Are aliens responsible for human life on the planet Earth? If so, why can't we blame these aliens for global warming?

The command deck of the X-3002 was quieter than normal for the start of a mission. The crew was getting used to the procedure and it had been more than a month since the last mission. The mood was one of subdued resolve.

Marty turned to George. "Who won the pool?"

"Uma. She correctly picked Nu2 Lupi as our destination."

"You mean that you and Karl missed?"

George chuckled. "Yep."

Marty turned to Uma. "How did you manage to out guess these two?"

"I found out that SETI had a promising signal from the Lupus constellation, and Nu2 Lupi is a star like ours."

Marty laughed.

"Jump in two minutes, Angie."

"Execute on count, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

The jump went as expected. The crew was getting jaded to these emotionally disturbing transfers through a singularity. Being stretched out to infinity and spiraled through a tiny hole didn’t upset them anymore.

"We have entered normal space, Angie."

"Reduce our velocity to 2000 kps, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

As the forward engines screamed, the crew migrated to their respective workstations, except for Marty and Angie. They were already at theirs.

"I'm not detecting any energy signals," Marty said. "At least, not yet."

"The star is a G2V main sequence dwarf that is 99 percent as large as our sun," Karl said. "It's 97 percent as luminous."

"There are four inner and four outer planets," George said. "The second planet is at 0.8 AU and the third is at 1.01 AU."

"The third planet has water and oxygen," Anna said. "The second planet has much less water and is oxygen depleted."

"Adjust our course to orbit the third planet, Delphi. Maintain current velocity."

"Yes, Angie."

"We've detected a carrier signal from three" Brigit said. "We're still in the process of analyzing it."

The engines pulsed several times.

"We're going through a field of proto-comets," Marty said. "We should be encountering planetoids in the next ten minutes."

"I have audio," Brigit said before she switched her audio. A series of sounds that resembled dog barks emanated from the main speakers."

"Oh, great," Marty said. "Now we have dog aliens."

"Those barks as you call them are varying in pitch and tempo," Lia said.

“I have video,” Brigit said. She switched it to the main screen.

Marty was the first to react. “What the hell? That looks like a Centaur.”

“Not really,” Ferris said. “A Centaur is the combination of a man and a horse. That is neither.”

“It has four legs,” Marty said. “And, if I’m not mistaken, those are hooves on those legs.”

“Yes, but the body is not that of a horse. It has a shape that more resembles a jackal. See the long pointy tail.”

“The upper body certainly doesn’t look human,” Onuki said. “This creature has an interesting face. The eyes are more like that of a feline, not a lizard. The mandibles are not projected as in an equine or other ungulate.”

“How come some of them have four arms and some have only two?” Marty asked.

Ferris laughed. “I don’t think those are extra arms. Those are females.”

“You’re kidding me, right?”

The women laughed.

"What are they doing to one another?" Marty said. "Is that their way of doing sex?"

"I believe it is," Ferris said. "Why would they be broadcasting that?"

"Maybe this is an alien porno channel," Marty quipped.

"Are there any other signals on that carrier?" Ferris asked Brigit.

"I'll check."

After several minutes, Brigit switched a new video transmission onto the main screen. The images showed aliens trotting around in what appeared to be a meadow with navy blue grass. The resolution and color rendition were good enough to show that the aliens were not colored the same on both sides. One side was light pink and the other light yellow. This asymmetry was not evident in their faces.

The trotting aliens were a mixed sexual group and appeared to be frolicking about in the manner of spirited young colts and fillies. They didn't look smaller than the porno specimens, which would indicate that they are adults.

"This makes you wonder if these are the aliens or the aliens' animals," Marty said.

"I think that these are the aliens," Ferris said. "See the one on the far left. It's holding an object, which could be a video device."

"I wonder what they're saying to one another." Marty said.

"I'm working on that," Lia said.

###

The command deck was silent. Marty and George hadn't said anything to each other since they began the late watch two hours ago, but Marty couldn't allow this reticent period to continue.

"What does that planet look like, George?"

George looked up for a few seconds before returning to peering through his eyepiece. "Nothing really all that different from the other class-M planets we've seen. It's approximately half ocean and very nearly the same size as Earth."

"I'm surprised that we've found so many planets that resemble Earth."

"I'm not," George said. "Apparently, when these main sequence yellow-white dwarfs form into stars, they drag a planet forming soup along, and the formation of the star and its planets is a common process. A planet that forms in the habitable zone results in an Earth-like environment. Comet collisions bring plenty of water and life-forming organic molecules. Gas emissions form an atmosphere that single cell plants help convert to a hospitable mantle. The process is more common than previously believed."

