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

by John Thornton

  “Are there some services or acts of contrition we can do for you, or for your husband?” William asked.

  At the word husband, Monika flinched a bit and glanced quickly at Jerome. William saw it, but did not say anything more. He pulled gently on Bernice’s sleeve. They turned and walked away. Bernice gave a final comment, “Try to forgive me. I am genuinely sorry.”

  Jerome came back, holding Kalur up on his shoulder, softly patting the baby on his back. “He is fine, just getting tired of all the activities here. What did you say to them?”

  Monika informed Jerome. By then they had made it up to the serving counter. A tray of food was set before each of them. It had a single bowl and spoon on it. Some kind of warm, and pleasant smelling soup was in the bowl. Monika took both bowls and both spoons and set them on the two trays which she stacked together.

  As they walked from the kitchen, Jerome holding Kalur, while Monika carried the tray of food, baby Brink started to cry. He was nestled into Monika’s papoose close to her breasts, but he pushed his arms up and wailed loudly. They looked around for a place to sit, and noted how someone had set up tables and chairs along the wall. Other people had taken their soup bowls and returned to sitting on the floor.

  At the end of the table were some open seats, but only because Dick and Fedders were sitting there in an animated, and not pleasant discussion with Eris. Eris smiled at Jerome and Monika, and they reluctantly walked over there. Jerome was unsure if he wanted to see more people, especially those who had not been overly supportive or cordial with in the past. Nonetheless, Jerome and Monika approached.

  “…. ship in disarray!” Fedders complained. “The light must stay as it has always been. The chickens depend on the constant light. Besides, the Goat People must stay where they are.”

  “Now Fedders, you know the lights are not the main reason egg production is down. There are many factors, but you seem to be too obsessed with only one thing, the light. The chickens need more land, more places to feed, especially as the fungi have been stripped off in so many places,” Dick argued back, “We can expand our own places into where the Goat People were.”

  “Not unless the Fruit People agree. You know they will not! And you know I am aware of the fungi problems, but that comes from the changes in the light as well. If the light would stay the same, the fungi could grow back, but no the light is changing,” Fedders stated loudly. “We already have had too many chickens disrupted by all those blue cubies running back to engineering. And the noises! The brooders and nesters are not in balance. Not at all. We will be lucky to have enough eggs and chicks to see us through.” He turned to Eris. “As the Captain of this place, how can you just sit by and let all this disruption happen? Goat People moving or going away? Machines tramping down the fungi? Chickens nervous and agitated? What is your plan to fix it? It all starts with the lighting, am I right, or am I, very right?”

  Eris’ golden eyes grew wide, but her face remained composed. “I have heard your concerns, and know that life has changed for all of the Chicken People. The engineering automacubes will continue their work. It is essential.” Both Fedders and Dick were shaking their heads at her. “I look at the big picture of all of this. Not just for the Chicken People, but also for everyone else. We are one ship, and we are all going to have disruptions and troubles.”

  As Jerome and Monika sat down and tried to calm their babies, both of whom were now fussy, Wanda of the Fruit People walked up, past them, and just butted into the conversation between Fedders, Dick, and Eris.

  “Now Captain Eris,” Wanda stated more loudly than the two men. She spoke in a fast and staccato manner. “These Goat People going to that Alpha place. I am just not sure about all this. First, we took in those great beasts, the horses, and let them stay in our orchard. Then, when the carousel place was finished, they went and lived there, but we still had them visiting our orchard. Later, they were taken to that Alpha place. Now, all the Goat People are going there too? Is it only open to the Goat People? And why should they go? My people have been tending the orchard, providing fruit and juice, and we even helped to start that carousel place with its new trees. Now, my people are tending those trees as well, since most of the carousel builders are gone off to that engine drive place. Horses given, horses taken away. Cubies come and cubies go.” Her hat never rocked a bit despite the rapid delivery of her speech.

  “Hello Wanda,” Eris cordially stated, ignoring the fact that Dick and Fedders were still speaking. The men were trying to address each other, Wanda, and to her, but were just babbling their arguments. Eris continued, raising her voice a bit. “Today is supposed to be about Cadet Danny. I did not realize you all wanted to make it a forum on issues wider ranging than that. Perhaps we really should stay on topic about Cadet Danny and his memorial?”

  Wanda’s deep brown eyes peered out from under the hat. “Some say the Old One was in your flight crew. Others say he was a wizard. Others say his was delusional. I say he should be remembered as a great man, along with the Heroic Thirteen. But anyway, the Goat People have a different style of remembrance than our Children of the Catastrophe. But from what I heard here today, the Old One did bear good fruit. Our own Carmelites would not have been able to offer a more fitting tribute. I know that is right. But we still need to speak about this going to Alpha business. My people are asking about it, and after today, I am not sure what to say to them. Is it open to all people, or only to the few?”

  “You see, Wanda,” Eris began. She then turned to Fedders and Dick who were vigorously discussing the potential detrimental effects on eggs of the shifting patterns of light. They did not agree with each other, and were speaking at the same time. Eris prayed, and then let out a shrill whistle.

