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

by John Thornton

  The area was dimly lit, like most of the Conestoga, but the teleporter systems glowed with available power.

  “My wizard friends!” Khin said cheerfully as he emerged from where he had been camped on the floor of the goat room.

  “Khin you were out here in the goat room? Have you been living out here?” Cammarry asked.

  “You know I have! I felt you two shake the world again!” Khin laughed and laughed.

  Jerome followed Cammarry out. He was not surprised by Khin being there. The man showed up often, and unexpected. As he looked at him he was reminded, and not for the first time, of the old mythological term ‘troll’. Khin was very thin, with dirty skin and large, bright brown eyes. His excellent eyesight had been proven over and over, and was only surpassed by his remarkable hearing. Those eyes twinkled in the dim light. His black hair was short and ragged. He wore clothing made from the skins of the goats and rats he butchered for food. Jerome pondered for a moment if the old legends from before the Great Event about various tribes or kinds of people had some ancient basis in fact. Khin was obviously human, but were there actually branches of humanity which were once labeled with whimsical terms such as goblins, trolls, gnomes, elves, leprechauns, and fairy folk? There certainly were a lot of ancient books on that subject, and until coming to the Conestoga, Jerome had taken them all to be fictitious accounts. Now he was not so sure that it was all just myth and folklore. Understanding the ancient literature was difficult, especially since it was so fragmentary.

  Khin saw Jerome staring and laughed. “You look at me as if I was a nanny goat about to give birth.” His chuckles rumbled along, but then he stopped abruptly. “Have I offended you? I offer my apologies. I am sure your wizard-type business is very serious. You shook the world again, have you started another wizard’s quest?”

  Jerome rolled his eyes but gave Khin a small grin. “Sandie, will the explosion happen again? Repeated explosions might be a significant hindrance to our safety.”

  “I am analyzing the etiology of the explosion. I have not yet identified the ignition source. There were secondary detonations due to explosive decompression, but that has been halted by the ship’s automated crisis response systems,” Sandie answered. “I conjecture only a small risk of additional imminent danger to the ship. However, until the cause and source of the explosion is fully identified, I cannot rule out the potential for more explosions.”

  Cammarry walked over to the teleportation sending pad. It was much smaller and more compact than the receiving pad. “Sandie, will you set this to send me back to Habitat Alpha? I want to take some data sticks there for repairs. I plan to depart soon.”

  Sandie replied, “I believe that is a very risky course of action. We have no firm readings on the conditions surrounding the receiving pad on the other end of the teleporter there in Habitat Alpha.”

  Looking over the controls, Cammarry stated, “The teleportation system reads as functional. The system is locked together, and will only work if the receiving pad is operational, correct?”

  “That is correct. I established built-in locks on the sending and receiving unit’s consoles. The design parameters are irrevocable. Teleporter A sends things from Habitat Alpha to here. Teleporter B, which has not been tested, sends things from here to Habitat Alpha. I also can affirm that both avenues of travel are functional,” Sandie said. “However, we do not know the conditions around those units. Knowing the operational status of the teleporters is not the same as knowing the conditions at Habitat Alpha’s end. You left there while under attack, and I have not been able to contact the synthetic brains in that location since then. You may materialize right into vacuum, toxins, or even a trap set by the habitat personnel.”

  “It has been what, two weeks since we escaped from there? I am tired of waiting for something to do. This isolation is grating on my psyche. It is like a mission to one of the dead domes, only I can never return” Cammarry said. “As to Alpha, I seriously doubt the aboriginals there, with their crazy ideas about slavery, and a slave rebellion in progress, are just sitting and waiting for us to return. They do not even understand teleportation technology. We are not even certain they knew where that apartment was located, and it seems to me that they would have destroyed the equipment if they had discovered it.”

  “I agree with Cammarry,” Jerome added. “Those slave traders were certainly angry, and trying to cave in the doors, but they are ignorant. I doubt they are smart enough to know where we went, nor are they crafty enough to lay a trap for us, even if they thought we would be coming back through the teleporter. They are just too unsophisticated. Had they recognized the teleporters, they would have demolished them.”

  Cammarry looked at him in surprise.

  Jerome smiled at her. “I think it is worth the risk. The explosion that just happened, might be just another sign of deterioration of the needle ship. We need the data sticks, and we need more AIs like Sandie. We also must face the fact that we also require a more suitable biological habitat to survive. Despite the slave traders, Alpha does have a functional ecosystem. So I will go through and then report back.”

  “You will go?” Cammarry asked incredulously. “I am not staying behind.”

  “It is unwise to send either of you through,” Sandie said.

  “Your spirit-ghost is smart,” Khin interjected. “So send a cubie blue, it knows what to do!”

  Cammarry looked at Jerome who met her gaze. “That is a decent idea. Sandie, can you send an automacube through to use as a probe or scout?”

