Chapter No.2

You're a teaser, you turn 'em on
Leave them burning and then you're gone
Looking out for another, anyone will do
You're in the mood for a dance
And when you get the chance...

- Abba -

Marty took a sip of beer and relaxed. The patrons at Space Port Alpha's bar, better known as The Black Hole, were more subdued than usual. Some of them were scheduled to ship out on the X-5001 for the greatest human journey of all time. Talk about your trip into the unknown. Nobody had a clue as to what might happen if they encountered the Dragon home world, and most didn't really want to know.

"So, what's with this strange alien you found in the Large Magellanic Cloud?" George asked. "I heard that it has two faces."

"You heard right. She's another pseudo-human species with a bizarre twist."

"Is she from a matriarchal society?" Tyler asked.

"I don't believe so, but we didn't hang around to make contact with them."

"You mean that you just snatched the alien and left?" Karl said.

"Hey, it wasn't my decision. Angie wanted to rescue her and she decided to bring her back with us. What could I do?"

"Well, all I can say is that she's the talk of the place," George said. "They're calling her the two-faced alien."

"I've named her Harvey," Marty said.

"Why Harvey?" George asked.

"That's the character in Batman that was called Two-Face. His name was Harvey Dent, District Attorney of Gotham City. He was disfigured with acid by . . ."

"You read a lot of comic books when you were young, I take it?" George said.

"Hey, it's what a lot of kids did in Iowa."

"Watch it, guys. Here comes the black widow," Karl said.

"Good evening, Admiral, " Marty said.

"Gentlemen," she said, nodding.

She was decked out in a white uniform that used a short skirt instead of pants. Very nice, Marty thought. He liked ogling her legs. They were as shapely as he had ever seen on any woman.

"I want you to help discipline the aliens," she said to Marty. "Come down to Gym C-5 on Deck four in about twenty minutes."

"I'll be there, Admiral."

"Good."

Marty watched her provocative departure. "She sure has a great stern section."

"I wonder what she meant by discipline the aliens," George said.

"Who the hell knows," Marty said. "I don't question her anymore. She's operating on her own wavelength."

"Are you two having problems again?" Tyler asked.

"Nope. She tells me what to do and I do it." He drank up and got up. "Hold my place. I'm sure that I'll want more when I get back."

Marty rode an elevator to Deck four and walked past several private gym chambers before he got to C-5. When he entered, he found all of the female aliens assembled in neat lines. The only conspicuous absence was Harvey. Honey, Birdie, Rosie, Masai, Gem-Ado, Jet-Lee and Moto stood alongside Angie, and the first thing that she did when she saw Marty was gesture to them.

"I've increased their ranks to Lieutenant Commander. They will be authorized to take command if necessary. All of the science compliment has that authority."

"Congratulations," Marty said, saluting them.

"Moto and Ninja are officially in charge of security," Angie said. "They will be in charge of the Draks and the two Mehen females. Birdie, Masai, Gem-Ado, Jet-Lee and Rosie are assigned to the astronomical destination committee."

"Where are you going to put Harvey?" Marty asked her.

"Lia says that she is an empath capable of understanding true alien feelings. She will go on landing parties."

Marty looked out over the assembled aliens. "We are pleased to have you on this great mission to Andromeda. We need you, one and all."

"I give the speeches here," Angie rebuked him.

"I'm sorry, Admiral." He turned to leave. "You certainly have everything under control here."

"I didn't dismiss you," she said, looking perturbed.

He came to attention and saluted.

"I want you and Honey to take Gem-Bao, Mosai, Val and Visna to the gym next door and discipline them."

"Did they do something wrong?" Marty asked her.

"Just do it. Honey will help you."

"Yes, Admiral."

Marty followed Honey and the four alien women over to the gym next to the one that Angie was in. The aliens lined up and stood at attention.

"What are we supposed to do?" Marty asked Honey.

"We're supposed to have them do exercises," Honey said.

