Bulkhead doors had popped open, pressure doors had split, but emergency containment curtains had fallen into place to prevent a total decompression of the shell, and the biome doors had remained tight. The inner layer of permalloy, which comprised the walls of the biome had saved it from total destruction.
The crushing of the stern released a huge amount of materials. There was an exchange of elements with Zalia. Broken pipes, conduits, and reservoirs released water, oxygen, and a vast array of other earthly things. After all that stuff leaked out, it created a lake of sorts. A lake consisting of a mixture of Earth materials with the native Zalian ground, semifluids, and atmosphere. That lake bubbled and frothed and vapors swirled in the air above it constantly. It was an ecological nightmare for the Crocks, and Zalia’s native life cycles, but it was contained to that crash site area. Ever since the crash of Theta, Floaters had monitored and cruised around the ecological tribulation. They directed Crocks to make physical changes to contain the pollution to their world.
Nonetheless, the Crocks rode in their vehicles along their quad rail system to reach and explore Theta. The plan was very similar to what they were doing in Eta. Floaters were there to direct the operations, but in this case, there would be little digging involved. The undamaged section of Theta rested on the ground, and the Crocks could easily search for what looked like a hanger bay’s exterior doors.
Spotting something with the yellow stripes, which was not too far up on the arc of the great cylinder, the Crocks built a scaffold up to it. Again there were various teams of Crocks who were busy at their appointed tasks. One crew built the scaffold. Another crew worked efficiently to unload the collapsible admission tunnel system. They then carried it toward where the scaffold was being built. The team which unloaded the Crock tanks began a short while later.
All the work progressed smoothly, and to a human ear, almost without sound. Yet, the Crocks and Floaters communicated quite extensively.
A Floater coasted up to the hanger bay doors, and ran itself all over the surface, determining where the admission tunnel should be locked on. It conveyed a message back to AI Ogma.
“Thank you for asking,” AI Ogma replied. “There you have discovered a mechanical intelligence which is not dead, but injured gravely. SB Barbara Follett will need to be advised as to your intensions. Let me consult with my assistant SB Virginia Dare on what to say prior to entry. It will take just a moment.”
The physical people, the Crocks, continued their diligent work. The thought people, the Floaters, gave advise and instruction. Soon all but the final attachment to Theta was ready. The people waited. They were patient and unhurried, which was a prime characteristic of their species.
“Thank you for waiting,” AI Ogma conveyed. “SB Virginia Dare and I have also reviewed the resources in the library. Please instruct SB Barbara Follett of Theta the following instructions. Access code, JU675TY99. Follow this with override code, 099UK-167FFR0. Then, allow for a time period of…(here AI Ogma spoke in the Floaters own measurement of time) and lastly give the confirmation code, PL888JU7. This will allay any concerned SB Barbara Follett has about the opening of that hanger bay, Mulberry 887.”
The Floater marked the exterior doors of the hanger bay, and the Crock work crew carried the attachment end of the admission tunnel up and set it tightly against the permalloy. Their four-legged, four-armed, physiology allowed them to do physical work efficiently and accurately, even in the gravity of Zalia which was roughly double that of the Earth. When the admission tunnel was in place against the door into Theta, two Crocks, who had special machinery strapped around their waists, applied the resin, expelling it all over the joint where tunnel met permalloy.
The Floater came back, and inspected the work. After gliding over the seam, the red light of Zalia’s sun casting long shadows under its blimp-shaped body, the Floater turned about and ran its cilia over the seal again. Satisfied that it was secure, the Floater conveyed the idea that the tanks could progress, one at a time, into the admission tunnel.
Just as they had done at the other habitat, Eta, here in Theta the tanks entered the tunnel and progressed section upon section, dispensation upon dispensation, up and through the tunnel. Zalian air was hiccupped out of the tunnel in each section as the tanks progressed. The lead tank reached the exterior hanger bay doors, and using an arm it sensed where to apply the exotic mixture and melt through the permalloy to reach the controls. It was not melting by heat, but more by a chemical process which looked outwardly like acid eating into something. Here, it was not a random process, but carefully controlled and the proper human-made items were revealed beneath. That tiny gravity sink hole had removed the permalloy and allowed the tank’s remote arm to interact with the power coupling. The Crocks in the tank entered the commands as they had been received from the Floater, as relayed by AI Ogma.
The exterior hanger bay doors pulled back to the precise dimension of the admission tunnel, and the lead tank rolled into Mulberry 887. There was a bit of air flow as the vacuum inside the last segment of the admission tunnel was filed with Theta’s stale air, but the Crock tank was protected against that. Had any living humans been in the hanger bay they might have smelled some ammonia or other noxious odor, but there was no living thing in Mulberry 887, of Habitat Theta.
There were many dead bodies.
As the lead tank rolled in using its double-dual treads out of the admission tunnel, the section constricted itself closed. The Crocks in the tank perceived the state of Mulberry 887. They relayed their awareness to the Floater, who connected to AI Ogma.
