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

by John Thornton

  SB Amelia Earhart answered, “Shortly after planet-fall was made, the habitat lattice failed. Three minutes later, the gravity manipulation was altered. I am not programmed to redirect the gravity manipulation. I have sent in repair requests. Hanger bay functionality is greatly inhibited by the current situation. At this time gravity manipulation only compensates for the planet’s gravity, but does not redirect the vector of the gravity. Since that time I have had no contact with any other the other synthetic brains or with any humans. To pass that time I took up meditation. My concern now is self-enrichment and actualization. I have been thinking about machines, people, and animals. All must be an essential part of my journey for enlightenment. A thought can be a powerful weapon of mass destruction or a tool to create peace on this new planet. Through the practices of contemplative meditation, I can discover happiness in solitude. My primary function is overseeing the shuttle craft and hanger bays. All the hanger bays have unconventional vectors for gravity manipulation. As representatives of Machine Maintenance, will you be restoring gravity manipulation to its proper functioning?”

  Before anyone else could answer Sandie sent a private message very quietly through the com-links to Jerome and Cammarry. “Please do not give SB Amelia Earhart any details or specifics. No promises. I am discovering gaps and inconsistencies in its processing. I cannot disconnect the link without the potential for a hostile response. It controls the hanger bay systems, and could decompress this area without warning. I am not sure about this synthetic brain’s rationality. Give me time to find a way to circumvent its controls.”

  “Understood” Jerome stated out loud. “Thank you SB Amelia Earhart. We will be reviewing all the necessary things. We will plan adjustments and repairs as soon as time allows, but we need to assess the situation. We need to investigate it first, and your help is essential in doing that.”

  SB Amelia Earhart responded, “When time wanders, the mind can be unsteady. When time is calmed the mind too will be calmed. Calmness achieves long life. Therefore, I will continue to contemplate things while waiting for your repairs. It has just been so long, so very very long.”

  “Sandie, deploy the automacube,” Cammarry ordered.

  The rear hatch of the shuttle opened. The blue automacube, EA-804, then carefully attached a cable from its front to an anchoring point inside the shuttle. Using its internal winch, it slowly lowered itself down to the bottom of the hanger bay, which had once been the bay’s rear wall. Arriving at that new floor, the automacube attached the cables to spots on the floor. The distance was about thirty meters.

  “Cubie blue knows what to do!” Khin called out as he opened the door between the cargo hold and the cabin. He had his gear on and then he jumped down and nimbly grasped the cable. He effortlessly climbed down to where the automacube was located. “Easy! Not as fun as flying, and this tipped over world is still too bright, but come on down!”

  “Jerome, I am not sure my hands could take sliding down that cable like he did,” Cammarry said as she looked at her own hands. There were some well-earned callouses, but she shook her head as she thought of what the metal cable might do to her flesh.

  “I was thinking the same thing. And did you see how painlessly Khin did that? I am still trying to get my mind to accept seeing everything sideways here.”

  “The spacesuits have gloves,” Cammarry said. “They would protect our hands, but would we be able to climb back up? That cable is slick and thin.”

  “By the time we need to get back, hopefully that automacube can have built a ladder. Sandie, please instruct EA-804 to construct a ladder suitable for our use.”

  “Affirmative. The use of the spacesuit’s gloves for your hand protection is a good idea,” Sandie stated.

  A panel on the side of the hanger bay popped open with a starling noise. A motor coughed to life, and a crane with its yellow colored triangular boom rapidly extended out. A heavy hook and clamp swung wildly from its end. The boom unhinged, rotated, and telescoped up and over to the rear of the shuttle. The swinging clamps narrowly missed smacking the shuttle.

  “Namaste. You needed a ladder. My hanger bay needs repairs. Here is your ladder,” SB Amelia Earhart stated.

  Cammarry looked at Jerome. He then said, “Thank you SB Amelia Earhart. That will work. We will need to gather our tools to make the assessments.”

  Cammarry looked at him again, and then back at the crane and boom. He handed her a backpack as he slid his own on.

  “Yes, that will do.” Jerome looked at the half meter distance between the cargo hold and the boom. It did extend down to what he considered the floor. The boom was about a meter on each of its triangular sides, with cross braces at spaces roughly equivalent to a ladder. It was extended out about a third of its entire length. He could see the other sections where they fit inside the extension. “Yes, that will work. Please keep it steady.”

  Jerome and Cammarry scrambled down the boom, and reached the bottom. They hopped down the last meter from where the crane’s housing was located. Nearly right after they reached that floor. The boom swiveled and tore the automacube’s cable from its anchor point. The motor which ran it powered down. The cable came snaking down and fell across the floor, missing everyone, but landing with a snap. The boom then retracted back and folded itself into its storage place. EA-804 rolled over and with its manipulation arm grabbed up the end of the cable, reconnected it to the winch, and wound it back inside.

  The floor they stood on was composed mostly of clear permalloy which they could look down through and see the observation deck. The chairs inside there were scattered about.

