The Colony Ship Eschaton: The entire ten book series, page 170
“Something happened to the arm on the machine. It is gone!” Doeg said.
“What machine, Doeg?” Willie asked.
“The blue machine father brought to open the door after it slammed shut. The arm is now gone!” Doeg was very scared.
“I will repair it when I come out. That door must be stronger than I thought. Snapped off the utility appendage, huh? You were right about this tunnel. It does go toward where the Center was located.”
“Willie, the part of the arm is just gone!” Doeg emphasized.
“Doeg, I will work on repairing the automacube when I get done here. The tunnels here seem to be interconnected with the wall and area leading to the hull. I should be able to find a way back to that door, or if need be we can always cut a section of the wall and get me out, but let me first look for a way back to that door,” Willie said causally. “Or I might find a way out where the Center or portal room used to be.”
“Levi and Gideon went in to look for you,” Doeg commented. “But are you okay? They went down the stairs after you.”
“Yes, Doeg I am okay. But I did not go down any stairs. I did not even see any stairs. I took a couple different turns in here, but no stairs. The passage is narrow, and there are branches in various places.”
“Levi and Gideon both went down stairs. I heard them say that,” Doeg said into the combox. “What should we do?”
“Have you contacted them on the combox?” Willie asked.
“No, only you,” Doeg admitted.
“Well obviously this tunnel system is more complicated than I thought. Let me find Levi and Gideon and then I will contact you again.”
“Okay, Willie,” Doeg said.
***
Inside the tunnel system Willie closed the combox link and spoke Levi’s name. “Levi?”
There was no answer. So Willie tried the combox again, “Levi?”
“Willie?” Levi’s words came out. “Where are you? Why did you not stay near the door?”
“Levi, I am in the tunnel system. Is Gideon with you?”
“Yes, we are both looking for you. We came all the way down the stairs but which turn did you take at the bottom?” Levi asked.
“Levi, I did not see any stairs. When the door shut the floor under me rotated around. I think I am in a different branch of the tunnels than you are. I have been keeping to the direction of where the Center had been.”
“So Willie, how do we get there? Or should Gideon and I return to the door? It should be back up the stairs. At least we have light here now. I thought we might have to chase you in the darkness.”
“What? There are no lights where I am. I am using the fusion pack to see. Yes, go back to the door and get out. I will try to find my way back there as well,” Willie replied. “I may need you to cut a passage into these tunnels if I cannot find an exit.”
Willie turned around to walk back the way he had come, but again the floor under him rotated. This time very quickly. He leaned out and touched the wall and it too was rotating. It was disorienting as his beam of light seemed to pass the over walls, while his feet and hand were touching the walls. The rapid rotation dizzied him somewhat.
When the rotation stopped, the tunnels looked totally different. They were now bare and smooth permalloy without any signs of conduits, or wires, or vents. Just bare smooth permalloy. He was standing at the end of a tunnel, and there were no doors, or halls or branches. As Willie walked ahead he saw a blink of light which came from just around a turn in the tunnel system. He went around the turn, the only way he could proceed, and his light struck a roundish object sitting in the middle of the floor. Willie approached it and saw that it was one of the Marathoners combat helmets. “How did this get here?” Willie picked it up and looked at the band around the inside of the helmet. ‘Varbama’ was written on the sweat band. He hung the helmet on his belt.
As Willie was looking at the helmet there was another blink of light a short distance ahead. Willie walked forward toward where the blink had been. The tunnel here was very narrow and he had to walk sideways to continue onward. This time he found a combat boot laying in the middle of the tunnel. He picked it up and realized it contained a severed foot.
Dropping it in disgust, his heart beating rapidly, he turned on his combox. “Gideon! Gideon!” he called.
“Yes, Willie. We are back at the door. It will not open from our side. Mizzah said he will get another blue machine to open it up from outside. Are you okay?”
Willie was a bit calmer now hearing from Gideon. “I am lost. The floor rotated again, and I am not sure at all which direction to go. The tunnels here are different. Also, I am finding some of the… uh… equipment used by the Marathoners.”
“Willie, we will find a way to get to you,” Gideon said, unsure how they would do that. “Should you contact that Major Gonzales about the equipment? Those people are pretty fussy about their gear and machines.”
“Yes, that is a good idea. Thanks,” Willie said and shut down the link on the combox. “I wish this was a data stick, then it could tell me how to get out and I could connect to all the people I need at the same time. Not this primitive one at a time business.”
Then Willie touched the helmet connected to his belt. “Maybe…” He removed the helmet and looked at its mechanisms. His mind knew basically how it all operated, so he placed it on his head and touched the ear piece that was over the left side.
“Varbama! Where in the cosmos have you been? Report!” an angry man said in Willie’s ear receiver.
