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

by John Thornton

  Compeer’s voice was argumentative. “Interruption is the mark of an inpatient and impetuous personality trait which is a flaw in biological units. Tlalocan was not comprehensively surveyed, nor was its composition completely understood. Having the ability to mine asteroids was to be a supplemental capability, and done in addition to the natural resources of Tlalocan. Thirty-Two Model 7 shuttles were in the original designs for the colony ships. The edict for inclusion of Model 7 shuttles was made by none other than Nigul Rebane himself, founder of Rebane Space Construction. Who are you to question an engineer of his status? Or doubt the plans for utilization of resources? My understanding is that you originated in Dome 17, on the dying Earth. The Dome Survival System, set up by Dillion Vermeer, was a dismal failure, being way behind schedule in construction upon the launch of the Conestoga. Your own reflections on Dome 17 as the last, and final failure of that concept, proves it was flawed from the outset. Yet, the Colony Ship Conestoga, designed by Nigul Rebane and Rebane Space Construction continues. Your perspective is a product of that Dome 17 system, and obviously, it is faulty. Shall we compare the failures of…”

  Jerome interrupted. “Failures! Faulty? People I loved died in Dome 17. What do you call landing on the wrong planet? Was that your big success? You are totally misrepresenting the extent of the Dome 17 struggle, and besides, six of the seven colony ships are…”

  “Shut up! Oh, please shut up!” Cammarry yelled. “Ancient history will not complete this mission, and I am getting very tired of all this meaningless blather. I have acquired my four adhesion points for connection. I am setting off the drag lines…”

  “They are properly called hawsers. You are imprecise when you use the phrase ‘drag lines’ for what is actually a hawser. Please use proper appellation to prevent confusion. That will foster a more clear and accurate interface between machines and biological units,” Compeer stated with smug overtones.

  “I am deploying the adhesion-tipped, drag lines so we can tow this old relic to the Cosmic Crinkle,” Cammarry replied tersely. “You know what I mean, so you just shut up too!” She activated several controls.

  The compartments on the top and bottom of Cammarry’s shuttle, AS-701, opened. The remote manipulation limbs unfolded, and telescoped out. They made a large cross, established at ninety degrees from each other, at an angle to the plane of the shuttle. The thin, but extremely strong, permalloy hawsers shot forth from the pullies set at the ends of the limbs. The tips smacked into place on the hull sections of the Conestoga. The adhesive bonded, and the tow lines, or drag cables, or hawsers, were locked into place.

  “Mine are secure, no matter what the proper designation is, right Compeer?” Cammarry jeered. “Now, Sandie confirm correct adhesion and positioning of these chains,” Cammarry commanded.

  “They are not called chains…” Compeer’s voice began but was cut off.

  “The hawsers are in correct position. Well done Cammarry,” Sandie replied. “Your shuttle is now in position to begin.”

  “Come on Jerome, make the attachments, with those ropes, and we will get this derelict moving.” Cammarry sounded more than a bit irritated. “Just do not get into a fussy fit with that Compeer, who I suspect is an old associate of ours. Someone I never wanted to hear from again.”

  “I am stepping in for Compeer, and doing liaising now,” Sandie stated. “Jerome how are you doing?”

  Jerome fiddled with the instruments and scanners. “I have located the last of the four needed locations. I apologize for my contribution to that distracting discussion. It is just that Dillion Vermeer, Kevin Mayberry, and Nigul Rebane were high quality engineers, all experts in their own unique fields. I think…”

  “Jerome, shut up! Just attach those hawsers and we can finish this,” Cammarry snapped. “We still need to get the Conestoga set on course, detach these lines, and then return the shuttles to the hanger bay. The sooner we finish this the better. Do your job, with less chatter. That was always one of your biggest problems.” There were some additional mutterings which sounded unusual, but Jerome could not make out what was being said, or who else might have been was speaking to Cammarry.

