Sandie interjected, “The fungal based plants you have harvested can be eaten raw and those can serve as a basis for your nutrition. Drying of meats is a very effective way to have another suitable food source. A high percentage of the moisture must be taken from meat through heating. Additionally, using salt can aid in the meat preparation. There are different ways to do this, but all meat can be dried. The four animals which we know of on the Conestoga can all serve as sources for the fresh meat. Dried meat will last for an extended period of time, if you dry it correctly, and if you use proper storing methods. I have those methods in the database and can relate how to do them. Khin also looks to have experience in this area.”
Cammarry shook a bit as she wiped her eyes. Jerome reached over and pulled a fusion pack from his backpack. He activated the light on it and the room came into better illumination. The blankets and sheets were even more dingy and old looking than they felt. The filth in the room was more evident in the moderately bright light. The light was more than double the typical dim glow they had become accustomed to on the Conestoga.
“I see the wizards are up and about,” Khin called. “No more refreshing slumber for me. There is the remainder of the delicious soup, I will save you some. We must never waste food, by either eating too much or not eating what we prepare.”
“Thanks anyway Khin,” Cammarry called. “I will just be eating some of the plants for now. You and Jerome can finish.”
“I have had my fill also. Enjoy your soup!” Jerome called.
“Wizards! They are the strangest of people.” Khin’s laughter could be heard echoing from the other room.
“Jerome? We found the blankets and sheets in the storage compartments. Perhaps there is more to be found? Some prepared food, or tools, or some working technology?” Cammarry asked. “This old ship once was working.”
“Yes, we see the remnants of that technology everywhere.” Jerome nodded toward the broken monitor which was on one wall. “The destruction was fairly complete by the…. what did that Captain’s recording call them? The insurgents?”
“That is correct,” Sandie said from the com-links.
Jerome placed one of the com-links on his ear, and handed the other to Cammarry. “Since we are up, we need to be connected. I suspect we will be searching this apartment and then departing to find Khin’s people. If that is what you want.”
“I cannot sleep again, and it is probably roughly morning,” Cammarry answered with a grin.
“Yes, by the chronology we established, this is early morning. So good morning to you both!” Sandie chirped.
Jerome began his calisthenics routine. While he stretched he said, “Mornings bring new opportunities, and opportunities are like a sunrise, if you wait too long you miss it.”
“How many sunrises have you seen?” Cammarry asked with a wink. “We saw that sun as we were leaving the Earth and then we saw the red colored sun around which the planet circles. Shall we count those as two sunrises?”
“Yes, we have seen two sunrises, and now we have a new day and new opportunities,” Jerome smiled back.
“Sandie? Would you assess the status here? I mean, if I can find a working access port?” Cammarry looked around.
“I saw one near the broken monitor, and there was another in the kitchen area. I do not know if they are working,” Sandie stated. “I am eager to explore, so plug me in!”
Cammarry walked over to the broken monitor. It was over a meter wide and oval shaped. It originally had several control levers and knobs on one side of it, but those were smashed and there was a large crack in the clear permalloy of the monitor. “Whoever wanted to ruin this was certainly determined. The access port looks clear enough.” Cammarry pulled out the retractable cable from the com-link over her ear and plugged it into the access port.
“Assessing the nonphysicality now,” Sandie the AI stated.
A brief moment later the artificial intelligence system reported back, “This section is in roughly the same condition that the previous three sections I investigate have been in. There is minimal power. The power systems which feed into the kitchen area are purely mechanical and without any oversight which I can trace. The water system is also functioning on simple hydraulic pressure. That water system is running via a tertiary control system which is non-sentient. The nonphysicality section here is sequestered, isolated, and separate from any of the other sections we have explored. I can find no ways to expand the status of this system, nor are there any systems which can be approached from this location.”
“So again we see that the systems are broken,” Jerome observed.
Khin walked into the room. “My mother told me that the world breaks everyone, not all get healed. She told me many times, it is easier to build a strong child than fix a broken adult.”
Cammarry was looking through the storage compartments, but found nothing of any use. There were a few more sheets, a block of some plastic material, and a crumbled pile of what had once been paper. None of it was usable.
“I will just use the toilet and then we can depart,” Jerome said. As he walked past Khin he asked, “How long will it take to reach your people?”
“As long as it takes. We will arrive when we get there,” Khin laughed. “You wizards are always so concerned with the future. You ask when this? When that? When? When? When?”
“So you are not sure when we will get there,” Jerome replied as he entered the toileting area. The smell from the water in the tub was especially strong.
Khin laughed and laughed. “If I knew what would happen between here and my people, I could tell you. Maybe we will find treasure? Maybe we will find a goat which needs to be milked? Maybe some other thing will catch your attention and you will make us stop and look at designs on the walls, or open up closed doors, or seek out other spirit-ghosts? Who knows?”
