Constoga 5 - Labyrinth

[Kalshion]

How many days had passed since we left the world we had called home for so long? When the RLV lifted off the platform and rocketed into space; a microbomb had been left behind full of EMP coils that would make the blight far more difficult to follow us.

We had ventured over seven lightyears now from the planet; roughly seventy days trip when the bomb suddenly went off. A shockwave so massive that we in the control room felt it might hit us, but to our luck the wave dissipated long before it would reach us.

Still; over ten thousand people crowded our ship. It was one point five kilometers long with numerious cyrogenic bays. Out of those thousands, only a hundred were up and awake.

I myself was amongst those who were awake. My eyes kept to the ships sensor displays, the blight crept at a very slow and agonizing pace through space. We knew that it would be years before it would reach us again but we also knew that Eden wasn't far behind us.

When we had reached orbit and were being tractored into the loosely built station; we had found a second RLV attached to it. On board were Eden Children, most afraid of us due to stories told by their teachers and parents but a couple did seem to be neutral to what was going on.

We had quickly placed them into cyro storage but igniting the ships eight engines; the explosion was enough to send us away. And now here we are, lightyears away from the planet and yet still fearful of what might happen in the coming months.

"Ten thou of rare metals, common and other materials on board," I said to myself, scanning the cargo bays inventory. "Plus enough food for several more months," I listened to myself, curious whether it was a good idea to be talking to one's self.

Outside the massive window, space rolled by. Blackness enveloped everything, with stars being visible through that blackness. I knew we were between star systems and our course had us heading to Alpha Cignus, a system we had sighted many months ago and was rich in planets.

One such planet had caught our attention; a probe we had dispatched days afterwards had arrived and sent us data that we were excited about. While the planet still had less oxygen than needed to have open structures, it was still rich in minerals and had stable grounds. It also appeared to be in a 'natural' transformation, meaning it wasn't accelerated growth like Eden had done to New Terra.

"I guess I'll get some rest then," I said, getting up from my chair and taking one last glance out the window before making my way to the elevator. As it sped through the shaft leading to the cryo-hanger I found myself thinking, wondering if we were truly safe from the Blight, or if another force may exist somewhere in the galaxy.

Truth be told; days after we had launched a transmission was intercepted and shown that there was more life out there; the transmission was mostly grabbled but did have some words spoken, we knew it was English. "Perhaps someone from Earth survived?" One of our communications experts said at the time. The others had quickly wondered the same thing, thinking that maybe Earth had survived the impact of two asteriods - but it was a foregone conclusion.

Stepping onto the deck plating the bay; my eyes quickly fell upon the cryo-pods located on the decks floor. Each pod was specifically designed for two people, and in this case, the bottom pods housed children. Some as young as five, others as old as seventeen.

Like when we launched, most of the adults in cryo were female with only a few males mixed in. Most of our people stayed behind in a futile attempt to stave off the blight, after all, our base was specifically designed to fend off the blight so I was surprised the bomb had actually lasted the whole seventy days.

Passing by another set of pods; I looked inside and smiled. The youngest of my officers was inside, her arm in a sling and her face contorded due to pain she had sustained months before. I had been told that moving her was a mistake, that it would kill her - but as luck would have it she survived the trip from the hospital, to the starport and onto the ship itself.

"Perhaps this new world we won't have to worry about Eden.." The words flowed easily from my lips, I then turned and headed to my own pod. Taking one last glance about the room, I stepped inside and pressed a small green button that was hidden behind a steel flap. The casing began to come down as tubes were feed into my flight suit. When the fusalage closed shut a hissing sound could be heard as cool air was pumped into the pod.

Then, I felt my eyes become heavy as a sleeping compound was pumped into my body. Second's later I was asleep, my hearts rythm slowed down just enough to kepe me alive.

Dream

My dream. It was pleasant. Children ran around without enviromental suits on, they played tag, pouncing upon another in an attempt to say 'your it'. I watched them curiously, wishing I was as young as them.

Around me were various building, some resemble those used in the colony. Others seemed 'new' and were more 'open' to the enviroment.

The Enviroment. A lush, green landscape lay before me, trees sprout up from different points in the ground. Birds flew from tree to tree, chirping away and singing their own song. Foxes searched for a meal while rabbits and racoons scrouged for food.

