Chapter No.12.

As the Explorer approached Saturn, it was time for the crew to get into their G-chairs and brace for an engine burn that would put them on a course to Enceladus, but before that happened, Carl discovered something that changed everything.

"There's something wrong here," he said as he observed Enceladus. "That object on the surface of Enceladus is spewing water out into space, and it appears to be oriented to send it to Titan."

"Why would it be doing that?" Alice asked.

"I think there's more to this than we realize. We already know that there's a concerted effort to terraform Titan. I believe that this device on Enceladus is part of that effort."

"How is that working?" Janet asked.

"I think the device is sucking up water from the ocean under Enceladus's surface and blasting it out into space on a trajectory that puts it into Titan's orbit."

"If that's the case, we should be going to Titan, not Enceladus."

"I agree, and I've already sent a request to Mission Control to do that."

Janet smiled. "You are the efficient one."

"I'm not so sure that we'll get a reply. I was up last night because I had trouble falling to sleep and I saw a brilliant flash of light. I think that object on Enceladus is spewing cosmic rays."

"Does that mean we're in a different timeline?" Janet asked.

"It could be. The answer to my request from Mission Control might give us a clue about that."

Just then, his command system indicated that a transmission was arriving from Mission Control. He read it out loud. "You have clearance to go to Titan."

"That was it?" Janet said. "No reason for why we should?"

"I smell a conspiracy here," Alice said. "I think NASA is in cahoots with Azak Technologies."

Carl sighed. "There's nothing we can do about it. My guess is that they're planning to create a tourist attraction on Titan, one that they could charge big bucks to visit."

"Essentially, we're just pawns in this conspiracy," Alice said. "At least we'll get to see what's happening on Titan before anyone else does."

Carl stood up. "I think I prefer a beer."

The two women watched him walk away before they reacted.

"He seems a bit depressed of late," Alice said. "I can't imagine how he can be surrounded by females and not be aroused."

"He may have soured on women after being in two failed marriages," Janet said. "In a way, it's probably better he isn't looking for nookie."

Alice snickered at her use of a more ancient term for sex.

The other women showed up and sat down at the command deck.

"Where's our man in charge?" Margaret asked.

"He's sulking about the fact that we might have been kicked into a new timeline," Janet replied.

"How did that happen?" Janice asked, her face twisted with concern.

"He claims that the object on Enceladus is spewing out cosmic rays. He saw a brilliant flash of light."

"It can't have changed too much," Margaret said. "We're still all together on this ship."

"He got Mission Control's okay to go to Titan."

"We're not going to Enceladus?"

"Nope. It's obvious that NASA Is more interested in terraforming Titan to be a tourist attraction."

They're risking our lives because of that?" Janice asked in an angry tone.

"It sure looks that way."

Janice sighed. "Oh well, at least we're still in one piece."

They realized that her statement was one of hope rather than of relief.

The engine burn to slow into an orbit that would end up taking them to Titan happened that evening. The crew buckled into their G-chairs and braced for the extreme forces that were part of the operation,

When it was completed, they all went to their bunks to get some rest and recover from the pain that the process inflicted on them.

The next morning, they gathered at the command station to determine their status.

"We're on course to arrive at Titan tomorrow," Carl said. "We were close already and Saturn's gravity pulled us in."

"What's up with this timeline change?" Margaret asked collectively, but it was specifically to Carl.

"I don't really know. It's possible that the device on Enceladus is shooting out exotic cosmic rays to help accelerate the water that it's sucking out of Enceladus and sending it to Titan. I don't think it changed much as far as we're concerned."

"What gets me is the fact that we're in a bunch of timelines but we only sense one at a time."

"Yeah, it's unbelievable, but we really can't do anything about it."

"Hopefully, we're still living in your mansion," Alice said.

"I could check that," Carl said before he entered some text into the command computer. "We still have the internet up here, even though it takes time to send and receive data. I should get a reply in an hour and a half."

"Who'd you send it to?" Janet asked.

"My sister."

