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

by John Thornton

  Jerome looked at that single numeral and said out loud, “That will bite them. I hope. In theory, it sounds like a very destructive weapon, but will the Jellies have blocking technology, like our repulsor system? Will the teleportation bomb even make it to the Jellie ship? Sure, it is small enough to possibly avoid detection, and will move slowly enough to appear fairly harmless. Oh, how I wish Sandie was back so we could run some conjectures.”

  “I am back, Jerome,” Sandie the artificial intelligence stated through the com-link. “I am not fully integrated yet, and am rebuilding my links and couplings to the nonphysicality.”

  “Hurrah!” Jerome yelled out.

  Monika rushed out from next door, she was still holding Kalur. “Did we reach that Cosmic Crinkle place? I told you to tell me before we did, so I can secure the boys in safety seats.”

  “Sorry, Monika. We still have some distance to travel to reach that Cosmic Crinkle, but Sandie is back!”

  Monika smiled, and buttoned up her shirt while holding the baby on her shoulder. “Sandie? Are you well? Safe?”

  “Hello Monika,” Sandie answered through the area audio of Jerome’s com-link, since Monika did not have hers on her ear. “My Atomic Level Processor is safely installed in EA-662, and right now I am rebuilding my connections, couplings, and links. I am connecting in the com-links. Would you please activate yours so I can assimilate it into my system?”

  “Certainly. I need to put Kalur into his bassinette anyway, as he needs a nap.” She walked back into the other room.

  “I can make only rudimentary conjectures right now,” Sandie said, “but will shortly be returned to full capacity. My perceptions and reach is extending across the Conestoga. I am unsure how I will contact Cammarry, as her com-link is inactivated. I will dispatch an automacube when available.”

  “We are still…” Jerome began.

  “Attention everyone!” Jenna’s voice came from the com-link.

  Monika was just returning and placing her com-link on her ear. “Jenna? What is happening?”

  “I sense something ahead. Like when I found water in Beta, only, this feeling is much more urgent. Is there something, some impediment, or problem right ahead of us? It feels like trouble.”

  Jerome reviewed all the monitors and displays. Monika sat down in the other command chair and also studied the information available.

  “I see nothing out of the ordinary,” Jerome said. “But when we first came, I mean Cammarry and I. Well, when we first approached the Cosmic Crinkle we had no idea it was there. Just that ghostly, phantom image of the intact Conestoga. It was so…”

  “Jerome,” Jenna interrupted. “Trust me please! I sense something is there, and it is like a rock over a water pipe, or a permalloy plate over an underground reservoir. Monika, I know something is ahead of us, I can feel it.”

  “Did you tell Eris?” Monika asked.

  “I think you must do something, but I am not sure what. I felt compelled to contact you, Jerome,” Jenna insisted. “Not my friend Monika, nor our Captain Eris. Jerome, you must do something now. Quickly!”

  Jerome looked at Monika, and he wished he could see Jenna’s face, but when he met Monika’s eyes, the decision was made.

  “I am launching Probe 01,” Jerome said. Before he could second guess himself, he pressed the firing stud.

  From that exterior repair station, the probe blasted away, and headed straight along the projected trajectory of the Conestoga’s flightpath.

  Instantly, Eris’ face appeared on a screen. “Defense? What is the danger? I did not order any shooting. Explain yourself? A misfire?”

  “No Captain,” Monika began. “Jenna…”

  “Captain Eris,” Jerome interjected as he waved a hand at Monika. “Jenna said it was urgent and I sent one of the probes. They are our least valuable weapon, and we can take reading as it proceeds ahead of us.”

  “It will probably not matter, as far as stealth. With our main drive going, that probe will not reveal anything more than we are already broadcasting out,” Eris said, almost to herself. “So, our furtiveness, so to speak, was already gone. But…”

  “Jerome! Look!” Monika pointed at the small display which was showing the point-of-view perspective from Probe 01.

  Purple lights were flashing on. Tiny pinpricks of light, glowing in that menacing, eye-irritating, bluish-purple obscure way became visible. They were just like what had been seen orbiting the planet Zalia. As those spots blinked on, it was clear that they were evenly spaced in a pattern. There was a network of purplish-blue turning on, all across the sky ahead of the probe.

  “Jellie satellites! They mined our approach!” Eris yelled. “Fire whatever else you can! Knock them out! Siva shut down the main drive! Halt this ship!”

  Jerome’s hands sprang into action, and Monika was already thumbing the switches for the cannons.

  From various spots, all around the Conestoga, on both the hull of the needle ship, and the exterior hull of Alpha’s shell, weapons fired. The cannons belched out their high-speed projectiles.

  “No noise.” Jerome expected to hear a mighty piff sound as the first cannon fired, but since they were shooting into space, there was no conduction of sound. There was a long streak of white, as tiny molecules of the projectiles were lost from the core.

  “Cannons are all firing,” Monika reported. “Even those not in alignment. I set them all off, for that network was invisible until moments ago. Who knows what else is out there? Nothing is in range of the microparticle turrets and repulsors.”

