The Colony Ship Vanguard: The entire eight book series in one bundle

by John Thornton

  “This pistol makes it own projectile nuggets. So mine is good,” Gretchen added.

  They walked away from the gravity manipulation facility, leaving behind four radioactive patches of clothing all of which were traveling in different directions.

  23larissa goes home

  Larissa considered her options. The red automacube was vitally low on munitions, and had not been able to secure anything useful from the workshop except for refilling its fire suppression gas. Larissa had found a handgun on one of the dead insurgents, the younger of the two. It was a standard model and inferior to the weapon she carried. Nonetheless, she put it in a pouch on her uniform.

  She then checked her multiceiver and was surprised by the report. The tracking tags were separated, and there were four signatures, all of which were individually weaker than the previous tracings. Unfortunately, they were all moving in different directions.

  “Connect to Lattice, this is Governor Larissa,” she commanded into the multiceiver.

  ‘Voice confirmation done. Connected’ read the display on the multiceiver.

  “Please connect me to TSI-7 Internal security systems,” Larissa asked. She hesitated to use the lattice, or alert the Central Planning Office, but the questionable reading from the tags impelled her to do so.

  “This is TSI-7. State your inquiry.” The voice of the artificial intelligence replied.

  Larissa’s tone and manner was changed as she spoke to this artificial intelligence system. “I am in pursuit of insurgents who are suspected of the assassination of Governor Muravyev. Please confirm radiometric tracing tags I have been monitoring. Are they functional?”

  “Processing…. Yes, the radiometric tracing tags are functional. However, they are not in locations where human personnel could be located.”

  “What?” Larissa barked.

  “Restate inquiry,” TSI-7 replied.

  “Please elaborate on the radiometric tracing tags and your statement about their locations.”

  “The four tracing tags are in spaces with insufficient room for a human being to occupy.”

  “So the people I had tagged were dismembered?” Larissa imagined a Roe tearing them apart, but was unsure how a Roe would have stood up against the sustained weapon’s fire she knew the insurgents were capable of using.

  “Conjecturing…. Dismemberment is a possibility. Not enough evidence for full or reliable conjecture or analysis. Other possible causes of these readings are possible. Provide more data for next inquiry. End session.”

  Larissa looked at the multiceiver, the display read, ‘Link severed at terminus.’ The display then switched back to the images showing where the radioactive tags were last sensed.

  “I wonder if a Roe did kill them. Even so, they escaped me. Somehow they escaped me,” Larissa said. Inwardly she was fuming with rage, but outwardly she was cold as ice. She then looked back at the two dead bodies. “Yes, between the Roe and the tagalongs, I doubt they survived. I truly doubt they survived.”

  Larissa squatted down and lifted Eleonora’s head. Gazing into her lifeless and cold eyes, Larissa said in a sweet voice, “Your friends are as dead as you are. I just did not get the pleasure of seeing it happen.” With contempt, she released the head which flopped to the deck with a plunk.

  She walked over to YA1 and touched the display screen. She then entered an access code and said, “Find me the quickest route to a transport hub where I can return to E Habitat: Wilderness. It is time for me to go back to the Wilds.”

  The yellow automacube jacked a cable into a different port near the elevator. It assessed the nonphysicality to complete its assignment. It located a functional transport hub, one that was different from the portal hub F-91SD, which had been deactivated by Phoenix Dominie.

  A button labeled ‘PROCEED’ lit up on the display. The ‘HALT’ button was right below it.

  Larissa hit the ‘PROCEED’ button.

  The yellow automacube spun on its wheels and proceeded back into the workshop. It rolled over the leg of one of the dead bodies. It also rolled over part of the android body which was also lying on the floor. As it passed the zero gravity conduit, it sent out a signal. A section of the entire back wall rotated around to reveal a hidden passageway.

  SA55 followed, but did use its manipulation arm to gently move the dead human out of the way. It used the same care to move the android body.

  “This is different than they way we arrived,” Larissa said. She was suspicious. “SA55, confirm with YA1 we are on a route to the transport terminal so we can go back to the Wilds.”

  “Affirmative… Affirmative.”

  “Be on full alert for all threats. Engage as necessary,” Governor Larissa Commanded.

  “Affirmative.”

  Larissa her caution satisfied, followed the two automacubes as the yellow one led them on their trek back to a transport hub where they could arrange a vehicle which would take them to E Habitat, the Wilds. They encountered only one Roe on the way, and Larissa dispatched it quickly with a single shot to the head. She did not have the area sterilized, due to lack of incendiary gel.

  The artificial intelligence TSI-1906 delivered the transport vehicle safely back to the Wilds where Larissa soaked herself with antiseptics and then resumed her role as Governor.

  ***

  After Larissa and her two automacubes departed, there was activity in the hallway outside the android workshop. The blue puppet automacube of Phoenix Dominie rolled into the hallway. The plan to channel the tagalong infected animals toward Larissa had failed. The hallway was charred and little remained of the tagalongs.

