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

by John Thornton

  “I have no idea how any of this will help us capture a Jellie,” Paul said as he looked over the items. “Sibat and Oda used spears against the Jellies and they died miserably. I do not want to repeat that.”

  “So uncover the medallion and let us see how these are different. I doubt The Artemis would send us things that are ineffective,” Gretchen said.

  “I am not so sure. She is not here. Her people are not doing this. And we know the spears already failed,” Paul complained. “But there is hopefully no danger in viewing the instructions.”

  Paul pulled the medallion out from under his RAM clothing and held it in his hands. A beam of light came out from it and projected a three dimensional simulation.

  In that simulation, a generic looking person, a hunter, took a spear in hand. Then taking the light blue colored tube, squeezed out a bit of a thick, shinny, gooey substance to the spear-tip’s point. That shining substance moved of its own accord all across the spearhead until it was coated and gleamed. Never did the hunter actually touch the substance on the spearhead. Then the animated hunter was shown stalking up to a Jellie. The purplish-blue glow radiated off the spheroid shape of the Jellie. It whipped several long tentacles at the hunter which were both severed by swings of the spearhead which cut deftly through each tentacle. The tentacles quit glowing, withered and dropped off. The Jellie sphere sprouted four legs and moved toward the hunter. Again using the spear, the hunter jabbed one of the front legs. The leg immediately stopped glowing, and all movement of that appendage was halted. The hunter then thrust the spear into each of the other legs. Those legs in turn also stopped moving right when the spear penetrated them. After just a moment, the paralyzed legs shrunk and fell away from the circular body. The sphere of the Jellie still glowed in its purplish-blue way, but there were no more protuberances from it. The hunter walked next to it, plunged the spear into its side, and carved away an entire section. Putrid waters flowed out of the interior of the Jellie’s suit, and the Jellie itself was revealed. Its long tentacles flopped about a bit, but the hunter gathered them up, and stuffed the shaking Jellie into the inflatable canister which expanded to encase the alien. Adjusting the apparatus at the end of the canister, the hunter picking up the now contained Jellie, and walked away. The beam of light quit and the three dimensional images were gone. There had been no sound at all.

  “Nothing is that easy,” Paul said. “This is impossible.”

  Gretchen thought deeply about what she had seen. “Paul, if that substance on the spear is toxic or some kind of solvent, then this could be real. We have seen Jellies blasted out of their protective coverings before. I think we could do this.”

  “What?” Paul was indignant. “That was so unrealistic. The Jellies we have seen have never been alone. They always fight ferociously. We saw that spears failed to hurt them. Sibat and Oda died! Our pistols do penetrate and do damage, but even that does not kill them right away like in that display.”

  “The simulation showed a Jellie being captured, not killed,” Gretchen replied, “Those organic disruptors make a big hole, we have seen that. Perhaps the substance on the spear works in a similar way, but spares the alien inside?”

  Paul grasped the medallion and yelled into it, “Artemis? Is this really what we have to do?”

  There was no response.

  “Gretchen, help me understand, please? We have lost Tiffany, that Phoenix AI trapped us, and the Jellies destroyed that whole town. Now you think we can actually find one and take it prisoner?”

  “Paul, remember Brinley and Larissa were both taken prisoner by the Jellies. The Jellies did that for some reason, maybe to learn about us. We need to learn more about this enemy to defeat it. And yes Paul, I believe in you and think together you and I could do this. We made it all the way to the Vanguard, right? We can capture one of these Jellies. We always still have the pistols and organic disruptors if the spears fail to work. I promise you, I will be the first one to blast those aliens apart with the pistol if the spear fails to paralyze them like that simulation showed. I will never hesitate to do that.”

  Paul looked at her and her beautiful brown eyes were full of confidence and assuredness. He reached over and placed his hand on the back of her head, her frizzy hair tickling his fingers. He placed his forehead to hers. “Do you really think we can do this? I hate to see you in harm’s way. We could just run away and find some safe place here.”

  Gretchen grasped Paul’s hand and held tight. “There will never be a safe place with the Jellies here. We have to do this, and I honestly think together we can do anything.”

  Paul kissed her and they hugged.

  Gretchen patted him on the shoulder as they pulled apart. “Now we just have to find a Jellie.”

  “That girl Lyudmila was in the ruined town. She knows this area, and she was not afraid to engage the Jellies. I guess we can track back and try to find her.” Paul reached into the container and removed the white colored spear. “I think this was the color The Artemis said was mine. I hope this one works better than the last I used.” He fitted the parts together and as the shaft and spearhead locked into place he saw no way of undoing the attachments. He could not even find the seams for where the separate parts had fit together.

  “So I will use the red one,” Gretchen said and assembled her new weapon as well. “I say we wait until we know we are close to the Jellies before we coat the end of these blades. I just have a feeling about that, it was not in the instructions, but we should use care with that substance in the tube.”