Inside that hanger bay were dead bodies. A multitude of dead bodies. AI Ogma explained to the Crocks what they were seeing.
In one corner, there was a wrecked shuttle. It had been split open length-wise, and the dead bodies of animals were exposed inside. They were stiff with age, but in the nearly sterile hanger bay, there had been little decomposition.
“That largest of the bodies was an animal called a pachyderm. Those two bodies to its side, with the extended necks were giraffes, while the smaller creatures with the branching antlers were caribou,” AI Ogma stated. “None of these are the sentient species we are looking for, but were essential parts of this habitat’s gallery forests and grasslands. I am unsure why the animals would have been loaded into a shuttle for transport. A tragic, but curious finding.”
The tank moved away from the grisly scene of death. The Crock lights came on to better illuminate, to the Crock’s eyes, the hanger bay. None of the other shuttles there were intact. As if they had been shaken around until they burst, all the shuttles in that hanger bay were fractured open, ruptured, and their broken parts scattered about.
The first human cadaver they encountered was in a dark brown colored spacesuit. The bubble helmet was cracked apart, and a section of the clear permalloy was missing. The man who was inside that suit had had a long white beard, and frizzled white hair. His vacant eye sockets stared up from the ruins of his spacesuit.
About a dozen other dead human bodies were in deep-blue colored spacesuits, with ‘POLICE’ written across their chests. They were near where some kind of wheeled vehicle had been anchored to the deck. The doors to the gangway were still open, and it appeared that the wagon had been some kind of transport which had brought things, perhaps the animals, to the hanger bay. Bodies of smaller animals; rabbits, pigs, and sheep were still in the cages where they had died. The permalloy cages were scattered about the hanger bay.
As the lead tank moved on, it tried not to crush any of the bodies, but that meant it had to slow down. A blade flipped out of the front and shoved the bodies and broken machinery to the side to make way for the tank.
Beyond the open gangway doors, there was an emergency containment curtain in place. It has slammed down and sealed off the hanger bay at some time in the past. AI Ogma could not tell if that was before or after the disaster which had caused all the deaths.
By then the second tank had entered Theta’s hanger
bay. The crew of Crocks inside that also perceived the area. They saw no signs of gravity sink holes, suspended animation cocoons, or living human beings. Those were the objectives to find for the Crocks as they investigated Theta.
AI Ogma related a message to the Floater. “That large barrier will be difficult to penetrate.” It sent an image of the emergency containment curtain. “Our forces will need to get beyond that in order to make a survey of this habitat. Early assessment does not bode well for successful recovery of the objectives.”
The lead tank finished bulldozing the broken shuttles, wagons, and bodies off to the side so that it could reach the emergency containment curtain. Its arm came out and it began the tedious process of using controlled gravity sink holes to severe a passageway open. It was the only way to gain entry to the rest of Theta to see if there were any survivors, or any still functioning suspended animation cocoons.
“Thank you for your hard work,” AI Ogma relayed to the Floater. “I am in conference with other earth-originated systems. We have made revisions. There will be an additional need to focus our efforts on Alpha, now that Theta and Eta have been found to be inoperable for ascension. Rocket boosters and rocket fuel have been added to the object lists. Please instruct the searching tanks crews to look for these objects.” AI Ogma related images of the booster rockets and the fuel storage areas and composition of the fuel.
In the shadowlands, AI Ogma made a report to two other Shadow Level Clearance systems. AI Batibat, in Alpha’s Suspended Animation Repository under the town of Aston, and AI Seljak of Alpha’s Terraforming and Restoration Division. All three systems collated the data so far received, and made a plan. They would present the plan to Captain Eris when next she visited the shadowlands.
Shadow itself surveyed all that was seen, decided to cooperate. The plan was sound, but would the human elements listen or be corrupted as some already had become?
10 obstreperous oblivion
NS-99 was securely locked down to the docking clamps of Pine 1009. The engineering tug which Eris had flown was parked in the other stall. Jerome walked out from the hanger bay and stepped into the dimly lit corridors of the needle ship. It did not feel like home, and he was unsure what would except for seeing Brink and Kalur. He expected to feel growth medium under his feet, but it had been scraped away, and the corridor was reasonable free from that and the fungal growth. There were still water stains on the walls, extending down from each air circulation duct, but instead of water, those ducts were now actually pushing air through them. He was exhausted, anxious, and a bit fearful.
“Jerome!” Monika cried out as she rushed forward to greet him. Both her babies were swaddled into carriers on her chest. She slung an arm around his neck and kissed him.
Cammarry and Alizon were just stepping through the bulkhead door’s threshold as Monika and Jerome embraced. Jerome was busy looking at the baby boys. He was smelling their hair, touching their faces, and gently rubbing their backs through the soft material of the baby carrier. His smile was huge.
“So those are the children?” Cammarry said with a flat expression. Her lips were tight, and eyes narrowed.
Alizon rested his hand tenderly on her shoulder.
“Yes, these are our children,” Monika replied. She smiled tentatively at Cammarry. “How are you?”
