She’s a very sexy girl, but watch out when she get’s mad.

The common room between Angie and Marty's quarters served as an unofficial meeting room for their crew. Marty, George, Karl and Tyler often used it as a good substitute for the sandbox at Area-51.

"How did you two do with Honey's status?" George asked.

"Didn't you hear?" Marty said. "They made her the ship's engineer. She's a full fledged member of the space rat pack now."

"Yeah, I heard that's what the other crews call us," Karl said.

Marty grinned like a proud new father. "That's because we’re bad asses and the best of the best."

"I wonder when we're going out again," Tyler said.

"I don't know," George said. "But, we have a pool running on where we'll be going."

Tyler smiled. "I say, you chaps don't miss a chance to make wagers."

"Yeah, and our two astronomers here have an unfair advantage," Marty said.

George feigned offense. "We give everybody the details on all of the choices."

Marty gave him a teasing grin. "That's the same as chickens accepting the fox as a guard."

All heads turned when Angie came out of her quarters. She was wearing a blue dress jacket and pants.

"We've been summoned to meet General Wilson on the hangar deck."

Marty frowned. "The hangar deck? That's weird."

She frowned. "What difference does it make?"

He stared at her for a few moments and then drained his glass. "Yeah, you're right." He got up. "Save some for me. I'll be back."

He and Angie rode an elevator down to the hangar deck. When the door swished open, a grim-faced General Wilson met them.

"Come with me. I have something to show you."

Marty and Angie exchanged concerned glances.

The general led them to a new hangar. Two guards saluted as the three passed into a chamber where there sat a space craft that neither Angie nor Marty had seen. The vessel was about three fourths the size of the X-1001. Standing on eight landing gears, the sleek black craft was wedge-shaped and had vestigial wings and tail. Twin forward and aft engines appeared hidden under a curved aft section.

Marty was impressed. "Wow! Is this a new fighter?"

"More like a fighter bomber," Wilson said. "It's equipped with the latest weaponry and is the fastest in the fleet."

"How is that? It only has two engines."

"It has to do with effective mass," Wilson said. "The lower the actual mass, the lower that Antigrav can reduce the effective mass, which equates to higher velocity."

"I like it," Marty said.

Angie's eyes expressed concern. “What do you want us to do?”

"We want you to take it out for a test run," Wilson said.

"Out to where: the Oort cloud?" Marty asked.

Wilson smiled. "Oh, no. This ship has jump capability, and we want you to take it to a specific star. Arthur will fill you in on that."

"What exactly are we looking for?" Angie asked.

"We have reason to believe that the enemy has a base there. The X-3001 traveled there to chart the system but came under attack. We want a conformation on that, and we believe that you can get in there with this new ship without being detected."

"How far is this system?" Angie asked.

"I'm not sure. You have a meeting scheduled with Arthur at sixteen hundred. He'll give you the details"

Marty saluted. "Yes, sir."

###

Arthur was his usual agitated self, fidgeting and pacing like a caged animal. It was obvious that he was concerned that this war was getting out of control and that he was powerless to do anything about it.

"You're going to 82 Eridani, which is 19.8 light-years away in the constellation Eridanus. It's a spectral type G5 V main sequence orange dwarf star that is 92% of Sol's size with 60% luminosity and a 100% metallicity. It’s at least 10 billion years old. It has a radial velocity of 129 kps, which is high. A planet at 0.8 AU is habitable, but we have no other data on it."

"What do you want us to do when we get there?" Angie asked.

"Survey the planet. If you can get away with it, collect samples of any life forms there. If there's an antimatter stash, stay away from it. We need all the information you can obtain, but we need you to return with this information."

"Wouldn't it make more sense to take George or Karl along?" Marty asked.

"No. Since we know that the aliens are working this system we can't risk anyone else."

Translation: We're cannon fodder.

"When do we go?" Angie asked.

"As soon as possible. Few are aware of the fact that this war is not going well. We've lost three ships and the encounters are escalating. We . . . the military believe that these new smaller ships will give us an edge. Plus, if the X-401 is space worthy, we'll place it on the X-3002. If for some reason you have to abandon the main ship you will still be able to return."

"Will everybody fit in the X-401?" Angie asked.

"Yes. It'll be tight, but it can accommodate the entire crew." He paused. "If necessary."

"Hopefully, it won't be necessary." Angie said.

Hopefully, indeed.

