Tracking the Trailblazer (Colony Ship Trailblazer Book 1)

by John Thornton

  Another adventurer who was sitting in a seat in front of Janae turned about, “Janae? Is something wrong?”

  “I guess we are about to find out,” Janae answered, “Forgive my muttering.”

  “Glad to see you back in one piece,” Murial said as she gestured to Michael “Are you ready with your report from Dome 11?”

  Janae’s pulse rate rose. She knew Michael had completed a mission, but why was he reporting alone?

  “Yes, Member, I am ready. I have recovered files from Dome 11, and your AI has them,” Michael replied in the formal speech patterns of Dome 17.

  “AI, please display files from Dome 11, and put visual images with Michael’s report,” Murial instructed. Her tones were professional, but Janae was sitting on the edge of her seat waiting for any word of Constance.

  “Yes, Member, here are the files,” the AI’s mechanical voice answered. A three-dimensional image appeared in the center of the triangular table. It was viewable from every angle of the room.

  Michael spoke in a slow and methodical manner, “Dome 11 was reached in the typical manner using the old dome plotting records and maneuvering the outside rover vehicle. I reached the intended target—Dome 11—without incident. I made my…”

  “He went alone?” Janae gasped.

  “That confirms what I heard as well,” someone nearby stated. Janae did not catch who it was. Ripples of murmured comments floated across the room.

  “Solo missions?” Janae asked, but no one heard.

  During Michael’s presentation, the information showed the breached area of Dome 11, and its subsequent floor plans, schematics, visual images, and mechanical outlines. Janae recognized Michael must have accessed some information storage system of recorded logs from that dome. Everything in that visual history was dust covered, tan, and clearly had been dead for an extended period.

  “Does anyone have any questions?” Michael ended his lecture.

  Lorna spoke from her position at the table, “Did you have any difficulty in travel to or from that dead dome?”

  Now, the facts of the fusion trucks will come out. Janae thought to herself.

  Without a hint of emotion, Michael stated, “No, Member Lorna, I had no difficulty. The vehicle performed well, even in the dust storms and higher winds than I expected.”

  From across the room Hobart jokingly asked, “Did you run into any monsters? Like a sand shark?”

  A few chuckles followed, as Hobart laughed heartily. The humor broke some of the tension, but not all.

  Another adventurer added, “Or perhaps see the ghosts of the Great Event?”

  Beth chided in with, “Did you find a sealed vault with canned goods and frozen foods? Maybe eat all that delicious food on your own on the first solo?”

  Janae said under her breath, “Does everyone else know about the individual missions? Going alone is reckless and terribly dangerous.”

  “You were on your own, buddy,” Allen laughed along. “Did you find a glacier of drinkable water?”

  “Maybe find some biological farmstead where the cows and pigs are roaming free?” another adventurer asked.

  Several other adventures also remarked with morbid attempts at humor.

  Michael, his face somber, cast a quick glance at Jubal, “It was all in my report.”

  Janae nearly leapt up and cried out a question about Constance and the others, but something about what was happening restrained her.

  Jubal interjected, “Well, Michael, thank you for your service. It looks clear enough that Dome 11 is also dead like the others. But let us learn the specific cause. Artificial Intelligence, please analyze the report and give us the most probable cause for the demise of Dome 11.”

  Janae was eager to hear what Jubal’s AI—weirdly named Artificial Intelligence—would say. It had overreaching authority as Jubal was a member of the Committee. Its mechanical voice stated, “Failure of Dome 11 was inevitable. All dome systems have exceeded best-case life spans, and multiple system failures occurred.”

  An ominous silence smothered the room. Jokes, kidding, and frivolity were gone. Even dark, or melancholic humor would not come out. Everyone was listening intently.

  Janae looked around, and on virtually every face, anxiety, worry, and trepidation was evident.

  Murial broke that dreadful silence, “Using the data available, project application of known problems to our dome.”

  Artificial Intelligence answered, “Failure of Dome 17 is unavoidable. Estimated time to failure is no more than one hundred twenty days.”

  Several gasps escaped from various individuals.

  Murial’s voice cracked a bit as she instructed, “Explain your analysis of last statement.”

  Artificial Intelligence reported in precise details, “Dome 11’s technology level was nearest to this dome’s. Dome 11 failed thirteen point six years ago. All other domes assessed have consistently showed similar patterns of deterioration of systems, progressing from oldest to newest. Permalloy composition found in Dome 11 indicates a level of sophistication which…”

  Janae did not follow the rest of the strength of materials, radiation level reports, or anything having to do with the failure of general dome systems. She wanted to know about Constance, and she could not care less—at that moment—about why Dome 11 had collapsed. She was worried about her friend.

