Chapter 18

I say to myself, "You're such a lucky guy."
To have a girl like her
Is truly a dream come true.
Out of all the fellas in the world
She belongs to me
Only to me
It was just my imagination
Running away with me
- Human Nature -

The star system hung in space like a brilliant diamond cluster in a setting of lesser gems. As soon the crew saw it, they knew that this was no ordinary system.
"This is a four-star solar system," Karl said. "There are two stellar doublets that are orbiting each other."
"If there is a habitable planet in there, it would have four separate sunsets," Marty said.
"The two binary pairs are separated by only 50 AU," Karl said. "That's just a bit more than the distance from our sun to Pluto."
"The stars have masses as follows," Masai said. "A-1 is 0.75, B-1 is 0.85. A-2 is 0.45 and B-2 is 0.45. They are K-class main sequence dwarfs with lower luminosities than the stars we've visited. None of the luminosities are more than 0.4."
"This system is not very old," Gem-Ado said. "There is a sizable debris field entwined around all four stars."
"You're probably right," Karl said. "The stars have very weak hydrogen lines. My estimate is no more than a billion years."
"Wouldn't that preclude the existence of intelligent life?" Marty said.
"Maybe, maybe not," George said. "Just because the theories say that we need billions of years to evolve intelligent life doesn't make it true everywhere."
"We need a planet, people," Angie said.
"I see planets around both the A system and the B system," George said. "Some of them are gas giants close to their respective stars."
"A habitable planet would have to be around 0.6 AU from the two major stars in this quad system," Karl said.
"I have a planet near B-1," Lucia said. "It appears to be at that distance."
"There are planets around the A system but they're not in the habitable range," George said.
"Take us to the planet around B-1, Delphi."
"Yes, Angie."
"Well," she said, standing up. "I'm going to take a break, and I want you to come with me."
Marty looked up at her. "Yes, Admiral."
"Take over, Honey," Angie said.
"Yes, ma'am."
When the elevator door closed, Angie snuggled up close to him, looking up into his eyes. He responded by taking her in his arms and kissing her. They stayed lip locked until the elevator door opened on the crew quarters deck.
"What did you have in mind?" Marty asked her.
She gave him a playful smile. "I would like to have you pay up our bet we made when we played a game of handball."
"You mean that you want me to do pushups?"
"That would be nice."
"How many?"
"I don't know," Angie said. "How many do you think?"
"Well," he said. "I could go until you say to stop."
She put her hand on his. "Remember that I'm not forcing you to do this."
"That's okay. You need some entertainment. It's been a rough week."
"You got that right. I could sure as hell use some fun. I could play with my aliens, but they're all busy. You and I are fifth wheels on this ship. They won't miss us."
"You're right about that. They don't need us. I guess that you have no other choice; you'll have to have fun with me."
On the command deck, there was no fun. Everybody was trying to get information on the strange dual binary star system.
"We should probably try to avoid the debris field," George said. "It's too thick to go through safely."
"Adjust our course to avoid the debris field, Delphi."
"Yes, Honey."
"I can not detect any enemy ships in this system," Ninja said. "I will search for other vessels."
"I hope that we never see those devils again," Uma said. "They are bad asses."
"I've seen that phrase in one of the novels that I've read," Honey said. "I wonder if there are good asses."
They laughed at her.
"That's the trouble with colloquial phrases," Lia said. "They have obscure meanings to people who are not native to the language."
"Are you familiar with any of these colloquial phrases, Delphi?" Honey asked.
"I am only familiar with those that Martin has used, Honey."
"Perhaps I could recite to you some of the novels, Delphi, when we are on the night shift."
"I would like that, Honey."
Angie relaxed on a couch in the common area between hers and Marty's quarters. He had gone into his quarters and she was anxiously waiting on his return.
"Oh, my!" she said when she saw him exit his quarters. "You're definitely out of uniform, Commander."
"I assumed that you wanted me to do pushups in my birthday suit," he said.
"Oh, definitely!" Her eyes scanned up and down his body, stopping at the groin area for a prolonged time. "I see that you are not trying to protect your modesty," she said, grinning.
"It's too much trouble. Besides, I figured that you would enjoy it more."
