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

by John Thornton

  “Indeed, they are just children, and if we cannot deal with children, we will not be very successful living here,” Gretchen replied. “I just wonder how they got here? They did not come from the freight elevator on the plateau.”

  “Did they come in a different way?” Paul wondered. “Is there another entrance?”

  The sounds of the waterfalls were loud. The waterfalls were a series of falls, rather than one enormous one. They cascaded down from the plateau like large steps coming down a steep incline. Each step had a pool and stream to the next one. The bottom one, the only one really visible from the beach, had a pool at the bottom and then the stream, or what the youth called the river which flowed out to the sea.

  The trail led up the cliff in a series of cut backs which were molded into the rocky front of the cliff. Most of the trail was to the side of the waterfalls, away from the spray of water. The slope was easy to walk and the youth raced ahead until they came to the first turn. Anda was carefully pacing off her steps.

  “I tell you there is nothing but rock from here up to the next pool,” Paul called. The third pool up has the bridge, but there is no treasure there either.”

  The youth ignored Paul and kept following their leader, Anda.

  “Bogdan, put your arm right here,” Anda commanded. “Make sure the ‘A’ stands out for the scanner.”

  Her brother placed his hand on the rock wall where she indicated and rotated his arm so the ‘A’ was more visible. A light came on in a recess in the rocks. Anda then reached in and pulled a lever and the rock wall pivoted open revealing a hidden passage.

  “We found it! Just like the book said.”

  Gretchen and Paul were more surprised than the youth.

  “Paul, there might be Roe in there. These children are not safe,” Gretchen said. “I left the pistol up in the tent. I should have brought it with me.”

  At the word Roe, the youth all stopped short before entering the dim passageway.

  “Are you trying to scare us off the treasure?” Anda asked. “That would not be fair.”

  “Maybe it is the pirate’s curse?” Bogdan asked. “Remember what the book said about the ‘dead man’s chest’? It might be a curse.”

  David and Nevenka backed away.

  “We have seen Roe in many of the corridors and hallways of the Vanguard. So no more games here. Shut the rock door and we will get the proper equipment to survey this place,” Gretchen said.

  “You just want the treasure for yourself!” Anda rushed into the dimness.

  Gretchen rushed after her. Fortunately for them the passageway was not long, nor dangerous. There was a ninety degree turn and then a pressure door made from permalloy blocked their way.

  “Do you know the sequence?” Gretchen asked.

  “The sequence for what?” Anda asked as she looked at the pressure door.

  Paul joined them with Bogdan behind him. “Those color pads take a sequence of touches to enter the correct colors to open. It is an access code, a sort of key. Do you know the sequence to open this door?”

  David and Nevenka hesitantly approached. They all stood there not responding, but the looks on their faces told Paul and Gretchen they did not know anything about color pads, access codes, or sequences.

  “You see, this is a door which opens to leave the habitat,” Paul said. “There are many places behind these kinds of doors, most are not safe at all.”

  “Leave the habitat? We cannot break quarantine,” David reminded them. “Not even to search for pirate treasure.”

  “That is right. No one can break quarantine. That would make us as bad as the smugglers who caused so many people to die. None of us want to ‘pull a Baldwin’ and cause people to die. I think we should all leave now and go back to Kimry.” Nevenka was in tears as she stared at the pressure door.

  “If someone gets hurt or sick back there, we have no way to help,” Paul said. “And we have seen many people get infected, but now we have no way to treat any of that. We have seen Roe and the infected tagalong animals that follow them.”

  Gretchen looked at Paul and both were thinking of the medical kit which had been broken.

  “Anda, there really might be Roe back there,” Bogdan stated. “It is our first duty to not break quarantine. If we let the Outbreak in, we all could die. Die! Us and everyone else. Our families and friends, and everyone. Let us go home now.”

  Anda was clearly frightened, but also wrestling with herself on what to do. “Perhaps we need to study the book and the map more? I think this was a good trial run for us. We made it to Inaccessible Island, we rescued some castaways, and we found the locked door behind which was probably secret pirate treasure. Yes, that is a successful search.”

  After declaring her victory, she turned and walked out of the passage while she folded up the map and placed it back in her pocket. The other three youth followed her down the path and toward the sea. They did not close the secret door in the rocky wall.

  As the youth walked away, Paul said quietly to Gretchen, “I will follow them and see how they got here. It does not sound like any adults came along, but I want to be sure.”

  “Good idea. I am contacting Brinley. She can open any door, and I think we need to know what is back here. Also, we cannot go without Tiffany’s input any longer.”

  “I agree we need Tiffany, however, I am not sure I like what you are suggesting,” Paul frowned. “We do need to reconnect with Tiffany, if we can, but that will mean searching….”

