“But you can cure the Roe. And you two are resistant to the infection anyway,” Brinley commented.
“But I am not resistant to their clubs and bites and nastiness. If one of them pushed me down, I will fall,” Paul commented. “Not to mention their wondrous repartee.”
“Come on, Paulie, you have the best side-arms I have ever seen, and I have my own weapon and my knowledge of the corridors. I am pretty accurate with both. The Roe will be kept far away by our combined skills.” Brinley teased him, but when she looked, she could tell he was seriously worried.
Gretchen smiled at Paul. She restrained herself from reminding him of his lack of skill with the pistol’s Willie had made for them. “Shall we get back in the shuttle and make sure we can just fly out of here instead?”
“Or we can wait around for something to lock us in here, steal the air, and watch us choke to death,” Paul grumbled. “Like whatever got those other people while they tried their repairs.”
“I will have to repair the manipulation arm on the nose; otherwise we will have no way to operate the manual controls.” Brinley pulled a wrench from her belt. “It should not be too hard, it just looked bent, not fractured, and I can straight it out quickly.”
Paul and Gretchen climbed into the small shuttle. Being at its canted angle, it felt odd standing inside. “Tiffany? Will Brinley have time to get inside this shuttle if the hanger bay doors open?”
“Gretchen, that depends on the rapidity of the decompression which may be influenced by several factors. I conjecture a fair probability for her safe entry, but cannot make a more accurate prediction with the current levels of unknowns.”
Brinley gathered her tools from the small shuttle, and some additional ones from the work bench. She then began repairs on the mechanical arm. She expertly disassembled the knuckles, and then realigned the bent section. She used a press-tool set on the work bench to re-establish the correct shape of the damaged piece. The arm was soon functional again. The nosecone dilation rings were another matter. She really wanted to repair those, but they were not essential for the flight or for manipulation of control panels while inside the shuttle, so, even though it was hard for her to do, she left those repairs for another time.
“That should allow us to operate the manual controls,” Brinley announced as she climbed back into the small shuttle. “I hate to leave here without something. A place like this should give us some salvage items. If we had a bigger shuttle we could load thruster parts. The big shuttles here could be repaired, maybe, with enough time. I do want to reassess the little shuttle’s systems here before we attempt to leave. No good if we have a thruster failure, or a cabin leak.”
“Why not also take one of those runabouts with us?” Paul suggested. “I know you said no one uses them much, but that would give us two vehicles, instead of just one. Redundancy might make us safer, right?”
“Paulie, I did not think you cared about us,” Brinley smiled at him. “It is a good idea. I can have one of those runabouts up and ready in about a half hour. They take far less preparation to get out of long term storage than the big shuttles. Not much space in those, but it might give us some advantage in trading. I will set to work on it.”
“Or you could tell us what to do and we could get it ready,” Gretchen said.
“Sure. If it is like the other runabouts I have seen, it will have a paper printed manual in the cubby under the lower front seat. Turn to the page on ‘Quick Prep’ and follow that. I will then help you cut off the AI coupling systems. That will take a bit of modification on the multiceiver array,” Brinley said. “But can either of you fly a runabout?”
“We flew a scout ship here from Earth through faster-than-light travel. How much harder could a runabout be?” Paul said.
Gretchen stared at Paul a bit, but refrained again from commenting. She walked briskly over to the runabout. “Tiffany, will you monitor everything you can about this hanger bay? Warn us if anything seems to be starting to decompress or open.”
“Gretchen, I am already doing that. Be assured I will alert you if I detect any kind of potential threat. However, my monitoring abilities are limited,” Tiffany replied.
Paul followed Gretchen to the nearest runabout. It was a more sleek design than the shuttles. It had two cramped seats in the pointed nose, one behind the other, all under a divided canopy of clear permalloy. Overall it was a shinny blue color.
“This looks pretty straight forward,” Gretchen said as she activated the labeled switch to open the rear section of the canopy. “Brinley is right, not much space here for anything but us.”
“Two ships will be better than one, right?” Paul asked. “I am just not sure how we are going to get out of this hanger. I tried three of the bulkhead doors while I was stacking the bodies. None of them would open at all. One looked like someone had tried to force it open. I just keep thinking the dead people in here were more familiar with this place than we are, and they still got trapped. They got trapped and died.”
Paul had opened the front section and reached under the seat. There was, as Brinley had predicted, a paper bound instruction manual about the runabout. It was illustrated with many diagrams and very simple instructions. The wording was odd, to the minds of Gretchen and Paul, but discernable. The controls and switches and operating mechanisms were all labeled and marked.
“This machine, the runabout, is designed not only for space flight, but also for entrance into atmosphere and flight over a planet.” Paul was rubbing his chin’s hair as he sat in the seat and perused the manual. “But some of this is nonsense. It says the machine is also submersible and will operate under water. Nowhere is there that much water. But maybe it means it is protected in snow? I wonder if we could fly this in that frozen habitat? It is self contained, and we could use it to survey that place, without freezing to death again. Well nearly to death anyway.”
