The Colony Ship Vanguard: The entire eight book series in one bundle

by John Thornton

  “Is that beast still down there?” Paul yelled over the clamor from Brinley.

  “We will now find out.” Gretchen finished the cutting and the circular slab of permalloy dropped into the elevator car. It landed with a hiss as the snow melted from the heat of the metal. Frigid air blew up from the opening into the car. Gretchen could feel the cold on her face and even through the insulation of her blue jumpsuit. The severed edges of the opening were quickly cooling as the extremely cold air touch them. Gretchen had the pistol pulled out as quickly as possible after dropping the torch.

  Looking into the elevator car from above, she was expecting to see the beast. It was gone; all that was left was the ragged head of the animal that the carnivore had been eating. The beast and the rest of the body were nowhere to be seen. There was a red slushy mixture of snow, blood, and debris from the cutting, across the floor of the elevator. The slush was already beginning to refreeze.

  “That predator beast must have been frightened away. We will need to get Brinley down and find the med kit. She does look like the Roe that attacked us,” Gretchen said as she looked back to Paul and Brinley.

  “She is fighting lots more. I do not understand it. She is much stronger now, but really wild,” Paul said as he unhooked her from the harness he was carrying. Brinley was not strong enough to stand up, but she was kicking and flailing with both arms and both legs. Her eyes were bright orange and across her face was a vicious sneer.

  Through the communication system, the AI Tiffany stated, “I conjecture that Brinley’s condition is altering from a pathological response to the mutant rabies virus, to the chronic condition the people on the Vanguard called the Roe. There appears to be a medically induced immunological response which inhibits, but does not cure, the mutant rabies virus. This chronic stage does seem to have peculiar properties, but we will know more when you recover the med kit and treat her.”

  Paul was wrestling with the harness while Brinley thrashed about. She kept screaming, “I know the sequence. I know the sequence.” With Gretchen’s help the two of them were able to restrain her arms and legs and then slide Brinley into the elevator car. They lowered her on the harness to the floor of the elevator. Gretchen followed immediately. She dropped into a crouch with her pistol aimed out of the severed doors of the elevator. Paul joined her. They placed the struggling and bound Brinley in what little shelter there was in the corner of the elevator.

  Looking out, again they were impressed by the enormous vista of the biological habitat. It was mostly white colored, but interspersed with deep greens. For as far as they could see there were cone-shaped dark green trees growing up. Way overhead was the sky tube giving off light to the entire habitat. Its brilliance stretched away into the distance. Leading away from the elevator car was a bloody streak where the carnivore had apparently dragged the remains of the body away. It was in a different direction than the less red trail in the snow where the body had been drawn into the elevator car.

  “Where is our equipment?” Paul asked as he squinted his eyes against the dazzling reflection of the sky tubes light from the snow.

  The AI Tiffany responded. “The second communication link is roughly five paces directly out from the elevator. The snow appears to have buried the rest of the equipment; you will need to search for it.”

  “I will get the communication link. You find the med kit,” Gretchen commanded.

  Paul started brushing off any lumps or projections in the snow. He soon was uncovering the equipment: two fusion packs, parts for the teleportation pad, as well as other parts of their equipment including the two Willie pistols. When he found the med kit he let out a whoop of joy. “Got it!”

  Gretchen had recovered the communication link and now both of them could speak with Tiffany at any time, or even at the same time, as the situation indicated. As an artificial intelligence system, Tiffany could easily carry on multiple conversations with different people on different topics at the same time.

  Paul and Gretchen stepped quickly through the snow and back to where Brinley lay in the elevator car. He connected a fusion pack to the med kit and had the med kit run its own initiation procedure. Despite the cold, the snow, and the exposure to the other elements, the med kit was still functioning perfectly. He extended two small thin probes and placed them to either side of Brinley’s face. Brinley’s orange eyes glowed hatred at him, and she attempted to bite him. “I know the sequence,” she snarled.

  The med kit completed a full diagnostic assessment of Brinley. Now that it was energized by the fusion pack, the AI Tiffany could access the information. “The medical kit shows a very similar and equally complex situation in Brinley’s body, as compared to the dead Roe which was assessed previously. The same virus is found here which I have labeled Rabies M, in order to differentiate it from the historical rabies virus. There also appears to be two slightly different forms of Rabies M. Rabies M1 appears to be the acute form, while Rabies M2 is the chronic form. The dead Roe exhibited a 1 to 6 is ratio between Rabies M1 in Rabies M2. Brinley’s body does not have the same levels as the Roe body. Her current ratio is 2 to 1 with Rabies M1 levels dropping, and Rabies M2 levels increasing. I conjecture this is due to the medically induced immunological response, probably from a faulty vaccine.”

  “Just heal her, if you can,” Paul cried.

  The side of the med kit opened up and he prefilled syringe slid into view. Across the small display on the med kit were the words, “Administer injection into any large muscle group. Excellent prognosis. Eradication of virus will be completed within 90 minutes.”

  Paul slammed the syringe into Brinley’s thigh.

