Chapter No.87 New Discovery

Life can be complicated.

The star system that Molly had discovered in the spiral galaxy at the other end of the universe was a lot like ours. It had four rocky inner planets and four gas giants in the outer part of the system. Two of the rocky planets were habitable, but one in particular was very much like Earth. It had a sizable atmosphere containing oxygen and it had a vast ocean. In fact, only about ten percent of the planet's surface was habitable.

"This planet is about four billion years old," Molly said. "That's more than enough time for life to evolve on it."

"There are signs of civilization," Margaret said. "I see what appears to be a city complex near a large lake."

I looked up at the image on the main screen. "That does look promising."

"I'm picking up radio spectra signals," Alexa said. "I think they contain video information."

After several minutes of manipulation, Alexa had a lock on a transmission, but the images were confusing.

"That's really weird," I said. "They look like hominids, but I don't understand the clothing they're wearing. Some of them have what appears to be complete solid-red color uniforms and others are wearing what looks like clown outfits. They're red and light tan stripes that circle their bodies, even their faces."

"I think there's something wrong with this," Margaret said. "The ones with the red color uniforms have light tan faces and hands."

Molly smiled. "You know what I think. I think that they're not wearing clothing,"

We turned to her. "That's rather crazy!" I said.

"If you look very careful at them you can see that the red parts are fur."

"Yeah, I believe you're right."

"I believe that ones with the red rings are female," Alexa said.

"That figures," I said in a sarcastic tone.

"I don't think they have any space technology," Margaret said. "I don't see anything that would indicate they're an advanced civilization."

"Well, make a note of it. We won't go down and disturb them."

"We might want to check out the other habitable planet," Molly said. "It's near the outer edge of the habitable zone for this star, but it appears to have a breathable atmosphere."

"Take us out to that planet, Judy."

Our vessel broke orbit and accelerated away. Despite the fact that the planet was over forty million miles away, we were in orbit around it within ten minutes.

Several minutes later, Molly had a report on her observation of the planet. "Despite being out at the edge of the habitable zone, this planet is not completely frozen over. There is a thousand-mile-wide area around the equator that is lush with vegetation and liquid water. It helps that this planet is only tilted five degrees to this system's ecliptic. I'm not sure what keeps its tilt stable."

"Does it have a breathable atmosphere?" I asked.

"Yes, but the oxygen is only eighteen percent. However, this planet is 1.5 times the size of Earth, so the atmosphere is thicker."

"I see evidence of a civilization," Margaret said. "I also see evidence of machines moving along what appears to be a track."

"Interesting. I'll bet neither civilization realizes the existence of the other."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that. I see what appears to be large telescopes in observatory buildings."

"Well, maybe they do know about their nearby neighbors. Are you detecting any radio signals or collimated beams?"

"No, but any communication lines could be buried."

"Okay Judy, it's time for the probes."

Judy launched a insect probe. The device entered the planet's atmosphere and descended to a few thousand meters before dispersing the robotic insects. After several minutes we began to receive the video feeds from them.

What we saw was not unexpected, but it was surprising.

"They're fur covered creatures that walk upright," Margaret said. "Their faces are not ape-like. They appear to be more human-like."

"Are we going down there?" Molly asked.

"As much as it might be interesting, I think it's better that we don't bother them. They might know about the other planet being habitable, but then again, they might not. I think our interference could cause a conflict. The last thing we want to do is be the cause of a war between two species, especially two species that are not all that different."

"We'll continue to search for habitable planets," Molly said. "We may as well see what we can find here before we go back to our side of the universe."

"That's a good idea," I said.

Later that day after I completed an exercise session, my usual routine was to take a shower. I was relaxing in my spacious shower when I noted faces staring at me from the outside.

I opened the door to find, Molly, Marie and Margaret gawking at me. I stepped out of the shower and glared at them. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes," Molly said, while her beautiful eyes scanned up and down my body. "We just found out that there are twenty human females in the android data stack. "Are you planning on resurrecting them?"

"I just found out about that myself. I hadn't planned on doing anything with them until I consulted with all of you."

"Do we need to have that many human androids?" Margaret asked.

I crossed my arms. "Well, since we are now humanity, version 2.0, it only seems appropriate that we should consider begetting more of our kind. That seems to be what most species do."

"That means that we would have to enter our names on a queue to get Alex's and your service," Molly said.

I smiled. "Actually, there is another male human in the data stack."

Molly's eyes grew larger. "Who?"

"Vincent Fields."

"My brother?"

"Yes."

"Oh my God! I never imagined that he would be in there."

"He and the twenty women were chosen for their skills and knowledge. None of them were in the Phoenix Project's command."

They began jabbering with one another. I held up my hands. "Listen, this is not the best location for a debate. I'm not exactly dressed for company."

"You're fine the way you are," Molly said. "And, this is the best location. No one will disturb us in here." She propped her fists on her hips. "Are you going to resurrect Vince soon?"

"I will, if that's okay with you."

She guffawed. "Of course, it's okay with me, silly."

"If you're going to resurrect the women, I would suggest doing it two at a time," Margaret said. "That way, it will be easier for us to adjust to their presence."

"That's a great idea," I said.

"I think this discussion would be better if we had some wine," Marie said. She looked around at my bathroom. "This place has plenty of room for us." She went over and sat down in a chair. After feeling the arm pieces, she smiled. "Nice and comfortable."

The other women sat down on a couch and easy chairs, leaving me without a place to sit. Alice appeared with a tray containing glasses of wine. The women each took one, leaving me without.

"I'll get another chair," I said.

"No, you can stand," Molly said. "We want you to explain why you want to create a colony of human androids, a process that will make us women put up with pregnancy while you guys have fun."

"I thought that you wanted to have children," I said, looking confused.

"We do, but it means that we will have all the work of rearing the children while you have a ball, no pun intended, banging women."

I threw up my hands in surrender.

They laughed.

I sighed.