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

by John Thornton

  Paul turned and stumbled into Brinley. “What? How?” He stammered as he looked out at the black star filled vista in front of him. He felt like he had just walked off a cliff and not fallen. Looking up he could see the hull stretching as far as he could see, and when he looked down, the hull went down as far as he could see. His feet were standing on clear permalloy. “So we will be trapped in some clear bubble on the hull? How does that help us?”

  The yellow automacube connected into an access port which looked like it was on the side of the Colony Ship Vanguard. The doors shut and the flashing yellow lights, the ringing voice of the mechanical alarms saying “Malfunction” and everything else was shut out. The yellow automacube then quickly removed the cable from the port.

  “So we are trapped? This is just wonderful,” Paul said. “No place to go but back with the Roe!”

  “It is better here than in there,” Gretchen said. “Now I can at least rub my bruises. How are you Paul? That Roe beat you pretty badly.” Gretchen did rub along her side where she had been struck. “Brinley, were you bitten or hurt?”

  “I am thankful we are immune to the infection which causes the Roe,” Brinley said. “I am sore, and scratched, and a few bites will probably leave scars.”

  “If we had our medical kit I could get my ribs and armpits fixed. That thing was very strong,” Paul said. “If I had sanitation gel I could was this mess off my hands. Oh, and you two could get whatever you needed as well. I was worried about our survival, but this place is strange in a different way. Are we trapped out here on the side of the ship?”

  There was a lurch as the place they were in had an inner door slide into position. This door was clear permalloy as well and it covered over the heavy pressure door to the room. A section of the hull then came up and blocked the clear permalloy on which they stood, and all that could be seen from that was a dull taupe colored mechanism.

  There was a sound of air circulating. Then the whole room gently and slowly shifted and rotated. The taupe colored side/floor rotated, and aligned itself with the hull of the Vanguard. The rest of the room was still clearly visible to the outside of space. Gretchen kept her balance, as the orientation of up, down, and other directions were altered. The hull of the Vanguard now looked like an enormous plain stretching in all directions as they stood perpendicular to their prior position.

  “That was bizarre,” Paul said. “Now what?”

  The yellow automacube then placed a cable into a port on the floor which was now taupe colored. Lights came on and lit up each corner of that floor. The automacube easily rolled with the shifting directions.

  “This is an airlock of sorts,” Brinley said. “I have never seen or heard about anything like this. As you felt, there was also a switch in gravity manipulation.”

  “So now we cannot even get out of here?” Paul said as he pushed on the clear wall which had slid into place. He wondered why the thing they had entered had shifted into a different position from where he had stood just moments before, and had separated from the door to the ship. The hull of the Vanguard now looked like the floor, instead of a wall. He could see mechanisms sticking out a bit at the side of the floor under him as it raise up a bit as well, although he began to doubt which direction up really was.

  “Paul, I think this is like that room with the gimbaled ball,” Gretchen observed. “This is a place where gravity manipulation is altered, and we just felt that. Look at the door where we came out. It looks like it is a flat part of the hull, when not long ago we were vertical in it. Now it is horizontal to us.”

  There were some popping sounds and the sense of movement. The room, or chamber, or place they were in was being propelled along. Looking at what was now down and to the sides of the taupe floor; Brinley saw that they were moving along the hull of the Vanguard by a treaded mechanism. Brinley could hear a motor that was powering two sets of multiple drive wheels covered by treads. The treads were interlocking into corresponding tracks on the hull, keeping the movement locked into those tracks.

  “So where is this taking us?” Paul asked.

  “Paulie, I assume it is taking us toward our goal, your scout ship. Perhaps this external mover thing, call it a carriage if you will, will take us right to it.”

  “I thought the scout ship was near a different habitat, on a different section of the ship. A whole different cylinder, right? Or did we somehow pass through from one to another without me noticing?” Gretchen asked as she looked out from the clear carriage. “We have searched quite a bit and some of the places we have seen are strange. Might we have passed from one habitat to another? Or do I call them cylinders?”

  “I know what you mean. Yes, the Vanguard has six cylinders with a habitat contained in each one. The decks, corridors, and hanger bays are all around the habitats. All the cylinders are secured to the central drive ship, the needle ship. We need to get to outside of E Habitat, the Wilds. That is where your scout ship was anchored, right?” Brinley asked. “I am fairly confident that we came out of Oasis, which is called A Habitat, a different cylinder than the Wilds. The Wilds is where the scout is located, right?”

  “Yes, I think so,” Gretchen replied. “So this carriage will lead us there?”

  “Probably lead us to some other horror,” Paul said.

  “The yellow automacube summoned it, and is directing it. I am assuming it is still following my directive to find us a safe and efficient route. This mode of transport, this carriage, looks more effective and easy than trying to walk through the needle ship into areas controlled by the Central Planning Office, or take the risks of another shuttle flight.”

