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

by John Thornton

  The back of another wagon was pushed open, and the aroma of food wafted over the gathering. Folding tables and chairs appeared from somewhere, and people began to line up for the meal.

  “So how was your day?” Bigelow asked as he joined Jerome and Cammarry.

  “I am exhausted,” Jerome replied.

  “A full day indeed,” Cammarry answered.

  “Well, you two earned your meals, and are a welcome part of our clan. If I may, I would like you to eat with me. I have invited Siva to eat with us as well. He has some ideas which might be able to help you.” Bigelow placed his hand on Jerome’s shoulder and guided them through the line where they received a plate of food.

  The meal consisted of a flat square of some kind of baked grain, a stew of meats and vegetables, and a serving of small round purple fruits.

  “No cheeses?” Cammarry asked as she sniffed at the food. “It does smell good.”

  “Is this chicken or goat?” Jerome asked. He hoped it was not rat.

  Bigelow looked at him with a curious twinkle in his eyes and then also grinned at Cammarry. “Are you two serious? Goat? This is prime pork. I traded for it myself. Sure the meals will be basic, now that we have moved over to this building site, but the farm will be placed, and I will go into one of the towns and get some feeder pigs, to restock our supplies.”

  They carried their plates to a nearby table, where Siva was already seated. Setting aside their backpacks, they sat down. The food was warm and tasty, although very unusual. It was not much like the food on the needle ship, and nothing at all like the ration bars both Cammarry and Jerome missed.

  “You two did a fine job helping out today,” Siva said as he too ate the meal. He looked at them, paused, and then continued. “Your communication systems are not working, am I correct?”

  Cammarry glared at Jerome, and then looked back at Siva. Her lips were pursed tightly together.

  Jerome spoke, “You are correct. I cannot detect the malfunction, and right now I am so tired I am not sure I would be good at diagnostics anyway. Endurance is the additional hard work you do, only after you get exhausted from doing the labor you already did.” He took the last bite of his meal, and drank down a serving of water.

  “Siva and the others are geniuses on anything technological,” Bigelow said. “I filled them in on your troubles. They can repair anything we have, and they design all the components for the carousels. They are willing to look at your equipment.”

  Cammarry squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated. ‘When did I sleep last?’ she asked herself. The pretty bell music from the carousel rang through her mind. She shook her head and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She pondered what to do, then she just grabbed her com-link off her ear and abruptly handed it to Siva. “Are you able to repair this? Our friend Sandie will be trying to contact us, and our friend Khin is missing.”

  “I can assess it. Bigelow spoke to me of your friends. From what he says, Sandie must be a very advanced synthetic brain, while Khin is a human and was born on the needle ship.” Siva spoke with confidence. “We have detailed diagnostic tools, which we use for repurposing the automacubes, operating the air adiabatic distillation system, synchronizing generation of power from the sky tube via photovoltaic generation, and storage of energy in the lufi-amalgam battery pockets.”

  “So can you repair it?” Cammarry asked again. “Sandie is an artificial intelligence system, probably the best in the galaxy…. Well there are six others….” She struggled to concentrate on the names for the other AIs which Brink had built for the other adventurer teams. She could not place them, and was having trouble recalling the names of the adventurers themselves.

  “May I work on it overnight?” Siva asked as he reverently held the equipment. “Monika and Peter can add to our understanding.”

  “Michael and Jamie went….” Cammarry muttered. “Roxanne and Paul…no, that is wrong, I think. Is that right? Gretchen, Hobart….Dr. Chambers said…” She shook her head again trying to clear her thoughts. “Jubal.”

  Jerome looked her over carefully, then he opened his backpack and pulled out the fusion pack. “This is the energy source we use. It might help you. We need to get to Reproduction and Fabrication to have more of these made. He have only a limited number, and several are in place at strategic locations.”

  “Your weapons are charged by this as well?” Siva asked.

  “Yes.” Jerome tapped the holster. “They are functional, but we have had no need to use them.”

  “Cammarry, do not give up your equipment. You cannot trust these people,” Shadow whispered. “Your tools will be lost, then you will be lost. Why did he ask about weapons, except to disarm you both?”

  “I will take a look at these,” Siva said. “I estimate an 85% to 95% chance of successful repairs, if I can isolate the issues.”

  “Wait!” Cammarry snapped. Her eyes narrowed on the com-link in Siva’s hand. “Will the com-link be destroyed? Those are irreplaceable.”

  “I will be extremely careful and meticulous as I work,” Siva answered. “However, if you do not wish me to continue, that is your choice, and I respect that.”

  Jerome squeezed Cammarry’s leg and said, “I think you should try.”

  “No! Cammarry! Do not do it. You will lose everything! You already lost everyone in Dome 17, you will lose everything else you have!” Shadow’s voice was screeching in Cammarry’s mind. “Do you really want to forget everything from Dome 17? Everyone? Do not trust these people!”