###

Marty looked at Angie and frowned. "Here we go again. Other than General Wilson and Arthur, nobody knows that we're going on a mission to some god forsaken star that may be swarming with bad aliens who hate our guts."

She frowned back. "You're making a mountain out of a mole hill. We're test pilots and know more about combat with these aliens than anyone else. Even if the others knew where we are going what good would it do them? Besides, I agree with Arthur. There's no need to unnecessarily put our crew in harm's way."

“Yeah, you’re right, but I don’t like being put on the hot seat all of the time.”

She gave him a warm smile. “I know, but you sit on the hot seat better than anyone else.”

“We have clearance for departure, Angie.”

“Take us out, Delphi.”

“Yes, Angie.”

The X-401 slowly levitated and moved out of the hangar. Outside, the Earth slowly rotated beneath the Station like a giant blue pearl streaked with filaments of white. The Space Port loomed behind like a giant kid’s toy gleaming in the light of an yellow-white star. The views were both spectacular and disturbing; the home of mankind was both beautiful and fragile.    

The X-401’s engines fired and the image of the Earth and Space Port shrunk rapidly in the main screen.

“Wow! General Wilson wasn’t exaggerating about this ship,” Marty said.

“We’re already up to 1000 kps,” Angie said. “We’ll be to jump velocity in less than ten minutes.”

“Do you really believe that the war is going poorly?” Marty asked.

“How am I supposed to know? We’re not in the inner circle at Space Command. All we know is what we see when we go out here, and that’s just a small piece of this puzzle. I think that the main problem is that there are too few combat pilots who understand how to dog fight. We came from the old school where you had to qualify in Top Gun School.”

“I find that totally wild. The idea of dog fighting started in World War I, and here we are in space and we’re still using the concepts that those pilots worked out.”

“Well, I think that this ship is the best weapon that they’ve come up with. It has the speed and weaponry to fight anything we’ve seen so far.”

“I hope you’re right,” Marty said, giving her an admiring grin.

“Jump will commence in one minute, Angie.”

“Execute on count, Delphi.”

“Yes, Angie.”

The jump began with the usual spinning, but as the rotational rate increased, the ship elongated to the point of invisibility. Marty felt as if he was sitting on a seat out in the middle of space with the rest of the ship invisibly stretched out to infinity.

“We have entered normal space, Angie.”

“Reduce velocity to 1000 kps, Delphi. Maintain stealth mode and adjust our course to orbit the second planet.”

“Yes, Angie.”

“I’m not picking up any signals,” Marty said. “I don’t think we’ve been noticed.”

“It’s too soon to tell. We’ll know more when we approach the planet.”

“What did Brian say about this planet?”

“Not much. They were attacked before they got close.”

“I feel lost without George and Ferris,” Marty said. “They know what to look for.”

“Activate the scanning station, Delphi,” Angie said.

Several screens lit up with streaming data. One contained information on the star. The other two had astronomical and chemical data on the planet.

“Wait until George, Karl, Ferris, Uma and Anna find out about this,” Marty said.

“They may be able to replace scientists with this new technology, but they’ll never replace combat pilots,” Angie said.

“That would be difficult. Combat is unpredictable. You can’t program unknown moves into an autopilot.”

“You could use the same logic with the science scanners. They can only program what has been discovered. What about the unknown and the unexpected?”

Marty held a hand up. “You won’t get an argument out of me. I would hate to see robots take over human space exploration.”

That ended the conversation. As the ship approached the planet, the anxiety level in the cockpit increased.

“The planet has a moon that’s about two-thirds the size of our moon,” Marty said. The planet is 0.95 the diameter of Earth. The scanners are reporting chlorophyll in the green areas. The oceans are not showing any life at all.”

“That’s odd,” Angie said. “I wonder if this is another trap.”

“Could be. If they’re around, they’ll probably come from the moon.”

“I am detecting five vessels approaching from behind, Angie.”

“Oops! Marty said. “I guess my guess was incorrect.”

“Transfer helm to me, Delphi. Transfer the particle cannons to Martin. Please fire energy beams at maximum. Maximum power to the aft shields.”

“Yes, Angie.”

Angie pulled around in a tight turn, which the alien craft tried to track. The enemy ships began to fire pulses of energy, some of which struck the shields with a thunderous report. Angie reversed the turn, causing the aliens to swing too far ahead. She swung back around and began her approach at high velocity with Delphi firing the energy beam constantly and Marty adding particle pulses. One of the alien ships wobbled and then blew apart. The other ships began to chase the X-401.

“Hang on,” Angie said. “I’m going to take us in close.”

