Chara and the Planet

Chapter No. 32

Chapter No.32

When Ryan came onto the command deck the next day, he seemed calmed down from his latest brush with death. He sat in a chair in back of where Chara was sitting in the pilot's chair.

"So, where are we headed to?"

"We're going to a binary system fifty-seven light years away in the constellation of Hydrus."

"I assume that it has an Earth like planet."

"It's not a planet. It's a moon."

"A moon?"

"Yes. It's the moon of a large Jupiter-sized planet orbiting in the habitable zone of a G6 v class star. Its binary star is a M4 v class red dwarf. The G-class star is younger than our Sun but has more metallic elements in its spectrum. I believe that the massive planet has an Earth-sized moon."

"Interesting. I hadn't considered habitable moons. I doubt that Space Command would even consider going to a moon orbiting a Jupiter sized planet in a binary system."

"Sometimes a pile of dirty rocks hides a diamond," Chara said.

Ryan smiled. "I won't question your judgement, Chara. You are the consummate expert on planets."

"Thank you, Ryan," she said without turning around.

"How long is this trip going to take?" he asked.

"Twenty-six hours."

Ryan stood up. "I'll be in the repair lab if you need me."

Chara didn't reply. Ryan went to the turbo lift. Myra joined him.

"I take it that you're satisfied with her choosing where we go," Myra said while keeping up with Ryan.

"She definitely understands planetary astronomy. Actually, it doesn't really matter where we go as long as we don't have to deal with Space Command."

"We've pretty much kicked their ass," Myra said.

"Yes, but you never know what evil lurks out there in the cosmos."

"Very funny," she said with a chuckle.

They arrived at the lab, which had the very latest tools and equipment to repair androids. Ryan took a seat at the main computer system and turned it on. Myra took a seat nearby and began examining the tools she would use.

"I love these tools," she said, examining an extractor knife. "They look more efficient than what we were using back at the planet."

"I agree, and it proves that they were going to use the androids to take over Earth."

Myra sighed. "Those bastards are nuts. The way they were headed would have eventually turned over Earth to the androids, who essentially consider us as being superfluous."

"Fortunately for us, their programming doesn't allow them to repair themselves."

Myra frowned. "Yeah, but I bet that programming would be altered to allow it eventually."

Ryan realized that she was right. The long-predicted AI takeover is inevitable.

Upon arriving at the binary system, Chara pulled the spacecraft up near the Jupiter-sized planet orbiting a younger G-class star.

Ryan was amazed when he saw the Earth-sized moon orbiting the giant planet. Chara was spot on in her prediction of how this system was configured.

Alma began a total scan of the system. "The moon is 0.92 the size of Earth. Its rotation is locked to the large planet. The atmosphere contains oxygen, but it's lower than Earth's."