  The carriage was carrying them at a considerable speed, as they compared to the exterior hull as a reference point.

  “So where is the rest of the ship?” Paul asked. “If we are on the external hull, we should be able to see the other cylinders, right? All I can see is space and the hull of this section.”

  “Paul we must be about opposite from where this cylinder connects into the needle ship. Otherwise we would be able to see more of the Vanguard. Shuttle flights along paths like this are not uncommon. Though, I cannot say I ever saw a moving treaded bubble of clear permalloy when I was flying over.”

  “Bubbles are more like spheres. This carriage thing is cuboidal shaped,” Paul corrected. “What will happen when we get to the end of the cylinder? It looks to me like we are traveling along the long axis of the cylinder. So when we get to the end, how do we get to the other cylinder?”

  “I guess we will have to just sit down and watch, “Brinley said. “I agree with you Paulie, we are heading toward the end of this cylinder.”

  The clear permalloy carriage continued to carry them along. The hull of the Vanguard was a maze of different shapes, apparatus, and equipment. The lights which shone out from corners of the floor shone down onto the outer hull. There were also numberless lights in various places all along the hull which, while many, did not fully illuminate the hull but left shadows, and darkened areas.

  “I am going to eat and rest, since I am locked in here,” Paul said and sat down. He opened his backpack and pulled out some food supplies. “I wish there was somewhere comfortable to sit. I am sore from that beating the Roe gave me.”

  “Paulie, I am sure the Roe feels worse,” Brinley chided.

  “That Roe feels nothing,” Paul smirked.

  “Gretchen?” Brinley asked. “Which of the stars is where Earth is located?”

  “I am not sure. I would need Tiffany to point it out,” Gretchen answered.

  “Tiffany might be able to point out the destination for the seven colony ships too, including where the Vanguard is going,” Paul said. “Not that we will ever live to get there.”

  “I should try to raise Tiffany again.” Gretchen put her hand to her ear and activated the communication link. “Tiffany? Please respond.”

  There was no answer, which was not a surprise.

  “Gretchen, why did you come here?” Brinley asked.
She too had sat down on the floor and was grabbing a snack.

  “I came because we need to reconnect with Tiffany, and get another medical kit. There are lots of reasons to search out the scout ship.”

  “I know that. I meant, why did you come from that Dome 17 of yours to the Vanguard? I know you have said the dome was failing, but coming here, the way you did, it seems like…well… why did you do it?” Brinley’s large eyes were inquisitive without being demanding.

  Gretchen slightly pulled her lips for a moment before answering. “It was Paul’s and my decision. We could have stayed in Dome 17, but it was dying. Coming here was a chance for life. Not just for Paul and me, but a chance to save everyone.”

  “We messed that up really well,” Paul said as he chewed on something dried and hard.

  “Paul, it is always better to try than to give up. When someone quits, that is a sure failure. Trying is at least a chance to succeed,” Gretchen replied. “There was also the thrill of adventure, Paul knows all about that.” Gretchen winked at Paul. “But, honestly, it was also a chance to see something no one else would ever see.”

  “There we succeeded. We got to see some Roe!” Paul added. “I can die a happy man now.”

  “Paul, be serious for a moment. Look out there!” Gretchen pointed to the stars which were visible through the clear permalloy. “None of us in Dome 17 ever got to see stars like that. Well, a few of us did in the limited FTL test flights, but that is not the same. Right now I can sit down and just gaze into the heavens. There are so many stars out there, and I could not count them all. It is glorious. Maybe it was all worth it just to be here at this time and in this place.”

  Paul reached over and held her hand, but said nothing more.

  After a while Brinley said, “I have wondered why you came here, and for me, it saved my life. Without you I would be dead. So you did succeed in that.”

  Paul started to say something, but Gretchen squeezed his hand so hard he restrained his now normally sarcastic impulse.

  They rode in silence for a while more until Brinley said, “Paulie, up ahead is the end of the cylinder. We will find out what this carriage will do shortly.”

  Paul stood up, even though it really did not change his perspective very much. He could see that the end of the cylinder was ahead, and the carriage was rapidly approaching it. He looked down at the yellow automacube and saw that the button ‘Proceed’ was still in operational status.

  “I have been watching, and I have not seen our scout ship, nor I have seen a column or outcropping which looks like where we docked,” Gretchen said.

  “Well it is on the other cylinder,” Paul said.

  “Yes, Paul, I know that. I was wondering what type of place we connected into. I thought maybe Brinley would be able to identify it from outside if we saw a similar one.”

  “Not all the cylinders are exactly the same. They vary quite a bit, nearly as much as the habitats vary,” Brinley said. “If this carriage takes us to the scout ship where it is connected to the hull I can help you there.”

  “If it does that, how will we get from in here to in the scout ship?” Paul asked.

