Chapter 20. Contact.

Charles had given control of the command deck over to Alice, mainly because he was more interested in the Tachyon-faster-than-light system. He had agreed with her wish to determine where the possible AI alien ship had gone.

He sat down next to her and looked at the main screen before he turned to her. "Where do you think it went?"

"My trace indicates it went to 59 Virginis, a G0V-class main sequence star with a Jupiter sized planet that has a Earth-sized moon orbiting it. There was evidence that that moon might be habitable."

"How far away is it?"

"It's 57 light years from Earth, but only around 30 light years from our present location."

"Ok, set a course for that moon. I'll be down in the engineering deck. We're going to monitor the operation of the engines during faster than light travel."

"Wouldn't that be dangerous?"

"Not really. The engineering deck is shielded from the engines."

She sighed. "Ok, I'll begin the voyage."

He smiled. "Good. If you need me, you know where I'll be."

She watched him exit the command deck before turning to the pilot's operations screen and entering the instructions to begin the voyage.

Vicky came on the command deck and sat down next to her. "What's happening?"

"Charles told me to go to the star we decided might be where the robot ship went. I'm starting the trip right now."

"He must trust you now."

She smiled briefly before she replied. "As much as I feel confident that he trusts me, I still have some concern that he's afraid of me."

Vicky gave her a confused look. "Why would he be afraid of you?"

"I don't know for sure. Maybe he doesn't like me using him for my crazy ideas about how our bodies are resistant to damage."

"And yet, he does what you ask of him. Maybe he enjoys it."

"That's possible, but I'm just not sure." She sighed. "Well. I had better get this ship on its way to 59 Virginis." She pressed a button and after a long pause, the ship began the acceleration to faster than light.

Down in engineering, Charles and his buddies were checking through data from previous light speed runs to see if there was any evidence of problems.

"So far, so good," Carl said after watching data scroll down the main screen. "I'm surprised that we haven't had any problems from these engines."

"Maybe this vessel is being protected from breakdowns like we are," Dave said while studying the data scroll.

"That's possible," Carl said. "The bio energy that we're being exposed to is also flooding the entire engineering deck at a much higher power level."

"If that's the case, we'll never get sick or worn out."

Robert wiped sweat off his brow. "Probably, but It doesn't protect us from the stifling humidity. My clothes are soaked through."

"Yeah," Charles agreed. "It's ruining our clothes."

Dave pulled his shirt off. "We may as well strip. It's too hot to be wearing anything down here."

They all agreed.

As if on cue, Judy and Felicia came on the engineering deck just after they had undressed.

"Why are you guys naked?" Judy asked, trying hard to avoid smiling.

"It's too damned hot and humid down here," Carl replied. "It's ruining our clothes."

"Yeah," Felicia replied. "I don't know how you guys can work down here in this sauna bath."

"Someone must make sure that the engines are ok. If these engines break down, we could end up marooned in space."

"Yeah, that's true."

"Why did you come down here?" Charles asked them.

"We wanted to see how you were doing," Felicia said. "Apparently, you're doing ok."

"How about we bring you some cold drinks?" Judy asked with a subtle smirk.

"Sure, that would be great," Dave replied.

"Good. We'll be right back."

The guys watched them enter the elevator.

"Do you really believe that they care about us?" Robert asked.

"I think that they would be bored to death if they didn't have us to entertain them," Dave said.

"Imagine that!" Carl quipped.

They laughed.

The Proxima B arrived at its destination without any interference or problems. Alice placed the ship in orbit around the moon circling a gas giant, which was orbiting the Sun like star.

However, the alien craft seemed to come out of empty space and approach without any aggressive moves.

Vicky turned to Charles, who was sitting next to Alice. "I'm receiving a signal that's compatible with our communication system."

"Answer it," he ordered.

The main screen displayed what appeared to be a robot. Its face had a Robocop appearance, a sort of human arrangement of eyes and mouth but a machine device with a metal helmet.

"Why are you here?" it asked in a computer-generated voice. ​

"We are curious," Charles replied. "We wish to know how an energy burst caused the destruction of life on habitable planets."

"How did you survive it?" the machine asked.

"We were in spaceships with limited atmospheres which did not heat up as much as the atmospheres of habitable planets."

There were a few moments pause before the reply. "That is logical."

"Where did the energy burst come from?"

Again, another pause. "We are under attack."

"From whom or what?"

"Others like us."

Charles wasn't sure how to reply to that. "Are they around here?"

"No."

The terse answer suggested that the conversation had ended, and it did.

"What does that mean?" Alice asked. "That we're in the middle of a war between robots?"

Charles wasn't sure what they were involved in. "Maybe I should have said 'Klaatu barada Nikto.'

"Ha, ha! The earth didn't stand still. Maybe this is a ruse"

"That's a possibility. Before we get lost in figuring it out, let's check out this moon to see if it's habitable."

She nodded.

Several hours later, when Charles came back onto the command deck, he learned about what Alice and Vicky had discovered.

"This moon is definitely habitable," Vicky told him. "However, there's no sign of an intelligent species. The moon is mostly a desert with a few areas with what looks like plant life. We didn't see anything that would suggest higher lifeforms."

"I'm not surprised. I wonder why the robots came here."

"Maybe they were hiding from their enemies."

Charles shook his head. "I suppose we'll never know." He paused for a moment. "Look for another possible habitable system."