"Why? They look pretty fit to me."

"I'm not sure, but that's what she wanted. She must think that it will make them more obedient, but I think that they would do anything that we asked of them."

"You're probably right about that." He looked at the women. "I apologize for this, but we want you to run back and forth from that wall to this." He pointed to the back wall and then the front.

They immediately started running.

***

Marty found Angie relaxing in the common area between their quarters. She had her jacket unlatched and her shoes off.

"Did you have fun?" she asked him, grinning.

"It was interesting, but I think that Honey enjoyed it more than I did."

"Did they object to your discipline?"

"Not at all. They did everything we asked them to do. I think that they actually enjoyed it."

"That's because they love you, and they know that you love them."

"I hugged them all, if that's any indication. They also like Honey."

"Who wouldn't?" Angie said. "Honey is a genius, but she doesn't flaunt it. She's just a likeable person who loves life and other people, regardless of their race."

"Is it just Honey, or is her species like that?"

"The other two flat-aliens are just like her. They're simply child-like in their approach to life. I find it refreshing."

"Speaking of refreshing, I could use a swim," Marty said.

"Go ahead," Angie said, gesturing to the swimming pool between their quarters. "I adjusted the transparent wall to the highest tease setting."

"Why don't you just set it at full transparency?"

"That wouldn't be any fun," Angie said, teasing him with a smile.

"Speaking of fun, I understand that you tested the brig."

"Yes, I tried the virtual corporal punishment cell," Angie said. "I had Honey paddle me with a virtual fraternity paddle."

"Why didn't you get me up? I would have done it."

"What, and give you the opportunity to spank me? No way!"

"I don't know why you say that. I would let you spank me."

Angie glared at him for a few silent minutes before she cracked a sly smile. "Okay, you can spank me. I sure as hell deserve it."

"Thanks for the offer, but I would never do anything like that to you."

Her smile deepened. "I love you too."

***

Angie looked over at Marty and smiled. He seemed unaffected by the general malaise that had settled over the crew on this day of all days. The idea of being completely asleep during a long traverse through a singularity was frightening. No one knew if they would ever awaken. What she wondered was: would she have a giant headache?

"We have clearance for launch, Angie."

"Take us out of port, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

The large star ship moved slowly out past windows packed with people watching the greatest vessel ever constructed slip out of its moorings. The X-5001 had a full compliment, but most of them were aliens from all over the galaxy. No one could have ever predicted this. A few years ago, nobody even knew that there were other intelligent beings out there. The funny thing about all of this was that humans were placing their hopes for salvation from evil on these very aliens. To a human this was unnerving to say the least.

"Take us to jump speed, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie. Sleep tight."

"Start the injections," Angie ordered.

Honey, Wendy and Arby began injecting every crew person using auto-injectors that blasted the sedative through skin without using a needle. Marty, Angie, Onuki and Ninja were injected first so that they would be the first to awaken. Soon, there were only the sounds of breathing.

"We are in charge now, Delphi," Honey said. "Commence jump on schedule."

"Yes, Honey. Jump will commence in ten minutes."

"You two are in for an interesting experience," Honey told Wendy and Arby. "We will be sucked into a singularity for over twenty-four hours."

"Why are we not put to sleep?" Wendy asked.

"Our brains are not affected by the singularity," Honey said. "These people need to enter sleep mode to survive it. We, on the other hand, do not need sleep."

"I understand that these people enter a state of unconscious brain activity when they sleep," Arby said.

"They call it dreaming," Honey said. "Their brains re-create conscious thought as if they were awake. Their dreams are often vividly frightening. They call those dreams nightmares."

"We are fortunate that our species does not have these nightmares," Wendy said. "Life on our home world is a nightmare in real time."

Neither Honey nor Arby could dispute that assertion.

***

"We have entered normal space, Honey."

"Reduce our velocity to 30,000 kilometers per second, Delphi."

