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

by John Thornton

  “Yes Paul. I have a message for you.” Her grayish-blue eyes looked far away as they were surrounded by her dark and cute face. Her smile was upturned yet carried a deep sadness about it.

  “Jennie, are the others here too?” Paul stammered. His mind was racing as he recalled the various children he had seen since coming to the Vanguard.

  “That bad animal wants to talk to you,” Jennie said. “I know it is angry and mean.” Jennie pulled one hand off the cat and pushed aside some stray strands of her thick, wavy, brown hair. “I do not like talking to the bad animals either, but we think you need to do it.” She began rubbing the cat’s head and it closed its eyes and moved its head in rhythm against her hand.

  “What bad animal?” Paul said and took a few steps over toward Jennie. Something brushed up against his feet. He jumped back and looked down and there was the gray and black striped cat, Bernie. Looking at the cat Paul asked, “Jennie? Is this the animal you mean? Will the predator you are holding fight with this one? This patrol cat, Bernie, found me and I guess you did too.”

  There was no answer.

  “Jennie? What bad animal?” Paul looked up and the door had slid shut. Jennie was no longer seen. He rushed over to the door. “Jennie? Where did you go? Are you trapped? Please open this door!”

  Paul looked at the color pad control box, but it had no internal illumination. Nonetheless, he punched in a series of taps where he recalled colors usually were. He hit the spot that should be glowing green three times in a row, but nothing happened. The controls were dead, depowered, and inactive.

  Paul pounded his fist onto the door. “Jennie! Jennie! What happened?” The permalloy of the door made a thumping sound as he struck it, but the door did not move. “What bad animal? Jennie!”

  “Paul?” Brinley asked groggily from behind him. Gretchen and Larissa were right behind her. All three were wiping their eyes and blinking. They obviously had been awakened by his yelling and pounding.

  “Jennie was here. She said something about a bad animal,” Paul replied. “She was behind this door, but it closed on me. She was holding a white and black cat.”

  “That girl from the Gardens of Delight?” Gretchen asked. Her dark frizzy hair was loose around her shoulders and face.

  “I see no child here,” Larissa said as she unconsciously stroked her braided hair. “But that patrol cat is by your legs. Is that what you are babbling about? Did that cat scare you?”

  “Jennie opened that door and was just standing there,” Paul said and pointed. “I only saw Bernie after I saw Jennie. She was right there! Tiffany, what did Jennie say? Where did she go?”

  “I am sorry Paul. I did not see nor hear whoever you are describing,” Tiffany replied from the multiceiver. “Perhaps I missed it as the multiceiver was not in an adequate position to view the doorway. My perceptions are limited.”

  “But you must have heard what she said. I heard it clearly. Just play back the recording,” Paul instructed as he walked over and looked at the display on the multiceiver. “Maybe that will explain this all.”

  “I will relay the records I have from the last few minutes,” Tiffany said. “I can assure you there was no child’s voice within my listening range.”

  “Just play it back!” Paul snapped.

  Paul’s recorded voice played back from the multiceiver. There were pauses but no voice of Jennie.

  “Paul, perhaps you fell asleep and into a dream?” Gretchen said gently as she placed a hand on his shoulder. “You are exhausted. This has been horribly stressful, and maybe you imagined her or dreamed it?”

  “I did not make this up!” Paul yelled and jerked away. “That girl Jennie was right there.”

  Larissa looked dubious and said, “I am going back to sleep.” She then turned and walked away back to the barracks. “The patrol cat frightened him, nothing new there.”

  “Paulie, I am not sure how Jennie could have gotten here,” Brinley said. “But those children are remarkable. If she was here, we will learn more about it. I will check the other spots on the command bridge, the barracks, gallery, and the lavatory.” Brinley did not say she doubted Paul, but her words carried little conviction. “We will figure this out.”

  As Brinley walked away, Gretchen stepped up to Paul. “Paul, we are in this together. There is something very odd about those children, and I do not understand what happened here. Forgive me if I hurt your feelings, but it could have been a dream. Tiffany did not record anything.”

  “Tiffany is barely functional, and I know what I saw,” Paul said in anger. Then he caught himself. He turned to Gretchen. “I apologize. You are right it might have been a dream. I guess.”

  Gretchen pulled him into a hug and together they leaned against the door. Just as they did, the door slid open and both of them tumbled past it. The door rapidly shut behind them without a sound.

  ***

  Brinley stepped into the lavatory. She did not expect to find anything, but she needed to use the facility anyway, and she did wonder about the strange children they had encountered in the Gardens of Delight. ‘I would not want to dream about them. Poor Paulie’ she thought to herself. She entered a stall and undid her clothing. As she sat she pondered their next moves. ‘I should try something in the gallery with all the central memory cores. That is a place to begin. I will have to open the doors, first, then see what systems I can get up and running again.’ Brinley’s mind was estimating how to reconstruct the AI systems and hoped to get something functional. She stood up and redid her clothing. Stepping out from the stall she looked toward the doorway.

