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

by John Thornton

  S-1DT, the red security automacube rolled up the hill toward the people gathered on the patio. “The perimeter is secure. Presently there are no threats within scanning range.”

  From a distance away, there was a loud series of popping noises as windows on an upper level burst outward from inside. The walls of the Special Care Unit over those windows then crumbled down and fell into a garden area where food crops had been growing. The two green horticultural automacubes which tended that garden had been warned by SB Cotard, and were well away from the area where the debris struck.

  Loud moos and squeals did come from across the garden area where the small ranch and its livestock were kept. SB Cotard instructed the brown animal husbandry automacubes to move the livestock to the farthest part of the paddock. The two Border Collies, Zmaj and Kiddie, quickly took their instructions from the automacubes, and moved the cow, sheep, goats, and pigs to their appropriate sections at the far side of the paddock. The black and white dogs moved with efficient agility, separating the different types of animals into their specific pens. The livestock responded as they always did, even though the wall collapsing had frightened them. The two horses, Old Bill and Poco, were in an adjacent corral.

  Khin looked at the building. “Is that where the kitchens are located?”

  “Yes,” Vesna replied. “Now there will not be a place to cook the good foods.”

  “Or make the cheeses from the cow’s milk. Those cheeses are almost as good as the cheeses back home,” Khin laughed, but his eyes were sad as he surveyed the damaged areas of the building. Rubble and other chunks kept falling off the destroyed section of the structure.

  “Cotard?” Khin called out. “Where should these people go?”

  The synthetic brain took a moment to respond. Khin considered that somehow it might have been damaged or injured when the side of the building collapsed. He remembered the Graveyard of Dead Minds on the needle ship and how Jerome and Cammarry had said that place held the physical remains of dead spirit-ghosts.

  “Cotard? Are you injured?” Khin called out again. “Can we help you in some way?”

  Finally, from some speakers a distance down the building, in the opposite direction from where the wall had collapsed, there came a response. “I am still intact, however, the infrastructure of the Special Care Unit has again suffered loss. With these, renovations and demolitions, it is increasingly difficult to retain proper functioning. Additionally, there has been a new message coming through via the public address system. This time I am able to filter it out from the residents, but am relaying it to you. Here is that message. ‘Urgent message. This is Jerome and Cammarry. Meet us where you first met us. Urgent.’”

  “I first met them on the needle ship,” Khin said with a laugh. “That message must not be for me. Unless they want us to go to the needle ship.”

  “Is that what they mean?” Vesna asked.

  “Maybe. I am just not sure. Later I will turn on the com-link they gave me which the red cubie brought. Right now we must protect the patients. So where do we take these people for their outing?” Khin asked again.

  “The pavilion is a place of limited safety, but the best we have right now,” SB Cotard stated. “I have just observed a boat on the river which is approaching. It is of the same kind and style Jerome used when arriving and Jerome and Cammarry used when departing. However, they are not onboard. I am dispatching our security automacube to reconnoiter the situation. As for the residents, I suggest they continue their outing by moving away from the building. There may be some continued demolition and renovation work.”

  Vesna’s people heard that, and together with the automacubes, they moved the residents further along the red brick pathway. There was the open air pavilion on the grounds, and they moved toward that.

  “Vesna, we should ride along to see who is coming in that boat,” Khin stated. “Your people are doing well with the needy people here, and we might have to defend ourselves again.”

  “Race you to the horses!” Vesna said cheerfully, although her happiness was forced, and some tears were in her eyes as she considered what might happen if hoodlums caught the elderly people outside. She also grieved knowing the interior of the Special Care Unit was falling apart. She tried hard to hide her anxieties from Khin.

  Khin and Vesna raced toward where Old Bill and Poco were standing. The horses’ ears were perked forward. They had heard the term horses, and were ready for a run.

  Grabbing a halter with a rope lead from the shed where the equestrian tack was kept, Vesna slipped it over Old Bill’s nose, and latched it in place. She leaped onto his bare back and used the rope as reins. Khin was only a few steps behind, and he too placed a halter on Poco and jumped on.

  The two horses raced away, following the speeding red automacube.

  “Miljana will you and Dusan come with me back inside?” Alisa, the mother of the three children said. “We will need to get food supplies for these people, and for us.”

  SB Cotard spoke, “I believe that will best be done by automacube. There is a high potential for more… renovations to take place. The automacubes can survive those events better than your human bodies can. Please assist with the movement of the patients, and I will have the automacubes secure the necessary food and water supplies.”

  “Are you certain?” Miljana said. She crossed her arms over her breasts, her brown hair tied back in a bun. “We know it is the crushers which are causing the damage. They destroyed our town, but we know ways to avoid them.”

  A silver automacube rolled by heading back inside the Special Care Unit.

  “The gastronomic automacube can carry a load of three hundred kilograms,” SB Cotard stated. “Can you secure that much in food and water?”

