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

by John Thornton

  “We will see if this works!” Jerome called.

  The automacube impacted the far wall, but only struck its extended drive wheels. It bounced a bit from the wall. There was a screech from above as part of the sign tore loose. The fragment fell into the space below, but the cable remained attached. The top of the sign was twisted and bent and the grappling hook was wedged into the ripped part of it.

  “Go fast!” Cammarry yelled. “Get up there!”

  The winch wound rapidly and the automacube’s drive wheels spun giving it additional upward force. It moved past the first doorway and then was just about to the ESRC when another part of the sign tore. The automacube dropped a small bit as the sign twisted and bent nearly directly down. The manipulation arm of the automacube extended out and plugged into a space next to the outline of the ESRC. The door for the cabinet popped open with a snap and was locked horizontally. The spinning drive wheels and the cable pulled the automacube up and onto that door just as the loudest screech yet came from the ripping. The grappling hook slid off the remains of the sign and dropped the meter or so to land next to the automacube on the ESRC’s open door.

  “It made it!”

  The automacube quickly untangled the cable and grappling hook from the mangled remains of the sign. It then extended its manipulation arm upward to its full extent. It flicked on a light at the tip of the arm.

  “I have a view of the transport hub,” Sandie stated. “Projecting it now.”

  A beam of light came from Cammarry’s com-link and illuminated an image on the wall. The image showed that about twenty meters away from the automacube, there was a threshold. Beyond that, across what looked like the floor were eight metal doors. They were more like hatches for a spaceship, than like interior, bulkhead, or pressure doors. Two of the doors were open, but the others were shut. Along the ceiling of the room was a control countertop with a display screen which was dark. Several chairs were sitting upright, which looked off as the room’s orientation was sideways like the other hallways.

  “I do not see Khin anywhere!” Cammarry cried out. “Give us a panorama view. Are we seeing everything in that transport hub

  The view shifted somewhat as the automacube rotated the camera at the end of its arm. No other doors, exits, or openings were visible. No places where Khin could be hidden.

  “He must have gone into one of those open hatches,” Jerome said.

  “Or he was taken into one,” Cammarry stated. “It sort of sounded like a struggle.”

  “Or he saw where he could fly again. He does like that and is eager to jump into it.” Jerome was looking at the gap between where they were standing and where Khin had gone. The blue automacube was perched on the open ESRC door. “He may have just jumped into one of those passages.”

  “He is impetuous,” Cammarry remarked. She thought of the adventurer Jamie back in Dome 17. In her mind she wished Jamie well and said a quick prayer for her, wherever she had ended up. Before she thought more about the 1,500 people of Dome 17, she said, “How do we get up there now?”

  “The automacube can maneuver over that sidewall and into the transport hub,” Sandie stated. “Being able to visualize the floor inside there, it can drill an anchor for the grappling hook Jerome made. Then it will lower down the cable. I am sending it instructions as we speak.”

  The projection shut down. A whirring noise was heard as the automacube drilled into the floor and set the hook. It then used its arm to pull out the red fire suppression hose from the ESRC. The hose was flat, as it was not inflated for use, and about twelve centimeters wide. It unrolled from the sprocket in the ESRC. The hose dropped and dangled from the door’s edge. It reached down and past where Jerome and Cammarry stood.

  EA-804 then hoisted itself up and over the edge using the hook, its drive wheels, and the manipulation arm. It spun about and then inserted the cable again through the anchored grappling hook, and shot the loose end down to where the two people stood. It then clamped its manipulation arm onto a section of the wall, securing itself in place.

  “I see now!” Cammarry said as she wrapped the cable around her and made a loop with a knot. She leaned into it as a seat. “We use the cable as a lift. Then we use our hands to climb up that hose. Excellent!”

  “Yes, Cammarry, that is the idea,” Sandie stated. “The cable can lift you and the automacube will winch you upward. Please use the fire retardant hose as a guide while ascending. Let me know when you are ready.”

  “Do you want me to go first?” Jerome asked. “I might be able to help you from up there.”

  “That is why I am going first. I can render aid to you when I reach that room.” Cammarry called out loudly. “Ready Sandie!”

  The slack in the cable snugged up slowly and Cammarry followed it right to the edge. She looked down and realized how far the fall would be. She rubbed her hands together and wrapped one of them over the cable. She felt it pull her off her feet, and she swung out. It was only a moment, but she held her breath as she glided toward the dangling hose. She twisted more than she expected, and almost missed the grab. Gripping that hose with both hand she steadied herself. The cable was tight against her bottom and lifting her at a steady rate. She walked her hands along the rough hose as she approached the door to the ESRC.

  “There is another insertion due,” Shadow stated. “Another implantation is necessary.”

