The Colony Ship Conestoga : The Complete Series: All Eight Books

by John Thornton

  “I am wondering that as well. At least there are not primitives trading chickens, goats, or fruit. The cargo lifts are that way.” Cammarry pointed to a wide hallway that intersected with the causeway. The indicator lights had appeared in the wall as they approached with one saying ‘Cargo Lifts’ with an arrow. The other directional arrows pointed toward other corridors and destinations.

  They gazed along the way to the cargo lifts and coming down the hallway was a white boxy machine on six wheels. It had a multi-jointed mechanical arm on its top which was folded flat.

  Cammarry and Jerome quickly jumped back around the corner. They each drew their weapons.

  “Automacube, if I recall correctly. Khin said, ‘fear cubie red they make you dead, cubie green a good machine, cubie blue, it knows what to do.’ But what is a white one?”

  “A white one is in our way,” Cammarry said angrily.

  “But is it an obstacle or a potential assistant?” Jerome asked.

  “He is just trying to delay you. You know what you need to do,” Shadow whispered to Cammarry. “Willie gave you this weapon for a reason. He needs you to save him. Trust me, I know what I am talking about.”

  “You do not know anything!” Cammarry barked.

  Jerome was hurt by the comment, and took action. “I will find out.” He stepped out into the corridor, weapon drawn, but pointed at the ceiling.

  “There is danger here,” Shadow said quietly and insistently to Cammarry.

  “Hello machine. Are you friend or foe?” Jerome asked, ready to aim the weapon at the machine. His mind was racing with words that rhymed with white wondering what Khin might say about a white cubie.

  The white automacube stopped. It was clean and tidy. The six wheels were shiny black. There was a black number 912 stenciled on its front. A mechanical voice came from it. “I am Doctor 912. May I be of service to you?”

  “Doctor? As in medical treatments?” Jerome asked. “Or as in advanced educational endeavors?”

  “I am used for medical purposes,” the automacube replied. “The library or archives would be the place to look for advanced educational endeavors. May I be of service to you?”

  “Can you help us to find a place to repair our equipment?” Jerome asked.

  “Cammarry, that machine is about to hurt Jerome,” Shadow said. “Like that arm sliced you.”

  Cammarry stepped out from her concealment behind the corner. She aimed her weapon right at the automacube. “Get away from him, now!”

  “I am withdrawing. There is no need for violence of any kind,” The white automacube said. Its drive wheels reversed and it backed speedily away.

  “What are you doing?” Jerome asked. “That machine might have helped us. It said it was a medical device.”

  “We have our med-kits, we do not need some antique butcher for anything. It might be under the control of that Carter the Cowardly Kidnapper.” She watched down the sights of the weapon until the white automacube had turned a corner and was out of sight.

  Jerome holstered his weapon and looked at Cammarry. “You think so? It might have been a threat?”

  “Everything on this relic of a ship is a threat.” Cammarry scanned the hallways and corridors around them, but seeing nothing else, she too holstered the Willie Blaster. “Why do you think Willie made these weapons for us? They are not toys, and like I said we already have the med-kits.”

  “Plausible,” Jerome replied. “We really do not know what the AIs here are capable of doing, and their sycophants could be deceptive. That Joseph Crater was not helpful, but did get us here.”

  “Kidnapped us,” Cammarry said as they walked on toward where the cargo lifts were located. “It also insisted that it was a synthetic brain, not an artificial intelligence system. These SB things are not like Faraday, Winchell, or Sandie. They are over a hundred-years old and have been through that Cosmic Crinkle, then an insurrection, and finally crash landed on this planet. Who knows how degraded, unreasonable and psychotic a damaged system like that could be?”

  “Something with the ability to be psychotic, is sentient, and therefore aware of its own consciousness,” Jerome quoted. “At least that is what Brink once told me. I do wonder about something in particular. This habitat seems to be functioning well, yet there are no people. The needle ship part had all kinds of mechanical problems, yet had people. Why is that?”

  “We are only seeing a small part of Habitat Alpha, as they call it. The people are here somewhere, but they are not our mission. We need to worry about the people in Dome 17 who are waiting for us,” Cammarry replied. “Now these cargo lifts will take us to the ground level.”

  There were a row of lift doors which were outlined in blue light. Cammarry reached out and placed her hand against the hand shaped symbol on the wall. The door slid open smoothly and they stepped inside.

  “More symbols, all but one are lit up. Which is ground level?” Jerome asked. “Did you see any symbols legends on those deck plans?”

  Cammarry reached over and pressed all the buttons which were below the sole dark one. “I think that will take us to every level gravitationally down from here. We assess each one, and hope we find clues. The deck plans showed we were two decks up from ground level, but I am not sure each button here corresponds to a deck. They could mean something else.”

  The doors gently and quietly slid shut. There was a barely perceptible nudge as the lift descended.