  “Yes Cammarry, the compact sending and receiving units can easily handle teleportation of an automacube. I already have remote links to the few automacubes I still have under my direction. I conjecture that I should be able to perceive though an automacube’s sensors when the machine arrives at the receiving pad. Because the machine is mobile, after assessing the area, I can then have it roll onto the Habitat Alpha sending pad. That teleporter vector will bring the automacube back to the large receiving pad you build to accommodate the Dome 17 personnel. Khin presents a good solution.”

  Khin beamed with pride at Sandie’s praise.

  “Sandie is hiding the danger from you. Can you really trust Sandie?” Shadow asked Cammarry quietly.

  “Of course!” Cammarry caught herself. She looked at Khin who showed no signs of having heard Shadow. She shook her head. “Using the automacube is a good idea. I suppose that would be safer, and we can then follow-up by going through ourselves with the data sticks, get them repaired, and come back when we need to do so.”

  Jerome asked, “Sandie, how long until the blue automacube reaches here?”

  “I have already recalled two of them. The third is far too distant to make it here in a reasonable amount of time. It is working to enhance our astronomical facilities,” Sandie answered. “The soonest…”

  “Still trying to locate exactly where we are in the universe?” Cammarry interrupted.

  “Yes, that and taking more precise readings on the planet Zalia as we orbit around it,” Sandie answered. “EA-270 will remain at that task, unless you think it is required to be recalled here. One of the others will be passing through an uncharted, but newly opened corridor on the opposite side of the hanger bay,” the AI replied. “I gained some additional information from my contact with SB Cabta 3F, along with the codes I use masquerading as Machine Maintenance, which showed me an alternative route to Pine 1407.”

  “Is that the hanger bay that exploded?” Jerome asked.

  “Yes. All the hanger bays we have encountered on the needle ship so far have begun with the designation, ‘Pine’ followed by numbers. I have not ascertained what the numbers represent. The explosion took place at the entry of one end of that location, I am not certain the entire bay was a loss. Automatic emergency safety procedures functioned and I conjecture that some of the hanger bay may still be functional. I have been studying each section of the ship as we have explored it, and there are multiple redundancies built in the
hanger bays, and external repair stations. I expect Pine 1407 will be no different. Anywhere where there is designed access to the outside, there are multiple built-in safeties. Unless they are grossly wrecked, I have no way of knowing if they will function or not until they are activated,” Sandie replied. “I am still reconstructing the deck plans, the schematics, and the layout of the nonphysicality.”

  “I do not want to just sit around here waiting. At least that distant automacube has some job to do,” Cammarry said. “Wait a moment. If you found a new route to that hanger bay, lead me on, and I will just walk there.”

  “The route is unexplored, and I am not sure yet if it is passable, by machine, let alone safe for human transit,” Sandie replied. “The automacube will take readings and report the condition and whether or not human ambulation could take place there safely.”

  “Waiting is hard. Some have said that all good things come to those who wait, while others have said the one who waits is lost,” Jerome said. “None of us knows when the next crisis is going happen here, or what unexpected disaster is just around the corner, waiting to increase the terror of our lives.”

  “That is certainly a cheerful thought. One of your old inspirational idioms?” Cammarry smiled at him.

  “Inspiring? No. I was trying to say, I agree with you. I do not want to wait around here any longer than we must.” Jerome’s eyes twinkled.

  “So Sandie, how long until the automacube gets here?” Cammarry asked.

  “Estimated time of arrival for EA-991, twenty-five minutes. EA-804 will be thirty-seven minutes in transit. Unless they encounter doors which refuse to open to command,” Sandie answered. “EA-804 will be traversing the uncharted corridor. If it is passable, you may be able to ambulate directly there.”

  “Then there is time for me to serve you food,” Khin said eagerly. “I have a supply of mushrooms, and some dried meats. I regret that I have no cheeses for you this day.”

  “Somehow I will survive without more of your cheeses,” Cammarry said. She looked down at her hands and saw that they were thinner than ever. She had continued to lose weight, since they had escaped from Habitat Alpha.

  Khin was busy unpacking his food items, and setting them out.

  “Cammarry, the food supplies are another reason we really need to go to that biological habitat,” Jerome said. “We could travel to the Fruit People and Chicken People again, but our long term plans must include finding more stability in our food rations.”

  “I can trade with the other people for you,” Khin stated. “I have already been doing that. I can also catch more rats for you to eat. Good meat there!”

  Cammarry rolled her eyes. She turned around and took a few steps away, but then returned. She looked over the meal; some kind of diced vegetation which Khin called mushrooms, the dried meats, and the cups of water. She inhaled their aromas, and remembered their tastes. Her stomach rumbled with recollection. Few things found on the needle ship were appealing as food to her. She frowned as she gazed over the meals offered.

  “I certainly wish we had more food rations from Dome 17,” Jerome stated as he too looked at the foods Khin was setting out.

