Chapter No.35. Change.

We arrived back in Earth orbit and the first thing on our to-do list was to contact the dome city, but that didn't go as planned.

"We're not getting a response on our communication ping," Sharon said. "The dome city doesn't appear to be active."

After several tries, Sharon established a connection, but the face we saw on the main screen wasn't Adal. It was a young man."

"Are you the climate change off-worlders?" he asked.

"Yes," I replied. "I assume that Adal is no longer with you."

"Yes, I am her son, Amar."

"We notice that your dome world is not active."

"Many of our people have left to live on the outside. There are only a few of us still here."

"We're interested in your historical records, especially around the time that the aliens came here to abduct people."

"They are somewhat incomplete, but I will send the files we have to you."

"We appreciate that."

The video part of the communication ended, and the data transfer began.

"I'm receiving it," Janet said.

After several minutes of transfer, we were able to access the files, but they were not all that helpful.

"It says that after the angelic aliens abducted humans, they were harassed by Greys," Janet said.

"Greys?"

"Yeah, I think they're referring to the Roswell aliens."

"I thought that they were a tabloid scam."

"They could have been, but people automatically assumed that they were the traditional alien of UFO fame."

"If we assume that Roswell aliens did come to Earth and abduct people, we are clueless as to where they came from."

"The data file assumes that they came from a nearby red dwarf star system."

I chuckled. "Good luck there. Red dwarfs are the most abundant stars in our galaxy, especially near Earth."

"We're at least twenty years into the future, but I'm not seeing any real change in Earth's climate situation," Sharon said. "Maybe Earth has stabilized."

"Could be," I said. "That would be a good thing."

"Unless Greys are coming here," she retorted.

"Yes, that would be a situation we aren't all that well prepared to deal with. The question is, are they coming here now."

"How could we determine that?"

"The only possible way would be to hide and then trace their course when they leave."

"How in the hell are we going to hide this big slug?"

"That's a good question. The only way would be to park it closer to the Sun, like near Mercury, and hope that they wouldn't be looking at the Sun when they come to Earth."

"Wouldn't that cause the ship to heat up?"

"Not if we stay on the backside of Mercury."

"there's a problem with that," Janet said. "Mercury is not always in a direct lime with Earth. There would be many times that we couldn't detect an alien ship near it." She paused. "I have a better idea. There are orbital probes in our inventory that are capable of observing both Earth and space around it. If we launch one of them into orbit, it could send a signal back to us that it detected something, either on the surface or in nearby space."

"That's an excellent idea," I said. "Let's do that and then go to Mercury."

Janet had COMA prepare the orbital probe and then launch it into an orbit that would give it the best view of Earth and space nearby. After checking it out, it was time for us to go.

"COMA, take us out of orbit and into an orbit that matches Mercury's orbit around the Sun."

"Burn will commence in ten minutes."

"We strapped into the G-chairs for this burn because it involved some tricky course changes, something better done with the wheels not turning. It also gives the robots on the agricultural deck and the engineering deck time to connect to fittings on the floors of their respective wheels.

When it was competed, we got out of our chairs and headed to the command station.

Janet and Sharon activated the telescope system that would allow them to observe Earth while we were on the dark side of Mercury.

"Not too bad of view of Earth from here," Sharon said. "Janet's right. There's times when that view is not possible, especially since Mercury orbits the Sun much quicker than Earth."

Of course, the waiting was boring. We had no idea how often an alien vessel would come to Earth. Maybe the Greys became extinct. There was no way to know what would happen, but it was clear that something happened to billions of humans that climate change and alien abduction could not account for.

"What difference does it make if all those people are gone?" Natale asked. "We can only go into the future not the past."

"If other aliens are responsible for their disappearance, then it's our responsibility to determine that and protect the humans that are still on Earth."

"Yeah," Bridget said. "We're sure as hell not going to be able to transport them to a new Earth."

"Not using hyperspace," I said. "Maybe this method of traveling faster than light is a curse."

"We're stuck in a situation that's not of our making."

"That's true, but we just have to deal with it."

She sighed.

"Life will go on," I said. "In a way, we're lucky we didn't get stuck on some planet we're not equipped to survive on. As long as this ship is functional, we're okay. It may not be a high-end cruise ship, but it is able to sustain us for as long as we need it." I smiled. "As long as we have beer, we're good to go."

She laughed.

Two days later and nothing. However, that night, while we were in our bunk beds, I was awakened by the noise of bare feet slapping the floor. I assumed it was one of the women getting up to relieve herself, but I didn't hear the return noise after several minutes, so I got up and looked around. I soon saw the light of a screen at the command center. I walked down there and found Janet in the buff at her station.

"You're out of uniform," I said with an appropriate smirk.

"She glanced back at me to return the gesture but returned to looking at her screen. "I got a notice that the probe detected something." She pointed at the screen. "This is a recording of its approach."

"What the hell! That doesn't look like a saucer."

"It looks more like a bird of prey."

"Yeah, you're right."

We watched the craft enter Earth's atmosphere and then plunge down and fly to a location near what used to be Panama City.

"What the heck is of interest to them there?" I said.

Janet increased the magnification of the location. "Maybe it has something to do with that."

I looked at what appeared to be a narrow black pyramid structure. "I don't recall anything like that being there."

"I think we have to assume that the aliens put it there."

"I wonder if this isn't some sort of communication device," I said.

"I'll scan for a signal."

"I wonder how long that's been there," I said. "Maybe the aliens are there to do maintenance."

"They must be monitoring Earth with it. Lord knows how long it's been there."

The other women came to join us, but they were wearing clothes.

"What are you two doing here this late, and why are you naked, Janet?" Sharon asked.

"I got a signal that it had detected a vessel approaching Earth. It landed near Panama City and they're doing something with a pyramid structure that they obviously placed there."

They looked at the main screen to verify her explanation.

"Who are they?" Natale asked.

"We don't know," I said. "Their craft isn't a saucer, so if it is the Greys it means that they've updated their space vessels."

"Are we going down there?" Bridget asked.

"Not while they're on Earth. We're waiting to see if they go back to their home world so that we can trace their course out of here."

"Are they responsible for the loss of Earth's population?" Natale asked.

"We don't know. This object that they're at might be a communication device."

"It is," Janet said. "I'm detecting a tightly aimed signal in the sub space region. They look like they're leaving now."

We watched the alien vessel ascend rapidly into the sky and accelerate away from Earth.

Janet had a report. "I have a track of their course, but it'll take COMA awhile to plot it to a nearby system, assuming that's where they're headed."

She didn't have a calculated location until later in the day. We gathered at the command station to hear her report.

"It's Trappist-1e."

"I've heard of that. It was listed as the first truly Earth-like planet near Earth," I said.

"As long as you consider forty light years near," she said.

I smiled. "That's just around the corner as far as I'm concerned."

"Are we going there?" Natale asked.

"Yes, but hopefully they won't consider us an enemy."

That didn't make them feel confident.