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

by John Thornton

  “Tell me where Cammarry is, or I will destroy you too!” Jerome barked. “Do it now!”

  The water sizzled around the wrecked red automacube. Then the sprinklers stopped.

  “This is SB Cotard,” a voice said from overhead. “The automacubes have been told to stand down. Both of our security guards have been demolished by your actions. May we negotiate a cessation of your hostilities?”

  “An artificial intelligence system?” Jerome asked.

  “Yes, I am Synthetic Brain Cotard. How can we settle this without further damage or hostilities?”

  “Tell me where Cammarry is. I am taking her away from here. Tell me now or I will blast everything in this place until I find her!” Jerome said with ice in his words. “This M-84 will be the next automacube to be demolished. By me they fall, I am in charge, not you! By me the stroke of death is dealt them now. Even as they stand thus gallantly; My instrument is in hand. Now I am the destroyer. By me this will happen. Surrender now and cooperate.”

  “I am unable to identify the weapon you are wielding, but its power is unmistakable. I will concede to your demand. We have a patient who self identifies as ‘Cammarry’ but who is suffering from Intractable Delusions and the Delirium of Negation. It is inadvisable to have her depart this facility,” SB Cotard stated.

  Piff.

  “Inadvisable?” Jerome shot out a window. It shattered in a tinkling of falling and broken clear glass. Jerome hid his surprise that the window was not transparent permalloy, but some antique type of glass. The surprise was suppressed, but his emotions were steaming. “It is inadvisable for you to anger me!”

  “Your position is understood,” SB Cotard responded, “M-84 will lead you to the patient. I hope you will depart without further violence or destruction.”

  “No promises. None. First wake him up,” Jerome gestured toward Khin. “If he is seriously hurt, I begin shooting. No delays, games, or arguments.”

  The automacube M-84, rolled over and with a gentle touch applied a quick treatment to Khin. He shook his head and leapt to his feet. “Wizard Jerome, you are safe?”

  “Yes. I would have used my medical kit to revive you, but I do not trust these machines. That white one will now lead us to Cammarry.”

  The automacube rolled along and Jerome followed, keeping the Willie Blaster at the ready. “Khin, keep watching for other red ones, or some kind of a trap. There is a synthetic brain operating here and it does not want us to rescue Cammarry.”

  SB Cotard’s voice came from overhead. “I was just seeking to give you full and proper disclosure of medical recommendations. That is important for you to make an informed decision about your own health care needs. It is essential that you understand you are making off with a patient against medical advice.”

  “Cammarry never decided to come to this place.” Jerome’s voice was as hard as permalloy with an even sharper edge. “You and your automacubes abducted against her will.”

  “Involuntary commitment is sometimes needed to protect those who are suffering from mental hygiene deficiencies,” SB Cotard replied. “I can ensure you that the Special Care Unit values each individual patient and seeks to restore all to the best possible level of functioning.”

  Jerome used his free hand to smack some wall covering that was hanging loose. It fell to the floor and dust floated around. “Where is Cammarry?” He gritted his teeth as he spit out the words.

  “The patient is just in the ward ahead. M-84 is leading you there. I offer my apologies if I have incited anger in you. That is not my goal.”

  “Just shut up!”

  The doors at the end of the hallway opened with a mechanical buzz and clicked as M-84 approached them. Beyond that was a large room, with row upon row of beds on either side. There was a central aisle, about three meters wide, but each bed was only about a meter from the one next to it. All were neat and tidy with linens crisply folded and a coverlet topping each bed. A gray colored pillow rested at the head of each bed. All were empty.

  Jerome and Khin walked in as M-84 rolled down the center aisle.

  The doors slid shut behind the men as they entered. A loud snapping sound came as the doors locked together.

  “Where is Cammarry?” Jerome demanded.

  “I am sorry, but I cannot abide violence and threats. You have been assessed and evaluated. Your unfit mental status is beyond question. You demonstrate Homicidal Delusional Thinking, with a Messianic Complex as a significant contributing factor. You must be treated. You are hereby committed to the Special Care Unit for the duration of your treatments. Your companion’s initial diagnosis may be mitigated by a variant of Stockholm Syndrome, however, he too is committed for further evaluation and treatment. Please submit peacefully to treatment and accompany M-84. The choice is yours, but treatment will be rendered. Your future health and the overall cultural health of our society depends upon compliance with acceptable patterns of behavior.”

  “This place is a trap!” Khin stuttered. “Like rats in a trap. We are like rats!”

  “I know that is true!” Jerome leveled the Willie Blaster at M-84. “I have no more patience for you, SB Cotard! Where is Cammarry?”

  “Initiation of Code Green protocols. Code Green, Building One, Ward Three. Code Green, Building One, Ward Three.”

  Three more white automacubes emerged from half sized doors on the walls and joined M-84. The four of them rushed forward toward the two men.

  “The cubies whites are just not right!” Khin called out.

