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

by John Thornton

  Hovering right on the precipice of space, the yellowish green arc of Zalia visible against the blackness of space, Gamma hesitated. It did not ascend, nor did it decline. It coasted.

  Gravity Manipulation Oscillators 9 and 21 failed. Then a cascade of systems which fed the Bow Gravity Manipulation Works crumpled under the strain. Half of Gamma’s gravity manipulation facilities then went out of service.

  Gamma’s lattice assessed the situation, yet the habitat had not escaped the clutches of Zalia’s wicked gravity. The habitat became subject to the full pull of gravity when the stern Gravity Manipulation works, which could not compensate for the loss of the other facility, broke down and failed.

  The hovering became a slow slide.

  Gamma’s remaining rocket engines coughed and spat, but they lost their fight against the force of Zalia’s pull. One by one they burned out as the fuel was completely spent. The final rocket burned like a lone sentinel seeking to shove the huge habitat away from danger, but at the end, it exploded in its efforts.

  The ascent had failed.

  The lattice searched the heavens and found the needle ship. It was not in any position to help, yet just as the lattice located the needle ship’s position, the lattice broken down. The nonphysicality fractured, split, and shattered. Each synthetic brain was alone.

  SB Dan Cooper sent a message. “Gamma has failed to ascend. Good luck with your survival. I should have worked with you.”

  Still trapped in the thin, but potent atmosphere, Gamma traversed a course which would never bring it closer to safety, security, or sanity. The clutching hand of Zalia denied them victory. The planet’s gravity gripped them with its deadly relentlessness. In agonizing slowness, Gamma fell.

  The cold light from the stars, denied them in their ascent, now began to fade as the atmosphere thickened. Gamma’s trajectory took them across the globe, but there was no place to make a successful planet-fall.

  Animals hunkered in darkness, and with the double gravity now affecting them, as well as the loss of inertia suppression, many died. Their quickened pulse run swiftly for a few moments, but then ended. The darkness of a failed sky tube was only the harbinger of a greater and more lasting darkness which would encompass them all. One by one, individual by individual, all across the doomed biome of Gamma, death marched.

  The descent increased in speed.

  The hard permalloy could only take so much, and as Gamma slipped downward, fissures were made in the hull. The eager craft, pulled along now by its master, gravity, sank. Through kilometers of foreign, strange, and alien air, Gamma Habitat, once part of the Colony Ship Conestoga, plummeted.

  Friction caused the fissures to heat. Unbearable stresses were placed upon the hull which finally buckled.

  The shell which had for so long protected the biome; from its launch in orbit around Earth, to decades of travel through space, to a journey by way of the Cosmic Crinkle, to a successful planet-fall on Zalia, now failed its primary duty. The earth air in the shell was sucked out and mixed violently with the Zalian atmosphere. That caused the inner lining of the habitat to snap.

  By that time all the life in the biome was dead, except for the synthetic brains who were still encased in their central memory cores. However, those protected entities were also condemned to extinction. SB Dan Cooper finally understood how the humans must have felt when they decided to commit mass suicide. SB Dan Cooper transmitted a final message toward the needle ship. Not knowing if it would ever be received. Then the shifting pressures ripped vital elements away from the central memory cores in their various locations throughout Gamma. The Gamma lattice members all died alone, depressed, and disconnected.

  Gamma’s flight changed to a tumbling confusion as fissures located in multiple places across the hull ejected gases at various pressures and directions, none of which were helpful. As the tumbling increased so did the heat, the pressures, and the devastation.

  Before long, the fissure because chasms, and then the habitat disintegrated into a long line of ever decreasing chunks of broken spacecraft.

  Very little of Gamma ever reached Zalian ground again.

  6 ambulating alpha

  Some hours before Gamma made its desperate attempt to ascend, Jerome sat and rocked Kalur. The baby was awake, and staring at him. His sweet little face, all innocence and charm, was tiny compared to his father’s face which hovered above. Yet, Kalur just gazed in amazement at Jerome.

  “Jerome?” Monika asked. “Brink is done eating, and is playing with his toes in the cradle. I probably should feed Kalur now.”

  Jerome nodded, but spoke gently. “I am not sure I ever want to let him go. Except to rock and cuddle Brink, of course. When I look at the babies, I feel like there is hope. One ancient writer said something like, sufficient for the day is just one baby. No one of sound mind would ever long for twins. Twins amount to a permanent riot; and there is no real difference between triplets and an insurrection.” Jerome kissed Kalur’s forehead. The baby’s eyes crossed as he tried to follow his dad’s movements. “That same writer said a baby is an inestimable blessing and a great bother.”

  “In Beta, during the drought we often longed for only twins. Multiple births were the rule then,” Monika replied. Her pretty smile faltered a bit as she added, “I would go with you if I were able, you know that, right?”

  Jerome looked over at her. “Of course. But that is the bother part of having a baby. I just do not want to be away from them. That is something I never, ever, considered in Dome 17. The age-mates always had someone around to tend to their every need. Here, it falls on us, especially on you, Monika.”