Cammarry joined Khin in the front room of the apartment. “Khin, can you tell me more about your people, please?”
“Sure. My people are those that raised me and taught me of the world. My mother and father are part of my people,” Khin answered.
“What part of the ship do they live in?” Cammarry asked.
“They live in the Goat People’s part of the world. Where else would the Goat People live?” Khin chuckled.
Cammarry shook her head and went into the toileting room after Jerome came out. Jerome tried to get some more specific answers from Khin.
“Khin, what places will we see as we walk to where your people live?”
“We will see all the places along the route, unless we close our eyes,” Khin replied. “Do you plan to walk with your eyes closed?”
“No,” Jerome answered. “I was wondering if there are more places like the Graveyard of Dead Minds or places like that.”
“There are wizard places, yes. There is only one Graveyard of Dead Minds, but there are other places. Some are sort of like that, others are not like that at all. What kind of place do you want to find? Are you changing the quest again? I thought you wanted to meet my people?” Khin was all smiles as he spoke.
“Well, being marooned here, we do need to learn as much as we can, and you have been helpful,” Jerome answered. “Will your people teach us more about food preparation? Sandie has information, but you have experience. Together we can use those to better our situation and improve our lives.”
“I will help you, as I have said. You will need to ask the others if they will help you. It is not for me to decide their fates. Some might say yes, some might say no. You will just need to ask them individually.”
Cammarry emerged from the other room. “I have my backpack and other gear. I am ready to continue our journey. Khin, please lead us to your people.”
“Okay,” Khin answered. He activated the door and they stepped out into the hallway. Like so much of the needle ship it was dimly lit and the floor was covered with the plant growth. The air was heavy with dew and a distinct odor was detected. Small insects flew by. “We will walk
this way.”
Khin led them on a twisting course through the corridors of the needle ship. Some of the pressure doors showed visible damage, but most bulkhead doors, and compartment doors were shut and looked intact. They passed occasional open doors, beyond which were rooms mostly lit by the dim overhead glow. Jerome felt the urge to explore as some of those rooms had equipment or technology visible, however, Khin never hesitated as he marched past. They also made turns at some connecting passageways, but neither Jerome nor Cammarry could tell why Khin would turn when he did. He seldom even looked into the open doorways, or down the other passages.
“Khin how do you recall where we are? These passages all look very similar to me,” Jerome asked.
“Not to me. I see many many differences. As you can tell, we are on the main road now,” Khin answered. “As wizards did you use the main road to travel to where I met you? Or did you take the back alleys and routes less traveled?”
“We came here in a vehicle,” Cammarry answered quickly.
Khin laughed and laughed. “A wizard vehicle I suppose?” He then broke into another fit of laughing.
“Honestly, we came in a vehicle from outside. Sandie, Jerome, and I came from Earth in a scout ship. We are not originally from the Conestoga, but we are marooned here now.” Cammarry bit her lip as she recalled her nightmare.
“All people are from this world, there is no other,” Khin stated. “Unless you are calling the other places a different world? Like last night we slept in that world of the apartment, and now we are in the world of the corridors. Soon we will be in the world of the Goat People. Is that what you mean?”
“Khin, remember how the world shook?” Jerome asked.
“Yes, you are mighty wizards and I saw you shake the world. Everyone in the world felt that, and now I can tell them I was there and saw the wizards shake the world. Yes, I remember that,” Khin replied.
“Well, that was because the world, the Conestoga, the needle ship, whatever you wish to call this place, is a very large vehicle. It is a vehicle which carries the people, the animals, the plants, and all the things around us,” Jerome explained. “We came to the Conestoga in a small vehicle that carries only two people. We came from a dead world far far away. Our small vehicle connected to the world, and we set up our camp.” Seeing the puzzled and bemused look on Khin’s face, he continued, “The Conestoga is much much larger than the small ship we came here in.”
Cammarry jumped in and explained, “The Conestoga circles a different world, where we think some parts of the Conestoga landed.”
Khin looked at them both. His wide eyes were gleeful. “More than one world! That is a good story, but an impossible one. There is by definition only one world, unless you call separate places in the world, their own little mini worlds. But you are saying there is a dead world, where you came from. You were there so it cannot have been dead. That is funny. Then you say you came in a small vehicle to this world, but that this world has parts that are broken off and on some other world? How can the world be broken up? So how many worlds are there? You talk about three, but all three sound impossible. A dead world with living wizards on it? A world which breaks apart and has some parts go to a third world? A third world that absorbs the parts of the second world? And you say that third world has the second world spinning around it? Yes, that is very funny. The Old One might enjoy that joke. He tells stories which are impossible too.”