  “When you were in the shuttle, did you notice that gravity manipulation got about double for a time?” Jerome asked.

  “Carter the Coward said this planet’s gravity is 1.8 times Earth normal.”

  “So inside here, they are not generating gravity, but rather are inhibiting it to some extent.” Jerome did come calculation in his mind. “That requires roughly 70% more energy expenditures than does making Earth normal condition through gravity manipulation in zero gravity.”

  “He is trying to hurt you with science,” Shadow said to Cammarry. “Beware.”

  “Science is not a weapon,” Cammarry snapped.

  “I never said it was, I was thinking about how the energy systems here are taxed to a far greater degree than when it was in space.” Jerome studied Cammarry carefully, looking for any sign of why she was so irritable.

  The lift stopped, and the button right below the one that had been dim was now faded out. The previous dark button was illuminated. The doors slid open.

  ‘Decks 701-799’ was lit up with an arrow to the right. There was no passage leading to the left.

  “Not ground level.”

  There was an awkward pause, and the doors slid shut. “The next level should be ground level.” Cammarry bent over and peered intently at the symbol which she thought stood for ground level.

  “So we can see the biological part of this habitat. This is what we came to see!”

  “Jerome, we came to save our friends, not be tourists. Is that the right obsolete word for people who would travel somewhere just to see the sights and then go home? Tourists were such a waste.”

  “Yes you are using the correct term, and it is antiquated. Tourists and tourism was once a huge business, before the Great Event. There are many travel brochures in the Dome 17 historical record.” Jerome was restraining himself from a more spirited response.

  The door opened, and there were warm light-blue colored directional signs indicating, ‘Starboard Bridge 1’ with an arrow to the left, and ‘Starboard Bridges 2-10’ to the right.

  “This is ground level. We go this way.” Cammarry walked to the left.

  Jerome wondered if she was right, but did not question her.

  The corridor was wide, well lit, and a comfortable temperature.

  Jerome tried a safe observation. “This is how the needle ship must have looked before that growth medium was shot through the ventilation system. It reminds me of home.”

  “Jerome, this place is our home. We need to rescue our friends,” Cammarry snapped back.

  Jerome d
id not reply. He was unsure what to say, and was getting increasingly concerned about Cammarry.

  The corridor ended with a bulkhead door. Above that were the words, ‘Bow decks beyond this point’.

  Looking back, Jerome noticed that the corridor back toward the lifts had faded in illumination. They had about a fifty-meter-wide area which was lit as they walked.

  Cammarry turned instead toward the large and tall doors which were in the wall opposite from where the cargo lifts had been. These doors did not have illuminated lettering, or directional arrows. There were imprinted into the permalloy of the doors, an inscription. ‘Bridge 1 entry egress. Do not allow animals to escape. Report any irregularity to Animal Regulator Team.’

  There was a nine section color control pad next to the large doors. It was glowing in radiant colors.

  “So this is where we see the ecosystem,” Jerome said.

  “When we get this door to open, it will be easy enough, we can cut our way inside…” Cammarry slipped off her backpack and was assembling the molecular cutting torch.

  “At least we can try to use the color control pad,” Jerome said. “I would think something simple would allow entry.”

  “Cutting in is faster. There could be a billion combinations, and we have lost way too much time already.” Cammarry turned on the cutting torch.

  Jerome punched the amber colored section three times in a row.

  There was a popping sound, followed by a siren blast which then quit. A small, human-sized upright rectangle appeared in the tall and wide double doors, in the center of the left hand door. “Dispensation granted” a mechanical voice stated. “Please extinguish your source of heat prior to entering the biological habitat. Fire risk is at the marginal level.”

  Cammarry shut down the cutting torch. “Is that you Carter the Coward?”

  “Excuse her,” Jerome inserted. He was frustrated by Cammarry’s antagonism. “We seek to enter here, and would appreciate your help.”

  “We are going in whether that thing helps us or not.” Cammarry gripped the torch tightly, ready to reignite it.

  “I am SB Sherman, supervisor of egress for the Wolf City area. You do not have identification tracking, but I have granted you a special dispensation so you can enter. This deficiency will be reported to security. There has been a significant number of reanimated individuals without proper identification tracking coming into this area. The infirmary in Wolf City can supply you with proper identification tracking. Please report there at your earliest convenience. I have secured Bridge 1 and made sure no animals are in the vicinity. You may enter.”

  “Wolf City? Jerome asked. “I believe wolves were some predator, correct?” Jerome asked.

  “That is correct. There are wolves in the biosphere, but none in the immediate area,” SB Sherman replied. “Enter at your pleasure.”

  “SB Sherman, I thank you,” Jerome replied. “Cammarry, please put the torch away. This SB will let us in.”

  Cammarry shrugged, and did put the torch away but did not sling her backpack on again. She carried it in her hands.

