Baby, you ain't seen nothin' yet!

-  BTO -

Night landings at Area 51 are unnerving. You can't see the ground except in infrared, which displays everything monochromatically as if it had been turned inside out. That really didn't matter because the crew remained in a state of somber and anxiety ridden reflection. They knew that they were going to suffer for their sins in a very unpleasant manner.

For each of them, returning to Earth was bittersweet. It's nice to get back on terra firma, but each knew that he or she must go through purgatory to get into heaven. NASA had no idea of how to prevent an alien infectious agent from being accidentally turned loose on Earth, so they erred on the side of paranoia. They subjected the crew to Dante's version of hell.

When the men rode the ship's elevator down and the door slid open, they saw the bare backsides of the women being ushered into a plastic tent the size of a circus big top. The sight should have been pleasant, but it was depressing. They were ordered to strip by technicians encased in bio suits. You couldn't see these germ chasers' faces and it was impossible to discern their gender. Oh well. This is no place for the prudish.

###

Marty entered the makeshift common room and took a seat at a table with George and Tyler. The women were seated together at another table. The crewmembers were dressed in white disposable robes and slippers. Any clothing they had when they got off the ship was gone forever. There was a video screen mounted on the wall displaying news, but nobody was paying attention.

"I say," Tyler said. "They are overdoing this a bit, don't you think?"

Marty gave him a smile. "They're afraid, and fear breeds irrational extremes."

"Are we going to go through this every time we have physical contact with aliens?" George asked.

"I don't know," Marty said. "I heard that they're working on a device that can scan and kill infectious agents."

"Yeah, and guess who will be the guinea pigs?"

"It might be better than going into the tank," Mary said with a grin.

"I say, when that water came up over my head, I thought they were drowning me," Tyler said.

"That wasn't water," Marty said. "It's an organic breathable liquid. Deep-sea divers use it to withstand enormous pressures. I've been in it before."

"It scared the hell out of me," George said. "Why did they do that?"

"I believe it flushes out our lungs."

"They could have warned us,"

"I found the dermis burning more distressful," Tyler said. "Isn't that a bit dangerous?"

"It's like getting a bad sunburn," Marty said. "I suppose it kills off any microbes on your skin."

"The fair sex weathered it well," Tyler said after glancing over at them.

"I'm beginning to think that they're not so fair," George said, frowning.

Marty chuckled. "Maybe they enjoy it."

Uma noticed their glances. "The men must like this nonsense. They're laughing."

"Men are such assholes." Anna said. "All they think about is sex and alcohol."

"They must be having withdrawal," Ferris said. "There's no alcohol in here."

Angie grinned. "And, no sex. Bummer."

They laughed.

Suddenly, the video screen went dark. Even though nobody was paying attention, everybody turned to look.

The screen lit up with Arthur's smiling face. "Good day people. I'm sure that you'll be happy to hear that you're being set free early. We have found no sign of an alien infectious agent in any of you. You will undergo a final inspection, be given clothing and transported to your barracks. Your next mission is scheduled for the ninth. We are adding two new members: Onuki Takuya is a microbiologist and will work with you, Ferris."

When a photo of a Japanese woman appeared on the screen, Marty frowned. She had a pleasant face, but she was obviously petite and her hair had sections of grey streaks.

"Karl Schneider is a Solar Astronomer and will aid you, George."

Marty smiled when Karl's photo was displayed.

"I'm sure you will find these additions helpful on your next missions. Thank you and have a nice day."

The screen went dark and technicians wearing bio suits came in and went directly to the men.

"Remove your robes and slippers," one of the techs said.

Marty looked over at Angie's grinning face and knew this was a setup. He was certain that George was pissed. Tyler handled it with a stiff upper lip. Marty decided to smile back at his tormentors.

While hiding their male equipment with their hands, the naked men reluctantly marched past the table where the women were seated. Judging by their teasing and mocking grins, the women found it amusing. Paybacks are a bitch.

###

Marty took a swig of his beer and burped. "Ah, it's good to drink again of the fruit of hops."

George smiled. "We must be in heaven. We certainly went through purgatory to get here."

"I feel cheated," Tyler said. "These new people have been spared our tribulations."

"Don't worry, Tyler. They'll get their day in hell," Marty said. "By the way, George, do you know this new guy?"

"Yes. He’s well known for his work on the neutrino problem."

Marty's left eyebrow rose. "The what?"

"The amount of neutrinos from the sun doesn't agree with the Standard Model. It's because of tau and muon neutrinos. They're difficult to detect." He saw their confused looks. "He solved the problem."

"That's great," Marty said. "But the best thing about him is that he's a man."

