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

by John Thornton

  “Dampening field?” Jerome asked. “Is that what SB Amelia Earhart used?”

  “That is correct. This one was a variation on that,” Sandie replied. There was more normalcy in the AI’s voice. “I again apologize for failing you in this regard.”

  “Sandie, we did not lose contact here, nor did we lose the teleporters,” Cammarry replied.

  “Someone knew us,” Jerome added. “Someone knew Sandie was directly connected into that shuttle, and had full oversight of the alcove. Someone knew how to trick Sandie.” He shook his head back and forth. “Who on this antique wreck of a ship could do that?”

  “I could do it,” Eris replied. “But I was on the needle ship in suspended animation when this happened. Someone else with engineering skills and a remote access to a synthetic brain or an artificial intelligence must have done it.” She then pouted a bit and said sullenly, “The Colony Ship Conestoga might be an antique, but it is well designed. If not, it would be a deathtrap in space right now. Where would you have been with your ultra-advanced, faster-than-light, scout ship had the Conestoga been some broken down relic without any functioning parts?”

  “A good point. Eris, Jerome meant no offence,” Cammarry said and glared at Jerome.

  “Yes, I apologize. I understand you are committed to this ship. I should not be insulting. I was thinking maybe it was that Ferryman? He claimed to be using shuttles when we first heard about him. Those SBs running Project Angel Food said the Ferryman was not a single individual. SM Premenit made it sound like the Ferryman was actually a group or team of some kind. Those SBs were also insane, rampant, and murderous….” Jerome looked quickly at Eris and did not elaborate any more on his feelings about those synthetic brains. “Maybe the Ferryman really is running shuttles to other habitats?”

  “Well, someone took those five shuttles,” Cammarry added, but her stern look at Jerome continued. “There is a story behind it, and I was thinking of that SB Joseph Crater, Carter the Kidnapper. It ran shuttles without any human interaction. I know, it abducted me and brought me to Zalia.”

  Eris tugged a bit at her lip. She knew Jerome and Cammarry had seen major malfunctions, yet she was still put off by their condescending attitudes. She then said, “All AIs and SBs, need to be interconnected. Your Sandie seems to be an exception. The multiple troubles the Conestoga systems are having is due to the breakdown of the lattice of compeers.” She taped her mouth in thought. “The insurgents knew how to cripple the ship, but even they did not defeat it. EA-270, jack into this access port,” Eris commanded. “While you two ramble on about your misadventures, I will make this place more secure for us all. You are lucky the thieves did not take your teleportation set-up. Although, if it were me, and you had not told me what it does, I would not recognize it as the advanced mechanism it is. The unknown nature of your technology probably saved it from being stolen. We must not count on ignorant luck again.”

  Jerome and Cammarry exchanged glances, but did not say anything in reply. The thought of losing the teleporters was sobering.

  The blue automacube rolled over and used its manipulation arm to insert a cable. Eris then tapped some commands into the small screen on the top of the automacube. “This will work.” She then activated several other controls and then spoke again, “Sandie, I have expanded the nonphysicality to cover more of this area. There were micro-fissures which allowed whoever it was to sneak in here. If you can link and couple to SB Pinaka, establish a lattice channel to this location. I patched several loose threads around that remaining shuttle, NS-99. I have enhanced the security here.”

  Sandie replied, “I have reexamined the nonphysicality. What you called micro-fissures I took for the nonphysicality’s natural substrate of this region. I was not aware of the ultra-smooth way it was supposed to look. I apologize for assuming your systems were more aboriginal than they are. I can see now I underestimated the capability of the Conestoga’s original lattice of compeers. I appreciate now that in its original configuration it would build to a singularity of function in an exponential manner. I was wrong, as I based by conjectures on limited information. I had not expected the advancements you have shown. Impressive.”

  Eris smiled. “SB Pinaka? Can you hear me?”

  The rely was nearly instant. “Yes, Eris. Sandie has established the links, and I am now able to assess your area.”

  “Will you continue to interface with Sandie. I know you are much slower, but you also have the core programming for the lattice of compeers. Sandie, I hope you will be patient with our ‘antique’ system here. I know what it once was, and you are correct, it was impressive. We will need to rebuild as much of that as possible.” She turned to the automacube and with a wave of her hand, it unjacked from the access port. She stood. “Cammarry, Jerome, will you lead me to the Gravity Manipulation Works? I cannot see the marks left by those automacubes.”

  Jerome tapped the com-link and nodded. He and Cammarry led the way back through the corridors. As they passed along, the doors, lights, and other items all responded to Eris by activating, opening, or illuminating themselves.

  Jerome smiled at Cammarry, “She is better than the key finder that Monika and the roustabouts made for me.”

  Cammarry gave Jerome a puzzled look. “At least that device helped you to find me on this old ship.”

