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

by John Thornton

“I want to genuinely weld that hatch shut,” Cammarry said. “That way the habitat people cannot just stumble onto where we are. They may be pursuing us already. Those youth know we asked about the corridors and the egress point.”

  “Sound thinking!” Jerome patted Cammarry on the shoulder. And we can cut through the welds quickly should we need to do so. “Shall I weld it or will you?”

  “I will do it.” Cammarry pulled off her backpack and took out the molecular torch. She spotted several places and welded the permalloy hatch closed.

  They looked down the dimly lit corridor, and saw nothing around.

  13 Terraforming

  They spent the night sleeping on the hard floor in a room not far from the hatch they welded shut. Like the old man had stated, the corridor they walked through had been gutted of everything except the permalloy of the walls. There was an ESRC whose door was hanging open, but its shelves were bare. The color pad control boxes at the side of doors were broken open, with wiring hanging out from the walls. Most doors were jammed about half way open. Functional lighting fixtures were few and far between giving the area a indistinct, and eerie ambiance. It was not like the steady and dim lighting of the needle ship, nor was it like the other places they had explored. It was shadowy, strange, and gloomy. Even though its gravity orientation was in alignment with the habitat’s.

  Cammarry was first to fall asleep. Jerome carefully pulled out the medical kit and started to attach it to her.

  “Leave me alone!”

  “Sorry. I just wanted to help.” Jerome put the medical kit away, and positioned himself between Cammarry and the door. He had managed to force the door nearly closed through brute strength. “At least this area is generally upright. Not a tipped over world, as Khin would say. Right?”

  Cammarry did not respond.

  It took Jerome a long while just staring at the ceiling before he fell asleep.

  “Jerome? Cammarry?” Sandie’s voice called out loudly.

  Instantly they were both awake.

  “Sandie. Quickly tell us where Khin is,” Cammarry demanded.

  “Vehicle stopped at the gravitational top of the habitat over you,” Sandie answered tersely. “Destination may be tilted in orientation. I am unable to track Khin himself. No communications from him.”

  “Is that near Reproduction and Fabrication?” Jerome asked.

  “Near. Distance unclear. Seeking more information. Working to improve links with you.”

  “I will plug you in here so you can help us more,” Cammarry stated and pulled the cable from her com-link. Looking around she could see no access port to jack it into.

  “Ineffective. Time constraints con….” Sandie’s voice faded out.

  “Intermittent, interrupted, and irritating!” Cammarry slapped her hand down to the hard floor. The slap echoed around the room.

  “Well, Sandie said she was working to improve communication and we know a general direction we need to head.” He took some food supplies out of his pack and offered them to Cammarry.

  “I have my own food.”

  “Well, if you need some, let me know.” Jerome frowned and looked away. Standing up he walked to the door and peered outside through the small space he had left.

  “Sorry Jerome. I am just not myself right now.”

  They ate in silence, and drank a ration of the water they carried.

  “The corridor looks and sounds empty. Shall we proceed?” Jerome raised his gaze to look at Cammarry.

  She turned away. “Yes. We need to find Khin, find Reproduction and Fabrication, and learn what we can about the Ferryman. That is our mission.”

  “Indeed, it is. But a bigger mission is our survival and thriving together.” Jerome used his muscles against the door and got it to slide back into its pocket enough for them to squeeze out. “I am concerned about what is happening.”

  Cammarry ignored Jerome’s words and strolled out into the corridor. She had her hand on the weapon at her belt, and her backpack was bound tightly on her shoulders and waist.

  “Perhaps at the next connection with Sandie we will learn more?” Jerome said as he followed her.

  Cammarry just walked down the poorly lit corridor. Her head was turning from side to side as she looked for anything that might assist them. “If we spot an access port that looks serviceable, that might be advantageous.”

  “Cammarry, Sandie is not connected now, and we can only connect for short time spans. So why do we need an access port now?”

  “So claims those people who made the repairs.”

  “Siva and the others did a remarkable job getting us connected at all. I am thankful for what we have, and Sandie is working on making it better.”

  “So she claims. Sandie also claimed to know where Khin went, then she did not, now it is uncertain, and time has passed. I just wonder what is really happening. Too vague and too unclear.”

  Jerome rubbed his eyes. He then began flexing his hands in a calisthenics movement. It did not help him to relax.

  They came to a large open area. It was about thirty meters wide and high like a large box or cube. Graffiti was scrawled on several walls. The phrases were obscene and painted in florescent yellow paint. Several other corridors led away in different directions.

  “As a potential, I suppose an access port might allow us to power up more technology around here.” Jerome walked to the wall with the most graffiti. He ran his hands over the surface and finally found an access port near what felt like a slight seam in the permalloy. “Found one. I will connect in the fusion pack.”

  “Jerome is trying to divert your attention. Beware!” Shadow whispered to Cammarry.

  She turned away and stomped a few paces down a corridor. Cammarry tried hard not to respond to Shadow, but the voice was insistent.

