Jerome tapped his com-link. “Sandie? May I speak to Cammarry? Then link me to Monika.”
“Link to Cammarry established,” Sandie replied.
Cammarry’s face appeared on the display. “I have no controls here, but the view is not obstructed. It is so unfair. We are certainly in a fix now!”
“Yes, this is a difficult position,” Jerome responded.
“I did not mean about you and me, Jerome. Not at all. Alizon will have to go through this without me, and I promised I would be there for him. I know what that Cosmic Crinkle is like, and it is very strange. My husband needs me, and I am entombed in this shuttle! Kidnapped again.”
“Cammarry, I know you need to link to your husband, and I just wanted to apologize for failing you. I am sorry,” Jerome stated. “We started this out as a team, age-mates, but more than that. I let you down, and was not what you needed. I want you to know I am sorry. Please forgive me.”
Cammarry’s face softened. “We were a good team, for a while, but I too messed things up. It was not all your fault, not by a long shot. So, go and talk to Monika, and I will talk to Alizon. We are both kidnapped in these shuttles. Seems so very familiar. I really thought that since I made it through that Cosmic Crinkle thing before, in the FTL scout, maybe I could make it again. I was willing to take that risk, but, not alone! Sandie told me I would be with Alizon when we entered that Cosmic Crinkle. So, live or die, I was fine with that. I agreed, stupid me! I had just hoped that if I was to die, I could be in Alizon’s arms. That is the only place I have felt safe for a long time. Now, even that simple curtesy is denied me. All orchestrated by a rotten, uncaring, glorified abacus, who has delusions of grandeur.” Cammarry cut the link.
Jerome considered what to do, but Monika’s face then appeared on the display. “Jerome, I know what is happening. I have long range scanning capabilities here, for the weapons. That new Jellie ship is still orbiting Zalia. Again, we seem to be in a race to get somewhere first. You and I have been racing since we met.”
“I am glad the boys will be with you when we go into the Cosmic Crinkle,” Jerome stated. “Children need their mother.”
“Jenna, Nabila, and Dewi are here as well. I wish you were,” Monika stated, and tears ran down her face.
“I would be, if I had any choice in this matter. I can feel the acceleration of the shuttle, but I imagine all the inertia suppression is working well where you are.”
“Yes, we cannot feel anything different,” Monika replied. She wiped tears from her eyes. “I should not be crying, but I am afraid. Jerome, I am so glad we met, and I would never trade our children for anything. You need to know you have been, and you will continue to be, a great father.”
“Thanks. Especially, since I had no real training for that at all,” Jerome quipped.
Monika smiled. “A super advanced Dome 17 male, mating with a primitive, backward, biological female. Sure, what would Captain Eris say? We were a match made in heaven. Is that the correct old phrase?”
Jerome laughed a bit. “It fits for us. We met in the heavens.”
Sandie interrupted. “Please excuse me, but I have detected that the Jellie ship has just detonated a neutrino disruption charge. We are hardened against the wave which will strike us momentarily. We should suffer only limited damages, but I am nearly certain we will be detected. The Conestoga is hardly running in a stealthy manner now.”
“Jerome,” Monika added. “All the Vindicator Missiles are inoperative, but I do have a couple of those probes, a few of the cannons from your friend Willie, and now the FTL Punchers. Well, two of those anyway. They are completed now and calibrated. But only two. One on each end of Alpha. The stern one could be deployed against the Jellie ship. What do I do? I am merely a roustabout who helps build carousels. I am not a military strategist or tactician.”
“Monika, you are not a, well, not a ‘merely’ anything. You are an awesome person of remarkable character and love. I trust your decisions. You are defending our children, and I know you will succeed, ninety-seven and two-thirds, guaranteed.” Jerome reached out and touched the display.
“That is an odd quote, but thank you,” Monika replied.