  “Never!” A wild eyed Cammarry screamed out. She kicked with her feet and struck the sidewall. That swung her out away from the ESRC door. She released the hose and grabbed to the thin cable as it continued to pull her upward.

  “What happened?” Jerome yelled. “Are you snagged? Hurt? What?” He flung his arms to the side in frustration as he watched Cammarry ascend.

  “Just about there!” Cammarry called back.

  She reached up as far as she could and grabbed the edge, then pulled herself up and rolled into the transport hub area. She slipped quickly out of the cable loop.

  Standing up she looked back. She could now see the interior of the ESRC, and there were some boxes, a few tools, and a small bottle of something. She did not see the kind of mechanism which had injured her at the other ESRC. “See, I am fine! I did not need anything!”

  “Great!’ Jerome yelled. “Toss me the cable.”

  Cammarry did so, and Jerome sat back in the improvised lift seat. The winch began pulling and he made the climb without incident. He chose to step right onto the ESRC door. “Hold it here!”

  The winch stopped.

  “I will toss up everything in here. We might need some of this stuff.”

  Cammarry bit her lip as she feared he was about to be struck from within the ESRC, but nothing like that happened. The door held him and that allowed him to squat down and then toss the boxes, tools, and the bottle over the edge. After he had emptied out the ESRC he commanded, “Lift me a bit more, and that will be fine.”

  He climbed over the edge and joined Cammarry.

  “Sandie, we may need to come back this way, and if so, can you conjecture some better method of traversing this chasm? It does not work to leap a twenty-meter chasm in two ten-meter jumps.”

  “Jerome? We need to find Khin,” She hugged him quickly and then walked toward the hatches which were set into the floor. It was obvious they originally were designed to be vertical and not horizontal.

  “Sandie, there are access ports here, may I jack into one and have you give us a better assessment?” Jerome said as connected the cord into the access port.

  “Exploring this part of the nonphysicality now,” Sandie replied.

  Jerome and Cammarry looked up as the display screens overhead lit up. She said, “It looks like some schematics or deck plans. I see a shadowed outline of what the entire Conestoga must have looked like, prior to when the habitats were jettisoned. There is also a defined cylindrical display which I believe is Beta Habitat.”

  “Agreed. Those lines, might be the transportation system routes,” Jerome nodded. He pointed
at one. “See how the red ones run to where the other parts of the ship were once connected? They go right to the missing habitat cylinders. The green ones run along this habitat and connect back into this habitat. Red for failed lanes? Green for functioning routes?”

  “I believe you are correct,” Sandie said. “From this vantage point, I can bridge into another section of the nonphysicality. It is very similar to the one we are in now. I have not located another synthetic brain, but I did find a log record for this transportation hub. I will illuminate its position on the overhead display.”

  A blue flashing light showed on one of the green lines. “You are at that location.”

  “But where is Khin? Any ideas?” Cammarry asked.

  “The log shows that a transport vehicle left at nearly the same time as when we last saw Khin,” Sandie stated. “I know its destination. That destination and route will now appear as a flashing green line on the display.”

  “So how do we pursue him?” Cammarry asked. She walked over to one of the open hatches. There was a cold bit of air coming up from the open dark hole.

  “You said a vehicle departed?” Jerome asked. “A shuttle?”

  “No,” Sandie replied. “The vehicles which operate inside the transport tubes are not shuttles. There is one docked here at door number three.”

  “So we use that vehicle to follow Khin,” Cammarry said as she walked to the hatch marked 3. The labels were clearly painted on the hatches.

  “I have also located a tentative position for Reproduction and Fabrication,” Sandie stated. “It will show as a flashing yellow line, superimposed on the green. Both passages are apparently operational, however, they are not the same route. Both begin here, but quickly branch off to take different tubes in the system.”

  The display showed the yellow line heading right toward the farthest away end of the habitat. The flashing green line, ended about in the middle of the habitat.

  Both Jerome and Cammarry spoke at the same time.

  Cammarry said, “We go after Khin, and then to Reproduction and Fabrication.”

  Jerome said, “We make the repairs in Reproduction and Fabrication, then pursue Khin.”

  “What?” They each said.

  Jerome crossed his arms and tilted his head. “Cammarry, you know we need our data sticks repaired. We are about blind, deaf, and crippled without them. Doing those repairs is essential. We can even evolve some new AIs to assist us. We will find Khin faster if we are better equipped.”

  Cammarry shook her head. “I disagree. We have no idea why he left in some vehicle. He may be injured. He might have been kidnapped. We must follow him first, then go make the repairs. We have weapons, and Sandie, and that will be enough. Khin needs us now. If we delay he could die.”

  They stared at each other eye to eye.

  Jerome broke eye contact, and looked away. “Sandie, are there two vehicles here so we could follow both paths?”

  “No. There is just a single vehicle here now. I have searched what areas of the transport system I can, and I find no other vehicles in my search range. I cannot assess the conditions at the destination points, but only have them logged in as destinations.”