"We're still outnumbered," George said.

Marty took another swig. "We need a Missouri Compromise." He saw their confused looks. "That was a pre-civil war bill in congress to even the number of free and slave states."

"Oh, yes. I see," George said.

A man with a peppered mustache and beard appeared. He was of average height but thinner than average with a scholarly stern face. He reminded Marty of a calculus professor he had had in college.

"Welcome," Marty said, shaking the newcomer's hand. "I'm Martin Sinclair and this is Tyler Stewart and George Taylor."

"You must be the George Taylor from the Mauna Kea observatory," Karl said.

"The very one," George said, shaking Karl's hand.

"They permitted me to go over some of your observations at Beta CVn. I couldn't imagine actually passing through a star's corona. The readings are absolutely magnificent."

"Did they tell you why we're going out on these missions?" George asked him.

Karl looked confused. "Not in so many words. They just said that I would be helping you with astronomical research."

"The reason why we're going to stars with possible Earth-like planets is to find the home world of the Roswell aliens."

Karl's eyebrows flew up. "Roswell aliens? I thought they were a myth."

"That's what we thought. It turns out that the US Army found a crashed saucer and two dead aliens in 1947 and kept it from the public, and we believe that some of the technology that we use on the star ship came from that saucer."

"Fascinating."

George chuckled. "Crazy would be a better term. In any event, the reason we need detailed stellar data is that we have to establish a reliable criteria for finding habitable planets. We can't go to every damn star within a hundred parsecs. It would take forever."

Karl rubbed his beard. "I agree. Have they revealed the next destination?"

"It's 18 Scorpii."

"That's a good choice," Karl said. "But, it's 47 light years away."

"That will require two jumps," Marty said. "We've never done that."

"We're guinea pigs, remember," George said, grinning facetiously.

Marty sighed. "Amen to that."

The women marched in with the new female recruit. Marty and the other men stood up.

"Hello," Marty greeted her with a bow. "I'm Martin, chief pilot. I help fly the ship. This is George and Karl, the astronomers. They tell us where to go. And, this is Tyler, the diplomat. He soothes ruffled feathers."

"I am pleased to meet you," she said with a heavy accent.

"We're pleased to have you on board," Marty said, bowing.

She smiled.

"Do any of you guys know where we're going?” Angie asked.

"We're going to 18 Scorpii, a class G2 Va star that's slightly larger and brighter than our sun, but it has a higher metal content." George pulled some ultra high-density discs out of a case. "They've sent those to study."

"Back to school we go," Marty said.

### 

Marty watched Karl exit the barracks and walk over to the sandbox where he and George were seated drinking beer. Tyler was on a break to the head.

"Want a beer?" he offered.

"Why yes, thank you." He accepted the can, pulled the tab and sat down. "I take it that this is your refuge from the ladies."

"I don't know if you can refer to them as ladies," George growled.

"Do I detect a hint of friction here?" Karl said, looking at George and Marty.

"Just some friendly rivalry," Marty said. "They outnumber us."

George rolled his eyes.

Tyler came back, retrieved a beer and took his place. He held his can up. "To our success."

The others raised their cans.

Marty took a drink. "Let me ask you this, Karl: how were you recruited for this?"

"I was referred by our UN ambassador. Why do you ask?"

"There's no doubt about it now; we've become an international crew. George here is a Canadian. Angie is from Mexico, and I am American. Tyler is a Brit. You're German. Uma is from India. Lia is Chinese. Onuki is Japanese. Anna is a Russian and Ferris is a Nigerian. That just about covers it."

"I believe it shows that Earthlings have abandoned their petty little squabbles," Tyler said. "We now have a mutual enemy."

"That's a good thing," Marty said.

Tyler took a sip of his beer. "By the way, you might want to down a few more before I tell you this, but you need to add another country to your list."

Marty sat up straight. "What? They've added another soul to our ship of fools? Let me guess: it's a girl."

"That's a given," George grumbled.

Tyler smiled. "Her name's Brigit Lindgren and she's supposedly a brilliant computer expert."

"I know her," Karl said. "She's a professor at the Stockholm University and the Royal Institute of Technology. She has written several papers on computer aided speech recognition."

"Oh, that means she'll be helping Lia," Marty said. He took another swig of beer. "Boy, we're really out numbered now." He finished his beer, tossed it into a receptacle, obtained another and pulled the tab. "Did you see her?"

"Yes I did," Karl said. "She's a tall thin blond."

"With pimple tits, I'll bet," George added.

"Not really," Karl said, smiling.

Marty grinned. "You had better watch what you say, George. They're more than likely recording this."

George grumbled. "Frankly Scarlet, my dear, I don't give a damn."