  The small door set within the larger door slid open. Warm and bright light, yellow colored, poured from the doorway.

  Cammarry briskly stepped through, followed by Jerome. There was a blowing sensation as air shot around them moving in the same direction as they did. The door sealed quickly behind them.

  Cammarry stopped and looked. The backpack slipped from her suddenly slackened fingers.

  “Oh my!” Jerome exclaimed. His eyes were huge.

  14 Wolf City

  The door sealed behind Jerome and Cammarry, but they were too overwhelmed and distracted to notice.

  There was soothing yellowish light coming from a thick strip or bar at the very top of the gargantuan habitat. Far overhead, that source of light shone down on all around them, and it stretched off as far as they could see in one direction, and in the other it went for a distance until it stopped against a wall which reached up from below. The light source was not a round sun, like the red one around which the planet Zalia circled. This was different from that red sun which they had seen when coming through the green atmosphere. Nor was this new yellow light source like the round sun they had seen as they exited the tan and toxic mess covering the Earth. That light was much more white and glaring. This yellow light coming from the tube way above was comforting, peaceful, and felt right.

  “A tube in the sky,” Jerome said as he shaded his eyes with his hand and looked at the wonders around him. “It replaces the natural sun.”

  “Beautiful.” Cammarry said. “More beautiful than in the orchard.”

  “That is probably two or three kilometers away, yet I can feel its warmth from here,” Jerome put his other hand up with his palm toward the sky tube.

  “Beautiful,” Cammarry repeated.

  Neither knew how long they stood there watching the vista laid out before them. They were standing on the edge of a ten-meter-wide bridge, dark gray colored, made from planks of permalloy, with three split rails on each side. The bridge extended over a gently flowing river of water. The water reflected the light from the sky tube, and it shimmered in golden tones, while making a gentle lapping sound as it flowed under the bridge.

  Jerome pulled his eyes away from the sky tube, and looked at the bridge, but his attention was drawn to the water which he could see through the spaces between the planks of permalloy.

  “This is more water than I have ever seen before,” Jerome said in utter shock and awe. He glanced back up and saw the river was flowing all along the side of the habitat. One side of the river was right against the enormous wall which rose up and went overhead slowly arched to meet the sky tube. The other side of the river was a bank covered in plants. The plants were right down to the water’s edge, and bloomed in a myriad of colors and shapes.

  “Look at the plant life!” Cammarry said and pointed to the bank on the other side. The bridge was about twenty meters long as it spanned the river. “Those are not little mushrooms, or fungi. This looks like the recordings John showed us in his classes. And do you hear all the sounds? There were insects on the needle ship, but the sounds here far surpass those!”

  “I know that is true. John’s recordings were like this, but never so vivid and so real! I always wondered what were just fictional accounts of nature and wildernesses and out-backs, and what was real. This proves the Earth was once alive, spectacular, and wondrous. It was not all fiction or make believe,” Jerome glanced down over the railing. “Speaking of John, look at the animals in the water!”

  Cammarry joined Jerome near that railing and saw the surface of the water below then was about a meter under the bridge. The water was crystal clear, and deep. Moving about in that water were numerous things. Some were dark colored, others were orange, yellow, white or other colors. They were of various sizes, but all thin and elongated and swaying one of their ends back and forth.

  “Those are John’s fish animals.” Cammarry pointed down into the splendidly tranquil waters.

  Jerome looked for a while more, and was nearly mesmerized by the fish as they swam along. He then pulled his eyes away and looked to the far side of the bridge. There was a path that led away. The path was a medium brown color, and passed through ankle high green growth.

  “Cammarry, you need to complete the mission,” Shadow whispered. “You need to go now.”

  Cammarry ignored Shadow’s urging. Watching the fish was soothing. Her mind was relaxing, and the warm light was helping to ease her troubled spirit.

  A pleasing sound met her ears. “Jerome what is that? Not the insect sounds, but that other sound. Some kind of music?”

  Jerome was looking all around. “I am not sure. It is sort of a whistle, or notes, but from where?”

  Cammarry pulled away from her observations of the fish and walked leisurely to where Jerome stood. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. “This is better than I ever imagined.”

  Something flapped d
own and landed on the brown path. It was about hand sized, and stood on tiny legs. It warbled a song again.

  “Another animal! One that flies!” Jerome said and pointed.

  The animal hopped a few steps and warbled again. It wagged its tail feathers, and as it turned they could see its body was yellow with black streaks down its sides. It made a trilling sound of ascending tones, then flapped its wings and flew off.

  “This place is alive with things!” Cammarry said and pointed to the end of the bridge where another flying animal had just landed on the top handrail.

  It made a different call, still very pleasant. It had a head which seemed larger, in proportion to its body, than the yellow and black one had. This new creature had a long, heavy bill and some kind of crest rising up from its head. Its body was bluish-gray above and white below with a thick bluish-gray stripe across its middle.