Chapter No.15

The reappearance of another woman caused some disconcertion among the other women. They were beginning to think this was some sexist experiment gone wrong. They had no idea what they were going to do about it.

Carl, on the other hand, had some ideas that were not necessarily popular, but they were something to discuss. However, he was not about to reveal them unless they were interested in his opinions. That was about to happen when Janet revealed something new about the alien cosmic ray device on the Moon.

"The alien contraption on the Moon is no longer releasing cosmic rays," she revealed. "I think it finally shut down."

"That means we won't see any more reappearances," Carl said. "I would guess that it ran out of power."

"So, now what are we going to do?" Margaret asked.

"I think that we should remain on the station to make sure it doesn't come back online. If it doesn't, then we should plan to return to Earth."

"How do we know that Earth is safe?" Ginny asked.

"All we can do is make detailed observations of it from here. The telescope on this station is powerful enough to reveal what we want to know."

"I assume we would return in the spacecraft you came here in," she said.

"Yes, it can accommodate twelve people."

"What sort of other reality do you think the people who vanished went to?" Ellie asked.

"That's a good question. In my opinion there are two different possibilities. One is an alternate reality, which would suggest a completely different universe. The other is a time shift, probably into the past."

"Why the past?"

"Because the past is known. The future is not."

"I suppose there's no way to know which it is."

"That's right. There is no way to determine anything for certain with what we know." He waited to let that soak in before he continued. "Let's see if Earth is safe for us to return. At least that's in the present."

They didn't offer any arguments. It was all they had to go on.

Using the major space telescope on the space station, Margaret was able to make very detailed scans of Earth. After days of detailed observations, she came up empty.

"I have been unable to detect any evidence that humans are on Earth," she said. "Even if they were living underground, some would come out to work farms."

"This would suggest that no humans have reappeared on Earth," Carl said. "We'll only know that for certain when we go back there."

"If we do go back there, we'll have to do farming to feed ourselves," Janet said. "Do we really know how to do that?"

"I once worked a farm for my grandfather after my father died. I think I remember enough to get by. I'm sure we can find information about farming in the databases."

"If animals didn't vanish, I think we'll have problems from carnivores and other destructive species."

"Yes, but we'll have a very small footprint on the planet. That should help us survive."

"Is that what we'll be doing, surviving?"

He briefly smiled. "Think of it this way. If we're the only humans remaining that's all we can do. I doubt we could reestablish humans on Earth."

She tilted her head. "Why not?"

"We're not young enough to produce and care for children, but even if we could they would all be my offspring. Alicia and Josh are too young yet, but there is no guarantee that they could produce children once they come of age. Again, the humans they produce would all be from one father."

"I don't think that matters," Janet said. "It's the mother's mitochondria DNA that matters, not the farther's."

"True, but no matter what, the gene pool would be rather limited. I'm not sure how that would work out."

"I guess it doesn't matter. The aliens essentially exterminated humanity."

"I don't think they intended to do that. This is more like a screw up."

Later that evening, the remaining humans gathered to discuss their situation.

"Janet has been unable to detect any human presence on Earth using the major telescope," Carl said. "The only way we can be sure of that is to go there. I think we should plan on it."

"You're assuming that no more people will reappear on this station," Ellie said."

"I think that will be the case. The alien device on the Moon has ceased blasting us with cosmic rays, which I believe are necessary to cause reappearances."

"Are we reasonably certain we can survive on an Earth with no other humans?"

"I don't see why we can't. There's plenty of resources and equipment we can use to survive."

"Are we going to repopulate Earth?"

"I will leave that up to you women."

That caused lots of mummers and side discussions.

Ellie stood up. "Does anyone object to returning to Earth?"

No one replied. Ellie turned to Carl. "It's your project now."

He sighed. "Okay, let's plan on going as soon as we can. Take whatever clothing and personal items you wish. We'll return to the French Guiana base. There's adequate living space there for all of us. In the meantime, I will put the space station on standby to preserve as much power, oxygen and heat as possible in case we must return."

The meeting broke up with the women going to their quarters to collect clothing and personal items. Ellie helped Josh and Alicia gather up their things. A half hour later, they gathered at the Station axel that led to the central hanger.

That began a concerted process that resulted in Carl, five women and two children arriving at the spaceplane in the space station's hub. The women made sure to comfort the children on the long descent to the hub, which ended in zero gravity. They boarded the space plane and sat in chairs that were positioned behind the command station.

Anticipation fed their anxiety as they tried to settle down for the departure. For some it had been a long time since they traveled in a spacecraft.

Once the hub hanger was decompressed and the main door opened, Carl fired up the maneuvering rockets to move it out of the hub and oriented for a main rocket burn to put it on a curved course to Earth, a trip that would take two days, time that would be used to discuss things that he didn't really want to.

However, one comment became a concern that would eventually become a crisis.

Melicia, the last person to reappear on the space station, said something that was unexpected. "I've been having strange thoughts."

"What sort of thoughts?" Margaret asked.

"I'm in a forest full of ferns and odd-looking trees, and there are large insects buzzing around. It's hot, very hot and humid."

"Is this a dream about where you were when you vanished?" Carl asked.

"I'm not sure. I don't recall where I was."

Carl didn't want to probe too much. He was afraid of causing concerns about what happened to vanished people. He was beginning to get a bad feeling about this phenomenon, but it was too early to express his feelings.