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

by John Thornton

  Hugh looked at her with open eyes. She was still as pretty as ever, but the iciness in her eyes was bothersome. He mumbled, “I had always heard the rumors of things like that, but you were such a good leader. A decisive leader. A strong and courageous advocate for the people of the Wilds. How can you be a killer?”

  “Larissa did it just like I did. She told herself her cause was just and she convinced herself any means could be used to meet her goal.” Sigmond looked to Larissa. “Am I correct?”

  “You are.” Larissa holstered the pistol. “Do you forgive me?”

  Sigmond nodded. Larissa nodded back. One small little gesture, but it shattered all the animosity between them. Tears ran down every face as Sigmond, Hugh, and Larissa looked to each other.

  “You will need to work together, if anyone is to survive,” a child’s voice said from behind Larissa.

  All three turned and looked. The child standing there had narrow green eyes of a haunting color with prominent cheekbones. Her luxurious, wavy, golden hair was long and flowed around her shoulders. She was tall, young and thin. Her skin was light-colored. She spoke with a strong voice from her small mouth. “I am Rika, and you will all need to work together if anyone is to survive. Your real enemy is not each other, but them, the bad bad animals.” She gestured toward where the Jellie was kept in the laboratory. “Call Tiffany and tell them to come quickly. You do not have much time. Your fate is in the balance.”

  Larissa lifted the multiceiver from her belt in reflex to the commanding force in Rika’s words. She looked at the display on it.

  “Free Ranger, is that the child who spoke to you before?” Hugh asked as he looked to Sigmond.

  “No, Trooper, that is not her,” Sigmond said as he turned to answer Hugh’s question. “Irina was the child who spoke to me.”

  Larissa tried to link to Tiffany but could only record a message for the AI. “Return to my location as soon as possible.”

  When the three of them looked up, Rika was gone.

  “Where is that child?” Hugh asked and started to walk toward where she had been. “I must ask her about the boy.”

  “And about Irina,” Sigmond added.

  “You will not find her,” Larissa said. “They disappear like that often.”

  “That they do,” the two men replied in unison. They looked at each other and then chuckled a bit.

  “She spoke of the real enemy. Come with me, I have made some progress on finding out who the Jellies are,” Larissa turned and walked back heading for the command bridge.

  Sigmond and Hugh followed. As they passed the display both Hugh and Sigmond saw it was active with numbers prominently.

  “What is this about?” Sigmond asked.

  “That number, now reading 84, represents all the surviving humans on Vanguard,” Larissa answered as she pointed to the ‘Default Population Report’.

  “You must mean just in this area,” Sigmond argued.

  “Why do you doubt Larissa?” Hugh responded. “She said on the Vanguard. You need to listen to her.”

  “There is no cause for quarrels,” Larissa said and placed a hand on Hugh. Please do not try to defend me, I need none of that. I do need you both to work together. As that child Rika said, we must work together to survive. Sigmond, ask any questions you want. You also do that Hugh. We ask questions and we work together. We share and are honest. Look, the number is down to 79 now.”

  “Only 79 people in all the Vanguard,” Sigmond said. “In all six habitats, only so few people. And zero in suspended animation? Really?”

  “There are only four habitats now,” Larissa stated solemnly. “And the sleepers are all gone.” She then explained all about what had happened as she led them to the laboratory.

  “Inside here is our real enemy,” Larissa said and ushered them in.

  “Captain Larissa,” the AI TSI-5 said. “The vocabulary has increased even more now. As you can see, I have been rewarding the Jellie for its cooperation.”

  Hugh and Sigmond both looked into the tank of transparent permalloy at the captive Jellie. It hovered in the water and its tentacles and tendrils floated about.

  “Grandfather Dobrokhot, be gone from my house!” Hugh swore. “Go and tend the flocks! That thing is disgusting,” Hugh said. “No normal animal looks like that.”

  “It is not a rusalka, nor some other monster of folklore,” Larissa said. “It is an alien of a species we call Jellies. Yes, it is disgusting, but worse yet are the plans its kind have for the Vanguard.”

  “Is this what is inside those Jellie ships and spheres?” Sigmond asked as he stepped closer to the clear permalloy. “I have never been this close to one.”

  The Jellie whipped a tentacle at him as he leaned in. Sigmond did not flinch at all. He actually placed his hand up against the clear permalloy and peered more intensely at the Jellie. “How do you communicate with it?”

  “The tank has a modulator built into it, and the AI operates the equipment which transmediates the specimen’s language into words which are displayed here.” Larissa tapped the side of the jail cell. “Let me show you.”

  Larissa pressed the activation button and spoke, “Jellie, you see there are more of us now. We are surviving and your kind are dying.”

  There was a quivering in the waters as the human language was altered so the Jellie could receive the message. The Jellie took its stem hook and jabbed it right at Larissa. It met the permalloy and did nothing else. The overall color of the Jellie was bluish and the purple was fading. The colors shifted a bit as it attacked. Twice more its stem hook slashed against the barrier.