  “Martin?” Brinley asked. “You children are here. Are you safe?”

  “Hello Brinley.” Martin was dressed in taupe colored clothing and his blue eyes were very wide as he looked at Brinley. Color rushed to his cheeks and he looked embarrassed. “I am sorry to bother you Brinley. Especially in here. I did not peek in, but knew you were finished. I am sorry.” Martin looked sheepish and scared and worried. He then said, “The Captain’s Gig is under the model’s mechanisms. I told the machine to open the door for you. You will be able to unlock it and get inside.”

  “Captain’s Gig?” Brinley asked. “I have read about those kinds of shuttles, but never seen one. Martin, I am more concerned about you. Was Jennie with you? Are you safe? Did the loss of the two habitats hurt the gardens?” She gave him a wide grin.

  “Brinley, you are so pretty and so good with machines. If I could grow up I would ask you to marry me.”

  “Martin, that is a sweet thing to say,” Brinley replied somewhat awkwardly. She could tell he was just blurting out his feelings. “What do you mean about growing up?”

  Martin rushed on, “You must add some things to the Captain’s Gig, and get a second Captain’s Gig to connect them together. Together but backward. Thrust and counterthrust will be essential to making your lifeboat.”

  “Martin, how did you get here? Who else is here?” Brinley asked as she stepped toward him.

  “I have told the SAHO to talk to you, too,” Martin said.

  “Who is Saho?” Brinley asked and took a couple more gentle steps toward Martin.

  Martin scrunched up his medium colored face. Again he blushed as Brinley smiled at him. “Not Saho, like a person, SAHO like the machine. It says to tell you it is officially called ‘TSI-6 Suspended Animation and Hibernation Oversight’ or just TSI-6. It does not like the nickname, SAHO, but I tease it anyway. It is one of the thinking machines which will still talk to me. Most of them are a mess and their minds are a jumble. Not like the machine people were. The machine people are all gone now.”

  “Martin, do you want to talk with Paul and Gretchen too?” Brinley said and reached out a hand for Martin.

  He ducked away and slipped under her arm. He moved very quickly and out into the barracks.

  Brinley chased him, but as she entered the barracks she did not see him.

  “Martin?” Brinley said loudly. “Martin where did you go?”

/>   Larissa looked up from her bunk. “Brinley who are you talking to?”

  “Martin just came in here, did you see him?” Brinley replied.

  Larissa sat up quickly and threw her legs over the edge of the bed. “For Paul to dream up something, that is one thing. For you to see an intruder here, that is something else.” She slipped on her shoes and secured her weapon belt around her waist. “What did you see?”

  “It was Martin. He is a young boy, maybe eight years old. Brown hair, medium complexion, bluish eyes. He just ran through here.”

  “Then he is out on the command bridge with Paul and Gretchen. I guess Paul did see someone,” Larissa commented as she walked out of the barracks.

  The command bridge was empty.

  “Brinley! No one is here,” Larissa said sharply. She ran around the horseshoe shape of the bridge.

  Brinley came rushing out. “What do you mean? Paul and Gretchen are here and that child Martin must be out here. I saw him come out here.”

  Larissa finished her sweep of the command bridge, and no one was there. “They did not go out the door over there,” Larissa pointed to where the android bodies had been stacked. “The bodies would have to be moved to get out. So they must have went out the door Paul said he saw the child open. If that child opened it, then the other probably did so as well.”

  “I will get it open,” Brinley said and grabbed her tool belt.

  The door was not powered, and the color pad controls did not respond. Brinley took a fusion pack and connected it into an access port near that door.

  Larissa picked up the multiceiver and spoke into it, “AI what did you observe here?”

  “Paul and Gretchen were talking and they quit. I have not heard or seen them since. My perceptions are limited to the equipment of the multiceiver,” Tiffany responded.

  “So you saw no child here?” Larissa asked.

  “No.”

  Larissa slung the multiceiver onto her belt. She considered going back to the barracks and getting more equipment, like the L-ROD, but she stopped when Brinley got the door to slide open.

  “Paulie? Gretchen?” Brinley called. The next door was standing already open. The hallway beyond was dimly lit by light that was coming from the doorway to the large chamber across the hall. That was where the central memory cores of the artificial intelligence systems were located. That amber glow was pulsing and shining down from the damaged door.

  Brinley pulled the fusion pack cable out of the port. Both doors stayed open.

  “Will these remain open?” Larissa asked. “We are not sure what we are dealing with here.”

  “They are children. Martin and Jennie are probably scared and confused. If they had to flee from their Gardens of Delight they might be traumatized and in need of help,” Brinley answered.

  “Caution is called for. Paul and Gretchen are missing already. Paul getting lost would not surprise me, but Gretchen is smart,” Larissa commented. “So will the doors remain open?”

  “Yes. There is no power to them without adding the fusion pack, so now that I have removed the fusion pack, they will not close. The doors will remain retracted into their pockets.”

  “If they have been unpowered, then how did they open for those children?” Larissa asked as Brinley started to step away.

