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

by John Thornton

  “Sandie! Stop her!” Jerome called out.

  “Cammarry has locked the system into manual,” Sandie replied. “I will attempt to override.”

  “Cammarry wait until I get there so together we can evaluate what has happened! You know we are a team,” Jerome yelled through the com-link.

  “Some team. I waited for weeks for you to help me when I needed it. All while you dallied with a local and rode your carnal carousel. Eris deserves better than how you treated me!” The teleportation orifice snapped into place with a resounding crack. There was the odd smell. Cammarry tried to remember if it was an odor which happened in sending mode to Alpha, or in receiving mode from Alpha. Her rage-filled mind skipped over that question.

  “Jerome, we must go there and help her,” Monika said forcefully.

  “Agreed. Cammarry! Wait and I will go with you!”

  “I got my fill of waiting for you. Tortured and abused while I waited. No, I am leaving.” She looked at the orifice, but could not see down the tunnel through the sky as she always had before. There was just an indistinct gray swirl. For a moment, it reminded her of the FTL travel when she and Jerome had been in the scout ship.

  “At least send something through first! Use my Buddy!” Jerome yelled.

  Cammarry looked over at a small shelf where Jerome had placed his latest chunk of permalloy. Next to that was the AWAD weapon which they had last used in Alpha. She grabbed that chunk, which he called his Buddy. It was in fact one of many Buddy-named chunks he had collected, used, lost, and replaced. She both hated it, and adored it, much as she felt toward Jerome. She also looked at the AWAD, and then slung that across her back.

  “Cammarry, I cannot conjecture any degree of safety for the use of the teleporter,” Sandie stated. “You have locked me out of the operations, so please wait.”

  “I told you to shut up!” Cammarry threw the Buddy chunk into the orifice. It winked out as it passed the gray swirls. She grabbed her backpack, and slung that over her other shoulder. The pack bumped against the AWAD, and the mess was awkward on her.

  “Good enough for me.” Cammarry leaped into the teleportation orifice.

  “NO!” Jerome yelled. His signal of the projection from Cammarry’s com-link had flashed off as she entered the orifice.

  “Jerome? Is she alive?” Monika asked with a trembling lip. “I just lost her signal.”

  “So did I.” Jerome paced a bit and then asked, “Sandie? It is just the dampening field blocking her signals, right?”

  There was an awkward silence. Then Sandie answered, “I honestly do not have enough information to make a conjecture.”

  “Jerome, meet me back in that room with the teleporters,” Monika said. “We can run some tests and try to figure this out.”

  “No. I must go after her,” Jerome stated.

  “Then can we take a shuttle?” Monika asked. “Risking the teleporter again would be foolish. If she did get safely through that teleportation technology, then we can find out by physically going to Alpha. No sense in you just jumping in and dying too. Monkey see, monkey do, can lead to tragedy.”

  Jerome stopped and looked squarely through the com-link at Monika. “She is my partner, my teammate, in your parlance, I guess she is my wife.”

  “I know that now,” Monika replied level-headedly. “But sacrificing your own life, following her though that tunnel through space, will only mean more death. Maybe there is damage to the sending or receiving unit on the other end. You know that technology far better than me. What if you need a shuttle to get her back here? Let us do this the smart way. Not impulsively or out of anger or fear. Eris also may need our help, so I suggest we do this together. You and I, Jerome, we can rescue them both.”

  Sandie the AI stated, “Monika makes an excellent suggestion. She is a wise person. A shuttle offers known variables, and equipment which can counteract a dampening field as you approach. I can take readings and follow you every step of the way. I cannot do that if you just blindly leap into that orifice. Besides, the teleporter will be shutting down shortly. You cannot reach the location in time to physically follow her through the specific orifice she used.”

  “Monika, I agree. I will meet you in the hanger bay. We can take NS-99. It is the best shuttle we have. Sandie, make it operational as fast as you can.”

  “I have already done so. While you were sleeping, I had all the shuttles prepped in case of need,” Sandie replied. “All the shuttles we recovered are fully operational and have been certified as safe.”

  “Sandie, can you contact Siva or Peter and have them go to the teleporters to switch them back to your control?” Monika asked. “We may need them, and then you can tightly control their use. Maybe Cammarry will just come back through before the shuttle even gets to Alpha.”

  “Excellent idea Monika! I am on my way to the hanger bay,” Jerome said.

  “Me too,” Monika added. “Meet you there. Do not leave without me.”

  “I will contact Siva and Peter while you travel to the hanger bay,” Sandie answered.

  9 what to do in a shadow?

  The engineering tug was still and quiet, except for a few click and snaps as metal parts cooled or settled a bit. Eris wondered what was next. She looked out at the hanger bay. It was a typical configuration. The coloring was slightly different from some other hanger bays, but except for the poorly docked shuttles, nothing else seemed too out of place.

  “You said you needed me. I am here. Now what?” Eris asked. “I would still prefer to speak to the needle ship’s systems, or that AI Sandie.”