  “So it is one or the other,” Jerome said.

  “Sandie? We know that other vehicle went somewhere safely, correct?” Cammarry asked.

  “Not with absolute certainty,” Sandie answered. “We know the vehicle departed from here, and that was its destination. We can assume it was piloted in some manner, and can assume that pilot knew the destination was safe, but those are assumptions. The assumptions might be flawed or faulty.”

  “But we do not even have those assumptions about the way to Reproduction and Fabrication, correct?” Cammarry asked.

  “That is correct. Reproduction and Fabrication’s location is tentative, and based on limited information.”

  “But Cammarry, the monitor shows both as in operational status,” Jerome said quietly and with resignation. “However, you are right, we have a better chance following the first shuttle. Sandie, will you store the location for Reproduction and Fabrication?”

  “I already have, yes,” Sandie answered.

  “Will we be able to use the transport system to go from that destination where Khin went to Reproduction and Fabrication?” Jerome finally looked back at Cammarry.

  “That is unknown, but a valid speculation,” Sandie answered. “Even if it meant using the vehicle to return to this hub, and they leaving from here to go to Reproduction and Fabrication.”

  “Cammarry, I still believe going to Reproduction and Fabrication now would be best, but it is a guess. I trust you and Sandie, so, against my own intuition, I will go with you. We must not be separated.” Jerome patted the holstered weapon. He then said, “Sandie, set this automacube to repairing this transport hub. I want a safe stairway over that chasm, and everything here to be as functional as possible. I think we will be coming back this way, either to walk to the shuttle bay, or to shift the transport vehicle’s routes. Will you oversee these repairs and make sure that everything is all done correctly? Or will that overextend your abilities?”

  “Jerome, I can easily perform multiple tasks to a far greater extent than I am currently doing. I am studying the astronomy of this region of space, making assessments on the planet Zalia, monitoring the FTL scout and the teleportation pads near to it, as well as the teleporters in Habitat Alpha. Supervising the work here will not over task me in any way,” Sandie said. “I will be with you as well as we seek to pursue Khin on this adventure.”

  “So how do we operate the vehicle?” Cammarry said as she squatted down next to door number three. She pressed several buttons, and finally the hatch swung up and open. Light came from below.

  Jerome joined her and they looked down into the vehicle. It was pointed straight down, and had two rows of seats along each side, facing each other. It looked like the vehicle could carry about twenty people.

  Cammarry slid down and into the vehicle. She climbed to the nose where there was a sort of dashboard. “I do not see any controls, and maneuvering this vehicle will be difficult standing on its command panel. It was designed to operate in a gravity environment, and not in this orientation.”

  “It is pointed in the opposite way from the shuttle we parked in that hanger bay. Sandie? Do you know the operating system for this vehicle?”

  “I do not. I have the log entries, and some of the transportation system’s tubes mapped out, but no information on its operation,” the AI replied.

  Squatting down Cammarry manually pulled out an instrument drawer. It moved sluggishly and only part way. It jammed as she tried to pull it out more. “This vehicle is lacking power. See how faded out the lights on these controls are?” She pulled her backpack off and removed her fusion pack. She took a cord from that and inserted it into the access port near the instruments.

  Two seats folded up from the floor of the vehicle, which to the people standing there was like a wall. Jerome and Cammarry had to duck as the seats locked into place. The seats were oriented to face the nose, and not sideways like the seats at the back. The dashboard lit up with a display.

  “Synthetic Brain Hecate now in operation,” a mechanical voice stated from the control speakers. “There is a major malfunction. Please report this breakdown to ship’s neuromechanical technology team at Machine Maintenance.”

  Sandie spoke, “We are from Machine Maintenance, repair access code A009-889.”

  “Code accepted,” the synthetic brain Hecate replied. “Repairs are needed, as per the requests sent in. Please initiate immediate mitigation of disrupted systems.”

  “SB Hecate?” Cammarry asked. “Do you oversee the transport system?”

  “Such as it is, yes. I am functioning at only 7.12% of operational minimums. Most systems are inoperative. Tube status assessment inadequate. How will you assist me?” The mechanical voice replied.

  “I have given you a boost of power, but we need to pursue the other tra
nsport vehicle which just departed,” Cammarry stated. “Are you able to plot and overtake that other vehicle?”

  “Other vehicle?” SB Hecate asked.

  Sandie interjected, “There was a second vehicle here not long ago. It should be in your assessment range.”

  “I do detect another vehicle, moving under manual controls. Odd… I have no record of proper authorization for manual use… Machine Maintenance I now add a supplemental request for more expeditious repairs. I have limited abilities now which hinder my proper accomplishment of my primary mission. That other vehicle is an example of why I need repairs immediately.”