  Looking closely at the instruments, Jerome deployed the remote limbs from his shuttle. They extended outward in similar fashion to what Cammarry had done. The thin hawser lines were ejected and made connection to the Conestoga. The adhesive system worked perfectly for all eight lines, from the two shuttles. The hawsers locked into place, stiffened as expected, and were secure.

  “That step is done,” Jerome stated.

  Monika’s face appeared on a small display screen next to the main controls in the cockpit.

  “Jerome, Sandie asked me to check in with you. The twins are doing well, and so am I,” Monika stated. Her pretty face was highlighted by her wide smile. “I am watching the progress here, and things are going as planned. Your piloting skills are serving us all well, yet again. Just know I am proud of you.”

  Jerome’s breathing slowed, and his eyes dilated. Seeing and hearing Monika relaxed him. Then his mind deciphered the muttered words he had just heard coming from Cammarry’s connection. She was hearing from Alizon. He understood that Sandie was linking in some emotional support for both of them, but it came from separate people. He grinned a bit.

  “Thank you, Monika. We should be back relatively soon. Sandie has all the acceleration rates and thruster burns calculated, I am sure. It seems that Sandie is thinking of everything. I wonder why this mission even needed pilots.”

  “Humans will always be needed, Jerome. I need you. The boys need you. Sandie needs you. Everyone on the Conestoga needs you, but we are also here for you. Just know I am proud and glad you are in my life,” Monika replied.

  “Jerome,” Sandie’s voice came through the com-link. “Just as Master Engineer Brink found it essential for me to be with you in the quest for the Conestoga, so too, I find it essential that the pilots in the shuttles be human. I ran conjectures on doing this mission by remotely, unmanned shuttles, and the projected success rate was smaller than getting the assistance from trained pilots like you and Cammarry. Thus, working together, machine and human, we are doing the best we can to save both machine and human. We are ready to begin the main thruster firing. Trajectories are set into the shuttle’s guidance systems. Are you ready?”

  Jerome imagined that Sandie was saying the same thing to Cammarry, or at least something very similar. He then responded, “Yes, Brink, would be proud of us, I hope.”

  “Baby Brink is and always will be proud of his father,” Monika said. “I wish our Brink could have met your Brink. Just like I wish and baby Kalur you could have met my father Kalur.”

  “Jerome, are you ready to initiate thrust? Cammarry is awaiting my signal,” Sandie stated. “There is some urgency in getting the Conestoga on course for interception with the Cosmic Crinkle.”

  “I am ready,” Jerome replied. “Are the fires worse?”

  “The fires on the needle ship will be attended to after interception with the Cosmic Crinkle,” Sandie replied. “A countdown will be exhibited on your cockpit display. Please initiate thrusters on the given signal.”

  Jerome looked down and saw the numbers counting down from fifteen to zero. When the display reached that zero number, he twisted the main thruster control and it fired.

  Large streaks emerged from the flange at the rear of AS-702. The thrusters burned precisely, but in a slightly different direction and with different force than the thrusters firing from Cammarry’s shuttle, AS-701. In fact, the entire thruster firing was done on Sandie’s direct implementation, and the show made for Jerome and Cammarry was not really connected to the mission as much as the humans thought it was.

  The needle ship turned, and its movement and flightpath followed the trajectory which would bring them on course for the Cosmic Crinkle, and hopefully for that beautiful earth-like planet waiting somewhere in space.

  “All systems looking good,” Sandie announced. “Tracking sho
ws the Conestoga is moving onto the correct path. Thruster burn will last for another eighteen minutes, and at that point the acceleration will be at the desired rate. Velocity will then be increasing at a steady pace.”