  “You are few. We are many. My pod strong. You weak. You alone. Your pod broken. We eat on you and all others. Your broken ship is ours now.” White letters came scrolling across the black rectangle. “You all will die. Then we take ship home. Big victory for us. Even if more come from space, they all die.”

  “Many of our people are coming, you will all be driven away,” Larissa said. Her cold eyes and straight manner conveyed no instance that she was bluffing. “Your pod will be broken. These are just the early reinforcements which are coming. They bring many strong weapons.”

  “Those weak ones? They hurt now. You all die,” the words scrolled out. “When your others come from space they all die. They all die. They all die,” The words scrolled across again in response. “We never stop. My pod, we win or we die here. No other way.”

  Larissa turned off the machine which did the transmediation of the languages. She then led Hugh and Sigmond away and out to the command bridge.

  “What did you notice about that Jellie and its words?” Larissa asked.

  “It says we will all die,” Hugh replied. “It repeated that often enough.”

  “Yes, it says that regularly, frequently in regard to food. I do not think it actually feeds nutritionally on humans, but rather uses that term symbolically to mean overcoming and conquering. I have tried giving it different substances in the water, but I cannot see how it actually feeds. What else?” Larissa asked.

  “It recognized we are wearing spacesuits,” Sigmond answered. “It said something about others coming from space.”

  “That is correct. I have it convinced that more humans are on the way to defeat the Jellies here,” Larissa said as she gently stroked her braided hair.

  “It sounded like its pod was all it had,” Hugh remarked. “That comment about live or die here made me think it is not waiting for more of its kind to arrive.”

  “Yes, excellent. Good work. I too have gotten that impression. When the two habitats were destroyed, many Jellies and Jellie ships were destroyed along with them. This Jellie has never spoken of replacements or more Jellies coming.”

  “But there are no more humans coming here, and there are few of us left,” Sigmond said. “Is that correct?”

  “Yes, I have been lying to the Jellie,” Larissa confessed. “I do not believe it understands deception or prevarication. I cannot be certain, but I just do not t
hink it comprehends the concept of lying. So I am making it think our reinforcements are on the way.”

  “Buy why lie to it anyway?” Hugh asked.

  “I am not sure it is unable to contact the other Jellies. I suspect somehow it is. I am hoping it is feeding them bad information. They have not come to rescue it for one of two reasons; they do not know it is here, or, and this is my belief, they are allowing it to stay here to keep getting the information I am slowly feeding them. I have on occasion pretended I accidentally left the translator, and had conversations with my multiceiver. There is a simulation named Doctor Chambers who is doing very well at playing the part of the Strong General coming to rescue us. The ruse seems to be working. The Jellie gets very agitated after those invented conversations. If they are building a defense system against our nonexistent reinforcements, then that gives us time to complete our real mission.”

  Larissa walked them back to the barracks, and she grabbed a medical kit along the way. “You two need to get healed and informed on our real plan.”

  Larissa showed them how to use the Dome 17 medial kit on their injuries, and while they did that she went into detail about the plan to build the lifeboat from the two Captain’s gigs and all that would involve. There were many questions, especially from Sigmond about the feasibility of fusing the two gigs into one lifeboat. Many of those technical and engineering questions Larissa said would need to be settled by Brinley and Sigmond as they were the experts on those engineering issues. Tiffany, the Dome 17 AI was also consulted once, but her response was muted and strange, so Larissa did not try that again. She concluded by saying, “After we fire the lifeboat’s rockets and get to a safe minimum distance, we detonate the rest of the sky tubes and all the Jellies die. Then we enter suspended animation and wait.”

  “Brilliant plan,” Hugh said.

  “Except for the 79 people that will be left behind,” Sigmond replied.

  “I am not sure there will even be that many. You two surprised me when you arrived here. The numbers have been steadily falling, and with the six survivors here, and the six children, we only have room for eight more. I have been hoping to get some kind of signal or means to direct others here, but that has not happened. Take care of yourselves for now. When the other gig returns, we will all be very busy.” Larissa turned to go, but gave Hugh a very subtle wink as she walked away.

  The men then stripped off the spacesuits and were just wearing the now dirty and smelly clothing that they had been in throughout their adventure. They grabbed some food and water and put away the medical kit which had healed them. They checked through the compartments of the barracks and found some basic khaki colored dungarees in a drawer under one of the bunks. They used the lavatory and were thankful for the capacity to wash, rest, and eat.

  “Free Ranger?” Hugh asked as Sigmond was pulling on the old style, yet fresh clothing. “You have an A on your arm. A habitat mark? That is what it looks like to me.”

  “Yes, a fake one. Tennard, an old friend of mine, and I got these to escape into the Oasis habitat,” Sigmond replied. “I suppose Tennard has died now. He was a great man, and saved my life many times. He was like a father to Brinley.”

