Chapter No.138. New Revelations.

You never know what you'll hear next.

A few moments after I teleported to the hidden pool chamber, Alice, Ellen, Betsy, and Ben, my four assistants, appeared.

"How did you . . . what's going on?"

They took seats around the table I was seated at.

"We reflect your powers because we are totally linked to you," Alice said.

I ran my hand over my hair. "I did not know that."

"You have nothing to fear," Ellen said. "We are one with you."

"We are happy to be your assistants," Ben said. "You are kind and considerate."

"You treat us with respect and care," Betsy added.

"I'm sure you realize that I wouldn't have it any other way," I said.

They stared at me with blank expressions before Alice spoke. "We understand."

I stood up. "Stand up, please."

They did in perfect unison. I went over to Alice and hugged her. She responded with a smile and a hug. I repeated the gesture with the other three with identical results.

They smiled and then disappeared.

Alexa appeared. "What the hell are you doing here alone?"

I blew out a heavy breath. "I just had a wild experience. My assistants teleported here and told me that they have my powers because they're linked to me."

"I thought you knew that," she said.

I huffed. "I'm the last to know anything around here. How long have you known it?"

"Since the Tyco event before the last one. I detected it in the central core processor code."

"So, that means your four assistants have your powers."

"I only have three assistants. I elected not to have a male."

"I don't think I've ever seen your assistants."

"You only come to my quarters at night."

"Why don't you have a male?"

"I only like women."

That made my right eyebrow shoot up momentarily.

She exhaled. "It isn't what you think. I just don't like males gawking at me."

I tilted my head and smirked. "That must not include me."

"You appreciate my African heritage."

"Fair enough."

I leaned back in my chair. "I'm getting these revelations in bits and pieces. I keep wondering about what I don't know."

"The reason we're experiencing this is because the central core code is robotic."

I squinted. "Robotic?"

"It's code that writes code, only in a more sophisticated manner."

"That sounds like what happened on Earth when new computer code began to be produced by computer programs."

"Something like that. The trouble with this idea is that it could result in a flaw that could be exploited by Tyco."

"So, what you're saying is that the central core processor code is in a state of flux?"

"Exactly."

"We need to keep an eye on that."

"Molly and I are doing just that."

"Good. I'm happy to see that you two are cooperating."

"It wasn't her fault for all this nonsense. She was Tyco's victim just like we were."

"Not to change the subject," I said. "But I recall that we saw five explorer-1 vessels attacking one that we assimilated. We've found three here. What about the other two?"

She smiled. "Yeah, you're right. Does that mean they could still be in this galaxy?"

"Could be, but I smell another Tyco trick."

"I agree. We'll have to proceed with caution."

"Let's do it."

We teleported to the command deck.

"There's a good possibility that there are two of Tyco's exploerer-1 class ships still in this galaxy," I said. "We need to find another possible habitable system."

"It's possible that they could be hiding in a non-habitable system," Molly said.

"True, but we want to discover new intelligent life, so let's stick to habitable planets."

"I'm on it," she said, turning to her station.

It wasn't too long before she found something. "This is a really weird planetary system after transferring the image ot the main screen. It only has one planet, an Earth-like planet approximately 1.2 times its size, that orbits a G2 class dwarf star that part of a trinary system.

"That is odd. I thought that trinary and higher star systems couldn't support stable planets."

"That's right, but evidently this one is an exception."

"I guess it doesn't matter. We may as well check it out. Take us there, Judy."

We arrived a few million kilometers away from the planet that orbited the main G-class star. It was hard to imagine what it would be like to live on a planet with three suns.

"Interesting," Molly said. "This planet has a breathable atmosphere and near Earth's parameters."

"I am detecting what appears to be structures on the planet," Margaret said. "However, there doesn't seem to be any vessels or satellites in orbit around it."

"I'm not detecting any signals from the planet," Alicia reported.

"Take us closer, Judy, but keep us in stealth mode."

The image of the planet on our main screen grew as we approached. The planet was covered mostly with oceans with some large island chains circling the equatorial zone. Clouds swirled over most of the planet, obscuring a good view of the surface.

"Take us into a high geosynchronous orbit above the main island chain."

"There is a major city on the largest island," Margaret said. "I can detect motion in it."

"Is there any indication of antimatter or android life down there?" I asked.

"No," Molly replied. "I'm getting what is unquestionably human life form signals."

"I don't get it. How in the hell could humans be all the way out here?"

"Launch the insect probe," Alexa ordered. "We had better be cautious before we go down there."

"Agreed," I said.

After the robotic insects were dispersed from the probe, they began to transmit images and sounds back.

"They're definitely human," I said. "They appear to be wearing what looks more like togas."

"Yes, both the men and women are wearing them," Molly said.

"This looks like a scene from ancient Rome," Marie said.

"Yes. The only thing missing is horses or anything that would substitute for them."

"Wait!" Margaret said. "That looks like some sort of a vehicle."

"Yeah, you're right. It resembles an old flivver."

"A what?"

"It was what they called the earliest automobiles."

"That would indicate that this is like Earth at the turn of the 20th century," Alexa said.

"With an ancient Rome culture," I added. "What is the mystery here is how they got here. I seriously doubt that they evolved here."

"Maybe the originator inserted them here," Molly said.

"That could be, but it means that it would have been a relatively recent event."

"Or this is an elaborate Tyco trick," Alexa said.

That sent a shiver up my spine. If it were a Tyco trick, it could end up killing all of these humans.