  Miljana uncrossed her arms and looked upward with her big brown eyes. “No I cannot. I will assist with moving the patients.”

  “I will have the automacubes move the stored food to the pavilion,” SB Cotard stated. “There is still… renovation, and demolition taking place within the Special Care Unit. I do not project any of that affecting the pavilion at this point, however, the… renovations are not logical or predictable. At this point it is prudent for the residents to be away from where falling items and debris can strike them.”

  “So all the wards inside are now damaged?” Alisa asked. “My children will not have a safe place tonight?”

  “I am sorry to report that the condition of the Special Care Unit is now such that none of the wards are secure, and the facility is damaged to such an extent that I hesitate to allow anyone inside. Currently there is limited water available, the sanitation system is broken in multiple places, and the food preparation and storage rooms are not functional,” SB Cotard replied. “I do not have a viable contingency plan for this situation.”

  “Understood,” they answered together. Then Miljana said, “We will stay with the patients and do all we can for them.”

  The other two hunters, who had become police officers, and who then had assumed the roles of nursing assistants, agreed with Miljana. They also went over and assisted the residents in moving toward the relative safety of the pavilion.

  On the other side of the complex, the red automacube and the two horseback riders were approaching the fence. They could not quite see the river from their perspective, but the synthetic brain, Cotard, had a vantage point high on the Special Care Unit which still had an operative camera.

  “There are now two boats on the river,” SB Cotard reported. “This first one is under attack by people in the second. I see casualties in the first boat. There are also children in the first boat.”

  “Children?” Khin said. “Under attack?”

  “That is correct,” SB Cotard reported.

  Khin rode over and unlatched the gate without having to get off Poco. He gripped the horse tightly with his knees despite being without a saddle.

  “Khin we cannot let children be killed!” Vesna stated. “Shall we ride to the river and see if we can
defend the innocent?” Vesna did not wait for an answer, but kicked Old Bill in the flanks and the horse surged forward at a gallop.

  “I am with you my dear Vesna!”

  The red automacube stopped at the gate. SB Cotard was running calculations on how best to act. The security automacube was the only one they had, and it had been instructed to defend the Special Care Unit’s residents. However, SB Cotard did observe people being injured on the first boat on the river. From the long range view, the extent of the injuries was unknown. A conflict of priorities was happening.

  “I am dispatching M-604 to assist with rendering aid to the injured,” SB Cotard stated through the speakers of S-1DT. The security automacube will remain on the grounds. There is a potential threat to the residents if the action on the river is a feint or deception.”

  Khin and Vesna rode rapidly down the pathway toward the dock. As they approached, they could see the durham boat. The boat was riding high in the water, and its water jet was pushing full out. The boat’s structure was long and flat with a slight upward curvature. The pointed bow of the boat was raised a bit out of the river, while the stern was sunk down. The spray from the water jet caused a splashing and frothing of the water behind the boat. Khin guessed the boat to be about twenty paces long, and six or seven paces wide. The sides of the boat were about waist high, and a number of children were huddled down inside the boat. Just the tops of their heads could be seen as some of them peeked out. The boat had a small pedestal toward the front, where a thin man was standing, he was leaning forward, his hands operating the controls. A woman was seated next to him, her hand resting on his back.

  “That boat is coming way too fast!” Vesna said. “Right toward the pier! It will certainly crash!”

  Bang. Bang. Bang.

  The shots echoed from out over the water. The second boat, was coming up even faster and gaining on the first boat. It was much smaller, and to Khin’s eye looked almost comical. There was an enormous fan, as big as a person, enclosed in a hard metal cage, at the back of the smaller boat. The fan was spinning madly, propelling the boat along. In front of that fan was a bench seat with three people sitting on it. One was using some controls, while the other two were hanging on. Two additional people were kneeling in the front of the small boat. The kneeling people were aiming rifles at the large boat.

  Bang. Bang.

  More shots rang out, and the thin man in the first boat slumped down for a moment.

  “Khin! I cannot let them kill those people!” Vesna slipped from Old Bill, and dropped to one knee. Her own rifle was up and it barked.

  Bang. Bang.

  The two kneeling people in the airboat went down, one falling off the side, the other collapsing back into those who were seated. They grabbed that injured person and heaved the body over the side. The airboat wobbled and shook with the changes in weight, but then righted itself and sped onward.

  The first boat, the durham, made an expert turn, and slid up next to the pier. With a roar of its water jet it slipped up onto the bank and out of the river. It plopped down with a resounding thud, but not as violently as Khin expected. It was a controlled movement which landed the boat on its wide, flat bottom.

  Khin kicked Poco. “Go horse, fly to those people!” The horse responded and soon Khin was right next to the durham boat. He looked down into its cargo area and saw many young faces looking up at him. Their eyes were either wide with terror or clenched shut in fright. The children were clutching blankets, pillows, and piles of clothing. Their bodies shook, showing how terrified they really were.

  Bang! Bang!