  That whistle pierced not only the argument between Dick and Fedders, but likewise stopped Wanda from speaking. Unfortunately, it also terrified both babies. They wailed louder than anyone.

  Monika stood up and glared at Eris, who honestly looked at her with sorrow on her face. Eris said, “I am so sorry!” But it was drowned out by the crying of the babies.

  Jerome followed Monika, while he tried to sooth the baby he had. He shook his head a bit, not so much at Eris for her not considering what the whistle would do, but for his own feelings. He was confused about his decision to attend the funeral and bring his sons, and had mixed emotions about the death of Cadet Danny, and even more perplexing feelings about the status of the Conestoga in general. He knew, or at least believed deeply, that the Apex Predators were coming, but did not know when. Then there was the undercurrent of Cammarry and his memories of her, of Dome 17, and his conviction he had failed in his mission. His sons were his prime focus as he left the Grand Hall, following the mother of his children. Just that thought, that he had sired children in a biological manner, and was a father, and they had a mother, overwhelmed and muddled his mind. None of his education in Dome 17 had prepared him for fatherhood.

  “Oh Jerome, she was thoughtless, making that nasty whistle near our boys,” Monika fumed but she spoke gently as she looked into her crying baby’s face as she pulled him from the papoose. She kissed his forehead. “That shocked me so much I almost cried myself. Yes, I did.” She rubbed her nose on her son’s nose in a playful caress.

  “Yes, that feeling I do understand. It is about the only thing I comprehend today,” Jerome replied. He had the other boy out and was lifting him into the air in a motion Jerome knew he usually enjoyed. The baby still cried a bit as he moved in his dad’s strong hands.

  The corridor was clear of other people, and the babies were quieting down while they were being spoken to, coddled, rocked and cuddled.

  “Monika, I know I have told you this before, but I was thinking about a lot of things during the service. What with the nightmare and all, and then, well, all the death. I remembered again about a mother named Wendy who I read about long ago. It feels like eons ago, but anyway, that service for Danny made me think of her and the fact her baby named Nora had died. T
hen, I thought of how much I would be just crushed if something happened to one of our babies. Like in my dream. That grief would be too immense. How would I cope? It makes me afraid.”

  Monika looked away from the baby and toward Jerome. “I fear that too. I have no answer for you at all. I would try to help you, but I would be a mess myself.”

  “Let us hope it never happens,” Jerome stated.

  A woman came around a corner and rushed toward Jerome and Monika. Jerome remembered her, but not her name. With her was her son who had significant congenital deformities. Both looked healthier than when Jerome had last seen them. Jerome remembered Cammarry hooking up the boy to the medical kit and it dispensed some treatments which would not heal him, but would alleviate some of his suffering.

  “Excuse me please. Have either of you seen Claire a child of the Goat People, and Dmitar a son from Beta?”

  “There were a lot of people in the Grand Hall,” Jerome stammered. “Forgive me, but I forget your name.”

  “I am Renata, and this is…”

  “Clark, yes now I remember,” Jerome answered. “We met when I first came here. How are you?”

  “Jerome, she is deeply troubled,” Monika interjected. “What has happened?”

  Renata was holding Clark’s hand. “Clark says something happened to Claire and Dmitar, and I must check. Have you seen them?”

  “Momma, a monster took them. I saw it. You do not believe me,” Clark said and a tear ran down his face. “I am not a liar.”

  Renata squatted down and hugged her son. “I know you saw something which scared you. I believe you. I am here to find Claire and Dmitar to find out what it was.”

  “It was a monster! I told you! A monster! Why do you not believe? I saw it!” Clark whined. His small and sickly frame shook and trembled.

  Renata looked up at Monika. “Have you seen Elsa or Carlos? They are Claire’s parents. Or perhaps Claire’s brothers and sisters? I hope this is just some terrible misunderstanding, but Clark is never this afraid. I know not what he saw, but it was terrifying.”

  “Who are you looking for? I do not know if I would recognize them,” Jerome replied. “But I did see Jenna and she would know where Dmitar was, right Monika?”

  “Yes, we will start asking around and find those parents,” Monika answered with conviction. “The children are probably here among the crowd.”

  “No! A monster took them. A monster took them.” Clark was wailing at the top of his lungs. He paused for a moment and panted heavily. Tears were running down his face. He huffed, and tried to speak through the tears and gasps.

  Eris came barreling out of the Grand Hall. Her face was stricken. “Jerome and Monika!”

  “Renata is here and some children are lost,” Monika stated, as she tried to comfort her own baby which was crying at full intensity.

  Jerome was busy with the other twin who was trying to surpass his brother’s decibel level.

  All the while, Clark began screaming again about seeing a monster take his friends, but his words were slurred by the snot running down his face, and the volume he was trying to make.

  Other people had followed Eris into the corridor, and were gawking at the spectacle.

  Eris put her hand to her ear, and then Sandie spoke to both Monika and Jerome through their own com-links. “Captain Eris wanted me to relay that there has been activity spotted near the planet Zalia. She needs you to return to the Probe Control immediately.”

