Chapter 20. Reality.

Being near Jupiter is a life changing experience. The Jovian planet is massive compared to any of the planets and dominates the solar system. The main problem with being near it is the intense radiation and powerful gravity it produces. Tog managed to find the perfect trajectory around it on the way to Earth. However, its masterly appearance captured all the crew's eyes.

When the crew assembled in the command center, they were both curious and disturbed by what Tog revealed.
"I have received a message from Houston Center. I will play it."

"Sorry for this late message. We have been isolated for several months because of a serious pandemic that has taken the lives of forty percent of the world's population. We are at minimal operation here. If you arrive here, we will not be able to bring you down here or send any thing up to you. I'm not sure how long we can remain active."

Jack sighed. "Well, that wasn't what I expected to hear."

"She didn't mention anything about the aliens," Jessica said. "Does that suggest that the pandemic is a result of the alien's attack?"

"It could be," Jack said. "I would have expected an invasion like the one in 'The War of the Worlds'.

"Yeah, but in that movie, the aliens died from a human based pathogen," Natalie said.

"Maybe this was the reverse of that," Lorrie said. "Our pathogens killed them."

"The problem with that is that if these aliens are silicon based," Jack said. "Their pathogens would not be like ours. We'll just have to wait until we get more information."

"It is possible that this pandemic was anticipated," Tog said. "That could have been the reason why a large number of NASA officials abandoned their posts and left Earth on their own mission. However, there is no evidence that they did that."

The crew turned to Tog.

"You knew about this?" Jack asked.

"I found it in a coded message sent to them from Houston."

Jack turned to the women. "Well, that explains why we were sent out on this bogus mission."

"Yes," Jessica said. "We were the decoys for their attempted escape from danger."

"Well, we can't do anything about it now," Jack said. "We should be safe orbiting Earth. Maybe things there will improve."

His crew wasn't as convinced as he was, but they realized there was nothing they could do about it.
With this latest revelation, the crew settled into a more relaxed life aboard a spaceship hurdling at a thousand kilometers per minute. They had little to do now that the mission was clearly understood. Their main problem was deciding how they could survive.
However, they were still in the process of traveling to Earth.

Maybe not!

Later at night, Jack couldn't sleep so he went to the command center to see if he could get more ideas from Tog.

However, Tog revealed a new message from Houston.

"The situation here is more serious than we presumed. We suggest that you don't come here at least until things improve. We believe that you are in need of water. We suggest that you obtain it in the outer edges of the asteroid belt."

"Is that something we could do?" Jack asked Tog.

"Yes. There are sizeable Icey objects orbiting in the outer asteroid belt. I have gradually reduced our velocity to match their orbital speed. Robots can retrieve some of the smaller ice objects, which can be melted and filtered before adding to our water supply."

Jack smiled. "We are fortunate to have you on this mission, my friend."

"I suppose it is because I am, as you say, sentient."

Jack smiled.

Two days later Tog had begun the robotic project to obtain water. The crew watched the process in the command center and marveled how well it went.

"Are we going to Earth now?" Natalie asked.

Jack looked at her for a moment before replying. "No, not until we know it's safe,"

"I thought we had plenty of water," Lorrie said. "Why do we need to do this tricky procedure to get more of it?"

"Even though we recycle water, we lose a bit of it over time from using electrolysis to convert small amounts of it into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is used for fuel, the oxygen is for us to breath. One advantage we have is that the system can extract the oxygen from the carbon dioxide we exhale by food stock farming."

"Is that the reason we're able to stay on this ship for a long time?"

"Yes."

"Now all we have to do is figure out some way to keep us from becoming bored to death," Natalie said.

"We're still not sure we're safe from the aliens," Jack said. "We must remain alert."

"Let's face it," Lorrie said. "There's no way we can hide from the aliens. If they want to destroy us, there's no way we could prevent it."

"I believe there is another issue to consider," Tog said.

Jack turned to him. "What issue?"

"I have intercepted radio signals from Earth that reveal that there have been several nuclear explosions. It is unclear that these were the result of a war."

"Maybe they were trying to destroy the aliens," Natalie said.

"There were no references to that," Tog said.

Jack sighed. "I think I'll go see how the farming robots are doing."

He stood up and walked away.

"I hope he isn't getting depressed again," Lorrie said.

"I suppose we'll just have to cheer him up," Jessica said, smiling.

Jack went to the agricultural deck along with his cat. When he and his feline friend arrived there, they were greeted by the three other cats, which meant that this is where they hung out.

The agricultural deck was stationed with robots that took care of the farming operations. The deck floor of dirt was partitioned into sections of corn, wheat, and soy, patches of vegetables and fruit trees. Several Zenon lamps radiated these crops with artificial sunlight. Occasional artificial rain kept these crops growing.

What amazed Jack was how efficient everything was. None of this technology was taught in NASA's class lectures. It was quite obvious to him that this ship was designed to travel in space for indefinite periods.

His exploration revealed something unexpected in the middle of the agricultural deck. It looked like a swimming pool. Was it designed to be recreational diversion for the crew? He wasn't sure why it would be placed on a space craft deck that would occasionally be stopped. Maybe the water would be pumped out before the deck was shut down. It was just another mystery.

Jack's survey of the agricultural deck was interrupted by Tog's voice informing him of a new unexpected situation.