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

by John Thornton

  “Impressive,” Jerome said. “That door looks to be air tight, water tight, and pressurized inside of itself. I bet that made an immense noise when it crashed into place. It is not some mere drapery or aesthetic arrangement.”

  “But did it save the hanger bay, along with the other doors like it?” Cammarry asked. “Sandie, you said there was a way to get to the hanger bay. Do we cut through this door? That will take a massive amount of work. It has interlocking sections, bands of permalloy, and I am not even sure a molecular torch will cut through it on a single pass.”

  “EA-804 has confirmed that two of the three stalls of Pine 1407 were saved. As to the curtain, there is no need to attempt cutting through that. Those emergency compartmentalizing curtains are actually tougher than the walls, ceilings, and decks around them. I was unaware they even existed until they were deployed after the explosion. I can show you a schematic of their construction if you desire,” Sandie stated.

  “So if we do not go through this,” Jerome tapped it, “then where do we go?”

  “Do you see the interior door marked, ‘Air Filtration 27B’? Enter there and you will need to progress through that area to enter the hanger bay. The route will take you to the lowest level and will involve some climbing down for you three. EA-804 has already blazed a trail through there for you.”

  Jerome opened the door and they walked inside. They had entered at the top of a three terraced chamber. As soon as Khin entered, the door slid shut behind him, and a deep mechanical rumble started up. Directly across from the entry door were two large fans set into the wall. Their multiple blades were turning moderately and increasing in speed. The motor noises were coming from them, and those fans were sucking air away from where the three people stood. Jerome looked around. There was no sign of plants or growth medium. The walls, and decking were a drab greenish taupe colored. Each terrace was about ten meters wide but only covered one portion of the chamber.

  “So here we see ventilation systems that are still moving air, instead of funneling water or growth medium.” Jerome stroked his chin as he looked at the fans. “I am still impressed by how they got the ducts to use water and growth medium in a self-sustaining cycle.” Shrugging his shoulders, he said, “I guess we proceed down to the lowest level, but where are the stairs or ladders?”

  “We can climb down along the sidewall. It is only about a two meter drop down,” Cammarry stated as she looked over the edge of the terrace. “Hand holds and toe holds will work for climbing.”

  “Can you make it so we can fly again?” Khin asked. “Then we could just float down there. This place would be fun to fly in!”

  “Khin, we did not make that other place be like that. It was broken,” Jerome stated.

  “But it was fun.” Khin looked over the terrace. “This place is too clean for me, but I too can climb down, if that is what the quest requires.”

  A few minutes of climbing and they had reached the bottom of Air Filtration 27B. By that time, the fans on the upper level were humming at a high pitch and the air was blowing briskly from the lower level to the upper. There were two doors at the lowest level. One was marked lavatory, and the other had a warning label. Khin went right into the lavatory. He stuck his head out a moment later, “Water in sink, good to drink!”

  “Excellent. Water is essential and we can resupply now,” Cammarry said. “Both incoming and outgoing.”

  Jerome was studying the whole chamber as he gazed up and around. “This part of the air and life support systems did not get used for ejection and spreading of the plants and growth medium. The more I see, the more fascinated I am by what Captain Lance Lechner did with distributing the plants, and yet also leaving a remnant air circulation system working. Quite the engineering feat!”

  “Indeed, and it has lasted for decades,” Cammarry replied. “But it is nothing compared to that biosphere we saw in Habitat Alpha.”

  “Think of the time involved, Cammarry. That Captain and just a few other officers had to do it all in a short span, and it worked! He did a great job in a crisis, while the engineers and biologists who designed the habitats had huge crews, and probably years and years of planning and construction. I am just thoroughly impressed that the Captain’s scheme worked as well as it did.”

  “Agreed.”

  While Khin stayed in the lavatory, Jerome and Cammarry walked to a pressurized door that was marked, ‘No Unauthorized Access’ and had a color control pad next to it. Beside the pressure door, and the lavatory door there were no other doors, or ladders or stairs at this lower level. Jerome looked back at the route they had used in climbing down the terraced walls. He realized yet again that it was not designed for that purpose, and he was further impressed with what that Captain had done, and with Cammarry, Khin, and himself for their own feat of reaching that point.

  “Hello? Well, this opens,” Cammarry stated and pressed a section of the wall to her right. A large display screen was revealed as its covering dilated open. The screen was illuminated and had a long series of numbers and scrolling words moving faster than could be read. “Sandie? Where do we go from here?”

  “The door code for this color pad is: blue, green, green, white, blue, yellow,” Sandie answered.

  Cammarry’s arm ached as she heard that same sequence again. “We have used that before. It was…” She nearly spoke about Shadow, but resisted before her body reacted. “ah…successful before.”

  “Yes, I have been finding more sections in the nonphysicality which recognize that sequence code,” Sandie replied. “I am not sure of its origin. Its origin and description does not occur in the Machine Maintenance records, nor in the log records I have recovered.”

