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

by John Thornton

  “Tennard did that. When he could not analyze the failure, I went over it all again. We could not see any obvious reason it failed to work, but the technology is not familiar to us. If we were in Reproduction and Fabrication Zone might have better luck, as we could make copies and do more rigorous testing,” Brinley said. “We are not finished, but unsure what to try next.”

  They passed out of the laboratory and into the transport portal room. It had a row of hatches which reminded Zoya of the hatches on shuttles. The place was well illuminated and had stacks of monitoring equipment and spare parts in neatly arranged places. Two of the hatches were standing open and had cables and conduits running from them to equipment in the room.

  “Tennard?” Brinley asked.

  “Is that you Brinley?” A voice came from one of the open hatches.

  “Yes, Tennard, we need your help?”

  “Who is ‘we’?” Tennard replied as he stepped out of the transport vehicle he was in. His deeply wrinkled face, short white hair standing erect over his head, and his slightly stooped stature revealed his advanced age. He had a pair of eye shields dangling from a strap around his neck. “Oh I see. But I do not know this woman.”

  “I am Tennard,” he introduced himself to Zoya. “I was just working on this medical transport. How can I be of assistance to you?”

  Zoya looked him in the eyes and said, “We need to go to find my momma who was infected by the Roe. Can these transport vehicles get us there?”

  Tennard looked stricken. “Infected by the Roe? That is extremely serious. I am so sad to hear that that happened. Why not take a shuttle?”

  Brinley explained about the missing flights, the attacks on the shuttles and the crash of the Class 9 and her own S14.

  “Shooting down shuttles?” Tennard sat down on the edge of a large power modulation cabinet. He rubbed his hand over his face as he thought.

  “The CPO must be reinitiating the external deflector systems…. That would take a concerted effort to rebuild… but with engineering automacubes… yes and an AI coordinating the microprojectors…but the macroactinide…..” Tennard’s voice trailed off. “…risky, dangerous…”

  “The CPO is behind these shuttle attacks?” Brinley asked.

  “Certainly. They are the only ones with the manufacturing ability to reproduce the components needed….”

  “So will this transport system get us there?” Zoya interrupted.

  Tennard shook his head a bit and refocused his eyes. “You certainly cannot take a shuttle. Not if what I fear is happening has occurred. Where was your mother lost?”

  “We docked the wrecked shuttle outside of F Habitat: Steppes. Some call it Prairie or Pampas. We were not in the actual biological habitat, but came in from space through the hull via External Repair Station V-2210,” Zoya stated. “From there we were walking to a hanger bay.”

  “This system can probably get you to F Habitat, but it will likely be the biological habitat. That is a large place. Do you have any idea on which side of the habitat you were located?” Tennard asked.

  “No. My momma put me in a gravity conduit and sent it to the hanger bay.” Zoya struggled to hold back the tears.

  “There are a limited number of gravity conduits, and there should be a log somewhere of that activity.” Tennard was thoughtful. He marveled at the desperation of a mother who would put her child in a gravity conduit to save her. “You will need to narrow down your search after you get closer. First, let us see if the AI here can even get you to that habitat.”

  Tennard manipulated the controls on the wall near the hatches. “TSI-981, can you guide a transport vehicle from this location to F Habitat?” Tennard asked.

  The display near the hatches lit up and the artificial intelligence system’s mechanical voice came on. “Unable to answer inquiry due to negative function of links and couplings to lattice. Request repairs.”

  Tennard punched in a sequence of colors to the control pad near the display. “TSI-981, an override code has been entered. Acknowledge that. Then answer the following; can you guide a transport vehicle from this location to F Habitat?”

  The AI responded after a prolonged pause. “Override code accepted. I continue to have negative function on links to lattice. Negative function on couplings outside of transport system. Feedback within transport system marginal. Answer to inquiry: need more information, select target destination within F Habitat. Request repairs.”

  “TSI-981, what destinations within F Habitat can you take a vehicle to from this location?” Tennard asked.

  “Negative function on links to lattice. Negative function on couplings outside of transport system. Feedback within transport system marginal. Answer to inquiry: one location in F Habitat available and functional for transport from this location to that destination. Destination would be: F Habitat: Steppes, Saretov, sublevel four. Warning: safety protocols will not be in place. An incident report to Transportation Wellbeing documenting these irregularities will be submitted when links to lattice are reestablished. Request repairs.”

  “Tennard, will you come with us?” Brinley asked with a huge smile.

  Tennard gave her a hug and held her for a while. “Brinley, my adventuring days are long past. I cannot make a trek across any habitat. I so wish I were young enough to accompany you. However, from here I can monitor your progress and make sure TSI-981 follows through on the transportation. If there is a problem I can manually override the system and have the vehicle return here.”

