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

by John Thornton

  They walked over and felt along the wall. It was not long before Paul discovered the door in the darkness. “There is a bulkhead door here. I think it is a bulkhead door, but it is so dark I cannot see it well. I do feel a rough weld line against the smoother permalloy.”

  “There is no power here. I am trying to find an access port to connect in the fusion pack,” Gretchen said as she felt around with her hands.

  “Even if you did find the port, the door will still be sealed. I will need to see where to cut, and you will need to find the access port, if there is one. So Paulie, I think it is time for some light to shine on us.”

  Paul pulled the fusion pack out and turned on the lamp, on its lowest setting.

  The light still seemed to be blinding, and they all blinked as their eyes readjusted. The door was now visible. It was a bulkhead door, and had been welded in numerous places. Written in yellow irregular and now fading letters was ‘FORBIDDEN’ across the door.

  A dog started barking vigorously somewhere nearby. The barks echoed around the abandoned buildings and seemed to come from beyond the mill.

  “We better hurry before that predator comes this way,” Paul said. “It sounds like those that chased us by that river in Pampas.”

  “That was before Zoya nearly set the world on fire,” Gretchen commented as she searched for the access port.

  “She was a good one,” Brinley said as she turned on the molecular torch she had brought out of her backpack.

  “More people I failed,” Paul lamented. “Just more people I could not save. Karen, Zoya, all of Dome 17.”

  “I found the access port,” Gretchen said as she plugged in the fusion pack.

  “Who is there? What are you doing there?” Someone cried.

  “Are you questioning Constable Herric’s troops?” Brinley yelled with as much authority and sternness as she could muster.

  There was no reply.

  “You bought us some time, but we need to get out of here. We are really lit up here.” Gretchen quickly connected in the fusion pack.

  A nine section color pad lit up next to the door. Brinley continued to melt the welded places. “This door has been sealed for a long time. I hope we do not have to pry it open.”

  The last section of the welding was cut and Brinley quickly returned the torch to her backpack. She then entered an override code sequence into the color pad.

  There was a grinding noise and the door slid partially open. “Did it again!” Brinley said in triumph.

  Gretchen unplugged the fusion pack and the three of them slipped through.

  “They have broken quarantine! Get the guards! We are all going to die!” the unknown voice yelled from the darkness. Several other voices replied.

  “The guards are already on the way!”

  The other side of the bulkhead door was now lit up by the fusion pack light. It was a stairway landing. The stairs leading upward were ruined and charred. They were blocked by rubble of fallen metal, ductwork, pipes, and wiring. The stairs going down were in better condition, but scattered rubble was there as well.

  “Get the door shut!” Paul yelled as he heard more calls from the habitat. There were also whistles and a siren sounding.

  Gretchen jacked the fusion pack into the port on that side of the door. Brinley entered the override code. There was a buzzing tone of negative function.

  “No time to waste,” Brinley said. She pulled a pry bar out and inserted it under the edge of the nine section color pad. “This is a really old one. See how it is not in the wall itself, but on that small raised area. There might be…” She pulled hard on the pry bar. With a groan, the color pad’s base flipped down. Behind it was a wheel. “Help me pull this out!”

  The siren sounded like it was right on the other side of the door in the habitat.

  “The infection is here!” Paul yelled out through the doorway. He hoped to scare the pursuers away.

  Paul, Gretchen, and Brinley all pulled on the small wheel which was behind the color pad. It was tight but it did pull out and drop into place.

  “Now spin the wheel, it will manually close the bulkhead door.” Brinley grabbed the folded handle and flipped it outward.

  The three of them turned the wheel, and the grinding of long unused gears was heard. They had to turn the wheel many revolutions for each small bit of movement of the bulkhead door, but the door did slide shut. The whistles, sirens, and yelling were blocked. It was now silent, except for the heavy breathing of the three who had worked so hard.

  Brinley tried to push the wheel back in behind the color pad, but it would not go back. “The door is jammed a bit and not seated properly. I will weld it in place anyway. It will not be any protection against a depressurization or vacuum, but it will keep those people from following us and no infected animal or Roe will get through here to enter that habitat either.”

  “Yes, the Roe. We now must watch out for them,” Paul said glumly.

  Gretchen helped Brinley weld the door shut. Afterward she said, “I am exhausted. We need to find a place to sleep. If we stay here, the habitat people might open this door and send an automacube through. They have done that before.”

  “Also, we have made far too much noise to stay here. If there are any Roe nearby, they will be attracted to here,” Brinley said as she packed up all the tools.

  “If Roe are coming, they will only be able to get here from that way.” Paul pointed down the stairs. “That is the only way we can continue. So should I get out a weapon?”

  “Paulie, one of us can shoot the Roe if one comes. You keep encouraging us with your inspiring words and attitude.” Brinley gave Paul a big smile as she slipped past him and headed down the stairs.