  “What about the lost children?” Monika yelled. Her yell started her baby and he kept crying.

  “I am having Khin come out here to speak to Renata,” Sandie stated. “Vesna and Jenna are looking for Alisa, Dmitar’s mother, as well as Claire’s parents Elsa and Carlos. From what I can observe, those two children are not in the crowd at the funeral.”

  “We must address our twins first, before we can travel,” Monika said to Sandie, but only the AI could hear it.

  Jerome grabbed Monika’s hand and said something, but with Clark’s wailing, and the twins crying his words were lost. He pulled her down the corridor and into an adjacent room. Eris was close behind them. She had her conservation slate pulled out and was reviewing information on it.

  It took several minutes for the twins to sufficiently settle down. Monika found a chair and was trying to nurse one baby, while Jerome paced with the other. Neither child was happy, and the noise, people, and stress was being manifest in the babies.

  “Jerome,” Eris said as gently as possible. “The FTL scout’s equipment has picked up something now in orbit around Zalia.” She held up the conservation slate. “It has the same purplish glow as the satellite network which destroyed the planet and exterminated the Zalian civilization.

  “The Apex Predators?” Jerome asked as more of a lament than a question.

  2 and they will then survive

  After the babies settled down, Monika, Jerome, and Eris took a back hallway and trudged through the growth medium and foliage toward where they could get to a connecting corridor.

  Captain Eris hesitated in speaking, but then said, “I have led us away from that funeral because most people there have no idea what we are facing. I am not even really sure what we are facing, but the lattice of compeers is analyzing and reassessing what we can see.”

  “Those children that are missing, what is happening with them?” Monika asked.

  Eris looked at Monika. “I cannot oversee everything. I assigned Khin and Vesna to look into that, with help from other volunteers. I have alerted the lattice to watch for them and assist as possible. However, we have limited abilities in many of the sections of the needle ship, and there are vast open areas in Alpha which we cannot begin to cover with the few resources and assets we have.”

  “Those children could not have walked to Alpha, could they?” Monika asked.

  “No, and there is no record of them using any form of transportation…”

  “Back to the Apex Predators,” Jerome interrupted. “We have almost no defenses in place. The Probe Control is still being modified. Can we engage our main drive and scoot away?”

  “Now you wait, Jerome,” Monika interjected. “Those lost children are important. Captain Eris, is that situation being properly addressed? Beta has lost too many people already.”

  “I agree,” Eris replied. “We all have lost too many people. Khin and Vesna will handle it, with the lattice assisting. Khin and Vesna know the people better than I do. But to answer Jerome about the main drive. It is still not functional. Not yet. Siva and Peter are still doing repairs. There have been unforeseen malfunctions in the main drive’s energy concentrator system as well as its ejectors. We want it to operate correctly and stay in operation when we do start it up,” Eris replied. “It is coming along, but even if it were operational right now, I am not sure that presently we would want to start up the main drive. Not right now anyway.”

  “What?” Jerome asked. Monika gave him a look because of his tone and volume, but the babies were not disturbed.

  “Jerome, I have reviewed your flight here in the FTL scout. You got from the Cosmic Crinkle to Zalia very quickly. We are moving away from Zalia and back toward that Cosmic Crinkle at a much slower speed. But so far as I can tell, we are doing it without leaving a discernable trail. No main engines, no residue left in our wake. After that last Zalian ship shoved us this way, we have been without propulsion. Almost no fiction, so we have not lost any appreciable speed.”

  “I understand what you are saying. That means that the Apex Predators have no footprints to follow across the sky, right?” Monika asked. She was still disturbed by the fact of the missing children, and was haunted by the eerie conviction of Clark. The child must have seen something. Clark said a monster had taken the children. The tiny hairs on the back of Monika’s neck were standing on end, and her intuition told her Clark was right and had seen something monstrous. Monika found the coincidence between the children’s disappearance, and the sudden appearance of the Apex Predators
as threatening. She did not want to dismiss a possible connection. “Eris, could the Apex Predators already be onboard the Conestoga?”

  Eris’ golden eyes grew wider as she turned again from Jerome to Monika and back. “I cannot rule that out, but Sandie says there is no evidence of a hull breach nor are any of the hanger bays or exterior repair stations reporting that something has entered. In some ways, we have better surveillance views of the outside of the Conestoga than we do of places within the ship. The repulsor generators and the microparticle turrets are directly covering over ninety-seven percent of the exterior. The remaining three percept is monitored indirectly. So, I feel fairly safe that our ship has not been boarded.”

  “Unless they have a version of Dome 17’s teleportation,” Monika stated, as she chewed on her lip in thought.

  “No receiving pads for them here, and we all saw what happened to Epsilon when they tried teleporting without a receiving pad. Besides, they would probably just destroy us with the pink explosive beam they used on Zalia, right?” Jerome asked rhetorically. “I do not want to be like a Paul, but the weaponry of those Apex Predators was sophisticated and we would be finished if it hit us.”