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

by John Thornton

  “It just happened up the river a bit. I saw the hull bend, and then snap back,” Jerome stated in a low voice. “We went through a strange area where gravity was abnormal.”

  Monika looked closely into Jerome’s eyes. “That sounds farfetched, but I believe you. What caused it?”

  “Finally, someone believes me. Thank you. We also saw another area where an animal was dragged down. There too, gravity was much heavier than what is normal in the Conestoga,” Jerome stated as he placed his hand on Monika’s shoulder. “I saw both of those things, we even threw objects into the first gravity sink hole. I know there was something abnormal happening. Bigelow denies it, but he saw it as well.”

  “Interesting, and potentially very dangerous,” Monika replied. “But what caused it?”

  “I am not sure. Gravity manipulation may be failing. The planet outside has much higher gravity than inside Beta. If the Conestoga’s systems are failing, it could be catastrophic.” Giving a slight squeeze to Monika’s shoulder, Jerome continued. “Beware of what is happening. Be open to extreme answers. Be alert to potential dangers. I too want you and the others to find those children and stop the Ferryman.”

  Monika nodded her understanding. She then leaned forward and kissed Jerome on the side of his face. A brief flutter of a kiss, but it soothed Jerome. “Cammarry is a lucky woman to know someone like you, Jerome. You are no rube. Not in any way. You are a hero.”

  They pulled apart and stood up.

  “Monika, maneuver that durham around so we can load Old Bill into the boat. Jerome will need land transportation as well. I do not want him to be completely alone,” Jenna commanded.

  Jerome smiled, but was confused. “Erma said not to take a load of donkeys.”

  Bigelow snorted and laughed.

  Monika said, “Jerome, watch how I use the water jets to turn the boat in the water. No, better yet, let me talk you through it. Consider it to be a trial run exercise of your newly found boating skills.”

  “Good idea, but I will not know what to do with some animal. I know nothing about horses.” Jerome followed her instructions and he easily navigated the boat into position so its stern was up against the river’s bank. Jerome was reminded of flying the shuttles and the FTL scout ship. It came naturally to him.

  “Now load up Old Bill,” Jenna commanded.

  They dropped the rear loading ramp and Chired walked Old Bill up onto the boat. The horse walked calmly up onto the boat without any hesitation. It was a deep brown color, with white marks near its two back feet, and a white stripe down its face. The stripe was asymmetrical and covered most of the animals nose and surrounded the horse’s right eye. Its head was taller than Jerome by a small bit. Long hairs hung down from the top of its neck, and hung between its upright ears. It turned its head and stared at Jerome with inquisitive eyes. “Brrurrr,” Bill huffed with his lips.

  “Can it talk?” Jerome asked. “It must weight 400 kilograms. What will I do with that animal?”

  “He will make his mind known, that is for sure.” Chired tied the reins to a spot on the edge of the boat. “Old Bill is very sure-footed, and this is not his first time in a boat. Before the drought got too bad, Old Bill worked as a draft horse pulling loads on a treadmill boat. After the river got too low, we used him for individual riding. He is twenty years old, and as gentle as they come. I will adjust the stirrups for you.”

  “Stirrups?” Jerome asked. “Wait, you said this animal was on a treadmill? That is ridiculous.”

  “Not at all,” Monika said. “All over Beta there are animal powered devices. This durham is the exception being it has a powered motor. Animal power is a great resource. We even considered it for the carousels, but the drought stopped much of that. Now with the water back, we will need to reconsider.”

  “Okay, Monika, give me a crash course in maneuvering that animal as well.”

  “Old Bill will be the easiest mount you have ever ridden. A horse is a smart animal, and intuitive about what you need. The basics are…” Monika explained how to get onto Old Bill, how to steer, and some of the verbal commands Jerome would need to know.

  “So I am supposed to be a steer-boy now? Is that the correct term?” Jerome asked, interrupting Monika’s explanations.