Janet held her hands together as if she were praying. "God, I hope she replies."

Margaret, Alice and Janice wandered off while Janet remained. She stared at him for a moment before lowering her eyes. "I apologize for taunting you."

"There's no need for that. I wasn't offended."

She smiled. "You really are a gentleman. Your ex-wives must have been real bitches."

"Their boobs were larger than their brains."

Janet chuckled, but her expression became more serious. "Is that what you think we are?"

"You must be kidding," he said. "You have PhD's in tough science disciplines. You're orders of magnitude smarter than my ex-wives."

She grinned. "Even though our boobs are larger than our brains?"

He smiled. "I think so! Although, I would have to measure your breasts and your heads to verify it."

"Spoken like a true scientist."

He laughed.

At that point, she realized that he was not suffering from depression.

Carl was sitting at the command station when he finally received a reply from his sister, but what she revealed confused him.

"You look like you've been given your walking papers," Alice told him as she took a seat near his.

"I just received a reply from Amy, my sister."

"I hope it's not bad news," Alice said, her brow wrinkled.

"Actually, it's good news, but it doesn't make sense. She said that everything was fine, and then she told me that I won't believe the new additions but didn't give me any details about them."

"Well, at least it wasn't bad news."

He ran a hand through his hair. "I guess I'll just have to wait until we return."

"Can't you ask her for details?"

"Any signals we send from this ship are monitored. If this Titan terraforming is a conspiracy, I don't want to sound as if I'm confused or searching for information."

"Yes, that might cause a stir."

"What stir?" Janice said as she approached.

"He just got a reply from his sister. She mentioned something about additions to the mansion and he told me that he didn't want to send too much in the way of personal discussions through NASA's communication system because they monitor it."

"What kind of additions?"

"That's what he wants to know."

"At least he still has a mansion," Janice said.

"That's good news!" Janet cried as she and Margaret approached.

Margaret sat down at the telescope station and activated it, aiming it at Titan. After several minutes, she had a report. "Titan is still there. It's looking more like Earth than when we last saw it."

"See if you can spot the line of water coming to it from Enceladus," Carl told her.

After several minutes, she had a report. "Yeah, I can see it, but it looks more like ice particles. It's like a thin line of glistening like glass."

"It could be frozen oxygen," Carl said.

"I can determine that," Margaret said. After several minutes, she looked at Carl. "You're right."

"What happens to the hydrogen?" Janet asked.

"It would blend into the hydrogen that's all through the universe.

"I don't see the device that was orbiting Titan when we came here before," Margaret said.

"They don't need it now," Carl said. "The atmosphere has been cleared of methane and other hydrocarbons."

"If this is a conspiracy to terraform Titan, what can we do about it?" Janet asked.

"Nothing," Carl said. "We're just pawns in their plot."

"Not to change the subject, but I noticed that I no longer have a wart on my neck," Janet said. "I've had it for a very long time. That could be another clue that we're in a different timeline."

"I don't have the wrinkles I once had," Alice said.

"Maybe we're even younger now," Margaret proposed.

"How that possible?" Janice asked. "We seem to be at the same date in time, but we're getting younger. That must violate some physics principal."

"Yeah, entropy for one," Margaret said.

"How about you, Carl?" Janet said, smiling at him. "Can you still get it up?"

He grinned momentarily before he assumed a stoic expression. "Confucius say 'He who can't get it up will be soon in a coffin."

They laughed.

She gave him a rebuking mock frown. "He didn't say that!"

"Maybe, but he did say 'Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself,' which could also be construed as 'Never ask questions that you wouldn't want to be asked.'"

Janet smiled. "Sorry. I'm just curious, that's all."

"The answer is yes, and I can keep it there for as long as necessary."

"Now, that I would love to see!"

They laughed again, but Carl could see that they were showing signs of embarrassment and fear, and that it was their way of trying to assuage those feelings. If they were younger, it could mean that they are reverting to teenage idiosyncrasies.

He had in his mind a plot to use them to let NASA officials know that he realized what Azak Technologies was doing without confronting them.