Quest for the Conestoga (Colony Ship Conestoga Book 1)

by John Thornton

  The occurrence went straight and curved and twisted all on the same planes of existence, and yet on none at all, at least to the recording instruments on the scout ship. Stretching, twisting, warping, and compressing all occurred, simultaneously, and not at all, on the same monitoring systems. It was odd. Nothing was left undistorted, yet nothing changed, yet nothing remained the same.

  Jerome reached out his hand and found Cammarry’s fingers. He grabbed on and held tight. He tried to form words, but his own screaming prevented his mouth from working, even though he moved his tongue and lips and pushed air out as if speaking. His mind made words which his lips and mouth tried to form, but sound was not the same and the screaming continued, even though he held back. Echoes, and reverberations, and reflections of sound bounced around the scout ship.

  Cammarry felt Jerome’s hand and tried to look toward him, but the bursts of color surrounded her like a raging inferno. While she could feel Jerome’s hand, she could not see him or anything else inside the scout ship. The colorful conflagration was thicker and deeper than the dimensions of the scout ship could allow, and yet it was all real. Colors twirled, swirled, mixed, and melted together.

  Sandie sent a tendril out of the ALP, and monitored, on one detector, an electromagnetic sheer which looked most of all like a tunnel of some kind. A brief image was captured of the FTL scout ship anchored next to the robotic probe, but seen in a reverse point of view which was rapidly receding. The next views showed the scout ship was inside something, in an approximately bizarre manner, yet when looking back at the rear optical views, Sandie snapped images of the scout ship and the clear permalloy viewports. These were different than the receding reverse point of view image. Cammarry’s and Jerome’s faces were there, under the window, and they were terrified, yet still and impassive. The scout then dipped suddenly around and about as if it were in a gravity field, and yet no gravity showed on the scans. It all happened so suddenly that Sandie, the fastest processing machine humanity ever created, could not quantity the time involved.

  The artificial intelligence system with its mechanical parts perceived what was happening in one way, but the two humans perceived in in vastly different ways, both from the AI and from each other. And so the event went on and on and on, seemingly without end.

  Cammarry tried to look around again and make out what she was coming to, or where the scout was, or what was happening. But now all the colors were washed out and running along like rivulets of antiseptic foam flipping off her hands. Her eyes told her it was too dark to see anything; then she looked at the sides of her own hand as she pressed it against her eyes. Jerome’s hand was still attached and she felt his warm skin as she rubbed her face.

  “What is happening?” Cammarry finally spoke out.

  There was no sound at all from Jerome. She had not heard a single scream, or word, or noise from him of any kind.

  “Jerome! Where are you?” The words floated in front of her in bubbles of sound. When they burst, the noises they made did not sound human at all, and instead of words, what Cammarry perceived was smells. Smells which did not register any memory in her mind except strangeness. Looking at the smells, or so her mind told her, it felt like she was gazing for hours and hours. She finally blew out a breath of air and the smells changed to colors which then changed to small sizzling sounds and then were gone.

  Jerome saw none of the colors Cammarry perceived. The echoes of his screams also changed and now became tingling sensation along his face and ears. He was unsure if they were his screams or something else. No longer did they register as sounds, but now as feeling and sensations. He looked down at his body and could see the chair underneath him. At the same time he could see his RAM suit as well as his skin underneath it. The layers in his vision were not clear, and yet they were not opaque. His mind did not know how to interpret what he was experiencing and he cried out, “Cammarry! Are you safe?” And that verbal ejaculation became itching on his skin.

  Something burst all around them. None of them knew what it was that burst. When it burst, the universe returned, in a way.

  “It is over,” Sandie stated.

  “Jerome, what happened?” Cammarry asked as she looked around. The scout ship looked just as she remembered. Nothing seemed any different. The tan overtone of the permalloy, the blue of her RAM suit, and the handsome face of Jerome. All was unchanged, and yet she felt exhausted by the length of time she had been in, whatever it was she had been experiencing. She briefly glanced over and saw the blackness of space outside the view port.

  The cabin’s light came on.

  “Cammarry, I have you,” Jerome answered and he gently squeezed her hand in his own. “What happened?”

  “I am computing that right now. Compiling information and running conjectures,” Sandie replied.

  “Are you injured?” Jerome asked as he carefully looked over Cammarry as she sat still strapped in her acceleration seat.

  “My mind is spinning, but I seem intact. How are you Jerome?”

  “I feel like I was pulled inside out and then put back together again. Very weird. What happened? How long were we in that? I do not know what to call it, that incident?”

  “And where is the Conestoga?” Cammarry asked as she returned her gave to the outside. “Sandie report!”

  “Medical readings on both of you show high levels of stress, but no other untoward effects. Your health is safe.” The AI then hesitated for a long while before continuing. “I will use Jerome’s term, ‘incident’ as I have no better term to apply. We have experienced something extraordinary. My measuring of chronology is questionable. I cannot explain it. I apologize.”