She took the X-401 in so close to the moon’s surface, Marty thought for sure that she was going to scrape. She didn’t, but one hapless alien craft did with disastrous results. Angie didn’t have time to admire her work; she pulled into another tight turn, but this time she backed off at the apex, causing the aliens to fly by. She got up behind one and Delphi and Marty finished it off. The remaining ship sped off.

“We can’t let that bastard get away,” Marty said.

“Don’t worry, he won’t.”

She put the pedal to the metal and was gaining until . . .

“They fired a missile,” Marty said.

“I see it,” Angie said before she turned into another tight turn. The missile tried to track but lost it and exploded short. The blinding light and radiation crashed into the X-401’s shield like magnum buckshot from a 10 gauge.

“Please fire a plasma ball, Delphi. Maximum energy yield.”

“Yes, Angie.”

“You like missiles, bastard,” Angie yelled. “Take this one up your ass.”

Marty smiled as he watched the plasma bomb track to the alien ship. The weapon's explosion blew its target into bits.

“You know what gets me,” Marty said. “These encounters only last a few minutes and then it’s over, just like that.”

"A few minutes of sheer terror after days of boredom," Angie said with a welcomed smile.

"Now what?"

"Now we can go back to the planet and do our survey."

"Do you think that wise? There may be other aliens around."

She frowned. "I don't care. I sure as hell want to see why they tried like hell to keep us away from their damn planet."

Marty held his hands up in surrender. "You're the commander."

That calmed her down.

"Take us back to orbit the planet, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

The orbiting maneuver didn't take long. The X-401 was in a stable orbit in less than ten minutes. The planet filled the main screen as a blue-green orb with a smattering of white lacy filaments entwined around its middle.

"Launch an atmospheric probe, Delphi. Set it to automatic mode."

"Yes, Angie."

"I don't see any signs of civilization," Marty said. "In fact, I don't see much of anything other than some patches of green."

"The atmosphere is low on oxygen," Angie said. "It's only ten percent. The temperature is only about ten degrees centigrade at the surface. If we go down we'll need bio suits."

"The green areas look like watermelon patches," Marty said. "Maybe they were gardening down there."

"Are you detecting any magnetic anomalies?"

"No. I'm also not detecting any energy sources."

"The probe is not detecting any biological or chemical toxins," Angie said.

"There are no sources of radiation," Marty said.

"Take us down, Delphi. Land near the largest plant area."

"Yes, Angie."

The forward engines fired, plunging the ship into the atmosphere. A rapidly moving surface soon filled the main screen until Delphi brought the ship to a gentle landing on a flat plain devoid of life. A hundred meters away stood a group of plants that resembled a melon patch except for the presence of tall large-leaved plants with humongous blue flowers that resembled sunflowers.

Since they didn't need pressurization to protect themselves from the ample atmosphere on the planet, Marty and Angie put on bio suits instead of space suits. Bio suits provide both oxygen and temperature control and are less restrictive. They went out through an isolation air lock that prevented contamination from entering the ship. The surface that they stepped on was sandy in nature with many small rocks, not all that different from Mars. The orange alien sun blazed away in a topaz sky devoid of clouds, and a slight breeze disturbed the giant plants in the distance. As they strode toward the plants, Angie and Marty saw no other movement.

"What the hell are those things?" Marty said when they came up to an alien plant that had a meter long gourd-shaped yellow object attached to it by means of several vine-shaped tubes.

"I have no idea," Angie said. "I'm not Ferris. We'll have to take one back to her."

Marty positioned a knife near where the vines converged.

"No, don't cut it there," Angie admonished him. "Let's dig it up at the roots."

"That's going to take up a lot of space."

"We can fold it up in the stasis chamber," Angie said.

"Okay," Marty said as he began to dig around the roots.

He pulled the plant free and helped Angie carefully fold it and then stuff it into a stasis chamber.

"Pick up some of those rocks for Uma," she ordered him, pointing at them. "I'll collect some of the water in that irrigation ditch."

"I wonder what they were up to here," Marty said as he collected rocks and soil samples.

"I'm sure it's not good," Angie said. She pointed to the ship. "Let's get the hell out of here. This place gives me the creeps."

Amen to that.

###

"We have entered normal space, Angie."

"Reduce velocity to 1000 kps, Delphi. Adjust our course to the Space Port. Send a message informing Space Command of our arrival and give them our ETA."

"Yes, Angie."

Marty raised his eyebrows. "You're not in a hurry to get back?"

