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

by John Thornton

  “Special message?” Paul asked.

  “Yes, the one the Committee sent out. All the adventurers got that, right?” Brinley asked.

  “I think I did. I better ask Gretchen,” Paul replied. “Brinley why are you here?”

  “Michael!” Jamie exclaimed. She rushed up to the permalloy window and Michael stepped through it as if it were just a curtain. His muscular frame and thick wavy brown hair were not at all mussed by the movement from outside to inside.

  “No time to cut a door. Too much is happening.” Michael smiled as he reached for Jamie.

  Jamie grabbed Michael and kissed him passionately. He pulled her athletic body into a warm sensuous hug. They embraced for a long time.

  Paul looked back outside through the clear permalloy. The swirling tan sky was descending. It now obscured the sky tube entirely and was settling down on the forest. The tan was casting a dry look over the green trees whose color was fading out.

  “Come on over here!” one of the adventurers called. “The waterfall is just starting to flow!”

  Paul turned away from the window and walked past the intimate kissing and hugging that Michael and Jamie were doing. He headed back toward the table where the adventurers were sitting. A waterfall was pouring out of the ceiling. Water was coursing down to land on the table where the food ration bars and containers of drink were located. The adventurers were putting their cups under the flow and taking deep draughts of the fresh, clear water.

  “It is so good to have a bountiful water supply,” Ken said. “Nothing could be better!”

  “Unless it is limitless food!” Beth replied and took a bite of some orange fruit she had in her hand.

  Paul heard a knocking. The others did not hear it, or paid it no attention. They were all drinking and eating and splashing about in the waterfall which was now making a lovely pool in the center of the cafetorium.

  The knocking continued.

  Paul looked over and again gazed out through the windows. The world outside was now mostly tan colored, and the trees of the forest were just sand and dust dunes. Someone was knocking on the outside. Paul wondered how he could hear someone knocking through permalloy, be it transparent or opaque.

  He walked back to get a better look. Standing there, outside, was Karen. Her long curly blonde hair hung loose about her shoulders. Her radiation absorbing material clothing was neat and tidy and intact. Her face mask, goggle, and hood were hanging off to the side.

  “Karen? You should not be outside,” Paul said. “You need the full RAM in place to be effective.”

  “Paul?” Karen said. “Paul? There you are. I have a present for you!” Her big brown eyes were wide open and her face was smiling.

  Paul looked down and saw that in her glove covered hands she was holding a stuffed child’s toy. It was furry and white with a purple shaggy mane. Paul recognized it as a toy donkey, what habitat people might call a poitevin, or maybe it was a wolf. His mind was racing as he tried to identify what kind of animal it was. He knew he had seen it before, but the name kept slipping from his mind.

  “Karen, where did you get that?” Paul asked as he stared at the toy. “I know I have seen it somewhere.”

  “It was on that child’s bed,” Karen replied.

  “Child’s bed?” Paul said. “That bed in Dome 3?”

  “Of course. It all started with me,” Karen replied. “I brought you this cuddly toy so you will never forget.”

  Paul looked from the toy up to Karen’s face. Her eyes were closed. Her face was now a ghastly gray shade. Her lips were a sickly dark blue color. She hugged the toy and then tossed it to Paul.

  “It all started with me,” Karen said and opened her eyes. They were a blazing orange color.

  “Ah! What?” Paul said as he caught the stuffed animal as it sailed right through the clear permalloy.

  Karen fell back into the dust and sand and disappeared, but a lingering orange glow was where she had stood.

  “Hey pirate! You better not throw that toy into the sea like you did my money’s paw,” a boy said to Paul from behind him. “I never did find it, and you owe me. I want it back!”

  “What?” Paul spun about and looked for the boy.

  The boy was running for the pool of water at the center of the cafetorium. “I will just swim out and search again, your friends will help me!” the boy yelled. “You had no right to throw away my monkey’s paw.”

  “Bogdan my brother! I will come and help you find what is yours,” a girl said as she ran past Paul chasing the boy.

  “No! Do not go in the water!” Paul yelled. “Hobart, Beth, Janae, someone stop those children!”

  “Why Paul? That is your job. You heard the special message,” Hobart said. “We are all assigned to different Colony Ships, it is your duty. You chose the Vanguard.”

  “That is right Paul,” a woman said from behind him. “We gave you the best we had. The best AI, a FTL scout ship, teleportation technology, and everything else to succeed.”

  “Member Murial?” Paul whirled about and saw the entire Committee sitting at their triangular table. Murial, Jubal, and Lorna all had stern looks on their faces. Each of them was holding a monkey’s paw.

  “Paul, you knew what you were doing, yet you let those children get in that water,” Jubal said. “How could you throw a child’s toy like that?”

  “What? No? I did not know!” Paul stammered. He looked own and saw he was still holding the cuddly stuffed toy. He could not throw it away, no matter how hard he tried.

