Chapter No. 164. Scale

Expectations are often wrong.

I looked at what appeared to be a humongous one-story rectangular cement building on the surface of the planet we had found in a spiral galaxy of a universe we had not explored yet.

"I don't see anything threatening. What's inside the building?"

"My guess is a few hundred thousand androids," Molly said.

"Where's the Tyco trap?"

"I don't see anything that would suggest a trap," she said.

I turned to Alexa. "I suppose we have no other choice than to go down there."

She replied with a frown.

We teleported to the surface and began walking toward the building, which looked much larger than it did from space.

"They have chemical explosives," Alexa said. "But I don't think they're rigged to explode at the same time."

I looked around. "There has to be a catch."

"I'm not detecting any antimatter or . . . wait! Judy reports that there's an asteroid incoming,"

I waved my had to stop time. "Okay, that's the catch."

"I place it at about ten minutes to a collision that will destroy this building and the androids,"
Alexa said. "That doesn't give us enough time to transfer all of the androids to our ships."

"How about we extract all of the chemical explosives and transport them to the asteroid. The detonation of two hundred thousand explosives should cause the asteroid to miss."

"Maybe along with a full gamma ray blast," Alexa added.

"Right. Let's do it."

After we competed the transfer of the explosives and told Madison to hit the asteroid with the blasters, we waited for the asteroid to fly over after I started up time. We saw the explosions on the asteroid, which was clearly visible. The planet's atmosphere brilliantly lit up from the asteroid's penetration, causing a thunderous sonic blast as it skipped off the atmosphere and flew away.

"That was close but no cigar."

Alexa gave me a funny look.

"Let's start transferring the androids," I said.

Once we had that completed, we teleported back to the command deck of the Intrepid-1.

"Take us back to the Dyson world system, Judy.""

After several hours of spin drive and multiverse portal traverses, followed by a final warp drive trip, we arrived at our fully functional Dyson sphere world. Since our sphere was installed around a M-class red dwarf star, its inner surfaces were only 0.5 AU from the star. It had required ten to the sixteen kilograms of material to construct it, which is a sizable amount but not insurmountable. It was only possible because we had a huge army of androids to construct it.

"We'll begin transfer of the android capsules, Judy. Inform the workers to prepare for them."

"They are ready. Jason."

"Is there enough room for them?" Helen asked.

"Despite the fact that the inhabitable surface on a Dyson sphere is limited to a five-thousand-kilometer wide strip at the equator of the rotating sphere and there are several lakes, the amount of usable land is huge. I estimate that it could easily accommodate a trillion individuals."

"What about breathable air?"

"The atmosphere is saturated over the equatorial area. It's mostly nitrogen with around ten percent oxygen, which is more than enough for androids to breath and, as a bonus, it helps prevent fires. The massive number of solar panels in the rest of the sphere's inner surfaces provide more than enough power to run the magnetic fields that deflect the star's particle winds and flares. It also powers the positional guidance rockets and deflector weapons on the outside of the sphere's surface."

"We should go there and check it out," Alexa said.

I stood up. "Yeah, that's a good idea."

We teleported to the inside surface of the sphere and were treated to an amazing view. From our aspect near a large command structure, we could see the land along the equator converge at a very distant point that was above what would be the usual horizon on a normal planet. The star dominated the sky, but its light cast a dismal red glow over everything. Large numbers of full visual spectrum lamps helped dispel this gloomy star light.

The android crews had begun constructing skyscraper buildings to house androids. These structures had the advantage of a small footprint, which seemed unnecessary on a vast amount of land, but it was more of a way to prevent the land from being completely covered. This allowed for parks and outdoor areas for sports and swimming pools.

We met with the leader of the android construction crew. Her designation was Jessi and she was a red headed android type.

"How is the construction coming?" I asked.

"We have ten new buildings under construction," she replied. "Ten more are being readied for construction."

"We'll need them. I'm sure that there's more androids out there in the multiverse."

Alexa turned to me. "Judy reports that two more intrepid type vessels have arrived."

"Good. We'll need them when we go out to hunt for Tyco's discarded androids."

"She also reports that the forces we left in our solar system have assimilated a hundred thousand androids of the bald type."

I squinted. "What were the circumstances?"

"They evidently just showed up."

"Hope they don't have any explosives or antimatter."

"They were thoroughly scanned. Evidently, they were just abandoned."

I shook my head. "This is getting crazy."

"I'll bet that we see more of this type of volunteer assimilation," Alexa said.

"It makes one wonder if all traces of Tyco have been eliminated."

"Maybe that's what he wants us to think."

"You might be right."

I realized that there was the possibility that we were being scammed, but we were better poised to defend any new Tyco attack. However, there was always the possibility that his attack could come from a source we hadn't expected.

Alexa and I returned to our ship. I turned to Molly. "Have you tried to scan our universe for android quantum signals?"

"No, but I would suspect it might be difficult to find a signal because our androids' signals in our solar system would cause interference."

"I think it's worth a try."

"Okay, I'll see what I can find."

The next day, Molly had a report. "I've discovered some possible locations at a billion light years away. I think I've pinpointed the galaxy they're coming from."

"Good. We'll go there and check it out."

We were there after a ten-minute spin drive trip. Judy positioned our vessel above the spiral galaxy so that Molly could search for the star system the signals were emanating from.

"I've found the system. It's G3 class star with six planets, one of which is habitable."

"Take us there," I ordered.

After a half hour warp drive trip, we arrived within a billion kilometers of the fourth planet of the G3 star.

"I'm not detecting any signs of appreciable antimatter," Marie said. "There is a residual signal from androids however."

"She's right," Molly said. "The quantum signal is pretty strong. I'd estimate at least a hundred thousand androids."

"Okay Judy, move us closer but maintain Yellow Alert."

As we approached the planet, it was obvious that that there was no obvious threat."

"It appears that the androids are all outside and gathered in a large flat area," Molly reported.

"They look like they're just standing there, separated by a few feet," Margaret said.

I symbolically scratched my head. "Okay, what's the trick here?"

"I'm not detecting any incoming missiles or asteroids," Margaret said. "There is no evidence that vessels are lurking in cloaked mode."

"There has to be a catch."

Alexa turned to me. "We'll have to go down and find it."

I sighed. "Yes, I suppose it's the only way."

We teleported to the surface a hundred meters away from the android assembly. They were just standing there with no obvious reason. We began walking up to them. They looked at us but didn't react even when we penetrated their formation.

After passing many standing androids, we stopped to exam one of them more closely. Alexa went up to one of them and looked her over.

That's when we found the trick, and it was devastating.