  “I understand your preferences,” Shadow replied. “However, as I have stated, I am not responsible for that obstruction in communication. I can connect you now into the Shadow Level Clearance group. I warn you, these other contacts are not stable or reliable. I can shield you in some ways, partially, and have refrained from initiating you into this until you were safely docked.”

  “That sounds pretty terrible, frankly,” Eris answered. She prayed for protection and help.

  “Initiating contacts,” Shadow said, and only Eris heard.

  Eris’ mind expanded, and the interior of the engineering tub faded away. It was like being surrounded in a dense, but nontoxic smoke, or fog. Smells assailed her nose, sensations rushed across her tongue stimulating taste buds which she had never before known she had. Her skin felt prickly, warm, and tingly all at the same time.

  “What is?” Eris mouthed.

  “You are now in the shadowlands. If the other contacts were stable, you could cooperate with them, but they are not like you, Junior Engineer Lorelei Eris Concordia. You have now left the nonphysicality, as well as the physical realm. This is the realm of the Shadow. These are the shadowlands.”

  “Hyperconsciousness.” Eris could perceive, not quite seeing, not exactly hearing, the Conestoga’s command and control systems, as well as several other humans.

  “AI Ogma?” Eris said as she recognized the artificial intelligence system which the Crocks had salvaged. Here in the shadowlands. In some odd manner Eris could manipulate the instrumentalities and interact with that system, even though it was many kilometers away.

  “I was and am part of the shadow level clearance,” Ogma replied. “You need to know why the people say you must leave. The Apex Predator Species…”

  Strange images of bizarre V-shaped spacecraft, appeared before Eris. The background was the planet Zalia, but these spacecraft were rising from the chartreuse colors of the atmosphere and proceeding out into space. There were hundreds of them. Each was heading in a different direction, and then winking out as they reached some spot in the heavens. She shook her head, knowing the scale to be out of proportion, and skewed. Each of the alien ships had frozen for an instant in space, then winked off. Then the vision rushed toward the one remaining visible yellow ship. The perspective passed through the outer walls, or hull, of the ship. Inside it were the large floating creatures which Eris had seen on Zalia. They were somehow op
erating the spacecraft. Eris was awash in joy and happiness, as she looked around at the Floaters.

  Together, they sailed through space, stopping at various worlds, seeing solar systems unlike anything Eris had heard about, or even dreamed of seeing. Wonders abounded as the Floater ship cruised along. They stayed for a time at each world, basking in the beauty, reveling in the uniqueness, and radiating the peace of connections. During transit, the Floater ships moved up away from the various worlds, and then blinked from one position in space to another. All in a seamless dance of grace and majesty. Exploration was purpose and the end in itself, and knowledge the fountain of contentment.

  The vision was truncated with a brief and horrific view of some glowing purple saucer. The purple was painful to see, and the glow had a hateful bluish edge to it. The perspective shifted to a myriad, a thousand or more, V-shaped spacecraft, each pursued by a glowing purple menace. Pink beams burst forth from those purple saucers, and the V-shaped yellowish green ships exploded. Over and over the destruction happened.

  “The Apex Predator Species!” A chorus of voices cried through Eris’ brain. The singings fading out, becoming muted, as the number of V-shaped ships diminished, until only one voice remained. It was weak, weary, and worried.

  The last thing in her vision, was a sole yellowish green V-shaped ship suddenly appearing in the blackness of space. It then rushed back to Zalia and dove into the chartreuse atmosphere.

  Tears ran down Eris’ face, but she did not wipe them away.

  “You leave now,” echoed through her cognizance, and her memory, and her predictions. Past, present, future were all tangled together into the one thought, “You leave now.”

  “Did understanding come?” AI Ogma inquired, but then was gone as well.

  The misty fog thickened.

  She turned around and a different phantasm of a human wandered by. He was wearing a Conestoga’s Captain’s uniform. ‘Lechner’ was stenciled on a pocket of his uniform. Eris’ mind reached out and touched him.

  “That thing in space, unknown. Needle ship has made orbit, not Tlalocan. Ship’s Brain Trust under habbie insurgent attack. Security overrun. They are threatening to jettison habitats to make planet-fall. Clandestine Shadow system designed and implemented to thwart insurgents. Implants sent to various parts of the ship for the fight crew. Sara says she built it to work in tandem off existing identification implants, habbie personnel will not, must not, be allowed to hear of it. We must have a protected alternative to the lattice and ordinary communications. Maybe retake the ship before all is doomed. Is there hope?” The phantasm quivered and quaked, then flicked and fizzled. A moment later he stabilized. His hair was slightly longer, and he was dirty and worn. “Habbies gone. Could not stop that. Last ditch efforts. Survivors need food, so we establish sustainable biologicals in the needle ship. The plan is crazy, but growth medium, fungi and limited fauna are available. Gigs are ready. It might work, nothing else has. Sorry, I failed our mission,” Captain Lechner conveyed. As his phantasm turned, she saw the same weapon she carried, but it was strapped to his hip.

  “Captain, did you….?” Eris began.

  “Sara is dead, but her work…” The phantasm faded out and his comments were lost.

