Chapter No. 57 Improbable

Some things should not be believed.

"You have to be kidding!" Molly said as she peered through a telescopic eyepiece. "This planet already has people living on it."

"I'm not surprised," I said. "It is conducive to life."

"Yes, but these people look like humans."

Both of my eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

"Yes, really!"

I turned to Judy. "Send the probes down."

"Yes, Jason."

"How could humans have gotten this far down the Orion arm?" Alexa asked.

"Good question," I replied. "So far, all the humans we've found were descendents of people the reptilians abducted, but I don't think that the reptilians have ventured this far away from their home world."

"Maybe they were taken here by the Scath," Molly suggested.

I shrugged. "That's a possibility."

The video feed from insect probes began to stream back. What we say was astonishing. The people on the habitable moon were humans and they appeared to have been here for quite some time. They had built permanent structures and infrastructure.

"Well, I guess we don't have to be concerned about making sure that humans survive in the universe after our sun dies," I said.

"I wonder if they even know about Earth," Margaret said.

"I suppose we'll have to go down and find out," I said. I turned to Judy. "We'll go down in a fighter with six armed androids and two battle-bots."

"They will be ready, Jason."

"Expecting trouble?" Molly asked, her brow wrinkled with concern.

"Just being cautious. You never know what we'll run into, especially when they're humans involved. Actually, a fighter can hold more passengers, something we need now that there are five of us."

The ride down was uneventful as expected. We landed on an open field near a large city complex. Strangely enough, no one ventured out to us, at least not at first. After ten minutes or so, a small group of humans walked over to where we had landed.

We waited for ten more minutes before opening up the main hatch and lowering the ramp. Molly and I stepped out first, followed by Marie, Margaret and Alexa. Alice and Ellen came up behind us with their BFG's at ready. We decided to hold back the other androids and battle-bots to avoid looking too menacing.

The scene was eerie. A muted reddish cast was overwhelming as a dim red star cast subdued light onto a strange landscape of large black-leaved trees and dark purple grass. A few crimson clouds floated above in a dark sky. It was hard to get our eyes adjusted, but since we were androids, the visual compensation was quick.

"Greetings," I said. "We're from a star system a ways up the Orion arm of this galaxy. We're searching for a new habitable planet and saw that this one already has humans. How long have you been living on this moon?"

At first, no one replied. I though at first that they didn't understand me, but then an older female stepped forward. She was dressed in a black jumper-like dress. Her facial lines indicated that she was aged.

"Our ancestors told stories about people like you that come in strange vessels from the sky. Are you here to take us away?"

I held a hand up. "No. We're just curious as to how you arrived here. Human beings originated on a planet called Earth in a star system quite some distance from here. Have other creatures come here to abduct you?"

"We have not been visited by people from the sky in our collective memory."

I should have been alerted by her strange expressions, but I simply smiled. "Good. We will leave you in peace now."

I caught an unexpected and odd sight, a light coming from the female's mouth. I turned to the others. "Get in the fighter! This is a trap!"

At first, they stared at me as if I had gone mad, but when a powerful laser bean struck Margaret in the stomach, they realized that I was right. She collapsed, her face twisted with shock. The androids returned fire with their BFG's, blasting everyone shooting at us. The battle-bots appeared and began laying down a furious plasma-ball-fire of terror.

I dragged Margaret into the fighter while laser beams smacked against the fighter and the battle-bots.

After we were inside the fighter, the battle-bots came in while the fighter poured out gamma ray blasts, destroying people as well as structures.

We wasted no time in taking off and returning to the ship. As soon as I got on the command deck, I got the other side of the coin.

"A large armada of Scath vessels is approaching this location," Judy said.

"Go to Red Alert. Move the ship to a position in between the planet and the moon. Steer the probe to a position above the moon's North Pole."

Judy broke orbit and moved the ship to where I had ordered. She immediately understood why I left the probe. It would allow us to see the approaching ships while remaining hidden behind the moon.

"When the armada is within a thousand kilometers of the moon, I want you to go down below the moon and then come up and attack the enemy fleet from below."

"Yes, Jason."

I turned to Molly when she came onto the command deck. "How's Margaret?"

"She was severely damaged, but the androids told me that they would repair her."

"Good," I said. "Hopefully, we'll be able to destroy the Scath fleet."

"How did you realize this was a trap?"

"I saw a light coming out of the older female's mouth. I realized that they were not human at all. They were obviously robotic fakes."

"Shit!" she huffed. "I should have done a thermal profile scan of them. I won't make that mistake again."

I nodded.

"The enemy ships have passed a thousand kilometers," Judy said.

"Prepare to use the multiple-targeting weapons system."

Judy took our ship down around the south pole of the moon before breaking out under the approaching Scath vessels. Madison activated the gamma ray blasters to shoot at many ships at the same time. Judy moved our ship in a zig-zag pattern to avoid enemy fire, but we took some heavy hits.

"They've improved their weapons system," I said.

Molly had a panicked look on her beautiful face. We were up against a superior force, but Judy and Madison maneuvered us through the battle to destroy most of the Scath vessels. A number of the survivors accelerated away.

"Launch antimatter missiles at full power," I ordered.

Our missiles outpaced the survivors to explode in their midst.

"Take us back to the moon," I ordered. "I want to make sure there are no Scath remaining on it."

What I head next, made me angry.

"Our Red and Black android vessels report that they are under attack by a Scath armada," Judy said.

"Those bastards did this on purpose. They must be spying on us."

"We had better find out how they're doing it," Molly said.

"I agree. After we make sure there are no Scath on the moon, we'll return to Earth. The Red and Black ships should be able to destroy the Scath attackers."

Molly didn't seem to be as positive as I was. However, her attitude changed when she saw Margaret appear on the command deck.

"I guess I almost died again," Margaret said, her face beaming with relief.

"Death is impossible," I said. "You're already dead." I smiled. "Besides, you look good as new! Even Better!"

She laughed. "That sounds crazy."

We all laughed, mostly from relief that none of us had been totally destroyed. But even if that did happen, we could be regenerated in a new android body as long as our memories and personality data were intact.