  Gretchen followed, carrying the fusion pack with its light on.

  “Now I am expected to be inspiring and encouraging. Will my work never end?” Paul commented as he too descended the stairs.

  The rubble was mostly gone as they reached the next landing down. The stairs went no further. Here they found an open steel door which led to a large room. The lights came on as they entered the room. The ceiling and walls were a dull white color, and in good condition. There were tall shelves about a meter apart dividing the room up.

  “No one has been here for a long time,” Brinley stated.

  Gretchen reached up and pulled a creamy colored box off of the shelf. It was made from thin permalloy covered by a synthetic and slightly spongy layer of insulation. On its side was a label in dark blue letters, ‘Stasis: Crocodylus porosus zygote: 12’. There were about a dozen of the small boxes labeled that way. Pulling down another box from a different shelf, that one read, ‘Stasis: Crocodylus palustris zygote: 12’. There were a large number of those boxes.

  Paul looked at different shelves, and they too held those same kinds of boxes. He read off the labels as he looked at the shelves. “Stasis: Chelydra serpentine zygote: 12, Stasis: Eretmochelys imbricate zygote: 12, Stasis: Crotalus adamanteus zygote: 12, Stasis: Pygopus lepidopodus zygote: 12, Stasis: Holaspis guentheri zygote: 12, Stasis: Gavialis gangeticus zygote: 12, Stasis: Exostinus lancensis zygote: 12, Stasis: Gastrotheca ovifera zygote: 12. There are many more variations, but they all seem to start with ‘stasis’ and end in the number ‘12’. I do not understand it all.”

  “What is this place?” Brinley asked.

  “You are asking me?” Paul said. “I am not sure. Maybe we should open one of the boxes? Although it says ‘stasis’ which seems to indicate the contents are in some kind of suspended animation, right?”

  “If we could contact Tiffany, I am sure we would get an answer. The term ‘zygote’ seems out of place here, but that word just means a fertilized ovum. Maybe these are baby animals of some kind?” Gretchen said. “Or this is a genetics storage bank? Maybe it is like the extracorporeal incubators of Dome 17, except for animals?”

  “Maybe it is a food storage place?” Paul asked. “Habitat people eat animals all the time. I know they eat eggs from those birds, ca
lled chickens and ducks. Rodgeeri tried to get us to take some chickens along with those two goat things. He said we could eat the eggs. Sort of disgusts me, but most of the food does that. Hey, I remember some of the Free Rangers joking about trading fish eggs, right? Was that a joke or real?”

  “Yes, it was real, It is called caviar. There are people who do fishing around Lake Orsk that harvest caviar. However, Paulie, I doubt this place is a food source. It might be a storage place for immature animals, but I am not sure,” Brinley said. “If it was food, rats would have broken in already. And food does not need to be in insulated permalloy stasis boxes, but live animals do. It is like suspended animation.”

  “Would rats each the animals in stasis?” Gretchen asked.

  “Only if they could tell what they were. I assume a stasis box is sealed too tightly to reveal its contents by smell. Infected rats are not like natural rats. Either way, this place looks untouched by rats,” Brinley said. “Or Roe for that matter.”

  “So we spend the night in here?” Paul asked. “There is only the exit to the stairs, and the exit on the other wall, so far as I can see.”

  “If the door will shut we can stay,” Brinley said. “But only if the door can be shut.”

  Gretchen slid the steel door closed. “It even has a locking mechanism on this side. It is primitive and purely mechanical, but it should bolt the door closed.”

  “This other door is the same way,” Brinley said. “So we get some sleep, and when we awaken we will use the minicomputer’s plotter to head out in search of your scout ship.”

  11 unexpected contact

  They slept for some time. The lights in the room stayed on for a while after they all lay down, but did finally turn off on their own. When they awoke, the lighting came back on after they began moving around.

  “Motion activated, or sensed lighting,” Brinley said as she stretched and walked around. “This floor was not the worst place I have ever slept, but it was certainly a contender.”

  “I will try Tiffany again,” Gretchen said. She activated the communication link. “Tiffany? Tiffany? Please respond.”

  There was no response, just silence.

  They again searched the room, but there were only the two doors, and the shelves filled with the stasis boxes. The stairs they had come down the day before were unchanged, and no one had bothered to even try to open the bulkhead door. So the stairway became the toileting area for the three adventurers.

  “I hope this does not attract tagalongs,” Gretchen said after relieving her bodily needs. “At least I do not have to answer the question, ‘red or blue paper’ since I brought my own supply of cleansers.”

  “Do you think we will encounter a Roe today?” Paul said. He was chewing on some of the food they had brought; he did not want to think about what it was.

  “We have a very long way to go, and it is likely,” Brinley replied. “But Paulie, Gretchen and I can knock them off way before they get close to us.”

  “We will need to do that. We have no medical kit,” Paul reminded them.

