Chapter 26. Evolution, Part 2.

Because of the recent discoveries about the ship and its purpose, the crew was spending more time searching through the ship's records and manuals to see if they could find more hidden things.

Alice came to Charles's quarters one evening and found him sitting in his living area listening to music, namely 'born to Run' by Bruce Springsteen. His cat didn't seem to be as interested in the rock music.

"I didn't know that there was music in the system's memory," she said before she plopped down next to him.

"This ship's memory storage is unbelievable. It has almost every movie, TV show, sporting event, news cast, and music, opera, and broad way performance that was recorded."

"Maybe they wanted to preserve human achievements for a new Earth habitation."

"That would be the case if there were a new human existence."

"Well, I don't know about that, but I've found something that might have an impact on what we thought they were trying to do."

Charles stared at her with a confused expression. "Oh?"

She smiled briefly before presenting a more serious expression to him. "I discovered that there are three more individuals in hibernation on this vessel."

His expression evolved from confusion to excitement. "You're kidding?"

"Nope," she replied with a smirk. "It turns out that there's a section off the main hibernation chamber, and it contains more hibernation modules."

"Are you saying that there are people in them all this time?"

"Yes. I know it sound crazy, but there is a male and two females in them."

"I didn't see them in the crew manifest."

"Maybe they were added at the last minute."

Charles grabbed his keypad, causing the cat to get up and jump off the couch. After punching in the right code, he was able to get into the original commander's data.

"You're right," he told Alice. "Although, I don't see an explanation for them being kept in a hidden location."

"Maybe they were in there as an added protection of the mission."

Charles rubbed the side of his face. "Could be. Let's go see if they're still alive."

She followed him to the hibernation chamber where all the modules were opened.

Alice pointed to a door. "I think they're in there."

Charles opened the door and entered with Alice on his tail. He looked at the three units and then turned back to her. "They're still kicking."

"So, what are we going to do?"

"Let's revive them. It's probably the only way we'll know why Space Command did this."

Charles and Alice pushed buttons in the modules that started the revival process.

"Let's leave them recover," Charles said. "We'll warn everyone to stay out of the corridors."

It wasn't until later that evening, after the three new crew members had been revived, cleaned up and escorted to the large dining chamber, that Charles and his crew were able to see and talk to them.

Ted Westen was a young male much like Carl, with blond hair and blue eyes. Marion Westen was also a blond, while Gretchen Westen looked almost the same as her, indicating that they were twins.

The crew realized that they were the commander's children, but there was a time displacement problem with that.

"Welcome to the ship of fools. We are what's left of humanity."

"I thought that this was a mission to Proxima B," Ted said, his young face hinting confusion.

Charles waved a dismissive hand at him. "You missed all the fun. We've been there and several other solar systems. We also have attracted a cyborg vessel that is using us as an attraction for robotic aliens who want to locate all intelligent life so that they can destroy them."

"Why weren't we revived?" Marion asked.

"We didn't know you were in a separate section of the hibernation chamber. We are still learning about the capability of the vessel as well as its secrets."

"We assume that you are the children of Commander Westen," Vicky said.

Ted looked at her as if he was confused. "Yes."

"We're sorry to inform you that your father didn't make it. He and his assistant died during the hibernation."

Ted looked at his sisters, who appeared to be in shock, before he turned back to Vicky. "He warned us that he might not make it."

"That's what we thought," Charles said. "We assumed that we," He gestured to his crew, "were recruited in case that happened. The chief engineer and his assistant, the head astrophysicist, and her assistant, didn't make it."

"What do you know about why this mission was launched?" Alice asked Ted.

"Not much. We were told that there was possibility of an apocalypse and that we might be among the survivors. He didn't give us any details about this apocalypse."

"Well, the apocalypse did happen. Earth has been wiped clean of life. We are the only survivors, and it's because we were out in space when it happened."

"What happened?"

"A powerful microwave beam from a spacetime fracture blasted several habitable planets. We believe that it is an attack by robotic aliens to destroy all intelligent life."

"Are we in danger?"

"Yes, but we have a cyborg alien ship helping to save us from any attack. They are systematically destroying the robot alien ships that are attracted to us when we go to a potentially habitable solar system."

Ted sighed. "It appears that we are now part of your crew."

"Yes," Alice said. She gestured to Charles. "Charles and I are the de facto leaders of this ship of fools. We try to keep everything cool."

"It appears that we have a lot of catching up to do," Ted revealed. "I'm just a weapons engineer, and my sisters are stellar astronomers."

"You're just what we need," Charles told him. "We guys are all engineers, so you'll fit in."

Ted smiled.

Later. When the guys were down on the engineering deck, the reality of their situation could be discussed.

"I notice that there's a lot more female crew members," Ted said. "How does that work?"

"We've had some rather contentious situations with them," Charles revealed. "We are no longer human. We've been converted by a bio energy system in this ship to be forever young and healthy. However, we're also sterile and unable to conceive children."

"How do you handle sex?"

"We've decided not to engage in relationships, especially the sexual kind. They outnumber us and it would cause a major problem if we tried to form sexual pairing. The only thing that would probably work would be us banging all of them. However, I doubt that would lead to any sort of social peace in the long run."

Ted smiled. "I could see that being a free for all mess. I wonder what my sisters think about that."

"I'm sure the gals will discuss it with them."

"What do you know about this cyborg vessel that seems to have attached itself to us?" Charles asked Ted.

Ted's serious expression revealed his knowledge of the issue. "There was a rumor running around the Academy that cyborgs were created from near death astronauts. It's possible that they are the crew of the ship that has been shadowing you."

"That could explain why they know English," Carl said.

"Yes, that's possible," Charles said. "However, they could have easily gained language ability from using AI."

"If they were aware of the apocalypse," Dave said. "Why didn't they warn Earth?"

"That's a good question, probably one we'll never find an answer for."

"So, we have a ship full of Robo cops shadowing us so they can destroy robot alien ships that are hell bent on destroying all intelligent life in the galaxy," Dave said.

"That could be," Charles said. "As long as they protect us, we'll be safe from attack.'

Ted turned to him. "You said that you've traveled to other solar systems. I assume that you've installed the faster than light units."

"We discovered them by accident. So far, they've worked without any problems."

"Well," Ted said with a subtle grin. "I think that you guys have everything under control."

"Only if you define 'under control' as being a state of controlled anxiety."

They laughed.

The women were having their own discussion concerning their situation. Marion and Gretchen represented new, more serious, competitors for the attentions of the male crew members.

"You outnumber the males on this ship," Marion said. "How do you handle that disparity?"

"We don't," Vickey replied. "They don't seem to be all that interested in us."

Marion looked at her with a confused expression. "That's odd. Why not?"

"They're afraid of causing a conflict among us. They also claim that they don't want to make any of us pregnant."

"You said that was impossible because you don't ovulate."

"That's true, which should entice them to have a go at us, but so far, that's not been the case."

"That's not what I would have expected."

"We agree."

"Have you tried flashing your assets at them?" Gretchen asked.

"We've seen more of their assets than they have ours. They often work in the nude down on the engineering deck because it's so hot and humid there, but they don't seem to mind us ogling them."

"I think they're afraid of us," Hilary said. "We outnumber them."

Both Gretchen and Marion didn't know how to take their situation. They were down low on the totem pole of enjoying the attention of the male crew members.