  “Why did that simulation not give us verbal instructions? Why did The Artemis not help us more? Why does it have to be us who capture a Jellie? Why not use an automacube or some of the trained and ready hunters, solders or troopers?” Paul was perplexed and frustrated. “So I guess now we walk back along the stream and see if we can find a Jellie?”

  Gretchen gave Paul another hug and held his hand for a moment longer. She then pulled away and took the spear in her hand. They loaded up their gear. Together they turned and walked along the dried out streambed and headed toward the river. They each carried a spear in their hand and used it as a walking stick, placing the butt of the spear onto the ground in a regular cadence. There were no longer any puddles or pools at the bottom of the trench where the stream had been. The ground was dry and there were cracks starting to show in what had, just the day before, been mud.

  As they walked they saw the black birds fly off as if they birds had been waiting for them to leave. They made some cackling noises as they flew away, but there were fewer birds than the day before and the birds were anxious and agitated. In fact, the whole world around Paul and Gretchen was different. The majesty and beauty of the biological habitat was lacking. The birds flew between the trees, the sky tube shined down, but something was very different. Something was changed, something more than the devastation they had seen. Something deeper and more vital was fading away.

  When they reached the river, what had been true for the stream was also true for the river. It was now caked and dry, not muddy. The footprints of some animal were dried into the ground. The animal had walked through the mud, but now the mud was dried out and hard.

  “I am not hearing as many sounds as we did before,” Gretchen said. “This place seems still and foreboding.”

  “I have been thinking of the dusty world outside of Dome 17. This place is not anywhere close to being that dry or dead, but the change since yesterday is immense.” Paul rubbed his chin with his hand and then wiped the sweat off his forehead. “It is hotter too.”

  “I thought that same thing, but I wondered if it was just me not being familiar with this specific habitat.”

  “No Gretchen, I am certain it is hotter here, and look how much drier,” Paul motioned to what had been the river which was now just a wide and dried out flatland.

  There were whiffs on the air of foul smelling dead things. They did not venture out into the dried up riverbed, but turned and followed the edge of
the river. The grasses which had been green the day before were now wilted and edged with brown.

  “Where did all the water go?” Gretchen asked.

  “The Jellies took it. They tried to poison everything with the brown water, and now they have just taken the water away,” Paul said. “Or the CPO is doing this as some kind of punishment. Do androids need water? Probably not like we do. They have not been able to kill us directly, so maybe they are just killing everything to get to me?”

  They continued in silence. Ahead of them was the ruined town of Tula. There were several fires burning in various places in the town with black smoke winding its way upward. It was quiet as they approached the broken buildings and the ruined town.

  “I will try to contact Lyudmila, or someone else,” Gretchen said. She raised the multiceiver and activated it. She toggled the switches yet there was no response. “I tried everything except Doctor Chambers, and reached no one.”

  “Doctor Chambers would not help us out here anyway,” Paul said. “I will speak to him later, but I am already reminded too much of the death outside of Dome 17. This habitat does seem to be headed that same direction.”

  “Could it be radiation?” Gretchen asked as they entered the town and followed one of the roads.

  “If it is, then we are protected,” Paul patted his clothing which was the Radiation Absorbing Material from Dome 17. “We might have taken some radiation in by breathing it, for we do not have our masks and headgear. If that is the case it is just a matter of time before we get really violently sick.”

  Gretchen and Paul exchanged looks. Radiation exposure was a fear they both shared, having grown up in Dome 17.

  Wump. Piff. Piff.

  “That is Lyudmila using that new weapon Brinley made,” Gretchen stated.

  They ran for the nearest building in the direction from which the sound came. It was a wrecked two story building, with one wall completely melted away. The permalloy was slag and sloped to the side, but the other three walls were intact.

  Wump. Piff. Piff.

  Several white balls came sailing out from beyond the building, but missed the side that was melted down. The white balls exploded over the top, and the cold fragments showered over the area, but did not further damage to the already wrecked structure.

  Paul and Gretchen squatted down next to the rear door.

  “I think we are close to Jellies now,” Paul said sarcastically. “Unless those white things are hurling themselves.”

  “I agree. Give me your spearhead,” Gretchen said as she pulled the light blue colored tube from a pouch on her belt. “I will apply that coating.”

  Paul pointed the head of the white spear in her direction. She applied a dab of the substance from the tube and, just like in the simulation, the material spread out and coated the entire spearhead. It glimmered a bit and looked wet, but also hard and reflective. There were rainbow sheens in the coating that were not visible in the simulation they had watched.

  “Now apply it to mine,” Gretchen said.

  Paul did so and the red spearhead also shone as the coating took hold. “I wonder if this will do anything at all. It does smell odd, but most of the biological things smell odd to me, and today there are more odors than I have ever smelled before.” Paul wrinkled his nose as he put the tube away in Gretchen’s pouch.

  Wump. Piff. Piff.

