The Colony Ship Conestoga : The Complete Series: All Eight Books

by John Thornton

  Jerome said, “I recall many odd sayings and idioms about animals, but they often make no sense.”

  “You always did enjoy reading arcane materials.” John grinned in joy at Jerome. “You were a star pupil.”

  “When reading, do not let a single word escape your attention; one word may be worth a thousand pieces of gold,” Jerome recited a saying he had learned from John. “I remember you modifying that and saying, ‘When reading, do not let a single word escape your attention; one word may be worth a thousand drinks of water.’ and that stayed with me to this day.”

  John sat back and smiled. “Your love for knowledge as well as your disciple on physical fitness make you a perfect candidate to save us all. To your point about animals, yes, the old sayings can be odd, especially since we do not have immediate firsthand experience with animals. You may very well change all that with this mission. Just imagine, to see real animals in a real biological system. Be it a planet or in a manufactured habitat, it would be amazing.”

  “So you think the ‘planet fall’ statement makes the Conestoga the right choice?” Cammarry asked.

  “Cammarry, the decision is yours and Jerome’s.” John’s face grew very somber. “I understand the ramification of this mission are huge. I will not make the decision for you. Your life, and the life of everyone in Dome 17 rests on the outcome of these seven missions, but the decision to undertake this quest is yours.”

  “Thank you John,” Jerome said. He looked at Cammarry.

  “We will request the Conestoga,” Cammarry answered as she read the same information on Jerome’s expression.

  “Yes, a quest for the Conestoga,” Jerome replied. “Our last and greatest mission.”

  Cammarry hugged John and then she and Jerome left his office.

  “One-hundred and twenty days?” John muttered. “And seven teams of adventurers. The class will enjoy their free time. I better hone my biology skills. I doubt those two will be the only ones who come and see me. Now where should I start? Oh yes, ‘The Outdoor Handbook’ I will start there. The chapter on fishing…”

  All the rest of the day, Jerome and Cammarry discussed the situation. When they went to sleep, they had reached an agreement. In the morning they would volunteer and make the Conestoga their target. They slept in each other’s arms.

  The next morning, just after finishing their typical routine, there was a physical knock on the door to Jerome’s and Cammarry’s apartment.

  Jerome asked Faraday to answer the door, but Faraday did not respond. He walked over and manually opened the door.

  Murial stood there. “I am sorry that your AIs have been deactivated. Jubal is not rational right now, and I want you both to know there will be a meeting in two hours. All the other adventurers have been notified, and you deserve to be there as well.”

  “Murial, why is Jubal so upset with us?” Cammarry asked as she came to the door.

  “The stress is too much. His AI had already been predicting possibilities like those that we discovered, but he refused to believe it. Now there is proof, and he is still thinking life can go on in the dome as it has before. We know now it cannot. We all handle stress in different ways, and facing what he sees as our certain impending deaths is too much for him.”

  “Impending deaths?” Jerome asked. “You mean the one-hundred and twenty days before the dome fails?”

  “Yes. I am not as pessimistic as Jubal is. I think this recovery of a colony ship program has a real potential to save us, but Jubal wavers in what he believes. As I said, he is not rational. One moment he will be supporting the missions, the next he is ranting about some minor or imagined offense. That is why he shut down your AIs. He has painted you as an enemy. Please come to the meeting. We really need you both, now more than ever. All the information I have on this proposal is on the data stick. You can read it all before the meeting.” She thrust the data stick into Cammarry’s hands. “We need you to do this.”

  Before Cammarry or Jerome could ask anything else, Murial turned and hustled away.

  The next hours passed quickly, and Jerome and Cammarry read all the material on the data stick. Without their AIs, they had no way to compare or run any conjectures, but the level of detail Murial had provided was extensive. Walking to the meeting room, they both wondered what else had been happening while their AIs were shut down.

  “I feel blind and deaf,” Cammarry said. “I have not felt this isolated since before I turned fifteen.”

  “I know what you mean.”

  A somber mood had settled in on everyone in the conference room. The dull tan walls were no different, really, even though they looked duller and more worn. The adventurers were also subdued, except for Jamie, who was animated and excited. The three Committee members were seated at their table: Lorna, Jubal, and Murial.

  Nodding at Jerome and Cammarry Murial said, “I see we are all here,” Jerome saw Michael gesture toward several empty chairs. Muriel also saw the movement.

  “Well, yes, we are all here. Last night four of the adventurers......” Muriel caught her breath for a moment and then continued, “...self terminated. LeeAnn, Roy, Dave, and Constance had returned from their missions to other domes last night. They were all found dead in their apartments this morning. The bodies are being recycled. Files are available through the AIs. There were no personal messages left behind. Only Constance filed a report, and hers confirms our fears about the dome failures.”

  Even Jamie seemed taken aback. Paul and Gretchen looked downright stricken. Cammarry nearly rushed over to comfort them, but before she could Jubal spoke.