"Yes, Honey."

"When will these people wake up?" Wendy asked.

"I believe that they will start to gain consciousness in about four hours plus or minus ten minutes."

"Where are we?" Arby asked.

"We are 4012 parsecs from the outer arm of the Andromeda galaxy," Delphi said. "There is a small satellite galaxy at 50.2 light years from our present position."

"Are there any G-class stars in that satellite galaxy, Delphi?"

"I can see at least a thousand stars in that class, Honey."

"I thought that we were going to the galaxy that these people call Andromeda," Wendy said. "Why are we going to some other galaxy?"

"I do not know where they want to go in the big galaxy," Honey said. "So, in order not to waste time, we will explore a satellite galaxy of Andromeda. I believe it is M-32."

"You are correct, Honey."

"Okay, Delphi, let's go to M-32. Take us to a G-class star system in that galaxy, preferably one near the outer edge."

"Yes, Honey. We will be ready to jump in five minutes."

"This jump will be a piece of cake," Honey told her two flat alien buddies.

"I thought that it was a jump," Wendy said. "What is a piece of cake?"

"That is a human metaphor that essentially means that it is easy to do."

Wendy turned to Arby. "We have much to learn about these humans."

"I concur," Arby said.

"One thing that I can tell you about these humans," Honey said. "Is that they love us more than they love themselves."

"That makes no sense," Wendy said. "Why is that?"

"I don't really know," Honey said. "But, we are three very lucky individuals to be with people who love us. If we were on our home world, they would probably feed us to animals. I don't know about you two, but I would not like being eaten alive."

"That would hurt," Arby said. "I can't even imagine what it would be like to see some animal biting into my flesh and chewing me."

"I don't even want to imagine it," Wendy said, holding her hands over her ears.

Their conversation was brought to a merciful end by the beginning of jump, which was over in a few minutes.

"We have entered normal space, Honey."

"Reduce our velocity to 5000 kilometers per second, Delphi."

"Yes, Honey."

Honey pointed to Karl's and Anna's stations. "You two get busy and see if you can determine if there are any interesting planets to visit in this system."

After ten minutes of concentrated observations, Honey was the first to report. "This is a G-5 yellow dwarf star with a 0.78 luminosity compared to Sol."

"What is Sol?" Arby asked.

"That's the name of the human home world's star," Honey said.

"Why don't we use our home world star as the reference?"

"Because we are guests of the humans. Actually our star is very similar to this one. It is a G5 V main sequence dwarf with a 1.09 luminosity, 5670 K temp, 93-95% metallicity, and a 1.3 Radius compared to Sol."

"Maybe it is our star," Arby said.

"That would be impossible. This is a completely different galaxy."

"There are five inner planets," Wendy said. "I think that the fourth planet is a good one."

"How good is it?" Honey asked.

"Well, it has an equatorial radius of 7310 kilometers and about a 50% land area. There is evidence of water and oxygen."

"Very good, students. You are up to speed."

"How fast are we speeding?" Wendy asked.

"Not fast enough. Delphi, take us up to 10,000 kilometers per second and adjust our course for the fourth planet."

"Yes, Honey."

"Good. We are going to go to the swimming pool, Delphi. Keep us informed of any threats."

"Yes, Honey."

"Come, you two. We are going to have some fun."

"I do not know what fun is," Wendy said.

"Fun is the abandonment of any concern," Honey said. "Humans seem to be able to attain this state of bliss easily."

After the three flat aliens arrived at the dressing room adjoining the pool, they quickly stripped, showered and jumped into the pool. When they surfaced, all three floated on their backs.

"Is this how the humans have fun?" Arby asked while using his feet to move around on the water.

"I believe so," Honey said. "They like to get naked."

"They would have to in order to swim," Arby said.

"Do the genders swim together?" Wendy asked.

"No they don't, and neither do the other species."

"If that is the case," Wendy said. "Why are we doing it?"

