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

by John Thornton

  “We can proceed at any moment. I have dispatched the automacubes with the messages,” Sandie replied. “All systems are in place.”

  “Sandie? Where on Serendipity are we landing?” Monika asked. “I am sure you have conjectured the best location, and I trust your judgement.”

  A display opened up. “I considered numerous factors, and AI Seljak was most helpful in that regard,” Sandie stated. “There is a large, deep, bay along the coast of the major continent. Its climate, location, and other factors made it ideal for our landing site. Do you want to review the requirements I set forth for the selection?”

  “No.” Jerome replied simply. “Just answer a simple question. Will this work? After all the other habitats and their failures to ascend, are we doing this descent and planet-fall the right way? We will not get another chance. This really is our last hope. Will this be a successful colony? Or a Roanoke or like Triton’s New Plymouth?”

  Sandie paused for a moment. “Jerome, there are risks involved. I conjecture an adequate chance for successfully making planet-fall here on Serendipity. Success being defined as a soft landing where Alpha stays intact. As to the question of long-term colonization and terraforming, AI Seljak refuses to make conjectures and says only that it will do its best. I must add something. When I ran conjectures on colonizing this planet, Serendipity, they were favorable. I compared my conjectures to the plans and projections made about colonizing the planet Tlalocan. Doing that, I discovered that being here on Serendipity has nearly as high a potential for a successful outcome. That was even factoring in the loss of the other habitats, and the lack of the needle ship as an orbital guidance and support platform. So, I will just say, we have a good shot at success. Besides, we have no other reasonable choice.”

  “We could be like Dewey’s Forest and just float forever in space,” Jerome suggested.

  “There is little evidence that Dewey’s Forest actually exists,” Sandie replied. “The historical records are scant regarding that incident. However, if Alpha did just drift into space, its end result would be death within several generations. Making planet-fall here, on Serendipity, offers the best chance for sustainable life.”

  Jerome held Monika’s hand as they sat down. He asked, “Is there anything for us to do?”

  “Just give us your approval,” Sandie replied. “I could instigate it alone, but success seems more likely when machines and humanity are in fellowship and cooperative efforts.”

  “We are not doing much,” Monika stated. “But you have my approval.”

  “I too approve, and I trust you Sandie. Make this work for us. Science, for hundreds of years, has spanned the differences between cultures and between countries, let it now span the difference between success and failure. Humanity depends on this event,” Jerome said.

  Sandie sent out the orders. Multiple tendrils of consciousness, from each artificial intelligence system, and every synthetic brain, did a review of the connections, links, and interactions.

  The displays in front of Monika and Jerome lit up.

  “I am getting our sons. They may be too young to remember this, but I want to tell them they were in our arms when we landed on our new home,” Jerome stated. He stood up and walked over and got Brink and handed him to Monika. Then he lifted Kalur and carried him back to sit in his lap.

  “This is SB Joseph Crater. Launching all shuttle craft.”

  Jerome nearly bit his tongue, but then calmed himself. Cuddling his baby was more soothing than any callisthenic exercises he had ever done. He just looked from the display screen and into the eyes of his son. “This might be a small step, but it will be a giant leap for humanity.”

  Monika smiled and slowly rocked the baby in her arms.

  “Landing procedure for planet Serendipity has begun,” SB Joseph Crater stated. “Please watch the display for progress as I take us all home.”

  All the display screens in front of Monika and Jerome showed various perspectives from Alpha, but most focused their aim on the beautiful, blue, green, brown, and white planet which was sparkling like a jewel against the blackness of space.

  All across the exterior hull of Habitat Alpha, the remaining functional hanger bay doors opened. Some of the hanger bays contained shuttles, but others did not. Two hanger bays had working shuttles within, but the pressure cycling systems failed, and the doors remained sealed. There were more closed and dysfunctional hanger bay doors than there were ones which opened. Seventeen shuttles departed from the various hanger bays. Three of them sputtered and lost power as their old and unmaintained mechanical parts failed. Those shuttles were dismissed by SB Joseph Crater after several attempts to reinvigorate them. Their wobbly flightpaths were tracked and projected. When it was clear none posed a collision threat to Alpha they were ignored. The plan was designed around ten functional shuttles, and so that phase was still within the conjectured mission parameters.

