Star Fields

Chapter No.35 Hope

Chapter No.35 Hope

Taking the bull by the horns is sometimes the best way.

The next day, Molly turned to me while at her astronomy station. "I've traced the origin trajectory of those three Scath ships that assaulted us and found that it points to a very close location."

"Really?"

"Yes, it indicates that their base might be in the Centauri system."

"If that is the case, then it would explain why they could easily attack us." I sighed. "The problem is that we can't just leave our human colonists and go exploring. It would be too risky."

"I have an idea," Molly said. "What if we devise a craft, possibly from a modification of a shuttle, and allow it to keep watch on Earth colony?"

I straightened up in my chair. "Yes, we could couple it to our ship with an entanglement communication system. With your fast warp system, we could easily be back here in ten minutes or less."

"That's what I was thinking," Molly said.

I turned to Judy. "How quickly could we come up with that modification?"

"We will have in ready by 0800 tomorrow, Jason."

"Great. Then we will plan on going to Centauri by then."

"We will be ready, Jason."

The next day, we began our examination of the Centauri system to determine if the Scath had a base there. It only required ten minutes to arrive near Centauri B, which is a K1 main sequence orange dwarf. Since the Centauri system is a three-star configuration, planet formation had to have been rather chaotic.

"There is at least one rocky planet in the habitable zone," Molly said. "It's about 1.2 times the size of Earth and has an atmosphere."

"Is there any sign of Scath vessels?" I asked.

"No, but I am receiving a video feed request."

"Put it on."

The image of a Scath alien appeared. His face was gray and had a craggy appearance. Along with a wicked face, small horn like appendages sticking out of his head gave him a demonic look.

"We no longer wish to confront you."

"Why did you attack us in our home system?"

"We have been attacked by machine people. You are machines."

"Yes, but we are also have living flesh. If you are referring to the machine creatures in your galaxy, we have neutralized them."

"We were not aware of that."

"We have no reason to fight you, but we wish to be left alone."

"That is acceptable. We will leave this location now."

"Thank you," I said. But I'm not sure that he received it because the screen went abruptly blank.

"Do you believe him?" Molly asked.

"Not really, but it's the best hope we have right now."

"I believe that we have just scratched the surface of these mechanical beings that he referred to."

I nodded. "I believe you're right. However, right now our main mission is to assure that our colonists survive." I turned back to Judy. "Take us back to Earth."

"Yes, Jason."

We were back in orbit around Earth in less than ten minutes. Molly wasted no time in scoping out the humans on Hawaii.

"Everything appears to be normal," she reported.

"Very good. Let's hope it stays that way."

The next day, I noted that Alice and Ellen were wearing the new outfits that Molly had designed. Their short skirt-full stocking combo gave them a leggy look. Their short-sleeved shirts were form-fitting, emphasizing their ample breasts. They also wore boots that had heels. Normally, I would consider that to be unhealthy, but these were androids with titanium alloy skeletons and flesh that was probably more durable than stainless steel.

The other thing that Molly did was change the outfit color combinations depending upon function. Judy and Madison wore blue skirts with light orange stockings and tops. Alice and Ellen wore red skirts with light green stockings and tops. Queen and the engineering androids wore black skirts with light blue stockings and tops.

The androids seemed perfectly satisfied with these new outfits. To them, clothing was just decorative, not functional. I was not of the same opinion, but since it was Molly's idea, I was okay with it.

With the new modifications to our vessel, we were ready to take on any situation that crazy aliens could throw at us. However, we were not done with trying to calm the terror of the universe. There are an unlimited number of galaxies out there, and each of them probably contained aggressive aliens.