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

by John Thornton

  That made Cammarry look away and her icy stare cut into Jerome. “What does she mean?”

  “This is all a huge waste of time,” Jerome said, but stepped further away from Cammarry. “The Crocks destroyed Beta, and we need to focus all our attention on the threats from them. The conflict with those creatures is hardly over.”

  “The conflict with me is just beginning,” Cammarry said. Her voice was now a low and controlled alto. “Tell me what Monika is talking about.”

  “Oh! Come on, Cammarry. You were lost! Terraforming had exploded along with all those Project Angel Food horrors. Remember the vats? That person outside who we watched die? We thought it was Khin! Then you ran off in a crazy temper! Last I saw you, machines were dragging you away. I searched and searched for you, but I could not even get back anywhere close to where you had gone. I was exhausted. I could not even contact Sandie. The roustabouts took me in. I thought you might very well be dead,” Jerome answered. “None of that matters. Besides, it is impossible for me to be anyone’s father. There are no fathers like that in Dome 17. I am sterile. Why are we even talking about this nonsense when the true threat is from the Crocks?”

  Cammarry turned away from Jerome and looked at Monika. “You were with Jerome?”

  “Yes,” Monika replied. “He was so devastated by everything. Bigelow brought him back from the carousel where he had been going round and round in a hopeless circle. He was so depressed. I specifically asked him if you two were married. He told me you were ‘age-mates.’ I think that was his word, like siblings. Like a brother and sister. I do not understand your Dome 17 culture any better than you understand mine. I was saddened for Jerome, and offered him tenderness and succor. I lost my own older brother. He was killed after he got a terrible infection. I know that kind of loss. Jerome and I spent a number of nights together, and we were intimate. That is true.”

  Cammarry just stared at her, and then glared at Jerome. He shrugged his shoulders.

  “He said you two were not married! He said you were lost and probably dead. His grief was immense, and I comforted him.” Monika stepped around and then turned back as she rubbed her tummy. “The moment a child is conceived; a mother is also born. I have never been a mother before. I am a woman, and Jerome needed me. Now I am a mother, and I thought you would be excited to know you were a father. I see I was wrong,” Monika stated. She shook her head. “Being a mother is something absolutely new to me, and I apologize for causing such a rift between you two. Jerome said you were not married. I was unsure of your relationship, with all the multiple births in Beta, I thought age-mates were a term like that. From your emotions, and reactions here, I see I was mistaken. This conversation has not cleaned up any of my confusions. Are you two married?”

  “Marriage is a primitive mating ritual,” Jerome recited. “In Dome 17, since everyone is sterilized at age fifteen, there is no need for empty, archaic, and oppressive institutions.”

  “But I love you,” Cammarry said to Jerome.

  “As do I,” Monika added in a quiet voice.

  “None of that matters,” Jerome snapped back. I cannot be a father, that is impossible. Sandie! Sandie! Inform Monika here that her supposition that I am the father is ridiculous. She must have been with some other man who is the father.”

  “That did not happen,” Monika said in a firm voice. “Did you or did you not tell me you and Cammarry are not married?”

  “Of course I told you that,” Jerome countered. “We are not married.”

  Cammarry spit out her next words. “I was languishing in the prison of that Special Care Unit and you were off on some carnal pleasure quest. Real great of you Jerome!”

  Jerome stood up as tall as possible. “I came after you. How can you say I was on some pleasure quest?”

  “Obviously, something happened.” Cammarry pointed to Monika’s abdomen.

  “Sandie!” Jerome barked. “Answer me!” He turned to Monika. “No one is married in Dome 17. Only the really old in Dome 17 were ever married. That primitive custom was done away with when the age-mate program was instituted, maybe even before that. There is no need for marriage. I think Willie’s mother was married, maybe, but that was way back before gamete compatibility and extracorporeal incubation. Sandie? Sandie? Explain to Monika about all this!”

  The artificial intelligence system did not respond.

