Noah Zarc: Mammoth Trouble (Noah Zarc, #1) (11 page)

Read Noah Zarc: Mammoth Trouble (Noah Zarc, #1) Online

Authors: D. Robert Pease

Tags: #Animals, #Spaceships, #Juvenile Fiction, #Time-Travel, #Adventure, #Mars, #Kids Science Fiction, #YA Science Fiction

BOOK: Noah Zarc: Mammoth Trouble (Noah Zarc, #1)
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“She was in so much pain she could barely stand. I was equally helpless.”

Hamilton pushed his chair back, stood, and paced around the mess hall. My confident brother looked at his wits end.

“Haon had each of us by an arm. As we drew closer to the lab, Mom staggered. When Haon paused, she smashed both her fists into his face. He let go of me, and Mom shouted for me to run. So I did.”

He glanced at Dad, who nodded—maybe to let him know he’d done the right thing.

“I heard Haon throw Mom into the lab and slam the door,” Hamilton said. “Within seconds, he was running after me.

“I ran into the hangar and jammed the door behind me. I’d already initiated the launch sequence on the
DUV II
. Haon had another smaller ship sitting next to it. I decided maybe I could get him to chase me or at least chase the ship. I accessed the
DUV II’s
controls on my wrist-comm and instructed it to take off toward Venus.

“Haon crashed through the door just as the ship took off but he
didn’t follow
. He was obviously convinced I’d left in the
DUV II
, but he didn’t seem to care. It was Mom he wanted.

“Is she okay?” Sam said. “What was wrong with her?”

“I’m not sure—”

“It sounds like a neuro pain inducer.”

We all looked at Dad.

“It was most likely calibrated to a certain radius around the lab,” he said. “When she moved outside that radius, it began sending serious pain signals to her brain.”

Dad shook his head. “That man is evil but he’s also a genius. I’m not sure what would’ve happened to your mother if you’d made it to the ship and actually blasted off Mars. I suspect the pain would either have killed her or driven her mad.”

I couldn’t stand it any longer. “We need to go get her, now!”

“Agreed,” Dad said.

“Noah?”

A small voice at the door made us all turn to look. Adina peeked in from the hallway.

“You left her here by herself?” Dad surged to his feet, hands clenched at his side.

“Hamilton was here.” I knew that wouldn’t fly the moment the words left my lips.

Hamilton shook his head. “I had no idea she—”

“She could’ve gotten lost for weeks on a ship the size of the
ARC
!” Dad glared at me. “Aside from the fact that bringing her here was in direct violation of the Poligarchy’s orders and
my
wishes—”

“Dad, she—”

“Don’t
Dad
me,” he said. “This is unacceptable. She’ll have to be returned to the surface.”

“But she’ll die!”

“We’re all going to die someday, Noah.” The vein in his forehead was throbbing. “You remind me so much of my brother—” He slammed his mouth shut.

I felt like I’d been socked in the stomach. Haon’s voice filled my head:
That wouldn’t be very fatherly of me.

“Who’s your brother?” I said, fighting to keep my voice steady.

Dad’s face turned white. He spun toward Sam.

“Take Adina to your room.”

Sam opened her mouth, hesitated, then shut it. She glanced at me with dread in her eyes, turned, and nudged Adina toward the door.

“I’m sorry,” I mouthed to Adina. Of course she had no idea what I said—what any of us said for that matter, since no one had in a Triple-B. From the look on her face, she got the drift.

“Hamilton, get the
ARC
ready to jump. I want to…” Dad’s voice was still furious. “Just get her ready.”

My brother all but ran from the room, leaving me alone with my dad.

“Noah, I shouldn’t have said that.”

That’s all he could come up with?

“Who’s your brother?” I wasn’t even sure what I was afraid of, but I was sure afraid of something.

“I… just meant you and I are—” Again he stopped, his gaze dropping to his hands. “Noah, there are things your mom and I have never told you.”

“Like what?”

“We really shouldn’t be having this conversation without your mom.” He still wouldn’t meet my eyes.

“Who’s. Your. Brother?” I bit off every word.

“Haon.”

He said it so, so softly. It didn’t matter. I knew the answer—the only answer that could make him so ashamed.

“So that makes him…my uncle?”

“No.” Dad sighed. “Haon is your biological father.”

I felt like I’d been kicked in the chest.

“Noah, I—”

I spun my chair and bolted for the door. Dad didn’t follow, or if he did, I didn’t notice.

My mind reeled. My whole life I’d been raised to believe Haon was a monster. He
was
a monster—and I was his son.