"Oh, my! I am definitely enjoying it. You're so deliciously beautiful."
"Men are handsome, not beautiful," Marty said, frowning.
Her eyes locked to his briefly before continuing their examination of his body. "I disagree. You're so beautiful I would never tire of looking at you."
He sighed. "Well, I may as well get started."
"Yes, I would love that."
He paused. "I want to know something: would you do this for me?"
"Of course, but you'll have to beat me first."
His expression expressed doubt. He tried to visualize what that would look like, but he decided to avoid such puerile thoughts under the circumstances. He got down on his hands, looking up at her to confirm that she was enjoying his embarrassment before he started.
When he started pumping up and down, she clapped her hands and laughed and giggled like a teenage girl. He felt embarrassed and humiliated, but if it made her happy, why not.
###
Honey and Angie were the only ones on the command deck. The night lighting bathed the deck with an eerie reddish cast. Honey was busy looking through astronomical eyepieces.
"See anything interesting in there?" Angie asked her.
"I see a nice blue planet. It looks like a jewel in the heavens."
"More of your colloquialisms from novels, Honey?"
"I confess that I love reading," she said. "There is so much to learn."
"What is our status, Delphi?" Angie asked.
"All systems are nominal, Angie." There was a pause. "Did you have fun making Martin pay up for losing to you at handball?"
"Yes, I did, Delphi. Did you watch?"
"I watch everything, Angie."
"What did you make him do?" Honey asked.
"I had him do pushups in the altogether."
"What is the significance of making him do it in that manner?" Honey asked.
"It's a game that we play. I think that I'm winning the game. He made no attempt to hide his assets from me."
"You are winning, Angie," Delphi said. "Congratulations."
Angie laughed. "I think that you are right, Delphi."
"Not to change the subject," Honey said. "But, I would like to go on a landing team."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Honey. You are much too valuable to risk on a landing team. To use one of your novel's phrases: we would be up the creek without a paddle if we lost you. You are the most intelligent individual on this ship. You have all of the star charts memorized and you understand the mathematics that describes the antimatter-matter power, Antigrav, and the jump process. Nobody else knows any of that. I love you more than you'll ever know, and like a mother who loves a child, I will not risk your life under any circumstances."
Honey stared at her for several seconds. "I love you too, Angelina. You have made my life worth something. I will never forget you."
They turned to watch Lia come on the command deck.
"Am I disturbing something?" Lia asked.
"No, we're just shooting the bull," Angie said. "There isn't much else to do on these night shifts."
Lia smiled at her. "I heard that you made Martin pay up for beating him at handball. Did you have fun?"
"Yes I did. Where did you hear about it?"
"We had a wager on it. We figured that when you went off with him that's what you were doing."
"Who won?"
"I did. I picked the time correctly. By the way, what did you make him do?"
"Do pushups in the altogether."
"I'm surprised that he didn't give you a hard time."
"He did it without protest."
Lia grinned. "I'd love to see all the men do that."
"Shame on you, Lia," Angie said, smiling.
"I can see continents on that planet," Honey said. "I estimate the water at 50%."
Lia activated the communications station.
Angie wondered why she was up this late. "Have you detected a signal?"
"Yes, but I can't figure it out. It definitely has no video component. All it consists of is a series of pulses that are grouped."
"Are they binary?" Honey asked.
"No. The pulses have various band widths."
"May I see them?"
"Sure." Lia displayed the signal on the main screen.
Honey watched them for ten minutes before commenting. "You are correct. They are not binary. They are like a barcode symbolgy that is based on a linear series. I would say that they represent matrices of the linear equation constants. Solving them may give us expressions that convey information."
"Do you understand what she just said, Delphi?" Angie asked.
"Yes, Angie. I have already begun solving them."
Lia shook her head. "I feel like an idiot."
"God bless Ferris," Angie said.
###
"We have achieved stable orbit, Angie."
"Maintain stealth mode, Delphi. Launch atmospheric and oceanic probes."
"Yes, Angie."
"I have a structure appearing on the west terminator," George said.
All eyes focused on the main screen. The polished domed structures gleamed in the dawn light of three of the four alien suns.
