Chapter 25. Truth.

When their ship arrived in orbit just a few meters above a LEO (Low Earth Orbit) position, the crew watched the screen that showed the Earth's surface. Surprisingly, there were few satellites in orbit at that height, a sign that many of them ended their life in a fiery reenter. That's a natural occurrence but not something that would happen over a short timescale.

Using magnification, it was possible to observe the Earth's surface closeup over Houston, Texas.

"There's almost no traffic on US-90 and I-45. Those Thorofare's are usually crowded with traffic," Natalie said.

"There's no cars parked at the Johnson Space Center," Lorrie said. "There's no sign of any activity there."

"Maybe they had to move headquarters," Jack said. "We can check out the other NASA facilities."

"I didn't see any activity at Vandenberg," Lorrie said.

"I don't see any activity anywhere," Roxie said. "Is anyone alive down there?"

"There is evidence of minor activity in several locations," Tog said.

"He's right," Jack said. "It suggests that whatever hit Earth caused an apocryphal event."

"Was it a cosmic event or a pandemic?" Jessica asked.

"We don't have enough information to decide that." Jack said. "A cosmic event such as a gamma ray burst would show evidence of destruction to vegetation over time. A pandemic would reduce the population in the short-term depending on its infectious proficiency. The fact that there doesn't seem to be signs of destruction suggests that it wasn't a cataclysmic event like a nuclear war."

"We'd have to go down there to determine that," Natalie said.

"Unfortunately, we have no way to do that," Jack said. We're stuck up here, and it doesn't look like there's anyone down there to help us."

"I think this is the result of a pandemic," Roxie said. "There seems to be no damage to the vegetation or infrastructure."

"What about animals?" Lorrie said. "Maybe the pandemic only infected humans,"

"Yes, we should be able to determine that by searching for animals," Jack said.

Tog changed the magnification over Yellowstone National Park. "There are bison down there."

"Yeah," Lorrie reacted. "Maybe it only affected humans."

"We should be able to determine that if we can locate any other animals," Jack said. "Check European launch sites. Maybe they escaped the pandemic."

It was obvious to the crew that he was just reaching for straws, but they would go along with his suggestions. Despite what the crew says, deep down they realize that there is probably no solution to their problem. They were stuck living on a spacecraft for an extended time. Astronauts lived on the ISS for as long as two and a half years without going bonkers, but those astronauts realized that they would eventually go back down to Earth.

At least the crew didn't have to put up with free fall, which contributes to weakness and other health problems. They also were protected from radiation much better than the ISS provided. They were free from the health issues that astronauts were subjected to. Mental health was their only issue. That was something that voyages to Mars proved to be a major issue. At least they were in a much better situation health wise.
But the reason for the destruction of human life on Earth was not very clear. Solving that problem would be enigmatic at best, mainly because they had no way to analyze the virus that was involved. They were technologically handicapped.

Or were they?

That's where the cats had a role in this problem. Jack was rummaging int he lab down on the lower deck when his cat came in to see what he was up to.
He turned to the cat and smiled. "If only you knew if there was a biogenic analyzer on this ship."

The cat stared at him for a moment before turning around and heading to what looked like a door. The cat raised on its back legs to place its paws on the door.

Jack opened it and smiled. There in all its glory was a biogenic analyzer. Now, all he had to figure out is how to get a probe down to where there was evidence of the virus that caused the apocalypse.

That happened the next day. Tog had the robots prepare a probe to send down to a location near to Houston Control that would have been contaminated with the virus that caused the pandemic.

"What's up?" Jessica asked Jack after she entered the command center.

"We're sending a probe down to the surface to obtain a sample of the pandemic virus."

She stared at him for a moment before responding. "Won't that be a possible threat to us?"

"No. It will be handled by robots. There is a biogenic analyzer unit in the lab on the lower deck. The robots will make sure that nothing gets out to threaten us."

"Why would they have installed an analyzer on this vessel? Did they anticipate the pandemic and our role in it?"

"That's possible, but there's no way to prove it."

"What good will an analysis of the pandemic virus do us?"

"It will tell us if it's an Earth based virus or something alien."

"Ah!" she exclaimed. "You're proposing that our silicon-based alien buddies fashioned a weaponized virus to kill off the human race."

He smiled. "Yeah, I know it sounds like a sci-fi plot, but it will tell us if we're safe to go down to Earth."

Jessica realized that he was right, but she didn't want to get too excited yet.

Jack revealed the results of the pandemic virus tests the next morning, and it wasn't what they wanted to hear.

"This was not a H1N1 or Sars-Covid virus. It was something different but with a super infective power."

"Does that prove that it was an alien attack?" Lorrie asked.

"No, but it could be. Unfortunately, it means that there is no way we can go down to Earth. We would certainly die if we did."

"How would we be infected?" Lorrie asked. "There aren't that many people down there."

"That's true, but they would be carriers. It's just too risky."

"Are you suggesting that there are enough people on Earth to continue the human race?"

"That could be the case. I'm not an expert. I hope there's enough survivors, but there's nothing we can do about it."

"'What are we going to do?"

"We're going to see if we can track down the aliens and determine if they introduced the virus."

"Do we have enough fuel to do that?" Natalie asked.

"Tog located some container ships in orbit and is in the process of refilling our supply. That'll take a couple of days."

At this point the crew realized that chances of ever going down on Earth were fading. Their primary job will be to avoid depression.
Maybe not!