  “Only on one set,” Cammarry stated firmly. “Only one set. We keep one com-link and fusion pack here with us.”

  “I understand your hesitancy,” Siva said. “However, it would help me to work with both at the same time, as I can compare signals, and settings.”

  “No!” Cammarry barked. Her eyes were wide now. “If you cannot fix the first set, we can still take the other somewhere else. I will not lose everything!”

  “Understood. I will do my best,” Siva replied with understanding and compassion on his face. He picked up the com-link and the fusion pack.

  “I will take your plates back,” Bigelow said, as he drew a drink from his wine bottle. It had been refilled sometime. “Thank you Siva for helping our new friends.”

  Siva nodded and then he walked back toward his wagon and the structure he had built. He gently cradled the com-link and the fusion pack in his hands.

  “Jerome, who were the other adventurers?” Cammarry asked. “My mind is foggy. They went to other colony ships, right?”

  Jerome looked at her and moved closer to peer into her eyes. “You and I both need to sleep. This has been the longest day ever.”

  Cammarry’s hands came up and grabbed the sides of Jerome’s face. “Tell me their names! I must know!”

  Jerome lifted his own hands to caress Cammarry’s. Gently he held on and realized her hands were quivering. “Jamie and Michael were on the first launch to that ship with the religious zealots, the Eschaton. Then we launched. After us I believe Gretchen and Paul were set for the third sling. The others are Ken, Janae, Allen, Beth, Ian, Mabel, Hobart and Gwen.”

  “But they are all lost, like Khin, like Sandie. They are all missing or dead!” Cammarry cried. “Remember LeeAnn, Roy, Dave, and Constance? They committed suicide. Karen died in some dome failure. I heard she suicided too! Brink’s AI told us what happened to Dome 17. They are all dead. Dead, dead, dead….”

  “The AI Copernicus reported 800 some people teleported to that Eschaton,” Jerome softly reminded her. “The other adventurers probably found nice, safe, functional ships with beautiful biomes and are living an easy and quiet life. Alpha was still intact even after planet-fall. The other ships are probably even better.”

  Cammarry grasped Jerome’s hands vigorously and said, “We will never know. I doubt I can live not knowing. And this Shad….”

  Cammarry’s face was stricken as her throat tightened. Her eyes began to bulge out. Choking, coughing, and wheezing sounds came
from her. She tried to stand up, but all color drained from her face. She slumped back, and her body began to shake.

  “Cammarry!” Jerome yelled as he grabbed her.

  “Jenna! Help!” Bigelow yelled.

  People came running.

  Jerome laid Cammarry down and pulled the medical kit from his backpack. He quickly connected the wires and hit the emergency diagnostic button.

  Cammarry looked up into the sky of the biome. ‘Was the habitat getting dimmer?’ She could feel Jerome’s hands on her, but they felt light and airy. The ground beneath her no longer was hard and dry. The sky tube way overhead blurred into a long patch of glowing brilliance which spread all across her field of vision. Silhouettes danced between her and the washed out sky tube, they cast dim phantasms on her eyes, but they were insubstantial. The whiteness grew and the world washed-out.

  “You knew not to tell them,” Shadow said. “You were warned…you were warned…you were warned.”

  The light of the sky tube faded out. Voices became muffled and covered in the fog. Cammarry tried to smile, as she thought of Jerome, but she could not find the muscles to make her mouth move. Whiteness covered over everything. The air in her lungs seeped out.

  10 Resurrection

  “How is she this morning?” Bigelow asked as he walked up to Jerome. He set a small container of soup down next to him. Jerome was sitting on a chair next to Cammarry. She had her hands folded neatly in her lap, and she was just gazing out at the river and the trees beyond.

  “Not much change,” Jerome replied. “I ran the diagnostics again, and it just repeats, ‘Unknown pathogenic process’ and advises I continue with the nutrition, physical therapy program, and the verbal stimulation with familiar items mixed with new concepts.”

  “What have you been telling her?” Bigelow asked carefully. “It has been two weeks, and that is a lot of words to say.”

  “I have told her every story I can recall about the people in Dome 17. I have been telling her about my favorite books, and folklore. I have related just about everything we have endured together, but keeping an ongoing verbal stimulation for her is tiresome. However you have helped with that.”

  “Me? How could I have helped,” Bigelow asked as he pulled a chair over, spun it around, and slung his leg over it to sit on it backwards.

  “You told me all you knew about Habitat Beta. I related that to Cammarry. Jenna has also been coming by and telling tales to Cammarry that she learned as a child. That helps me to learn about our new home, and it also give me time to rest my voice.”

  Bigelow looked at Jerome. “I knew the others here all had their own stories and backgrounds, and I heard they were visiting. Jenna is an excellent leader, and she has supported you more than you will ever know. Behind the scenes she has made sure you two are safe here.”