Sandie’s voice came back on. “The disruption wave has passed us. As I suspected, the completed FTL Punchers are revealing out position. Additionally, the blazing shuttles’ thrusters, the needle ship’s many leaks, power sputtering from the destroyed main drive ejectors, and our other energy signals have been observed by the Jellie ship. It has left orbit and is on track following us.”
“Will we reach the Cosmic Crinkle before they get here? All they need to do is engage their FTL system to overtake us, right?” Jerome asked, but it was more of a statement than a question.
“I do not know their capabilities, and can still not understand how they have overcome the FTL mass limits our method encountered. Scanners show the Jellie ship is approaching using some type of less-than-light speed propulsion. Figuring the vectors, velocities, and accelerations, right now it looks like we will encounter the Cosmic Crinkle at the same time as the Jellie gets within firing range. That is assuming this new Jellie ship has the same pink destruction beam-type weapon as the previous ship had. That conjecture is not based on solid information. If this is a Jellie warship, it could have longer range weapons of much greater power.”
“Right. They might have other weapons we have not even seen,” Jerome added. “Sandie? What did that library say about their weapons?”
“Not much,” Sandie replied. “I am now pressing the shuttle’s thrusters beyond recommended safety limits to increase acceleration. I think that is our best course of action at the present.”
There was a deep rumble from somewhere in Jerome’s shuttle and a heavy thudding. The vibration in the seat increased to an annoying level.
“Will the shuttle stay together?” Jerome asked. He felt helpless as he was a passive observer of what was occurring all around him.
“I am not waiting to find out,” Monika said. “Starting the FTL Puncher.” She spun the targeting dial and aligned the Jellie ship in the sights. “I will fire as soon as it is ready.”
On the hull at the stern of Alpha, a hanger bay door cracked open a small amount. The inside atmosphere vented violently out into the void of space. The FTL Puncher sat on a round base, locked into place by the docking clamps of the hanger bay stall. The olive colored FTL Puncher, about two meters high, consisted of twin barrels seated on the spherical acceleration mechanism. Inside the sphere the rotation began. That would prepare the system for firing the five-hundred grain projectile at faster-than-light speeds.
“Monika,” Sandie interjected. “The FTL Puncher has a very long range, however, from the distance here to the Jellie ship, even the tiniest deviation from being on target will cause the projectile to miss. Without shielding, the physical properties of the projectile will disintegrate and convert into energy at about four light-years away. Those massless photons will be harmless at that point. Your odds of striking the Jellie ship are negligible.”
“But they will know we can fight back. That might make them stay away!
Monika stated firmly. She was watching the gauge in front of her. There was a red bar graph which was moving toward the line where ‘Ready’ was labeled. The FTL Puncher’s system was nearly energized enough to fire. “Yes, when they see we are not some timid sheep to be slaughtered, they will back off.”
“That is a wild assumption, based on scanty information,” Sandie replied. “There could well be an aggressive response instead. They were called the Apex Predator by the Zalians.”
“Few predators bite an armadillo, chase a skunk, or swat at a porcupine.” The bar graph in front of Monika turned green, and ‘Ready’ flashed brightly. “Firing!” Monika yelled.
The FTL Puncher’s left-side barrel glowed red, while the right-side barrel glowed blue. The hanger bay was illuminated vividly bright for a moment as the FTL Puncher shot out its projectile. As the glow faded, the
two barrels on the weapon were both glowing a deep orange color.
A line of white, skinnier than a human hair, appeared for a few moments in space, along the pathway which the FTL Puncher’s projectile had traveled. It was far different in appearance than the shots from the cannons had been.
“Hurrah! That will show them we have teeth! Threaten my babies and my man and you face me!” Monika added some very colorful phrases and expressions which she must have heard from Bigelow. “One thing I know, the Jellies do want to die. That is a universal truth for all living things. They are coming to kill my babies. They will learn now they are risking their own lives. They can decide to run away, or face me.”
