The Colony Ship Eschaton: The entire ten book series, page 38
As she looked into the vehicle, the only illumination coming from the light in the portal room as it seeped in; she saw the two rows of seats along the sides of the vehicle. The rows faced the center, and some lumpy things were on the seats. As her eyes adjusted to the dimness of the vehicle, she recognized what was on the seats.
Regina screamed.
Inside the transport vehicle was a woman’s dismembered body, spread over several of the seats. The words “Haro knows” were carved into the torso of the body.
3 It is growing where?
“Hulda, you have got to make it stop! Every morning I get up and puke,” Jamie said as she entered the healer’s cabin. Jamie’s short red hair was tousled a bit; she looked pale, and her freckles showed more than ever. Her green eyes were pleading. “You told me what was happening was a natural and regular thing. But I am sick.”
“Yes, Jamie, come in. Yes, Jamie, pregnancy is a normal thing,” Hulda explained in a soothing voice. Hulda’s home had started as a typical one of Antioch, being made from spun permalloy, the same materials from which the ship was constructed. But it had been the healer’s cabin for a generation, with separation between Hulda’s living places and the cots she had for the ill or injured. She was sitting at her work bench grinding some powers. On the bench were jars and bottles of various herbs, tonics and assorted mixtures.
“It is not normal or natural for me. No one gets pregnant anymore,” Jamie sat down hard on the nearest cot. She knew Hulda would listen to her. Jamie had visited the healer’s cabin many times over the last five weeks.
“You got pregnant.”
“But that was impossible. How did it happen?” Jamie replied.
“Shall I draw you a picture of how it happened?” Hulda had not yet looked up from her grinding, but the smile on her face was evident in her voice.
“I am too sick for your jokes. No one ever got pregnant anymore. Well, not in the dome, it is too primitive and unsafe,” Jamie replied. “Besides, at age fifteen, every person in the dome has egg or sperm harvesting and storage, then sterilization. So no pregnancies.” Jamie gagged a bit as another spasm of nausea hit her.
“So no babies in that dome place you came from?” Hulda said. She was a middle aged woman with hair pulled back into a ponytail which was braided. Her dark nutmeg colored skin shone with health and vigor, which hid her true age. Her movements were precise and efficient as she set the pestle aside. She then poured the powder she ground out of the mortar and into a larger bowl.
“I have told you before, of course there were babies in Dome 17. Michael and I are age-mates. All the babies are incubated together once every five years. The AIs and the Committee decide the needed population, and the numbers are decided. The sperm and egg are checked for radiation effects and for genetic abnormalities and then paired together. Then the babies are gestated in the extracorporeal nursery. That is how normal people do it.”
“So you were grown in some box?” Hulda chuckled. She and Jamie had had this discussion several times previously and to Hulda it still sounded farfetched. But with all the things she had seen from the Domers, she did not dismiss out of hand. There were those in Antioch who dismissed the tales the Domers told. "It does seem all you Domers are either the same age or spread out in five year groups. Were they litters?"
“Maybe Willie can explain it to you,” Jamie said. “You two seem to get along well enough.”
“Willie’s arm healed nicely, and I have fixed his wandering eye. At least physically fixed his eyes,” Hulda laughed at her own joke. “Willie has shown me that medical kit from the dome. Yes, it does some amazing things, but it does not grow a baby.”
“Neither does my body! I am puking every morning. This is not normal. Besides, I still do not understand how this happened. Michael and I both were all set after our gametes were harvested and placed in the population bank. That is the normal way, and the safe way. Otherwise radiation would cause terrible mutations. And Dome 17 could only support a certain level of people. Water was the primary concern.”
“Yes, Willie has told me of this invisible poison that floated outside your dome. But you are not there now. You are here in the world. You should be happy you are pregnant. And it is normal to be sick and to vomit some. Just drink enough water and chew those herbs I gave you, they will help. Also, are you eating enough?” Hulda asked as she finally turned around and looked at Jamie.
“You did not answer me. I should not be pregnant. What happened?" Jamie was genuinely concerned.
“Since the Great Sadness..." Hulda faded off and did not finish that thought. “Okay now, I will look into this. If, as you say, every Domer is sterile, then that would be something.” Hulda had heard some of the town people gossiping about the Domers being witches or something like that. To Hulda the Domers were just people with admittedly bizarre ways. Sometimes like an RC, and sometimes like a Rector. They were a mystery to be unraveled. Hulda loved mysteries.
“I can hardly eat anything, and what I do eat, I throw up,” Jamie said. "This is all so unknown."
“This will pass. Then you will keep growing the baby inside you. And look at the world, it is filled with life. The wild animals, the food animals, they have young all the time, and the whole world fosters new life,” Hulda replied.