  “She has done us a great service, and we are in her debt,” Jerome replied. “I also have been asking the adults for their stories and what they know. I do that after Cammarry goes to sleep. I have then been repeating to her what I learned. My familiar voice, with new information. Hopefully that is stimulating her brain to recover. I told Cammarry about the inept religious-based government, the Union of Beta.”

  “The only thing they truly have unified is their feelings of guilt,” Bigelow added.

  “Is it true they see the insurrection on the Conestoga as their ‘massive social sin’ and being consigned to this toxic plant as the collective punishment for that sin?” Jerome was relating what another roustabout had told him.

  “You have been talking to people. That sums it up concisely. Some say we all cursed and are doomed to die here, and from the looks of the water level in the river, they may be correct.” Bigelow looked down and away.

  “I also have told Cammarry that those guilt and shame feelings permeate the population.”

  “Yes, that is also true. The Union of Beta does nothing effective, so people generally they lack any drive to improve anything. Wallowing in their collective sin and guilt.”

  “Bigelow, why do they not reconnect to the other habitats, and needle ship?” Jerome asked.

  Bigelow shrugged his shoulders and looked at the dry ground around the chairs.

  “Jenna said the leader is called The Kurent and wears a massive sheepskin garment, and a chain with huge bells around the waist. As The Kurent walks the idea is that that noise will chase away the cold of space and the toxins of the planet.”

  “That is true,” Bigelow said. “At least the costume and name of the leader. I have seen it myself, but only from a distance. I would never go to one of those endless committee meetings. I doubt it does drive away space or the planet’s atmosphere. Nothing can fix that. I know.”

  “You know?”

  Bigelow shrugged again.

  “So instead of using the technology they have to reconnect to the other habitats or the needle ship, they reverted to superstition and folklore?” Jerome asked. “Several of the children told me strange tales which cannot be true.”

  “Even the children are speaking to you now?” Bigelow pondered and his eyes looked about. “Well out of the mouths of waifs, and leftovers comes truth.”

  “I have tried not to ask the children about their backgrounds, as you instructed, but some of them are more than a little curious about why I keep tending to Cammarry.”

  “We are all curious about that, and you have set a fine example of love and compassion. So Jerome, let me tell you something. We roustabouts pick up the children, because too often babies are considered ‘another soul cursed to this place’ just ‘another rider on the carousel’. For about the last fifteen years, not too long before the drought began, births here became almost always a multiple birth. Now I was the only child for my mother’s pregnancy, but today that would be considered extremely rare. Usually a mother has identical triplets, sometimes twins, but almost never a single baby anymore.”

  “So what caused that?” Jerome asked. “You even have a set of triplet horses.”

  “No one knows. No matter how fast the carousel turns, you never get near the goal.” Bigelow took a drink from his ever present bottle. “It has been a rough combination, drought and high birth rates.”

  “Yet you and the other roustabouts build the carousels. You use advanced technology to help people. Why not go to another habitat? I was in Habitat Alpha and they did not have a drought. Why not go there?”

  “Now you sound like the pitches the Ferryman makes. We are doing what we can, where we are, and with what we have.”

  Jerome gave a spoonful of the soup to Cammarry. She swallowed it down without much other response. “I just keep wondering what became of Khin, and why we never could connect back to Sandie.”

  Siva jogged up with a large grin on his face. “Jerome! We have done it.”

  Jerome looked over. Monika was right behind Siva. “Yes, we did it!”

  “What did you do?” Jerome asked. “I have seen the framework for the new carousel, and it looks promising, and I know the wood carvers are busy making the statues.”

  “Yes, the carousel is on schedule, and in about another year it will be completed. That is not what I was coming to speak to you about. It is a more personal matter.” Siva held out the com-link. Monika connected it to the fusion pack in her hand, but it now had a small box between the two. Siva said, “We made contact with the artificial intelligence system Sandie.”

  “Sandie? Really? How?”

  “It was quite a complicated procedure,” Siva said. “And it only works two times per day, and each of those are short periods. We just needed to straighten out the proper rhythm, and your connection is now in order.” He looked at the box they had placed between the fusion pack and the com-link. “It is almost time, and I can explain all the details later. For now, shall we connect to Sandie?”

  “Yes! Please!”

  Cammarry’s eyes fluttered a bit.

  “The connection will only last for a short time, beginning… now.” Siva smiled a
broad and happy smile.

  “Jerome and Cammarry?” Sandie asked, the artificial intelligence system’s voice emanating from the com-link. “I am now connected to you. SB Amelia Earhart placed a dampening field over Habitat Beta.”

  “Sandie! Cammarry is ill. The medical kit cannot diagnose it. Can you help?”

  “Perhaps. Quickly, connect the cable to the medical kit, and then its wires to Cammarry.”

  Jerome did as instructed. When the wires were in place, he hit the diagnosis button again.

  “Analyzing data,” Sandie said. “Extremely atypical psychogenic traumatic shock, with retrograde and anterograde alterations in physiology, resulting in pseudo-fugue condition. I am sending….” Sandie’s voice disappeared.