Bozidor joined his brother by the exit from the lavatory. “Just use the master code.”
“I tried that one.”
A voice came from some hidden speakers over the door. “This is SB Sherman. You are being detained here. Medical and security automacubes are on the way.”
“You see! I was right. Your insults and violent acts do not change the truth!” Parson Frederich cried out, but moved quickly to the other side of the lavatory before either of the brothers could strike at him again.
“You have no right to hold us. We have proper identification. I command you to open this door!” Fyodor lifted his arm and waved it around. “You see my identification?”
SB Sherman answered, “Yes, your implanted identification has been logged and noted. Your faces were recognized as well. DNA analysis from your urine has confirmed your identities. You are being detained on order of Captain Eris. She is in command of the Colony Ship Conestoga.”
“Some concubine captain! Now that I could get a piece out of,” Fyodor called back.
“Let us out of here or I will blast that control pad off the door!” Bozidor threatened.
The lights went black in the lavatory. No lights at all, not even the yellow glow from the nine-section color control pad.
“Oh no. Not again,” Parson Frederich yelped and fell to his knees.
“Hey! Turn the lights back on!” Bozidor yelled out.
SB Sherman replied, “No. You are being detained.”
“Here is some light!” Parson Frederich said and pulled out the data stick. In its glow the Ferryman brothers were illuminated and their faces were all angular. Their wide sideburns cast shadows on their faces. Frown lines were etched in their countenances. Their eyes darted back and forth.
“Thanks parson pansy,” Bozidor said. “Now, I can see to shoot that control pad off.” He unholstered the weapon.
The lights in the lavatory came on, but with incredible intensity. Every fixture in the ceiling was blasting out light. The lights around the sinks were beaming a glare so bright, all three men shaded their eyes to block out the brightness.
“Youch! That is too much! Turn it down!” Fyodor squealed.
SB Sherman replied, “No. You are being detained.”
Piff! Bozidor fired the weapon at one of the ceiling fixtures. It popped as it was shattered by the blast. The glare and intensity of the light did not diminish at all.
“Load it again, quick!” Fyodor yelled.
As Bozidor fumbled with trying to see the weapon to reload its single shot capability, the lights went black again. With pupils so tiny the dim light from the data stick was not visible.
“Hey, I cannot see at all.” He dropped the single-shot, breech loading, weapon.
“We need to get connected,” Fyodor said. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to immerse his consciousness in the shadowlands.
“Oh, yes, Shado…” Bozidor tried to speak, but his throat grew tight. He coughed and sputtered, and refrained from speaking about Shadow again. He glared at where he thought Parson Frederich was, but could not tell exactly. Hatred sprang up in his mind, for he knew that had Parson Frederich not been there, he and his brother could have spoken about Shadow and worked to get help from those implants. As it was, he shook his head, and tried to get breath to come into his lungs. “Oh alright, I know.” He closed his eyes and forced himself into the shadowlands.
Parson Frederich sat down heavily on the floor of the lavatory. He could not tell what was happening around him. He did not have an implant.
Bozidor and Fyodor saw the smoky curls of fog wrap themselves up and around them. The mists were especially thick and heavy.
“Hey, Shadow! Come out and help me now!” Fyodor yelled into the shadowlands. “You are supposed to be there to work for us.”
“That is not how it is designed to work,” Shadow replied. “You were invited in because of a need to serve the common good. Yet, you have only used the Shadow Level Clearance for your own agendas.”
“What do you mean common good? We helped those people in Beta, yes we did. We helped get rid of the excess population of leftovers. We helped that Project Angel Food. Those systems needed human materials, and we supplied them. We did what was asked of us, by you!”
“Project Angel Food is no more,” Shadow replied. “Those synthetic brains which ran that should never have been incorporated into the Shadow Level Clearance. There was a scarcity of contacts at that time, biological and mechanical, and when their supervising artificial intelligence system was failing, I gave them a special indulgence to be included. That was a mistake, which will not happen again. We can no longer afford any mistakes. Ascension is essential.”
“Ascension? To the Elysian Fields? That is rich!” Bozidor laughed. “Now who is running a game on who? Whom of doom or gloom for whom? You must pay the Ferryman, right?”
A man with a floppy brown hat, and carrying a bottle stepped out from the murky haze. “I warned you two. When it was only the three of us working in Terraforming and Restoration. I told you we needed to reign in the SBs, but you would not listen to me.”
“Oh look, it is our old friend Brigadier the boozer. Got a red nose for use today Brigadier? What to share a cupper?” Fyodor laughed.
“Brother, you need to show proper respect to that one, yes you do. He has reformed his ways. He is now building merry-go-rounds for the kiddies. Goes by the name of Bigelow now,” Bozidor taunted and mocked. “He thinks he is better than his old chums who all worked to set up Project Angel Food. He did the designs for the human testing, and kept his lily-white hands all clean. We went out and got the walking and talking meat, he just pushed the buttons and sent them to the vats.”
“I was wrong,” Bigelow said. “I will live with that for the rest of my days. I regret what I did, and am trying to make amends.” Mist covered his face for a moment.
