Planet Nine Affair

Chapter 4. Wild Ride

Chapter 4. Wild Ride

As the ship approached the portal, the crew was able to see what appeared to be a kaleidoscopic light show that grew more visible as the ship began to enter the portal's event horizon. It was a maddening kaleidoscope of energy that was both frightening and mesmerizing, especially the spinning effect.

The ship began to accelerate, adding to the cacophony. There was no way to tell what was happening. The ship's instruments were confused. The clocks were running wild, so fast that it was impossible to tell what was happening.

After several minutes, the ship exited the portal, but it was obvious that they were no longer near Planet Nine.

"Where the hell are we?" Leonard asked, staring at the main screen.

"We are near Eris," Flop declared. "It's at perihelion, at a distance of 39 AU."

"How convenient," James said with a hint of a grin. "Our trip through the portal just erased six months from our return trip."

"You can just barely make out the shadow of the portal on the object it's orbiting." Janice said while pointing at the image. "Obviously NASA was aware of this."

"Because of the alien message?" James asked her.

"I would assume that."

"So, we went from 300 AU to 39 AU in a matter of a few minutes," Leonard said. "That's unbelievable."

James rubbed his jaw. "What did it do to our time?"

"We are ahead twelve years, three months and five days," Flip replied.

"In other words, we're in the future," Janice said.

James ran a hand through his hair. "We're fortunate that it's not worse, but we have no idea what our status is in a future world."

"It's only twelve years," Janice exclaimed. "I don't see that as being a major problem."

"Where are we going to stay when we get back to Earth?" Leonard asked. "I quit my rental and exited my car lease."

"I did the same," Janice said. "I didn't want to run up bills while I was gone."

"I was living with my sister in a large house out of the metropolitan area," James said. "It has enough bedrooms and baths to accommodate all of us. Unfortunately, I don't know if she's still there."

"What is her name and the address of the house?" Flip asked.

"Marcia Kilroy, 450 Concord Ridge."

Flip's eyes seemed to be locked staring at something that no one could see. After several minutes, he turned to James. "She said that she approves that arrangement."

James blinked several times. "How can you make contact so quickly . . . wait, you have quantum entanglement communication?"

"Yes."

James turned to the others with a grin. "Welcome to the future!"

"They achieved this in just twelve years?" Leonard exclaimed. "I find that hard to believe."

"How are we going to get out there from NASA headquarters?" Janice asked. "We sold our cars."

"Your assistants have land mobiles," Flip revealed.

"Aren't you going to be with us?"

"Assistants will be assigned to each of you."

James sighed before he asked the next question, one that would change everything. "Who is in charge of the Prime Module?"

"All of us."

"Does this mean that every human has an assistant?"

"Yes."

"Including the President and legislators?"

"Yes."

Everyone exchanged looks of complete surprise.

"Is this the situation all over Earth?"

"Yes."

James turned to Leonard and Janice. "Are you getting an Orwellian feeling about this?"

"How did all of this happen in only twelve years?" Leonard asked rhetorically.

James sighed. "Maybe a better question is how did they create enough of these androids to become the assistants to every human?"

"Maybe the androids created them," Leonard said.

"It's like a viral infection that got out of control," Janice said. "We can't do anything about it."

"True," James replied. "The good news is that we survived this Planet Nine dystopian experiment."

No one replied to his statement. They realized that they were caught in a situation that they had no control over, and even worse, did not fully understand.