  The display in front of Monika showed numerous white streaks as the cannons fired, but only a small number were actually aimed at the network of Jellie satellites which blocked their way to the Cosmic Crinkle.

  “The probe will impact that first satellite in…” Jerome was saying, but he stopped. “It just exploded.”

  “The satellite?” Monika asked.

  “No. The probe exploded. It did not impact the satellite. They have some kind of defensive energy field. Something like armor or shielding.” Jerome’s voice dropped a bit.

  “Direct hit by a cannon! Cannon fire gets through!” Monika yelped in glee. “That one is dead!”

  “Small projectile, ultra-high speed,” Jerome commented. “Different from the probe, for sure.”

  A rumbling, low, barely audible groan, shook their feet.

  “Inertial suppression exceeding maximum capabilities,” Eris announced. “We will have a rough ride trying to stop.”

  “The boys!” Jerome said, just nanosecond before Monika darted toward the room.

  “I will secure them,” she said. “Just keep hammering those things.”

  “Kiss them for me, and get back here when you can. Probes off, failed anyway. Cannons continuing to fire. Vindicator missiles being prepped.”

  The streaks of light which were the cannons firing continued to flash from the various spots on the Conestoga. When one of those high-speed projectiles hit a Jellie satellite, there was a tremendous shattering of the Jellie technology. As that individual satellite, or node, in the network, was pulverized, its busted parts were scattered out behind it. The debris followed the projectile as it exited. However, the other satellites in the network were unaffected.

  “We are turning!” Jerome yelled as he saw how the Conestoga was now swinging aside from the planned flightpath. That meant different cannons, including a few additionally cannons were in alignment to actually strike the Jellie satellites.

  ‘Is our future lost?’ Jerome wondered as he thought about the earth-like planet on the other side of the Cosmic Crinkle. ‘Can we still fly there?’ Nonetheless, he kept firing the cannons as specific satellites came into a cannon’s field of fire.

  Monika sat down in the other chair. “Our sons are safe. Brink will be fussy, as he woke up startled, but they are secure and padded in their bassinettes. What can I do?” She was adjusting the monitors and screens and reviewing the status of the cannons which were the only effect
ive weapon they currently could use.

  “Operate the cannons on Alpha, please. I will use the needle ship’s batteries to keep firing.”

  “Right, Jerome. If we knock out enough of those satellites, we can still get away,” Monika said and continued to adjust the cannons. Instead of indiscriminately blasting away, she was picking out targets.

  “Here it comes. Prepare for impact,” Eris’ voice was surprisingly calm.

  Jerome and Monika had both seen the satellites begin to flash. The light had changed to a brilliant blue, blinking in rapid succession. A pink beam lanced out and struck the bow of the needle hip.

  “Sandie! Cast that shade of the Conestoga, the fake silhouette! Do it now!” Eris commanded.

  “Yes, Captain Eris,” Sandie replied, though all the com-links.

  About seven hundred kilometers away, a nearly identical Colony Ship Conestoga appeared on all their displays and screens. It did not have the streaks from the cannon’s firing, but it looked solid. It put off a myriad of signals. Exterior hull lights, microwaves emitters, neutrino transmissions, large heat variances, and even a stream of ejection particles extending out from the shade’s main engines. The fake Conestoga was racing toward the Jellie satellites on a collisions course.

  “I am convinced, but will it fool the Jellies?” Jerome said as he continued firing the cannons. “All of warfare is based on deception, and that is a good deception.”

  The real Conestoga was moving slightly away from the satellite network which surrounded their approach to the Cosmic Crinkle. The floor suddenly heaved upward, but Jerome and Monika kept their seats. Warning lights flashed ‘Inertia Suppression Overloaded.’

  “Emergency response now!” Eris commanded. “Seal all sections!”

  Outside the real Conestoga, more pink beams emanated from several of the satellites. They merged into a single beam which was a deeper pink. That shot out with vengeance. It impacted part of the needle ship on the actual Conestoga, ripping chunks of permalloy away.

  Abruptly that Jellie weapon disengaged. A different set of satellites began flashing and the pink beams shot out toward the shade of the Conestoga. The pink beam passed right through the fake Conestoga. In response, more satellites flashed and added their own pink destruction beams to attacking the seemingly impervious ship. Spitefully, the satellites spat the pink beams of devastation out, yet each one passed through the counterfeit Conestoga. Instead of altering the beams back to the real target, the Jellie satellites intensified their attacks on the fake one, with nearly every surviving satellite jabbing a pink beam at the rapidly approaching illusion of the Conestoga.

  “SB Pinaka! How hurt are we?” Eris asked on all audio channels, including the com-links.

  The synthetic brain’s response was not audible to Monika and Jerome, but the look on Eris’ face told them more than words could have described.

  Jerome dialed for several other cannons to fire at the closest satellites as they were coming into those cannon’s fields of fire. He looked over at Monika. She was intent on her own instruments, but a tear ran down her cheek.

  “Our apartment here is sealed and secured,” Jerome stated.

  “I made sure as well.” Monika glanced at the small display which was to her side. It showed the deck plans, bulkheads, and pressure doors around them. They were all flashing green which meant they were locked in place.