  She gave him a pleasant smile. “I believe the old term was cowboy. And they were known for riding horses, not steers. Steers are castrated male cattle, but that barbaric practice is not done much. So back to the saddle and bridle. You may adjust things here, and here,” Monika showed him the places in the harness and tack he needed to know. “Take off the bridle for Old Bill to eat, and remove the saddle and bridle every night, for Old Bill’s comfort and safety. Do I need to show you how?”

  “No need. I can be a cowboy now. Which reminds me, somewhere I read that some cowboy said that there were only three kinds of people. The ones that learn by reading. Some who learn by observation. The rest of them have to something on the electric fence. I never understood that reference before. I know what the words mean, but the idiom escapes me.” Jerome hesitantly patted Old Bill’s flank. “Is that something I need to know? Is there an electrical component to horse directing?”

  Monika chuckled a bit. “Horseback riding. That phrase is a reference to urination on an open electrical power circuit. But there are no electrical components on Old Bill. Let me quickly review.” She went over the basics one last time, and then in closing she stated, “…if you need to get him to move as fast as possible, be prepared. Old Bill may be old, but he can still gallop for short distances just as he did as a two year old. In a short distance he can run perhaps 80 kilometers per hour. It will feel very fast, and not a gentle canter like the carousel.”

  “I think I understand. This animal will not be frightened by riding in then boat on the water?” Jerome asked as he looked at the horse, and the boat.

  “As we said, Old Bill was a treadmill horse. He will be fine on the boat, probably better suited to it that you are,” Monika stated with a smile. In her mind she wanted to stay with Jerome and help him search, but she also knew she must accompany Jenna and the others as they sought out the children. Jenna had told her that she, like Bigelow was essential in that pursuit. “Good luck you!”

  Monika walked off the end of the boat, and then turned and activated the ramp. It folded up and the boat was ready to leave. The others were already packed up and mounted. Monika walked to her horse, and smoothly swung her leg up and got into the saddle.

  Jenna waved to Jerome, “May you find Cammarry quickly. If we hear any news of her or of your other friend, I will send word to you.”

  “Siva and the rest of you should build a communication system,” Jerome suggested with a bit of an edge to it. “You made gear that allowed me to speak to Sandie up in orbit, but you cannot make a simple personal com-link for within this habitat? The telegraph was what, hundreds of years ago, or a wired telephone system? Something?”

  Bigelow shook his head, took a drink from his bottle and then rode away. The other men rode off also.

  Monika smiled a knowing grin, tipped and nodded her head, and then turned her own horse to follow.

  “I will send word. You are always welcome with the roustabouts,” Jenna said. Her words were heavy with meaning and fatigue. “Please know this is not how I wanted it.”

  “Nor I,” Jerome said. “Cammarry and I only wanted to find a safe home for ourselves and the people from Dome 17.” He thumped his fist down next to the controls on the pedestal.

  Old Bill snorted.

  “May your ride on the carousel be rewarding.” Jenna waved a final salute, and turned to follow the others as they rode away from the river.

  Jerome bit back the angry retort he wanted to yell at her. His mind was conflicted. He tapped where the com-link would have been over his ear. “Oh Sandie, I need you now more than ever.” He looked down at his RAM clothing, then over to the pile of supplies which they had loaded into the boat. Someone had also stacked the permalloy planks int
o a neat pile, and secured it to the cargo hold with straps.

  Again Old Bill snorted.

  “Right. What was that song? Alone! Be gone! No beacon, far or near! No chart, no compass, and no anchorage do I fear! However, I am not totally alone. I have some beast of burden to assist me.” Jerome started the boat’s motor and maneuvered it into the river’s current. It floated easily along and soon was moving more rapidly downstream.

  The river continued to widen as Jerome sailed the boat along.

  Sometime later, as the boat was passing a place where a stream entered the river, Jerome spotted a large animal. “That is one of those big cats! What a predator!”