  “Does anyone care about where Constance went?” Janae asked. No one responded. No one seemed to hear her at all. Then what had been reported sunk in. Janae replayed it in her mind, “Failure of Dome 17 is unavoidable. Estimated time to failure is no more than one hundred twenty days.”

  “We will all die in one hundred and twenty days, or less,” Janae whispered in angst. “But where is Constance?”

  Again, no one answered.

  Janae wanted to scream. People and AIs were talking about Dome 3, as compared to Dome 11, and some reports from other dead domes, but no one was addressing the burning issue of what has happened to the other adventurers.

  “Michael? Michael? What about the other adventurers?” Janae yelled. Her voice was lost among the cacophony of voices. “Michael?”

  Someone asked to have another AI review and reevaluate the findings, but no one asked about the other adventurers.

  A piercing female voice, Mabel, stated, “Conjecture confirmed. My AI Niagara concurs with the one hundred twenty day estimate.”

  Some arguments broke out, but then Murial’s strong voice cut through the racket, “This means we must implement the PFTL scout missions to the colony ships.”

  Jubal jumped right in, “I agree.”

  Lorna, looking sheepish and nervous stated, “Indeed, it is our only option.”

  “What about the other adventurers?” Janae called out. A few heads turned her way, but she was ignored. “There are six others outside the dome, right?”

  Lorna met Janae’s eyes and gave a brief nod.

  But then the room broke into a mass of people jabbering all at once.

  Jerome, who often quoted old writings, said firmly, “The colony ships were lost, decades ago!”

  “How is a dead colony ship any better than a dead dome?” Paul asked in an equally loud voice. His words carried some of his usual whining.

  “Besides, no one can get to a colony ship, they left long, long ago,” someone nearby to Paul stated.

  Bellowing with great might, Lorna yelled, “Quiet everyone!”

  All eyes looked to Lorna. She continued, “We have been checking out the status of the colony ships, and there is a good chance of reaching them. We now have faster-than-light travel and are building scout ships to go to the colony ships. That, along with the teleportation technology, gives us some hope.”

  “So, how long before we load everyone into one of these super ships?”

  Lorna answered directly. “We cannot load everyone into an FTL ship. The best we can build are two-person scout ships. AI, please display PFTL mission parameters. Authorization, Lorna 76A69.”

&nb
sp; “Authorization accepted,” a different mechanical voice stated. Following that, the three-dimensional projection showed a very detailed set of plans.

  Lorna stood, took a deep breath, and gestured toward the display, “As you can see, there is a good possibility of recovering a working colony ship. When we do that, we will need to establish a teleportation receiving pad on the colony ship. None of them were anywhere close to that technology. But the raw materials to make the receiving pad should be there, and with the plans and components you take; it will be easy enough to use colony ship stuff to build a receiving pad. So, then when that happens, people from here just basically walk through a teleportation system and walk off on the colony ship.”

  More garbled comments were made, and Janae ignored them. She was studying the displayed information, trying to figure out where Constance had gone.

  Someone near her yelled, “Why not just teleport to another planet? That will be as likely as finding a colony ship.”

  “Just which planet would that be?” Jubal snapped back. Janae turned her attention to him. “Want to go to Mars? Or Venus? Or how about Triton or Titan? All the planets, or moons, we know about are as bad, or worse, than outside this dome. The colony ships offer habitats designed and fashioned for human survival. They are our only hope.”

  Lorna glanced about and said, “Yes, the Committee has looked at the possibility of finding another habitable planet, but we know that search would take far longer than finding the colony ships. Those are seven places we know could support human life, and the plan is workable.”

  “Seven colony ships, and seven individual missions in fusion trucks,” Janae pondered. “That is too coincidental.” She started to rise and cupped her hand into a cone to magnify her words, but she was interrupted.

  “That sounds a lot easier than it is,” Michael spoke out. Since he was at the front of the room, everyone looked to him. Janae sat down and listened as Michael continued, “First, we must find those colony ships, and if they still survive, which no one knows, we have to get there. And we can send how many? You say it can only be two? So, two people must go to the ship in faster-than-light travel, a new technology that has not been proven over long ranges. Then, on that colony ship, and who knows what shape it is in on that ship, two people build a receiving pad out of one-hundred-year-old spare parts? And…”

  “Not individual missions in some spacecraft?” Janae said.

  “They are sending pairs of us, as if anyone would actually go,” the person in front of her said. “That is one wild, and crazy idea to me.”

  Michael might have said something more, but Janae missed it. The next thing she heard clearly was when Murial stated, “Yes, basically that is what will be needed, and yes, there are large challenges to overcome. But is there really any other choice?”

  A woman cried out from up front, “Michael and I volunteer for the first mission!”

  Janae sat back. She was stunned, anxious, and confused. Jamie was eager, but why?