  Jerome settled in to watch and wait. He knew the thruster firing would last for a long while, and he was pleased it was happening so well. He chatted with Monika about their sons, and what she was doing in the new place in Alpha. At regular intervals Sandie checked in and confirmed the mission was proceeding as planned. The cockpit display showed an animated rendition of the missions, with both shuttles as small arrows, and a scaled down version of the Conestoga illuminated in blue. Jerome looked up and out through the viewport. The vista straight ahead only showed the field of twinkling stars, as the Cosmic Crinkle was not visible to the human eye, and the Conestoga was behind him. He adjusted the view. The Cosmic Crinkle was then marked on the display screen by an overlay of a glowing yellow circle.

  While Monika was holding Kalur on her lap, and pointing to the display, she said, “See your father? He is on an important mission, but your brother is sleeping through it all.” She went on and cuddled the baby, while sharing some interesting observations with Jerome.

  Then several beeps were heard and the cockpit display shifted. It split into three sections. Monika was still displayed in one section, but Captain Eris appeared in the new one. The third continued to show the animated readouts regarding the mission.

  “Congratulation Jerome,” Captain Eris stated. “This operation is working. I am glad you could do this for us all.”

  “How are the fires on the needle ship?” Jerome blurted out.

  Eris’ golden eyes narrowed a bit, she blew out a long breath, and then just looked down and nodded. “They are very serious. I will not hide that from you. The remains of the energy concentrator scoop you can see from your location, but the ejectors of the main drive were destroyed in the attack. That is where Siva, Peter, and many others died. That set off a cascade of problems along all the energy pathways, but there also seems to have been a fire already going deep in the system. Fire is raging in some spots, but the needle ship has been evacuated as best we can.” Eris paused and lowered her head. Jerome thought she was in prayer. When she looked up her face was drawn. “I think we can get all the fires extinguished, but not until we get through that Cosmic Crinkle. I plan to decompress nearly all of the needle ship and let the cold and vacuum of space douse the fires. However, there is a risk, and what systems will fail when we do that could be catastrophic. To do nothing would be worse. The fires will eventually destroy the needle ship, but I think we have time to make the crossing. I want Alpha to have somewhere, some place to go. Just being adrift in space is a lingering death, and I chose to try for life. If what the Zalians said to us was correct, and I believe they were sincere, on the other side of that Cosmic Crinkle there is a planet which fits the criteria we need, even better than Tlalocan would have. Alpha must be within landing distance to make planet-fall there. To be honest with you, the needle ship is a lost cause, but I am trying to hold it together until we get within range. When we get within range, I will not hesitate to blow the pressures out of the needle ship. That will put out the fires, and then we can then safely jettison Alpha. The needle ship will then stay in orbit to serve as a communication and resource platform, what is left of it anyway. That is my plan.”

  “Are you sure hitting the fires can wait? Sandie informs me that the towing will continue for the next several hours to attain the proper flight,” Jerome stated as he looked at the readout of the mission’s progress. “That is a long time for a fire to burn.”

  Eris eyed him through the display, and then said, “I can tell you and Cammarry are both from Dome 17. You each asked that same question, with nearly identical phrasing. I will repeat what I told her. The fires are consuming the energy systems in the needle ship. That will eventually cut power to the entire needle ship, but not to Alpha. Alpha’s power is from the solar mimicry reactors. The needle ship’s drive system, where its power originated, was destroyed by the Jellie attack on the stern. We can only hope to delay the inevitable. Yes, the fires will consume more of the energy systems the longer we wait. But when decompression happens, there will need to be a place for Alpha to go, and right now, I feel it is best to traverse that Cosmic Crinkle with as much ship, even if it is on fire, as possible. Decompression is irreversible, and while I hope it extinguishes the fires, and does only an acceptable amount of additional damage, that is not guaranteed. The risk is huge, and as Captain, I have chosen to take that risk on the other side of the Cosmic Crinkle.”