I flew down the corridors of the
ARC
, nowhere in particular, just away. Away from the man I thought was my dad, away from everything he’d just told me.

I left the gravity of the Services pod but hardly noticed when my chair switched to zero-g mode.

My whole life had been a lie—everyone I’d ever loved, liars. I dug my palms into my eyes, trying to stop the tears that wet my cheeks. I don’t know how long I wandered around but eventually I found myself in front of the door to Sam’s quarters. Did she know? Did Hamilton? Had they been duped into believing I was their brother or had they spent their whole lives lying to me? Maybe now I knew why they never took my side.

I took a deep breath. “Open,” I said. The door slid aside and I pushed in. Adina sat strapped into a chair by the window, looking out into space. I felt around in my pockets for my Triple-B and placed it in my ear.

“Adina.”

At first she didn’t seem to hear, then she turned. Tears floated off her cheeks, tiny spheres of water drifting in zero-g. She swiped at them with the back of her hand.

“I’ll make a mess of your sister’s room.”

My heart lifted, just a little. Adina hadn’t lied to me. She might just be the only friend I had.

“Did Sam tell you what’s going on?”

“No, but I can tell we’re in trouble. Your Dad wants to send me home, doesn’t he?”

I saw the fear in her eyes and lowered my gaze. She’s got enough to worry about without having to deal with my family issues.

“If Mom were here she’d let you stay.”

Would she? If Haon was my father…was Mom really my mother, or…? I shook my head. Too many questions, and I wanted answers.

“Adina, we’ve got to do something. My dad didn’t say you had to go back right now.”

A small glimmer of hope lit her eyes.

“Follow me.”

I took her to the hangar. The
DUV III
sat tucked in behind the
Morning Star
.

“I just know my mom would let you stay.” I moved to the
DUV III
and opened the hatch. “She’s always telling us to look out for those who aren’t as fortunate as we are.”

Adina stepped into the ship. I was about to close the door behind us when something bounded in behind us—Obadiah!

“What are you doing here, boy?” The dog skidded around on the floor and tried to jump into my lap. I looked up—I could see dad’s legs moving across the deck toward the ship’s door.

“I guess you’ll have to come along for the ride.” I closed the hatch and headed for the cockpit. Adina followed.

“I know your father is a good man. He’s just trying to do what he thinks is right.”

“But you’ll die.” I squeezed my eyes closed.

“We all die one day.”

“That’s just what he said.” How could he say that? “But chances are you’ll die before you reach my mom or dad’s age.”

I looked at the blank holoscreens.

“Besides,” I whispered, “there’s something I need to do.” I’d heard enough from my dad. Maybe Mom could tell me something—anything—that would make this better.

“Please trust me, Adina.” I waved my hand over the control systems, bringing them to life. “My dad said to take you home but he didn’t say we couldn’t make a few stops.”

I turned to the controls. “Preflight check, begin.”

Long lines of numbers and symbols scrolled on the screen as the ship’s computers ran down the checklist.

“Life support systems, nominal. Oxygen scrubbers, nominal.”

“Noah, what are you doing?”

“Just what I said—I’m taking you home.” I waved my hands at the monitor bank. The three-dimensional screens lit up and projected an image of Earth.

“Okay, but did your father—”

“He’s busy trying to rescue my mom.” I glanced at Adina for a second. She looked worried. “It’ll be better if I take you home myself.”

“All systems operating at nominal conditions.”

“Thank you. Computer, please open the hangar bay doors.” I waved my hands through the projection of Earth, and it changed to an exterior view of the ship. The hangar doors opened and the great blue Earth filled our field of vision. I gently lifted the
DUV III
from the deck and moved her forward.

“Noah! What do you think you’re doing?” Dad’s voice filled the cockpit.

“I’m taking Adina home.”

“Not without me you’re not!”

I was nearly clear of the bay doors.

“You stay here and get the
ARC
ready to rescue Mom,” I said.

“Noah—”

Waving my hand at the comm, I cut him off.

“He sounded
extremely
angry,” Adina said

“He’s not the only one.”

The
DUV III
floated free of the
ARC
.

“Computer? Please prepare to jump to primary beacon.”

“Jump not recommended. Warp manifold calibration incomplete.”

“Can you lock onto the primary beacon?”

“Affirmative.”

“Then make the jump.”

I glanced at Adina, who was gripping the arms of her chair.

“Where are we really going?”

“We’re going to go get my mom. She’ll be able to talk sense into my dad.”