In the distance I could see light clouds heading our way; a drizzle of rain could be seen. As I watched I felt someone tugging on my pants and looked to find a young girl handing me a flower, "for you," she said to me and smiled.

Accepting the flower; I held it up to my nose and took in the aroma. Paradise... pure and utter paradise.

End Dream

The sound of the fusalage lifting up arose me from my dream; cursing lightly I waited until the tubes retracted from my body before stepping out. My limbs felt numb, cold foul tasting saliva dropped from my mouth. I knew I had to swallow the stuff as it was full of neutrients, the stuff tasted like mucuse.

As I made my way slowly across the deck my eyes fell upon a monitor; on it was a crisp image of a somewhat green world. We were now in orbit above Sigma Cignus 2, the largest planet and the most hospitible one that we could find.

Pressing a few keys I shifted the camera away from Sigma and back toward the other solar system we had once been in. I could barely see the bluish aura of the Blight. It seemed to behaving issues crossing the expanse of space between our two systems. "Perhaps the Blight is weak to more than just EMP," I smiled and made my way to the bridge.

Once there I brough the human systms back online and sent a signal to the command crews cyropods to start waking them up. "We still have two days before we can send down the seed landers to prepare our new colony. We have to locate a spot first, and then hope it has adiquete materials," I said. "Well, time to get the ball rolling."

[Kalshion]

"Over there," I shouted to a group of workers as they shifted a crate from the warehouse to the seedlander.

For the past six days we had been repairing damage to the ships; while internally it seemed fine, externally was a different story. Our trek through space had us going through an asteriod belt, while the shielding on board had protect all vital areas, other places lik the observation deck and some of the other unshielded area's took damage.

"Create one six nine, over there," another group of workers nodded and brought another crate over to another seedlander. I looked up at the giant vehicle that lay in the bay. It was different now from what we've used in the past, while it was cyclindrical and still had a point at the top. It now had more AI controled vehicles inside and could better faciliate construction of an outpost.

Along with that; the new command center that would be constructed had improvements on it that would make more ideal and more useful than the last. "Seed loaded," someone shouted as everyone moved away from the seedlander that was positioned above the hanger bay doors.

Everyone left the bay, myself included. The doors closed, air was pumped out of the bay and gravity was established. The doors parted way's and the lander began to drift out of the bay, day's before a scout group had found a perfect location for our first outpost and that was where the lander was headed.

Making my way back to the bridge; the corridors were quiet, only authorized personnel were awake and active. All civilians were still asleep, tucked away in their cyropods awaiting the signal to awaken to a new world.

The bridge was just as quiet as the rest of the ship; the officers on station monitored the cyropods and also kept track of the lander. "Entering atmosphere," one officer said as she kept her eyes on the monitor. Minute's later the lander made a course correction before landing gracefully in the open, green, field.

"Oxygen levels are low, not enough for someone to be outside for extended periods of time," another officer said as he looked at the data that was being transmitted to him via the landers sensor suite. "Gravity seem's about the same as New Terra," the same officer said.

"Seem's everything is ok," I said and walked toward the main view screen. "How about the blight, how is it progressing?"

Another officer turned in his chair and looked at another monitor. "Very very slowly, computer estimates it'll be years before it arrives," he said.

I nodded. "Good, that'll be a major morale boost to the civilian population," a smile creased across my face as I left the bridge and headed to my temporary quarters.

Looking back; I realized that we had just barely made it. "The hull was designed to emit EMP while we flew, I'm surprised nothing shorted out..." I said and laid back in my chair and allowed my eyes to close shut.

Several more days passed; we hadn't launched anymore landers until the main outpost was set up. On this day, four days after the primary lander was launched, myself and a group of colonist's boarded a transport heading to the surface and to our new home.

Our transport flew out of the bay and into the atmosphere, we were in a gerosyncronise orbit above the outpost so it took just a matter of minutes for the transport to arrive at the temporary landing pad. As I unbuckled myself and made ready for the continued experience of leading my people - I wondered just how long it would be before we had to evacuate again.

[Kalshion]

The retro-rockets fired as the seedlander came to a slow; it's landing structs extended out of the hull and made a perfect landing. Four doors, one side end side of the lander, curled themselves up with ramps extendeding out of the hull. The ramps touched down on the soft, sandy sand as two autodozers and one construction vehicle came out.

