Star Fields

Chapter No.19 Survey

Part 2

Synopsis

Jason and Molly are the only two remaining humans from a secret expedition to destroy a reptilian species. Soon after their departure, the Earth was devastated by a large asteroid collision. Jason and Molly concluded that it was a deliberate act of mass annihilation called the Phoenix Project. After an encounter with the reptilians, they are told that a new more sinister alien species called the Scath is systematically destroying all life in the Milky Way. Jason and Molly are determined to rectify the situation and repopulate Earth with humans while trying to avoid this new species.

Chapter No.19 Survey

Luck is what you find when least expecting it.

We arrived in Earth orbit and began to search for a suitable habitable area for our theoretical human population.

"What about Hawaii," Molly said. "It's a pseudo tropical archipelago smack dab in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and it may have re-established some of its fruit bearing trees and vegetation. I also believe that some fish species have survived the extinction event. The island nature of the archipelago would help protect any human colony from dangerous intrusions."

"I defer to your judgment," I said. "We'll go down there and check it out."

I looked over at Judy.

"Your shuttle is ready, Jason."

She definitely is reading my mind.

Molly and I exchanged smiles before going to the shuttle bay.

Alice and Ellen prepared to take us to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. Surprisingly, the island chain was still intact. We flew around it to see if there was a possible location that we could safely land.

"Try that open beach area on Maui," I told the androids.

Alice flew our shuttle down and across the beach. She chose a larger open area near the Southern part of the island.

We stepped out into paradise. A gentle breeze blew waves in and onto the beach. The air was warm and had some humidity, but it wasn't oppressive.

"I can certainly see why people loved to come here on vacation," Molly said.

"It is really wonderful," I said. "Hopefully, this would make it possible for humans to survive with what nature has provided.

"I can't see why they couldn't. There are several varieties of fish in the oceans around the islands. Evidently, they were able to escape the extinction of many of their land-based creatures."

"With a good supply of fish and fruit trees, I would think that survival is guaranteed."

She frowned. "We still don't know how we're going to find humans that could try surviving here."

"If only we knew where they're being held," I said.

"I have a rather strange thought," she said with a determined look. "I think that there is something wrong about that bunker full of stasis chambers we located in Huntsville."

I tilted my head. "What do you mean?"

"I can't believe that they were relying on the males in this vessel to come back and couple with those women in stasis. I agree with you. I believe that the person who is responsible for the failure of our mission had a backup plan for saving humanity."

"What sort of plan?"

"I'm reserving my opinion until we go back to the bunker and check it out more thoroughly."

"We can do that now," I said. I turned to Alice and Ellen. "We want to go back to Huntsville."

"We will take you there, Jason."

We boarded the shuttle and flew directly to Huntsville, Alabama and landed near the bunker. We went directly to the door down in a ditch the androids had dug. After entering the bunker, we used our lamps to illuminate our path.

Molly went directly to the rack that had held the data disks. "How many slots are in this rack?" she asked Alice.

Alice went over to the rack and quickly counted the slots. "There are one hundred and thirty-five."

"How many data discs did we recover?"

"One hundred and thirty-four."

I suddenly realized what she had determined. "That means that there is another data disc."

Molly grinned. "Bingo!"

"If it's still here, we should be able to locate it with the scanners."

"Let's try inside the stasis chamber," Molly suggested.

We entered the chamber and Molly began to scan for a data disc. She should get a reading that indicated a poly carbonate derivative.

She pointed to what appeared to be a round logo secured to a cylinder attached to the back wall. Alice used a blade to remove the logo shield.

"There it is!" I exclaimed.

"Yes," Molly said. "And, there is one other thing I want to do, but we'll need to open one of the stasis units holding a female."

I didn't understand why she wanted to do that, but I was excited enough to try anything. I gestured to the androids and they were able to open up one of the stasis chambers using mostly their strength.

The body of the woman had deteriorated but it was still intact. Molly began scanning her body for what seemed like several minutes before turning to me.

"She was pregnant," Molly revealed.

My eyebrows shot up. "Really?"

"I would say only about a few days pregnant. My guess is that they used artificial insemination. The weird thing is that the embryo is missing, and I'll bet that the same thing could be said for all of these females."

"What the hell!"

"The answers will be found in the data disc, but I'll just bet that they took all of the embryos and stored them in a cryogenic unit."

"What good would do? They would still need a woman to birth them. Besides, a cryogenic unit would need maintenance. It would cease functioning and the embryos would die."

"Not if they launched them into space," she said.

That idea sounded really crazy, but I was openminded enough to consider any crazy idea.

We returned to the ship and immediately began examining the data disc.

"I was right," Molly said. "They launched a cryogenic container full of embryos one week before the launch of our mission."

"Does it give any coordinates?"

"Yes, and it looks like they planned for it to go around Jupiter for a velocity boost out into the Kuiper belt."

"I hope they didn't send it out of our solar system," I said, frowning.

"I don't think so," she replied. "I believe it's still orbiting out there in the Kuiper belt."

"How are we going to locate it?" I asked. "It would be like finding a needle in a haystack."

"I'm doing simulations of its course, allowing for planetary moves over the course of 175 years."

I turned to Judy. "Move us out of orbit and plot a course to wherever Molly tells you."

"Yes, Jason."

I was skeptical that we had any chance of locating the embryo probe, but maybe we could get lucky. Who knows?