  “Jerome?” Monika asked carefully. “Would you be willing to allow me to use your medical kit to check on my baby? With all that has happened, and all the things from Beta, I could use some help.”

  Cammarry, anger and frustration mixed together, stomped over and grabbed the medical kit from where it was stored. She brought it to Monika. Looking at Monika’s eyes, Cammarry’s emotions softened. She could see Monika was confused and unsure, and Cammarry felt a swelling of compassion. That compassion was mixed up with all the other jumble of feelings and emotions. “Here Monika. Let me hook you up. I am not sure how much this is programmed for pregnancies, as Jerome is correct, this kind of pregnancy did not happen in Dome 17. But we can run a diagnostic.”

  Monika sat down on a nearby chair. Cammarry hooked the wire up to her and pressed the diagnostic button on the medical kit. The small screen displayed a readout. ‘Healthy adult female. Primagravida with dizygotic male fetuses at one-hundred-three days’ gestation. Both fetuses are developing normally. Prognosis good for full term progression of pregnancy. Maternal and fetal compatibilities are excellent.’

  “Who is the father?” Monika blurted out. She was immensely relieved to read what the medical kit had uncovered, but the fact that it had revealed she bore twin boys had not fully registered with her yet.

  ‘Paternity established with prior patent records. Biological father is Jerome,’ the medical kit’s screen displayed.

  “That is impossible!” Jerome yelled. He had been watching over Monika’s shoulder.

  Cammarry grabbed Jerome and turned him to face her. She slapped him hard across the face with her open palm. On the return swing she tried to slap him with the back of her hand. He blocked the blow with his own forearm. “Stop hitting me!”

  “You lied to me!” Cammarry stated. “A mere slap is hardly more than you deserve.” She walked several meters away and stood with her arms crossed and her back to Jerome. “You left me in that horrible place with Cotard torturing me.”

  “I never lied to you!” Jerome wailed. His face was red from the impact of her slap. “How can this be happening? Sandie! Sandie? Where are you?”

  “Jerome, your own equipment proves you are the father. Twin baby boys,” Monika said and smiled to herself. Her words were so soft, neither Jerome nor Cammarry heard them. She then carefully unhooked the medical kit and set it inside her own carry-bag placing it next to the book she had intended to give Jerome.

  The awkward silence in the room was as oppressive as a gravity sink hole, and as odd to each of them as the Crocks, or the planet Zalia. None knew what to say next.

  Finally, Sandie replied. The AI’s voice came through both com-links and some hidden area speakers. “Monika, Jerome, Cammarry, I have news of my own. Please give me a moment to explain.”

  “Clear up all this nonsense,” Jerome barked out. “The medical kit is malfunctioning. It is impossible than I am the father.”

  “Apparently not,” Cammarry snapped back. She glanced at Monika, and try as she might, could not summon up much anger toward her. The feelings were confusion, concern, and alienation, but the anger she expected was not there. Not toward Monika anyway. Looking back at Jerome, the anger burned bright as a nova. Yet, confusion and conflict were in her feelings for him as well. She too thought it was impossible for Dome 17 people to be biological parents.

  Sandie continued. “I thought I was fully aware of all my indwelling parts, but I was mistaken. A section of my internal programming, unknown to me until just moments ago, has just revealed facts which are startling, disturbing, but germane to this situation. A hidden part of my, shall I
say, hypoconsciousness, for lack of a better term, was awakened. Master Engineer Brink had locked away a section of information, only to be revealed if certain circumstances arose. These criteria have been met in this situation. Here is what I have learned…”

  “Sandie! Will you get on with it!” Jerome yelled. “I am sick of your delays. You have never explained the Cosmic Crinkle, nor figured out how to fix our data sticks! Did you just ignore that problem too? Then there are the gravity sink holes, again no explanation or suggestions on how to stop that threat. How many people died in Beta? We have to meet the Crock threat, and…”

  “Jerome, shut up!” Cammarry hollered. “Let Sandie explain and keep your mouth shut for once.”