"Not to change the subject, but do you see any evidence of civilization?"

"There are structures and what look like roads, but I can't speculate on how advanced these aliens are, whatever we call them."

"The Centaurs," Marty said. "For want of any other name."

"Well, the Centaurs are so radically different, it's difficult to discern their intelligence."

Marty sighed. "None of the aliens we've found resemble us. I thought that all of the so called exobiologists and anthropologists speculated that intelligent extraterrestrials would be bipedal and symmetrical. The Centaurs are neither."

George smiled facetiously. "I reckon they were wrong, ol' buddy."

Marty returned an editorial smile. "We're re-writing the book on extraterrestrials, that's for sure."

George laughed. "There is no book."

Amen to that.

###

"We have achieved stable orbit at 200 kilometers, Angie."

"Thank you, Delphi. Maintain full stealth mode. Prepare to launch atmospheric and oceanic probes."

"Yes, Angie."

The sound of probes being launched echoed around the deck. Anna took control of the atmospheric probe and Ferris assumed control of the oceanic probe.

"Readings are coming in," Anna said. "Pressure at the surface is 1005 millibars. Temperature is 287 K. Oxygen is at 18%, Nitrogen at 80% with traces of argon. Carbon dioxide is .002%."

"The planet has a strong magnetic field," George said. "I'm reading nearly one gauss near the poles."

"The ocean is different," Ferris said. "I'm reading a depth of nearly ten thousand meters, and the salinity is very low, less than five grams per cubic meter. There is aquatic life, but it's unlike anything on Earth." She switched the probe's view to the main screen.

"They look like snakes," Marty said.

"This is the fish of this planet's ocean," Ferris said. "See the gills on its side. Even members of the Elapidae family of serpents can’t breath under water."

"Prepare the biometric probes for launch, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

"I have what looks like a city coming over the terminator," George said. He switched his view to the main screen. The city was unlike any that the crew had seen. The buildings were pyramid shaped and arranged around acre sized pentagram-shaped plots of grass.

"Are those their houses?" Marty asked.

"It's hard to say," George said. "We know very little about their culture."

"So, what else is new?" Marty quipped.

"Check this out," George said, switching a telescopic view to the main screen. It showed lines of aliens galloping along a dirt road like cars on a freeway.

"Apparently, they like to run," Marty said. "They must not believe in vehicular transportation."

"That's not true," George said, switching to another view from an insect probe. Four aliens were standing on a levitating platform that was flying along above the galloping aliens.

"They must be the wealthy aliens," Marty said.

"We had the sync pulses at the wrong frequency on our audio signals," Lia said. "Listen to this." She switched a view of several aliens conversing. Their vocal sounds were as singing.

"That sounds like opera," Marty said. "Are you sure this isn't a performance?"

"I'm not sure of anything, but the computer is beginning to create a translation."

"I like it," Marty said. "It doesn't sound threatening."

"This looks interesting," Ferris said, switching a new view to the main screen.

"What are they doing?" Marty said.

"They're running around inside a fenced circle and jumping over barriers," Ferris said. "This could be a competition, judging by the audience. Interestingly, the participants are both male and female."

“I don’t understand the designation of male and female,” Marty said.

“It’s fairly obvious,” Ferris said. “I’ve gone back over the recordings that we’ve made of the so called porno channel and have formulated a theory. If you look carefully at them you can see that the females have tubular appendages attached to the front of their upper torsos approximately six inches below their arm pits. These organs must be a secondary sexual characteristic. These appendages are flaccid when they are at rest but become erect so to speak and stick straight out when they trot or gallop. The males have a similar appendage midway between where their front legs attach to their upper torso. Again, when the males are at rest this organ is flaccid and only becomes rigid when they trot or gallop. The females have an organ of entry at the same position on their bodies as the males’ organ. The female organ is quite obvious because it has a bright red ring around it, almost like a target. If you observe how they mate, it is obvious that females initiate the process by causing their appendages to become erect and use them to stimulate the males into a resting erection of their organ. I believe that the channel showing mating is an instructional video.”

“Are the female appendages mammary glands?” Uma asked.

“I don’t believe that they are. These are not like horses, if that’s what you mean. Their skins are not hairy like horse hide. In fact, they have smooth skins that are not at all like any mammal that Earth biology knows.”

"Obviously, these aliens are not concerned about modesty," Marty said. Their genitals are quite visible."

"We can't judge them by our standards," Ferris said. "Besides, it makes it easier to discern their gender."

Marty shook his head. "It certainly does."

They laughed.