“Primary beacon lock achieved.” A tiny red star floated in middle of a sea of stars before us.

“I don’t think this—”

“Adina, I won’t let him send you back to that icy world. My mom will know how to talk to him.” I turned back to the monitors and brought up a display of Mars, the blinking lines moving off into the reaches of time.

“Make the first jump now.”

Over the next couple of hours, the
DUV III
jumped dozens of times. Each jump brought us closer to Mars in the thirty-first century.

I showed Adina the ship’s quarters and even found some clothes stored in a wardrobe.

“We need to help you blend in a little. If you showed up on Mars dressed in furs and your hair like that?” I pointed at the tangled mess atop her head. “Everyone on the planet would know you weren’t from our time.”

I couldn’t help laughing as she tried to move around. Without gravity, she kept finding herself where she didn’t expect to be, like smacking against the wall when she kicked herself forward with her feet.

“It takes getting used to.” Obadiah floated along beside me. “But even Obadiah learned how to handle zero-g.” The dog scrabbled along what would normally be the ceiling. “He actually uses his tail almost like a rudder.”

She smiled. “He looks like a fish. Of course, fish make it look easy, swimming through water. If only I had fins and a tail.”

I grabbed a handrail near the door. “The trick is to not use much force when you push off.” I gently nudged myself in the direction of the bathroom, straightened my body as best I could, and slid through the air until I grabbed the rail on the far wall.

She tried to follow me, but this time she pushed so softly she just floated in the center of the room, moving ever so slowly toward the far side.

“Well, a little harder than that.” I laughed again, then moved over to pull her toward the bathroom.

I showed her the zero-g shower and how to strap herself in.

“We don’t have a salon-bot on board, so after you clean your hair, see what you can do so it’s a little more… presentable.”

“I can’t imagine using water just to clean myself.” Adina started to pull off her furs. I realized she wasn’t waiting for me to leave before undressing and fled. Apparently they do things differently where she comes from.

Back in the cockpit, a quick check of the displays told me we were only a few hundred years behind the primary beacon. Mars loomed large on the external screens. Somewhere down there was my father, a man who’d decided, for one reason or another, that he didn’t want me.

Was it because of my legs? Did he think I was going to hold him back? Ruin his life? Was he afraid I would be too needy? Too much work?

After I rescued my mom, he’d see what I could do—assuming I
could
rescue her. I shook my head. What choice did I have?

Time passed while I watched the monitor. 2786. 2814. 2901. The years ticked closer to… to what? Now that I thought about it, what was I going to say to Haon?

And what about Mom? For some reason I wasn’t as angry with her as I was with my dad, even though they’d both lied to me. It was hard to be angry at her, knowing where she was and what was happening to her.

The door to the cockpit opened and Adina stepped through. Wow! Her rich black hair floated behind her in two long braids. The jumpsuit and lavender shirt she wore made her dark eyes shine.

“Do you think I will
blend in
now?” She blushed as she pushed herself into her seat.

“I…You look so different.” I smiled at her.

“Different than other girls on your home world?”

“No. Different than before.” My cheeks grew warm, and I turned back to the displays. “You look nice.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw her grin.

“How far do we have to go?” she said.

“About ten minutes.” I reached into my pocket, pulled out a Triple-B and handed it to her.

“Here, put this in your ear and you’ll understand what everyone’s saying when we get down there.”

“This is what you use to understand me?”

“Yes, but now you’ll be the only one speaking your language—it’ll be easier if you wear the translator. All you need to do is concentrate on my words and it’ll work. It gets easier the more you use it.”

I took the Triple-B out of my own ear.

“There, now your translator is doing the work.”

She looked at me and frowned. “Ani lo mevin otcha.”

“Keep trying, you’ll get it.”

She continued to frown. “Your words are all jumbled together in my head.”

“That’s because I’m speaking English.”

Her face brightened. “I understood that!”

“I told you it wasn’t hard,” I said. “When I first used the Triple-B, I had the most trouble when we went to your cave. I heard everyone speaking at once.”

“I don’t understand how this thing works. How can I hear you speaking and understand you, then speak and have you understand me?”

I just laughed. “No idea. My dad would know, he made the translator.” Don’t think about that. “I just use the thing and don’t worry about it.”

“Someday I’d like to learn how to talk to you without one of these things in my ear.”

I glanced at the image of Mars on the screen. “After we get my mom, I’ll help you.” I grinned. “Look how fast you’re learning to deal with everything around you. Zero-g, your hair…How’d you do that to your hair anyway?”

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