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

by John Thornton

  “Power, water, and life support are all at optimum levels in that apartment. However, there is also the presence of a dead body.” There was no emotion in SB Pinaka’s mechanical voice.

  “Of course, that would be the drunken languisher, Connie Martin.” Eris tapped some commands on the back of the blue automacube EA-270. It then rolled away at once on its appointed task. The door to the apartment opened as it rolled up and entered, and then closed behind it. “That will take a little time to clean and fumigate.” Eris again yawned and then rubbed her weary eyes.

  Grabbing a container of emergency food from out of a pouch, she opened it. The warm meal was pleasant and comforting. Her mind wandered over all she had seen and done in this horrific day of awakening. Surrounded by a working technological section, even though it was not a primary one, and there was limited contact beyond it, Eris felt a bit at home.

  “SB Pinaka? After linking through all five stations here, combine all your discretionary efforts to find any other systems on the Conestoga. You reported to someone that the ship made planet-fall. Make contact with the habitats. What is the status of each of those?” Eris doubted she would be getting much information, but while the automacube was cleaning out the apartment, she wanted something to occupy her mind.

  “The habitats were jettisoned in a haphazard manner. I am attempting to connect. Auxiliary Navigation has a broad beam message array designed for use with shuttles. That is the only functional communication system with which I can link. I will attempt to make contact. Be aware, contact at best will be limited and subject to sudden loss. Accessing. Accessing. Accessing.”

  Eris put her head on her hands, and waited. Her eyes were heavy, and she was nearly drowsing when SB Pinaka stated, “I have located three possible habitat synthetic brains, with near certainty. The other five have generalized locations on the planet, but those locations are tentative. As our orbit brings us over those areas, I will concentrate efforts to make connections. Opening first contact.”

  A different mechanical voice came from the speakers. “Namaste. I am awaiting repairs.”

  “This is Junior Engineer Eris on the needle ship. Please report your status.”

  “Namaste. I chose not to comply. Message terminated.”

  SB Pinaka reported, “I have lost contact with that synthetic brain.”

  “A second one is now responding,” SB Pinaka reported. “I have its coordinates plotted on the planet’s surface.”

  “This is SB Dan Cooper of Habitat Gamma,” the mechanical voice stated. “Please confirm identity.”

  “This is Junior Engineer Eris in Navigation and Astrogation on the needle ship.”

  “A living human?” SB Dan Cooper responded. “Identity confirmed. Status: flight crew member.”

  “Yes. There are other humans on the needle ship as well. What is the condition of Habitat Gamma?”

  “Habitat Gamma is in homeostatic balance.”

  Eris yawned again, but was intrigued. “Please elaborate, general conditions, major systems.”

  “Reactor and energy supply systems are stable. Aquatic systems are stable. Atmosphere systems are stable. Solar mimicry is stable. Faunal systems are stable. Floral systems are stable. Weather systems are stable. Microorganism soil preservation is stable. Environmental systems are stable. Secondary systems are stable. Local lattice of compeers at 59% and improving. Local Machine Maintenance addressing the loss of artificial intelligence systems and synthetic brains. Reproduction and Fabrication stable and operational. Estimated time to full restoration of local lattice of compeers, nine years, three months at current rate of repairs,” SB Dan Cooper answered.

  Eris grinned. Gamma was in good shape, and that cheered her immensely. She was trying to recall the political system used in Habitat Gamma, but was so tired she was mixing it up with the other seven habitats. One was modeled on the Old Order Amish style, while another was progressive and high tech. Being a suspended animation occupant, Eris was only briefly versed in the generational anthropology regarding the humans in the habitats. She yawned again, and thought of the town names. Each habitat had two major settlements, and she tried to recall the name of either town in Gamma, but the names escaped her. Finally, she just asked, “Will you connect me to the leader in one of your towns?”

  SB Dan Cooper responded, “No.”

  “Is there a communication problem?” Eris asked. She had certainly seen enough physical damage to the Conestoga, that she could understand there being difficulties down on the surface. “I know there is limited links from here, but if you tell me your requirements, I can attempt to make repairs and connect in a different manner.”

  “There is no human leader.”

  “So the synthetic brains are the governmental authorities?” Eris asked. Perhaps that made sense, she thought. With the history of an insurgency she had heard about, and crash landing on an unknown world, it would be logical for the people to trust to the artificial intelligence and synthetic brain systems.

  “Local lattice of compeers at 59% and improving.”

  “Yes, you said that,” Eris wondered if she was just too tired to continue any conversation. Maybe she was not asking the right questions. Then she recalled that each habitat contained repositories for people in suspended animation. “What is the status of your suspended animation repositories?”

  “All suspended animation repositories in Gamma were shut down after revival of occupants.”