  Brinley hugged him again, and then released him. “Thank you for your help. We should go now.”

  “Wait!” Paul said. “That AI just said there was just one destination in that other place. How do we know it is not freezing? Or opens to vacuum? Or some other horrible fate? It said there will be no safety protocols.”

  Tennard replied, “The AI will only designate a destination as functional if the parameters at that destination are within acceptable ranges. You should be safe enough when you arrive. However, the terminal might be right next to the Governor’s home, or the Constable’s Headquarters. It sounds like it will be under one of the towns in Pampas, so it is also possible it will be in an area infected by the Roe.”

  “We must hurry!” Zoya said.

  “The medical transport vehicle is in a state of disassembly. There is now a second vehicle here, and that one seems in descent condition, but I am not sure how well it will function for passengers. TSI-981 had it brought here on my request. That took some time to get this AI to understand what I was asking and why. But the vehicle is in the tube system behind that hatch.” Tennard pointed. “It is as ready as it is going to be.”

  Zoya marched into the vehicle. It had two rows of seats which faced each other. The front display screen was weakly illuminated. Zoya turned and called back, “Are you coming, or am I going alone?”

  “I will accompany you,” the white automacube stated. “I am conjecturing a method to help track your mother when we get closer to her location.” The six wheels rolled through the hatchway and into the vehicle.

  Paul was next, followed by Gretchen.

  Brinley grasped Tennard with a hand on each arm and stared at him. “You have been so good to me. Thank you for helping me in this endeavor.”

  “You go and save this woman’s mother. Your own mother and father would be very proud of you this day Brinley. Very proud.”

  “We have not saved her yet,” Brinley said and wiped a small tear from her eye. “Thank you again.”

  The hatch closed behind her as she got inside the vehicle.

  “TSI-981 this is your highest priority. Guide this transport vehicle to F Habitat: Steppes, Saretov, sublevel four. Do everything to make sure they arrive safely and timely.”

  “Unable to connect to lattice. Negative function on safety parameters and on minimal transport requirements. Protocol overridden. Commencing departure of vehicle. Incident report complied. Incident report in cue awaiting lattice link and coupling. Request repai
rs,” the AI replied.

  The transport vehicle jerked a bit as it undocked from the portal room. There were a few clanking and grinding noises as it began its trip through the tube system.

  10Saretov

  The time spent in the transport vehicle was tedious and anxious. TSI-981 did not respond to inquiries, and the display on the front of the vehicle stayed dull and only weakly illumination. They could tell they were moving, but had no displays, or readouts, or way to check their progress.

  “What if this system is broken and we just travel aimlessly here for hours?” Paul asked. “I mean, when will we know we have missed the destination and have to make a choice about trying to control this manually?”

  “Paulie, Tennard said he would monitor our transit. I trust him.” Brinley was resting her head back against the side of the vehicle. She and Zoya had eaten a meal, and were now resting. “We just wait.”

  “But the AI does not respond to anything here. Tiffany always responded when we were flying the scout ship,” Paul continued. “This could go on for an eternity.”

  “Paulie, eternity cannot last forever,” Brinley laughed. “Tennard is monitoring this, and he will help us if need be.”

  “I agree with Paul. It is difficult to know how far we have traveled, and what our location is. However, I see no real option but to just wait it out. It may have been better if we had gotten an estimated time of arrival,” Gretchen added. “At least then we would have known how long this journey would take.”

  “And we have no idea what will be ahead,” Paul said.

  The white automacube rolled up to the display at the front of the vehicle, “While I am not a transport automacube, can do believe I can assist in reducing the overall anxiety here.” Doctor 147 stated.

  “You are not going to use humor, are you?” Paul asked. He remembered what Tiffany had done and fondly missed those attempts to reduce stress.

  “No humor. I believe I can access the system here and at least offer a rough idea of the location.” It jacked into the port with a cable. “TSI-981 has set the course using a very slow pace. We are due to arrive at the destination in six hours, fourteen minutes.”

  “We at least I know now. I am taking a nap,” Paul said and he stretched out across several seats.

  “Can you increase the speed of our travel? My momma is depending on us,” Zoya said.

  The automacube replied, “I can attempt to make that request.”

  “TSI-981 says that with current power levels this is the best possible speed,” Doctor 147 reported.

  “Power? Now that I can remedy,” Gretchen said and connected in a fusion pack to the control panel. The display screen grew brighter and a schematic appeared. The schematic showed their location against a map of the Vanguard.

  After a few moments, the voice of TSI-981 came from the display. “With influx of energy this system is more efficient. Audio interaction now possible. Increase in travel speed possible. New ETA forty seven minutes. Links and coupling to lattice still in negative function status. Request repairs.”

  “Thank you TSI-981,” Gretchen responded.