"Is that a city?" Marty asked.
"It could be," George said. "Those domes are seventy meters in diameter."
"The troposphere of this planet extends up to 15 kilometers," Anna said. "The winds at that altitude blow at 250 kilometers per hour."
"The oxygen concentration is 17%," Masai said. "Nitrogen is at 80%. Carbon dioxide is only .015%."
"There are strong chlorophyll-a and -b peaks in the vegetation," Tem-Dao said. "The light from these suns are more into the red part of the visible spectrum."
"I am receiving a transmission from the planet," Brigit said.
"Put it through the translator," Lia said.
"Greeting star travelers. We await you."
"That sounds like an invitation to me," Marty said.
"The salinity of the ocean is 25 grams per liter," Ferris said. "The life forms consist of non-tetrapod chordates and large cetacean-like creatures."
"Not unlike Earth's oceans," Marty said.
"Except none of our cetaceans look like this," Ferris said, switching her screen to the main screen.
"Now, that does look like a mermaid," Marty said.
"You're as bad as sailors from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that were too drunk on rum to realize that they weren't looking at something that resembled a woman. These creatures are some sort of dolphin-like animal with arms."
"Are those responsible for the signals?" Uma asked.
"I doubt it," Ferris said. "They are incapable of negotiating the land, and therefore could not have built the structures."
"Launch the biometric Mother, Delphi. Disperse her children at 2000 meters."
"Yes, Angie."
After the Mother probe dispersed insects, video streams began flowing back.
"Look at this," Jet-Lee said before switching her insect video feed to the main screen.
"Are those telescopes?" Marty said.
"If they are, they're sophisticated," George said. "That large one looks like an optical interferometer."
"Maybe that's how they detected us," Angie said.
"I think I've found the aliens," George said.
"What the hell?" Marty said. "They look like the sphinx."
"They're some sort of tetrapod," Ferris said. "Their heads have humanoid-like faces."
"Are we certain that these are the intelligent aliens?" Angie asked.
"There is nothing certain out here," George said. "If it's any help, some of them are holding devices."
"Are we making contact?" Marty asked Angie.
"Sure, why not. We have nothing better to do."
"Who's going?"
"It's your turn. Take Gem-Ado and Jet-Lee."
"May I go, ma'am?" Uma asked.
"Sure."
"May I take Ninja?" Marty asked. "I need more muscle, you know, just in case."
"I can't spare him. He's too good at finding enemy vessels. Take Tiana."
"Yes, Admiral."
Marty led his landing crew to the equipment deck and had them outfit in light bio-suits. They didn't need oxygen or temperature control, which left more room for instruments and weapons. He, Uma, and Tiana packed nine-millimeter automatics and extra clips. The two alien women packed the instruments.
The Lander trip down was uneventful. The planet had a stable atmosphere, but the shadows cast by the light of three suns were confusing. Marty sat the Lander down in a glen near a small lake in a location that was a thousand meters away from a domed structure.
Surprisingly, they were not met by any of the sphinx aliens. Only when they approached a dome did aliens come out to meet them. These aliens had faces that were not too different from that of the Grand Sphinx in Egypt, very human looking with eyes that were deep blue. They were covered in a thick shorthaired brown fur, except for their faces, so they didn't need to wear clothing. They had four legs that resembled those of cats, except the back legs looked like the front pair, basically like having four arms. The paws were not like cat paws, however. They resembled monkey hands and feet. These tetrapod-like aliens didn't trot like horses, instead crawling along like monkeys on all fours. However, they were no where near as fast as gorillas and apes, and they could walk on their back arms/legs.
"Welcome to our home," one of them said. "Come and we will show you our place of living."
Marty had no idea if the speaker was male or female. He assumed that they had genders, but even that was not a given. He had learned not to judge too quickly. Their bottom fur hid any sexual characteristics. Some of them had what looked like male organs, so it was obvious that they did sex much like Earth animals. He assumed that those that did not have an organ were females. Duh!
The entrance to the domed structure was narrow, forcing all to enter one at a time. The interior was spectacularly vast. It appeared that these creatures did not live privately, but gathered in herds. There was no attempt to isolate the sexes, so Marty assumed that there was no discrimination as far as sex goes. There were many smaller creatures, which he assumed were children.
