Showing results by author "John Thornton" in All Categories

Most of the wrecked Colony Ship Conestoga is scattered across the alien planet Zalia. Its needle ship is still in orbit, but many of its systems are only partially functional. The planet is not hospitable, and the human biological habitats are in severe danger. The survivors of the Conestoga, along with the two adventurers from Earth, struggle to find a way to launch the crashed biological habitats off the alien world. The habitats must ascend to escape the toxic elements of the planet before they all fail.

Jamie and Michael are asked to help track down something that is destroying food in Habitat One of the Colony Ship Eschaton. What they find is a secret history of the ship itself. Cut off from everyone, except the dog, Liduma, Jamie and Michael race to find all the pieces of this suppressed history. But something else is seeking it as well and does not want Jamie and Michael to succeed. Will they make it back to report what they have learned about the building of the colony ship?

In book five of the Colony Ship Conestoga series, Jerome and Cammarry are trying to investigate the various parts of the wrecked ship. Along the way they encounter new people, some dangerous and some who might be potential allies. However, danger and threats lurk in every corner. The crash-landed habitats are on the planet's surface while the remains of the needle ship are in orbit. Few facts are well understood, and strange things are happening. What will the adventurers uncover as they do a reconnoiter of the Conestoga?

In the fourth book of the Colony Ship Conestoga series, the adventurer Jerome seeks to find out what happened to his fellow adventurer Cammarry. She is lost somewhere in the vast Habitat Beta. Jerome has only a few of his Dome 17 high tech gadgets, and has also lost contact with the artificial intelligence system, Sandie. He feels alone. What dangers await? What other things are lurking in the unknown recesses of the derelict and crashed colony ship? Will Jerome be alone for the rest of his days?

In book two of the Colony Ship Trailblazer series, the adventurers from Dome 17 on the dying Earth are on the old colony ship, but things have not gone as planned. They receive an urgent summons from some unknown entity, proclaiming, “There is a major crisis! People in danger. I need your help to avert a tragedy! There is a major crisis! People in danger. I need your help to avert a tragedy!” Janae and Ken reluctantly answer that call, but what awaits as they venture into some of the unknown reaches of the Trailblazer? What is the nature of the crisis? What people are in danger? And who sent them the message and why? Just exactly what will be revealed as the Tragedy on the Trailblazer?

In this volume, book six of the Colony Ship Conestoga series, conflict erupts in a myriad of places and ways. Jerome and Cammarry, the adventurers from Earth, are still trying to piece together what all has happened to the Colony Ship Conestoga. The slave revolt in Habitat Alpha is continuing. The various systems of the ship are broken, half-working, or just frustratingly difficult to get operational. The enigmatic inhabitants of the alien world, Zalia, are potential threats, and more mysteries than ever are surrounding all attempts to make things work.

Dome 17 is the only safe place left on a dead Earth. Life in Dome 17 takes a dramatic turn after some adventurers return from evaluating other domes. The struggling remnant of humanity cannot remain safe in the dome much longer. The question is where to go and how to get there? Seven vast colony ships were launched 100 years ago, but can one of them be located? Will it offer a chance to survive?

In book two of The Colony Ship Conestoga series, Jerome and Cammarry, the adventurers from Earth, are trapped on the wrecked derelict of the once-enormous generational ship. It is in orbit around a mysterious and unknown planet, but most of its systems have failed, and life is barely managing to survive. Cammarry and Jerome, along with Sandie, their artificial intelligence system, work to investigate the wreck. What will they discover? What dangers await?

Cammarry and Jerome have only explored a small part of the wrecked Colony Ship Conestoga. The section called the needle ship is in orbit around a strange world, but where are the remaining sections? Using the help of Khin, a man born on the needle ship, and the artificial intelligence system Sandie, Jerome and Cammarry try to get parts of the old ship fixed and functional. But things do not go smoothly. What will they discover? What new things await? How will they locate the lost habitats which made planet-fall somewhere on the unknown planet? What dangers will they encounter as are repairing the Conestoga?

Janae and Ken are part of the remnant of humanity which lives in Dome 17, surrounded by the radioactive, toxic wasteland of a dead Earth. The leadership of the dome has sent out adventurers to explore the other domes, but all they have found are failed domes, and deadly ruins. Some of those adventurers have self-terminated upon return from those grueling missions. Only Dome 17 survives, but now, Dome 17 is facing its own failure. Looking to history, they come up with a plan to try to find the seven lost generational colony ships which left Earth a century before.

Gretchen and Paul, refugees from a dead Earth, have found the old colony ship Vanguard. The ship is on its generation-long journey to another solar system. The ship has suffered a severe epidemic and not everything is functional. The various biological habitats are vast and unexplored by Gretchen and Paul. What will they find as they explore and investigate the old ship? Will they find friends or enemies? Will anyone believe they really have come from Earth? What will their new lives be like, trapped on the Vanguard?

The Colony ship Marathon left a dying Earth on a generation's long voyage to another planet. Inside its giant biomes were people who would spend their entire lives during that flight. They knew that their descendants would be the people who would arrive at the destination world. During the long journey, something went wrong. Something else was on the Marathon. This adventure chronicles the life of one habitat dweller named Kalju, as he becomes aware of his role in what is taking place.

The Colony Ship Vanguard was one of seven colony ships launched from a damaged Earth in a desperate plan to carry human settlers to Earth equivalent worlds. The voyages would take generations, and the people on board, as well as the flora and fauna in huge biological habitats had to be stable. But something happened on the way. Now, over one hundred years later, Earth is all but dead. People survive only in Dome 17.

On an Earth which is toxic, radioactive, and nearly dead, Mabel and Ian are two adventurers who live in Dome 17. There have been missions sent out into the wastelands to try to reconnect to other domes, but none have succeeded, yet. When it is discovered that Dome 17 may suffer a similar fate to those other domes, a risky and last-ditch plan is attempted. Teams will be sent looking for any of the seven great intergenerational colony ships which were launched a century ago. Yet, all those ships have been lost for decades.

As the gargantuan multi-generational colony ship plows through space, many light years away from the dead home world, Ian believes that his partner, Mabel, is still alive. Despite the official reports of her death, Ian will seek to find her. Yet, the strange biomes are a challenge, and the only friends he has are a strong-willed, youthful cadet who has abandoned her post, and two artificial intelligence systems. Those AIs must work covertly, and that makes all of them fugitives.

For the first stage of terraforming Venus, it took a century to move the planet further from the sun and establish a stable orbit where heat would be dissipated. Now, 85 years later, the other terraforming stages continue using various methods.