Part 14 Expansion.

Synopsis: Jason has defeated Tyco and is in the process of assimilating all of his androids and assets, which involves exploring a parallel universe that is linked to his universe. In the meantime, more human-based androids are being resurrected. The main problem is that neither Jason nor his associates are certain that Tyco is actually dead.

Chapter No. 130. New Hunt.

Nothing like a wild goose chase.

The first day of our new search for Tyco's vessel started off with everyone attired in the new uniform, which consisted of a pants, jacket and shoes combination that fit well and covered all of our skin except our hands and faces. Margaret had done an excellent job of making the uniform a one-piece affair but with the illusion of being separate. The color was a light blue with darker blue trim, and it had a visual texture effect. I felt that this decidedly professional look would be more effective when we made contact with aliens. The best thing about it was that no one complained, at least not yet.

Molly had located a spiral galaxy that was old enough to have produced stars with planets. Judy put us in a location above the galaxy so that Molly could deploy her virtual mirror telescope to search for habitable planets.

While that was happening, I decided to meet with the guys down in the new Black Hole bar on the recreational deck. It was larger than the one on Explorer-2 and there were five barmaids, with Jessica as their leader. Interestingly enough, the barmaids were wearing new revealing outfits that resembled lingerie. They wore white lace bras and panty combos with white net stockings held up by narrow garter straps. This turned out to be Margaret's contribution to us guys.

The guys didn't take note of it. They were more interested in what I had to say about our new uniforms.

"So, Jason," Barney said after taking a good swig of beer. "What do you think of these new uniforms?"

"I like them. It's very easy to get in and out of them."

"I agree. The only thing I would complain about is that they look unisexual."

"I don't know about that," Alex said. "The gals fill them out rather well."

"I would rather have the gals dressed like these barmaids," Marty said.

"That would be unfair," I said. "We are equal despite being different genders."

"A respectable egalitarian belief," Vince said. "And, they outnumber us."

"That too," Barney said.

We laughed.

"Are we going to run into another Tyco avatar?" Vince asked after everyone settled down.

"I don't know, but unless he's only trying to challenge me, he won't have much chance at success without his android army. We'll have most of them, or at least I hope we will."

"I'm confused by the fact that there are a bunch of parallel universes," Marty said. "I thought that our universe was in an accelerated expansion."

"It is, but you have to keep in mind that our universe is only a particle in the multiverse creature's body. This expansion is nothing more than the action of growth."

"Yes, but wouldn't the other universes have trouble expanding if they're making contact?"

"Maybe our notion of contact isn't what the multiverse is doing. If universes are like quantum particles, spin and momentum are based on probability. We're just too small to really understand it."

"It's mind blowing," he said.

"Amen to that," I said.

Jessica came over to me. "Molly has found a habitable planetary system."

I stood up. "Duty calls."

I teleported to the command deck and sat down in my captain's chair. Alexa had already given the command to go there.

We were there in only a few minutes. The system Molly had located was a K2 dwarf star with a G4 red dwarf companion. The K2 class star had six planets, two of which supported life. However, both were larger than Earth and had sizable atmospheres.

"I think that the planet at the far edge of the habitable zone is our best bet," Molly said. "The other one is too hot."

"Put us in orbit around that planet, Judy."

"Go to Yellow Alert, Judy," Alexa said. She turned to me. "That planet has a vessel in orbit."

"What's its configuration?"

"It appears to be the Explorer-1 class."

"I can't believe that we're this lucky," I said.

"We've made contact with them," Judy said. "They are allowing us to assimilate them."

"Check them for any Tyco code," I ordered.

"I'm working on it," Molly said.

I relaxed back in my chair, but I was in for a big surprise, one that would define our mission for quite some time.

But I wasn't going to find about that just yet.

It wasn't until we gathered for our meeting after the communal meal that evening.

"We were successful in removing all Tyco code from the androids we recovered," Alexa said. "We also removed all of the explosives from their bodies. They're clean." She lowered her head before she revealed the bad news. "They claim that this isn't the only parallel universe that Tyco has screwed up. He could have bases in many of them that are in contact with ours."

"That would Imply that he's been around for a very long time. If that were the case, why didn't he combine his forces and attack us with everything he's got?"

"I think it's because he doesn't want to play all of his cards at once. He figures he can wear us down before he delivers the fatal blow."

I sighed. This wasn't what I wanted to hear. "Okay, there's no use panicking. The only way to make sure he can't overcome us is for us to build up a huge force of our own. We can resurrect all of the dead humans we can and begin making more androids and vessels. We also can work on developing more effective weapons."

"What about turning more of us into superheroes?" Margaret asked.

"That might be a last resort. I don't want an army of superheroes like the X-Men. That might result in an internal revolt. In fact, I could see Tyco figuring that we would do that so that he could infect some of us and instigate a revolution."

"Looks like we're in for a rough time of it," Marie said. "I'm beginning to think you're right about this being Hell."

A lot of us were beginning to think that she was right. The question then would be: will good prevail over evil?