Chapter 9. Discovery.

The crew's routine settled down into an attempt to understand how an intelligent alien aquatic species was able to create firearms and computers, two important human inventions,

Help in this search came from something that surprised everyone,

"I found what might be bone fragments in one of the samples," Jack said at an evening meal. "Maybe you can get DNA from them."

"That would only be possible if there is some muscle or ligament residue on them," Jessica said.

Jack shrugged. "There might be."

"If there is, that would be a big help in understanding what sort of alien species we're dealing with," Natalie said.
He nodded his approval.

Later that day, during the evening meal, Natalie revealed the results of her study of the bone fragments. "The DNA is not from some alien aquatic species. It matches up to human examples. The bone fragments also have the type of collogen that human bone does."

"That would suggest that humans have visited this planet or were taken there," Jack said. "The next question then is how long has this planet been in its present location."

"This planet's capture from a star that made a close approach to our solar system had to have been at least a billion years ago. The only other way that it got here is by some slow approach from a distant solar system that was torn apart by a black hole, and even that event would have been a long time ago."

"Any way we look at it, it's a mystery that's hard to solve. We need to determine what NASA knows about this planet."

Jessica pointed at his video screen. "You like to watch old movies and TV shows. Maybe the data base has some science reports that would offer us clues."

He stared at her for a moment before responding. "That's a possibility. I'll see what I can find."

He didn't really believe that there was a possible secret operation involved, but keeping an open mind was paramount to solving the mystery.
Later that evening, Jack began his search of recordings on the internet. It took some time, but he found a discussion about a possible Planet Nine observation by a former NASA astronaut, Joel Kane, who seemed to be interested in its possible existence. What he proposed seemed impossible, but the evidence he provided was interesting.

Jack kept his door opened at artificial nighttime to listen for any possible problems. He heard what sounded like someone running and went to the door to check it out and found Jessica on the floor. She didn't seem to be injured.

"What happened?" He asked her while helping her to stand up.

"I wasn't paying attention and got too close to the wall."

He wasn't sure if she was telling the truth, but it didn't matter. "I found a pod cast from a former astronaut that included a discussion about an alleged planet nine."

"I'm not surprised. It's been a hot topic at NASA for quite some time."

"He claims that the planet came into the Kuiper belt recently and that it was home to aliens."

"Did he give any evidence?"

"He claims that NASA has that but didn't provide any details. He said that the evidence was being withheld to prevent a panic."

She blew out a disgusted breath. "That I could believe." She noted that he was only wearing his shorts. "Were you going to shower?"

"Yes."

She offered an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, I didn't intend to disturb you."

"Come in," he said gesturing to his open door. "We can discuss it."

She suppressed a smile while entering his quarters. "I didn't mean to impose on you."

"Let's face it," Jack said. "We're like animals in a cage where everything can be seen,"

She suppressed a grin. "I agree."

"Do you believe that the planet could have been inserted into orbit in the Kuiper belt recently? He asked.

"Not really. It would have had to been inserted by something that would have been detected."

"I agree, but we might be able to find evidence of such an event in the rock samples."

Her eyes rolled around for a few seconds before she smiled. "Yes, something might contain evidence of much younger radioactive samples."

"I will go through the samples and see if I can find something that would give that result."

"I think I need to get a proper night's rest before I continue working on this."

She smiled but then offered a stoic expression. "I should get some shuteye myself."

He nodded, still offering her a subtle grin.

She turned and left his quarters wondering why he seemed more interested in what she thought. Was he trying to proposition her in a subtle way? Maybe he was just being contrary. She didn't know what to think, especially since he hadn't shown any signs of wanting to view her showering.

Imagining him naked and showering suddenly turned on a switch in her brain that would lead to the ultimate explanation for what had happened on the planet.

But what was more important for the moment was the realization that NASA knew about the recent capture of the planet and its possible danger to Earth. There was no way that she could reveal the danger. All radio transmissions were monitored and only NASA could receive them.

She needed to discuss this with her crew members.