Chapter No.88. Adaptation.

It was a day just like many others where Robert was home alone with Baby Jack and Sparky, Janet was at her job, and James, Sylvia, Amy, Sally and Vincent were out mining for more raw diamonds at Neptune and gold and platinum on a metallic rich rock in the asteroid belt.

Robert sensed that something was amiss. He changed to his superhero outfit and teleported to the warehouse district of the town, where a gun battle was taking place between his two FBI buddies, Mark and Joe and seven thugs who were using AK-47's while Mark and Joe were stuck with using government issue Glock .40 S&W's. He decided to make the odds more equitable by destroying the thug's weapons using his energy beam eyes.

When Robert landed near Mark and Joe, they had already taken control of the situation. Janet appeared and used her bracelets to shoot metallic ropes around the thugs to restrain them.

"Boy, are we glad to see you here," Mark said. "We thought we were goners."

"I will never allow any harm to come to you two," Robert said.

"How did you know that we were in trouble?" Joe asked.

"We can sense things like this," Robert said. "It's one of our powers."

"And a very fortunate power as far as we're concerned."

Mark and Joe cuffed the thugs while FBI vans was arriving to take them away.

"Why were you in a gun battle?" Robert asked.

"They're members of a drug ring that's been trying to get a foot in our territory," Mark replied.

"I'm glad we could help you," Janet said.

Both Mark and Joe agreed.

"Have a nice day," Robert told them before he and his wife flew away.

"We owe them for this," Joe said.

"Yes," Mark said with a grin. "They're our ticket to a safe retirement."

Joe agreed with that.

Meanwhile, out at Neptune, James and Sylvia were busy harvesting raw diamonds out of Neptune's atmosphere when Vincent noticed something odd.

"What the heck is that?" he asked, pointing at a black cylindrical object passing.

"I don't know," James said. "Chase it and get some pics."

Vincent and Sally flew off to catch up with it. The mysterious object was traveling at thirty thousand miles per hour relative to the solar system, an indication that it came from outside the solar system. When they caught up with it, they were astounded. It was a perfect cigar shaped object with extremely smooth sides that were highly reflective.

"That looks like an alien vessel," Vincent said.

"I'll take pictures of it," Sally said. "It's not for us to decide what it is."

They returned to where James and Sylvia were just getting done harvesting raw diamonds.

"What was that?" James asked.

"We think it's an alien ship," Vincent replied. "It's a perfect cigar shape with very smooth sides. Sally got some shots of it."

"Did it show any signs of detecting you?"

"No."

"We'll send the shots to NASA and let them decide what it is."

They returned home and James transferred the pics that Sally had taken to Jason, the NASA administer.

A reply was not forthcoming. Instead, the president requested that they come to the Oval Office to discuss a possible mission.

Only Robert showed up there.

"I'm not sure what you could do for this situation. The Greek Government is complaining about the influx of refugees from Turkey trying to get to Samos Island. The people that have managed to get there are living in abject squalor."

Robert rubbed the side of his face. "Well, maybe we could create a better camp for them. I don't know if that would help the situation with the Greeks."

President Hollis picked up a phone and requested a diplomatic connection to the Greek president. After a lengthily conversation he hung up. "Yes, they would be grateful for any help you could provide."

"Good. We'll go there and do something to help them."

The president nodded and Robert returned home. He waited until he could assemble everyone. "President Hollis would like us to go to Samos, which Is a Greek island near Turkey, to help refugees that have settled there."

"If I recall, this is a diplomatic nightmare situation that several countries are experiencing," James said. "Refugees from countries where there are conflicts are immigrating to European countries, causing political disruptions."

"What can we do to help refugees?" Amy asked.

"My thought is to provide them with better facilities," Robert said.

"I'm having trouble imagining that," Vincent said.

"Let's go there and check it out before we come up with a plan," Robert said.

They teleported to a location above the mountainous island in the Aegean Sea off the Western coast of Turkey. The weather was balmy but not too overbearing. When the Greek officials and the refugees saw them, they gathered to watch them land.

A Greek official approached. "Welcome," he said in English. He gestured to the refugee camp, which was composed of tents and patched together empty containers. "As you can see, we are overwhelmed."

Robert looked over the location. "Is there a source of water here?"

"There's a nearby stream, but it's not protected."

"How extensive is this camp?"

"This part of the island is too rugged for a camp," the official said.

"Well," Robert reacted. "We can remedy that."

The official had trouble imagining that.

Robert turned to his family. "Okay, let's visualize a series of two-story apartments connected together around a central plaza. We can make an asphalt road to connect to the plaza and connect the whole thing to the stream and the large pit over there." He pointed to a crevice off to the side of the camp.

"What do we want in the apartments?" James asked.

"A main room with a kitchen, two bedrooms and a bath."

"We need to get the people out of the way before we start," Janet said.

Robert turned to the official. "We need to get the people out of the way before we start the process."

"What process?"

"We're going to create a new camp."

The official looked around. "How could you do that? You have no equipment."

Robert pointed to his head and smiled. "It's all in here."

The official instructed his assistants to herd the refugees away from the camp, and when they had completed the move, they watched the superheroes do something that amazed them. The camp literally appeared out of thin air in a series of creation events that evolved in stages.

Robert turned to the official. "We included clothing and food staples, along with seeds to grow their own crops in those plots over there." He pointed to a rectangle area that had been dug up.

The official smiled. "If I hadn't seen this with my own eyes, I would not have believed it."

"If you need further help, just ask and we'll do what's needed."

The official nodded. The refugees cheered as they watched the superheroes fly away and returned home. Robert went to the Oval Office to tell President Hollis what they had done.

"I appreciate what you've done. It helps demonstrate that the United States is willing to share you for essential projects."

"We are at you service," Robert replied before he teleported home.

When he materialized there, he saw the rest of his family awaiting his arrival.

"NASA wants to know if we detected alien life on that object we saw," Vincent said.

"Did you?"

"Nope. It had active electronic devices on it."

"That would suggest that it was a robotic probe."

"That's what we told NASA," James said. "We also gave them a trajectory for the device."

"Did they figure out where it came from?"

"Not yet, but they're working on it."

"Good. We could go and capture it, but I don't like that idea."

"They also didn't think it was wise."

"That shows that our non-interference rule is rubbing off on them. We are not the guardians of the galaxy."

"We'd have to change our uniforms if that were the case," James said.

They laughed.