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Colony Ship Conestoga #1
Quest for the Conestoga
Expanded and enhanced as of July 27, 2017 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? Can the lost colony ship program provide a possible refuge? Seven vast colony ships were launched a hundred years ago, but can one of them be located? Will it offer a chance to survive? Cammarry and Jerome are faced with going on a mission using unproven technology. Will the faster-than-light ship work? It can only carry two people, so how will the other 1500 survivors find safety? Will they reach one of those enigmatic, old, and mysterious colony ships? Will they be able to set up the new teleportation system to bring everyone from Dome 17 to that ship? Will technology work, or fail? What will these brave adventurers, and Sandie, their new artificial intelligence system find on their quest for the Conestoga? Book 1 of the Colony Ship Conestoga series.
- GenresScience Fiction
196 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 22, 2015
46 people are currently reading
91 people want to read
About the author
John Thornton
199 books21 followersJohn Thornton will just write this autobiography.
Hi everyone,
Updated as of August 31, 2025.
Thanks for reading this page. For a smoother way to contact me, look for the Colony Ship Eschaton series page on Facebook.
I am getting excellent feedback about the audio versions of my books. And over 3 million page reads through Kindle unlimited. Thank you so much for being readers and listeners to my books. I truly appreciate you.
The Colony Ship Eschaton 10 books), the Colony Ship Vanguard (8 books), the Colony Ship Conestoga (8 books), and the Colony Ship Trailblazer (8 books) are all complete and out in kindle, paperback, and AUDIOBOOKS!
The Colony Ship Warren series (7 books) is complete and all are available as kindle, paperback, and audiobooks
The Colony Ship Zubalamo series has four books. Pursuit of the Zubalamo
Fugitives on the Zubalamo
Ghosts on the Zubalamo
Prisoners on the Zubalamo
More in the Colony Ship Zubalamo series are being written.
The audio versions are by professional narrators! Please check out those options! The narrators have done a superb job. I sure hope you listen to those.
One of my works is somewhat different. The Battle on the Marathon is written in first person. That book is stand-alone work, and while it is in the same universe as the other works, is not as directly connected as the five other series.
In the summer of 2022, I released four short stories. Penny, Homecoming, Shelter, and the Dog Unit. These are a different style from my novels and are available as a kindle of audiobook. I think you will like those.
"Year Eighty-Five" is a stand-alone novel which is related to the Colony Ship Universe in a peculiar manner. Can you figure out that mystery?
And percolating in my mind is the Jelly War series which will begin, chronologically at roughly where the Colony Ship Eschaton series ended, but will have many crossover aspects to it.
As to me, I have read science fiction since I was a small child. For over twenty years I have been making notes, writing outlines, and drawing deck plans of the Colony Ship. These jumbled ideas have finally coalesced into book form in the Colony Ship Eschaton series. Damon Knight's "The World and Thorinn" and Robert Heinlein's "Orphans of the Sky" showed me how bizarre and interesting a generational space ship environment could go wrong. Those books, and many others, have given me hours of pleasure in reading.
I worked as an RN for 10 years in various ICUs, cardiac, surgical, and medical. I saw lots of people die, and I also listened to some really amazing people share their life stories with me.
I graduated from a variety of colleges, all of which helped shape and mold me into what I am today. After finishing a doctoral degree, I decided to focus on informal educational endeavors. I still love to learn.
I enjoy reading very much. I read all kinds of literature, from romance novel to historical fiction to science fiction (I love dystopias and stories about things in a post apocalypse) to theology texts, to how to books. Did I miss any genres?
If you are new to my works, you can start with any series, or the Battle on the Marathon. Some readers have discussed which series is their favorite to start, but that is all personal preference. They are all set in the same "universe" or "alternative reality" or "cosmos" I invented. I call it the "Colony Ship Universe" but I hope you call it a fun read!
Back to reality. I have four grown-up daughters, all married, a delightful wife, fabulous grandkids, two wonderful dogs, and a very nice cat.
I live in the Northern Plains of the USA, so I experience the cold and bitter during the winter, and hot and dry during the summers. I also live with a chronic associate, a painful form of degenerative arthritis. I have lots of mechanical parts inside my body, and in some ways, I truly am a cyborg.
The best way to contact me is through Facebook.
Hi everyone,
Updated as of August 31, 2025.
Thanks for reading this page. For a smoother way to contact me, look for the Colony Ship Eschaton series page on Facebook.
I am getting excellent feedback about the audio versions of my books. And over 3 million page reads through Kindle unlimited. Thank you so much for being readers and listeners to my books. I truly appreciate you.