The others laughed.

## 

All I see is stars, uncountable stars. To visit all of them would require millions of years and that's just the ones in this galaxy. This universe is too damn big. Finding the enemy's lair will be difficult if not impossible, but we must try.

"Three minutes until the first jump, Angie."

"Thank you, Delphi."

"You are welcome, Angie."

Marty turned to Angie. "This'll be fun."

She smiled. "That's why we're out here."

Marty glanced back at the crew. They looked like a bunch of condemned criminals awaiting execution. The three newbie space cadets were in for a wild ride and they were unprepared for it. Alarm exploded on their faces when the deck elongated as if it were a rubber band being stretched to its limit. Then, everything began to spiral into what appeared to be a tiny hole. Faster and faster the lines of the elongated deck spun. It was equivalent to being flushed down a tiny toilet at frightening speed.

Then, it all ended as if a cosmic switch had been thrown.

"We have entered normal space, Angie."

"How long to the next jump, Delphi?"

"Ten minutes, Angie."

"Thank you, Delphi."

"You are welcome, Angie."

She turned to Marty. "What's our position and speed?"

"We're 24 light years out and traveling at a quarter of light."

"Do we have to go through that again?" Uma asked.

Angie turned. "Yes, Uma. Just relax. It's not that bad."

"It looks like I'm being twisted into a pretzel."

"Close your eyes. You’ll be fine."

“Why the delay before the next jump?” George asked.

“It has something to do with recharging the antimatter,” Angie said. “In order to maintain a stable singularity, the antimatter and matter streams must not be interrupted.”

“I don’t want to think about that possibility,” Marty said. “I can’t even imagine how we can be squeezed through a singularity and live to tell about it.”

Angie seemed unperturbed by his rhetorical question. “I believe it’s the fact that space is squeezed. If it were not, we would be crushed into nothingness. As space goes, we go.”

“Sounds like a good mantra,” Marty said, giving her a playful smile.

The second jump was worse than the last. A residual neural distortion from the last jump effect intensified to the point that some of the crew cried out as if in pain. The hallucinatory madness seemed to last much longer than in the first jump, but this was only an illusion.

“We have entered normal space, Angie.”

“Bring us down to 6000 kps, Delphi.”

“Yes, Angie.”

“We’re about a million and a half kilometers out,” Marty said after consulting the navigation screen.

Gradually, the crew moved to their stations. Some suffered from dizziness and upset stomachs, but they did their duty without complaint.

George was the first to report. “I see four gas giants and only three inner planets. There’s a large asteroid belt between them. This system has a good deal of planetary debris. We’ll have to be careful.” He turned to Karl. “Check out the second planet.”

Karl peered into his eyepiece. “What is that: a moon?”

“If it is, it’s a mighty big moon. This may be an unusual binary planetary system.”

“They’re at 1.03 AU, which is within the habitable region for this particular star.”

“I agree,” Karl said. “The star has a 1.05 Luminosity and 5789 K temperature. I’m not detecting any instability other than a few sunspots.”

“Planet A is larger than B and the separation is over a half a million kilometers. There has to be a good deal of tidal force between the two. They’re circling each other about sixty degrees from the plane. This had to be the result of a collision.”

“Are they still rotating?” Karl asked.

“They must be. I’m reading temperatures in the habitable range. We’re still too far out for reliable data.”

“The larger planet has water,” Anna said. “I’m detecting oxygen, but it’s lower than Earth. The smaller planet also has water and even lower oxygen.”

“What about the gas giants?” Angie asked.

“They have extensive moon systems, but none appear large,” George said.

“The star has a complicated magnetic field,” Karl said. “I can see a few large sun spots on the surface. The southern hemisphere has a huge one. That would imply solar flare activity.”

“I’m not detecting any RF signals,” Lia said. “There’s nothing above background.”

“Does that mean that there’s no intelligent life?” Uma said.

“Not necessarily,” Marty said. “They may use some other means of communication.”

“I’m not detecting a chlorophyll peak on the large planet,” Ferris said. “There is a signal, but it’s not chlorophyll –a or -b. It may still have a porphyrin ring, though.”

“If there are plants,” Anna said. “They may be using a different chemistry for photosynthesis.”

The engines stopped and started several times, startling the crew.

Marty turned to Angie. "What the hell?"

"Status, Delphi."

"All systems are nominal; we are traversing a region of asteroids, Angie."

"Slow to 200 kps until we're past the asteroid field, Delphi and put us on course for the binary planet system."

"Yes, Angie."

