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

by John Thornton

  “Its eyes are not orange, and the girl is not a Roe.” Paul looked closer. The girl had medium coloring with wispy dark hair. Her eyes showed sadness in their light brown color. “Is that beast safe?”

  “Yes, the horse is perfectly safe now that we are away from the rusalka monsters. I am Lyudmila.”

  Brinley walked up toward her slowly. “I am Brinley, and this is Gretchen and Paul. Please pardon Paul’s outburst, you just startled him.”

  “Well, that did not take long. I will just open up the door and we can take her to the transport vehicle,” Gretchen said and took out the molecular torch.

  “I do not understand?” Lyudmila asked. “I thought you had come to help me.”

  “Yes, we are here to take you away to a safer place,” Brinley replied. Brinley was much thinner in build than Lyudmila, and a few years older.

  “This is my home, I will not leave it. I need help to break those monsters like rotten eggs! I am not taking another step away,” Lyudmila said. Her stance showed grace and strength even though her voice showed signs of stress. She picked up the multiceiver and spoke into it. “Larissa? Larissa, you said they were coming to help me, not take me away. I am not a child, and the people in Tula and Penza need to know of these dangerous things.”

  All four multiceiver now lit up and Larissa’s face appeared on all of them. “These people are here to help you Lyudmila. I thought you would need to escape. I apologize if I misunderstood.”

  Gretchen set down her backpack and tools and then walked over to Lyudmila and reached out to her. “I saw what happened. It was horrible. What can we do to help you? Do you need food? We can take you somewhere else, but we will never force you. Please tell us how we can help.”

  Lyudmila just stood there for a moment. Gretchen stepped closer and wrapped her arms about the girl. Gretchen was much taller, as Lyudmila was a bit shorter than Brinley. “We are here to help. Tell us what you need and we will see how we can help.”

  Lyudmila resisted the embrace for just a moment, and then relaxed into it. “They killed father, and my grandparents, and my whole family, I think. I am not sure exactly. The house was…..”

  Gretchen held her while she wept.

  The girl’s sobs lasted for a while, and then she pulled away from Gretchen. “Thank you. Will you come with me now to see if any of my family escaped?”

  “Go with you?” Paul asked. “We were taking you to somewhere safer than here.”

  Brinley glared at Paul. Gretchen glared at Paul.

  “What? Why give me looks like that? You both know that Larissa said to take the girl to the Wilds,” Paul said and he put his hands out to the side. “She said that, right?”

  “Paul, the situation has changed,” Larissa responded through the multiceiver. “If Lyudmila is willing to help, you should find out what happened there in the Woods. Looking for her family is a priority.”

  “You said we need to bring her to you, and then we could be safe there too,” Paul said. “I am not sure how much I want to wander around a dark habitat that was invaded by Jellies. We just got attacked by three Roe!”

  Lyudmila walked over to Paul. She only had to look up to him a bit, but tried to make eye contact even in the dark night. “This is not your fight. You are a stranger here; I cannot expect you to understand. If you have just been assaulted you have my sympathies. I appreciate the offer to take me away, and you may go yourself. Perhaps I was mistaken on what Larissa was offering. She too is unknown to me. My father is a gamekeeper here; well… he was a gamekeeper here, and all my family have lived here since the launch. I will not take a single step back or retreat from these rusalka monsters. I plan to break them like rotten eggs, with or without your help.”

  “I was just trying to help you and ….” Paul said.

  Lyudmila turned away in obvious disgust and picked up the reins for the horse. “Come along Serko, we will go to Galen and Doris the Traders.”

  “You are not going alone,” Brinley said. “Especially in the dark at night.”

  “Please do not try to stop me,” Lyudmila answered. “You and the man can go back to wherever it was that you came from. I will protect the Woods.”

  “I am not trying to stop you, I am going with you,” Brinley said. “Lead the way. If I can help you I will. I will not leave you alone, nor force you to go somewhere you do not want to go.”

  Brinley walked next to the girl. She put a hand gently on Lyudmila’s shoulder.

  Gretchen looked at Paul. “We need to help her.”

  “Like we helped Zoya? Or those children with the monkey’s paw?” Paul muttered. “That did not work out, why do you think this will?”

  “Paul, there is no guarantee. When we took off from Dome 17 there was no promise we would even reach the Vanguard, but here were are. This young woman needs our help. Just like the Dome 17 people needed our help. We must try,” Gretchen’s big eyes shown in love for Paul, and even in the dark he could see the gleam in her face.

  “Gretchen, I did not help our people in Dome 17. I failed them. And seriously, Gretchen, well… Janae’s words have haunted me. She said, ‘It would have been better to go outside Dome 17 naked. That would be an easier death.’ And Karen pulled off her mask right in front of me in Dome 3. Were they right? Was finding a quick an easy death the answer?” Paul’s hands were shaking a bit as he expressed his deep fears. “Does anything we do really matter? Are we just torturing ourselves and the end will be the same?”