  The fourteen shuttles, ranging from the small runabouts, to the large Model 9s, were guided by SB Joseph Crater into position. At various places around Alpha the shuttles moved to attached to the exterior hull via their docking clamps. Each one was directed into a specific position, at a precise angle, and in an exact manner. Most of the shuttles were able to clamp into place near exterior repair stations, but one shuttle’s docking clamp failed to engage. SB Joseph Crater directed it to attempt the attachment again, but still there was a negative function. After three more attempts, SB Joseph Crater had that dysfunctional shuttle use its thrusters to send it away from the remnant of the Conestoga.

  The twelve shuttles then began a sequence of main thruster bursts. Like a finely tuned piano, reminiscent of the one played by Cadet Danny, the thrusters of the attached shuttles set off at their appointed moments and worked in harmony to create sequence like a musical opus. No ear would ever hear it in the vacuum of space, but Jerome and Monika watched as Alpha was realigned in relation to Serendipity.

  The bow of Alpha slowly rotated away from the planet, and the stern grew closer. The camera apertures, which relayed the images to the screens which only two humans were observing, shifted with the movement of Alpha.

  “The Conestoga is now leaving orbit, to enter the atmosphere. The atmosphere consists of….” SB Joseph Crater began.

  “No specific details,” Jerome interrupted. “I trust you and the rest of the Conestoga’s systems. I trust Sandie. You can do this, and we will just watch and appreciate your efforts. My congratulations and my thanks I extend to you.”

  “As you wish,” SB Joseph Crater replied. “Should you change your mind, let me know. I am recording all of this. It is also being simultaneously reviewed by Sandie.”

  “Carry on, and we will watch,” Monika added.

  The thrusters continued to do their sequences of short bursts followed by stillness and then additional bursts. It was all choreographed to align Alpha for proper penetration of Serendipity’s atmosphere.

  When the appropriate alignment was reached, Alpha entered the upper layers of the atmosphere stern first. The gaseous envelopment was penetrated, and the temperature variations were noted and recorded. The permalloy of the hull resisted the changed without difficulty. Alpha’s first touch of Serendipity’s atmosphere confirmed much of the readings which had been only observed from afar. That first touch confirmed a strong similarity to Earth. As aerodynamic forces began to rapidly slow the motion of the vehicle, two docking clamps on separate shuttles failed. Those shuttles were stripped from their positions, but they had completed most of their expected job. They tumbled away and were lost.

  SB Joseph Crater acknowledged the losses, and reconfigured the mission. The thrusters on the attached shuttles continued to fire as needed to adjust the descent. Unlike when the needle ship had plowed into the atmosphere, only to burn up, Alpha’s entry was controlled. The thruster fuel was exhausted as Alpha descended through Serendipity’s uppermost layers of atmosphere, the thermosphere, but it did it safely.

  As each shuttle’s fue
l supple was gone, SB Joseph Crater locked them down and sealed them as effectively as possible. Some of the shuttles might survive, attached to the exterior hull, but their survival was not essential to the mission, and so SB Joseph Crater disregarded them.

  The remnant of the Conestoga, that last habitat, sliced through the thermosphere and entered into the mesosphere. Again, sampling was taken by hull monitors, and readings on the gases were done. These findings were transmitted to AI Seljak for computation into terraforming plans. Reading revealing the attributes of the magnetic fields around Serendipity were also very close to that of old Earth.

