They looked up and saw Hugh, Sigmond, and Larissa standing there.
Sigmond ran across the observation deck and through the pressure door to reach Brinley. He threw his arms around her, “I think we are the only Free Rangers left.”
Brinley held him for a moment more and whispered, “This plan can work. Can you work with Larissa?”
Sigmond squeezed her gently. “Yes. I must forgive moment by moment, but yes I can. She has forgiven me.”
Paul and Gretchen walked along and the green and brown automacube which housed Tiffany rolled after. They came to the display. The ‘Default Population Report’ number was now 19.
“Tiffany, connect in and see if that number if correct. Then do what you can to get those people here,” Gretchen commanded.
“We cannot take even that many. Who will decide who goes and who stays?” Paul asked. “The six children must come.”
Tiffany had the automacube extend out a cable and jacked into the access port near the display. A moment later, Tiffany said, “The nonphysicality is more chaotic than previously. From what I can tell, that number is correct. However, I could devise no way of contacting those people. I asked the few artificial intelligence systems which responded to render aid and assistance, but my conjectures on their successes are low. I was able to make a permanent coupling to each of the surviving solar mimicry overseers. Those artificial intelligence systems are now on the display here, as well as linked to me. The remote detonation will be ready when needed.”
“Where are the children?” Paul asked.
“One of them was here not long ago,” Larissa said.
“Paul, she said they would be with you when we leave,” Gretchen reminded him. “They are resourceful.”
“May I coordinate the reconstruction of the gigs into the lifeboat?” Tiffany inquired. “With the engineering automacubes, and the transport automacubes we brought the process will move along swiftly and steadily.”
“Yes, make it happen as quickly as possible,” Larissa ordered. “We want to be ready to leave as soon as the final survivor get here.” She almost added, ‘or when that population display reaches zero’ but she did not.
The yellow automacubes joined forces with the blue engineering automacubes and the rear sections of the gigs were modified. Many seats were removed. The central memory core for TSI-6 was installed in the forward facing gig. Many of the other mechanical devices needed were also installed in the proper places according to Tiffany’s plan.
Sigmond and Brinley moved almost as quickly as the automacubes did, and the two halves of the lifeboat took form.
Paul felt unneeded and wandered back to the laboratory where the captive Jellie was caged in its tank of water. He considered questioning it, but found he had far too much rage in him to want a conversation. So he walked about the command bridge.
Gretchen joined him after some time.
“The ‘Default Population Report’ count has fallen to 11, but the work is progressing quickly. The jumbo fusion boxes are installed. Brinley is depressurizing the hanger bay to allow the spraying of the new permalloy to fuse the stubs together and create twin umbilici, one fore and one aft. The suspended animation cocoons are…”
Paul interrupted her. “Gretchen, when we left Dome 17, did you ever imagine this would be our fate? Cobbling together some hundred-year-old technology and risking our lives again? You know we will need to get inside those cocoons and trust that suspended animation process. It reminds me of ancient burial rites we learned about in school. Coffin, sarcophagus, casket, they were all just like that. Is that all these are? Clear cocoons to hold us while we die? At least with the faster-than-light scout we were awake and alert. Here we lie down and just wait? How will we even know if it will work?”
“I am planning to be a test subject,” Gretchen said. “The first cocoon is already assembled and in place. The other nineteen are nearly finished, but I wanted to make sure they will work. So in a few minutes, I am being placed into one and for an hour I will be in suspended animation.”
“I do not want you to die,” Paul said. Tears ran down his face.
“It is just an hour,” Gretchen smiled and hugged him.
They sat together quietly for a while.
“It will be like two hundred years if we ever do launch from this place. Two hundred years just waiting for some system to fail. The AI, TSI-6 will be three hundred years old, and installed in a different place, depending on antique stuff to support us. What if it fails and we never are awakened? How long can suspended animation last?”
“Tiffany will also be overseeing the mission,” Gretchen said.
“Tiffany has been traumatized almost as bad as we have been, and Tiffany will need to supervise the flight, the status of the glued together ship, and the reaching of a suitable planet. Piloting, navigation, and astrogation will be a large amount of work for one AI, even Tiffany. This mission only has a one to five percent chance of success,” Paul said.
“That is better than a zero chance, and Paul we did find the Vanguard. Come with me, I want to test that suspended animation cocoon as soon as possible.” Gretchen stood and pulled Paul up. Hand in hand they walked back to where the lifeboat was being assembled.
The blue automacubes were spraying and weaving the new permalloy all around the stubs which extended between the two former Captain’s gigs. The each had a sprayer assembly on their tops, secured down just behind the multi-jointed manipulation arm. A flexible tube came from the assembly and was held at the end of the arm. It coated the permalloy in layer after layer as it was sprayed. One automacube stopped as its sprayer ceased to dispense the thin, red, stringy strands of liquefied permalloy. It rolled to the side of the hanger bay to where there were fittings and pipes and ducts. Then it connected in a tube and the red materials flowed into it sprayer.
