Chapter No.17 Danger

Risk is always dangerous.

We arrived at a location ten million kilometers away from a habitable planet in the Irani system. The planet was slightly less massive than Earth and had an atmosphere that was thicker with plenty of clouds. Its star is a G0 dwarf that is more luminous than our Sun.

"The planet is orbiting the star at the outer edge of the habitable zone," Molly said. "Another smaller planet orbits at the inner edge of the zone, but it has no atmosphere."

"I'm detecting a vessel in orbit around the planet," she added. "I think it's a reptilian configuration."

"Put us in cloak," I told Judy. "We'll stay back and wait to see what they're doing."

"It looks like they're leaving orbit," Molly said, sounding excited.

"Go to Red Alert," I said.

Suddenly, the lights on the command deck dimmed and a dull red light imparted a ghostly illumination to everything.

"They're not coming this way," Molly said. "They just went to warp."

"Good," I said. "Take us into orbit, Judy."

As we approached the planet, Molly and I intently watched the main screen for any evidence of another vessel.

"This has to be a reptilian alien farm planet," I said. "Hopefully, we'll find humans down there."

"It's still too difficult to see anything on the surface," Molly said. "This planet has a very cloudy atmosphere."

"Why is that?"

"It's probably because it's at the extreme edge of the habitable zone and receives less heat from the star. Any moister in the atmosphere would tend to condense out easier, especially with a higher pressure."

"That's the way the other farm planet was. Maybe the reptilian aliens like that because it helps shield what they're doing from view."

"We are in orbit, Jason," Judy informed me.

I nodded and helped Molly scan the planet for signs of structures and life forms.

After several minutes, Molly had a report. "I've detected several structures on the main continent near the equator. There are life forms down there but they're not human."

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"The energy profiles are all wrong. They exhibit a much higher body temperature and the magnetic resonance signals are skewed. A few of the signals indicate robotic devices."

I sighed. "Shit! I was sure that we would find humans here."

"We really should try to see if they're holding humans on their home world," Molly said.

"I agree, but it's not going to be easy getting close enough to their planet to get good scans."

I leaned back in my chair. "We could try making the attempt in a fighter. They are capable of level four cloaking and energy signal suppression."

"You could also employ cold plasma propulsion," Judy said. "It has a minimal energy profile."

"Yes, that might work, and if we are sighted, we could get out of there very quickly or at least put up a good fight."

"I'm game if you are," Molly said, adding a smirk.

"Take us on a course to the reptilian system," I told Judy. "I want to stop at least a billion kilometers away from their planet before we launch a fighter."

"Yes, Jason."

We arrived at the reptilian system in a couple of hours. Molly and I decided to take Alice, Ellen, Valery and Liz with us on our crazy attempt to get near the reptilian alien planet.

While maintaining a minimal energy profile, we traveled the last billion kilometers in silence. It was difficult to read the androids' emotions, but Molly and I were on edge the entire trip, and our anxiety exploded higher when we were actually in orbit around the reptilian home world.

The planet had a foreboding red cast to it, as if it had been bathed in blood. The green tinted clouds covered the planet as if a spider with hairy legs was sitting on it. Surprisingly, the aliens didn't have vessels or satellites in orbit. Despite their advanced space faring technology, their world seemed primitive.

"I'm not detecting any human life forms," Molly said. "I'm not surprised. If they did have live humans down there, they would have to keep them in air conditioning. This planet is hot. The surface temperature varies from 60 C to 80 C. There is water, but it's much saltier than our oceans. The oxygen level is only 15%. That wouldn't be able to sustain human life at the atmospheric pressure of this planet."

"I see a lot of structures that resemble igloos, but obviously made from stone," I said. "Are those what they live in?"

"Probably," she replied. "Most of their buildings have that architectural style."

I turned to Alice. "Could we launch some insect probes without it being detected?"

"Yes, Jason. I will do it at zero impulse. It will require fifteen minutes for them to drop into the atmosphere."

"Do it but keep monitoring for any change in activity from the surface."

"We will, Jason."

After a half hour we began to receive directed video feeds from the insect probes. Unless the aliens paid close attention, they wouldn't even notice them. They were truly tiny and made almost no noise when they fly around.

"Interesting," I said after seeing the video feeds. "They appear to have monogamous family units. If I didn't know any better, I would say that they are acting very human despite looking like lizards."

"I don't see any behavior that would suggest violence or aggressiveness," Molly said. "They appear to be highly civilized."

"That's despite the fact that they eat intelligent species," I retorted.

"Look here," she said, pointing at the main screen displaying scenes from the surface. "This looks like a family cookout. Evidently, meat is their main dietary component, and they don't have any other source of meaty creatures on their planet."

"Why can't they eat animals like we do? There are plenty of planets with primitive meaty creatures."

"That's a good question," she replied. "Maybe they think that eating intelligent creature meat makes them more intelligent."

I chuckled. "That sounds as if it's a religious practice."

"It certainly could be," she said. "Religions tend to elicit bizarre practices."

"Call back the insects, Alice. Prepare to leave orbit as soon as possible."

"Yes, Jason."

We sweated out the procedure of retrieving the probes and then slowly backed out of orbit using cold plasma propulsion. It took more time but was very difficult to detect because it had an almost zero temperature heat profile.

What we had witnessed on the reptilian alien planet gave us a much different feeling about them. They were at least culturally like us. They just had a disgusting diet.