  A tan colored gas started to billow out from vents high in the side walls, as well as from several grilles set into the floor along the central aisle. Jerome’s heart beat rapidly as he saw the tan gas and thought of Dome 17. He bit down hard, and told himself, “It is not radiation.” Seeing the tan gas gave him but a moment of fear which was then swallowed up by a consuming rage. Strength surged through his muscles.

  “Spread out!” Jerome leaped onto the closest bed and began running, jumping from bed to bed. As he jumped he adjusted his aim, and fired.

  Piff. A window in the side wall shattered. The bright light from the sky tube shined in, casting an odd beam of light upon the floor of the ward. He jumped again and fired in a different direction.

  Piff. A window in the other side wall shattered. Sky tube light also flooded in through that broken pane.

  The tan gas was billowing out from the vents, but much of it was sucked away to the outside in a cross ventilation of air currents. That was because of Jerome’s shattering of the windows. Much gas was being removed, but not all. Jerome coughed as he tried not to breathe. The tan gas floated in clumps in the swirling air of the ward.

  Khin rushed to the door which had shut behind them. He fiddled with the latches, and smacked on it with his hands. When an automacube got near him, he leaped up and over it and ran down the aisle. “I wish to fly from here!”

  Piff.

  The automacube nearest Jerome was struck and thrown onto its side, a huge hole gaping from the impact. Wires, conduits, and circuits were exposed. The white automacube buckled under the weapon’s fire much more easily than the red ones did.

  “Initiation of Code Green protocols. Code Green, Building One, Ward Three. Code Green, Building One, Ward Three.” SB Cotard’s voice shrieked from the ceiling speakers.

  Jerome was becoming light-headed due to the gas. His eyes were stinging, and his throat was closing.

  Piff.

  He fired just past Khin, hoping to take out another automacube rolling after his friend. The projectile missed, but struck nearly in the center of the doors to the ward. They both split and flew into a myriad of pieces. The remains swung about on ruined hinges, with shards of door dropping in broken fragments.

  “Run away! Flee Khin!” Jerome yelled. “Save yourself from this mockery of a hospital. Do not be afraid; your fate cannot be taken from you; it is a gift.”

  Khin leaped back over the automacube, barely escaping its manipulation arm as it snapped at him.
He ran from the ward. Behind him he heard Jerome firing and yelling.

  Piff. Piff. Piff. Piff. Piff.

  Thuds, bangs, and crashing noises came from the ward. Jerome’s rants were loud and angry. A single drive wheels came bouncing out across the ruins and debris of the door. It then flipped over and rolled around until it stopped.

  Jerome staggered from the room, some of the tan gas still lingering about him. He stumbled on, taking three steps away from the doorway, then he collapsed. Thick mucus poured from his mouth as he gasped on the floor. He pounded his palm down hard, but his breathing only got worse.

  Khin grabbed him under his arms and dragged him a few more steps away from the doorway. “Oh Wizard Jerome! Get up!”

  Jerome tried to push himself up, one hand still holding the Willie Blaster, but he was too weak. His face was growing purple, and his chest heaved as he labored to suck in air.

  Khin tore open Jerome’s backpack, and yanked out items. Some food supplies, the torch, his fusion pack, and the medical kit. Grabbing the medical kit, Khin looked it over, and recalled what he had heard Jerome and Cammarry say. He pulled the wires from the slot in the medical kit and stuck them onto the sides of Jerome’s face. Khin then said, “Help him! Machine help him!”

  Nothing happened.

  Khin took a deep breath, then examined the medical kit more closely. He thumbed a button. Light illuminated the small display, and Khin pressed harder on the button. Over and over he pressed it. “Heal him. Heal him. Machine heal him now!”

  The screen scrolled characters which Khin could not understand. The wires shook a bit. Jerome coughed out a huge chunk of yellow sputum. His lungs rattled and gushy sounds came from them. A small trickle of blood poured from his left nostril. His face was pale.

  “Machine! Heal him!” Khin screamed.

  A packet of bright green colored gel slide from the side of the medical kit. A syringe also was ejected. More characters scrolled across the display. Khin held the medical kit up and looked close at the characters, but nothing looked right. He pressed the button again and again. At one point the characters stopped scrolling. Then they flashed in vivid red colors.

  “Cubie red will make you dead,” Khin said as he saw the red flashing characters. “Red for dead. I must help the Wizard.”

  Khin picked up the gel pack, and considered what to do. He bit the top and ripped the end off. It had a pungent but not unpleasant smell. Then Khin shoved it up to Jerome’s mouth. “Eat this!” Squeezing the gel, Khin tried to insert it into Jerome’s mouth, but his swollen lips kept his mouth from opening. Khin smeared it all around instead.

  The gel slid into his nostrils, and Jerome’s snorted up some of the gel. Almost immediately his chest muscles relaxed, and his thick, purple lips started to change back to a more normal color. “Yes, smell it! Smell it all! You must breathe!” Khin emptied the gel pack under Jerome’s nose and spread it across his lips.