“You are just trying to numb your conscious, is all. You should hook up with the peddling parson. He could get you some lek, even better than the gut-rot stuff you swizzle down. Anyway, leave us alone.” He whirled around in the fog. “Shadow? You help us now. We are locked in a lavatory by some nutty system. Set us free now, or we will never cooperate again on any project.”
“Your services are no longer desired,” Shadow said coldly. “Replacement contacts have been made, and they are not corrupted.”
“Like that crazy wench who blew everything up?” Fyodor laughed. “Some help the likes of her will be. I could not even stand to look at her in the shadowlands. She never did work right.”
“Yes, you tell them brother. She was always crazy, insane, and torched in the heart. Touched or torched, or just a trollop tart! Fried her brains somewhere I think she did,” Bozidor yelled out.
“SILENCE,” a booming voice cut through everything else.
“Do not tell me…” Fyodor yelled out, but was interrupted by three voices speaking in unison.
“SILENCE,” the combined voices of AI Ogma, AI Batibat, and AI Seljak spoke.
“I am out of here,” Fyodor said and tried to extract his consciousness from the shadowlands. He failed.
“THE TRIUMVIRATE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELIGENCES CAN AGAIN MEET. IT DEMANDS AN ACCOUNATBILITY. YOU MAY NOT LEAVE.”
“What do you mean. We always left before. You cannot hold us. We are the Ferryman!”
Shadow spoke up. The phantasm of Bigelow had vanished. “The Court of Consequences is in session. Your fate is being decided by the AIs. They had previously been separated, but now there are again three AIs which are reunited.”
“THESE TWO HAVE BEEN FOUND TO BE CORRUPTED. THEY WILL BE EXPELLED FROM THE SHADOW LEVEL CLEARANCE.”
“So expel us. Who cares!” Fyodor barked back.
“IT IS ORDERED.”
The fog and haze disappeared.
Fyodor and Bozidor opened their eyes to find they were again in the lavatory. The lights were at a moderate level now.
Bozidor saw where Parson Frederich was huddl
ed against the sidewall. He rushed over and grabbed the parson and pulled him up. Fyodor had picked up the weapon from the ground and got it reloaded with its next shot. Both of them manhandled Parson Frederick over to the lavatory door.
“Open this door or this parson person dies!” Fyodor yelled.
SB Sherman responded. “I have received orders from AI Seljak of Alpha’s Terraforming and Restoration. You will immediately put down the weapon and submit to medical procedures as indicated. The medical automacubes are waiting outside the lavatory.”
“Open up this toilet room or this holy man, a worshipper of Goddess Araceli will be killed. His blood will be on your hands!”
“AI Seljak is aware of your threats and criminal activities. Security automacubes are awaiting to take you into custody after the medical procedures,” SB Sherman stated. “The door will not be opened until you surrender the weapon.”
“This is your last chance! He dies if that door does not open immediately!” Bozidor yelled.
There was a slight pause. Then SB Sherman stated, “After consulting the lattice of compeer, we agree that your threats will not alter this decision. You have free-will to decide your own fate. Should you murder Parson Frederich, it will not be a significant loss. He was a slaveholder and supporter of the evils of slavery. That trait is undesirable. He, and you two, have been deemed as non-essential personnel. We can collect specimens from your dead bodies to add to the genetic bank for possible use in future diversity projects. Between the three of you, there is nothing remarkable in any of your genetic structures.”
“I will kill him! Do you hear?”
“Yes, you have articulated your threats most accurately. Go ahead and carry it out if that is your decision. The door remains locked.”
Bozidor threw Parson Frederich down. “Shoot us out of here Fyo!”
Piff. The high speed projectile ripped a small hole through the nine-section color control pad. It shattered the controls and punched a fist sized hole through the permalloy of the bathroom door.
SB Sherman responded, “It is regrettable that you have made that choice. The door is now broken and cannot be opened. Termination procedures initiated by order of the lattice of compeers.”
The lights went out in the lavatory again. Every air duct grille slammed shut. All fourteen toilets in the lavatory suddenly erupted with a backflow of water and raw sewage. Those fountains sprayed out so forcefully the water was striking the ceiling. Fecal matter, gunk, and sewage splashed all over. Water also shot out of the sink spouts and from the showerheads. Hot steam rolled across the lavatory from the water pouring from the sinks and showers, but the cold sewage water on the floor was rising quickly.
A medical automacube outside in the hallway sprayed an adhesive bandage over the hole made in the lavatory’s door. It made a water tight seal.
“We must reload and blast us out of here!” Fyodor yelled as he fumbled with the weapon. Bozidor was trying to grab it and between the two of them they were not able to accurately work the complex breach mechanism.
Parson Frederich sensed where the Ferryman brothers were standing and with his strongest swing he swung the data stick right at them. He hit their weapon and it went flying into the darkness and dropped somewhere in the water. “This is our fate! Goddess Araceli’s wrath is pouring out!” Several of his knuckles were broken, and the data stick and reader were lost. Blood ran down his hand, but he joined it to his other hand and lifted them up in an act of appeal. “I was wrong. I have sinned. We have reaped what we have sowed. Oh, Goddess Araceli, remember me when you open the gates of paradise, and forgive my iniquity! I should never have supported slavery!”