The Colony Ship Eschaton 10 books), the Colony Ship Vanguard (8 books), the Colony Ship Conestoga (8 books), and the Colony Ship Trailblazer (8 books) are all complete and out in kindle, paperback, and AUDIOBOOKS!
The Colony Ship Warren series (7 books) is complete and all are available as kindle, paperback, and audiobooks
The Colony Ship Zubalamo series has four books. Pursuit of the Zubalamo
Fugitives on the Zubalamo
Ghosts on the Zubalamo
Prisoners on the Zubalamo
More in the Colony Ship Zubalamo series are being written.
The audio versions are by professional narrators! Please check out those options! The narrators have done a superb job. I sure hope you listen to those.
One of my works is somewhat different. The Battle on the Marathon is written in first person. That book is stand-alone work, and while it is in the same universe as the other works, is not as directly connected as the five other series.
In the summer of 2022, I released four short stories. Penny, Homecoming, Shelter, and the Dog Unit. These are a different style from my novels and are available as a kindle of audiobook. I think you will like those.
"Year Eighty-Five" is a stand-alone novel which is related to the Colony Ship Universe in a peculiar manner. Can you figure out that mystery?
And percolating in my mind is the Jelly War series which will begin, chronologically at roughly where the Colony Ship Eschaton series ended, but will have many crossover aspects to it.
As to me, I have read science fiction since I was a small child. For over twenty years I have been making notes, writing outlines, and drawing deck plans of the Colony Ship. These jumbled ideas have finally coalesced into book form in the Colony Ship Eschaton series. Damon Knight's "The World and Thorinn" and Robert Heinlein's "Orphans of the Sky" showed me how bizarre and interesting a generational space ship environment could go wrong. Those books, and many others, have given me hours of pleasure in reading.
I worked as an RN for 10 years in various ICUs, cardiac, surgical, and medical. I saw lots of people die, and I also listened to some really amazing people share their life stories with me.
I graduated from a variety of colleges, all of which helped shape and mold me into what I am today. After finishing a doctoral degree, I decided to focus on informal educational endeavors. I still love to learn.
I enjoy reading very much. I read all kinds of literature, from romance novel to historical fiction to science fiction (I love dystopias and stories about things in a post apocalypse) to theology texts, to how to books. Did I miss any genres?
If you are new to my works, you can start with any series, or the Battle on the Marathon. Some readers have discussed which series is their favorite to start, but that is all personal preference. They are all set in the same "universe" or "alternative reality" or "cosmos" I invented. I call it the "Colony Ship Universe" but I hope you call it a fun read!
Back to reality. I have four grown-up daughters, all married, a delightful wife, fabulous grandkids, two wonderful dogs, and a very nice cat.
I live in the Northern Plains of the USA, so I experience the cold and bitter during the winter, and hot and dry during the summers. I also live with a chronic associate, a painful form of degenerative arthritis. I have lots of mechanical parts inside my body, and in some ways, I truly am a cyborg.
The best way to contact me is through Facebook.
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 23, 2020
“Quest for the Conestoga (Colony Ship Conestoga #1)” is an entertaining space adventure with writing and narration that feels like it was written and produced in the in the “Golden Age of Science Fiction”, circa 1938-1946, or perhaps in the mid-1950s. If you enjoyed “Forbidden Planet” with Robby the Robot, released in 1956, for example, you’ll enjoy this book.
“Quest for the Conestoga” is the first of eight books about the earth Colony Ship. There are six other Colony Ships, and a series of books has been written about each of them, I believe. Plus at least one stand-alone book from a Colony Ship member’s perspective.
The basic plot is that 100 years or so from now, earth is a dead planet because of something or other humans did. The last of humanity survives in scattered protective habitat domes, but now the domes are failing. In a last desperate attempt to stay alive, Dome 17 decides to send seven two-person teams to try and get to the Colony Ships that were sent from earth 100 years ago. Each two-person team is a man and a woman, essentially a married couple, but there is virtually no romance, and certainly no sex (not even a kiss that I remember) in the first book, at least. Yup…very 1930s-1950s. Damned Hays Code!
MCs Jerome and Cammarry select the Conestoga as the ship they will try to find. Now, as with many of the old sci-fi books and movies, the actual fiction part of the sci-fi here is both well explained and a complete stretch of the imagination to the point of ridiculousness. OK, the Dome 17 leaders have managed to construct experimental two-person crafts that include FTL so they can hop right over to the presumed location for the Colony Ship. OK, that I don’t really mind much. But….here’s the nutty part of the adventure: the goal for Jerome and Cammarry is to get to the ship, quickly assemble a teleportation receiving grid, and allow the Dome 17 people to instantly teleport across many many light years. OK, now that’s pushing it for me to accept even in a sci-fi book!!