  “Do you know why you got sick? What really happened? Beware!” Shadow pestered Cammarry with the words. “Beware. Beware.”

  The lights in the area snapped on, and a whirl of air rushed down from fans in vents that suddenly had a power supply. Dust coughed out from those same vents, and motes floated in the newly cycling air. A display screen lit up on the side wall, near where Jerome had connected in the fusion pack. It was covered with grime, but the light shone partially through that.

  “And so we repaired something. Shall we see what we have found?” Jerome asked.

  Cammarry walked over and swiped the grime away. “No growth medium here. No moss or fungi or plants.” She scraped with her hand, but the display screen was hard to clean. It was caked with dried on dust and dirt.

  “Let me assist you. Cooperation will make things happen.” Jerome walked over and also scraped at the display screen. “This is really baked on here.”

  Cammarry pulled off her backpack, and took out a water container. She splashed some of its contents up onto the display.

  “Waste water?” Jerome’s mouth fell open. “I have not seen any water supplies inside here yet. That old man said there were none.”

  Cammarry glared at Jerome. “We must succeed. So we take risks.” She then wiped the display cleaner. The central area was now readable. With black letters on the beige background.

  “Terraforming and Restoration,” Cammarry winked at Jerome. “It says ‘authorized personnel only’ so I officially authorize you. Will you authorize me?”

  “Certainly!” Jerome smiled widely at the change in Cammarry’s demeanor. “Is it an old touch-activated system, or are some manual controls somewhere nearby?” He glanced around looking for other panels, controls, or doors.

  Cammarry slapped her hand against the screen. “Touch activated, I think.” She held her hand firmly against the screen. A green glow pulsed around her hand.

  More words scrolled across the dirty display. She read them out as they passed into the cleaned area of the display. “Alternative entrance affirmed. Procedures in process.”

  “Entrance affirmed? But where?” Jerome asked. “I do not see any doors or openings or elevators.”<
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  Cammarry slapped the display screen again, this time with her other hand while pressing with the first. “Work you stupid thing! Work for me now!” A metallic groan came from the wall. Dust, debris, and dirt fell from a small seam that parted as the wall shook and tried to rotate open. It shuddered to a stop at a place only about half a meter wide open. Light did shine from inside.

  “Cammarry you did it! Well done!” Jerome said as he unjacked the fusion pack. As he did that, the lights in the corridor flickered and sputtered. The door remain in its partially rotated open position. The display screen went dark. It looked like a blank wall where someone had washed a section clean. The light continued to shine from the opening of the door.

  Cammarry turned sideways and slid into that opening and was gone. Jerome quickly followed. As they both stepped into the better-lit area, they were struck by the sounds and smells. In the prior corridor they had dust and dryness. Here, the air was moist, warmer, and there was a slushing sound coming from ahead of them.

  “Shut that door!” Cammarry harshly ordered. Her voice then dropped to a softer, gentler tone. “Sorry. Forgive me. We do not want to be hunted by those people from Seron, right?” She smiled and met Jerome’s eyes. “We are getting somewhere, and pursuers will just hinder us. We still need to find an elevator to take us upward, and hopefully the elevator will function all the way up, even if the decks are not aligned with this gravity. I am not sure how that will work, we may need to hike upward.”

  “This rotating door would barely work from the other side, but I can try.” Jerome looked around. They were on a small walkway which overlooked a very large area. That area reached two stories below them, and one story above. There was a permalloy three-bar railing along the edge of the walkway. To the sides, the walkway extended about a hundred meters in both directions. Looking at the wall which had opened, Jerome found a nine-section color control pad, still in good condition. He looked at Cammarry and shrugged his shoulders.

  “Try blue, green, green, white, blue, yellow. That has worked before.” Her smile was sweet and nice.

  Jerome pressed that sequence of colors. The door buzzed for a moment, and then snapped shut with a resounding clank. “Well that worked. I am not sure how well the passages above will work, but in here things seem better, more functional.”

  “Of course it is,” Cammarry muttered under her breath. She looked out beyond the railing and saw a bright light shining from a doorway at the far side, and on the lowest level of the large area. The side wall to their right had enormous pipes, three meters in diameter, running horizontally and then angling down to the lowest level and turning again to go into the far wall. The wall to the left had scaffolds, lifts, and various construction equipment stacked up from the lowest level to reach the walkway. Most of the equipment was haphazardly arranged, and in no order either Jerome or Cammarry could discern.

  “I see no way to go up, but we could descend down and head for that lighted doorway. Do you think this is Terraforming and Restoration?” Jerome asked.

  “Certainly. The place is labeled that.” Cammarry walked briskly along and toward the lifts and scaffolding. “Those youth said terraforming was a failure, I will not be.”

  “Sandie said we needed to go up to get to Reproduction and Fabrication. I will keep watch for an elevator or stairway.”

  “Yes, you do that Jerome. You do that.”

  Jerome’s eyes shifted as he watched her walking away. He shook his head a bit, and began flexing his hands continuing the repetitive calisthenics.