  “Paul, I do not know what the end will be. I do know you can count on me to be there with you. For right now, that young woman, Lyudmila has no one else. She is all alone. She needs us. We tried to escape, and I supported you. This time we will support Lyudmila, even though we do not know what lies ahead of us.”

  “I know what is ahead. Death, Jellies, crazy animals trying to eat me, evil people….”

  Gretchen kissed him on the mouth and held him tightly. He stopped his complaints, and returned the kiss.

  “Come on Paul,” Gretchen said as she pulled her lips away. “You do not need to verbalize all your fears, I know them well. I feel them too. This young woman needs us, so shall we help her, even if we fail in the end?”

  Paul pulled Gretchen into a close embrace and held her. “I am just afraid I will fail her, and she will die.” He sobbed a bit. “I have failed too many people.”

  “It is never a failure when you try. Her death may happen,” Gretchen honestly answered. “But she has a better chance of survival with you helping her, than by you running away. I count on you helping me, and I am still alive.”

  Paul squeezed her one more time and let go. He then yelled out, “Lyudmila! I want to help you.”

  “That is the way, Paulie!” Brinley answered back.

  Paul and Gretchen ran to catch up.

  “Thank you,” Lyudmila said as they walked. “Today is rain day, and that usually starts by now, but my timing may be way off. The events of today, of last night, have been upsetting. It is only a short time before dawn, but perhaps I am mistaken. We can ask Galen and Doris when we reach their Trading Post.

  Brinley was using her L-ROD with its optics to scan ahead of them on the grasses as they walked. She tried to sound light hearted, but she could tell the girl had been traumatized, and Brinley did not want further surprises. As she scanned ahead, she could also see the distant line of trees which marked out where the orchards started, to one side, and the habitat wall to the other.

  “Hold on.” Brinley motioned.

  They all stopped.

  “I see some animals that are climbing up tall metallic poles that have boxes on top,” Brinley said as she looked through the optics. “Is that normal for around here?”

  “May I look?” Lyudmila asked.

  “Certainly. You are the expert on this habitat. I grew up around machines and in a safe zone. You tell me what I am seeing,” Brinley replied. She handed the L-ROD to Lyudmila. “Just peer down this cylinder, and the image will be shown here
. You can adjust the focus using this knob.”

  Lyudmila looked down the optics, and snapped her head back a bit. “That is amazing. It is not exactly like sky tube’s light, but it is pretty clear.”

  “Yes, the weapon’s optics will magnify and amplifies what little light is available by means of…. Well the details do not matter. What are you seeing?” Brinley asked. “Are those normal activities by animals you know?”

  Lyudmila looked again for a moment. “Yes, but rarely seen by us. Those are honey badgers. They are trying to climb up and get to the trader’s bee hives to raid for honey. I can tell because the backs of the animals are white like a blanket was thrown over it. The legs are short and squatty and black. My father told me all about the honey badgers. They are strong, fearless, and smart. They will eat poisonous snakes, steel and kill the young of cheetahs, and will even attack a horse. My father says they dive under larger animals, like horses and cattle and bite at their genitals. They are determined and ruthless.”

  “What?” Paul said. “Animals like that are in here?”

  Lyudmila continued to look down the optics. “Yes. They live in and around the grasslands and in some of the forests. Like I said, they are rarely seen, and almost never bother people. This is only the second time in my entire life I have seen one. The other was in a cage set by my father. This is a sign. I know this is a sign. I will become a honey badger to those monsters.”

  She handed the L-ROD back to Brinley, who peered down the optics.

  “Well, why not just shoot those animals?” Paul stated bluntly. “If they are a danger, just shoot them from a long distance.”

  Brinley stated carefully. “They do not seem to be threatening anyone.”

  “Shoot the honey badgers? That is ridiculous,” Lyudmila replied in shock. “Never! They are part of the woods and do a valuable service. They are only trying to find food. They may rob a few bee hives and be a pest, but there is no reason to kill them. My father taught me how important all the species are to the balance of the habitat. We only kill something that is truly dangerous.”

  Lyudmila shook Brinley’s shoulder. “We need to continue onward. If we are to go to Tula we will need to get new mounts. It would take too long by walking.” She then walked off, leading the horse.

  “Did she say mounts?” Paul asked with a worried look on his face.

  “Yes, Paulie. I believe she was riding that horse and will expect us to ride horses as well,” Brinley answered. “I can try to manage it, but have not had any practice.”

  “Nor have I, of course. We did see Constable Jeffry riding one, and Victor, but are you suggesting we will ride one?” Paul asked. “Ride an animal?”

  “I am willing to try,” Gretchen said.

  Lyudmila looked over at Paul and Gretchen. “Are they serious? Or is this some kind of joke I do not understand?”

  “Paulie, someone else thinks you are a comedian. I will have to tell Jodie when I see her again,” Brinley replied.

  “Jodie is alive?” Gretchen asked.

  “Yes, and that reminds me,” Brinley replied. “Lyudmila, we can offer you a vaccination so you will never get the Outbreak.”