Instead of Robby the Robot (the dry-witted AI), we get Sandie the optimistic and perky gung-ho let’s have an adventure AI. She’s pretty funny, but the narrator must have inhaled a helium balloon before voicing Sandie.
Overall, the narrator has a great voice, but I generally liked when she voiced people or AI’s more than the narratives. The writing style is often very stilted. Perhaps that’s the author’s style, and perhaps it reflects an effort to mimic the sci-fi era of long ago, but I often laughed at the stiffness. For example, Jerome says “I too will deeply miss all the people from Dome 17”. If Jerome or Cammarry used a contraction anywhere in the book, I missed it.
Well, as you’d guess from there being eight books in the series, they do reach the ship, and they have adventures with broken equipment, and a teen survivor who is in awe at their wizardry.
If you like fast-paced stories with witty conversations and humor, you’d probably be disappointed, frankly. But….if you like golden-age sci-fi written before we all became jaded with Star Wars, Star Trek and Marvel Superheroes flash and hype, and sci-fi stories just felt like they offered a new view of the future and of life beyond planet earth….this is very enjoyable. Recommended with 3.75* rounded to 4*
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
My rating and my review was not in anyway affected by my having been provided a review copy.
“Quest for the Conestoga” is the first of eight books about the earth Colony Ship. There are six other Colony Ships, and a series of books has been written about each of them, I believe. Plus at least one stand-alone book from a Colony Ship member’s perspective.
The basic plot is that 100 years or so from now, earth is a dead planet because of something or other humans did. The last of humanity survives in scattered protective habitat domes, but now the domes are failing. In a last desperate attempt to stay alive, Dome 17 decides to send seven two-person teams to try and get to the Colony Ships that were sent from earth 100 years ago. Each two-person team is a man and a woman, essentially a married couple, but there is virtually no romance, and certainly no sex (not even a kiss that I remember) in the first book, at least. Yup…very 1930s-1950s. Damned Hays Code!
MCs Jerome and Cammarry select the Conestoga as the ship they will try to find. Now, as with many of the old sci-fi books and movies, the actual fiction part of the sci-fi here is both well explained and a complete stretch of the imagination to the point of ridiculousness. OK, the Dome 17 leaders have managed to construct experimental two-person crafts that include FTL so they can hop right over to the presumed location for the Colony Ship. OK, that I don’t really mind much. But….here’s the nutty part of the adventure: the goal for Jerome and Cammarry is to get to the ship, quickly assemble a teleportation receiving grid, and allow the Dome 17 people to instantly teleport across many many light years. OK, now that’s pushing it for me to accept even in a sci-fi book!!
Instead of Robby the Robot (the dry-witted AI), we get Sandie the optimistic and perky gung-ho let’s have an adventure AI. She’s pretty funny, but the narrator must have inhaled a helium balloon before voicing Sandie.
Overall, the narrator has a great voice, but I generally liked when she voiced people or AI’s more than the narratives. The writing style is often very stilted. Perhaps that’s the author’s style, and perhaps it reflects an effort to mimic the sci-fi era of long ago, but I often laughed at the stiffness. For example, Jerome says “I too will deeply miss all the people from Dome 17”. If Jerome or Cammarry used a contraction anywhere in the book, I missed it.
Well, as you’d guess from there being eight books in the series, they do reach the ship, and they have adventures with broken equipment, and a teen survivor who is in awe at their wizardry.
If you like fast-paced stories with witty conversations and humor, you’d probably be disappointed, frankly. But….if you like golden-age sci-fi written before we all became jaded with Star Wars, Star Trek and Marvel Superheroes flash and hype, and sci-fi stories just felt like they offered a new view of the future and of life beyond planet earth….this is very enjoyable. Recommended with 3.75* rounded to 4*
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
My rating and my review was not in anyway affected by my having been provided a review copy.
January 29, 2018
( Format : audiobook )
"Cubie blue knows what to do."
The first in a new quest to save the last remnants of humanity on Earth in John Thornton's Colony Ship universe. This time the story follows Jerome, Cammarry and their AI, Sandie, as their scout ship heads for the old Colony Ship, Conestoga. The last message received at Dome 17 seemed to indicate that it had located a possibly habitable planet. With the life expectancy of Dome 17 now estimated at only 100+ days, if a teleportation platform could be built on the planet, or even in the old Colony Ship, the last of Earth's survivors could escape their deadly planet. But first the Conestoga had to be found.