  Monika gazed at him waiting for some comment.

  “Now, I am not going to say anything disparaging about breastfeeding, you have proven me wrong on that. I was abundantly wrong, on so many things.” He paused for a bit, just looking at the baby. “I do not think it was the same writer, I am pretty sure it was not, but someone else in an ancient book said the only time a woman can successfully change a man, is when he is a baby. Yet, Monika, you have changed me.”

  “Brink and Kalur changed you, I was just a helper in that process,” Monika said with a wide and toothy smile. “I am happy to have been part of it. I am proud of how you handled the news about Cammarry. There was a time when anger would have ruled your life.”

  “Thank you. I was not sure if I would sleep last night, but after the babies settled down, I slept better than I expected.” Jerome murmured cooing sounds to the baby.

  Monika squatted down next to Jerome. She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Please know, if there were some reasonable way for me to go with you to Alpha, I would.”

  “I do know that. But the babies are safer up here on the needle ship. I hope they never are on the surface of Zalia, not ever. And the babies need you, Monika. I can go, but they need you.” Jerome handed Kalur to her. “You know, I am not sure how I feel about Cammarry, but there are feelings there.”

  “Of course there are feelings there. You would not be a normal, advanced, and technological superior human if you did not have feelings,” Monika said with a slight tease. “Do not put yourself down, Jerome. The babies need their father. You are essential in their lives. However, I also know that there is no one else who can better address this problem than you.” Monika grinned at him. “Actually, together, you and I could better address it, we made a good team getting there before. But, I will stay here with the boys. It is essential you find out what is happening with the gravity sink holes.”

  “I know I need to go, but I have very mixed feelings about it all,” Jerome said. “Should I have just gone yesterday?”

  Monika leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “I too have mixed feelings. You needed to sleep. Yesterday was exhausting. Thank you for not just running there right away.”

  Jerome kissed the baby again, but this time he was held by his mother. Jerome then looked at Monika. He kissed her too, this time on the lips.

  “I must go now
,” Jerome said as he pulled away. “I will speak with you through the com-links, and you let me know about anything with these boys.”

  “Of course I will. I will also check on the probes to make sure the four surviving ones were stored away. The automacubes should have been able to manage that without incident, but I will double check. Those probes might come in handy again,” Monika replied. With her free hand she stroked Jerome’s cheek. “Whatever happens with Cammarry, just know I am here for you.”

  Jerome kissed her hand. Then he turned and walked away. He made sure to stop in and admire baby Brink for a while before he departed from the apartment. He dressed in his RAM clothing and gathered what gear he still had.

  For a moment he stood in the doorway and looked at Monika. He waved a bit, turned and walked away. The door closed behind him.

  As Jerome walked along, he felt the absence of the Willie Blaster. It had been a constant companion for him in many other adventures, yet it was now dysfunctional. He did have a medical kit, and some other supplies in his backpack, as well as a knife on his belt. He had considered bringing a firearm, as there were a few which the roustabouts had brought with them, but he rejected that. They were clumsy, very loud, and he did not feel proficient in their use. Had he been on a journey with Monika and the boys he would have wanted one along, but just for himself, he thought differently.

  Tapping the com-link he asked, “Sandie? Is there anything to report? I am on my way to the teleporter to go to Alpha.”

  “I am still processing the information from the probes,” Sandie the AI replied. “Gamma’s lattice is contemplating what actions to take, and the other habitats have nothing new to report. No additional transmissions overnight.”

  “Colonel Harrison opposes the Crocks,” Jerome said matter-of-factly. “Do we have more from them? They seemed to have some ongoing conflict with the Crocks. I would like to know what they know. Perhaps that can help in assessing the gravity sink hole in Alpha.”

  “I have not gotten any more transmissions from Colonel Harrison, or from Professor Dandelo. Not yet, anyway. And I have hesitated to penetrate too deeply into Zeta’s nonphysicality,” Sandie replied. “They have the most advanced technology we have encountered on the Conestoga. Not at my level, but more sophisticated than I expected. Their systems are highly structured and security conscious. It nearly borders on paranoia. Their nonphysicality’s outer perimeter is guarded. I conjecture a twenty-nine percent chance of detection should I force my way past their blockades. Should I be detected in what they would consider trespassing, that might hinder developing a working relationship with them.”

  “So what did you learn about Zeta itself?” Jerome inquired.

  “Only the basics, before Colonel Harrison made his transmission. Zeta is intact, the biome appears functional, and they have advanced technology. From Colonel Harrison’s comments I believe a state of war exists between them and the Crocks, who they call Pinheads.”

  “Well, expelling an invasion was necessary,” Jerome commented as he entered the funicular vehicle and watched as it adjusted itself to travel. He took an involuntary gasp as the vista of space was revealed. Zalia’s red sun was shining somewhat to the side of the green and yellow planet. Jerome was always struck by the sight as Zalia was so different from the tan ball of Earth.