  “Hey castaways, are you coming?” Anda yelled back. The youth were almost at the beach. “Remember we are rescuing you!”

  “I will tell them we are not going with them, then we need to talk about our next steps,” Paul said as he ran after them.

  3 Small successes

  Brinley sat at the workbench with the disassembled data stick in front of her. She pulled back a section of her straight light brown hair and placed it behind her ear. Her large, expressive, hazel eyes were focused intently on the small tools she was using on the section of opened data stick. A magnification device was strapped around her head with a flexible connector to a clear square display. That clear square was directly in front of one of her eyes. Brinley could both see through the small display and get enhanced readings on it.

  “Tennard?” Brinley said with a wide toothy smile. “I got that module to take a charge this time. It opened up several small subsystems which I did not even know were there.”

  “That is a small accomplishment,” Tennard replied. His deeply wrinkled face broke into a big smile. Not as broad a smile as Brinley’s, but a happy one nonetheless. His short white hair stood erect over his head. He got up from the chair and walked over to see what Brinley had accomplished.

  They were in a large room with many work stations, chairs, and various instruments. The work station were about three meters wide and a meter deep with small walls around them forming a cubical. Brinley had removed an entire row of those side walls to open up a large bench type area for her work. She had neatly arranged rows of testing tools, and other pieces of equipment all within easy reach. The broken remains of the medical kit from Dome 17 were at the other end of the work area.

  “You see, it happened when I placed a flow of energy from the fusion pack, through this module, alternating by the buffer here,” Brinley flipped a switch and an animated but accurate display lit up on the desk next to her. It was built from the view she was seeing on the magnification system.

  “That was good thinking,” Tennard replied. He had been Brinley’s mentor for many years and his compliment made her feel very good.

  “But it still does not explain why the whole data stick does not function. I know it is new technology to us, and neither Paul nor Gretchen are expert engineers, even though they are great adventurers, but the basic physics and dynamics should work.”

  “Well, Brinley, we have the best tools here available apart from a Reproduction and Fabrication zone’s artificial intelligence, but, as y
ou and I know, the closest one is run by the Central Planning Office. So we do this the same way as any other task. If we take this one step at a time, and do our work…”

  “…slowly and methodically, not missing anything, nor taking any kinds of short cuts, and using the proper tools, we should be able to analyze, understand, and repair any piece of equipment.” Brinley smiled again at her old friend as she quoted to him what he was going to say.

  Tennard chuckled a bit. “Well, even though I have said it for decades, it is still true. So what does this module which opens up the sub systems do for the overall data stick?”

  “That is where I am stymied for now. There seems to be a myriad of smaller systems and interconnections, and I know a few of those are for contact with the data stick reader. The others are still a mystery.” Brinley pulled off the magnification device. “Tennard? If we did go to a Reproduction and Fabrication place, oh, and I know some still call them zones, but the so-called safe zones did not prove to be so safe, and now the term ‘zone’ is being rejected by Free Rangers here. I was scolded the other day for using the term ‘zone’ by an elderly man. He was one of many people who are getting habitat marks and trying to blend into a habitat. Wow, I am digressing and babbling. Sorry. So if we have the data stick scrutinized at a Reproduction and Fabrication lab, will the AI there be able to restore its function?”

  “Oh Brinley, the Reproduction and Fabrication zone could make an exact duplicate of this data stick. Then we could really test it and search out its secrets. Now we must be extremely careful that we do not damage it. For there are only a very few of these. If we could make copies, it would be so much easier. The artificial intelligence systems there could probably make some conjectures which might be helpful. But AIs can only do what they are programmed to do.”

  “Except for Tiffany. That AI from Dome 17 was different. True and unquestionable sentience and intuition was what I experienced in Tiffany, unlike any other AI I have ever encountered.” Brinley became wistful as she recalled those interactions.

  “Loss is hard, Brinley. You and I know that, as does Sigmond. Can you imagine how hard it is on Paul and Gretchen? We lost our friends and family in the massacre, but they lost their whole world. I wonder sometimes how they go on, but like their AI is different, they too are a different kind of people.”

  “They saved both of us, and that is why I am working so hard to search for an answer to these data sticks,” Brinley said. “Gretchen told me a functional data stick can evolve into an advanced artificial intelligence comparable to Tiffany. So I thought if I got even one data stick operational, that would help to replace the loss of Tiffany.”

  “Paul was more concerned about the medical kit when he spoke to me. At least he said so several occasions. That medical kit is beyond repair, unless we can get fabricated parts,” Tennard replied. “The bullet that struck it ripped several elemental parts. I have looked at every possible way to repair them, but they need to be replicated.”