One thing that caught his eye was the fact that several aliens were moving about on walkways that ringed the inside of the dome in a spiral that went to the top of the structure.  When the alien spokesperson led them up this walkway, she pointed out the many telescopes mounted at various positions along the way. He had no idea how sophisticated they were, but it was obvious that this was one of their most important activities.
"We know that you are in search of possible stars that harbor life," the spokesperson said. "We will provide you with our star charts to help in your search."
"We thank you for your assistance," Marty said. "We search for evil creatures that are killing and eating us." He gestured to Uma to show them a photo of a Dragon alien. "This is what they look like."
"This creature has visited us, but they did not kill us."
"You are fortunate. They have been eating people like us for many cycles of your planet around your star."
"We do not understand the eating of other intelligent creatures. We eat plants and insects. What they do is incomprehensible."
"We agree," Marty said. "We travel to the stars out of curiosity and desire to help other creatures not destroy and exploit them."
"We know this. That is why we have invited you here. We wish to show you things."
"That's why we are here," Marty said.
A large telescopic array stood at the pinnacle of the dome. It had several hundred mirrors precisely arranged to capture the maximum amount of light. With it these aliens were able to view planets on other star systems by filtering out the star light. Marty took pictures so that he could show George and Karl, but he had no idea how it worked.
The alien then led Marty and his landing party down and outside to a fenced yard where several female aliens grazed. Several more female aliens waited in a long line in front of a corral where two males wielding powered cutters were shearing a female alien. The males removed all of her fur, leaving her naked. Marty was certain that this female was in heat because her protruding vulva was swelled and pink. Many naked females in heat stood in another corral together patiently waiting. For what was unknown.
"What is the purpose of this?" Marty asked.
"All females must have fur removed when they reach the age. This is necessary before mating. Only after they give issue can they grow back their fur."
"We don't understand, but there is much that we don't understand."
"What about the males," Uma asked. "Do they get sheared?"
"Males are never sheared, unless as punishment," the spokesperson said.
So much for no discrimination, Marty thought.
Males were introduced into the corral where the freshly sheared females were packed together. Within minutes, their organs enlarged and mating commenced, with the males mounting the females much like horses. Marty looked at his landing party and shrugged. They smiled back at him.
In another domed structure, the alien spokesperson showed them a planetarium where the heavens could be artificially displayed. She pointed out various stars, nebula, and galaxies that her people had observed using their wonderful telescopes. Gem-Ado and Jet-Lee recorded as much as they could to take back to the ship.
Marty presented two discs to the spokesperson. "These are devices which will provide you with images and information about our home and the homes of all of the intelligent species that we have encountered. There is much astronomical information contained in them, much of it applies to the other side of our galaxy, and there are instructions on how to view these images on the discs themselves."
The spokesperson accepted his gift. "Thank you. We value your information." She paused for a few seconds before continuing. "Now, I must go to fulfill my duty. You may accompany me if you wish."
"We will," Marty said, not knowing what was going on.
The spokesperson led them to a smaller domed structure. A large group of aliens had gathered around two platforms. Marty assumed that this was some sort of demonstration or display, but he wasn't sure.
"I pass my authority over to Xanthe," the spokesperson said.
A female came forward and accepted an object that looked like a round metal tube with inscriptions. Two males led off the spokesperson. A male alien was already on one of the platforms and it appeared that straps secured his paws down. The spokesperson was led up a ramp to the other platform and her paws were secured.
"If I may ask," Marty said to the new female. "What is happening here?"
"They are being punished," the new spokesperson said. "She was number one on committee and her minister of grain production was caught converting output to his own relations. She is being punished for allowing it to happen."
The two males began to shear the original spokesperson and the male, removing all of their fur in a slow process that required precise manipulation of the cutting instruments. The two males wielding the cutters did so by standing on their back paws much like apes, and they looked like they knew what they were doing.
Their freshly denuded skin was smooth and white with a slight tinge of blue. When thick fur was removed from their bottom sides, the sexual characteristics could be clearly seen. The male had a sizable organ and the female had four teats. Obviously, they were mammals.
