“No one is winning that battle,” Sigmond said. He had felt some delight seeing the red machines getting smashed, but the Jellie’s terrorized him. His mind was almost in as much turmoil as was the pond. Then the girl Irina’s face came to his consciousness. That calmed and soothed him. “Indeed, no one is winning this battle. No one.”
The whirlpool disappeared down into the ground with a giant gurgle. The river was just rushing over the side of hole where the pond had been. They could actually see the water level of the entire river slowly dropping as they looked at the side of the riverbed.
The last part of the rocky ledge which had been beaten during the battle succumbed to the destructive force of the substance the Jellie had ejected onto the rocks. It collapsed and with it the only remaining automacube fell into the abyss where the pond had been. They were all sucked away with the out flowing water.
“Kreee-ah.”
The hawk circled and dove toward the wall where the rocky façade had crumbled away. It then flapped its wings and soared upward. Then leveling off, the hawk again dove right toward the wall. It did this several times while Hugh and Sigmond watched.
“Why is that bird doing that?”
“Free Ranger, do you not see the passageway there in the permalloy?” Hugh said.
“That ventilation shaft? It was ripped from the wall, and you think it is a passageway? Trooper, you have lost your mind,” Sigmond replied.
“Kreee-ah,” the hawk squealed again as this time it flew right near the wall where the buckled part of the shaft was hanging out.
“The guide says yes,” Hugh replied. “That will lead out of the habitat. I know the quarantine is already broken, but leaving the Wilds feels odd.”
“That will be back to places I know best,” Sigmond replied. “The biological habitat around here is failing, so back to the corridors. I imagine we can find a hanger bay and try to rebuild a safe zone.”
“Or go to help her, like the child said,” Hugh reminded him.
“Yes, she does need our help,” he answered.
Neither realized they were speaking about different people.
Hugh looked at the broken ventilation shaft and then looked at the hole where the water was falling. The exposed part of the ventilation shaft was about ten meters above the hole, but the hole itself was twenty to thirty meters wide, and the water was rushing so fast that it was eroding the riverbed. The permalloy wall was still in place, but the ground, rocks, and other things which had comprised the once beautiful landscape, riverbed, banks and pond were now crumbling into that hole.
One small shrub was leaning over and holding on by its roots. The green leaves had all been torn off by the torrent of water, but the shrub’s branches remained intact. It tottered and waved as the ground beneath it washed away. Then finally it too was gone as it disappeared down into the darkness below.
“I am climbing over to that spot,” Hugh declared. He checked the fasteners on his pack and secured his holster. He looked at the permalloy wall and could see bracing and some other jutting out parts where he could grab on or step. “Come on Free Ranger, this cannot be harder than what you did smuggling things in and out of our home, right?”
“It will certainly be good to depart from this mess that is disintegrating around us. Besides, Trooper, being back in the decks and corridors will be refreshing.”
The two men ran up to the ruins of the wall. Hugh stepped over and got as close as he dared to where the dirt and pebbles were sliding down to the raging river. He found a place for his left foot and then swung his arms over until he had grasped some piping that was on the wall. Shuffling his feet and moving hand over hand he was able to climb across and diagonally up the wall toward the exposed ventilation shaft.
“Trooper, you can climb fairly well, for someone who grew up in here,” Sigmond remarked. He followed closely behind but picked slightly different foot and toe holds. “This would be much easier in zero gravity.”
“Free Rangers are always looking for the easy way to do everything, right? Ever since Baldwin rebelled,” Hugh jibbed as he muscled himself over an area where the grips were farther apart than was comfortable.
“Tease all you want, Trooper, but I believe we are both rebels now. Or should we turn around and go seek out the CPO?”
Hugh strained as he pulled himself up and stretched his foot out to slip his toe onto a section of rock. The rock gave way, but he found a place for his foot on part of the permalloy crosspieces. “We are going to help her. That is true loyalty. Do Free Rangers have any loyalty?”
“Loyalty is not blind obedience. Troopers only have blind obedience, right?” Sigmond replied. He too was struggling with the climb as some of the sections of the wall were now getting wet by the spray coming up from the shifting flow of the river as it poured into the hole below them. “But I agree, we are going to help her.”
Hugh made it first to the ventilation shaft. The permalloy wall around it was melted and re-hardened. He had not seen that kind of damage up close before. Permalloy was something that to Hugh always was the same. A few specialized mechanics at Orsk could work and fashion and alter permalloy, but to Hugh’s mind it was a solid that was almost unchangeable. Seeing what the Jellie weapon had done both impressed and concerned him. Had Larissa faced such a weapon? His thoughts reeled from that consideration.
“The shaft is open as far as I can see inside it,” Hugh called back. He pulled himself up and then bent his knees and slid inside. He looked back.