  “But we are immune, so we just make sure the Roe do not get close enough to hurt us,” Gretchen commented. “Are we ready to depart? Brinley? That minicomputer, will it guide us?”

  “Yes. The plotter has a limited ability to display local area deck plans. It basically gives us a directional heading after analyzing the surrounding area. Fairly basic technology but limited in its application.” Brinley had the minicomputer out and the display activated.

  “So it shows us the next steps, but not the entire journey?” Paul asked.

  “It has an overview of the entire journey, but there is very little detail on that. The better detail is on the local scene,” Brinley replied.

  They securely bolted the stairway door before they opened the exit door. Beyond the exit door was a large corridor which was lit by sporadic and flickering illumination from the ceiling. It stretched away in both directions.

  “So which way?” Paul asked, as he peered down the corridor.

  “Well, we know what the place we slept in was called,” Brinley pointed at the door. It was labeled, ‘Reptile Garden Storage’. “Reptiles are a type of animal.”

  “But we still do not know if they are for replenishing the biological life in the habitat, or for eating by the people living in the habitat,” Gretchen said.

  “The plotter says this way,” Brinley pointed and they walked along.

  “So how will we get back to that Wilds habitat? I mean, the scout ship is on the hull outside of there. We just left Oasis, right? So how do we get back there?” Paul asked.

  “We walk, Paulie!” Brinley smiled her wide toothy smile.

  “I know that. Are there actually places which lead from one cylinder to the other?” Paul asked.

  “Yes. Those kinds of passageway are mostly in the central parts of the ship. Each cylinder habitat is connected to the central part, sometimes called the needle ship. If we have to we can walk all that way, then pass through the needle ship, and back out the proper cylinder. A shuttle would make it much easier, or even if the old transport tube system was operational so we could take a vehicle. There are also some concourses which connect the ends of the cylinders, or so I am told. I have not been in one of those. I am still hoping to contact the local Free Rangers and maybe get some help from them. They would know this area better than anyone.”

  “Unless, they are all dead,” Paul whined.

  At a cross passage, there was a tunnel which led upward, and one which led to the side in an arcing way, and another which angled downward. The minicomputer indicated the way to be upward, but Gretchen’s eyes caught something just to the edge of the bending corridor.

  “Is that a transport terminal?” Gretchen pointed.

  The door to the room was ajar, and only a bit was visible.

  “That does look like a hatch for a transport vehicle.” Brinley walked briskly over to that doorway. “Yes, it is a terminal, or what is left of one.”

  Paul and Gretchen followed. Unexpectedly, as they passed the crossroads, a security door slammed shut behind them. They both jumped forward and out of the way.

  “Now why did that happen?” Paul complained.

  “At least we are on the same side as Brinley.” Gretchen patted Paul on the shoulder.

  “But why did it wait until we were all on this side? If it was an automatic response, would it have not done that after Brinley walked by? It looked like it was done deliberately to keep us on this side. And, the map said we needed to go upward.”

  “Yes, Paulie, I agree that is strange. However, if we can get a vehicle here, that may save us a lot of effort.” Brinley spread her hands out indicating the transport terminal.

  It was a mess. Along one side of the room were large brown colored ducts which were rounded off rectangular in shape. Two of those were cracked open, and fluids had leaked across the floor for a very long time. Grime and mold and other things were in the slippery flow which had leaked out of the ducts. The liquid was just a small and very shallow flow across the deck as it exited down some ventilation shafts. Air was still blowing out of those ventilation shafts, but it was now moist and humid.

  In one corner, a blue automacube was parked. Its manipulation appendage folded flat against its top. It showed no external signs of power. Brinley gave it a quick assessment and stated, “Looks totally drained of power.”

  On the other side of the room were four hatches, which they recognized as belonging to where the transport vehicles docked with the terminal. At the end of the room, where the brown ducts turned and angled down into the deck were seven steps up to a small platform. There a table and chairs sat before a work station of sorts. A lit display screen was on the wall over the table.

  “This might be functional. I will check it out,” Brinley said as she stepped away from the inert blue automacube and over the liquids on the deck and walked up the stairs to the display.

  “Do these gauges indicate that a tr
ansport vehicle is here?” Paul looked closely at the symbols and marking around each of the hatches. “They all seem to be powered, which is a nice change, one has blue lit up, two have green, and the last has yellow. Do those refer to the vehicles here? Or the status?”

  Gretchen was examining the broken brown ducts which were gently leaking the fluids. “It looks like chemicals, but I am not sure what else. It has a bit of an odd shimmer to it.”

  Brinley sat in one of the chairs by the table and display. There was a red background with a gold colored symbol in the middle of it on the display. She reached out and touched the display and the image swirled and then was replaced by a list. The list was items on separate lines with letters and numbers in different colors. Some red, most white, and a few were green.