  “Paulie, that could be a major problem. The map which the yellow automacube is following is not detailed with specifics. It is possible that we will be led to the scout ship externally. I could try to rig up some way to maneuver this carriage manually, but I doubt it can be disconnected from the tracks on the hull. The treads are interlocked into that track system. I have never worked on this system. I may also be able to reprogram the automacube if we get in such a fix. I sure hope it does not come to that,” Brinley gave Paul a smile, but there was some hesitation in it.

  “The end of the cylinder is right ahead. It looks like the tracks lead right to it, but there are not a lot of lights around there and the light from in here is not bright enough to see,” Paul said.

  Gretchen activated the fusion pack light and shined a beam straight ahead. It lit up the tracks, but only confirmed that they led right to the edge. The wide chasm between the end of this cylinder and the beginning of the next was now visible with the other cylinder seeming to be a vast distance away.

  The carriage came right to the edge, and the treads remaining interlocking in the track. As they went over the edge, it was not a sharp ninety degree corner, but instead an arc. Paul looked all around especially out the clear permalloy. In the far distance, there was an odd purplish blue glow, but he could not see what was causing that. Then they slipped over the edge and Paul felt a moment of weightlessness and then gravity manipulation was back. This time it came on slowly and he was able to easily put his feet down to the floor again, even though the carriage was now traveling perpendicular to the direction of movement just moments before.

  “I actually thought we might fall,” Paul said.

  “Paulie, I am glad we did not. This carriage system seems to be working very smoothly. The shuttles all have to fly on manual, and the transport tube system is a mess and Tennard has had to coax it along to get it working, but this system seems to be running like it was designed to run,” Brinley replied.

  “It is good to know something works on this ship,” Paul said.

  “Okay, that was the good news,” Brinley smiled again. “Now we are heading right toward the central drive section, the needle ship. See that well lit stretch way over there? That is where the CPO has control. Remember, the shuttles have been getting shot down, and despite what that one midshipman said, I think the Central Planning Office is behind it. I wonder what they will think of us, Free Rangers, riding in this carriage?”

  “Well, they have not shot at us yet,” Paul said.

  “We are not in flight, so maybe that will keep us safe. We are connected right to the hull, even though we are on the exterior of it,” Brinley said. “If I recognize it correctly, and I have not seen it from this angle ever before, but a few things do look familiar, I believe that way across there is the cylinder which contains the Wilds. So our little automacube here is taking us the right way.”

  “But we have to pass through the Central Planning Office territory to get there?” Gretchen asked.

  “It looks that way,” Brinley replied.

  “Just great,” Paul said and sat back down again. “Maybe Larissa will be there to meet us.”

  17 the needle ship is visited

  The view had changed dramatically, now that the carriage was taking them along the hull across the end of the cylinder. The brightly lit needle ship, or core drive, was directly ahead. In comparison to the cylinders which were partially visible behind the needle ship, it was much more narrow, and seemed even more densely packed with surface lighting and a labyrinth of recesses and projections, all packed into its seemingly skinny and long frame. The ship was so big that making accurate comparisons was difficult, but the needle ship looked roughly about one twentieth the diameter of the cylinders.

  “This is so different than flying over it in a shuttle,” Brinley said. “The perspective is deceptive from on the hull. Those are other habitats over there, but I am not sure which ones.”

  “Just so long as we get to the Wilds and where the scout ship is anchored,” Gretchen said. “I am wondering. Considering that this carriage follows a set of track, so how close will the tracks be to the scout ship?”

  “Who knows?” Paul said as he tapped the yellow automacube. “This thing will probably just get us close enough to claim it followed the programming, but not near enough for us to get into the scout ship. Remember we had to cut our way though the hull when we got here.”

  “If I remember correctly, Klara said, or hinted, that some other automacubes had found the scout ship. So would that mean they were inside the hull?” Gretchen pondered.

  “Automacubes can go inside or outside the Vanguard. I have seen them rolling about on the outer hull many times. So our friend Squash here did consider our needs by summoning this carriage. It could have just led us out into the vacuum of space and not cared about our
health,” Brinley smiled. “So Paulie, have some faith in our little buddy here.”

  The carriage came to the other end of the cylinder, and again shifted over the edge. Gravity manipulation changed and now the needle ship appeared straight overhead, rather than in front of them.

  “This is really strange,” Paul complained. “Nothing stays up or stays down. Zero gravity is easier than this.”

  “See over there? That is a constituent joint,” Brinley said as they saw an immense scaffold of permalloy which connected the needle ship to the habitat cylinder. It was dwarfed in comparison to the needle ship or the even more enormous cylinder, but the constituent joint was about a hundred meters across and had struts and cross beams at various and uniform angles. The tracks that the carriage was following led up to that. “Tennard says that this is designed to separate and the cylinder can be jettisoned from the rest of the Vanguard. There is something like seven constituent joints holding each cylinder to the needle ship. This is the first time I have ever seen one. Shuttles do not fly in this close between the cylinders and the needle ship.”