  “This ‘antique’ ship should always respond to the flight crew,” Eris said. “That is how it was designed and there are redundant failsafe and backup systems. The needle ship’s failures were a surprise to me. The Captain who set up that growth medium, growth lighting, and released the floral and faunal agents overrode many essentials to get that accomplished.”

  “He did provide for a sustainable environment for the survivors,” Jerome added. “Like you said, had we arrived at a dead ship, we would have been dead ourselves.”

  They reached the Gravity Manipulation Works by following the trail blazed by S-1DT and T-1DT. It was much easier than Cammarry or Jerome remembered. With Eris along, the ship’s system kept popping up to life, sometimes in surprising ways. Reaching the place where the marks left by the automacubes went one direction, Eris stopped and looked around.

  “Is there something wrong here?” Cammarry asked.

  “No,” Eris stated and stepped up to a blank wall. She reached out and placed her hand on a spot. It lit with a blue glow. Then a section of wall rotated around, and a passageway was revealed. “This is an engineering access tunnel. We will come out inside the Gravity Manipulation Works. This will save us a lot of steps as compared to following the public’s pedestrian route.”

  Jerome, Cammarry and EA-270 followed Eris as she walked down the slanting passageway. The walls had two blue stripes running horizontally along their sides. Pipes, ducts, and other conduits ran along the corners of the ceiling. After a short walk, Eris stopped at a bulkhead door. She had a puzzled expression on her face.

  “It did not open,” Eris said. “I suppose expecting all the machinery here to work was too much, considering the shape the needle ship is in, but I was hopeful.” She reached over and placed her palm against the nine section color control pad. There was no response. “The bulkhead door does not respond. Neither does the rotating wall.”

  Jerome pulled out his key finder and applied it to the color pad. It cycled through its work, but again, nothing happened.

  Eris squatted down and looked at the control pad. She flicked a couple of hidden latches, and the pad turned off its illumination, and the cover swung open.

  A negative function sound alerted with three quick buzzes.

  “This is registering my presence, but the rotating wall is unable to open. The bulkhead door is jammed together. It is a kind of mechanical breakdown. Both egress points have power and are acknowledging the commands. So it is a purely mechanical failure.” She reached into her duty belt and removed a vibration saw.

  “I have something better,” Jerome stated hesitantly. “If I can use our advanced and fancy technology?” He smi
led as he teased her.

  Eris waved and stepped away from the color control pad. “You are aware of the best way to severe the controls without releasing a surge of energy?”

  “We have cut through many doors and gates and other assorted things,” Cammarry said. “However, you are the expert about this ship, so point out where we should cut.”

  Jerome had pulled out his molecular torch. “Eris, you point it out, and I will cut it open. If it were up to me, I would plug in a fusion pack to make sure there was overwhelming power, then I would use the torch to sever the door by following the outline of this bulkhead door.”

  “The power is already adequate, although I am curious about your fusion packs,” Eris replied. “I agree with cutting around the perimeter. I already checked and there is safe atmosphere beyond the door. It did not show any warning messages about toxins or other dangerous substances. The door did not lock down for emergency reasons.”

  Jerome set the depth of the cutting blade on the molecular torch and then directed it up both sides, across the top, and the across the bottom of the bulkhead door. Thus he made an incision in the permalloy all around the perimeter of the bulkhead door. Small amounts of melted permalloy dripped off and solidified on the floor in small flat round puddles.

  “That is a very efficient tool,” Eris commented. “My vibration saw would have taken much longer to do the same job. Fancy technology has its uses.”

  Jerome pushed on the bulkhead door, but it did not move. “Must be obstructed from the opposite side.”

  Eris then tapped some commands on the top of EA-270. “Step back.”

  The automacube rolled up to the still closed bulkhead door. It used its manipulation arm and extended two small digits into the slot Jerome had just created at the top of the door. The digits extended into the slot, then expanded as the automacube rolled backward. The bulkhead door slipped out of its place with a slight groan and grind of metal.

  Thunk! Something fell on the opposite side of the bulkhead door. The loose door teetered a bit, but the automacube kept it secure. EA-270 then lowered the door down to the deck slowly.

  Dust billowed into the area from the opposite side as several I-beams had just dropped away from the doorway. The area beyond the now open doorway was dim. Cammarry activated her fusion pack light in a broad beam. “This looks like the place. I hate dust.”

  “Especially tan dust,” Jerome commented.

  Eris was surprised at the extreme emotions behind their comments, but refrained from saying anything. She was still evaluating these space travelers and was calculating their responses and figuring out their attitudes. In some ways they seemed like nice enough people, but in other ways they were very foreign. Not just their advanced technology, but their thinking and their presumptions and assumed notions. She dismissed those considerations for the time being and assessed what had just been revealed beyond the doorway.

  The machinery was almost completely covered in crumbly, rusty, rough oxidation. The I-beams had been broken out of some place up above and had been leaning heavily against the bulkhead door. To the side, there was another pile of debris which explained why the wall could not rotate open. The permalloy even had overgrowth of white, salty, crust on it in places. High above this section of the factory, the ceiling was missing. Some lights flooded down but only from occasional fixtures. Most of the lighting fixtures were overtly broken, or not illuminated.

