Chapter No.18.

Gary, Margaret and Janet suddenly realized that what they had expected to happen, didn't.

"What in the hell!" Carl yelled. "We're back in the Orion capsule!"

"What's the date?" Margaret asked.

"July 6," Janet reported after checking the capsule chronometer.

"I'm getting a signal from Mission Control," Carl said after he opened the capsule's communication system.

"Are you guys okay up there?" A male voice asked. "We just experienced a large gamma ray event."

"Yes, we're fine. Did it cause any problems down there?"

"None that we are aware of. Let us know if you have any problems."

"Roger that," he replied before breaking the communication link. He sighed. "I don't know how we're ever going to explain what happened."

"Obviously, we were wrong about what that alien contraption does," Margaret said. "It's a time machine."

"I would agree with you, but there's one problem. People vanished and reappeared. That isn't consistent with a time change."

"Unless it's different realities instead of a time change."

"A machine that could cause different realities is way beyond our comprehension. I don't think cosmic rays could cause something like that."

"I think it would make more sense for us to just keep our mouths shut about all of it," Janet said. "They'll think we suffered space sickness if we tell them what we've experienced."

"I agree," Carl said. "But we have the alien machine on the Moon to contend with. What if it does its thing again?"

"We didn't see anything that would allow for an automatic event, but then again, our understanding of it is limited to the short time we spent there."

Carl sighed. "Well, we have several more days to wonder about it before we arrive at the telescope."

"This is crazy!" Janet cried. "We're going to update the telescope again. It's like deja vu."

"I think it's more like the movie 'Groundhog Day'." Carl said. "The good news is that we should be able to do the update more efficiently this time."

"I wonder if we'll get the same alien signal when we do update it," Margaret said.

"That's a good question," Carl replied. "If this is a different timeline it could be completely different."

"So, you think that what we experienced is a timeline shift?" Janet asked.

"It could be, but I have no idea how it could be activated by a cosmic ray blast."

"If it is a different timeline, it would suggest that humans did go extinct in the Jurassic period in the original timeline," Margaret said.

"This is as confusing as it could get," Janet said. "We're trying to figure it out without any decent data or even a reasonable theory."

"Maybe the alien signal will give us a better idea," Carl said.

Both Janet and Margaret elected not to argue that point. They wanted to see what the new data would suggest before they would offer a theory.

The next several days were spent observing and checking equipment. They were happy to be able to communicate with Mission Control and it made them more comfortable to be able to see lights on the dark side of Earth, an indication that people were still alive down there.

There wasn't much else they could discuss while approaching the telescope at the L2 Lagrangian point. Carl used the positioning rockets to get close to the telescope. They got into their EVA suits and Carl decompressed the capsule after he had it docked to the telescope operations unit. They removed the telescope's computer module and its associated processing unit in order to move it back to their capsule. Then they carefully moved the replacement parts into the telescope operations module and connected it to the telescopes power source. Once they were sure everything was shipshape, they moved back into their capsule and recompressed it.

After removing their spacesuits, the scientists began a check of the telescope's systems.

"Appears like we got everything in there right," Janet said. "The telescope's resolution is up to maximum.'

"Good," Carl said. "At least we didn't mess it up. I'll begin the return process. The sooner we get back the better."

"Hopefully, the alien device will stay offline," Margaret said.

"The problem is that we don't really have any way to know what it's going to do," Carl said. "It might not even be there in this timeline."

"Let's face it," Janet said. "No one is going to buy the idea of there being an infinite number of timelines. We don't have any proof that we were in a timeline where all humans on Earth vanished. Even worse, there's no way they would accept the idea that they were transported back to the age of the dinosaurs."

Carl sighed. "I agree. However, there are going to be questions about the alien signal."

"We don't know that it'll be the same message. Let's see what we come up with now that we've updated the telescope's processing systems."

"Yes, I agree."

Janet and Margaret began the process of recording the alien signal and then using their computers to process it. Carl spent time checking through the capsule's recordings. What he found surprised him. Everything was as expected until July 6 when the capsule sensors did record a bright flash of light. In the previous timeline, that wasn't the case. Only Margaret saw it. Obviously, something changed.

The women spent more than two days to come up with a translation of the alien signal, and what they revealed changed everything,