  “So Tennard, again we are back to the advantage of using a Fabrication and Reproduction zone. Like that will ever happen with the CPO shutting down the shuttle flights, killing our people, and generally making trade between the habitats impossible.”

  “There are six major Fabrication and Reproduction zones on the Vanguard, one outside of each habitat. I know the one here in Oasis is controlled by the CPO, as was the one by our former safe…. Sorry… by where the massacre happened, but do we know about the others?” Tennard pondered. “In the best of times we had only limited interaction with the other Free Ranger groups, and just a bare minimum of ways to get commodities into habitats. If you were to search out those other Fabrication and Reproduction zones, sorry, I will try not to use the term zone either. It does have bad memories. So were you to search out those different facilities, maybe one of them is operational and not linked in by the lattice to the CPO?”

  “There was also that workshop with the android bodies. That seemed like a smaller version of a Fabrication and Reproduction facility. That still puzzles me, why was that there? What were they doing?” Brinley flipped her hair to the side, and the adjusted some more tools.

  “I am too old for physical adventures,” Tennard said. “But I can still work on this equipment. I think you made a small success with this data stick. Maybe, and this is just an idea, but maybe you and those two friends of yours should try to find a facility to have a more detailed look at one of the other data sticks? I have heard rumors that D Habitat may be less under the CPO than some of the other biological habitats.”

  “Safari? I have never been to D Habitat, at least not into the biological habitat,” Brinley replied. “I wonder if the facilities there could be used?”

  “TSI-981 is reliable in moving the transport vehicles,” Tennard said in a contemplative manner. “I still am not sure of the extent of the transport tube system’s reach. It may not even have a way to get to all the other habitats, but I am confident that the artificial intelligence, TSI-981 is not and never will be able to connect to the lattice, but it can and will direct vehicles where we tell them to go. AIs can only do what they are programmed to do, right?”

  “Our last adventures were not very pleasant,” Brinley said.

  Just then her communication link activated. She pulled it from her pocket and placed it on her ear.

  “Brinley?” Gretchen said through the communication system.

  “Hello Gretchen, Tennard and I were just talking about you and Paulie. I have made a bit of progress on the data stick,” Brinley said with a smile.

  “Finally, some good news, but still no contact with Tiffany?” Gretchen asked.

  “No, not yet,” Brinley replied.

  “Well, the reason I am contacting you is that we have had some visitors here.”

  “So which Free Rangers came up the freight lift? Did they come to trade for Paulie’s dried fish?”

  “Brinley, they are not Free Rangers,” Gretchen replied.

  Instantly Brinley was alert and fully concentrating. “Are you in trouble?”

  “I do not think so, they are children. Not little children, but around fourteen years old. I still am unsure about this thing with children being so close together in age. I will probably never get used to it. Children should all be in groups five years apart, but this is not Dome 17.”

  “Gretchen, how did the children get there?” Brinley was very suspicious. “Is it a ploy or a trap? You and Paulie know almost nothing about how to interact with habitat people.”

  Brinley was already standing and strapping on her tool belt and loading up a backpack as she spoke. Tennard recognized that she had already decided to go see her friends.

  “Paul is following them on the beach. I stayed back here so I could talk to you. Those children think Paul was talking to ghosts or some such nonsense. I wondered if you could come and help us. You do know much more about these people than we do.”

  “Gretchen I am already on my way. This could be really serious. If those children report that you two are living on that island, the Constable will send automacubes, or troops, to get you. You may need to leave quickly.”

  “They are just children. It will not be as bad as all that, will it?”

  “If the Constable or Governor hears, it is hard to know what they will do. Remember Larissa tried to kill us several times; she may have associates in Oasis among the leaders of the habitat people. Find out all you can. I will run there and find you.”

  Brinley sprinted out of the laboratory Tennard was using. “Thanks Tennard. I must go and help Paul and Gretchen. They are so naïve about the workings of the world.”

  “Good luck Brinley!” Tennard called. He then turned back to the data stick she had been working with. He had some new ideas on how to assess its operation he wanted to try.

  4 what was that?

  “So just climb in the rowboat. We will take you out to the airboat and then come back and get your companion,” Anda said. “I am sure you will be happy
to get back to civilization. At Kimry you can hire a boat to take you back to your own place. You could also hire horses to go the long way around, if you really are too afraid of the water, but you would still get home.”

  “There is no boat or horse thing that will ever take my back to my own home. It does not exist anymore,” Paul said.

  “Well, then you can start new,” Anda said. “We will have freed you from your time as a castaway.”

  The four youth had reoriented the rowboat and were holding it in the surf. The waves were gentle and easy, the water warm, the sky tube light pleasant.

  “We are not going with you,” Paul said as he eyed the small boat and then glanced out to see where the larger airboat was anchored.