Chapter No.107 The Search.

A needle in a haystack is found only with pain.

I arrived on the command deck and took my usual position. Everyone was in their appointed positions.

"It's time for us to search for the real Tyco, but I don't have a clue as to where he is."

"I would think he'd be somewhere in a massive galaxy cluster in the Great Attractor region, maybe in an older spiral galaxy," Molly said.

"How many of those are in there?"

"Probably about a billion."

I leaned back in my chair. "I don't think I would place a wager on a choice with those odds."

"No one said this would be easy," she said. "However, I've found a galaxy that appears to be in its death throws. Most new star formation has ceased, and its supermassive black hole is in the process of consuming what little gas is left."

"Any specific location in that?"

"We're too far away for that."

"Take us there, Judy."

Within a few minutes we were positioned above a spiral galaxy that glowed mostly red, a solid indication that it was a dying galaxy with only red dwarf stars remaining.

"Not much in the way of pickings in this mess," I said.

"There are lots of planets around the red dwarf stars," Molly said. "I'm sure we can find one that might be inhabited."

"I have detected a signal from a star in the outer arm of this galaxy," Margaret said. "It might have video data in it."

"I think we'll wait until you have something before we go there," I said.

"Getting a bit cautious in your old age?" Molly teased me.

I chuckled. "Yeah, how old are we now?"

"I estimate it's about 789 years."

"Is that older than Methuselah?"

"Not quite. I think he lived 'til 969 years. It doesn't matter because his age is questionable."

"I would think that our ages are questionable. It's mostly the result of time dilation."

"I think I've got the video resolved," Margaret said.

The image on the main screen was both disturbing and fascination."

"That's a robotic species," I said. "They're totally metallic. Is this part of Tyco's collective?"

"I don't think so," Molly said. "I doubt that Tyco would be advertising his possible location."

"Maybe he's doing this to entice us into a trap."

"Maybe it'll help when the universal translator gets a good translation," Margaret said.

"How far away are we?"

"The source is ten thousand light years away," Judy said.

"This video data is coming from a radio signal, which makes it completely outdated." I turned to Judy. "Take us to within a million kilometers of the planet but keep us in stealth mode."

We arrived at the solar system and moved to a position a million kilometers away from a planet that was almost two times the size of Earth but with a thin atmosphere of mostly nitrogen and around two percent carbon dioxide. It orbited a red dwarf star at the outer edge of the habitable zone.

"They must be living underground," Margaret said. "I'm not seeing anything that resembles a structure on the surface of the planet."

"They're blocking infrared and X-ray scans," Molly said.

"I was afraid of that," I said. "Keep alert for any vessels."

"I'm not detecting any radio signals now," Margaret said.

"That's not good. It would mean that they ceased broadcasting them some time ago."

"How the hell are we going to determine who sent those signals?" Molly asked.

"I think there's an appreciable underground cavern under that mountain," Alexa said, pointing to a mountain range on the main screen. "There is a slight gradient in the radiation signal that would indicate that."

I sighed. "I believe this is a trap, and I'm the only one who can resolve it." I turned to the others. "I want you to stay here while I go find out what's going on. Go to Yellow Alert and prepare for possible attack." I stood up and teleported into a massive cavern under the mountain range. What I saw surprised me.

Tyco, the proto-human android, was standing with hundreds of robotic soldiers.

"Well Jason, we finally meet."

I gave him a defiant smirk. "What's the matter Tyco, are you afraid of single combat?"

"Sorry, Jason. I don't believe in even odds." He turned to his army. "Destroy him!"

Suddenly, I felt a 27-centimeter cylindrical metal object appear in my hand. I instinctively pressed a button on it and a bright brilliant white beam shot out. I immediately pressed it into use to stop the plasma balls the robots were shooting at me. For some reason I was able to see all of the plasma balls come at me as if they were moving in slow motion, which enabled me to swing my light sabre to deflect them. I soon had the weapon's beam swinging around wildly.

The Star Wars weapon surprised Tyco and he backed away. I was easily able to deflect all of the plasma balls that they shot at me. I'm not sure how I suddenly gained the skill to wield the weapon so well, but I was grateful, nonetheless.

I stopped time, except for Tyco and me.

"You are full of surprises, Jason."

"Sometimes I surprise myself."

"I've rigged this complex with antimatter. It will destroy everything for several thousand kilometers."

"It won't go off because I've located it and will send it into the star."

"That's ridiculous! It's a hundred meters in diameter and weighs a hundred thousand kilograms."

"It doesn't matter," I said before I started time up and made the antimatter bomb teleport into the star. At the same time, I made the robotic army freeze in place. "It looks like your buddies are not cooperating."

He smiled. "Why don't you join me. Together, we could conquer the universe."

"I don't like that idea. It's too messy." I reactivated my lightsaber and stepped forward, but before I could attack Tyco, he disappeared.

At that point, I realized that he was just a projection from somewhere else. I teleported back to the ship.

"What the hell did you do down there?" Molly asked. "The star pitched a hissy fit and shot out a humongous flare."

"Tyco had rigged the cavern with an antimatter bomb. Unfortunately, he wasn't really there."

"What do you mean?"

"He was projected from another location. I'm not sure where it was."

"Was his collective down there?"

"I don't think so. He had subverted the robotic species to do his bidding."

"What are we going to do now?

I turned to Judy. "Take us back out of the galaxy to a position where Molly can search for other possible habitable planets."

"Yes, Jason."

"Did Tyco use the robots to attack you?" Molly asked.

"Yes."

"How did you fight then off?"

"I used a light sabre."

"What?"

I made the weapon appear in my hand and activated it.

"Holy Shit!" She exclaimed.

I deactivated it. "I'm not sure where it came from, but it sure turned out to be handy."

"You are able to create anything you imagine, Jason," Judy said.

"That's cool."

They stared at me as if I had become a deity.

"Take us to the beat position, Judy."

After several minutes, we were above the galaxy but off to one side to avoid the nasty supermassive black hole's quasar beams. After we settled down, Molly deployed her virtual mirror and began searching for habitable planets.