"Nope. I thought that we could take some time to check this crate out."

"I agree. They put us in these new ships without any training time. When I was assigned to a new fighter, I had to put in several hours in a trainer."

"Test pilots aren't afforded that luxury," Angie said. "They figure that if we return from a test flight it must be okay."

Marty chuckled. "I hear you."

Angie stood up and walked behind the single row of four seats. She squatted and pulled a ring that was flush with the floor, unfolding a seat out of a recessed compartment. "This is how the extra seating is stored."

"It looks like we would be packed like sardines if we had to take the entire crew."

"There are two crew rooms in the back," Angie said, walking toward the back.

The two compact quarters flanked a narrow corridor, and each consisted of a bunk, chair and small desk that folded up into the wall. A head was common to both.

"These remind me of officer's quarters on the George Washington. You were in big trouble if you were claustrophobic."

She offered an ornery grin. "Oh, I don't know; I think it's kind of cozy."

He didn't know how to take that, especially since she was blocking his exit from the room. She cocked her head and gave him an invitational smile, which he returned. Inevitably, their lips met, but then he wrapped his arms around her back so that he had a better angle of attack . . .

"There is a message from Space Command, Angie."

She frowned. "I'm coming, Delphi."

She gave Marty a smile that hinted of a rain check and then rushed back to her command station. "Play the message, Delphi."

"Welcome back. Before you return to Space Port we need you to make a quick trip to Mars. All other ships are two distant. We've lost contact with the Mars colony and need an assessment of the situation. We advise caution on this."

"Copy that. Diverting our course to Mars." She gave Marty a concerned look before turning back to her station. "Change course for Mars, swiftest possible arrival, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

"Back to business," she said, sounding disappointed.

###

The red-brown image of Mars dominated the main screen of the X-401 like some kid's in-your-face dirty red ball. The southern hemisphere was more rugged and cratered than the northern half with its sparsely cratered smooth plains. The Valles Marineris stood out like a hatchet blow of mammoth proportions near the equator. North of the canyon stood the Mars Colony on the Cydonia plateau near a mesa better known as the Face. The connected domed structures of the colony appeared intact.

"This is the X-401," Angie said. "Please respond."

After a moment of silence, she repeated the message to no avail.

"I think I see the problem," Marty said. "The antenna is damaged." He switched a close-up image of it to the main screen.

"It looks like it was blasted with an energy beam," Angie said.

"Yeah, but I don't see any other damage to the station."

"Open a COM to Space Command, Delphi."

"COM opened, Angie."

"This is the X-401. We're in orbit over the Mars colony. Their antenna has been destroyed by weapons fire, but the colony structures are intact. We will land and investigate. Please send colony diagrams. Over."

Marty stood up. Angie didn't. "Relax," she said. "We'll wait for a confirmation."

He sat down. "Do you think that this was an alien attack?"

"I hope not, but we have to find out what happened."

He looked at the main screen. "I hope that none of those bastards are still down there."

She never responded. Eight minutes later Delphi played Space Command's reply. "We copy and are transmitting requested diagrams. We've dispatched two class 1000 ships with medical, food and repair equipment. You'll also have a Marine detachment at your disposal. ETA is 0800. Over."

"We copy. We'll keep you informed. Over." She glanced at Marty, as if to say I'm sorry. "Take us down, Delphi. Land near the southern end of the colony."

The forward engines fired, plunging the X-401 into the thin Martian atmosphere. The ship circled around to make a gentle landing a hundred meters from a domed module of the colony. Marty and Angie got into space suits after brief pre-breathing exercises.

"We'll take handguns and extra ammo," Angie said. "Hopefully, we won't have to use them."

"I just hope we don't have to deal with casualties."

"No way to know," Angie said.

After pressurizing their suits, Angie and Marty exited the ship through the isolation chamber. The yellow sky was clear above a reddish brown surface littered with rocks.

"How are we going to get inside?" Marty asked.

"I have the codes," Angie said. "Assuming that the air locks are powered, we can get in."

At the door to an air lock, Angie entered a code. Nothing happened, but after another attempt, the outside door opened. They entered the lock, closed the outside door and re-pressurized the chamber, allowing the inside door to open on to a dark cargo storage bay.

Marty turned and activated his visor's infrared mode. The cargo bay was filled with stacks of round storage balls in carbon fiber racks.

Angie activated a bio scanner. "The air is breathable. I'm not detecting any toxins or radiation."

