The Colony Ship Eschaton: The entire ten book series, page 89
“Rectora Lydia and Rector Conner are planning another town meeting for a few days from now. All those questions that came up in the last one need to be discussed. We could go talk to them.”
“But not today,” Michael replied.
“Josiah and Lorna are still finding more items in the underground garage. They asked if we could come and help them make an inventory.”
“But not today,” Michael replied.
“Zunang’s leg healed nicely, and I believe she is on patrol. If she comes by it would be nice to hear how she is doing. We could walk with her for a while.”
“But not today,” Michael replied.
“Levi and Gideon say they have heard rumors about things happening in Media. They were quite concerned when I informed them that apparently Shammai is still alive. We need to stop by and talk to them.”
“But not today,” Michael replied.
“There are still many mysteries to unravel on this Colony Ship.”
“But not today,” Michael replied.
“So Michael, what do you want to do today?” Jamie asked.
“I want to set under the sky tube and watch the children. I want to hear them laugh and I want to play with Liduma. And I want to do it all next to the woman I love.”
“That sounds like a plan.” Jamie answered and rested her head on Michael’s shoulder.
The End
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Thornton lives with his wife, two silly dogs, and two ancient cats. His grown daughters come to visit and those days are excellent.
Discoveries on the Colony Ship
Book 6 Colony Ship Eschaton
John Thornton
Copyright © 2013 John Thornton
All rights reserved.
ISBN-13: 978-1490979892
ISBN-10: 1490979891
DEDICATION
For my wonderful wife and daughters.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
i
1
Old Meets New
2
Planning a Treasure Hunt
3
Things Underground
4
Buried Treasure
5
Off to Savannah
6
News From Media
7
A Rose by Any Other Name is an Imposter
8
Reading is Fundamental
9
Meddle in Messy Media
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
The Disappeared
Happy or Mean on the Trail
Message on Display
We the Sleeping
A Wild Ride
The Braided Quest
Put it in Manual
Demons in Attack Mode
Rules of the Game
Relocation
What Gets in Media
Which Way Did They Go?
Training for the Big Game
Cast Aways
Game On!
The Graveyard of Artificial Intelligence
A Fight to the Finish?
Remains
Epilogue
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Edited by Mike Elsberry
Cover art by Dedefox
Back cover by Kafik.com
1 old meets new
“Thank you for bringing me along, Lydia. I have wanted to come and see Ava, but every time I stop by she refuses to see me. So lately, I have been having Lindsey ask her when it would be a good time for me to come and see her. Lindsey and her parents are so good to be bringing food rations out to Ava every day.” Rector Conner walked along with his colleague Rectora Lydia. They both wore the yellow robes of office as leaders of the town of Antioch, but their backgrounds were vastly different.
“Yes, Ava can be set in her ways," Lydia replied. Lydia had been born in Antioch. She was about in middle age, a tall and thin woman who carried the weight of her office well. She had brown hair, neatly combed, and a few wrinkle lines around her eyes. She had been elected to the position of Rectora after her mother had been murdered. But Lydia had served the people of Antioch well and earned their respect.
“And from what I am told, Ava is the oldest person in Antioch. Is that correct?” Conner asked. He had been born on Earth, and had once lived in the last refuge of humanity, Dome 17. His childhood could not have been more different than Lydia’s.
“Yes, she is quite elderly. Whatever you do, do not ask Ava about her age. She is sensitive to that, among many other things. Besides, I have not told her you were coming with me,” Lydia smiled widely as she relayed that information. There was a twinkle in her eyes.
“What?” Conner was stunned. But Lydia’s smile reassured him that things would work out. “Well, I do hope this goes well. I am eager to hear what Ava has to say.”
They paused in their walk through the streets of Antioch. The light shone down on them from the sky tube far overhead. It cast its warm yellow glow over all of Habitat One: Coastal Plains, giving nourishment to all the variety of plants which grew in the huge habitat.
“Oh, I have no doubt you will hear something. That is certain. But what she has to say, no one really knows for sure. She is a bright woman, but remember, she has been though much, and is not hospitable, even to me. So do not be surprised by what you hear. And do not take offense.” Lydia laid a comforting hand on Conner’s shoulder, an act that not too long ago, might have been deeply frowned upon as a public display of affection. But much had changed in the town of Antioch.
“Lydia, should I not visit Ava?” Conner asked. He had been trying to personally visit all of the people who now lived in Antioch, both the original population, and the refugees from Dome 17 where they had settled.
