Planet Nine Affair

Chapter 9. Revelation

Chapter 9. Revelation.

James, Leonard and Janice arrived at the Houston's Mission Control Center where they immediately went to George Stevens' office.

"There's an alien spaceship in orbit around Earth, and we believe that they have something to do with the AzTeka body deposition process," James told him. "We want to see if there's a way to break into their system to determine their origin and if this alien ship has anything to do with them."

"Wouldn't that cause the androids to interfere?" Stevens said while glancing at his and their android assistants.

"We don't think that the androids are concerned with anything other than our care."

"They're cybernetic controls are built into their brains," Janice added. "They're connected to a hub only for reasons of safety."

"So, you're dismissing any alien plot to control humans," Stevens said.

"We're not sure, but we think this android assistant idea was an attempt to prevent humans from destroying themselves, probably from some wealthy moralist's ill-conceived desire to induce pacifism on mankind."

Stevens stared at him with a confused look before replying. "So far, it's been successful."

"True, but evidently it has attracted the attention of an advanced alien species with evil intentions."

"How could we stop this alien plot without causing our demise?"

"That's what we're trying to determine," James replied. "We don't have enough information to come up with a plan."

Stevens rubbed his jaw while looking at James with a concerned expression. He leaned back in his chair. "Ok, see what you can find."

James suppressed a smile. He glanced at Leonard and Janice. "Let's do this."

They stood up and went to the main operations lab where androids were keeping watch on any possible threat to Earth. Fortunately, there was a station for Janice to use for their attempt to discover what the alien spacecraft was up to.

After several minutes of searching with no luck, Janice turned to James. "I can't find anything that would suggest an alien plot, at least not in the main memory stacks."

"Surely, there must be some information on this obvious alien appearance in our soler system," James said.

He didn't get a response from his human friends. Nat, his assistant, replied to his statement. "They have arrived three weeks ago and are staying withing an AU from Earth."

James' eyes shifted to him like laser beams. "Are you aware of their intent?"

"We believe they have come here to collect human food stock."

All three humans stared at him with anxiety showing in their faces.

"Is this part of AzTeka's production of android assistants?"

"No."

"When did AzTeka begin converting dead humans into food?"

"Thirteen months ago."

"Why?"

That simple question seemed to confuse Nat, but he answered without any evidence of why it took him so long to respond.

"Our operational programming has been altered."

"By whom?"

"We are not able to determine that."

James turned to his compatriots. "I sense a conspiracy here. Someone, other than us, has gained entry to the Module hub."

"The aliens?" Leonard asked.

"I doubt that, but the fact that they're in our solar system suggests that they are waiting for this harvesting to involve all humans." He turned to Janice. "You need to find that code and remove it."

"The android operating code is up in the Yottabyte size. It's not going to be easy to find it."

"You were able to shut them down," James reminded her. "Why couldn't you find the code that's involved with the food conversion?"

She sighed. "I'll try, but it may take some time to find it."

"Why couldn't we just shut the androids down as a way to stop them from converting us to food?" Leonard asked.

"Maybe it's not the androids that are going to do it," James said.

Leonard pointed at him. "You're thinking it's the aliens."

"Yes. It's logical that they would have a better shot at it with us being pacified by the androids."

Leonard sighed. "We need to figure out a way to stop them, but without weapons we wouldn't have a chance."

"Even worse, we don't know if there are any weapons to fight them."

"Yeah, this pacification program has gotten rid of weapons of war."

James rubbed his face. "There has to be a better way."

No one had an answer to that, but it wouldn't stop them from finding a way out of the dilemma. In a way, these three humans were the only ones who could save the human race.