They climbed the stairs and the deck above was much like the one below, but here there was no dust and therefore no signs of the passage of the automacubes. They turned a corner, and ahead of them was a blue automacube parked next to a door.
“That is the goal,” Larissa said. “Inside there the records show are the spacesuits we will need to work on that shuttle.”
Brinley squatted down next to the automacube and gave it a thorough examination. “This is all functional. It is not connected to the lattice, so we should still be safe.”
Larissa pressed the color pad in sequence and the door to Exterior Repair Station V-4991 slid sideways and lights came on inside. They were in a small room dominated by a control chair. There were levers, buttons, switches, and all sorts of controls set into the arms of the chair. On the wall opposite the entry door, was a large display. On the other two walls were doors similar to the entry door. One was labeled ‘Storage’ and the other was labeled ‘Airlock’.
The display screen was on and there was a view of the outside of the Vanguard.
“That is a runabout!” Brinley said in surprise. The sleek blue ship was docked in an odd way up against the edge of the airlock on the exterior of the hull.
“Here?” Larissa said. She tried to cover over the awe she felt looking at the stars and space that was beyond the blue colored craft. Her mind had already been nervously wondering about doing mechanical work on shuttles that she did not know well. She had convinced herself to not show any signs of even mild concern, let alone anxiety or fear to Brinley. Looking at the display and seeing the vastness of space was almost overwhelming, even to the point of surpassing Larissa’s strong self-discipline. “How?”
“That is what I am checking,” Brinley said and slipped into the command chair. Some of the controls lit up as she sat down, but most were already activated and empowered. Her hands manipulated the controls, and a sidebar appeared in the display screen. “This runabout was docked here just three hours ago. It is connected in by an emergency escape system which was modified from a Class 9 shuttle. The work orders are here, but there are no authorization codes. Yet, all the work was completed and looks in order. I am rerunning the diagnostics and doing a manual sweep of the systems, but for now I say that this runabout is as serviceable as I could have made it. It might be a bit better than I could have done. The way it is docked is ingenious and looks to have a control system by the pilot’s seat.”
“The engineering automacubes were instructed to find and secure the shuttles, as well as removing the macroactinide capacitor enhancers for our journey to the needle ship,” Larissa said. “Did they take those commands to mean ready and prepare the shuttle? I did ask for projections on how to do that.”
“I have not heard about engineering automacubes taking that much initiative on their own. They are not as sentient as AIs, and even AIs can only do what they are programmed to do,” Brinley was speaking her thoughts as they ran through her mind. She was also comparing the reading on the runabout to what she had expected to install and do herself. The runabout was decoupled from the lattice. It was on manual override, ready for flight. Its thruster fuel tanks were full. Its energy reserves were at maximum capacity. The only out-of-kilter thing was that it was docked right here where they would find it, connected to the airlock by a creative use of equipment from a different, and much larger shuttle.
“Tiffany?” Brinley muttered. “Tiffany could have done this.”
“The artificial intelligence from Earth? I was under the impression that AI ceased to exist,” Larissa replied. She had recovered her composure, although the stars still beckoned to her in a deep and personal manner.
“I thought so too, and have no evidence otherwise,” Brinley was puzzled. “I suppose the automacubes could have done this. I see there were several working here.”
“Yes, I dispatched a team of them,” Larissa stated. “So is this safe, or a trap set up to catch us?”
“I have assessed the entire runabout system. I will have full control of it when we fly. I scanned the entire runabout. It is small, and everything is in place and nothing is unusual except the docking method,” Brinley answered. “I think it is safe.”
“You are the expert. I trust you,” Larissa said.
“So we put on spacesuits and head out,” Brinley said as she walked to the door marked ‘Storage’ and opened it up. On the racks were nine spacesuits with their bubble helmets. She selected the appropriate size and setting down her gear, pulled on the spacesuit. “Larissa, I think this size will fit you as well.”
Larissa took the spacesuit marked ‘Female/Medium’ and put it on. It was basically two pieces, the top half and the bottom half which sealed around the center. She held the helmet in her hands. “I will need your assistance to make sure I have it on correctly. You are the expert in these things.”
“Certainly. These suits are intuitively designed. You will feel some pressure changes as the suit mechanisms come on.” Brinley double checked her own spacesuit, and then assessed Larissa’s. Larissa had put it on correctly. They clicked down the bubble helmets which turned on the air circulation systems of the suits. Brinley activated a switch which turned on a short distance communication system.
“Can you hear me?” Brinley asked. “Just speak and the system will send your voice to me.”
“Yes I can hear you clearly. Will anyone else hear these signals?”
“It is possible, but the transmission distance is short. I set it for all access because I did not want to make it more complicated than necessary,” Brinley replied.
They carried the gear, including the two L-RODs over to the pressure door.
Next to the color pad control were two buttons, ‘Depressurize’ in blue color and ‘Pressurize’ in rust color. The rust colored button was flashing.