  Jerome glared at her, but said nothing.

  Sandie stated, “When the medical staff of Dome 17 studied what was needed for the missions to the colony ships, there was a vigorous debate about how to prepare the adventurer’s physical bodies for the mission. They knew the adventurers would be exposed to many threats and conflicts. There would be inevitable interactions with the colony ship’s environments. So prophylactic measures against diseases were taken. However, the Committee intervened with its own agenda which added to that. Doctor Carolyn and Daniel the nurse administered the vaccinations against potential diseases to all of the adventurers who were leaving on sling launches. Part of that treatment involved a reversal of the sterilization you had received at age fifteen. This procedure was done on all the adventurers sent out in the piloted FTL scout ships. The medical records indicate that the Committee decided, and approved it unanimously, that fertility would be a desired trait should the teams survive and find a habitable colony ship. This was especially true in scenarios where they arrived safely, but were not be able to establish teleportation links back to Dome 17. Optimistically, that would have been six out of the seven missions. This reversal of the sterilization, and the restoration of fertility was not revealed to the adventurers. Records indicate that Doctor Carolyn and most of the medical staff objected strenuously to the secretive nature of this, but they were overruled by the Committee. So yes, Jerome, you are the father of Monika’s babies. I was not aware of the intimate nature of the relationship that Jerome and Monika shared until Monika spoke about it.”

  “Jubal!” Jerome said with disgust. “He takes away Faraday my personal AI and then does this to me?”

  Cammarry put her hands to the sides of her face. “Do not blame Jubal for your own behaviors. You did this to yourself, while I was a prisoner being tortured and tormented. You were off having a ride on a sensual carousel.” Cammarry paced around. “Some cavalcade of carnal carousing. All while I was being abused and imprisoned. How truly sweet! Pleasuring some native woman, rather than rescuing me.”

  “That is truly offensive,” Monika said. “I am a person, a human being, every bit as valuable as you are. I am not a piece of machinery.” She rose up and gathered her things. “I see this was a giant mistake. I apologize. I am not sure why I should apologize. I have only tried to help you. Both of you. I honestly thought you two were brother and sister. For my mistakes I am responsible, but I am not a sensual carousel for anyone!” She took a deep breath, and then looked at Cammarry. “I forgive you for those insults. Emotions are raw here, and you are obviously hurt.”

  “Monika, I am not so hurt by you, as confused. You never said anything, and yet after I was out of that horrible place, you did not treat Jerome any differently. I had no idea the two of you had a relationship. I never knew, but then again, things were rather wild and crazy during the evacuation. I do not mean to sound like some puritanical prig. In Dome 17, at age fifteen, every person has egg or sperm harvesting and storage. That is followed immediately by permanent sterilization. Well, I always thought it was permanent. Babies are only made via the gamete compatibility system, and only in numbers sustainable by Dome 17. There was never a thought of some unexpected pregnancy, for all people were sterile. So a pregnancy was never a consideration related to sexual activity. So no biological-style pregnancies.”

  “That is what I was trying to say!” Jerome said smugly. “How was I to know. Nothing like that could have happened in Dome 17.”

  Cammarry glared at him. “I never ever considered that things might have changed. Jerome, you truly should have told me that you and Monika shared a relationship.” Cammarry glared over at Jerome then turned back to Monika briefly. “His lying by omission, and leaving me in that purgatory of Cotard’s is unacceptable. Oh, blood and vomit! He just left me there!” Whirling around she pointing a finger at Jerome. Angrily she stepped toward him. “How many days did I suffer while you were involved? How long did I have to wait for you to live up to being my teammate? Some adventurer you turn out to be. You never give up on a teammate. I do not care so much about you having sex with Monika. Go ahead, have a grand time. What galls me is that I was a prisoner, and you abandoned me!”