  “You will never get rid of that one,” Ken said. “My buddy, that one is yours forever!” He then turned and danced away and swept up Janae in his arms.

  “Oh the water is so nice!” Bogdan the boy said.

  Paul turned and watched the children as they splashed around in the pool of water.

  “Come on in Anda! We will search for it together. Maybe we will find buried pirate treasure!”

  The girl jumped in and dove under the water; she came up and said, “I do not see it. Maybe we will be cursed?”

  Paul spun back around to look for the Committee; he felt that they could save the children.

  “You used the best we had,” Murial said and the Committee members all faded from view.

  Paul twirled around again and saw that the children were wading in the water, using their arms to splash it from side to side as they looked down. The waterfall was now dumping brown slimy water down out of the ceiling. That was spreading across the pool toward the children.

  “Children wait!” Paul screamed as he tried to run after them. “Get out of the water!”

  A huge mass lifted out of the water in front of him. A monstrous beast arose. It had large spiked teeth and a gigantic mouth which was spread wide as it lifted itself up. The children were swallowed whole and their screams were cut off as the beast bit down. Blood ran down its lips and off its mouth. It burped out ghastly, foul smelling air.

  Paul reached for his pistol, but his belt was empty.

  “I made those Willie Wackers especially for you, and you lost them?” A wheezy voice called to him. “I knew Gretchen would keep hers safe, but I am so disappointed in you. I made one special, just to help you, and you lose it?”

  “Willie? I tried so hard! The children! The children! I must help them,” Paul cried out.

  “We gave you personalize spears, yet you did not save us,” Sibat and Oda said from the bank of the pool. Their bodies were mangled, yet they were standing and holding their own spears.

  “I tried to save you! I tried so hard!” Paul yelled.

  “It is too late for that,” Doctor Chambers said. “You already let them die. You let those children die Paul. I told you Dome 3 was your fault, and now these children have all died because of you.”

  “No. You said it was suicide for Karen, and those children just ran away,” Paul wailed. “I tried to stop them, I really did!”

  “The hunters are also dead, because of you Paul,” Doctor Chamber sa
id. “Because of you! If you had only been a better person.”

  Paul looked around, but the adventurers were gone.

  The walls of the cafetorium melted away and became a cliff which led upward and away. The floor was flooded with the brown toxic waters, the triangular table was floating sideways in the waters, and there were several bodies face down. Paul was too afraid to look closely to see whose bodies they were.

  Paul looked up the cliff-side and saw Brink at the top. “If you just had a sending pad, you could teleport up here and get out of the way. Copernicus has run all the calculations and it will easily work, but I doubt you will follow through. You did not help us in Dome 17, so why would you do it now?”

  “Or you could have had us fly you to safety,” Zoya said to Paul as she peeked over the rim of the cliff. “But you let us die too. My momma and I could have flown that scout of yours and taken you and everyone else to safety. Yes, we could have, but we are dead now.”

  Zoya, Eleonora and Brink were all looking down from the plateau at the top of the cliff. Their faces were twisted in scorn.

  “You failed us Paul. You failed us all.” They said in unison, then turned and walked away.

  “I tried Zoya. I really tried. Brink! Murial! Doctor Chambers! Help me! Gretchen where are you?”

  Paul ran toward where the waterfall had been. It was rapidly drying up and leaving just a stagnant pool of brown muck. The door exiting the cafetorium now resembled a rocky façade in the side of the cliff’s face. Paul yanked open the door.

  “Paul, where are you going?” Larissa asked. Her black and gray uniform spotless and her hair neatly braided. “Grandpa Gari was just asking about you. I have sent some automacubes to get him.” She took a drink from a steaming mug of liquid.

  “Gretchen help me!” Paul screamed as slammed the door shut, turned and ran away.

  The brown water parted and a bluish purple glow began to radiate out from underneath. The cafetorium was gone now. As the water ran away, a purple sphere rose from the murky darkness and on it were two bright orange eyes. The eyes grew and grew as Paul tried to turn and run back. The cliff wall blocked him. The door was gone. The sphere sprouted long arms which clutched pipes of rusty steel.

  The arms drew back and the steel pipes were about to crash down on him.

  “NOOOOOOOOOO!” Paul screamed.

  2 Where to start?

  Paul awoke in a wet and clammy sweat. He was screaming. “No! It is not my fault!”

  Gretchen was instantly awake and near him. “Paul, what is it?”

  “No. I am not responsible!” Paul yelled as he sat upright.

  Gretchen turned on the light on the fusion pack. They were lying in the cots in Tennard’s workshop, many levels down from the plateau of Inaccessible Island. The sleeping place at the side of the workshop was in a shambles. Most of the corridors and hallways and rooms of the former safe zone were a mess because of the recent fighting between Herric’s troopers and the Free Rangers. Makeshift locks, barriers, and ruined doors were now the norm.

  “Paul, you are safe,” Gretchen said and held onto him. Her dark arms wrapping around him and holding him tightly. “It was a nightmare. Just a dream.”