  Picking up the syringe, Khin considered how to use it. He thought hard, and tried to recall every symbol, every bit of ‘reading’ he could, and also all the experiences he had with the equipment on the needle ship. He saw an arrow on the side of the syringe. He rammed that end into Jerome’s chest, just above where the RAM clothing was unfastened. “You need to breathe better. Machine heal him!” The needle went through Jerome skin and medication was injected. The red light stopped flashing on the medical kit.

  Jerome inhaled a huge lungful of air, sputtered, spit, and brought a hand to his nose. Then he started to giggle, a bit. Between gasps, laughs, and blowing his nose, he sat up. Barely able to open his mouth and speak he croaked out, “Safe? Where…? You… did it Khin!....Yes…. You did it.”

  A smile spread across Khin’s face. “The wizard lives!” Then he looked all around. Nothing was coming from the ward, and even the gas was no longer seeping out the doorway. Looking down the other direction, toward the elevator, Khin saw no movements. “I am not sure, but I see no more cubies.”

  Jerome rolled into a more comfortable position, but kept the Willie Blaster in hand. He coughed, and spat out lots of gunk. He used meditative breathing techniques as he felt the swelling going down. With his free hand he held up the medical kit. He checked the readout. As awareness came back to his mind, and he spoke more. “It looks like I had an allergic…. reaction to the…. old anesthetic gas Omniflurane.” He huffed and took some other deep breaths, then continued. “You did well… using my medical kit. We still need to find Cammarry.”

  “But what of that evil spirit-ghost?” Khin looked to the ceiling and then gazed all around. “That evil spirit-ghost tried to kill us.”

  “We might have to destroy it at the source, its central memory core.” Jerome wiped the remaining snot and gel from around his face. “This stuff tastes like one of your cheeses.”

  “I just saved the Wizard’s life, and he insults my foods. My cheeses are the best,” Khin replied and laughed. Khin hugged Jerome and patted his back. “The cubies white, come back they might!”

  “Not all of them.” Jerome nodded at the ward, and glared at the broken wheel lying not far away. He gathered up his belongings and loaded them into his backpack.

  The two men stood up and walked away from the demolished ward.

  “This place is big, so we will start searching door by door. If you see an automacube, not matter what color, red, white, or striped like a spectrum, yell out. Nothing here can be trusted.” Jerome rubbed his chest where the injection had entered. “Oh, Khin, if you use one of the syringes again, point it into a large muscle like the thigh, buttocks, or shoulder. My chest is pretty sore.”

  “Yes, Wizard Jerome.” Khin grinned. “It worked.”

  “I really need to teach you to read.”

  They searched the wing of the building, and opened many doors. None of the rooms were occupied. They found linens, mattresses, and some empty apartments, but no automacubes, or any people. When they got back to the elevators, the red automacube was still where it had been, and was inert. They both were very cautious as they walked around it on the soggy carpets. The carpeting beneath it was saturated with oils, fluids, and other liquids which had leaked from the broken machine and mixed with the water from the overhead sprinklers. A singed smell lingered in the air.

  “That wing was empty. That SB Cotard led us into an empty part of this place,” Jerome stated.

  “Yes, an evil spirit-ghost set a trap for us. Like rats in a trap, but we escaped!”

  They walked down the other hallway, it was very similar to the first, with flaking wall coverings, and many closed doors. At the far end was a set of doors which were twins of the ones to the ward. The carefully, but quickly opened the doors one by one and inspected the rooms. None of the rooms which they explored had anyone in them, and an old and musty smell permeated the rooms.

  “Wizard Jerome? Is anyone home?” Khin asked.

  “You saw Cammarry being brought in here. We just have to search until we find her. We are not leaving until we do find her!” Jerome gritted his teeth and angrily spit the response. He then softened a bit and looked right at Khin. “I appreciate you being here. You are a good friend, and I am not angry with you.”

  “I know that! Be angry at the situation, not at me.” Khin laughed. “All is good, so we keep searching. Just like a lost goat, it takes time to find.”

  As they neared the doors where the hall ended, Jerome was thinking it might be another trap. He called out in a loud voice, “SB Cotard? I just want Cammarry. If you try to hurt me, I will destroy every machine you send against me. Do you hear me? Answer me!”

  Khin looked hesitantly, but remained quiet.

  “I think you can hear me. I doubt you are ignoring me. I will not stop until I find her!” Jerome aimed the Willie Blaster at the double doors. “Should I just blast these open to make sure I am not poisoned again?”

  The doors opened on their own.

  “I knew you could hear me. Cooperate and I will take Cammarry and leave. Force me
and I will be more violent than you can imagine!” Jerome screamed the threat. “Do you understand?”

  “Yes. You have proven your violent capabilities. You have obliterated the Special Care Unit’s security services,” SB Cotard stated from some hidden speakers in the hallway back toward the elevators. “This ward has innocent patients who are incapable of self-defense. Be aware, your actions are being recorded and when the lattice is restored, crime reports will be made to the appropriate authorities. Please, I beg you to reconsider your course of action. The insurgency does not apply to these people and the Special Care Unit has tried very hard to remain apolitical. For the love of humanity, and the honor of the Conestoga, please do not harm these patients. They are no threat to you, and are under my care.”