The initial section of the book is again dedicated to the days in Dome 17 leading up to the hasty despatch of light speed scout ships, each with just two brave travellers, in search of the ancient Colony Ships sent out over an hundred years before to look for a new life for it's human cargo. The happenings in Dome 17 are again reprised, but this time from the point of view of Cammarry and Jerome, giving the reader a new insight into what actually was happening there - a fascinating addition to the series as a whole.
Erin Macdonald's narration, with good articulation, fast paced reading and distinctive character voices, is sadly marred by the dreadfully unpleasant rendering of the AI, Sandie. So little-girlie grating, it made the computer sound imbecilic and made it very difficult for this listener to continue. A great pity as, without this, both story and narration were good.
This is a fun series which becomes addictive. I am glad to see that a different narrator reads book 2 of the Conestoga series.
"Cubie blue knows what to do."
The first in a new quest to save the last remnants of humanity on Earth in John Thornton's Colony Ship universe. This time the story follows Jerome, Cammarry and their AI, Sandie, as their scout ship heads for the old Colony Ship, Conestoga. The last message received at Dome 17 seemed to indicate that it had located a possibly habitable planet. With the life expectancy of Dome 17 now estimated at only 100+ days, if a teleportation platform could be built on the planet, or even in the old Colony Ship, the last of Earth's survivors could escape their deadly planet. But first the Conestoga had to be found.
The initial section of the book is again dedicated to the days in Dome 17 leading up to the hasty despatch of light speed scout ships, each with just two brave travellers, in search of the ancient Colony Ships sent out over an hundred years before to look for a new life for it's human cargo. The happenings in Dome 17 are again reprised, but this time from the point of view of Cammarry and Jerome, giving the reader a new insight into what actually was happening there - a fascinating addition to the series as a whole.
Erin Macdonald's narration, with good articulation, fast paced reading and distinctive character voices, is sadly marred by the dreadfully unpleasant rendering of the AI, Sandie. So little-girlie grating, it made the computer sound imbecilic and made it very difficult for this listener to continue. A great pity as, without this, both story and narration were good.
This is a fun series which becomes addictive. I am glad to see that a different narrator reads book 2 of the Conestoga series.
December 21, 2017
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
I have recently listened to the audiobook and I would say that this sci-fi book is quite interesting, though I didn't really like some of main characters. I was listening to it while drawing and it was a nice background for that. If you're into sci-fi books you'll find this book quite absorbing most of the time.
I have recently listened to the audiobook and I would say that this sci-fi book is quite interesting, though I didn't really like some of main characters. I was listening to it while drawing and it was a nice background for that. If you're into sci-fi books you'll find this book quite absorbing most of the time.
July 18, 2020
Probably best for a grade schooler or maybe junior high.
The book probably could have used a couple more edits and probably a beta reader or two. Too much explaining and not enough showing.
The book probably could have used a couple more edits and probably a beta reader or two. Too much explaining and not enough showing.
May 15, 2020
DNF. The prose is simply awful. If I read the word "tan" one more effing time... I've already screamed twice while reading what I've managed to get down. I won't waste anymore time.
September 5, 2018
Another good story. No redundant passages. Not an overly involved or deep story, yet enjoyable. The books in this series are not entirely stand alone stories. I am curious to listen to the next one to see what happens.
This book follows Cammary and Jerome’s tread of the overall series. They are chosen/ volunteer to be one of the couples that leave earth’s dome 17 in search of the Colony Ship Conestoga. It is believed to be orbiting a planet, unlike all the other colony ships that were launched 100 years ago. What they find is nothing like what they expected, not that their expectations were high. Together with the Artificial Intelligence aboard their shuttle, they must figure out how to survive on the Colony Ship and assemble a transportation pad to evacuate the remaining people of Dome 17. They meet a resident of the Conestoga who helps them understand their new home, but, his knowledge is very limited.
There are no explicit sex scenes or excessive violence or swearing.
Some errors in the editing of the audio but it was minimal.