Sigmond was almost to the shaft opening himself. He too was amazed by the melted permalloy, but not surprised. He had manipulated permalloy since he was a child and had learned from skilled people like Tennard how to do so. It was all a matter of using the correct tools for the appropriate job. The Jellie technology was unusual to him, but it was still technology. Brinley would relate, Sigmond thought, as he climbed and observed. In some ways, that technology was not as foreign to him as were the workings of the biological habitat. He had reached the opening a bit higher than had Hugh. Sigmond lowered his legs into it and was gripping onto a suction of steel conduit which had been welded onto the permalloy.
Kaboosh!
Another explosion again racked the riverbed, this time right at the edge of where the water had been falling into the huge hole. Water and debris flew up and around as the shock wave struck.
Sigmond lost his grip and slipped.
Hugh reached out with blazing fast reflexes and grabbed Sigmond by the wrist as he fell.
“I got you Free Ranger!” Hugh called as he pulled up.
Sigmond grabbed onto Hugh’s wrist in return and then thrust his feet onto a slippery section of the wall. They skidded away so he kicked and stepped and scrambled to find toe holds. Connecting his right foot into a depression in the permalloy he then scampered up and inside the ventilation ductwork.
“Thank you Trooper,” he said as he flopped onto his back in the ductwork. “For a moment I thought I was heading down into that.”
“The child told you we are to work together, right?” Hugh replied with a smile.
“Kreee-ah! Kreee-ah!” The hawk cried as it made a final circle around above the waters.
“Trooper, your spirit guide looks pleased,” Sigmond said as he looked back out across the giant hole and over the steadily dropping waters. “That bird probably did not want to see me attempt to fly. I am much better in a shuttle. Give me technology over biology anytime.”
The last explosion had caused a large crack in the riverbed. A section unexpectedly collapsed with a roar and the two sides of the crack peeled away. The fissure spread apart and followed the river upstream. More and more of the landscape crumbled into it as dirt, rocks, plants, and everything nearby fell into the great dark chasm.
“I know the water system is circular and that the water will head back through the underground tunnels to reenter Lake Orsk, but I wonder,” Hugh said aloud. He could tell there was less water flowing than before. “The damage her
e is severe.”
Sigmond clasped him on the shoulder and said, “Those explosions under the water probably opened up many passages which were never designed to carry water. Flooding them will alter everything. Water will be trapped in places and rooms and anywhere it can flow. This whole habitat is surrounded on all sides by about a kilometer thick layer of corridors, decks, and other areas all with gravity manipulation in place. We will need to beware of flooding as we continue on this adventure.”
“Let us hope those Jellies were killed by the mines going off.” Hugh pulled a small flashlight out from his pack and turned it on. The lufi-amalgum batteries were fully charged. “Well, Free Ranger, this is now your area of expertise. Which way do we go?”
“Mines going off?” Sigmond asked. “Those were bombs set by the CPO?”
“I believe so, yes. It looked to me like the automacubes and other defenders of this location had it rigged to prevent Jellies from making an incursion here. I know similar defenses are in place at the inlets of Lake Orsk,” Hugh answered.
The was a flickering all across the sky. Both me looked up. The sky tube far overhead flashed several times and then a red glow shot down its length.
“Is that from the CPO as well?” Sigmond asked.
Kaboosh! Another mine went off deep in the hole below them.
“That was another mine, but I have no idea what is happening with the sky tube,” Hugh said as he looked up.
“Stop the Jellies by destroying the habitat.” Sigmond considered saying something more, but resisted. He then crawled away and took the vent which sloped upward. “We will need to find a grille and get out of these ducts as soon as we can. I am not sure what our location will be, but I can find us a hanger bay.”
“Free Ranger, I am following you here. This is all foreign to me,” Hugh replied as he crawled after Sigmond. “First time I have ever left the Wilds.”
Crawling up the ventilation shaft was not difficult. It sloped at a gentle angle and there were no obstructions. They twisted and turned and crawled for some time. Sigmond led them to a junction. Sounds of far away water flowing echoed up from one shaft that went down at a steep angle.
“Around the corner is the first grille I have seen. This air vent might have been for something other than typical ventilation.” He slid around the junction and light spilled down from above him. He was able to squat and work over his head on the grillwork. After just a bit he set the grille to the side and climbed up and out of the ventilation shaft.
“Come on Trooper,” he said. “Welcome to the real world away from the nature you knew so well.”
Hugh lifted himself up and his flashlight cast just a pale glow around him. It had been sufficient in the ventilation shaft, but the place where they stood now was much larger. The darkness was thick, and the light in Hugh’s hand was tiny in comparison.
“Asparagus does not pay taxes!” a deep bass voice hollered out of the darkness.
