Chapter 9. Possibility

Beverly's carbon fourteen tests on hair samples from corpses they found on Earth only added to the confusion that the blackout event caused.

"The results I've gotten don't make sense," Beverly revealed. "They indicate that these people died only two or three years ago. That doesn't seem possible."

"The only possible way that could be the case is if the Venus event was short lived," Charles said.

"Or, the blackout event corrupted time," Carl suggested. "We have no idea what sort of time effect we've experienced."

"I think the real confusion is the fact that our crew and Dave's crew experienced the blackout even though we were separated by four lightyears. This suggests a cosmic event, but it's inconsistent with this Venus effect on Earth. We should have suffered more severely out here in space."

"Unless these two events are not connected," Carl suggested. "Maybe the Venus effect is unrelated to the blackout."

"I take it that you've eliminated the alien attack theory," Hilary said.

"Yeah," Charles said, running his hand through his hair. "It doesn't make sense that aliens would be attacking us in two locations separated by four light years. Why would they even bother."

"Is it possible that we've been changed by this time screw up?" Alice asked.

"Are you suggesting that we've been altered physically?" Charles asked.

"Yes. Maybe we've been time shifted by the blackout event and that's why we can't appreciate what we're seeing."

"That's possible," Charles replied. "We do have a medical lab on this vessel that is capable of performing thorough physical exams."

"Yes," Vicky said. "I was trained to use that system."

"Why would they do that?" Hilary asked her. "You're an astrophysicist, not a physician."

Vicky grinned briefly. "As a matter of fact, I was. I changed course when I was accepted into the Space Academy."

"In that case you're recruited to do the tests." Charles told her. "I'll volunteer. We should also have a female subject."

Hilary raised her hand. "I'll do it."

"Good," Charles said. "Maybe this will help us understand what's going on here."

Charles went with Vicky to the medical lab, which was next to the hibernation chamber.

The A-156 model medical exam module dominated the lab. Vicky activated it and made it run through a system check before she tried to use it.

Charles looked over her shoulder at the readout screen. "Is the robot doctor ready, doctor?"

She turned to give him a teasing grin. "Yes, it is!"

"I'm ready," he proclaimed.

She offered him an ornery smirk that morphed to a more serious demeanor. "Ah, you have to disrobe for this exam."

"Everything?" He asked with a concerned expression.

"Yes," She replied, with a constrained but still teasing grin.

She continued to program the medical unit for a complete exam while her willing subject undressed. When he was finished, she turned to survey his body.

"I like your birthday suit," she said, with a sly smile on her beautiful lips.

"Thanks," he replied while giving her a mock scolding expression.

"Raise your hands and spread your legs," she commanded. "I have to stick sensors onto to you."

He watched her stick small dime-sized thin sensors to his forehead, throat, chest, abdomen, his back, buttocks and his thighs and calves, sensor devices that send information to the main module.

"Ok, get on the treadmill and start running," she told him after she sat down to view him and the data screen.

"How fast?" he asked.

"You can trot for a few minutes and then gradually pick up the pace."

She watched his body go into action as the data began streaming onto the screen. Her eyes scanned the flexing of all his muscles and every ripple and flexing of his flesh, especially the motion of his genitals.

After a few minutes, she told him to run faster, and she kept urging him to increase his effort. The data displayed his breathing, blood pressure, heart rate, cardiac rhythm, amount of sweat, energy utilization, and nerve functions. The data filled the screen with a plethora of numbers and visual displays of his blood flow, heart pumping action, breathing, oxygen intake, nerve pulses as well as total energy utilization.

When she told him to stop, he was huffing at a good rate. She allowed her eyes to absorb all the physical vibrations, shimmering light reflections, and flexing of his bare flesh.

Once she was sure that he was in a rested state, she placed her hand on a transparent platform bed. "Lie down on here with your arms and legs stretched out."

He did, and her eyes scanned over his body several times before she activated the scanning system.

"This will do multiple scans, so try to stay still."

"Yes, doctor," he replied in a teasing manner. "Enjoy the scans."

She laughed, and he did too until he saw her hold up a flexible shiny flexible wire that was plugged into a connector on the medical module. "Now comes the fun part," she said with an ornery grin.

His expression was more of an anticipatory panicked grimace as she wrapped her hand around his manhood and inserted the wire into its opening.

He huffed and puffed as she slowly pushed it further up into his urethra. It felt as if the wire were stretching it, a dull pressure pain that was not one he wanted to feel.

"Why is this necessary?" he asked in a squeaky voice.

"It's the way to determine if you have prostrate problems," she said with a subtle grin.

"I can assure you that I don't," he replied while taking short breaths.

She chuckled. "They all say that."

"Why can't you use sonar to determine if my prostrate is enlarged?"

"Yeah, I could have, but that wouldn't be as much fun," she replied with a smirk, before she continued the insertion. "This wire is creating a detailed image of your urethra. It's much more detailed than a sonar scan."

"Ah, Ah . . . easy with that!"

She gave him a mock frown. "I haven't even gotten it up to your prostrate."

He sighed. "Shit!"

She laughed.

Later that evening, after running the medical scan on Hilary, Vicky presented the results. "The scans indicate that they have bodies at the age of eighteen to twenty. There is no evidence of any diseases or medical conditions of any sort. In fact, they're perfect."

"That's impossible," Charles said. "I'm thirty four and had an injury to my left wrist that was repaired but left a scar."

"That didn't show up on the scan, and believe me, it would have if you still had it."

"How are you certain that we're perfect based on two test runs?" Beverly asked.

"Both subjects had injuries based on their medical records, but the medical scans indicated that these no longer exist. I think that this is the result of this time parody effect that we've gone through."

"She's right," Charles added. "We have been morphed into young, physically perfect humans, but have been rendered sterile."

"He's right," Vicky added. "His sperm are inactive, and we females are unable to ovulate."

"How is the fact that we're sterile have to do with the time parody?" Beverly asked.

"That's an excellent question," Charles said. "An existential one that we must answer if we are ever going to understand what happened."

"This sounds too conspiratorially oriented," Hilary said. "It's almost consistent with what we would expect aliens to do to us in order to exterminate the human race."

"Why didn't they just eliminate us?" Dave said. "The rest of mankind was destroyed on Earth."

"Maybe we're left over from the sterilization of Earth," Carl said. "And, instead of destroying us, they just made us sterile."

"So, we're back to the evil alien theory," Alice said.

"Unfortunately, we don't have the evidence to prove that idea," Charles said.

"Well." Hilary said. "We're definitely not going to restore the human race on Earth."

That was a fact that no one could refute.

"Are we satisfied with only two subject testing?" Alice asked.

"I don't know," Charles said. He turned to Vicky. "You're the physician. What do you think?"

She shrugged. "Yeah, I could do more tests if you wish."

"Ok, we'll let you torment more subjects," Charles said with a chuckle. "Why should I have been the only victim."

She laughed.

Carl and Dave were not in the same jovial mood as they were.