Quest for the Conestoga (Colony Ship Conestoga Book 1) (2 page)

Jerome checked the readings again as they spoke, and still found nothing but dust, toxins, and radioactivity outside. 

“Why are there spacecraft tests?”  Jerome asked abruptly.

“Because the Committee allowed it,” Faraday snapped back.

“But to what purpose?”  Jerome asked.  “Why are they doing it?”

“Your inquiry should be directed at Chief Engineer Brink or the Committee.  I can only make conjectures on human motivations,” Faraday answered.  “Human motivations are not always rational or logical.”

“So conjecture why Brink is running spacecraft tests.”

“Because he desires to do so.”

“Yes, you are frustrating.  Perhaps I should get a different personal AI, one that is not so quarrelsome?”  Jerome smiled. 

“That would be your loss, however, to humor you, I will elaborate.  As Chief Engineer, Brink is a master of developmental engineering.  He builds things, designs systems, and seeks improvement of our technology levels.  If the unofficial reports are true, it is obvious that Chief Brink has a desire, or at the very least has acquiesced to an order from the Committee, to study spacecraft flights.”

“Was that so difficult for you to tell me?”

“You are the one who setup my personality traits,” Faraday replied.  “As I recall…”

“There they are!”  Jerome interrupted as the silhouette of a fusion truck seemed to materialize out of the dusty world outside.  “Someone made it back.”

“That is the vehicle which was assigned to assess Dome 9,” Faraday reported.  “The adventurers on that mission are Hobart, Ken, and Beth.  I cannot tell the condition of who may or may not be inside the vehicle.” 

The vehicle was large and bulky.  It could carry up to six people, all garbed in protective radiation absorbing materials.  It had an onboard, data stick-led guidance systems, and multiple redundancies in its power train, drive mechanisms, and fusion energy supply.  The vehicle used four large wheels which could cover most any terrain that existed on the dead Earth.  Yet, even for all its husky ruggedness, the fusion truck stalled.  It stopped moving.

“They have halted?  Why?  They are seventy-nine meters from the perimeter of the dome, and they on the opposite side from the entry to the decontamination sections,” Jerome said. 

In the monitors, he saw the door on the side of the fusion truck pushed open.  The high wind pushed back at it, but a figure inside the truck was able to slide out.  The door slammed shut as the figure slipped to the ground.  The figure immediately stood up again.  On the other side of the truck two smaller figures moved out past the door that remained open.  On that side, the bulk of the truck was blocking the wind. 

“That must be Hobart, he is big and strong enough to stand against that wind,” Jerome said.  “But why even get out of the vehicle?  Just use it to get to the entrance.  There is only one way inside here.  Why are they doing that?”

“Is that a rhetorical question, or do you want me to make a conjecture?” Faraday asked. 

“Ken and Beth seem to be struggling,” Jerome observed.  “Why walk all the way?  They are on the far side of the dome.  It does not add up.”

“I will make the conjecture, even without your asking.  The mostly likely scenario is that the vehicle has a mechanical breakdown.”

“A fusion truck having a mechanical failure?”  Jerome asked.  His mind was running through all the systems and their duplicated backups. He could see the circuits, designs, and schematics in his mind’s eye.  A failure in one of those over-engineered systems, with the multiple redundancies, was hard to envision.  Yet the tan toxic environment was relentless and in its own impersonal way, ruthlessly unstoppable.

The three adventurers had strapped themselves together and were now walking toward the dome.  Hobart, about ten centimeters taller than the smaller of the other two, Beth, was shielding them from the wind as he leaned into it.  In addition to the connecting straps, all three had cables linking them together as they pushed forward.   At times the dust was still so think it was hard to see all three of them at the same moment.

Jerome spoke in a commanding tone.  “Faraday, turn on whatever exterior lighting you can and help guide them around the shortest way to the entrance.  Their RAM clothing will protect them, but the less time they have to walk out there the better off they will be.”

“The lights have been activated,” the AI Faraday replied.  “It is questionable whether or not they will be able to see them.”

Jerome watched intently.  Hobart waved a bit with his arm and the other two moved to follow.  He obviously had seen the lighting and was moving accordingly. 

“I stand corrected,” Faraday stated.  “Your suggestion had more merit than I conjectured.  At their present rate of ambulation, they will reach the entrance in approximately forty-five minutes.”

“Make sure all this is recorded on my private data stick, but make no official recording of this.  I will be there to greet them after decontamination,” Jerome said.  “I can easily stay here until they enter, and then still get down there before they are thoroughly flushed, brushed, and dusted.”

He then watched the monitors.  The three adventurers continued their trek through the dust, wind, and toxic atmosphere.  The cameras on the dome shifted to follow their progress.  When they got right near the dome, they had less wind to confront them, but deeper drifts of dust and debris. The perspective in the monitors was also less clear.

“Faraday, connect me to Cammarry, but do not allow her to see where I am,” Jerome ordered. 

“As your partner, she is well aware of your unapproved excursions into these areas,” Faraday answered.  “However, the connection is made.  I placed a blank background behind your image.”

“Jerome!  I will not ask where you are,” Cammarry said as her image replaced the three dimensional one Faraday had been projecting. “So do not tell me some tale.”  Cammarry rolled her narrow brown eyes, and grinned.  Her oval face, with its snub nose, twinkled with delight.  Her long, straight silky dark brown hair, was parted down the middle.  Behind her was one of the stacks called biological unit farms.  The clear, sealed, cubes contained taupe or grey colored fungi consisting of super hybridized biologicals.  Row after row of the cubes were arranged on both sides of the walkway, as high as the ceiling.

