Chapter No.105. New Threat

It ain't over 'till it's over.

Venessa turned to me. "You have freed us from outside interference, Jason. When you destroyed Queen, you eliminated Tyco's avatar. He is still in control of the android rebellion."

"I was afraid of that," I said. "Do you have any idea where they are?"

"We believe they are in a galaxy a thousand parsecs from here, but we are not certain of the precise location."

"Thank you for the information. I think we'll wait until tomorrow to go there. I want everyone in agreement about what we should do if we find them."

"We should assimilate them," Molly said.

"Yes, that would be the ultimate goal, but first we have to find a way to neutralize Tyco without loss off android life."

"You'll just have to figure out how to use your powers to do that."

I sighed. "Yeah, I realize that, but I'm not certain that I fully understand Tyco and how he holds power over the androids."

I know that didn't satisfy them, but it was the best I could come up with.

The next day we gathered on the command deck to begin our journey to find Tyco. Molly had used her virtual mirror telescope to search for galaxies several thousand parsecs of our location. Unfortunately, there were at least three that fit the habitable criteria.

I turned to Judy. "Do you have any feel for which galaxy Tyco is in?"

"We believe it's the spiral galaxy in the second quadrant."

"Take us there."

Using spin drive we were there in a few minutes. The galaxy was a SBb-class spiral, which meant that it had a well-defined bar in the middle of it. Judy moved our vessel up over the galaxy so that Molly could scan the entire disk. An hour later she came up with a possible location.

"I've found a G-5 class star system with a habitable planet in between the main spiral arms. I can't tell if it has anyone living on it at this distance."

"Take us there, Judy. Remain in stealth mode."

We went to warp to approach the star system she had located.

"The fourth planet has a breathable atmosphere," Molly said. "It's within the habitable zone of this star."

"I see indications of a civilization," Margaret said. "There is a structure in orbit around the planet. I believe it's a space port."

"Put us in cloak and go to Yellow Alert."

The lights dimmed and a yellow light began blinking as we approached the planet using impulse power, which had a minimal energy signature.

"I don't think this is an android collective," Alexa said. "I'm detecting infrared signals that indicate human-like beings."

"That would mean that this isn't the Tyco collective," I said. "Is there any indication of a threat?"

"I'm not seeing anything that would be a threat to us."

"Okay, Judy, take us out of Yellow Alert but keep us in stealth mode."

"I've detected an electromagnetic signal in the sub space region," Alexa said. "I believe it has video information."

After several minutes of work, Alexa managed to decode the signal. We gathered around the main screen to see what she had uncovered.

"They're definitely human," I said. "They have more of the proto-human type facial characteristics."

"Maybe this is the Genesis proto-human species," Margaret said.

"It's hard to tell. Their language is unknown. It'll take time for the universal translator to come up with a translation."

"They're definitely different," Molly said. "The males and females don't dress the same. A gender specificity is representative of a more modern human species."

"I like the outfits that the females are wearing," Marie said. "They definitely emphasize their gender."

"This is the first case like this," I said. "We usually don't see females wearing more explicitly sexually attractive clothing."

"And yet, it appears that the females are in control," Margaret said. "That doesn't make sense."

"Maybe wearing more revealing clothing is their way of being in control."

"I see something wrong here," Margaret said. "There doesn't seem to be that many males."

I rubbed my chin. "Hmm, I think you're right. That would indicate a gender disproportionate society."

"What are you suggesting?" Marie asked. "That males are in the minority?"

"It's possible. We'll have to wait until we've observed more of their population."

"I think there's a problem with that idea," Alexa said. "I've found another video transmission that shows lots of children. If there is a dearth of males, how would that be possible?"

The video appeared on the screen. "Yeah, you're right. Interesting."

"It looks like there is an even distribution of male and female children," Molly said. "Why would adult males be in the minority?"

"Wait a minute," Margaret said pointing at the screen. "See these individuals. They look like they're females but yet they don't wear the attractive clothing."

"Are they transgender?" Marie asked.

"I don't think so," Margaret said. "It's possible that this species has three distinct genders."

"That would not be consistent with all of the human species we've found," I said. "What would be the third gender's function?"

"I could see the third gender as the one that gestates and delivers infants from a male-female pair, sort of like a surrogate."

I smiled. "Okay, that makes sense."

"Evidently, it's the accepted method of propagation with this species," Margaret said.

"There's something else wrong with this species," Molly said. "They don't appear to have a more advanced technical society, yet they have a space port with what appears to be a star cruiser parked in it."

"Yes, that is odd," I said. "I suppose we should go down and check it out."

Nobody questioned my motive, but I realized that my plan had risks.

The trip down in a shuttle was uneventful. We landed in a large open area in what we considered to be the capital city. Molly, Alexa, Alice, Ben and I exited the shuttle and waited for people to show up.

A delegation that consisted of a female leader and four consorts approached us. The leader was dressed in what looked like a gown made from some metallic infused cloth. The bodice was cut low and showed cleavage. She wore what appeared to be something that resembled a crown. Her assistants were dressed in similar gowns but without revealing as much.

I waited until they had stopped before turning on the universal translator. "Greetings. We are from a distant galaxy and have come here to inquire about a dangerous threat to both you and us."

"How do you know our language?" the leader asked.

"We use a universal translator."

"You have invaded our sovereign land and will now submit to us."

Suddenly, a large group of armed female soldiers approached, holding weapons that appeared to be energy beam devices.

"You are making a serious mistake, madam," I said. I raised my hand, and everything stopped except for the leader and us.

The leader looked around and by the look in her eyes, she was alarmed. "What have you done?" she cried.

"I have stopped time, except for you and us. If I wished, I could blast your sovereign land to rubble, but I didn't come here to conquer you or destroy you. We are not like you even though we look like you. We are artificial life forms that we call android. I am the leader of a large android collective that has as its goal to preserve and protect all life in our universe. An android collective has broken with us and is being led by an individual called Tyco. We must stop him and assimilate his collective before he causes more harm. I suspect that the space vessel in the dock orbiting your planet is not actually yours."

"Please do not destroy us," she pleaded. "He will come back and punish us."

I turned to the others. "Well it appears that we've found a way to engage Tyco. Tell Judy to summon the Scath and Myst ships." Then I changed my mind. "Hold up on that order. I think this is trap."

"What do you mean?" Molly asked.

"This situation is just too easy in my opinion. It has to be a setup. I sense that there's something on that vessel in the space port. I can literally feel the antimatter in it."

"Wouldn't it have antimatter for its warp drive?"

"Yes, but I'm sensing a lot more than that. I think there's a doomsday weapon on that vessel and it's primed to destroy us if we are dumb enough to go on it."

"What are we going to do to stop it from detonating?"

I turned to Alice. "Have a Scath and a Myst vessel join us."

"Yes, Jason."

"Do you think that will be enough?" Molly asked.

"Yeah, I think so. It will look as if we're falling for Tyco's trap, but not enough to destroy most of our fleet if we don't succeed in alleviating this situation."

I turned back to the leader. "Okay, I want you to pull back your soldiers and allow us to visit you without threats."

She shook her head in a typical human manner.

I raised my hand and time began again. The leader literally screamed her orders. "Stop and go back!"

They obeyed her order.

"Let's go to your headquarters," I told the leader. "I want you to issue an order for all of your people to take cover inside."

She nodded her approval.

Now it would be my job to come up with a plan to save our asses.