  “How long did that last?” Jerome asked. “It felt like hours, or seconds, I am not sure which. What was that incident?”

  “According to my facilities, there was no passage of time in that incident, at least none I was able to measure,” Sandie said. “I cannot explain it. It seems impossible. I am checking for malfunctions. The moment the mooring lines made contact seems to be when the incident began. I cannot detect any transition of time from that beginning until I stated, ‘It is over.’ I apologize for the confusion and erroneous reports. I had perception of time, yet the systems on this shop say no time elapsed. I have no explanation of this incident.”

  Jerome had been pondering and said softly, “In some world everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it is not. Or contrary-wise; what it is it would not be, and what it would not be, it would actually be. You see?”

  “Sandie, tell me what happened,” Cammarry barked. “Where is the Conestoga?”

  “Your first request is much harder to answer than your second. I have relocated the Conestoga, or at least what I believe is a major segment of the Conestoga. Or perhaps a better way to say it is another Conestoga. It is in orbit around the planet 74,562 kilometers from here. Let me show you,” Sandie replied.

  “Planet? You said there was no planet,” Cammarry said.

  “That is correct, there was no planet. There is a planet and solar system here now. I cannot explain it,” Sandie said. “Let me show you.”

  The display screen lit up and there was a ship on it. Behind the ship was a deep green colored planet with white swirls in the atmosphere across its surface.

  “I will magnify,” Sandie said. “Optics are now working perfectly. Even from this distance, I can get images down to a meter square in perfect resolution. I have compared these images with those taken after we exited FTL before the incident. That comparison gives a 95.67% similarity. I conclude that that is the central drive section of the Conestoga we encountered before our incident. The only difference is that this Conestoga is missing the eight large cylindrical attachments.”

  “How?” Jerome asked to himself. “How can this be?”

  “They made planet fall. The habitats landed,” Cammarry stated.

  The ship was very long and slender. There were outcropping in sixteen differen
t places, but the overall shape was thin and elongated. Light from the planet reflected up and off the ship. Additionally, the ship was illuminated by the light from the sun in the solar system. That light was redder than the sunlight they had seen from Earth’s sun.

  “So the report was correct and here we are,” Cammarry said.

  “But where is here?” Jerome asked. “And how did we go from trying to dock next to the robotic probe on the hull of the Conestoga to this place?”

  “Sandie, are we safe here? How are the systems?” Cammarry asked. She was rubbing her eyes and pinching her nose.

  “All systems are fully operational and no damage has been detected from the incident,” Sandie said. “We have all the supplies we had before the incident. Thruster fuel levels are the same. We have more than enough fuel to reach the orbiting Conestoga. I can find no untoward effects on any of my systems. Mooring lines are recoiled and intact.”

  “But what was that incident?” Jerome asked. “Just where are we? Was there an explosion of some kind?”

  “No explosion in the conventional definition of that term. Analysis of the incident’s composition is uncertain. Answering your question about what the incident was, is the much more difficult question to answer. I am not sure how we got here, nor where here actually is,” Sandie replied. “I am running tests and making observations. Initial astronomical findings show we are not where we were before. I am searching for celestial reference points to establish our galactic location. I have located the robotic probe.”

  “You mean the one that was attached to the hull of the Conestoga? I thought that was on a cylinder. Is it on the planet?” Cammarry asked. “Those cylinders are missing from that orbiting Conestoga.”

  “I located the robotic probe. It is confirmed as the one launched from Dome 17. Prior to the incident it was attached to the hull of a cylinder. This one is not. That sounds contradictory, since Dome 17 only launched one probe to the Conestoga. However, this probe and the one we originally saw attached to the hull are the same. I cannot explain how that apparent duplication happened,” Sandie answered tentatively. “I am not even sure using the term duplication is accurate. I can only report that we have encountered two probes which are both the exact same probe. Despite sounding impossible, both probes were, or are, the single probe which was launched.”

  “Duplication?” Jerome asked. “What do you mean? How can there be two probes?”

  “Readings prior to the incident indicate that the scout made contact with the hull right next to the probe. Now, post incident, the probe is here, some 327 meters away from us free floating in space,” Sandie stated.

  “The incident affected the probe and the Conestoga and us?” Cammarry asked.

  “That is a valid potential,” Sandie replied. “However, by scanning the drive section of the Conestoga it looks to have been in a highly eccentric orbit for roughly seventy-one earth years. I cannot explain the time discrepancies. I truly am sorry to be reporting what appears to be inaccuracies and contradictions. I have made optical assessment of the probe.”

  The display screen showed the robotic probe drifting alone in space. The red light was still flashing, yet nowhere was the probe attached to anything else.

  “How much time passed in that incident?” Jerome asked. “Were we unconscious?”