  The descent continued. Temperature changes were as expected, and cold layers were stacked by altitude. The mesospheric gasses were rarefied, but nevertheless thick enough to offer some measures of slowing down Alpha. Therefore, the Conestoga’s airbrake systems were deployed for the first time since Alpha made planet-fall on Zalia. Large sections of the external hull opened up in flaps. Those flaps increased resistance against the ever-thickening air as, Alpha was hurtling into the atmosphere. The permalloy resisted the frictional heat adequately, but only about seventy percent of the airbrakes deployed. This was less than SB Joseph Crater had expected. When Alpha had landed on Zalia every one of the airbrake flaps had worked properly, but the Zalian gasses had has some negative effects on the mechanisms of those airbrakes.

  The fact that only seven out of every ten air brakes had worked, required a recalculation of the mission and made for a quick refiguring of the amount of gravity manipulation that would be needed. Alpha’s two Gravity Manipulation Works, one at the stern end, and the other at the bow, began making adjustments on the gravity fields around Alpha. Twenty separate gravity manipulation oscillators attuned their operations. To the people and animals in Alpha, they felt somewhat lighter in weight as gravity manipulation was decreased to 75% of Earth normal. Most of the people and animals took little notice, but a few did. They remembered Captain Eris’ words when she had said, “I warn you that very strange and bizarre things are about to occur in all of your lives.” In various places, and in diverse ways, some of the people did pray about what was happening to their world.

  Alpha continued downward. The atmosphere got thicker, and the airbrakes grabbed at denser air. As expected the stratosphere was warmer at the top than the bottom. At that point the refitted rockets, which had been used to make good Alpha ascent and escape from Zalia, now were working in a retrograde manner. Those rockets fired to slow down the descent of Alpha, not boost it away. They were mostly burning Vindicator Missile fuel which gave off a brilliant blue color as it burned. AI Seljak noted what damage the rocket fuel would do to the atmosphere of Serendipity. The negative effects would be minimal, and only transitory.

  And so, the retrorockets fired. The lower portion of the stratosphere had a more consistent temperature, but high winds buffeted against Alpha. SB Joseph Crater adjusted the airbrakes, rocket blasts, and Alpha continued down, but at only a moderate rate.

  More readings were taken, and the protective aspects of the atmosphere were examined as Alpha passed though. What had, long ago on Earth, been called an ozone layer was present in amounts forming a protective layer shielding life on Serendipity from the solar system’s sun with its harmful ultraviolet radiation. That too was a confirmation of the beneficial environment of this new world upon which the remnant of the Conestoga was dependent.

  Entering the troposphere, Alpha pierced through a thermal boundary, the tropopause, without pausing a bit. Alpha was inside the largest part of Serendipity’s atmosphere. Weather was happening, and Alpha was large enough to alter the direction of some storm fronts. Rain beat down upon the sides of Alpha. Winds hammered it. Yet, every reading was showing close similarities to the records from the Earth prior to the Great Event. SB Joseph Crater began maneuvering Alpha to allow it to make its final decent. While it was possible for the habitat to sit down on any part of its cylindrical body, the best way to land was lengthwise. So, the rockets fired and adjusted the flightpath.

  Explosions took place as several rocket brackets fractured under the stress. Those rockets jetted off and away. One impacted into a constituent joint. The joint was smashed apart, and the debris from a stub which had been part of the needle ship shredded off and fell to the surface far below. The rubble crashed into an ocean and sank. SB Joseph Crater adjusted the gravity manipulation, and the entire habitat was reduced to 40% of earth normal gravity. Most of the humans and animals felt that adjustment, and fear spread quickly. Yet, those human leaders had informed the people to expect something like that, and the people, while frightened, did not panic. Many more did pray and seek various divine interventions.

  With the alteration of gravity, Alpha managed to make its rotation successfully, but the rockets were nearly out of fuel. The airbrake system was less efficient as the habitat’s length was now parallel to the planet’s surface, rather than its previously more perpendicular descent. Rockets kept firing and the flightpath was still on target for the destination site.

  Jerome and Monika looked at their displays and saw the vista of the new world. Many camera apertures were blocked over by rain water, but that cleared as the habitat continued to descend.

  The deep blue color of the ocean of water was the first thing that Jerome and Monika noted as the apertures cleared.

