Chapter 25. Expectation.

When the Proxima B entered the solar system a thousand light years away, the crew was intently interested in what sort of system it was.

"This looks like a rather complicated solar system," Hilary said. "There's several planets in the habitable zone, but only one of them appears to be actually habitable."

"That's probably the case for a lot of systems like this," Judy said.

"I'll take us to the habitable planet," Alice said. "I'm not detecting any robot alien craft."

"Maybe they're on vacation," Carl quipped.

"We wish," Charles replied.

"I'm detecting a radio signal that's coming from that planet," Hilary revealed. "The signal is frequency modulated and might contain video."

"That would help us understand what we're dealing with," Charles said.

"It would be the gold standard of intelligent species," Beverly revealed.

"I don't see any evidence of satellites or space craft in orbit," Alice reported.

"This seems too good to be true," Vicky claimed.

"Usually, that means it isn't." Carl commented.

"I've managed to extract a video from the signal," Hilary claimed. "I'll put it on the main screen."

Everyone's eyes were captured by the main screen.

"They look like percaline dolls," Beverly said. "Are they robots?"

"I don't think so," Hilary said. "I believe that they're wearing costumes."

"That's weird," Judy said.

"This is what you get when you search for intelligent species," Charles said. "They're different and not what we expect."

"Their voices sound like high pitched screeching," Beverly commented. "I'm not sure how we can translate that."

"So," Alice said. "Can we list this as an intelligent species that evolved on this exoplanet?"

Charles smiled. "Unless we find evidence to refute that, I would say that we have found our first evidence of intelligent species evolution."

Beverly pumped her fist. "Yeah! Too bad we're the only humans to realize this."

"Assuming that we can claim to be human," Charles said. "I suppose we should just be happy that we were able to see this."

"It's like our bucket list, except we won't kick the bucket," Carl said.

"However, we're not invincible," Charles said. "We can still die. It's just that we're more durable than a normal human."

Hilary turned to him. "I was going to ask you If the cats on this ship are being changed to live long."

"Yes," Alice piped in. "The agricultural deck is being bombarded with that energy that's keeping us young and impervious to damage."

"I wonder if this energy exposure is responsible for the efficiency factor," Carl asked. "We haven't really had to repair or replace anything,"

Charles smiled. "That's a good point. What that would suggest is that not only did we change but the ship itself did."

"In other words, it had nothing to do with the blackout."

Charles pointed at him. "Right. It makes sense now."

"So," Dave said. "The blackout caused the demise of human life and maybe some alien life, but we got lucky by being out in space, and went on to be changed into something more durable by an energy exposure we didn't even know was bombarding us the entire time."

"It sure looks that way," Charles reacted. "The thing I don't understand is why it didn't save the command staff from expiring during hibernation."

"Maybe the energy beam didn't get turned on until after we arrived at our destination."

"Yes, that could be the case. We can check on that in the engineering record."

"If they knew about the bio-energy device, why didn't they run it on the trip to Proxima B?" Alice asked.

"I think it might be the fact that the bio energy device uses too much power, which could have interfered with the engine's ability to reach near light speed."

"What about the cats?" Judy asked. "They weren't in hibernation."

"Cats have nine lives," Charles replied with an appropriate smirk.

"Ha, ha!"

"I would assume that they were injected with something that simulated hibernation," Charles told her. "It doesn't matter. They're here and they seem to be healthy."

"Do you take care of them?" Hilary asked.

"No. I didn't know they existed until the physical tests we did down here. The robots tend to them, just like they do to us."

"How convenient."

Charles smiled. "I believe that the cats were included to keep the robots in line. I found computer programing that suggests that they can detect problems and are able to repair them."

"I think these robots take care of everything," Vicky said. "Even things we don't realize, which means that the cats are in charge."

"Again," Charles reiterated. "It shows how much we don't know about this ship and what it's capable of."

"That doesn't make sense," Carl said. "They're smart but not on a robotic level."

"Well," Charles said with a subtle smirk. "The cat that seems to be attached to me punched a key on my command pad that revealed that these cats are controlling the robots. I was able to see that there is some sort of mental connection going on."

"That's crazy," Carl retorted. "That means that there are all sorts of crazy things we don't know about this ship."

Before Charles could reply, Hilary interrupted him.

"Oh, my goodness!" she exclaimed. "I found a list of planets with habitable aliens."

"What do you mean?" Charles asked.

She displayed it on the main screen. "Look at this. It shows the type of alien, their language capability, and their technology level. There must be thousands of these alien data references."

Charles brow wrinkled. "That doesn't make sense. How could they have known about all of these?"

"Maybe they were aware of more than we realized," Alice said.

"That's wild!" Carl exclaimed. "It would suggest that they've already traveled to these planets."

Charles smiled. "Maybe they didn't travel to them, but the cyborgs did."

Carl waved a finger at him. "Yes, and they gave it to them so that they would go there with them and destroy the robot aliens that are hell bent on killing all intelligent species."

"If what you're saying is true, we have it made," Charles said. "We already know where intelligent species are."

Vicky sighed. "This is crazy. It's as if all of this was planned and we just happened to end up finding it. That sounds like a conspiracy."

"Or" Charles retorted. "We just happen to be living out the plans that Space Command officials had created."

"In other words, you're saying that we were destined for this . . . this unbelievable mission," Hilary said.

"I'm not so convinced that it was our destiny, but rather a lucky coincidence."

"It doesn't matter," Carl said. "We're here and we're doing it."

Charles pointed at him. "Exactly!"

No one could refute his idea about how they were in this situation. Charles realized that all they had to do was work out a reasonable social situation that didn't involve disputes. Maybe the cats had something to contribute to this problem. They had activated the robots to feed the humans with small amounts of substances that placated their emotions just enough to induce more subdued relationships.

Charles had a suspicion that they were doing it. He decided to remain quiet to prevent a revolt. He preferred a peaceful more subdued emotional relationship with all of them. Happiness is a status that's hard to achieve, so it made sense to keep the status quo.

But what happened next altered their future.