“Paul, we need to get it out of here first,” Gretchen reminded him. “Brinley said a ‘Quick Prep’ section would outline how.”
“Right. Good point.” Paul flipped several pages over and found the checklist. He started flipping switches and making adjustments. Gretchen climbed in the rear seat.
“Paul, there are separate controls back here. It looks like flying this is can happen from either seat,” she said as she activated the controls as they illuminated on the screen in front of her. They were numbered and in a sequence she followed.
“This manual says that would happen. It looks like once it is activated, it will continue through the process as long as there is a person giving it feedback,” Paul stated
Suddenly, there was an ear splitting roar and clanging sounds as the lights in hanger bay shifted from yellow flashing lights to red flashing lights.
“Get inside the ships immediately!” Tiffany said with the audio as loud as possible from all three communication links. “The hanger bay doors are opening even though the bay is still pressurized.”
Brinley pulled herself agilely out from beneath the small shuttle and vaulted into its door. With a smooth motion she slammed the hatch down and then keyed her communication link. “I am in the shuttle. Are you two safe in the runabout?”
Gretchen’s reflexes were extraordinarily quick and she had already pulled down the canopy when Brinley’s words came to her. “Yes, we are secure. The runabout is still going through the ‘Quick Prep’ but we are safe.”
“But you will still be connected to the AI here. I did not ever modify that runabout.” Brinley was now in the pilot’s seat of the small shuttle and was assessing the readings. “The hanger is nearly depressurized now, and the bay doors are only open about one meter wide. That would have been enough to kill us, but it is not wide enough for us to leave. We are still trapped here.”
The gravity manipulation then turned off. Brinley had been prepared for that as she was already strapped in and had her fingers on the thruster controls.
“We lost gravity manipulation over here. You too Brinley?” Gre
tchen asked.
The vehicles remained where they were, resting against the deck, but the people inside could tell it was now zero gravity. The manual Paul was holding was floating in front of him as he continued to follow the list outlined on it.
“Brinley, be alert for gravity to come back on without warning. Remember, you told that AI, TSI-2321, that the gravity manipulation caused us to crash. It might be waiting for us to try to fly out of here, then slam us back to the deck.” Gretchen stated.
“I already thought of that,” Brinley replied. “Hey, Paulie, can you operate the thrusters fast enough to compensate for something like that?”
Paul looked down at the small lever which was labeled thrusters. It had arrows pointing in different directions. “Yes, I can handle this. But will the AI let me? You said we would still be under that AI’s control?”
“I can try to fly over there and do the modifications with the manipulation arm,” Brinley said. She could not keep the doubtfulness of that plan out of her voice. “If we had some spacesuits we could just have you two walk over and get in the shuttle.”
“Paul, Gretchen, Brinley? May I make a suggestion?” Tiffany asked.
“Sure,” Brinley answered.
“Extend a cable from your communication link into the runabout’s systems. There is an access port on the right side of the control panel. I will attempt another interface with TSI-2321,” Tiffany suggested.
“Last time that did not go so well,” Paul stated. “But I guess how much worse could it be? The bay is depressurized. We are trapped in this little runabout. Brinley is trapped in the shuttle. And we are all trapped in this hanger. And in the big picture, we are trapped on the Vanguard.”
Gretchen reached forward and squeezed Paul’s shoulder in reassurance. “I am inserting the cable connection now.”
“Good luck Tiffany! I am eager to see what happens,” Brinley said with a smile of optimism.
Tiffany streamed a probe of thought into the systems of the runabout. The first order of business was for Tiffany to rapidly complete the preparation of the runabout. The locking clamps that held it to the deck were released. The thrusters were initiated and attuned. The life-support devices were checked and fully operational. The battery packs were fully charged. The runabout’s controls were handed to Paul and Gretchen at their piloting stations. A barrier was established to prevent any external AI from interfering. Tiffany did in the nonphysicality what Brinley would have done mechanically. All that was completed before the old artificial intelligence system TSI-2321 could react.
Tiffany’s probe then found where the nonphysicality links and couplings were and opened them easily via a one-way passage into the hanger bay’s systems. This stream Tiffany constructed was fairly limited and inhibited Tiffany’s abilities to use all the processing and thinking capacity. However, the stream of thought probe was still fluid enough for adequate function. Tiffany’s probing cause a reaction.
TSI-2321 tried to storm out of the hanger systems and into the runabout. In the nonphysicality, TSI-2321 was heavy, large, ponderous, and slow. Tiffany, in comparison, was thin, speedy, and lissome. The barrier Tiffany had built withstood the attempted siege. Had the stream been a better link, there would have been no question at all about the encounter. Tiffany was superior in every way. However, with the situation as it was, Tiffany had to sprint around the moves by TSI-2321 to stop its actions. Every instance of a response by TSI-2321 was countered by Tiffany’s probe. The hanger bay doors were reactivated, and they rolled open to a sufficient degree to allow the small shuttle and the runabout to exit.
