled, "Once a peacekeeper you are always a peacekeeper with or without the suit." For the alien being it was akin to meeting a real life hero.

Sam asked, "You can be a peacekeeper with or without the suit?"

Willie nodded eagerly, "Yes! It's the nanites that make the peacekeepers. They give the abilities. Some peackeepers would use a wand and some would have other aids. Not always a suit. The suit is for new peacekeepers. Once they no longer need the suit it goes to a new peacekeeper. The older peacekeeper doesn't need the suit anymore and has…graduated." he explained.

Sam asked, "Do peacekeepers use their real names?"

Willie explained, "No! A peacekeeper is to use an assumed name for self protection. No peacekeeper is to be more known than another. Peacekeepers are as one. They do not seek to be…famous."

Sam looked to Ralph, "Maybe that's why the wiped everyone's memory of you? To protect you and the peacekeeper thing they got going."

Ralph pondered, "Maybe you are a peacekeeper too, Sam? They gave you the nanites but not a suit."

She winced, "Well…that sucks." She didn't wish to be a peacekeeper.

Tony spoke up, "Hey it's already 2 o'clock and we need to get back before the bell rings."

Ralph agreed, "Right!" He looked to the audience, "We dropped off some supplies for you from Caitlin. We do have to go. The kids need to get back home to our…home…reality…world…Earth…thing…" he reached for words to describe the situation.

Sam agreed, "We do have to go."

Julie stated, "Come back and visit sometime. We obviously can use the help. And thanks for the supplies. I heard you got Airwolf together last night. Thank you for that."

Sam smiled, "Anytime."

Rhonda asked, "Is there anything else you guys need? I know we can't stay but since we can slide and back and forth and we are not facing what you guys are facing maybe we can bring more supplies for you."

"We need medical supplies and medications." Julie told her. "In your world am I still at the hospital?"

"You are." she told her.

"Well, maybe you can get some medication." she suggested. She then took a paper and pen and wrote out a quick list, "If you can get us these meds it would help." She handed it to Rhonda.

"We will." she promised. "I wish I could do more to help. I saw it out there and boy, it's like Mad Max world here."

Julie wrapped her arms around the girl, "You already are helping. Be safe out there, Rhonda."

"I will." she hugged her cousin in return.

Home Reality

The class had returned to the room and with commands from Ralph and Sam together they slid back to their home reality.

Tony looked out the window, "Hey…everything is back to normal again."

Karl sounded "That's a relief. That world where we invaded by lizard people was kind of freaky."

Rhonda held into the list, "How do I get my cousin to give me these medications without telling her about the other reality with the lizard people?"

Sam stated, "You are a doctor in the future. You give me the medications in 2022 and I can bring it back and we can slid back over and give it to them."

Rhonda figured, "That could work."

Karl asked, "Should we tell anyone what happened today?"

"No!" the class spoke all at once.

Ralph agreed, "I think it would be better if we kept this reality sliding thing to ourselves."

Tony agreed, "I think that's for the best. Now we know of three types of aliens. There are humans, lizards and some kind of robot alien."

"Cylon!" both Sam and Ralph spoke as the nanites gave them information. They looked at one another surprised again.

Ralph stated, "We have to stop doing that."

"It's annoying." she agreed.

Jose went to the chalk board and started to write as he spoke, "Cylon: robot people. Visitors: lizard people. Humans - Apollo?" He then wondered, "What about those people? What are they called?"

Ralph stated, "Colonies!" He looked to Sam.

"Twelve." she agreed. She then pondered, "Or is it thirteen?"

Ralph found the information seemed to just flowed, "Aeleron, Aquaria, Canceron, Caprica, Gemenon, Leonis, Libran, Picon." He then concluded, "Like in astrology."

Jose wrote down the notes, "I wonder how all this fits together?"

Karl suggested, "Class project!"

Ralph agreed, "I suppose we could work a bit on the research of it."

Tony reminded them, "Battle of the bands is this weekend and we haven't practiced in a while."

Rhonda agreed, "We do need to practice."

Sam assured, "We can practice at the hangar."