  “Not Vaccine 731,” Lyudmila replied. Her voice quivered a bit.

  “No, a real working inoculation. I am immune, as are Gretchen and Paul. We will offer it to everyone,” Brinley answered. “We have a medical kit that can do amazing things to heal people.”

  “We are the ones who brought that here,” Paul said.

  “Yes, we used it to heal and help Brinley,” Gretchen added.

  “There is too much happening right now. When we get to the trading post, we can discuss this with the people there. Please, no more things for me to consider,” Lyudmila said.

  They walked on in silence as the light from the sky tube brightened.

  When they reached the place where the honey badgers had been seen through the optics, dawn was upon them. The honey badgers were gone, and one of the bee hives was broken apart a bit. Bees were swarming all around, and so the group of people, and the horse left a wide distance between themselves and the hives.

  The birds of the habitat were flocking and flying about making all kinds of calls, whistles, and chirps. There were a few animals seen in the distance, but they were all wary. Insects buzzed, and the light grew. The ceiling, or what Lyudmila called the sky, way up by the sky tube, was illuminated and it looked very much like the skies in the other habitats.

  “There should be rain,” Lyudmila said with certainty in her voice as she looked up. “Every ten days for my entire life, it has been rain day. Today it should be raining. It always starts a short time before dawn and last until about midday.”

  “Could you have miscalculated?” Brinley asked. “I have never heard of a rain day not coming. I know some habitats have different cycles from your ten day one here, but I have never heard of a missing rain day.”

  “Much has happened, with father and those monsters and my ride in the night. I must be mistaken,” Lyudmila said.

  “Unless the Jellies messed up the systems in here,” Paul said.

  “What do you mean, Jellies?” Lyudmila asked.

  “The things that you saw that killed everyone,” Brinley replied. “They are called Jellies. I had the frightful experience of speaking to one.”

  Lyudmila kept walking in silence. The grasses stretched ahead of them and the day light was now shining down. The ground sloped in a gentle way and in the distance could be seen several buildings.

  “That is the Trading Post run by Galen and Doris,” Lyudmila stated. “You see there are horses in a corral behind the buildings, and that means the rusalka…I mean, the Jellies, have not been here. The village of Yuriev was destroyed. Bila’s Mill was melted. The permalloy of the building was destroyed all the way to the ground.”

  Lyudmila abruptly ran ahead and the horse followed.

  Brinley kept watch through the optics of the L-ROD. “I see nothing abnormal looking. No Jellies or obvious damages. I hope there are people here that she knows.”

  Paul and Gretchen walked along with Brinley. They came to a dirt path that they followed up to the Trading Post which consisted of three wooden buildings, a small permalloy structure, and the corral surrounded by a three rail split fence. The wooden structures were made from long logs piled one on the other. The sloped roof was from wooden shake shingles. There was a metal gutter system which ran along the eves of the buildings and funneled water down to cisterns at the corners. There were three windows in the main building, as well as a front and side door. A porch was around the entire building and had chairs and small tables on it. A sign hung over the front door which read, ‘Welcome to the Trading Post’ and was made from a plank of wood which had the letters burned into it.

  The other two wooden building were much smaller.

  As they approached, Paul could see one of the smaller wooden structures had white and red birds around it. The birds were kept enclosed by a wire fence.

  “The cat Bernie would love to chase those,” Gretchen said. “They are chickens like the children have in their garden.”

  Lyudmila had tied up the horse to the rail around the Trading Post. She then walked up and knocked on the front door.

  “Hello Lyudmila,” an elderly man said. His gray hair was upright and a few centimeters long. His face was lined heavily by wrinkles, but his smile was bright. “You are here very early on this strange day. It is supposed to be rain day, and yet there is no rain.”

  “Galen, something else is wrong. Look at this poor girl’s face,” a woman said and stepped out on the porch and embraced Lyudmila. The woman had very tightly curled gray hair, and walked with a limp. Her kind face was concerned. “What has happened dear?”

  “My father was killed,” Lyudmila said. “My grandparents are dead, and I fear for my mother and everyone else in my family. My home was destroyed, and I could not find the others.”

  “Oh dear,” Doris said and wrapped her arms a
round Lyudmila.

  “How did this happen?” Galen asked. “Was there a fire or and accident?”

  Lyudmila pulled away and explained what she had seen.

  Galen and Doris listened carefully and then looked to the others. They were in shock at what Lyudmila had related.

  “The Constable is dead? That is so tragic,” Doris said. “And you cannot raise the Governor?”

  “No,” Lyudmila answered. “These people are the only ones who came to help, and Larissa answered on the multiceiver.”

  “Larissa of the Wilds? Once a Constable, then Governor?” Galen asked.

  “Yes,” Paul interjected. “That is the one.”

  “I have heard stories about Larissa. But that does not matter now. Rusalka, really?” Galen asked. “I have seen much in my eighty eight years, but never a genuine water demon.”