  Eris grinned again. So those people did not suffer like the people in her repository. In her mind she calculated a rough equation about the suspended animation population. At launch there were 150,000 people in suspended animation, divided mostly among the eight habitats, plus several small repositories on the needle ship like where Eris’s parents and she had been. Factoring into that equation the 5,000 generational people who began in each habitat, and estimating that that population base would remain stable during the flight, and adding the approximately 18,000 people who had been revived from suspended animation, she was looking at about 23,000 people living in Gamma. Even though horticulture, animal husbandry, anthropology, sociology, and human resource management were not her areas of expertise, Eris did recall that the design parameters for each habitat’s maximum supportable population was 25,000 people. Gamma was beginning to sound very encouraging to Eris. So she stated, “It sounds like you have done great since making planet-fall. What is the current population of people in Gamma?”

  There was a long pause.

  “SB Pinaka? Have we lost contact with SB Dan Cooper?” Eris asked while she stifled another yawn.

  “No. Connection is still intact,” SB Pinaka replied.

  “SB Dan Cooper? What is the human population in Gamma? I am excited to hear about some successes!”

  “Human population in Gamma is zero,” SB Dan Cooper responded. “You are the only human I have spoken with since the society here self-terminated. I had estimated that all habitats are in a similar state. I am now reevaluating those estimations.”

  “Self-terminated? Suicide? They killed themselves?” Eris screamed out. “All of them?”

  “Yes.”

  Eris pulled her hand away from the controls, and then slammed her palm down on the interface surface. “Shut down this link. I cannot take any more news.” Silently she prayed and called out for help. Then she took some deep breaths, and shook her head. She could not avoid another yawn, even though the fright of hearing that tens of thousands of people committed suicide wracked her consciousness. She struggled with wanting to ask more questions, and feeling so overwhelmed and exhausted.

  She got up and walked to the doorway which led to the apartment. “Has EA-270 completed the cleaning of this apartment?”

  “Yes. The desiccated remains of the prior occupant of the apartment have been sent to disposal,” SB Pinaka relied. “The area has been cleansed and sanitized for your protection as you instructed.”

  Eris entered the apartment, and the blue automacube rolled aw
ay and back into Navigation and Astrogation. The apartment consisted of a rack of five bunks, various personal drawers, a table and chairs, two couches, a kitchen area, and a lavatory. On the table was an energy weapon.

  Eris walked over to the table, pulled off her duty belt and set it next to the energy weapon. She then picked up the weapon.

  “People should maintain their tools.” She rubbed the dust and grime off the side of the weapon. “A RSW Model 10: Officer Edition. Impressive. I imagine this is what that Connie Martin was carrying in her holster. Far too classy a weapon for her kind.”

  Eris moved several small levers on the side of the gray and black weapon. The lufi amalgam battery slid out. The weapon’s power was depleted, but that was easily corrected. Eris pulled open a panel on the wall, and locked the battery into a charging holder. She then gathered a couple small towels and carefully stripped and cleaned the weapon. It, like Connie Martin, was filthy. “I guess now I do have a defense system, even if it was stolen from a senior officer. Connie Martin: you drunk, crazy, gun thief. Oh I hope the rest of the crew was not as incompetent as you were.”

  Stripping off the fatigues, Eris used the shower in the lavatory, including soaking down her hair. She was very tired, but did spend the extra time drying it. She wanted to rid her body of any substance she contracted in the repository. She yawned repeatedly, but the washing did offer a small amount of refreshment. She then slid into one of the bunks, and nearly instantly fell asleep.

  Ninety minutes later, Eris awoke to screams. She sat up in the bunk, but only then did she realize that the screaming was coming from her own voice. The nightmare was gruesome, but as she thought about the reality she had seen, the nightmare appeared more mild. She was coated in cold sweat. Despite the blanket and sheet on the bed, Eris felt chilled. She moved back to the lavatory, and showered again. She let the warm water cover her head and run down her body. She scrubbed her hair again, trying to get the images and feelings out of her mind. Drying her thick hair took a bit of time, but it allowed her hands something to do, and the distraction was appreciated.

  The bunk did not look inviting, nor did the idea of trying again to fall asleep. She put the fatigues and shoes back on, and then took stock of her belonging. The lufi amalgam battery was now fully charged, and she loaded it into the RSW Model 10. The weapon cycled and was ready for use. She searched the drawers, and finally found the weapon’s holster. It took some cleaning as well, but Eris expected that. Then she returned to the table and assembled her holster, belt, and duty pouches. The RSW Model 10 fit nicely on her side, and she had to only remove a few of the meals to make room for it all. The meals she stored away in a drawer in the kitchen.

  “I am not staying here, nor am I trying this alone anymore,” Eris said aloud, seeking to bolster her confidence. “Those two adventurers are the only ones who seem to know what is happening. Before they try to come to me, I should reconnoiter their position and confirm they are telling the truth. EA-270, please come here.”

  The blue automacube rolled into the apartment.

  “Now that system Sandie was using you, but I wonder if you and I can arrange to keep communications open. We will make order out of this chaos.”