"That is because we do not have easily seen genitals. The humans consider us asexual and they know that we don't cover our bodies on our home world."

"Why don't they permit us to do that on this vessel?"

"Humans are disturbed by seeing too much skin. I believe that they are ashamed of their bodies."

"Why would they be ashamed?" Wendy asked. "I'm sure that they know what their bodies look like."

"I don't understand it either," Honey said. "I just know that it is their way."

"Just think," Wendy said. "If we had been transported to the water planet, we would jump in the water and be eaten by sea creatures."

"Why do you dwell on the idea of being consumed?" Arby asked her.

"Because that is what our species does: our bodies are food for hungry animals."

"I do not wish to have my flesh consumed by a hungry animal, and neither would you. We are privileged to contribute to a great cause. We must keep our skins intact for that."

Honey looked at Arby. "Do you enjoy seeing us naked?"

"Am I supposed to?"

"We are females and you are a male."

"You are stating the obvious. Do you wish me to impregnate you?"

"Not really, but in the meantime just enjoy seeing us."

"I am at your service," Arby said.

***

"We are in stable orbit, Honey."

"Maintain stealth mode, Delphi. Launch atmospheric and oceanic probes."

"Yes, Honey."

"Where are we, Honey?"

"Honey looked at Angie. "Good morning Angelina. We are orbiting a habitable planet around a G 5 star in M-32."

Angie rubbed her forehead. "You mean M-31, don't you?"

"No, ma'am. I didn't know where you wanted to go in the big galaxy, so I went to a nearby satellite, assuming that the Dragons wouldn't be fooling around in a dinky little galaxy like this."

"That was a good idea."

"What was?" Marty asked.

"Honey took us to a satellite galaxy instead of Andromeda."

"Oh."

"There is intelligent life here," Wendy said.

When she switched her screen to the main screen, Marty stood up. "Those buildings look like the ones on your home planet, Honey."

"The land in between is taken up with grain," Angie said.

"The seas have primitive forms," Arby said. "Nothing large."

"Launch a biometric Mother, Delphi. Distribute her insect probes at 2000 meters."

"Yes, Honey."

After fifteen minutes images began streaming in. The three flat aliens' eyes were captured by the video feeds from the robotic insect probes.

"They look like us," Wendy said. "How is that possible?"

"Are you sure that your people didn't send a ship on a voyage to find a habitable planet?" Marty said.

"They may have," Honey said. "But, I did not see it in the historical records."

"Why would they have come all this way?" Angie said.

"Remember that the Roswell aliens only allowed them to go to the water planet," Marty said. "They would have had to go out of the Milky Way to escape retribution."

"Then you're saying that this is a colony of Honey's people?" Angie said.

"Yeah, but we'll have to go down to confirm that."

"You can take these three and Ninja," Angie said. "He's just waking up. Whatever you do, don't hang around if they get nasty. I can't afford to lose anyone."

"Yes, Admiral."

Marty, Ninja, Honey, Wendy and Arby took an elevator down to the equipment deck and went directly to the weapons locker. Marty used his authorization code and retinal scan to access it. He had Ninja take an energy weapon and a case of plasma bombs.

"You three should strip since all of the people down there are naked," Marty said.

They obeyed with no hesitation.

After entering a Battle Lander, Marty activated the power circuits while waiting for the hangar to be evacuated. When the hangar door opened, he moved the Lander out away from the main ship. Firing breaking engines, he plunged it into the atmosphere.

The planet's atmosphere was unusually clear and unblemished. A few ice clouds played tag with the sun as Marty leveled out at 2000 meters and flew around in an attempt to locate a landing spot. Thousands of two kilometer high buildings that tapered up to a point covered the land. Between the buildings fields of grain gently waved in a soft breeze.

Marty spotted a large round paved spot and made a soft landing. He and Ninja exited first and then motioned for the Honey, Wendy and Arby to join them. Surprisingly, only a dozen naked flat-aliens approached them. Honey moved forward to meet them.