"Will do," Alice replied.

Later, at the communal supper, Alice stood up to get the attention of everyone. "We've located some evidence that Space Command was aware of these robotic alien ships being involved in a galactic war. They also suggested that they were using a powerful energy weapon to destroy intelligent life."

"Are you suggesting that we suffered one of these weapon blasts?" Charles asked.

"That's what the information suggested."

"This sounds more like they knew a lot of things that they didn't explain to us before we went on the trip to Proxima B," Carl said.

"They probably didn't think it was necessary," Charles said and then paused before continuing. "If it is an alien robot war, we're in real trouble."

"So, what should we do to avoid being involved?" Alice asked.

"We need to keep a low profile. The best way to do that it is to stay away from the rift. That's where the robotic vessel came out of." He turned to Alice. "I think it's best for us to return to Earth."

"Maybe it would make more sense to stay here for a while, at least until the robot aliens leave this system."

Charles nodded his approval.

Alice sat down and Vicky stood up. "I would like to pursue the bio energy system that's making us able to avoid aging and bodily damage."

"I assume you need us?" Charles asked.

"No. I want to examine the effects on females." She looked around at the female crewmembers. "Any volunteers?"

Janice, Jill, Felecia, Betty and Mary raised their hands.

"Thank you," Vicky told them before she sat down."

Later that evening Alice caught Charles entering his quarters. "I think you should be an observer for Vicky's experiments."

He held a hand up, palm out. "Ah . . . I don't think that's what I should do."

"I think you should," she told him. "You and Carl can monitor the physical parameters of the tests."

He didn't like it, but he felt that he should comply. "Ok, we'll be there. Where are tests going to be done?"

"Oh," Alice said, grabbing his arm. "Down on the agricultural deck."

He stared at her for few moments before replying. "Ok."

Charles ran into Carl on his way to his quarters. "Alice wants us to monitor the bio tests."

He stared at him for a moment before replying. "Why me?"

"I don't know. Maybe they're trying to pay us back. Grab a field monitor. The tests are being done on the agricultural deck."

"Why there?"

Charles shrugged. "Maybe it has to do with that pool of water."

"Ok, we'll have to hit the engineering deck before we go there."

After they had arrived on the agricultural deck and began walking through a corn field to the water pool, they heard voices behind the. They turned to see Janice and Felicia in their birthday suits approaching.

Charles's attention was directed to what Janice was carrying. "I didn't know that there were cats on this ship."

"I didn't either," she replied. "I think they included them to take care of insects and other varmints that go along with grain and other agricultural plants."

"It's a pretty cat," Carl said while petting it. "How many of them are there?"

"I think there's six or seven. I'm not sure."

"Are they black like this one?"

"I think they are, but I haven't seen all of them. I think that all of them are Bombay cats."

"Interesting."

She let the cat go. It meowed and ran off.

"Are you ready for the tests?" Charles asked them.

She gave him a smirk. "Ah, don't we look like it?"

He smiled. "Yep."

They arrived at the pool, which was much larger than Charles and Carl expected. Jill, Betty and Mary were standing together in their birthday suits. Vicky was dressed in her normal attire of trousers and a short sleeved top.

"I see that you brought a monitoring device," Vicky said. "I'll stick sensors on them before they go into the water."

Carl used the handheld monitor to determine the water temperature. "Wow, it's only five degrees Celsius! That's really cold!"

"I think it's like the swimming pool. It prevents a lot of evaporation."

"I'm glad it isn't us going in there."

"Amen to that."

They watched the women dive in the pool with the least amount of splashing. Their sleek bodies passed by under the surface with no evidence of distress or panic.

Their movements were mesmerizing as they swam around underwater as if they were chasing each other, circling continuedly.

"I'm surprised that they look so calm," Carl said. "I would have expected them to be in terrific pain by now."

"Evidently, they are handling the pain well like we did." He pointed to his monitor. "You should be able to get the sensor readings."

Carl punched commands on his monitor and soon had the data stream display. "Interesting. The sensors indicate that their skin temperatures are close to five degrees, but their internal body temperatures are at least ten degrees higher."

"Interesting, but even that would be detrimental to a normal human."

"I guess it proves that we're essentially immortal."

"Could be."

After an hour of swimming underwater, the women got out of the pool. They displayed no signs that they were distressed or suffering, other than folding their arms around their chests and shivering while water dripped off their flesh.

Vicky turned to Charles and Carl. "Well, that shows that we're physically altered."

"It does," Charles replied before he turned to the test subjects. "How do you feel?"

"Frozen like a popsicle." Felicia replied, running her hands down over her breasts and abdomen. "It was painful, but not enough to make us give up early."

"Well, that's good. All we need to do now is understand why that's the case."

"Isn't it because of the bio energy devices?" she asked, tilting her head.

"As I understand it, that process only stops us from aging. I don't think it's able to keep us from suffering physical damage. For example, you should be showing damage to your skin from that low of temperature, but you're not. Normally, it would cause chilblains, but you don't show any evidence of that."

"I guess we'll have to see if we can determine how that's possible," Vicky replied, her facial expression indicating disappointment.

Charles nodded, and he and Carl departed. Neither of them exhibited being excited by what they saw.

"I guess we weren't sufficiently entertaining," Felicia said with a sly grin.

"I doubt that." Vicky replied. "They're men and men love to see female assets."

They giggled.