  Jerome slowed the boat down, so it was barely moving. He looked over and Old Bill was also watching the big cat.

  This cat was not melanistic, as was the previous one Jerome had seen, but was buff colored with black circles on its fur. The inside of the circles was a bit darker brown color than the parts between, but from the distance it was tough to tell for sure. The cat was creeping steadily and stealthily along in the stream. The movement is what caught Jerome’s attention. It dipped its paws into the water without making any sound or splash at all.

  ‘Why is it in the water?’ Jerome asked in his mind. ‘Are they water animals?’ He racked his brain trying to recall anything he had read or learned from John the Biologist about big cats and their habits. He could not recall anything, except some old saying, ‘A leopard cannot change his spots.’ He did recall John having a special fascination for fish, and wondered if that big cat also had some kind of interest in fish. Its eyes were staring straight ahead at a spot in the water.

  Pulling the controls, Jerome stopped the durham boat, then had it stay in place, working the water jet against the current. ‘I have to know what that cat is seeing. It might be another gravity sink hole. The black cat could see that other one.’

  Old Bill swished his tail in nervous anxiety as he too was watching the cat creep along in the water, right next to the bank. Jerome looked carefully at the spot the cat was focused on, but could not see anything different. The water moved just as it did nearby. The grasses on the bank did not look compressed, or changed. They waved consistently in the air currents. Jerome had no idea what the leopard was gazing so intently upon.

  The cat took a few more steps, and reached where the stream opened into the river. There were several sandy expanses around, but the concentration of the cat’s attention was still on a specific spot in the water. It then stepped up onto the bank, while keeping its eyes focused. It stalked up the bank just a bit and continued forward. Jerome found himself holding his breath. ‘What is it doing?’

  The leopard sprang and seemed to fly through the air. Its front legs were stretched straight out before it, the rear ones straight out behind it, the tail pointing straight up. Then it disappeared into the water.

  “What? A gravity sink hole swallowed that predator!” Jerome exclaimed aloud. “Why could this one not see it?”

  The water exploded near where the cat had entered. The cat’s head appeared briefly and something was in its mouth. A dark green thing with a long toothy mouth was beneath the cat. The cat was biting deeply into a place just above the jaw joint of the green thing. The green thing was longer than the cat, and had stubbly legs with splayed toes. It was thrashing about, and rolled the cat over. A lighter colored belly of the green thing was seen, just before both disappeared beneath the muddy water.

  “A fish? No, a lizard? What were they called? Wait, is it a crocodile? Alligator?” Jerome was puzzled, as well as fascinated. “Look at all those teeth! What a huge mouth! Why would the cat attack something like that?”

  Old Bill stomped his feet in agitation, and huffed out a whinny of complaint.

  The fighting pair emerged from the water, some distance away, on a sandy beach. The cat still had its mouth clamped down hard on the head, or neck of the dark green animal, the crocodile. The cat twisted, and then dragged the crocodile up onto the beach. The crocodile’s short legs flailed only a few kicks, and the long, heavy tail thrashed a bit, but otherwise the fight was gone from it. The cat backed up and the entire crocodile was pulled from the river. For just an instant, the cat released its death bite on the crocodile, and then bit again in a slightly different place. The crocodile flopped, but made no real attempt to flee. The leopard struck with its clawed paws, and then twisted the crocodile viciously.

  “Bruuueeeerr,” Old Bill whined.

  The water again erupted as a much larger crocodile burst from under the murky depth. It rushed at the cat. This crocodile was a lighter green color with dark green splotches, and prominent bumpy ridges running down its back to the length of its tail.

  The leopard sprang back, still biting the smaller crocodile. The large one’s mouth was wide open as it charged. Its huge teeth clearly visible. The big cat rushed off, the dead crocodile slowing it down a bit as it hung from its mouth and dragged along. Nonetheless, the leopard was quicker than the big crocodile, and escaped with its dinner into the tall grasses.