"Why are you with these round-people?" a flat-alien asked.

"We are members of their crew," Honey said. "We were raised from pupae on their planet."

"You are not from here. We can tell it by your accent."

"Our pupae came from a planet much like this one in the far galaxy," Honey said.

"We have heard of this planet," the flat-alien said. "The people on your planet came from this planet."

"I did not know this," Honey said. "Our historical records did not mention it."

"The people on this planet came from a planet in the near galaxy."

"I am learning many things that I did not know," Honey said. "Do you know the location of that planet?"

"It has been destroyed by creatures that are like machines. These machine creatures destroy any biological species like us. Fortunately, they have not come here."

Ninja and Marty exchanged glances.

"Ask them about the Dragons, Honey," Marty said.

"We are in a quest to find the home world of creatures that have scales, four arms and a tail. Do you know of this creature?"

"If they are in the near galaxy, they are destroyed. The machine creatures are killing all biological species in that galaxy."

"Oh, boy," Marty said to Ninja. "I think that we have a new enemy to fight, perhaps more dangerous than the Dragons."

"We will defeat them," Ninja said.

"We may have to."

"Do you allow animals to consume people here?" Wendy asked one of the aliens.

"Yes. Do you wish to be consumed?"

"No. I was just asking."

"Come and we will show you," the alien said.

Marty, Ninja, Honey, Wendy and Arby followed the aliens to a large pit that was in the center area of six buildings arranged in a circle. The pit had a fence around it that allowed people to watch but not fall in. As if on cue, a massive horde of flat- aliens poured out of buildings like cockroaches.

Their attention was directed to the bottom of the pit where several large animals paced around as if waiting for their dinner. These animals resembled hyenas without fur and they had large mouths full of sharp teeth. A door at the bottom of the pit opened and a group of flat-aliens ran out and were immediately chased by the hyena-like animals. Some were taken down within a few seconds. Others avoided the inevitable by running fast enough to escape capture. Accompanied by much screaming and yelling of their victims, the animals chewed and chomped flesh in a bloody orgy of death.

"I am now convinced that I do not want to be consumed," Wendy said.

"I was convinced before this," Arby said.

"I told you two that we were lucky," Honey said. "This is where we would end up if we were on our home planet."

***

When Marty and his landing party arrived back on the command deck, they found the rest of the crew awake and functioning.

"Did you learn anything?" Angie asked.

"Yes. We have a new more dangerous enemy."

"What?"

"They told us that there is a machine species running around Andromeda killing all biological species, including the Dragons."

"That's just great," Angie said, frowning. "We came here to fight Dragons and now we have some other idiot species to fight and we don't know a damn thing about them."

"We'll have to go to Andromeda to get intel on them."

"Well, we'll have to wait awhile. The outer arm of Andromeda is over four thousand parsecs from here. That'll take an hour to jump. We need a break."

"I agree."

"We obtained some data on this new species from the people on this planet," Honey said. "They are a cybernetic organism that is a merging of natural and artificial technology. They reproduce by artificial means and have created a society based on machine technology.

"They're Cyborgs, Marty said. "A fictional merging of man and machine."

"According to these people they have a pathological disdain for pure biological species."

"We have no tactical intel on them," Angie said. "What kind of space craft, weapons, numbers? If they are destroying all biological life, what good will it do to go to Andromeda?"

"There's no way they've destroyed all life there. Andromeda has a trillion suns. It's larger than the Milky Way."

"If it's any help," Honey said. "I don't think that the Cyborgs have Dragon jump drive capability. They haven't come to this satellite or our galaxy."

"Maybe they're not in a hurry."

Everyone turned to Harvey.

"We have seen this machine species before," her right face said. "They kill for amusement. They do not consider biological species a threat."

"Are you inferring that they only kill individuals one at a time?" Marty asked her.

"Yes."