###

Angie entered the engineering deck and went to the anti-matter generator chamber. Entry to this inner sanctum was by class-5 protocols. After being biometrically scanned and probed, she was allowed to enter the heart of the X-3002. The chamber looked like a stainless steel sanctuary to the gods of physics. All sorts of instruments and screens flashed with streaming data.  A large mirrored sphere stood suspended in mid air like a balloon filled with helium, but it did not contain helium, or at least not helium with positive protons and negative electrons.

She saw that Honey had removed her cloak and was nude. Angie realized that the species that Honey represented was not actually flat, but was more oval in shape, as if something had compressed her body from a round shape into something more lens shaped. Her muscles were flattened but not enough to prevent their shape from being discerned under her smooth, almost transparent skin. It was almost as if you were looking at an anatomy lesson.

Honey turned to look at her. "Hello."

Angie gave her a concerned frown. "How are the generators?"

"They are fine," Honey said. "I have tweaked them to a twenty percent higher efficiency."

“Is that safe?”

“I have worked through all of the equations with Jean Michael and we are in agreement with the changes.”

“What does that mean?” Angie asked. “What will it do for the ship?”

“It will allow higher velocities and rates of acceleration. You will have more weapon power and shielding.”

“That’s great. Do you like to work on the engines?”

“This is where I can best contribute to the missions. All I ask is to be allowed to contribute.”

“Believe me, Honey, we value your contribution. We fought hard to have you added to this crew. I, for one, am satisfied that it was the right thing to do.”

Honey gestured to the large mirrored sphere suspended in mid air. “This is a Bose-Einstein condensate of triplet state positronium atoms. If it were to decay to singlet state, we would become part of a massively unbelievable discharge of gamma rays.”

“What’s a positronium atom?” Angie asked her.

“It is an exotic atom composed of an electron and positron. This atom is not stable under normal conditions and annihilation occurs after only a few micro seconds.”

“Is this what powers our jump drive?”

“Yes, but it is much more complicated than that.”

Angie smiled. “I can imagine.”

Honey noticed that Angie was scanning her body “Do you find my body objectionable?”

“Absolutely not. Your body is quite interesting. Your skin is so smooth and unblemished. It’s very beautiful.”

Honey didn’t exhibit any emotion. “My body is my body. I am curious about your body.”

Angie’ eyes ballooned and she backed away. “Ah, I have to get back to the command deck. I’ll talk to you later.”

She wasted no time extracting herself from the antimatter chamber.

###

“Check out this,” George said as he switched his screen to the main screen. It showed a large pentagon-shaped craft sitting on a large round flat area.

“What is that?” Marty asked.

“I think that’s a space craft,” George said. "Those hemisphere-shaped bulges look like engines."

“Maintain high alert,” Angie said. “I don’t know if they’ve spotted us, but it pays to error on the side of caution.”

"There's an up tick in activity," Marty said. "Several of those space ships are powering up."

"Chatter on the video channels has escalated," Lia said. "They're talking about an attack."

"Do you have a usable translation?" Angie asked.

"Yes. It's a little rough around the edges, but it will work."

"I have detected the appearance of alien ships in this system, Angie."

"What is their position, course and numbers, Delphi?"

"They are at one billion kilometers and are on course for this planet at ten thousand kilometers per second, Angie. They number over two hundred."

"Open a COM to the aliens of this planet, Delphi." She turned to Lia. "Activate the translator."

"A COM is open, Angie."

"Thank you, Delphi."

"You are welcome, Angie."

"We come in peace from a planet around a star that is designated in this star chart." An insert was included in the transmission. "We have detected the fleet of ships on course to your planet. We will help you defend your planet by intercepting these ships. Any help that you can give us will be appreciated." She paused. "Repeat the transmission, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

"Take us out of orbit and on a course to intercept the fleet, Delphi. Prepare the X-401 for launch."

"What are we going to do with the X-401?" Marty asked.

"You and Uma are going to come up behind them while I confront them head on." She toggled the paging system. "Honey, report to the command deck."

Marty looked at her with puzzled eyes. "Honey?"

"She'll be my gunner. She has super fast reflexes."

Marty stood up. "Let's go, Uma. I just hope that your reflexes are super fast."

Uma followed Marty into an elevator. "How can we fight hundreds of ships?"

"We have the element of surprise. The X-401 is highly maneuverable and equipped with powerful weapons."

"Why don't we just go home? These aliens know nothing of us."

"We can't," Marty said. "We just can't allow these bastards to destroy an entire species. Besides, we are at war. To leave the battlefield is dishonorable."

"You have strange beliefs, Martin. Nevertheless, I will do my best to stop these bastards, as you call them."

Marty smiled. "Thank you."

