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

by John Thornton

  E11 rushed forward and jacked a cable into the bulkhead control panel’s port. Then the basic codes were submitted. The bulkhead door buzzed, but refused to open. E11 tried another set of codes, those for mechanical maintenance and repair. Again, the door buzzed, but remained closed. Then E11 entered a command override code, but that too only elicited the negative access buzz. E11 withdrew the cable and rolled backward a bit.

  M147 rolled up and then placed its own cable into the access port. M147 entered a medical emergency override code. Nothing happened at all. No opening and no buzzing noise.

  E11 extended its jointed appendage and slid the cutting torch out of the end of that mechanical arm. The cutting flame was nearly bright white in color and utilized not only heat, but vibrations and sonics to separate and cut the permalloy. The blade began to bite into the bulkhead door.

  The door flew open sideways into its pocket and a series of gunshots took place. The mechanical arm on E11 was struck by large caliber projectiles, the force of which made it shake and shudder. The arm was broken and flapped uselessly alongside the blue automacube. The bulkhead door began to close when E11 rolled forward and jammed itself into the opening. The door balked when it struck the blue automacube, and the buzzing sound returned. Two of the E11’s drive wheels were crushed by the pressure from the door, but the door stopped and then reversed a bit, then returned and struck in place.

  S101 adjusted its wheels and quickly climbed over the top of the disabled blue automacube and into the area beyond the bulkhead door. More gunshots were heard, with bullets ricocheting off the heavier permalloy of the red security automacube. S101 saw their attackers and returned fire with one of its primary armaments.

  Crouching behind a permalloy half-wall were three Free Rangers armed with two hand guns and a carbine. The Free Rangers fired again at S101 as it came into view.

  “The CPO has no place here! Go away!” One of the Free Rangers, named Sigmond, yelled.

  Sigmond was a mere youth, with brown hair, eyes, and skin. Even though he was very nervous, he was firing his weapon as he had been trained. He had been on station here at this bulkhead door, and had summoned the help. When he started the shift, he did not expect any kind of action like this to happen, even though the Free Rangers had been guarding all the entryways to the safe zone more rigorously since Brinley and the two strangers had arrived. Usually guard duty was incredibly boring and consisted of sitting and watching the monitors as the cameras scanned empty halls.

  Occasionally a Roe might wander near and into the camera’s range. Sometimes the Roe would beat at the bulkhead doors. Their clubs were useless. After a while the Roe would tire and leave. There was debate on whether it was better to shoot the Roe on sight, but that ended up bringing more scavengers, the tagalong animals, out to feed on the dead body. So the Free Rangers on guard duty just left the Roe alone.

  More rarely, an infected animal of some kind, either tagalongs, like rats, would come into view. They too had no way through the bulkhead doors. The bulkhead traps were not triggered by biological entities.

  Extremely rare were the automacubes which would pass by in the distance on some unknown mission. Sigmond had only once before seen an automacube anywhere near the bulkhead doors. That sighting had been of a yellow one which just passed by barely in the view of the monitors. Never before had any automacube turned and approached the bulkhead doors close enough to set off the electromagnetic pulse perimeter defenses.

  But when the four automacubes had approached, and the defense charges had exploded, Sigmond kept his wits about him and summoned help. That was when his companions had come rushing to his assistance.

  Sigmond pondered all this as he aimed his handgun and fired again at the red automacube which had climbed over the blue one wedged into the bulkhead doorway. His companions, Olena and Stefan also were shooting at the approaching automacube. The handguns had little effect. The carbine Stefan used was a bit more effective. The slugs ripped out chunks of the front drive wheels, but were not stopping the red machine.

  S101 returned fire, peppering the area all around the Free Rangers with bullets. Stefan was struck in the chin and he flailed his hands to his face as he was thrown backward. The carbine clattered to the deck, and discharged twice more as it struck. Blood was gushing from the terrible injury in Stefans’s face making his complexion even more pale than usual. His blue eyes were wide in pain and anguish as he rolled around in agony.