  Khin laughed and laughed. “You wish for wizard’s foods, and cannot make them, but you can shake the whole world. It always is so funny!”

  Kneeling down, Cammarry took the food that Khin offered. She even wished for the packs with meals in suspended animation that she had found in the ESRC, but those supplies too were exhausted. “Thank you Khin.”

  Jerome said nothing, but he squatted down and the three of them ate the foods that Khin had brought.

  “I have some excellent news!” Sandie exclaimed through the com-links. “The blue automacube EA-991 is about to arrive. It has safely traversed to this location. EA-804 has been slowed by debris in the corridor near Pine 1407.”

  “Finding debris is good news?” Cammarry smiled at Jerome. “What is that old saying you know. Every silver item has a cloud?”

  Jerome grinned back. “Not exactly.”

  The doors at the end of the goat room parted, upon Sandie’s command, and the blue automacube rolled in on its six drive wheels. It was badly dented on one side, and there were three deep scratches across its front, marring the numbers 991 which were in white lettering on the blue of the boxy machine.

  “Welcome our brave explorer! EA-991!” Jerome stated. “Exploration is actually the essence of the human spirit, and this machine can uncover what we need to learn.”

  “Sandie, what preparations do we need to make for its journey?” Cammarry asked.

  “None. I have already instructed it. I have established the best communication links I can with the machine. I will be able to monitor it, and send instructions and receive back readings. The teleportation sending unit is ready to be activated,” Sandie answered.

  The blue automacube rolled right up to the rectangular frame of the teleportation sending unit. Jerome and Cammarry had built it from the component parts they had hauled with them after they were made in the Reproduction and Fabrication Center of Habitat Alpha.

  “The cubie blue knows what to do!” Khin cried out in ecstasy. His eyes were huge as he watched the automacube roll along.

  “Can it defend itself at all?” Cammarry asked.

  “It is not a security model automacube. Unlike the red automacubes, the blue engineering model has….” Sandie answered, but was interrupted.

  “Cubie red will make you dead!” Khin said somberly.

  “Thank you Khin,” Cammarry said. “Please let Sandie answer.”

  Khin sat down, but kept staring at the automacube.

  “As I was saying, the engineering automacube had no real armor, and no weapons systems. It does have some permalloy construction, but other weaker substances, like steal, polymers, carbon fibers, and such comprise a greater share of its composition.”

  “So it basically has limited defenses,” Cammarry stated. “Perhaps a bit more resilient than a human body, but still subject to destructive forces.”

  Jerome patted the automacube on its multi-jointed appendage as it folded that nearly flat to the top of its chassis. “EA? For now that means exploring adventurer! You go and discover what is happening, and make it back here to report. There is a tide in the affairs of men, which leads on to fortune. Admittedly, all the voyage of life is bound in shallows and in mysteries. On such a full sea are we now afloat, and we must take the current when it serves, or lose our adventures.”

  “That makes no sense,” Cammarry grinned at Jerome. “More obsolete phrases and quotes.”

  “Jerome, you are paraphrasing, and taking liberties with its nomenclature, but it is a nice thought,” Sandie stated with a hint of expectation and excitement in her mechanical voice. “Cammarry, Jerome, I am ready to send EA-991 upon your command.”

  “Sandie, send it through!” Cammarry ordered.

  “Open an orifice and away it goes!” Jerome added.

  “Signals confirmed. System optimal. Pre-ignition check list is completed. Orifice will be open for 90 seconds,” Sandie said.

  The teleportation sending unit’s grid glowed and shimmered. A few sparks came up from each corner as the energy field stabilized. A smell of burnt dust permeated the area. Hovering just above the grid were two small spheres of energy. Tiny sparks shot up from the grid to meet the energy spheres.

  “And I get to see this!” Khin muttered in amazement. He did not laugh. He held up his hands to shield his eyes from the light. “It is so bright!”

  The energy spheres hovered some distance apart over the gird for just a moment. The hum of the fusion boxes increased. The glow from the grid and the fusion boxes illuminated all of the goat room. The two small spheres of light advanced toward each other and began to merge.

  Sandie announced, “Synchronizing completed. Harmonization of matter transmission established. Calculations confirmed. Modulating for expansion.”

  The two spheres of energy swirled around each other just for
an instant. Then they fused into an elongated upright oval. It quivered for a brief moment then snapped with a pop into an upright rectangular shape about three meters high and two meters wide. A brilliantly white boundary shone from the perimeter of the newly created tunnel in the sky.

  “Orifice established. Passage to receiving pad patent,” Sandie stated.

  Looking through the orifice, the apartment back in Habitat Alpha was visible in the light that shined from the distant activated receiving pad.

  EA-991 rolled up and onto the grid. It steadily moved into the orifice, and as it did, they could see it also appearing at the end of the tunnel which was the orifice. For a tiny bit of time it looked disjointed, but then it was visible as it arrived safely at the other end of the teleportation system.