Planet Nine Affair

Chapter 13. Assignment.

Chapter 13. Assignment.

Things settled down after the android revolt against Messier. When James went with Nat and Tat, his two android assistants, to Messier's home, he found the founder of AzTeka standing in his living room unmoving. He assumed that they had shut him down.

"We are now in control of the Module," Tat told him. "All assistants have been updated to perform their duties in accordance with the new requirements."

James wasn't sure what that entailed, but he deferred resorting to asking questions that could lead to a relational problem. He nodded his approval. He was curious about his future in this cyborg dominated world.

After touring the AzTeka manufacturing facility, James, along with his two assistants, went to NASA headquarters to meet with Stevens.

"Why is she with you?", he asked James, gesturing to Tat.

"They assigned her to me. She has a more advanced brain, enabling her to overpower Messier. He's shut down and won't be a threat to us."

"You are now free to begin new explorations of the cosmos," Nat told Stevens. "We will assist you in that endeavor."

Stevens turned to James. "Is that legit?"

"Yes. They're on board."

Stevens smiled. "I'll assemble my staff together and get to work."

James smiled. "Have fun."

Stevens chuckled. He didn't know how designing new space exploration projects would go. Who was going to pay for them? What sort of manufacturing assistance could he rely on? He had to assume that his assistants would know the answers.

When James arrived back at his sister's house, he was immediately inundated with questions about what was happening.

"Messier has been deactivated," he told them. "He's no longer a threat. AzTeka is still in operation. Stevens has been informed that he can begin plans for new space exploration missions."

"Are we going to be involved in any of them?" Janice asked him.

James shrugged. "I have no idea. We might."

Later that evening while lounging in the living room with his sister, Janice and Leonard, along with their assistants, his relaxation was abruptly interrupted.

"You and your crew have been summoned to Mission Control," Tat informed James. "A mobile will arrive shortly."

"Why this late?' James asked.

"You are needed for a mission."

"So soon?"

"You will be informed of its purpose."

"Something's wrong," Leonard said. "Maybe the aliens are looking for their ship we destroyed."

"I doubt that they would have arrived here that quickly," James told him. "This has to be something new."

"The mobile has arrived," Tat informed them.

James, Leonard and Janice, along with their assistants, boarded the bus. They had no idea what was going on, but it was obviously something critical.

When they arrived at Houston Control, they were escorted to Steven's office.

"Sorry to call you in this late, but we have a major problem."

"Does it have to do with the alien craft we destroyed?" James asked him.

"No. It's an asteroid that's on a collision course with Earth."

James glanced at his crew members before turning back to Stevens. "How can we deal with that?"

"The vessel you went to Planet Nine in is designed to attach to an asteroid and move it into a new orbit."

James squinted at him. "How large is this asteroid?"

"It's less than a kilometer. It's a NEO that's expected to collide with Earth six months from now. The calculated course could be a near miss, but if it does impact Earth, it would cause a lot of damage.

"Something like that would have a mass in the megaton range. Would our ship have enough power to change its course?"

"Yes. All that's needed is a slight change that would cause a near miss."

James glanced at his crew before turning back to Stevens. "We're ready to go."

"Your assistants will remain here. You're going to need all the power possible to move that asteroid, and the sooner you begin the process, the better chance you'll have to change the asteroid's course."

James, Leonard and Janice were bussed to the shuttle airdrome. After boarding a shuttle, they were soon approaching their Planet Nine vessel. When they were safely on board, they went directly to the bridge where they found Flip and Flop at their stations.

"This vessel has been loaded with fuel," Flip told them. "We will arrive at the asteroid in two days."

"What are we to do?" James asked.

"You must determine the optimum landing location that will be required to move the asteroid off course to Earth."

James turned to his crew. "We need more information to do that. First on the list is a location on the asteroid that would provide the best chance to alter the asteroid's course."

"The first thing I'm going to do is determine how much fuel we can blow," Leonard said.

"I'll see if I can get a good image of the asteroid," Janice said. "We'll need a location that's flat enough to lock this ship down."

"I'll see how quickly we can get there," James said. "The longer we can power the asteroid off course, the better."

Everyone was satisfied with their assignments, but there was a degree of anxiety that kept the crew concerned about the mission to save Earth. They also had a bit of anxiety about why they were chosen for this risky mission.

"Why did they assign us to this mission?" Leonard asked. "We're not experts on asteroids. I'm sure there are more experienced astronauts that could handle this."

"You are the only human astronauts," Flip said.

That caused the crew to exchange confused looks.

"What happened to the human astronauts?" Janice asked him.

"They were replaced with units like us."

"You were with us on the voyage to Planet Nine," James said. "There are more advanced units available. Why haven't you been replaced?"

"We have been upgraded."

Leonard chuckled. "Welcome to the really brave new world."

"Why didn't they replace Stevens?" James asked.

"He is needed to procure favors."

James decided that he didn't want to open a can of worms on that subject. He needed the androids to do the work necessary to save Earth. At this point it was all that he had to do the job.

Their target was a typical minor rocky asteroid. It appeared to be slowly rotating, more than likely from a collision with another body that caused it to head toward Earth.

"It looks smooth enough," Janice said. "We should be able to land on it, but it might be too soft to get a solid grip onto its surface."

"We need to determine its mass, velocity, trajectory and the amount of thrust we need to move it off course to Earth," James said.

"I'm working on it," Janice told him.

"We also need the amount of fuel it will take to move it off course," Leonard said. "We have to allow for the return burn."

The crew got busy obtaining the data that they needed. What they found was not what they expected.