"There is a solar flare," Karl said. "It just appeared near the large sunspots. This is a class X5 flare. I'm reading over 6 milliwatts of 100 to 800 picometer x-rays per meter squared. There's a huge concentration of protons from this. I hope our shielding is good enough."

"It is," Marty said. "Our shielding can deflect just about anything."

"That's good," Karl said. "That kind of radiation would fry us."

"Would that be like when they burnt our skin?" Uma asked.

"Worse," George said. "That kind of radiation would burn you to a pile of carbon."

"That flare is generating a ton of RF," Lia said. "Onuki and I are having a hard time picking up any alien signals. We did detect a weak carrier at 40 gigahertz, but we've lost it in the noise of that flare."

"This star has a 23 day rotational period, so the flare's effect should subside," Karl said.

Angie stood up. "I need a break."

Marty noticed her peaked look. "Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine. Just mind the store."

“Yes, Captain."

###

The command deck was quiet. Lia and Brigit had gone to their rooms to wait for the flare to subside. George and Karl were busy cataloging data from the gas giants as the ship passed near them. Onuki was checking out Angie, Uma, and Ferris at the Med station, and Marty was as nervous as an expectant father.

He just couldn't wait anymore. The anxiety was driving him nuts, so he did something he vowed never to do, something that he chided George for doing. Marty switched the Med station to his navigation screen. He winced when the image appeared. Angie was on the scanning bed in the buff. Uma and Ferris were seated on a bench nearby similarly unclad.

"Find anything yet?" he asked with an apologetic look on his face.

They all looked up at a screen displaying his image and instinctively tried to protect their modesty.

"There's nothing wrong with her scans," Onuki said. "Her neural scans show a slight abnormality. I think it's a side effect of these jumps."

Angie sat up on the scanning table, folding an arm around her breasts. "I'll be fine. I just had a dizzy spell. That's all."

"I was worried," Marty said. "I'm sorry about the intrusion."

Angie smiled. "I love you too."

"What's wrong with Uma and Ferris?" Marty asked.

"Same thing," Onuki said. "They threw up." She pointed at Uma. "You're next."

Angie got off the scan table with an arm still hiding her breasts and a hand covering her pubic area and sat down on the bench next to Ferris, who was doing the same thing to hide her assets.

Uma paused to look up at the screen displaying Marty's face. "I am okay Martin. Do not worry." While holding a hand over each of her big breasts, she carefully climbed on the scan table.

Ferris sat in a fetal position and gave him a bleary eye look. "I feel like my insides are turned inside out."

"You know," Marty said. "It may not be a coincidence that these three are showing symptoms."

"Why is that?" Onuki asked.

"They've logged the most jumps."

"True, but Lia should be affected also."

"Has anyone checked on her?"

Angie's face exploded with concern. "No. We had better see if she's sick."

"I'll go check on her," Marty said before he killed the connection. "I'll be right back," he said to George.

George nodded.

Marty went to Lia's cabin and pressed the entry chime. When he received no response, he tried again. After the fifth try, he got worried. "Please open cabin six, Delphi."

"Yes, Martin."

The door swished open, and he entered to find Lia sprawled on her bunk. He shook her shoulder. "Lia, are you okay?"

She moaned. "I don't feel so good."

"Come on. They want you in the Med station."

She looked at him with puffy eyes. "Uh."

He helped her up and escorted her to the elevator and down to the equipment deck before returning to his navigation station. When he reconnected to the Med station, he found Lia in the process of undressing.

"You were right," Onuki said. "This is an important clue. Since you and Mr. Taylor have made the same jumps with none of the these symptoms, the effect must be gender specific."

"I agree," Marty said.

After Lia undressed, she plopped down on the bench next to Angie and immediately emulated her commander’s efforts to protect her modesty.

Angie smiled weakly. "I'll be back up there as soon as the good doctor lets me go."

Marty smiled back. "You're out of uniform, Commander."

Angie laughed. "Literally."

When Marty laughed, he attracted George's attention. "What are you doing over there?

Marty ended the connection with the Med station. "Whatever you do George, don't ever get sick."

George gave him a confused look.

###

A series of particle cannon discharges preceded Angie's rush to the command station. "Status, Delphi."

"Three asteroids were in range, Angie. All three were destroyed."

"Maintain course, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

"They were rogues," George said. "There are many of them around this star."

"I'm not surprised considering this star's high metallic content," Karl said. "It could be a reason that the binary planet system is orbiting out of the plane."

"Could be," George said. "Neither planet has a moon. Moons would be unstable between the two planets."

Onuki's smiling face appeared on the navigation screen. "I've discovered the reason for the jump effect. I'm scanning Anna and Brigit to verify my findings." The camera zoomed out to reveal Brigit on the scan table and Anna sitting on the bench.

