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

by John Thornton

  “That might keep the smell out,” Brinley said. “But look at this place!”

  Larissa, Brinley and the two automacubes were beneath the large geodesic dome. The stairway had opened to a point about a third of the way across the dome. Laid out under the dome were numerous courts, benches, bleachers, booths, small shed-sized buildings, and a large area of fine white sand. There were also several pools of various shapes and sizes. Water was missing from the pools, but by their construction, it was plain that people were to step down into them, and sit on areas molded into the pool’s sides. Connecting the different places on the floor was a blue painted stripe.

  “We need to keep moving,” Larissa said. “LS-1 and LS-2 secure the space around us and remain on high alert for all threats.”

  “Affirmative,” answered the two red automacubes as they rolled into positions and began their patrol.

  “Yes we do need to move on, but this was a place for the playing of games, and watching sporting events of some kind,” Brinley said. “This place was build for enjoyment.”

  “This is a dome, under the sea. Is this where your friends originated? Is this their Dome 17? I thought they claimed to be from Earth,” Larissa said snidely. “They said they flew here, but did they just come from this underwater dome instead?”

  “This is not that Dome 17,” Brinley barked back. “This is all typical Vanguard technology, although I have not seen a recreation facility like this.”

  Larissa nodded and then pointed. “That shows no one has been here for some time.”

  At the bottom of the largest of the pools were several bodies in advanced stages of decay. The bones were visible through the clothing. The clothing had once been white and green, but was now in a severely rotted condition.

  Brinley glanced only briefly at the bodies. “No Roe or tagalongs here. They would not have left that much intact.” She then looked upward. “This is like that clear tunnel which the Jellies destroyed. It may have been part of that original complex, it has a very similar construction style, and the lighting looks the same. It is marvelous engineering, especially considering we are under the sea of Oasis, if I am not mistaken.”

  The triangular joints on the dome’s inner surface were a light gray color, but the large triangle sections themselves were clear permalloy giving the impression that the whole dome was almost clear.

  “Indeed, but why is the sea divided into that brown colored sludge, and a clear area?” Larissa asked and pointed above them.

  To one side, it was dark brown, like the water they had seen while in captivity and with the dead fish. It also reminded Brinley of the lake where she had been taken captive.

  “I bet it is the Jellie’s work,” Brinley said. “They are poisoning the whole sea. Fish were dead in that smelly water back in the corridors, and this looks like the brown poisons are spreading. The demarcation between the brown and the clear is obviously manufactured in some way. Otherwise things diffuse in water.”

  “Oil and water do not mix, but indeed your observation is keen,” Larissa said. “Look at the clear water. Lake Orsk, clear as it is, always has some kind of fishes or something in the waters, but here, the clear waters seem empty, and the brown waters looks like death.”

  “That light coming through the clear side is from the sky tube. It must be daytime in Oasis. This dome cannot be too far under the surface for the light to be as bright as it is,” Brinley commented.

  “The exit is over there.” Larissa walked briskly around and past the empty pools, and through the large rectangular area of sand, and then to the other side of the geodesic dome. She was checking and rechecking the directions from the multiceiver.

  The side of the dome had a pressure door with bright red diagonal stripes. ‘Warning’ was written across it in white lettering. On a smaller sign next to the color pad control was written, ‘Vodnee water lock: Authorized Users Only.’

  “Our route is through here,” Larissa said.

  “That is going to be a problem. Look out there,” Brinley said as she pressed her face to the clear permalloy and looked out.

  Fortunately, the exit was on the side where the water was still clear. She could see the permalloy which made up the compartment that was beyond the pressure door, the water lock. Extending out from that was a clear tunnel tube at a gentle incline upward toward the surface of the sea. About five meters from where the tube began, there was severe damage to it. The ends of the tube were ripped and torn, and shredded into many broken pieces. There was a severed chunk of the tube lying crossways on the remains of what had been a support strut. The rest of the tube continued toward the surface a distance away from where it had been broken apart.

  “We cannot walk that way, Brinley. That destruction too looks like our enemy did it, perhaps as part of wrecking the clear chamber where it spoke to us. I am not sure what other things could rip permalloy apart like that. However, the hatch for the vodnee is still intact, at least from what I can tell from here. So the pressure door can open and let us into the water lock,” Larissa said.

  “Yes, that does look like the same tunnel system. How will the water lock help us, even if it is functional?” Brinley asked. “Certainly the rest of the tube is flooded beyond where the destruction took place. I am an excellent swimmer, but I cannot hold my breath long enough to make it to the surface from down this deep.”

  “Not without the proper gear. There must be swimming supplies and oxygen extraction masks around this place somewhere. I saw an ESRC, and we know no one has been here for decades, so we just need to find the proper equipment and we swim to the surface,” Larissa said. She lifted the multiceiver.