“I am not a food animal. I think we need to figure out what happened and find a way to do this the normal route. I know the data sticks contain all the information on setting up a population plan. We will need the insulated and filtered extracorporeal nursery units, and the DNA analysis, genetic compatibility and other things. You do know all our medical staff died in Dome 17. I wish Dr. Carilyn was here.” Jamie never planned on being thrust back to the dark ages of medicine. Yet, Hulda had shown her great compassion, and she had healed Willie’s arm when the Dome 17 staff could not.
“Yes, your losses were great.” Hulda could appreciate loss. “But as to the RCs, well, here when a woman gets pregnant we celebrate. And our RCs grow up with their mothers and fathers as much as possible. You know Jacob and Joel, they were born the, what did you call it? Oh yes, ‘the primitive’ way.”
“Yes, they are good children and were very brave when we had the expedition.” Jamie recalled that event with some guilt, as Jacob had been injured. He was fully recovered now. “Thanks for listening to me.” Jamie said.
“Just beware the Clan of Tobit. They still have those Truster ideas. Those people do not have as enlightened ideas about these things as I do. They look at women as breeders to have as many RCs as possible. Once in a while, one of them comes to Antioch, but mostly they are at the other end of the world,” Hulda warned. “None of us knew that Robert was secretly very much like them. He had deceived us all... but that is for another time.”
“Yes, we met one of them: Shammai. When I find him, I will kill him,” Jamie said in a flat and serious tone.
“Be careful where you say things like that. Antioch has many ears and word gets around. But go now, home to that husband of yours.” Hulda smiled wide as she said that, and her eyes twinkled.
“Yes, husband. That is another new thing for me. First a husband, and then I get pregnant. This is so primitive. Lydia explained getting married, and it seemed like Michael and I were already wedded. Is that the right term? But the ceremony was a fun time,” Jamie smiled. “I need to go visit Regina and Brink to see if they have fixed the data readers. If so, then we can start building a proper nursery for the children.”
Jamie departed.
“Proper nursery,” Hulda said with some mirth after Jamie had left. “Proper for what? But I do wonder...” Hulda was pondering all Jamie had said and planning her next ways of unraveling this unknown.
4 Broken Body, Tale told
Hannah was the legionnaire on foot patrol when Regina started screaming. She ran quickly to the Center and entered the portal room, her brown non-organic body armor only making the slightest noise as she ran. Her short sword remained in her sheath, but her senses were on high alert.
“What has happened?" Hannah said as she looked at Regina.
“A transport arrived and inside..." Regina swallowed and regained her composure. “Inside is a dead body which has been mutilated." Regina took a couple deep breaths and steadily calmed herself.
Hannah looked in and saw the body. She gulped as she recognized who it was. Unconsciously, Hannah fingered the armor she was wearing. It had come to her from the legionnaire who wore it before. Hannah had had to have parts of it expanded to fit her own body, as she was a bit taller and wider than the previous owner. Legionnaire armor was passed down from generation to generation, usually in families. But with the death of so many legionnaires recently, she was admitted into the legion without the legacy of one of her parents. As the fourth daughter, her services at the weavers were not essential, and her parents encouraged her to accept the opportunity Levi and Gideon had offered.
“It is Deborah...” Hannah said in a quiet voice. She stepped into the transport vehicle. She had never been in one of the vehicles before, but she ignored the newness of all that to examine the body.
Regina had now taken charge of the others who had come into the portal room. Recognizing that she needed to get the leaders to come, and to limit who saw the body, Regina issued some commands.
“Someone has died, but we need to see what happened. Okay, you go and get Levi and Gideon. And you, run and fetch the Rectora. And you, go and get Jamie and Michael,” Regina pointed to each person as she instructed. The people of Antioch were very good about working together and allowing the first adult at a scene to take charge until officials arrived.
“I will prevent any children from coming in,” Hector said as he moved to block the entrance. Hector was a man from Dome 17. He was wearing a mix of Domer clothing and the soft wool clothing worn by most people in Antioch.
“Who would do such a vile thing?” Hannah asked. “This is pure evil.”
“I know that is true,” Regina replied. “Theta Four, tell me about this transport.”
The wall illuminated with a gray light, and Theta Four’s voice came on. “This transport is part of the ship-wide transportation system which is open to the public for all whose needs re...”
“No! Tell me why there is a body in this transport here,” Regina snapped at the AI.
“I cannot ascertain motives of human entities,” Theta Four replied.
“Theta Four, where did this vehicle originate?” Regina asked.
“Habitat Five: Tropical, through portal two.” A schematic appeared on the wall. Green lines were on the image. There were also many red areas which showed the parts of the transport system which were either sealed off or non-functional.
“Who put the body in here?” Regina asked.
“The people who sent this vehicle did not have identification trackers or chips,” Theta Four replied.