  “Funny window, in the floor. Tipped over world is weird. Where do we go now?” Khin said as he squatted down and looked into the observation deck.

  Cammarry walked over and then slipped down the wall to stand next to the pressure door which was horizontal to her. The nine-sectioned color control pad was glowing. “Sandie, what access code do we use here?”

  “Just press on green three time,” Sandie replied. “SB Amelia Earhart informs me that none of this area is locked.”

  Pressing the green section three times resulted in the door sliding open. Jerome and Khin had followed her down and now all three slid through the sideways door and entered the observation deck. The control counter was to their upper right and the display screen was active. It was showing readings on the gases in the hanger bay, pressures, temperatures, and other status reports. Except for being sideways, the control counter looked to be fully functioning. The blue automacube used its arm and six wheels to climb over the side and come through the doorway. The pressure door shut behind it.

  “Now we open the door in the floor and leave Dardanella 5600,” Jerome said. He then looked at the display screen. “SB Amelia Earhart?”

  “Namaste, maintenance man. When will you start the repairs?” the mechanical voice replied.

  “I have already begun the inventory of what is needed for repairs. You stated you have not had any contact with humans for seventy some years. Did I understand you correctly?” Jerome asked cautiously.

  “Yes maintenance man. That is correct.”

  “Does that include communication transmissions or any signals from outside the habitat?” Jerome asked. “I need to know the status of the communication system so I can schedule repairs.”

  “I have not received any signals until the one that linked me to your repair team,” SB Amelia Earhart replied. “I believe we have talked enough now. The way to get started on the repairs is to quit talking and start doing.”

  The display screen had a red glow around its edges, and the information displayed shrank in size a bit as SB Amelia Earhart spoke.

  Cammarry and Jerome exchanged looks. Jerome raised an eyebrow, but refrained from saying any more.

  “The Ferryman said he was here,” Shadow reminded Cammarry. “One of them is lying to you, and Sandie know which one. Why does Sandie refuse to cut the link?”

  “I do not know!” Camm
arry squatted down next to the bulkhead door on the floor and pressed the green section of the color control pad three time. The door slid sideways into its pocket.

  “Yes, it is uncertain what is beneath us,” Jerome replied.

  Lights flickered on, and the corridor below was revealed. The lights ran along one side, and were very adequate. The walls were dull white with a blue stripe on once section. Scattered debris, chairs, and some other broken items were about, but not enough to hinder passage. The doors that could be seen were all shut.

  “At least it is not a straight drop down into a dark abyss. Here we have lights, and a passage which we can use,” Cammarry said as she looked at the corridor beneath her. It ran horizontally. “I was concerned we were at the end of a hall, and we would have to rappel down a shaft or something.”

  “That may still be the case,” Jerome said as he lowered himself over the edge and hung on the lip of the bulkhead door frame. “There are places to grip so we can climb down, muscling our way to the floor, but it is still about three meters away. The fall is not so bad, but that sudden stop at the bottom and the impact with the floor might be.”

  “What do we call a floor in this sideways habitat?” Cammarry joked.

  Khin laughed at her and looked at the whole situation with a smile.

  Jerome hung by his arms, and then pulled himself over to the side wall where he could shimmy down to the floor. “Not a bad descent.”

  Khin swung down. He neatly flew hand over hand grabbing at things with his fingertips. He landed easily on the floor. “Why argue about names? The floor is under your feet. The place you fall to. The ceiling is over your head. The sides are the walls. It is simple, even in a tipped over world.” He did bend over at the waist and look down the corridor and then turned around and looked the other way, also bent to the side. “Yes, a tipped over bland world. Still too bright. No mushrooms, no water, no animals, no bugs. Wasteland.”

  Cammarry followed the two men and also climbed down from the open bulkhead door. The automacube followed, again lowering itself with its winch and cable. It had made a loop of the cable which allowed it to gently descend. After reaching the floor, one end of cable was let loose and it was pulled down from above and wound up again. The bulkhead door slid shut effectively closing over their heads.

  “We are safe to talk here,” Sandie said. “I have placed a barrier in the nonphysicality along the line of this bulkhead. SB Amelia Earhart is confined to the hanger bay area and some small sections associated with that. The communication system it has been using is also limited, and now I can control those couplings and links. It is an antiquated system, easily out maneuvered. That synthetic brain is spending an exorbitant amount of its processing power monitoring the microparticle turrets on the exterior hull around the hanger bay. Those are designed to keep asteroids and other materials in space such away from the hull. I am not sure why SB Amelia Earhart is focused on that here after planet-fall.”

  “So she cannot hear us now?” Cammarry asked.

  “That is correct.”

  “So where was that other shuttle? The people? The Ferryman? Just where are those people we heard discussing some kind of trip?” Jerome asked. “The hanger bay was empty of shuttles, and that SB claims to have had no contact with human for decades.”