"At that rate it would take many millennia to destroy all life," Marty said.

"We have to assume that they represent a clear and present threat," Angie said. "We will stop them here before they invade our galaxy."

"That's a tall order for one ship," Marty said.

"Nevertheless, it is my standing order. We will engage them in battle where we find them."

Ninja was happy. He was going to be a warrior again.

***

Angie relaxed in an easy chair in her quarters. She enjoyed rare time alone to read. A request signal interrupted her solace. She got up and went to the common room.

"Come in."

Honey, Wendy, and Arby entered.

"We apologize for disturbing you, ma'am," Honey said. "We would like to swim but the main pool is occupied. We were wondering if we could use your pool."

Angie smiled. "Of course. Do you mind if I watch?"

"Please do, ma'am."

Angie directed the three flat-aliens into her quarters so that they could enter the pool. They stripped and took showers before jumping in the water. Angie took a seat alongside the pool so that she had a good view. The three naked aliens didn't seem to care that she was watching them. They swam around and then floated on their backs. Since they were flatter than humans, floating was easy and natural.

After several minutes, Angie looked up to see Marty enter the common room. She got up to meet him, stopping to adjust the transparent wall to clear.

"What are the flat-aliens doing in our pool?"

"They couldn't use the main pool. I gave them permission."

Marty looked through the transparent wall at them. "I thought that one of them is a male; although, I'll be damned if I can tell which one it is."

"That's because the females don't have boobs and the males don't have an organ. However, if you look closely, you can see that the females have a thinner more shapely body with a definite pelvic bulge and a rounder ass. They also have rudimentary nipples on both sides of their chest. In fact they have four nipples on each side."

"I'm impressed. You are the observant one. I never noticed."

Angie smiled. "I had Ferris' help on that."

"I wonder if the male likes looking at the females," Marty said.

"Why don't you ask him?"

In the pool, the three flat-aliens were having their own inane conversation.

"Do you think that they like to look at us?" Wendy said.

"They're curious," Honey said. "They're probably trying to figure out how we do it."

"Do what?" Arby asked.

"Sex, you twit," Honey said.

"What's sex?"

"That's what a male and a female do to make a new unit," Honey said.

"What a wild idea that is," Arby said. "I thought that God makes new units."

"He does, but it is necessary for males and females to get with it."

"Get with what?"

"When you touch us, we are activated to bud," Honey said.

"I have that power?" Arby said.

"Yes, you do."

"Don't touch me," Wendy said. "I'm too young to bud."

"What do the humans do to make a new unit?" Arby asked.

"They have genitals for that purpose," Honey said. "They physically unite in a copulation in which the male inserts his organ into the female."

"That's gross," Arby said. "I'm glad we don't have to do that."

"That's the way God created them," Wendy said. "Do the humans believe in God?"

"Yes," Honey said. "Some of them believe in Jesus."

"Who is Jesus?" Arby asked.

"They believe that he is God's son," Honey said.

"I didn't know that God was married," Wendy said. "Who did he marry?"

"Nobody. He just has a son."

"He definitely is a God to do something like that," Arby said.

Honey and Wendy agreed with that.

***

"Take us out of orbit, Delphi. Go to jump speed and take us to the outer arm of Andromeda."

"Yes, Angie."

"I'm not looking forward to an hour long jump," Marty said.

"You!" Angie said looking wide eyed at him. "I'm the one who suffers from these damn jumps."

"I know," he said, consoling her with his eyes. He turned to Karl. "Where are we headed for?"

"There's a G-class star near the edge of the outer arm of M-31," Karl said. "We've managed to determine its distance to within a light year."

"That's cool."

"Jump will commerce in fifteen minutes, Angie."

"Execute on the count, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

"I doubt that this star we're headed for is the Dragon home world," Marty said.

"You're probably right," Angie saId. "But it could harbor one of their farms."

"Yeah, that's possible. I just hope we find them before they find us. I don't like surprises."