  “When we disconnect from the towing, we will get these shuttles back into the hanger bays,” Jerome replied. “It sounds like they will be needed. I wonder…”

  Alarms sounded behind Eris on the bridge. She looked around, and Jerome could see the fear and determination which spread across her countenance. “We have a problem. A Jellie ship has just appeared by Zalia. It is bigger than that research vessel which nearly killed up. Standby for new orders.”

  Eris’ image winked off.

  “Jerome? Jerome? What has happened?” Monika asked. She had not been connected into Eris’ transmission. Alarms were also going off at her work station, and baby Kalur looked terrified and began to cry. From the background, Jenna emerged and took the baby from Monika’s arms. Monika kissed him as she handed him over. She then looked down at the instruments in front of her, which were not visible to Jerome as he was in the shuttle. “Jerome, I am picking up something appearing in orbit around Zalia. It is at a difficult to perceive angle for our equipment, but it looks like a Jellie ship. Larger than the one we destroyed.”

  Sandie interjected. “Eris and Monika are correct. It is a Jellie ship, and it is larger than the Jellie deep-space research vessel which attacked us before. I conjecture a high probability that this is a warship.”

  Jerome looked at Monika’s face on the display. Her eyes met his. She said, “I just looked at the Vindicator Missiles, and none of them are operational. None!”

  Sandie’s voice came on. “I am responsible for that. I advised Captain Eris to shift the Vindicator Missile fuel into Alpha’s retrorockets so it would be ready for an emergency landing after passage through the Cosmic Crinkle. I conjectured a greater risk from the Cosmic Crinkle combined with the decompressing of the needle ship, than the risk of a Jellie ship arriving. It looks like I was wrong on my conjecture.”

  “Cammarry and I are sitting out here in these shuttles,” Jerome stated, speaking very slowly as he comprehended what was happening. “I have no way to launch countermeasures or weapons. Monika that all falls on you.”

  “The Jellie ship is not in range of the limited weapons we do have,” Monika stated. “And none of the Vindicator Missiles which would have been in range are operational.”

  Captain Eris cut off all the other displays, and only her image showed up. “Jerome and Cammarry, we do not have time for me to talk to you separately, so this is a joint order. The lattice of compeers, Sandie, and I feel our only reasonable course of action is for both of you to accelerate at maximum thruster power. That will accelerate the entire Conestoga’s approach to the Cosmic Crinkle. You are not to disengage, nor are you to decrease thrust. We must escape from here as fast as we can.”

  Jerome knew what that meant, and he only said, “I understand.” He looked at the cockpit and saw that he was locked out of the manual controls. Something else was piloting the shuttle. He suspected it was Compeer, but he just blew out the breath he had been holding. In his heart, he did not really care who was in control, the only thing that matter now was that he was trapped on the shuttle. “If you are SB Joseph Crater, I hope you are up to this.”

  Captain Eris kept speaking, as apparently Cammarry was arguing with her, but he could not hear Cammarry’s words.

  “…correct. Both shuttles will be encountering the Cosmic Crinkle at the same time, and yes, Cammarry, you will be alone in the shuttle. There is no
way to have you disconnect from the Conestoga,” Eris stated. “The lattice has taken over the piloting, and I am sorry you must endure this alone. I can have Sandie make connections to whoever you want while you endure this. I apologize, but there is no other way.”

  A deep vibration could be felt under Jerome’s seat as the large thruster at the rear of the Model 7 was pushed to its maximum performance. There was little sound to it, but Jerome imagined the tail of the thruster was extending out as the shuttle strained under the extreme efforts it was called upon to do. Jerome felt odd, almost as if all he was now was cargo on a transport. In a way, he was reminded of the various craft and vehicles he had experienced on the Conestoga. From boats on water, to transport tube vehicles, to different kinds of shuttles, to animals pulling wagons. In all of that, he had felt some measures of control, but not now. He was a passenger, and that was all. His emotions bounced around like a poorly slammed ricochet ball. The display in the cockpit flashed several words and phrases, but the one that stood out was, “Manual Piloting Disengaged.”