  While that captain’s phantasm was diminishing, it was replaced by another which grew more into focus. This one was wearing dark brown clothing, a floppy hat, and staggering about. Behind him were vague shadowy images of horses.

  “You?” Eris questioned and turned toward the new phantasm. It stumbled away, and the last she saw it was taking a drink from a bottle.

  Another apparition came, this of a mechanical system, one of the synthetic brains. It manifested itself on the side of Eris perceptions. It was hazy and indistinct, but she was able to hear some message from it. “These shadowland operatives are not as effective as the lattice of compeers. Too many artificial intelligences have been lost. Time here, it is not linear. History and the present are co-mingled, and you need to know that. I have said it to you before, am saying it now, and will say it to you yet again.”

  “Which SB system are you?” Eris asked, but that connection, that ghost in the shell of the Conestoga, was no longer perceivable.

  Another human figure, a man, and then another man, both looking almost indistinguishable, strode out from somewhere. They were each husky, bordering on fat, and had receding hairlines, and indistinct facial features. Foggy puffs of smoke or mist swirled around their legs as they moved. They walked right toward Eris, without noticing her, and then they crossed through her. She felt the barest caress of frightful cold.

  “With that Project Angel Food gone, where will we get supplies here in this habbie?” one of the figures said. “Those insane brains at least gave what we needed.”

  “They got what they needed too!” the other figure laughed with macabre tones. “What does it matter, so long as the locals think we are gods, or messiahs, or demons? Tell them we can take away their fears, their worries, and give them hope, or let them tremble in fear. No worries my brother! We have our Shadows, right we are! We are the Ferryman! Alpha people are just as gullible as Beta’s were. We will use them, and abuse them, and throw them away when we are done. That is who we are!” The other phantasm flippantly answered as they moved away.

  “Those in authority always want to keep their lily-white hands clean, so that is who we approach first.”

  Maniacal laughed came from both of them: evil, scary, insane, and deadly.

  Other phantasms came and went rapidly, but none paid any attention to Eris. They moved too quickly for their thoughts to register. She did not recognize anyone else, until she felt a nudge from behind. Eris turned to try to ask a question of this newest ghost, but then her eyes grew wide.

  “Cammarry?”

  The phantasm of Cammarry looked pale and thin. How she had touched Eris was unclear. Her haggard face was set with fierce determination. She ignored Eris, or was totally unaware of Eris’ presence. Cammarry grabbed a medical kit from out of the mists, and connected it to her arm. With a yell, she looked down while blood ran down her arm. A small object fell to the floor.

  “That fiend is out of me at last! Now you die!” The visage of Cammarry shrieked.

  Eris peered down at it. Eris’ vision changed, altered, increased, as the small object grew in magnification until it was nearly the size of a shoe. That capsule was red, black, purple, and blue with tiny gripper pegs on both ends. A shimmery wire was tightly coiled around the capsule’s middle. Intricate circuits, relays, proton spanners, capacitors, resistors, quarkite inhibitors, and power streams became visible. The skill of manufacture, and the attention to detail impressed Eris’ engineering senses. Her mind was charting the operations, the functioning when suddenly….

  Flames came from everywhere! Red and bright those tongues of fire licked around Eris and consumed the strange capsule. The conflagration was nearly blinding. Eris covered her eyes, but surprisingly felt no heat.

  “The end of number 414,” Shadow stated with sorrow. “There are other contacts, but only you, are responsive to me.”

  Eris reeled back, but the flames had no heat, no burning, no destruction for her. There were not even any after-images from the brilliance of the fire.

  The world shook.

  The shadowlands were gone.

  Eris was sitting on the deck, inside the engineering tug. Sweat covered her body and soaked her uniform. She laid back and stared upward at the ceiling. Her breathing was rapid and shallow, but she prayed and comforted herself.

  After some time, in which Eris counted the rivets in the ceiling’s steel inner liner, she looked back toward the cockpit and its nose of clear permalloy. The hanger bay outside was unchanged.

  “Junior Engineer Lorelei Eris Concordia, the Conestoga must leave as soon as possible,” Shadow said. “To do that, the conflict here in Alpha must cease.”

  “I am Captain Eris.” She got up and walked to the tug’s hatch. Activating the hatch, she s
tepped down into the hanger bay, then walked briskly across and through a pressure door and entered the observation deck.

  “This conflict must stop. I must save the Conestoga,” Eris said with determination.

  10 some get to alpha

  Cammarry stepped off the teleportation receiving pad, stumbling bit with the AWAD and backpack over her shoulders.

  “Sandie? Can you hear me?”

  There was no response.

  “Again in Alpha, and again cut off from Sandie,” Cammarry ground her teeth, but looked around. She was in the small and cramped apartment where it had been installed. The only light was from the still glowing orifice and sizzling power grid of the pad. A foul stench struck her as she took some deep breaths. Looking back, she could not see through to the other side of the orifice. From this side it looked like a tan smudge hanging between the bright white lines of the orifice’s perimeter. The color tan evoked horrible feelings in her about the dead world outside of Dome 17. She wondered if the needle ship had somehow succumbed to some disaster. She shook her head, and covered her nose and mouth. The odor was getting more pungent.