  “That is far bigger than Beta’s sea!” Monika said in awe. Her mouth hung open. “Amazing.”

  Sandie replied, “I have been respecting your request to SB Joseph Crater on not giving details, but I agree the views are amazing.”

  “Such a deep blue color,” Jerome said. “Breathtakingly beautiful.”

  “Indeed. Serendipity’s oceans are considerably deeper than those on Earth were. The average ocean on Earth, prior to the Great Event was approximately 3.5 kilometers deep. So far, from the scans we have made, Serendipity’s oceans average an impressive 12.9 kilometers deep. I conjecture oceanography will be a huge field of study for future colonists.”

  “We still have to successfully land,” Jerome stated. “Then make all the terraforming and adjustments, before we can ever consider future colonists.”

  “Jerome, our sons will live to see that. Right Sandie?” Monika asked.

  “I conjecture a strong probability for that, but Jerome is correct. Landing has not taken place yet, and there are many unknowns about this new world. Yet, the readings taken are remarkably similar to a pristine Earth. The attributes of Serendipity are far superior to what was known about Tlalocan,” Sandie replied. “The Zalians knew what we needed and guided us to a suitable planet, which has a lot of water. Sixty-four percent of Serendipity’s surface is water.”

  “So, all that is really water?” Jerome asked. His fingers were touching the display screen. “Drinkable water?”

  “It is all water, but this ocean consists of salt water. It is very likely there is fresh water on the land masses,” Sandie answered. “The coastline is now becoming visible. We will be landing in a bay which is seven kilometers deep at its center. Effectively, Alpha will become an island in that bay.”

  “What about local life? Or the planet’s gravity?” Jerome began to question.

  “Oh, so now you want details?” Monika teased.

  Jerome eyed Monika, as the baby lay sleeping in her arms. He glanced at the baby in his own arms, and then back at Monika. “Yes, I guess I do, for these boys.”

  Monika reached over and tapped a display. It illuminated with a long list of information and facts.

  “Atmospheric temperature at ground level of the landing zone is 27 degree, that is nice and comfortable there, and water surface temperature 18 degree,” Jerome read out. “Gravity 0.86% of earth-normal. That is good.” His smiled broadened. “And now what to breathe? Background radiation is almost nil. Excellent! Atmosphere sampling shows 75% nitrogen, 23% oxygen, 0.75% argon, and 0.08% carbon dioxide with small percentages of other elements. None of those look toxic or dangerous to me. Humidity is 57% here with
a wind speed averaging 22 kilometers per hour. Samples of our atmosphere show it contains traces of dust particles, and some elements which are now in protective isolation. Those look like pollens, foliage grains, and other solid particles. This place…”

  Monika was laughing.

  Jerome looked over at her. “What?”

  “You said, ‘our atmosphere’ when you read out the scans.” Her pretty face broke into a smile.

  “I guess I did. Where else do we have to go?” Jerome asked.

  “We could stay inside this can for decades. That was what I expected to do for the rest of my life. Well, not in Alpha here, but in Beta,” Monika said. “We have not even succeeded in landing yet. I love your enthusiasm.”

  “Our family makes me that way,” Jerome answered.

  They joined hands and watched the scene unfold.

  SB Joseph Crater adjusted the rockets firing. The fuel was very low, but was close to what was projected. The watery bay, which was the landing target, was directly below. Scans confirmed it was as deep as had been anticipated from orbit. As the rockets were running out of fuel, they were blasting into the water as Alpha settled down into the bay. The gravity manipulation oscillators gently backed off as the habitat slowly sank to the bottom of the bay. The gravity vectors from the planet were aligned with the typical gravity orientation of Alpha’s biome, and there was an adequate match. The jungle section of the biome was a bit on the downhill side as the huge cylinder came to a rest. The sand-hills section was higher in elevation, as it was originally designed in that manner, but as Alpha settled, the bow was higher up than the stern, and thus it affirmed the general topography of the habitat.