“This is Willie from Dome 17. I found this helmet,” Willie started to say.
“This is Sergeant Kalju. I am triangulating your position now. Are the soldiers at your location?”
There was another blink of light down the passage. Willie turned quickly toward that. There was an object lying in the middle of the floor.
“No, well…” Willie was saying as he walked toward the small grey cylinder on the floor. “I found the helmet and a boot. There are remains in the boot. I am sorry, but one of the soldiers lost a foot…I am not sure…”
“Sir, did you say remains? Like a body part?” Sergeant Kalju stated. “I am connecting us to Major Gonzales.”
“Yes, the foot was still in the boot. The blood is all dried off, and there is no body anywhere else, nor blood on the floor. The helmet I am using seems in good shape.” Willie squatted down and looked at the grey cylinder. It had a button on the top, with a latch over it. Down the side were stenciled letters. He could not make them out from the angle he had. So he shifted about to get a better look.
“This is Major Gonzales. Willie, please tell me what is happening. I have a lock on your location. A team is on the way, ETA fifteen minutes.”
“Thank you Major. I have just found something else, perhaps one of your soldier’s gear. It is a small grey cylinder with the letters NDB on the side.”
“Get away from that now!” Major Gonzales screamed. “It is a neutrino disrupter bomb. Run away!”
Willie stood up, but not before the NDB exploded. He was knocked backward, a bit and slid down the wall. He was not seriously hurt, more surprised and shocked. As he hit the floor the fusion pack light went out. Willie was surrounded by darkness.
“Major, the thing went off! But I am okay!” Willie said. He fumbled to find the fusion pack and turn on the light again. “Major? Major?”
There was no answer. Willie tapped at the ear piece, but he could not get it to work. He finally got hold of the fusion pack, but there were no indicators that it had any power at all. Willie felt the surface of the fusion pack and knew right where the switches and lights were, but nothing he did worked at all. He set the fusion pack down in the dark where he knew its position. He pulled out the combox and opened it. “Levi? Levi?”
There was no answer. He tried again calling “Gideon? Gideon?”
There was no answer. He tried it again and again and again using every name he could think of who had been programmed into the comboxes. No one gave a reply. He again tried the helmet transmitter, but there was no reply to that either.
“Neutrino disrupter bomb?” Willie muttered into the utter darkness. “That must have ruined all the technology I have.”
“Yes it did,” said The Voice.
“Who is there?” Willie said in fear. He could tell what he heard was an artificially produced voice. It was not one of the old AIs he knew from the ship, nor was it Edgar, Roxanne or Copernicus.
“I am.”
“Are you an AI from the Marathon?” Willie asked, doubt and horror sinking into his heart. “Part of Major Gonzales’ team?”
“No.”
Willie then knew what had happened. His heart hammered in his chest and his breathing was rapid. He started to crawl in the darkness. The fear prompting him to do anything. His mind was whirling seeking any avenue for escape. “So tell me what game I have to play?”
“I do not play games anymore,” said The Voice.
Two sickly yellow grids appeared in the permalloy just ahead of Willie. Their glow illuminated his face and reflected off the walls. They looked strangely familiar. He stopped crawling just before reaching the grids. He sat back with his knees bent up. He turned and looked behind him and two more grids lit up right behind him. He thought to stand up, considering that he could maybe run away using the dim light from the grids. Then it occurred to him what the grids were.
“Teleportation pads? So small? Inside the permalloy?”
“Yes,” The Voice answered and a grid appeared right under Willie’s butt. His hips, buttocks, and most of his pelvis disappeared. His disconnected legs fell to each side, and his trunk flopped to the permalloy floor.
“Hulda!” Willie screamed with his dying breath. But only The Voice heard his cries.
9 outward bound
“We are approaching Hanger Bay 31. Please remain seated until the vehicle comes to a complete stop and the door is fully open,” Theta Four stated. “I am sorry to report that at this juncture there is no access to Habitat Two: Savannah. That route has been deactivated.”
The transport vehicle stopped, and then backed up and there were several loud clanging noises as the vehicle docked with the portal. The door opened and Jamie and Michael stepped out.
Rector Conner and Rectora Lydia were standing there waiting for them. They were both dressed in their yellow robes of office. Next to them was Lorna.
Lorna walked up to them, “You did not think you could leave without me being here to see you off did you?” Her short blond hair and penetrating blue eyes were somehow different now as Michael and Jamie looked at her.
“You did see us off before,” Jamie said. “But then you were a member of the Committee and you were much paler in complexion.”
“And much less muscular. Becoming a blacksmith has been good for you!” Michael added.
“I just wanted to apologize again for not telling you everything before that last flight. You are the only set of adventurers who I ever saw again, and those others never got to hear me apologize. If I could do it over, I would,” Lorna lamented.
