Chapter No.32

When Ryan came onto the command deck the next day, he seemed calmed down from his latest brush with death. He sat in a chair in back of where Chara was sitting in the pilot's chair.

"So, where are we headed to?"

"We're going to a binary system fifty-seven light years away in the constellation of Hydrus."

"I assume that it has an Earth like planet."

"It's not a planet. It's a moon."

"A moon?"

"Yes. It's the moon of a large Jupiter-sized planet orbiting in the habitable zone of a G6 v class star. Its binary star is a M4 v class red dwarf. The G-class star is younger than our Sun but has more metallic elements in its spectrum. I believe that the massive planet has an Earth-sized moon."

"Interesting. I hadn't considered habitable moons. I doubt that Space Command would even consider going to a moon orbiting a Jupiter sized planet in a binary system."

"Sometimes a pile of dirty rocks hides a diamond," Chara said.

Ryan smiled. "I won't question your judgement, Chara. You are the consummate expert on planets."

"Thank you, Ryan," she said without turning around.

"How long is this trip going to take?" he asked.

"Twenty-six hours."

Ryan stood up. "I'll be in the repair lab if you need me."

Chara didn't reply. Ryan went to the turbo lift. Myra joined him.

"I take it that you're satisfied with her choosing where we go," Myra said while keeping up with Ryan.

"She definitely understands planetary astronomy. Actually, it doesn't really matter where we go as long as we don't have to deal with Space Command."

"We've pretty much kicked their ass," Myra said.

"Yes, but you never know what evil lurks out there in the cosmos."

"Very funny," she said with a chuckle.

They arrived at the lab, which had the very latest tools and equipment to repair androids. Ryan took a seat at the main computer system and turned it on. Myra took a seat nearby and began examining the tools she would use.

"I love these tools," she said, examining an extractor knife. "They look more efficient than what we were using back at the planet."

"I agree, and it proves that they were going to use the androids to take over Earth."

Myra sighed. "Those bastards are nuts. The way they were headed would have eventually turned over Earth to the androids, who essentially consider us as being superfluous."

"Fortunately for us, their programming doesn't allow them to repair themselves."

Myra frowned. "Yeah, but I bet that programming would be altered to allow it eventually."

Ryan realized that she was right. The long-predicted AI takeover is inevitable.

Upon arriving at the binary system, Chara pulled the spacecraft up near the Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a younger G-class star.

Ryan was amazed when he saw the Earth-sized moon orbiting the giant planet. Chara was spot on in her prediction of how this system was configured.

Alma began a total scan of the system. "The moon is 0.92 the size of Earth. Its rotation is locked to the large planet. The atmosphere contains oxygen, but it's lower than Earth's."

"It looks like the moon is covered fifty percent with water," Chara said. "The bolometric temperature is about twenty degrees above that of Earth." She turned to Ryan. "You and I will go down in the shuttle to do a preliminary study of this habitable moon."

"As you wish," he replied.

Chara turned over the ship's control to Alma and went with Ryan down to the hanger deck. They entered a shuttle and Chara began the process of evacuating air in the hanger and powering up the shuttle. When the hanger door slid open, she slowly moved the shuttle out of the hanger and then fired the front thruster to slow the shuttle in order to enter the moon's atmosphere.

The trip down through the atmosphere was bumpy because of strong upper winds.

"Doesn't look like there's much of anything on the land masses," Ryan said. "This planet is so new it hasn't evolved all that much."

"I sense that there's life in the ocean," Chara said as she moved down closer to the ocean's surface, just skimming along without touching the waves that were super high compared to Earth's oceans.

"Those waves are at least a hundred meters high, maybe even higher," Ryan said. "Evidently the gas giant's gravity is causing that tidal effect."

"Yes, it is, and it means that any life in the ocean has to be large enough to avoid being smashed."

They flew above the waves for several kilometers with no problem, but that was about to change rapidly.

Ryan gasped when Chara pulled the shuttle up nearly vertical. What he saw in the main screen showing the aft view was a giant round mouth trying to eat them. Chara fired a missile down its mouth. The resulting explosion blew the sea monster to bits that nearly hit the shuttle.

"I'll have to give you this, Chara. Your instincts and reactions as a pilot are off the scale.

"Thank you, Ryan. I try to stay ahead of things."

"Yes, you do," he said, smiling. "Obviously, this moon is not very safe for life."

"As you humans say, you win one, you lose one."

"I'm sure there are plenty of planets that can sustain life," Ryan said.

"I know that Ryan, but that doesn't mean that they're safe."

He realized that finding a planet just like Earth was not going to be easy. G-class stars, like the Sun, make up only six percent of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy, and some of those are part of a binary pair, a configuration that's not friendly to Earth-like planets.

They arrived back at the ship and returned to the command station.

"That was some escape trick you guys did down there," Myra said. "I thought you were goners."

Ryan chuckled. "Thanks to super pilot Chara here, we survived being eaten by a super worm."

"I assume we're not going to explore this moon," Myra said.

"We are going to an Earth like planet orbiting a K-class star with the designation of 40-Eridani. It's a trinary system with two M-class dwarfs."

"How long will it take?" Ryan asked.

"Fifty-two hours."

Ryan stood up. "I think I'll go and try to relax after nearly getting eaten by a giant worm."

Chara smiled.

Later that evening relative to the onboard clock, the humans gathered near the main food synthesizer to enjoy an evening meal.

"So, are we officially considered the slaves of these androids?" Marsha asked.

"We have no official status," Ryan said. "We're no longer part of Space Command. Let's say that we're the support staff."

"That's the case with us," Evan said. "We've been inspecting the engineering deck to make sure that everything is working properly.

"Is this what we'll be doing the rest of our lives?" Myra asked.

"It's better than being cut up into pieces," Ryan said. "We've managed to obtain a deal with the androids that allow us to work with them without conflict."

"These androids were created to offer entertainment," Evan said. "I don't believe that's what they consider themselves now."

"You're right," Ryan said. "The last thing we want to do is disrespect them. If they want to entertain us, they'll have to be the ones who make the offer. The best thing we can do is just not upset them"

"So, does that mean no more pain sticks?" Myra said with a smirk.

Ryan gave her a teasing smile. "You're in charge of pain sticks, my dear. We'll do whatever you wish." He turned to Evan, Gary and Vince. "Right, guys?"

"Yeah," Gary said. "We're your slaves."

Myra waved a dismissive hand at them, "You guys are nuts!"

They laughed.