Star Fields

Chapter No.14 Possibility

Chapter No.14 Possibility

Even a bad idea demands a chance.

We arrived at the location of the Helios Space Station and found it to be intact, but there was evidence that its construction had not been completed as evidenced by skeleton beams sticking out of some sections of the large wheel, which was slowly spinning to provide artificial gravity.

"Park us and prepare a shuttle," I told Judy.

"Yes, Jason."

The trip over to the Helios Station was awe-inspiring. The giant wheeled space station was designed to house at least a hundred thousand people on a structure that had a habitable ecology. Dirt from Earth had been transported here so that crops could be grown, and artificial lakes could be filled with water. The outer edges of the wheel were transparent in order to allow filtered sunlight to shine in to keep the station warm and to promote plant growth. The protective magnetic shield around the station was still functioning. Obviously, it was powered by solar cells.

What was missing was the people.

"I'm not getting any life signs," Molly said. "I guess we're striking out again."

"Yes, and this is strike three. No one on Earth, Mars or this Space Station."

I turned to Judy. "We'll have to go over to make sure there are no survivors."

"We are ready, Jason."

We rode the shuttle over to a docking port at the hub of the wheel. We had to match the wheel's rotation speed to move into the dock. When we were safely inside the dock, the door closed and pressurization began.

"The environmental conditions are nominal," Molly said after using her scanner. "Pressure is 850 millibars, Oxygen at 20%, Temperature is 18 C. I'm not detecting any radiation beyond normal. Gravity here is only 0.2 G."

"That's because this docking station is close to the hub."

We floated along to the elevator in the wheel's hub and descended in a transparent spoke to the surface, which was actually the inside surface of the wheel. As we dropped down toward the outer part of the wheel, the gravity increased.

We exited the elevator to a truly amazing world. We could see the surface further away gently curving up to an infinity point, a sight that was overwhelming.

"Wow!" I exclaimed. "This is spectacular. Too bad humans weren't able to populate this fantastic artificial world."

"At least we got a chance to see it," Molly said.

"I don't know how we can explore this. It's so large."

"I don't see anything that looks like a habitat," Molly said. "We don't have to walk very far to see everything on this station."

"Yea, you're right. I doubt there's anyone on this."

"There should be a work station," Molly said.

I pointed at a tiny spec in the distance. "That looks like a structure up there."

We began walking toward what appeared to be a large rectangular building made out of Styrofoam. The door was open and we went in to find thee corpses.

"These guys look like they had spent their last hours drinking," I said after I picked up an empty whiskey bottle.

"I'm sure they realized what happened to Earth," Molly said. "Earth is easily visible from here."

I sighed. "Yes, you're right . . . unfortunately."

"This appears to be the only structure on this station," Molly said. "It's obvious that these guys were marooned on here after the Earth was demolished."

"You're right. We may as well go back to the ship."

We rode the elevator back up to the hub and then returned to the ship.

"Take us back to Earth," I told Judy the instant I walked on the command deck.

"Yes, Jason," she replied without looking at me.

"I guess there are no human survivors," I said to Molly, but she seemed to be lost in thought.

Molly sat down at the navigation station. "I've been thinking."

"Oh, oh!" I quipped, grinning.

She gave me a mocking frown. "Stop that!"

I presented a more serious pate. "Oaky, what are you thinking?"

"We saw on the data discs that the reptilian aliens have been abducting humans to be breeding stock, right?"

"Yes, although, we're not sure how many people they've abducted."

"That's true, but if they have bred humans, there must be humans still alive somewhere."

I tilted my head and squinted. "What are you suggesting?"

"What if we could get some of those humans and bring them back to Earth to repopulate it?"

I smiled and then frowned. "Oh, that's really a wild idea! There are a lot of problems with it, one being that we would have to somehow get down on the alien's planet and bring them out. I'm sure that they wouldn't look too kindly on that action."

"Yes, I understand that it'll be dangerous, but it's the only way that we could save the human race."

I rubbed my forehead. "There is a slim possibility that they don't actually keep the humans they've abducted on their planet. We already have evidence that their planet is not especially supportive to human life. That would suggest that they keep them on another planet, maybe a planet that's not in their solar system."

Her eyes brightened. "If that's the case, we would have a much better chance of retrieving some of their human food stock."

I sighed again. "That is a very bad idea, but it is the only chance we have to pull it off."

"I'll start scanning for habitable planets near their home world. We already know that there not on the moon we explored."

"That's right. We'll just have to see what you come up with."

"We are back in Earth orbit, Jason," Judy announced.

I turned to her. "That's was quick."

Judy smiled.

"I suppose we should continue scanning for any signs of life before we try your insane idea."

Molly laughed.

The next morning, I found Molly working away at the navigation station.

"Find anything?" I asked, sitting down at the engineering station.

"No signs of life so far. However, I have located a possible habitable planet in a system that's 250 light years away from the reptilian alien home system."

"I suppose we could go on a circular course to arrive there. That would avoid eliciting any suspicions."

"We could go to one of the planets that's on their list and then go to the candidate planet."

"I like that idea. It would avoid attracting their attention."

I turned to Judy. "I hope you don't mind that we may be risking a serious confrontation with the reptilian aliens."

She turned to me with a stoic expression. "We will do whatever you wish, Jason. We have complete confidence in your judgment."

"I appreciate that," I replied before turning to Judy. "Well, I suppose we're committed."

Molly didn't appear to be too confident. "I just hope we can pull it off."

That was what we all wanted.