Chapter No.18.

Carl was the first to awaken. He couldn't see much in the dimmed light of his coffin shaped body G-force container.  He reached over to the switch that made the cover swing open. The brilliance of the lights in the ceiling of the quarters deck seemed higher than normal, but that was because he had been in near darkness for twelve hours.

He sat up and disconnected his breathing mask. Looking around, he noted that the women were still in their containers. He stood up in his to allow the liquid he had been immersed in to drain off his rubber suit. After climbing out of his container, he began the tedious task of removing his suit. With that completed, he went to the bathroom and showered, after which he dried and put on underwear and shorts. He placed his feet in sneakers and then walked down to the command center and activated the screen that displayed the ship's technical operations, including a detailed map of the course the ship was on.

He glanced back at the containers and noted that Janet, Margaret, Alice and Janice were in the process of removing their rubber suits before going to the bathroom to shower. He was relieved to see that they all survived the process.

Eventually, they joined him at the command center. They were wearing tees, shorts and sneakers.

"I assume we're on course," Margaret said in a partially grumpy manner.

"Yes. Everything is working as expected. We should check the agricultural deck to make sure it's still functional."

"How did they preserve the crops during the engine burn?" Alice asked.

"I think they used nets to keep the crops from being damaged. The robots probably locked their feet down and shut down for the duration of the burn."

"Lucky them!" Janet exclaimed.

"Can you see the Tenth planet?" Janice asked.

"No. It's way too far away to see it with our telescope. I'm relying on NASA's data to know where it is at any time. Once we pass Saturn, it should be visible."

"So, we don't really know what's going on there," Janet said.

"That's true. Hopefully, we won't run into anything we can't handle."

That didn't do much to assuage their concerns about this mission, but he really didn't know how to sugar coat it. It wouldn't be right to do that.

Later that day, when they gathered for supper, Carl decided to reveal his thoughts about what was going on. "The more I think about this, the more I believe that this mission is about determining a future home for humans."

Margaret eyes flashed with disbelief for a fleeting moment. "What? Out here in the boonies?"

"I think that this tenth planet was captured by our Sun when a star near to it passed close enough for our Sun to steal one of its planets and its moon. It's probably been here for longer than the four and a half billion years that our Earth has been around. The reason it wasn't discovered was that telescopes weren't good enough to see it this far out in the Kuiper belt."

"Okay, that accounts for why it's there, but how could it become a human habitable planet this far out in the solar system?"

"Yes, it wouldn't be that great right now, but the Sun is increasing its luminosity slowly but inexorably. As it warms, Earth will become uninhabitable. Yes, humans can move out to Mars but that will eventually become too hot. I believe that they're thinking that Titan and then this Planet Ten will be habitable."

"I find it hard to believe that NASA is concerned about where humans will go when the Earth gets too hot, especially on such a long timeline," Janet said. "They're more concerned with stuffing their pockets."

"I can't refute that, but I think that some people in NASA are concerned about the future. Perhaps, that's the concept that they've created to get money from Congress for these missions. Without credible missions, NASA would wither on the government appropriations vine."

"So, we're risking our lives for the future of mankind," Alice said. "A future we'll never see."

Carl ran a hand though his hair and sighed. "Yeah, I get where you're coming from, but at least we're still considered good enough to go on these missions."

"Whoop de do! A lot good it does," Janet said. "They haven't given us a raise in years despite the fact we've saved their asses several times."

"I hear you, but we should realize that we could be doing nothing as important as this."

"He's right," Janice said. "We're at the top of astronomical science right now. Our names will go down in the history books."

"No one cares in the long run," Margaret said. "If nothing else, we'll know what's going on out here because we'll see it. They can lie all they want, but we'll know the truth."

Carl knew that she was right. All of this could simply be a scam. However, it didn't seem logical to have a resort planet this far out in the Kuiper belt. It would cost a bloody fortune to send people this far, not to mention the danger involved. Titan would make more sense. The only thing that could change that would be some spacecraft that had a lot of new technology.