Three hours later, the robot Isaac finally finished repairing the shuttle on schedule.
And so, after partying with a group of alien "primitive people" and eating and drinking her fill, the troublesome little girl was finally whisked high into the air by the cloaked shuttle's gravity beam, together with the anxious helmsman Gordon. They vanished into the cabin, then returned to the Orville, which was back in orbit.
As for what effect the troublesome little girl's sudden arrival in a beam of light, her unauthorized and prolonged contact with the local "primitive" Bronze Age civilization, and her subsequent disappearance in another beam of light would have on the planet, that remained to be seen.
Not long after Annie, Gordon, and Isaac returned, the robot Isaac and John from the engineering team began urgently studying the bizarre planet that had suddenly appeared, hoping to verify some of the claims Annie had made aboard the shuttle.
As for the precise results of their research, those were still unknown.
In any case, by evening, Captain Ed and First Officer Kelly had finally recovered from their all-night drinking binge and learned what had happened. They immediately set everything else aside and contacted a fleet admiral responsible for handling alien affairs at the Planetary Union.
"Ha!"
"Well done!"
"Captain Ed, I don't understand. Why didn't you report this immediately?"
"Enough!"
"Don't bother explaining. I know why. Let me tell you!"
On the comm screen, the admiral in a purple jacket spoke with a bitter laugh. When she saw that Ed seemed about to say something, she quickly raised a hand to silence him, then opened a file and began reading it aloud:
"Yes, I've just read your flight log. This is what it says..."
"Look!"
"Captain Ed and First Officer Kelly drank all night together,