  23 making a connection

  Brinley remained restrained while the injection did its work in curing her body. Paul ensured that her thrashing about would not injure her in any way, however, her bright orange eyes were disconcerting and creepy. Her injured arm appeared healed, and Paul wondered if that was from the med kit’s injection or somehow she had healed herself.

  Paul then started the task of removing the snow from the partially completed permalloy grid he had built previously. He remembered how cold it had been when he had worked on the strips of permalloy laying them out in the correct pattern. The puffs of air he saw from his breathing confirmed that it was still as cold, but he felt relatively comfortable. He was thankful for the blue insulated jumpsuit which kept the cold out.

  Some of the permalloy strips had to be re-carved, because on the earlier attempt the cold had inhibited his hands from precision in the exacting work. This time, with his hands covered by the blue insulated jumpsuit’s gloves, he was much more accurate and meticulous in his cutting of the strips of permalloy. Additionally, Paul was glad to again be using tools he was more familiar with. The molecular torch which they had brought with them from Dome 17 was a much more refined instrument then the cruder cutting torch they had gotten from Brinley.

  Moving the snow was a tiring work. The permalloy grid took shape as he worked at setting each piece in place. Paul was able to keep at the task, scraping away the snow, placing the sections of permalloy, and making sure the small pools of water where snow had melted were not interfering with the grid. He worked steadily and the grid was completed.

  “Tiffany? Please check the grid for proper alignment and composition,” Paul stated.

  “Paul, the teleportation receiving pad is well within design parameters,” the AI Tiffany responded through the communication link. “Gretchen is making progress on the FTL transceiver and the teleportation inductors.”

  “Slow progress,” Gretchen replied. “I am having to use one of the fusion packs as a heat source in order to melt, then dry out, many of the components. When dry I then reinstall them into the console. The components are functional, after I get them dried off, or unfrozen, so this is tedious. I was able to locate all of our equipment, tools, and other gear. It was buried in the snow which took time to uncover, but it all seems to be here. I was afraid that that Constable may ha
ve found this location and she would have confiscated our things.”

  “I am not sure if Ferdinand ever told Grandpa Gary where he found us. Or if the Constable ever arrested Grandpa Gari. She certainly never took the time to interview or interrogate Ferdinand before she murdered him,” Paul said with scorn.

  “I have run the initiation tests on the FTA transceiver,” Tiffany stated. “It is functioning at acceptable levels. I can soon scan for the Dome’s signals. When the completed receiving pad is operational, we should have nearly instantaneous communication. If I have the signal situated, all we will need to do is to connect in and synchronize whenever the final field generator oscillations are calibrated.”

  “Yes, we are nearly there. This has taken far longer than I ever thought it would,” Gretchen replied. “But at least now we can save the people in Dome 17!”

  “We will need to tell them to bring cold weather gear, before they come through the teleportation orifice. That may take them some time to manufacture and assemble,” Paul stated. “But the sooner we get the links established and the connections made the better. They will also need as many food rations and water rations as they can bring, although I guess the snow could be melted into drinkable water. I think that would be safe? Or is snow from saltwater?”

  “Snow melts into fresh water,” Tiffany replied. “At least in most circumstances.”

  “They can also bring through portable shelters, as well as more fusion packs and portable heating systems. Then we could have teams look through the elevator shaft above to find suitable places to get people out of this cold. But the Roe will be a problem. With all the resources of Dome 17, we can handle anything. Willie will need to have a fabricator make more of his pistols,” Gretchen said with a large smile as she made the final connections on the control and utilization console. This allowed the AI Tiffany to take over and searching for the signal from earth.

  “They will need to be well armed if they proceed into those hallways,” Paul stated, some confidence returning as he saw the various parts of the receiving pad working together. “We will also need to protect our camp here from the Constable, should see find us here. We can deal with her from a position of strength this time. She will answer to me for Fredinand.”

  “I am scanning for the signal,” Tiffany stated.

  Paul put his arm around Gretchen’s shoulders and hugged her tightly. “We did it Gretchen. We really did it! We have recovered one of the old colony ships and found a refuge for our people.”

  The machine hummed a bit as it worked. Paul and Gretchen waited with anticipation for the orifice to open.

  “I have encountered unexpected difficulties. I am taking steps to mitigate them,” the AI Tiffany reported. In the mechanical voice there was a sense of foreboding, a mechanical, yet emotional, inflection which neither Gretchen nor Paul had ever heard before. “I am attempting to boost our detection ability utilizing the scout ship systems. Perhaps the permalloy of the Vanguard’s Hull is causing in impediment to detecting the signal from Dome 17 from your location. I will amplify our efforts.”

  Gretchen turned to Paul and said, “Something is wrong. The system was designed to pick up that signal all the way from Earth. It is just like our following the robotic probe’s beacon. I could have manually detected it from here, at least that is what Brink instructed us to do. He built and designed the system, he was confident of our abilities to pick up the Dome’s signal from any of the colony ships. Detecting the signal should be the easiest part of this entire operation. At least now that we have the teleportation pad built.”