The narrator (Erin Macdonald) could be a bit more polished, the narrating was a bit flat, and sounded robotic at inappropriate times, but, she did an okay job.. Her voices for the characters were discernible. I would listen to another book narrator by her.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Story 4/5
Narration 3/5
This book follows Cammary and Jerome’s tread of the overall series. They are chosen/ volunteer to be one of the couples that leave earth’s dome 17 in search of the Colony Ship Conestoga. It is believed to be orbiting a planet, unlike all the other colony ships that were launched 100 years ago. What they find is nothing like what they expected, not that their expectations were high. Together with the Artificial Intelligence aboard their shuttle, they must figure out how to survive on the Colony Ship and assemble a transportation pad to evacuate the remaining people of Dome 17. They meet a resident of the Conestoga who helps them understand their new home, but, his knowledge is very limited.
There are no explicit sex scenes or excessive violence or swearing.
Some errors in the editing of the audio but it was minimal.
The narrator (Erin Macdonald) could be a bit more polished, the narrating was a bit flat, and sounded robotic at inappropriate times, but, she did an okay job.. Her voices for the characters were discernible. I would listen to another book narrator by her.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Story 4/5
Narration 3/5
September 17, 2022
I received this audiobook for free at my request, and I an reviewing it voluntarily.
This book was okay. It started slow, but it did pick up once the heroes actually left on their quest. Overall, though, it was a bit of a letdown. The plot is clearly part of a larger series (I believe 7-8 books), and it cut off as soon as I really started getting invested. As for the characters, they were flat and unrealistic. They made some weird choices like not exploring more than one room of the Conestoga before deciding it would make a great home, and it felt like they served more as chess pieces to move the plot along. The AI was a bit infuriating, mostly because the narration was really stilted. I mean, my Alexa has a smoother voice. As for the kid at the end, he was just infuriating. I was kind of getting annoyed by any lack of progress, and he did not help. Similarly, the "climax" of the ship being on track to crash was rushed and insanely anticlimactic.
The narration was odd. Seeing as the book is predominantly centered around Jerome, I thought the narrator would be male. That wasn't the case. There were also a few weird audio glitches, and a few times I could hear mic noises or static in the background.
Overall, I was intrigued, but not invested. I would listen to the second book if I got it free, but I definitely wouldn't pay for it.
This book was okay. It started slow, but it did pick up once the heroes actually left on their quest. Overall, though, it was a bit of a letdown. The plot is clearly part of a larger series (I believe 7-8 books), and it cut off as soon as I really started getting invested. As for the characters, they were flat and unrealistic. They made some weird choices like not exploring more than one room of the Conestoga before deciding it would make a great home, and it felt like they served more as chess pieces to move the plot along. The AI was a bit infuriating, mostly because the narration was really stilted. I mean, my Alexa has a smoother voice. As for the kid at the end, he was just infuriating. I was kind of getting annoyed by any lack of progress, and he did not help. Similarly, the "climax" of the ship being on track to crash was rushed and insanely anticlimactic.
The narration was odd. Seeing as the book is predominantly centered around Jerome, I thought the narrator would be male. That wasn't the case. There were also a few weird audio glitches, and a few times I could hear mic noises or static in the background.
Overall, I was intrigued, but not invested. I would listen to the second book if I got it free, but I definitely wouldn't pay for it.
August 10, 2016
This was an interesting idea for a story, but the character development was weak. They came across as dimwitted, not following through on obvious decision paths (if you are stranded aboard a mysterious ship, you explore more than a room or two, and if you run across one person who doesn't have a lot of answer, you use him to find more people who might).
I think that the author was using his characters limited problem solving skills as a plot device to move the story the direction he wanted it to go, but the result was that it made the characters come across as flat and repetitive.
I think that the author was using his characters limited problem solving skills as a plot device to move the story the direction he wanted it to go, but the result was that it made the characters come across as flat and repetitive.
June 8, 2016
Live on Dome 17 is failing. There is need to find one of the
colony ship launched hundred of years ago.
Cammarry and Jerome have volunteered to try to find the
Conestoga Colony Ship. Along with them is Sadie who is
their new artificial intelligence system
Ride along with them as they go off into the unknown to
find this ship.
This is book one of the Colony Ship Conestoga series.
colony ship launched hundred of years ago.
Cammarry and Jerome have volunteered to try to find the
Conestoga Colony Ship. Along with them is Sadie who is
their new artificial intelligence system
Ride along with them as they go off into the unknown to
find this ship.
This is book one of the Colony Ship Conestoga series.
June 28, 2018
Quest for the Conestoga introduces us to a new mystery. Something extremely strange takes place just as they think things are going well and takes us deeper into the universe than ever before. This colony ship has clearly been through a lot and our heros have their work cut out for them just locating the ship much less figuring what has happened to the ship and her crew.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews