Chapter 42: SKIPH-0036 – Movement of Venus

A brunette in a lab coat scrawled away at a whiteboard. Her hair was messy, a square pair of glasses nestled on her button nose and framing tired, baggy eyes. A massive telescope dominated the room, surrounded on all sides by squat desks and half-open boxes of pizza. Only one scientist was in this late, a SKIPH badge seated prominently on her lapel. Dr. A. Keys, the badge read in big, bold letters. In much smaller letters, underneath a picture of the worn doctor and her name, was a subtitle for her clearance; Director, Doane Observatory, C-BLUE.

"Oh, this is bad... this is bad." Anita completed her third and final calculation of the night. This one had confirmed it. She wasn't going mad. Worse, this was easily a Code Black scenario. "Agent, this is really, really bad. Catastrophic. End of humanity type nonsense." 

"Calm down, Anita." A synthetic being with pale white silicon skin, black joints, red hair, and glowing red irises moved to support Dr. Keys, holding her waist and straightening out her back. "Tell me what the issue is so that we can address it together. I've opened a ticket with headquarters."

Anita swallowed her saliva and kept her eyes on the robot. Agent Smith; that was her SKIPH-issued 'girlfriend'. The scientists in SKIPH weren't allowed to have relationships. Their lifespans were too short, bodies too fragile to have connections with other scientists and agents, but they needed something more tangible to ground them in reality. A long time ago, they'd had lovers and family-- real ones, not synthetic robots, but modern times called for modern solutions, and Neverland-powered droids were the best support squishy humans could ask for.

For what it was worth, Agent Smith was a very supportive robot, and she'd never had an issue with the assignment. It helped to have someone close to her, and the rare few times she'd fallen into the Neverlands, Agent Smith was there to help her out of it. Droids like her were able to weather whatever the Neverlands threw at them. "Venus moved, Agent..."

"Yes. As it is wont to do." Agent fluttered her eyelids, obscuring the red LEDs that made up her irises. "Have you forgotten that the planets orbit the sun? You have been working very long hours, so I would like to verify your mental health."

"No, it's... the planet is orbiting wrong, Agent. Just now, I calculated it." Anita paced, pushing herself away from Agent and looking back at her whiteboard. "What do you see when you look at this?"

"...I see mathematical equations." Agent leaned in to examine the work of art her girlfriend had managed to comprehend. Venus was mapped out, and her orbit matched to a calculus equation. "You've determined the apsides of Venus." Agent paused. Something felt wrong about the sine. "Wait. That is not the perihelion of the orbit of Venus. You're off by over ten percent."

"Right." Anita slammed down a college textbook on the orbit of stars. She flicked it open, reading the passage out loud. "At its perihelion, Venus should be approximately 107,476,170 km away from the sun."

"But your numbers say it should be 122,047,829 km away from the... sun. Oh. Oh, dear." Agent would pale if she had real flesh, but she only had a white, rubbery silicon exterior. "Venus is heading towards Earth."

"Rapidly." Anita took a deep breath, rubbing the space between her brows. "It's headed directly towards Earth. We have days, at most, before the two collide. I don't know what's causing this."

"I'll make the necessary calls." Agent bit her lower lip. "We should contact the Stargarden. Maybe they can do something about this?"

"The Stargarden is probably responsible. We don't make deals with Skips, Agent. We--" Anita pointed a finger, and Agent pushed the finger down from its pointed position.

"Secure, Kill, Imprison and Protect Humanity. I am aware, Anita." Agent kept her voice calm and level. "My programming also advises me to recommend that my girlfriend consider all options. If we must work with the Starkeepers to Protect Humanity, should we not reach out to them? Our mission's outcome is more important than the purity of our methods."

"You... urgh. You're right, of course." Anita ran her fingers through her mussed-up hair. "At the same time, I can't trust them. They're the so-called 'guardians of the planet.' Don't they have controls for these things?"

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"Pulling up their file..." Agent stood in place, the LEDs in her irises flashing in sequence as she downloaded the necessary files. "[Passion Seeds]. Their Stargarden hands them out. Artifacts which serve multiple purposes, including the endowment of their powers on the wearer. Passion Seeds have the ability to perform planetary audits, modify the location of continental shelves, and access magical powers outstripping any Neverlander." Agent held to frame a while longer. "You don't imagine they used their power to direct Venus towards Earth?"

"Exactly my thought." Anita bit her thumb. "They could be planning to hold the Earth at ransom or do away with Humans altogether. The other species in the system have been conspiring against us."

"Venus would not leave unscathed in a direct collision. It seems improbable that they would destroy the Pandabug homeworld to get at our species." Agent held her doubts as the reasonable one in their relationship.

"They could have moved her to another planet-- you know. That queen thing those bugs worship." Anita snapped her fingers a few times. "The annoying jerk, that billionaire who keeps buying up our competitors?"

"Tallest Mirr. She has stated her desire to see our species..." Agent hesitated. "It's possible. She is mobile, by all accounts. She has that human suit she wanders around in."

"I told Ophelia we needed to round her up," Anita growled. "To exterminate all the bugs on this planet. That they were plotting something, they've already infiltrated our society and keep taking, taking, taking... now they're taking our planet away? I'm so... rrrgh!" Anita trembled, fists curled tight enough to make her knuckles white.

Agent took notice of the real source of her distress, having dated Anita for years. "Exterminating an alien species will not bring your sister back." Agent sighed, giving Anita a big hug. It was essential to give your scientists hugs when they were stressed. "You know this."

"I wish it would!" Anita grumbled and pouted as she allowed Agent to hold her. "I wish I could exact revenge on them a thousand times for everything they've done!"

"And they would come back, a thousand more. You can't anger a hive-mind, Anita. You're just one human." Agent stroked Dr. Keys against her back, black joints bending as fingers danced along her spine. "You need to know your limits. That is what Ophelia said."

"There has to be something we can do..." Anita took a deep breath, trying to let go of her rage. "How is the council taking our report?"

"Not well. I'm receiving orders to escort you to the communications array." Agent frowned. "If you noticed, it's only a matter of time until amateur astronomists notice. If astronomists notice, they'll inform their friends. The Veil will collapse in a matter of weeks, if not days. Even if this crisis is averted, nothing short of a media blackout worldwide will address SKIPH's needs."

"Ophelia will figure something out." Anita frowned. "She always does."

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