  “So that means we now have eight teams of two each to cover missions to seven colony ships.”

  Murial glared at Jubal but went on, “The FTL robotic probes have been sent this morning. We should be receiving FTL messages from them at any moment. That is why you are here now. I want you to understand all that is happening the minute we get the information.”

  “May I ask a question?” Cammarry, asked.

  Jubal looked at her, but seemed in control of his feelings. His face was unreadable.

  “Yes, please feel free to ask any questions as we await the FTL transmissions,” Muriel replied.

  “I was reading about the FTL drives, and we have the sling here to propel the robotic and piloted FTL missions. But how do they come home? The test runs out past the old moon base all were short enough for the secondary drives to bring the ships back to the dome. But how will we get back from a colony ship many light years away?” Cammarry asked.

  Jubal’s eyes shifted between Jerome and Cammarry. He was obviously surprised at the question.

  Murial replied without emotion. “FTL missions do not come back.”

  “They are one-way trips,” Lorna stated. She too was emotionless in her comment.

  Cammarry and Jerome had expected that answer, from what had been on Murial’s data stick. The others in the room were silent for a long while. From the looks on their faces, most of the adventurers had also already figured this out, yet hearing it spoken crystalized it in their minds.

  Murial broke the silence. “There is no way to come back in the FTL scout ship, but when you set up the receiving pad for the teleportation system, we can come to you.”

  Janae spoke up and asked, “The FTL scouts cannot just reverse course and return?”

  “No.” Jubal snapped back.

  “How will we know where to dock when we find some colony ship?” A voice said from the back.

  “Brink has engineered a new generation of artificial intelligence systems just for these missions,” Lorna said quietly. “They will assist you.”

  The artificial intelligence Mishna announced: “Information arrival from faster-than-light robotic probes. Shall I display results?”

  “Yes, please do,” Muriel answered. Jerome and Cammarry watched intently the area over the center of the table as the results were displayed in three dimensional format.

  “Do you want detailed reports on e
ach probe or a general overview?” The AI Mishna asked.

  “Begin with a general overview, and make detailed reports available to all here.”

  “Robotic probes found and landed on all seven colony ships: Vanguard, Warren, Marathon, Conestoga, Eschaton, Trailblazer and Zubalamo. All colony ships show some level of functioning technology. All also show readings of an acceptable atmosphere inside. All colony ships also show positive signs of biological life inhabiting colony ships. Robotic probes have placed an exact targeting beacon on each colony ship. Piloted faster than light scout ship mission success now estimated at 95% or better for reaching colony ships. Unexpected and unexplained premature failure of robotic probes on Marathon, Eschaton and Trailblazer shortly after beacon placement; however, all beacons still functioning. The four remaining probes are expected to reach their life expectancy in four hours. Beacon life expectancy is one-hundred hours.”

  Cammarry looked at Jerome and gave him a slight grin. He nodded in return. She then looked at the others. Paul and Gretchen were huddled together speaking quietly. Across the room, Jamie was enthusiastic. The others had a wide range of emotions on their faces. The common one to all was determination.

  “AI, are the PFTL ships ready for deployment?” Lorna asked.

  “All seven are in ready status,” the AI reported.

  While the adventurers were speaking, Murial tried to address them all. “The Committee has decided to allow the two person teams, they must be one man and one woman, to choose which colony ship you want to target. It will be on a first selected basis. So whoever asks for a specific ship will be granted that mission. Please! Did you hear me? Have your requests to me within the hour. The first possible launch will be in ninety minutes. People listen!”

  Cammarry moved over and spoke to Gretchen. “So which ship will you select?”

  “What?” Paul interrupted them. “What do you mean, select?”

  “Muriel just said we can request specific ships as our destinations. She also said we can choose our own two person teams, but insists it be one man and one woman. That seems kind of weird, but who knows why the Committee does things?” Cammarry tried to be light-hearted, but she inwardly feared it came across differently than she had hoped.

  “They always have a reason. Gretchen, do you want to do this mission?” There was a touch of whining in Paul’s voice, but Cammarry figured it was from all he had endured in Dome 3.

  “I am going for sure!” Cammarry interjected. “Jerome and I will pick one out. I just need to speak to him, but I have an idea where I want to go.”

  Paul stared at her. His mouth dropped open a bit. “You know this is one way and forever, right?”

  “Yes, I asked that question. Where were you? No coming back, but that is why we build a teleportation pad on the other end. That way the people here can come to us. We only have one-hundred and twenty days here. Might as well live out the adventure!” Cammarry said with a smile. “Besides, Brink is confident that the teleportation will work.”

  Paul snorted out and said with disgust, “You are almost as bad as Jamie.”

  “Thank you. That is quite a compliment,” Cammarry said. She forced herself to smile, but she was holding back tears. Cammarry turned away and spoke more to Jerome.