  An open lift platform was just off the walkway at the corner where it met the left hand side wall. Cammarry stepped onto it and activated the manual control lever before Jerome was onboard.

  “Hey! I am coming too!” He jumped on as the lift descended.

  Cammarry pinched her nose and took some full and long deep breathes. “Sorry Jerome. I thought you were already standing here.”

  Jerome stepped over and embraced her with a hug. “The stress is strong. Our greatest weapon against stress is our ability to cooperate and work together. We are in this together.”

  She snuggled up against him and rubbed her head into the crook of his neck. As the lift descended they held each other tightly. There was a bump and snap as the lift stopped its descent close to the bottom level. It was not able to quite make it all the way down due to some debris piled on the floor. They pushed the gate on the rails open, and hopped down, dropping a meter or so. Looking back up, the area continued with the cast of gray overtones, but the light from the doorway ahead was bright, nearly white in color. The splashing sounds from the huge pipes was not as loud on that end of the room.

  “Terraforming and Restoration has power, and fluids flowing in those pipes, but the area is a mess.” Jerome kicked some flimsy metal sheeting out of the way.

  Approaching the lit doorway proved to be not as easy as they anticipated when they saw it from two stories up. There was lots of junk, debris, and clutter covering the floor. Stepping through that was tedious, as much of the jumble was loose, or jagged. Finally, they did make a crisscrossing journey from where the open lift had come down to where the large pipes connected into the wall near the lit doorway. One large tank, roughly twenty meters long was labeled in faded letters, ‘Bihydrogen Unioxide’. It was completely sealed over, but had pipes connecting into it. The swishing and gurgling noises were loudest next to the tank.

  “Water? Using a silly name for it.” Jerome said as he looked at the tank. He felt it with his hand, and there was a distinct vibration which corresponded to the gurgling sounds. “I wonder how far into the wall the tank extends?”

  “The lost habitat water?” Cammarry asked.

  “I am not sure. This is a huge tank, but even that large of an amount of water would not compare to the vast needs of the biome of Beta.”

  “But if the water is flowing through this tank, and it sounds like it is, where is it going?” Cammarry rapped on the permalloy.

  “Maybe we will find out. That lit doorway may reveal some answers.”

  The light was so bright it was difficult to see past the doorway.

  “Khin would be blinded for sure,” Jerome commented.

  “Why did he mention Khin? What does he know? Why is he hiding things from you?” Shadow whispered to Cammarry as she thought about Khin and his aversion to light. “Beware Cammarry. Not all is as it seems. Beware!”

  “I heard you!” Cammarry snapped back.

  “Sorry. I just cannot stop thinking about Khin.” Jerome looked away as Cammarry’s face was drawn and tense. He stepped into the lighted doorway, and she followed.

  Taking a moment to allow their eyes to adjust to the brightness, they blinked, stretched, and then looked around. The room they had found had several large spotlights which were focused on the doorway. They shined down on it from the upper corners of the room. After stepping beyond the beam of those lights, Jerome and Cammarry could see what the room was like. About ten meters wide, and perhaps twenty meters to the far wall, the room was spotlessly clean, and of a light blue color. The side walls had mechanical apparatus on them every meter or so, which consisted of rectangular boxes with gauges, levers, and buttons on them. All seemed to be functioning, but there were no labels, or designations, except over the far wall. There was a bulkhead door on that wall with red numbers zero and seven written across it.

  Jerome examined the first set of controls, and gauges. “These are pressure indicators, and perhaps flow rates, for something, but I am not sure what this is monitoring or observing. The gauges have no numbers just a label-less grid. Looks like some monitors might be for automacubes, maybe, but it is not clear at all. A few symbols, but nothing definite.”

  Cammarry marched right past all the controls, and reached for the nine-section color control pad next to the bulkhead door. She pressed blue, green, green, white, blue, yellow. The door chimed several times, and then swooshed open.

  “Welcome to Terraforming and Restorat
ion,” a mechanical voice stated with the sound emanating from somewhere overhead. “You personnel from Machine Maintenance are long overdue.”

  Cammarry walked in quickly, and Jerome followed. The bulkhead door swooshed shut behind them.

  “What is this place?” Jerome said in surprise before he could contain his thoughts.

  “Terraforming and Restoration, egress point zero-seven, bow section, Habitat Beta,” the mechanical voice replied. “I am synthetic brain Premenit overseeing the terraforming process. Currently I am in the midst of biological transformation of the Conestoga crew to adaptation for life on planet Zalia.” There was a sound of clanking and clacking.

  Several blue automacubes rolled by, and a silver automacube was parked near the entrance. Jerome and Cammarry gave those machines hardly a look as their eyes were fixed on the five meter tall clear permalloy upright vats which were lined up in a row extending in both directions. The vats each held a human body, suspended in a glowing yellowish green liquid. Wires, tubes, and small cables were hooked into each body. Devices were visible protruding from the bodies. The glow from the vats cast a strange color on the entire area.