“The projectile missed the Jellie ship by 0.087 degrees,” Sandie stated. “The Jellie ship is taking evasive action. It has veered off a direct trajectory.”
“Hurry up!” Monika yelled at the display in front of her. “Hurry and recharge or whatever you are doing. Then, I am firing it again! Let them come and try to hurt my sons!” Monika yelled out. The bar graph in front of her was red again, and was just starting to slowly climb up toward the ‘Ready’ mark.
“Good job Monika!” Jerome cheered.
“The Jellie ship is still approaching, but at a greatly reduced speed,” Sandie announced. “I conjecture we will reach the Cosmic Crinkle fourteen minutes prior to when the Jellie ship is within the known range of their pink destruction beam.”
“Firing again!” Monika stated just a moment after the light on her screen flashed ‘Ready’. “I will keep shooting at them until we get there, or I kill them. How long until we reach the Cosmic Crinkle?”
Jerome looked down at the readouts on the cockpit’s display, but before he could answer, Sandie replied to Monika.
“Seven minutes until the Cosmic Crinkle is encountered. I will continue to throttle up the shuttles until the moment the Cosmic Crinkle is met,” Sandie replied. “On the previous encounter, there was a, for lack for a better phrase, ghost version, of the Conestoga located at the Cosmic Crinkle edge. From this view, on the, shall I say, Zalian side of the Cosmic Crinkle, we do not have a definitive marker, like we did with the ghost version of the Conestoga,” Sandie’s voice was tentative and hesitant. “What I am getting at is that there is not a specific, set, or established boundary for the Cosmic Crinkle. At least not one I can detect. Therefore, I advise that we be ready now to encounter extreme, extraordinary, and unexpected phenomena at any moment. Captain Eris is about to speak to the entire ship, and is using the public-address system in Alpha. I am linking her announcement to you.”
Captain Eris’ voice was heard, but no visual signals.
“My friends on the Colony Ship Conestoga. I am Lorelei Eris Concordia, and I am your captain. Some of you know me as Captain Eris, but many of you do not know me at all. I understand you have all been through some terrible times, and for everyone who was moved from their homes in the needle ship, like the Chicken People, the Fruit People, and the Goat People, your lives have been turned upside down in more ways than I can express. My friends, you are alive. For those of you in Alpha, you have gone through tremendous suffering and challenges, but you are alive. The launch and accent of Alpha was traumatic and frightful, but you are alive. For those of you from Beta, you lost your home biome, but you are alive. We all have lost loved ones, and we all have endured hardship. But we are alive.” Eris’ voice cracked and she snuffled a bit before continuing. “Time does not allow me to explain it all, in detail. I will do so in the future. Right now, we are facing the greatest challenge and threat. We are on the last flight of the Conestoga, and we have an external enemy, an enemy which is not human, which seeks to kill us all. I will not let that happen. However, I warn you that very strange and bizarre things are about to occur in all of your lives. They are not caused by people, but by circumstances, and by the alien enemy. So, as we move forward, in the next few moments, we will all, each and every single one of us, experience things which are beyond our understanding. I pray for each of you, and with God’s help, we shall overcome what we are about to endure. So right now, as your Captain, I am ordering you all to gather into the safest places you can find. Make sure the vulnerable around you are protected. Take care of the babies, the weak, the elderly, and the terrified. Those who are strong, must help those who are struggling. The automacubes, and systems on the ship are there to support and help you. We are in this together, all on the same boat. We are the Conestoga. Now is the time to bind together as neighbors and support each other. I cannot tell you how long the strange events which are about to begin will last, but I assure you, I will do everything in my power to get us safely through, and I will inform you as soon as I know anything more. God bless you all, and may God grace us with a safe voyage.”
Captain Eris’ voice shut off.
“Two minutes until encounter,” Sandie stated. “The Jellie ship is increasing speed, despite Monika’s continued barrage of fire. She has not hit the target, but has come remarkably close. I am tracking incoming objects from the Jellie ship. I conjecture a high probability that they are weapon systems of some kind.”
