Chapter No.22

Of course, NASA made a big deal out of what the spaceplane crew had accomplished. Carl was especially recognized for his expert handling of the spaceplane. George told him that he would be in charge of training pilots to fly it. Margaret and Janet were told that they would be responsible for training people for working with alien encounter protocols and possible language translations. Unfortunately, it didn't result in salary increases.

Later that evening, when the amazing trio were relaxing in Carl's luxurious family room, Carl decided to unload his ideas about what had happened.

"I have some serious questions about what we've experienced."

"You're not alone with that," Janet said. "The whole thing is unbelievable."

"What I found might make it more feasible."

"How so?"

"When I was hooking the cable to the fission weapon, I saw a marking on one of the rods of the cage that surrounded it."

"What sort of marking?"

"It was RFA-2376."

"That sounds like a human marking,"

"Indeed. It's Robert Farnsworth Associates, a British weapons manufacturer."

"That doesn't make sense. Why would they want to blow up the Moon?"

"It might not be them. Someone might have obtained equipment from them to build the weapon, possibly a Russian weapons division."

"Why would the Russians want to cause Earth to become uninhabitable?"

"Maybe it was some fringe doomsday promoter who decided to cause it to happen."

"What's this have to do with timelines?"

Carl had to think awhile before replying. "Are there an infinite number of timelines? We only experienced three; the original one before July 6, the one where everyone on Earth vanished, and then the one we forced using the alien device. Are those three timelines continuing without us, or are we still in them? If the answer is that they are continuing, then all those people who vanished are probably dead now."

"Even if we could do anything about it, it's too late," Janet said. "I would like to know what I'm doing in other timelines. Did I get married or not? Did I die in some of them? Even better, did I marry a billionaire in one of them?"

They laughed.

"The question I have is why we only remember the three timelines," Janet said. "What about all of the others who experienced timeline changes? Why can't they remember them?"

"What I don't understand is why this alien species sent these confusing transmissions to us, and why they seem to be trying to destroy us," Margaret said.

"It's possible that this is tied to what we call the Chandra prophecy," Carl said, "Maybe it is an attempt to reform the universe the way it should be."

"NASA isn't going to buy that," Janet said. "They demand scientific explanations, not religious ones. They might accept infinite timelines."

"I doubt that everyone will believe in infinite timelines," Carl said. "It's contrary to our experience with reality. We see only what our senses show us. We have no reasonable idea of what lies beneath reality in the quantum world where particles can appear and disappear. There is much to learn and know."

"Is it possible that this alien time device we found on the Moon isn't actually alien?" Janet asked.

"I've been thinking about that myself," Margert said. "My question is why did we and the two children survive the teleporting effect? Was it just a product of a timeline change?"

"I think it's because the cosmic ray blast was concentrated on the Earth." Carl said. "We were the furthest away from that while the lunar space station was partially in its path."

"How did the cosmic ray blast affect the dark side of Earth?" Margaret asked.

"It's probably because cosmic rays can cause neutrinos that can go through everything, including the Earth. Maybe they are affected by the Earth's core."

"That might be," Janet said. "The core is partially molten iron and is also magnetic."

"We're just speculating," Carl said. "However, the possibility that the bomb we found on the Moon is not alien needs to be investigated."

"Are we going to tell NASA?" Margaret asked.

"I think we have to," Carl said. "They need to determine if this is a ongoing danger."

Both Margaret and Janet agreed.

The next day, Carl presented his findings to George, who appeared to be shaken by what he said.

"This is ridiculous," he ranted. "I know that nutcase was promoting his crazy theories on the media, but I had no idea he was actually going to attempt to cause it."

"How did he get it to the Moon?" Carl asked. "I thought his moon rocket project was canceled."

"Yes, you're right. Obviously, he found a way to do it. I'll issue an alert so that the spy boys can do their thing. If he's responsible for this attempt to blow up the Moon, I'll make sure he doesn't try another attempt. In the meantime, I don't want you to discuss this situation with anyone. This problem will take some time to investigate and resolve. Any premature exposure about it could elicit a panic."

"I understand, sir."

George nodded.

Carl decided to leave it there. He was in no position to argue with the head of NASA. His responsibility in the matter was to inform and standby.