  “As long as it is working, does the origin matter?” Jerome asked.

  “It matters, Cammarry. It is very important, but Sandie will not tell you the truth,” Shadow whispered.

  “I hear you. It might matter,” Cammarry replied. “Sandie do we need to understand this display? What is it showing?”

  “It is a management algorithm for the existing air filtration systems. I have recorded the twenty-three minute circlet of information it is analyzing. The feedback system is in balance now, but was adjusted after the explosion and decompressions. The entire process is running on tertiary systems which are not sentient. This area is one of the few on the needle ship that are stable enough at present and not in need of imminent repairs. To enter the hanger bay, please input the color code.”

  Khin came out, “I have filled the water containers. That is a lot of writing!” He pointed at the display. Moving fast too.”

  Jerome pushed the colored sections of the control pad in the order Sandie related.

  The sound of the fans far overheard whirled down as they lost power. The display screen showing the lists of numbers shifted and began flashing.

  “Is that supposed to happen?” Jerome asked.

  “Yes. Each time this room is entered, the circulation system is mandated to shut down. The pressure door will open in twenty-four seconds. The fans will automatically restart when the door is closed.”

  The drone of the fans stopped, and the pressure door slid open. Beyond it was a small hall, only a meter wide, and just two meters tall. The hall was a service lane between the Air Filtration 27B and the side of the hanger bay, Pine 1407. They walked single file through that lane, and came to the opposite end, where there was another pressure door. In front of that was a blue automacube with the number 804 printed in its front side.

  “Cubie blue knows what to do!” Khin exclaimed with a thrilled giggle.

  “The automacube can now open this service entrance hatch to the thruster fuel depot which has access to the hanger bay Pine 1407, stall 3,” Sandie stated.

  The service hatch dilated, then made a clicking noise as it locked back. Brighter light flowed in. The blue automacube EA-804 rolled through the hatchway, which was a circular opening about 125 centimeters in diameter. Jerome, Khin, and Cammarry ducked and followed the mach
ine in.

  A large thruster fuel tank was directly in front of them, and they sidled around it and saw the layout of Pine 1407. Ceiling lights shined down giving the whole area far better illumination than most other places on the Conestoga. An emergency compartmentalizing curtain had deployed which left the stall feeling long, and separate. The other walls were light gray colored with tubes, pipes, and other intact fixtures along the sides. The compartmentalizing curtains had fallen in such a way was to separate the sections of the hanger bay. Those new walls, made by the curtains, looked out of place, both in style and in color. Another emergency containment curtain had fallen perpendicular to the first and separated out the observation deck which Cammarry assumed would have been across from the large exterior hanger bay doors. Instead of the yellow markings on the deck, as she expected, there were black hash-marks outlining a trail or path toward the exterior doors. She could tell where the yellow labeling had been, by the very faded outline of those letters and numbers, but they had been stripped away. The black hash marks looked fresh and new.

  “Well, there is a shuttle,” Jerome said. He pointed toward the corner by the exterior doors. “By those cargo and storage crates over there, but will it be serviceable?”

  Remembering her previous experience getting ensnared in the same kind of shuttle, a runabout, Cammarry asked, “Will Carter the Kidnapper have access to that shuttle, the runabout?”

  Jerome’s face grew very serious. He looked directly into Cammarry’s eyes. “I will not let you be trapped inside that. I promise that. The greater danger, in my opinion, would be if we stopped cooperating and working together. I will always work for your benefit. If I failed you in the past it was because I set my goal too low. That will not happen again.” He hugged Cammarry then raised his voice a bit. “Sandie, you have studied the flight manual we found, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you can show us how to override any outside influences? So we can manually operate the shuttle?” Jerome asked.

  “Right! Can you protect us from nefarious actions from Carter the Kidnapper or any other synthetic brains that might want to take us for the ride?” Cammarry asked.

  “I conjecture that I can protect you, with a high degree of confidence, yes. However, that runabout is not currently functional,” Sandie stated. “It has suffered various mechanical failures. Primarily its cabin will not hold pressure adequately for use. EA-804 has been attempting repairs, but new gaskets, seals, and linings are necessary. There are no available replacement parts at this time. I have those on a list of items needed to be fabricated when we find a facility to do so.”

  Jerome ran over and looked inside the small blue colored, two-seat shuttle. He stepped on its swept wing. “It is rather torn up inside as well. It is too small if Khin is going on this adventure with us anyway.” Jerome almost closed one of the two canopies, but he did not. “This is not the only shuttle here is it? I thought you said there were others? This one is the only one I see.”

  “There is another. The emergency curtains have partitioned Pine 1407 into three separate sections. Please follow EA-804 to stall 2. There is a better option there,” Sandie said. “Stall 1 was severely damaged in the explosion, and is not serviceable. Extensive and lengthy repairs will be needed on that area.”