From the Jellie ship, several globes had emerged. They were streaking at a high rate of speed, slower than light speed, but still fast. The globes glowed in an eerie bluish purple, and as they accelerated, they developed thin tails, so they appeared like comets.
Monika’s voice cut in. “Those Jellie weapon things are now within range, launching everything we have at them. Probes away! Cannons opening fire. Repulsors ready. Microparticle turrets ready. FTL Puncher is not responding.” Monika pounded on the controls in front of her. “I really wanted to smack them hard.”
The sole FTL Puncher’s twin barrels jammed, and fused into one lump of melted permalloy. The sphere beneath them quit turning, as it too became molten slag from the extreme heat. The weapon had fired seventeen times, but each FTL projectile had missed the Jellie ship. The other FTL Puncher had not been used as its field of fire could not engage the enemy.
The Apex Predators continued to launch globes from their spacecraft. Those Jellie weapons raced toward the Conestoga.
The Conestoga’s cannons fired, and white lines streaked toward the nine, purplish, comet-like things. Each time one of them was struck, the high-speed projectile pierced it, ripping some purple material out. Some of that material turned bluer as it moved further away, but most of the remains regelled, reformed and continued to fly toward the Conestoga. The renewed comets were smaller, and with less speed, but they kept coming.
A probe struck the lead comet-like weapon, and was absorbed into the Jellie weapon without any other visible changes.
“Microparticle turrets are firing!” Monika yelled out as the comet-like weapons were just about to reach the Conestoga. “Repulsors active!”
“Contact with the Cosmic Crinkle,” Sandie announced.
“Monika! I love you! Tell the boys I really loved them as….” Jerome’s words were cut off, as shuttle AS-702 was the first to encounter the Cosmic Crinkle. As it did, there was an apparent abrupt halt of its forward movement. An image of the shuttle, frozen in space, was locked onto that edge of the Cosmic Crinkle.
Across the stern of the needle ship, Jellie weapons made impact. They spread out in a messy splatter of glowing purplish blue haze. That lasted for just a moment, and then everything the haze touched shattered into its molecular components.
AS-701, with Cammarry inside, encountered the Cosmic Crinkle. Her words to Alizon were cut short. His words poured forth for the beautiful woman he loved, and his words for her would last for a few moments longer. As it would take a bit of time for his position to reach the Cosmic Crinkle. Both of their minds raced as they entered the Cosmic Crinkle, separately, and alone.
The last of the comet-like weapons landed on the needle ship. Only twenty-three percent of what was fired at the Conestoga made it through the defenses Monika had so valiantly rallied, and every part of it struck onto the needle ship. Alpha was spared the bombard
ment. Huge sections of the needle ship were atomized, yet it remained mostly structurally intact, somehow.
The hawsers which led from the two shuttles to the bow of the needle ship, spilled into the Cosmic Crinkle. As they did, they seemed to roll up and take form. Next to them was the afterimages, or phantoms of the shuttles they had connected onto.
The bow of the needle ship, with its huge, and now worthless scoop, encountered the Cosmic Crinkle. As it passed into what the Zalian navigators and astronomers called the thin place in space, it duplicated itself, in a manner of speaking. A ghostly needle ship grew and expanded, as the physical needle ship slipped deeper, or more immersed into, or covered by, the Cosmic Crinkle. The places on the needle ship where the Jellie weapons had destroyed sections, were accurately reproduced on the ghost. The only difference being a shimmering stillness and apparent lack of movement at all.
Alpha, attached to the need ship at the constituent joints, but seated closer to the stern than the bow, then encountered the Cosmic Crinkle. It too was duplicated, in ghostly form, on the phantom image which was being assembled in space.
The Colony Ship Conestoga : The Complete Series: All Eight Books Page 248