  There was a long and awkward pause while Gretchen and Paul waited for Tiffany to report. Paul's and Gretchen’s breath still was seen in puffs in the cold air as they waited.

  The AI Tiffany finally stated, “I have finally located the signal from Earth. Its strength is only 1/115th of what we expected the strength to be. That is why the detection was so difficult. I am making FTL connection now.”

  A large crackle was heard, and a tiny, perfect sphere, appeared floating just above the middle of the grid. Static electricity filled the air and the snow seemed to spark even more brightly under the light of the sky tube. Looking into the sphere was very much like looking down a deep tunnel and seeing out the other side.

  But at the end of this tunnel there was no light. No picture of any kind. No images.

  “I have audio only to one of the AI’s from Dome 17. Revise that, I have an audio recording made by the AI Copernicus. The message is on a continuous loop. That recorded message constitutes the signal I picked up. Despite a multitude of efforts, I am unable to establish a live link to anything or anyone in Dome 17. Do you wish to hear the content of the recording?” Tiffany said flatly.

  “Of course we want to hear it. Why would we not?” Paul asked incredulously. Gretchen reached up and grasped Paul’s hand with both of hers. Somehow, Paul had the feeling that Gretchen knew what was coming before they heard the message.

  “Here is the recorded message from the AI Copernicus. The last message from Dome 17,” Tiffany said with finality.

  The next voice was a different mechanical voice. It belonged to the artificial intelligence system designated Copernicus. Paul remembered that Copernicus was the Master Engineer Brink’s personal AI.

  “Dome 17 has failed. There was a major malfunction during launch seven. The dome was breached. Despite heroic efforts and an extensive shut down of systems, with sealing off of unaffected areas, the dome failed. Massive casualties resulted. All the age mates under 10 years of age died. The entire geriatric population died. Two of the three committee members died. In addition to the initial causalities, there were frequent suicides among those who survived the initial breach. The situation looked hopeless until contact was made from adventurers. Teleportation orifice to Colony Ship Eschaton was established and emergency evacuation through orifice took place. The number of refugees evacuated is estimated at 877; however that number is not precise and is a best conjecture. Teleportation orifice from Dome 17 to Eschaton shut down after evacuation. Sending equipment failed. This recording has been made for instruction to any other adventurers who may seek to contact Dome 17. I am Copernicus; I am the only functioning system in Dome 17. I have this recording set for continuous playback. I am sorry about this report. Good luck to any who hear this message. The recording will repeat until failure of my entire system.”

  “No!” Paul screamed at the top of his lungs. “No! We are too late!”

  “You were not too late to save me,” Brinley called out from where she was still restrained in the elevator. She had wiggled around until she was sitting up. She could see Paul and Gretchen and the teleportation pad. “Could you at least untie me?”

  24 epilogue

  Brinley called again. “Hey! You two are not crazy. I heard everything that was said. Hello? I even saw some of it when I could stretch my neck to see you and that apparatus you have built. You really are from Earth! I know you said you were, but I thought you were either crazy, delusional, or lying for some reason. Hello? I am sorry I did not believe you.”

  Paul was stomping around in the snow, incredibly frustrated, angry, and sad all at the same time. He totally ignored Brinley. He stopped and bellowed with all his might, “No!” His words echoed back from the snow covered evergreen trees.

  “Paul? Gretchen? Can you please release me? You were right!” Brinley called. “Come on! Untie me.”

  Gretchen was squatting next to the teleportation control console and carefully disconnecting the fusion packs and other components which had been used in making the connection with what little remained of Dome 17. She was meticulously repacking them up and making sure they were sealed and protected. She seemed oblivious to Paul’s yelling or to Brinley’s repeated requests to be released.

  “Hello?” Brinley repeated. “Paul? Gretchen? I was sick. Not only are you from Earth, but did you also cured me?” Brinley’s voice was in awe of the concept of being cured from the virus. “My
arm is much better. And I think the infection is gone. That is amazing. The minstrels will be singing ballads of you two for generations to come. I can hear the ballads already. Paul and Gretchen the ones who cured the outbreak.”

  Paul continued to stomp around in his frustrated rage. Gretchen continued to methodically disassemble the teleportation receiving pad and transceiver.

  “Hey!” Brinley screamed as loud as she could.

  Finally, Paul looked over at Brinley. A moment later so did Gretchen. Both their faces were smitten with sorrow and their eyes heavy with tears, despite the frigid air.

  Paul clumped over and started to remove the restraints from Brinley. She looked up at him, her eyes their natural normal color. “The last thing I remember, were entering the sequence to open a security door, I think it was a security door, the sequence stands out in my mind, but, that was before I was really sick, right? But how did I get here into the Wilds? And why am I tied up. I mean why restrain me? I am sure you had a perfectly good reason for it. Was I unconscious and you had to carry me?” Brinley was puzzled. Then an astounding thought occurred to her. “Was I a Roe? Oh, that must be it. I had turned Roe. Oh dear, you cured a Roe? Really, you cured me from being a Roe? Amazing.”