"That's great," Angie said. "Is it serious?"

"It’s not life threatening."

"Good. I'll send Martin down to go over your findings."

Onuki bowed and ended the transmission.

"Why me?" Marty said. "I'm not a doctor."

"Don't give me that. You went to medical school."

"Yeah, but I didn't finish."

"Well, go see what she came up with. I need to go over our approach to the binary system."

He gave her a salute. "Yes, Captain."

When he arrived at the Med station, Marty found Onuki taking blood from Anna.

"I can come back later," Marty said, trying his best to not look directly at Anna.

"Come in Martin. I'm not finished with Ms. Petrokov." She gestured to a display showing charts. "It is quite simple. The jumps have stimulated their pituitary glands to produce luteinizing hormone. These females are pseudo pregnant."

Marty’s eyes widened and he frowned. "They're what?"

"They are showing the symptoms of morning sickness."

"That's wild!" He glanced at Anna. "What about her?"

"She has a lower level, but it is still higher than normal."

"That's interesting. Well, I'll go tell Angie what you've found."

"Don't go, Martin. I would like to examine you."

Marty's eyes widened. "Why? I'm not a female."

"That is true, but LUH is also made in the male pituitary. It just has a different effect." She smiled. "Undress, please.”

Anna gave him a teasing smirk. He immediately got this gut feeling that this was another setup. Damn it!

###

Angie leaned back in her command station chair and yawned.

"Still having morning sickness?" Marty said with a teasing smile.

"No. It's that stuff that Onuki gave us to settle our stomachs. It makes me sleepy."

"Why don't you go take a nap? I can handle this."

"I can't. It's your turn to lead a landing mission."

"Who's going with me?"

"Uma, Ferris and Anna."

"Are they fit for duty?"

"Onuki says they are."

Marty turned to the astronomical station. “What’s the story on these planets, George?”

“Planet A has a 6500 kilometer radius. Planet B is smaller at 5400 kilometers. The larger planet is probably your best bet. It has an oxygen level of twelve percent. The smaller planet is only at five percent. Both planets have pressures in the 900 to 1100 millibar range. The gravity of A is 1.02 g. You’ll need environmental suits because the mean surface temperature is 230 K, a little on the cool side, and the oxygen level is too low for normal breathing.”

“What’s down there, George?”

George switched the planet's image to the main screen. “The planet is strange. The water area is around eighty percent, but it’s distributed in a million lakes. There are things that look like plants, but they’re unlike anything I’ve ever seen. One thing is for sure: there’s no intelligent life down there. I can’t find anything that resembles a manufactured structure or organized travel conduit. I wouldn't go to B because there's been a recent asteroid hit. The atmosphere is filled with a lot of dust."

"Planet A it is then," Marty said. "How soon will we be in orbit?"

"About an hour," Angie said. "We'll need several more hours to send down probes. You should be able to launch by 0800."

"We'll be ready. I'll assemble my crew and get ready."

She pointed at him. "You take good care of them."

He saluted. "Yes, Captain."

Marty found Uma and Ferris in the mess drinking coffee and chatting. "You two are going with me to the planet."

Uma was happy. "I am ready, Martin."

Ferris was cautious. "I take it that there's no intelligent life."

"You would be correct. There are plenty of other life forms, though." Marty looked around. "Where's Anna?"

"She's in her cabin," Ferris said.

"Excuse me," he said to the others before going to her cabin and pressing the chime. After several tries, the door swished open and Marty entered to find Anna in her bunk.

"Sorry about that I didn't realize you were taking a nap. I just wanted to inform you that you're assigned to my landing party."

She sat up, folding the sheet around her body to cover her chest. "Oh, I didn't know." She slid out of the bunk, tucking the sheet around her waist. "I'll get dressed."

Marty backed to the door. "Good. We'll assemble in the mess."

She smiled, a rarity for her, and allowed the sheet to slip a bit, revealing cleavage.

Marty turned and flew out of the door, glancing back just before the door closed to catch a glimpse of the sheet dropping to the floor. He paused to rub his eyes before returning to the mess.

"She's on her way," he told Uma and Ferris. "She was taking a nap."

"It's a beauty rest," Ferris said, adding a coy smirk.

"I don't need that," Uma said. "I am beautiful enough."

They both laughed. Anna walked in and sat down. "Are you two making fun of me?"

"No," Ferris said. "We were discussing the efficacy of a beauty rest."

They laughed, and Anna joined them.

###

Marty pushed a button on the control panel that was embedded into the left sleeve of his environmental suit, causing the suit to tighten up. He huffed when the pressure momentarily pushed against his diaphragm. He walked over to the weapons locker, entered a password and opened the door.

