Chapter No.149. Perdition.

Sometimes it's just too much to handle.

Alexa had detected it first, and I realized that she had just stopped the destruction of a million androids.

I turned to her and smiled. "You are the alert one. You sensed that all of their chemical bombs were going to explode at the same time. Nice job."

"The code was programmed into their brains to detonate at a precise time."

"We'll have to remove all of the explosives and send them away into space."

"Yep," she said, before beginning the process.

I helped her, but it took twenty minutes in suspended time for us to complete the process before starting up normal time again.

The bombs exploded in space away from our ships and the planet.

"All of these androids are in suspension at very low energy levels," Alexa said. "I'm no expert on android metabolism, but I would think that they are very close to going inactive permanently."

"Hopefully they'll survive until we get them in charging stations. We have plenty of stations on the new ship. Let's start the process of teleporting them into those stations. Judy is aware of what we're trying to do."

Alexa nodded and we began the process by seeing the charging stations in our minds and then teleporting the androids into them. I started on deck two, and Alexa started on deck three. As each if us filled the stations on our deck, we mentally jumped down two decks to complete the job.

After completing the task, we teleported back to our ship and noticed that the Explorer-2 and -3 vessels had arrived.

"Let's transfer some of the androids to those ships," I told Alexa.

"I'll take care of it," she replied.

"What the hell are we going to do with all of these androids?" Molly asked.

"Well, for one thing, we're going to build more vessels like this one."

"The process has started," Judy informed us.

"A million androids!" Marie said. "That's crazy. It's as if Tyco was planning on populating the entire universe with them."

"He might have been planning on populating the entire multiverse," I said. "There's fifty thousand males in that group. Can you imagine what would happen if they began impregnating all of the females."

"Holy crap!" she cried.

"Are we going to allow that to happen?" Margaret asked.

"We're going to be busy enough trying to get a bunch of new vessels constructed to accommodate the androids we already have. We'd need hundreds of them if we allowed them to copulate."

"It's mind boggling!" Alex blurted.

"Amen to that," I added.

After all of the transfers had been completed, we returned to our home solar system.

"It looks like construction is going well," I said as we approached Helios Station. They already have the outer shells built for two more vessels."

"With all of these new androids, we should be able to construct lots of ships," Alex said.

"One thing we need to do as soon as possible is expand the capability of our central processor core," I said. "We're going to need the extra capacity to handle all of these new additions."

"What I don't understand is how these androids were created," Helen said. "Are they resurrected people that Tyco murdered?"

"That's a good question. We'll have to go through their personal data to determine how they were created."

"They are based on the primary human personality algorithm, as are many of us," Judy said. "Their profiles mimic the ones from the android production machines that we possess."

"So, what you're saying is that they are mass produced?"

"Yes."

I turned to Alexa. "You might be right about Tyco trying to overwhelm us."

She frowned. "I wouldn't put it past that bastard. There could be many millions more of them in the multiverse."

I sighed. "Yes, you could be right. This is yet another burden that befalls us in this digital hell."

The command staff met in the hidden chamber that evening, and everyone was somber because of our present situation. I needed to give them some motivation.

"It's going to take all of us to handle this crisis. We need plenty of uniforms and other clothing for the new additions. We also need to make plans on how to use them efficiently."

"Is there a leader in this group?" Alicia asked.

"I don't know." I turned to Molly and she shrugged.

"We'll have to find out," I said. "The other problem is that only Molly, Alex and I can install the engines and associated equipment in the new vessels. We're going to need some help if we ever hope to get these ships operational."

"I believe that your assistants could do the job just as well as you can," Alexa said.

"I hadn't considered that possibility. Our assistants supposedly do have our powers."

"Are you saying that your android assistants have the same powers as you do?" Molly asked.

"Yes, but there's no reason to panic. They are linked to us and will not act independently."

"How did they get your powers?"

"I think it was baked into them and by being linked to us their brains were activated."

"So, what you're proposing is that my assistants could do the intricate assembly of the engines?"

"Yes, but we'll have to verify that."

Molly shook her head. "This crazy android shit is unbelievable."

"Blame it on Tyco," Alexa said.

"When will it ever end?" Alicia said.

"Well, I have a problem with all of this android nonsense," I said in a calm voice.

They turned to me.

"I've been doing a lot of research into the development of android technology and I've come to the conclusion that we shouldn't be possible."

"Yet, we are," Alexa said.

"That's right. First of all, there is no reference to a positronic brain in any literature that I could find, and a lot of that literature is in Space Command secret documents. A positronic brain is a science fiction concept. No one had come up with an artificial Intelligent computer system that has emotions let alone all of our memories. We had no knowledge of that technology when Molly and I went on our journey in the Explorer-1. We thought that we had been saved by being made into cyborgs and that all of the other crew members were discarded after they had been murdered by the androids. It turns out that Molly and I were the only two crew members, and we had been murdered and resurrected as androids before we were put on Explorer-1. This tells me that this technology existed before that, but we haven't found out where it came from."

"I thought that we attributed it to Tyco," Molly said.

"He may have been a brilliant physicist, but I doubt that he came up with the technology all by himself. There's something intrinsically wrong with the idea that Space Command came up with it. The technology that makes up our bodies is way too advanced for anything that existed on Earth at the time."

"Are you inferring that it was alien?"

"We thought that at one time but haven't been able to determine what alien species came up with it. What we need to find is the origin of this android technology."

"That's not going to be easy," Molly said. "We don't have anything to go on."

"I understand that, but it's imperative that we find out how it was done. Our survival depends on it."

No one had a response to that, but what happened next gave us some hope.

End of Part 15

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