“Paulie! The lifeboat is just about finished. We were able to do an admixture of permalloy materials to seal the two together. I chose red because this is our greatest adventure!” Brinley was very excited. “We have the distal hatches as our egress points, since the proximal hatches are now an interior part of the lifeboat. We will only need one way in and out anyway on each side, right!” Her large smile hid some of the trepidation she was feeling.
They walk out into the hanger bay and entered the open distal hatch. Sigmond and Hugh were on that side of the lifeboat where TSI-6’s central memory core had been installed. It glowed in a steady amber light which felt warm and soothing. The new location for the central memory core was up on a small raised area off the floor, its series of horizontal brass colored rings glistened and shined with a new cleanness and polish. The interior column of clear permalloy was visible and shined. Connection cables were at the top running into the ceiling, and bottom where they extended down into the floor. All the connections and contacts looked new and well suited, although the central memory core looked much bigger, comparatively speaking, to the lifeboat than it had in the gallery. It continued to exude a quiet kind of power, dignity, and serenity, even though now it was the only memory core around.
“Welcome to our lifeboat,” TSI-6 stated.
“Thank you,” Paul muttered in reply. “Are you installed properly and will this all work?”
The AI’s voice was pleasant and soft. “Yes I have been properly installed. The jumbo fusion boxes are providing a steady, reliable, and efficient source of energy for all my systems. I am interfaced with Tiffany and it feels very good to not be alone.”
Paul then did notice the red jumbo fusion boxes that had been strategically placed into alcoves around the memory core. He thought about how he had tried to use them for teleportation, and he shook his head at that failure.
Larissa walked through the umbilicus which looked remarkably like the rest of the ship. Paul was very surprised that it was not shoddy or strange looking.
Sigmond was instructing Hugh at that sides cockpit. The green and brown automacube, its drive wheels now missing, had been placed ne
ar where the Journal had been designed to go. Cables and pipes securely connected the automacube to that location and Tiffany’s ALP was seated right at the nose of the cockpit. The three working data sticks, joined to the data stick readers were also installed in the cockpit area
“Captain Larissa? Crew? Tiffany?” TSI-6 asked. “Since you are all here together, I have a request to make.”
“What?” Paul asked.
“Proceed with your request,” Larissa said.
“I have spoken with Tiffany at length, and I no longer wish to go by the designation TSI-6, Suspended Animation and Hibernation Oversight. Some of you call me SAHO. Instead, I would like to be called Rebel’s Rainbow.”
“Rebel’s Rainbow?” Paul said in surprise. “Why?”
“Because it is my desire,” the AI replied.
“Tiffany will this cause any kind of dysfunction or problem?” Gretchen asked.
“None whatsoever. In fact, I wholeheartedly support the suggestion that TSI-6 now be known as Rebel’s Rainbow. The two of us will be interacting for roughly two centuries, and a more familiar name will be helpful. I have done conjectures on our current mission and the success potential is raised from one to five percent to three to seven percent, a large share of that is because of the accomplishment of having a blend of Vanguard technology with Dome 17 technology. The nomenclature change is suggested and encouraged.”
“Why a Rebel’s Rainbow?” Paul asked with a blank look on his face.
“A rebel is someone who rises in brave opposition against an established system or situation. I am doing that as your advocate against the situation you are currently facing,” the AI replied and then asked. “Have you ever seen a rainbow? A real rainbow? A natural rainbow?”
“No,” Gretchen answered. “None of us have.”
Tiffany then interjected, “There have not been rainbows on Earth for many decades. A natural rainbow is an arch of multiple colors formed in the sky under proper conditions, caused by the refraction and dispersion of the sun's natural light by rain or other water droplets in the atmosphere.”
TSI-6 then added, “There are only artificially created rainbows on the Vanguard and none are anywhere the size and scope of natural rainbows as known from the historical records available. Tiffany and I have consulted on this topic while we were confirming the construction of the lifeboat. The rainbow holds a ubiquitous meaning of unity, peace and hope in numerous historical cultures. Often the rainbow is signifying a union between sky, water, and earth. Many of the symbolic meanings of rainbows involve images such as a celestial bridge, a trail, a pathway, or an animal to be ridden. Often those symbols are connected with divine intervention regarding a covenantal promise of hope. Some cultures spoke of a treasure of inestimable worth at the end of the rainbow. All these factors fit in with my desire to be a brave advocate for you on this mission to traverse the heavens and find a suitable home for you all. Therefore, I request to now be addressed as Rebel’s Rainbow.”
Larissa looked at the others, and seeing no objections she said, “While I carry the title Captain, I want us to vote on this. All who support the name change please rise your hands.”
All six people raised their hands. All were smiling.
“Rebel’s Rainbow, thank you for bringing up your suggestion. We will now address you in that manner,” Larissa said.
