Brinley had been busy trying to re-engage the battery system of her runabout. The exterior lights would not function, but she was able to get some of the instruments activated. “The air in here is steadily improving.”
“As I said, the hanger bay is being pressurized. I conjecture that it was part of an automatic response when we overrode the system to open the exterior doors. You were fortunate that this hanger was empty,” Tiffany added. “However, the presence I encountered is troubling.”
“Yes, we were fortunate,” Gretchen stated. “What presence?”
“I encountered a presence in the nonphysicality. I am uncertain as to its constitution and origin. It may have been a mirage from integration of modern technology with Vanguard technology. I am assessing the situation.”
“Tiffany? Do we have any idea where this place is in relation to where Brinley wants to go?” Gretchen asked.
“Get me to a corridor, and I will find the Wilds. Then I will hunt down Larissa,” Brinley said. “The atmosphere is nearly adequate for us to get out.”
The yellow flashing lights stopped. The hanger bay was again in darkness for a moment. Paul then turned on the beam of light from the fusion pack. It shone out of the wrecked runabout.
“I have the fusion pack on. Can you see me?” Paul asked.
“Yes.” Brinley then pushed the release levers and the canopy popped open.
The hanger bay’s air was thick and heavy with an oily stench as well as a smell of ozone. Both Gretchen and Brinley stepped from the runabout, retrieved what little they had packed with them, and headed toward the light from Paul’s fusion pack.
“Tiffany, is the air in here really safe?” Gretchen asked as they approached the wreck.
“For a short period of time, yes. It is unpleasant, but there will be no lasting effects,” Tiffany replied. “I suggest, however, exiting this place as expeditiously as possible.”
The canopy of the wrecked runabout slid to the side, as Paul kicked it open. He wiggled out and started pulling out the equipment. “I brought everything I could. I do not want to freeze in that place. Fill up the backpacks, and then we can leave this hanger.”
They divided up the equipment. Paul and Gretchen each had a Willie pistol, fusion pack, and backpack with supplies. Gretchen kept with her the med kit. Brinley had her own handgun, and tools as well as gear in the backpack.
“Paul, the Wilds will not be frozen over this time. The weather has changed. I also think we will be entering from the bow area, which is known as the Canyon. But first we get out of here,” Brinley said.
With Gretchen using the second fusion pack’s light as well as the one Paul had on, they searched for an exit from the hanger bay. The orientation of things was off. The doors seemed to be set into the walls horizontally and not vertically.
“There is a pressure door up there,” Brinley pointed, “But I see no way of reaching it. I wonder if our opening of the exterior doors messed up the programming for the gravity manipulation?”
“It certainly messed up my landing,” Paul grumbled.
“There is another door, over there,” Gretchen stated as she shined the beam of light down along the wall. “It is much bigger, but that should be accessible to us. We can reach that one.”
They marched over to the large door. It was about five meters wide as well as high. The control panel’s color pad was on the downward side of the door. It seemed strange to think of it that way. Brinley squatted down and said, “This should open up when I use the sequence. But I am not sure what will happen to gravity manipulation in here. It could alter suddenly again. Or it could be different beyond the door, or it could shut down entirely. I have never seen gravity manipulation fail like in here. It is usually on or off, a change in direction is bizarre. Perhaps an AI oversees this hanger and does not understand how we entered.”
“I detected no specific artificial intelligence systems when I interfaced, however, that presence could have been an AI,” Tiffany stated. “I do recommend caution upon opening this pressure door.”
Paul grabbed hold of a section of the wall where he could be secure. Gretchen did so as well.
Grabbing onto a conduit which ran next to the door, Brinley reached down and entered the sequence on the color pad. “I sure hope this does not decompress the hanger bay.”
The pressure door slid open, and beyond was an illuminated hallway. “In we go,” Brinley said as she swung her leg inside. Immediately her leg was pulled in a different direction. She adjusted herself as she slid in. “There is an alteration here. But orientation is more normal.”
Paul and Gretchen both entered the hallway. They were a bit dizzy by the sudden change in gravity manipulation, but the world looked right-side up again.
“I am shutting down the pressure door,” Brinley entered the sequence. The door moved downward and closed.
“Do you know how to get to the habitat from here?” Gretchen asked.
“Pretty much. The hanger bays all have a basic pattern. This hallway is a main supply corridor. It will lead to cross causeways, but should also lead to a bulkhead and beyond that to the habitat. Being on the bow end of the habitat means there is only about a fifth as much distance from side to side compared to the hanger bays on the lateral sides. Still a long walk if you are just wandering from place to place, especially if Roe are around.” She reached over to Gretchen and patted the med kit. “But we have that covered, right? We are all now immune to the Outbreak.”
“Sure, we can just ignore the Roe all we want,” Paul said sarcastically. “At least until one clubs me over the head, or bites off my hand.”
“Paulie, we do not let them get that close to us,” Brinley said with a grin, but then her face darkened. “We must confront Larissa. She murdered all my people. So we go directly to the Wilds. I know the route.”