After the shearing was complete, two females mounted the platforms and began the actual punishment. They held what looked like old-fashioned leather buggy whips and they began using them. The blows left red marks but no bleeding and when the whip struck the bare flesh, the muscles underneath quivered violently causing the skin to shiver. Neither victim cried out but their expressions attested to the pain. However, it was obvious from the short duration of this punishment that it was done more to humiliate rather than to torture. When it was complete the audience clapped, which Marty thought was done as a sign of support for the victims.
Why they were showing this to Marty and his landing party was not answered. Gem-Ado and Jet-Lee recorded the whole thing for Ferris and Onuki to analyze.
###
On the trip up to the ship, the occupants remained quiet until Tiana broke the silence.
"That was a weird experience," she said.
"Uma and I are used to that," Marty said. "We're veterans of a lot of landings on strange planets. Right Uma?"
"You are right, Martin."
"Uma here has received two Distinguished Service Crosses and a purple heart. She's seen more combat then most GI's, and she's not even military. They did make her an honorary marine, though."
Tiana was surprised. "You've seen that much combat?"
"We sure have. It was kind of rough in the beginning with just the science crew, but after we got Ninja and the Drak females, we've had a better time of it."
"What did you think of the punishment session?" Tiana asked.
"I have no idea why they allowed us to witness that. Maybe they wanted us to understand that they don't tolerate selfish behavior in a society that must be communal. The fact that this was the former leader is significant. It shows that no one individual is better than the rest."
That silenced Tiana. When the Lander was secured on the main ship, the process of decontamination began with heavy jet sprays of disinfectant, both before and after undressing. Marty smiled to himself. He was amazed how Angie kept sticking him with all female landing parties knowing full well that he and they would end up showering together. And, this was a particularly pleasurable bunch to shower with. Uma had an hourglass figure that was to die for, and the two alien women had even more curvaceous figures. Tiana was well endowed and muscular. She smiled at him, as did Uma, but the two alien females exhibited no interest. They were used to naked males.
"What determines when we have to go through decontamination?" Tiana asked Marty while she was lathering up with antifungal, antibacterial soap.
"That's what we call the Onuki protocol. Dr. Takayu has determined that when we go down to a planet with aliens that have DNA that resembles ours, we're safe with just injecting the antiviral, antibacterial prophylactics.  Otherwise we go through decon for an added safety."
"Have you encountered any alien illness?"
"No we haven't. Knock on wood. Onuki believes that this is no accident. So far, all of the aliens that we've encountered do not show racial diversity like we humans. Ferris thinks that this is the result of more isolated evolution from single species on alien worlds. Humans had a more diverse evolution because there were many hominid branches that did not survive. This long evolutionary journey gave bacteria and viruses extra time to become more infectious. The bottom line is that these aliens have purer DNA and are more resistant to infection than we are. Take Birdie for example. Her species evolved from a bird. Earth birds have a literal zoo of parasite and bacterial agents in their blood. Birdie has none. The species that she came from evolved quickly into the intelligent form."
"So here we are taking a shower together," Tiana said.
"Hey, it's part of the job."
When the showering was complete and before they dressed, Marty hugged and kissed Uma, patting her posterior. He did the same with Gem-Ado and Jet-Lee. He had no idea if they appreciated it or not. When he got to Tiana, she smiled and hugged and kissed him, patting his behind.
When Marty took his place on the command deck, Angie smiled at him. "Enjoy yourself?"
"Hey, Uma and I are veterans. We're used to weird aliens, and these aliens were stranger than the Minotaur's. However, they gave us a lot of astronomical data. Karl and George should be happy with it."
"Have they seen the Dragons?"
"Yes, but they don't consider them food for some reason. I think it could be because they're flesh is not like ours. By that, I mean that the protein structures are so much different that they don't digest well for the Dragon aliens."
"You may be right," Ferris said. "We've run their fur through sequencing and the proteins and the DNA are very different than that found on Earth."
"Well, we may as well go to the next star," Angie said. "At this rate we'll be old and gray before we find these damn Dragons."
Most of the crew wished that they could get old and gray.