  “As I reported, I did not register any passage of time,” Sandie answered. “I cannot explain how that can be. I had a perception of time, yet the instruments all show zero passage of time during what we are calling the incident. I cannot explain it. It is clear you both also perceived a passage of time.”

  “Some kind of teleportation?” Cammarry asked.

  “The incident does not conform to the known teleportation system designed by Brink. I see no similarities between what was recorded, and the tests proving Brink’s teleportation method,” Sandie replied.

  “Well, did the same thing happen to the probe that happened to us?” Cammarry asked. “This is too strange; I know time passed while that incident was happening.”

  “I agree. The probe should still be attached to the hull of the Conestoga. The magnetics and adhesives for attachment are very tough. The image shows no wreckage or debris from it being ripped off. How did we all get to this location?” Jerome questioned. “The same thing cannot exist in two different locations simultaneously.”

  “Again, I apologize, but I am not sure how to explain the incident,” Sandie replied.

  “Was it a singularity or black hole?” Jerome asked. “Old novels and entertainment productions made much of those hypothetical constructs.”

  “I observed no separation of any of the thirty-seven known weakly interacting massive particles. There was no alteration recorded of background dark matter, gravity sheer, photonic collapse, quarkite alteration, quantum aberrancies, or celestial tidal forces which would be expected had we encountered what was once called a black hole,” Sandie stated. “However, the incident is mysterious. I cannot account for the current distances between the orbiting Conestoga, the probe and our scout ship, even allowing for the time since the incident ceased. I cannot account for the chronology of events around the incident.”

  “What are you sure about?” Cammarry asked.

  “I have some confidence in reporting that we exist. I am confident that the probe is the same one which was launched from Dome 17. I have checked serial numbers on a dozen parts and they all are consistent with the probe that was launched, and the probe we observed anchored to the Conestoga. Jerome makes an important observation. This probe does not have any signs it was ever attached to anything. The grappling mechanisms have not been deployed. This probe shows no record of any anchoring to anything. That is interesting in light of our mooring lines which also show no sign of attachment and are in the retracted position. Additionally, my data suggests that two Conestoga vessels were encountered, which is also seemingly impossible. One in stationary position with eight intact cylinders, dead in the water, so to speak. Another is here in orbit maintaining a significant enough velocity, relative to the planet, but without the cylinders. I am compiling and computing and digesting the other information I am gathering. I am sorry I cannot be of more assistance.”

  “Sandie, thank you. Keep working to figure this out,” Cammarry said. “There is some explanation, and we just need to find it.”

  “A phantom ship? The more enlightened our houses are, the more their walls ooze ghosts,” Jerome said. “That first Conestoga, the one Sandie had trouble focusing on with the optics, and that did not have a rebound from the laser, was that real or an illusion?” Jerome was flexing his hands together, a sign Cammarry recognized as a self-soothing exercise he did to focus his mind and reduce stress.

  “Jerome? The Conestoga a ghost?” Cammarry asked as she squished up her face.

  “It fits the facts as we see them now,” Jerome replied. “But I too am mystified.”

  “I cannot explain what we went through,” Sandie commented. “The best of my readings showed that we had arrived via the FTL system at the Conestoga, however, prior to the incident the navigation, astrogation, optics, and lasers all showed erroneous readings. Then when we made physical contact the incident happened. Now we find ourselves here with another Conestoga, and another probe, near a solar system which was unknown and not observable prior to the incident. Here all systems are reading accurately with all sensors and assessment tools are fully functional. There are no erroneous readings. I can focus the optics, and I have gotten quality rebound using the lasers against both the probe and the orbiting Conestoga.”

  “What about astrogation? Where are we?” Cammarry asked.

  “As I said, that remains unknown. I have been unable to locate the Earth’s solar system. I am searching for reference points in other astronomical bodies. Some pulsars have been located, none of which are in the database. I am attempting to establish reference points by finding known Westerhuis star systems, however I cannot conjecture how long this process will take.�
�

  “What did you perceive? Give us all the information you have and make a best guess as to what happened,” Cammarry commanded.

  “The data is too contradictory to make a guess,” Sandie replied. “I resist sharing it.”

  “Just say it,” Jerome commanded. “We all had something happen. There is no great genius without a mixture of madness.”

  Sandie answered, “I have shared some of what was recorded, but here is part of what was more bizarre. The scout’s sensors recorded a place which was 47 millimeters in diameter, which according to the ship’s systems we passed through, which is impossible. The reading of the Conestoga showed it to be two dimensional as we passed through that spot, also an impossibility. I also recorded several images of the scout ship as seen from the surface of the hull. Those images showed the scout docked to the hull, which we know did not happen. The flight speed indicator read 78% of light speed before it shut down, yet at that some moment the astrogation showed no movement relative to the prior position. Those are just some of the contradictory findings. May I suggest we dispense with discussion of the incident for the time being, and concentrate on the orbiting Conestoga? Our mission still demands we dock and find a suitable location for the teleportation receiving pad.”