  “I will begin looking,” Brinley stated. “The security automacubes should be water resistant enough to swim the distance. They will not function as well as a vodnee does in the water, but they can do it. At least I think they can.”

  Brinley sprinted away and started to look in every shed, locker, or storage compartment. She started with the ESRC, but it only had the same supplies that they had already gotten. This ESRC did not have a control section behind it.

  Larissa was cool on her exterior, but inwardly was concerned. “TSI-463, considering my location, where is the nearest gear for underwater diving. I need two sets of equipment.”

  “Searching official inventories and records. Unable to locate any type of diving equipment anywhere within a reachable distance to your location,” the mechanical voice replied.

  “Reachable distance? Plot me an alternative route to Inaccessible Island from this location,” Larissa commanded.

  “Affirmative. Calculating potentials. No alternative routes available.”

  “There are always alternatives. We could just retrace our way here,” Larissa said in a low voice. “Conjecture any alternative to get to my objective.”

  “Processing. There are no alternative ambulatory routes. Rate of flooding observed on journey to this place implies prior passageways are now impassable. I do offer a substitute option. There is a gravity conduit in this location. I can request diving equipment be produced from the Reproduction and Fabrication facility. Shall I send in the order and have it delivered?”

  “Yes. Find out how long it will take to arrive here,” Larissa ordered.

  The display screen shifted on the multiceiver.

  “This is the midshipman overseeing this area. Your request has been denied. You are in an isolation restricted area. Equipment ordered suggests that you are planning to violate quarantine. Incident report filed into your permanent record with the Central Planning Office. This type of behavior cannot be tolerated, and therefore…”

  The display was replaced by a solid color, and the midshipman’s voice was cut off in midsentence.

  “Your order has been placed. Items are highest priority for this sector. Estimated time of arrival, four minutes,” the unknown, but mechanical voice stated.

  “Who is this?” Larissa asked.

  “This unit has spoken. Your needs will
be supplied.”

  “Brinley!” Larissa yelled out. “The diving gear will be here in four minutes at the gravity conduit. Do you know where that is?”

  “I will find it.” Brinley raced from place to place looking for the gravity conduit or for the symbol she thought signified it. It took only a few minutes for her to find the gravity conduit in a pumping station shed. The door was marked with the correct symbol.

  Larissa rushed over to where the shed was located.

  “That filter pump is ruined,” Brinley observed as she looked at the large apparatus. There was thick brown sludge caked on some of the parts of the flywheels. There was also a singed smell in the air. “That brown junk that is poisoning the water is fouling the pumps as well. I am not sure what this will do to the pressures on the dome here, but it is not good.”

  “The brown is expanding steadily,” Larissa said and nodded upward. “I do not want to swim through that, so we leave as soon as the equipment arrives.”

  “The CPO allowed the order?” Brinley asked.

  “No,” Larissa replied. She lifted the multiceiver, “TSI-463, confirm identity of who approved the equipment order.”

  The display on the multiceiver lit up and the mechanical voice replied, “Uncertain identification. Unable to consult lattice. Unable to link or couple to Central Planning Office.”

  The lights on the top of the gravity conduit platform blinked. “Incoming delivery for Larissa.”

  Brinley’s communication link sounded in her ear. Tiffany said to her, “Brinley, we have found a pathway to Inaccessible Island. I estimate less than an hour walk for us to reach there.”

  “I think we may have found a way to get there too,” Brinley said out loud.

  On the platform, the top dilated and the delivered items were rising up on the cushion. There were two new oxygen extraction masks, and two sets of swimming equipment.

  19 walking to Inaccessible island

  Paul and Gretchen bounded up the stairway. The wall of the corridor had rotated around and revealed a hidden passage. Jodie was not far behind them. The orange automacube easily kept pace.

  “Jodie, have you seen places like this?” Gretchen asked.

  The stairs opened to a rough hallway. The walls were dark gray and concave with many maroon colored structural supports, large pipes, ducts, and collections of wires bound into place. The floor had angular lights set about every pace and those alternated from one side of the hall to the other.

  “I am primarily a minstrel. My limited engineering skills tell me this is some kind of subservient or tertiary repair shaft. The low ceiling makes me think it is designed for automacubes, and not for people,” Jodie replied.

  Tiffany drove the orange machine ahead of them as they walked. Gretchen had to duck some of the lower hanging ducts and pipes.

  “Gretchen?” Jodie asked in hesitation. “Would you have really shot those Free Rangers?”

  Gretchen looked at her, but did not answer. Her face was stern and set. She continued to walk.

  “Gretchen? Please tell me.”