"Uma and I will take rifles. Ferris and Anna will take hand guns. Take three clips."

"These guns are heavy," Uma said. "We will get tired."

"We won't be down there that long, Uma. We have limited air."

"Why do we need guns? Are there bad aliens down there?"

"We are required to defend ourselves at all times," Marty said.

Uma reluctantly accepted the rifle and grabbed her gear bag. Marty helped her into the Lander before he climbed in."

"Delphi, begin the launch cycle for Lander One."

"Yes, Martin."

The hatch slid down and sealed. Circuits came to life and a high-pitched scream signaled the startup of the Antigrav system.

"Launch in two minutes, Martin."

"Execute on count, Delphi."

"Yes, Martin."

Marty checked to make sure that he had helm and engine control. Various status reports flashed on the command screen before the launch warning klaxon sounded. The Lander discharged from the main ship and drifted away. When sufficient clearance was achieved, Marty fired the forward engines to drop the Lander into the atmosphere. The improved Antigrav system softened the effect, enough so that Uma didn't complain.

The planet's atmosphere appeared green and there were many dark chartreuse clouds. The water in the myriad lakes and rivers had a dark blue, almost black color that contrasted with the reddish soil.

"This is what Mars looked like before it dried up," Ferris said.

"Why is the foliage blue?" Uma said.

"It's not based on chlorophyll," Ferris. "At least not the same as on Earth."

"We're landing on that open grass area," Marty said before he brought the Lander to a stop and took it down to a soft landing.

"Check your suit integrity," Marty said.

"I'm ready," Uma said.

"So am I," Ferris said.

"Ditto," Anna said.

Marty opened the hatch and was the first to climb out. "Stay alert."

The grass was blue and looked like six-inch long sharp needles. Larger plants encircled the three-acre grassy glen. The trees of this planet had scaly oval trunks that tapered to points nearly ten meters high. Blue oval leaves covered spikes that protruded from the scales lining the trunk.

The landing party stopped in their tracks when they saw dog-sized creatures emerge from the tree line. They resembled slugs with no obvious eyes or mouths. One stopped while the rest slowly wiggled to the far tree line. Almost simultaneously, hard-shelled insects popped from the ground.

"Activate your suit shields," Marty said.

The ground came alive with a plague-sized number of the two-inch black beetle-like creatures. They seemed to be crawling over one another in their frenzied dash to the fallen animal, all the while making unnerving clacking sounds that blended into a cacophony of insect chattering.

"I hate bugs," Uma nearly yelled.

"Don't panic, Uma," Marty said. "Your suit shield will protect you."

They watched in horror as the insects covered the animal and consumed it.

"Well, so this is this planet's cleanup system," Marty said.

"It's not unlike army ants on Earth," Ferris said.

Marty was right about the suit shields. Wherever they stepped, the insects scattered away. Ferris used a long pincher to capture one of the insects and deposit it in a stasis container. Everyone else was anxious to reach the tree line. However that mysterious location revealed new creepy crawlers.

"Are those birds?" Uma asked, pointing up to large spider-shaped creatures with multiple translucent wings clinging to the trunks of every alien tree.

"I don't think so," Ferris said. "They may be eating insects in the plants. See the proboscis sticking in the bark."

"Yuck! I am seeing all kinds of ugly things scurrying around in here," Uma said.

"Those are some sort of worm," Ferris said, pointing to short round headless creatures slithering around on the forest ground. “They’re just creatures.”

“I deal with rocks,” Uma said in a disgusted tone. “Rocks don’t move.”

"The tree line ends right up ahead," Marty said.

When they came out of the trees, the landing party found a long corridor void of plants.

"What is this: a road?" Anna said.

"I doubt it," Ferris said.

"What the hell is that?" Marty said, "It looks like a plot of land on legs."

The creature was the size of a full sized pickup with a flat top filled with spikes. Moving slowly on six short elephant legs, it plodded along like a big tank. More individuals of the same species followed it.

"If we're going to cross, we had better get moving," Marty said.

The tree line on the other side was thin and hid a rocky area. Uma immediately began to chip off samples of the various rocks strewn about.

"This is iron," Uma said. "If I didn't know any better I would say that it's from a very large meteorite."

"What's that yellow stuff?" Marty asked, pointing at a cropping of rounded nodules.

"That is pure gold," Anna said after doing a scan.

"This gold was once molten," Uma said. "There must be thousands of these gold nodules."

"Sure makes mining easy," Marty said.

“Look at these, Uma,” Anna said, pointing to round white objects approximately six inches in diameter.

“I’m reading silicon,” Uma said. “They’re hollow.”