“This will be the only way to see Ava. But she will not see you. As Hulda the healer explained, Ava is blind, and has been so for some time. She can see shadows, but that is about all. Ava’s cabin is the next one and I will knock and let her know we are here. There are two people who come out and get her ready for the day. They dress her, and make sure she is ‘presentable’ and then help her with her needs. She absolutely refuses to live anywhere else."
The cabin they walked up to was nearly identical to most of the other cabins in Antioch. Except for the wooden structures that some people had built, the majority of the homes were manufactured from the hard metal called permalloy. Permalloy was a metal which was spun into whatever shape was desired. When hardened, it was the hardest substance humanity had ever created. Not only were the cabins made from permalloy, but so was the frame for this entire habitat, as well as the rest of the sturdy structures and hulls of the Colony Ship Eschaton.
Lydia knocked on the door. The door was partially open, and from inside a small voice answered.
“Hello, who is there?” said the weak and frail voice of Ava. “Is that you Rectora Lydia? I am expecting you. Lindsey already brought my lunch and supper. And Francine got me ready this morning.”
“Yes, Ava, it is me,” Lydia pushed open the door and stepped inside. She beaconed with her hand for Conner to follow.
“Well who is that with you?” Ava snapped. She had seen the two shadows pass by the light from the door.
“Ava, I have brought our new Rector, Conner out to meet you. He has been eager to get to know you," Rectora Lydia said in very solemn tones. “He is our new Rector and as such he is seeking to meet everyone in Antioch.”
“Well I did not vote for him,” Ava fired back. She was sitting in the cabin in a large rocking chair made of wood. The cabin was dimly lit with woven drapes over the windows. The light from the door and what little came through the draperies was all that lit the cabin. Ava was small and very thin. Her hair was silvery grey and cut short, and thinning in many places. The skin over her face was drawn tight into what looked to be a permanent frown. Her eyes were wide, but had the dull white of the blindness she suffered from.
“Ava, it is my pleasure to meet you. And even though you did not vote for me, I want to know how I can best serve your needs as Rector,” Conner said in a gentle voice. Conner had a medium complexion and intelligent brown eyes. When he spoke, the gentleness of his heart was exposed and the kindness of his spirit shone toward Ava.
“Well, I guess we can get this over with. Will you stop sending those messages with my food?” Ava asked. “It seems like every day, little Lindsey says she has a 'message from the new rector’ and I tell her I do not want it, but still the next day it is the same thing. Well, nearly every day. Some days I can eat in peace. So sit down and tell me, what do really want?”
Lydia and Conner pulled two chairs from near the table to closer to where Ava was sitting.
“You be sure to put those chairs back exactly where they were. You know I am blind, right? You want me to fall over some chair left where it should not be? I do have to get up to use the toilet, and if some foreigner leaves a chair and I fall, well that is unacceptable.”
“Yes, Ava, we will put them back exactly where they were,” Lydia replied.
“Well be sure to see that you do. I know my home, and I get along just fine here. But if some stranger comes and moves my things around, well, I will probably fall and that would be the end of me.”
Conner was feeling a bit left out, and as his eyes had adjusted to the dim light, he could see that Ava’s cheeks were marked with reddish colors, and there were added colors of red to her thin lips. Along her eyes, she had dark coloring. Conner remembered seeing Hulda using a green gel under people’s noses at times, and so Conner made an assumption. He said, “I see that Hulda has been here and applied her healing arts. Is the facial treatment helping? What malady has afflicted you?”
“What are you babbling about?” Ava snapped. “There is nothing wrong with my face!”
“Ava, Rector Conner stumbled in his speech. He was trying to ask how you are feeling. He is not used to our customs or our patterns of speaking. He meant no disrespect,” Lydia glared at Conner and he knew he needed to apologize.
“Oh yes, Ava. Forgive me for speaking improperly. I just have not seen the use of red like on your face. I am....” Conner was cut off by Ava, just as Lydia’s hand squeezed his shoulder hard.
“You are one of those strangers who came here. Yes, I have heard all about your kind. I am not deaf, just blind. I listen to the stories people tell,” Ava cackled. “Have you been out in the woods lately, Rector? I know there are wild beasts out there. One must be very careful about those.”
“Yes, Ava, you are correct. I have made a fool of myself far too many times.” Conner did not know what else to say. “So please forgive me if in any way I have offended you. I truly am sorry.”
“Well, we agree on one thing, you being a fool, at least,” Ava snapped back. “But why did your people come here? Why not go somewhere you were wanted? Well? Rather than barge in on decent folk trying to survive? Antioch has enough problems without being overrun by foreigners.”
“Ava, you know the Domers had no other place to go, and they all would have died if they had not come here,” Lydia gently confronted Ava. “They needed a home, and we showed them hospitality. That was the right and honorable thing to do. A woman of your stature certainly agrees with showing kindness and hospitality to strangers.”