  Brinley caught herself. “That is a very good question. I will make sure with a physical stopper.” Brinley removed several small tools from a pouch on her belt. She jammed them into the tracks on the doors. “They will not shut now.”

  “Brinley, I will stand watch here. Run back and get more weapons and supplies,” Larissa commanded. “We are nearly completely ignorant about the current condition of the Vanguard. We saw parts of the ship receive a great deal of damage, and we know enemies are on board. I do not wish to be unprepared.”

  “But Paulie and Gretchen may be in trouble,” Brinley objected.

  “Then I suggest you hurry, or let me go back and get what we need,” Larissa countered. “We cannot help someone else, unless we take care of ourselves first.”

  “Right.” Brinley sprinted back into the command bridge and beyond.

  She came back very quickly with two L-RODS and two backpacks filled with supplies. Larissa took her share and together they stepped out.

  “That chamber is lit, but at the end of the hall is a door as well. That one has a subtle blue outline,” Larissa pointed. “Which way do you think they went?”

  “That gallery of the AI’s central memory cores, set in Pythagorean geometry, would be where I would start,” Brinley commented.

  “I would consider that location as well, were I just exploring, but remember we are dealing with Paul. I think that other door is more likely where he fled,” Larissa said. “If I am wrong we can search the gallery with the memory cores.”

  They walked briskly down the hall and stopped at the door. The blue line was around the perimeter. There was a hand symbol also outlined in blue.

  “An elevator?” Brinley asked. “It is powered and may have a log of activity.”

  Larissa placed her hand on the elevator.

  “Please supply proper clearance for entry,” a mechanical voice stated. “Authorized personnel only.”

  “This is Larissa… Captain Larissa. Report assessment of this elevator and open access to its log.”

  “Access granted. Welcome Captain Larissa,” the voice replied. “This elevator is functioning at 63% of optimum status. Log access available to command level crew only. How may I be of assistance?”

  “Please open the elevator door,” Larissa commanded. She hid the surprise she felt at still being recognized as Captain. “Which artificial intelligence system has oversight for you?”

  The blue light and hand symbol shut down immediately. To the side of them was a popping sound and the wall opened by rotating on its axis. The light coming from inside was bright.

  Larissa and Brinley entered.

  “Brinley, please lock these doors open. I do not want any of us to be trapped somewhere,” Larissa commanded.

  Brinley rigged the wall/door to remain open.

  The room was a laboratory with shining white walls and stainless steel tables, counters, and chairs. All manner of testing equipment was around as well as two automacubes, a medical one which was white, and a green one which Larissa knew was a gardening model.

  Paul and Gretchen were standing there, looking at the far wall of the room. That wall was made from transparent permalloy and behind that clear substance was a large tank of fluids. Inside was the captive Jellie. The tank gave it room to spread out as it hovered in the water. The overall color was bluish purple but its body had darker striations. The pinnacle was a fist sized ball sitting atop a dome, somewhat shaped like a half globe. Larissa was reminded of an onion, but Brinley thought of it more as a socket cup. The dome had segments which seemed to fluctuate in and out a bit as it moved in the water. The sectioned parts of the dome were each roughly the same size, and divided by darker colored areas. A thick and heavy stem came down from the middle of the dome. That stem ended with a sharp looking hook or spike, which slowly undulated back and forth in the water. Around the stem were tentacles, most of which were connected under the dome, but a few smaller ones were directly off the stem. Underneath the dome those trailing tentacles were wiggling around the central stem, but the Jellie remained in the same place. The tentacle tips varied, with some having a broad sort of leaf like appearance, and some others tapering to a fine point. From top to bottom the Jellie was a bit taller than Paul. Even though each person looked diligently at the Jellie, none could identify any eyes, or ears, or mouth. At least nothing that was recognized as such.

  “Paulie?” Brinley asked as they approached. “The alien survived?”

  “Yes, that thing is still alive. I think that the child Jennie led us in here,” Paul looked around. “Now where did she go?”

  There was no child in the room.

  “Paul, you said she was around here not lo
ng ago,” Gretchen said. Then she turned to Brinley and Larissa. “She told Paul we need to talk to the Jellie, but she called it a ‘bad animal’ which is really more accurate.”

  “Paulie? Gretchen?” Brinley began. She was suddenly aware of the memories of her encounter with the Jellie that did speak to her. “Was Martin here?”

  Paul turned and looked at Brinley. “I said Jennie led us here. I have not seen any of the other children.”

  “Martin told me….” Brinley began but was interrupted by Larissa.

  “Can we interrogate this enemy?” Larissa said and strode right up to the clear permalloy.

  The Jellie thrashed about striking the permalloy with its tentacles. The hook at the bottom of the stem suddenly shot forward and jabbed brutally into the clear barrier, right at the point where it would have struck Larissa in the chest had it not been prevented from doing so. Larissa did not flinch. The Jellie then twirled, rolled, and swished away through the water to the far side of the tank.