“But I thought you had not been to that hanger bay before, right?” Paul asked.
“Correct. But I grew up in the safe zone which was destroyed. That was close to the Wilds, and I know the Wilds pretty well. I have been sneaking in there since I was little. So just follow me.” Brinley marched off and was soon many paces ahead.
“Paul, I know we own Brinley much, but I am not sure about this quest for vengeance she is on. I do know that Larissa is deadly, we saw that with Ferdinand. Will she be any less deadly against us?” Gretchen confided in Paul as they walked along.
“What else do we have to do? We are trapped on the Vanguard. We have no real home, and no real friends, except for her. I guess our fates and hers are enmeshed,” Paul replied.
“I am on a private channel with only you two,” Tiffany stated. “I too am concerned about Brinley and her agenda. Human rage is seldom rational. I suggest you consider abandoning this quest and leaving Brinley to her own affairs.”
“Tiffany, really?” Gretchen was surprised at the AI’s attitude.
“My goal is to support and protect you both. I also want to assist Brinley, however, when those goals are in conflict, the mission to protect you takes precedence,” Tiffany stated.
“I am not sure it has to be either or, does it?” Gretchen asked. “Brinley has helped us, and her has lost everything. I will not desert her.”
“Nor will I,” Paul said. “But I am not sure her course of action is a smart one. Larissa nearly killed us before, and that frozen place itself is deadly. Even if the weather has changed, I doubt it was be as pleasant as was the island. It would have been nice to stay there.”
“The Free Rangers were slaughtered by machines called automacubes. And Jodie’s watchers said automacubes were on the boats heading to that island. I wonder about that. Is it all related somehow?” Gretchen asked.
“There is insufficient data to make a reliable conjecture,” Tiffany replied. “However, I will continue correlating information.”
They walked onward, passing several doors labeled ‘Suspended Animation’ but the doors were sealed. So looking ahead to where Brinley was standing they saw
her near a bulkhead door. This bulkhead door also was wide and tall, along the same scale as the pressure door from the hanger bay.
“I know right where we are,” she said. “This bulkhead is on the inner ring around the habitat. Inside here are the maintenance shafts that honeycomb the end of the habitat. There will be a large central chamber, then branches off to all sides. I am sure the troops in the Wilds have the doors into the habitat itself sealed and quarantined. But,” she patted her backpack, “I can get us inside any sealed door.”
“Why was this hallway made so much bigger than the others,” Paul asked. “The doors are all bigger, and the passageway is much larger.”
“I never wondered why it was like this.” Brinley looked down the tall and wide hallway as if for the first time. “It has always been like this. I know other habitats have a large hallway like this at their bow or stern ends as well. I am not sure if they all do, I never really wondered why. So many corridors, so many sizes. I have entered habitats through places I could barely crawl into, other are enormous like the freight lift in Oasis.” Brinley looked around again. “I have not seen any evidence of the Roe in this hallway. But they wander and tend to be in more darkened places. Just count ourselves lucky. We get inside here, and then into the habitat and we are all set to track down Larissa.”
Flipping down a panel to reveal the controls, Brinley saw that the color pad was only dimly illuminated and the colors were washed out so as to look almost all the same. Nevertheless, she entered the sequence into the color pad’s controls. There was a weak sounding buzz, but the bulkhead door remained closed. She tried it again, and the buzz was even fainter as were the colors on the pad. On the third attempt there was no sound and the pad was dark.
“I will jack in a fusion pack and see if we can power open the door,” Gretchen said. She pulled out the fusion pack, and connected the cable into the port on the control panel. The colors glowed very brightly. “Try the sequence now.”
Brinley punched in the code.
The door groaned and then with a screech of grinding metal, it lurched open a bit. Then a buzz happened and the door jammed about halfway open. It was still nearly seven meters wide, but the door was canted at a angle off its frame.
“We are in,” Brinley said and stepped past the door. “I doubt if this thing will shut or open again.” Her face wrinkled up in a most expressive way. “What a horrid smell.”
“That is bad,” Paul added. “What is it?”
“Something died in here recently,” Brinley commented. “Come on, we will find our door into the habitat.”
Covering their noses and trying to avoid breathing, Paul and Gretchen, who had unplugged the fusion pack, followed Brinley into the large space behind the broken bulkhead door. A few overhead illumination sources were still working, but the place had more broken things than functional ones. Conduits were hanging ripped from walls, vents were broken open, and some places had large stained areas of something on them. There were tubular tunnels leading in various directions perpendicular to the large space. One had a small flow of water running out of it and dripping down to pool at the base of a lower spot in the deck. Several cracks there allowed the water to slowly flow away. Several other tunnels were choked with organic debris.
“Tagalongs use this place as a trail,” Brinley remarked. “I see where rats, bats, and snakes have been. They probably ran off when we opened that door. Most tagalongs fear sounds, but Roe are attracted to noise. We need to get into the Habitat as soon as possible.”
“I thought we were all immune to the Roe,” Paul mockingly said.