On the command deck the mood was more complex.

"I am reporting for duty," Honey said.

"I want you to fire the weapons," Angie said. "We are going into battle and you have the quickest reflexes."

Honey held up her mitten hand. "My hand is not the same as yours."

"I don't think it matters. All you need is a way to press the fire button. Perhaps, you can use two hands."

"Show me what to do."

On the X-401, tensions were rising as the fighter accelerated away from the mother ship.

“How are we going to get behind them?” Uma asked.

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Marty said. “If we try to fly straight at them, they’ll fire missiles and we’ll have to turn away. What we really want to do is sneak up behind them. We’ll have to take the long way around. I think there’s a gas giant at 7.8 AU. We’ll swing around it.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Uma said.

“Adjust course to swing around the seventh planet, Delphi.”

“Yes, Martin.”

He looked at Uma. “Okay, this is what you do. You move the joystick to aim a reticle on the target and then press the fire button to shoot. Once you get the hang of it, it’ll become second nature.”

“What does it shoot?”

“Pulses of plasma at near light speed. The plasma balls contain very energetic particles. You’ll have to ignore the bright flashes and explosions and just keep on firing as fast as you can.”

As they approached the seventh planet, the image of the gas giant filled the main screen. The terminator was nearly flat, or so it appeared as they passed near the upper atmosphere. Giant swirls of yellow clouds attested to violent weather on this abysmally cold world.

“Please transfer weapon control to Uma, Delphi. Prepare to fire energy beams at full power.”

“Yes, Martin.”

“I’ll tell you when to start,” Marty said. “I will be guiding the ship around to avoid their fire. You’ll have to adjust to keep them on the target.”

“I understand, Martin.”

The communication lamp flashed.

“Open a COM, Delphi.”

“Yes, Martin.”

“We are ready to make our run,” Angie said. “Are you in position?”

“Give us a few more minutes,” Marty said. “Good luck.”

“Kick their ass!”

He smiled. “Yes, Commander.”

Marty took control of the helm and moved up behind the enemy fleet. He saw the flashes of weapon fire and knew that it was time to go into action.

“Fire away, Uma. Give them hell.”

On the X-3002, the hell had already started. Weapon blasts began pelting the shields and rocking the ship.

“Fire, Honey.”

As Angie maneuvered the ship into spiraling courses to avoid weapon fire, Honey began to fire at a super human rate and accuracy. Delphi blasted energy beams into the enemy craft at super computer speed. The resulting fire caused enemy craft to explode and crash into one another. It was all that Angie could do to avoid collisions with the debris.

Meanwhile, the X-401 had attracted several pursuers. Marty flew the ship around in tight turns to avoid direct hits, but enemy fire was unavoidable, especially with so many enemy ships. Uma didn’t waver in her concentrated fire. She was fighting for her life, especially when the enemy fire impinged upon the shields with loud reports that buffeted the ship like a cork in a stormy sea.

Uma fired at several enemy ships, hitting them squarely, but she had difficulty in aiming when Marty flew into hard turns.

"There's one on our tail, Marty said. "I'm going to do a flip. Get ready to fire at him."

"I am getting dizzy, Martin."

"Concentrate on the targets, not my driving."

"It's hard, but I will try."

When Marty flipped the X-401 Uma blasted the enemy into pieces.

"Nice shooting!"

"I am getting tired," Uma said. "When will this end."

Marty pulled the ship into another tight turn. "It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings."

Uma gave him a puzzled look. He smiled back.

Splitting up the enemy fleet was working, but with only two ships in the fray, the chance of a complete victory was in question. However, the appearance of several Centaur ships effectively pushed the enemy fleet into submission, and what was left retreated. The X-401 pursued some of them and scored several more kills before the rest jumped.

“An alien ship is sending a signal, Angie.”

“Patch it through the translator, Delphi.”

“Yes, Angie.”

“We are grateful for your help. We wish to meet you.”

Angie pointed to Tyler. “You’re on.”

Tyler cleared his throat. “We wish to meet you and discuss a mutual defense. Can we visit your planet?”

The answer took some time. “Yes. We will show you where to land.”

“We will comply,” Tyler said.

“I have a COM request from the X-401, Angie.”

“Open COM, Delphi.”

“COM is open, Angie.”

“We’re on our way back,” Marty said. “ETA in fifteen minutes.”

“Have you suffered any damage?”

“Nothing serious, except for Uma’s nerves.”

Angie laughed, but it was relieved laughter.

###

The alien planet appeared as a blue pearl in a sea of black space. Under the clear atmosphere, patches of dark blue and red peeked out under a smattering of filamentous bluish clouds. The ocean appeared as a shimmering blue-green girdle swath around the middle of the planet.