  People milled about for a while, but there was a general sadness that had settled over everyone. Janae waited and watched, and listened. Some people had pressed up to the Committee, but from what she could hear, they were just arguing over the same issues. Mostly, confirming the dome’s deadline. It was a true, dead end, a cut off, a line, after which they would be dead, or elsewhere.

  “They said nothing about the others,” Ken commented.

  Janae jumped. She had not realized he was there, right behind her, and his words startled her out of her ponderings. She turned around. “No, they did not. What do you know?”

  Ken rubbed the short hair of his beard. “Not much, really. Unlike some of our adventurer friends, who traffic in gossip, I do not know, for certain, much. The rumors all seem to point to people going on solo missions, which surprises me. Michael certain was on a solo mission. If he had been on a team, and was the only survivor, they could not hide that. By my count, there are six others missing. I think they too are out on missions, but I do not know if they are on solos, or in teams. Teams is the historical pattern, but Michael’s mission is most recent. A troubling, curious, and disconcerting occurrence. Your friend Constance is one of those who were absent from the meeting, right?”

  “Yes, she is,” Janae replied. “Excuse me, but I am going to find out what is happening.” She stood and walked off.

  “I hope you hear good news,” Ken commented.

  Janae marched over to the Committee members. Jubal glanced at her and then deliberately turned and stepped into the hallway. Murial was in a heated conversation with two others, but Lorna had just disengaged from talking with Hobart.

  “Lorna? I must ask you about the other adventurers,” Janae pressed forward.

  Lorna glanced from side to side, and then leaned back against the table. “We have not heard anything. As you know—far better than I ever will—once a person is outside the dome, communication is very difficult.”

  “That is true, but where did they go? How many on each team? Who is working with each other?” Janae pressed. Her anger was just beneath the surface, but Lorna’s eyes held no malice, and just genuine concern.

  Lorna gulped. “There are no teams this time. Like Michael, they each went on a mission alone. Headed toward the recorded positions of where we think domes are located.”

  “Why alone? Why do solo missions? That is utterly reckless. Even in the best of circumstances, with other trained adventurers, you need someone to support you.”

  “Ideally, you are correct,” Lorna admitted. “Sadly, nothing right now is ideal. You heard the deadline. Time is critical.”

  “But the analysis was just presented today. What added factors are you not telling us?” Janae pressed for more information.

  “We have been investigating all our options, and that is why the colony ship recovery idea was in place,” Lorna admitted. “There are many…”

  Jubal’s arm roughly pushed past Janae. For the second time in just a few moments, Janae was startled by a man from behind. Jubal rudely stepped between Janae and Lorna, and turned his back to Janae. “Lorna, you are needed immediately. The Committee is holding a private session.”

  Janae grabbed and spun Jubal about, “Why send people alone into dangerous, deadly, domes?”

  Jubal’s eyes were fierce. He glared at Janae, “It is their job to investigate. Now, excuse me, but the Committee’s duties call. You will be informed of any additional information that we believe you need to know.” He turned away.

  “That is not good enough!” Janae insisted, and pulled Jubal back to face her. Her grip on his arm was tight.

  “Get your hands off of me. Right now!” Jubal hissed at her. “Unless, you want me to call security and have you removed.”

  “Jubal, emotions are high,” Lorna intervened and physically pulled Janae’s hands off Jubal and stepped between them. She turned to Janae, “I know you are worried about your friends. We are too. But we must attend to things. I am sorry.”

  Jubal glared past Lorna, but Janae stepped back.

  “You will be informed when they come back,” Lorna said, as she hustled Jubal away. Murial had already departed.

  Janae looked around, and she was alone in the conference room. So, she departed and was unsure where to go. Strolling around, she noted the general population of the dome and how they were all going about their typical and normal business.

  “What will they think when they find out?” Janae asked herself. She could not face them, and with increased fears for Constance, she went back to her own apartment. Flopping down on the bed, Janae cried. After a while, she moved off the bed and raised a chair from the floor.

  “Kovalevsky? Any word on anyone coming back from a mission?” she asked.

  “Not since Michael returned. I can report that there are additional hindrances to connections between various artificial intelligences. Several AIs are no longer responding to my requests. Upon a survey, this seems to only be true for the AIs assigned to adv
enturers. The senior staff level AIs, the Dome 17 assessment AIs, and the AIs overseeing routine affairs in the dome appear to be unaffected.”

  “What do you make of all we have learned in the last while? The fusion trucks, the solo missions, and the news about Dome 17 failing? Is it true? Really true?”

  “The conjectures have a strong probability behind them,” AI Kovalevsky answered. “Without access to the raw data, I cannot confirm everything. I tried to connect to AI Niagara, but was hindered in that attempt.”

  “Please bring up everything you have about that old colony ship program,” Janae instructed. “I guess I can review that.”