Cammarry huffed. “Honestly? My story has taken some unexpected turns.” She looked at Alizon, then back to Monika and Jerome. “Yet, I am not dead, and we made it back here. So how should I be? Dead? Lost in darkness? Insane? Or pregnant?” Cammarry snapped back, but she immediately regretted saying that. “Sorry. It has been a troubled time, and I am exhausted. There is just too much happening and I need to get some rest.”
“I too am sorry for what has happened. I bear you no ill will, and I am thankful you are alive,” Monika said genuinely.
“Beautiful woman,” Alizon stated before Cammarry could respond again. “You said there was a quick way back to Alpha from here?”
“Yes, there is,” Captain Eris stated. She had walked up from the same direction Monika had come. “However, once you get to Alpha, it would be a long journey to get to your farm. Instead, I offer a different option. I have had an apartment readied for you two, it has two bedrooms, bathroom, hot and cold water, and fully supplied kitchen. Well, as fully supplied as our food sources here on the needle ship get. You may have chicken, goat, mushrooms, fruits, or food ration bars. I also had a pair of com-links sent to that room. One for each of you. Jerome, Monika, and I still have ours.”
Cammarry glared a bit at Eris. “I did not lose mine on purpose.”
“Cammarry, I mean no disrespect at all,” Eris said. “I understand how your com-link was lost. I truly appreciate what you, all of you, did in Zeta. We are still compiling the information, but there have been no signals of any kind coming from Zeta. The probe’s package of instruments has failed. Zeta is inert so far as we can tell.”
“What has Sandie said about it?” Cammarry asked as she folded her arms across her breasts.
Before Eris could answer, Jerome interrupted. “I am fatigued. I will head back to Monika’s place now. If your need me, contact me.” He tapped the com-link. He then looked at Cammarry. “Cammarry, you did very well down there. I doubt we would have survived without you. I was proud to be your teammate again.”
“Ha!” Cammarry looked at Jerome. Anger and compassion boiled together. She was unsure how to feel. Bone-deep weariness was the main feeling, but other emotions jostled together for supremacy. Even in the dim light she could see the adorableness of the babies, and how Monika held them. Cammarry remembered her own history, her story, as a youth, of working in the nursery of Dome 17. Cuddling babies was a joy then, and Cammarry could see that joy on Monika’s face. Part of her wanted to be anger with Monika, to rage and strike out. Another aspect could not give energy to those wicked thoughts. It was all too much on her emotions to expend passion anywhere. Weariness numbed everything. A great part of her knew that babies needed care-givers, and she respected that and submitted to those feelings. So she just said, “Thank you Jerome. I will get the new com-link, and if….”
“If I can help you, contact me,” Jerome said.
“This is not over,” Cammarry answered.
Monika’s face grew cold. Alizon’s grip on Cammarry got a slight bit firmer.
“I do not mean a threat. I mean this horrible business with the habitats,” Cammarry lamented. “This whole crisis is not over, that is all I mean. How much more will we have to endure? How many have died in such a short time?” She half expected Sandie to answer, and even had her hand part way to her now empty ear.
Sandie did not answer. Not from Eris’ com-link, nor from Jerome’s, nor from Monika’s.
Jerome replied, “Cammarry you are correct, this whole situation, including the idea of ascending a habitat, is not over. It has been bad, and makes me think that hell is empty and all the demons are here. But for today, I am done. My tank is empty. Monika, can we go home?”
Monika took Jerome by the hand and they walked away.
“Beautiful woman, we all need rest. I have never imaged such wonders, or such horrors,” Alizon stated. “Dear Captain Eris, I regret we meet personally under these circumstances, but your offer of hospitality is most gracious. If Cammarry agrees, I think we should take you up on that offer.”
Eris looked at Cammarry.
“Oh, yes, sleep might help. Maybe even a ration bar or three,” Cammarry stated. “Where do we go?”
“TA-0001 will show you,” Eris stated.
A shiny yellow automacube rolled out from a side hallway. Its manipulation arm was folded down flat, and it was nearly silent in its operation.
Alizon’s eyes grew big, but he remained steadfastly next to Cammarry.
“It is a transport model,” Cammarry stated to him. “Looks brand new. Not much I could do about it if it were a threat anyway, being I have no weapons. So lead us on.”
The yellow auto
macube rolled past them and Cammarry and Alizon followed after it. Cammarry’s shoulders were slumped as she walked and after a few steps, Alizon put his arm around her and supported her as they traveled.
Eris waited until the adventurers and their companions were gone. Then she tapped the com-link over her ear. “Sandie? Sandie? Please respond.”
“Sandie will not respond that way,” Shadow stated and only Eris heard. “There has been activity in the shadowlands. I suggest you visit and learn what has been learned.”
“Have those Ferryman brothers been apprehended?” Eris asked.
“No,” SB Pinaka replied, even though Eris had been directing the question to Shadow. “Three medical automacubes, and a security automacube have picked up a trail, but the suspects have not been apprehended as of yet.”
The Colony Ship Conestoga : The Complete Series: All Eight Books Page 205