  “Warn everyone! Get that bulkhead door closed!” Olena yelled. “That is a fighting machine, and we cannot stand against it.” She dove to the deck and rolled while grabbing the carbine. She ended her roll in the prone position and fired as fast as possible. The front right drive wheel of S101 was in tatters, but it continued to progress, although in a jerking manner, on its offensive.

  S76 also climbed up and over the wreck of E11 and through the bulkhead doorway.

  Sigmond fired his handgun again, but while his aim was true, the bullet just impacted and then zinged away from the red automacube’s body.

  “I said get the door closed, and warn everyone! Do it now!” Olena cried.

  Rapid fire bursts were heard echoing throughout the area as a barrage of projectiles was emitted from the two security automacubes. Olena ducked back behind the half wall, just barely avoiding the bullets. Sweat was running down her face and dripping from her large nose. Her eyes were alert but worried. “Call them now!”

  Sigmond, his hands trembling, reached up and pushed the control panel on the wall. He had to reach up from his squatting position behind the half wall. He missed the intercom link the first few times he jabbed at it, but finally it came on. He yelled, “We are under attack by automacubes at bulkhead 12!”

  A display screen lit up and Markari appeared. He looked as if he was only half awake. “Who is this? What are you yelling about? You saw an automacube? So what?”

  “They are attacking us! Stefan is shot!”

  “Stand up and let me see you!” Markari stated in irritation. “Is this some kind of joke? What do you mean? Stefan did what? Do you know I was asleep? As are most of the people in the safe zone?”

  “Stefan has been shot. I think he is dead! The automacube shot him!” Sigmond yelled. He looked over and saw the large and spreading pool of blood under Stefan’s now still form. Stefan’s hands no longer clutched at his devastated face, chin and neck. They lay slumped in bloody uselessness.

  “You are not making sense. Who is this? Why was Stefan out beyond the bulkhead door?” Markari asked. His voice had a sense of trembling in it. “You should know it is not proper to bypass the bulkhead doors. Put him on the intercom.”

  “He is dead! He was not past the bulkhead. The automacubes are inside the perimeter!” Sigmond yelled back. “What should we do?”

  Olena let loose with a burst from the carbine, and that noise was picked up by the intercom.

  “Gunfire? Who is shooting? What are you shooting at? What have you done?” Markari whined. “Put the guns down and we will settle whatever dispute you two have.”

  “Olena is fighting back, but the automacubes are rushing at us. What do we do?”

  “Why is Olena fighting Stefan?” Markari asked. “I see no one. I just hear the noises and your yelling. This joke is not humorous. I demand you stop it at once!”

  “They are shooting at us! The automacubes are attacking and rushing us!” Sigmond hollered.

  “What? Rushing at you? That cannot be. The bulkhead doors are sealed. There are defensive EMPs all in place. No automacube can get inside the perimeter. Just come back inside the safe zone, and then close the bulkhead door.” Markari was mumbling now and not making a lot of sense. “You should have never left the safe zone. I do not know what you did, but stop it right now. Show yourself or I am shutting this off this minute!”

  Olena stood up and slammed her fist against the intercom and put her face to the display. “Warn everyone you idiot! We are…” her words were cut off as a bullet struck h
er both in the throat and head at nearly the same moment. Her body was splattered away from the intercom display. Blood splashed up onto the display lens obscuring it partially.

  “Olena! What? That cannot…. Happen… not happening,” Markari stuttered as he witnessed her death. He took a deep breath and the asked, “Who has shot you? Why is there shooting? Did Stefan shot you? What is happening? Just close the bulkhead door!”

  “It is the automacubes!” Sigmond yelled as he grabbed the again fallen carbine. He remained crouched behind the half wall, but was screaming at the display. “They are inside! Warn everyone! It must be the CPO!”

