Star Fields

Chapter No.55 Decisions

Chapter No.55 Decisions

Life is full of choices.

The android Marie, my former wife in real life, doesn't look quite the way I remembered her. She is much more voluptuous and younger looking. This is the result of being resurrected in a female android body that is based on an incipient sex-bot design, as was Molly. My body is based on a male sex-bot design. All three of us are products of a designer's sexual fantasies. We, on the other hand, are sexless, at least mentally. We have the ideal physical means to express sexual desires but are lacking the libido. In fact, we are uncomfortable with our physical sexuality. However, we are not afraid to use it to tease one another. I suppose this is the result of the fact that we are still human, at least mentally.

However, we don't have time to fool around. We have important work to do.

"We have to find a new Earth to allow humans to flourish for longer than the present Earth will last," I said after we had settled in my living area to relax after supper.

"The only possible candidate star systems that will last for long periods of time have a red dwarf star," Molly said. "Red dwarfs will outlast every other type of star in the universe. In many cases by trillions of years."

"We've visited some of those," I said. "In almost every case, a rocky planet in the habitable zone is tidally locked to its star, which is not very conducive for human life."

"That's true," she replied. "The only possible way around this is to find a habitable moon orbiting a gas giant in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star."

"How common is that?" I asked.

"Not very common," she said. "But even though they are possible, there is another problem with red dwarf stars. They shoot off violent flares, flares that are much more energetic than those expelled by our sun."

"Maybe the gas giant's strong magnetic field would protect a moon in orbit around it," Marie said.

"That's a possibility," Molly said. "Gas giants have strong magnetic fields. Jupiter's field extends out for millions of miles."

"I could see another problem with this," I said. "A habitable moon might already have an intelligent species."

"It just means that our search is going to take some time," Molly said.

I sighed. "I don't doubt that one bit." My eyes brightened. "What about that moon we explored after we arrived at our first destination?"

"That star wasn't an M-class. It wouldn't last much longer than our Sun."

I sighed again. "Yeah, you're right."

After a period of silence, Molly introduced a new idea. "Marie and I have been browsing through the memory stack list. There are some people in that list that might be useful to our plan to save humanity."

I frowned. "You're talking about the perpetrators of this insane plot to take over Earth."

"Yes, but we believe that they were included only because of their expertise."

"What if they try to overwhelm us and take over?"

"They can't. You and I are the prime movers. The androids wouldn't allow a takeover."

I turned to Alice and Ellen. "Is that the way it works?"

"Yes, Jason," Alice replied. "The primary code is locked forever. No one, not even you and Molly, can change it."

"We will not allow anyone to takeover," Ellen said.

"We're only considering two individuals," Molly said. "They're experts on planetary science and biological species."