“The bay doors are open! Yipee!” Brinley called. “We are leaving. Follow me, Paulie.”
“I have control of the runabout,” Paul stated. “We will follow you out. Ready Gretchen?”
“All systems check out,” Gretchen said and activated the thrusters to gain a small measure of altitude. The last cables connecting the runabout to the hanger snapped off.
TSI-2321 recognized the ships were departing, and tried to alter the gravity manipulation, but Tiffany prevented every change.
“I suggest a hasty departure,” Tiffany said over the communication links. “I am being stretched rather thin in the nonphysicality link into the hanger bay. I am uncertain how long I can maintain the probe in the nonphysicality without a physical connection.”
“Understood!” Brinley said and the small shuttle darted out of the hanger bay in a fast blur as she ignited the full force of the thrusters.
“We are coming,” Gretchen said. She was trying to increase the thruster functions, but the controls were unfamiliar and the system was new to her.
“I got it Gretchen,” Paul said, as he looked up from the paper manual. “It is odd how they are set up, but this should give us a boost.” He entered three colors onto the control panel, and the thrusters did increase in power.
“The probe has snapped, for lack of a better term,” Tiffany stated.
“The shuttle is clear of the hanger and waiting out here,” Brinley reported. “As Tiffany said, make haste Paulie!”
TSI-2321 was no longer inhibited by what it considered an unknown and alien system. So it took every defensive measure it could. It ordered the hanger bay doors to slam shut. It ordered the gravity manipulation to vacillate. It had already decompressed the bay, but it had one final act of self defense.
“Paul and Gretchen! The hanger doors are shutting!” Brinley yelled.
“I see that, we are coming,” Paul said. “I do not want to be trapped in here!”
Gretchen mirrored what Paul had done on his own control panel and she entered the same three colors. Again the thrusters increased in power and the runabout shot toward the rapidly closing doors.
TSI-2321 implemented its last defensive act. The fuel storage tanks along the sides of the hanger bay were purged. This caused a huge build up of pressure in the refueling conduits and lines themselves. The lines normally would shut down under such pressure, but TSI-2321 overrode the safety protocols to defend the hanger bay. TSI-2321 also flooded the hanger bay with a high concentration oxygen gas mixture. The air flew toward the gap where the hanger bay doors were closing, but passed right over the fuel storage tanks and their lines which were aneurismal.
Just as the runabout was rotating around to slip between the hanger bay doors, two of the swollen and stretching fuel lines ruptured. The fuel readily mixed with the oxygen rich air. Then a cutting torch was ignited by TSI-2321.
The resulting blast devastated the entire interior of the hanger bay. The fuel storage tanks spilt causing secondary explosions which then resulted in further explosions and fires. TSI-2321’s memory core, protected near the hanger bay, was all that remained. All its contacts, links, and couplings with the outside world were severed. The contents of the hanger bay became smelted, fused or obliterated, depending on their consistency. Nothing in that hanger bay was more than worthless slag.
The hanger bay doors snapped shut just missing the rear fins of the runabout. There was a flare of flame which streaked out between the doors just as they sealed. That flame lapped at the runabout, but did no damage.
“Oh my!” Brinley declared as she witnessed what had occurred. “What happened? Are you alive?”
Gretchen had been looking back and seen the flame, Paul had not. Gretchen replied, “Yes, we made it out. Barely.”
“And now are we trapped in this runabout? Or Brinley do you have a destination in mind,” Paul commented.
“I sure do, Paulie. We need to visit Oasis. I have had enough exploring for a bit. We all need some rest, good food, and a place to sleep. And now we do have a runabout to offer for trade. Even if it is a little toasty.”
“Tiffany? What is your status?” Gretchen asked.
There was a prolonged delay. Then came the reply. “I am intrigued by what I learned. I am also pleased that you are all alive,” Tiffany stated.
“Tiffany, will you please again turn on the display we were making. I bel
ieve we marked Hanger Bay 219, one of the main docks on Oasis,” Brinley stated.
The projected display appeared near her controls in the small shuttle as well as in a more limited form as a transparent display on the clear permalloy of the runabout.
“Is this helpful?” Tiffany asked.
All three answered yes.
“Course plotted to Hanger Bay 219, which Brinley says is at Oasis,” Tiffany stated. Please follow the course carefully.”
“Thanks. We will follow your path until, I know the sequence,” Brinley replied. “Once we are back on the established trails this is easy.”
7 fleeing the death zone
Tennard rubbed his old hands together as he turned over yet another body. He ached from head to toe and everywhere in-between, but he continued the grizzly duty of checking the dead Free Rangers for signs of what happened, and for the remote possibility someone might have survived the massacre.
The Colony Ship Vanguard: The entire eight book series in one bundle Page 32