  Paul was sleeping soundly. The others spoke quietly for the remainder of the passage.

  “We are approaching designated destination: F Habitat: Steppes, Saretov, sublevel four. Negative function on multiple systems. Request repairs. Prepare for docking.”

  The vehicle showed down. Paul woke up. The vehicle came to a stop, then backed up and there was a series of clanging noises and a hard thump.

  “Arrival at destination successful. Connections established to portal room. Tertiary links established to lattice,” TSI-981 stated.

  The rear hatch sprang open

  “Get out now,” Brinley ordered with urgency in her voice.

  Zoya jumped out first, followed closely by Brinley. Gretchen pulled the fusion pack free from the connection. The lights visibly dimmed and the display screen reverted to its dull monotone illumination. Last to disengage was Doctor 147 who pulled the cable out and headed for the hatchway.

  “Positive function recognized. Incident reports sent. Machine Maintenance contacted for repairs. Acknowledgement of reports and requests received,” TS1-981 reported in a much fainter and somewhat static interrupted voice. “Appointment for repairs received. Security orders received and implemented. Power levels fading….repairs requested.”

  The hatch slammed closed, catching the back section of the medical automacube as it exited. The impact sent the automacube staggering into the portal room. Then came the sound of the vehicle uncoupling and the swoosh of it departing.

  “What was that about?” Paul asked.

  “That AI contacted the lattice. The CPO will know the system was used. Looks like they tried to trap us in that transport,” Brinley stated. “They will also contact the local Constable and Governor. They may have visual and audio records of us from the AI.”

  “That transport vehicle will not be taking us anywhere now,” Gretchen said. “It left us here. I doubt we could summon it back.”

  The portal room was dimly illuminated. There was dust covering everything. In one corner were a jumbled set of shelves and other furniture. The furniture was broken and some looked to be severed by cutting torches. That pile of furniture was blocking a doorway.

  Above the door were stenciled letter, ‘Insectarium’ in faded and peeling white colors.

  Brinley assessed the portal room. “There are no other vehicles here, from these readings, and I would not trust the AI anyway.”

  Paul looked at the pile of furniture. “Was that done to keep something in there, or to keep something out of there?”

  “It may not matter, since I can see no other exits from here,” Gretchen stated.

  Zoya grabbed the closest part of the pile and pulled it loose. “We will need to move all this to get to my momma.”

  “I suggest we do so quickly,” Doctor 147 advised. “The CPO will have direct communications with officials in this habitat.”

  They worked diligently and cleared some of the debris out from the way to the door. The steel door itself was welded shut in several places.

  “Insectarium?” Paul asked while he looked at the remaining pile. “What kind of place is that?”

  “I would guess, bugs and other small animal things,” Gretchen answered.

  “Insects are not really an animal. They are their own separate type of thing,” Brinley added. “The Insectarium might just be a science center to study insects, but it could be a storage area where insects are kept.”

  “Tell us about this place,” Paul said and indicated he was addressing the white automacube.

  “I have no records of such a place. That is not surprising because I am programmed for medical conditions. I could inform you on the treatments available for insect bites, stings, poisons, and allergic reactions, however, I have no information on any place called an ‘Insectarium’ or anything related to such a place. I am sorry,” Doctor 147 replied.

  “Oh, that reminds me. Before we go in. We better make you immune to the infection,” Gretchen said to Zoya. “I should have done that before we left the safe zone, or during our journey in the transport vehicle.”

  “Will it take much time? We must reach my momma,” Zoya said.

  “Let me connect the medical kit. It will only take a few moments, and it will be painless,” Gretchen explained as she pulled the kit out and connected it to Zoya.

  A tablet slid from the side of the medical kit. A scrolling message was displayed on the top of the kit. It read, “Ingest tablet for vaccination against Rabies M.”

  Gretchen handed the tablet to Zoya. “This will protect you from becoming a Roe.”

  “So is that all we need to do for my momma? Give her a tablet?” Zoya asked.

  “Since she already has become a Roe, it will be a bit harder,” Gretchen replied. She looked to Brinley.

  “I was a Roe and they cured me,” Brinley said. “But now we must find her.”

&nb
sp; “Why not just have your medical kit make tablets for everyone?” Zoya asked.

  “Each tablet is tailored for each specific person. They cannot be just mass produced,” Gretchen replied. “We have spoken to some of the Free Rangers about it, but most do not believe us, and some have called us delusional or insinuated we are lying.”

  Paul had cleared the remaining junk away from the door. “This door is sealed by welding. It looks like they were trying to prevent opening this door by both the welding and the pile of stuff. There probably was a significant reason for that. You all stand back with weapons drawn. I will cut open the welds and then swing open the door. Do not shoot me, understood?”