  More shots were fired from right over their heads. Again a series of white balls appeared from the far side of the build and exploded over their heads. Again there was no damage done as the white balls missed the building. They looked to have followed the exact same track as they previous ones.

  Paul pushed open the door and he and Gretchen entered the ruined house. Inside there was furniture which had been shattered by the one wall coming down; a bed, dresser, and the remains of a table. On the intact side was where a kitchen had been, and that was still in fairly good shape. The cupboard doors were open, and spilled contents were scattered across the floor. The food preparation counter had utensils on it, and a half melon was there with slices on a plate nearby. A pitcher was in the sink and a small drip of water was filling it one drop at a time.

  They crossed to where there were stairs that led to the second floor.

  “Lyudmila?” Gretchen called out. “It is Paul and Gretchen. Is that you up there?”

  “Yes. I am up here. Would you please bring the pitcher of water up?” Lyudmila called back. “These Jellie monsters are busy now, and I will not let them escape.”

  Paul grabbed the handle on the pitcher and lifted it up. They stepped cautiously up the steps.

  “Have no fear of the Jellies. They cannot get in position to strike at this building. Come on up!”

  Reaching the second floor, they saw that the side of the house where the wall had fallen was also missing the roof section. It looked as if a huge animal had taken a bite out of the permalloy. Lyudmila was in a prone position on the floor about two meters from an open window. The L-ROD was in her hands and she was peering down the optics.

  “Lyudmila? I am happy you are alive,” Gretchen said.

  “Many of these Jellies have been broken like rotten eggs, but there are two I cannot get at,” Lyudmila said. “I cannot get to them now, but I am waiting and they will not escape.”

  Paul set the water down next to her. She carefully looked down the L-ROD and then set it aside very quickly, took a long drink of water, and then rolled back into position. “The Jellies cannot roll away fast enough to reach cover and they know it. Some have tried to escape me, but they are dead. I must be diligent. They will never escape me. Thank you for the water. You both smell of herbs and spices, that is odd but of no matter.”

  The glimpse that Paul and Gretchen got of Lyudmila’s face showed immense strain, stress, and exhaustion. The determination in her eyes was even more intense. She looked decades older than her young years.

  Paul looked out the window to see the view. He could see down to the river and there in the dried out mud of the river were the twisted remains of a large cargo barge. It was wedged sideways into the mud. Its one side was deeply buried and that created a space which opened somewhat toward where the house was located. The cavity under the barge was dark, but there was a slight blue blow coming from there.

  “I do not see any Jellies,” Paul stated. “I do see something that might be Jellie lights, under that wreckage.”

  “Of course you do not see them. If you could see them, I could see them and they would be broken already,” Lyudmila stated. “Look at the where the river bank used to be. You will see the remains of four other Jellies. Those shells are all that is left of their external coverings. Those blue globs on the ground are their rotting bodies. They are like a turtle. They have a tough exterior, but soft flesh inside.” She patted the L-ROD. “This weapon allows me to burst their shells and kill them.”

  “I do not know much about what a turtle is,” Paul could see the partial spheres which were indeed much like broken shells. The piles of blue goo were just lumps nearby. Paul would not have identified them with the few times he had seen the actual Jellie alien. “I think the outer layer of the Jellies is more like an armored suit which holds in the water, like our spacesuits hold in our air.”

  “The details do not matter,” Lyudmila said dismissing Paul’s ideas. “As long as I can kill them. The river barge is sunk deeply into the mud. It went down when the Jellies attacked it. That was before I was here. When it sank, there was still some water in the river. I chased these last Jellies to this spot, and the two that still live are hiding under the cover of that barge. They will not use their ball weapons on the barge above them, lest that clear the way and I have a clean shot. Jellies cannot dig much with their outer shells. They do very well in water, and can spit out some kind of dissolving fluid that melts permalloy, but their tentacles alone are not so good at digging in dirt or mud. If they come out looking for digging tools, I will kill them. If they come out to try to line up a shot at me here,
I will kill them. They stick out too far, I will break them apart. So they remain in their hiding hole. I remain here waiting to kill them.”

  As Paul watched, a quick purplish-blue flash happened and three white globes flew up from a spot under the barge. Those while balls sped right up and over the house and exploded.

  Piff. Piff. Piff. Lyudmila fired pellets at where the Jellie had been.

  “Yes, they try to get to me, but they cannot. One of their friends came out far enough and I killed it. They learned quickly to stay behind that barge wreckage,” Lyudmila said. “I have them trapped.”

  “We are here to capture one of those,” Paul said.

  Lyudmila scoffed.

  “Seriously,” Gretchen added. “We have a way to slice open their suits and take the Jellie inside away.”

  “Why?” Lyudmila asked.

  Gretchen explained the plan given by The Artemis.

  “That may be helpful,” Lyudmila admitted. “And I only have five shots of the organic disruptor capsules left. I had planned to just break those eggs with the pellets if I run out of the disruptors. It takes more time, and more hits, but I will kill them.”