Michael gave her a hug and said, “All is forgiven. We were able to save so many from the dome.”
Jamie grabbed Lorna as well and the three of them held each other for a good while. When they parted they all had tears in their eyes.
“Rectora Lydia and I also want to see you off,” Conner added. “Thanks to Regina for calling us so early this morning. We had speeches and toasts and prayers ready for the party tonight, not to mention the feast of food everyone is preparing, and here you are sneaking away today.” Conner laughed.
“Yes, I am thankful Regina called on those talking boxes. So we are here in our official capacities as Rector and Rectora to bestow on you our admiration, blessings, and best wishes for a successful journey,” Lydia said. “I know little about what you are to experience, but you were successful on your last flight, and I pray you are as successful on this one. That is the short version of the speech I was to give tonight. In fact, I probably will still give it at the party tonight. For with all the effort being made, there will be a party tonight, or there will be a riot.”
“Thank you!” Jamie said. “I am so eager to go. Come on Michael, we have a ship to inspect. Then we can be off to the other solar system. We will be the first ever to visit there!”
Michael had trouble matching Jamie’s enthusiasm.
They walked out into the hanger bay itself. The bay was very large with two shuttles on the far end. The shuttles were in long term storage mode and locked down to the deck. It looked like there were places for five more, but those spots were empty. At this end of the hanger was the newly recreated FTL scout ship.
The scout ship was far different looking than the large shuttles. The scout was basically cone shaped and was resting on elevated supports. It was the tan color of spun permalloy, but the tan did not seem as ominous as it had when seen in Dome 17. The scout ship’s permalloy also was transparent in a section through which the interior could be seen.
Copernicus was there in the new black and gold automacube. “Greeting Michael and Jamie!” Copernicus stated with mechanical enthusiasm.
“Hello Copernicus,” Michael replied. “Last time it was Brink seeing us off, and you were his personal AI. I am sure Brink would be proud to know his ideas were carried on by you.”
“Thank you Michael,” Copernicus replied. “I was very doubtful I would be capable of anything further while my Atomic Level Processor was in the ruins of Dome 17. Even my most optimistic conjectures from that time did not foresee me getting here. I had taken solace in the fact that Brink had escaped to survive the dome breech, even though he could not reach my ALP to take me along. I rejoiced when so many had teleported away. Had not the Marathoners arrived, I would still be surrounded by radioactive gasses and deadly toxins, and be on a desolate world. So now I consider all these things as bounty.”
“Yes, bounty is a good word for here,” Michael answered.
“Do you care to review the schematics for the scout ship? They are identical to the ones we discussed previously. They only differ slightly from the previous FTL scout which brought you to the Eschaton. Since this scout does not carry any of the components for the teleportation system, you have more mass for thruster fuel. Additionally, you have the alien scanner which Major Gonzales’ team installed in the flight console. It has a small amount of mass, so that was incorporated with the scanners which had been built on the Dome 17 technology. Together your scanning capability now has far superior range, precision, and sensitivity. All the supplies we discussed are loaded and stored.”
“We will just do a visual inspection. I am certain between you, Edgar, and Roxanne, everything was done perfectly,” Michael stated.
“So where is Regina?” Jamie asked. “Is Roxanne all set for launch?”
Regina climbed out of the hatch of the scout ship. “I am here, and Roxanne is indeed installed, we just finished a series of simulations to make sure all the systems are operational. The ALP transfer went smoothly, and the automacube which had housed Roxanne is secured and awaiting your return.”
“So there is nothing stopping us from launch?” Jamie asked with excitement.
“Except that we all need to exit the hanger before in your eagerness you vent the atmosphere and open up to vacuum.” Regina laughed. “So climb aboard, get strapped in and have a successful trip. I will eat some cake for you both tonight at the party.”
“Apricot cake?” Michael asked. He was fond of that. “Maybe we could wait until tomorrow?”
Jamie gave him a mockingly serious look.
“Okay, we go without eating the cake,” Michael shrugged.
Regina climbed down the ladder and Jamie and Michael climbed up and entered the scout. The hatchway was not wide, but one person at a time could crawl in, turn about and get settled into the seats in the ship. The FTL ship held two people, barely. The quarters were just as tight as they remembered from the previous mission. The cabin had two cushioned seats which were visible under the third of the cone which was made from clear permalloy. Edgar had done an excellent job in spinning the permalloy into the shape of the FTL scout. Both the clear permalloy and the opaque were virtually identical to the previous scout.
“This feels almost too familiar,” Michael commented as he shut the hatch and secured its seals. “Kind of odd since the last one was blasted to pieces by Ares.”
“But on this launch we have no sling bay to shoot us out of the atmosphere,” Jamie said as she strapped herself into the pilot chair on the right.
