Chapter No.35

When Ryan entered the command deck, he assumed everything was going smoothly, but that was not how it was.

"I have detected another vessel in our warp bubble," Chara reported.

"How is that possible?" Ryan asked.

"They must have gone to warp simultaneously with us after we escaped from the explosion," Chara said. "Maybe they were waiting on the other side of the planet for us,"

"Do you think that it's a Space Command craft?"

"Yes. I think they were waiting for us to fall into their trap."

"That doesn't make any sense. If we were destroyed, they would have lost all of the androids they needed to take over Earth."

"I think they are no longer concerned about that. They only want revenge."

"I assume they will blast us as soon as we come out of warp," Ryan said. "Maybe we can do something that would defeat that plan. If they entered warp with us, then it might be possible to drop out of warp and get behind them at the same time."

Chara's eyes moved around for a moment before she replied. "It would take perfect timing."

Ryan smiled. "You are the one to do that. Your timing is impeccable."

"I will arm a missile in the forward tubes," she said. "If I am successful in getting behind them, I will launch it before they can react."

Ryan nodded, but he was uncertain if this trick would work. Even worse, could they get behind the vessel far enough to avoid being caught in the explosion. He was betting on Chara's precise actions to pull this off. One microsecond off and he and the ship would be toast.

He held his breath while Chara did her thing, which was not exactly what he expected. She dropped out of warp a minute before arriving at the planet she was headed to. This caused the other vessel to drop out in front of her. She was able to fire the missile and then go to warp within a microsecond. Then she dropped back out of warp far out of range of the explosion, which scattered debris all over space near the planet.

Ryan started breathing again. "Nicely done," he told her. "That was one of the coolest moves I've ever seen."

"Thank you," Chara replied without any emotional response to the miraculous trick she had just pulled off.

"There has to be a responder on this vessel that allowing them to trace us," Ryan said. "Is it possible that one of us has it embedded in our body?"

Chara turned to Alma. "Do a scan for a quantum entanglement beacon."

Alma started the search, and it wasn't long before she located it. "It is in her," she said, pointing at Martha.

Martha eyes ballooned for a second before she settled down. "I don't know how that go into me."

"It makes sense," Ryan said. "They sent you to the planet to see what was going on. What better way to trace us if we left the planet."

"I have deactivated it," Alma said.

"Good. That should keep them off our backs, at least for the near term."

Chara turned the Avenger around and plotted a course back to the planet. She decided to avoid going into warp again just in case there was another Space Command vessel around.

"Hopefully we've stopped Space Command from trying to destroy us," Myra said. "I'm tired of this nonsense."

"We all are," Ryan said. "But I believe this is building up to us going back to reform them once and for all."

"That implies that we would have to sacrifice androids to do that," Myra replied.

"I have no intentions of sacrificing these androids. I am thinking more of a diplomatic approach."

No one was prepared to argue that point.

Chara approached the planet carefully. She wanted to make sure that no more vessels were lurking around the planet. Seeing no threats, she placed the Avenger into a high orbit around an Earth sized planet orbiting a G-class dwarf star very similar to the Sun.

"This planet is approximately the same distance from its star as our Earth is from the Sun," Alma said. "However. its atmosphere is not the same as Earth's. There are only traces of oxygen and there is more carbon dioxide."

"That doesn't sound very encouraging," Ryan said. "Apparently, this planet failed to harbor life, at least not life as we know it."

"I am detecting large objects that are not natural."

"Really? Display them on the main screen."

Everyone's eyes turned to view what looked like large bubbles on an otherwise flat landscape. The bubbles reflected specular light, indicating that they were metallic."

"Those are definitely not natural," Ryan said. "What size are we seeing here?"

"Each object is more than a hundred meters wide," Alma replied.

"Scans indicate that they are observatories," Myra said. "There is no indication of any species inside them."

"Is this a Space Command facility?" Ryan asked.

"There is nothing to indicate that," Myra said.

"If that's the case, we have to assume it's an alien installation, but what sort of aliens?"

"Maybe we should go down there and see if we could find something to indicate who put them here."

"I would go along with that if we knew that there were no more Space Command vessels lurking around here. I think we should consider returning to Chara's planet."

"Wouldn't that be under Space Command control by now?"

"Could be, and if it is we could deliver another blow to their control of space."

"I agree with your plan," Chara said. "I will take us back there."

Ryan nodded his approval. He wasn't all that enthusiastic with the idea, but he felt it was necessary to stop Space Command's attempt to dominate.

Three days later, after they were securely in warp, Chara and the androids decided to do a performance that Ryan had suggested. What they did was much more than he had ever expected.

Chara and thirty of her android friends had dressed in period clothing typical of what women of means would have worn to a gala party. Effectively, they were dressed to the hilt, so to speak, in long dresses with decorative frilly lace pleated ruffles, bows, tight waists, with full skirts that had trains. How did they know how to create these costumes?

Their human audience had not seen clothing like this before, except in history books. It was as if they had been transported back to the 1880's.

"We will perform Mozart's Requiem in D-minor," Chara announced.

Ryan didn't know what to expect. He was astounded that they would try something that complicated, but what he heard blew his mind. Their voices were angelic, and the musical accompaniment was perfect. He sat there with his human friends and marveled at what they were doing. Their singing was both powerful and delicate. It swelled at times and pulsed with a softer tone. The instrumental accompaniment was sweetly toned and added a powerful component to the vocals. It consisted of two basset horns, two bassoons, two trumpets, three trombones, two drums, violin, viola and cello plus an organ. Ryan was surprised that all these instruments were available. Why would a spaceship contain these antique instruments? Even more mysterious is that androids would know how to play them.

After the performance, the humans clapped. Ryan stood up and stared at the performers for a moment before responding. "That was . . . it was simply beautiful. I see now that you are much more talented and capable than I had ever expected. You are amazing and I will do all in my power to see that you are treated with the respect that you deserve."

"We are pleased that you are willing to help us," Chara said. "I misjudged you and treated you badly, and I apologize for that. We are prepared to help you in your mission to reform Space Command."

"Thank you," Ryan said. "I hope that we will be successful. Our collective fate is dependent on what we do."

Ryan was convinced that he was right, but he realized that it wasn't going to be easy.