Chapter No.72 New Information

There is always something new over the next parsec.

We continued our patrol of the Orion arm. Molly found another possible habitable system, a G4-class star with six planets, one of which is a possible Earth-like world.

We assumed orbit around a planet that had an atmosphere with oxygen and water vapor, a requisite for human habitation.

"I'm not seeing anything that resembles structures," Molly announced. "There are some rather strange looking objects on the main continent. I'm not sure if they're natural."

"They look like pyramids," Margaret said, but they don't seem to be perfect like the ones that the Egyptians built."

"Yeah, they look skewed, like someone had twisted them," Molly said.

"Do you see anything alive down there?" I asked.

"Mostly vegetation," Margaret said. "I don't see anything large moving about."

"Since this planet has an oxygen rich atmosphere, it's safe to assume that there is some life down there."

"Send down the insect probes, Judy."

"They're on their way," she replied.

I folded my arms. "Maybe we'll be able to detect life down there."

"The conditions are nominal," Molly said. "The temperature is 21C, the pressure is 1200 millibars, the carbon dioxide is 0.05 percent and the radiation levels are very low."

"The planet has a very strong magnetic field. It's twice the level of Earth's," Margaret said.

"That may be why the radiation level is low," I said.

"Now, that's different!" Marie exclaimed, pointing to the main screen's display of the surface.

"What the hell?" I said. "They look like horses running around."

"Those so-called horses have faces with features that resemble humans," Molly said.

"That doesn't make any sense," I said. "How could something like that evolve?

"We know very little about how evolution actually works or even if it's the reason biological diversity exists," Margaret said. "I have to admit that they are rather odd."

"That's an understatement," I said.

"Are we going down there?" Molly asked.

"I'm not sure that we should. They might be intelligent, but if they're not, we could be considered invaders. The last thing I want to do is kill some of them. We're not out here to invade. We here to discover, not despoil."

"They don't appear to be violent or possess any sort of weapons," Molly said. "We'll never know if they're intelligent unless we go down there."

"Are you picking up any indication of vocalizations?" I asked.

"Yes, but the translator is having trouble with it. It's probably because the sounds are more complicated than ours."

"Okay, let's allow the translator time to digest it. It won't hurt to wait until we have more information about them. Do they have places to hide in? What sort of relationships do they have? Are there any evidence of children?"

"That's going to take some time to answer," she replied.

"That's okay. We have plenty of time."

She made a face back at me.

I spent some time exercising in my weight room and then took a shower in a room attached to it. Just as I was finishing, I saw a shadow appear outside the open shower. The shadow quickly changed to reveal Molly.

"We have a translation now and there are family units," she said while scanning her eyes up and down my body.

"Okay, then I suppose we'll go down there," I replied.

Then she did something I found odd for an android. She blushed.

"I'm sorry to invade your privacy," she blurted.

I smiled. "That's okay. I really don't have any right to privacy."

She tilted her head. "Why not?"

"We're androids. We don't believe in it."

She smiled. "Okay." Her expression turned serious. "Are you going to dress?"

"Do I have to?"

She giggled. "Not really!"

She looked down. "Don't you find that magnificent organ of yours wasted?"

"Not really. It's what makes me a male. However, I fully realize that we are in principle sexless."

"Well," she said. "I do find it sexy nonetheless."

"I appreciate the compliment."

She giggled again before she turned to leave. "I'll tell Judy to get a shuttle ready."

"I'll be ready to go."

She giggled again, an indication of an awakening libido. I wasn't sure why that would be happening.

The journey down to the surface was uneventful. We did get a bit more buffeting from the higher global winds, but it was no real problem. Alice sat the shuttle down in what looked like a huge meadow surrounded by a forest. There were several of these meadows, but this one was closer to the pyramid structures. We waited for a while to see if anything noticed us.

What we saw in the shuttle's main screen was not what we expected.

"Those don't look like the horse creatures," Molly said. "What the hell are they?"

"They look like raptor dinosaurs," I said. "Look at those mouths. They have a lot of sharp teeth."

"That's ridiculous!" she retorted. "Horse creatures and dinosaurs would not coexist without conflict."

"Evidently, on this planet they do, but I agree that it doesn't make sense."

"What are we going to do now?" Molly asked. "The horse creatures are not going to come around when these monsters are here."

"I have an idea," I said. "Shoot a plasma ball near one of those beasts, Alice. Maybe that'll scare them off."

Alice fired a shot that blasted the ground with a brilliant explosion. The raptors ran off into the forest.

"I didn't think they would hang around after that," I said. "Let's get out of the shuttle and see if that will bring the horse creatures around."

Molly, Marie, Margaret, Alexa and I got out of the shuttle and stood near it while Alice and Ellen protected us with their BFG's. It wasn't long until the creatures galloped up to us.

"Holy hell!" Molly said. "They look like centaurs!"

"Not quite the classical Greek centaur. They have a human-like face and upper body, but the horse hide covers more of their bodies. Actually, their faces are alien. They have no brows over circular eyes with large pupils. Their mouths are almost lipless, and they have very narrow noses."

Despite that, it was easy to determine their gender because the female creatures had solid round breasts with nipples. Both male and female creatures had long golden manes, almost like flax. The horse part of their bodies had tails, but their hooves were not easily discernable.

After the herd with both male, female and young gathered around us, I decided to use the universal translator stick to introduce ourselves. "Greetings. We are from outer space and have come here out of curiosity. We are not here to disturb or harm you. We honor all living creatures."

"Why did you chase the Vixtar away," a male asked.

"We assumed that you would not come around if they were here," I replied.

"They are in charge of us," he said. "We exist to please them."

I wasn't sure what the hell he meant by that.

"How do you please them?"

"We allow them to consume us."

That reply made me glance at the others. Their confused expressions told me that they were also shocked. It only proves that nothing in this universe is the way we would expect it.

"We don't consume anything alive," I said. "We are not alive like you are. But we understand that you are different and have your own customs."

"Why would you allow them to consume you?" Molly asked.

"We are more plentiful than they and we are their only food source."

None of that made any sense. I thought it better that we take our leave before we throw up.

I held my right hand up. "We will go now and leave you to your ways. Sorry to have disturbed you."

We climbed back into the shuttle and returned to the ship. We avoided discussing what we had heard. It's better to not think about some things that are upsetting. The one thing we don't want to do is react violently. It's better to leave and just mark it up as a strange species encounter.