  Jerome stepped though as he put the molecular torch away. “This is close to where we were before. Somewhere between the side walls and that habitat itself.”

  “That desalination plant was wrecked just like this, and the Gravity Manipulation Works are right over there,” Cammarry shined the light toward the machinery she remembered. They were not twenty meters from where she had worked before.

  “All the habitat Gravity Manipulation Works are built with the same design. Each habitat will have different structures over the top of them. Anthropologists say that concentrating the industrial aspects of a park helps keep the habitat free and open feeling. I like that it makes engineering considerations easier. If gravity manipulation was failing on the needle ship, it would be a long and tedious affair to go from oscillator to oscillator to make adjustments manually. Of course, an artificial intelligence system, backed up by synthetic brains should be doing all this routinely.”

  “No Crocks on the needle ship, so no gravity sink holes there either,” Jerome said.

  The fusion pack light reflected off the dust floating in that air, but the three people and the automacube moved over to where a pool of shiny fluids was surrounding the base of a humming machine set into the back corner. The machine went all the way to the ceiling, roughly twenty meters high. Most of the ceiling over it was still covered by the roof, but long streaks of discoloration had dribbled down its sides. Those streaks had not quite obliterated the labeling, ‘Gravity Manipulation Works: Oscillator 6’.

  “There are the marks of S-1DT,” Jerome confirmed as the invisible light from his com-link reflected back the markings on the wall and ceiling. “And out there was where that man died. Crushed to death.”

  Cammarry paused as she remembered what they had seen. There was no body and no remains of any kind. Yet, both she and Jerome recognized it as the correct spot. “His name was Andre; I think that is what the people called him. Andre.”

  Jerome picked up a piece of debris and tossed it out and over where the man had been killed. It flew in a normal arc and landed with a clang and clatter among the other rubble. Its landing kicked up more dust and particulates up into the air. The air was filled with dust and grimy fog. The smell was bad: rotting something, stagnant oil, rust, and other chemical smells from the things leaking out of the busted equipment. Jerome waved his hand before his face to free the air of the tan dust.

  “I thought the needle ship was in bad shape, but this place has really been devastated. You say there was a gravity sink hole at that location?” Eris asked.

  “Yes, I tried to shut it down or figure it out, but could not.” Cammarry pointed to the control board on the outside of Oscillator 6.

  “Most of the important controls are inside the shell,” Eris stated. “What did you try inside there?”

  Cammarry looked at Jerome, then back to Eris. “We never knew there was a way inside that machine. I assumed these were the only controls.”

  “We did have a crazed mob chasing us through these ruins at the time,” Jerome reminded them.

  Eris walked over, and the controls on the outside of Oscillator 6 lit up. The two small doors opened up revealing the controls that Cammarry had used previously. Then even more displays turned on. Manual buttons, levers, and dials rose from covert spots and snapped into place. Rust, corrosion, and residues of filth fell off as the machine responded to Eris’ presence. “Well, that is hopeful. The systems here recognize me.” A side door, a meter wide and two-meters tall slid back into its pocket and the way to the inside was revealed.

  “Eris, do the systems recognize you, or are there implants within you?” Cammarry asked. Seeing the location had brought back memories of the Shadow to Cammarry. She was almost afraid to ask Eris, so instead of a direct question about the Shadow implant, she phrased her inquiry about the machines and how they knew Eris.

  “AIs and SBs will recognize me by my biometrics. Automated systems will respond to my implants. Both are needed for the flight crew,” Eris replied as she placed her palm against the interface surface.

  Cammarry refrained from asking about Shadow. She pondered. Was that Shadow implant something Eris knew about? She knew she could ask, if she wanted to do so. She did not feel the intense choking and painful physical restrictions which had inhibited her from speaking about it when the implant was inside her. However, Cammarry was just unsure about how much she wanted to press her new friend.

  “The interior control center is in much better shape than the exterior,” Eris stated. She stepped inside Oscillator 6. The lighting came on, and
EA-270 followed her inside. She reached into a compartment and drew out a number of tools and other items, including three flat squares.

  “Cammarry, I never would have suspected there was an interior control room,” Jerome remarked. “So much of the Conestoga’s technology is blunted to us. I guess we should expect surprises with hundred-year-old technology.”

  “I am sorry I did not find these controls before that man, Andre, was killed over there,” Cammarry stated. “If I could have gotten inside, maybe he would still be alive.”

  “That is assuming the antique machinery here could have even shut down the gravity sink hole. If they are designed by the Crocks, I wonder how much any of this old ship’s technology can actually do.”

  “You two are free to join me inside here,” Eris called. “There is plenty of room. A typical gravity manipulation repair crew has three people, but most repairs are done via the specific automacubes designed for gravity manipulation work.”