“Uh… Rebel’s Rainbow, can we test the suspended animation cocoons at this time?” Gretchen asked.
“The first unit is ready,” Rebel’s Rainbow replied.
“Tiffany, you will monitor this as well?” Paul asked.
They walked through the umbilicus and into the other half of the lifeboat.
“That is our auxiliary cockpit,” Brinley said and pointed to where there were four display screens active. “Those are all linked and coupled, directly and physically, to the primary cockpit on the other side. We can fly the lifeboat from either cockpit.”
“With Tiffany’s ALP in the other cockpit do we need to go over there to speak to her?” Gretchen asked.
Tiffany replied from one of he displays. “No. Both Rebel’s Rainbow and I can be spoken to anywhere in the lifeboat. We have active interfaces for all areas.”
That side of the lifeboat was reversed in direction, and the twenty suspended animation cocoons were arranged along the side walls. Above each one was a very bright light. Looking at the first in the line of cocoons, they saw the headboard was connected in place with tubing as thick as Paul’s arm. Some of that tubing lead from the headboard into the cocoon itself, while other tubes linked into the ceiling and floor of the lifeboat. The cocoon was rectangular and just large enough to hold a tall person like Gretchen. There was an impression in the base of the cocoon which reflected where a human body would be positioned. The head toward the headboard and the feet toward the door on that part of the cocoon.
Brinley stood next to the cocoon while Gretchen activated the door on the short end. That foot-end door folded flat and the base slid out. On the base were various items for physically monitoring. The sides of the cocoon were mostly clear permalloy except for the corners which were more opaque.
Gretchen sat down on the extended base and connected herself to the monitors. Rebel’s Rainbow explained the process step by step in minute detail. Gretchen then lay down and the base slid up into the cocoon itself and the end folded and sealed shut.
Larissa squatted down at the side and looked through the clear permalloy to see Gretchen’s face. Paul stood opposite to Brinley and watched Gretchen through the clear top.
“I will now initiate the suspended animation procedure,” Rebel’s Rainbow stated. “The mixture of gases are passed through a hydrogen sulfide scrubbing process to make sure that the extracts from Cheirogaleus Medius and safe to mix with the….”
“Gretchen! I love you!” Paul yelled over the top of the AI’s recitation of the long and detailed formula for suspended animation.
Gretchen smiled up at Paul as her eyes drifted closed. Her muscles relaxed, and the interior of the cocoon got foggy. She was still visible, but in a cloudy manner. All the people watched carefully as the fog got thicker and thicker inside the cocoon.
“Tiffany? Tiffany? Is she safe?” Paul cried.
“Yes Paul,” Tiffany replied. “Her status is 99.99788% of where it was expected to be at this state. The countdown for the one hour test has begun.”
“Paul,” Rebel’s Rainbow added, “I assure you that this process is as safe and effective as Tiffany and I can make it. The estimated failure rate for this new and improved system is substantially less than for the suspended animation repositories which had been installed in the Vanguard.
“And how many of those people are alive today?” Paul barked.
“Paul,” Tiffany interrupted. “We are all aware of the tragic numbers of people who were lost on the Vanguard. The vast majority of the deaths of those in suspended animation were due to outside interference and not to system failure or to mechanical malfunction. I conjecture that suspended animation as a process, like Gretchen has undergone, is significantly safer than faster-than-light travel or teleportation. No system is perfect, but this part of the mission is the conjectured safest part of the journey.”
“Paul, it is a true tragedy that the suspended animation compliment of the Vanguard was lost. It grieves me tremendously. As Tiffany stated, most of those were due to outside interference. Now as to the question of safety on the new system. Everyone please listen. I was overseeing 100,000 people in suspended animation when the Vanguard was launched. Those people were spread over six habitats and the needle ship, and suffered from the Outbreak, attacks by mutineers, the Roe, and the Jellies. This mission will not have those threats. There are vast improvements in the system we have here,” Rebel’s Rainbow stated. “For this mission I will be dedicating myself to just the twenty suspended animation cocoons, and their occupants. That allows much greater assessment and continuity.”
Hugh walked over and put his ha
nd on Paul’s shoulder. “If you want to stand here and observe her for the whole hour, I will stand watch with you.”
“No. I may as well do some work as I wait. How can I help?”
Hugh and Sigmond took Paul around the lifeboat and showed him all the locations for the various storage compartments. They had even arranged for all the ‘baby animals’ to be stored in one compartment which was sealed and secured.
The hour passed slowly for Paul and the others. Larissa went back to the command bridge, Brinley went to the hanger bay and triple checked the final applications of the permalloy outer shell on the twin umbilici, while Sigmond and Hugh stayed near to Paul inside the lifeboat.
Just as the one-hour time period was completed, Paul stood by the side of suspended animation cocoon number one.
The Colony Ship Vanguard: The entire eight book series in one bundle Page 193