Brinley and Gretchen ignored him.
“About three meters down this tunnel there is a service door into the habitat. I am sure I will need to cut our way inside,” Brinley pulled a vibration saw out of her backpack, unfolded it, and prepared it for use. “The CPO troops weld the doors shut, but that has never stopped me before. Shine the light in here for me.”
Brinley got down on her hands and knees and crawled into the tunnel. Paul and Gretchen heard the sounds of the vibration saw operating, and then there was a clanking echo as the door was pushed open. Bright light filled the tunnel and spilled into the room where Paul and Gretchen were standing.
“We are in,” Brinley said in triumph. “Come on.”
Gretchen also got down and crawled into the tunnel. Her backpack bumped the top a bit, but she managed to get to the door which Brinley had opened. Just as Brinley had stated, there were severed welds along the seams of the door. Paul followed.
Blinking his eyes against the light, Paul slid out of the doorway and tried to look around. Brinley stepped behind him and shut the access door. “We do not want tagalongs or Roe to come inside the habitat. The quarantine does have some merit. I will weld the door shut again.”
“What is this place?” Gretchen asked as she rubbed her eyes and looked around.
“This cannot be the same place as where we froze,” Paul muttered.
“This is part of the Wilds. I told you it was not frozen now. The weather has changed here. It always is changing with the seasons,” Brinley replied as she finished the welding. “It will not be freezing again in here for about seven months or so.”
The view was outstanding. Paul and Gretchen stood with their mouths open as they gazed at the scene. They were against the permalloy wall where the access door was located. Encircling them was rock, above them, under their feet, and on either side, only directly ahead of them was open. The rock was rich and varied in colors of red, brown, and streaks of gray. There were only a few paces until that rock ended, and the view beyond was superb.
Paul and Gretchen stepped out from the cleft in the rock, and looked around. It was spectacular. The rock was nestled against the side wall of the habitat which stretched upward to where one end of the sky tube was located. Gretchen wondered if it was the beginning or the ending of the sky tube. That sky tube was nearly directly overhead and shining so bright as to be a bit painful to the eyes. The sky tube stretched directly away from them in a dazzling line of light for as far as they could see.
Stepping down from the rock, they found that under their feet was rich, but sandy soil. Tiny blue flowers, only ankle high, were poking up from various places around them. But the thing that struck them was not the rock with the passage through its center, not the brilliant sky tube, nor the soil, nor even the pretty flowers, but the combination of everything else revealed around them. It all fit together in a beautiful tapestry neither Paul nor Gretchen had ever witnessed before.
There were rock formations in the distance on both sides of them. The closest rocks were unevenly high, but all at least twenty meters or so higher than where they stood. The ones further away were even taller and more jagged. Looking down, the soil became more and more covered by plants and small shrubs and led down to a flow of water. The water was in a wide bed, roughly running parallel to the sky tube far overhead. That flow of water was about twenty meters wide. It was not anywhere as vast as the sea around the island where they had met Jodie, but this water was flowing right down and into an opening in the permalloy wall. The water was disappearing into the opening, around which was more rocky formations. Small plants were sprouting out from all around the rocky outcroppings.
“Where are the cone shaped trees? Where is the snow?” Gretchen asked. “Is this really the same place?”
Brinley walked down from the rock where the access door was. She replied, “This is Velky Weap, or as most call it, the Canyon.”
“But it is so different?” Paul said as he gazed in awe at what he was seeing. His eyes followed the water against the direction of its flow. He could see it was not perfectly straight, as he had first thought, but had a gently winding way about it. He could also see smaller flows of water which came down from other places to add to the larger flow of water.
“I do not understand?” Paul again said. “It is so beautiful. The rocks are such different colors and banded. Where were we before? Was
all this hidden somehow under the snow?”
Brinley laughed. “No Paulie. The snow did not hide all this. We are on the other end of the Wilds. The forest you were in before, that covers about four-fifths of the habitat, all up on the highland. You can see it far in the distance from some of the higher rocky places of the Canyon walls.”
“Look at that!” Gretchen cried out.
Some kind of creature was falling rapidly toward the flow of water. It was a mottled brownish color. As it approached the water, it put out two wide appendages and its fall was slowed greatly. It skimmed along the top of the water, then put out two small appendages and thrust them into the water. The large and wide appendages began to move up and down and the creature rose into the air. In its lower appendages was another creature which had been plucked out of the water. That smaller creature was flopping side to side but was trapped by the flying one. As the flyer rose higher it banks toward where they stood watching. They could see it had a sharply bent face, and what was holding the water creature looked somewhat like feet. Paul was reminded of grappling hooks. The flyer turned again, and its legs were seen to be a lighter beige color, and it had a flared tail which seemed to be made of many smaller things weaved or joined together, in a fan shape. It stroked its wide appendages vigorously. At the tips of those wide spans the appendages had small projections which fluttered a bit. It then gave a loud shriek, and soared away.
The Colony Ship Vanguard: The entire eight book series in one bundle Page 41