Chapter No. 53 Surprise

What the hell's going on?

Molly and I traveled over to Helios Station in a shuttle with Alice and Ellen at the helm. They moved the shuttle into the hub dock. After disembarking, we prepared to descend in an elevator through an axel tube to the main wheel.

"I think we should go down an axis tube opposite to the one we originally went down."

Her eyes flashed with curiosity. "Why?"

"We never tried to explore the entire station after we found the dead workers. There may be clues to why this station was built in the first place."

She smiled. "I see that you have reservations like me."

"Yes," I said, returning the smile.

We entered the opposite axel tube elevator and descended to the wheel. What we found was astounding.

"Oh my God!" Molly said. "There are android charging chambers as far as the eye can see!"

"Are these androids functional?" I asked our androids.

"Yes, Jason," Alice replied.

Molly pointed. "Look over there. That's an android production machine!"

I followed her to the machine. "This one is larger than the one we found on the moon."

"That's because it has a central processor with a memory stack," she said after activating the central processor unit's screen.

"What do you mean?" I asked, shifting my gaze from the unit's screen to her.

"It means that they have memory and personality scans stored in it."

"Whose?"

"It appears to be all the command staff of Space Command."

I looked around. "I wonder if they used those to create android substitutes?"

"No," she said. "If they had done that, there would be markers on their files in the data header."

"The thing I don't understand is why they didn't realize that the asteroid was going to completely destroy all life on Earth."

"Maybe they thought it would only cause a breakdown of the world governments, allowing them to use the androids to take over."

I sighed. "This entire Phoenix Project was an ill conceived plan."

"Well," she said. "We have the means to prevent any possible take over of Earth."

"Yes, I agree." I looked around. "I wonder how many androids are on this station."

"There are 12,500, Jason," Alice informed me.

I aimed a smirk at Molly. "It seems that we're up to our ears in androids. This reminds me of another Star Trek episode, 'The Trouble with Tribbles'."

Molly ignored me. "Maybe we could establish a base on this space station and assign one of our ships to the task of protecting Earth while we go and try to find a new Earth-like planet in a star system that will last longer than this one."

"You're thinking ahead now."

"We have to. We'll be around for a long time, but our sun will run out of hydrogen and begin fusing helium. When that happens, it will grow into a red giant and engulf the Earth."

"Yeah, you're right, but we have plenty of time to find a new Earth."

She sighed. "That's true, but we need something to occupy our time."

She was right. We had more time than we could ever dream of. I can't even imagine what living forever would be like.

We returned to our ship and settled down to a supper of macaroni and cheese, along with a glass of beer.

Molly flashed a smile at me. "I looked over the names of the people that they had scanned for the android machine and found one that you might be interested in."

My eyes grew large for an instant before I squinted. "Who?"

"A Marie Emilia Star."

It took me a few moments to settle down. "Oh, my God! Why would they have included her on the list of those to be transferred to androids? She wasn't in high command."

"That's a good question. There are fifty names in that list. I'm surprised that they would have included that many in the 'to be saved' elite. Her name being on the list suggests that it had something to do with you being included with the Explorer-1 crew."

"What about you? Did they include someone you knew?"

"Nope. Apparently, I was chosen only because of my experience and knowledge."

I took a longer sip of beer. "This is really disturbing. Surely, my wife didn't have anything to do with the Phoenix Project. Besides, she died on the Titan expedition."

"Maybe she didn't die," Molly said.

I frowned. "I find that hard to believe. The Titan expedition vessel crashed on Titan the day after I talked to her. That was six years before the Explorer-1 launched."

"Could they have faked the entire crash event?"

"That would have been difficult because I had full control over the communicator when I talked to her that fateful evening. I had no reason to believe that she was somewhere else."

Molly sighed. "Why would they have included her in the list of survivors?"

I rubbed my face. "I don't know. I suppose the only way we'll ever know is to ask her."

He eyes brightened for an instant. "Are you suggesting that we use her memory data to duplicate her?"

I shook my head. "I'm not so sure that's a good idea. If she was involved in the Phoenix Project, she could represent a threat to us."

"Don't you want to see your wife again?"

"Of course!" I said. "But who would I be seeing? She would not be the wife I remember."

"Just as you would are not her husband," Molly retorted.

"That's true. We are not ourselves. We just imagine we are."

"That sounds creepy."

I turned to Alice. "Could we duplicate Marie?"

"Yes, Jason. We will need to store her new body in a stasis chamber for two days to allow the agents to establish her system requirements."

"Okay, do it!"

That set in motion a flurry of activity. Alice and Ellen went back to Helios Station to program the android production machine to create an advanced android with my wife's memories and personality. I had no idea if that was the right thing to do, but I felt that it might give us a better understanding of the Phoenix Project.