  “Was that when the Oasis Constable was cracking down?” Hugh said with some shame in his voice. “I heard rumors, but being in a different habitat I did not pay too much attention. But I must confess that at the time, I supported the work against smugglers. For what it is worth, I was wrong. I thought the Outbreak and the Roe were our greatest enemies, and I considered smugglers as enablers of those enemies. I was wrong.”

  “Trooper, you were not totally wrong. We Free Rangers did violate the quarantine often. After what we have been through together now, I take back many of the curses I placed on troopers and habitat people.” Sigmond was pensive for a moment. “I have been thinking about Baldwin, and Feegin. What I took as truth was not as accurate as it should have been.”

  “So we can work together here? I believe we both have lost far too much for old debts to mean anything anymore. The fate of the future is up to us,” Hugh said. He then stepped over and offered a hug to Sigmond.

  They embraced for a moment and then slapped each other on the back and then embraced again.

  As they went back down to the active display, they noted that the number was down to 34. Seeing that number hardened their resolve to cooperate and make the mission a success.

  Larissa’s multiceiver sounded and Brinley’s face appeared on the display.

  “Brinley, do you have the supplies and gear we need?” Larissa asked.

  “Yes. Not long ago we got the recorded message through Tiffany. We lost all but one of the multiceivers, but did recover Tiffany’s ALP and all the gear for the suspended animation cocoons. We will get to your location as quickly as possible. I am piloting the Captain’s gig en route to you now. The Jellie ships seem to be concentrating on the habitat cylinders and are ignoring the needle ship for now. All the better for us! I am snaking along as close to the hull as I dare. Who are the survivors that came to you?”

  “Hugh and Sigmond,” Larissa replied. “We will discuss it more when you arrive. Watch the position of the other gig and dock accordingly. I also had some difficult connecting to Tiffany.”

  “That was probably because that AI has been linking and coupling itself back together with its ALP. I will dock the gig in the hanger bay. Estimated time of arrival, forty-one minutes, depending on if I need to take evasive measures. Did the central memory core of TSI-6 get moved?”

  “It is all detached and ready to bring into the gig. Should I have the automacubes begin rebuilding the interior of the gig that is here?” Larissa asked.

  “Yes, have them remove all the rear seating and we will decide which gig will serve as the suspended animation one and which as the engineering one when I arrive. This gig has some damage,” Brinley replied.

  Larissa closed down the link.

  “May I assist?” Sigmond asked as he and Hugh had heard the conversation. “I am fairly proficient with tools, and this man is my apprentice Free Ranger.”

  Hugh smiled a tentative grin.

  “The blue automacubes will only respond to my command, as Brinley voice printed them for herself, Paul, Gretchen and me.” Larissa looked at the men. “But I could command them to obey you, will that work?”

  “With a few adjustments I think we can get this going. Is that TSI-6 up in that gallery near the barracks? That would be my guess for a central memory core.”

  “The automacubes know which one. It is detached and ready to move. Brinley instructed them about it, and that will need to be installed when the second gig arrives. For now, we strip the gig we have and make it as ready as possible.” Larissa turned and walked to the nearest automacube.

  Sigmond joined her and they used verbal commands and mechanical alterations so that the automacube would work for all of them, Hugh included.

  “If I might suggest,” Sigmond asked. “Can one of the automacubes do a full mechanical assessment of the Captain’s gig? The second can disassemble the interior parts.”

  “Yes, that sounds like a good plan. Blue automacubes, you heard him. Follow his instructions.” Larissa gave the orders without hesitation.

  The blue automacubes went to work while Larissa, Hugh, and Sigmond watched from the small observation deck. The back ten seats of the gig were removed and stacked to the side of the hanger bay.

  A warning light flashed and a claxon sounded. The door from the observation deck to the hanger bay snapped as sealing bolts set themselves into place. The engineering automacubes secured themselves as they prepared for zero gravity and decompression in the hanger bay.

  “That will be Brinley in the other gig,” Larissa said. “I am thankful I do not have to draw a weapon on them,”

  “Would you have actually shot us?” Hugh asked with a tiny bit of mirth.

  Larissa turned and looked at him. She grinned in a barely discernable way.

  “Absolu
tely she would have shot us,” Sigmond said as he watched the light flashing in the hanger bay and the exterior doors open.

  “She is bringing it in opposite the other gig,” Hugh said in surprise. “Is that correct?”

  “Brinley always knows what she is doing. She is an amazing Free Ranger and a superb pilot. To her it is all still zero gravity, but she will align it just right,” Sigmond responded.

  That Captain’s gig did come in and settle on the stall right next to the other one, but as Hugh observed, they were aligned in an odd fashion. The hanger bay exterior doors closed, and gravity manipulation came back on. The side door, now facing the other gig, opened, and Paul came tumbling out.

  “Tell me again why this has to be backward like this? It is crazy,” Paul said.

  “Paul, it is part of Tiffany’s plan on assembling the life boat. The two gigs must fit together like this for the centuries-long journey to the target world,” Gretchen replied. “Thrust will be balanced by counterthrust.”