“That indicates the airlock is already pressurized, I believe we can just enter here and basically get into the runabout,” Brinley said.
“Proceed,” Larissa commanded.
Brinley tapped a sequence code into the color pad and the airlock’s inner door slid quietly open. They stepped in and saw that on one side of the airlock there was a panel open. A detached mechanical device, a macroactinide capacitor enhancer was sitting on the floor. It had been removed from its installed position.
The airlock door sealed up behind them, the one which led to the outside was still closed. Beyond that was the runabout.
“When this exterior door is opened,” Brinley pointed to the outer door. “We will lose gravity manipulation. Be ready and prepared for that.”
“I was raised to be ready for anything,” Larissa stated and she grabbed the hand rail which was along the entire side of the airlock.
Brinley pushed the color pad and entered an override sequence.
The lights in the airlock shifted and a yellow flashing light replaced the overhead lights. A display appeared on the wall near the door. ‘Opening to exterior in 5…4…3…2…1… Exterior door opening.’
The loss of gravity was not as severe as Larissa expected. She thought she might be pushed upward or something, rather she just lost the gentle downward pull. Her grip on the handrail did not lessen as she watched the exterior door slide back.
She felt a sudden disorientation as she looked out. Her mind told her she was lying above and looking down into the runabout. Its tandem seats looked like they were right beneath her, but she also knew they were directly in front of her. The runabout’s cockpit was flanked on all sides by bright white materials which made a sort of funnel down to the cockpit. She was disappointed by not being able to see the stars again.
“Larissa, before you slide into the rear seat, I will store the equipment. That seat folds forward, and I am hoping the L-RODs are not too long for the tiny storage compartment.”
Brinley swung easily across the area that now had no perceivable up or down, due to no gravity. She slipped past the open canopy and tucked the two L-RODs down into spaces next to the r
ear seat. She also packed in the backpacks. The gloves of the spacesuit did not hinder Brinley’s hand actions at all, and she moved with grace and precision.
“It all, fits, but barely,” Brinley said. “You can slide in now. I will help you if you need it. Zero gravity takes some getting used to.”
“I am sure I can figure it out,” Larissa said. Her voice sounded more confident than she felt. Her stomach was making odd sounds and her mind kept trying to find up or down. Larissa took hold of the side of the sold white material which to her looked like it funneled down to the cockpit. It was more firm than she expected. She pushed a bit too hard, and floated toward the other side. Pushing off that she was able to work her way toward the open seats. As the canopy came within grasp she clutched it and then worked her way along and swung about. She settled down into the rear seat and strapped herself in.
“That was not too bad,” Brinley said. She floated over and inspected the restraints which Larissa had placed across her shoulders and lap. “You even are all secured in. Nicely done.”
“It is a bit like swimming,” Larissa said, “combined with snow skiing on ice.”
Brinley nimbly flipped around and positioned herself next to the exterior airlock door. “I will close this door now.” She entered a code on the color pad, and the door slid shut. The two buttons next to the door still showed, ‘Depressurize’ in blue color and ‘Pressurize’ in flashing rust color. “The airlock stayed pressurized. That is a surprise, but it makes sense.”
Brinley did a gentle back flip which carried her down to land neatly in the pilot’s seat of the runabout. She pulled down the canopy and it locked and sealed into place. The controls for the runabout were exactly as she recalled with the addition of a small toggle switch marked, ‘EDS’ with the lever pointing to ‘Out’.
“Well, we are inside the runabout, now to see if we can undock,” Brinley said. “Oh, Larissa, I tend to talk a lot as I fly and follow the sequences I know, so if you have a question, just interrupt me whenever you need to. I love flying the shuttles and….” It then occurred to Brinley that Larissa had been behind the shooting down of the shuttles and the deaths and destruction of so much of the Free Ranger society. “I will get us to the needle ship.”
Switching the ‘EDS’ lever to ‘In’ they both watched as the white material, which had made the funnel connection between the Vanguard and the runabout, unhook from the hull. There was a felt snap as the magnetic seals let loose. The white material than folded back on itself until it was just a thick ring about the cockpit. The hull of the Vanguard stretched away in all directions, and appeared a bit closer than it really was.
“I feel like we are sitting under the ship now,” Larissa commented. Looking off to the sides, she could see the stars off the horizon of the hull, but it was a strange view.
“I will rectify that momentarily. Just a tad bit of superior thrusters will move us away from the hull. I want to get some maneuvering room in case we get attacked. I have been in several shuttles which got blasted about, and do not want to repeat that.”
The ship rocked a small amount as twin thrusters, one forward and one aft fired a tiny burst and the runabout moved away from the hull. Brinley then had the runabout roll on its axis. “Watch this Larissa! Now we will get a real view of the cosmos! Oh how I love it out here!”