“The adventurers are back,” Jerome stated.  He knew exactly where Cammarry was walking as he recognized the biological cube farm.  When he had been younger, one of his many jobs was helping to harvest, clean, and restart those cubes which contained fungi.  He did that through modern reproduction techniques, and even sometimes through antique methods like cloning or even more old fashioned and primitive ways.  He vividly recalled dissecting the fungi while protecting the nuclear membrane to keep it intact throughout the process.  At the time he found it all rather boring and of little consequence, yet he, like all his age-mates, had learned the lessons.  He still could sing a song about processing food bars from fungi, and its lyrics raced through his mind. 

“Which team?  Hobart, Ken, and Beth? Or Jamie, Karen, and Paul?”

“The first team,” Jerome replied. 

“Again, I will not ask how you know, because if they had already cleared decontamination, I would have heard about it.  When will they enter Dome 17?”

“About forty minutes or so.  I will meet you by the Portal of Purpose,” Jerome said. 

“Hey, stop teasing me about that.  I only called it that once, besides, it is our purpose.  We are adventurers and we come and go through that dilation portal.  That is our purpose in life, exploring the outside world.”  Again Cammarry was twinkling in her eyes as she spoke.  “Would you rather have some revolving door like in your old stories?  Perhaps with a concierge and valley parking?”

“It was called valet parking, from what I read,” Jerome replied to the woman he adored. 

Cammarry smiled, and her smallish white teeth glistened.  “Like almost all of that old world, whatever it was called, it no longer exists.  I will meet you there.  Any idea when the other team will be back?”

“Not yet.”  Jerome considered waiting for the second team to return, but recalled they departed a day behind Hobart, Ken, and Beth.  “I will be there shortly.” 

The image shut down, and Jerome then shifted the adjustments on the monitor he had established.  He considered shutting it down and removing it like he usually did.  “Faraday, this system will alert you when someone else is detected.  Immediately let me know when you receive that signal.”

“Understood.  However, you are aware that leaving these unofficial monitors in place while they are functioning increases your risk of detection, correct?” the AI asked.  “The risk is minimal, but increases the longer the monitors are powered on.”

“What will the Committee do, throw me outside?”  Jerome asked.  He got up and moved through the maintenance shafts.

The AI’s voice followed Jerome as he progressed away and toward the ladder which would lead back to the occupied and legal parts of Dome 17.  “The Committee has any number of potential remedies which can be applied as a punitive measure.  That could include removing me as your personal artificial intelligence system.  I would find that unpleasant.  I have made many adjustments in relating to you, and would find other work less satisfactory.  There are currently no unassigned adventurers, so I would be doing other work.  Apparently, you do not care about my future.”

“I would miss our repartee, and the banter between us,” Jerome replied to Faraday and descended the ladder.  He then removed a wall panel and peered beyond its opening.  It was very unlikely that anyone would be passing by, but it was possible.  The closet where the wall panel was located was empty. He climbed out. The supplies which he had moved out of the way were just as he had left them. 

Replacing the wall section and then the supplies, Jerome walked out of the closet. 

There were only a few people in the hallway which led toward the medical units.  One of them was close by as Jerome stepped out.

Regina, a technician, who was of medium height with shoulder length dark hair and bright eyes turned as he closed the closet door.  “I thought I heard a voice.  May I help you?”

“Just me fumbling about,” Jerome said.  “Sorry if I disturbed you.  I am fine.  I must have mumbled to myself.”

“No worries at all.  Keep up the good work with the missions and all.  Be safe!” Regina said with a nice smile and a hint of adoration.  She turned the corner and was out of sight as she continued on her way

That was one moment when Jerome was thankful for the status he had as an adventurer.  It felt good to be looked up to by someone from the general population.  Being in the group of only twenty-five people out of the 1500 or so who lived in the dome did give him some unique status, but it felt like notoriety.  Cammarry had told him that there were some people who thought the adventurers were not carrying their load of the work, but few people were willing to study, train, and do the requirements to be an adventurer.  The attrition rate of the recent missions had also reduced interest in the job of adventurers.      

He walked onward and was soon past the medical section and heading toward the cafetorium which was a gathering place. He passed some other people.  Those people did not pay much attention to Jerome, even though he was wearing the clothing that adventurers wore inside the dome.  He wondered what they would think if they saw him covered by the RAM clothing with its hood, goggles, and other accoutrements necessary for survival outside the dome.  That thought brought his mind back to Hobart, Ken, and Beth who would by now have entered the first stages of the outer portal and were in the decontamination process.  Their RAM clothing would be stripped off, and sent for destruction.  The information gathered and then stored in their data sticks would be transferred to the Dome 17 information systems.  The data sticks would then be destroyed. Except for their fleshly bodies, nothing that had been in the outside world would enter Dome 17.

“Faraday?  Have they passed through decontamination?”  Jerome asked. 

“There is no official report of their return, however, I have observed that energy use has risen in two stages of the decontamination chambers.  That would indicate that the first two adventurers have begun the process.  I cannot tell which ones, nor is my comment an official acknowledgement of the return of anyone.”