Chapter 14. Compromise

Charles decided it was time for a sprucing up. His hair was getting too long, and his beard was clearly gross looking stubble. He stripped and sat down in the rig that the robots employed to manicure and trim his various bodily accouterments, placing his wrists and ankles in the lockdown rings. Two robots arrived to lock him in so that they could do their thing.

He realized that being physically restrained was a safety factor, but it still disturbed him. He didn't like being vulnerable.

As if on cue, Alice entered his quarters and sauntered over to where he was being trimmed and shaved. Her eyes grew large for a moment before she squinted. "Oh, I'm sorry! I apologize for barging in while you're being trimmed up."

"That's okay!" Charles told her. "Why the visit?"

Her eyes scanned over his body before she locked her eyes to his. "I wanted to get your permission to move this vessel to a better location for observing the universe."

His eyes moved around for a moment of contemplation before he looked back at her. "I'll bet you're thinking of the L2 location."

"Yeah, that Lagrange point is perfect to get away from the Sun's glare."

"Sure, as soon as I'm done here, I'll move us there."

She waved a dismissive hand at him. "You don't have to do that. We can take care of it."

"Ah, are you sure that you can do that?"

She smiled. "Yeah!"

Charles wasn't so sure that she could, but he was in no position to do anything about it.

Alice moved closer and ran her right hand over his abdomen. "You have really nice abs," she said, smiling. "Do you exercise a lot?"

"Ah, yes," he said while watching her hand moving lower to his pubic area just barely missing touching his organ. "Do the robots trim your hair down here?"

"Not since they did right after I came out of hibernation."

She looked up at him with a concerned expression. "I'm sorry. I'm intruding on your privacy." Then she smiled. "Although, I'm enjoying the view."

The robots adjusted the chair rig to stretch his body out flat with his arms and legs spread out.

"What are they doing that?" She asked, her eyes examining his body as if they were laser scanners.

"I think they're providing you with a better view."

Her expression went from surprise to confusion and then to amusement. "I would thank them, but I don't know if they would understand it."

"Oh, I think they would," Charles told her. "They're programmed to obey us."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't come here to be amused at your expense."

"I don't mind."

She squinted at him. "Why not?"

"You're free to come here anytime you wish."

"Even if it makes you uncomfortable?"

"It's not that bad."

She waved her hand at him again. "You're crazy! I'll go move the ship. Enjoy your grooming."

He watched her turn and walk out of his quarters before he told the robots to continue his grooming. The rig activated to put him in a sitting position so that they had access to his face.

When Alice arrived at the command deck, Hilary turned to look at her. "Did he agree?"

"Yes," Alice replied, taking a seat next to hers.

"Wow!" Hilary exclaimed with a satisfied grin. "I didn't think he would."

"He was locked in a grooming rig and at my mercy, so I made the robots stretch his body out to allow my eyes to feast on his naked body."

Hilary laughed. "You didn't!"

She grinned. "Yes, I did."

"I'm surprised he didn't get angry."

"He said he didn't mind."

Hilary leaned back in her chair and tapped a finger to her lips. "Maybe the men are afraid of us and want to placate us."

"I don't know if that's the case, but I think that I have Charles under my control, and he's certainly the leader of the male crew."

"You devil you!" Hilary kidded her.

Alice punched in the commands to move the ship to the L2 location a million miles away from Earth. She adjusted its velocity to take a few days, which would avoid any possible collision problems with stuff that's already in that location in space.

Charles showed up on the command deck later and sat down next to her. "Looks like you did it without my help."

"It's not that hard," she said. "I studied the piloting manual." She swallowed hard. "I assume you're okay after my making you stretched out as if you were being roasted on a skewer."

"I'm fine," he said with a hint of a smirk. "I didn't mind it."

"That's good," she said with a brief smile.

"Any new ideas about the blackout effect?" he asked her after a protracted silence.

"Yeah. We went back over the data, and it indicates that it was antineutrinos but that their flavors changed rapidly when they struck our ship, and they had just enough mass to kick ass when they collided with photons. Evidently, they were able to affect space time, which might explain why we have a confusion about what the date is."

"So, if this neutrino blast came from the big bang, why did it take so long to cause the universe to be stripped of life?"

"We're not sure that it destroyed life in the entire universe. It may have only been aimed at our galaxy."

He held a hand to his mouth. "That's interesting. If it were centered on our galaxy, it would be nature's way of erasing its mistakes."

She tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"Some philosophers claim that we humans are an evil seed that needs to be exterminated. Maybe this neutrino blast was meant to do that, but it didn't take into consideration that we would end up going out into space, which in our case, saved us."

"You're assuming that the universe is intelligent if that's the case."

He shrugged. "It might be. It's the basis for believing in God."

"I don't think that's the reason we've been changed."

He stood up. "Keep an eye on the debris when the ship arrives at the L2 point."

"I will." She replied.

She smiled to herself while he walked to the elevator and entered it.

Several minutes later, Judy, Hilary and Vicky arrived on the command deck and took seats near Alice.

"How'd he feel about allowing you to run the ship?" Vicky asked her.

"No problem," she said with a grin. "I believe he would do anything I wanted even if it would be uncomfortable."

"You are the one!" Vicky exclaimed, raising a hand so that she could slap Alice's hand.

The other women arrived and took seats around the deck, after which they swiveled their chairs to face one another.

"Now that I have Charles under my control," Alice said. "We are open to discussing what we should do with the male crew."

"I don't see why we should do anything with them," Janice said. "You have them under control."

Alice looked around at all the female faces staring at her. "Is that okay with all of you?"

They all nodded their consent.

"I'm open to any considerations," Alice said.

"I'd like to know why they don't exhibit any interest in us." Felecia asked. "They seem to be healthy young males, and yet they haven't shown any attention to us."

"What are you suggesting?" Vicky asked her. "That they're gay?"

"No," Felecia replied with a frown. "They would not have made it through the academy if they were."

"I think they're afraid that we might put them in confinement if they exhibited any sexual interest in us," Alice said. "And we could do that. There are confinement cells on this ship where we could lock them up and allow robots to care for their basic needs and allow us to torment them."

"If they're aware of that it's no wonder they're afraid of us," Hilary said, her face twisted with concern.

"I propose that we leave them free and tease them," Janice said. "I'm sure they would prefer that to being confined."

"Does anyone object to that?" Alice asked them.

No one did.

The men were also having a meeting of minds in Charles' living room.

"I think the gals are determining our fate," Carl said. "They're having a meeting on the command deck."

"Are they going to take over?" Robert asked, blinking rapidly.

"Officially, no," Charles replied. "Unofficially, they already have. They're confused by the fact that we aren't approaching them sexually. I knew it would come down to this, but I believe that our best way to handle them is to not do anything that would cause relationship problems. What we're dealing with here are the most intelligent humans ever conceived. They are brilliant scientists with IQs off the chart. They hold the possibility of us being able to explore the universe." He smiled. "However, they're still gorgeous young women with the emotions of high schoolers, or so it seems."

"That means we're in for a wild ride," Carl said. "Do you think they would put us in the confinement cells?"

"They could, but it would indicate that they've gone over the edge, especially if they would torture us for amusement."

"I wonder what that would be like," Robert asked with a smirk.

They laughed, but they realized that there wasn't something that they would enjoy.