  “Invasion?” Sandie asked. “Are you referring to the invasion of the planet Zalia from the Crock’s viewpoint, or the invasion of Zeta from the habitat dweller’s viewpoint.”

  “The Crocks broke into their hanger bay. That had to be expelled,” Jerome replied. He was beginning to feel irritated. “Using gravity sink holes to slaughter people is evil.”

  “I agree that slaughtering people is evil,” Sandie replied. “However, I must again remind you that we do not know the etiology for the gravity sink holes. We also do know what affect the habitats making planet-fall had on the ecological systems of Zalia. From the Crocks perspective, it was an invasion from outer space. Much like what has been frequently described by ancient science-fiction literature from the mid-twentieth century.”

  “So you sympathize with them, the Crocks?”

  “I am only looking for truth,” Sandie replied. “I can see how both the Crocks and the people in Zeta could have felt invaded by intruders.”

  “Follow the evidence, assess it objectively, and the truth will be revealed,” Jerome recited. “Well, the truth is Delta is gone, Beta is gone, and mysteries abound. I fear we will lose more before Captain Eris accomplishes her Project Ascension.”

  “I conjecture a strong probability you are correct in that assertion. You are soon to arrive near what you have called the Goat Room, or the Teleporter Room. The funicular transport system is getting steadily better. The tube transport system is also under repairs. The teams of the newly fabricated engineering automacubes have been diligent in these matters. Jerome, may I ask if you are emotionally prepared for entering where you and Cammarry shared a living space?”

  “You did just ask. So, why not?” Jerome snapped back. Then he thought better of his response. “Sandie, I appreciate your concern. I only have to walk in and use the teleporter to go to Alpha. Not much different from using a toilet, really. Just something I have to do on this mission.”

  “My simulation of Doctor Chambers is concerned this might be more stressful than a simple, every day matter like expelling bodily wastes. I just wanted you to know I am here to listen if you need someone to speak to. I could also connect you with the simulation of Doctor Chambers, although that might delay your mission. Your getting adequate sleep was essential, stopping for counseling might not be as high a priority as getting quickly to Alpha.”

  “I will be fine.”

  Jerome followed the path from the funicular terminal, through the dimly lit corridors, across the mushroom covered floors, and to the door to the Goat Room. At the nine-section color control pad he entered a sequence. The doors slid open.

  Jerome was not emotionally fine as he looked at what lay before him.

  The teleporters were just as he remembered. The Alpha system was warmed up and awaiting connection. The Beta one was still disassembled and in parts stacked in various places. The machine for making food ration bars was full. Off to the side was the doorway which led to the bedroom, and then to where the FTL scout ship was fused to the hull of the needle ship.

  Jerome wept.

  “Jerome, I am ready to activate the teleporter when you are ready to pass through to Alpha. Please be aware that feelings of loss, or mourning, or other emotions are normal when confronted with sights, sounds and smells that elicit memories.”

  Jerome wiped his eyes. He swallowed hard. His arms pumped in callisthenic movements and he took slow deep breaths. “Thank you Sandie. This was indeed harder than I expected.”

  “It will perhaps be most difficult when you meet with Cammarry again in Alpha,” Sandie said. “Just so you are aware, a security automacube is positioned near the apartment where Alpha’s receiving pad is located. This red automacube has been reset and is now under the command of the lattice of compeers. It is there to escort you safely to Cammarry’s location. It is not a threat to you.”

  “I understand. Thank you.” Jerome walked over and looked at the teleportation unit established for Alpha. It was smaller than the large receiving pad, which had been originally set up to receive the people from Dome 17. Yet, they had never arrived. A teleportation connection to Dome 17 had never been made.

  “I see it is all under your control now. I am ready to go to Alpha.” Jerome folded his arms across his chest.

  The sending unit’s jumbo fusion boxes hummed with energy. The grid sparkled as fields were aligned. The twin globes of energy snapped into existence. Jerome thought about his twin sons, and that gave him a slight smile. The globes grew into orbs, which then met and a rectangular orifice was opened. Around it was a white line of energy. An odd smell emanated from the orifice as it connected to the receiving pad in Alpha.

  �
��All is synchronized and attuned. You may proceed through,” Sandie instructed.

  Jerome looked behind him, briefly, and remembered all the times he had spent there with Cammarry. He held back more tears and walked onto the teleporter. For the slightest moment he felt like he was in two places at once, but then he stepped off the receiving pad in the apartment off Reproduction and Fabrication in Alpha habitat.

  “Welcome Jerome. I am SA-381,” a voice came from the red automacube which was sitting not far away. “I am your escort, and bodyguard.”

  Jerome studied the red machine. He recalled firing an AWAD at similar looking machines, as well as seeing the effects of the Willie Blaster when he had shot and destroyed other red automacubes. He recalled Sandie’s words. Yet, then he doubted and wondered. Cammarry had fired often at various kinds of automacubes, and Jerome knew he had been in combat with them as well, but his mind whirled. He sputtered out some words. “So now we descend on the elevator and walk across the biome?”