  “Oh my!” Jerome exclaimed. “That big one must weigh as much as you do, Old Bill. Can that be?”

  The big crocodile sat down on the sandy beach but snapped its jaws several times. It was staring in the direction the leopard had gone. Jerome got the distinct impression its was angry.

  Adjusting the water jet of the durham boat, Jerome continued down the river. “Gravity sink holes had nothing to do with that carnage. I guess in nature, eating is something animals must do. They kill to eat, not like those people in the tunnel. Those people were disgusting, here that predator killed to feed itself.”

  As the boat sailed onward, he kept a careful watch on the currents and waves, but did not see any other large water animals, like that crocodile. Nor did he see any more big cats. His mind raced with what he had witnessed. So much violence. That brought him back to the issue of the gravity sink holes where he had seen the first cat, the black one. He then not only watched for animals, but also for anything that resembled the gravity sink hole. As he thought about that, anger flared up in him again, especially toward Bigelow.

  “Bigelow knows this place, and knows I needed his help.” Gripping the side of the pedestal, Jerome squeezed hard. He wished he had something more effective to target his anger on, but that was mitigated by the thoughts spinning in his mind. He understood how Bigelow had a commitment to helping the roustabouts and their lost children. “Well, I am the only one who is out to help Cammarry. Facts are stubborn, and statistics are pliable. The fact remains, no matter the dangers, Cammarry is counting on me, and me alone.” He focused his mind on that thought, solely about Cammarry and finding her. Nothing else really mattered.

  The river’s current slowed as the river got wider, but here it also got muddier. More frequent streams led into it, feeding its growth, but those were bringing in the darker waters. More animals were in observation, and especially annoying were the insects which flitted across Jerome’s face, eyes, ears, and into his mouth. He swatted them away, but they were so numerous that it seemed impossible to escape them. Looking at the horse, he saw it was swishing its tail side to side, but otherwise did not seem bothered in any way.

  The light from the sky tube was dimming as he first sighted the building he assumed was the Special Care Unit. It was high on a hill, downstream and a good ways off the river’s path. While he had passed some occasional houses built along the old shoreline, a few farms, and some ranches in the distance, nothing had looked like an institution or large building. The river was fairly wide now, nearly a kilometer, by Jerome’s estimation, but the banks were still not full to the level where he could tell it had once run.

  “Well, Old Bill,” Jerome stated. The horse turned his head and looked at him. “I think that is our destination.” Jerome smacked his hand on the control pedestal. “What am I doing, speaking to some animal?”

  “Burrrroorr.” The horse huffed. His lips rapidly moving as he did. He shook his head up a
nd down.

  “It seems you do understand what I am saying,” Jerome remarked in surprise. The surprise did not push away his anger, but only intensified its focus. He glared at the building ahead, and considered how alone he really felt. Since the roustabouts had ridden off he had seen only a very rare person near one of those riverside houses, or working in one of the agricultural fields of the farms. He was floating on more water than he had ever seen in his entire life, yet he had no one to share that wonder with. He was rocking in a boat, but his only companion was a large four-legged beast. Even the horse was a wonder, but with no one to share in that wonder it felt empty, meaningless. He was approaching a large building, where he hoped to find Cammarry, however, he could not plan for what was ahead at all, because he had no way to gather information except for his own ears, eyes, and nose.

  “At Dome 17 I sat like this once. Alone and watching.” He recalled observing the dust blow by on the monitors from his covert perch in the upper levels of Dome 17. There he too had been alone, but here he felt lonely. That sense flashed through his mind. Even in that restricted spot of Dome 17 he still had Faraday, his personal artificial intelligence system to converse with and interact. Nearly fifteen hundred other people had been in Dome 17, and any of them were accessible at a simple call through the AIs. He recalled the missions he had taken to other domes, surrounded by the toxic, radioactive wastes of the corpse of Earth. Yet even then, even walking through a dead and failed dome, a long way off from his home in Dome 17, he still felt less alone there, than he did driving this boat.