  The blue puppet approached the wrecks of the two automacubes in that hallway. The red security machine, SA56, was virtually unsalvageable, being entirely destroyed. The other wreck, the modified blue automacube, was not quite as fully damaged. It had been out of the incendiary area, so it was not burnt. Its chassis was beyond repair, but its memory vault was only partially spoiled. The blue puppet removed that memory vault, and noting it was originally from a medical automacube, made a special report to Phoenix Dominie.

  Next, the blue puppet automacube recovered the memory vault from the gray automacube which Paul had shot. It was fully functional and could easily be inserted into another chassis.

  The blue puppet automacube then rolled into the android workshop and began recording everything. None of the android plans were in its data base. The blue machine was busy for a long time analyzing the androids and making reports. Phoenix Dominie soaked in all the new information. The input was added to its growing wealth of information. New conjectures were plotted. New plans were made.

  “The Vanguard will be protected from all threat. This unit will ensure that,” Phoenix Dominie affirmed.

  24tight journey to oasis

  “So how do we get back?” Gretchen asked Brinley as they walked along.

  “I say we try to fly back,” Brinley answered.

  “Have you forgotten that the shuttles have been shot out of the atmosphere?” Paul asked incredulously.

  “Paulie, there is no atmosphere outside the Vanguard. We are in space, remember?” Brinley answered with a smile.

  “Okay, but the shuttles were still destroyed, right?” Gretchen asked. She too was concerned.

  “I am just not sure the transport vehicle system is functional,” Brinley said. “We may have to walk all the way back.”

  “With all the Roe?” Paul said. “And I am about out of food. How many days would it take us to walk back, even if we did know the best route, which we do not?”

  “Paulie, I agree with you. Those are serious problems. A shuttle could fly us right back, if, and that is a huge if, if we do not get attacked. I have been considering how to shield or defend a shuttle, but…. Well, if we can find a transport terminal I can see if I can access an AI. But I know the shuttle systems better,” Brinley was puzzled.

  “Where are we now?” Gretchen asked. “I am completely lost.”

  They had gotte
n to a long and curved room which had a coffered ceiling. At the side, near a juncture of passageways was an ESRC.

  Brinley walked over to the ESRC and broke the seal and opened the door. The supplies were all intact.

  “We already have plenty of tools,” Paul said. “Unless there is food or something else usable in there?”

  “Paulie, do you want a… what did you call those nasty things, oh yes, a food ration bar? I am checking. Nope, no food ration bars in this ESRC. There probably are none anywhere on the Vanguard. It is not the tools or supplies I am after.” Brinley set the supplies on the floor, and after just a moment had opened a recessed control panel at the back of the ESRC. She activated several levers, and adjusted a dial.

  “Good there is one here. This will let us see where we are,” Brinley stated. “I am pretty sure we are near the anterior aspect of this cylinder, and close to the exterior of the ship.”

  Three large displays came on, and a section of the wall retracted back to allow exposure of a clear permalloy port.

  They all blinked as they looked out at the immense distance. The blackness of space stretched in all directions, but was broken by the multitude of stars. There was no sign of the rest of the Vanguard; it was as if the port was looking out and totally directed away from the rest of the ship.

  “What a sight!” Gretchen explained.

  “I always admire space,” Brinley said. “It is so tranquil and still.”

  “But does that,” Paul swept his arm toward the port, “help us know how to get somewhere safe?”

  “Paulie, it helps me get somewhere safe in my heart,” Brinley replied. As she looked out into space, she kept thinking of Zoya and Eleonora. A single tear ran down her face.

  There was an awkward silence.

  “Okay, I need to save you two. We are getting back,” Brinley stated with determination. She adjusted the controls, and the wall went back into place and the port was covered. The displays then lit up as Brinley searched for a deck plan or schematic.

  “If we could find a control chair, or some more integrated system I might find us a route faster. This is only a minor service point, not every ESRC has even one of theses. There is a maintenance crawlspace which leads near to the transport tube system. It is not an actual terminal, but I think I can intercept a vehicle and get it to stop. If I can get access to the AI Tennard had been working with. Hopefully Tennard was able to sequester that AI away from the lattice after it dumped us. I doubt it had enough power to maintain the links and couplings to the CPO for long, but I am not sure.”

  Brinley worked at her controls. Paul sat down on the deck. Gretchen kept watch for Roe, automacubes, or Larissa.

  Finally, after what seemed an excessively long time, Brinley cracked a huge smile.

  “Got it!” Brinley was thrilled. “Tennard has it isolated again. We can do this!”

  “Do what?” Paul whined. “We are stuck in vast maze.”

  “Have a little faith, Paulie,” Brinley said. She then adjusted the controls a bit more. The display changed.

