Part 4 Assimilate

Synopsis: Jason and Molly had finally realized their primary goal of repopulating the Earth after a large asteroid collision had annihilated all human life. At the same time they had become part of a new coalition of intelligent species in the Milky Way galaxy. Their new mission is to insure peace in the galaxy and prevent Earth from suffering another catastrophe, but they were not sure how they were going to complete that task.

Chapter 37 New Quest

Things are not always what you think they should be.

Molly and I spent the week after the big battle trying to relax and settle our nerves. I was especially upset with the fact that because of my trusting the Scath commander, I had nearly got all of us destroyed, including our new human colonists on Earth. One thing was for certain; I would never make that same mistake again.

"I think that we should go visit the coalition's planet," I said to Molly, who was busy using her virtual mirror telescope to locate habitable planets.

"I've studied the planet around the NuLupi star. It's about the size of Earth, but it doesn't appear to have an Earth-like atmosphere."

I rubbed my jaw. "Interesting. I wonder how they use it as a headquarters."

"I suppose we'll only know when we go there."

"I agree." I turned to Judy. "Plot a course to the NuLupi system, Judy."

"Yes, Jason."

We quickly left Earth orbit and accelerate to half the speed of light before going to warp. A half hour later, we came out of warp and approached a planet orbiting a G3 type dwarf star.

"I don't see anything that resembles a structure on the planet," Molly said. "The atmosphere has a slight amount of oxygen, but it's mostly nitrogen."

"That's weird."

We entered orbit and continued studying the planet.

"I have a request for a video feed, Jason," Judy said.

"Put it on."

Our favorite reptilian appeared. "Welcome to our headquarters. Come down to this location." He indicated a spot on the surface before the video feed ended.

"Prepare a shuttle, Judy. We will go down with Alice. We won't need weapons."

"Yes, Jason."

The trip down was weird. We were about to land on a flat plane on an otherwise uninteresting planet, and it was unnerving.

When we set down on at the exact location that the reptilian had indicated, a circular split appeared around our craft, essentially supporting our craft as a chasm opened underneath it. We soon were descending down under the surface into the dark. Our craft settled on solid ground and the circular object that supported our craft literally passed up through our vessel and ascended to the entrance hole, essentially closing it.

"That's cool. We were supported by a tractor energy field the entire time."

"Evidently, they must consider it the most efficient method," Molly said.

The atmosphere has breathable oxygen," Alice informed us.

I stood up. "Well, I suppose we should go meet the proprietors."

Molly, Alice and I disembarked and stood near the shuttle. Soon, two figures approached from the darkness of the cave. We recognized one of them as the reptilian commander. The other creature was an unknown species.

"Welcome to our Headquarters," the reptilian said. He pointed to the other. "This is Mink. He's from a system at the edge of galactic arm."

Mink was tall and lanky and had bloody red eyes and green skin. Like the reptilian, he was attired in a black plastic uniform.

I gestured to Alice. "Alice represents the androids. Molly and I represent the humans."

They both nodded, which I found odd because it's a human gesture.

We followed them to a large complex within the cave. A dozen different species sat at control centers around a giant curved screen. I assumed from the image being displayed on the screen that they were monitoring space around the planet and beyond.

"We are from planets along the arm of the galaxy," the reptilian said. "We face a new danger from a mechanized species. They are like your Alice." He pressed a button to display an image of the new threat. The image of a female android appeared.

I turned to Alice. "Is this an earlier version of your designation?"

"No, Jason. The eyes are green. Ours are blue. The lips are thinner and the nose longer. The hair is black, not blond. This is not related to our kind."

"And yet, it's very human-like. That would imply a parallel development." I turned to the reptilian. "Do you have any idea where they came from?"

"We believe that they come from the galaxy that you call Triangulum."

"That's interesting," I said. "That galaxy is the smallest of the local group and is probably a satellite of Andromeda. We encountered a true robotic species when we went to Andromeda, but they were not of human form like this species."

"How did you deal with them?" the reptilian asked.

Fortunately, our androids were able to disable them totally."

"Then your mission will be to find them and render them inactive."

"It would help if you had a recent trajectory scan of their departure."

"We will send it to you," he replied.

"Okay, we'll accept the mission, but we want some assurance that our human colony on Earth will remain intact."

"We will ensure that they do. We will also provide you with some breeding stock on your completion of the mission."

I nodded, but I was not all that confident that we could pull it off. I also don't trust them, especially about giving us new human breeding stock. We had been lied to several times. However, under the circumstances, I saw no way to deny any of it.

The reptilian, whose name was Fist, introduced us to the other representatives of the Galactic Coalition. Masque is a gecko like individual with light yellow scale-like skin. Vosk is an insectoid that resembled a praying mantis. Clema is a long-necked hominid with bug eyes and a proboscis. Fiscus is grey, an alien that resembles the Roswell aliens. Vilus is another insectoid that looked more like a spider but with a hominid face. Gilcus is another reptilian but with a larger head. Tenda looked almost human except for bug eyes and pointy ears. He definitely wasn't a Vulcan from the Star Trek series.

We exchanged pleasantries with all of them before we were ceremoniously inducted into the Coalition by writing our signatures in a large book. I thought that to be archaic for such advanced species, but it did make it feel more authentic.

"We are pleased to have you in our coalition," Fist said. "You have proven your honor in combat. Together we will make our galaxy safe again."

I've heard a promise like that before. If only I could remember . . .

"We thank you for offering us this opportunity. We will do our best to stop the invaders from Triangulum."

Fist nodded.

We returned to our ship and headed back to Earth not knowing what we were getting into.