  “Paul, we need to discuss this,” Gretchen said and turned him away from Cammarry.

  “Okay. Right here?” Paul asked.

  Gretchen stood and took Paul by the hand. “Not right here. Take a walk with me, it looks like this could go on for a while.”

  Jerome saw that Ken and Janae were huddled together. Hobart was in a vigorous discussion with Gwen. Jamie and Michael had walked up to the Committee table, spoken to them and then left.

  “We need to decide now. Someone else may have noticed the ‘planet fall’ aspect of the Conestoga’s report. I trust John’s assessment,” Cammarry whispered to Jerome. She then kissed the side of his face. “Are you with me on this?”

  “Absolutely.” He kissed her full on the mouth and held her for a moment. “We are in this together.”

  They walked quickly up to the Committee table. Jubal glared at them and said, “I am not sure why you two are even here.”

  “We volunteer for the mission to the Conestoga,” Cammarry said and she looked directly at Murial. “When do we leave?”

  “They are unqualified to go,” Jubal interjected. “They do not follow protocols, and they do not respect authority. I forbid them to go. We have seven other sets which can cover all the missions.”

  “You forbid?” Murial asked with a raised eyebrow. “You forbid?”

  “Let all the others make their selections first,” Jubal answered. “These two do not warrant any special treatment or privilege.”

  Lorna was upset. “Adventurers died from those single person missions. Two are still missing. I say Cammarry and Jerome be granted their request.” Her blue eyes bored into Jubal’s deep brown ones. He broke eye contact first and muttered something under his breath.

  “You had no objection to Jamie’s and Michael’s request,” Murial said. “Jamie is still traumatized, and Michael just returned. If anyone should be out of the first rotation, logically it should be them.”

  “They are brave and loyal, not sneaky gossips,” Jubal sputtered. He was rubbing his eyes with his hands which shook. “I refuse to allow these two any request.”

  “I call for a vote,” Lorna snapped back.

  “Cammarry and Jerome, we will make our decision shortly. I am not sure if you heard me in the meeting, but the first mission will launch in ninety minutes. The Committee will have made the decisions by then. Since your AIs are disbanded…”

  “Disbanded?” Jerome said in shock. “Faraday is gone? Destroyed”

  “You were misusing….” Jubal began but was stopped by the extreme look on Cammarry’s face and the body language she showed. He backed down.

  Murial handed a data stick to Cammarry. “I will send you a message through the common channel under your name. I doubt we can keep this situation from the public much longer anyway, but I will post it to Cammarry and Jerome. It will say a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and you will know what that means.”

  “Just to be clear,” Cammarry said through clenched teeth. “Yes, means we are on the quest for the Conestoga.”

  “Some quest, this is not a fairy tale about knights and dragons,” Jubal muttered, but he did not look at anyone as he said it. He just stared at his quivering hands.

  “That is correct. A yes will mean you are on the mission to the Conestoga. You are the first to request that ship as a destination,” Murial said.

  Cammarry and Jerome nodded and walked away.

  Other adventurers were approaching the table and Jubal’s countenance had altered and he was now all profession, kind, and supportive to the others.

  Jerome pulled Cammarry along before she said anything more.

  6 preparation and the sling

  Just a short while later, the data stick that Jerome was carrying beeped several times. “General message for Cammarry and Jerome: Yes. Repeat. General message for Cammarry and Jerome: Yes.”

  “So what now?” Jerome asked. “If Faraday still existed we would know the schedule and all that is needed. I just wish Jubal….”

  The data stick beeped again. “General message for Cammarry and Jerome: Report to Quartermaster immediately. General message for Cammarry and Jerome: Report to Quartermaster immediately.”

  “There is the answer.” Cammarry tugged on Jerome’s arm. “Willie will give us what we need, both in information and in supplies.”

  They headed toward the Quartermaster’s storeroom. As they walked along, another message came from the data stick. “Jamie and Michael: Eschaton.”

  “That was one of the colony ships, right?” Jerome asked.

  “Yes, the one with the religious people who were considered probably hostile,” Cammarry replied. “Murial is trying to keep us informed. Why would Jamie and Michael choose that shi
p?”

  “Atonement.” Jerome was pensive.

  “Jamie really was struck by what happened in Dome 3,” Cammarry commented. “And the crazy Doctor Larsen did not help her at all, obviously.”

  “Doctor Larsen had never helped anyone,” Jerome affirmed.

  Then a voice cried out from behind them.

  “Cammarry!” Gretchen was yelling and running. Paul was following.

  “What in the world are you two doing?” Cammarry yelled back. “Has something happened?”

  “We wanted to see you before you depart,” Gretchen said as she ran up to her.

  “Jerome and I are going to the Quartermaster next. I do not have much time. You can walk with me,” Cammarry said.