“Yes, Rectora, you are correct. But those Domers need to know their place,” Ava’s lips quivered a bit as she spoke. “This place, more than any other should know that proper functioning is when everything is woven together. However, leadership is no place for a Domer. I cannot understand how so many people voted for him. Maybe they felt pity toward him, but it is beyond my understanding. What with all the fine upstanding real people to chose from.”
“It is a true fact that all of us Domers owe the people of Antioch our very lives. That is a fact. And I have been one of the stupidest of the Domers.” Conner was sincere in his comments and that came through in his voice. “But Ava, I would like to know about you. Would you please share with me what it was like for you when you were growing up. Would you tell me please?” Conner asked in his gentlest and kindest voice.
Lydia’s eyes grew wide. She was unsure what such a direct request would bring. She fully expected Ava to give back some snotty answer.
“Well, you admit your mistakes. Give you credit there boy. And your tones are proper. Me? I do not remember much. Life was hard. I was in the first generation of the replacement crew. My parents were original crew members. At least that is what I was told. The OCMs had a terrible, wicked war. I was raised by a couple who found me in Gath and brought me to Antioch. It was better for the people in the Habs than on the needle ship itself. I do not remember much about my parents. Father was tall and strong. He had a belt with fancy stuff on it. Not stuff like around here, but high quality stuff. Machine stuff. Mother was broad shouldered and had frizzy hair. She too had the fancy belt. I remember riding in a trans, and going through the big station, lots of people there. Troops in riot gear. Then being carried through a long series of tunnels, and then into this hab. The next thing I know, I am alone in that village of Gath. I was just a tiny RC left all alone.”
Lydia was amazed. She had spoken with Ava many times, but never had Ava shared this about her early childhood.
“You said it was better in the habs. May I ask what you mean? Habitats?” Conner prodded ever so gently.
“You just did ask. But I do not know. That was what my folks said. I guess because the Trusters did not attack and kill so many in the habs. I heard tell that the Trusters gassed whole sections, and shut down systems, and just plain went nuts. But I do not know for sure. Just the stories I heard as a young RC. My folks, the ones who found me in Gath, they were Orthodox, and they got me the vaccines. Momma stood in a long line while some people came and secretly gave shots to all the RCs in Antioch. I can still remember momma’s blue dress that day. We were out in the woods, and momma’s blue dress was soft and I kept rubbing my face on it because it felt so very good.” Ava’s words were said in a much different way now, her voice sounded younger and more hopeful.
“Can you tell me more?” Conner asked.
“But momma and daddy died when I was a teen. Some Truster nut got in and shot up the place. Too bad that. Killed just about everyone in several shacks before a trooper got him. Damned crazy Truster. With the folks dead, I got married to my first husband, Jefferson. He died in an accident at the mill, got crushed to death. We had tried to have RCs but that did not happen. Then the great sadness came......But I met Casper, and we moved to a farm outside of town. Built our own little cabin out of wood from the forest. The hard metal places were still targets for some of the remnant Trusters. We farmed for a long time, and only came to Antioch when we had to. Casper was afraid to mingle too much. But that did not keep him alive either. He was plucking up grain, and a viper got him. I found him dead in the field, his whole arm swollen and purple. So I gave up that farm and moved back to Antioch. Married Hoppen the trader. He was a widower and I was a widow. He was a nice enough man, but one time he just never returned from a trade trip. Never did find out what happened to him. So son, that is my life. I lost three husbands, and never had a RC at all. And now life has come full circle and I sit here in the dark. Just like I sat in the dark as a tiny RC left all alone in Gath.”
Lydia had known a bit about Ava’s life, but much of this was brand new to her as well. “Ava, thanks for telling us about that. I had not known much of your past life."
“Well you should have. I have been out here forever. At least this Domer fellow asks the right questions. He may be dumber than a milk cow, but he is not a coward. Now leave me be. I am an old woman and I am blind and I do not need more memories of bad things coming to my mind. I probably will not sleep well tonight, thanks to your visits. You tell Lindsey and her parents ‘thank you’ for me. I appreciate their kindness. They still remember we are all in this together.”
“Yes, Ava, we will do that. Thank you for your time,” Lydia replied and stood to leave.
“Conner, I hear your wife is with child. Weird stories about how, but that does not matter. You take good care of that RC, you hear me? I failed. But you have a chance. You take care of that RC. The ship cannot go on without RCs.” A few tears were running down Ava’s face.
“Yes, Ava. I promise you I will, and again, thank you for telling me about your life.” Conner replied.
“Just go now, and no more of those messages about coming out here. You met me. End of story.”