  “Systematically seal the damaged areas, and herd everyone into Alpha. Yes! Everyone! Tell them to move or they will die! Decompress the damaged areas to relieve pressures,” Eris commanded, her face on the display then turned to look at Monika. “We must evacuate the needle ship, all but engineering, the new bridge and your location. We lost….” Eris suddenly turned her head and barked, “Siva, the energy concentrator will still work, the scoop is only partially gone. Ablate the diagonals but shut down the main drive before it goes critical. Vent everything outside, we will worry about fuel later….” She scrunched up her face as she heard his response. “No! We cannot turn out of their path quickly enough.”

  “Twenty-seven satellites are kaput!” Monika announced. “We are still fighting.”

  “Eris roll us 75 degrees starboard,” Jerome suggested. “That will bring more cannons into action.”

  “I will try,” Eris answered.

  Jerome could see her lips moving slightly after she answered. He knew she was praying.

  The Conestoga rolled sideways and Jerome intensified the cannon fire on the satellites. Those same satellites were still firing at the counterfeit Conestoga, with no affect, but he wondered how much longer the deception would last. The fake Conestoga would crash into the satellites soon.

  “Yes!” Monika yelled out. “A section of their network crashed. Aim for three satellites in a row, vertically, and then blast one to the left. Hit them in that order, and about a dozen go dark!”

  “How did you figure that out?”

  “Shadow told me…” Monika blurted out, and then took some deep breaths as her throat closed a bit.

  “Shadow?” Jerome’s voice was tightly controlled.

  “I made a special dispensation. You may now tell Jerome,” Shadow stated and only Monika heard. “You are forgiven for speaking about me. I will keep analyzing our enemy. Try four vertically and two to the right.”

  “Shadow?” Jerome asked again, this time his voice was gruff. His fingers kept firing the cannons. He could see the fake Conestoga smacking into the nearest satellite. It passed right over the purplish-blue glow, but then winked out of existence. The fake was gone.

  Cammarry’s instruments kept her busy firing the cannons, and despite Shadow’s assurance, she did not want to speak to Jerome about it. “Keep firing! That satellite network is dropping, but they will now shoot at us!”

  Jerome followed Monika’s instructions and targeted the satellites in the sequence she suggested. Another whole section of the network blacked out. “It works!”

  The whole Conestoga shook as a pink beam was fired at it.

  “Firing our only atomic Vindicator Missile!” Jerome said. He thought of Zeta Habitat as he pressed the button.

  On the opposite side of the Conestoga, a hanger bay’s exterior doors quickly opened. There had not been time to follow the procedures for gentle decompression, and the atmosphere of the hanger bay was lost into space. Everything that was not anchored down, also blew out into space, and thruster tank hoses danced and slithered about like snakes. The three blue engineering automacubes which had completed the missile were securely anchored down.

  The narrow and sleek Vindicator Missile, the first to have been manufactured outside of the ill-fated Zeta, was not quite as long as the hanger bay was deep. That missile’s aggressive looking nose, where the atomic warhead resided, pointed right toward the blackness of space. The Jellie satellite network was not directly visible from that hanger bay. Nonetheless, the internal guidance system of the Vindicator Missile knew where to go. In a way, that guidance system was basically a repurposed automacube’s brain. Much like the roustabouts had remodeled an automacube to run the carousels they built, here, with the Vindicator Missile, the recycled processing system of an automacube would serve as its eyes, ears, instigator, and detonator for its one and only, its first and its last, flight.

  Around the base of the missile were eight rocket boosters vibrating with energy. They were equal distances around the base, seated parallel to the length of the missile. The rocket boosters were whitish color, while the main body of the missile was silvery gray color, interspersed with black seams. It stood in stark contrast to the blackness of space, even though the twinkling and silvery seen of the far-distant stars was reflected off the glossy fuselage of the missile.

  Vapors streaked all around the comparatively small rocket boosters and caused a haze to hover over the large squarish sections with black seams. Those sections made up the tubular configuration of the missile. Every single one of those squarish sections was sealed tightly, and one could almost feel a se
nse of pride radiating off the three blue automacubes which had done that work. The automacubes had their drive wheels locked into fixtures on the observation deck of the hanger bay. Those engineering automacubes had been the assemblers, and the ones who had installed the nuclear warhead of this their first Vindicator Missile.

  Vibrations shook the missile’s tapered body. The permalloy launch rack, with vertical circular holes along its mass, pulled back its clamps. The rocket boosters fired and their exhaust blasted into the thick recoil pad of reinforced permalloy.

  The missile jetted out of the hanger bay, propelled only by the rocket boosters. Its primary rocket would not fire until it had cleared the Conestoga.

  “It is away!” Jerome yelled in triumph. “Impact in ninety seconds!”

  Eris watched from her command chair on the bridge, while Jerome and Monika sat transfixed by the images which were appearing on their display screens. They had a visual, real-time, point-of-view, camera from the nose of the Vindicator Missile, as well as other views which showed tracking from the myriad of sensors on the Conestoga. Those sensor readings were compiled into a display graphic which showed the course of the missile and the intended target.