"Which direction is the command center?"

She pointed. "Through that door and down a long corridor. The command center is at the hub of the complex. The living and working areas branch off."

They carefully moved forward. A sudden flash encouraged them to take cover behind a rack.

“That was an energy beam,” Marty said. His conclusion was affirmed by additional blasts that rained pieces of container and sparks down. Marty fired back, but it was difficult to aim at someone who could not be seen.

“I think that there’s only one of them,” Angie said. “I’ll circle around and get him from behind.”

“I don’t know if it’s safe to assume there’s only one,” Marty said.

“I’m the commander,” she said. “You keep him pinned down.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Marty fired back, ducking to avoid blasts. Angie went around several racks to come up behind. She carefully approached and took her aim.

Marty heard two shots and noted the immediate cessation of energy blasts.

“You were right,” he said as he approached the downed alien. “Now, we’ll have an energy weapon.”

“I wouldn’t touch that if I were you,” Angie said. “I’m detecting quite a bit of radiation from it.”

“How in the hell can they stand using a weapon that’s giving off radiation?”

“Maybe, they’re desperate,” Angie said. “Let’s get cracking.”

Having had one dangerous encounter, Angie and Marty approached the door to the main corridor with trepidation. When they opened the door they found more darkness.

“Shit,” Marty said. “We don’t have any cover if we go in there.”

“Did you bring any grenades?”

He looked at her with puzzled eyes. “Yes.”

“Get one out and keep it ready.”

“Yes, Captain.”

They began their move down the corridor keeping their infrared visors on. The images that they viewed were scary in and of themselves, but the anticipation of taking an energy blast endowed both of them with an adrenalin rush.

They came upon two bodies.

“They’ve been hit with energy blasts,” Marty said. “I don’t like the looks of this.”

A blast hit the wall, punching a flaming hole. There was nowhere to take cover, so Marty tossed a grenade down the hall at three aliens. The explosion blew shrapnel, but their armored space suits kept them from injury.

Angie was agitated. “Jesus, give a warning when you do that!”

“I didn’t think I had that luxury.” He paused. “Maybe we should have waited on the marines.”

“We were ordered to find out what happened down here. There could be colony people still alive. If we wait on the marines, they will be dead.”

Marty pulled another grenade from his weapons pouch. “Let’s get to the command module as fast as we can. If there are any people still alive, that’s where they’ll be.”

“Agreed.”

When they walked past the dead aliens, Marty and Angie looked at them but didn’t stop to examine them. The grenade’s shrapnel had torn them apart.

Surprisingly, the command module was still lit. No aliens or station people were in it, alive or dead.

“Let’s check out those screens,” Angie said. “Maybe we can see where everyone is.”

Marty began punching buttons and keys to bring the screens to life. One of the scenes displayed a lab in which several people and aliens were dead.

“Looks like they had one hell of a battle,” Marty said.

Ignoring his comment, Angie switched a screen to the biosphere in which many plants were growing. What she saw raised her spirits. “There are people in the bio sphere and they look like they’re okay.”

“That’s great,” Marty said. “I wonder why the aliens didn’t go there.”

“That’s hard to tell. We’ll go there and see if they need any help.”

Marty and Angie checked all of the other screens but found no other living people or aliens. They rushed down a corridor to the entrance to the biosphere, but hesitated.

“They’re not going to allow us in,” Angie said. “They’re probably scared out of their wits.”

“Let me handle this,” Marty said. He pounded on the door. “Hey, in there, it’s room service!”

Angie rolled her eyes.

That did nothing to discourage Marty. “Hey, this is Martin Sinclair and Angelina Sarasota. We’re here to help you.”

After a moment of silent listening, the door was unlatched from inside and cracked open. Marty gave the person on the inside his best grin.

“Is that you, Marty?” a cautious voice inquired.

“The one and only,” Marty said, still grinning.

Angie and Marty entered the bio chamber and were greeted by the survivors with surprised staring.

“Is that you, Charlie?” Marty asked the door opener. “Charlie Stoddard?”

Charlie placed a welcoming hand on Marty’s arm. “God, Marty, I haven’t seen you since the Academy.”

“This is Charles Stoddard,” Marty told Angie. “He and I were roommates at the Air Force Academy.” He gestured to Angie. "This is my commander, Angelina Sarasota."

Angie wasn’t interested in formalities. “What’s your status?”

“We have several dead out there,” Charlie pointed out the door. “There are fifteen of us in here, five wounded.”