  Eris opened up the automacube, and removed a few choice parts. She then carried them out into Navigation and Astrogation.

  “SB Pinaka? I am leaving to go assess those two strangers. EA-270 is going with me, and I have readjusted its transponder. Code ‘Eris Resolve 87.’ Synchronize with it here so we can stay in communication. I am not sure if the privacy sequence I entered will be effective, but it is the best I know how to do.”

  “Affirmative,” the SB replied. “Link established. Audio command route firmly encoded.”

  “Have you found anything with that system Sandie to suspect they are insurgents or anything other than what they claim to be?”

  “No. That artificial intelligence system Sandie has been only gentle, cooperative, and honest,” SB Pinaka related. “I confess its operating system is so far ahead of my own, it is daunting to consider. I compared Sandie to the schematics and parameters of the primary artificial intelligence systems of the Conestoga, and Sandie is superior in every way I can assess. I tend to believe the story of them coming from Earth, especially as it relates to the two incidents I recorded about objects just appearing in space near the Conestoga. Even though those claims are not proven, I believe that explanation best fits what I have observed. I am still processing and collating the data, but nothing disproves their assertions.”

  “Fine,” Eris replied. “Continue your essential job of oversight of the

  Auxiliary Avoidance and Repulsor Control, and try to rebuild as much here as possible. As I said, I am heading to meet our new friends. If I locate any addition automacubes, I will link them into our new system. I am not sure what I will find.”

  “Do you wish to assume the role of Captain of the Conestoga?” SB Pinaka inquired.

  “What?” Eris asked. She was jarred by the thought.

  “Protocol demands that the flight crew be led by the captain. As far as I can ascertain, you are the sole member of the flight crew. I am the only functional nonorganic member. You have the right to assume the title Captain of the Conestoga.”

  “No. I am a Junior Engineer,” Eris stated. “I do not have time or interest in titles or ranks.”

  “I assumed by wearing the Captain’s sidearm, you were assuming the role of Captain. Forgive me for that assumption.”

  “Personal sidearm?” Eris touched the RWS Model 10. “She really was a thief.” Then more loudly she said, “I am using this as I have not found another weapons, not even in the armory. It is not a sign that I have usurped authority.”

  “Understood. I have charted and plotted the funicular car’s route to the nearest spot to where Jerome and Cammarry are located. I was not able to run a virtual inspection, but the way does appear clear. Good luck,” SB Pinaka stated.

  “Thank you. Notify me with any significant changes or updates,” Eris said.

  Walking along, Eris went back to the funicular car. EA-270 followed along. They boarded the car, and Eris activated the controls. Again, the walls of the car became transparent and she was looking out at the foreign stars as they stretched out across a sky over the broken remains of the needle ship.

  9 old meets new, or younger meets older?

  Jerome and Cammarry were discussing their observations and ideas about the situation in Beta when Sandie interrupted them.

  “There is a person approaching the doors to the Goat Room. An automacube is following. I believe these are Eris and EA-270. A decking section which was previously separated from the nonphysicality and therefore my ability to scan it, reconnected three minutes ago. A transport arrangement which uses an operating system of cables and tracks to convey a cabin along the outside of the Conestoga’s hull was recently activated near here. That activation allowed me an expanded vista into the nonphysicality.”

  “Well, she said she would contact us in some eight hours, and now she arrives early,” Cammarry jumped up and rushed across the Goat Room. “This is excellent. Now we can help her, without having to journey to find her.”

  Jerome laughed a bit. “No wizard’s quest this time? Well, that girl does seem to have a special relationship to the Conestoga’s systems.” He causally followed Cammarry. “Sandie? I am surprised that you were unaware of that automacube’s movements. Is there a problem with our communication links?”

  “No. The automacube’s transponder was altered about two hours ago. I did not force a reconnection because I am still in gentle conference with SB Pinaka, and respected the barrier erected in the nonphysicality. I did not want to risk causing fear or trepidation in that system. We genuinely need every synthetic brain that is still functional to be an ally. Please be aware, that Eris is armed with a fully charged energy weapon.”

  “Is she a threat?” Jerome asked as he walked over and strapped on the Willie Blaster.

&n
bsp; “I do not believe so, but that is not an absolute position,” Sandie replied.

  Cammarry opened the double doors to the Goat Room which led to the corridors. Eris was approaching, with the blue automacube rolling along beside her.

  “Eris! You came to us! Welcome!” Cammarry enthused.

  “Yes. I came early because things are just too strange and chaotic to wait any longer.” Eris’ lips were tight, but a slight grin was revealed. “I surveyed a lot of damage as I came here. The Conestoga is in tough shape, and I fear for the people in the habitats which made planet-fall.”

  Jerome joined Cammarry. “Yes, welcome Eris. Come in and ask any questions you have. Is there anything you need?”

  “Answers and more information,” Eris replied, although she did look at the holstered weapon on Jerome’s belt.