Aboard the seed lander were the parts needed to make an improvement to the structure factory that was already operational and churning out residential structures. The connection tubes that came from each structure were reinforced now, able to withstand earthquakes in magnatude of thirteen point five.

Inside the command center, which was located on a cliff that overlooked the outpost, I stood on the observation deck. "It's only been two weeks," I stated, "and already we have several agridomes, residential and a DIRT up and running," a smile creased my face.

"Things are proceeding nicely sir, our colonists have pretty much been relocated from the starship to the base," someone said behind me. I turned slightly and saw a man wearing a red miners uniform, he looked to be around forty years old, though in reality he was actually thirty.

"Where do we plan to land the starship?" I asked him, turning my attention back to the base.

The man was silent for several seconds before responding. "Eight kilometers from here; it'll be landing in some soft dirt," he said.

I merely nodded and strolled over to some control panels. I looked at the displays above them and nodded again. "Power levels look excellent, the new additions and refinements to the geothermal plants are working better than I thought," I said but then looked up at the defensive screen.

On the screen were over eighteen construction vehicles, all moving around the northern side of the crater. The dozers had excavated a three mile long trench at angle out of the crater and that trench was now being reinforced with metal pylons and braces but was also being equiped with turrets, such as EMP and RPG and MSG.

Up on top of the crater were several other construction vehicles, but these were hover type vehicles that were setting up something else. "The meteor shield should be up in a week," the same man said when he noticed what I was looking at.

"Well, we have the starship in orbit right now so it'll provide us at least some defense's until it's up," I said with a nod. "By the way, how our scout parties going? Have they found any deposits?" I asked.

"Several, but tests have found they are merely common deposits, like nickle and such. We haven't been able to find the rarer stuff but we will," he grinned.

Again, I merely nodded and turned my attention to another construction display. "The Robocommand centers third upgrade should be done in a few hours," I muttered under my breath. "The vehicle factory is nearly done as well," I added.

A sudden alarm took my attention to another display that hung over the center of the command room. All around the center, people manned stations with each monitoring something different. "What's going on?" I shouted over the alarm.

"Meteor inbound, location mark forty six seventy one eight," she said and relayed it to an overview of the base. "It'll hit just outside the crater," she said in a thankful tone.

Seconds later a fireball roared through the sky and slammed into the ground just feet from the craters edge. There was no smoke, as there was no air. I had found this as being very strange. "There is green plant life in this crater and outside it," I said and looked back out the observation window. "And yet, there is no oxygen at all?" I questioned myself.

"Perhaps we have a lot more to learn about this planet sir, either way, I better get back to the men," he said and bowed lightly before leaving the command center.

I sighed but nodded my head. "We still have a lot to do, though I do hope that we don't encounter Eden again - seems everywhere we go, there they are," I grumbled and just kept observing.

[Kalshion]

The ground trembled as the first of many robo-miners moved out of the base's newly constructed garage. They sped past a guard post, whose thor hammer AI operated emplacement tracked them casually until they rounded the corner of the University building.

Across the base, several AI controlled surveyors plunged deep metal rods into the soft ground and then waited for several seconds as their hydraulic systems pushed the rods deeper into the crust. Finally, the robots stopped and retracted their rods and then moved on to another assignment

At another garage, a trio of tiger based RPG launchers moved out toward the front of the base. Though the base was still being constructed, the materials on board the ship were enough to build some defensive units.

Toward another side of the base, a top of the crater with one single tube running vertical to the side - an observatory sat, watching the sky and space for any signs of threats.

"Anything?" I said as I stepped into the command center. It had been almost five weeks since we landed and things were progressing nicely.

One woman, wearing a typical miner’s uniform from the old days, turned in her chair and flipped a button on her keyboard. Ahead of me, displayed on a holographic projector, the base's layout came into view. "We are still gathering the materials to build ten additional residential units, which should be enough for the next few years hopefully. Additionally, we have another vehicle factory being built on the eastern side of the base.

"We also have an advanced and a hot-lab being built two kilometers west and south of the base. They should be up and running within a matter of days," she said and retracted the holographic layout.

I tapped my lower chin and nodded. "Make certain the scientists know what they are doing, the last thing we need is another incident that results in the deaths of hundreds," I said, recalling a past event many years ago.