“Please display any scans or images you have of the portal entryway at Tropical.”
“Unable to comply with request,” Theta Four replied.
Michael came running in looking tense. He had heard that someone had died. “What happened?” Michael asked. He was not an official but, along with Jamie, was admired by both the dome survivors and the people of Antioch. The two of them were folk heroes after stopping the evil woman Sinclair and her bandits who had wanted to kill all the legionnaires.
“This vehicle came here, and inside was only the body,” Regina said.
“It was Deborah,” Hannah added, visibly shaken. She picked up the pieces of the body and carried them out of the transport and set them on the floor of the portal room. The body was not complete, but there was enough to know who it had been. Hannah left the carved torso for last and set that down with the writing upward. “This is pure evil.”
Michael stared at the body. He recalled her death. It had happened when Michael and some legionnaires had gone to the tropical habitat in search of tools. They had been attacked, and she had died. They were forced to leave her body behind.
“Michael, Theta Four says the vehicle came from Tropical,” Regina stated. “And the AI is being even more obstreperous than usual.”
“Theta Four, give me all information you have on this body and any information on who put it in the vehicle,” Michael commanded.
“The body was placed in the vehicle. The vehicle brought it to Coast Plains Habitat,” Theta Four replied.
“That’s it? Elaborate on your answer.”
“No further elaboration is needed, or available,” Theta Four responded.
Levi came into the room, followed by Gideon, Jamie and Lydia. They were all in a state of shock. Levi fell to his knees next to the body and openly cried.
“Why is there no smell?” Jamie said. All thoughts of her pregnancy were set aside now as she was assessing the situation. Jamie’s sharp mind could be totally focused on a subject when the situation arose. She was confident and cool under pressure and had an instinct for details. No one else had noticed, but, indeed, there was no smell. No odor at all.
“Kurat, please scan and assess the dead body in this room,” Regina said calling forth the other artificial intelligence system.
“Body in this room is dead and dismembered into fourteen pieces, approximately 81% of entire body. Shall I put in a request to Mortuary Assistance?” Kurat’s voice came from the wall screen.
“Come on! Elaborate and give us all the information you have. Use every means possible to scan and assess this body,” Michael stated.
“Body has been covered in chemical preservatives. Body is dead. Fuller autopsy would be possible on any of the treatment tables in Medical Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy 12. Shall I summon automacubes for transportation?”
“You will not take her body away,” Levi stated, and continued crying.
“No, Kurat, there is no need.” Michael stated.
There was an odd sound, and then the view screen lit up with a still image from Dome 17. Then another voice came from the wall. “...I am here...” The voice quickly faded out and the screen image disappeared. In its place was the typical gray screen.
“Roxanne?” Jamie and Michael said at the same time. They looked at each other in astonishment.
5 Less discussion, more action.
Levi was furious. His muscles were bulging as he paced the town square. He had his side arm and sword on his belt. He eyes were ablaze with rage.
“Levi, we must discuss our course of action here,” Rectora Lydia was trying to regain some semblance of control over the meeting. It had started well enough. People had been gathered to be informed about what had happened with the body of Deborah. It was hoped that an orderly discussion could take place, but that did not happen. People were appalled. People were afraid. Many of the townsfolk still considered the portals as black magic or witchcraft.
“No more discussion. I want the talking machine to take me to where they killed Deborah!” Levi was angrier than anyone could remember seeing him.
“Levi, we will sort this out, but anger will not produce a good outcome,” Lydia tried to persuade not only Levi but the others as well. The people had grieved the deaths of the legionnaires, but the body showing up as it did only reopened those old wounds. Not only for the family of Deborah, but also for the families of the legionnaires who had died in Engineering on the mission with Jamie.
Lydia looked out at the crowd gathered around. The majority of the population was gathered there. Lydia could see in their faces a mixture of emotions. There were those who, like Levi, wanted revenge. There were others who seemed more afraid and timid. But the majority of the people seemed more confused and uncertain.
Gideon raised his voice above the others. He was well respected, and his strength and bearing commanded respect. “Levi, I understand your feelings, probably better than anyone here. I saw my friends die in the other world as well. I am not dismissing your anger or your desires for retaliation. But, remember what happened to Jamie and my when we first went to that engineering place? We must think this through. This was an evil act, and perhaps, just perhaps, whoever did this wants us to rush off? Does a hare not run into a trap?”
The townsfolk nodded as they clearly recognized the idiom that Gideon used. But the Domers had no idea what he was speaking about. None of them had seen a hare before coming to this habitat.
“So, let us set a guard on the portals. I will take the first watch, and let us all ponder and consider what we do next,” Gideon said.
“Gideon is right. We need not rush into something. I know this has been a terrible shock to us all, and it will be investigated. Let us now go to our homes and grieve again for the lost,” Rectora Lydia said.