The runabout rolled around and the enormous expanse of space came into view. Larissa let out a gasp and Brinley smiled. The stars were countless. They varied in intensity from very bright to dim and almost unseen and everything in between.
“It is truly heavenly, such beauty,” Larissa said.
“Yes, the universe displays amazing sights, and the Free Rangers saw this all the time. Oh how I have missed being out in space,” Brinley said as she gazed upon the stars.
The runabout continued to move away from the hull and the vista expanded. As the runabout rolled, more of the Vanguard was exposed, yet it remained a vast landscape set into the blackness of space.
Looking back, at what she thought of as down, Larissa examined the hull of the Vanguard with her eyes. “The surface of the Vanguard reminds me of Velky Weap Canyon. Except this is all manufactured, and not natural.”
“Paul and Gretchen are the only ones to see the natural Earth, and the way they describe it, I am glad to have missed it,” Brinley replied. “The entire Vanguard was manufactured and none of it is biologically natural, or so they say. But they are so overwhelmed by the biological things. I never considered the hull as looking like the Canyon. It really does, in a way. Out here we see the natural stars out there,” she gestured, “and the Vanguard over there. It is amazing,” Brinley said. “Now onward to the needle ship. I hope those automacubes actually removed all the macroactinide capacitors enhancers so we have an alley to traverse.”
“That was what they reported,” Larissa responded. Her stomach had still not adjusted to the lack of up and down, yet she forced the nausea away.
The thrusters drove the runabout along the hull of the ship. As they were moving, they caught sight of a purple glow far in the distance. The glow was the familiar color of Jellie activity. It surrounded an oblong shaped craft that was near to the hull, but far away. It was too far away to make out clearly, and the purplish glow looked fuzzy and indistinct.
“Larissa, that is probably a Jellie spacecraft,” Brinley said in amazement. “I hope it lacks weapons to fire on us. This shuttle has no weapons at all. I am taking evasive maneuvers but will stay in our avenue of travel.”
As the runabout maneuvered about the view changed. Just before losing sight of the Jellie spacecraft, something happened. At a different place on the far hull, there was a flash of light and something zipped very quickly off toward the Jellie ship. There was a soundless explosion at one end of the Jellie ship.
“Someone is defending the Vanguard,” Larissa commented. “What was that?” The view was gone as the runabout darted between some structures on the surface of the hull.
“I am not sure,” Brinley replied. “I have never seen anything like that out here. When the shuttles got attacked, there were no visible projectiles, unlike like what we saw there. That looked like a missile or rocket of some kind. I do not have expertise with Jellie ships either, but that certainly did look like someone was striking back at the Jellies. I am not sure what we just witnessed, but I agree it looks like defensive action.”
“Perhaps we are not as alone in our struggle as I thought,” Larissa said.
The runabout moved away from where they witnessed the strange incident. Brinley kept it close to the hull, weaving in and around the many apparatus, protrusions, and other structures on the hull. Some of those were dozens of meters high, others were short and wide. Again she was reminded of the canyon inside the habitat. It too was winding but with rocks and dirt and bluff and buttes, instead of the buildings and structures and permalloy fixtures on the exterior hull.
Brinley refocused her attention as she took those evasive and stealthy moves in the runabout. There were still many marker lights, normal to Brinley’s eyes, on the hull in various directions. She kept to what she hoped was the save avenue of travel.
“We are approaching the needle ship,” Brinley said.
“I see why it is called a needle ship. It is so much smaller around than the habitat cylinders,” Larissa commented.
The needle ship stretched off in what looked to be upward and downward from their current orientation. It too had lights on its hull, but not as densely packed as they were on the cylinders. As Larissa watched, the runabout barrel-rolled and then the needle ship looked horizontal. It was disorienting to have no reference for up or down.
“I am still trying to work out where we can dock on the needle ship. We will search and look for a hanger bay. I am not sure how easy it will be to find one on the needle ship,” Brinley said.
The shuttle flew past and away from the edge of the cylinder and made a course paralleling a constituent joint. Brinley made commentary as t
hey flew. “Well, we have not been shot at, although we did see someone or something shooting at what looked to be Jellie technology. You can see we have left the vicinity of the habitat, and that immense scaffold of permalloy you see is what connects the needle ship to the habitat cylinder.”
Larissa watched and studied all she saw. The scaffold was dwarfed in comparison to the needle ship or the even more enormous cylinder. “I thought the habitats and the needle ship were more stuck together. I really am learning a lot by seeing all this. Deck plans, schematics, animations, and old recorded images do not fully explain the scope of the Vanguard.”
Brinley smiled again, despite all that was running through her mind. “The constituent joint you see over there is part of the system that connects the habitats to the needle ship. There are seven constituent joints holding each cylinder to the needle ship.”
“Holding?” Larissa asked. “Do you mean holding like in possibly letting go or releasing?”
The Colony Ship Vanguard: The entire eight book series in one bundle Page 162