  Shots came from the airboat as it hurriedly rushed toward the shoreline of the river. The bullets struck the sides of the durham, and zinged away.

  Khin raised his own weapon and, still seated on Poco, he returned fire.

  Bang! Bang! Click. Click.

  He was out of ammunition. The horse never flinched while he was firing. He dug around in his pouches and pockets, but he knew he had no more rounds for his weapon. He slipped the bayonet on the rifle, then dropped off of Poco, slapped the horse on its rump so she trotted away, and waited for the airboat to arrive.

  Vesna fired her last shot at nearly the same time that Khin had fired. While his shots missed, she had struck right on target and the driver of the airboat was struck in the face. The driver’s hands dropped from the controls while her dead body flopped around, held in place by the harness on the seat. The motor whined with a surge of energy and the fan spun even faster. The last people on the airboat grabbed for the control levers, but the dead body was in the way, and the airboat spun sideways on the river. It careened out of control and slammed into the riverbank.

  “Look out!” Vesna cried as she saw what was happening.

  The airboat struck the riverbank, then bounced toward the pier. It struck hard, flipped sideways and upward, becoming airborne. The occupants were dumped out as it tumbled and rolled through the air, all except for the dead driver.

  Poco ran off, but Khin stood firm. Vesna reached him, sliding off Old Bill who then trotted away. Vesna too had her bayonet on the end of her rifle. They watched as the airboat came smashing back down into the grassy area just beyond where the durham boat had come to rest. Its erratic flight had missed the larger boat entirely. The nose of the airboat plowed into the ground, digging up a furrow, and showering the area around it with dirt, grass, sod, and broken parts of the airboat. The motor coughed and choked as dirt clogged the giant fan. The wreck flopped to the ground, resting upside down, an arm and leg of the dead driver sticking out the side of the crash.

  Children were screaming.

  Khin and Vesna rushed over to the durham boat and saw that one of the hoodlums from the airboat had somehow survived being tossed out and was limping toward the crowd of children. He was dragging a badly injured leg, but was yelling threats, “I have come to see you leave! I will kill you all. No one escapes from the Ferryman’s wrath.” Blood was streaking down his pale face, but his eyes were brightly intense with his crazed agenda.

  Khin rushed around the boat, his bayonet held before him. “Stop you monster! No one hurts these children!”

  The hoodlum spat and said, “I will cut each of their heads off and use them as balls for a game!”

  “I will not let you!” Khin challenged. “You leave now!”

  The wailing of the children grew more extreme as the hoodlum approached. He was within a few meters, and the knife he held in his hands flashed in the light from the sky tube. “Oldest to youngest! That is the order for death today! Oldest to youngest, that is how I play!”

  “Never!” Vesna stated as she rammed her bayonet into the hoodlum from the side. He had not seen her approaching, so intent was he on glaring at his intended victims, and intimidating Khin, that he had missed Vesna who, crouched down, had rushing around the river side of the boat.

  “Urahhheee!” the hoodlum cried as he dropped to the ground. The knife falling from his hand as he vainly tried to grab the rifle Vesna was holding.

  Vesna withdrew the bayonet from his abdomen and then viciously jammed it into his chest. As she did, she twisted it around. Then she lifted it out and plunged it in a third time. No more sounds or movement came from the hoodlum. When the bayonet came out, it was covered in blood, and dirt from the ground beneath the body.

  “Check for the other one!” Vesna commanded. “My Khin, look for the last one. Two came flying out of that airboat! Make sure that last one is dead too. Beware of bombs!”

  Khin looked around and saw where the other hoodlum had been flung. He rushed over. Both legs of the hoodlum had been crushed when he crashed from the airboat, but the hoodlum was still alive. His green eyes looked up as Khin approached.

  “There is a cubie white coming here,” Khin said. He was unsure why he mentioned the medical automacube. Khin recognized the serious extent of the injuries to the hoodlum, and doubted anything could be done to save him. “Why do you chase children?”

  H
is straw-colored hair streaked with mud, grass, and blood, the hoodlum shook his head. “Oh I wish…. we could have sent… all those children off. What a glorious sight! Fear! Fear is life!” He coughed up some blood. “To instill fear means I… means I am alive. Oh… to have seen all their blood… and hear all their screams. Nothing is better th….”

  Khin swept his bayonet across the throat of the hoodlum, cutting of the rest of his vile rant.

  Vesna placed a hand on Khin’s back in support and comfort. “There is no saving those kinds.”

  “I know,” Khin said. No trace of a laugh or giggle. “Find a monster lair, burn out every hair.”

  For a moment, Khin and Vesna looked down at the dead hoodlum. Even in death, the wickedness was still on the man’s face. Khin reached down and flipped the body over so it was face down into the mud. He could not stand to see the evil anymore.

  The screaming of the children drew Khin and Vesna to the boat. They put their bayonets away, and slung the empty rifles over their back, and spoke to the children.