  “Jodie, I will do whatever needs to be done,” Gretchen finally answered. “Paul and I are in this together, and you are my friend. That is all you need to know.”

  Jodie was put off and startled by Gretchen’s look and words.

  The hallway ended where another wall had been opened up. This one exposed a lighter gray colored ramp that proceeded upward. All their walking had been upward since they started along the passageway Tiffany had arranged for them. The big pistons which had lifted the wall section were oily and smelled of grease. The ceiling here was even lower and all three of the people had to duck to enter. There was ribbing on the floor allowing them to have traction for their feet, even though the surface was smooth beneath the ribbing. The wheels of the automacube easily fit and connected to the ribbing.

  A blue automacube was at the junction point where the ramp began and the wall had opened. It had a cable connecting it to the access port in the wall.

  After the party passed the blue automacube, and headed up the ramp, their backs bent over so as to not hit their head, there came a rumbling behind them. The wall was pulled down into position again by the pistons on its sides. A blue light came on at the top of the wall section which showed several symbols which were unknown to any of the people.

  “Well, someone is shutting the doors behind us,” Paul said. “Is that you Tiffany?”

  “I have arranged for the pathway to be opened to get us to Inaccessible Island,” Tiffany answered. “It is advantageous that no one follow us.”

  “We sure do not need a Roe to chase us down, or those spheres to follow. This ramp is probably too small for the spheres anyway, right?” Paul said. He had missed that Tiffany did not directly answer his question, but Gretchen had not. She considered asking for clarification, but resisted.

  The ramp leveled off only a bit but continued at an upward incline. When they reached what appeared to be a dead end, they heard a series of loud clanging and metallic groans. Then again another section of wall opened. This time they were on the opposite side so the pistons were in a different position and the wall lowered down until it became a walkway which bridged a gap. On the other side of the gap, the wall there had also folded down, but there was no other passage leading away.

  They proceeded across, and now above them was darkness as far as they could see. To each side they could only see enormous walls stretching up and going down with the gap between. Gretchen switched on the fusion pack light, but it did not penetrate the darkness and only lit up the area around where they were.

  As they all reached that second section of folded down wall, which had become a floor, Paul expected a door to open, or another wall to rotate around, or something else to reveal where they were headed.

  Instead, the whole folded down section of wall, their floor, moved upward. Paul watched as the part of the wall they were moving away from, across the gap folded up and blended into the metal components of the walls. The section that was moving was only about two by three meters, and was tight for the three people and the automacube, especially with nothing on any of the three open sides. How the floor was raising was a mystery. Paul had the distinct impression that what was happening was not an original design function. The floor pushed them upward, and the wall it was on looked like it was moving down. It was a disorienting perspective. All around them was darkness which looked to stretch forever up, down, and to each side.

  “This could fold down and drop us all,” Paul said. “Or we could be knocked off of here easily.” Paul glanced down and could not see the bottom, which was hidden in darkness. He spat a large glob of saliva and watched it fall into the darkness he heard no sound of it hitting anything.

  The lifting stopped, and back across the gap a section of that wall folded down in a similar manner. They stepped back to avoid being hit as it lowered onto the floor that had just lifted them up.

  Beyond that was another passageway.

  The orange automacube rolled across the makeshift ramp and into that other passageway. There were no sides or guardrails of any kind, but the canted ersatz bridge served its purpose. The gap to the sides was dark and foreboding, and the air which came from the newly opened passageway was odd and fusty, even though the space around them was large. The light did not penetrate far out to either side, and all that was seen were mechanical stacks.

  “Tiffany, are you sure we are getting somewhere?” Paul asked as they entered the passageway and left that strange gap.

  “No matter where you go, you are always somewhere,” Tiffany replied.

  “Humor again? Or philosophy this time? You know what I meant. Are we getting close to Inaccessible Island?” Paul replied.

  The wall behind them lifted up and resettled itself showing no evidence it could open at all.

  “Come on Paul,” Gretchen said. “Tiffany will not lead us astray.”

  As they walked on, an engineering automacube was seen in a
recessed area. It too was connected into the access ports by a cable.

  “There are a lot of blue automacubes which are helping us,” Gretchen said. “Are they under your instruction Tiffany?”

  “They are allies in our cause, yes.”

  Again Gretchen noted a subtle change in how Tiffany was responding.

  “I am just happy for the help. Any help,” Jodie said. “Also, on this hike we have not seen any evidence of the Roe. It appears these areas have not been opened in this way for a long time. I have no idea what that chasm was.”

  “We once climbed down a long ladder in darkness,” Paul said. “If I knew then what was ahead.”

  The corridor they entered flared out and lights flickered to life. It was round and almost tubular, except for a flat surface on the floor. Gretchen could stand up in the center of the tube without having to stoop.