Chapter No.171. New Enemy.

Who would have thought!

We had gathered in the hidden pool chamber after our communal supper to discuss the days' events.

"We're no further along in our mission to find Tyco. The human based androids that we've rescued from the exploding planet were with Tyco on the second warp mission. Unfortunately, they didn't see Tyco after they were activated."

"He didn't go out on that mission," Gretchen said. "He sent his son."

Both of my eyebrows shot up when I heard that. "His son?"

"Yes, we had a son together. His name was Tito Fox."

I sighed. "Does anyone know what happened to him?"

"He was in our crew," Lorry said.

"Then he's in the androids we rescued."

"There is no one with that identifier," Molly said.

I rubbed my jaw. "That means that he's still in existence. He might be responsible for the Tyco avatars that have been annoying us."

"The question is; where is he now?" Alexa said.

"Yes, that is the question, one that we must answer."

"There is the possibility that his positronic brain emits a unique quantum signal," Molly said. "It might help us find him if we knew its precise configuration."

"Maybe Gretchen can help you with that," I said.

Molly looked over at Gretchen, and she nodded her approval.

We returned to our own universe and deposited the rescued androids on the Dyson Sphere where they would be thoroughly scanned and verified as being free of Tyco code or explosives. Our new priority was to locate Tito, the son of Tyco.

Alexa and I met with Molly and Gretchen to discuss what they've been able to come up with concerning finding Tito.

"We have good news and bad news," Molly said. "We came up with a possible quantum identifier for Tito, but we are unable to detect a signal that matches it."

"Maybe he isn't in this universe," I reacted.

"Or we just can't detect a signal that's too far away," Molly said.

"Okay, the only thing we can do is go on patrol."

She nodded.

Alexa and I teleported to the command deck to start the mission.

"Take us out to galaxies we haven't explored in our universe, Judy. Have one of the spheres join us along with three Exploer-1 vessels and the usual Myst, Scath and Robo ships."

"Yes, Jason."

We soon arrived at a large spiral galaxy that had what appeared to be two super massive black holes instead of the usual one, an indication that it was the result of the collision of two spiral galaxies.

"I would be surprised if we find any intelligent species in this galaxy," I said. "How old is this?"

"I would estimate that it's nearly twelve billion years, but you might be right about the absence of intelligent life. The collision took place about two billion and a half years ago. The two black holes will eventually collide and that will destroy any possible life in this galaxy."

"Are we in danger of that collision?"

"No. I estimate that it won't occur for at least a billion years."

"That would be a spectacular event."

"No doubt."

Molly deployed her virtual mirror telescope to hunt for habitable planets. I decided to retreat to the Black Hole bar to relax. Oddly enough, there were no other males there. Jessica, the head barmaid came over to serve me with a beer.

"I'm surprised there are no guys here enjoying the fruits of the hops."

"We can substitute for them," she said. Three barmaids came over and sat down at the table I was at. They each had a beer.

I leaned back in my chair. "Don't you ladies get bored doing this?"

"We are designed to please you, Jason," Vickey said. "Don't you appreciate us?"

"Of course I do. I'm just curious about what else you do."

"We enjoy one another," Nicky said.

I decided not to go there so I simply smiled.

"Would you like to watch us?" Vickey asked.

I raised a hand. "That's okay. I believe you."

They simply smiled. I assumed that they were teasing me. I heard something behind me and turned to watch Alice and Ellen, my two female assistants arrive. The three barmaids got up to allow them to sit at my table. Jessica came over to serve them beer.

"What brings you two ladies here?" I asked them.

"We're here to learn how to serve you," Alice said.

I stared at her for a moment before reacting. "I don't understand. You already do that."

"We wish to do a better job," Ellen said.

What she said next, really surprised me.

"They are proficient at personal combat," Ellen said. "We want to be able to help you destroy Tito."

I wasn't sure what to say to that, so I simply nodded. I had no idea that the barmaids were combat experts. I couldn't wait to see what Alexa thought about that.

Alice and Ellen instantly changed their uniforms into the sheer bra and panty Babydoll lingerie combination that Jessica and her barmaids wear. I wasn't sure why they did that, but I wasn't about to object. I simply smiled.

"We're learning how to serve males," Ellen said.

I wasn't sure how to reply to that, but when I heard a noise behind me, I turned to watch, Ben,
Jorden, Will, James and Dan come into the bar. They're all non-human based male androids. My first thought was about Judy and James having sex.

I stood up and downed the rest of my beer. "I have to get back to work. Have fun."

I teleported to the command deck and found Alexa there.

"Molly's found a habitable planet," she told me.

"Good. Let's go and check it out."

The warp journey required an hour. We approached the Earth-like planet in full cloak.

"This planet is marginally habitable," Margaret said. "It's mostly arid."

"It's not unlike Fist's home world," Molly said. "I'm detecting structures and infrastructure."

"There are signs of life on this planet," Marie said.

"I'm detecting collimated light beams," Alicia said. "I've activated the universal translator."

"Can you display any images?" I asked.

"I'm working on it."

We moved closer to allow for a better surveillance.

Alicia displayed images of the aliens.

"They're reptilian," I said. "But they don't resemble Fist's species."

"Yeah, they look more like geckoes," Alexa said.

"I'm surprised that there is an intelligent species in this galaxy."

"There might be more," Molly said. "I'm also detecting a low-level quantum signal that matches androids like us, but I'm having trouble pinpointing it."

"Now, that's interesting. I thought we've found all of the androids in our universe."

"It's a big universe," Alexa said.

I rewarded her with a smirk. "No kidding!"

"Are we going to make contact with this alien species?" Marie asked.

"No. I don't see what good it would do. I doubt they know where the androids are."

"I think I've located the quantum signal source," Molly said. "It's coming from a system a thousand light years from our present location."

"Take us there, Judy, but remain at Yellow Alert."

We arrived at a planetary system around a G3 class dwarf star. Three rocky planets and two gas giants orbited the star, but only one of the rocky planets was marginally habitable.

"I'm getting a strong quantum signal from the planet, but I can't detect a central core processor," Molly said.

"That doesn't make sense," I said. "How could they function without a central core."

"They could function but not be able to control," Judy said.

What she said next surprised all of us.