  “Warn? But the safe zone is secure. There has never been an attack by automacube…CPO? Here? Unless… Brinley. The strangers. This is Brinley’s fault? But not even she would? CPO? The strangers? CPO?” Markari was babbling and his eyes were bulging as he attempted to make sense of what he was seeing on his display. “Olena, come back to the display. This is a joke in very poor taste. It must be a joke.”

  “You are the joke!” Sigmond cried. “Just shut up!” He fired the carbine in frustration at the intercom display. The screen shattered as the high velocity bullets smashed into it. Shards of broken material showered all over the deck around him. One triangular section landed in such a way as to reflect what was down the way toward the bulkhead.

  Sigmond considered his options. The hallway behind him was long with no cover for several meters. He knew he would be shot if he attempted to flee. Looking down at the broken section of screen, he could see that the automacubes were advancing on him from the still open bulkhead. He saw a white automacube climb over the blue one which was wedged and holding the door open. As he watched one of the red machines fired a burst of rounds and they ripped away the remains of the screen which he had been using as a mirror to see. He fired blindly from around the wall, but had no idea where the bullets would land.

  Sigmond recalled the training he had received. ‘Save a bullet for yourself’ was a motto ingrained in his mind. However, that was for fighting the Roe to be used only after being infected to prevent becoming a Roe yourself. He considered turning the carbine on himself, but then could not do it.

  Having no idea what might happen, Sigmond made a decision. “I surrender!” Sigmond yelled. “I give up!” He threw the carbine out onto the deck beyond where the half wall protected him. He then threw both the handguns as well. They landed in the general vicinity of where the carbine lay. “Please do not shoot me. I surrender!”

  S101 rolled unsteadily up to the half wall and went around it. The damaged drive wheel was flopping and making the machine jerk up and down with every revolution of the wheel. Sigmond was squatting behind the wall with his hands held up over his shoulders. He stared wide-eyed at the weapon muzzles on the automacube. Tears rolled down his face. “Please do not hurt me. I surrender!” The red automacube was directly aimed at him, but waiting.

  S76 rolled over to the other two Free Rangers. They were both dead. The machine pushed the bodies to the side of the hall, and then gathered the abandoned weapons. Using its gripper appendage, and its small vibration cutting beam, S76 was able to decommission all three weapons permanently. It tossed those onto the body of Stefan. It then rolled rapidly down the hall to the connecting corridor where it took up position to watch and wait.

  M147 also briefly examined the bodies, but passed them quickly as they were obviously dead. It then approached Sigmond.

  “I am Doctor 147. I accept your surrender,” the white automacube said audibly.

  Sigmond fell to the deck sobbing. “So you will not kill me?”

  “You and I shall converse,” M147 replied.

  S101 hobbled its way back to E11. It found that the engineering automacube was barely functioning. S101 grabbed it and dragged it out of the bulkhead doorway. The door jiggled a bit as it tried to shut. Then with a deafening and ominous finality it clanked then buzzed but remained jammed open.

  S101 jacked a cable into E11. The blue automacube attempted a self diagnosis, and came up with a list of critical systems which were deteriorating. Mobility and manipulation were greatly reduced. Core processing was marginal. Interfacing ability was adequate. E11’s broken physical abilities made self-repair impossible. But it was committed to the mission and so it instructed S101 in more advanced repairs than usually required for a security automacube. With S101’s assistance, E11 was able to slide one of its least damaged drive wheels off, and together they replaced the damaged wheel on S101 with the better one from E11. S101 also took a cable from E11 and jacked it into a control port near the bulkhead door.

  E11 searched the links and couplings which made up the power grids, mechanical systems, and remnants of the artificial intelligence system that had once been located in what the Free Rangers now called JE300, their safe zone. E11 gained some control over the safe zone’s intercom, defensive measures, and the three hanger bays: J-90, E310, and E308.