“What happened?” Marty asked as they moved among the survivors: ten men and five women.

“They must have landed out of our radar range,” Charlie said. “They cut into one of the storage chambers and were on us before we knew what was going on.”

"I wonder where their ship is," Marty said. "We didn't see it in our initial scans."

Angie keyed her long-range mic. "Keep alert for enemy craft, Delphi. We have reason to believe that one is present."

"Yes, Angie."

"Maybe they're in one of those caves," Marty said.

"Delphi, launch five insect probes to the caves near Arisa Mons. We believe that an alien craft may be hiding there."

"Yes, Angie."

"There are two ships on the way," Marty said to Charlie. "They're bringing a marine detachment, medical people and supplies."

"Are there more aliens still in the compound?" A middle-aged woman asked. She had short gray hair that detracted little from her classical beauty.

"This is Elizabeth Gerald, our administrator," Charlie said.

"We don't know," Angie said. "We killed four on our way in here and saw several alien bodies."

"That means it's still not safe to go out of here," Elizabeth said.

Angie keyed her mic again. "Delphi, send a message to Space Command. Tell them that we've found fifteen survivors, some of which are wounded. We're all in the bio module. We killed four aliens and saw several dead aliens on the way in. We are not certain that all enemy combatants have been cleared from the compound."

"Yes, Angie."

"Let's check out the wounded," Angie said. "We have portable scanners and stimulators. Maybe we can help them before the ships arrive."

"Good plan," Marty said with his customary grin.

"There is one alien saucer in a cave near Arisa Mons, Angie. It is not currently active."

"Send a message to Space Command with that information, Delphi."

"Yes, Angie."

###

Marty took a healthy swig of beer and relaxed. "That's much better."

"Where did you two go?" George asked.

"Some god-forsaken star that Brian had reported as infested with Roswell aliens. I think it was 82 Eridani."

"That's a star near the end of its main sequence life," Karl said. "It could swell into a red giant at anytime."

"It wouldn't dare," Marty said with a mock defiant grin. "Angie would have blasted it."

The men laughed.

"How did you end up on Mars fighting aliens?" George asked.

"We were tagged the instant we reported in. Space Command likes us. Not!"

Marty's cell phone chirped. "Hello." He listened for several seconds. "We'll be there." He ended the connection, giving George and Karl a concerned look.

"What's the matter?" George asked.

"I don't know." He rubbed his jaw. "Ferris wants to see Angie and me; it's something to do with the strange plant we found on that planet around 82 Eridani."

"Maybe she needs more information about its location," George said.

"Perhaps."

Marty got up and went to the door to Angie's quarters. He pressed a button.

"Come in," a voice from within said.

He did, and found Angie wrapped in a towel fresh from a shower.

"You rang," she sung.

His eyes feasted on the shapely legs and cleavage that peeked out from the towel's edges. "Ferris wants to see us in her lab."

"Did she say why?"

"No, but she said it was important."

"Well, give me a few to get dressed."

"Sure." He turned to leave.

"You don't have to leave."

He looked her over. "Yes, I do." He caught a glimpse of her pout just before he exited.

###

Ferris' lab was on deck three and isolated behind class-one biological safety locks, which meant going through scanners and purification protocols, both coming and going. It makes for an unpleasant few hours, both physically and emotionally.

Ferris was upset, which was not good. Usually all business, the exobiologist from Nigeria appeared disturbed. "Your report says that this plant was one of thousands?"

"Yes," Angie said. "There were several large patches of these plants."

"Did you scan any of these other plants?"

"A few, but they gave the same readings."

Ferris appeared shaken. "That's what I was afraid of."

"What's wrong?" Marty asked. "Are they some kind of biological weapon?”

"I wish that it was that simple." She gestured for them to follow her.

They entered a small room that contained a bassinet, which contained a perfectly normal looking baby.

"Whose baby is this?" Marty asked.

"Yours," Ferris answered with a coy grin.

His eyes widened. "You're kidding me, right?"

"I wish I were. This is yours and Angie's baby."

His eyes widened more with panic. "I didn't do it!"

Angie suppressed a laugh.

"No, you didn't do it, but the aliens figured out some way to produce a baby based on your and Angie's DNA."

Marty waved his hands. "Wait a minute; you're telling us that this baby that has my and her DNA was inside that plant?"

"Yes."

"That's ridiculous," Marty said. "Why?"

"I can think of several reasons, but the more important question is: where did they get your DNA?"

Marty and Angie exchanged knowing looks.