Proxima Adventure

Chapter 20. Contact.

Chapter 20. Contact.

Charles had given control of the command deck over to Alice, mainly because he was more interested in the Tachyon-faster-than-light system. He had agreed with her wish to determine where the possible AI alien ship had gone.

He sat down next to her and looked at the main screen before he turned to her. "Where do you think it went?"

"My trace indicates it went to 59 Virginis, a G0V-class main sequence star with a Jupiter sized planet that has a Earth-sized moon orbiting it. There was evidence that that moon might be habitable."

"How far away is it?"

"It's 57 light years from Earth, but only around 30 light years from our present location."

"Ok, set a course for that moon. I'll be down in the engineering deck. We're going to monitor the operation of the engines during faster than light travel."

"Wouldn't that be dangerous?"

"Not really. The engineering deck is shielded from the engines."

She sighed. "Ok, I'll begin the voyage."

He smiled. "Good. If you need me, you know where I'll be."

She watched him exit the command deck before turning to the pilot's operations screen and entering the instructions to begin the voyage.

Vicky came on the command deck and sat down next to her. "What's happening?"

"Charles told me to go to the star we decided might be where the robot ship went. I'm starting the trip right now."

"He must trust you now."

She smiled briefly before she replied. "As much as I feel confident that he trusts me, I still have some concern that he's afraid of me."

Vicky gave her a confused look. "Why would he be afraid of you?"

"I don't know for sure. Maybe he doesn't like me using him for my crazy ideas about how our bodies are resistant to damage."

"And yet, he does what you ask of him. Maybe he enjoys it."

"That's possible, but I'm just not sure." She sighed. "Well. I had better get this ship on its way to 59 Virginis." She pressed a button and after a long pause, the ship began the acceleration to faster than light.

Down in engineering, Charles and his buddies were checking through data from previous light speed runs to see if there was any evidence of problems.

"So far, so good," Carl said after watching data scroll down the main screen. "I'm surprised that we haven't had any problems from these engines."

"Maybe this vessel is being protected from breakdowns like we are," Dave said while studying the data scroll.

"That's possible," Carl said. "The bio energy that we're being exposed to is also flooding the entire engineering deck at a much higher power level."

"If that's the case, we'll never get sick or worn out."

Robert wiped sweat off his brow. "Probably, but It doesn't protect us from the stifling humidity. My clothes are soaked through."

"Yeah," Charles agreed. "It's ruining our clothes."

Dave pulled his shirt off. "We may as well strip. It's too hot to be wearing anything down here."

They all agreed.

As if on cue, Judy and Felicia came on the engineering deck just after they had undressed.