  “I had no idea where you were!” Jerome yelled back. He pounded his fist into the permalloy wall. He then grabbed it and rubbed the palm because of the pain. “I had no access to Sandie, no data sticks that work, no way to track you. Besides, you were acting like a lunatic, shooting at everything. You murdered an old lady on the roadside and blasted machines at every turn. Other machine took you away! I tried to keep up but barely escaped from Terraforming when you caused it all to explode! What was I to do? I tried to get back in there! Over and over I tried. Then, I was stuck living with backward aborigines in a stupid wagon like someone from centuries ago.”

  Monika shook her head. She nearly responded to being called a ‘backward aborigine’ yet knew engaging with Jerome would only cause more conflict. So she stepped away.

  “I would not have given up looking for you! You are my teammate!” Cammarry yelled at him. “No matter how tired I was, or what the circumstances were. Nor what I was tempted with doing, or who I was tempted to do! I would have searched for you till I died!”

  “So why did you not escape by yourself then?” Jerome snarled back. “Are you going to blame that Shadow thing again? If you had not run off like a foolish, untrained, amateur, you would never have been afflicted with that thing in the first place. You brought this all on yourself! I did the best I could, and what happens, you yell at me now! The Crocks are the real danger here, and you are yelling at me over stuff that happened weeks ago. I did the best I could!”

  “I really doubt that,” Cammarry retorted. “You bailed out when I needed you the most.”

  Jerome and Cammarry continued to viciously yell and gesture at each other. Monika quietly retreated. As she did, she glanced over and saw a com-link sitting next to the remains of the Beta teleporter. She picked that up, and then also saw a fusion pack was sitting nearby. She glanced over at Jerome who was gesticulating wilding and yelling something about the sexual mores and ethics of the adventures. Cammarry was responding in kind, using names of people from Dome 17, or so it sounded to Monika. It looked like they might begin striking one another. Monika picked up the fusion pack and said under her breath, “This is something my babies will need, along with that medical kit. A gift from their father.”

  Monika departed from the room, without Cammarry or Jerome noticing. They were in such a heated argument; neither was paying much attention to what was happening around them. They were screaming over the top of each other, faces enraged, vile insults pouring out, sounds echoing all around the room.

  Monika closed the door and the nine-section color pad signaled that it was locked. The sounds from the other side were distinctly muffled. Monika was actually surprised that she could still hear the verbal altercation.

  “Oh dear, that did not go as I expected. Not at all. One very chaotic ride on the carousel. Good thing Bigelow was not here to see this.” She slipped on the com-link, unsure it if was functional or not. She tapped it. “Sandie the artificial intelligence? Are you picking up this signal?”

  Sandie replied, “Yes, Monika, I can hear you. We are on a private channel. I apolog
ize for what is happening between Jerome and Cammarry. I am consulting Doctor Chambers on this issue.”

  “Is that another AI?” Monika asked. “Or a white automacube? I have heard that designation, ‘doctor’ used to refer to those medical devices.”

  “Let me explain,” Sandie began. She then informed Monika about the simulation she had made of Doctor Chambers. Monika listened carefully as she walked away. She headed back toward where her dwelling quarters were. She thought fleetly about the book in her carry-bag.

  “Sandie, would it be possible for you to have three youth-sized compound hunting bows made in Reproduction and Fabrication? Also thirty-six hunting arrows, and three quality spears? Those should not be restricted weapons, are they? I made a promise to Borko, Dmitar and Jadran that I would see if those could be gotten for them.”

  “Hand powered weapons like that are considered tools, so there will be no difficulty in getting them fabricated. That should be one of the most minor problems I am facing right now,” Sandie replied. “I will have them brought to your quarters via an automacube when they are made. I have much greater concerns for the conflict between Jerome and Cammarry, and between those adventures and me. I honestly had no idea of the sterilization reversal, and I am unable to conjecture how badly the relationship I have with them has been damaged.”