“Their vegetation is not based on chlorophyll,” Anna said. “The spectral scans indicate some sort of bluish carotenoid structure.”

“Maybe that’s why they show that pigment in their skin,” Ferris said. “I think that these aliens are herbivores, not carnivores.”

“In other words, they’re ungulates, but not horses,” Marty said.

“That’s the difficulty in dealing with alien life,” Ferris said. “There are no rules to go on.”

“The aliens are indicating that we should land on the large area near the dome,” Lia said.

Marty turned to Angie. “Whose turn is it this time?”

“You like horses; you go.”

He gave her a smart-ass grin. “Thanks. Who should I take?”

"Lia and Tyler for sure. Take Karl and Ferris."

He saluted. "Yes, Captain. "

As the landing team rode an elevator to the equipment deck, the mood was somber.

"How do we know if these aliens will be civil?" Karl asked.

"We just saved them from annihilation," Marty said. "They should kiss us and give us medals."

"I don't think that they're violent by nature," Ferris said. "They seem curious but not exploitive."

"We're guessing," Marty said. "Despite the risk, we'll go unarmed.  We'll present them with a universal translator, the optical disks and allow Tyler here to charm them."

Tyler smiled. "I'll do my best."

After strapping in, Marty booted up the Lander and prepared for launch.

"Open the hangar door, Delphi."

"Yes, Martin."

The door slowly retracted to reveal the alien world slowly rotating below. This was not like Earth, but it did seem inviting. As the Lander levitated and moved out of the opening the true beauty of the Centaur's home planet made itself known to all who gazed upon it.

Marty fired the forward engines to plunge the Lander into the planet's atmosphere. He leveled out at 3000 meters and slowly spiraled into a gentle landing.

"Well, folks, as they say in Joshua 9.11: Take provisions for your journey; go and meet them and say to them, 'We are your servants; make a treaty with us.'”

That earned him funny looks.

When Marty and his team exited the Lander, five aliens trotted nearer. Seeing them up close was both exciting and frightening. The aliens were the size of ponies, not horses, but they stood on average nearly six feet from hoof to head top. Not at all like lizards, they appeared as antelopes with gracefully thin but powerful legs.

Their faces appeared humanoid with large bright feline eyes and wide mouths under long thin noses. Their heads were shaped as elongated tubes that terminated in the back as a point after a slight curve. What amazed Ferris were the near-human looking hands. How did that happen?

"How do you understand our talk?" one of the aliens asked.

Tyler stepped forward. "We have a translator device that changes our talk to yours and yours to ours." Lia held a case up. "We offer you a translator that is programmed to your talk and the talk of the others we have contacted. We also have a disk that contains information on the translator as well as information about our home planet."

"Why did you come?"

"We are curious and we search for the home world of those who attacked you. They have attacked us and others many times."

"Your timing is fortunate. You have saved us many terminations."

Marty turned to Lia. "Terminations? I think he means deaths."

"I believe so," Lia said.

"What do you want of us?" the alien asked.

"We need help in finding the home world of those who attacked you."

"They have attacked us many times. We have discovered three possible stars by analyzing their entry into quantum state. We cannot investigate these stars because we will not leave our home unprotected."

Marty and Tyler exchanged glances.

"We would be willing to investigate these stars if you can point them out."

"We will. Follow us."

Following them was not easy. Marty and his crew had to jog behind them for what seemed like a mile before they arrived at a gigantic pyramid-shaped building that looked like it was made of polished black marble. The alien’s sun glistened on the surfaces with near blinding brightness.

Inside was a scene unlike anything imaginable. Aliens riding on levitating platforms worked around a giant matrix of fiber optic cables. Pulses of light flashed through these cables at rates that made a viewer dizzy.

“What is that?” Marty asked.

“I believe that it’s a computer based on optics,” Lia said. “They have obviously excelled in the use of lasers.”

“They’ve also mastered Antigrav,” Marty said. “Obviously, these aliens are technologically advanced. It just goes to show you that you can’t judge them by their looks.”

“You are applying a human-based judgment,” Ferris said. “We can’t assume that only humanoid aliens are intelligent.”

A holographic display suddenly appeared suspended above the floor. It appeared as if you were in space standing on the ship and looking out at the glorious universe.

“We have a display of the space from our planet,” an alien said. “We have indicated the three possibilities.”

Karl recorded the projected image with a camera that could record in three dimensions.

Tyler stepped forward. “We thank you for this information. We wish to come back and discuss a mutual agreement of assistance.”

“You may do so,” the alien said.

I should hope so.