  E11 shut down all intercom communication, reduced illumination as much as it was able, and locked out human agencies from any ability to interface with their own defensive systems. S101 then rolled back to meet S76 at the end of the hallway. From there the two red automacubes took advantageous positions.

  Meanwhile, M147 interviewed the captive Sigmond. “I am Doctor 147, what is your name?”

  “Sigmond,” he replied and gestured at the dead bodies. “Why did you kill them?”

  “You will answer my questions,” M147 stated. “Do you know these individuals?”

  M147 projected a flat image on the nearest wall. It showed clear and detailed pictures of Paul and Gretchen.

  “They are the strangers who came here with Brinley. I do not know them,” Sigmond replied. His heart was racing as his mind tried to comprehend all that was happening. He had trouble looking away from the dead bodies of Stefan and Olena.

  “Is the one you call Brinley one of these people?” M147 asked. The projection switched to less precise pictures of three Free Rangers in blue winter clothing.

  “Yes. Brinley is that one,” Sigmond replied and pointed to the picture of her. “The others are Irene and Jared. Brinley said they died. Did you kill them?”

  M147 enhanced the picture of Brinley and modified it to show her without the heavy winter clothing, and wearing only a basic coverall. The automacube conjectured her hair length and general body style. “Is this an accurate representation of the one you call Brinley?”

  “Yes, that is Brinley: she cut her hair, and it is more straight. May I go now?”

  “No. Where are these three now?”

  “They were here, but they left in a shuttle. They left. I did not help them. But that was some time ago. Markari kicked them out. I had nothing to do with any of it. I did not kick them out. Should I have helped them? What do you want?” Sigmond was convinced the automacube was going to kill him, and he was desperate to say whatever it wanted to hear.

  “Please tell me what you know, that is all that I require now.” M147 had been using its medical diagnostic assessment tools while Sigmond responded to the questioning. His physiological response showed no conscious equivocation. M147 judged his replies as accurate.

  “Why did the CPO do this?” Sigmond yelled. “I do not understand! Are you machines operating on your own initiative?” The terror on his face when he said that was almost inhuman.

  “Constable Larissa has dispatched us on this mission. If you cannot render further information, this conversation will be terminated.” M147 considered the emotions behind what Sigmond was saying, and was computing their meaning.

  Sigmond related what little he knew. Basically, it was all hearsay as Brinley and the strangers had been sequestered away from most everyone shortly after they arrived. Sigmond repeated his accounting three times, all expressing basically the same information.

  “Thank you for your cooperation. You will now be rendered unconscious. In eighteen hours you shall awaken relatively physically unharmed. I apologize for the mental, emotional
, and spiritual trauma you will suffer when you regain consciousness. I do not seek to harm you. This unit seeks only to follow instructions, and core programming. I am having internal conflicts in those issues,” M147 replied.

  “You said you were a doctor! Do not hurt me!” Sigmond screamed. He had no understanding of what the automacube had said to him, but it sounded terrible.

  “I am Doctor 147, please remain still for administration of treatment. There will be some discomfort, but you are likely to survive. That is the best I can offer you in this situation.”

  Sigmond jumped to his feet to attempt to flee, but M147’s appendage was vastly quicker and grabbed his arm. He briefly struggled, but M147 injected him with anesthetic agents. His breathing became very shallow and slow. M147 also induced a temporary suspended animation state that was usually only utilized for severe trauma patients while in transport to medical facilities. Sigmond’s muscles slumped and he hung by his arm. M147 gently lowered him to the deck then dragged him over to the bodies of Olena and Stefan. Positioning Sigmond in a safe manner, M147 then scooped up blood from the deck and smeared it onto Sigmond’s face, hands, and body. Then ripping his clothing, M147 expertly reproduced what looked like severe traumatic wounds, and posed Sigmond accordingly. The appearance of the injuries looked genuine, but was in fact just a superficial facade.