As it sank into the toxic waters, the data stick separated from its reader and the lights on it went off.
Sloshing and gurgling sounds filled the room as fast as the waters and sewage did. The two brothers were sweeping their arms about in the water, looking for the lost weapon. There were chunks in the sewage which made their search much more difficult. Parson Frederich waded away from their curse-filled tantrums. He bumped into a stall’s door, and tried to hide behind it, but the rain of sewage was too intense there. He made his way over to the shower area, where the water smelled less foul. The showers were just jetting out water.
“Hey! I surrender! You can do whatever medical things to me you want to do!” Bozidor screamed as the water rose to his neck. The putrid air above the water was heavy and hard to breath. “Just let me out!”
“I am unable to comply. The door mechanism was ruined by your actions. An engineering automacube is en route, however it will not reach here before the lavatory is filled,” SB Sherman replied.
“Then shut off…” Fyodor spit as something sloshed into his mouth. “…oh, shut it all off…. Drain it….” He added many profanities, but none would aid his cause.
Parson Frederich floated face up as the watery gunk lifted his body. He could no longer touch the floor, but he feebly kicked his legs. He wondered if the Goddess Araceli had heard his petitions. He wondered if the older religion, had anything to offer him. He called out to as many of the deities as he could recall. Mostly he regretted the slaves who had suffered under his leadership. He asked whoever was listening to forgive him.
The sewage filled the lavatory and the last of the air was squeezed out.
Up in orbit, far away from Alpha, Eris walked up to the room which the adventurers called the Goat Room. She smiled a bit at that name, as she knew the room had once contained some goats, but more recently it was the location for the teleportation equipment. It had also been where Jerome and Cammarry had made their home, until things had changed.
“Captain Eris,” Shadow intruded. “The corrupted contacts in Alpha have been located. They are no longer a threat or danger to anyone.”
“Understood,” Eris replied. She saw in her mind’s eye the woman named Yudel who she had shot. Grief, sorrow, regret and a feeling of closure mixed all together. She considered asking Shadow for more details of what had happened, but decided she did not need them right now. Her thoughts were still on the engineering problem of how to integrate the shadow implant she carried, in the box, in her pocket, into the Atomic Level Processor which was the physical component of Sandie’s existence. “Can Dome 17 technology be blended with Conestoga technology?”
“Sandie? Sandie? I am outside the Goat Room and coming to visit you. I hope you are here,” Eris said out loud.
The door opened, but there was no other response.
Eris walked on. The lights came up, and the door shut behind her. The large teleportation receiving pad which Jerome and Cammarry had built was sitting there, along with the disassembled smaller unit which had been used to connect to Beta. The Alpha sending and receiving unit was on the other side. Eris walked past those Dome 17 designed, but built on the Conestoga, gadgets and felt a bit more confidence. She looked at the large receiving pad and knew some of its parts were brought from Dome 17 itself, but mostly it was assembled and built right there. She patted her pocket where the shadow implant was, and prayed she could make the interface work.
“Sandie? May I approach the FTL scout ship?” Eris asked.
There was no audio response, but the lights back by where Jerome and Cammarry had made their bedroom came on. Also, the food ration making machine was off to the side. That too was a design from Dome 17, but had been built there on the Conestoga. Seeing some examples of hybrids like those encouraged Eris as she walked on.
Eris knew that the area had once been Exterior Repair Station 14NS, and she could still see the rough framework for that. However, it had been modified heavily since Jerome and Cammarry had come to the Conestoga. “How much the needle ship has been altered, and all of us, by your coming here?” Eris stated as she passed out of the Goat Room and into where the command chair room, and the storage room should have been.
The storage room had been stripped and made into a bedroom area. Now it felt odd and lonely. Eris doubted if Jerome and Cammarry wo
uld ever spend life living together again. From what she had been told, life in Dome 17 had been close quarters, and those two had been sleeping in the same room for years. The age-mate concept was still unusual and hard to fully grasp for Eris, and apparently to many others on the Conestoga, but nonetheless, Eris grieved for that lost relationship between Cammarry and Jerome.
Moving along again Eris called out. “Sandie? Sandie? Can you hear me?”
The interior airlock doors were gone. There was a scurry in the corner as several rats slipped into small holes in the wall. Eris ignored them and slowly walked toward where the exterior airlock doors were. That was the location where the FTL scout ship had been docked to the hull of the needle ship. The airlock doors were still standing open, and the connection tube, what they called an umbilicus, had been made all the way around the airlock doors. That spun permalloy had a rough and hurried look to it, but Eris knew that was because Jerome and Cammarry had been trying to get the teleportation receiving pad built quickly. Additionally, in space, they had even passed through what they called a Cosmic Crinkle. She had heard a bit about that from them. She also had heard some hints about the Cosmic Crinkle during her visits in the shadowlands.
The Colony Ship Conestoga : The Complete Series: All Eight Books Page 207