  The automacube rolled up to near the new wall which separated stalls 2 and 3. It extended down its manipulation arm and linked into a hatch on the floor. The hatch dilated open, very much like the hatch they had entered behind the thruster fuel storage tank.

  “Magic doors in the floor now too? Yes the cubie blue knows what to do!” Khin laughed while he looked down into the dark hole. “I see no plants, water, or other normal things. Why are we looking in such barren wastes? Or is that a wrong question to ask of you wizards?”

  Jerome walked over and looked in as well. “These ‘barren wastes’ as you call them are actually how the ship is supposed to look. It was not designed to have the fungi, and growth medium, and loose water scattered all around. It was not meant to have dim light constantly on. None of these places were supposed to be homes for goats, chickens, rats, or insects. All those were to be kept in the biological habitats.”

  “Khin, is it too strange for you?” Cammarry asked. “Too much stress going on this quest?”

  Khin looked at them both. “Lots of strange things happen on wizard’s quests. I know!” He laughed as he suddenly dropped into the hole. A moment later his voice echoed back. “It is just a short crawl over to another big barren room. The lights are too bright, but it is easy to get here.”

  Before Jerome and Cammarry could enter, EA-804 lowered itself down into the passage by its arm and drive wheels and rolled along.

  Jerome laughed a bit and said, “This is our wizard’s quest, and Khin is leading!”

  Cammarry hugged him as they descended and crawled through the service duct. They then climbed up and into a different part of the now segmented hanger bay. Khin was standing there just looking around, his eyes squinting at the unaccustomed light. To Cammarry and Jerome the light was refreshing. It was brighter than the last section, and showed the area to be in the best repair. Standing right in the center of the stall, was a boxy shuttle craft, larger than the runabouts, but not as large as the doomed model 6 shuttle where they had found the dead bodies.

  “This looks very promising!” Jerome said as he approached the shuttle. Behind him EA-804 had sealed the hatches and closed the crawlspace they had used.

  This shuttle was white and light gray colored, sitting on three sets of landing skids which were anchored to the floor. It was about fifty percent larger than the runabout in length, but much more stout with a thicker fuselage. Its wings were not as swept back as the runabout’s, and projected out from the bottom of the fuselage. The tips of the wings angled down at about fifteen percent from level. Thruster nozzles were visible on the ends of the wings.

  There was an open door raised up over a small set of three steps. Jerome could tell the door would seal down and become part of the body of the craft. There was also what looked like a rear cargo door.

  Cammarry walked up and looked at the shuttle. “Model 14S,” she said as she looked closely at the side. As she walked around the shuttle she could see hoses that were connected into spots on the rear side and those snaked away to thruster fuel tanks. “Has the automacube reviewed this shuttle?”

  “Yes,” Sandie replied. “It is fueled, powered, and the systems have been checked.”

  Jerome looked inside the open door. ‘No trapped and dead people in spacesuits.’ He thought to himself, but did not speak out loud. He looked over at Cammarry and did say, “Twin pilot seats, side by side not tandem, and the four passenger seats. The interior looks new and intact.” He carefully stepped inside, wanting to spare Cammarry the anxiety of going first. “Sandie? The controls here look similar to the runabout’s. Will the flight manual we found apply to this shuttle as well? Will this machine fly?”

  “Yes. As to the controls, they….” Sandie began.

  Khin ran past Cammarry and climbed inside the shuttle. “You said flying! I want to fly again! Can I do that in here?”

  “Khin, wait!” Jerome said as Khin slipped past him and literally dove into the shuttle. He landed on the passenger seats. He laughed as he rolled off and onto the floor.

  “No flying in here now!” Khin giggled. “Why did you ask your spirit-ghost about flying?”

  “This whole machine will fly,” Cammarry said as she too looked inside. “Sandie, please finish what you were saying about the flight manual.”

  “The flight manual we have on record, from the scanned physical copy that was found, was written specifically for the shuttle model called a runabout. However, that does not limit its application, since the shuttle control systems are very similar on all the models we have so far encountered. I can make highly probable conjectures on operations, systems, and design parameters. There is an access port in the cockpit, and EA-804 has already l
inked me to that. I have reviewed every system on this Model 14S shuttle, and it is fully functional. Additionally, I have repaired and modified several communication systems to prevent outside influences. I am confident that my efforts will prevent the SB Joseph Crater from interfering in this shuttle’s flight when on manual operations. Enhancing the communication system will also allow me to remain in constant contact with you for the entire duration of the flight. Unless there are unknown factors in the planet Zalia’s atmosphere, which is possible, I believe you can have a safe flight to the surface, and a safe return flight.”

  “Yayeee!” Khin cheered. “Your spirit-ghost says we can fly! It will be as fun as in that floating room. Inside here it is smaller, and less places to push off and soar.”