“Khin?” Cammarry said in a quiet voice. “How many rooms are there on the Conestoga?”
“Rooms? Who can count so high as all that?” Khin replied.
“Is every room the same?” Cammarry asked.
“No, as you know yourself. Why do you ask me about rooms?” Khin had returned to walking ahead of them. He gestured at an open doorway as he strolled past it. “Look inside there and you will see that room is different than the room over there.”
“Worlds are just like the rooms, only much much bigger,” Cammarry stated. “No one knows how many different worlds there are, but I promise you I am telling you the truth that we came from a different world. I admit it is not completely dead, there is one place where people are still living, Dome 17. There are about fifteen hundred people waiting there for us. We came from there.”
“We wanted to bring all those other people here to live,” Jerome said. “That was our quest, but we could not make it work, so now we are marooned here.”
“We are still trying to make it work,” Cammarry snapped. “Sandie is working on the problem, and we will find a solution.”
“What is fifteen hundred? I know what fifteen is. A hundred means the same as very many. So what is fifteen more than very many?” Khin asked, but did not turn around as he walked. “Maybe you are telling me another joke?” His laugh was a bit forced, but sincere.
“No joke. Fifteen hundred is…” Cammarry paused as she realized that Khin did not have the mathematical skills to comprehend that large of a figure. “It means many many people.”
“You said you came in a vehicle. If you came in a vehicle, a wizard machine, why not have all those others, those fifteen more than very many, come in machines too?” Khin’s mirth was bubbling up now.
“We could not build enough vehicles to carry everyone, and we had a machine which would allow the people to just walk here. Almost like walking between one room and another,” Jerome answered. “You saw us building that machine, back where the goats were. The place we first met you.”
Khin laughed heartily and heavily. He laughed so much he had to put a hand out and steady himself against the wall. As he laughed he tried to speak, but the words were not understandable.
“Khin, we are telling you the truth,” Cammarry scolded.
“If you had a machine…..” Khin gasped between laughs. “A wizard tool that would allow you to walk from that world to this one…. Then why did you need a vehicle to come here? What you claim is just too funny!”
They walked onward in silence.
Finally, Khin spoke up. “If I offended you wizards, I apologize. My mother always said, ‘Ask forgiveness for your deed, keep the friends that you will need.’ So I ask your forgiveness.”
“Nothing to forgive, Khin.” Jerome waved Cammarry off from responding. “You think our story is funny, and you said the Old One tells tales like that. I would enjoy hearing his stories.”
“You will hear them. See that wall ahead?” Khin pointed at where the corridor branched out and expanded into a foyer. “That blue light on the wall will open a lift for us. That is how we take a machine, a vehicle, and go down to the Goat People’s world.” He spoke with a suppressed chuckle.
Neither Cammarry nor Jerome could see the blue light that Khin was pointing toward. As they walked along they kept peering at the wall he had indicated. When they got within roughly five meters, the blue light was visible, barely, and it showed the outline of a human hand.
Khin reached out to press his hand against the blue lighted symbol, when he stopped. He stood absolutely still.
“What is…” Cammarry began to ask, but Khin put up his hand indicating silence.
Khin sniffed.
Suddenly, with speed not seen before, Khin darted away and around a corner.
“Baaaa! Maaa! Ahhhhaaa!”
“Goats?” Jerome asked.
“Khin? Where are you?” Cammarry called.
They both sprinted along the path Khin had taken. They rounded the corner, the floor still covered by the low plants, the lighting still the constant dim glow from the ceiling.
“Where did he go?” Cammarry asked as she looked rapidly around. The hallway stretched off into the distance in two different directions.
Jerome pulled his fusion pack out and activated the light. The beam cut through the dimness and exposed many particulates which floated in the air.
“Mahh! Ahhhhhhaeee!”
“He must be in there,” Jerome aimed the light at the sidewall where a panel was bent off to the side exposing an area behind
it. “Those animal noises are coming from in there.”
Cammarry bent over and looked in as Jerome pointed his light into the space.
“Too bright!” Khin called back. “Wizard light hurts my eyes!”
Jerome turned off the fusion pack light.
Khin emerged from the small area, and in his hand he was holding a cord of leather. The other end of the cord was looped around the neck of a goat that was bleating and fussing loudly against the cord restraining it.
“You have caught an animal,” Jerome said as he saw the goat. “Will it bite or attack you in anyway?”
“Goats do not attack! This nanny has two little ones back there. They will follow her, for they need her milk. I could smell her and took the chance to catch her. We will now have a gift for my parents when we get there.”
The Colony Ship Conestoga : The Complete Series: All Eight Books Page 25