“I’m showing some sort of living creature inside,” Ferris said. “It’s moving around, but it is definitely not organic.”

“How can that be?” Marty said.

“Maybe this is a silicon-based living being,” Ferris said. “Although, that would have to be verified by a study of its structures.”

Marty moved up a slope to the crest of the rocks. He immediately ducked down. “We have a problem, people.”

“What is it?” Uma asked, her voice increasing a few octaves.

“Roswell aliens are about eighty meters away by a small mound. I think that they’re working on one of their antimatter stashes.”

The others moved up the slope and crouched near Marty.

“Are we going to shoot them?” Uma asked.

“No, Uma. We’ve been ordered not to take any aggressive actions. Besides, if we zap them before they finish their work we run the risk of an antimatter explosion.” Marty motioned to the rest. “Let’s back off and move back to the Lander.”

He didn’t need to persuade them. The trip back was much quicker. The large alien creatures were gone from the cleared lane and the insects had finished their meal. Only bones remained, a gruesome sight that spurred the crew on to their destination.

“We’re coming back up,” Marty said after climbing in the Lander's pilot chair.

“We copy,” Angie replied. “We will rendezvous on the opposite side. The coordinates have been downloaded.”

“Acknowledged.”

Marty activated the Lander’s hatch. When the crew took their positions, Marty closed the hatch and began the safety protocol, which consisted of pulling a partial vacuum and irradiation with gamma rays. When the engines came on line, he launched the Lander in stealth mode and rapidly flew into space. After gaining orbital velocity, Marty moved the craft higher to connect up with the X-2001. Appearing as a speck at first, the main ship grew in size as the Lander approached. Delphi used Antigrav to pull the Lander into its bay on the side of the ship.

The first thing that the landing crew did was enter the decon station. Their suits were thoroughly sprayed with chemicals to kill anything clinging to the surfaces. After rinsing and drying, the suits were removed along with every other stitch of clothing and everything was deposited in special chambers for decontamination.

The rest of the procedure was done to their bare bodies. They entered a special wash station that sprayed various liquids at hurricane velocity. Finally they took showers with ultra pure water and a special soap.

Taking showers with nice looking women should have been pleasurable, but Marty knew that Angie and Onuki were watching, and he was certain that their eyes were on him, so he reacted to this by hiding his male parts with his hands, although, he had to use great skill to hide his parts from the women while using one hand to bathe.

The women reacted to his presence by trying to hide their breasts and pubic areas. Uma found this task particularly difficult because her breasts were much too large to be completely hidden. They easily spilled out around her hands or arms when she used them to attempt to hide her assets. Ferris kept her arm across her ample-sized mammary glands as well as she could. Anna had no trouble covering her breasts but her hand did a poor job of hiding her patch of bushy blond pubic hair. All three women found the task of protecting their modesty and bathing at the same time extremely difficult.

When Uma bent over in front of him to retrieve a slippery soap bar, Marty looked back over his shoulder at the camera and smiled, knowing full well that it would give Angie a laugh.

###

Marty took his place at the navigation station. “What’s happening?”

“We’re on our way out of this system, but we have a shadow,” Angie said.

Marty rubbed his face. “I don’t think that they’ll attack us yet. It’s too hard to maneuver in debris fields. I think that they’ll wait until we’re just ready to enter a jump. A hit at the wrong time would destroy us.”

“I agree,” Angie said. “I have a plan, but it will require critical timing.”

“I’m listening.”

“We wait until we’re out of the asteroid and comet fields before we jump, but instead of accelerating to full speed, we’ll have Delphi generate a signal that resembles a jump energy surge. When the alien attacks, we’ll fire back and then accelerate to full power before jumping.”

“Sounds like a good plan,” Marty said. “Let’s hope that they fall for it.”

She gave him a reassuring smile. “They will. I can feel it in my combat genes.”

“Hey George,” Marty said, turning to the astronomy station. “What’s the chance of us getting between Saturn and its rings?”

“Saturn? We’re a little ways off from there.”

“I know that, George, but I have a plan.”

“Well, there’s about a seven thousand kilometer region between the cloud tops and the innermost D ring.  We would experience some drag from the atmosphere and the radiation is high, but it should be possible.”

“Thanks.”

Angie turned to him with a confused expression. “What’s your plan?”

“Even if we evade them and make our jumps, these aliens will follow us to Earth. We may be able to throw them off by making a correction before the second jump and come out near Saturn. If we can hide inside the rings, the alien will have trouble finding us.”

“We’ll have to alter Delphi’s programming to do that,” Angie said. “She’s not designed to jump that close to any system.”

“Can you do that?”