  “But….” Paul broke down and sobbed heavily. “So many dead people.”

  Gretchen gently held him.

  Time passed.

  “Gretchen? We must escape from here,” Paul said as he nestled into her black frizzy hair. It felt good on his face as he held her. He cried more; she held him and patted his back.

  Time passed.

  “Gretchen? Can we ever be safe?” Paul looked into her brown and expressive eyes. Her tears were there as was the love she had for him.

  “I hope so, but I really am not sure,” Gretchen said in all honesty.

  “I think we need to find a safe place,” Paul said and then kissed her ever so gently.

  “I know you want to do that, and I am with you in this. Getting the freight elevator open and functional again was a big start. Brinley has plans to get more of the old safe zone back in operation, but has secured some of these areas. It is just going to take time,” Gretchen reassured Paul. “The perimeter is getting more secure every day.”

  “Gretchen, no. I am not saying make this place better. There is no safe place in this old wreck of an infected colony ship. I mean we must leave the Vanguard entirely. Anywhere will be better than here,” Paul said.

  “Paul, things are getting better. We have killed numerous Roe who have attacked the outposts. The transport system is partially running. Larissa went back to the Wilds to organize their defenses, and we have not seen any sign of the Jellies here. That dozen or so Free Rangers who have found their way back here are organized and working to restore function. Jodie is doing great organizing the teams to work repairs and keep watch on the passageways to here. The corridors are sealed. This is the safest place I can think of to be.”

  “Yes, I am glad Larissa left. Yes, TSI-981 was able to take Larissa away in a transport vehicle and back to the Wilds. Yes, I know that. I know, the Roe cannot get in as easily now. But it is not enough. I know the Free Rangers are trying to make this place secure. I know! I know! I am not arguing that is wrong. I just have to escape from this whole place. The Roe, the carnivores, the people trying to kill me, and the alien spheres. Even just knowing that Brinley was working with Larissa for so long stresses me severely. And where is Tennard? Is he dead too? I need to escape!” Paul was shaking as he spoke. He began sobbing again. “Even Doctor Chambers knows I failed everyone.”

  “What?” Gretchen asked. “Was he in your nightmare?”

  “Yes. With all the other people I have let die,” Paul replied. “I am such a failure.”

  “Doctor Chambers would never blame you for any of the deaths on this ship. Remember what he said about your mission to Dome 3? You are not responsible for the people dying.” Gretchen stared hard and directly into Paul’s eyes.

  “Gretchen, I have killed people and things here. That thing in the sphere. Those children in the sea,” Paul replied. He could not keep looking at her.

  “What do you honestly think Doctor Chambers would say to you?”

  Paul paused. He took a deep breath. He blew it out slowly. “He would say I was not responsible. He did say that about Karen. But she told me I was. She gave me that child’s toy!” Paul broke into sobbing yet again. “We must get away.”

  “Paul that was a nightmare. We have seen horrible stuff; it makes sense that your dreams would be bad. I too want to escape from all these threats, but there is nowhere to go. We must live with the fact we are here on the Vanguard for the rest of our lives. So we find the safest place on this huge ship and make it better.”

  Paul pulled away. “That is not good enough.” He stood and dressed. Gretchen did so as well. They then both ate a food ration bar and drank a serving of water. It reminded both of them of Dome 17 and the structured food schedules.

  After a while, Paul spoke again. “I think there is a way to leave. Brink gave me the idea in my dream.” Paul stated.

  “In your dream?” Gretchen asked, hardly hiding her doubt. “That same nightmare dream?”

  Paul did not answer her. Instead he called out. “Tiffany? Can you please assist me?”

  The artificial intelligence system immediately responded. “Yes, Paul. I wish to help you.” The orange automacube which housed it was parked in the corner of the workshop.

  “Tiffany, before you do anything Paul requests, I need you to construct a simulation of Doctor Chambers from Dome 17,” Gretchen interjected. “It needs to be interactive, and intuitive and designed on what the real Doctor Chambers would say. Can you do that?”

  “Certainly that can be done. My conjectures are that a full simulation of Doctor Chambers would only be 72% accurate and authentic, as Doctor Chambers has a myriad of methods and styles he uses. His skills are adaptive and flexible in working with clients. That makes my conjectures more difficult, but nonetheless an effectiv
e simulation can be made and utilized, understanding it will have the 72% accuracy rate. In this maintenance automacube I am limited to flat, two-dimensional, but interactive simulations,” the AI Tiffany responded.

  “Tiffany, that is all fine and good and needed. I will talk to that Doctor Chambers construct sometime. Right now I want you to engage your maximum efforts on finding a feasible way for us to leave the Colony Ship Vanguard,” Paul ordered.

  “Before I do that, I need to relate something to your dream, it is about a man who had a nightmare of being trapped in a room,” Tiffany stated.

  “I feel trapped on the Vanguard,” Paul admitted.