Chapter No.55 Decisions

Life is full of choices.

The android Marie, my former wife in real life, doesn't look quite the way I remembered her. She is much more voluptuous and younger looking. This is the result of being resurrected in a female android body that is based on an incipient sex-bot design, as was Molly. My body is based on a male sex-bot design. All three of us are products of a designer's sexual fantasies. We, on the other hand, are sexless, at least mentally. We have the ideal physical means to express sexual desires but are lacking the libido. In fact, we are uncomfortable with our physical sexuality. However, we are not afraid to use it to tease one another. I suppose this is the result of the fact that we are still human, at least mentally.

However, we don't have time to fool around. We have important work to do.

"We have to find a new Earth to allow humans to flourish for longer than the present Earth will last," I said after we had settled in my living area to relax after supper.

"The only possible candidate star systems that will last for long periods of time have a red dwarf star," Molly said. "Red dwarfs will outlast every other type of star in the universe. In many cases by trillions of years."

"We've visited some of those," I said. "In almost every case, a rocky planet in the habitable zone is tidally locked to its star, which is not very conducive for human life."

"That's true," she replied. "The only possible way around this is to find a habitable moon orbiting a gas giant in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star."

"How common is that?" I asked.

"Not very common," she said. "But even though they are possible, there is another problem with red dwarf stars. They shoot off violent flares, flares that are much more energetic than those expelled by our sun."

"Maybe the gas giant's strong magnetic field would protect a moon in orbit around it," Marie said.

"That's a possibility," Molly said. "Gas giants have strong magnetic fields. Jupiter's field extends out for millions of miles."

"I could see another problem with this," I said. "A habitable moon might already have an intelligent species."

"It just means that our search is going to take some time," Molly said.

I sighed. "I don't doubt that one bit." My eyes brightened. "What about that moon we explored after we arrived at our first destination?"

"That star wasn't an M-class. It wouldn't last much longer than our Sun."

I sighed again. "Yeah, you're right."

After a period of silence, Molly introduced a new idea. "Marie and I have been browsing through the memory stack list. There are some people in that list that might be useful to our plan to save humanity."

I frowned. "You're talking about the perpetrators of this insane plot to take over Earth."

"Yes, but we believe that they were included only because of their expertise."

"What if they try to overwhelm us and take over?"

"They can't. You and I are the prime movers. The androids wouldn't allow a takeover."

I turned to Alice and Ellen. "Is that the way it works?"

"Yes, Jason," Alice replied. "The primary code is locked forever. No one, not even you and Molly, can change it."

"We will not allow anyone to takeover," Ellen said.

"We're only considering two individuals," Molly said. "They're experts on planetary science and biological species."

I thought about it for a moment before issuing my affirmation. "Okay, do it!"

Molly and Marie exchanged smiles.

I should have known that they would be two female scientists.

I didn't see them until a week later. They found their way to the command deck and shuffled over to us. Margaret Foster was a planetary astronomer in her real life. She has short black hair, expressive brown eyes and thin lips. Alexa Williams was the consummate exo-biological expert. What was surprising is that she was an African American. The androids have provided her with a brown-skinned body to match her real body. I didn't know that they could do that.

I stood up, smiled, and greeted both of them. "Welcome to Explorer-1. I am Jason Star, chief engineer." I gestured to Molly. "This is Molly Fields, astrophysicist and mathematician." I looked over at Marie. "That's Marie Star, chief astronaut." I pointed to Judy. "That's Judy, the helmsperson."

Alexa glared at me with her dark eyes. "How long have we been . . . "

I turned to Molly and then back to her. "I think it's been at least three hundred years Earth-time give or take a few."

She huffed. "There is no way that I was in stasis for that long."

"You're right. You're actually dead. Your memories and personality data were installed into an android body. The same thing happened to us . . . except in Judy's case. She's an original android."

Alexa and Margaret exchanged confused glances before Alexa turned back to me. "I don't feel dead."

I chuckled. "I know what you mean, but it's a fact. Your real body is lying in a stasis chamber in the Huntsville underground facility. I can assure you that it's totally dead."

They looked as if they were going to cry, so I held up my hands, palms out. "Look, we'll discuss this later after you get oriented in your quarters. Go down to the quarters deck and find your name tag on a door. Your assistants will help you to get adjusted. Then, come to my quarters at 1700 for supper."

That seemed to calm them. They turned and shuffled to the elevator and were gone.

"I'm surprised that they didn't realize that they would end up as androids," I said.

"The original plan was for them to be revived from stasis after it was safe," Marie said. "We were told that we would be inseminated and the embryos that resulted would be removed and stored."

My right eyebrow shot up. "How would you know about that. You died on the Titan expedition."

Marie sighed. "I remember that, but I also remember that I was placed in a stasis chamber in the Huntsville facility."

"How could you have dual memories?"

She became agitated. "I don't know. Someone messed up my memory."

I tapped a finger to my lips. "This makes me wonder what our two new recruits remember."

"We'll eventually find out," Molly said.

I nodded.

Later that day, Alexa and Margaret came to my quarters to join us for supper. They seemed well adjusted to their new bodies.

I gestured to a dining table. "Have a seat and relax. Supper is almost ready."

Alexa turned to Molly and Marie. "Does he do the cooking?"

Molly smiled. "Yeah, he's the chief cook and bottle washer."

I chuckled. "I'm also good with fixing broken things."

They laughed.

I served a meal of bio-engineered beef stroganoff with mashed potatoes and corn. I also poured each of them a glass of Cabernet.

"If we're androids, why do we have to eat?" Margaret asked.

"We have the necessary plumbing for it. Evidently, the android bodies designed for human habitation have some extra senses and functions."

"Does that include sex?" Alexa asked without showing emotion.

I smiled. "All androids are based on a nefarious sex-bot design. They are anatomically correct and capable of sex with either gender."

"I didn't see any male androids."

"There are some. Most are female, but there are several thousand male androids."

"Have you people had sex?" Alexa asked, looking at each of us.

"No," I replied without showing any emotion. "As I said, we are incapable of reproducing."

"Yet, we have living flesh," Alexa said, gently caressing her arm.

"That's true, but our flesh is abiogenic. It's created from non-living chemicals. Our flesh is incapable of becoming infected with any pathogen and resists heat and cold as well as radiation. Essentially, we are sterile and more machine like than living beings.

"If we are essentially non-living, it would mean that we should exist forever."

"That's true," I replied. "But, I'm not sure what forever means. It could depend upon how long this universe exists."

"That brings into question your mission to find another Earth," Margaret said. "We know that Andromeda is going to collide with the Milky Way in about four billion years. I would assume that the Triangulum galaxy will be dragged along into the collision. Any planet in all three of those galaxies would be subjected to possible chaotic conditions that could be dangerous to life."

"Maybe we'll have to investigate the Virgo Cluster," Molly said. "There are at least 1500 galaxies in that group, including many nice spirals."

"I'm not so sure that's feasible," I said. "We need to make sure that we have human life safely installed on Earth before we go off into the universe. There is always the possibility that we could be confronted with dangerous aliens."

"Wouldn't it make more sense to establish a new home for humans in this galaxy before we explore outside," Margaret said. "We have four billion years to worry about the collision."

I smiled. "Yes, when you put it into that perspective, it makes sense to find a new Earth in our galaxy."

"Yeah, you're right," Molly said. "We'll begin searching tomorrow."

That seemed to be agreeable to everyone, but I was still skeptical about our new recruits. Would they go along with our cooperative system?
End of Part No.5
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