  “TSI-981, can you guide a transport vehicle to the location I indicate?” Brinley asked the symbols on the display.

  The display shifted colors and became one dull colored illumination.

  “Unauthorized user recognized…. Negative function on links and couplings to lattice. Negative function on links and coupling to other systems outside of transport system. Override code accepted…. Request outside of accepted parameters… Override code accepted…. Feedback within transport system subsidiary to customized user…. Answer to demand: yes, it is possible to bring vehicle to selected location. Request repairs.”

  “TSI-981, bring the transport vehicle to the indicated location,” Brinley commanded and adjusted the controls more. “Bring the vehicle with all haste.”

  “Established protocols breeched…. Safety….inhibited…. superintendent summoned…Negative function on summons… An incident report to Transportation Wellbeing is in queue and will be submitted when links to lattice are reestablished…. Vehicle on its way to desired location….Request repairs,” TSI-981 responded in a stuttering manner.

  “That did it! The vehicle should be there when we get to it. The CPO will not be notified of this. I designated the AI to have the vehicle wait until we arrived, and then to take us back to where Tennard had the transport terminal working!” Brinley exclaimed. “Now we just need to climb down to the location.” She pushed a control bar to the side, and a different section of the wall slide open. There was a ladder behind that section. The ladder shaft was lit by a soft green light.

  “We will need to climb down about a hundred meters, but then we should be next to the transport tube system. You ready to cut another wall open?” Brinley smiled.

  “If it gets us away from Larissa and the Roe and back to a place where we are not in danger, I will cut though anything,” Paul said. He did pocket a few things which Brinley had removed from the ESRC.

  Gretchen looked in the ladder shaft. It was lit for as far as she could see both upward and downward. As she put her head in, her frizzy long hair floated around her in a strange manner.

  “There is no gravity manipulation in that ladder?” Gretchen asked, more as an observation than as a question. Stenciled inside the ladder’s door was ‘FL207.’

  “Well, I had to modify the controls here to access that AI. I could not keep everything working, so I diverted the gravity manipulation. Beware, it will start up again somewhere along the way. I am not sure exactly where. Do not fall. Got it Paulie?”

  Paul just gave her a look.

  Brinley grinned and finished putting the supplies back in the ESRC, and then closed the door.

  “Head down, well what would be down if the gravity manipulation was on,” Brinley instructed.

  Gretchen climbed onto the ladder and began to climb downward. Paul followed. Brinley shut the door behind them as she entered the shaft. It felt odd to be weightless, but it was easy to pull herself along the ladder. Looking at the long distance of the ladder, bathed as it was in the green light, she warned, “Remember, the gravity manipulation will come back on somewhere, so be ready for that.”

  They passed several doors, all with lever controls, but all shut and in good shape. After a while of climbing, Gretchen stated, “Gravity starts here, and it is sudden.”

  “Look for the door marked, ‘FL105’ that is where we will need to climb out. Then the tube system will be only about twenty meters away.”

  “Do we have to cut through twenty meters of permalloy?” Paul asked. He was remembering the difficulty he and Gretchen had in entering the Vanguard.

  “No, Paulie. There will be a hallway and then we cut through a standard sized wall.”

  Gretchen got to the door with the proper marking and opened it. As she stepped out, she heard a voice screaming.

  “Peony Park is closed!”

  There, down the left passage was a Roe. It raised its hands, orange eyes glowing in violent rage. Before it could take even a few steps, Gretchen had drawn the pistol she carried and fired. The Roe dropped to the deck.

  Paul burst out of the ladder shaft, his own weapon drawn, but the Roe was not a danger any longer. “The tagalong animals will be here soon. They always are!”

  Brinley came out next. “Then we just need to enter the transport shaft as quickly as possible. Brinley paced off the distance between the ladder shaft to where she wanted to open the wall.

  “To make this fast, we will each need to work a side of the opening. I am not sure, but I think gravity manipulation will be at a different angle inside the tube system, so watch for that.”

  All three pulled out molecular torches and by cutting different parts of the opening they made short work of the wall. Brinley used a suction cup hand grip to hold the severed out wall section. Together they pulled it free and set it down on the deck.

  Paul looked back to where the dead Roe lay, and saw a flurry of small things scurrying across it. He did no
t want to look too closely as he knew rats and other infected animals were devouring the Roe and would be coming for them soon. “That vehicle better be inside there or we are in grave danger.”

  Switching on a lamp, Brinley jumped into the space they had opened. “It worked! The vehicle is right here in the alcove off the tube system. We have a ride back to Oasis!”

  Gretchen jumped in after her. “Come on Paul, the angle of gravity change is not severe, and the fall is only about a two meters. Just basically slide down the side wall.”

  Using the suction cup grip on the reversed side, Paul replaced the cut out section. “Those infected animals will not follow us, if I weld this shut.”

  “Good thinking Paulie!” Brinley smiled as she winked at Gretchen.