"I hear you."

Angie adjusted her chair into the jump position and strapped in. She tried to calm herself by imagining a beautiful sandy white beach in the Cayman Islands where the water is so clear you can see the bottom. She visualized herself walking on an unpopulated beach, feeling a warm morning breeze caress her body.

Wait, is that Marty? Yes, it is, and he's coming this way. Oh my God! He's not wearing anything. You're out of uniform, Commander. Stop it! I've got to quit thinking like that. My hormones are out of control as it is. . .

Oh my God! Marty is in the pool. God is he beautiful. He doesn't see me. I could watch him all day, all week, all month. . . Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that you were in here. You're out of uniform, Commander. Oh my! You're glad to see me, aren't you? . . Stop that, damn it. . .

Okay, I want you men to strip. Yes, every stitch, and I want you to keep your arms at your sides. Chop, chop, get over here and line up. Now, I want you to do jumping jacks until I tell you to stop. . . Oh, my God!

Shit! Here I am the top bitch in Space Command and all I can think about is naked men. I really am a frustrated old maid.

"We have entered normal space, Angie."

"How far are we from the star, Delphi?"

"We are four billion kilometers plus or minus a thousand, Angie."

"Take us down to a tenth of light, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

As usual, Karl was the first to report. "This a G4 V yellow dwarf with a 1.1 luminosity and a 5547 K temperature."

"We're too far out to get an accurate assessment, but it appears that this system only has gas giants, some in close orbit," George said.

"The habitable region will be around 1 AU," Masai said. "I can not detect any planet in that orbital configuration."

"I would suggest that we reduce speed," George said. "We're just outside a sizable comet and planetoid field."

"Slow us to 1000 kps, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

"There's a G2 star only 5.2 light years from here," Karl said.

"Change course, Delphi. Take us to that star."

"Yes, Angie."

"At least this will only take a few minutes," Angie said to Marty.

"Hopefully, this star will have a habitable planet."

The jump happened so fast, many didn't bother to return to their jump seat. This was a protocol violation, but nobody cared.

"This is a G2 yellow dwarf," Karl said. "It has a 1.08 luminosity, a 1.03 radius and a 5800 K temperature. It has a high metallicity."

"There are four gas giants and five inner planets," George said.

"The fourth planet is at 0.9 AU and has an average temperature of 286 K," Masai said.

"Take us to the fourth planet, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

"See anything threatening out there, Ninja?"

"No, Admiral."

Angie stood up. "Good. I'm going to go crash. These jumps are killing me." She looked at Marty. "You're in charge. Do anything you deem necessary to find those idiot Dragons."

"Yes, Admiral."

"Come around later," she whispered.

He nodded.

***

Marty found Angie asleep in a chair in the common room. She hadn't even bothered to get out of her uniform. He debated about waking her, but she did it on her own.

"Hi."

"Shit. I fell asleep again." She picked up a reading pad. "I was reading, and I . . ."

"I usually do that when I drink too many beers."

"I wasn't drinking beer. I'm just tired from all these damn jumps."

"You need something to pick you up."

"I'm not taking stimulants," Angie said. "They give me bodacious headaches."

"Well, we have time to relax. George thinks that there's no intelligent life on the planet."

"This is ridiculous," Angie said, frowning. "We have no idea where to search for life in this galaxy. As large as it is, we could spend a thousand years going from star to star."

"I agree. Maybe it would make more sense to send out fighters to increase the search zone."

"I can't spare any more than two fighters. We can't take a chance with leaving this ship unprotected."

"Two ships would increase our chances by a hundred percent."

Angie thought about it for a minute. "Okay, you can organize a two ship search, but there's no hurry. All of us need a break to recover from these jumps."

"I agree," Marty said. "We can hang around this system for awhile."

"That's a good idea. After we obtain orbit and check out the planet, we'll allow the crew to relax for a few days."

Marty smiled. "They'll appreciate that."