8 Anger, revenge, or retribution?
Larissa was aiming the pistol right at the Jellie when Brinley, Paul, and Gretchen rushed into the laboratory. The Jellie had swum to the back of the tank and was sloshing its tentacles around.
“Larissa?” Brinley asked.
Larissa felt the anger settling into her and that made her outwardly calmer. She pursed her lips and reached forward and pushed the communication button.
“Your kind are killing us,” Larissa said as she pressed the barrel against the clear permalloy.
“Yes. We kill all of you XX XXXX gas breathers,” the translator’s words scrolled across.
“What is to stop me from killing you right now?”
“Gas breathers weak. We strong. XX XX XXXXX We kill all.”
“I am not dead, and you are my prisoner,” Larissa said.
“Release now! Gas breather ship doomed. All die XX XXXX die to all.”
“TSI-5, have you done tests on temperature differences in the tank?” Larissa asked. She knew the translation communicator was still on as she heard a muffled bit of the signal that was send through the water.
“Captain, as you can see, I have been working to increase the vocabulary. The Jellie has cooperated in some of the questioning,” the artificial intelligence system responded. “I have raised the water level as a reward. Your suggestion was a good one.”
“Do you have the capacity to heat up or even boil the water in the tank?” Larissa asked.
Before the AI could respond, the Jellie spun about in severe agitation.
“Yes Captain Larissa, I could heat the water to that level,” TSI-5 replied.
“Larissa? Did you notice the Jellie responded before the translation signal was finished?” Gretchen asked. “I think it understands your speech more than we thought.”
“No. I disagree. It must need the translator,” Larissa said and pushed off the communication button. She holstered the pistol and turned around. She winked at Gretchen. She then turned back to the tank. “How can some dumb animal understand what we are saying? I doubt they can even talk to each other much. Just dumb animals that need to be killed.”
“Captain Larissa? Your comments are not consistent with my observations,” TSI-5 stated. “The confined specimen exhibits high levels of intelligence.”
“Just a trick like a parrot mimicking words,” Larissa answered. “TSI-5, keep recording whatever it says, but I doubt it will be useful. When our battle fleet arrives all these dumb animals will be killed and this ship reclaimed.”
Brinley picked up on what Larissa was doing. “Do we even need this specimen, Captain?”
“I am not sure. It has not shown anything useful, but it can remain until our strong fighters arrive. We do not have long to wait.”
The Jellie was moving in odd ways.
“I may still have you boil it, or freeze it, I am undecided,” Larissa said.
The Jellie swam in agitation again.
Larissa turned and walked out. Brinley, Paul, and Gretchen followed. They walked a good distance away before speaking.
“That enemy does understand us, even without the translator,” Larissa said “We need to use that to our advantage. If it thinks we have reinforcements coming, perhaps that will buy us some time to get our own systems up and running and get a counterattack organized.”
“That would mean the Jellie can communicate to the others of its kind even from in confinement,” Paul objected. “Do we have any idea that that is possible?”
“No, but we have technology that allows us to communicate to each other, perhaps it does too,” Larissa replied. “However, I also made it think it is disposable to us. It will try to save its life by offering us better information, if my hunch is correct.”
Larissa paced a bit and then she said, “Brinley can you please work to get one of the primary AIs here to give me a better assessment on the ship? Perhaps working with the multiceivers you and I can tune one of them back into operation?”
“Larissa? Gretchen and Paul can help me with that. You may want to get the Captain’s gig outfitted and prepared. The child Martin said we would need it,” Brinley reminded them. “I have not evaluated it yet, and being the Captain, those systems will respond better to you.”
Larissa considered for a moment. “Good suggestion. I will go see what that Captain’s gig can do. I assume you can fly it for me? As a last resort we could take it and make our own visual assessment of the Vanguard.”
“What? Go off the Vanguard out where the Jellie spacecraft are?” Paul said. “Here we at least have some security and a chance to flee or fight.”
“I said it would be a last resort,” Larissa snapped at Paul. “That child told Brinley we needed it, so I accept we do need it. I will now try to find out for what and how.” She turned and walked briskly away and down the stairs to the hanger bay.
“Come with me,” Brinley said. “If we can get that display to open to an AI whose memory core is here, I may be able to modulate it, but will need your help.”
; They followed Brinley down to the hanger bay where the workstation and display was located. Larissa had opened the hatch-like door which connected to the observation deck near the two docking stalls. The Captain’s gig was visible through the doorway which was standing open.
“Gretchen, you access the display here. Just place your hand against it and hopefully it will recognize you as a commander. Depending on which AI responds, I will then run up and work on its memory core in the gallery. If I can figure out which one it is, which I think I can do,” Brinley instructed. “We can then speak through the multiceiver.”
“And I just stand by and watch?” Paul said.
The Colony Ship Vanguard: The entire eight book series in one bundle Page 177