Chapter 17. Return

The crew settled into a relaxed return to Earth. The women continued to search for any radio signals from Earth, but electromagnetic waves in space remained quiet except those coming from extreme cosmic events in the far reaches of the universe. Jack was unable to locate any new data that would explain the strange situation they were in.

The good news is that the aliens didn't seem to be interested in them. Maybe they had accomplished what they wanted and went off to bother other intelligent species.

Jessica liked to talk to Jack, especially late at night when he tended to relax wearing only his brief. However, when she arrived at his quarters, she found him lying in his bed in pajamas watching an old TV show with his cat.

"I see you've found some nightwear," she said.

"Yeah, the robots finally found them in the ship's storage. The storage lists seem to be messed up, mainly because there's more of everything and a lot of it isn't in the lists."

"That's not good. If we don't have a reliable list of what we have, we could run into a problem."

"I think we can assume that we'll never run out of anything."

"I suppose you're right, especially if the commander and his croneis were considering hiding out for years."

"I don't think that's a valid conclusion," Jack said.

She stared at him for a moment before reacting. "What do you mean?"

"I think that they had no intentions of taking a bunch of young women on a sex-tour-de-force. It was just an elaborate gag."

"If that's true, then why all the large amounts of supplies?"

"I believe that NASA realized that the aliens are out there waiting for someone to come to their planet and that it could lead to an extended need to hide from them."

"If you believe that, then why are we returning to Earth?"

"I don't think the aliens are interested in us anymore."

"Who are they interested in?"

"Maybe their enemies."

"Are you suggesting that there are other intelligent species out there?"

He smiled. "I think that we humans have realized that possibility for a lot longer than we realize."

She shook her head. "I never had any interest in the existence of intelligent alien civilizations. It was a dead-end career choice."

"Yeah, you're right about that. Most UFO reports were never validated and in some cases were fake. Obviously, there are intelligent aliens out there, but I don't believe that they came to study us. If they can travel light years to get here, they're way more advanced than we are."

"That's for sure. It takes us months to travel around our solar system."

He offered her a polite smile.

She offered her own teasing smile before making her exit. "Have fun."

He watched her leave his quarters before he petted his cat, which rewarded him with a pleasant purr.

The next day when the crew assembled at the command center, Tog had a report. "I have not detected any vessels near us. Houston command has not sent any messages. The ship is operating at normal system levels."

"We still haven't been able to log onto any available camera systems," Natalie reported.

"Maybe NASA is trying to remain less visible in the electromagnetic sense" Jessica said. "They probably realize the aliens are listening."

"Have you been able to detect anything on Earth?" Jack asked,

"It doesn't look like any catastrophe occurred there," Natalie said. "Other than that, we're still too far away to get a good view."

"Jessica told us that you don't believe that the commanders were going to go on this mission to have a fling with us gals."

"Yeah, I think it was a gag that was going around, I don't see how they could have gotten away with it."

"If you would have been on a mission like that, would you have participated?" Natalie asked him.

"I doubt that I would have been a party to any of it. The concept of a sexual orgy in space is not only ridiculous it would be illegal."

Natalie gestured to herself and Lorrie and Jessica. "Would you be interested in us performing for you?"

He shook his head. "No."

"Why not? Don't you think we're sexy enough?"

"I'm not blind, but I'm not a fool."

She turned to the other women. "He needs a reward for being a perfect gentleman."

"We'll leave that up to you," Jessica told her.

Jack stood up. "I think I'll go take a cold shower."

They laughed, but they realized how fortunate they were to have him along on a long boring mission.