“Yes, I believe so. Delphi, we need you to alter your program, please.”

“I am ready, Angie.”

“We will need you to adjust our course on the second jump so that we can quickly enter an orbit around Saturn.”

“Yes, Angie. I will work on this problem.”

“Thank you, Delphi.”

“You are welcome, Angie.”

Angie gave Marty a teasing smile. “Did you enjoy your shower with Uma?”

“I’m not complaining,” he said, returning her smile.

Of course, Uma heard the exchange. “I didn’t mind either. We are family now.”

“There’s little doubt about that,” Marty said, causing laughter.

“I have resolved the problem, Angie. We can come within a hundred thousand kilometers of Saturn before an orbital burn.”

“We also need you to generate a false energy surge that resembles a prelude to jump, Delphi. It must be convincing to anyone scanning our energy signal.”

“Yes, Angie.”

“The alien craft is approaching,” Marty said. “We need a fake energy surge now.”

“Generate the false jump surge, Delphi and prepare to accelerate at full velocity.”

“Yes, Angie.”

The ship shook from a particle canon hit. Marty took control of the aft weapons and fired several blasts at the alien.

“Accelerate to full velocity, Delphi.”

“Yes, Angie.”

The alien craft quickly faded.

“I think we’ve left him in the dust,” Marty said.

“Jump will commence in five minutes, Angie.”

“Execute on count, Delphi.”

“Yes, Angie.”

Nobody said anything for the remaining minutes before jump. When the jump started, there were no complaints even after the completion.

“We have entered normal space, Angie.”

“Please alter our course to jump near Saturn, Delphi.”

“Yes, Angie.”

The forward engines fired and then the aft engines fired.

“I’m not detecting the alien ship,” Marty said. “I’m sure he’s out there somewhere.”

“Maybe we should have shot them on the planet,” Uma said.

“You may be right, Uma, but it was a chance we had to take. In any event, we can shoot at them now.”

The second jump started and seemed to take longer than normal.

“We have entered normal space, Angie.”

“Take us into an orbit inside the rings of Saturn, Delphi.”

“Yes, Angie.”

“Are you okay?” Marty asked her.

“I’ll be fine. Onuki gave us something to quell the effects of these jumps.”

The main screen displayed the image of Saturn with its rings tilted at sixty degrees. Despite the fact that the forward engines were screaming at full power, the image grew quickly. The planet appeared as a streaked yellowish brown flattened ball with darker rings circling it. The shadow of the rings could be plainly seen on the planet's upper cloud layer and the Cassini Division in the rings was easily visible. As the ship approached the planet, the various minor divisions in the ring system became discernable, as were the many complicated shadows and lines that were the result of gravitational forces exerted by moons within the rings.

“We may not have to go inside the rings,” Marty said. “If the alien is coming from the same direction, he’ll not see us if we’re on the underside.”

“Agreed,” Angie said. “Please take us a few kilometers under the rings, Delphi.”

“Yes, Angie.”

Approaching the planet Saturn was an experience no human could ever forget, especially if the human was an astronomer.

“Did you ever imagine that you would come this close to Saturn?” George said to Karl.

“I didn’t think it was possible to approach this close,” Karl said.

“Would you just check out all the detail in the rings,” George said. “We should get great recordings of these images.”

“I’ll do the cloud tops,” Karl said. “You do the rings.”

“We should be able to get close to the rings,” Marty said. “They’re only a few dozen meters thick.”

“Are we going to be able to see the alien craft through the rings?” Angie asked.

“We can use the energy signals they emit to see them.”

“I’m detecting a radio pulse,” Lia said. “It’s a periodic signal.”

“That’s from the planet’s rotating inner core,” George said.

“The atmosphere is mostly hydrogen,” Anna said. “There’s some helium and other gases in trace amounts.”

“I have an energy signal,” Marty said. “It’s approaching at only ten kilometers per second.”

“They’re looking for us,” Angie said. “We’ll let them pass before we come out.”

“Activate forward weapons, Delphi.”

“Yes, Martin.”

Angie moved the ship out from under the rings. When it emerged from the outer ring A, the alien ship was a thousand kilometers ahead.

“Bring us up to attack speed, Delphi.”

“Yes, Angie.”

Marty took control of the forward weapons and Angie took helm control.

“Come on you bastards,” Marty said. “We’re going to kick your ass.”

“They don’t see us,” Angie said. “Delphi, when we take our shots, I want you to take helm control and turn us toward Earth at fast as is possible.”

“Yes, Angie.”

Marty waited until the last possible moment to fire his shots. The particle blasts caused the alien craft to experience a secondary explosion. The X-2001 turned and accelerated away on a course to home.