Though I was inside, I could hear the hammering of the wind. Our scientists still hadn't yet figured out why there was no oxygen on a planet that had vegetation, it was baffling. With a heavy sigh I made my way out of the command center and toward the adjacent garage. Flipping open the door to a lynx light recon vehicle, I got inside and checked all the systems to make sure they were in working order before turning the engine on and heading out.

A small warning light beeped on, the robotic command center's AI was angry that I had taken a vehicle out without uploading an AI assistant. Silencing the alert, I made my way across the base to a set of nursery and university structures. I pulled up to the side of the nursery and disembarked, cycling through the air-lock and into the structure.

Unlocking my helmet and carrying it inside, I could faintly hear the cries of children playing somewhere above me. A smile creased my face as I made my way toward an elevator and punched the fourth floor button. The doors slid shut, and the elevator ascended to the fourth floor.

Now the sounds of children playing became much louder, when the door parted I saw these children as they played with toys, some read books, while others looked outside. Their nannies, all of which human and no robots, tended to their care.

One of the nurses there noticed me and walked over. "Afternoon commander, what brings you here?" she asked, her apron dirtied by the constant running around of the children.

"Just checking on our future residents. How are they holding up?" I asked her while placing the helmet down on top of a dresser.

She let out a heavy sigh and placed a hand behind her head to fix her braids as she talked. "They all pulled through the journey together, though I still know a few of the children are in the medical bay due to the cryo-burn."

"Ah, I did hear of that. I'm sure they'll be fine," I said as the structure rumbled slightly. Curious, I walked toward a window and looked out, several of the children looked up at me before turning their gaze toward what I looking at: A newly advanced construction vehicle - designed for carrying four construction kits instead of the normal two. It was also made to be faster, more heavily armed; it also carried an RPG launcher turret on the forward left. Despite that, it was still a heavy vehicle, those it was only a tad faster than normal - but its loud sounding engine made it not worth using on a battlefield.

The lady watched this vehicle as it waited patiently for a robo-dozer to finish clearing the ground; then moved off as one of the bays of the convec vehicle opened up, four mighty construction cranes came to life and became to construct a water purification center. "That should help with cleaning the water," I heard the nurse say.

"That it will," I replied before placing a hand on a little boys head and ruffling his hair. He giggled playfully before being tapped on the shoulder by a younger girl; the two then took off, playing tag. "So full of energy," I said while watching them.

The nurse didn't say anything, instead just nodding in agreement. "Where you headed now?" she asked.

"Structure factories, need to see what is going on there," I said and retrieved my helmet.

"Be careful," said the nurse before she hurried off to help a child who was crying.

I smiled. "Yea.... I just hope we don't have to evacuate again anytime soon," sealing up my helmet, I headed back down.

Roughly a half hour later I was at the structure factory. The foreman, a tall man with a black beard wearing dirty worksmen clothing, greeted me at the door. "Nice to see you commander, I didn't expect ya to come here though," he said and lead me into the command center of the structure.

"How's the progress?" I asked him.

He rubbed his beard and nodded. "On schedule," he said in a German accent, "Dah last remaining nursery kit should be completed tomorrow night. Then we have the meteor protection structure, dat will be done in three days. We also have a few more structures, such as guardian towers and even smelter ready to go," he smiled.

"That's good, let me know if you need anything," I said and turned around, but stopped when I heard him clearing his throat.

"Actually, I need more workers, da ones I have right now haven't had much rest in days.... can you spare some workers from the vehicle bays?" he asked me.

"I'll see what I can do," with that I headed back out to my vehicle. Looking up toward the sky, I could barely see the bluish tint of the Blight - far off into the distant space. "Hopefully, by the time it does get here we'll either be long gone or perhaps know to fight it," with that I sealed up the door to the lynx and drove off.

*Writer note: Not as good as I would like, but hopefully next time will be ebtter *
 

[instigator]

ooo wow I read this page so i'll have to go back and read it all form beginning now. pretty neat gj  

[Kalshion]

Considering I only update this story once every few months due to constant writers block; I usually have to reread this story each time I get an idea for an addition.  

[Skydock Command]

I miss this story. Is there any progress happening?

[evecolonycamander]

considering it seems to have been dead for 2 years, I'd have to vote no.