  “My initial targeting of the signal we received was within a two hundred meter radius. However, that transmission may have been skipped or bounced from the end of the habitat where we encountered the interference. Still, the two hundred meter radius covers all the area of hanger bay Dardanella 5600 as well as some of the surrounding areas. We saw no shuttles outside, but it is possible there was a shuttle there, it could have been anchored to the hull, and it departed prior to our arrival,” Sandie said. “Or the signal could have originated from a location we have not explored yet, nearby to here, or possibly skipped from that other location. I did uncover detailed, but limited, deck plans for the areas in this immediate vicinity. I found no log records to corroborate or contradict SB Amelia Earhart’s claims.”

  “Or that SB was just mendacious,” Cammarry said. “I am not sure what to believe. But no matter, did you find out where Reproduction and Fabrication is and how we can reach that location?”

  “I did not find the exact location,” Sandie replied. “The nonphysicality here is in far better shape than on other parts of the Conestoga, however, it is still segmented. Here the section I have explored is vast, with power functioning at low to moderate, but consistent levels. There is little overt damage in the section. That suggests to me that the segmentation of the nonphysicality was deliberate, planned, and well executed. So far, the only synthetic brain I have encountered is SB Amelia Earhart. I expect to encounter others as we travel.”

  “But where is Reproduction and Fabrication? We need to repair our data sticks,” Jerome asked. “Are we even close?”

  “To be blunt, no,” Sandie replied. “We are roughly one third of the way from one end of the habitat. From what we know of Habitat Alpha, the Reproduction and Fabrication facility is at the extreme end of the habitat. I cannot tell you exactly which end in this habitat. There may be a factory of that type on each end, but that is uncertain. Unless we find physical markers, or I can access another synthetic brain which has the information, or interact with humans who have the knowledge, either direction has as much merit as the other.”

  “Except one is closer,” Cammarry stated. “Do you know the condition between here and there? Will it all be sideways?”

  Again Khin was tipping his body to the side to look down the hallway. He was squinting as he did so.

  “That depends on the route we chose to follow,” Sandie replied. “The Conestoga was designed for optimum use in zero gravity space travel. Internally, for the sake of crew, flora, and fauna, the colony ship used varied gravity manipulation vectors to maintain a stable gravity feel and orientation. I conjecture that the gravity manipulation system is now working only to counteract the natural gravity of Zalia and reduce it to Earth normal. I speculate that the landing established the biological habitat’s orientation so that the ground, water, and other features are in an upright configuration. We here, at the top of the habitat, do not experience that now. We could try to plot a course across, what I will call, the top of the habitat, however, the deck plans I have so far uncovered do not show any direct route.”

  “Wander through a honeycomb of sideways passages, or go down to the biological habitat. Rather like we did before. Back to Wolf City, in other words. So again we need to go through the biological habitat to reach our goals?” Jerome chuckled. “Irony.”

  Khin added in his own laughter while he glanced from Cammarry to Jerome trying to understand all they were discussing. “My wizard friends, you know this place, this toppled world, and I do not. But I see no plants, no water, and no animals. That means no food or drink. Is this whole world barren?” He spread his hands out indicating the corridor which stretched off in both directions.

  Cammarry smiled and nodded at Jerome. “Khin makes a good point. If we found where water had run previously, will the pipes be functional in this configuration? I cannot imagine a working toilet sitting sideways. If we have to hike thirty or forty kilometers, we will need a supply of potable water. We have some, but not enough for me to feel safe.”

  “Agreed. We do know people were around here somewhere close,” Jerome stated. “We heard their transmission.”

  “Unless it was skipped here by the atmospheric interference.”

  “Now you are understanding. Trust no one. They are all lying to you,” Shadow whispered

  “Lying? We thought there would be people in the hanger bay, we heard their transmission,” Cammarry replied rather humorously. “But no one was home, except that SB. In the transmission, I believe the woman asked about water. Am I right Sandie?”

  “Yes, that was her concern, and from the tone and timbre of her voice, there were high levels of anxiety associated with it.” Sandie re
played part of the transmission they had received. The woman’s voice stated, “I just want my children to have a better life than here in Beta. There will be plenty of water at that other habbie?”

  “Sandie, how close are we to entering the biological habitat?” Jerome asked.

  “We are not at the pinnacle of the habitat. I estimate that we are less than seven kilometers from the ground level of the biological habitat. That would be following the perimeter of the cylinder as it wraps around. There may be elevators which are still functional to carry you part of that way, however I have not been able to access the elevator data,” Sandie replied. “I need to further investigate the nonphysicality to know more.”

  “By descending down, we would learn a lot more, and maybe know better where our goal is located. After we figure that out, we could then head toward Reproduction and Fabrication by crossing the biological habitat in some manner.” Jerome paused and then smiled at Cammarry. “Success is a journey of a thousand kilometers, but it must be taken one step at a time. I say we head for the habitat. We may also find out about that Ferryman there.”